Secret game.....

no secret any more!

One of my 6 by 6 games was labelled "secret game". It is a bit of a cheat since I had already played more than six times since Christmas.

I have been privileged to have taken part in the play testing of a new game "The Battle of Poltava 1709" by Steve Kling. Steve is a real expert on the Great Northern War. His company Historical Games Co. has published Fields of Battle Vol 1 covering 8 battles of the GNW and also a brilliant GNW compendium in two volumes. 

I'm a big fan of small games which are exemplified by the battles in Vol 1. I'm also a big fan of Sweden and the GNW. So, I volunteered to do some play testing for a post card game which will be given away to visitors to the Swedish Army museum in an exhibition that starts this month featuring wargames through the ages.

As you can see, the game really is a post card game with an A4 map and 30 counters. The Armemuseum Facebook site blows the gaff on the game. 

The game is a mix of the FoB rules and the Postcard from the Revolution series by Mike DeSanto. It is very challenging and historical with a really good combination of strategy and luck. 

I'm massively pleased to have had some involvement in this game. I'm not sure if this game will be available commercially but I understand Steve has intentions to use it more widely. The Battle of Yorktown has been mentioned! Very cool.

As this is a bit of a cheat I may well have to put another game into my 6 by 6 challenge.

Let's try 6 by 6?

Oh, alright then!

Not that I have had my arm twisted, more like I have already started so I might as well do it properly.

Kaptain Kobold kicked-off the idea and you can find out more about it here. The aim is to play six games six times this year and blog about the plays.

I have decided that I should be clear about the reasons for the type of games I'm including and also the reasons for each game being chosen.

What type of games to play? The idea is that you can play anything you like, rules, boardgames, published or home grown. I have decided to concentrate on my favourite sort of game: small, quick to set up and play with interesting mechanics. So, have some fun and learn from the experience.

I will not be playing my own designs. I have also realised that if I play games by other people which are complete and ready to go I will not be distracted by rewriting anything or realising that I hadn't actually finished designing them or building them!

Which games will I play? After a lot of thought......

My pimped large map for 1914 with my new counters

1914 Opening Moves (Minden Games): As it says on the tin, the opening 1914 campaign in the west. Solitaire game, ready to go!

Remagen Bridge (Minden Games): Another solitaire game, the US take the bridge over the Rhine. Also ready to go (but not pimped!).

Flying Eagles (High Flying Dice Games): A very neat small game about WW1 air combat. Card activation. 

An Loc, nice map

Courage under Fire (HFDG): The battle for An Loc during the Vietnam war.  Area movement and card activation. Originally published by Minden Games!

Manoeuvre (GMT): The brilliant little Napoleonic game using a gridded playing map and card activation. 

The secret last game: Yes, I have been doing something interesting since Christmas, helping to play test a game for a designer in the US. I have played more than six games of this but will not reveal anything until it has been published later this month. It has been a very pleasant and challenging experience and also a great learning opportunity working with someone who knows what they are doing. 

So, some themes here (grids, areas, card activation, solitaire). With an eye on refining my Mosul game, I'll be starting off with Courage under Fire. More later...