New stuff

Just in time for Xmas

As all gentlemen know, Xmas is a time of socks, ties and other unnecessary presents (monogrammed golf tees for example). A wise chap usually stocks up with a couple of essential presents for himself to enjoy in the odd quiet moment over the holidays. They don't have to be expensive.......

Ground Pounders

Some time ago Quick and Easy Games produced a free rules booklet for use with Dark Dream Studios Space Battles plastic figures. This was conveniently called Space Battles. They have now come up with a new version of the rules, Ground Pounders, which is based on their almost as cheap generic toy soldier rules called Battlefields.

I think this kind of stuff is great. I'm not a fan of £30 rule books. What I do need is good ideas that look like fun and you can't say fairer than this......

Two Buck Games

Two Buck have released a couple of new games Wake Island and AWI Battles 4. Wake Island looks interesting (1941 in the Pacific). 

The AWI game contains 9 mini scenarios, each with its own map:

• Monmouth (initial)
• Monmouth (final)
• Harlem Heights
• Fort Washington
• Ticonderoga Defiant
• Paulus Hook
• Red Bank
• Bound Brook
• Fort Clinton

This follows on from three other collections which cover a total of 28 AWI mini battles plus a larger game on Brandywine.

I can't find a picture of this latest AWI pack but here is one of the earlier ones.....

Both of these are great value at $5 each (inflation strikes even at Two Buck Games) and they can be downloaded from Wargames Downloads. Possibly one, or even two, for Boxing Day!

Combat Leader

Minden Games have a great reputation for tactical games. They are the people that brought us Retro, Squad Leader made simple (for thickies like me). Their latest game is Combat Leader (Eastern Front 1941) which looks like a nice infantry only tactical (man to man) game. This picture gives a flavour of the components.

This might be Retro the "game", as opposed to just the rules, as it has a real Squad Leader feel. I'll keep this on the radar. It is hard copy only and comes in at US $32.90 for the basic game and first expansion (urban warfare). Not very cheap but not perhaps the sort of investment required by Combat Commander or similar. See update below!

Holdfast

This is my real Xmas present this year. I collected it from the Post Office this morning. A simple block game of Barbarossa and 1942. It has great reviews and, although a bit on the pricey side, seems to have enormous replay value. 

The rules look really straightforward and the big plus is that they plan to do more WW2 campaigns. The next one is the Bulge. Top!

This is getting a bit scarce, I could find only one shop with it in stock (Leisure Games, London), so if you are after this, get in quick.

I haven't posted much recently because, having reached an interim stage with Plan B, I've found yet another really interesting project. This one is KISS My Arras! Not an original title (someone else thought of it before me) but this is my effort at using KISS Rommel to play the battle of Arras 1940. Essentially, a tactical version of KISS at roughly company/platoon level. More on this in due course.

Update: I see that Norm Smith has just reviewed the Advanced Squad Leader Starter Kit 10th anniversary edition. This looks good and is only US$25 so it might be a good alternative to Combat Leader, if not precisely the same scale.

1914 Opening Moves

A nice request...

I was surprised this morning to be contacted by Mark Johnson of the Wargames to Go podcast. He is planning a review of 1914 Opening Moves by Minden Games for Wargames to Go Episode 4. I've been listening to this podcast because it specifically addresses small games. In Episode 3, Mark interviewed Charles Vasey and Roberto Chiavini and looked at a range of ECW games, including the excellent Unhappy King Charles.

1914 is a very small solitaire game featuring a handful of army level units that describes the initial German offensive into Belgium and France. It is a great game to play with a beer in one hand and a good book on the campaign in the other. In pre-blog days I posted the odd picture and thought on BGG. Because the map and counters provided by Minden are somewhat basic, I made an expanded version of the map (to A3) and coloured it in with pencils. Nothing like using technology! I also made some new counters in Excel which I thought were rather nice, including a picture of a Skoda gun. This is what I posted....

Mark was after the files for the map and counters, unfortunately I could only provide the counters which you can now find here. It will be interesting to see what Mark makes of the game so I'll be watching for the next episode.

Salvo!

Sink the Bismarck!

I had a cup of coffee this morning and instead of looking out of the window or reading the paper I played a quick game of Salvo! by Minden Games. 

Since seeing Marco Arnaudo's review of the game I picked up my copy of The Loss of the Bismarck by Graham Rhys-Jones and as a result developed a real urge to pit the Hood against the pocket battleship.

Salvo! is a neat little solitaire game by Gary Graber. I played it with the help of a nice player aid by Todd Sanders, available as a download from BGG.

Play just about to start

In this picture we see the starting positions, Bismarck at the top happily minding its own business and Hood below is on the look out. The weather is fair and Hood detects Bismarck at long range.

Hood close-up

In turn one, Hood closes the range but then finds that Bismarck turns towards her and closes down (oh dear!). Bismarck gets in the first shots, causing turret damage, but Hood has the better of it scoring flotation and speed hits.

Hood straddled!

Turn 2 sees Bismarck closing again, Hood offers broadside to get all batteries in position to fire. The exchange of fire sees further hits with Bismarck coming off slightly worse.

Both vessels are straddled

In turn 3 Bismarck closes again (ramming speed I think), Hood fires first and hits Bismarck's turrets while Bismarck's reply is no effect (twice!).

Turn 4 sees Bismarck withdraw, opening the range to medium. Hood gets in a final salvo, scoring two more hits. Bismarck fires her stern batteries, causing more damage to the Hood. At this point the end game die roll comes up and the Bismarck makes its escape.

A good little game with lots of flavour. It probably took half an hour (because I'm slow on the maths) but I actually enjoyed the contest. At the end, Bismarck suffered 8 hits and Hood 7. Still plenty of stamina left in both vessels for a longer fight but a rational outcome for a heavy unit contest.

Since my last mention of Salvo! I have come across the latest version (v2 2013) which comes as part of Panzershreck 16, a free downloadable magazine from Minden Games.