Tag: Staff

01/10/15

2015 GrogHeads Readers’ Choice Awards – Voting

ed note: After the shutdown of Twiigs.com, our polls disappeared, so you’ll see a lot of headers, but no polls, on older Readers Choice posts.  We’re using someone new now, so perhaps the older polls will still be visible.

All year long we asked for your input and your nominations for the best in gaming throughout 2014.  These polls are your polls, and let our readers vote on their own nominations.  Think we missed something?  Well, we’re already looking for nominations for 2015’s best in strategy gaming.

Polls are open now, and close on 28 January, so you’ve got 2-1/2 weeks to make your voice heard.  If you nominated ’em, we’ve got ’em in a poll somewhere.  All we did was weed out the non-2014 releases and then sort them into categories.

Tabletop Games

Historical / Strategy Game

poll by twiigs.com

Sci-Fi / Fantasy Game

poll by twiigs.com

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12/31/14

The GrogHeads Year In Review

31 December 2014

We reached out to our friends* in the game industry for some thoughts about the past year in games, and asked them for some insight about what’s coming next.

* yes, we actually have friends

Matthew Kirschenbaum, Academic-Gamer / Professor

2014 Highlight(s):  Highlight for me was working with the dozens of contributors on the Zones of Control book Pat Harrigan and I are editing for the MIT Press. This is an interdisciplinary as well as inter-professional volume, bringing together contributors from policy gaming, hobby gaming, and academia, writing about both tabletop and digital wargames. We have DoD types alongside of cultural theorists, and we designers alongside of their critics. We have the full spectrum represented in terms of politics and ethics as well. The book is on track for an early 2016 publication.

Looking Ahead at 2015:  In terms of a prediction, I’ll venture this: one major publisher in tabletop wargaming is going to go under. No, I don’t have anyone in particular in mind and I have no inside information–just a gut feeling.

 

Jim Zabek, GrogDude

2014 Highlight(s):  For me it seems the simplest things are worth the most. Game-wise two things stand out. First, I have managed to fall in with a great gaming crowd at the FLGS. The other thing that was a highlight was the re-issuance (I’m not sure how many times before) of Car Wars in more or less its original format. I don’t know why that seems to please me so much, but I guess it is the memory going back to my younger days and discovering it for the first time.

Looking Ahead at 2015:  As for what I think might make headlines in 2015? There are certain to be some sleepers that simply aren’t on my radar. But the one game I think lots of folks are going to be talking about – at least on Grogheads – will be Atilla Total War. There are over 3800 discussion posts on Rome 2 in the Grogheads forums. I suspect that Atilla may draw an equal amount of attention.

 

Erik Rutins, Director of Product Development at Matrix Games

2014 Highlight(s):  Distant Worlds: Universe and War in the West, two major new releases for 2014 that have been in the works for years and both were very well received by the community.  It was also great to work with the Command and Flashpoint Campaigns teams on their well-deserved re-launches.

Looking Ahead at 2015:  Lots of exciting releases coming – the new Brother against Brother Civil War wargame, the return of SSG, expansions for War in the West, a new Flashpoint Campaigns game and the first Command expansions!

 

Brain Train, Game Designer and Theorist (though he won’t admit to the latter) 

2014 Highlight(s):  Three little personal highlights for 2014 for me instead of one big one:

  • Getting a brief ripple of attention for Ukrainian Crisis, a 48-hour “one-man jam” game designed in the middle of the Crimean referendum crisis;
  • Speaking with Volko Ruhnke about the COIN series at Tableflip!, a very interesting conference on games and game design;
  • Launching BTR Games, a line of my personal games in DTP format released when and how I want them to be, with sales in the half-dozens so far.

Looking Ahead at 2015:  Three biggest news items in gaming in 2015 that I feel safest in predicting:

  • The COIN series will continue to attract talent and attention, with new designs and reprints coming;
  • More and more projects will be announced on Kickstarter, to chase less and less money;
  • BTR Games will have double-digit sales!

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12/17/14

GrogHeads’ 2014 Holiday Buying Guide Extra – For the Junior Gamers!

Christmas Suggestions for Potential Junior Gamers

Avery Abernethy, 17 December 2014

Any great hobby needs new converts and Christmas is a great time to provide unexpected gifts to unsuspecting grandchildren, nephews, nieces, cousins and the like to encourage them to join our hobby. A good gift for a novice should be relatively easy to play, provide wonderful fun examples of classic game genres, should work on a wide range of inexpensive PCs, have multiple difficulty settings for a range of intellectual and ability levels.  A good section should also include major elements of the game genre.

An unexpected and unrequested gift should also be inexpensive.  Honestly, if you are providing a true “surprise gift” to get the next generation interested in PC gaming you will probably make a number of gifts to several youngsters before finding that special, gifted young person who will truly appreciate the gift and enjoy the hobby for years to come.

But the most important element is fun.  You want the game to be relatively easy to learn but a lot of fun.  Nothing drives away potential converts than thick rule books, complicated play, and less than fun games.  Do not give your novice grandchildren War in the Pacific, War in the East, or Dominions 4.  I’m not recommending any shooters since any youngster with even a minimum of interest has played Call of Duty or some other shooter on a game system.

Tactical Wargame

Panzer Corps – available on sale from Slitherine on sale now for $10

Features:

  • Fog of war
  • Zones of Control
  • Combined Arms Tactics
  • Range of difficulty settings
  • Limited number of units
  • Some limited ability to recognize European maps
  • Kids get to learn the difference between a Panzer 3, Panzer 4, Panther and Tiger tank!
  • Kids get to learn why the German 88 was such a beast
  • Very fun!

Because this game has some very easy settings it can appeal to the absolute novice.  Yet the game introduces many critical components of tactical wargames.  This game has had remarkable popularity and is a good start to this side of our hobby.

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12/13/14

GrogHeads’ 2014 Holiday Buying Guide

The annual tradition returns – the holiday buying guide!

Once again the holiday season approaches, and once again gamers’ loved ones may be struggling to come up with a gift that goes deeper than a tie, sweater, or fruit cake. Relax. Grogheads is on it, and once again we are proud to present our Buying Guide for the hard-to-buy-for gamer/military historian. Once again our categories are broken down into approximate areas of interest. They’re not going to be perfect, but hopefully at least one will cover a sufficient area of interest that you can safely point a gift-giver to. And enough of the dangling prepositions. Let’s get on with it!

For The Electronic Gamer

At the top of the list have to come PC wargames. Many good ones have been released this year and hopefully at least one on this list will hit a sweet spot.Command Air Naval Ops GH Award Logo

Command Air Naval Ops BoxCommand: Modern Air Naval Operations Wargame of the Year Edition

Fans of modern naval warfare on the PC will find Command a must-have. Players can simulate battles from the 1950’s through the modern era and pretty much any nation with an ocean view can be dialed up for conflict in this game, if one of the pre-made scenarios doesn’t do it for you.

 

 

Battle Academy 2: East Front

Gamers playing on the iOS aren’t missing out on much of the action. Battle Academy 2 has been released and East Front leads the way for some light tactical wargaming on the iPad. Offering fun, scripted scenarios this is one of those games that is both enjoyable and challenging. And it covers the Eastern Front. What more is there to say?

Battle Academy 2 Eastern Front Logo

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