Below you will find another fantastic article from Clio’s Board Games, this time discussing Willy Brandt and détente through the lens of GMT’s Twlight Struggle. You can also find this article on Clio’s blog. If you are interested in Clio’s Board Games’ previous article on InsideGMT discussing World War II through the lens of GMT’s Unconditional Surrender!, you can read that here. Enjoy! -Rachel
Below you will find another fantastic article from Clio’s Board Games, this time discussing World War II through the lens of GMT’s Unconditional Surrender!. 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
Below is another great article from InsideGMT contributor The Boardgames Chronicle, this time with an after action report of the Falling Sky scenario, “The Great Revolt” (52 BC). Enjoy! -Rachel
Below you will find another fantastic article from Clio’s Board Games, this time discussing The Leipzig Debate and Ed Beach’s Here I Stand. You can also find this article on Clio’s blog. Enjoy! -Rachel
This is a guest post from a friend of a friend. It speaks to the relationship the world at large might have to our hobby as wargamers. We thought you might enjoy it… — Mitch
by Jerad Alexander
Davin has a problem. His advance on Poland is being gutted by the collective will of democratic Europe. His army of high-powered Russian and Belarus troops are being hammered by NATO air power across northeastern Poland and the Baltics. His casualties began to mount on the second week of his campaign—how many has it been? 5,000 dead and wounded? 7,000? Davin isn’t a military general. He hasn’t trained for any of this. He lives with his girlfriend Joanna in Chelsea. He collects soundtracks on LP and works as a webmaster. He’s not even Russian. He’s from
Fresno.
Well, here we are. Clash of Sovereigns is finally emerging from my basement (and Vassal playtest), and (hopefully) on its way to your doorsteps in the next year or so. When all is said and done, it will have taken ten or eleven years from the decision to try to make it (because no one else was doing it! 🙂 ), and seeing it in print. I hope we’ll all be beneficiaries of that long gestation; I know it’s been good for COS.
I will be writing a series of longer and shorter articles, in irregular order, on COS game system aspects, a comparison to its predecessor, Clash of Monarchs (hereafter, “COMâ€), each Power’s armies and leaders, their rich card event decks, and whatever else I can decently present to impart about the game. These won’t be comprehensive; I find it hard to get past third gear nowadays, and Real Life and Work are up to my nose this year. Mixed metaphors, century-jumping analogies, and odd references will abound; narrative may occasionally look organized and tangentially brush literary competence (but don’t hold your breath); and make use of below standard literary devices. But these articles will show and tell a lot about COS.
So let’s start with some Big Picture here. (By the way, did you ever see the size of the nail they hang the Big Picture on? 🙂 )
Commentator:
Song: Ready to Explode by Slade, 1984
Hello and welcome to what looks like being a very exciting race today
Among the top drivers are Noddy Holder of the Brahms and Lizst Cup
His team mate is one of Britain’s wildest fellows, James Lea. Let’s hope his accident record can be overcome today. And now, just coming down the straight in the all familiar black and gold colours, Dave Hill, one of motor racing’s true Super Yob’s. His team mate is Don Powell. And my goodness me from where I’m sitting it looks as though they’re ready to explode!
Driver:
Sitting here in my mean machine – I’m ready to explode
Looking out of my helmet at the faces
I been wondering all night long, if I will live or die…yeah
It’s always the same before the races
Commentator:
I got some hot line information about the man who’s occupation
Is driving the cars. Standing out there on the grid
And it’s a kind of fascination and it demands full concentration
The kind of a job we all dreamed of as a kid
Driver:
I can see on the track ahead, the heat is rising high
Gotta win for the team and it’s never easy
I been feeling the butterflies, strapped into my seat…yeah
And already the tension’s getting to me
Commentator:
We’re waiting in anticipation for some official indication
They’re ready to go. Revving up and hit the road
Cos it’s another big occasion and there won’t be no relaxation
They’re ready to go and they’re Ready to Explode
Driver:
You’re gonna drive ’em round the bend
Have a go on the chicane
Gonna drive ’em round the bend
Without a warning…
Ready now to explode
Commentator:
And now the cars are on the grid and it looks like today’s conditions
Couldn’t be better for a great race. We’re just waiting for the starter
Mister Slade to give the O.K. There goes the green light and they’re off!
Who’s gonna be the big sensation. Who’ll be the champion of the nation
In one of them cars standing out there on the grid
He’s gonna get a big ovation. Be the champion of the nation
The kind of a thrill we all dreamed of as a kid
I don’t wanna break down and I wanna explode
Don’t lemme break down, don’t lemme break down
Don’t lemme break down
I wanna explode – I wanna explode – I wanna explode – I wanna explode
Driver:
Ever since I was just thirteen I had a crazy reoccurring dream
To be faster than the speed of sound
It was the only way to get around…oh yeah
Speeding in my dreams – Speeding in my dreams
Seventeen and I passed my test, never settling for second best
I knew right away what I’d like – It was a 750 motorbike…oh yeah
Speeding in my dreams – Speeding in my dreams
Oh yeah…Oh yeah…Oh yeah
I was living for speed
L..L..L..Living for speed
I was living for
I was living for speed…
Explode…explode….
Written by Noddy Holder and Jim Lea
It is 2019 and Imperial Struggle is so close to players I can almost taste it. Thanks to Joel Toppen’s heroic work on the VASSAL test kit, the game has received much more intensive playtesting than it ever has – probably more in the last four months than in the rest of the development cycle combined.
Playtesting is such a challenge. Often, a designer will rely on two types of playtesting. The first is repeat play from a trusted group, sometimes a face-to-face hobby group that is generous with its time and tolerant enough to try a game that is definitely not finished. That type of testing is wonderful, but the same people testing a game against one another over and over will inevitably lead to favored lines of play getting much more play than others.
Wargamers often praise a rules system for the “narrative” it provides during play. I assume what they mean is, if we were to describe in detail the course of the game as we played it, the result would sound very much like a historical account. If so, I would agree that the “narrative” is one of the most satisfying aspects of our hobby.
Here we look at seven more scenarios appearing in Wing Leader: Eagles and examine some of their design features, rationales and special rules.
