#FamilyFriday – Collecting fishy ‘shrooms in Kingdomino Origins (@BlueOrangeGames, 2021) #Boardgame #GameNight

September 2, 2022August 27, 2022 ~ RockyMountainNavy ~ Leave a comment

RockyMountainNavy T and myself had another Saturday Boardgame Night featuring Kingdomino Origins (Designer Bruno Cathala from Blue Orange Games, 2021). Whereas last week we used gameplay mode 1. Discovery Mode, this week we stepped it up to gameplay mode 2. Totem Mode. Once again, the genius design of Kingdomino Origins showed itself and contributed to another very thinky-but-enjoyable play.

In Totem Mode there are resources added to the game of Kingdomino Origins. Grasslands get Mammoths, Lakes have Fish, Jungles hide Mushrooms, and Quarries yield Flint. If a Volcano erupts and throws fire into a territory with a resource, that resource is destroyed. A very interesting game mechanism is that at the end of every turn, the player with the most of each resource gains the Totem for that item. The most Mammoths is worth 3 points, most Fish is 4 points, most Mushrooms 5 points, and most Flint is 6 points. This Totem can pass back and forth every round. At the end of the game, the player holding the Totem gains that many bonus points.

All-in-all the rules for resources in Kingdomino Origins are very simple, but once again that “simple” set of rules adds another layer of challenge into the game. Do I sacrifice a resource for that Fire? Do I try to have the most Flint? This “simple” extra layer is on top of the demand for a centered homeland in a 7×7 territory (normally 5×5 but 7×7 in a two-player game).

Compared to the last time we played Kingdomino Origins, at least this time I completed a perfect 7×7 territory. Last time that was the margin of my loss. This game I thought I was doing well with plenty of Fish and Mushrooms. When the final score was tallied, I was flabbergasted by RMN T’s score…43 points ahead of me! How did he get that many more resources?

Alas, while I had been concentrating on trying to maximize resources, RMN T never lost sight of the basic scoring mechanism in Kingdomino Origins. While I worked to collect the most Fish and Mushrooms, RMN T used very cleverly placed Fires and built a territory with two huge scoring lands at 55 and 49 points each. That focus on the basics, coupled with just enough resource competition, gave him that run away win.

Once again, Kingdomino Origins has shown that the game we are very familiar with can present a new and more challenging version without onerous additional rules. I have the feeling that Kingdomino Origins will become our two-player, go-to Kingdomino title to play. RMN T and myself already agreed that next week we will try gameplay mode 3. Tribe Mode that adds Cave People to play.

Feature image courtesy RMN

#FamilyFriday – Fossilized in #Boardgame #GameNight by Neolithic #Kingdomino Origins fm @BlueOrangeGames (2021)

August 26, 2022August 20, 2022 ~ RockyMountainNavy ~ 1 Comment

Kingdomino, designed by Bruno Cathala and published by Blue Orange Games in 2016 is a RockyMountainNavy family favorite. We use it as a gateway game to introduce others to hobby boardgaming. We have gifted it maybe a dozen times. Over the years we acquired several different versions; Queendomino (2017), Kingdomino, Age of Giants (Expansion, 2018), Dragomino (2020) and Kingdomino Origins (2021). So popular is the game that when RockyMountainNavy Jr. packed for college he took the family copy (not to worry, we have several extra on the gifting shelf).

With RMN Jr. off to college, RockyMountainNavy T and I now face off against each other on Saturday Game Nights. This last week we decided to bring out Kingdomino Origins and play a two-player game. We set up the game, and I took a quick glance at the rules for the first of the three gameplay modes in the box—Discovery Mode. There, in the very first lines of the rules, was something that I had totally missed before; “2 player game rules specifications can be found at the end of this booklet.”

Hey…I’ve got this!

Two player Kingdomino is very straightforward. Each player has two Kings and you remove 24 of the 48 tiles before play. When making a domino selection, you can choose any of the remaining tiles. Simple.

As I read, I discovered Kingdomino Origins uses, “Special two player rules – Neolithic.” There are two subtle rules changes that made a big difference in our play:

Use all 48 dominos to make a 7×7 territory (this is called the Mighty Duel variant in Kingdomino)
When choosing tiles at start, the Chief that goes first gets to choose tiles 1 and 3 OR tiles 2 and 4.

We rarely play Kingdomino with two-players (Kahuna by Gunter Cornett from Kosmos in 1998 being the usual 2-player go-to quick boardgame). The few times we played 2-player we usually don’t play the Mighty Duel variant. We also have never seen the alternate starting order as laid out in the Kingdomino Origins Neolithic gameplay mode. It was enough of a change to make this play far more challenging.

It has been years (and I mean years) since I have not completed a perfect 5×5 or 7×7 territory (called Homo Hablis in Kingdomino Origins or Harmony in Kingdomino). I picked wrong one round (!) and ended up with an unusable tile, thus missing my perfect 7×7. The five points missed was enough to give RMN T a 2-point win.

Disappointment hasn’t felt this good in a while.

We both haven’t played a brain-burner game of Kingdomino in years. The game is usually more a fun pastime than a serious thinking challenge. Not tonight. We both wracked our brains on a simple 7×7. It was glorious.

Welcome back, Game Night. You’re off to a great start!

Feature image by self

#FamilyFriday #Boardgame with Star Wars: Jabba’s Palace – A Love Letter Game (@Zmangames_, 2022)

July 8, 2022July 7, 2022 ~ RockyMountainNavy ~ Leave a comment

It’s no secret I love some “heavier” wargames, and its no secret that the RockyMountainNavy Family has also played some heavier boardgames. That said, both the RMN Boys and myself like some lighter games, especially to use as “fillers” on weeknights. For my birthday the RMN Boys gifted me a copy of Star Wars: Jabba’s Palace – A Love Letter Game (Z-Man Games, 2022). This week, looking for a quick game we could play while we all were home in the evening together for once, it got pulled out. The resulting play was most excellent!

I introduced the RMN Boy to Love Letter way back in 2012 with an English edition blisterpack. At first the RMN Boys were hesitant to play this “love” game, but the easy rules and quick gameplay won them over. A few short years later the youngest RMN Boy took Letters to Santa (2012) to school and it was a big hit at indoor recess. The oldest boy even has a copy of Love Letter: Batman (2015). Yet, while new versions are appreciated, we never stopped playing the original.

Our first play of Star Wars: Jabba’s Palace was a bit of a journey of discovery. The game now comes with four different “agendas”—win conditions.—to choose from. We went with the very straightforward “Exalted One” as it is the most similar to standard Love Letter (high card in hand at end of round wins round). What we hadn’t experienced before was the two factions, in this case Rebels and Scum, and how that changes up the cards and their interactions. Suffice it to say we really, really enjoyed the new twist on play!

With a short window of time to play we changed the winner to the first to three tokens. Sure enough, after six rounds were were tied 2-2-2. By now the RMN Boys were getting the hang of the cards. After eliminating me early (seems my lot in life) the two boys faced off against one another. With Luke Skywalker (Rank 7) already showing on the table, RMN Jr. smugly laid down the Rancor (Rank 6) and read the card: “All players with the lowest number in hand (except 0) are out. Count up out loud from 1 to find the lowest.”

“One”. His grin was so wide at this point it was sickening. RMN T was absolutely stone-faced.

“Two.”

“Three.”

“Four”

“Five!” Said with a hint of glee…but RMN T never flinched.

“Six?” Some doubt in the voice.

“Seven?” Genuine confusion now.

“Eight.” Again RMN didn’t flinch. Very confused, RMN Jr. lays his card, Jabba (Rank 8), on the table.

RMN T now had a wide smile on his face as he laid his card on the table. Han Solo. Rank…0.

For the first time in the evening Mrs. RMN came to the table to see what had happened. Maybe it was RMN Jr. pushing back from the table and loudly muttering while walking around in disbelief. Maybe it was my side-splitting laughter. It wasn’t RMN T who said nothing but was wearing a grin a country-mile wide.

Yes, Jabba’s Palace has definitely entered the filler game rotation!

Feature image courtesy Z-Man Games

#Family Friday – RockyMountainNavy’s #Boardgame Heritage – Korean Edition

June 3, 2022June 1, 2022 ~ RockyMountainNavy ~ 1 Comment

To say that games are part of the RockyMountainNavy Family DNA is maybe a bit of an exaggeration, but in many ways it’s very descriptive. Memories of my youngest days include playing family games like Othello and Waterworks. I have been playing wargames and role-playing games since 1979. In the mid-2000’s Mrs. RMN encouraged me to start gaming with the RMN kids. Indeed, the first post on this blog was on March 6, 2007 and featured a family game, Gulo Gulo (Zoch Velang, 2003), which is still a favorite of the RMN Family more than a decade later. Through that time we have played many games with family and friends, and Mrs. RMN has used games for helping teach her students. Recently, Mrs. RMN travelled to see family in South Korea (after a long COVID-driven hiatus) and brought back a game for the family.

Yut is listed on BoardGameGeek as Yut Nori, an ancient Korean racing game dating back to circa 500 AD. Our copy is a standard “tourist” edition published for foreigners who want to play the game.

Opening the box one finds the cover turns into the game board and the different sticks and markers.

The rules are…in Korean? Oh no!

Whew…English rules are provided (as well as Japanese and Chinese…like I said, an “export” version of the game).

The bulk of the rule book for Yut is not rules, but how Korean fortune-tellers use the sticks to tell your fortune. My mother-in-law is a big “believer” in fortune-tellers, often seeking their advice on what seems like a weekly basis.

Mrs. RMN’s eldest sister knows that we are a gaming family, so she took it upon herself to add a bit of a special “upgrade” to our game.

For our family Yut game Mrs. RMN’s eldest sister made this game board in a very traditional Korean style using silk and hand-stitching.

Mrs. RMN has many memories of playing Yut at holiday gatherings with the family. I too have memories of sitting around a board with plenty of beer (or Soju) and playing with my brothers-in-law. The RMN kids have few memories of this game, but Mrs. RMN wants to share her (our!) heritage with them. We will be putting Yut into the holiday family gaming line up to not just help remember the past, but to make memories for our future too.

All photos and feature image by self

#SundaySummary – Summer, Kid’s Games, and INCOMING! #Wargame #Boardgame @ADragoons @kbgpublishing @SmartGamesUSA @LederGames @AcademyGames @gmtgames

May 29, 2022May 29, 2022 ~ RockyMountainNavy ~ Leave a comment

Summer Slow Down

Now comes the time of the year that the days are longer and outdoor chores call, which means there is less time for gaming which in turn means a bit of a seasonal slow-down in this blog too. That said, in the coming weeks look for:

A new Wargame Library series
Some American Independence Day wargaming
A return of my 2022 #TTRPG Character Generation (CharGen) Challenge
A return of family boardgame/wargame weekends
A new long-piece on a next Korean War for The Armchair Dragoons
New arrivals (more on that below)

Coco-NUTS

Mrs. RockyMountainNavy’s favorite student had her birthday this last month. We gifted her with Coconuts (Korea Boardgames Co., 2013). Coconuts is ranked #8 on the BoardGameGeek Children’s category and deservedly so. This is a fun dexterity game with an awesome toy factor. Miss A loved the game and we all had fun playing it with her.

We also gifted Miss A Smart Farmer (Smart Games) which is a one-player puzzle game. Now I get it; one-player puzzle games are considered “Outside the Scope of BGG”. Doesn’t mean these are not “games” and more importantly aren’t fun. Mrs. RMN has long favored Rush Hour (Think Fun) as the go-to puzzle game for youngsters, but admittedly getting girls to play with cars is sometimes “challenging.” In Smart Farmer you have to use the fences to separate the animals. What makes this game so appealing (yet again) is the toy factor; the animals are cute to look at and have some heft and a slightly rubberized texture when handled. So not only does the game look great, it feels great. Little Miss A is already working though the 60 challenges. Truth be told, we also learned that Miss A’s mother is working to keep up with her daughter as they are “racing” each other to see who can solve more puzzles in a day.

For what it’s worth, Youngest RMN played Police Escape Blockade (now available as SmartGames RoadBlock…but apparently only in Europe) when he came home after school in his early elementary years. While his older siblings worked on their homework, he would work on the next one or two puzzle challenges. When he finished all of them he just went back to the beginning and started all over again. This game was instrumental in helping him learn life-long skills like concentration, logical thinking, spatial awareness, and problem-solving. Yeah, we played many other boardgames but puzzle games like Police Escape Blockade were very useful as after school fillers for the young ones.

Fire Mission; Grid 20….

After a long (postal) drought, it looks like some wargames and boardgame pre-orders are finally nearing delivery!

To date in 2022, I have taken delivery of just a mere two pre-order/Kickstarter fulfillments; that being AuZtralia: Revenge of the Old Ones and AuZtralia: TaZmania from Schimil Games in mid-March. and (just this week) 2 Minutes to Midnight by Stuart Tonge from Plague Island Games. Now a few more games are getting closer to gracing the shelves of Casa de Rocky:

Root: The Marauder Expansion / Root: The Clockwork Expansion 2 (Leder Games) – Fulfillment in progress; to be complete by end of June
Reality Shift (Academy Games) – Ship due in New York June 5, to fulfillment center OOA June 14
Red Storm: Baltic Approaches (Douglas Bush, GMT Games) – Shipped/Enroute to Hacienda de Rocky
CDG Solo System (Stuka Joe, GMT Games) – Shipped/Enroute to Hacienda de Rocky

This week I also ordered another Ben Madison product from his White Dog Games studio. The Mission: Early Christianity from the Crucifixion to the Crusades will be arriving soon.

Feature image Virginia Beach in the morning, taken by self

Family #Boardgame Night winner with 1st & Roll (R&R Games, 2018)

March 25, 2022March 20, 2022 ~ RockyMountainNavy ~ 1 Comment

The tabletop boardgaming life of the RockyMountainNavy hacienda has been in a bit of a funk this past year. Between myself going back to work something like 120%, full-time employment for Middle RMN Boy, and high school senior year and part-time work for Youngest RMN Boy, there is very little time for family boardgaming in the house. Further, the flavor of gaming has changed with even less three-player opportunities. Sensing this, I started looking at more two-player boardgames. One that I recently brought into the collection is 1st & Roll from R&R Games (2018). It’s been a winner!

Sporting Games

Although I have a few sports games in my collection, finding one that feels “real” is tough. We have had moderate success in auto racing games with Pitch Car (very light and fun) to Formula D (love the different gear dice!) to Supercharged (card-based simple flavor and fun). The RMN Boys are football fans at heart, and finding a good football game was tougher. We have a well used copy of Battleball which is more toy than sport.

A “Real” Football Game

What impresses me the most about 1st & Roll is just how “real” it plays. The game starts with a Kickoff using the Kick Die. Then, the offensive player picks either a pass, run, or pass/run play (each is a different color die) and the defensive player picks a defense (pass, pass/run, run). The die are compared and if the colors are different the offensive die is rolled and the ball advanced. If they are the same color there is a dice-off. Then a Clock die is thrown which moves the clock or can lead to a Turnover. There are breakaway plays and extra yardage. There is a chance of penalties. You can punt or do an onsides kick or a long bomb or a Hail Mary or kick a Field Goal or even fumble the ball. In other words, it plays not so different from a real football game, but on a small board and with just a few dice.

Equipment Manager

Another element of 1st & Roll that I like is the game components. In particular, I’m talking about the magnetic board. Yup, the board has a thin metal layer inside and the football and down marker and clock are magnetic. Other markers are small magnets. This makes the game not-so-safe for little kids, but then again, they should be playing flag football at that younger age anyway, right?

2021 #Boardgame of the Year – or – No Motherland Without Supercharged 1979 Kingdomino: Origins with @FoundationDietz @BlueOrangeGames @compassgamesllc @Bublublock @msiggins

December 28, 2021December 29, 2021 ~ RockyMountainNavy ~ Leave a comment

As my 2021 “By the Numbers” show, I really backed off on acquiring boardgames this year. While my overall acquisition rate was down 13% (and down nearly 52% for boardgames) compared to 2020, it would be worst if I did not do a trade for a collection of smaller games. That said, of the 18 core or standalone boardgames I acquired in 2021, only 4 were newly published in the year. Thus, my candidates for 2021 Boardgame of the Year are:

Well, I guess you can call 2021 the “Year of Dan Bullock” or the “Year of The Dietz Foundation” because both are in two of the four games eligible.

Dan Bullock amazed me this year with his “Axis of Evil” series. Well, that’s what I call his games on Iran and North Korea. Associating his games with the “Axis of Evil” meme is actually a bit of a disservice to his outstanding designs. No Motherland Without pits the North Korean player trying to build infrastructure and improve the North’s standard of living against a West that is trying to hinder that progress and bring about the Kim Dynasty’s collapse. 1979: Revolution in Iran actually covers Iranian history post-World War II and pits politicians against oil. Both are deep political games, but done in a way that avoids being in-your-face regarding a certain position.

Jim Dietz at The Dietz Foundation is the only non-profit boardgame publisher I know of. He has a mission of delivering games for learning. 1979 is highly educational and Supercharged is a great family game that encourages gamers of all ages coming together for easy fun with just a touch of history thrown in.

All of which makes the my choice for my 2021 Boardgame of the Year quite difficult. So here goes…

…and the winner is…

I can’t decide!

For a FAMILY game, both Kingdomino: Origins and Supercharged are awesome. For a STRATEGY game I like both No Motherland Without and 1979 (though I have to give No Motherland Without a slight edge given the solo module).

Oh, boy…must pick one…[Squints eyes]…

Supercharged!

Visually, Supercharged is nothing special. Mechanically, it’s quite simple—just keep flipping cards. The history is there but a bit thin. Most importantly, the RockyMountainNavy Boys whole-heartedly embraced the game. Since it plays in about an hour, it is an easy after-dinner filler game to follow chores. They love playing using the financial scoring; while one expects an A-class team to win the top positions, the middle finishers become the real contest, especially if your C-class team (the slowest) can drive smart (lucky?) and finish in the top 6.

Supercharged is so easy to learn and play it can be a gateway game. Youngest RMN Boy already asked for a second copy to take to college. Then there is the non-profit Dietz Foundation reminding you that games exist for fun and learning. At the end of the day the game is a winner because everything comes together to make an excellent family game.

Notable Not Mentioned

While I limited my 2021 Boardgame of the Year to games published in 2021, there were two other “new to me” games this year that, though published outside the eligibility window, deserve to be talked about.

Tapestry by Jamie Stegmaier from Stonemaier Games (2019) is a game I see oft-criticized on BGG and really don’t understand why. It’s a perfectly fine civilization game. I wish I had acquired it earlier.

Tiny Epic Kingdoms from Gamelyn Games (2014) is another simple Tiny Epic-series game that is great for families. Again, I wish I had acquired this one earlier.

#SundaySummary – Holiday organizing the @Mountain_Navy #wargame and #boardgame collection and resetting Foundation (@LeeBWood @gmtgames @Hobiecat18 @MultiManPub @BlueOrangeGames #Foundation #TravellerRPG)

December 5, 2021December 4, 2021 ~ RockyMountainNavy ~ Leave a comment

Not much actual gaming this week but plenty of organization.

Wargame

I recently acquired designer Lee Brimmicombe-Wood’s Wing Leader: Supremacy 1943-1945 2nd Edition Upgrade Kit (GMT Games, 2021) and spent part of the week integrating the new components.

I also recently acquired Mike Bertucelli’s Tank Duel Expansion Nr. 1: North Africa and Tank Duel: Tank Pack #1 (both GMT Games, 2021) and spent some time integrating the new components and reviewing the rules. I played one solo game to help relearn the system. It’s still a great game!

Finally, I spent the week integrating the components of Jim Day’s Panzer: Game Expansion Set, Nr 1 – The Shape of Battle on the Eastern Front 1943-45 (GMT Games, Second Printing 2021) into my set. I now own all the published GMT Games Panzer series and am very eagerly awaiting Panzer: North Africa (currently on P500 and has “Made the Cut”).

After getting an older credit card straightened out my preorder for the Standard Combat Series game North Africa: Afrika Korps vs Desert Rats, 1940-42 from Multi-Man Publishing should be shipping this week. Merry Christmas to me!

Boardgame

Bruno Cathalla’s Kingdomino: Origins (Blue Orange Games, 2021) continues to be a great family hit. Several more plays and we all relish the simple new strategy challenges of the different game modes.

Role Playing Games

Unlike my wargames and boardgames, I’m kinda poor at tracking my RPG collection. So this week I worked on organizing what I took in this year.

Television

I finished watching the Apple TV series Foundation this week. Yes, I know Season 1 ended a few weeks ago but I needed to reset my approach to the show. I initially started watching the series expecting a story close to the books. When that wasn’t there I was a bit confused and, frankly, unaccepting. So I laid off watching for a few weeks and recalibrated my thinking. I decided I was going to watch Foundation “as-is” and try to set all my preconceived notions aside. It also helped that with all the episodes out now I could binge-watch the season. Much better this go around…am looking forward to Season 2. While I still think Foundation and the Traveller Role Playing Game are closely related, I am glad to see the Genetic Dynasty from Foundation which is very different from Traveller’s Third Imperium.

#FamilyFriday #Boardgame – New beginnings with Kingdomino: Origins (@BlueOrangeGames, 2021)

November 5, 2021October 31, 2021 ~ RockyMountainNavy ~ 1 Comment

Kingdomino: Origins by Bruno Cathala from Blue Orange Games (2021) is the newest version of the Kingdomino family that breathes a welcome freshness into the design without losing the essential fun elements of the game.

Bruno Cathala’s Kingdomino (Blue Orange Games, 2016) is a RockyMountainNavy family favorite. Not only do we play the game ourselves, we have gifted maybe a dozen copies to other families over the years. It is a great gateway (foundational?) boardgame that is easy to learn and fun to play. However, while the game is often brought out when new gamers come over, the truth is the RockyMountainNavy Boys and myself are sort burned out on Kingdomino.

We own and play Queendomino (Blue Orange Games, 2017), the second member of the Kingdomino family which I have heard described as “the gamer’s Kingdomino.” We enjoy it, but it has never matched the popularity of the core Kingdomino game for us. We also have the Kingdomino: Age of Giants expansion (Blue Orange Games, 2018) but it gets played even less than Queendomino. It’s not a bad expansion; it just doesn’t really grab us.

Yet, when I first saw the box art for Kingdomino: Origins the game was an auto-buy from that moment. I didn’t even look to see what rules changed…it was a new Kingdomino game and that was enough to sell me.

Courtesy Blue Orange Games

Evolution Gaming

Kingdomino: Origins is actually three games in one. The first game, Discovery Mode, is classic Kingdomino with the addition of volcanoes that can throw fires. In Origins fires are the “crowns” of earlier versions and how you multiply your regions for scoring. Taking volcanos give you fires to throw to add bonus scoring. For long-time Kingdomino players this shook us up from our staid ways; whereas before we understood that certain tiles were lesser in number but more valuable, now a volcano can take that low-value tile and make it worth much more. A truly new level of strategy originated in this mode of play.

Totem Mode is the second game of Kingdomino: Origins. Here the game uses the volcano rules and adds resources. The player who has the most of a given resource gains a Totem which is an endgame scoring bonus. But watch out; placing those fires from the volcanos destroys resources in that space. This uncovers another level of strategy; placing fires for bonus scoring weighed against destroying a resource that can also be a bonus score. Simple rule change—deep strategic shift.

Tribe Mode in Kingdomino: Origins builds again on the previous two modes and adds tribal members as a bonus. In this mode you have volcanos and resources (but no Totems). The new rule addition is the ability to recruit a caveman by spending resources and placing the caveperson on your hunting ground. Depending on who the caveman is they score you a different bonus depending upon the surrounding tiles. The strategic challenge of the game goes up a (small) step as now you must find places to throw fires, take resources from, and place cavemen to maximize your scoring.

Origin(al) Fun

The first RockyMountainNavy family playthru of Kingdomino: Origins was actually three games; one each Discovery, Totem, and Tribe modes played back-to-back-to-back. As experienced Kingdomino players learning the new rules was easy; on the other hand discovering and implementing new strategies was challenging (in a very good way). I can easily imagine Kingdomino: Origins becoming the new “Kingdomino gateway” game for our family and friends as learning/teaching Discovery Mode is not that much more difficult than classic Kingdomino. Totem Mode is not a huge step up, and even going to Tribe Mode is an easy learning curve. Even at full-on Tribe Mode I still feel this game is easier to play than Queendomino. While learning Kingdomino: Origins is easy the new strategy challenges make it very interesting and engaging—both for veteran gamers and novices alike. As an added bonus the graphic art is tremendous fun too.

Revolution Evolution?

Fair warning: Kingdomino: Origins cannot be combined with Kingdomino or Queendomino. I have seen criticism of that game design decision. My message to those naysayers—play Kingdomino: Origins, all three modes. I think you’ll discover that there is enough game here that you don’t need to combine it with the earlier versions. Kingdomino: Origins stands on its own—you don’t need to go bigger to have an easy to learn, deep strategic game experience.

#SundaySummary – Made in China White Box wargaming while 1979: Revolution in Iran breaks out @ADragoons @atlasgames @djackthompson @OspreyGames @Bublublock @FoundationDietz @HobieCat18 @gmtgames #wargame #boardgame

October 24, 2021October 24, 2021 ~ RockyMountainNavy ~ Leave a comment

Wargaming

This week was an Armchairs Dragoon week for me. Regimental Commander Brant was generous enough to publish my Made in China Wargaming? article and I contributed The White Box for (ta da) Unboxing Day.

I was able to get in a play of Undaunted: North Africa by designer David Thompson from Osprey Games. RMN T and myself replayed Scenario 1: Landing Ground 7 with him as the LRDG (actually LRP) and myself as the Italians. This time we made sure to play the Recon action correctly; it’s the main action that enables you to discard those pesky Fog of War cards and cycle the useful cards in your deck more efficiently. It was a good fight but he kept his Engineer safe and was able to win after destroying three objectives.

Boardgaming

New Arrival – 1979: Revolution in Iran by Dan Bullock from The Dietz Foundation via Kickstarter. Let me first join the chorus of voices in congratulating Jim Dietz on ~~one of~~ the best Kickstarter campaign I’ve participated in. Jim communicated often and clearly throughout the process. I don’t know how he did it—in this time of worldwide shipping disruption he delivered a mere ONE MONTH later than the campaign originally advertised. Towards the end of the campaign the near-daily updates unabashedly conveyed his joy that the project was nearing fulfillment and that giddy excitement infected me. When a new game arrives, it usually takes a few days for it to get to the table as it must “wait for a spot” of table space. With 1979 I swept the existing game off the table and unboxed it immediately.

Shipping

According to Gene’s October 22 update, GMT Games is shipping again. I’m looking for tracking numbers for my Tank Duel Expansion 1 North Africa and Tank Duel: Tank Pack #1. The RMN Boys are looking forward to these arrivals; RMN Jr. wants to run a Crusader! I also need to warn Mrs. RMN that the next charge will be around November 1.

Speaking of shipping, is it just me or has UPS really taken a turn for the worst? Twice this month I’ve had UPS shipments “delayed” by 2-3 days. This is not to say USPS doesn’t have issues too but any delay there seems to be one day at most. I read that USPS was changing their terms of service and to expect slower delivery times but I didn’t read anything about UPS. Even normally reliable Amazon has gone wonky on me recently with one shipment showing up three days late and another showing up but still listed as ‘not delivered’ in my orders record. I guess I can rationalize these delays as part of the overall slowdown in shipping from containers but the UPS issues seem a bit more wrong.