Popular Games Played at the
Connecticut Game Club

The following are press releases for some of the more popular games played at the CGC.
We have separate forums for game reviews and after action reports as written by your follow gamers.

Battleground: Fantasy Warfare
by Your Move Games

I was introduced to a great game at last month's Total Confusion convention: Battleground: Fantasy Warfare (BFW). The manufacturer, Your Move Games, is a Massachusetts company, and they were onsite to showcase their game.



BFW is like a miniatures game, but the cool innovation is that your units are printed on 2D cards. You can have a whole army's worth of units in single deck of cards in your pocket. Aside from the nice presentation, the rules are very good too. Annother innovation is that casualty hits are marked right on the card with dry-erase marker; at the end of the game, wipe your cards clean and you're all set for the next time.

There are currently eight fantasy armies/factions: The Men of Hawkshold (feudal humans), Orcs, Undead, Ravenwood Elves, High Elves, Dwarves, Lizardmen, and the Umenzi tribes (like Zulus with magic). There will be more armies in the future, and historical earth sets are in development (Roman Punic war is coming soon). Each army has at least a dozen different unit types, and their unique special ability. For example, Orc generals can "lash" their troops to move faster and fight harder. The Undead can heal their units by creating new troops from the battlefield dead.

Good stuff!


You can learn a lot more about the game at the official BFW web site:

http://www.yourmovegames.com/battleground_index.html

This site includes lots of detail on each faction, discussion forums with hundreds of posts, and even a Flash animation showing how game play flows.

I was so impressed with the game that I contacted Your Move Games to ask how I could help promote BFW. They would like us to be one of their Beta playtest groups for the new Campaign system they're developing.

Just from showing the game to a bunch of folks around the SWA, we've already got over eight potential players lined up. But there's always room for more. We'll be starting some time in the month of April, and we'll probably be meeting on Saturday and/or Sunday afternoons. Location will probably be Zombie Planet game store, or the Studio of Bridge and Games, or a mix of the two. We'll see who's playing and what works best for the group. If we get enough players, we may even have more than one group, for better flexibility with scheduling and such.

If you'd like to give the game a try, some of us will be getting together this Saturday. Newbies welcome!

If you're interested in either this weekend or the Campaign idea, please reply to this message, or contact me directly.

Dave Cheng
dave@swa-gaming.org

An exciting game of modern Vatican horror, conspiracy and investigation in which demons, ghosts and vampires exist to torment and feed upon an unprepared humanity. The only defense is a small and steadily shrinking cadre of holy defenders. The heroes can be Modern Templars, Treasure Seekers, Dispassionate Experts, Sacred Hunters, Blessed Non-believers or others, who face unspeakable evil with only faith, knowledge, and miraculous powers to keep them alive.

This simple, easy-to-learn roleplaying game will suit the needs of both experienced roleplayers looking for the thrill of demon-hunting and atmospheric horror and players looking for an accessible system in which to learn the art of the game. Tabletop Adventures' 4-6-8 dice system encourages team play and increases character interaction.

The player characters are members of an elite group of priests and other personnel who hunt evil and battle the forces of darkness, bringing light and strength to a threatened world. Adventures can take the characters anywhere, from a desert mission in Africa to a split-level in suburbia, but no mission is ever accomplished without cost. Despite the miraculous powers and soul-searing knowledge the heroes wield, combat with a true demon is a terrifying proposition. Death, crippling injury and insanity are all more-than-likely outcomes of a mission.

Visit the Against the Darkness home page athttp://www.tabletopadventures.com/Horror/
 
 
 
 
 
 

Announcing the release of the first commercially available computer support product for Close Action "The Naval Register: Support Software for Close Action"

The Naval Register is PC-based software that makes it easy to play Close Action whenever you want  to.  Simply select the scenario that you want to play, and print all of the required ship logs with the click of a button.  Gunnery numbers, turn modes, victory points per section, and more are all calculated and filled in automatically.  From small, two ship duels, to massive fleet battles, you will be ready to play with almost no effort.

- Print ship logs in two different styles, each of which can be customized to suit your tastes.
- Print a "GM Summary Sheet" to assist in setting up and running large games
- Compose After Action Reports to document your battles
- View ship data by rate, by nationality, by scenario, or even view a chronological history of a particular ship by name
- Design your own scenarios
- Registered owners can stay current with official scenario updates

Includes a bonus scenario from the unreleased expansion "Years of Victory: the Age of Nelson, 1803-1805"  More features are highlighted on the website.  Download the complete user manual to see application screen shots.  Never create another ship log by hand... give your Close Action games the support they need!

For more information, or to purchase your copy...

Email - the_naval_register@twcny.rr.com

Web -  http://www.thenavalregister.com/tnr_files/tnr_home.html

"Now the trumpet summons us again, not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need; not as a call to battle,
though embattled we are  but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle..."

In 1945, unlikely allies toppled Hitler's war machine, while humanity's most devastating weapons forced the Japanese Empire to its knees in a storm of fire. Where once there stood many great powers, there then stood only two. The world had scant months to sigh its collective relief before a new conflict threatened. Unlike the titanic struggles of the preceding decades, this conflict would be waged not primarily by soldiers and tanks, but by spies and politicians, scientists and intellectuals, artists and traitors. Twilight Struggle is a two-player game simulating the forty-five year dance of intrigue, prestige, and occasional flares of warfare between the Soviet Union and the United States. The entire world is the stage on which these two titans fight to make the world safe for their own ideologies and ways of life. The game begins amidst the ruins of Europe as the two new "superpowers" scramble over the wreckage of the Second World War, and ends in 1989, when only the United States remained standing.

Twilight Struggle inherits its fundamental systems from the card-driven classics We the People and Hannibal: Rome vs. Carthage. It is a quick-playing, low-complexity game in that tradition. The game map is a world map of the period, whereon players move units and exert influence in attempts to gain allies and control for their superpower. As with GMT's other card-driven games, decision-making is a challenge; how to best use one's cards and units given consistently limited resources?

Twilight Struggle's Event cards add detail and flavor to the game. They cover a vast array of historical happenings, from the Arab- Israeli conflicts of 1948 and 1967, to Vietnam and the U.S. peace movement, to the Cuban Missile Crisis and other such incidents that brought the world to the brink of nuclear annihilation. Subsystems capture the prestige-laden Space Race as well as nuclear tensions, with the possibility of game-ending nuclear war.

Twilight Struggle won the Charles S. Roberts award for Best Modern Era Boardgame for 2005.

Winner of the 2006 International Gamers Award and the 2006 BoardGameGeek Golden Geek awards for both Best Wargame and Best 2 Player game.

Visit the Twilight Struggle Struggle Home Page http://www.gmtgames.com/nnts/main.html
Read several reviews on Twilight Struggle

Pickup a copy of Twilight Struggle from the CGC's Andy Z. ebay store The GamersMart

Your miniatures troops will move about the tabletop battlefield, taking cover from enemy fire and then blasting back in return. Sometimes they will abandon you as soon as the going gets tough. But by using the sort of tactics and cunning that a real-life commander would, you and your miniatures soldiers will fight their way to victory after victory!

Visit the Flames of War home website at Battlefront Miniatures

For a gamer's review of Flames of War go to our Game Review forum.
For many stories of Flames of War games played by CGC members, go to our After Action Reports Forum.

The Napoleonic Wars, 1805 - 1815,brings you a fast-paced, tension-filled, card-driven wargame using a point-to-point movement system that pushes the envelope in a new direction for this pivotal period of history. Having a simple-to-learn strategic system and short rulebook, The Napoleonic Wars, can be played in an evening as the cards and Diplomatic Track make for tough decision-making in the face of everchanging enemy threats. Game designed by the CGC's Mark McLaughlin and published by GMT Games.

* The Napoleonic Wars (published by GMT in 2002) received the Charles S. Roberts Award for Best Pre-World War II Boardgame. It also earned its designer the First Annual Alexander Award for Creativity in Boardgame Design.

Now check out Mark's new game Wellington, based on Napoleonic Wars
 at the CGC game reviews forum

Pickup a copy of Napoleonic Wars from the CGC's Andy Z. ebay store The GamersMart

THE NAPOLEONIC WARS PBeM
 PBeM tournament for The Napoleonic Wars using the ACTS site for card driven boardgames  with version 1.2 of the living rules.  The format will be single elimination, three-player games. Check out the details at http://www.tc.umn.edu/~schw0516/Index.html.

Wellington The Naploenic Wars system for the Peninsula War, designer Mark G. McLaughlin creates a furiously paced, card-driven and battle/siege-intensive strategic/operational game of Wellington's campaign to drive the French from Spain and invade France itself. With a maximum three turns in length, with sudden-death endings possible - and quite common when one side is "on the ropes" - at the end of the first or second turns, Wellington is a game easily played to conclusion by two, three or four players in an evening or an afternoon.
http://www.gmtgames.com/wellington/main.html
http://www.gmtgames.com/wellington/sneakpeek.html

For a gamer's review of Wellington go to our Game Review forum.
Pickup a copy of Wellington from the CGC's Andy Z. ebay store The GamersMart

Richard Borg's Commands & Colors: Ancients from GMTGames allows you to re-fight epic battles of the ancient world. Here the focus is on the two rivals for power in the Western Mediterranean,  Carthage and Rome. Will you, as Hannibal, triumph over larger Roman armies; or as Scipio Africanus, will you beat Hannibal with newer tactics of your own?

 Units in both armies can only move and fight when ordered. The command playing cards supply those orders, providing an element of luck that creates a fog of war and presents players with both challenges and opportunities. You must maximize your opportunities by playing your command cards judiciously. How well you handle the diverse units, their weapons, and the terrain, will determine victory.

Commands & Colors: Ancients contains the battles of Akragas, Crimissos River, Ticinus River, Lake Trasimenus, Cannae, Dertosa, Castulo, Baecula, Ilipa, and Zama.

For those who have experienced Commands & Colors: Ancients, I salute you.
By Richard Borg

The Greeks & Eastern Kingdoms is the first expansion to  Commands & Colors: Ancients. The armies of Philip, Alexander  and the Successors hosts of Persians, Scythians and  Indians to the east. In this expansion, you will find historical  scenarios that focus on the hoplites of classical Greece fighting off  the invading Persian army at Marathon and Plataea; epic battles  from the Peloponnesian War, the rise of Macedon and
Alexander's battles of Gaugamela, Issus and Granicus against the  Persians; and battles involving Alexander's successors. With your              Greeks you will be able to turn west and battle the Carthaginians in  Sicily, or as King Pyrrhus at Heraclea and Ausculum, battle the  Romans.

The Greeks & Eastern Kingdoms will feature at least one new  unit type as well as several "specialty" units and leaders (The Sacred Band, The Immortals, Alexander the Great, and  Alexander's Companion Cavalry, for example). Each of these operates within the confines of the original system rules, with only slight modifications to reflect their historical abilities and  importance. So, rules-wise, if you own Commands & Colors:
Ancients, you'll have no trouble at all learning the few special rules for these new types of units.

The battle dice resolve combat quickly and the command cards provide an element of luck that creates a fog of war and presents players with both challenges and opportunities for victory. Yet the tactics you need to execute conform remarkably well to the advantages and limitations inherent to the various Ancient units, their weapons, terrain and the history.

Again Welcome and Enjoy!

For a gamer's review of Command and Colors go to our Game Review forum.
Pickup a copy of Command & Colors from the CGC's Andy Z. ebay store The GamersMart

Arkham Horror takes place in the town of Arkham, Massachusetts, is in a panic.
Horrific and bizarre events have begun to occur with increasing frequency - all seeming to point towards some cataclysmic event in the near future that may spell disaster for everyone. Only one small band of investigators can save Arkham from the Great Old Ones and destruction!
http://fantasyflightgames.com/ah_products.html

For a gamer's review of Arkham Horror go to our Game Review forum.
 
 
 
 
 
 

From Valmy to Waterloo Grand Tactical rules written by CGC's own William Keyser and published through Clash Of Arms games. (SYW variant currently in beta test)

• New Scenarios for From Valmy to Waterloo
• Read an after action report from Valmy To Waterloo

Vist the home page for Carnage and Glory

For a complete game review and after action report of Carnage & Glory go to theMusler Archives.

Check out the Carnage & Glory newsgroup carnageandglory2@yahoogroups.com
 
 
 

•  Read a battle report of A to Z miniatures
•  Read the A to Z Napoleanics FAQ

 Read an AAR from the Struggle of Guadalcanal by Byron Bond.
 
 
 

Axis & Allies  The popular strategic boardgame of WW2 conquest. Very simple to learn, but infinitely complex in its strategies.
  Carlo Miragoli's Axis and Allies utilities A real help to Gamesmasters.

Vist the Axis & Allies home page at Wizards of the Coast
 

Challenge your friends to fast, head-to-head combat with the Axis & Allies Miniatures Game! This high-quality skirmish game is playable right out of the box. With these faithful reproductions of real WWII combat vehicles and fighting units, you can recreate historical battles from World War II with authentic Shermans, Panzers, infantry, and more! Or create your own battles!
 
 
 
 

2007 will be the debut of the all-new Axis & Allies Naval Miniatures game. With 64 authentically detailed miniatures, gamers, collectors, and history buffs will be able to assemble fleets of the finest vessels to ever do battle on, under, or above the sea in World War II. Fast-paced and action-packed, this exciting, new miniatures game will let players recreate historical battles or go head-to-head in competitive warfare that rages across massive 30x40 battle maps.
 

64 authentically detailed carriers, battleships, destroyers, cruisers, submarines, aircraft and other vessels from WWII .
Unique shipssuch as the BB Bismarck, IJN Yamato, and the USS Enterprisefeature their distinctive markings and camouflage.
Abilities and statistics of units are based on their historical performances in battle.
Prepainted, durable plasticfully assembled and ready to play, right out of the box.
Larger (Rare) ships have moving parts (turrets/main guns)
Double-sided battle maps allow the creation of massive 30x40 battlefields that can be customized with the double-sided island cards
 

For a gamer's review of Axis & Allies: D-Day go to our Game Review forum.
For a gamer's review of Axis & Allies: War At Sea go to our Game Review forum.
 
 
 

Read about the CGC's AoR Champion at Elightenment VI March 2003: Chris Byrd
Read about the CGC's AoR Champion at WBA 2006: Harald Henning

AGE OF RENAISSANCE PBeM
None of our many email tournaments have been more popular and consistently well attended than Age of Renaissance. Check out the details at http://www.geocities.com/aorkg/aorbpa2004/2004home.htm.
 
 

Ticket to Ride
Game Review by CGC's Brandon Musler
October 2, 1900 - 28 years to the day that noted London eccentric, Phileas Fogg accepted and then won a £20,000 bet that he could travel "Around the World in 80 Days". Now at the dawn of the century it was time for a new "impossible journey". Some old friends have gathered to celebrate Fogg's impetuous and lucrative gamble - and to propose a new wager of their own.

The stakes: $1 Million in a winner-takes-all competition. The objective: to see which of them can travel by rail to the most cities in North America - in just 7 days. The journey begins immediately...

Ticket to Ride is a cross-country train adventure where players collect cards of various types of train cars that enable them to claim railway routes connecting cities throughout North America.

Ticket to Ride: Europe
From the craggy hillsides of Edinburgh to the sunlit docks of Constantinople, from the dusty alleys of Pamplona to a windswept station in Berlin, Ticket to Ride Europe takes you on a new train adventure through the great cities of turn-of-the-century Europe.

Will you risk a trip through the dark tunnels of Switzerland? Venture aboard a ferry on the Black Sea? Or erect lavish train stations in the great capitals of the old empires? Your next move might just make you Europe's greatest train magnate!

For a gamer's review of Ticket to Ride go to our Game Review forum.

Parting Shots Dept.,

"Who dares, wins."