Category Archives: Reviews
Thunder in the East: A First-time Player’s Perspective
Our guest author takes us to ConSimWorld Expo for a report on VPG’s upcoming east front mini-monster ~
Christian Snyder, 21 July 2018
I recently had the amazing opportunity to sit down with some good folks at ConsimWorld Expo’s Monster Conand play Frank Chadwick’s Thunder in the East for the first time; it was fantastic! Full disclosure: I am currently awaiting my Kickstarter copy of the game and had seen some Vassal play prior to arriving in Tempe, Arizona. Seeing the game on videos and reading the rulebook, however, are nothing compared to sitting down to play with the printer’s proof copy at the show. Since the game is not available, this is not a review, but a first impression focusing on what impressed me about seeing, playing, and meeting the development team for Frank Chadwick’s ETO Vol. I: Thunder in the East.
Frank Chadwick’s ETO Vol I: Thunder in the East! Nice maps, charts and counters!
Thunder in the East is a dynamic, action packed game covering the entire Eastern Front of World War 2 in six scenarios starting with the German Operation Barbarossa and ending with the Soviet Operation Bagration. You can do each scenario singularly or start a full campaign from these points with incredible systems for morale, seasonal activities, economy and unit reorganization. My experience consisted of three playthroughs of Operation Barbarossa using the optional and campaign game rules. For each of our playthroughs, we were typically unconcerned with capturing Moscow. However, to capture Moscow, along with Stalin, would have been a scenario automatic victory.
GrogHeads Reviews Baldur’s Gate Enhanced Edition
Can the update & enhancement bring the game up to modern standards? ~
Avery Abernethy, 30 June 2018
Baldur’s Gate was originally released in December 1998. It was a tremendous financial success selling more than a million copies worldwide. It was also a critical success earning a GameRankings score of 92%. I bought the game when it was first released and later the expansion Tales of the Sword Coast. I ended up replaying the game many times.
Minsc also has many memorable dialogue options including “Butt-Kicking for Goodness.”
An Enhanced Edition of Baldur’s Gate was released in January of 2013 on Steam and www.gog.com. The Original edition of Baldur’s Gate was removed from the market. Baldur’s Gate has one of the most memorable characters in computer RPG history, Minsc the Ranger with his companion Boo the hamster. Minsc obtained Boo after a severe head injury, thinks Boo talks to him, and that Boo is a “space hamster.” Minsc also has many memorable dialogue options including “Butt-Kicking for Goodness.”
GrogHeads First Impressions of Stars in Shadow
Screenshots of snake-people swashbuckling around the stars ~
Boggit, 26 May 2018
Developed by Ashdar Games Inc and published by Iceberg Interactive
I’ve been meaning to have a look at this game for some time now and finally have got around to it. Playing Emperor “Gritok the Devourer” of the Gremak Empire – an aristocratic race of four-eyed cobra alien slavers – I took to the stars in a huge Galaxy to try my luck as the mean and nasty imperialist snake people!
Here’s a collection of screenshots from my early expansion into the stars, which gives you an idea of how the game is presented, as well as the sort of options available to players. I liked the artwork, which unlike a lot of space games is nice, bright and colourful – and even a bit cartoony – which added to the fun. I liked what I saw with this game, which reminded me of the classic Master of Orion 2 in terms of gameplay. A big plus is that it is simple to play like Master of Orion 2, yet had sufficient depth to keep my attention.
So here we start at our home planet of Gremal. We’ve already made life a misery for the poor Enfi race that shares our planet having enslaved those centuries before. Now we have a chance to enslave other species to our will.
The Art of War & Field of Glory II
Boggit takes a look at Field of Glory 2’s units on parade ~
Boggit, 5 May 2018
One of my favourite games is Slitherine’s Field of Glory, which in Field of Glory 2 has seen a facelift in its graphics and a whole new game engine developed by Byzantine Games. Field of Glory 2 continues to use the Pike and Shot game system introduced a couple of years ago in Pike and Shot Campaigns, and subsequently Sengoku Jidai – Shadow of the Shogun. It is not an exact clone of Pike and Shot, as several new rules and features have been added. Where it is truly different from Pike and Shot, and Sengoku Jidaiis in the map and unit graphics, which are totally different, and in my opinion very attractive.
Developed by Byzantine Games
Published by Matrix/Slitherine
Field of Glory 2as I mentioned is an upgraded version of the Pike and Shotgame system, and is in many ways very different from the older Field of Glory, which has different game mechanics, and a lot more units on the map. Field of Glory 2does come with a slight drawback on older machines compared to the original Field of Glory, and Pike and Shot/Sengoku Jidaiin that panning around the map and the speed of reaction to mouse commands is noticeably slower – most likely because of the vastly improved map and unit graphics, however, more modern graphics cards should cope easily with this issue.
I still enjoy playing the original Field of Glory as it has a very different feel to the gameplay of Field of Glory 2, which is something noticed by quite a few of my on-line opponents. This takes nothing away from Field of Glory 2, being just a matter of “apples and oranges”, as both are good in their own ways.
GrogHeads Reviews Cruel Morning: Shiloh 1862
Tiny Battle Publishing promises “Tiny Package. Big Fun!” Does Shiloh live up to it? ~
Robert Ellis, 18 April 2018
– Designed by Sean Chick
– Published by Tiny Battle Publishing
– Scale is approximately 1/3 mile per hex (1700ft)
– Each turn is one hour.
– Units are Brigades.
The American Civil War has held a fascination for me for a great many years, and not only have I read an enormous number of books on the subject, I’ve also played a fair number of games, both board and PC varieties. However, the last, and as far as I remember, only game based on Shiloh that I’ve ever played, was the old 2 map SPI ‘Bloody April ‘from 1979 a bit of a monster game and one of the first in the ‘Great Battles of the American Civil War’ series. It was quite hard work to play, and I suspect it put me off from gaming that battle ever since.
Therefore, I was quite pleased at being given the chance to review a comparatively new game on the subject, albeit one based on a much different scale.
So, lets open the zip-lock bag and see what we get.
There is a 24 page Rulebook, several pages of which contains extensive scenario and set-up information, plus one optional rule. According to the game page on TBP website, this is a ‘full colour’ rulebook, but, apart from the cover, and a very few colour illustrations on pages 2 & 3, colour is limited to some highlighted text only.
