Category: Reviews

09/4/13

Seasons – Deconstructing the Boardgame

So exactly what would you expect to find in a game simply titled Seasons with a wizards and a stylized nature scene on the box?

Brant Guillory, 4 September 2013
Photos by Henry Vogel

“Hey man! I need a new kind of game to play.  Help me out and let’s design one together, OK?”

“Sure!  What kind of game do you want?”

“Well, I’ve been a huge Magic: The Gathering fan for about five years now, so I definitely want something with some deck-building in it.  But collectible games are getting such a bad rep that there’s no way we’re going to make any money off of it, so I’m thinking something like Dominion, where the cards all come in the box, y’know?  But still magic and wizards and sorcerers and stuff.”

“OK, so kind of Magic: The Gathering, but all in one box?  That’s intriguing.  But how do we make it not so obvious that it’s just Magic-In-A-Box, or, maybe ‘Mox’ for short?”

“Well, I’ve been thinking about this, and there’s other games like the new Warhammer Fantasy Role Play and Quarriors that have these custom dice with all sorts of different symbols on them, where the symbols determine what you get to do each turn, so that might be cool.  It would mean that we could replace Magic’s mana cards with some kind of roll-dice-get-mana action or something.  And we can do cool colors, too.”

“I like that.  People love rolling dice.  Well, except those snooty Eurogamers who don’t believe in randomness.  But if you can put buckets of dice in there, you’ll definitely get anyone who loves a wargame to come running!  But that just gets the mana distributed, and it doesn’t really tell you what kind of mana you have.” Continue reading →

09/2/13

Sid Meier’s Ace Patrol

Developer: Firaxis

Publisher: 2K Games

Author: Boggit

click images to enlarge

Sid Meier’s Ace Patrol is a game about aerial combat on the Western Front during the First World War. As my prayers so far for a re-release of an updated, and revamped version of Achtung Spitfire, Over the Reich, and Flight Commander 2 have so far gone unanswered, I picked this one up as it seemed somewhat reminiscent of them.

acepatrol1

The Interface is intuitive and easy to learn. The game also features a “Baron-o-pedia” for extra information.

For a game about the First World War, it is a surprisingly very “PC” game for the PC. You can’t die, and you can’t kill your opponents. Following the suspension of historical accuracy is that half your pilots are women, you can play the US in 1916, and you don’t seem to have any limits on ammunition. Your opponent pilots seem to acquire combat victories at a surprising rate, even after you shoot them down several times, so that by the late war they often have more kills than your own aces – weird! That’s about the worst of it. It’s definitely NOT a “Grognard game”, but in my opinion it’s fun, and light relief – a good “Beer and Pretzels” game. As to gaming challenge, it offers five levels of difficulty from “Rookie” to “Legend”, which gives victory point multipliers for successful missions.

acepatrol2

The game map is clear and informative. Note the different manoeuvre options, cloud, and “Archie” cover (red hexsides). The front line is clearly evident, and can determine the fate of shot down aircrew.

Continue reading →

08/28/13

Book Review: Africa’s Commandos

Brant Guillory, 28 August 2013

A new collection of memoirs and first-hand accounts of the actions throughout the distinguished history of the Rhodesian Light Infantry makes for a compelling read and memorable look into the first-hand accounts of Africa’s bush wars of the 60s and 70s.

We took off en masse, ten G-Cars carrying the 2Cdo troops; ten K-Cars; two
command helicopters and ten G-Cars carrying the Support Commando troops detailed
to man the forward admin base and ferry in fuel and supplies to the target
area.

The flight provided us with some impressive and memorable visuals.
All 32 helicopters were flying in single file through the majestic Penhalonga
Mountains, some of the most magnificent terrain in the world. The troops gazed
in awe at the spectacle as they leaned out of the Alouettes and looked around.

Two or three Canberras thundered low over us en route to their targets.
For a few minutes there was the amazing sight of the command helicopters and the
ten K-Cars peeling off in front of us to position over their allocated targets;
the six paradaks dropping the 3Cdo and the SAS paratroopers; and the Hunters
diving in on their targets. The air was thick with dust and smoke and the
streaks of SNEB rocket trails.

And the tales of Op Dingo – the Rhodesian raid on an ZANLA camp inside Mozambique – put the reader front and center in the battle.  These are not analyses of secondary sources with discussions of geo-political implications.  These are the memories of the men on the ground, at the sharp end of the spear, pulling triggers and “culling floppies.”  This isn’t the news conference soundbite; this is the scene in Blackhawk Down when the choppers are taking off and the trucks are rolling out and Stevie Ray Vaughn’s cover of Voodoo Chile is providing the soundtrack.

As you read the book and pore over the memoirs, however, you realize that although the raid on Chimoio was an abberation in its size and distance from the RLI’s bases inside Rhodesia, the action wasn’t.  These men were a battle-hardened brotherhood who had chased “terrs” (slang for “terrorists”, the ZANLA and ZIPRA guerilla forces) across their entire country, protecting the population from invaders whose semi-safe bases outside of Rhodesia’s borders gave them a geographic and demographic edge.  The RLI didn’t care.  They found a way to succeed in every battle they faced, and along the way became perhaps the most successful counter-guerilla force in history.
Continue reading →

08/24/13

Space Hulk – PC Game Review

Bless your armor and consecrate your weapons as Grogheads boards the Sin of Damnation with Veteran Space Marine Craig Handler leading the charge.  Find out if Space Hulk, the latest PC game set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe, is worthy of the Emperor’s praise.

Developer & Publisher: Full Control Games

First, A Shameless Disclaimer:

For purposes of full disclosure, my love affair with all things Warhammer 40K began in the latter half of the 1980s, when I stumbled upon the first edition of Rogue Trader and a box of plastic Crimson Fist Space Marines at my local hobby shop.  Since that day, there has been no turning back.

For the next decade, I was an avid player of the table top game.  I fielded large armies of loyal Space Marines, Imperial Guard, and at one time, I even dabbled with the Eldar.  Although I no longer play the game on a table top with minis, I am still hopelessly obsessed with the universe, reading as much of the fiction as I possibly can, and pre-purchasing any game released electronically on PC or console.

Despite the above, somehow, I still managed to avoid buying or playing Space Hulk, the board game. I knew of its existence, but I suppose I preferred the wide open table-top battlefield to the confined corridor style maps encountered in a game of Space Hulk.

So, while I am admittedly biased towards loving everything Warhammer 40,000, I am a relative neophyte to the world of Space Hulk.  This, combined with my faith in the Emperor, I hope will permit me to approach this review with the love of a dedicated fan, but with the objectivity of a newcomer. Continue reading →