Thunderbolt Apache Leader | Review | With Mike

[@NefariousKoel]

Although I found sorting through and picking pilots/aircraft at the start of a campaign a bit time consuming in the Leader series, I always enjoyed the setup before each mission after that initial setup. Choosing which pilots/aircraft to send, weapons for each, and the pre-mission tactical planning it entails, a lot of fun. I'd recommend Hornet Leader as the first title for anyone new to the series since it doesn't have the added layers of map setup & terrain, nor the more detailed aircraft damage system. Moves a bit faster and less rules in that sense. For that same reason, TAL is great for those who want the most detail and more decision-making factors.

[@OneStopCoopShop]

I'm still interested in getting HL, but my favorite part of this game was the tactical combat with the map, so I'm curious how well HL would work for me...

[@NefariousKoel]

@@OneStopCoopShop - There is definitely more granularity with TAL's randomized terrain map. Part of the reason it's well-liked. Hornet Leader just has a static map with zones, but it still has a Hi-Lo altitude factor and there are often more enemy SAMs and aircraft to take account of. So the randomly drawn and placed enemy units tend to dictate your approach, movement, and target prioritization since those enemies vary in their range and whether they can hit Hi or Lo or both. It's different but still has fun, and often tough, decisions to make despite not having terrain ridges. The missions are also a bit quicker to set up since you're only drawing enemy units from a cup and placing them in the zones - no die roll placement or map hex placement needed.

[@OneStopCoopShop]

@@NefariousKoel that sounds better than I thought. Thanks for clarifying!

[@tigormiti]

Regarding choosing your pilots and aircraft, you don’t have to do it every time if you’ve already played the game. You can reuse or tweak the lineups you recorded on the mission logs. That saves a lot of time.

[@OneStopCoopShop]

That's a great idea! Thanks for sharing :)

[@manschristenssons6116]

Yes. Thank you

[@Tombonzo]

Good stuff, Mike. Yeah I started to dive into this myself. Going to use your play through as a guide. Yeah I agree, the pilot art is a little “hokey” or cheesy. So many pilots, too. I would’ve liked to seen more missions, myself. And having all the expansions (3 to this point), doesn’t really add much in that area. (2 I think). But the expansions add a ton more..... you guessed it, Pilots!!! They add more enemies too, lol. And some situation cards. Thanks for the review!!

[@OneStopCoopShop]

Haha, you are convincing me to skip the expansions pretty well :)

[@KabukiKid]

Personally, this is my favorite of the Leader series... at least of the ones I have played, so far. ;-) One of my all-time favorite solo experiences. I don't mind the "busy work," I guess. heh It's part of the fun to me. :-)

[@OneStopCoopShop]

It didn't ruin the experience for me or anything, which is why it's my #3. But I did have the feeling as I was playing "man, I wish this took half as long as it does" lol

[@breakupgamingsociety2170]

@@OneStopCoopShop I love this game. But after six or seven missions, I broke all the friendly munitions and enemy units into separate compartment boxes. Fishing for those two kinds of counters out of a common bag turned out to be too much of a speedbump. None of the other admin bothers me a bit.

[@puddincupp]

This one always comes up when I am googling for solo games, but the price tag always puts me off. It just doesn't look like a $70 game. I haven't tried a DVG game, but I don't think this will be my first. Maybe the zombie one will be the first, it's like 20-30. Thanks for the review.

[@OneStopCoopShop]

I’ve covered a bunch of them. If you want a first one to try, I recommend Castle Itter.

[@mgranvee8549]

I don’t have TAL, but if you are referring to Dawn of the Zeds, I can attest that it is an excellent solo experience.

[@OneStopCoopShop]

@@mgranvee8549 Dawn of the Zeds is amazing, but it's not DVG, and it's definitely not $20-30, so I'm not sure what game they were thinking of here :)

[@puddincupp]

@@mgranvee8549 I have Dawn of the the Zeds but it is currently on my shelf of shame...However that games looks good and cost more than $20 :)

[@puddincupp]

@@OneStopCoopShop The DVG game is Rise of the Zombies...my understanding is that a lot of the basic mechanics of Rise of the Zombies were reimplemented into DVG's Warfighter series. Rise of the Zombies does not look amazing, but costs half as much as Warfighter and I appreciate the zombie theme a little more. But I still haven't purchased a DVG game...maybe one day

[@FreeFragUK]

Admittedly I enjoy deciding on load outs and balancing them against the mission objectives vs potential dice rolls vs possible additional threats/hurdles. I'm yet to try the rules which allow for crossover with Hornet Leader but I'm looking forward to seeing how they play in unison with each other and the prospect of coop viability. If anything my biggest grievance with DVG is the quality assurance. While art work could be better in some cases and card stock/finish could be far better for the premium price, I've found that I've had to contact them on a number of issues due to component issues (almost entirely card related) and I've also found that I lose hours cleaning debris from the cards.

[@OneStopCoopShop]

I haven’t had those issues myself, but I’ve seen some of them in forums.

[@Syrilian]

I enjoy watching this game but I don't think I will ever buy it. I prefer games with win conditions rather than beat your own score. Also, I looked up the price of the game after you mentioned it's pricey and I don't understand how the game is that expensive.

[@OneStopCoopShop]

It sort of has a win condition, in that you need to survive all the days of your scenario without being overrun and running out of operation points. But yes, usually it's more trying to score the best you can :)

[@NefariousKoel]

Beating your own score isn't a favorite of mine either. However, with the Leader series I always set myself a victory level goal before starting a campaign. Not just the so-so victory, but one of the higher levels. It tends to push me into making more risk-reward decision making in order to achieve it by the end. The more you play, the higher you can set your campaign goal. You can look at the different win levels for each campaign as difficulty levels. Once you've won the Good outcome, for example, you can bump your next campaign up a difficulty level and consider it a fail if you don't achieve it.

[@OneStopCoopShop]

@@NefariousKoel great way to handle it. I like it!