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Articles by Bill Bodden

Posted on Sep 2, 2008 in Boardgames

Army of Ireland – Boardgame Review

Army of Ireland is a boardgame based on the 1866 invasion of Canada by Irish veterans of the American Civil War. Suitable for one to four players, it is a quick-playing simulation based on an often-overlooked historical action.

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Posted on Jul 21, 2008 in Boardgames

Blackbeard: The Golden Age of Piracy Boardgame

“Blackbeard: The Golden Age of Piracy” is a boardgame that puts players into the role of historical pirate captains competing for treasure and a coveted Letter of Marque. This is a GMT Games reissue of an earlier Avalon Hill game.

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Posted on Jul 1, 2008 in Boardgames

Silent War – Boardgame Review

This review of Silent War, a solitaire wargame from Compass Games that depicts U.S. submarine war against Imperial Japan in World War II, rates the game as an excellent though complex simulation.

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Posted on Mar 14, 2008 in Boardgames, Front Page Features

Wings of War: Dawn of War – Game Review

Fantasy Flight Games has had solid success with the Wings of War series of World War One aerial combat simulators. A new wrinkle has been added – changing the setting to World War Two. In Wings of War: Dawn of War, players take on the roles of World War Two fighter pilots in any one of eight nationalities. The game itself is fairly simple. Each player selects a plane and the corresponding maneuver deck. Players choose a scenario that most closely fits the bill, and they’re off! The rulebook includes eight different scenarios with specific victory conditions. The maneuver deck consists of 18 cards illustrating a particular maneuver. Players must choose a marker to indicate whether to take the movement at high speed or low speed – this will determine which set of arrows to use on the maneuver card. Players line up the arrows on the card with those on their plane, and leapfrog the plane to the front of the maneuver card, again lining up the appropriate...

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Posted on Feb 20, 2008 in Boardgames, Front Page Features

Rheinlander – Game Review

Pitting three to five players against each other, Rheinlander is a race to carve up the medieval-era Rhein River valley into fiefdoms. As play proceeds, players consolidate their holdings into larger realms by muscling out the neighbors. Rheinlander is an excellent game. Players who take satisfaction from teasing a win out of a difficult situation will find themselves drawn to this game again and again. Rheinlander is typical of German-style boardgames in general, and of Knizia games in particular, in that there are usually several appealing options available to each player on any given turn. The style of play in Rheinlander is simple, yet still providing players with layers of potential strategy just beneath the surface. This game should not be seen as a historical simulation, but rather as an interesting strategic challenge. To start, each player selects all the dukes and control markers (knights) of one color, plus three bastion markers. Five cards are dealt to each player. The cards, numbered 1 to 54, correspond to spaces on...

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