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Author Topic: Weekend Gaming!!!  (Read 220860 times)

trailrunner

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Reply #540 on: February 09, 2020, 12:20:33 PM
This weekend I'll be play testing the new version of PanzerBlitz with the designer.  That should be fun.

This turned out to be fun.  The designer gave me a 20 minute overview of the rules, and we played about 5 or 6 turns of a situation, with lots of time for discussion between us and the other gamers in the room.  Most of the fiddly rules from PB and PL seem to be fixed, but it still felt like PB and was relatively quick playing.  I never played Hill of Death, and I think some of the major new concepts, such as chit pull for activation, were introduced then, and are being cleaned up some more in this version. 

One thing I liked is that the armor and infantry attack and defense factors are printed on the counters, so I didn't have to remember was all the weapon-target pairings, e.g. if an AT gun fires as infantry at half or full strength.  The infantry also has a bit more purpose, as I found out when a hidden infantry unit nailed my halftrack platoon with PanzerFausts. 

We also encountered a new situation with the hidden and unspotted units that she had not encountered before, and we spent some time discussing how to handle it.  It made me feel like my play testing effort actually added some value.




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Silent Disapproval Robot

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Reply #541 on: February 15, 2020, 11:06:35 PM
I took on a new position at work in late December and I’ve been  stuck in Mon-Fri training hell since then.  (I gave no idea how can stand living like this.  Driving home in rush hour each day was soul sucking...and also bad for the liver).  I’m still in training for another 3 months but at least I’m back on shift.  Got a 4 day break so 2 of us are going to give 2nd World War at Sea:  Bismarck a whirl tomorrow afternoon and then we’re going to play a six-player game of something.  Haven’t decided what yet.  Looking like Sails of Glory, Cruel Seas, Spartacus, Keyflower, Game of Thrones, or Cthulhu Wars at this point. (I’m hoping for Spartacus. )

Bismarck scenario takes place in Dec, '39.  Kriegsmarine ships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau are trying to return to Germany after raiding in the North Sea.  They've got to slip past a ridiculous number of Royal Navy ships and aircraft to do so.  They do have a few task forces in Wilhelmshaven that can slip out and start commerce raiding to try to draw off some of the RN forces on the hunt as well as some U-boats that might get lucky and sink a battleship or two.


Game map



The gauntlet



Royal Navy task forces



Kriegsmarine task forces
« Last Edit: February 15, 2020, 11:15:27 PM by Silent Disapproval Robot »



bayonetbrant

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Reply #542 on: February 15, 2020, 11:14:19 PM
sounds like a good time!



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mirth

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Reply #543 on: February 15, 2020, 11:44:44 PM
Looks great, but I would never buy an AP game.

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Silent Disapproval Robot

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Reply #544 on: February 16, 2020, 12:01:30 AM
I don't think I'll buy another.  I picked up Coral Sea (AP's new 2nd ed booklet version which is intended as an intro to the 2nd World War at Sea series) and I was quite happy with it.  It's a bit clunky in places and it could do with more player aids/charts but overall I thought it was great for the price.  I lucked out and found a guy on FB selling off his 1st Ed versions of Midway, South Pacific, and Eastern FLeet (IJN vs Royal Navy during the early stages of the war) for $25/game so I bought them all.  Component quality wasn't as good as Coral Sea, but still decent enough and I could use the upgraded stuff from Coral Sea in conjunction with these titles as they're all Pacific War.  Then I ordered the new 2nd ed version of Bismarck.  Now I see why people are less than impressed with AP. 

The counter sheets weren't properly sealed so the fronts and backs split apart on most of them and I had to spend several hours gluing them back together.  In the process, one counter (RN destroyer Tartar) didn't survive.  I also discovered that they recycled some of the counters from the 1st edition version.  These ones are for Royal Navy ships and have black text on a dark blue background and are very difficult to read.  It's quite the contrast to the ships that were added in for the 2nd edition as those ones have yellow text and are much easier on the eyes. 

The maps weren't folded correctly and have some very bad warped creases in them.  Even under plexiglass, they still won't lay flat.  Also, there are some omissions  and errors on the airbase/carrier display cards.  They forgot to include the names of the airfields so they're only referred to by map location and a few of these are wrong.  Also, several of the German airfields in Norway are mistakenly laid out as aircraft carriers instead of airfields.

They included French and Canadian naval forces but didn't put any task force markers into the counter mix for them so you have to use Brit TF markers in lieu. 

The ship data sheets are in a stapled book that's almost 70 pages long so photocopying them is a chore (you need data cards for each scenario you play).  The webpage promised an editable Excel file that would have each scenario already prepared but that's not true.  The file does have a master list of all the ships in the game but they never did create the scenario specific ship lists so you have to spend an hour or so cutting and pasting if you want to make scenario specific data sets.

I tried sending an email to AP's customer support address but it keeps bouncing back saying that their inbox is full.  I got some help via FB and ConSimWorld and was able to get the email address of the game designer.  He responded once saying he'd send me replacement counters but I haven't heard back from him since despite repeated follow up emails.

I really enjoy the ruleset and will continue to play the titles I have.  It's just so disappointing that the quality isn't up to snuff and the publisher support is so dismal.
« Last Edit: February 16, 2020, 12:04:15 AM by Silent Disapproval Robot »



mirth

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Reply #545 on: February 16, 2020, 12:08:13 AM
I've had similar experiences with them and their reputation overall is not good. It's too bad because they have naval games that no one else produces.

Being able to Google shit better than your clients is a legit career skill.


bob48

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Reply #546 on: February 16, 2020, 05:49:04 AM
That looks like a really interesting game, SDR,

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bbmike

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Reply #547 on: February 16, 2020, 08:35:58 AM
After four attempts, finally finished Scenario 72 of Gloomhaven. Without a doubt the most difficult scenario to date.

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Silent Disapproval Robot

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Reply #548 on: February 17, 2020, 02:16:38 AM
Bismarck turned out to be an interesting cat and mouse affair.  The German player made good use of decoy task forces to suck mine in to a wild goose chase.  The weather gods also favoured him as the daytime was mostly squall or storm conditions around Scapa Flow so I couldn't launch search planes.  The Scharnhorst and Gneisenau slipped past my screening force during the night.  I did spot them with a Sunderland around dawn and launched an airstrike with Beauforts soon afterwards.  I managed to score some good hits on both ships but not enough to slow them down and they were away to the races.  I couldn't catch up before running out of fuel so we called it.  I think I prefer the Coral Sea game.  The Brits just have way too many task forces to keep track of.  I had 19 and trying to write out orders for each one and remember who was where, how much fuel they had, and where they were trying to get to was a real brain burner.

We then played a 6-player game of Spartacus.  Lots of fun and saltiness but I think 6 players was a bit too much.  The game started to drag and the downtime between turns was a bit too long.  I think 4 or 5 is the sweet spot.  The House of Batiatus managed to pull off a very close win with a ridiculous battle royale featuring only slaves.  Good chuckle and a good way to end the game (especially as I was the winner).










BanzaiCat

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Reply #549 on: February 17, 2020, 07:50:51 AM
Pretty cool, SDR!  :bigthumb:

Avalanche Press has always been a disappointment to me, as well. I haven't played one of their games (which was for a review, actually) since back in the Wargamer.com days. I still remember that game being about as not fun as not fun could be.

This weekend I only managed two missions in Amerika Bomber. I played some KOTOR 2 as well but not a lot. Too much going on, had to work yet again thanks to more last-minute projects. This place is grinding me down.

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Silent Disapproval Robot

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Reply #550 on: February 28, 2020, 12:09:15 AM
Avalanche Press came through and sent me replacement counters for Bismarck.  Cool!




judgedredd

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Reply #551 on: February 28, 2020, 03:07:41 AM
Hopefully I'll get Battle Hymn:Gettysburg and Pea Ridge to the table after completing Combat! which only has 1 turn left.



bob48

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Reply #552 on: February 28, 2020, 06:50:39 AM
Hopefully I'll get Battle Hymn:Gettysburg and Pea Ridge to the table after completing Combat! which only has 1 turn left.

I'll be interested to see what you think of that, JD

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bbmike

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Reply #553 on: April 11, 2020, 02:44:42 PM
Bumping this neglected thread back up.

I'm playing Gloomhaven and Combat Commander Pacific this weekend. The thing about CC is I'm actually playing it in Tabletop Simulator. I think I've finally cracked the 'learning barrier' with it. I can see some of the advantages over Vassal already. I may be sliding down a new rabbit hole.

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bob48

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Reply #554 on: April 11, 2020, 02:46:25 PM
You need to get cracking with Gloomhaven, since you'll have Frosthaven to contend with...............although, not for a while yet, it seems.

“O Lord God, let me not be disgraced in my old days.”

'We few, we happy few, we band of brothers'