Board Wargames

By Mark Greenwald

Crossing the Line is part of a series of games developed by Vuca Simulations in Germany. I came across it a few years back and put it on my Christmas wish list. But a second edition with a mounted map was just published this year. So I picked it up for myself.

It arrived last week and as soon as I could find table space, I set it up to do some solo learning.

Vuca Simulations is probably a company most have never heard of, but they are putting out some really nice games with nice reviews.  This series includes two other games right now, Across the Bug River – Volodymyr-Volynski 1941 and Operation Theseus – Gazala 1942. It is an operational-sized hex and counter wargame with a nice twist on the standard IGOUGO turn sequence.

By Mitch Reed

I have been a fan of the COIN (Counter Insurgency) games for some time now and I was excited to be able to meet Steve Rangazas and play one of the games from his upcoming 4-pack, The British Way from GMT and should be shipping sometime later this year.

The game harkens back to the days of the old SPI Quad-Games series where you get four games in a single box. The British Way covers the insurgencies as the sunset of the British Empire and covers the conflicts in Malaya, Cyprus, Kenya, and Palestine.

By Philip S. Bolger-Cortez

Last year, I talked with Kevin Verssen at Dan Verssen Games about making a game about the late Cold War, and when he accepted, the foundations were laid for Eagle Leader.

From the beginning, it was designed as a NATO companion to Fulcrum Leader, a game already under design by Benjamin Chee and Doug Glover.  Benjamin Chee likes to start every game with the same question: “What is the story you are trying to tell?” For Eagle Leader, it’s simple enough: the struggle of USAF and allied NATO Air Forces fighting the Warsaw Pact in the skies and ground of Europe, the aerial companion to the many “What if” campaigns about the Fulda Gap. Initial plans were ambitious– a core game featuring USAF, and a series of expansions to allow players who wanted to play NATO aircraft to allow for a wide variety. I knew I had to recruit a reliable team of developers, so I gathered Mitch Reed, Chris DiNote, and Phil “Doc” Wohlrab to help me, along with James L Young as a team historian.

By David Garvin

In my previous article, I discussed how the designers of Advanced Squad Leader (ASL) took the characteristics of real-world tanks and then incorporated them into the game. The tanks of ASL all have the same three characteristics as their real-world inspirations: Firepower, Mobility, and Protection.

As promised, this article will tell you, the player, where to find the information to tell you what kind of Firepower your tank has, how mobile it is and what its protection is. The inspiration for these two articles came from a 5-minute conversation with a new ASL player and this was about a week or so ago. He was just learning how to play and he wasn’t sure where to look for information on the vehicles in a certain scenario. This article (and the previous) are the result of that conversation.

Lucky me, I get to sit down with Nick and Sophia from Georgetown University Wargame Society (GUWS) and hear all about who they they are and what they do!

by Mitch Reed

Last month wargamers of every ilk converged at the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA) facility in Alexandria, for the annual Connections Wargaming Conference. This was the first live event since 2019 due to COVID19 and many people, including myself, were excited to have an in-person event.

Join the Army and see…the Universe! – Tagline for the novel Starship Troopers

by Patrick S. Baker

The classic military science fiction novel, Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein was released in December 1959. The book became one of Heinlein’s best-selling books and is likely his most well-known work. Star Troopers won the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1960. The descriptions of combat in the novel focus on the Mobile Infantry (M.I.).

Dropped from orbit in individual reentry vehicles, the highly trained troopers land on a hostile planet to battle the enemy, in the novel either the hivemind “Pseudo-Arachnids” or “Bugs”, or the humanoid “Skinnies”.

The M.I. wear powered armor suits, which are controlled by the wearer’s movements, but with much-augmented strength, for example, a M.I. soldier can jump for hundred of meters in a single bound or can rip holes in buildings with nothing but his suit. Further, the M.I. are armed with flame throwers, rocket launchers, and even “mini-nukes”.

The combat in the novel made a nifty background for a hex-and-counter wargame released in 1976 by Avalon Hill. The game was designed by Randall Reed, of Tobruk fame, and approved by Robert A. Heinlein. Heinlein also provided a description of the game and his signature, which are printed on the back of the box.

By Mitch Reed

I am a huge fan of Mark Walker’s game company Flying Pig Games, they have turned out some amazing games over the years and few companies can match the production value of FPG. The game The Long Road (TLR) recently arrived at the bunker and I was lucky to get it to the table 48 hours after it arrived.

By Mitch Reed

Wargames tend to feature some of the most iconic battles in history and the fact that the battle of Gettysburg has so many titles shows its enduring popularity with gamers. I own many games on the battle and one of my first wargames was the 1977 version of Gettysburg from Avalon Hill. Some games on the battle are hits and some miss the mark, however, A Most Fearful Sacrifice (AMFS) from Flying Pig Games is the best game on the battle if not also a top ten wargame in your collection.

By Richard Steer

Kickstarter really is a terrible thing for a wargaming magpie. I’m normally pretty good at keeping away from it, but every now and again I’ll scroll through and a project that I just have to back will catch my eye. So it was last year when I saw that Worthington Publishing was running a Kickstarter for a reprint of Malta Besieged 1940-1942.

Despite never having been particularly into board games, the subject of the game, being the Mediterranean theatre during the early years of World War 2, immediately interested me. The game arrived recently, and having completed my first play-through I’m very pleased to have backed the project.