23 September 2022 ~
Brant, Bryan, and GOTY’21 Jim tackle our first listener suggestion of the season, as our man Adam asked about what games have replaced others in our collections, as well as which ones we’ve hung onto even though newer games are out there.
So with that as a guidepost, we take a look at a few of our own games that have migrated in / out of our own collections. Or, in the case of Bryan, newer ones that just contributed to the ever-growing collection, since you can check out any time you want, but you can never leave1.
Don’t forget, you can always catch up with past episodes on the “podcast” tab of our site.
So yeah, let’s talk about Ardwulf & the La Bat series, PanzerBlitz, paying The Biscuit, Tiller-series games & their new home at Wargame Design Studio, Lock ‘n Load Tactical and other games from LNLP, Close Action and why BattleTech players are so disingenuous about wargames, tanks in infantry-focused games, infantry in tank-focused games, whether or not Scythe is a wargame, and the pain that is Blood Bowl on the tabletop.
References
- War & Peace Interview (Peter Robbins)
- The (current) Blood Bowl Tournament
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Brant,
Not exactly sure how to email you, maybe this will reach you.
First of all, I have been playing LaBat for decades. I understand the opinions on the multitude of rules iterations and poor wording.
However, those of us who were playing that game at BGF had only one rules argument that entire week. We were first to setup and I believe the last to tear down. We got very deep into the game.
We aren’t idiots and had a great time with the game. So, while you guys were sitting there not playing a game, we were actually moving the game along.
Brant, love and respect you and your work.
Dave Mignerey
Dave,
I love you guys to death, and I am always incredibly impressed by the depth of commitment y’all put into your games. You guys really go whole hog for those big spreads and they’re always impressive. And as long as y’all have fun, that’s awesome 🙂
It just seems that La Bat in particular always brings out the arguments. It’s not something I ever remember seeing around an OCS table in all those years. I think some of those arguments come about precisely because you guys are not idiots and all have very learned viewpoints you bring to the discussion.
I did give some thought to the comment about “you guys were sitting there not playing a game” and it’s a valid one, because you guys got a lot more game time in that most folks over that weekend. One theory I’d throw out is that for most of your “big table” crew, you guys tend to game together pretty consistently, and see each other face-to-face more often than folks like Gary & I do, so there’s a little less catching up / socializing for y’all than there is for us, where we only gather 2-3x/year and almost always at a major event. That’s not an observation built on rigorous data collection/analysis, just a gut feeling based on this morning’s reflection of your comments, which are always appreciated.
Thanks so much for the time spent listening to the podcast. There’s plenty of them out there and I greatly appreciate that you guys choose ours.
Okay, a few more:
Kim Kanger’s DIEN BIEN PHU: THE FINAL GAMBLE replaced all my other Dien Bien Phu games, especially GDW’s CITADEL. I think the Bruce Geryk videos explain why more than any others. I can’t stop playing the 2nd edition.
Thin Red Line Games’ 1985: UNDER THE IRON SKY got me to auction off my two copies of SPI’s venerable NEXT WAR. Friends though I was crazy. But I’d played the latter to find the flaws so I was okay with making this transition. Plus it’s great there are other games that connect to this one, a la GDW’s THIRD WORLD WAR series did.
Line of Battle game series from MMP over the older Regimental Sub-Series (RSS) titles. Although there is a way to play those oold RSS titles with LoB rules. The South Mountain game is perhaps the best example.
There’s a lot more I could add, but this is enough!
Sir, you’ve probably got an entire article or three on the lists of games that have replaced others in your collection!