Tactical Practical plays Colonial Twilight

Over at his Tactical Practical blog, Chris Davis starts in on a play of Colonial Twilight where he consciously applies the principle of “clear, hold and build” which was introduced in French counterinsurgency doctrine at the time of the Algerian War and found further expression in American doctrine for Iraq and Afghanistan, as in Field Manual 3-24.

https://americanprideweb.wordpress.com/2018/03/26/revolt-of-the-wretched-reflections-of-colonial-twilight-part-1/

I did write on this a bit in the Designer’s Notes to the game. We’ll see how he does, and I will post links to his further posts here.

https://americanprideweb.wordpress.com/2018/03/30/revolt-of-the-wretched-propaganda-round-1/

First Propaganda Round, of the full scenario. Early play of the Casbah card let the FLN seize Algiers for a moment, but he got some traction in the countryside by building up Support and will soon move on the FLN stronghold in Tizi Ouzu.

https://americanprideweb.wordpress.com/2018/04/11/revolt-of-the-wretched-propaganda-round-2/

Second Propaganda Round. The FLN fights for the cities and builds up strength quickly, but a timely play of Mobilization allows the Government to engage the guerrillas and knock them back down. They’re on the offensive now, but how long can they keep it up?

https://americanprideweb.wordpress.com/2018/04/25/revolt-of-the-wretched-propaganda-round-3

Third Propaganda Round: Government Victory declared, so game over, man. The French Army pursues the remnants of the FLN while securing its rear area with police and auxiliary forces. Have a look at the map at the link: he has used the Government Bases to full effect, providing more Resources to the military; kept the France Track down to a dull roar; and grouped his Troops effectively. He also eliminated enough Guerrillas in Rounds 2 and 3 to attrit the FLN significantly.

Well done!

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The Player’s Aid: Best 3 Games with… Designer Brian Train!

 

Oh my. I really did not expect this.

Grant Kleinheinz has written a really nice post about three of my designs he’s had the most fun with:

• Winter Thunder
• Binh Dinh ’69
• Colonial Twilight

I’m touched by this, and happy that he’s enjoyed my work enough to write such nice things about it. Thank you Grant!

Go have a look….

https://theplayersaid.com/2018/01/05/best-3-games-with-designer-brian-train/

WargameHQ: Why Model Insurgencies?

C3i banner by Rodger MacGowan

Over at the WargameHQ blog, the editor (I cannot find his name, there or on Boardgamegeek) posts a short piece about modern insurgencies, counterinsurgency theory (namely Trinquier, and a good reading of Kilcullen’s The Accidental Guerrilla) and the COIN system games that model them.

https://wargamehq.com/why-model-insurgencies/

Walking the Distant Plain: InsideGMT blog

Over at the InsideGMT blog, Chris Davis gives his impressions of A Distant Plain and how it captures the atmosphere of what he actually experienced during his service in Afghanistan:

http://www.insidegmt.com/?p=18097

Defling plays 3LW and likes it!

Over at Defense Linguistics, the gaming blog of the worthy Neal Durando, he goes into the structure and mechanics of Third Lebanon War as revealed by his play-through of the first turn or two.

To begin, the above illustrates the general concept of operations for each side.

http://defling.com/blog/?p=408

Interview at The Players Aid blog: Tupamaro

The ever-alert Grant Kleinheinz, one of the “Faithful Eight” (readers of this blog, that is) asked me some questions about Tupamaro, my game on the Uruguayan urban guerrilla movement that is coming out soon from One Small Step Games (Tupamaro available for pre-order from OSS Games!)

Step over and have a look!

https://theplayersaid.com/2017/03/27/interview-with-brian-train-designer-of-tupamaro-from-one-small-step-games/

New Post on InsideGMT: Propaganda Rounds and Pivotal Events in Colonial Twilight

http://www.insidegmt.com/?p=15197

Fresh today, a post to the InsideGMT blog on the procedures to follow in the Propaganda Rounds of the game, and illustrations and explanations of the Pivotal Event cards.

I think I have about reached the limit of what I can describe about this game’s content and mechanisms! Anyway, slip on over and check it out.