The Grumpy Grog says “Try Narco Guerra for a blast of good casual fun”.
Developed Auroch Digital Ltd and Published by GameTheNews.net
A Flash Review by Boggit
Choices, choices. Story mode is more involved including variable street prices for drugs. Skirmish mode doesn’t include that aspect.
I got Narco Guerra from Gamersgate for the equivalent of $1. It’s an operational level game about the drugs war in Mexico. The game is very easy to learn, and there is a help screen with it that gives you all the information you need.
Confused? Don’t be with this handy help screen. The learning curve is really easy.
Single player, you represent the police, fighting up two different cartels (and up to 3 more can emerge during the game). There is a local multiplayer option – read hot seat play – where the first human player plays the police, and up to 5 additional human/computer players can choose a cartel to play.
Airship Dragoon is a steampunk themed, turn-based. squad tactics game with procedurally generated strategic campaigns, similar in style to the early work of Julian Gollop (UFO/X-Com, Laser Squad, etc). Troops are unique individuals based on six separate classes. Disclaimer: the author is the developer.
by Steve Acaster, 1 May 2014
Click images to enlarge
Campaign Overview: Dreadnought On The Starboard Bow
Playing as the British Royalists (one of six playable factions), the early part of the main campaign was spent expanding territory rapidly before returning close to my main base to the clear remaining resistance from the indigenous pirates. This early expansion had brought me into contact with the shadowy “People’s Collective”, who soon started eating away at my newly acquired lands far to the south. Though I had managed to check their advance during a previous battle, it was only a matter of time before they returned, and so I swung my lone Dreadnought class heavy airship around and headed on to find it’s opposite number. Someone was going to lose their prize dirigible.
Sure enough we made contact close to where I suspected their main garrison to be, and I intercepted their own heavy dirigible over a mountain range. A victory in ground combat would later allow me the chance to assault their the headquarters and kick them out of the war all together, a defeat would see my forces trapped far to the north, waiting for construction of a new airship whilst the Collective plundered my territories.
Anti-piracy operations are suspended to counter the encroaching threat …
Preparing For Battle: There Is No Such Thing As Too Much Ammo
With both regimes using a Dreadnought class airship, the numerical strength of each side would be equal, though after my previous battles I expected that the quality of my troops would be better. I had little idea how technologically advanced the enemy would be but expected us to be fairly matched.
The battle was to take place in the cold mountains (-20% Action Points to those not wearing a layer of armour for extra warmth), visibility would be medium and the randomised objective was to capture the enemies flag. The exact layout of the battlefield would only be determined when the battle started. Continue reading →
“Long ago the people shed their anxieties, ever since we do not sell our votes to anyone. For the people—who once conferred imperium, symbols of office, legions, everything—now hold themselves in check and anxiously desire only two things, the grain dole and chariot races in the Circus.” (Juvenal, Satire X, 77-81)
Qvadriga Developed by Turnopia and published by Matrix/Slitherine
Team Vincas Boggi recruits drivers from the “Life of Brian” as selected by Roman Governor Pontius Pilate!
Dedicated chariot racing games are not something you see very often. Qvadriga (Latin for chariot) looked as if it might hit a spot that had been neglected since the board game days of Avalon Hill’s Circus Maximus. Back in the day I’d play with a group of friends over a few beers, running a racing faction. The atmosphere was fun and immersive, having all the competiveness, skullduggery, and tactical skill you’d expect for this sport. It was with all these good memories in mind that I thought I’d give Qvadriga a go.
To my surprise Qvadriga is not multiplayer, which immediately disappointed me as it limited the social dimension of the gaming experience I’d hoped to see again. I hope that the developer will add this as a feature in a future update, making use of Slitherine’s excellent multiplayer lobby featured in many of their other games. Qvadriga would hugely benefit from offering multiplayer and become even more immersive from the additional competition, banter, and taunts to be expected from real human opponents.
You can choose your starting province. I chose “Galia” because I like melons. Oops! Don’t they mean “Gallia” here?
But what of the game as is? Single player, Qvadriga is a lot of fun to play. It is a remarkably simple game to learn, and is aided by well written, pertinent help pages in the game menu. I fully recommend new players take the time to read the help pages, since although the game is remarkably intuitive, there are a lot of tips and nuances to be learned here making for a better gaming experience.
This week’s GARPA gives you real history, alt-history, and we-hope-it-never-becomes-history.
End of Empire (Compass Games) Preorder at $75, save $24
A complex game of a complex time, End of Empire covers the run-up to the French and Indian War all the way through the end of the American War of Independence. Where previous games have treated these conflicts separately, End of Empire covers the entire 40-year period that saw the French, British, and Spanish empires ejected from the bulk of North America as a brand new nation rose to take their places. Thirteen scenarios (natch!) and a host of countersheets to accompany 2 large maps fill out an impressive box of gaming goodness. It’s bordering on monster-size, but that’s because it covers a monster conflict that literally reshaped global history. Check out Compass Games’ preorder page to place your order, and remember that preordering at Compass also gets you a discount on an in-stock game, too.
Doom & Bloom’s SURVIVAL! (Joseph Alton, M.D./Amy Alton, A.R.N.P.) $21k of $19k, ends 14 May 2014
It’s a post-apocalyptic survival game. Yawn, right? Nope. This one is heavily defined by what’s not there. No zombies. No sci-fi “power goes out” stuff. No post-nuclear mutant wasteland. It’s a realistic post-pandemic setting that forces you to survive in today’s world, not some sci-fi disaster-author’s fever dream. You’ve got to move, scavenge, find security, shelter, and food. Stay alive and rebuild. And it’s looks-a-darn-GUDE, too! Check out the Kickstarter page and get your survival training going around the tabletop. Who knows when you might need it?
