10/23/14

Prosciutto – Hamming it up with the di Parmas… Holy Crap, we’re up to #29!

We’ve been running this AAR for 2 years. Yep, you read that right.

In part 28, Benvenuto finally rid himself of the last of his troublesome siblings, their wives and their children. He was the one true leader of Salerno, Genoa and Parma. In this part small wars, big wars na dlove at first sight.

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The Croatians are coming! The Croatians are coming!

 

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Four thousand six hundred men of Salerno stop the Croatian march dead in its tracks. They retire to Foggia to check castles and stuff.

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10/9/14

A Distant Worlds AAR – Part 5

By Brandon “Kushan” Johnson, October 9, 2014

  Click images to enlarge

 

DW Part 05 - 01

Dawn of a new year. I’m now 5 years in. Private sector seems to be doing OK, although it doesn’t have a lot of cash on hand at the moment, despiteits  healthy revenue stream. Not really surprising my state income is in the red, then. It’s a good thing I cancelled those colony ships since I don’t need right unproductive colonies dragging me farther into the red.

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10/4/14

First Impressions: To End All Wars

First Impressions by Boggit, 4 October 2014

Developed by and published by AGEOD/Slitherine

“After the ‘War to end War’, they seem to have been in Paris at making the ‘Peace to end Peace'” – Field Marshal Archibald Wavell (speaking of the Paris Peace Conference, 1919)

To End All Wars is the latest game from AGEOD/Slitherine covering the First World War. It covers in detail the Western, Eastern and Middle East fronts, but also features map boxes where conflict can occur elsewhere in the world. The scope of the game is truly global.

The victory conditions (which are the same for each side) are frighteningly ominous as to the scale of destruction required.
The victory conditions (which are the same for each side) are frighteningly ominous as to the scale of destruction required.

It is a strategic/operational level game with the principal maneuver units consisting of armies, corps, and fleets. Smaller units can be used independently if a player wishes, but while this gives flexibility it also carries the risk of being overwhelmed by a larger force.

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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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