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- rank: 181 & 568 & 2,655
- rating: 7.8 & 7.8 & 7.7
- published: 2019 & 2020 & 2024
- designers: Trevor Benjamin & David Thompson (solo system design by David Digby & Dávid Turczi)
Print Status
- in print
Why It's On The List
- Take the basic deck-building combat design of War Chest and ground it in the theme and combat tactics of WW2... for this old AH/SPI wargamer, it's the best of both worlds. It feels like the best games of Squad Leader without the long playing time or the rules headaches.
- 2200: Callisto takes the battles into space as beleaguered miners face off against an evil corporation.
Tips & Tricks:
- It has all the feels of a classic wargame - with the deck-building system that adds fog of war and command & control issues with extremely low fiddliness.
- So far, scenarios in all three boxes are well-balanced... even those with asymmetric objectives. (Note: I've played completely through Normandy and Callisto and about halfway through North Africa.)
- Like any squad-level combat game, cover is important.
- Lessons learned in the Command & Colors games work here as well - try not to strand units in indefensible positions.
- Both 1940s boxes reflect a solid understanding of the different kinds of WW2 tactical warfare they work to portray - impressive.
Extras
- The Reinforcements box not only adds new units and scenarios for both of the original boxes - it also adds a complete storage system for both games... and, more importantly for my purposes, a sophisticated solo system that is challenging and makes pretty solid tactical decisions.
- Callisto not only makes the sci-fi setting work (including adding mech units to the battles)... it also uses multiple pre-built mapboards which makes set-up much quicker. (It also has a solo mode in the box.)
- I decided to lump these three games together as their systems are very similar - even though each one can stand as a game on its own.
- I'm hoping to finally play Undaunted: Stalingrad later this year - I've got the game & the possible opponent... we just need to carve a very long weekend to take on the campaign!
- This is the second of two David Thompson designs on my list... and the first of four Dávid Turczi designs.
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