Month: December 2015

12/18/15

Book Review: Crosswind

An adventure yarn of another time and place, but grounded in familiar themes that take the reader on an an enjoyable ride through intrigue and aerial derring-do.

Brant Guillory, 18 December 2015

Crosswind is Steve Rzasa’s first book about the Sark brothers, Winchell and Copernicus.  Winchell is a journalist at a small newspaper, and his brother is a pilot, in the frontier town of Perch.

crosswindThe brothers stumble into an intrigue filled plot involving a larger town to their South known as Trestleway.
While Cope is the adventurous brother, alternating between stunt pilot antics in the air and ladies man smoothness on the ground, Winch is the conservative family man with a wife and children.  The brothers stumble upon the mystery when Cope flies his brother out to the wreck of another aircraft to take pictures and write a story for the newspaper. I rather unfriendly gentleman masquerading as a local rancher tries to steal a coded message that the brothers discover in the aircraft wreckage. It turns out this man is from Trestleway, and the coded message is a warning of an impending “invasion” that was being flown in by the nephew of Perch’s mayor-general.

The brothers are sent to investigate, and report back to home. Along the way, they discover a variety of intrigue, and a few interesting technical – and mystical – tricks up Trestleway’s sleeves. Continue reading →

12/17/15

Gaming Nostalgia – Tri-Tac Games

Folks dug the Nostalgia ads so much that we’re keeping them around, and just changing the day. Look for our blasts-from-gaming’s-past to show up on #tbt from now on, and occasionally some other day, just to keep you on your toes.

Tri-Tac had a whole series of one-book games with different sci-fi and-fantasy premises.
Tri-Tac had a whole series of one-book games with different sci-fi and-fantasy premises.

click images to enlarge

Sound off below, or pop into our forums for a chat >>

12/12/15

GrogHeads Interviews Richard Bodley Scott of Pike & Shot

Richard Bodley Scott talks to Grogheads ~

Interview by Boggit, 12 December 2015

Click images to enlarge

Richard, thank you for talking to Grogheads about yourself and your work. Pike and Shot Campaigns is your latest release, but you are no newcomer to either computer or tabletop wargames.

  1. Tell us about yourself. How did you get into wargaming, and why are you passionate about it?

When I was a kid, my father took us to see all sorts of ancient and medieval monuments in Britain and on holiday abroad. When I discovered in 1971 that there was such a thing as ancient wargaming, I never looked back. I have been playing table-top ancient and medieval figure games for 44 years, and Pike and Shot on and off for 25.

The original Pike and Shot has seen massive expansion and improvement with Pike and Shot Campaigns.
The original Pike and Shot has seen massive expansion and improvement with Pike and Shot Campaigns.

Continue reading →

12/11/15

GrogHeads Advanced Research on Projects Advisory #83

Here comes GARPA! ~

Mark H Walker’s ’65 (Flying Pig Games)
$27k of $16k, ends 17 December 2015

The latest Kickstarter for Flying Pig is here, as previewed on The GrogCast – ’65 brings tactical combat in Vietnam to your desktop.  Building on the same system they’re using for Night of Man, this card-driven game forces some agonizing decisions on you to manage your forces during intense shootouts. All the Mark Walker hallmarks are here – stunning counters, tight storylines, and fast, fun gameplay. March over to the campaign page and pledge already!

g83-V65

Continue reading →

12/10/15

Heroes of Normandy – First Look!

LNLP’s latest release in the newly-renamed Lock’n’Load Tactical System landed on our doorstep. ~

Michael Eckenfels, 10 December 2015

Disclaimer: I am the co-host of the GrogCast, the podcast for GrogHeads.com. As of this writing, our podcast is sponsored by Lock ‘n Load Publishing, the producer of this game. I just wanted that said up front before I dive in. This game truly does look excellent, and that’s my gamer/writer side talking, and is not influenced at all by LnL’s sponsorship of our little podcast. Now, on with the article.

Unboxing articles are kind of a mixed bag. On the one hand, I get to open this brand new game that usually has just come off the production line and get to be one of the first to lay eyes on physical components. On the other hand, I have no idea what I’m looking at, so I cannot speak to the components; your guess is indeed as good as mine in some cases. Still, it’s pretty cool to take a look at these things.

This game, Heroes of Normandy, is a game in LnL’s Tactical System, and simulates the battles in France in 1944 following the D-Day landings. I have had experience with LnL’s product during Mark Walker’s reign as leader, but that was many years ago. I’ve also not been much of a tactical gamer ever, having cracked my skull against a metaphorical wall whilst playing Squad Leader solo back in the late 80s…that entire experience somewhat soured my outlook and I almost immediately immersed myself in grand strategic games (both PC and board) after that. However, over the last many years, this has slowly but surely been changing.

When GH told me I’d be getting this game for an unboxing, I immediately took to BGG and other sites to find out as much as I could about it…and saw that truly there’s very little out there. (By the time this is published, likely that will have changed. For now, though…yeah, not much.) Looking at the pictures on LnL’s website and those they posted to BGG and elsewhere, as well as checking out the price tag – $89.99 as of now – it was pretty obvious this is a monster game.

Click images to enlarge

HoN-Unbox-001

 

When the box arrived, it was heavy. I mean, HEAVY. It felt like a brick was in the box. So when I opened it and found a thin box inside…I was somewhat mystified.

Continue reading →