#quartermastergeneral

[illuminatinggames]

Germany drives east and occupies Russia to drive a Central Powers win in Quartermaster General: 1914. We won an auto-victory on point differential, but it was closer than the score indicated - the Germans were at the end of their rope. I've played 3 times now, and the Germans are tough - you need to stay focused, and not obsess over France. Historically Germany was mostly on the defensive on the Western Front between 1915 and late 1917, and I think that's probably the way to play it - grab a few easy VPs in the west, then try to hammer the Russians. But as always, cardflow drives a lot of the play. Really like this. #bgg #boardgamegeek #quartermastergeneral #quartermastergeneral1914

[illuminatinggames]

Quartermaster General: The Cold War. A conventional opening moved along with a normal slower early development, but all of a sudden things got hot pretty quickly. Ho Chi Minh unified Vietnam in the 50s. Chemical weapons were deployed in Germany as the NATO/USSR conflict escalated briefly, only to peter out as Asia went up in flames with US-backed Nationalist reinvading the mainland in combined operation with the Soviets in Manchuria, while the nascent Indonesian republic was crushed by the Dutch (backed by the US) and Vietnam was hit hard by US bombing and chemical warfare. It was not pretty; the non-aligned movement, which had gained a ton of momentum, was severely battered by the superpowers. The USSR/Warsaw Pact would pull it out in the end by a single point, after massive US aggression against China left China with little choice but to use their small nuclear arsenal. Crazy game in the end! Once players make the choice to start escalating, things can get out of hand really fast. I really like the way the escalation tracks and WMDs work; the cost of escalation is high enough that you generally want to try not to do it - but you have to invest in your nuclear deterrent! This game doesn’t seem to have gotten quite the same love as some of the other QMG games, but I find it super-fun and a really interesting take on the Cold War period. Still have only played it 3-player; I would like to try the team game once, just to see how it is. #bgg #boardgamegeek #boardgames #quartermastergeneral #pscgames https://www.instagram.com/p/B2qjzr_hL3v/?igshid=iuvwm968kdy0

[illuminatinggames]

The Athenian colony in Pylos looks over the Peloponnese at where Athens used to be in Quartermaster General: Victory or Death. Not looking good for the good guys. #bgg #boardgamegeek #boardgames #quartermastergeneral #quartermastergeneralvictoryordeath https://www.instagram.com/p/BwiPNNpjTfv/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=m85xr6x7wzqw

[illuminatinggames]

More Quartermaster General: The Cold War. Very close again; the West went out to a large lead in the mid game and was trying to push for the auto-victory, but couldn’t quite open up a big enough lead and so ended up fading towards the end as the Soviets and Non-Aligned combined to chip away, including the use of Soviet nukes when the West let their escalation level get a bit high. The non-Aligned would pull out a near win in the end despite China getting clipped by Western-backed armies in Korea, Manchuria, Vietnam, and even China itself. A slightly earlier rise of China, or an earlier and more aggressive US pivot to the Pacific to contain them, are some of the more interesting historical what-ifs raised by the game. #bgg #boardgamegeek #boardgames #quartermastergeneral #quartermastergeneralthecoldwar https://www.instagram.com/p/BwWK4EiDL29/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=o3d1pq5v3l4q

[illuminatinggames]

Finally introducing @eclectic_farrell to QMG: The Cold War. After a big Soviet build-out in the early game where they were looking really strong, the Soviets just slightly misjudged when to do a big push in Germany. The espionage cards were all in position but I held out an extra couple turns to push it as late in the game as possible, but it was too late as the US/NATO started revolts in Poland and Hungary which then derailed the final push. As I always say about these games, timing is everything, in The Cold War even moreso than the others. There is kind of an interesting quirk to the US and Soviet nukes: the US can fire theirs at any time, while the Soviets can only fire on their turn. This means the US can fire theirs on the last turn of the game without fear of retaliation. I haven’t quite figured out what this means for Soviet play, but I think it means that you can’t just wait for the end, if you’re going to do a major push in Europe (which you might have to in order to contain the West - they have a huge number of potential points there) you’re going to have to target the late middle game and use your own nukes to knock out the Western nukes. You also really cannot afford to let the West’s escalation stay low. You need to force them to escalate in the middle game or risk falling way behind, so your big nukes can be in play late and you can defuse the possibility of US/NATO first use. Also since the US/NATO nukes destroy cards off your deck instead of costing VPs, if you retain a reserve of cards late (not necessarily easy to do) you can blunt their effect. Interesting and subtle design choices. BGG says I’m up to 7 plays on this already, after a bit of a slow start in getting it to the table, and it’s gone over very well with everyone I’ve played it with so far. I’ve been very happy with it; the 3-player dynamics seem to work very well with more attention to the traditional problems of the genre than it looks on first inspection. Now to give the team game a try sometime. #bgg #boardgamegeek #boardgames #quartermastergeneral #quartermastergeneralthecoldwar https://www.instagram.com/p/BvyPf73Dmh3/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=gb79eqbqk592

[illuminatinggames]

First rule of warfare: don’t get involved in a land war in Asia. Even in Quartermaster General: The Cold War. The US backs the Nationalists heavily, re-invading a China weakened by attempts at industrialization. The Soviets and NATO reaches something of a detente in Europe while waging proxy battles in the Middle East and Central America; but with the US weakened by full-scale involvement in China, the Soviets finally would pounce in the 80s, driving NATO back to the Rhine while Chinese nukes hit US forces. The Soviets would ultimately pull out a win with a big push in the final quarter of the game - timing is everything, as in all the QMG games. #bgg #boardgamegeek #boardgames #quartermastergeneral https://www.instagram.com/p/BufyAs_DXYk/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=kexuxrbhtups

[illuminatinggames]

View from the Non-Aligned position in Quartermaster General: The Cold War. I’ve played the game 3 times now, and the Non-Aligned each time, so I’m kinda getting the hang of them. They rely on using a ton of Espionage cards, and then knowing when to unleash them - they have a lot of point-generating capability and a lot of breadth, but not much depth. It seems like they can’t afford to get into tit-for-tat exchanges, they have to build up potential. It helps that they should not be a priority target early, as they start pretty weak. Good game! The period of the Cold War hasn’t been a super-fertile period for interesting games of global scope - Twilight Struggle and the old Victory Games Cold War are the two that come to mind, both of which are OK but not great - but I think this generally succeeds both as a game and a period piece. But there is clearly still a lot of room to explore here. The Cold War period is, I think, still understood in only a very simplistic way by Americans; games are a good way to explore this history, and while Quartermaster General isn’t a deep historical study, it is a game with some nuance, and nuance is good. #bgg #boardgamegeek #boardgames #quartermastergeneralthecoldwar #quartermastergeneral https://www.instagram.com/p/BuYPFKvDF9X/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1qpr6r8jvlvb9

[illuminatinggames]

A lot of pieces on the board in Quartermaster General: The Cold War. Like all the other QMG games and their very specific player count requirements, it’s not always super-easy to get to the table; this is only the 2nd time I’ve played. This hasn’t gotten quite the level of love the other QMG games have in fan circles, but I have enjoyed it quite a bit. One of the great things about the series is how all the games ads clearly related but quite distinct; The Cold War is both obviously a QMG game, but also not really directly comparable to the others. Our game was insanely close, with the Soviets holding off a last-minute surge by the non-Aligned block, with the West fading slightly at the end. But the gap between first and last was only 4 points on scores of 120-ish. What was surprising was that it didn’t actually feel that Kingmaker-y; the 3 factions with their extremely distinct deck styles all have their own positive motivations. Anyway, check it out, I suspect this will become a staple especially since it fills a valuable 3-player niche. #bgg #boardgame #boardgames #boardgamegeek #quartermastergeneral https://www.instagram.com/p/BuDhsNSDGpx/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1o4w6jd1ewuxk