Monthly Archives: April 2014
Birth of the Federation, an AAR, Part 5
Part 5: Muh-muh-muh MYYY SARONA
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While that Troop Transport makes its way to the Sarona system, where my bounty of Dilithium awaits exploitation, I’ve moved my Colony ship to the neighboring Altair system. Altair is not on my short-term plans to colonize, but while I’m waiting on the Troop Transport to arrive and build an outpost, I can go ahead and terraform the planets in this system so it will be ready later.
Meanwhile back in the Sol system, my next NX-01 peak of technological exploration, my spearpoint of…uh, exploration…is nearing completion. I’ve gone ahead and queued a couple more Troop Transports so I can send them to the Galactic North and East of Sol to help expand the borders that way.
ANZAC Attack – First Look!
Lock’n’Load re-released the original Forgotten Heroes expansion along with the new reprint, and Vance Strickland takes a look at what’s in the box. Bring the Aussies to the fight as you expand the battles of the Vietnam War on your tabletop with ANZAC Attack.
by Vance Strickland, 9 April 2014
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The new second addition of ANZAC Attack comes in the same sized box as Forgotten heroes so now you have twice the room for all Vietnam goodness.
ANZAC Attacks comes with rules/scenario booklet, new counters, 2 new maps, more dice and another player aid card.
Tuesday Screenshot – Rise of Venice
The Tuesday Screenshot travels back through time to Venice, and a small hamlet in the lagoon.
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Image: Monty
A Retro Review of Covert Action
A review of Covert Action as released on www.gog.com
By Avery Abernethy, 6 April 2014
Covert Action is a game of international espionage originally released by Microprose Software in 1990. Covert Action is a classic MS-DOS computer game written by Sid Meier and his programming team. You take the role of Max (or Maxine) Remington, a CIA trouble shooter attempting to unravel complex international criminal conspiracies from a multitude of hostile government and terrorist organizations.
My first copy of Covert Action was purchased in 1990. I loved it and it became one of my favorite all time games. I mourned when Microsoft stopped supporting DOS and donated my original copy of Covert Action to charity prior to moving to a new home. I rejoiced when DOSBOX was invented which enabled people to play MS-DOS games on a modern computer systems. This review is not based on fond memories, but on more than twenty hours of play of the www.gog.com version of Covert Action.
Each mission starts in a similar fashion. A CIA leader at HQ warns trouble is brewing. Briefings are often vague with a handful of clues and perhaps an indication of one of the organizations involved in the plot. Plots include blackmailing important officials, assassinations, stealing important bits of technology, or similar cold-war era operations. Multiple enemy groups are involved in every plot. The mastermind works through minions who perform the nasty deeds. Max then has lots and lots of choices with little to go on. Max often starts unravelling the plot by placing wiretaps on organizations or individuals who may be involved. This may yield coded messages which must be decrypted.
Developer Interview with Muzzy Lane Software
Craig Handler has a chat with the Muzzy Lane crew about their upcoming release in the Making History series, The Great War.
We recently had the opportunity to sit down with Chris Parsons, the Product Manager at Muzzy Lane Software, to talk about their upcoming grand strategy game, Making History: The Great War. As Muzzy Lane’s first departure from the battlefields of the Second Word War, this new title in the Making History series spans from 1910 through 1922, and will focus on the horrific trench warfare of World War I. Making History: The Great War promises to permit players to experiment with revolutionary new armaments, technologies and strategies in an effort to rewrite history by leading one of the great powers during one of the most turbulent and pivotal times in modern world history.
With Making History: The Great War, Muzzy Lane hopes to appeal to serious historians and hardcore gamers, alike, by combining historical authenticity with a design system geared towards fostering education through strategic gaming.
GH: Thanks for agreeing to sit down with us to talk about Making History: The Great War. As you can see from our forums, there is a lot of excitement in the air over this upcoming early access release. Our readers, who consist of old fans of the Making History series, as well as new comers, are interested in learning about Muzzy Lane, the Making History series and importantly, Making History: The Great War.
Muzzy Lane games seem to be more focused toward education and the classroom, rather than the traditional commercial gaming market. What are the backgrounds of the individuals behind Muzzy Lane and is there professional experience as educators, teachers, professors, etc.? If so, does any of this professional experience focus on either of the World Wars?
ML: At its core, Muzzy Lane is a technology company that focuses on game-based learning. In addition to education, we also make games for business training and for healthcare, and of course, for strategy gamers! Our underlying technology allows us to customize the learning for specific subjects and curriculums, and share the actions taken in the game with everyone involved. This same engine drives our Making History games as well. The founders include educators and engineers, and from the start we’ve always worked with subject matter experts. For example, we worked closely with economic historian Niall Ferguson on Making History II, and the name of that game: “The War of the World” is taken from his book of the same name.
