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.
Battle of Britain from PSC Games.
Littoral Commander: The Baltic from The Dietz Foundation.
Company of Heroes: The Board Game from Bad Crow Games.
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.
We arrived safely on Tuesday afternoon at around 4:00pm and got checked in, unpacked, organized and off to the War Room to get setup and see what was happening. The War Room is back in its original location in the Taft C room which is great because it’s a bit larger than last years room. When we entered there were about 20 people already there and playing and I was immediately excited. I love conventions and BGF is just about my favorite!
Upon entering and getting setup we were approached by a fan of the channel named Leslie Jerome who drove all the way from Lawrence, Kansas. Such a nice guy and his wife was with him and they were a fantastic couple. Leslie has a special talent that he shared with us as he showed off his handiwork which involves creating 3-D boards for his favorite games such as To Take Washington: Jubal Early’s Summer 1864 Campaign from Multi-Man Publishing from the Line of Battle Series…..and…..
…..Stonewall’s Sword: The Battle of Cedar Mountain from Revolution Games….and…
….and A Most Fearful Sacrifice: The Three Days of Gettysburg from Flying Pig Games.
These maps are just amazing and each one of them has such great detail showing the different elevations on the game board. Leslie said each one takes him multiple weeks to create and involves a lot of detail and precision cutting and gluing as well as shading the edges of the elevating terrain with colored pencils. We were really impressed and are hoping to play a few turns of To Take Washington with him tomorrow morning.
After that, our 1st game of the day was Danger Forward: The Battle of Gela, July 1943 from Multi-Man Publishing which is found in the Battalion S3 Operations and Training Magazine Issue #1. This magazine is new and arrived just last week so Alexander was able to read the rules, clip the counters and also read the 40-page magazine which is filled with of strategy and tips n how to play the Battalion Combat Series.
The game is a fantastic entry point to the BCS and was specifically designed as an accessible, entry-level game as a gateway to the series with 1 map, 5 scenarios, and approximately 176 counters.
We played for about 2 1/2 hours and finished the 3-turn scenario and really had a great time with the game. While it is introductory, we still had plenty of opportunity for maneuver, combat and some really great narrative emerged.
As the Americans landing on the beaches, I had about eight 82nd Airborne Units that went through a drop procedure at the start of the game with many of them scattering all over the board and even a few drifted and landed on several German and Italian units which meant they were instantly killed. But the best bit was when one the units, against all odds and totally outnumbered and outclassed, was able to hold a mountain pass road the entire 3 turns during multiple German attacks. They were able to hold them back allowing the 45th Infantry to move up and secure the objective there.
The next game up was Blind Swords Volume 12: Gettysburg: The First Day from Revolution Games. We played the Barlow’s Folly scenario which is a smaller 7-turn affair.
I was the Union, who were in a defensive posture and had few opportunities to activate and make attacks, and frankly didn’t enjoy the scenario we chose. There were a few reasons for that other than the fact that I was getting steamrolled. My commanders had terrible Command Ratings while Alexander’s Confederate leaders were much better. In Blind Swords, players draw chits, which represent specific brigades, divisions, or command events.If a Division or Brigade chit is drawn, the player usually rolls a die and compares it to the Command Rating on the chit to determine if it is a Full or Limited Activation. If the roll fails (or a “Limited Activation” is triggered), the brigade can only perform limited actions, such as firing, instead of full movement and combat. This happened to my brigades over and over. In fact, in turn 2 I failed all 5 activation rolls and most of my units were unable to do anything as they were not in range to do a fire attack.
I also struggled with the difference in strengths of the units as most of the Union units had 4-5 strength as compared to 6-9 for the CSA units. This meant my chances of scoring hits on the multi-step combat process was very poor.
For me, I just think we chose a poor scenario and we are going to continue tomorrow morning a bit and see if we can choose a more balanced scenario. We shall see!
With that, we returned to the hotel room at around 11:30pm to get some sleep as we are going to breakfast at 8:00am and then getting back to the War Room to play several games tomorrow like afew turns of To Take Washington, Chicago ‘68 from The Dietz Foundation,Werwolf: Insurgency in Occupied Germany, 1945 – 1948 from Legion Wargames and some other stuff.
Over the past couple years, we have played a few venerated and respected series games from Multi-Man Publishing for the first time that frankly I had initially turned my nose up at for various reasons. These reasons were not really anything important or truly about the design or mechanics but included things like price, graphic design, style and somewhat because of the complexity and reputation of complexity of those systems. These series included first the Standard Combat Series (SCS) with our first game being Rostov ’41 and now the Battalion Combat Series (BCS) with our first game being Arracourt and since we have played several other volumes including Brazen Chariots and Baptism by Fire. I must admit here that I am actually embarrassed that I hadn’t played those series and readily admit that I just discounted and dismissed them out of hand. I am so very glad that we repented of our stubbornness and found this system because it really is very, very good at what it is trying to teach and demonstrate about warfare at this scale.
So what is the Battalion Combat Series? The Battalion Combat Series is a system designed to model combat at the grand tactical scale from late World War I to the present day. The system has seven published games including Last Blitzkrieg: Wacht am Rhein The Battle of the Bulge (2016), Baptism By Fire: The Battle of Kasserine (2017), Brazen Chariots: Battles for Tobruk, 1941 (2019), Panzers Last Stand: Battles for Budapest, 1945 (2021), Arracourt (2022), Valley of Tears: The Yom Kippur War, 1973 (2023) and now Inflection Point: The Battle for Kalach and the Battle of Chir (2025) and was created to in some ways fill the gap that existed between the operational and the tactical. In my limited experience, the system truly feels much like a smaller scale game, as it deals with various support units and stacking limits are enforced to just a few combat units. The system is fairly crunchy, meaning there are lots of DRM’s and combat modifiers, and attempts to model accurately combat and the importance of both supply on the one hand and command and control on the other. The hallmark of the system is that the games in the series are very playable. I am no expert but this system is made for the gamer while some of the others from MMP, such as OCS, appear to be more for the accurate modeling of warfare on an operational scale. Still playable, but maybe only after the gamer has gained experience with other systems to draw upon that knowledge to assist in digesting the more complex nuances. In this post, I would like to cover some of the basics of the system and deal with things like the way it handles supply, combat, combined arms, activation and air power as well as give you a taste for what this volume in the series has to offer. Overall, I have been very impressed with BCS and have very much enjoyed playing it. In fact, I am really starting to love the series and believe it might be taking over my love of the Standard Combat Series from MMP.
One of the best parts about this new volume in the series is that it is actually 2 games in the same box. One game which is smaller, with fewer counters and formations and that uses a smaller version of the board included in the game and one that is the full campaign with more counters and formations, a larger board and is much more involved. Overall, I would say that the BCS is a fairly straightforward series even for someone who is a beginner and has less experience with the BCS system like me. I think that I thought they were designing Arracourt as the entry to the series, and I still think that is the case, but this volume has some of the same flexibility and approachability that some of the larger titles don’t necessarily have. I feel that players can cut their teeth on this one using the smaller scenario while getting comfortable with the rules and system before you attempt the larger scenarior or even other larger games in the series. I also feel that the game requires somewhat of a paradigm shift before playing. What I mean by that is really two fold.
First, I really feel that usually these big hex and counter wargames are set in their combat methods, namely focused on odds based Combat Results Tables and counting up combat factors to get the perfect odds, and require a bit of calculation. But BCS doesn’t use a traditional CRT but breaks the combat down into more of a collection of DRM’s based on many factors.
Second, the game also has very low counter density, with the scenario we played having about 40 counters per side on the map at any given time, and stacking limits are just 2 combat units with other counters also allowed such as support units or HQ’s. There are not enough counters here to create the long contiguous line or wall of units that are typical in some of the larger systems, which lends this one to a bit more maneuvering of units to get into good position while using terrain to attempt to isolate and cut off units from supply or to prevent the enemy from doing the same to your units. This created somewhat of a back and forth dance for us that kept my focus and attention and was really quite entertaining. Supply is important to the system but not as focused on it as say the Operational Combat Series (OCS). The players must manage their HQ’s and their combat trains to keep their units in full supply and this becomes somewhat of a different type of dance that sees players cautiously keeping their units in a loose perimeter to prevent a freak breakthrough or run around to get to the back of the formations to take out supply sources and cut off units. I really liked the scale and feeling of this BCS system and had a very good time in trying to learn and understand it and also trying to figure out the best strategies to engage.
The counters included in BCS Inflection Point are dual sided but the back side is not to show a reduced unit as is normal with these wargames. The front side is the unit’s move side while the back side is its deployed side. Each of these stances is very important and must be used by each player to get the most out of their units and to take it to their opponent.
Let’s take a closer look at a few examples of counters involved in the game. First off you will notice that the counters are pretty standard using NATO symbols to identify units type with various numbers listed on the top of the counter to include their Battalion, as well as whether they are a two step unit and have breakdown units that are held off map. The units have a colored band shown at the bottom of the counters that identify them as units of a certain formation which will be activated when their activation marker is chosen by the player as this game is Chit-Pull. The 3 numbers printed on the bottom of the counter include from left to right Combat Factors, Action Rating and then Movement, which consists of three different values and two different types. The Red value shown on the armor and mechanized units is the TAC (Tactical) movement, which is significantly better than other movements. White value movement (not shown in the picture below) represents leg unit movement and Black movement is truck movement. Truck movement can get 1/4 movement on primary roads so they can be used to get units up to the front quickly to react and fill holes or vulnerable spots on the front.
Another very important numeric value shown on the counters is their Action Rating, which is shown under the NATO symbol above the combat and movement values. This value represents such items as the unit’s leadership, training, morale, and other soft qualities. On some counters the Action Rating doesn’t change when the unit is flipped for movement or deployment. This value is compared against enemy units in combat and provides a DRM if the attacker is superior to the defender’s value. This rating is very important and we learned quickly to make sure our good units were leading our most important attacks. One other point of note, armor units typically have their Engagement Range increased when they flip from Movement to Deployed. This is a very specific armor on armor combat bonus.
One other important aspect of the counters is the concept of a Combat Train, which is each of the Combat Commands’ mobile supply source that stretches back to the identified main supply source. In BCS, these Combat Train counters are represented by an individual formation counter that has wheels shown on the bottom and then lists the Combat Command number. The placement of these Combat Trains is a very interesting and somewhat precarious part of the design that we really enjoyed. Each Combat Command can only place their Combat Trains in or adjacent to hexes of the various yellow highlighted roads shown on the map. Their resulting Main Supply Route or MSR must then follow along the highlighted road back to one of the various Supply Sources shown on the map and identified in the specific scenario setup. This concept is very important and in my mind really shows the focus of supply on combat and activation as this will add a DRM to the activation SNAFU roll that precedes each unit’s activation to see if they can perform a full action or just a partial.
The really interesting thing about activation in the game was this concept of Fatigue. A formation will track its Fatigue Level with a set of numbered Fatigue markers. The Fatigue level will progress from Fresh through various Fatigue Levels including 0 (which is not considered Fresh), 1, 2, 3 and 4. Fatigue 0 is considered normal (but remember that this is not considered Fresh as Fresh is better than normal) while Fatigue 4 is considered to be exhausted. These Fatigue levels will affect the players SNAFU rolls and will equate to a negative DRM equal to its level. For example, Fatigue 2 is a -2 DRM. Fresh Fatigue gives a +1 DRM but don’t expect much help here as combat and even movement can wear your soldiers down effecting their coordination and cohesion resulting in the addition of a higher number Fatigue marker which will cause a much more difficult time in activating. This Fatigue is tracked by keeping the appropriate Fatigue level marker with the HQ counter so you know where you stand.
The way you will increase Fatigue is interesting as it takes a roll of the die only when certain actions are taken. Each of these actions that can cause Fatigue to increase include placing an Objective Marker (which is like choosing what you are going to attack, barrage or to take control of Victory hexes), conducting any type of engagements or fire attacks, executing a second activation or a full or partial SNAFU. Basically, everything that a formation can do can cause Fatigue. You get to roll a die and consult the Fatigue Increase Table and this table is based upon what type of action you just took as to how likely it is that the result will cause additional Fatigue counters to be added to your HQ. I really liked this part of the system as it just felt really interesting and was a very unique way of handling this concept of battle weariness and effectiveness. As we know, as soldiers fight, they get wounded, run low on ammo, get tired and ultimately become combat ineffective and all commanders must monitor this and make sure that their forces are not pushed beyond their capability. When Fatigue gets too bad, the formation can simply commit to conducting a Fatigue Recovery action when it is activated. No roll needed. The player just reduces the fatigue number down one spot toward Fresh.
I know that a lot of you really love the dense and involved hex and counter games and love your stacks of units lined up in neat lines stretching across the board forming the front. I am not in that group and would much prefer a tight and low counter density game because of the reasons of playability. See my fingers are like small smoked sausage links and I have the finger dexterity of an elephant so playing around stacks of 4-10 counters really makes me nervous ad invariably I will lose grip on my tweezers or just brush up against a stack and cause pandemonium. For me, I really liked the lower counter density of BCS and the scenario of Inflection Point that we chose to play.
The other benefit that I saw from this lower counter density was the concept of trying to scrape too little butter over a large piece of bread. There just never seemed to be enough counters at my disposal to truly cover the battlefield from all avenues of approach and angles and I really found myself searching the terrain and crossroads to select the perfect spots to intercept advancing Soviet units as they moved on the victory hexes that I was tasked with defending. It really caused me to study the board and situation to find the weak or vulnerable parts of my defensive plan and look for ways to improve or back up those weaker areas with reserves or a second line of defense.
To also combat this counter density issue and to keep your formations and stacks all organized, we have purchased counter sled cards that are available online to buy or you can find them on Board Game Geek for several of the volumes that you can print off. These typically hold your conditions like your Fatigue counters, your Prepared Defense posture counter and and any available Support Points. These are a life saver and I highly recommend them. You can get a glimpse of the cards in the above and below pictures. You can purchase these at Make Playing Cards dot com: https://www.makeplayingcards.com/search/search.aspx?ne=inflection%20point
Chrome. We all like it when it is included in the games and this is the case with Inflection Point. In the game, there is a single German tank unit that is radio controlled and is somewhat of a glass cannon as it does some damage but if attacked will not stand up for long. The counter represents a Funklenk Tiger, which was a radio controlled tank that was remotely operated to drive up to a target and open its bins that had a bunch of explosives then drive away and the explosives would be remotely detonated. Mid-war Tigers were used because of their thick armor (prior to that Panzer III’s and StuG’s had been used). Characterized by additional bins, and large radio antennae, the interior of the Tiger would be stripped of heavy ammunition and other unnecessary equipment to make room for the explosives and RC controls.
Finally, I really liked how this game in the series was presented. There are actually 2 separate but related games contained in the box. A smaller game covering Kalach and then the larger game covering both Kalach and Chir River.
Quoting from the game page, we read the following:
Inflection Point is a BCS game depicting two important but relatively unknown battles before and after Stalingrad. The Battle for Kalach was fought in July 1942 following Case Blue, the successful drive into southern Russia. Paulus’ Sixth Army intended to encircle and destroy the Soviet Armies and walk into Stalingrad. The Soviets were still recovering from Operation Barbarossa the year before. The result of the battle set up the epic urban fight that was the turning point of the Eastern Front. By December 1942, the Sixth Army was trapped at Stalingrad by a more capable Red Army. In the Battle of Chir River, the Soviets looked to exploit their gains and prevent German relief operations over a portion of the Kalach battlefield. Initial success along the Chir River changed when the energetic 11th Panzer Division was thrust onto the scene. These two battles show the progression of the Red Army into an offensive army that could start fighting toe-to-toe against the invaders. For the Germans, the days of blitzkrieg successes were waning and were being put on the defensive. There was a marked inflection point around Stalingrad.
They took this history and designed a smaller mini-game on the Battle of Kalach and then the larger game dealing with the whole enchilada or the Battle of Kalach and the Battle of Chir River. The smaller game uses counters that represent the same units that you will find in the larger game but that have special markings on them identifying them as belonging to this game. You will not use these specific counters in the larger game, as it has its own set of counters and a larger map that contains the area of operations around Kalach. I thought that this approach was sheer genius and really hope that people can use this game as a jumping on point for the series. I still think that Arracourt is the prime first game in the series but this one also provides that in a novel and very attractive way.
As is usually the case with these posts, there are a lot of additional parts of the game and series that I didn’t get to cover, but I wanted to give you my first impressions and identify the parts of the design that really spoke to me. This game was a real wargame. An enjoyable wargame at that. A game that used lots of familiar concepts, along with some that were new, such as the dreaded SNAFU roll, but created a game that was very playable yet meaty enough to fulfill my hunger for a good old fashioned hex and counter game. The combat was not odds based so that was also very different and it was really refreshing to be able to play a system that I feel wasn’t simply a clone of other successful systems out there but that attempted to try some new things and do them in a unique and interesting way.
If you are interested, we posted the following unboxing video on the YouTube Channel a few months ago:
Thank you so much for following along and I hope that I was able to do this game the justice it deserves.
We have an ongoing video series on our YouTube Channel called From Cover to Cover where we read a book on a subject and then pair that with a discussion of the book while covering a few games also on the subject. In this thirteenth entry in the series, Alexander takes a look at The Civil War: A Narrative Volume 3 by Shelby Foote. He then discusses a few games on the subject including For the People from GMT Games, The U.S. Civil War from GMT Games and Onto Richmond II from Multi-Man Publishing.
Its the New Year! 2026 is here and I am very much looking froward to what we will discover this year. This month, I was able to find 17 games to highlight plus an additional 3 games that were mentioned by our sponsor Lombardy Studios (so really we are talking about 20 games)! Of that total, 4 games were offered on Crowdfunding.
This month, we have a sponsor for the Wargame Watch in Lombardy Studios. Lombardy Studios is a publishing company founded by Dana Lombardy, a designer and editor with extensive experience in historical books and games. The studio publishes history-themed products, ranging from accessible games to in-depth research materials, and has been involved in many successful projects and television appearances. Dana Lombardy, a member of the Charles S. Roberts wargaming Hall of Fame, started his career in 1972 and Lombardy Studios was officially founded in 2010. Dana has designed many classic wargames including titles such as Streets of Stalingrad, which has a special updated edition called Streets of Stalingrad Reborn that is coming to Kickstarter in 2027, MacGowan and Lombardy’s The Great War Card Game which recently had a successful 2nd Edition Kickstarter campaign, and Russia’s Great War – 1914.
Lombardy Studios also has done 2 other recent Kickstarter/BackerKit campaigns for One-Page Bulge 2nd Edition – Special 80th Anniversary Edition and Bloody Omaha: D-Day Amphibious Assault.
Here is some updated information on both of these projects:
Big Red One Project: 2 books, 2 posters, 1 board game
The Big Red One D-Day Project was on BackerKit and included several things including 2 books, featuring the art of Keith Rocco, 2 large posters and a 2-player and solitaire wargame called Bloody Omaha: D-Day Amphibious Assault. That crowdfunding ended so interested gamers should go to LombardyStudios.com for more information and to order a copy of the game. Here is the link to the web page for images, details, and ordering (includes information on the game): https://lombardystudios.com/ddayshop/
The 2-player version of Bloody Omaha: D-Day Amphibious Assault is not Americans versus Germans. Instead it is a competition between the Big Red One (1st Infantry Division) and the 29th Infantry Division with attached Rangers to see which player can capture the most area on the game map in 10 turns.
The latest update on the production from Dana as of December 2025 is as follows: The files for the game components are going through one final proofreading and will be sent to the printer in January.
One-Page Bulge 2nd Edition
The iconic game One-Page Bulge 2nd Edition by Hall of Fame designer Steve Jackson is a new edition of the solo and 2-player version of the original game published by Steve Jackson Games. The Kickstarter campaign has ended, but gamers can still pledge on the Kickstarter page and order a copy of the solo and 2-player versions, the illustrated historical guidebook, and double-blind components.
Dana has been posting updates on progress with the development of the book and game on the Kickstarter page.
Not often does a game get a 3rd Edition printing! But, sometimes the classics are given this treatment and the games are well received and even much anticipated. Well, the classic NORAD designed by Dana Lombardy has been recently given a 3rd Edition treatment in the Japanese language wargame magazine Banzai. This new 3rd Edition game can be purchased from the Lombardy Studios website minus the magazine.
1. Queen of Spies from Salt & Pepper Games Currently on Gamefound
From the dynamic duo of David Thompson (Undaunted Series, Valiant Defense Series, General Orders Series and more!) and Liz Davidson (budding designer and operator of Beyond Solitaire YouTube Channel), comes the second game in their collaborations called Queen of Spies. Queen of Spies deals with the operation of a spy ring during World War I set in occupied Belgium. It looks very interesting and I am very eager to see more of this one!
From the game page, we read the following:
Queen of Spies is a solo, story-driven board game of espionage and daring missions set in occupied Belgium during the First World War.
You play as Alice — a former journalist turned spymaster — who runs a secret network from the quiet town of Saint-François de Sales. From the shadows, you’ll recruit courageous operatives, train them in specialized skills, and deploy them across enemy lines to gather intelligence, disrupt plans, and complete critical missions before time runs out.
The game is told through several independent stories, each divided into three tense chapters. Each chapter takes around 20 minutes to play, and completing a full story provides a thrilling, hour-long narrative experience — perfect for solo players who want cinematic tension in a flexible format.
Your decisions shape how each story unfolds: who you recruit, where you strike, and how you adapt when things go wrong. Every mission carries risk, every operative is valuable, and the fate of your entire network may depend on a single move. Will you stay hidden long enough to turn the tide of war — or will the enemy close in before your mission is complete?
As of January 1st, the Gamefound campaign has raised €35,537 ($40,763 in US Dollars) toward its €7,000 ($8,159 in US Dollars) funding goal with 1,366 backers. The campaign will conclude on Wednesday, January 7, 2026 at 10:00am EST.
2. Tiger Wings: WWII Tactical Air Combat Over East Asia in Against the Odds Magazine Campaign Study No. 2 from LPS Publishing Currently on Kickstarter
I love air war games! They are always supremely interesting and I really like the tactical nature of maneuvers and positioning. A few years ago, we covered the Buffalo Wings Reprint and recently saw an announcement about a new volume in the Fighting Wings Series called Tiger Wings.
From the game page, we read the following:
Five years ago, Against the Odds Magazine provided an “entry ramp” to the joys and realism of the Fighting Wings System of air combat with our own Buffalo Wings. While fully compatible with everything else in Flying Wings, Buffalo Wings included intro and “quick start” rules, so that players not familiar with the complexities of FW could have “training flights” of a sort, enjoying the game and adding more details as they went along. The idea worked, and Buffalo Wings pretty quickly sold out. Gamers have asked for a reprint, but we’ll go one better– we will put the spirit of Buffalo Wings into a whole new situation – the mostly ignored air campaigns of east Asia and the Pacific in WWII. Outside the Flying Tigers not much is gamed from this period/theater and there is much to be explored!
So Tiger Wings will take us to Burma, Malaya, the Dutch East Indies, and–yes– China, for the Flying Tigers. You’ll enjoy the challenge of pitting the P-40 against the Zero, but you’ll also learn the strengths and weaknesses of lessor-known planes, like the Oscar, Nate, and Nick fighters versus the Hawk, the P-35, and–yes– even some Buffalo fighters (very different from what the Finns were using!).
But we want to include the bombers too! Of course, the Japanese Betty and Sally will be included, but also the lessor-known Nell, Lilly, and the Sonia attack plane.
For the Allies, the veritable Blenheim can appear in several forms, as does the B-17, but you’ll also work with the Hudson, the Dutch “WH-3”, and even the Vickers Vildebeest! Check out Update #4 for a complete list of planes.
We are working on an interview with the designer J.D. Webster and that should be up on the blog in the next week or so.
If you are interested in Tiger Wings: WWII Tactical Air Combat Over East Asia in Against the Odds Magazine Campaign Study No. 2, you can back the project on the Kickstarter page at the following link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/atomagazine/tiger-wings?ref
As of January 1st, the Kickstarter campaign has raised $42,501 toward its $8,000 funding goal with 447 backers. The campaign will conclude on Tuesday, January 13, 2026 at 12:01pm EST.
3. On To Berlin! from Multi-Man Publishing
I really do like it when a company reissues a well thought of magazine wargame from the past. Sometimes these pack-in magazine wargames are take it or leave it but sometimes they hit the mark and have one that is just really good. I think that On To Berlin! is one of these good solid games that Multi-Man is now looking to release as a full boxed wargame.
From the game page, we read the following:
Covering all of the European Theater and North Africa from 1939 to 1945, On to Berlin! allows players to be in total control of their forces and decide the strategy to use throughout the war.
By selecting cards to play each turn, the players decide how they will pursue victory or thwart their opponent.
Will you use Diplomacy to get friendly nations to join you in the war? Will you Develop new weapons to destroy your opponent? Will you build up their military strength by Mobilizing new armies? Will you launch devastating Blitzkrieg attacks against your enemies? Will you destroy your enemies’ resources through Strategic Bombing?
You get to make the choices that will lead your forces to glorious victory or ignominious defeat.
Originally published in Japan in Game Journal Magazine using the same card-play mechanics as “What Price Glory?” this fast-playing game allows for the entire war to be played out in an evening, with tremendous replayabilty as players get to try different strategies. What would happen if German invades France instead of Poland? Can the British convince the USA to join the war before 1942?
I am trying to dig into this one a bit more and get some additional insight to share. I also want to reach out to the designer Tetsuya Nakamura to see if we can do a designer interview.
If you are interested in On To Berlin!, you can pre-order a copy for $36.75 from the Multi-Man Publishing website at the following link: https://mmpgamers.com/on-to-berlin-p-454
4. Commands & Colors: Napoleonics, Combined Edition Vol. I – The War in Spain from GMT Games
The Commands and Colors Series is a simplified and introductory wargaming system designed by Richard Borg. The system is fairly simple and uses a deck of Command Cards, which can be classified as Section cards and Tactics cards, that are used to take actions with various groups of units on a hex board that is divided into 3 sections, including the Left, Center and Right. There are also custom Battle Dice that represent hits, retreats and special actions. The units on the field of battle are made up of figures or blocks. The series have volumes representing various different historical periods, including both modern and ancient, and I have found that there is something to like in the series for anyone’s taste. My favorite of the series is Napoleonics because it has a level of granularity and asymmetry that really is interesting and takes the series to the next level. Recently, GMT announced that they are going to be doing multi-game reprints of the older now out of print volumes in a new Combined Edition Series. In December, they announced the first 2 volumes with Volume I being The War in Spain.
From the game page, we read the following:
The Commands and Colors: Napoleonics system from Richard Borg has long been a favorite with players, largely because it combined a colorful, iconic period of history with a popular gaming system. While the rules at first glance may seem more complex than other Commands & Colors games, if you are familiar with the game system, you are only a few short steps away from taking Command. Even if you have never played before, learning the fundamentals of the game system is straightforward and will be an enjoyable endeavor.
With this new Combined Edition of Commands & Colors: Napoleonics, GMT is changing nothing in the existing C&C Napoleonics game system, but we are combining the first six games of the series into two larger volumes. The impetus for the change is to bring down the overall cost of these first six games by eliminating redundancy in components. All scenarios and units appearing in the first six games remain intact in the two new volumes.
We can now offer the two volumes at a lower cost than purchasing all six of the original games separately, while also making them easier to keep in stock. Here is the financial comparison:
Volume I Contents
The mounted mapboard
Rules for the original base game, Spanish Army expansion and Generals, Marshals & Tacticians (GMT)
Scenario book containing 39 scenarios
Three card decks (the basic 70 blue-back card command deck, the 80 green-back card GMT command deck and the 50 red-back card GMT tactician deck)
2 copies each of the French, British, Spanish/Portuguese national unit cards, terrain effects cards and card lists
Wood blocks (including spare blocks):
330 18mm x 18mm x 8mm blocks
181 22mm x 22mm x 8mm blocks
84 22mm x 28mm x 6mm blocks
sticker sheets for all units
Terrain tile, national square displays and miscellaneous counter sheets
16 custom 18mm silk screen dice (8 per side)
If you wish to play only the base game, Volume I allows you to do this, but it also gives you the option to play with the advanced command and tactician cards which provide greater detail. Adding Volume II vastly expands the universe of Napoleonic battles which can be fought, bringing in new opponents for the French which offer their own unique strengths and weaknesses.
I own all of the volumes and am really glad to see this new offering as it will simply make it more accessible to the wargaming masses and create new opportunities for recruits to the fold.
Here is a link to our Commands & Colors Series ranking video:
5. Commands & Colors: Napoleonics, Combined Edition Vol. II – Napoleon’s Continental Enemies from GMT Games
Volume II in this new Combined Edition Series of Commands & Colors Napoleonics is called Napoleon’s Continental Enemies.
From the game page, we read the following:
With this new Combined Edition of Commands & Colors: Napoleonics, GMT is changing nothing in the existing C&C Napoleonics game system, but we are combining the first six games of the series into two larger volumes. The impetus for the change is to bring down the overall cost of these first six games by eliminating redundancy in components. All scenarios and units appearing in the first six games remain intact in the two new volumes.
We can now offer the two volumes at a lower cost than purchasing all six of the original games separately, while also making the games easier to keep in stock. Here is the financial comparison:
Volume II Contents
Rules for the Russian, Austrian and Prussian Army expansions
Scenario book containing 72 scenarios
2 copies each of the Russian, Austrian and Prussian national unit cards
Wood blocks (including spare blocks):
386 18mm x 18mm x 8mm blocks
222 22mm x 22mm x 8mm blocks
105 22mm x 28mm x 6mm blocks
sticker sheets for all units
Terrain tile, national square displays and miscellaneous counter sheets
If you wish to play only the base game, Volume One allows you to do this, but it also gives you the option to play with the advanced command and tactician cards which provide greater detail. Adding Volume Two vastly expands the universe of Napoleonic battles which can be fought, bringing in new opponents for the French which offer their own unique strengths and weaknesses.
6. Simple Great Battles of the American Civil War 4-Pack from GMT Games
Complexity in wargames can be a significant barrier to people interested in playing hex and counter wargames. Complexity is not a bad thing though and typically is associated with detail and historical accuracy in these combat simulation games. I for one do enjoy a good deep game and don’t mind putting in the time and effort required to read through rules, set up the counters, push them around and through trial and error become comfortable with the game and its mechanics. But, this does keep many out of the hobby and I am always glad when a publisher understands that and issues a simplified or modified system for those that want to ease into the more difficult designs. GMT Games has done this before with their SimpleGreat Battles of History Series and I am glad that they are continuing that effort with the Great Battles of the American Civil War Series. This month they announced the expansion of the introduced Simple Great Battles of the American Civil War Series that was introduced in the Three Days of Gettysburg game with a 4-Pack.
From the game page, we read the following:
Simple Great Battles of the American Civil War (Simple GBACW or the Simple Version), introduced in the soon to be published Three Days of Gettysburg – Deluxe Edition, allows players to fight many of the battles of the American Civil War covered by GMT’s Great Battles of the American Civil War (GBACW) Series using a faster playing, more accessible ruleset. The 16-page Simple Version rules are an alternative to the GBACW Series Rules and are designed both for players new to GBACW who do not want to commit to mastering the Series Rules and for GBACW grognards looking to play and finish the larger scenarios in a quicker time. The Simple GBACW rules have been designed for smooth gameplay without sacrificing the fidelity to history or the game experience.
This Simple GBACW 4-Pack extends Simple GBACW back through several of the previously-published GBACW games: Cedar Mountain (included in Twin Peaks), Death Valley, Battles for the Shenandoah, Into the Woods, and By Swords & Bayonets. The Simple GBACW 4-Pack allows players access to over 50 new Simple Version scenarios, in addition to the eleven included in Three Days in Gettysburg – Deluxe Edition.
Included in the Simple GBACW 4-Pack are six Simple Version Battle Books replace the Series Rules’ Battle Books for Cedar Mountain, Death Valley 1862, Death Valley 1864, Battles for the Shenandoah, Into the Woods, and By Swords & Bayonets. Each Simple Version Battle Book contains all of the set up and game specific information required to play with the Simple Version rules; there is no need to consult the Series Rules’ Battle Books. The Series Rules’ Battle Book rules are converted to the Simple Version rules to retain the history that each designer included to give each battle its own unique feel.
Simple Version Player Aid Cards (PAC’s) are included to replace those found in the original games. Each 8.5”x11” doubled-sided PAC contains all of the charts and tables needed to play Simple GBACW, keeping all of the relevant information at the players’ fingertips. Two copies of each PAC are included for convenience during face-to-face play.
Marker use is kept to a minimum in Simple GBACW. SP Losses are tracked at the brigade level, allowing players to accurately assess the on-map situation at a glance. A few other markers may also be stacked with leaders, but markers for units are removed at the end of their activation.
Simple Version, homogeneous artillery battery counters give players the option to play with single gun type batteries instead of the multi-counter batteries often present in the battle. This option simplifies play and reduces the number of tall stacks of counters.
Bonus counters include Simple Version brigade and division leaders with only the relevant leader rating and additional unit counters for Death Valley so units do not have to be shared among multiple battles.
Note: A copy of at least one of the following games is required to use the Simple GBACW 4-Pack: Cedar Mountain, Death Valley, Battles for the Shenandoah, Into the Woods, By Swords & Bayonets. The Simple GBACW 4-Pack is not a stand-alone game but uses the map, counters, and other components found in the above games as published.
7. The Last Hundred Yards Volume 2: Airborne Over Europe 2nd Printing from GMT Games
If you didn’t know, we loved The Last Hundred Yards! In fact, I loved it so much that it made the top spot in my Top 10 Games of 2019! post. Great game, with some really interesting and unique elements, and I feel that it is becoming one of my favorite tactical games. Not better than Combat Commander in my opinion, but it really gives it a run for its money! In the August 2019 Monthly Update from GMT Games, The Last Hundred YardsVolume 2: Airborne Over Europe was announced and added to the P500. Since that time, it has done well, as has the entire The Last Hundred Yard Series with several expansions and reprints. And now, they are doing a 2nd Printing of Airborne Over Europe.
From the game page, we read the following:
The Last Hundred Yards Volume 2: Airborne Over Europe is the second game in Mike Denson’s Last Hundred Yards series. It includes two major campaigns featuring numerous missions covering small unit actions conducted by US airborne forces in the Normandy and Market Garden operations.
In the Operation Overlord campaign, follow the elements of the American 82nd and 101st Divisions beyond the Normandy beachheads. After being scattered over a large area in Normandy on the night of June 6th, they struggle to assemble and secure their objectives to support the advance of the American units landing at Utah Beach. Later missions feature them defending against the inevitable German reaction and counterattack. Follow Lt. Dick Winters as he leads his platoon in taking out the artillery battery at Brecourt Manor near Ste. Marie-du-Mont and then faces a counterattack from elements of Col. Von Der Heydte’s 6th Fallschirmjäger Regiment.
In the Operation Market Garden campaign, follow the 82nd Airborne Division after landing south of Nijmegen in the early afternoon hours of September 17th as they race to secure critical bridges over the Waal and Maas rivers, as well as those over the canal between them. Follow Lt. Foley and his men as they defend Devil’s Hill against German counterattacks on the Eiesenborne Ridge Groesbeek Heights, a mere 2-3 miles from the German Border.
While the 82nd lands around Nijmegen, the 101st Airborne Division lands north of Eindhoven and begins its own race to secure its assigned bridges over the river Dommel in Eindhoven, the Wilhelmina canal in Son and Best, and the bridges over the Zuid-Willemsvaart and river AA in Veghel. Experience the counterattack by the German Kampfgruppes Hüber and Walther as they cut the main highway near Veghel. It took two critical days of hard fighting for units of 101stAirborne and British XXX Corp to reopen the corridor.
This game will introduce airdrop and night rules, as well as new terrain to the series. Successfully landing airborne troops at night, assembling them from a dispersed condition, and advancing against unknown enemy resistance to secure your objectives will prove a thrilling challenge in this new game. You don’t want to miss it!
8. Berlin: Fall of the Reich, 1945 from Revolution Games
I have really enjoyed the Solitaire Area Movement Series designed by Mike Rinella and published by Revolution Games/Take Aim Designs. The first 2 volumes, including Stalingrad: Advance to the Volga, 1942 and Manila: The Savage Streets, 1945 are just superb solitaire wargames. The game play is superb and I had a really great time with these games having to manage my troops, as losses mount and morale degrades, and also having to fight for the supply points needed to provide those troops with artillery and air support as well as to bring on reinforcements as the game wears on. The newest volume has been announced called Berlin: Fall of the Reich, 1945 and is currently on pre-order but should ship in early January.
From the game page, we read the following:
Berlin: Fall of the Reich, 1945 is the third game in the Solitaire Area Movement Series. Building on the well received Stalingrad: Advance to the Volga, 1942 and Manila: The Savage Streets, 1945; Berlin puts you in the hands of the Soviet Army trying to finish off the dying Third Reich.
I am a big fan of this series and have done videos for both of the first 2 entries.
Here is a link to my playthrough of Stalingrad: Advance to the Volga, 1942:
Here is a link to my review:
Here is a link to my playthrough of Manila: The Savage Streets, 1945:
9. Merville Battery: D-Day, 6 June 1944 from Dan Verssen Games Coming to Kickstarter January 6th
I have long loved the Valiant Defense Series from Dan Verssen Games designed by David Thompson. In fact, it was one of the few solitaire wargames that really allowed me to gain an appreciation for the genre and I have played all of them many, many times. Vincent Cooper is a new designer that has caught onto the series with his first entry called Volume V: Guadalcanal: The Battle for Henderson Field, Oct 23-26, 1942. But now, Vince is turning this series around a bit and going on the offensive with his new entry called Merville Battery: D-Day, 6 June 1944, which is coming to Kickstarter January 6th.
At the time of my writing this, the published Kickstarter preview page doesn’t have much information but I was able to find the following summary of the game and the historical situation from the designer Vincent Cooper’s Facebook page:
In Merville Battery, you take control of the heroic attackers of the 9th Parachute Battalion, 6th Airborne Division in the moments just before the D-Day beach landings on 6 June, 1944, in a desperate assault against the Merville Battery. Your mission is vital. Fail and the British forces landing at Sword Beach will suffer a devastating artillery barrage as they come ashore from the heavy guns of the German 1st Battery, endangering the entire D-Day operation.
Object of the Game
The goal of Merville Battery is to assault the battery compound by passing over mines and barbed wire, withstanding small and heavy arms fire, then disabling the artillery ensconced in four casemates. Your forces must then withdraw safely before the guns of HMS Arethusa open fire on the compound. Unknown to the men of 9 PARA, Oberleutnant Steiner, the 1st Battery commander, may return at any moment from his observation post on the beach at Franceville-Plage and order the guns of the 2nd and 3rd Batteries, located close by, to fire on his own position, catching the paratroopers in the open. The crew of a roving half-track, modified to utilize an anti-aircraft weapon, seeking shelter from the pre-invasion aerial and naval bombardment of the shoreline and surrounding area, may also make a wholly unexpected and unwelcome arrival.
The actions of the defending German 1st Battery, 1716th Artillery Regiment, 716th (Static) Infantry Division are represented by a deck of cards while you make each critical decision on behalf of the British paratroopers.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
The Merville Battery was located in Normandy, approximately 6 miles/10 kilometers east from Sword Beach and less than 12 miles/20 kilometers north east from Caen. It lay directly east from Ouistreham and north east of Pegasus Bridge, on the eastern side of the River Orne. The battery was an important part of the Atlantic Wall. The four massive casemates were believed by British Intelligence to house 150mm guns, which were more than capable of causing massive disruption to the British landings at Sword Beach. In fact, it turned out that the artillery pieces were 75mm French howitzers dating from the First World War and captured during the occupation of France. Nevertheless, the site was identified early on in the D-Day planning as a critical target.
The RAF bombed the compound on several occasions, with one attack killing the original commanding officer, Hauptmann Wolter, on 19 May, 1944, leading to Oberleutnant Steiner replacing him. The bombs though had no effect on the casemates and just disrupted and delayed the rapid fortification of the area for short periods of time. A land-based attack was necessary to ensure the (assumed) heavy guns were fully neutralized and the task was given to Lieutenant Colonel Terence Otway and the 9th Parachute Battalion.
Otway’s plan called for the battalion to drop close by in the night of 5-6 June, form up, march to the battery and assault the base just before dawn on 6 June, 1944. Offshore, HMS Arethusa had orders to open fire on the compound if no success message was received. The plan, often criticized for being too complex, immediately went awry with the parachute landing being scattered. Of over 600 men in the battalion, Otway marched to the battery with only a quarter of that. Much of the heavy weapons and the explosives needed to destroy the guns was missing, as were all of the expert combat engineers who knew exactly how to disable the German weapons. The equipment needed to signal the HMS Arethusa had also been lost in the drop. The paratroopers therefore had to get in and out quickly before they ran the risk of being blasted by friendly fire. Given the encroaching deadline, Otway had no choice other than to order the desperate attack.
The defenders, no more than 150, of the battery were led by Oberleutnant Steiner. The men were not trained for close quarters combat and were almost entirely artillerymen or engineers. It is doubtful that few, if any, were psychologically prepared for a fire fight within the compound itself. They did however have the use of a 20mm Anti-Aircraft gun and several machine guns (the precise number is disputed). They were, in short, more heavily armed than the depleted 9 PARA. Furthermore – an event which to this day remains unexplained – a Horsa glider had crash-landed inside the perimeter during the night of 5-6 June. This was not part of any recorded operation and no one knows where the glider came from, who was in it or what the mission was. All the occupants were gunned down and this, along with the paratroopers dropping all around in the darkness had put the defenders on high alert.
10. Saving Angels WWII Solitaire Wargame Print and Play from Matt White Currently on Kickstarter
A few years ago, we posted an interview with Matt White, who is a very talented graphic artist and budding game designer, that focused on his artistic talents and love of tanks. He has since designed several very interesting small scale wargames, with his most recent series being a World War II tactical wargame series for 1-2 players pitting the British Airborne versus the German Wehrmacht called Until the Bitter End. He then designed the next entry in that series called Until the Bitter End – US Airborne followed by Until the Bitter End – Tanks. He has also done a few others including Would Be Aces, Operation Biting and Today Another Battle that have done very well. Recently, a new game appeared on Kickstarter from Matt called Saving Angels WWII Solitaire Wargame Print and Play, which is a wargame based on the American and guerrilla raid of the Japanese held Los Baños prison camp in World War II.
From the game page, we read the following:
Welcome to Saving Angels, a solitaire World War II print and play wargame. Set in the Philippines during World War II, you are in command of a group of American Paratroopers (11th Airborne Division) and guerrilla forces on a daring raid on the Los Baños prison camp to rescue the Japanese held captives.
You must lead your squads, after hopefully surviving the danger and threat of their airborne and amphibious landings, across to the camp, and engage the enemy. You must secure prisoners and escape before the enemy reinforcements arrive.
US and guerrilla units have rescued some prisoners, whilst other units keep searching. The Japanese reinforcements are entering the prison though, so hopefully the US units can rescue the last few remaining prisoners in time.
The game comes complete with two maps. in the first map you will command your forces from their landings to the camp, whilst engaging any enemy forces. Once you have arrived in the camp you will then continue play on the second map. In the second map you will search the camp, gathering together the prisoners whilst dealing with the enemy before making your escape back across the first map.
Map 1 – Unit Landing and Prison Camp Approach
Map 2 – The Prison Camp
This is a standalone game in my series of WW2 print and play games. All of the digital PDF files are included (you simply print it out, provide yourself with a couple of regular six sided dice and a pencil).
American and allies leave the prison camp with their rescued civilians but pursued by the Japanese
The game is quick to setup and play, with a shorter scenario taking around a hour to play and requires very little space. The longer game playing on both maps can be played comfortably in an evening.
As of January 1st, the Kickstarter campaign has raised $1,331 toward its $175 funding goal with 55 backers. The campaign will conclude on Monday, January 12, 2026 at 3:00pm EST.
New Release
1. Rattenkrieg! from Tiny Battle Publishing
We love a good solitaire wargame and especially one that is designed by Gottardo Zancani. Recently, Tiny Battle Publishing released their new game, that was actually a magazine wargame found in YAAH! Magazine, called Rattenkrieg!.
From the game page, we read the following:
Rattenkrieg! is an immersive, man-to-man solitaire wargame crafted by one of the industry’s premier solitaire designers, Gottardo Zancani (Rifles in the Ardennes, Rifles in the ‘Nam), set against the brutal backdrop of the Battle of Stalingrad, 1942. Originally published in Yaah! #14, this UPGRADED edition (two additional scenarios, additional counters, scenario PACs, AI bot PACs, multi-color dice, boxed game) plunges players into the brutal close quarters combat that defined one of history’s most grueling urban battles. A battle that changed the tide of the Eastern Front. Rattenkrieg! captures the chaos and intensity of urban warfare, where every street corner and every manhole is a matter of life or death!
At the heart of the game is an innovative AI bot, implemented through a Player Aid Card that outlines the logic governing enemy behavior. This robust system ensures that the opposing forces act in an unpredictable and tactically cunning manner, putting players on their toes. This card recreates the thrill of a real opponent without the logistical limitations!
The game also introduces a unique movement mechanic that sets it apart from traditional grid-based wargames. Movement is determined by the physical size of the unit counters, adding a layer of strategic consideration. This feature reflects the claustrophobic reality of urban warfare where a wrong turn has real consequences.
Rattenkrieg! is a solitaire game that promises an action packed experience for hardened and casual players alike! Including 8 highly replayable scenarios where the outcome always hangs in the balance, with 28 unit counters, 60 admin counters, and 4 maps to use them on. Zancani’s masterful design makes this a standout title for players seeking a challenging solitaire experience!
2. Cuba Libre Calixto Bot Update Pack from GMT Games
It is no secret that I love the COIN Series. In fact, Alexander and I have played all of the volumes multiple times and had the opportunity to teach several sessions for new players at various conventions. So to see the series continue to develop these better operating bot systems to allow for improved solo play is a good thing that I think will lead to a greater appeal and reach for the system. The Cuba Libre Calixto Bot Update Pack brings the successful JacquardBot system to Cuba Libre. Like its predecessors in Gandhi and Fall of Saigon, Calixto is quick to use and easy to implement but presents a challenge to any Cuba Libre player.
From the game page, we read the following:
When selecting Operations and Special Activities, cards are drawn from the Calixto deck—there are six cards for each Cuba Libre faction. Each card examines the current state of the game and selects the appropriate action for the active faction. A single, faction-specific table then determines where that action will occur. The same table is used to select spaces for Operations, Special Activities, and Events, minimizing the need to flip between multiple player aids.
One complaint I always have about these Bots is sometimes you can predict their actions and you don’t get a comparable experience to playing with human opponents.
Playing against Calixto feels like playing against a human opponent. It is unpredictable yet responsive to strategic needs, it goes after its enemies while keeping an eye on its ally, and makes moves until now limited to human players—like choosing a Limited Operation to block an opponent’s Event. Calixto can take the place of any faction in a Cuba Libre session and can be used in any combination of player and non-player setups.
Finally, you might be asking where the name of Calixto came from. Well, the game page provides the following:
Calixto is named after Cuban General Calixto García, who led Cuban forces during the Cuban Struggle for Independence from Spain. During the last stages of this struggle, when American forces intervened, Gen. García coordinated with American forces led by General William Shatter and successfully defeated the Spanish in the siege of Santiago de Cuba. Upon the Spanish forces’ surrender, Gen. García was denied entry to Santiago de Cuba and resigned from the Cuban army in protest. García died shortly after the end of the Spanish-American War while on a diplomatic mission to Washington D.C. In his honor, a plaque was erected reading “Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori” – “It is sweet and fitting to die for the homeland.”
3. The Plum Island Horror, 3rd Printing from GMT Games
Hermann Luttmann is a very prolific designer and frankly has designed a few of my most favorite games including In Magnificent Style: Pickett’s Charge, Dawn of the Zeds and At Any Cost: Metz 1870 among others. A few years ago, he announced a new game with GMT Games that is a cooperative horror based game where the player fights against zombies (they aren’t actually referred to as that in the design, but we all know what they are!) called The Plum Island Horror. The game is very fun and very, very difficult but enjoyable and has how had a 3rd Printing which is now being shipped.
From the game page, we read the following:
The Plum Island Horror is a 1 to 4 player game featuring cooperative play that combines tactical-level unit management with a tower-defense style survival mechanic. Each player will control one of six unique factions which represent the various groups that populate Plum Island. Each of these Factions has its own strengths and weaknesses, and the system encourages you to optimize for the group’s strengths and marginalize its weaknesses. Players must coordinate with one another, and the resulting synergy will hopefully be enough to successfully evacuate a city under siege and contain the horrific outbreak that threatens to spread beyond the island itself. If the players can succeed, they will win together, and the world will most likely be none the wiser to the averted crisis. If not, they will lose together and share the blame equally for failing humankind.
Turn Order & Player Count
The Plum Island Horror features a variable turn order system accomplished by drawing Turn Order Cubes from a bag made up of four faction-activation cubes, three Horror-activation cubes, and one “Impending Doom” cube. When a player’s activation cube is drawn, they may move each of their units and then select actions to perform. If a Horrors Cube is drawn, the players must Spawn and Activate a number of Horrors units depending on a Fate Card draw. With the Impending Doom Cube, an Event Card is drawn and immediately resolved. There are always eight Turn Order Cubes in the Turn Order Bag regardless of the player count. For the solo mode, the player will simply play the 2-player version and control both Factions. The 2-player mode has each player controlling one Faction. However, each player also has two faction-activation cubes in the bag (two for each faction). In the 3-player game, each player plays one Faction, but there is a “Wild” faction-activation cube added to the bag; when it’s drawn, the players must decide which faction will take the extra activation. Finally, in the 4-player game, each player controls one Faction that receives one Turn Order Cube.
Following
The Plum Island Horror also features a “follow” mechanic, which adds an extra layer of strategy and a “push-your-luck” element that increases the game’s tension (not that it really needs more tension but making players as nervous and anxious as possible is very satisfying to me). After a faction finishes their normal activation, players have an option to Follow. If they choose not to, nothing happens—impending doom is waylaid for the time being, and the next Turn Order Cube is drawn. If a player does choose to Follow however, they may immediately conduct an out of turn Action with an eligible unit. If that sounds too good to be true, well, that’s because it is. After each Follow action, a player must draw a Fate Card. If the entry indicates “No Event,” then nothing further happens, and the next player has the option to Follow. If, however, the entry shows “Draw Event Card,” then all Hell breaks loose. First, no further Follow actions may occur during this round. Second, and perhaps the worst part, the players must draw and resolve the top Event Card, which is almost always pure evil. All of that to say, the Follow mechanic does add an integral layer of cooperative tactical strategy that keeps the whole table on the edge of their seats.
The Cards
The Plum Island Horror features three unique decks of cards that each drive the game along in different ways.
Fate Deck: The central driving force in the game is the Fate Deck. This deck of cards directs the Horrors’ actions, determines if an event occurs, and provides a random number to resolve various actions. Let’s break each of those down. First, when a Horrors Turn Order Cube is drawn, a Fate Card is drawn, and the two main boxes on the card effectively provide the Horrors’ marching orders. As can be seen in the Fate Card graphic, the top box indicates the track on which new Horrors “Spawn.” Then the second box triggers a track to “Activate,” which moves Horrors further into the heart of Greenport and regularly leads to an attack on players’ units. Second, all Fate Cards have an “Event” determinant which is used when Following (see above). Finally, each card has a random number listed in the lower right known as the “Fate Number.” The numbers emulate the roll of a die with numbers ranging from “1” through “6” that are evenly spread throughout the deck. Whether you are delving the wreckage of a shop for supplies, trying to steer clear of Horrors, or trying to team up with a buddy to get a key location up and running again, this deck of cards often determines the outcome.
Event Deck: These cards are almost always bad news for the players. The two main times an Event Card is drawn are when the “Impending Doom” Turn Order Cube is drawn or when a player takes a Follow action and gets the “Draw Event Card” instruction. These cards can spawn new Horrors, bring in a super-Horror, “Mutation” unit, affect the Biohazard Track, and create all sorts of other dangerous conditions.
Search Deck: Players can do a “Search” Location Action in certain designated areas. If they choose to use one of their precious action points to search, they get to draw two Search Cards and pick one to keep. These come in a variety of narrative styles—some are choices, some are tests, and others report something that just happens. They provide generally positive news for the players, and deciding on where and when a player uses an action to dip into these waters can be the difference between victory and defeat.
4. The Plum Island Horror: More of a Bad Thing Expansion from GMT Games
The Plum Island Horror was announced in June 2021 and has done very well as it is currently on its 3rd Printing. The game is not a wargame but designed by a wargame designer who also just happens to have a knack for great designs that are cooperative such as Dawn of the Zeds. This concept and system is very fun. Plus who doesn’t like zombies? And with the success of the game they have decided to add content to make the game even better and more versatile with the announcement of The Plum Island Horror: More of a Bad Thing Expansion.
From the game page, we read the following:
Well, well, well…you just couldn’t get enough of The Plum Island Horror, could you? And now you went and asked for more “stuff.” Well, to quote AC/DC, “if you want blood, you got it.” Despite my better judgment, the GMT bigwigs have harassed, cudgeled, and shamed me into emerging from my quiet, peaceful retirement and designing more pain and agony for you to enjoy. Bang the drums and sound the trumpets! The More of a Bad ThingExpansion is here.
And this time, we’re not taking it easy on you. We’ve asked our elite research team to dig even farther into the historic archives regarding this event, and they’ve uncovered some interesting elements to the story of Plum Island that are not included in the original game (P.S. They’ve all since been fired for not uncovering this stuff for the game in the first place).
NEW FACTIONS We’ve discovered additional anecdotes and accounts of other groups that were present at the catastrophe and who have their own unique (and quite exciting) stories. To honor them, we’re adding three new Factions for players to choose from:
Oceanside Construction Company: This faction has a personal connection to our developer, Ken Kuhn. Digging deep (pun intended) into his family history, Ken realized that his family owned a construction company on Plum Island during the event! What a coinkydink! So, he has taken the time from his busy schedule and designed this faction for the game.
Rarely does one’s line of work prepare them for an apocalyptic disaster, but once Oceanside’s Supervisor, Becky, got wind of the chaos ensuing on the Island, she steeled her nerves, channeled her favorite actor Ven Dresel, and quoted “YYY” (her favorite movie of his)—”I was born for this sh…”
As a Faction, the Oceanside Construction Company has a “control” style of play. In other words, they focus on controlling the movement of Horrors units and tend to excel in dealing with those really big Murder of Horrors stacks. As can be seen in the Faction Spoiler graphic, Ty “Tuff” Murray’s special ability fully activates when in Close Combat with a Murder of Horrors Stack that is at least seven Tiles tall.
Monkey Island Cult: Secluded on the nearby islet of Monkey Island, the Monkey Monk Cult has been living there for years in preparation for the apocalypse. Their banana-fevered brains initially convinced them that, yes, the arrival of the super-storm and resulting chaos on nearby Plum Island was the sign for which they had been waiting. Jumping aboard their numerous Gilligan’s Island-style rafts, while being escorted by their specially-trained Rhesus monkeys riding even more specially-trained dolphins, they landed on Plum Island to partake in the festivities. Unfortunately, their definition of “partaking” became somewhat fuzzy when the first monk to land on Plum Island was eviscerated by a wandering Horror. Thus, they decided instead to assist the Plum Islanders in fighting off the oncoming hordes. Unfortunately for the islanders, the cultist monks and their entourage were not very well practiced in their preferred method of fighting—the summoning of demons from the Old World.
The sample unit from the Monkey Monk faction is their intrepid leader, Elon Monk. A former billionaire entrepreneur and inventor, he personally trained the monkeys and dolphins on the island (but he had nothing to do with those silly novice cultist monks). And his power of precognition is demonstrated by his “X-Factor” Leader Ability, which allows him to re-draw a Fate Card if adjacent to a faction unit during the Monkey Monk Cult’s Follow action. Pretty cool!
Z.Z.’s Big Top Circus: Hey, who wouldn’t welcome some friendly clowns into their boardgame, right? They’re not scary at all. Our researchers found out that the circus was in town during the catastrophe! We missed it the first time around because, well, frankly, very few people attended this rather dismal and low-budget circus (for example, they only had two rings instead of three). The Z.Z.’s Big Top Circus faction has an interesting variety of characters who will each perform their specialty acts in an effort to rid Plum Island of the Horrors as quickly as possible, so they can re-open the Big Top…to almost no one.
You’ll notice this faction has two sample units. The first is the eagle-eyed Fannie Oakley who can run and still shoot the eyebrow off of a cockroach (yes, she actually did that while fighting a hideous new Mutation unit—see below). The other unit is the faction’s Compound, the Clown Car—another Compound that can conduct movement. It has great handling and thus can dodge the Horrors niftily and has an unlimited capacity for housing Civilians Units (of course).
In addition to the additional factions, there is a new Nightmare Mode, that ratchets up the action, additional cards, new short scenarios and more. This looks like it adds a lot of additional flexibility and options to the players and options are never bad.
5. Depths of Courage Volume 9: Operation Source– The X-Craft Attack on Tirpitz, September, 1943 from High Flying Dice Games
Once again, High Flying Dice Games is doing their thing, delving into lesser known conflicts, and bringing us fun and playable little games from history. Paul Rohrbaugh has been working on a series of solo play format games called Depths of Courage, which revolve around small 1 and 2 man submarines and their operations during major wars including the Civil War, World War I and World War II and beyond. The newest entry in the series is Depths of Courage Volume 9: Operation Source – The X-Craft Attack on Tirpitz, September, 1943.
From the game page, we read the following:
Depths of Courage Volume 9: Operation Source is a solitaire game on the British X class mini-sub attacks against the German capital ships in Kåfjord, Norway on September 23, 1943. The main target of the raid was the powerful German battleship Tirpitz. Two other German warships were also anchored not far away; the battle-cruiser Scharnhorst and pocket-battleship Lutzow.
The active player takes on the role of the commanders of the British X class mini-submarines. You must endeavor to overcome the German defenses and night-time visibility to inflict as much damage as possible before being killed, captured or escaping, and then escaping. Can you do as well or better?
If you are interested in Depths of Courage Volume 9: Operation Source – The X-Craft Attack on Tirpitz, September, 1943, you can order a copy for $16.95 from the High Flying Dice Games website at the following link: https://www.hfdgames.com/xcraft.html
6. Iwo Jima: Hell On Earth from Neva Wargames
Neva Wargames is a new publisher who appeared on the scene last year. When I started seeing their posts on Twitter and Facebook, I was immediately impressed with their interesting topic choices for their upcoming games as well as the fact that they are trying to make small footprint wargames that pack a punch. And the art is also very appealing and brings an aesthetically pleasing and attractive look to their games! The day has finally arrived and they have their first game released called Iwo Jima: Hell On Earth and it looks really good!
From the game page, we read the following:
Iwo Jima: Hell On Earth is a hex & counter wargame based on this iconic battle. This challenging solitaire wargame puts you in command of U.S. Marine Regiments as they battle entrenched Japanese Battalions during the iconic 36-day Operation Detachment. Each game turn represents approximately four days, condensing the intense conflict into nine turns of strategic decision-making.
The Battle of Iwo Jima, a pivotal moment in the Pacific Theater of World War II, stands as a testament to the indomitable spirit of the human will and the immense cost of victory. This brutal conflict, fought between the United States Marine Corps and the Imperial Japanese Army, unfolded on the small volcanic island of Iwo Jima, a mere 660 miles south of Tokyo.
From February 19 to March 26, 1945, American forces waged a relentless assault against a well-fortified enemy, determined to seize control of the island’s strategic airfields. Iwo Jima was crucial to the Allied war effort, serving as a vital base for fighter planes escorting long-range bombers on missions to the Japanese mainland.
The battle was marked by fierce resistance from the Japanese defenders, who had meticulously constructed a network of underground tunnels and fortifications. The Marines faced relentless attacks, as they fought their way across the island’s rugged terrain. The iconic image of Marines raising the American flag atop Mount Suribachi became a symbol of American determination and sacrifice.
The Battle of Iwo Jima was one of the bloodiest battles in Marine Corps history, with thousands of American and Japanese soldiers losing their lives. The island’s volcanic ash and the intense fighting conditions made it a grueling ordeal for both sides. Despite the heavy casualties, the Marines ultimately achieved their objective, securing Iwo Jima and bringing the United States one step closer to victory in the Pacific War.
7. Sea & Steel: Columbus’ Voyages from Neva Wargames
The 2nd newly released game that Neva has is called Sea & Steel: Columbus’ Voyages and this one also looks very interesting.
From the game page, we read the following:
In 1492, Christopher Columbus embarked on a historic voyage that would forever change the course of human history. Believing he had reached the Indies, he landed on a Caribbean Island, unaware that he had stumbled upon a new continent. This momentous event, later known as “The Discovery of America,” marked the beginning of an era of exploration, colonization, and cultural clash.
Sea & Steel: Columbus’ Voyages is a historical board game that immerses players in the tumultuous years following Columbus’s arrival in the Caribbean. Players take on the roles of either the Spanish conquistadors or the indigenous peoples, each with their own unique objectives and challenges.
The game spans the period from 1492 to 1505, encompassing the four voyages of discovery led by Columbus and the subsequent Spanish colonization efforts. Players will use Event Cards, to gain control in the 15 distinct Caribbean land zones. The game incorporates historical events and challenges, such as the construction of palisades, gold mining, and the maintenance of Spanish ships. Players must carefully manage their resources, deploy their units effectively, and adapt their strategies to the ever-changing game state.
As usual, thanks so much for reading along and sticking with me this month as I navigated through the many websites and game pages looking for new and interesting games to share.
Finally, thanks once again to this month’s sponsor Lombardy Studios!
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