Tag: Strategic

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.

LDInt-06
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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01/29/15

Prosciutto – Hamming it up with the di Parmas… 31!

Yep, we now have as many episodes as Baskin-Robbins serves flavors

In Part 30 Benvenuto accidentally started a war with the Emir Of Galicia, won and lost the Succession War of Bari by fighting it for an ally and having to hand over the realm to him, chose the second best wife in Southern Europe for his son and heir, and at long last felt ready to carry out his father’s legacy and invade Sicily and claim the crown. In this part, a long war, Templars and the Emir of Galicia rides again.

 

CKII-Pic300The campaign for Sicily starts unremarkably, it is barely defended by the Muslims. To the east the army of Apulia walks off in a huff………

 

CKII-Pic301……and stops in Cosenza to start a war with Benvenuto. Busy in the south Benvenuto calls the mustachioed heroes of Bulgaria. ‘I’m sorry, the army you are calling is busy right now, Nikola and his band are pillaging Damascus, please leave a message after the tone and we’ll get right back to you’. Benvenuto calls his cousin in Lithuania and they promptly arrive, less moustaches, more furry boots.

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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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12/20/14

First Impressions: World War II in Europe

Published by Schwerpunkt

Michael Eckenfels, 20 December 2014

Click images to enlarge, in some cases, a LOT…

If you want to look for a ‘labor of love’ wargame, look no further than the massive, latest game by Schwerpunkt: World War II Europe (hereafter referred to as WW2E). The game, including graphics, engine, scenarios, and documentation, were all put together by two individuals (Ron Dockal and KC). In the true spirit of a “ma and pa” organization (as Schwerpunkt itself puts it on their own website), this game has been a long time coming and has been greatly anticipated. As it has just been released in recent weeks, GrogHeads is pleased to give you this “first impression” of the game; a full review, and quite possibly some AARs, will be forthcoming.

The Help file looks incredibly wordy, but it walks you step-by-step through how the game works.
The Help file looks incredibly wordy, but it walks you step-by-step through how the game works.

 

Since the release of AGW (Anglo-German War) about ten years ago, Schwerpunkt put itself on the radar of many grog-minded gamers, and WW2E looks like much more of the same, at least at an initial glance. The game covers tons of scenarios across the entire scope of World War II in Europe, with a promised upcoming ‘Grand Campaign’ that will allow one to battle across the entire map of Europe. In the meantime, there are dozens of scenarios to wade around in.

Take your pick of scenarios – though some are still forthcoming and not complete yet.
Take your pick of scenarios – though some are still forthcoming and not complete yet.

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12/18/14

A Distant Worlds AAR – Part 7

By Brandon “Kushan” Johnson, December 18, 2014

  Click images to enlarge

DW Part 07 - 01 

I’m running a huge deficit at the moment. Expanding or upgrading the fleet is out of the question until I can get back into the positive in terms of cash flow. I’m considering changing governments in the near future. The +10% maintenance cost for being a republic isn’t the worst thing in the world but it is contributing to the negative cash flow.

DW Part 07 - 02 
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