Picket Duty

[bob48]

I've long been intrigued by this solo game from Legion Games.

Has anyone got any experience of it?

[bayonetbrant]

I've long been intrigued by this solo game from Legion Games.

Has anyone got any experience of it?

BC reviewed it a while ago

[bob48]

Indeed he did. No idea how I came to completely miss that...............must be gettin' old or something..............Plus the fact that it was posted over at 'The Other Place'.

[BanzaiCat]

I started an AAR on it too but...yeah, the usual.

A few years back I had bought the first edition of Picket Duty, and also bought Target For Today. I also had B-29 at one point.

I'd done an AAR of B-29 back at The Other Place^TM, but stopped that one. Not because I got lazy, but because it was just plain boring. It was more of a navigation sim than anything like B-17. At least, that was my thought then.

That snowballed into me thinking PD and TfT were pretty bad because, like B-29, they were all on rails, much like B-29. And I suddenly thought any game on rails just sucks. This is despite me having loved B-17 QotS back in the day.

Anyway I had an epiphany one day (long story short) that said these games are on rails, yes, but they're narrative generators. You might not make a lot of impactful decisions in them, but the story they generate is great. I had sold Picket Duty back a few years ago, but re-bought it again last year to give it another shot. The second edition is improved over the first though I could not say for sure in which way, now. I'd suggest checking out BGG to see what they say there. It's been too long since I've played it, but I can say if you're not minding a narrative generator, it's quite fun. It was a big surprise to me to learn how much attention those tin cans got from Kamikazes, around Okinawa. My own ignorance of the subject was pretty broad, because I thought, surely Kamikazes would want to crash into some big, juicy targets, not these small/fast little pickets. But that was the point, I think - that these pickets around Okinawa were there as part of the Allied early warning net. Without them, large-scale raids or attacks from Japan would have gone through without warning or notice.

[bbmike]

Wow, that review really was a while ago, I don't remember it either. Great write-up! 

[mirth]

I started an AAR on it too but...yeah, the usual.

I had sold Picket Duty back a few years ago, but re-bought it again last year

 

[bob48]

I started an AAR on it too but...yeah, the usual.

A few years back I had bought the first edition of Picket Duty, and also bought Target For Today. I also had B-29 at one point.

I'd done an AAR of B-29 back at The Other Place^TM, but stopped that one. Not because I got lazy, but because it was just plain boring. It was more of a navigation sim than anything like B-17. At least, that was my thought then.

That snowballed into me thinking PD and TfT were pretty bad because, like B-29, they were all on rails, much like B-29. And I suddenly thought any game on rails just sucks. This is despite me having loved B-17 QotS back in the day.

Anyway I had an epiphany one day (long story short) that said these games are on rails, yes, but they're narrative generators. You might not make a lot of impactful decisions in them, but the story they generate is great. I had sold Picket Duty back a few years ago, but re-bought it again last year to give it another shot. The second edition is improved over the first though I could not say for sure in which way, now. I'd suggest checking out BGG to see what they say there. It's been too long since I've played it, but I can say if you're not minding a narrative generator, it's quite fun. It was a big surprise to me to learn how much attention those tin cans got from Kamikazes, around Okinawa. My own ignorance of the subject was pretty broad, because I thought, surely Kamikazes would want to crash into some big, juicy targets, not these small/fast little pickets. But that was the point, I think - that these pickets around Okinawa were there as part of the Allied early warning net. Without them, large-scale raids or attacks from Japan would have gone through without warning or notice.

I really don't remember reading your article at the time, but I have done now. I suspect the sheer amount of record keeping would try my patience, although I do find both the subject and game concept to be fascinating. The components also look excellent.

[BanzaiCat]

The components are quite awesome, especially the Japanese aircraft.

The map takes up quite a bit of space, so you might check on that.

The record keeping is pretty high, but it's not impossible. The game is pretty clear insofar as telling you what to do and when to do it. And if you read AARs over on BGG (in the Sessions section), you can find quite a few interesting playthroughs of it.

I started an AAR on it too but...yeah, the usual.

I had sold Picket Duty back a few years ago, but re-bought it again last year