Monthly Archives: February 2018
Winterfest: Wargaming’s Mini-Mecca
Pull out of the winter doldrums with a heavy dose of hex-and-counter happiness ~
Gary Mengle, 28 February 2018
A small gathering of wargamers has met in Sandusky, Ohio for the last 21 years. While the Cedar Point amusment park sits frozen just up the road and Sandusky sleeps through its winters, the February weather is ideal for wargaming. The centerpiece is a small handful of monster wargames, with smaller titles played on the side and a variety of pickup games in the evenings, or throughout the day as folks shake loose from their bigger games.
This year the featured monsters were a playtest of OCS Third Winter and a combined La Battaille game of Ligny and Quatre Bras. The venerable Stonewall Jackson’s Way was also played throughout the event, as well as twin games of Axis Empires: Totaler Krieg. Smaller but nevertheless multi-day games included TCS Omaha, OCS Sicily: Triumph & Tragedy, OCS Tunisia II and a double-blind game of Flat Top. Short-format actions included Amateurs to Arms, The Napoleonic Wars, Close Action and Star Fleet Battles. It would be impossible to categorize the sole miniatures game of Teutoburger Wald as “small” but it only took a few hours in each of two playthroughs.
As you can see from the above list, titles from The Gamers and Multi-Man Publishing were very well-represented, but stuff from GMT, Avalon Hill, Clash of Arms and even ADB got busted out and played. Plans for next year’s games are already afoot. This was my first year in attendance – it won’t be the last. As one of the new guys I was made to feel very welcome, and there was always something available that I wanted to play. Even with an event-long attendance of less than 30, Winterfest is a great little event that you should take a look at if you’re in or near the Midwest or can’t make the annual pilgrimage to Tempe.
More Info:
Winterfest Wargaming
Ardwulf’s Lair
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Some Thoughts on Kickstarter Financial Benefits and Risks
Is the risk worth the reward? ~
Avery Abernethy, 27 February 2018
Kickstarter has provided significant start-up funds for many gaming projects. Pillars of Eternity raised almost $4 million dollars. The 7th Edition of Call of Cthulhu raised over $561,000 and many smaller PC, boardgame, and tabletop games raised enough money to fund their project. But for individuals, funding a kickstarter game project is fraught with risk. There are no guarantees that a funded project will be completed either on time or ever. Kickstarter itself does not guarantee that projects are legitimate or that they will be completed. There are a number of horror stories about funded Kickstarter projects which never completed their project and ultimately returned nothing to backers.
From a financial perspective, how can you decide if contributing to a Kickstarter Campaign is a good bet? I’ve recently helped fund a couple of kickstarter projects after overcoming extraordinary levels of apprehension. I’ve got a few thoughts on how to consider a decision to fund a Kickstarter game project.
The Unavoidable Risk Is Huge
Even a casual reading of Kickstarter’s legal language shows Kickstarter itself does not stand behind any funded project in any way. They do not promise that a funded project will be: competed; completed on time; or completed in a manner consistent with the project’s promotion. Kickstarter’s policies have been tested in US courts. Legally, if you pay into a funded Kickstarter project and the project fails, your only recourse is suing people responsible for the individual Kickstarter project. Good luck collecting from a failed funded project. If an individual or a company does not have any assets, you will not collect anything even with successful lawsuit. The conclusion I draw from this is pretty simple. Don’t fund a Kickstarter project if you are unable to accept the risk of losing 100% of your pledge.
What’s Gus Playing? Total War: Warhammer, Part 3
Danger Dwarf™ deals dastardly damage ~
Lloyd Sabin, 26 February 2018
…the next moment I have really angered some ancient gods who I did not side with and they are slicing me up like some kind of Norse turkey
Well it did not turn out very well. How did this happen? One moment I am on top of the Old World, slashing and burning like a great Nordic-based monster should be, the next moment I have really angered some ancient gods who I did not side with and they are slicing me up like some kind of Norse turkey, Chaos style.
I really gave it my all and once I had some foggy idea of what I was doing, Total War: Warhammer became a quite the digital fantasy party…everything I could have ever asked in a fantasy strategy game. The images below show my descent in to defeat and disaster from the heights of warmongering.
Enjoy them. I will be back to this game and soon…I’ll probably play as the more conventional Empire of Karl Franz next. Honestly almost every faction is looking good now that I have learned the basics…of this one faction.
Gaming Nostalgia – TOAW 1
#TBT at GrogHeads!
The grandaddy of the classic modern warfare PC gaming series
What was your favorite TOAW battle or scenario?
click images to enlarge
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Hell Frozen Over – First Look!
Unboxing… er, “unbagging” LNLP’s expansion for Heroes of the Pacific~
Vance Strickland, 20 February 2018
Hell Frozen Over covers the Battle of Attu Island at the tactical level, with the LNLT system. Other games have covered this out-of-the-way fight in the Pacific Theater, including the recent War In the Wind, but this is one of the first to feature the fighting at this echelon.
Brand new Hell Frozen Over expansion for Heroes of the Pacific and the X-Map(s) too!
