Richard III and the Battle of Bosworth
Richard III and the Battle of Bosworth by Mike Ingram To start with, we must discuss the books title. It is so te...
![Richard III and the Battle of Bosworth by Mike Ingram](https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lmq_4P2Ouhg/XiyZK8d-zrI/AAAAAAAAFa0/b1wSTRlQzNAkL4qSnXGCpjXVNmhIeagrACLcBGAsYHQ/s72-c/9781912866502.jpg)
For your Wargamer, Toy soldier collector, MiniFig collector, military history nut. Reviews, interviews, Model Making, AARs and books!
Richard III and the Battle of Bosworth by Mike Ingram
Richard III and the Battle of Bosworth
Wars Across the World: Spain 1936 by Strategiae Avalon Digital I had reviewed the base game and its ...
![Wars Across the World: Spain 1936 by Strategiae and Avalon Digital](https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bVZMYFl-S0o/Xjg2qBv98kI/AAAAAAAAFd4/0HHPArXCb_8qVwVAK_NpChnNgokBtfmVwCLcBGAsYHQ/s72-c/20200203100118_1.jpg)
For your Wargamer, Toy soldier collector, MiniFig collector, military history nut. Reviews, interviews, Model Making, AARs and books!
Wars Across the World: Spain 1936 by Strategiae and Avalon Digital
A quick synopsis of the war is that the Nationalists (Fascist) are fighting the Republicans (Communist, Republicans, and Anarchists etc.). Neither side has a real government at the start and they are both starting from scratch. Both sides do have parts of the Spanish Army, but the Nationalists have a leg up on the Republicans because of Franco's Spanish Moroccan veterans. These will be flown in from Spanish Morocco by JU 52s (Auntie Jus or Iron Annies). Speaking of which, the Spanish Civil War was used as the test bed of almost everything military in World War II. The Nationalists had the support of both Mussolini and Hitler, hence the JU 52s. The Republicans were supplied mostly by the Soviet Union, although they did get recruits from around the globe, along with some very well known authors. Enough of the history, let us go back to the game.
As I had mentioned, there is a bit of anarchy on both sides in the beginning. The Country is split up into chunks of territory belonging to both sides. Playing as either side, you have to decide which areas you definitely want to keep control of and which you can let go. You are not going to be able to keep it all. Playing as the Republicans, you have to keep the coast so that you can get your supplies from the Soviets. I forgot to mention that the Spanish navy is also split between the two sides. So there is a naval component to the game.
Call me impressed, the game's AI seems to have come a long way, or perhaps just a ton of work was put into this scenario. The AI seems to be much more aware of itself and also of your moves. When I played before, in some scenarios it seemed that the AI was totally oblivious to your moves and its imminent danger. I will be honest and say I played mostly as the Republicans and not very much as the Nationalists. The Republicans are really the underdogs here and I almost always play the underdogs in games. So the scenario is by far the best I have played. I will need to revisit the ones I played earlier and see how much improved they are. There has also been made available a free download of a scenario editor that comes with some preset battles in it. You can now change what you want, and even create your own if you are so inclined. Thank you Strategiae and Avalon Digital for letting me review this very good add on to your game.
My review of Wars Across the World:
https://www.awargamersneedfulthings.co.uk/2019/11/wars-across-world-by-sas-strategiae.html
Robert
BATTLES OF THE BLACK CAVALRY HILL262 - CHAMBOIS from STRATEGEMATA My experience up to now of this small Polish war games company ...
For your Wargamer, Toy soldier collector, MiniFig collector, military history nut. Reviews, interviews, Model Making, AARs and books!
BATTLES OF THE BLACK CAVALRY
As with other Strategemata games the production values don't match the quality of the major publishing companies. The single, glossy paper map is quite thin, but printed on both sides. Its size is approximately standard folio. The counters [of which there are a good few] are very thin and small. They sit well in the good size of hex, but the very small numbers printed on them, especially Gun/Armour factors and unit designations can be a trial to read.
Their flimsiness also makes picking them up or adding and removing markers delicate and at times frustrating work. Play aids too, such as the scenario cards and terrain chart, are on barely more than glossy paper.
What is even more novel is that only the player with the Initiative gets to directly activate their units with a choice of actions from Movement/Improving a Position/Fire and Rally. However, and this is the third original idea, the non-Initiative player's units have a limited reaction ability. Each unit can either move away one hex when an enemy unit comes adjacent or, at the point when an enemy comes into range and line of sight, can"roll" [i.e. draw a card] to see how many reaction pts the unit gets. This will allow the unit from 1 to 3 Defensive Fire opportunities.
This sets up a highly interactive system that benefits defenders well dug-in on good defensive terrain, especially when the Initiative player has to cross open ground. It also creates a fairly fast flowing pace to each turn, with the opportunity for reaction, but without an overcomplex set of rules and conditions. .
What I like even more about the use of cards instead of dice is that each player starts a Scenario with a a limited hand of cards, with rare Random Event opportunities to refill or exchange some of those cards. In a variety of cases, a player will have the opportunity to play a card rather than randomly draw one.
Nowhere can this be more crucial than when you have the Initiative, as your first decision is always how many formations you are going to activate. To activate a single formation is free and guaranteed. To activate more than one formation, then each formation costs 2pts and each support weapon costs 1 pt unless it is stacked with a unit from its formation, an Artillery strike costs 2 pts and an Air strike similarly costs 2 pts. You must first announce what you are attempting to activate. Obviously then you can use one of your precious cards in your hand to guarantee success, but if you choose to risk a random card draw and don't pull a card that will pay all your costs, then you forfeit all activation!
Lots of tense moments here, especially if you have a lot of nice court cards in your hand which count as 1 pt - and remember you can only ever play one card. So, perhaps you'll be saving those high point cards for activation purposes in crucial turns, but they're equally useful in Fire and Close Combat.
Fire is very straightforward with each unit firing separately. It involves simply the play or draw of a single card plus double the unit's firepower compared with the defending unit's morale added to its terrain cover. If the Attacker scores higher, the Defending unit is disorganised and, if twice the Defender's score, then the unit takes a step loss as well. Gun/Armour factors add a few more twists too, though their main problem lies in the minute size of the print on the counters!
Close Combat involves a more complex combination of cards, drawn randomly/played from hand, both face down and face up. This takes a little thoughtful reading, but help is at hand as a substantial amount of the two pages of examples is devoted to a very clear sequence illustrating these particular rules.
By now, you're probably thinking that the many cards in a deck that are only worth one point serve mainly to clutter your hand or are lurking to be drawn randomly just when you don't want them. Well. at times it does seem just like that, but be assured they can and do play their part. When you need to remove a disorganised marker by rallying, a score lower than your morale is required - what better time then to play a 1 pt card.
But wait, you'd just had one of those rare random event chances to discard some cards and all those 1 pt cards had been traded in. Such is the agony and ecstasy of decisions in this game.
Considering that all this, plus chrome such as random events, mines and destroying objects as well as Air & Artillery strikes is covered in just six pages is a major achievement, especially counting the degree of innovation I've outlined. You'll need to read the rules carefully as they are close packed and occasionally, in the early stages of learning and playing the game, I was left thinking that's what I've got to do, but where exactly did I read it.
However, the scenarios provide a very good range that help greatly in getting a feel for the rules. They start with two very short scenarios that introduce basic rules and can be played in about an hour. Despite their brevity they not only help to embed the rules, but are genuinely fun to play and mirror the situations that you'll meet in the two major scenarios: namely, taking or holding an objective and getting units across and off map to win.
Here you see one of the large scenarios and one of my favourites. Note "large" is a relative term as it can still be played in about 3 hrs. What you get is a small Polish force defending a hill, but needing to move some of that force to block the advance path of the German units that will be trying to cross the map from south west to north east and exit the map.
Wing Leader Eagles 1943-1945 Wing leader Expansion Nr 2 by GMT Games First things first, this is an expansi...
![Wing Leader Eagles 1943-1945 by GMT Games](https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LwIOv5qyjgY/XiyvBM_YxnI/AAAAAAAAFa8/WSeCA2Evit0VhFK9wIDBCVgER1kkCenQQCLcBGAsYHQ/s72-c/679.jpg)
For your Wargamer, Toy soldier collector, MiniFig collector, military history nut. Reviews, interviews, Model Making, AARs and books!
Wing Leader Eagles 1943-1945 by GMT Games
1 x 11 x 17” campaign map
1 x countersheet
3 x sheets of Aircraft Data Cards
Ki-44-IIa Shoki (Tojo) This was designed as a fast bomber interceptor. The Ki-44-IIb carried 40mm cannon.
Ki-45-KAIa Toryu (Nick) Twin engine fighter Toryu means 'Dragon Slayer'.
P-47N Thunderbolt One of the fastest piston engine fighters.
Me 163B-1 Komet Only rocket engine aircraft to see action.
Hs 129B-2 Heavily armored attack aircraft. Had an armored 'bathtub' around the pilot like attack aircraft use presently.
He 177A-5 Greif Germany's only operational heavy bomber. It had an unusual arrangement of two engines running one propeller.
La-7 Lavockin bureau late war fighter. It was a match for most German planes at low altitude.
Japanese - A6M5
American - P-38, B-25, B-24
It would be nice, and you can make it a house rule, to be able to use other planes that were available at the time. The campaign game lasts a total of twelve turns. These each represent a single day. When the weather allows, the American Player can raid Rabaul. This is approximately a third to a half of those twelve days. The campaign is won by the ability to suppress, or not, the Japanese airfields and fleet. The campaign starts on October 24th. The campaign victory or loss is situated around the date of November 1st. This is the date of the Bougainville invasion. If the Japanese airfields are undamaged or only slightly damaged by that date, the American Player loses a CVP (Campaign Victory Point). On that date, if the Japanese cruisers are undamaged or only slightly damaged the American Player loses 1 CVP for each cruiser. The American Player must amass seven CVP to win. A total of five or six is a draw, below that it is a Japanese victory.
To me, the campaign game add on is just the icing on the cake. The new planes and scenarios are the main course. I do have to point out one fact. 'Eagles' is listed as an add-on for Wing Leader Supremacy, however, four of the scenarios do require you to have Wing Leader Victories 1940-1942. To compensate for that I will say that there is a good sized online presence for the games, and you can download a good number of other scenarios. I will put the link to them below. All in all, a great add-on to an excellent game. Thank you GMT Games for letting me review it. This is a 'Damn Fine!' production. I am not lying, it says it on the back of the rulebook.
Wing leader Supremacy 1943-1945 link:
https://www.gmtgames.com/p-549-wing-leader-supremacy-1943-1945.aspx
Wing Leader Eagles 1943-1945 link:
https://www.gmtgames.com/p-679-wing-leader-eagles.aspx
Wing Leader Victories 1940-1942 link:
https://www.gmtgames.com/p-673-wing-leader-victories-1940-1942-2nd-ed.aspx
Wing Leader Blitz 1939-1942 link:
https://www.gmtgames.com/p-612-wing-leader-blitz.aspx
This is at the Printers, Win Leader Origins 1936-1942 link:
https://www.gmtgames.com/p-778-wing-leader-origins-1936-42.aspx
Link to tons of planes and scenarios and rules version 2.2 by the designer:
www.airbattle.co.uk/w_downloads.html
Robert
Freeman's Farm 1777 by Worthington Publishing This is a game about the battle that sealed the fate of Br...
![Freeman's Farm 1777 by Worthington Publishing](https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IV6ygFACZVw/Xht_ZHNIhmI/AAAAAAAAFVg/BHRMMJZsVA8MeLzWocOOCGzwwY7j7WayQCLcBGAsYHQ/s72-c/Freemans_Box_cover.jpg)
For your Wargamer, Toy soldier collector, MiniFig collector, military history nut. Reviews, interviews, Model Making, AARs and books!
Freeman's Farm 1777 by Worthington Publishing
Freeman's Farm 1777
Freeman's Farm: 1777 is the first game in our new Battle Formations game series. These games are a new game system centered around battle formations and have been designed for solitaire and two players . In solitaire mode players can play as either the American or the British against the solitaire player game engine.
Players decide which formations to activate and how far to push it once it begins attacking. Push it just enough and they can win the day. Push it too much and failing a morale test will break it."
This is what comes with the game:
- Large Mounted Game Board
- American and British Formation Cards
- American and British Activation Cards
- Tactic Cards
- Rules
- Player Aid Cards
- Game Markers
- American Blue Wooden Formation Markers
- British Red Wooden Formation Markers
- Hessian Green Wooden Formation Markers
- 8 Dice
The British Player takes the first turn in a round.
In the Designer Notes, the designer states that what he felt most missing in games was the struggle of generals with keeping command and control of their own forces. He then goes on to state the pedigree of the game, and how he developed a few concepts from many different games to design it. The other two large concepts in the game are morale and momentum. Every time you activate a formation, you must lower its morale by one, or remove a formation marker (wooden rectangle representing your troops). You can use a General Card to countermand the activation, and some Tactics Cards have effects that forego the penalty to morale. Once a formation gets to a morale of five or lower, it incurs a morale test. This is done by rolling a six sided die and comparing it to the morale of the formation. A higher number than the formations morale means that a formation is 'broken'. Momentum Cubes for each formation are gained by playing the Activation Cards for that formation. Each card has a number of momentum cubes that the player receives (from one to three). One nice touch is that if the player receives the same amount of Momentum Cubes on three Activation Cards in a row, he receives an extra two Momentum Cubes. Momentum Cubes can be used for rerolls, or to purchase Tactic Cards. Skirmishers, which were a large part of the battle, can be used by both sides. You can download and check out the rules yourself via a link I will post at the end of the review.
I found this treat going through discussions about the game. If you like what you have read so far, you will really like this. It seems that Worthington Publishing is going to Kickstarter a game about Chancellorsville. It will have most of the same rules, but will also have some new neat twists, such as hidden movement. Here is the link to the preview page:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1040417273/2785622?ref=bggforums&token=b117acc9
Freeman's Farm 1777 link:
Follow Us