Damn that is sweet. Time was I’d be all over that. I even had a folding ping-pong table just for laying out monster games. But these days…I would not even get through setting up half of a scenario before I gave up. Too much stuff, covering too much space, too much to take in. I really appreciate it, and admire it, but there’s no way I could play it.
Was gonna ask, do you have a room to store those wargaming tables, and how many are in there, Rod?
Also no dog :'(
But
Nevermind…
The ping-pong tables (from Sears, which was actually a thing back then) were great. Sturdy, the right height, solid but not harsh metallic surface, very cool.
Of course, my apartment at the time was sort of dominated by the table, which I had to set up in, um, the living room.
Unexpected developement oO
Those maps do look glorious. As far table space, I’ve got WIF/CE set up on my table next to me here, so by comparison, Northern Lights looks small! I need to finish my WIF playthrough so I can move on to new things like this. Although it appears Thin Red Line is out of stock right now.
How does the air game work? Modeling modern aviation is a challenge in a boardgame. For that matter, the naval game, with all those fast missiles, is a challenge to simulate too. I’m also curious about the electronic-warfare side of the game.
Yeah, by the time I actually lived in a house, I also was married, and, well, you get the idea.
It’s put of stock completely. They did a reprint of the first game (and might even do a second reprint) so maybe a reprint of this is not too far off if the company stays healthy (they are Italian).
The air game is pretty clever. You “bid” squadron to attain air superiority over an area (which gives bonuses to further air missions). this is the core of the system. If two players bid for the same area, there’s a quick combat phase to resolve who has air superiority and how many squadrons remain assigned to the area.
Then you can use your remaining squadrons to interrupt the other player movement through bombing/interdiction or to support your attack/moves. The other player rolls for interception (with a big bonus if they have air superiority).
Flak is deadly to planes/copters but the supply rules mean you can run out of ammo when using good missile based systems (iirc, you can shoot 3 times before running out, and you can only replenish at specific phases in the turn). But a good air defense cover makes using planes on the attack hard. The US has access to SEAD.
Apparently (I have not played this far) as the US gets reinforcements the somewhat inferior soviet air forces start to get stretched beyond usability.
@Left_Empty
We have a decent sized house so I am using the loft area. The tables are all from office depot the card tables. I got promoted from the second garage which is now my daughters art studio but thats where most of my games are still stored on bookshelfs.
At my old house where we had a decent chunk of land I used to have dedicated building for wargames I had built (I had an old stable converted) , or “the war barn” as Tom Chick dubbed it :) Those were the days. The downside is walking from the war barn back to the main house at night meant braving potential mountain lions which was always a little unnerving.
@TheWombat I will almost certainly not get through a campaign, if I can learn the rules and get threough a scenario though I will consider it a success.
@Spock Re: Air & Naval, it looks involved but appropriately so for the operational level. I will let you know how it goes :) edit @Juan_Raigada knows better than I!
Thanks for the comments folks. Honestly this game is quite emotional for me. Its all bundled up with nostalgia, coming of age, being a kid and cold war gaming being something I associate very happy end of childhood memories with. I wont drone on about it but yeah I feel like a happy boy again all giddy over the stories this game is going to tell.
:)
This is now out! Sadly just west front stuff so far but the game system its based on fundamentally very good.
@Rod_Humble The teenager inside me loves that game! But when I was young, I thought I’d grow up to have enough space and time to play big wargames but somehow that never happened :-\
For $3 how can I go wrong? Picked it up and now to read 80 pages of rules so I can play two scenarios…
Tis ever the way. When you are young you have the world enough and time, but not the money. When you are older you have money but not the time :)
Grant from Theplayersaid interviews Patrick:
Thanks for the heads up on “Nations at War Digital.” For three bucks, I’m in. Are these the same people who make the Lock n Load tactical board game series? I have one of those, and I liked it but wasn’t really obsessed by it. It had pretty counter graphics, as I recall, and some interesting rule innovations.
So I did not know until right now that Sekigahara had an online implementation at Yucata.de. Has anyone tried this? I have the actual physical game but have not had a chance to play it yet. I would like to finally learn this one because everyone I know that does actually play the game likes it a lot. I don’t have the rules down just yet so I am not going to inflict a totally unprepared game on any opponent but I am curious if anyone had experience with this.
Welcome! Yeah I think its the same folks. The original design is for sure.
Its a weird app. I think they made a mistake with their pricing. They should have just shipped the whole thing for $19.99 insteda of this $3 for 2 starting scenarios thing.
Anyways the rules are really easy, its an action point system pay to shoot, move, opp fire etc. Computer doesnt let you do bad things :)
Hope you have fun, on balance I prefer LockNLoad I think, but this is also a fine game. Just needs more scenarios and an editor, which is not there yet.
Thanks, Mike. They asked a lotta questions!
Well the Watch it Played with Rodney on Sekigahara was pretty informative. I’m still pulling some details from the rules but that was a pretty good base to work from there. I can already see why a lot of people like this.
If anyone is interested:
@Rod_Humble If you are still in love with Deathly Northern Lights, the first game in the series is going to get another pre-order only print run: https://trlgames.com/2020/05/19/1985-under-an-iron-sky-third-echelon-2/