3 Apr 2007

baptism of Fire

During the last month, there is some kind of wargaming disease spreading in our gaming group. It first started when Ferreira played Combat Commander Europe during the monthly encounter of boardgamers in Lisbon in February. At that point, the only wargame I had tried was BattleLore, and although it is a great game, I didn't get the “wargaming feeling” I was expecting.


The Wednesday before the March monthly encounter in Lisbon, I had a chance to play Hammer of the Scots, a game about the fight of Wallace to free Scotland. I liked the game mechanics and how the two factions have different playing styles but maintaining the balance. I particularly enjoy how the re-enforcements are handled on both side.


The next game I played was on that encounter of boardgamers, where I played a quick game of Memoire '44. Although I've enjoyed the game (despite suffering a heavy defeat), I missed the retaliation rules of Battlelore.


But that encounter was important because I had arranged for my brother to play Panzer Grenadier Airborne Introductory Kit with Ricardo. That game has 20 scenarios, representing battles on D day and the following days, between the Americans (usually the airborne combat forces) and the Germans. They played a game in the morning, and after we've returned from lunch, bought a copy of the game. I tried the game next day. The game plays on an hex grid with cardboard tokens to represent everything and with no cards involved. The Panzer Grenadier system is the next step that a Memoire '44 player should take into heavier wargames.


Finally, last week I got the chance to play Rommel in the Desert with Ricardo (he's one the main responsible for the “wargaming disease”, Pombeiro is the other), a game with several scenarios of WWII in north Africa. The combat and movement mechanics are similar to Hammer of the Scots, and just like in Hammer, where the payers had to manoeuvre the forces to capture the nobles and keep them safe in the winter, the supply lines also force the players to do those manoeuvre.


So, what is the result of the “wargame disease”? I find myself wanting to play more wargames and less heavier eurogames. I still love to play the light ones. Also, I now want to add a wargame to my collection (Panzer Grenadier: Eastern Front my first choice) and not an hybrid.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Carry on, my brother-in-arms! I took PG: Desert Rats home from the store but still left that delicous looking Eastern Front for you, eheh.

Feuer frei!

5:07 pm  

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