The Player’s Aid puts out some of the best wargaming content around. I was glad at first to see that they were branching out into other types of board games, because really… I do want to know what’s going on outside of the hard core wargaming scene. But hey, I don’t mind hearing about that stuff from someone that plays real games, too:

Painted on theme – as stated above, I like Sci-Fi but would love to see the theme better integrated into gameplay.

Lack of Player Interaction – this is one of those games where I almost don’t care what my opponents are doing. I am simply focused on my strategy and obtaining the right combination of buildings. The limited interaction from the use of the Pirate card was good but as soon as we all built Chain Link Fences, the attacks stopped! I’d like to see some form of trading between players or ability to attack or limit other players buildings.

You know, when I say “real game” there I don’t mean it in the “manly man monster game that puts hair on your chest” sense. I mean that losing theme and player interaction pushes the limits on what I’d actually accept as a definition of the term! Still… I like how the cover art is reminiscent of the old Robotech factory model kit. And that dice mechanic is the bee’s knees. But if we’re playing a game called “Colony”, I’ll still want to know how to burn my opponents’ stuff to the ground.

Granted, you see wargames going out of their way to incorporate both solitaire and cooperative scenarios more and more lately. There’s a reason for that, too. But I’ll never shake the feeling that Euro style games are “games” designed for people that don’t actually like games.

—

PaxSims (Simulations)

• AFTERSHOCK gender expansion now available (8/09/16)
• Call for Participants: MORS Wargame Adjudication Working Group 17-20 October 2016 (8/05/16)
• Dstl wargaming trip report (or, I visited Portsdown West and all I got was this lousy mug) (8/02/16)
• Migrant cards (7/30/16)
• Engle: Proposal for a simplified matrix game (7/29/16)
• Engle: Rapid turnaround matrix games (7/28/16)
• Engle: Iterative matrix games (7/27/16)

—

Inside GMT (GMT Games)

• Next War: India-Pakistan – Pakistani Strategic Choices, part 1 (8/07/16)

—

Castalia House (Wargames)

• On the Table: Wizard Kings from Columbia Games (8/05/16)
• Elements of Wargaming: Drills (8/03/16)
• Domains At War and “Don’t Make Me Think” (7/29/16)
• Divine Right and Appendix N (7/28/16)

—

Real and Simulated Wars (JC)

• Graviteam Tactics Fall Blau – First Battle Video AAR (8/08/16)
• Graviteam Tactics: Dawn of Blau (8/08/16)
• Arma 3 – Tanoa Recon Missions (8/05/16)
• Flashpoint Latvia Episode 5 – The Operational Art of War III – Grim Prospects of War (8/01/16)
• DCS: F-5E Tiger II by Belsimtek – Early Access (7/27/16)

—

Ludic Futurism (Brian Train)

• RB @ DSTL (8/02/16)

—

VASSAL (News)

• Update – To the Last Man v2.02 (8/07/16)
• Update – NATO: The Next War in Europe v1.05 (8/07/16)
• Update – Summer Storm: The Battle of Gettysburg (8/06/16)
• Update – Nations at War: White Star Rising v.2.1 (7/30/16)
• Update – Codeword Cromwell v2.3 (7/30/16)
• Update – La Granja v1.1 (7/30/16)
• New Module – Won by the Sword (7/27/16)

—

War in a Box (Warren Abox)

• Dem Bones (8/08/16)
• World’s First D&D Actual Play Podcast (8/05/16)
• An Old Man Looks at (8/04/16)
• Familiar Figures (8/01/16)
• Sneak Peak Header (7/31/16)
• Field Report: The Griffon (7/29/16)

—

The Players Aid (Grant A. Kleinhenz)

• Gen Con 2016 Game Recap: Colony by Bezier Games (8/09/16)
• Gen Con 2016: Mortals Play Test (8/09/16)
• Interview with Chris Newton Designer for Age of Primes Episodic Card Game (8/08/16)
• Gen Con 2016 Game Recap: Seafall by Plaid Hat Games (8/07/16)
• Gen Con 2016: Dragoon Demo (8/07/16)
• Secret Hitler Unboxing Video (8/05/16)
• Best 3 Games with…Disappointment! (8/04/16)
• Interview with Andreas “ode.” Odendahl Co-Designer of Solarius Mission from Spielworxx (8/03/16)
• First Time Playing…Mare Nostrum: Empires (8/02/16)
• Top 10 Games I’m Interested in Trying Out at Gen Con 2016 (7/31/16)