Q is for Quick fag card. The 25 cards that make up ‘Victoria Cross Heroes in Action’ are not your typical fag cards. Released in 1970 by Sheffield firm Bassett & Co, they were distributed in packets of candy cigarettes. Compared to the tea cards of the time, the artwork was crude, the subject matter dramatic. Shown below, card no. 6 commemorates Gordon Campbell’s VC. A remarkably cool Q-Ship skipper, Campbell allowed his wolf-in-sheep’s-clothing to be torpedoed, then sunk the U-boat responsible with close-range gunfire when it surfaced.
R is for Roaming rook
Stylish, atmospheric, and thoroughly 3D, the Beyond the Board demo is guaranteed to warm-up a cold cranial CPU. Guiding your lone rook through the trial’s various trials requires logic, imagination, and a willingness to experiment, rather than chess expertise.
S is for Smash walls and slaughter Saracens in the Sword & Siege demo
Deeply offended by your local Saracen’s Head pub? Wargame Design Studio’s latest demo will probably leave you fuming. Typically generous, the Sword & Siege taster includes five scenarios all of which are designed to be played from the Crusader perspective. In two of the scraps, the player is entrusted with units seldom seen in hexy PC playthings – siege towers, sappers, and catapults. Don’t expect quick results from burrowers and boulder chuckers (they slowly nibble away at wall ‘hitpoints’) and bear in mind that large (76+ men) units can’t occupy siege towers or wall tops.
The angry houses in WDS’s newest release are motorised and made of steel rather than wood. A Panzer Campaigns instalment, Poland ’39 isn’t solely concerned with Fall Weiss. Amongst the 77 scenarios are a few ‘Eastern Front’ scenarios including one focused on the tenacious Polish defence of Grodno.
T is for Tempting offers
Strategy Game Studio’s oeuvre is – with one exception – heavily discounted at Gamersgate at present.
In theory no more than a month away, the developer’s next release will – like a Matrix Games project currently seeking playtesters – tackle the entire La Guerra Civil Española.