It is sobering to note that the original “Modern Naval Battles” card game dates back to 1989. It and its offspring have remained one of the more successful titles in the canon of Dan Verssen. I must confess myself, however, to be not the greatest fan of modern naval battles so I’ve somehow managed to give it a miss all these years. Now, however, comes this box in the mail and matters are different:
Oh…my…
It’s not the “Field Commander” or “Tiger Leader” monster box and it’s all together lighter than either. Inside is a rule book, a sheet of counters, a wee bag of four 10-sided dice, and a lot of nicely-done cards.
Jim gets his paws on an early copy of Fog & Friction and tells us what we’re in store for when the rest of us finally get our hooks into it.
Jim Owczarski, 22 August 2015
As an historical miniatures gamer down to my genome, I live for the spectacle of the gaming table. In moments of weakness I have considered those willing to play on tables smaller than those used for ping pong a lesser breed of men and been dismissive of those games and rule sets than enable them. With age comes wisdom, though, no matter what my wife would tell you, and I’ve grown to see the merits of games that offer a smaller footprint while still trying to offer a bit of what draws each of us to the hobby. In this light, Pondfoot Games’ “Fog and Friction” (hereafter F&F) is a fine offering — it brings some of the toys, drama, and tension that make gaming the Second World War so appealing and lets you do it all on your kitchen table.
I’ll leave aside the fits and starts that this project has experienced as it’s tried to make its way to market (more here) and say that my remarks will confine themselves to the promo copy of the base set I received from the folks at Pondfoot. The offering is simple enough: two 60-card core decks, one each for the Axis and the Allies, and two 30-card expansion decks. The game is non-collectible (first step towards toleration for me) but the designers hope to offer several expansion sets that will allow players to eventually fight in theaters other than the familiar terrain of Normandy represented in the base set as well as adding in new units and special cards.
Yep, decks of cards. You were expecting model T-34s?
GARPA AT SEEEEEEAAAAA! OK, not just afloat, but there’s a pair of naval-heavy games for you this week to go with some gargantuan aircraft and more RPG hi-jinks.
Captain’s Sea (GMT Games) P500 – Made the cut! P500 price $45, MSRP $65
A ship-to-ship combat game with a mixture of a square grid (!) and octagonal counters (!!) that covers the actions of the fledgling US Navy in the early 1800s. Battles include US ships against both British and French opponents, and focus on commanding a single ship through skillful maneuvering and solid crew allocations to weapons and rigging. Flying monkeys and subsurface atomic bombs round out your arsenals (just kidding!). Sail over to GMT while it’s still ‘officially’ on p500, but know that you’re going to get it, since it made the cut and is going to head to production sometime soon.
So the 4th of the July, we’re bringing 4 excellent GARPA possibilities. No, we won’t bring you 19 on the 19th.
BOAR, MBT Expansion (GMT Games) 203 Orders to date – not there yet
GMT’s modern-day tank shootout MBT has the usual suspects: the US 7th Army and the GSFG. But there’s plenty of tank-blasting goodness up on the Lüneberger Heide where the British Army of the Rhine was facing down an equally vast array of Soviet forces. The MBT games are scaled at the squad and individual vehicle level, ensuring tight focus on tactical shootouts where a bayonet charge is always possible. MBT is on p500 itself, but while you’re over there, get an order in for BAOR, too, and refight the whole shebang back in the late ‘80s.
Vance Strickland cracks open his fresh-outta-the-mail copy of Cards of Cthulhu and shares the guts with us.
Just received Dan Verssen Game’s kickstarter game Cards of Cthulhu.
Here is everything in the game including some kickstarter goodies.
This is a 17″x22″ poster of the box cover art, thanks to kickstarter stretches.
Also thanks to a kickstarter stretch is this 18 page booklet of art for the game by the artist.
The 22 page rules booklet is full colour and has lots of info for playing the game.
These are the boards for playing the game. Each Cult has their own, plus a Player Aid Card.
Really cool components thanks to the KS campaign. Metal experience coins and custom dice.
Finally the cards of Cthulhu. Each cult has minions, horrors and gates. You also get special items, some are cursed, and finally your adventurer-heroes.
Close-up of my KS level quote that got added to the game. Bonus points if you can name the movie the quote is from…
