WAR ROOM - New Larry Harris Game

That reminds me a bit of “Hearts of Iron” - condensed to a board game. Interesting!

@P@nther:

That reminds me a bit of “Hearts of Iron” - condensed to a board game. Interesting!

Excellent! I’ve always wanted this :)  I must admit I am getting more excited about this game by the minute…

@crockett36:

Wizards may have abandoned the creator, thus the creator had to go somewhere else, do something slightly different, innovate and recreate.

It’s all speculation in a way, but I’m thinking Larry Harris may of felt the need for a fresh start or that AH/WOTC did not want to back this particular project…who knows but Larry and the game companies.

There are many designers who do work with and release through different companies. AH/WOTC may still have a good relationship with Larry…

One other thought of mine was that with it being put on Kickstarter, I wonder what kind of add-ons and or stretch goals may or may not be available. That may be a way for guys who want them to get their plastic dudes…

@The:

…
There are many designers who do work with and release through different companies. AH/WOTC may still have a good relationship with Larry…
…

Indeed they have, at least according to Larry.

@The:

One other thought of mine was that with it being put on Kickstarter, I wonder what kind of add-ons and or stretch goals may or may not be available. That may be a way for guys who want them to get their plastic dudes…

So what is kickstarter exactly?

@Private:

@The:

One other thought of mine was that with it being put on Kickstarter, I wonder what kind of add-ons and or stretch goals may or may not be available. That may be a way for guys who want them to get their plastic dudes…

So what is kickstarter exactly?

It’s a a sort of crowdfunding. See www.kickstarter.com

Thanks very much P@nther.

I personally am looking forwords to it. The plastic minis is something we can get around. Secret movements? Convoys? Railroads? This is everything  we ever wanted!!!

Ha. Somebody will figure out away to implement the plastic aa pieces. Me ? Ha  :?

Its the plastic miniatures that makes the game fun to play. With counters you may rather play a pc game. Would chess be fun with out figurines ?

Something tells me the “pieces” will end up as cardboard. The weight of any game that has “Italian army #140” Means 140 thick plastic tokens times 7 players. Shipping would be cost prohibitive, so enjoy round and stacks of cardboard chits.

@Narvik:

Its the plastic miniatures that makes the game fun to play. With counters you may rather play a pc game. Would chess be fun with out figurines ?

Chess… being played with tiny thumbnail-sized cardboard chits since the Middle Ages…

For all of you wondering about Larry’s relationship with the Wiz, I asked him about it (albeit obliquely) on his forum, which elicited a vigorous response from Larry, to wit:

Response to Kjrunft:
Hate Mail? Krieghund and I Worked with Wizards over this past winter upgrading and preparing for this Anniversary re-launch. We are very excited about this. Over the years I have had games published by companies other than Wizards of the Coast. Larry Harris and Wiz are tight! War Room is not Axis & Allies. I�m not even sure they compete with each other. They are two of my children from two different mothers, and I love them both. Where do some of these assumptions come from?

So, according to Larry, War Room is not necessarily a rebuke of or departure from A&A or Avalon Hill.

So the first demo was yesterday. Does anyone have news from that?

@Narvik:

Its the plastic miniatures that makes the game fun to play. With counters you may rather play a pc game. Would chess be fun with out figurines ?

Wargames have been played, and found entertaining, for decades with cardboard chits.
PC Games are not interactive (playing against the computer or a player that you can’t sit across the table from) defeating the biggest draw to board games.

A game should never rely on it’s components to be fun. It’s the game play and the opponent(s) that make a game fun. Plastic minis is an aesthetic bonus.

Nope. I likes my little plastic army men. You can have your chits.

Actually a demo was done last may at some army museum / base if not mistaken.

https://www.meetup.com/en-AU/CentralPAGameClub/events/231096495/

I don’t quite understand how this game could be considered to NOT compete with A&A. Whether or not it ever will on a distribution scale is something else entirely, but in terms of content and plot, A&A and War Room appear extremely similar. The terms, language and framework are basically identical. I am sure the mechanics are different enough for experienced people to make a distinction. The shape of the board is probably indicative of the difference in style. If A&A and War Room were sitting next to each other on a store shelf and someone (uninitiated to either game) was trying to decide which one to buy, they probably wouldn’t be able to tell much of a difference between the two beyond the shape of the board and pieces used. Anyone think the decision then would come down to visual appeal? A&A would probably trump WR simply because it has plastic figures rather than chits.

Since there are “10 different unit types”, you could probably represent each with a sculpt from A&A or HBG. Far easier to visually identify sculpts with chips than stacks of colored tiles. However, based on the size of the board, specifically the landmass, using multiple sculpt types in a territory, like in A&A, would probably take up way too much space. Hence the need for tile stacking. It looks like WR was designed with that in mind, so it looks like we won’t see options for sculpts.

For a board that looks close to half the size of G40, with less space and fewer outright visual cues, the rules for this game appear very complex in that there are many of them and they get quite granular. High level stuff like Civilian Morale and Resource Capture contrasted with individual naval unit repairs and whether fighters are dogfighting or strafing. War Room might be more interesting if it deals primarily with the higher level strategic aspects of the war and less with the individual unit characteristics and tactical battles.

I have the feeling War Room has the need for stacking and chits/tokens instead of plastic sculpts because there is going to be an element of hidden information, not because of any production or space issue.

In a case where there is hidden information regarding the units you have deployed, plastic minis simply don’t work.