Pre-Orders Galore & More ~ #TuesdayNewsday

Dive into the heart of tabletop warfare every #TuesdayNewsday, where we bring you the hottest news and trends in the wargaming universe, usually about 15 minutes before GMT drops a major monthly update.

 

Reviewers aren’t required to like everything they play, no matter what their fans, publishers, or designers say.  There does seem to be a surplus of positive reviews in the wargaming world, largely because most reviewers are unpaid volunteers or hobbyists, and are less likely to spend much time on something they dislike – either extensively playing it, or taking the time to write/speak about it.

Now, if a reviewer unjustly slags a game because they didn’t follow the rules or skipped an entire turn phase or somehow failed to play the game as designed, then that absolutely should be called out.  Moreover, if/when that happens, reviewers who are interested in retaining their credibility should admit it, correct it, and move on – either to their next project or replaying/re-visiting the game in which they erred.

If a reviewer or player makes a good faith effort to engage with a game and finds it unsatisfying for a gameplay reason and articulates that gameplay-related reason¹ in an understandable fashion, then the reviewer’s opinion is what it is.  Accusing a reviewer of bias is like accusing a chef of cooking – that’s the entire point of what they’re doing.

 

In a new column on Substack, Geoff Englestein talks about plot vs mechanics through the lens of reskinning a game with a different theme.  The initial comparison is an interesting take on how “press your luck” mechanics change based on the role played by the players.

However, the second example is one that doesn’t quite feel right

We experienced a similar thing when designing Survive: Space Attack. In the original Survive, the players are attacked by other players in the guise of sharks and sea monsters.
In our initial re-theme, we riffed on a Death Star attack. The island was now the Death Star. The player tokens were imperial grunts fleeing for safety. The sea creatures became rebel fighters that attack the player tokens as they try to float to safety in escape pods or just out in their spacesuits.
But there’s a real difference in attitude when you use a shark to go after someone swimming than if you’re piloting an X-Wing and actually just shooting innocent defenseless people floating in a spacesuit.

Seems like a bunch of playtesters need to re-watch Clerks

 

This week’s releases that you’ll want to know about

• Hollandspiele’s latest addition to their best-selling line is here, as Table Battles: Doomed is now available; you can find out more about it this Friday on our podcast
• Well, now that you can “add to cart” instead of just “pre-order now” it looks like OSG has released Napoleon’s End
• Pretty cool red dragon from Alternative Armies
• New scenarios for Rapid Fire! covering the 1941 campaign in Greece (and free!²)
• Panzerschreck #20 got released at some point; it’s got a pair of WW2 games in it
• New toys from The Historical Game Company
  • The Battle of Sedan
  • Battle of Sekigahara
• The new T’au faction is available for Slitherine’s Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector
• GMT will be charging these tomorrow and start shipping within the week
  • Rebel Fury
  • France ’40 2nd ed and the France ’40 mounted map
  • Also, GMT says they’ve got another 2500(!) copies of The Plum Island Horror that just arrived so it’s now “back in stock”

 

Getcher orders in now and then either (a) wait for it impatiently, or (b) forget your ordered it and be surprised later!

• Now that it looks like Napoleon’s End is here, OSG has put Napoleon’s Counterstrike (August-October, 1813) on pre-order
• VUCA Simulations has a pair of new pre-orders now opened up
  • 1812 – Napoleon’s Fateful March
  • Traces of Hubris (Fall Blau with the Traces of War system)
• Worthington put Louisbourg 1758 on Kickstarter last week
• You can now pre-order Halls of Montezuma direct from Fort Circle Games
• Renegade has Axis & Allies: Guadalcanal on pre-order
• Doom Tin Crawler looks like a nice travel game for a solo sci-fi adventure; already funded on Kickstarter
• Another big-budget map-&-minis game from CMON – A Song Of Ice & Fire: Tactics – A Tabletop Miniatures Skirmish Game – is waaaaaay over their goal on Gamefound
• Flying Saucers – space combat on the tabletop – is now live on Kickstarter
• If you missed the Burning Banners pre-order from Compass on Kickstarter, you can still get it from Miniature Market
• Warlord went a little crazy with the tanks this week, as all of these are now on pre-order
  • Achtung Panzer! German Collection
  • Achtung Panzer! Soviet Collection
  • Achtung Panzer! US Collection
  • Achtung Panzer! British Collection
  • Achtung Panzer! Blood & Steel Starter Set
  • Achtung Panzer! All-In Launch Collection (which has all 5 of the above for about the same as next month’s rent)
  • Achtung Panzer! US Army Tank Force
  • Achtung Panzer! Soviet Tank Force

 

Saving money? Spending just as much but getting more for it?

• WDS’s Game of the Week is Musket & Pike: Seven Years War, at 25% off
• Osprey Games has a bit sale this week on their hardcovers (30% off) and digital editions (40% off)
• Big clearance sale at Privateer Press, with some models dropping in price from over $100 down into the $20s-$40s, and a bunch of singles below $5
• Humble Bundle has a big Company of Heroes 2 “Master Collection” at 75% off (so, under $10)
• Big Barnes & Noble game sale
• Oh goodie!  Noble Knight has Blackhorse on sale³

 

This week’s best written coverage from the wargaming world

• Rocky dives into the Dragonbane bestiary
• Wargaming Esoterica (translated from Japanese) has an interesting look at some Chinese Tactics manuals
• Space Biff has some great ruminations on choose-your-own-adventure books (and games) as embodied by the new Spire’s End Hildegard CYOA card game

 

The best videos this week from our wargaming friends

• Liz has a great interview with Hermann Luttmann about his designs and inspirations
• My Own Worst Enemy checks out the new Compass Games WWII Campaigns
• Moe is live tonight with Whiskey Charlie
• Wargame Central starts a new campaign for Hood Strikes North
• HissyCat checks out Sea Wolves Solitaire
• Ardwulf’s counter clipping stream was live from Winterfest

 

Various news & notes from the business end of the gaming world

• ICYMI, the latest MMP production forecast popped up earlier this month
• Interesting poll on solo (war)gaming⁴ habits over on BGG
• CMON cut an exclusive deal with Gamefound and will be moving off of Kickstarter
• A sealed box of Magic: The Gathering Arabian Nights boosters sold for over $200k at auction; for those not in-the-know, Arabian Nights was the first expansion to the game back in 1993

 

It’s been a busy week for the regiment; here’s what you might’ve missed!

• Saturday Night Fights! ~ The Battle of Austerlitz for “Blucher”
• Mentioned in Dispatches Season 12 Ep 2 ~ From Content to Design with Beyond Solitaire
• Mutants in the Heavens ~ Mutant Year Zero: Ad Astra
• #UnboxingDay!
  • Napoleon The Waterloo Campaign 4th Edition by Columbia Games
  • From ’88’ (Yaquinto Publishing) to Panzer North Africa (GMT Games)
  • Comparing Second Fallujah (Compass Games) and Fallujah 2004 (S&T Press)
  • Fire In The Lake by GMT Games
  • Unblocking Rommel’s War by Worthington Publishing, Inc.
  • What’s Old Is New by EN Publishing
• This week in our forums
  • Start discussing the new season of MiD
  • The 2024 R&R HoF announcements
  • 👀 we’re feeling attacked
  • Time to start talking baseball
• Gameplay this week
  • The Battle of Bautzen for General d’Armee
  • North of Caen for “I Ain’t Been Shot, Mum!”
• Upcoming Dragoons Events (and don’t forget to check the event calendar for everything else)
  • Wargame Days at The Gamer’s Armory in Cary, NC ~ 3 March and 7 April
  • Next #UnboxingDay⁵ will be 21 March
  • Next virtual event is Connections Online, 15-20 April 2024
  • Next confirmed live event is Buckeye Game Fest, 29 April – 5 May, 2024

 

Don’t forget to check our consolidated event & convention calendar for more!
You can also submit your own events for our calendar here.

Yes, we need to get the rest of the calendar loaded. We’re working on it.

• • 14-17 March 2024 Nor’easter XXVIII ASL tournament (Springfield MA)
  • 4-7 April 2024 Circle DC (Washington DC)
  • 2-5 May 2024 BuckeyeGameFest (Columbus OH)
  • 16-20 May Compass Expo(Meriden CT)
  • 19-23 June 2024 Origins (Columbus OH)
  • 25-27 June 2024 Connections (Carlisle PA)

 

Focusing on the practitioner world ~ don’t forget about our dedicated area in our forums for the wargame professionals!

• Connections UK is announced!  10-12 September, in Uxbridge
• Big increase in the Australian Navy?
• Air defenses still working in Ukraine
• The next GUWS webinar will be tonight! Integrating Scientific Experiments with Wargaming Mechanics and the next one comes up pretty quick, with Wargaming Urban Conflict: A PhD in Progress next week (Feb 27)
• PaxSims looks at the Canadian War Museum’s “War Games” exhibit as it winds down
• Counting down to Connections Online – here’s one of our first/original extended events from back in 2021

 

Something neat from outside the wargaming world we thought was worth sharing

You never knew you wanted to know this much about pencils

 

 

That’s all for this week!
Be sure to drop by our forums and join the fun, and next Tuesday we’ll drop some more news on you.

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Thank you for visiting The Armchair Dragoons and mounting up with the Regiment of Strategy Gaming.
You can find our regiment’s social media on Mastodon, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and even Threads, if we could ever get an auto-post to it.
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Feel free to talk back to us either in our discussion forum, or in the comments below.

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On Tuesdays, the wargamers convene,
For news on each strategic scene,
With updates in tow,
They’re ready to go,
In battles on both tables and screens!

1. we’re intentionally leaving out issues of ‘that designer gave me the side-eye at a convention 6 years ago’
2. they do ask that you donate to one of the author’s favorite charities
3. pay no attention to the fact that it is 0.99% off
4. the guy is asking about all kinds of solo games, but has a distinct category for wargames
5. 3rd Thursday of the month