The games I played included the following:

Old School Tactical: Battle for France 1940

I’m a sucker for WW2 tactical level games. This is the latest series I have started playing, though I am still committed to ASL.

I played the first scenario in the French 1940 expansion, primarily to familiarize myself with the rules again. Although the system is quite solitaire friendly, I dislike playing tactical games solitaire unless they are specifically designed to be played that way.

Overall, I like the system, but there are a number of house rules that I am trying out as sometimes the design doesn’t deliver as well as I think it can, even if the emphasis is on game ahead of simulation.

Commands and Colors: Ancients

I played the Piraeus — 403 BC scenario from Expansion Pack #6 which has an Athenian force (whose forward line is atop hills) facing a slightly bigger Spartan force (14 units to 13).

The Spartan advantage is that their hoplite units are 5 blocks (as opposed to 4) so are more durable. The Athenian advantages include the terrain and a superiority in missile units.

This was one of the classic battles as it went down to the wire, victory being attained (by a one point margin) on the last combat. A thoroughly enjoyable experience.

Advanced Squad Leader

I played Curries Favor (AP141), an August 1944 encounter in France between Commonwealth (Canadian) tanks and infantry tasked with seizing strategic points from a small German infantry force stiffened by an 88 gun and an 81mm mortar and set up in good defensive terrain.

I was the Canadians. I probably chose the wrong entry point but I got through the first turn without casualties and my forces in semi-decent threatening positions. At the start of turn 2, my key tank (with an armor leader) was perfectly positioned to place smoke to cover my advance. Unfortunately, I rolled a 12 which meant no smoke, no main gun, and no cover for the advancing forces.

Things went downhill from there and I conceded the game half way through. Although I could blame my luck, not choosing the best entry point didn’t help. All part of the continuing (and losing) ASL education.

Combat!

After playing the introductory scenarios a few times, to get the rules clear in my mind, I moved onto the regular scenarios. The first involves attacking a farmhouse. I played it twice as the first time I made a mess of too many rules. The second scenario is about defending the farmhouse. This one I managed to complete without screwing up the rules. I won both scenarios.

The rules, as mentioned before, are lacking. I secured a copy of the newest rules which helped a fair bit, though there are still gaps. I have yet to make time to gather all the queries and submit them to one of the online forums for clarifications.

Seapower and the State

This WW3 naval game has been on my radar for a long time. It’s a strategic (i.e. broad-brush) view of what might have happened had WW3 broken out in 1984, 1989, or 1994. The system seems to pack a lot into a system that isn’t complex, as you might expect, and offers plenty of opportunity for house rules to tweak the parts that may not suit you. For example, BGG has a great suggestion about alternative targeting rules.

I have only managed to set the game up and try out some combats. It’s going to be a long game and I need to be in the right state of mind to start playing it.

Memoir ’44

Breakthrough is one of the expansions for Memoir ’44, a WW2 game in the Commands and Colors family. The expansion includes a double-sided hex game board for both beach landings and countryside combat and 15 scenarios. I played the Operation Crusader scenario as the Germans and was crushed 12-4.

I started with enough cards to get my key units moving, but then went through about six or seven turns with the wrong cards and being unable to get my units into combat. That was probably the tipping point.

The dice weren’t exactly helping, though my trusty opponent also had a couple of encounters on the fringes of the probability graph.

A couple of things to stress.

• Despite the one-sided result, it was great fun. This is a game that never forgets its mission is to entertain and it does that repeatedly.

• Of all the Commands and Colors type games, this is probably my least favorite and yet I love playing it! See the preceding paragraph.