RUM & BONES : SECOND TIDE

There are PIRATES and then there are PIRATES.  And those in RUM & BONES : SECOND TIDE  are distinctly of the latter persuasion.  We are in the full-on Ameritrash world of pirates which takes us way beyond Johnny Depp and Pirates of The Carribean.  I know the very word "Ameritrash" may have sent some of you running for cover almost before you'd read it, but I certainly don't use it in the pejorative way that certain gamers unfortunately do.   For me, Ameritrash signifies strongly themed games of action and conflict in glorious strong colour presented with components of high physical quality and often quantity too.  RUM & BONES : SECOND TIDE ticks all those boxes and then some.  

At its heart we are taken to what is one of the major climactic scenes of piratical derring-do - the boarding action.  The playing area consists of three separate boards  that depict in top-down view the contesting vessels.  In this case, the centre board is one faction's major ship, a gallant, while on either side are the opposing faction's two smaller ships, windcutters.

Above 

The Gallant

Below

The two Windcutters

These substantial mounted boards are wonderfully atmospheric in design and colour, especially the Gallant which exudes a strong impression of alien depths and tentacled realms.  That's not too surprising as this ship belongs to the faction of the Deep Lords of Atlantis, while the opposing Windcutters serve the faction of Maria de La Muerte, a more human set of rogues, but no less deadly as the title Muerte spells it out only too clearly.   It's also clear from the illustrations of other ship layouts in the rule book that at least two other factions are already planned.

All the ships have a number of sturdy cardstock tiles that depict the objective tiles to be potentially captured, deployment point markers and gangplank tiles that are the main routes that each player vies to secure in order to attack and board his/her opponent's ship. 

Here the ships are set up with gangplanks, objective tiles
and deployment point markers

 The many other cardboard components include a substantial range, including familiar tokens such as Damage, Condition, Activation and Coins and what self-respecting Pirate game would be complete without a set of Dead Man's Tokens!  Slightly oddly named for a game set at sea are the ten Hero Dashboards, two Crew Dashboards and the two Sea Creature Dashboards.  I'm not sure where this terminology first sprang from, but it is a growing usage that seems to be replacing more familiar terms for the card that contains a figures stats and other necessary information.

As you might expect they contain a dashing full colour image of the character, rendered in a strongly cartoon style, the number of hit points necessary to remove them temporarily from the board [note, I didn't say kill them] and three slots for the different skill cards that they may acquire.   

Personally, I find some of these a bit cheesey, like the one of the Captain of the Deep Lords, and the picture of his Swashbuckler Hero  definitely raises memories of one of Captain Barbosa's crew.

Your Crews are about as motley as you can imagine, consisting of the many cannon-fodder rank and file bravos and a couple of slightly more significant bosuns.  What I like about CMON Limited, the company making this game, is that they haven't just trotted out umpteen copies of a generic pirate.  Both sides have totally different models which consist of 24 figures in four different poses. 

Here you can see the whole Deep Lords faction on parade - oh no not more figures to paint.  [I really must get back to some historical wargames that just have cardboard!!  Ah, that wish will soon be granted.]

At the top of the tree, each player has five individual heroes from whom they can select or randomly choose three for a game.  With these you will defend your own ship/s and seek to board your enemy's as you seek to capture Objective tiles and dispose of your opponent's heroes.  Adding more flavour is the possibility of summoning a Sea Monster to your aid or worst of all awakening the dreaded Kraken. 

A pity there are no models for these two monsters of the deep, but that's a minor wish for an added extra [and even as I was penning this, my wish was granted.  Heading the line-up of maaaaaany expansion packs is .... Sea Monsters!]

A closer look at the other Faction's Heroes displayed above does reveal a certain rough hewn blockiness to the quality of the plastic.  All the figures tend to have a lack of refined detail in their execution, but a good paint job will soon set that right.  However, if you compare these to those they produced for Blood Rage, you'll see the difference in quality. Still, even as they stand in their original simplicity, once you set up the whole game, I don't think you'll be disappointed with the sheer chutzpah of the ensemble effect.  And here it is!

You need a substantial amount of table space to take in all that this game holds and, however I arrange the contents back in the box, I still can't fit everything back in!   Unless you're willing to jettison the excellent moulded plastic trays for the models and their cardboard boxes, there's going to be a bag of markers left out in the cold.

In terms of theme, visual appearance and clarity of rules, RUM & BONES : SECOND TIDE is a great success.  All the artwork is powerful, in strong colours from the excellent depiction of the ships already mentioned to the individual deck of cards each player uses. 

Just a sample of the individual decks.

The rules are of low to moderate depth and very clearly laid out and explained.  In essence, each round you take turns either activating a single Hero or your whole crew or passing, until both sides have passed.  So, three Heroes and your whole crew at one go means 4 actions per player each Round.  Sounds dead simple, in fact too simple.  Thankfully it's not. 

There is a neat interaction between your Crew and Heroes.  The former are a mindless bunch who operate on programmed paths from which you cannot divert as they march inexorably towards one of the assigned enemy Deployment Points.  However, as they do so, anything in their path that can be attacked whether enemy Objective tile or enemy Hero must be attacked.  If they reach their assigned enemy Deployment Point, an orgy of looting and pillaging takes place, as they make one last attack before being removed from the board.

The mindless Crews about to set out on their march

to destroy or be destroyed.

As the ship boards are divided into square zones and moves are orthogonal from zone to zone, calculations are very straightforward both for movement and the one time you fire at range which is part of Crew Activation.  I'd love to be able to fire broadsides, but a game would probably be over in ten minutes or less! So, I'll just have to make do with the single firing of my Deck Gun and my Hero Gunner.

An opportunity to see the Captain of the opposing faction

The five Heroes are your most flexible characters as they make take up to three Actions, while each has a variety of Skills that can be built up and brought in to play and upgraded.  Each Hero's type [Captain, Brute, Swashbuckler, Gunner and Quartermaster] directs the type of Skills they are likely to possess.  They all also have one important ability that your Crew don't.  They can move from ship to ship by swinging on ropes from the rigging - for me an absolutely essential part  of a tactical pirate game.  Even better, you can decide how far you want to swing up to six zones - then roll a single D6.  Roll equal to or less than the number of zones you've moved and you succeed.  If you're feeling really lucky or absolutely desperate, then swing 6 zones and pray that you roll a 6!  Fail and its Overboard for you, me hearty.

With his physique, it's not surprising he's a Brute Hero!

As hinted at earlier, however, it's not curtains even if you lose your last life point in combat.  Perhaps, falling in the sea may not be fatal, but just what does losing all your health points mean?  Obviously, not dying!  The term used is KO'd - familiarly knocked out.  Still, this is a very normal mechanism in many fantasy games, such as dungeon-crawlers, where it's usually essential in order to keep individual players in the game, but [just a personal thought] when you have three Heroes in play, is it quite so necessary?  I shall certainly explore the variant idea of starting play with only three Heroes, who die as they are KO'd, but then allowing you to bring the other two on board.

The rule book itself offers a number of alternatives for different numbers of players above two, as well as what they call Clash Royale.  This is  a variation intended for multiple players, where no Crew figures are used and each player controls only two Heroes.  Players agree on a set number of lives for each Hero and it is literally last man standing wins! 

However, in the main game as intended, ultimately, your aim is to KO Heroes and capture Objectives in pursuit of being the first to reach 8 VPs.  Slight suspension of disbelief needed here for the game's subject matter. 

The outer columns chart those Victory Points

The inner columns chart Kraken Wakes points

"Cap'n, are we fighting for booze, a good brawl, gold bullion or pieces of eight?"
"Nah, Mate, eight victory points!"

Perhaps, they might at least have been called Notoriety Points!!

All in all, the game is a highly enjoyable romp, full of strong action and cartoonish fun.  With its narrow focus in terms of situation and fairly easy level of rules, it's great for a light and light-hearted interlude between longer more complex games and should certainly attract younger gamers to the hobby as well.  I have some concerns about how it would fare from too frequent play, as despite the prospect of different Factions [and there are lots of them, as well as Mercenaries - yes, I'll definitely have some of those!] bringing new Heroes and their Skills to the table, the essential gameplay will not vary much.  Definitely a good choice to let your hair down with at the end of a long day's gaming or while waiting for the heavy stuff to commence.

[mutters, stifled groans, sighs ... OK, you can say it  ...

Aaar, Jim, lad!

But lock him away now and throw away the key.]

Rum & Bones: Second Tide

RRP – £92.99

Online Retailer – 365games.co.uk

Store Locator : findyourgamestore

     

Great Generals of The Ancient World

by

Richard A. Gabriel

 Let's begin this review with a list of the book's chapters. These are:

What Makes Great Generals Great
Thutmose III Of Egypt
Moses
Sargon II The Great Of Assyria
Phillip II Of Macedon
Scipio Africanus
Hannibal Barca
Julius Caesar
Marcus Agrippa
Muhammad
Why Not Alexander?

 I agree completely with five of the nine choices, but you aren't reading this for my choices. Mr. Gabriel starts out with an easy choice for ancient Egypt. Instead of Ramses the what, we have Thutmose The Great. Ramses II's long life allowed him to build or put his name on almost every part of Egypt. However, his claim to 'greatness' falls short, especially in the military field. Mr. Gabriel shows that Thutmose III and Phillip II are the only two on the list that were true innovators in the military field in their time. If not for Thutmose III, the splendor of the New Kingdom would not have reached the heights it did. 

 It is hard to judge the two religious leaders Moses and Muhammad, because we mostly only have religious or religiously bent writings about them, although the author makes a fine argument for them to be on his list.

 Assyrian kings are usually not thought of as ancient conquerors or generals. They are usually portrayed as ancient psychopaths that happened to wear a crown. Why they are always singled out I don't know. There was enough terror and horror in ancient warfare to spread the wealth. Mr. Gabriel makes a great case for Sargon II to  not only be a great ancient general, but also deserving of the title of 'great'.

 Phillip II we have touched upon. He took a backwards impoverished small nation and made it ready to conquer almost the entire known world. Before Phillip II, the Macedonians spent more time killing each other. Very few of the Macedonian kings died in their beds from old age.

 Scipio needs no introduction, as Hart's biography of him is titled 'Greater Than Napoleon'.

 Hannibal is in a class by himself. Not only did he have more engagements than most of the others, he was leading a mercenary army for the most part. His romping through Italy for a decade and a half is the stuff of legends.

 Caesar, the first one, not one of the name thieves; if his own lengthy paean of praise for himself is only half true he belongs on the list.

 Agrippa, whilst Octavian wept and shook while nursing a queasy stomach, conquered an empire for him. Agrippa must have been a rare man indeed. One little push here or there and the world would be awash with the name Marcus of Agrippa, instead of Caesar.

 In the last chapter, the author makes a good argument for not including dear old Alex. This will probably stun more people than not. Didn't Hannibal famously list Alexander as #1? Actually, Plutarch has the list slightly different in the two places he writes about it.

 Now that we have come to the end, I will list the generals that did not make the list, but I believe should have:

Pyrrhus

Antigonus

For the Romans: Marius, Sulla, or Belisarius instead of Agrippa

Pompey

Khalid Khan

 Mr. Gabriel does plead a great case for his inclusions and omissions.  Do yourself a favor and pick this book up and argue over it as I have.

Robert

Book: Great Generals Of The Ancient World

Author: Richard A. Gabriel

Publisher: Pen And Sword

Distributor: Casemate publishers

 

I did a review of Carrier Deck last month when it released, but the game has had a solid patch applied since then, which fixed pretty much all of the issues I had with it. I wanted to do a video of the game in action, so you can see how it plays after being smoothed out a bit.

Enjoy!

- Joe Beard

Tigers In Combat III

by

Wolfgang Schneider 

 'Tiger'; a word that would stop the hearts of Russian and allied tankers in World War II. A moving fortress of death able to take out almost all other tanks at 1000 meters or more.

 The first two volumes in the series were of Tiger unit histories. This volume is the meat and potatoes. It is 500+ pages, and includes 1200 B&W photos along with eight pages of ones in color.  Do you want to know how to check and clean a Tiger's spark plugs? Just turn to page 231. The chapters of the book are as follows:

The Establishment And Structure Of The Tiger Units

Training

Operating The Tiger

Deployment

Tactics

Annex

 A heavy tank company consisted of three 'Panzerzuge' (panzer platoon) each with four Tigers and a 'Gruppe Fuhrer' (group leader). The three panzer platoons were led by a leutnant (lieutenant) or an oberleutnant (First Lieutenant). The Gruppe Fuhrer had a complement of two tigers and a medium sized off road vehicle. It was later increased to two light off road vehicles. The second tiger functioned as a replacement tank for the 'Kompanie Fuhrer' (company commander) who was usually a 'Hauptman' (captain). All of the information above is found in the seventh paragraph of the first page of chapter one.

 On May 26th 1941 Hitler instructed Porsche and Henschel to complete six heavy armored vehicles by the summer of 1942. The gun was originally to have been a 7.5cm , but was changed to the infamous 8.8cm.

 On page 125 the author details the 'training course content'. There are pictures on page 128 of Tiger turrets on concrete boxes for the training of gunners and loaders.

 Anything from changing the oil, to replacing a piece of track or track pin can be found here. This is a Chilton repair and maintenance manual for the Tiger, and so much more.

 We always think of Tigers, and German tanks in general, as being much more crew friendly than Soviet ones. Imagine my surprise to find out that the heating system for the crew compartment was removed from some models in June 1944, due to engine fire risk.

 We haven't even touched on the 'deployment' or 'tactics' chapters. Between pages 383 and 385 are some very interesting facts about the Tiger attacks during the early part of Operation Citadel. It seems that the Tigers were unnecessarily  exposed to Russian minefields that were known to other nearby German troops. 

 The last part of the chapter 'tactics' is on Tiger propaganda. There is a ton of original German propaganda followed by some surprising Allied ones. 

 On page fifty-three there is a picture of a feast for Kurt Knispel. Who is sometimes credited with being the greatest tank ace of World war II. He is easily recognizable by his Wolfman Jack head and facial hair.

 The pictures in the book, let alone all of the diagrams, are worth its price. With this book and a handy restored Tiger, I could drive, maintain, and scare the hell out of the neighbors with it. On every page you will learn a new fact or tidbit of Tiger history. My hat is off to Mr. Schneider and Helion&Company for this book.

Here are some other photos from the book:

Robert

Book: Tigers in Combat III

Author: Wolfgang Schneider

Publisher: Helion&Company

Distributor: Casemate publishers

Flick 'em Up! review

Flick ‘em Up! by Pretzel Games is a ‘bullet’-flicking dexterity game in which your posse of outlaws or lawmen has to out-gun the other team. It comes in a wooden box, of standard game-box-dimensions size (thank goodness) with a sliding lid to open. This is my first game to come in a wooden box and after the initial novelty wore off, I now wish the rest of my collection were in wooden boxes. They’re much easier to open and close, they’re stronger, you cant dent the corners, it cant be ripped, etc. The only disadvantage I can think of is the extra weight, which will affect shipping and production costs. However, there’s a lot more interesting wood to talk about inside the box…

The box in all its glory

Pretzel games has used thick and sturdy wood for the main game elements; the figures, scenery objects and bullets. The game also comes with 5 sheets of heavy duty 2 mm card stock that contain the rest of the game's components; buildings, tokens, and two team boxes which will need to be assembled before your first game.  Let's be honest, who doesn't enjoy punching a new game? This game was a joy to punch out as there were no rips or tears whilst punching out the cardboard. The 'gamers delight' increased even further as after the team boxes are assembled, they fit back into recesses in the main box and serve as an insert to hold game components without any extra plastic bags required.

 

Wood, glorious wood, hot lead and cacti! (just a selection from the game)

The rules are very well written and the base game, which consists of 2 opposing teams of 5 characters that carry 1 pistol and have 3 health can be taught to new players in less than 5 minutes. The first scenario uses just the base rules and each additional scenario (there are 10 provided) add additional items or figures with their own specific rules. None of these extra rules are complex and they fit the theme of the game well; for example, Scenario 6 adds a rifle token which the sheriff starts with. When the sheriff shoots the rifle a cardboard template is used that directs the bullet down a cardboard channel, supposedly increasing the accuracy of a player's shot. In my experience, usually on the receiving end, the rifle is very effective for those longer range shots.

I consider one of the best rules to be the loss of a movement action if your movement disc bumps into anything before it stops; in that case you lose that action and reset the pieces to where they were before you flicked. The opposite is true when you decide it's time to flick some bullets, if they knock over or move a cactus, or any other object it stays where it is. Bullets permanently change the environment, move attempts do not. The only time a movement disc can touch the environment is when entering a building, which is also the only way to engage in a cowboy duel - more of that later.

I endorse the designers recommendation, that new players should play the scenarios in order, otherwise the rules overhead for jumping in to Scenario 8, for example, would be excessive for what should be, and is, a very simple game. When you've played out the 10 included scenarios you'll be ready for new rules and new scenarios. Unless you're introducing new people to the game or playing with younger children I can't see wanting to play a given scenario more than twice with the same group i.e. playing on each side once. The game designers actively encourage you to make your own scenarios and this game is a great Western sandbox to explore with your children; there's nothing to stop you incorporating other toys and self-made expansions into the base set.

 

Sharp shootin' sheriff taking care of business

There are two official expansions, each with a further 5 full scenarios and 3 practice fields, which are used to introduce the expansion rules and get a bit of 'flick-time' before playing one of the full scenarios. 365 Games were kind enough to send both the Stallion Canyon and Red Rock Tomahawk expansions, each having a RRP of £32.99. Both expansions introduce half-a-dozen rules across the various scenarios to fully immerse players with cowboy-themed options that include horses - wild and tame, lassos, high shots - played with a ramp, native Americans, tomahawk weapons, bow weapons, flaming arrows and Gatling guns. Also included across the expansions are new environments: mountain, forest and canyon. Given the build-it-yourself scenarios ethos and access to the the two expansions, players' options feel limitless when designing and playing DIY scenarios.

 
 

Even more flicking goodness

The expansions unfortunately come in quite flimsy fold-flat boxes that will not survive for long. I tried fitting both expansions into the base box - I wasn't successful, primarily as the Red Rock Tomahawk expansion comes with a native American team box and a mountain environment which is a 3d box-like structure. Even more egregious, to the overly pedantic board game collector, is once assembled the expansions components do not fit back into the boxes they came in. Instead they provide a drawstring bag to store the components in. This is really only nit-picking as the core audience for this game, families and casual gamers, will probably not have the same level of board game collection needs that are so prevalent in this hobby. If anyone has managed to organise the two expansions in with the base game please let me know how in the comments below.

The game setup can be a bit of a chore. It's still quick when compared to many other games but you will be placing tokens and setting the environment up for up to 10 minutes prior to getting down to serious flicking. The more of this I've played, the more relaxed I was for how precise the setup should be for the scenario. The scenario book contains a picture of where each component should be placed but the reality is you're playing this for fun, relax a little (I'm talking to myself here) and just set it up as quick as you can. There is no room for 'rules-lawyering' in this game.

The game designers, Jean-Yves Monpertuis and Gaëtan Beaujannot, state that this is a 2-10 players game and I have tried nearly all player counts. It is a fantastic game and plays equally well from 2 players right up to 6 players but I have some reservations about playing with more than 6 as the time between turns for individuals would start to feel too long. Given ideal playing conditions, i.e. a large table with lots of walk room all the way round and 10 players who didn’t need any advice then I could see higher player counts working well. In all my plays, however, we were battling chairs and sometimes literally falling over each other to get the proper angle for that crucial shot.

On a player's turn they have two actions which can be one or two of: move, shoot and dropping/picking up a token. The player then chooses which of their team’s characters to move, as long as it hasn’t moved already in this turn – shown by flipping a red/blue hat token that sits atop each lawmen/outlaw meeple. There is no player attachment to a particular figure which I think prevents those inclined to be sore-losers to become such when the rifle picks them out from across the town - a boon for party games. When set up this game looks great and attracts gamers and non-gamers alike. I found people would come over intrigued and it was very easy for additional people to drop in and out. It is definitely a light-hearted and fun game and as such, missing a turn or letting someone ‘flick’ in your stead just adds to the fun.

 

The lawmen are surrounded by horse-riding natives and also being shot with flaming arrows from the mountain. It's not looking good.

Aside from not fitting back into their expansion box, I also found the bow and arrows from the Red Rock Tomahawk expansion to be very fiddly. In my copy the bow (see above picture) would rarely stay in the meeple and flicking the arrow induced arthritic contortions to do so without sending the figure or scenery on the same trajectory as the arrow. That may have been down to my good ol' sausage fingers or distinct lack of flexibility as my Son, (8 yrs old) had no problems whatsoever in raining pointy death down on my poor posse. When I was punching out the expansion material I almost threw out the horizontal piece along with the totem pole holder. Buyer beware, watch out for indistinct grey cardboard cutouts that seem to serve no purpose, they're probably part of the game ...

Dexterity games tend to induce lots of laughter and groans in equal measure, some of the loudest moments in this game are heard in the archetypal cowboy duels; included from Scenario 2. Thick western drawls and actions mimicking a high-noon stand-off were almost compulsory, adding further to the friendly and fun atmosphere this game creates. When figures from opposing teams enter the same building they will have a duel and the victor gets to flick the loser out of the building. Being able to flick the opposing teams cowboy really captured the theme of throwing them out of the swing doors of the saloon and was inordinately fun. In a normal move you replace your cowboy with a movement disc and flick the disc, replacing the disc with your cowboy wherever it stops.

 

The Good The Bad and The Ugly...note the dual-wielding lawman - two shots for one action

Although I consider myself a wannabe-grognard I will admit that I loved playing this game. It has an extra layer of rules complexity, beyond something as simple as Pitch Car or Crokinole that satisfies my appetite for rules. It is also much more fun than those games, I think because the theme comes through strongly in the pieces and in the rules, which creates your own Wyatt Earp story every time you play. I prefer competitive games and being able to shoot another player or the risk that you will be shot whilst attempting to poison the water barrel or lasso a wild stallion*, makes the game for me. I will continue to play Flick ‘em Up! as my go to party-round-a-table type of game and will happily introduce it to as many as can be persuaded of my non-gaming friends. Most of my gaming partners are already converted.

The game is available in either wood or plastic from different publishers, the Pretzel games edition (the wooden version) has an RRP of £64.99. Z-Man games publish a weighted-plastic version, reportedly it is good but I haven't seen it and can't compare it to the wooden set which is just dripping with high production value. If you want to pick up this game and support your Friendly Local Gaming Store in the UK then use this handy-dandy store locator to find your nearest retailer.

[EDIT: Since the summer school holidays have started my son has requested, not only to play this game every day but also to include the expansions as well. The Indians with their flaming arrows (in more than one sense) are his favourite posse.]

If you have any comments please leave them below.

*stallions only available as part of the Stallion Canyon expansion.

 

 

 

 

GGWITW coming to Steam 3rd August!!

 

We are pleased to announce that one of the most acclaimed wargames on the Western Front of World War II, Gary Grigsby's War in the West, is going to be released on Steam on August the 3rd!

Starting with the Summer 1943 invasions of Sicily and Italy and proceeding through the invasion of France and the drive into Germany, War in the West brings you all the Allied campaigns in Western Europe and the capability to re-fight the Western Front according to your plan.

On August the 3rd you will also be able to purchase the expansion "Operation Torch", that introduces 10 new challenging scenarios, including both historical and what-if operations like the "Battle for Tunisia", the "Operation Dragoon" and the "Breach of the Gothic Line".

I.A.F. Israeli Air Force Leader

by

Dan Verssen Games 

 DVG ( Dan Verssen Games) has been offering a large amount of solitaire wargames to us for a few years now. These are:

Field commander Alexander

Field Commander Napoleon

Field Commander Rommel

Fleet commander Nimitz

Gato leader

U-Boat Leader

Tiger Leader

 Then there is a bunch of airwar solitaire games:

Hornet Leader

Phantom leader

Thunderbolt Apache Leader

B-17 Flying Fortress Leader 

 Mike reviewed their 'Tiger Leader' for us, and I had the pleasure of reviewing 'Phantom Leader' and 'B-17 Flying Fortress Leader'.

http://www.awargamersneedfulthings.co.uk/2017/05/b-17-leader-by-dan-verssen-games.html

 http://www.awargamersneedfulthings.co.uk/2017/05/phantom-leader-for-pc-by-dan-verssen.html

http://www.awargamersneedfulthings.co.uk/2016/12/tiger-leader.html

 If I had to use only one word to describe I.A.F. it would be 'scope'. The sheer amount of aircraft and campaigns is truly exceptional for a wargame. The campaigns are:

1948 War Of Independence

1956 The Suez Crisis

1967 The Six Day War

1973 Yom Kippur War

1981 Operation Babylon

1982 Lebanon I

1991 Desert Storm

2006 Lebanon II 

2022 Armageddon

 The plane selection is even greater. They are:

Mustangs

Czech built AVIA S-199 ( BF 109G frames new engine)

Spitfires

Meteors

Mirages

These continue  all the way to the F-35 Lightning II. The weapons you can carry fill up 2 1/2 pages, from the simplest iron bombs to the newest guided ones.

 The campaigns range from as short as three days to the longest of twelve days. DVG's airwar games seem to have a common skeleton that they all possess. The designer then builds upon it to give each of the the simulations its own historical feel. The main point of the games are to put you in the shoes of an Air force commander. You will not only deal with logistics, but also with pilot stress, etc. Your job is not only to destroy this mission's target, but to have planes and pilots for the next.

 Just like 'B-17 Leader' the target display, counters, and cards are of the highest quality.  The counters drop out like butter with no bits of cardboard attached. For those of you who cannot play any other way, they even come clipped. The game pieces alone are worth the price. The fact that you get a world class solitaire game along with them is simply outstanding.

 For those of you who have not picked one up yet, the game play is pretty much the same in each game.  You pick the campaign you want to play. Then, following the campaign rules, you pick your pilots and planes. You are given 'X" amount of each of the following pilots:

Newbie

Green

Average

Skilled

Veteran

Ace

 Each campaign has a different amount of SOs (special options) points that a player can use to purchase special weapons, aircraft, or priority options. Event Cards, escalation cards, and Pilot loss penalties cause you to lose your 'SO' points. This is important, because if you fall below zero 'SO' points, you automatically lose the game. You then have your pick of 'target cards' to attack. Some of these also have special rules that apply only to them. Then the real fun starts. You have to destroy the target or call off the mission due to losses etc. You have to keep track of your pilots with a written log. As I said in the 'B-17 Leader' review the process is not an onus.

 I would recommend I.A.F. to anyone interested in these historic scenarios, or anyone in need of a great solitaire wargame. "Phantom leader, "B-17 Leader', and I.A.F etc. all fit the bill. In a very nice touch, all of the Kickstarter buyers are on the outside of the box.

This is a pic of my latest campaign during The Six Day war. I became enamored of the Vautour even after I found out it is French for vulture. It actually used a Norden bombsight, and could only be used in clear weather and daylight.

Robert

 

One of the most popular boardgame video reviewers, Marco Arnaudo, has a saying, "In every boardgamer there is a wargamer screaming to come out." I happen to agree and I am on a crusade to help bring more gamers to the wargaming hobby.

You may wonder who am I to try to teach publishers about doing their job, so I will briefly introduce myself. My name is Ania B. Ziolkowska and I’ve been a freelance graphic artist in the wargaming industry since 2014. You may say this isn’t very long. It’s not, but I believe that I have a fresh perspective, not only from an industry insider point of view but also as a trained ad specialist. And, what’s probably most important, from a casual gamer-turned-wargamer point of view. So bear with me and I guarantee you that following these five simple and (mostly) free steps, will not only attract new customers to your business but will also increase loyalty to your brand.

1. MAKE THE RULEBOOK AS CLEAR AS POSSIBLE.

If your reaction to this point is "doh, it already is", but before releasing the game only your team (playtesters, designer and developer) read your rulebook, then I bet you I will find at least five things in it that may be improved to serve gamers better.

The common oversight is to give the rulebook to only industry insiders to review. The designer and the developer have good knowledge of their game’s rules, so they may easily miss some unclear paragraphs. Playtesters and proofreaders are a great asset, there’s no doubt about it, but they are usually wargamers themselves. Give your rulebook file to a few casual gamers and ask them to use the commenting tool (which is built into text editor). Have them write down all their questions and doubts while they read along. Also, ask them to mark if and where later in the text they’ve found the answer to their previous concerns. This will give you a good understanding of what needs to be fixed, rearranged and explained in more detail, or simply calls for an annotation in your rulebook.

In general, try to avoid acronyms and abbreviations. There is a lot of military jargon in wargames as is, so don’t make it harder for newbies by adding to this acronyms. If you can’t (or won’t avoid them) then provide a glossary in the front or back of the rulebook. Explaining an acronym or abbreviation just once in the text may not be enough - you can’t assume that a reader will remember all the definitions right away. Or that they will remember where in a sixteen page- rulebook the acronym was already mentioned.

Use many illustrations.This may cause the rulebook to be longer but will help gamers understand the rules better and will also make pages look less intimidating (by breaking blocks of text into more coherent parts).

Insert a lengthy example of a play in the rulebook and make sure that it doesn’t follow the simplest choices the player may take during their turn. Also, ensure that it doesn’t include that one exception to the rule in the whole mechanics.

And finally, post your rulebook online. Assume that at some point gamers who have never heard about your company may consider purchasing your game. Now, their decision may be to check out the artwork, the reviews and other players’ opinions and/or the rulebook itself. Artwork is a powerful tool, it may be eye-catching but most gamers need at least one extra incentive to purchase - either they know and trust your brand, or they are interested in the particular topic your game covers, or they had positive experiences with other games by that designer. Those who are new to wargaming won’t have the benefit of any of these. They may read or watch some reviews or ask around. However, reviews may not exist yet and some gamers want to judge mechanics and complexity for themselves - especially if they’ve never bought a wargame. So post it! Post that rulebook on your website and on Boardgamegeek (because this is the place where the people who you want to attract hang out).

2. WATCH YOUR PLAYTESTERS PLAY.

Playtesters are one of the most valuable assets in the game development process - they are passionate, self-motivated, methodical and they are usually working in exchange for the product and (yes!) appreciation. It’s really impressive that tests can be conducted by people all over the world thanks to the internet, but I would strongly advise you to have a small group of playtesters that you can actually watch while they play. This may be done via webcam, but watch them closely: Are they having fun? How many times do they need to consult the rulebook? How do they use the turn track, holding boxes and tables on the map?

I’m often surprised how differently players actually use tracks and holding boxes in contrast to how the designer or developer intended it to work. I see many pictures of games in play with counters piling up on a track, sitting outside playing areas to avoid covering important information, or crowding in small holding boxes. These are easy to avoid mistakes in the design process if you just simply watch how people play and interact with your prototype.

3. SEND YOUR PRODUCT TO THE RIGHT VIDEO REVIEWERS.

You may ask, who the hell is the "right" video reviewer?! That’s a fair question. If your game targets grognards and people already well acquainted with wargaming, then just send your copies to those with high recognition and well-earned respect. In that case, even the old-school wargame magazine review would be a great and very useful promotional tool.

If you however produced a lighter wargame, a solitary piece or a wargame with cards, then your target customer is beyond the scope of grognards. You need to reach younger people, wargame newbies and casual gamers looking to expand their horizons. In that case, video review is the way to go.

Did you know that Google owns YouTube, and a Google search will always select YouTube video over any other content which may be related to your game? If you really want to have a wider impact with your game, try to look for those reviewers who make well-filmed, well-edited, dynamic videos which are a maximum of 10-15 minutes long.

In the era of the internet, social media and smartphones, we all have shorter attention spans and we tend to switch to another video after a couple of seconds or minutes, unless there is something which is dynamic enough to keep us interested. Fortunately there are some reviewers who balance the art of the boardgame review really nicely. To illustrate what I mean check The Discriminating Gamer YouTube channel.

4. SHOW UP AND BE PREPARED.

Go to conventions. You don’t have to show up at each and every one of them, but try to attend at least some that are near you. You don’t need to have a huge booth. You don’t even need to have your own booth - many publishers share their space to lower the costs and that’s perfectly fine.

Show up, lay your games on the tables and set them up ready to play. Your game may be too long to play at the convention, or even to explain all the rules in just a couple of minutes, but show the game itself in action.

Prepare a short description of the game - what it’s about and why this particular subject is so interesting. If this is not a strictly wargaming convention, then don’t go into too much historical detail - be brief and focus on the things which capture imagination, stuff like ‘’In the 15th century knights were mostly nobleman and they despised archers for not fighting honorably by killing enemies from afar. On some occasions, like during the Battle of Creҫy, knights even rode through lines of their own archers. However, at Agincourt, where the English were outnumbered 4-1 by the French army, archers played a huge role in the English victory.” Those kinds of details will stick in the listener’s mind better than numbers and dates.

Also prepare a super-simplified version of the rules - a basic structure, so you are able to give at least an impression of the game’s flow. Don’t improvise, convert rules into script, try to read them out loud and time yourself - this is not a lecture, this is a convention, you have to be reasonably quick.

When you have both scripts ready for your product there is nothing simpler than reaching out to your fans and asking for help. How many people will your company send to the event? Are they sociable people? Are they eager to share the product with a wider audience? It is always better to anticipate a bunch of enthusiastic fans, who may even know your games better than you do, than to show up at the convention and just sit behind the table and not interact with visitors. When you have scripts ready, give them to your volunteers and you are ready to go.

When I say "show up", I don’t mean only conventions. I mean show up on Consim World, BoardGameGeek and at least some other social media. And do it regularly! You cannot just appear once in a while with a copy of your newsletter. First and foremost you need to give value to your audience. Share images of your upcoming games, pictures from the process, designer’s notes, but first and foremost answer gamers’ questions.

When you publish a game this is not over yet If you don’t show up to answer questions about the rules (or instruct a designer to do this) the game quickly becomes a rotten egg and sadly your company image suffers too. This is especially important when you are a small company and you cannot assume that one of those hundreds of players, who already purchased your game, will know the answer. No, you haven’t sold that many copies yet, so make it a priority to help gamers understand those rules. Gamers who are left alone with their questions unanswered may not trust that your next game will be worth buying.

5. RESPECT AND APPRECIATE.

Does it seem to you that I’m being silly now, assuming that you may actually do the opposite? I don’t suspect you will, but do you do enough to make your customers and especially loyal fans feel appreciated? The more you acknowledge your audience, the more connected they will feel and they will also be more likely to purchase your games.

When someone posts a good review on any of your products thank them by leaving a comment or simply hitting the like button. When someone tags you in a post or a comment which recommends your product, at least leave a like. If someone posts a picture of your game in play on Facebook and tags you in it, share that picture on your page (I mean share by hitting the share button, not saving the photo and posting it as your own). Those small gestures mean a lot to many gamers and builds a loyal group of fans and ambassadors of your brand.

When you are at a convention and anyone (and I mean literally anyone) stops at your booth to take a look at your game, assume that this person may end up buying it. Don’t dismiss a person based on their appearance, age, gender or other popular stereotypes about what wargamers look like. Always engage with people, even those who show only the slightest interest.

If a fan helps you at the convention, give them some games in exchange for their time. Thank them by name on your social platforms. And never, ever forget to include playtesters and proofreaders names in the credits!

You may wonder how your relationship with your fans, volunteers and playtesters may help you attract more casual gamers. The answer is, we don’t live in a bubble. The better you treat those customers you already have, the wider the net you cast in the sea.

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These are just few examples of how to attract new customers to your brand and most of them involve only your time and effort. The best thing is, by concisely following these steps you will provide not only better games for all of us - no matter grognard, play-it-all or a newbie – but will also strengthen your own brand, gain a loyal audience, customers, fans and ambassadors - something which no money can buy.



THIS IS A REPOST WITH SAD NEWS Parusski aka David has passed on. Miss you.

I am David, AKA Parusski from the Matrix forum.  Jason invited me to help WNT grow, so here I am.  Looking forward to doing some good, and fun, work here.

Cheers,
David


Editor Note: Welcome David. David is a good friend of mine over at Matrix forum and I know he will be a valued asset to the blog. David will be helping review PC games and I hope contribute in others ways, if he feels like it! Expect to see his Bio go up soon over at GHQ, so you can all learn a bit more about our new weapon in the WNT arsenal. It's great to have you on board. Hope you enjoy it as much as we do at WNT.



Edit No2: It's with such sad news that I announce David AKA Parusski died before he got a chance to contribute to the website. It seems he died only a few days after posting this Hello article.

He is sorely missed.

RIP Parusski

 CMBN AAR  -Siege- by Pericles