Kokoda Trail vs. The Kokoda Campaign

[JayTownsend]

Kokoda Trail vs. The Kokoda Campaign


I have owned Kokoda Trail for years and at first I didn’t see any reason to buy The Kokoda Campaign but after it came up on sale I thought why not get it for at least the box.

The pros to owning it, you get a box to store all your material, counters, maps, scenarios and so on. You don’t have to borrow counters from multiple games and scenarios have been rewritten a bit and the scenarios are now divided into battle games. You can now store the Golden Journal Dog Days 2016, The Second Great War: Germany’s Colonial Empire materials in the box they are meant for, Elephants and all.

The cons to owning it if you already own Kokoda Trail, the scenarios are not different enough and the Assault on No. 3 Airstrip replaced the American counters/Leaders: 4 x ENG, 1 x 40mm, 2 x HMG, 1 x MAJ, 1 x CAPT, 3 x LT with all Australian counters which kind of ruined that scenario for me and I’ll continue to play the Kokoda Trail version for that one scenario.

But overall, if you don’t own Kokoda Trail and buy this one on sale it is worth it and maybe even if you do own it, it’s a great looking box to add to the shelf. I will now be more tempted to play the game, knowing I don’t have to pull counters from multiple games.

One other thing I noticed about Avalanche Press’s Introduction Games: Invasion 1944 & The Kokoda Campaign, sure they are a smaller size, in counters and maps and cost as well but the terrain on both, is not at all what I would call good introductory Panzer Grenadier games. There is no clear terrain or any kind of movement terrain. I can think of a whole lot of other games in the series that would make better introduction games and easier to play on. I would not recommend either of these games to new players, as you will not get the true PG experience. The same could have been said for Airborne when it was an introductory game back in those days as well. But that is just my opinion!

But, I am happy with my Kokoda Campaign purchase.

[JayTownsend]

Funny, my Kokoda Campaign box now has become a storage box not just for the Kokoda Campaign game material but it also hold the Golden Journal Dog Days 2016 with the Germany's Colonial Empire gaming materials and I have put all the Guadalcanal gaming materials into that box as well. So its full. I got rid of the Guadalcanal box, as it kept coming open driving my OCD levels up!

[plloyd1010]

My counters don't fit in boxes. They are well sorted though.
Dog Days 2016, The Second Great War: Germany’s Colonial Empire is completely playable Kokoda Trail.
If you have all the required support games, Kokoda Trail has more interesting air assets. It can be more interesting with the aircraft from Waltzing Matilda (use both sides). Kokoda Campaign only has 1 call for an airstrike, and I had to make a special counter for that in the Vassal module. (Well, I didn't really have to.)
Kokoda Campaign has 29 scenarios, where as Kokoda Trail has 30. But then there is the battle game organization in Kokoda Campaign.
I really liked the multinational aspect of Assault on No. 3 Airstrip with Kokoda Trail.
The IJA and IJN shouldn't have to use each oother's counters, it violate the notion of their hostile rivalry.
Kokoda Campaign is is not an intro game. Despite the moniker, Invasion '44 is really either.

Do get it as an intro to the Pacific War, but not as an intro to the game system.

The Australians need some M3 Stuarts too. (Just to mix it up some more.)

[JayTownsend]

Yeah I copied the Assault on No. 3 Airstrip scenario from Kokoda Trail before I sold it and replaced it with Kokoda Campaign.