BLOODY BUNA - Latest CH Pack - Nice to have this

Cpl Uhl

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If you could get your hands on TRBH it is well worth it.

New Guinea is a reprint BUT putting the 20 map panels together would test anyone's patience. Gona is the same with map panels. I cannot recommend any of the products with the map panels.
I did like TRBH. But the CG I found flawed.
 

larrymarak

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If you want a map assembly challenge try Buakiri, last stand on Tarawa. The panel assembly literally follows the highly irregular coastline of this section of the Tarawa Atoll. Excellent play though.
 

Sparky

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If you want a map assembly challenge try Buakiri, last stand on Tarawa. The panel assembly literally follows the highly irregular coastline of this section of the Tarawa Atoll. Excellent play though.
ehhh.. I still say the 26 odd panels of Omaha West/East was the dissertation for earning the PhD in CH map panel management.

As far as Buna.. the bitching about the map panels is likely by those that never really bothered with them or just the talk of the haters. I love them myself and suspect at some point other producers will eventually see the merit in them. Very functional...some play full mapppers and CG's.. most do not.. thus you are use and set up only the sections of map that you are actually playing upon. Most scenarios do not use the whole playing area so what is the problem if one only has to set up a couple of panels.. and for the one scenario(or CG's) that uses all of them. That baby is going to be on the gaming table for some time.. weeks or months depending on one's gaming time or playing speed...so what is the hour or two it takes to correctly align all of the panels. Most players have plexi.. and most have wifes that have double sided tape around. Easy to set up really. A drop in the bucket man to the countless hours spent playing it. They aren't made or geared toward tournament scenario types. Besides they ain't brain surgery to assemble... just need a steady hand or lots of shitty beer or qualtiy pot man... and is a good way to really study the maps and terrain prior to playing anyway.

though keeping on topic.... honorable mention for the PhD course should go to Buna.. this one as I posted in my review was not easy due to the separated battlefields the panels were geared for smaller scenarios covered the western and eastern sections.. thus there was some significant overlap between the two and that.. even more so that the shear quantity of maps with Omaha made putting together the Buna maps for the full map scenario very challenging. You'll spend weeks and countless hours playing it.. but you will spend a good number of hours putting them together. I consider myself a pro at map panel management and this one had me showing the hand to the beer and breaking out the whiskey... took several attempts to get all 20 lined up perfectly.

I set them up west to east.. but might recommend setting them up east to west for ease of dealing with the overlap which magnifies the any previous alignment errors.
 

larrymarak

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I set up the entire map, then label the back of each map panel either up order, top left to bottom right.
Many of the newer releases have Monster (1.75 inch hex) and Uber (2.2 inch) hex options......so Buna's 20 panels can be 60+ if you want to live on the edge.
 

TopT

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ehhh.. I still say the 26 odd panels of Omaha West/East was the dissertation for earning the PhD in CH map panel management.

As far as Buna.. the bitching about the map panels is likely by those that never really bothered with them or just the talk of the haters.
I am definitely the former and not the latter. CH fills a niche that other developers just do not and they get that product out for people to play. I have spent my share of cash for CH products.
 

hongkongwargamer

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I set up the entire map, then label the back of each map panel either up order, top left to bottom right.
Many of the newer releases have Monster (1.75 inch hex) and Uber (2.2 inch) hex options......so Buna's 20 panels can be 60+ if you want to live on the edge.
CH is definitely innovative though. Most wargame publishers compete on the quality of the game. CH says "noooo not me". CH opens up a new venue and provide hours of fun in assembling map panels! I always maintain that the way to win in business is to write your own rules.
 

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Good to hear this. I just got a couple of the CH Paddington Bears packs and am looking into more of the earlier CH stuff, especially in the Pacific. (I think that TRBH has been around for a while, right?)
TRBh has been around for decades, it is typically available fairly regularly at places like fleabay for a good price and it is well worth every dollar spent, + I think there was a reprint done at one of Ch's inflated extortion prices sometime last year.

KRL, jon H
 

witchbottles

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CH is definitely innovative though. Most wargame publishers compete on the quality of the game. CH says "noooo not me". CH opens up a new venue and provide hours of fun in assembling map panels! I always maintain that the way to win in business is to write your own rules.
the RAT does one good service, he does not have a clogged with product pipeline. A good submission , akin to Tooz's Counterattacks or Holsts' Bandenkreig, can reach the ASL gaming public quickly - the trick is it needs to be a good product. CH's business model is unfortunately based on FIFO and GIGO together. It needs to be good in to get good out - garbage is still just that when it hits the store shelves.
 

hongkongwargamer

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the RAT does one good service, he does not have a clogged with product pipeline. A good submission , akin to Tooz's Counterattacks or Holsts' Bandenkreig, can reach the ASL gaming public quickly - the trick is it needs to be a good product. CH's business model is unfortunately based on FIFO and GIGO together. It needs to be good in to get good out - garbage is still just that when it hits the store shelves.
Hm..I never looked at Bandenkrieg
 

Whiskers1123

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the RAT does one good service, he does not have a clogged with product pipeline. A good submission , akin to Tooz's Counterattacks or Holsts' Bandenkreig, can reach the ASL gaming public quickly - the trick is it needs to be a good product. CH's business model is unfortunately based on FIFO and GIGO together. It needs to be good in to get good out - garbage is still just that when it hits the store shelves.

The person that started this thread asked, "As usual, may I ask those with CH issues to leave without a message of negativity". So, could you kindly go away?
 

Whiskers1123

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TRBh has been around for decades, it is typically available fairly regularly at places like fleabay for a good price and it is well worth every dollar spent, + I think there was a reprint done at one of Ch's inflated extortion prices sometime last year.

KRL, jon H
When it came out for pre-order I got it for $100.00 and everyone was warned that after it shipped the price would go up. That's the same thing that is done with all CH products. So your tale about extortion prices is a lie as usual. Just getting the truth out for those that would just believe what was said.
 

dlazov

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Not really a lie just a simple truth. I have been (used to that is) purchasing CH products for many years. What Ray does is see a need, fill it and then jacks the prices up outrageously! Take for example the first version of Omaha, it was I believe like $69.95, quite high at the time considering what you got (this was before version 3 of his counters and version 3 of the maps). Then several years later Omaha West/East came out, I believe I paid $199 for each, then a few years later Omaha East/West Monster (or whatever) came out for $299 each, and the the Omaha East/West Uber Map Panel's came out a few years later, again another price spike or difference, I think he actually dropped it to $120 or $150 or whatever, and so on.

The truth is there is some really good Gem's in the piles of junk, but the bad part is a Gem will cost you boocoo bucks and a piece of junk will cost you boocoo bucks. And if you wait just a year or more later, another version will be pumped out, with the same missing errata, mistakes or what not for the same price.

I have heard all the "praises" for the so called "glory" of the Map Panels but I am not really seeing it, there is a big difference between a bunch of geo's thrown on the table and 7, 10 or 20 map panels. One of the beauties of the "old" days of CH was their maps (I still have all mine, Berlin, HB, ATB, DD, OE/OW, etc., etc.) were single sheet maps (normal war game maps) that could be played on with out piecing it together. And all the "older" CH stuff usually came with a CG or three in it. Adding value to the product. Today not so much.

And the last time I checked it's a free country and I can say whatever I like about whatever I feel like and I have easily spent (some would say waste, but I got my money out of it) over 3 grand on CH stuff over the last 10 years. So I don't mind telling the "truth" and don't like it when some spread lies about one of my friends that I know owns and plays some of CH stuff.

The truth is a) Buyer Beware b) CH stuff takes two reasonably advanced ASL'ers to suss through all the rules (missing or unclear) to play them out (generally I am referring to CG).

Edo and I spent many many hours fixing both Berlin CG modules for our own personal use and AFAIK Edo sent those revisions to Ray (I think it was with CG VI).

So lets call a chicken a chicken and egg and egg and not the other way around.
 

witchbottles

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When it came out for pre-order I got it for $100.00 and everyone was warned that after it shipped the price would go up. That's the same thing that is done with all CH products. So your tale about extortion prices is a lie as usual. Just getting the truth out for those that would just believe what was said.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Critical-H-ASL-Those-Ragged-Bloody-Heroes-The-Australian-7th-Divisio-Zip-MINT/153416488347?hash=item23b855d59b:g:SS0AAOSwumxci31U:sc:USPSFirstClass!95945!US!-1

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Critical-H-ASL-Those-Ragged-Bloody-Heroes-The-Australian-7th-Division-Zip-EX/132986412335?hash=item1ef69b9d2f:g:4R0AAOSwnaZciC1B:sc:USPSFirstClass!95945!US!-1

call it a lie if you wish - hard to argue with actual copies - one of them brand new mint and unpunched - both for under $45.00 USD. If you paid 100 dollars or more for yours, tough sh!t, sherlock. Not my f#$king problem that you are too f$#king dumb to waste 30 seconds looking around the internet before you waste your money.

Now I'll be glad to kindly go the fuck away.

8016
 

Whiskers1123

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I was talking about Bloody Tarawa. I guess I didn't make that clear. What a nice guy!
 

hongkongwargamer

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I was talking about Bloody Tarawa. I guess I didn't make that clear. What a nice guy!
No you didn't. And you generalised a comment about him by say "So your tale about extortion prices is a lie as usual." Now you try to cover yourself by backpedaling by saying you are just commenting on a specific product.

Quit the whining. Keep this positive honey.
 

xenovin

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My comment on the map panels is that they are great for just using a small area of the map when you play a scenario. The bad part of the map panels is a historic map is for playing campaign games so putting the entire map together takes a long time and requires a way to secure it during play. But CH has replaced the CG with a super large scenario so now you are buying a large CG map to play small scenarios that can be simulated with geoboards and save you $50. So 10 years ago a CH module with 8 scenarios, double counter sheets, a map and some rules was about $40 but once folks like BFP put out modules for $100 (including 40-50 scenarios), a price point was set. Now for $80 you get a map panel set, rules, 8 scenarios and recommendations for NAT sets that would work great with the new module. Even with the discount, you are getting less for more then you did 10 years ago. This has to be weighed against an ASL situation that you might not see anyplace else.
 

Whiskers1123

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No you didn't. And you generalised a comment about him by say "So your tale about extortion prices is a lie as usual." Now you try to cover yourself by backpedaling by saying you are just commenting on a specific product.

Quit the whining. Keep this positive honey.
His tale was a lie and I didn't generalize about one product. I just used that as an example. In my earlier post I said that all CH products are the same. They start out with a pre-order price, say $69.00. Then you get a 30% discount off of that which would be what, $48.30. So until the item ships that's the price. After that it goes up to the price of say $89.00 which I agree is way to high. All I'm saying is that if you like one of the products the time to buy it is at the pre-order price less the 30% discount which in my mind is a reasonable price. Also most all scenario packs come with all the counters you need to play it. I have noticed a couple of the newer ones didn't have any or just a few counters like Bloody Buna but everyone should have the counters needed to play it anyway. If he wants to push his NAT sets it's his business he can do that. If you have counters then you wouldn't buy his unless you like his counters and you can get them at the lower pre-order price plus the 30% discount when a new set comes out also. Like I bought the new White Fin counter set at the lower price because I thought they would be cool. They haven't shipped yet but I can't wait to see them.

Sorry people, I'm done. You just can't get through to the haters and it frustrates me.
 
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