Tag: WWII

05/2/15

GrogHeads Interviews Ron Dockal of Schwerpunkt Games

An Interview with Boggit, 2 May 2015

Click images to enlarge

Ron, thank you for agreeing to talk to Grogheads about World War 2 in Europe, and Middle East War. World War 2 in Europe is your latest game and has a lot of new features not found in earlier Schwerpunkt games like Anglo-German War, or Russo-German War.

The opening screen surrounded by key leaders of the war.
The opening screen surrounded by key leaders of the war.

GrogHeads:  Ron, tell us about yourself. What started your interest in gaming, and why did you decide to become a wargame developer?

Ron Dockal: I grew up in Houston, Texas in an area called the Heights. I had a group of friends who played Avalon Hill Wargames together. Spent many a lazy summer day doing this. Our group still gets together and our wives have become friends. I started building boardgames using white poster board at ten years old. I still have my first “attempt” at a boardgame called World War II Europe from 1963! During high school and college, I played these games once in a while and read history books about WWII. I became an electrical engineer, getting an MSEE in 1976 with a minor in programming. I met my wife on the job in 1987 and we married in 1991. She was a graphics expert in the aerospace business. Joining these things together set me on a path to start Schwerpunkt in 1995 with my wife.

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05/1/15

Quartermaster General – First Look!

Michael Eckenfels, 1 May 2015

After seeing a few discussions about Quartermaster General online – both positive and negative commentary included – I reached out to Ian Brody at Griggling Games to get a review copy for GrogHeads. I was looking forward to receiving this since it seems to simulate World War 2 in a very different manner than most games.

QMG-un001

Here’s the box. I admit, in my eagerness, I removed the plastic shrink-wrap. I feel terrible that I didn’t capture a picture of it with the shrink-wrap. Why? Only because that’s what I’ve always done with all my unboxing articles so far.

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04/25/15

GrogHeads Reviews Battle Academy 2 – Eastern Front expansion Kursk

The first expansion for BA2 Eastern Front is here.  How does Kursk stack up?

Lloyd Sabin – April 20, 2015

Largess

Here in the West we tend to be a bit short-sighted when it comes to history. Take a look at the majority of American movies and books on World War II and the Western Front will almost always be the main focus. The Eastern Front, if discussed at all, is framed as a distant, alien component of World War II, not more than a sideshow because of its foreign nature to Americans.

As grogs, we know this is a huge mistake. World War II’s Eastern Front was the central land combat theater of the entire war, far larger and certainly more pivotal than the Western Front, dwarfing land combat operations anywhere else on the globe during World War II. It was on the Eastern Front that Adolf Hitler attempted to establish his concept of lebensraum for the Third Reich, where the Reich’s logistics and supply systems were severely tested by distance and weather, and, ultimately, where World War II was decided in a massive, bloody, total war to the death between Hitler’s Germany and Stalin’s Soviet Union.

And within this bloody total war, the central, deciding push was The Battle of Kursk (German offensive Operation Citadel), begun in July, 1943. It pitted almost 800,000 German troops under the command of Generals von Manstein, Kluge, Hoth, and Model (among others) against almost 2,000,000 Soviet troops led by General Zhukov and a cabal of other generals. In 2015 it’s almost impossible to conceive of these gigantic numbers of men, not including the thousands of tanks and heavy guns arrayed on both sides. In the end, The Battle of Kursk would further evolve beyond just being the most colossal battle on the most pivotal front of the war – it would also morph into the most gigantic clash of armor the world has ever seen.

Hard to resist the Kursk campaign now that is available, especially playing as the Germans.
Hard to resist the Kursk campaign now that is available, especially playing as the Germans.

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04/8/15

Quick & Dirty! First Impressions of Battle Academy 2: Battle of Kursk Expansion

We’ve got a full review coming later, but we wanted to tease you with some first impressions from Slitherine’s new Battle Academy expansion.

Vance Strickland, 8 April 2015

The newest offering for Slitherine’s Battle Academy 2 is an expansion pack containing 2 new campaigns.

Each campaign takes place during the Battle for Kursk in July 1943. Players take on the role of the German attackers in the northern fighting and the Russian defenders in the southern pincer fighting.

Germans fight in the north.
Germans fight in the north.

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03/7/15

GrogHeads Reviews Fleet Commander: Nimitz

Fleet Commander: Nimitz from DVG (Dan Verssen Games)

Michael Eckenfels, 7 March 2015

 

THE GAME

Fleet Commander Nimitz is a grand strategic game covering the struggles in the Pacific during the Second World War, from the start of 1942 through 1945. This is a solitaire game, where the player takes the role of Chester W. Nimitz and tries to stem the Japanese onslaught. Success or failure is measured by Objectives on the map (such as Alaska and New Guinea), and these change depending on the Campaign you choose to play. Victory is determined by the number of Objectives you hold; the more, the greater your level of victory. However, if you fail in stopping the Japanese tide across the Pacific, failure is not measured by a Japanese invasion of the mainland U.S. or Australia. Instead, interestingly, failure results in you losing your job.

FCN-photo 4

The game has a ton of beautiful (if at times mystifying) components, a relatively clear rule book, and game play that requires a playthrough or three in order to wrap one’s mind around the concepts. The fact that I have gone back to this game again and again to learn its intricacies is largely due to its magnetic appeal. The game does draw me in, even though it might not be everyone’s cup of tea.

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