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Play Matt: Undaunted: Reinforcements Review

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31 Jan 2022 07:07 #330295 by Matt Thrower
I’m so excited to pack everything into its new home...

It’s not normal to find an expansion box that dwarfs the original like Undaunted: Reinforcements does. But like everything in the superb Undaunted series of tactical military deck-builders from Osprey Games, there’s method in the madness. The expansion box will fit in everything from the first two games in the series, Undaunted: Normandy and Undaunted: North Africa. It’s also easier to access them, with terrain tiles flipped to one side and new dividers to divvy up the contents of the two games.

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31 Jan 2022 11:33 #330296 by fightcitymayor
I feel torn about the Undaunted series. It's clearly one of those "war-themed" games (rather than an actual wargame) so if you view it through that lens & play it like a deckbuilder then you might get by. Otherwise the goofy d10 die rolls are super-swingy, the art is all pastoral watercolors on the level of a childrens picturebook, and the setup time is more than I like for such a basic game. I might have enjoyed it more minus the WW2 theme, which feels weird and doesn't come through 100% for me. Have not played the expansions though, maybe they help.

And maybe the hype didn't help it in my eyes either. I expected a lot going in (I remember it being termed a "Memoir 44 killer" which it certainly is not) and so my bar was kinda high.
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31 Jan 2022 14:48 #330301 by Michael Barnes
I’m reviewing this too and I agree completely with Matt- the solo system is stunning. It does not replace a human player of course but you can play Undaunted solo and that counts for a lot.

I also agree with the Mayor. The WWII theme is suuuuuper yuck. I’m not crazy about the art, which is oddly inconsistent across the product (the style of the cards/counters doesn’t match the tiles/typography). Setup is a PITA.

But I love it- the mechanics are great. I like the D10 roll. I like everything about the way it plays. The scenarios are good. The rules are clean and smooth.

But WWII…vomit. I’m done with WWII gaming and in fact this is the only WWII game I own now. It’s non-specific enough to just barely skirt by.

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31 Jan 2022 16:33 #330302 by Msample
I played the base game several times and was rather let down. The biggest miss for me was the utter lack of differentiation between the two sides. Both German and American decks had the same values and ability for each unit type. For example, a Conscript could have one less card to show their lower resilience.

Why not introduce some differences - down the line, this would open up the system to nationality specific expansions with differentiation for each nation. I am not sure if the North Africa or Reinforcements added this or not. There were other issues I had ( overpowered Scouts for instance ) but this was the biggest one and regardless of whether its WWII, Napoleanics, or Terrinoth, this sort of thing was some low hanging design fruit that was missed IMO.

I get that I wasn't the targer audience .

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31 Jan 2022 17:08 #330304 by Jackwraith
IIRC, the most talked-about positive aspect of the North Africa version was that the two sides do have variable abilities/values. I suspect that the WWII veneer was just a marketing tool. There's always an audience for that stuff, just like the game I reviewed earlier this year that has an unusual mechanical framework, but put in the middle of the Battle of the Bulge because that's the way the KS would get attention. But the two sides (Germans and Americans) were identical in ability. The only variance was secret objectives and goal cards for completing 1/3 of the victory condition.

I'm with the crowd on this one. The WWII stuff just isn't interesting to me anymore, no matter how solid the gameplay.

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31 Jan 2022 17:41 #330305 by Michael Barnes
I think you are right- WWII still sells for some godforsaken reason and without greater specificity the game may as well be red versus blue. But I’d like that better, because then I don’t have to be the Nazis or think about Nazis or watch Nazis win the game.

WWII fetishism is a lingering turd clinging to the ass of Boomer America. Younger generations have inherited this turd from aging and now elderly gamers. It’s time to cut it loose and move on. Virtually all of the really interesting, compelling, and successful war games of the past decade + have either NOT been about WWI or about some underexplored niche subtopic.

My tastes as you all know run hot and cold and I’m always moving on to something either new or that I want to reassess…but like Lovecraft, WWII is on my “never again” list. I allow for exceptional games, and I think this is one despite the subject matter.

I mean FFS they do 2000AD games. This could totally be a Block War game. Or Rogue Trooper. Fucking anything but WWII.

Besides, it’s time for all the Boomer Rommel stans to just admit they love playing as Nazis and they love Nazi stuff.

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31 Jan 2022 20:37 #330309 by Sagrilarus
Serious question — would you all be more at ease if it was set in the Pacific or China?

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01 Feb 2022 00:45 #330314 by Michael Barnes
Not really. Maybe a touch just because no Nazis. But same conflict. I’m not interested in games about real world conflicts right now at all regardless of theater or time period TBH.

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01 Feb 2022 04:32 #330315 by Matt Thrower

fightcitymayor wrote: I feel torn about the Undaunted series. It's clearly one of those "war-themed" games (rather than an actual wargame) so if you view it through that lens & play it like a deckbuilder then you might get by. Otherwise the goofy d10 die rolls are super-swingy, the art is all pastoral watercolors on the level of a childrens picturebook, and the setup time is more than I like for such a basic game. I might have enjoyed it more minus the WW2 theme, which feels weird and doesn't come through 100% for me. Have not played the expansions though, maybe they help.

And maybe the hype didn't help it in my eyes either. I expected a lot going in (I remember it being termed a "Memoir 44 killer" which it certainly is not) and so my bar was kinda high.


Everyone likes their own thing, of course, but I really don't see much of this. Sure it's not a "wargame" as such but the way the deck mimics things like suppression and command confusion make it feel more realistic than, say, something like M44 (which takes as long, if not longer, to set up). It feels like a good halfway house to me, between light war-themed titles and more serious consims, but totally with the rules weight of the former.

I do get the art. I felt that way for a while but it's grown on me, maybe just because I like the game.

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01 Feb 2022 04:39 - 01 Feb 2022 04:40 #330316 by Matt Thrower

Michael Barnes wrote: Not really. Maybe a touch just because no Nazis. But same conflict. I’m not interested in games about real world conflicts right now at all regardless of theater or time period TBH.


I genuinely struggle with why I can't put my interest in WW2 away, despite all the horrors of conflict and Nazism. But I can't. Sorry. It makes me feel like a bad person. I've spent very many long hours trying to reconcile my thoughts on this, and the closest I've come is summed up by this quote from Dispatches:

One day a letter came from a British publisher asking him to do a book whose working title would be "Through the War" and whose purpose would be to once and for all "take the glamour out of war". Page couldn't get over it.

"Take the glamour out of war! I mean, how the bloody hell can you do that? Go and take the glamour out of a Huey, go take the glamour out of a Sheridan...Can you take the glamour out of a Cobra, or getting stoned at China Beach? It's like taking the glamour out of an M-79, taking the glamour out of Flynn." He pointed to a picture he'd taken, Flynn laughing maniacally ("We're winning," he'd said), triumphantly. "Nothing the matter with that boy, is there? Would you let your daughter marry that man? Ohhhh, war is good for you, you can't take the glamour out of that. It's like trying to take the glamour out of sex, trying to take the glamour out of the Rolling Stones." He was really speechless, working his hands up and down to emphasize the sheer insanity of it.

"I mean, you know that it just can't be done!" We both shrugged and laughed, and Page looked very thoughtful for a moment. "The very idea!" he said. "Ohhh, what a laugh! Take the bloody glamour out of bloody war!”

Last edit: 01 Feb 2022 04:40 by Matt Thrower.
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01 Feb 2022 08:42 #330318 by Jackwraith
I don't think it's anything to regret or be ashamed of. You like what you like. As long as it's not hurting anyone else (unless, y'know, they want that), do what you like. I have a couple friends who are hardcore Eastern Front fanatics. I have a piece for TWBG in the queue looking at my collection overall and one of the largest categories, by theme or mechanics, is "wargame". I'm a fan, as well. I'm just no longer a fan of WWII, because I've just had my fill. But that doesn't mean anyone else should feel bad about enjoying the topic. I'm a sucker for Roman history of all kinds and will basically try any game that uses Rome as a theme. I did that with Pandemic: Rome, much to my regret for the next two hours...
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01 Feb 2022 09:32 #330320 by fightcitymayor

Michael Barnes wrote: WWII fetishism is a lingering turd clinging to the ass of Boomer America. Younger generations have inherited this turd from aging and now elderly gamers. It’s time to cut it loose and move on.

I'm always interested in whether or not hex-&-counter wargaming (of the "serious" kind) survives the decade. In some ways it does seem like a relic of a bygone boardgaming age (in blissful lockstep with the boomer romanticization of WW2 in general) but there are still an ocean of wargame publishers out there surviving on what has to be an increasingly niche audience.

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01 Feb 2022 11:06 - 01 Feb 2022 11:13 #330324 by blarknob
I really love undaunted.

My brother and I played a lot of the first two during the height of covid. The theme is great for a couple of history buffs like us, and the mechanics are fantastic. New mechanics applied to a tried and true theme can be a real breath of fresh air.

I don't have any problem setting games in real world history, I find it much more engaging than some generic magic realm.

It's one of the best uses of the deck building mechanic I've seen in a game.
Last edit: 01 Feb 2022 11:13 by blarknob.
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01 Feb 2022 11:07 - 01 Feb 2022 11:08 #330325 by Sagrilarus
It’s not even World War 2. It’s Eastern Front, Bulge and Market Garden. Normandy gets some attention (including this title here.). Other parts of the war get occasional titles but I’d wager those three account for two thirds of all new materials in the last 20 years.
Last edit: 01 Feb 2022 11:08 by Sagrilarus.
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01 Feb 2022 11:31 - 01 Feb 2022 11:33 #330326 by Msample
People have been predicting the demise of hex and counter wargaming since the late 80s when computer games started to proliferate. And yet they still endure. What has happened is that non hex and counter wargames have become a larger presence whether it be Card driven games, area impulse, or stuff like NEVSKY . Those approaches have often proven to be more approachable for people new to conflict simulation.

The other thing that has happened is that with better research materials a lot of older games have been revealed to be much less accurate in terms of history than originally thought. So new designs using these materials are coming out .
Last edit: 01 Feb 2022 11:33 by Msample.
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