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!
1st & Roll from R&R Games (2018)
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?
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.
Dan’s “Axis of Evil” games…
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.
Supercharged fun!
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!
Supercharged from The Dietz Foundation
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.
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.
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.
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.
I was able to get in a play ofUndaunted: North Africa by designer DavidThompson 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.
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.
Very happy to see Regimental Commander Brant and other members of the Armchair Dragoons at Origins Game Fair this week. Origins started out as a wargame convention and over the years it, uh, changed.
The Dragoons bring wargaming back to the Fair and it’s good to see. Some of the games played included Tank Duel (GMT Games), Second World War at Sea (Avalanche Press), Team COIN, and Command & Colors Napoleonics (GMT Games). I am very sad that I missed the Persian Gulf game with the admiraltytrilogy.com folks.
Favorite questions so far at #Origins2021? "So, does this play like Stratego?"
A brief chat with some explanation later and it's possible we could see those guys back this afternoon @Ardwulf's run thru the game pic.twitter.com/AoJ3JOzxU3
I look forward to talking with Brant about how this year’s convention went and what he sees (or doesn’t ) as the future of wargaming at Origins. So far it looks good
The October Sale from Revolution Games is underway. Great chance to pick up more than a few bargains. Personally I recommend Pacific Fury. If you are willing to purchase folio-packaged games some of the prices are really low and (hopefully) more affordable.
Boardgames
I continued my local acquisitions support program by picking up a copy of Jamie Stegmaier’s Tapestry (Stonemaier Games, 2019) from a nearby gamer. Used but in great condition. Will try to get this to the table soon, maybe as the season kickoff for the Weekend Family Game Night Return.
THE LATEST version of Richard Borg’s Commands & Colors series from GMT Games takes players to the battlefields of Medieval Japan. Indeed, Commands & Colors Samurai Battles (GMT Games, 2021)bills itself on the box cover as, “The exciting medieval Japan battlefield game.” If you are a Grognard and are looking for a lite, family wargame you will find a great one in Commands & Colors Samurai Battles…which at first appears to demand you buy into some fantasy. Just be warned; what looks at first to be “fantastical” will eventually lead you to a deeper understanding of Carl von Clausewitz.
Commands & Colors Samurai Battles takes Richard Borg’s proven (and very popular) card-driven Commands & Colors system and moves it to Medieval Japan. From a game mechanism perspective the move is a good one given the armies of the day were a mix of close combat and ranged attack units. The core rules for Commands & Colors is a relatively simple translation to this new era and long time Commands & Colors players will find the transition to this rules set very easy. New players to Commands & Colors will likewise have an easy time learning the rules and, like so many games in the series, can usually be taught how to play without even needing to read the rules.
Here there be Dragons…
Like every Commands & Colors game, there is usually some customized rules to reflect the peculiarities of the era being gamed. Be it Elephant Rampage in Commands & Colors Ancients or routing militia in Commands & Colors Tricorne or Form Square in Command & Colors Napoleonics, these extra rules add period flavor for their given game and take what otherwise is a very generic game system and make it highly thematic. Commands & Colors Samurai Battles is no different in adding customized rules for the period. The major difference between Commands & Colors Samurai Battles and previous iterations of the Command & Colors system is that one of those special rules outwardly appears fantastical and not historical. Thus, some have accused Commands & Colors Samurai Battles as being closer to the fantasy Commands & Colorsderivative Battlelore than to more historic-centric designs like Ancients or Tricorne or Napoleonics.
In Commands & Colors Samurai Battles the period flavor rules are few but important how they portray the popular perception of combat in medieval Japan. The few special rules of concern in Commands & Colors Samurai Battles and the page in the rule book the rules appears are:
Army Commander & Bodyguards (p. 10)
Enemy Command Tent (p. 10)
Leader Seppuku (p. 19)
Retreat & Loss of Honor (p. 20)
Lack of Honor (p. 20)
Honor & Fortune (p. 21)
Dragon Cards (p. 22)
Commands & Colors Samurai Battles treats some of these rules in a very straight-forward, historical manner. The Army Commander & Bodyguards rule works in conjunction with the Enemy Command Tent and is a good interpretation of medieval Japanese battlefield headquarters.
Other flavor rules in Commands & Colors Samurai Battles seem drawn more from popular films and samurai myths than the historical record.Leader Seppuku has some historical basis, but the way the rule is invoked in Commands & Colors Samurai Battles seems to be based more on trying to recreate popular samurai movies on the battle board than true history. Historical or not, the rule admittedly does make Samurai Battles feel more dramatic.
A key game mechanism in Commands & Colors Samurai Battles is Honor & Fortune. Both players have a pool of Honor & Fortune tokens that they must manage. The tokens, “in a roundabout way serves to measure an army’s discipline, its honor and the fortunes of war” (p. 21). At first glance, Honor & Fortune doesn’t appear unlike morale rules in many wargames. When units retreat or are routed or otherwise defeated you lose Honor & Fortune tokens. If one doesn’t have a sufficient reserve of tokens, then the Lack of Honor rule takes effect. Lack of Honor is a quick path to defeat making it imperative one manages their Honor & Fortune tokens carefully.
Fortune from Above or just a Dead Hand?
The special rule for Dragon Cards in Commands & Colors Samurai Battles is seemingly generating the most controversy. From all outward appearances, the play of Dragon Cards appears to be an appeal to mysticism rather than the employment of sound tactics and strategy on the battlefield. I say “appears to be” because that is the easy (lazy?) interpretation of what Dragon Cards represent. Let me show you another viewpoint; I see the Dragon Cards as the dead hand of Carl von Clausewitz influencing the design of Commands & Colors Samurai Battles.
How are Dragon Cards in Commands & Colors Samurai Battles and Carl von Clausewitz related? According to the Samurai Battles rule book, Dragon Cards are, “the gateway to legendary and mythical actions on the battlefield” (p. 22). While that certainly sounds like an appeal to mysticism, a closer look at the the 40 Dragon Cards in the game reveal they are less mystical and more fog and fortunes of war; factors even Dead Carl considered.
In short, absolute, so-called mathematical, factors never find a firm basis in military calculations. From the very start, there is an interplay of possibilities, probabilities, good luck and bad, that weaves its way throughout the length and breadth of the tapestry. In the whole range of human activities, war most closely resembles a game of cards.
It seems fitting that Dragon Cards in Commands & Colors Samurai Battles are used in that “game of cards” for this battlefield game. A close examination of the Dragon Cards reveals that even the most “mystical” of them really are no different than a random event table in many wargames. Take for instance the “Blue Dragon.”
BLUE DRAGON
Play alongside your Command card.
Target: All enemy units on or next to a terrain hex with water.
Before ordering units, roll one die against each targeted unit. A symbol rolled will score one hit on the unit. Flags, Swords, Honor & Fortune and other unit symbols rolled have no effect.
“Blue Dragon” Dragon Card
If we could ask the Panzer drivers who got bogged down in the marshes at Kursk I think they would agree that they came face to face with the “Blue Dragon.” So go all (but one) of the Dragon Cards in Samurai Battles—what outwardly appears as mysticism is really just the fickle hand of fate in war.
There is one Dragon Card in Commands & Colors Samurai Battles that is not fate, but a special nod to the period. The Dragon Card “Personal Challenge” again draws on popularized history to allow players to have those dramatic samurai movie moments. There is a historical basis for this card, and given that there are only two in the deck of 40 Dragon Cards and they can only be played if there are opposing leaders in a hex, it will likely they will be used only occasionally but in a very dramatic way.
Popular Samurai Battles
Some of you might of picked up on my repeated use of the words “popular” versus “historical” and “mysticism” in Commands & Colors Samurai Battles and maybe think this Grognard doesn’t like the game. Quite the contrary, I love Commands & Colors Samurai Battles and am very pleased to get this game in my collection. At first I was a bit worried by some of the comments on “dragons” in the game and other “mystical” aspects but once I got the game to the table I see that Carl von Clausewitz is simply doing some cosplay here. Maybe samurai in medieval Japan sought to understand how fortune and fate worked on the battlefield and the easiest explanation was to describe it in terms of mystical events. In Commands & Colors Samurai Battles that frame of reference reinforces the theme of the game, but don’t for a moment think the game strays into fantasy. For historical and family wargamers alike, Commands & Colors Samurai Battles deserves to be part of your Commands & Colors shelf (but not the top shelf or you risk the weight tipping over the bookcase and destroying your printer as a multi-pound box full of mounted boards and little wood blocks comes crashing down…not that I would know…).
Carl von Clausewitz is simply doing some cosplay here.
With Labor Day weekend just around the corner (at least for us ‘Mericans) it is officially the end of the summer season. This traditionally means back to school, back to work after summer laziness, and in the RockyMountainNavy household a return to tabletop gaming.
School
RockyMountainNavy Jr. is a high school senior this year. After being sidelined in online learning last year he is anxious to get back to school in-person and (more importantly) back to regularly seeing friends. He also has a driver’s license now which also means he has, perhaps inevitably, discovered that girls like coffee dates, ice cream, and movies. I have a sneaky suspicion that, given the choice between a family game night and, uh, “social engagements,” he will chose the later.
16 Candles
Work
The summer vacation season is coming to a close. Aside from vacation, I was already back to work 5-days a week. I suspect I will be just as busy between now and the Thanksgiving holiday. RockyMountainNavy T, my middle boy, is also gainfully employed (i.e full time—or more) as an Electrician’s Apprentice and his company which specializes in HVAC controllers (a COVID-era Upgrade of ChoiceTM for many buildings) has more work than staff. For both of us this means the occasional lite games in the evenings may become even more occasional.
Centralized HVAC Controller
Boardgame
The return to school and work also usually means a return to Family Game Nights. Given the, uh, “distractions” in RMN Jr’s life I am not sure I can totally count on him to be there for game nights. That said, there is a chance that we might have a multi-family game night at times with maybe as many as six-players. More likely, RMN T and myself will have Father vs. Son Game Nights…on weekends. One of the new-to-me games sitting on my shelf of shame that makes a good candidate for play is Space Empires 4X by designer Jim Krohn from GMT Games (2017 Third Printing).
Foundations Edge – Representative of Space Empires 4X?
Wargame
As always, wargames will be the core of my gaming time. Production and shipping delays mean that I will have time to work off my shelf of shame and get games to the table. I have plenty of Game of the Week titles waiting for me:
Commands & Colors: Samurai (GMT Games, 2021) – OK, it hasn’t actually delivered yet but Gene assured all that their GMT Sale items would ship by the end of this week. UPDATE – SHIPPED SATURDAY!
I am very interested in using Commands & Colors: Samurai, Strike of the Eagle, and even Space Empires 4X as possible games that RMN T and myself can play head-to-head on those Father vs. Son Game Nights.
There is also a possibility that new titles will trickle in although I am very unsure as to any timelines. I am positive that my uncertainty is nothing compared to the uncertainty that publishers have over the same issue. This past week, Gene from GMT Games dropped his monthly update that shows many of my titles are stuck. As Gene puts it:
Supply Chain and Shipping Slowdown. We haven’t made much progress from last month on the “P500 games shipping to us from the printer” front. Our printers are in the process of printing and boxing some of the 21 new products that are currently being printed. But the same global supply chain and shipping issues that are hampering businesses worldwide are hitting us, too. We THINK at this point that we will see three games shipped to us this month (to arrive in late September), but we can’t tell you dates with any certainty at this point.
I guess this means I need to look at small, independent retailers to fill out existing-but-unowned titles in both my boardgame and wargame collections.
This is what I imagine my wargames look like waiting for shipping….
Traveller/Cepheus Engine Role Playing Game
This past week I also had a small, friendly interaction on Twitter with John Watts of Independence Games that served as a good reminder that the RMN Boys also asked for a return to some sort of RPG adventuring. I picked up a new ship book from Independence Games, the Brightwater-class Personal Yacht, that is yet another good adventure seed ship design. The real question is where do I fit an RPG campaign into the schedule?
While my summer gaming has been languishing lots of work from Kickstarter campaigns continues. Some of the news is better than others and all seem to be feeling the effects of the shipping industry challenges.
The Shores of Tripoli by Kevin Bertram from Fort Circle Games (Last Update July 20): A nice update on some of the accolades and uses the game is receiving. Also a reminder that I owe Kevin another look at the playtest kit for Halls of Montezuma he graciously provided me.
Hold the Line: Excaliber, the Battles of King Arthur from Worthington Games (Backed Aug 1; Estimated Delivery Apr 2022): Newly backed by me this week. My middle boy and I really enjoy Hold the Line: American Civil War which is our go-to head-to-head wargame choice. I think this new title will be a great addition to our “order of battle.
Speaking of playtesting, I am overdue in getting the playtest kit for Warsaw Pact by Brad Smith to the table after he also graciously provided it to me. Looks like I have some printing, cutting, and taping in the (overdue) near future!
Full Foodie
Recently visited the Seattle area and found The Waffler, a most excellent breakfast restaurant!
Breakfast Waffle Sandwich with Home Fries. Yes, it’s as big as it looks!
RockyMountain Navy Gamer 