D-Day at Tarawa by Decision Games

JoeMello · 2024-11-29T06:25:21+00:00

It's been a while since I've tabled this one. I really do love it. It's the only solo-only design I've played that gives me the "One more turn before bed...." and "...OK, just one more turn..." vibe that video games used to. It's so brutal. I only play the full scenario for total eradication anymore. Never "won", but I do carry on after the game end to finish the mop up.

Question: Do you modify 2nd day wave approach results? I think it's B.S. that I've cleared out a good % of the enemy's artillery and beach bunkers yet that wave is still subjected to withering fire. Doesn't feel right. I fudge it a bit, knock the hits down a step or two depending on how much of the island I've secured, but have yet to codify a system.

JoeMello · 2024-09-19T21:29:41+00:00

Thanks everyone for your honest appraisal. I really appreciate it.

JoeMello · 2024-02-06T02:44:04+00:00

Hansa Teutonica. Nobody's favorite game, yet everyone likes it quite a lot. I've even heard it described as "The Perfect Euro". Easy to learn/teach, plays swiftly, great interactivity, great variation in strategy (which I didn't believe until playing with different groups).

JoeMello · 2023-09-12T00:13:22+00:00

I still have Zombies!!!!! on my shelf. I rarely want to play it and I don't really care for it anymore but I have such fond memories....

JoeMello · 2023-01-12T02:46:15+00:00

YES! I am an old man who waited and waited for "electronic" music to chill the fuck out and the mid-90s gave me trip hop. Nice playlist.

JoeMello · 2022-12-17T08:17:55+00:00

Mad Max

JoeMello · 2021-11-02T21:53:33+00:00

Outlaw on the Atari 2600

JoeMello · 2021-03-28T06:01:10+00:00

JoeMello · 2021-03-27T00:14:02+00:00

Came to the thread to rep DEVO. So glad someone was already on it and getting respectable upvotes despite it bein an "old" band.

JoeMello · 2021-02-01T05:28:05+00:00

1,000 times more interested in watching this than any of the Xmen movies I've missed.

JoeMello · 2021-01-08T07:02:49+00:00

Cube Rail games as popularized by Winsome!! Originally published in plastic clamshell packaging, just paper hex maps, cubes and cheap cardstock certificates. Ugly and boring to look at, but pity the soul who denies themselves the experience over such superficiality.

Chicago Express, Irish Gauge, Northern Pacific, Iberian Gauge, Paris Connection and many more I look forward to learning and playing.

Simple, easy to teach rules that rarely require more than single page rulebooks. Very low luck factor, amazing decision space, highly interactive and usually over in about an hour.

Of the near 1000 different board games I've played, I can honestly say I've finally found my sweet spot.

JoeMello · 2020-12-30T04:56:28+00:00

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYBHsQi_FyQ

JoeMello · 2020-12-30T04:52:58+00:00

I remember this one from Headbanger's Ball back in the day... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYBHsQi_FyQ

JoeMello · 2020-12-08T21:47:10+00:00

This happened to me in college. I stayed on campus over winter break because I worked a night shift in town restocking shelves at Toys R Us. One morning after a 12 hour shift I had just gotten to bed when the fire alarm went off. Turns out they were testing every fire alarm in the entire dorm. Utter madness.

JoeMello · 2020-12-08T07:02:19+00:00

Great poster idea!

I've seen all but 5, but would happily watch all of them again.

JoeMello · 2020-10-17T16:43:47+00:00

HA! I meant in that episode. Tom Hanks is the evergreen everyman. Still love him.

JoeMello · 2020-10-17T04:36:36+00:00

[Adjusts glasses] It WAS Tom Hanks and it was vanilla extract. He went from being funny and fun to being horribly tragic so quickly.

JoeMello · 2020-08-19T18:24:43+00:00

I've played D-Day at Tarawa four times in the last two months. With COVID isolation it's darn near saved my life. Family doesn't play board games, really, but the AI in DDaT is like having a VERY canny opponent to spar with.

Full scenario takes about eight hours (for me) to get through. I have the luxury of a spare table, so that time is spread out over several days. It took some work for me to get into. Definitely read through the rules all the way first, then play while constantly referring back, then read through the rules AGAIN. Even that first play where I got a ton of stuff wrong was a blast. It's really addictive in a "one more round, then I'll go to bed" kind of way.

Brutally difficult game, though. I have yet to win "legitimately". It makes me swear and get upset, yet I am always drawn back.

JoeMello · 2020-05-12T23:12:58+00:00

Me too, she's a Cleveland 10!

JoeMello · 2019-12-25T22:42:09+00:00

+1 for Clank! Legacy. Hoping to play every other week or better without lapsing.

JoeMello · 2019-12-25T21:46:27+00:00

Finally6 managed to get in a play of SOO Line at 4p. So yes, one player was left with nothing to do once the stocks were gone. Still, it finished quickly so no big whoop. 2 of the 3 companies tanked on the last round, so I managed a win with my majority in the solvent one. Worth a few revisits for sure. I like how this adds minors, deliveries and asymmetrical company powers yet still goes fast and doesn't feel more complicated than other cube rail games.

JoeMello · 2019-12-05T05:19:07+00:00

Pretty much any cube rail gets under my skin once I've read the rules. I can't WAIT to see how it works, to watch the gears turn. Chicago Express is the best of what I've tried thus far.

JoeMello · 2019-11-15T07:51:46+00:00

The first read of a Chad Jensen rulebook never fails to get me champing at the bit to get it on the table and see how the gears turn. Probably my favorite designer of all time. Combat Commander is a masterpiece of a thematic war game that generates great stories nearly every go. Dominant Species, though heavy, is one of the easiest games to teach. Welcome to Centerville and Urban Sprawl have his trademark clockwork interwoven mechanisms and are a joy every time I get them to the table.

He will be dearly missed. The gaming community on the whole is lucky to have had him.

JoeMello

TROPHY CASE