10/28/15

GrogHeads Reviews Marco Kloos’s “Frontlines” Series

We take a look at Terms of Enlistment and Lines of Departure, by Marco Kloos

Avery Abernethy, 28 October 2015

Terms of Enlistment and Lines of Departure are military science fiction leaning towards hard science. Mr. Kloos has served in the military and it shows in his writing. Both books are in the Frontlines series with the 3^rd book Angles of Attack released in April, 2015.

In the Frontlines books Earth has fractured into two factions: the North American Union (dominated by the former USA) and a Russian/Chinese block. Independent countries either no longer exist or are never mentioned. The conflict between the two power blocks has an uneasy truce on Earth itself, but all-out war rages for the 100 or so colony worlds accessible through jump gates.

The Earth’s resources are being depleted, the majority of humanity lives in high rise slums with a minimal ration of food, and the proles are restless and becoming lawless. Part of the military is deployed to maintain minimal order in the high-rise clustered slums while the rest focuses on space colonization and interplanetary war for colonies. Slum dwellers have a tiny chance of winning a lottery to become colonists on worlds which can minimally support human life through terra-forming.

Andrew Grayson a young, high-rise slum dweller, wins a 100-1 shot to join the military. Terms of Enlistment focuses on setting up the dystopian world and the harsh basic training that washes out 80% of the inductees. Andrew’s first posting is in the military division tasked with keeping order in the slum cities. After a few initial conflicts, Andrew’s unit is thrust into a disastrous mission which decimates his unit and generates bad publicity through use of heavy weapons in an urban environment.

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10/24/15

GrogHeads Reviews: Heroes of the Pacific

Lock’n’Load heads to the PTO!

Doug Miller, 24 October 2105

Despite a proliferation of WWII tactical systems in recent years, tactical wargames covering the Pacific Theater tend to be rarer than hen’s teeth. Even the benchmark WWII tactical system, Advanced Squad Leader, isn’t overwhelmed with PTO modules and scenarios. So I was definitely excited to see that LnL Publishing was not only bringing many of their out-of-print Tactical Series games back, but also adding to the series with a dedicated Pacific Theater game.

Heroes of the Pacific focuses on tactical combat between the US Army and Marines and the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA). Like other games in the series the core of the game is infantry combat between squads and weapon teams, supported by armored vehicles, various kinds of on- and off-board artillery, and air strikes.

The game uses the familiar Lock n’ Load Tactical Series rules. The rule book has been updated to version 4.0 and includes the additions to support the unique aspects of the Pacific Theater of Operations (PTO) in-line with the remainder of the rules. Significant rules changes are helpfully highlighted in green throughout the manual to bring experienced players up to speed quickly.

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10/22/15

Gaming Nostalgia – Victory 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.

Nostalgia--3 — How many classics can we cram into one ad?

click images to enlarge

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

10/17/15

GrogHeads (p)Reviews Rebel Galaxy

Rebel Galaxy is about to come in for landing, but until it does, we’re here to tide you over with a look-see from Cap’n and Mrs Darwin ~

Jim & Beck Snyder, 15 October 2015

Who are the Darwins?
Before we dive in and tell you about this game of interest, we should be kind enough to let you know who we are, what we do, how we game, and what gives us enough GrogCred™ to post a review on the Mythical Front Page™[1]. We’ll wait.

Back? OK, good. Technically, this is a preview of the near final code. Double Damage has been making updates and little tweaks as we have written this so some things may be different at release.

RebGax-Start Screen - More Demo Battles — Start Screen – More Demo Battles

What are We Reviewing?
Rebel Galaxy is a single player sci-fi spacefaring epic from Double Damage Games (a new development team from the cofounders of Torchlight’s Runic Games). From the Steam page, Rebel Galaxy is billed as

a swashbuckling space adventure, with action-packed combat, exploration, discovery, trade, and “negotiation” with the outlandish denizens at the edge of the known universe.

As the commander of an immensely powerful star destroyer, you’ll battle pirates, explore anomalies, befriend aliens, scavenge battle wreckage, mine asteroids, and discover artifacts. Choose your path as a roguish do-gooder, crafty space-trader or power-hungry privateer – or maybe a little of each! Buy larger and more powerful craft with your hard-earned credits, and outfit them with a variety of wicked weapons and defenses. Set in a galaxy of fantastic sights, and secrets to be found, Rebel Galaxy is above all a space epic of adventure, exploration, and combat.

The edge of the universe is a pretty dangerous place, so watch your back.

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10/16/15

GrogHeads Advanced Research on Projects Advisory #79

GARPA invades your Friday with a mixed bag of gaming goodness. Explore, rescue, store, and travel… when all these preorders get delivered, of course ~

Brant Guillory 16 October 2015

Warriors of Japan (MMP)
Preorder $33, MSRP $44, made the cut

Built off the Warriors of God system, the Warriors of Japan takes us to medieval Nippon and gives a broad sweeping campaign rolled up into a 4-year period, with leaders changing sides, a gorgeous area-based map, and a new historical period to explore, Warriors of Japan probably ticks many of the boxes that are the reasons you’re a grog in the first place. It’s been on pre-order forever but is now finally over the line, so jump on board while you can still get it at the cheaper price.

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