Monthly Archives: March 2016
Gaming Nostalgia – The Red Storm
#TBT at GrogHeads!
C’mon, like we didn’t need another Cold-War-goes-hot game
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Polaris Sector – First Mission, part 6
A visual AAR, from Sauron ~
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no habitable planets – as expected – but it contains something else
Tracer Rounds: Origins Events!
Here’s what’s coming at the GrogHeads Central Command at Origins ~
Several years ago, we approached Origins with a simple idea: bring wargaming back to the convention. It had been withering on the vine for a while. The first year I attended as BayonetGames was in 2005. We were across the aisle from MMP (who said about 4 total words to us the entire show), next to Columbia (where Ferkin said about 4 words to us every other second), and within sight of Avalanche Press, GMT Games, and Matrix Games, with Decision Games, and others, all in the hall as well. By 2010, there were almost no wargamers left in the building. There were some folks playing over in the CABS Board Room (after its consolidation with the War Room), but wargaming had evaporated, not out of malice, but out of neglect. So I called GAMA. I talked to them and asked what sort of parameters they had for us to operate within if we wanted to try and bring the wargamers back to the show. And thus the GrogHeads Central Command was born. We were able to bring some wargaming companies in that hadn’t been there before, as well as bringing back some others. And now we’re getting ready to launch our third year working with Origins, and here’s what we’ve got in store for you:
- Enterprise Games, a retailer out of Indiana, will be the official rep/sponsor of our GMT events. That’s right, for the first time, the Central Command will include official GMT events – we’ve got scheduled events for both COIN series games and Wing Leader, as well as the opportunity for some pick-up games of other titles, like Combat Commander and Command & Colors.
- Lock ‘n Load Publishing is coming in. Since the ownership change, they’ve not come back to Origins, until this year. David is planning on bringing in a (literal) boat-load of new games off the press, and we’ll be running events for LNLT, World at War, and Nations at War.
- Lost Battalion Games is back! They’re the only company that’s joined forces with us every year of the GrogHeads Central Command, so we probably ought to get them some t-shirts to celebrate or something. They’re going to be running some large ‘rolling’ events for both Sergeants – Hell on Wheels! and Rally Round the Flag that’ll permanently occupy a pair of our tables for the entire show.
- Flying Pig Games is making their Origins debut. Mark has committed to the show and we’ll be running events for both Night of Man and Old School Tactical.
- Proving Ground Games is bringing back their Origins Award-winning minis rules, and taking over a table of their own with their snazzy terrain boards for a weekend of minis-based wargaming, both WWII and modern.
- The ever-enjoyable Command Post Wargaming, wherein you and the rest of the participants get a quick primer on military planning, and then get to develop your own plan for keeping the red horde from rolling over the inter-German border. And then you get to execute your plan and watch it fall to pieces in the first 10 minutes as you scramble to adjust while the war goes on! Seriously, though, it’s an exercise in wargaming with a far more realistic approach to planning, intel, and logistics than you get out of any other tabletop experience. If we get enough participants, we sometimes run this one head-to-head, so bring your friends!
- For those that want the Command Post Wargaming experience, but are short on time, we also have the more scaled-back Command Post Chess events, where the principles of planning, intel, and execution are very similar, but with a simplified game that everyone already knows – Chess!
- Because I’m the guy that puts all this together, I also sneak in a few events of my own, so we’re going to make sure that BayonetGames‘ long-discussed-and-eventually-to-be-published game about modern-day war in Ukraine hits the table (Orange Crush) as well as one of BayonetGames’ Warfighter-series games, Asian Thunder.
We’ve got over 50 wargaming events spread across 5 days, including some drop-in game times and a stray seminar here and there. There’s something for everyone, so come join us this summer at Origins. Detailed day-by-day schedule breakdowns are below –
GrogHeads Reviews ONUS!
Ancients battling across your tabletop, with minimal prep! ~
Jim Owczarski, 12 March 2016
There are two types of miniatures wargamers. The first is into the assembling, painting, and basing of miniatures for the mad fun of it all. Actually subjecting their lead, or more recently, plastic, hordes to mere rules in a game can seem secondary; just about everyone who has ever “played” Warhammer 40k leaps to mind.
The other is the sort that loves the aesthetic of so many little men, but, even if he finds the process enjoyable enough, knows that he’ll likely never have the time, space, and resources to play in one of those really big games that show up in rulebooks and convention floors.
Enter Onus! (I will hereafter forgo the exclamation point) by Spanish publisher Draco Ideas. Originally published in 2014 in a Spanish-language edition, Onus recently emerged from a successful Kickstarter that will, among other things, produce an English-language edition. What follows is a review of the original version.
The concept behind Onus is simple enough. Most wargames involving miniatures require players to stick their figures onto squares or rectangles to facilitate movement. Onus skips the bit about miniatures and gives us the bases, made of playing card stock decorated with pictures of the soldiers and bids us have at. This allows the game to come in a very small package.
Mighty armies, itty-bitty living space
The Zombie Apocalypse, Part 10: Can you spare a square?
What to do when you can’t run for things when you run out of things ~
Jonathan Glazer, 11 March 2016
The Original Scrounger
“Do we have any advil left?” Running out of stuff today is a minor inconvenience. I have been known to dash out of the house 3 or 4 different times over the course of a day to get forgotten, depleted or lost items needed right away. Fortunately for me, I live within 5 minutes of a couple of big box stores, not to mention a choice of super markets and major chain pharmacies. What happens when the lights are out, the undead roam the earth and every other person with a pulse is competing with you for everything? Your biggest problem won’t be sneaking 13 items in the 12-items-or-less aisle. Scrounging will be an extremely valuable skill in the days when there is no more civilization. Even the best prepper will forget something, not anticipate the need for something that becomes invaluable or just plain run out of necessary items. Perhaps a badger will sneak in your shed and eat your spare fuel line for your generator just before you need it most. Where do you get a new one?
Walmart may seem to have everything in stock now, but once all goes to hell in a handbasket, your neighbors will likely forget their manners and chaos will ensue. A day or so after the big one hits, shelves will be picked clean quickly. In the days before the last two hurricanes here in the Northeast, things like batteries, flashlights and generators disappeared. Even a heavy storm makes people buy eggs, milk and break like there is a French toast bakeoff the next day. Once it is clear there are no consequences, people stop waiting in line and just take what they need. There are videos of the stores in New Orleans following hurricane Katrina and they were enough to give any retail manager nightmares. The scenes in many zombie movies of survivors entering supermarkets to find what they needed are not likely to happen. Markets, big box stores and discount clubs will look like empty warehouses with scattered debris everywhere. The only exception might be if an armed group takes over one of these centers of consumerism as a means of safeguarding the contents and using them until the cavalry arrives. In that case, you are looking at a hell of a fight to gain entry and get your hands on some toilet paper and baby wipes.
