#compassgames

Another run at Hearts and Minds, playing 1966-1970. Really enjoy playing this game, but again, wow, it seems hard on the US/ARVN. The US learned a bit from our last game and was actually winning through ‘68, but a brutal Tet in ‘69 and then the NLF toppling Laos in ‘70 and the US/ARVN being unable to capitalize on the devastating losses suffered in Tet and the NLF won easily in ‘70. It *felt* much closer with the US/ARVN managing to navigate the early war successfully, but the last couple years were brutal. Not sure. It’s mechanically so interesting and it does by far the best job of evoking the feel of the conflict of any game on the period I’ve played. Hopefully SVN will be closer next time - I do feel like there is room for improvement in our tactical play. #bgg #boardgamegeek #boardgames #compassgames https://www.instagram.com/p/B07LptYh1W1/?igshid=1luek1n0rjh7h

The new deluxe edition of Crusade and Revolution. The Republicans hold out against the Nationalists in the north of Spain. The only thing I know about Santander is the bank they have there that sponsored that viral video of a flashmob Beethoven’s 9th. Kinda mixed feeling about C&R. It’s over-complicated, over-chromed, and over-long. It seems to easily snowball relatively early, where a side that gets behind at the point of transitioning from War of the Columns to Mobilization is just kinda doomed (I’m not a huge fan of the mobilization mechanics). But, it does repurpose the Paths of Glory engine quite efficiently and does a pretty good job of evoking the Spanish Civil War. I’m still a fan of both Paths of Glory and Barbarossa to Berlin (moreso the latter actually; PoG you have to play the WBC rules), but none of the various follow-ons have managed to get much traction, not even Shifting Sand (which I did like, but which played out after half a dozen games or so and now I’d just play No Retreat: North Africa or Rommel in the Desert). But C&R feels pretty solid to me. I’m up to play 3 and I can imagine it having pretty solid replay value. I won’t add it to my collection, but I’ll be happy to play on other people’s copies 😄 Add it to the extremely short list of good games from Compass (Bataan, Hearts & Minds, this, ... anything?) #bgg #boardgamegeek #compassgames https://www.instagram.com/p/B0INa_IhPDP/?igshid=fayru7dc8qgu

Second playthrough of Crusade and Revolution. Nationalists win in '38 by pummeling Republican morale and grinding down the Republican army. This one can definitely snowball, with huge fronts that have to be manned, so the turn-by-turn auto-victory checks are nice and prevent the game from getting out of control. While I enjoyed it, the swingyness may be a damper on long-term play (Paths of Glory can swing on a few extreme combat results too, but not quite like C&R; it seems like once you get a bit behind in this one, you're done). The big takeaway here was actually that it inspired me to dig out my old Paths of Glory, and discover that there is a set of WBC tournament rules that seem to address the problems the game developed over time, so I'm actually kinda psyched to give that a try sometime. But I do need to give the Republicans a try in C&R sometime to see how interesting they are to play. Regardless, I can add this to the short list of Compass games I've played that aren't terrible 😆Right now the only other game on that list is Bataan (which I do like a lot). #bgg #boardgamegeek #boardgames #compassgames