So, I looked at The Fall of the 3rd Reich and it says 1-4 on the BGG website…is this one you can actually solo like against an AI…or is it more playing both sides?
I’ll let Brooski give the definitive answer, as my copy hasn’t arrived yet. I’m not aware of solo AI rules for the game, so I’m surprised that it would be listed as 1-4 players. I was under the impression that it just works well as a solitaire experience.
It would be playing both sides @Rod_Humble style: solo-duotaire as Tom Chick calls it.
I think the “1-4 players” just refers to the fact that it has no secret/hidden information.
Roger that…thanks.
Same here. Looking forward to both.
Ok five asymmetric factions so that’s fine.
https://www.gmtgames.com/p-954-baltic-empires-the-northern-wars-of-1558-1721.aspx
I’m interested in the discussion of a more resource-allocative element for the game’s economy over something COINish. I’d like to see more about that game, but it sounds refreshing. I feel somewhat similarly about Hubris.
So I think the Board Game Arena version of Unconditional Surrender is really coming along. Anyone here wanting to try this out? I’m getting schooled by some very competent players there and wouldn’t mind getting beat by people from here as well.
The more I play this Board Game Arena version the more I wish I had gotten Unconditional Surrender in the last print run. I’ve signed up for the p500 and hope the next one comes around soonish. This is my ideal level of abstraction and counter weight.
Is it working better than it did? I have UC and would love to play it if it works but I remember trying it out and it didn’t.
So it is indeed working better than it did. I have a game going since 10/16 that has been working as intended. There was a time I didn’t understand what the actual rule was, supply from Denmark into Sweden. And had also had trouble expressing my intent through the UI, I was tracing a supply for a German army through North Africa and into Italy and I didn’t keep it moving all the way to the ultimate supply source in Germany. But those were user failures. Granted that last one was exacerbated by the kludgy UI but I have been learning its nuances.
This is a really cool visualisation of the Battle of Hong Kong
https://digital.lib.hkbu.edu.hk/1941hkbattle/en/index.php
(spoiler, Japan wins).
Very cool. It made me think about how games might replicate the movement in that rendition. Also, I’d forgotten how long the battle lasted.
Got this from the SMH. I gave them a bit of money. I think it’s a good endeavor. For some reason, Dennis Showalter makes me think of @TheWombat. I’m currently listening to an audiobook of Instrument of War: The German Army 1914-1918.
Anyway:
———————
To members of the Society for Military History:
Norwich University is creating an endowment to support the Dennis E. Showalter Research Fellowship at the College of Graduate and Continuing Studies . This new fellowship honors Professor Showalter as a long-time instructor in Norwich’s M.A. in Military HistoryProgram, renowned author, engaging lecturer, and wise mentor and friend to SMH members spanning a five-decade career until his passing on December 30, 2019.
The Showalter Fellowship will support the research efforts and recognize academic excellence of one or more graduate students in military history at Norwich University each year. The selected student(s) will receive a cash prize of $2,500 for research expenses. The first Showalter Fellowship will be chosen in 2022. One or more recipients will also be invited each fall semester to the annual Norwich University Military Writers’ Symposium to present their research.
We at Norwich hope that members of the Society for Military History will help us make the Showalter Fellowship a reality for future students.
More information and giving options, please visit: https://alumni.norwich.edu/give/dennisshowalterfellowship?cr=true&ct=10102&ctt=3b1d2cd2-abdc-4b72-8240-3dbbdf93a0a0&bbspredirected=false&fbclid=IwAR0uZRddJssnJPYgTbtaOO0kO33A6SALVIF0UZZav9y94zpqxykyTx2ie0c
Testimonials by scholars who knew Professor Showalter:
“ Dennis Showalter (1942-2019) was a remarkable scholar, mentor, and contributor to the Norwich history program. His research into the development of the German military in the 19th and 20th centuries has illuminated our understanding of history. For many historians, that would be a sufficient legacy, but Dennis was equally, if not more, concerned with the well-being of both his undergraduate students and younger graduate military historians. He selflessly encouraged and advanced the careers of others, and his commentaries on conference papers were marvels of both analysis and gentle humor. Finally, Prof. Showalter was one of the founding faculty of the Norwich MMH program, developing the first version of the historiography introductory course. The last course he ever taught was for Norwich. Dennis was a superb scholar, teacher, and human being who is deeply missed .” – Jonathan M. House, author of A Military History of the Cold War, 1962-1991
“Few historians possess, or will be able to possess within their lifetimes, a knowledge of military history as vast and commanding as was Dennis’. We have our accomplished experts in German, Russian, French, American, Asian, and African military history. But Dennis could speak engagingly on all those topics, and on virtually every conflict, large, small, in-between, and do so with impressive depth. He was as comfortable discussing civil-military relations in fin-de-siecle Europe as he was explaining the twentieth-century debates over the Polaris and Minuteman missiles. Regrettably, and yet somehow appropriately, it will be a long time before we historians have another scholar capable of filling his enormous shoes.” – Antulio J. Echevarria II, author of War’s Logic: Strategic Thought and the American Way of War
Nice, thanks for posting this. Norwich is down the road a piece, but is an important part of the Vermont college landscape. Some of my colleagues’ kids have gone there, including one who is now a USMC major.
I started out with the idea of getting my Ph.D. in military history of the sort Showalter was famous for, but soon diverged into more cultural and somewhat abstract takes on the field. That was when my major professor, a military historian of similar bent in some ways to Showalter, retired in the midst of my course of study.
I got to play Hexasims Quatre Bras at the weekend. An excellent game which eschews a lot of low level detail like facing and formations in favour of rolling this into the orders system. Combat is really easy to process and the whole thing looks lovely.
I also got to learn my first COIN game (A Distant Plain), which kind of blew my mind but the guy teaching it was very patient as he guided me through it. Am very keen to give that another go and start plumbing it’s obvious depths…
Copies of Absolute War are making there way into the wild now. I see pictures popping up on twitter. I still have No Retreat! and haven’t played that one nearly enough but I’m excited to see how the designer, Carl Paradis switched this over to an area movement system and tweaked combat. And there is a Vassal Module…
I’m waiting for a copy of Absolute War to arrive, but I ordered very late and expect it’ll be a while before they process my order.
At @Brooski’s suggestion, I’d been looking for a copy of No Retreat: The Russian Front, and finally found a reasonably priced one a while back on Board Game Geek. I just started a learning game last night, and went from “staring at the board having no idea what to do” to “Aha, this is very elegant” in a half-turn of pushing units around. Really enjoying this one so far.
I’m very curious how the the two games will compare. I get the sense that they can co-exist perfectly well. From what I’ve read, Absolute War seems more like a streamlined, general board gaming experience aimed at newcomers to the hobby, whereas No Retreat: The Russian Front has a lot of interweaving mechanics that demand some investment to learn.
Yeah I think it does so many things right and really re-creates the campaign well with the absolute bare minimum moving parts. I’ve played it a dozen or so times (I think?) against opponents and there are always several really exciting turning points and nail-biting outcomes.
I was a bit taken by surprise by the revelation it was an area-movement game, but I guess since Carl has already done the definitive simple hex game on the subject, the only was to go is more abstract. I’m not looking forward to it very much anymore for that reason, but I buy every East Front game so I’m still in.
I’m just getting my feet wet but it feels like the game gives you a whole toolbox of mechanics for solving problems on both sides. The 5-attack limit per turn creates some interesting choices right from the start, and you’ve got to take advantage of cards, supply, and support to make offensives work. Counterblows rock too, what a devilish way to frustrate your opponent’s key attack. :)
Yeah, I’m a bit hesitant with area-movement games. The counters, too, make me wonder about the combat system. But I’m in as well, looking forward to seeing how it all works together.
A hammer and sickle on the Polish flag? Wtf is that?? Commie Poland never had that. The big reveal was: eagle has crown? Eagle no has crown? That’s the historically accurate way.