08/27/13

Tuesday Screenshot – Divinity: Dragon Commander

A half-dragon’s work is never done.

Trying to save my father’s kingdom from the greed and ineptitude of my step-siblings has proven quite the task. Here I’m slugging it out with one of them on an island filled with valuable…stuff. Every territory I conquer brings me one step closer to crushing the insurgency and unifying the kingdom. Here my airships close in on the enemy’s forces. My ground troops follow behind as we prepare to punish them for aligning with the wrong side. Soon it will be done.

Game: Divinity: Dragon Commander

08/24/13

Space Hulk – PC Game Review

Bless your armor and consecrate your weapons as Grogheads boards the Sin of Damnation with Veteran Space Marine Craig Handler leading the charge. Find out if Space Hulk, the latest PC game set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe, is worthy of the Emperor’s praise.

Developer & Publisher: Full Control Games

First, A Shameless Disclaimer:

For purposes of full disclosure, my love affair with all things Warhammer 40K began in the latter half of the 1980s, when I stumbled upon the first edition of Rogue Trader and a box of plastic Crimson Fist Space Marines at my local hobby shop. Since that day, there has been no turning back.

For the next decade, I was an avid player of the table top game. I fielded large armies of loyal Space Marines, Imperial Guard, and at one time, I even dabbled with the Eldar. Although I no longer play the game on a table top with minis, I am still hopelessly obsessed with the universe, reading as much of the fiction as I possibly can, and pre-purchasing any game released electronically on PC or console.

Despite the above, somehow, I still managed to avoid buying or playing Space Hulk, the board game. I knew of its existence, but I suppose I preferred the wide open table-top battlefield to the confined corridor style maps encountered in a game of Space Hulk.

So, while I am admittedly biased towards loving everything Warhammer 40,000, I am a relative neophyte to the world of Space Hulk. This, combined with my faith in the Emperor, I hope will permit me to approach this review with the love of a dedicated fan, but with the objectivity of a newcomer. Continue reading →

08/22/13

Warlock Four-Player AAR Tuna Session 10

LongBlade (LB): No, gentle reader, you have not miscounted or misread the title. Our last report came from Tuna and ended on Turn 38. The remaining players have had a few interruptions in real life, so we must pick up the story at the earliest point Tuna can share with us, Turn 58.

TURN 58

Tuna opens the turn by researching a new spell, Barren Lands. This is an offensive spell that will turn any land with resources into barren terrain.

He then continues on his mission to clear out Monsters in the Northeast, to clean the land for settlers he anticipates will soon move there.

Continue reading →

08/20/13

Tuesday Screenshot – Space Hulk

Click to enlarge

Space Hulk

Suffer not the unclean to live.
Lead us from death to victory,
from falsehood to truth.
Lead us from despair to hope,
from faith to slaughter.
Lead us to His strength and an eternity of war.
Let His wrath fill our hearts.
Death, war and blood;
in vengeance we serve the Emperor
in the name of the Primarch!
In the name of Sanguinius!

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08/16/13

GARPA 25 – GrogHeads Advanced Research on Projects Advisory

With a chill in the air this week it is clear that the seasons are changing again. Soon we won’t have to feel particularly guilty about gaming or reading inside since the weather won’t be as cooperative. Peruse our below roundup to get some good ideas on interesting games and other swag to pickup to help you keep your seasonal affective disorder at bay!

Books

Dean Putney’s World War I Album

$82,631 pledged of $50,000 goal

Funding ends Thursday, September 5

Yes I usually cover games but this is special. Dean Putney of San Francisco has a literal treasure chest full of over 1000 photographic negatives of his great grandfather’s military service in World War I. Not only that, but his great grandfather, Walter Koessler, fought for Imperial Germany on the Western front, a perspective not covered as well or as often in English histories of the war.

The negatives, some stereoscopic, look incredibly vivid, even when viewed on the internet. Putney found over 1000 of them, all preserved and protected in a family attic in southern California, just recently. His great grandfather was an architect before the war started, and served in the German artillery as a lieutenant. He was a skilled photographer, and after the war left Germany for Hollywood, CA where he became an art director in the booming U.S. movie industry. His skill is immediately evident when viewing his pictures, which feature recognizable equipment, locations and even some aerial shots.

The images, besides being of technical high quality, are also notable for how expressive they are. Even from the few samples shown on Putney’s Kickstarter page, the mood from the outbreak of war in 1914 through subsequent years (it looks like his great grandfather served through the entire conflict) deteriorates noticeably. Images flow from young kids horsing around in a festive atmosphere in summer 1914 through to the grim reality of combat as time goes by. The images are very good at expressing the change of emotion. For grogs interested in German history, the First World War, or even just photography as a medium, Dean Putney’s Kickstarter project is something very special.