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War by Sail
by Mike D. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 07/16/2024 20:38:56

I actually bought this in the fall of 2019. I played it a lot at that time and then set aside for other gaming interests. I recently decided to pull it out again and dust it off for my current gaming group to try.

I pulled up the game on Wargame Vault to see if there were any updates or errata and saw the review by William K which I read and totally agree with. Now I would like to add a couple of thoughts of my own.

This is a game that has simplified movement and combat that probably would not satisfy a gamer who is looking to duplicate the minutia and details of sailing and fighting a single ship of that period. However if you are looking to recreate some of the fleet actions of that time then look no further. I should add that I have fought more than a couple of small actions with small numbers of ships per side and enjoyed them all.

The main point that I wanted to make is that this is a excellent game to play with players who do not know the rules. The mechanics of moving and combat are a I go-you go format. This allows the person who knows the rules to assist the ones who don't as they are not busy doing their own thing at the same time. This makes for great convention game or introducing it to your gaming group or store.

I just reread the review by William and would like to add that if your create ships sheets you can eliminate all the charts but the Damage Chart and all the chits but the UNLOADED.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
War by Sail
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Boocoo Fire Mission - Vietnam Wargame
by Patrick C. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 03/15/2023 17:04:27

Boocoo Fire Missions is an interesting game. It has all the chrome and feel you would expect from a VN wargame. Nine (!) different Allied army lists, covering different periods of the war, ARVN, various sorts of US Army, Marines and ANZACs. Three VN lists, VC and NVA of different time periods.

This is a game where 1 base = 1 squad, or vehicle/helo. A platoon will have a HQ, and 2-3 squads. Turns are activation based. Activations are alternated, and interestingly, a unit can do multiple things, if you want to use up the APs that way.

The is air strikes and helos, tanks and APVs, so you can do pretty much anything that happened. They even have the ONTOS :)

Morale is handled by troop quality, with better troops being able to make skill checks more easily. This lets them do things (or avoid bad things) more easily.

An interesting and unique feature is "terrain points" You can have one platoon max at each TP. Units can hide there, move from a TP to another TP. Usually it's Charlie using the TP, but it would make sense for Allied special units to use them in some cases (like a raid on the HCM trail). Some aspects of TP are not as well described as one might wish. Specifically "reveal" vs detected. A revealed unit is NOT detected, even if you have LOS to it. You need to detect it as normal.

If you are fired on from a TP you know the fire is coming from the TP, BUT the units are not detected. It's easier to detect a unit that is firing on you, but not certain.

Combat is pretty easy, you fire by squad, most use one D6, and a whole platoon can shoot at one target, if you have the AP for it.

It helpfully comes with several QRS for INF actions, TP and skill checks. The play is quick, and pretty easy.

I would suggest that you places the forces close if you have a lot of Jungle on the table - movement is 4"/ turn. Lots of boring movement if they are far apart!



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Boocoo Fire Mission - Vietnam Wargame
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Missile Threat (Modern Air Combat)
by Lorne F. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 01/10/2023 06:40:49

The SHORT version: Ticked most of my air combat gaming boxes, so yes, I'd rate it as a good buy.

I'd thoroughly recommend this game for some exciting modern aerial action. If you want to get a look at the general feel of the game before parting with your currency, you should have a look at the demo play video on the product page here on Wargame Vault. That should tell you at a glance whether this is the type of air combat game you want to investigate further. The game is designed to be played with miniatures on a 6' x 4' (approximately 1.8m x 1.2m) table and use a 4" (10cm) wide protactor to measure turning, but if you prefer using your old war-game counters or have less space, you could easily adapt it to a smaller playing area, measure in centimetres, and use a smaller protractor or make your own scaled-down turning key.

The LONG version:

The rulebook itself is comprised of a large number of aircraft and ordnance lists allowing you to play any missile-age air to air, and air to surface, missions, from the 1960s to the 2000s and beyond. The rules occupy a small part of the rulebook. They are tightly, efficiently written rules that in the main I found easy to comprehend and implement in play. Those few exceptions were probably as much to do with me being biased or coloured by experience with other air combat games and doing things by habit or rote rather than as-written in this book, and easily sorted once I realised the error. The rulebook is basically no-frills, no-nonsense. It isn't overloaded with fancy drawings and pictures; it's efficient, big print, easy to read, and has a few interesting photos and diagrams, but is certainly minimalist in this sense. All around, for someone sick of wasting printer toner on tons of unnecessary art and black chunks of diagram, and whose ageing eyes struggle with tiny print in many rules sets, this was a wonderful change. On the subject of print-friendly, the rulebook and supplements when purchased should come with a background-free printer friendly edition as well as the main edition; if this is NOT the case contact the publisher or author and they'll fire off a copy of the relevant file with the background removed.

The game will NOT appeal to simulation buffs who enjoy simulation- or physics- heavy gaming (I don't mind games like that, but I can go either way; those of you who insist on accurate physics and simulation mechanics will be disappointed by Missile Threat). For those who prefer a less crunchy (and much faster to play) game, or who can straddle both sides of the fence, Missile Threat offers some interesting mechanics. Firstly is the notion of a mandatory straight move before anything else; while this is completely not realistic in many ways, it has the effect of constantly changing relative positions and making the player's job of keeping track of situational awareness quite difficult. Following this is an action phase where each aircraft can execute two actions. These are things like turning, making a special manoeuvre, making an attack, or certain other actions. This is where the manoeuvring for position, the launching of missiles, and the cannon attacks take place. Many aspects of the aircraft performance are abstracted and not 'real world' in physics, but in the sense of giving a sense of constantly evolving relative positions, losing track of something or being out of place (or fortunately lined up just so, if you're lucky or have planned well), the game felt more true to some of the things I've read by jet pilots, than the simulation heavy games I've played previously.

Various movement scales - infantry, naval, air - are incorporated into a system that has no relative real-world bearing on one another, but that achieves its aim of modelling a rapidly changing and evolving combat situation. If you're interested in the outcome, rather than the process, and can suspend disbelief at the 'physical abstractions' taken with movement and so on, this is nothing to concern yourself with. That infantry unit moved half as fast as my fighter? WHAT? Well, this game isn't a simulation; simply view it as 'that infantry unit isn't where I thought it was' as you lose some situational awareness. Easy. If that sort of thing doesn't work for you, then don't play this game, as you won't like it. If you're okay with that sort of thing or are willing to chance it, I suggest you try the game.

Differences between aircraft radar ranges, ECM effects, turning ability, pilot ability, and weapon systems are modelled in the game, and are all critical components in tipping the odds of winning or losing, although player decision and choice in the game is by no means overshadowed by the statistics or the dice. I felt that the aircraft were easy to fly, the weapon systems fairly easy to figure out, and that the hardest part was deciding on what to do and when to do it. Better quality pilots go first in this system, allowing them to position themselves and attack first, but it also means that they can be disadvantaged as a poorer quality pilot can react to their move and come after them. This just encourages you to make sure your good quality pilots don't make rookie moves like getting target fixated to their detriment, or positioning themselves so that they can cover the planned move of a friendly pilot who moves later in the turn, to ensure nothing slips in behind them later. Fire-as-you-move, rather than a distinct 'combat phase' where everything happens simultaneously after movement, is the order of the day. This has both advantages and disadvantages, but does avoid any questions of having to note who moved and when and who has fired or not in a given turn.

The author provides a points system which, after two played games, appears to be well balanced, with forces of roughly equal points value feeling like a 'roughly even' fight. There is a victory system to determine the winner of each mission, and even an annex showing the costing method used so you can convert statistics from aircraft books or Wikipedia or some other source, into game stats and the appropriate points cost for balance.

Missile Threat is simple, but not so simple that it's simply a dice 'luck' game; it's easy to play, but not so simple that tactics, deployment and player decisions aren't vital to the outcome; it models major differences between aircraft, but probably won't model the difference between two minor upgrades of a given weapon, radar or aircraft; it takes a short time to play (depending upon how many aircraft you want to use, of course) but is still lengthy enough that it engages you and makes you care about the outcome.

All around, it satisfied most of my air combat urges (except the detail-crazy simulation buff that still lurks within).

For those who prefer solo war-gaming, there are (separately available) supplements covering solo rules and a mercenary campaign, and (by a different author but same publisher), an advanced solo campaign. I have purchased these, but have yet to try them out.

I am not, other than as a customer, affiliated in any way with Ostfront, or game author Tim Jensen, and was not offered any incentives to write this review.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Missile Threat (Modern Air Combat)
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Lacquered Coffins (WW2 Air Combat)
by Terrance G. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 03/08/2022 02:18:39
  • Great set of rules that can be picked up easily by anyone.
  • Has a great amount of plane data in the PDF.
  • Very customizable for scenario play
  • Easy but hard to master
  • Works great on a 4 x 4 or 6 x 4 foot table
  • standardised bases of 40cm x 40cm for all planes
  • works well in big scale and small scale conflicts

However, I do find the activation system a bit one sided if you get to go first. In our gaming group we tried using alternate activations with mandatory moves happening first on both sides. (Potential to avoid collisions as well) And for manouvering we had alternate activations as well (Unless you have a better pilot on the other side then you would go first)

Overall I think its one of my favourite set of Air combat rules that doesnt overcomplicate or oversimplify things, and you can get a couple of games in in a day depending on scenarios.

Recommended!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Lacquered Coffins (WW2 Air Combat)
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War by Sail
by William K. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 05/13/2020 16:27:17

I've played through several games and really enjoy how easy it is to pick up. The system flows pretty well and you generally don't need to consult the rulebook. It covers so many eras and things do feel fairly historical when playing. This is one of the very few sailing games that uses firing arcs which I really like. Many sail games have tons of complications and this one keeps things pretty straightforward thanks to the wind and turn aid
Pros
Has simple and effective sailing rules that incorporate wind. Has firing arcs. Has generic ships
The fire ships threat means large ships need small escorts or they have to waste their barrage on a tiny fire ship
The activation system works well
Bases work almost perfectly with 1/1200, and can possibly accommodate an even larger scale
Models and general components are super inexpensive as with all Ostfront games. Some games you will spend hundreds on just acquiring a handful of ships, but being able to buy your models from anywhere means you can have humongous fleets for very little money. My Man o' Wars were about $4 each from Navwar
The ruleset is modern unlike almost all sail games that use tons of charts and rules
Cons
Lots of tokens, but most aren't needed anyway so I get away with using about 5 different colored vase gems to get the job done
You need to reference a weapon chart, ship stats chart, and damage chart when firing. This can be worked around if you write down these stats on a separate page
You can choose to fire on the uproll or downroll which is nice, but firing on the downroll means you will never hit sails, which does not perfectly replicate the randomness of cannon
Final Thoughts
This game really condenses sail battles into something fun and manageable. I cannot find another system that even comes close to achieving this and I would recommend it to anyone interested in Age of Sail gaming. There is an example game on youtube for a good preview of the mechanics



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
War by Sail
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Gladus Hereticus
by Ian J. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 05/01/2019 09:03:11

The most important part of a solo game is choice. What choices as a player do we have? Are they meaningful? Let me run through Gladus Hereticus (GH).

Character creation: Completely random. You might start with terrible stats and several potions of cure disease.

Starting the game: randomly determine where you are and if you encounter anything.

Finally we have some decisions to make: During an encounter you can choose which enemy to attack (if more than 1), to use an item, or run away. Your attacks and your enemies are resolved randomly. You can choose which statistic to use to attack (between Strength and Dexterity, but will usually be obvious until you get injured). You get 1 action, then each enemy attacks you, and then you get to choose to attack, run, or use an item. Repeat until you or they are dead, or you escape.

Outside of combat you can use items freely. You can also choose to move (drawing a random new location) or rest in the same location.

Most of these choices are pretty minor and dependant on random results. Fights are basically on auto-pilot: Hit you, hit me, hit you, hit me.

The goal of the game is to find 10 specific items. Note that finding items is random, and the item you get is random.

Let me tell you about my first experience because I think it is illustrative. I started with a suit of powerful magical armour (13) and decent stats. I proceeded to wander a few locations before finding a Forgotten Arboretum. There I hunkered down, resting and punching the occasional monster to death. I ran through the deck over and over slowly building up experience and finding items. Only a few locations offered a better chance for loot and came with a much higher chance of encounters. It was better to remain where I was, flipping cards as I was just as likely to find items as encounter monsters. Between each fight I could usually rest several times, more than enough to completely heal. There was no incentive to go anywhere else, and then I stopped playing. Using this strategy I could probably eventually win as my armour was so strong I would only ever lose a few points of stats at a time.

On those occasions when I did lose stats it was a headache randomly determining which stat was harmed and then determining if a modifier changed. It's fiddly and awkward.

The degree of randomness hurts this game Your stats are random, but when you level up you can raise a stat by 1. This is a very small gain, and levelling can take a long time. So you can try and kill enough monsters to get you stats in shape or start again and get a better character.

Damage is randomly assigned to 1 of your 3 stats in a fiddly bit that I found annoying to keep referring to.

You have a low chance of finding a random item. You need 10 of the rarest item to win the game. How long does this take? Actually if you find the Forgotten Crypt you get all the loot forever because the game is broken!

Flip a card for an enemy attack. Flip a card to see which stat takes damage. Flip a card to see if you are poisoned. Flip a card to see how much damage poison does to you or if it goes away. It's a lot of turning cards and doing simple mental math between each actual decision.

Broken Rules and Missing Details Staying in 1 place to rest is allowed in the rules, and nothing compels you to leave. Thus when you reach the Forgotten Crypt you rest there until you find everything you need. I get the impression you are supposed to move all the time, but the ability to rest and still find items means realistically you should get to the best place to rest and also find items or fight monsters and remain there until you are geared up/levelled.

I also think the designer needed to specify that your starting stats are maximums. The way it is worded I initially thought I could rest and raise my stats above my starting value, as though my character began the game injured. I soon thought better of it, but I do wonder if there is a maximum, as you can potentially find unlimited strength potions. Can strength reach 16 or higher? Do you get bonus damage at such levels?

The experience table only gives experience values for monsters in the Smoldering City. Are the more dangerous monsters in the Necropolis giving the same experience for the same number value?

In the Flickering Vault there is no result for King. Is it Loot or a monster?

Once you have all 10 pieces of the Decahedron Device you have to fight a bunch of monsters in the "next area." You redraw if you only encounter 1 or less monsters, so if you end up in the Decrepit Study you redraw forever because you CAN'T encounter more than 1 monster.

Also the amount of items you can carry is based on your strength. It's entirely possible to be unable to carry 10 items, and thus be unable to carry 10 Decahedron Devices without grinding up levels and Strength Potions which can only be found as random loot.

If you are injured and your Strength drops must you drop items? If so, and you stay in the same location, can you recover them when your strength is restored?

So your stats are based on a card draw. That card draw get's translated into a number. Your actual modifier is listed in a table by card. So if you start with 10 Dex and gain 1 more Dex you now have 11 Dex which is equivalent to a Jack which is equivalent to +1. It's a needlessly complicated set of tables that could have all been combined and more easily read using Stat numbers. THEN the amount of equipment you can carry is based on STR modifier. So conceivably to determine how many items I could carry I would check the my Strength #, convert to Card value, check the table for the modifier, then compare the modifier to the Equipment Carried Table.

The Magical Jezzail ignores armour but not magic armour. I'm assuming the Fire Staff and Alchemical Grenade ignore armour (even magical) as their entries do not specify they don't.

The healing potion from the Necropolis is different from the one from the Smoldering City. The one from the Necropolis heals all your stats the value of a card draw, while the one from the Smoldering City only heals 1 stat. Are they supposed to be different? Why aren't they named differently? If they are supposed to be the same, which description is correct?

Can a monster with disease give you multiple diseases in a single encounter? Do you apply the -1 to the stat immediately? What if the stat is damaged, does it reduce your current stat as well?

When you flee an area with 2 or more monsters and get attacked once how do you determine which monster attacks? Is it random, or the strongest monster?

Summation Random, random, random with rules that need a few more edits by the designer. There is some amusement to be had from this game, and I think the broken/fiddly bits could be fixed. You need a reason to move; a ticking clock element. The randomness needs to be toned down to accomodate the ticking clock (especially the starting conditions). There needs to be more meaningful choices for the player to make. As is I feel like I'm passively turning over cards and constantly checking tables. Regardless of starting gear the winning strategy would be the same: get to a relatively safe place and rest, fighting 1 or 2 enemies at a time, heal between fights and gather gear.



Rating:
[2 of 5 Stars!]
Gladus Hereticus
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Position (Air Combat for the Whole Family)
by Marco C. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 03/31/2017 12:47:28

Game too simplistic and too similar to the wing of war



Rating:
[2 of 5 Stars!]
Position (Air Combat for the Whole Family)
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