I dealt the cards, explained the rules and off they went. The game was going along well. Both girls happily matching numbers and grinning whenever they got to play an elephant or horse.

The happy generals commanding their troops.

My wife was out at the time so when she got back I was relaying the fun we had playing a game, but Addy didn’t finish. She reminded me of an experiment a few days before that explained everything.

I’m not sure exactly how we got involved, but over the years we’ve gotten invitations for our kids to participate in child psychology/development studies at the University of Minnesota. The kids get compensated with snacks, t-shirts, and other “prizes” in exchange for doing a few simple tasks. I have a science background and my wife an early childhood education background so we were both eager to help and see the results of these studies.

This time Addy had been chosen to help out with a study. The researcher told Addy they were going to play a matching game. Addy was shown cards with colors and shapes on them and asked to sort them by color. Addy flawlessly sorted the cards 3 times. Then the researcher asked her to sort the cards by shape. Instead, Addy again sorted them by color. The researcher said that before she could sort them again they needed to scoot the table over a bit. Addy and the women stood up and adjusted the table and then sat back down. She was asked again to sort by shape and this time she sorted them by shape just fine.

At a certain age the ability to change a pattern is an easy switch for your brain to make. However, in younger children it requires a bit more of a reset for them to change. Just the act of standing up and being distracted by something else for a few seconds was enough for Addy to make that reset. Obviously that change in our brains occurs sometime between the ages of 3 and 5 as Ellie was able to make that transition while Addy could not.

I’m eager to have the girls try Battle Line again and watch their choice pattern over the course of the game. This may help explain her decision making skills in other games. I’ll have to remember this in the future and help Addy to “reset” during the game when she gets stuck.

First up, a four player game of Cuba around 11 AM. My wife and I had never played before, but Rick was happy to teach us. The board was beautiful, there were a lot of wooden playing pieces being grown/produced/shipped/sold, and, unlike some Euro style games where I cannot figure out what the heck is going on, this game clicked after about one turn of play. I love that there is a “legislature” and that I got to spend all game happily making cigars and shipping them to wealthy Americanos. Rick won, I took second place just two points behind him.

Next up, lunch. Feasting took place. Hurray! I put on a green shirt finally to celebrate the day. After lunch, Rick, my wife, and I sat down to play a game that recently arrived on my doorstep, Cosmic Karma. We quickly read through the rules and began playing. After a turn or two of looking up rules interactions, things began to click and we had a good time. While this is not normally my style of game (“roll and move” mechanic) we enjoyed ourselves and it was light enough that we could hold a conversation and play.

Our third game of the day was Hare and Tortoise. Our friends Russ and Lily joined in for this one. This was also brand new (to me, anyway!) and I really liked how the presence of other rabbit racing players near my token limited my choices. You can’t plan too far ahead, but you also have to be aware of who is in what position on the board. And apparently, unlike in the animal kingdom, you get penalized for hoarding because you can’t cross the finish line with too many carrots. (This led to my demise.) Lily cruised to a first place finish while I had to sit on the last space and “munch carrots.”

We finished our afternoon with a few rounds of 7 Wonders and a full table of players. And man, did the dining room table fill up fast with cards! I won the first round with the Colossus of Rhodes (A side), but took last place using the Statue of Zeus in Olympia (A side) in the second game. I always enjoy the good-natured griping that occurs in this game. It’s fun hearing, “Who shuffled the deck?” and the like.

After this, folks arrived for dinner and the games were put away in favor of other pursuits. And while it was a smaller game day than two years ago, we still had a lot of fun and will likely do it again! Thanks to all who came.

Setup
First let me say that this looks like one of the most balanced scenarios in the base game. Again the Allies have a fun mix of average and specialized units, including the Guards Grenadiers and Grenadiers. The French have fewer units, but I believe that the terrain, including two large stands of trees on their left and right flank, favors them.

Early Battle
With a few games under his belt, Mike was definitely more cautious at the start. He gradually linked his left and center armies, pushing for the stand of trees on the French right, which I quickly vacated. Specifically, I wanted to pull my horse artillery back a bit so it could cover the gap in the hill line in my right-center:

Notice the gap between the hills in the right-center of the board. I'm trying to move my horse artillery to cover that gap.

The action then heated up on my right flank as the British made a hard push and I couldn’t evacuate my line infantry in time (1 banner to the British), though I did chew up the British lights a bit to the point where they were a non-issue the rest of the game. Undaunted, Mike sent in his light cavalry to tangle with my own, resulting in my unit being severely depleted. I then moved them out of the way and gave his troopers a face-ful of canister!

Mid Battle
As the British brought fresh troops forward, I linked the French left and center and waited for the final blow. I realized too late, however, that I had made a critical mistake. In letting the British come to me, I was largely backed up against my side of the field, which meant very little room to maneuver (or is it manoeuvre?). To make things worse, I kept pulling cards for the right section of the battlefield, where very little was going on. The British Guards Grenadiers came forward and pushed my skirmishers out of the woods. I cringed and waited for the final blow to fall…

End of Battle
Once again, it all ended in chaos and carnage. Mike advanced a strong line of British Grenadiers and Portuguese line infantry. They took the hills in the center of the map and stared down on the center of my line. The battle looked like it might be decided by dice alone…that is, until my opponent pulled out his “Fire and Hold” card. With three rolls of the dice, he wiped two of my units from the field and left the remaining three in the center the worse for wear.

Again, the cards weren’t coming. I feebly fired back and moved over another unit of line infantry, hoping to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. But one more volley from the Allies and it was over:

Alas, the bitter end.

Although I lost by a wide margin (6 to 3), I learned a lot in this scenario about keeping enough room behind you to effectively maneuver and cycle fresh troops and depleted units. This was one of my favorite plays of C&C:N so far, in part because my brother is getting really good at the game!

Stay tuned for more Napoleonics goodness in a few weeks…

Turn 4
U.S. Hand: 2/Decolonization, 2/Defectors, 4/Red Scare or Purge, 2/Formosan Resolution, South America Scoring, 3/U2 Incident, 2/Latin American Death Squads, Europe Scoring, 1/Kitchen Debates

Not a great hand. I’m still holding onto Decolonization because there’s been no breathing room with which to send it to the space race, and now there are two scoring cards to deal with. Crap.

Well, it’s still obvious that it’s time to headline Defectors (nothing like twice in one game!). Luckily, I stop Vietnam Revolts and southest Asia remains American for now. Amazingly, Rick doesn’t coup anywhere on the first action round, opting instead to spread influence in the Middle East, so I take my shot and drop my only 4 op card on Venezuela. I achieve success and manage to match the Soviets in South America. Rick answers with Middle East Scoring, which nets him 3 VPs (US now at +9). Confident that there’s not much I can do in that area, I spread more influence in Africa and score South America, netting no gain to either side. Meanwhile, Rick takes Pakistan and scores Asia, again resulting in no gain for either side. However, late scoring in Europe gets him 2 VPs (US now at 7).

With four scoring cards on the first turn of the mid-war, we both know that Central America, Africa, and Southeast Asia will be the focus for the next few turns. This turn I’ve picked up four of five African battleground countries, but things look pretty grim in Central America and Europe teeters on the brink!

Turn 5
U.S. Hand: 2/Decolonization, Southeast Asia Scoring, 2/NORAD, 2/John Paul II Elected Pope, 3/Quagmire,  1/OAS, 2/Cambridge 5, 2/Liberation Theology, 3/Breznev Doctrine, China Card

Again, not a great hand, mainly because of all the low ops. Quagmire is going to be a bear to get rid of (no pun intended). I take a gamble, knowing that at least Vietnam Revolts is out of play, and headline Southeast Asia Scoring. Rick picks Lone Gunman and successfully coups Zaire. I get 3 VP in SE Asia (US now at +10).

During the action rounds, we spend a lot of influence for control of West Germany…and yes, I’m still kicking myself for letting Blockade happen. I realize far too late that the Soviets just have more ops, and eventually focus my attention elsewhere. (By the end of the turn, West Germany will have 11 Soviet influence points and 7 US points. Rookie mistake on my part.) Thankfully, Rick plays Ask Not What Your Country Can Do For You, and I get rid of Quagmire in favor of Brush War. While the war I ignite in Mexico fails, I later place influence in there to get to Guatemala. This sets me up for some sweet (and rare!) realignment rolls at the end of the turn, which leads to an early Soviet exit from Mexico. Booyah! The Americans also catch a lucky break as the Soviets have to Bear Trap themselves. As the turn comes to a close, I’ve made Central America a fair fight, and South America and Africa are under US domination.

Next up…the stunning conclusion!

John, his wife, my wife and I had just finished a game of Cuba (my hotel strategy beat out John’s cigar business) when out came Cosmic Karma. My wife took our 3 kids home for naptime so John, Sara, and I set up to try to attain “Cosmic Consciousness.” I was pleasantly surprised at the fantastic components – especially the player boards. There are a lot of games that could benefit from recessed areas to hold the bits while playing. With young kids in my house, players keeping the gaming bits on their boards can be difficult so this was great. John read the rules to us (what kind of person hasn’t read the rules before introducing a new game? My fellow blogger, apparently.) and they seemed pretty straightforward.

My starting board is looking good.

John started rolled the dice and he immediately gained a ring – representative of positive karma. I was up next and rolled my way into a bead – negative karma. That made three since each player starts with two and I immediately gained a bad habit – ouch! Oh well, it was early, plenty of time to catch up I was sure. We took a few more turns and then we started to have some questions. After a couple of checks in the rulebook we answered these.

The choice cards were cool with positive and negative effects on them depending on which way you happened to draw it from the pile. My problem was that I seemed to pick those cards the wrong way. Every time. My opponents, on the other hand, had better luck and continued to avoid gaining too many negative karma beads. We all went around the board once – representing one life – and were in to the afterlife. I had 2 bad habits carry over to my next life while John was around neutral karma and Sara had one habit.

Working our way through the green sections of the board we ran into a dilemma with the bridges in Land #1. It was unclear (and the rules didn’t address it at all) as to whether or not you could move onto them by choice. After a brief discussion and a few more looks through the rulebook, we ruled that you could move on to them by the player’s choice and I finally gained my first (and only) positive karma ring of the game.

I then used my stock pile of Free Will cards. This allowed me to choose how many spaces I move instead of relying on the random rolls of dice. I was able to collect all of the pieces required for my Magic Wand, Magic Torch and Magic Sword. Now I would be able to cut out those bad habits (now at 3!) and move around the board at will – victory would be mine! As soon as I reincarnated for my third try at life on earth that is.

I've collected my tools, but Sarah is ready to sprint to the finish.

Unfortunately for me, Sara had managed to collect the three Master tools on her second life through cunning use of her free will cards. Some lucky rolls and card draws allowed her to achieve Cosmic Consciousness for the win.

Looking back, I probably should have used my Free Will movement cards earlier to avoid gaining any bad habits, but then again I wouldn’t have acquired my tools as easily then. I don’t feel like I had much control overall in the game. Especially during the first trip around the board where you have little control because you don’t have any tools and very few free will cards. It’s basically a roll and move with a few choices. I likened it to playing Candy Land with the “draw two cards and play one” variant. Yes you have a choice, but one option is obviously better so the decision is essentially made for you. The Free Will cards added more control but not much.

John comtemplates a higher level of consciousness while Sarah is a peace with her victory.

Overall, it was more fun than I expected, but that was mainly due to hearing John and myself say things like, “I’ve got my Magic Sword to cut out my bad habits” or “Why not use your Magic Wand to travel the Dharma Wheels?” I also enjoyed that the game spurred some interesting questions like, “Why is the goal of the game to finish with neutral karma and not positive karma?” The theme is there and integrated into the game very well, but as a game I think one play was good enough for me.

Cosmic Karma has recently been released by Cosmic Karma Game Partners, LLC. I was lucky enough to receive a review copy from the designer, Linda Look, two weeks ago and finally got the chance to open it up this week. The game retails for $38.00 and it is available through the game’s website here. (A more traditional review of gameplay can be found here.) Basically the purpose of the game is to get rid of all negative karma you pick up throughout the game, gather three “master tools,” and pick up beneficial cards to help you jet around the board. Each time you go around the circular track, you die and go to the spirit realm, where you have some new choices to make before you are reincarnated. The first player to return to the start space with no negative karma and all three master tools wins the game. I’d categorize it as a “roll and move” game with a few twists.

As I first approached the game, the box immediately caught my eye. It’s sturdy and colorful and weighs about five pounds. The cover features a cute little monk (“Karma Boy”) meditating on a lotus flower. The note on the front says the game is for ages 13+ (in my opinion, it could be played by people much younger), supports 2-4 players (I’d imagine 4 is best), and plays in about 30-90 minutes.

And inside the box I found…wow, a lot! On top is one small rules booklet (full color), a square game board, four pawns, 2 six-sided dice, four “karma account” boards, about 200 cards of various sizes, and a small plastic tray with many small and colorful playing pieces (beads, rings, pegs, etc.)

Taken together and individually, the components are of very high quality. I was especially impressed by the eye-catching art on the board and cards, done by artist Crystal McLaughlin. Karma Boy features prominently in all the game materials, and although he’s simply drawn, he is very expressive and is often doing amusing things on the cards. The designer and artist also chose an easy-to-read font throughout the game.

The thing that really gets my attention about this game is the player aid (“Karma Accounts”). Rick and my wife both commented on how sturdy and helpful they were when we played yesterday. At the bottom of each account is a little depression cut right into the cardboard so your karmic beads and rings don’t roll all over the table. Very handy.

The last components are the playing pieces–orange and green beads (negative karma), rings (positive karma), and sticks (habits), and black pegs representing the two halves of each of the three master tools (torch, sword, and wand). Again, these are of high quality, and come in a handy storage tray with a lid. Considering the cost of the storage tray, I’m impressed this was included: most game companies would be content with giving you a couple of plastic baggies or letting you figure it out on your own.

If Cosmic Karma loses out in any way, it’s in the rulebook. Almost all of our questions were answered, but the arrangement of the rules is not ideal so you need to do some re-reading to figure out how certain rules might interact in play. However, this is not a huge problem as the rules are only four small pages, and a bit of skimming will help you find things pretty quickly.

In terms of its pieces, Cosmic Karma is beautifully presented. High quality components from a small, independent publisher are a welcome treat, and I think the people at Cosmic Karma Game Partners deserve a pat on the back for their hard work while keeping the cost of this game relatively low.

Expect Rick to post a session report in the next few days. I’ll chime in in the future with some further thoughts as well.

Setup
As the scenario opens, the British have an advance skirmish line made up of Rifles, lights, and Portuguese light troops in the center, and their main force scattered in the rear. The French, on the other hand, have a nice set of intact lines. We cracked open a Flemish sour ale and started playing.

Early Battle
My first goal was to eliminate Sharpe’s Rifles in the town of Sula, as their superior range makes them a huge threat. In fact, their position means they can take shots at any Frenchmen advancing in the entire center section. So I quickly moved up some light and line infantry and whittled them down to one block strength. (Mike then wisely ordered them to retreat.)

That done, Mike and I traded some fire on French right flank. In the end, I withdrew my troops; the forest makes for a nice, safe approach, but the French still face some Portuguese troops sitting on a hill, and I just couldn’t get my artillery up fast enough. As Mike marshaled his forces, it was clear this was going to be decided in the center.

Mid Battle
As Mike worked to bring together a line in the center, I brought my left and center together to form a powerful, linked line of infantry. (Unbeknownst to my opponent, I was also building up an entire hand of left section cards, hoping to make a move on the Portuguese line infantry and British cavalry on that side, but it never panned out.)

I anchored my left-center line in the town of Sula, and stretched my troops toward my own end of the map from there. Some of my units had taken a beating from the murderous musket fire of the British light troops, so I cycled weak units to the rear and brought fresh ones up. Meanwhile, Mike brought his line together and prepared to assault.

End of Battle
I’m proud to say that this one ended in total carnage. General Mike played a “Bayonet Charge” and sent his Allied troops howling forward. They did a bit of damage and destroyed one unit, but he couldn’t have known that I had an “Assault Center” up my sleeve.

I laid the card down and ordered two full strength French line units, one 3/4 strength line unit, and one French light cavalry. They all engaged with the enemy infantry and wiped them out (3 banners). The cavalry achieved a breakthrough too, and managed to nab the last lone British light infantry block for the victory. 4 banners in one turn–wow! Mike was truly stunned; he had thought his charge might bring him within the grasp of victory, but, alas, it only hastened his defeat.

Despite the way this one ended, I think it is a rather balanced scenario. The French get the forests for a covered approach on both flanks, while the British have a lot of hills. The town in the center will inevitably become the heart of this battle, though, and it was definitely true  on Saturday.

Stay tuned as my brother and I sit down to play the next scenario!

Setup

As the scenario opens, the British are in a tough spot. French victories over the past years few years put them at +4 VP, which means you need to go on the offensive almost immediately in order to catch up. You start with a strong but slow-moving force in New York, and the beginnings of a large army in Halifax. However, out west it’s a different story, as weak provincial forces hold a string of vulnerable stockades.

Facing you is the might of New France: a decent army holding down the Gibraltar of the New World, Louisbourg, and two strong armies at Quebec and Montreal. The last thing you’ll notice is the large number of auxiliary units your opponent has. These pesky fur trappers and Indian raiding parties will be the bane of your redcoats. In short, there’s a lot of work to be done, commander.

Basic Assumptions

The key to this scenario is keeping steady pressure on the French forces and consistently outscoring the enemy each turn. (Did I mention you start at a 4 point deficit?) There are many reinforcement cards for you in the deck, but it’s not a guarantee that you’ll see a lot of them–fortunes of war, and all that. However, you will see a few. Your game plan is all about building up large enough armies that you are relatively free to operate without French interference, and then lumber north, building up your supply lines as you go, for a strike against the heart of New France. The French have the benefit of short interior lines and a lot of speedy river movement, but if you can put pressure on them at two places, they won’t have enough forces to defeat you in both of those theaters.

There are three key routes to get at the enemy. The easternmost is the difficult and dangerous amphibious route through Louisbourg. The central route is the Hudson Corridor, and the western is up the Ohio River. Often a medium-sized British army is enough in the Ohio region (12-16 strength points) as long as you have some rangers to support them. (I tend to favor this route whenever possible.)

Opening Moves

For the British, your first moves are heavily dependent on what cards you get; a hand with no “3s” can really slow you down. In all likelihood, the French will come south to lay siege to Hudson Carry North. If you’ve got the cards to move a large army up there, by all means defend it. But if not, it’s probably time to destroy it on your own (-1 VP) and bring in reinforcements.

I’d suggest quickly building up border defenses in the Southern Department. Get your militia boxes filled if possible, and if you can, create a string of stockades with colonial troops placed at every other stockade. This will let you get intercept rolls with every infiltrating French unit that comes your way.

As stated above, go on the offensive early and try to pick two avenues of attack. If I pull good leaders early, I prefer the Ohio River Valley because the French will likely not want to send huge numbers of troops that way, and capturing Ohio Forks will net you an extra VP.

Keep Your Eyes Open For…

Head for Louisbourg if the French abandon it, but keep in mind that it’s best to attack the “Gibraltar of the New World” in the Early Season. That way, if things go wrong, you can have another go during the Late Season and hopefully avoid Winter Attrition. With an Amphibious Landing card and Coehorns and Howitzers or Surrender!, you can take it out quickly (though that will deplete your hand size).

Also, if you see French stockades or cultivated spaces that are being left unattended, go for them! Moving your precious auxiliaries away from your armies might seem foolish at first, but Rangers near the St. Lawrence River or approaching the Great Lakes will really mess up the French player’s day. Sometimes it’s fun to send a small Indian/Provincial force with Johnson into the Great Lakes region to accomplish this.

Last, be aware of your supply lines and keep them safe from French raiders. There’s nothing worse than approaching Montreal, only to realize that the Iroquois just torched your link to ample supplies of hardtack and grog!

Final Thoughts

The Setup

I talked my wife into trying this game. She even read most of the rulebook, which is fairly intense (48 heavily illustrated pages). We played the game last week in around 4.5-5 hours over the course of three nights. This included a 3 hour session to start (including more than a couple rule lookups on my part), We left it out on our dining table between game sessions.

The War

Rohan fell in the early going. Saruman used his voice (and generous muster action dice) to raise a massive army of Wargs and Uruk-Hai. The invasion was swift, and Helm’s Deep fell before Edoras learned that it was at war. Edoras fell next. “Tom Bombadil” defended the Shire.

My wife was starting to run into a combo of good reinforcement cards and action dice that allowed her to strengthen the Elven nation and Gondor even before they went to war. Gandalf emerged in Fangorn forest.  Aragorn left the fellowship for Gondor. Pippin was seperated by a successful hunt, but met back up with Aragorn in Minas Tirith.

Gondor could finally declare war when the Witchking attacked Osgiliath. In the same turn, an army from Moria and Dol Gulder under the leadership of two ringwraiths converged on the realm of Lorien, laying siege. Massive Dark Forces marched on Gondor from the Black Gate, Minas Morgul, and Harad. Peligir was abandoned in the face of Oliphants. Aragorn made a tactical withdrawal to Dol Amroth just before the Witchking laid siege to Minas Tirith. I played the “Folly of Denethor” on the table to prevent my wife from playing cards in battle for the duration of the siege. On my next action I used the card “Grond, Hammer of the Underworld.” The forces of Mordor bled (I needed all three rounds from Grond), but the city fell. Not really surprising that the defenses wilted after their King abandoned them . . . I guess he did leave Pippin and Denethor behind to die heriocally.

Gandalf did little to aid the Free peoples. He did send Treebeard to war, but the poor Ents were repulsed by a fully garrisoned Orthanc. I attribute this to a beginner playing the Free Peoples. Gandalf would have been very useful for negating my Nazgul swarm as it went from citadel to citadel. It was the safe play. By keeping him out of the fight, my wife was protecting that precious extra action die. Companions without armies cannot be harmed.

She played a “Power too Great” to shield the elves, but I paid the high cost to discard this effect (a die and 2 cards!) The Nazgul descended on Lorien and cast ”Dreadful Spells” to soften (2 hits) the defense. After a few assaults were beaten back, the “Black Breath” brought Lord Celeborn to his knees during the final assault. 7 VP (10 VP for a shadow win) Gandalf was still smoking his pipe in Fanghorn. Treebeard was probably “entertaining” him with some anecdote about the Entwives.

Gandalf does not concern himself with the troubles of others . . .

The tiles on top were drawn, the bottom 10 were the remaining hunt pool

We had a lot of fun and we learned a lot from this play. In fact, we had a second game played within a week. The BGG posters are awesome at responding to rules clarifications too.

Commands & Colors: Napoloenics: The Spanish Army is the first expansion in the latest iteration of Richard Borg‘s C & C system. Published by GMT, it retails for $55, but can often be found between $30-35 through the usual online sellers.

As with all GMT games put out in the past two years, the box is sturdy and colorful. The cover painting, a group of beleaguered Spanish troops around a battery of cannons, really catches the eye. The back boasts a playing time of 1 hour, which is, I think, rather optimistic. The only eyesore is a graphic of Napoleon with a transparent bicorn hat on his head. Whoops.

Opening up the box, you’ll find a bag of 210 unit blocks, colored blue for the French and a dirty yellow for the Spanish. You also get 3 sheets of unit sticks, a rulebook with 18 new scenarios, 2 National Unit reference cards (one with all the Coalition forces, one with the French forces), 2 unit reference cards in a new style, and 1 sheet of terrain hexes. (Secretly, I was hoping for a correction for the card “Give Them the Cold Steal,” but no such luck.)

All together, the components are a step down from the Napoleonics core game, unfortunately. There are three reasons for this. First, the muddy yellow color for the Spanish blocks was a poor choice. Compared to the rich brown of the Portugeuse, the bright red of the British, and the royal blue of the French, the Spanish army looks…well, pretty bad. Even a few more coats of yellow would have worked, but it looks like the paint is so thinly applied that the dark grain of the wood comes out and the effect is not pleasant.

Second, a decision was made to include small identification symbols on some unit types. Grenadiers now have a silhouette of a bomb, heavy cavalry have a trooper’s helmet, and light infantry have a bugle. This seems to me unnecessary–each unit already has its name printed at the bottom of each block–and from a distance, these symbols look like smudges. Worst of all, in scenarios that combine the base and expansion sets, you’ll now have some units with symbols and some without, which will probably just cause confusion.

Third, the terrain tiles, square track, guerilla tokens, and victory banners, which all come from one cardboard sheet, are incredibly thin. GMT has stated this was a mistake on the printer’s part, one that they decided not to rectify. The result is some components that feel very cheap when you’re handling them.

While these three definitely detract from the over quality of the product, I think the uniqueness of the Spanish army still shines through. Just glancing over the rules, I could tell these guys would be very fragile in the field and yet powerful because of the guerilla special ability. I am also very happy that GMT made the choice to include two kinds of player aids: I do not like the original style (which you still get here) because of all the flipping you need to do to get some basic information. The new style, however, is excellent. The new handout is just 1 double-sided sheet, and actually easier to navigate than the larger one.

Overall, I’m feeling a bit iffy on this expansion from a components perspective. Unfortunately, it feels like a rushed product when you consider the cardboard thickness, the paint quality, and the strange unit symbols. The system is still great, however, and Mr. Borg’s design is strong. It’s just that the execution on GMT’s part leaves much to be desired here. Let’s hope they get the Austrian, Prussian, and Russian expansions right.