The latest Military Simulations sale is on (20% off boardgames!), so I’ve made my order with them. I’ve just heard that three of the games on the list (RT, ASL SK#3 & one of the twilights) is on their way… the others are currently out of stock, butwill be coming in the “near future”.
Railroad Tycoon – this is a boardgame by the now-defunct Eagle Games. It’s for 3-6 players, and takes a couple of hours to play. It’s related to the earlier Age of Steam, although it is a simpler game, and thus more suitable for casual gamers. Randy’s had this for a while now, and I really enjoy playing it. The word is there’ll be a new edition of it sometime soon, but it’ll be a redesign, so I wanted to get the original.
Railroad Tycoon has a bunch of component problems, but the game is actually really fun. MilSims got a few new copies recently, and I hope they’ve still got one left for me!
Advanced Squad Leader: Starter Kit #3 – I’ve recently been going on a nostalgia kick. Well, a nostalgia kick with a difference. Do you remember when you were young, how you played games to destruction? Well, this is not one of those games. Instead, this is a game I got to see my friends playing to destruction and I didn’t get to play it! ASL is insanely complex, but the Starter Kits really bring it down to a usable level. I can also play them solo, and so I’ve been doing that. So, #1 introduces infantry, #2 introduces artillery, and #3 introduces tanks. I’ve got the first two, now to finish the set!
Classic Battletech Introductory Boxed Set – Unlike ASL, I actually got to play this game when I was younger. Just not very much, compared to some of my friends. This new boxed set is cheap, and has a bunch of unpainted plastic miniatures in it in addition to the rules and a few scenarios. (How cheap? Well, aus$66, which is exceptional for 24 plastic minis. Randy has said that he really enjoys Battletech, and so does Dave, so I guess I’ll get a few games of it.
Classic Battletech Starterbook: Sword and Dragon – related to the last item, this gives more scenarios and campaign information for House Davion and Kurita in the classic battletech line. It’s not that expensive, so it’s a good time to get it – the starterbook expands on the boxed set. (Incidentally, my favourite mech is the Wolfhound…)
Shattered Empires – expansion for Twilight Imperium – Have you seen the games that Fantasy Flight Games puts out? Insanely big, lots of components (generally high quality), and then they produce expansions for them! Twilight Imperium 3e is a big sci-fi wargame that takes about 3-4 hours to play. We’ve really enjoyed the games we’ve had of it, although it has a few “issues”, like the Imperial card. Shattered Empires brings the game up to a maximum of 8 players (from 6), fixes the Imperial cards, and gives a bunch of new options for the game. We’ve had game days where we’ve needed a 7 or 8 player game, this will fit the bill.
Twilight Struggle – probably the most incredible 2-player game I know of, and ranked extremely highly (currently #4) on Boardgamegeek. Randy has this, and it’s really, really, really good – I play it a lot with him. Over the course of 2 hours, Twilight Struggle allows you to play through the Cold War. There’s both skill and luck in this game – probably more skill than luck – and it really gives you the feel of the US and USSR attempting to influence nations to their cause. It’s really worthwhile giving this game a look.
So, that’s what I’ve ordered. I considered ordering a couple of D&D books, but it’d be as easy to just pick them up from Melbourne the next time I go down there.