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Cross Keys: A Good Day for Richard Stoddert Ewell (Part 2)

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Last week’s installment included a synopsis of the Battle of Cross Keys, along with a brief description of the way in which the Death Valley scenario seeks to simulate the caution that characterized John C. Fremont’s generalship that day.  It concluded with the first part of my playtest AAR, describing the scenario’s 1200 turn.  Here we pick up where we left off.

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Apocalypse Road AAR: Full Metal Jacket Derby at Black Widow Hollow (Part 3)

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The following article, “The Dominator”, “Dasher”, and “Thor” Go to War is Part 3 in an Apocalypse Road After Action Report series from Stig Morten Breiland. To read Parts 1 and 2, go here and here.

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All Bridges Burning: Victory

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This is the third InsideGMT article on All Bridges Burning, a COIN system game for three-players dealing with the political and military events surrounding the Finnish Civil War of 1918. In the first two articles (found here and here), the focus was somewhat on illustrating the historical background of various design decisions made during the development of this game. In this article I want to try to give everyone a better idea of how the game plays not forgetting, however, to explain the historical background to the design choices I’ve made as well.

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Replicator Tuesday Issue #40: New Terrain Counters

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Replicator Tuesdays is an article series appearing on InsideGMT. It features insights into the development of the 2nd expansion for the board wargame Space Empires:4x by Jim Krohn.  Here the designer, developer and play testers will share their thoughts and experiences on this upcoming expansion. Since there is much crossover between the Space Empires and Talon development teams, both Space Empires and Talon articles will be featured in this series.

Issue #40: New Terrain Counters

In this article I will discuss the new terrain counters that are added to the game in Replicators.

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Cross Keys:  A Good Day for Richard Stoddert Ewell (Part 1)

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The Battle of Cross Keys:  A Synopsis 

The aftermath of Nathaniel Banks’ defeat at Winchester on May 25th, 1862, roused the Lincoln administration to action.  With Stonewall Jackson rampaging through the lower Shenandoah Valley to within a few miles of the Potomac at Harper’s Ferry, half of Irwin McDowell’s corps marched west from Fredericksburg, threading its way through the Manassas Gap in the Blue Ridge mountains.   Meanwhile, John C. Fremont’s “Mountain Department” troops advanced eastward across the Alleghenies from Moorefield (West Virginia).  The two forces formed the jaws of a pincer designed to meet at Strasburg on the Valley Pike, cutting off Jackson’s Valley Army from its line of communications.  But a combination of poor mountain roads, poor intelligence, and Confederate resistance delayed the Yankees and enabled Jackson’s hard marching troops to escape south before the jaws could close.  Fremont gave chase via the Valley Pike, while James Shields’ division of McDowell’s corps moved up the less negotiable Luray Valley east of the Massanutten.

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Talon Tuesday Issue #39: Talon Solitaire 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 of the Talon 1000 expansion. Since Space Empires:4x Replicators is also releasing soon and there is crossover between the two development teams, Replicator articles will be featured as well.

Issue #39 Talon Solitaire Part 2

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Time of Crisis Strategy Tips from ElusiveMeeple

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Today’s Time of Crisis Strategy Tips article is from Robert Crowter-Jones, the writer behind ElusiveMeeple, a wonderful and very useful site that provides both reviews and strategy tips for a wide variety of boardgames. Robert has reviewed Time of Crisis in some depth and written strategy tips for the game on his blog (see the ElusiveMeeple site). For strategy tips on Triumph and Tragedy and 1960: The Making of the President, see his InsideGMT articles here and here.