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Posted on Sep 11, 2020 in Boardgames, Front Page Features

US Airborne Assaults an Island Fortress in Revolution Games ‘Return to the Rock: Corregidor, 1945’. Board Game Review.

US Airborne Assaults an Island Fortress in Revolution Games ‘Return to the Rock: Corregidor, 1945’. Board Game Review.

By Ray Garbee Return to the Rock: Corregidor, 1945 Publisher: Take Aim Designs/Revolution Games. Designer: Mike Rinella. Price $ 33.00 Passed inspection: The game packs a lot of action into a small footprint. It’s a solid 2 player game that has good solitaire potential. Excellent graphics that incorporates a period map. The game nicely captures the asymmetrical aspects of the conflict between the United States and the Japanese Empire. Failed basic: Nothing that would dissuade you from buying the game. A player aid chart for combat processes and movement costs would be welcome. The airdrop had gone off without a hitch. The columns of C-47 were right on target over the drop zone and the jump masters earned their pay. The 3rd Battalion of the 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment drifted down on the lightly defended golf course and parade ground that sat atop the western end of Corregidor Island. All the parachute artillery batteries landed in good order! Even the landing craft transporting the troops onto Black Beach had...

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Posted on Dec 11, 2019 in Boardgames, Front Page Features

It’s the 4th Armored Division’s Iron Will versus German Steel in ‘Patton’s Vanguard: Arracourt, 1944’. Board Game Review.

It’s the 4th Armored Division’s Iron Will versus German Steel in ‘Patton’s Vanguard: Arracourt, 1944’. Board Game Review.

Patton’s Vanguard: Arracourt, 1944. Publisher: Take Aim Designs and Revolution Games. Game Designer: Michael Rinella. Developer: Roger Miller. Price $ 30.00.  Passed inspection: An easy to grasp area movement game that showcases a key Western Front tank battle during late summer 1944. A solid game with easy to read counters. Failed basic:  Organization of the rulebook requires a careful reading to extract all the relevant rules for each scenario. After Allied forces broke out along the Normandy front, they raced across France. In early September, the Third Army was nearing the German border. General Patton’s orders were for the 4th Armored Division to strike northeast into Germany. But at the same time, the German Army was preparing a major counterattack in the same area. This would be the first combat for Germany’s newly raised Panzer brigades and the ensuing battle would be the largest tank battle between the United States and Germany until the Battle of the Bulge. On paper, this looked like a tough fight for the Americans....

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Posted on Oct 7, 2019 in Boardgames, Front Page Features

Take Aim Design’s ‘Last Battle: Ie Shima, 1945’ Is On Target. Board Game Review.

Take Aim Design’s ‘Last Battle: Ie Shima, 1945’ Is On Target. Board Game Review.

Last Battle: Ie Shima, 1945. Publisher: Take Aim Designs and Revolution Games. Game Designer: Michael Rinella. Developer: Roger Miller. Price $ 30.00.  Passed inspection: Easy to grasp area movement game that showcases a smaller battle from late in the Pacific war. Game board really captures the feel of the period. Solid game with easy to read counters. Failed basic:  Nothing that would keep me from buying the game. It’s possible that single bad die roll can end a game turn early and wreck the US time table. It won’t happen every game and there is a way to mitigate the effect by controlling and using the advantage marker. As far back as I can remember, I always enjoyed playing the classic Avalon Hill Game ‘Storm Over Arnhem’. Partly it was that the game was released a few short years after the film ‘A Bridge Too Far’ had been on the television, partly that the topic was one of the pivotal actions of the Market-Garden campaign, but a lot of...

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