Thunder Alley Published

As usual with GMT it looks like the production value is going to be very nice. Getting a game for under $40 these days is pretty tough and this one comes with two double-sided mounted boards.

But it's a wargame publisher who usually doesn't advertise heavily, and it's not a wargame, which means it doesn't have very much publicity going around. I was hesitant to preorder, but I spoke with a few people that had played a print and play copy and they said it's very good, so I took a jump this time. It's the only prepub I have going right now.

I'll admit that $39 shipped instead of $64 plus shipping or sales tax got to me. Shipping is generally $10 these days even for single games, so I don't think I'd be able to land it for under $60. If I had any balls I'd buy two so I could put one up for trade here, as I think this critter is going to sell out and not be reprinted soon.

A minor benefit is that it will put me on the list for GMT's 50% off sale this coming Fall (assuming it happens again) where I can pick up a C&C module on the cheap. $30 off something I'm pretty sure I'm buying one way or another.

S.

The cover looks great.

I think it's supposed to ship next month.

The designer was complaining he doesn't have a copy to demo at a convention this week so it's looking like it's not going to be March.

S.

Credit Cards Charging.

Look a lot like that Grand Prix game...Formula motor something?

Just received my copy, and it's a fucking brick.

I don't want to dis the game too badly because I haven't played and frankly it looks very interesting, but the game boards are of ridiculous quality for what the game is, so the package is big, heavy, and not going to be very attractive to carry in my heavy-rotation bag.

Rules read in about fifteen minutes, there's essentially four kinds of movement that are super-easy and super-intuitive to understand, has a phase order like a wargame but is very small and simple. From a game perspective it looks like a winner (this impression is prior to first-play mind you) but damn, it isn't going in the bag unless someone requests it, and any expansion tracks won't fit in the already too-big box. I think it's C&C Ancients size, which is pretty remarkable considering it comes with two chit sheets, two decks of cards, 7 little baby player tableaus (perhaps 6"x8" or so?) and two monstrous, eight-fold double-side boards. The box is all boards.

If they sell paper copies of the tracks I'll pop this sucker in one of the one-inch clamshells I use for magazine games and shelf-toad the original packaging.

Market-perception driven decision, increased the price on the game, makes it impractical to take on vacation or even carry on a regular basis. Granted, it will survive a tsunami, and given how tight the lid is on the box that may not be much of an exaggeration, though it will most assuredly sink.

S.

There was a print and play file on BGG at one time. I don't know if they've taken that down but if not you can get your paper maps there.

My copy, alas, has not arrived. Perhaps today.

Also, the gold standard in ridiculously heavy games, by actual weight, is still Wars of the Roses by Z-man. That game is ponderously heavy. Once my copy of TA comes in I'll weigh them both and declare a winner.

I have nightmares about trying to clean and jerk War of the Roses.

repoman wrote: Also, the gold standard in ridiculously heavy games, by actual weight, is still Wars of the Roses by Z-man. That game is ponderously heavy. Once my copy of TA comes in I'll weigh them both and declare a winner.

After you're done have a look at the components that come in each. War of the Roses is a doggone complicated package, Thunder Alley is a tight Euro that plays in under an hour. It should be a welterweight.

This is this concept I keep coming back to, but can't figure out how to approach it to write an article. You guys argue about theme and setting, but to me the bigger issue is games that are misfits for their packaging and art decisions. Why is a 40 minute game coming in a GMT tall box? C&C manages to pull it off with its components and thematic context, but this is a game that could have come in a Leaping Lemmings size box. That would make more sense because, intellectually and spiritually, Thunder Alley is the size of Leaping Lemmings. The designer specifically requested mounted boards so this wasn't just a GMT decision to bulk it up. But maybe GMT should have pushed back a little.

S.