Just because I’m a Grognard doesn’t mean I don’t play other boardgames. In fact, two new boardgames (not wargames) arrived this week and a preordered a third.
Robotech: Reconstruction
The first new arrival boardgame is Robotech: Reconstructed designed by Dr. Wictz for Strange Machine Games (2023). Right now several Grogs are swearing at me and mumbling into their screen that Robotech: Reconstruction is a COIN-inspired game and therefore is a wargame! Well, in my book though COIN games certainly can have conflict, fighting is not the only, nor maybe even primary, path to victory in the game. So I consider Robotech: Reconstruction and other COIN-like games as strategy boardgames. That said, don’t for a moment think that I consider strategy boardgames any less worthy than wargames in my collection!
- First Reaction: This box is small! Robotech: Reconstruction comes in an 8.5″ square box that is 1.5″ deep.
- Second Reaction: Why did I order this? I don’t follow the Robotech franchise at all!
- Third Reaction: As much as I’ve played COIN (familiar but not excessively) seeing the other factions described as “enemy, half-enemy, and half-friend” is so obvious that it’s brilliant…and it makes me pause to take in the game a bit more deeply and not assume I know something when I (obviously) might not.
Votes for Women
A historical boardgame about the American women’s suffrage movement in the late 19th and early 20th century seems as far removed from the interests of a Grognard as possible but that’s not my case. Votes for Women is designed by Tory Brown and is published by Fort Circle Games which is a kind of “local” publisher for me. I usually play a wargame to engage more deeply with a topic and I fully expect that Votes for Women will allow me to do the same here. I look forward to learning more about this topic than I could experience through simply reading a book or watching a video or movie. The game has been getting lots of good buzz…my early out-of-the-box impression is that the accolades are fully justified.
Expeditions
I positively love Scythe (Jamie Stegmaier, Stonemaier Games, 2016) as it was one of the games that reintroduced me to hobby boardgaming in the mid-2010’s. When I saw the sequel, Expeditions, I couldn’t sign up fast enough.
Feature image courtesy RMN
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