Fun Game Combinations
These are game ideas that my gaming group has had, that usually involve combining two or more published games into something that won't necessarily be playable but might be fun to at least think about.
EuropaRails
This game would combine GR/D's popular division-level WW2 European theater series with Mayfair's game of European railroad construction. Players would spend the first portion of the game building their rail nets, linking various cities, ports, and manufacturing centers. During the second half of the game, players use these rail nets to invade their neighbors. (Remember the change in rail gauge at the Soviet border!) Game counters would represent 27 types of engines and 17 types of train cars. Terrain includes 25 different types of track, based on slope, gauge, curvature, and the iron mine of origin.
EuropASL
Several members of my gaming group are into both AH's Advanced Squad Leader (tactical-level combat in WW2) and GR/D's Europa series (division-level combat in WW2). If one unplayable game is great, then two would be even better, right? This combination would basically use Europa as a scenario generator for ASL; whenever two Europa counters come in contact, the resulting battle is fought out over the next several years using ASL.
Of course, at that scale, it would probably be unrealistic to not add a detailed supply system, preferably derived from SPI's Campaign for North Africa.
Steve Sain saw this idea, and wrote me to suggest the following:
I know some wargamers who would probably really enjoy this one! But to make it even better, why not mix Europa with SPI's "Sniper" or "Patrol"? The man-to-man version of World War II, with each guy's movement plotted ahead of time! Sounds like a winner!
Mechiavelli
Ever since FASA's The Succession Wars went out of print, BattleTech players haven't had a strategic-level game to call their own. What better game to fill that gap than the ultimate stab-your-friends-in-the-back game, Avalon Hill's Machiavelli? This combo would combine the best of the 16th and 31st centuries! (Thanks to Brian McCue for this idea.)
Awful Green Things from Middle Earth
Sci-Fi meets Fantasy in this variant history of the War of the Ring. In his quest for the one true ring, Sauron's minions instead bring back several unusual green rocks to the fortress at Barad Dur, possibly thinking them to be palantirs. Instead, they hatch into green alien monsters, wreaking havoc on the dark lord's nazgul & orcs! What will kill them? Will Sauron need to unleash his balrogs, or will the fire extinguisher work better? Stay tuned... (Thanks to Steve Sain for this idea and text.)
Desert Storm over Arnhem
It's Adolf & Saddam vs. Monty & Stormin' Norman in this alternative-history version of ill-fated Operation Market Garden. Can elite Republican Guard units team-up with German Panzers to retake Arnhem, or will the American-led international coalition pull-off another end-around, this time through the Dutch countryside, and end the Second World War in 100 hours? Rules included for Patriot missiles vs.German V-2 rockets! (Thanks to Steve Sain for this idea and text.)
Got one you'd like to share? Please let me know!