#marksimonitch

[illuminatinggames]

Breaking out Stalingrad ‘42. My friends place has a big window in the room where we game, so we get a lot of light during the day which makes some interesting pictures. I took the Soviets this time because I wasn’t quite feeling up to running the big offensives - but wow, playing defense with the Soviets is hard! The German spearheads are just so fast, it’s really hard to avoid getting lots of guys pocketed. You actually have a decent armored reserve of pretty good tank corps, but it’s just hard to compete with the agility of the large number of German mechanized formations. I’ve been playing a fair amount of Holland ‘44 recently; that game is just so constructed, while this is a panzer-pusher’s delight of wide open spaces. Anyway, it’s cool, and like all Simonitch games, it just plus like a dream for a game of this scope and scale. The 8 turn Case Blue scenario is not crazy playing time wise and is action packed. Outside of conventions I usually have to break most of these up into two sessions, but they fit quite comfortably into two afternoon or evening games. Looking forward to getting better at this one 😆 #bgg #boardgamegeek #tabletopgames #gmtgames #marksimonitch #stalingrad42 https://www.instagram.com/p/B5Mu0cKh8D6/?igshid=114zpo99glp8e

[illuminatinggames]

XXX Corps goes once more into the breach, trying to get to Nijmegen. The bridge situation was dire, with everything between Eindhoven and Grave getting blown up by the Germans. A slight delay in getting the bridging unit to Son three the entire timetable off. After a desperate push through Veghal on the third day and the 82nd seizing the railroad bridge at Nijmegen intact, I thought there might be chance to get to the Rhine, but German reinforcements reached Grave ahead of XXX Corps, which spelled doom. Lesson learned: don’t even think about it, just keep the bridging unit with the tip of the spear of XXX Corps. The schedule on this operation is so insane, any delay can be fatal. The Germans initially pose no threat to your spearhead, so there isn’t really any risk to keeping this super-critical as far forward as possible. #gmtgames #marksimonitch #holland44 #tabletopgames https://www.instagram.com/p/B5pEJqHlUzQ/?igshid=18eb4roqxrx8l

[illuminatinggames]

Quickest turnaround for a rematch of Holland ‘44 ever. My Germans were managing well, but slightly overcommitted to the defense of Nijmegen which left the south bank of the Rhine under garrisoned allowing the 1st Airborne to send a few units south via the ferry and over the road bridge, which caused no end of problems, ultimately allowing XXX Corps to do their river assault early and get north of the Waac to win the 11-turn scenario. It was close though; the airborne divisions had been chewed up and the 1st Airborne particularly had been hit pretty hard with their large perimeter. Great game, and pretty playable - the 11 turn scenario should take 6-8 hours (if it goes the distance, which probably it won’t). Not nothing for sure, but given it’s a pretty intense ride the whole way, it’s a pretty good gaming deal. Just figure out the ZOC bonds, which are a bit tricky if you’re not used to them; but in combination with the flexible advance, retreat, and trace rules the systems works really well. Now excited to get Stalingrad ‘42 to the table! #bgg #gmtgames #holland44 #marksimonitch https://www.instagram.com/p/B4gkvcjAObY/?igshid=182otfpsyz60n

[illuminatinggames]

Holland ‘44. OMG, this is what happens when XXX Corps consistently rolls 1s. Eindhoven gets reinforced and never falls, every bridge but one gets blown up. I started off the game with a brutal airborne drop, lots of casualties. But then the 1st Airborne quickly sieved the railroad bridge over the Rhine, which is kind of a big deal and I thought maybe portended something good. But no, it was quickly off a cliff from there. XXX Corps kicked off its offensive with three 1s to get down the main highway, the 1st Airborne was turned away from the Arnhem road bridge on a 1, XXX Corps continued its legacy of failure in Eindhoven, the US airborne succeeds in securing exactly one bridge, and the whole thing was a total disaster. The thing is though, the game was still fun. As the Allies, it’s important to not fail your personal morale check - the obstacles are incredibly daunting and the success if the operation is insanely contingent on a bunch of stuff you can’t really control, but the victory conditions actually aren’t that onerous and you can win by making some honest progress (taking Nijmegan and limiting the scope of the disaster by preserving the strength of the airborne divisions (this is one of the things that makes the game cool - if the Germans want to win, they do need to be very aggressive in reducing the airborne divisions). Super-fun game on a topic that is very hard to do well. Now that Mark Simonitch has made a number of these ‘4X games, it’s fascinating to see the small, deliberate changes he makes from game to game to evoke the different games - he is just such a pro. #gmtgames #holland44 #bgg #boardgamegeek #marksimonitch https://www.instagram.com/p/B4WBLvKh59H/?igshid=1adgu8w8l1k7e

[illuminatinggames]

Hannibal runs amok in Italy, en route to a big Carthaginian victory. I was a bit rusty, and used a turn 1 campaign card to invade Spain, which *almost* worked but ended badly. Then a couple bad hands and desperate defensive play in Italy against a relentless assault by Hannibal, and I just couldn’t turn it around. Fun to play this again; I need to get back in practice! This has been popular with a few of my friends who have been playing a ton recently; I played it a lot in the late ‘90s and early ‘00s, but only intermittently since. The new Phalanx Edition is quite nice, but I remain pretty skeptical of all the non-Simonitch content (the First Punic War scenario is rules-y and just OK, most of the variant cards are pretty dubious), but the core game is still great and there are definitely a couple variant cards that seem fun. And glad I got the giant map 😄 #bgg #boardgamegeek #boardgames #hannibalromevscarthage #marksimonitch https://www.instagram.com/p/BxVvPibh4ta/?igshid=q4inxy8rgap

[illuminatinggames]

The Allied perimeter holds in the Dynamo scenario for France ‘40. I’ve never played this scenario, although France ‘40 is one of my favorite of Mark Simonitch’s games and I’ve played Sickle Stroke a number of times. Dynamo is a bit of a slog, as tough British divisions hold a defensible corridor protecting the evacuation sites while the Germans need to look for a break. I’m not sure quite what the best strategy here is for the Germans, but I suspect it’s to take a lot of 2-1’s and the occasional all-infantry 1-1 and to just take the casualties and hope for a break somewhere, instead of trying for just a couple 3-1’s and 4-1’s where if you don’t roll well you may just get stymied for a turn - and you don’t have a ton of time. I think the Sickle Stroke scenario is definitely more interesting, but Dynamo is a lot smaller and even though it had more turns it should be easier to crank through. I’ve played a bit of OCS, EFS, and Simonitch games over the last year and I had the feeling while playing this that maybe I should finally be done with both EFS and OCS; Mark’s games are just so good and so elegant that between them and No Retreat, that may be all I need in the hex-n-counter genre. I’ve definitely passed the point in my life where the amount of gaming time ahead of me is less than the amount of gaming time behind me, so maybe it’s time to stop hanging on to these games that I like in theory but in practice seem to be difficult to enjoy, and just play the good stuff. #bgg #boardgamegeek #boardgames #gmtgames #marksimonitch https://www.instagram.com/p/Bs-I4K-jQ9S/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=4v5r0j9hz457

[illuminatinggames]

The German death ride into the Caucuses approaches its peak in The Caucuses Campaign, the 2009 classic from Mark Simonitch and @gmtgames. I always liked this a lot but haven’t played it in quite some time just because my opponents have had different preferences, but it was fun to play again and be reminded of how good it is. The Germans have a tough hill to climb here, but with appropriate tactics (massing the Panzer divisions, taking advantage of significantly better interior lines to keep multiple threats in play, being willing to incur significant losses) I think the balance isn’t bad and it can produce a tight, tense game that mildly favors the Soviets (which seems correct). Somewhat unlike some of his later games in the ‘4X series, there are a few high stakes events that can cast a long shadow, especially in the tournament game; if the Soviets can pass a few determined defense checks at Krasnodar or Maikop and hold out until the Soviet Air Force shows up, that’ll make the Germans’ life hard. But I do think there are enough of these inflection points that they should ultimately come out in the wash. I think the really interesting geography of the campaign is what does it for me here (along with Mark Simonitch’s consummate professionalism, of course). The real game here is probably the full 14 turn version, which is quite playable but will probably still take 6 hours. The tournament scenario is also very good though, and should check in at 4-ish. I’m happy to see GMT producing mounted mapboards for several of Mark’s terrific games early next year (Holland ‘44, Ardennes ‘44) - I’d love to see a reprint of this with a mounted board, sturdy counters, and maybe just a few rules tweaked slightly just to bring them in line with what has become standard for Mark’s other games of the past decade or so (mainly, ZOC bonds). #bgg #boardgamegeek #boardgames #gmtgames #marksimonitch https://www.instagram.com/p/BqZYeL7jkWj/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1fw27rwwqjqep

[illuminatinggames]

This is what happens when you send too much force to Arnhem and Nijmegen and not enough to cover the ferries into The Island; you get 1st Airborne troops running amok in your lines of communication. I really like Ukraine ‘43 and France ‘40, and the other games in this line, but Holland ‘44 took a little bit to win me over just because the situation is tricky. It’s a little on the large side for me these days, but there are a lot of real choices and a lot of opportunities for the game to go in different directions. I enjoyed and would definitely recommend it, particularly in a field of Market-Garden games that are generally fairly mediocre. Definitely read and pay close attention to the player tips provided; the situation is confused and fluid and some subtle errors can really hurt you. #bgg #boardgames #boardgamegeek #marksimonitch #gmtgames #holland44