Stephen Rochelle
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stephen.rochelle.name
Stephen Rochelle
@stephen.rochelle.name
43 followers 120 following 100 posts
Board games. Hockey. Reticulating splines.
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stephen.rochelle.name
Between youth hockey games and under a winter storm, I'm playing around with how to crack open the line in Frank Chadwick's "Battle for Moscow"
"Battle for Moscow" board game, after the initial combats on turn 1. 3 attacks in the middle have opened a gap for armored forces to exploit.
December 14, 2025 at 1:03 AM
stephen.rochelle.name
Initial setup for @gmtgames.bsky.social Army Group North, kicking off Barbarossa toward the Baltic States and eventually Leningrad. #furloughgaming #boardwargames
Initial setup for Army Group North. The German army is in the foreground with tall stacks of counters. Leningrad is in the far distant corner of the map.
October 12, 2025 at 12:36 AM
stephen.rochelle.name
Inflection Point by @calvinboy24.bsky.social @multimanpublishing.bsky.social finishes with a narrow German win when 5th Mech can't advance one last empty hex and all the other SNAFU rolls come up bust #furloughgaming #wargames
Final situation in the Chir Short scenario of BCS Inflection Point. Soviet 5th Mech has cleared all resistance up to the last VP hex (marked with arrow) but traffic from fierce fighting precludes an advance into the hex before the scenario ends.
October 6, 2025 at 9:04 PM
stephen.rochelle.name
Thanks for suggesting @allplay.bsky.social Ruins, @maudineormsby.bsky.social - you should have heard my son's yell when I dropped six 25s to win the game.
Final play of Ruins - a 10+6+9 x2 with a pair of wild x2s for a set of six 25s. On a deck that starts valued at 1-10.
September 1, 2025 at 10:30 PM
stephen.rochelle.name
@gmtgames.bsky.social proposal for 2025 counter errata sheet for Space Empires. These are actually from way back at the Close Encounters expansion but they've never been fixed. Labels didn't get left-right reversed on the sheet and so front/back doesn't match
Counters from Space Empires 4X: Close Encounters expansion with named fleet markers for the four factions. The front and back of each counter should match (e.g. "Battle Fleet" on both sides of counter A, and "Frontier Fleet" on both sides of counter B). Instead, each name appears once on each counter (e.g. "Battle Fleet" on side 1 and "Frontier Fleet" on side 2 of both counters). This increases the chances of confusion if a counter is accidentally flipped.
August 25, 2025 at 2:48 AM
stephen.rochelle.name
Craziest I've seen:
Baseball scoreboard showing a 7-5 game where the winning team had no hits
April 19, 2025 at 12:06 AM
stephen.rochelle.name
Have that art on my table currently. Hate that I couldn't make the event, given that it's just up the road.
Map for This Terrible Sound, Battle of Chickamauga
April 5, 2025 at 11:52 PM
stephen.rochelle.name
Attempt #4: Japanese naval response. Savo Island card boosts Japanese surface strength, so what does that look like? Everybody converges on Guad. Japanese carry fewer combat factors here, so the US is more likely to win the engagement, plus lower defense #s Protects Japanese air strength for later?
Opening move of board game South Pacific, attempting the 1942 invasion of Guadalcanal. US fleet concentrates at Guad, allowing Japanese force from Rabaul to respond. The Japanese "Savo Island" card only allows either air or naval response, but not joint. In this version, Japanese surface naval concentrates to contest the landings. USN casualties at Guad match the full air-only response (1 hit each on BB and CA), but Japanese take 3 step losses due to lower defense numbers on APD and CL (comparable attack factors lost). US 1st Mar Div likely to succeed in landing. Assuming both players roll 5s in combat.
March 22, 2025 at 2:54 PM
stephen.rochelle.name
Attempt #3: Heck with screening Rabaul. The US fleet concentrates at Guad and all 5 Japanese air can respond. Japanese air is now properly positioned on the board. Average rolls trade two hits each way, damaging US naval screen but hitting a better Japanese air unit (and not sacrificing the CA)
Opening move of board game South Pacific, attempting the 1942 invasion of Guadalcanal. US fleet concentrates at Guad, allowing Japanese force from Rabaul to respond. The Japanese "Savo Island" card only allows either air or naval response, but not joint. In this version, Japanese air concentrates to contest the landings. USN casualties at Guad are heavier than previous attempts, but lighter overall by not sacrificing the CAs interdicting Rabaul. US likely to prevail, two hits each way, and US 1st Mar Div likely to succeed in landing. Assuming both players roll 5s in combat.
March 22, 2025 at 2:50 PM
stephen.rochelle.name
Attempt #2: US fleet, sans CAs, in Guad hex. CA in Rabaul forces the Japanese to contest via air. Extra strength from BB units gives the US an edge, but the CA will die without accomplishing much if anything in Rabaul. Please assume JP air is better positioned; I learned as I went.
Opening move of board game South Pacific, attempting the 1942 invasion of Guadalcanal. US cruisers screen the Japanese surface fleet at Rabaul (representing historical Savo Island); that unit will be eliminated. Japanese air concentrates to contest the landings. With the US carrier fleet directly supporting the landing hex, the US is likely to win the air/naval battle by trading a battleship hit for a pair of hits on Japanese air. US 1st Mar Div overwhelmingly likely to prevail in ground combat. Assuming both players roll 5s in combat.
March 22, 2025 at 2:43 PM
stephen.rochelle.name
Operation Watchtower studies learning @markherman54.bsky.social South Pacific at the hockey rink - CA screen of Rabaul plus CV standoff doesn't carry enough power to force the landing.
Opening move of board game South Pacific, attempting the 1942 invasion of Guadalcanal. US cruisers screen the Japanese surface fleet at Rabaul (representing historical Savo Island); that unit will be eliminated. Japanese air concentrates to contest the landings. With the US carrier fleet in standoff position, the Japanese are likely to win the air/naval battle and prevent US 1st Mar Div from landing. Assuming both players roll 5s in combat.
March 22, 2025 at 2:39 PM
stephen.rochelle.name
First stab at an EotS offensive, executed badly. Savo Is. counterattack should commit naval even if the carriers hold offshore. Best way to learn is playing badly and then asking why history didn't work like that. #boardwargames #hockeyrinkgaming
Aftermath of Operation Watchtower in board game "South Pacific"; Japanese player response was badly done. Wargame on a table at hockey practice
March 8, 2025 at 4:47 PM
stephen.rochelle.name
Checking the road network for opening moves at Chancellorsville in Rebel Fury by @markherman54.bsky.social @gmtgames.bsky.social . 19 moves to get Hill and Colston to the far edge of command range. Gotta fill time at youth hockey practice somehow #boardwargames
Opening CSA moves at Chancellorsville. Two d10s show "19" for a moves counter. "Ghost detachment" markers show the limits of command range. Colston follows the Mine Road behind the entrenchments, while Hill countermarches past the widow Alsop. Hill finishes in column on the Orange Turnpike with Colston south on a minor road. Anderson's brigades behind Marye's Heights can either lead Colston's column or reinforce their division near Bank's Ford (latter option shown, but "Must Attack" markers show the alternatives).
February 23, 2025 at 6:48 PM
stephen.rochelle.name
4P Shikoku 1889 today. I went and made a space to drop a station token to open a productive route and then forgot to place the station - next player blocked it. 4th place 🫠 #boardgames
Final board state for the 18xx train game 1889 set in Shikoku, Japan. Tiles with train tracks are placed around the island. Final scores were in the 5000s except for me at 3900-some.
February 2, 2025 at 4:03 AM
stephen.rochelle.name
Longstreet takes Missionary Ridge at the Battle of Chickamauga in @markherman54.bsky.social @gmtgames.bsky.social Rebel Fury. CSA VP win #boardwargames
Board position at the end of the Chickamauga scenario of Rebel Fury. The Confederate army has pressed the Union back into Chattanooga.
February 1, 2025 at 1:44 AM
stephen.rochelle.name
Study time for a teaching game this weekend. Gotta make sure I'm conversant with how it works in *this* one. #boardgames
Box, contents, and rulebook for the board game Shikoku 1889, a game about building trains, trading stocks, and stabbing the other players in the back via corporate shenanigans. The rulebook is opened to a page titled "The Game Begins" and describes the prices for the initial auction of minor private companies. These auctions are conducted differently across games in the 18xx family.
January 26, 2025 at 2:41 PM
stephen.rochelle.name
Playing introductory scenarios of @leebwood.bsky.social Wing Leader from @gmtgames.bsky.social tonight #boardwargames
End of Wing Leader scenario V03. Broken Soviet fighter squadrons withdraw from the battle.
January 14, 2025 at 3:39 AM
stephen.rochelle.name
Played Chris Handy's FAR, which has 137% of the meanness of Carcassonne in the tiniest package. #boardgames
Final tableau for FAR, showing a varied landscape. Score is Right/Green 26, Left/Red 22, Bottom/Blue 10.
January 3, 2025 at 2:50 AM
stephen.rochelle.name
Carnival of Chaos! Forced movement ram into a Killer Pillar for a double kill, then a Chopper Strike on the last turn to KO a small car and knock out the Scrap leader's eligibility to win. Tina is most pleased! @restorationgames.bsky.social
Thunder Road Vendetta: Carnival of Chaos. The Blast Off damage effect (straight line movement) plus a forced direction effect from Tina carries the Blue car into the Orange and drives them both into a Killer Pillar for a double elimination. (Orange, uh, fired the shot that killed him. Oops!) Carnival of Chaos! Cars descend into the circular Haulasseum to battle for Scrap and Glory.
December 1, 2024 at 10:11 PM
stephen.rochelle.name
@restorationgames.bsky.social @425suzanne.bsky.social this chrome effect is AH-MAY-ZING
"Witness Me!" card, shiny and chrome
December 1, 2024 at 1:57 AM
stephen.rochelle.name
Fort Wayne's off-center benches and penalty boxes are always a favorite
Hockey arena in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Both benches are to one end of the ice, instead of being symmetrical
November 30, 2024 at 1:17 AM
stephen.rochelle.name
Aftermath of a first game of Abducktion, collecting duck patterns with a UFO
80 multicolored plastic ducks and a rubber UFO. the UFO has an opening like a toddler's snack cup that lets fingers in without spilling the contents.
November 29, 2024 at 10:56 PM
stephen.rochelle.name
First hot appetizer of the day is up - sausage balls (see alt text for recipe and life hack)
A bowl of sausage balls: 1 lb hot breakfast sausage, 8 oz shredded sharp cheddar cheese, 1 bag of seasoned croutons, crushed. Mix and form; bake at 375 for 18-20 minutes. Life hack: ditch the Bisquick. Crushed croutons add texture and flavor and make for better crispy bits.
November 28, 2024 at 5:46 PM
stephen.rochelle.name
OCS Luzon. Initial Japanese (Yellow) attack in the south (air strike plus conventional attack) goes well - drive up the road toward Manila, or seal off the high-AR enemy on the flank? Pressing for the main objective but the bypassed enemy could sit on the supply line. #boardwargames (fixed typo)
Southern portion of game map for OCS Luzon, showing the flanking invasion threatening Manila
November 27, 2024 at 9:35 PM
stephen.rochelle.name
First game of OCS Luzon. Japanese vanguard crossed the river and took crossroads of Carmen Field, but setbacks in supporting attacks left a void that Philippine reinforcements rushed into. Japanese schedule now under the gun.
Photo of wargame OCS Luzon after turn 1, north end of the map. One Japanese unit has advanced to a key crossroads but the rest of their forces are 8 hexes to the rear with Allied units positioned in the gap.
November 11, 2024 at 10:57 PM