Tag: Barthheart

06/13/15

Grogheads Reviews YAAH! magazine issue #1

Flying Pig’s new magazine is out there.  We’ve already interviewed the editor.  Now see what Vance thinks about the finished product.

Vance Strickland, 13 June 2015

Click images to enlarge

I usually don’t read magazines. Not sure why, but the format to me seems to never have enough information on any particular story contain therein. Books are great and for fast information I usually prefer the interwebs or radio or TV. Wargame magazines are different however. I love to pick one up and devour the articles about games that I might be interested in or have never even heard of.

When I heard that Mark Walker’s new company, Flying Pig Games, was putting out a new magazine as well,  I had to pick it up. mark stated early on that the magazine was not going to be a mouth piece for his game company and that it would be about more than just “war games”.

YAAH! comes with a right bold cover and in a very large ziplock bag
YAAH! comes with a right bold cover and in a very large ziplock bag

Just inside the front cover Tom Russell introduces himself as the editor. Now I had never heard of Tom before this moment, but it appears that he is an accomplished writer and creator of board games. In the EZOC, Editor’s Zone of Control, he lays out that YAAH! is striving to be a magazine about all type of conflict based game not just war games in the traditional sense. This, to me, is great because it will expose me to a variety of new games that I normally might miss because of my usual narrow focus on traditional hex and counter “War Games”.

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04/8/15

Quick & Dirty! First Impressions of Battle Academy 2: Battle of Kursk Expansion

We’ve got a full review coming later, but we wanted to tease you with some first impressions from Slitherine’s new Battle Academy expansion.

Vance Strickland, 8 April 2015

The newest offering for Slitherine’s Battle Academy 2 is an expansion pack containing 2 new campaigns.

Each campaign takes place during the Battle for Kursk in July 1943. Players take on the role of the German attackers in the northern fighting and the Russian defenders in the southern pincer fighting.

Germans fight in the north.
Germans fight in the north.

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01/17/15

GrogHeads Reviews Schwerpunkt’s WWII in Europe

Review by Vance Strickland, 17 January 2015

World War II – Europe, hereafter WWII-E, is Schwerpunkt’s latest offering in the operational level of computer wargaming. Literally a “Mom and Pop” operation, Ron Dockal and his wife KC have released three other games at this level. First there was Russo-German War 41-44 featuring combat on the East Front of WWII. Then came Anglo-German War 39-45 featuring the Western and desert campaigns of WWII. Third was Middle East War 1948-2010 which included the Israeli Wars, Iran-Iraq Wars, the US Iraq Wars, and what-if’s. All have involved operational level combat and all have been well received.

Returning to WWII, Schwerpunkt has combined their first two titles into one new game with a reworked user interface, higher quality map, and well researched OOB’s that has been their signature through their games.

It’s been a long time coming…here’s what it’s all about.

What’s Inside

For the $50 dollar download currently available you get 52 scenarios, 2 of which have been available since release day. There are a total of 102 scenarios planned. That’s about 50 cents a scenario when they are all released by August 2015. They range from small short actions with a few units and about 4 turns, to longer, beefier scenarios that have hundreds of units per side and last up to 34 turns. When the campaign scenarios are released they will be true monsters, including an entire War in Europe scenario played out at 1 week per turn.

The scenario listing is laid out in chronological order with the campaign for that period listed first followed by smaller scenarios in that period. The 3 largest campaigns are listed last in the selection panel.

Great list of scenarios
Great list of scenarios

Both historical battles and some hypothetical ones are included in the mix. Some of the What-If’s include the invasion of Malta, Gibraltar and England, variations on the fighting in North Africa and a promised 1943 D-Day scenario.

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09/20/14

Grogheads Reviews Battle Academy 2: Eastern Front

Vance Strickland, 20 September 2014

So how does the newest installment of Battle Academy stack up to the reputation set by its predecessor? Let’s find out…

Never in the history of mankind has there been such a titanic struggle as the one played out on the Russian Front during World War II. The German army, already veterans of the new mobile style of combat with highly trained and for the most part well led troops. And the Russian Army, gutted of its leadership by years of purges, highly motivated by fighting for they very own homes, villages and cities. Locked in combat that took place across vast stretches of open farmland, or through tough urban battle grounds where every corner could bring swift death. Now you get to lead parts of the huge warmachines that clashed in Russia.

Battle Academy 2: East Front is the follow up to the very successful Battle Academy that took us through the fighting in West and in the desert of North Africa. Here you will be challenged in fighting that lasted for almost 5 years. From the opening acts of Operation Barbarossa to the death throes of Army Group Center in Byelorussia, you get to plan and execute your own tactics against the computer and other players. Are you game?

Main menu screen
Main menu screen

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