Starfalcon's Log 2084031:05:31
Ontiat
1107.7 Cr
Legal Status: Clean
Rating: Mostly Harmless (13)
Just made it to “Mostly Harmless” Rating a few kills ago. Mostly just running food from Agricultural Worlds to Industrial Worlds and back with a load of computers... Once I could afford the ECM, Beam Laser and Energy Bomb I just prayed I'd not run into anyone. But now, I don't need to run anymore. In fact, its kinda fun collecting bounties on Pirate scum! Scanner Targeting Enhancement has helped me PID the bad guys before they start shooting! Excellent! Fuel Scoops make bounties even more profitable. Maybe someday I'll get Docking computers... NAH! Waste of money with my skills! Bigger guns! Thats what I need!
Star Falcon's Log 2084031:14:19
Quitri
149.5 Cr
Legal Status: Clean
Rating: Poor (16)
3 more kills, now I'm in the “Poor” rating, moving up in the world. Made some good dough on the trade run and some Platinum an Asp Mk III left floating in space after I vaporized em'... Probably lifted it off a merchant! What goes around comes around Pirate Scum!
Fun huh? Well, I think the world of copyrighted pay for a copy soon to be obsolescent games have missed an incredible opportunity that the world of Freeware and Open Source has picked up on. What gamers really want! Well, at least gamers like my family.
My Dad, brothers and myself are PC gamers for good reason. Ever since my Dad purchased a Commodore 64 back about the time I was born he's been playing computer games off and on. That also means, that my brothers and I got privileges to play on my dads C64 once in a while once we go old enough. That means lots of homework and chores were completed with the extra motivation to get thirty minutes of time on the C64... That meant games like “Gunship”, “Jumpman” (which could be divided up between us by dying or missions...). “Elite” however stands out as one of the most addictive games during this formative childhood gaming time frame.
Elite required the egg timer to be in use. Mainly, there is no linear structure to it besides attaining the Elite Rating. We never played long enough to bust Average, or even Dangerous. That's probably a good thing, we got lots of playtime outside during the summers to as a result of that... Along with the fact that we were playing our C64 during the age of Sega Genesis, Super Nintendo, and the 386/486 processors with a smoking 25/33 MHz, in other words it was already obsolescent when we started. This is the primary reason we never surpassed Average Rating. We'd moved on in our teens to play Wing Commander: Privateer, X-Wing, and Tie Fighter! Excellent games each, especially Privateer... However, they just didn't have the same charm Elite had. It is wonderful what the creators of Vega Strike have done to revive Privateer, however that is another article in and of itself...
...This article is about the nostalgia of the first space trade fighter pilot game we remember, and quite possibly among the first ever made back in 1984. Just check out the Elite/Oolite Wiki for all the details of the history of this incredible ground breaking series! http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Main_Page
What I've been playing right now is the Oolite version of the Elite Series, its the latest up to date game featuring some smashing Open GL graphics with the same style of play of the original game I remember on the C64! There are minor improvements that help incredibly, such as Navigation Buoys that greatly assist docking without computers!
While Wing Commander: Privateer, Freelancer, Vega Strike, and Vega Strike: Gemini Gold (the Privateer remake!) have served well for filling this critical gap in the space combat/trade flight simulator genre, Elite/Oolite will forever hold that special place in my heart for being the first. Companies that make state of the art games that cost money should take note in the revival of this style of space flight sim in the Opensource/Freeware world. Its addictive, its fun, and its not overly bound to a linear course... Lucas Arts, where you at with the single player smuggler game? What the hell! George Lucas invented the genre just about with Star Wars back in 1977 that more than like inspired the creation of Elite in first place! Yet they never left the track of the incredible X-Wing series beyond the linear X-Wing Alliance which had the potential to insert Lucas Arts into this realm as king! Instead, you have rely on MMORG and pay per month, the biggest rip off ever... I feel like they've squandered the opportunity! I hope the opensource/freeware world takes charge of the MMORG version of the space flight combat/trade simulation... After all, the big bad game companies sure as hell haven't done it, and they've dropped every version of that ever made...
Friday, December 26, 2008
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
09DEC08 V 1.0 Legal Size 3/4" hex sheet
As promised, a legal paper size blank hex grid. Its a .png file, so its black on transparent, recommend edit in GIMP/Photoshop or similar (I've found that Painter X doesn't support .png files, no worry, I'll just use the GIMP and convert it to a .psd file!).
I've also found Scribbus, which is the CYMK workaround to get a GIMP drawing to print (GIMP only does RGB color which doesn't work well for print, while Scribbus is an open source publication tool which is made to convert RGB to CYMK!). I'll see if I can post more later, once I figure out how to do things with it myself!
Right now, my hex sheets are FAR from perfect. My alignments are off, I have no grid numbers (but with a couple variations on how to number, thats no surprise...), and I'm not sure they are within printing boundaries! I've also got to come up with standard convention for naming so that when I have variations, its easy to identify and figure out which ones you want. On top of that, I've got to find out where I can put the native .svg (scalable vector graphics, Inkscapes native format) so that everybody can download and edit as they see fit (i.e. make your own grid numbers to correspond to whatever board you want or are expanding!). Right now, Deviant Art is the only site I can think of, but I'm not sure yet.
Recommendations welcome!
Sunday, November 30, 2008
iMac purchased after refund, thoughts of Desktop Publishing...
Vista was so bad, I returned both computers that I've had with it. I got a cash refund, and I purchased a basic iMac with 1GB of RAM which will be be upgraded with more so I don't experience too much slow action while painting with Corel Painter X! I'm still learning the Corel Painter X, and GIMP doesn't run near as well on the Mac as it does with the PC... But I'll figure it out soon enough. I can't wait to export the hex grids as .psd files and import them into Painter... Should be interesting. I'll try and get a legal sized sheet of 3/4" hexes here sometime. I'll post the .png file, and see about what I can do to have a .svg (Inkscapes basic scalable vector graphics file) available for download on my Deviant Art page.
Considering the way the economy might be going and the threat to gaming, it might be worth a look at self publication and open source/Creative Commons licenses online. If one can print a good game, one can establish a board game globally! Here are a few games that are down loadable after purchase, and have kept the spirit of these games alive long after print publication was ceased for whatever reason:
Starfire was a game my Dad had lying around, and is just about impossible to find except on E-Bay and Boardgame Geek at premium prices, or in questionable condition... If at all... However, a guy bought the license, and rules are updated and current with many problems fixed, and now its still available if you want to purchase and print it yourself!
Ground Zero Games still sells miniatures, and even print editions of rules. However, you'll more than likely buy they're miniatures if you read the rules first... And so they've published .pdf files for download for free to get you hooked! Excellent plan!
So if you have ideas for gaming, these are great examples of how to publish in a rough economy. Will you see money? Maybe... I'm going to attempt making maps for fun though. If some rules come to mind, I hope to contribute to the free games already available! Money isn't all its about sometimes, though it sure would be nice. Perhaps the open source computer program system is what the gaming world needs to look to for survival. Form foundations and request donations for continued development while maintaining a day job and letting things circulate freely as long as due credit is given to the creators... Of course, this doesn't work like the software world in every aspect. But its an idea.
Considering the way the economy might be going and the threat to gaming, it might be worth a look at self publication and open source/Creative Commons licenses online. If one can print a good game, one can establish a board game globally! Here are a few games that are down loadable after purchase, and have kept the spirit of these games alive long after print publication was ceased for whatever reason:
Starfire was a game my Dad had lying around, and is just about impossible to find except on E-Bay and Boardgame Geek at premium prices, or in questionable condition... If at all... However, a guy bought the license, and rules are updated and current with many problems fixed, and now its still available if you want to purchase and print it yourself!
Ground Zero Games still sells miniatures, and even print editions of rules. However, you'll more than likely buy they're miniatures if you read the rules first... And so they've published .pdf files for download for free to get you hooked! Excellent plan!
So if you have ideas for gaming, these are great examples of how to publish in a rough economy. Will you see money? Maybe... I'm going to attempt making maps for fun though. If some rules come to mind, I hope to contribute to the free games already available! Money isn't all its about sometimes, though it sure would be nice. Perhaps the open source computer program system is what the gaming world needs to look to for survival. Form foundations and request donations for continued development while maintaining a day job and letting things circulate freely as long as due credit is given to the creators... Of course, this doesn't work like the software world in every aspect. But its an idea.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Vista Sucks, avoid at all costs... Medieval Total War II: Kingdoms, buy on sight!
Sorry about the lack of updates of this blog lately. I should have some here shortly. However, I made the mistake of 'up-grading' to a desktop computer with the virus known as Microsoft Windows Vista... So I'm resolving that mistake with the company who made the computer, in fact, I'm on my second Vista box... I've already returned on unsatisfied to the retailer...
...on the good news side however, I have Corel Painter X on the way in the mail box. How does this effect gaming? Well, Corel Painter X is the top of the line RASTR graphics editing program on the market able to simulate painting in most traditional media virtually flawlessly... While exporting multi-layerd files in .png or .jpeg or .tiff formats where GIMP and Inkscape can be used to add stuff to them. In other words, I can paint terrain! Should prove an interesting challenge. Mainly for the fantasy or science fiction based surfaces. If I want modern, I'll dig up imagery from web and throw on a hex grid... However, I want a a unique map of some exotic world like Mars as described Edgar Rice Burroughs Warlord of Mars trilogy, or the some ice ball moon like Europa... I will have the ability to paint it. And then once I figure how to put the grid on it in Inkscape or GIMP, expect a tutorial or walk through!
I'm also plugging my way through a few books about Medieval Scotland, on top of getting distracted with Medieval Total War II: Kingdoms Britannia campaign... Worth every penny for this version of one of the finest computer Turn based strategy/Real Time Tactics (optional!) games produced.
Medieval Total War II is based on the game engine found in Rome Total War, and the rest of the Total War series. These games provide a turn based strategic map where you use your armies to capture important cities to command various regions on the game map. The Real Time Tactics (really just real time strategy, however, its a tactical battle map...) option is if you want to resolve a battle yourself involving your armies instead of allowing the computer to auto-resolve. This is a fantastic feature, however, it can really lengthen your game to command every battle. My recommendation is to command the battles where you don't have a good general present; those times when its just your units with no characters to lead them! The Kingdoms expansion the the Medieval Total War II game adds four new campaigns, all of them localized to particular theaters in the medieval world. So far I've played Britannia which focuses on the British Isles,(the countries of Scotland, England, Ireland, Wales, and Norway on the northern tip of Scotland, the Orkney Islands and McKay/Sutherland...), and the Americas campaign (New Spain, Aztecs, Mayans, and New England and New France vying for power in Central America and the South East of North America).
Addictive like the rest of the series!
...on the good news side however, I have Corel Painter X on the way in the mail box. How does this effect gaming? Well, Corel Painter X is the top of the line RASTR graphics editing program on the market able to simulate painting in most traditional media virtually flawlessly... While exporting multi-layerd files in .png or .jpeg or .tiff formats where GIMP and Inkscape can be used to add stuff to them. In other words, I can paint terrain! Should prove an interesting challenge. Mainly for the fantasy or science fiction based surfaces. If I want modern, I'll dig up imagery from web and throw on a hex grid... However, I want a a unique map of some exotic world like Mars as described Edgar Rice Burroughs Warlord of Mars trilogy, or the some ice ball moon like Europa... I will have the ability to paint it. And then once I figure how to put the grid on it in Inkscape or GIMP, expect a tutorial or walk through!
I'm also plugging my way through a few books about Medieval Scotland, on top of getting distracted with Medieval Total War II: Kingdoms Britannia campaign... Worth every penny for this version of one of the finest computer Turn based strategy/Real Time Tactics (optional!) games produced.
Medieval Total War II is based on the game engine found in Rome Total War, and the rest of the Total War series. These games provide a turn based strategic map where you use your armies to capture important cities to command various regions on the game map. The Real Time Tactics (really just real time strategy, however, its a tactical battle map...) option is if you want to resolve a battle yourself involving your armies instead of allowing the computer to auto-resolve. This is a fantastic feature, however, it can really lengthen your game to command every battle. My recommendation is to command the battles where you don't have a good general present; those times when its just your units with no characters to lead them! The Kingdoms expansion the the Medieval Total War II game adds four new campaigns, all of them localized to particular theaters in the medieval world. So far I've played Britannia which focuses on the British Isles,(the countries of Scotland, England, Ireland, Wales, and Norway on the northern tip of Scotland, the Orkney Islands and McKay/Sutherland...), and the Americas campaign (New Spain, Aztecs, Mayans, and New England and New France vying for power in Central America and the South East of North America).
Addictive like the rest of the series!
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Big GEV Scenario, still in experimental stages...
Yesterday afternoon, I decided to pull out all my Steve Jackson Games OGRE/GEV stuff. I've got just about every expansion that was printed and re-released for the 1977 classic Ogre... I've got the second edition Ogre Book, Reinforcements, Shockwave, and Battlefields along with re-release that combines Ogre and GEV into one box. Lots of pieces and maps. So having lots of pieces, being very intimately familiar with the game mechanics, and having my boys napping to get time enough to be bored, I designed a Scenario. Its pretty hefty too, but needs some play testing to ensure balance as of yet, so I'm working on that. Its similar to a game my Dad and I played back in 2006 when they visited.
Here it goes:
For months the ceasefire between the Combine and Paneurope deteriorated and as tensions and border incidents along the DMZ increased, so did the forces stationed along the DMZ. In once province in central Europe, the provincial capital was right along the DMZ, and therefore its only defense was the local Politzi. Paneuropean Forces however set up in the area set to defend, or re-take the capital, when the Combine Forces came north after them. Paneuropean forces along the DMZ in accordance with the treaty were two reinforced battalions of just infantry. In response to increased tensions (no surprise here, it is the Last War after all...) Paneuropean commanders stationed two field artillery batteries, on heavy armor company, on light scout squadron, and two mechanized infantry companies. The Politzi were told just to hold the line, and if need be, get out of the way if it looked like the cities and towns would fall to the Combine, the Capital Politzi Chief just shook his head in disgust knowing his men would never abandon they're homes without a fight.
Setup:
Uses three maps in the following order west to east: S-3, GEV, S-2
Paneuropean Forces:
All militia counters in the Ogre Battlefields expansion will be used. Militia will not become 'un-ready' and will not be able to move... The politzi refuse to budge and will fight to the death! Capitol (GEV Map 2114 area, with main bridge along river) must have at least 15 strength points of Militia counters setup on it. Suburb of the Capitol on Map S-3 0715 must have 5 strength points of militia set up on it, all other towns can only have a max of 3 strength points, and no less than 1. This should force the attackers to move with caution in the event of over-run attacks... After all, militia defense is tripled in town hexes, and in over run, they get the same bonus as infantry...
DMZ authorized force of two re-enforced infantry battalions:
72 Strength Points of Infantry set up along or north of the line drawn from S-3 hex 0112- S-2 2312 (should be a map fold to be a good guide...). All other forces set up north of this line also
Quick Reaction Force, two Mechanized Infantry Companies
2 forces of 3 GEV-PCs with 3 Strength Points of Infantry on board each GEV-PC (each GEV-PC carries a platoon of infantry, or three squads)
Artillery Batteries (batteries are somewhere between three or four tubes in the real world...)
1 battery of three Howitzers
1 battery of three Mobile Howitzers
Heavy Armor Company
6 Heavy Tanks (one platoon, three vehicles, kinda following the Israeli concept of tank platoon here)
3 Missile Tanks
Light Armor Company
6 GEV
6 Lt. Tanks
Combine Force:
Starts off board, may bring in elements as he sees fit... At least with this draft!
36 Armor Units for the main force with
one Mechanized Infantry Battalion
9 GEV-PCs with 3 SP of Infantry on each GEV-PC
So thats the setup thus far. Needs play tested with other human players to determine the balance and deal with those issues.
So far, I just started about three turns of solo play with the following force:
6 Super Heavy Tanks (about two companies)
12 Heavy Tanks (about one Tank Battalion)
12 GEVs (Battalion)
6 LGEVs along with 6 Lt. Tanks to make a Light Scout Squadron along with the Mechanized Infantry Battalion above.
I kept the attacks against the militia forces at range, and still had trouble with wiping them out if I didn't combine attacks. Towns are great defensive positions! Still, I didn't get very far, and still haven't determined what the final objective should be. Should the Combine player just seek to penetrate the Paneuropean line? Should the Combine player first take the capital and hold out against a Paneuropean counter attack? These and more to be decided later! Especially after some human play tests!
Here it goes:
For months the ceasefire between the Combine and Paneurope deteriorated and as tensions and border incidents along the DMZ increased, so did the forces stationed along the DMZ. In once province in central Europe, the provincial capital was right along the DMZ, and therefore its only defense was the local Politzi. Paneuropean Forces however set up in the area set to defend, or re-take the capital, when the Combine Forces came north after them. Paneuropean forces along the DMZ in accordance with the treaty were two reinforced battalions of just infantry. In response to increased tensions (no surprise here, it is the Last War after all...) Paneuropean commanders stationed two field artillery batteries, on heavy armor company, on light scout squadron, and two mechanized infantry companies. The Politzi were told just to hold the line, and if need be, get out of the way if it looked like the cities and towns would fall to the Combine, the Capital Politzi Chief just shook his head in disgust knowing his men would never abandon they're homes without a fight.
Setup:
Uses three maps in the following order west to east: S-3, GEV, S-2
Paneuropean Forces:
All militia counters in the Ogre Battlefields expansion will be used. Militia will not become 'un-ready' and will not be able to move... The politzi refuse to budge and will fight to the death! Capitol (GEV Map 2114 area, with main bridge along river) must have at least 15 strength points of Militia counters setup on it. Suburb of the Capitol on Map S-3 0715 must have 5 strength points of militia set up on it, all other towns can only have a max of 3 strength points, and no less than 1. This should force the attackers to move with caution in the event of over-run attacks... After all, militia defense is tripled in town hexes, and in over run, they get the same bonus as infantry...
DMZ authorized force of two re-enforced infantry battalions:
72 Strength Points of Infantry set up along or north of the line drawn from S-3 hex 0112- S-2 2312 (should be a map fold to be a good guide...). All other forces set up north of this line also
Quick Reaction Force, two Mechanized Infantry Companies
2 forces of 3 GEV-PCs with 3 Strength Points of Infantry on board each GEV-PC (each GEV-PC carries a platoon of infantry, or three squads)
Artillery Batteries (batteries are somewhere between three or four tubes in the real world...)
1 battery of three Howitzers
1 battery of three Mobile Howitzers
Heavy Armor Company
6 Heavy Tanks (one platoon, three vehicles, kinda following the Israeli concept of tank platoon here)
3 Missile Tanks
Light Armor Company
6 GEV
6 Lt. Tanks
Combine Force:
Starts off board, may bring in elements as he sees fit... At least with this draft!
36 Armor Units for the main force with
one Mechanized Infantry Battalion
9 GEV-PCs with 3 SP of Infantry on each GEV-PC
So thats the setup thus far. Needs play tested with other human players to determine the balance and deal with those issues.
So far, I just started about three turns of solo play with the following force:
6 Super Heavy Tanks (about two companies)
12 Heavy Tanks (about one Tank Battalion)
12 GEVs (Battalion)
6 LGEVs along with 6 Lt. Tanks to make a Light Scout Squadron along with the Mechanized Infantry Battalion above.
I kept the attacks against the militia forces at range, and still had trouble with wiping them out if I didn't combine attacks. Towns are great defensive positions! Still, I didn't get very far, and still haven't determined what the final objective should be. Should the Combine player just seek to penetrate the Paneuropean line? Should the Combine player first take the capital and hold out against a Paneuropean counter attack? These and more to be decided later! Especially after some human play tests!
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Map Symbology, Real symbology for use in Wargaming
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
David Drake
While not purely a board gaming subject, David Drake's military SF has had an incredible influence on the world of Science Fiction and Gaming in general. Once can look at the Ground Effects Vehicles in the Ogre/GEV universes and Grav Armor and see the influence of his work. Another way to gauge his influence on the world of gaming can be seen in the Ground Zero Games classics of Dirtside II and Stargrunt II! Both of which are miniature table top games that can be downloaded for free from Here. You can't argue with that price for a miniatures game... After all, you want some money left for the miniatures...
...which if you are like me and a big "Hammers Slammers" fan, here are some pictures of the Hammers Slammers miniatures!
As posted on my other blog:
One of my favorite Military Science Fiction authors interviewed by one of my favorite blogs! Yippie!
Part I.
Part II.
Part III. (edit: added 07OCT08)
Part IV. (edit: added 07OCT08)
Part V. (edit: added 08OCT08)
Part VI. (edit: added 09OCT08)
There is more to follow! Check it out at Black Five! David Drakes Website
Some of my fan art:
A Combat Car used by the "Hammers Slammers" Regiment in his ground breaking Military SF series
The daddy of all his creations, the Hover Tanks from "Hammers Slammers" Regiment!
...which if you are like me and a big "Hammers Slammers" fan, here are some pictures of the Hammers Slammers miniatures!
As posted on my other blog:
One of my favorite Military Science Fiction authors interviewed by one of my favorite blogs! Yippie!
Part I.
Part II.
Part III. (edit: added 07OCT08)
Part IV. (edit: added 07OCT08)
Part V. (edit: added 08OCT08)
Part VI. (edit: added 09OCT08)
There is more to follow! Check it out at Black Five! David Drakes Website
Some of my fan art:
A Combat Car used by the "Hammers Slammers" Regiment in his ground breaking Military SF series
The daddy of all his creations, the Hover Tanks from "Hammers Slammers" Regiment!
Sunday, September 28, 2008
A free resource for anyone needing those hex grid squares on Letter size paper. Try it, if it doesn't work right, send me a comment and I'll email you a copy in either .jpg or .png format. If you have Inkscape or GIMP, I'll send you the .svg or .xcf file.
If you have the GIMP, take the .jpg file, and add another layer beneath the background layer it loads up as. Take the background layer with the hexagon grid on it, go to the Layer menu, Transparency, Color to Alpha, and click okay. That will turn the layer with the grid transparent. Then you color the layer below it with your basic background color, and add another layer above that and start decorating your terrain! I might even have to do a tutorial for that. However, if you are familiar with the layer management techniques, its a piece of cake!
Let me know if there are any other resources you'd like to see to be able to make your own desktop published board games!
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Classic game, not one I like though...
Am I sick to think this is kinda funny in a warped and twisted kinda way? Its just so over the top ridiculous! But then, First Person Shooter games are kinda like that, and the story makes as much sense as that kind of game. I never did get the hang of or like many FPS games. I did get a kick out of "Dark Forces" and "Outlaws" both by Lucas Arts. Dark Forces being Star Wars, and Outlaws being Old West, but I still sucked when I played them! I was always better at strategy and tactics.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Windows Steel Panthers: Main Battle Tank
Windows Steel Panthers: Main Battle Tank
A very realistic turn based strategy game. Pretty much a board game turned computer game, and utilizing the computer aspect to make it less of a number crunchers dream and improving game play. I always like turn based games with hex grids to move and calculate range. Real tactics work very well in this game. Your key is to keep your units together like they would in reality.
Off board artillery is great! Keep your eyes on targets though... Like in reality, hitting template targets rarely works. CAS needs some work! When your A-10's don't strife targets after using Maverick missiles... Lets just say, that ain't too real. Along with the complete lack of a US Air Force TACP capability.
A very realistic turn based strategy game. Pretty much a board game turned computer game, and utilizing the computer aspect to make it less of a number crunchers dream and improving game play. I always like turn based games with hex grids to move and calculate range. Real tactics work very well in this game. Your key is to keep your units together like they would in reality.
Off board artillery is great! Keep your eyes on targets though... Like in reality, hitting template targets rarely works. CAS needs some work! When your A-10's don't strife targets after using Maverick missiles... Lets just say, that ain't too real. Along with the complete lack of a US Air Force TACP capability.
Tactics, Strategy, Grunt and ROMAD Wisdom!
I figured I'd start a blog just for fun, and this time its just about gaming and some kernels of military science that will help with gaming. I've been hooked on war gaming since I was a child. My Dad has an original release of Afrika Korps by Avalon Hill from the 1960's and pulled it out for my older brother and I to play. That was the small bite that got me hooked. Later, my Mom's cousins gave us some games and model vehicles when we visited New Hampshire; one of the games was an edition of Tactics II, another Avalon Hill classic where you use a grid square map and control division size units. Many war gamers started board gaming with this one! I was hooked on board games at that point. The more complex the better it seemed! Maybe I just knew the rules better...
Then when I was twelve, a friend of ours Kevin Anderson introduced me to table top war gaming. He invited me over to play a Napoleonic game. We played the French against the Russians (played by two of his other friends). The figures were 25mm pewter and our surface was a ping-pong table with US GI green blanket for surface. Since then, I got hooked on the idea of playing on table tops. Not only was the game more fun and hands on, but the model building aspect was incredible as well. I grew up building scale model planes, and the two hobbies rolled into one were just fantastic!
So, here I'll post pictures of my games, reviews of a few. I won't just limit it to one genre either. I like everything from ancient historical to the far fetched future of Warhammer 40,000. I like board games, table top, and even a lot of computer games (human players can be hard to find when you have time to play, at the same time...).
I intend to separate the games though! There are gaming junkfood, mid-grade thinking, and high level games. I'll come up with a way of organizing them better soon enough. Idea being, games like Munckin (Card), Mag Blast (Card), Dawn of War (PC) have only so much strategy, while games like Steel Panthers (PC), Rome: Total War (PC), Tactics II, will have more in depth game play. Then you have the uber-realistic, games that real-life tactics actually work, and if you don't use them, you will fail, games like Tac-Ops that are based off of programs used by the US Army to train with during TOC EX training...
Then when I was twelve, a friend of ours Kevin Anderson introduced me to table top war gaming. He invited me over to play a Napoleonic game. We played the French against the Russians (played by two of his other friends). The figures were 25mm pewter and our surface was a ping-pong table with US GI green blanket for surface. Since then, I got hooked on the idea of playing on table tops. Not only was the game more fun and hands on, but the model building aspect was incredible as well. I grew up building scale model planes, and the two hobbies rolled into one were just fantastic!
So, here I'll post pictures of my games, reviews of a few. I won't just limit it to one genre either. I like everything from ancient historical to the far fetched future of Warhammer 40,000. I like board games, table top, and even a lot of computer games (human players can be hard to find when you have time to play, at the same time...).
I intend to separate the games though! There are gaming junkfood, mid-grade thinking, and high level games. I'll come up with a way of organizing them better soon enough. Idea being, games like Munckin (Card), Mag Blast (Card), Dawn of War (PC) have only so much strategy, while games like Steel Panthers (PC), Rome: Total War (PC), Tactics II, will have more in depth game play. Then you have the uber-realistic, games that real-life tactics actually work, and if you don't use them, you will fail, games like Tac-Ops that are based off of programs used by the US Army to train with during TOC EX training...
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