Month: July 2010
Battles of Westeros — Review
The D6 Generation does it again! They have an excellent review of Fantasy Flight Games’ new Battles of Westeros board game. If you are not familiar with the title, it is a medieval fantasy, tactical wargame using a modification of the BattleLore system. It takes place in the world of George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire). Forward to 2hr 32mins into the podcast to get right to the review.
It is a testament to the strength of this game that it is literally the first fantasy game we have ever purchased. Of course Game of Thrones is much more medieval fiction than it is fantasy and this emphasis comes across very well in the game. The D6G gang do a great job covering the game in their review.
FFG have the Battles of Westeros rulebook available for download as a PDF. They also have a FAQ and a scenario.
But a great review was not enough for the D6G. No, they also interviewed the game’s designer, Robert Kouba. It is an interesting and informative interview overall and if you like, you know, designer input, you’ll really, like, you know, enjoy it (listen and you’ll see what we mean!). Forward to 58min into the show to get to the interview with Rob.
[Updated: 25JAN11]
Epic: Armageddon — Review
The D6 Generation gang have done a great review of the classic Epic: Armageddon. We agree with their review and Russ’ conclusion that Epic: Armageddon is a great game marred by lack of support and a lack of miniatures. But if you don’t mind doing some work you will find Epic: Armageddon worth the effort. It is still one of the best games for a sci-fi invasion or larger grand-tactical conflict. Fast forward to 2hr 38min into the show to get right to the review.
Craig mentions the excellent Epic: Armageddon Handbook 2008 from the TacticalWargames.net site. It is essentially the official rulebook with all errata (as of 2008) integrated into it. Also the original Epic: Armageddon rules and army lists are available, for free, from GW directly. NetEpic is the fan produced version of the early Epic V2 rules (this is basically a different game from Epic: Armageddon).
The World’s End Radio podcast also has an excellent review of Epic in their Episode #48 – Epic WIN. Forward to 0:47:31 to get right to it.
We like to use Litko Aero’s Small Artillery Strike Markers and Blast Markers for blast markers and the Mini Smoke Markers or Small Flaming Wreckage as destroyed markers.
[Updated: 23JAN11]
Close Combat: Last Stand Arnhem — Now Available
Matrix Games has released Close Combat: Last Stand Arnhem. Last Stand Arnhem is a computer wargame covering Operation Market Garden in WW2. It is a remake of the original Close Combat – A Bridge Too Far from Atomic Games. Besides being able to run on modern operating systems at higher resolutions a number of new features have been added to the game. Close Combat – A Bridge Too Far was always our favorite title in the original Close Combat series so this game will be a must get for fans of Market Garden and the original series.
While the new improvements certainly make the game better than the original, the newly remade titles in general still suffer from a number of the issues of the original series: Troops die too quickly, pathfinding is poor, terrain effects often seem minimal, the AI is not very good on attack and you sometimes get the feeling you are watching the game not playing it. But they are still generally fun to play and the new campaign mode adds needed depth.
The Wargamer has a nice overview of the new features in Last Stand Arnhem.
Napoleon!!
For 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. Read the rest of this entry »
Conflict of Heroes — News
We just got a flyer from Academy Games on Conflict of Heroes. While we had been anticipating First Men In it looks like it will actually be the last of the current crop of planned games to be released. The current schedule is:
- COH: Price of Honour – This is the Poland 1939 campaign. It is scheduled for an August 2010 release date. Price of Honour is an expansion and requires either COH: Awakening the Bear or Storms of Steel.
- COH: Guadalcanal – This is, obviously, the Guadalcanal campaign in the Pacific during WW2. Playing Japanese and U.S. Marines will be interesting. It is listed with a September 2010 release date.
- COH: First Men In – The one we’ve been waiting for. FMI covers the D-Day airborne invasion of Normandy in 1944. It is set for a January 2011 release.
[Updated: 23AUG10]
Airborne Assault: Highway to the Reich — Review
Command Ops: Battles from the Bulge was recently released by Matrix Games. I have only had a chance to play around with the training mission so far but it quickly became apparent that CO:BftB is simply an evolution of the original Airborne Assault series. CO:BftB has numerous improvements but basic play is essentially the same. Considering that Airborne Assault: Highway to the Reich is one of my all time favorite computer wargames this is a good thing. It also means if you are considering purchasing CO:Battles from the Bulge then a look at Airborne Assault: Highway to the Reich should help you make your decision.
Below is a review I wrote a few years back for Airborne Assault: Highway to the Reich. It is too early for me to comment on changes in CO:BftB, but I can mention a few things that have not changed: There is still no ability for units to scale with zoom; no ability to rewind to watch other events; no ability to see a regular TO&E diagram view for formations; graphics and sound are basically the same. But CO:BftB still has the same great game play and it is after all the Bulge!
The View from the Turret 
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