So the Nemo’s War second edition I ordered when I was a far younger person finally arrived. Since today I’m alone at home I took it for an spin.
I went straight for the torpedo improvement and got it on turn 3. Yay!!!
I missed my very first shot and it became useless. Double yay!!!
Ultimately, I scored a thriumph with the explore motive on normal difficulty on my first play. Got very lucky with combat rolls and I almost lost when the oceans became almost full (forgot the automatic defeat rule until it was almost too late and I was saved thanks to getting 5 actions that turn to clear some spaces).
Definitely easier than Dawn of the Zeds, but also lighter and faster. I liked this play a lot. Need to play more!!!
GMT is reprinting a bunch of COIN games as part of their p500 program. They’re at the printer now and I think they’re supposed to ship next month, so this is the last chance to get them at the p500 price.
I’ve never used p500 before, but apparently they now offer customs friendly shipping to the EU. I think shipping charges are still pretty high, but with the p500 price it should still be equal to, or possibly a bit cheaper, than local prices here.
I’ve already ordered Andean Abyss and Fire in the Lake. I’ve been wanting to get Andean Abyss for years, but it’s been hard to find. Fire in the Lake got some good buzz around here, as I recall, and the subject matter interests me, so I’m getting that one too. I’ve been wanting to get Cuba Libre too, but I don’t think the p500 savings on that one is worth it.
Now I’m considering also getting either Falling Sky or A Distant Plain, and I’d like to hear what people here think of those. I’m especially interested in hearing peoples thoughts about the counter insurgency aspect of Falling Sky, as the setting seems a little strange for a COIN game. Then again, I’ve never actually played a COIN game, so what do I know.
I’ll probably only ever play these solitaire, so if some are better suited for that than others, I’d be interested in hearing about that too.
COIN was initially designed as a modern counter-insurgency system but that doesn’t really hold true anymore. All the games in the series still have similar mechanics, but are no longer strictly about counter-insurgency. I’ve not played Falling Sky, but my first COIN was Pendragon which is similarly non-standard, and pretty awesome. For my second I’ve had Fire in the Lake on P500 order after watching that recent Vietnam documentary. Looking forward to it shipping! :)
All of them play well solo, but I think ones that could be more suited may be those with lower complexity? Cubra Libre is the simplest as it has the smallest number of moving pieces. As the series goes on the AI tables tensd to get more complicated.
Anyone backing the new Thunderstone kickstarter? It has official solo rules so I’m tentatively interested. But quite the outlay to get it shipped over here (~USD $200 total, and the exchange rate is pretty bad currently)!
The solo mode is currently available as PnP for owners of the previous kickstarter to check out.
Sorry, my copy sits still unplayed. It is not because it is a bust though. It looks really solid from online videos and reviews. I just have not had the time for ga,Es lately and with the expansion stuff coming in soon, I might as well wait at this point.
If you like cooperative (aka solitaire) fantasy games, I’m really loving Legends of Andor. I haven’t tried the two sequels, but only because I’ve spent so much time with the original. But the first and last games in the trilogy are on sale at Amazon.com today for a way better price than I paid.
Not inconsiderable. It’s a pretty fussy game, especially when you start playing the sequels, which are an unholy mix of components from the base game carried forward into the sequels. Not Fantasy Flight or Gloomhaven levels of fiddliness, but this is no Eurogame.
Really, it’s the price you pay for the amount of personality and specificity in the Andor series. It’s a set map(s), with set locations, and consistent resources and elements and characters and enemies throughout all the scenarios. But there’s enough randomness that it’s eminently replayable.
And if you add the Star Shield expansion, forget about it: