Category: News

12/17/14

GrogHeads’ 2014 Holiday Buying Guide Extra – For the Junior Gamers!

Christmas Suggestions for Potential Junior Gamers

Avery Abernethy, 17 December 2014

Any great hobby needs new converts and Christmas is a great time to provide unexpected gifts to unsuspecting grandchildren, nephews, nieces, cousins and the like to encourage them to join our hobby. A good gift for a novice should be relatively easy to play, provide wonderful fun examples of classic game genres, should work on a wide range of inexpensive PCs, have multiple difficulty settings for a range of intellectual and ability levels.  A good section should also include major elements of the game genre.

An unexpected and unrequested gift should also be inexpensive.  Honestly, if you are providing a true “surprise gift” to get the next generation interested in PC gaming you will probably make a number of gifts to several youngsters before finding that special, gifted young person who will truly appreciate the gift and enjoy the hobby for years to come.

But the most important element is fun.  You want the game to be relatively easy to learn but a lot of fun.  Nothing drives away potential converts than thick rule books, complicated play, and less than fun games.  Do not give your novice grandchildren War in the Pacific, War in the East, or Dominions 4.  I’m not recommending any shooters since any youngster with even a minimum of interest has played Call of Duty or some other shooter on a game system.

Tactical Wargame

Panzer Corps – available on sale from Slitherine on sale now for $10

Features:

  • Fog of war
  • Zones of Control
  • Combined Arms Tactics
  • Range of difficulty settings
  • Limited number of units
  • Some limited ability to recognize European maps
  • Kids get to learn the difference between a Panzer 3, Panzer 4, Panther and Tiger tank!
  • Kids get to learn why the German 88 was such a beast
  • Very fun!

Because this game has some very easy settings it can appeal to the absolute novice.  Yet the game introduces many critical components of tactical wargames.  This game has had remarkable popularity and is a good start to this side of our hobby.

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12/13/14

GrogHeads’ 2014 Holiday Buying Guide

The annual tradition returns – the holiday buying guide!

Once again the holiday season approaches, and once again gamers’ loved ones may be struggling to come up with a gift that goes deeper than a tie, sweater, or fruit cake. Relax. Grogheads is on it, and once again we are proud to present our Buying Guide for the hard-to-buy-for gamer/military historian. Once again our categories are broken down into approximate areas of interest. They’re not going to be perfect, but hopefully at least one will cover a sufficient area of interest that you can safely point a gift-giver to. And enough of the dangling prepositions. Let’s get on with it!

For The Electronic Gamer

At the top of the list have to come PC wargames. Many good ones have been released this year and hopefully at least one on this list will hit a sweet spot.Command Air Naval Ops GH Award Logo

Command Air Naval Ops BoxCommand: Modern Air Naval Operations Wargame of the Year Edition

Fans of modern naval warfare on the PC will find Command a must-have. Players can simulate battles from the 1950’s through the modern era and pretty much any nation with an ocean view can be dialed up for conflict in this game, if one of the pre-made scenarios doesn’t do it for you.

 

 

Battle Academy 2: East Front

Gamers playing on the iOS aren’t missing out on much of the action. Battle Academy 2 has been released and East Front leads the way for some light tactical wargaming on the iPad. Offering fun, scripted scenarios this is one of those games that is both enjoyable and challenging. And it covers the Eastern Front. What more is there to say?

Battle Academy 2 Eastern Front Logo

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10/20/14

Breaking News: Panther Games signs with LNLP

20 October 2014

Lock’n’Load Publishing and Panther Games have both confirmed the news, and Panther Games’ next digital and tabletop releases will be with LNLP.  Yes, you read that right – LNLP is going to republish Panther Games’ original Trial of Strength boardgame.

Here’s a little something for you to ogle while the news sinks in…

The new Command Ops GUI
The new Command Ops GUI

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10/17/14

A Visit With LNL Publishing – Old Roads Well Trodden

Jim Zabek, 17 October 2014

Following up his visit to Colorado, Jim drops some more Lock’n’Load news in our lap.

Click images to enlarge

Old Roads Well Trodden

Last week Grogheads published my initial take of a visit to LnL Publishing. Along with me, Dave Lowry also visited LnL Publishing and his article can be found on Clubfantasci.com. Between our articles a number of questions were raised by readers regarding the direction of the company. It is not the intention of this article to address every question raised, but rather to share additional information which should give readers a sense as to the overall direction LnL Publishing will take. Hopefully many of the questions out there will be given answers.

LnL Publishing’s roots are firmly established in traditional tabletop warming. Readers concerned that LnL might depart from those roots should rest at ease: all that printing equipment recently purchased is of little use to electronic games. Yes, LnL is interested in expanding its horizons into different genres and media, but gamers should rest assured that Mark Walker continues to work on boardgame designs.

What can gamers expect to see in the near future? I already hold in my hands (well, technically it’s in the chair next to me as I type) World at War Compendium 2. A reprint of Compendium 1 is also in my possession. Printed and sealed in a plastic bag, it lacks only counters, which have to be printed overseas, in order to ship out the door.

LNL-comV2-3
The new Compendium includes additional maps, along with the scenarios, counters, and AARs.

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10/11/14

A Visit With LNL Publishing – The Overview

Jim Zabek, 11 October 2014

J-Z spent a few days hanging out with the LNL crew in Colorado.  There’s plenty more to come, but here’s a little wet your whistle.

Several months ago I chatted with Mark Walker, founder of Lock ‘n Load Publishing (since renamed to LNL Publishing – lnlpublishing.com) about the resent sale of Lock ‘n Load. In the interview Mark made it clear that he would still be the creative juggernaut behind his game series such as World at War, Nations at War, and of course the series which started it all, Lock ‘n Load.

 Click images to enlarge.  Really enlarge…

LNL's new lobby
LNL’s new lobby

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