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A Gaming Life
Early Access First Impressions – Brass Birmingham App by Phalanx Games
During my self-imposed blogging hiatus, exciting news came out.
Brass: Birmingham was being released in app form on Steam by Phalanx Games and Cublo! It’s now in Early Access.
It was a first-day buy for me, but because I was…not doing very well at the time, I didn’t actually get it played until sometime in July.
Brass: Birmingham is an economic game and successor to the original Brass (later renamed Brass: Lancashire to distinguish it from this one), both developed by Martin Wallace (though Birmingham also was co-designed by Gavan Brown and Matt Tolman).
I first played the boardgame back in January 2019, and if you want a full (well, kind of full) how to play of the game, go here.
This is a post about the app, though.
The game is currently in Early Access, so there will be bugs squashed and possibly gameplay changes (not in the game itself, obviously! But in how the app implements the gameplay).
How does it measure up, at least under first impressions?
Let’s take a look.
Read MoreCombat Commander – After Action Report – Scenario #34 – Encircled at Hill 30
Two months in a row I’ve managed to get my Combat Commander ladder game in. The ladder is run by Patrick Pence and is a great way to play a monthly game against some good people and maybe (I don’t know, probably not) rise to the top of the ladder!
That would require winning every game you play. I was off to a great start in May and July! I had moved up to #16!
But that sadly ended with my August game, “Encircled at Hill 30”.
My opponent this time was David Stewart-Peterson, an incredibly nice guy who was willing to play me in two sessions over my lunch hours earlier this week.
The scenario is “Encircled at Hill 30,” from the Paratrooper scenario pack. These scenarios involve US paratroops (David – Green) either just after the Normandy landings or during the Battle of the Bulge. This particular scenario takes place on June 8, 1944, two days after the landings, with a contingent of paratroops defending a hill against a vicious German (Me – Blue) counterattack.
The Americans just have some foxholes but they are holding all but one of the objective hexes on the map. David set his men up so that a number of them were up on the hill but some troops were down in the farm house, keeping the Germans honest.
The Germans are limited in setup to the first two columns, and there are too many German troops to all fit up on the hill and brush in the southeast corner. Most of them are up on the very high hill in the corner with one squad sitting in the wide open.
Both sides have a mortar and the Americans have artillery. The Germans will get artillery after the second Time event.
Let’s see what happened!
Read MoreUpdated Neuroshima Hex App Coming in September
(Edit: 8/19/21) – Just confirmed with Portal Games on Twitter that the online play will have asynchronous options. Yay!
One of the classic boardgame apps for iOS (and maybe Android? I’m not sure) was Neuroshima Hex, the 1-4 player duel game where each player is a faction in a post-apocalyptic world, placing armies and trying to destroy the headquarters of your opponent on a fairly small hexagonal map.
While it plays up to 4 players, it definitely shines as a 2-player game (though sadly I have only played it on the app).
Let’s blurb the boardgame just to give you an idea of what this is:
“Each player leads one of four armies: Borgo, Hegemonia (Hegemony), Moloch, and Posterunek (Outpost). Each army deck consists of 34 tiles: soldiers, support tiles, and special actions. You win when all enemy headquarters are destroyed or when your headquarters is the least damaged at the end of the game.”
The app, done by Big Daddy Creations, was brilliantly done but it was left to fester as the company had financial issues and I believe they are now defunct. The app was still fun to play but online play against a friend was atrocious and it suffered from other ailments as well.
Recently, within the last couple of years, Portal Games (the original publisher of the boardgame) reacquired the rights to the app and promised that an updated version would be coming.
We waited…and waited…occasionally there was a little bit of news but we were starting to think this might be vaporware.
However, Portal Games and Ignacy Trzewiczek just released a new vlog that states the new version of the game will be coming out in September.
September!
Wow, what a rush.
Read MoreCombat Commander Europe – #9 Rush to contact
Another great write-up of our Combat Commander: Europe games by Michal. This scenario was a lot of fun, but I’m not sure I set up properly. That being said, it was kind of fun making a desperation move (twice!) to call down artillery on myself. And it actually (kind of) worked!
Read the rest of the session report and check out the rest of Michal’s excellent wargaming blog as well.
Thanks, Michal!
I am glad to present already ninth scenario in my and Dave plan to play whole base game of the Combat Commander Europe. As each set-up is completely different and allows for various approaches, ideas and tactics you never got bored with this title! Especially with such an exciting battle as we recently put to the digital table!
Other Combat Commander scenarios in our camping with Dave:#1 FatLipki#2 Hedgroves and HandGrenades#3 Bonfire of theNKVD#4 Closed forRenovation#5 Cold Front#6 Paralyzed from the West Down#7 Bessarabian Nights#8 Breakoutdance
So what we played this time? #9 Rush to Contact – a scenario which first and foremost is huge – both sides have multiple reinforcement groups, tons of machine guns and artillery. As the new units enter gradually, the game dynamics change enormously – just look at some of the initial pictures below, what…
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Architects of the West Kingdom – Works of Wonder Now on Kickstarter
We knew it was coming, and we were waiting with bated breath (well, ok, I was).
And it’s finally here!
Well, the campaign, anyway.
Yes, the Works of Wonder expansion for the brilliant Architects of the West Kingdom (designed by Shem Phillips & S.J. MacDonald and published by Garphill Games with eventual distribution by Renegade Games Studios) is now on Kickstarter!
Let’s blurb the Kickstarter page:
“In Architects of the West Kingdom: Works of Wonder, builders from far and wide have travelled to partake in the King’s latest endeavour – five glorious monuments to beautify the city. However, not just any architect can be entrusted with such a task. Only those of influence and charitable reputation shall receive this great honour. Will you accompany the Princess as she surveys the projects, or rally support from the elusive Profiteer?”
Read MoreShards of Infinity – Into the Horizon – Out Now!
Very quick post today to let you know that a new expansion to the wonderful deck-builder, Shards of Infinity, is out now and will hopefully be making it to your FLGS or online game store soon! It’s called Into the Horizon and has some cool new mechanisms.
While the Relics of Infinity expansion is a must-have for this game, this expansion looks pretty cool as well.
Read MoreCombat Commander Europe – #8 Breakout dance
Another of Michal’s awesome reports on our Combat Commander: Europe games. This is the scenario that taught me that sometimes you just have to move and play cards to make something happen.
I was sitting waiting for the perfect cards and Michal’s troops were slowly surrounding me.
I decided “screw it, let’s just start moving” and things actually started going better! I ended up losing, but it was a nail-biter and I almost made it off the map.
Great scenario and I’m looking forward to trying it again at some point.
Thanks, Michal, for your great write-ups!
Welcome to the already eight installment in my and Dave endeavor to play all base game scenarios in the Combat Commander Europe. Our enthusiasm is not waning, we are having blast with each new session and still learning new strategies and tactics. Discord for files sharing and VASSAL to play asynchronously prove to be fantastic tools.
Other Combat Commander scenarios in our camping with Dave:#1 Fat Lipki#2 Hedgroves and Hand Grenades#3 Bonfire of the NKVD#4 Closed for Renovation#5 Cold Front#6 Paralyzed from the West Down#7 Bessarabian Nights
What we played this time? #8 Breakout dance – a scenario which brings completely new level and depth in the tactical combat. How is that possible? This is first set-up with hills! They add so much possibilities – for cover, sneak approach, concealment, vantage points placement, hindrance negation – you name it.
It is 1943 and the war…
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Legendary Marvel – Annihilation Expansion Update
(Edit: 9/8/21) – Apparently they’ve now finally announced a release date of September 15. Here’s hoping!)
If you’re a fan of Legendary: Marvel, and judging by my blog hits even when I’m not posting anything for a couple of months, you are, then you may be interested in this update.
Due to printing issues, the Annihilation expansion didn’t meet it’s January 2021 release date.
However, Upper Deck (the publisher for this Devin Low-designed deckbuilder) has stated that it will probably now be coming out in August. Not only that, but the goal is to have all of the announced expansions still come out this year.
That would be great!
Upper Deck has done three blog posts for the Annihilation expansion, and the third one has the most interesting reveal yet.
Yes, one of the Heralds of Galactus cards is actually…Galactus!
And he’s also one of the villains in the Annihilation Wave villain group.
He’s badass no matter which version you have.
Of course, his Heralds card doesn’t really help if you play cooperatively, since having him eat the last City space means you win, nobody else does.
But it does sound fun!
Read MoreCombat Commander Europe – #7 Bessarabian Nights
I know, I know. Three Combat Commander posts in a row? I promise I will be posting something different soon, but during my blog hiatus, I wanted to continue to reblog Michal’s brilliant session reports of our Combat Commander games.
This scenario was so chaotic that it was fun! Even though the randomness of my setup made the game almost unwinnable for me. My leaders had no infantry near them!
Anyway, it was still a blast to play, and I wouldn’t mind revisiting it sometime.
Enjoy Michal’s write-up. It’s insane! (the scenario, not the write-up)
Unbelievable, but this was already 7th Combat Commander Europe scenario we played with Dave since January. Recently we added – to our daily routine of exchanging the game log files via Discord – one live session per week. It is not easy to find a slot as there is 9 hours difference between Poland end West Canada. Still, thanks to Dave sacrificing one lunch hour we managed to enrich our gaming experience with this online session.
Other Combat Commander camping with Dave:#1 FatLipki#2 Hedgroves and HandGrenades#3 Bonfire of theNKVD#4 Closed forRenovation#5 Cold Front#6 Paralyzed from the West Down
What we played this time? #7 Bessarabian Nights – one of the most volatile and crazy scenarios we have seen so far. But first thing first – historical background. It is 1944 and partisan activity at the rear of Wehrmacht is increasing with advancing Red…
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Combat Commander – After Action Report – Scenario #23 – No-Man’s Land
After taking the month of June off for personal reasons, I was eager to play the July scenario for the Combat Commander: Europe ladder (run by the illustrious Patrick Pence).
After winning the May game (my first official win!), I had already moved up the ladder to #35. My opponent this time was Sean Burns and the contest arena was scenario #23 from the Combat Commander: Mediterranean expansion, pitting the Italians (me) against the British (Sean) in the desert of North Africa.
First, I want to thank Sean for bearing with me as I had microphone problems, so we ended up having to use the VASSAL chat function rather than actually talking. That really sucked.
Basically, both the Italians (greenish-blue?) and British (tan) have dug in on their side of the board (a line of trenches on both sides), but the British have snuck a “sniper” into position to harass the Italian lines (in the game, this is a leader with a heavy machine-gun in an advance foxhole).
Sean set the sniper (Corporal Singh) up in hex H1 (the only other choice was H10) and then had the rest of the troops positioned centrally in the British trench line. He also has a radio that can lay down some heavy fire or (most probably) a lot of smoke.
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