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We Are Coming, Nineveh!

2022-12-27T10:51:33-05:00

Vendor: Nuts! Publishing
Type: Board Games
Price: 72.95

Designer	Harrison Brewer Rex Brynen Juliette Le Ménahèze Brian Train
Publisher	Nuts! Publishing
Players	1-2
Playtime	90 mins
Suggested Age	14 and up
Additional Info	352482/we-are-coming-nineveh http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/352482/we-are-coming-nineveh/forums/63

We Are Coming, Nineveh! is a tactical/operational-level game of the Iraqi government campaign to liberate the western area of the city of Mosul from the forces of Daesh between 19 February and 9 July 2017. This was one of the largest and most difficult urban operations of the post-WWII era, and marked a major defeat for Daesh and its so-called “Islamic State.” The game is thus able to combine low complexity (and hence be accessible to even neophyte wargamers) with a rich and detailed treatment of this important battle.

Unlike most wargames where there is a single measure for victory or loss, We Are Coming, Nineveh assesses three key aspects of the campaign: the speed at which the operation is completed, the casualties suffered by Iraqi government forces, and the collateral damage done to Mosul. One might outperform the historical case, capturing the Old City faster—but at a terrible civilian cost.

The Scheldt Campaign

2021-12-27T09:14:35-05:00

Vendor: Hollandspiele
Type: Board Games
Price: 82.95

Designer	Brian Train
Publisher	Hollandspiele
Players	2
Playing Time	150 mins
Suggested Age	12 and up
Additional Info	125416/scheldt-campaign http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/125416/scheldt-campaign/forums/63

An operational level wargame of operations in the area of the Scheldt Estuary in Belgium and Holland in October and November of 1944. The crucially important port city of Antwerp had fallen to a rapid British advance in September, but the port could not be used until the coastal artillery defences at the mouth of the Scheldt had been neutralized and the river swept of thousands of mines. It fell to the First Canadian Army, already tired and overstretched after being in continuous combat since the D-Day invasion, to do this.

The nature of this campaign poses challenges to the players: the grinding, attritional nature of the fighting; the difficulty of the terrain fought over; and the limited resources available to either side. The Staff Card system, adapted from Joe Miranda's "Bulge 20" system, does not allow players to move and fight every unit every turn, as is often the case in other wargames - they must choose what they want to do, and where, and how to support it. The combat system, seemingly very simple because it does not rely on odds computations or column shifts, favours the defence and reflects the incremental nature of unit losses as they wear away in the fighting.

Days & Nights: Red Army Pack

2021-10-02T11:28:30-04:00

Vendor: Mighty Boards
Type: Board Games
Price: 40.95

Designers	Brian Train Dávid Turczi
Publisher	Mighty Boards
Players	1-3
Playing Time	60-120 mins
Suggested Age	14 and up
Expansion For	Days of Ire: Budapest 1956 Nights of Fire: Battle for Budapest
Additional Info	247103/days-nights-red-army-pack http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/247103/days-nights-red-army-pack/forums/63

Days & Nights: Red Army Pack is an add-on pack that contains 28 miniatures compatible with both Days of Ire and Nights of Fire. It also contains a small deck expansion to Nights of Fire, and an additional deck allowing campaign play.

In Campaign mode you can play a game of Days of Ire followed by a game of Nights of Fire (solo, cooperative, or conflict mode up to 1v2 supported), and have the winner decided only at the end!

—description from the publisher

China's War 1937-41

2020-07-03T02:41:44-04:00

Vendor: GMT Games
Type: Board Games
Price: 0.00

Designer	Brian Train
Publisher	GMT Games
Players	1-4
Suggested Age	12 and up
Additional Info	287515/chinas-war-1937-41 http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/287515/chinas-war-1937-41/forums/63

July 8, 1937: a nighttime skirmish at the Marco Polo Bridge near Beijing erupts into an invasion and occupation of China by the Imperial Japanese Army that would not end until 1945. Western sources call it the “Second Sino-Japanese War”; in China, it is the “War of Resistance”; and in Japan, it is blandly referred to as “the China Incident.”

China’s War: 1937-1941 examines the first five years of the conflict, when China stood alone against the Japanese Empire. Each player takes the role of a Faction seeking to attack or defend the Republic of China: the aggressive Japanese, the harried Government (represented by the Nationalist party), the rebellious Chinese Communist Party, or the unruly, fractious Warlords who are obedient when convenient but have their eye on gaining state power.

Using military, political, and economic actions and exploiting various events, players build and maneuver forces to influence or control the population, extract resources, or otherwise achieve their Faction’s aims. A deck of cards regulates turn order, events, victory checks, and other processes. The rules can run non-player Factions, enabling solitaire, 2-player, or multi-player games.

—description from the publisher

Brief Border Wars

2020-04-22T22:24:06-04:00

Vendor: Compass Games
Type: Board Games
Price: 84.95

Designer	Brian Train
Publisher	Compass Games
Players	1-2
Playing Time	60-120 mins
Suggested Age	12 and up
Additional Info	285193/brief-border-wars http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/285193/brief-border-wars/forums/63

Brief Border Wars is a quadrigame or set of four mini-games on short border conflicts of the 20th and 21st century, using a card-driven system that models the chaotic, stop-and-start nature of these impromptu wars.

The four conflicts included:

El Salvador vs. Honduras, 1969
The Turkish invasion of Cyprus, 1974
China vs. Vietnam, 1979
Israel vs. Hezbollah, southern Lebanon, 2006

—description from the publisher

District Commander Maracas

2019-12-07T15:00:07-05:00

Vendor: Hollandspiele
Type: Board Games
Price: 79.95

Designer	Brian Train
Publisher	Hollandspiele
Players	2
Playtime	120 mins
Suggested Age	16 and up
Additional Info	286616/district-commander-maracas http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/286616/district-commander-maracas/forums/63

Brian Train's District Commander is a series of operational games on counterinsurgency situations. The players alternate activation of groups of units (stacks) to perform discrete operations (missions) through the expenditure of Task Points (TP). Some missions are Tactical Missions - straightforward military tasks such as performing patrols, ambushing or attacking enemy forces, or moving from one place to another - and these may be performed multiple times by a stack during a turn. Other missions emphasize the "non-tactical" end of the campaign, establishing friendly influence, control, and infrastructure in an area, reducing the enemy's claim to the same, and recruiting or training troops. These missions take more time to perform and so unlike the tactical missions may be the only mission performed by the stack during the turn.

Missions are resolved by play of secretly-held Chance Chits, each with ratings that are better or worse for certain types of operations. Chits are played simultaneously and the ratings compared, modified by units, assets, and the current board state to determine the outcome. Using the right chit at the right time - knowing when to save a good chit for later and when to use it, and trying to determine if your opponent is going all-in or holding back - will require steely judgment in an atmosphere of doubt and deception.

All this is done in pursuit of objectives handed down to you by your superiors (i.e., chosen randomly) and kept secret from your opponent - objectives that may even change over the course of the game. Within this framework, the two sides - Government and Insurgent - play very differently, with the Insurgent player, in particular, depending on bluff and deception to achieve their goals. A large number of variant rules allow you to turn the game into a sandbox for exploring counterinsurgency doctrine and practice.

This first volume is District Commander Maracas. It takes as its subject counterinsurgency operations in a megacity - the urban battlefield of the future, and the cutting edge of modern doctrine. The sudden departure from power of Jesus Shaves, charismatic leader of Virtualia, has created a power vacuum in the streets of Maracas, capital city with a population of over 3 million people. The Virtualian Liberation Movement is exploiting this situation by organizing areas of the city against established authority, sabotaging civic services, and staging attacks on symbolic objective points. The local security force commander must contend with not only the urban guerrillas of the VLM but also private neighborhood armies and criminal gangs running amuck.

-description from publisher

Nights of Fire: Battle for Budapest

2019-07-15T17:08:27-04:00

Vendor: Mighty Boards
Type: Board Games
Price: 58.95

Designers	Brian Train Dávid Turczi
Publisher	Mighty Boards
Players	1-3
Playtime	60-90 mins
Suggested Age	14 and up
Expansion	Days & Nights: Red Army Pack
Additional Info	236125/nights-fire-battle-budapest http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/236125/nights-fire-battle-budapest/forums/63

Nights of Fire: Battle for Budapest is the second game in a duology adapting the events of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution for modern board game form. Following the Hungarian success in part one, this game starts as the Red Army arrives at the edge of the capital and pushes into the heart of the city, bent on retribution, destruction, and ruthless pursuit of control. For the players in charge of the Hungarian defense, there is no time left for organizing and sedition. This is a hopeless war of survival, plain and simple.

Combining card and action management mechanisms of modern euro games with the theme and feel of a classic block wargame, players can experience the rush of a true no-win scenario, and see how long they can keep the flame of the revolution going under the pressure of the unstoppable march of the Soviet military machine.

The game can be played by up to two revolutionary players against either a live or an automated opponent.

—description from the publisher

Ukrainian Crisis & The Little War

2019-04-26T15:49:39-04:00

Vendor: Hollandspiele
Type: Board Games
Price: 69.95

Designer	Brian Train
Publisher	Hollandspiele
Players	2
Playtime	90-120 mins
Suggested Age	12 and up
Additional Info	223436/ukrainian-crisis-little-war http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/223436/ukrainian-crisis-little-war/forums/63

Prolific designer Brian Train (The Scheldt Campaign) has created a number of games on unusual, under-gamed topics, often utilizing unique and innovative mechanisms. Hollandspiele is proud to be bringing two of Mr. Train's most interesting designs to your table in a single box.

Ukrainian Crisis simulates the Russian intervention in the Ukraine beginning in 2014. Diplomacy, propaganda, and international prestige play just as big a part in the proceedings as military force, if not more-so: it's entirely possible for the situation never to result in armed conflict at all. Each of these various elements feeds into and off of the others, resulting in a complex and decision-rich strategic situation. Event cards provide opportunities to turn things to your advantage, or to collapse in folly. The game is driven by the allotment of Resource Points chits. These chits are divided into three categories that each provide a random range of Resource Points: Minimum (1-4), Medium (2-5), and Maximum (2-12, trending toward 7). Each player has a finite number of each type of chit. This not only means that the commitment of chits among different activities within a given turn is important, but that as the game progresses, the choices you made on previous turns limits the range of options available for the end-game. While the decisions are rich and nuanced, the game system is relatively straightforward, making it a great introduction into "pol-mil" gaming.

The Little War is a smaller game about a smaller conflict: the week-long 1939 border war between Hungary and Slovakia. This is more of a straight-forward military engagement, but that doesn't mean it's any less interesting, clever, or innovative. The Little War is driven by an ordinary deck of playing cards (which you'll have to provide yourself). On each turn, six cards are drawn from the deck. One player gets the Hearts (movement) and Diamonds (combat), the other the Spades (movement) and Clubs (combat). The luck of this draw might favor one player this turn, but this will result in it being more likely to favor his opponent on the next.

Together, these two games provide hours of entertainment for adventurous gamers.

Colonial Twilight: The French-Algerian War, 1954-62

2017-03-30T00:55:00-04:00

Vendor: GMT Games
Type: Board Games
Price: 79.95

Designer	Brian Train
Publisher	GMT Games
Players	1-2
Playtime	90-300 mins
Suggested Age	12 and up
Honors	2018 International Gamers Award - General Strategy: Two-players Nominee 2017 Golden Geek Best Wargame Nominee 2017 Golden Geek Best 2-Player Board Game Nominee
Additional Info	180199/colonial-twilight-french-algerian-war-1954-62 http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/180199/colonial-twilight-french-algerian-war-1954-62/forums/63

Colonial Twilight takes 1 to 2 players into the tangled web of military and political actions comprising the French-Algerian war of 1954-62.

The insurgent Front de Liberation Nationale (FLN), starting from modest beginnings, must build massive and enduring popular support for its cause, and organize to assume power when Algeria finally gains its independence. The Government, representing both the colonial authorities and France’s military leadership, must engage the nationalist insurgency decisively while striving to preserve the support and commitment of the civilian government and society. Players will enter the “heart of darkness” as they use military, political, and economic actions and exploit events to build and maneuver forces to influence or control the population or otherwise achieve their aims along the twisting route to independence.

This latest instalment in GMT’s popular COIN Series system is the first to be designed for two players. You must consider carefully just what you want to do, and how much of it, before the initiative will slip from your fingers. Also, a full solitaire system enables solo players to test their skill against a devious game-run enemy.

From the Casbah to the Aures, are you ready to run the gauntlet?

A Distant Plain (Third Edition)

2016-04-21T13:06:00-04:00

Vendor: GMT Games
Type: Board Games
Price: 64.95

Designers	Volko Ruhnke, Brian Train
Publisher	GMT Games
Players	1-4
Playtime	180 mins
Suggested Age	12 and up
Additional Info	127518/distant-plain https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/127518/distant-plain/forums/63

This volume in Volko Ruhnke's COIN Series takes 1 to 4 players into the Afghan conflict of today’s headlines, this time in a unique collaboration between two top designers of boardgames on modern irregular warfare. A Distant Plain teams Volko Ruhnke, the award-winning designer ofLabyrinth: The War on Terror, with Brian Train, a designer with 20 years' experience creating influential simulations such as Algeria, Somalia Interventions, Shining Path: The Struggle for Peru, and many others.

A Distant Plain features the same accessible game system as GMT's recent Andean Abyss and upcoming Cuba Libre but with new factions, capabilities, events, and objectives. For the first time in the Series, two counterinsurgent (COIN) factions must reconcile competing visions for Afghanistan in order to coordinate a campaign against a dangerous twin insurgency.

A Distant Plain adapts familiar Andean Abyss mechanics to the conditions of Afghanistan without adding rules complexity. A snap for GMT COIN Series players to learn, A Distant Plain will transport them to a different place and time. New features include:

Coalition-Government joint operations.
Volatile Pakistani posture toward the conflict.
Evolution of both COIN and insurgent tactics and technology.
Government graft and desertion.
Coalition casualties.
Returning Afghan refugees.
Pashtun ethnic terrain.
Multiple scenarios.
A deck of 72 fresh events.

... and more.

As with each COIN Series volume, players of A Distant Plain will face difficult strategic decisions with each card. The innovative game system smoothly integrates political, cultural, and economic affairs with military and other violent and non-violent operations and capabilities. Flow charts are at hand to run the three Afghan factions, so that any number of players—from solitaire to 4—can experience the internecine brawl that is today's Afghanistan.