I played the Eagle Games Civil War game many years ago, and it seemed to lack something. In the first place, the game pieces weren’t as nice as, say, those in Battle Cry, but I always thought a much better Civil War game could be done (ala Axis & Allies).
As to space games, I think Twilight Imperium cornered that market…to say nothing of all the Star Wars games out there.
:-D
Thank you!
My father-in-law served in Korea (he passed away three years ago yesterday, as a matter of fact), so Korea is near to my heart.
As to the Civil War, I had this idea myself some time ago! I have an ace in my pocket as far as that goes, having worked side by side with Chris Perello, our resident Civil War expert, for the last eight years, and he’s a wealth of knowledge. We could do a truly excellent ACW game, and I would very much like to.
:-)
Narvik,
Yeah, that’s exactly why I put out that poll (here and on other sites) to find out what the preference is; because although I was originally planning on a NATO vs. Warsaw Pact setting, I thought about expanding the map to cover the Middle East, too. A whole worldwide war wouldn’t be feasible on one map, but it was interesting that the voting came down just about 50/50 (some want just Germany, and some want the entire Euro-Middle East instead).
In the end, I am considering, now, doing both (two maps) since preferences are so evenly divided.
As to how I explain the 1973 game, that’s easy: The Yom Kippur War nearly touched off World War III. It’s known, now, that the Israelis had thirteen of their nuclear weapons ready to go to hit the Arab armies if it looked like the IDF was going to lose on the battlefield. The Soviets warned the United States to not let the Israelis upset the balance of power in the Middle East and threatened to intervene directly if necessary. You can just imagine what might of happened if thirteen nuclear weapons were detonated on top of the Arab armies surrounding Israel! Holy Toledo!
And that’s the basis for the game, The Dangerous Year.
Most contend that the Cuban Missile Crisis was the closest we came to World War III, but I think '73 was at least a close second, if not closer.
Eric :-)
About 30 more backers is all we need, and we’ll have that by Wednesday!
:-D
Yes, thank you Narvik, and thanks for your participation and discussion here on A&A.org.
As a gamer myself, I am just truly excited at the opportunity to deliver a totally perfect and handsome game with the best components.
I look at some of the Hasbro game pieces of the past, and I keep thinking how we can make better-looking and accurate game pieces, and we now get to do that!
Eric :-D
Narvik,
Note that the Gold edition also comes with the free bonus game (The Dangerous Year: 1973).
That aside, there’s at least one game I know of that explores the idea you mention, but realistically it would have never happened. Certainly the Johnson administration, which was very concerned about widening the war (like what happened in Korea), would not have authorized any move that would have antagonized the Chinese into direct conflict.
And by the time the Nixon administration came to power, the political climate in the United States had changed so much that the tone of all political debate was about getting out of Vietnam, not getting into a bigger war. The debate was about how to get out (immediately, or a negotiated peace), so there’s no way to make such a scenario historically plausible.
Now that said, the game will come with more than enough game pieces for you to make up your own such scenario and play it out if you wanted. There’s plenty of Communist tanks, for example, to do what you are proposing.
Eric :-)
LoL, Karl.
I am instructing everybody to tell their wife that the game will only go up in value! :-D
Thank you for your pledge,
Eric :-)
The game is up to 85% funded!
Kicktraq projections are 100% funded by next week.
If you’d like to get the game, it’s only going to be available on kickstarter, and the campaign only has one week left, so hurry and order if you want one.
This is special one-time print run that will not be available to distributors or any stores, so don’t miss out now if you would like a copy for yourself. :-o
Eric :-D
Note that the projections for over 100% funding are very good, so it seems like we might be able to include even more miniatures than we hoped for.
Every extra pledge that comes in makes this more likely, so I will update the poll when the campaign ends.
If you are interested in getting this game and all its pieces, don’t miss your opportunity; the campaign only has a little over a week left:
Narvik,
Sorry, I missed your post here.
As to the scope, either version would be essentially strategic. A central Europe setting would just be a bigger map of Germany and peripheral countries. Most of the fighting would be in West Germany and neighboring countries, so the map would segment central Europe into the same number of spaces as the other alternative, but for that reason the game would approach more of an operational level, you’re right.
That said, the polling seems clear that people want the other version, so that may answer that!
:-D
We’re 85% funded today!
If you’re interested in getting a copy of this game, I recommend getting your order in sooner rather than later. We still have nine days to go, and projections put us at 100% by next week, but the sooner we get to 100%, the more people then jump in.
We only plan on the one print-run for kickstarter backers (this is because we’re not a game company), and so the game won’t be made available elsewhere on-line or to retailers, so please do order your copy now if you would like one.
Feel free to post any questions you may have,
Eric
Yes, that’s true. A limit of the kickstarter website. However, simply pledge for everything they want, and I will be e-mailing everybody when the campaign game ends to make sure they get what they want.
:-)
Most digital media has transitioned to an on-line format these days. Everything you could ever want to know is here on the internet, so there’s little use for someone who is providing that through another medium.
Ah, but, board wargames have found a resurgence in the last ten years because you still get that physical connection with board games, as well as cool game pieces.
Not only that, you can modify a game on the computer. With board games, you can do anything you like.
And, too, some people just prefer to play a game around a table of other actual people. :-D
Not to worry, we still have the second half of March to go and we’re almost 70% funded.
But yes, we just started a big ad campaign (including on facebook, yes) at the end of the week, and so more backers will start to come in. :-)
Besides, most backers tend to rush in during the last week.
Eric :-)
Narvik,
Yes, the maps haven’t been graphically rendered yet, so I only can suggest exactly like what you suggested (imagining from the perspective of another map).
Yes, the BGG entry for the WW3 game is up. I am waiting for BGG to upload the first images I’ve sent, so hopefully soon. :-D
This World War 3 game (called The Dangerous Year: 1973) is included free with The War in Vietnam game that is up on Kickstarter right now.
You can find reference to the WW3 game about halfway down the KS page:
I have two map choices and presentations, either a strictly European NATO vs. Warsaw Pact World War 3 clash in Germany and thereabouts, or a wider scope map that includes the conflict that would certainly be going on down in the Middle East at the same time.
Poll Results!
Thanks to those that participated. The poll here, combined with the external poll (150+ voters) settled on these top 10 picks:
In order of most popular:
1 ) AH-1 Cobra attack helicopter
2 ) Vietnamese village sculpt
3 ) Australian/ROK Marine infantry
4 ) Earthen bunker sculpt
5 ) Viet Cong additional sculpt (VC with RPG)
6 ) US Marine infantry sculpt
7 ) PT-76 light tank
8 ) US Army Ranger
9 ) 155mm heavy howitzer
10 ) M-41 Walker Bulldog tank
Thanks for voting!
For those of you that have backed the game, look forward to an update post next week where I’ll start to post images of these new sculpts, one by one. They may not be in the order above (the infantry are more time-consuming, so they will take longer), but some of these prototypes we already have, so keep an eye out in your KS messages.
Eric