Category: Featured Posts

07/10/14

AARsday! Sergeants Miniatures Game at Origins 2014

Game Master extraordinaire Vance Strickland gives us a quick dash thru one of the games he supervised at the GrogHeads Wargaming Central Command at Origins.

Vance Strickland, 10 July 2014

Click images to enlarge

The last organized game of Sergeants Miniatures Game (SMG) of the con was to be a team game. We had three people show up, along with one guy’s wife who he convinced to be his team mate. She was obviously a gamer but said she was not a wargamer.

So with four people, two playing the US paratroopers and two playing the German light infantry, Rob Belli from Lost Battalion Games set about explaining the rules. While this was going on the husband kept asking me about the tactics of the game, how certain terrain worked, what was the best way to use a firebase and a maneuver group etc… which was all good, but this wasn’t Advanced Squad Leader.  SMG is a light skirmish-level game that’s meant to be fun and fairly quick to play. His wife was listening intently to Rob’s explanations as were the two German players.

In my head I gave each of the players name tags. Cpt. Ernest and Plucky Wife were the US players. The German players were a gentleman in his early 60’s and young man in his 20’s. Both German players were wargamers and recognized SMG for what it was. The German players became Junior German and Senior German to me.

Each team player was given a section consisting of five troops, including a mix of rifle and sub-machine gun armed men, an NCO leader, and a machine gunner. The NCO leader gives you more action cards to draw each turn, which gives you more options for what you can do in a turn. It’s best to protect these guys but you can’t leave them too far behind because they are also the ones that can rally your pinned troopers.

 

Rob Belli explains the rules to the teams
Rob Belli explains the rules to the teams

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07/6/14

GrogHeads Reviews Eschalon Book 3

Hop on GOG.com and pick up some old-school RPG action.

by Avery Abernethy, 6 July 2014

Eschalon Book 3 (EB3) is the final release in the Basilisk Software trilogy. It is a single person, turned based role-playing game. This review is based on more than 25 hours of game play and the completion of all major quests. Although the game developers were kind enough to offer me a review copy through Steam, I purchased a copy from www.gog.com. I bought a copy because I like having the game in DRM-free mode, in a form easily playable on the road when I lack an internet connection. The www.gog.com download was fast. I did not have any technical problems with the game crashing, freezing, or similar problems.

EB3 follows the conventions of the previous two releases which are common to many computer role playing games. The player has the choice of four different types of starting characters: a melee fighter, an offensive magic specialist, a defensive/healing magic specialist, or a missile weapon oriented fighter. Your character starts very weak, with poor armor, weapons, or a few weak spells. Your initial opponents are also weak.: your first enemy encounters are against rather large roaches which you beat to death with wooden clubs.

start out weak
Start out weak

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07/4/14

GrogHeads Advanced Research on Projects Advisory #48

So the 4th of the July, we’re bringing 4 excellent GARPA possibilities. No, we won’t bring you 19 on the 19th.

 

BOAR, MBT Expansion (GMT Games)
203 Orders to date – not there yet

GMT’s modern-day tank shootout MBT has the usual suspects: the US 7th Army and the GSFG. But there’s plenty of tank-blasting goodness up on the Lüneberger Heide where the British Army of the Rhine was facing down an equally vast array of Soviet forces. The MBT games are scaled at the squad and individual vehicle level, ensuring tight focus on tactical shootouts where a bayonet charge is always possible. MBT is on p500 itself, but while you’re over there, get an order in for BAOR, too, and refight the whole shebang back in the late ‘80s.

C&CNapoleonicsbn1(RBM)

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06/27/14

Origins 2014 – The Photos

Wrapping up the key Origins coverage of Origins 2014, here are several photo collections, covering gameplay, the exhibit hall, the minis room, and the GrogHeads Central Command.

There are some some interviews with people from Origins coming up later, but the coverage of the show itself pretty much wraps up here.  We hope you’ve enjoyed our look at a great game convention and that you can join us next year at the GrogHeads Wargaming Central Command at Origins 3-7 June, in Columbus OH.

Click photos to enlarge.  Photos by either Corinne Mahaffey or Brant Guillory

 

GrogHeads’ Central Command

with the Staff Wargaming team (man, we gotta get a better name for them!) and the organized wargaming events for Circle of Fire, Orange Crush, Sergeants! Miniatures Game, Julius Caesar, Spearpoint 1943, and Test of Mettle.

[tribulant_slideshow gallery_id=”4″]

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06/26/14

Prosciutto – Hamming it up with the di Parmas… Part Six-and-Twenty

The di Parmas roll on as Oberto’s death rattles the family.  And now…?

Click images to enlarge

In Part 25 Duke Oberto died in an accident at the Emperor’s Grand Tournament, his son Benvenuto became head of the family but the di Parma lands were split amongst two other brothers. In Part 26 Benvenuto must appease the brothers or seek other diplomatic means to bring them to heel, calm the uneasiness in his vassals and bring stability to the region.

 

CKII-Pic250

 

Benvenuto’s first action is to try and imprison Count Chiaffredo of Taranto. He is heading a faction to try and install a bishop within his land as Count of Salerno, and thats Benvenuto’s title. Its a risky move, if it fails and Chiaffredo rebels there will be a war fought Benvenuto can ill afford. In the end it pays off and the traitorous git is thrown into the dungeon

 

CKII-Pic251

 

Here we go, the first brother, Buonconte challenges Benvenuto and starts a family civil war.

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