Category: Preorder Alert

Compass Games has announced 20 new preorder game titles to coincide with their 2020 Holiday Catalog. We will post periodically some of these new preorder titles here over the course of the next 2-3 weeks to spread them out. [Forum]

The Advanced Squad Leader module Rising Sun 2020 reprint is now available for preorder. Rising Sun is a straight reprint of the 2013 release, but it will include the map and scenarios for Hell's Corner, which appeared in Operations Special Edition #3. This is a big module, combining the original ASL modules Code of Bushido, and Gung Ho!, and the entire Japanese, Chinese, and United States Marine Corps orders of battle. [Forum]

Airships: North Pole Quest places players in the year 1924, as various nations compete for prestige and scientific knowledge by seeing who can get an "Airship" to the North Pole first. Each player will represent a specific historical captain and manager of the Airship operation, working with engineers and designers, upgrading the crew, and selecting preliminary flights to raise financial capital. Specific airships have their historical capabilities that each player must use to his or her advantage, with beautiful 1/2000 scale models as pieces. And check out the map! It's a dual level system with a rotating band to handle weather patterns in different parts of the world...because weather is a key factor for success or disaster.

Hidden Strike American Revolution is a card driven game on the American Revolution. Designed for 1 to 5 players, plays in under 90 minutes. The game does have a true solitaire engine along with 5 modes of play. [Forum]

a quick-playing, grand strategy game with operational elements that could recreate all the Napoleonic Wars (1805-1815) in just one evening. Counters represent historical fleets and armies, being 18-25 ships or 30-50,000 men every strength point. Although not an event-driven board game in the classic sense, Event cards are used to recreate historical situations that could imply some modifications in the general rules of the game, or even change the fate of a game dramatically. [Forum]

This is the 6th Edition printing of Mark McLaughlin's War and Peace. This edition incorporates all known errata and updates from the previous printing. Mark McLaughlin's classic game on Napoleonic conquest is here, revitalized and enhanced with completely updated graphics and production, all new campaigns covering all of Napoleon's career, and a completely revamped rule book that incorporates all known errata, and the best official variants and optional rules along with a few new surprises. War and Peace will be given the deluxe treatment in this re-issue. [Forum]

Back in stock this November 2020. Stellar Horizons is a "build your own space program" game where you will lead one of seven Earth Factions to explore and develop our solar system. Designed by a real-life space engineer with a PhD in long-duration spaceflight from MIT, Stellar Horizons is intended to be a plausible representation of the first steps of humanity towards the stars between 2030 and 2169, with each turn representing a year of time. This is a straight reprint which includes errata sheet. [Forum]

Cradle of Civilization is a pair of games that play through the ancient civilizations of the Near East and the fall of the Persian Empire, SUMERIA TO PERSIA and ALEXANDER vs DARIUS. Both games are included in this premium package (mounted mapboard and "thick" counters) that allows two to six players determine the fate of the Ancient Near East. In one game civilizations rise, while in the second game, two players battle over whether the great Persian Empire will survive or perish. Both games use simple mechanics to make them quick-playing and to portray a period feel to the players. [Forum]

[Final Call to Preorder!] Rostov ‘41 is a Standard Combat Series (SCS) game covering the bold—some would say “foolhardy”—dash by Army Group South to take Rostov in the late fall of 1941. Amazingly, the attack succeeded, resulting, however, in the Germans being isolated at the end of a logistical shoestring. The regrouping Red Army, stung from a long series of defeats, saw this as the perfect opportunity to launch its first coordinated attack of the war, thus paving the way for the Moscow Counteroffensive just a few weeks later. [Forum]

Aden is a 2-player (but very solitaire friendly) hypothetical campaign for control of this southern Yemen port city, a combined company- and platoon-level game where each battle takes place over the course of one or more days. Difficult terrain splits the east and west of the city, combatants often retreat to avoid taking losses before surging back, and making the most of your scattered leadership is the key to resupplying your people and sustaining an offensive. Units activate with a unique dice system, and combat is centered on an add-or-subtract dice method reminiscent of Greg's Armageddon War. [Forum]

FINAL DAY! ATO announces their first kickstarter, to reprint their popular "Buffalo Wings" issue, one of the fastest "sold outs" in company history. Buffalo Wings is an 'entry level' game in the "Fighting Wings" series of air combat games by J.D. Webster covering the two wars between Finland and USSR. The upgrade will redo the map and counters to match the style of the recently released "Wings of the Motherland," and in fact the map will connect to Motherland for larger and different scenarios. The upgrade will also include a full edit on the rules, incorporating system developments and clarifications, and has some sweet stretch goals available, to include EVERY major type of plane used in the campaigns. Now on kickstarter, through July 31. [Forum]

a solitaire game depicting the final desperate Confederate attack on July 3, 1863 at the Battle of Gettysburg. You command the Confederate brigades that made Pickett's Charge. The game is playable in 60 minutes. Designed by Hermann Luttmann this challenging game will have you coming back again and again. Can you accomplish what Lee couldn't? [Forum]

South China Sea (SCS) provides an integrated political-military simulation of near future contention and conflict around the South China Sea. Players take on the roles of China, the United States, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam. Preorder the reprint today. [Forum]

WWII strategic level game covering all the action of Europe, the Mediterranean and North Africa, The War offers everything a game of this scale and scope should. From massive armored breakthroughs and encirclements, to national production and military improvement, this game has it all. Preorder the reprint today. [Forum]

a solitaire, tactical level game which places you in command of an actual or experimental interceptor aircraft during a frightening look at what might have been in World War II. This game is highly accessible to those familiar with the B17: Queen of the Skies system. The game system lends itself very well to capturing the tense feelings of being on a interception mission, and gives a frightening look on “what might have been” had the Allies fared poorly in the war. While Defending Amerika is designed as a solitaire gaming experience, additional options for play are provided for both multi-player cooperative and competitive gaming sessions, and an option to link the game with Amerika Bomber: Evil Queen of the Skies. [Forum]

a light, fast-paced wargame at the strategic scale covering the Great War, designed with a high degree of replayability—no two games play alike. This deluxe game with mounted mapboard and large game counters features a unique tile-placement system to simulate the First World War. Game strategy is key due to the unforgiving combat system capturing the horrific attrition of this conflict; the dice offer no bloodless victories or reprieve for either side. [Forum]

Final call for preorders! Hungarian Rhapsody (HR) is an Operational Combat Series (OCS) game that depicts the Soviet 1944 drive into Hungary which led to the battle of Debrecen, the siege of Budapest, and the German 1945 KONRAD counter-offensives attempting to relieve Budapest. Romania’s defection in August 1944 allowed the Soviets to outflank well-defended Axis positions in the Carpathian Mountains from the south. In the process, the German 6th Army was almost destroyed, losing most of its heavy equipment (which explains the relative weakness of the German artillery at the start of the campaign). [Forum]

World War II in 90 minutes? It's not a dream - it's Domination. A game where there is no place for Domination, only pure strategy and tactics. Clashes, area control, hand management, and team play - this will not be lacking during exciting games. Domination is a reimplementation of Mini WWII, which underwent a number of changes and tests that finally balanced the game and added mechanisms that add theme to the gameplay. The game is designed for 2-4 players who manage four asymmetrical factions. [Forum]

Salerno ‘43 is a regiment/brigade-level game on the Allied invasion of mainland Italy in September 1943. Two British and two American divisions land in the Bay of Salerno defended by the full strength 16th Panzer Division, which is soon reinforced by five other German mechanized divisions. For 8 days the survival of the beachhead is in doubt, and emergency measures are taken to reinforce the beachhead with the 82nd Airborne Division. [Forum]

Drop Zone: Southern France is a fast-playing (about 2 hours), company-level block game of the Allied airborne assault (code-named Operation RUGBY) that spearheaded Operation DRAGOON, the Invasion of Southern France—the Second D-Day, August 15th, 1944. This game shines in its depiction of the fog of war (both literal and figurative)--blocks conceal unit type and strength. [Forum]