Tactical Board Games

Someone asked a question about the LNL system. I responded with the following. There are a couple references to others...just ignore those for now.:

LNL - Lock and Load Tactical
HotP - LNLs Heroes of the Pacific
CoH - Conflict of Heroes
CC - Combat Comander
ASL - Advanced Squad Leader and SK Starter Kit
ATS - Advanced. Tobruck System

I have played LNL, CoH, CC, ASLsK, ASL, ATS, and very recently Retro. Out of all these and LNL I would play ATS as my #1. However, there are a few obstacles I have with the way the game is managed by its owners.

Mitch really enjoys it and I would say is able to look beyond these issues. It has a nice level of detail, tons and tons of scenarios with more coming out. It's a step below AsLSK in complexity and just is easier for me to Grock. And before last week I would've said it's players are all underground. However in the last week a FB group has started and already has 85+ players. And at least two youtubers are starting to post things up.

There are times I'm tempted to get back in. I think Mitch should take it over.

CoH was an enjoyable enough system, but always felt bored at the end of the games. I never cared if I went back to it.

(SIDE NOTE: as I sit here typing this I want to make it clear that all these game systems strugglenat ine time or another with management issues. I would say GMT aka CC is possibly the exception with their issues being less noticeable to me.)

Retro: it was fast playing but I'm not interested in houseruling firbeverybgake ti figure best ways to make scenarios work. You could also argue, if you watch my videos, that I never did play completely by the rules and am also a terrible strategist, so my opinion is skewed. I would not disagree.

CC my first tactical and still my favorite ruleset. Clear. Concise. Proofed. Complete. I played all but one of my games solo and it's a terrible solo game and yet I still enjoyed them. Great narrative. No tanks and I really wanted that. And I play so much solo, that I need another option. So I gave it all away for a Guild White Duck Gift.

ASLSK and ASL - local guru and tournament organizer has played and taught me a few times. Enjoyable group of guys who play it here. And I finally decided to jump in to this one...with doubts. I like it for the depth and the community. Tons of people all over the world and online and FB and videos and a podcast and and and Dave and Pete and others here play it.

Tons of scenarios. 1,000s! And more coming out. Amazing. But the games can take awhile and the rules overhead may be too much for me. While the thought of playing something so deep is appealling. The reality of playing something so deep may be a little less compelling.

LNL I've had a few of them, sold them and then just bought HotP at full retail. I enjoyed, though played terribly, again solo. Again, I got it for all the reasons Ty mentioned. They're scenarios are typically well designed.

(Sidenote 2: and why couldn't they have made it so all are high or all are low? I have never understood that.)

And they're company has issues, though they do appear to be trying hard.

I don't know if you can tell but I'm a tad schizo/bi-polar about this. I struggle to decide. Some would say to buy a little of each. But I'm trying to barrow my collection.

And also, the thought of committing to one system is compelling. But the reality is often like, "oh one system to rule them all! Oh wait, what there's now OST and BoB? Shiny, gimme one of each!"

Bottom of the 9th First play

Soloed to try out the rules - home team won with two outs, bases loaded. Singled using the batter's mvp move of "No Brainer". I didn't have to roll run dice and could automatically get on base after  making contact.

Should've put in the reliever because the pitcher was fatigued and was stuck on the same pitches. Lesson learned.

The game includes a small amount of bluffing, making choices of pitch type to avoid fatigue, and competing simultaneous dice rolling and being the first to roll a 5+ and say "safe" or "out". So solo play is not really possible though I was able to do it enough to understand the rules and the interactions.

Next I will try the solo version which is more a team manager concept of which I've not read the rules yet.

Components are really nice. 

Verge wrens Staab singled to bring Ethan into home.

Horsa Bridge - Heroes of Normandie AAR

The Brits land at Horsa Bridge and it does not go well. 

Germans win 22-0. 

More importantly, they keep the Brits off the bridge which means they will get reinforcements at Pegasus.

Pics are here

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BxYRF5HHg71vVHkwOFhBQ3ZfNGc

Brazil Wins in Last Second

What a game! Brazil (me) 2 - England (Aaron) 1.  1-1 the entire second half until the final seconds. England kicks it back to their goalie. Brazil rolls the exact number to try and steal it from the goalie and succeeds! 

Goalie is not fouled in the process.

England attempts to steal it back, fails and Braxil shoots it in and immediately the FT whistle is blown.

GOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAL!

Brazil and Germany for the World Cup Championship.

Decision at Elst DaE1 Ambush at Hopp AAR

Played my first game of ASLSK in a long time. This was also my second tank game. This is great solo and practice game. 3 Squads, each with a PIAT, and leader are hidden as 3 Tigers approach the town of Hopp. Germans win if they have >=1 Tiger remaining after 3 turns with at least their Main Armament still functioning.

Spoiler alert, they just did it. Last moves, two Brit squads rushed the tank and were then dispatched with the anti-personnel mines show out from the Tiger. Nasty business.

It was a fun game and reminded me why it's so much fun.

For example, the pic above shows my first ever shot with a PIAT is a critical hit, Tiger taken out!

The above picture was taken so I could post a question on FB about the rules. This definitely brought up tons of rules questions. I wish these rules were electronic. I could then search them and find the answers.

This picture does remind me: This squad's PIAT broke on it's first shot and then was fixed in the next turn. The Tiger's Main Armament also malfunctioned in the same turn, but was soon fixed. That Squad's PIAT then broke and was never fixed again. It took them 3 times to pass their PAATC to get into the hex with the Tiger. They then broke and casualty reduced when the Tiger's anti-personnel mines went off.

Picture at game end. See that MG on the right. The Immobilized Tiger shot their main armament at them and the leader died. The squad then failed their first morale check and then seeing their leader die, checked morale again and they suffered a reduction in quality. They then tried rallying and casualty reduced to nothing. I'm missing a step in their sad story, but suffice to say it was a bad series of rolls.

So what started out so promising for the Brits, turned very sour, very quick.

Next up, the second scenario in the Decision at Elst game.

ASLSK S8 Ad Hoc at Chef-Du-Pont - US Turn 1

Trying some ASLSK S8 to get back into the system after a hiatus...basically trying to determine if I want to go all in.

Anyway, US T-1: 10-2 wounds as he moves in open ground Z1 from MMG in Q6. German squad in W6 building reduces and routs to V6

The Russian Campaign - First Play

I played through the 3rd Edition of Avalon Hill's classic, The Russian Campaign, as a solo play. It was the first time I'd sat down to run through the game and decided to play the full campaign. Though I didn't play all the way through to May of '45.

The biggest surprise about playing this game: the response on social media. On Google + and especially Facebook, the response has been overwhelming. Comments around missing this classic, playing it so many times as a kid, wanting to play it again, suggestions, tactics, etc. It was fun everytime I post something to see what would be said.

Basically I made it to through the May/June 1943 turn and called it quits. It was fun, but with my poor strategic play, it was becoming a WWI style stalemate. (A challenge with solo play.) I will play again, probably a smaller scenario. Also, I want to spend some time reading through the suggestions and finding the old General articles for tips. A better reading of the rules will help as well.

Below is my video playlist of 4 videos following the game progress:


And below are a few pictures from my Facebook Russian Campaign album.

PanzerBlitz 2 - Carentan AAR - Part 3

I get MMPs PanzerBlitz 2 out again to relearn the rules.

PanzerBlitz 2 Carentan AAR - Part 2

I get PanzerBlitz out again to relearn the rules. This is the small Carentan Scenario out of the Operations magazine. And I notice how bad these videos look having to download them at such low resolution. My phone is my way of loading video and I'm clean out of room. Sorry for the poor quality. I need to make shorter videos for better quality until such a time I can upgrade my equipment.

PanzerBlitz Carentan AAR - Part 1

I get PanzerBlitz out again to relearn the rules. This is the small Carentan Scenario out of the Operations magazine.

Lock N Load Heroes of the Blitzkrieg Early War AAR Video

I posted this video a while ago but I want to make sure my readers see this. Lock N Load make some good scenarios. Now that Geekway is over, I need to pull this back out and start playing this game again.

I thought I'd scored a copy of the Band of Heroes 2nd Edition, but alas it wasn't the right edition. So all my expansions and modules await either finding an old copy or for the reprint that might happen in the next 18 months.

Battle of the Bulge '81 Game 1 17PM

It continues and I take the advice of Peiper - don't mess around with the little units.

This could prove fatal for the Germans. As the German I just need to keep the lines open.

Battle of the Bulge '81 Game 1 16PM AAR

Immediately I can tell i should be using advanced and optional rules, but I'm sticking with my goal of used basic so I can get a game in quickly...which for me isn't particularly quick.

Hunters - underwater siren call

Really, another game I'm interested in?!&@$

Solitaire games don't usually trip my trigger. Strange 'cause most of my gaming is solo. But this one is tempting me.

Here's a great review from Boardgamegeek.

I know if I get it, I will want to read some books on the subject. It might also get me fired up to get out my naval ships for Naval Thunder.

Battle of the Russian Bulge Campaign

Perhaps I'm mixing my metaphors here. But this week I was excited to receive from Enterprise Games (great place to acquire used wargames):

Battle of the Bulge, 1981 edition, from Avalon Hill

I have Ardenne '44. But I was looking for something a little more streamlined and less chromey so I could get the game setup and played before Christmas.

There are advanced and optional rules that I can tell from the onset would make for a better game...but I'm going to stick to my guns and play the basic game to stick with my original goal.

It was in great shape and even had stories from old General Magazines - very cool. Also, most of the chits were unpunched.

Here are a couple other pics of the game:

 Here's the unboxing video:

And, now to The Russian Campaign

I owned this a few years ago and never put it on the table. However, my tastes have changed to be in favor of my strategic games and like with the Bulge, heard this one was pretty straightforward, so wanted to give it a go.

With just 6 pages of rules, this one should be even easier than Bulge. The game came with the 3ed rules, which I believe were the last ones until L2 did their deluxe box.  I would like to have that one, but alas, it's about $140 in places, so it can wait.

This one was mostly punched but in great shape. Oh, I like this concept of this one because it's the entire war covered in a fairly small footprint. I see there's another all East Front, all war game out called The Dark Valley from GMT just being released this month. I may have to give it a look after it gets some reviews. Here's my unboxing video:

The Caucasus Campaign Game 1 Game End AAR

I finished this GMT east front WWII game, The Caucasus Campaign. It was fun and tense. A lot less exceptions than Normandy '44. I still had to review the rules at least once a turn, but it wasn't too bad.

Some things I'm remembering that I need to firm up next time (and there will be a next time):

• Mobile Assaults and how to best use them (I only used it once)
• Better use of the rail and sea movement
• Keep the Naval Brigades on the Black Sea coast to threaten the coastal towns the Germans may take
• Understand the Total quality of units 
• Keep the Germans together better with a clearer focus of which towns they will capture
• Also - better divide the armor units and air units

Weather was very good, only 3 bad days and the naval support never showed up - pretty lucky for the Germans. Also, the first couple of turns saw the Russians getting limited reserves (ie randomly drew several "None" chits for early reinforcements.) These would affect things in another playing.

And oh yes, this is post 400. Thank you all for your support (131 subs) and comments. My first post was this short post about DieCon 2011. That was June 5, 2011.  That's almost 30 months running averaging about 13 posts a month. That's pretty decent production I suppose. I'm averaging 1,885 monthly views. Or, 141 views per post. I'm not sure what that means in the big scheme of things, it's just fun crunching some numbers. At this rate, i'll be on post 500 around the first of July, 2014. See you then with a new update.

I just looked at my YouTube channel to compare: Began October 10, 2010...which doesn't seem right to me. Because I thought I started my blog way before my videos. But looking back, my first video was an unboxing of White Star Rising (also my most viewed video - it was immediately high because the game company, Lock N Load posted it on their site and it jumped up like crazy.)

54,557 video views, very close to my blog. 285 videos, quite shy of videos. and 276 subs quite higher than here. That's 191 views per video...though that first one skews it.  Anyway, fun times.

The Caucasus Campaign Game 1 AAR Turn 8.5

Good turn for the Germans, but it will be mighty tough for them to get into the last 5 VP they need to win.

The Caucasus Campaign Game 1 AAR Turn 7

It continues and it's looking tough for the Germans.

The Caucasus Campaign Game 1 Turn 5.5?

I'm not sure what I've done here. I was reviewing videos and it appears I've posted 5.5 twice. ? Anyway, two different perspectives.

The Caucasus Campaign Game 1 Turn 4.5

The game continues and it's definitely a test to use limited resources wisely.