In the Shadows: Resistance in France, 1943-1944 from GMT Games is a 2-player card-driven game about the desperate struggle of the French Resistance against the occupying Nazi and collaborating French forces between January 1943 and June 1944. In the game you will play as either the Resistance or the Occupation in a fight over the hearts and minds of the French People. The game strives to have players better understand the nuances of the resistance and the clandestine nature of the fight that led to the founding of the fourth French Republic.

The gameplay of In the Shadows is driven by Event cards and Actions based on suits. The game relies on three different suits (the Resistance Cross, the Victory Cross, and the Iron Cross) to determine the cost and effectiveness of your Actions. Narratively, this is meant to represent the vital importance of local networks and resources. You may be working with resources in Paris but need to perform Sabotage Actions in Vichy. In this way, the game can better replicate the choices that the leaders of the Occupation and Resistance needed to make.

We published an interview on the blog with the design team including Dan Bullock, Chris Bennett and Joe Schmidt and you can read that at the following link: https://theplayersaid.com/2021/06/14/interview-with-dan-bullock-chris-bennett-and-joe-schmidt-designers-of-in-the-shadows-french-resistance-1943-1944-from-gmt-games/

-Grant

In this video, I run down my list of the Top 10 Solitaire Wargames that I played in 2024. These games included many that are designed for solitaire play only as well as a few of the games that I played solo but were designed for 2-player. They also included some Print and Play offerings as well.

I also wrote out this list on the blog and you can read that at the following link: https://theplayersaid.com/2025/05/07/grants-top-10-solitaire-wargames-of-2024/

-Grant

Take the role of a general (United States, Russia or Germany) in Aces & Armor, which is a complex (but easy to learn) strategy game. In addition to attack strength and armor of your troops, their tactical setup, combat experience, damage and terrain have a decisive influence on the outcome of the battle. Since each unit brings its own strengths, you must cleverly assemble your army to win the victory over your opponents.

• Cooperative or competitive
• Solo mode
• Detailed miniatures with many different unit types
• High re-playability due to the variable start setup
• Complex combat system that depends on type of unit, combat damage, experience, strategic formation, terrain and armor (known from highly rated game Trench Club)

-Grant

Invasion Normandy by Historical Board Gaming, designed by Kirt Purdy, is a historically accurate D-Day board game developed over three years of design and playtesting. This WWII strategy game immerses players in the Allied invasion of Normandy, featuring a detailed map in three sizes, battleboards for combat resolution, wire-bound rulebooks, reference sheets, and cardstock roundels and markers for strategic gameplay. Plastic pieces are not included, allowing players to use their own game components.

Experience the challenge of commanding forces during one of the most pivotal battles of World War II!

-Grant

As you know, we very much enjoy multi-player wargames and anytime there is a new multi-player game coming out we very much sit up and take notice. In early 2024, Columbia Games launched a Kickstarter for a game on the Napoleonic Wars called Alliance: Multiplayer Napoleonic Wargame. Alliance is billed as a 1-7 player strategic level game of diplomacy and warfare in the Napoleonic Era with a Columbia Block System twist. The game is huge and plays best with more players. The players take on the roles of different nations during the time and you can play as Austria, England, France, Prussia, Russia, Spain, or the Ottomans. We recently played a full 7-player game and had a grand old time. While the game is not perfect, and there are some quirks that you must get past, the game is really pretty fun and interesting and could be one of those main staples at gaming conventions where you need a lot of players. 

I also wrote a fairly in-depth First Impressions post and you can read that at the following link: https://theplayersaid.com/2025/03/06/first-impressions-alliance-multiplayer-napoleonic-wargame-from-columbia-games/

-Grant

The November/December 2025 Monthly Debrief Video, which is the 11th and 12th episodes in Season 5 of this series, saw us discussing Winter Wargames. These are games that feature battles and campaigns that happened in snowy and cold wintry conditions. These involve several different theaters and wars but as you would expect does involve the East Front of WWII quite a bit.

Also, as usual, we covered the games we played in November and December, as well as the games we plan to play in January.

We will remind you here that we are fortunate to be continuing our relationship with Noble Knight Games as the sponsor for our Monthly Debrief Video series. In case you don’t know, Noble Knight Games specializes in hard to find games but also carry all the new releases. But what makes them truly unique is that you can find some of the rarest games, long out of print games, hand made games, imported games from overseas, etc. Thanks to them for their sponsorship and we hope that you will consider them first when looking for the games we cover.

-Grant

Manila: The Savage Streets, 1945 puts the player in charge of the attacking and far more mobile American side while the game system handles the defending and largely static Japanese side. No two games will ever be the same. Each turn presents new and unique challenges for the player in the form of random events, uncertain supply deliveries, and unknown Japanese area strengths and defensive strategies.

The primary game is a nine-turn campaign covering the American assault on the city during February and March 1945. The deeper American forces advance, from the city’s less developed periphery to its urban business district and fortress-like government buildings, the greater Japanese resistance becomes. The number of American units fought to exhaustion, effectively out of action, mounts. American determination to secure a rapid victory for Supreme Allied Commander General Douglas MacArthur, represented as “morale” in the game, gradually decreases. The player wins by equaling or exceeding historical American gains and loses if they fail to do so, or if morale falls too low.

-Grant

Fighting Formations is intended to be an ongoing series of wargames covering WWII tactical combined-arms combat at the platoon and squad levels. Each game in the series will feature a distinct combat unit, highlighting battles in which that unit participated as well as its particular order of battle and fighting characteristics. In this second volume of Fighting Formations, GMT features the US 29th Infantry Division—“Blue and Gray”—as it fought from just after D-Day in June of 1944 to the end of the year.

-Grant

Corvette Command is a dedicated solitaire wargame that places the player in command of a Flower class corvette, guarding desperately needed supplies being transported across the North Atlantic during the early years of the Second World War. Fighting both the harsh weather and the continual threat of German U-boat attack, mission success – and perhaps even the eventual outcome of the war – hinges on the successful passage of the transports.

This one surprised me a bit! Initially, I really had just a tad bit of interest and when I got a copy and started to play, it felt a lot like a chart flipper that can be repetitive. But, as I kept at it the game opened up and I really started to love the mechanics, the dice and how they are used, the crew development over time and then I just fell in love playing it.

-Grant

The post Gift Guide: Restoration Games’ Unmatched Adventures: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles appeared first on Graphic Policy.

Looking for a gift for comic fans that's not just another comic book? Check out Restoration Games' Unmatched Adventures: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!

The post Gift Guide: Off the Page Games’ Corps of Discovery, a board game based on the Image Comics series! appeared first on Graphic Policy.

Looking for something comic related for that fan in your life for the holidays? Then consider the board game, Corps. of Discovery from Off the Page Games.

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