Monthly Archives: April 2018

In A Rut

Boardgames, Review, Solitaire, World War II

Opened up a box and it jumped right out at me!  “It” is an old S&T magaizine game, Saipan.

Why not?  It’s solitaire and is the first game I’ve ever played that has any of my old units in it (2/24 and HQ 24th Marines).

It’s another slog.  Wristage and more wristage; have to reduce 88 (yes 88!), Japanese fortifications, plus the chance of encountering Japanese troops every hex you move into (except destroyed fortifications).  Lots of rolling to do.  I can handle that, but what’s vexing is the step losses.  Yes, one has to use numbered chits to designate losses.  Ugh.

All that griping aside, the system seems viable, with NGF, Air support, Japanese coastal defenses, and reasonable command and control (called Lines Of Communication) rules for Division and Regimental HQs.  All in all, the game seems a reasonable representation of a meat grinder of a campaign.

I have Bloody Buna on the table and now this damn thing.  It is a rut!  Need to get an East Front game out (and not Stalingrad) next!

Mangled Turn 1, forgetting Japanese reactions to Marine movement.  But, it was an easy re-set.  Will try it again tonight.

Ready To Grind

 

More Table Fun

Boardgames, Review

Been playing another small game.  It’s a game with a war theme, so I guess it is a war game.  Realism…….not so much.  Entertainment and Fun……so much.

It’s Pocket Landship, a PNP game I stumbled across over at Boardgamegeek.

The link is for the updated version, with more options and better graphics.  The original looks like this when set up.

No, The Cards Are Not Huge. Yes, The Dice Are Very, Very, Small.

Game is simple and elegant.  In the basic game, you control one Landship, with three components – Hull, Sponson, and Gun.  The enemy has six random elements, including infantry, artillery and other land ships.  Only the front three are in play at any one time.  Roll three die for the enemy.  Assign lowest die to the left unit, and other two in ascending order.  See what happens.  For your Landship, roll three die and allocate as best you can. If you destroy one enemy element, another moves up.  Last Man Standing wins.

Fun and compact.  As the say, a great “filler” game.  Just like TAC, buy this one before it gets snapped up, pimped up, and priced up!

 

Table Fun

Boardgames, Review, World War II

Undertook a mini project when TAD.  It was TAC – Table Air Combat.

This is a simple, fun, inexpensive WWII aerial combat game with a wide variety of aircraft types.  It can be found over at Wargamevault.

You get a PDF copy of the rules with each aircraft type.  The PDF is very well done.  Other help is available for free download.

The aircraft maneuvering card includes all the information you need to fly the aircraft, so after a few plays, and familiar with the general rules, you can seamlessly transition to any aircraft you like.

The counters show a single aircraft on one side, and two aircraft on the other I’m thinking about mounting 1/700 aircraft on a counter for a 3-D effect.

Speaking of 3-D, the system incorporates “energy” as a means of simulating vertical maneuver.  The concept is simple, an aircraft can gain energy by climbing (reducing linear movement), which allows it to gain speed in a dive.

The footprint is very small, making it a great travel game.

For what it is…..it’s great!

Rules are well illustrated, easy to understand and have great graphic qualities.
BF 109-E Turning Into A Polikarpov I-16. Note Data On Manuever Care.

A Little Bloodier

Boardgames, Review + Session Report, World War II

Was able to get through about 12 turns of Bloody Buna before I left for latest elder-care iteration.

It’s easy to understand why the response to this game was muted. Supply is everything, and there isn’t enough of it. Unlike many games where new supply counters are generated every turn, or MSRs linking supply sources to units are lengthy and developed, this game has short MSRs (2-4 hexes), and a very limited number of supply counters.

The result is the need to accept attrition die rolls as the cost of conducting business. While Allied units can huddle in defensive positions near supply sources, they will have to conduct operations far from these sources in order to win. The Japanese face a dwindling level of supply as the campaign progresses, and will have to hold on to their gains in order to eke out at least a marginal victory.

This isn’t the Western Desert. No booming and zooming.

So far, the Japanese were able to advance to Kokoda, eliminating Australian units that were tasked with a delay/defend mission. However, the Japanese are now on half-supply.

Another Japanese force moved east of Buna to cut off Allied forces that had moved west from Milne Bay. Again, both sides will soon be out of supply and subject to random attrition and accompanying loss of combat power.

I’m charmed by this game, if only because of the limitations created by factors taken for granted in so many other games.

Here’s a couple of bad pics depicting the Japanese attack on Kokoda, and the situation when I left.  Number chits indicate supply turns remaining.

 

 

Kriegsspiel Box

Kriegsspiel

Bought the unfinished box down at Hobby Lobby.  Stained it, and now I have a nice atmospheric place to stow my blocks and other instruments of war.

My grandfather was trained as a civil engineer, and these tools were his back in the early 20th century.  Nice way to measure things, and a congenial way to play the game.

Slow But Not Yet Bloody

Boardgames, World War II

Back to playing the Campaign game for Bloody Buna.  Not for the time challenged, as it extends for 43 turns.  The game develops slowly, just like that Sloth/Pictionary commercial that is thankfully off the air now.

The potential for unit attrition dictates modest rates of advance and husbanding of supplies.  Units are battalions or companies, so it is ant-tastic.  But, these can be powerful ants, with the ability to generate high-odds attacks even in unfavorable terrain.

The Japanese have some interesting victory conditions that allow them to not have to take Port Moresby or Milne Bay, but simply threaten it.  This puts the onus on the Allies to contain the Japanese advance, and then roll it back literally to their start point in the vicinity of Buna.

Will post up game summary soon.