The Indisputably Most Amazingly Best and Awesome Games of 2013 (that I played and can remember). Part Deux.
The second and final entry. Here we go.
Battles of the Bulge: Celles. A small, operational (These words will mean something if you are a wargamer, if not, just move along. There's nothing to see here.) game covering a portion of the Battle of the Bulge. Formations are activated by chit draw, and not all formations will get a chance to play each turn. Moving and fighting fatigues units. Simple combat system, but game is a lot of fun.
Empire: The Strategy Deck Building Game: Clever deck building, empire growing, tactical battle fighting, game for the iPad. You can't defeat the bad guys, per se. Winning is determined by how long you struggle against the forces of darkness. The game includes everything you want in a 4X game, i.e. exploration, expansion, a tech tree, and combat, but at a quarter of the time. Only takes about thirty minutes per game. The downside? After fifteen games I'm still not sold on the combat. I'd like more control.
Shadowrun Returns: If you haven't heard of the Shadowrun universe you might have a sensory problem. Created by Jordan Wiseman at FASA, the universe is beloved by science fiction roleplayers the world over. Shadowrun Returns and Wiseman's new company, Harebrained Schemes, brought the universe back to turn-based gaming (iOS, PC, Android, Mac) via Kickstarter. Great combat and an even better story. My second favorite game of the year.
Wargame: Airland Battle is the closest my World at War game system has come to the PC. This is real time strategy where Abrams fight T-80s, TOWs destroy T-72s , Soviet Frogfoots (feet?) light up American Bradley's. Yep, it's real time, but manageable. All this destroying and lighting into underpins a pretty cool strategic campaign. The visuals are amazing, allowing you to zoom right in on the action as that Soviet T-80 brews up the Abrams. Now, if they only had Black Eagles. I'm SURE they exist/ed.
Battle Worlds Kronos has its roots in games such as Battle Isle, when turn-based strategy ruled the PC. Funded through Kickstarter, the game places players in charge of large, ground-based task forces, as they wind their way through two campaigns with over 30 hours of play. A rock, paper, scissors type of PC war game.
Risk Battlefield Rogue: This was a Target-only release. Folks told me that it was similar to Dust Tactics, but lighter. Well, there are few similarities and it is much, much lighter than Dust Tactics. An introductory board game in which you control different types of units--assault, engineer, recon, and support-. Four of these make a squad. Each type possesses unique powers, for example, recon units give greater range. Zone based movement, dice based combat, okay for a quick try, but little else.
Sentinels of the Multiverse: A deck builder without that annoying deck building. Atmospheric, clever, superhero card game. Sometimes the "X+3 -(H+2) where H=the number of players and X= your patience" attack factor calculations, get to be a bit much. Not for the faint of heart.
World at War: America Conquered: This is my favorite game of 2013. I've always enjoyed the World at War series, and this chapter depicts the invasion of America. The story telling is what I'm most proud of. Are there rough edges? Sure. Are some of those edges imagined? You bet, but I hope the FAQ I released answers anyone's questions. And yeah, I designed it.
By the way, if you have played and enjoyed America Conquered, you might want to check out my novel, Revelation, set in the same universe.
That's it. Stay tuned. I have no idea what I'll write about tomorrow.
Battles of the Bulge: Celles. A small, operational (These words will mean something if you are a wargamer, if not, just move along. There's nothing to see here.) game covering a portion of the Battle of the Bulge. Formations are activated by chit draw, and not all formations will get a chance to play each turn. Moving and fighting fatigues units. Simple combat system, but game is a lot of fun.
Empire: The Strategy Deck Building Game: Clever deck building, empire growing, tactical battle fighting, game for the iPad. You can't defeat the bad guys, per se. Winning is determined by how long you struggle against the forces of darkness. The game includes everything you want in a 4X game, i.e. exploration, expansion, a tech tree, and combat, but at a quarter of the time. Only takes about thirty minutes per game. The downside? After fifteen games I'm still not sold on the combat. I'd like more control.
Shadowrun Returns: If you haven't heard of the Shadowrun universe you might have a sensory problem. Created by Jordan Wiseman at FASA, the universe is beloved by science fiction roleplayers the world over. Shadowrun Returns and Wiseman's new company, Harebrained Schemes, brought the universe back to turn-based gaming (iOS, PC, Android, Mac) via Kickstarter. Great combat and an even better story. My second favorite game of the year.
Wargame: Airland Battle is the closest my World at War game system has come to the PC. This is real time strategy where Abrams fight T-80s, TOWs destroy T-72s , Soviet Frogfoots (feet?) light up American Bradley's. Yep, it's real time, but manageable. All this destroying and lighting into underpins a pretty cool strategic campaign. The visuals are amazing, allowing you to zoom right in on the action as that Soviet T-80 brews up the Abrams. Now, if they only had Black Eagles. I'm SURE they exist/ed.
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| Wargame: Airland Battle |
Battle Worlds Kronos has its roots in games such as Battle Isle, when turn-based strategy ruled the PC. Funded through Kickstarter, the game places players in charge of large, ground-based task forces, as they wind their way through two campaigns with over 30 hours of play. A rock, paper, scissors type of PC war game.
Risk Battlefield Rogue: This was a Target-only release. Folks told me that it was similar to Dust Tactics, but lighter. Well, there are few similarities and it is much, much lighter than Dust Tactics. An introductory board game in which you control different types of units--assault, engineer, recon, and support-. Four of these make a squad. Each type possesses unique powers, for example, recon units give greater range. Zone based movement, dice based combat, okay for a quick try, but little else.
Sentinels of the Multiverse: A deck builder without that annoying deck building. Atmospheric, clever, superhero card game. Sometimes the "X+3 -(H+2) where H=the number of players and X= your patience" attack factor calculations, get to be a bit much. Not for the faint of heart.
World at War: America Conquered: This is my favorite game of 2013. I've always enjoyed the World at War series, and this chapter depicts the invasion of America. The story telling is what I'm most proud of. Are there rough edges? Sure. Are some of those edges imagined? You bet, but I hope the FAQ I released answers anyone's questions. And yeah, I designed it.
By the way, if you have played and enjoyed America Conquered, you might want to check out my novel, Revelation, set in the same universe.
That's it. Stay tuned. I have no idea what I'll write about tomorrow.
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