Games You Just Want to SLAP

[Cyrano]

I spent a chunk of time over the weekend playing another round of "Boots on the Ground" by Worthington.  After several play-throughs, I realized I have a category of games in my life: games I want to slap.  These are games with great premises, that have some great ideas, but the developer, for reasons on which I can only speculate, doesn't take the time to polish the fool thing to the point that I don't periodically want to slap it.  So, rather than be frustrated alone, I thought I'd share:

WHY I LOVED IT:

If you don't know, BotG is a fast-playing game of tactical combat set in what feels like the modern Middle East.  It's built around simplicity from its movement mechanics to its differential combat system.  Notionally, it's got a solitaire, MP CO-OP, and MP competitive way to play which makes it a nice value for the dollar.  For both the CO-OP and solitaire variants, the badde guys are run by a deck of Insurgent cards that make for an exciting "A.I." opponent.  More than anything, though, it just hauls.  I taught my wife and son out to play it in less than half an hour and, before you know it, we were shooting at each other, blowing up walls to make doors, and otherwise having a pretty neat time.

WHY I WANTED TO SLAP IT:

1.  The map.  Check this out:



Seriously, how, who let's this smudgy mess out of final review?  I'll cop to becoming more and more of a component whore as I age, but, seriously, this?

2.  The rules.  Somewhere, living in a cave, with only a torch for light and an inkwell from which to draw their own hand-crafted inks, live a lost caste.  Driven from the temple of the righteous by the internet, texters, tweeters, and whatever else, they were once known as EDITORS.  Speak their names with reverence.  Worthington has never heard of them.  Typos abound (it's is used for its so frequently that it's evident (see what I did there?)) that the author didn't know the difference); some rules need significant clarification while others are repeated unnecessarily; the "complete" example of play is honestly one of the worst I've ever read; and the whole affair is in desperate need of a re-organization.

Most grievous, however, is the "wound/kill" rule problem.  Under the rules, if the Allies' die roll ties the Insurgents' or beats it by one, the insurgent is said to have been wounded.  If he beats it by two or more, the insurgent is said to have been killed.  Wounded insurgents are eligible to return to play while killed insurgents are not.  The problem is that the pool of available insurgents is so big, and the card deck which calls for the placement of new insurgents is constructed in such a way, that the wounded versus killed distinction is meaningless.  I spent hours scouring the internet trying to figure out if there was some design decision I was missing or if the developer had simply built in a neat mechanic and then didn't have the heart to abandon it when he realized that it didn't work.

And did I mention that I got the second edition of this game where, notionally, problems of this kind might have been seen and corrected?

Despite this, I really like the game.  Which is why I so want to slap it.  It deserved much better than what its developers were able to provide.  It deserved at least one expansion and maybe more, particularly in new maps.

And now I want to go home and get in another game...

Best,

Jim
"Cyrano"
:/7)

[bayonetbrant]

you map pic is missing ;)

[GJK]

I looked at BotG but opted for Phantom Fury instead.  For games that I want to "slap", I find that I enjoy finishing the product (as I think that it could/should of been) by redesigning the map or counters (or both) and adding to or rewriting the rules.  Most recently I did this with Meng's old classic "Texas Revolution" (thread here somewhere about that).  And yes, counterpoint conceeded; no, you shouldn't *have* to do that but it is what it is with game design.  I remember as a kid wanting SPI's "Commando" so badly- it was on my Christmas wishlist and I just knew that my parents would be getting it for me.  That exciting image on the box cover filled my mind and occupied my dreams during that time waiting for Christmas day.  When Christmas morning finally did arrive and I opened the game, I was immediately disappointed.  There were no maps!  Just 8 1/2 x 11 pieces of paper of a map with squares that you were supposed to write on.  Granted, I let the image on the box sell me on it without really looking in to it (way before the days of boardgamegeek or the internet for that matter) but that was probably the first game that I wanted to "slap".

[Cyrano]

@brant:  Damn you, your new-fangled technology, and the purple winged horse they both rode in on.

@GJK:  That's downright creepy...I had the exact same experience of "Commando" except mine was bought with carefully-husbanded Christmas and other holiday monies...

[Nefaro]

I think the BotG map art is supposed to mimic top-down drone camera footage or something.  It does, indeed, just look like a blurred grayscale mess.

[Jack Nastyface]

Hey cyrano,
Just wondering...does the 2nd edition rules at least address the problem no opportunity fire / over-watch?  IIRC (maybe not), the original version of the rules allowed - for example - a terrorista to run past an allied unit and shoot at them from behind without providing the opportunity for the allied to respond.  I BELIEVE they changed that in version 1, but I haven't checked it out since release.

[Cyrano]

@Jack:  Absolutely did not.  In fact, there's a commentary on the AI rule that seems to encourage that behavior.  This gets weird in CO-OP games when Player "B" is controlling the insurgents against Player "A" and the rules explicitly state that insurgents are to attack Player "A"'s forces and not Player "B"'s.  As a consequence, an insurgent can corner cut (diagonal movement is allowed) out from a window in front of which one of Player "B"'s men is standing (no ZoC), run past half a squad of Player "B"'s men (again no ZoC), just to pop around a corner and shoot one of Player "A"'s men in the back (+3 to die roll).

We tend to house-rule around the worst of that stuff, but it's definitely not fixed in the second edition.

1.  No OPFIRE
2.  No overwatch
3.  No ZoC

Again, so much of this stuff has simple remedies and it's a real pity they were not sought.

Best,

Jim
"Cyrano"
:/7)