Excellent Review Bill Bodden! - Armchair General and HistoryNet >> The Best Forums in History

pirateship1982 · #1 19 Nov 07, 18:49

http://www.armchairgeneral.com/artic...&page=1&cat=59

My compliments to Bill for a good review on Britannia. I bought the game recently and am in full agreement, especially about the counter tray! I always get sandwich bags for my game counters, I have yet to see a suitable counter tray to my liking.

Another two things that bug me about the game are it's size and scoring system. By size I mean board size. If you are sitting at a short corner you have to get up and stretch to reach counters on the other side. Although the game board doesn't quite rival the Eagle game boards for size, it comes close. The scoring system can be tricky since not every round is a scoring round and there are many particulars about scoring and different ways to score, such as getting points for merely grabbing at any time a terrain vs. holding it till the exact moment of scoring. It can be easy to miss a scoring opportunity, especially if you are playing two player and have many nations to manage.

But those two shortcomings are slight and the game is extremely enjoyable. I also reccomend Maharaja, a game of India which uses the same gaming system (and the board isn't so big!). That can only be found through Avalon Hill, I don't think there are any remakes of it.

Bill Bodden · #2 20 Dec 07, 09:39

Hey Tyler,

Glad you enjoyed the review; thanks for the kind words.
Have you played History of the World by Avalon Hill/Wizards of the Coast? It uses a very similar game mechanic to Britannia and Maharajah, but covers the ebb and flow of civilizations from Sumeria and Old Kingdom Egypt all the way to the early part of the 20th Century. Plus, the new edition has a TON of cool plastic pieces!

Any suggestions for games you'd like to see me cover in the near future? Can't guarantee anything I'm afraid, but I'd be happy to take a look.

Bill

pirateship1982 · #3 20 Dec 07, 10:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bill Bodden

Hey Tyler,

Glad you enjoyed the review; thanks for the kind words.
Have you played History of the World by Avalon Hill/Wizards of the Coast? It uses a very similar game mechanic to Britannia and Maharajah, but covers the ebb and flow of civilizations from Sumeria and Old Kingdom Egypt all the way to the early part of the 20th Century. Plus, the new edition has a TON of cool plastic pieces!

Any suggestions for games you'd like to see me cover in the near future? Can't guarantee anything I'm afraid, but I'd be happy to take a look.

Bill

I have indeed. It is one of my favorites. I also reccomend Chariot Lords for ancient Middle East action. It's almost a clone of the Britannia system, with players managing several countries including one of the four major civs - Hittites, Egyptians, Babylonians, or Assyrians. Rulers appear periodically and each civ has it's own victory point sheet.

I'll give some thought for board game review reccomendations, I can't think of any offhand.

Whiterook · #4 20 Dec 07, 19:08

Hey Bill....History of the World is very cool! I have a Guy's Game Night group of friends from work that I try to get together once a month, and we've played it a couple times. One weird outcome from play, though, is the group gets annoyed changing out the armies for the new era's and on the last play, they indicated just sticking with one army. I was a little taken aback! Half the fun is playing the different armies! (Anyone have a similar experience?)

I've got the Memoir '44 Air Pack Expansion due in tomorrow...I'd love to see a review on it! I play M44 almost exclusively solo (simply because I like to boardgame alot, and usually it's just little 'ol me around to play (I tried teaching my wife the game one day, and the look of pain on her face was just to sad to behold).

Whiterook · #5 20 Dec 07, 19:11

Reviews on Panzer Grenadier WWII titles would be awesome, too.

I'd especially like to see a regular review section on games suitable for solitaire play. Hmmmm, maybe I should look into reviewing....I play enough of these things solitaire, LOL!

Bill Bodden · #6 25 Dec 07, 16:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by Whiterook

Reviews on Panzer Grenadier WWII titles would be awesome, too.

I'd especially like to see a regular review section on games suitable for solitaire play. Hmmmm, maybe I should look into reviewing....I play enough of these things solitaire, LOL!

Finding good solitaire boardgames is tough, but that's a GREAT idea. I'll hunt around and see what I can come up with.

Bill

Bill Bodden · #7 26 Dec 07, 01:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by Whiterook

Hey Bill....History of the World is very cool! I have a Guy's Game Night group of friends from work that I try to get together once a month, and we've played it a couple times. One weird outcome from play, though, is the group gets annoyed changing out the armies for the new era's and on the last play, they indicated just sticking with one army. I was a little taken aback! Half the fun is playing the different armies! (Anyone have a similar experience?)

The biggest problem with this idea is that some eras (particularly the earliest and latest ones) don't have enough pieces to cover the troop strength needs of the middle eras - so you might end up with fewer pieces than you would be entitled to field!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Whiterook

I've got the Memoir '44 Air Pack Expansion due in tomorrow...I'd love to see a review on it! I play M44 almost exclusively solo (simply because I like to boardgame alot, and usually it's just little 'ol me around to play (I tried teaching my wife the game one day, and the look of pain on her face was just to sad to behold).

I believe the Memoir '44 base game has already been covered by another reviewer; check out the boardgame review archives. I'll find out what the policy is on covering expansions.

I'm also thinking of running a series on games for the non-gaming S.O. - a way to bring spouses and significant others into the hobby gently, as it were. Would this be something you'd like to read?

Bill

Bill Bodden · #8 26 Aug 08, 19:48

Hey Whiterook,

Quote:

Originally Posted by Whiterook

I'd especially like to see a regular review section on games suitable for solitaire play. Hmmmm, maybe I should look into reviewing....I play enough of these things solitaire, LOL!

If you check for some of my more recent reviews, you'll notice I did cover a few solitaire titles, including Field Commander Rommel and Silent War, plus one or two more that are highly suitable for solitaire play.

Enjoy!

Bill