Small Games and Big Ideas

My collection of smaller boardgames. The Hunt covers the search for the Graf Spee whilst the others ‘do exactly what it says on the tin (cover, that is)’.

I am a huge fan of board games and over the years have played and owned many. My collection is fairly modest with a smattering of classic Avalon Hill, Battleline and Yaquinto titles as well as some from more modern manufacturers - Compass Games, GMT Games and similar. There are naval and aerial tactical games, strategic level games and figures based games. Perhaps it is the wargaming gene coming through but without exception, I have thought about using figures or models for every game I have ever owned - and in some cases have actually managed to do so!

The downside is that most of these games do require a degree of commitment in respect of time and space. I am fortunate in the latter case as the man cave will happily accommodate games being left in situ for as long as required. Sometimes though, one wants a snack rather than a three course meal….

The games you see in the picture above fall very much into the ‘snack’ category in that they are tasty morsels that satisfy but not overwhelm the palette so to speak. Dare I say it, they could almost be considered to be the boardgame equivalent of the Portable Wargame or the Dominion series of rules.

The map from ‘The Hunt’ - 16” square

All of the above have potential for being battle generators using figures or models and indeed, The Hunt has already got me thinking about the Graf Spee operation (pauses to look for a copy of the Navwar catalogue….). I have mentioned previously that I have used this as disguised scenario on numerous occasions and it has never failed to give me a good game. I have the Graf Spee expansion for Avalon Hill’s Bismarck - this would be more of a main course game - which would give me the full order of battle for the Royal Navy if I needed it, along with a more detailed map.

The first pages of the rule book - note the contents.

The game is card driven and the victory conditions are very simple - the Royal Navy win by destroying the Graf Spee or by successfully getting five merchantmen to their destination whilst the Germans win by sinking five of the nine merchantmen and staying hidden.

As projects go this would be very easy to organise - in fact I would not even need to get any models (said no wargamer ever….) for it as I have plenty of counters. That is hardly the point though! Something to ponder anyway.