Days of Wonder
This
is another game from that superb games company Days of Wonder. Whilst
this game might not be the best they make its still a good game. Its a
WW2 wargame dubbed the "Official Game of the Normandy Landings". The
box contains plastic figures for two armies. The allies are all
american soulders and tanks and the other army is offc ourse German.
You get men, tanks, guns , barbed wire, sandbags and tank obstacles.
You also get a two sided hex board. One side is a beach and hinterland,
the other inland. The board is divided into a left, centre and right
wing. You then get card hexes with terrain to add on top. These include
hills, bunkers, bridges, town, woods etc. Action cards that drive the
game are included as well as plastic "scrabble" trays to hold your
cards. Finally you get a rules and scenario book and special dice.All
of this is good quality just like one has come to expect from this
company.
So
how about the game. Well the game is designed to be played using
scenarios included in the rules book. These specify the layout and
troop types and any special rules about victory conditions and special
units.
The
action cards are the core of the system. Each player turn involves
playing 1 card and drawing a new one. The cards vary but basically
define a number of units and an area of the board. So it might say -
activate 3 units in the centre, or move all your infantry, or move 1
unit in each section. This refelcts command and control. This idea is
easy and players will grasp it very quickly.
Units move 1, 2 or 3 hexes and may also fire. However the move they
did might prevent firing. INfantry can move 1 hex and fire or two and
not fire whereas tanks may move upto 3 hexes and still fire. Artillery
may not move and fire but fire at longer range. Depending on how far
away the target is determines the number of combat dice you get to
roll. Thus infantry fire 3 at adjacent targets, 2 at 2 away and 1 at 3
away.
The dice have 2 infantry symbols, 1 tank, 1 grenade, 1 flag and 1 star.
Stars miss. Grenades hit for all tropps, tanks hit for tanks and
infantry for infantry. Each hit causes 1 figure loss. Flags force a
retreat 1 hex per flag.
Terrain affects combat - reducing the number of dice rolled or meaning that you ignore 1 flag or 1 casualty.
It all works quickly and intuitively.
When a units last figure is lost you remove it and place it on the
oponents victory point icon. When enough VP icons are filled to fufill
the scenario instruction the player wins.
Good game for 2 players but certainly works with more either playing with 1 box or with 2 or 3.
Memoir 44 £34.99
My Rating Player 1 NA 2 8/10 3-6 7/10
(More players might need more than 1 set).
ERic Flint's 1632
This is a Roleplaying game in which a entire US town from the modern
era arrives in the early 17th Century In Germany. The thrust of the
game is the conflicts and chellenges that face the town and the players
as they interact with 17th century europe in the Pike and Shot/ Thirty
Years war Ear. Uses the Action system - faily standard RPG rules which
will not be hard to learn. Look interesting. I wonder what the long
term appeak for players who have little historical interst would be
though. MIGHT play a game or two. and let you know.,
£20.99