Unboxing: The Great War Centennial Edition
October 28, 2018 by johnlyons
Today John is in the hot seat of What's In The Box and he's joined by Gerry to talk about The Great War Centennial Edition from PSC Games.
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Richard Borg's intense and exciting Command & Colours system has been reskinned to serve the Great War, allowing players to re-enact some of the most important and terrifying engagements through World War I.
Will, you re-write history?
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It’s a game that’s always piqued my interest when I see it
I say a let’s play of this should be done.
Honestly didn’t know the French were now included in this (via expansions). That’s actually a really great addition.
Thanks for the mention, @avernos – Yes, we do bring up this system in the upcoming article series on the 1918 Armistice Centennial.
As a hard-core hex-and-counter wargamer from the 1970s and 1980s, I used to kind of look down on game systems like Command & Colours and Memoir ’44, etc. I was wrong, don’t make my mistake. These are great entry level games that can be used as gateways to a whole new “Level 2” command-tactical type of wargaming.
I’ve flipped through the basic scenarios and unfortunately there are none that specifically address the Hundred Days or 1918 in general. But I don’t know if that applies to the French expansion set.
I’m with Gerry – tanks would be an important part of 1918 historical scenarios, but the ideas of tanks in a WW1 wargame starts setting off alarm bells in my head. Only because both players would want tanks.
No. Not in World War I. Tank-on-tank combat happened exactly once, Villers-Brettoneaux, 24 April, 1918. There were exactly four tanks there, one German A7V, and three British tanks (one Mark IV Male and two Female, I believe). They shot at each other for a few minutes, gave up, and left.
Hardly the “World of Tanks” apocalypse you see in Battlefield One. **sigh**
One of the main criticisms of the initial launched box for this game was the minis being on sprues and the clip off point on some of them being the bayonet. Apparently even seasoned wargamers found it awkward to save the bayonet from being broken off, so boardgames fans picking the game up were especially disappointed that they were immediately playing with ‘broken’ miniatures before they’d even begun.
It’s nice that they have clearly heard the feedback and provided the minis off of the sprue for this centinary box version.
The tank expansion looked especially cool when I saw an unboxing a while ago.
A Beasts of War let’s play would be great. There are let’s plays out there being as the game isn’t new, but there’s always something special about the way you guys do it that would make it worth watching.
Lots of luv from Dug. ?
I would like to see a let’s play of this.
Looks a great from out of the box game.
i’d like to see a let’s play of this please.
This is a great game.
I was disappointed with the French expansion purely because the minis are “soft” in detail, but they still paint well. The tank expansion for the French include decals HURRAY. Unfortunately I have no idea which specific tanks there were, If anyone has any knowledge of these please feel obliged to share. Do not worry about the tanks being overpowering, their not, and in game terms they are mobile machine-gun nests.
Play the game it is terrific.
@goban. You mean in WW1 or the game?
The French tanks supplied in the French tank expansion are the Schneider and the Saint-Chamond, perhaps the Renault FT is waiting for the Yanks. Both tanks appeared in a verity of camo schemes and it would be a pity to paint in the wrong pattern for the decals provided.
@goban There was no set camo pattern in WW1 or WW2 for the French
You might get some inspiration here
http://www.tanks-encyclopedia.com/ww1/fr/french_wwI_tanks.php
French tanks in World War I are primarily (in this order of appearance):
Schneider CA1
St. Chamond
FT (later redesignated FT 17).
FT 17 is a puny little thing, but definitely the best of the lot. For my money, it’s the world’s first “true” tanks as it has the first rotating turret. Nowadays we would call things like the Schneider, St. Chamond, or British Mark IV and V as “assault guns.” The FT was also quick (sort of) mechanically reliable (sort of) and tactically flexible (sort of). 😀