What's the size of each tile? These look pretty interesting😁

Looking good 🙂 Will need to look at this ruleset, most of the minis systems I've looked at that are deeper on the command side have more hidden elements, like Sam Mustafa's Blucher. Thanks for the shout out!

Looks very interesting

Hope you'll have fun with this one, I've heard that there's a good game down there, once you get through all the issues. It doesn't help that Compass is a bit more hesitant to put the resources online to get the issues fixed. Anyways, looking forward to your playthrough on this one. Are you planning to continue with War of the Suns or are you done with it?

I'm looking forward to seeing you tackle this. There's a good game in there, it's just hidden by frustrating rules issues. Which was a real surprise for me considering how well Mr. Madison's War by the same designer played. When in doubt just go with what makes sense, at least that's what I did.

Thanks a lot for sharing insights about the game and your strategy for both sides.

Sounds like you have a very customised copy 😁 It's another on my "to watch" games so curious to hear what you think on this one as well. And the extra sheet in the box is "not errata, but clarifications" 😆

To be honest I was expecting it to be fiddly. Overall I think I'll skip it - it is horribly expensive in the UK and does a bit too much on China that I want to see.

I'm surprised there wasn't a push for the Sudden Death victory conditions per 4.1e; I think you might have avoided the counting of VP hexes, and the end of game slog, had that been more of the focus. There are sudden death victory options for both sides on both fronts.

Hi, many thanks for your insights on that game: some of them are no good to play, absolutely tedious, boring and actually vain. So I'll keep off that one.

All the best for the new year! Are you using blank counters near the River? What is the purpose of these?

This is a helpful warning. I hope you found the scenario rules you needed on the La Bataille US site. Consider looking in to Marshal Enterprises "Premier" rules, which are my preference and might be less complex than ML (although not necessarily less difficult). The Premier abstracts all command and control to fixed time limits per corps, per side, per movement phase (8-10min) -- no chit pull activations or officer-unit associations. Because the Premier mentality favors viewing La Bataille as a humanity rather than a science, time limits and other rules are viewed a flexible and can be modified to fit player needs. They encourage the players to exercise judgement and modify the rules as written when good sense calls for it. For example, adjusting time limits as handicaps to make the game more fun and fair to new players. In my opinion, timed turns completes the grand scope of La Bataille gameplay -- a game that is deeply rooted in traditional games, but is also a vivid historical simulation. For a Clash of Arms game that does not specify time limits, I might start with default time of 8 minutes for each Coalition corps each movement phase, and 10 minutes each the French corps, then adjust according to who's playing and the historical background. Whichever rule set you choose, I hope you find one that is satisfactory for exploring this awesome system!

Good haul😁

Another one that got missed is Fulda Gap by Compass Games. A WW3 Company Scale System game set in 1985 this I rated at 4/10 there are lots of issues with the components and rules combined with the fact that the US tanks are like invincible martian war machines didnt do it for me.

I also forgot the Dark Valley from GMT games 8/10 an excellent and plyable mini monster covering the Eastern Front in WW2. This would be my go to game for this subject. Its also part of a series I have Dark Sands but I havent played it.

I forgot Battle For Normandy by GMT games. I gave this 4/10 because the campaign mechanics cause it to bog down into an attritional slog thats not fun to play.

Thanks for all your thoughts on the games. Canada Post is now accepting parcels again, so I can ship off the remainder of my Der Weltkrieg counters to you, soon. Haooy New Year!

Good progress, thanks for the update

I have always pictured the game as having huge maps but way smaller unit density. It's really interesting to see it's not thinning out as I expected, thanks for making the series. Hope you had a good Christmas 😀

looks great game

Wow, this is a daunting game! Thank you for showcasing it. Not sure I am brave enough to dip my toe in.

My cat used to walk across my DAK2 map without disturbing the counters.

Let me know if you decide to sell it mate. I’ll probably buy several of these games, but whether they’ll ever be played is a different matter!

Nice videos, thanks a lot for sharing. Perhaps I will give WotS a try over the holidays. Btw, what function have the colored cubes on the map?

Makes sense for combat, with IJA units being able to take more punishment

How are the rules working in practice? Are there many ambiguities?

Cats just love this game.

Nice progress for the Japanese, despite the weather. Looks like diplomacy might have quite an impact 😁 From what I recall, Soviet fighters gave quite a shock to IJA historically, too. Are Japanese-Soviet fights of 1938-39 represented on map in the game?

The armour counters with the picture of the tank are on the reverse side of the armoured units.

Glad you're having fun, looks like you're getting a good emerging narrative out of your playthrough 😀

That's a lot of highlights 😁

It does sound like the designer really threw in everything and a kitchen sink into this one.

Does sound like you have a massive undertaking on your hand with this one - you have regular+irregular warfare, air and naval component, economy, politics of civil war and all. Pity there are very few other titles on the subject that are not very light - I wish there was something in between this one and the light treatments available.

This is an incredibly interesting topic, with regular armies on both sides, a massive guerrilla movement going on at the same time, and all kinds of political differences handicapping the resistance, plus supply lines for vital foreign aid and who knows what else. A detailed treatment that really works would be amazing. From what I could find out about it though it sounded like it still needed another round or two of development. It’ll be interesting to get your thoughts (eventually) on whether it works with the rules as written.

Congrats on pushing through the rules 😁 Regarding factions, think this is similar to Invasions from Wisdom Owl - you'll have a large advantage if you organically understand relationships between the different actors in the game...

Must admit I normally like the approach of replaced counters with better units (when they have new designations - like in most East Front games), or, at higher level, when their DRM changes, like in Unconditional Surrender. But, considering how many different types / factions you have here, it would make sense to add extra counters to mark upgrades.

All within expected parameters 😀

How many air units are there compared to the rest of them? And naval units, for that matter?

From a "completeness" point of view Naval Rules are always nice, especially if you like all things Naval (like I do). But I'm not convinced game on China 37-45 really needs dedicated naval rules to be added to an already large rulebook...

These videos are appreciated! I think I may get this game out of the box. I had it on ebay and I've now taken it down.

Sounds like the main complexity in the game is really to manage different factions, learning HQs limitations / move types. In comparison, Combat sounds relatively straightforward.

That map is really pretty...

Agreed regarding no vids on this one, it's a problem with many "older" games that most of the latest titles don't have. Compass/Moe are putting a lot of efforts jnti their "how to plays", making games that much more accessible...

Quite a few special move types. How manageable it all is?

Just got my copy! 👍

Thanks, really enjoy those rules intro videos, especially on the games that don't get much internet coverage - gives me a good idea on how the games work and if it's something for me...

Yes, these series of vids are super helpful.

Higher MP costs for overstack remind me of MMP's GCACW's rules...

Regarding political system I quite like the designer gives you the "historic" option, but ultimately for a game like this I'm not sure how likely I'd be to play the game again soon enough after playing first time to re-play it with full political swing...

I thought about buying this two or three times, but each time managed to talk myself out of it, despite all the promise it has.