Tuesday Screenshot: The Big Boom
It’s still Tuesday somewhere…
Boggit, 24 February 2015
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02/25/15
02/21/15
GrogHeads Reviews Gary Grigsby’s War in the West
The epic struggle drags across Europe
Michael Eckenfels, 21 February 2015
Scratching the proverbial wargaming itch is a difficult proposition. Often, that itch is in the most hard-to-reach place, where only the right combinations will relieve it. I’ve found that most 2 by 3 Games’ products are very akin to the perfect backscratcher…at leastfor me. Some sizes may not fit all, and not all 2 by 3 Games’ products will likely be popular with all wargamers. And yet, with Gary Grigsby’s War in the West (hereafter referred to as WitW), they’ve managed to craft a really good wargame back-scratcher.
PRESENTATION
Covering major campaigns from 1943 on in Western Europe and North Africa, WitW is all about the struggle of the Western Allies versus the Germans and Italians. The earliest scenario, and conveniently the introductory one, is Operation Husky. With a fairly small number of counters, this simulation of the invasion of Sicily is a great way to get introduced to the system without being overwhelmed. However, there is plenty of detail under the hood (and even quite a bit that spills out from under the hood), which makes the frame in which it is presented so much the better.
02/20/15
Classic Reviews: B10 Night’s Dark Terror for D&D
Brant Guillory, 20 February 2015
Outstanding “transition” from dungeon-crawl to explorer and a great campaign starter, if you can find it ~ it’s out of print
click images to enlarge
How many of us have ever embarked on a great fantasy epic and the characters were dead in 20 minutes because we were building our new characters and bit off more than we could chew? How often has the DM/GM been forced to tie together a bunch of trite dungeon crawls together just to have enough of a campaign for the 2nd level characters to wander through? Ever wish you could get those low-level characters out of the “cheese maze” and into the world without getting them quashed in the second encounter?
Have I got a deal for you…
You’ll have to search the out-of-print bins, but this one is well worth the quest.
B10 – Night’s Dark Terror, was written for the original D&D line as the “transition” module from the basic rules (levels 1-3) to the expert rules (levels 4-9). You only need the basic rules to play, but most gamers had ’em all anyway.
02/19/15
Birth of the Federation, an AAR, Part 11
CHAPTER XI: TOUPEES AND TERRIBLE ACTORS
click images to enlarge
The third Excalibur-class Light Cruiser is well on its way, and is named…wait for it…the USS Enterprise.
I’m going to send the Enterprise north, but further than the small fleet I have built up around the Excalibur. The Enterprise will help project Federation interests to the new colony worlds out there.
02/18/15
GrogHeads Reviews 80 Days
Jim Zabek, 18 February 2015
Developer: inkle Ltd
Click images to enlarge
Once in a while a game emerges that is so simple that the writing of a review of it is far more complicated than the game itself. 80 Days is one of those games. In a nutshell it’s a game for a handheld device where the player takes on the role of Passepartout, the valet to Phileas Fogg – the same person in Jules Verne’s novel Around the World in 80 Days.
As with the novel, the player’s goal is to make it around the world in 80 days, but the story has been updated. 80 Days is set in a steampunk world and this updates the game in a spirit that I would think Jules Verne would highly approve. The game is peppered with encounters with historical figures and is driven by the player’s interaction with the and others.
