Ludic Futurism
December 9, 2022 Leave a comment
Today only:
In honour of David Turczi’s birthday, Mighty Boards is selling Nights of Fire for 60% off!
Great Ghu, that’s only $18!
https://mighty-boards.com/1/9/products/Nights-of-Fire-Battle-for-Budapest
Buy, folks, buy!
If not for me, do it for David… he recently welcomed a child into the world and he’s gonna need every royalty he can get!
November 15, 2021 2 Comments
It’s that time of year again!
Hollandspiele is having its big sale: for two weeks (November 15-28) you can get substantial savings on all of their titles. Everything is $5 off, and if your order total before shipping is at least $100, you’ll get an additional 10% off (deducted automatically at checkout, no codes needed)!
Order two or more complete games and you get a free copy of this year’s mini-card-game, Republic of Virtue (for two players, about surviving the Reign of Terror).
Europeans are reminded to order from Second Chance Games in the UK, Hollandspiele simply cannot make it work from their end without suspending laws of time, space and thermodynamics. https://www.secondchancegames.com/index.php/component/virtuemart/manufacturer/hollandspiele/
My Hollandspiele titles:
Go there now!
October 7, 2021 Leave a comment
Compass Games has launched its holiday catalog sale!
Many nice deals, but of more interest to my Dear Readers:
Paper Wars #84 with Finnish Civil War, marked down to $25.00
Brief Border Wars reduced to $45.00 (that’s less than $12 a game, friends!)
No coupon code required and prices are good until January 25, 2022.
See this and all the other on-sale goodies at https://compassgamesbucket.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/downloads/Compass+catalog+2021+web+optimized.pdf
November 23, 2020 Leave a comment
“From now until December 6, every game in the Hollandspiele catalogue is $5 off. Buy at least two games, get Reign of Witches for free. Spend at least $100, and we’ll automatically deduct another 10% from your total. And we’ve got canvas maps for fifteen of our titles.”
– Tom Russell
Reign of Witches is Tom’s annual small-card-based-game-dealio, on the political conflict between John Adams and Alexander Hamilton.
Unfortunately, there are no canvas maps in production for any of my Hollandspiele titles (illustrated above), but don’t let that stop you.
These are good people. They produce nicely made games from quality designers. Do everyone a favour and pick something out!
September 29, 2020 1 Comment
Starting today, District Commander Kandahar is on sale from Hollandspiele!
In fact, all three District Commander games are currently on sale.
Buy two and use the discount code “DCdiscount” at checkout will save an additional $5.
Buy all three modules and use “traingames” to save an extra $10.
I’ve made it, I’ve become a discount code!
I really like Tom’s ad copy for this one:
District Commander: Kandahar simulates the problems facing insurgent and counterinsurgent commanders in southern Afghanistan circa 2009-2010. This is not Brian Train’s first or even second game about this conflict, and you might be wondering, what does this one have to offer? We think that the District Commander system – with its emphasis on bluff and deception, scarce resources, and shifting operational goals – is an especially good fit for capturing the pace and nature of operations in Afghanistan.
Brian Train’s District Commander is a series of operational games on counterinsurgency situations. The players alternate activation of groups of units (stacks) to perform discrete operations (missions) through the expenditure of Task Points (TP). Some missions are Tactical Missions – straightforward military tasks such as performing patrols, ambushing or attacking enemy forces, or moving from one place to another – and these may be performed multiple times by a stack during a turn. Other missions emphasize the “non-tactical” end of the campaign, establishing friendly influence, control, and infrastructure in an area, reducing the enemy’s claim to the same, and recruiting or training troops. These missions take more time to perform and so unlike the tactical missions may be the only mission performed by the stack during the turn.
Missions are resolved by play of secretly-held Chance Chits, each with ratings that are better or worse for certain types of operations. Chits are played simultaneously and the ratings compared, modified by units, assets, and the current board state to determine the outcome. Using the right chit at the right time – knowing when to save a good chit for later and when to use it, and trying to determine if your opponent is going all-in or holding back – will require steely judgment in an atmosphere of doubt and deception.
All this is done in pursuit of objectives handed down to you by your superiors (i.e., chosen randomly) and kept secret from your opponent – objectives that may even change over the course of the game. Within this framework, the two sides – Government and Insurgent – play very differently, with the Insurgent player, in particular, depending on bluff and deception to achieve their goals. A large number of variant rules allow you to turn the game into a sandbox for exploring counterinsurgency doctrine and practice.
Now go have fun in the sandbox….
September 23, 2020 5 Comments
I have been working from home since March, 2020 and do not have the access to copy/print shops I did when I was at my downtown office.
I have run out of at least some components for most of the games and am suspending sales of the physical versions until I can resupply.
I guess I should also look into making PnP versions of these available from wargamevault.com, but really they would be the same files as available from me personally. The main difference would be you could order them drunk at 3 am, like most online purchases, and get them right away.
May 1, 2020 1 Comment
It’s May Day, and while the day is observed more in Europe than Canada or the United States, there are labour actions and anti-rentier unrest aplenty.
TESA Collective, who I have mentioned here before, are having a big honkin’ sale too!
This will be a May Day to remember.
Across the country, renters and homeowners are demanding relief from the escalating crisis. At the same time, workers are going on strike to fight for safer working conditions, better pay in the face of a pandemic, and basic dignity.
Today, in recognition and celebration of all these people fighting for a better world, and with acknowledgement that many people need entertainment while social distancing at home, we are offering most of our games about changing the world for half off! No coupon code needed: but the sale is today only.
We are beyond proud that all of our games and products are made domestically, primarily by worker-owned cooperatives, and using sustainable materials. These are our most popular games:
- Rise Up: The Game of People & Power. Rise Up is a board game about building people power and fighting together to create social justice—even when the cards are stacked against us. Everyone wins and loses together. 2 – 5 players, ages 10 and up.
- Space Cats Fight Fasicsm. Space Cats Fight Fascism is a cooperative game where you play as a band of rebel cats trying to stop fascists from taking over the galaxy. You’ll go on secret meowssions to liberate your crated allies. 2 – 4 players, ages 12 and up.
- Co-opoly: The Game of Cooperatives. In Co-opoly, you’ll learn and practice skills needed to run a cooperative, make tough choices and put your teamwork to the test, and build the cooperative economy in your community! 3 – 6 Players, ages 10 and up,
- STRIKE! The Game of Worker Rebellion. STRIKE! is on pre-order and is only $5 off, instead of half off, because we want to honor the commitment our Kickstarter backers made when they supported the creation of the game. This game will begin shipping when our manufacturer in the US can safely resume production. All other products are shipping immediately.
Because even while we are at home, we can still imagine – and work towards – the world we want to build.
Also on sale are our other products, like this STRIKE! Shirt. And if you have a young rabble rouser in your life, then check out the adorable and powerful modern classics, A is for Activistand Counting on Community.
We have some more exciting updates and content planned for you – so stay tuned! And please feel free to share this with anyone who you think could use some games to get them through this time of social distancing.
In solidarity with those striking and organizing,
The TESA Collective
Eagerly awaiting my copy of Strike!
April 3, 2020 2 Comments
So, Compass Games has extended the spring sale of 40% many items to April 17, including Finnish Civil War, and added a number of other games at 33% off.
On the front page of their website, it says that Brief Border Wars has been pushed back to May 2020, though the pre-order page still says 14 February 2020… obviously “that statement is inoperative”.
Connecticut is under a stay-at-home order but apparently Compass is still able to ship games, and the US Postal Service hasn’t been completely destroyed yet, so I imagine you would get prompt service!
March 18, 2020 Leave a comment
Katalog
Compass Games is holding a 40% off sale now through April 5, 2020.
There is a large selection of game titles and issues of Paper Wars included in the sale. Finnish Civil War is one of them: $28.17 down from $46.95.
Enter the coupon code: 40PERCENTOFF at time of check-out to cash in your savings!
January 30, 2020 1 Comment
District Commander Binh Dinh is out today from Hollandspiele!
https://hollandspiele.com/products/district-commander-binh-dinh
The second volume is District Commander Binh Dinh, set in the jungles of Vietnam circa 1969. This is a period of transition that sees Government forces shifting their focus from pitched battles to providing population security and pacification. Mr. Train gives each player very different tools – here, we have rules for Agent Orange, the Phoenix Program, and the Ho Chi Minh Trail, among others – with which to pursue a sometimes shifting set of operational goals in a highly-customizable sandbox.
- 17″ x 22″ mapsheet
- 264 counters
- 2 Display Sheets
- 1 Player Aid
- 16-page Series Rulebook
- 8-page Module Rulebook
- 10 Strategy Cards
BGG link: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/300175/district-commander-binh-dinh
Introductory price marked down to $45.00, down from $50.00 !
In fact, Hollandspiele have all of my titles with them on a discount now… District Commander Maracas is $45, Scheldt Campaign is $40, and Ukrainian Crisis/Little War is also $40. So didi mau over there and complete your collection!
brtrain 
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