Tag: Tactical

11/21/15

TANKSgiving! GrogHeads Reviews DVG’s Modern Land Battles

tanksgivingheader

TANKSgiving kicks off with a bang!

Jim Owczarski, 21 November 2015

Click images to enlarge

Dan Verssen’s Modern Naval Battles has rolled past its 25th birthday and is making its way to its 30th.  I’ll pause for a moment and let that sink in with those who were already adults when it was released.  Bitter reminders of our mortality aside, the game has been and remains a popular choice for grogs interested in playing a game that feels crunchy and lets them indulge their love of technology while not requiring days or weeks to play.

Enter, then, Modern Land Battles: Target Acquired, a 2-6 player non-collectible card game that tries, in its own abstract and simplified way, to simulate mechanized land warfare in the period following the Second World War.  I’ve already done a piece un-boxing the game (Modern Land Battles – First Look!) so what follows is a review of the game’s mechanics, level of simulation, and overall flow.

As indicated in the earlier article, MLB allows two players or teams of players to select from seven national force pools:  United States, Arab Multinational, China, Great Britain, Insurgent, Israel, and U.S.S.R.  And while I did discuss some of the vehicles before, it would hardly be TANKSgiving if I didn’t offer a few more shots of lovely, lovely AFVs.

I keep wanting to shout "Wolverines!!"
I keep wanting to shout “Wolverines!!”

Continue reading →

10/31/15

All Things Zombie Reloaded – A Halloween AAR

An adventurous romp through the zombie apocalypse for your Halloween Weekend.

Jim Owczarski, 31 October 2015

 

My family, on my mother’s side anyway, comes from the farming town of Abrams, Wisconsin; 2000 population 1,757 if Wikipedia is to be believed.  Growing up, I’d often be taken back to the ancestral homestead to sit in my great-grandmother’s kitchen and hear the elders talk about the ciezkie czasy.  These “hard times”, for that is the meaning of the Polish phrase, were something scrubby preteens would be threatened with if the odd vegetable went uneaten or we otherwise expressed ingratitude for our material circumstances.  I don’t know as I was ever certain what would cause these times, other than my own ingratitude, or how they might end.  I was certain, however, that I wanted to hide from them up there in Abrams.  Not too many people about, but those who were tended to be good with things necessary in the direst of circumstances and might even be honest and trustworthy enough to help you resist whatever might be causing the hard times.

I think I can say without fear of correction that a zombie apocalypse would count as ciezkie czasy.  With all this in mind, please join me as I, my wife, and my son journey to Abrams and confront the slavering horde of the undead as imagined by Lock ‘n Load Publishing’s “All Things Zombie: Reloaded” (ATZ).

The first thing to do was choose characters.  Having tried a number of other characters in previous games, I decided to have a go with Sailor.  He shows up as strong and particularly good in a hand-to-hand scrap.

Helllllloooo...never mind...
Helllllloooo…never mind…

Continue reading →

10/30/15

GrogHeads Advanced Research on Projects Advisory #80

If it’s Friday, it’s GARPA!  Unless, y’know, it’s not GARPA because it’s the off-Friday where we run fun Zombie-themed stuff or something else.

Brant Guillory, 30 October 2015

 

Scythe (Stonemaier Games)
$1.29mil of $33k and yes you read that right, ends 5 November 2015

Roll Save vs “Ooooooh”.  You failed.  Seriously.  You gotta see this game; it’s a visual treat. It’s 2-hour(ish) playtime for 1-5 players, so it scales nicely from solo to game-group play, and has countries in an alt-history Eastern Europe fighting over technology and resources in in the 1920s.  It’s proto-industrialism without the Steampunk tropes, and manages to blend almost-familiar nationalities with giant ‘mechs, 4x mechanics, and decent dose of sci-fi storylines.  Oh yeah, and it looks good, too.  It’s not like they need our help to succeed, but you might need our help to find their campaign page.

g80-Scythe

 

Continue reading →

10/24/15

GrogHeads Reviews: Heroes of the Pacific

Lock’n’Load heads to the PTO!

Doug Miller, 24 October 2105

 

Despite a proliferation of WWII tactical systems in recent years, tactical wargames covering the Pacific Theater tend to be rarer than hen’s teeth. Even the benchmark WWII tactical system, Advanced Squad Leader, isn’t overwhelmed with PTO modules and scenarios. So I was definitely excited to see that LnL Publishing was not only bringing many of their out-of-print Tactical Series games back, but also adding to the series with a dedicated Pacific Theater game.

Heroes of the Pacific focuses on tactical combat between the US Army and Marines and the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA). Like other games in the series the core of the game is infantry combat between squads and weapon teams, supported by armored vehicles, various kinds of on- and off-board artillery, and air strikes.

The game uses the familiar Lock n’ Load Tactical Series rules. The rule book has been updated to version 4.0 and includes the additions to support the unique aspects of the Pacific Theater of Operations (PTO) in-line with the remainder of the rules. Significant rules changes are helpfully highlighted in green throughout the manual to bring experienced players up to speed quickly.

HOTPIMAG0160

Continue reading →

10/17/15

GrogHeads (p)Reviews Rebel Galaxy

Rebel Galaxy is about to come in for landing, but until it does, we’re here to tide you over with a look-see from Cap’n and Mrs Darwin ~

Jim & Beck Snyder, 15 October 2015

Who are the Darwins?
Before we dive in and tell you about this game of interest, we should be kind enough to let you know who we are, what we do, how we game, and what gives us enough GrogCred™ to post a review on the Mythical Front Page™[1].  We’ll wait.

Back?  OK, good.  Technically, this is a preview of the near final code. Double Damage has been making updates and little tweaks as we have written this so some things may be different at release.

RebGax-Start Screen - More Demo Battles
Start Screen – More Demo Battles

What are We Reviewing?
Rebel Galaxy is a single player sci-fi spacefaring epic from Double Damage Games (a new development team from the cofounders of Torchlight’s Runic Games). From the Steam page, Rebel Galaxy is billed as

a swashbuckling space adventure, with action-packed combat, exploration, discovery, trade, and “negotiation” with the outlandish denizens at the edge of the known universe.

As the commander of an immensely powerful star destroyer, you’ll battle pirates, explore anomalies, befriend aliens, scavenge battle wreckage, mine asteroids, and discover artifacts. Choose your path as a roguish do-gooder, crafty space-trader or power-hungry privateer – or maybe a little of each! Buy larger and more powerful craft with your hard-earned credits, and outfit them with a variety of wicked weapons and defenses. Set in a galaxy of fantastic sights, and secrets to be found, Rebel Galaxy is above all a space epic of adventure, exploration, and combat.

The edge of the universe is a pretty dangerous place, so watch your back.

Continue reading →