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Posted on Jul 28, 2024 in Boardgames, Front Page Features

Aces High! Compass Games Brings Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines to the Table. Board Game Review

Aces High! Compass Games Brings Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines to the Table. Board Game Review

Western Front Ace: The Great War in the Air, 1916-1918. Publisher: Compass Games. Designer: Gregory M. Smith and Ian Cooper. Price $109.00 Passed inspection: A solid game that produces plausible encounters and engagements while conveying the experience of a Great War fighter pilot. Failed basic: Rules organization could be better. The ‘grind’ of running mission after mission starts to feel like a repetitious chore rather than a game to be enjoyed. From the logbook of Otto Hefty, – K.u.K. Luftfahrtruppen20 Sep 16 – Aircraft: Brandenburg D.1We’ve been tasked with a bomber escort mission. The outbound leg was an uneventful mission over the lines into Italian territiory. The bombers conducted their attack and turned for home.During the return flight, I encountered a SPAD VII over the front lines. We came at each other head to head. As we closed, our guns hammered away at each other. I could feel the stick shudder in my hands as my tail took some solid hits. But I was the better pilot as the...

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Posted on Jan 26, 2021 in Boardgames, Front Page Features

“I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast; for I intend to go in harm’s way.” — John Paul Jones, 1778  Devil Boats: PT Boats in the Solomons.  Board Game Review

“I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast; for I intend to go in harm’s way.” — John Paul Jones, 1778 Devil Boats: PT Boats in the Solomons. Board Game Review

Devil Boats: PT Boats in the Solomons Board Game Review.  Publisher: Compass Games  Designer: Joe Carter  Price $69.00 Passed Inspection: well researched, historically accurate, easy to learn rules, beautiful components, easily moded, strong narrative campaign, can easily add players. Failed Basic: printed errata sheet or revised rulebook did not ship with the retail version but are available for download. Devil Boats: PT Boats in the Solomons is the first wargame design by Joe Carter covering the summer and early fall of 1943 as the Allies launched the New Georgia campaign. PT boats played a key role in the Solomons attacking enemy supply ships, rescuing downed airmen or shipwrecked sailors, and supporting the Coastwatchers. Devil Boats is a solitaire game similar to the classic B-17 Queen of the Skies by Avalon Hill or more recent additions such as The Hunters / Silent Victory by Consim Press and B-29 Superfortress by Legion Games. Players take command of a squadron of four PT boats in a three-month campaign to destroy as much...

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Posted on Nov 15, 2020 in Boardgames, Front Page Features

‘Remember the Maine!’. Compass Games ‘Dawn of Empire: The Spanish American Atlantic Naval War, 1898’. Board Game Review

‘Remember the Maine!’. Compass Games ‘Dawn of Empire: The Spanish American Atlantic Naval War, 1898’. Board Game Review

By Ray Garbee Dawn of Empire: The Spanish American Atlantic Naval War, 1898. Publisher: Compass Games. Designer: Stephen Newberg. Price $55.00 (Holiday sale price $36.00) Passed inspection: Color, mounted map that conveys a sense of space and place in the Atlantic and Caribbean basin. A fast playing game that conveys the relative strengths of each side. Plentiful variant rules for exploring a number of ‘what if’ scenarios. Failed basic: Printing error on the gameboard mars what is an otherwise excellent effort. A number of typos in the rules that may cause confusion (All of which can be remedied by downloading the current errata from the Compass Games website.) Ask for a quick summary of naval operations during the Spanish American War and you’ll likely get a response along the lines of, ‘America, heck yeah!’. The two major naval battles of the war – Manila Bay and Santiago, Cuba were both decisive defeats for the Spanish Navy. The lop-sided casualty ratio – in terms of both ships and men –...

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Posted on Jan 3, 2020 in Boardgames, Front Page Features

It’s a Red Storm on The Rise with Compass Games ‘Blue Water Navy’. Board Game Review.

It’s a Red Storm on The Rise with Compass Games ‘Blue Water Navy’. Board Game Review.

Blue Water Navy. Publisher: Compass Games. Game Designer: Stuart Tonge and James Derek Harris. Price: $109.00 Passed inspection: Provides a strategic overview of World War Three at sea, while retaining enough tactical detail of engagements to allow you to envision how the events unfold. The game does a good job of integrating all the aspects of naval warfare in a package that rewards coordinating attacks to maximize your strengths while minimizing your weaknesses.  Failed basic: Rulebook could be better organized for clarity. A table of contents and index would have been helpful. Including rule number references on the player aid charts would simplify looking up rules. You’ll need to be incorporate the errata into the rules and scenario book.   In 1979, General Sir John Hackett’s book ‘The Third World War’ laid out one possible scenario for what a war in Europe between NATO and the Soviet Union might look like. While written as a backwards looking retrospective of fictional events, it was a sobering look at the state...

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