[Consim-l] My playings, purchases, and discards in 2006

[Dave Kohr]

My playings of wargame-y games in 2006 were pretty sparse compared to
say 4-5 years ago, and really none of them quite fit the mold of
traditional consims. Still, this was a better showing than in 2005.

As has been the trend over the last 3 years, most of my gaming was
Euros, plus RPGs. One new wrinkle was that all the RPG gaming was
using the T20 (Traveller in D20) system instead of D&D v. 3.5. I also
dipped into some computer gaming, playing a bit of an older D&D-based
RPG called Icewind Dale.

But back to consims: Here's the stuff I played this year that was
wargame-y, and my quick take on it:

Command & Colors: Ancients : Definitely the best of the C&C historical
games thus far (I haven't yet tried the fantasy game BattleLore). C&C
works well for the linear battles that characterized ancient tactical
warfare, and this version differentiates the various arms (heavy
infantry, skirmishers, missile troops, heavy and light cavalry) in
ways that feel right yet remain rules-light. I am less enamored of
using blocks--I think the system would fare better with Euro-style
thick tiles for unit counters, and smaller "hit" markers on top.

Game of Thrones (with some rules from the Storm of Swords expansion) :
This was my second playing. I won, simply by virtue of being left
alone the whole game, which was rather unsatisfying. It left me less
fond of the game, so I bumped it off my "might buy" list. I think the
core mechanics are a nice update of Diplomacy, but as in most such
games, the enjoyment depends more on the other players than on the
game itself.

Struggle of Empires : Gives a broad-brush view of the history of
European colonialism in a format that's mostly Euro (auctions and
area-majority) but also part wargame (roll dice to resolve battles).
Lots of fascinating historical "chrome" appears on the cards. There's
a fair amount of randomness but it's quick enough (under 3 hours) that
this isn't a huge problem for me.

Brittania : The new Fantasy Flight edition is a superb update of the
earlier AH one. On the plus side, the game presents a tremendous
amount of history, and its system blends traditional wargame and
multiplayer game mechanics in a unique way. On the minus side, I find
it too long and repetitive. Also, I suspect replay value is a bit
limited: you can play different colors, but the historical script is
always the same.

Revolution: The Dutch Revolt 1568-1648 : This was the most pleasant
surprise of my gaming year. On one hand, it's a broad-brush depiction
of conflict in military, political, and theological (!) spheres,
spanning nearly a century. On the other, it's a multiplayer strategic
consim based on simple Eurogame mechanics. There are numerous
strategic options and lots of historical chrome, yet the rules
complexity and playing time are both quite manageable. Because the
designer is Francis Tresham, of Civilization fame, perhaps I shouldn't
have been surprised at how well it works.

Sword of Rome : This, alas, was the biggest disappointment of my
gaming year. As a game, it's fiddly, far too long, and far too random
for its length. It provides too few incentives to attack, which often
leads to "turtling". As a consim, its focus is unclear, rendering some
mechanics nonsensical--why bother with winter attrition if each turn
represents several years? Playing take-that events on other players
feels even more weird than in other card-driven games; in our playing,
the non-player powers nearly dominated, and the Greeks were
essentially  taken out of the game by the Carthaginians. If and when
GMT reprints Successors, likely it will take the place of this game in
my collection.

On to the purchases. Here are the wargames I bought in 2006:

AH Storm Over Arnhem : I really like Breakout:Normandy, and need to
try another impulse-system game.

Against the Odds #16 with Vallee de la Morte : I purged all my other
ATO titles (see below), but bought this one because I am interested in
the subject (the siege of Dien Bien Phu), and I thought the game might
be decent. My reasoning was that it had reached a second edition,
which implies that that the first edition (DTP'd by Microgame Design
Group) was actually worth re-publishing. After reading the rules, the
system seems rather fiddly, and the main scenario is much longer than
I had been expecting (though there are lots of short scenarios), so
the jury is still out.

Crusader Rex : I'm a big fan of Hammer of the Scots, and this one
promises to be similar-yet-different, in a good way.

Bitter Woods 4th ed with Expansion : I've owned Bitter Woods since it
came out from AH, but have never gotten it on the table. I'm hoping
that upgrading to L2's fancy new version will inspire me to change
that.

Russian Campaign 4th ed with Expansion : Russian Campaign is a
favorite from way back, and it's short, simple, and elegant enough
that I could see playing it even today. So I upgraded to L2's new
edition.

Rommel in the Desert 2nd ed : I've played RitD a few times, and
enjoyed it. So it wasn't a hard decision to get the upgrade.

I sold a bunch of wargames on Ebay this year. I even made a Geeklist of them:

    http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/17036

The most notable trends here are:

Quick disposal of magazine games (ATO, S&T) I know I'll never play, as
opposed to the space-intensive hoarding in which I used to indulge.
The many favorable comments on Group of Soviet Forces Germany leads me
to think I may have pulled the trigger too quickly on this one.

An utter lack of sentimentality in dumping games like Peloponnesian
War and Sorceror (both of which I played quite a bit, way back when),
and also Britannia (which I generally like, and have played twice in
the last 6-7 years, but is unlikely to hit the table more than every 5
years--so I'll play somebody else's copy instead).

Letting go at last of some valuable rarities (Age of Renaissance,
Peloponnesian War, first edition DAK).

Upgrades, thanks to new editions by L2 and Columbia.