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.