Fantasy Flight Games to reprint Fortress America!!



  • '18 '17 '16 '11 Moderator

    @Imperious:

    http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_minisite_sec.asp?eidm=190&esem=1

    They must die!  They changed the box!!!


  • They changed everything including the map, figures and other components.  Who knows, maybe they added new revised rules too.


  • I for one think those pieces look better than the originals. Played this game quite a bit in high school. I still have it and it is in good shape. Will have to see more of this to sell me on it.

  • Customizer

    I was looking for an expected release date and it said “Q1 2012”.  I take it that means the first quarter of 2012?  Jan, Feb and March.

    I loved playing this game before, although it has been awhile.  I also have the original, plus some extra pieces that I found on eBay.  I’m going to be really curious to see this new version.  I wonder which cities were changed.

  • '18 '17 '16 '11 Moderator

    Looks like pretty much just a face lift.  But then, not a lot of details either.

    To be honest, I have not played in a LONG time because there has been no revised edition or anything. It just got stale, America almost always won because the invaders had limited reinforcements.

  • Sponsor '17 TripleA '11 '10

    The two figures shown look fantastic. I’m in! Colors are much better already.


  • the pieces wont be the same size though huh?

  • Customizer

    ,@Cmdr:

    Looks like pretty much just a face lift.  But then, not a lot of details either.

    To be honest, I have not played in a LONG time because there has been no revised edition or anything. It just got stale, America almost always won because the invaders had limited reinforcements.

    Yeah, I know what you mean.  It was also kind of easy to cut off large amounts of invader forces and eliminate them without a battle.  Especially if you get that “MAJOR AIRLIFT” card at the right time in the game.  If you get it too early in the game, it’s more or less wasted.  If you got it when USA didn’t have many pieces on the board, then you can’t do as much damage.  However, when USA has a fair amount of units still on the board and the invaders have punched their way deep into the country, forget about it.  The invaders are doomed.  The US will put units way back on the coasts or southern border, take back cities and cut off invaders’ supply lines.


  • This is great news. I can’t wait to see what tweaks they made if any.  And I think they had to modify the box, it heavily featured a Sadam look alike and the WTC.

  • Customizer

    Hey everyone,
    I got a copy of the new Fortress America. It plays basically like the MB version with one new twist: You can play a variant where the Invaders get special cards. Each card has certain conditions that have to be met, like controlling certain cities or “X” number of resource territories, and they grant the invaders certain advantages. Some allow invaders to retreive “dead” units for extra reinforcements. Others give a boost to certain attacks or have a negative effect on US attacks or defense. The thing is, while normally each invader gets 8 units in reinforcements per turn, if they draw a card, they only get 5 units. They also have the option of drawing cards once their reinforcements have been depleted. Also, if the conditions on the card are not met, they can keep that card and use it later when they do meet the conditions. While most of the cards are one use only, there are a few that state “Remains in play” and that invader can use the advantage of that card every turn, even if the original conditions are no longer met.
    For example: say a “Remains in play” card requires the Western invader to control Los Angeles and 3 Ag Resource territories. They manage to do that and can use that card. Then later, say they lose some Ag resource territories or even Los Angeles, they can keep using that card until directed by the rules to discard it.
    However, unlike the Partisan cards for the US, once the Invader cards are used and discarded, they are done for the game (whereas Partisan cards will be reshuffled to create a new deck for the US player). The Partisan cards seem pretty much the same with one exception: the MAJOR AIRLIFT card. In the old version, you could move ALL US units on the gameboard wherever you wanted, even enemy controlled but not occupied City territories. This would often be devastating to the invaders. Now you just move the pieces from ONE territory to anywhere you want on the board. You can still take unoccupied enemy controlled City territories, but I doubt you will be able to totally cut off large chunks of invader units like before.
    I took a couple of pics of the new pieces next to the old pieces. New pieces are on the left, old pieces on the right. I really think the new Lasers look cool. They come in 3 pieces that you have to put together, but it’s pretty simple. I like the new bombers, hovertanks and mobile units. Not crazy about the new infantry and partisans. I think I like the old ones better.
    The game is a little expensive - cost me $85 at Hobbytown USA – but overall it’s a pretty cool game.

    New Game Invaders.JPG
    New Game US & dice.JPG


  • Those pieces are AWESOME!!! I have made a Future Axis and allies variant with the Old FA pieces, These pieces are really AWESOME!!!

  • Customizer

    Hey All,
    I’ve had time to play a couple of games of the new Fortress America. Aside from the new pieces, the game is pretty much the same as the older version. Here are the most noteable differences:

    The USA’s Partisan cards are spelled out quite a bit clearer than the old ones. These tell you EXACTLY what territories, units and actions are involved. Most of the cards are really the same as in the old deck, except of course one that deals with Colorado Springs, which wasn’t in the old game, but the new cards seem to spell out what you are supposed to do in more detail. They even tell you to discard the card after you are done.
    After I compared the new and old cards, I can see that some of the old cards could have been misread. Specifically, the MAJOR AIRLIFT card. With the old game, I always played it by taking ALL US units anywhere on the board and moving them as I wished. The new MAJOR AIRLIFT card specifically says that you pick ONE territory and can move the units from that territory to anywhere on the board that doesn’t have enemy units (even enemy controlled, unoccupied city territories). So, the USA player is basically limited to a maximum of 5 military units that he/she can move around like this. While this can still be a big plus for the US, especially if the invaders have left a lot of cities unoccupied, it isn’t so devastating to the invaders that it might be a game ender. Since then, I have gone back and re-read the MAJOR AIRLIFT card in the old deck and realized that I think I have mis-played it all this time. I think it might have ALWAYS been just one territory of units, not ALL US units. The way it is worded could go either way.

    Another big difference is that the Mobile Units are much more useful now. If you have a Mobile Unit and an Infantry (or Partisan for the US) in the same territory, that Mobile Unit can transport that Infantry/Partisan with it in the Maneuvers phase (normally Infantry/Partisans have no movement in the Maneuvers phase). This happens on a 1:1 ratio. So if you have 2 Infantry and 1 Mobile Unit, then only 1 Infantry may travel with the Mobile Unit. That makes Mobile Units much more valuable now. In the old game, they were more or less mobile cannon fodder to me.

    Finally, the biggest difference is that now there are cards for the Invaders. Each Invader has a deck of 8 cards that can give them certain advantages if certain conditions are met. During the reinforcement phase, each Invader must decide to get 8 new units or get only 5 new units and draw a card. Each card has certain advantages which could boost their forces’ movement or attacking power or cause a detriment to the US’s abilities (like depriving them of the laser attacks for a round). To gain these advantages, certain conditions must be met, like holding certain cities, or simply a certain number of cities and/or holding certain resource territories (agriculture, mineral, oil). Some cards are one time use and others are “Remain In Play” which the invader that holds that card can use even if the original conditions are no longer met. For example: Say the Western Invader draws a “Remain In Play” card and the conditions are that he has to own Los Angeles, 2 Agricultures and 1 Mineral. Then later on he loses one of the Agricultures, or the Mineral, or even Los Angeles, he can STILL PLAY THAT CARD. Also, even once the Invader’s reserves are depleted, they can still draw cards during the reinforcements phase. If you get a card for which you haven’t met the conditions yet, you simply keep it face down in front of you until you can use it. So, theoretically, Invaders could possibly use several cards in the same turn, provided all the conditions are met for each card.
    Frankly, while some of the advantages in the cards are pretty good, I think overall they are more of a detriment to the invaders as well as the overall game experience. As an invader, you might end up becoming too fixated on trying to accomplish the conditions on a card so that you can gain that advantage that you end up not doing other things that would better defeat the USA forces. As for the game, it really takes more time for the invaders to keep checking their cards to see if they meed the requirements. Also, losing that 3 extra pieces each turn so you can draw a card may not seem like a lot, but I think it could be just enough for the USA player to get just enough of an edge that they don’t lose all 18 cities. The longer this game goes, the more forces the US will have and the less the Invaders will have, thus it will be that much harder to gain the 18 cities and defeat the US. Plus if you keep getting cards that you can’t use, then is it really worth losing those extra 3 units each turn. It seems to me like a lot of the conditions, while not impossible, are pretty hard for the Invaders to accomplish. For Example: there are two or three cards for the Eastern Invader where one of the conditions is an Oil Resource. The nearest one for them is clear over by Memphis. That’s a lot of territory to conquer.

    Well, there is my report. It’s a pretty cool game, but VERY similar to the old game. If you have the original, unless you just really want the new pieces and map or really want to try out the new Invader cards, I would say save your money and play the original some more becasue except for the few points above, they are basically the same game.

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