Operation Barclay is a 2-player game of low/medium complexity about the intelligence war between the Allies and their Abwehr counterparts in the Mediterranean Theater of WWII in 1942-1943. Operation Barclay puts players in the shoes of competing military intelligence directors who are attempting to mask or learn the truth about the Allied invasion plans for 1943. The Abwehr must attempt to learn where the Allies intend to land next. The London Controlling Section (LCS), the core intelligence agency responsible for Allied intelligence, must prevent the Abwehr from discovering the truth.

The LCS player uses a variable set-up, placing tiles face down to establish where in the Mediterranean a primary and a secondary offensive will occur. Over the course of the six game months, the Abwehr player attempts to win sufficient evidence tokens to be able to turn enough of these tiles face-up to reveal where the Allied offensives will come.

To win evidence tokens, players build hands of five cards to take tricks, similar to poker. While having the best hand will secure two evidence tokens, correctly betting after each player reveals the first three cards of each hand on who will have the best five-card hand is worth three evidence tokens.

Further, players have ways to manipulate the decks from which they draw. They may create a double-cross deck, allowing them to leave cards useful to them face down in a deck to draw from when they choose later — unless the other player takes those cards instead…but perhaps the player who planted those cards was bluffing and hoping the other player would waste their draw on a useless card. Alternatively, players may draw from their own dedicated deck to augment their hands with unique abilities inspired by historical figures, events, and capabilities. The LCS has access to Ultra — decrypts of German codes — but this alone will not be enough if it’s not used carefully.

We published an interview on the blog with the designer Maurice Suckling and you can read that at the following link: https://theplayersaid.com/2024/06/10/interview-with-maurice-suckling-designer-of-operation-barclay-from-salt-pepper-games-coming-to-gaemfound-june-7th/

-Grant

New Cold War: 1989-2019 is a Card-Driven Game based in the most important geopolitical events from 1989 to 2019. Players lead one of the four great powers (Russia, China, US, EU) in their fight for the new world order. Initially, the confrontation is between the red bloc, consisting of Russia and China and the blue bloc, comprising the United States and the European Union. However, each player must also prioritize their own strategy, as only one power can emerge victorious at the end of the game. Therefore, this game starts with cooperation between allied powers in the early stages but becomes entirely competitive as the moment of final victory approaches.

New Cold War utilizes a Card-Driven game mechanic. Players strive to attain victory by gaining international prestige, dominating the media and increasing their control of countries and different regions of the world. Other key factors to manage include military force and United Nations Security Council vetoes. Players’ strategies are determined by a series of hidden objectives they must pursue to achieve victory.

The game accommodates three or two-player versions and includes a solitaire mode through a system of bots.

We published an interview with design team of Andoni Orive and Igor Plaza on the blog and you can read that at the following link: https://theplayersaid.com/2025/05/19/interview-with-andoni-orive-and-igor-plaza-designers-of-new-cold-war-1989-2019-from-vuca-simulations/

I also wrote a fairly in-depth First Impressions style post for the blog and you can read that at the following link: https://theplayersaid.com/2025/05/09/first-impressions-new-cold-war-1989-2019-from-vuca-simulations/

-Grant

Time of Wars: Eastern Europe 1590-1660 is a card-driven multiplayer game in which players assume the roles of rulers of five superpowers in Eastern Europe – the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Empire of Russia, the Ottoman Empire, the Kingdom of Sweden and the Holy Roman Empire. There are also smaller states – Denmark, Brandenburg, Moldova, Wallachia, Transylvania and the Crimean Khanate. They can be the basis of strong competition between players or the source of internal problems.

The game presents the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries. This period was full of famous figures (rulers and commanders) and critical events – for example Great Sadness in Russia, Thirty Years’ War in the German Reich, “Swedish Deluge” in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. All of this and more are elegantly integrated into the gameplay.

At the heart of the game are five decks of cards – one for each superpower. Each time a player uses a specific card, he has to make a difficult decision – play the card as Operations Points or as an Event. The background of the choice is the need to develop one’s own country or weaken the enemy’s position.

There is a lot of interaction between players during the game. They can declare wars or form alliances through secret negotiations. Winning battles and wars are important, but players must also keep their countries healthy. The game shows factors such as economy, domestic politics, military level and religion. All of them can affect specific player actions.

The game has many options for each player, and each country has its own problems and advantages. Despite this, the gameplay is extremely well-balanced. Moreover, the random factor is reduced to the necessary minimum. As a result, players feel that the fate of Eastern Europe is in their hands and depends on their decisions.

-Grant

Tattered Flags: Into The Whirlpool is a hybrid historical miniatures/board game design that simulates tactical American Civil War combat in a playable format. The game depicts in detail the series of engagements that occurred in and around the salient formed by Union General Dan Sickles’ III Corps as he was attacked by Confederate General James Longstreet’s Corps at the Battle of Gettysburg on July 2nd, 1863.

The game is primarily designed as a 2-player game, one player taking Union forces and the other the Confederate (or Rebel) forces. However, more players are easily accommodated as commands or sectors for each side can be divided amongst multiple players. 

-Grant

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

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

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

Excelsior, heroes, and welcome to a Meeple Mountain preview for Marvel: Crisis Protocol! The box we have today is one of the last ones in Atomic Mass Game’s old release format with two models per box. Moving forward, they’ve stated all boxes will be designed to have at least three models, meaning less space on the shelves and more value for the customers. That being said, they certainly picked a fine duo to go out with in the form of Spectrum and Blue Marvel! Let’s dive right in.

Anti-Matter of Fact: Blue Marvel Swoops Into MCP!

Blue Marvel is a 5-threat powerhouse that’s comfortable brawling up close and personal or taking shots from far away. Anti-Matter Blast is a heck of a builder, letting him blast people at range 4 with six dice. Oh, and did I forget to mention that he always gets to count skulls/failures in his rolls? That means he punches harder than Black Bolt, who was the go-to 5-threat meta menace for most of 2025. And, to top it off, every time he rolls skulls, he gets to power up. He can handle business just fine from far away, but if he manages to get up in the middle of everything, he has a pretty costly…

The post Marvel: Crisis Protocol – Blue Marvel & Spectrum Unboxed appeared first on Meeple Mountain.

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Lese Zeit: < 1 MinuteVorschau auf das storygetriebene Cyberpunk-Abenteuer im Manga-Stil. Tolle Mechaniken, fesselnde Story, und beeindruckende Grafiken. Testspiel auf TTS

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