Tag: Board Games

03/7/15

GrogHeads Reviews Fleet Commander: Nimitz

Fleet Commander: Nimitz from DVG (Dan Verssen Games)

Michael Eckenfels, 7 March 2015

 

THE GAME

Fleet Commander Nimitz is a grand strategic game covering the struggles in the Pacific during the Second World War, from the start of 1942 through 1945. This is a solitaire game, where the player takes the role of Chester W. Nimitz and tries to stem the Japanese onslaught. Success or failure is measured by Objectives on the map (such as Alaska and New Guinea), and these change depending on the Campaign you choose to play. Victory is determined by the number of Objectives you hold; the more, the greater your level of victory. However, if you fail in stopping the Japanese tide across the Pacific, failure is not measured by a Japanese invasion of the mainland U.S. or Australia. Instead, interestingly, failure results in you losing your job.

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The game has a ton of beautiful (if at times mystifying) components, a relatively clear rule book, and game play that requires a playthrough or three in order to wrap one’s mind around the concepts. The fact that I have gone back to this game again and again to learn its intricacies is largely due to its magnetic appeal. The game does draw me in, even though it might not be everyone’s cup of tea.

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03/6/15

GrogHeads Interviews Tom Russell of Yaah! Magazine

Flying Pig Games is launching their new quarterly gaming magazine, Yaah! Magazine.  Their editor, Tom Russell, took some time out of his busy schedule to chat with us about the launch of the magazine, and what to expect from the next few issues.

click to enlarge images; images courtesy of Tom Russell

Sum up Yaah! Magazine for us in 5 words. Go!

That’s really hard. “Full-color quarterly print gaming magazine” gets across what it’s about, but not how it’s about it, if you know what I mean. But we’ll go with that.

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OK, so more details – fill in these blanks for us:
If you love _____, you’re going to love Yaah! Magazine, but if _____ isn’t your cup of tea, you probably want to read something else.

If you love games about conflict, you’re gonna love Yaah! If games about conflict aren’t your cup of tea, then I’m not sure why you’re reading this interview. In all seriousness– I can’t imagine someone with a wargaming background not loving the magazine, but admittedly this is really a recurring problem I have. I get so excited about what I’m working on, and who I’m working with, and how much I’m digging it that I can’t fathom why someone else wouldn’t dig it. It’s like that bit from one of Woody Allen’s films, I can’t quite recall which one, in which they ask his character (who is a filmmaker) who he sees as the target demographic. And he says, “This will appeal to adults, teenagers, young adults, and kids, adolescents, toddlers, I imagine. Newborns.”

I guess looking at it slightly more seriously, the focus of the magazine is pretty broad in some respects, as we’re looking at conflict-based hobby gaming. So it’s not, strictly speaking, a wargaming magazine, in the sense of historical wargames, though wargames are a big part of it. We’re also going to cover fantasy and science fiction gaming, horror, really anything with combat or other forms of direct conflict. So I guess there are people who would turn their nose up at it for that reason, because they’d really want something focused squarely on historical wargames. But really, I think there’s enough “real wargame”-related content in the magazine that it will appeal to those people, and they might look at some of the other stuff and say, “Oh, that looks neat; maybe I’ll try that.”

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02/27/15

GrogHeads Advanced Research on Projects Advisory #65

GARPA IN SPAAAAACE!  OK, not just in space, but there’s a pair of space games for you this week, along with some OCS action and the non-explosive type of RPG.

Falling Stars: War of Empires (LNLP)
$2600 of $10k, ends 26 March 2015

With its new ownership, LNLP is branching out into digital products, too, and they’ve’ got a 4x space game out there for you to check out.  A strategic game that includes a heavy dose of negotiations with its ‘bartering’ mechanics, Falling Stars gives you more than just a ‘chat with people before you kill them’ vibe for its diplomatic channels.  Check out the Kickstarter page, or find them on Steam Greenlight, and stay tuned to GrogHeads for a preview soon.

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02/13/15

GrogHeads Advanced Research on Projects Advisory #64

It’s always GARPA, GARPA, GARPA!

Holdfast Korea 1950-1951 (Worthington Publishing)
$9500 of $2500, ends 3 March 2015

On the heels of their successful Holdfast Russia game, the boys at Worthington are back with a Korean War game that lets replay the first year of the war with the same basic rules system.  Guard the Pusan perimeter, and outflank your opponent with an amphibious landing, conquer your opponent, and have the news break into a radio drama to tell the world about it.  But first, get your pledge into Kickstarter, and if you and a friend team up, you can save a few bucks by pledging two copies.

g64-holdfast

 

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02/11/15

GrogHeads Interviews Harold Buchanan (GMTs Liberty or Death: The American Insurrection)

Brant Guillory, 11 February 2015

Harold Buchanan gives us the low-down on the next COIN game from GMT, and turns the tables on our interviewer!

We had a chance to chat with Harold Buchanan, Designer of GMTs Liberty or Death: The American Insurrection. This one takes the COIN system to the American Revolution. This is Harold’s first game, but he is well supported by series creator Volko Ruhnke and series developer Mike Bertucelli. Örjan Ariander is designing the ‘bots’ that control the factions not represented by a player in the game. Harold is also an expert on the period and has a degree in Finance and Game Theory from MIT. He resides in San Diego, California where he lives with his wife of 22 years and has 3 kids in college, so he needs all the help we can give him with pre-orders.

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Playtesting!

 

GrogHeads: Do we really need another American Revolution Game?

Harold Buchanan: Are you kidding me? Absolutely! I love 1776 and played it a lot in my youth. I love the Area Status Chart and how British pieces in a Region reduce reinforcements to the Patriots! A game ahead of its time in incorporating regional politics. Then came We the People/Washington’s War with its breakthrough card driven mechanics. I enjoyed it as an elegantly playable innovation and really enjoyed timing the game end through the use of the “War Ends” cards. Plenty of room exists for new and different approaches in it.

Liberty or Death: The American Insurrection looks at the same war as so many other games have but from a different angle: it identifies the four factions critical to the conflict and plays off how they interacted politically, economically and militarily. The game is driven by a detailed set of historical events cards on the topic. Grab three friends and give the conflict a look from a new perspective. It may change the way you think about the American War of Independence.

Given the Patriots won the Super Bowl I am considering adding another card to the mix—the Pete Carroll event card. If you are the Seahawks and you are winning the game during a Winter Quarters Round you must first roll a die: 1-5 you do something stupid and the Patriots win and 6 you actually get to win.

More playtesting.
More playtesting.

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