07/1/13

Book Review: Cain at Gettysburg

Author: Ralph Peters

Publisher: Forge Books

Reviewing Author: Dan Pinkham

With the country in the midst of the 150^th Anniversary of the American Civil War and the 150^th Anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg this year I have found myself somewhat disappointed in the apparent lack of coverage of this pivotal period in American history. So to fill the void I rummaged around the internet and came across a recently published (2012) historical-fiction novel titled Cain at Gettysburg by Ralph Peters. Before buying the book I read some reviews and many compared it to Michael Shaara’s excellent Gettysburg novel, Killer Angels. I can tell you that this is not the case. While both books are excellent in their own respects I believe Cain at Gettysburg brings a soldier’s unique perspective in a way many books do not. The author Ralph Peters, a retired Army officer who has written over 20 fiction and non-fiction books many with military themes, brings the Battle of Gettysburg to life in a whole new way.
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06/28/13

Origins 2013 – Exhibitor Hall!

Brant Guillory, 26 June 2013

The exhibitor hall was refreshingly busy. Some of the dealers I spoke to had reported some slower sales, and the big guns of wargaming that had been present for so many years – GMT, MMP, Avalanche, Matrix, LNLP – were all missing for various reasons. But if you wanted to find some great gaming, there was no excuse, because it was everywhere. Even without the more well-known companies, there was plenty of wargaming to be found with Grognard Simulations, Proving Ground, Zvezda’s big booth, Collins Epic Wargames, VPG, and more.

What else did we find in the dealer hall? Check it out. Click on images to enlarge.

Escape: The Curse of the Temple, a real-time tabletop game

Yes, real-time. It’s got a sand timer, or a CD with a music track you can use.

Bayonet Jr showing off the stack of games for sale.

… and trying to avoid their picture being taken.

Many dealers, like Crash, advertised games that were on Kickstarter.

The ‘dungeon crawl’ table for the Munchkin Pathfinder game.

Another view of the ‘dungeon crawl’ table for the Munchkin Pathfinder game.

These guys had a light-projection table plugged into a computer to project the map onto a light box for RPG encounters.

Another view of the projected light-box.

These poster maps were HUGE and printed on vinyl for durability.

BIG starship plans from Blackwyrm Publishing.

Bayonet Jr gives you a sense of the scale of these maps.

Scrying Eye also does some very cool game mats.

Steampunk airships make for great table maps.

The geomorphic dungeon crawl tiles were a neat find.

Scrying Eye’s rack of game mats was impressive in its quantity.

So how many of the basestars can you name?

And how many of the battlestars could you ID?

Miniature spaceship armadas are more impressive when they’re on the wire posts to elevate them.

More spaceships, and fighters were 3 / $1.

These handmade ships from Sea Dog Games break down for travel and are made in Columbus.

No, he’s not having an identity crisis. There actually was a priate that would sail under a British flag to close on ships, then run out the Jolly Roger.

TechCommander figures. They’re not really “minis” when they stand 6 inches high.

A Caribbean “castle” for your pirate adventures.

It’s a cooperative game where all the players are trying to take down the bad guys together.

8th Summit has some expansions for Agents of Smersh coming soon.

Drake: The Dragon Wargame from Action Games Miniatures

The full table for Drake: The Dragon Wargame from Action Games Miniatures

One more look at Drake: The Dragon Wargame from Action Games Miniatures

VPG had much more than just their wargames out for the public.

And those miniature dice towers are just darn cute.

VPG was focusing on family games, rather than their more famous wargaming lines.

Balance of Power from Catalyst. Bayonet Jr actually spanked the demo guy in their sample game.

That’s it for our 2013 Origins coverage. See y’all next year!

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06/27/13

Warlock Four-Player AAR

LongBlade: The first report of our four-player Warlock brawl was filed by MetalDog and can be found here. MetalDog, it should be noted, has a couple of nom de guerre and folks sometimes refer to him under his Steam moniker, Stophro. It’s the same guy, just a different name. Hopefully this won’t confuse readers if I warn you ahead of time.

I’ve started trying to color code each person’s name with the color of them in the game. MetalDog is blue. Bartheart, I have just learned, is yellow. Yellow (see what I mean?) doesn’t show up too well with a white background so I’m going to use a slightly different color, amber.

Anyway, during the last session the game was just starting and we were following MetalDog as he discovered Bartheart to his southeast. Now I will pick up the narrative from Bartheart’s perspective as he explains his starting position and his reaction to finding his neighbor, MetalDog, so close to his own borders.

Bartheart: Turn 1 – Déjà vu all over again

So, here we go again with a different group of vict… err… players that MetalDog has dug up for our bash fest. Should be interesting.
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06/26/13

Origins 2013 – Gameplay!

Brant Guillory, 24 June 2013

Look, you’re at Origins to check out all things gaming, right? But what about actually, y’know, playing games?! There’s plenty of gameplay to be found through the convention center. Here’s a snippet of what was going on Saturday.

A really BIGGER game of Settlers of America

One of the great things about conventions is getting to play those monster, multi-player, multi-hour games, like Twilight Imperium.

The minis tables always have some visual treats on them

One of the odder games we saw, mixing early-WWII-era ground troops with some very odd aircraft.

Ever seen a 4-winged, fixed-wing close-air-support attack plane? Now you check that one off your bucket list.

Preparing to repulse those insectoid aircraft.

Infantry advancing behind their armor support.

Stay tuned for our final installment of our Origins coverage from the Exhibitor Hall later this week.

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06/25/13

Tuesday Screenshot – Flashpoint Campaigns: Red Storm

Jim Snyder, 25 June 2013

click to enlarge

Soviet armor is attempting to smash through a West German defense around the city of Lauterbach. Many knocked out vehicles and squads are indicated by the little crosses on the map. Craters from artillery strikes also dot the landscape. As you can see from the screen shot the Flashpoint Campaigns game main screen in divided up into 6 areas each with information for the player to use or access. The map is the majority of the screen and shows off all of the action in the game. At the bottom you can switch between a Subunit list showing the units composition and status or the Tac Ops Diary which gives information related to the units actions during the game. On the right there are a number of windows providing important information. At the top we have the start turn button and the game date and time, weather and current visibility. Under that is a tabbed window with Player information, C3 information, Order of Battle, Victory Point Status, and Effects (Sounds and in-game options). Next is the current unit status window. In this case we are looking at one of the Leopard 2 tank platoons and its current conditions. At the bottom right is the mini-map. You can see the entire map, your units, VP locations and spotted enemies. At the top there is also the standard windows style menu bar with even more options.

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