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von Marwitz

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Just to give an impression of the scope of what has been fixed with the latest version released 3. Oct. 2014:

Hello Everyone,

We are pleased to announce a new Update for World in Flames that adds a Tutorial Video, addresses bugs, and improves many aspects of Production.

This is a comprehensive update, and the below list includes the changes from 1.2.1.2 Beta version.


Change List

V1.2.1.5a – October 3, 2014


Additions

New tutorial video, Production Planning: Practical Examples.

Bug Fixes

Fixed a bug where loading two division sized units in coastal hexes onto a naval transport at sea only permitted the first division sized unit to be loaded.

Fixed a bug where canceling a move from the Choose Section form after having loaded a unit from a coastal hex didn’t execute correctly.

Fixed the problem with a naval unit picking up cargo from a coastal hex not counting as a naval move when having selected a Combined Action.

Fixed a fatal error in the Selectable Units form which could occur when selecting naval units transporting other units.

Fixed a problem with canceling a naval transport move carrying cargo (loaded in a port) and then reloading the cargo and moving the units into a sea area. Previously this had left an artifact of the cargo in the original destination.

Fixed the bug which was letting naval transports carrying a unit to a port, then undoing its move, left the cargo in the destination hex and enabled the transport to perform new move.

Fixed the problem with units belonging to a major power at war with the major power owning the cargo on a naval transport, but not at war with the owner of the naval transport, being able to engage in naval combat with the naval transport.

Fixed the problem with a naval transport being assessed a 1 movement point penalty when using the optional rule In The Presence of the Enemy and carrying cargo belonging to a cooperating major power which is at war with enemy units in a sea area, while the naval transport is not at war with any of the enemy units in the sea area. For instance, an Italian transport carrying a German unit through a sea area containing Commonwealth combat naval units, while Italy and the Commonwealth are not at war. In this instance, the movement points for the Italian transport should not be penalized for entering the sea area.

Disabled invoking “fly at night” and “fly at extended range” except during the phases and subphases of the game when air units could make use of those capabilities. Before this change, by tweaking these settings repeatedly, it was possible to get the routines for Flyouts and Loading cargo in port confused as to which units were in a hex.

Fixed a fatal error at the start of the Production phase, where damaged submarines were absurdly being included in the count of damaged factories.

Disabled splitting and merging convoys during the reorganization phases (air, naval, and HQ). The program automatically splits convoys if a convoy unit with more that 2 convoy points is partially reorganized. Therefore, there is no need for the player to split or merge convoys. During these three phases before this change, it was possible to get the number of convoy points in a reorganized unit set to zero, and later to 255.

Eliminated a fatal error when quitting the game while the question about intercepting a naval move was being displayed.

Corrected the cursor on the global map when moving units into a sea area that contains enemy units that can intercept, so the cursor now shows +E. For example, if naval units “in hand” can move into a sea area and reach the 3 section box, then the cursor would either show ‘3' or ‘3 + E’, with the latter indicating that enemy units can intercept the moving units.

Fixed the problem with dropping units into a sea area in which they can be intercepted on the Global Map not being processed the same way as dropping them into the same sea area on the Detailed Map.

Moved anonymous divisions from the Force Pool to the Removed Pool when restoring saved games. Anonymous divisions are created when using the optional rule Unlimited Breakdown and they were being left in the Force Pool by mistake when the player Cancelled a decision to break down a corps. The original bug was fixed in an earlier version. This change simply repairs old saved games.

Changed the processing of the button Skip Major Power to Switch Major Power. This affects the forms: Lending (trade agreements), DOW on Minors, DOW on Majors, Align Minor (voluntary), Naval Combat, and Production Planning. Previously when the player clicked on the Skip Major Power button, the program changed the deciding major power to the ‘next’ major power that still needed to make a decision in the phase. Since the player usually has a specific major power which he wants to next make decisions, the process of changing to that major power could involve skipping over as many seven other major powers. The modified code simplifies the process so when the player clicks on Switch Major Power, a list of major powers yet to make a decision in the phase is displayed. The player can then select which one he want to be the new deciding major power.

Fixed the problem where Communist Chinese were able to use Nationalist Chinese cities for supply.

Fixed a problem with overseas routes for individual units owned by a major power not tracing to supply sources belonging to cooperating major powers.

Fixed supply for the AOI unit so it can trace through the capital of a conquered minor country (e.g., Djibouti) to a Primary supply source (e.g., Addis Abba).

Enabled the controlling major powers’ HQs and capitals of conquered countries to act as secondary supply sources for conquered minor country units (i.e., territorial units) by tracing railway paths to cities in the units’ home country.

Removed the capital of a conquered minor country from the list of secondary supply sources for the conquered country - because it is a primary supply source.

Fixed a problem with cities in a conquered minor country not being listed on the Supply Sources and Paths form as primary supply sources for territorial units built for the conquered minor country by the conquering major power.

Eliminated some redundant searching for railway supply paths for cooperating major powers. For example, for German supply paths, searches are conducted to see if von Bock is a valid secondary supply source. But although von Bock is potentially a valid secondary supply source for Italy, that search is unnecessary. That’s because if the search for a valid path to a German primary supply source fails, the program immediately examines the hexes searched looking for Italian primary supply sources. The result of the above change is that fewer searches are performed for railway paths - reducing the time required to calculate supply.

Fixed a typo in the code so that all secondary supply sources for conquered countries are listed on the Supply Paths and Sources form.

Removed secondary supply sources for conquered countries that were tracing supply to a primary supply source owned by a major power other than the conquered country’s conqueror.

Added HQs as secondary supply sources for conquered countries when the HQ belongs to the conquering major power and it can trace a supply path to a primary supply source belonging to the conquering major power.

Added code so when one major power (M) finds a path from a cooperating (C) major power’s HQ (or a capital of a country conquered by C) to a Primary SS controlled by M, then the Secondary SS appears in the Supply Sources and Paths form for both M and C. This worked correctly for Overland supply paths but it only partially worked for Overseas supply paths.

Fixed a bug in supply where if the weather changed, causing an HQ in a lake hex to ‘drown’, the program had been generating a fatal error.

Added Qattara Depression hexes as illegal hexes for tracing supply.

Fixed a supply recalculation problem associated with placing Stilwell on the map as a reinforcement. This was due to a conquered country not having a new controlling major power assigned (e.g., when Germany conquered all of Poland, without the USSR claiming Eastern Poland).

Added a check to avoid a possible fatal error when checking for German permission to route supply through Sweden.

The corrections made to Supply have fixed several reported problems in North Africa for German and Italian supply.

Reduced the time delay when changing major powers during the Production Planning phases by several orders of magnitude. For the provided saved game that had this problem, the program consumed a lot of time trying to find a resource in the Commonwealth (and then in the US) that could be sent to the USSR, when there were no available routes. The time to compute production planning routes now takes 28 seconds for the first major power and less than 1/4 of a second for all subsequent major powers. This is down from 80 seconds for each of the 9 major powers before I modified the algorithm. I could reduce these times some more but it would take more program modifications, so unless this is reported by multiple customers as still being a problem, I decided to stop making improvements at this time.

Made some changes to the Production Planning form’s filters for resources so the NEI oil that is controlled by a conquering major power is reported correctly, even after partisan units have damaged it.

Added yet another check for the NEI oil so if the NEI is conquered, it always belongs to the country that controls the hex.

Added another condition for when the Production planning Recompute should skip finding paths for resources. That now only happens if the resource has a Default or Override action setting of Idle. Before this change it was possible for a resource to have a Default or Override setting of Produce or Save where the destination could not be reached. Under those conditions, the program was skipping the resource simply because it failed to reach it intended destination. Now Recompute will try to find an Idle factory that the resource can reach for Production.

For Production Planning, removed the spurious message about no path found when the form for choosing the destination to save an oil point is closed by clicking on the Cancel button.

For Production Planning, removed the spurious message: “No path to a usable and reachable factory was found” when a change to a resource destination for production is cancelled.

Added a warning message when closing the Production Planning form if the number of saved oil points in a hex will exceed the maximum. The player can then decide whether to change where he saves oil points to prevent the excess being lost.

Loosened the restrictions during the Final Production Planning phase on resources received in trade so the receiving major power can modify what is done with the resource (production, save, idle) and its destination. Note that which resource is sent and to which country still cannot be modified during that phase.

Enabled Japan to use the Burma Road to route resources to factories, regardless of whether it is Open or Closed - provided the other normal conditions for routing resources are met.

Added a check to avoid a fatal error when trying to set a route for a US resource during the Setup phase for the US.

Added code so when the factory from which a build point originates is changed, the build point’s trade country is reset and the default action is to save the build point.

Fixed a bug in production planning that was preventing setting a new originating factory for a trade agreement to send a build point.

Fixed a problem with sending resources received as part of a trade agreement to designated factories.

Improved the message in the Production Planning form to tell the player how to find and use the Default/Override Table to specify which resource is used to fulfill a trade agreement.

Marked all resources in the Production Planning form as ‘Lost’ if their hex is occupied by an enemy partisan unit.

Added a check to make sure the Saved Oil form is not already being displayed when a second request to specify where an oil point is to be saved is made using the Production Planning form.

Enabled changing the destination of a build point. This is done like changing the destination for a resource received in a trade agreement. That is, use the Production Planning form’s radio button “Where To”. Note that only the receiving major power is permitted to change the destination.

Added code to the Production Planning form so if a player left clicks in the Resources list on the label Build Point for a build point that he controls, the program asks whether the player wants to change the origination hex for the build point. Note that this is the only way to change where a build point originates, and that you must click on the first column in the Resources list.

Enabled the program’s response to a mouse click on the top row of the Trade Grid in the Production Planning form for build point resources. This lets the player specify to which trade country he want the build point sent. For instance, if the US has trade agreements to send build points to both the Commonwealth and the USSR, then this feature lets you define to which major power a specific build point is sent. When the player sets the Default Country for a build point, its action is set to Save. Regardless, the build point will still be available for the receiving major power to use in the production phase (assuming it arrives successfully).

Enabled aligned minor country factories to provide build points as part of a trade agreement. For instance, Sao Paolo, Brazil can now send 2 BPs to Free France (new home country in West Africa). Of course all the normal conditions for sending BPs overseas still need to be fulfilled.

Added code so the only resource that can fulfill the Persia to Commonwealth trade agreement is the oil resource in hex (80, 77), which is on a rail line. This maximizes the ability of the Commonwealth to use the oil.

Made a change to eliminate a fatal error that could occur when trying to change the destination for a build point.

Added code so when a game is restored, Build Points are always being Saved and their Default Trade Country is instantiated. This simplifies the process for the receiving major power to change the destination for the build point.

Fixed a problem with restoring saved games where the stored overseas route for a resource to a destination was no longer valid and could generate a fatal error.

Added code so if a game is saved and restored in the middle of setting up reinforcements, the current major power placing units on the map is no longer skipped when the game is restored.

Disabled the Call Out Reserves button in the Pools form during the Setup phase.

Added code so when there are too many oil points in a hex, the Overstacked digression routine splits the oil point unit into one that has the maximum number of oil points for the hex and another that has the excess. The player then destroys the excess unit.

Fixed a bug where the number of saved oil points in a hex never incremented beyond one, although the correct number of saved oil resources appeared in the Production Planning form.

Added a check so an oil resource in a hex occupied by an enemy partisan is no longer included in the Use Oil form.

Added a check to prevent the Commonwealth from placing newly constructed factories in countries other than the United Kingdom until the United kingdom is conquered.

Fixed a fatal error which occurred when using the Off-City Reinforcements optional rule and the arriving unit’s possible arrival hexes included a hex that was adjacent to a city/port in a neutral country. For example, this would happen if the Brussels Militia unit was due to arrive and the Netherlands was still neutral: Antwerp is a possible off-city arrival hex which is adjacent to Rotterdam.

Fixed a problem with setting up territorial units using the optional rule Off-City Placement. Previously, these units were being restricted to setting up in a city or a port, even when the Off-City Placement capability was applicable.

Fixed a problem with the Communist Chinese militia not being available for setup if the game had been saved and restored before the Communist Chinese set up their units. Provided the Communist Chinese have not yet started to set up their units, this is retroactive so if the problem had been created previously, when the game is now restored the Communist Chinese militia units are available (one of the two of them set up in the Global War scenario).

Fixed a problem with setting up saved oil points during setup where the number of saved oil points for a unit kept increasing.

Made a change to the Air-to-air Combat form so when the Decision Button’s label is “Combat Chosen”, it is always visible unless playing with NetPlay. This was a problem at times for Head-to-head play, with the button not being shown, thereby halting the game.

Added Desert Mountain terrain to the list of terrain types that may cause the attacker to take an extra loss when playing with the 2D10 Land Combat Results Table. The rules are a little vague about this but the intention is clear that Desert Mountain should provide the same defensive benefits as Mountain.

Added Rocket Artillery to the list of unit types that can advance after combat when stacked with armor or mechanized units.

Fix a bug with damaging Red factories so that if the optional rule Construction Engineers in ON, red factories are damaged when ‘captured’ by enemy forces. They then need to be repaired using engineers and build points before they can be used by the major power that took control of them.

Fixed a bug in the Breakdown routine when playing with the rule Unlimited Breakdown and cancelling breaking down a unit. The program was placing the anonymous divisions in the Force Pool where they could be built like named divisions. Now the anonymous units go into the Removed Pool where they belong.

Fixed a bug where reserve militia units in the Future Force Pool were not being moved into the Force Pool when a major power reentered the war. For instance, the Osaka Militia unit (a reserve unit) is moved to the Future Force Pool if Japan conquers China and is no longer at war with any Allied major power. But once Japan does go to war with another Allied major power, then the Osaka Militia unit needs to be moved into the Force Pool (assuming that Japan still controls Osaka). This bug would sometimes manifest as a question to Call Out Reserves but then no reserve units would be shown.

Removed the question about whether the liberating major power wants to revert hexes when the country being liberated is a major power. All hexes are always reverted when a major power is liberated.

Fixed a problem with DOW Minors being skipped for Germany during the impulse that Rumania automatically aligns with Germany because Germany had denied the claims of Hungary and Bulgaria on Rumanian territory.

Fixed a fatal error during the DOW phase once the United Kingdom had been conquered.

Fixed a problem with restoring saved games where the data values for Partisans could sometimes be incorrect.

Fixed a problem with calculating garrison points for partisans where New Caledonia was being considered part of Metropolitan France. That was because New Caledonia is a SubCountry (i.e., not a minor country) which is not an integral part of Metropolitan France. As a counter-example, East Prussia is a SubCountry that is an integral part of Germany.

Added a few lines of code to prevent a fatal error when trying to create a New Trade Agreement when there are no viable trading partners.

Added a check to prevent a fatal error when trying to select a unit from the Selectable Units form when that form isn’t displaying any units.

Added a check to avoid a fatal error for adjacent hexes being controlled by a neutral country when Reforming Units.

Added a check to avoid a fatal error when exiting the program during the Setup phase.

Modified the list of Standard Optional Rules and Advanced Optional Rules so they no longer included optional rules which have not yet been coded (e.g., City Based Volunteers).

Cosmetic

Modified the Naval Moving Stack Review form, which is accessible using F11 when a group of naval units are “in hand”. I made some cosmetic changes to the form as well as making it smaller, so it fits on a 1024 by 768 display. The primary change was that I added a Unit Stack Viewer so the units “in hand” can now be seen. That stack viewer is linked to the Main form’s Unit Data Panel: when the cursor is moved over a unit in the stack viewer, the details for the unit under the cursor are shown in the Main form’s Unit Data Panel.

Fixed a rendering problem for air units belonging to minor countries when using medium resolution. The program was keying off the cost of the unit to determine which bitmap to use. When playing with pilots, the cost is 2 for tactical bombers, and all was well. But without the optional rule Pilots, the cost is 4 and the program didn’t display medium resolution images for the Rumanian, Bulgarian, and Finnish bombers. The code change was one word: to key off the BaseCost instead of the Cost.

Corrected the map display of destroyed factories when there are 3 factories in a hex and one blue factory has been destroyed. Previously, the damaged blue factory was not displayed in the hex as damaged.

Disabled some diagnostic messages which appeared at times when calculating tertiary supply routes.
 

von Marwitz

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The good news about this is that it is actually supported and people are working on it.

On the other hand, just reading through the fixes provides an impression of the freaking complexity of the thing. My best guess is that it will take quite some time to get it thoroughly usable. Take this with a grain of salt, as aforementioned, I have not yet tried to play it.

von Marwitz
 

rdw5150

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The required time one has to devote to it is the main thing which is keeping me back, too.
If you have both 5th and Final edition, why wouldn't you use the Final edition? Is the map size so much different?

von Marwitz
Hi!

As I said 5th edition would allow me to get both theaters on the table.

I have the table space for two maps. So 5th edition means I get both theaters on the table, while, FE means one theater.

Peace

Roger
 
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rdw5150

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They (Matrix Games) computerized World in Flames earlier this year, its like 120 bucks or something.

I had it way way back and traded it for KGP 1, I think I got the better deal...
I have this as well. Really nice. But trouble is, and the true bummer, no PBEM right now...... though live play through it is doable.

I like the program bugs an all (though if you look at the bug fix lsit posted above, while extensive, it looks like the bugs are pretty rare situation), though the lack of PBEM has me wondering why I bought it as I can VASSAL WiF on the computer if I want to play it that way. I wish they would have done just a "VASSAL" type thing to play the game and not put out a program that enforces the rules.

A moment of weakness.

Peace

Roger
 
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dlazov

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Thanks von Marwitz, it was last year I had forgotten. I recall the freaking huge map now...lol.

Does it have an AI?
 

goatleaf

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No - it was decided to release Computer WIF without the planned AI as it was taking too long to develop. There is mush speculation as to whether it will ever be done. They have had only one tecchie person working on CWIF for well over a decade and AI is his favourite hobby but when he will get round to it is anybody's guess given the continuing bug fixes and the face that they have decided to prioritise getting netplay to work over an AI.
 

rdw5150

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No - it was decided to release Computer WIF without the planned AI as it was taking too long to develop. There is mush speculation as to whether it will ever be done. They have had only one tecchie person working on CWIF for well over a decade and AI is his favourite hobby but when he will get round to it is anybody's guess given the continuing bug fixes and the face that they have decided to prioritise getting netplay to work over an AI.

Hi!

Personally, I am fine with no AI (it would be super complicated) but the no PBEM is what really bums me out. Still I bought it knowing that.

Peace

Roger
 

rdw5150

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Played Legendary Encounters Alien Saturday. I loved it. I thought the Marvel game was so-so, but this was fun. I like Co-op games so that is a plus. It is also hard to win. Also a plus. I ordered it the same day I played (my buddy's copy).

Peace

Roger
 

Cult.44

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Eclipse. Interstellar exploration and conflict. Currently perhaps my favorite multi-player game. Just finished one up Saturday, my cyborg race coming three points short of victory. It has a very interesting resource management system. Strategy can get complex. Tactics are essentially nothing when battle is engaged. It's about the odds, which can be difficult to determine because of the possible ship types, configurations and upgrades.
 

Glennbo

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ESG played Avalon Hill's "The Russian Campaign" last night. I was the Russians, and D.H. With Eric were the Germans.

Germans setting up.
View attachment 47697

The front prior to the Russian winter offensive '41
View attachment 47698

The front after the German summer offensive '42
View attachment 47699

The Moscow front just prior to my surrender
View attachment 47700

The Germans only had to endure one snow turn each year, getting Light Mud weather rolls in Nov/Dec the first two years. By spring of 1943 the Germans had captured all but a few cities. They had Stalingrad, Saratov, and both Cacusus oil well hexes. I had no cities left to place new workers in. So I surrendered even though I still held Moscow after a grand battle. The post-mortum concluded I didn't counter attack enough and kill enough German units.
 
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rdw5150

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interesting.....and not that I think it it, I actually do not own this game, which I find odd......


Nice to see you guys revisiting the classics.

Peace

Roger
 

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Played Tom Morin's Savage Streets from Special Ops #1. Soviet win on the last turn. A fun & interesting 2-hour (or less) game.
 

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13 Dead End Drive - it is my oldest daughters favorite game and we thought it would be a good game to play on Halloween.
 

thedrake

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Lock N Load Anzac Attack--small solo scenario for refreshing myself on the rules. Anzac patrol sweeping the jungle off a main road comes upon a clearing and deploys to cover it;Anzac scout cautiously steps out into the clearing to reconnoiter and thats when the shooting starts......


 

Bill Cirillo

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played a 6-player Dominant Species game on Saturday. Insects won big in the end after Dominating 8 tiles during scoring of the Ice Age card. Much fun was had by all.
 

Steven Pleva

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Last weekend I played the following:
Pax Porfiriana still rocks even though it's been out for a while. With higher level of play, the Topple cards really burn the brain.
Virgin Queen is a significant improvement over "Here I Sit". Plays moves better and all the players have some interesting choices. We quit after a pre-determined 6 hours (we were all pretty new, but we pre-studied) and I was in good shape with the French. I'd play it again especially with experienced players.
Fire in the Lake is the latest COIN game and my favorite of the series. Clean system with plenty of flavor. Played it twice and have two more online games going.
Bios Megafauna enjoyable quick Eklund game. Pretty chaotic, but the game choices are there. Not my favorite game, but I'd certainly play it again.
Coup is a great night cap bluffing filler game. Each game plays in 10 minutes or so, but the tension is there right from the beginning. I like it better than "Love Letters" which is also a good game.
Le Havre still holds up after many years. I was rusty so I didn't play very well. Always happy to get this on the table every year.

One disappointment was that we didn't get to High Frontier, but no one was comfortable enough with the rules to bang this out. Overall, a great weekend!

Steve
 

rdw5150

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-Solo game of Fire in the Lake (playing all sides) for learning purposes. Started a PBEM game of same

-On going War of the Ring PBEM. Cool game, but it is a learning game and I have made plenty of errors. Just for the snot kicked out of me as the bad guys at Minas Tirith. HAd the forces to do the job and the dice were bad, oh so bad.

-Picked up Codeword Cromwell and getting that on the table. Looks to be a ton of fun especially after some booze

Peace

Roger
 
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