Anyone subscribing?
How are the games?
Yeah, I'd like to hear some feedback on this, too. ???
Most of them are absolute disasters. I mean DISASTERS. The first issue with Red Dragon/Green Crescent Jon Compton said 'you would learn more about the South China Sea situation if you played Monopoly instead'. Brian Costello won't even discuss the situation so I'm feeling the bad blood there.There were also 6 full rule errata releases of the rules after release.
Somali Pirates was called 'not even Science Fiction, but pure Fantasy' and they left out a chart that you really couldn't play the game without. We finally got the chart several months later.
Drive on Pyongyang ..../face palm...the victory conditions require you to hold 12 cities on the map...but there are only 11 cities on the map...when asked about how to resolve this Kevin of Big Board Gaming was told to just use one of their WMD facilities as a city replacement ( more in his YT video this is hilarious https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhaPKLLVq60 ).
And who can forget Holy Land...or the Holy F**k debacle as fans refer to it. Here Joe pulled up the wrong file and by the time it was over with they had shipped the wrong counter sheets for the game. This started a row so big on CSW they actually had to delete the thread and stop Joe from posting (Eric stepped in at that point to handle the forums but I've noticed Joe has returned)...even Doc in stepped and ragged on Joe saying that 'he turns in games at the last minute that are to large for the magazine and we just have to whack them down to size'...wow...just wow...
Then there is the Brian Train-wreck. They published two of Brian's games that they pulled his rules from and inserted Joe's 'Netwar/Hyperwar' rules and he didn't know about it till it was published. This started a war between Brian and Eric and I see that Brian has found a new home over at OSS.
That's just a few off the top of my head. I purchased the Green Beret solitaire to give Eric one last chance and will be doing a full review after I beat the crap out of it. If I recall his Vietnam twofer was ok, but then it is based on the F&M rules and Joe had no chance to sabotage it.
Approach games with extreme caution. :)
EDIT: Some links from BT
https://brtrain.wordpress.com/2014/04/11/greek-civil-war-dux/
https://brtrain.wordpress.com/2014/08/10/next-war-in-lebanon-redux/
https://brtrain.wordpress.com/2014/08/25/next-war-in-lebanon-redux-rejoinder/
Because of the subject matter, I was tempted by Visegrad. However, I read some pretty mixed reviews and didn't bother. I'm still interested in trying Red Tide West, but again, some of the reviews (particular regarding air rules) have not been uniformly positive.
I still pick up the magazine itself when a new issue comes out, but I don't subscribe.
That's why I grabbed Green Beret...Eric has tended to be the most stable designer at DG...some of his designs have suffered due to things beyond his control but even he has started getting snarky with players (at CSW)...I think that whole crew is kinda burnt out. It's ashamed. They have the subject matter that interests me the most but I have to pass on so many because I read the reviews as well and get that sinking feeling. :(
But, there are other fish so now I'm about to start trying Vae Victis...they have some interesting subject matter...I like Formosa Fighting Games' magazine, Board Wargaming, as well and wish that JPN wargame magazines would translate as well. There are several 'Storm Over' titles that are still JPN only and I'm slowly trying to collect them all.
I knew about the Brian Train-wreck (I count Brian as a friend in the business and correspond with him semi-regularly). I was curious about the others.
As I recall things were supposed to be straightened out between BT and DG and then all the titles that were in the works showed up over at OSS (BT's Green Beret and Kandahar) and Eric is credited with two solitaire games back to back, Green Beret and Kandahar, which I don't think is a coincidence. I think this was trying to fill the schedule quickly and then back to business as usual.
Now to see if this solitaire system credited to Eric is really just a juiced up version of the JM Commando series rules (Border War/Congo Merc). Eric mentions them but says this is a completely different system. MmmHmm. :)
I like the magazine, even though some of the articles can often times be pretty superficial. Like S&T, the maps, OOBs and TOEs are outstanding.
I do not play any of the games.
I just hope this new issue doesn't disappoint. I had swore off buying DG because of the stack I have that need errata counters, missing charts, etc. I had to laugh the other day when I noticed that NobleKnight is selling a counter sheet with all the errata counters for issues 1,3,6 and 8.