Day 3 started off a bit slow as we dragged in the morning getting ready and didn’t get out the door till around 8:15am and after breakfast didn’t make it to the War Room until almost 9:00am. But, upon arrival we got right to gaming by setting up Cross Bronx Expressway from GMT Games with Russ Wetli from Cardboard Conflicts as our third.

Cross Bronx Expressway is the 3rd game in the Irregular Conflicts Series and attempts to simulate the socio-economic processes of urban development, and the human costs that result, as a competitive city-builder with collective loss conditions in the South Bronx between 1940 and 2000, with their unique faction pursuing their own goals while cooperating to keep the borough viable. Through a card driven sequence of play, they will work to solve the economic challenges facing the area by building infrastructure and organizations, forming coalitions, mitigating the multitude of issues facing the vulnerable population, and managing resources to stay out of debt. 

Cross Bronx Expressway is a very interesting and engaging way to learn about the history of American cities as an economic simulation of sorts. Players will have to deal with the conflicting incentives and complex factors shaping urban life and together determine the fate of the Bronx.

We very much enjoyed this one and felt like it was very insightful and thematically connected with the subject and the times to create a very brain melting but interesting experience. I felt like I really had no idea what I was doing…but very much liked it.

We ended up losing the game as it is semi-cooperative and players can lose together due to bankruptcy or the overcrowding of prisons that will lead to higher social difficulties. But we learned a lot and I very much look forward to playing this one again.

We then played our 1st game of the interesting COIN Series like game Werwolf: Insurgency in Occupied Germany, 1945-1948 from Legion Wargames with Dave (a new friend from Michigan) and Gary of Ardwulf’s Lair. The game is designed by Clint Warren-Davey and Benjamin Feine and is an alternate history game, but the story that is presented is entirely plausible. Werwolf was a real underground guerrilla group, comprised of SS and Hitler Youth members. It was intended to lead an insurgency against the invading Allies and Soviets when it became clear that Germany was losing the war in a conventional sense in the mid-1940’s. They did in fact have a few successes and American intelligence officer Frank Manuel said that the Werwolves were prepared “to strike down the isolated soldier in his jeep, the MP on patrol, the fool who goes a-courting after dark, the Yankee braggart who takes a back road.”

The game allows players to take on the role of the occupying Soviets and Western Allies along with this Werwolf insurgency and the Edwlweiss insurgency.

After about 3 hours we finished 3 decks and the Werwolf Insurgency was declared the winner. All had a good time and I am looking forward to taking this to WBC in July and playing again.

I then sat down with Tim Densham with Catastrophe Games and he gave me a look at several of their planned upcoming games. These will all go on Kickstarter in order to fund the publication.

First was a look at War Cabinet, which is an economic and logistics focused take on WWII in the European Theater of Operation.

Next was Afghanistan: Decades of Strife, which is an area control game in the Conflict of Wills Series.

Then we got a look at Brothers of the Sword: Baltic Crusades which is set in 1100 AD.

All of these games will be coming to Kickstarter in the next 6-8 months and I am very much interested in them all. I was able to shoot a 30 minute video interview with Tim with more details and that’ll be on the channel soon.

We then sat down with Steve Jones from Blue Panther and Hermann Luttmann to play the new Dawn of the Zeds Designer Edition which will be available for pre-order in May and will be published at the end of July.

You know well the original Dawn of the Zeds from Victory Point Games and this has now had the rights reacquired by Hermann who is working with Steve to bring it back to life with new art, a new combat system with custom dice and some new characters. We played for about an hour and had the same fun we have always had with the game and I am very much looking forward to this new edition.

We shot a 20 minute video with Hermann and that’ll be up on the channel soon.

We then played our final game of the night, a 4-player game of War of the Ring: The Card Game from Ares with Cullen and Bad Russ. This is a game that I have had on my shelf for a few years, even purchasing all of the various expansions to date, but just have not had a chance to get it played…until now.

This was our 1st play and while it took us a good amount of time to get comfortable with the mechanics, and about 3 hours to play the entire game, we all had a great time and very much enjoyed what it was doing. The art in the game is just amazing and the game play is smart, with lots of bluffing and gamesmanship on how to play and manage your limited cards. Just a very solid multi-player card game.

It is now well after midnight and I am tired. Sorry for the brevity of my comments about the games but it’s just too late.

Tomorrow we have a full 6-player game of Here I Stand from GMT Games at 9:00am and then an evening role playing game with a WWII historical RPG called War Stories from Firelock Games. Should be a blast!

-Grant

Day 2 dawned early and we were out the door by 7:45am for breakfast and made it to the War Room around 8:30am where we finished up our game of Blind Swords Volume 12: Gettysburg: The First Day from Revolution Games. We should a video review and then I walked around the War Room to see all the games that people were playing. I saw Battle Britain from PSC Games, which is a fun beer and pretzels air war game with cool little plastic minis, Littoral Commander: The Baltic from The Dietz Foundation, Company of Heroes: The Board Game from Bad Crow Games, which is a fun and lite miniatures based wargame based on the successful video game franchise, and a new and interesting looking prototype game called Arsenal of Democracy.

With the prototype, no one was at the table though and I found out that the designer had been here but had to leave for the day but would be back later. The game looks to be a card based game that deals with the production of armaments for the war effort during World War II. I am keenly interested and will definitely want to get a closer look at this one soon.

We then sat down with Leslie Jerome to have him introduce us to the Line of Battle Series with Volume 3 To Take Washington: Jubal Early’s Summer 1864 Campaign from Multi-Man Publishing.

Line of Battle is a regimental-level American Civil War wargame system designed for fast-paced, non-stop action by eliminating excessive paperwork and combining fire phases with movement. I feel like this system is a highly playable classic ACW system with lots of very interesting mechanics including activation, order reception and relay, closing rolls, morale checks and close assault. In fact, I love how it creates a great narrative with some of the terminology and naming conventions such as the Blood Lust result fur close assaults and the Cowardly Legs from broken units.

Just a really solid system and we hope to explore more of it in the near future. We do have the next volume in the series on pre-order called No Turning Back: The Battle of the Wilderness.

We then sat down with Steve Jones (aka Steve Panther or Steve Blue as we affectionately refer to him) with Blue Panther Games and did a summary of all of their upcoming projects and fakes incurring getting an early look at Dawn of the Zeds Designer Edition designed by Hermann Luttmann.

This one looks awesome and is a revision of the original game with some added content and rules that realize Hermann’s true vision for the game.

We are playing this with Hermann and Steve tomorrow afternoon and I cannot wait. It’ll be damn good old fashioned gaming fun!

After lunch, we broke out Chicago ‘68 from The Dietz Foundation. Chicago ’68 pits revolutionary spectacle against civil order at the Democratic National Convention riots of 1968. Players take the role of either the Establishment, consisting of the Chicago PD and Mayor Daley, or the Demonstrators, including the Yippies and MOBE, and is a fast-paced game of street battles and political maneuvers.

Each side plays from two asymmetric decks of action cards. The Establishment positions tactical forces and police platoons to co-ordinate mass arrests while working the convention floor. The Demonstrators, on the other hand, can pivot from direct clashes to radical street theater; their tactics can be reactive and unpredictable, allowing for wild cat-and-mouse chases and mischief-making across the tear-gassed avenues of downtown Chicago.

This game is an area control/area influence game that uses cards to take a predetermined set of actions that can be upgraded and replayed with better actions as the game progresses. Each player will fight for control of the delegates to the convention as well as exposure to the nation through the media. Just a very well designed game that was a ton of fun to play.

In the end, Alexander’s Yippies/Mobe coalition won the exposure battle and took home the victory. Very tight game though that came down to the last few card plays. What a great area control/area influence political style tug of war. Loved it!

Our final game of the evening was the long anticipated China’s War: 1937-1941 from GMT Games, which is volume 13 in the COIN Series. China’s War examines the first five years of the conflict, when China stood alone against the Japanese Empire. Each player takes the role of a Faction seeking to attack or defend the Republic of China: the aggressive Japanese, the harried Government (represented by the Guomindang party), the rebellious Chinese Communist Party, or the unruly, fractious Warlords who are obedient when convenient but have their eye on gaining state power. Using military, political, and economic actions and exploiting various events, players build and maneuver forces to influence or control the population, extract resources, or otherwise achieve their Faction’s aims. A deck of cards regulates turn order, events, victory checks, and other processes. The rules can run non-player Factions, enabling solitaire, 2-player, or multi-player games.

This feels like a classic COIN Series game with 3 insurgent style factions against the powerful Japanese. But the focus really centers on the control of the Lines of Communication or LoC’s, which was a very refreshing approach that created some really interesting interplay.

In the end my Japanese were able to bully the other 3 factions and control the LoC’s to take home the victory in an early 3rd Propaganda card . The scores were Japan +3, Nationalists +1, CPC -3 and Warlords -4.

We very much enjoyed ourselves and can’t wait to play again soon.

A great day where we played 3 full games, shot 5 videos and had a lot of fun. Tomorrow is already booked and we are playing Cross Bronx Expressway from GMT Games, Battlefields of the Napoleonic Wars from Ingenioso Hidalgo, Dawn of the Zeds Designer Edition from Blue Panther and then a 4-player game of War of the Ring: The Card Game from Ares Games.

See you tomorrow night!

-Grant