Civil Power: correction on ADS

Erratum for Civil Power:

I have been informed that the Active Denial System (ADS, colloquially known as the “heat ray”) described in the game does not emit microwave energy. The system emits millimeter wave energy at the very high frequency of about 95 GHz, and so its ray does not penetrate skin and flesh to the same degree that microwave energy does (a microwave oven emits at about 2.45 GHz).

I apologize for my technical ignorance and misrepresentation of this non-lethal weapon system. Players should change the word “microwave” to “millimeter wave” in section 8.3 of the rulebook.

https://jnlwp.defense.gov/About/Frequently-Asked-Questions/Active-Denial-System-FAQs/

District Commander: FAQ, errata, clarifications and comments document

DC_FAQetc_12_apr_21

Here and now: a FAQ-so-far, together with collected errata, clarifications and some comments on play on the DC system and the three modules released. Also posted to Boardgamegeek under the DC: Maracas module page and on the Free Games page.

Thanks to James Buckley for his help and editing! James has also written a longer, joined-up example of play for the Maracas module on Boardgamegeek.com for people who want a bit more demonstration on how to put missions together.

Brief Border Wars: errata

Errata (like ants at a picnic):

Football War

Sequence of Play aid: per the system rules, Urban area always gives +2d6 for the defender.

Operation Attila

Setting up the Game: Cypriot forces, read ELDYK instead of GRK (couldn’t make the longer acronym fit on my original counters); Turkish forces, read KTA not TRK (later research uncovered the Turkish language acronym)

Third Indochina War

Sequence of play aid: per the system rules, Urban area always gives +2d6 for the defender.

Second Lebanon War

Setting up the game: Reference is made to placing 3 leftover Irregular units anywhere in Lebanon; actually it’s 2 Rocket and 1 Irregular, anywhere in Lebanon.

Chile ’73: errata, supplements, replacements

“Gang aft agley.” Getting a bit tired of this, though…

Regrettably, there were a number of production errors and unsolicited additions and changes to the rules and components of Chile ’73. Most of them are rather minor on their own but taken all together, detract quite a bit from what people seem to think is an interesting design.

Tiny Battle has moved to address and correct most of these errors, and remove the changes (which only introduced further confusion in the game) in the print-and-play version available at wargamevault.com. But when I received my physical designer copies after they were mailed to me on April 20, they still contained all of the errata that I had brought to Tiny Battle’s attention as soon as I saw the first PnP version, on March 3.

Tiny Battle will do something about this; they usually do. So far they have emailed what buyers of the physical version they had addresses for with a link to get a free copy of the PnP version, so they can print out the corrected rules and assemble the corrected counters for themselves.

Not everyone is going to want to, or be able to, do this, and there are other customers out there who would never have received that link at all. Which means I am going to be answering errata questions about this game that may or may not have been addressed, for some time. It all counts as “game support” but I would really rather be doing other things, like making new games, instead of answering for or about someone else’s mistakes.

So, here is the file for all the Chile ’73 errata that I have found or have been brought to my attention, as well as some clarifications.

Consolidated Errata for CHILE 73 10jan

(as of January 10, 2020)

Also, here is an expanded sequence of play to use as a player aid to prompt you through the game – something I included in my submission but which they couldn’t fit into the rules booklet.

CL73 expanded sequence 20mar

Oh, and some final points, if you do make a set of the PnP counters:

In the game I submitted, all of the unit Control Chits were the same colour on the back. I just left them white. This was so that when you drew them out of the Control Pool no one could tell what Faction of unit (Civilian, Paramilitary or Military) you were picking and choosing – just that when you took one in and discarded an Infiltrate chit at the same time, the unit you took was not of your faction or you did not have the faction leader (or you could just have been faking people out).

This gave more depth to the pre-Coup phase, so people would have more incentive to play Investigate chits on other players, or trying to make deals with others to sound them out for what faction they were. Colouring the backs of the unit Control Chits by their faction (which TBP’s artist did for some reason) removes that mystery, and makes it obvious pretty quickly who is what faction…

Again, like the other counter errata, this does not make the game unplayable. But those of you who are making up your counters with the free PnP download might want to make this change when you are pasting up the counters.

Also, it would be a good idea to print the counters out at a smaller size than 1″ square, and print the map out larger if you can. TBP’s doubling the area of each counter (from 5/8″ to 1″) but leaving the map at 11×17″ results in several map areas where only one stack of units can comfortably fit.

Here is a set of counters that I made that both make the above correction and are adequately sized: please download them and print them out.

Chile73ctrs11

GMT update: corrected cards for Colonial Twilight

 

From GMT’s monthly newsletter, released today:

Colonial Twilight Card Issue Update

I’m happy to report that we have received the four-card replacement packs that fix the “missing and misnumbered cards” issue. We are shipping them out now – along with Fields of Fire and Enemy Coast Ahead: Doolittle P500 orders. They should all be shipped out by the end of this week. I’m very sorry for any inconvenience caused by the error in the decks. This should fix the issue.

Note also that we’ll now begin shipping copies of the game (with the updated cards inside) to distributors and retailers, and have removed the “Temporary Hold” on selling the game. So you should see Colonial Twilight showing up in your local game stores soon.

Courage, mes amis!

In a couple of weeks it will be as if it never happened.

Colonial Twilight: corrected tutorial, errata, clarifications

As must inevitably happen, several errors crept into the Tutorial section of the playbook. Version-control slipups that break the continuity of the narrative of the campaign.

*****

EDITED TO ADD, NOVEMBER 2018: a revised Playbook that incorporates a corrected Tutorial section may be downloaded from the GMT website here:

https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/gmtwebsiteassets/colonialtwilight/ColTwi-PLAYBOOK-Oct2018.pdf

Here also are the Living Rules, incorporating all the errata described below:

https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/gmtwebsiteassets/colonialtwilight/ColTwi-RULES-LR-May2018.pdf

*****

Here is a corrected file (with corrected illustrations as well).

COLONIAL TWILIGHT Tutorial 050817

Errata and clarifications

And while you’re here, the following is the collected errata and clarifications so far (last updated 31 January 2018):

Government player aid card:

Under Train Operation, the number “2” for the cost of Resources per location selected was omitted. The rules do contain this information.

Rules:

1.3.7 Border Sectors: after the first sentence, add: “In the Full Scenario, they are not considered Border Sectors until Morocco and Tunisia have become independent and the Border Zone activated, by play of a Pivotal Event Card (5.1.8).” And add after the last sentence: “Also, Police in Border Sectors count as Troops in Assaults (3.2.4).”

3.2.1 and 5.1.7 (effect of RECALL DE GAULLE card): the text of the rules refers to Government now being able to select “any Sector with Government Control and Troops and Police” for a Train Operation, in addition to the spaces selectable when the RECALL DE GAULLE card is not in play. The rules should read, “…any Population 1+ Sector with…”. (The RECALL DE GAULLE Event card, Playbook text, and player aid card are all correct.)

5.1.8 MOROCCO AND TUNISIA INDEPENDENT Pivotal Event: add a third bullet: “From now on, Police in Border Sectors count as Troops in Assaults (3.2.4)”

Playbook and Event Cards:

See above for corrected Tutorial section in Playbook.

page 22, Card #61 Morocco and Tunisia Independent: text on Event Card and in Playbook should have added: “Police in Border Sectors now count as Troops in Assaults (3.2.4).”

page 22, Card #65 Recall de Gaulle: text on Event Card and in Playbook does not mention that Government Resources are increased by total Support in Resource Phase of Propaganda Round when card is in play. No room left on card, and editing slip in Playbook. The rules (5.1.7, 6.2.1) and player aid card are correct.

Update on Colonial Twilight card printing error

GMT has just posted the July 19 update:

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/GMT-Update–July-19–2017–Fixing-a-Problem–Production-Update–General-News.html?soid=1103480314715&aid=xMZDbdK_Hus

Here is the relevant section from the update:

Colonial Twilight Card Issue

The good news about Colonial Twilight is that we’re getting a ton of feedback on social media and BGG about how much fun you guys are having playing this newest COIN series game. That’s gratifying, and speaks to the skill and care with which designer Brian Train and developer Jordan Kehrer crafter this game. We hope this first 2-player COIN game will give rise to many other such designs.

Unfortunately, the bad news is that there was a card error at the printer on the Colonial Twilight Project that we didn’t catch before we were sending out the P500 orders. The specific problem affects cards # 52-55. What happened is that Card #52 (Cabinet Shuffle) was not printed at all, and card #56 (Hardened Attitudes) was printed twice. So we’re missing card #52, and current card #s 52-55 are “off” by one number. Thankfully, this issue doesn’t keep you from playing and enjoying the game, but it’s something that we are fixing right away.

What we’re doing to address the issue: 

First off, we have not shipped any distributor copies of the game (only P500s) and won’t ship any until we have the corrected cards and can update the copies of the game we have in our warehouse.
We are reprinting cards #52-55 and will ship them at no cost to all who ordered the game using the P500 program. We don’t have an exact timeline yet, but have ordered both expedited service at the printer and expedited shipping, so we think we should have them ready to ship out by mid-August.

In the meantime, so that you’ll have the correct information to play with, we’ve added a pdf of all corrected and renumbered cards #52-55 to the Colonial Twilight page on our website.

For quick fixes, either:
If you sleeve your cards, just print out the new versions from the pdf and put them in sleeves until the replacement cards arrive.
If you don’t sleeve your cards, take the redundant #55 “Hardened Attitudes” and write “#52 Cabinet Shuffle” on it, and when it comes up in play read the text out of the Playbook or from the pdf version of the card.
We’re very sorry for any inconvenience this error has caused. We’ll have your updated cards to you as quickly as possible.

So, perhaps mid-August.
Thank you for your patience, everyone.

Here is the URL for the corrected cards:

https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/gmtwebsiteassets/colonialtwilight/CT_corrected_cards-1.pdf

Colonial Twilight – Event Deck printing error

I’ve been very busy lately so haven’t been posting. I’m sure many Constant Readers already know some of the reasons why, but I still have to announce –

It appears there has been a printing error in the Event Deck, that occurred at the factory.

Card #52 should be “Cabinet Shuffle” but it is “Population Control”.
Card #53 should be “Population Control” but is “Operation 744”.
Card #54 should be “Operation 744” but it is “Development”.
Card #55 should be “Development” but it is “Hardened Attitudes”.
Card #56 should be “Hardened Attitudes” and so it is.

So it appears #52, “Cabinet Shuffle” was not printed at all, and there are two copies of “Hardened Attitudes”, and in between the numbers have slipped by one.

I have heard from GMT and they will put up a PDF of the missing card #52, “Cabinet Shuffle” up on the website ASAP. Here’s a JPEG version for you, meanwhile. The factory will print cards 52 to 55 again, and expedite the new cards to GMT for addition to the non-P500 boxes.

They are halfway through shipping out the 1,500 or so P500 orders, they need to finish that and as soon as the new cards come in, they’ll have a special mailing of the corrected cards to the P500 customers. The copies for distributors or other individuals will wait until they get the replacement cards, and they will fix it at the warehouse.

Meanwhile, before the PDF of Cabinet Shuffle is posted to the website (or if you don’t sleeve your cards), here’s a simple fix:

Take the redundant #55 “Hardened Attitudes” and write “#52 Cabinet Shuffle” on it, and when it comes up in play read the text out of the Playbook. Or put a sticker on the card and write the following text on it (it’s a simple, low-power card, with only one text box):

#52

Cabinet Shuffle

Ministers change chairs:

Executor of Event shifts France Track marker 1 box left or right.

Sorry guys, but these things happen.

Greek Civil War, redux

So, my game on the 1947-49 Greek Civil War is out, in issue #11 of Modern War magazine.

Constant Readers will recall that I sent my original game design, using a development of the game system I developed for Shining Path and Algeria, in to Decision Games at the end of 2011. DG asked me to redesign the game using a game system developed by Joe Miranda for his Decision Iraq game that was to appear in issue #6. So I did, at the beginning of 2012, and sent that in.

I had read some rules questions on the Consimworld and Boardgamegeek sites from subscribers who had received their copies that made me wonder. Then I got a copy of the e-rules and yes, DG had made a number of major rules changes between 2012 and now, without my knowledge. Finally I got my own subscriber copy.

I do not agree with these changes.

Part of the publishing agreement a designer signs with Decision Games reads: “Decision is responsible for the development, graphics and publication of the Game. Decision is free to edit, develop, and make other changes it deems necessary for publication of the Game. Decision has final approval for all materials utilized in publishing the Game. Designer incurs no obligation for any of these, other than those specified above. Decision agrees to credit Designer in the published game rules.”

So, they have done their part in all of the above. I want to be fair: with other designs I have sent to them, DG has been more or less good with keeping me in the loop. And presumably they had their reasons for making the changes they did.

While I feel uncomfortable publicly disagreeing with the publisher, I am also uncomfortable standing behind this game in its published form with my name on it.

Therefore, I am making the rules and charts I originally submitted available here for download, so that players can play the game in the manner I originally intended.

[ETA: these rules were originally uploaded in spring 2014. I have more recently updated them a bit to add some clarifications and to add the revised text of a 1944-45 alternate scenario Decision Games added to the game (without my knowledge) to fit the original rules and my historical research.]

GCWrules11 18 apr 22

GCWchts11 18 apr 22

As for the very first version of Greek Civil War, which I am going to retitle Andartes, I intend to self-publish this in DTP format later in the year.

[ETA: which I did, and which I later made available for print-and-play on wargamevault.com: https://www.wargamevault.com/product/337385/Andartes-The-Greek-Civil-War-194749 ]