Below an article on Twilight Struggle new gamer strategy from InsideGMT contributor David Wiley of Cardboard Clash and Swords & Chit. You can also find this article on David’s blog. Enjoy! -Rachel
Turns 8, 9, and 10 of the campaign game make up Scenario 3 of Seas of Thunder. The scenario’s name is Drumbeat and the rhythm of the game does seem to be reaching a steady and predictable pace. The German U-Boats are overtaking the Atlantic. Italy and Great Britain are engaged in a death spiral for control of the Med. The USA and Japan continue to eye each other warily across the Pacific. But the big news is Operation Barbarossa, Germany’s invitation to the Soviet Union to enter the war on the high seas.
To mirror the last COS post regarding the French sub-game of The ’45, let’s look at a larger scale, and arguably much more important sub-game for the Austrians, pitting them against the French to Regain the Crown of the Holy Roman Empire (See the Track below). The French gain the Crown by taking cities in the Empire and Danube valley, and playing a dependent Diplomacy event. The Austrians can get it back by progress in the war (for starters, taking large chunks of Bavaria), waiting for Charles VII to die (trust me, he will 🙂 ) and playing generic Regaining the Crown event cards as successive track conditions (progress) are met.
[In this article, I will occasionally interject my thoughts in to issues that Chuck either left vague or skipped completely. I do this only to make sure everyone is as clear as possible on the concepts he is presenting and how they relate to the game. Honestly this could be looked at as a companion to our 2nd article on the game where I discussed the workings of the Combat Sequence Card. This is Chuck’s first effort at writing an article for… anything, I believe. – Jeff Horger]
Whew! After a long hiatus doing not much of anything productive, I have returned to impart more thoughts on Clash of Sovereigns. The first French Strategy article, posted some time back, covered the big picture on COS play for France. So, for round two, let’s drill down and focus on a notable sub-game in COS – “The ‘45” invasion of the Pretender, Bonnie Prince Charlie, and his forlorn attempt to retake the English throne. [Note – all images are playtest visuals from the working Vassal module; production components will be different and splendid!]
Last weekend I was at the GMT Weekend at the Warehouse gathering and Gene was kind enough to give me an open copy of Nevsky. To set the stage, I am friends with the designer, so if I did not like the game I would never post anything. If I liked the game I would have tweeted out some happy words. But if I really like the game, I write a strategy analysis.
At first glance, The Barracks Emperors seems to be a bit of an unusual game to appear on the GMT Games website. It’s not a wargame, although it does feature player conflict. It’s not a historical simulation, although it is historically themed. And it’s not part of a great series, although it does share its setting and some of its material with the light wargame Time of Crisis, and its expansion The Age of Iron and Rust.
To find a game reminiscent of The Barracks Emperors in GMT’s stable, you’d want to think about Battle Line, Reiner Knizia’s card game that put an ancient war theme on three-card poker and took it to a new level of play. Like Battle Line, The Barracks Emperors is a themed card game rooted in traditional card games, with new mechanics that add tactical depth and player competition. It’s a trick-taking game at heart, with a core mechanic that may remind you of games like Spades or Bridge, but this isn’t your grandfather’s card game. It’s not a friendly Euro game either. The Barracks Emperors adds a number of twists that turn a simple trick-taking game into a veritable battle, requiring players to find ways to leverage multiple different aspects of card play to cleverly steal Emperor Cards away from the other players (the “tricks” – representing opportunities to seize the throne of Rome).
One playtester memorably described The Barracks Emperors as “trick taking, weaponized.”
The purpose of this article is to explain some more about how The Barracks Emperors works, focusing on the twists that make it distinctive and take a “simple” trick-taking game to the “weaponized” level.
Welcome to my third and final part of the Commands & Colors Medieval and Commands & Colors: Ancients series. In my effort to compare the two series, I have focused my first two publications on major changes (here) and minor changes and subtleties (here). But enough of looking into the rules and paragraphs–what better way to see the difference in game flow than to play actual scenarios in both systems?
Ok, you might ask which scenarios would be fitting for such a comparative play. Well, C&C Medieval has a very good answer for this. The first three scenarios in the rulebook take place in the 5th century, during the the Roman Empire’s wars with the Huns. On one hand, they chronologically fall under the Ancients umbrella. However, from the tactics and weapons perspective, this is definitely the early Medieval epoch. The three scenarios are Utus River (447 AD) and Catalaunian Fields (451 AD) Parts 1 & 2. For our test, we used Utus River–a perfect choice to compare both systems.
Below is another fantastic article from The Boardgames Chronicle, this time discussing the use of bots in Time of Crisis. You can check out his previous series discussing the major and minor similarities/differences between Commands & Colors: Ancients and Commands & Colors: Medieval here. Enjoy! -Rachel
Below is another fantastic article from The Boardgames Chronicle, this time discussing the minor similarities/differences between Commands & Colors: Ancients and Commands & Colors: Medieval. Part 1 discussing major changes between the two games can be found here. Enjoy! -Rachel
