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Enemy Coast Ahead Doolittle Raid (GMT)

Posted By: RedOneAlpha

Enemy Coast Ahead Doolittle Raid (GMT) - 08/02/17 09:04 AM

Soon to be shipping if it´s not already!

GMT Enemy Coast Ahead Doolittle Raid

Care,

Red
Posted By: RedOneAlpha

Re: Enemy Coast Ahead Doolittle Raid (GMT) - 10/28/17 08:20 AM

In the mail, at my home next week wave



Care,

Red
Posted By: mugwump

Re: Enemy Coast Ahead Doolittle Raid (GMT) - 10/28/17 08:02 PM

I got mine last week and I've been working my way through the rules and the smaller scenarios. I like it a lot but it's labour intensive. Lots of counter shuffling in and out of cups for the various stages/hazard levels of the game.

The game itself has a lot of similarities to the first one that covered the Dambusters raid but it isn't as tightly focused on the bombers. In the Dambusters, the tension came from making the bomb runs against the dams and hoping your crews could overcome the obstacles in their way and line up at the perfect speed and altitude to drop their upkeep bombs. In Doolittle, the bombing runs aren't nearly as interesting as pinpoint accuracy wasn't nearly are crucial. The real tension comes from the other segments. Can your nearly defenceless task force (the USS Hornet was basically helpless during the mission as its deck was covered with B-25s and so couldn't launch or recover any of its own planes) link up with Nimitz and the Enterprise TF without being discovered? Will Nimitz even make the rendezvous? Can you make it close enough to Japan to launch the bombers without being discovered and possibly pounced upon? Did that Japanese fishing vessel get a radio message off and, if so did that trigger any kind of response back in Japan? Once the bombers do launch, do they all get airborne? Will they have enough fuel to make it to Japan and then on to landing sites in China or the USSR? Will Stalin even allow them to land? Did Chaing Kai-Shek and Stillwell do their jobs and prepare landing sites with beacons and fuel? Have the Japanese found any of these sites and overrun them? All these factors depend on choices you make as you play and they do a great job of weaving a compelling narrative.

I haven't had a chance to try the big scenario where you plan and execute the entire raid from inception to debriefing but it looks amazing. There's an entire book just for the denouement that's got more pages than many rulebooks for other games.
Posted By: RedOneAlpha

Re: Enemy Coast Ahead Doolittle Raid (GMT) - 10/29/17 04:11 PM

I think mine will be in Tuesday, will see.

Thanks for your feedback!

From what I have seen too, it´s what your saying... More decision making that has impact either at the time, or in the next months/events to come. So in general, that all seems alot of fun! At the same time it gives more replay value. The game looks real good too! To be honest I can´t wait to check it out! Next on the list and that also seems real interesting is "Target for Today", more story driven maybe but good too!
Posted By: mugwump

Re: Enemy Coast Ahead Doolittle Raid (GMT) - 10/29/17 06:07 PM

I bought Target for Today as well but it’s not really my cup of tea. There’s practically no decision making required from the player apart from s lecting which guns will target incoming fighters. You basically just roll a story on a series of tables and generate a narrative that you have no real agency over. I prefer games that let me influence the outcome more. I really like DVG’s B-17 Fortress Leader. You might want to have a look at that one as well.
Posted By: RedOneAlpha

Re: Enemy Coast Ahead Doolittle Raid (GMT) - 10/29/17 11:10 PM

Originally Posted by mugwump
I bought Target for Today as well but it’s not really my cup of tea. There’s practically no decision making required from the player apart from s lecting which guns will target incoming fighters. You basically just roll a story on a series of tables and generate a narrative that you have no real agency over. I prefer games that let me influence the outcome more. I really like DVG’s B-17 Fortress Leader. You might want to have a look at that one as well.


That´s interesting and good to know. I only red and saw some gameplay videos and I didn´t appreciate that kind of insight: As I said, it´s good to know because as you, I prefer to have some kind of infuence over the outcome and have some decision making.

I have DVG´s Gato Leader, and I also play Phantom Leader on PC (have a video up here on SimHQ), so I do know a bit about DVG and have heard good things about his B-17 Fortress Leader. I will have to think about that one too! We also have LnL´s A Wing and a Prayer", but not to sure about that one, what I have red so far just dosent sink in!

To be honest, I find the imersion of both Enemy Coast Ahead titles to be quite unique!


Posted By: mugwump

Re: Enemy Coast Ahead Doolittle Raid (GMT) - 10/30/17 04:24 AM

Yup, I agree. The Enemy Coast Ahead games are something special. Having said that, DVG's B-17 Fortress is an amazing game. It has a lot more depth than Phantom Leader but it's still very playable and accessible. There are some problems with it in that some of the cards have typos and the rulebook isn't the clearest or the best organized but it's easy to pick up and amazingly immersive. One of my faves to get on the table at any time. I'm expecting to play it a lot over the winter once the snow starts piling up and it's time to stay indoors.
Posted By: RedOneAlpha

Re: Enemy Coast Ahead Doolittle Raid (GMT) - 10/30/17 02:02 PM

Thank you Mugwump! I appreciate your thoughts with regards to the above mentioned games. B-17 will be next on my list! Most likely next month! For now, I just got a msg on my mobile that ECS DR is at my post office waiting thumbsup

Again, thanks, and enjoy those cold but warm and cozy days at home playing B-17! Use to live in Montreal when I was younger, so yeah I know the feeling!

Care,

Red
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