Diplomacy, Finis

Results for Fall, 1905 (Movement)

General Notices:

Order Results:

Well, Chris pulls out the whip and beats his poor horses again. He generates an additional 4MF from the Voluntary Strain to go with his base
speed of 20. He pulls to the inside to get to I/26.
Rob shakes the reigns, but holds off on the whip.
Jamie whips his horses, but apparently didn't make much contact because it only gained him +1MF. With his original speed of 20 and the +1, he could have been in the lead at this point, but Chris cut in front of him forcing him to move out 1 lane. With a move of 18/Out/2, Jamie ends on II/25.
Bob's team continues to run along as Bob attempts to gain control of the reigns. (NMR)
Walt cracks the whip and his horses respond (+5). With a base speed of 20 and the +5 from VS, Walt charges down the track. With Jamie in his way, Walt pulls into lane III and passes him; but not before ramming Jamie's team. However, with a roll of 5 (-3) for light chariot, a 2 on the Ramtable produces no damage. Walt ends his turn at III/26.
We have our first damage!
Ken whips his team and gains an additional +1 VS. He moves 1/Out/2/Ram MarkG chariot/1/Ram MarkG horses/10 to end at V/14. MarkG chose to Hold and accept the attacks. The first attack on the car resulted in a roll of 14 (3d6) = defender damaged. With a roll of 7 (2d6) +3 for HC = 10, MarkG suffered 4 points of wheel damage. Check for flip die roll was 7 = no flip. The attack on the horses was far more devastating - With a roll of 10+3, MarkG suffered 5 points damage to his horse #1, resulting in death. There is now a bloody mess of guts and horseflesh in VI/3. MarkG will need to cut this dead horse free before he is able to move again.

Singularity One, SPRING 1905

Results for Spring, 1905 (Movement)

General Notices:

Order Results:

LOS ANGELES - The Walt Disney Co.'s purchase of Pixar Animation Studios Inc. allows Disney to inject new creative life into its animation efforts, while Pixar can end its public run at the top of its game.

However, it remains to be seen whether the $7.4 billion price tag is justified - not to mention the fate of Pixar's unique corporate culture once ensconced in a massive media conglomerate.

Executives from both companies said preserving Pixar as a separate entity was a top priority, even as Disney hopes some of Pixar's creative power rubs off on its own animation efforts.

"I think this is great for Disney, not only to have Pixar be part of the company, but to have Pixar influence the company," Disney Chief Executive Robert A. Iger told The Associated Press in an interview Tuesday after the deal was announced. "It's also possible we'll look at Pixar and see not only how well it's run but how well it lives and seek to overlay that influence on some of our other businesses."

Disney is buying longtime partner Pixar for $7.4 billion in stock. The deal will put Pixar CEO Steve Jobs in a powerful new role at Disney and makes the billionaire its largest individual shareholder, with a stake of about 7 percent.

Jobs, who owns more than half of Pixar's shares and heads Apple Computer Inc., will become a Disney director.

Disney has co-financed and distributed Pixar's animated films for the past 12 years, splitting the profits. That deal expires in June after Pixar delivers "Cars" and it had once appeared the companies would not renew it amid friction between Jobs and former Disney CEO Michael Eisner.

But the talks revived under Iger, who became Disney CEO last October. Disney, the theme park owner that also has the ABC and ESPN TV networks, and Pixar had talked for months about a new relationship.

Key to spreading Pixar's influence will be Pixar President Ed Catmull, who will serve as president of the new combined Pixar and Disney animation studios, and Pixar Executive Vice President John Lasseter, who becomes become chief creative officer of the animation studios and principal creative adviser at Walt Disney Imagineering, which designs and builds the company's theme parks.

Lasseter has been compared to Walt Disney by many, including Eisner. Lasseter began his career as a Disney animator and is the creative force behind Pixar's films.

"Just having someone there who has enormous influence and who has enormous respect in that position will influence how films are done at Disney from here on out," said John Canemaker, head of the film animation program at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.

One immediate sign of Lasseter's influence is that plans for Disney to make the long rumored sequel "Toy Story 3" on its own have been scrapped. If the film is made, it will be done by Lasseter and the other creators of the original film, the companies said.

The deal may make creative sense, but the company could face a hurdle convincing investors it makes financial sense.

Under the deal, Disney said it will issue 2.3 shares for each share of Pixar stock. At Tuesday's closing price of $25.99 for Disney, Pixar shareholders would get stock worth $59.78, a 4 percent premium over Pixar's closing price of $57.57. The deal was announced after the markets closed for the day.

Disney said the deal would lower earnings over the next two years, but that Pixar will help increase earnings by 2008.

"It's something Disney had to do," said Harold Vogel, a media analyst with Vogel Capital Management in New York. "It's good for both companies."

The companies still need to reveal what Pixar's next films will be and provide more detail on how the combined entity will function, said Richard Greenfield, an analyst at Pali Research.

"The question remains whether the price/value relationship is going to bear fruit for Disney," Greenfield said Tuesday.

Pixar has served as Disney's de facto animation unit for a decade. Two Pixar movies, "Finding Nemo" and "The Incredibles," have won Academy Awards for best animated feature film, and Pixar films have been a financial windfall for Disney, which receives 60 percent of the profits.

By contrast, Disney's own animation unit has struggled, producing some modest successes, such as 2002's "Lilo & Stitch," and many flops, including "Treasure Planet" and "Home on the Range."

Pixar also benefits from the deal by cashing in at the top of its game, before it produces the inevitable box office disappointment, Vogel said.

"Eventually, we know that after six huge hits, there would be a film that would come along that would be less good than what they had," Vogel said. "This was a good time to broaden the horizon and the canvas. I think Steve Jobs is very smart about knowing when to hold them and when to fold."

With Jobs, Disney also tightens its link with Apple Computer, the innovative technology company behind music and video iPods.

And Jobs is likely to press Iger to further his plans to marry films, TV shows, video games and other content to computers, iPods, handheld game consoles and even cell phones.

"The last temptation is the greatest treason: to do the right deed for the wrong reason."

I'm a bad person

PASADENA, California (AP) -- One minute, Heather Graham was the face of ABC. The next minute, she was gone.

Her comedy series "Emily's Reasons Why Not" was promoted relentlessly by the network as the linchpin of its post-football Monday night schedule, but was only given one airing before being yanked earlier this month.

ABC committed to the big promotional campaign before even seeing a script for the show, said ABC entertainment president Stephen McPherson on Saturday. The series turned out to be a dog creatively, he indicated.

"Once we saw it was not launching, we felt like unfortunately it was not going to get better and we had to make a change," McPherson said.

A total of six episodes were filmed, and McPherson said no determination has been made about whether they would be burned off.

The quick hook doesn't mean producers of other ABC series with middling ratings -- "Invasion," for example -- should be shaking in fear.

"That's a great example for us of when to be patient and when to fold them," he said. "We believe in that show."

Actor Chris Penn dead, no sign of foul play-police

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Character actor Chris Penn, younger brother of Oscar-winner Sean Penn, was found dead on Tuesday at an apartment near the Pacific Ocean in the Los Angeles suburb of Santa Monica, police sources said.

No cause of death was immediately determined but there was no signs of foul play, the sources added.

A family spokeswoman confirmed the death and said the Penn family "would appreciate the media's respect of their privacy during this difficult time."

Penn, 43, was a character actor who appeared in dozens of films including "Reservoir Dogs," "Mullholland Falls" and the 2004 film "Starsky & Hutch."

In one of his best known roles, he played baby-faced criminal Nice Guy Eddie Cabot in director Quentin Tarantino's "Reservoir Dogs." He also starred along with his brother in the 1986 film "At Close Range."

Recently, Penn voiced Officer Eddie Pulaski in the video game "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas."

Dead man rides subway for hours

NEW YORK, Jan. 23 (UPI) -- It took more than six hours for anyone to realize that a 64-year-old Brooklyn man had died on a New York City subway train.

Eugene Reilly, who died of a heart attack, likely got onto a Brooklyn-bound Q train just before 1 a.m. Thursday. He wasn't found until 7:15 a.m. when a curious commuter touched his shoulder, trying to wake him, the New York Daily News reported.

Reilly, a mail handler, worked the 4 p.m.-to-12:30 a.m. shift and was headed home, his wife said. He was sitting up in his seat, which transit officials said was likely the reason their workers left him alone for so long, the newspaper said.

"The policy is that if someone is sitting up, employees are not allowed to touch them," said Deirdre Parker, a city transit spokeswoman.

A different transit official said employees probably saw Reilly, who was in the last car of the train, but thought he was sleeping.

"People sleep on the train all the time," an official said. "No one thought anything of it."

Manoeuvre: Designer Notes

Today I will be delving into the genesis of the game and what the overall game offers to both beginning and experienced players. In the summer of 2000 I was not an aspiring game designer, I was a fairly hard-core hex-and-counter wargamer. Euro gaming was around and I had just picked up Medici and Medieval Merchant at Origins. Unfortunately my friends and I had a problem. At the time we already had a combined game library of over 400 titles and we wanted to actually play all the games we had plunked down our cash for. So we were constantly cycling through games. You all know what happens when you play a different wargame every session, we never mastered any of them. Wargame rules simply don't lend themselves well for casual play. Why couldn't a fun and challenging wargame have rules as simple as Rio Grande? We were constantly frustrated at missing some little key rule tucked into some obscure paragraph on page 22.

It was in this mode that I began to seriously consider what value I could place on using historical and complex games to determine our group's gaming skill. These Euros seemed to offer a balanced opportunity for all with wonderful quality and challenging rules. I was most interested in two things; 1) Rules should be clear and simple with the player's mastery of the game mechanics the key to victory, not being the person that had the rulebook over the weekend. 2) In a wargame SOMETHING needed to be done to provide a fog-of-war feeling without sacraficing playability. Today it is obvious, cards! But it seemed like a breakthrough to me (and apparently to everyone else at the time). Sure there were a handful of card-driven games like Successors, We the People and Hannibal among others, but they were not as prevalent as they are today.



The final piece clicked in while I was driving to my mother-in-law's house one August afternoon. I let my mind wander to a game a friend, Joe Roush, had presented in to our group some months before. In the 30 minutes it took to get there, Joe's basic idea was co-opted and the entire game was created on a stack of 3x5 notecards. Within a week I had a prototype and what was to become Manoeuvre began enthralling my group with its depth of tactics, uncertainity, risk assessment, and the different options provided by the different nations.

So what is Manoeuvre? At it's heart, its a chessboard grid with 8 units per side and a deck of 60 cards unique to each of 8 nations that drive combat and special actions. Setup is easy enough to remember, you can set up your 8 pieces anywhere in the back two lines of your chosen terrain. Each player gets a starting hand of 5 cards (I still say that each player should choose the 5 cards they want to start with). And off you go.

Play is made up of only a few steps. 1) Discard any cards you don't want, this is important when you end up with cards from units in your dead pile. 2) Draw your hand up to 5 cards. 3) Move 1 unit either 1 space for infantry or 1-2 spaces for cavalry. forced March cards allow a unit to move one extra space and a Supply card can allow a move with an additional unit. No one moves diagonally and there is no stacking. 4) You may initiate and resolve one combat using a card from that unit from your hand to do so. Units have to be adjacent to volley or melee. Units may bombard up to two spaces away. No units attack diagonally (or didn't the last time I saw the rules). Each unit only has 5 cards so use them well. 5) If you have a unit on its reduced side, you may restore one unit per turn by either playing a Supply Card, one of the unit's combat cards, or rolling within a leader's Rally range on a d6. The game ends when either one player has lost 5 units or the turn when both player's have exhausted their draw pile. Victory is either Attrition (Eliminate 5 opposing units) or Territorial (Each space you occupy on the opposing side of the board and all non-contested adjacent spaces on the opposing side you influence).



The next installment will highlight the French capabilities in the game.

Part Two, the French

Manoeuvre: The French


This is the second part of my attempt to shed some light on GMT's p500 offering Manoeuvre. The game revolves around eight nationalities, each of which are different in style and capability. The French were the first nation completed and most of the other nations used the French as their measuring stick.

The game does not focus on a specific battle or even a specific period of time other than the general time of Napoleon and his reign. The values and capabilities assigned to the units were a synthesis of about a dozen books on the tactics of the era, four well-done websites, and my old collection of Military History magazines combined with a verification system utilizing two miniatures systems and a handful of Napoleonic war games. I made a conscious effort early on to not copy units values directly from other games but to use these games as a sort of fact-check after the assignments were made. On more than one occasion, units I gave one grade to substantially differed from that in some games. If this happened, I looked for more information that might warrant a change. Sometimes I found it, sometimes not. In the end, some units were downgraded a notch or bumped up simply for competitive concerns. This is especially true for the French who are very strong as is, but might have been nigh unstoppable if I remained faithful to the resources used.

THE UNITS The eight units chosen for the French were the Imperial Guard, 2nd Legere, 8th Legere. 19th Ligne, 45th Legere, 4th Suisse, Guard Cavalry and 1st Cuirassiers. This mix of six infantry units to two cavalry became the game standard and six of the eight nations adhere to this ratio. Only the Guard units were chosen without hesitation, I just knew they had to be in there. The others were harder to decide upon and honestly I could have chosen any of a dozen or so units and the game would have been the same. In the end I took represenative units that I had the best information on. Not much needs to be said regarding strengths. The units are all strong and each has the capability to launch attacks. The French cavalry pursues better than most everyone else. The artillery capabilities are above average. Both Guard units are able to refuse to advance into undesired terrain after a successful battle (most other units must occupy a position if the successfully dislodge an opponent).

THE LEADERS Each leader card can be played for one action a game. These are combining multiple units adjacent to an enemy unit into one combined attack, adding a combat modifier to a unit on either attack or defense, and rallying units that have been flipped to a reduced side during the Recovery Phase. The leaders included in the French deck are Davout, Soult, Ney, Murat, Lannes, and Nappy himself. Napoleon and Davout unite four units into one combat against a single, surrounded opponent. All of the others can combine two or three units into one attack. Napoleon and Davout add 5 to a unit's combat value, Ney 4, Soult and Murat 3, and Lannes 2. Ney, Lannes, Murat and Bonaparte can rally a unit on a roll of 1-5 on a d6, Davout and Soult do so on a 1-3. If Murat leads a successful cavalry attack that ends in pursuit, he lends an helphul modifier to the pursuit roll. Napoleon can assemble the grand battery which allows a massive bombardment attack from any unit on the board.

THE UTILITY CARDS The French have the most vanilla set of utility cards in the game. All of the cards are useful, but there is very little up their sleeves. The steamroller you see is generally all you have to worry about. There is one sapper card that negates the defensive bonuses of redoubts, one redoubt card that adds +3 to a unit's defense, 3 Forced Marches that allow an extra movement for a unit that already moved in a turn, 1 Skirmish to try to draw out defensive cards of an opponent, 4 Supply cards to either move an extra unit or restore a reduced one, and 4 Withdraws to allow retreat from undesired combats.

THE PLAY In game terms, the French could be compared to the Evil Empire (not the Yankees, the other one). Their attacks are punishing and able to breech the toughest lines if they set their mind on it, on defense they are as tough as any nation in the game, their elite units are the best units in the game, their leaders are numerous and above average. The biggest drawback is that old bug-a-boo of being able to do too much and getting over-extended. Between equal players the French should be used against the British, Russians or Prussians for even matches. If a handicap is desired, say to tempt a newcomer, the inexperienced player should be given the French against the Austrians, Americans or Spanish. I have left out the Turks here since they are almost a specialized army. A player who is experienced with the Turks can defeat the French about half the time, but someone that does not understand or like the style required to play the Turks successfully will lose every time.

WINNING WITH THE FRENCH The French pose the least problems to a player. Victory can be achieved about 55% against the other big 3 led by equally experienced players and rises to about 65% if all other 7 nations ar included. 4 Supply cards and 4 Withdraw cards make the side fairly forgiving of mistakes. The strong leaders and strong units allow a player to choose about any strategy and expect to at least be in the game to the end. The biggest benefit of the French to the game is the ability to handicap a game. The 'forgivness' factor of the French works wonders when a new player is allowed to use them. Mistakes will be made and the French resilience allows that player to remain in the game. Victory will probably not result (although it can), but the new player will not feel cheated when a unit is lost 5 minutes into a game. The remaining units can more that hold their own and keep that player involved for the duration.

COLD WARS (TM) 2006 CONVENTION DIRECTOR'S AUDIO REPORT

What Overbearing Consimworld Personality Type are YOU???

You scored as The True Fan. There is a game, maybe a couple of games, that you like very, very much. You are such a fan, you can't stand to see it punished in print or on CSW. For you, _____________ (insert game) IS wargaming, plain and simple. The True Fan 92% Mad Man 75% The Zealot 75% The Dry English Wit 58% His Divine Holiness 58% Mister Paranoid 50% The Jingoist 8% What CSW TYPE are you? created with QuizFarm.com

The Cosmic Connection between Kid's Cartoons and H.P. Lovecraft

Billy and Irwin are making prank calls. When they call Mandy, she tells them everybody has caller ID so they'll know who is calling on the phone. Billy wishes for a phone without caller ID. When he finds the phone of Cthulu, Billy and Irwin get sucked into another dimension. Grim and Mandy have to go into another universe to find Billy. After they find the two dorks, Billy undergoes a strange transformation on his face. When Billy finds a room with a phone, he makes a lot of prank calls. Anyone who falls for Billy's prank phone calls, they morph into mutants. What will be the outcome?

THE JUGGERNAUT

==================================================
The trade offered between hotspur and ScarletJester has expired.

Game(s) From hotspur
-----------------------
1. Age of Napoleon


Game(s) From ScarletJester
-----------------------
1. Dark Future

===============================================
The trade offered between hotspur and SalladDazed has expired.

Game(s) From hotspur
-----------------------
1. Elfenland


Game(s) From SalladDazed
-----------------------
1. Wizards

===============================================
Game(s) From hotspur
-----------------------
1. Elfenland


Game(s) From robbydee
-----------------------
1. Warhammer Quest


I don't think so ... I don't like Warhammer Quest, but I spent a ton of money on it, and I think it's worth more than Elfenland

================================================
Game(s) From hotspur
-----------------------
1. Age of Napoleon



Game(s) From slinkyboy
-----------------------
1. Peloponnesian War

slinkyboy's comment: Thanks, but I'm looking for a bit more for Peloponnesian War.

=================================================

Two parts:
Part 1:

BoardGameGeek Trade Proposal (the only one I've ever received)

The user 'Fenway5' is proposing a game trade with the following details:

Game(s) From Fenway5
-----------------------
1. War of the Ring

Game(s) From hotspur
-----------------------
1. Sniper!

copy unplayed only shrink is off

(I would have jumped on this, had I seen it in time)

Part 2:

(I had not seen this one until after it expired)

When you did not respond, I got a couple other people inquiring about this game and offering stuff, so if you would be willing to trade:

TSR sniper collection
Enemy in sight (AH)
Samurai (AH)

I wll do the trade with you!
Let me know,
Christopher

hotspur Wrote:
-------
Dang! That's what I get for being away from the Geek for a while.

Still interested, or is this snapped up?

Walt


BoardgameGeek Wrote:
-------
BoardGameGeek Trade Expired

The trade offered between Fenway5 and hotspur has expired.

Game(s) From Fenway5
-----------------------
1. War of the Ring

===============================================

Game(s) From hotspur
-----------------------
1. Buck Rogers - Battle for the 25th Century Game


Game(s) From nysmoke
-----------------------
1. Warhammer Quest


nysmoke's comment: Sorry, but WQ is worth about 6X (or more - mine is in like-new condition) than BR.
==============================================

An innovative approach to making your own gaming pieces

Christmas time is a magical time… more magical than you might expect!
During those twelve magical days, gingerbread men awaken, given life by the magic of the Oven and Mother Baker. They rush around your home, having adventures, getting in and out of trouble.

And there is a lot of trouble.

The HAWKs Present Barrage X

Bloody Mary: you say it in front of a mirror and turn round three times..

Resolving F1904, moving onward to S1905 with a new Austria

"From the Slush Pile" contest results

And the Winners...