Fire in the Lake final, 2016 PrezCon Winter Nationals

The top game blog post of the past couple of weeks is, without a doubt, The 5 Worst Mistakes I’ve Made when Learning COIN over at Ludobits. Now… I’m biased because this is on a topic I’ve struggled to articulate previously. But really… check it out:

Now what happens when you first sit down at a COIN table with expectations of that kind might not be pretty. Because the clean, orderly, safe Euro experience you’re accustomed to gets disheveled rather quickly and extensively.

Far from being eased into the game by nice rule writing and flavor text, you’ll fight your way through stern, telegraphic style statements. Their military terms and acronyms will remind you how little you actually know about the subject matter at hand, or counter-insurgency in general, whereas the terms you do understand won’t keep you in a Euro mood for long. Assassinate, Kidnap, Devastate, Rampage or Terror are as far from medieval farming, Renaissance painting or Mediterranean trading as you can get.

You know that moment when the rules of a good Eurogame click, when it all gels in your brain and the game kind of takes off on its own, so you can sit back and plan for victory? Won’t happen with COIN. Every card will disrupt your plans one way or the other.  You will never sit back.

Yes, those COIN games are chock full of nice, friendly, colourful wooden bits. They can really lull you into a false sense security if you’re wandering in from the club that plays Tikal and Agricola and so forth. But it’s a totally different ball game! Read the whole thing for a complete run down of where Euro gamers are most likely to go wrong.

And by the way, I came across this post via Brian Train’s blog. Maybe you should follow him, too! Alternately, what this space for new posts from Ludic Futurism and other great wargaming blogs:

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PaxSims (Simulations)

• ISIS Crisis at Geek & Sundry (5/30/16)
• Connections Netherlands 2016 (5/29/16)
• Simulation and gaming miscellany, 29 May 2016 (5/29/16)
• France Info reports on ISIS Crisis (5/24/16)
• Zones of Control: book launch/discussion in Arlington (5/23/16)
• AFTERSHOCK in Ottawa (5/21/16)
• The New World Order comes to NDU (5/19/16)

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Inside GMT (GMT Games)

• Into the Wild Blue Yonder (Part Five): Land Campaigns (5/27/16)
• Delian League Diaries #5 (5/25/16)
• The Madness Behind a CDG Solo Method (5/23/16)
• The Drang River Valley (LZ MARY): Scenario #3 After Action Review from Silver Bayonet (5/21/16)

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Castalia House (Wargames)

• Avalon Hill’s The Guns of August – Conclusion (5/25/16)

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Real and Simulated Wars (JC)

• Command Ops 2 – Race to the Meuse – Fire Support (6/01/16)
• Combat Mission Final Blitzkrieg – Tactical Phasing (5/28/16)
• Arma 3 – The SAMO Squad Action Menu Orders Offers an Interface to Command Suppressive Fire on the Enemy (5/23/16)

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Ludic Futurism (Brian Train)

• Ludobits: 5 Eurogamer Mistakes When Learning the COIN System (5/31/16)
• Operation “Breaking Terrorism”: the Third Battle for Fallujah (5/26/16)
• “Things could explode” (5/24/16)

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VASSAL (News)

• New Module – Yavalath (6/01/16)
• New Module – Xiang Qi (5/30/16)
• New Module – Hexemonia (5/30/16)
• New Module – The Return of the Stainless Steel Rat (5/21/16)

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War in a Box (Warren Abox)

• Someday, My Pets (6/01/16)

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The Players Aid (Grant A. Kleinhenz)

• Family Fun: Isle of Skye (5/31/16)
• Review: Hangtown (5/30/16)
• A Distant Plain: Insurgency in Afghanistan – What’s in the box? (5/29/16)
• “Each hedge is a fortress to assault!” – AAR Part 2 for Scenario #2 Hedgerows and Hand Grenades in GMT Games Combat Commander: Europe (5/29/16)
• “Each hedge is a fortress to assault!” – AAR Part 1 for Scenario #2 Hedgerows and Hand Grenades in GMT Games Combat Commander: Europe (5/26/16)
• Best 3 Games With…..Dice Allocation! (5/25/16)
• “History will absolve me!” – Cuba Libre’s unique take on the COIN system and why it feels so great to play. (5/25/16)
• Family Fun: Mysterium (5/23/16)
• Falling Sky: The Gallic Revolt Against Caesar – What’s in the box? (5/23/16)
• Cardboard Carnage – Eclipse (5/22/16)