1979 Revolution in Iran – RockyMountain Navy Gamer

Wargames

A very pleasant week of wargaming. I got Rostov ’41: Race to the Don (Ray Weiss, Multi-Man Publishing, 2020) to the gaming table for multiple plays. I really enjoy the Standard Combat Series and this title was truly a Rev to My Gaming Engine. Deeper thoughts will come in this weeks “#Wargame Wednesday” posting. I also pulled Steve Peek’s Submarine (Avalon Hill, 2nd Edition 1981) off the shelf to support a “Rocky Read for #Wargame” entry on The Enemy Below (Cdr D.A. Rayner, Henry Holt & Co., 1957) that will post later this week.

Boardgames

The Kickstarter campaign for 1979: Revolution in Iran (Dan Bullock, Dietz Foundation) successfully funded this week. This is the second game in what I (very informally) call the Axis of Evil Strategy Game Series. The first game, No Motherland Without: North Korea in Crisis and Cold War (Compass Games, 2020) was the subject of a very nice Space-Biff column this week.

Miss A brought her birthday present game, Barnyard Bunch (HABA, 2019) to the house this week when she came for her tutoring with Mrs. RMN. This is a very kid-friendly cooperative game that was really fun to play together with her and Mrs. RMN. The goal of the game is to keep the animals from running away. Every turn, a player rolls the die to see what animals advance (depends on color of die face), or retreats one space (the Farmer), or which is taken all the way back to the barn by the Dog. Then, you draw a card that will advance an animal, lure an animal back one space with food, or show the Farmer (choose one animal back one space) or Dog (one animal back to barn). Not much strategy needed as the game is played cooperatively with all players participating in the choice of animals moved by the Farmer or Dog. Given Miss A is 7-years old we thought that maybe the game is actually too simple for her. However, we were later told she took the game to a friends house and taught it to her friend. So…it was an obvious good choice by Mrs. RMN, right?

Puzzles

No, not puzzle games, but real honest-to-goodness jigsaw puzzles. Got notice this week that two historical puzzles I ordered through Academy Games arrived at the warehouse. For the RockyMountainNavy Boys summer enjoyment they will get to work on these 700mm x 500mm, 1000-piece puzzles featuring cover art from Conflict of Heroes: Awakening the Bear and 878: Vikings. As I look at the pledge page I see very few puzzles ordered. I know we are coming out of COVID lockdowns but, hey, let’s show some love here!

Books

With the arrival of summer I decided to order “a few” more books for those lazy evening reads. I started off with Naval Institute Press (where I am a member) and ordered several from the Fall 2021 catalog. Stupid me, I failed to realize two of the books are “coming later this year” so I only got one book from this order in hand (Norman Friedman’s Network-Centric Warfare, 2009). I also ended up ordering seven more books from the “Clear the Decks” sale section—still awaiting delivery of those. I then ordered two titles from Amazon which is how 2034: A Novel of the Next World War by Elliot Ackerman with Admiral Jim Stavridis, USN (Ret.) and The Bomber Mafia: A Dream, A Temptation, and the Longest Night of World War Two by Malcolm Gladwell arrived on my bookshelf. Of the two, 2034 is very likely to feature in a near-future (no pun intended) posting of “Rocky Reads for #Wargame” since Compass Games is scheduled to release John Gorkowski’s Indian Ocean Region in the South China Sea series of wargames this month.

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:

Arrival Next 30 Days?
- Indian Ocean Region: South China Seas Vol. 2 (John Gorkowski, Compass Games) – The South China Sea system is my modern-age successor to the Cold War Fleet-series.
- Atlantic Chase (Jerry White, GMT Games, 2021) – Heard so much goodness just had to see for myself.
May/June Arrivals?
- Reality Shift (Academy Games via Kickstarter) _ Academy rarely delivers on time but one can always hope.
- The Dark Summer: Normandy, 1944 (Ted Raicer, GMT Games P500) – More chit-pull goodness from Ted.
- Wing Leader: Supremacy 2nd Edition & Wing Leader: Legends (Lee Brimmicombe-Wood, GMT Games P500) – Another “War Engine” series that I really love; will need to get to the table more often.
June/July Arrivals?
- Panzer Expansion #1: The Shape of Battle – The Eastern Front, 2nd Printing (Jim Day, GMT Games P500) – My collection of 2nd Edition GMT Games Panzer and MBT will be complete once this arrives in house.
- Tank Duel Expansion #1: North Africa & Tank Duel Tank Pack #1 (Mike Bertucelli, GMT Games P500) – Tank Duel is theater of the mind wargaming.

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:

AuZtralia: TaZmania & AuZtralia: Revenge of the Old Ones (SchilMil Games) – I love AuZtralia and am interested in getting more materials for the game, especially the solo campaign.
Root: Clockwork Expansion 2 (Leder Games) – I was hesitant to back this in the initial Marauder Expansion campaign but they offered it for only $30 as an add-on in BackerKit when the MSRP originally shown was $40.
1979: Revolution in Iran (Dietz Foundation) – Designer Dan Bullock made the very intriguing No Motherland Without: North Korea in the Cold War (Compass Games, 2021) and I found his take on history makes for interesting gaming; with 1979: Revolution in Iran I’m wondering if he has a Rogue States series of games going?

Tag: 1979 Revolution in Iran

Sunday Summary – Puzzling over 1979-2034 Rostov Submarine Barns (#wargame #boardgame #books @MultiManPub @HABA_usa @FoundationDietz @Bublublock @compassgamesllc @DanThurot @USNIBooks @Academy_Games)