Author: Jim Zabek

06/27/13

Warlock Four-Player AAR

LongBlade: The first report of our four-player Warlock brawl was filed by MetalDog and can be found here. MetalDog, it should be noted, has a couple of nom de guerre and folks sometimes refer to him under his Steam moniker, Stophro. It’s the same guy, just a different name. Hopefully this won’t confuse readers if I warn you ahead of time.

I’ve started trying to color code each person’s name with the color of them in the game. MetalDog is blue. Bartheart, I have just learned, is yellow. Yellow (see what I mean?) doesn’t show up too well with a white background so I’m going to use a slightly different color, amber.

Anyway, during the last session the game was just starting and we were following MetalDog as he discovered Bartheart to his southeast. Now I will pick up the narrative from Bartheart’s perspective as he explains his starting position and his reaction to finding his neighbor, MetalDog, so close to his own borders.

Bartheart: Turn 1 – Déjà vu all over again

So, here we go again with a different group of vict… err… players that MetalDog has dug up for our bash fest. Should be interesting.
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06/23/13

Civilization V: The Guide to Mods

Chris Mohon, 23 June 2013

Your Guide to Civ V Modding Madness!

I am a gamer.

Like so many of you, I started gaming at an early age, pushing cardboard pieces around on colorful maps, shooing the family cat away, and rejoicing when the alien technology plucked out of the Roswell UFO crash resulted in a brand spanking new Commodore computer on my desk. Because really, of all the wonders that a computer can bring into your life, what’s better than computer gaming? Ummmm…..well, keeping in mind that this IS a family website, anyway…..

Without a doubt, no game has stolen more hours of my life away than Sid Meier’s Civilization series. I’ve logged in over 500 hours on Civ V alone, and I’ve played every previous version at least as much. Back in the days when a new top-of-the-line computer was obsolete within a year, two at most, occasionally  a game came along which drove otherwise rational gamers to upgrade their computers so they could play the darn game. Civilization II-III and Panzer General 2 were responsible for many pitiful explanations (by that I mean begging) to my wife as to exactly why I needed a new graphics card and more memory or the Holy Grail, a new machine!

Clearly, I’m not the only Civ junkie. Every new Civ is an automatic best-seller, but the most telling thing about the game is perhaps the devotion of the fans who create mods, civilizations, maps, units and scenarios for the various Civs. As thrilling as Civ has always been to me, the opportunity to add units and maps of my own preference to Civ is the icing on the cake. Dreadnaughts, air ships, helicopters, nuclear carriers and subs, panzers, giant Mechs, Celtic kings, and Southern Generals, huge maps of the real world and detailed maps of fantasy kingdoms, most of these things have found their way into proper Civ games at one time or another, with many being initially created by fans to be inserted into a very moddable Civ universe.
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06/20/13

Warlock Four-Player AAR

LongBlade: Sometimes I think working here at GrogHeads is like living in Valhalla. We fire up wargames, fight all day, at the end of the evening retire for some rest, pour a drink, and chat on our forums. Then we get up the next day and do it again.

In this AAR four of our forumites have taken up the sword and are playing a four-player multiplayer game of Warlock: Master of the Arcane. Although I know their real names (and they’re good ones) we’ll file each of these reports under their nom de guerres on our forums so that folks can direct any questions to them there without confusion.

MetalDog appears to be the instigator of this particular game (no surprise to any of us who follow the forums regularly) and he’s the guy setting up the game. I’ll let him set the scene from here:

MetalDog: Choosing the parameters.  Not sure how well versed everyone is, so, I chose Normal Difficulty.  Ten minute Turns should be enough time and you can only win by eliminating your rivals.

Warlock-aar-part1-MetalDog-2013-04-08_00001

The map is cylindrical allowing movement East to West over the border of the minimap and is made up of continents.  There are four total combatants and three other worlds.
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06/18/13

Interview: Cthulhu Wars Creator Sandy Petersen

Few things simultaneously strike as much terror in the hearts of sane men and glee in the minds of sci-fi fantasy fans as great Cthulhu, sleeping in his underwater tomb of R’lyeh. Similarly, few things strike as much glee in the hearts and minds of wargame and boardgame fans as lavishly detailed, large scale, and high-quality miniatures tromping across a map. Well, Sandy Peterson, design director and front man of Green Eye Games has a project that intends merge the terror and fanatic reverence of the Old Ones with the hardcore world of table top miniatures. This project, Cthulhu Wars, has just recently been added to Kickstarter and is poised to be a huge success. I’ve tracked down Sandy Petersen in his eldritch lair and, communicating through dark magiks, was able to ask him a few questions.

GermanySandyPetersenCthulhuWarsInterviewJune192013Notes

Son of Montfort, Senior Boardgaming Editor for GrogHeads (GH): Thanks, Sandy for agreeing to talk with us about your exciting new project. Many fans will instantly recognize your name as the author of the original Call of Cthulhu roleplaying game. But you have been absent from the world of tabletops and pen & paper for quite some time. Could you tell us a little about the pedigree of you and your team and why you decided to return to your “Great Old” roots with a game set in the Cthulhu Mythos?

Sandy Petersen (SP): Well, I will be frank. I had decided that I would have to return to the digital gaming world, take a salary, and henceforth work for other people, on their projects.  Cthulhu Wars was going to be my swan song – my last-ever venture into Cthulhu for tabletop gaming. I got together with Rob Atkins and Rich Luong, as partners and artists to put this together. Our plan was to create a fun little game that would become a cash cow to give us all an income stream on the side. I had already accepted a job offer to begin working making iPhone games for a foreign-based firm.
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06/18/13

Tuesday Screenshot

Tuesday Screenshot June 18 2013 CMFI screenshot

In the distance the smoke rising from the burning wrecks of the Hun’s tanks blemishes an otherwise beautiful view.  The tank beneath me slowly rumbles forward as I can hear the main gun being reloaded behind me.  Ahead lays a vineyard that will soon be destroyed.  I take no pleasure in destroying the livelihood of another, but it stands in my path to the enemy.  In this moment beyond the destruction of my enemy nothing else matters, all else is forfeit.  The thought of this scares me but I know it is what must be done.  So much has been changed by this war, so much is different.  These thoughts, this singled minded drive for destruction, I did not always think like this … what have I become?

 

By Dan Pinkham

Game: Combat Mission: Fortress Italy