John McLintock's Top Ten
Well, seeing as everyone else is doing it, I thought I'd add my own list. Some of them are all-time faves, others just some of the more memorable games I've played recently. Oh, and numbers 1 and 2 are in order.
1. Up Front
This has been mentioned before, but I regard it as the greatest wargame
since chess, and it is certainly my 'desert island' game of choice. I have
worn out two decks of action cards playing this game, which never fails to
thrill.
The uncertainty of the game is what strikes you first, but the card play system enforces proper forward and contingency planning, while also making insane derring-do occasionally viable. Also often overlooked is just how deeply authentic so many of its rules are. The different rules for solid and shaped-charge AT fire, for example, provide a plausible simulacrum of how the actual munitions worked. Add in the layers of psychology provided by the cards, and you have a game that should have turned the industry on its head the way Dungeons and Dragons did.
2. Advanced Squad Leader
Simply the most satisfying game for the true WW2 aficionado, and the first
game I realised I always wanted to play. If it was there in WW2, in any
theatre of operations, it's there in ASL. And the scenario-driven play
ensures that the game never gets 'samey'. The business.
3. Settlers Cards
This is a splendid adaption of the multi-player boardgame to a 2-player game
in a completely new format. Radically different, it is still Catan with all
its familiar elements, and a whole new set of strategies. The expansion sets
add lots of colour, and the tournament game. This gives you all the fun of
CCG's- namely designing killer decks- with none of the hassle of endless
revisions. The best card game since Up Front.
4. Settlers of Catan
Just too good to leave out.
5. Judge Dredd
An absolute gem of a game from Games Workshops's mid-80's period which some
diehards regard as their finest hour. Purportedly a game about fighting
crime on the streets of Mega-city One of 2000AD fame, this is really a game
of vicious political back-stabbing in the Grand Hall of Justice. Truly one
for the evil sadist in all your best gaming buddies. Also an example of how
GW blazed something of the trail with which we are now all familiar from the
eurogames market.
6. Nuclear War
The classic satirical game of global thermonuclear holocaust, a game that
shows how a few simple components and the back of an envelope can provide
thrills and spills that still defy any number of megabytes. "Take ten megs,
take ten megs, take ten megs!"
7. Gunslinger
Another for the grognards out there, Gunslinger is a minutely detailed
tactical study of wild west gunfights. Featuring an early use of cards to
pre plot and resolve actions, this beautifully produced little game was quite
demanding, but was well worth the effort if you liked detailed
action-planning and vivid combat results. Our favourite was the .45 calibre
Bulls Eye- why go for the straight kill, when you can deliver Stun 6,
Stagger, Serious 3, and enjoy watching your hapless victim spend the rest of
the game struggling to get to his feet? A later AH General expansion brought
more guns, and a herd of cattle - stampede anyone?
8. Gladiator
The joys of pre plotted movement revisited, this time using the old log sheet
and pencil. All the tensions of trying to outmanoeuvre your opponent,
coupled with a fearful gritty combat system. Split your combat value between
attacking your opponent's and defending your own five hit locations, and
hope to avoid the death of a thousand cuts, or a gruesome single hit
critical blow. A serious tactical simulation of the highest calibre, and a game
that will never be out of date.
9. Space Hulk
Simply the most perfect little boardgame to come out of GW's Warhammer 40K
stable. Space Hulk pits genetically engineered superhuman warriors wearing
powered armour that makes them the equivalent of a pocket walking tank-
Terminators, against hexapedal whirling dervishes of chitin, claws, and
ba-ad attitude - Genestealers. This game takes the classic match-up of
lumbering firepower versus speedy close combat specialists, puts it in the
context of a stripped-down set of rules as ergonomic as any, and much better
written than most, and gives its devotees a tactical challenge par
excellence that is full of character, and which is one of boardgaming's
ultimate adrenalin rushes. It's a whole new world of hi-octane carnage!
10. Heroclix
What I hear you cry- Heroclix? But step back a minute from the marketing
devices, and what you have is another tactical skirmish gem. Sure, the rules
could've been done with being less concise (the FAQ's are several times as
long as the original rulebook!), and better proofread and edited, but don't let
that put you off either. The basic mechanics are simple and effective, and
the clicky bases mean that your characters' powers change as they take hits;
for example, the Hulk does get stronger and meaner the harder you
hit him. The strength of the core mechanics coupled with the endless variety
you get from the clicky bases means that playing this game feels like
fighting a superhero fight straight out of the comic books the way that
playing Up Front puts you right there in the firing line. It's fast, it's
furious, it's seriously tactical - it's a blast! I like it.
Near misses: Kingmaker, Samurai, Risk, Ivanhoe, Settlers in Space, Hell's Highway, Storm over Arnhem, GEV, Ironclads, Roborally, Block Mania.
John McLintock
20 April 2004