ETHIOPIA VS. FASCIST ITALY 1935-1937 – A Prelude to the Second World War.

Fascist Italy’s 1935 invasion of Ethiopia set the world on course for World War Two. The failure of the League of Nations to deter Fascist aggression led to policies of appeasement, the rise of the Axis, the Spanish Civil War, and Hitler’s march into the Rhineland. In this easy-to-play, straightforward solitaire game, you are the beleaguered Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie I (1892-1975). Take charge of Ethiopia’s defenses, call up troops, and call on the League of Nations as Italy tries to enlarge her empire at your expense. Send your regional “Ras” warlords into battle, organize partisans, deploy your limited elite forces, and endure Italy’s criminal use of mustard gas.

Your ancient Black Christian African civilization stands as a defiant symbol of anti-colonial resistance and as the first battlefield of the coming global struggle against Fascist aggression. Can you turn Mussolini’s Blackshirt armies back, prevent the fall of Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa, and change the course of history?

-Grant

The post SETI: Space Agencies Game Review – A Second Look appeared first on Meeple Mountain.

Trench Raid is a single-player game set on the Western Front in World War One. The player assembles a group of 10 raiders and plots their course on a map towards the enemy lines on the other side of No Man’s Land. With 12 different raid objectives and 20 random events that can take place during the crossing, no two playthroughs will be exactly the same.

The game also includes rules for campaign play — whether their raid was successful or not, the soldiers who make it back to their trench lines relatively unscathed will steadily get better at raiding, learning through experience how to survive.

-Grant

Medieval Conspiracy introduces players to the Holy Roman Empire of Germany, which is divided into numberless small earldoms, principalities and bishoprics. The Ruler of the Empire is the Holy Roman Emperor who is elected by the 7 electoral princes. In Medieval Conspiracy players take the role of a mighty noble family attempting to increase their power, gain new countries, all to gain votes of the electoral princes to finally be elected the new Holy Roman Emperor.

Medieval Conspiracy is run by Action Cards and Event Cards. After collecting income, players bid for Event Cards. 3 Event Cards are displayed on their open side. Thereafter players bid for them in turn order. The player who got an Event Card can use it later during his turn. During a player turn players roll the dice of destiny and play Event and Action Cards. That card play results in numerous effects giving each game a new special course. The goal of the game is to gain new countries or conquer them by force from others in an attempt to influence the vote for the Holy Roman Emperor.

-Grant

Empire of Grass: The Conquests of Gengis Khan is a solitaire card-wargame of the Mongol invasion of Eurasia in the twelfth century under Genghis (Chinggis) Khan. You play the Great Khan, commanding his armies as he conquers territories, recruits other nomads into his army, and either garrisons or razes cities.

The map of your conquests is made through placing cards which represent the regions of Eurasia that the Mongols conquered (or tried to). As you expand you have to take care as neighbouring kingdoms may appear to challenge you and your allies can desert or even rebel. An optional game allows for an uncertain world with the cards randomised.

We posted an interview with the designer David Kershaw and you can read that at the following link: https://theplayersaid.com/2025/09/08/interview-with-david-kershaw-designer-of-empire-of-grass-the-conquests-of-genghis-khan-from-white-dog-games/

-Grant

The Union Forever is the eleventh game in the Pocket Battle Games Series from LPS, Inc.

Strategic level American Civil War on a postcard. The map of the Confederacy is divided into areas. The U.S player must strangle the Confederacy and reduce their will to continue fighting. Players use a standard deck of playing cards to activate armies (three Confederate and up to six Union) for movement and combat. Units can fight enemy armies in the same area. Combat is done by rolling 1D6, adding combat strength (for the Union) or Resistance Level (for the Confederates) and comparing results. Highest result wins. Losses are taken in retreats or in step losses. There are up to eight turns, each of which is six months. The key mechanic is the Confederate Resistance Level (CRL). As Union armies occupy areas, the CRL falls. If the CRL falls to zero before the end of turn 8, the Union player wins, otherwise the Confederate player wins.

Morgan’s A’ Comin’ is the fourth game in the Pocket Battle Games Series from LPS, Inc.

Rebel raider John H. Morgan defies orders, crossing the Ohio River in the summer of 1863 to bring war to the Yankees! All across the Midwest his incursion results in numerous alarms, property damage, and Union fears that he will link up with Robert E. Lee. While the raid succeeds in diverting a small Union army away from Bragg, the fierce pace and determined Union resistance wears the invaders away to little more than a small band, all being captured in the end. Could Morgan have tipped the balance on not one, but two fronts?

-Grant

General Orders: Sengoku Jidai pits two competing daimyo against one another in a fight for control over crucial battlefields in 16th-century Japan. Deploy your commanders to seize powerful advantages, secure valuable supply lines, and capture well-defended forts — all while protecting your vulnerable HQ. This standalone game introduces new strategic waterways, ships, and devastating siege weaponry across two battle maps.

From award-winning design duo David Thompson and Trevor Benjamin, this compact two-player game combines the dynamism of a wargame with the cut-throat decision-making of worker-placement games.

-Grant

Chicago ’68 is a game about the riots during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, set against the social upheavals of America in the sixties. After the Summer of Love, the Summer of Tear Gas. On one side: the Youth International Party (aka The Yippies) and the National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam (aka the MOBE), on the other: Mayor Daley, the Chicago Police Department and the National Guard. The game unfolds over the course of three days during the Democratic National Convention – from the 26th to the 29th of August, culminating in the nomination of a presidential candidate. There are two victory conditions: one is to gain the most media exposure favorable to your side and the other is to influence the delegate vote and bolster your political aims. The Demonstrators may pivot between these two objectives while the Establishment, although more powerful, must fight and win on both fronts.

Chicago ‘68 supports 1 – 4+ players, featuring asymmetrical card actions and tableau activation. Typical duration of play is about 45 minutes per player.

We published an interview with the designer Yoni Goldstein and you can read that on the blog at the following link: https://theplayersaid.com/2024/07/22/interview-with-yoni-goldstein-designer-of-chicago-68-from-the-dietz-foundation-coming-to-kickstarter-august-6th/

-Grant

Nightfighter Command is a WWII soloitaire narrative game where you defend Southern England against the Nazi bombers. Based at Middle Wallop or West Malling RAF base you will be directed to fly against German bombing raids to protect various Naval bases, towns and cities. At first you may struggle with unreliable equipment and inexperienced ground controllers but as you gain experience your skills and eventually the equipment at your disposal will also improve – if you live that long!

-Grant

Battles of the American Revolution Tri-Pack II: Monmouth, Germantown and Newtown is the second compilation of earlier releases from GMT Games’ Battles of the American Revolution Series. These are tactical level battles at the regimental level with a map scale of approximately 200 yd/hex. We played Germantown and shot the following video review to share our thoughts on the game.

-Grant

The post Jack White’s Las Vegas Concert Poster is a Playable Board Game! appeared first on Graphic Policy.

Designed by Matthew Jacobson, Jack White's official poster for his October 2 show at Fontainebleau Las Vegas brought something a little different.

The August 2026 Monthly Debrief Video, which is the 8th episode in Season 6 of this series, saw us discussing American Revolution Wargames. As you may know, I really enjoy the history of the American Revolutionary War. I have read dozens of histories on the subject, with my favorite being Robert Leckie’s George Washington’s War: The Saga of the American Revolution, and it never ceases to amaze me how a group of ragtag rebels were able to best an entire global Empire in open rebellion. The reason for that was the patriots resolve and their ability to run away when outmatched to fight another day when they had a better advantage and not necessarily because they were better armed, or drilled or disciplined. I think that their desire to truly be free was the main difference but that is up for speculation. I love the games on this subject and have played nearly 20 and I was surprised at the number when we had this discussion.

In case you are interested, typically each year during July (although I didn’t do so this year) I write a Gaming the American Revolution post where I rank those games on the subject that we have played. This is the 2025 version of the post and you can read that at the following link: https://theplayersaid.com/2025/07/04/gaming-the-american-revolution-ranking-the-games-we-have-played-2025-edition/

Also, as usual, we covered the games we played in August as well as the games we plan to play in September and had a short discussion of our plans to attend the Gaming the American Revolution Camden 250 Event in Camden, South Carolina sponsored by GMT Games.

We will remind you here that we are fortunate to be continuing our relationship with Noble Knight Games as the sponsor for our Monthly Debrief Video series. In case you don’t know, Noble Knight Games specializes in hard to find games but also carry all the new releases. But what makes them truly unique is that you can find some of the rarest games, long out of print games, hand made games, imported games from overseas, etc. Thanks to them for their sponsorship and we hope that you will consider them first when looking for the games we cover.

-Grant

» 09|30 2026: Discordia – a solo „playthrough“ by BordspelGeuzen (Video – NL).

» 30.09.2026: Discordia – ein Solo „Durchgespielt“ von BordspelGeuzen (Video – NL).

Ranging from our Kickstarter trailer videos from 2012-2015 (featuring me and Alan talking directly to the camera) to polished, animated trailers with voiceovers from 2016-2024, we’ve tried a variety of approaches to the initial video introduction. Starting in 2025, we tried a new method that I’ll discuss today.

A Few Disclaimers

First, some groundwork: I believe that the purpose of an announcement trailer (or crowdfunding video) is to give people a small taste to entice them to learn more. 60 seconds is my target length; I don’t have a time restriction on other videos in which I’m trying to explain how the game works.

Second, a contradiction: I think music makes a big difference in announcement trailers (big thanks to my brother-in-law, Joel, for composing the music for our videos), but I also think that these videos need to function with the sound off (research shows that 85% of people watch videos with sound off on social media).

Third, I’ve come to believe that static images are just as effective as animations, and they work better when someone pauses the video. This came to me when I was scripting the Vantage trailer, partially due to the constraint that I didn’t want to spoil anything about what you might discover after crashing on the planet.

Our Current Method

Add all this together, and you get a video that doesn’t take long to script and can be created on a small budget (less than $1,000 for music and videography). After I prepare the script and I receive the music from Joel, I send them to the amazing Emmanuel Ho, who integrates images from the game to form the video.

One other nice perk for this method is that it’s really easy for localization partners to use the same video, whether they translate the text as subtitles on YouTube or they swap out the English text for their language using the source files.

Now, I’m not saying this is the only way to make effective teaser trailers in 2026 or that our trailers are perfect. It’s a challenge for me to describe the hooks of the game in less than 10 words per scene. I’ll continue to hone this skill. But overall I really like this method, and I’m really happy with how our recent Braided Skies trailer turned out.

Data

Whether 1,000 people or 100,000 people watch your announcement trailer, if you go through the trouble of making it in the first place, I believe in using methods that encourage retention. That is, if only 10% of people watch the last half of the trailer, why not make it half as long (and more focused) instead?

That’s why I aim for 60 seconds at most for our videos. I think they could be even tighter (45 seconds when possible), but the data is encouraging. Of the 47,000 people who have watched the 53-second Braided Skies trailer, on average people are watching 72% of the video.

I took a look at our other recent trailers that use a similar structure:

• Vantage: 14,312 views, 31 seconds, 79% average percentage viewed
• Origin Story: 9,830 views, 45 seconds, 75%
• Euphoria Essential: 2,874 views, 54 seconds, 69%
• Duel of Meloch: 16,378 views, 61 seconds, 73%
• Wingspan Pocket: 43,426 views, 53 seconds, 70%

Again, this is far from the only way to offer an effective announcement trailer. I really enjoyed the human connection and weirdness of the Shug trailer a few months ago, and recently the Baba Is You trailer used mostly a series of photos (ala stop motion) to generate nearly 150k views.

What do you look for in an announcement trailer to pique your interest and inspire you to learn more?

Also read:

• Kickstarter Lesson #260: The Teaser Trailer
• What Can Kickstarter Project Videos Learn from Facebook Videos?

If you gain value from the 100 articles Jamey publishes on this blog each year, please consider championing this content! You can also listen to posts like this in the audio version of the blog.

Last year, while attending SPIEL Essen in Germany, we had the chance to sit down separately with 3 wargaming designers in Wolfgang Klein/Erich Rankl with Assault! Games, Florent Coupeau with Nuts! Publishing and Uwe Walentin with Sound of Drums and shoot interview videos about their games and upcoming projects.

Wolfgang Klein/Erich Rankl with Assault! Games:

Florent Coupeau with Nuts! Publishing:

Uwe Walentin with Sound of Drums:

-Grant

Battles of the American Revolution Tri-Pack II: Monmouth, Germantown and Newtown is the second compilation of earlier releases from GMT Games’ Battles of the American Revolution Series. These are tactical level battles at the regimental level with a map scale of approximately 200 yd/hex.

Additions to the original releases include:

• maps are hard-mounted
• packaged in a GMT “deep box”, which is a 3″ box
• rules and player aids printed in color
• all replacement counters that have been issued since the games’ original releases
• a new one page matrix-style play aid to assist the First Nations player in Newtown
• Joel Toppen’s Solitaire Tactics Card play aid
• a significantly upgraded Germantown rulebook addressing errata and ambiguities

-Grant

Europe at War 1940: Solitaire, the sister wargame to Pacific War 1942, places the player in the role of the Axis high command during the first 18 months of World War II and focuses on the European Theater of World War II.

The game introduces some new concepts important to the war in Europe. Each side has a limited number of tank units to add strength to some front armies. The axis has a paratrooper unit that can help with hazardous operations. Choosing when and where to place them can be a major decision. Also control of air spaces on fronts becomes an important factor. And, ports on sea zones are affected by sea zone control. Crossing bodies of waters on a front is a major effort.

As the axis do you try to take London before turning east against the Russians? Should you help out the Italians in the Balkans? Or do you turn your tanks loose in the deserts of North Africa?

-Grant

The American Civil War was the bloodiest conflict and a defining event in the history of the United States. The tragedy of the conflict was amplified by the fact the battles were brutally fought with Napoleonic tactics while using new and more lethal weaponry. As a result, over the course of nearly four full years of war, roughly 700,000 Americans were wounded or killed in battle along with another 400,000 soldiers dying from disease.

Blue & Gray Deluxe Edition consists of the original eight games from the SPI Blue & Gray I & II Quadrigames. The battles depicted are among the most important of the American Civil War: Shiloh, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville (Hooker & Lee), Gettysburg (Cemetery Hill), Chickamauga, Chattanooga, and The Battle of the Wilderness.

The game mechanics used in this series are based on the well-received Borodino/Napoleon at Waterloo system. Terrain is a significant factor, with everything from rolling farmland to untracked wilderness represented. Battles will often see a back-and-forth struggle for control of critical terrain. Rules for night turns are also provided. A standard set of rules are used, common to all eight games, while each game also has its own set of exclusive rules, historical set-ups, and player and design notes—all from the original SPI games.

Blue & Gray Deluxe Edition features new artwork, double-sided mounted game boards, enlarged counters, player aid cards, numerous optional rules gleaned from other game editions, and new variant counters and markers for use with several variants from Moves and Strategy & Tactics magazines. Reintroduce yourself to these classic games from SPI’s golden era and refight some of the best-known battles of the American Civil War which decided the fate of a nation at war with itself.

-Grant

A few years ago, Worthington Publishing published their first game in the Island Fight Series called Tarawa 1943. That game was awesome and was truly difficult to win, as it should be. Now, they have published the 2nd volume in the series called Iwo Jima 1945 that covers the only island assault during the Pacific war that the attacking US forces would suffer worse casualties than the Japanese defenders. On February 19, 1945 the USMC would land 30,000 marines on the island against a Japanese defensive force that numbered roughly 21,000 Japanese soldiers. Facing a Japanese commander who had learned valuable lessons from the losses on other Japanese islands, the USMC would eventually land over 70,000 marines and suffer over 25,000 casualties during the 36 day campaign.

In this solitaire game, the player takes on the role of the USMC commander leading the invasion of Iwo Jima. The game system, driven by cards, will simulate the strategies of the Japanese defenders, often referred to as the Japanese AI, adding a layer of historical authenticity to your gaming experience. If you have played Tarawa 1943, you will be familiar with the system.

-Grant