Avalon Hill was without a doubt, a Grandaddy in the Grognard wargaming realm, and many other companies followed suit, or paved their own course. Today, there are a new breed of developers out there, of these chit-pusher games many of us love so much, that in many respects, bring it to the next level in terms of design and graphics, and in simplicity of play for the "not so Grog" sect. One of the leaders is Mark H. Walker, a gentleman I had the distinct pleasure to meet at the Origins Game Expo this past July 2007, and he was kind enough to show me his game, "Band of Heroes". This game system follows many of the tenets of the old style games, but employs a game system much less daunting...no binder of rules several hundred pages long, or endless charts (though, those are fun too!). This is a recurring theme of the new breed.
Mark H. Walker's game sets you in command of Airborne forces in the hedgerows of Normandy, fighting Squad Level combat. The graphics of this game are a standout. The system easily digested. And best of all, it plays remarkably well solitaire, though the game was designed for two players. His games can be found on his web site,
Lock N Load Games: Home Page
Of note, and a fact that I believe shows the character of Mr. Walker's desire to connect people with his games, is the fact that Band of Heroes has a free demo download on this web site, which allows you to download the majority of the rules, one of the mapborads, and enough chit pieces to build a specific force to recreate the Battle of Vierville. Feel free to go to the Lock 'N Load web site and you can find this free demo in the Free Downloads section. From there, you can build your own copy of this scenario to play. And it makes a nice travel game, too!
