Category: Syndicated

I don’t eschew sci-fi or fantasy and not even zombies, but often prefer historical themes myself. Games I am looking forward to are the expansions for Falling Sky and Cuba Libre and the game Pericles, for example. I usually prefer ancients as theme, so Pendragon (another COIN game) is on my preorder list, too. But I don’t mind going into modern conflicts or even WW2, which is why Conflict of Heroes is waiting at home for me (with the solo expansion). But I don’t mind some mix of theme, so some sci-fi in my tactical squad level game (Night of Man) or some cthulhu in my tactical squad level game (Shadows over Normandie) are fine for me. Especially weird war 1 or 2 are of interest, so sad I can’t get my hands on Tannhäuser. Another series of games I like to get my history fix are the State of Siege games, I currently own Cruel Necessity, Soviet Dawn and Mound Builders.

I don’t eschew sci-fi or fantasy and not even zombies, but often prefer historical themes myself. Games I am looking forward to are the expansions for Falling Sky and Cuba Libre and the game Pericles, for example. I usually prefer ancients as theme, so Pendragon (another COIN game) is on my preorder list, too. But I don’t mind going into modern conflicts or even WW2, which is why Conflict of Heroes is waiting at home for me (with the solo expansion). But I don’t mind some mix of theme, so some sci-fi in my tactical squad level game (Night of Man) or some cthulhu in my tactical squad level game (Shadows over Normandie) are fine for me. Especially weird war 1 or 2 are of interest, so sad I can’t get my hands on Tannhäuser. Another series of games I like to get my history fix are the State of Siege games, I currently own Cruel Necessity, Soviet Dawn and Mound Builders.

I actually like Smash Up. But the way I go into it is treating it as a wild rumble, not a strategic or tactic optimizing game. It works if you accept to get tons of things wrong and have people play it with their guts, not their brains. Kinda like a card-game version of Wiz War. Just throw cards on the table and try to score and kill your opponent’s. I always make sure to teach new players aggression and attack right away, so they are not irritated when their plans are completely undone by someone else.

I can totally see people getting annoyed a d angry when playing it seriously, though. It is a really nasty game where you can get easily screwed by card draw and your opponent’s, where people can bang up on someone and where bash-the-leader is probably be the norm and not exception. It feels like munchkin, kinda. So I totally see it as failing in lots of groups and that is why I bring it to the table only rarely, because then it keeps it lightness for my group and doesn’t break the group.

I actually like Smash Up. But the way I go into it is treating it as a wild rumble, not a strategic or tactic optimizing game. It works if you accept to get tons of things wrong and have people play it with their guts, not their brains. Kinda like a card-game version of Wiz War. Just throw cards on the table and try to score and kill your opponent’s. I always make sure to teach new players aggression and attack right away, so they are not irritated when their plans are completely undone by someone else.

I can totally see people getting annoyed a d angry when playing it seriously, though. It is a really nasty game where you can get easily screwed by card draw and your opponent’s, where people can bang up on someone and where bash-the-leader is probably be the norm and not exception. It feels like munchkin, kinda. So I totally see it as failing in lots of groups and that is why I bring it to the table only rarely, because then it keeps it lightness for my group and doesn’t break the group.

7th Continent is high on my list for 2017, because it looks like it could be the best interpretation of a classic ORPG where you roam an open world and have adventures.

Apocrypha is another high up, because I hope it will deliver what Pathfinder ACG promised, but not fully delivered.

The Ninth World: a skill building game is another one that I hope capturing some of the ORPG experience, this time focussing on character advancement.

VPG will deliver Darkest Night and Nemo and I really look forward to these, since both promise great solo play. Especially Nemo is something I really look forward to.

GMT will have Mr. President and that’s another title for solo play that I have high hopes for. And they will have Pericles out, a new Mark Hermann design that uses the Churchill system to provide a simulation of the conflict between Sparta and Athens, both on the military and political sides.

This War of Mine is a game I solely got based on the theme, without any idea if I ever will get it to the table except solo, but really look forward to see how they handle the grim realities of people living through war times.

Sword & Sorcery is my guilty plastic pleasure box, bringing me tons of models of classic high fantasy theme with a hopefully good co-op game – but even if it proves to be too fiddly, the box will give me tons of stuff to pimp fantasy games with.

7th Continent is high on my list for 2017, because it looks like it could be the best interpretation of a classic ORPG where you roam an open world and have adventures.

Apocrypha is another high up, because I hope it will deliver what Pathfinder ACG promised, but not fully delivered.

The Ninth World: a skill building game is another one that I hope capturing some of the ORPG experience, this time focussing on character advancement.

VPG will deliver Darkest Night and Nemo and I really look forward to these, since both promise great solo play. Especially Nemo is something I really look forward to.

GMT will have Mr. President and that’s another title for solo play that I have high hopes for. And they will have Pericles out, a new Mark Hermann design that uses the Churchill system to provide a simulation of the conflict between Sparta and Athens, both on the military and political sides.

This War of Mine is a game I solely got based on the theme, without any idea if I ever will get it to the table except solo, but really look forward to see how they handle the grim realities of people living through war times.

Sword & Sorcery is my guilty plastic pleasure box, bringing me tons of models of classic high fantasy theme with a hopefully good co-op game – but even if it proves to be too fiddly, the box will give me tons of stuff to pimp fantasy games with.

Assault on Doomrock makes me want to flip the table when I play it, because every single mechanic I the game is made to be unfair. But has great components and a really well done engine/system that I want to love. It’s just that the game doesn’t love me back.

LOTR:LCG is a fantastic system and is the game that gives me the MTG feel without needing opponents, but with a meta provided by cycles of scenarios. But newer scenarios turned overly fiddly, which is why I often play older quests. It still is my most loved game and I buy everything for it (for player cards for example), I just rarely play the new quests.

Assault on Doomrock makes me want to flip the table when I play it, because every single mechanic I the game is made to be unfair. But has great components and a really well done engine/system that I want to love. It’s just that the game doesn’t love me back.

LOTR:LCG is a fantastic system and is the game that gives me the MTG feel without needing opponents, but with a meta provided by cycles of scenarios. But newer scenarios turned overly fiddly, which is why I often play older quests. It still is my most loved game and I buy everything for it (for player cards for example), I just rarely play the new quests.

Lots of Red7, because we were out for food a few times and it is our preferred filler while waiting, lots of The Duke, because it is super portable if you just grab what you need and super sturdy, which will be important this week and some Paperback, because we haven’t played it in a while and it is a really fun game for us. Sunday we hopped on the plane and played some Red7 again, because it is one of the few games to play with such space constraints and now we are on the lovely island of Mauritius, which is where The Duke comes into play, because you can play it at the beach without fear for the components 😉 (we took Paperback, Red7, The Duke and Guns&Steel with us, so it shouldn’t get boring)

Biggest game that has chances to get to the table is probably either Scythe or Mare Nostrum:Empires, but size is rarely a problem, the problems are more in the complexity, some of my table destroyers are just too deep and complex (like The Gallerist) to see much table time.

Lots of Red7, because we were out for food a few times and it is our preferred filler while waiting, lots of The Duke, because it is super portable if you just grab what you need and super sturdy, which will be important this week and some Paperback, because we haven’t played it in a while and it is a really fun game for us. Sunday we hopped on the plane and played some Red7 again, because it is one of the few games to play with such space constraints and now we are on the lovely island of Mauritius, which is where The Duke comes into play, because you can play it at the beach without fear for the components 😉 (we took Paperback, Red7, The Duke and Guns&Steel with us, so it shouldn’t get boring)

Biggest game that has chances to get to the table is probably either Scythe or Mare Nostrum:Empires, but size is rarely a problem, the problems are more in the complexity, some of my table destroyers are just too deep and complex (like The Gallerist) to see much table time.

Red7 is one we lately play a lot with two. It’s a nice little card game where you try to be leading according to the current rule for as long as you can by either playing to that rule or changing the rules. Sounds a bit twisted, but is quite easy to play after reading the small rules. And the best thing: it has modular rules where you can go as far in complexity as you like, with the base game being really super accessible even for new players.

The allready mentioned Jaipur and 7 Wonders: Duel are bot in our list of stuff we played (in case of Jaipur, as that got replaced by other games, Red7 among them) and still play (7 Wonders: Duel) quite a lot.

Red7 is one we lately play a lot with two. It’s a nice little card game where you try to be leading according to the current rule for as long as you can by either playing to that rule or changing the rules. Sounds a bit twisted, but is quite easy to play after reading the small rules. And the best thing: it has modular rules where you can go as far in complexity as you like, with the base game being really super accessible even for new players.

The allready mentioned Jaipur and 7 Wonders: Duel are bot in our list of stuff we played (in case of Jaipur, as that got replaced by other games, Red7 among them) and still play (7 Wonders: Duel) quite a lot.

I have Conflict of Heroes: Awakening the Bear on order, with the Firefight and Solo expansions. The firefight generator and solo system is currently only available for CoH:AtB, but it is planned to have them available for Guadacanal and Storm of Steel, too. But as with anything from Academy Games, I treat any “will be available in the near future” with a pound of salt, because they never really hit any deadlines they communicate 😉

The games are a system, so the different games do carry the same structure, but each will have little deviations from the formula to better model the conflict at hand. For example the Guadacanal game adds bushido as a factor for the Japanese player, instead of mere VP, which is intertwined with soldiers morale and so directly tied to the outcome. Never played it, because I am waiting for the availability of the solo expansion for that, but definitely on the list of stuff I might get later down the road.

I have Conflict of Heroes: Awakening the Bear on order, with the Firefight and Solo expansions. The firefight generator and solo system is currently only available for CoH:AtB, but it is planned to have them available for Guadacanal and Storm of Steel, too. But as with anything from Academy Games, I treat any “will be available in the near future” with a pound of salt, because they never really hit any deadlines they communicate 😉

The games are a system, so the different games do carry the same structure, but each will have little deviations from the formula to better model the conflict at hand. For example the Guadacanal game adds bushido as a factor for the Japanese player, instead of mere VP, which is intertwined with soldiers morale and so directly tied to the outcome. Never played it, because I am waiting for the availability of the solo expansion for that, but definitely on the list of stuff I might get later down the road.

I never played it, as the theme wasn’t too interesting to me at the time. It changed lately with me going more into modern conflicts, but since I allready have three COIN games, I am a bit reluctant to go too deep into that system – there are other interesting systems out there to try. And even with modern conflicts, I only went into Labyrinth when it added the arabian spring uprisings with the new expansion, the original box with it’s hard war-on-terror wasn’t really doing it for me. But all said, I think with the COIN system it is mostly a question of what conflicts interest you the most, all of them can be learned with some effort that will come much easier if you are interested in the conflict portrayed in your game.

I never played it, as the theme wasn’t too interesting to me at the time. It changed lately with me going more into modern conflicts, but since I allready have three COIN games, I am a bit reluctant to go too deep into that system – there are other interesting systems out there to try. And even with modern conflicts, I only went into Labyrinth when it added the arabian spring uprisings with the new expansion, the original box with it’s hard war-on-terror wasn’t really doing it for me. But all said, I think with the COIN system it is mostly a question of what conflicts interest you the most, all of them can be learned with some effort that will come much easier if you are interested in the conflict portrayed in your game.