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Lion of the North fans rejoice! The battles of Breitenfeld and Lützen are back (with company!), this time as part of Ben Hull's award-winning Musket & Pike Battles series. The fourth and newest installment in this popular series is Gustav Adolf the Great: With God and Victorious Arms, a tactical battle game featuring FIVE battles from the career of one of the Great Captains of History, King Gustav II Adolf the Great of Sweden. In his brief career, he catapulted Sweden to the forefront of European power politics. This volume sets its focus on the rise and climax of Gustav Adolf's military system.

In each battle included in Gustav Adolf the Great: With God and Victorious Arms, armies are divided into several wings. Each has a commander and an order that limits the types of actions that units of that wing may perform. Victory goes to the player who can coordinate the actions of his wings in the heat of battle. Units are infantry battalions or brigades, cavalry regiments and artillery batteries. Rules include Cavalry Charges, Cavalry Pistols for skirmishing or for close combat, and artillery grazing fire. Play is highly interactive and most battles can be played through in one sitting.

Kutuzov 1812: Defending Russia From Napoleon is an interactive, play it complete in one-sitting card-driven game of sweeping manoeuvres, epic battles, storied sieges, lethal attrition and crucial-to-victory troop morale for one to four players from the designer of The Napoleonic Wars and Wellington.

In the spring of 1812 Emperor Napoleon of France gathered the regiments of 20 nations together into the largest military force yet raised in Europe. That June he led this Grand Army of over 600,000 men across the Nieman River to begin what he believed would be his greatest and perhaps final triumph: the invasion and subjugation of Russia. As the defending armies fell back before this prodigious onslaught, Tsar Alexander turned to a pugnacious and crafty old warrior to help save his country, his people and his Romanov Dynasty: Marshal Mikhail KUTUZOV.

Now designer Mark McLaughlin of the award-winning Napoleonic Wars, along with developer Fred Schachter, who together brought you GMT’s Wellington, have come together again to produce an energetically fast-paced, highly-interactive game of that 1812 epic. Using the same game system that won acclaim in their previous titles; in this rendition, Mark and Fred have crafted a game that retains the feel of campaigning in the deadly vastness of Russia, yet also plays fast, remains fun and whose outcome is often in doubt right down to last card played and the last die rolled.

Men of Iron's first volume covers the re-emergence of infantry in the early 14th century, along with a more perceptive understanding of the value of combined-arms warfare especially with good use of defensive terrain. The scenarios highlight the key elements that made these battles so fascinating: the defensive power of the longbow, especially when used in coordination with dismounted, or even mounted, men-at-arms. Given the right deployments and forces, the inability to take advantage of the marvelous abilities of the vaunted knights, the finest mounted force in Europe, became something of a surprise to many "experts."

Men of Iron is designed for quick learning and easy play. Game rules are short, there are no "turns" - play is Continual, with ample opportunities to steal play from your opponent - and combat resolution is a single dieroll. Playing time is about 1 hour per battle. Really!

Onward, Christian Soldiers is Richard Berg's newest strategic level game, this one focused on one of, if not THE, centrifugal events in the Middle Ages - The Crusades. Onward, Christian Soldiers will allow gamers to replay not only the first three Crusades - the only 3 that focused on what we call The Middle East - but with scenarios that range from a 7-player version of the 1st Crusade to a 3rd Crusade scenario that supposes Frederick Barbarossa didn't drown in Turkey and his immense army reached the Kingdom of Jerusalem pretty much intact.

The Paths of Glory Player's Guide is designed as an expansion kit for your enjoyment of this wonderful game, with exciting and informative articles featuring strategies for you to employ, new scenarios and variants, new playing cards, in-depth analysis of key features in the game, and so much more.

PAX ROMANA covers the Europe from 300 BC through the end of the 1st century BC, when control of the Mediterranean was in a state of flux with four empires possible. And it does so with a scale and system that is filled with decision-making tension but also highly accessible and easy to play. The emphasis is on strategic operations, from raising armies to colonizing outlying areas, to fighting barbarian incursions, to maintaining political stability at home.

PAX uses a unique marker-oriented play sequence that provides surprise and opportunity, plus a deck of unusual cards that provide the historical background of events and calamities within which the players must operate.

Four of Frederick's most famous actions come to life using a system heavy on nuance but easy on time and space. From the Prussian triumphs of Rossbach and Leuthen to the bloody ordeals at Zorndorf and Torgau, players can examine the Seven Years' War in games playable in a single evening. Graphic icon counters capture the colorful splendor of 18th century Prussian, Austrian, Russian, French, Saxon, and Holy Roman Empire forces. Short Battle Scenarios place the armies in their historical deployments, while the Main Scenarios give players the chance to recreate or alter their armie's critical approach marches to the field, radically changing deployment possibilities with intriguing pre-battle maneuver.

GMT's grand tactical, light-moderate Seven Years War battle series continues with four more battles in Prussia's Glory II. Players can enact some of the war's most famous battles in games playable in a single sitting. PG II hones the original Prussia's Glory system with some slight changes, and introduces Optional rules that further break out combat arms differences, such as Austrian Croat Sniper Attacks, Howitzer fire, and advanced Cavalry facets. The game also expands on the PG visual feast of Prussian, Austrian, French, Empire, Saxon, and Russian icon units with the Hanoverian-Allied army, featuring new heavy dragoon cavalry, and a striking red-dominant color scheme. Each battle includes one or more variants to allow players to explore historical possibilities involving larger/smaller forces present, or Alternate History battles that reverse attacker/defender roles on the same fields.

The First World War in the Near East and Balkans was largely a clash of civilizations and of proud leaders intent on pursuing glory, regardless of the cost. Great Britain was at the height of its imperial power, while the Russian Empire was entering its last days, having just avoided revolution and global disgrace in 1905. The Ottoman Empire was adjusting to the Young Turks' revolution and the devastation of the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913. The Germans (Britain's primary rivals) were only too glad to bolster the Ottoman's fading power, seeing the region as ripe for economic and military exploitation. Indeed, if the Germans completed their new railroad from Berlin to Baghdad, German troops would be able to travel to India more quickly than British troops could sail from London to Bombay. German troops would also then be poised to seize southern Persia, the region which contained the British fleet's main new source of fuel -- oil. Behind all this lay the pent up ethnic and religious tensions of millennia, in countries such as Serbia, Persia, and Afghanistan, and in the countless tribes of Arabia and Northern Africa waiting for new leaders who would lead them on a holy war (jihad). The entire region was a powder keg waiting for a match.

Pursuit of Glory: The Great War in the Near East is a sequel to the original, award-winning Paths of Glory by Ted Raicer and is designed with his permission. The new game puts you in the driver's seat as theater commanders for either the British/Russian alliance or the Ottoman Empire. The action stretches from the Balkans to the borders of India, from the Black Sea to Suez. Invasions by sea, holy war, revolts, revolution await, as well as some of the most famous personages of the First World War - Lawrence, Allenby, Enver, the Grand Duke Nicholas, Churchill, Kitchener.

GL Price: £44.99        (RRP is £54.99)

Quantity: 

SAMURAI WARFARE IN THE SENGOKU JIDAI

RAN is the 12th volume in the "Great Battles of History" Series, and the second game on the battles of the Samurai (following GMTs Samurai (Vol. V) . RAN covers several of the less famous of the Sengoku Jidai, the Age of Warring States (more or less), in which powerful Daimyo - Japanese feudal lords - strove to both maintain and extend their power bases while seeking to attain the office of Shogun, the power behind the throne of the Emperor.

RAN simulates the highly personal form of warfare developed by the Japanese samurai, wherein formal battles played out almost as backdrops to individual feats of courage, bravery and devotion much of it outstanding, some of it rather foolhardy, all of it very Homeric. Although political and tactical victory was the bottom line, collecting the severed heads of enemy samurai reigned a very close second in importance. In terms of tactics, this was, as in Europe, the Dawn of Modern Warfare, with the introduction of guns - arquebuses - by the Portuguese. Even with the revelatory effect of musketry, Japanese battles were still pretty much a swirling, non-linear affair.

The Germans chose several roads to Leningrad during the summer of 1941 but found each with its own kind of Soviet defense and counterattack. On the roads through Soltsy and Staraya Russa the Germans encountered not just stubborn defense but large-scale Soviet offensives.

Roads to Leningrad is a package consisting of two separate operational level games on WW II --the Battle of Soltsy and the Battle of Staraya Russa. Both games take place on the road to Leningrad during July and August 1941 and both simulate the large-scale Soviet counterattacks that the Germans encountered. Each is shown in two scenarios. As part of a series, this game is designed to complement GMT’s East Front Series by presenting a focus on those battles that either were critical or typified action at that time. We hope to present an Operational Series game (or set) around the time each new EFS game appears. The next games in both series are already beyond the planning stage.

Samurai is the fifth entry in the award-winning Great Battles of History series and is easily the most exotic and visually stunning. Samurai covers all the major battles of the Sengoku Jidai (the Age of Warring Daimyos). Japan was truly a country at war. Because of the nature of 16th century Japanese warfare, it is also the easiest game in the series to play. The revamped command system simulates the clan-oriented levels of leadership, plus simplified shock and fire mechanics. Also included are individual samurai used to challenge opponents and collect the important severed heads. Ignore the challenge and lose face, or even be forced to commit seppuku on the spot.

Battles include the most unusual Okehazama, complete with burning castles, thunderstorms, and a historically victorious army out-numbered six to one; Anegawa; Kawanakajima; Mikata-ga-Hara; Nagashino, with the famous Takeda cavalry corps charging Oda's volley-firing musketeers; and the most famous battle to take place in Japan, Sekigahara. All the great leaders are there: Obu Nobunaga, Takeda Shingen, Uesugi Kenshin, and of course, Tokugawa Ieyasu.

Barbarian is a tactical simulation of combat between the armies of Rome and her early barbarian foes, the Samnites and Gauls, from 315-200 B.C. To play Barbarian, you will need the game SPQR for maps, basic rules, and some counters. Barbarian can also be played with the Simple Great Battles of History Rules.

As Rome strove to conquer the Italian peninsula in the Fourth and Third Centuries BCE, her most formidable opponents were not the advanced Etruscans, nor the crafty Greeks. Instead, it was the barbarian tribes that nearly overcame Rome: the savage warriors of Cisalpine Gaul and the fierce hill tribe fighters of Samnium.

The nimble mountain warriors of Samnium taught the Romans the advantages of a more flexible formation over the ponderous phalanx. After suffering a sharp reverse at Lautulae, 315, the Romans recovered and dealt a counterstroke at Tifernum, 297 in two battles representative of the many fierce fights between these implacable foes. The political genius of the Samnite general Gellius Aegnatius welded former foes Samnium, Etruria, Umbria and the Gauls into a grand coalition that nearly broke the power of Republican Rome at Sentinum, 295. This battle, more than any other, decided the fate of Italy.

Even as the Samnites and their peninsular allies were subdued, the Gauls arose to carry on the struggle. Calling on reinforcements from across the Alps, the Gauls invaded Italy in 225 and only by a stroke of fortune was this army trapped between two Roman consular armies at Telamon. The battle that followed was one of the most unusual in all of military history, with the Gauls fighting in desperation in two opposite directions, as Roman armies closed in from north and south. Finally, just after Rome had withstood Hannibal’s devastating invasion, Hamilcar, a die-hard Carthaginian officer, raised the Gallic tribes for one last great battle at Cremona, 200. In the end, Rome emerged victorious and dominated the Italian peninsula from the straits of Messina to the Alps.

14 Battles! 5 doublesided maps. 6 counter sheets. Rules for SPQR and Modules.

Battles (and the modules they appeared in originally):

When Alexander the Great died in 323 BC, he left no clear heir to the immense empire he had conquered. It was not long after his death that the Macedonian generals began to war among themselves over who would be the regent or successor to Alexander’s empire. By 305 BC they had given up on succession and began to carve out their own kingdoms. Successors is a four-player game based on those wars.

Successors was first published in 1995 by Avalon Hill. Some years later a second edition rulebook was published that gave more options for the Tyche cards. This updated Successors third edition builds on the foundation of the Successor 2nd edition rules set plus expansion cards that appeared in the Boardgamer. Minor refinements have been made to make the game easier to play and increase enjoyment. The map will be very similar to the original with some minor changes around Macedonia. Counters will have the same excellent artwork for the generals and new GMT artwork for the combat units and control markers. The Tyche cards have recieved the most changes—nearly every card has had some minor modifications and a few new cards have been added.

In addition to the changes, the rules have been cleaned up and improved. Years of questions and answers on Consimworld have been used to clarify the rules. The rules will include hints on strategy from a number a long-time Successors players, and an extended example of play.

Sweden Fights On is a tactical battle game featuring four battles from the later half of the Thirty Years War. It is the second volume in the Musket & Pike Battle Series covering warfare in the 17th Century. This volume traces the fall, revival, and pinnacle of Swedish miltary fortunes after the death of King Gustav II Adolf at Lützen in 1632.

The Burning Blue is a board wargame that recreates the savage air battles over Southern England from July to December 1940.

Covering air operations from the fighting over the English Channel to the air assault on London and the fighter-bomber offensive at the end of the year, The Burning Blue simulates battles between German air power and the British air defence system. It recreates the minute-by-minute "plotting board" war between Royal Air Force fighter controllers and the Luftwaffe air raids.

The game features Chain Home radar; Observer Corps; radio-telephony; Ack-Ack; balloon barrages; the Duxford "Big Wing"; the Italian Air Expeditionary Force and Erprobungsgruppe 210.

Based on original archive research and with the help of pilot veterans of the actual Battle of Britain, The Burning Blue models this famous conflict in unprecedented detail.

Playable and exciting, The Burning Blue provides new insights into this turning point battle of World War Two.

Alexander uses an interesting new system that gives the players a feel for the era and the problems of campaigning therein. For one, there are no turns. Play keeps going until the Macedonian Player wins or Alexander dies. And winning, for the Macedonian Player, is no mean feat. Yes, his armies are mighty, but Alexander is a game in which the player must not just win battles, but also overcome the logistics of campaigning … building armies, getting them to where they're needed, understanding battle fatigue and weariness, dealing with personalities, and adapting to the society you are trying to seize.

The player's goals, as Alexander, are multiple and difficult. To win, he must maintain his hegemony of Greece, become Great King and establish his Diety. The latter two require him to achieve eight separate, often difficult objectives, including controlling key provinces, building Alexandria, gaining control of the Royal Family, and invoking proskynesis (homage by prostration). A clever Persian player has many ways to stop the Macedonian from earning these, and the money and manpower to help him. Given Alexander's "greatness," playtesters found the game to be remarkably balanced.

The Conquerors: Alexander the Great is a game rich in historical detail, a game that places major burdens on the players to achieve victory, and a game that's great fun! It can be played by two to four gamers in around 4 hours, and it can be played solitaire.

The Great Battles of Alexander: Deluxe Edition, the updated, expanded, full-color-enhanced version of the best-selling, multi-award-winning game system that started the Great Battles of History series, includes new game counters, maps, packaging, battles, and scenarios that cover all the major battles from the original game and the Juggernaut module, plus five additional battles ... ten in all. The Great Battles of Alexander: Deluxe Edition is virtually the complete history of Alexander the Great and the Macedonian art of war.

Long before Hannibal Barca led the armed forces of Carthage into a titanic struggle with Rome, Carthage had vied for centuries with the Greek city-state of Syracuse for supremacy in the Western Meditteranean. Tyrant includes twelve of the most decisive battles in the recurring wars that pitted Carthage against the Greeks of Syracuse. The armies of Syracuse were similar to the contemporary hoplite armies of the mainland Greek city-states, but with better cavalry and a strong mercenary corps of both Greek and Western barbarian units. Carthage relied on North African tribal levies augmented with barbarian mercenaries from all over the Western Mediterranean. In Sicily, Carthaginian armies were usually supported by allied and mercenary Greek units.

The Napoleonic Wars, 1805 - 1815, brings you a fast-paced, tension-filled, card-driven wargame using a point-to-point movement system that pushes the envelope in a new direction for this pivotal period of history. Having a simple-to-learn strategic system and short rulebook, The Napoleonic Wars, can be played in an evening as the cards and Diplomatic Track make for tough decision-making in the face of everchanging enemy threats.

Set in 1805 Europe, you must weigh the strategic dilemmas facing the two alliances in mortal conflict. Napoleon's France enjoys a superb army, central position, superior leadership, and a useful, if not powerful, ally in Spain. However, she faces three foes.

Napoleon must beware of Britain's seapower and wealth, Austria's threatening position, and Russia's reinforcing hordes. In the wings, Prussia, Turkey, and Sweden teeter on the brink of war, begging inducements to join either side. Even lowly Denmark's fleet can upset the balance of power.

When fleets or armies collide, battle-related cards may be played and then dice are rolled to resolve the battle and inflict casualties. Even the most brilliant maneuver faces the chance of floundering. So play The Napoleonic Wars now, and put the strategist in you to the test. Your options are only limited by your vision, a meddlesome enemy's cards, and the hand of fate.

In response to many customer requests, GMT are providing an update kit for this summer's updated release of The Napoleonic Wars. This will allow owners of the original game to update their copies to the newest version at minimal cost.

The 2008 Update Kit for The Napoleonic Wars contains:

Alesia changes some of the GBoH base system, mostly because it does not portray linear warefare. Taking some pages from SimpleGBoh, there are no specific turns, and play simply passes back and forth between the two sides, possibly interrupted by the abilities of the opposing commanders. The combat system is also quite different; much simpler and more direct. And despite the sheer mass of the units in the game, a new design mechanic allows much reduced counter clutter on the game maps. Another highlight of Alesia is the detailed fortification terrain effects, from the 25 miles of double walled ramparts, to the accurate placement of redoubts, to the extensive moats, spikes, traps, and pits with which Caesar circled both walls, the game's Gardens of Death.

This third printing of the award-winning initial game in GMT's GBACW series offers upgraded components and information throughout. If you own the original 1995 edition of Three Days of Gettysburg, or if you have the upgrade kit, you can continue playing those versions with no problems; those versions still stand the test of time quite well. In this Special 2004 Edition of Three Days of Gettysburg, GMT have done our best to improve and enhance the components and rules to this already classic game.