Category Archives: Examples of Play

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Talon Tuesday Issue #3 – Example of Play Part 2

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“Talon Tuesdays” is an article series appearing on InsideGMT periodically on Tuesdays.  It features articles from the Talon development team regarding the game’s design, development and upcoming release.

Issue #3

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The following is a continuation of the Example of Play posted for last week’s “Talon Tuesday”.

Now that the Impulse is over, the Change Initiative marker that Sacrifice placed steals the Initiative back from the Terran. Talon goes first in Impulse D.

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Both the Service and Justice get Available Power. They each charge a Yellow box for one of their weapon groups.

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During movement, Sacrifice must move so she advances 1 hex. Service does not get to move in Impulse D, but chooses to use one of her Afterburners (a special Talon ability) to enable movement. She marks it off then turns and moves forward, placing a Turn Radius marker 1 hex in front of where she moved, corresponding to her Turn Radius of 1. It’s a good thing Service used the Afterburner: now only her full rear and left Shield Arcs face the enemy instead of her damaged shields.

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Talon Tuesday Issue #2 – Example of Play Part 1

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talontuesdays

“Talon Tuesdays” is an article series appearing on InsideGMT periodically on Tuesdays.  It features articles from the Talon development team regarding the game’s design, development and upcoming release.

Issue #2

Screen Shot 2015-09-15 at 11.41.45 AM

If a picture is worth a thousand words an example is worth a thousand rules pages.

While the Talon base rules are really succinct (9 1/2 pages last draft I checked) we still felt, after demo-ing the game to so many gamers (wargamers and non-wargamers alike) that putting a really detailed example of play into the play book was the way to go.  I’m really happy with how the rules have been refined over the development period but one of the best ways to gauge the flow of the game is to see it played.

This extended example of play is (essentially) a really meaty round from a real game Patrick Barley and I played. We tweaked a few roll results to help demonstrate parts of the system and highlight important tactical choices, but overall, this was a real 3 on 3 Heavy Cruiser battle. Our Layout Director, Mark Simonitch, did an outstanding job illustrating and organizing our example of play.

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In this extended example of play using the basic rules, we start at the top of Round 3. It is Impulse A and Talon has the initiative in this Heavy Cruiser (CA) battle. His ships will get to spend Available Power, Move and Fire before the Terran player. So far, one of Terran’s CA’s, the Patton, has taken 4 shield damage on her front arc, has both phaser groups charged but does not have any charge boxes marked off for her torpedo. All the Terran ships have their batteries charged. The Talon CA, Service, has taken 5 shield damage on her front arc and only has Red boxes charged for her disruptor groups.

On the Impulse Chart, Impulse A reads “4 5 6” so the Service will receive Available Power and the Sacrifice must move.

First, the Service spends its Available Power to charge one Yellow box on its left disruptor group. No other Talon ships get power in this Impulse.

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Invierno Cubano Faction Primer #1: Brigade 2506 and Directorio

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One of the many strengths of the COIN system is its asymmetric gameplay. Hence, maximizing factional asymmetry and introducing novel Operations and Special Activities, while maintaining Cuba Libre’s core game system, has been a top priority while designing Invierno Cubano, In this series of faction primers, we will preview some of the exciting new features that help make Invierno Cubano more than a sequel. As you read through these articles, please keep in mind that some aspects are still under development and may be changed prior to publication.

 

Faction name: Brigade 2506 and Directorio

Victory Condition(s): Opposition + Leaders eliminated

Pieces: Directorio (DR) Guerrillas, Brigade 2506 Guerrillas, DR Ships

Operations: Deploy, March, Attack, and Terror

Special Activities: Rescue, Influence, Air Strike, and Sabotage

Strength(s): Mobility and a large invasion event

Weakness(es): Unreplenished DR guerrilla ranks that are never underground

 

Certainly most COIN series fans are familiar with the CIA-backed invasion of Cuba at the Bay of Pigs in 1961, one of the most memorable fiascoes of 20th-century US foreign policy. Although the Brigade 2506 invasion force was the largest external outfit of guerrillas assembled during this period, many other militant Cuban exile organizations emerged and were supported by the US government. Much like the Revolutionary Directorate (DR) insurgents of Cuba Libre, these similar yet distinct entities are assembled together here under the Brigade 2506 and Directorio banner. In this article, we present two example plays highlighting some capabilities and vulnerabilities of the Brigade 2506 and Directorio faction and briefly discuss strategies to place them on the path to victory.

The automatic Event card “Bay of Pigs” triggers the addition of all nine Brigade 2506 guerrillas to the province closest to Havana that is without Support and not controlled by La Revolución. The card is shuffled with the second Reform card stack, ensuring its appearance sometime after the first Reform round and before the third. Armed with this knowledge, the Brigade 2506 and Directorio faction can work to secure an invasion space that is both safe and of strategic value.

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A Turn in a Nutshell: A Closer Look at “Welcome to Centerville”

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You came back! What – you have a couple of simple questions? No worries, make yourself comfortable and ask away. “What does a turn look like in WtC?” No, that’s not a simple question but I’ll tackle it. This may take a few minutes – grab yourself a snack and a drink from the kitchen and I’ll set the board up to walk you through it. Ready?

Hey, just a reminder – this is PLAYTEST artwork. We’ll get the final art later on, this is just to get us through testing and examples like this. So you can follow along, here are the player colors:

  • Chad: white
  • Mark: tan
  • Bob: gray
  • Kai: dark brown

So here’s what we have:

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THE ROUND TOPS – Hammerin’ Sickles in Action (Part 1)

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HS Image 1PART 1: – Introduction and First Game Turn

Hammerin’ Sickles: Longstreet Attacks at Gettysburg recently “made the cut” on the GMT P500 and Fred and I are very thankful for the support from the gaming community. We thought it would be a good time to give a brief run-through of the game and show how a typical game flows. The tutorial scenario – “The Round Tops” – depicting the fight for both Big and Little Round Tops is a compact, quick-playing vehicle to help demonstrate the Blind Swords system in general and Hammerin’ Sickles in particular.

First, let’s do a brief overview of how the system works. Blind Swords is a chit-pull mechanic system with some interesting twists. Before each turn, players will “load” the chit-pull cup with Division Activation Chits (one for each Division involved in the game), some Event Chits (more on those later), a Fog-of-War Chit (which will generate forced random moves and leader casualties), a Fortunes-of-War Chit (which will cancel the next chit drawn from the cup) and the CIC Chits (which allow the player to select any Brigade to activate in his army, even for a second time). In the longer scenarios, there is also a Lull in the Battle Chit which will speed play and simulates the forces becoming tired and hesitant as the battlefield has evolved into a chaotic, smoky and unmanageably-tangled landscape. All these chits are placed into the same cup and drawn by either player.

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MBT – Helicopters in Action

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MBT-P500-TabWe’re thrilled that MBT (along with a reprint of the sold-out Panzer) is now in our production queue for late 2015/early 2016. Clearly, a lot of you play and like Panzer, and the MBT P500 numbers have been very good, as well. As we near getting this game into our final art and production stages, we want to get you guys some examples of how this game plays and especially, “what’s new” in MBT that you didn’t see in Panzer (the two series’ do share the same basic system engine). So today Jim is giving us an example of how helicopters work in MBT – something you clearly didn’t get to play with in Panzer.

I hope you can see from the example what I think is one of the great strengths of the system that Jim has created and streamlined over time: the game provides rich detail without massive complexity. Jim has managed to encapsulate very complex battlefield physics into the data cards and look-up charts, so players can focus on tactics, with quick look-ups to handle the complexities of combat resolution. In my experience, there aren’t a lot of games/series that can deliver that, and when you find one, it’s usually a gem. I believe that is the case with the Panzer/MBT series, and hope you guys who are new to the games can get a sense of that from this example. Enjoy! – Gene

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Helicopters are a very versatile combat option available to modern forces. They carry a heavy load of weapons and may quickly transport troops to the battle area. Their speed andPic 1 maneuverability make them quick strike weapons. Helicopters are armed with vehicle-type weapons, including machineguns, heavy machineguns, cannons, rockets, and anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs), their primary anti-armor weapon. The mix and availability of these weapons varies from helicopter-to-helicopter.

Depending on their altitude, low or Nap-of-the-Earth (NOE), helicopters function as a cross between vehicles and fixed-wing aircraft.Pic 2

For the most part, they spot, move and engage in combat in a similar manner to vehicles. They resolve combat and movement during both of MBT’s two Aircraft Phases, whereas fixed-wing aircraft activate in just one of the two Air Phases.

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Hitler’s Reich: A Card Conquest System Game: Extended Example of Play (Part 2 of 2)

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HitlerReichTAB_P500(RBM)Click here to read Part I of this article

Chapter Four.  Blitzkrieg & Second Success Action

Because the Axis won its first Action, it gains a Second Success Bonus Action.  The Axis choice to take the Production Center Bonus Event Action put that Success Action in jeopardy, as had the Axis failed in the Production Center Bonus Event his turn would have ended.  The Axis was successful, however, and thus play continues to its Success Bonus Action OR choose to immediately launch a Blitzkrieg Attack from newly captured Leningrad.

This is an important game decision, since by making an immediate Blitzkrieg Attack the Axis Player may continue using the Manstein, Stukas and Waffen SS Events.  Otherwise, those three Event cards would be “flipped over” and not available until the next Axis turn.

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Next War: Taiwan Examples of Play

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The following examples are intended to assist with some of the trickier aspects of play in the recently released Next War: Taiwan.

Penghu Invasion Example

The following is an example of how to conduct an invasion of Penghu using the Advanced Game Series Rules. It is not, necessarily, the best way to go about it, but it is used as an illustration of the various methods of taking a hostile Penghu away from the Republic of China.

The example assumes that the PRC controls the Taiwan Straits Inshore Box. The example dispenses with all other non-essential steps, phases, and segments in the Sequence of Play and covers only the relevant portions of the Initiative Movement and Combat Segments.

At the beginning of an Initiative Turn, the PRC controls the Taiwan Straits Inshore Box, and both of the pesky ROC SAGs have been eliminated. The PRC determines that it will invade Penghu using the forces shown. For convenience, they are shown on the Naval Display, but they also simultaneously occupy the PRC Holding Box on the main operational map as well.

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Hitler’s Reich: A Card Conquest System Game: Extended Example of Play (Part 1 of 2)

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HitlerReichTAB_P500(RBM)During October 2014’s GMT  “Weekend at the Warehouse,” I had the pleasure of teaching many of this wonderful event’s attendees how to play Hitler’s Reich.  The games were invariably entertaining, fun to observe, and players’ responses, both during and after the event, to this marvelous Mark McLaughlin design gratifying to experience. 

Prior InsideGMT articles hopefully provide insights as to the cards of Hitler’s Reich and my gaming buddies, The Rockland Guys, inaugural experience with the game.  That article includes an image of Mark’s not so aesthetic, but completely functional, hand-drawn play-test map.

With those articles and an image of the Hitler’s Reich play-test map before you; the ensuing “Extended Example of Play” should provide another layer of understanding of the kind of gaming fun the game offers.  There are cross-references to the game’s Rule Book Sections within the article.

Be warned: as with Mark’s other GMT designs, there is “luck with the dice and luck with cards” inherent to Hitler’s Reich… but that’s what makes this game, and our hobby, so much fun, eh?

Introduction

Hitler'sReich_PlaytestMap

This extended example of play is an Axis Player Turn after a not particularly effective “Operation Barbarossa” (7.8) resolution.  It is now 1942 with a fresh Axis deck.  The Axis Player reconstituted his roster of “Schwerpunckt” (German word for a concentration of military power at the spearhead of an attack) Event Cards and is ready to give the conquest of Russia another go.