Below is the seventeenth in a series of articles from Mark McLaughlin showcasing the 16 civilizations in Ancient Civilizations of the Middle East. You can find the first sixteen articles in the series here.
Twilight Struggle: Red Sea, the newest addition to GMT’s Lunchtime Series, will be added to the GMT P500 list this week! TS: Red Sea is a two-player, card-driven game that builds on the award-winning Twilight Struggle system and recreates the sudden spark in the Cold War around the Horn of Africa and its vital sea lanes.
With a more limited scope and much shorter playtime, TS: Red Sea is the perfect way to introduce new players to Twilight Struggle while maintaining all the tension, decision making, and theme of the original classic.
This series of articles will introduce players to the history reflected in the game and provide some example events that illustrate the ties between the history and gameplay.
In a previous article I discussed the power, flexibility and dominating nature of air power in a Seas of Thunder battle. As a companion to that I would like to address the counter-balance to air power, the specialists. Every ship in the game can be put on the gunnery line, from the mightiest battleship to the lowliest submarine and everything in-between. However many ships, at last count over half, have their own specialties that make them more potent in the game than their 5-inch guns would allow. Today we will look at the specialist actions; anti-sub warfare, raiding, subsurface attack, mine laying, and mine sweeping.
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
Introduction by Congress of Vienna (CoV)’s Editor, Fred Schachter – To familiarize the InsideGMT audience of what designer Frank Esparrago created with his fun and exciting Congress of Vienna game, now a GMT P-500 offering which has “made the cutâ€; InsideGMT presented articles of “Designer’s Notes†and a “Game as History†series entitled “An Historical Introduction to the Congress of Vienna Period (CoV)â€. Use this link to access copies of these articles: https://www.gmtgames.com/p-850-congress-of-vienna.aspx .
Because this is the third game of GMT’s “Great Statesmen†series, it seems appropriate to focus on those very Statesmen who make this Napoleonic Wars historical period so captivating to our hobby from perspective of the game Frank designed.
Consequently, following Part Three’s “Russian Contingentâ€, here’s the final part of a four part series: “Meet the Statesmen of Congress of Vienna – The French Contingentâ€.
I enjoyed learning more of the historical figures behind the game’s cards and hope you do as well. Also, the CoV Team appreciates folks’ feedback, whether within this forum or elsewhere to this InsideGMT series. Now to conclude matters with its final installment by meeting the Great French Statesmen, War Leaders, and other “neutral†personages of Congress of Vienna…
In italics we include a brief description of the cards and their CoV opportunities and weaknesses:
Note: If you would like to view any of the below images in a larger size, you can click on the image and it will point you to the full image file.
Below is the sixteenth in a series of articles from Mark McLaughlin showcasing the 16 civilizations in Ancient Civilizations of the Middle East. You can find the first fifteen articles in the series here.
As we speak, All Bridges Burning is all finished and the components have been sent to the printer. The wait is almost over!
In a range of previous InsideGMT articles we spent a great deal of time looking at the game’s treatment of the Finnish Civil War. Alongside that, a series of event card spoilers were published in the Player’s Aid blog (links to the event card spoilers can be found here).
In the present article, we will look in detail at the solitaire system for All Bridges Burning. We do so by continuing the non-player example of play to be contained in the Playbook of the game. Once you have received your copy of the game, this article can serve as a further learning resource when using the game’s solitaire system. I plan to continue to play through this example of play in a series of future posts.
However, before we get on with the example of play, let’s talk a little bit about the solitaire system.
This is the second part in Chuck’s ongoing series of articles discussing some of the lesser known ships you will command and fight against in Seas of Thunder. (You can read the first article here.)
Introduction by Congress of Vienna (CoV)’s Editor, Fred Schachter – To familiarize the InsideGMT audience of what designer Frank Esparrago created with his fun and exciting Congress of Vienna game, now a GMT P-500 offering; InsideGMT presented articles of “Designer’s Notes†and a “Game as History†series entitled “A Historical Introduction to the Congress of Vienna Period (CoV)â€. Use this link to access copies of these articles: https://www.gmtgames.com/p-850-congress-of-vienna.aspx .
Since this is the third game of GMT’s “Great Statesmen†series, it seems appropriate to focus on those very Statesmen who make this Napoleonic Wars historical period so captivating to our hobby from perspective of the game Frank designed.
Consequently, following Part One’s “British Contingent†and Part Two’s “Austrian Contingentâ€, here’s part three of a four part series: “Meet the Statesmen of Congress of Vienna – The Russian Contingentâ€. However, the Russian CoV player also controls cards representing Prussian and Swedish game personages and together, what a fascinating group they comprise!
The next and final increment of this series will address the French with their USA Allies for the War of 1812 and other non-aligned personages.
In italics we include a brief description of the cards with their CoV opportunities and weaknesses. However, before commencing this article’s main text, a quick aside regarding the Leader Card, a type of distinct card unique for each Major Power. Here’s the relevant Rulebook extract with an associated illustration:
I enjoyed learning more of the personages behind the game’s cards and hope you do as well. Now to meet the Great Statesmen (and military leaders) of Congress of Vienna’s Russian player…
Note: If you would like to view any of the below images in a larger size, you can click on the image and it will point you to the full image file.
