https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog daily 0.75 2026-03-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/1646296452589-BY07V4KRKAIHYNJHCAPF/The+Battle+of+La+Higueruela+by+Fabrizio+Castello%2C+Orazio+Cambiasi+and+Lazzaro+Tavarone+in+the+Gallery+of+Battles+at+the+Royal+Monastery+of+San+Lorenzo+de+El+Escorial.jpg Blog https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/people-power-by-kenneth-tee monthly 0.5 2026-02-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/a420c6e3-0408-462c-a2b7-ba5e2ad24ddc/20260117_165921.jpg Blog - People Power by Kenneth Tee - Make it stand out The initial set up for the shorter scenario, where we only play two election rounds. I’m the government player and, fair warning, I’m a terrible COIN government player. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/c3828a96-5630-4c40-bcc1-8ee1fd961f81/20260117_173754.jpg Blog - People Power by Kenneth Tee - Make it stand out I managed to clear out Manila but things are looking bad in the countryside. My control was slipping very badly. It would get worse before it got better. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/a33f7705-d6ad-48aa-a0e4-bfc8cc516c7f/20260117_175820.jpg Blog - People Power by Kenneth Tee - Make it stand out The first election round. See how far I have fallen, and we only barely managed to stop the communists from winning. This painted a big target on the back of that player, which was good for me. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/3a1ef313-391b-44c0-ba15-535685f24909/20260117_184700.jpg Blog - People Power by Kenneth Tee - Make it stand out Very near the end, I am beginning to claw my way back, but ultimately I will not succeed and lose on the tiebreaker. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/by-swords-and-bayonets-by-allen-dickerson monthly 0.5 2026-02-09 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/be06812c-d5fa-438d-aced-689b6c869d19/20260104_120530.jpg Blog - By Swords and Bayonets by Allen Dickerson - Make it stand out The totality of what is involved in Big Bethel, you can see a few Union reinforcements at the top of the map. It’s a cute little package! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/0e4d1fb9-aaab-44aa-8cb2-37f7d976fb23/original_c5459a45-f3e4-4acf-9057-e1849e854fa1_IMG_20230706_201440.jpg Blog - By Swords and Bayonets by Allen Dickerson - Make it stand out In contrast to By Swords and Bayonets, this is what the smaller scenarios from Dead of Winter look like - it’s a lot more. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/9a593621-ee9a-4e6f-a7dd-b606daf06be3/20260107_154946.jpg Blog - By Swords and Bayonets by Allen Dickerson - Make it stand out The markers can get pretty involved - here we can see Attack Orders markers (Advance is considered default, and requires no marker), units have strength markers under them and one unit is Collapsed. On the right is the activation chit for the Union. Please ignore how I think I screwed up stacking in this scenario, I was struggling. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/ea40b652-5d33-4213-8087-11724ec6bb12/original_aaf3f677-13e3-4d04-9b75-402cfce56ff8_20260109_123632.jpg Blog - By Swords and Bayonets by Allen Dickerson - Make it stand out I love scenarios where the two armies start some distance apart and have to move closer, especially with a bit of harrying (in this scenario provided by skirmishers). This kind of set up is like catnip for me. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/95bbf299-d0a8-42b5-9610-ce906bb85f16/20260120_142632.jpg Blog - By Swords and Bayonets by Allen Dickerson - Make it stand out The Union got lucky with its rolls to wake up and notice the approaching Confederates, but the rain still made their response very slow. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/92f7f4c8-d333-4156-84a6-25b2b3cf7cd2/20260202_163636.jpg Blog - By Swords and Bayonets by Allen Dickerson - Make it stand out This is where it began to lose me - the lines have met and what remains is a lot of combat. Carefully planned combat, sure, but I feel more like a computer doing that than a player. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/verdun-1916-steel-inferno-by-walter-vejdovsky monthly 0.5 2026-02-02 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/11400f58-155d-45bc-b3cd-930b31bc513e/verdun.png Blog - Verdun 1916: Steel Inferno by Walter Vejdovsky - Make it stand out Barrages come in different values, and the higher value the barrage the more action points it could be used for if you choose to not shoot those guns. Here we can also see the turns that these cards are available to the German player, with the highest value ones disappearing from the deck later on. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/46952409-44fb-41b8-b964-f886baaa73b1/verdun.png Blog - Verdun 1916: Steel Inferno by Walter Vejdovsky - Make it stand out A full display of key French event cards, you can see the cards they combo with written on the cards and by late game they can enable some amazing French attacks. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/f277b560-c6e7-452f-9d9e-2bfeef4f4701/verdun.png Blog - Verdun 1916: Steel Inferno by Walter Vejdovsky - Make it stand out This was my lone German victory, where I had pushed the French pretty far and stalled their counterattack. I love how messy the lines become over the course of a game. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/9b75137d-7130-4314-a564-92013dd370ec/verdun.png Blog - Verdun 1916: Steel Inferno by Walter Vejdovsky - Make it stand out Look at these cards! Just look at them! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/60db1be4-5b3a-474d-81cf-e2b3f565ac9d/verdun.png Blog - Verdun 1916: Steel Inferno by Walter Vejdovsky - Make it stand out I also think the board is both really pretty and very usable. It’s a great presentation overall. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/la-belle-film-noir monthly 0.5 2026-01-27 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/801408e3-bad4-4696-8314-01da59bf22d0/Noir+Photo.png Blog - La Belle Film Noir - Make it stand out If you know one thing about The Lady from Shanghai it’s that it invented the shoot out in a hall of mirrors trope, and man it delivers on that. I wish the weird funhouse climax was longer, to be honest. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/0e363be7-a6f5-49f2-9deb-b22b27c8b15e/noir2.png Blog - La Belle Film Noir - Make it stand out Come for the gritty conspiracy filled hitman focused noir, stay for Veronica Lake as a singing magician. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/f2c23929-e60d-455c-9406-a3567337a67b/noir2.png Blog - La Belle Film Noir - Make it stand out The robbers in their creepy ass masks. Bring back these kind of masks for bank robbers! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/dc3037f7-6553-4437-a624-d38ae12370ab/noir2.png Blog - La Belle Film Noir - Make it stand out Bogart is really pro-newspaper in this, but he’s also the man publishing the newspaper. Conflict of interest Bogie! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/5e9c8dc4-22ec-4b2e-ba24-ebd4aa61590d/noir2.png Blog - La Belle Film Noir - Make it stand out I would watch this wee aul Irish lad solve many a murder. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/a158fefd-828a-4852-b953-dd156c416bcb/noir2.png Blog - La Belle Film Noir - Make it stand out There are a lot of great ensemble shots and moments, with characters in various phases of being prepared for and recovering from fights. You really get an idea for who these people are, it has a lot of humanity, which to me is a big part of noir. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/4846b52f-7595-414a-83e6-2b35bc6a9b08/noir2.png Blog - La Belle Film Noir - Make it stand out The man has his face! The same face you guys! https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/most-anticipated-games-2026-edition monthly 0.5 2026-01-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/41178f17-26be-4d0c-8257-a57fa6d83a32/Baltic_Empires_Mounted_Game_Board_web.png Blog - Most Anticipated Games: 2026 Edition - Make it stand out Just look at Nils’ work on this. My god. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/a3a40619-0313-4e57-8d8d-c923aab0d68c/CuiusRegio-Board-150dpi.jpg Blog - Most Anticipated Games: 2026 Edition - Make it stand out Seriously, look at this map! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/d45bdb5d-4f68-46eb-a313-fda1cb9459aa/20260106_102134.jpg Blog - Most Anticipated Games: 2026 Edition - Make it stand out Damn, that’s a good pile of games https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/2025-in-review-top-8-books monthly 0.5 2026-01-23 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/2025-in-review-top-7-games monthly 0.5 2026-01-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/d43aeef2-63e5-49df-876d-0f2331990c41/20250609_204737.jpg Blog - 2025 in Review – Top 7 Games - Make it stand out Look at that art though! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/ff693c63-843a-49d8-a03f-3737b71f64f1/IMG_20250203_091300.jpg Blog - 2025 in Review – Top 7 Games - Make it stand out The army display sheets are both a core part of the game, and maybe a little bit too much. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/0d27312c-d9bf-41b6-82e0-81ec7d73f60d/original_f4920c00-499a-4748-8db1-6c7f67930127_IMG_20250310_201632.jpg Blog - 2025 in Review – Top 7 Games - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/1a11cd6a-9e95-4f3d-8e3c-4d2cada2866b/20250628_160907.jpg Blog - 2025 in Review – Top 7 Games - Make it stand out It’s really very pretty. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/games-of-history-by-apostolos-spanos monthly 0.5 2026-01-08 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/playing-at-the-world-2e-volume-2-three-pillars-of-role-playing-games-by-jon-peterson monthly 0.5 2026-01-08 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/hoplite-by-richard-berg-and-mark-herman monthly 0.5 2026-01-03 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/04a98259-e767-4cb2-af2f-e7396749d674/20250711_164411.jpg Blog - Hoplite by Richard Berg (and Mark Herman) - Make it stand out GBoH is also chock full of markers, so expect to spend a fair bit of time updating them on each unit. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/4fc2b02c-ab6e-4fe1-8172-963f91b53d97/20250712_105719.jpg Blog - Hoplite by Richard Berg (and Mark Herman) - Make it stand out The initial set up for Marathon. All that pretty terrain, none of it going to be relevant as we fight in the one big open space available. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/070fc6d4-bff5-4076-886f-aa7cb6c6b2d9/20250712_111744.jpg Blog - Hoplite by Richard Berg (and Mark Herman) - Make it stand out The hoplites quickly fall out of formation, while the Persians await their approach. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/d6eeee6e-bfa4-4042-816e-c4e9afc20cea/20250726_160931+%281%29.jpg Blog - Hoplite by Richard Berg (and Mark Herman) - Make it stand out A little bit of terrain honestly goes a long way to making these battles more exciting. Yes it adds a bit more to the rules, but sometimes it’s the spice that I feel like the combat is otherwise missing. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/efd5e2fb-afde-4c97-845e-f1958b3d8d5f/20250708_174402.jpg Blog - Hoplite by Richard Berg (and Mark Herman) - Make it stand out Berg’s frequent insertions of little design and play notes, often tongue-in-cheek, also does a lot to endear me to his arguments. He is clearly having fun and knows the limitations of his medium and our own ability to understand history. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/the-playte-games-tier-list-part-1 monthly 0.5 2025-08-01 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/5fa51f2a-9d19-4c3c-9c52-a0ecad8e954a/20250722_154818.jpg Blog - The Playte Games Tier List (Part 1?) - Make it stand out My Playte collection at time of writing. I have played all but one of these games. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/383599ab-d7cd-4114-870b-b1f5d1a9f96b/IMG_20250426_174851+%281%29.jpg Blog - The Playte Games Tier List (Part 1?) - Make it stand out The wooden pieces are just so satisfying to play with. I have since bought the sticker set that makes the blank blocks look more like actual pueblo buildings and I’m excited to play it again. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/dddae15a-4132-401e-9352-d727b40e3a64/20250629_114356.jpg Blog - The Playte Games Tier List (Part 1?) - Make it stand out There are actually two versions of Can’t Stop from Playte. I opted for the one that used a traditional mountain painting by Kim Hong-do as the background. The fact that it came with pink pieces was a happy coincidence for my pink-obsessed daughter. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/3e6e1101-6ea3-444b-9155-326221bea6c4/20250716_215334.jpg Blog - The Playte Games Tier List (Part 1?) - Make it stand out The thin cards don’t quite lay flat and it created a slightly wobbly grid. I do like that it’s easy to read at a glance, though. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/26d41b2f-7904-4fef-8b3d-08c08e3c2328/20250716_210827.jpg Blog - The Playte Games Tier List (Part 1?) - Make it stand out It’s actually really hard to photograph trick takers during play, as the cards cycle so quickly, so please enjoy this photo that is mostly just the scoring cards to Potato Man. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/0875cc47-db9c-47ab-bf64-9003298f9df8/20250628_173955.jpg Blog - The Playte Games Tier List (Part 1?) - Make it stand out It’s got stacks of cards and a market in the middle! So many cards, just sprawling everywhere. It’s great. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/944d2c49-058f-4706-a335-c65ff37e53a1/20250716_202857.jpg Blog - The Playte Games Tier List (Part 1?) - Make it stand out I just think this game is really pretty. Love the little money tiles, the card with your player color, and the experience of putting cubes on boards. It’s great. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/23de4044-7cb0-408e-a24c-3ac39a036520/IMG_20250531_152115+%281%29.jpg Blog - The Playte Games Tier List (Part 1?) - Make it stand out Another gorgeous game with wooden bits on a pretty board. The cards are small but not too small. It’s just such a nice tactile little game. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/58e8a8f9-87d1-4553-905e-e0b5672a8764/IMG_20250604_123532+%281%29.jpg Blog - The Playte Games Tier List (Part 1?) - Make it stand out You have to keep the cards oriented in the same direction, shown by the crown on the board, and I keep playing this game upside down as a result. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/abfbb86c-5ee7-4697-ba5f-806dd39858f7/20250630_211008.jpg Blog - The Playte Games Tier List (Part 1?) - Make it stand out I absolutely bought this game just because it’s so pretty and I’m a sucker for laying tiles. No regrets. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/89a6572f-5c22-44b8-b8a3-a70ef33df971/original_477fa775-52d1-45ef-aa9a-b6f087c7f822_20250724_180242.jpg Blog - The Playte Games Tier List (Part 1?) - Make it stand out My current unplayed collection of Playte games. I’m still missing some of their more famous games, but I’m trying to pace myself so that I’m not buried under a pile of tiny board games. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/games-as-texts-by-alayna-cole-and-dakoda-barker monthly 0.5 2025-07-25 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/witmoyw-ep-14-the-us-civil-war-by-mark-simonitch monthly 0.5 2025-07-23 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/korea-the-forgotten-war-ocs-korea-by-rod-miller-and-dean-essig monthly 0.5 2025-07-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/84d1ce37-b464-4b6d-8bbb-fbf2528a09a9/Korea+Screenshot.png Blog - Korea the Forgotten War (OCS Korea) by Rod Miller and Dean Essig - Make it stand out The initial situation along the border in Korea’s opening moments. The North Koreans begin their attack, but for the moment it looks like we will hold (spoilers, we will not). https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/f7657fab-2e02-42ad-84d5-230a06e003c4/Korea+Screenshot.png Blog - Korea the Forgotten War (OCS Korea) by Rod Miller and Dean Essig - Make it stand out The initial North Korean push was incredibly successful, resulting in me ultimately abandoning Seoul so I could hold a stronger position south of the Han river. My only consolation was that the attacks further west didn’t go quite so well. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/b9f18989-32f8-4e02-8e45-7ee8891fea2e/Korea+Screenshot.png Blog - Korea the Forgotten War (OCS Korea) by Rod Miller and Dean Essig - Make it stand out Seoul falls and the South Koreans scramble to find a new defensive line. With a major breach in the middle of the peninsula we have to race backwards to avoid any of our troops becoming isolated. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/2e60b7cf-d537-4035-9347-b2d1ba574771/Korea+Screenshot.png Blog - Korea the Forgotten War (OCS Korea) by Rod Miller and Dean Essig - Make it stand out Some lucky initiative rolls let me pull my troops back mostly intact. We still don’t exactly have a great defensive line here, but it’s a lot better than it was. Supply line limitations also prevent the North Koreans from pushing too hard along the eastern edge of the map. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/69deefcf-34ea-48b6-87da-1c63b6064154/Korea+Screenshot.png Blog - Korea the Forgotten War (OCS Korea) by Rod Miller and Dean Essig - Make it stand out I finally settled into this defensive position behind rivers, which halve the strength of attacking units and so are ideal for hiding behind. We would spend quite a while in this stalemate as Alexandre had to build up supply to bombard my units before making his attacks. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/e0b33293-8e0c-427f-ab06-31dbf94d293a/Korea+Screenshot.png Blog - Korea the Forgotten War (OCS Korea) by Rod Miller and Dean Essig - Make it stand out Alexandre successfully breached my river position north of Taejeon. I debated abandoning the city, like I had Seoul, but opted instead to try and fight for it. After all, I live there. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/c47ac56d-6eb4-4ad6-8e9c-d7c50d2fbf0f/Korea+Screenshot.png Blog - Korea the Forgotten War (OCS Korea) by Rod Miller and Dean Essig - Make it stand out I had my troops dig a hedgehog in Taejeon, and put some more soldiers behind them to make it harder to cut off the supply lines to the city. This is also when I realized that my planes were much better at bombing than I had thought, and Alexandre learned the risk of huge stacks of units when it comes to aerial bombardment. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/cf6a30f9-fa8e-4f0f-ace3-f3472a94d378/Korea+Screenshot.png Blog - Korea the Forgotten War (OCS Korea) by Rod Miller and Dean Essig - Make it stand out The North Koreans managed to push across the river in the middle of the map, forcing me to fall back into the hills. Thankfully, the abundance of UN air power let him Disorganize (DG) many of his units, making it hard for him to keep attacking. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/5044d758-8b0a-4ead-8c2e-72f07e04466a/Korea+Screenshot.png Blog - Korea the Forgotten War (OCS Korea) by Rod Miller and Dean Essig - Make it stand out The final position. Some progress was made in the hills in the middle of the peninsula (the screenshot doesn’t really show the losses South Korean forces suffered there), but ultimately Taejeon has not fallen and the Pusan Perimeter is not in place so there’s no real hope for the North Koreans. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/x5o7yulwm8xljsj7vmpbvo3pzij3lp monthly 0.5 2025-08-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/1c1d63b4-f129-4a37-ae9d-36bf64d3ce47/54613.jpg Blog - The Battle of Castillon – A Reflection - order now in UK/Europe Available now from the Pen and Sword website in the UK. Coming soon on Amazon and other retailers, as well as on the Pen and Sword US site. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/inventing-the-renaissance-by-ada-palmer monthly 0.5 2025-07-17 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/idle-thoughts-on-arquebus monthly 0.5 2025-07-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/b9c9a0a1-eedd-414f-a5fb-3c5d91950ff4/20250625_165054+%281%29.jpg Blog - Further Idle Thoughts on Arquebus (Men of Iron vol. 4) by Richard Berg - Make it stand out The opening stages of Ravenna. The French army is impressive in scale, but has a slightly messy command structure and must attack a well fortified Spanish position. Both sides have ample artillery to bombard each other with as well. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/93eca355-c2a6-499b-b20b-cc4d7118f161/ravenna+2.jpg Blog - Further Idle Thoughts on Arquebus (Men of Iron vol. 4) by Richard Berg - Make it stand out I, probably foolishly, crossed the trench as the Spanish to eliminate the French guns. This removed the threat of bombardment but opened up the potential for a large French counterattack. Meanwhile, up top the Spanish have entrenched to make it harder for those French guns to hurt them. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/0f9571ae-b738-4d95-8334-0429f6f11d1a/original_85b5c51c-1944-4d7f-abad-23a9c760d39a_20250624_183347.jpg Blog - Further Idle Thoughts on Arquebus (Men of Iron vol. 4) by Richard Berg - Make it stand out The French activation table for Ravenna https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/84697cbd-0fa3-4f1b-a412-c88b1c4d7e2b/ravenna+3.jpg Blog - Further Idle Thoughts on Arquebus (Men of Iron vol. 4) by Richard Berg - Make it stand out A reposition of some Spanish units helped blunt the French attack some, but it was too little too late and the French managed to kill enough Spanish units to force them to flee the battle. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/6642b216-c8d1-4ca8-bbb4-c2aed7a93e6c/20250620_154137.jpg Blog - Further Idle Thoughts on Arquebus (Men of Iron vol. 4) by Richard Berg - Make it stand out Initial set up for Agnadello. Look at all that terrain! A luxury for a medieval (or early modern) battle. Please ignore the fact that the Venetians are using the Swiss standard, I couldn’t find the Venetian one at the time and it was the closest in color. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/a7fd69f5-c997-4074-9715-ded534399cf6/20250621_182533.jpg Blog - Further Idle Thoughts on Arquebus (Men of Iron vol. 4) by Richard Berg - Make it stand out The French guns moved up along the bottom of the map to get within a closer bombardment range, while up top the French moved to behind the irrigation ditch in hopes of goading the Venetians into attacking them and suffering the negative combat DRM. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/def9460e-04f7-460c-a8b2-93744075f3f8/20250623_163052.jpg Blog - Further Idle Thoughts on Arquebus (Men of Iron vol. 4) by Richard Berg - Make it stand out The Venetians opted to meet the French on their terms, leaving their initial defensive positions to attack. At the southern end they largely managed to neutralize the French artillery, while up north they proved surprisingly effective despite the irrigation ditch in the way. However, there is a big hole in the middle of their lines now, can the French exploit it? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/3fdb3aab-68b3-4e28-af8a-5f2b0a1aa433/20250624_153441.jpg Blog - Further Idle Thoughts on Arquebus (Men of Iron vol. 4) by Richard Berg - Make it stand out The French were ultimately unable to exploit the gap in the Venetian lines before Venice (thanks to lucky continuation rolls) was able to fill it in. A series of Retired results for the French pushed them over their lower Flight Points total as they couldn’t quite make the Reinforcements roll on their final activation. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/hunt-for-blackbeard-by-volko-ruhnke monthly 0.5 2025-07-07 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/7512caa6-f5a8-423e-8f55-3e8520a84960/Blackbeard.png Blog - Hunt for Blackbeard by Volko Ruhnke - Make it stand out Your sideboard as Blackbeard, you will become intimately acquainted with it. The top two rows track your two possible life paths, the middle shows your available resources, and weaponry goes at the bottom. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/840559fa-5e45-4771-8659-d5e7838a96de/Blackbeard.png Blog - Hunt for Blackbeard by Volko Ruhnke - Make it stand out The Hunter’s sideboard. You can only commandeer equipment at your starting location, so you best pick what you’ll need for the whole game. You have more pawns than Blackbeard, but you have Informants to spend them on and three pieces to move so the costs quickly mount if you try and do everything. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/706e4ce7-cdf6-46b8-92b9-857be053f922/Blackbeard.png Blog - Hunt for Blackbeard by Volko Ruhnke - Make it stand out I was Blackbeard and I felt so clever that I left the Ocracoke Inlet and my opponent failed to find me. Then they arrested me on the next turn. Woops! https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/whats-in-a-name-defining-the-hundred-years-war monthly 0.5 2025-07-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/1c1d63b4-f129-4a37-ae9d-36bf64d3ce47/54613.jpg Blog - What’s in a Name – Defining the Hundred Years War Castillon: The Last Battle of the Hundred Years War covers the origins of the Hundred Years War, the Edwardian and Lancastrian phases of the war, the Military Revolution of the fourteenth century and Charles VII’s radical restructuring of the French military in the fifteenth century, as well as a detailed study of the battle and how we can know what happened on that day in Gascony. It is far reaching and comprehensive in how it analyses this key battle and will give readers a substantial understanding in not just Castillon but in late medieval Anglo-French warfare in general. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/how-to-pick-a-good-history-book monthly 0.5 2025-06-25 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/my-first-kbo-game monthly 0.5 2025-05-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/49b4ff5f-c910-48f1-8737-0a866e133269/IMG_20250517_152056.jpg Blog - My First KBO Game - Make it stand out While the team may not have been good, their mascot game was and remains incredibly strong. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/7a3cee2b-8ee8-4084-b8eb-4298de0e2691/IMG_20250517_140347.jpg Blog - My First KBO Game - Make it stand out The old stadium was the smallest in the league, this new one is one of the largest. Here it is from behind home plate (not where our seats were) and it really is very nice. There’s a picnic area out in left field and we'd love to get tickets to sit there, but getting any ticket is a challenge let alone a specific one! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/bead8e99-60a7-4a68-896d-92e3125bd35e/IMG_20250517_155902.jpg Blog - My First KBO Game - Make it stand out The giant flags the fans waived at certain times (clearly on some kind of schedule that I was not aware of) were truly impressive. Believe me when I say that these were the smaller flags people had - some of them were so large it was hard to photograph. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/a926788e-d3c2-46e0-b3be-a444db5d6cab/20250517_161832.jpg Blog - My First KBO Game - Make it stand out As this moment approached everyone got really excited - the crowd even booed when it looked like Ponce would leave the game after 17 strikeouts. I’ll admit that we didn’t exactly know what was happening, but the energy was electric. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/c5028ebe-874f-42ae-a462-daa197075a13/20250517_165217.jpg Blog - My First KBO Game - Make it stand out The hero and child whose day he saved (both anonymized for their protection and/or just to protect their privacy). Also pictured, me making a stupid face and my partner making a much more normal one. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/2de85fb4-a321-4951-8931-1e22e6b48b6c/20250517_163815.jpg Blog - My First KBO Game - Make it stand out Kim Seo-hyun delivering victory to the Eagles. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/15a4bb04-9871-4bba-89a5-7d76091ab26e/IMG_20250517_163717.jpg Blog - My First KBO Game - Make it stand out The display board was a huge help, especially when I needed to know what name to sing when we were at bat. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/the-wilderness-campaign-ed-gary-w-gallagher monthly 0.5 2025-05-26 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/the-burgundians-by-bart-van-loo monthly 0.5 2025-04-23 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/graphic-design-for-board-games-by-daniel-solis monthly 0.5 2025-07-11 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/a-greater-victory-by-steve-carey monthly 0.5 2025-03-17 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/cc6014f5-24bb-4246-8aa7-8fb07733ed42/original_0cabec1f-b955-430e-8586-77013f513f38_IMG_20250221_220933.jpg Blog - A Greater Victory by Steve Carey - Make it stand out The opening turns are more skirmish than grand battle. I also wasn’t really sure what to do with the Union cavalry on the main road, a theme that continued throughout the game. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/7c107e3b-ef4d-40ac-ae5b-32b87569e6e4/IMG_20250227_202325_edit_1670275395752422.jpg Blog - A Greater Victory by Steve Carey - Make it stand out The start of Turn 7 where things really begin to heat up near Fox’s Gap. The scale remains relatively small even this many turns in. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/bc1f774d-32ba-4b71-8e66-4cde50396d5c/IMG_20250303_135524_edit_1762318718130564.jpg Blog - A Greater Victory by Steve Carey - Make it stand out The 12:30 turn arrives and with it the Indecision chit. Designed to replicate the halting progress of the middle of the day, when drawn from the cup it adds two to every activation roll that turn which increases the chances that nothing will happen (including your reinforcements making progress from their starting hex). https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/5e787b15-6ffb-489d-8295-f54470683a7f/original_32faaaba-fd4f-404c-9217-c07779c7e579_IMG_20250220_121618.jpg Blog - A Greater Victory by Steve Carey - Make it stand out You can see here the large numbers of reinforcements that are drip fed into battle - the 3:30 turn in particular is so busy that they don’t fit in the box. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/8325bc90-4039-4390-8362-702b8ef5cd83/original_6acc87c8-523c-4292-9d20-98910bcc7c33_IMG_20250305_094547.jpg Blog - A Greater Victory by Steve Carey - Make it stand out Union reinforcements begin to arrive in earnest, but it takes a few turns before they can reach the actual front. The Union managed to secure one of the hexes at Fox’s Gap as well as (briefly) a scoring hex on the northern edge of the map but they didn’t get Fox’s Gap itself and so are a VP behind. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/21f4bfbc-072d-43d2-891d-f8521ac10c01/original_dcafb075-c6e1-4d49-8add-245a13d9ef2b_IMG_20250306_175757.jpg Blog - A Greater Victory by Steve Carey - Make it stand out Matters begin to escalate, with Meade the first general with soldiers for the northern section of the map. Sadly, he will do very badly on his activation rolls. Fighting resumes around Fox’s Gap with the arrival of fresh soldiers. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/a830bd81-63bb-4f0b-a8f7-bd6dc09c5e12/original_d1783b4c-462c-47d8-86b9-6f8a9fb9706d_IMG_20250308_101658.jpg Blog - A Greater Victory by Steve Carey - Make it stand out This phase of the game was really fun - lots of movement and consideration of which units are the most important to activate when you inevitably fail an activation roll. The Confederates have pushed more troops into Fox’s Gap but don’t have much to counteract the attacks coming along the north. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/6b9d3d9e-29de-434e-a70c-e784a73d4fed/original_76c9d4c2-213d-4077-a224-62dbd4097e4c_IMG_20250309_130403.jpg Blog - A Greater Victory by Steve Carey - Make it stand out The full array of both sides’ armies are on the map now. The Union is attacking along all fronts, but the Confederates are plugging in the gaps and have largely gotten into defensive positions before the Union armies arrived. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/2754e892-797d-4cf2-871a-f416ff8c86e0/original_b337bc20-e7cb-4643-9f30-58fb04d4a1af_IMG_20250309_134227.jpg Blog - A Greater Victory by Steve Carey - Make it stand out The grinding fight at Fox’s Gap involved a lot of dead and broken units, but very little progress for either side. The density of units here began to push the limits of my trembling fingers when it came to checking strength values and moving pieces. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/3adc9848-51a4-4e06-8519-5d58b3e476ec/IMG_20250310_110739.jpg Blog - A Greater Victory by Steve Carey - Make it stand out Night approaches - several failed activation rolls means that more Union brigades are straggling behind the lines than I would have liked. This will cause problems later on. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/a589a1d9-9153-4c2d-96c1-c4c8b71e8057/original_f4920c00-499a-4748-8db1-6c7f67930127_IMG_20250310_201632.jpg Blog - A Greater Victory by Steve Carey - Make it stand out The situation when night falls. The Union has ground down Confederate units at Fox’s Gap but still doesn’t control the key hexes and is struggling to bring fresh troops forward. In the middle there has also been progress, but with night reducing movement and combat effectiveness it will be hard to secure the pass. On the far right the key victory hex swapped control several times thanks to fierce fighting. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/a9f0ad0e-fceb-46fc-9d56-cc09fe7d5caf/original_35e0fd2b-901c-4ebc-8248-0de3a8eafbc0_IMG_20250311_155436.jpg Blog - A Greater Victory by Steve Carey - Make it stand out The final game state. Unfortunately for the Union they failed to secure any of the three key victory hexes along the front lines, so while they scored reasonably well on Confederates eliminated they ultimately suffered a disastrous loss. They almost certainly took the mountain, but at such losses that it’s not looking good for Antietam. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/witmoyw-ep-13-army-of-the-heartland monthly 0.5 2025-03-14 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/the-frozen-chosen-by-thomas-mckelvey-cleaver monthly 0.5 2025-03-06 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/labyrinth-the-war-on-terror-by-volko-ruhnke monthly 0.5 2025-03-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/412a9950-b1cf-41b3-a4d8-e1c7cd09a368/IMG_20250119_141959_edit_612078210365975.jpg Blog - Labyrinth: The War on Terror by Volko Ruhnke - Make it stand out While played on a point-to-point map, you won’t be moving armies between these locations. Instead they are important for determining adjacency for some die roll modifiers and moving Jihadist cells without making a roll. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/646c6f7e-e32d-4e04-a1c9-2a7c6cbc80be/original_893952a1-b29f-44e3-8bec-09f4cbbf96ff_IMG_20250304_150512.jpg Blog - Labyrinth: The War on Terror by Volko Ruhnke - Make it stand out The combo potential of Oil Price Spike is particularly potent. There are two copies in the deck and since they both let you dig into the discard (always a fun, but dangerous, mechanism) and adjust the value of certain countries on the map for victory determination they can give you that final push to victory at a critical moment - if you draw one! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/d021cb1f-99f6-4b76-a637-72fc8dfc69f2/IMG_20250304_150427.jpg Blog - Labyrinth: The War on Terror by Volko Ruhnke - Make it stand out Perhaps two of the worst offenders that you have to watch out for, since they can instantly change the governance of a country. Ethopia Strikes can undo the enormous effort required in making a country Islamist Rule in the first place, while Musharraf can punish either player but can also be blocked. Still, these are in the minority and they can be managed. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/thematic-integration-in-board-game-design-by-sarah-shipp monthly 0.5 2025-07-11 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/army-of-the-heartland-by-john-prados monthly 0.5 2025-02-03 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/48c11006-c031-4274-b6b6-3adb446520a4/IMG_20250203_091212+%281%29.jpg Blog - The Army of the Heartland by John Prados - Make it stand out I’m not the most diehard Rick Barber fan but this map is very pretty, and printed on a very nice paper stock. This is the eastern map where you will be spending most of your time. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/2b5adeb9-8ebc-42e8-8822-8e6bffb1d646/IMG_20250203_091300.jpg Blog - The Army of the Heartland by John Prados - Make it stand out The army displays also have some more lovely Rick Barber (I believe) art. From a play experience I see the benefits of these large sheets, but as someone without a large American basement the size of them outweighs the luxury of having that extra space. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/f2549233-7175-4dfc-b009-1fad6f78729e/IMG_20250203_091352.jpg Blog - The Army of the Heartland by John Prados - Make it stand out I quite like the counter art as well. The markers for the generals have their names on the reverse, which indicates their inactive state, so while you can check it will serve you well to be able to recognize the commanders from their beards. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/ec11fa02-7a37-4d93-9d7b-acf0cc344c69/IMG_20250203_091322.jpg Blog - The Army of the Heartland by John Prados - Make it stand out Seriously, look at that cover. Wow. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/7b1fq31900wnbyoosg5913xfz0x78u monthly 0.5 2025-01-25 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/the-korean-war-by-bruce-cummings monthly 0.5 2025-01-23 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/2024-in-review-top-8-books monthly 0.5 2025-01-20 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/wargames-according-to-mark-by-mark-herman monthly 0.5 2025-07-11 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/2024-in-review-and-my-top-7-games-of-the-year monthly 0.5 2025-01-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/23ed9ff2-1244-47e8-83e9-f1254e9508ba/IMG_20240324_162219.jpg Blog - 2024 in Review and My Top 7 Games of the Year* - Make it stand out The two scenarios designed by Berg, originally published in Simon Says, do stand out as having more of that spice that I like. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/0aba4fc5-08e9-4364-90c6-809785325a31/IMG_20240204_100614.jpg Blog - 2024 in Review and My Top 7 Games of the Year* - Make it stand out The cloth map is also a really nice touch, there’s something nice about playing on cloth. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/7dd564c0-8488-4d8d-82d9-93dc2a4ec9ae/IMG_20240406_160155.jpg Blog - 2024 in Review and My Top 7 Games of the Year* - Make it stand out The Phalanx edition is very pretty, but I always played without the miniatures since they are very hard to parse at a glance. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/9cd6e7ab-4596-4029-a11f-771c6ecd1906/original_2123ac62-70bc-4530-97cd-f069350e52b2_IMG_20240601_122006.jpg Blog - 2024 in Review and My Top 7 Games of the Year* - Make it stand out There are a lot of counters and set up takes quite a while, but the stacking is manageable and I didn’t find it particularly overwhelming. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/ec2b0240-e3c4-4194-bde5-29a551817c7e/WW+Cards.png Blog - 2024 in Review and My Top 7 Games of the Year* - Make it stand out One of the ways you can tell this is the original is that events and ops were on separate cards - later games would combine the two and that is generally considered the standard form for CDGs. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/84df7c16-c297-45c9-9855-79c2479d43f7/RTT+Plantagenet.png Blog - 2024 in Review and My Top 7 Games of the Year* - Make it stand out There are a lot of counters to place on the map now, which makes things a little tight in the middle, but if you play on Rally the Troops it handles all that for you! While I like in person L&C there’s no denying the convenience of RtT. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/01794751-d6d3-4e1b-b9fb-f91fd5ed34d3/IMG_20241212_103755.jpg Blog - 2024 in Review and My Top 7 Games of the Year* - Make it stand out In addition to my ongoing game on Vassal where we’re playing the first half of the 1950, up to the Chinese intervention, I also set up this little scenario on the breakout at Chosin on my side table to brush up on some of the rules in Korea that weren’t included in Luzon. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/halls-of-hegra-and-lanzerath-ridge monthly 0.5 2025-01-17 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/0d8592db-c1cd-43bd-8468-076a3af71fee/IMG_20240428_151221.jpg Blog - Halls of Hegra by Petter Schanke Olsen and Lanzerath Ridge by David Thompson and Nils Johansson - Make it stand out The first phase of Halls of Hegra, the board section in the bottom left shows your preparation while cardboard markers cover up several sections on the fortress that you will want to unlock. Top right is the supply minigame, and top left you can see the Nazi artillery and planes but they won’t come into play yet. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/4947fe00-264e-44a1-b2fd-dba41a5b2198/IMG_20241211_114336.jpg Blog - Halls of Hegra by Petter Schanke Olsen and Lanzerath Ridge by David Thompson and Nils Johansson - Make it stand out States of Siege never looked this good. You can see the tracks along the bottom of the board - the map is arranged so that you are looking from the Nazi perspective which creates this very odd experience of being simultaneously the attacker and the defender. It’s a bold choice, and one that creates an interesting sensation during play. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/75082246-0bf3-4a5e-a9b9-988e3cccc734/original_3dee085e-1151-4fe3-9b62-fe284223503c_IMG_20241213_122034.jpg Blog - Halls of Hegra by Petter Schanke Olsen and Lanzerath Ridge by David Thompson and Nils Johansson - Make it stand out The three squads that make up your team in Lanzerath Ridge. It’s a little shallow but I did relate more to the ones who had portraits, but I suspect the difference is primarily the result of limited sources - if there was an available contemporary photo for each of them they would all have portraits. Still, the inclusion of names makes me care about them quite a lot. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/942d00c8-a625-4ab8-ac13-c116ecec14a6/IMG_20240428_200713.jpg Blog - Halls of Hegra by Petter Schanke Olsen and Lanzerath Ridge by David Thompson and Nils Johansson - Make it stand out The final phase of Halls of Hegra, note the swarm of Nazis on the bottom left (this did not go well for me), but also see the artillery pieces and Nazi insignia on the top right - where once I was sending out runners for supplies, now there are just Nazi guns and encroaching positions. The difference between phase three and phase one is palpable. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/luzon-race-for-batan-by-matsuura-yutaka-ocs-review monthly 0.5 2024-12-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/a6a624a0-ec24-48a9-b1ce-2ab0df7b4d0a/IMG_20241114_161619.jpg Blog - Luzon: Race for Bataan by Matsuura Yutaka (OCS Review) - Make it stand out Luzon is still capable of some very impressive counter stacks on occasion but I don’t mind isolated stacks like this quite so much as clusters of stacks all next to each other, where an unfortunate collapse could domino across the game. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/b4fbf51e-0fbe-4eb1-b788-6b35a3450582/IMG_20241110_150451.jpg Blog - Luzon: Race for Bataan by Matsuura Yutaka (OCS Review) - Make it stand out It’s OCS but it fits on the tiny side table in my apartment. It’s some kind of miracle! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/b38ba100-6f5c-45fc-8815-363d6af76ea5/IMG_20241114_162731.jpg Blog - Luzon: Race for Bataan by Matsuura Yutaka (OCS Review) - Make it stand out The map is quite small - it is one sheet but also has larger hexes than most OCS titles and focuses players into the middle of the map - but also offers multiple paths for players to explore, both guiding your movement and presenting you with important choices. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/a1637024-ded5-4d81-acac-9f79f08d072f/IMG_20241205_111446.jpg Blog - Luzon: Race for Bataan by Matsuura Yutaka (OCS Review) - Make it stand out The full list of rules that Luzon ejects to simplify the experience. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/95ee2223-c2bc-410a-96b0-818b588b0a3b/IMG_20241117_133641.jpg Blog - Luzon: Race for Bataan by Matsuura Yutaka (OCS Review) - Make it stand out This was the best I did as Japan across three games, and I’m nowhere near the victory line on the Bataan Peninsula. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/da94c22b-0ef1-4179-ba6c-beb31735f3a6/IMG_20241205_112858_edit_1075836630276981.jpg Blog - Luzon: Race for Bataan by Matsuura Yutaka (OCS Review) - Make it stand out The table of contents for Operational Matters Volume 2. The example of play was particularly helpful for learning Luzon. The other articles were all interesting and helped me understand the system better without being strictly essential reading. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/playing-at-the-world-2e-volume-1 monthly 0.5 2025-07-11 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/paper-time-machines-by-maurice-w-suckling monthly 0.5 2025-07-11 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/washingtons-war-by-mark-herman monthly 0.5 2024-11-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/ec2b0240-e3c4-4194-bde5-29a551817c7e/WW+Cards.png Blog - Washington’s War by Mark Herman - Make it stand out A selection of the kinds of cards available to players in Washington’s War. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/eb3feaf6-3938-44dd-9308-9049dbce8295/WW+Map.png Blog - Washington’s War by Mark Herman - Make it stand out The game also benefits somewhat from a familiarity with the borders of Eastern US states. Each state’s locations are color coded, which provides some help, but it can be tricky to parse especially when it fills up with pieces. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/witmoyw-ep-12-rebel-fury-by-mark-herman monthly 0.5 2024-11-02 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/yokai-hunters-society-by-chema-gonzlez monthly 0.5 2024-10-30 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/louisbourg-1758-by-mike-and-grant-wylie monthly 0.5 2024-12-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/d93915e2-ff61-4a21-b198-3201ffa76220/IMG_20240731_112826.jpg Blog - Louisbourg 1758 by Mike and Grant Wylie - Make it stand out My landing is planned, and the French player has put out his defenses. The landing parties face a significant barrier as the defender gets a significant bonus on attacks, but the abundance of British regulars should let me wear them down over a few rounds. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/42659ccc-6f52-4fd8-8b1b-3461a2df7f3c/IMG_20240731_114730.jpg Blog - Louisbourg 1758 by Mike and Grant Wylie - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/2028a22e-4f49-4f4f-b692-cfb921713f5c/IMG_20240731_133332.jpg Blog - Louisbourg 1758 by Mike and Grant Wylie - Make it stand out It’s a nice touch that both sides have the bombardment table and the sequence of play is printed on the map. I love touches like that which mean that I don’t have to check the rulebook or a play aid card every turn. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/historical-simulation-and-wargames-by-riccardo-masini monthly 0.5 2025-07-11 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/a-yearish-abroad monthly 0.5 2024-09-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/f848048b-a1e0-4348-8642-2852bd05e0bf/IMG_20240725_141308.jpg Blog - A Year(ish) Abroad - Make it stand out The games that made the cut https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/4383dbcc-a378-4b97-abc8-484205ef4efa/IMG_20240915_084255.jpg Blog - A Year(ish) Abroad - Make it stand out My hobby shelf in Korea - I’ll probably do my best to limit myself to about this much stuff. Space is limited! https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/the-dull-knifes-of-pine-ridge-by-joe-starita monthly 0.5 2024-12-13 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/witmoyw-ep-11-glory-iii-by-richard-berg monthly 0.5 2024-09-05 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/plantagenet-by-francisco-gradaille monthly 0.5 2024-09-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/af6c55ec-9cf5-43be-916f-1a15a798093b/RTT+Plant+lord+mats.png Blog - Plantagenet by Francisco Gradaille - Make it stand out The Lord mats have also been changed to allow for the many, many unique lords that fought (and died) during the Wars of the Roses. The mats are generic and Lords are represented by cards that show their stats and starting units/resources. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/d5299502-d815-43bc-8443-f576c6011379/Plant+Influence.png Blog - Plantagenet by Francisco Gradaille - Make it stand out The summary of Influence point costs from the play aid looks really intimidating, but in practice it’s pretty easy to keep track and after a game or two you’ll mostly have internalized it. It helps a lot that if you play on Rally the Troops it does the math for you as well. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/84df7c16-c297-45c9-9855-79c2479d43f7/RTT+Plantagenet.png Blog - Plantagenet by Francisco Gradaille - Make it stand out The green paths are very slow - taking a whole activation to move across them - but the gray highways can be moved two spaces at a time, which allows for some very rapid advances along the east-west and north-south axis. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/7feb16f2-86be-4218-949d-017196dba5a9/Plant+forces.png Blog - Plantagenet by Francisco Gradaille - Make it stand out There are also handgunners, but I usually fail to recruit them. Fun fact, the leftover bullets from the guns was part of how historians were eventually able to locate where the Battle of Bosworth Field was fought. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/rebel-fury-by-mark-herman monthly 0.5 2024-12-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/d0aeb480-d71f-458b-ac6c-538b4aa4c75f/IMG_20240723_102631.jpg Blog - Rebel Fury by Mark Herman - Make it stand out Seriously, look at these counters and maps! Some of the best in the business. I love how the different art on the Maneuver and Battle sides reflects the different formations and makes it easy to see at a glance what formation every unit is in. A phenomenal mix of art and functionality. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/c4ecc5ea-dfd2-466e-8460-ce083af11267/original_149b680a-c4a2-4a99-a117-589f6b12ff8c_IMG_20240721_134024+%281%29.jpg Blog - Rebel Fury by Mark Herman - Make it stand out Seriously, these maps are great, Charlie Kibler did amazing work. I give this an official "The Wilderness Fanboy" seal of approval. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/420893db-9684-4131-a1be-61da8f7cb873/IMG_20240722_181832%7E2.jpg Blog - Rebel Fury by Mark Herman - Make it stand out I have highlighted the passage in question from the designer notes. The designer notes have a lot more to say about the design of Gettysburg than they do about Rebel Fury and while I found the information on Gettysburg interesting, I did find that very strange. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/the-bone-chests-by-cat-jarman monthly 0.5 2024-08-27 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/fifty-years-of-dungeons-and-dragons-ed-premeet-sidhu-marcus-carter-and-jos-p-zagal monthly 0.5 2025-07-11 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/chancellorsville-by-stephen-w-sears monthly 0.5 2024-07-25 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/a-short-history-of-the-wars-of-the-roses-by-david-grummitt monthly 0.5 2024-07-18 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/witmoyw-ep-10-fire-on-the-mountain-by-john-poniske monthly 0.5 2024-07-11 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/gettysburg-1863 monthly 0.5 2024-07-14 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/e9400dc9-9cb3-4077-b2b1-e5e151567b0e/IMG_20240626_143313.jpg Blog - Gettysburg 1863 by Grant and Mike Wylie - Make it stand out Day 2 in progress - maybe I should have waited for Longstreet to fully come up before attacking but I saw little incentive to do so. Apologies as well for the lighting in these photos, my parent’s dining room was not the ideal environment for game photography. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/dfa597c0-d350-4683-9768-2e9e0f079a37/IMG_20240627_141749.jpg Blog - Gettysburg 1863 by Grant and Mike Wylie - Make it stand out The XIth Corps vastly outperforming their historical equivalents by Routing, and placing Panic Markers, against Jubal Early’s attack. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/20488411-51b3-4a96-b0d0-b6834bf89381/IMG_20240626_171713.jpg Blog - Gettysburg 1863 by Grant and Mike Wylie - Make it stand out Look at that beautiful blank canvas, just waiting for you to fill it. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/85415567-c8de-4581-8cf1-3f2b9fe34041/IMG_20240628_095227.jpg Blog - Gettysburg 1863 by Grant and Mike Wylie - Make it stand out My Gettysburg at the very end of the 1st of July, right before dawn broke on the 2nd and fighting resumed. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/banish-all-their-fears-by-david-fox-and-ben-hull monthly 0.5 2024-12-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/5d6daf94-ea3d-4c7a-bc09-1c40d84cf351/original_21160d04-a2c9-4922-a3b9-c778dd599fe2_IMG_20240531_201532.jpg Blog - Banish All Their Fears by David Fox and Ben Hull - Make it stand out Initial set up for Blenheim, in which I hopefully didn’t make any mistakes. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/96b3fcb6-1616-420d-b7ca-ba34f464238d/IMG_20240531_201555.jpg Blog - Banish All Their Fears by David Fox and Ben Hull - Make it stand out My initial wing command display, positioned on a side table before I managed to clear enough space to put it on the same table as the map. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/9cd6e7ab-4596-4029-a11f-771c6ecd1906/original_2123ac62-70bc-4530-97cd-f069350e52b2_IMG_20240601_122006.jpg Blog - Banish All Their Fears by David Fox and Ben Hull - Make it stand out It didn’t take very long for things to get very chaotic. I have to confess that early on I was pretty bad at remembering to put down all the Rout counters I was supposed to, but I got better at remembering as I went on. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/5359eed5-44be-40e9-b31a-f6a0404b571f/original_dd458974-33b0-400e-8a3b-476cd003348b_IMG_20240605_175714.jpg Blog - Banish All Their Fears by David Fox and Ben Hull - Make it stand out A few turns later, some wings are going very well for the Allies while others are looking much better for the French. In a way it plays out like several smaller interrelated battles than one big one. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/82a725df-7d18-4f22-8ae4-991d43bc21fd/IMG_20240531_211250.jpg Blog - Banish All Their Fears by David Fox and Ben Hull - Make it stand out Look at this and tell me you couldn’t fit two different turn tracks, one for each battle, on this. I also am not wild about the fact that because the track is hours, turn 12 is followed by turn 1.. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/sdhistcon-2024-second-front-we-intend-to-move-on-your-works-panel monthly 0.5 2024-06-09 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/sdhistcon-2024-second-front-interview-on-reviewing-games monthly 0.5 2024-06-09 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/successors-4th-edition monthly 0.5 2024-12-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/7dd564c0-8488-4d8d-82d9-93dc2a4ec9ae/IMG_20240406_160155.jpg Blog - Successors (4th Edition) by Mark Simonitch and Richard Berg - Make it stand out Usually Successors looks like this - control markers covering most of the board with a scattering of generals simultaneously trying to protect their own territory and encroach on other players. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/9aa4ec8d-1080-41a9-b559-8087cd9f91f6/IMG_20240518_135919.jpg Blog - Successors (4th Edition) by Mark Simonitch and Richard Berg - Make it stand out The two generals in the lower left are in the dispersed box - punishment for their defeat. Meanwhile everyone clusters in the center to try and stop Perdikaas from bringing the burial cart to Macedon on the far right of the map. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/spqr-deluxe-edition-by-mark-herman-and-richard-berg monthly 0.5 2024-12-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/10f1d4de-9a03-4c42-be11-89fd776a05e5/IMG_20240415_180304.jpg Blog - SPQR: Deluxe Edition by Mark Herman and Richard Berg - Make it stand out It also has an abundance of excellent design notes. I love seeing designers explain their thought processes throughout the rules document - even if I don’t agree with everything they write it shows the level of thought that has gone into the game. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/a1c2a9a7-ac11-4d2c-8949-ae9103a52c34/IMG_20240419_161638.jpg Blog - SPQR: Deluxe Edition by Mark Herman and Richard Berg - Make it stand out Maybe just don’t play like me and don’t let your lines become this much of a disaster. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/2cfa8fd7-deae-4feb-b646-2174ee1ddc6c/IMG_20240417_201840.jpg Blog - SPQR: Deluxe Edition by Mark Herman and Richard Berg - Make it stand out Resolving all of these elephant combats took quite a while. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/monsters-aliens-and-holes-in-the-ground-by-stu-horvath monthly 0.5 2025-07-11 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/33341867-48e5-4967-bbd1-3f49dd4baaa7/IMG_20240416_172017.jpg Blog - Monsters, Aliens, and Holes in the Ground by Stu Horvath - Make it stand out The pictures are all of the actual copies in Horvath’s collection, something that it is easy to overlook but every so often there is a real gem that shows how these were played with and not just left on shelves in pristine condition. Sadly the mystery of who Kalvan the Sinister was remains unsolved. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/93e7fd09-1bbf-4a45-8efc-518c7827eca4/rn_image_picker_lib_temp_d0ddb3a6-efa9-4beb-8352-7b0a73c58d38.jpg Blog - Monsters, Aliens, and Holes in the Ground by Stu Horvath - Make it stand out The decades are lovingly color coded so you can see the distribution just by looking at the fore edge. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/forbidden-lands-by-free-league-publishing-a-gms-review monthly 0.5 2025-01-07 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/61cf40eb-eec8-4ed6-b511-d5d85dda9a2c/IMG_20230914_075432.jpg Blog - Forbidden Lands by Free League Publishing – a GM’s review - Make it stand out The party’s progress after the first half a dozen sessions or so - they are truly terrible at making it out hexes and represent this by literally drawing circles in hexes they get lost in. Little triangles represent where they rested at night. This adds so much to the experience, highly recommended - and there’s an identical map on the back so you can even keep a blank one for reference! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/5878b19f-8397-42cd-9398-516820d57605/IMG_20240420_134358.jpg Blog - Forbidden Lands by Free League Publishing – a GM’s review - Make it stand out The contents of Forbidden Lands’ core box https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/korea-the-mobile-war-by-jim-dunnigan monthly 0.5 2024-12-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/ab6d6574-b908-49e8-9aff-70289cc2d5ca/IMG_20240409_162119.jpg Blog - Korea: The Mobile War by Jim Dunnigan - Make it stand out The initial set up for the first scenario which covers the North Korean invasion in 1950. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/3f35b97f-35bc-45c1-bd8c-ccb57b9f763f/IMG_20240411_163026.jpg Blog - Korea: The Mobile War by Jim Dunnigan - Make it stand out Things are not going well for the South Koreans after the first few turns. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/d060049b-fddc-4a42-a95d-0db8cf5df8ac/IMG_20240411_164709.jpg Blog - Korea: The Mobile War by Jim Dunnigan - Make it stand out UN reinforcements finally arrive, but they have to push out from Pusan to try and set up the perimeter rather than having fallen back to it successfully. With the CRT being as swingy as it is, breaking back out will be a real challenge. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/wargaming-korea-1950-1953 monthly 0.5 2024-04-16 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/grandpas-war monthly 0.5 2024-04-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/fa398e0a-617c-491e-a209-f76d49d75a15/Grandpa+Korea+Photos.png Blog - My Grandpa's War - Make it stand out A collection of photos my grandpa took while he was in Masan. My cousin uploaded them to Wikimedia. I’m not aware of him having taken any other photos during the war years, but some may turn up in some uncle’s basement some day. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/the-coldest-winter-by-david-halberstam monthly 0.5 2024-12-13 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/we-intend-to-move-on-your-works-ep-9-gcacw monthly 0.5 2024-04-02 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/norman-conquests-men-of-iron-v monthly 0.5 2024-12-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/8b0fc2e0-70d3-4093-94cd-85da7c19d146/IMG_20240324_160917.jpg Blog - Norman Conquests (Men of Iron V) by Ralph Shelton (and Richard Berg) - Make it stand out I even have a custom dice tower - I’m basically ride or die for this series at this stage. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/64faf598-e48d-4ac7-a733-97c6fdd36271/IMG_20240324_143848.jpg Blog - Norman Conquests (Men of Iron V) by Ralph Shelton (and Richard Berg) - Make it stand out The moment when a lucky (or unlucky depending on your perspective) Continued Attack killed King Harold and spelled doom for the center of the English line in my alternate battle site game of Hastings. If this picture gets you excited then you should probably just go buy the game now. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/ed89c75e-6362-4d92-8de9-697817b843a8/IMG_20240324_151649.jpg Blog - Norman Conquests (Men of Iron V) by Ralph Shelton (and Richard Berg) - Make it stand out I also couldn’t help but notice that the the Welsh at Evesham have longbows when nobody else does. Berg clearly subscribing to the erroneous but very popular myth that the Welsh invented the longbow. A slight mark against him, but more because longbows are way overpowered and I was happier without any in this game! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/4b0b3e47-aa21-4d25-8dfb-ca8b241b67ac/IMG_20240315_092625.jpg Blog - Norman Conquests (Men of Iron V) by Ralph Shelton (and Richard Berg) - Make it stand out The initial set up for Fulford. I will say that the swamp and river do at least narrow the battlefield some and have the potential to shake things up a little but it is still two virtually identical armies facing each other from really quite close. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/1fbd02c4-cc3e-44e6-9a5a-fb77433ea46c/IMG_20240318_165946.jpg Blog - Norman Conquests (Men of Iron V) by Ralph Shelton (and Richard Berg) - Make it stand out For anyone wondering, at Fulford I chose to activate Northumbria first, but maybe next time the King should go first. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/35067f5c-9256-4908-bf8d-38e982f8b587/IMG_20240324_161746.jpg Blog - Norman Conquests (Men of Iron V) by Ralph Shelton (and Richard Berg) - Make it stand out Evesham, giving me that Berg-ian chrome that I yearn for so badly with its fleeing Welsh troops, possible escape for the Montfortian army, and big hill in the middle of the map. Stellar stuff. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/217696c2-e9f7-4c61-92f4-bd85f5d725f4/IMG_20240324_180537.jpg Blog - Norman Conquests (Men of Iron V) by Ralph Shelton (and Richard Berg) - Make it stand out The CRTs from Norman Conquests, Blood and Roses, and Arquebus. While I adore Arquebus for my money Blood and Roses probably has the best CRT in the series. Norman Conquests’ is identical to the original Men of Iron. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/5d91e18a-2474-40f1-9e37-5128afff7f5a/IMG_20240323_100504.jpg Blog - Norman Conquests (Men of Iron V) by Ralph Shelton (and Richard Berg) - Make it stand out Hastings set up with the traditional battle site (Battle Hill) chosen. You can see the large space to the right which will go essentially unused in this scenario. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/8a6fa852-460f-4bb2-a40f-b26396d0dda2/IMG_20240323_142057_edit_2162074154416962.jpg Blog - Norman Conquests (Men of Iron V) by Ralph Shelton (and Richard Berg) - Make it stand out The alternative set up on Caldbec Hill. I think I slightly prefer this one, the curved lines and the swampy terrain make for a more interesting battle. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/890ecd80-22bb-49a0-a018-4824ff946258/IMG_20240326_150515.jpg Blog - Norman Conquests (Men of Iron V) by Ralph Shelton (and Richard Berg) - Make it stand out The bibliography from Norman Conquests. Kudos for including one, although some demerits for not including publication dates for the works (a huge pet peeve of mine). There are some good books on this list, but many older works that have long since been superseded. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/stonewall-jacksons-way-ii-gcacw monthly 0.5 2024-12-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/0de993f0-0151-4264-833f-73417f1d09fd/Screenshot+2024-03-19+200853.png Blog - Stonewall Jackson’s Way II (GCACW) by Joseph M. Balkoski, Ed Beach, Mike Belles, and Chris Withers - Make it stand out The Vassal modules do help with this by highlighting victory point areas - hexes in blue are worth the VPs written next to them, yellow circles are train depots that the Confederates can destroy for VPs. Very helpful, but not available when playing physically. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/3236628d-db3f-41e7-bf83-a0d44a904341/IMG_20231203_161220.jpg Blog - Stonewall Jackson’s Way II (GCACW) by Joseph M. Balkoski, Ed Beach, Mike Belles, and Chris Withers - Make it stand out The maps are gorgeous and the unit count blessedly small here, but each of these stacks could balloon to be quite large indeed over the course of a turn. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/956b81c3-c5ba-4e3f-9bf8-10821645b04a/Screenshot+2024-03-19+195925.png Blog - Stonewall Jackson’s Way II (GCACW) by Joseph M. Balkoski, Ed Beach, Mike Belles, and Chris Withers - Make it stand out The Cedar Mountain scenario is pretty simple, the Confederates have to get to Culpeper and the Union (who have reinforcements off the top of the screen) have to stop them. Very clean and quick to play. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/873d75bb-51ca-4788-a8da-dfee2e74f573/Screenshot+2024-03-19+200406.png Blog - Stonewall Jackson’s Way II (GCACW) by Joseph M. Balkoski, Ed Beach, Mike Belles, and Chris Withers - Make it stand out Advanced Game, Turn 3: I somewhat foolishly let myself get stuck in this pocket, and then rain and a turn ending early made it nearly impossible for me to get out of it. A mistake I would hopefully not make on a subsequent play. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/7f4a0031-46ea-4f8d-8f7c-319a1c35efce/Screenshot+2024-03-19+200709.png Blog - Stonewall Jackson’s Way II (GCACW) by Joseph M. Balkoski, Ed Beach, Mike Belles, and Chris Withers - Make it stand out I eventually got Jackson around the Union position but it was too little too late - without Lee he couldn’t do enough to secure victory and he was badly out of supply. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/triumph-and-illusion-by-jonathan-sumption monthly 0.5 2024-12-13 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/podcast-shiloh-april-glory monthly 0.5 2024-03-12 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/tanto-monta-a-story-of-disappointment monthly 0.5 2024-12-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/1f764fb8-28a7-4dcd-89d0-e33fde071ebe/IMG_20240203_110529.jpg Blog - Tanto Monta: A Story of Disappointment - Make it stand out The fact that I was immediately bogged down in two foreign wars, including one with the future Holy Roman Emperor, really prevented France from getting too involved in Iberia at the start of our game. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/9957778d-e334-4e66-a00e-a2dbda8a9030/IMG_20240203_163238+%281%29.jpg Blog - Tanto Monta: A Story of Disappointment - Make it stand out Seeing it all set up is almost enough to make me want to play it again. And yes, I remain eternally cursed to only play these games while looking at the map upside down. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/3f8dee60-37c7-43c1-a09f-e2dc7e2d9dd9/IMG_20240210_182831.jpg Blog - Tanto Monta: A Story of Disappointment - Make it stand out A sampler of what I felt were some of the more egregious cards in Tanto Monta in terms of sheer density of text and/or redirecting players to the rulebook so they could look up what the card actually does. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/62a5077d-f03e-49db-97df-d90055e7b962/original_6944774e-5a1c-44d9-a39c-029521e23e33_IMG_20240210_201409.jpg Blog - Tanto Monta: A Story of Disappointment - Make it stand out My two least favorite diplomacy events - the Peace of Alcacovas is not mandatory but must have been played for the Treaty of Tordesillas to resolve, and the latter is mandatory. I couldn’t find anywhere in the rules that explained what to do in what must be an incredibly likely outcome of someone drawing Tordesillas without Alcacovas having been played. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/fe4a5056-9699-4e5e-9293-edeb89a41ed4/IMG_20240210_201418.jpg Blog - Tanto Monta: A Story of Disappointment - Make it stand out Why let players negotiate their own treaties when you can simply have a card do it for them? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/e3044377-9543-4c36-8902-92fbb9fbed34/TM+what.png Blog - Tanto Monta: A Story of Disappointment - Make it stand out From the opening of the rulebook. Not sure why France is emerging but Portugal is already described as a maritime empire. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/d2e0aa4d-4432-424e-8da8-9f5b3d021861/IMG_20240203_182342.jpg Blog - Tanto Monta: A Story of Disappointment - Make it stand out This card just boggles my mind - it’s not even the first treaty between France and England that occurred during this period. Edward IV invaded France in 1475 and I couldn’t see any rules for that in Tanto Monta! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/704758ef-59f1-416a-9d36-82ced29a4a0c/GFbkaU7WkAAmRQw.jpg Blog - Tanto Monta: A Story of Disappointment - Make it stand out I think this comparison neatly summarizes Tanto Monta - on the left is the Arquebusiers event from Tanto Monta, on the right is the same event from Here I Stand. Tanto Monta’s version is at least twice as long and far more involved for, I would argue, little gain. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/learning-musket-and-pike-by-ben-hull monthly 0.5 2024-12-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/6ddc659c-4d8f-48eb-8223-64653a63ca7f/IMG_20240121_180918.jpg Blog - Learning Musket and Pike by Ben Hull - Make it stand out The stacks can get pretty massive when you add together formation hits, damage, morale hits, whether the cavalry has used their pistols, etc. Thankfully this seems to be more the extreme than the norm. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/48c044cb-e7a7-48cf-aa2e-1539024ef925/IMG_20240121_100938.jpg Blog - Learning Musket and Pike by Ben Hull - Make it stand out This really doesn’t look like it should be so intimidating and yet I had it set up for days before I managed to actually make a move. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/44f1b235-2439-469f-9d38-e81a4d723e5e/IMG_20240130_224217.jpg Blog - Learning Musket and Pike by Ben Hull - Make it stand out The aftermath of two Wings colliding - a mashup of formation broken units and counter charges. I’m less certain of what to do at the top of the map where the hedges will disrupt units that pass through them. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/2023-in-review-favorite-books monthly 0.5 2024-01-11 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/preview-rebel-fury-by-mark-herman monthly 0.5 2024-01-11 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/most-anticipated-games-2024 monthly 0.5 2024-01-08 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/confederates-in-the-attic-by-tony-horowitz monthly 0.5 2024-12-13 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/ep-7-shiloh-1862-by-worthington monthly 0.5 2023-12-31 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/top-8-games-2023 monthly 0.5 2024-02-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/8e78f303-6caf-4b16-b2ac-99e3fa960c04/IMG_20231203_161220.jpg Blog - 2023 in Review and My Top 8 Games of the Year* - Make it stand out I’m such a sucker for a good map of the Shenandoah Valley - I grew up just off the right side of this map! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/26c71637-2856-4b75-9c86-d87e7e5fd282/IMG_20230915_171851.jpg Blog - 2023 in Review and My Top 8 Games of the Year* - Make it stand out I actually played Malaya by post - swapping photos of the board state with a friend in the US. It was a great way to play and I’d love to do it some more, although finding space to leave the game set up for weeks on end can be a little challenging. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/9c07cad5-5173-4e86-b021-59d3ceec95ad/IMG_20230606_160207.jpg Blog - 2023 in Review and My Top 8 Games of the Year* - Make it stand out Inferno continues the Levy and Campaign tradition of having a gorgeous production. This was also the first game in the series I was able to play against someone in person - the Vassal modules are nice but there’s something special about playing with the physical game. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/9b2af7fe-95f5-4c7f-912f-e67c5a065ca2/IMG_20230925_180931.jpg Blog - 2023 in Review and My Top 8 Games of the Year* - Make it stand out While the game is excellent, probably the most memorable part of my experience of The Day Was Ours was getting to play it with my dad (pictured). https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/457afc3f-b357-4480-805c-d5fdbc56d00b/IMG_20230326_154650.jpg Blog - 2023 in Review and My Top 8 Games of the Year* - Make it stand out I really cannot stress how much I adore these tiny maps - being able to set up a little scenario and play through it in an evening was so satisfying. Complicated games don’t always need to be long! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/b73ff3d8-aca3-47a1-9f61-3f36d6e35514/IMG_20230513_205511.jpg Blog - 2023 in Review and My Top 8 Games of the Year* - Make it stand out The ambiance of playing in the aftermath of a child’s birthday party really added a lot to an already excellent game. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/2287a41a-16a8-422d-b8a6-c0e30ec22d76/IMG_20230302_152228.jpg Blog - 2023 in Review and My Top 8 Games of the Year* - Make it stand out I love this map, seriously, it’s so good. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/votes-for-women-by-tory-brown monthly 0.5 2023-12-11 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/fa74c0da-de0d-4256-b3ec-8d65c1f4a6af/IMG_20230228_202643.jpg Blog - Votes for Women by Tory Brown - Make it stand out The production is so nice, excellent understanding of the way in which games are also physical objects and the importance in making them enjoyable to manipulate. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/828c2564-9f40-4a80-beba-85ec072aebcf/IMG_20230228_223735.jpg Blog - Votes for Women by Tory Brown - Make it stand out Okay, also in very minor complaints, I don’t like the checks and X marks. I just don’t enjoy manipulating them and I’m not wild about their aesthetics. I also don’t have an idea of what would have looked better, so it’s not much of a criticism really. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/episode-6-longstreet-attacks monthly 0.5 2024-06-18 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/remembering-pearl-harbor monthly 0.5 2023-12-07 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/le-jouvencel-by-jean-de-bueil monthly 0.5 2024-12-13 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/grand-havoc-by-jeff-grossman monthly 0.5 2024-12-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/f9f33b17-6359-4c17-9189-3a8f0932ed72/original_df08d489-4f06-42ae-b6fb-5999435885b0_IMG_20231125_222752.jpg Blog - Grand Havoc by Jeff Grossman - Make it stand out The early clashing of the lines, opening sparring before they got pretty much completely entangled. The Union units on the bottom right aren’t yet released, and can’t activate. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/1b9d6bec-c9a6-4031-88b5-04cb7dcb36b2/IMG_20231128_152107.jpg Blog - Grand Havoc by Jeff Grossman - Make it stand out Here you can see the three tension points - the hill on the left, the gully in the center, and the gully and hill on the right. The lighter colored counters are all on their battleworn side. By this stage in the battle a good few Confederates were already on the broken track. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/6884efd8-dd3d-422e-8ac5-dc0ba909526a/IMG_20231114_104917.jpg Blog - Grand Havoc by Jeff Grossman - Make it stand out The game also comes with a great little starter scenario, only a few units (the Union does get more) and lasts only a few turns. I’m still not sure I’d recommend learning the system with Grand Havoc, but if you have to this scenario is a great place to start. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/8dc82f20-7436-4db9-b48a-2cbb8d8cb6aa/IMG_20231119_090135_edit_8989081886956480.jpg Blog - Grand Havoc by Jeff Grossman - Make it stand out The initial set up for the main battle scenario. I only just about fit it on my table, and I had to hide the Broken Track under the map so I just tracked broken units on the VP track - they count for VPs at game end anyway so it felt appropriate. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/agincourt-by-jim-dunnigan monthly 0.5 2024-12-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/cd626f9e-b0b5-4cf6-8755-810aaec1d1e6/original_0a11292b-5823-48c2-8275-57f02ef21962_IMG_20231020_154336.jpg Blog - Agincourt: The Triumph of Archery over Armor by Jim Dunnigan - Make it stand out Due credit must be given to illustrator and collector extraordinaire Nils Johansson who sold me this copy of Agincourt that had been in its original shrink since 1978! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/3f248baf-da20-45ef-94e0-fd26cc3d3152/original_b88813b3-248f-460b-a904-749d427de5d3_IMG_20231112_133700.jpg Blog - Agincourt: The Triumph of Archery over Armor by Jim Dunnigan - Make it stand out The initial set up of the historical scenario - you can see the many tracks along the side for line strengths and ammunition. In this photo I have set up the lines the wrong way around, something I fixed and then forgot to photograph. #nailedit https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/70964980-4006-4669-a717-0c335c7e9bd7/IMG_20231112_201059.jpg Blog - Agincourt: The Triumph of Archery over Armor by Jim Dunnigan - Make it stand out The moment when the lines clashed - you can see the many fugitives, in white, and dead, in blue, scattered across the field. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/e75d79ba-15f3-4820-9a99-6f468e4323ab/IMG_20231020_154656.jpg Blog - Agincourt: The Triumph of Archery over Armor by Jim Dunnigan - Make it stand out Also, look at these lovely coats of arms on the counters. Just some gorgeous but not too complicated counters - you love to see it. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/race-and-reunion-by-david-blight monthly 0.5 2024-12-13 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/the-worthington-civil-war-brigade-battle-series monthly 0.5 2023-10-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/ed303fe7-cf2e-43cc-98fe-20059bcd15c7/IMG_20230710_151758.jpg Blog - The Worthington Civil War Brigade Battle Series - Make it stand out This is where the grand battle of Antietam begins. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/f0656899-d9f0-4798-8bcb-d3fe7c6cffb4/original_206de322-3dc5-4e79-9922-a932c6196fb1_IMG_20230718_132958.jpg Blog - The Worthington Civil War Brigade Battle Series - Make it stand out And here is where Antietam ended. You can kind of see how the narrative unfolded, where Union attacks succeeded and where it ran into more trouble. This arc to the game’s narrative is so much of the appeal to me. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/c5e87631-8268-49ad-ae21-9ecfca8a22f4/IMG_20230716_161027.jpg Blog - The Worthington Civil War Brigade Battle Series - Make it stand out I think Antietam is the game in the series where I like the art the least, but I do still quite like it. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/160e1f25-0b8b-479d-8df5-c2dd2b17dd50/IMG_20231029_130650.jpg Blog - The Worthington Civil War Brigade Battle Series - Make it stand out The opening deployment of the first day of Shiloh - the Union sleep soundly in their camps while the Confederates swarm out of the southwest. The Union will get major reinforcements at the end of the first day, while the rebels have pretty much all the troops they’ll get. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/78b6c2f8-f849-4643-b46a-9c3887d75435/IMG_20230808_203737.jpg Blog - The Worthington Civil War Brigade Battle Series - Make it stand out Cedar Mountain is just such a neat little package. The smaller counters could be fiddly for some, but I didn’t have any problems with it and I really like having this as a smaller alternative. My one gripe is that differences in European and American standard paper size means the map won’t fit inside one of the boxed games. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/6ba0f2db-b402-41d8-a7c8-99ebb1ebaca2/IMG_20230619_205230.jpg Blog - The Worthington Civil War Brigade Battle Series - Make it stand out Beaver Dam Creek definitely develops differently based on when and how often Stonewall’s units (at the top of the picture) actually succeed in activating. I don’t mind randomness in my games, but this could skew matters significantly which may be frustrating for a game that could last nearly two hours. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/a-tale-of-two-crcy monthly 0.5 2023-10-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/6fff6f30-13f2-4a9a-b327-bc9d977d5573/IMG_20231008_152029.jpg Blog - A Tale of Two Crécy - Make it stand out The initial set up for Crécy. There was no turn track for the game so I have made an impromptu one on the top left with the various French reinforcements units that are due to arrive. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/22e751b8-1df8-418f-ae6e-b0524aeeb74a/IMG_20231012_190014.jpg Blog - A Tale of Two Crécy - Make it stand out Apologies for my slightly wonky photo of the initial archery duel. The Genoese approached and did very little. Some English troops have engaged them in melee while the longbowmen plink at them at range. Meanwhile the French knights maneuver - I really like moving double-sized counters around on a map. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/0b1bbce1-d6ef-4d99-b39a-27b8621153e6/original_1c877119-9653-40a0-aa39-2375772ab1b2_IMG_20231013_175041.jpg Blog - A Tale of Two Crécy - Make it stand out The second turn brought far more dramatic results, the Rout counters have multiplied with the Genoese scoring a few successes but far more losses. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/4ab3e211-3a4b-43e3-9d14-60b65e3cb007/IMG_20231013_180707.jpg Blog - A Tale of Two Crécy - Make it stand out The French knights finally charge and suffer very badly at the hands of the English longbowmen. After this point the game kind of lost its steam - with so much of the French army in Rout even if a few could be rallied and more troops brought in there wasn’t much chance of clawing anything back. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/77894557-2232-46a6-b522-04fcca23aa47/original_e49fd451-ca8c-45e3-924f-13c246c8b0b1_IMG_20230917_141420.jpg Blog - A Tale of Two Crécy - Make it stand out Initial deployment for Men of Iron’s Crécy. You can see already that the English formation is quite different from in S&T’s version. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/2db3e4bc-0179-4d3b-a064-029df3c25a47/IMG_20230920_220325.jpg Blog - A Tale of Two Crécy - Make it stand out After a few turns the French manage to punch a hole in the English line. Edward III moves forward some reinforcements to try and plug the hole, but the Genoese are lethally effective. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/fbd8945e-8917-4a5c-8e05-d75299a4316e/IMG_20231007_235656.jpg Blog - A Tale of Two Crécy - Make it stand out The end of the game - the English kind of managed to form a new line but suffered too many casualties, including many leader casualties, and flee the field without Philip VI ever showing up. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/6e836ed5-10c7-4275-85c9-98fc022fef5c/IMG_20231019_131128.jpg Blog - A Tale of Two Crécy - Make it stand out A map of the battle from Kelly DeVries’ Infantry Warfare in the Early Fourteenth Century. This represents a fairly classic view of the battle geography. Here we can see DeVries arguing for a variety of ditches and pits rather than a neat row of potholes. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/5138dda3-6c51-4fec-91c3-caca77ad3a54/IMG_20230919_112238.jpg Blog - A Tale of Two Crécy - Make it stand out Michael Livingston’s map from his recent book on Crécy, The Battle of the Five Kings. Note that Livingston has proposed an alternative site for the battle that is not universally accepted. You can also see at the front and rear of the English (red) position the hashed line representing the wagenberg defenses. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/armies-of-deliverance monthly 0.5 2024-12-13 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/review-the-day-was-ours-by-matt-ward monthly 0.5 2024-12-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/ec61232a-4879-4320-b560-e2e08a00f2fc/IMG_20230925_161037.jpg Blog - Review - The Day Was Ours by Matt Ward - Make it stand out The opening movement - Union divisions rush down the roads towards Henry House Hill and Sherman gets an early crossing over the ford at Bull Run. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/cb7923cb-9786-4b72-a11f-7073694a9f48/IMG_20230925_162736.jpg Blog - Review - The Day Was Ours by Matt Ward - Make it stand out Fighting stalls for the Lull and both sides try and bring troops to the front. The Rebels need to form a defensive line on the hill while the Union looks to prepare itself to attack any weak spot it can find. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/d494a7b8-5778-478e-956e-3c22993c4c53/IMG_20230928_094517_edit_6996334751760556.jpg Blog - Review - The Day Was Ours by Matt Ward - Make it stand out The Union assaults Henry House Hill - they apparently need the VPs here. Meanwhile the Rebels try and turn their flank. The whole tactical situation is a bit of a mess. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/6ad89425-66ff-45d3-abbe-1f2e379d8ec4/IMG_20230928_105024.jpg Blog - Review - The Day Was Ours by Matt Ward - Make it stand out The end game state - technically this was a couple of turns early because we ran out of time. I decided this was a Union victory, but you’re welcome to offer an alternative interpretation. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/49cb62fb-f54b-44f0-aa8c-376c85c270e9/IMG_20230928_105057.jpg Blog - Review - The Day Was Ours by Matt Ward - Make it stand out Action shot of us playing with unclipped counters and no tweezers, like a bunch of barbarians. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/podcast-into-the-woods-and-gbacw monthly 0.5 2023-10-26 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/crcy-battle-of-the-five-kings-by-michael-livingston monthly 0.5 2024-12-13 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/in-magnificent-style-by-hermann-luttmann monthly 0.5 2024-12-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/b6a4763f-e08f-4473-b16e-6223ccc45201/IMG_20230914_093623.jpg Blog - Review - In Magnificent Style by Hermann Luttmann - Make it stand out A fairly typical scene when playing In Magnificent Style - the charged advances in piecemeal fashion. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/171b8ad9-2ca3-4379-a377-6a9b04297bb4/original_c6627576-1ce4-4638-9721-f2915b4af88b_IMG_20230914_102130.jpg Blog - Review - In Magnificent Style by Hermann Luttmann - Make it stand out My greatest “triumph” - most of the Union lines taken by units in reasonably good strength. You get VPs based on how many positions you control and the strength points in and adjacent to those positions. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/a6608cc9-2ef5-48b2-a472-2c02ad8154f7/IMG_20230915_115929.jpg Blog - Review - In Magnificent Style by Hermann Luttmann - Make it stand out The victory descriptors from the rulebook https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/18caeb49-f5c3-454b-901f-3768a5e27407/IMG_20230915_115959.jpg Blog - Review - In Magnificent Style by Hermann Luttmann - Make it stand out If you don’t believe me, here is Luttmann himself saying that the game is not really specific to the topic of Gettysburg. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/mosbys-raiders-by-eric-lee-smith monthly 0.5 2024-12-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/8f34f3a5-2526-4a48-8309-0f00c9f7996a/IMG_20230819_171059.jpg Blog - Review - Mosby’s Raiders by Eric Lee Smith - Make it stand out I actually quite like the aesthetics of Mosby’s Raiders, even if it does show its age. The charts and tables along the side of the map are also really useful once you know the game reasonably well. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/81fef7e6-020c-4ec0-a616-3203ca367717/IMG_20230822_152357.jpg Blog - Review - Mosby’s Raiders by Eric Lee Smith - Make it stand out A pair of Union sweeps drop themselves onto Mosby. One slight problem I found was that the rulebook had extra processes for these cards than the card text themselves did, which radically changed their impact on the game. I suppose this could be the result of the game’s time, but I’m used to cards having all their relevant rules on the cards themselves. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/12345508-88dc-4f0f-8aad-c5e3562c2981/IMG_20230822_154247.jpg Blog - Review - Mosby’s Raiders by Eric Lee Smith - Make it stand out In my second game, Mosby got straight up killed on the second turn. An inglorious (but deserved) outcome for the rebel. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/171d4ccd-6acc-467c-b036-f8d572f04149/IMG_20230824_100947.jpg Blog - Review - Mosby’s Raiders by Eric Lee Smith - Make it stand out My third game ended up being a victory, but the Union had burned and/or expanded into much of Mosby’s “Confederacy”. The game including the destruction of the Valley is a nice nod to Sheridan’s controversial tactics, but they didn’t seem to have much of an impact on the gameplay. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/crossroads-of-freedom monthly 0.5 2024-12-13 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/lost-cause-with-beyond-solitaire monthly 0.5 2023-10-26 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/longstreet-attacks-by-hermann-luttmann monthly 0.5 2024-12-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/d0562845-8129-4c5d-95f0-6d4acc745b6d/IMG_20230822_105401.jpg Blog - Review - Longstreet Attacks by Hermann Luttmann - Make it stand out An excerpt from the first of the two CRTs. You can see the dice results on the righthand column, the columns for attack strength, and the colored boxes for target CR values. You can also see here the many, many column shifts you factor in each combat, which can be a little overwhelming at times. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/b4d4e833-8968-4c5f-a765-54ec662b9a7c/IMG_20230822_105432.jpg Blog - Review - Longstreet Attacks by Hermann Luttmann - Make it stand out The table that defenders will be rolling on - this one is for ranged combat, close combat has a separate one. I love the use of Skedaddle here. If I had a critique it is with the choice to use a D for Depletion as the result that inflicts a Battleworn status. We spent most of our game saying Disordered or Disrupted instead of Battleworn because of this. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/d4be4daf-603a-43e0-a9ea-6a474091f4c1/original_a4013943-5754-44ac-a819-badcc13a5dff_IMG_20230701_222147.jpg Blog - Review - Longstreet Attacks by Hermann Luttmann - Make it stand out While I think it seems natural to pick Little Round Top as an intro scenario with its small counter density, the terrain proved incredibly frustrating while I was playing the game and in both games (this and the grand battle) the Confederates barely launched a sustained assault due to be bogged down in the rocky terrain. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/4333797b-bb77-4fca-8611-7157a4b8ca27/IMG_20230822_105630.jpg Blog - Review - Longstreet Attacks by Hermann Luttmann - Make it stand out I haven’t really brought it up in the review because I think its already widely covered elsewhere, but the game does come with this very nice Rich Barber map. If I had to be a slight heretic I would say that I found the terrain around the Round Tops to be a bit too busy and hard to read at times, but there’s no denying the map’s overall aesthetic appeal. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/4435ced1-633a-4d6e-8479-b0a78106fac5/Longstreet+Attacks%21Map.png Blog - Review - Longstreet Attacks by Hermann Luttmann - Make it stand out The beginning of McLaws attack in our game. Hood has stalled out trying to take the Round Tops and Devil’s Den (he eventually took the latter but it was a very long time coming). McLaws would prove far more successful against the Union center. It may look like he is outnumbered but those Union counters don’t stand much of a chance against his attack. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/e318ff10-8f0c-43f4-899c-f14ecf255574/IMG_20230822_120308_edit_5308156694903051.jpg Blog - Review - Longstreet Attacks by Hermann Luttmann - Make it stand out My somewhat crude illustration showing the distribution of Cohesion Ratings between the two sides. The far left are units with CR 5 while the far right are those with a CR of 2. It can be hard to fully grasp the significance of this without knowing from experience how much better a CR of 4 is over a CR of 2. It also doesn’t show the strength distribution, where many of the higher CR Union units are either very low strength and/or sharpshooters, who only have a single step of strength. This is only infantry counters, artillery are mostly CR 3 on both sides. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/556173bc-eb1a-442a-8358-716d6590620a/Longstreet+Attacks%21Map.png Blog - Review - Longstreet Attacks by Hermann Luttmann - Make it stand out Near the end of our game of Longstreet Attacks. McLaws has successfully pushed back the Union center - many of those units are broken and useless in combat. Anderson is having a harder time on the Union right, while Hood’s attack on Little Round Top never really came to anything and now Law is engaging in a wildly ahistorical flanking maneuver that has placed him awkwardly in the middle of the Union activation chits. While the position is bad, this a strong Union victory as the attack went too slow to secure the VPs it needed to win. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/review-men-of-iron-by-richard-berg monthly 0.5 2024-12-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/f4cc7632-4e2b-41b9-8c06-19ab0e224ce4/IMG_20220223_173525.jpg Blog - Review - Men of Iron by Richard Berg - Make it stand out My first ever time playing the system, this takes me back. The little Agincourt scenario may not be my favorite, but it was a great way to learn the system. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/bf65b51b-ae24-4d80-98c3-affd735f33bf/IMG_20220918_214504.jpg Blog - Review - Men of Iron by Richard Berg - Make it stand out The Infidel flight track, you can see the relative position of the two markers. This was for Antioch, and the roll has put the Crusaders over their threshold of 20 but kept the Turks below their threshold of 35, yielding a Turkish victory. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/9f7e209f-6956-44a0-b184-00af695fe1b6/IMG_20220904_173543.jpg Blog - Review - Men of Iron by Richard Berg - Make it stand out Robert the Bruce goes berserk, racking up a Continued Attack -2 as he carves his way through the center of the English lines at Bannockburn. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/5cb08ab5-34ac-4a55-b447-2c9f36f283ac/IMG_20230814_154032.jpg Blog - Review - Men of Iron by Richard Berg - Make it stand out The concluding position of my most recent game of Bosworth. Henry VII made an amazing series of Continuation rolls and was able to seize the initiative and launch a very effective flanking movement, collapsing the Yorkist position and threatening their rallying position. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/d633a5e5-1447-48ff-bc58-8ef9bfa490e8/IMG_20220918_180111.jpg Blog - Review - Men of Iron by Richard Berg - Make it stand out The Antioch scenario has some lovely art on the map, but that camp is completely inaccessible and the entire battle is pretty much completely fought in the open plain. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/9f968465-7ed1-4c78-a0d8-33ab68c13523/IMG_20220319_225207.jpg Blog - Review - Men of Iron by Richard Berg - Make it stand out The enormous Arsuf scenario from Infidel (apologies for the glare, my lighting set up wasn’t great here). Infidel has several scenarios of this scale, which allows for the greater mobility of the Muslim horse archers to shine (and annoy). https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/19b0f0f4-8ad0-45f7-b4db-070f1e067df3/IMG_20230610_161410.jpg Blog - Review - Men of Iron by Richard Berg - Make it stand out Look at that river! Who wouldn’t want to desperately try and march an army across it? This is such a great scenario! https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/jeff-davis-by-ben-madison monthly 0.5 2024-12-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/e95ae4b0-7757-4504-866b-98996680fa40/JD+sop.jpg Blog - Review - Jeff Davis by Ben Madison - Make it stand out The Sequence of Play is not promising - the section dedicated to player actions is pretty thoroughly overwhelmed by everything else. This also shows off many of the special rules and other elements that you will frequently be looking up in the rulebook. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/e31d25d9-a30c-41f8-8080-114db3012b81/Jeff+Davis.jpg Blog - Review - Jeff Davis by Ben Madison - Make it stand out The game is also spectacularly ugly. Please, publishers, hire graphic designers and artists to do your games, don’t just use whatever the designer has put together. Staring at this is not a great way to spend an afternoon. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/a4eaface-9130-4c71-8efa-0d0f97fb2f6a/IMG_20230726_142938.jpg Blog - Review - Jeff Davis by Ben Madison - Make it stand out The end of my one “victory”, where I was out of resources but still held everything together. Early British intervention (based purely on luck of the draw and roll) held off an effective blockade for most of the game. Honestly, losing all my Blockade Runners was a relief as it meant one fewer step for me to resolve each turn. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/e046c249-d6c0-4e03-aaf2-ccbd4d885c71/IMG_20230725_145757.jpg Blog - Review - Jeff Davis by Ben Madison - Make it stand out I can’t tell if the choice a famous photograph of the aftermath of the physical abuse of slavery on the slave counters is a bold choice or exploitative. What I can say is that the choice of using cotton for plantations and not, y’know, slaves is pretty gross. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/8f94a2ea-44b7-427b-9c89-e401d5f02b67/Madison+Emancipation.jpg Blog - Review - Jeff Davis by Ben Madison - Make it stand out The relevant passage from the Jeff Davis rulebook https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/3b86ec5b-a5d1-4166-a53a-c21cc799b898/Madison+Slavery.jpg Blog - Review - Jeff Davis by Ben Madison - Make it stand out I’m genuinely not sure how else this can be interpreted besides Ben Madison declaring that he knows the Confederacy was for slavery and that he has still chosen to support it. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/06e72da1-c563-4d68-89f2-b7c43daae542/IMG_20230726_143350.jpg Blog - Review - Jeff Davis by Ben Madison - Make it stand out The choice to name the reforms undertaken by the Confederacy in 1862 “The Davis Revolution” screams gross hero worship. The other counters that go in this box are called States Rights and The Lost Cause. I’m genuinely not sure what to do with this information as, like much of the game, it just seems like a confused jumble of gross ideas. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/gettysburg-by-stephen-w-sears monthly 0.5 2024-12-13 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/teach-and-play-of-antietam-1862 monthly 0.5 2023-07-07 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/initial-impressions-seven-days-battles-by-grant-wylie monthly 0.5 2024-12-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/3f5f783f-0c98-4b42-928b-76ca3b175d0c/IMG_20230610_175646.jpg Blog - Initial Impressions - Seven Days Battles by Grant Wylie - Make it stand out The initial Union starting position, guarding Beaver Dam Creek. Every unit the Confederacy can get across this Creek will be worth victory points at the end of the game, but crossing it is easier said than done! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/63d54be6-a1b2-43d1-b1da-bae9bad5b363/IMG_20230612_171136.jpg Blog - Initial Impressions - Seven Days Battles by Grant Wylie - Make it stand out The Confederates arrive! AP Hill attempts a flanking maneuver to the north while the rest of the army masses to the south to try and punch through the stretched Union lines. Slocum in the far east can only come to their support once the Confederates start crossing the river. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/281f46c2-87a2-488a-a2f6-0423b5cc94af/IMG_20230612_215834.jpg Blog - Initial Impressions - Seven Days Battles by Grant Wylie - Make it stand out The first Confederate assault meets with mixed results - several units are routed and the Union is attempting something of a flanking maneuver of their own. Up north AP Hill is getting bogged down in the woods. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/f191cde2-4913-4012-82da-97bb9a0d4c17/IMG_20230613_150842.jpg Blog - Initial Impressions - Seven Days Battles by Grant Wylie - Make it stand out The next Confederate assault achieved better results and they have secured a toe hold across the creek. General “slow-come” is living up to his nickname and while on the move likely won’t arrive in time to make a difference. The Confederates are lagging on attrition but making progress now, will it be enough? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/2bf94628-829b-41be-ad86-ca7ec15280a0/IMG_20230613_211027.jpg Blog - Initial Impressions - Seven Days Battles by Grant Wylie - Make it stand out The final game state - the Confederates have managed to push several units across the Creek but it was not enough to overcome their staggering losses and they lose by only a handful of victory points. A very tight finish to an exciting game! https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/podcast-seven-pines-or-fair-oaks-by-amabel-holland monthly 0.5 2023-10-26 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/arquebus-fornovo-1495-by-richard-berg monthly 0.5 2024-12-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/0a9cb74a-9fd4-4e9f-b370-ff444d8af7ea/IMG_20230608_172235.jpg Blog - Arquebus: Fornovo 1495 by Richard Berg - Make it stand out The initial set up for Fornovo - Venetian alliance on the left and French on the right. If the French can march their army off the bottom of the map they can automatically win the game. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/58354b0b-8279-4172-a300-336138015a0d/original_e2953930-a8b1-4bb1-9fed-4a573e6a8c6d_IMG_20230610_153420.jpg Blog - Arquebus: Fornovo 1495 by Richard Berg - Make it stand out The Venetians make their initial crossing, but can this lone Battle halt the departure of the French army and survive to be reinforced? Meanwhile, up top the French have moved their supply wagons to try and deny the Venetians the chance to loot them. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/797ea42a-f09a-4a97-bd25-ecd2ed846765/IMG_20230610_161410+%281%29.jpg Blog - Arquebus: Fornovo 1495 by Richard Berg - Make it stand out The water level in the river rose significantly, causing significant delays to the arrival of Venetian reinforcements as foot units struggled to wade across. Meanwhile the first Battle to cross is holding on but things aren’t looking good for them. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/07b44bd1-81a0-4c07-824d-692678428e2a/IMG_20230610_170458.jpg Blog - Arquebus: Fornovo 1495 by Richard Berg - Make it stand out The Venetians have crossed in force, but they have many routed units and the first Battle to cross has been eliminated. The French must now decide if they march most of their army away to try and secure an automatic victory, or turn and confront the remaining Venetians to win on flight points. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/ae6b6c18-3095-4c42-83e1-ee3660f3c98e/IMG_20230610_171905.jpg Blog - Arquebus: Fornovo 1495 by Richard Berg - Make it stand out The final game state - France went for a bit of both. Several units have left the map, but the main force has turned and removed just enough Venetians to put their army to flight. A solid French victory. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/first-impressions-tetrarchia-by-miguel-marqus monthly 0.5 2023-06-16 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/review-andean-abyss-by-volko-runke monthly 0.5 2026-02-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/d4e12792-7f18-4b8c-b144-695e5e3a44c1/IMG_20220421_170517.jpg Blog - Review - Andean Abyss by Volko Runke - Make it stand out While not my favorite game in terms of aesthetics, I still really enjoy looking at Andean Abyss and it can be very striking in its own way. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/f28ff954-7ea9-4ae5-890a-0884b62cce95/AA.png Blog - Review - Andean Abyss by Volko Runke - Make it stand out It is actually very challenging to get the entire map from Rally the Troops to display in a single image - usually you just look at one section but it does have functionality to show you a wider picture. Hopefully this gives some indication of how clean the presentation on the website is - but I promise the blurriness is all my fault! https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/review-here-i-stand-by-ed-beach monthly 0.5 2024-12-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/cfdf4d7c-fcd4-4ab4-bd10-31c166635ab8/Here+I+Stand+1st+game.jpg Blog - Review - Here I Stand by Ed Beach - Make it stand out Travel back in time to the distant past of 2018 and my very first game. Just looking at it gets me excited all over again. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/5a1d8f67-0525-4622-bb78-8297b5c41088/Here+I+Stand+1st+end+state.jpg Blog - Review - Here I Stand by Ed Beach - Make it stand out My glorious victory! Henry VIII successfully took Edinburgh but not without losing Calais and most of England. The square locations are Key locations which are worth victory points and if any one (non-Protestant) player can place all their Keys on the map they immediately win the game. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/7d3117da-4c99-41be-b692-38f7ac4e544f/IMG_20230527_100051.jpg Blog - Review - Here I Stand by Ed Beach - Make it stand out I do seem to be routinely end up viewing the board upside down when playing Here I Stand. Maybe some day I will sit on the other side of the table. This is the initial set up of the 1532 scenario. Also notice the custom debater cards that the person running the game provided - much easier to read than the tiny counters that come with the game. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/3b88a882-688b-456d-b69e-8d278cafd28a/IMG_20230527_110738.jpg Blog - Review - Here I Stand by Ed Beach - Make it stand out My personal player mat. I also managed to gloriously capture Charles V in battle in the opening turn of the game. Both of my games have opened with victories over the Emperor in an early pitched battle - battles can be very swingy! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/af766a43-b168-41cc-bd76-49aebfdea9dc/IMG_20230527_111144_edit_1303353217476640.jpg Blog - Review - Here I Stand by Ed Beach - Make it stand out Tragically my opponent had a Ransom event and got Charles back without having to pay me anything during the diplomacy phase https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/606cd9d4-30ad-40a0-bb6e-f34771fb2515/original_6a5b9b08-9631-4c67-97bb-cabcef2b25cb_IMG_20230527_114523.jpg Blog - Review - Here I Stand by Ed Beach - Make it stand out The early actions when everyone is still feeling out everyone else’s position. Our game began with most factions being at peace and trying to bolster their own positions before things heated up in the later turns. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/f564f1f1-4a1c-4a7a-b48c-51cf9190539a/original_d4352724-dca6-4db8-9051-57a71124fdff_IMG_20230527_131102.jpg Blog - Review - Here I Stand by Ed Beach - Make it stand out The end of Turn 4, or the first turn of the tournament scenario. The VPs were still pretty tight but Ottoman piracy was proving an early threat. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/fb4b67d2-1a8c-4fd6-9160-da8d99fdebd5/IMG_20230527_133727_edit_1304935494966503.jpg Blog - Review - Here I Stand by Ed Beach - Make it stand out The end of turn 5 (second turn of the scenario). The Protestants are making great progress in France and have pulled ahead to tie with the Ottomans. Now I just need to convince everyone at the table that the Ottomans are more of a threat than I am! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/49c2fa63-7993-486c-9e66-35079655b707/IMG_20230527_151244.jpg Blog - Review - Here I Stand by Ed Beach - Make it stand out End of turn 6, final turn of the tournament scenario. England makes a heroic push to pull up to be tied for first, but loses on the tiebreaker as I was further ahead in the previous turn. France is converted to Protestantism and under English rule! https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/joan-of-arc-a-history-by-helen-castor monthly 0.5 2023-05-25 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/review-seven-pines-or-fair-oaks monthly 0.5 2023-10-26 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/42daf3ed-ec70-4b21-8d0b-55bb97b48617/Seven+Pine Blog - Review - Seven Pines or Fair Oaks by Amabel Holland - Make it stand out Our first game at a little past the midway point in terms of gameplay if slightly beyond it in terms of absolute turns. While not an overwhelming number of counters, there is still a lot to keep track of here in terms of status, added effects like entrenchment or Elan, the special rules governing one division that required swapping counters or the rules limiting when Sedgwick could arrive. It’s far from a complex wargame, but it is one with a lot of little elements that are pretty key to the experience and so I found myself flicking through the rules a fair bit. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/d4a82a09-b091-424b-a096-e8f137686434/Seven+Pine Blog - Review - Seven Pines or Fair Oaks by Amabel Holland - Make it stand out The opening turns of my Vassal playthrough, this is a fairly manageable array of counters and you can see at the board edges where reinforcements will come from - although it will be quite a few turns before they show up. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/50f4f391-9306-48b4-99f2-28be417af14a/original_910627e2-abf4-417c-9e57-ec506653147a_IMG_20230516_163630.jpg Blog - Review - Seven Pines or Fair Oaks by Amabel Holland - Make it stand out In comparison to scenario one above, here is the set up for the battle’s second day which I played solitaire. Everyone is already on the map and the positions are very close to begin with. I found this a little overwhelming as a solitaire experience and a bit more of a grind when I was playing it. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/234aaa69-f5ee-4f0b-99e7-7db167135170/IMG_20230516_205831.jpg Blog - Review - Seven Pines or Fair Oaks by Amabel Holland - Make it stand out You can easily see the relative strengths of the units at just a glance as the ones with more steps tower over the others. It’s a pretty cool effect and I liked this aesthetic - although with thinner counters I could see it being pretty frustrating. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/cabb0bc1-b7ed-4ba2-b460-11205cbfa07d/IMG_20230516_221137.jpg Blog - Review - Seven Pines or Fair Oaks by Amabel Holland - Make it stand out My second game quickly found me in this situation - lots of potential attacks to grind out a slow win for one side or the other. This ended up feeling rather tedious. Some of this was the result of the scenario design - I much preferred the first one - but I think it also reflected a waning enthusiasm for the game itself on my part. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/the-confederate-battle-flag-by-john-coski monthly 0.5 2023-10-26 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/half-of-a-review-the-late-unpleasantness monthly 0.5 2023-10-26 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/052fd83e-6d92-4757-b2a9-e0d7b401bbac/The+Late+UnpleasantnessMap.png Blog - Half of a Review of The Late Unpleasantness by Steve Ruwe - Make it stand out The initial set up - there is a reasonably important element of free deployment for both sides. This is revealing all the units - in theory you should mask what units are where but we both found it clunky and eventually abandoned it. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/a3357ec0-b126-456e-8a84-04bb0f4f70c2/The+Late+UnpleasantnessMap.png Blog - Half of a Review of The Late Unpleasantness by Steve Ruwe - Make it stand out End of Turn 1 - AP Hill pushes the Union flank and Lee and Stuart push past to threaten Union supply. Instead of focusing on the idea of destroying the United States’ army, the goal of Lee in this game is takin the supply points which I wasn’t a fan off if I’m honest. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/a83a09a1-1e15-4810-9d09-0efe4bc4cfec/The+Late+UnpleasantnessMap.png Blog - Half of a Review of The Late Unpleasantness by Steve Ruwe - Make it stand out Some good rolls allow the US Army to break a hole in the Richmond defenses and then a card that gives +1 movement allows a Union division to march straight into Richmond unopposed, ending the game late in the second turn. A very underwhelming finish. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/robert-e-lee-and-me-by-ty-seidule monthly 0.5 2024-12-13 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/review-1914-nach-paris monthly 0.5 2023-04-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/0b59a565-1635-4afe-8ee9-413f15bcea31/IMG_20230309_175505.jpg Blog - Review - 1914: Nach Paris - Make it stand out I did once lay out all four maps on my floor just to look at them because they’re so pretty. Unfortunately, I have no hope of actually playing the game like this! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/2734b8d6-fab6-4187-9168-d635c88720a1/IMG_20230320_152717.jpg Blog - Review - 1914: Nach Paris - Make it stand out An example of my play area set up for the physically largest scenario I played - this one used a section of two of the map sheets and you can also see the turn track, the order of battle chart, my dice tower, and the counter tray I kept all the status effect counters in. It was a lot to take in and keep track of! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/34725f5d-aa23-4764-80b1-843bd0a5b97a/IMG_20230310_153341.jpg Blog - Review - 1914: Nach Paris - Make it stand out Look at this cute little starting scenario! It dilutes the experience down to a manageable few turns to help you learn how the game works. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/c82d7dce-0e3d-40fb-ae51-6801c6a471ad/IMG_20230312_144739.jpg Blog - Review - 1914: Nach Paris - Make it stand out A few scenarios later, things are a bit more complicated but by the time you get here it doesn’t feel like a big deal. They’re also generally more fun as you progress, as they throw more decisions at you and present more options. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/b0bda636-3919-4580-82ac-7226c718530c/IMG_20230310_160540.jpg Blog - Review - 1914: Nach Paris - Make it stand out Another fun wrinkle is that if you take a step loss you can’t attack the next turn - or the next two turns if you take two step losses. This means that very aggressive play can be rewarded by stopping any potential counter attack - assuming your opponent doesn’t have reinforcements to bring up to attack your (potentially) newly weakened units! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/992f00fa-9501-4922-b03d-cefc7bb0e33c/IMG_20230314_155724.jpg Blog - Review - 1914: Nach Paris - Make it stand out The fortresses are also the only place where the counter stacking gets a little out of control. Just look at those towers in Antwerp - this is the game that finally made me buy tweezers. Outside of these fortifications I could get by without them. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/5ed8b086-476e-460d-b216-9d2e15f683a0/original_5d563985-5e65-4a13-a29c-4f1b1ccd70d4_IMG_20230320_152700.jpg Blog - Review - 1914: Nach Paris - Make it stand out The 8th scenario, which uses the main maps, is a great showcase for the game’s art and for the differing aesthetics of the counters. The light blue of the North African divisions really pop and are a particular favourite of mine. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/bd86b6d1-2b98-4ca3-b870-835006823ee0/IMG_20230326_154650.jpg Blog - Review - 1914: Nach Paris - Make it stand out Here you can see my proxy fog of war symbols - the counters with the question marks - helping me track the German victory spaces in a rather busy small scenario. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/ac7bc186-7f55-408b-aebf-20b584b9060d/IMG_20230328_145109.jpg Blog - Review - 1914: Nach Paris - Make it stand out Scenario 10, the first of the larger ones, could keep you busy for quite a long time without being totally overwhelming. I still get a little excited every time I look at this picture. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/henry-vi-by-david-grummitt monthly 0.5 2023-04-20 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/the-lost-cause-in-games-on-the-american-civil-war-a-project monthly 0.5 2023-10-26 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/first-impressions-shenandoah-columbia-games monthly 0.5 2023-05-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/585357b3-48ab-465d-bd1d-13a60e3c91a9/ShenandoahMap.png Blog - First Impressions: Shenandoah: Jackson's Valley Campaign by Tom Dalgliesh and Gary Selkirk - Make it stand out Initial set up for Shenandoah - a long map suited to the long valley we will be battling over https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/74faf480-6a08-4253-a314-c40fd199ac5a/ShenandoahMap.png Blog - First Impressions: Shenandoah: Jackson's Valley Campaign by Tom Dalgliesh and Gary Selkirk - Make it stand out The Union (i.e. me) has taken an aggressive position, pushing south into the Valley, and has met with fierce resistance. These battles do not go particularly well for the poor Union unfortunately. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/e98575a6-073d-4c7b-9acf-7880defb496e/ShenandoahMap.png Blog - First Impressions: Shenandoah: Jackson's Valley Campaign by Tom Dalgliesh and Gary Selkirk - Make it stand out The Union has been pushed back from their initial aggressive position, but two cavalry units have gone behind Confederate lines and will proceed to spend much of the game being jerks and messing with Confederate supply. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/f8b92cd1-e72f-4acc-9ef1-31cbec64a585/ShenandoahMap.png Blog - First Impressions: Shenandoah: Jackson's Valley Campaign by Tom Dalgliesh and Gary Selkirk - Make it stand out Jackson pushes the Cavalry out of the bottom of the valley but doesn’t eliminate them. Meanwhile, in an uncharacteristic move of competence, Fremont has eliminated Johnson - racking up a lot of VPs and reducing the Confederate options for counterattack. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/472395d1-fc4e-49d6-a142-8c8c1ae30be8/ShenandoahMap.png Blog - First Impressions: Shenandoah: Jackson's Valley Campaign by Tom Dalgliesh and Gary Selkirk - Make it stand out Shields marches off the map at Salem - each of his units adding a VP to the Union side so long as they stay off map for the rest of the game. Fremont’s offensive in the south continues while Jackson has pushed the harassing cavalry out of the valley and into the mountains to the west. Meanwhile Ewell is pushing up the eastern border but is faced with some less than ideal offensive options. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/230e4457-217c-407c-9309-6b4b78e0fe12/ShenandoahMap.png Blog - First Impressions: Shenandoah: Jackson's Valley Campaign by Tom Dalgliesh and Gary Selkirk - Make it stand out Jackson pushes further west but has his supply restricted as a result - forcing him to draw supply through a vulnerable gap via New Market. Fremont has given up his southern offensive and pulled back to reform his troops. Ewell has made it further North but still struggling to launch an effective attack. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/30a7d0df-cf84-43f8-8b67-31c494e4517e/ShenandoahMap.png Blog - First Impressions: Shenandoah: Jackson's Valley Campaign by Tom Dalgliesh and Gary Selkirk - Make it stand out The game is quickly becoming Jackson’s Southern Valley Campaign as he drives off Union cavalry only to have to chase them to his supply base in Staunton or risk running out of supply completely. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/2967f2bb-58d3-4b78-b60c-a9dd25fa0909/ShenandoahMap.png Blog - First Impressions: Shenandoah: Jackson's Valley Campaign by Tom Dalgliesh and Gary Selkirk - Make it stand out Jackson retakes Staunton but every other major Confederate division has had its supply lines cut by Union forces. With Jackson at the bottom of the valley and few other options, the Confederate attack seems to be dead in the water. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/21f9ee36-b79d-4976-8da1-0ff7307259ff/ShenandoahMap.png Blog - First Impressions: Shenandoah: Jackson's Valley Campaign by Tom Dalgliesh and Gary Selkirk - Make it stand out Jackson drives the cavalry east to Charlottesville - the base for Ewell’s supply. Ewell meanwhile manages to make an attack but Banks marches south and cuts off his supply again. Fremont meanwhile has somewhat stalled in the west. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/1cb6b629-73b9-49bd-8d52-61218b88c5a6/ShenandoahMap.png Blog - First Impressions: Shenandoah: Jackson's Valley Campaign by Tom Dalgliesh and Gary Selkirk - Make it stand out Game end state - Jackson managed to attack back up the valley but it was too little too late, especially with Fremont sneaking in behind him. The Confederate army may not have been eliminated but a decisive Union victory nonetheless. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/the-hundred-years-war-by-anne-curry monthly 0.5 2023-04-13 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/first-impressions-1914-nach-paris monthly 0.5 2023-03-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/4eb31a7f-75b6-4b7e-8675-bac78fab8a37/IMG_20230309_115519_edit_1479922836775740.jpg Blog - First Impressions - 1914: Nach Paris by Bertrand Munier - Make it stand out Each scenario comes with an order of battle for you to lay out all the units you will need. There is no set up per se, instead the first turn involves the deployment of troops from the order of battle onto the map - usually they can take some minor actions as well such as attempting to dig fieldworks. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/d7fce713-067a-4fdd-a861-178f8c8bec55/IMG_20230309_215854.jpg Blog - First Impressions - 1914: Nach Paris by Bertrand Munier - Make it stand out The opening stages of the first scenario now that troops have started appearing on the battlefield. (Apologies for the lighting, I was playing the first turn at night and my set up wasn’t the best). https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/8907a08f-1471-448f-bf61-cadaf337a1c8/IMG_20230310_153341.jpg Blog - First Impressions - 1914: Nach Paris by Bertrand Munier - Make it stand out The French offensive pushes past the German left flank inflicting heavy losses - which I of course forgot to mark with the appropriate Step Loss tokens because I forgot. I also forgot to adjust the railroad token. Also the Fieldworks tokens should be on top of the stacks to show who is in them but that made it harder for me to see so I put them under for the moment.There’s a lot to keep track of! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/59f1a94c-03b6-4989-bd47-f7bb906743c3/IMG_20230310_154957.jpg Blog - First Impressions - 1914: Nach Paris by Bertrand Munier - Make it stand out In the North the German’s dig in to fieldworks to attempt to resist further French assaults while they prepare to make their own attempt at turning the French left flank. They have a slight numerical advantage but the French are in fieldworks so will it be enough? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/b6328d3e-5b6b-48e5-bc5c-2a146612f242/IMG_20230310_160540+%281%29.jpg Blog - First Impressions - 1914: Nach Paris by Bertrand Munier - Make it stand out End of the first scenario. The German flank attack hit a disastrous spell of bad luck while the center crumbled under French attack and the German right didn’t fair much better. I also remembered the Step Loss tokens this time, which is good as they’re a pretty critical part of the game! Still haven’t tidied up the railroad markers or the lone fieldworks on the right… https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/7c8e2321-687a-48cf-8d5e-4e3f3f716978/IMG_20230311_140207.jpg Blog - First Impressions - 1914: Nach Paris by Bertrand Munier - Make it stand out The moment in scenario two where the Germans first broke into Liege - from here there was very little the Belgians could do to hold them off but resolving all the remaining attacks on forts was mentally a bit grueling for me. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/review-manassas-by-rick-britton monthly 0.5 2023-10-26 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/aa77bffb-07ff-4ae0-876f-490ae7a4701a/Manassas+Deployment.png Blog - Review - Manassas by Rick Britton - Make it stand out The initial deployment - Manassas allows free deployment of some units within given constraints. Only a very small number of counters start on the map and most of those are restricted in their position for the first third of the game. The remaining troops will arrive by the roads. I also want to note that experts will definitely note some errors in this game, we made mistakes, please don’t judge us for it! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/08d4caa0-b067-4994-8284-be202a2f4d23/Manassas+Turn+3.png Blog - Review - Manassas by Rick Britton - Make it stand out Reinforcements for both sides arrive, the initial combat will be between these divisions and not around Bull Run which for the time being is largely a staring contest. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/1306edbb-162c-46e2-b443-3c3ebb99a393/Manassas+Turn+5+end+of+First+Session.png Blog - Review - Manassas by Rick Britton - Make it stand out First contact! Much of the battle, like it was historically, will be fought around Henry House Hill here. No casualties have been suffered but one Union regiment has been disrupted, which is almost worse in this game. Two artillery divisions on the east are marked Engaged as they are stuck in an artillery duel. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/f7a3cf9c-53d3-4d91-92cc-5d36e9fa57d5/Manassas+11-00.png Blog - Review - Manassas by Rick Britton - Make it stand out The Confederacy stakes its claim to Henry House Hill but McDowell and a large Union force are coming down the road. No casualties yet but the Morale effects are mounting on both sides. In the East Tyler is approaching Stone’s Bridge but can’t cross until the Union player succeeds at the Tyler Seizes Initiative check. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/4e55381b-fa56-465a-89e8-21a97014a962/Manassas+11-30.png Blog - Review - Manassas by Rick Britton - Make it stand out First blood! Both sides have suffered casualties - each Loss is a victory point for your opponent so you can see the current count along the top of the map but not which units have actual taken the hits which are tracked in secret. The Confederates continue to push the Union back but with a new wave of blue soldiers nearly there and their own still in the distance have they been too aggressive? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/6ff1ac67-f978-4e6c-b1bb-b8223970de5d/Manassas+11-45.png Blog - Review - Manassas by Rick Britton - Make it stand out The Union has arrived in force and the casualties are beginning to accumulate but the Confederacy has decided to try and hold this hill for as long as they can. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/824dbd94-e8a7-46b0-82f5-f024eef52caa/Manassas+12-30.png Blog - Review - Manassas by Rick Britton - Make it stand out McDowell and the main Union force push the Confederates off their hill and across Young’s Branch river, but Thomas Jackson (not yet “Stonewall”) has taken up a defensive position on Henry House Hill for the forward forces to fall back to. Meanwhile in the East Tyler succeeds at seizing initiative earlier than his historical counterpart and begins the slow process of clearing the abatis and crossing Bull Run https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/03d29f1a-6546-4813-a2fc-78585c6bca36/Manassas+12-45.png Blog - Review - Manassas by Rick Britton - Make it stand out McDowell and Tyler’s attacks begin in earnest but to mixed results - one of Schenck’s units in the east is routed by artillery fire while in the west the Union is slowed by crossing Young’s Branch. There are also already several routed Union units scattering through the wilderness. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/276dbcad-2b0a-4627-a524-1cd0f081c52a/Manassas+map.jpg Blog - Review - Manassas by Rick Britton - Make it stand out I had to show off the gorgeous physical map for this one. This is what the actual game looks like set up - sadly my opponent and I live in different countries so we will have to wait a while before we can play with the physical game. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/24283587-66cd-4fc4-8da6-6858e9526109/Manassas+Death+of+McDowell+before.png Blog - Review - Manassas by Rick Britton - Make it stand out Tyler has crushed the easternmost position of Confederates north of Young’s Branch, putting the whole southern position behind the river. Meanwhile, to the west a lone Confederate attack is threatening McDowell’s position, forcing a roll on the ever scare leader casualty table! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/e509796f-8d8e-40dc-b1e5-dfc2e8685b79/Manassas+death+of+McDowell+after+1-30+I+think.png Blog - Review - Manassas by Rick Britton - Make it stand out McDowell is killed outright! The overall Union leader is dead, forcing a series of field promotions and a reorganisation of Union command, plus giving the Confederates a hefty 10 victory points. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/a3169275-72d4-4e74-a262-97f7054ef0c8/Manassas+1-45.png Blog - Review - Manassas by Rick Britton - Make it stand out The death of the Union commander can hardly be cause to stop the attack, though, and the Union is now coming at Henry House Hill from two directions. Attacking up hill is punishing in this game, but the Union regiments are strong and many of them fresh. More reinforcements will be coming for the Confederacy but will they last that long? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/e19e93c2-e598-4b41-8d53-15950b8f8605/Manassas+2-00.png Blog - Review - Manassas by Rick Britton - Make it stand out Slowly the Union makes progress on the eastern edge of Henry House hill but the western side doesn’t look so good. However, the last wave of fresh troops is coming down the road from the North - will they be enough to break the Confederate position? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/ab86d056-df4a-4cfa-aa25-0ec64f16035d/Manassas+2-15+part+1.png Blog - Review - Manassas by Rick Britton - Make it stand out The Union continues to push up the hill and is even beginning to reach the top of it in places, allowing them to negate the defensive bonus the Confederates have been relying upon until now. There are still more troops coming down the road for both sides and some fresh Confederate troops are coming to shore up their line on the hill. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/80fd5702-a7e7-4f96-9266-c65545edc21e/Manassas+2-30+or+2-15+part+3.png Blog - Review - Manassas by Rick Britton - Make it stand out A fairly disastrous turn for the Confederacy sees their lines crumble in the north east, but for the moment they’re still holding it together. Further east Sherman’s troops are routinely failing to cross Young’s Branch and Tyler has completely crossed Bull Run. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/8005477d-9582-4615-be79-4b32db5c5fbf/Manassas+2-15+part+1+but+really+this+time.png Blog - Review - Manassas by Rick Britton - Make it stand out The Union pushes all the way onto Henry House Hill on the north (here showing the various movement tracks) and is making a major push in the west. They have also positioned Tyler’s guns on a hill in the east, while to the South Jubal Early has arrived with a small number of fresh troops. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/beff66c6-3d80-4e2e-bb73-c401f91b3f12/Manassas+2-15+part+2+but+really+this+time+or+did+we+forget+to+move+the+turn+track+forward.png Blog - Review - Manassas by Rick Britton - Make it stand out Things looked bleak for the Confederacy going into their turn, but a wave of withering point blank artillery fire has driven the Union back and routed several strong regiments. Once again the Confederate lines have been shored up and the Union must attack them. This moment really captured the ebb and flow of the game and its constant tension! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/c8a573c3-6e28-48cc-84a2-4e095c5658c8/IMG_20230302_152232.jpg Blog - Review - Manassas by Rick Britton - Make it stand out Here is the physical game showing the range of counter colours. You can see the light blue Federal regulars and dark blue troops who have been untested in combat. Sherman has one regiment in grey while across the river are Confederate Zuaves in Evan’s division and some dark blue Confederate artillery. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/f4361aee-8e77-4cf9-b352-a8068f25e1ca/Manassass+finally+2-30+again.png Blog - Review - Manassas by Rick Britton - Make it stand out Once again the Union troops push against the Confederate lines and push them back, taking ground on the hill. However, the Union has now suffered over 100 losses which means their morale is very low and they can no longer Rally any units, especially with McDowell dead. That means any result of Disrupted or Routed from this point will be permanent. The Confederacy may be losing its position but the Union army is on the brink of collapse. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/f3017410-1ae6-4c7c-88ec-5879199ca641/Manassas+2-30+part+2.png Blog - Review - Manassas by Rick Britton - Make it stand out Fresh Union reinforcements push the Confederates further back off Henry House Hill, but to claim the Hill for victory points they have to get them into the woods and across the nearby creek and roads, a tall order for them. Meanwhile in the East the Confederates are crossing Youngs Branch for the first time in many turns. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/bc96810f-43a3-4463-90a9-5610438f3af6/Manassas+2-45.png Blog - Review - Manassas by Rick Britton - Make it stand out The Union claims the north of Henry House Hill but the Confederacy manages to put together a surprisingly solid line on the southern end of the hill and is even beginning to threaten turning the Union flank. Meanwhile one of Cocke’s regiments is attacking the Union artillery on the hill in the east. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/b8a3c312-1d03-4346-8692-e95539e9335c/Manassas+final+state.png Blog - Review - Manassas by Rick Britton - Make it stand out The final game state - after twelve hours over eight sessions we agreed to call it here with a few turns still to go. The Union weren’t going to full take Henry House Hill in those turns but neither would the Confederates retake any lost ground. We removed the Routed units that could no longer be rallied, adding their losses to the VP total, and the result was a Tactical Confederate Victory - significant VP margin but they had lost control of the Warrenton Turnpike. Reasonably comparable to the historical outcome. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/review-nevsky monthly 0.5 2023-02-27 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/66f37039-0c74-4c05-a856-291100dd673d/Nevsky.png Blog - Review - Nevsky by Volko Ruhnke - Make it stand out The implementation loses none of Nevsky’s beauty and offers an excellent player experience, including enforcement of the game’s rules. No better way to learn! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/f249feb2-dd33-4b0a-a166-0cf4f3cf52fc/IMG_20220328_200039.jpg Blog - Review - Nevsky by Volko Ruhnke - Make it stand out The game is absolutely gorgeous, the map especially but also all the other pieces. Just a joy of a physical object. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/f3ab1d3f-39f2-4d9d-a8ce-9c0425c8a2ca/IMG_20220326_224126.jpg Blog - Review - Nevsky by Volko Ruhnke - Make it stand out The combination of game map and calendar is such a clever solution for how to model time limited service. It makes what could have been a very confusing concept visually clear and easy to parse at a glance. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/7c441c49-cf0c-4571-abac-36848aeb77d3/IMG_20220324_221306.jpg Blog - Review - Nevsky by Volko Ruhnke - Make it stand out Those wacky Valdemars, always dying off and forcing all their lords to come home for a big funeral. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/first-impressions-1212-las-navas-de-tolosa monthly 0.5 2023-02-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/977165a6-63d5-4e1b-b4f4-d5b5aa8cad0b/original_3587b90c-fd1c-439c-9d6f-60f8534d55b5_IMG_20230211_184808.jpg Blog - First Impressions - 1212 Las Navas de Tolosa by Pablo Sanz - Make it stand out 1212 Las Navas de Tolosa all set up before the first turn. Units are all of equal strength but symbols indicate if they are regular troops, archers, or cavalry - the latter two have special actions available only to locations where they are present. The positioning of the deck and various card piles is also fairly essential to play. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/e0736511-5ad9-4450-b069-3c80c3e73005/IMG_20230211_204806.jpg Blog - First Impressions - 1212 Las Navas de Tolosa by Pablo Sanz - Make it stand out I won initiative and chose to charge down the middle - a respectable combat card saw me wipe out the units in front of me which for the Christians (when cavalry charging) causes the entire column to shift up one space. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/595d8ca2-8ed6-46d9-8d43-e3fc7dd462bc/IMG_20230211_205124.jpg Blog - First Impressions - 1212 Las Navas de Tolosa by Pablo Sanz - Make it stand out A few turns later and my attacks have been repulsed with significant casualties on both sides. Victory is determined by control of spaces on the board and it costs the Christians more movement points to enter the Muslim side - unless you can do so via dramatic charge like I did on the first turn. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/dd6af694-2591-4351-976f-c194c827445e/IMG_20230211_205356.jpg Blog - First Impressions - 1212 Las Navas de Tolosa by Pablo Sanz - Make it stand out A successful charge on the left flank eliminates one block of units only for a Muslim counterattack to nearly eliminate the charging knights! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/92d81459-9f7d-4225-b2aa-cc571daca843/IMG_20230211_210630+%281%29.jpg Blog - First Impressions - 1212 Las Navas de Tolosa by Pablo Sanz - Make it stand out Final game state - a Christian victory. I won by spreading my troops out to claim more territory on the board, which felt a little game-y and a bit anticlimactic. That said, it also helped the game come to an end at a reasonable time without dragging things out longer than necessary. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/review-battle-cry-of-freedom-by-james-mcpherson monthly 0.5 2023-04-14 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/first-impressions-sherwood-by-buxeria monthly 0.5 2024-04-17 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/676243e5-16e4-4098-96da-fbfd08aaa673/IMG_20230131_193124.jpg Blog - Sherwood by Buxeria - Make it stand out Alan a Dale is performing in the tavern but the Sheriff’s men are not to keen on what he’s been saying about the current administration. But will the people let them arrest him? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/9c4d9f85-2c65-4bf1-aa0a-2396a7d423e2/IMG_20230131_194642.jpg Blog - Sherwood by Buxeria - Make it stand out Alan leapt from the upstairs Tavern window, landing safely, and many of the guards have been bogged down at the foot of the stairs or at the Tavern entrance. However, two guards are attempting to flank him from both directions. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/ff8cc9b1-f080-41bc-9429-234b631b4bd1/IMG_20230131_194823.jpg Blog - Sherwood by Buxeria - Make it stand out Alan opts for the protection of being near his friends while the tougher members of the community, in particular Much and Tuck, begin to make short work of the isolated guards. In this scenario characters flee when they’re wounded rather than fighting to the death. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/4f2c860f-de8a-47a0-9d26-cad18309d3d1/IMG_20230131_195253.jpg Blog - Sherwood by Buxeria - Make it stand out The final guard meets a rather gruesome end at the hands of a powerful gang of local villagers and peasants. Alan a Dale is safe, but I suspect the Sheriff won’t forget this slight from him or his friends. I quite like the sort of Victorian romantic art style used for the characters and the old school D&D vibe of the buildings and terrain. It’s old fashioned but in a very endearing way, to me at least. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/ac1d38bc-6946-481c-9ff6-1be2141f024b/IMG_20230203_153332_edit_2839165437767290.jpg Blog - Sherwood by Buxeria - Make it stand out Opening of Sherwood’s second scenario - this time the Merry Men must interrupt an illicit marriage to rescue the bride to be so she can marry Alan. How hard could it be? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/c4ebb885-2657-44c5-8cb8-54788cd200d6/IMG_20230203_201008.jpg Blog - Sherwood by Buxeria - Make it stand out Robin recklessly leaps through the chapel window to prevent any ceremony from being concluded while the rest of the Merry Man engage guards outside. Was this perhaps a little too reckless? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/b7e9ef04-ae5b-45f9-a426-407f9e6980e5/IMG_20230203_201406.jpg Blog - Sherwood by Buxeria - Make it stand out Answer: yes it was too reckless. Robin Hood is dead (!) as is one of the guards. Meanwhile another Merry Man has jumped in the church to assist his deceased leader but things are getting ugly all around. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/3ae8bebb-4069-4905-9ab2-6cc69322574d/IMG_20230203_201954.jpg Blog - Sherwood by Buxeria - Make it stand out The bodies are starting to pile up and many of those that aren’t dead are wounded. Things aren’t looking good for the Merry Men, though! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/abcb5b34-e271-4965-a0e1-f1bcb0ee93e7/IMG_20230203_202322.jpg Blog - Sherwood by Buxeria - Make it stand out A win for the vile Sheriff’s men as Martin successfully weds his unwilling bride…in a chapel with two dead bodies. Look, I don’t care how you look at it, this wedding was a disaster for all involved. This is why you shouldn’t kidnap people! https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/first-impressions-gandhi-by-bruce-mansfield monthly 0.5 2023-02-07 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/18015a83-cc29-4b1d-bbbe-b1c435d0994c/IMG_20230104_134441_edit_1244577785680921+%281%29.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Gandhi by Bruce Mansfield - Make it stand out The set up for the short scenario (please ignore any out of place pieces, I had a three year old helper during set up and some incongruities arose) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/0d1d6a1b-c91c-44c9-9bd6-7f966fb3c434/IMG_20230104_141750.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Gandhi by Bruce Mansfield - Make it stand out Protests erupt across India and the Raj calls in more troops to try and quell the growing unrest and disaffection. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/1039864b-33ae-4226-989d-060ca81e6e5d/IMG_20230104_144646.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Gandhi by Bruce Mansfield - Make it stand out End of the first Campaign sees the Revs in the lead but the game could still be claimed by anybody. I think Revs had a natural advantage because of my experience playing them in my PBEM game, plus they’re more similar to insurgents in other COIN games I’ve played. Raj are suffering because I’m bad at being the government player. I think it’s a nice little touch that the Campaign cards also trigger a change in governor for the Raj - a nice development of Andean Abyss’s change in presidents during Propaganda rounds. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/639be23e-d43a-4c60-a4a0-016f60983e8d/IMG_20230104_193548.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Gandhi by Bruce Mansfield - Make it stand out Revolutionaries clear their victory threshold partway through the second Campaign but aggressive play and an unfavourable event have drained their resources to empty. Meanwhile the Muslim League are making steady progress. Can the Revolutionaries hold on? Can anyone stop the Muslim League? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/5c567187-514b-45f0-b1b1-70061f04f999/IMG_20230104_194854.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Gandhi by Bruce Mansfield - Make it stand out The game ends on the second of three Campaign cards with a Muslim League victory. Both Muslim League and Revolutionaries cleared their victory threshold, but Muslim League win’s on ties - also after taking this photo I did a recount and realised that the Muslim League actually cleared their victory threshold by even more so they would have won even without the tie break. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/revisiting-commands-and-colors-ancients-by-richard-borg monthly 0.5 2023-02-05 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/review-great-heathen-army-and-the-kingdom-of-dyflin-by-amabel-holland monthly 0.5 2023-01-31 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/0a55961b-9a44-4368-b061-2b592d5ba597/The+Great+Heathen+ArmyMap.png Blog - Review: Great Heathen Army and the Kingdom of Dyflin by Amabel Holland - Make it stand out A fairly classic set of orders - the Vikings used Move + Fight to close the distance and now the Irish will use Move + Fight on one Wing to push back while the other Wing gets a Horse command because that lets the horses move and fight in one turn. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/d101b557-ff7d-42a8-ac37-6002ff0925f4/IMG_5110.jpg Blog - Review: Great Heathen Army and the Kingdom of Dyflin by Amabel Holland - Make it stand out The Grass Crown with its heretical squares and samples of the order tokens on the left. Image courtesy of Pierre, who actually owns it. He says it’s quite good, I haven’t played it though. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/ca2f6afc-fe41-47e4-94d2-a72d4e8f1c3b/original_c6253346-3857-4fd7-a9ac-f987c9ebcd90_IMG_20221021_141412+%281%29.jpg Blog - Review: Great Heathen Army and the Kingdom of Dyflin by Amabel Holland - Make it stand out The set up for the second scenario in the base game of Great Heathen Army. I like how it really gets to you into the thick of things very quickly. Also note the d8 in the top left corner. Great Heathen Army uses it instead of the more common d10 and I slightly prefer it, but for entirely tactile reasons. I prefer d8s. I’m sure it does something interesting to the statistical spread but that’s a bit lost on me. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/1f61fe47-f9c2-46e4-a414-01216ec99bdb/IMG_20220531_161710.jpg Blog - Review: Great Heathen Army and the Kingdom of Dyflin by Amabel Holland - Make it stand out A surprise king is revealed on the left and oh no he is not in a very good position! Meanwhile the Red King’s location remains a secret. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/82bedf40-c139-423c-a2f0-251043ad506f/The+Great+Heathen+ArmyMap.png Blog - Review: Great Heathen Army and the Kingdom of Dyflin by Amabel Holland - Make it stand out The initial deployment for Cenn Fuait - like all scenarios in Great Heathen Army players have mostly free deployment of their troops. This scenario is interesting because it starts with the Irish on the offensive but once those off map White Vikings arrive the Irish can choose to try and withdraw one of their wings for Victory Points https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/65c5d33b-bd20-41a9-b295-94e176bc4da9/The+Great+Heathen+ArmyMap.png Blog - Review: Great Heathen Army and the Kingdom of Dyflin by Amabel Holland - Make it stand out Cenn Fuait: The final Viking Wing has arrived and the Irish position has changed - however retreating all their forces now won’t win the game for the Irish. They need to push what advantage they have before potentially falling back with a few troops to clinch the final victory https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/05265ea3-45c1-4b8b-a56b-cf6689592168/The+Great+Heathen+ArmyMap.png Blog - Review: Great Heathen Army and the Kingdom of Dyflin by Amabel Holland - Make it stand out Cenn Fuait: The final Irish positions - you can see the already dead pile on the maps edge (the Viking dead are off map). While their position has entirely crumbled, retreating those five remaining soldiers over the black and white line will be enough to secure victory. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/5d1daf12-879d-41a5-bbff-0f032580071b/The+Great+Heathen+ArmyMap.png Blog - Review: Great Heathen Army and the Kingdom of Dyflin by Amabel Holland - Make it stand out Vikings and Irish square off in Clontarf - it should be noted both that almost all of the map terrain has no affect on gameplay and that the light green horses are part of the Irish Red Wing. I wish the quality of the aesthetics of Great Heathen Army matched the gameplay a little better. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/fc80e61e-f803-400e-b886-f9a8e7070096/The+Great+Heathen+ArmyMap.png Blog - Review: Great Heathen Army and the Kingdom of Dyflin by Amabel Holland - Make it stand out Clontarf: This moment, late in the battle, is when the archers really began to swing the tide. The Irish archers in bright red started taking pot shots at Viking kings, starting with the light blue one on the left, and some good rolls eliminated quite a few Nordic monarchs securing 4 VPs each for the Irish side. As the casualties on the right side of the river show it was reasonably close at this point but those big losses were hard to recover from. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/75a60b23-65bb-4c83-a4ca-b47e1e45b26b/The+Great+Heathen+ArmyMap.png Blog - Review: Great Heathen Army and the Kingdom of Dyflin by Amabel Holland - Make it stand out Clontarf: This formation by the Irish (bottom of the screen) may have been my most unhinged looking across the four game campaign. This is not mid-turn, I chose to arrange them like this and then let Pierre attack me. I would like to note that it actually worked really well, which I’m not sure how I feel about to be honest. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/05f951aa-0aa3-49c8-bac8-7a1de46d0a06/The+Great+Heathen+ArmyMap.png Blog - Review: Great Heathen Army and the Kingdom of Dyflin by Amabel Holland - Make it stand out After your third or fourth battle that’s just this map with the same counters the appeal of the aesthetics begins to fade. This time the battle is Glen Mama, but can you tell at all from the visuals? https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/first-impressions-fire-and-stone-siege-of-vienna monthly 0.5 2023-01-23 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/favourite-books-2022 monthly 0.5 2023-01-18 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/searching-for-black-confederates-by-kevin-m-levin monthly 0.5 2023-04-14 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/first-impressions-equatorial-clash monthly 0.5 2023-01-09 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/a367385a-9bfa-4f8f-b726-c4e1c0bfe8ce/IMG_20221228_201013.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Equatorial Clash by Marc Figueras - Make it stand out Initial game setup, Peruvian troops massing at the borders while Ecuador attempts to mobilise some opposition. Also, just look at this map, isn’t it great? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/2456e72e-7370-4853-8edf-36af6fb8fd92/IMG_20221228_212425.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Equatorial Clash by Marc Figueras - Make it stand out Four turns in and Peru has breached the border in the south. They probably would have done this much quicker if I’d been better at reading the rules! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/66d92c2b-7f98-4002-b9c7-9b6279139d22/IMG_20221228_213714.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Equatorial Clash by Marc Figueras - Make it stand out A little over halfway through the game and the Equadorian front is crumbling but Peru will need to penetrate much deeper to call this war a success. Huge amounts of Peruvian troops still haven’t been mobilised. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/4de70d2e-7776-4873-9c7e-d36526822403/IMG_20221228_215523.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Equatorial Clash by Marc Figueras - Make it stand out Having finally figured out how the action points are allotted, the game has picked up the pace significantly. Both sides have assigned troops to fight in the other theaters and Ecuador is even attempting a counterattack along the border. Will it work? Doubtful, but it only has to stall Peru even more. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/edff8e02-bf72-427f-8460-00560498fba5/IMG_20221228_220816.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Equatorial Clash by Marc Figueras - Make it stand out Peru handily secures the border region and has air dropped in paratroopers in the north in a bid to grab a high value region, but they have been pushed back to a less important part of the map. The war is going in the right direction, but a cease fire could be decided any turn now! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/b8cc00a0-7079-493d-8d47-3ff35dc6956f/IMG_20221228_223048.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Equatorial Clash by Marc Figueras - Make it stand out Cease fire is declared at the end of Turn 11. While Peru is easily pushing Ecuador back from their border it’s not enough to secure victory given their slow start which allowed Ecuador to accumulate VPs early. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/22c5ceb1-9e31-4029-9ac1-522598a30ed4/IMG_20221228_211612.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Equatorial Clash by Marc Figueras - Make it stand out The map is the most immediately stunning part of the production, but the counters are nice and there’s lots of nice little detail in the map that it can be easy to miss when you’re distracted by the whole newspaper of it all. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/5a4a1635-7f76-4cfd-9dbb-8664e973edfb/IMG_20221228_223202.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Equatorial Clash by Marc Figueras - Make it stand out A side mat tracks VPs, action points remaining in that round, and the possible troops that Ecuador could mobilise if they change their political position - a constant reminder of what you could have! https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/life-in-a-medieval-city-by-frances-and-joseph-gies monthly 0.5 2023-01-05 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/top-8-games-of-2022 monthly 0.5 2022-12-19 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/3dd3f352-af72-4954-a82e-c6fe3a47eb54/Ottomans+Assault+St+Elmo.jpg Blog - My Top 8 Games of 2022!* - Make it stand out This is a playtest version of the game map, not final art. I really like how it focuses on the main bay where most of the siege took place but also makes room to include Mdina and other more peripheral elements. This is essential to they systems that can allow you to deviate from the historic plan the Ottoman commanders used. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/c81bd921-2e37-41c3-bca6-0113cd6c9d6c/IMG_20220903_175529.jpg Blog - My Top 8 Games of 2022!* - Make it stand out Bannockburn is probably one of the best scenarios from the original Men of Iron box - where many scenarios can be a bit one sided both in terms of outcome and in the amount of actual movement that has to be done, Bannockburn is dynamic and exciting pretty much the whole way. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/c8bb1f0d-f206-4b71-ab71-5c4e00607d7e/Shores+of+Tripoli.png Blog - My Top 8 Games of 2022!* - Make it stand out The Shores of Tripoli as represented on the excellent website Rally the Troops. This is how I played all my games and I cannot recommend it enough! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/a7e4a12f-0e6a-431b-82d0-ebdcd58bd7e8/IMG_20220508_111406.jpg Blog - My Top 8 Games of 2022!* - Make it stand out Warriors of God’s visual design is a little underwhelming. It’s very functional, which I appreciate, and left me rarely needing to consult the rules but I wouldn’t call it pretty. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/4a1c175c-1dd0-465d-9e39-f9fc1e85adac/IMG_20220306_093635.jpg Blog - My Top 8 Games of 2022!* - Make it stand out I also really like the map in Richard III. The layout creates interesting decisions for how you move your blocks and is very functional in terms of tracking what you need to. The card art is a little bland but overall I think it’s also a fairly attractive game. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/fb568919-f311-4a3f-80af-9c5e6430a75d/original_74ef2e6d-d1d2-45a2-9000-dbac0fae4076_IMG_20220528_134553.jpg Blog - My Top 8 Games of 2022!* - Make it stand out Our in progress game of A Distant Plain - I have to confess that while it is very functional I don’t find this board very attractive. Thankfully the game was engaging enough that I didn’t mind spending a whole day staring at it! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/39407c86-aa63-4781-8392-6a60181314e6/IMG_20220320_232051_1.jpg Blog - My Top 8 Games of 2022!* - Make it stand out Nevsky is also very pretty and makes a strong first impression I must say. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/1a955508-f153-4044-9187-2baa4fdd5298/IMG_20221022_162925.jpg Blog - My Top 8 Games of 2022!* - Make it stand out This map is so long I had to play it on my coffee table, which was a little challenging and slightly messed up the lighting for photos. Still totally worth it though. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/first-impressions-this-war-without-an-enemy monthly 0.5 2022-12-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/f415b806-9407-42ee-bdd1-dc5af7d119b3/IMG_20221204_195309.jpg Blog - First Impressions: This War Without an Enemy by Scott Moore - Make it stand out We played the mid-length scenario which begins in 1644. This is the set up - I ended up taking the Royalists side and I have to say those blocks up in Scotland were quite scary. Also, apologies for the glaring light - we played on my kitchen table and the light is a bit much.. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/7144b2a5-457a-47b3-a033-1122f04704ea/IMG_20221204_212248.jpg Blog - First Impressions: This War Without an Enemy by Scott Moore - Make it stand out The game opened with a Parliamentarian attack that pushed me out of Oxford and put the king’s life in danger. A subsequent siege quickly saw capture of the town as well. Meanwhile I laid siege to Hull and Plymouth but with my artillery in the routed army of Oxford I couldn’t effectively storm either. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/0a0821c6-603f-4e4c-ae0e-2b9c6c571d29/IMG_20221204_215433.jpg Blog - First Impressions: This War Without an Enemy by Scott Moore - Make it stand out I succeeded in forcing both Hull and Plymouth to surrender, which kept me in the game in terms of victory points, but I’ve lost Chester and armies are massing to deliver a series of punishing blows to my remaining forces . https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/9813727a-e515-415a-bb71-2219888a9703/IMG_20221204_222909.jpg Blog - First Impressions: This War Without an Enemy by Scott Moore - Make it stand out The battle map - this was actually a relatively small battle in this game. The standing blocks are in reserve and only show up in the second round, which would go very badly for me as good dice meant that my opponent eliminated my cavalry and my reserves had to engage as the attackers and battle second. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/0dd5b36a-09e6-4edf-8851-611b1cc25402/IMG_20221204_222518.jpg Blog - First Impressions: This War Without an Enemy by Scott Moore - Make it stand out I make a brief, and ill-fated, attempt to launch an attack in Oxford before the two Parliamentarian armies can converge on me at Bristol. Meanwhile the Parliamentarians push into north Wales to crush my remaining troops there before they can effectively counterattack and the siege of Hull continues. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/fc59a7f9-a91a-448e-b5e2-b2809d197f2c/IMG_20221204_224850.jpg Blog - First Impressions: This War Without an Enemy by Scott Moore - Make it stand out Things are looking bad for poor King Charles hiding out in Plymouth. My attack in Oxford failed and the remnants were eliminated in Bristol. The Welsh battle was less decisive but still forced me further into the mountains. Meanwhile the siege of Hull drags on but is not looking good for me. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/a0a5ad24-3824-4f07-a1d6-3a21d499ca4c/IMG_20221204_225859.jpg Blog - First Impressions: This War Without an Enemy by Scott Moore - Make it stand out The end game state - Charles found his spine at the last minute and drove off several attempted storms of Plymouth but Hull eventually surrendered giving the Parliamentarians the final VP they needed to win after only two years of campaigning. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/first-impressions-napoleon-1806 monthly 0.5 2022-12-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/baf05ae8-bfc1-4099-8713-d5698a217769/Napol%C3%A9on+1806Map.png Blog - First Impressions: Napoleon 1806 by Denis Sauvage - Make it stand out Initial set up for Game 2. I’m the Prussians this time since I had one game under my belt and it was my opponent’s first. The black horse and rider blocks are “dummies” that are immediately eliminated if they contact an enemy block. I need to survive seven rounds to win - or get to 20 VPs but that’s not going to happen. If Napoleon can drag the VPs down to 0 he wins. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/9d216477-be8d-49dd-8980-a7d3460ee490/Napol%C3%A9on+1806Map.png Blog - First Impressions: Napoleon 1806 by Denis Sauvage - Make it stand out End of Turn 1. I’m attempting a threatening flank on the left and bluffing in the middle while Napoleon makes a big push on the right. I gain a VP each turn that I control three of the citadels and Napoleon will gain a chunk of VPs if he can take Erfurt, Leipzig, or Halle from me so I need to protect him. The red cube is a bridge I’ve elected to destroy, increasing the cost of moving that way substantially. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/cc37ec5c-ae07-4594-8416-b3a0d01f2599/Napol%C3%A9on+1806Map.png Blog - First Impressions: Napoleon 1806 by Denis Sauvage - Make it stand out End of Turn 2 - I continue by bluff in the centre and push a bit further on the left, also bluffing some. Napoleon pushes up the right but I’ve managed to get a block into Leipzig so I’m feeling a little safe on that front. My goal is mostly to delay him. Thankfully this past turn we also had the Rain event, so that slowed the Napoleonic advance. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/8012384b-78e1-47bb-98b9-562185e848de/Napol%C3%A9on+1806Map.png Blog - First Impressions: Napoleon 1806 by Denis Sauvage - Make it stand out End of Turn 3. We had our first fight on the left which revealed that Napoleon himself was there! Things went very badly for the lone Prussian commander who is also now entirely devoid of meaningful support. Meanwhile my bluffs are slowly crumbling but are at least distracting Napoleon’s Corps some. Napoleon has also repaired the broken bridge and is splitting his forces between Erfurt and Leipzig. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/5366a417-c378-4fd8-afcd-068a9c19bfa6/Napol%C3%A9on+1806Map.png Blog - First Impressions: Napoleon 1806 by Denis Sauvage - Make it stand out End of Turn 4. Left and centre positions have crumbled and Napoleon is at the gates of Erfurt. However, the VP position could be worse and we’re now more than halfway through the game. I just need to hold out for three more turns, and I’m about to get some reinforcements in the north! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/f223962d-872b-4bf4-b297-138a20aabd65/Napol%C3%A9on+1806Map.png Blog - First Impressions: Napoleon 1806 by Denis Sauvage - Make it stand out On Turn 5 the French launch a major assault on Erfurt. Due to the rain Napoleon III was unable to reach the city in time to provide support. However, some truly stunning card draws on the part of the Prussians saw both sides suffer heavy fatigue but ultimately resulted in a stalemate so both sides continued to contest the space. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/9845dc7c-1f9e-4fd5-9c88-746e6760671c/Napol%C3%A9on+1806Map.png Blog - First Impressions: Napoleon 1806 by Denis Sauvage - Make it stand out The state of the Prussian forces at this stage in the game. The grey cubes are infantry, purple are cavalry, and orange cylinders are fatigue. We’ve taken some serious abuse but we’re still holding strong! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/9eb9f70d-d933-4279-a7cd-8780ca47857c/Napol%C3%A9on+1806Map.png Blog - First Impressions: Napoleon 1806 by Denis Sauvage - Make it stand out The start of Turn 6 - Erfurt remains contested but Napoleon is approaching from the left. Can Napoleon III reinforce the city in time? Should he? On the top right, the French have arrived at Leipzig but elected not to fight until they can bring in more reinforcements for a general assault. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/37dcbd97-01e2-490c-81b1-56c82b4b4786/Napol%C3%A9on+1806Map.png Blog - First Impressions: Napoleon 1806 by Denis Sauvage - Make it stand out Middle of turn 6: another big battle in Erfurt, this time featuring l’Empereur himself. However, some stunning draws meant that the Prussians inflict one more casualty on the French than they receive, driving the French from Erfurt even as one Prussian Corps is eliminated by fatigue and the rest severely crippled. Frederick III’s decision to reinforce the city is validated! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/9c08c3ca-9b9f-4ba9-8fcb-48ef875fd4ac/Napol%C3%A9on+1806Map.png Blog - First Impressions: Napoleon 1806 by Denis Sauvage - Make it stand out Start of the final turn and things are looking pretty good for the Prussians. That said, the Corps in Erfurt are in very poor shape and if Napoleon can eliminate them and seize the city he can still win! Alternatively, if he can drive them out and get lucky in Leipzig he could potentially secure a victory. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/08139c56-cde9-4d7e-9fe6-48683520f784/Napol%C3%A9on+1806Map.png Blog - First Impressions: Napoleon 1806 by Denis Sauvage - Make it stand out Game end. Napoleon succeeded in seizing Erfurt but ran out of steam before he could eliminate the final Prussian Corps in the region. Meanwhile the French attack in Leipzig was unsuccessful. The Prussians survive and claim victory! https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/men-of-iron-najera monthly 0.5 2022-11-28 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/cf003a48-db43-4409-bd36-1e7de9c88b7c/IMG_20221118_150838.jpg Blog - Men of Iron: Nájera 1367 - Make it stand out Initial deployment - the Franco-Castilian forces have been deployed in an orderly fashion. Tragically for them, the English will be arriving from the right and not the bottom of the map. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/3883199f-124c-4bfc-b9ad-76f8c195c499/IMG_20221118_210259_edit_1131063508150847.jpg Blog - Men of Iron: Nájera 1367 - Make it stand out The English begin arriving and the vanguard immediately makes a dent in the Franco-Castilian flank. Being attacked from the side is not a good time in Men of Iron. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/c60a1389-f3f8-4344-829b-fd34cb5d444a/IMG_20221118_211006.jpg Blog - Men of Iron: Nájera 1367 - Make it stand out I decided that the genitors might be something of a lost cause and chose to move the pikemen first to make a front to oppose the English. Du Guesclin’s Battle has also pivoted. New battle lines have been drawn, even if they still leave a lot to be desired for the Franco-Castilians. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/7b6f4078-176a-4148-bda2-a0bc3c5111a9/IMG_20221118_213218_edit_1132824216121933+%281%29.jpg Blog - Men of Iron: Nájera 1367 - Make it stand out The main host of the English army has now arrived and some holes are beginning to appear in the Franco-Castilian lines. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/920793df-1a0a-4a5a-96d6-cdc5ea7bf0e6/IMG_20221118_214208.jpg Blog - Men of Iron: Nájera 1367 - Make it stand out The Franco-Castilians strike back, beginning to turn the English right flank but du Guesclin’s attack has stalled out into something of a brutal slog. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/8cc5b3aa-69bd-411d-87b3-981f5e630d43/IMG_20221118_221126.jpg Blog - Men of Iron: Nájera 1367 - Make it stand out The English bring up another Battle to shore up their right flank and punch a substantial dent in the middle of the Franco-Castilian lines. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/4e2dd35d-5760-4c56-a6a6-821126e64cb8/IMG_20221118_221806.jpg Blog - Men of Iron: Nájera 1367 - Make it stand out The genitors finally get involved to underwhelming results. You may also notice at this point that the three Franco-Castilian battles in the left have not activated at all, which is pretty classic Men of Iron for scenarios with this many Battles. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/60fdda1b-c0f4-4a74-8b98-46760e1a06f2/IMG_20221118_222818.jpg Blog - Men of Iron: Nájera 1367 - Make it stand out The English continue to push forward. While the Franco-Castilians have managed to inflict some casualties they are badly outmatched. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/9b3698c8-d929-459e-9f03-4892b09bf4bd/IMG_20221118_224201.jpg Blog - Men of Iron: Nájera 1367 - Make it stand out Henry of Trastámera finally gets involved in the battle, but his contribution is minimal and things have already turned decisively against him. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/c5280f07-dc69-462e-ab96-cf3e1b088a7e/IMG_20221118_224840_edit_1137411733187378.jpg Blog - Men of Iron: Nájera 1367 - Make it stand out The flight track disparity is brutal - the Castilians were pushed over the limit by the dice roll but there was no coming back even if they had been luckier. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/37bdbd9c-5223-4207-a7fc-ec81f0d1be97/IMG_20221118_224832.jpg Blog - Men of Iron: Nájera 1367 - Make it stand out The final game state when the Castilians fled the field, losing the battle but ultimately winning the war. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/siege-warfare-during-the-hundred-years-war-by-peter-hoskins monthly 0.5 2022-11-24 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/review-almoravid monthly 0.5 2022-11-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/81770143-9db9-4d29-b889-f691fe7d3181/IMG_20220611_154036.jpg Blog - Review: Almoravid by Volko Ruhnke - Make it stand out Here are two Christian lord mats with their wooden units, and tokens representing transport, coin, and provender. They also have Capabilities tucked in under their mats. In the distance you can see their cylinders on the map - in this case they are besieging the city of Toledo whose garrison is represented by the lone wooden pieces on the map. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/1b8dacbd-a9e4-4393-97bb-15e6e486bed8/IMG_20220611_142805.jpg Blog - Review: Almoravid by Volko Ruhnke - Make it stand out Almoravid fully laid out - it’s a beautiful thing to behold but the board is larger than Nevsky’s and fitting everything together can get very cramped very quickly. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/6e20ecfd-de74-4399-89f5-5517738006e5/IMG_20220611_145305.jpg Blog - Review: Almoravid by Volko Ruhnke - Make it stand out But while I can complain about the practicality of the board as much as I want, there’s no denying that it’s an amazing thing to behold. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/0ef0fc6e-6ccb-449f-945b-4fe82dc20fb4/Almo+Vassal.png Blog - Review: Almoravid by Volko Ruhnke - Make it stand out Much of my time playing Almoravid was using the excellent Vassal module - a much more manageable way to play but you are missing out on something not having the physical components. I have to say the system works really well as play by email. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/early-impressions-pax-viking monthly 0.5 2023-04-14 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/309872c7-1161-4a26-a72d-f34a298fc4e1/IMG_20221030_163642.jpg Blog - Early Impressions - Pax Viking by Jon Manker - Make it stand out I was so anxious about teaching Pax Viking that this was the only photo of my game that I remembered to take - and it’s just the initial set up! It didn’t even occur to me until I was getting into bed that evening! Maybe I’ll try and do an AAR for my next game. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/charles-vii-by-mga-vale monthly 0.5 2022-11-10 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/first-impressions-imperial-struggle monthly 0.5 2022-11-07 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/c318c579-0f05-43f8-93fe-4e1e5df489cb/Imp+Struggle+1.png Blog - First Impressions: Imperial Struggle by Jason Matthews and Ananda Gupta - Make it stand out Even on my desktop I can’t fit the entire play area on one monitor. This is as much of the initial map as I could reliably manage. Look at all that possibility space! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/bb619d9d-0f50-4e9e-8031-a2a712da4e3d/Imp+Struggle+2.1.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Imperial Struggle by Jason Matthews and Ananda Gupta - Make it stand out End of the first Peace Turn. Positions have shifted, stakes have been made, but this was early stages. Trends would become more apparent later. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/bf9bec6a-5bb6-4741-a3b8-38d30f2e86b0/Imp+Struggle+3.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Imperial Struggle by Jason Matthews and Ananda Gupta - Make it stand out The first war - this gives you the idea of what the war board looks like. The tiles are randomly drawn and then you add one for each listed region in each of the theatres. At this stage I was lagging in VPs, a gap I would later make up but at the cost of focusing on the more military side of this conflict. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/f426853f-b11d-4578-8f21-726d649882d4/Imp+Struggle+4.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Imperial Struggle by Jason Matthews and Ananda Gupta - Make it stand out Right before the next war - this time we had two Peace Turns to prepare. At this stage I was feeling pretty good about India and Europe but I could feel North America slipping away. I definitely didn’t invest enough in my navies, which would cause the wars to slowly snowball against me. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/46dd94af-810f-45ce-af98-aeaa7d45941a/Imp+Struggle+5.png Blog - First Impressions: Imperial Struggle by Jason Matthews and Ananda Gupta - Make it stand out The war’s aftermath. I’m still feeling good about victory points - I secured a lead that I would not lose. However, my military failures had cost me some key forts in India and North America which would cause problems further down the line. There are apparently other ways to take forts but in our game they only seemed to switch as a spoil of war. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/afe5aa95-70f8-4b09-b1f9-84dcc455ae27/Imp+Struggle+6.png Blog - First Impressions: Imperial Struggle by Jason Matthews and Ananda Gupta - Make it stand out Right before the outbreak of the Seven Years War. I was barely holding on in India and North America and had decided to focus my attention more on the Caribbean and Europe - a decision that seemed like a good idea at the time.. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/6bade7e0-e25f-4649-8dfa-45831a0dd340/Imp+Struggle+7.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Imperial Struggle by Jason Matthews and Ananda Gupta - Make it stand out Right before the final round of wars. I felt pretty good going into this on victory points. I had completely lost control of India and North America but the Caribbean was very competitive and I had a pretty strong grip on Europe. From a victory points position things could be a lot worse. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/5de2b141-7bc8-4a3c-bef6-7b8a041dcf8f/Imp+Struggle+8.png Blog - First Impressions: Imperial Struggle by Jason Matthews and Ananda Gupta - Make it stand out This is where it all went wrong - I tried to stem the bleeding in North America, accepting the other two as likely not going very well for me, but a final push that cost me Spain resulted in me losing all of these wars by the maximum margin. That triggered an automatic defeat. Had I known the game better and studied the wars further in advance I might have been able to avoid this, but with all the information I was already taking on board that was never practical. In the end my opponent’s earlier war successes helped build to this crushing defeat that neither of us had actually seen coming! Honestly, it felt a little anti-climactic… https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/first-impression-the-flowers-of-the-forest monthly 0.5 2022-10-31 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/57082167-a24b-40c5-a89c-65c1ed49a2ce/IMG_20221022_155016.jpg Blog - First Impression: The Flowers of the Forest by Charles Vasey - Make it stand out Initial set up - much of the deployment is player’s choice. The English start off map and will have to advance on. Non-artillery units cannot be adjacent unless in combat which creates further positioning challenges. Also apologies in advance for the weird lighting - this game map is too long and I ended up playing it on my coffee table. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/e104cadc-adb0-4c62-9455-463091acca22/IMG_20221022_155919.jpg Blog - First Impression: The Flowers of the Forest by Charles Vasey - Make it stand out The positioning after the second turn - England brings on reinforcements but they are behind the marsh and will take some time to be relevant. Meanwhile the Scots are wheeling into position to face the advancing English army on the western flank. So far it almost looks like I know what I’m doing. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/18a572bd-981f-4cd3-a517-c8978e4ddc4d/IMG_20221022_170536_2.jpg Blog - First Impression: The Flowers of the Forest by Charles Vasey - Make it stand out A sample image of the game’s Order Logs - a helpful way to track what orders you have given your units. It also includes the chances of each Leader having their own orders be implemented should you try and change them without using your overall commander. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/faee0507-4178-421b-9bdc-21196a3d1e56/IMG_20221022_170545_edit_21455005627454.jpg Blog - First Impression: The Flowers of the Forest by Charles Vasey - Make it stand out My printer is still in storage so I couldn’t make a copy of the Order form - instead I did my own in a notebook. The dividing line shows the orders I gave before play began and arrows indicate when I allowed the unit to just keep following the order it already had. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/8ca2207d-de8e-4a66-99d8-c71bf6a1aae3/IMG_20221022_160835_edit_20712137164026+%281%29.jpg Blog - First Impression: The Flowers of the Forest by Charles Vasey - Make it stand out Things go very wrong for the English early on - I foolishly advance my smallest unit right into the jaws of James IV of Scotland’s main force. Being flanked in this game is not good. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/1a955508-f153-4044-9187-2baa4fdd5298/IMG_20221022_162925.jpg Blog - First Impression: The Flowers of the Forest by Charles Vasey - Make it stand out James IV decisively sees off his opposition and advances on the flanks of the English wester forces. Meanwhile, English reinforcements enter from the East and things are not looking good for that Scottish flank if we’re honest. This is the kind of thing that happens if you read the reinforcements table as you play. We have also wracked up our first leader casualties - combat is lethal for all involved in this system. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/d81e8f60-9e64-48d0-be4e-e6dd70db4a2b/IMG_20221022_114710.jpg Blog - First Impression: The Flowers of the Forest by Charles Vasey - Make it stand out How can you not be excited when reading this? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/be3f288c-7ce2-4608-87c6-5e9b9ae37618/IMG_20221022_165143.jpg Blog - First Impression: The Flowers of the Forest by Charles Vasey - Make it stand out The Scottish position crumbles in the face of the English bills. James IV marches on like a juggernaut, crushing the English western position beneath his boots - but will it be enough? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/e874cdea-c016-485e-863f-54e8f5ab6c32/IMG_20221022_170149_edit_21359144840490.jpg Blog - First Impression: The Flowers of the Forest by Charles Vasey - Make it stand out The final game state - James IV decisively wins the western flank but is outnumbered in terms or surviving units. Technically there were two turns to go, but I decided to spare myself two turns of mismanaged manoeuvring. The English are declared technically victorious, but I doubt anyone is going to be particularly happy with how today went. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/4d952be7-409c-4f65-8e43-5f2fcb122cb0/IMG_20221022_190904_edit_25398292766436.jpg Blog - First Impression: The Flowers of the Forest by Charles Vasey - Make it stand out The hand drawn counters are also gorgeous and my limited photography fails to really do them justice! https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/a-fistful-of-shells-review monthly 0.5 2022-10-27 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/first-impressions-supply-lines-northern monthly 0.5 2022-10-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/78ce4f72-decd-4a57-a2f3-5409d32d2634/IMG_20221016_230329.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Supply Lines of the American Revolution: The Northern Theater, 1775-1777 - Make it stand out The initial deployment of Supply Lines with the first Supply Phase completed. While it may not look like much, I found the open-ness of the first turn quite overwhelming. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/04b3c6d6-bc47-4c16-bbfd-a6b9be2773ad/IMG_20221016_231242.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Supply Lines of the American Revolution: The Northern Theater, 1775-1777 - Make it stand out End of Turn 1 - Revolutionaries begin establishing some initial supply lines and the crown seizes Cambridge and advances toward Albany. I was not fully prepared for how annoying maintaining the supply line down from Quebec would be. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/f56baf69-01d3-451e-a37a-15307340b5e1/IMG_20221017_152424.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Supply Lines of the American Revolution: The Northern Theater, 1775-1777 - Make it stand out Start of the first Winter Turn, the Revolutionaries have expanded out significantly but will soon face a severe reduction in troops as the Continental Army will disband. Meanwhile the British have called for more soldiers who will arrive with the spring. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/3562cd2a-fd32-4211-82b2-e04a850a1225/IMG_20221017_153102+%281%29.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Supply Lines of the American Revolution: The Northern Theater, 1775-1777 - Make it stand out After the first Winter turn, the Continental Army disbanded but they receive extra reinforcements to make up for that, leaving them in a reasonably strong position thanks to some lucky draws. The revolutionaries also receive their third Leader. Meanwhile six British troops will soon be arriving in Nova Scotia. The war escalates. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/c0233f12-4929-4082-bc96-7181e7ca57cb/IMG_20221017_154327.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Supply Lines of the American Revolution: The Northern Theater, 1775-1777 - Make it stand out Things are looking up for the Revolutionaries. A few successful attacks fail to oust the British from Cambridge and Boston but they push the support track past the Declaration of Independence threshold. The British fail to capitalise on their new forces but are amassing for an attack on Ticonderoga in the north. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/5f935c09-a6b4-425e-afd1-1850468d87ec/IMG_20221017_160253.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Supply Lines of the American Revolution: The Northern Theater, 1775-1777 - Make it stand out The Revolutionaries succeed in taking Boston and attempt a flanking manoeuvre via the Great Lakes to reach Quebec. The British succeed in taking Ticonderoga but the supply line stalls out there and they must call in more reinforcements. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/97bfec26-4ec4-4595-85a7-be6b30d9ba8a/IMG_20221017_224159.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Supply Lines of the American Revolution: The Northern Theater, 1775-1777 - Make it stand out The British succeed at retaking Boston but the Revolutionaries successfully encircle them to the north, isolating that Leader and making a push on Quebec possible. They are also just one victory away from the Treaty of Alliance which would bring the French into the war and marks a Revolutionary victory in this game. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/0a0509f0-4092-437d-80ec-d2802aeaa155/IMG_20221017_224501.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Supply Lines of the American Revolution: The Northern Theater, 1775-1777 - Make it stand out A successful Revolutionary attack on Boston gives them victory! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/9ad4a770-d431-4e17-b34f-d1322a4a19a4/IMG_20221017_221620.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Supply Lines of the American Revolution: The Northern Theater, 1775-1777 - Make it stand out Not strictly relevant to the game, but I also found it pairs nicely with hot chocolate. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/battles-of-westeros-a-personal-retrospective monthly 0.5 2022-10-17 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/first-impressions-arquebus-cerignola-1503 monthly 0.5 2022-10-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/bdac46e6-6d4c-48e1-8305-d5658a02bb7f/Arquebus+1.png Blog - First Impressions: Arquebus – Cerignola 1503 - Make it stand out Opening deployment - the Imperial forces are behind both a ditch and a rampart. Special rules limit the ability of the French to attack over this barrier until they succeed in breaching it by crossing the barricade. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/5eb697a8-93ca-4f11-a51e-1e5a451a8cbd/Arquebus+2.png Blog - First Impressions: Arquebus – Cerignola 1503 - Make it stand out The initial French advance into Imperial arquebus fire, plush a push across the ditch at the bottom of the map. They succeed in vacating the corner at the top of the ditch, leaving open the potential for an initial breach of the line. (I also forgot to clear the movement lines, apologies in advance as it gets messy later) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/6116dd39-dc64-4a99-b935-9c013adbadd0/Arquebus+3.png Blog - First Impressions: Arquebus – Cerignola 1503 - Make it stand out The initial French attack is repulsed under fire from the arquebuses. However, efforts to seal the breaches at the top of the line doesn’t go as well as one would have hoped. Also the gunpowder supply detonates at the bottom of the line, Disordering four units. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/9b951ef3-0bc3-4ab3-aaba-b23f398a5a99/Arquebus+3.png Blog - First Impressions: Arquebus – Cerignola 1503 - Make it stand out The French close to melee, crossing the barrier at the top which allows them to now attack over the ditch more easily. Unfortunately, one of the Swiss units hasn’t been paid and decides to pack up and go home. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/394acb55-d0a5-4e8d-923a-307a3d917962/Arquebus+4.png Blog - First Impressions: Arquebus – Cerignola 1503 - Make it stand out Aftermath of the French attack, both lines are full of holes and feeling the pressure of the battle. The French have suffered more casualties but the number of Retired Imperial forces is mounting. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/d37af2a0-c3e3-4e01-b35d-3bfb39e6f3f7/Arquebus+5.png Blog - First Impressions: Arquebus – Cerignola 1503 - Make it stand out The Imperial artillery comes forward and some infantry cross the line - pushing the French back. Casualties are mounting for both sides! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/1bea85a2-23ef-4be6-a421-ed423364aed9/Arquebus+6.png Blog - First Impressions: Arquebus – Cerignola 1503 - Make it stand out The French counterattack comes - both sides are looking a bit bedraggled and by this stage we were both within 8 of our Flight Point, which meant it was feasible for both of us to lose the scenario at this stage. We both survived to fight another day. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/6f3e5cbe-ee81-4c9e-ac96-9d2d2a972f42/Arquebus+7.png Blog - First Impressions: Arquebus – Cerignola 1503 - Make it stand out I activated my standard to Rally my large number of Retired units and that ended up being the final straw - Russ rolled a 7 for his Flight check and that was exactly enough to put him over the line. The French fled the field but it was a hard fought battle! https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/first-impressions-blood-and-roses monthly 0.5 2022-10-09 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/4989ce20-1b25-4c64-a7e4-63464c05b90f/IMG_20220930_140543.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Blood and Roses – First Battle of St Albans 1455 - Make it stand out The opening of the battle from the Yorkist position. In the far back of the Lancastrian lines is King Henry VI. He can’t move and if York can reach him they win the battle automatically, but first there’s Lancastrian infantry and a big ol’ ditch. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/07e24265-6366-405e-84c5-9383ee37d6de/IMG_20220930_141141.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Blood and Roses – First Battle of St Albans 1455 - Make it stand out This was probably my first mistake - using the same tactics in Blood and Roses as I did in other games. I should have used York’s longbows to soften up Lancaster more before closing. Fighting over that ditch is hard going. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/d38c3ddd-8ea0-4359-a41f-143087091aab/IMG_20220930_160804.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Blood and Roses – First Battle of St Albans 1455 - Make it stand out The Yorkists achieve an initial breakthrough in the middle, including a big Continuous Attack, but most of Salisbury’s Battle are disordered in the process. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/3288a14d-7273-4093-acbc-4117d66d4429/IMG_20220930_161200.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Blood and Roses – First Battle of St Albans 1455 - Make it stand out A truly heroic counter attack, including two Continuous Attacks, drives Salisbury back and eliminates most of his Battle but on the other flank things are collapsing for the Lancastrians and these York troops are still fresh. Also the road to the King is looking pretty insecure. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/e6ea9045-5f73-4c93-96ef-75e35757de95/IMG_20220930_161624.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Blood and Roses – First Battle of St Albans 1455 - Make it stand out Salisbury makes a run on the King but meanwhile on the right flank Lancaster leads a powerful counter attack. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/491df60f-4f5d-4e6c-b37a-2b80f29cefec/IMG_20220930_161747.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Blood and Roses – First Battle of St Albans 1455 - Make it stand out The Lancastrian counter attack eliminates York himself and drives the Yorkist line back across the ditch. But can they stop Salisbury from getting to the King? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/72b3d886-a48f-4c16-8a21-3f05c718304e/IMG_20220930_161950.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Blood and Roses – First Battle of St Albans 1455 - Make it stand out York stalls out in the face of the lone Man-At-Arms defending the King and Clifford circles around and attacks Salisbury from behind, eliminating his unit and securing victory! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/a5e25b35-201b-41e8-8678-64b7bfaa50fe/IMG_20220930_162008.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Blood and Roses – First Battle of St Albans 1455 - Make it stand out Lancaster manages to seize victory by the narrowest of margins (in this battle the random die roll isn’t added to Flight Points, instead you must reach the target number) https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/england-france-and-aquitaine-from-victory-to-defeat monthly 0.5 2022-09-29 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/infidel-antioch-1098 monthly 0.5 2022-09-26 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/2e0d1112-3e52-428f-aa22-bdc5ffe3f095/IMG_20220910_221739.jpg Blog - Infidel – Antioch 1098 - Make it stand out Opening deployment for Antioch - the Crusaders march single file from the city while a handful of leaderless Turksih light archers are nearby the harass them (or to die, depending on your dice). https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/8d6b3dc4-718d-4151-832d-3c3d2219ba38/IMG_20220910_223439.jpg Blog - Infidel – Antioch 1098 - Make it stand out First contact is made with..underwhelming results for the Christians. Kerbogha’s army begins to appear in the distance. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/f3344bd0-23a1-4d6c-8b55-02116cb759e2/IMG_20220910_224750.jpg Blog - Infidel – Antioch 1098 - Make it stand out Most of the Crusaders have now advanced out from Antioch and the main host of Kerbogha’s army has appeared. Several Crusader troops are facing South because there is the potential for a force of Muslims to come from that direction and few things are worse in Men of Iron than being attacked from behind. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/e96f2b64-7f9a-4c22-8e80-c01ca45fdb21/IMG_20220911_134906.jpg Blog - Infidel – Antioch 1098 - Make it stand out Having cleared most of the initial light cavalry expedition, the Crusaders attempt to form a defensive position in preparation for the inevitable Muslim attack. It’s possible that I should have been a bit more aggressive here, especially with the Crusaders rather sparse numbers of archers. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/a34b5904-c6db-4998-90c9-3746b1d90f86/IMG_20220918_174406.jpg Blog - Infidel – Antioch 1098 - Make it stand out The Muslim charge is devastating. Initial harassing arrows from the light cavalry clears a path for a charge by the cavalry which punches a hole through Hugh of Vermandois’ Battle. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/ff6c7b0a-c5f3-46a4-9085-189a3e55725d/IMG_20220918_180111.jpg Blog - Infidel – Antioch 1098 - Make it stand out The Muslim charge was effective but left many of their cavalry Disordered. The Crusaders pivot to try stem the attack while the Muslim’s try to encircle what is left of Hugh’s Dismounted Men-at-Arms to eliminate them before they can be rescued. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/eb735ae1-1864-446e-8a77-2c26a30c23b5/IMG_20220918_182515.jpg Blog - Infidel – Antioch 1098 - Make it stand out The Crusaders manage to reform their line but make little progress pushing the Muslims back. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/d4b698ef-cf8d-4280-9379-5f0f806c87b5/IMG_20220918_185653.jpg Blog - Infidel – Antioch 1098 - Make it stand out The Muslim’s punch a few more holes in the Crusader lines but at some cost - many disordered troops are looking ripe for a Crusader counterattack. Both sides have suffered heavy casualties by this stage, though, and both are at risk of fleeing the field. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/91f6c30b-51dc-4ca4-b11c-9021e51d56d3/IMG_20220918_214504.jpg Blog - Infidel – Antioch 1098 - Make it stand out In the end it is the Crusaders who flee first when we check for flight. A reversal of the rolls would see a Muslim defeat - very close battle! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/97293589-d7a5-4f71-9a1a-08c5d02a2beb/IMG_20220918_214447.jpg Blog - Infidel – Antioch 1098 - Make it stand out The final game state - the Crusader position has crumbled a bit but there are plenty of fresh troops and the Muslim cavalry are mostly Disordered. If it had lasted one more turn it could have had a very different result! While overall Antioch had a great balance of activating multiple Battles throughout the game, you can see in the distance that not all of Kerbogha’s forces ended up contributing (there is even one further Battle, the one that can enter from the South, that never showed up). https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/men-of-iron-bannockburn-1314 monthly 0.5 2022-09-19 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/c81bd921-2e37-41c3-bca6-0113cd6c9d6c/IMG_20220903_175529.jpg Blog - Men of Iron – Bannockburn 1314 - Make it stand out Before the armies clash - the Scots have a well ordered battle line while the English are scattered across the marshy terrain. Who goes first is actually determined by a random role, to reflect a lack of certainty about who really took the offensive back in 1314. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/c146e36c-095e-4089-a5f6-8fbfbaf99430/IMG_20220903_220922.jpg Blog - Men of Iron – Bannockburn 1314 - Make it stand out Edward’s Battle begins to reform and reinforcements are brought from the camp while the Scottish axe men break rank and advance to attack and disrupt some of the English knights. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/ddf833f2-cf5c-4c47-bd8b-fab039f53be1/IMG_20220903_223444.jpg Blog - Men of Iron – Bannockburn 1314 - Make it stand out The English charge into the Scottish line for remarkably underwhelming results while the aggressive position of the axe men blunts some of the charge potential. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/0d073d50-4be7-4698-9d14-a516e60344dc/IMG_20220903_224921.jpg Blog - Men of Iron – Bannockburn 1314 - Make it stand out The English knights are quickly pushed back by the Scottish pikemen and the Scots begin to advance. Robert the Bruce is getting his hands dirty and pushing forward himself. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/eb58b0ca-6c73-4908-93d0-4538758828bb/IMG_20220903_230408.jpg Blog - Men of Iron – Bannockburn 1314 - Make it stand out The English lines have begun consolidating and the Scots are looking a bit stretched, but the momentum is still with them. Will the English be able to counter attack successfully? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/0014523a-f448-445b-9227-e88f58ff6890/IMG_20220904_171335.jpg Blog - Men of Iron – Bannockburn 1314 - Make it stand out Scottish momentum continues but the English have rallied their Routed troops and are forming a defensive line. Still, casualties have been high and chances aren’t looking good for them. (This photo is from the next day, hence the return of daylight) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/864a9670-68d1-4be9-b3a3-f8648a4c6326/IMG_20220904_173543.jpg Blog - Men of Iron – Bannockburn 1314 - Make it stand out The Scots went berserk for a dramatic finale - Robert Bruce and two others going on a rampage of Continuous Attacks. I don’t think I’ve ever seen them go this well in any of my games so far! Final game state is a solid Scottish victory. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/consim-game-jam-2022-an-after-action-report monthly 0.5 2022-09-12 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/2a675c19-b259-4c30-b3f1-3520133ef9cb/BeneventoVillani.jpg Blog - Consim Game Jam 2022 – An After-Action Report - Make it stand out My most advanced design is a little card game about the Battle of Benevento in 1266, trying to focus more on the archers than the cavalry. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/78d363ff-4dc9-4124-a7ad-e65f7b73343e/Jacquerie_meaux.jpg Blog - Consim Game Jam 2022 – An After-Action Report - Make it stand out I’ll probably still attempt to design a game on the Jacquerie at some point, though. It’s too interesting a topic to leave alone! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/27c240a5-aaf1-4f48-821a-1a1cb176c757/Al+Mansur+initial+planning.jpg Blog - Consim Game Jam 2022 – An After-Action Report - Make it stand out Russ also did up basic graphics to explain his idea. The final product changed from this but it did a lot to convince us of how this might work with a tableau rather than a map! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/969c90e5-272a-459f-841b-e8097eef5ba2/TTS+Mod.png Blog - Consim Game Jam 2022 – An After-Action Report - Make it stand out The submitted product. I can take no credit for the Tabletop Simulator mod or the graphics as I contributed nothing to them! https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/first-impressions-sekigahara monthly 0.5 2022-09-05 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/the-hundred-years-war-by-desmond-seward monthly 0.5 2022-09-01 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/malta-month-bonus-malta-besieged-1940-1942 monthly 0.5 2022-09-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/fc2b65f4-1b99-451d-827e-6b0221639c1b/IMG_20220805_203752.jpg Blog - [Malta Month Bonus] Malta Besieged: 1940-1942 by Steve Carey - Make it stand out The stage is set, let the siege begin! This is my third game where I decided to play with the cards in historic order to see if it made me feel the history that bit more. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/86f3af5d-3f21-4a36-a08e-85fa274c1924/IMG_20220805_204439.jpg Blog - [Malta Month Bonus] Malta Besieged: 1940-1942 by Steve Carey - Make it stand out Dearing the end of the first phase of the war (represented by the first of three decks of event cards) and things are going okay. Supply is down but Malta isn’t in any great danger..yet. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/c17e7599-102f-46b5-bb74-27f1f6620d51/IMG_20220805_205051.jpg Blog - [Malta Month Bonus] Malta Besieged: 1940-1942 by Steve Carey - Make it stand out I pushed the North African front as far back as I could in preparation for Rommel’s arrival, but I have somewhat neglected the Luftwaffe who are now breathing down my neck right next to Malta. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/89d85291-c619-40d8-b0a5-d85103e6b976/IMG_20220805_210613.jpg Blog - [Malta Month Bonus] Malta Besieged: 1940-1942 by Steve Carey - Make it stand out The U-Boats have arrived and honestly I’m already on the ropes a bit. The Luftwaffe have been pushed back but Rommel bypassed Tobruk and is threatening Alexandria while the Italian air force is attempting to bomb Malta. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/1bb32883-eaf4-4d68-b8d1-b15b5b527941/IMG_20220805_211021.jpg Blog - [Malta Month Bonus] Malta Besieged: 1940-1942 by Steve Carey - Make it stand out I want to make something very clear - I pushed Rommel back to before Tobruk and he bypassed Tobruk for a second time! It’s the end of the second deck and things are looking dire for Malta and North Africa in general. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/50b1b8f4-46b7-4a7e-9188-98a2d953e77f/IMG_20220805_215229.jpg Blog - [Malta Month Bonus] Malta Besieged: 1940-1942 by Steve Carey - Make it stand out I made it maybe a quarter of the way through the final deck. I just about managed to keep Malta but the North African campaign has been decisively lost, triggering an automatic defeat for me - my first loss playing the game. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/playing-the-siege-of-malta monthly 0.5 2022-08-29 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/conquest-by-juliet-barker monthly 0.5 2022-08-30 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/preview-waning-crescent-shattered-cross monthly 0.5 2022-08-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/ff206fcc-8f32-4ee6-b662-566809881795/Christian+Set+Up.jpg Blog - [Malta Month] Preview: Waning Crescent, Shattered Cross by Andy Loakes - Make it stand out I couldn’t fit the entire board into one image on Cyberboard on my monitor, but here’s the main parts - the three forts and the insets of Mdina and Fort St Angelo. I should also stress that these are all playtest graphics - none of this is is final art! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/535ffca4-3f32-41d0-84d6-d465509585e9/Ottoman+Deployment.jpg Blog - [Malta Month] Preview: Waning Crescent, Shattered Cross by Andy Loakes - Make it stand out The Ottomans are tasked with attacking Fort St Elmo first and so deploy two stacks of troops onto the peninsula. Your opponent can only see what is on top of the stack, which creates a subtle fog of war that reveals itself as you fight. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/9868adf1-2d10-4150-960b-a431591c073e/Ottoman+Attack+Begins.jpg Blog - [Malta Month] Preview: Waning Crescent, Shattered Cross by Andy Loakes - Make it stand out The Ottoman attack begins - this may look quick but it took me three cards to move this far as I could only move one point each turn. However, I placed Ottoman control markers behind me which means that any troops that follow my path can move across those spaces for free - I’ve secured ground making it easier to bring more troops forward. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/538d696c-a0d0-41ef-9765-57271a66e288/End+of+First+Week.jpg Blog - [Malta Month] Preview: Waning Crescent, Shattered Cross by Andy Loakes - Make it stand out Bringing the second set of Ottoman troops forward was much faster. I then entrenched both forces - a necessary stage before I could begin bombarding the walls with my basilisk and my cannon. The Ottomans have a limited amount of artillery to bring to bear, and if they are captured by a Christian counter attack I could lose them forever so I don’t want to risk exposing them any more than necessary. Walls can be Breached on a level between 1 and 8 - you need to create a very large breach to attack between and until they are nearly totally destroyed the Christians can try and repair them. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/f81076e2-5d3a-426e-ac5e-417eacfb89fc/End+of+First+Week.jpg Blog - [Malta Month] Preview: Waning Crescent, Shattered Cross by Andy Loakes - Make it stand out End of the First Week, some serious bombardment has happened but it still feels like I didn’t do enough given how few weeks it feels like I have. I also managed to increase Ottoman intelligence (track above Mt Scibberas approach) due to the Christians resupplying Fort St Elmo - this is one of two necessary elements to allowing me to screen the harbour and prevent any future reinforcement of the fort. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/3dd3f352-af72-4954-a82e-c6fe3a47eb54/Ottomans+Assault+St+Elmo.jpg Blog - [Malta Month] Preview: Waning Crescent, Shattered Cross by Andy Loakes - Make it stand out The Ottoman assault on Fort St Elmo begins…kind of. I actually used an Event to displace the Christian troops on that wall section and just marched into the breach - but technically I did start the assault. Now if I fail to take the fort within 5 weeks I will risk losing Morale - this was supposed to be a cakewalk. I’m also limited in how many troops can occupy a Breach so only a fraction of my stack has moved forward. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/fdda75ed-e1e5-46c6-84f3-de672970058c/End+of+Week+3.jpg Blog - [Malta Month] Preview: Waning Crescent, Shattered Cross by Andy Loakes - Make it stand out The Christian counter attack eliminates my initial attack, but we take some of them with us and troops are more precious to them. You can see on the right where losses are tracked - some losses will return to the battle later as they recover but it is a slow process. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/white-mythic-space-review monthly 0.5 2022-08-11 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/1565-st-elmos-pay monthly 0.5 2022-08-08 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/a73dead5-f49b-4164-b0bf-c512dec6268c/IMG_20220802_164854+%281%29.jpg Blog - [Malta Month] 1565: St Elmo’s Pay by Tristan Hall - Make it stand out The initial set up for the solitaire scenario playing as the Ottomans. I have decided that despite Mustapha’s historic preferences I’ve assigned him to take St Elmo first. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/a3ea9781-c4df-4d92-a02b-51ea076ae67c/IMG_20220802_165133.jpg Blog - [Malta Month] 1565: St Elmo’s Pay by Tristan Hall - Make it stand out I got an early opportunity to kill Francisco Balbi di Correggio and I took it, because without his one Resource the Christians won’t be able to do very much for the first few turns. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/7443c3c1-5d6d-4fc9-9554-ac007c6ab807/IMG_20220802_165846.jpg Blog - [Malta Month] 1565: St Elmo’s Pay by Tristan Hall - Make it stand out Siege preparations are now very much underway, we’re clearing objectives and filling out our respective forces. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/e306be79-ca3d-4920-b79b-f89474c71c77/IMG_20220802_170446.jpg Blog - [Malta Month] 1565: St Elmo’s Pay by Tristan Hall - Make it stand out The Ottoman’s reach the Great Siege objective which allows me to start engaging in Zeal combat and slowly chipping away at the locations for a turn or two before battle begins in earnest. Might combat only begins when both sides reach the Siege objective. This is interesting in terms of gameplay, but doesn’t feel like it makes much sense as an abstraction of the siege.. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/6a45384e-3bdd-4202-9d1f-6f4a05cd3a2f/IMG_20220802_171056.jpg Blog - [Malta Month] 1565: St Elmo’s Pay by Tristan Hall - Make it stand out The siege begins in earnest! I’m badly losing in Senglea, but the other two are going much better (I foolishly stacked the tokens at St Elmo so it’s hard to see how many there are). The Christian arquebuses are hurting me in Birgu, though, which may limit my ability to hold out there. The choice of red and green for the damage tokens isn’t very color blind friendly. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/977f907e-71be-4938-b406-14d02579e06c/IMG_20220802_171916.jpg Blog - [Malta Month] 1565: St Elmo’s Pay by Tristan Hall - Make it stand out I won in St Elmo but lost at Senglea (I should have tracked that with tokens, I should also have done something about that sun glare on the lower right). Some lucky card draws let me relocate Mustapha to the front by swapping him for some already damaged artillery. Can he help me get it over the line? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/3d6f795b-6968-48f3-8b89-9bd613ff2c92/IMG_20220802_172159.jpg Blog - [Malta Month] 1565: St Elmo’s Pay by Tristan Hall - Make it stand out A last Ottoman push lets me just barely squeeze out a victory at Birgu thanks to my greater Zeal. My initial impression is that the Ottoman’s might be slightly easier to win with, but even at Normal difficultly my solitaire games have all been pretty close. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/great-siege-of-malta-by-bruce-ware-allen monthly 0.5 2022-08-04 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/1565-siege-of-malta-by-maurice-suckling monthly 0.5 2022-08-01 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/e3496eb1-7633-4805-a99d-34dffca6dcbc/IMG_20220515_213851.jpg Blog - [Malta Month] 1565 Siege of Malta by Maurice Suckling - Make it stand out Opening set up for the Hospitaller player - I did forget to put the bridge between Senglea and Birgu because I’m an idiot. In my defense, it didn’t really come up in my game. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/173da076-47d6-43d5-afc2-e18cb676c35f/IMG_20220515_215024.jpg Blog - [Malta Month] 1565 Siege of Malta by Maurice Suckling - Make it stand out The Ottoman attack is not going well and they are burning through ammunition very quickly. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/6f43d21f-ec7b-4866-899a-f2aa6c5e4891/IMG_20220515_220014.jpg Blog - [Malta Month] 1565 Siege of Malta by Maurice Suckling - Make it stand out Reinforcements are ready in Sicily. They have suffered some casualties but the Ottoman’s are still fairing worse. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/d2f80482-4249-4339-80ca-a27a85c350f1/IMG_20220515_220707.jpg Blog - [Malta Month] 1565 Siege of Malta by Maurice Suckling - Make it stand out The Ottomans manage to bring all their ships into the Grand Harbour, but the attacks on St. Elmo and Senglea have collapsed despite their favourable position. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/dacb88d0-75e0-4a58-9870-e18b6b73d50d/IMG_20220527_135836.jpg Blog - [Malta Month] 1565 Siege of Malta by Maurice Suckling - Make it stand out The Ottoman command sheet including results tables and the cards used to denote which orders have been used https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/ddcfb672-2e40-4376-a7e7-1c0d92324ae7/IMG_20220527_140314.jpg Blog - [Malta Month] 1565 Siege of Malta by Maurice Suckling - Make it stand out I won my first game as the Ottomans, but most of my games looked like this - total disasters with very poor rolls (high is bad) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/f06f4d75-086c-45f7-bbb5-fd54cffb66c7/IMG_20220527_140621.jpg Blog - [Malta Month] 1565 Siege of Malta by Maurice Suckling - Make it stand out Unlike historically, the Sicilian reinforcements had a habit of showing up very early on during my games as the Ottomans. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/7760c61b-7c5e-4d75-b1a7-ae7f48aa6dcd/IMG_20220527_141005.jpg Blog - [Malta Month] 1565 Siege of Malta by Maurice Suckling - Make it stand out My final game as the Ottomans ends in total disaster - like most of my Ottoman games did. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/cutting-room-floor-malta monthly 0.5 2022-08-01 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/54f426d3-c254-42b7-86b4-704731636bf7/Dimostrazione+di+Tutte+le+batterie+by+Mattia+Perez+d%27Aleccio%2C+1581%2C+Grand+hall+of+the+Palace+of+the+Grand+Masters%2C+Valletta.png Blog - [Malta Month] Cutting Room Floor - The Great Siege of Malta - Make it stand out An early modern map of The Grand Harbour and its environs during the Great Siege. Mount Scibberas juts out in the center, the Ottoman fleet anchored on its left, while the twin peninsulas and the Grand Harbour lie to the right. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/first-impressions-gettysburg-by-mark-herman monthly 0.5 2022-07-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/073f40d1-e6e4-490b-a210-6a6f585815df/IMG_20220706_142043.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Gettysburg by Mark Herman - Make it stand out Buford’s cavalry spot the Confederate army and battle is joined. Most troops are off the board - two Union regiments enter at the southern edge of the board, but on the bottom left we can see the stacks of units that will be arriving in subsequent turns. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/c1eae44d-ad7a-4d17-8ec3-dbe20c31083a/IMG_20220706_142914.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Gettysburg by Mark Herman - Make it stand out On Turn 2 the battle is joined. One Confederate regiment manages to make it into Gettysburg but is quickly encircled, meanwhile the other regiments will battle for control of the high ground further west. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/82003162-c5d9-4031-ad0e-5975d18d170f/IMG_20220706_143614.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Gettysburg by Mark Herman - Make it stand out Combat goes the Union’s way - no Confederate regiments are eliminated but on the west they are forced to retreat and in Gettysburg the Regiment is blown and will have to return on the next day. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/26899737-c552-4b79-874f-51b53d6084f6/IMG_20220706_145012.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Gettysburg by Mark Herman - Make it stand out The Confederate attack on Turn 3 pushes the Union back toward Gettysburg, they take up positions on the nearby hills. The Sharpshooters are isolated, but as a guerilla unit they will reform closer to the Union lines next turn. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/7ed0f590-e6aa-4bd0-ae62-d651471ed48e/IMG_20220706_145904.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Gettysburg by Mark Herman - Make it stand out Turn 4 is when things are going to start getting bloody. This is the positioning before the shooting starts, the Union has the high ground but will it be enough? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/364b9be8-d5a9-431e-b1fd-b02eee582441/IMG_20220706_154613.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Gettysburg by Mark Herman - Make it stand out The Confederates managed to get a toe hold on the ridge near Gettysburg but at great cost - large numbers of troops are blown and won’t be back until the final turn and Confederate artillery is running out! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/33f9b942-5e8b-4a5d-a513-723d34624695/IMG_20220706_161930.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Gettysburg by Mark Herman - Make it stand out Opening of the final turn. The Confederate’s have brought back on their blown regiments and both sides are out of artillery, but the Confederates are currently losing with 3 lost regiments to just 2 eliminated Union ones. Can they pull out an unlikely victory? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/61d036be-c777-4c6e-afe8-1a82cba4d48c/IMG_20220706_165317.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Gettysburg by Mark Herman - Make it stand out The Confederacy’s final attack has been defeated, the Union controls Gettysburg and has suffered fewer casualties, winning the day if not the war (yet). https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/first-impressions-almoravid monthly 0.5 2022-07-19 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/b415b9a0-3810-4763-8905-43fdea275ed6/IMG_20220611_142805.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Almoravid by Volko Ruhnke - Make it stand out The first scenario crammed as tightly as possible into my wargaming corner. The Christians are making a push on Toledo - can the Muslims hold them off? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/1908ec75-642f-41b7-8d83-c8b5c6c8379f/IMG_20220611_144744.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Almoravid by Volko Ruhnke - Make it stand out The Muslim commanders make their way into Toledo while the Christians mass at the border of Toledo and lay down their first siege in Zaragoza in the northeast. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/a518298d-4bbb-402f-977c-82f5b35f5ded/IMG_20220611_145305.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Almoravid by Volko Ruhnke - Make it stand out The Siege of Toledo has begun! Can the Christian’s sustain this many sieges? Probably not! Can the Muslim’s stop them? Also probably not. Only chaos can ensue! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/ecc3c206-af2a-4f73-8e03-6d37bec3acf7/IMG_20220611_152112.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Almoravid by Volko Ruhnke - Make it stand out The first campaign is over - time to Levy again. The Muslims are in friendly spaces but few of the Christians are so it went much quicker this time. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/06082815-f3bd-4812-bbaf-afe02b9bce52/IMG_20220611_154036.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Almoravid by Volko Ruhnke - Make it stand out The Christians decide to storm Toledo. Their forces are impressive, but so are the walls of Toledo. How will it go? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/f8918dca-4c22-411b-9c36-e0a78ca5f848/IMG_20220611_155725.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Almoravid by Volko Ruhnke - Make it stand out The devastating results. King Alfonso takes Toledo, but at what cost! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/bf685d81-db71-41d3-afd6-fb18193e1c5c/IMG_20220611_160833.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Almoravid by Volko Ruhnke - Make it stand out I got too excited by the storm and forgot to take photos. Al-Mutamid briefly besieged Toledo before moving north and ravaging his way through the Christian Kingdom of Leon. Nearby the siege of Zaragoza stalled, although al-Mustain disbanded after his attempt to stop them failed. I forgot to update Parias in Zaragoza so the scores should be a tie rather than a narrow Muslim victory. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/mary-rose-king-henry-viiis-warship monthly 0.5 2022-07-14 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/first-impressions-great-heathen-army monthly 0.5 2022-07-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/1ed06a08-d9e9-4ced-8024-baf146fc9153/IMG_20220531_125125.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Great Heathen Army by Amabel Holland - Make it stand out Great Heathen Army allows for relatively free deployment, so any poor decisions in unit placement are entirely my own! I think this is a clever way of adding more options to the game and reflects how little we know about the disposition of armies during this time period. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/0bb1d07a-4f23-49bc-b1e9-8708bcb10b80/IMG_20220531_161204.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Great Heathen Army by Amabel Holland - Make it stand out Early in this scenario only the right flank can receive orders, the Saxons are wading through the bog to engage the Vikings. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/f0419924-8690-4a4b-8fa3-c4cfc0d9ce3e/IMG_20220531_161710.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Great Heathen Army by Amabel Holland - Make it stand out I gave the Viking king a foolishly aggressive position and promptly forgot where he was, resulting in him being isolated and attacked early. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/275282ec-2dd9-44a3-8d24-6d5386f2c899/IMG_20220531_163540.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Great Heathen Army by Amabel Holland - Make it stand out The Viking king is quickly overrun as the lines break apart and both sides suffer casualties. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/dd744e25-9328-4e14-b00d-9255cd41c06e/IMG_20220531_164638.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Great Heathen Army by Amabel Holland - Make it stand out I remembered that I could now give orders to both Wings slightly later than I probably should have - but now the fight has begun on both flanks. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/2606226c-4ed8-4369-a906-f6ff847d25db/IMG_20220531_165541.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Great Heathen Army by Amabel Holland - Make it stand out The left flank is going a bit better for the Vikings while the right is completely falling apart and the Saxons are overrunning the few remaining units. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/7c634113-3b61-4ee0-811e-3d6527cb18c2/IMG_20220531_170405.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Great Heathen Army by Amabel Holland - Make it stand out The Viking player surrenders the Initiative to take two turns and push home a surprise victory despite the disastrous right flank battle. At the top you can see the piles of dead units. The death of the Saxon king clinches the Viking victory. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/trial-by-battle-by-jonathan-sumption monthly 0.5 2022-08-30 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/first-impressions-a-distant-plain monthly 0.5 2026-02-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/bb990082-c336-407d-a2bb-a8f883f23438/IMG_20220528_094726.jpg Blog - First Impressions: A Distant Plain by Volko Ruhnke and Brian Train - Make it stand out The opening of the game, everything is very much not peaceful in Afghanistan and it’s about to get a lot worse. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/44c3cf50-2466-47cc-ba44-63bc3caf8990/IMG_20220528_120807.jpg Blog - First Impressions: A Distant Plain by Volko Ruhnke and Brian Train - Make it stand out End of the first Propaganda Round, at this point it’s still very much everybody’s game and most of us are only beginning to grasp how the game works. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/9a73edc0-6651-4cf1-8ea4-3a6cff7a9831/IMG_20220528_125709.jpg Blog - First Impressions: A Distant Plain by Volko Ruhnke and Brian Train - Make it stand out Start of second Propaganda Round and I am one point shy of winning - almost winning is a dangerous place to be in a COIN game. I expect to be punished for sticking my neck out. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/fb568919-f311-4a3f-80af-9c5e6430a75d/original_74ef2e6d-d1d2-45a2-9000-dbac0fae4076_IMG_20220528_134553.jpg Blog - First Impressions: A Distant Plain by Volko Ruhnke and Brian Train - Make it stand out End of the third Propaganda Card (it came like 4 cards after the second) and I’m holding it together better than I’d expected. Things are heating up in the East, though. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/d4250176-057e-40a2-b740-324eee65bcb3/IMG_20220528_143127.jpg Blog - First Impressions: A Distant Plain by Volko Ruhnke and Brian Train - Make it stand out Deploying in force was a Taliban specialty - all of my guerrillas were on the board a lot. The Warlords were very good at filling the board with bases. You can see how it can be overwhelming trying to quash the insurgents. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/0a4be9ef-57b0-489c-9ac4-a26971ca08d1/IMG_20220528_154342.jpg Blog - First Impressions: A Distant Plain by Volko Ruhnke and Brian Train - Make it stand out The Taliban are largely wiped out in the East of Afghanistan, but a series of Ambushes wipes out Coalition power in Kandahar in the South and imperils control elsewhere. The fight for Kabul is particularly fierce. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/3567c6ca-ae11-4ab2-8a9f-5bb13fa5545d/IMG_20220528_170700.jpg Blog - First Impressions: A Distant Plain by Volko Ruhnke and Brian Train - Make it stand out Game end - Taliban victory on final scoring. I once again finished just one point shy of my target, but this time it was good enough as no one else was closer to their win condition. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/first-impressions-saladin-from-shakos-games monthly 0.5 2022-06-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/28e40a00-2d64-4375-a7ff-7b074f3801e4/original_233f1605-e332-4181-8756-8fc45e5c46fd_IMG_20220513_222236.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Saladin from Shakos Games - Make it stand out Opening set up for my first solitaire game of Saladin. The board is gorgeous but with questionable colour choice for people with colour blindness. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/5ad3b209-753f-424c-9ec3-5af115df6b0d/IMG_20220513_223511.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Saladin from Shakos Games - Make it stand out The opening of the game did not get off to a great start for the Crusaders. Two successful charges were launched, but they have suffered significant casualties as a result. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/76bfbb42-ba92-41cd-a5cf-5de61c2d0b31/IMG_20220513_224627.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Saladin from Shakos Games - Make it stand out Bourgogne and Richard I return to their starting position to hopefully charge again. Unfortunately the entire left flank has been wiped out and the desperate charge on the right could be going better. They have at least successfully driven the Ayyubids from Arsuf. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/265c251e-83a0-4bd0-8644-9e92b03312b8/IMG_20220513_225736.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Saladin from Shakos Games - Make it stand out Both Crusader flanks collapse and the core is suffering under a barrage of arrows. Richard and Bourgone have successfully charged again but are making barely a dent in the Ayyubid lines. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/56e57508-a20d-4da8-afa1-f7d86e189c7f/IMG_20220513_230119.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Saladin from Shakos Games - Make it stand out Crusader defeat! The casualties were quite one sided in the end as the Crusaders just were not able to deliver a crushing blow to the Ayyubid lines. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/river-kings-by-cat-jarman monthly 0.5 2022-09-05 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/first-impressions-andean-abyss monthly 0.5 2022-06-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/22878430-475d-44ed-a2d7-cd592b6cf38d/IMG_20220430_151120.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Andean Abyss - Make it stand out A few turns into the game, I’m playing the government and there are insurgents everywhere! The Cartels destroyed my only base, the jerks! The FARC action cylinder has been briefly stolen by a passing toddler (it was recovered and no one was harmed) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/f466de3f-afb7-4af1-8cd5-f0a09e6bcacd/IMG_20220430_162216.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Andean Abyss - Make it stand out The first Propaganda Card was at the bottom of the first stack, making me begin to worry I’d forgot to put one in! I was so distracted by it finally arriving that this picture is actually from a couple of turns later. Government successfully kept all the LOCs safe, but then spent all my funds on Civic Actions and spent this round desperately poor. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/13809152-7bd1-4ef8-b7df-06f989b27790/IMG_20220430_173739_1.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Andean Abyss - Make it stand out Soon after the second Propaganda Card - I messed up and let the Farc get support in Cali and a foothold in Medellin, but things are going a little better in some of the rural regions adjacent to cities. Mostly I’m letting the AUC mess with the FARC and then airstriking their bases when they get too close to winning. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/bda3371c-4bfe-45d0-bae6-1069614f6296/IMG_20220430_184632.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Andean Abyss - Make it stand out Approximately halfway through our third and final phase - I’m close to victory but unlikely to be able to afford to make the final push to reaching my victory objective. Meanwhile the insurgent players have discovered that they can fight each other and have descended into violent chaos. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/3544f5c0-52cb-4ffd-8f3e-637f2b568963/IMG_20220430_191346.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Andean Abyss - Make it stand out The end state of the game after resolving the final Propaganda Card - nobody won outright but the Cartel secured a victory on the final check, with Government coming second, AUC third, and FARC last. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/a-cooks-tour-by-anthony-bourdain monthly 0.5 2022-09-05 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/cutting-room-floor-the-bagler-war monthly 0.5 2022-05-30 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/knights-and-peasants-the-hundred-years-war monthly 0.5 2022-08-30 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/cutting-room-floor-the-calais-garrison monthly 0.5 2022-05-26 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/first-impressions-warriors-of-god monthly 0.5 2022-08-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/75fda8c0-356b-49ed-bc87-e900e33aefc7/IMG_20220507_181854.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Warriors of God - Make it stand out The stage is set - let the game begin! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/a9c0b3bb-bd59-407a-a65c-f3fa2c887387/IMG_20220507_212323.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Warriors of God - Make it stand out The game opened as it intended to continue - with King Philip VI dying at the end of the very first turn. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/9937b7e1-a253-4520-aebf-0fcdb10804b3/IMG_20220507_222935.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Warriors of God - Make it stand out Some good rolls early on give the French control of quite a lot of regions early while the English struggle to establish a foothold. This turn neither side had a king due to staggering mortality among the royal lines. This was also the first round that saw quite a few impulses, which promised more excitement. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/5256fc2a-c704-4938-b374-f8a41f87d6e4/IMG_20220507_232036.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Warriors of God - Make it stand out Two turns ago neither side had a king, last turn England did and France didn’t, this turn France does and England doesn’t. France has also successfully established control over much of the south while squaring up for a fight in the north. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/a7e4a12f-0e6a-431b-82d0-ebdcd58bd7e8/IMG_20220508_111406.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Warriors of God - Make it stand out Bertrand du Guesclin arrives on the scene with his amazing Bravery stat and the number of English commanders in prison expands rapidly. Charles VI also becomes the first French king to actually survive the round he arrived on. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/0516c3a6-fc78-4b62-bcf7-6febcdb71fc7/IMG_20220508_114906.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Warriors of God - Make it stand out Bertrand du Guesclin lasted longer than most but he was struck down in whatever plague effectively cleared the board this round. Charles VI and Henry IV were proving remarkably long lived at this stage - at least compared to their ancestors. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/289b67d8-2528-4747-a6b1-827c50561698/IMG_20220508_115044.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Warriors of God - Make it stand out With the plague having removed a large number of French commanders, the English begin to make a comeback. Henry V has turned up, so things must be looking up. Minutes after taking this photo Henry V died of plague. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/908ab6c8-d785-48f5-9598-804282bc99c3/IMG_20220508_230333.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Warriors of God - Make it stand out In the end the English rally was too little too late. Despite France being once again kingless - Charles VI finally passed away, followed quickly by Charles VII - but the arrival of Joan of Arc was enough to hold off the English long enough to clinch an early victory. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/the-agincourt-war-by-ah-burne monthly 0.5 2022-09-05 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/learning-coin-andean-abyss monthly 0.5 2022-05-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/c7751750-051a-482d-bb0e-a128b6ac2ed1/IMG_20220421_170517.jpg Blog - Learning COIN: Andean Abyss - Make it stand out The game at set up. I’m somewhat embarrassed to admit that I was annoyed the manual didn’t come with a picture of the game at set-up and only later noticed that set up is literally printed on the board. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/47c0371a-384f-47ad-a3af-0514032d2155/IMG_20220424_173637.jpg Blog - Learning COIN: Andean Abyss - Make it stand out Game state at the end of the first Propaganda Card - the Playbook would only hold my hand for one more turn - after that I was cast off on my own to sink or swim! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/d6c5d260-4547-446a-8d5a-3b8e6a0b9fc2/IMG_20220424_174607.jpg Blog - Learning COIN: Andean Abyss - Make it stand out The next Propaganda card came pretty quickly, so I didn’t actually change the game state very much in between them. I played for a few more turns before packing things up, feeling like I had a decent grasp on how to play. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/hokusai-a-graphic-biography monthly 0.5 2022-05-12 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/79dca92f-c569-4f26-b88d-ea1accd0d224/IMG_20220512_115421_1.jpg Blog - Hokusai: A Graphic Biography - Make it stand out Hokusai: A Graphic Biography focuses quite a bit on some of Hokusai’s more extravagant artistic displays, such as this event where he painted a giant portrait of Bodhidharma using a broom as his brush. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/1cf436d4-9654-425b-a92e-e153b6d1384a/IMG_20220512_115400.jpg Blog - Hokusai: A Graphic Biography - Make it stand out Art is obviously subjective, but I really like this aesthetic - particularly the image of Fuji in the background taking direct inspiration from Hokusai’s work. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/first-impressions-red-flag-over-paris monthly 0.5 2022-05-09 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/8392e197-b165-4190-b19c-27def65eae08/IMG_20220415_185323.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Red Flag Over Paris from GMT Games - Make it stand out The game board at set up before anything too chaotic has happened. I don’t think I need to point out that it’s a very pretty board. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/98863112-e1f4-468a-8b06-dccccca561a2/IMG_20220415_221656.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Red Flag Over Paris from GMT Games - Make it stand out End of Round 1 of my first game - not very much has happened but the Commune are off to a decent start. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/960641e8-e8c7-450b-aa7a-1debed0b9979/IMG_20220415_222509.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Red Flag Over Paris from GMT Games - Make it stand out End of Round 2, the Commune have seized control of central Paris and are making a push on the National Assembly. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/69f48efc-1cd3-4501-95a8-e638e7fed9fe/IMG_20220415_224029.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Red Flag Over Paris from GMT Games - Make it stand out End of the game - the scores are low but the Commune manage to squeeze out a victory https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/4761048f-5b16-45f8-9790-d759ea64a410/IMG_20220416_223345+%281%29.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Red Flag Over Paris from GMT Games - Make it stand out Game 2, end of Round 1: Factions have clearly gotten confused as Commune seizes Paris while Versailles focuses on the political. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/82851511-7790-43c3-b73b-d937740e413a/IMG_20220416_224101.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Red Flag Over Paris from GMT Games - Make it stand out By Round 3 things are looking a lot worse for the Commune - they still hold central Paris but not much else. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/c0a6fd1c-ea59-49b9-8963-8d6df5b122f3/IMG_20220416_225102.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Red Flag Over Paris from GMT Games - Make it stand out Game 2 ends in a decisive Versailles victory https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/john-talbot-and-the-war-in-france-by-aj-pollard monthly 0.5 2022-09-05 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/first-impressions-pendragon monthly 0.5 2022-05-02 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/9cd68b27-ec38-4772-be32-473491811027/IMG_20220411_120744.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Pendragon by GMT Games - Make it stand out This time I situated the board so I wasn’t trying to constantly read it upside down, which helped a lot when I had to locate provinces for certain event effects. I am also slowly learning the names of the Roman regions. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/50edf553-4ade-4030-a17d-b8242f6c8d82/IMG_20220411_124543.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Pendragon by GMT Games - Make it stand out A lucky event early in the game gives the Saxons a foothold in the south-east of England, while a similar event for the Scotti gives them control of part of Wales. The barbarians have landed. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/a3d8390e-afd5-4528-ada8-3c2d94179df0/IMG_20220411_125310.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Pendragon by GMT Games - Make it stand out Some amazing Saxon rolls put down a huge number of raiders… https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/c31cfa0c-2b85-4004-b27c-16ba7a7851b0/IMG_20220411_125621.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Pendragon by GMT Games - Make it stand out …who promptly destroy two Civitates’ towns - greatly reducing their numbers but enriching them to capacity. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/2efbde9b-0cf5-4f2f-802c-89c942485abd/IMG_20220411_132139.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Pendragon by GMT Games - Make it stand out The first Epoch card arrives - nobody has secured victory so play continues. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/256aadd0-9d5f-42bc-aaad-ae49b670c3f3/IMG_20220411_151329.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Pendragon by GMT Games - Make it stand out The dice for generating Saxon raiders were absolutely on fire this game - they once again established a huge presence in the southeast. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/06fd2333-06d5-4d83-9d73-5c1ab7c4057c/IMG_20220411_152522.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Pendragon by GMT Games - Make it stand out The Saxons successfully settle an alarmingly high number of raiders, giving them control of their second region and fulfilling their victory condition for this scenario. The Dux are amassing at the border to deal with this problem. Meanwhile the Scotti have built a second settlement in the northwest. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/1e034441-b909-4393-91e5-931a0787663e/IMG_20220411_160024.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Pendragon by GMT Games - Make it stand out The second Epoch arrives, but not before the Civitates and Dux manage to crush one of the Saxon settlements. The Scotti were just about to return their raiders and very likely build a third settlement in the north possibly clinching a victory. As it is, no faction achieved its victory on their own merits but the Civitates achieve a final score of 5, just edging out the Scotti’s score of 2. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/men-of-iron-falkirk-1297 monthly 0.5 2022-04-28 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/19067c89-38de-4ddb-8049-d5845457edf8/IMG_20220408_235429.jpg Blog - Men of Iron – Falkirk, 1298 - Make it stand out The calm before the storm - Wallace has taken up his defensive position but much of the English army still has yet to arrive. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/23fff2ee-563a-4296-abfd-94cf36ca4def/IMG_20220409_215217.jpg Blog - Men of Iron – Falkirk, 1298 - Make it stand out A series of amazing continuation rolls brings the whole English army to the field very early. Little did I know that this would set the tone for what my dice rolls would be this game: consistently low. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/67ec024e-bb31-4161-8f15-a8aeba012f6f/IMG_20220409_220130.jpg Blog - Men of Iron – Falkirk, 1298 - Make it stand out The battle lines collide with more of a whimper than a roar as the English archers fail to have much impact on the Scots. The English mounted men-at-arms manage to reach the archers unscathed and proceed to also have minimal impact. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/6a3a478e-4479-4379-a1d3-6eff68e77693/IMG_20220409_221551.jpg Blog - Men of Iron – Falkirk, 1298 - Make it stand out The attack on the left heats up - the Scottish archers are cleared out of their position but the English archers continue to have minimal impact on the Scots. The lone men-at-arms in the east is Retired. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/9f3b76da-b57b-443f-b53c-a4dc9b7861e5/IMG_20220409_222846.jpg Blog - Men of Iron – Falkirk, 1298 - Make it stand out After more turns than I care to admit, the English finally begin breaking apart Wallace’s schiltrons. I will confess that I completely forgot about the Scottish cavalry for basically the whole game so don’t expect any dramatic cavalry rescue! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/e10295a2-1a28-4ab3-b74d-34e22f63e83a/IMG_20220409_223929.jpg Blog - Men of Iron – Falkirk, 1298 - Make it stand out The left Scottish schiltrons are now well and truly broken while Edward I finally brings the bulk of his Battle forward on the right. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/23442068-0e13-4000-a648-441a7b0409ef/IMG_20220409_224337.jpg Blog - Men of Iron – Falkirk, 1298 - Make it stand out The end of the battle - the late arrival of the Scottish cavalry was far too little far too late and the Scots are routed as Edward’s Battle manages to get involved in the action just in time for it to end. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/review-braveheart-solitaire monthly 0.5 2022-09-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/55f33f31-6205-42ce-83c4-cb746148490f/IMG_20220413_140836.jpg Blog - Review - Braveheart: Solitaire by Worthington Publishing - Make it stand out One of my successful Scottish defenses at Falkirk. Stewart and Graham were wiped out, but in exchange for Lincoln, Surrey and Durham. This game featured a lot of English archers, which makes things much harder for the Scots but whether they show up and do anything is pretty random. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/df2892a2-20bf-4cbd-83aa-fe4365a62933/IMG_20220413_140908.jpg Blog - Review - Braveheart: Solitaire by Worthington Publishing - Make it stand out My lone Scottish victory at Bannockburn. This is also the one time I committed the Reserve to the battle instead of using them to resupply other units - I think my good dice rolls made more of a difference to the result than they did, though. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/king-arthur-the-making-of-a-legend monthly 0.5 2022-09-05 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/columbia-block-wargames-review monthly 0.5 2022-10-01 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/009c265b-58f9-4e77-82c7-081d52c26fa1/C+Rex.jpg Blog - Columbia Games’ Card-Driven Block Wargames – An Almost Comprehensive Review - Make it stand out Scotland is inconveniently narrow, I would like to request that geology implement a patch to fix that. On a more serious note, the art on Hammer of the Scots cards is excellent. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/8b7d3984-893d-4db3-9588-73ce460f88ba/C+Rex.jpg Blog - Columbia Games’ Card-Driven Block Wargames – An Almost Comprehensive Review - Make it stand out The layout of Crusader Rex’s map is very interesting and it does a good job of replicating how intertwined the Crusader Stats and their Muslim neighbors were in terms of their position. Attacks could come from anywhere. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/574fea06-e640-499f-a7f1-b6faff45b8c8/C+Rex.jpg Blog - Columbia Games’ Card-Driven Block Wargames – An Almost Comprehensive Review - Make it stand out Julius Caesar’s map of the Mediterranean. This is probably my least favourite of the maps, but I do think it’s quite pretty. On the cards, the number in the top left is how many moves you get, and the number of circles on the banner is how many levies. It’s a great use of graphic design I think. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/a4752b55-447d-4010-ad9c-b7bfc11636e2/C+Rex.jpg Blog - Columbia Games’ Card-Driven Block Wargames – An Almost Comprehensive Review - Make it stand out I am in love with this map, but I have to admit I find the card art a little uninspired. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/623d92b8-6228-4694-bc46-c3ce75b30976/IMG_20220413_172211.jpg Blog - Columbia Games’ Card-Driven Block Wargames – An Almost Comprehensive Review - Make it stand out Currently sitting at the top of my pile for when I can next get some games in with a real life opponent. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/the-battle-of-poitiers-1356-by-david-green monthly 0.5 2022-09-05 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/first-impressions-nevsky monthly 0.5 2022-04-11 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/39407c86-aa63-4781-8392-6a60181314e6/IMG_20220320_232051_1.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Nevsky by GMT Games - Make it stand out The end state of my first game of Nevsky. At the end of the summer campaigning season the Rus managed to just eke out a victory as both sides rampaged each others territory largely unopposed. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/360c3ea1-2465-4a5f-9712-625cc4dd6199/IMG_20220324_215948.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Nevsky by GMT Games - Make it stand out Game 2: The end of the first Levy phase. The Teutonic Knights begin with control of Pskov and the Rus must fight to reclaim their lost territory. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/6263f202-bd0b-4ef1-875f-eb9964129cdc/IMG_20220324_221306.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Nevsky by GMT Games - Make it stand out A lucky event draw for the Rus - chaos in Denmark causes Knud & Abel to leave the board, leaving Danish Estonia unguarded. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/1dd99a3d-fd18-4ebf-acbe-13ad6db7bb22/IMG_20220326_224126.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Nevsky by GMT Games - Make it stand out At the end of Winter and Gavrilo is besieged by the the Teuton Andreas while Valdemar makes an incursion into Danish Estonia. Meanwhile the traitor Yaroslav is making progress south of Novgorod. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/c9efc079-5b65-4c29-9245-37d4dd6e49cb/IMG_20220326_234657.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Nevsky by GMT Games - Make it stand out A revolt in Prussia sends Andreas back to Riga, bringing a premature end to his siege! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/d753459a-d37e-40e3-a36b-acbfe60459b7/IMG_20220328_200039.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Nevsky by GMT Games - Make it stand out With Andreas out of the way Gavrilo moves on Pskov. After Gavrilo begins his siege, the Rudolf van Kessel intercepts and a battle takes place outside the city’s gates. (I later realised that one of these siege markers was illegal and had to backpedal on it, but it had no effect on the game’s eventual result). Meanwhile Valdemar continues to make progress in Estonia - successfully taking his first city. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/714480a7-7614-484c-aa49-35968b60bc81/IMG_20220328_200519.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Nevsky by GMT Games - Make it stand out Despite the superior quality of Rudolf’s troops Gavrilo manages to emerge from the battle victorious thanks to a great string of luck. Unfortunately his forces were significantly diminished in victory, making it impossible for him to storm Pskov. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/b242335b-73e2-492f-aefe-0f8f5373631f/IMG_20220328_222752.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Nevsky by GMT Games - Make it stand out The titular Alexander Nevsky enters the game and rushes to Pskov to help, but Gavrilo leaves after the first storm attempt and Alexander is no more successful despite his superior forces. Meanwhile, Valdemar's service is almost over stalling his invasion. Heinrich sails along the north coast taking ports as he goes and Yaroslav has seized another Rus city. In the end Aelxander’s arrival is too little too late and the Rus are defeated. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/the-hundred-years-war-by-christopher-allmand monthly 0.5 2022-09-05 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/review-shores-of-tripoli monthly 0.5 2022-04-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/2a5e07e4-b487-47c7-92a7-3f65f5afc831/Shores+of+Tripoli.png Blog - Review: The Shores of Tripoli by Fort Circle Games    - Make it stand out The display for The Shores of Tripoli on Rally the Troops. This is from the US perspective at the start of the game - we have summoned Swedish help to Tripoli, which is useful in the early game but comes at a cost later in the game. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/5649f6b7-7e3b-434a-9806-5ca5602aebb7/Shores+of+Tripoli.png Blog - Review: The Shores of Tripoli by Fort Circle Games    - Make it stand out A few turns later. The Algerians, marked in orange, have joined the fight, while the US has built a gunboat in Malta and the Tripolitan corsairs in Gibraltar have broken out and returned to Tripoli. I didn’t actually think to screen cap one of my real games, so these are all examples from me playing myself! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/c8bb1f0d-f206-4b71-ab71-5c4e00607d7e/Shores+of+Tripoli.png Blog - Review: The Shores of Tripoli by Fort Circle Games    - Make it stand out The US has committed Frigates to the waters around Tripoli and successfully intercepted several Tripolitan corsairs during their raid. However they were unable to stop the North Africans from capturing three ships and securing their first three gold of the game! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/70c71861-0a73-4919-8ee5-e6c856d5031a/Shores+of+Tripoli.png Blog - Review: The Shores of Tripoli by Fort Circle Games    - Make it stand out The late game. Tunisia has almost won on gold and is looking strong by having already captured a Frigate even before the US captures Derne. Still, the US ground forces have been assembled and Tunisia doesn’t have too many corsairs left so it could still be anyone’s game! https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/we-the-people-a-personal-retrospective monthly 0.5 2022-03-31 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/9592b8c1-96f1-439f-aa41-1a07ddf13f94/IMG_20220323_152253.jpg Blog - We the People by Mark Herman: A Personal Retrospective - Make it stand out My original copy of We The People - the box is a little worse for the wear over the years but it’s still holding together! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/6ae54c74-1ef5-459a-a4b3-adf64b13e108/IMG_20220323_152359.jpg Blog - We the People by Mark Herman: A Personal Retrospective - Make it stand out The insides of the box of We The People - including tokens, two decks, an assortment of standees, and the rulebooks. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/0799794f-9de2-4be5-9c8a-1fe94697241f/IMG_20220323_152440.jpg Blog - We the People by Mark Herman: A Personal Retrospective - Make it stand out My board has developed this weird ridge along the fold - tragically making my hometown almost impossible to place tokens on. Still working out how best to fix that. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/0f409075-038f-4723-ae7e-0ced4e9bcad5/IMG_20220323_152641.jpg Blog - We the People by Mark Herman: A Personal Retrospective - Make it stand out Some sample Strategy Cards from the deck. This game is how I learned about Baron von Steuben, who has gone on to be one of my favourite figures of the American Revolution. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/e64ab2ec-ba06-4a78-aaf0-e88be371cb12/IMG_20220323_152728.jpg Blog - We the People by Mark Herman: A Personal Retrospective - Make it stand out The Battle Deck and some sample cards - I wish I could say these brought back vivid memories of how the combat played but honestly I all it stirred was vague memories of really liking the Double Envelopment card… https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/7047489e-c777-408d-a3a0-c2e263143c5c/IMG_20220323_152924.jpg Blog - We the People by Mark Herman: A Personal Retrospective - Make it stand out We The People even inspired my first documented attempts at game design. Mark Herman is more than welcome to incorporate any of these cards into the next printing of Washington’s War should he wish to do so. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/first-impressions-infidel-arsuf-1191 monthly 0.5 2022-04-11 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/2af3c7f9-233f-4bd3-b208-8542ba8974c1/IMG_20220319_225218.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Infidel – Arsuf 1191 - Make it stand out The Crusader army enters the plains of Arsuf to find Saladin’s army arrayed for battle. Apologies in advance, the lighting in this room was not very conducive to good photography so there will be some glare, and some weird angles as I try and avoid too much glare! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/8244723a-71fb-47c9-bd86-b75cd31464fe/IMG_20220320_000017.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Infidel – Arsuf 1191 - Make it stand out The horse archers have closed in to harry the Crusader army with missile fire, one crusader is Retired but the rest have held their formation so far. In the distance another section of Saladin’s army has moved forward to try and cut them off further down the road. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/608b224a-e364-488b-8950-3d09d87872e0/IMG_20220320_002351.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Infidel – Arsuf 1191 - Make it stand out The crusaders break formation early to charge into Saladin’s horse archers. Several knights get a little over-eager in their attack. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/855d8035-9ff3-4341-b481-e72a36e4327b/IMG_20220320_004944.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Infidel – Arsuf 1191 - Make it stand out Saladin calls his cavalry back, restoring order to their formation and leaving the Crusader line somewhat overextended. Saladin’s heavy cavalry also begins to move forward to engage. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/8e12d04d-65ec-4557-91cb-e4627f579137/IMG_20220320_010145.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Infidel – Arsuf 1191 - Make it stand out The Crusaders push on their attack, but many elements of the army end up out of formation as a result. Meanwhile the Ayyubid heavy cavalry get entangled in the fight, but with underwhelming results. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/3d4ad397-b359-491c-a997-37c1e4844fa1/IMG_20220320_012455.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Infidel – Arsuf 1191 - Make it stand out Richard I gets into the thick of things for himself, while the Crusader army tries to put its formation back together in the face of the Ayyubid counter attack. However, while they effectively inflict chaos on the Crusaders, the Ayyubids have little success actually killing or retiring Crusader troops. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/87a331fe-ae5c-4d47-b347-fa4c5c572ebc/IMG_20220320_013843.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Infidel – Arsuf 1191 - Make it stand out The Ayyubid attack falters as the Crusaders reform their lines - but Richard I gets a little too eager and charges deep into Ayyubid lines. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/1f37266a-ad6d-41c0-b94b-c173dd3a64a3/IMG_20220320_014751.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Infidel – Arsuf 1191 - Make it stand out Richard I is victorious - he drives Saladin from the field and can continue his march to Jaffa - once he gets his army back into formation that is! https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/the-agincourt-retinues-of-the-dukes monthly 0.5 2022-09-05 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/learning-pendragon monthly 0.5 2022-03-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/5a513253-b980-4fe4-b916-337481d16ec1/IMG_20220312_222234.jpg Blog - Learning My First COIN: Pendragon from GMT Games - Make it stand out The game a few turns in - normally I try to give a blow by blow of the game but there’s so much happening and I was struggling to keep up with it! Also apologies of components move around or are in the wrong place - I made some mistakes! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/03de8c58-e788-49ca-856a-ac78f6db1117/IMG_20220312_224807.jpg Blog - Learning My First COIN: Pendragon from GMT Games - Make it stand out The board before resolving the First Epoch - this marks the end of my hand holding at the point from which I must start off on my own! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/290e603f-d56c-4cec-abe4-27c698f457fe/IMG_20220313_170057.jpg Blog - Learning My First COIN: Pendragon from GMT Games - Make it stand out I waited until a new day had dawned before tackling Pendragon on my own. An early event let the Scotti build a settlement in north Wales while the Saxons are raiding in the east of England. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/a4abc447-e84f-4593-be71-430b5d7ccd11/IMG_20220313_172227.jpg Blog - Learning My First COIN: Pendragon from GMT Games - Make it stand out Scotti set up another settlement in the north while the Saxons push deeper into the midlands, destroying a Dux fort thanks to an Event. Despite their incursions the Dux position remains strong. Not shown: the Dux have spent most of the Roman resources, depriving the Civitates of a lot of their actions. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/22c90bd8-58c4-436a-a897-f46f3a6cbb4d/IMG_20220313_203915.jpg Blog - Learning My First COIN: Pendragon from GMT Games - Make it stand out Barbarian incursions continue in force - Scotti have made an incursion into Cornwall and the Saxons have claimed some territory. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/dfa01659-d2a0-4bda-bdd3-f195f80412b0/IMG_20220313_210038.jpg Blog - Learning My First COIN: Pendragon from GMT Games - Make it stand out End of the second Epoch. Both Scotti and Saxons have made initial settlements on the island, but there is sufficient untouched prosperity to deliver a Dux victory since this is the final Epoch of my learning game. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/murder-during-the-hundred-years-war-review monthly 0.5 2022-09-05 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/first-impressions-richard-iii-by-columbia-games monthly 0.5 2022-10-01 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/0f134c88-050b-49ed-b610-6795a5aabc80/IMG_20220306_084159.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Richard III by Columbia Games - Make it stand out A peaceful and lovely England with no strife to be seen, sure would be a shame for a royal pretender to come along and mess things up. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/bd1cda4f-5a96-4c22-81ae-2626ab238b25/IMG_20220306_091515.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Richard III by Columbia Games - Make it stand out The Yorkist invasion begins, delivering some swift victories to the Pretender. Two heirs from House Lancaster flee to Scotland by sea after having been severely injured in the initial fighting. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/ea821c2a-09ef-4fa0-8e0f-6be3ba0934ff/IMG_20220306_092846.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Richard III by Columbia Games - Make it stand out The Lancasters consolidate their forces, surrendering the south of England to the Yorkist invaders. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/4a1c175c-1dd0-465d-9e39-f9fc1e85adac/IMG_20220306_093635.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Richard III by Columbia Games - Make it stand out Opening of the second Campaign, despite a strong initial Yorkist attack Henry VI remains king. The Yorkist pretenders had to return to exile, but several nobles loyal to them remained at their home provinces in England. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/1d3b0cf2-18ce-446f-ae1d-d2cdf494b294/IMG_20220306_094524.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Richard III by Columbia Games - Make it stand out A second Yorkist invasion leads to a swift and crushing defeat for the few forces defending the southern coast. Lancaster consolidates its forces in the midlands. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/222b906b-6d3e-44c4-a44b-565dc9a90022/IMG_20220306_095140.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Richard III by Columbia Games - Make it stand out The House of Lancaster will not let this invasion stand and moves its armies south to confront the York invaders. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/f58db565-9744-48a4-b1f4-51b6521c9d58/IMG_20220306_100027.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Richard III by Columbia Games - Make it stand out Aftermath of the first battle, Lancaster seizes the south east but York forces are still in the region in strength. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/21843b4c-8c4c-460f-89e8-18810faceda8/IMG_20220306_100950.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Richard III by Columbia Games - Make it stand out York has relocated to the south west, and their newly consolidated army delivers a crushing defeat to Henry VI and his forces. Now the king is on very precarious footing and quite close to a hostile York army.. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/f394977d-b1e1-4c30-ae68-656cdc870e51/IMG_20220306_101730.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Richard III by Columbia Games - Make it stand out The Yorkists have killed the king! Henry VI is no more! In better news for the House of Lancaster, Yorkist power in eastern England has crumbled in the face of their onslaught. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/137fe80f-56d8-4eed-ba41-5c686bc89039/IMG_20220306_102131.jpg Blog - First Impressions: Richard III by Columbia Games - Make it stand out Despite killing the king the House of York is unable to claim a majority of the barons of the realm - the House of Lancaster retains the throne. All hail King Edward IV of Lancaster! https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/men-of-iron-battle-of-poitiers monthly 0.5 2023-04-14 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/9c0765ba-a4c7-43ea-9ba0-bea3f866598b/IMG_20220303_223033.jpg Blog - Men of Iron pt. 3: The Battle of Poitiers, 1356 - Make it stand out Peace negotiations have failed, the armies have lined up for battle. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/c377f2da-38d9-407f-90ac-fe2015e1a3e2/IMG_20220304_204039.jpg Blog - Men of Iron pt. 3: The Battle of Poitiers, 1356 - Make it stand out Audrehem and Clermont’s units lead a surprisingly effective reckless charge into the English lines while the rest of their Battle moves towards a flanking attack on the English right. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/2195c29a-2619-4387-9ec6-57c15cd106ac/IMG_20220304_213551.jpg Blog - Men of Iron pt. 3: The Battle of Poitiers, 1356 - Make it stand out Audrehem and Clermont’s initial success is fleeting - one is killed the other retires to the standard and the English close their lines again. Meanwhile the French vanguard continues to move to the English right flank. Unlike their historical counterparts, they did not dismount making the movement much faster. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/d397c662-fae0-4a4c-b3a2-689dfb82b5b5/IMG_20220304_214424.jpg Blog - Men of Iron pt. 3: The Battle of Poitiers, 1356 - Make it stand out The French flanking attack begins with remarkable success thanks to some effective crossbow fire and lucky charge attack rolls. Several French Men-At-Arms are disorganised as a result of the attack, but they have crossed the hedges and ditch in several places. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/75451c45-fd66-4c95-868f-563a7f9eb64b/IMG_20220304_214935.jpg Blog - Men of Iron pt. 3: The Battle of Poitiers, 1356 - Make it stand out The Black Prince leads a successful counter charge, pushing the French back and forcing several men-at-arms to retire to their standard. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/e5e604cd-e725-41bc-bc90-36f7bb3f91d5/IMG_20220304_220539.jpg Blog - Men of Iron pt. 3: The Battle of Poitiers, 1356 - Make it stand out France’s second Battle, lead by the Dauphin, engages with the English line with some effect. Meanwhile the crossbowmen on the right flank pepper the English with shots and force several of them back. At the very back, some lucky Continuation rolls let Orleans’ Battle move forward and out of the way in case Jean II needs to get involved. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/62f21d5d-607c-4900-9970-e6f9145cad18/IMG_20220304_221605.jpg Blog - Men of Iron pt. 3: The Battle of Poitiers, 1356 - Make it stand out The Dauphin’s attack falters in the center but he consolidates his position along what was the right end of the English lines. English longbowmen begin to encircle the French position on the left while dismounted Hobilars bring their crossbows to bear on the French right flank. The number of Retired French units around the standards grows. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/dce0bd69-edc8-4240-8add-0227d7a27d80/IMG_20220304_224129.jpg Blog - Men of Iron pt. 3: The Battle of Poitiers, 1356 - Make it stand out The French redouble their attack in the centre, eliminating several English archers in the process and making significant gains. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/0120de67-dab5-4510-8c78-112970352316/IMG_20220304_225613.jpg Blog - Men of Iron pt. 3: The Battle of Poitiers, 1356 - Make it stand out The French begin pushing through the centre and manage to turn the right flank. The English archers continue to envelope the French left flank. The hedges are now thoroughly trampled along the centre of the battle. The English are forced to Rally their few Retired units. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/6f77fd55-2dbc-46bd-95bc-557722df64d7/IMG_20220304_231311.jpg Blog - Men of Iron pt. 3: The Battle of Poitiers, 1356 - Make it stand out The English archers have now fully encircled the Dauphin’s left flank but the French attack in the centre continues unabated. The attack on the right has stalled somewhat but the French have numerical superiority. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/5fc96ef6-ba19-4cae-8b20-b87f8b80c387/IMG_20220304_231619.jpg Blog - Men of Iron pt. 3: The Battle of Poitiers, 1356 - Make it stand out A final French push in the centre and on the right flank causes several more English units to Retire, resulting in the English breaking and fleeing the field. Victory of France, victory for Jean le Bon and the Dauphin! https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/when-montezuma-met-cortes monthly 0.5 2022-09-05 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/men-of-iron-courtrai-1302 monthly 0.5 2022-03-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/c393b519-8a62-4994-9689-4a9fb11244b2/IMG_20220227_204858.jpg Blog - Men of Iron Round 2: Courtrai 1302 - Make it stand out The calm before the storm. The French are about to begin their attack. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/7385c1dc-ae4c-465d-a535-ba5d00e160e6/IMG_20220227_214512.jpg Blog - Men of Iron Round 2: Courtrai 1302 - Make it stand out The initial French attack meets fierce resistance. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/e79ca980-c889-4b63-b9a8-14359e8e42da/IMG_20220227_215836.jpg Blog - Men of Iron Round 2: Courtrai 1302 - Make it stand out The Flemings push back, but Guy of Namur gets a little overeager and pushes his attack over the river. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/6022d7ff-5112-4f12-9622-6375d34a065b/IMG_20220228_211540.jpg Blog - Men of Iron Round 2: Courtrai 1302 - Make it stand out French mounted men-at-arms cross the river en masse to fight in the ditches. One unit of Fleming pikemen are forced to retire back to the standard. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/7c6aa149-7214-4527-8d3a-a3f947b53713/IMG_20220228_213627.jpg Blog - Men of Iron Round 2: Courtrai 1302 - Make it stand out The Flemish counterattack is swift and brutal, several French mounted men-at-arms have either retired to the standard or been killed. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/7493a3e8-ce53-4287-9be5-d6b6d3252a91/IMG_20220301_230423.jpg Blog - Men of Iron Round 2: Courtrai 1302 - Make it stand out The Flemish have crossed the river to the north and turned the French flank. Meanwhile in the middle of the fighting Raoul de Nesle is killed by the Flemish crossbowmen and a replacement is promoted in his place. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/6105b43e-df8b-495b-ab60-db19dea79f4f/IMG_20220301_230827.jpg Blog - Men of Iron Round 2: Courtrai 1302 - Make it stand out The French refocus their attack along the southern front, successfully fighting their way across the river - but only barely! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/875d9cf4-4a10-4e1c-8bb9-9b791c2e2f7d/IMG_20220301_232835.jpg Blog - Men of Iron Round 2: Courtrai 1302 - Make it stand out Flemish pikemen continue to push down the right flank, engaging with recently rallied French men-at-arms. The Left flank is hotly contested, with the Flemish overall commander joining the fray. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/3d324728-2c08-460a-8213-fb1c4699f625/IMG_20220301_233031.jpg Blog - Men of Iron Round 2: Courtrai 1302 - Make it stand out Flemish victory - French casualties are too high and they flee the field. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/edmund-in-search-of-englands-lost-king monthly 0.5 2022-09-05 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/men-of-iron-agincourt-1415 monthly 0.5 2022-08-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/d08b7044-4e38-480a-b6ce-93c0e70fbcb4/IMG_20220223_173536.jpg Blog - Men of Iron First Impressions: Agincourt 1415 - Make it stand out Agincourt before hostilities begin, the French are to move first. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/2d9e773c-01ae-4e7e-968a-8c5129b39f9e/IMG_20220223_210418.jpg Blog - Men of Iron First Impressions: Agincourt 1415 - Make it stand out End of French Turn 1. Orleans’ Battle has advanced to position itself for the charge while some good Continuation Rolls have allowed the archers and third Battle to advance into better positions. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/fe52123a-b2e2-4589-b785-5aa0ba1ad9b3/IMG_20220223_214120.jpg Blog - Men of Iron First Impressions: Agincourt 1415 - Make it stand out End of French Turn 2. The English spent their turn taking pot shots at the French line to disappointing effect. They fared slightly better with their response when the French advanced into melee, but good dice still allowed the French to displace two of Henry’s men-at-arms (but not the king himself). Orleans suffered significant casualties, but he has pushed his enemy back from their defensive position. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/2b4c1ebc-24ce-4747-a3ea-050fd947e9a9/IMG_20220223_220124.jpg Blog - Men of Iron First Impressions: Agincourt 1415 - Make it stand out The English manage to mostly retake their left flank, but things deteriorate significantly on the right and in the centre as withering crossbow and arrow fire pushes Henry V back to his standard. Orleans’ Battle is much diminished, but the English position is breaking. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/ef478d87-926c-4a41-8ec9-687b78a34db6/IMG_20220223_221506.jpg Blog - Men of Iron First Impressions: Agincourt 1415 - Make it stand out The English left flank has buckled under concentrated French power (and amazing French dice rolling), the defensive position is overrun. Henry V made one last effort to rally but there’s only so much he can do on his own. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/f99d321d-0fb7-4a7b-b89b-5c742e90b5c3/IMG_20220223_222345.jpg Blog - Men of Iron First Impressions: Agincourt 1415 - Make it stand out The Genoese take Richard’s wagon, having driven him from the field, for a win. The die shows the successful Continuation roll that made it possible! https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/peacemaking-in-the-middle-ages monthly 0.5 2022-09-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/8f32f8a8-e7b7-46dc-925d-08293ab20da1/IMG_20220222_170635.jpg Blog - Peacemaking in the Middle Ages: Principles and Practice by Jenny Benham (Manchester University Press, 2010) - Make it stand out It also has a gorgeous cover https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/blood-royal monthly 0.5 2022-09-05 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/review-game-wizards-the-epic-battle-for-dungeons-and-dragons-by-jon-peterson-mit-press-2021 monthly 0.5 2025-07-11 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/category/Wargame monthly 0.5 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/category/Move+On+Your+Works monthly 0.5 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/category/American+Civil+War monthly 0.5 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/category/Tier+List monthly 0.5 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monthly 0.5 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/tag/Eurogames monthly 0.5 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/tag/Wargame+Review monthly 0.5 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/tag/Jeremy+White monthly 0.5 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/tag/Compass+Games monthly 0.5 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/tag/Las+Navas+de+Tolosa monthly 0.5 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/tag/Mexico monthly 0.5 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/tag/Victory+Games monthly 0.5 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/tag/Sengoku+Jidai monthly 0.5 https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/landing-page daily 1.0 2025-06-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/1644777658780-MM36A4IWGFE3KHJ9Q30N/DSCF1326.JPG Home https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/1c1d63b4-f129-4a37-ae9d-36bf64d3ce47/54613.jpg Home - New book! Castillon: The Last Battle of the Hundred Years War covers the origins of the Hundred Years War, the Edwardian and Lancastrian phases of the war, the Military Revolution of the fourteenth century and Charles VII’s radical restructuring of the French military in the fifteenth century, as well as a detailed study of the battle and how we can know what happened on that day in Gascony. It is far reaching and comprehensive in how it analyses this key battle and will give readers a substantial understanding in not just Castillon but in late medieval Anglo-French warfare in general. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/bba3923b-7499-48a7-813c-6f844f50201d/Stu+Book.jpg Home - If crossbows are more your thing: The Medieval Crossbow is a new history of medieval Europe’s famous weapon. It is an excellent introduction to the topic for anyone new to the study of medieval weapons while also filling a much needed hole in the available scholarship. It examines the technical history and development of the crossbow as well as exploring how the crossbow was used in famous battles, medieval sports, and in popular memory. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/the-author daily 0.75 2023-04-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/1644784770611-4Q8YK4D2YILLJKEI8U7L/Battle+of+Sluys300.jpeg The Author https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/0366878b-8ed3-4d32-863e-344e1bed5217/Stu+Crossbow.jpg The Author - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/contact-me daily 0.75 2022-03-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/1645700927314-PNSY1X6APFQ0598MZALL/Letter_patent_of_nobility_for_J%C3%A1nos_Hunyadi_from_Ladislaus_V.jpg Contact Me https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/guest daily 0.75 2025-06-19 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/1658580219450-A6AN42BHYVIPI76C84ZQ/Morgan+Library+MS+M.638+fol.10v.jpg Guest Appearances https://www.stuartellisgorman.com/editor daily 0.75 2025-06-19 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620919b2fcf26676329427ee/1704712426202-RFUBM2VDTCKF8I2L0DW3/Tavernier_Jean_Mielot.jpg Editor