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Connections Online 2024 will be held 15-20 April, 2024 ~~ More Info here

Author Topic: WAR ROOM: Yer gonna need a bigger table.  (Read 7816 times)

Silent Disapproval Robot

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on: November 19, 2019, 08:28:22 PM
My copy finally arrived yesterday and I spend a few hours applying stickers (only screwed up once so one US Army based in NZ is crooked).

I haven’t put the stickers on the Chinese pieces yet.  The game was made in China and they refused to print anything with the old Nationalist Chinese flag on it so they were forced to use a generic red star on a yellow background and call China “An Tien” which was an old Gaelic term for China.  I ordered replacement stickers with the Nationalist flag but they haven’t arrived yet and I don’t want to bugger up the components with the yellow star stickers.

Setup is a bitch!  Took me almost 2 hours (it’ll be much faster with multiple players assembling and placing their forces simultaneously though).

Man, this thing eats up table space.  My table is 3.5’x5.5’.  Gonna have to buy some card tables I think.  The sad thing is, this is the small version.  I shelled out for the jumbo version but that takes up most of my kitchen floor.  That’ll just be for convention porn I think.










BanzaiCat

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Reply #1 on: November 19, 2019, 08:37:51 PM
Goddamn, SDR.  :o

 :bigthumb:

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Silent Disapproval Robot

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Reply #2 on: November 19, 2019, 08:40:50 PM
We're playing this weekend.   Hopefully it'll be 5 of us but right now it's only 3 confirmed.



mirth

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Reply #3 on: November 19, 2019, 09:09:51 PM
That map is awesome

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


bbmike

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Reply #4 on: November 19, 2019, 09:21:27 PM
Yeah, that looks really cool!  :bigthumb:

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BanzaiCat

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Reply #5 on: November 19, 2019, 09:58:02 PM
Lord, the core game is $240...

Is that 'just' the core game or did you get extras?

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mirth

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Reply #6 on: November 19, 2019, 10:12:47 PM
Lord, the core game is $240...

So probably only one copy for you?




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


Silent Disapproval Robot

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Reply #7 on: November 19, 2019, 10:18:30 PM
Lord, the core game is $240...

Is that 'just' the core game or did you get extras?

I got the core game and the jumbo map pack.

$200 CDN for the core game for me.




judgedredd

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Reply #8 on: November 20, 2019, 02:13:02 AM
wow. And I thought setting up a game of Heroes of the Falklands was time consuming  :applause:



Silent Disapproval Robot

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Reply #9 on: November 23, 2019, 07:35:05 PM
We're scheduled to play a 4-player game tomorrow afternoon.  A friend came over and we ran through a few turns of the Pacific scenario to get a feel for things.  The rules mechanics are fairly simple but it's really easy to screw up a movement order.  The game is very punishing if you do screw up.   Turn order is very important as the nation that moves first can initiate attacks and pin down entire armies and fleets, thereby causing the move orders of subsequent players to be cancelled.  Combat is quite deadly and the effects of losing prestige units like fleet carriers or battleships can be shattering to national morale.  The US and Japanese navies clashed off the Caroline Islands and the US lost 2 carriers and 2 cruiser divisions for the loss of one Japanese battleship.  Knocked them right out of the fight for a few turns and the Japanese were able to turn around and push hard in China and into India.  The Brits held firm but there were a lot of casualties on both sides.  The Brits are at an advantage as they can produce new units in India whereas the Japanese need to transport replacements all the way from Japan.  The Brits tried interdicting Japanese transport fleets but Japanese air power in Thailand was enough to see them through and the Brit subs had to content themselves with raiding some Japanese merchant marine traffic instead.  Still, the loss of the oil coming from the Dutch East Indies is hampering Japanese production efforts and Brit fleets are stopping the Japanese from importing any oil from the Middle East.

THOUGHTS:  I'm not sure what to make of the game yet.  It reminds me a lot of Axis and Allies but it's much slower moving.  It takes a long time to process each turn.  Everyone has to write out their orders and use stockpiled oil to bid on turn order.  Then each set of orders has to be plotted on the map and, once all those are done, each combat needs to be fought out on a separate battle board.  Then casualties are tallied and national morale effects need to be determined.  Then players need to spend resources to reinforce units that weren't totally wiped out as well as to build new units.  New units are placed in industrial production zones on the map but they're under construction for a turn and are vulnerable to strategic bombing as well as possible capture of the area gets overrun.  All this means a single turn can take an hour or more to run through.  Finishing a game could be a marathon session.


 



BanzaiCat

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Reply #10 on: November 25, 2019, 07:40:35 AM
That sounds fascinating, but also that it's way too much work for too little return. Keep us informed of your further thoughts, if you don't mind.

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bayonetbrant

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Reply #11 on: November 25, 2019, 08:26:04 AM
so....  make Twilight Imperium feel like it zips right along, eh?

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Silent Disapproval Robot

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Reply #12 on: November 25, 2019, 09:59:54 AM
We played the global campaign yesterday with 4 players.  The turns are long (1 hour per turn) but it didn’t feel like there was a lot of downtime as there was always something to do.  It was very chaotic.  Having to pre-plan all your orders leads to some goofy situations, especially if you bid to go first in the turn.  I was playing the UK and the US and on turn 2, I bid to go first with the UK.  I sent a massive air raid against the Ruhr.  The Germans had ordered a huge naval push into the North Sea along with most of the Luftwaffe as cover.  As I’d already committed to my raids, I couldn’t cancel to cover my fleets instead.  The Germans, by going later in the turn, had the option of cancelling the orders for the air groups based in the Ruhr to react to me but neglected to do so.  The end result was most of the Home Fleet was sunk while the industry and infrastructure in the Ruhr was massively reduced.

We played for 3.5 hours and only finished 3 turns.  The Brits were in serious trouble in the Med and facing a possible invasion of the UK but they’d taken back Burma and managed to seriously damage Japanese naval power around Sumatra.  The Yanks took the Gilberts and Solomons and had consolidated their carriers into a massive strike force.  Troops were en route to England but we’re being menaced by U boats.

Russia was a meat grinder.  The Germans took the Caucasus but were then cut off by a Soviet push into Ukraine.  Soviets tried for Finland but got chewed up very badly.

The Italians were running roughshod in the Med and tried for Egypt but got stopped cold.

Japan got beat up in the Solomons and in the seas around Sumatra but they absolutely steamrolled China due to  the Chinese being overly aggressive and making a risky push into Indochina.

Everyone enjoyed it but all agreed that it’s very long and that strategic bombing seems way too powerful.
« Last Edit: December 08, 2019, 03:39:59 AM by Silent Disapproval Robot »



Martok

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Reply #13 on: November 25, 2019, 11:31:25 PM
so....  make Twilight Imperium feel like it zips right along, eh?

Not possible.  No game moves more slowly than Twilight Imperium, period.  :P 

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BanzaiCat

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Reply #14 on: November 26, 2019, 07:36:48 AM
TI is like combat, as I've heard - hours upon hours of utter, stark boredom, followed by five minutes of sheer terror at random intervals.

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