Big Board Reviews Sticks and Stones. I Respond.

I didn’t know where to put this, so here it is. First off, and this is critical. Thanks to Kevin Sharp, owner of The Big Board, and all the game reviewers that write and record quality reviews. Quality? Yeah. I have a simple definition of a quality review. It’s a review in which the reviewer attempts to get his or her facts straight, and is more concerned with reviewing the game than making a name for themselves.Kevin Sharp does quality reviews. More often than not.

Okay, to the task at hand. I watched Kev's review of Sticks and Stones (SaS). It's interesting and fair. He got a couple of things wrong, and I wanted to correct them.

1. You don’t combine fire when multiple units attack. This is indeed the way Greg and I initially tested the game, but there were several reasons that doesn’t work. Additional units simply provide column shifts. For example, an Abrams platoon (Attack Factor 14) attacking a T-72 platoon (Armor of 6), fires on the 8 column (14-6=8). Adding another Abrams platoon simply shifts the attack one column right to the 12 column.

2. Although Flanking Fire can take place in the same attack, it needs only take place in the same Fire Phase to count. In fact, this is the only way the Soviets can manage it.

3. The Fire Support Action Cards are additions to Firepower NOT column shifts. They would be too powerful as column shifts.

Things I Wished You Would Have Mentioned

1. The unique phasing. The Fire Phase alternates units firing. First one side and then the other selects a unit, or stack of units, to fire. On the other hand, the movement phase is different. One side moves all its units, and then the other side moves all theirs.

2. The Aid Marker. It’s sort of like the Focus Marker, but can be used to bolster morale.

3. That I made it through an entire set of 1985-era rules without mentioning Madonna or the Chicago Bears.

And finally.

World at War (WaW). I get it. Many of you met me through World at War, either the games, or the World at War: Revelation novel. Those days, at least the WaW game designing days, are gone. WaW didn’t cross my mind when designing Sticks and Stones, except to remind me of the things that I didn’t want to do (i.e. use formation activation, have HQs running around). I love to play 1985, platoon-level games. That’s why I designed Sticks and Stones and the Platoon Commander system. I hope you guys enjoy it too.

Thanks once again, Kevin, for everything you are doing for the hobby.

Mark H. Walker served 23 years in the United States Navy, most of them as an Explosive Ordnance Disposal diver. He is the owner of Flying Pig Games as well as Tiny Battle Publishing the designer of the aliens-invade-Earth game Night of Man, the author of World at War: Revelation, a creepy, military action, with a love story, alternate history, World War Three novel thing, Everyone Dies in the End, and numerous short stories. All the books and stories are available from Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing right here. Give them a try. I mean, what the hell? The games? Well that's Flying Pig Games and Tiny Battle Publishing Retribution will release in the summer of 2015. Okay, Okay. It looks like Retribution will be a fall release. Should I Kickstarter it? 

Oops, here's Kev's review.