The Boardgaming Life

Six Empires A BoardgamingLife Preview

Six Empires is a 2-6 player game of military and diplomatic strategy set in Europe, North Africa, and the New World in the year 1714. Each player controls of one of six empires, each with its unique flavor and play style. In addition to the playable empires, there are 17 independent nations, and any empire which is not controlled by a player remains in the game as a non-player empire.

Ships of the Line: Trafalgar Part 2

Therefore, what you will not get in Trafalgar, with sixty ships in the combat area, is a lot of overly detailed fiddling around with rigging and sail arrays – that part of the ship’s handling is now simply defined by one of three modes of sail deployment: low, medium and full. There is rather more detail assigned to combat, because, if we are honest about it, that is why we are playing the game in the first place – to experience a battle, not a regatta.

Ships of the Line:Trafalgar 1805

Trafalgar 1805 certainly has plenty of colour – sixty minis (supplied painted if that is your purchase option, and flaunting their national ensigns from the stern) will deploy on ten sea-effect tiles, whilst their crews will bustle around on ship logs dedicated to each of those sixty ships, loading different types of ammunition (advanced game), fighting fires, fighting enemy crews, and taking axes to fallen masts, canvas and rope in order to clear the broadsides and ready the ship once more.

REVENGE OF CHUCKIE- A BoardgamingLife Review of Victory Point Games English Civil War Game Cruel Necessity

Oliver Cromwell, who boasted a head rounder than Charlie Brown, delivered the best line at Parliamentary Comedy Club: “The act of regicide was a cruel necessity.”
Hence the title for a solitaire board game of the English Civil War pitting you, as a split Puritan personality called Parliament, against a host of Royalists in support of papists

Spanish Civil War Squad Leader’s View: Madrid Looks An Awful Lot Like Stalingrad

October 13, 2020 Harvey Mossman

The Republicans were on the other side of a great gully with cliff-like sides that ran the width of the board. The good news was that it basically formed a firepower-proof covered highway. The bad news was that it channeled attacks to the limited egress spots. The situation unhinged the British commander, who filtered squads through the gully and into nearby buildings.

Napoleon Returns (or 1815 at The Gallop) – A Boardgaming Life Review

October 2, 2020 Harvey Mossman

Napoleon Returns keeps itself on the right side of the line between being a proper wargame as opposed to a game with some war in it, and in doing so delivers a rather spiffy and valid experience.

Triumph & Tradgedy PBeM: The Umpire’s View

September 27, 2020 Guest Author

Triumph & Tragedy by GMT Games is a rare example of an excellent three-player game. Having played it a few times, I thought it could be adjusted to a five-player game and amended the rules to accommodate five players.

PBeM Triumph and Tragedy:The Three Amigos Go To War_ A Boardgaminglife After Action Report

September 13, 2020 Harvey Mossman

T&T uses blocks as units and like Stratego and Columbia Games’ block games. The block faces remain hidden unless attacked or attacking. Card play for diplomacy (‘Government Phase’ in T&T lingo) is usually card by card, but Dan divvied up the Phase into a maximum of three sub phases to make it easier for the PBeM umpire. As long as one player plays a card, the next sub phase occurs, but if nobody plays a card, the Government Phase ends. You get an updated map at the end of each sub phase

Caesar’s Great Success: Sustaining the Roman Army on Campaign

September 5, 2020 Harvey Mossman

A brief book review by Russ Lockwood

As all wargamers know, amateurs talk tactics while professionals talk logistics. Most books about Julius Caesar concentrate on the operations and battles, but this book tackles the logistics, answering questions about what the legionnaires, auxilia, and other troops ate while on campaign and how food, fodder, and other supplies reached the man in the field.

Wings of War, World War I: Aerial Duel

June 6, 2020 Harvey Mossman

Wings of War uses maneuver cards to plot the flight path of the plane, with the particular flight paths slugged to aircraft performance. You pick three cards and place them face down. Each card shows a starting line, which matches up to the front of the plane base, and an ending arrowhead, which matches up to the back of the plane base. You place the card down at the front of the plane, lift up the plane, and put the back of the plane base down where the arrowhead matches up. Movement is simultaneous.

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