Codeword Cromwell: The German Invasion of England, 8 June 1940

weateallthepies · June 10, 2014, 10:50:42 AM

Just had this pre-order delivered to me.

It's a solitaire game presented as a training module for a potential invasion of England from the same designer of Where there is Discord.

Anyway, it's a thing of beauty, and I'm getting in a Dad's army mood....will be back with an update once I've had a chance to play the thing.

http://www.fifthcolumngames.com/CCindex.html

PanzersEast · June 10, 2014, 10:58:55 AM

Quote from: weateallthepies on June 10, 2014, 10:50:42 AM
Just had this pre-order delivered to me.

It's a solitaire game presented as a training module for a potential invasion of England from the same designer of Where there is Discord.

Anyway, it's a thing of beauty, and I'm getting in a Dad's army mood....will be back with an update once I've had a chance to play the thing.

http://www.fifthcolumngames.com/CCindex.html

You've got my attention!

PE

BanzaiCat · June 10, 2014, 12:54:33 PM

Mine, too. If anything that the company is still around. They had said they were sending me a review copy of Where There Is Discord several years ago, but it never came, and they never replied to any of my follow-on inquiries, which kind of sucked.

Good to know they're still making quality products. Hope their responsiveness is better than my experience with it.

bob48 · June 10, 2014, 01:57:55 PM

Quote from: weateallthepies on June 10, 2014, 10:50:42 AM
Just had this pre-order delivered to me.

It's a solitaire game presented as a training module for a potential invasion of England from the same designer of Where there is Discord.

Anyway, it's a thing of beauty, and I'm getting in a Dad's army mood....will be back with an update once I've had a chance to play the thing.

http://www.fifthcolumngames.com/CCindex.html

...They don't like it up 'em, y'know......

Never seen this before, but it does look interesting.

weateallthepies · June 10, 2014, 02:52:16 PM

Quote from: Banzai_Cat on June 10, 2014, 12:54:33 PM
Mine, too. If anything that the company is still around. They had said they were sending me a review copy of Where There Is Discord several years ago, but it never came, and they never replied to any of my follow-on inquiries, which kind of sucked.

Good to know they're still making quality products. Hope their responsiveness is better than my experience with it.

That does suck, the designer does seem to respond at least from my experience, so you should have had an answer at least.

weateallthepies · June 10, 2014, 02:53:45 PM

Quote from: bob48 on June 10, 2014, 01:57:55 PM
...They don't like it up 'em, y'know......

Never seen this before, but it does look interesting.

They do not like it!

I love the art on this one, it all looks wonderfully British. I'll try and snap a few photos when I have it set up.

bob48 · June 10, 2014, 03:17:46 PM

It reminds me of the mini game, A Very British Civil War' I've resisted buying the rules for ages.

weateallthepies · June 10, 2014, 03:30:06 PM

Oh yeah I saw a big display of that at last year's UK Games Expo I think. Looked excellent. If I had enough money to buy loads of miniatures, had the room to keep loads of miniatures, had space to set up a miniatures game, or could paint miniatures I'd totally buy that. :)

bob48 · June 10, 2014, 03:38:22 PM

Same here. Unfortunately, I my eye's aint up to painting anymore, and after doing hundreds of WH 40K and Space Hulk figs in the past, I no longer have the inclination.

Saw some of the stuff at 'Border Reivers' here in Newcastle a couple of years ago, and came close to buying the rules.

weateallthepies · June 10, 2014, 03:53:41 PM

Well I can actually paint a reasonable(ish) mini, nothing fancy but not too bad. However I just seem to paint incredibly slowly, I'm not sure I'd ever get enough done for a game. I've got Space Hulk 3rd edition sitting on the shelf just begging to be painted but I can't face starting it.

Those rules are intriguing though.

bob48 · June 10, 2014, 03:59:11 PM

I might just get the rules....just out of curiosity. I think they're only about 8 quid.

weateallthepies · June 12, 2014, 05:45:41 PM

OK not had much chance to really get into it but a quick (not great) shot of the thing set up for play:

It really is gigantic, like freakishly so. Possibly not that ergonomic, but I really like it, lots of standing up to gaze over the thing.

Without going into too much detail:

You get a pre-invasion phase where you possibly gain some more equipment, and can adjust the positioning of units. This ends randomly and you move onto the meat of the game which is the invasion phase.

During the invasion phase, German units will spawn at random points around the edge of the map, and slowly advance either horizontally or vertically depending on which edge they spawn. The number and types of units are determined by the invasion track which is kind of an abstraction of how far along the German invasion of England is. This track advances throughout the game due to the card play. When the Germans are adjacent to you you can attack firstly with ranged weapons, then anti tank weapons if needed, and finally close combat. They control areas they successfully advance into and if they either use all their control markers, or manage to make it to the church stronghold at the centre of the board then the game is over. After you attack the Germans, any remaining attack you.

There are four cards decks, British and German strategy event decks, a tactical event deck and a character event deck. The strategic decks affect the invasion track I mentioned before, but you can only draw from one or the other. British events are helpful, German work against you so you have to choose. If you draw from the British event deck though, you have to skip the tactical event deck phase which also often gives very useful events and items/wepaons. The character event deck you have to draw from, and this affects the characters in the game in a number of different ways. All of the cards, have a description in a separate booklet which has a lot of flavour text plus the detail of any actual event. Also if you reach the end of the invasion track the game ends so there is a real balance to which of the strategic decks you draw from so as not to advance the invasion too quickly.

Anyway, at first glance it seems rather a simple system but there is quite a bit going on, with the various characters, items and events and the way the interact.

I'll try and write something a little more comprehensive and clearer when I've played it through and have had more coffee.

Staggerwing · June 12, 2014, 06:16:06 PM

This looks like a great game for a storytelling-type AAR.

TacticalWargames · June 12, 2014, 06:22:25 PM

Made by the same people who did that Falklands War Solitaire game which is supposed to be fantastic.

weateallthepies · June 12, 2014, 06:25:29 PM

Quote from: Staggerwing on June 12, 2014, 06:16:06 PM
This looks like a great game for a storytelling-type AAR.

Yes, my thoughts exactly, and if I find enough time and coffee I plan to so so. :)

It's definitely rich with the theme, and the various characters and items definitely lend themselves to some storytelling fun. I really like alternative history so this is very much my thing.