Category: Previews

03/25/17

Domina – A Spectacle of Violence and Greed

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Manage a motley crew of gladiatorial savages during Rome’s twilight in “Domina”, the upcoming pixel-art management sim developed by Dolphin Barn.

Due for release on April 3rd, Domina puts players into the sandals of a young Roman woman, the recent heiress of her deceased father’s gladiator “ludus” (school).  It is your task to restore the ludus to its former power, honor and glory by leading your gladiators to supreme victory in various arenas around the Empire.

Buy slaves or hire trained soldiers. Maintain health and attitude. Conduct drills and training to develop new skills while equipping your warriors with a variety of weapons and armor.  Manipulate powerful senators, generals and consuls. Do all that is necessary to prepare your gladiators for the rigor of mortal combat.

If you have the courage, enter the arena with Grogheads, and check out some screenshots of the latest beta build.

Craig Handler, 25 March 2017

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11/9/16

GrogHeads Previews Platoon Command

LNLP’s forthcoming game gets the once-over from our preview crew ~

Jim Owczarski, 09 November 2016

Let’s get this out of the way, shall we?

Lock ‘n Load Publishing’s forthcoming Platoon Command is not an attempt to reboot Up Front.  It is neither Up Front 2.0 nor is it Up Front Lite.  It is not Up Front Redux featuring behind-the-scenes footage of how a scoundrel and his shadow company absconded with more than 300,000 Kickstarter dollars and left a trail of litigation and rage.  Not that I’m bitter, of course.

No, courtesy of a rare bit of wisdom from corporate gameocracy, Up Front, or at least a reasonable facsimile thereof, is now available from the Wargame Vault and everyone interested can play this classic for a reasonable sum. Even more gratifying, the going rate for second-hand copies has now plummeted accordingly.  And besides, Platoon Command, though a card-driven game of World War 2 squad-level combat, bears little resemblance to its far more complex, some have even dared to say obtuse, ancestor.

Not. Up. Front.
Not. Up. Front.

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09/30/16

GrogHeads Advanced Research on Projects Advisory #97

GARPA! ~

GrogHeads Staff, 30 September 2016

The Russian Campaign, Designer’s Edition (GMT Games / Consim Press)
p500 $42 / MSRP $60

The Russian Campaign is an oft-revered game frequently mentioned among the ‘gold standards’ of classic wargaming.  It’s also been been mentioned with sputtered mutterings that vaguely sounds like “it costs how much?!?!”  Well, here’s your chance to get your hands on your own new, updated, corners-waiting-to-be-clipped copy of the classic.  You get 5 scenarios, counters with both NATO and icon artwork, full color rules & players aids, and 30 years of refinements and improvements to the rules, examples of play, game balance.  Blitz your way over to the p500 page to get your money down.

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09/16/16

GrogHeads Advanced Research on Projects Advisory #96

GARPA comes back with a couple of new pre-order offerings for you ~

GrogHeads Staff, 16 September 2016

 

HOLDFAST: ATLANTIC and HOLDFAST: PACIFIC (Worthington Games)
$33500 of $10k, ends 24 SEP 2016

Worthington takes their popular block-based Holdfast series from big land wars (Korea, Russia) and heads to sea, as WWII comes back to life on your tabletop with this new pair of games.  The influence of the classics War at Sea and Victory in the Pacific is obvious, but with the fog of war that block games can give you.  Big region-based maps, and low-complexity gameplay get gamers into the action as fast as possible, and let armchair admirals focus on the war and not the rulebook.  Steam over to their pledge page and fire your salvo at their Kickstarter campaign.

g96-holdpac

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08/19/16

GrogHeads Advanced Research on Projects Advisory #95

Plenty of tabletop gaming goodness for you this time ~

GrogHeads Staff, 19 August 2016

Swords & Sails (VR Soft)
$3k of $42k, ends 16 September 2016

Not even close to making funding – yet – this campaign just launched and includes options for a pretty cheap print-and-play-only copy, as well as a pledge level just for the metal coins included in the game. Yep, metal coins. It’s set in 1000AD, and allows 2-7 players to tackle rewriting the history of Europe as the French, Byzantines, Germans, Russians, or others. There’s an espionage mechanic that’s rare in a game like this, as well as your usual 4x goodness that let you build armies, fleets, cities, and more. Explore your way through their campaign page and see what you think.

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