Armchair Dragoons Forums
Wargaming => The Modern World => Topic started by: judgedredd on October 17, 2019, 04:20:58 AM
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I've just had an email from Second Chance Games informing me of their upcoming releases and a game called Combat! by Compass Games was in there.
I was intrigued so had a look and it's individual soldier level play and totally solitaire - right up my alley. Unfortunately £135 is out of my price range for a board game :(
It did make me think though...what other solitaire, individual soldier games are out there? I know of Ambush! and ASL...Ambush! is a bit on the "bare essentials" side for me - I want my games to look good as well as be fun to play and ASL is too complicated for my wee, auld heed.
Note
I've just read that ASL is squad based anyway....hence Advanced SQUAD Leader :D
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DVG's Warfighter series and LnL's Solo Tactical come to mind immediately.
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LnL Tactical is not single man but squad based like ASL.
I can't think of any "modern" games. Cityfight by SPI and Firepower by AH were both single man counters. Ambush series is the only WWII SMC games I can think of.
DVG Warfighter Series (Modern, WWII, WWII Pacific, Shadow Wars, PMC so far) is a good one but card based not hex and counter. Matters to some.
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City Fight was hard work,
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Never played it.
Oh, just thought of a modern game (2017) - Urban Operations by NUTS! games out of France. Modern combat with blocks.
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DVG's Warfighter series and LnL's Solo Tactical come to mind immediately.
As he says
DVG Warfighter Series (Modern, WWII, WWII Pacific, Shadow Wars, PMC so far) is a good one but card based not hex and counter. Matters to some.
That does matter. I like Warfighter - but I'm thinking specifically within the parameters of the game Combat!...i.e. single man, counter and hex based. The reason I'd like a modern one is graphics. I've heard great things about Ambush!, but graphically, I don't know that I could buy into it.
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Never played it.
Oh, just thought of a modern game (2017) - Urban Operations by NUTS! games out of France. Modern combat with blocks.
Blocks - meh ;D
Thanks though.
I guess currently my options are
- Find £135 from somewhere
- Go back to the dark ages and pick up a copy of Ambush!
- Fire up me some Warfighter and see if it scratches my itch
- Stay with my many versions of squad games - of which I have a big favourite - Combat Command
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Both Ambush and Sniper were excellent multiplayer games - Sniper with a GM is awesome considering its a really old SPI game. The graphics are certainly poor by today's standards, but the gameplay was very tense indeed.
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Yeah, Combat! is singing its Siren Song to me as well. :dreamer:
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A good question, though. I went to the Solitaire Wargames forum on FB and asked the same question. They tend to come up with a lot of stuff that I've not considered.
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Try looking at Nuts! by Two Hour Wargames (https://www.twohourwargames.com/nufive.html). But maybe that's too minis-oriented? It does have individual man and vehicle combat and has solo rules. I've not played it but it was recommended.
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Try looking at Nuts! by Two Hour Wargames (https://www.twohourwargames.com/nufive.html). But maybe that's too minis-oriented? It does have individual man and vehicle combat and has solo rules. I've not played it but it was recommended.
This can actually be played with minis, designed for it actually, but can also be played with counters on a hex map. I have a copy but haven't gotten it tot he table... yet... :doh:
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Never played it.
Oh, just thought of a modern game (2017) - Urban Operations by NUTS! games out of France. Modern combat with blocks.
Blocks - meh ;D
Thanks though.
I guess currently my options are
- Find £135 from somewhere
- Go back to the dark ages and pick up a copy of Ambush!
- Fire up me some Warfighter and see if it scratches my itch
- Stay with my many versions of squad games - of which I have a big favourite - Combat Command
Ambush is a really great game. Look on BGG there are counter mods that you could use.
It can be found for a reasonable price too.
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Try looking at Nuts! by Two Hour Wargames (https://www.twohourwargames.com/nufive.html). But maybe that's too minis-oriented? It does have individual man and vehicle combat and has solo rules. I've not played it but it was recommended.
Nah...thanks though. Chits and hexes...that's me ;)
I did look at ASL (as I brought it up) and started looking for an ASL Starter Kit - then thought better of it :)
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Try looking at Nuts! by Two Hour Wargames (https://www.twohourwargames.com/nufive.html). But maybe that's too minis-oriented? It does have individual man and vehicle combat and has solo rules. I've not played it but it was recommended.
This can actually be played with minis, designed for it actually, but can also be played with counters on a hex map. I have a copy but haven't gotten it tot he table... yet... :doh:
I'm not doing PnP if that's what the hex/counter game mode is. I've done that and I wasn't overly happy with the final product if I'm honest (my doing I know).
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It did make me think though...what other solitaire, individual soldier games are out there?
https://tinybattlepublishing.com/products/rifles-in-the-ardennes (https://tinybattlepublishing.com/products/rifles-in-the-ardennes)
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TBP, Brant? You must be kidding......................
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It did make me think though...what other solitaire, individual soldier games are out there?
https://tinybattlepublishing.com/products/rifles-in-the-ardennes (https://tinybattlepublishing.com/products/rifles-in-the-ardennes)
I played that game and was a bit underwhelmed.
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TBP, Brant? You must be kidding......................
:hehe:
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I did look at ASL (as I brought it up) and started looking for an ASL Starter Kit - then thought better of it :)
Come to the dark side. Resistance is futile. You know you want to. :devil: >:D
Seriously, for $25, SK1 is a great value.
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TBP, Brant? You must be kidding......................
:hehe:
You've been out in the sun without your hat on again.
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TBP, Brant? You must be kidding......................
:hehe:
You've been out in the sun without your hat on again.
Must be missing something….? ???
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Not when it comes to TBP you're not.
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Catty..... ???
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Yeah - TBP doesn't look like anything I was looking for :)
And...
I did look at ASL (as I brought it up) and started looking for an ASL Starter Kit - then thought better of it :)
Come to the dark side. Resistance is futile. You know you want to. :devil: >:D
Seriously, for $25, SK1 is a great value.
No. I have enough squad games without learning even more rule sets.
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Right. I've been faffing around for weeks going from one rule book to the next getting all tied up in what game I want to play.
Holland '44 had to be packed away (after spending 2 weeks or more on the rules) because the room was to be redecorated (even though it still currently hasn't been touched two weeks on!). Shame because I only performed the first turn for the Allies and I really liked it.
I then moved on to Silver Bayonet and whilst I like the sound of it and I love the Vietnam era, it's company level (with some sections) and I've been recently distracted with single man counter games (because of an advertisement for the ridiculously priced Combat!) and - due to a lack of new games out there - that led me last night onto the rules for Warfighter (modern combat edition).
However, reading the rules, I still kept being left feeling wanting. It just wasn't scratching the itch.
So I'm kind of left hanging. Either I crack on with Warfighter, or I do something else and those options for "something else" are...
- Go against my better judgement and get Ambush!
- Go against my better judgement and get ASL Starter Kit 1
- Take a punt on something else I'm keen on
Those other games are
- One of my Band of Brothers games (Screaming Eagles or Ghost Panzer)
- One of my many LnL games including Vietnam (Heroes of I believe) and Heroes of the Falklands
- Conflict of Heroes set
- Target for Today or Queen of the Skies (apparently not much in it)
LnL makes sense because I have several games so once I've got the rules, I could be in for some lengthy gaming - however I can't seem to shake this single counter gaming thing I've latched onto.
Part of my issue with ASL is it kind of looks dated but also the rules - I can't find the rules online to see how they read. I need nice easy rules to read. I've looked at Ambush! and it's pretty text heavy and looks like the set of rules I might give up on.
Band of Brothers looks to be the best option for picking up because the rule book is pretty light and well laid out.
I'm just lost and need some help
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some of these are out of print and tougher to find, but they're all about the scale you're looking for
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/4964/close-assault
https://boardgamegeek.com/rpgitem/48774/behind-enemy-lines
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/163474/v-commandos
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/5265/commando
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/8386/alert-force
want to get out of WWII-to-present?
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1618/french-foreign-legion
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Part of my issue with ASL is it kind of looks dated but also the rules - I can't find the rules online to see how they read. I need nice easy rules to read.
Send me a PM.
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some of these are out of print and tougher to find, but they're all about the scale you're looking for
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/4964/close-assault jesus - was cardboard that bad back in the day
https://boardgamegeek.com/rpgitem/48774/behind-enemy-lines god no!
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/163474/v-commandos I don't really like those ones where you "build" your terrain
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/5265/commando didn't like the look of this
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/8386/alert-force proper ugly...no
want to get out of WWII-to-present?
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1618/french-foreign-legion seriously - what was it with cardboard back then? Have we only just worked out how to make it?
However - thanks alot for looking.
In all honesty, I reckon as I was a single man counter game and a modern one, I'm probably going to pick up Combat! when it's released. I have to if that's specifically what I'm looking for - which I am.
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Part of my issue with ASL is it kind of looks dated but also the rules - I can't find the rules online to see how they read. I need nice easy rules to read.
Send me a PM.
Sent
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I wasn't really expecting any of those to do it for you, but it did pretty much confirm that what you're looking for is what started this in the first place :)
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In all honesty, I reckon as I was a single man counter game and a modern one, I'm probably going to pick up Combat! when it's released. I have to if that's specifically what I'm looking for - which I am.
Combat! is re-leased already. It's single man counter and solo only as well.
There was a production problem where the back of the infantry counters got mixed, so a counter would be US on the front and German on the back. They have since printed new counter sheets so make sure what you buy has the new sheets.
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...
In all honesty, I reckon as I was a single man counter game and a modern one, I'm probably going to pick up Combat! when it's released. I have to if that's specifically what I'm looking for - which I am.
Combat! is re-leased already. It's single man counter and solo only as well.
There was a production problem where the back of the infantry counters got mixed, so a counter would be US on the front and German on the back. They have since printed new counter sheets so make sure what you buy has the new sheets.
oh. Second Chance Games have it marked as pre-order.
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...
In all honesty, I reckon as I was a single man counter game and a modern one, I'm probably going to pick up Combat! when it's released. I have to if that's specifically what I'm looking for - which I am.
Combat! is re-leased already. It's single man counter and solo only as well.
There was a production problem where the back of the infantry counters got mixed, so a counter would be US on the front and German on the back. They have since printed new counter sheets so make sure what you buy has the new sheets.
oh. Second Chance Games have it marked as pre-order.
Also - it's worth noting that charging £135 for a game and screwing up the counters is shocking. I hope people got free replacements?
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JD, maybe this list will help:
https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/39025/man-man-wargames-featuring-single-man-units/page/1
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JD, maybe this list will help:
https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/39025/man-man-wargames-featuring-single-man-units/page/1
Thanks - but again - they're all so old looking. I just don't think I could get into them.
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Pretty graphics slut! ;D
Yes, everyone got free new counter sheets for Combat!
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Pretty graphics slut! ;D
Aren't we all, to an extent? :)
I get it, trust me...but some games stand the test of time rather well. Hate for you to totally discount them if you happen across a copy for a price better than 135 quid. :D
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I'm sure we did a forum game of 'Patrol' over at 'The Other Place'.
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Oh yes...didn't Barth run an Ambush! game over there with us, too?
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Oh yep - I remember that because I got bumped off fairly quickly as I recall.
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All part of his evil plan, no doubt.
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Yes I ran a Ambush PBF game. Need to do that again it was fun.... just need time and motivation… :P
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just need time and motivation… :P
and therein lies the rub, innit
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....at least you don't have to clip the corners off of it...............
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Could do it in Photoshop. Poor Barth :D
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Could do it in Photoshop. Poor Barth :D
Barth could do it in Photoshop... but never would you frackin degenerate! :tickedoff:
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(http://m.quickmeme.com/img/bb/bbe1388a54cf4cd320a8505b28101cdb117378e1fc0fb1e60833ecb8f625a97d.jpg)
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;D
Do you even know who Bob and Doug are?
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The McKenzie brothers? Are you kidding? Great White North/SCTV? ;D
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Never too sure of how much of our culture makes it through down there, especially if your are any distances from the border....
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our culture
:ROFL:
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He horked our culture, eh?
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Never too sure of how much of our culture makes it through down there, especially if your are any distances from the border....
If you went into a Tim Hortons that was more than a couple hundred miles south of the border and asked the counter girl for some Poutine she'd probably slap you or call the cops.
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Never too sure of how much of our culture makes it through down there, especially if your are any distances from the border....
If you went into a Tim Hortons that was more than a couple hundred miles south of the border and asked the counter girl for some Poutine she'd probably slap you or call the cops.
Sigh.....
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Just to put this to bed...
Thank you to everyone for your suggestions. Thanks to Trailrunner for a copy of the ASL rules - but honestly ASL rules seemed very "texty" and long. Besides as I mentioned, I've got quite a few squad/platoon level games.
In the end, as you may know, I managed to get a game of Warfighter in. I enjoyed it and will go back to it. I even bought some miniatures to use as the soldiers (the ones that came with the kickstarter were poor).
I have since managed to get a hold of LnL Solo and a copy of LnL Day of Heroes and so I've put my eggs into the LnL basket. I've just played a few turns of a scenario from Heroes of the Falklands and I'll be playing some more to try and get the rules down pat.
So LnL will be my focus for the immediate future.
Thanks again. Combat! will have to wait.
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Glad you found something you like. Looks like you’re enjoying it.
Thank you to everyone for your suggestions. Thanks to Trailrunner for a copy of the ASL rules - but honestly ASL rules seemed very "texty" and long.
Just to be clear - I sent you the rules for the first module of the starter kit game. That’s infantry only.
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Oh - that was not lost on me! ;D
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To whomever "runs" this website - if you would you like me to do an unboxing report for Combat!, just pm me.
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To whomever "runs" this website - if you would you like me to do an unboxing report for Combat!, just pm me.
:ROFL:
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LOL - its just like spontaneous combustion - it just happens and nobody knows how or why :-)
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I wasn't sure if it was BB or BH :-\
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BB :)
I'd really like to see an un-boxing of this game as it does look very interesting.
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I will try do do one. I'm not doing a video because no-one could understand me and I'm camera shy anyway (because it lies and makes me look ugly!)
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LOL
You don't need to be on camera, JD. All the unboxing vids I did, I did with only my hands in the shots.
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but then well see his girly hands and sparkly nail varnish
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I wasn't sure if it was BB or BH :-\
If BH is me then noooooooo, I would never want to be in charge of this group.... :notme:
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but then well see his girly hands and sparkly nail varnish
Don't we need more of that in wargaming?
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so im told
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but then well see his girly hands and sparkly nail varnish
Don't we need more of that in wargaming?
I expect to see it in your next unboxing
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:-*
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To clip or not to clip - that is the question
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49183971337_858e523f49_b.jpg)
Oops - too late :hehe:
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:bigthumb:
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The mohel from Oregon strikes again!
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The mohel from Oregon strikes again!
Indeed it does. I've been at the table for 3 hours or more!
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The mohel from Oregon strikes again!
Indeed it does. I've been at the table for 3 hours or more!
3 hours you could have been playing! What a waste! :Loser:
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Those furry corners are way too distracting for proper game play.
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The mohel from Oregon strikes again!
Indeed it does. I've been at the table for 3 hours or more!
3 hours you could have been playing! What a waste! :Loser:
I see your point, but I could never have enjoyed myself.
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I've just played one turn of this game and I have to say - my skepticism after watching the videos I posted earlier have been smashed. As I thought, the guy in the videos is being pretty thorough about showing how to play the game - and he does a great job. But when you actually play this game, the process is soooooooooo smooth.
Really, so far, a very, very engaging game system and plays quite fast.
Sorry - got to go - turn 2 awaits. :whistle:
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https://www.armchairdragoons.com/feature/compass-games-combat-first-look/
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https://www.armchairdragoons.com/feature/compass-games-combat-first-look/ (https://www.armchairdragoons.com/feature/compass-games-combat-first-look/)
Nicely done, JD!
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^+10
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+100. Well written review. :bigthumb:
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+100. Well written review. :bigthumb:
:bigthumb: :bigthumb:
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Aw thank you. My first unboxing write up :)
I'll try and take better pictures if I do any other kind of article. I took those on my phone and they do look unfocused in places.
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Great work, JD!
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:biggrin:
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I feel for you, man. 135 quid is about 180 US dollars. :o
That's nuts!
Also honestly I had no idea Combat! was a solo game. If you're doing a full review, I'd love to read it.
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Also honestly I had no idea Combat! was a solo game.
Where have you been?!
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Not paying attention.
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..............sorry, what was that?...............
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The whuzzit now?
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I thought it was standard for board game manufacturers to have their manuals online? Is that not the norm? I'd love a downloadable manual to be able to search more - the index in the game isn't great.
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I thought it was standard for board game manufacturers to have their manuals online? Is that not the norm? I'd love a downloadable manual to be able to search more - the index in the game isn't great.
PDFs of the rules and errata available here:
https://www.compassgames.com/combat.html (https://www.compassgames.com/combat.html)
Rules link:
https://issuu.com/consimworld/docs/combat-rules-booklet?fr=sOTEwNTQwNTM5
Errata link:
https://compassgamesbucket.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/downloads/Errata+and+Q%26A+-+reformatted+-+No+1+-+26+Nov+2019.pdf
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Excellent - thank you. For some reason I thought BGG would be where they were...I didn't even consider the publisher's website.
:bigthumb:
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Most publishers have the links on their websites. I look there first because they tend to be the most current versions.
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https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/264826/evolution-historical-small-unit-tactical-board-war (https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/264826/evolution-historical-small-unit-tactical-board-war)
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I've played the first Intro scenario a couple of times now and feel I've got the rules so I'll be doing some impressions over the next week and I'll pass it to Brant.
It's a cracking game :applause:
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:bigthumb:
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https://www.armchairdragoons.com/feature/combat-early-impressions-of-the-game/
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Nice job JD. :bigthumb:
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Thanks Barth. Brant has given me some pointers to write a review at some point - it won't be until after New Year probably - because this kind of turned into an unboxing/AAR/impressions kind of document and admittedly probably isn't particularly structured very well.
I don't seem to put into the article just quite how engaging the system is...which I hope to do in a proper review because for me this was very, very much worth the cost of admission.
I've fired through the second intro scenario. I'm still referencing the manual and player aid cards but I think that's always a safe thing to do.
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Very good!
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:bigthumb: Excellent, JD. Well done indeed.
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Thanks Brant - it looks great.
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Nice work!
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+1 :rockon:
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Thank you :bigthumb:
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This was posted by at Boardgamegeek
As just one example, one of my guys (the medic no less!) made a lucky shot from 16 hexes away at an enemy soldier who was sneaking in the open towards a building, lightly wounding him. The next time my guy fired, he shot at the same guy and rolled the exact same roll, but this time he missed by 1. Why? Because when the enemy soldier took that light wound, he crapped his pants and went from sneaking to hiding, which makes him harder to hit in the open! In most games, the AI soldier would be either dead or alive, maybe wounded, but you sure as hell wouldn't be tracking his current orders/stance, not to mention his morale level.
and I alluded to the same thing in my write up. I just couldn't understand why a soldier would have an Aimed Fire order when he had no "eyes on" and I thought the same thing as the guy on BGG - the hexes are 20 yards - he's heard firing and he's alert (for Aimed Fire) or taken cover (for Hide).
I had a German soldier last night in my game. All the German soldiers were unprepared and "waiting" so do not get any orders until Allied forces are spotted or shooting happens. When spotting did occur (on the first turn) and shooting did happen (on the second turn), out of the 5 turns in the scenario, the German soldier twice had an Aimed Fire order and once had a Hide order. Given the scale of the maps (20m per hex I believe) it made perfect sense he's take an alert (Aimed Fire) stance and a Hide order - perhaps firing was closer or he just got nervous.
It's these little nuggets that really help to make this game special.
I honestly can't stop playing at the moment - at the detriment of my modelling, other boar gaming and computer gaming. I can see expansions being bought straight off the shelf. Oh - and the designer has already mentioned Combat!2 in a post over at BGG. He was looking for play testers back in early November.
The thread is here if you're interested (though you'll have to print the components yourself for testing). He may still be recruiting.
https://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/2319308/call-play-testers
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I'm going to hang up my writing boots.
We're sorry, but your recent article was not awarded any geekgold, and has not been posted to the forum:
Unboxing and Initial Impressions for Combat!
Reasons:
40% Irrelevant
60% Spam
40% Poor Structure
I linked to the articles - I'm hoping it's because I linked to the articles rather than posted them? I don't know, but it was a kick in the bollox :2funny:
Irrelevant? Spam? I can acknowledge poor structure, but still. :ROFL:
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if you look in the web links on the actual game listing, your articles are there :)
(now, they need to correct the link on the 2nd listing - it just repeated the link from the first one - but the correction is already submitted)
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I played Intro Scenario 3 the other day...didn't "keep" reading the Special Rules and so didn't quite get the details of using C4 charges.
I thought they exploded at the end of the scenario, so I piled in as many troops as I could to plant C4. 2 soldiers got there in turn 4. On turn 5 I gave them a plan order (which you need to when you start the turn so the following turn they get to plant the C4...so that was 2xC4 planted. I then moved, in that turn, 3 more soldiers into the hex so I could give them a Plan order the following turn (6) and plant more C4 on turn 7 (the last turn).
When I read the rules, I realised the C4 explodes at the END of the turn it was planted. On turn 3 of my soldiers had gone into the emplacement to plant C4...2 dead and 1 badly injured.
I hung up my commission and ran away. :Loser:
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#UnboxingDay ~ Combat! Volume 1 (2nd Printing) by Compass Games
https://www.armchairdragoons.com/articles/unbox/unbox-combat2nd/
(https://i0.wp.com/www.armchairdragoons.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Unbox-CombatVol2-Splash.png?w=500&ssl=1)
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I bought that game in April when I visited the Compleat Strategist in NYC. I found it too similar to ASL -- although much less fiddly and very playable -- so I'm going to stick with ASL.
I'm selling my punched but very good shape of Combat! if anyone is interested.
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I very nearly put this in my shopping basket after getting rid of it over 2 years(?) ago
But I've held back at the moment. :silly:
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Just put this back on my table. Playing the Defend the Village scenario. It starts with an enemy 105 barrage on my village... which promptly injured 2 guys and outright killed CPL Stinson when a shell landed at his feet.
Not a good start.
Great fun! :bigthumb:
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outright killed CPL Stinson when a shell landed at his feet.
d'oh!
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outright killed CPL Stinson when a shell landed at his feet.
d'oh!
Hard to walk that one off.