First things first, this article is much belated. I took a bit of a hiatus from posting here last fall and this new add on for Afghanistan '11 was next on my list to review, but when I came back it slipped through the cracks and was missed. So, I thought I would make up for being tardy by writing up a combo AAR and review. 

From developer Every Single Soldier, and publisher Slitherine, Royal Marines is an expansion for Afghanistan '11, a game just as much about the logistics of war as it was about the fighting. Royal Marines doesn't change up the formula too much, but does give you some new toys to play with, and some additional options for conducting your counter-insurgency (COIN) ops. 

Like in the base game, Royal Marines includes a 10 mission campaign with historically based scenarios that give you unique situations and restraints to deal with. The other way to play the game is by jumping into a randomly generated map, where you will always have the same overall objective, but be completely free in how you want to pursue it. I have not played through the entire Royal Marines campaign, but I sampled several of the missions and saw that there is some good variety here if you are looking for a fresh challenge. This early mission, however, is not very complex, but I thought it would give a good sampling of what the game is like.

Today I'll be playing the second mission of the campaign, Operation Condor. This mission is loosely based on a real event. On May 16th, 2002, an SAS patrol was attacked for several hours by militants. The SAS patrol was extricated from its predicament by the arrival of AC-130's and Apache helicopters. The next day, a 1000 man strong force led by Royal Marines was deployed to the area with the goal of eliminating any enemy presence. 

For the purposes of this scenario, that real life operation is abstracted as seen below. I have a base already established in the central, somewhat eastern area of the map. I need to send out forces to hunt down and destroy all Taliban units on the western half of the map. In A'11, the east edge of the map always represents Pakistan, and that is where new Taliban units will come from. Cutting off any reinforcements will be an important part of my strategy. Local militant units can also pop up from hidden caves all over the map. These are difficult to eliminate entirely, but doing so isn't my concern in this scenario. I'll also need to get the Hearts and Minds score above 55, which shouldn't be too difficult. In A'11, winning over the local villages scores you more political points (your currency for new forces) and can yield intelligence, like the location of poppy fields which supply funds to the Taliban until they are destroyed. 

It doesn't take a tactical genius to look at the map above to see that geography will not be on my side in this scenario. Much of the map is mountainous terrain, with only one lonely winding road linking the two groups of villages. I'll need to get SAS units up in those mountains to spot for the enemy, and a convoy organized to travel through the valley and set up a FOB (forward operating base) on the far side. Every unit can only carry a limited amount of fuel/rations into the field. This means that any forays by friendly units must either be short ranged, or directed towards a FOB where they can resupply and take shelter from insurgent ambushes. For the insurgents, the mountains represent their safe haven, where only a few of my units can reach them. My special forces units (the SAS boys) are able to stay in the field longer than regular infantry, and can set up observation posts from which they can spot insurgents scurrying about in the mountains. They will be the key to locating the enemy. Once spotted, helicopters, artillery, and air strikes will be brought to bear to wipe them out. A FOB on the western half of the map will allow me to keep my helicopters and SAS units supplied. A conventional ground force will be needed to establish and secure said FOB.


Before going on the offensive, I first want to send a small convoy out to visit the nearest village to the east, and then set up a FOB a little further down the road. Spreading FOB's all over the map is generally a good idea, as it gives you more places to park units and to extend your reach. You can also use SAS units to train Afghanistan National Army (ANA) units in each FOB. In a normal game of A'11, as the turns go by you are forced to gradually hand over security to the ANA, so the more troops you can train, the better. You can also train ANA helicopters, artillery, and APC's at your main base, which I will also be doing. We will need a lot of helicopters in order to overcome the difficult terrain here and sustain the SAS posts in the field without interruption.

The visit with the village elders goes well, and we are given the location of a poppy field on the far side of the map. Taking this out will net us some political points, and weaken the Taliban. The only problem is that the field is much too far away to reach on the ground until we have a FOB over there. Luckily, we have helicopters on tap. Unfortunately, a couple of Taliban units pop up and damage our mine-detecting unit at the head of the convoy on the next turn. Without its ability to detect and destroy IED's, any road trip into uncontrolled territory will almost certainly meet disaster. The convoy is recalled back to HQ to repair.

While my first mine detector is in the shop, the second is sent down the road to the west, in an attempt to clear the first section of the road for follow-on forces in the next turn. The unit is also ambushed by insurgents and damaged. It seems the enemy is not hiding, but is aggressively operating right outside my main base. A drone is called in (you can have one on the map at a time) to recon the area. Three militant units are spotted and our available firepower is directed at them. Artillery and infantry from HQ, and an airstrike (an ability that can hit anywhere on the map, but has a long cool down) are used to knock out one of the enemy detachments and send the others fleeing. It seems we will need to clear out the immediate area before making a run to the west. To this end, I deploy a couple of SAS units into the nearby mountains.

Helicopters are not completely immune to insurgent forces, but they don't have to worry about IED's or terrain, making them critically important in A'11. Despite the rocky start to the ground campaign, the Royal Marines of Charlie Company are airlifted across the map to that poppy field that the villagers told us about. Destroying it should slow the flow of new Taliban units, and rewards us with 1000 political points, which is quite helpful as I've overextended a bit and almost run out. Without a nearby FOB established, the Marines hop aboard their helicopter for a ride back to HQ. 

(Apologies for some of these images being far too bright. From what I gather, there is some kind of shader issue right now which causes this to happen The developers are working on it.)

A couple of turns later, my second attempt at a western bound convoy is more successful. As you can see above, the vehicles have almost reached the key crossroads on the western half of the map. However, they are still a couple of turns away from safety, and end this turn in a highly vulnerable position sandwiched between two mountain ridges. From the message log, you can see how important sweeping for IED's is in this game. Three were eliminated on this turn alone. The insurgents will come back by and try to place more IED's all the time. Areas under direct observation are safe, but even a recently traveled road cannot be trusted if it was out of your sight for just a turn or two.

Back to the east, the Taliban presence is still strong. I was able to establish a waterworks at the nearby village (which makes them happy and nets you political points each turn) but my convoy was once again forced to retreat to safety before establishing a FOB. Pushing out in this direction will require some firepower. Luckily for me, a special event fired which gave me TWO Apache gunships for free. These are some of your most potent offensive weapons in the game, but come with a hefty price tag. Getting two for free is a real boost, and I set them to work immediately. The Apaches can engage the enemy from long range, don't have to worry about terrain, and have a decent chance of destroying an insurgent unit in one hit. These enemy units are also in range of my artillery, and it gives them a good reason to run back to Pakistan.

Ten turns in, let's take stock of the overall strategic picture. So far, I haven't accomplished much, but the framework is there. I have SAS units monitoring the mountains to the north, my convoy safely arrived in the west, and the local area around HQ is now secure. I've also won over the neighboring village and made visits to a couple of others. All that said, there are still a lot of insurgent units on the board, plus more that I can't see.

Visiting villages is an important part of the game, as it helps increase your H&M score, and occasionally gives you the location of an enemy unit, IED, or poppy field. This intelligence isn't always available however. Villages with little campfires burning are more likely to give you info, and so you want to visit them ASAP. In the original game these fires would stay lit until you came by, but in the Royal Marines DLC, they will go out soon if you do not make a visit. I like this change, as it adds some urgency to this aspect of the game, and forces you to be more flexible. 

On the next turn, a sandstorm blows in. This limits movement for all of my units and I have recall some helicopters back to HQ before they can complete their assignments. Fortunately for my western convoy, they are able to get the FOB built, and take shelter within it. Nature can at times be a greater obstacle than the enemy.

As the sandstorm clears, my western FOB gets to work. The minesweeper heads out to clear IED's from the nearby roads, and the Marines visit the village. My construction vehicle is also dispatched to build a water works there. All of these actions draw the local villages to the coalition side, making things easier for me, and satisfying the second victory condition for this scenario. My next step here will be to try and win over the village to the north. It isn't very far away, and is along the road. The village to the south is irrelevant at this point, as it is too remote to commit my limited resources towards. Sorry, folks! 

Zooming back out, you can see that I now have a FOB in the east and west. The HQ area looks clear, but out west we have a swarm of insurgents and IED's to deal with. I've also lost the village in the NE corner of the map to the militants. Winning them back may be difficult due to their location far away from my primary objective. For now I'll focus on eliminated the enemy from that area. Additional units are dispatched west now that they can operate out of the FOB.

At the western FOB, the fighting gets intense as several more Taliban units pop up. My SAS men are there to spot them, and once again heavy firepower is brought to bear. One Apache arrives to help the outpost, and an artillery unit will be airlifted over soon. Artillery units in FOB's require a lot more attention than they do at the HQ. A dedicated artillery expansion must be built for the FOB, and ammunition must be brought in by supply trucks or helicopters on a regular basis. For this mission, supply trucks are simply not an option. My helicopters continue to do logistics work, bringing rations to the SAS units in the field, and supplies to the critical western outpost.

On turn 16, things are looking good, but we still have our work cut out for us. The eastern FOB is busy fighting off Taliban reinforcements coming over from Pakistan. This is exactly what I want, but continues to tie down one of my Apaches. In the west, the enemy has been beaten back from the FOB, but still has a presence scattered around the objective area. Fortunately for me, I now have a nearly complete net of SAS observers gradually moving west and sweeping the area. Each time an enemy is spotted, artillery and helicopters operating out of the FOB are called up to eliminate them.

A couple of turns later, and the strategic picture is looking excellent. The enemy has been eliminated from most of the map, I have eyes in the field able to stop any new units from entering the objective zone, and a convoy headed out of the western FOB on its way to make nice with that northern village. A couple more poppy fields were found and eliminated, giving me a massive advantage in resources. Things are looking good!

Things are going even better than I thought, as on the next turn my Apache gunship takes out this final Taliban unit in the objective zone, fulfilling that part of the mission. As you can see, my Hearts and Minds score is now at 66, well above the required 55 for the scenario, and my political points are maxed out. All and all, a very good operation for the coalition despite some early stumbles. I call the mission a win, even though it doesn't actually end on the next turn. One thing I don't like about the campaigns in A'11 and this expansion, is that sometimes you are forced to play the scenarios out to the full 60 turns of a standard random map, despite completing the assigned objectives of the scenario. In this case, I've completely taken over the map and won over the villagers. Continuing to play would simply involve clicking end turn and smoking any insurgent unit silly enough to wander into range. Not too exciting, so I call it win and pack things up. In a full standard match, part of the challenge is that you must hand over control to the ANA gradually over time. At the end, the ANA must stand alone against the insurgents. In that case, it makes sense to play out to 60 turns, since that is part of the experience. Here though, it doesn't really gel with the idea of specific set of goals based on a relatively short real world operation.

That ends the AAR, but I have a couple more points to make for the review. Several other changes come with the DLC that I haven't mentioned so far. One significant addition, which didn't make an appearance in this scenario, is the inclusion of civilian traffic along the roads. And yes, as you might guess, this traffic can be used by the Taliban to send suicide car bombs right up to your units. In order to screen this traffic, you can now build roadblocks wherever you see fit. In order to help balance things out, and add some immersion to the game, you can now also get Afghan police units. You earn these by winning over villages to the coalition. This all adds yet another layer to the intricate dance of logistics and planning that is Afghanistan '11. Much like in the real conflict, engaging with and destroying the enemy is the easy part. Building up the infrastructure that will allow you to lock down an area and keep the insurgents out is the difficult part.


If you enjoyed the base game, it's safe to say that you will enjoy the Royal Marines add on. With new missions, new strategies, and new units to play with, there's plenty here to explore. Especially for the very reasonable price of $10, you really can't go wrong.


Afghanistan '11 and the Royal Marines DLC are available directly from Matrix/Slitherine or on Steam.

- Joe Beard




P.S. - I hope you enjoyed the AAR. I plan to do some full fledged ones soon, so this was a bit of trial run.

Battlestar Galactica: Deadlock released all the way back in 2017, and since then it has received a series of updates in the form of both free patches and paid DLC. Developed by Black Lab Games, and published by prolific strategy game outfit Slitherine, Deadlock exceeded my own expectations by a great deal. I feared it would be a low budget, overly simple strategy game trying to cash in on the BSG name. But no, it was really quite good and I enjoyed it a lot, as you can see from my original review. Deadlock had not just a solid tactical layer with tense, WEGO space combat, it also had an immersive strategic layer that tied all the battles together. The only thing you could really knock the base game for was that it was a little light on content. The core was good, but there were only so many missions, and only so many ships to play with. We've now had a string of DLC and updates released to solve that issue.

Deadlock is the story of what happened during the First Cylon War, years before the events of the TV show. (Which if you haven't seen, do yourself a favor and watch it immediately). This is a game about a full scale space war, in which you have command of the entire strategic picture. The Cylons get in a sucker punch to start the war, knocking out much of the Colonial Fleet and leaving your mobile shipyard as the only means to get humanity back on its feet. From that point it's up to you to decide what ships are built, what new tech is unlocked, and where you take your forces. Each of the 12 colonies has its own morale level, and if it drops too low they will exit the war. To keep all of humanity in the fight, you'll need to build up multiple fleets and spread them out to fight off Cylon raids. In addition to random attacks, there is also a series of story missions to tackle, and plenty of side missions that give extra bonuses if you complete them in time.

So, that's the basic gameplay, but what about all these updates and DLC? What do they do? That's the focus of my article today, as we step through all the pieces that make up "Season One" of the game. Between several free patches and paid DLC, the game has seen the addition of new features, ships, weapons, missions, story, and an extra game mode. Let's step through each "episode" of the season in order, to see how it all adds up to the current state of the game. 

As an aside, before we get started, I will point out that you can't go wrong with the base game alone. It's a full experience that you can get a lot of enjoyment out of. If you do like it, everything else here just makes that experience bigger and better. I've put in quite a few hours with the game, but jumped at the chance to play the campaign again with even more features and tactical options.

Reinforcement Pack

The first DLC for the game is purely an injection of new ships and weapons. For a very modest price you'll get to see four new ship types (two for each side) and a variety of mines added to the game. The new ships give you some nice options for customizing your fleet, one ship is unlocked right from the start, and of course increases the variety of challenges you will face from the Cylons. The mines give you another option when choosing special weapons for you ships, and, being mines, create new strategic options in battles. This update doesn't change the core of the game, but you'll certainly want it to help flesh out the experience. 

The Broken Alliance

The first major DLC for Deadlock is the one that is a must have in my opinion. It integrates all of its new content smoothly into the existing campaign, making for a richer overall experience. This DLC features an 8 mission story campaign which you play alongside the normal story missions. Anyone who has watched BSG knows that politics plays a central role in the story and drives a great deal of internal conflict for the humans. The Twelve Colonies of Man rarely agree about anything, even in the midst of a war. The Broken Alliance campaign, as the name suggests, focuses on the internal strife and intrigue which plagues humanity throughout the First Cylon War.

The Broken Alliance also adds four more new ships (two for each side) and a new squadron type for each side. The new ships add even more tactical options to the game. The Celestra resupply ship, for example, has little firepower potential on its own, but it can provide extra ammo for other ships mid-battle. Even more helpful is its ability to repair a section of armor on a friendly ship in combat. Each ship has separate armor sections for each side, top, and bottom. Lose a section of armor and now that ship becomes less useful, as you can't risk exposing an unarmored section for long. With the Celestra around you can patch things up and get a warship back in the fight. You can even use this offensively, hardening the nose of a Battlestar as it goes head on against an enemy group.

Endurance Update

Around the same time as the Broken Alliance came out, the game received a big free patch. This patch did some balancing, made the UI better, and generally polished the game. The best new feature was adding persistent damage to ships between battles, and visibly showing battle scars on ships after they took some hits. The persistent damage adds another layer of strategy to the game, as now you must spend resources to get ships back to full health. This seems like something that should have been in the game from the start, but I'm glad they added it in as a free update. 

Anabasis

The next DLC for the game added an entire new mode, which was initially received with mixed opinions, but has since been balanced and polished a bit to make for a better experience. The new mode Operation Anabasis tells the story of a colonial fleet sent out on a deep strike mission against a Cylon base. Things go topsy-turvy as usual, and the fleet must flee back to Caprica, Cylons in hot pursuit the entire way. These mode obviously draws directly on the plot of the BSG show, in a good way. Your fleet starts out strong, but includes many civilian ships you must try to protect through battle after battle. You can repair your ships if they survive a fight, but that's about it. Each jump brings with it a random new set of bonuses and penalties to deal with. Your final performance is measured by how many ships you get back to Caprica safely, if you get there at all. While the mode is standalone, it does feature characters from the main storyline, and ties in with the overall plot of "Season One."

While the new survival mode is separate from the main campaign gameplay, the new DLC includes plenty of new content for it. Several new types of munitions are available that are far more interesting than the standard missiles and rockets of the base game. The EMP Generator lets you pull off that Star Trek-esque move from the BSG pilot, in which a ship winds up its generators to release an electromagnetic pulse, which damages any Cylons venturing too near. The Cylons also get some new toys, so watch out!

Another addition from this DLC is a dozen new types of side missions that can pop up during a regular campaign. These aren't just new maps (though there are new maps), but completely new types of objectives to accomplish. 


Sin and Sacrifice

The just released, final DLC of Season One. Sin and Sacrifice extends the story of Deadlock beyond the conclusion of the original campaign and the Anabasis mission. The Cylons have been beaten back, but of course the big bad is still out there, ready to launch a fresh attack on the twelve colonies. You can either jump straight to this campaign with a pre-built late game fleet, or carry over your own fleets from the base campaign. I didn't have enough time to make it through the entire campaign just yet, but what I've seen so far is great stuff. Big battles between late game bruisers are the order of the day. There is plenty of new variety in what you are trying to do each mission as well, besides blowing apart as many toasters as you can, as usual. The two new ships added to the game reflect this idea. The humans get the Heracles, a new heavy offensive ship that is literally covered in gun turrets. It doesn't get any munition slots, but it can blast away at an entire Cylon fleet all at once. The Cylons get a new fighter support ship, which can repair their fighter squadrons mid battle and boost their performance. That's nothing to sneeze at when late game fleets are hauling around a half-dozen or more fighter squadrons at the least.

The other big, really cool addition to the game that Sin and Sacrifice brings is additional radio chatter. Previously, your ships had little voice lines announcing important things like missiles being launched or ships taking hull damage, but there were only so many of them, and they always sounded the same. Now, however, a ton (1100+ in fact) of great bits of radio chatter have been added into the background of a fight. You'll here plenty of utterances of "Frakkers!" and "Blast those toasters!" and every thing else you would expect from the BSG world. This adds so much flavor to the game and really increases the immersion as you watch the battles play out. 

Veterancy Update

Another free update, which just came out along with Sin and Sacrifice, the Veterancy update adds a significant new feature to the game: the ability for individual ships to gain XP and "level up" over time. In the base game, you have fleet commanders who gain levels and unlock new abilities. The ships, however, never changed, no matter how many battles they survived or enemies they destroyed. That's all different now, as ships can level up and become more deadly over time. I really love this addition, as now you can really latch on to your early ships that hang around through a dozen battles and become your aces. Losing one, of course, will sting badly as you can't just crank out another veteran warship in a couple turns.

In addition to what I've listed here, the game has also been polished a great deal from when it was released. The game looks, sounds, and plays better than ever before. If you pick up the game, along with all the DLC, you'll be looking at paying a AAA game price, but you will be getting a very good, rich experience. Each DLC expands on the story and content of the original game, and I think each one is worth a purchase. All of them together make for a meaty game that you can sink a lot of hours into. As a big fan of the show, I'm really happy that such a worthy game was finally created. 

Calling it Season 1 implies that there will be a Season 2, and the developers have confirmed that fact over on the forums. I look forward to seeing what else is added to the game!

- Joe Beard

BSG: Deadlock is available on PC, PS4 and XBOX One

Among the multitude of Warhammer 40k games that have swarmed across gamers’ PC’s the last couple of years, only a few really stood out as interesting uses of the license. One of my favorites from last year was Gladius: Relics of War. This 40k take on the 4x genre was a streamlined and fast paced rendition of the classic 4X formula. Diplomacy was completely tossed out the window in favor of a massive roster of units, each with their own distinct tactical uses. If you aren’t familiar with the game at all, check out my review here for all the details. Now we have the first new faction DLC for the game, bringing an alien horde perfectly suited to the battlefields of Gladius: the Tyranids. While the DLC doesn’t change the overall structure of the game much, the Tyranids come with their own set of unique mechanics that are a masterclass in matching theme and gameplay.

If you’re reading this, then you’re probably familiar with the Tyranids already. These are the Zerg of the 40k world. Giant, nightmarish swarms of monsters that resemble a varied assortment of giant space bug dinosaur things. They’re all teeth and claws, plasma launchers and acid blood, controlled by a mind hive consciousness and numbering in the trillions. They feel no fear, no remorse, and only desire one thing: to consume all biological life everywhere they go. Sounds like some great new neighbors, right?

While the Tyranids have a number of fearsome and deadly units in their arsenal, they actually begin the game quite weak. The lower tier Tyranid units are cheap and many are fast, but they can’t venture too far by themselves. Remember that part about being controlled by a hive mind? Not all of the Tyranid units have a direct “synaptic link” to the hive. Every turn spent out of direct contact with the hive causes these units to lose health and they can even become feral if detached too long, causing the player to lose control of them. This means that you must keep a more powerful unit around that can act as a relay for the hive mind. I really liked how this forced you to make some tough tactical considerations. Use your big bads to spearhead an offensive, and you risk their destruction. Losing your link to the hive could cause an offensive push to completely disintegrate. Playing as the Tyranids involves a lot of expansion and contraction of your forces. Send some fast scouts out for reconnaissance, quickly pull them back to a synaptic linked unit, then concentrate your forces and move towards whatever goal you have in mind (i.e. consuming everything in your path). This makes playing the Tyranids tactically distinct from other factions. Each group of weaker units needs a synaptic unit as the core of their group, and they must all move together to be fully effective. Compare this with the Astra Militarum (Imperial Guard) who’s lowliest unit of guardsmen can at least be stationed alone in some remote corner of the map to watch over a flank. For the Tyranids, a grouping of units is almost always necessary for any task. The Tyranids do not hold ground very well, they must always be on the move in one direction or the other.

On the strategic level, the Tyranids have some distinct differences as well. Resources have been distilled down to just two things, biomass and influence. Biomass is the organic matter that the Tyranids melt down and turn into all of their fearsome creatures and buildings. You get this by stripping the land bare and building up certain base structures. Unsurprisingly, you always need more, more, more. You can also reclaim some biomass by bringing units back to base to be tossed back into the bubbling goo. While this sounds like a minor gimmick, it’s actually entirely necessary for smoothly switching gears between one tier of units and the next when you are running tight on resources. A situation I found myself in several times.

The other resource important for Tyranid strategy is influence. This is used to power many buildings and some key special abilities. You can burn through a lot of influence in a hurry by scooping up extra biomass anywhere on the map with the Malanthrope unit, or to keep units under control longer when they are away from the hive mind. Having just the two key resources for all of your production and abilities may sound simple, but it actually creates an interesting economic situation where you are constantly balancing one with the other, while trying not to simultaneously run out of both.

A great touch to the game is how the Tyranids actually change the appearance of the map around them as the game progresses. The expansion of your hives and the special ability of the Malanthropes literally strips the planet to the bedrock, removing all vegetation and any trace of life one hex at a time. Gladius isn't all that pretty to begin with, and the Tyranids do their best to make it look even worse.

Like the other factions, the Tyranids have a tech tree mostly focused on unlocking new units and then bigger and badder upgrades for them. You can choose to spread research around to give yourself a lot of options, or focus on upgrading one particular line of units quickly. I really liked the variety of units offered for the Tyranids. You of course have hulking monstrosities that you can load up with tons of weapons, but there are also incredibly fast units for hit-and-run tactics, a stealth unit, and a hero that can allow you to move units around underground. All of these options, with the general mix of units between cannon fodder infantry and the big stuff that could startle a Space Marine, give the Tyranids a great roster to choose your army from.

While the Tyranids may sound like an unstoppable faction ready to swarm over everyone else on Gladius, they are actually rated “Hard” (along with the Imperial Guard faction) and this was no lie. My first run at the game on normal difficulty ended with my being overwhelmed by two enemy factions and some neutral units at the same time. This was mostly my fault for trying to spread out too far, too fast. On my second run I took the difficulty down a notch to Easy. Around turn 200 I’m still alive, but it’s been a struggle most of the way. The enemy AI pulls no punches and the world itself is hostile to your presence.

Look at all that lovely biomass, ready to be consumed.

Lastly, I wanted to touch on the updates to Gladius overall since launch in July last year. A long series of small updates and tweaks has really polished what was already a solid experience. The most impressive is the enemy AI, which for me presented a serious challenge. In a big name 4X series which uses the same sort of hex-based combat and rhymes with Bivilaration, it has long been a common sight to see an AI make bone-headed moves with their units and waste them on futile attacks while marching right past much easier targets. Not so in Gladius. Here the enemy forces will swarm out of the fog of war if you venture near their territory, only to immediately pull back if you are able to heavily outnumber them. Enemy units routinely scout the edges of your territory, snapping up undefended strategic resource locations and prodding deeper where they can. The enemy will give battle when they have a large enough force, and then reinforce or retreat as the fight goes one way or the other. It was rare to get an easy kill on an enemy unit without extending your own forces into the no-man’s-land.

The Imperial Guard won't go down as easily as you might imagine.

As you can tell from my review, I really like the Tyranids expansion for Gladius. While the game has a had a couple small DLC since launch, this is the first addition of an entire faction and it has set the bar very high. The matching of theme and gameplay mechanics is top-notch and makes the Tyranids a fresh experience even for veterans of the game. I imagine we are guaranteed to see more factions added over time, and I hope they are all done this well.

-Joe Beard

Gladius: Tyranids is available directly from Slitherine and on Steam/GoG

Developer: Proxy Studios

Publisher: Slitherine

Preview of Armored Brigade

by

Matrix Games

and

Veitikka Studios

 It is big and it is beautiful, and it is all dolled up to come to your home in a short while. I believe it was Ty Bomba who said "Nato, Nukes, and Nazis" sell wargames. By the amount of gamers that want to wargame a possible World War III, I believe he is right. In lieu of a box cover I have used this pretty painted pachyderm.

Main Menu Screen

 I have had the privilege bestowed upon me by Matrix Games and Slitherine to take the soon to be released Armored Brigade for a spin. To sum up the game in one word, it is 'excellent'. The game play and components added are exactly what you would want and expect from a Cold War gone hot land game. Each side's night fighting capabilities etc. have been factored in. However, the greatest part of the game are the abilities that the game gives you when you generate your own missions. First,we have the maps; you can make your own or use any size that come with the game. These can be from as small or as large as you want. One of the very interesting parts of the game is that neither side knows exactly where all of their objectives actually are. The years that the game can model the NATO and Warsaw Pact forces are from 1965-1991. You have four preset choices for your forces: Armored, Mechanized, Infantry, or Dynamic, although you can pretty much mix and match for any force you want for both sides. So, you can see that the player gets to play with a vast amount of choices to make any mission you can envision. Unlike many other World War III games, this does include Finnish forces.

 At the moment there are no campaigns, and few scenarios that you can jump right into. As we mentioned, the mission generator is pretty easy to use, so you will be up and firing in no time. In talking with the developer, campaigns will be added as DLCs later on. This game is meant for single player only right now.


 Just remember that these screen pictures are still of a preview version and they could change.

Here is the link to the trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWONTj0P_JU&feature=youtu.be

Fulda Gap Map

 I had downloaded and played the free version a few years ago and it was a good game. Now it has really grown up. The game has been described as a cross between the Close Combat Games and Command Ops. I think that hits the nail right on the head. The following Twitch stream of the game is all encompassing. Just so you know, it is over 2 1/2 hours long. About half of the video is on how many choices you have in generating a mission. Yes, there is that much stuff to play with. The other half is actual game play. Here is the link:

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/320309527


 Armored Brigade also has dynamic weather which you can see in this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXnAMa9XeoY&feature=share 

Warsaw Pact Setup For The River Crossing Scenario

This Is A Close-up Of The Above Scenario

Robert and Jason

 

 

Desert War 1940-1942

by

Matrix and Slitherine Games

 We wargamers seem to be split at times into two camps. First, we have the generation that grew up on computer wargames. Second, we have the grognards that cut their teeth on board wargames before they found computer ones. To me, Desert War is very much like a board wargame ported to the computer, and not a game that was built from the ground up as a computer game. This, I think, is where the almost Jeckyll and Hyde reviews of this game have come from. The younger computer generation seems to find the game hard to get into and the UI not user friendly, while those of us who have manually picked through stacks to figure out battle odds are more at home with the game and how it plays. I know I am over simplifying each side of the argument for length's sake. 

 In terms of what games wargamers really want, the North African campaign is always near the top of any poll. I believe this is because there has been so much written about the campaign compared to many others. Rommel has been put on a pedestal as the greatest German general, and a master of tank warfare. The Italians have unfortunately been labeled as inept, and very easy to defeat. I think you would get a different answer to that label by the English soldiers who were in the desert campaigns. This desert war has been shrouded in myth, much like T.E. Lawrence and his desert war. So let us see what exactly you get when you purchase Desert War:

  "Air, Naval, and Ground Assets are off-map capabilities that can be brought into play when the owning player sees fit.
Air assets represent squadrons that can conduct counter-air, interdiction, ground attack and ground support missions. Air reconnaissance (recce) assets represent flights of two to four aircraft. Air recce assets can collect information about the location and type of enemy ground units on the map.
Naval Assets represent individual ships able to provide of ground attack and ground support missions.
Off-map Ground Assets provide additional capabilities that can influence the on-map battle. Ground Assets include electronic warfare assets, command and control (C2) activities, and Special Forces.
Unlike in many computer wargames, Desert War 1940-42 employs a WEGO system. WEGO by its nature is about the Player’s ability to plan for and manage chaos; to find solutions to perceived challenges to accomplishing the mission with the tools at hand.
In this way, every decision you make must be carefully considered. Learn to think three moves ahead and outsmart your opponent!

• Re-discover surprise on the battlefield!  The WEGO game system makes for great fun and realistic game play.
• 12 scenarios that explore the action from the Italian Invasion of Egypt in 1940 to Rommel's defeat at El Alamein in late 1942.
• Control land, air and naval forces at the battalion, air group, and individual ship level.
• Allocate Command, Special Forces and electronic warfare (EW) assets to influence the battles.
• Simple on-line gameplay using Slitherine's PBEM system.
• Full game editor; build your own maps, forces, and graphics.  Includes an AI scripting language that provides a challenging AI opponent capable of "changing its mind" based on the human player's actions.

Scenario List:

• 2nd Battle of Bardia (introductory scenario)
• Operazione E: The Reluctant Offensive, 13-20 Sep 1940
• Into The Blue: Battle of Sidi Barrani, 9-12 Dec 1940
• Beda Fomm: Death of an Army, 1-7 Feb 1941
• Enter Rommel (only Multiplayer - no SP)
• Battle of Sollum: Operation Battleaxe, 15-18 Jun 1941
• Sunday of the Dead: Battle of Sidi Rezegh, 18-24 Nov 1941
• Rats vs The Ram: Battle of Bir el Gubi, 19-21 Nov 1941
• Gazala--First Five Days, 26-30 May 1942
• Gazala--The Cauldron, 29 May - 10 Jun 1942
• Gazala--Fall of Tobruk, 11 - 21 Jun 1942
• High Tide at Alam Halfa, 30 Aug - 5 Sep 1942
• 2nd Alamein: From Lightfoot to Supercharge, 24 Oct - 3 Nov 1942"

Options Screen

   So the first thing to notice about the game that it is a WEGO, and not a IGOUGO game. This type of action is where a computerized wargame really shines. To those unfamiliar with the term WEGO means that both sides determine their moves, and then they are simultaneously played out during the movement and battle phase. Board wargames have come a long way with simulating time and fog of war, but computer wargames are still better at it. The only thing that computer games cannot replicate is the ability to see the consternation in your opponent's eyes. 

Scenario Selection Screen

 The next item to notice about the game is the large amount of different scenarios that the game comes with. The game simulates the incredible difference in warfare from 1940 to 1942, not only the large difference in the armaments, but also how it was used.  

Battle of Sidi Barrani

  The third item about the game is that is has a lot of counters. I am talking a Grigsby game amount of counters. It seems funny that I have no problem, and actually enjoy, a board wargame with hundreds of counters. However, in computer wargames it is always nice to have an AI adjutant to hand things over to such as artillery fire etc. I can see where some gamers might have a problem with the amount of counters and data that a player must absorb in order to play the game correctly.

Introductory Scenario

  The developer likes input from buyers, but also non-buyers. The game has been worked on continually from its first version until now. That is one of the biggest reasons to support different developers.

 I am not a big fan of the North African campaign so maybe it is that fact that has given me more pause than usual in digging into the game.

Second El Alamein, These are just the Axis Units

  So I am not truly ambivalent about the game. It is just that I have to be in the right state of mind to fire it up. It is not a game that you can start and then play for a half hour, and then head off to dinner. For this game I have to be ready to invest some time and to sink into my chair for a good long while. I am sure players of 'World in Flames', or 'War in the Pacific' will understand. I like the game, I just have to be ready to delve deeply into it. For those of you who like 'beer and pretzel' games, please stay far, far away. For anyone who is looking for a deep wargame, here it is. It is unbelievable to me that this started as a labor of love. This was a free download once. The game has come a long way since then, but it's still really only a hobby project. For everything that the developer has added into the game this is still hard for me to grasp.

 If you noticed, the review is late. I waited for the first patch to see if some items cleared up. I was having 'artifacts' show up on my screen after playing for a while (an artifact is a left over portion of a window that has since been closed). After seeing that no one else was complaining of this, I updated my drivers etc., and it no longer shows up. The AI in the game was another matter. In some of the scenarios the AI would not really attack at all. The developer has worked on this and has said that he would continue to look at the AI. It does seem to be better after the patch. The other thing is this review seems to be cursed, at least for me. I have lost the rough draft twice on it, which is funny because it has never happened to me before. 

 So, bottom line, this is a good to great game as long as you are interested in putting the time into learning it. One good thing about the game is the number of tutorials that have been done. Some of the best have been done by "Slick Wilhelm" from the Matrix Games forum.

Robert

Battlestar Galactica Deadlock: The Broken Alliance (BSGD:TBA...still a mouthful, let's just go with BA) is the freshly released expansion to last year's surprisingly excellent we-go space fleet strategy game from Black Lab Games. I never got a chance to play the base game before a few weeks ago, so this review will cover both the full game and the new DLC. 

For players already familiar with Deadlock, I'll cover The Broken Alliance in detail first, then go back and give a overview of the base game for newbies. BA integrates smoothly into the existing dynamic campaign structure, enhancing it rather than being a separate experience. The campaign exists as a series of eight special missions that you can attempt to complete in the midst of the existing war against the Cylons. The first mission marker will appear as soon as you finish the initial tutorials, giving you the option to add one of the brand new ship types to your fleet right away. You can of course ignore it for awhile if the Cylons are focusing your attention elsewhere. As the name of the DLC implies, these missions center around the tenuous alliance of the human worlds in the face of the Cylon onslaught. Much like in the BSG TV series, the aims of the front line military commanders and the ambitions of various politicians don't mesh, leading to plenty of drama and tension. There are several new characters with strong personalities who are part of a neat story line that will keep you hooked. These events all take place within the overall war that you are already fighting, and add more decision points to a campaign that already had a good amount of replayability.

Along the course of the campaign, you will get to try out some new toys and face new enemy ships. Each side of the Human vs Cylon war gets a new offensive capital ship, a new support ship, and a new fighter type. These give you some fresh options for building your fleet in the campaign, and add a little extra spice to the multiplayer gameplay. For example, the first mission of the BA campaign gives you access to the Celestra class resupply ship, which can augment armor on a specific section of a friendly ship, and also send extra missiles or torpedoes over to restock your offensive ships. The Celestra has no means of attack at all, but opens up new tactical options. You can use the armor buff to help a ship take the brunt of the enemy attack, constantly moving the extra layer of defense around to offer the most protection.  The ability to restock missiles makes another early game ship type, the Ranger missile frigate, able to continue firing long after its munitions racks would normally have run empty. Although a resupply ship may not seem that sexy at first glance, it really does give you a new dimension to consider in your battle plans.

The Broken Alliance expansion released alongside a substantial patch which adds many improvements to the game even if you don't pick up the DLC. The Endurance Update adds one key new feature, persistent damage, which effects both the tactical and strategic layer for the better. Previously, ships would return to full health after each battle, regardless of whether they took a beating in the last fight. This meant that there was no reason not to rush in headlong as long as you knew you could kill the enemy before they knocked out one of your guys. Now it's in your best interest to fight each battle with the future in mind, minimizing damage whenever possible. This damage is shown visually as it happens, which makes the battles feel much more like the show, as ships limp away from a tough fight covered in bruises.

Overall, The Broken Alliance is easily worth the cost of admission and, along with the Endurance Update, enriches an experience that was already rather solid. This is the best kind of DLC, one that seamlessly integrates into the original game and makes what was already there better. Between the new content and persistent damage, veteran players have more than enough reason to spin up their FTL drives and hop back in for another round against the toasters.

What if you're fresh to the BSG Deadlock scene and want to hear a bit more about that dynamic campaign and those cool looking tactical battles? I've got you covered!

BSG Deadlock is a game about the first Cylon War, which happened many years before the events of the rebooted TV series. The Galactica is not some ancient warship ready to be turned into a museum, but instead it is one of the premier flagships of the Colonial Fleet. Unfortunately, the Galactica has gone missing, and following a strong blow from a surprise Cylon assault, the Colonial Fleet is in rebuilding mode. This is where you start the campaign, right in the middle of a war that has been going on for some time with no end in sight, hence "Deadlock." There's no running and hiding from the Cylons here, this is a game all about big ships slugging it out in head-to-head confrontations. 

The gameplay is broken up into two distinct halves. The tactical battles, and the strategic layer. Each heavily influences the other, and you will need success in both to carry humanity to victory.

On the strategic level, the game features a dynamic campaign where you maneuver your fleet, and later, multiple fleets, around the Twelve Colonies of Kobol, fighting off the Cylons where they appear, and also taking on special scenarios that move the story forward. The twelve human worlds provide you with resources each turn, but they can drop out of the alliance if you don't defend them, much like nations in XCOM. However, here you can bring them back into the fold over time. As part of the strategic layer you are able to build ships, research new designs, assign and promote officers, and set priorities for the war as you see fit. 

There's some interesting decision making to be had in terms of how you use the resources available to you. New ships can be built fairly cheaply over the course of a few turns, or pumped out immediately for an exorbitant price. Likewise, officers can be promoted (allowing you to level up their abilities) for free as they gain experience, or you can use valuable resource points to push them faster. The technology tree isn't vast, but does require you to decide priorities based on how you want to fight your battles. If you want to jump straight to a Battlestar tier of ship, you'll have to forgo many of the cheaper upgrades and designs that could make your starting fleet more potent.  There's something to be considered here every turn, since even moving your ships rapidly across the map can put a strain on your resources. Letting them idle for a few turns is much more fuel efficient, but of course means that the Cylons are raiding unchecked somewhere.

I enjoyed the strategic part of the game because it gives you the freedom to conduct the war how you want, while still pushing you forwards constantly. Your operations are centered around a mobile shipyard that tags along with one of your fleets. It gives your starting fleet a bit of help in battles with its two fighter squadrons and some turrets. However, soon you must build additional fleets and send them out alone to keep the enemy in check across the twelve colonies. Doing so will give you benefits, since worlds support you more when you have a military presence there, and having more fleets spread around makes it much easier to drive off the Cylons wherever they appear.

The other half of the game is the tactical battles. This is the meat of the game, where you face the enemy head on and do your best to defeat them while taking minimal casualties. The interface for commanding your ships is easy to use, but there is a ton of depth to explore. The action is broken up into we-go turns where orders are given by both sides, then the action plays out briefly before giving you another chance to issue orders. 

Ships have separate armor on all four sides plus the top and bottom. Once the armor in one section gets chewed up, the ship starts taking damage to its "health" points. Ships have specific sections like engineering and fire control which can be damaged and must be repaired to restore functionality. Each ship also has specific arcs of fire depending on where the turrets are. One of your starting ship classes can only fire forwards and backwards, while the other can only fire broadsides. Later models have more arcs, including some that are on the top or bottom. All of this means that you absolutely must use the concept of three dimensional space to your advantage. I tried a lot of tactics like stacking ships vertically and doing a space rendition of crossing the T. One must also consider that missiles or torpedoes fired by your ships will crash into any friendly ships in the line of fire, so you need to consider that when coming up with a formation.  There are some other small tweaks you can make every turn, like using a slider to add more power to either defense or attack (at the cost of speed) or boosting all power to the engines to cover some ground...er space. As your ships take damage, you can direct repair crews to whichever section of the ship you think needs to be repaired first. 

Besides your large ships, you will also be fielding plenty of Viper and Raptor squadrons. The Vipers are your fighter jets, going out to attack enemy fighters and harass larger ships. They are great for projecting some power rapidly across the battlefield where needed. They can also play defense, and try to intercept incoming missiles. The Raptors are your utility players, equipped for electronic warfare, defense against Cylon hacking, boarding operations, and a small rack of missiles just for fun. Probably my only big complaint with the game is that you never seem to get those close in third-person shots of the Vipers that were so common in the show.

The tactical battles initially seem like they could get repetitive or easy since you see a lot of the same ship types over and over, but that isn't the case. Each time you go out the enemy is in a different configuration, and the battles are so dynamic in how they flow from moment to moment that they never become repetitive. I had a constant drive to experiment with different strategies to see what would produce the best results. Again, I have to mention how the 3-D aspect of space combat really does come into play here, unlike in many space combat games where it doesn't really matter that much. As you add more ships to the mix, the tactical possibilities open up even more and as different enemy ships appear your tactics must adjust to the new threats they pose. All of this taken together makes for a lot of variety as the campaign progresses from small-medium skirmishes to late game heavy-weight bouts.

Even when a battle mostly goes your way, this is a war between powerful opponents, and you will lose ships. It's heartbreaking to see a ship you've had from early on get caught in a kill zone because you maneuvered them too aggressively, or when a Cylon frigate manages to get off one last salvo of torpedoes which hits the one weakened section of armor on one of your ships, destroying it just as the battle ends. Losing ships and building new ones is part of the game, and really makes it feel like you are in a fierce battle for survival.

The graphics and sound do a great job of depicting space battles in the style of the BSG reboot. Missile trails, cannon fire, flak bursts, it's all there and puts you right into the show. Zoom in on a ship and you can even see its name painted on the side. As ships take damage they will shows the scars of battle on their hull, with fire leaking out here and there. The sound effects perfectly match the action, with the dull boom of cannons followed by the deep cracking of a capital ship breaking up. One cool feature of the game is that you can watch a complete replay of each battle once it is over, with cinematic camera shots showing off all of the action. This turns a long series of brief turns into an uninterrupted movie that can be very enjoyable to watch when a battle goes your way. I have to praise the music in particular. It is not the exact same music from the show (as far as I can tell), but it captures the same style perfectly. If you want a game that puts you right into the action of a Battlestar Galactica battle, this is it. 

It goes without saying that I give this game a strong recommendation. If you are a fan of the show, you must play it. If you are a fan of turn-based tactics, XCOM style strategy-tactical mixes, or space combat, you should definitely be interested. The combat is great, the dynamic campaign provides a rich context for why you are fighting, and the game perfectly captures the atmosphere of the BSG universe. I didn't even mention the great voice work that goes into the story scenarios and briefings, where you get all the political intrigue and infighting that is common to the setting. With the addition of The Broken Alliance expansion, a good game is made even better. The game is half-off for the next week, so it's a great time to join the fray. 

So say we all!

BSG Deadlock and its expansions are available directly from Matrix Games. 
Deadlock Base Game
The Broken Alliance DLC

The game is also available on Steam, PS4, and XBOX ONE.


- Joe Beard