Oh, sorry, I wasn’t clear. On the game itself.
I haven’t played Storm, but I do own Skies, and I don’t think there’s a significant difference between them. I think it’s great. There’s not a small number of games in the Queen of the Skies space now, but I think Skies/Storm is fairly unique in that the part of the game that comes after prepping the mission is not just rolling dice and reading tables and imagining the sticky situations, it’s where the meat of the game really lies. I really can’t say enough good things about it. If I’m not mistaken @brooski did a longish AAR that GMT links to from the Skies page, and actually I did one, too, over at a site I used to frequent called Stately Play that I could dig up for you if you were interested. Storm added an intercept phase to the game but the designers backported it into Skies, too. Really involving game, and I love the “episodic” nature of it.
Well, that certainly is glowing, thank you. I found your AAR as well, and will keep it bookmarked. I’m not sure if this is what you meant, but I found this Let’s Play from The Blue Tweezers via the GMT site, which looks quite detailed. I’m thinking that will be helpful for learning the game too.
With this one shipping shortly, I’m thinking I’ll give it a go.
This is the AAR you want. If you dig, you can find the original somewhere on the forum. Bruce also has a review on the front page here that is excellent.
Just wanted to say I’m really enjoying your WIF playthrough on BGG.
I’ve never played the boardgame myself, but get a good feeling for the game and some chuckles from the mistakes.
Link:
Good memories. Should get it back on the table again, but at least it actually made it to the table, not once but several times! That’s not nothing for a wargame…
Humm, this got me thinking that perhaps the collective brain trust here might have some resources (AAR, Let’s Play, other) for learning Enemy Action Ardennes? I checked Board Game Geek but haven’t found much there yet.
Thanks much!
Sorry for the post spam, but this:
“So, Mission 1, Turn 2, Ademeit and Bauer are gone, having collided with each other in their lust for glory. One third of my staffel is now KIA. On the first mission. On the first real turn. This is going, uh, great.”
Hahaha! :)
And it gets even “better”.
Heh, that’s an issue for me, too. I enjoyed “The Hunters,” but after one obsessive play through, it hasn’t returned to the table.
How many missions are in a typical campaign of “Skies above the Reich” or this new successor?
If you play a single “season,” it’s six or ten missions long depending on which season you are playing, assuming you don’t lose early because of dead pilots. If you play the “grand campaign” of the whole war, it’d be anywhere from 32 to 54 missions (skimming the manual I see you go until you win four seasons).
One thing I forgot to mention is that unlike so, so many board (not just war) games, the manual and player aids for Skies are excellent.
Thanks. It looks like a good game series.
From The General, Vol 24 #1
I have this very reaction today about Least Front releases! The more things change, the more they stay the same…
1987!
The more things change…indeed.
The next one could really be the ONE!
He writes that after agreeing to play the game and having me send him that article.
There’s a couple of youtube AAR’s, one by “Heavy Lifting by Myself” that aren’t bad and I watched. Playing the 2P game solo was the best way I found to launch myself into the game.
I’m still figuring out camera’s, editing and voiceovers now I’ve learnt the game but I was intending to launch my youtube channel with a German solo AAR such is my enjoyment of the game, that is weeks away at my rate of progress though! :)
Good question Ironsight! 8P
I found a quote from John Butterfield at BGG where he said his best guess is second quarter of this year.
Thanks! I found this YT series last night and started watching it. I’m only a few minutes in, but it’s looking promising so far.
I’ve been messing about with YT videos for other (computer) games for a few months now, I was thinking to perhaps make a video series for some tabletop game eventually as well. The camera challenges and narration challenges with a board game are interesting. I want to watch a few other AARs, get used to playing at a table, and mostly see if I can actually figure out a game first. :)
I’d definitely be interested in checking out anything you put together.