Undaunted: Reinforcements

Product Information

Many fans of Undaunted would argue that the biggest addition Reinforcements brings is an official solo system for the game. When we discussed the idea of adding a solo system of the game with Osprey, we told them that we'd prefer not to design it ourselves. (Trevor hasn't had much experience in designing solitaire systems, and David prefers to design games to be solitaire from the beginning rather than adapting a solo system to a multiplayer game.) Michael Barnes wrote: Not really. Maybe a touch just because no Nazis. But same conflict. I’m not interested in games about real world conflicts right now at all regardless of theater or time period TBH. Perhaps I was just used to playing a campaign of Undaunted with a friend which meant I had adapted to their tactics and strategies but I felt that this offered a whole new set of challenges and puzzles for me to solve.

But first, there’s a production note that needs adding here. The box for Reinforcements is exactly what this reviewer personally wants for expansions. The box is a little bit taller on the same footprint, but has exactly the right amount of room to contain all of the new stuff, plus the entire previous two games. It comes with dividers and slots for literally everything. While this is a very small thing in the grand scheme of a review, simply having Osprey offer this as the new box option, freeing your shelves up, is a gift. Following the wildly popular and award-winning Undaunted: Normandy and Undaunted: North Africa from the talented Trevor Benjamin and David Thompson, we are proud toannounce the arrival of our new expansion - Undaunted: Reinforcements.Fans have been asking for new content, four-player and solo modes as well as somewhere to store their cards. Never fear - Reinforcements have arrived! So on the Reinforcements Normandy side, each tank is a single unit on the board, and each card is one of the crewmen. It’s abstract, but essentially each of the cards can perform all of the actions of the tank. We haven’t specialised the crewmen cards. Undaunted: Reinforcements is a modular expansion that introduces a range of new rules, scenarios, and units. Unleash the might of the German and American tanks and see how your new squad options fare against them in Undaunted: Normandy , or make use of mines, assault aircraft, and other new units as you attempt to outfox your opponent in Undaunted: North Africa . Whether you have only one or the other, you'll be able to play Undaunted for the first time in a four-player mode, or test your mettle in a solo mode by Dávid Turczi and David Digby.And that’s the biggest feeling we got from this expansion – a huge exhalation of relief. There wasn’t any danger of it going wrong, but more that, Undaunted: Reinforcements makes the game complete.

Well, designers Trevor Benjamin and David Thompson we’re not finished because today we are looking at the first traditional expansion for the game, Undaunted: Reinforcements. Expansion Overview:

Osprey Blog

Armour and Armament gives rules for using vehicles in Normandy and also includes two new specialists: US Grenadiers and German Submachine Gunners. It also adds four new scenarios that make use of these new units. Similarly, Under Cover of Night introduces landmines to the gameplay of North Africa, as well as four new scenarios. Rather than rest on their well-earned laurels, Osprey games are deciding to spoil fans of the Undaunted series with even further treats. Undaunted: Reinforcements. So Osprey turned to one of the top designers in the solitaire boardgame world: Dávid Turczi . Dávid set about designing the core solitaire system, eventually settling on a card-based system that tailors the AI for each unit in every scenario. While this system does a fantastic job of simulating the experience of playing against another human player, it also meant that every single scenario needed to be deconstructed for the creation of the tailored AI. This Herculean task fell to David Digby , who set about implementing the specific AI routines.

DT: One thing we’ve introduced for North Africa is mines, and the ability to create chokepoints. They play significantly in the design of the new scenarios. That is probably the biggest new addition, especially for the LRDG [British Army]. You can place and remove mines, which only damage your opponent. So it gives you the flexibility to do some really interesting interactions with the board that didn’t exist in the game before. You couldn’t really interact with the board state. TB: I think it does the right job of adding that extra bit for people who are familiar with it. And it brings in a new community of people who specifically wanted a solo experience. So it’s the definitive solo mode. From the beginning, there’s been lots of community, homegrown solo versions, but I guarantee you that none of the ones out there have put as much effort into what Digby and Turczi and Anthony put into this.The new scenarios and units offer some new variability and options for two player games, with the ability to add on to existing campaigns which is particularly helpful for me as my last campaign of North Africa ended in a stalemate and this gives the perfect opportunity to determine the overall winner. DT: I think Guide is the only action that you can take to help your partner’s units. Otherwise, you can’t control their units.