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Urban Operations Overview

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I finally have had some nice sit down and play time with Urban Operations.  I took my time jumping in because I was intimidated by the rules.  Not that they are overly complicated, but that they weren't very intuitive for me to follow on the first read through.  After my second read through a few weeks later, I finally laid out the pieces and gave the game a go.  This for me is definitely a game you need to play as you read the rules.  Everything started to click once I had it out and in motion. Probably the most unique thing to the game is the concept of weapon effect.  Most of us have seen this in videos, movies, or in person.  It's the representation of the shockwave, concussions, blasts, fire etc. when firing certain weapons or triggering explosions.  There is a simple mechanic marked on each unit card giving the details of this effect on the game board and how it interacts with troops.  This helps to bring the game into the realm of educational tool as you start to se
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Shadows Over Normandie Unboxing

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Here is the unboxing video for Shadows Over Normandie.  Such a fun and thematic game!
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Heroes of Normandie Rules Compendium

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Heroes of Normandie is a fun and light wargame.  I have had this game for a couple of years and have played it a few times with my son.  It's a great gateway game to more complicated games, and I always find myself coming back to it.  The artwork always pulls me and my son loves playing 'Ze Germans.  They always had the coolest looking tanks. One problem with the game is the rules creep.  This is a good problem.  The game has brought many expansions and even "Spawned" a Cthulhu version called Shadows Over Normandie.  Plus, there have been Gazettes and releases of terrain tiles and  small expansions bringing in historical units.  Lots of stuff.  So much, that Iello and Devil Pig Games wrote a rules compendium. I found one written review for the Rules Compendium and didn't see any Youtube videos for it. So I made a video for anyone that wanted to see what is inside the book.  It is organized very well and presents the latest rules in a very colorful and beautifu
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Trouble on the East Front, and other gaming goodness

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Well, I had a hard drive crash which resulted in the loss of the Vassal module I created for Old School Tactical, East Front.  I have all the art assets still and I have the saved games, just no module to play it.  So that means it will be some time before I can finish my play through.  But there is some good news.  Prior to my issues, I started another module for the Winter Thunder by Brian Train. On other news, the OST East Front living rules has been update to reflect version 5.2.  I didn't see a lot of changes, but it just shows we are getting closer to the printed version.  Please watch my overly long winded video for all the details. As always, feel free to leave comments!
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Updates to OST East Front and Vassal Module

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I recently uploaded turn 2 for the OST East Front play through and thought I would post a few thoughts here.  The second turn did play much quicker.  Well, in my mind it played quicker.  I felt like the pacing improved as my familiarity with the rules increase.  Turns out the video was maybe 15 minutes shorter than the first video.  So it's still lengthy and that may be simply due to the fact that I talk too much.  I'm still referring to the rules, must mostly just to confirm or clarify, not so much to learn as I play.  I've read they rules quite a few times already and I know there is a thing as too much reading of the rules.  At some point, you just need to play.  So my hope is that turn 3 runs smoother. And with that, I did update my module in Vassal.  I did add a button that can clear all of the status markers.  That was a challenge to learn, but I'm happy with the results.  It removes tedium from the game that otherwise is just a lot of button clicking to clear.
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Old School Tactical East Front Turn 1

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It has begun.  After setting up the forces, I have actually started playing the game.  Since this is my first actual play through, I decided to keep the rule book handy.  I really wanted to play the game as close to the rules as possible and make sure to share the page and rule section I'm looking at as I play.  This of course led to a much slower game than I'm sure is intended, but as with most games. once you learn it, the game will play quicker. I did find mistakes as I played, but I did try to correct myself as I played and I think I caught most mistakes.  The first big mistake I made is that vehicles do not do group movement.  I even read over that the other day as I brushed up on fire groups and still made that mistake.  Also, learning how to properly apply the combat modifiers when using the combat charts will still take some time.  It's not overly complicated, but sometimes rules interpretation may lead to mistakes. I'm hoping that for those that watch the v
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Old School Tactical East Front German Setup

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I actually recorded this a couple of nights ago and I'm slow in posting this.  In this video we discuss the placement of the German troops and determine initiative and starting impulse points.  I'll be recording turn one shortly and will post it soon as well. I also just got this update from my Kickstarter: "Vance Strickland has created a top-notch VASSAL module for the game using the final art. Here, Darryel Cochran plays (on VASSAL) one of the solitaire scenarios Mark designed for OST. Darryel says, "So, the semi-solitaire system seems to be kicking my butt."" Well, I'm happy that someone with some actual Vassal skills put together a module.  I do plan on picking it apart to see how they put it together.  Also, he had access to final art, so it will look much nicer.  Once the Vassal mod is out for everyone to try, I'll be switching over to it for sure!!
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