CWTE #10 Published

My wargaming podcast, Contact With The Enemy, has just put out Episode #10. Download it here.

Ivanhoe: Where's the love?

If you know anything about Euro-type games, you've heard of Reiner Knizia. He's one of the most prolific game designers out there, and some of his games--notably Tigris and Euphrates, Through the Desert, and Samurai---are seen by many Eurogamers as among the best of the genre.

I'm not that much of a Eurogamer--I prefer wargames and less "elegant" games--but there are a few Knizia games that I quite like, including Tigris and Euphrates. One of Knizia's most underrated games, though, is Ivanhoe, published by GMT in 2000. It is a very good game--simple rules, fast playing, tense, and well balanced. I simply don't understand why more people don't like this game. If you like Euro-type games, check it out--it's well worth your time.

AVL Picture

Here's the situation at the end of all Soviet moves in turn 3 (the turned opened with 4 consecutive Soviet activations, I'm done for this turn). Things are going slowly up north, and I don't like that my reinforcements this turn won't be able to arrive across the river. But I think that things are going well in the south. The Axis have tried to hold solid lines against me, which I think is a mistake--he should be withdrawing more. So I've been able to kill a fair number of German units all ready, which is a big boost in the Victory Point column for me. And as of now I've got a fairly open shot towards Rostov and Stalino.

Things change very quickly in this game, though, so I'm not getting overconfident.

A Victory Lost PBEM

I've managed to start not one but two PBEM games of A Victory Lost. I tried generating a graphics file of the map using Vassal, but it seems to working badly, so I couldn't get a decent one. In the game, it's is the end of turn 1, and I'm playing the Soviets. My opponent is not doing what everyone claims you're supposed to do as the Axis--run away. So my initial progress is slow, but I hope this means I'll get some shots at his German units early in the game. Given that I'm lousy at most of these games, I expect I'll lose, but I hope I'll at least make it competitive.