Unboxing: France '40 2nd Edition (GMT Games)

This one arrived back in mid-March, and I just have not had the time to do an unboxing of it yet, so I wanted to do one now, and catch up on my GMT purchases for the year.

France '40 2nd edition is a game that covers a three week period during the Battle of France in World War II. This is an interesting topic, because France had a large, modern military, but was defeated in around six weeks, in a major coup to the Allied forces. It's an interesting bit of history to learn about, and likely very interesting to play.

I have two games on the subject already, both the very poorly rated Strange Defeat: The Fall of France, 1940 by Avalanche Press, and a quad pack from Against the Odds, Four Roads to Paris. This one is better rated than those two, and the components look great. The game is part of the ZOC Bond system created by Mark Simonitch, which is very well regarded, but I have no personal experience with yet. It contains two different scenarios, Sickle Cut (May 13 - May 22) and Dynamo (May 24 - June 4). There is also a combined game that has both maps in play at once, with the rules and situation of the game changing partway through. Really, really interesting looking game.

Anyway, let's take a look at the components, starting with the box:

Another great looking box from GMT. The title is nice and big (there have been some small complaints lately that GMT title text has been smaller than ideal), and the art is beautiful (I believe that's a Char B1 bis front and center). The back of the box contains much more information about the game:

There is a summary of the included scenarios, and some pictures of the components (which I'll show more fully in a moment). Both the complexity and solitaire suitability are listed at five. Having no experience with the game or system at this time, I can't comment how accurate I feel they are. Opening the box, we start getting into the game itself. We get two dice:

We get a beautiful, full color rulebook (which GMT provides digitally here):

We get a playbook, which includes an extended example of play, and rules for the combined campaign, and again is provided digitally by GMT here:

We receive two setup charts, with Sickle Cut on one side, and Dynamo on the other. Again, provided digitally here:

I definitely prefer this style of setup card- putting all your units on the card, first, to ensure you have everything needed for a scenario is vastly preferable to the typical "Unit XXX starts in hex XXX" chart in a book. Thank you for that, GMT.

Next are the two identical player aid charts, online here:

Two countersheets are included, with lovely counters. You would think this, at least, wouldn't be provided online. You would be wrong (sheet 1, sheet 2):

Finally, we get two maps. First, one for Sickle Cut (online here):

And finally, Dynamo (online here):

These connect, with the north of the Sickle Cut map and the south of the Dynamo map overlapping.

All of the components are very nice quality, as we've all come to expect from GMT. I also ordered the mounted maps for this game from GMT, and although I did not include pictures of them in this article, they are as beautiful as you'd expect, and for the two single-map games, these mounted maps will be a wonderful upgrade.

Of course, with every component available to view digitally, it feels a bit strange doing an unboxing, since you can see better quality images of everything I have shown. I probably could have skipped writing this, but honestly enjoy spending some time looking at, and enjoying, the components of the games that I hope to play someday. I figure it only takes a few minutes of my time to add some notes and put them online, why not share my interests? People will read it, or not, depending on their interest.

Anyway, whether or not this unboxing was strictly necessary, I'm glad to have spent a bit of time looking at the game and its components. There's a lot to like, and a lot to look forward to whenever I manage to get it on the table. Thanks for taking the time to read this as I went through it :).

Unboxing: War Plan Z: The Kriegsmarine Strikes (Decision Games - World at War #96)

I recently restarted my subscription to World at War Magazine, lured by the upcoming four issues that are part of the Campaigns in Europe series (meaning that in addition to receiving the four issues, and the four games, I get a combined, larger game!). I already have a glut of World War II games and was not desperate to add more to my backlog of unplayed games, but... that just seemed like a fun package. So, with that upcoming and starting in issue #97, I had plenty of time to start my subscription... until I noticed this issue was upcoming. This one was quite a bit different than the games I already owned, so I figured it was an ideal place to start.

It arrived last week, and surprisingly, the Post Office brought it to the door instead of shoving it in the mailbox. No bent magazine for this guy!

Magazine cover

Pretty compelling cover, showing recognition drawings from ONI's 1942 publication. These magazines always have quite a number of good history articles, as we can see from the Table of Contents:

Table of Contents

I have not read the issue yet, and I don't like going over the articles in these magazines too much, but I will talk about the cover article, War Plan Z, since it is relevant to the included game. It discusses the interwar history of the German Navy, plus the history of Plan Z, from its initial reasoning, its beginning in early 1939, to its cancellation in late 1939. The article continues by covering the German surface fleet's actions throughout World War II. The article also covers the plans for the different classes of ships the Germans were planning to build, and how far they got toward each goal.

The rules for the game are included in the magazine, attached with a bit of easily removed glue.

I will talk a little more about the game in a moment, but first, I would like to show the rest of the components. It comes with one countersheet.

Countersheet

One odd thing I notice is that the United States forces are a dark blue, as opposed to their typical green, reserved in this game for the lone Italian unit. There are a lot of ships, but fewer aircraft than I would expect in a naval game. That is because the carrier aircraft are incorporated into the carrier's combat factors. Since carriers can only attack units in the same area, that simplifies things. There are land units, which operate in all of the various mixed areas on the map. Each counter represents two aircraft carriers, two or three battleships, or a large number of smaller ships. It is a magazine game, so they don't exactly have the space to put in a counter for every capital ship, like many boxed games would.

We also have the map.

Game Map

The game is area control, with, as I briefly mentioned above, mixed areas including land, and plenty of sea zones to fight over. There are places to keep track of various game rules and tables. Seems like a pretty nice package!

This is a hypothetical game, with the assumption that Hitler had not canceled Plan Z, and instead built up the German navy to its pre-war goals. Because this takes time, the war would not have started until the mid-1940s, and at this point, France is still a major participant.

Victory is obtained by destruction of the opposing player's surface fleet or capture of various areas at game end.

The core game mechanic is action points, provided at the start of each turn, with players alternating their use to perform various operations, including attacks, scouting, and the acquisition of plan markers (usable later for some special effect). There are rules for US arrival into the war, which is sped along by various game states. There are supply convoys that move through the map whose arrival provides more action points for the players but make good targets for military actions.

This topic is certainly interesting- I don't think I have a single hypothetical World War II naval game. The components look nice, the game rules at first blush seem fine- I would love to get this on the table.

A few random blog updates

Just wanted to make some small updates regarding various blog-related topics.

As an update to my Road to the Bokur Brawl series, I finally sat down and figured out exactly what I own for Devourer's Host. My numbers were mostly correct, but I found out I had another Feral Warpwolf (bringing me to four), a second Winter Argus, and a total of eight Wild Argus. My plan is to try to convert those excess Wild Argus into either Winter or Moonhound Arguses, but that is not much of a priority, given that I don't see many duplicates in lists. Maybe they go into the bits box for future conversions.

I also picked up a Razorwing Griffon.

I have two Lord of the Feast models, one of the standard ones, and one from the Minicrate. Seeing as how the one is missing his arm, I will probably use the Minicrate variant.

I also have two Nuala the Huntress models, one standard, and one from the Minicrate. I will look to see which one I like better and try to give the other away.

I have a spare unit (well, two spare MK4 units) of Tharn Ravagers. I am not sure I have a place for them in conversions, so they may go in the giveaway pile, too.

I am one Wolf Rider model short of a second unit of Tharn Wolf Riders. As I said in the first post talking about the army, I may try to convert one from a champion model at some point.

So, with my collection mostly correct, and everything done on that part, I have turned fully to painting my army, which is moving, although not fast yet. I will post updates as I have them. My plan is to start putting them on the table and getting experience in June.

I have added a page on the blog to list an inventory of my armies for miniature games. There is not much there yet, but I will update it periodically as I go through my collection of miniatures. It will include the status in getting it to the table, and links to where I show off any relevant updates.

Speaking of pages, I now have a good process to update my listing of unplayed board games. It shouldn't ever be more than a week out of date. If you see something you would like to play, please let me know!

Finally, my blog showed up in a GMT games monthly update! That would have been exciting, except for how it showed up:

Disgusting. Thankfully, I have great friends- Rob made me a logo, and after talking with my friends, we made some minor changes, and ended up with this:

What do you think?

Unboxing: '85 Afghanistan: Graveyard of Empires (Flying Pig Games)

In February 2015, Mark H. Walker launched a Kickstarter for Old School Tactical, the first game in a new WWII tactical series that is currently sitting at three volumes (with a fourth coming), multiple expansions, and great reviews. He had just recently completed the Kickstarter for Night of Man (a card-driven, science fiction tactical game), which I had backed, but had not yet received (and would not receive until early 2016).

These two Kickstarter campaigns were unique, in that they offered a pledge opportunity I had never seen before- a Maximum Supporter level (Night of Man called it the Awesome Supporter level). For significantly more than the price of the game, you would get a copy of everything Flying Pig Games ever produced (at the time of the Kickstarter, they had not yet produced anything).

During the Night of Man Kickstarter, I was struggling with money, and although I was desperate to get into whatever new games Mark was producing (I was a fan of his designs and products while he was the owner of Lock 'n Load Publishing), I couldn't get enough money together for the big pledge level, and ordered just the game. I was hopeful I would get a second chance though, so put a little aside for the next few months and was ready when that chance arrived again during the Old School Tactical Kickstarter.

Over the years since, I have gotten a lot of great products from Flying Pig Games, and I have done a decent job of keeping up on playing their new releases (although I am now a few games behind, shame on me). Night of Man, I have played and enjoyed. Old School Tactical has been fantastic. The game related to today's (eventual) topic, '65 Squad-level Combat in the Jungles of Vietnam, was a blast. I was incredibly lucky to get the opportunity to back OST when I did.

All of this was a long-winded way to explain how their newest release, '85 Afghanistan: Graveyard of Empires, ended up at my door last week. I watched the Kickstarter with great interest, not only because I knew the game would eventually arrive (thanks Mark!), but because it is a topic I do not have any other games on, and that is a major consideration for me. Also, my friend Bob is interested in the topic, which increases the chances it will get on the table.

Well, let's take a look at what comes inside.

Nice looking box! The subdued colors create a box cover that is distinctive, and although you can see the relationship between this game and '65 Squad-level Combat in the Jungles of Vietnam, the latter's cover seems more vibrant. The rulebook lists the cover artist as Nadir Elfarra. I quite like it.

Here is the back of the box. Not much to say, as we will be going through the components individually.

First up is a stack of cards. The box says there are 69 of them, which are the 58 action cards, and 11 Bonus Victory Point cards. If you have played '65 Squad-level Combat in the Jungles of Vietnam, or Night of Man (which has some similarities), you will know what to expect here.

The cards provide options for your actions on your turn, along with numbers and Hit indicators that are relevant to combat. Some cards will also allow you to trigger special powers that the units may have (for instance, giving them explosive rounds for an action, or to shrug off a point of damage). This game also includes Bonus Victory Condition cards, which can give you additional ways to score Victory Points in scenarios that use them.

Next up, we get the rule and scenario book.

This is a full color book, and looks great! Seems like a number of rules have been clarified, and the Line of Sight rules have had some additions, but nothing looks particularly different from the previous game in the series. Nine scenarios are included (one, a bonus Kickstarter scenario). Only that bonus scenario uses a single map, and there are four 2-map scenarios, three 3-map scenarios, and a single 4-map scenario.

We get a single double-sided Player Aid, with charts on one side, and terrain effects on the back.

We get a single six-sided die. If memory serves, it is only used for targeting rolls for artillery, so it is not something you will need to reach for a lot in any particular game.

A Sequence of Play and general track, which is used at a minimum to count the number of turns. Nice quality, and durable looking.

Four countersheets, with quite nice-looking counters. These counters are big, although that may not come across in the photos- the majority are 1" counters, and the vehicles are 1 3/8", which is something I cannot say I have ever seen done before. You are not going to have a tough time handling these, and they are easy to read. What an impressive set of counters!

And finally, we get to the maps. Five are included, numbered 4-8 (the first three in the series are in '65 Squad-level Combat in the Jungles of Vietnam).

A decent sized town, with considerable cover. Is the walled compound just a building? I don't know, and the terrain chart does not make it immediately clear. Perhaps it says something in the scenario rules.

Cliffs and some buildings, with crops in the north/center part. That little valley on the right there seems like it would be a fun chokepoint for a battle.

A big hill to fight over, with many rough patches to break it up.

A moderately clear board, with scrub and rough sections.

Lots of open space.

One final thing to note- Mark sent a message on a number of channels about overlays that did not get printed but were supposed to be included. They will come at a later date, but he did provide a PDF version of them to give us a way to play the scenarios in the meantime. I have no doubt they will come someday, and I am not worried about them, but it is worth noting they are a required part of the package for most of the scenarios, and I do not yet have them.

And there you have it. Another great-looking product from Flying Pig Games that is sure to be worth your time to check out, and likely to be something I will play before the end of the year.