Wraith - Charnel Houses of Europe - The Shoah

Made by Black Dog Game Factory, a subdivision of White Wolf, Charnel Houses of Europe - The Shoah in 1997 is a subject few roleplaying games touch upon...the killing from 1933 to 1945 of six million persons of Jewish decent and six million homosexuals/gypsies/mentally and physically challenged/Jehovah Witnesses/sex workers/communists/Poles and Soviet citizens and soldiers/dissidents and other persons "undesirable" to the Nazi party. It is an important game book.

The world of Wraith: The Oblivion is populated by the corpus of those who have died with unfinished business in the land of the living. It is no surprise that the deaths of so many, so quickly and horrendously, for nothing more than prejudice and pseudo science generated a multitude of wraiths. It treats the subject with honesty and realism that, like all the other Black Dog game products, is for people 18 years and older. 

One might think that this subject matter should not have been used as a reference book for a role playing game. The woman who wrote the forward, Janet Berliner, thought the same thing. She first thought, after being asked to write the forward, that the Holocaust was not a game but she also knew that we must teach people through the tools with which they are more comfortable. To show acts of injustice, weep, and learn so that it may never happen again. That is why I purchased this used role playing book. Why I wept. How I learned more about this awful event. What I will never forget.

This game book was dedicated to "the survivors of the Holocaust who have spent 50 years telling their stories . What you have in your hands is a tribute to their perseverance, and in some small way an attempt to carry on their legacy for the sake of the generations who will never know them. Todah raba."

Enlightened - Icarus Medium Flyer

The Icarus is an older Spartan Games model. It was painted the same as the Kepler light carrier. In the original game it had a turret, decent broadsides, fore guns, and the Spotter special ability to assist other units.

Enlightened - Hyperbius Control Flyer

The Hyperbius is an older Spartan Games model. It was painted the same as the Kepler light carrier. In the older rules they could turn on a dime, had a heavy energy turret, forward energy cannon, and rockets. For special abilities it had combat coordinator with bonuses for units within 8" against arial targets, a big bonus for its rockets against arial targets, could hit and run, specialized defenses, and energy shield generator, and a target painter for its energy weapons within 16". It seems like it was primarily designed to take out medium and heavy flying units and with 10" movement can keep away from any threats to engage at long range. 

Enlightened - Daedalus Large Flyer

The Daedalus is an older Spartan Games model. It was painted the same as the Kepler light carrier. In the original game it had excellent turrets and very good broadsides as well as a strong internal shield generator. It also had the combat coordinator for heavy anti-air and two mine layers. No idea what abilities it will have in the new rules once they finish playtesting fliers.

Enlightened - Epicurus Sky Fortress

The Epicurus is an older Spartan Games model. It was painted the same as the Kepler light carrier. In the original game it has a small carrier capacity of six, two underside turrets, and a very destructive boardsides at close range. It also had fuel reserves and the combat coordinator special ability. The big turret on the top had no special ability.

Wraith 20th Anniversary Edition

I bought many White Wolf role playing game products in the 1990's as was particularly drawn to the world of Wraith: The Oblivion. The setting and theme was very moody and ripe for storytelling. You play the recently dead and experience the bureaucracy and temptations of oblivion that lies beyond the veil of death for those who have yet to release their hold on the world of the living. So yeah...moody. I especially liked the aspect of each player not only having a character but also playing the shadow self of another player who tries to lead that player's character astray. I have yet to play a game but can see how it would be difficult for someone to run a game.

I participated in the Wraith 20th anniversary Kickstarter and received it early last year from Onyx Path Publishing. Currently you can pick it up here on DriveThruRPG. 

It is definitely for more mature role-players but, from my reading of the old product and current 20th anniversary edition, can lead to fantastic storytelling with the right group. The storytelling system lends itself well to players who want to tell these good stories but this setting seems just a bit better due to the emotions it will "dig up". 

At 490 pages of materiel, its big with loads of materiel updated for this 20th anniversary edition. Chapter are:

Book One

-Introduction

-Setting

-Rules

-Character

-Traits

-Shadow

Book Two

-Storytelling

-Systems

-Drama

Book Three

-Spectres (including how to make and roleplay these wraiths that have succumbed to their shadow and pull of oblivion)

-The Risen (entering the realm of the living inside a corpse. Icky.) 

-World of Darkness

-Other Dark Kingdoms

Appendix

-Orpheus (playing humans who can visit the realm of the dead)

In all of the White Wold, and 20th anniversary books, they have many great guides for making a good story that can be applied to any roleplaying game. Even if I never play it there are things in this book that I can apply to many other things. Highly recommended.

Bayonets and Tomahawks

Bayonets & Tomahawks is a 2-4 player game about the North American conflict between the French and British empires known as the French and Indian War.

For this first game, we played the first year scenario to get used to the rules for the next time we played. The rules were straight forward, except for the combat rules. This is because it is an innovative system for enabling varied results on the conflict, especially when overwhelming forces are not brought to the battlefield. More on that later.

The board has the area of the British and French colonies and the disputed wilderness battlegrounds in between.

The triangular light units can move more easily through the small paths and byways distinguished by the dotted lines. If moving heavier square or circular units, light units must accompany them. The light units are weaker in combat though but it is important to bring mixed units when going into combat.

During combat, each unit rolls a die, grouped by the types of units they are. In order to score hits on your opponents units, the red splatted die with the shapes must be rolled and match the unit shape that is rolling. The flag adds to the battle result. The crescent is used when rolling to see if a leader has been killed, and the bayonet & tomahawk gains combat results for any unit. It took a while during the game to get used to this mechanic. It gives a fog of war to the battle and means that you need to have more forces that you may think or you can take a chance.

This game also has a logistics mechanic, with semi-random reinforcements coming at different times at the beginning of each year. You also require your non-light units to trace supply lines at the end of each action period of the year and during the winter phase must head back to large communities or forts. 

Bayonets & Tomahawks has many aspects that are different than other games I have about this historical event and I look forward to playing it more.

King Phillip's War

King Phillip's War is a two player wargame about the 1675-78 conflict between the indigenous First Nations of New England under King Phillip (the Wampanoag sachem, Metacomet) against the New England colonists and their First Nation's allies. A wikipedia article is here.

The game starts in the midst of the Plymouth colony lands, due to the allied tribes under Metacomet.

The board is fairly empty otherwise because the non-aligned First Nations tribes need to await the success of Metacomet against the colonists. Certain tribes join into the conflict based on the number of colonist habitations that have been raised to the ground. This expands the area of conflict with more units on Metacomet's side across the colonies and frontier. The colonists counter this by raising villages to the ground of those allied with Metacomet and eventually certain tribes drop out of the fight depending on number of villages raised. 

The game focuses on the time between summer of 1675 to the summer of 1676, the time period of the most critical of the conflict. Each turn is either the start or end of a season or the entirety of winter. Fallen troop units can enter play for the colonists the next turn and fallen leaders can enter play two turns later. 

Colonists are limited in moving by ports (a colonist exclusive ability) or paths with a single white dot surrounded by red. Metacomet's forces can move by river or any trails, but the cost of moving on a trail is the number of white dots on the trail. The combat system is unique and reflective of the early combat of the time. The attacking player takes the two dice, each in different player's colours, with the special die and rolls them. If the results come up doubles, no combat takes place for a variety of reasons. If not, if the result is even the special die affects the colonists and if odd King Phillip. The special die is one of six events such as spy, reinforcements, and panic. The results of the special die are applied at different times but generally before combat results are applied. The number on a side's die is compared to the strength of the side in battle on a chart. Each side takes casualties and victory as well as provisions tokens are moved.

At the beginning, Metacomet can move more stacks of units and therefore conduct more activities on the map board. However at the start of each turn, a die is rolled by the colonists to see if Benjamin Church comes into play, whom was the creator of the type of unit that would become the US Rangers. He was the creator of light mixed colonist and friendly First Nations people to better raid Metacomet's allies and lead forces through the wilderness. At that point in the game, colonists can move up rivers and the trail one dot restriction is lifted.

For this first game I as the colonists, through bad luck by my friend as Metacomet, prevented him from achieving the second raised to the ground colonist village. Therefore he never gained the support of the next First Nations tribe. By slowly encircling his remaining forces and restricting options, again through bad luck, the game was decided before the winter of 1675. In an average game, Metacomet would have achieved support of many tribes and been able to put the colonists on their backs and have it be much tougher to win.

Historically this conflict was horrible for the colonists and deadly for the First Nations of the New England colonies. It did elevate the idea of the possibility of independence on both sides, setting the stage for First Nations support for the French against the English (King William's War and the French and Indian War) as well the American Revolution.

I would like to play this game again to more explore this important historical period that shaped the history of Canada and the United States.

Watergate

Watergate is a clever two player game that takes only 30-45 minutes. Its theme is the events surrounding the Watergate scandal of the Nixon presidency and the Washington Post journalists that were trying to uncover evidence linking Nixon to the break-in.

In the theme of the subject matter, one player plays the side of Nixon and his circle of influence and the other side is that of the Washington Post and their circle of influence. Each turn, an initiative and momentum marker is placed on the zero space along with three face down tokens of evidence. If the evidence is moved, it is flipped face up making it easier for the Post side to move it on their side of the track. At the end of a round, any tokens or evidence on their side of the track is utilized in order of the player that now has the influence for the next round. Momentum is placed on the player's card of which the Post side activates one time actions. Then evidence is placed on the board on the web, face up for the Post and face down for Nixon. Then the initiative and new momentum token is placed on the zero space with three face down evidence tokens and a new turn begins. 

Nixon wins by either getting five momentum tokens or exhausting the momentum token pool of nine. The Post wins when they connect two revealed informants to Nixon with a trail of evidence tokens. Evidence tokens are either blue (checks for Nixon's re-election campaign), yellow (the ground plans for the Watergate complex), green (transcripts of the Nixon White House tapes), or colour combination tokens.

The game is intense, as the cards often have either/or selections with many of the selections removing the card from the game if that specific action is used. Over time, that means that there will be less and less cards in your deck which limits options in your hand as the game reaches the final turns. 

The board above is the results of one game. The game art is depicted to look like a cork board in the Washington Post. The face down evidence tokens or informants are redacted in black showing options for lining the evidence or knowing what avenues are blocked. Each card comes with flavour text and are each about critical events that shaped this time period and event in American history. The rulebook also has history and details on people and timeline of the Watergate scandal. An excellent game with strong flavour. Highly recommended, especially to switch sides after playing a game, as each have their own strategies. 

Caverna

Caverna is a great boardgame for one to seven players. In the game you play dwarves with a cave home and each turn you take turns placing your dwarves on action spaces on the board. The results of the actions expand as the turns go on, which can include mining areas out, building farms, gathering resources and/or animals, furnishing your cave system, expanding your dwarf family, and adventuring. The dwarf family with the most gold at the end of the game wins.

Here is what the game area looks like after a solo game. It might seem that there is a lot going on, and there is at the end of the game, but like many games out there it is about choices. With limited selections for your two dwarf family tokens, you have to plan to feed your family and expand your options for long term success. As the game continues, your earlier choices lead you to certain paths for success. In games with more than one player, those choices may get taken away from you if they choose what you want to do before you select it. 

There is a cave and an outdoor section that you have to manage. You also get negative points at the end of the game for each space you have not used and also for animals you have not gotten. You do get bonus points for quantities of different species of animal and for certain room/outdoor space tiles selected.

The selections you can have during a game are always the same, so players can devise various strategies for synergy. However, as mentioned, that can be foiled by other players choosing selections before you do. Not to worry too much as the player tokens are removed after each turn.

The room tiles are also the same each game. The options seem staggering but should be selected to benefit from other choices you made earlier or are about to make.

This game has been played before and will be played again. Recommended.

Grizzled Armistice Edition

I got the game Grizzled when it was originally printed. It's concept is that the players are friends from a small French village who join the military during the early days of World War 1. The object of the game is to survive the war together but this is not a wargame. Its about surviving the trials and trauma that conflict produces on people and it does it so well. It is for one to four players. I will be going over the Armistice edition of the game and the rules, which are applicable for both editions. 

The object of the game is checked after a mission and if the peace card does not have any cards on it, and no players have cards in hand, the players survive the war and the game is over. At any time if the monument card is empty or the players have 13 cards or more in hand or one player has four or more points of hard knocks/trauma the game is lost.

The box is very engaging and done up like an old keepsake photo box on the sides and a bit on the front. The miniatures are a great edition, modeled after the illustrations of the possible characters you can play on the cards. 

The age 14+ isn't necessarily because of the rules but because of the subject matter. Trauma and the setting should be treated with respect and caution.

The box is well organized, and the Armisitice edition has a series of scenarios that introduce new cards and rules as you play, and included the new cards seen in the Grizzled expansion. It also has new cards and rules that were not in either edition.

There is not a lot of room required for the game so a small table will do. The image below is the setup for a solo game, where you have three characters to handle. There are small square cards that have a synopsis of the rules for reference.

Speech tokens are received by the mission leader at the end of the mission, then the player on the left becomes the new mission leader. 

When a player withdraws, they draw a random coffee token and places it on their character card. At the end of a mission, they are all revealed and it indicates whom the character supported during the lull between missions. The character with the most tokens gets to remove one or two hard knocks (depending on if the mission was a success or failure) and replenish their good luck charm. The top ones are used in the solo game and the bottom one in other games. 

Here is the peace and monument cards, which will have cards above them at the start of the game. When a mission is over, if the mission was a failure, cards in no man's land are shuffled into the monument pile. Then the number of cards the players have in hand will be counted and that same number will be taken from the monument pile and added to the peace pile. Therefore as you lose missions, and keep cards in hand, the longer and more difficult the game will be as more hard knocks build up amongst the characters.

When playing a mission, a player's turn has four options:

1. You can either play a threat card (hard knocks/trauma on yourself or a trial card in the middle of the common play area known as no man's land); 

2.Use your characters good luck charm to eliminate a particular trial in no man's land;

3.Withdraw from the front and draw a coffee token to place in frount of another character 

4.If you have a speech token you can declare a trial type for your friends to discard from their hands. 

In the picture below, I am holding a hand of three threat cards, the left hand one is a hard knocks/trauma card (providing a permanent rain trial for the group until the character retreats from the frount) and the two other ones are trial cards (gas/rain and shelling/snow).

Here is a situation in the later part of a turn, where Anselme and Gaston have left the field and only Felix on the right is left. It looks like I can play this card because in the common area there is only one other darkness and no shells. But Felix has a trauma card with darkness. If I play this I get it out of my hand but we will lose. If I leave the frount though, we win by surviving the turn. Eying the peace card pile, I also know that by leaving the frount we will win the game because...

This is an excellent cooperative game with a heavy theme. Hard choices are made each mission and many games end up with you questioning the might have beens and what ifs. The theme is also strong combined with the game mechanics.

Enlightened - Hunt for the Prometheus models

I have finished the Enlightened faction models in the Hunt for the Prometheus starter box for the Dystopian Wars game. The large ships are the Prometheus/Hypathia Generator ship and the Descartes Control ship. The three mid size ships are the Antarctica Superiority/Ulysses Vanguard cruisers. The nine small ships are Germain/Merian Drone frigates. The small ships are Finally it comes with faction specific SRS tokens (short range squadrons). They were painted the same as the Kepler light carrier.

Now onto the Spartan Games era air models I have.