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Posted on Feb 8, 2018 in Boardgames, Front Page Features
Fast Action Battles: Sicily Board Game Review Publisher: GMT Games. Designer: Rick Young Price $60.00 Ray Garbee Passed inspection: Gorgeous map. Good balance of detail with speed of play. Elegant method for integrating air support, artillery and low level supporting units. Game contains two scenarios, plus an introductory scenario. Supports exploration of alternative strategies. Failed basic: Rules were a bit dense and could benefit from better organization. In July, 1943 the Allied armies invaded Sicily and took the war to the Axis home turf. The invasion – known as Operation Husky – is a bit of a paradox. It’s both a well-known iconic military campaign in which generals Patton and Montgomery competed with each other in the “Race to Messina” while at the same time, the details of that race have receded into the dusty recesses of faded memory. Fast Action Battles: Sicily, from GMT Games, blows away that dust and shines a light on the campaign. A light that reminds us that the battle for Sicily was much...
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Posted on Feb 8, 2018 in Boardgames, Front Page Features
Check out Academy Games’ first science fiction combat game now on Kick Starter! Based upon the popular video game series Saints Row, Agents of Mayhem: Pride of Babylon features Man to man fighting in a 3 D city environment! Team vs team action packed board game on a destructible 3D map with has a full radiant storyline where every choice you make ripples through the entire campaign! They will be using this same storyline system in their upcoming Storms of Steel solo campaign. Agents of Mayhem: Pride of Babylon is being Kickstarted at:...
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Posted on Feb 6, 2018 in Boardgames, Front Page Features
Rambo the Board Game- Board Game Preview. Publisher: Everything Epic Game Designer: Chris Batarlis, Sam Bailey Price to be determined (on Kickstarter now) Rick Martin Chris Batarlis who brought us Secrets of the Lost Tomb and the upcoming Big Trouble in Little China Board Game and Sam Bailey of Star Wars Imperial Assault and Forbidden Stars fame have licensed the classic Rambo movies and are now Kickstarting Rambo the Board Game! They sent Armchair General a prototype copy and we can safely say “It’s a blast!” Rambo the Board Game is a tactical game in which each player plays either John Rambo or Sam Trautman or two other team mates. Three missions are included in the prototype and each mission can be played either solo or with up to four players – each player taking a team member. The game controls the enemy and the story line. From the press kit “The game provides sealed “legacy-like” Operation Envelopes which gradually expand the game as each mission completes. Each mission...
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Posted on Jan 26, 2018 in Boardgames, Front Page Features
878 Vikings – Invasions of England Board Game Review. Publisher: Academy Games Game Designer: David Kimmel Price $70.00 Rick Martin Passed Inspection: Concise elegant rules, beautiful components, visually pleasing, easy to learn and play, approachable even by non-war gamers, excellent value for the price Failed Basic: Flavor text on cards a little too small for “mature” gamers. Viking Reinforcement rules were a little confusing on first read and play through. 878 Vikings – The Invasions of England (hereinafter “Vikings”) is the first game in Academy Games’ Birth of Europe series and it’s fantastic! Like its brethren in the Birth of America series, Vikings shares a common core game design and is based on die rolls, cards and counters. This time the board shows the shires of Britain as they were in the 800s. The main regions are Wessex, Susea, Essex, Kent, Middle Anglia, Mercia, etc. and each region is broken down in to shires listing either cities or fortified cities. Certain regions allow reinforcements to be marshaled at the...
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Posted on Jan 19, 2018 in Boardgames, Front Page Features
Rob Oren’s 2017 Review of Games demonstrates his love and passion for the war gaming hobby. Check it out now and check out other Rob Oren Reviews on YouTube and Facebook! title=”Rob Oren and the Dice Tower’s Top 2017 War...
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Posted on Jan 8, 2018 in Boardgames, Front Page Features
Sherman Leader Board Game Review Publisher: Dan Verrsen Games. Designer: Richard Martin. Price $90.00 Ray Garbee Passed Inspection: Mounted map board that provides a clear representation of the battle space while providing access to commonly used charts and tables. Clearly written rules that include illustrated examples. High quality die cut counters. Well designed unit and leader cards with artwork that captures the feel of the period. Quick game play that builds and engaging narrative. Failed Basic: Does not contain an exhaustive inventory of equipment/units. Could use additional terrain tiles to expand the variety of constructed battlefields. THUNK! The runner flopped to the ground next to the lieutenant. “Sir, Sergeant Saunders says he sees three enemy tanks moving up through the draw on the left and about 20-30 infantry moving into the woods on the right. Sergeant wants to know if he should shift right and take on the rifleman and let Howard’s boys deal with the tanks.” As he spoke he pulled out his canteen. Out of words, he...
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Posted on Dec 29, 2017 in Boardgames, Front Page Features
Alfred the Great: The Ethandun Campaign Game Review Publisher: High Flying Dice Games. Designer: Mark H. Sheppard. Price: $14.95 Ray Garbee Passed Inspection: The game includes a well laid out color map showing the key locations and terrain. Clean, clearly laid out game pieces that convey all the information you need. Well-structured rules that provide a quick playing game. Failed Basic: There were a few minor typos and layout problems with rules and charts that required clarification. The mists hung in the cool, thick air, silencing the call of the birds. The only sound was the slopping suck of the Viking’s own footsteps as the weary warriors tramped through the heavy clay muck. The marsh lands of the Somerset Levels were proving a more dangerous foe than the warriors of the Briton king. What had started as a profitable campaign of conquest and pillage had become a forlorn search within the trackless marshes surrounding the Saxon redoubt at the Isle of Athelney. Would Odin guide them to their foe...
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Posted on Dec 22, 2017 in Boardgames, Front Page Features
The 2017 Armchair General Holiday Buyers Guide for Gamers 2017 has been a great year for gamers and, more specifically, war gamers! We at Armchair General believe that if 2017 isn’t a “Golden Year” for games, it will certainly qualify for an “Almost Golden Year”. For solo gaming, we have seen some truly fantastic and innovative games released plus at least one update of a classic solo game from yesteryear. We have had not one but two excellent B17 Flying Fortress games this year but each one features a different aspect of the air war over Europe! For multi-player games, we have seen games covering so many different topics and subjects that there is certainly something for everyone. In addition, some great science fiction, fantasy and horror games have graced our gaming tables this year! While not all of the games listed below have been covered by reviews yet, rest assured that we at Armchair General are very stoked about them and you, dear readers, will be seeing reviews...
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Posted on Dec 21, 2017 in Boardgames, Front Page Features
Nemo’s War 2nd Edition Game Review. Publisher: Victory Point Games Designer: Christopher Taylor and Alan Emrich Price: $65.00 Rick Martin Passed Inspection: Perfect solo gaming experience, dynamic story based on the book, unique game play, beautifully designed Failed Basic: footprint slightly too large for an average card table, rules need an index I have always loved Jules Verne’s classic 1870 novel “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea”. Form my first view of the Nautilus as a youngster watching the film adaptation on The Wonderful World of Disney to reading the novel when I was 10 to re-reading it now as part of this review, to its adaption in to Japanese anime with the classic TV series “Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water”, Verne’s adventure story was ahead of its time. Now Victory Point Games puts you in the roll of Captain Nemo as you chart your path of exploration and revenge with your crew and the super submarine, Nautilus! The box art, components and rules are works of art. The...
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Posted on Dec 13, 2017 in Boardgames, Front Page Features
Naval Battles in Archipelago Game Review. Publisher: Forsage Games Designer: Pedrag Lazovic and Dragan Lazovic Price: $80.00 Rick Martin Passed Inspection: Beautiful components, complete “sand box” allowing for any number of scenarios and modifications, easy to learn rules, family friendly, completely fun, addicting Failed Basic: Abstractions may alienate hardcore gamers, needs a critical hit system, initiative rules are unclear, map boards could use an identifier for creating scenarios, needs a few deep water (no island) map boards, rules could use an index and little more English language editing Remember the thrill of getting a big box of toy soldiers and then opening the box and seeing the massive possibilities for playtime battles? For me it was getting the toy soldier set I believe was called “Bridge Attack” back in 1969 or so which was put out by Marx. That sense of wonder is something that adults don’t usually experience but I experienced it again when I opened up the review copy of Forsage Game’s Naval Battles in Archipelago! The...
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Posted on Dec 13, 2017 in Boardgames, Front Page Features
Lighting North Africa Game Review. Publisher: Decision Games. Designer: Dan Verssen. Price: $20.00 Ray Garbee Passed inspection: Well-designed cards that are evocative of the events and units that appeared in the campaign. Four pages of rules. Sturdy box for storage and transport. Quick easy to grasp rules coupled with a fast playing game. Failed Basic: Layout could have been a little clearer regarding the definitions of operations and actions. Lightning North Africa (LNA) is a two-player card game depicting the conflict between the Allies and Axis for control of North Africa during the Second World War. Each turn, players will conduct operations with cards representing the military forces deployed to the theater and use other cards to take actions and conduct battles. The playing space is defined by a set of six map cards that depict the areas of North Africa between Cairo in the East and Algeria in the West. The cards contain a map showing the rough location of the space as well as any rules specific...
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Posted on Dec 12, 2017 in Boardgames, Front Page Features
Tripods and Triplanes Wings of Glory Expansion Game Preview. Publisher: Ares Games Designer: Andrea Angiolino, Marco Maggi and Francesco Nepitello Rick Martin Ares Games brings 2017 to a triumphant end with yet more Wings of Glory goodness! This time the Earth is uniting against an alien threat! Tripods and Triplanes has hit Kick Starter! From Ares Games’ own description – “March 18th, 1918: the nearest approach of planet Mars to Earth. The First World War suddenly changes into a War of the Worlds, when what appears as a meteor shower falls over a wood in Alsace. A few hours later, just after dawn, an army of giant alien fighting machines appear out of the trees and starts burning villages and houses with their lethal heat-rays, leaving pestilential trails of black smoke behind them. A truce is hurriedly signed between the warring nations and, against the advancing Martian tripods, the best war machines of Earth are dispatched, manned by the most gallant and skilled warriors of our planet! In Wings...
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Posted on Dec 7, 2017 in Boardgames, Front Page Features
Hindenburg’s Hour: The Tannenberg Campaign, 1914 Game Review Publisher: Dr. Richter Konflictsimulationen \ Gesellschaft für historische simulationen (Society for historical simulations), Designer: Benjamin Richter Price $29.95 Ray Garbee Passed Inspection: Solitaire game. Compact game with die cut counters. Small table footprint that is perfect for small spaces or as a travel companion. Fast playing game that models the high-level decision making by the German Eighth Army in the Tannenberg campaign. Nice map that captures the feel of the period while still overlaid with a hex grid for movement. Failed Basic: Could have used a spare small plastic bag in which to store the counters, once punched out. Good things do come in small packages! Dr. Benjamin Richter has produced a compact, elegant game that covers the Russian invasion of East Prussia in 1914. While the main armies of Germany, Britain and France clashed in the West, a single German army fended off an invasion by two numerically superior, though less capable Russian armies. The German plan is to protect...
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Posted on Dec 5, 2017 in Boardgames, Front Page Features
Mound Builders Game Review. Publisher: Victory Point Games Designer: Wes Erni and Ben Madison Price: $38.99 Rick Martin Passed Inspection: Interesting and unique subject matter, highly educational, engaging game pay, excellent value for the cost, small footprint, excellent graphics and examples of play, perfect solo play for an afternoon Failed Basic: Some rules confusion, felt a little limiting in terms of player actions, had some trouble with the enemy stand up counters When I was around 12 years old, I had the chance to visit Serpent Mound Park which was many hours away in Southern Ohio. It was a spiritual experience I will never forget and it fueled my interest in the people who constructed this over 1300 foot long effigy of a snake with an egg clutched in its mouth. Now we can learn about these people through a wonderful game called Mound Builders. The solo game Mound Builders is a 2015 release from Victory Point Games but it has just come to our attention here at Armchair...
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Posted on Nov 28, 2017 in Boardgames, Front Page Features
Target for Today Bombers Over the Reich 1942 to 1945 Board Game Review. Publisher: Legion War Games Game Designer: Steve Dixon & Bob Best Price $80.00 Rick Martin Passed Inspection: High quality attractive and functional components, superb narrative experience, simulates five aircrafts – B24s and B17s – with amazing detail. Very easy to learn. Excellent tutorial. Failed Basic: Some Axis aircrafts such as the Me210 are a little too common; number of tables may intimidate some gamers, a few more role playing elements could be added to the bomber crew if the players want a more exacting level of immersion such as crew starting skills and home airfield. 2017 has been a great year for B17 Flying Fortress themed games. Armchair General has already reviewed the excellent “B17 Flying Fortress Leader:” by DVG Games and Lock N’ Load Publishing has released their “A Wing and a Prayer”. While both of those games focus on leading squadrons of bombers, a new take on an Avalon Hill classic puts the player...
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Posted on Nov 22, 2017 in Boardgames, Front Page Features
Comancheria The Rise and Fall of the Comanche Empire 1700 to 1875 Board Game Review. Publisher: GMT Game Designer: Joel Toppen Price $60.00 Rick Martin Passed Inspection: Beautiful components, mounted map, perfect for solo play, unique subject matter, on-line support, elegant game system, excellent value for the price, good tutorials included, duplicate counters included in case you lose some Failed Basic: Some rules are a little confusing In 2013, GMT released Joel Toppen’s stunning Navajo Wars board game. It was an Armchair General top game of the year! http://http://armchairgeneral.com/navajo-wars-boardgame-review.htm” Now Toppen releases an eagerly awaited sequel which looks at the “Lords of the Plains” – the Comanche people. Comancheria takes Navajo Wars to whole new level and improves the design making it easier to learn and play while keeping the dynamic story telling experience of the original. To write this review, I played a linked campaign covering from 1700 to 1799. Per Wikipedia, the Comanche “emerged as a distinct group shortly before 1700, when they broke off from the...
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Posted on Oct 26, 2017 in Boardgames, Front Page Features
Last Friday Game Review. Publisher: Ares Games’ release of a Pendragon Design Designers: Antonio Ferrara and Sebastiano Fiorillo, Price: $41.25 Rick Martin Passed Inspection: Innovative design, fun, captures the excitement of a slasher film from the 1980s, great value for the price Failed Basic: Rules need an index; a tracker sheet could have been included for “saving” the game between chapters This is the second part of our Ares Games’ double feature of science fiction and horror goodness for the month of October. “My name is Alice and I’ve come to Camp Apache ostensibly as a counselor but in reality, I wanted to find myself. I figured that the peaceful woods and the beautiful lake would help me in that goal. But, to put it mildly, things have not been going well since we arrived. First, we got to the camp to find several of the owners’ bodies just lying near their tents (that should have been our first warning that things were about to go horribly wrong); Second,...
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Posted on Oct 17, 2017 in Armchair Reading, Books and Movies, Front Page Features
Legends of Ground Warfare Panzerkampfwagen IV The Backbone of Germany’s WW II Tank Force – Book Review David Doyle, Shiffer Publishing, Ltd.. 2017 112 pages Hard Cover $19.99 ISBN 978-0-7643-5359-8 Rick Martin Prolific military scholar David Doyle has outdone himself with this 2017 look at the venerable Panzer IV medium tank. The Panzer IV (Pz IV) was, as the book’s title indicates, the backbone of the German Army during the 1940s. It was found serving on all fronts and over 8,500 tanks of this type were produced. This 112 page book is arranged with each chapter looking at a different Pz IV model from the prototype and Type As to the last production model, the Type J. Each chapter features a thorough discussion of the Type with a handy table showing the dimensions, engine type and performance, crew, speeds, fording depth and trench crossing ability and armaments of each particular model. In addition, the manufacturers, chassis numbers and quantities of each type are also shown. Crystal clear black and...
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Posted on Oct 13, 2017 in Boardgames, Front Page Features
Galaxy Defenders Game Review. Publisher: Ares Games Developed by: Gremlin Project studio Designers: Simone Romano and Nunzio Surace Price: $70.99 Rick Martin Passed Inspection: Exciting; perfect for solo or small group play; dynamic story elements; easy to learn; tons of replay value; great looking minis and components. Failed Basic: Needs a turn counter or chart to track turn number Sometime in the future: “. . . my partner and I had been sent to Area 51 to investigate a nearly total communications loss from the facility. Our transport had dropped us off within the grounds of the instillation but a little way from the first building. We had moved in on foot and found a battlefield. The aliens had launched a surprise strike against the facility and massacred many of the regular troops there. A handful of scientists had escaped and we found them. They told us that the aliens were methodically moving through the facility and while they killed the troops immediately, the aliens were rounding the scientists...
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Posted on Oct 12, 2017 in Boardgames, Front Page Features
Colonial Twilight: The French-Algerian War, 1954-62. Publisher: GMT Games Designer: Brian Train. Price: $75.00 Ray Garbee Passed Inspection: Gorgeous, heavy duty mounted map board. Clear, well written rules. Excellent players guide with examples of both two-player and solitaire play. Separate play aids for both the two player and solitaire games. Failed Basic: None. The French-Algerian War is a lesser known conflict in the United States. Some of this is understandable as the dual language barriers of the French and North African participants limit the quantity of material available. The most accessible English-language study remains Alistair Horne’s Savage War of Peace, which provides a solid, if somewhat dated overview of the conflict. The conflict encapsulates many trends of the modern age and in some sense provided a vision of the nature of conflicts to come in the Cold War era. Algeria is a montage of Mediterranean settlement patterns for the past three millennia. Even today the landscape features the remains of colonization efforts by Rome, the Ottoman Empire and most...
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