Board Wargames

By David Garvin

With the new year, many gamers across the land get excited for the annual Winter Offensive, hosted by the folks at Multiman Publishing (MMP). With over 150 attendees, this is one of the larger annual conventions, but it differs from many in that it does not focus on a wide variety of games.  The two major games here are Advanced Squad Leader (ASL) and the Great Campaigns of the American Civil War (GCACW).

There were some other games being played, but those two were the main ones.  Furthermore, the Winter Offensive is a charitable event, with the benefactor being the World War Two Foundation. Every year, MMP raises thousands for this important group, raising awareness of this important event in our shared history.

By David Garvin

“Summer’s here and the time is right For fighting in the street, boy” – The Rolling Stones, Street Fighting Man. 1968.

I was reading up on some challenges of gaming recently, and the challenge the author was pondering was how to game fighting in built-up areas (FIBUA), or Military Operations in Urban Terrain (MOUT). Whichever you prefer. I cannot for the life of me find that article now but suffice it to say that the author couldn’t find a suitable game.

By David Garvin

In a previous post, I interviewed Dr. Andrew Hershey, designer of many Advanced Squad Leader (ASL) scenarios and Historical ASL campaign games, colloquially known as HASLs. It was quite evident after reading that interview, that there is quite a bit of research behind many ASL Scenarios and especially HASLs.

As such, by playing any well-designed HASL, one can gain a better understanding of the nature of the conflict at large and the feel of certain battles. For me, one of the best examples is found in the HASL Kampfgruppe Scherer: The Shield of Cholm (KGS). It was produced by le franc tireur in 2011 and designed by the aforementioned Dr. Andrew Hershey.

By David Garvin

The dictionary defines “tank” as “an armored, self-propelled combat vehicle, armed with cannon and machine guns and moving on a caterpillar tread.” That much makes sense. Practically every war game depicting combat in the 2nd World War has tanks, and Advanced Squad Leader (ASL) is no exception. There are many other iconic weapons and platforms that stimulate the imagination when it comes to war, but none more so than the tank.

There are defining tanks, such as the Sherman, the T-34, and of course the Tiger. I will discuss this in this article, but I’ll confine myself to tanks and try to avoid discussing other Armored Fighting Vehicles (AFVs), such as half-tracks, tank destroyers, and assault guns. For the purposes of this article, I will expand upon the definition and further demand that tanks have a turret (or turrets) that house their gun. That said, the purpose isn’t to teach players how to use Tanks in ASL, but rather to show how the designers took the real-world use of tanks and translated that use to the game.

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.

By David Garvin

There are many people who are much better gamers than I. From them, I have learned so much. I have discussed elsewhere some of my education in gaming, especially in Advanced Squad Leader. Many of these lessons were learned the hard way. I have set up some units illegally, only to have them removed upon discovery. I have miscalculated the Dice Roll Modifiers (DRM) of an attack. I have done many egregious errors.

But none have been as bad as misreading the victory conditions for a scenario. Or, more accurately, misunderstanding them. A of mine here on No Dice, No Glory led to some great discussion out on the internet. One point that kept coming up was that in about one-third of all games, one side or the other will have an incorrect idea of how to win. This article will discuss what players ought to do in order to ensure a complete understanding of how to win their scenario.

By David Garvin

A few days ago, I received a game in the mail. It was a copy of , a magazine game from Strategy and Tactics magazine. This was published in 1983 and was set in the late 1980s. As I was setting the game up, I noted some obsolete terms, such as “USSR” and “Leningrad”.

I simply smiled and then out of curiosity I went to my games cupboard to have a look at my collection. The majority of my games are based on the Second World War; however, a sizable number of my games simulate combat between two factions, one of which no longer exists! Although some of my games date from the Cold War itself, such as those in the series, I have some that were made well after the Berlin Wall fell in 1989! This got me thinking: what is the appeal of simulating combat from a war that never happened? In this article, I will look at the history of these games and then wax philosophical as to why they keep such great appeal.

By Mitch Reed

Tarawa 1943 from finally arrived at NDNG HQ, and I was eager to check out this solo game that features the mid-war bloody battle that lives in US Marine Corps lore. I played the game a few times right after it was delivered and I cannot stop playing it, some how the game dares you to beat it which makes it very addictive.

By David Garvin

In the many wargames I’ve played, most countries’ soldiers were treated fairly equally. Some units were stronger than others, and some were faster than others, but in , units do not only differ by nation, but also by class and type. Section 25 of Chapter A of the rule book is dedicated to the various nations; however, there are other parts of the rule book that lay out the various characteristics of the many countries that fought in the Second World War and the Korean War.

Chapter A covers the nationalities that fought in Europe, Chapter G expands into the Pacific and Chapter W covers Korea. In order to maximize your forces in ASL, a complete understanding of your national characteristics is vital. Before getting into the meat of the characteristics and traits, a note from the authors of the rule book is in order. As they say, “Nationality Distinctions vary troop capabilities from one nation to  another, and while patently unfair in their application of stereotyped and over-simplified traits to all troops of a country without exception, nonetheless do serve to give the game much of its flavor.”

Dr. Strangelove is my favorite film of all time. While a grim satire of nuclear war and the dangerous consequences of nuclear weapons, it’s hard to deny it: being a B-52 guy in the late 50s and early 60s seems awesome. I’ve played board wargames for about fifteen years, and when I heard that Red Menace was about commanding B-52s in “Nuclear combat, toe-to-toe with the Russkies,” I jumped at a chance to play. is a production by Battlespace Games- an indie shop with a few titles, all available through their . The creator, R. Brent Ward, described it as being not 100% realistic, but more about the feel of the era—in that capacity, I think he nailed it.