The Best War Game of 2008 is?

dan daly wrote:

What do you think the Milton Bradley Gamemaster Series is?

Axis and Allies
Fortress America
Shogun/Samurai Swords
Conquest of the Empire

What do I think they are? Ameritrash and family games.

KingPut: Why limit yourself to 2008 games?

The main purpose of this post is to talk about the newer war games from 2008. But if you want to throw in your all time favorite or an older game that you played for the first time in 2008 that's cool also.

Harkonnen13 and others don't get hung up on the way I categorize war games, you can categorize them however you like. For me, I separated them by complexity but maybe size, scale, time period, etc. may make more sense.

Beer & Pretzel: Easy, short war games. More of the Ameritrash type war games. A&A, C&C and this years manuevre.

Medium weight or card driven: Newer style card driven war games.

Hard core: Hexes, combat tables and lots of rules.

On my gaming New Years resolution list: Play Here I Stand, Successors, Warriors of God and Espana 1936.

Napoleon's Triumph would win this for me.

If it makes 2008 - which it probably won't - then Unhappy King Charles is shaping up as a good contender for the CDG crown.

Right, but what will it be? His other P500 got axed. OTOH I'm not sure a hardcore wargame company like GMT is really the best place for him.

Huh, I had not heard that...that's too bad, it looked pretty cool. MANOEUVRE system in a strategic level WWII game set in...Poland, 1939.

I _don't_ think GMT is a good place for his kind of game, I think I actually said that in the review. Where would he fit? Hasbro.

MANOEUVRE is the kind of game they would have taken a chance on 15-20 years ago. And it's the kind of game that kids would have played and remembered fondly. It could have been that next step up from STRATEGO.

Harkonnen13 wrote:

Lagduf wrote:

For some reason I feel drawn towards The Devil's Cauldron.

It just looks like a helluva lot of fun.

I may eventually have to get a title in the new Grand Tactical Series.

No Question of Surrender will be a lower cost entry point. I think MMP might reprint TDC eventually, might be worth waiting for if you're thinking about buying it.

I'm definitely going to start with one of the cheaper games in the series once it comes out.

Eisenbach Gap was pretty fun. It brought me back to the days of reading Team Yankee and the ground war sections of Red Storm Rising. Just wish I could find a Navy game that's just as fun and simple to play (The victory games are close though).

Lagduf wrote:

I'm definitely going to start with one of the cheaper games in the series once it comes out.

I'm with you there. I've pre-ordered No Question of Surrender.

-Will

KingPut wrote:

KingPut: Why limit yourself to 2008 games?

The main purpose of this post is to talk about the newer war games from 2008. But if you want to throw in your all time favorite or an older game that you played for the first time in 2008 that's cool also.

Hard core: Hexes, combat tables and lots of rules.

If that's the case then I have to vote for This Accused Civil War. I've had it sitting on my shelf for over a year so I determined to finally learn the Musket & Pike system. Lots of interaction and lots of fun. (Those cavalry pursuit tables are brutal) I've had an interest in 17th century European warfare and the M&P system scratches that itch nicely.

On the flip side I've been reading the Operational Combat Series rules from my copy of Tunisia. Man that system looks cool and I want to learn it badly. However I haven't gotten it on the table. Tunisia and Burma have a lot of smaller scenarios I could likely solo. Eventually I'd love to participate in one of the monster campaigns. Is it a bad sign that I'm considering buying a copy of Case Blue?

On my gaming New Years resolution list: Play Here I Stand, Successors, Warriors of God and Espana 1936.

That's a worthy list.


-Will

KingPut wrote:

Beer & Pretzel: Easy, short war games. More of the Ameritrash type war games. A&A, C&C and this years manuevre.

Medium weight or card driven: Newer style card driven war games.

How does easy and short wargame translate to Ameritrash? How is Manoeuvre Ameritrash? How does medium weight translate to newer style or CDG? Kind of hard to answer the question when the question isn't clear.

Harkonnen13 wrote:

No Question of Surrender will be a lower cost entry point.

i really wanted to check out this series, but the scenario for this one just completely fails to get my attention.

moss_icon wrote:

i really wanted to check out this series, but the scenario for this one just completely fails to get my attention.

Yeah kind of a hard battle hard for some to get enthusiastic about. I've ordered it because I've already tried the system and that was the biggest persuader. Africa battles are cool too.

I'm not clear if you want the best games of the year for the purpose of having a discussion or debate, or if you're looking for recommendations of recently published games.

For best game of the year I would vote for Valor of the Guards, ASL Historical Module 7. I do not recommend that you buy that game though. For one thing it is not a stand alone game. You'd need the ASL rulebook and Beyond Valor to play. If you are looking to buy a tactical World War II game, Conflict of Heroes is a good stand alone game. It's easy to learn and play. There is plenty of strategy and detail, and the production values are fantastic.

For best cdg this year I would vote Pursuit of Glory. I also like Kutuzov, though I have only played solitaire. Again if you are looking for a recommendation, I'd instead suggest you get their parent games: Paths of Glory and Napoleonic Wars. They are older games.

I'm actually inclined to say CONFLICT OF HEROES is almost best-in-class...every time I play it, I'm thinking that it has pretty much everything I want in a WWII tactical game. It doesn't have the widescreen production of ToI, it doesn't quite have the narrative and cardplay of CC:E, and it doesn't have the intense level of detail or depth that ASL has but the sum is that I think it may, in time at least, turn out to be the one to keep out of that lot. It's extremely playable, easy to teach, and yet it hits all of the high points.

I'm actually really looking forward to FIELDS OF FIRE...it looks like an interesting system and I like that it has more than just WWII scenarios. And I can play it by my damn self.

I only own one game published in 2008 and that is B-29 SUPERFORTRESS. It's a good game, but I wouldn't count it as one of the best of 2008. Maybe if it would in the Solitaire War Game category, but I have yet to play FIELDS OF FIRE, which I pre-ordered.

Alas, I can't nominate any games of 2008 here, but I can still state which in my opinion are the best war games I played this year in each category:

Best Two Player Hard Core War Game of 2008?

LOBOSITZ: FIRST BATTLE OF THE SEVEN YEARS WAR


Best Card Driven War Game of 2008?

TWILIGHT STRUGGLE


Best Multi-player War Game of 2008?

CLOSE ACTION


Best Beer and Pretzel War Game of 2008?

TRENCHFOOT

I thought I quite liked Manoeuvre, but I haven't gotten it to the table in a bit or been all that anxious to do so. Hmmm. Well, I may have to rectify that.

I have Conflict of Heroes: Battle of the Subtitles! but haven't opened it yet, though I've read the first section of the rules. I really just need some time to sit down and mess with it. I was hoping this would be one my friend and I could knock down at lunch, but it may end up being too long for that. (Some games, like BattleTech, I'm willing to set up, break down, and set up again at work. Some, like Manoeuvre, I'm not so crazy about doing that for. We'll see where CoH fits.)

Part of the reason I haven't gotten to it yet is that I've been meeting with a guy and playing CC: Med. I'd had Europe but hadn't got much play in on it, thought it was kind of frustrating, etc. The Med scenarios are pretty fun. I had promised myself after buying CoH late in November that I wouldn't keep my preorder of CC: Pacific. Then I started reading the rules. Chad had me at "banzai." This "volume" may well be the best of the three, theme implementation wise.

I had to cancel on a Napoleon's Trimuph game. I need to get back to that. The rules seem very clear and cool. I like how it abstracts terrain effects.

I got FAB: The Bulge, and I like the rules there, too, but, like NT, I just haven't had the concentrated time for it. Plus, I got scared about the advisory to spray the counters with a finish to seal them, and I definitely haven't had time for that. (Plus, I'm worried I'll just muck 'em up.)

So, as you can see, the spirit is willing but ye olde flesh be weak. Fewer buys and more plays is the name of the game for '09 ... until something cool comes along in January, of course.