Tag: Brant

07/10/15

GrogHeads Advanced Research on Projects Advisory #72

Hey, it’s still Friday somewhere.  Here’s GARPA, just a little late

Spearpoint 1943 Eastern Front Heavy Weapons Expansion (Collins Epic Wargames)
$1900 of $500, ends 17 July 2015

Bringing some new toys to the East Front action of the Spearpoint 1943, this expansion lets you add new vehicles, and even some bombers, to your deck before launching death and destruction toward your opponent.  We discussed the game in GrogCast 16, and if you didn’t listen – WHY NOT?!  One of the pledge levels nets you the base game with the expansion, and another also stages the other expansions for you, so you’ve really go no reason to avoid this game.  It’s fast, furious fun with a cinematic flair and a perfect lightweight wargame when you lack time for a big game, or lack opponents willing to take the plunge on something more hex-y.  Rumble over to the Kickstarter page and check out all the toys you get.

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06/26/15

GrogHeads Advanced Research on Projects Advisory #71

GARPA goes all over the map for this edition

Freeblades: Creatures of Faelon (DGS Games)
$2800 of $8500, ends 21 July 2015

The guys from DGS Games are back with some new toys for their Freeblades minis collection.  These are wilder creatures that sport all manner of fangs, scales, claws, and… well, bark.  Their last Kickstarter campaign dropped some jaws with their final sculpts, and their fantasy world is high fantasy with nice interesting twists.  Hit their campaign page and drop your coin to get these minis funded.

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06/12/15

GrogHeads Advanced Research on Projects Advisory #70

After a hiatus, GARPA is back, and has some great new pre-orders for you to totally cave into your game lust with.

 

Urban Operations (Nuts! Publishing)
€59.00 preorder (MSRP €75.00)

The long-awaited modern urban warfare game from the artistic geniuses over in France, the guys at Nuts! have finally put Urban Operations up on preorder. A combination of blocks and cards, with over a dozen scenarios to keep you challenged, Urban Operations is looking to fill that modern tactical niche that ranges from Cold-War-goes-hot through the 90s world of “peacekeeping” up to today’s counter-terror operations. Why are you still reading? Go order it already.

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06/3/15

LNLP’s Dawn’s Early Light and Rommel at Gazala – First Look!

Brant Guillory, 3 June 2015

Lock’n’Load is pushing out reprints and new editions from their new digs in Colorado.  What’s in the new boxes?  Let’s take a look.

Click images to enlarge

First up, the new edition of Jim Werbaneth’s Rommel at Gazala, which got a significant graphic upgrade.

Inside the new Rommel at Gazala, with the box in the upper left of the photo.
Inside the new Rommel at Gazala, with the box in the upper left of the photo.

 

Player aid cards.
Rommel at Gazala – Player aid cards.

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05/29/15

Classic Reviews:
Aria – Canticle of the Monomyth Book II (Worlds)

Brant Guillory, 29 May 2015

An RPG book you could show off on an academic bookshelf.  But what’s the payoff?

click images to enlarge

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The front cover is gorgeous.

Digging through my boxes of game books (if you ever want to know exactly how much game stuff you really have, pack up and move a few times) I found this old treasure.

I can remember when I bought it – it looked like what all of us gamers had been holding our breath for all these years: A serious intellectual take on role-playing, which addressed an adult audience in an adult fashion.

It succeeded on that level.

Aria Worlds addressed world design from the ground up, and you could do it in any one of a dozen different ways. You could first design the planet and the ecology and build up from there; adventurers expanding their world through their travels could start small and get bigger as they went; you could even (very easily) pick an historical period and adapt it to game term (Bronze Age, Iron Age, etc.)

The book did not address much beyond the initial age of gunpowder. It was intended as a fantasy game supplement. And it did this very well. Continue reading →