Wargamer's Corner

Well, this comes as a shock. RIP John Tiller. Brain cancer claims another victim too soon. He was a great designer.

Wow. Shock indeed.

Hey Don! Hope you are keeping well.

Robear wrote:

Well, this comes as a shock. RIP John Tiller. Brain cancer claims another victim too soon. He was a great designer.

Just came to post this. RIP.

What are your favorite John Tiller games?

The Panzer Campaigns and Panzer Battles series. I love the Normandy ones, and the Japanese invasion pair are good fun. The Dutch campaign module that came out recently (Scheldt) is also very interesting.

RIP John Tiller

I've got a friend who wants to play a VASSAL game PBEM together. I know that some (many) of the modules might be out of date? I'm wondering if anyone might have a recommendation for a low-to-moderate complexity (maybe 3-4 on a 1 to 10 scale), relatively short (maybe 2-3 hours if played live) VASSAL module that would be up to date and make a good introduction to the system?

RIP John Tiller. I never played any of his games but it's always sad when cancer takes someone.

Matrix has just released Warplan Pacific, which we discussed a few months ago in the context of strategic-level Pacific War games. Grey Hunter (of WitP: AE fame) has a video series up. Anyone here tried it?

Mind Elemental wrote:

RIP John Tiller. I never played any of his games but it's always sad when cancer takes someone.

Matrix has just released Warplan Pacific, which we discussed a few months ago in the context of strategic-level Pacific War games. Grey Hunter (of WitP: AE fame) has a video series up. Anyone here tried it?

I was looking at it yesterday and watched their intro video. I thought conceptually it looks exciting. I still have the first Warplan in my backlog, and want to play some of that before I get this new one. And I'll probably wait for it to hit Steam and be discounted some. My backlog is massive, so lots to play.

I've never checked out any of the John Tiller Software titles, but after he passed I took a look and they have a series called Modern Air Power which looks totally up my alley. Has anyone played them?

Godzilla Blitz wrote:

I've got a friend who wants to play a VASSAL game PBEM together. I know that some (many) of the modules might be out of date? I'm wondering if anyone might have a recommendation for a low-to-moderate complexity (maybe 3-4 on a 1 to 10 scale), relatively short (maybe 2-3 hours if played live) VASSAL module that would be up to date and make a good introduction to the system?

Of the most recent games that I and my friends have been playing in our wider group, we've been playing Imperial Struggle (a bit more complex that you're looking for, I think), Paths of Glory (same as IS) and C&C: Medieval. The latter has a decent module and should only take an hour or two. However, it's very easy to save and re-commence on VASSAL once you know how to do it, so don't let that stop you from multi-session games.

Godzilla Blitz wrote:

I've got a friend who wants to play a VASSAL game PBEM together. I know that some (many) of the modules might be out of date? I'm wondering if anyone might have a recommendation for a low-to-moderate complexity (maybe 3-4 on a 1 to 10 scale), relatively short (maybe 2-3 hours if played live) VASSAL module that would be up to date and make a good introduction to the system?

I’d recommend Sekigahara. Low complexity, nice aesthetics, and one of the best wargames around.

Thanks, Natus and Gunner, that's very helpful.

I was reading about this a bit last night after I posted and bumped into a couple of conversations about the distinctions between a good VASSAL game and a good PBEM VASSAL game. Stuff I hadn't considered before.

I remember that Sekigahara came up in one of the threads I saw as well.

Here are some others that got mentioned:
A Victory Lost: Crisis in Ukraine 1942-1943
Pax Renaissance
Manoeuvre
Churchill
Washington's War
Breakout: Normandy
Ardennes 44
Tonkin
Liberty Roads
Russia Besieged
Twilight Struggle
Clash of Giants II

I've played the Vietnam version of Modern Air Power. It's like Harpoon or Command Operations for air stuff. I prefer Command, but it's been a long time since I played, so I might have forgotten aspects of it.

AVL is a simple chit-pull system. Unfortunately, I remember there being a lot of downtime. Might be better via VASSAL than ftf.

Pax Renaissance is multiplayer (as is Churchill) but very good. So is Pax Pamir 2.

Manoeuvre is *perfect* for a low-complexity wargame, as is Washington's War. I think Twilight Struggle is better played via the Steam/IOS app.

Clash of Giants is a good medium-weight wargame, and the most complex of these few I've discussed.

^Nice, thanks! That helps narrow things down quite a bit. There didn't seem to be much emphasis on complexity in the threads I found. Eventually I'm fine with moving to more complex games, but for a first foray into VASSAL and PBEM, we were thinking simpler would be best.

I remember someone mentioning that they like AVL better as PBEM because there is so much downtime for one of the two players, I forget which side.

I think the basic things we're looking for are these:
Simple rules to minimize mistakes, not a lot of impulses to reduce back and forth, smaller turns to minimize the damage of mistakes, and a relatively short game to allow us to move on to the next thing.

I'm going to check out Washington's War and Manoeuvre a bit more this weekend. Also looking at Twilight Struggle via Steam. I knew that looked familiar - it's already in my library.

Godzilla Blitz wrote:

Also looking at Twilight Struggle via Steam. I knew that looked familiar - it's already in my library.

Repeating an open invite to you and the rest of the group to come find me on Steam if you'd like to play Twilight Struggle or Labyrinth sometime. Aside from a couple of home games, I've only played the AI and the flowchart bots and would love to try my hand against some other opponents

GioClark wrote:
Godzilla Blitz wrote:

Also looking at Twilight Struggle via Steam. I knew that looked familiar - it's already in my library.

Repeating an open invite to you and the rest of the group to come find me on Steam if you'd like to play Twilight Struggle or Labyrinth sometime. Aside from a couple of home games, I've only played the AI and the flowchart bots and would love to try my hand against some other opponents

I installed Twilight Struggle this morning and played through the tutorial. Only the vaguest idea on how to do things so far.

Godzilla Blitz wrote:

I installed Twilight Struggle this morning and played through the tutorial. Only the vaguest idea on how to do things so far. :)

There are some good beginner's FAQs around, but I don't have a favorite off the top of my head. I know it's been discussed a bit above, but here are some tips that have helped me

- Unless you're feeling super casual or just curious, learn to play as the US first. The USSR sets the tone of every game by going first every turn/round. This means learning how to contain your opponent and mitigate the effects of their actions. A beginner in the USSR chair makes for chaotic playthroughs that aren't representative of a game between more seasoned players. This also forces the US player to plan ahead and practice containment while looking for openings (a wonderfully thematic design element).

- Cutting your losses is an important tactic to learn, especially if you get a bad draw. Example - In my most recent game, I had a Turn 1 hand including mostly Soviet events, one 'unheadlineable' US event and one score card. I headlined the score card for 0 VP because it was the best possible outcome for that card.

- Learn how the scoring by region works and what the different levels of Presence, Control, Domination mean and how to achieve them. Also understand how Asia includes SE Asia for scoring as well keeping in mind that the SE Asia card only scores once and tends to score early on. Keeping ahold of Thailand to maintain Asian dominance is smart.

- Space Race is a nice mulligan, but remember that when forced to play an opponent's event, you can choose to have your opponents events fire before you decide what to do with the points. You can often completely neutralize an event by spending points to unwind any gains made by your opponent. Deciding to burn an opponent's event on your terms can help you gain ground and avoids the risk of it popping back up in their hand next time.

- Remember that certain regions like Africa, South America and Central America are largely idle in the early game. Avoid opening up those theaters until you can gain and maintain a decisive advantage in overall influence

- Learn how to get your military actions done early before Defcon gets forced too low and you lose VP unnecessarily. Once you gain some experience, learn how to force your opponent to trigger Defcon 1

I'm sure the rest of the group has their own tips or more comprehensive strategies. This is just off the top of my head.

Godzilla Blitz wrote:
GioClark wrote:
Godzilla Blitz wrote:

Also looking at Twilight Struggle via Steam. I knew that looked familiar - it's already in my library.

Repeating an open invite to you and the rest of the group to come find me on Steam if you'd like to play Twilight Struggle or Labyrinth sometime. Aside from a couple of home games, I've only played the AI and the flowchart bots and would love to try my hand against some other opponents

I installed Twilight Struggle this morning and played through the tutorial. Only the vaguest idea on how to do things so far. :)

The issue with games like Labyrinth, Twilight Struggle, and Imperial Struggle is that veterans have a huge advantage over new players. Of course, playing a learning game is a great way to grok the system.

Castle Itter just appeared on Steam for, like, $9. Amazing. That's a no-brainer. I'll try it tomorrow, just looked through the rules online today. Uses the same basic system as Pavlov's House, but this is, ah, much wilder in topic. French political prisoners of war work with German renegades and an American tank with a few infantry in support to fend off SS attacks on the castle prison they occupy, while waiting for American units to show up in force. Solitaire only.

GioClark wrote:
Godzilla Blitz wrote:

I installed Twilight Struggle this morning and played through the tutorial. Only the vaguest idea on how to do things so far. :)

There are some good beginner's FAQs around, but I don't have a favorite off the top of my head. I know it's been discussed a bit above, but here are some tips that have helped me

...snip...

This is awesome, thanks so much for taking the time to write that up. I lost my first game to the AI horribly, then found a strategy guide online that at least dialed me in a bit to what I should be thinking of while playing. Your write-up will help even more. The tutorial did a good job of introducing the rules, but didn't really help much with figuring out why to do something.

Reading some of the strategy guide, it's just NUTS how many levels deep they are going. Some of the advice is just crazy. "You should play this card early in the turn, unless you have this other card and the USSR hasn't yet played into South-East Asia." My head was spinning after a few minutes.

But yeah, what a brilliant game. I'm going to try and get a real copy too. I can think of a couple of people I'd like to play with locally too.

After letting Sherman Leader sit in its box since last Christmas (largely because of a bad review), I decided to give it a shot today. What a fun game!

Some images from our first week in a North African campaign...

Unboxing...
IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/Y0j1WEq.jpg)

Mixed US forces attempt to halt a German advance battalion.
IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/Np7qYuQ.jpg)

German armor burns in the desert.
IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/OxVWRxq.jpg)

Lieutenant Jacobs and his Sherman took a beating, but took out two Panzers and an armored car.
IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/HTj6xSa.jpg)

If you don't have time or space for the board game, try Armoured Commander 2. (Addressed to everyone, I think GB has already encountered it.) Turn-based WW2 tank company operations in a Roguelike framework. Wonderful game.

Edit - Sucks that your Skilled commander is wounded, though.

Robear wrote:

If you don't have time or space for the board game, try Armoured Commander 2. (Addressed to everyone, I think GB has already encountered it.) Turn-based WW2 tank company operations in a Roguelike framework. Wonderful game.

Edit - Sucks that your Skilled commander is wounded, though.

I hadn't made the connection, but in many ways this feels similar to Armoured Commander 2, for sure.

At the end of the week, you can use your generic operational points to do things like repair tanks and remove wounds. Jacobs was back in action the following week, fit as a fiddle but pretty stressed out.

I finished the introductory North African campaign last night. We ended with a "good" victory, one level lower than the highest level. I was making a mistake in how I was calculating hits, though. I'm not sure it would have mattered to the result, but I'm curious to try another campaign and see the difference.

I have enjoyed that game and look forward to getting it out again, when I get space on my table again lol. It’s been drafted into service as a workstation desk.

Robear wrote:

I have enjoyed that game and look forward to getting it out again, when I get space on my table again lol. It’s been drafted into service as a workstation desk.

Ain't that the truth! I had Atlantic Chase and A Distant Plain come in recently but I needed to use the room for gaming to run some remote seminars last week, so I only got the table back up and running yesterday morning.

I can say that I'm really enjoying a return to board wargames, though. I spend so much time in front of screens for work.

There is a delectable tactile and visual experience that comes with boardgames.

Robear wrote:

There is a delectable tactile and visual experience that comes with boardgames.

And it's necessary fore those of us who spend too much time ion front of screens. I'm noticing that I'm taking my games off the shelf and sifting through them more often than I usually do.