I have have written about it V commands on this website for over five years. The WW2 Tactics game and its many expansions are some of the finest expressions of stealth in any board game, and in those five years it has remained one of my most-played co-op experiences.
In 2022, however, it’s time for some changes. For one thing, the game isn’t called anymore V commands. Legal disputes with the owners of the commands series of video games have made sure. The game and its expansions are now known as V sabotage.
More importantly, 2022 is also the year that the game finally got its well-deserved shine. Behold, for all the joys to be found in playing the game –and I really can’t stress enough how good it is– it was always a little basicwith simple art and signs that were functional but also a bit drab and difficult to spot on the other side of the table.
Thanks to some upgrade packs, the game now has one ton made of excellent plastic miniatures that represent every character, enemy and even selected equipment in the smallest detail. It also has new player cards with new art, giving each of the game’s heroes a stylistic refresher.
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After finally trying out these miniature upgrades last week, one of my main takeaways is that this isn’t game-changing plays a little bit. What it does is vastly improve the overall look experience, as well as your quality of life when taking on a mission. Aside from each player and enemy (and alarm, door, machine gun nest, remote controlled tank and poison gas barrel) being rendered in 3D, not only does it look amazing, it also makes scanning the table and planning strategies a lot easier since you Previously had to scan the whole thing repeatedly just to remember what was where. It also became easy to miss certain things on larger missions when everything from people to objects was represented by a flat little cardboard sign.
Also, anyone who has been on Kickstarter for five years knows that plastic miniatures are just more fun. Whether it’s because they hark back to our childhood days, or because they’re tangible, scaled, realistic versions of the things we’re actually meant to use in the game (or both!), playing a game with miniatures is usually better than without.
The negative impact of this love of miniatures on game design, production, and shipping costs is of course another story for another time, although some of that impact is still felt here; The miniature expansion for the base game costs more than the base game itselfand if you have or want V sabotage Expansions, and then their miniatures as well, then the cost explosion will be enormous.
Will this be worthwhile for someone who wants to get into the game now? I don’t know, it depends on how much money you make, how long you’re going to play the game and all sorts of other factors that remind me why our reviews never include the concept of “value”!
Personally speaking, as someone who has played this game countless times with friends over a five year period, enough times that it’s one of them now her Also favorite games, the addition of miniatures really enhanced the whole experience for me. I’m usually pretty dismissive of the current frenzy for plastic miniatures in board games (see my points above!), but this is a rare instance where, after playing the game first without them, I can say it’s definitely better With She.
Which sounds… shallow, but that’s not half the reason why people in 2022 prefer board games like this haptic delights?
