Archive For The “Reviews” Category
Michael Eckenfels, 6 April 2020
Arguably, the conflict in the Pacific during World War 2 was one of the more complex campaigns that anyone could attempt to simulate, whether in computer or board game format. Some give such a great amount of detail that it almost slows things down to a crawl, while others are extremely simple and easy to play. Pacific Tide from Compass Games is definitely a simpler simulation of this war, which brings a vast campaign into a manageable and enjoyable format. More importantly, it can be played in one sitting. Even better, it’s not just a two-player game; either side can be played solo too.
Michael Eckenfels, 3 March 2019
I had ordered Amerika Bomber at some point mid-year in 2019; pre-ordering a game is still a new concept to me, having just recently done this with a couple of Compass Games’ titles and some P500 titles from GMT. I still don’t entirely get the fascination with ordering a game and then having to wait months for it to arrive, but I understand the logistics of it. These companies must ensure there is interest in something before they go and print a mass run, only to have it sit and collect dust on their warehouse shelves.
This was most certainly NOT the case when it comes to Amerika Bomber. Designer Gregory Smith posted to the Solitaire Wargames Facebook group some time ago, saying how he was playing around with creating an ‘evil’ version of the classic B-17: Queen of the Skies. In B-17, you commanded a single B-17 bomber and attempted to survive 25 missions over Western Europe and Germany. As a solo system, it gave you tons of charts and guidance to move your bomber through Third Reich airspace, fight off swarms of Luftwaffe interceptors, and hope you could put your bombs on target.
Michael Eckenfels, 27 February 2020
On #TBT, we bring you the occasional classic article – an older review or analysis piece we wanted to rescue
Gamers, wannabe Romans, countrymen…lend me your eyes. Without having had a decent Romanesque conquest game of note in a while, Legion is on the scene and, while not one of the most realistic of games, it will bring you many months of gaming enjoyment. (more…)
Brant Guillory, 9 January 2020
On #TBT, we bring you the occasional classic article – an older review or analysis piece we wanted to rescue
Crosswind is Steve Rzasa’s first book about the Sark brothers, Winchell and Copernicus. Winchell is a journalist at a small newspaper, and his brother is a pilot, in the frontier town of Perch.
The brothers stumble into an intrigue filled plot involving a larger town to their South known as Trestleway.
While Cope is the adventurous brother, alternating between stunt pilot antics in the air and ladies man smoothness on the ground, Winch is the conservative family man with a wife and children. The brothers stumble upon the mystery when Cope flies his brother out to the wreck of another aircraft to take pictures and write a story for the newspaper. A rather unfriendly gentleman masquerading as a local rancher tries to steal a coded message that the brothers discover in the aircraft wreckage. It turns out this man is from Trestleway, and the coded message is a warning of an impending “invasion” that was being flown in by the nephew of Perch’s mayor-general.
The brothers are sent to investigate, and report back to home. Along the way, they discover a variety of intrigue, and a few interesting technical – and mystical – tricks up Trestleway’s sleeves. (more…)
Billy Riley, 18 December 2019
Description
Combat! is a single soldier (man to man) counter game. Hexes are 20m and the maps provide ample ability to be tactical with many ways to move and many places to hide.
There are 4 maps to fight across and 14 scenarios with 4 being introductory scenarios to help ease you into the game mechanics. (more…)
Mike Orwick, 11 December 2019
Command: Modern Operations (CMO) is the successor to Command: Modern Air and Naval Operations (CMANO). I have had some experience with CMANO, though I never got very deep into it, nor have a played it for a couple of years. I had just finished reading H-Hour: Northern Fury, which was based on a series of scenarios written for CMANO and had decided to revisit the game. Before I did, I learned that CMO was coming out soon and decided to wait.
The first thing everyone needs to understand about CMO is that it is a very detailed and complicated game. The games database is loaded with ships, aircraft, sensors, and weapon systems. These are not just generic items, but very detailed items based on real world systems. You don’t just have air to air missiles, you have Sidewinders, Sparrows, Pythons, and all their different variations. As an example, if you lookup the Sparrow missile in the database, you get 14 variations. The one thing I would like to see added to the database is a short description section to help novices understand what the general purpose of the system is, and what the differences are between variations.