October final SITREP – too many incoming #wargames, too few games played

ACTUALLY, THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS TOO MANY WARGAMES. That said, October was a month of heavy pre-order and Kickstarter fulfillment along with some purchases but few actual plays.

NEW ORDER OF BATTLE

Agents of Mayhem: Pride of Babylon (Academy Games, 2019). Kickstarter including the Bombshells Team, Firing Squad, Get Gaunt, and Hammersmith expansions. This is definitely a lifestyle boardgame because the game is a table hog and takes a long time to set up and tear down. The tutorials are excellent; I played through them solo and want to walk the RockyMountainNavy Boys through it together.

Next War: Poland (GMT Games, 2017). A gift to myself. Given its relevance to current events I consider this game “professional research.”

Blue Water Navy (Compass Games, 2019). Another present to myself. I held off on ordering this because of the long play time. Glad I got it for it brings back memories of my early days in the US Navy. I trained for this; how well can I do?

Pavlov’s House, 2nd Edition (DVG, 2019) and Castle Itter (DVG, 2019). Kickstarter fulfillment. Both are a classic ‘castle defense’ game with a very wargame twist (or is it the other way around?). These may be my new go-to solo games.

MBT: 4CMBG (GMT Games, 2019). Expansion for MBT that adds the Canadians, eh! Another one of my Cold War Gone Hot wargames added this year.

BATTLE REPORTS

October was another sparse month of play. New fiscal year means lots of new initiatives at the office that have to be done soonest, of course.

Over half the plays this month were actually rules explorations, a tutorial series, or playtesting. I actually only played five (5) games competitively. Of those, the two Hold the Line: The American Revolution (Worthington Publishing, 2019) stand out because Middle RockyMountainNavy Boy continues to dominate when on defense. It will be interesting to see how he does when we get around to switching sides and he is on the offense!

OPLANS

In October I didn’t make much progress on my 2019 Gaming Challenges. In order to finish My 2019 Wargame Challenge – The CSR I am going to have to play four more games (Downtown: Air War Over Hanoi, 1965-1972 (GMT Games, 2004); Elusive Victory: The Air War over the Suez Canal, 1967-1973 (GMT Games, 2009); Bloody April, 1917: Air War Over Arras, France (GMT Games, 2012); and Star Wars: X-Wing Miniatures Game (FFG, 2012)).  I am going to make an executive decision and declare that my first game of the new Red Storm: The Air War Over Central Germany, 1987 (GMT Games, 2019) is a legal substitute for Downtown and Elusive Victory since they all share a common lineage.

My 2019 Origins Challenge is three game plays short of finish. Here I have to get a game of Star Wars: Imperial Assault (FFG, 2016) in as well as Happy Salmon (North Star Games, 2017) and Root (Leder Games, 2018).

My 2019 Boardgame Challenge – The Golden Geek likewise is still four plays short. In this case it’s Star Wars: X-Wing Miniatures Game (FFG, 2012); Patchwork (Mayfair, 2014); 878 Vikings: Invasions of England (Academy Games, 2017); and Root (Leder Games, 2018). X-Wing is a double-kill with my CSR challenge as is Root with my Origins challenge. I really want to play Patchwork with Mrs. RockyMountainNavy but she is overseas at the moment.

THREAT FORECAST

As many games delivered or fulfilled this month, the stretch to the end of the year looks favorable for several more preorders and Kickstarters to fulfill:

• Root: The Underworld Expansion (Leder Games) – Updates seem to indicate that the December delivery date may hold.
• Terraforming Mars: Turmoil (Stronghold Games) – Kickstarter said November but Stephen of Stronghold is saying all should have the game by the end of the year.
• One Small Step (Academy Games) – Gunter says shipping in December. Not sure that will make it a before the end of the year arrival….
• Next War: Korea, 2nd Edition (GMT Games) – P500 presently ‘At the Printer.’ Possible I might see this before the end of the year?
• The Czech Legion in Russia (Counterfact Magazine Issue 11) – Shipping started this week.

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All images by self unless otherwise credited