Monthly Archives: May 2019

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Fort Sumter: Making “Victory” Mean Something — An Option to Make Winning More Satisfying

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Mark Herman’s ground-breaking, innovative and thoroughly enjoyable game (insert any title of his here, but in this case, Fort Sumter) is the kind of game you can play over and over again and get a different outcome almost every time. It’s only failing, at least for me, however, is in its victory conditions. No matter whether you win a draw or score twice as many points as your opponent, it just means that you are better prepared for the upcoming war than the other side.

Really? That’s it? Really? As much as I love the game (board and the new computer version alike), that simple, single level of victory (or defeat) is something I find quite unfulfilling and unsatisfying. So much so that it seems anti-climatic. In order for me to better enjoy the game, and to increase the challenge in playing it, I have come up with levels of victory, and what each level means (at least for me).

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The Arjuna Chronicles #5: Bhagat Singh Frustrates the Empire

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Gandhi includes a brand new Solitaire system, called Arjuna, that replaces the flowcharts that have become a staple of the COIN Series. Players who play COIN Solitaire have asked many questions about how the system works – and don’t fear! – COIN Series Developer Jason Carr is here to walk through the design, ergonomics, and play of Arjuna. This installment shows Arjuna in action in the early campaign.

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Normandy ’44 Campaign AAR Part X: June 27th

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The Invasion So Far

This has been quite a campaign. For the most part it’s felt like a brutal slog. After the initial landings by the Allies went swimmingly well, they surged into the beach heads until Axis reinforcements solidified the front line. Then, advancing a single hex seemed like a big accomplishment!

The German line finally did cave in around certain sections of the map. The British landed more and more troops and expanded their front line to put pressure in the middle where the army line between the US 1st and the British 2nd met. The US linked their beaches and then went for the peninsula. Cherbourg fell and the Canadians nibbled around Caen. The British forces oozed along the coast east of Ranville.

At this point, the Allies have surpassed the historical June 27th line with flying colors. Still, without knowing it they have almost lost the game at one point due to casualties. Now Germany will go all out and try o inflict the casualties they need to secure victory.

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A Game of the Ages for All Ages: Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea at Huzzah! Convention in Maine

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The designer (top, center) chortling for some reason early in the game — just before quite literally hell is unleashed upon Mauretania (Blue) and Gaul (yellow) — mostly by each other but with a little help from the others. Note the ages of the players varies from the young lad (Will Valentine) at top left to a young man about 30 and to players in their 40s, 50s and 60s…

To the table came six players from three generations, including a father, his millenial-age son, a lad of 12, and three guys from the late 30s to late 50s. None had ever played Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea before.

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The Arjuna Chronicles #4: Khadi Spinning Wheels

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Gandhi includes a brand new Solitaire system, called Arjuna, that replaces the flowcharts that have become a staple of the COIN Series. Players who play COIN Solitaire have asked many questions about how the system works – and don’t fear! – COIN Series Developer Jason Carr is here to walk through the design, ergonomics, and play of Arjuna. This installment shows Arjuna in action as we begin our Campaign.

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The Evolution of “Expansion or Extinction” #4: An After Action Report (AAR) from Prezcon!

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The Evolution of “Expansion or Extinction” (EOE) is an article series periodically appearing in InsideGMT.  It features articles from the designer regarding the game’s design, development and upcoming release.  Parts 1, 2, and 3 of this series can be found here.

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Normandy ’44 Campaign AAR Part IX: June 25th-26th

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The Invasion So Far

After the initial landings pushed the Germans back and secured the beaches, the British repulsed German counter attacks and finished their Mulberry. The US army linked Omaha and Utah by taking Carentan. Both Armies started driving into the interior while the Commonwealth forces focused on Caen and the Americans focused on the peninsula and taking the big port city of Cherbourg.

Cherbourg is pretty much a done deal. All that is left is one more city hex and one last town. The Cottentin army is very much toast and the rest of the line is not faring any better. Instead of containing the Americans at Portball on the western shore of the peninsula, they fell back all the way to Lessay and its airfield. More VP towns south of Carentan fell despite the best efforts of the paratroopers. The rest of the line all the way to the east is a similar story of Axis under-performance compared to the historical line.

This is going to put the Axis in a desperate situation. They will attempt to seek automatic victory by inflicting losses on the Americans and British since it’s starting to look like victory by game score will be impossible.

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Fisher’s Hill: A Death Valley Narrative-Style AAR (Part 3)

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Introduction

This is the third and last installment in my after-action report for “Fisher’s Hill”, one of Death Valley‘s 1864 battles. Like the preceding parts, it employs a “narrative” style designed to display the GBACW system’s level of detail. In all but the final section of the article I avoid game terminology. Nevertheless, the AAR relies solely on GBACW system mechanics, except for invented dialogue between historical figures. While often merely an embellishment, the dialogue at other times serves to indicate the rationale behind player decisions. Any unfamiliar-sounding accounts of unit actions may well reflect series rules changes for the 2019 edition.

For the sake of continuity, I follow the action in a given sector throughout a specific turn before turning to another sector, rather than risk the narrative being fragmented by the chit-draw activation mechanic.

This article covers the scenario’s 1800 and 1900 turns.

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The Arjuna Chronicles #3: Jawaharlal Nehru Rises to Prominence

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Gandhi includes a brand new Solitaire system, called Arjuna, that replaces the flowcharts that have become a staple of the COIN Series. Players who play COIN Solitaire have asked many questions about how the system works – and don’t fear! – COIN Series Developer Jason Carr is here to walk through the design, ergonomics, and play of Arjuna. This installment shows Arjuna in action as we begin our Campaign.

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The Enfant Terrible, and that Proud, Annoying In-Law: Prussia/Spanish Strategy in Clash of Sovereigns

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The Prussian/Spanish player has a spikey role in COS, filled with dichotomy, exultation, and frustration. On one hand, you control the Enfant Terrible Frederick the Great (thirty-something version) and a potent Prussian army facing little threat, eyeing up multiple targets (Silesia, Prag, and Hannover city…). But the Prussians are politically naïve, set up to be diplomatically tricked out of the game twice, and, to the Prussian player’s chagrin, probably one campaign season and a tantalizing VP or two short of Decisive victory!