Tag: Board Games

10/11/14

A Visit With LNL Publishing – The Overview

Jim Zabek, 11 October 2014

J-Z spent a few days hanging out with the LNL crew in Colorado.  There’s plenty more to come, but here’s a little wet your whistle.

Several months ago I chatted with Mark Walker, founder of Lock ‘n Load Publishing (since renamed to LNL Publishing – lnlpublishing.com) about the resent sale of Lock ‘n Load. In the interview Mark made it clear that he would still be the creative juggernaut behind his game series such as World at War, Nations at War, and of course the series which started it all, Lock ‘n Load.

 Click images to enlarge.  Really enlarge…

LNL's new lobby
LNL’s new lobby

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10/10/14

GrogHeads Advanced Research on Projects Advisory #55

GARPA hits the speed limit!

 

Toulon, 1793 (Legion Wargames)
Preorder price $50, MSRP $70

An area-based game of Napoleon’s siege of the city, this game spans the latter half of 1793, and includes rules for multi-player, international cooperation, spies, and logistics.  The usual ‘siege’ necessities are present, to, of course – forts, attrition, and defensive positions all matter – but there’s a bit of room for the defenders to counterattack and maneuver if the attacker leaves the wrong opening, so it’s not a pure ‘tower defense’ scenario, especially since the whole game opens up with the French maneuvering into position for the siege in the first place.  The map is designed to evoke the period maps of the Napoleonic age and, well, you can see for yourself, eh?  It’s on preorder for $50 right now, so grab it before the price goes up as it goes to press.

g55-toulon_map_sm

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09/27/14

GrogHeads Reviews A Blood Red Banner: The Alamo

By: Michael Eckenfels, 27 September 2014

 

The siege of the Alamo, a thirteen-day struggle from February 23 to March 6 of 1836, is probably one of the more well-known battles from history. Anglo, Hispanic, or a combination thereof, it’s difficult to have grown up near the shadow of the Alamo in San Antonio and not have heard of it, or imagine how the battle was fought. Originally constructed in the 18th century by the Spanish, the Alamo mission was very much a centerpiece of the budding town in central Texas, which eventually became San Antonio. While among Tejanos and Texians, the Alamo was a symbol of healing and faith, it soon became the focal point of Mexican military might and Texian independence, in more ways than one.

 

A Blood-Red Banner: The Alamo is a solitaire game from Victory Point Games that, in a very simple and straightforward manner, simulates this focal battle of Texas independence.

ABRBphoto 1

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09/26/14

GrogHeads Advanced Research on Projects Advisory #54

Hey now, hey now…  you didn’t really want to start saving for Christmas shopping, did you?  You really wanted to blow it all on these fine pre-orders and crowdsourced games instead!

Sea Kings (Worthington Publishing)
$4800 of $15k, ends 1 Nov 2014

Worthington makes some of the best lightweight wargames in the business, with hits like Hold the Line and Band of Brothers.  Sea Kings looks like it’s going to take that track record to the age of Vikings and give you a great little empire-builder that looks like a Euro with it’s cute wooden pieces, but whose theme actually means something and evokes a real time and place.  A combination of card play and area movement, Sea Kings is something that grogs can whip out with the non-wargaming crowd to still get a historical challenge when forced to play with a table full of folks that can’t spell “ZOC”.  Sail over to Kickstarter and conquer your fear of pledging.

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09/17/14

Fire In The Lake – First Look!

By: Michael Eckenfels, 17 September 2014

I’ve never played any of the COIN (COunter INsurgency) games by GMT (so far, there’s A Distant Plain, Andean Abyss, and Cuba Libre). To be honest, only A Distant Plain sounded interesting to me personally, though I’d heard good things about all three. When Fire in the Lake came around as a possible review title, I jumped on the chance. The Vietnam War is of interest to me and I wanted to learn some more about their COIN system, so I jumped at the chance.

I did watch the tutorial video that the designers (Volko Ruhnke and Mark Herman) produced for YouTube – you can check it out here. I highly suggest it if you’re interested in the game and want to get a feel for its flow; it’s what sold me on my choice to check this out for review. (The camera work is, well…let’s just say there’s an immediate apology from Mark on his camera work. But that’s easily overlooked.)

A review will be coming by the end of October to a beloved wargaming website near you (cough, cough). In the meantime, I thought I’d provide some teasing bits through an unboxing ceremony that, for me, has become a standard thing now with every game I buy, it seems.

 

FITL-coverThe box in all its shrink-wrapped glory. This thing is thick and heavy. I love the good feel of a heavy wargame box in the morning (though it’s late in the evening when I take these pics). It feels like…well, you know. I really like the cover artwork and the subdued darkness that makes you feel like you’re staring into a quagmire. Huge props to the artist on this venture!

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