From The Realm of a Dying Sun Volume 1 by Douglas E. Nash Sr. This is an amazing book from cover to ...
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From The Realm of a Dying Sun Volume 1 by Douglas E. Nash Sr.
Monty's Gamble: Market Garden by Multi-Man Publishing The Wehrmacht had been rocked back on its heels sever...
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Monty's Gamble: Market Garden by Multi-Man Publishing
Monty's Gamble: Market Garden
The Germans conduct their Refit Phase first. The Refit Phase is as follows:
1. Supply Depots are placed and moved to eligible Areas on the map.
2. Units use supply points to Refit. After All units have finished refitting Impulse advance/retractions may be purchased with reserve Supply.
The Germans have five Depots that they can use. Also German Units in Zone I may automatically Refit without using a Supply Depot, as long as it is German controlled.
The Allied Player has five Supply Depots for XXX Corps and three for the Airborne Units, and an air Supply Marker.
Another interesting and seldom seen ‘historical reality’ is that if the Allied Player uses Air Bombardment in a contested area, there is a chance that his own troops will be hit by some of the bombing.
One part of the rules is a little perplexing: knowing the history of World War II airborne attacks. The only way that an Airborne Unit that is landing in a Drop Area becomes Disrupted or Spent is if a German FLAK Unit, FLAK Tower, or Air Interdiction Marker is in or adjacent to the Drop Area. Going by what really happened during the war in air drops I think that you should use a house rule and have every Airborne Unit have to pass a die roll to see if it is Disrupted or Spent on landing. This would represent the actual chaos that ensued during the different airdrops in WWII.
The addition of the scenario of the attack on Fortress Holland is a great plus for the buyer. This is one of the few Western Front battles of WWII that has not had too many games done on it. The scenario uses many of the same rules from the main game. There are some additions like a German Armored Train and some other interesting twists to the rules, so that it does not seem like the scenario was just cookie-cuttered in.
The designer is correct in that the game sets up rather quickly. The play, except for new players, goes along at a good clip. As far as being historical, the events that happen during games are well within the historic might-have-beens of the battle. Thank you Multi-Man Publishing for letting me review this very good and very different approach to 'A Bridge Too Far'. The 'almosts' that happen in a game really portray the nature of the battle, without the player getting bogged down in details.
MMP:
www.multimanpublishing.com/
Monty's Gamble:
www.multimanpublishing.com/Products/tabid/58/ProductID/276/Default.aspx
Link to my review of Baptism by Fire by MMP:
https://www.awargamersneedfulthings.co.uk/2018/10/baptism-by-fire-by-multi-man-publishing.html
Robert
DUNE from GF9GAMES SAND, SPICE, STORMS - with a just dash of treachery. There's nothing to beat old recipes. At long last, th...
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DUNE
[*These are where your dead troops go and from where you can revive some in the course of the game.]
I first played the original Dune in 1980 when I ran a board game club in the school I taught at and one of the students brought back a copy from his holiday in the US. I never achieved my own copy, though have toyed with the idea of buying Rex, a transmogrification of Dune into a Twilight Imperium setting.
However, thanks to Gale Force Nine, we can return to those glory days with a few additional optional extras. Inevitably with the passage of time and the advances in production quality, the current game is state of the art standard. Though if you look through the files on BGG you'll see many print and play [pnp] versions that match this professional treatment and show its source of inspiration.
I have to say I hanker for the box art of the original that can be seen below. There is just something more menacing about its gigantic sandworm, against which the current art seems a little too clean and sanitised. Still that's a very minor personal taste.
So, here's a range of visuals starting with the lovely thick counters for the troops and individual heroes.
Storm Phase
Each turn begins with the movement of the Storm marker which destroys all players' troops in sand areas that the Storm marker passes over along with any spice tokens in any territory passed over.
Spice Blow and Nexus Phase
Card draw shows which region will have new spice tokens placed or the destruction of spice tokens, if the card reveals the dreaded monster sandworm, Shai-Hulud. The latter card also heralds the Nexus action, which is the opportunity to break and form Alliances.
If you need this you're in dire straits, as you gain a little spice because you either have none or only one spice marker!
Bidding
This auction phase is to buy treachery cards that range from a variety of weapons including poison and defence protection to rare special cards and a series of worthless cards. This is a real gamble, as the cards are auctioned unseen, so you might buy a totally worthless card or hit one of the rare ones!
Revival
This is when you gain back a small number [up to three] of your troops from the Tleilaxu Tanks and one Hero if all of your Heroes have been eliminated.
Shipment and Movement
Off-map forces may land and limited movement may take place on the planet
Combat
This kind of speaks for itself and brings into use your Battle Wheel and Heroes. Though imitated in various forms in more recent games, such as Scythe, as far as I'm aware this was the first appearance of such a system. It's also the Phase when your Treachery cards can be played, as well as Traitor cards. The latter cards are very powerful, as they immediately win you the battle, nullify any losses you might otherwise have incurred and bring spice token rewards too.
Spice Collection
Again a very straightforward action, as each player collects available spice tokens from territories they occupy
Mentat Phase
As already mentioned very simple. Check for a winner/s and, if no winner, move on to the next turn.
This new updated iteration of such a great game adds in a few Advanced elements both in rules and components, along with Strategy and Faction tips, a Question & Answer section, Optional Alliance rules to cope with different player numbers and for shortening or lengthening the game as well as a brief synopsis of the novel [If you haven't read Dune, I'd strongly avoid this, buy the book and get reading].
Playing as one of up to six factions drawn from the novel leads you to adopt distinctly different styles of play suited to your strengths and weaknesses. Inevitably some are easier to play than others, especially if you are new to the game - none more so than the Bene Gesserit faction, which is the faction most frequently left out when you do not have a full table of six players.
Getting those six players together is the one difficulty and play with a full complement can be a lengthy undertaking, but one that I can wholeheartedly recommend. Four and five players too make for an excellent experience and this new outing for an old favourite comes with a number of simple alliance options to create shorter or longer plays. I love the description for the last choice of option which comes with the caution "a more exotic game" under Possible Side Effect!
If Dune, the novel, and Dune, the game, are unfamiliar to you, I suggest you start right now to find out the value of a stillsuit, the deadly danger of a gom jabber and the awesome power and menace of Shai-Hulud.
Many thanks to GF9 for realising my dream of once more revelling in this game and to Asmodee UK for kindly supplying a review copy.
Durchbruch The Austro-German Attack at Caporetto 1917 by Acies Edizioni It is the Fall of 1917. Austro-Hungary...
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Durchbruch The Austro-German Attack at Caporetto - October 1917 by Acies Edizioni
It is the Fall of 1917. Austro-Hungary is hard pressed because of the immense losses of manpower on the Eastern Front earlier in the war. The Austro-Hungarians need Italy knocked out of the war as quickly as they can be. Either that or their whole army might crack, and if they fall Germany is right after them. The Austro-Hungarians cannot do it alone. They have needed Germany's help as long ago as 1914. There had already been eleven Battles of the Isonzo, and Italy and Austro-Hungary were bleeding each other dry. The new Austro-Hungarian Emperor Karl I knew it was only a matter of time before one or the other country broke through on the Isonzo Front. He appealed to the German Kaiser Wilhelm II. Of course, he didn't run Germany at the time; Hindenburg and Ludendorff did. Ludendorff turned down the idea, but was overridden by Hindenburg. A relatively small force of German divisions was added to the mix for the attack. The attack's success has been attributed, at times, to the German Stosstruppen and their tactics. What isn't well known is that both the Italians and Austro-Hungarians had their own shock troops. The Italian troops were called Arditi, and the Austro-Hungarians were called Sturmpatrouillen/Jagdkommandos. The Austro-German attack at Caporetto broke the Italian Front wide open. It was at Caporetto that Erwin Rommel won his Pour le Merite. So the battlefield is mountainous and the Austro-German force must break through in a very short timetable. Ludendorff wants those divisions back for his spring offensive. I have always been very intrigued by the Battle of Caporetto and the Italian front in World War I, and have read everything I could get my hands on about it. How does Acies Edizioni's game stack up?
This is what you get with the game:
Two 23" x 33" Maps
Two counters sheets ( 5/8" counters)
Each Hex is 1" Wide
Six Full Sized Glossy Colored Player Aids
Morale Check
Combat Table and Modifiers
Barrage Communications and Stacking
Terrain Effects Chart
Italian Army Setup
Austro-Hungarian and German XIV Army Setup
Rulebook
Two Six-Sided Die
Every day is divided into two turns. The first day
has one more Preliminary Phase.
A hexagon on the map corresponds to about
1000 meters.
The unit counters represent infantry battalions/
regiments and minor units.
The maps are spectacular. With the large hex size and the colors chosen they are very easy to read, and figure out what terrain is in each. The Player Aid sheets are likewise extremely large and very easy to understand. The counters are also very well done. They have a lot of information on each one, but are not cramped, and are easy to read. The Rulebook is in full color and is only twenty pages in length. Once again, the rulebook is up to the standards of the rest of the components. This is my first look at a wargame from Acies Edizioni and I am really impressed.
The Rulebook seems small, but sometimes very good things come in small packages.
The game comes with three scenarios:
October 24th Scenario (One Day Scenario)
October 25th Scenario (One Day Scenario)
Caporetto's Breakthrough Scenario (Campaign Scenario; It Lasts 10 Turns)
Each scenario has the Austro-German Player adding up his Victory Points and comparing them to the Victory Conditions. He gains points for Victory Hexes and eliminated Italian Counter Steps, and loses them for each Counter Step he loses.
Continuing with the Rulebook, the game has rules that deal with the following:
Making a Passage through No Man's Land and First Line Trenches
Bridge Destruction or Repair
Fog of War
Mountain units
Engineer units - These can make a Passage, Repair or Destroy Bridges
Machine Gun Companies
German Pioneer Units Gas Attacks
Assault Units and Rommel
First Turn German Bombardment
Dummy Markers used on both sides
This is along with all of the usual stacking and Zone of Control rules etc.
The game is based on the Chit Pull method. At the start of the game the Austro-German starts with four Chits (Corps), and the Italian starts with three. Once all of the Chits are pulled, then that is the end of one turn. This is the Sequence of Play:
1- Bridges - construction or demolition Segment
2- Command Segment
3- Artillery Segment
4- Movement Segment
All Austro-German artillery can fire in the Preliminary Phase.
Up to 20 Austro-German units can move and attack in the Preliminary Phase
The Austro-German player must pick one of three plans before the start of the Campaign Game. These are:
The Conrad von Hotzendorff Plan - Large
The Boroevich Plan - Limited
The Waffentreue Plan - This is the one that was chosen.
So, how does it play? It plays extremely well, and in my eyes captures the history of the battle to a T. This does not mean that every game plays out the same with a guaranteed German victory. Far from it; the design allows either side to be able to pull out a victory. The chance for the German Player to try out the different plans also leads to an increase in playability and the longevity of the game on your table. Playing as the Germans, you should play 'hell bent for leather'. The German Player's advance and attack plan should be to ignore Italian strong points and go for infiltration first. The German Player must always be conscious that he loses a Victory Point for every step lost. Playing as the Italian Player you have to know when to cut and run. He must use every chance he gets to stay in front of the Austro-German Units and make them fight for any and every piece of ground he can. The German Player only gets a Victory Point for every ten Italian Player Steps lost. So, the Italian Player can afford to trade troops for time and space. The game comes with excellent components, and the designer has added all the rules that deal with everything that happened in this battle. My hat is off to Acies Edizioni.
There was some problems with the first Rulebook and Players Aids that had been sent out. In talking with the designer, what happened was that the printer was sent the first files and not the redone ones (none of us have ever done that :) ). So anyone who purchased the game was sent out the second edition rules ASAP. The 'living rules' are exactly the same as the printed second edition.
Acies Edizioni link:
https://www.edizioniacies.com/
Durchbruch link:
https://www.edizioniacies.com/para-bellum/durchbruch
Living Rules link:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bNrgR82KKg_D_GqQnVVFcL7vQcarKS_W/view
Robert
First Look at the Upcoming 'Fire and Rubble' the First Module for Combat Mission Red Thunder Th...
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First Look at the Upcoming 'Fire and Rubble' the First Module for Combat Mission Red Thunder
Interview with Scott H. Moore Designer of 'This War Without an Enemy' Released by Nuts! Publishing Ple...
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Interview with Scott H. Moore designer of This War Without an Enemy released by Nuts Publishing
Interview with Scott H. Moore
The card decks: I decided early on in the design process to have a separate deck for each player. As a civil war, both sides in the ECW were very similar to each other in many ways, so I wanted to tease out the differences – and introduce more asymmetry to the game – with specific event cards. There are too few cards in total for the player decks to be further split into early, mid and late war decks, and so I introduced a mechanism for adding and retiring cards from each deck. The cards in most card-driven block games provide either points to spend or, more rarely, an event. In TWWE, most cards have both. This allowed me to balance the cards and avoid the possibility of a player having an inherently good or bad hand of cards. Each card either provides a lot of points (4) to spend on movement and/or recruiting; fewer points (2) but a strong event; or something in between (3 points and a weaker event).
Assaults and sieges: although the battles during the ECW are far better known than the sieges, it was the latter that were more important for the outcome of the war. Victory in TWWE is mainly determined by capturing cities, and so the rules around this needed to be well thought out. You can take a city through storming (assault), which is risky but can be quick, or through a siege (blockade), which is slow but sure. The mechanism for storming is similar to that for a battle, but artillery plays a more important role – if you breach the walls using artillery (or Mining via an event) then the city provides a much less significant defensive bonus. Sieges are resolved by rolling a die and consulting a table – this determines any attrition for the defender and eventual surrender. Ports can hold out longer than inland cities and can be reinforced by sea.
The Battle Mat and battle resolution: this has probably been the most popular part of the game. Although I retained the basic mechanism from other block games, I added more historical chrome and more player decision-making (in most block games, the only significant decision during battles is if and when to retreat blocks). The Battle Mat is essentially a player aid that makes battles easy to resolve despite the increased complexity. There are specific rules for artillery and cavalry blocks that replicate their role on the mid-17th century battlefield (yes, Prince Rupert’s cavalry can end up pursuing their opponents off the battle field!). When it comes to infantry blocks, a player must decide every round whether to fire at a distance with the muskets (which is less effective but happens early on in the round) or engage at close quarters with the pikes (more effective but take place at the end of the round). I believe this extra set of decision points makes battles them much more interesting for players.
Thank you
Robert
Panzer Corps 2 is just over the horizon! The long awaited sequel to one of Slitherine's biggest titles comes out ...
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Panzer Corps 2 - First Look Video and Open Beta for Field Marshal Pre-Orders
Panzer Corps 2 is just over the horizon! The long awaited sequel to one of Slitherine's biggest titles comes out March 19th, and you can see a bit of gameplay in my video below. If you want to play the game yourself, then you are in luck. Those who pre-order the Field Marshal edition (includes first two DLC and other goodies) will have access to a similar beta version from Feb. 18th to the 20th. So if you loved the first game, go ahead and hop in, this one looks to be a winner no doubt. If you're curious, check out my video and others.
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