First Looks

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14Sep11

Breakout: Normandy Deluxe Edition — First Look

Posted by tanker under Board Wargames, First Looks, News and Updates, WW2
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Breakout: Normandy L2 Design Group surprised a lot of folks by producing a new version of the classic Avalon Hill wargame Breakout: Normandy. Breakout: Normandy has been out of print for a few years now but is still a very popular game and still sees a regular tournament at WBC. Breakout: Normandy is a board wargame covering the first month of the Normandy campaign in WW2. It is an area movement game based on the system debuted in Storm Over Arnhem and recently seen in Monty’s Gamble.

The new L2 version of the game is known as Breakout: Normandy Deluxe Edition and was produced with the support of Don Greenwood the game’s original designer. Breakout: Normandy was one of those classic games that basically got everything right from the start. It was also originally produced with very nice components. So what does the new Deluxe Edition provide different from the original? Thankfully, besides simply getting the game back in print, not much. The map is 10% larger to accommodate the new 3/4″ counters and incorporates the first week of reinforcement displays. The map itself is the typical L2 heavy foldout stock. The counters are slightly larger but otherwise unchanged. The real change is in the rulebook. The rulebook is all new and is in full color and very attractive. The new rulebook incorporates all official errata to the original game and a few minor rules changes.

Breakout: Normandy ArtDon Greenwood describes the new rule changes in the excellent included designer’s notes. He has focused on the fact that after thousands of plays it became apparent that the Germans have a slight advantage in the game. He also does not like some of the tactics that have resulted. To address those he jettisoned the Victory Point for holding the Advantage. “To compensate the Allies for this loss as well as to address their earlier balance problems, Naval Bombardment Impulse join Air Bombardment Impulses in being ‘free’–which added a staggering 12 Impulses a game to the Allied ledger…. To complete the Allied Aid package, Weather Changes…were made less likely by eliminating their occurrence during air and naval bombardment. And lastly, players can no longer guard against weather changes by using the now non-existent End of Day dice roll modifiers.” That’s it.

If you are a Breakout: Normandy fan you will want this edition if only for the new rulebook. If you never played the game before and you have any interest in WW2 you should give the game a look. Highly recommended.

 

26Jun11

Combat Mission: Beyond Normandy — First Look

Posted by tanker under Computer Wargames, First Looks, News and Updates, WW2
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Combat MIssion: Beyond NormandyBattlefront.com released Combat Mission: Beyond Normandy in mid-May. We have had a chance to spend a little bit of time with it since then. For those who have been waiting for a redo of the classic CM the good news is the worth is not only over but was well worth it. The game delivers the play that Combat Mission fans would expect. The new graphics engine is very nice and rivals that of third-person shooters from just a few years ago. The game engine seems equally as solid and our initial games have gone well with no glaring issues.

CM Normandy - ShermanThe detailed spotting and artillery rules are probably the only major changes that veterans will notice right from the start. Otherwise players will be able to jump right in and feel at home. As with the modern-day CM titles both the play and pause and turn-based play options are included. For old and new players alike there is a detailed manual that does a good job of explaining the rules and even includes an introductory walk through to get players into the action quickly.

Scenario selection is good but not great. The game includes 21 scenarios and five campaigns. Hopefully scenario packs will be forthcoming. Of course there is a battle generator as well as a full blown scenario builder included so players are certainly not stuck for new adventures by any means and fan built scenarios will certainly be on the way.

If you have any interest in WW2 tactical combat this is a must get title. And now even Mac owners can get in on the action. Well enough wasting time here we’re gonna get back to it!

 

07Jul10

Napoleon!!

Posted by tanker under Board Wargames, Computer Wargames, First Looks, Miniature Wargames, Napoleonic Warfare, News and Updates
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Battles of NnapoleonFor some odd reason or another we recently picked up a number of Napoleonic warfare titles. We haven’t played any of them yet but thought you might be interested in some initial impressions. Please note that we are not generally players of Napoleonic games nor consider ourselves students of Napoleonic warfare. So these comments will be most useful to those with a similar mild interest in the period. (more…)

 

11Dec09

Naval Thunder: Battleship Row — First Look

Posted by tanker under First Looks, Miniature Wargames, Naval Warfare, WW2
[2] Comments 

We finally got around to grabbing a copy of Steel Dreadnought Games‘ new World War Two naval miniature rules Naval Thunder: Battleship Row along with the first expansion Bitter Rivals. Battleship Row is based on their naval system debuted in their World War One ruleset Naval Thunder: Clash of Dreadnoughts. While Clash of Dreadnoughts fell just shy of beating out Mongoose Publishing’s Victory at Sea: Age of Dreadnoughts as our favorite quick-play naval rules, Battleship Row is the set that sends Victory at Sea to the bottom. (more…)

 

25Sep07

Babylon 5: ACTA 2nd Edition — First Look

Posted by tanker under First Looks, Miniature Wargames, Sci-Fi
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Mongoose Publishing has released the second edition of its space combat miniatures game Babylon 5: A Call to Arms. Unlike the previous edition there is no boxed set. The game comes as two separate hardcover books, the main rulebook and the Fleet Lists book. My copy of the main rulebook had an odd binding problem and the pages are somewhat wrinkled when opened. The main rulebook is 123 pages and includes a couple pages of ship counters in the back. The book is 100% black and white and of poor quality; the pages are laid out with the intention of some sort of color background but in the actual grayscale printing the result is a very dark page that thus makes the black text hard to read. Worse are the graphics that are almost all too dark. (more…)

 

28Aug07

Combat Mission: Shock Force — First Look

Posted by tanker under Computer Wargames, First Looks, Modern, Wargames
[5] Comments 

Battlefront released its new modern-era, tactical combat game Combat Mission: Shock Force. The game is the successor to the excellent Combat Mission World War Two titles. It improves upon those games in almost every way and if you have played any of the earlier titles you will feel right at home with CM:Shock Force. You will need to spend some time with the manual even if you are a veteran of the earlier titles because there are a number of new elements to the game that are not readily apparent.

The game includes a new real-time option as well as the traditional turn-based system. I still do not like the real-time option because no matter how good the AI is it still does dumb things. In addition, even with pause, you cannot be everywhere at once. This is not just an issue with command but simply in seeing the action unfold. With the turn-based system you can always see what happens. In real-time mode you often miss things while you are occupied elsewhere. Moreover, the highest realism setting, annoyingly, removes your ability to issue orders while the game is paused. Real-time does not equal more realistic for a tactical wargame.

Minor issues aside, if you like the subject matter you will enjoy the game and CM:SF does introduce some seldom seen concepts in wargaming such as unit specific spotting. Hopefully they will redo the WW2 titles with the new engine soon.

The Wargamer has a nice After Action Report and review of the game.

The v1.03 update is available.

 

20Apr07

Advanced Squad Leader Starter Kit #3 — First Look

Posted by tanker under Board Wargames, First Looks, WW2
[2] Comments 

ASLSK#3ASL Starter Kit #3 from Multi-Man Publishing is now available. As the name suggests, it is the third — and I believe final — game in the introductory line of Advanced Squad Leader games. ASL is generally considered the premiere wargame of WW2 tactical combat. ASL also has one of the largest and most complex set of rules of any wargame. The Starter Kits were designed to ease players up to the full ASL rules. They have generally succeeded better than anyone anticipated. (more…)

 

27Jan07

Test of Battle — Initial Impressions

Posted by tanker under First Looks, Miniature Wargames, WW2
[4] Comments 

Test of BattleCommand Decision – Test of Battle, essentially CD4, was released in late 2006 by Frank Chadwick and Glenn Kidd. Command Decision is a WW2 miniature rules set using platoon stands to represent battalion level battles. CD has been around for 20 years now so we think it qualifies as one of the classic sets of wargame rules available.

The ToB website has a nice summary of the game and a description of what has changed from previous versions for players of the older titles; so we will not spend much time re-covering those topics. But we do think readers might find our initial impressions of the game useful. We want to stress that we have not played any games with ToB yet. The following comments are only from an unwrapping and initial reading of the rules. (more…)

 

27Dec06

AT-43 — Initial Impressions

Posted by tanker under AT-43, First Looks, Miniature Wargames, Sci-Fi, Wargames
[9] Comments 

Rackham’s AT-43 Operation Damocles Initiation Set is now available. www.at-43.com
AT-43
The Box: The box itself is impressive. The top cover lifts open so you can see everything in the box while it’s on the shelf — Nice touch. It could easily double as a storage container for the game but it is slightly space inefficient, but one could use that space to hold other items. The included container terrain piece can also double as a real storage container for items. The miniatures, although slightly larger, fit fine in Games Workshop miniature cases and similar transport. (more…)

 

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