Category: Family Games

Sunday Summary – Too busy to play but NEVER too busy to dream about new #wargame & #boardgame arrivals @FoundationDietz @msiggins @HABA_usa @compassgamesllc @gmtgames @Academy_Games @LeeBWood @Hobiecat18 @SchilMil @Bublublock

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Like the title says, didn’t get much gaming in this week as I return to basically full-time in the office. After a year of semi-telework it’s a bit of a shock to the system but, honestly, I love to be back at the grind.

Wargaming

Ended up doing a deep-dive of Fifth Corps: The Soviet Breakthrough at Fulda (Jim Dunnigan, Strategy & Tactics Nr.. 82, Sept/Oct 1980). There is alot of “professional” in this “hobby” title! I also had a real fun trip down memory lane with the accompanying magazine.

Boardgaming

Supercharged (Mike Siggins, Dietz Foundation, 2021) raced to the table. Also gifted (and taught) Dragons Breath: The Hatching (HABA, 2019).

Incoming!

It’s been awhile since I looked at my preorders. I presently am tracking 27 titles in my preorder GeekList. Here are some highlights:

Kickstarter

After complaining a few weeks back about the sheer number of Kickstarter campaigns and their costs I have not been doing a very good job controlling myself since. So far this month I added:

Sunday Summary – Starting with ASL Starter Kit #1 (@MultiManPub) and first go with Fifth Corps (Strategy & Tactics/SPI) while getting Supercharged (@DietzFoundation) and Gundam modeling #wargame #boardgame #SDGundam

~ RockyMountainNavy ~ 2 Comments

Wargames

This week I leaned hard into learning Advanced Squad Leader Starter Kit #1 (Multi-Man Publishing, 2004+). Kind of amazing (embarrassing?) that after playing wargames for 42 years I finally played Advanced Squad Leader for the first time. I found some good points and some bad. I’m working up a post that you should see in a few weeks!

Another game I got through a trade is Jim Dunnigan’s Fifth Corps: The Soviet Breakthrough at Fulda, Central Front Series, Volume 1 (Strategy & Tactics Nr. 82, Sept/Oct 1980). I obviously have the magazine version which is a very small package with 16-pages of rules (8 series, 8 exclusive), a single 22″x34″ map, and 200 counters. I’m experimenting with the game now but my early impressions are “Wow!”

Boardgames

My Kickstarter for Supercharged from the Deitz Foundation fulfilled and arrived. In the RockyMountainNavy Family Game Collection we have a few racing games. My earliest is Circus Maximus (Avalon Hill, 1979) which has counters so worn they are almost white. We also have Formula De (Asmodee, 1997) which is good but a bit long as well as PitchCar (Ferti, 2003) which is a blast at family parties. Supercharged is stacking up to be a great addition to the collection.

Books

I was very busy at work this week so my evening reading fell off. That said, I had way too much fun reading Strategy & Tactics Nr. 82, the magazine that Fifth Corps was included in. There were more than a few articles that triggered nostalgic thoughts and others that were plain interesting, especially when read with 40 years of hindsight added in. Hmm…I sense a “Rocky Reads for Wargames” column is almost writing itself….

Models

Mrs. RMN and I gave RockyMountainNavy T an airbrush for his birthday and both he and his brother have been learning how to use it. I may even have to get in on the fun as I have way too many 1/144th scale aircraft that I need to complete!

RockyMountainNavy Jr. has been bitten by the Gundam bug, specifically the SD Gunpla variant. He picked up a few kits for assembly during Spring Break and already has added several others. We even got the young girl we tutor into building a few Petit’gguy bears….

Sunday Summary – Preorder & Kickstarter Update (@LederGames, @MultiManPub, @JimDietz1, @compassgamesllc)

~ RockyMountainNavy ~ 1 Comment

Spring has arrived meaning those long, dark winter days are behind us and outdoor chores demand my attention. Spring is traditionally a slower gaming time in the RockyMountainNavy home as we all are more busy and “spring fever” sets in.

Kickstarter

In the past few months there has been something of a renaissance of wargames on Kickstarter. Since early February I tracked at least eight wargame(ish) titles that I was VERY tempted to pull the trigger on and purchase. Add to that a further seven boardgames and it is very easy to see that the first quarter of Kickstarter in 2021 could be very costly for me—as in nearly $900 in pledges assuming lowest levels of support and not factoring in any shipping! Alas, I ended up only backing one wargame/boardgame (Root: The Marauder Expansion from Leder Games) and even then I went in at a lesser level.

Incoming

As I write this post, I am tracking 26 items on my Preorder & Kickstarter Roll GeekList. With a bit of some luck, I might see three games deliver this week and another two within 30 days:

Looking a bit further ahead I might see as many as six additional titles in house by June. That should keep my gaming table busy enough!

Feature image Cherry Blossoms in DC taken Mar 16, 2021

#SundaySummary – Kicking it with @kickstarter Root: The Marauder Expansion (@LederGames)

~ RockyMountainNavy ~ 1 Comment

Kickstarter

Leder Games does it again with another YUGE Kickstarter campaign; Root: The Marauder Expansion (Leder Games). As I finalize this post they have already passed 14,000 backers and over $1.3 million. I have to admit I went for the “All the New Stuff” pledge level – but only after some real deep thinking. The “All the New Stuff” pledge level for Root: The Marauder Expansion is US $110. OUCH! Yes, there’s alot of content there but it’s all expansions, for the root Root game. That’s a heaping pile of dinero for just new “bits!”

Expensive Marauder

I looked at maybe going for the “Marauder Expansion” pledge of $50 and possibly adding in The Clockwork Expansion 2 because I want to access solo play but together that’s $90. So maybe that $110 ain’t that bad. It’s still a big number to process, but maybe?

A part of me could pass on this Kickstarter. I have Root, which is a fine game itself, and The Clockwork Expansion which makes it solo-friendly-ish. I already don’t get to play enough with the extra factions. Additionally, the RockyMountainNavy Boys and myself have fallen a bit off the boardgame bandwagon so we don’t get many titles to the table to begin with. My Root collection will probably never get extensive play as is. From that perspective I shouldn’t jump to invest in this Kickstarter campaign.

On the other hand, a great deal of the attraction in Root for me is not playing the game, but studying it. In some ways I have a streak of Systems Analyst in me. I deeply respect Root for its ability to take many different game play mechanics and make them work together. It’s an incredible design and one that is worthy of further study. Add to that the fact The Marauder Expansion adds “Hirelings” which are not full factions but, well, hired help that adds another tool to your kit to mix with a faction ability to make a victory. Again, very interesting from a system mechanics perspective. From that perspective an investment of $110 is a bit steep, but (somewhat?) justifiable.

I’ll freely admit this is a first-world gaming problem. I am very fortunate we don’t have a financial problem backing games. I can financially afford them; my real risk in ordering is not from the bank but the questioning from the RMN CFO.

Failed Expedition

Looking at Root: The Marauder Expansion number made me reconsider my entire preorder and Kickstarter listing. The first to fall was another Kickstarter campaign; Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition (Stronghold Games). I got to thinking – the RMN Boys and I sorta fell off the boardgame bandwagon this winter. As the family returns to full employment leisure time is lost and boardgaming suffers. We like Terraforming Mars and a shorter version would be nice but the truth is I don’t think we are going to be bringing new games to the table anytime soon. With delivery forecast for September, well, I just don’t feel the urgency to back this game when I will probably be able to find it at retail later if we want to buy it. I also don’t see any “Kickstarter Exclusives” here that are appealing enough to sway me back towards a KS purchase. Indeed, most of the add-ons are not game, but accessory items. While I like to play Terraforming Mars it’s certainly not a lifestyle game for me.

Upcoming Gaming

That’s not to say all is bad. As of this weekend I have 3x Kickstarter campaigns, 10x GMT Games P500 orders, and 6 preorders with Compass Games that remain outstanding. Of those, one Kickstarter (Supercharged, Dietz Productions) and one preorder (South China Sea: Indian Ocean Region, Compass Games) look to deliver in the next 30-45 days.

Harold Responds

Harold Buchanan wrote a long response on FaceBook to my comments on his taxonomy. You can find a link to it in The Armchair Dragoons forum. There was also this recent exchange on Twitter:

“If a reader makes it about them then of course it won’t fit.” Well, I’ll just repeat what I wrote over at Armchair Dragoons, “At the end of the day it doesn’t actually matter. We are a community of gamers – full stop.”

Feature image courtesy Root: The Marauder Expansion Kickstarter campaign from Leder Games.

DICE! An @ADragoons Mentioned in Dispatches Podcast Special (Advance) Edition #Wargame #Boardgame #RoleplayingGame

~ RockyMountainNavy ~ 6 Comments

I will be recording a special episode of the Armchair Dragoons Mentioned in Dispatches podcast in the very near future where we will discuss dice in gaming. At the risk of looking like a poser (because I know I am far from a true dice fanatic) I’m posting my dice collection for reference during the episode – and (hopefully) for your viewing pleasure.

The 2021 RockyMountianNavy Dice Collection

2021 RMN Dice Collection (Photo by RMN)

Role Playing Games

Traveller5 Dice – Very chunky and heavy at 19mm; careful rolling these on a tabletop! (Photo by RMN)
Fantasy Flight Games GENESYS (aka Star Wars Roleplaying) – Specialized dice (Photo by RMN)
Evil Hat FATE Dice – look to be 16mm sized (Photo by RMN)

Gamescience

My GameScience Collection – Do YOU believe the hype? (Photo by RMN)

Sirius Dice

A relative newcomer – Tube ships with 7 polyhedral plus an extra d20; this is the “Spades” set with a lone spade in place of the 1 on the d20 (Photo by RMN)

Chessex Collection

12mm (left) and 16mm (right) for lots of wargaming use (Photo by RMN)
I actually bought these to replace the black and white dice in Blue Water Navy (Compass Games) because I wanted the “proper” Blue for NATO and Red for the Warsaw Pact (Photo by RMN)
More Chessex sets – Occasionally called upon for various roleplaying games or wargames (Photo by RMN)
Hey, wait a moment…haven’t I seen these before? I must really like that color…. (Photo by RMN)

Common Dice

“Acquired” over the years…I don’t think my parents were left with a game that had dice inside the box. These are the larger ones (16mm) (Photo by RMN)
More “acquired” or orphaned dice. Top right are 16mm, bottom row is 12mm. More on the colorful ones in the upper left in a moment (Photo by RMN0
Some real castoffs – The top are small (~10mm or smaller) but the larger is a 2-4-8-16-32-64? The bottom are older d10/d20 which are some of the oldest gaming dice in my collection (Photo by RMN)
Microdice acquired from those pocket collectible construction games (12mm for scale) (Photo by RMN)
This is one of those “collections” found in a discount store; useful for experimenting or prototyping games (Hmm…how could I use this Jack die in Advanced Squad Leader?) (Photo by RMN)

“Special” Dice

When you need d6 for a space-themed game; I actually dislike the way they (literally) roll (Photo by RMN)
My Star Fleet Battles Dice (Photo by RMN)

Dice Accessories

Dice bags – Alas, I don’t actually have a Crown Royale bag but I do use that smaller HP mouse bag for travel (Photo by RMN)
Dice Tower – Mine’s a bit small (but perfect for 12mm or 16mm). Unfortunately the Games Tavern is no longer in business (Photo by RMN)
My well-worn 10″ dice tray with 19mm, 16mm, and 12mm dice shown (Photo by RMN)
My BBO Poker Table Portable Poker Party Mat – World Traveler 35″x70″ – Now I can safely roll those chunky 19mm dice on Mrs. RMN’s nice dining table! (Photo by RMN)

I’ll Take My Chances

Since 2d6 is so common in wargaming, it is helpful to understand the odds when rolling. Marc Miller in the rules for the Traveller 5 RPG goes way into depth on the the topic with an entire appendix, The Dice Tables.

The Dice Tables appendix from Traveller 5.10 Core Book 1 – Characters and Combat

As quick as many people are to dismiss the Traveller 5 RPG (“too complex” is a very common remark) there is lots of good design inspiration within what is admittedly more a toolkit than a simple set of rules. One dice use that has inspired me elsewhere is Flux where you use 2d6 to create results from -5 to +5. Useful for a random modifier? Hmm….

Flux from Traveller 5.10 Core Book 1 – Characters and Combat

Not Shown

My dice collection shown above EXCLUDES dice that come in the many games sitting on my shelf. Within those many boxes I can find everything from the standard d6 to d10 and even the occasional d20. I also have specialized dice like the Battle Dice in the Commands & Colors series from GMT Games, Compass Games, or Days of Wonder. There is also the specialty dice found in the Birth of America/Europe series from Academy Games. Heck, even the latest Conflict of Heroes game from Academy Games, Storms of Steel, uses a specially marked d10. Even Root (Leder Games) has a special combat die.

Which raises an interesting question I hope we dig into during the episode; What is the best use of dice in a wargame? The hobby started with the d6. Once RPGs came along the d20 became popular which actually led to the availability of polyhedral die like the d10 (where 2d10 can actually make a d100). Some wargames replace dice with cards (for example see Tank Duel! from GMT Games) while others make the d6 the centerpiece of the game (Table Battles from Hollandspiele). Lowered manufacturing costs also allows publishers to enable designers to use special dice (Commands & Colors, etc). What do you think the future of dice are in wargaming?

#SundaySummary – From Scaling New Heights to a Grand Flop shoutouts to @MultiManPub, @compassgamesllc, @Bublublock #wargame #boardgame #RPG

~ RockyMountainNavy ~ Leave a comment

Wargame

Game of the Week

I pulled out the Standard Combat Series (SCS) title Heights of Courage: The Battle for the Golan Heights, October 1973 (MMP, 2013) this week for my deep play. Spoiler Alert – I still like SCS titles! More detailed thoughts are the subject of a #WargameWednesday post in the future.

Courtesy MMP

The Grand Flop

Before I played Heights of Courage I pulled out Operation Mercury: The Invasion of Crete (Multi-Man Publishing, 2017). This is a Grand Tactical Series (GTS) game that I bought last year in the MMP ‘Back from COVID” sale. I had played it before and wanted to try again. Alas, it’s just too much.

I tried one of the Operation Mercury smaller scenarios; the first one in fact. After finding the right counters (because this scenario uses a special set of counters) and setting it up on the small 17″x22″ map (because, duh, it’s a small scenario) I discovered I had set up on the wrong map and needed to transfer to the larger 22″x34″ map.

FRUS-TRAT-ING.

I played out “SNAFU” which is a historical scenario for Operation Mercury. Like I wrote about before, the chit activation mechanic is used well in the game system. That said, this time I played less “the system” and more “the battle.” In the end, I was further frustrated. Yes, I like the chit activation and all it brings to the depiction of command and control but it just feels too cumbersome for me. Maybe it’s the scale – Grand Tactical is both large-scale and grand in scope which is means it takes much more time to play; time that is an increasingly rare commodity for me as we try to come out of COVID.

Courtesy MMP

Boardgames

It looks like designer Dan Bullock’s No Motherland Without: North Korea in Crisis and Cold War (forthcoming from Compass Games) is getting near to print. Dan posted on BGG that the game should start shipping February 8. Of course, with the way the USPS is going North Korea may collapse before the game is delivered….

Courtesy Compass Games

I was in my FLGS this past week and picked up Snowman Dice by Mike Elliott from Brain Games (2019). This is another game for Mrs. RMN to share with her students. This is most certainly a Children’s dexterity game or a very lite Family dexterity game. I played it with the 1st Grader and realized I had to teach her the fundamentals of dice reading; as long as she saw the part she needed she tried to use it to build instead of using only the top-facing side of the die. A good reminder about how learning and teaching games is not always as easy as one assumes.

Fanciful, but wrong (Courtesy BGG)

Role Playing Games

While in the FLGS the Middle Boy picked up a copy of Star Wars: Rise of the Separatists: An Era Sourcebook for the Star Wars Roleplaying: Age of Rebellion game. In many ways this is the sourcebook to go along with the Clone Wars animated TV series.

One interesting rule in this sourcebook is “Optional Rules: Fighting in Squads and Squadrons.” This rule enables Player Characters (PC) to take Minion-level characters and create a squad or squadron under the leadership of a PC. The PC can then order the squad/squadron using Formations. This rule helps get past one of the stumbling blocks of military-style roleplaying games; how to use characters as leaders and not simply independent actors on the battlefield.

We have not played a Star Wars RPG session in a loooonnnnggggg time. I dug up an old campaign idea and am trying to work it into some usable material. My personal preference is to play an Edge of the Empire -like campaign but knowing my Boys I need to pull in elements of Age of Rebellion and Force and Destiny too.

Feature image courtesy discover.hubpages.com

#SundaySummary – Taking Flight with atomagazine.com, Loading Up with @UltraProIntl, Going Solo with @GMTGames, and Going Bananas with @bananagrams (Shout out to @playersaidblog) #wargame #boardgame

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Wargames & Boardgames

This week I got Buffalo Wings 2 – The Deluxe Reprint, a 2020 Kickstarter campaign by Against the Odds, to the gaming table multiple times. Although this is one of the more “simulationist” titles in my wargame collection it really works as a game once you get past some initial rules learning. Bottom Line: I love it! Look for a more detailed discussion in a future blog post.

…and he’s dead! Buffalo Wings 2 training scenario in progress (Photo by RMN)

After seeing a Tweet by Alexander of The Players’ Aid I ordered two Ultra PRO Top Loader sheet protectors. I got two, an 18″x24″ and a 24″x34.” I used the larger one this week for some of my Buffalo Wings 2 games. There is a bit more glare than I expected but it does do a nice job of protecting the mapsheet. I also like it better than a plexiglass overlay because the mapsheet, being inside the protector, moves with it. No longer do I risk jostling the plexi and losing all the alignment. Yes, I taped the edges with Painters Tape but it sometimes was not enough.

Buffalo Wings 2 with map in an Ultra PRO Top Loader. Here the glare is not bad at all…. (Photo by RMN)

This week saw the January delivery of the GMT Games update. Included were their new P500 releases. I was very happy to see that Stuka Joe’s Card Driven Game (CDG) Solo System is going to get a formal publication. As a matter of fact, apparently over 700 wargamers to date were just as happy because we all pre-ordered it giving it “Made the Cut” status in about 18 hours. I own four of the six games that will be custom-supported out-of-the-box so my P500 investment of $14 should be well worth it!

This past week Mrs. RockyMountainNavy and I were in Target and checked the boardgame aisle. She found My First Bananagrams which comes in a green banana pouch because it, of course, still needs to ripen! We purchased it for her students to use as a word game to supplement their classes. The game is aimed squarely at the early reading crowd with a better tile distribution of letters and even some real neat combo-letter tiles.

Books

I’m still reading through the huge The Secret Horsepower Race: Western Front Fighter Engine Development by Calum Douglas. However, I also started Antony Beever’s Stalingrad: The Fateful Siege, 1942-1943 (Penguin USA, 1999). This made me realize I don’t actually have a Stalingrad wargame outside of Pavlov’s House (DVG, 2018). Hmm….

#SundaySummary – Some new #wargame arrivals to play thanks to www.atomagazine.com, @RBMStudio1, & @Hollandspiele

~ RockyMountainNavy ~ 6 Comments

Wargames & Boardgames

FINALLY, after waiting several weeks in some cases, the last of my 2020 shipments arrived. Buffalo Wings 2 – The Deluxe Reprint, a 2020 Kickstarter campaign by Against the Odds Magazine, arrived. It’s beautiful! Then C3i Magazine Nr. 34 from RBM Studios arrived with the feature game Battle for Kursk. Both these games were unboxed and rules deeply explored though the first true playthru’s are still pending.

Buffalo Wings (r) and C3i Magazine Nr. 34 (l)

As much as I keep talking about the feature game in C3i Magazine, it’s always good to remember that there is other gaming goodness in every issue. The latest issue is no exception as a solo folio game, Firebase Vietnam by Pascal Toupy is included and also needs to be explored.

Firebase Vietnam from RBM Studios

Of course, we all know that we don’t just get C3i Magazine “just for the game,” we read it too, right? The latest edition has the first of a new column by Harold Buchanan (Liberty or Death, Campaigns of 1777) called “Harold Buchanan’s Snakes and Ladders.” In this column he discusses wargamer archetypes. I have problems with his taxonomy and since he invited comments I am working on just a few. Look for them in the coming weeks!

My first “true” wargame of 2021 also arrived this week. Empire at Sunrise is a new Hollandspiele title designed by John Gorkowski. This look at the early days of World War I in the Pacific features three “nested” maps and telescoping scales. I enjoyed several of Mr. Gorkowski’s previous designs, especially South China Sea (Compass Games, 2017) and even The Lost Provinces: The Thai Blitzkrieg in French Indo-China, Janauary 10-28, 1941, another Hollandspiele title of his published in 2018. I always enjoy the “experimentation” I get when playing Hollandspiele games and Empire at Sunrise looks to keep that fine tradition going.

Empire at Sunrise from Hollandspeile

Boardgaming this week was very slow as wargames dominated my gaming time. I did get to play a fun game of Dragomino (Blue Orange Games, 2020) with young Miss A. She’s 6 years old; almost 7, and sometimes is too anxious to see the best connections. A gentle “Are you sure?” comment near the beginning of the game is usually enough to get her to stop, relook at her tableau, and grin as she realizes she needs to slow down a bit and think to get a better score.

Books

While I keep plowing through the huge The Secret Horsepower Race: Western Front Fighter Engine Development by Calum Douglas I also took the time this week to revisit some of my older US Constitutional Law texts from college because of recent national events. Along the way I stumbled upon “The Case of the Smuggled Bombers” in Quarrels That Have Shaped the Constitution (Harper Row, First Perennial Library Edition, 1987) which discusses U.S. v. Curtis Wright Export Corp, et al., 299 US 304. In this Supreme Court case, the Curtis Wright Corporation in the 1930’s was selling warplanes to various South American countries (sometimes even to BOTH sides of the same conflict!). The US Government wanted to stop these arms sales but Curtis tried an end-around and was caught violating the Chaco Arms Embargo. Being a wargamer who thoroughly enjoys Wing Leader: Origins 1936-1942 from GMT Games (2020) the topic really interested me. Plus, I learned a bit more about some 1930’s aircraft!

Curtis Wright T-32 Condor II (http://aviation-history.com/curtiss/condor.html)

#SundaySummary – Jan 03, 2021

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Wargames

Shores of Tripoli (Fort Circle Games, 2020) arrived just before the new year. That made it eligible for (and the winner of) my 2020 Wargame of the Year. Really, I can’t extol the virtues of this game enough. Really a great first-outing for new designer Kevin Betram and his Fort Circle Games label.

C3i Magazine Nr 34 is inbound. Thanks to USPS it will arrive sometime in this new year.

Likewise the Kickstarter fulfillment of Buffalo Wings 2 – The Deluxe Reprint is shipping and my copy is somewhere between the publisher (Against the Odds in Philadelphia, PA) and me.

Boardgames

Been playing only very casual, short games with Mrs. RockyMountainNavy and the Boys. Santorini (Roxley Games, 2016) and Crab Stack (Blue Orange Games, 2015) have landed multiple times mostly as we prepare for next semester of Mrs. RMN’s tutoring.

Roleplaying Games

I worked on more than a few posts for the coming year. I am starting a series on ground combat in the Traveller RPG universe. Keep an eye out.

I also dug deep into The Expanse Roleplaying Game. My plan is for an overview impressions post and then a short narrative replay of sorts. I also see that the Bundle of Holding has an offering; very tempted!

#RockyReads

I’m going to try to track more of my reading this year. To that end I started a new hashtag/segment of my blog I’m calling RockyReads. The first one covering Alfred Price’s Instruments of Darkness is already posted.

Feature image: A gull is perched amid the reflection of the Capitol on Dec. 4. (Miki Jourdan/Flickr) via Washington Post