Ludic Futurism
January 29, 2023 4 Comments
The computer version of Winter Thunder is now available on Steam for C$16.99.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2167010/WinterThunder
Now features both German and Allied AIs, and you can play hotseat as well.
September 5, 2022 Leave a comment
(screenshot from the beginning of Turn 1… German LXVII Corps prepares to jump off)
https://bruinbeargames.itch.io/winterthunder
From the mind of Casey Bruyn, of Bruinbear Games, comes a computerized version of Winter Thunder, my game on the Battle of the Bulge!
Windows only.
Hot-seat mode where you play both sides, or there is an AI for the German side… next release will feature an AI for the Allied side.
Available on itch.io for a minimum price of $10.00.
Apparently it will be available on Steam in the near future too, and will have that Allied A.I.
Check it out!
[ETA: here is a 27 minute video where Karl Muller of SmartWargames takes it for a spin…
March 8, 2021 Leave a comment
Casey Bruyn has been working on a computer version of Winter Thunder for some time. It will feature an AI, and the possibility of synchronous (hotseat) and asynchronous (via email) play.
Have a look at the development page: http://www.bruinbeargames.com/#winterthunder
He says, “The basic game and email version are at beta test. We are looking for playtesters that know the rules for the game. If interested please contact info@bruinbeargames.com.”
Give him a hand!
September 21, 2020 Leave a comment
Over at The Diagonal Move, Neil Bunker introduces Winter Thunder’s components and mechanisms, and plays through some of the game to illustrate.
Nice!
June 12, 2020 Leave a comment
Screenshot from website.
Casey Bruyn is making a version of Winter Thunder, complete with Artificial Intelligence, that will play on Steam! Game is also playable 2-player “hot seat”, if you like. Due out the end of 2020!
He has already worked on Krim, a 1990s Ty Bomba game on the Crimean campaign that was in an early issue of Command magazine.
March 18, 2020 2 Comments
Marco must be a shut-in these days too!
He has posted a nice balanced review of Winter Thunder.
Marco has previous experience of this chit-pull system, from his nice review of Summer Lightning from 2011:
January 7, 2020 2 Comments
photo: Henle House.
In one of the better “that was the decade that was” pieces I’ve seen, over at The Players Aid blog, Grant Kleinheinz has posted his list and impressions of the 15 most influential board wargames he has played in the last decade.
https://theplayersaid.com/2020/01/07/15-most-influential-wargames-of-the-decade-2010-2019
Winter Thunder gets a shout-out, as do two of the COIN series games!
In other news, I had some unstructured time off at the end of December, so in between watching a lot of TV and movies with my wife I got some testing and development work done on Civil Power and Strongman. Getting quite pleased with them!
Compass Games recently announced that the release date for the Brief Border Wars quad will be February 14, 2020. Sneak preview of the game’s cards above. So look out for that!
EDITED TO ADD
Not to be outdone, Rocky Mountain Navy posted his top picks for influential wargames of the 2010s and picked Nights of Fire as advancing the state of “waro” games (or “weuro” games, as I have also seen it).
January 5, 2018 Leave a comment
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:
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/
December 13, 2017 Leave a comment
To follow up on the video review done in October, Grant Kleinheinz has written up his impressions of the game on the Players Aid blog.
Thanks Grant!
And remember:
October 3, 2017 1 Comment
Grant and Alex from The Players Aid blog give their (very favourable) impressions of Winter Thunder.
My comments:
1:16 “Dunnigan Ceramaceous Randomizer” = the legendary clean, dry coffee cup.
2:40 I have also used this system in Summer Lightning: The Invasion of Poland 1939 and Balkan Gamble. It was originally inspired by a variant for Blitzkrieg by Jim Stahler from over 30 years ago. Very glad you find it interesting!
8:30 ??? The only HQ command limitation is that the British 30 Corps HQ cannot command American units (rule 9.6). (And I wanted hot pink SS, but got purple instead…)
9:10 I thought 6 divisions was quite a large span for a corps to coordinate, 3 or 4 might have been more realistic. It was also kind of an abstraction on my part to let a division be under command by one corps in one turn, and another corps on the following turn, but I think in practice it fell out that most corps ended up commanding 3-4 divisions, and assumed responsibility for certain sections of front line or Schwerpunkten using those same units, so it worked out.
11:40 Yes, another abstraction but about as far as I wanted to go down the whole puzzle of moving supply and reinforcements forward through enemy air superiority.
12:20 Not just engineer units but also many detached battalion-size task forces manning roadblocks, which in many Bulge games get their own little counters and wads of fiddly rules.
15:00 Exploitation movement gets more use in Summer Lightning: The Invasion of Poland 1939 due to the more open terrain and greater dispersion of forces. The Ardennes is quite closed (whence the Traffic Control rule, 6.11).
17:00 I once joked that for any game designer to be taken seriously, he had to do a Bulge game, and this one was mine. The game originally came out of a deal that the Microgame Design Group was trying to hatch with a Spanish magazine, where they wanted to put wargames in their magazine but they only wanted the “Big 5” battles (Waterloo, Gettysburg, Stalingrad, Bulge and something else I forgot – maybe Arnhem). The deal did not go through but we did get a couple of games done, and which were later published by other companies. Hjalmar Gerber did a Stalingrad game that was later published by Turning Point Simulations, which coincidentally the Players Aid guys reviewed just a few months ago:
19:30 Now that you guys know the system, you could perhaps play the standard length game, where the Allies get to develop their counteroffensive fully – this game is also a few days longer than other Bulge games, to allow this.
20:30 The solitaire system is adapted from the one that Lock n Load wanted me to put in Summer Lightning: The Invasion of Poland 1939.
22:15 And you should let Grant play the Germans next time too, so he feels better!
Thanks so much guys and I am glad you enjoyed the game.
Brian
brtrain 
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