The Wargame Wayback Machine

(My Road Trip Purchases)

Shortly after the PNWA Writers Conference, I travelled to the east coast to visit my family. 

During my journey, I managed to delve into The Citadel Games Cellar and unearthed a treasure trove of games I haven't seen in years--and still in their original shrink wrap.

The store has moved around a bit over the years, but still gets a good review on Boardgame Geek, especially for having older games in stock.

The first, Golan: The Last Syrian Offensive...

(Golan's entry on Boardgame Geek)

...is part of Decision Games Folio Series.  While Golan is a relatively new game, it's based on the older Modern Battles Quadrigame by SPI. My brother and I use to play The Arab-Israeli Wars, so I couldn't pass up a $20 similar themed game with a mere 100 counters to clip.

After flipping through the short rule book, the only issue I have with this game so far is there's no additional literature:  No history about this campaign, nor any designer's notes.  One reviewer called the Folio Series fatally flawed gems.

The next item is Issue #229 (2007) of Wargames Illustrated.

(Some back issues are still available on WI's website)

I snatched up this magazine at the last minute because it contained an article on Napoleonic Warmaster.  Since I have Warmaster and Warmaster Ancients, I thought this would be a good supplement to add to my collection of Napoleonic rules. 

The only problem was:  The article is Part I of a two-part series.  While I love gaming magazines, I get annoyed when these publications split a topic over two, or more issues.

Now I have to go on a quest to find out-of-print Issue #230.

Speaking of quests, I picked up Heroes of Olympus...

(First edition boxed set)

...to augment my Ancient Greece-base RPGs (role playing games) and supplements.  Hardly anyone seems to have played this, but a tad over 16 years ago, Heroes of Olympus garnered a a good review on RPG.net.

I was never into crime dramas, but for $11.95, I was compelled to purchase Crime Fighter.

While Heroes of Olympus at least got one review, there's very little on-line data on Crime Fighter. 

So much for a "just the facts" commentary here.

Last but not least we come to my favorite era in wargames:  The Napoleonic Wars.   I actually have an old copy of the Empire Campaign System...

...but I messed up the map in my attempt to numbering the hexes.  Although I've never owned a copy of Empire III miniatures rules, I figured I could still use the Campaign System for any central European Campaign I'd conjure up, in a round peg-square hole sort of way. 

Which I have to admit, I've not yet done so.

Anyway, this is another game, or in this case a game supplement, that gamers expressed little enthusiasm over.  I found one wargame blogger who played out a short campaign two years ago. 

The overall opinion was the campaign required a lot of paperwork and the map hexes were too small the counters, which made it hardly worth while running a full-blown campaign.

Despite the luke-warm at-best reviews, at least where such reviews exist, I'm happy with my purchases.  I paid "80s prices" for each item, so I don't feel like I've wasted my money.  Or at least too much of it.

Plus, these items take up very little of packed-to-near-capacity storage space--plenty of room for Wargames Illustrated Issue #230.