Here's some photos Jack Mosquera posted to the TNGG Yahoogroup. A pretty decent portryal of a Fantasy Chariot race, as we play it.



Photos: Jack Mosquera
Game: Steve Gibson

Think good thoughts for Steve, who is recovering from extensive surgery at the moment.

I had tried the Squad Battles system by HPS Simulations before. I think the game was "When Eagles Strike" or some such. Honestly, it was ho-hum for me. I guess I've seen one too many small scale World War Two games set on the Western Front. Just out of curiousity, I was over at the HPS site a month or so back, and discovered the HPS people had made a version of the Squad Battles for both the Spanish Civil War and the Russo Finnish War. Now this was a totally different kettle of fish. I picked both of them up (used) and installed them on my old beater Vista "fun machine" in the study. Even though I'm more of a fan of the Spanish Civil War I installed and played Winter War first.

I've changed my mind about Squad Battles. What fun this is! There's something inside us all that approves of heroic last stands, and the Finns were all over this in the Winter War early in World War II. To quote the advertisement blurb:

For 105 days, the tiny nation of Finland fought a war that typically merits only a footnote history books, or a passing remark in a WWII documentaries. Taking on the vast manpower of the Soviet army, the Finns put up a fanatical defense of their homeland, inflicting horrific casualties on the invading Soviet army. In the end, the overwhelming number of Soviet troops and tanks sent into Finland forced the Finns to sue for peace, but they walked away from the conflict with their much bigger neighbor with their independence and national pride intact. Their struggle influenced the landscape and direction of the entire World War that followed--and perhaps the outcome as well.

Winter War is a tactical level simulation of this conflict using the Squad Battles system... and it's pretty complete, too. 75 scenarios, 3 major campaigns.



My second attempt at Squad Battles revealed it's depth to me. There are many options here-- the AI may not be brilliant, but it is relentless (if you set it high enough) and if you play the Finns in the Winter War, well, your work is already cut out for you. Click on the picture above to see the result of a recent narrow Finn victory, where the Finns were defending a rail line with small outposts here and there on the map. The Finns had men with rifles, two very useful armored trains that were dispatched early as you can see, and a few buildings to hide in, and good cover. The Soviets had tanks, artillery, hordes of men, and air support. The dead (rifles), pinned (P) and Demoralized (D) markers are ample testimony that the AI knows how to attack, Soviet style.

I'm greatly pleased with this purchase and unlike a lot of other computer games at various scales, I don't see me getting hugely bored with it that quickly.

FALL IN! 2008: It was a good time!

FALL IN 2008 has come and gone, and I have to say I'm really enjoying this show these days, maybe more than the others-- it's mellow, laid back and the crowds aren't overwhelming like they can be at HISTORICON. I showed up late on Thursday, but early enough to schlep tables with Andy Turlington. I was volunteering for this one, and had been assigned a nice enough task-- working the front desk at the exhibitor's hall. One nice part of this job is that you get to see EVERYONE at a convention if you work a dealer's hall. Less nice, is you seem to be "away from the action" most of the time. So it goes. Me, I liked it, but I like schmoozing with people.

I don't know beans about attendance numbers, how well we did with the money, etc. So I can relate only the anecdotal stuff.. Bob from RLBPS told me he had his best Friday at FALL IN, evah! I saw some new dealers present, from the puzzling "I'll renovate your basement" guy to a couple new boardgame dealers. The folks I talked to seemed very pleased with the amount of business they were doing. Another BIG intangible-- you couldn't find a parking spot at the All-Star on Saturday for love nor money, unless you went way back in the back forty to a "lot B" I had no idea existed. That's a first.

I did some judging for Pete Panzeri, for the GM awards. I had to join in giving the AUSTERLITZ game I saw run in the All Star one more in the fistfull of awards it received; simply lovely old fashioned 15mm Napoleonic goodness. Reminded me of Borodino 92 (remember that one?).

I participated in the Society of Daisy's OFF THE TABLE MODELING and OFF THE TABLE PAINTING contests-- I didn't really think I had much of a shot at it but it's a worthy effort, worth supporting. So I entered my "Steampunk light armor company" made entirely from kid's toys and castoff junk. I submitted my "Clockwork Hussars" in the painting contest-- with very little hope of a prize. Let's say I "paint for utility". Sure enough, none of them won first prize, but one of them (can't figure out which) won THIRD prize.. hey, ten bucks. That's a beer and a half!

Jim McGaughey ran an HMGS-sanctioned painting contest too, it was supposed to transpire on Saturday in the All Star, I think-- I couldn't find it. I hope it went well.

I got asked to run FALL IN, during the course of the weekend. I said I was interested, but thought Andy Turlington was in line for this job, and wouldn't make any kind of strong case for myself if he wanted it-- Andy's a great candidate for the position, and I really don't have any ego about being a Big Chief or lil' Injun after doing the COLD WARS job for four years. Fortunately Andy took the job and I think he's the best man for it.

Got into a great game Friday night, BIPLANES AND BATTLESHIPS, based upon the Hector Bywater "Great Pacific War" scenario. I sacrificed my light cruiser squadron, but the Americans ultimately won with heavy losses. Yay! Liked the rules system, the historical era, and the scale (1:6000th). I may pick this up and try it some time.

Here's a Travel Montage:



I didn't end up buying out the store. I got some Historical Products 20mm Spanish Civil War stuff (for use with Russian Civil War armies.. they adapt well). Mostly these were "anarchists" and troops with the Adrian Helmet, plus a few guns. I picked up some WW2 naval infantry at Dave Markley's recommendation, from Pegasus models. These will make dandy Russian Civil War Naval Infantry troops, if I ignore or convert the ones with machine pistols. I have some Naval Infantry from IT FIGURES painted up already, but I like the poses on these guys-- more aggressive and more detailed. I also got another Pegasus set of Russian log houses, a Whippet tank, and a Scout car.

I didn't get into the cubicle zombie game, Saturday night.. I was out having dinner and didn't get back in time. It sure looked funny. It's a great idea, but I'll just wait for this chap to run it again. :-D



So, instead, I hung out, drank beer and played boardgames. The first attempt was BETRAYAL AT HOUSE ON THE HILL. This proved a tad complex to the fellows assembled. Since the "Traitor" guy showed up fairly early the game ended after I'd gone the grand total of one room in to the mansion. Somewhat anti-climatic.





John C's excellent dramatic reading of the events paragraph (captured on a period authentic Edison Kinescope) was the highlight of this game.

SEE THE VIDEO, bottom of the page.

I wanted to get in on the game of Mall of Horror nearby.. but it was full up. Sigh.



Since Betrayal lasted.. oh.. five minutes or so, and most of the rest of the company present were passed out, we pulled out a recent purchase, COWBOYS: THE WAY OF THE GUN, by Worthington Games. Mostly as a learning experience.

Scenario: Bust Our Pard out of the Jail



Citizens cleared the streets when Stinky, Paco, Snake Eyes and Jeb rolled into town.



The Sheriff was there to greet us. "Por Favor, Sheriff, might I inquire.." (BANG! "Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!") Clearly the local law facists don't care for Mejicans.. Paco was shot in the stomach before he and the sheriff could exchange greetings. Stinky, Paco, and Snakeyes duked it out the local law dogs, while Jeb rode round the long way.



The ensuing gun battle was a fracas. Paco and Stinky were riddled with bullets, enforcing my low opinion of this town's tolerance for both hispanics and the unwashed. The Sheriff and his deputy ceased to exist. However, that was the signal for the uprising of citizenry. Every other turn, a new citizen popped up to activate and start blasting away with shotguns and rifles. Paco and Stinky rode hard for the outskirts of town, but ended up getting killed right on the edge of the map. Sigh. Victory was so near.



We rather liked COWBOYS. Like GUNSLINGER, without all the detail work and fine level of granularity.

Sunday was anti-climatic as it usually is. I flea-marketed a bit, for the first time. I made some money! James Mattes ran the raffle for prizes in the dealer's area.. it seemed to have gone over well. I went home not exhausted, as usual, but pretty energized. I had a great time and will definitely attend more FALL INs in the future.

Sales, Sales, Sales...

1. Taking advantage of the Matrix Holiday Sale

And having grown up a Cold War baby, I thought I'd pick up FLASHPOINT GERMANY as it was going for fairly cheap, like 26 bucks for Digital Download. Surprsingly, it's a pretty good little game for the price, and the AI puts up a fight. I've played two scenarios so far; one a West German recon unit blundering into a Soviet Advance (as the Sovs) and one as a Nato Armored Cavalry unit trying to stop a Soviet Armored advance (just getting started, see below).



Admittedly, I haven't tried the manual yet, but it seems pretty intuitive. There is a lot of micro management going on in this interface, so I wouldn't care to play a large scale game with tons of units (you can move units by the stack or by the unit, but it usually works out as by the unit).

The interface reminds me strongly of a very similar game, TAC OPS, put out by Arsenal, then Shrapnel. The same grid map, similar unit icons (slightly better done in Flashpoint, IMO), and a similar drill-down interface. Of the two, right now I prefer Flashpoint. It's far easier to figure out-- of course, that could be the shock of the new talking. We'll see how I feel after repeated plays. Right now, I'm somewhat impressed.. this game has a real "old SPI game" feel to it, circa early 1980s. I like it!

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2. Treasure of the MEI Micro Center budget bin...

Also on deck is a 7 dollar purchase from the budget bin at MEI Micro Center. Normally, I absolutely loathe real time shooter games-- I think they don't reward creative thought, and foster violant responses. However, I've always been something of a sucker for the old ROGUE TROOPER series from the U.K.'s old 2300AD comic book publications. Sure, JUDGE DREDD got the covers, and the movie, and the games and the lion's share of the merchandising, but his strip wasn't nearly as well written, thoughtful and interesting as the saga of the lone genetic infantryman, Rogue Trooper, trying to work his way around the perils and pitfalls of Nu-Earth, fighting the forces of Nortland and supporting his Souther buddies. So, when I saw it hit the seven buck mark.. I thought "meh, it's almost disposable at that price".


The game installs well on a XP and I had no problems running it with a CD. Graphically, the developers at Rebellion (contracted to Eidos, who distributes ROGUE TROOPER) got the look and feel down pat. One DOES get the feel that he is on Nu-Earth, in the middle of a major altercation, with some very heavy ordinance being laid down in his direction. The core of the game itself is a third-person, primarily action-based title, that sees you following a relatively conventional structure of pursuing mission objectives and shooting lots of enemies. I haven't played much, if any, games in this genre but it would seem that the mission structure is fairly ho-hum from the reviews I've read. Even so, the game evokes (visually, at least) the milieu perfectly. Alas, from what I can see so far, the enduring plot of the comic isn't much in evidence. The traitor General responsible for the Quartz Zone Massacre (a very important element in the source comics and Games Workshop board game that was based upon the series) seems to be part of the game, according to the documentation, but I have a feeling he will be a big end of game buggaboo. We've seen this before.


In sum, visually stunning, great graphics and sound, but no long term legs. Worth seven dollars, easily!