Tempest, the Pirate Action RPG, is exactly what the name suggests. This game, previously available on PC and now ported to mobile devices, puts you in the role of the captain of a ship in an open-world where you can sail about fighting other ships, completing quests (both mundane and legendary), or hunting for treasure. There are quest lines to explore if you are looking for a focused experience, but nothing holds you back from going wherever you please after the tutorial. Along the way you'll also need to manage your crew, buy and sell goods, and upgrade to better ships.  For a little $8 mobile game, there is a lot to see and do. Grab your eyepatch, strap on a peg leg, and let's set sail on this pirate adventure.

As you can see from the official trailer above, the game does look pretty nice, especially in terms of atmosphere and lighting. I played the game on an iPhone 5s, and it looks just like that while running perfectly smooth. All of the screenshots in this review were taken on my phone. The file size clocks in at 341 MB, so it won't take up too much space if you are constantly maxing out your file storage like I do.

Since this is a mobile game, how the controls work is going to be critical to whether I will enjoy it. In the case of Tempest, I can report that the controls work quite well, even with a lot of stuff jammed onto the screen.

The big arrows you see in each screenshot are how you steer the ship.  Simply touch one and the ship will turn in that direction. There are a variety of menus which are reached by tapping the icons along the edges of the screen. These menus let you manage your crew, inspect your ship's inventory and status, review your quests, or hoist a different flag, among other things. The camera can be spun, tilted, and zoomed at any time. During battle, the camera can be locked onto an enemy ship, which frees you up from needing to manage it. You will have plenty of other concerns to take up your time, between steering your ship into position, watching the direction of the wind, changing cannonball types, and of course firing the big guns.

A typical round of combat in Tempest has you and an enemy ship circling each other, attempting to get the enemy in your sights while staying out of theirs as much as possible. The blue strip in the screenshot above shows your line of fire. You need to hold the enemy in this lane so that your men can take aim. You can fire at any time, or wait for the circle to fill completely, which automatically triggers a full power shot. Engaging at long range makes this tricky, as you must anticipate the speed and direction of yourself and the enemy ship. Engaging close up is of course easier, but puts you at greater risk of taking heavy damage. 

The game starts you off with the basic age of sail attack options. You can load your cannons with standard cannonballs for hull damage, bars for sail damage, and shrapnel for taking out enemy crew. These different options come in a variety of quality levels, and your stocks are finite, so you need to keep an eye on inventory levels as you head into a big battle. Luckily, rusty old cannonballs are handed out for free at pirate ports. As you play the game, more exotic weapons like mortars and flamethrowers can be added to your arsenal.

There are also a variety of other upgrades you can add to your ship which give you more options for attacking and other advantages. For example, a very thematic item you can pick up early is the spyglass. Using this actually takes you into a first person telescopic view, where you can gaze at ships in the distance to gather information about them. 

As you sail around the game world you will visit ports belonging to a wide variety of factions. Your reputation with each is tracked, and like in most games, having higher rep will give you advantages with that faction, while dropping it too low can get you locked out of their ports entirely. The various factions all have some sort of bonus that gives you a reason to visit them and keep your reputation with them strong. Each faction also has a series of quests you can complete, which run along their individual theme. Completing these will boost your reputation and reap you some nice rewards.

You also gain a variety of personal reputations based on how you fight. These reputations colorfully describe your character, but also give you a bonus related to actions you take while playing. In my case I tended to fight at long range and flee from combat when needed. This gave me a bonus to accuracy and speed, respectively. These bonuses are earned and changed automatically as the game goes along. I thought this was a really cool idea that rewarded you based on your preferred playstyle. 

The game offers you a very interesting option in how you want to play it. You can travel around using the strategic map (see above), simply tapping on where you want to go and waiting a few seconds for your ship to arrive. Along the way, random encounters and quest events will pop up at the bottom of the screen. You can choose to engage these foes or pass them by. Most quest locations are clearly marked and you simply click on them to head that way. This is all very efficient and easy, but true sea dogs who want to feel the ocean spray on their face have another option (see below).

It is possible play the entire game without using the strategic map at all. You can sail around the entire game world while looking at your ship, or even zoomed in all the way to the deck. A map is available there at the helm with the same information as the strategic map. This is a cool option that adds to the immersion, especially when you want to do some peaceful sailing.

As I mentioned before, as captain of the ship you are also responsible for managing the ship's finances, cargo, crew, and officers. Crew management has two key factors. How many crewman of different experience levels you have, and where you put them. There are five different experience levels. You can always pick up more level 1 crew for free at ports, but skilled crewmen are limited and have a price. However, the crew you have gains experience and this can be spent to level up your men and make them more effective. Crewmen can also be wounded or killed in battle, which means you want to avoid lopsided battles where you might lose numerous experienced men. 

The second aspect to crew management is where you put these men. There are three sections of your ship: the guns, the deck fighters, and the sails. Each section can be boosted in efficiency by placing more men there, so you may want to shift men around as the situation demands. In practice, you don't have to mess with this too much, but it's something to always keep in mind.

Hauling cargo from port to port, buying low and selling high, is a classic open world mechanic that fits into Tempest nicely. Whether you are buying those goods legitimately, or taking them off the wrecks of your latest victims is up to you. Funds earned by combat and selling goods can be used to upgrade your ship in numerous ways. Stronger hulls and bigger cannons are on offer of course, as well as smaller upgrades and tweaks to customize your ship. Once you earn enough cash, you can even buy an entirely new ship. These range from quick sloops to triple decked battleships. 

I talked early on about how impressive the visuals were (considering I am playing this with smooth frame rates on a two year old phone) but something should also be said about the sound and music. The music is some of the best I have heard in a new game so far this year. It's exactly the kind of stuff you would expect from a good pirate movie and will have you feeling like Jack Sparrow going into the action. The sound effects are also very well done. The ship creaks as you change direction, the waves crash against your hull, and the cannons roar in battle. There is a lot going on in this regard, and I recommend playing with headphones on to get the full effect.

The game includes more fantastical elements as it progresses, including special artifacts, magical powers, and even sea monsters. I will let you discover those fun encounters on your own. The game also features co-op and PvP multiplayer, though I did not experience any of it during my playtime so far. This was likely because I spent most of my time playing before the game fully released. From everything I've read about the PC version of the game, these features are fun and seamlessly built into the gameplay. If you and someone else are sailing through the same part of the game world and enter a battle, there is a chance you will find yourself fighting along with, or against, that human player.

If any negatives could be said about the game, it would be that there are a lot of systems here, but none delve too deep. The gameplay loop is nothing new, you earn money in a variety of ways, then spend it to get bigger, better stuff so you can earn more money faster to buy more stuff. You've seen all this before. That said, everything here is as solidly constructed as the hull of Old Ironsides. The game delivers exactly the experience the developers set out to create. 

Clearly, this is a game with a lot of content and things to do. Considering the price, and compared to typical mobile game offerings, you get some serious bang for your buck with Tempest. There are no In-App Purchases or microtransactions to be seen. $8 gets you the full experience, which is a rare thing on these platforms. I wanted to try the game out on my iPad, but it kept saying the device was not compatible. Hopefully this has been fixed with the full release of the game, but even if not, the game works extremely well on the much smaller iPhone.

While in a lot of ways the game offers standard open-world gaming fare, it is done here with a high level of competency all wrapped in an appealing setting. I find that I don't game much on my iPhone, with unsatisfying titles arriving and then walking the plank shortly after, but Tempest has me rethinking that pattern. The short initial load time, impressive sounds and visuals, all on top of the fully featured gameplay, has earned it a permanent spot on my phone.

- Joe Beard

Developer: HeroCraft
Official Website: http://www.herocraft.com/

Tempest is available on iOS and Android devices. 
The PC version is available on Steam.

Pyrrhus of Epirus

by

 

Jeff Champion

 The time of the Diadochi has always been one of my favorite eras of history for reading and gaming. Forget Alexander; without the cast of generals he had around him, he might just be a footnote in history. Pyrrhus's life spans through the time of the Diadochi and Epigoni. As a youth he is fighting along side Antigonus and Demetrius in the largest battle of the Hellenistic period, Ipsus. Pyrrhus's life is definitely one that should have a movie made of it. His fortunes were always up and down, but his personal bravery and his generalship was never in question. Hannibal ranked him as either the greatest or second greatest general of the ancient world   (Plutarch recounts both in different places). Left adrift at the age of two to the fortunes of war, his battles for his patrimony and conquest are the stuff of legends. Out of all the kings at the time, he was the one that most people considered to be a true successor to Alexander, who was actually his second cousin. Pyrrhus's uncle Alexander Molossus invaded Italy, and fought the Romans as his nephew later would. Livy has Alexander Molossus saying at his death "that he fought men, while his other nephew Alexander waged war against women". On to the actual book.

 First, the book has something that all history books should have, maps, and it has eight pages of them. Some people who read history have an innate map system that allows them to be able to see in their heads where everything being written about is, and actual battle placements. Others have to keep cross-referencing while reading, which is a bit of a hassle. History books, and especially military history books, should always have maps and the more the better. Mr. Champion starts the book with a background history of Epirus. The biography continues with Pyrrhus's exile, his return and then his short tenure of king of Macedon. During his fight for the crown of  Macedon is where he gained his nickname 'the eagle'. Then Pyrrhus's life enters the best known part, his invasion of Italy and battles against the Romans. Unlike Hannibal, the Romans were actually debating whether to submit to Pyrrhus. If not for the old blind man Appius Claudius Caecus, a peace treaty would have been signed between Rome and Pyrrhus. What changes would have occurred in the rest of history if this had happened?

 His life continues with many victories against Carthage in Sicily. He then becomes embroiled once more in fighting Rome and then returns to Greece where his life is cut short in Argos by an old women wielding a roof tile, of all things.

 Mr. Champion does a very good job of showing all of the different accounts of his battles and Pyrrhus's history in general. Where there are conflicting accounts, Mr. Champion makes sure the reader is aware of them. History, as we know, is usually written by the victors. So most of the accounts of Pyrrhus in his struggles with Rome do not make sense if he lost battles or his casualties were as high as some state. Well-written and stuffed full of history of not only the man, but also his time, this book is very easy to recommend. Thankfully we live in an age where there are historians who are finally filling the blank spots in the great Hellenistic age. We can only weep at the many histories that Plutarch, etc. mention that have until now never been found.


Robert 


Book: Pyrrhus of Epirus
Author: Jeff Champion
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Distributor: Casemate Publishers

Once upon a time there were only a couple of Warhammer 40k games for PC, and there was much lamenting this fact, until one day the winds changed, and 40k games of various quality began springing up like Orks. Some of these new games were decent enough, while others were a bit of a mess. One thing is for certain, developers were forced to pair the theme of 40k with all sorts of interesting mechanics, simply to stand apart from the crowd. 

Into this crowded field of combatants steps Warhammer 40k: Space Wolf, a game which pairs the turn based tactical combat of XCOM with the deck building mechanics of Hearthstone.  Individual Space Marines travel about on a grid facing off against Chaos Marines and other heretics. Your Marines each have a deck of cards which are drawn from to form your "hand" of options. The cards can be played to attack, move, or activate some other ability. Once you play a card it's gone, so you have to balance what you need now with what you may want to do in the future. While this may seem odd to some, this card driven combat actually works quite well, and is even addicting. Completing scenarios and optional objectives will unlock more cards for you to use in your decks. There is also a light RPG system of leveling up the characters in your squad, allowing you to unlock various perks for each one. 

The cards represent all the different weapons you would expect to find on a 40k battlefield. Bolters of all types, melta guns, flamers, explosives, and various combination weapons. There are also the ever grisly melee weapons like chainswords, axes, power fists, spears, and more. For any given weapon, there are a variety of different cards which represent it, some with better stats and even extra abilities, like letting you draw another card when they are played. One important stat on every card is the "effort" value, which ties into the initiative system. Basically, using cards will increase your effort level for that character, then over time that number will decrease, and this constantly shifting value determines the dynamic turn order. Using the really cool and powerful cards will increase the number faster, which means an enemy using lighter attacks may get to go twice before you character acts again. Balancing this number is a critical part of the gameplay, as enemy units often out number yours considerably, and edging them out in turn order can be the difference between victory and annihilation. 

Some cards can also let you (and the forces of Chaos) pull off combo moves that will give some kind of bonus. These often have a requirement such as attacking an enemy from a specific range, or using a melee weapon, before they activate. Firing off these combos will help you be more efficient, which is important because the enemy squads will keep coming at you with no mercy during most missions. 

Another type of card is one that can be "equipped" on your character. These often give you an overwatch ability that can fire during the enemy's turn. Unlike most cards, these equipped cards stay around and can be "reloaded" by sacrificing certain other cards from your hand.

Each scenario gives you some sort of task, such as reaching a certain point on the map and defeating an enemy, saving a comrade, or simply holding out against waves of attackers. There are also optional objectives you can try to complete to earn bonuses. I was surprised to find myself playing the same mission several times over, trying to get the optimal outcome. The scenarios typically have your Marines facing a ton of enemies that spawn in at the most inopportune moments. This creates a challenge certainly, but can sometimes feel cheap, since you really have no idea when or where they will arrive. You may survive the fight the first time around, but will likely be unable to complete the bonus objectives until playing through again with a bit of foreknowledge about where and when attacks will come. 

To get the most out of your squad for a particular scenario, you may need to go back to the barracks and tweak your team. This includes changing up the cards in your deck, and switching out different perks for each squad member. You can invest a limited number of points in unlocking more perks for a given marine, or your primary character. You can also choose to send your main man into battle with a different armored suit. Scout, tactical (the standard), and terminator options are available. Each comes with advantages and disadvantages, and unique options in terms of cards, which will change up your strategy quite a bit. The scout armor, for example, has lighter defenses, but can move quickly and use sniper rifles.

Burning more than one enemy with the flamer is always satisfying.

Outside of missions, you can also spend resources to craft new cards and try to get better versions of each one. Much like other collectible card games, there's a drive to collect all of the "legendary" cards that will really beef up your deck. I've only tinkered with that area of things, so I'll save more details for my review in the future. Likewise, the game does have multiplayer, but I have not dipped my toe in that pool of chaos just yet.


I'll talk a bit about the graphics and sound for a moment. While the visuals are not going to blow anyone away, as this was originally a mobile game, they serve their purpose well enough. The animations are nicely done in particular, with especially meaty melee attacks that send blood flying. The sound effects are pleasing as well, better than I expected going in. I really enjoyed the music that I have heard so far. It's quite a moody and matches the grim dark tone.

You might have noticed that I mentioned this was originally a mobile game. Don't start backing away! The developers are well aware of the stigma that many such cross-platform games face, and they are deliberately setting out to make this version of the game take full advantage of being on PC. Obviously, the fact that they are taking their time developing the game for the next several months, instead of just shoving a port onto Windows and calling it good, speaks volumes on its own. They are accepting feedback from players, and want to make this the best version of the game out there.

While this game is still in very early access (I think I started at version 0.0.2 and it's now at 0.0.6), there is certainly enough solid gameplay here for anyone looking for some more WH 40k gaming. The combination of card driven actions and tactical turn based movement works better than anyone might expect. The game only costs $12 at the moment, so if you are at all interested you won't be risking much by giving it a shot. If you have your doubts, just keep an eye on the steady stream of updates coming from the developers. This week they made some big changes with weapon balancing, which I was playing with right before this review. This update alone increased my enjoyment of the gameplay quite a bit, since it made melee weapons a lot easier to engage with. 

I look forward to seeing how this game shapes up over the course of the year. The planned release date is sometime in Q4 of 2017.

Developer: HeroCraft
http://www.spacewolfgame.com

- Joe Beard

Part Two

 

THEATER OF OPERATIONS: The Game

   

Journey of the Reluctant Indie Dev
 
  My wife and I were dealing with twin newborns plus a 2 year old, and a complete lack of meaningful sleep for months. In the wee hours of the night I would let my mind wander to my “happy place” to help keep my sanity. I am a life-long war gamer and my mind eventually wandered to “how would I create a campaign layer to the Combat Mission series of games?” by Battlefront.com. This is the genesis of Theater of Operations.

  I found myself continuing to think about my game concept even after I gradually started to get some sleep. I continued to tinker around with various concepts, and then one day I decided to try and make the game a reality. Here is the catch; I NEVER intended to be the person to actually develop the game. I am not a professional programmer (though I have done it before), nor am I in the industry (yet). I was happy to be a volunteer consultant for a company; all I wanted was credit and a free copy of the game! I tried time and again to “give” my game concept away. Every company I contacted had varying degrees of courtesy, but they all had the same basic answer of “no thanks because we have our own production schedule” and “come back when you have something to sell”.

  Steve at Battlefront has been surprisingly supportive of me and my idea, especially during the early days. BFC didn’t want to develop my game, but Steve encouraged me to take the reins and try to make it happen on my own. I had enough going on in my life, and this was NOT something I wanted to expend my energy on… or so I thought. I tried to forget about the project, but I found myself drawn back to thinking about it. My conscience wasn’t going to let me quit this project, so here I stand fully committed and motivated to make this happen.
 
  How was I going to make this happen? I started trying to find different resources and then one day it hit me. I have one of the largest research universities in the world in my back yard (Ohio State), and they became my primary focus for resources. I started getting research material at the library, and soliciting advice and ideas from faculty. Eventually I was directed to Professor Crawfis who teaches game design and development. After meeting with him, he started helping me find some local people that would be interested in joining forces with the project. This is how I met Mitchell and David. Another contact at the university connected me with John, and together we formed Buckeye Battle Group (BBG).

  The team was excited about the project, however we had no funding. Despite great interest and good intentions there was little meaningful progress in programming development over several months. Everyone had full time jobs, and the project was too complex to work on in a casual manner. After some time I accepted the fact that the only way to complete an ambitious project like ToO was to get enough funding to dedicate team members to the project full time. So I started researching different avenues to get funding. After a rather exhaustive search I concluded that crowdsourcing appeared to be our best bet.

 To avoid any confusion I want to stop here and say that the game name has evolved over the years. Currently our project is called Theater of Operations, however during our Kickstarter in 2015 the game was named Combat Operations: Overlord (COO).

  The summer and fall of 2015 was an exciting time for the project. I had a team, and we were working to get a Kickstarter prepared for the beginning of September. I had gotten to know JC of Real and Simulated Wars fairly well over the previous couple of years, and he was excited to try and help. After some planning sessions we decided to run a few segments on his blog about the game. My plan was to begin the Kickstarter after giving it a few weeks to garner attention. I was hoping that the forward momentum would help us reach our relatively modest development funding goal.

  The segments ran in Real and Simulated Wars as planned, and it got a lot of positive attention. My team and I also spent time on other forums to attempt to generate even more attention. Then something even more exciting happened; Rock, Paper, Shotgun picked up on my project and posted about it! Morale was high and we thought we might actually pull this thing off!

 Then came the reality check. The Kickstarter began September 1 (to coincide with the 1939 German invasion of Poland), and the first day went well. Despite the initial success I sensed that things were not trending in the right direction. Funding quickly flat-lined and I started to see a fair amount of less-than-positive feedback. There was plenty of constructive criticism to take note of, but some other criticism was rather obnoxious and baffled me with its angry tone. I soon figured out that much of the venom was fuelled by scepticism. Behind the scenes I tried to salvage the campaign with different measures, but after a week I felt like anything we did was going to be too little too late. There was a lot of time still left on the campaign (with potential donors still lurking), but I decided to end the campaign early, catch our breath, regroup and reassess.

 It sucks to fail, but I learned many critical lessons on many different aspects. The baptism of fire was the best source of accurate information I could have gotten. I got perfect clarity on what we needed to do. Furthermore, I made many new friends that were excited to provide positive support in a variety of ways. A perfect example is our forum on dogsofwarvu.com. Before the campaign I was using a Google Group as a forum, but during the Kickstarter Asid of dogsofwar.com graciously offered me space on his forum. So yes, we failed to reach our primary objective, but the project still made a significant advance forward as a result.

 Immediately after the Kickstarter I took a deep breath and re-evaluated our approach. Perhaps the core lesson learned was attaining greater public confidence. Software development projects are met with greater scepticism with Kickstarter, and I had to address this. If we build greater public confidence then we have a much better chance at reaching our crowdsourcing goals. All I was showing in my Kickstarter was my game concept, what it wanted to achieve, some of the support we had, and some conceptual pictures. The public needed to see more since our team had no game production credentials.

  The obvious question now becomes “How are you going to attain greater public confidence?” There are a number of ways that we are addressing this. The first way is simply to continue to have a presence (i.e. our forum and website), and continue to market ourselves and our project. The best way is to actually produce something. As I mentioned earlier Theater of Operations is too ambitious with our current constraints, however we are currently working on taking a board wargame from a known publisher and creating a computer version. I can’t talk more about it yet because of where we are at in the process, but we plan to have something out before this fall.

  While the board game project diverts our programming attention away from ToO the potential benefits far outweigh the diversion. Ironically the board game project may lead to faster development of ToO for a couple of reasons. The board game will be easier to develop with a simpler scope, and it will give our team more experience and confidence when it comes to programming a complex game like ToO (more confidence, faster execution). Additionally, it will create a trickle of revenue. Accomplishing the board game project may open other immediate sources of funding that makes another Kickstarter completely unnecessary. Like Cicero said "the sinews of war are infinite money"! It is every bit as true for creating war games too!!

  As it stands now the ToO game design and algorithms are mostly complete and ready for formal beta testing. I am being brutally honest when I say that we are a long way off of any computer playtesting, because A LOT of code still needs to be developed before that can happen. The programmers indicate that once they can get through with building all the foundational programming for ToO, adding all the game algorithms should be relatively easy.

 Currently we are doing a ‘manual’ live play test of ToO. We are running a scenario that takes place in Normandy called Blue, Gray, and Bocage. I don’t want to mislead anyone, so I will reiterate that everything is being accomplished by hand at the moment. So I am using spreadsheets to track and compute results, and I create the visuals using Vassal. While some may scoff at the thought of doing this, I am getting great design information to adjust and tweak. So progress is currently being made in small increments, but it is progress nonetheless. Additionally, people can see the basic concepts in action.

  Our forum has gobs of information. I give updates, links to videos, insight to game concepts, and discussion on various aspects. This is also where we are doing our live play test. I encourage all that are interested to check it out and feel free to join the discussion.

The Core Team of BBG

  Matt McCoppin is the game designer for Theater of Operations and the ringleader/founder of Buckeye Battle Group. He has over 2 decades of military experience, and he is a lifelong war gamer. He enjoys most genres of gaming from historical to fantasy. He enjoys all mediums (computer, board game, or miniatures), and all levels of combat (strategic, operational, and tactical). He has been designing various games since he was 5 years old, but never tried to get one published…till now!

  David Hazlett is our lead programmer and is a cofounder of Paint BiNumbers Studios. His company mostly does consulting work in the gaming industry, and they work closely with Ohio State University researchers. Many projects they do are gamification of daily tasks or therapy. They have partnered with Games That Move You to develop a stroke rehabilitation video game using the Kinect to track a stroke patient's skeleton and have them do gestures to control game actions while getting their therapy at the same time. He is a foundational member of Buckeye Battle Group and has been working on writing the software needed to make our game a reality!

  Mitchell Arthur is a foundational member of Buckeye Battle Group, in fact he was the first programmer to join the team. He is currently a .NET web applications developer at Nationwide Children's Hospital. He has been passionate about gaming ever since he popped a 3.5" floppy into his computer with the title "The Oregon Trail" on it. The first strategy video game he can remember playing was Axis and Allies, and strategy games have consumed vast amounts of his time ever since. He started game development in 2012 with Unity 3.5 in a class at The Ohio State University. Ever since then, he can’t stay away from Unity and game development.

  John Rose is a foundational member of BBG, but he was too busy to give us a bio in time. So we will just say that he has been developing software for a LOOONG time (since the early ‘80’s).

  Lincoln Stanley has many hobbies that include reading, video games and working out. He enjoys all things technical, so he builds computers and websites when he can. He is a former soldier and worked as a linguist in military intel, so he tries to maintain his knowledge of foreign languages as well. He has degrees in Korean, History and Business Intelligence yet he works in finance…figure that one out! His love of gaming in general and historical strategy in particular is what gets him excited to be part of this project.

  “Pres" is a programmer for BBG. He has been playing computer wargames since the 80's, and he is an avid student of military history. He has always wanted to develop wargames, and he worked for a computer gaming company for a while to get some experience in the industry. Creating games has always been an interest, and now is a perfect chance to be a part of BBG.

The War in the North Sea

The Royal Navy and The Imperial German Navy 1914-1918 

by

Quintin Barry 

 Another Quintin Barry book from Helion&Company, and again it is an excellent one. This follows all of the history of the war in the North sea during WWI. Of course, Jutland is there, but it is by no means the only subject covered. It is also full of pictures of the ships and men that made up the British and German forces. The book is not sparing on maps either, so that you can easily follow the book through all of the engagements and the background history of them.

 The book starts with a history of the British strategic planning. This is mostly a discussion of what type of a blockade the British would use, a close one or a wide one. A close one would have afforded the German navy many more engagements to try and pare the Royal Navy down. By choosing a wide blockade and doing sweeps with larger forces, the chance of the German Imperial Navy to pounce on small groups of the British Navy and even up the odds were much more distant. The author continues with a look back on the birth and growth of the German High Seas Fleet. Mr. Barry then starts to describe the various encounters between the two combatants, starting with Heligoland Bight and on to Dogger Bank. Jutland, as is natural, takes up a good amount of the author's writing. He goes deeply into the reasons for the battle and the actual history of the gigantic clash. Then he presents both sides of the British arguments about who did what, and when, during the battle and if it was the correct move for that admiral to take. There has been a hundred year fight going on between the proponents of Jellicoe and Beatty. Each side believes that his admiral was correct in his actions and that the other was wrong. It also boils over into whether Jellicoe was too timid during the engagement. Mr. Barry shows that some of the recollections of Beatty and his actual statements at times are not in fact what actually happened historically. Beatty, by virtually forgetting about the tremendously powerful Fifth battle squadron of fast battleships, himself lost a good chance to do some damage to the German High Seas Fleet. Jellicoe who was  once described as the "man who could lose the war in an afternoon", is usually shown in books to be very afraid of torpedo and mine attacks on his fleet. This book shows that every action Jellicoe took that day was already discussed with the Admiralty. One example in particular was turning away his fleet  from a torpedo attack. Torpedoes were still in their infancy, but a few lucky hits might have made all the difference. 

Iron Duke circa 1914

 As far as to who 'won' Jutland the author does not feel that it was unequivocally a British victory. There are many pros and cons to each side of the argument, and the author shows them in all of their facets. Mr. Barry also puts paid the untruths that the German High Seas Fleet never sortied again, and actually did attempt a few major sorties after Jutland.

 

SMS Seydlitz

 The book continues to describe the  submarine threat against both naval and merchant navies. He also delves into the fledgling naval aviation with descriptions of the Zeppelin and aircraft and their uses in the North sea. The Germans felt that their Zeppelins would really give them an edge in fighting the British Navy. It was to be a misplaced hope.

 Everything you could wish to know about WWI in the North Sea is here. The author once again shows how well history can be written. The book itself is a marvel of how to write history correctly and enjoyably. Thank you once again Helion&Company and Casemate Publishers for an excellent book. If you are are interested in the battle of Koniggratz or the Franco-Prussian war, please see his books on those subjects. I did a review on Volume 1 of the Franco-Prussian War here: http://www.awargamersneedfulthings.co.uk/2016/11/the-franco-prussian-war-1870-71-volume.html


Robert


Book: The War in The North Sea
Author: Quintin barry
Publisher: Helion&Company
Distributor: Casemate Publishers

 

WAR OF THE RING

2ND EDITION

Some of you may feel that a review of War of The Ring 2nd edition [from now on standard abbreviation WOTR] is a little unnecessary, but that was what I was  asked to undertake, before moving on to the expansion WOTR: Warriors of Middle-Earth.

In many ways, this request was like one I had back in the 90s when I was reviewing for the magazine, Games Monthly.  That was to tackle the original basic Squad Leader many years after it had been published and a whole raft of expansions had rolled out too.  I approached that with considerable trepidation expecting legions of devotees to be scrutinising in minute detail, looking for the slightest error or view contrary to their liking and with guns loaded and ready.

Still, I'm alive to tell the tale and ready to try my hand at WOTR.  After all, what's to fear this time, except for the odd orc, neurotic necromancer, irate dwarf or The Eye of Sauron. [Cue sound of reverberating thunder and sinister, mocking laugh.]

So, here goes!  Is there anyone other than babes in arms and very small children who do not have some good idea of the full story, if not from the real source Tolkien's classic trilogy, The Lord of The Rings, then at least from Peter Jackson's equally epic cinematic version?  My first encounter was back in 1965 aged 15!

Packing that narrative into a single game has been an equally monumental achievement and I defy anyone to refute WOTR's success. [vicious, nail-studded, orc club narrowly misses my skull - alright there's always someone out there won't agree!] 

So, it's dive in there with the playing board, a map of Middle-Earth.  Why the map? Well, partly because I'm fascinated by 'em, even down to reproducing by hand a vast  copy of the one from The Hobbit way back in my student days to hang on my wall!  But mainly because it's fantastic and the 2nd edition has tweaked and improved the original edition's one.  In fact, this board is in the main a scaled-down version of the Collector's Edition version.

I suspect that the map is the key aspect that will draw conflicting opinions between this second edition and the first edition.  I say this because I am myself torn between aspects of the two.  Though the original map's strong ochre colouring looks more like a Middle-Earth where Sauron has won, making me think of a post-apocalyptic desert, it does pack a strong, dramatic punch.  On balance, I prefer the new map [you might just have spotted the word "improved" |I slipped in earlier]. 

The predominantly verdant land with its dark green woods and now much more strongly contrasting region of Mordor seems a more accurate depiction.  The mountains stand out more and the various regions are better delineated and so easier to spot during game play.  My only wish is that Mordor had been made even grimmer and louring in its shading!

A series of boxes run down the left edge providing useful placement areas for besieged armies and, next to them, three, larger, very helpful holding boxes to accommodate sizable forces on the map.  This always tend to be a benefit in any game and especially WOTR with its huge supply of plastic figures, which grows even bigger with the expansion that I'll be reviewing soon!

The areas for holding the various key decks of cards are essentially identical to the original, but enlarged to take the new tarot-sized cards - love those.  A victory point track has been added at the bottom - useful, but always a target I've found for stray elbows and sleeves. [Not to mention those dice throwers who must insist on rolling them on or towards the game board.  Pet peeve of mine!]

The tarot-sized cards are superb.

On to those many, many plastic figures.  I look with deep envy at the glorious painted ones in on-line images and with even more envy at the set a fellow gamer plays with at conventions I attend.  I know it took him hours and nearly finished him off.

The Good

The Bad

And The Fellowship
[a little evil has crept in too, spot Saruman,
the Witch-king & The Mouth of Sauron]

I know that mine will never get quite the treatment I'd love to bestow on them.  Ultimately, my intention is to separate the various nations/races by colour [e.g. elves in green] to add to ease of play and spend some time on the special figures like those of the  Fellowship and, of course, Gollum.

Here he is! Dominating the Fellowship cards.

[Made it, Ma. Top of the world!]

with apologies to James Cagney

The last selection of figures in light grey plastic are the Leaders of the various nations/races and Shadow leaders, such as the Nazgul.

Generally the casting is good, with decent depth of detail, but fairly soft plastic so that spears, bows, lances [and other long, sharp pointy things] tend to wilt and wobble.  Nothing that the old hot water bath and then into very cold water won't literally straighten out!  I have had a few problems distinguishing the regular warriors of Gondor and Rohan - there is a difference in size and which side their spears and shields are positioned, but on the board they become harder to distinguish.  I can also sometimes confuse the different mounted Leaders.  Both are minor issues and will soon be dealt with by the basic paint job I intend to give the different races/nations.

All in all, when on the board, even in this most basic form without any paint, they still look an impressive sight.

The opening set-up.

Here once more you can also see the new size and quality of the Character and Event cards for both sides.  As before, the game can be played as a two player or four player working in teams of two and I must confess to much preferring to play two-player.  However, this is very much a personal choice, mainly because I only tend to like such teaming of players on one side when there can still only be one winner.  So, Wars of The Roses by Z-man Games and Ragnar Brothers' Promised Land are both games I hugely enjoy, whereas WOTR is definitely a 2 player for my money!

All the counters and markers are of very sturdy cardboard and I particularly like the new square Army markers [which replace the former, smaller round ones] inscribed with elven script that can be used to replace large numbers of units that are then placed in the Army Holding boxes on the map.  Beside the few physical changes, overall there have been very limited minor changes and additions to the rules - why change what was very good in the first place?

Much to my surprise the one factor that has had some complaints are the Action dice - too light, not clear enough, being the main ones - and complaints about the ordinary six-sided dice too.  As the latter past complaints seem to bear no relationship to the dice that came with my review copy, either they have been changed because of the complaints or I was just plain lucky.  They are plain simple basic D6s!  Should there be any problem with the ones you get in your game, most gamers usually have a huge stock of dice that they can swop in at the drop of a hat.  Any issues with the Action dice seem purely to be a question of personal aesthetics, not a certifiable factual problem.  To trot out one of my favourite French phrases : chacun a son gout!

To your taste or not?  Just don't put them in your mouth to find out.

With the rule book I do not intend to go into great detail discussing the actual rules, as there are so many forums and videos that take you through them in great detail.  Safe to say, as a component the rules book itself, it is an all-round delight.  The tactile quality of the substantial, smooth, glossy pages makes it a pleasure just to hold in your hand.  Good sized print, well laid out on the page, effective use of bold for emphasis, additional artwork just for atmosphere and above all everything clearly and well explained. 

Though at the end of the rules, there is a full-page of what is headed as a "Summary", this is a little misleading.  It is not a summary as such, but simply a sequential index of the rules. In other words, it's not an index where you can look up a rule in alphabetical order.  To find what you want to look up, you need to know which section of the rule book to find it in or at the worst skim through the whole page to locate it.  As WOTR has a substantial number of rules, for a gamer approaching these rules for the first time, it's not the most useful format.

The front cover of the rule book.

As a lover of the Tolkien novels and, I've got to say the Peter Jackson films too, this is the game interpretation for me.  I have tried a number of the card approximations of the game, but none achieves the all-encompassing nature of this game.  Two reasons I suspect influence me - one I am first and foremost a board wargamer and second, a pure card version of a game, I fear, will never wholly satisfy me. 

Above all I find that WOTR is the only game that successfully and smoothly integrates the combination of armies manoeuvring and fighting with the singularity of the quest to destroy the One Ring.  Many years ago SPI attempted this with what was for its time an incredible product, but also a massive, unwieldy monster that was only partially successful.

What is it in WOTR that achieves this success?   For me, it is the perfect mixture of the following vital elements.  Conventional area movement, combat and sieges.  Character figures with functions that inevitably mirror the break-up of the Fellowship as individuals need to be sent to rouse the Free Peoples and bring them in to the war.  The separate journey of the Ring-Bearers with its hidden element and the accompanying Hunt for the Ring.  Just as in the books the One Ring binds them all, so  in the game the Action dice brings together all these elements.  The limitations and uncertainty of these Action dice and what potential Actions can be taken that turn combine with the Event cards that each offer a dual choice. This makes for the variety and multiplicity of choices in a game that I value highly in any game of substantial weight and is central to my enjoyment in playing the game.

It is a long game, but one that rewards the time you spend on it.  Should you want a similar experience, but a shorter one there is always The Battle of Five Armies to fall back on.  This is an excellent game using most of the elements found in WOTR, but just like reading The Hobbit is a lesser experience than reading the whole trilogy of The Lord of The Rings, so is The Battle of Five Armies in relation to playing WOTR a fine, but lesser challenge.

To conclude, I feel I must use the game's full title again to do it full justice.  WAR OF THE RING stands out, not just as the best evocation and recreation of the original work of literature it is founded on, but one of the best [I would claim the best] among the many games that have attempted to take a different genre and reproduce it in game form.

 [pub. Ares Games]

Japanese Aircraft of World War II 1937-1945

by

Thomas Newdick 

 I must admit I have a fetish for military aircraft. I have bought every book I could on them, and I have also purchased almost every computer simulation of them I could. For some reason my fancy is tickled, especially by Axis aircraft of WWII. Mustangs were war winners and Spitfires are beautiful in a way, but give me a Macchi or a Nakajima and my eyes sort of glaze over. So I have more than my share of book compendiums like this one, but not like this one. Everyone of the compendiums of a certain war or country that I have purchased or read has left me a bit dry. Oh sure, they give you the speed, and altitude etc. of the plane, or in actuality one of the plane's variants. What they don't show you is what is in this handy volume of Japanese planes.

 The books several parts are divided as follows:

Land-based Bombers and Reconnaissance Aircraft

Land-based Fighters

Carrier Aircraft

Flying Boats and Floatplanes

Rocket and Jet-powered Aircraft

 It ends up with a 'Specifications and Data'  chapter which is split into these categories:

Types and Variants: Numbers built

Allied Reporting Names for Japanese Aircraft

Naming and Number System

Japanese Navy Air Service Short Designation System

Selected Technical drawings

 
 This book only shows planes that actually flew, and not planes that were still on the drawing board or in another development phase. There are six planes that are in the 'Technical Drawings'. They are as follows: Dinah, Tony, Zeke, Betty, Oscar, and a Frank. For those who do not know, boys' names were given by the Allies to Japanese fighters, and girls' names were given to their bombers. Notice there is no 'Zero'. The Mitsubishi A6M Reisen was actually called a Zeke by the Allies, and not a Zero. The 'Zero' came from the fact that it started its career in the year 2000 of the Japanese calendar. For the types and their variants there are listings for how many airframes were built no matter how few. The book also explains that there was a separate Army and Navy Air Force in Japan at the time. To further confuse the issue some Japanese naval Aircraft were only land based and not capable of carrier operations.

 The book itself is only 128 pages long, but it is packed with facts and figures about all of the Japanese aircraft. As a handy reference on Japanese warplanes, this cannot be beat. The fact that the specifications of all the major variants are given is more than worth the price. A note to the reader: these specifications are almost all from Japanese sources. When several fighters were tested in the U.S. during and after the war, they were given high octane fuel just like our own planes. The Japanese had only a very limited supply of this at the beginning of the war, and were never able to replace it. So the airplanes tested had higher speeds during our testing than would show on Japanese specifications. The book also goes into, in a limited way, some of the air munitions that were carried by these planes. 

 All in all, it is the best small volume of its kind that I have read, with more than enough information for the casual reader or plane aficionado. Hopefully the author is working on a similar book for Italian World War II planes.

  I couldn't resist adding this picture.

This is a Nakajima Ki-44 'Shoki' or 'Tojo'

Robert


Book: Japanese Aircraft of World War II
Author: Thomas Newdick
Publisher: Amber Books
Distributor: Casemate publishers
 

Warbirds: Blitzkrieg Review

 

Reviewing this game has been a learning experience on my part. It is a print and play game that also comes with a Vassal module built in. I had only dipped my toe at times down through the years into Vassal, so for this game I had to get into it down to the nuts and bolts. This game goes back to an earlier age where computers and all our new fangled doodads didn't exist. With all of our new games and plane simulations etc. why do we need to go back to a board game like this? The reason board games of any type are still around, and not only that are thriving right now is because of the game play. You will see during this review that this game is intricate, but fun, and that as a simulation of early WWII war in the air it works. You will have to read (shudder) and not just click a mouse. The game is fairly long on rules, but for gamer's who have played ASL or the original it is nowhere near as bad/good depending on your taste, and masochistic tendencies.

632Meg Download  

 

The game is based on what a pilot could do in in 4.1 seconds of real time. The length and breadth of the rules are because of the physical constraints of using one dimensional maps etc. to simulate everything a plane could do in three dimensions. In order to recreate dogfighting and ground pounding the player has to understand how the rules allow him to not only fly loops, but also do an Immelmann. The index of the rules takes up four pages (there are also a lot of optional rules to immersive yourself further). This is not to scare you off, but just to make sure you understand what you are buying into. The rules are sixty-one pages long, but it does have a lot of illustrations. After that there comes more rules for playing by PBEM, and then reference material, and then an alphabetical index. With the rules in PDF form it is very easy to have them open on a tablet or phone. So you won't have to print them off unless you want to. They are clearly written without ambiguities to argue over. The game rules are intuitive so without to much checking you will be up and flying and fighting in no time.

The game comes with twenty-four maps, and thirty three scenarios. The print and play version has very nicely done graphics, and the Vassal components are top notch.

The manual is well setup to learn all of the different things you need to know in an ABC method. The game is actual in two parts, there is a tactical part, and also an operational one. The tactical part is you flying your plane(s) over the different mapboards. The operational part is one where you are a flight commander, and are responsible for carrying out different missions. The operations part of the game has its own separate rule book.

Flight Ops Chart

 

Background on Air Warfare

 

The written material includes designers notes, and tons of background on air warfare.

 The rules are full of illustrations to show how they are to be utilized in the game.

Counters (Counters and Maps come in US and UK sizes)

 

More Counters

 

BF109E Data Card

 

The plane charts are a marvel all by themselves. By studying them you really get the 'feel' for the different planes.

 

Dornier Data Card

 

Dornier Data Card

 

 What you get for the price of $30.00 is pretty amazing. The fact that once you have the rules down they can be used in any of the other games in the series from WWI to the present is a tribute to how well the rules actually convey air warfare. I have started following along as some players use the PBEM system with the Vassal module. It seems to work pretty seamlessly.

 The games system started out as just a WWII addon for another flying game. The idea is just about twenty years old. Steve Pancrazio is the brain behind the games. Mr. Pancrazio has a background in engineering and aviation. He started playing board wargames in 1974, Avalon Hills 'Luftwaffe' to be exact. He decided to self publish his games in 2014, and the first one is called 'Canvas Falcons' and it has a good following on boardgamegeek etc. As I stated earlier, he was trying, and succeeded, in developing a flight game that could be used in different eras without having to learn a whole new set of rules for each new era. If you look at the rules for 'Blitzkrieg', and compare them to 'Canvas Falcons' you will not see too many differences. The next release will be 'The Battle of Britain' for which he is finishing the naval rules right now. After that it is on to 'Forgotten Wars', and then he will add a Zeppelin module for 'Canvas Falcons'. As a teaser there are aircraft data cards on the website for 'Forgotten Wars' one is a Mig-15 and the other an F-86.
 

  For those of you who want a physical copy there is the print-n-play version, which comes with the game. Their are more than a few good websites that can teach you how to make your own counters and maps, along with instructional videos.

 There is so much here that I really wanted to show, but cannot because of only having so much space.

 

Following are some shots from the Vassal version:

 

WW1 Counters from Canvas Falcons

 

Robert

 

Game: Warbirds Blitzkrieg

Company: Warbirds game System

Designer: Steve Pancrazio