Below you will find another fantastic article from Clio’s Board Games, this time discussing Hapsburg player strategy in Here I Stand. You can also find this article on Clio’s blog. If you are interested in Clio’s Board Games’ previous series on InsideGMT discussing the fall of Communism through the lens of GMT’s 1989, you can read that here. Enjoy! -Rachel
While I deem it too early to provide a definitive review or a solid strategy guide for Imperial Struggle, some aspects can definitely be analyzed. One of them is of course the initial set-up of the game, which is specific to each nation and provides different opportunities. What follows is analysis of the major game dimensions with a brief summary of each. A more detailed article – what to do with those opportunities – will follow once I play more games of this fantastic title.
Introduction by Congress of Vienna (CoV)’s Editor, Fred Schachter – To familiarize the InsideGMT audience of what designer Frank Esparrago accomplished with his fun and exciting Congress of Vienna game, now a GMT P-500 offering which has “Made the Cut” and then some (thank you patrons, thank you so very much!) kindly reference previous InsideGMT articles covering a wide range of CoV topics. These can serve as useful background for appreciating this article. Use the following link to access this material: https://www.gmtgames.com/p-850-congress-of-vienna.aspx
The CoV play test team, now mostly using VASSAL due to being geographically disparate, have enjoyed many exciting Congress of Vienna games. I have become something of a “VASSAL Voyeur” observing a game from time to time with its fun, excitement, and often hilarious banter between the players (e.g. “that’s one heck of a maniacal chuckle, my friend… just what are you planning, you sly fox, you?!?”)
The team has held many an interesting debate considering how to best play each of Congress of Vienna’s Major Powers. This article reflects their most recent musings concerning Britain as described by game designer Frank Esparrago. It follows preceding InsideGMT articles for France and Austria.
We have indicated in italics game Issues the players vie for. Game rules will unfortunately need to be implicit: a restriction an article format such as this compels which readers shall hopefully appreciate. That said, take it away Frank!
Note: If you would like to view any of the below images in a larger size, you can click on the image and it will point you to the full image file.
Below is the second in a two part series from The Boardgames Chronicle covering strategy in Commands & Colors: Ancients. The first part can be found here. Enjoy!
Recently, due to the forced lock-down, I played a lot of my favorite game – Commands Colors Ancients. I had chance to introduce new players (love it!) and explain to them nuances of that fantastic system. Once the basic rules were digested by the new adepts, many follow-up questions were asked, mainly on tactics and strategy in CCA. I explained my view a couple of times, then idea struck me – having over 600 plays in that game, maybe I can share my experience and observations in a written form?
It did not take me long to move from idea to action. Hence this first article answering some of the most common questions – mainly focused on how to prepare attack in CCA – asked to me. I will try to describe and depict my ideas using pictures from the vassal module as I think visual presentation has the biggest impact. Of course, most of what I will write below is common knowledge to most seasoned CCA players, but I hope new fans of the game find it useful!
Disclaimer: let us be completely clear – there is no magic formula in any wargame, Commands & Colors system included, which will allow you to win the scenario. You need to be flexible, plan ahead, react to crises, and try to force your own tempo on the opponent – initiative is key! Still, there are some ideas which, once followed, might help you enormously to achieve the final victory.
Introduction by Congress of Vienna (CoV)’s Editor, Fred Schachter – To familiarize the InsideGMT audience of what designer Frank Esparrago accomplished with his fun and exciting Congress of Vienna game, now a GMT P-500 offering which has “Made the Cut” (thank you patrons, thank you so very much!) please reference previous InsideGMT articles covering a wide range of CoV topics. These contain background which will help you better appreciate this article. Use the following link to access this material: https://www.gmtgames.com/p-850-congress-of-vienna.aspx .
The CoV play test team, now mostly using VASSAL due to being geographically disparate, have enjoyed many exciting Congress of Vienna games. The team has held interesting debates considering how to best play each of Congress of Vienna’s fourMajor Powers: France, Russia/Prussia, Britain, and Austria. This article reflects their most recent musings regarding AUSTRIA as described by game designer Frank Esparrago. This seems a fitting follow-up to the prior article concerning France’s options.
The game rules this article alludes to will unfortunately need to remain implicit: a restriction an article format such as this compels which readers shall hopefully understand. That said, take it away Frank!
Note: If you would like to view any of the below images in a larger size, you can click on the image and it will point you to the full image file.
Below is an article featuring Pendragon insights and first impressions from first time player and InsideGMT contributor David Wiley of Swords and Chit and Cardboard Clash. You can also find this article on David’s blog. Enjoy! -Rachel
Introduction by Congress of Vienna (CoV)’s Editor, Fred Schachter – To familiarize the InsideGMT audience of what designer Frank Esparrago accomplished with his fun and exciting Congress of Vienna game, now a GMT P-500 offering which has “Made the Cut” (thank you patrons, thank you so very much!) please reference previous InsideGMT articles covering a wide range of CoV topics. These contain background which will help you better appreciate this article. Use the following link to access this material: https://www.gmtgames.com/p-850-congress-of-vienna.aspx.
The CoV play test team, now mostly using VASSAL due to being geographically disparate, have enjoyed many exciting Congress of Vienna games. The team has held many an interesting debate considering how to best play France in Congress of Vienna. This article reflects their most recent musings as described by game designer Frank Esparrago.
The game rules this article alludes to will unfortunately need to remain implicit: a restriction an article format such as this compels which readers shall hopefully understand. That said, take it away Frank!
Note: If you would like to view any of the below images in a larger size, you can click on the image and it will point you to the full image file.
Below is an article featuring Commands & Colors: Ancients insights and first impressions from first time player and InsideGMT contributor David Wiley of Cardboard Clash and Swords & Chit. You can also find this article on David’s blog. Enjoy! -Rachel
Below is an article featuring Nevsky insights and first impressions from first time player and InsideGMT contributor David Wiley of Cardboard Clash. You can also find this article on David’s blog. Enjoy! -Rachel
