Fighting Formations

Hello, all!  Lately, I've had a bit of downtime from work and getting my fill of hex and counter war gaming again.   Between 'Combat Commander: Europe', and the beautifully produced second edition of 'Conflict of Heroes: Awakening the Bear!', I must say I've been spoiled with some amazing World War II-era games.

I've recently had the pleasure of playing Chad Jensen's 'Fighting Formations' from GMT games and want to tell you a little bit about it.  Jensen has already made a name for himself with his excellent 'Combat Commander' series and his euro / wargame hybrid, 'Dominant Species' so when it was announced that he had another tactical wargame in the works, it got TONS of buzz.

For years, many people who played 'Combat Commander' have been impressed with its tight gameplay, crystal clear rules and cinematic experience.  Occasionally, you'd hear someone say, "I wish it had tanks!!".

Well, I'm here to tell you that 'Fighting Formations' has many of 'Combat Commander's' strengths.  And it has tanks. LOTS of them!

I want to back up a bit and talk about the beating heart of 'Fighting Formations':  The Order Matrix.

Most war games have an alternating 'I-go-you-go" mechanic but Jensen comes up with an innovative approach to how each player issues orders in the game.

 Simply put, cubes are randomly seeded onto the Order Matrix (as seen in the picture below), which have numerical initiative costs associated with orders such as 'Move', 'Rally', 'Fire', etc.   Under the Order Matrix sits an initiative pawn that see-saws left and right on a track, based on the cost of said order.  To give an order to your troops on the board, simply take that cube and the initiative pawn is then moved that many spaces towards your opponent's side of the initiative track. 
 

The lovely thing with the Order Matrix is that asymmetric costs of giving orders are already 'baked' into it.  The Soviets, for example, need to spend less initiative to move than the Germans, who in turn, spend less on 'Fire' orders, etc.   Giving more expensive orders (drawing helpful asset cards, for example) will shift the initiative to your opponent who may, in turn, end up issuing two to three smaller cost orders in a row.

It's a simple, yet elegant design solution that highlights the strengths and weaknesses of each side without needing to reference tons of charts and remembering rules exceptions.  Thus, you're free to concentrate more on tactics and playing the game. 

Speaking of which, here's how giving orders translates to gameplay....

Within a given scenario, each player will have a command token to place on the battlefield.  These tokens have a command radius that incurs an initiative cost depending on where the units are in relation to them.  This simulates how well your troops respond to orders given on the battlefield.

In the picture below, you can see that the Germans have a '3' hex command radius, while the Russians only have 2. This makes the Germans a bit more flexible in this particular scenario.

Here you can see that by placing a Command Token (the round marker with a "0" on it),  it costs zero for the Russians to activate their Russian platoons and tank within two hexes of that token.  The tanks with the "stunned" hit marker, however, would have to activate for DOUBLE due to the fact that they're out of command range as well as not having radio communication (a nice historical detail that is highlighted in the game).

The units in the game usually start out as platoons with higher stats, which can then deploy down to squad-sized units, as seen below.  This adds yet another level of tactics to consider:  Should you keep your platoons and hope to do more damage, or deploy them to overrun your enemy at a higher initiative cost down the line?

Here was the situation on the battlefield for the first scenario.... The Soviets quickly take several objectives as they advance from the south, up through the small town where they encounter the Germans...

Fighting heats up as the Germans advance on the Soviets.

The Germans conduct an artillery barrage  with their medium battery.  The Soviets take some hits but hold their position!

The Soviets throw it right back at the Germans issuing a strafing run with a fighter bomber!

After several rounds, the Axis tanks finally push through and make their way into the town...

The Soviets are getting overrun by German Stugs but manage to hold onto the choke point.

... It doesn't look good for this Russian T-34  on the east side of the map either...

The end of the game saw the Soviet forces suffering heavy casualties but they managed to hold onto their victory objectives for the win!

So far, I've really enjoyed playing Fighting Formations.  The order matrix, combined with the command tokens, work hand in hand in making you feel the satisfaction (and frustration!!) of getting orders to your troops.

 

I also really love the use of the cards in the game, which gives the players the ability to do artillery bombardments, aircraft attacks and smoke grenades, to name a few.  While, Fighting Formations is not a card driven game, the cards provide yet ANOTHER way to help swing the tides of battle and really adds a cinematic quality to each game.

As far as components go, the game's production value is top notch, as can be expected from GMT games.  Chits and counters are printed clearly with no visible misalignments and the maps are on heavier, semi-glossy paper.  I'm a bit puzzled that the box wasn't a bit bigger, though.  There are tons of counters in the game and once you put them in counter trays, with the stack of maps, cards, and player aids, you quickly run out of room.  I was really hoping for a 3 inch tall box that Combat Commander came with, but oh well.

 

I also wish the hexes on the map were a bit larger. You'll be flipping lots of counters during the game and between multiple squads of infantry, tanks, markers and Command Tokens, hexes can quickly fill up and easily get knocked about.

The other nitpick would be the orientation of the tanks and guns on their respective counters.  It's already been the topic of much discussion but I do agree that a top down (or 3/4) view of the guns and tanks would have served the game better.  It does get a bit wonky when the counters get flipped for activation and you have to crane your neck to read stats because a tank has to be situated just so due to its facing on a hex.  Conflict of Heroes solved this quite nicely by using 1 inch square counters with the stats on the bottom half and I think that worked quite well.

These are all minor quibbles on an amazing game, though.  'Fighting Formations' is a winner, through and through.  I've been looking for a meatier war game experience since I started with Conflict of Heroes several years ago and followed that up with Combat Commander.  

Fighting Formations seems to take the best of both these systems and manages to cram in even MORE gameplay.  The rulebooks are a delight to read and raise the bar for clarity and functionality. Once you play a few rounds, all the game mechanics seem to click in a lovely, intuitive fashion and when you're finished, you'll continue to analyze what happened and look forward to playing again!

9/10

For more information on 'Fighting Formations', visit these links on boardgamegeek and GMT games.  

Le Havre

'Le Havre at it!

Hey Geekshelfers, settle down and let me tell you about a boardgame i've played recently.  

It's called Le Havre and it's a worker placement game where you collect goods, buy buildings, build ships and essentially try to earn more money at the end of the game than your opponents!  

to Havre or Havre not!

A game turn is actually very simple.  Goods arrive on the offer spaces each turn and you can either swipe  one type of good (fish, wood, clay, iron, etc.)....

Starting setup for the short, two player game

....Or you can place your pawn on a building and take its action.   There are many different buildings that you can buy (using cash) or build (using the goods resources such as wood or steel).  

Using a building lets you upgrade your goods.  In the example below, I used the Abattoir to convert some cattle into meat which allows me to feed 3 workers and also get hide.  Food is VERY important in this game because you have come up with increasing amounts of it to feed your workforce as the game goes on.

Coming up short on food means you need to spend money or take out a loan from the bank.  BIG NO NO!

Using the Abattoir to convert Cattle to meat.  YUM!

As an additional action, you can also buy buildings which allow you to use them without having to pay an entrance fee.  Another player who wishes to go into a building that you own needs to pay you the amount on the top right corner of the card (either in food or money).

Here are my buildings during mid game:

All my buildings, yo.

You can specialize in certain goods but it's generally a good idea to be a bit flexible and get several types so you don't get screwed in the long run.

A variety of goods.  Yeah, you'll be needing these.

As the game progresses, it's also worth noting that ships are VERY important.  Not only do they reduce the amount of food you need to feed your workers, they also allow you to ship your goods for extra cash (victory points)!

Joy builds a luxury liner.  

 At the end of the game, I ended up becoming a steel ship baron:

I become a steel ship baron!

 Le Havre is a pretty slick game.  Those (including me) who felt that Agricola was just too punishing and stressful will have a better time playing this.  The game gives you time to actually build your economic engine and see it set sail for a bit before the game ends.

It's also a little less punishing to the player if they're unable to feed workers.  In short, it's not very hard to recover from a few starving workers if you take out a loan from the bank or sell off a marginally useless building.

The only downsides to the game are the slight fiddliness of the goods tiles (which you can avoid by using small containers-see first picture) and the possible length and brain burn due to players with analysis paralysis.

All in all, I highly recommend Le Havre. The new reprint is also great because it includes the Grand Hameau expansion.  Check it out if you get the chance!

Le Havre on BoardgameGeek

Power Grid

Hey Geekshelfers!  Recently, Joy took a bad fall while bouldering and sprained both her ankles.  She's doing fine but she can't walk around and needs to stay off her feet for awhile.  She was feeling a bit low but luckily, we had a few friends come over and play a board game to lift her spirits.  The game was Power Grid!

In the game, players build power stations that supply electricity to houses on a map (we played the Germany map in the pic below).  

 

 Power plants are constantly auctioned off to the highest bidder and resources are purchased at market value.  This power plant, for example, can supply power to 1 house using 2 oil.

 

Here's a close-up of the resource market.  Coal is brown, oil is black, garbage is yellow and uranium is red.  The more players buy a certain resource, the less of it there is and the more expensive it gets.

resources become quite expensive!

 As the game progresses, players can use their money to build houses on the map.  Things can get pretty cutthroat here since you can buy key cities and block other people out.  It's a fine balance of having enough money to buy more houses, power plants or saving up to buy more resources!

You can build houses but can you provide enough power for them all?

 Late in the game, more efficient power plants become available that let you power more houses on the map.

Here's a picture of the map late in the game.  

Powering houses across Germany!

supplying power to 10 houses!

 I really like Power Grid.  It gives you enough time to develop your power factories and it's very satisfying to get money as you supply more and more houses with electricity.  The bidding aspect is quite fun and the route-building element on the map all gel quite nicely to provide enough meat on the game without getting too much brain-burn.

For more information on Power Grid, visit www.boardgamegeek.com

Happy Gaming!

Ascending Empires!

Hey Geekshelfers!  I recently had a chance to play a three player game of Ascending Empires and wanted to share some pictures with you.  The game is about space colonization where each player takes their troops/ships and colonizes planets in the galaxy.

What's different about the game, though is there's a dexterity element which has players flicking their space ships across the board.  That's right, flicking!

The game starts with the planets turned upside down and if you flick a space ship into its orbit (inside the planet's purple ring), you can flip it over and colonize it...

 Of course, the other players are also trying to colonize the planets!

 With each planet you discover, you can build research stations to develop different technologies that make your moves more efficient...

 As the game progresses, players start to run into each other and tension mounts!

 I've almost forgotten to write about one of the most interesting parts of the game.  Space combat.  If you can flick enough ships close to your opponent and overpower them, you can destroy their ships and earn victory points.  You can also earn victory points by colonizing planets too.  Whoever has the most VP at the end wins!

For more information on Ascending Empires, visit www.boardgamegeek.com

Weekend Boardgaming 1/08/2012: Thunderstone

Played two games of Thunderstone this weekend with Joy.  Yep, she whooped me both times.  Cruel!

For more info on Thunderstone, visit www.boardgamegeek.com

Weekend boardgaming Aug 28 2011: Agricola!

Hey Geekshelfers!  This weekend, Joy and I dusted off Agricola, a boardgame about farming that we're both quite fond of.   

"Farming?" you ask.  "Are you serious?  That sounds absolutely boring!"

Far from it.  The game is competitive, tense, and can even be a bit of a brain burner.  Each player starts off with their own farm and over the course of 14 rounds, tries to cultivate fields, expand their homes and grow their families.  

The tricky part, however, is that you have limited rounds and limited workers to send out to gather those limited resources.  And your opponent is doing the same thing. You can't afford to waste early precious rounds dithering about because when harvest time comes about, you need to have food to feed your family or end up begging and losing points!

Furthermore, you've got a hand of cards that you can use to help you do things more efficiently such as an occupation for your farmers or minor improvements.  Here's how the game looks in the beginning...

Player board and main board at the beginning...

As you can see, there are only 14 rounds in the entire game so it's up to you to decide HOW to best cultivate your land.  You can plow fields, fence off pastures, extend your huts, and even breed animals!  

Here's a picture of my farm at the end of the game:

My farm at the end of the game!

I end up scoring 21 points for my farm.  I've got 6 grain (the yellow discs) 1 veggie (organe disc), 2 pastures (enclosed by the fences), 3 sheep (white cubes), 3 cattle (brown cubes), and 3 stone rooms!

And here are some of the cards I played during the game to help me out:

Cards that I played!

The Conservator was quite helpful in that he helped me convert my wood huts into stone right away without turning them into clay huts first.

And here's Joy's farm at the end of the game: .

Joy's farm!!

She ended up winning with 27 points vs my 21, mainly due to her having more family members and a few bonus points from her cards!

FINAL THOUGHTS:

I really like Agricola.  It's surprising how fresh it feels each time I play it.  As cute and charming as the game pieces may look, it does hide a good amount of cutthroat elements and teeth-gnashing decision making.

I understand the theme of farming may not be everyone's cup of tea but you really owe it to yourself to at least give this game a try.  Be forewarned, Agricola is a TENSE game.  You WILL agonize over your decisions!  You will stare at the remaining rounds and bash your head against the table as you try to figure out how to get food for your 5 family members.  There is simply not enough time to do everything you want in the game and it's this fine balancing act that serves as the main draw of the game for me.

For more information on Agricola, please visit Boardgamegeek

Happy gaming, everyone!

What I played this weekend!

Recently bought and played Quarriors.  Deck-building is all the rage now, between Dominion, Puzzle Strike, and Thunderstone but this game is a dice-building game.  

The game is fun (who doesn't love to roll dice?!)  but I need to get in a few more games to see how this game sits with me.

Yes, there is alot of randomness but the game doesn't last too long and you do get a satisfying feeling from buying that one die and getting THAT roll to hurt your opponent.

So far, this review on Fortress Ameritrash comes the closest to my thoughts on the game.

Weekend Game: Defenders of the Realm!

Hey Geekshelfers!  Just wanted to take a quick second to tell you about a board game I played this weekend.  It's called Defenders of the Realm.  I happened to win this through a promotional give-away by Eagle Games several months back so a special "Thanks" goes out to them first and foremost!

Anyway, Defenders of the Realm is a co-op game that has you and up to 3 of your friends playing fantasy D&D style characters (read: Mage, Rogue, Paladin, etc.) trying to protect Monarch City from falling to the hands of some evil monsters and their minions!

Here's what the board looks like at the beginning of the game. 

Yup, I ALWAYS play the rogue!

As the game progressed, we defeated some minions.... 

...But in the end, General Gorgutt marched into Monarch City and slayed us.

Okay, so even though we lost (and played a few rules wrong here and there), Joy and I had a ton of fun playing the game.  It shares some striking similarities with Pandemic, another board game in which you play virologists who try to wipe out diseases on a map.  The fantasy theme of Defenders actually works quite well with the different character abilities and quest cards that add a bit of randomness to each game.

One of the notable downsides to the game is it's HIGH retail price ($85...OUCH).  I like the game and I did win a free copy but I don't know if I'd actually pay that much money to get the game.  Also, set up time was a bit long and  you'll need ample table space to get this one played.

Quibbles aside, Defenders of the Realm is a solid game.  Larry Elmore's artwork is a nice throwback to 80's fantasy art and the plastic mini's give the game a nice tactile feel. I'm really looking forward to playing this with our regular game group at work over some beers and pizzas for sure!

For more information on Defenders of the Realm, please visit www.boardgamegeek.com or http://www.eaglegames.net/

Kubla Con!!

Hey Geekshelfers!  So this weekend, me and a bunch of coworkers went down to Kubla Con, a yearly gaming convention held in Burlingame, CA.  We got there a little before 11 am and spent the whole day playing games and just absolutely geeking out!  

I took a TON of photos so I thought I'd share!  As usual, click on the photos to see them in their full-res glory!  ENJOY!

Austin, Everett and Paul get their geek on!

 Her'es a picture of the Pixar gang shortly after we arrived!   A day of geekdom ensued!

Austin finds any excuse to wear his kilt

 We found Jtop and Josh Qualtieri already set up with their "Quar" products.

At the ZombieSmith booth

 You know it'll be a great day when you're surrounded by boardgames.

GAMES!

 Paul and Ev quickly scan the Pathfinder RPG section.

Paul and Everett browse the Pathfinder section

 Before too long, Jtop and Austin begin to set up "Camp Grizzly", a game they've been working on for quite some time now.  The game is due out next summer and it's an absolute riot!  I'll be posting more details on the game here as it gets closer to release!

Setting up "Camp Grizzly"!

Jtop sets up "Camp Grizzly"

 The premise of "Camp Grizzly" is that each player controls a camp counselor who tries to fight and escape from a maniacal killer named Otis.  It's a co-op horror themed boardgame with cards, and dice.  What more could you ask for in a game!?!?!

Ready to play!

 I ended up choosing to play Sherry, the virginal counselor.

My character: Sherry the virgin!

 It was a tight, tense game, but by the end, we all ended up dying except for Paul!

It's more fun when (almost) everyone dies!!

 After "Camp Grizzly", we walk around the showroom where other boardgames were being played.  One of the best set-ups was this "Shadows Over Camelot" display:

Shadows Over Camelot in 3D.  EPIC.

a view of the knights of the round table for "Shadows Over Camelot".

 ...And yet another was this GIANT "Ticket to Ride" game that was in progress.  Those trains are HUGE!!

Extra LARGE version of "Ticket to Ride".

Yes it is!

 After lunch, we stopped to check in on Dovi who was running a Star Wars role playing game.

Dovi runs his Star Wars RPG using the FATE system.

 We then went back downstairs to do some more shopping!

A view of the convention floor.

Shopping for boardgames...

MUST.  AVOID.....

 Geek Chic had their line of beautiful game tables on display.  I'd love to have one of these someday!

One day, I WILL have this game table.

 You can't have a game convention without dice!

You can NEVER have enough dice.

Shopping for dice.

 Before the day ended, we all decided to play a game of "Quar", a squad based miniature game created by Pixar's very own Josh Qualtieri and Sequoia Blankenship.

Setting up for a game of "Quar"

 The game has some beautiful minis which you can buy through Zombiesmith.

beautiful "Quar" minis.

 The game was pretty close but ultimately, Ev and Austin won!

"Quar" tank on display.

 After the game, we decided to wander around a bit more before leaving:

More dice!

Got attacked by the ZombieSmith baby!!!

Austin gets attacked too.

Run, baby, RUNNN!  

 Our loot:  Paul with "Wrath of Ashardalon", Ev with a "Pathfinder" book, and me with the new "Lord of the Rings" cardgame from Fantasy Flight Games!

Showing off our loot at the end of the day!

Paul, Everett and I with our games! 

All in all, the day was an absolute blast.  If you're even remotely interested in hobby gaming, you owe it to yourself to check it out next year.  I know that WE'RE definitely going back!