12/19/13

Flashpoint Campaigns: Red Storm AAR Part 4

Author: Jim Zabek

At the end of Part 3 I had successfully managed to hold off the initial advance of the Soviets and I was considering advancing the hard core of my defense, a company of Abrams tanks, to catch either the Soviet HQ undefended or a southern thrust on its flank. Let’s see how that plan survives contact with the AI…

Turn 8 – 28 minutes elapsed

Now I get busy with orders. First I call in some mines to be dropped in front of the tanks in the north that are heading south. If I’m lucky the tanks will walk into the hex before I drop the mines – a favorite tactic.

Next I order a barrage on the suspected recce/HQ unit in the woods near my own recce unit. They didn’t seem inclined to move much so I’m hoping to catch them even if I can’t see them. Then I order my mechanized units in the south to start moving around. All are ordered east, in a push to recapture lost VPs. The 1000 point VP east of Rodgau is a favorite hide of a Soviet HQ unit. In the past they’ve protected that guy with some serious artillery which directly supports it, so when those units start moving (it’ll probably be a turn or two) I’ll want to hit it with artillery as soon as I’m able.

Mechanized units in the south start to move east.

The last piece of the puzzle is the MLRS. I have several targets to choose from. Finally I decide to use saturation fire on the units to the northeast of Dudenhofen. It’s just a hunch but they look like they’re moving and my sense is I can do some serious harm right here and now.

I hit start to watch the action unfold.

The recce units’ luck runs out. Several Soviet artillery barrages catch them and blast them something good. It hurts.

Soviet Artillery rain on my engineers to the north but fortunately it does no lasting harm.

Then my MLRS arrives and multiple blasts across multiple hexes confirms that I made a good decision.

The MLRS delivers another round of pain.

Continue reading →

12/18/13

Review of Eight Minute Empire

Brant takes a look at Eight Minute Empire, a game that plays waaaaaay faster than it takes for him to write the review

Brant Guillory, 18 December 2013

How does a game with 2 types of blocks, a map that could hide in a magazine, and no combat pack a legitimate realm-building adventure into a 10-minute game?

Elegantly.

8-minute-1 — The small box includes 5 colors of tokens, punchout coins, a deck of cards, a very short instruction page, and a mounted, two-sided map. The box is pretty solid, too. You could really hurt someone if you hurl it at them.

Eight Minute Empire from Red Raven Games probably takes about ten to twelve minutes to play, but you lose the cute alliteration of the name in doing so. Still, taking over the map twice in a lunch break at the office, and still having time to talk smack about it, is nothing to sniff at.

First question – “Does it really only take eight minutes to play?” Yes, if you’ve got a two-player game of guys who know what they’re doing. But let’s just suppose you double the length of the advertised game. Are you really going to be unimpressed with a game that let’s you conquer the map in less time than it’ll take you to read this review?

Second question – “Whaddaya mean there’s no combat? How do I conquer the world?” The guy with the most armies (cubes) in the space controls it. Ties go to nobody. It’s not rocket surgery.

Third question – “Is it just beating each other up?” Nope. There are potential cities to found, a treasury to manage, and trade goods to collect.

So here’s how it works. Continue reading →

12/16/13

Spearpoint 1943 with Designer Byron Collins – BONUS

Byron had sent some videos our way. And in classic GrogHeads “we’re-making-this-up-as-we-go” style, ~~we forgot to include them in this weekend’s post~~ decided to devote a new article just for them, since they’re so outstandingly awesome.

Discuss this article in our forums >>

12/14/13

Spearpoint 1943, Kickstarter Preview and Interview with Designer Byron Collins

Byron Collins has launched a new Kickstarter campaign for the Spearpoint 1943 system, and is closing fast on his funding. He took a few minutes out of his busy days pimping this excellent card-driven WWII game to, well, to continue pimping it, but with GrogHeads!

Brant Guillory, 14 December 2013

Give us 3 words to describe Spearpoint 1943 as a game system.

Quick, Fun, Deep

OK, now give us the short paragraph – what’s special about the way Spearpoint 1943 plays, and where are wargamers likely to fit this into their staple of wargames?

Spearpoint 1943 is an expandable card game at its core (non-collectible). It’s highly portable with its small box and small footprint of play. It’s quick, deep, and keeps players interested because as you play, the game really tells a story. For players who want even more depth than just playing with cards, they can optionally expand it with the Village and Defensive Line Map Expansion that got a 2013 Origins Award Nomination for Best Historical Boardgame. The Map Expansion adds terrain boards that set up differently each game- it really changes the game and takes it even deeper- offering new challenges to Spearpoint players. It’s a very scalable system. Spearpoint fits nicely into a gamer’s library who seeks a great fast filler that’s easy to teach (even to teenage sons/daughters), yet scratches that tactical itch without drowning players in minutia. It’s also been called an excellent ‘filler’ game between larger wargames.

What was the genesis behind Spearpoint 1943 and what were some of the design challenges you experienced along the way?

Spearpoint 1943 came about at WBC one year. I was trying to demonstrate my very first design, which was much more complex (Frontline General: Italian Campaign Introduction). I didn’t have time to show such a complex game, so focused on demonstrating just one element of it- combat. From there, Spearpoint was born. After honing the game to be a standalone card game, the combat system became even better and more fun. Breaking it out of my first game made me realize that everything else I had done with that original design wasn’t quite as fun as just focusing on the combat. The original Spearpoint 1943 is my best-selling game, was my first game in distribution, and remains popular- hence the expansions and new standalone game- Spearpoint 1943 Eastern Front. Continue reading →

12/12/13

Flashpoint Campaigns: Red Storm AAR Part 3

Author: Jim Zabek

When we left off at the end of Turn 4 (and Part 2 for those of you keeping track) the Soviets were just beginning to show up in force. I decided to take a chance and drop some saturation fire on a suspected stack of Soviet units and the results were satisfying, if not spectacular. There were some sharp exchanges between my units and the lead Soviet units but I know that in this scenario we’re only seeing the tip of the iceberg. As Turn 5 unfolds the action is about to get even hotter…

Turn 5 – 25 minutes elapsed

Once again the action gets crazy. All kinds of shooting opens up around the center and the south. My feisty recce team spots some mechanized units moving north and takes them under fire, then scoots away.

My recce units fire on some Soviets advancing to the north.

What’s important to note now is that so far the Soviets have barely fired back. They’ve done zero damage to me so far. But that’s about to change. Their artillery will be arriving soon and we’re going to see things get messy.

Flashpoint-Campaigns-A-Test-Of-Wills-AAR-JZ-Nov-8-041 — My M1s light up advancing Soviets.