Bad Kompany

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...

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

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...

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!

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 ...

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...

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!!

I began setting up the Crossroads scenario today.  The posted video goes over how to setup the map using the scenario card.  I then start by talking some strategy for the defense of the crossroads.  I welcome anyone to offer suggestions on deployment in the videos to come.  I hope to post a video every couple of days, so in between, feel free to offer comments to shape the flow of the game. I hope you all enjoy.

I have a love hate relationship with Vassal.  I enjoy all the mods that it has and appreciate being able to play games at home without all the setup.  However, I hate the map zoom features that are clunky and the map movement with scroll bars.  The entire user interface just seems out dated and clunky.  However, I have decided that if I can learn to create my own vassal modules, then maybe I'll better appreciate the interface and not struggle so much to play games. I have chosen to make a module of the Old School Tactical game East Front.  As of the time of this posting, the actual game hasn't come out yet.  I figure this will let me start playing while I wait for the game.  I also get to learn how to program a module into Vassal.  I started by watching the Joel Toppen tutorial lessons on Youtube.  They were really great in explaining the basics and I have found a few things I would like to learn next. One thing I really enjoyed was setti...

So I thought that maybe using counters for wargames when minis weren't available might sound silly, apparently there are others that like the idea to.  As I was searching through Kickstarter, I found this project going on.  Modern Army counters.  https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1310140601/modern-wwii-civil-and-revolutionary-war-military-a?ref=nav_search I don't think this project will get funded, but I will keep an eye out on this company.  They were only showing the modern counters.  I would have loved to have seen the WWII counters.  I think I will reach out to them and see if they have plans on WWII counters.  I think these would be lovely and could cover a lot of genres like ACW, Revolutionary, Napoleonic and such.

I was thinking about picking up the Panzer Flat paper tank print outs.  After thinking about using counters with miniature rules, I found these on the Wargame vault.  They are for use with the miniatures version of Panzer by Jim Day.  However, since they don't have any printed game information on them, they could be printed out and used in place of miniatures.  Which is what they were designed for anyway. The scale on them is in the micro armor size I believe and I'd want to figure out how to size them up for maybe 15mm usage.  For about $10, you can get one army of units in a PDF format.  That is virtually an unlimited number of units to print and use.  Of course, your limited to the colorings that come with the product, so it may limit their usage just on looks alone. I have slowly grown my collection of models and have a small force of Germans and Russians in both 15mm and 20mm, however, that is a lot of money to run two armies in two scales jus...

Ok, so my mind is always turning and spinning with ideas.  I have purchased several hex and counter wargames and love them.  I also have gotten a few miniatures and a couple rule sets that are very fun as well, but there is one problem with miniatures.  They can be very expensive to acquire your miniatures.  Now, this is not to debate the cost of minis or how to obtain them.  This is to talk about how you can use what you have to play the miniatures games you've always wanted without the minis.  Well, for me I think I can do this. So here is the plan, I'm going to use the counters from my favorite games and use them in place of the miniatures on the gaming table.  In truth, I have many more counters from my hex and counter games than I have miniatures.  The counters represent troops and equipment from many nations and time periods giving me great flexibility for my gaming choices.  I know, that sounds absurd, but I'm hoping to convince you ...

My wife and I are starting up a video blog where we discuss our gaming misadventures of the week.  I just thought this would be a great way to just talk about the gaming we do in a relaxed and casual way.  Hopefully, this will give us a chance to share our thoughts on the things we encounter when playing and open it up for others to come and chat with us.  I'm hoping we can get a chat up every week.  So if your interested in chatting with us and sharing your thoughts, drop us a line and we'll let you know when the next broadcast is. Watch episode one here: Bad Kompany Chit Chat #1

One of the very first things I did when I cracked open the pages of Chain of Command, rather, jumped to the appropriate section in the tablet edition, was notice there are no points values listed for things like squads and the various support items.  How can I build a platoon?  How can I customize it to be a finely honed machination of death without points?  Instead, there is a listing of what you get when you pick your nation.  Maybe 2 or 3 choices for your platoon and off you go.  So what do you get in your pre-determined list, and where did the points go for tourney play?  Nowhere, they are cleverly built into the lists. Just so we're clear, my experience with points systems is built upon the premise that each unit in the game, from soldier to tank has a point value.  This allows the players to set a limit on points with which to purchase their army, or platoon on a smaller scale.  The points are a way to make the meeting armies balanced. ...

I recently added tanks to my Chain of Command experience and it was quite different than what I expected.  Most games I play have lots of tanks, Battlegroup Kursk, and Panzer for example.  Well, in those games, you bring lots of tanks to the table.  In Chain of Command, it would not be odd to bring one tank to the party.  So for trying out the rules, I brought a T-34/85 and a Panzer III/M.  The two tanks on paper are not really classed in the same league with advantage going to the T-34.  Perhaps in a later article, we'll talk about activation's and the crews that drive these tanks.  Here is how our experience went. At the start of the game, the Russians kept control of the phases very well.  With confidence, they brought on the T-34 first.  What I didn't realize is that in practice, they don't move very fast.  They can do a full speed move of 3D6 inches over open ground, which seems great, but if you roll terribly will leave you not m...

Recently I played a quick game and the scenario was A Delaying Action.  This was a great way to show how only three patrol markers and really set the patrol phase in your favor.  Most games I've seen played or played in had each player using four deployment markers.  The rules state that some scenarios will let you pick between three and four and there has been discussion about the benefit of only three.  Well today I found out when playing a delaying action as a the defender, you only get three patrol markers, and it was awesome. So normally, you and your opponent take turns moving the patrol markers on the board until one side has all of their markers locked down.  However, with 4 markers each side I've seen this usually leads to static lines near the center of the board and sometimes doesn't really showcase creative deployments.  But, what is really cool I have noticed is that if you play with three markers and your opponent has four, you can force th...

One of the first things I noticed in Chain of Command is that your movement is random and not a set amount.  Depending on your movement choice, tactical, normal or all out, you roll dice to see how far you can move.  This is modified for special terrain and buildings.  I didn't know what to think of that until I played out a couple games and I really like the mechanic. Most games I have played allow for infantry, vehicles, cavalry, etc. to have a fixed movement rate which is modified by terrain.  That works just fine.  So why do i like the random roll?  In a narrative element, it takes into account things like your teams willingness to move forward, how cautious they are moving based on perceived threat or even just how much more unsteady the environment is.  Let's take a look at terrain and how it can affect movement. In most war games, movement for tanks is a fixed value based on tank.  As you cross terrain, you subtract from the movement al...