Bloody April, 1917 award winning board game goes digital!

Lord Zimoa · October 20, 2016, 08:56:59 AM

The Lordz Games Studio will bring the award winning board game Bloody April, 1917 to the digital arena! Read more here:

http://www.thelordzgamesstudio.com/site/2016/10/bloody-april-1917-coming-to-the-digital-arena/

Cheers,

Tim aka LZ

Barthheart · October 20, 2016, 09:09:48 AM

Squeeeeeeeeeeeeee! :D

Thomasew · October 20, 2016, 09:18:10 AM

Please be advised, .. I am not a patient man .. ::)

.. having said that, .. I can't wait .. :)

Cheers
Tom

IronX · October 20, 2016, 09:20:52 AM

Great news. Looking forward to it.

Dammit Carl! · October 20, 2016, 09:43:06 AM

Whooooff...that is awesome! ;D

PanzerFaust · October 20, 2016, 09:52:42 AM

Looks interesting. Will The Lordz self publish this?

Silent Disapproval Robot · October 20, 2016, 10:02:11 AM

Cool! I've had the game and the expansion on my shelf for quite a while now but still haven't even read the rules.

steve58 · October 20, 2016, 10:08:32 AM

You have my attention, sir!

PanzersEast · October 20, 2016, 10:14:26 AM

Great News!

Nefaro · October 20, 2016, 10:57:45 AM

Quote from: Silent Disapproval Robot on October 20, 2016, 10:02:11 AM
Cool! I've had the game and the expansion on my shelf for quite a while now but still haven't even read the rules.

The mechanics are very similar to LBW's more recent Wing Leader games, albeit from a top-down perspective. Simo's air war games, this & the Arab-Israeli one, Elusive Victory, came from the same pedigree (Downtown) as you well know.

I'd kinda rather see Elusive Victory, or even Downtown, over the WWI title. If only because they have more of a learning curve due to the SAM, Radar, and EW rules. Plus those more modern air wars have a higher emphasis on hidden opponent units (being more air defenses). But Bloody April is one of the lightest of the bunch, so maybe this is just the first in a series? *wink wink nudge nudge*

I hope the digital version has some kind of long-term campaign. The British air offensive around "Bloody April" suffered huge pilot attrition. Trying to keep the crews alive, to fight the next day/sortie into enemy territory, should be a big part of the gameplay! Was a tough grind. It would take a long time and some home brewed rules to do such a long campaign with the tabletop, but a digital version would be a perfect way to go. Bonus points if it has some procedural mission generation.

Barthheart · October 20, 2016, 11:04:33 AM

Quote from: Nefaro on October 20, 2016, 10:57:45 AM
...
The mechanics are very similar to LBW's more recent Wing Leader games, albeit from a top-down perspective. ...

Huh... I would not have made that comparison at all. BA is groups of individual aircraft and their movements over the battle field, while WL is squadrons of aircraft...
I'll have to go back and look at BA as it's been almost a year since I've had it on the table and I've been playing lots of WL since it came out.
I've never played the "modern" versions of the game.

Nefaro · October 20, 2016, 11:11:19 AM

Quote from: Barthheart on October 20, 2016, 11:04:33 AM
Quote from: Nefaro on October 20, 2016, 10:57:45 AM
...
The mechanics are very similar to LBW's more recent Wing Leader games, albeit from a top-down perspective. ...

Huh... I would not have made that comparison at all. BA is groups of individual aircraft and their movements over the battle field, while WL is squadrons of aircraft...
I'll have to go back and look at BA as it's been almost a year since I've had it on the table and I've been playing lots of WL since it came out.
I've never played the "modern" versions of the game.

They all use counters representing approximately 1-4 aircraft (a Flight or less). BA's also uses Flights, although the occasional damaged plane can break off and head for home.

After reading the BA/EV/Downtown rules, and the Wing Leader rules, you'll see the mechanics are related. Looking at the Aircraft Data Cards, and the tables on the charts, between the two series, you'll also notice the similarities. ;)

Sure, the two systems are different in some ways. They're not exactly the same. Just related.

Barthheart · October 20, 2016, 11:21:54 AM

Oh I believe you .... it's just it would not have struck me that way without you saying it.

Silent Disapproval Robot · October 20, 2016, 11:34:41 AM

To be honest, I don't know that I'm really all that much of a fan of Wing Leader. Now that I've got enough games of it under my belt, I find that it's a little to constrained and a little too reliant on dice rolls. Up until flights actually engage, there's not really a lot of player choice available as most flights are required to act within a very narrow set of parameters. I wish I liked it more than I do as I'm a big fan of the subject matter. I'm a huge fan of LBW's Bomber Command. Nightfighter is OK but it's a little too light for my tastes and it's not really a two player game. I haven't tried Downtown or Elusive Victory as the jet era holds no interest for me anymore. I did play Burning Blue once but we had to quit early so I never really got that much of a feel for it. I did like what I saw though.

I picked up Bloody April because it was on a Christmas clearance sale for $20. I think it looks interesting but I don't know that I'd be able to get the couple of wargamers I have to play against locally to give it a try. They aren't really fans of air warfare or tactical level games which is a shame as those are my faves.

Barthheart · October 20, 2016, 11:42:06 AM

I'm looking forward to the digital version of this game because there is SO much book keeping in this game, mostly done with status markers on the game board. It would be great to have the PC do all that work for me... yes I'm lazy. :P