Unboxing new games

[Bison]

^ This all screams: DON'T POKE THE CLIPPING BEAR BARTH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Barthheart]

Don't do it! It's mutilation of defenceless counters!! What did they ever do to you?!?  :'(

If you must use a tool, use an X-acto blade or better yet a rotatory cutter to remove the counters from the frames and to separate them from each other.
That way you preserve their true Square shape, with no friendly fuzzy corners, and not the hideous rounded corner abomination that clippers enjoy.

Just sayin....... 

[Rekim]

I've got a ton of ASL counters to punch and then agonized about whether to clip or not to clip.

Don't do it! 

+1

The majority of my wargames have been clipped...but not so with ASL. There's just WAY too many of them. MMP counters come out off the sheet cleaner than most, and I clean up any jaggies with a hobby knife as I'm punching. Plus, I don't think that 1/2 inch counters look all that good when clipped.

Most ASL players that I've met do tend to clip 

Some counters benefit big time from clipping. ie. DVG counters

[Nefaro]

I like generally like clipped corners.  Makes it easier to pick them up in a crowd. 

Hell.. I use Toenail Clippers.  No complaints, just gotta keep from getting in a hurry.

But if the counters are really well cut, and don't have much in the way of fuzzies (like Legion's B-29 and Picket Duty), then I'm overjoyed to skip the process.  On the other end, I had to use an X-acto knife to cut the RAF re-release's counters out of the sheets and it was a damn nightmare.  Hope I never have to do that with anything again. 

[Barthheart]

Yeah, RAF counters were the worst cut in recent memory. I HAD to use my rotary cutter to them apart. They look good though and the game is fun.

[panzerde]

Well, the Thanksgiving Weekend got the better of me. Over the past couple of days I've ordered:

   
• All is Lost Save Honour
• Saints in Armor
• Blood & Roses
• Hoplite

I'm finally resigned to the idea that if I want to play much outside of WW2, I'd better look to boardgames to do it. Should all be here this week. Pictures when they arrive.

[bayonetbrant]

Historia arrived yesterday. Unboxing photos in a few days :)

[bob48]

Well, the Thanksgiving Weekend got the better of me. Over the past couple of days I've ordered:

   
• All is Lost Save Honour
• Saints in Armor
• Blood & Roses
• Hoplite

I'm finally resigned to the idea that if I want to play much outside of WW2, I'd better look to boardgames to do it. Should all be here this week. Pictures when they arrive.

O0

[Cyrano]

If ya wanted another HPS Ren game all you had to do was say so.

As is often the case, I'm over-analyzing the "AILSH" rules...I've long read rules for the pleasure of it...but it likely won't make sense until we start moving pieces around.

Oh, and if I could figure out a way to have it not make my eyes bleed, I think I've warmed to the HPS ancients series.  Not that they owe me a plug nickle (quite the opposite really) but, JIlson, Phillipe, Volcanoman, somebody, help a brother out and fix those uglinesses.  The gameplay is quite good.

Best,

Jim
"Cyrano"
:/7)

[Nefaro]

I thought the HPS Ancients series was the best looking of the bunch.  The pixel art is enjoyable.  It's just the damn trees & buildings that block out your units which gets on my nerves.  It's also rather claustrophobic on lower resolution screens since the unit count is so large but you can't view much of the battlefield on the so-called "3D" view (aka 'stack terrain artwork on top of your units mode').   Nevertheless, when I see large swaths of spear armed pixel armies lined up against each other, I get all tingly.


Had a recent issue with Greek Persian Wars where the unit order window would only partially pop-up on my notebook pc.  Tried a few different things but the background and parts of the buttons don't materialize so it can be tricky close the window or clicking the proper hotspot.  Hasn't done this in my three other Ancients games in the series, so dunno what's up.

[panzerde]

If ya wanted another HPS Ren game all you had to do was say so.

I want another HPS Ren game.  O0

As is often the case, I'm over-analyzing the "AILSH" rules...I've long read rules for the pleasure of it...but it likely won't make sense until we start moving pieces around.

Well, even the designers state in the Consim thread that the rules are a tough read. I came to the same conclusion - the way to learn this is to fire up VASSAL and have at it. I'm pushing counters around for ATO's A Thunder Upon the Land right now but will cheerfully take a break for either Ren of trying out AILSH any time.

Oh, and if I could figure out a way to have it not make my eyes bleed, I think I've warmed to the HPS ancients series.  Not that they owe me a plug nickle (quite the opposite really) but, JIlson, Phillipe, Volcanoman, somebody, help a brother out and fix those uglinesses.  The gameplay is quite good.

I struggle a bit with the purples and the like, but find the 3D view reasonably useful in these. My frustration is the borderless window thing they have going on. But yes, the gameplay is great. Happy to give one of those a spin, too.

[Rekim]

What, me, again, already!?!

It's a good thing the boss doesn't frequent these forums...or I'd have some splaining to do.

Anyways, yesterday I chilling in the man cave, enjoying my day off with some light counter punching, when the UPS man came a knocking. Under his arm was the latest edition of the Blocks in Europe collection.

Right away I liked what I was seeing. Not only is the box huge, it is thick and heavy, shiny black like a Cadillac. I think it is evident from the photo even that it is no ordinary wargaming box.



It doesn't look like your standard wargame on the inside either. Appears more like a euro at this point. Well it is straight off the boat from Italy, and once pimped up with stickers and connected with the rest of Europe I'm sure it will be a thing of beauty.



My order also included the chrome expansion kit for my Blocks in the East game. A cool feature of this series is how modular it is, with different editions of each title, upgradeable maps/blocks, all components can be ordered individually by type.



Now the circle is complete. Just need to buy some planks for my table...so I can lay it all out at once. My table is 3'x8' and need some extending for the standard map. Makes me wonder how anyone could deploy the enlarged gortex edition of the map!?

[bayonetbrant]

Bring it to Origins next summer and we'll set it up! :)

[bayonetbrant]

front page today is the unboxing of Historia

last Wednesday we had the unboxing photos from EuroFront II

[BanzaiCat]

Brant, do you guys want a quick unboxing article on D-Day at Tarawa?