“In Signo Hoc Vinces”. Dive into history and heroism with Crusaders: The Siege of Acre 1291, a Tactical level Solitaire-Only board-wargame that immerses you and lets you experience the last stand of the Knights Templar and the Crusaders in the Holy Land. Relive the courageous stand of some 15,000 Crusader soldiers, Knights Templars, Teutonic Knights, and Hospitallers as they defend Acre, the critical port city in the Holy Land, against a massive Mamluk army of some 80,000 soldiers armed with siege engines and catapults during the Ninth Crusade.

Crusaders is a dice rolling, tower defense, solitaire game. Players take the role of Crusaders and try to defend Acre from the Mamluk attackers. Players win or lose depending on if the walls are breached and enough defenders survive.

-Grant

A few years ago, while attending the WBC, I had the chance to meet Wes Crawford who was demoing his upcoming game Engine Thieves. He was a very nice guy and his game was pretty interesting as well. Since that time, he has another game that has been released designed in partnership with Ryan Heilman in The Pursuit of John Wilkes Booth published by Blue Panther. I had a chance to play the game solitaire (with Wes overseeing the game and giving me guidance and pointers) at WBC in 2024 and have since played the game on my own several times and had a really great time with it. Great little solo game with several other modes where the player uses resources like police and detectives to search for clues in the hunt for Lincoln’s assassin after the events at Ford’s Theater on the evening of April 14, 1865. Definitely not a subject that has been gamed before and it is really refreshing to be able to experience this history in an interesting and engaging game. There really is a lot to like with the way that clues are found and chits are blindly drawn to verify clues from a bag. There is also a great little movement mechanic with police and detectives to try to acquire more clues.

We were able to post an interview with Wes Crawford on the blog and you can read that at the following link: https://theplayersaid.com/2024/12/03/interview-with-wes-crawford-designer-of-the-pursuit-of-john-wilkes-booth-from-blue-panther/

Here also is a link to our video interview after playing the game with Wes at WBC:

-Grant

Black Orchestra begins with each player choosing a historic figure involved in the conspiracy against Hitler. In this dark and dangerous pursuit, motivation is perhaps your greatest weapon. If you can stay true to your convictions in the face of overwhelming threat and inspire your comrades, then you will be able to use your special ability, attempt plots, and even become zealous (necessary for some extremely daring plots).

But every move you make may also increase the suspicion of the authorities. The Gestapo will make routine sweeps, and any players with high suspicion will be arrested and interrogated (possibly resulting in other players being arrested). If you are all arrested or if the Gestapo finds your secret papers, you lose. And the suspicion placed on each conspirator will increase the chances their plots are detected.

On a turn, players may take three actions, such as moving, searching for an item, or drawing a card; or, at the cost of one action per die, roll the dice in an attempt to gain even more actions — at the risk of attracting the suspicion of the gestapo. This dice rolling “Conspire” action allows players to make bold moves when most needed.

-Grant

Europe, 1702. The death of king Charles II of Habsburg left the throne vacant and started a war all over Europe to settle the matter of the Spanish Succession. The Archduke Charles III of Austria, the Habsburg heir, was discarded by the last will of Charles II, signed almost on his deathbed, in favor of Phillip of Anjou, Louis XIV’s grandson, the Bourbon heir. The Grand Alliance has been formed, by the Treaty of Den Haag, by Great Britain, the Dutch Republic, Austria, Portugal and Savoy to preserve Europe’s balance of power and reclaim the throne for the Archduke Charles.

The players, representing the powers of the Grand Alliance, will fight the Bourbon forces composed by French, Castilian and Bavarian troops. Their goal, defined by a hidden agenda, is to obtain the best commercial and territorial concessions, and conquer the Bourbon territories. But this is no cooperative game: the winning player will need strategy and negotiation skills to achieve the best deals with the enemy and thus be the country with the most benefits thanks to the Peace of Utrecht.

In previous turn reverse order, each player decides how to play one of the seeded cards for the current turn. The players may pay from their resources to use the card’s text or may prefer to “sell” the card to execute one action. Each action is available only once for each turn and the players cannot execute the same action in two consecutive turns. The available actions are Recruit troops, Move them across the map or Attack the enemy in adjacent areas. Other choices include obtaining Resources or paying attention to their own countries Public Opinion (a.k.a. Will to Fight), for this will decide the order in which the new Concessions will be dealed. The card deck, composed by the most relevant battles, events and characters throughout the war, includes the exploits of the Bourbon armies to counter the player’s actions.

-Grant

“In Signo Hoc Vinces”. Dive into history and heroism with Crusaders: The Siege of Acre 1291, a Tactical level Solitaire-Only board-wargame that immerses you and lets you experience the last stand of the Knights Templar and the Crusaders in the Holy Land. Relive the courageous stand of some 15,000 Crusader soldiers, Knights Templars, Teutonic Knights, and Hospitallers as they defend Acre, the critical port city in the Holy Land, against a massive Mamluk army of some 80,000 soldiers armed with siege engines and catapults during the Ninth Crusade.

Crusaders is a dice rolling, tower defense, solitaire game. Players take the role of Crusaders and try to defend Acre from the Mamluk attackers. Players win or lose depending on if the walls are breached and enough defenders survive.

-Grant

The year is 1942. Japan has rapidly expanded across the Pacific, bombing Pearl Harbor, capturing key territories, and threatening to dominate Asia. The United States, determined to halt this advance, begins a daring island-hopping campaign to weaken Japan’s hold and force their surrender. Can you lead the American forces to victory, or will the Japanese resistance force the United States to a negotiated settlement?

In War in the Pacific, you’ll allocate limited resources to launch attacks, conduct strategic bombing, maintain supply lines, and seize key islands. Your strategy must be swift and decisive, targeting objectives like Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. As the war intensifies, you can divert critical resources to the
Manhattan Project, researching and developing nuclear weapons. The race to build atomic bombs could be the key to ending the war. Can you balance the demands of the Manhattan Project with the immediate needs of your campaign?

Once you’ve gained a foothold, you’ll face a crucial choice: invade mainland Japan in a costly land assault, or use strategic bombing and nuclear weapons to force Japan’s surrender. Each option is risky as an invasion could end the war quickly, but at great cost, while bombing and nukes may hasten Japan’s
surrender, but could come too late.

With fast-paced dice allocation, resource management, and mounting pressure, every decision could mean the difference between victory or failure in your quest to force Japan’s capitulation.

-Grant

The March 2026 Monthly Debrief Video, which is the 3rd episode in Season 6 of this series, saw us discussing the games of David Thompson. David Thompson burst onto the board game design scene with his 1st game released in 2018 called War Chest, followed closely by the release of Pavlov’s House. His actual first game designed was For What Remains, which is a tactical skirmish game set in a futuristic post-apocalyptic wasteland where factions fight each other for supremacy, but it was not released until 2020 after a successful Kickstarter. Pavlov’s House was his first foray into the historical board game genre and its success has spawned several follow-up games in the Valiant Defense Series. David is a very conscientious designer and wants to put the time in to make sure his games are not only realistic in their play but representative of the time period covered. David also established Digital Capricorn Studios to support his board game design habit and on that website you can learn more about his design philosophy and check out his numerous games.

Also, as usual, we covered the games we played in March, which included the 14 games we played at Buckeye Game Fest.

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

» 05 | 12 2026: Papyria „playthrough“ and rules at Un Monde de jeux (Video – FR).

Amateurs to Arms! is a historical simulation game of the War of 1812. One player assumes the role of the British (including Canadian) forces, and the other plays the Americans. This often-overlooked conflict ended in a draw historically, but this was not the only possible outcome. The Americans clearly wished to annex Canada to their young nation, while the British wanted to teach their former colonies a lesson. The game includes all of the theaters of battle from the war: the US/ Canadian border and the Great Lakes (of course) but also the wilderness of the old Northwest, the Atlantic coast of the US, the Civilized Indians of the south, and the site of the final conflict at New Orleans.

Each turn represents a few months of time (depending on the season). A typical turn consists of dealing out to each player the number of cards indicated on the turn track. The winter and spring turns require a few special tasks. The Americans will have more resources to commit to the war- until Napoleon is defeated in Europe, and the English player can focus more resources on their efforts in North America. Each card can be played for the event described on the card, or for the card’s Operations Points, to move Expeditions, build ships and fortifications, or raise troops.

Events on the cards and on the map will cause the markers on the Peace Track to move forward. This represents the war weariness of each side’s people: bad events will cause your people to demand peace. Most events push inexorably towards peace; only a few rally your people for a longer war. When the two markers meet on the Peace Track, the game proceeds to the negotiations at Ghent, and the winner is determined. Oh yes, and then each player plays one more card, while news of the peace travels across the Atlantic!

-Grant

It has been about twelve years since The Battle for Normandy was originally released. Since that time, new research has been made available, and the game has been played countless times by many players around the world who have provided a wealth of feedback. The game system remains basically the same, allowing players to focus on planning and strategy and not an overbearing rules system. Based on that new research and feedback, many units have been adjusted, all of the maps have minor changes, and some whole rules sections have been revamped to better represent the historical reality, while minimizing further complexity. The original expansion is included in this Deluxe Edition (while remaining optional), and there are also new scenarios.

The Battle for Normandy Deluxe Edition Components
(basically the original game and expansion combined with a few new components):

• 11 Countersheets (9 original, 2 from expansion; some of those dropped; the 70 errata counters are now incorporated into originals, plus some breakdowns dropped making room for the new counters) Many updates but the same graphics.
• 7 Mapsheets  22 x 34” (5 orig, 2 expansion) Many updates but same basic maps.
• Rulebook 44 Pages
• Scenario Book 68 pages
• 1 non-perm marker
• 3 D6 and 1 D10
• 2 Beach Landing aid cards 8-1/2 x 11
• 2 Terrain Effects Cards 8-1/2 x 11
• 2 CRT/Replacement tables  8-1/2 x 11
• 1 Allied Air Allocation log (laminated) 8-1/2 x 11
• 1 German Air Allocation log (laminated) 8-1/2 x 11
• 1 Turn Record Track 8-1/2 x 11
• 1 Utah Beach area map, cardstock (from original expansion) 8-1/2 x 11

New Components:

• 1 Random Events Table (8-1/2 x 11”) card stock
• 12 Interdiction level cards (2×3”, or regular card size)

The Battle for Normandy is a game that represents the climactic campaign in Normandy from D-Day, 6 June 1944 to the first week of August 1944 at primarily battalion level. Numerous scenarios are included to play out various smaller battles in Normandy. It is intended for 2 players or player teams.

-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

Fields of Fire is a solitaire game of commanding a rifle company between World War II and the Present Day. The game is different from many tactical games in that it is diceless and card based. There are two decks used to play. The Terrain Deck is based on a specific region and is used to build a map for the various missions your company must perform. The Action deck serves many purposes in controlling combat, command and control, and various activity attempts. The units of the company are counters representing headquarters elements, squads, weapons teams, forward observers, individual vehicles or helicopters. A single game is a mission and several missions from a historical campaign are strung together for the player to manage experience and replacements. A mission can be played in about 1 – 4 hours.

The Deluxe Edition includes a rewritten series rulebook, with a rewritten third edition ruleset, packed with examples, diagrams and clarifying notes while maintaining continuity with the second edition rules, a Starter Guide, a Full Starter Mission, which is a stand-alone mission tailored towards easing new company commanders into the full game, 4 fully Redesigned Mission Books, Normandy, Heartbreak Ridge, Naktong River and Vietnam campaigns are presented in a clarified and expanded manner, over 200 updated counters plus various additional reference markers and new units, new elevation cards to enhance the Heartbreak Ridge campaign and a completely new set of redesigned player aids including new charts and air assault planning cards.

-Grant

Close Quarter Battles: Waterloo is a game of tactical combat set in the Napoleonic era. With this game, players will be able to recreate the famous assaults on the farms of La Haye Sainte and Hougoumont during the Battle of Waterloo on June 18, 1815. It hopes to demonstrate how ferocious the fighting was around these iconic locations that even today bear the scars of that famous day.

Indeed, the capture of these two farms became an obsession for the French, and thousands of Napoleon’s men would become casualties trying to wrest control of them from the smaller Anglo-Allied garrisons. The fighting was intense, often involving hand-to-hand combat, and raged for hours through woods, orchards, and finally into the farms. Both the attackers and defenders demonstrated incredible bravery and their efforts helped in no small way to determine the outcome of the battle.

-Grant

The February 2026 Monthly Debrief Video, which is the 2nd episode in Season 6 of this series, saw us discussing the Twilight Struggle Family Tree, which covers games that have spawned from or followed closely the tenets of the Card Driven Game system used in Twilight Struggle from GMT Games. We both love the Card Driven Game mechanic and also very much love TS.

Also, as usual, we covered the games we played in February, as well as the games we plan to play in March.

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

In early 2024, Worthington Publishing announced a unique 2-pack of games on Kickstarter that were marketed as easy to play travel friendly solitaire games. And you know that I love a good solitaire wargame! And when I heard that these games were small, even portable, then I was even more interested. One of the games covered the Pacific Theater of WWII called Pacific War 1942 Solitaire and the other covers the War of 1812 called (you guessed it) War of 1812 Solitaire. These games are designed by Mike and Grant Wylie and each game has 4 pages of rules, a beautiful mounted board and double sided counters. I played both and really very much enjoyed the experience.

I wrote a fairly in-depth First Impression post and you can read that on the blog at the following link: https://theplayersaid.com/2024/08/20/first-impressions-pacific-war-1942-solitaire-travel-game-from-worthington-publishing/

-Grant

Taking its roots from SPI’s Central Front and NATO: Division Commander, In a Dark Wood is the fourth module of the C3 series, focused on Command, Control and Communication and pioneered by Less Than 60 Miles – one of the five nominees for the 2019 Charles Roberts Awards as Best Post-WW2, Cold War, & Hypothetical Era Board Wargame.

Several typical wargame mechanics have been reinterpreted, and both sides must fight three equally dangerous foes: the enemy, their own plan and time. Even a simple action can quickly turn into a disaster when facing an opponent using more efficiently the real key to victory: the OODA Loop theorized by John Boyd in the early ‘80s and used today as the basis for several military doctrines.

We published an interview on the blog with the designer Fabrizio Vianello and you can read that at the following link: https://theplayersaid.com/2024/12/30/interview-with-fabrizio-vianello-designer-of-in-a-dark-wood-c3-module-4-the-hof-gap-from-thin-red-line-games/

-Grant

Crusade and Revolution: The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939 Deluxe 2nd Edition is a card-driven point-to-point movement strategic-operational wargame that covers all the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). Its rules are based on Ted Raicer’s Paths of Glory. Each player takes command of one of the sides (Nationalist or Republican), and looks after all the aspects that involve a war including mobilization, recruitment, movement of troops, offensives and construction of defenses. There are also historical events that must be taken into consideration, thinks such as foreign military aid, international policy, change of Republican Government, etc.

-Grant

The Battle of Champion Hill game is called The Road to Vicksburg and uses the Blue & Gray System. It was included in Strategy & Tactics Magazine Issue #103.

The May 16, 1863 Battle of Champion Hill was the largest, bloodiest, and most significant action of Grant’s Vicksburg Campaign. 32,000 advancing Union soldiers met 23,000 Confederates in a fierce struggle for a vital crossroads roughly halfway between Vicksburg and Jackson, Mississippi. The field was dominated by bald Champion Hill, from which Confederate artillery opened fire on the Union army at 9:45 A.M. The first Federal assault on the hill drove the Southerners back with bayonets and clubbed muskets. As the Union soldiers tried to reform and consolidate their gains, they were swept away by a counterattack led by John Bowen’s Missourians and Arkansans. Ulysses S. Grant ordered more men towards the hill and Bowen’s Confederates were themselves driven off, compelling a general retreat. Southern Brig. Gen. Lloyd Tilghman was killed while directing a desperate rearguard action that enabled most of the Confederate army to escape towards Vicksburg. The decisive Union victory at Champion Hill was instrumental in forcing the Confederates out of the open field and into a doomed position inside the walls of Vicksburg.

-Grant

Operation Dragoon: The 2nd D-Day Solitaire Travel Game is a fast-playing corps and division-level operational solitaire game of the Operation Dragoon campaign from the initial invasion that hit the beaches on August 15th to the conclusion of the decisive Battle of Montelimar on August 29th.

As the Allies of the US VI Corps, French II Corps, and US/British/Canadian 1st Airborne Task Force advance, a column of German units of the Nineteenth Army, led by the powerful 11th Panzer Division, is marching up the Rhone River valley to escape envelopment and destruction at Montelimar.

The Allied player, aided by air support and bands of French Forces of the Interior (FFI), must eliminate as many German divisions as possible while ensuring the critical ports of Marseilles and Toulon are quickly seized.

We published an interview on the blog with the designer Dan Fournie and you can read that at the following link: https://theplayersaid.com/2024/08/21/interview-with-dan-fournie-designer-of-operation-dragoon-1944-from-worthington-publishing-currently-on-kickstarter/

-Grant

Drop Zone: Southern France is a company-level wargame covering the Allied airborne assault that spearheaded Operation Dragoon, which was the invasion of Southern France or the Second D-Day on August 15, 1944. The history behind this operation is really very interesting as early on the morning of D-Day, the allied First Airborne Task Force (1st ABTF) parachuted a dozen miles behind the Riviera landing beaches to seize key towns and road junctions, to prevent the German occupation forces from counter-attacking the amphibious landing, and to facilitate the advance of Allied forces. The 4:00 AM parachute drop was badly scattered due to an unexpected dense fog bank that blanketed the battlefield. Drop Zone: Southern France covers the first two days of this airborne operation in six game turns, when the American and British paratroopers and glider-men fought surrounded and alone, supported only by French resistance bands. This game is very good and is just a solid wargame.

We published an interview on the blog with the designer Dan Fournie and you can read that at the following link:https://theplayersaid.com/2024/08/19/interview-with-dan-fournie-designer-of-drop-zone-southern-france-from-worthington-publishing-currently-on-kickstarter/

I also posted several Action Point posts on the different aspects of the game and you can read those at the following links:

Action Point 1 – Overview of Game Board

Action Point 2 – Overview of the Airdrop Procedure

Action Point 3 – Look at Hidden Units for the Allies

Action Point 4 – Review of Chit-Pull Activation Process and Overview of Assets

-Grant