Winter isn’t coming, it has arrived. The Landgrave of LongBladia is expecting tonight’s temperatures to fall into the low teens. Bitterly cold? I’m thinking we’re getting there.
To warm your hearts, if not your hearths, we’ve selected a few crowd-funded games to please the forward-looking gamer seeking to invest in a project with the hope of a grand return. Whether you consider this goal modest or grandiose, that is our mission the each GARPA column and we hope we live up to your expectation.
Digital Games
Approaching Infinity by Bob Saunders
$6,089 pledged of $5,000 goal ending December 11th
“Roguelike” is a term that often gets batted about. It’s a genre well-loved and much aspired to by gamers and developers alike. Approaching Infinity is a Roguelike 2D retro game of space exploration. With procedurally generated environments the universe is infinitely scalable, which means that it literally has no end. As the player increases is power and reaches further into the virtual universe, the game scales with him – without end.
Last week our TANKSgiving AAR was Part 1 of my Flashpoint Campaigns: Red Storm game. In Part 1 I discussed the scenario, how I’d played it before, what I expected and what I expected to be surprised by, and we got as far as the first turn, where unsurprisingly, not much happened besides the rain lifting earlier than expected.
Part 2 promises to be more interesting. Let’s pick up the game as Turn 2 unfolds and see what happens.
Turn 2 – 26 minutes elapsed
The Soviets trip more mines. Good. I detect mines going off in the north but am blind as to what kinds of forces might be scouting around there. Time will tell.
16 minutes into the turn I can tell several of my minefields have been cleared – even as others continue to slow the Soviet advance and inflict casualties. I’m not sure if this is a feature or a bug (knowing that the fields have been cleared). It doesn’t have a bearing on my game, but is interesting to know.
The yellow hexes indicate cleared minefields.
The turn ends. I know they’re coming. The suspense builds.
Turn 3 – 25 minutes elapsed
Note that my decision cycle has decreased from 26 minutes to 25. It’s a small change, but it’s going in the right direction.
I check the LOS of my recce platoon. We’ve got a nice bead on the road. This is excellent. I’m going to assign one of my M109A2 to direct support them, that way they can (hopefully) call in some thunder on the unsuspecting Soviet units. And with that I start the turn.
Checking the LOS. With the rain lifting early this gives me an advantage.
Drat! Just a couple of minutes into the game the Soviets take the 800 point VP south of my recce units. They should have been able to see those units. That means despite their enhanced scouting abilities they’re too far out to do anything. I still believe they’re in the right spot to cause some havoc, but clearly it won’t be this turn.
Suddenly a scout unit appears out of the woods on the approach to Weiskirchen. My mechanized units immediately fire on it. This is one of the great things I enjoy about Flashpoint Campaigns: Red Storm – the action unfolds almost like a movie. I issue orders but I don’t fire each shot. The game resolves each turn like a video and I get to sit back and await the results. The probing unit weathers several rocket shots but then an M1 takes it into its sights and it is blown away.
The loss of an 800 VP hex in the south and the appearance of a scouting unit in the north tell me the Soviets have arrived.
But now there’s some trouble just slightly further north. 21 mechanized units approach and threaten the other 800 point VP. I can’t worry about the VP right now – the pressing concern is to crush that unit before more of its friends show up.
That’s a lot of Soviet armor up north. Could be a recon-in-force or the main thrust of the Soviet line of advance.
Now things start to get interesting. A FIST starts firing on the mechanized unit to the north, dropping it from 21 vehicles to 12; I think – a second unit shows up and it’s difficult to follow exactly which unit is taking what damage. A second unit appears and now there are 12 in one stack and 19 in another. The game has some built-in ambiguity so variations in the reported size and composition of the opfor is rarely certain this early in the game.
More Soviets up north.
But that’s not all. 16 units have appeared in the south. A mouseover indicates there are some tanks but also a number of HQ units. If that’s true, it’s too good to pass up. I think I know where my MLRS is going to introduce itself.
But wait! There’s more!
Even more interesting – five tanks appeared near my recce team, which immediately fire on them. That’s bad, as I would rather have had them scouting than revealing themselves. The good news is that after firing they immediately start to withdraw. Unfortunately they are withdrawing to a location that can be spotted by the southern unit. Hopefully they won’t be seen.
In any case, I’m going to bring the rain. The MLRS is ordered to saturation fire on the units to the south. If those really are HQ units, I need to take them out, or at least degrade them severely. Probably the sighting is spurious, but it’s the best I have for now, so I let ‘er rip. I also order on of my artillery units to use neutralizing fire to drop on the tanks in the middle. In all likelihood that’s also an HQ unit and I’d rather give them a bad day if possible, too. If I’m correct and these are HQ units I should see a change for the worse in their decision cycle, which is estimated to be 34 minutes.
Hey kids, can you spell MLRS?
Well, no plan survives contact with the enemy. Let’s see how this goes. I start up the next turn.
Turn 4 – 25 minutes elapsed
The stack of 17 units in the middle takes a hard right and disappears heading to the north. They’re about to have a bad day.
To the south the recce guys aren’t concerned with stealth – they start firing on the unit that’s about to get some saturation fire. I’m of a mixed mind there. On one hand it’s good to just get some shooting going. Hopefully they’ll draw some other units closer who may get wrapped up with the saturation fire. On the other hand, I’m afraid that recce team is about to pay for their ferocity. The only assets they have right now are artillery. That may not be enough to save them.
A feisty recce company announces that they’re ready to play.
Next I see the 12 units turn right and head north. This is bad. My engineers are not likely to survive that kind of pounding. I may need to send some units up there to bail them out – assuming that I don’t have my hands full next turn.
Then the artillery starts to fall. The four unit of tanks in the middle takes no damage. They appear to have moved. That reinforces my suspicion that they’re an HQ. Down south we have a bit more luck. There are several explosions on the 800 VP hex as well as some damage to the stacks I can see. Excellent. Next turn I have to wait for the MLRS to move (they’ll automatically shift position after firing unless I interrupt them with an order). Then I’ll order them to resupply so we can rock some more worlds. This will take a couple of turns but will be well worth it.
When the artillery is called, Mr. MLRS is not anyone’s friend.
Then a double stacked unit appears in the center. I can see 21 units. I can’t see beneath it, but it’s clear that I’ve got some action going on in the center. Then three recce units appear on the southern road in the middle. That’s a juicy target, too, but we’ll see how the guys on the ground prioritize their fire. I sit back and watch the fireworks.
Juicy recce units in the middle.
From the north suddenly some units appear. It looks like they decided to take me head on. I can’t be sure that is all the units I saw moving north but I’d rather they bunched up as they are now. (image 34)
Then the fireworks break out. The action is too busy to call every shot. There is a ton of fire in the center and it appears as part of the process the recce team is taking out. Down south I see lots of movement and the loss of another VP as the Soviets move west. That’s fine – I have a warm reception committee waiting for them. Another piece of good news – my recce team is doing an excellent job of shoot-and-scoot. They fire, then bug out so they don’t get trapped by any ground units taking them under fire or by artillery. This is perfect. Looks like they’ll survive a few more turns.
The reception committee down south.
With the round over it’s far too early to take stock of what’s going on. My own artillery has shifted positions. Now I’m going to order the MLRS to resupply. At the end of the turn I don’t have any enemy units in sight, but I know there are a number of them around the middle objective. Figure 37 shows the number of crosses on the map designating destroyed enemy units. There are a lot, but we’re nowhere near finished.
I start the next turn – but you’ll have to tune in next week to see how it unfolds…
Gentle reader, it’s that time of year again. We’ve actually had open nominations for Game of the Year for the better part of the year, but now as the year approaches its end we want to reiterate our invitation to nominate your favorite games for final voting.
Remember: if a game isn’t nominated it has no chance of being voted upon. The editorial staff may – might – could possibly – remember to add your favorite game as we peruse the list, but don’t count on it. This is, after all, a readers’ choice award, not editors’ choice. As a reader, it is incumbent upon you to put a game’s name in the hat for consideration.
I don’t know where this bridge is. It is a long way from my humble cobbler’s shop on the outskirts of Ruzayevka. We have seized another nameless bridge, crossed another blood-cloggingly cold river, and are trying to drive the Germans out of our land so that we can go back worthless Five Year Plans, endless speeches from Stalin, and bottomless bottles of vodka. All I seek after a long day of fixing soles on shoes that have never stepped in a pool of blood is some hot sausage and kraut, a stiff drink, and a big bosomed woman willing to share my creaky bed. God I hate this war.
It’s the most wonderful time of year! When else do we get to discuss the benefits of century old armored oddities? Probably all the time if you’re a grog, but this is more special because we say it is.
Early motorized vehicles are fascinating enough…apply an inch of armor plate and a gun turret and it’s a real party. The below vehicles are some of my new found favorites…each has that certain something and they all look to have stormed straight out of a steampunk imagination. So put on your goggles, put a rag over your face and let’s see what all the kids are screaming about when they discuss very early armored vehicles. At least my kids, anyway.
Romfell Armored Car
The Romfell was built in Austria-Hungary around 1915. That gives it a slightly exotic air. In 1915 and 1916, only two existed, but they both survived the harsh conditions and combat in the Balkans against the Serbian Army, and went on to engage the Italians and Russians. That gives it a tough reputation. In 1917 dozens more were built and deployed, its successful combat record making it somewhat of a legend.
Each Romfell armored car had a crew of four, was powered by a Mercedes transmission and was armed with a Schwarloze machine gun that could be used against both air and ground targets. Reliable and fast for the era with a 26mph top speed, the Romfell is a popular vehicle for modelers.
It’s hard not to be intrigued by the Romfell. It’s very modern look, pedigree and durability guarantee that historians or car aficionados will quickly fall in love.
Fowler B5 Armored Locomotive
Armored cars are one thing…armored trains are another.
Now don’t get the wrong idea, the Fowler B5 armored locomotive did not go into combat during the Boer War at high speed with guns blazing. It did, however, deliver heavy guns and supplies for the British Army against the Boers starting roughly towards the end of 1899.
To tow these guns, the Fowler factory in Leeds, UK, produced a handful of B5s with close to 125 horsepower! With that much strength, heavy slab armor was applied to the engines to protect them and their drivers from attacks by Boer raiders. Three or four of these heavy armored locomotives were used by the British during the Boer War, some with armored railroad cars as well.
Prototypes of gun carrying armored Fowler B5s were developed but as far as I could research, none were ever deployed in a combat role. It would have been quite the scene if they had been – there’s no telling how effective they would have been at fighting. For protecting and delivering heavy equipment and guns, though, they were very successful. Continue reading →
“Roguelike” is a term that often gets batted about. It’s a genre well-loved and much aspired to by gamers and developers alike. Approaching Infinity is a Roguelike 2D retro game of space exploration. With procedurally generated environments the universe is infinitely scalable, which means that it literally has no end. As the player increases is power and reaches further into the virtual universe, the game scales with him – without end.
Gentle reader, it’s that time of year again. We’ve actually had open nominations for Game of the Year for the better part of the year, but now as the year approaches its end we want to reiterate our invitation to nominate your favorite games for final voting.
