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Toys as Terrain
Was browsing K-Mart (Wal-Mart to Americans?) and came across this $15 bucket of cheap plastic dinos. Since my 2-year-old is fascinated with dinos, and I have some in mind for a Jurassic World style...
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World of Tanks: Getting Started
I've been playing this a lot lately. I've reviewed this game before - a mix of tanks from WW2 nations duke it out until one side is all dead. It's a great "Dad" game - slow paced enough to favour...
View ArticleGame Ramblings - DLC and (speak not its name aloud) Warhammer Fantasy
DLC is Here In one of my regular videogame-to-tabletop comparisons, I commented on the inevitability of the "DLC" approach. Well, it seems someone IS taking that approach - the TAC series of WW2 air...
View ArticleGame Design #44: Random Roundup - Simplicity, Randomness and Other Stuff
The hype surrounding GW's WFB reboot Age of Sigmar has provoked a few thoughts, which perhaps could be expanded into their own topics....Simple Mechanics, Deep Gameplay The Age of Sigmar core rules are...
View ArticleGame Design #45: "Original" Sci Fi Wargames
I pointed out the tendency of every game designer and his dog to remake Vietnam in Space - i.e. pretty much every "gritty" "hard sci fi" space wargame is as clone of modern warfare in tactics and...
View ArticleGame Design #46: Skirmish - Basing, Group Move vs Individual Move
Just some random musings. I was looking at Chain-of-Command and Bolt Action, and thinking how it would be so much cheaper in 15mm. It then lead me to compare the individual basing used in those games...
View ArticleWorld of Tanks: Basics
This is a follow on article of this one - WoT, Getting Started.Hopefully you have an idea of what to expect. You've chosen a "line" of tanks - preferably one with few frustrating lemons in the tier...
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Game Design #47: In Praise of Area of Effect (AoE) Weapons
Area of effect (or template) weapons are widely hated in most videogames."Skill-less" "For Noobs" are some of the comments directed at their use.They aren't always too popular in wargames either....
View ArticleWorld of Tanks - Intermediate Skills
World of Tanks is all about stats. People judge you on them. If you are under 48% win rate, people will regard you as a poor player. Under 45% or so, and you will be regarded as a terrible player,...
View ArticlePsychic Powers for Wargames
Background I'm trying to find motivation for painting my mountains of 15mm sci fi, and I'm currently experimenting with a homebrew d10 skirmish game with Infinity-style mechanics. A typical modern...
View ArticleJudeo-Christian Background Material in Wargames
In my previous post, I was describing two "magic systems" for a generic game engine.One more unique system talked about "demons." Despite having a more interesting mechanic,I thought I bet many people...
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Near Future Sci Fi - Robots & AI
Tomorrow's War takes the view all future combat will be humanoid combat, and act similarly to modern combat with some trimmings. Basically, they state "all weapons act the same" i.e. a plasma rifle...
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Frostgrave - (Review) Skirmish Campaign Wargame
A skirmish campaign-based wargame, with adventurers exploring a ruined city, battling other warbands for riches. Sound familiar?Frostgrave was a magic city, devestated by a warpstone meteorite covered...
View ArticleMordhiem-style Game Design Musings #1
Whilst Frostgravewas far from revolutionary - indeed a very basic, derivative game, I predict it will scratch the Mordhiem itch more than many games before it. Why?It got me thinking. Here are some...
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Savage Worlds - Sci Fi Companion Review
Although I am not a RPGer (apart from a brief flirtation with FUDGE and GURPS in my teens) I'm a bit of a Savage Worlds fan. Why? Because it's a rather good skirmish wargame, disguised as a RPG.In...
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Savage Worlds - Superpowers Companion Review
Hmm. Maybe I'll find some pychic powers here....It has a completely new "superpower" system which replaces the magic/psychic/weird science generic system from the base Savage Worlds. This feels more...
View ArticlePsychic Powers in Savage Worlds
I've been looking for ways to play modern pulp (XCOM, psychic warfare, horror) and the hassle of making a homebrew "core" system to hang it on (I'm simply recreating a d10 minimalist version of...
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Savage Worlds - Fantasy Companion Review
The last of my pdf purchases. I primarily bought it to see how it would measure up to Frostgrave in its expanded form (Savage Worlds excellent base Explorer Edition has enough content to play generic...
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Superheroes vs Necrons (Savage Worlds Skirmish)
Inspired by the trailer to Suicide Squad, I went ferretting through my shed and found about 80 HeroClix prepainted plastics. I recall buying them in a job lot for about $20 a few years back (I think...
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Game Design #48: Wargames and "Setup" - a Neglected Topic?
Setup - a Necessary Evil or Gaming Opportunity?This is an area, along with morale, that I often don't emphasize much in my reviews.Basically, it's always the same.1. Roll for initiative. One side gets...
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