Whats on Your Table?

[bbmike]

I don't know why but the Global War rules really confuse the hell out of me. There is a great game in there once you decode the rules. Both Zorn and Vive L'Emperour are good games but I'd give the edge to Vive.

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

Wave 1 of my KS copy of Age of Dogfights: WWII finally arrived (With one box corner crushed nd split open thanks to UPS).  I was sent a preliminary version with non-finalized rules and scenario books.   It's one of those games that requires you to assemble and sticker most of the components yourself and that took about 3 hours.   It seems like I'm one of only a handful of backers to get a copy thus far.  I guess my moaning on their forums was especially effective/annoying.  The project is 3 years behind schedule and they haven't even started on producing the Wave 2 stuff (which is 75% of the game).  Not impressed with this KS at all so far.

Still learning the rules.  It seems mostly straightforward but there are a lot of exceptions, edge cases, and chrome rules to keep track of so I expect to make a fair number of mistakes while learning.  I haven't had a chance to play it yet, just run a few solo routines to try to get a handle on the mechanics.  It looks like it might be interesting.  Reminds me a bit of Dawn Patrol, Air Superiority, and Fighters of the Pacific.  The only thing I'm not too keen on is the lack of an initiative system.  The whole move first/shoot first mechanic give the starting player a bit of an advantage in that they can alpha strike player 2 before they can get a chance to respond.





We'll have to see how it plays out.

[BanzaiCat]

I don't know why but the Global War rules really confuse the hell out of me. There is a great game in there once you decode the rules. Both Zorn and Vive L'Emperour are good games but I'd give the edge to Vive.

Ha, I watched your videos on Global War and Vive, both. Global War's set-up is far more obtuse than it needs to be - that 'tray' sheet is not a help at all, and with all the counters double-sided, you have to hunt and peck for each one. I'm sorely tempted to do a set-up sheet myself for BGG, but need high quality scans of the counters; I can only find one image of one side of the counters that's pretty decent. Oh well. The rules are not very clear either.

Zorn is an exception, but still has issues. The rule book is in desperate need of an index. The version I/we received does not have updated info for the units, but there's an updated one on BGG in the Files section; I had to ask Hermann on FB what I was missing because I was trying to move one of the bad guy leaders and...hmm, how many movement points DO they have?  The player boards have tiny print and too much info on them; they need to be larger or have a playing card with the units printed, or something like that.

Vive, I got out but haven't played yet. I'll get to it eventually.

Right now I have Oceans: Legendary Edition on my table. I received it for Solosaurus review from the designer of the solo mode, Marceline. It's an engine-building game and usually I'm not a big fan of that kind of thing as it can be convoluted and too much math for me (says the guy that grew up with CRT and ratio calculations, ha). I'm always afraid I'm going to overlook a scoring opportunity and playing it solo means that's exacerbated tremendously. Still, I love the ocean theme and it's actually quite fun, the solo mode.

Just in case you're vaguely interested, here's the only unboxing video from the game's BGG page.

I deployed a new episode to Solosaurus for the game Breakaway Football, which has a FANTASTIC solo mode. Plus it looks like it plays really well with two players, also.

I also recorded a play/review episode for a solo RPG called The Drifter, which is like Barbarian Prince but with an Old West desperado-type of theme. It's its own unique product and not just a retheme of BP, though. I'm still working on editing my episode, so here's someone else's look at it:

[bob48]

Currently playing scenarios from Vol III (PTO) LHY.

[JudgeDredd]

Playing this...D-Day at Tarawa (I also have Omaha and Peleliu).

Jury is out at the moment. It hasn't grabbed me yet.

I love the John Butterfield games Enemy Action:Ardennes or RAF:Battle of Britain, though Enemy Action:Kharkov and WWII Commander: Battle of the Bulge were a disappointment.

It feels mechanical. Things like when the Japanese are attacking and they are undetected, it's almost a guaranteed hit on the US unit

We'll see. Only into turn 2

[bob48]

I would have to admit to having  never being tempted by those games.

Assault on Gallipoli is getting a lot of table time ATM. Its deceptively simple, but actually has a lot of depth to it.

...also well into LHY :-)

[rickbill]

[JudgeDredd]

Playing this...D-Day at Tarawa (I also have Omaha and Peleliu).

Jury is out at the moment. It hasn't grabbed me yet.

I love the John Butterfield games Enemy Action:Ardennes or RAF:Battle of Britain, though Enemy Action:Kharkov and WWII Commander: Battle of the Bulge were a disappointment.

It feels mechanical. Things like when the Japanese are attacking and they are undetected, it's almost a guaranteed hit on the US unit

We'll see. Only into turn 2

So I have desperately tried to get into this game. I'm on Turn 8 - honestly I got further than I thought I would.

I'm not sure there's a game here. I genuinely feel nothing whilst playing it - except frustration due to constantly having to check the rules. There's so many nuances. I've got these printed help cards from the forums on BGG and they help - but you are still constantly checking.

This gets worse when the "lettered" attacks begin from turn 3...having to check every position, empty or occupied.

Combat is - not pleasant. It's brutal - which can be fine, right - if you have a feel for your units, brutal attacks make you feel something - but not here.

Every Japanese position has at least 1 Intensive Fire hex in each of it's surrounding 6 hexes next to it's position - sometimes two. When you move a unit into one of these - it's a guaranteed step loss. Guaranteed. And there's no "let's disrupt them and move in"...they can't be attacked twice. And if you do disrupt them in one turn, you have to stop when you get into an intensive fire zone - whether it's one or two hexes away - and so there's an excellent chance any Japanese units you manage to disrupt will have their disruption removed anyway.

Close combat is semi-fun...but meh.

I know this battle was tough. And honestly, I think the game does an excellent job of representing that with the disruption and intense fire hexes...it's a slow slog with lots of units being lost. But it is the mechanics that didn't grab me at all.

Honestly - these games hold nothing for me. I bought @Tarawa, @Omaha and @Peleliu because I had played a couple of John Butterfield games and really, really enjoyed them - but these are the other end of the scale. They really left me cold from a gaming perspective.

They're going up on Geekmarket...just not for me and very disappointed having played the most excellent Enemy Action:Ardennes and RAF:The Battle of Britain 1940

[JudgeDredd]

I liked the look of Task Force 

[bbmike]

I need to get Task Force to the table. I need to get A LOT of stuff to the table. 

[bayonetbrant]

I need to get Task Force to the table. I need to get A LOT of stuff to the table. 

you need more tables?

[JudgeDredd]

I need to get Task Force to the table. I need to get A LOT of stuff to the table. 

you need more tables?

Don't we all

[bob48]

I need to get Task Force to the table. I need to get A LOT of stuff to the table. 

Make a list (I dare you!)

I was hopping, given your enthusiasm at the time, to see a report on your playing 'Banners Burning' - it looks to be one of the most interesting games I've seen for a while.

[bbmike]

I need to get Task Force to the table. I need to get A LOT of stuff to the table. 

you need more tables?

Don't we all

Exactly! 

I need to get Task Force to the table. I need to get A LOT of stuff to the table. 

Make a list (I dare you!)

I was hopping, given your enthusiasm at the time, to see a report on your playing 'Banners Burning' - it looks to be one of the most interesting games I've seen for a while.

I actually do have a list of a few possible "next" games. 
I'm torn between Burning Banners and Divine Right. I think I'll put a poll on the channel community tab  to see what people would like. Prepare to vote!

[edit] The poll is up on the site, Twitter(X) and Mastadon!

[Putraack]

My table has cleared away "Saipan the bloody rock" (Compass), after figuring that the Japanese had won several turns ago. American casualties on the landing turns were really high, and that gave the Japanese more than enough VP to win before nightfall on the first day. (Two-hour turns, for those unfamiliar.)

Next up, a throwback and a palate-cleanser, "Air Force" (Avalon Hill). This was perhaps the 4th wargame I ever bought & played, circa 1981-2, and the rest of my group has never played it. There was a request for a Battle of Britain game for an opener, so I've pulled out the cards for Spitfire, Hurricane,  Bf109E and Bf110C.

That's intended for an interlude, and we will dive headfirst into "Federation & Empire" (Task Force Games/Amarillo Design Bureau). Again, this is a game I know and no one else in this group does; though I have played it more recently than Air Force! Perhaps 6 years ago, vs. 20+?