P4: Gritty Reboot

Fine with me, just anyone specify if you don't want your email given out (I assume since you're giving me an email, you won't mind if I give it to your teammates, etc.).

It has universal chat as well as team chat. I can give out emails if that is easier, I'm not sure if you have to keep logging on to see if your team is chatting you or not. Yes, though--strategic discussions are very important for both sides. Axis should coordinate which type of victory they are going for and which areas they will concentrate on, and Allies should coordinate attacks and decide which two capitals to go after.

I will try to post an after-action report, if I can remember to.

Alright as a brief rundown: Goals Military Victory: Axis need to capture 2 of 3 territories: Eastern US, Russia, UK. Allies need to capture BOTH Germany and Japan. Economic Victory: Axis need a combined production level of 84 at the end of a full round to win. Allies cannot win by economy. Turn Structure 1.) Develop weapons -- This is optional but you can spend 5 of your IPCs (money) to try to develop weapons on a roll of 6. Typically you don't want to devote a ton to this but you might depending on income and strategy. 2.) Purchase units -- Buy units that will be placed at the end of the turn. 3.) Combat moves -- Move units into enemy zones to fight them. Click the target you want to go to and it will show which units and from where you can commit them. Note you can hold CTRL at any time to show the full map and hide combat menus. 4.) Combat - click on the flashing zones to resolve combat in them. You can withdraw if you are losing (unless amphibious assault I believe). 5.) Land Combat Aircraft -- Any surviving planes need to land. 6.) Non-combat moves -- Make maneuvers into territories you already control. If units moved in step 3 they cannot move in step 6. 7.) Place units -- Place units you paid for at the beginning of your turn. 8.) Collect income -- You get IPCs based on what industrial centers (the black circles with the white numbers in them) you control now. 9.) Order your defense -- The game automates your casualty selection on enemy turns unless you specify priorities now. You are ok to leave this default unless you want to micromanage. Take the first few turns as slow as you need, and ask questions here whenever. Note you can chat privately with your team or publicly with all players in the GBE interface. Pay special attention to the combat charts on the interface and the little help windows. They will be invaluable. You can click on this link to run through a preview turn or two on the interface we're using. Once I get all emails we will begin. See you on the battlefield.

Great. It's GamesByEmail, and the game is called WWII. Everyone PM me the email address you want to use, a country preference for the game if you have one, and I will get it started.

We could move to Acquire to play all six of us, if everyone is okay with it.

I know. Loved X-Com and the Civilization series for that reason.

Speaking of birthday gifts, I got Last Night on Earth: Timber Peak for my birthday last week. It's a standalone expansion for the Last Night on Earth base game, moving the setting to a mountain village. We got to play it last night with 4 players at the game shop. The humans had to defend the town's generators until dawn, and they succeeded (though zombies came within a die roll of winning at least twice). Great zombie game, for those not sick of the theme.

Let's hold out until the weekend for one more player. With just 4, one will have to play two powers. Here are the rules if anyone wants to read them. It's not strictly necessary but might be a good idea to get a feel for it. Rules PDF

Let's plan on Axis & Allies, and we will have two more open seats then.

Per our discussion in the board games thread, I'd like to see if there is enough interest in getting some games-by-email going. I'd recommend either Acquire or Axis & Allies, neither of which are too tough, and both of which have dedicated interfaces on the GamesbyEmail website. Axis and Allies seats: 1.) P4 2.) S Tenshi 3.) Ethan 4.) Malicious H 5.) Mr. Goh Checking out my past games, it looks like A&A typically can take up to 2-3 weeks depending on how fast people pull off their moves. Acquire would probably be a bit shorter. Some details: Axis & Allies Players: 2-5 (Best with 2 or 5) Playtime: 2 weeks (by email) Complexity: Medium The Pitch: The classic WW2 game of yore. You have to win by having such a strong economic production rate that your opponents can't possibly win in the long run, or capture your opponents' capitals. It's a team game, with 2 players taking on the Axis powers (Japan, Germany) and 3 taking on the Allies (US, Russia, Britain). Things could get a little complex, but luckily the system automates all the movement and combat and you have some hint screens you can pull up. Acquire ("Mergers") Players: 3-6 (Best with 4-6) Playtime: 1-2 weeks (by email) Complexity: Low The Pitch: A classic Sid Sackson design from the '60s, Acquire has a very sparse ruleset that nonetheless leads to deep strategy and tactics. You are playing tiles to a board trying to create "corporations", which then merge when the smaller ones touch the more prominent chains. If you have stock in either side of a merger you'll usually come up on top, with small companies getting big cash payoffs and big companies getting increased stock value. Post stating which one you'd be up for. I can organize the details and start date. I can also send out or post a quick rules summary, and full rule sheets I can link to online. Looking forward to meeting y'all on the virtual tabletop!

I'll move the discussion of play by email to the event planning forum.

I'm always happy to play Vassal, though schedules can be tough to sync. Play by Email is always an option though. Might be fun if we could get a PBEM game of something relatively simple like Acquire or Axis & Allies going in the forums (though those two can be played on dedicated PBEM websites instead of finagling with Vassal).

Dean, have you played the original Resistance before? I think starting with Avalon is a mistake, especially with the alternate roles like Lancelot. The most I would do is Assassin/Merlin with a new player. That said, it's highly group dependent and certain sessions can be duds if the "wrong" teams are selected. --- I have set up on my "solo table" (really a family desk, my wife just doesn't know it's my solo gaming table yet) a game called RAF, a solitaire wargame from 1987. You can play the whole battle through September 1940, or just certain turning points of the offensive. The rules are taking me some time to grok, as it uses some conventions you probably haven't seen in other games, even heavy wargames. I set up the game, went through the rules, and played the August 11 raids in probably 3 hours. I think it will get much easier to understand as I go. The Germans started with some light raids on a military base and Kenley Airfield, the latter of which was successful and damaged some Spitfires on the ground. The final raid of the day was a major run with Ju-88s and Me-110s attempting to take out Weymouth Port. I spent a lot of squadrons but fended it off. Looking forward to finishing the "Hardest Days" campaign, but it will take me some time to complete.

Medium-heavy economic games are not my thing either. I will play Acquire any time though.

Nice review. I find board games are much harder to get right from a design perspective than a video game. You have to make a game that is fun for 2-8 people to play, for hours on end, while sitting in uncomfortable chairs. And often they're not even doing anything; they're watching their friends take turns--and that needs to be fun too, somehow. You have to make rules that people can read and understand blindly, and then in turn teach their friends to play without putting them to sleep. And they have to be able to reference the rules later when they get confused. A video game can be stupid and you'll still play it, because you have nothing else to do and it kills time. But a board game requires a mental investment that means only the really good designs are going to stick around on your shelf. At least without gathering dust.

First game of Eldritch Horror tonight. I trekked the globe trying to stop the apocalypse, but it was too late. Azathoth awakened and devoured the world!

You and I would get along playing games just fine. When the mechanics are divorced from the theme I'm left high and dry, most of the time. I gave away Love Letter and traded away Elder Sign. Try Eldritch Horror or Arkham Horror (though I actually hate the latter; I only really enjoy the 1987 printing which is hard to come by now). But they're both very thematic. Ethan, it is hard to say. I think Desert's theme comes through a little better, and it has about one more dimension gameplay-wise. But you can't really argue with Forbidden Island's price point and 30-minute play time. I think if you haven't played similar co-op games before, Island is a good introduction (and a good game in its own right), where if you've played out these "put the fire out" emergent co-ops, Desert offers something a little different.

Nice. Just picked up Pandemic (again) at the thrift shop so maybe I will return to it. Lots of fun there--other games in that same vein are Flash Point Fire Rescue, Forbidden Island/Desert, and Defenders of the Realm.

Well I beat Dishonored and got the "low chaos" ending, whatever that means. Tried not to kill unless I got caught but didn't go bananas quick loading if things went south. It was a great game and the perfect length for me.

Hot Heart is talking to himself again...

I'm not about to click through all 30 pages of this thread, but I think the last time I posted here was when I beat a couple Mario DS games on January 4. Seriously have not beaten anything else this year if memory serves. FINALLY a day before the end of the year, my son and I beat Lego Lord of the Rings. It was a hoot and a half.