Review of Combat HQ by Jim Bambra

 I joined Jim's team of readers he's recruited to help him test out new ideas and as a resource to be an advance reader (which means a free copy of the rules...however, in this case, I'd bought them before I joined.) and provide a review of what I think. 

Perhaps many rules writer's do this, but this is my first experience I appreciate a creator looking out for ideas and constructive help in creating their products. 

To the rules. I downloaded his free set of armor rules (still available as of this writing) and then ended up purchasing the full set, which should say something. As of now, I've only played a small sample solo game of the armor rules. 

If you download the armor rules you will get a good idea of the flow of the full set which includes infantry, arty, and a few special rules about motorbikes, machine guns, open-topped vehicles etc. He's talking about future books covering more details like airborne, amphibious, etc. It would be nice to have it all in one book, but there's plenty here to keep most gamers busy. And his prices are so reasonable, that I don't mind the idea of paying a little for each release. 

Oh, there are a few army lists, US, German, Soviet, and Commonwealth - all late war. However, if you go to Jim's website he's been adding lists on his website, lardy style.
What I like most about these rules is that he covers them very thoroughly and from the perspective of a gamer. From what you need to play as far as markers onto the most simple steps to begin playing. Perhaps this comes from his computer game programming background where you must be detailed and thorough. 

That said, they're not complicated. I would say they're more complicated than my favorite set of miniature rules, Blitzkrieg Commander II and less complicated than one of my top five, Command Decision: Test of Battle.

I heartily recommend them for gamers looking for miniature rules where the stand = platoon and they want to fight engagements from WWII because of their details and low cost.

Amazon purchase link - not affiliate

Combat HQ website

NUTS Initial Impressions - Enjoy the Movie or Comic Book

A certain type of gamer will like NUTS!, by Two Hour Wargames. The type I'm thinking of: if you want to recreate the cinematic flair of a 40's/50's war movie, then this may be your type of game. If you like the idea of adding a small level of role playing to your miniatures game, then this may be your type of game.

Understand I'm only to page 18, but when I was reading the section entitled "Stars and Grunts" I was hit with how this game was different than say, Bolt Action or Blitzkrieg Commander or Command Decision. Besides the scale/level of play differences, there's a different approach. Command Decision is more "serious" in it's approach, stick to the facts. Blitzkrieg Commander abstracts more, but still seems to come across as more "serious". Now Bolt Action is definitely going for some of that cinematic feel (look at the covers) but i didn't get that vibe reading through them and playing them.

I don't want to get to the "realistic" debate. I'm strictly talking feel/vibe/groove of the game. And when I read the following (italics mine), I realized that I need to take a more relaxed attitude toward the game:

WHY USE STARS?
One question that may be asked is why do we use Stars in THW? It's to give the player, personal control of his character. All Grunts are controlled by the Reaction Tests. They will behave according to their quality and training but more importantly will respond to the situations that you put them in. Grunts will behave in a realistic manner that balances a desire to stay alive with the desire to do their job. But Stars? That's you. You will see that you have much more freedom, as in real life, to do what you want, as well as some distinct advantages that separate you from the Grunts.

STAR ADVANTAGES
As a Star in NUTS! - Final Version you have four important advantages. These are:

• Star Power (Allows you to shrug off damage, to a point)
• Larger Than Life (You can't be killed with figure/character with a lower Reputation than you.)
• Cheating Death (When killed, by an equal or higher Rep character/figure you can leave the fight and come back to fight another day with one lower Reputation. We'll discuss Reputation in a future post.)
• Free Will (You can ignore certain reaction tests.)

 In addition to this there are reaction tests which basically means guys start and keep firing back at each other until someone is dead or ducked into cover and out of line of sight.

You can also give one or all the figures an attribute (choose or roll from 36 choices). They can be brave, wusses, slow, fast, strong, etc. The fact that he bounces back and forth between calling the miniatures, "figures" or "characters" says a lot of the feel for the game.

He's designed it in such a way that you don't need to use the attributes if you don't want, which is nice as I learn the game. If you don't want to know this level of detail of your fighting men and have crazy heroics happening that may not be "realistic" then you may not want this. However, you read stories of crazy bravery/stupidity/etc that amaze in war accounts, so why not have them happen on your table.

As far as the rulebook itself so far. I like the way they're laid out. The PDF is bookmarked meaning you can click on the index and go to the section/page. That is nice.

Speaking of Table of contents, they are comprehensive and are accompanied by a detailed index.

So far it seems well laid out and giving information to me in small bites.

The last thing I'll speak to about the rulebook, the instructional/textbook method of having questions and reviews after certain sections. See below for an example of one. Ed is introducing many new concepts here and he stops after each section and asks questions and highlights issues in each section. That is pretty cool.

As I learn them and get some minis on the table I will give more feedback. But in the meantime, enjoy the movie/comic book of a game that is NUTS!

Delta Vector Reviews Ronin

I know I put the samurai gaming ideas in the deep back recesses of my little mind a while back. But the allure of gaming the period still fascinates me.

from Wikipedia Commons

I noticed a while back Ronin and have been tempted though skirmish games kind of turn me off a bit. What seems cool about them is that you can really have a story, characters' names etc. A lot like the role playing battles. But I've come to enjoy the role playing portion of role playing more than the battles...which is something I didn't think would happen.

But I'm trying to think what I don't like about skirmish...too small of a picture of action? I'm not sure.

That all said, I was tempted again after reading Delta Vector's deep look at the game and it's mechanics.

Alpha Strike Unit Cards - Video Review

You've seen the blog review and now here's an in depth video review of the unit cards.



Also, I would like to thank SeanFitz, Sean, Paul Waechter, Andrew Saunders, Ferb (good blog btw), Vladdd309, and brathac for signing up to follow the blog.  Remember, you can always click on the avatars up top to see what other blogs they follow and if they have a blog of their own.

Alpha Strike Preview Available!

July 29th is the day that the PDF of Alpha Strike will be released.  At this time you can pre-order the hard copy version.  I'm verifying with some on the forums if this means the hard copy will be available at Gen-Con.  Of which I will not be attending.  I wonder however, if I could get a friend to pick it up for me.  My only concern with that scenario, long lines.  I would hate to ask them to wait for me.

We'll see.

Anyway, the rules don't look like they've changed much over Quick Strike.  But man, is it ever nice to have it all in one place.  It streamlines some of the hassle of converting QS to miniature rules etc.

I sat down and had a Google Hangout to go over the free Alpha Strike preview book.  Kind of silly I suppose, but it was my way of going through it live.

By the way, I should've been painting the faces on my Germans, but alas, I was too excited about this release.  One night lost.

PanzerBltiz Carentan Expansion Overview

The Operations magazine and expansion all in one easy review for your viewing pleasure:

PanzerBlitz 2 Unboxing

Giving this bad boy another try after trading it off about 2-3 years ago:




Btw, purchased this at a store called The Gamer's Armory.

Plastic Soldier Company 15mm Russian Infantry Opening

Title says it all and the video says the rest...what? Anyway, here you go:

Must Resist Another Game

Continuing from the last post where I was visiting all the cons I couldn't go to, I learned more about a couple of new games that are tempting...

Dust Warfare, mainly because the models are very cool and pre assembled. Though, I can't imagine I'll go through with it because of the scale - 28-30mm. But they are cool. The following picture is from the Fantasy Flight Website - go check it out:

The other one I learned of, Hawk Wargames (not much to see here, just a splash page), when I heard Neil's second Salute episode on the Meeples and Miniatures Podcast. HW has created a 10mm Sci Fi miniature game called Dropzone Commander. Sounds like it's going to be expensive to get started. So I may not play, but these miniatures are incredible. My 9 yr watched the video below and said, "Those would be fun to paint."
The following photo is from the Mr. Bug Man blog - go check out his post on this to see more pics.

Here's the Beasts of War interview of the creator of Dropzone Commander:



All that said, must resist the calling for another game.

Also, posting will be slim for the next 2-3 weeks because of my work with Geekway to the West as the Volunteer Enwranglement Officer + other duties as one of the board members. There's still time to register for this boardgame con featuring 4 days of 24-hour gaming fun.

Command Decision Normandy to Lorraine Review

A few months ago I mentioned that I was going to be listed as a play tester in the newest Command Decision: Test of Battle Scenario book - From Normandy to Lorraine, by Jake Strangeway.

I finally ordered it and received it last week. Opened it up and there I am! I showed my 9 year old and he got a big grin on his face and said, "You're famous. Kind of."

I've not played any of the scenarios yet. However, I wanted to give an overview of what's inside.

It covers U.S. v German actions from June 7, 1944 to September 19, 1944.  Strangeway decided, I think wisely to spit up the US and Commonwealth scenarios.

I like this, for a couple of reasons. One, It gets the book out to the market more quickly. I don't own any Commonwealth forces to game with anyway. And it helps me to not be even more tempted to get other forces in this year of a seriously cut back gaming budget. (Side note: nothing saying I couldn't use my US forces as proxy or use the scenarios with tweaks here and there for this or other game systems.)

 Some of the scenarios accommodate up to 12 players. However, turns out there are a couple that are suited for 2-4. Also, most take place on 6' x 8' tables.

The book has a comprehensive table of contents then includes a brief history section. I like having these because I always learn something new. Another aspect that is nice is that Jake incorporates the scenario titles so you see a bit of the bigger picture of what was going on.  For example,

"To the north, the Americans crossed near Diulouard, and secured a crossing there, beating back a German counterattack. A more complete account of the fighting can be found in Scenario 8: "Forcing the Moselle." With the German counterattack halted, Combat Command A of the 4th Armored Division began a mad dash into the enemy rear, covering 45 miles in a day and a half."

Following the history are a couple pages covering special rules, scenario guidelines, advanced rules used and how to read the maps.

Speaking of maps...they are crazy bocage heavy, obviously. Especially the early ones. Crazy, even using cm instead of inches, I would need to work for some time to get enough hedges to make a dent.

The map to the right is from Scenario 5: Duel at Barenton. This is one I play tested, see pic below it. I'm standing to the top right of the map and taking the picture to the Southwest. Here are pics from the game on my Picasa page.

The Scenarios are laid out:
Scenario Title
Date of battle
Situation
Notes: Number of Players, number of turns
Special Rules
Historical result
Map in 12" increments
Then the armies, including
Tactical notes like the following from the US side on Scenario 5:

"Your job is to press forward on your right, while checking the German advance on your left. Your mobility in your half-tracks is a great advantage, as long as you stay on the roads..."  (It continues for a couple more sentences.)

Deployment guidelines
OOBs
Special Notes for the army
Then the Army Data Chart

There are a few black and white photos spread throughout. They're OK. I liked the photos in the Operation Market Garden book better because there were more of them (It seems, but I didn''t count.) And, they were captioned to tie them to the scenarios. 

Honestly, I probably won't play many of the scenarios in this book based on their size... at least, at my house. Jerry, who I play tested these with has all the resources and group to game some of the more giant ones, and it would be years before I get there. However, I've noticed in our games that you could divide up the scenarios into sections (Left third, middle, and right third) and battle just that side for one on one. 

For example, in Scenario 8, Forcing the Moselle, the other one we play tested,  most of my time in the game was fighting one other opponent as he took the town I was in. Now, the thing you would want to do, is to have an option for reinforcements to simulate the other players on the field possibly coming to help. When we played the game we had a tank battalion that was supposed to come in and help us out. However, as it was coming on board, the German got an incredible shot, across the table, taking out the lead tank. It essentially took them out of the a large chunk of the game.

(You can see that roll and hit in the video below. This video, btw, covers all the basic steps in the sequence of play, if you're unfamiliar with CD:TOB.) Also, here are pics from the Picasa album.

To sum it up: I would buy more, especially, In the Clutches of Eagles and the Benghazi Handicap. If for nothing more than to have more scenario options and because they're well done and I want to support the crew at Test of Battle. Here's a link to the Test of Battle online store and their listing for From Normany to Lorraine.
For the main rulebook.


Command Decision: Test of Battle has a great forum, btw, if you want to ask more in depth questions of the author and players with way more experience with the game than I have.