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William G. Cheeney – A Spark, Burning Bright

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In my ongoing research for “Infernal Machine: Dawn of Submarine Warfare,” I have made the acquaintance of a number of very interesting people, not only in my current era, but also from the American Civil War period.

The mid-19th Century is one of the most interesting periods of human endeavor.

The Industrial Revolution, filled with promise and with might, was still underway.

During this period, you would occasionally get one spark of intellect and genius that would shine brighter than its neighbors.

Of course like the proverb says, “The spark that burns twice as bright burns half as long.”

Such a spark was a man with the name of William G. Cheeney.

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Video: The Players’ Aid WBC 2022 Interview with Mark Miklos

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Below is a great interview from The Players’ Aid at WBC 2022 with Dave Stiffler, Rob McCracken, and BoAR series designer Mark Miklos. In this interview, they discuss Small BoAR, the new American Revolution Tri-Pack including Monmouth, Germantown, Newtown and Oriskany, and lots more! Enjoy! -Rachel

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Making “Next War” More Multi-Domain: Some Alternative Rules for the “Next War” Series

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I have been an avid player of the “Next War” series of games since I discovered them by accident a few years ago at a local war game convention.  I’ve played them all, and wrote a series of AARs which have been run on this blog.  As I played the games, I realized one of the things that I most enjoy about the system is that it is one of the only games I know of that makes the player fully integrate capabilities across the various war-fighting domains.  To win, a player must effectively integrate air, sea, and land capabilities, and the game has some excellent rules for strike warfare, integrating cruise and ballistic missiles, and even for the use of chemical and tactical nuclear weapons. 

My “eureka” moment came when I realized this game really makes one think about modern, multi-domain operations.  It became crystal clear when I acquired the Supplemental Rules, and first added cyber warfare to my game experience.  Supplement 1’s cyber rules are genius.  They mix simplicity and playability with game impact, and I saw that the game became something different.  It became multi-domain.

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Fields of Fire: The Bulge Campaign Mission #6 AAR (Part 3)

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Mission 6 – Attack on Schöneseiffen

2nd January 1945

Part 3 – Turns 5-7

Returning to our efforts to walk across the beautiful open snowy fields while Germans drop artillery on us. We’re making progress. Half the map is secured, but there are hidden spotters and snipers out there that we need to deal with.

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“Cat-Herder-in-Chief”: Playing the Mr. President 2017 Hard Scenario (Part 1)

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By way of introduction, Rick is simply one of the best playtesters I’ve ever known. His enthusiasm for and contributions to the development of Mr. President have been numerous (usually because he was using and abusing the game system in ways that I had not anticipated – which is one thing great testers do). Many, MANY times during the development process, Rick has sent me an AAR with notes about how “easy” it was to win – and Rick REALLY likes to win. That usually ticked me off! ? But he chronicled his games in such great detail and provided me with the “whys” behind what he was doing that it made it very easy for me to compare his approach to what I believed was “real-world-plausible” and “game-legal” and then make the design better (and more challenging) based on his reports. I have received many subsequent emails from Rick – usually after I nuked or modified his favorite way to abuse a rule or Action – that referred to me as “The Evil Game Designer™” (and occasionally questioned my parentage!). As you might glean from that, Rick is a lot of fun to play (or test) games with. At our yearly playtest sessions at Consimworld Expo in Tempe, Rick provided much hilarity over his play-by-play “what I’m thinking as President right now” announcing of his test games.

Our whole team has been incredibly blessed because Rick has been a part of us. Below, you have a recent AAR that Rick wrote, to help give potential players a sense of how the game flows. He has asked me to insert comments on his play throughout. So, I guess this is my chance to get some payback! ? My comments will be in italics below. Enjoy Rick’s article! – Gene

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Veni Vidi Vassali: Converting a Great Battles of History Classic to Vassal

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In the nearly thirty years, (twenty-eight to be exact), since GMT Games published the 1st and only edition of the IVth Volume of Richard H. Berg’s and Mark Herman’s, Great Battles of History series, other series entries have received reprints and major updates. SPQR for instance, is on the 2nd Printing of the its Deluxe Edition, encompassing four Rule Change editions over several reprints and edition publications. Caesar: The Civil Wars, interestingly, long out of print has seen its sister volume, Conquest of Gaul receive a reprinting but it took a little while longer for the original Caesar title to get there. So, when GMT announced a new deluxe treatment of both The Civil Wars and Conquest of Gaul together in a new dual package, I immediately contacted them to volunteer to build the official GMT Vassal module and was thrilled when Alan Ray contacted me back to let me know it was going to happen. For me, it represents a dream project that I hoped to see come about ever since building my first basic module, after viewing Joel Toppen’s helpful video series on how to build a Vassal module several years ago now. 

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Combat Commander: Europe Random Scenario Setup Example

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The random scenario generator in Combat Commander: Europe is perhaps one of the most underrated features of the game. It vastly expands replayability, offering new situations for seasoned players and newcomers alike. The rules are tucked into the back of the scenario book and you may have missed them or forgotten they are there—or maybe you simply haven’t had a chance to try them yet, perhaps because the prospect seems daunting. In the following paragraphs I’ll walk through an example to show you how easy and fun random scenario generation is. I will not re-explain all of the rules, but I have included the references so that you can follow along in your book.

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Fields of Fire: The Bulge Campaign Mission #6 AAR (Part 2)

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Mission 6 – Attack on Schöneseiffen

2nd January 1945

Part 2 – Turns 1-4

The first few turns of an offensive mission in Fields of Fire tend to be characterized by the plans falling apart as enemy contact is made, minefields are stumbled into, artillery and mortar hit you and snipers pick off your HQs. That and a feeling of dismay as you realize too late that a well timed skill or smoke grenade could have saved you a lot of headache. The feeling of being overwhelmed and only gradually learning over a few missions how you might put pyrotechnics and skills to good use is all part of the experience. Let’s see how well we do.  

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The Other Infernal Machine: The Tale of the Union Navy’s USS “Alligator” Part 5 — And So Into History: July 1862 – April 1863

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In July, 1862, Union General George McClellan’s Peninsular Campaign came to its ignominious end on the banks of the James River, as his Army of the Potomac huddled under the protection of the US Navy’s guns at Harrison’s Landing.

Little Mac’s version of the West Point “Turning Movement,” conceived (but not performed) in grand Napoleonic style was beaten by Confederate Generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, using the resurgent Army of Northern Virginia in a turning movement of their own and saving the Confederacy’s capital of Richmond in the process.

Almost un-noticed in the campaign’s finish was the end of the abortive Appomattox River Raid. Commodore John Rodgers discovered that warships armored and laden with heavy guns are no good if the river they are fighting in is low on water.

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The World Turned Upside Down, Again! Battles of the American Revolution Tournament at WBC 2022

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After Action Report

Part I

Twenty one players joined the BoAR tournament at the WBC this year.  While that number is a bit lower than our average draw it was nevertheless a respectable showing for a down-year overall.  And, with six Heats plus a Quarter Final, Semifinal, and Final we played a total of 42 games representing 218 playing hours.  That’s not too shabby. 

Among those twenty one players were four of the top-ten A.R.E.A. rated players, a player who had been on the A.R.E.A “Inactive List” for a while, and three players brand new to BoAR tournament play.  My AGMs Rob McCracken & Dave Stiffler and I want to thank everyone who played this year whether you joined for only a single Heat or played in the entire event.