The NEW New Boardgames Thread

[CountDeMoney]

I hope there's a post-melee phase where you can bayonet wounded and surrendering Confederate soldiers, as they have to be cleared away by the hand of God like the Jews of old.

[11B4V]

 

I per-order vol 2 also.

Vol 1
Stephenson's Depot was a prelude to the battle of Gettysburg. Richard Ewell enjoyed his finest day of the campaign when he smashed the isolated outpost of Robert Milroy at Winchester. This is a rock-em sock-em affair, with the Yankees throwing the first punch. The blue player must land his blows quick and hard, driving the Rebs off the railway.

Rosey and the Woodpecker, the battle of Iuka, was a meeting engagement of sorts; few units begin on map and both sides receive a steady stream of reinforcements. Grant, the Yankee commander had divided his army into wings, each to simultaneously converge upon the rebels at the small railhead of Iuka.

Old Burn at Newbern, the battle of Newbern, North Carolina. A promising young star of the Union, Ambrose Burnside (Old Burn to his equals) runs up against a scratch force of Confederate militia, artillery, and cavalry.

Smash 'Em Up! the battle of Belmont Missouri, was U.S. Grant's first significant encounter with the Confederate Army. He initially drove the Rebels across the Mississippi River capturing both their headquarters and Belmont, a minor ferry point to Kentucky.

Huzzah! 2: Dark Woods, Dreadful Fields (the Wilderness Campaign) covers the Wilderness Camp

[Ed Anger]

Mew.

[11B4V]

Finally ebagged a copy of Bloody Steppes of Crimea: Alma – Balaclava – Inkerman 1854  today.

Tactical game about three famous battles of Crimean War.

Game scale:
1 hex = 200 m (Alma 250 m)
1 game turn = 30 minutes
1 counter = infantry battalion-riffle company/cavalry regiment/artillery battery.

Game description
The game uses the standard hex-and-counter system, and ten-sided dice. Each hex represents 200 metres or 218 yards of terrain (Alma 250 metres or 273 yards), each game turn corresponds to 20-30 minutes of real time.

Infantry is represented by battalions and light infantry companies, cavalry by regiments (sometimes divided into two counters), artillery by batteries (classified by weight).

Each game turn is divided into phases:
1)Command phase – players use their Commanders-in-Chief and dispatch riders to give orders to subordinate commanders.
2)Activation phase – after determining the initiative, players, using the Activation Markers, choose the division to activate. Activated units, move, fire, commence melee combat and reorganise disorganised units. The opponent can react by firing or counterattacking
3)Reorganisation phase – players reorganise broken units

The principle of the game is based on an order system, which is associated with target hexes. The player must carry out the assigned order (of course, he gives them to himself), until the order is changed by the Commander-in-Chief, or the division commander manages to change it by himself. The order must be associated with a target hex (i.e attack hex, defend hex). The possible orders are: ATTACK, DEFEND, FORCED MARCH.

The game tries to present the diversity of combatants tactics mainly through unit formations. And so – Russian infantry can fight in company or closed columns, French infantry in closed columns or lines and the British infantry only in lines. Each side can form squares, and can use skirmishers. The French Eastern Army excels in light infantry tactics due to it's many formations of such units (chasseurs, zouaves, algerian tiraillieurs).

The game treats the concept of zone of control differently from other games – it gives up the obligation to stop moving the unit in the enemy ZOC. The ZOC is a phenomenon that allows to fire or initiate close combat, and it is dependent on the units formation and the range of its firearms.

Unit movement doesn't differ from other hex-and-counter systems.

The game discerns fire combat and melee combat. The fire combat takes into consideration the following aspects:
1)firing unit strength
2)firing unit formation (skirmishers)
3)target formation
4)distance to target

Fire combat is initiated at the cost of movement points in the unit's activation phase, and once as a reaction for the enemy's doings. Fire combat is based on the unit's morale modifier, which is a combination of unit's morale, training and other "psychological" factors. Fire combat effects in loss of endurance, disorganisation and in critical cases, breaking of the attacked unit. Losing movement point is also the effect of fire combat.

Artillery fire combat is constructed similarly to infantry fire combat – it only takes into account the differences in range and firepower of guns.

As a rule, to initiate melee combat, the unit must fight in a compact formation (column, line) or be a cavalry unit. Starting combat requires for a attacking unit to posses sufficient movement points after moving (a marker is placed, on the unit that meets that condition). Melee combat is also based on the unit's morale, strength, formation, also the terrain and attacks from the flank or the unit's rear. Effects of melee combat are disorganisation (also of the attacking unit) or breakdown and taking flight. Cavalry combat also includes the unit's momentum – which is taken from the type of the unit (heavy, lancers, light cavalry). Cavalry may react by counter-charging.

The loss of unit's endurance during the game is marked on special tables. The use of tables intents to show precisely the diverse levels of combat losses.

[Tamas]

That Legendary Encounters: Alien game has been a total success. It is big fun and we spent a good portion of the weekend with my girlfriend playing it. She had such a great time with the game (she is fairly new to boardgames, I enjoy introducing her to this world) that she insisted on us beating all the movies-scenarios of the game, but Alien 4 has kept defeating us. 

How much long-term replayibility is there is yet to see, but otherwise a great deckbuilder, as it manages to be a deck-builder that is cooperative yet challenging (to a degree) and interactive.

[Syt]

Conan is at over $1.5 million now, with 9 days to go.

[Syt]

The theme is conveyed well, and I didn't mind playing it.  It didn't engage me in terms of being an interesting or challenging game to play.  Good entertainment (if you like Firefly), not so good game.

Friends actually bought it, and we gave it a bash yesterday, doing a scenario where you have to do jobs for Badger, Duun, Patience and Niska before doing two more story missions. The theme of the game is indeed superb, with nice little Firefly models, a pretty game board and nicely designed cards. I'm surprised how many characters and equipment they managed to milk out of half a season and a movie. Well done.

The whole thing of flying, doing jobs, doing "provocations" etc. is good enough. What I'm seriously missing, though, is interaction between players. There's few options to fuck each other up beyond trying hit your opponent with the Alliance ship or the Reavers, and that's very difficult.

That said, it's relatively easy to hire crew and gear up to make most challenges trivial in late game, which takes out a lot of the tension.

In all, it reminds me of a slightly more streamlined version of Fortune and Glory which has very similar mechanics, but somehow plays slower and more tedious.

[Syt]

Well, I put in my pledge for Conan, plus the three expansions (Nordheim, Stygia, Khitai).

Current stretch goal is a camel for a camel punch scenario.

The base game (King pledge):



Currently unlocked stretch goals:

[Habbaku]

There is so much stuff in that KS.   

[Syt]

Oh, I forgot to show what the core box contains:




I'm looking forward to ca. October when this ships.

[CountDeMoney]

Great, something else with action figures to pollute BGG's front page for the next 2 years.     MAH X WING

[Syt]

Well, it's a not too complex game, which is one of the reasons (besides theme) I'm putting down cash for this - it's the type of game I can easily get going with friends without having to spend hours explaining the mechanics.

[The Minsky Moment]

Anyone know anything about the 1714 Catalan game?
Spanish Succession is an under-covered conflict.

[Habbaku]

It's alright.  Some unique, interesting mechanics, but not really a meaty simulation.  More about the discussions/negotiations for position amongst the allied powers than fighting the Bourbons.

[celedhring]

Well, it's not really a wargame. It's a boardgame that happens to be set during a war and where you move armies around. I like it quite a bit but it isn't a simulation.

I like how it captures the whole partitioning and balance of power malarkey, though. You compete with your allies to get the best slice of the cake. That is fleshed out quite well.