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Great review! Until watching this video, I did not realize that area 30 was adjacent to area 27! Now I need to get this back out as that definitely changes things!
Great job! Love your videos and How you show the game. There are some odd phrases in the rulebook, but you are spot on. Easy to read. Keep up the good work.
Another good review. Rampage, possibly the most important book I've ever forced myself to finish. I brushed off a warning beforehand by Cody Carlson, The Discriminating Gamer, of just how difficult a book this was to read. I found out the hard way how right he was.
Hello, I’ve been on the lookout for a solo wargame for a while and found this one very enticing, both visually and in its apparent simplicity. So I ordered it a few days ago. The one thing I may not fully like in this game system, is the static aspect of the enemy who does not really appear to fight back to retake territory. Except through event cards, as you pointed out. What solo war game could you recommend where the enemy does fight back, move around the board and retake territory, pushing to adapt your strategy to repel their offensive ? Thank you.
Hey Wayne, love your videos! I had a couple of questions. How do you comprehend all the rules involved in these games and how did you get into wargaming? I’m trying to start, but I get so overwhelmed with the rules and trying to remember as I play that I give up. What would your recommendation be to start playing and understanding these rules? I want more than Memoir ‘44, but I get frustrated trying to learn. Also I play solo. Thank you.
Hi Bobby, I appreciate you saying that! It's always nice to hear that people enjoy my videos, makes the time I put into them worth it. Let me answer your second question first. My first real wargame was, funny enough Memoir '44. With M44 I just fell in love with the presentation, the hexes, and the dice. I would play both sides to the best of my ability. After a while, I discovered there were dedicated solitaire games (!!!) and the rest is history. My advice is to start off small and simple, because that's what worked for me. I picked up a Standard Combat Series game, one with a single map, not a multi-mapper. I think Bastogne may have been my first SCS game. The rules for SCS are fairly light, around 8 pages, and really teaches you the basics of hex and counter style gaming. Decision Games makes some small folio solitaire games you could check out, such as Khe Sanh '68. I then picked up a Leader game from DVG. My first one was Hornet Leader, which is IMO the best for a new wargamer, as the rules are clean, and there's not a ton of content. Plenty to play with, but not so much you get overwhelmed by the amount. When it comes to learning these games, I have a method I've figured out works for me over the years: I read a rulebook front to back completely, once. Then I setup a game, doesn't matter if I know exactly how to play yet (odds are I don't), and start working my way through a turn. If I am still struggling, I do another turn. All the while keeping the rulebook handy. The act of reading, then putting those rules into action by playing (even if slowly at first), is what builds that memory and that knowledge of the game system. Eventually I feel comfortable enough to reset the game and start from the beginning! This was a lot, but I hope it helps!
@@WayneHansen Thanks for taking the time to respond, it’s much appreciated! Thank you for the advice and your journey with war gaming. I’m looking forward to future videos. Thank you again!
I just played both back to back today. There is a rule I'm unsure of, when you reveal an enemy, does their defense strategy apply after that first reveal? I played Stalingrad applying the defense strategy on every attack. With Manila I decided to only do it on the revealing attack. All in all both fun quick games, I am very new to wargames, I started playing Salerno '43 last week and after playing that a few turns in a couple times, I found that style of game is more my niche than solitaire games. D-day at omaha beach for example, very difficult and close to unbeatable for a new player. These 2 games were fun and I'm sure I'll run through them again but not meaty enough for me.
Thankfully, the defense strategy only activates when you first reveal (flip) the defender. It then stays revealed, and you only have to worry about its defense strength.
See rule 4.4, "The Defense Strategy effect is applied only once, when the unit is first Revealed. Once Revealed, a Soviet unit remains Revealed and only its Defense Factor is used until it is eliminated."
There are counter attacks baked into the game in several places: the Bloody Streets rule; the Ambush, Fanatic; Guards, strategies; some of the random events. The game covers September 1942; Soviet forces were not retaking the equivalent of entire areas. Based on the system in Utmost Savagery where Japanese units do not move or counter-attack.
