Category: AARs

01/23/16

Shogun 2 – Fall of the Samurai

Gus takes on Fall of the Samurai for your weekend entertainment ~

Lloyd Sabin, 22 January 2016

I love you, Shogun 2: Fall of the Samurai. You are truly the pinnacle of the Total War series as far as AI wilyness, graphical atmosphere, and all around immersion. But oh…how I hate you as well, never having been able to beat you. I am the closest I have ever been right now, with the help of the Radious mod, which adds a giant rice bowl’s worth of features, including a tamping down of the dreaded Realm Divide event that occurs in the late game pitting whatever clans are left against the player.  I presently hold 10 of the required 14 domains needed for a Short Campaign victory by 1882…the year of my last turn is 1870. I am moving on Kyoto, with plans to take Musashi as my final move. The last time I played, a few years ago, I actually ran out of time while besieging Musashi and lost the campaign by samurai’s hair. Not again…not again!

S2-FOTS-1

Early in my campaign, capturing the island prefecture of Tsushima was one of my first victories. Looting was not yet on my mind – I didn’t want all of Japan turning against me so early in the campaign due to bad battlefield behavior.

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11/7/15

Battle of the Bulge – An AAR

Developed by Shenandoah Studio and Published by Slitherine

Boggit, 7 November 2015

 

“To the German Commander.
NUTS!
The American Commander”

The response of General Anthony McAuliffe (acting commander of 101st Airborne Division) to General Heinrich Freiherr von Lüttwitz (commander of XLVII Panzer Corps), on being surrounded at Bastogne by far stronger German forces.

The Battle of the Bulge (hereinafter referred to as Bulge) is a popular setting for world war 2 games, and represents Germany’s last hope to forestall the Allies in the vain hope of bringing them to the negotiating table. Bulge is a divisional level game representing the German offensive in the Ardennes in late 1944/early 1945. The game itself is a port from an iOS game to the PC and Mac, and this short screenshot article is to give you a taste of what is being offered.

Bulge comes with 5 scenarios. There is a separate tutorial which deals with all the basics fairly quickly. The game is not difficult to learn, although as with many easy to learn games winning is not always easy. The game can be played either single or multiplayer.
Bulge comes with 5 scenarios. There is a separate tutorial which deals with all the basics fairly quickly. The game is not difficult to learn, although as with many easy to learn games winning is not always easy. The game can be played either single or multiplayer.

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10/31/15

All Things Zombie Reloaded – A Halloween AAR

An adventurous romp through the zombie apocalypse for your Halloween Weekend.

Jim Owczarski, 31 October 2015

 

My family, on my mother’s side anyway, comes from the farming town of Abrams, Wisconsin; 2000 population 1,757 if Wikipedia is to be believed.  Growing up, I’d often be taken back to the ancestral homestead to sit in my great-grandmother’s kitchen and hear the elders talk about the ciezkie czasy.  These “hard times”, for that is the meaning of the Polish phrase, were something scrubby preteens would be threatened with if the odd vegetable went uneaten or we otherwise expressed ingratitude for our material circumstances.  I don’t know as I was ever certain what would cause these times, other than my own ingratitude, or how they might end.  I was certain, however, that I wanted to hide from them up there in Abrams.  Not too many people about, but those who were tended to be good with things necessary in the direst of circumstances and might even be honest and trustworthy enough to help you resist whatever might be causing the hard times.

I think I can say without fear of correction that a zombie apocalypse would count as ciezkie czasy.  With all this in mind, please join me as I, my wife, and my son journey to Abrams and confront the slavering horde of the undead as imagined by Lock ‘n Load Publishing’s “All Things Zombie: Reloaded” (ATZ).

The first thing to do was choose characters.  Having tried a number of other characters in previous games, I decided to have a go with Sailor.  He shows up as strong and particularly good in a hand-to-hand scrap.

Helllllloooo...never mind...
Helllllloooo…never mind…

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10/10/15

Bonus AAR! Rommel Attacks, ’43 (part 2)

What does a 4-player throwdown look like in Gary Grigsby’s War in the West: Operation Torch?  The gang at Matrix Games shows us ~

Matrix Games, 10 October 2015

Turn 3

Axis Air Commander

On Turns 2 and 3 I provided Stuka Ground Attacks on enemy concentrations until Fatigue and Low Morale forced me to ground the Stukas to recover.  At this point my goal switched to keeping the enemy aircraft away from our Ground Forces by flying Air Superiority Missions over the most dangerous part of our Front, which was in the Center.  I believe this was also quite successful although I was not able to see the Air Battles raging during the Ground Phase.

Axis Ground Commander

The battle continues to rage to the north of Sdid Bouzid but the Allies are unable to exploit forward.

Torch-017-screenshot

I take this turn quietly and ensure that I take easy chances to push back units that have over extended. I bide my time as I don’t want to exhaust my combat power and open myself to being caught by a counter attack.

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