Monthly Archives: August 2012
GrogHeads Interviews Designers of A Distant Plain
Building on the COIN series for GMT, designers Brian Train and Volko Ruhnke have teamed up for a hard look at Afghanistan with their upcoming multi-player counterinsurgency game, on pre-order now with GMT Games. ~
Brant Guillory, 29 August 2012
GH: OK, now you’ve both got already stellar reputations as game designers tackling tough conflicts, so how did this collaboration come about? Were you getting together specifically to work on an Afghanistan game, or were you a collaboration in search of an interesting topic?
BT: “Stellar”? Well, I might have been in the designing end of things for longer than Volko, but in terms of name recognition and overall sales, I’m still a white dwarf. Volko has scored three big hits in a row with Wilderness War, Labyrinth, and now Andean Abyss. I had helped in a playtest of Andean Abyss in 2011 and was very impressed by Volko’s COIN system. So when he contacted me with the proposal that we work together, I jumped at it.
VR: Thanks Brant! I’d say more the latter. I knew much of Brian’s work. His Algeria design had been a key influence on my own COIN Series system, so I figured that we could produce something harmonious together. I felt that Brian’s work deserved even wider distribution and suggested to him that he ought to do a design for my publisher, GMT Games, in light of GMT’s stellar production values and marketing reach. I added to that the suggestion that he ought to do an insurgency game with me, and make it part of the COIN Series—he could choose the setting. He agreed and chose modern Afghanistan. 
That topic had not been on my list, but naturally I jumped at the chance to work with him!
Prosciutto – Hamming it up with the di Parmas, Part 1
By Undercovergeek, 27 August 2012
A Crusader Kings II AAR, with all the seriousness of a cooler full of lunch meat
click images to enlarge
Welcome all, as previously discussed on the forumandvoted for by your goodselves we’re going to chart the rise (hopefully) of the di Parmas. Starting as a count and hopefully working our way up to Holy Roman Emperor or at least King, and unifying Italy on the way – small goals I know, but we have to start somewhere.
Here I am – interesting flick over parting and shaved sides hair-do, but other than that I’m rolling with the sexy Italian look. Dad’s still alive and he’s the Martial of our lands – which consist of Parma, and Corsica. I’ve got 2 kids, and I’m unmarried – their mother seems to have been struck from the family records – god knows what unholy sin she must have committed.
Son and heir, Oberto. I like him, he hates me – he’s been tutored by Micaela di Massa, some random courtier from Parma of no outstanding qualities at all – this maybe the cause of our fractious relationship and his crappy stats, that and his slight concern that he looks exactly like all other noble children in the realm, it troubles him.
PC Game Review of Orcs Must Die 2
Reviewed by Jim Zabek, 17 August 2012
Developer: Robot Entertainment; Publisher: Robot Entertainment
A great action/tower-defense hybrid for the Orc-crushing fan, Orcs Must Die! 2 is a sequel that picks up where the original left off and raises the bar.
Orcs Must Die!
With a name like that it has to be good, right? It is. Orcs Must Die! 2 is an improvement on the original game in every way. Offering more traps, more upgrades, new levels, and introducing a multiplayer component, the sequel takes what is already a great game and makes it even better.
Sproing! I take a rare moment to admire my handiwork as I fling a hapless orc over a cliff.
A Review of Minecraft
Jim Cirigliano, 3 August 2012
Indie sensation Minecraft has exploded over the past two years. Now that the game has officially gone live from beta, Jimmy C dives in to gives us the rundown.
Imagine yourself in a vast landscape surrounded by desert to your east, lush forest to the south, tundra to the north, and a spooky entrance to a dark cave in the barren terrain to your west. You have nothing but the clothes on your back, and you must explore this vast world in search of materials in order to scratch out a living and survive.
Actually that sounds pretty scary. But that’s exactly the scenario you find yourself in when you begin a game of Minecraft.
Oh, did I forget to mention that monsters spawn in dark places? They totally do. And while you’ve been busy punching trees to collect wood, the sun has started setting.
