Tag: Tactical

09/20/14

Grogheads Reviews Battle Academy 2: Eastern Front

Vance Strickland, 20 September 2014

So how does the newest installment of Battle Academy stack up to the reputation set by its predecessor? Let’s find out…

Never in the history of mankind has there been such a titanic struggle as the one played out on the Russian Front during World War II. The German army, already veterans of the new mobile style of combat with highly trained and for the most part well led troops. And the Russian Army, gutted of its leadership by years of purges, highly motivated by fighting for they very own homes, villages and cities. Locked in combat that took place across vast stretches of open farmland, or through tough urban battle grounds where every corner could bring swift death. Now you get to lead parts of the huge warmachines that clashed in Russia.

Battle Academy 2: East Front is the follow up to the very successful Battle Academy that took us through the fighting in West and in the desert of North Africa. Here you will be challenged in fighting that lasted for almost 5 years. From the opening acts of Operation Barbarossa to the death throes of Army Group Center in Byelorussia, you get to plan and execute your own tactics against the computer and other players. Are you game?

Main menu screen
Main menu screen

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08/15/14

GrogHeads Advanced Research on Projects Advisory #51

Wow. There’s suddenly a whole lot of excellent gaming available for your pre-order happiness.

Eight-Minute Empire: Lost Lands (Red Raven Games)
$35k of $15k, ends 25 August 2014
A sequel to the insanely good Eight-Minute Empire (which we reviewed), this new expansion adds new map boards, new cards, and new mechanics to your favorite one-sitting empire builder. There are new player boards to help you organize your cards as you acquire them, new cards that change some of the mechanics, and a ‘faster’ gameplay option that seems very 7 Wonders-ish that involves passing hands around the table. The original was a great game, this one really kicks it up another notch. Head over to Kickstarter now and pledge, yo!

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08/10/14

Risk: Battlefield Rogue – First Look!

Yes, Risk.  It’s a skirmish game, not a conquer-the-world game.  Truth be told, it’s a videogame on your tabletop, which is what you’d expect from a cross-branded game that is using the Risk name to sell a tabletop adaptation of the Battlefield series.

The thick box belies the contents. If there were expansions coming, the size of the box would be appropriate.
The thick box belies the contents. If there were expansions coming, the size of the box would be appropriate.

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08/8/14

GrogHeads Reviews World at War: Operation Garbo

World at War: Operation Garbo, Published by Lock ‘n Load Publishing

Review by Michael Eckenfels, 8 August 2014

 

INTRODUCTION

Given the theatres that a hypothetical World War III conventional war could have been fought over, the World at War series has done a nice job thus far with putting far-flung locales from decades ago onto many gaming tables across the world. This one, Operation Garbo, is something of a surprise. Personally, I would have thought a North Cape World at War would make more sense, with Russian marines fighting Norwegian and NATO troops, so when you see a game that touts Sweden vs. the USSR, you might raise an eyebrow.

LNL-OG-1

Nevertheless, this latest publication in the successful World at War series from Lock ‘n Load, takes wargamers to a place that is rarely visited, and that’s something that makes it very intriguing from the get go.

In order to play Operation Garbo, you must own Blood and Bridges. This game is not a stand-alone game, but  an expansion. All the rules from Blood and Bridges applies to this expansion, as well as a few extra rules added to the rulebook for this game (see below).

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