Has anyone tried GMT’s new tactical game, the Last Hundred Yards? I’ve got it sitting on my shelf, new and unplayed.
This Compass Games discussion is ironic for me as within the last 2 months I bought my first Compass game and a buddy of mine just agreed to publish his first game with them. He pitched it around and even got interest from GMT but they wanted him to make it more of a wargame (it’s a CDG about North Korea) which wasn’t really what he was going for (based on his conversation with Billingsely, you get the sense they don’t really understand why Twilight Struggle was such a success), but more importantly as I’m sure most of you know, agreeing to be published by GMT means sitting on the P500 list for 3+ years (unless your name is Herman, Jensen, COIN, etc.).
As a first time designer he wanted to get his game out as soon as possible and as widely as possible, and Compass can do that. On the flip side, as you guys have surmised, there really is no support from Compass. It’s up to you and the producer/developer that gets assigned, who at least in my friend’s case hasn’t done much. Overall it’s a pretty bare bones effort and obviously it’s shown in a bunch of their games.
That said, if the designer and developer know what they are doing, there’s no reason the game can’t turn out well. Case in point is South China Sea, the game I recently got. It’s not going to blow anyone’s socks off, but it’s a pretty tight medium-complexity treatment of modern naval combat in the South Pacific. It’s a sequel so has that benefit but the predecessor didn’t have any major issues. Evidently the developer works at the Army War College and so has used these designs in his classes. Aethetically, the maps are really nice (unmounted) and the counters are great.
I guess the lesson here is to never pre-order from Compass, but maybe let the dust settle on a new release and then reasses. Hell, I wish I had done that with Hitler’s Reich…
I am the same as you :) I bought it but its likely to just sit there for a while. The rules are pretty long and I cant muster up the energy. Tbh I bought it assuming it had eastern front in it (thats on me not GMT), sadly its USA/Ger France in the base game, which is fine, just doesnt excite me enough to learn it. It may sit unplayed till/if another theatre gets added. I would love to be sold on playing sooner though.
Tbh I bought it assuming it had eastern front in it
Funny you say that as I didn’t think about it one way or another, but when I opened the box, I saw the US and German counters and kept digging expecting Russian counters. I ended up checking the rulebook to make sure my copy wasn’t missing something.
I too was a bit suprised that the rules were as long as they are since one of the big selling points was around rules brevity and relative simplicity. That said, the early reviews I’ve read on BGG suggest that gameplay is fast and smooth once you start playing.
I playtested The Last Hundred Yards at GMT weekend a year or so ago. It wasn’t a great experience. I didn’t really have any idea what was going on. I’m not a huge tactical wargamer (I’m more on the Combat Commander side of the spectrum than ASL), so I found it pretty confusing. The basic idea, as far as I understood it, is that every time a soldier does an action, everybody who can see him can react. Then, everybody who can see the guy who reacted can react, and so on, back and forth, potentially until every single soldier on the board has had a chance to do something.
So, first of all, if you don’t have a very strong grasp of the line-of-sight rules, you’re going to be spending way too much time just figuring out who can react to what. Now, I’m sure the line of sight rules are probably second nature to someone who plays ASL, but I was basically just asking “who can see this guy” and the designer would just tell me. So I never really understood what the rules were.
Secondly, of course, you have to remember who has already reacted, and what started the chain in the first place. I’m sure most of the time it’s fairly obvious, but it seems like it can get hairy, especially if you have a scenario with multiple squads in various parts of the map. There’s probably some way to mark it if it gets complicated.
Anyway, I’m sure the game has changed since I played it. I couldn’t tell you if it’s something an ASL player would like. I’m gonna stick with Combat Commander though. (Not that I ever actually play it anymore, sigh).
I have no idea why your system flagged my posts as spam.
The three links were to a lengthy game review and two wargame AARs. They were not to any commercial interest. My blog does not sell any products/services or engage in commerce.
The posts flagged as “spam” here were links to a very lengthy after action report on Order of Battle World War 2: US Navy Campaign. Those links are not deemed a problem at slitherine/matrix forums; grogheads; armchair dragoons; boardgamegeek, etc…
I think that your system made an error identifying any external link as “spam.”
Click through on the links and you will see that they were to game items without commerce. I have a blog that is about 90% game stuff - reviews and AARs mostly. I don’t sell anything on the blog. The blog is from Wordpress which is the most common blog host - so that should not be a problem.
I stopped putting my AARs and game reviews on a single site for multiple reasons. Sites go dark. Posts get lost. They become difficult to access over time. The continuity of my work is lost.
But it is your website and you can do what you will. If you are not interested in game posts, then so be it.
You joined the forum less than 24 hours ago, and your first post was randomly linking your blog posts about a game that hasn’t come up in this topic since January. You really shouldn’t be surprised or particularly offended when the community (users flagged your post, not an automated system) considers it likely that you are nothing more than a spambot when your first post seems to be for the purpose of inflating your blog’s click count rather than actually participating in the conversation at hand.
That said, if you are not a spambot and would like to participate in the ongoing discussion, I’m sure you’ll find everyone to be far more welcoming of your contributions.
I learned of your website when someone here linked to my Aggressors: Ancient Rome review and mini-strategy guide on my game blog. The link was on a thread devoted to an Aggressors AAR.
Order of Battle: WW2 AAR might be of interest on the wargame thread. Order of Battle regularly releases new content with another scheduled next month. I linked the AAR on this thread (wargames) instead of creating a new thread to be polite. The AAR would be of interest to wargamers and I did not want to annoy others.
Weirdly, your software put up a mini-display “ad” of my website when I had only provided a link to content. Never had that happen before and my post came across as “spammy.” I’ve never had this occur before on:
slitherine/matrix forums
goodman games forums
boardgamegeek forums.
Everyone else has a link as a link and not mini-advertisements.
AARs with annotated screenshots take a lot of time to write. They also take a lot of time to post because screenshots have to be uploaded and inserted into text. Uploading screenshots runs into limits of what you can upload on a specific site. The Battle of the Philippines scenario has about 50 annotated screenshots and it is only one of 12 scenarios in the campaign. It is much, much easier to put the AAR on my website and link it to other places interested in the content than posting it in multiple places.
This AAR has 2,000 reads (6k total) on grogheads; armchairdragoons; and slitherine/matrix forums - so some wargamers are interested.
But you own the site and can set your rules as you see fit.
If you are concerned about newcomers appearing as 'spammy" I suggest adjusting your forum software to avoid “display ad” creation for a relevant content link.
Avery
PS - I don’t sell anything on my blog. I don’t monetize anything on my blog. I have the game blog as entertainment in retirement. I have “marketing” in my blog’s name because I’m a retired marketing professor and very occasionally post on economic/marketing topics.
Sounds good. This community is such that you usually introduce yourself before pimping your content. It’s genteel Old School in that way. At least until the sh1t b0nerz starts.
To this comment, I think that a blog titled as a marketing blog, well…it is reasonable for any reader to assume that its for marketing purposes. No one is a mind reader, or has access to the ancillary information you are now providing.
The other sites you mention; to wit Matrix or Slitherene, well they are publisher sites, and their forums are dedicated to games like OOB (heck OOB is a Slitherine title). Boardgame geek has threads and sites that specifically are dedicated to different games. Goodman games’ site is a store.
Qt3 isn’t any of the above (though the OOB Game thread-I’m certain there is one-is a great place to post stuff regarding OOB). Its a community where people talk about games, history and many other topics. Users may discuss projects they are working on and share those thoughts but here, it is far more conversational in nature. There are also specific threads here dedicated to “this is a thing I am working on” or “this is something I am blogging about”.
New users popping in and sharing links to their projects, content, sites, etc. Well, that 95% of the time means “spam”. In any case, I think criticizing the Users’ reactions to the initial post/critiquing how the forum displays linked content, well, that a bit like being asked to wipe your feet before coming into someone’s home so as not to get dirt on the rug and then suggesting they get different flooring better suited to your footwear. :)
In any case, I am happy you are here and welcome you to join in this marvelous thread where we talk about, debate, kvetch, compare and ruminate on Wargames, both the PC/Viddya kind and the far superior Boardgame kind! And History!
So my god Armored Brigade you guys. I tried the same scenario twice, one of the pre-made ones wherein you cross a river to take two towns, and the first time was a horrible defeat, the second time was a draw because I lost almost everyone but got both towns. Holy hell, this game is kind of amazing isn’t it? I thought I was scouting properly, sending my forces up in a line to support each other, that sort of thing, and the fairly-well hidden enemies tore me up both times.
REALLY impressive. Love the Close Combat vibe too, and the sound is amazing. Can’t wait to play more.
I can see why. Everything from the sound to the UI to the AI just screams freaking quality. I honestly love it when a game so thoroughly kicks my ass like this one did.
So sell me on this one. Why should I play this instead of, say Wargame: Red Dragon? This is an RTS, right, so is there lots of cat herding or is there a way to methodical plan out moves?
