Category: GARPA

06/20/14

GrogHeads Advanced Research on Projects Advisory #47

This week’s GARPA might be short on titles (only 3), but it’s long on success – they’ve all made the cut and will be adorning tabletops near you this year.

Scotland Rising  (Worthington Publishing)
$5000 of $2500, ends 20 July 2014

C’mon, now – you’ve seen Braveheart, right?  Scottish Wars of Independence ringing a bell?  And as a wargamer and history buff, you must know that we’re coming up on the 700th anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn, right?   Well, not only that, but there’s a Scottish independence vote coming up in a few months, too.  So what better time than to take a trip back through history and check out Worthington’s upcoming game on the Battle of Bannockburn.  And if they hit their stretch goals, you’ll get the battles of Stirling Bridge and Falkirk, too, which should satisfy anyone’s desire for 14th-century hack-and-slash combat in the Scottish border country.  But they only hit all those stretch goals if you go plunk down your coins on the Kickstarter page, right?

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06/6/14

GrogHeads Advanced Research on Projects Advisory #46

A new D-Day game, and (finally!) the digital version of one of boardgaming’s most popular conflict games of all time.  Smells like…. GARPA!

g46-twilightTwilight Struggle, digital edition (GMT Games)
$115k of $50k goal (though that’ll be surpassed by the time you read this), ends 3 July 2014

For several years, it could be wryly joked that the “Struggle” in Twilight Struggle was for the difficulties in getting the digital version deployed.  No more.  It’s not uncommon to see a Kickstarter campaign blow well past the full funding mark, into ridiculous levels of stretch goals.  It’s rare to see a Kickstarter campaign fully funded within hours.  Yes, hours.  Twilight Struggle was at $30000 around 400pm on June 5th, having only launched earlier that day, and within the next 90 minutes they almost doubled that total, to exceed their $50k goal.  They’ve doubled that goal within the first 24 hours.  Why are we not talking about the game itself?  Do we really need to?  It’s to top-ranked “wargame” at BoardGameGeek (though admittedly, discussions of whether or not it’s a “wargame” waste plenty of hours online).  A forum/team game has been running here at GrogHeads for a while now, and countless schoolteachers around the US use it to introduce their students to the Cold War.  Seriously, you don’t need convincing.  You just need to go figure out your pledge level and get it over with already.

 

Day of Days (MMP)
181 of 650 orders needed

It wouldn’t be D-Day without us digging up an Overlord game, right?  MMP has a new SCS game for D-Day that’s designed to cover not just the landings themselves, but the breakouts that followed.  There are even scenarios designed to skip the amphibious assault, and start with Allied forces on the beach.  This game is new enough that there’s no draft cover art, playtest photos, or anything else that’s leaked out.  We were able to scrape up a very rough image of the maps (yes, plural) to show the scope and scale of the game, which will include scenarios that focus just on the British landings, or the US landings.  It’s an MMP game, so it’s going to be a solid and well-tested game on a known platform (SCS) and all those great touches that come with MMP tackling the subject in depth.  Go get a pre-order in!

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05/23/14

GrogHeads Advanced Research on Projects Advisory #45

Your semi-weekly wallet-blasting gallon of goodness is back! GARPA checks out some excellent new projects waiting for your pre-order dollars.

 

Kuzaarik Forgers: Freeblades Fantasy Miniatures (DGS Games)
$4100 of $8500, ends 18 June 2014

The boys from DGS are back with another nifty-looking expansion to Freeblades. Ramp up your fantasy games with some excellent new minis of the Kuzaarik, the Dwarves with a bit of a twist. The concept art is fantabulous, and if the minis are even half as good as the advance sketches, the backers of their new Kickstarter campaign will be some happy gamers. Pledge away, dear readers!

 

New York 1776 (Worthington Publishing)
$13k of $2500 – ends 27 May 2014, so hurry up!

A battle of the AWI, New York 1776 was a key campaign for the Brits following the loss of Boston. A hex-and-block game with integrated fog of war, New York 1776 has so ridiculously exceeded its Kickstarter goal that some of the stretch goals – terrain blocks? – almost seem like they were making it up as they went along. A combination of a strategic map and a tactical battle board gives battles some depth while retaining the ‘big picture’ of the strategic situation. Read more at their site, and hurry up with your pledges before the Kickstarter campaign ends.

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05/9/14

GrogHeads Advanced Research on Projects Advisory #44

It’s time for our semi-weekly preview of awesomeness in gaming

Some images click to enlarge

g44-bagChainmail Dice Bag (AlphaMailleChainmail)

$20 – available now

We’re breaking the rules slightly on GARPA here. Our first item this week isn’t a pre-order, but is actually already available. However, it happens to be on sale right now, so we’re pimping it a bit. After all, what self-respecting grog wouldn’t want a chainmail dice bag. You read that right: Chainmail. Dice. Bag. Let’s those words sink in a bit. Then cruise on over to the maker’s Etsy site and check out the medium sized chainmail dice bag for sale for only $20. Say it with me now: “oooooooh… aaahhhhhh…”

 

Next War: India-Pakistan (GMT Games)

p500 – not there yet

They’ve covered Korea, have Taiwan on their p500, and now GMT Games heads to the subcontinent for oh-God–lets-hope-it-doesn’t-go-nuclear showdown between India and Pakistan that also ropes in the Chinese and Americans.  With the conflict in Kashmir boiling over, shots get fired again, and yet another war breaks out between India and Pakistan.  Varying scenarios let players explore either side in the role of aggressor, and an intervention matrix determines what role other power play in the conflict.  It’s on GMT’s p500 program, but it hasn’t made the cut yet – and won’t if you don’t go pledge!

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04/25/14

GARPA 43 – GrogHeads Advanced Research on Projects Advisory

This week’s GARPA gives you real history, alt-history, and we-hope-it-never-becomes-history.

 

G43EmpireEnd of Empire (Compass Games)
Preorder at $75, save $24

A complex game of a complex time, End of Empire covers the run-up to the French and Indian War all the way through the end of the American War of Independence. Where previous games have treated these conflicts separately, End of Empire covers the entire 40-year period that saw the French, British, and Spanish empires ejected from the bulk of North America as a brand new nation rose to take their places. Thirteen scenarios (natch!) and a host of countersheets to accompany 2 large maps fill out an impressive box of gaming goodness. It’s bordering on monster-size, but that’s because it covers a monster conflict that literally reshaped global history. Check out Compass Games’ preorder page to place your order, and remember that preordering at Compass also gets you a discount on an in-stock game, too.

 

Doom & Bloom’s SURVIVAL! (Joseph Alton, M.D./Amy Alton, A.R.N.P.)
$21k of $19k, ends 14 May 2014

It’s a post-apocalyptic survival game. Yawn, right? Nope. This one is heavily defined by what’s not there. No zombies. No sci-fi “power goes out” stuff. No post-nuclear mutant wasteland. It’s a realistic post-pandemic setting that forces you to survive in today’s world, not some sci-fi disaster-author’s fever dream. You’ve got to move, scavenge, find security, shelter, and food. Stay alive and rebuild. And it’s looks-a-darn-GUDE, too! Check out the Kickstarter page and get your survival training going around the tabletop. Who knows when you might need it?

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