Designer Joel Toppen is well known among our customers for his outstanding solitaire designs Navajo Wars and Comancheria, as well as his amazing work in creating so many of the VASSAL modules for our games. Recently, Joel took a break to actually play someone else’s game, and in the process gave all of us players a gift, in the form of a bunch of short video clips that combine to create an AAR of his play of the advanced game (with some optional rules) of Next War: Poland. It’s not often that we get to see the advanced campaign laid out in all its glory, much less get a thoughtful video overview of strategy and processes by someone with Joel’s understanding of games and systems. And given that this is a theatre of potential war that is of great interest to many on both sides of the Atlantic right now, we thought you all would enjoy getting a look at how Joel’s game played out.
Note that the videos below all link to Joel’s Twitter account (follow him!), but we wanted to archive them all here on InsideGMT, in order, so that you could all access them easily whenever you pull out your Next War: Poland to play on your game table.
With many thanks to Joel for creating such an excellent group of videos to help us all understand both the game and the current and potential situation in Eastern Europe and the Baltic, we heartily present and endorse these videos, which we will present in several parts (grouped to cover a turn or two at a time). We hope they bring you much enjoyment and instruction as you learn and enjoy your game. – Gene
NEXT WAR POLAND by @gmtgames gets reset. A few different options used this time. @Toadkillerdog @bigboardgaming @playersaidblog @LowPlayerCount pic.twitter.com/itkeyzH94t
— Joel Toppen (@PastorJoelT) February 23, 2018
We’re just about ready to chuck some ? ? ? in NEXT WAR POLAND by @gmtgames @Toadkillerdog @bigboardgaming @playersaidblog @LowPlayerCount pic.twitter.com/YE2edfEsBM
— Joel Toppen (@PastorJoelT) February 23, 2018
Using some optional rules from NEXT WAR SUPPLEMENT 1 by @gmtgames @Toadkillerdog @LowPlayerCount @bigboardgaming @playersaidblog pic.twitter.com/shAN0ElDPv
— Joel Toppen (@PastorJoelT) February 23, 2018
Here’s a comment from the game’s designer, Mitchell Land:
I love the Random Events!
Cyberwarfare in NEXT WAR SUPPLEMENT 1 by @gmtgames @Toadkillerdog @bigboardgaming @LowPlayerCount @playersaidblog pic.twitter.com/oCKDLylXjF
— Joel Toppen (@PastorJoelT) February 23, 2018
Turn 1 air superiority matchups. Russian hacker success in Cyberwarfare allows targeting of stealth aircraft at standoff range. @gmtgames @RBMStudio1 @Toadkillerdog @bigboardgaming @LowPlayerCount @playersaidblog pic.twitter.com/aDjhixIJsF
— Joel Toppen (@PastorJoelT) February 23, 2018
Air superiority contest leaves both sides without an advantage… NEXT WAR POLAND by @gmtgames @Toadkillerdog @LowPlayerCount @playersaidblog pic.twitter.com/PdDBngbkUb
— Joel Toppen (@PastorJoelT) February 23, 2018
Russian radar picks up incoming B-2 strikes! @Toadkillerdog @gmtgames @RBMStudio1 @LowPlayerCount @playersaidblog pic.twitter.com/jvxYld7DH9
— Joel Toppen (@PastorJoelT) February 24, 2018
Lots and lots of missile strikes… @Toadkillerdog @gmtgames @bigboardgaming @playersaidblog @LowPlayerCount pic.twitter.com/VbCElkekIw
— Joel Toppen (@PastorJoelT) February 24, 2018
Big battle in southern Lithuania! NEXT WAR POLAND by @gmtgames @Toadkillerdog @RBMStudio1 @bigboardgaming pic.twitter.com/V97PigHuyc
— Joel Toppen (@PastorJoelT) February 24, 2018
Ever miss something really important in the setup? ??? @gmtgames @Toadkillerdog @bigboardgaming pic.twitter.com/Xzpln5makl
— Joel Toppen (@PastorJoelT) February 24, 2018
Update on the situation in NEXT WAR POLAND by @gmtgames @Toadkillerdog @bigboardgaming @playersaidblog @LowPlayerCount pic.twitter.com/EnCz8IoBjE
— Joel Toppen (@PastorJoelT) February 27, 2018
That’s it for Joel’s replay of the first two turns of Next War: Poland. He’ll report on turns 3 and 4 in our next article.
Next Article in the Series: Next War: Poland Video AAR (Part 2)
Joel, please post these AARs on YouTube then I can at least watch this on a TV.