Dueling with rules in Tank Duel (@gmtgames, 2019) while making sense of Agents of Mayhem (@Academy_Games, 2019) and still learning from an older rebellion in 1775 – Rebellion (Academy Games, 2013) #wargame #boardgame

There were plenty of new wargame/boardgame arrivals this week in the RockyMountainNavy house. Almost makes me think I am becoming a “heavy” gamer!

Two boxes came in on Friday weighing a whopping 24 lbs combined weight. That immediately signaled to me that this was going to be a gaming-while-learning weekend.

The smaller box, weighing in at “only” 7 lbs, held the newly released Tank Duel: Enemy in the Crosshairs from GMT Games (2019). This “fast action card game of WWII tank battles” focuses on the Eastern Front and has players playing individual tank commanders. There is no mapboard; the battle is fought abstractly.

Since Tank Duel plays up to eight players I wanted to try and get this to the table for our “Saturday Night Fight” but alas, after running through the rules and playing solo once, I was still learning and was not confident enough to teach it to the RockyMountainNavy Boys. Maybe next week….

The second box, weighing in at 17 lbs shipping, may be the largest and heaviest game box I ever had delivered. It had only one game inside it – Agents of Mayhem: Pride of Babylon (Apollo Games/Academy Games, 2019).

The box was actually my Kickstarter fulfillment meaning I got not only the base game but four expansions (I backed at the Early Bird Special – Fortune’s Big Score level). Now, I’m no video game fan. I supported this game mostly because I really like Academy Games and, as I wrote before, I heard (on a podcast interview?) that Agents of Mayhem is based on a Battle of Fallujah game that Academy Games developed for the USMC. The buildable/destructible nature of the game is an intriguing aspect that I know the RockyMountainNavy Boys and myself will enjoy. Heck, I may even get the oldest RockyMountainNavy Boy to play (once he comes off his 60 hours-a-week shifts).

Since I wasn’t quite ready to teach either of these games to the RockyMountainNavy Boys for our Saturday Night Fight we fell back on an older classic game. The boys also wanted a shorter game because everybody was feeling a bit under the weather and the cold medicine was kicking in. So an old standby, 1775 – Rebellion: The American Revolution (Academy Games, 2013), landed on the table.

The RMN Boys, playing the American Continentals and Patriots, wanted a shorter game so they wasted no time in punishing me. Their first card play was a French invasion of Savannah. As the British player, I was forced into a Middle Colony Strategy as I held New York City, New Jersey, and Delaware. The boys played swiftly, and both of their Treaty cards were out in Round 3 meaning Round 4 was end-game. All I had to do was hold for a tie.

Not so fast.

After playing this game for something like 3 years the RockyMountainNavy Boys “discovered” a rule that has been staring us in the face all along. All this time, we totally missed that Quebec is connected to the Atlantic and therefore a legitimate invasion target using water movement. Never one to miss a trick, the RMN Boys proceeded to invade Quebec and contest control of that province. In Round 4, I went from a close 5-4 deficit to a 7-2 loss.

There still is Sunday and the holiday Monday to play games this weekend. Sometimes “in with the new” means “out with the old” but as I realized this weekend new and old can mix well. A good winter of gaming is ahead.