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Thanks very much for this. I suppose at this scale I'm still in favour of SPI's 'Global War'.

Chris, can I get your email address?

Thanks for posting videos on this game. The economic mechanisms and tracking the ecomomic situation for the belligerents, I find very interesting.

The number of house rules that are apparently needed to align the game with history and/or balance the contest is a mite off-putting, frankly. Good that you've done that; less good that you apparently had to. Thank you for the video.

Ordered this. Thanks, Chris!

Thanks for this, and good to see you talking about games in this venue again. Is OSS Games still a going concern where wargames are concerned? I saw that they rather generously refunded many of their pre-orders to customers. But apart from selling old stock, they seemed to have wound down a fair amount of their operations and are focusing on RPG and Science Fiction projects.

Thank you for your observations and analysis

This game has always intrigued me. I’m glad to see you’re still playing it.

thanks for the vid and interesting analysis. The game has some cool ideas but the rules are bad and the game start unsustainable. If designers who don't support Q/A, players have to house rule stuff. You must be quite dedicated to keep on trying, I gave up and sold it on Ebay. Have fun but games that require house rules from the git-go are broken.

I have yet to play my copy of AMFS, but I'm on the fence wrt Chickamauga. I've seen some comments that the Black Swan system is perhaps a little bit of this and a little bit of that and it maybe amounts to nothing special. Some people seem to prefer Blind Swords by a fair margin. What are your thoughts Chris?

Thanks for the heads-up on the Kickstarter.

Thanks Chris very interesting. I just concluded day 1 in another system that plays at a similar scale so it was interesting to compare final day 1 positions …. Slightly not visually helped really by those brown coloured hasty defence markers! Like your good self, I was tardy in getting my Union defenders to fall back early enough, but by the end of the day, they were largely behind Gettysburg itself. I have Johnson’s (Confederate) division marching down the Union flank towards Spanglers Wood, hoping to stretch the Union defence. Your last bit was interesting because that ‘lane’ part of the unfinished railroad goes through the cut of high ground on the hexside and I was pretty sure that historically some units got caught in the first cut and got badly mauled, but of course a unit would not be able to sit in the cut on your map because it is on a hexside. I have just checked my game and the unfinished rail road and cuts go through the middle of the hex, so the cuts can be occupied - just an interesting difference in design approach. I had an e-mail today to say that the Chickamauga Kickstarter opened today.

Mary Pickford was a formidable movie star, so that may be why you misspoke. Entirely understandable.

Beautiful game.

Having played a fair amount of games on the conflict in North Africa in WW2, I find myself falling back on SPI's 'Panzerarmee Afrika' for its design, playability, and general accuracy. Perhaps this game will do something more. I do not have a copy yet, but I am tempted. Thank you for the video. And very good to see you again.

Just rechecked the victory condition rules and things aren't so bleak for the Allies after all. Crete counts as an airfield for coastal shipping modifiers but not for airfields when comparing to the victory level required. So the actual tally is about even.

I've recently bought this, but can't procure reasonably priced mounted maps 😢

Chris how are you mate ? I can’t believe I spotted this on YT …long time no see Ric

excellent Chris --- Thankyou, Bravo !!!

I really like your careful analysis of these games. I have looked back and watched a great many of them. Very good, keep it up!

You should consider putting these in playlists easier to find and watch in order to:) good stuff sir

I was tempted to get this, but passed on it. It still looks really tempting though.

Thanks for your thoughts, looks like an interesting game 😀 My copy is waiting on the shelf, unpunched, aiming to play it in June😁

Thanks very much indeed. One takeaway from folks who have played 'Downfall' is that, despite its length, there is something of an urge to set the game back up and replay it soon after the turns are completed, to see what alternative history might yet be revealed. 'Unconditional Surrender' on the other hand, as outstanding as it is, tends to be exhausting--not because of any flaws in the mechanics or overall design, but because it is so comprehensive and the experience an excellent one, just all encompassing with somewhat less variability compared to 'Downfall'. Wondering if you would agree with any of those sentiments.

I think Downfall has a lot of potential but there are too many tracks and the rotating the counters to indicate strength is annoying. A high degree of vigilance is required and is distracting from game play. I also think it would have greatly enhanced play if the players could win as the Germans too. Good Luck Chris.

One thing I didn't like was that on the western front the unit density got very high and there was a lot of fiddling with counters. I didn't like the air system either, which precluded, practically, email games.

As always great video

Thanks for this update and your analysis. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts at some point comparing this to your experiences, including your recent game, with "Unconditional Surrender".

Very interesting as always, thank you. A largish footprint and long game play, from all one hears. I saw where another reviewer said that it was one of the few games that, upon completion, they wanted to set up and play again. Looking forward to your impressions relative to other games of the same scale, such as 'Unconditional Surrender'.

Wonderful video

Cheers 👍

Very much enjoyed the playthrough, thank you. Any ideas about what you might embark on next? I've a copy of the first edition of the game that I still haven't unboxed--other games took priority. I wonder if I should do so and try to play with the 2nd edition/updated rules, if such a thing is possible.

Thanks for the great series play through. Great stamina to take it to the bitter end. See you on the next one. G

Happy New Year, Chris!

Glad you are enjoying the game. Thanks for the videos.

Hey Chris great video sir

Another great video

Great video!

Find your analysis very interesting. Need to get this on the table!

I have searched the various sites such as BGG and CSW and I do not see any example of play errata. What I did see was someone claiming there was a mistake, but they were not playing correctly. Please let me know what I missed.

🎉good stuff I hope I get a chance to play this eventually again

I played it many times with my friend and we had a lot of different outcomes. There was everything from German decisive victory up to Allied decisive victory. I have to look for our old reports. (We are germans and write down everything 🙈) But in our opinion the dice roll at some points in the game are crucial. Landing in Normandië If the Allied player is a bit unlucky and can't breakthrough the rough area in Normandië and take le Havre and Cherbourg in the first 2-2,5 month it will be difficult in the long time. Brittany Well the landing is usually easier and without substantial losses. Under all costs you have to get the bigger ports for a bigger push into Normandy and use the British army to go south for Gascoigne and the ports in Poitou. Combine it with the minor assault and push to Provence. 😎 But the Germans have a lot of time to prepare a good defensive position at the Saine river. Picardy If the landing goes well it is a nice spot to gain territory quickly. As soon as you are in supply the allied armoured forces have a big advantage in that area. And it will be very cost full for the Germans to defend near the landing zones. If the German player is a bit lucky with reinforcements he can fill up the Provence box with cheap unmotorized infantry and take out the Panzergrenadier units. I would even go that far as the German player to withdraw from Provence and fight it out on the main map because the terrain is on the defenders side. ( Fortresses, mountain and rough terrain) yes it is a lot of VP's but you can easily pin the allies down in the south and force him to split his resources and supplies. And it will take the allied player a turn more and a supplied HQ to get a conus unit operational on the map. But in general for the Allies disband the 2 British infantry units and keep pushing forward your troops 'will' come back. As for the German player avoid bigger counterattacks. Pin them down with the CD units and use the kampfgruppe option with the cheap infantry units. Replacements are for tanks, PG and FJ units.

🎉Chris great video the game is in my bucket list

Mounted maps, Chris?

🎉your gonna me pull this game out if I’m able soon

I absolutely love unconditional surrender

Well done -and many thanks for your always insightful perspectives. You've made me realize how much I miss playing this great game that hits all the sweet spots I look for. I've been on a Russian Besieged binge for the last several months and too many of my old loves have become victim to the charms of my current amour. Time to return to the path of the straight and narrow and remedy that. Many thanks for the link to the new Weather Chart; eager to road-test it.

Thanks for the video. Where can we find the new weather chart?

Nice survey on topic thanks

What's the pint Chris? It looks great.