It's been a pretty busy year on the wargaming front and we've tried to stay abreast of all the happenings here at Behind Enemy Lines. Looking back at some of the highlights, for us, I'd say they'd have to be:
1. Warhammer 40k 8th Edition
We got firmly on the hype-train with this one. The newest edition of 40k was a completely amazing release and hearkened back to the Games Workshop of old. The game itself brought the fun back into the game and that was something we all had hoped for. Now, we're all back playing 40k and really enjoying the game again. Shit, we even attended tournaments, something we never thought would happen again!
Games Workshop has come back to the party on this one. They're interacting with the community, they making it an inviting place to be and they're keeping up the momentum with releases hitting the shelves in good order.
Really looking forward to seeing what 2018 holds for us here! Hopefully a Necron codex so Damo stops his bitching.
2. Flames of War - Version 4
The latest edition of Battlefront's WW2 miniatures game released this year and there was an immediate response from the community with people drawing sides very quickly. I really haven't seen a new edition of a ruleset be so polarising to the people playing the game.
We played quite a number of games of V4, both for YouTube and at home and we all agree that the rules themselves play really well and removes a lot of the ambiguity we had in V3.
There were a number of concerns around the limitations presented by the new lists, especially for MW, and the changes that meant for people's collections.
Battlefront remains committed to providing a great product backed up by great minis, and I'm sure we'll see more of that in 2018.
3. Team Yankee
Team Yankee has just gone from strength to strength in 2017 with some amazing releases and a heap of new players coming into the game. What originally started as a bit of an experiment for Battlefront has really exploded into a great product range and game in itself and the rules themselves were adopted into V4 in parts as well.
We've seen the East Germans come into the fray as well as updated releases for both the Soviets and the Americans to introduced more options.
I foresee some pretty cool stuff hitting the table in 2018 for TY!
So that's a brief look at 2017 for us. As you are well aware, there was a heap more that happened in the gaming world over the year, but if I keep writing about them, I'll never stop.
Things that I'm excited about in 2018 will be:
- Seeing what's next for 40k. I'm firmly back in that world!
- Star Wars: Legion from FFG. Holy shitballs, this is going to be good!
- Ancients. Looks like I'll be getting back into the game!
What were your highlights from 2017? We'd love to hear about them!
A massive thanks to all the people who supported Behind Enemy Lines through this year! We couldn't do it without you!
Special mentions to the awesome dudes at the WWPD, our mates Ollie at Battlekiwi and Kim at Kreative Scenery and to Battlefront for letting us in the door.
From all the Behind Enemy Lines crew, have a safe and happy holidays and we'll see you again in 2018, BIGGER AND BETTER!
Gale Force Nine has been producing some seriously good board games based on popular culture over the last few years. Firefly, Spartacus, Star Trek, Family Guy...
And now they're adding Doctor Who to their roster with their most recent release, Time of the Daleks.
Now, I was lucky enough to have been involved in the creation of this one by play testing the rules, so I do have some slight bias here. It is a seriously cool game though.
You, as one of the Doctors, along with your other Time Lords are attempting to stop the Daleks from reaching Gallifrey and destroying all of time. You'll need the help of the Doctor's companions and all his tools on the way if you hope to defeat Davros and his minions.
The premise of the game is very simple. As you travel along the Web of Time to Gallifrey, you will travel (via TARDIS) to many different locations. At these locations, you'll be faced with Dilemmas which need to be defeated lest the Daleks move closer to their goal.
Dilemmas are defeated by rolling your pool of dice and matching them to the symbols on the Dilemma. Roll enough and you achieve your goal and take your reward. Fail and you bring the Daleks to your location, making it harder for you to beat the Dilemma.
Your TARDIS is where you hold your equipment, companions and the Doctor himself.
As you can see, each Doctor starts with a pool of Story Dice. These can be added to and changed (focused) by the varying companions available to the Doctors on their travels. In this case, Clara allows the Twelfth Doctor to add a Green Story Die and a Red Story Die to his pool. In addition, he can choose to exchange one of his Black Story Dice for a Blue one.
Each die has its won strengths and weaknesses and you need to figure out which combination of dice will allow you the best chance of completing your mission.
Should you fail to roll the combination you need to meet the task, fear not! You companions and your equipment will allow you the opportunity to either re-roll some or all of your dice or even change them to exactly what you're after.
As well as facing the Dilemmas, you will also face Time Anomalies along the way. These are triggered by the approach of the Dalek ship on its way to Gallifrey and present more serious challenges for the Doctors.
Winning the game is pretty simple. While it's cooperative, only one Doctor can be the winner. Get to Gallifrey before any of the other Doctors, and you win! But, if the Dalek ship gets there first or you fail too many Dilemmas, then the Daleks win. If at any point you're required to place the seventh Dalek on the table, then the Time of the Daleks has begun and you lose.
The mechanics of the game are very simple and easy to learn, but there is definitely a degree of complexity and cooperation you need to get to grips with to make sure you're not failing too many challenges and bringing more Daleks on to the table.
And of course, you know that there are some pretty cool minis in this game too, right...
These are all in plastic and they should also paint up very nicely, or just be left as is.
So, if you're looking for a Christmas gift for that Doctor Who fan in your life, then this is something definitely worth looking at!
There are plans for expansions to include other Doctors in the game, but for now, the base set definitely has enough fun packed into it for you!
