Unboxing new games

[bbmike]

Ok, more like "Unbagging new games", but for the first time in decades I bought myself two wargame Christmas presents: Nemo's War and Empires in America. I didn't expect any dice with the games and was surprised to see they included tiny micro dice (you can almost see them on the card deck in the EiA picture below).  ;D

One thing that kinda bugs me - I just discovered Nemo's War Second Edition is being released soon. That fact really should have been mentioned on the Nemo's War page.  ???

[PanzersEast]

Nemo's War is a great game... I have really enjoyed it.  I have Empires in America on my list so let me know how you like it.  I also have Zulus on the Ramparts on my to buy list from VPG.

PE

[bayonetbrant]

I have Empires in America on my list so let me know how you like it.

sigh...  here comes ANOTHER plug for our front page articles!

http://grogheads.com/?p=1455

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[bbmike]

I have Empires in America on my list so let me know how you like it.

sigh...  here comes ANOTHER plug for our front page articles!

http://grogheads.com/?p=1455

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Don't feel too bad, it was that review that helped me decide to buy it.  :)

[bayonetbrant]

Huzzah!

I have Nemo's War, too, but it was mis-cut and I gave up trying to xacto it apart.  Might get back to it during the holidays...

[MengJiao]

Looks great!  O0

  I just unboxed Reluctant Enemies (UK and Co. versus Vichy in Lebanon and Syria June 1941).  Unfortunately or reluctantly, I have just read a mission-by-mission
account of the air war part of that fighting so I added in all the relevant planes from PQ-17 (everything from P-40s to Ju88s -- Yes! the Germans dive-bombed the RN off Lebanon and the P-40 got its first kills on those Ju-88s).  Anyway, as a re-intro to the OCS system it should be interesting:

[GJK]

Round counters for the air units....I'd have "Luftwaffe" flashbacks!

[Staggerwing]

Funny enough Ron Dockal's Schwerpunkt computer wargames use round counters for air units as well.

[MengJiao]

Round counters for the air units....I'd have "Luftwaffe" flashbacks!

The round counters are from PQ-17.  I'm not sure I can work them into the OCS system, though it is odd that after years of research this OCS game leaves out over half of the air war.  And its not like the stuff that is left out had no impact:  Swordfish sank a Vichy destroyer and a J-88 put the RN Destroyer Isis out of action AND the P40s (in Tomahawk form) shot up the J-88s pretty bad (3 shot down, one force landed in Turkey and another 3 got back to Crete but never flew again)  PLUS the Tomahawks wiped out the Vichy Marylands (which aren't in the game either) and did some devastating straffing.  You'd never know that the allied air losses were about 50 from all causes and the Vichy and German air losses were about 250 from all causes.

Interestingly, all those aircraft are in PQ-17 (except the Marylands -- I'll use Il-4s fro those).

[MengJiao]

Looks great!  O0

  I just unboxed Reluctant Enemies (UK and Co. versus Vichy in Lebanon and Syria June 1941).  Unfortunately or reluctantly, I have just read a mission-by-mission
account of the air war part of that fighting so I added in all the relevant planes from PQ-17 (everything from P-40s to Ju88s -- Yes! the Germans dive-bombed the RN off Lebanon and the P-40 got its first kills on those Ju-88s).  Anyway, as a re-intro to the OCS system it should be interesting:

Here is a better version (I think) of the same campaign -- Vance Borreis' Slouch Hats and Eggshells:

[bayonetbrant]

I'm good with almost anything Vance designs.  And he's a really nice guy, too

[MengJiao]

I'm good with almost anything Vance designs.  And he's a really nice guy, too

  I don't know him, but his games are very appealing.  His approach to the fighting in Lebanon and Syria in 1941 is brilliant and makes a good game, I think.

   Some of his analyses seem a bit eccentric -- for example in Rommel's War he claims the Axis had better logistics organizations more or less on grounds the allies tended to have more supply on hand than they could quickly transport whereas the Axis could move relatively more of what little they had.  Which is an odd way to look at the advantages of basically depending on what you could capture at critical moments and it really doesn't seem to have worked very well.  After all in the end the Axis lost eight whole armies and two fleets in Africa and the Middle East while most of the forces that didn't surrender under pressure were marooned there anyway (Italians and Germans in the Aegean area for example) mostly due to lack of supply, transport and logistic infrastructure, not to mention fuel.

  But such things make for interesting games.

[MengJiao]

  But such things make for interesting games.

  Here I unboxed a mildly-sat-upon copy of Enemy of at the Gates (OCS game 2 -- 1994) on top of PQ-18's scatter of not-quite-set-up stuff.  Enemy at the Gates is a sort of time-capsule from 1994 as well as a game.

[MengJiao]

  I just unboxed Reluctant Enemies (UK and Co. versus Vichy in Lebanon and Syria June 1941).  Unfortunately or reluctantly, I have just read a mission-by-mission
account of the air war part of that fighting so I added in all the relevant planes from PQ-17 (everything from P-40s to Ju88s -- Yes! the Germans dive-bombed the RN off Lebanon and the P-40 got its first kills on those Ju-88s).  Anyway, as a re-intro to the OCS system it should be interesting:

And now, Bloody April:

[Nefaro]

And now, Bloody April:

I punched and sorted all the counters late last year but have yet to play it. 

My plan is to run that one with the solo option, then figure out some ways of doing the same with Elusive Victory.  Should be easier with all the dummy counters.