Tag: Board Games

11/25/17

GrogHeads Reviews Ogre (6th Edition)

Steve Jackson Games relaunches Ogre and we take a look at what’s inside ~

Michael Eckenfels, 25 November 2017

Despite my longevity with board gaming, and my particular fondness for Steve Jackson Games’ products (see our slew of Car Wars nostalgia articles I wrote), I never played Ogre. Ever.

I’ve been a student of military history since I was eight years old – about the time the first Ogre game came out, but that was because of a visit to Pearl Harbor and not because of the game. I’d seen Ogre in my various favorite game stores over the years, but I just never had enough interest in it to ever buy it. I could see the appeal of a futuristic David vs. Goliath conflict, but it didn’t appeal to me. I much preferred large armies duking it out over epic-sized maps to small-scale tactical combat. Even a gigantic tank rumbling without a care over desperate small units trying to stop it didn’t appeal much.

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11/24/17

Dragon’ Up The Past – Week 5, TANKSgiving

Yes, even our weekly video series is celebrating TANKSgiving ~

Brant & Jim, 24 November 2017

A super-sized episode that talks combat systems, fantasy artwork models, deciding what’s “fun”, celebrity appearances from years before they were famous, and TANKS!

Don’t worry, there’s plenty more where this one came from – there’s 196 issues still to go!

Chat about it below, or in our forums, or hit our FaceBook page >>

11/21/17

Tuesday “Interview”: The Grogs’ Favorite Tank Games

We asked the Grogs to give us their favorite tank-heavy game ~

The GrogHeads Team, 21 November 2017

Cyrano

This one’s not even close:  Combat Mission in its various iterations.

These are games played with a merciless physics engine that feel every bit as gritty and grand now as they did nearly two decades ago.

I remember getting hooked on the WEGO gameplay and the ability the 3D environment gave you to peek over the shoulders of your digi-troopers and guess at what war must have been like for them.  Multi-player randomized battles to the wee hours of the morning were pretty great too.  What made both x1 and x2 really special, though, was the incredible variety of, yep, AFVs.  I’m not an WWII rivet-counter — I save my O.C.D. for Napoleonic games — but the fellows who designed Combat Mission are and it shows every time you pan around their products; not to mention the remarkable array of modifications available on-line.   There are no CRTs or bog charts here.  These are games played with a merciless physics engine that feel every bit as gritty and grand now as they did nearly two decades ago.  They’ve let me play with some of the most famous tanks of the war and some I never even knew existed.

Others have come for her throne, but CMx1 and x2 are still queen of the battlefield for me when it comes to tank warfare.

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11/17/17

Dragon’ Up The Past – Week 4, Mano-a-Mano

Hey, someone is listening, right? ~

Brant & Jim, 17 November 2017

Man-to-man combat takes center stage in this episode, as we explore the roots of gaming through the lens of old issues of Dragon Magazine

Don’t worry, there’s plenty more where this one came from – there’s 197 issues still to go!

Chat about it below, or in our forums, or hit our FaceBook page >>

11/16/17

MACE 2017 Convention Report

Our intrepid conventioneer checks out another of the South’s excellent game expos ~

Avery Abernethy, 15 November 2017

MACE (Mid-Atlantic Convention Expo) was held for the 21st time in Charlotte, North Carolina on November 10-12, 2017. I had a great time. There are a number of MACE events annually in North Carolina with MACE being the largest.

MACE is a gaming convention. There is no costume contest, concert, film show or game shows. MACE is about gaming. Except for two live action role playing games (limited to a single room) and three game panels, everything was RPGs, Board Games, Miniature Games or Tabletop Games.

There was a lot of gaming going own. There were a total of 174 RPG sessions, 121 Board/Table Top Games, 101 Card or Deck building games and 22 miniature games. This does not include the “play to win” games, pick-up games from the game library, demos, or spontaneous games started by attendees.

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