Death to the Game Industry?

Long live games!

That's the eye catching title of a recent issue of THE ESCAPIST, a fairly interesting gaming industry and review journal, available online, for free, in PDF format. Do consider subscribing to it; it's a great little rag, filled with catty observations about the (mostly electronic) gaming industry.

Althought the mission statement seems a little chi-chi:

The Escapist covers gaming and gamer culture with a progressive editorial style, with articles and columns by the top writers in and outside of the industry. A weekly publication, its magazine-style updates offer content for a mature audience of gamers, entertainment enthusiasts, industry insiders, and other "NetSet" readers.

Anyhoo, Greg Costikyan recently posted a very interesting (and long) diatrbie in the Escapist #8 entitled "Death to the gaming industry/Long live Games!" which I found interesting and engrossing.

Greg starts out by quoting "Designer X"

"The machinery of gaming has run amok... An industry that was once the most innovative and exciting artistic field on the planet has become a morass of drudgery and imitation... It is time for revolution!"

- "Designer X" in the Scratchware Manifesto

Not too surprisingly (if you follow Greg's posted commentary here and there) Designer X is Greg himself.

Death to the Gaming industry is a long, well-thought out and presented article about the economic trends of the electronic gaming industry. Greg points out that development costs are starting to become overwhelming, mostly because of public perceptions about technology costs. "If the technology is available, then it has to be in the next game"... especially in the graphic rendering department.

Today, art assets (not programming) are the main cost driver. As machines become capable of rendering more detailed 3D models in real time, the market demands more detailed 3D models - and models are hand-created by artists using tools such as 3D Studio Max and Maya. All things being equal, a doubling in polygon count means a doubling in the amount of time an artist needs to spend generating the model - and a doubling in cost. Faster machines can push more polygons; more polygons means more cost.

Furthermore, the nature of the market and the narrowness of the marketing channel are causing a rise in prices and a dearth of availability. Costikyan invites us to compare the shelf load in a common book or music store with an electronic game store; in the former two you'll see thousands of titles; in the game store, maybe hundreds. I've noticed this in the local "Gamestop" gaming store in my community; a relative balkanization of titles and formats, a diminishing of PC game choices, and compared to an average browse in an old Waldensoftware of a few years ago, fairly empty shelves.

Add to that (as Costikyan points out) a diminishing gaming population to buy the titles that do come out, and he thinks it's obvious that our marketing and distribution channels are in for some trouble.

Where does it all lead? In Costikyan's words:

The result is that the average game (not the industry as a whole) loses more and more money. The publishers make up the losses on the few games that hit.

Ergo, a certain critical mass much be reached (in form of capitalization and tempo of operations), to survive. Small time game companies (in his words) are simply "fucked."

The solution? Again, from Cotikyan...

Spector is right. We must blow up this business model, or we are all doomed.

What do we want? What would be ideal?

A market that serves creative vision instead of suppressing it. An audience that prizes gameplay over glitz. A business that allows niche product to be commercially successful - not necessarily or even ideally on the same scale as the conventional market, but on a much more modest one: profitability with sales of a few tens of thousands of units, not millions.

Well, he's discussing scaling back expectations here, and to some extent I agree. I mostly come from a boardgaming and miniatures gaming background (as does Costikyan, although he hasn't done a boardgame in years). What Costikyan is describing here could be the prototype that board wargaming had to adopt when the distributorships dried up in the early to mid 90s. Perhaps customer interaction prior to the sale, along the lines of GMT's famous "P500" program, or some form of consumer buy in to help the company cover development costs. And a great reliance of cheap, direct marketing channels like the Internet... who knows, maybe boardgaming has a good small-scale marketing model to emulate, Greg!



Attribution: All comments quoted in the above by Greg Costikyan, the Escapist online magazine, issue 8

I was expecting Smeagol, actually!

DeathBlob 2

An online buddy's funny post about finding a bucket of death behind his grocery store reminds me of tangentially related tale involving entrails and heads. Gather round the campfire kiddies! (cue campfire noises)

It was back in that magical time called the early nineties. The internet was new, podcasting not even a glimmer in my mammie's eye. Instead, those of us with a yen, an itch, a driving desire to express ourselves either had public access radio shows or cable access TV programs. I was involved in both, briefly, creating a radio show called "The Cheese Shop" and a TV show called "Nick Reno's Neighborhood" on FCAC in Fairfax, VA. Nick Reno's neighborhood was all about horror and exploitation flicks from that golden age of cinema, the Seventies. The standard format of the show would be that I, playing the role of Nick Reno, would have on a friend pretending to play the part of a noted cinematologist and we would discuss the work of a certain director or actor, and we might add skits, or various stupid things as inserts ("Ned's World of Smell", "The Fucked Up Christmas Elves", "Being Stabbed Lessons", etc.). There was a pretty vibrant amateur film and TV production community around here at the time, so we never lacked for friends to hang with and make a Nick Reno show.

So, one Sunday we're making a show on the films of the great Lucio Fulci. My friend Bob is there, wearing an outrageous white Italian style suit, his hair slicked back,and we gave him an eyepatch to look seedy (if the budget had allowed it, we would have had him sipping absinthe and smoking Gitanes). I was wearing my Nick Reno outfit (hawaiian shirt, cowboy boots, torn jeans, leather jacket). We were at Drey's place-- then a girlfriend, not long after to be my bride. As we were filming on the back porch, so we could see across the alley into the backyard of the house across the way. My eye kept wandering off from Bob's discussion to a group of three people congregating in the yard involved in some activity.

Now, that house was loaded with a strange crew. As far as we could determine, no adult lived there, but it wasn't Party of Five over there, no way. The police showed up on a regular basis to bust someone for something, usually with a controlled substance involved.

So when I saw them digging a hole in their backyard, and burying a large, oblong object wrapped in plastic garbage bags, well, it caught my eye. So I stopped the show, and had Mark the camera boy film them for a while.. acting the role of excited correspondent..

Did I mention these people didn't own a dog? No, I didn't.

Well, anyhoo, we got lots of great footage of the druggies burying something very suspicious, then we went back and filmed the rest of the show. If I recall correctly, Drey reported it to the cops and since a SWAT team didn't show up to drag them off in chains I guess it resolved itself well enough. We never really figured out what they buried, or why.

I decided to make all that stuff part of the episode. I enlisted a friend, Eric, to play a "noted criminologist" and we found a nice patch of ground to dig a hole in (not in their backyard, but a place close enough to make it look that way in cut shots). The night before, I went out and dug a big hole there myself, cutting the sod to put over it again easily enough.

Then I went out looking for a goat's head. Now, that's not as easy as it might sound. There weren't any farms thereabouts then, and there sure aren't now in these days of urban sprawl. I would have had to have driven about fifty miles to find a farm with a goat on it, and they might have had an issue with me collecting it.

So I called a Lebanese butcher I knew of. He had supplied me with all sorts of offal and tripe for certain zombie scenes in an earlier movie and we had a sort of wordless rapport going. I called him up, and asked. "Hi, got any goat's heads?" the answer was a laconic "Sure, five fifty. Come on over, we open until five".

Who knew it would be that easy?

So I drove over and met the butcher... saying I was the guy interested in the goat's head. He says: "please to wait four minutes right here". He goes back into the locker and I hear: "BWANGGGGGG BWANGGGG BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAW" of a chainsaw starting up, and then "THUMP!" Out he comes, with a big old goat's head wrapped in butcher paper, horns and all.

Who knew it would be that easy?

So we took it home and lovingly painted what we imagined were "satanic symbols" all over it (really, being a good Catholic boy, I just knew of the pentagram symbol but I had a wicca friend who naturally helped out a lot). Then we dripped red candle wax all over it and covered it up with a plastic garbage bag similar to the one we had seen the "oblong object" buried in.

We raced back to the excavation scene and reburied the goat's head, staging (if I do say so) one of the finest moments ever to grace this nations' cable access community.. the phoney lab technicians digging, the discovery of the satanic goat's head... the closing shot of the concerned look on the "noted criminologist's" face, as he shakes with a frisson of horror...

It might have been some of my best work.

Your deathblob tale for the day!

A picture's worth a thousand words, ain't it?

Nifty Stuff

First of all, I didn't create this. I noticed it being used by Bob McDonald (an old Booz, Allen and Hamilton colleague who lives in the area) at NOVAG's recent GAMECON one-day convention. So kudos to him for making such a streamlined and excellent concept. Bob was running Chain Reaction demos from Two Hour Wargames at the convention. (Chain Reaction reviewed here)

I am somewhat interested in Chain Reaction as it is the engine upon which ALL THINGS ZOMBIE is built, and having just received that (and having a lot of problems the reaction rules in that game), I was interested in learning the "guts" of Chain Reaction. First thing I noticed were these funky little paper kennels Bob M. had constructed, some of which with figures inside:



(click on the pictures to get a zoom in view)

Bob explained. He had created a very effective and simple hidden movement/activation system by keeping the REAL figures hidden (see the photo) from the view of the opposing side, and instead putting decoy tokens on the board. Bob's "theme" for this game (the demo was set in a Pulp-era urban setting) was "dogs and cats" from a dollar store.

Here are the tokens in action, showing hidden (or DECOY!) forces moving on the board, cats on one side and dogs on the other. Nobody is sure what is what and who is who.



Now, there's nothing new about using tokens for forces in wargames.. it's almost as old as the hills. Bob M. used a variant of this idea way back in the day when he was using little pieces of camoflauge nets (in scale) to represent hidden forces when he was teaching tactical lessons to army officers. In fact, if you think on it, those clever little metal soldiers are just that-- token representations of actual forces.. but this idea was cute and clever and elegant. I don't think I'll be using cats and dogs, per se, but I do think I'll adopt something like this for my Lilliput game, to bring hidden Lilliputian forces onto the battlefield.

Here's the battlefield with real figures on it:

Conquest of the Empire Saga Concluded

Going out for the paper this morning, this is what I found! Hey, wait, what's written on that sticky note? Reckon I can just make it out if I click on the picture to zoom in...

Aha! Photoblog is working again...

I'll take all of them, please...



In da beer aisle Anne say: "Dat Malt Liquor...it make you CRAZY...!"

(that's about as "inner city" as whitebread suburban Northern Virgina can get with the beer choices in a typical Giant food store)



Fortunately, the old standbys were ready for my birthday dinner request...



Dad's blowhard tendencies are well known...



Despite his many faults, we might still love the big lug...

I just checked in with package tracking. Apparently the reindeer sled team did a handoff to the Pony Express somewhere near Yakima. Should be any day, now...

I could make up nine jokes about this, but I lactate

MILKMEN: Fathers who breastfeed



attribution: copyright Laura Shanley..

Rollercoaster!

Original Ralph McQuarrie production drawings for the original show

In terms of sheer cool factor, the season ender for Battlestar Galactica delivered in spades. Perhaps, just perhaps, the best show they've done yet. I won't give away too many obvious spoilers here, but I will comment on the episode, so if you don't want to have some things revealed, scroll down or up.

First of all, the new Battlestar was everything I imagined it would be. Amazing eye candy (it's far more modern and up to date than the Galactica), plus a small bubble of martial law in space... e.g., I knew that they would be the more "professional" outfit between the two ships and that conflict would arise from this (I didn't forsee how quickly!)

At the end of the episode, we have a situation brewing that I think the writers will have a terrible time trying to get out of. Let's just say relations between the two ships are pretty bad at the moment, and somebody is about to start shooting.

With that said, here are my comments that I'll share with those in the know:

1. Step back a second and look at things from Commander Kaine's P.O.V. From her perspective, her actions are not only justified, they are proper.

2. Captain Lee Adama might be a great CAC but he is also the Admiral's son. It does stink of nepotism. It wouldn't be tolerated in any Navy I know of today. Kaine's actions in moving him to her crew make sense in that context.

3. There is more than one instance of insubordination (from both Adama Jr. and Starbuck), one incident involving holding a pistol to a superior officer's head, and another involving him getting punched in the face. This is merely a commentary from my point of view (I know this is fiction written by Hollywood writers who are civilians), but in any military service I know of, striking or threatening a superior in front of witnesses is often a capital offense in wartime. The best they could have hoped for in the American military of today would have been a small dark cell somewhere, chains and bread and water. Think I'm kidding? Look up the Code of Miltary Justice.

4. Even though I find Sol Tigh to be one of my favorite characters (for some perverse reason) I also think he's a disgrace as a military officer. He is often drunk on duty. He questions orders and bullies subordinates. He is profoundly lacking in imagination and lets his wife do his thinking for him more often than not. At least he admits he is not fit for command. My opinion is that (had the scriptwriters permitted it) Kaine probably planned to quietly move him to a non-critical position on her ship and replace him with a more effective XO from her ranks.

5. Accident or not, a superior officer from the Pegasus was killed in a fight with crewmen from the Galactica. Think about what any military you know of would do in a similar circumstance.

6. And perhaps the most sensitive issue.. the treatment of Cylon captives by the Colonials. Well, the Colonials are not schoolgirls, and the Galactica has done its share of atrocities, including spacing one Cylon and shooting another captive down in cold blood (and the shooter got a slap on the wrist for it). The depiction of the near rape scene of Valeri wasn't pleasant by any means and it took some guts to air this (it's very clear what the interrogating officer is about to do). However, consider what level of mercy is owed the Cylons? They started a war of genocide against humanity, which the humans are fighting at a severe disadvantage every day of the week. There's no excuse for treating a prisoner that way in OUR framework of viewing things, but maybe if you were in THEIR shoes, you'd think differently about an enemy that is about to wipe out your entire race?

Hands up if you thought the Abu Graib situation might have had a little influence on this episodes' script? Hmmmm????

In any event, I think the writers have a tough row to hoe to get out of this, but here's my thought on how it might be done. President Laura is the de facto head of the civilian government, correct? She therefore has the right to promote or demote military officers, if she chooses to exercise it. She could possibly promote Adama to be a... what.. Fleet Admiral or something, and that would compel Kaine to comply to his orders. It's a cheesey premise, but I don't see any other way out other than to have the deux est machina development of a full-scale Cylon attack happen right at the moment when both sides start firing.

Can't wait 'til January!!!!

Tally HO!

I just checked with FEDEX, and they told me Conquest of the Empire had moved on from China and was heading for the Western Hemisphere at high speed.



Mind you, my birthday was last Friday, but let's not quibble!

I listen to the occassional podcast from Boardgamegeek-- formerly the program was called GEEKSPEAK and now BOARDGAMESPEAK (why, I cannot fathom, unless they caught a little flak from KUSP Central Coast Public radio which runs a podcast program with exactly the same name).

Anyhoo, I've been listening to these characters for a year now and have never seen any depiction of them on Boardgamegeek... which made me wonder whether they are a pair of derformed mutants or just camera shy. So I was pleased to find an actual picture of them at the Kublacon website.

They're not so unpleasant looking (I say this in a manly, heterosexually un-threatening way)... what a pity, I was hoping for the mutant theory.

One WEEK LEFT in the dice tower contest. Hurry up, and I mean it when I say "tell them that Mister Nizz sent you..." They'll understand what I mean!

Walt

That wacky Canadian lesbian, Sonja, has created perhaps the most interesting Geeklist I've seen in a while on Boardgamegeek. It's called "Designers at their worst". Everyone remembers Martin Wallace for AGE OF STEAM and STRUGGLE OF EMPIRES, but who recalls his low-rated SECRETS OF THE TOMBS? Everyone adores Reiner Knizia for TIGRES ANd EUPHRATES, SCHOTTEN TOTTEN and RA, but who remembers the dismally rated MEMO STREET?

Very cool list, and with some surprises!

Check here

Checking in...

I just got a report on how CONQUEST OF THE EMPIRE is doing from the package tracking system. Apparently the lovely Bjork, from the SugarCubes, is currently treking the Great Wall of China and has courteously volunteered to haul it in her carry-on luggage for a while, which I thought was awfully nice of her.

Yeah, yeah, I know, another passalong and that sort of thing chaffs my ass too. I just like it...

I saw a couple of new miniatures from BLACK SCORPION's Desolation Row line of figures. These are fairly hip.. but mostly modern or post-apocolyptic. I like playing that sort of thing but not neccesarily collecting it. However, I did find two figs that I can use just about anywhere.



"The Chef"


"Sherrif Cogburn"

I also bought a bunch of new skirmishing 6mm Bacchus stuff.. mostly AWI "hunging shirts with round hats" to represent militia in my Lilliput game. I spoke with Steve De Young, a pal of mine, at Heritage Studios (who flogs Bacchus here in the states). Apparently I've made a serious booboo by priming all those 6mm figures in white. I may go back and give them a dark grey wash before painting them up. Apparently the tinier you get, the easier they are to paint when they are darker. Who knew?

Steve and I are working on possibly having him do some terrain pieces for me for this game.

Walt

... and I hear everything is going smoothly. The packaged transfered from camelback to sampan some time this morning!

Another year of beating the reaper today! I got breakfast in bed!

the Library of Congress Book festival this weekend.

Many authors will be there, but I'm going to try to meet muh MAN, George R.R. Martin

http://www.loc.gov/bookfest/authors.html

ALSO!!!!!



NOVAG's annual GAME DAY is this weekend.



Here's a list of events (so far)

Events List


9:00

Chain Reaction Demo
Scale: 15mm and 25mm
GM: Bob McDonald
Rules: Chain Reaction 2.0, by Two-Hour Wargames
Description: Chain Reaction 2.0, by Two-Hour Wargames, is a general-purpose skirmish game suited to a variety of periods, from the muzzle-loader era, through the 20th
Century, to science fiction. This will be a running demo for any interested players, with a variety of short scenarios from the Northwest Frontier, World War Two, and a certain six-episode science fiction movie epic. The actions are nasty, brutish, and short, which
means that if you miss one game, there will be another starting any minute.
Duration: 2 hours

Jackson in the Valley
Players: 6
Scale: 25mm
GM: Bob and Cleo Liebl
Rules: Fire and Fury
Game Length: 4 hours
Description: Can an inferior force of confederates, essentially surrounded, triumph over an encircling and outnumbering force of Union troops?

"Why Did the Chicken...?"
GM: Jacob Davenport
Board game
Description: This is a demo of joke-writing party game. Their website is www.playagaingames.com

Advanced Squad Leader
Players:
Board game
GM: Chris Baer
Sponsor: Conscripts Advanced Squad Leader Club
Description: A demonstration of the World War II squad level tactical board game. Demonstrations will run during the convention.


10:00

Trench Wars: Treat them Rough
Players: 8 to 12
Scale: 28mm
GM: Steve Robinson
Rules: Trench Wars
Game Length: 3 hours
Game Sponsor: Acheson Creations www.achesoncreations.com
Decription of Game: Tommy is facing the formable Hindenburg line. Can the behemoths of steel and fire punch their way through Jerry’s defenses? Or, will a sea of wire entanglements, bunkers and shear bravery be enough for Jerry to defeat Tommy’s juggernaut? Come and pick a side and taste once again the rotting, acidic smell of the western front. I know for sure that lead figures do not bleed, but allot will have to wait until the morning to be played with again. This game is featuring terrain system designed and produced by Acheson Creations specifically for 28mm WWI games. Beginners welcomed!

Might of Arms Tournament
Rules: Might of Arms
GM: Roxanne Patton
Description: Two three hour rounds with 1500 Pt Armies from list provided. All Terrain Preset. Victory is gained by accumulating points for routed and shaken units


11:00

The Battle for Winchester
Players: 6
Scale: 28mm
GM's: Andy Turlington and Rich Low
Rules: Seen the Elephant
GM's: Andy Turlington and Rich Low
Game Length: 4 Hours
Sponsor: Southern Maryland Partizans
Period: 28mm American Civil War
Description: March 2nd 1862: -- Jackson defends the Shenandoah Valley with some odd 4297 infantry, 369 artillerymen and 601 cavalry, opposing Banks' 38,484 men of all arms. On the 6th and again on the 11th of March, Jackson deployed and attempted to draw Banks into a battle. Banks did not bite. This scenario is based on Banks deciding to engage Jackson and his Rebels on the road from Berryville to Winchester on the 11th of March 1862.

12:00


1:00

Zombies
Players: 6
Board game
GM: David Luff
Rules: Zombies (board game) (by Twighlight Creations Inc)
Game Length: 3 hours
Description: Your heart pounds in chest and you are finding it
very hard to breathe. The zombies are everywhere and seem quite
intent on making you lunch. With so many of them, its hard to tell if
the scraping footsteps and moaning are done the hall or just around
the corner. Can you make it to the helicopter to escape or left
behind for dinner?

Chain Reaction Demo
Scale: 15mm and 25mm
GM: Bob McDonald
Rules: Chain Reaction 2.0, by Two-Hour Wargames
Description: Chain Reaction 2.0, by Two-Hour Wargames, is a general-purpose skirmish game suited to a variety of periods, from the muzzle-loader era, through the 20th
Century, to science fiction. This will be a running demo for any interested players, with a variety of short scenarios from the Northwest Frontier, World War Two, and a certain six-episode science fiction movie epic. The actions are nasty, brutish, and short, which
means that if you miss one game, there will be another starting any minute.
Duration: 2 hours


DE BELLIS VASINGTONIUM DBA OPEN
Players:
Scale: 15mm
GM: David Schlanger - Umpire
Rules: De Bellis Antiquitatis, 2.2 edition.
Length: 5 hours
Sponsor: Washington Area DBA Gamers (WADBAG)
Description: The four round open tournament will be fought in 15mm scale on 30mm square boards provided. A limited number of loaner armies will be available on-site. The winner of this event will be eligible to compete in the 2006 DBA National Invitational Championship Tournament (NICT) at Historicon in July 2006. Prizes will
also be provided for first and second place winners, the "Butcher Award"
for most elements killed, and the Fanaticus prize for most inspiring
camp element. To reserve a space in the tournament or for more
information, contact Chris Brantley at brant@erols.com or visit: http://www.fanaticus.org/WADBAG/DBV05/.

2:00

Rifles for Juarez
Players:
Scale: 25mm
GM Tim Tilson
Rules: TS&TF
Game Length: 4 hours
Description: Mexico, 1866. A shipment of arms has arrived on the west coast of Mexico for the struggling Republican forces under President Juarez. A local Mexican force is to meet and escort the shipment. However through French spies, the local French commander makes plans to intercept the shipment. Will the rifles make it to help President Juarez. This scenario is from a forthcoming Colonial Campaigns book on the French Intervention in Mexico.



3:00


4:00

Huron Gauntlet...Highlander's March to Fort William Henry
Players: 8
Scale: 28mm
Rules: Black Powder Battles
GM's: Andy Turlington and Ashley Johnson
Game Length: 4 Hours
Sponsor: Southern Maryland Partizans
Period: French and Indian War
Description: War between England and France had spilled over into the North American continent. There, amid the various Indian tribal conflicts, a small party set out from the British Fort Edward toward Fort William Henry, defended by the Scottish veteran, Colonel Munro. Major Duncan Heyward, was ordered to escort Colonel Munro's two daughters, Cora and Alice, to Fort William Henry. Major Heyward hired a renegade Huron Indian guide known as Magua, who claimed to know of a shorter route to their destination. But now, after traveling most of the day and finding themselves still only a few miles from Fort Edward, they at last decided the guide must be lost. Late that same afternoon, a seasoned white scout bearing the fitting name of Hawkeye, sat by a stream conversing with his Delaware Mohican friend Chingachgook. By their dress and weaponry it was obvious that they were not allied with the French or the Iroquois. Soon the three men heard "the horses of white men" approaching and Hawkeye was appointed to speak to them in his native English tongue. He went out to meet Heyward's group. When told that the Indian guide, who was by this time lurking in the shadows, had lost his way, Hawkeye doubtingly asked what tribe he belonged to. He was Mohawk by birth, but an adopted Huron, came the reply. At this, both Chingachgook and Uncas sprang to their feet. "A Huron!" spat the scout. "They are a thievish race, nor do I care by whom they are adopted .... I should like to look at the creature." Now, Magua saw that his plan to betray Heyward and kidnap Munro's daughters had been foiled, and he fled into the forest. Hawkeye and the Mohicans, sensing the danger the party now faced, agreed to see them safely to Fort William Henry. A few more hours have passed without incident, but as Hawkeye had feared, Magua and his fellow Hurons have given chase...

Might of Arms Tournament
Rules: Might of Arms
GM: Roxanne Patton
Description: Two three hour rounds with 1500 Pt Armies from list provided. All Terrain Preset. Victory is gained by accumulating points for routed and shaken units

5:00

Chain Reaction Demo
Scale: 15mm and 25mm
GM: Bob McDonald
Rules: Chain Reaction 2.0, by Two-Hour Wargames
Description: Chain Reaction 2.0, by Two-Hour Wargames, is a general-purpose skirmish game suited to a variety of periods, from the muzzle-loader era, through the 20th
Century, to science fiction. This will be a running demo for any interested players, with a variety of short scenarios from the Northwest Frontier, World War Two, and a certain six-episode science fiction movie epic. The actions are nasty, brutish, and short, which
means that if you miss one game, there will be another starting any minute.
Duration: 2 hours


6:00

Chalons 451AD
Players: 8
Scale: 15mm
GM: David Kuijt and David Schlanger
Rules: De Bellis Antiquitatis, 2.2 edition (DBA)
Game Length: 3 hours
Sponsors: Washington Area De Bellis Antiquitatis Gamers (WADBAG)
Description: Aetius with his Romans and Visigothic allies bring Atilla's Huns and allies to bay in a decisive battle fought on the Campus Martius to save the Western Roman Empire. Up to eight players will take on the roles of key figures in
this DBA Giant Battle event. All armies provided. Please note that some
DBA experience is required. For more information, see: http://www.fanaticus.org/WADBAG/DBV05/


DEALERS

Alternative Armies
Age of Glory

Vene, Vidi, Vici

You may have read the previous post that was ruminating on what to purchase for myself for my own birthday.. Twilight Imperium III or Conquest of the Empire II? In true Republican style, I polled the audience, and the responded somewhat enthusiastically. I realize that this is somewhat tongue in cheek (duh, of course) but the process illustrates how I decide what game to buy. The important points-- playing time, a designer I like, are touched upon. The fact that TI was about ten bucks more expensive factored into things, too.

I have heard the evidence presented below (from my Consimworld BLOG)...

Eric Miller: Get 'em both

Ron Wuerth: I have neither game so in true CSW fashion, I think I am most qualified to speak here ... but I wont! Well, I guess I could tell you that from the descriptions of the two, I'd go for "Conquest of the Empire", but that is solely based upon my preferences, without casting judgement on either game.

Peter Card : I've played Twiglet Emporium Three a few times, and its not bad. The illegitimate step-child of Puerto Rico and a giant space battle game with plastic spaceships. The great Imperial Strategy debate still rages, but there are official and unofficial variants out there that fix it in various ways. That's all by the by though. The main thing is that if you work hard and eat right you get to build death stars and obliterate inhabited systems. What's not to like? Playing time is long, but you can get a 4-6 player game done in 6 hours, maybe a little less, maybe a lot more, depending on playing styles. The plastic bits twist off with minimum pain and effort, whichis nice. Once everything has been twisted or punched you can fit everying in an A4 size file box and use the giant box it came in for temporary accommodation.

Mike Reed : Buy "Twilight Imperium" first...Fantasy Flight has a better track record on these types than Eagle...not to mention the production quality looks a bit better... Purely subjective and unsubstantiated on my part, but you asked.

Alex McCusker: I've played Twilight Imperium twice. Very enjoyable with a lot of clever tricks. It takes a long time to play - 5 of us took 8 hours.

Todd Goff: I think CotE would be a good, light game. Play it the old way or with the new, Martin Wallace inspired rules. I'm not especially fond of space/sci-fi games anyway.

Peter Card: Ah well, the Martin Wallace element does make Conquest of the Empire more attractive. I may have to get it myself at Essen.

Pat Osika: Walt...Definitely get Conquest of the Empire. I got my copy last week and it is a winner. All the game bits are pre-bagged by color so no wasting time with sprues. The original game is pretty much intact except for using hit dice a la Battle Cry, so the age of super destructive catapults has finally ended. The COTE II rules look interesting involving card play and a time limit for the game but I haven't had a chance to try them yet. I admit to liking the original despite the quirks but the new version looks to be a nice improvement.

Jason Schmidt: The new rules (advanced rules) are supposed to be Struggle of Nations (Empires? I can't remember) in a new guise, and that seems to be a pretty well-recieved game both here and on BGG for what it's worth.

TS Wilde: CotE2 has had some positive noises in OOTW too. I'm definitely interested if the map really is more appealing in real life than in the rather garish online photos I've seen.

Pat Osika: Tom..The map is much better than it looks on the Eagle games site, one of those big 3' by 4' three section jobbies. I think you're gonna need a bigger table...

Peter Card: Snuggle of Empires is an excellent game, Martin's best I think, so you can't go far wrong with CotE(II) But, darn it, Twiglet Emporium is neat too.

and even though there were a few good arguments made for Twilight Imperium, my final decision was to purchase Conquest of the Empire.

I tend to like historicals over SF stuff, that's just my thing.. although I'm not solely a historical wargame type. That wasn't enough of an argument, though.. it was the long playing time associated with Twilight Imperium and the Martin Wallace factor that made up my mind.

So... a largish package is now heading my way on camelback.



I shall have a jolly birthday! I hope this gets here in time for International Games Week, as I want to bring my entire collection of plastic piece games.

For the Senate and People of Rome,

Mr. Nizz

Background: this is a project report on RETURN TO LILLIPUT, which is a sequel of sorts to the most memorable chapters of GULLIVER'S TRAVELS by Jonathan Swift. This time the story unfolds with a not-so-nice gang of drunken pirates showing up ten years after the events of the book, and they aren't as nice as Gulliver. The Lilliputians have been working on learning and developing new technology in the Man-Mountain's absence, and now are (roughly) somewhere between Lace Wars and Napoleonics. The human players play individual pirate figures (60mm high Marx recast plastics from Russia). There are 6-9 human players. They move and fight there figures, versus the referee-run "System" which is a chart-based AI for the Lilliputian Army (the lilliputians are 6mm Bacchus, mostly).

The inspiration for this game was an issue of RAGNORAK I read last year. I loved the notion of the game, but wasn't too enthralled with the mechanics, the timeframe and scenario depicted in the article. So I wrote some rules ("Bigguns versus Littluns") and gave it another go with a few key substitutions.

The pirates' goals are to keep their drunk going by raiding wineries and breweries (as a nice historical touch, they start the game at drunk level 9 which makes them fierce fighters but awful marksman, and this heads towards equilibrium as they sober up each turn), raiding food warehouses, and moving to the opposite side of the board to engage the Lilliputian frigate. They have an idea of turning it into a rowboat and wish to capture it intact.

Victory is given by "Panache Points" (plastic pirate money), which isn't conveyed by "achieving objectives" or slaughtering little people, rather it is given for the pirate with the greatest sense of style. Strict Pirate dialogue will be enforced throughout and anyone speaking in 20th century speak will have Panache Points taken away.

Just to demonstrate I occassionally work on some of my crazy schemes, here are some pictures demonstrating work is heading towards the finish line on the Lilliput project. The Bigguns are almost done, just detail work to be done now (and the occassional paint chip to be repaired, this is plastic after all).

Here are two groups of the big pirates, two of them based on those large circular Warhammer style bases. My plan is to paint the edge of the base red and blue to represent the swining range of either hand, and add some stickers to show that the pirate has a shooting or long reach weapon. The pirate with the oar and the pirate with the crutch have long reach weapons. The Captain and the Irish (green coated, red haired) pirate have pistols. The rest have cutlasses of some sort.









The next picture demonstrates the relative sixe difference between the Lilliputian army and the Irish pirate.



The next three pictures demonstrate a technique a modeling colleague showed me. Go to the craft store and by a set of pastel chalk markers for about 3 bucks. Shave the end off with your exacto or (better!) sand it. If you use your exacto, you may have to dice it up a bit like you're about to do a line of blow at Studio 54 or something. Then apply powder lightly to the face and exposed areas that you intend to enhance. You can make figures look more sunburnt, get a five o'clock shadow, or very dirty looking using this method. I recommend it. In the second group of pirates, "Red Jack" in the reddish coat has a sunburn and five oclock shadow.







NOTE: You should seal the faces getting chalk dusted then seal them again afterward, Figures are MARX PIRATES recast by a Russian outfit. Paints are all acrylic from craft stores. The 6mm Lilliputians are a mix of Adler and Bacchus 6mm.
]

---

I finally got this off my work computer using these steps:

(source: CNET)

How I got rid of Winfixer

I have been struggling and trying to get rid of Winfixer 2005 for about a month. I had arranged to live with it for about three weeks. As a result of some simple incremental steps, it is now off my Windows 2000 computer. Hooray!

Here are the things I did in the order in which I did them.
1. I found the Winfixer subdirectory and renamed all the .exe files .ex2 instead. This had the effect of making Winfixer try to reinstall itself every time I rebooted. A little window would pop up and tell me that Winfixer was already installed, and did I want to reinstall it. I clicked NO, and this kept Winfixer from giving me any trouble until the next time I rebooted.

2. I ran Norton AntiVirus. It found a number of Winfixer registry entries which it said seemed to be wrong, since, of course, it couldn't find any of the files the registry entries were supposed to call. I told Norton AntiVirus to eliminate those registry entries. Unfortunately, this did not stop the little window from appearing on reboot requiring me to reply NO as in number 1 above.

3. Today, I delivered the "coup de grace" to Winfixer. Here's what I did:
a. I disconnected my computer from the Internet.
b. I rebooted in Safe Mode. (I am not sure that this was absolutely necessary.)
c. I ran the unins000.exe file in the Program Files\Winfixer subdirectory.
d. I rebooted. This time a little window came up telling me it was downloading Winfixer from the Internet and reporting how many seconds it was taking. Of course, nothing was being downloaded from the Internet since I had taken my computer offline. I closed the little window.
e. A Winfixer icon also came up on the desktop. HERE IS THE REAL TRICK!!! I right-clicked on that icon, and it gave me a screen identifying the "target" of the desktop shortcut. The target on my machine was the file C:WINNT\Downloaded Program Files\CONFLICT.4\UWFX5LP_0001_0715NetInstaller.exe.
f. I tried to Delete that file, C:WINNT\Downloaded Program Files\CONFLICT.4\UWFX5LP_0001_0715NetInstaller.exe. I was told I did not have authorization to delete that file. So, I renamed it instead, removing the first six or seven characters in its name.
g. I rebooted in regular mode. No little window, no Winfixer subdirectory, and no C:WINNT\Downloaded Program Files\CONFLICT.4\UWFX5LP_0001_0715NetInstaller.exe. In fact the CONFLICT.4 subdirectory is gone as well. I am back on the Internet, with no sign of Winfixer.

Good luck. I hope this works as well for all who are trying to get rid of this pest.

More information about WINFIXER here

Happy Birthday to me

This being the week that I traditionally celebrate cheating the hangman for one more year, and it also being payday, I'm off to purchase my own self-indulgent birthday present for myself. I know, it's pathetic, but if entrust a gaming suggestion to my family, I'll get canasta (Here, you like games, right?). Might as well let the expert handle this...

Here are the two top contenders, both of which are giant plastic bit extraveganzas:

Conquest of the Empire, Eagle Games

In Conquest of the Empire, players are Roman generals vying to become Caesar about 150 years after the original. As much fun as the 1984 Conquest of the Empire was, it needed house rules to fix problems like the catapult being too powerful. Those fixes are already in place with this game. The rules have been redone by the designer of the original game, Larry Harris, with input from Eagle's Glen Dover. Players familiar with the original will notice that the most powerful piece is the most plentiful in this game, and that is probably the way it should be. The Roman Empire was build on the sweat and blood of the infantry. (Sweat being just as important as blood since the legions were also corps of engineers that performed amazing feats of engineering that were often more responsible for a victory than their fighting skills.)

or...

Twilight Imperium, Fantasy Flight Games

Shipping in an epic-size box, this new giant-size edition of Twilight Imperium features more than 200 masterfully sculpted oversize plastic miniatures—the typical TI units (Ground Forces, Cruisers, Dreadnaughts, Carriers, Fighters, PDS, and Space Docks) as well as two new units (the massive War Sun, and the Destroyer). TI3 contains new oversize board tiles, more than 400 cards, every known civilization of the Twilight Imperium universe, almost every expansion rule and component ever published for Twilight Imperium, a gorgeous graphical overhaul, and a full color rules set

(review blurbs copyright Boulder Games)

The jury is seated, and I am prepared to hear arguments before this learned court.

Given my predeliction for wearing bunny suits at Halloween, this is very timely:

Artists erect giant pink bunny on mountain

An enormous pink bunny has been erected on an Italian mountainside where it will stay for the next 20 years.



The 200-foot-long toy rabbit lies on the side of the 5,000 foot high Colletto Fava mountain in northern Italy's Piedmont region.

Viennese art group Gelatin designed the giant soft toy and say it was "knitted by dozens of grannies out of pink wool".

Group member Wolfgang Gantner said: "It's supposed to make you feel small, like Gulliver. You walk around it and you can't help but smile."

And Gelatin members say the bunny is not just for walking around - they are expecting hikers to climb its 20 foot sides and relax on its belly.

The giant rabbit is expected to remain on the mountain side until 2025.

Source: http://www.ananova.com/

Imps, Huh?

GameWyrd has a cute little fantasy booger fighting routine running on their website; basically you create a little fighting imp with five characteristics (the imp chosen is a product of a alogrithim that interprets the letters of your name). The routine rolls a 1D10, adds it to each score and compares each one. The victor is the one with the higher numbers in the most categories. It's actually a cute waste of time.

Here! Look at me kick the snot out of Tom Vasel!



Watch me stomp Steadman!!



Watch me make Gary Christiansen my Imp-GIRL..!



It's mindless, sure.. but diverting..

FLUXX, LUCK and NOMIC Games

I've met people who look down their noses at luck based games, and they have a point. FLUXX is one of those that gets its share of grief.

Here are a few random unattributed posts on the FAR end of the scale on Boardgame geek:

• Played it twice; won it twice; hated it twice. This is a game of pure
  luck.


• Bleagh. Much too whimsical. I can see why some people would like it,
  but I would be happy if I never had to play it again -- and that's something
  I rarely say about a game.


• Not a fan. Too random for my liking!


• Weird game, not interesting at all. Not challenging, no stategies at
  all, because there are constant changes. Do something better with the valuable
  time you have to play!


• Does this game ever end?


• When is a game not a game? Completely pointless. Unfortunately, my friends
  love it.


• A good waste of time. However I don't like wasting time...


• The WORST game I've every played. Mind numbingly boring and totally
  arbitary. Not even beer and pretzels.

There has to be something going for this game, or it wouldn't have 638 comments about it on the geek!!! I admit, I like Fluxx, for what it is, and probably NOT for the reasons most people like it; it is certainly a light, quick playing card game that can be easily taught. It certainly IS random and can end very quickly or take forever to play. But that's not why I like or dislike FLUXX.

I like FLUXX because it is a card game with strongNOMIC characteristics. What does that mean? Basically, a game that has self-amendment (rule-changing) as part of the rules. The word "Nomic" was invented by Professor Peter Suber, to describe a game of self-amendment he invented as an intellectual exercise. In his words:

Nomic is a game I invented in 1982. It's a game in which changing the rules is a move. The Initial Set of rules does little more than regulate the rule-changing process. While most of its initial rules are procedural in this sense, it does have one substantive rule (on how to earn points toward winning); but this rule is deliberately boring so that players will quickly amend it to please themselves. The Initial Set of rules, some commentary by me, and some reflections by Douglas Hofstadter, were published in Hofstadter's "Metamagical Themas" column in Scientific American in June of 1982. It was quickly translated into many European and Asian languages. Games were regularly played, and kicked off, the ARPANET, the Defense Department network which sired the Internet. Nomic has been used to stimulate artistic creativity, simulate the circulation of money, structure group therapy sessions, train managers, and to teach public speaking, legal reasoning, and legislative drafting. Nomic games have sent ambassadors to other Nomic games, formed federations, and played Meta-Nomic. Nomic games have experienced revolution, oppressive coups, and the restoration of popular sovereignty. Above all, Nomic has been fun for thousands of players around the world. For me, it was intended to illustrate and embody the thesis of my book, The Paradox of Self-Amendment, that a legal "rule of change" such as a constitutional amendment clause may apply to itself and authorize its own amendment. (Nomic is the third appendix of the book.)

Attribution: Professor Peter Suber, Philosphy Dept. Earlham College.

Mind you, the original Nomic as described by Peter Suber is something I find deadly dull, but it has its own fanbase of dedicatees.

Fluxx is one of those rare Self-Amending games where to PLAY the game, you are constantly changing the rules to the game. There are very few games like that. I can name only a few off the top of my head that were ever published commercially-- Cosmic Encounter being the prime example, and a few interesting side projects like DVORAK and 1000s of blank cards (both of which are rich in ideas!)

To illustrate why I think FLUXX is cool that way, I kept a brief record of a game I played with Annie at the coffee shop last night. It wouldn't fit on BLOGGER without messing up my formatting, so I posted it here:

http://mrnizz.bravehost.com/fluxx/Fluxxgamepage.html

Note how the rules are changing and the goals and actions change the direction of play. That is something that interests me.

Here's a few Game Day pictures:



At Start



Luck Favors Dad at first



The low run of Keepers early in the game generates a predictable reaction. Fortunately, some gaming papparazzi (one of Annie's friends) came by, distracting Anne from her misfortune for a bit.



End Game, Dad. I believe I nailed "Toast" with a stolen card!



End Game, Anne. Hampered by a lack of Keepers. There's LUCK again!

Anne seemed more frustrated at this one than at Castles (last week) but I imagine it was her anxiousness to flirt with the cute shopboys at the video game place next door.