Category Archives: After Action Report

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“Cat-Herder-in-Chief”: Playing the Mr. President 2017 Hard Scenario (Part 1)

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By way of introduction, Rick is simply one of the best playtesters I’ve ever known. His enthusiasm for and contributions to the development of Mr. President have been numerous (usually because he was using and abusing the game system in ways that I had not anticipated – which is one thing great testers do). Many, MANY times during the development process, Rick has sent me an AAR with notes about how “easy” it was to win – and Rick REALLY likes to win. That usually ticked me off! ? But he chronicled his games in such great detail and provided me with the “whys” behind what he was doing that it made it very easy for me to compare his approach to what I believed was “real-world-plausible” and “game-legal” and then make the design better (and more challenging) based on his reports. I have received many subsequent emails from Rick – usually after I nuked or modified his favorite way to abuse a rule or Action – that referred to me as “The Evil Game Designer™” (and occasionally questioned my parentage!). As you might glean from that, Rick is a lot of fun to play (or test) games with. At our yearly playtest sessions at Consimworld Expo in Tempe, Rick provided much hilarity over his play-by-play “what I’m thinking as President right now” announcing of his test games.

Our whole team has been incredibly blessed because Rick has been a part of us. Below, you have a recent AAR that Rick wrote, to help give potential players a sense of how the game flows. He has asked me to insert comments on his play throughout. So, I guess this is my chance to get some payback! ? My comments will be in italics below. Enjoy Rick’s article! – Gene

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Fields of Fire: The Bulge Campaign Mission #6 AAR (Part 2)

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Mission 6 – Attack on Schöneseiffen

2nd January 1945

Part 2 – Turns 1-4

The first few turns of an offensive mission in Fields of Fire tend to be characterized by the plans falling apart as enemy contact is made, minefields are stumbled into, artillery and mortar hit you and snipers pick off your HQs. That and a feeling of dismay as you realize too late that a well timed skill or smoke grenade could have saved you a lot of headache. The feeling of being overwhelmed and only gradually learning over a few missions how you might put pyrotechnics and skills to good use is all part of the experience. Let’s see how well we do.  

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The World Turned Upside Down, Again! Battles of the American Revolution Tournament at WBC 2022

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After Action Report

Part I

Twenty one players joined the BoAR tournament at the WBC this year.  While that number is a bit lower than our average draw it was nevertheless a respectable showing for a down-year overall.  And, with six Heats plus a Quarter Final, Semifinal, and Final we played a total of 42 games representing 218 playing hours.  That’s not too shabby. 

Among those twenty one players were four of the top-ten A.R.E.A. rated players, a player who had been on the A.R.E.A “Inactive List” for a while, and three players brand new to BoAR tournament play.  My AGMs Rob McCracken & Dave Stiffler and I want to thank everyone who played this year whether you joined for only a single Heat or played in the entire event. 

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Fields of Fire: The Bulge Campaign Mission #6 AAR (Part 1)

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Mission 6 – Attack on Schöneseiffen

2nd January 1945

The Fields of Fire Bulge campaign puts us back in the shoes of a company commander of the 9th Infantry. This time during the Battle of the Bulge. Ben Hull presents us with seven finely crafted missions (4 offensive and 3 defensive), and a handful of special rules to bring across just the right amount of flavor, all contained in a newly designed Mission Book which clearly presents the missions in a new format that is not afraid to take the space to explain things properly.

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Commands & Colors: Samurai Battles Session Report – Nagashino 1575 AD

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One more time I had occasion to play C&C Samurai Battles game as a series of a consecutive, geographically connected sets of scenarios. Today I am presenting one of the greatest tactical feats of Oda Nobunaga – a true genius of his times. With much smaller forces, using the clever strategy, he crushed so far unstoppable Samurai Cavalry army. All this in Nagashino 1575 AD – a 4 scenario mini-campaign, featuring:

  • main battle overview
  • central attack
  • right wing
  • left wing

It is really great to play an overview version, and then zoom on some aspects of this clash. Enjoy the picture-rich session report plus historical background!

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The Battle of Piedmont: A Narrative AAR for the “1300 Start” Scenario from Battles for the Shenandoah — Part 2

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Below you will find the second and final part in William Byrne’s “The Battle of Piedmont” AAR series. If you would like to read Part 1 first, you can find that here. Enjoy! -Rachel

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Arquebus Replay: The Battle of Ceresole — Part 2

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The Spanish player activates Madruzzo’s (Blue) wing.

Spanish Note – I want to get the battle started so I’ll move my center wing closer.

Ed. Note – For the first few moves we will show the units moving one at a time so we can show how the Missile fire works (BTW shouldn’t it really be referred to as “Ranged Fire” instead of missile fire?).

As the -1 PK unit moves adjacent to the French line, the SB unit (which is highlighted) will do Reaction Fire which happens when a unit enters one of its front two hexes.