Monthly Archives: August 2021

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Labyrinth: The Awakening – An Introduction (Part 1 of 2)

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The first expansion of the Labyrinth series of games covers the five years from 2010 roughly through 2014, with the main events simulated being the Arab Spring and the period of Civil Wars that followed.  It introduces new concepts and game play, each of which is covered below. 

Labyrinth: The Awakening Strategy

The expansion of rules in The Awakening give both players many more long-term options and make the strategic calculations immensely more complex. The major differences are the introduction of awakening/reactions and civil wars. The game has so many options, there is no coherent way to discuss them all.  Instead, I will explain a few key concepts, and discuss a full game replay.

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The British Way: Introduction to the Multi-Pack

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The British Way covers four counterinsurgency campaigns between 1945 and 1959. In each of these campaigns, the British attempted to control their exit from empire while facing an insurgent opponent. This period of British counterinsurgency influenced subsequent counterinsurgency doctrine and campaigns by both the British and other countries. In future articles, I will cover background and mechanics on each of the individual games, but first I want to provide background on the argument being made in the multipack and explain what exactly a “COIN multi-pack” is. I specifically want to address what I see as the two major themes of The British Way.

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The Struggle is Real: Reworked Mechanics and a New Solo System for The Weimar Republic

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Much like the historical Weimar Republic, The Weimar Republic has seen its share of setbacks and crises. But unlike Germany’s first democracy, which was toppled both by the zeal of those sworn to destroy it and the incompetence of those sworn to defend it, the multiplayer political boardgame simulating that very collapse is moving forward with renewed hope.

Development of The Weimar Republic was struck hard by the Covid19 situation, mainly because live, face-to-face playtesting suffered so much. I had all sorts of live sessions planned for 2020, all of which had to be canceled of course, and as the pandemic dragged on the whole infrastructure for face-to-face gaming seemed to be in danger. At that point the game had seen its share of digtial testing already and I was not overly keen on moving focus back into the digital realm – even though the tools available these days make playing board games online both enjoyable and easy, it is hard to simulate the flow of an actual face-to-face session, especially for testing purposes. That flow is of course crucial to an asymmetric multiplayer game, which is perhaps why it took so long for the development team to discover certain tempo-related issues that had to be adressed before proceeding.

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Congress of Vienna Standard Game After-Action-Report: “The Clash of Armies” Scenario (Turn 3 of 4 – Oct. 1813)

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Introduction by Congress of Vienna Assistant Designer & Editor – Fred Schachter: The second turn of this After-Action-Report (AAR) chronicled game was exciting and interesting with France continuing to meet its comeuppance, and not repeating its brilliant turn one Diplomacy Phase performance (winning seven Issues! Remarkable!) since the Allies are now coordinating against “The Corsican Ogre”. For that remarkable feat, see: Congress of Vienna Standard Game After-Action-Report: “The Clash of Armies” Scenario (Turn 1 of 4 – Aug. 1813) – Inside GMT blog

Our players are having a blast playing Frank’s latest CoV scenario creation. So, let’s resume the game action of this Congress of Vienna “Clash of Armies” Standard Game contest as the massive struggle for Europe (and the War of 1812 in North America) continues… but first…

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New Video Working Through Attack Orders for Mons 1914 and Gallipoli 1915

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Mons 1914: The Mad Minute is rolling along steadily.  Play sessions of Gallipoli 1915 (the first game in the Rifle and Spade series) are reported regularly on BoardGameGeek in the Gallipoli game entry. The draft of the 2.0 rules, plus the updated table and display for Gallipoli are available in Gallipoli’s files folder, which is also linked from the home page for Mons on gmtgames.com. If you are planning to play Gallipoli then please use the 2.0 rules. As always, I am available to answer questions on ConsimWorld and on BoardGameGeek.

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ETO Series: August 2021 Update

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Frank Chadwick’s ETO: Gestating an Elephant

For this update series, we must preface with:

Our focus remains vigilantly on “the larger picture” of combined ETO volume games. One of our Prime Directives for this project’s development is that, when you play multiple volume games together, they integrate as seamlessly as possible.

You will see screenshots of our playtest components and from the Vassal playtest kits throughout this article.

Briefly, About Frank Chadwick’s ETO

Frank Chadwick’s ETO is:

  • A multi-volume series of mini-monster size games
  • Which combine into a grand scope wargame of WWII in Europe
  • The scale is
    • 30 miles per hex (with Iceland in the top-left and the Persian Gulf in the lower-right corner of the combined map’s area)
    • 7.5 – 15 days per turn
    • Most ground units are Corps (with a few Division breakdowns and Army buildup units)
  • The game features a simple play sequence (evolved from the classic introductory wargame, Battle for Moscow)
    • Housekeeping
    • Special Movement
    • Combat
    • Regular Movement
  • The core game is very much a clever, modern hex-and-counter Panzer Pusher
  • It includes an intuitive economic model featuring Seasonal income and per-turn expenditures (primarily used for on-map replacements and building/rebuilding from the force pool)
  • There are discreet Air and Naval units and systems optimized to support the “Panzer Pusher” nature of the game’s primary focus
  • It is card assisted in that each Month you select a card or two from your deck to add to your hand and decide when to unleash their narrative events. It is not card-driven in that you do not shuffle your deck and receive random cards that “make the game go;” Instead, you build a hand/strategy to create an important on-map operation, shore up your economy, or military base, conduct political endeavors, etc.
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Atlantic Chase Session Report – The Operational Scenarios

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I was waiting for this moment for so long. Finally, after myself and my main wargaming buddy – Jakub – were vaccinated, we decided that it is time to meet face to face. What a joy, what a fun, truly! After so many months of waiting, to bring the game to the table and play with a live opponent!

Well, but what title shall be tried for such an occasion? Recently I had such a blast with Atlantic Chase – just see my reports from video solo play of BL1 scenario and then picture-rich play-through of Blockade Scenarios – that I was very keen to try it multiplayer. It did not take me long to get from idea to execution and Jakub – being an ardent fan of all Naval games – eagerly agreed to play Atlantic Chase.