Random Friday Wargaming - You Make The Call!

What games are you planning to play this weekend?


By: Brant

Random Friday Wargaming: 4th Reich

Task Force Games dropped the obscure 4th Reich on us back in the 80s. Talk about some weirdness. Apparently it was inspired by an alt-history novel. Anyone seen this one?






Master links/images from Boardgamegeek.com; message boards linked to Consimworld. Other links to the actual game pages...


By: Brant

Random Friday Wargaming: Mission Grenada

Ah yes, Reagan's only real ground war... Go invade in Mission Grenada!






Man, are those some ugly components or what?


Master links/images from Boardgamegeek.com; message boards linked to Consimworld. Other links to the actual game pages...


By: Brant

Random Friday Wargaming: Leopard II

A design from Japan, Leopard II gets you some tanking' goodness.




That's a LOT of counters!





Master links/images from Boardgamegeek.com; message boards linked to Consimworld. Other links to the actual game pages...


By: Brant

Random Friday Wargaming: Central Command (S&T)

Another Kamps design for S&T, Central Command: Superpower Confrontation in the Straits of Hormuz keeps having relevance today.







Believe it or not, I can't find a CSW thread on this one. If you know of one, point it out!

Master links/images from Boardgamegeek.com; message boards linked to Consimworld. Other links to the actual game pages...


By: Brant

Random Friday Wargaming: China-Vietnam War

It's always awesome when you find games in other languages... China-Vietnam War was published in Chinese.







Anyone out there know anything about this one?

Master links/images from Boardgamegeek.com; message boards linked to Consimworld. Other links to the actual game pages...


By: Brant

Random Friday Wargaming: Nordkapp

This week's game is Nordkapp, from one of my favorite designers/authors, Charles Kamps. Anyone play this one? System similarities?




That's a damn colorful map!



Never did find a CSW folder for it.

Master links/images from Boardgamegeek.com; message boards linked to Consimworld. Other links to the actual game pages...


By: Brant

Random Friday Wargaming: Second Fleet

One of the ever-popular "fleet" series of games... Why 2nd Fleet? Because it features the Red Banner Fleet, and I was just watching Firefox on TV the other day, and they talk about the Red Banner Fleet in the movie. That's it. Never played it. Anyone out there got some feedback for us?







Discuss away over at CSW!

Master links/images from Boardgamegeek.com; message boards linked to Consimworld. Other links to the actual game pages...


By: Brant

Random Friday Wargaming: The Guards!

Why are you getting Warfighter 101: The Guards today? Because it's my birthday weekend and you'll get whatever I want to give you!

Seriously, though - for the 4 of you out there that might've stumbled across it, what did you think?







From a comment on BGG

The scenarios notwithstanding (some appear badly under-tested) this game is fascinating as the second module in the Warfighter Series. Infantry jump to the fore in this one, and they are very effective as a blocking force, and as a way to screen your armour from maruading anti-tank units. You gotta use dismounts to deal with his AT units, then your vehicles can mop up his remaining units.

Production quality is better than Movement to Contact, however there appears to be a dearth of good terrain types (1000m is a large scale for a hex. There could be nice terrain in there). The scenarios, while possibly unbalanced, and sometimes having impossible (as in contradictory to the rules) objectives, are nevertheless informative, and feel plucked straight from today's headlines.

Recommended, as a neat interpretation of modern platoon-level combat. This system is going places. Get it.

And yes, you can discuss it on CSW.

Master links/images from Boardgamegeek.com; message boards linked to Consimworld. Other links to the actual game pages...


By: Brant

Random Friday Wargaming: Flight Leader

Take to the skies and blow up the bad guys! Flight Leader put you in the pilot's seat. There were a lot of expansions and articles around this one. It's odd that there was always a ton of material for it, but you'd have trouble finding it on the table at a convention or game gathering.

Flight Leader is a turn based, hex and counter tactical game of "modern" air combat (Korean War to 1986). Each turn is 30 seconds, each hex is 1 km, and each counter is a single aircraft. It was known as Check Six when first used by the Military for training pilots as part of Project "WARRIOR"

Discuss it over at ConSimWorld!

Master links/images from Boardgamegeek.com; message boards linked to Consimworld. Other links to the actual game pages...


By: Brant

Random Friday Wargaming: The War of 1812 Minigame

Wrapping up our anniversary week coverage on the War of 1812 comes a free minigame, from Internationally Acclaimed Game Maestro™ Brian Train

The Second War of 1812
or
"Once More With Feeling"

(originally published in Strategist, volume XXVI number 4 issue 289, April 1996)

In the United States, exuberant 110th-anniversary celebrations of battles such as the Battle of New Orleans of 1815 and the Battle of Baltimore of 1814 produced a sense of euphoria over a "second war of independence" against Britain, culminating in a drunken lurch down the road to war with the Dominion of Canada in 1925.

The Rules

1.0 Introduction
Hi there.

2.0 Components
The game consists of two cards, one representing the American invaders (YankForce) and the other the Canadian defenders (CanuckBlock).
Players will need one n-sided die to play the game.

3.0 Sequence of Play
The game is one turn long and consists of three phases:

3.1 Movement Phase
3.2 Combat Phase
3.3 Victory Determination Phase

4.0 Movement
Place the CanuckBlock card face up on a table between the two players.
Place the YankForce card next to it.

5.0 Combat
Combat is conducted by the YankForce player rolling the die and matching the results on the following CRT:
1 to n-1 = Canuckblock eliminated
n = roll die again

6.0 Victory Determination
The YankForce player wins if the CanuckBlock card has been eliminated during the Combat Phase. The CanuckBlock player wins if the YankForce player fails to win, e.g., if he rolls n+1; or if lightning strikes and turns him into a pillar of salt; or he (in)advertently inhales the die and chokes.

7.0 Optional Rules
The CanuckBlock player can declare at the beginning of the Combat Phase that Prime Minister MacKenzie King is using his ouija board to predict the next die roll. If the prediction is correct, the YankForce player must buy him a drink before rolling again. If the prediction is wrong, the YankForce player wins a Sudden Death Victory.

Analysis
The probability of rolling an "n" on 1dn approaches 1, i.e., 100% certitude, as the value of "n" also approaches 1. Thus the most favourable and promising strategy for CanuckBlock would be to use a one-sided die.

So... anyone want to playtest this one?

By: Brant

Random Friday Wargaming: The Combat Engineer Game

Produced by the US Army Engineer School, The Combat Engineer Game let you test yourself against real-world missions!







C'mon! Who can resist such real-world practicality as a tabletop wargame for training troops?! Uh, well, there's most of the rest of the US Army, for starters...


Master links/images from Boardgamegeek.com; message boards linked to Consimworld. Other links to the actual game pages...


By: Brant

Random Friday Wargaming: Tankattack

Not much more succinct than Tankattack

It's a computer-driven tank combat table-top game... yep, that's a mouthful

This game advertises itself as "the first computer based Tank game in the world". It is a board game 'controlled' by an electronic handset which serves as a randomizer for combat actions. According to the instructions, the computer "has counters, gates, oscillator clock, programming, read out and execute functions. The 'brain' is made of three miniature TTL logic chips containing over 300 transistors, diodes, and many other components giving a vast computing capacity with a wide range of probabilities for conflict purposes."

In essence, this is a straightforward hex-map based battle game for up to four players playing individually or as teams. It contains plastic miniatures and a rectangular game board with pre-marked battlefield features. There are no battle cards or other modifiers apart from the handset. The game depends entirely upon the handset to determine the amount of movement and the result of any attack. The handset therefore replaces dice, but serves much the same function. However, players have the freedom to select position, and direction of movement, and the miniatures are marked with values that determine their firing power, and this has a bearing on the result of combat actions (see below).

Each team deploys a regiment of 8 of tanks (slow moving, high fire power) and 4 armoured cars (fast moving, low fire power) in a pre-mapped fictive country on the game board (Kazaldis, Armania, Sarapan and Calderon) separated by marked national borders (which are red) and terrain features such as a river (with bridges), forests, mountains, and buildings. Each country also has a major city marked by a blue border. Inside the blue border several buildings are marked, into which tanks cannot move, meaning they must navigate the city to get to the enemy HQ or get out of their service/repair area and back into combat.

The objective is simple: to win by occupying the opponent or opponents' headquarters by moving a tank (or armoured car) into the HQ space (pre-marked on the board), or by destroying all enemy tanks.

Though the mechanic is therefore a fairly standard hex and counter skirmish, the computer in the handset ultimately drives the game.

Master links/images from Boardgamegeek.com; message boards linked to Consimworld. Other links to the actual game pages...


By: Brant

Random Friday Wargaming: The Falklands War

30 years ago today, Gareth Parry filed this report with the Guardian from the Falklands.

The time is 2 pm on a sunny afternoon and we are under attack from Mirages and Skyhawks of the Argentine Air Force. A bomb has just sent up a huge plume of water only a hundred yards away, between our ship and another supply vessel loaded with war merchandise.

We watch as shore batteries and missile systems on the war ships open up against a deafening cacophony from the deck machine guns and naval guns.

Two enemy planes are streaking in silhouette across the green hillsides around San Carlos Bay, one like a red dart. Suddenly they are twin balls of smoke in the blue sky and there is clapping and cheering from the decks of the warships and supply vessels in the bay.

The Argentine warplanes had hit one of the ships, although at first sight the damage did not look serious from our position. It was ironic that this was being fought out above the still visible wreckage of the frigate Antelope hit in Sunday's savage air attacks.

This week, we point you towards one of several games that let you replay the fighting. The Falklands War has a significant naval component leading up to the ground war.





No CSW thread, sorry. We gotta get back to pulling some games in that have threads, eh?

Master links/images from Boardgamegeek.com; message boards linked to Consimworld. Other links to the actual game pages...


By: Brant

Random Friday Wargaming: Logistics Command

OK Folks, we've have the game for the Fightin' S-4 out there. That's right, here comes Logistics Command! Yes, a board game of operational/low-strategic materiel movement. Wow.







You already know there's no CSW forum on this. Troll and Toad has one for sale, if you've got some cash laying around for something totally off-the-wall.

You can find some additional info out there on this game. This one's from The Big Game Hunter.

No[t] all educational material produced by or for companies was targeted at the individual worker. In 1978, Westinghouse’s Business System Group in Hunt Valley, Maryland, produced Logistics Command. The game itself bears the influence of another Maryland game company, Avalon Hill, both in its style of packaging and in its use of mounted game boards and cardboard counters in a wargame-type setting. The objective of the game was to show the value of maintaining proper support transport, spare parts, and other material not usually treated as wargame subject matter. At the time this game was published, Westinghouse was best noted in the Maryland area for its defense work. U.S. sales abroad of new military hardware (produced from older weapons systems designs by a number of defense contractors, including Westinghouse) was a regular news staple during that period. This game has jokingly been referred to as Westinghouse’s sales pitch to persuade Third World dictators that they should buy more spare parts along with their newly purchased weapons systems. It has been viewed more seriously in recent years, and is now somewhat prized by wargames collectors for its role in treating the issue of logistical support.

Something pretty funny over at Troll & Toad. There's a the usual "customer who bought this also bought..." at the bottom. Check out the recommendations for a board game about esoteric military logistics.

Master links/images from
Boardgamegeek.com; message boards linked to Consimworld. Other links to the actual game pages...


By: Brant

Random Friday Wargaming: Tacforce

Something different for your Friday... a set of GDW microarmor rules - TacForce, from Frank Chadwick.





Nifty how the rules are mocked up to look like US Army field manuals from the time.
Plenty of places online to find it for sale, but no discussion boards out there to be had!

Master links/images from Boardgamegeek.com; message boards linked to Consimworld. Other links to the actual game pages...


By: Brant

Random Friday Wargaming: FAR 90

Yes, there are are wargames published in foreign languages... and a lot of them in French. FAR 90 was published in Casus Belli magazine and can be a challenge to track down.







There's no CSW forum. There's no entry at Grognards.com. There's an entry at iSimulacrum, but only insofar in that the game exists. Has anyone out there had their hooks in this one? And what did you think?

Personally, I'm curious about the countermix. There's a set of green counters that look like they're a 51st Brigade and a 53rd Brigade. I'm wondering if the green units are Germans, or if they're Americans. It's interesting because in a lot of US training materials, there's a 53rd Armored Brigade as a hypothetical higher headquarters that does not exist anywhere on the rolls, but is used just for training purposes. Did FAR 90 adopt this hypothetical unit? Or is it referring to something completely different?


Master links/images from Boardgamegeek.com; message boards linked to Consimworld. Other links to the actual game pages...


By: Brant

Random Friday Wargaming: Price of Freedom

Part RPG, part skirmish game, part twisted futuristic fantasy, Greg Costikyan's Price of Freedom from back in the mid-80s was sort of a T2K-in-the-US, with a bit of Amerika tossed in for inspiration**.






Yes, I actually played this a few times back in high school. What I remember is a fairly unremarkable rules set that was brought to life with scenarios that we could all actually imagine ourselves playing in.

Not surprisingly, there's no CSW forum, as this was more of an RPG-with-counters than a true wargame. And it's looooong out of print, but you can find a host of related products over at Noble Knight Games.

Master links/images from Boardgamegeek.com; message boards linked to Consimworld. Other links to the actual game pages...

** OK, OK, the game came before the TV mini-series. You got us. It was probably more Red Dawn-inspired than anything. But hey, how often do you get to drop a reference to Amerika? C'mon! Robert Urich as the President of Heartland? George C. Scott as the stalwart patriot? It was cheerily awesome, baby!

By: Brant

Random Friday Wargaming: War Machine

A grand strategy Cold War-era game you've never heard of? Lemme introduce you to War Machine, from the Borealis Boardgame Company.





Can't find a CSW thread on it, and I think the company is long since gone. But if you've seen/played this one, give us some thoughts!

Master links/images from Boardgamegeek.com; message boards linked to Consimworld. Other links to the actual game pages...


By: Brant

Random Friday Wargaming: Strike Force Hunter

Why am I pimping Strike Force: Hunter when it's my own game?







Because I might actually finally get back to doing the other two games I was planning 6 years ago, and I'd love the feedback on this one to take forward with me into the design of the other two.

There's no CSW forum for it, but you could discuss it on the BayonetGames thread here.

It's a print-and-play game (PDF here), but it's only 4 sheets of paper: map, counters, 2 pages of rules. And counters are stand-ups (fog of war, baby!) so there's no mounting needed.
Check out the publisher's page for the Strike Force series here.

Master links/images from Boardgamegeek.com; message boards linked to Consimworld. Other links to the actual game pages...


By: Brant