Tag: Sci-Fi

05/9/14

GrogHeads Advanced Research on Projects Advisory #44

It’s time for our semi-weekly preview of awesomeness in gaming

Some images click to enlarge

g44-bagChainmail Dice Bag (AlphaMailleChainmail)

$20 – available now

We’re breaking the rules slightly on GARPA here. Our first item this week isn’t a pre-order, but is actually already available. However, it happens to be on sale right now, so we’re pimping it a bit. After all, what self-respecting grog wouldn’t want a chainmail dice bag. You read that right: Chainmail. Dice. Bag. Let’s those words sink in a bit. Then cruise on over to the maker’s Etsy site and check out the medium sized chainmail dice bag for sale for only $20. Say it with me now: “oooooooh… aaahhhhhh…”

 

Next War: India-Pakistan (GMT Games)

p500 – not there yet

They’ve covered Korea, have Taiwan on their p500, and now GMT Games heads to the subcontinent for oh-God–lets-hope-it-doesn’t-go-nuclear showdown between India and Pakistan that also ropes in the Chinese and Americans.  With the conflict in Kashmir boiling over, shots get fired again, and yet another war breaks out between India and Pakistan.  Varying scenarios let players explore either side in the role of aggressor, and an intervention matrix determines what role other power play in the conflict.  It’s on GMT’s p500 program, but it hasn’t made the cut yet – and won’t if you don’t go pledge!

G44-India

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05/1/14

Airship Dragoon – An After Action Report

Airship Dragoon is a steampunk themed, turn-based. squad tactics game with procedurally generated strategic campaigns, similar in style to the early work of Julian Gollop (UFO/X-Com, Laser Squad, etc). Troops are unique individuals based on six separate classes.   Disclaimer: the author is the developer.

by Steve Acaster, 1 May 2014

Click images to enlarge

Campaign Overview: Dreadnought On The Starboard Bow
Playing as the British Royalists (one of six playable factions), the early part of the main campaign was spent expanding territory rapidly before returning close to my main base to the clear remaining resistance from the indigenous pirates. This early expansion had brought me into contact with the shadowy “People’s Collective”, who soon started eating away at my newly acquired lands far to the south. Though I had managed to check their advance during a previous battle, it was only a matter of time before they returned, and so I swung my lone Dreadnought class heavy airship around and headed on to find it’s opposite number. Someone was going to lose their prize dirigible.

Sure enough we made contact close to where I suspected their main garrison to be, and I intercepted their own heavy dirigible over a mountain range. A victory in ground combat would later allow me the chance to assault their the headquarters and kick them out of the war all together, a defeat would see my forces trapped far to the north, waiting for construction of a new airship whilst the Collective plundered my territories.

airship_dragoon_aar_t0_overview
Anti-piracy operations are suspended to counter the encroaching threat …

Preparing For Battle: There Is No Such Thing As Too Much Ammo
With both regimes using a Dreadnought class airship, the numerical strength of each side would be equal, though after my previous battles I expected that the quality of my troops would be better. I had little idea how technologically advanced the enemy would be but expected us to be fairly matched.

The battle was to take place in the cold mountains (-20% Action Points to those not wearing a layer of armour for extra warmth), visibility would be medium and the randomised objective was to capture the enemies flag. The exact layout of the battlefield would only be determined when the battle started. Continue reading →

04/25/14

GARPA 43 – GrogHeads Advanced Research on Projects Advisory

This week’s GARPA gives you real history, alt-history, and we-hope-it-never-becomes-history.

 

G43EmpireEnd of Empire (Compass Games)
Preorder at $75, save $24

A complex game of a complex time, End of Empire covers the run-up to the French and Indian War all the way through the end of the American War of Independence. Where previous games have treated these conflicts separately, End of Empire covers the entire 40-year period that saw the French, British, and Spanish empires ejected from the bulk of North America as a brand new nation rose to take their places. Thirteen scenarios (natch!) and a host of countersheets to accompany 2 large maps fill out an impressive box of gaming goodness. It’s bordering on monster-size, but that’s because it covers a monster conflict that literally reshaped global history. Check out Compass Games’ preorder page to place your order, and remember that preordering at Compass also gets you a discount on an in-stock game, too.

 

Doom & Bloom’s SURVIVAL! (Joseph Alton, M.D./Amy Alton, A.R.N.P.)
$21k of $19k, ends 14 May 2014

It’s a post-apocalyptic survival game. Yawn, right? Nope. This one is heavily defined by what’s not there. No zombies. No sci-fi “power goes out” stuff. No post-nuclear mutant wasteland. It’s a realistic post-pandemic setting that forces you to survive in today’s world, not some sci-fi disaster-author’s fever dream. You’ve got to move, scavenge, find security, shelter, and food. Stay alive and rebuild. And it’s looks-a-darn-GUDE, too! Check out the Kickstarter page and get your survival training going around the tabletop. Who knows when you might need it?

g43survival

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04/10/14

Birth of the Federation, an AAR, Part 5

Part 5: Muh-muh-muh MYYY SARONA

click images to enlarge

While that Troop Transport makes its way to the Sarona system, where my bounty of Dilithium awaits exploitation, I’ve moved my Colony ship to the neighboring Altair system. Altair is not on my short-term plans to colonize, but while I’m waiting on the Troop Transport to arrive and build an outpost, I can go ahead and terraform the planets in this system so it will be ready later.

 

032

 

Meanwhile back in the Sol system, my next NX-01 peak of technological exploration, my spearpoint of…uh, exploration…is nearing completion. I’ve gone ahead and queued a couple more Troop Transports so I can send them to the Galactic North and East of Sol to help expand the borders that way.

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03/28/14

GARPA 41 – GrogHeads Advanced Research on Projects Advisory

Today it’s all about GARPA GARPA GARPA

 

Next War: Taiwan, GMT Games
p500 made the cut – shipping date not set yet

With a $30 discount for preordering, GMT’s latest entry in the Next War line of games aims for the near-future Chinese invasion of Taiwan.  It includes rules for some basic naval conflict, given the amphibious nature of the likely assault.  The standard game is the ground war shootout, and the advanced rules layer on some robust tracking of airpower.  It’s battalion- and brigade-level wargaming that’s not for newbies to the tabletop, but is a well-tested system for modern conflicts that has many fans in the grognard community.  Go give it a look and get your order in.

NWTaiwan-1(RBM)

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