Monthly Archives: May 2012
Video Explorations of GMT’s 1989
Son of Montfort, 30 May 2012
Not 1, not 2, but 3 – count’em 3! – videos on GMT’s new 1989
Unboxing & Mechanics
Mechanics (cont’d)
After-Action Review
Wargaming On The Go! – Small General
Brant Guillory, 23 May 2012
Developed by VR Designs
click images to enlarge
Looking for a grognard-quality game in a light, on-the-go package? Walk, don’t run, to your Android phone and grab this little gem.
Is That A Battle In Your Pocket…?
Small General is a light wargame for the Android OS that has a generic-but-roughly-WWII-era theme that offers some interesting tactical challenges in a package that plays quickly, but still offers a robust grog-friendly experience. The “beta” is available as a free download, and includes about 5 scenarios of varying size/challenge. The paid version unlocks significantly more content. Moreover, the AI in the paid version seems to cheat less, but maybe it’s just me!
Small General is played on a hex grid with basic terrain: woods, cities, hills, marshes, etc. Units are presented as counters with attack/defend values, which are updated based on current damage status. Counters may be stacked, and the stacks examined. Additionally, attackers can pick and choose their targets from within an enemy stack. Movement is also rather simple, with a basic touch-screen drag-and-drop interface to move units around. The same motions are used to specify an attack.
Video Review: Cyborg MMO Mouse
By Son of Montfort, 9 May 2012
The Electronic Eremite pushes all the right buttons and arms your fingers with the wheels to keep your feets from failing you.
Video Review: Rex, Final Days of an Empire
By Son of Montfort, 3 May 2012
The resident Electronic Eremite, Son of Montfort, goes back to the table for an adventure in the Twilight Impreium universe.
PC Game Review of Naval War Arctic Circle
By Jim Zabek, 2 May 2012
Developed by Turbo Tape Games and published by Paradox Interactive
The world has needed a good entry-level modern-era naval wargame. Now we have one.
Planned Obsolescence
Any review of a game published by Paradox is going to be obsolete in short order. Why? Simply put: patches. Whether you are a fan of Paradox or not, it is indisputable that they have an outstanding record of publishing patches for games. These often go far beyond fixing bugs. It is not unheard of for Paradox to release a patch for a game years after its release and long after the major bugs have been killed. The goal of these later patches is simply to improve on the gameplay. With that kind of record, any review is in danger of becoming obsolete with the next patch. Not only is it likely that bugs will be killed, but gameplay may change (for the better) along with any fixes. So as of this writing everything is correct – but readers are advised to check in on our forums as well as the Paradox forums for changes…because change will come.
