The Velicogna Verdict: Bastogne
THC is lucky enough to have an ex-KCL Wargame Studies lecturer amongst its guest contributors. Today, Arrigo Velicogna assesses Bastogne, a snow-mantled solitaire board wargame that shuns hexagons and deifies dice.
Tag the experiment
Hmmsim Metro: Seoulful but soulless?
I’m not sure I’ll ever warm to Hmmsim Metro’s deserted platforms and ugly PSDs, but it only took me an hour or two of virtual EMU operation to get over my dislike of this Korean train sim’s pedantic stopping rules,…
The Fight for Faire Bissone (Part 2)
I don’t envy the polygonal Canucks endeavouring to secure Faire Bissone’s bridge in this novel Combat Mission experiment. Commanded, during monthly wargaming sessions at Calgary Military Museums, by volunteers, some of whom have no previous CM experience, their promised Sherman…
Review Reprise: FTL
I’ve written hundreds of reviews, previews, and retrospectives during my twenty-odd years as a games inspector. As many of these appeared in the British version of PC Gamer magazine and nowhere else, now and again something from my archive may…
Inclines and bottom lines are your adversaries in Alpine Route
If there’s no foxer on Friday, blame Alpine Route. Right now, Roman, my Chief Foxer Setter, should be putting together a vowel-stripped list of ‘33 Things Wot You Might Find in Russia’ but instead he’s pondering possible routes for a…
Interview: Sir Nuno of Strategy and Wargaming
The days when THC dealt with competitors using polonium-laced IPA, booby-trapped sim hardware, or bouquets sprinkled with funnel-web spiders, are long gone. Nowadays we usually employ more humane methods like distracting our rivals with time-consuming interview questions.
Winless in War of the Austrian Succession
Night has fallen on squelchy Clifton Moor and once again it seems I’ve failed to stop the majority of Lord George Murray’s tartaned troublemakers retreating northward towards the Scottish border. My search for a win in the fascinating War of…
Review Reprise: Hidden & Dangerous
I’ve written hundreds of reviews, previews, and retrospectives during my twenty-odd years as a games inspector. As many of these appeared in the British version of PC Gamer magazine and nowhere else, now and again something from my archive may…
Competition for Cleared Hot
One of the obvious risks of announcing a game years before it’s ready for release, is your screenshots and vids could end up inspiring rival projects. Although Cleared Hot’s relatively high profile and lengthy gestation may not be the sole…
Chastened Charioteers
The following two sentences appear connected but aren’t. I’m rather impressed by Tryphon 104, a new, twenty-turn recreation of the Second Servile War for Wars Across The World. I spent a portion of yesterday evening overseeing charioteers.
GHPC was leopardised last week
Gunner, HEAT, PC’s latest hot-under-the-collar Haus, the early* Leopard 1, hits hard, goes like stink, and cuts quite a dash in its scalloped skirt. However, because it does its rangefinding with two lenses rather than a laser beam, using it…
Bigger, better, browner: Door Kickers 2 is almost the perfect sequel
I don’t reach for the ‘m’ word – masterpiece – very often, but describing this top-down turnless tactics game without recourse to it would be perverse. Those fifty-one months of Early Access tinkering have paid off big time. If it…