Super Galactic Dreadnought

GEV battle report

2012-05-16T10:52:00.000-05:00

My interest renewed by the Steve Jackson Games Kickstarter project, I broke out my OGRE/GEV gear when I visited my brother last weekend. I talked him into a quick game, and we decided on the basic "Raid" scenario from the GEV rules (no OGREs involved).

I took the standard 12 GEVs, while he took a howitzer, two light artillery drones, and four light GEVs, along with the standard infantry allotment.

That howitzer inside the ruined town was gonna be a problem, so I decided to avoid it and concentrate on the other side of the map.

The first few turns I was unmolested, and my opponent didn't move or shoot since I was out of range.

However, once in range of the LADs, they started disabling my GEVs.

Combined with infantry support, this was enough to knock them out of the fight one turn and destroy them the next, if they didn't get a kill the first time.

I did take out one of his LGEVs, but I was only able to get four (of twelve) of my units off the board. It was a marginal victory for the defense.

Looking back, I should have been willing to sacrifice some of my lead elements and take out one artillery piece, then move the rest of my forces through the gap. How 'bout a rematch?

Kill Radius now on SCN

2012-05-15T23:10:00.000-05:00

I see my homebrew starship combat game Kill Radius has made it onto the list of Web Games at that wonderful resource for SF tabletop gamers, Starship Combat News.

I'm honored to find my rules listed with such notable games as GOBS and A Sky Full of Ships. My thanks to SCN's proprietor, Dean Gunderson, for sharing the link to my game with visitors to his site and for offering spaceship gamers such a great resource.

Congrats to SJ Games

2012-05-12T09:04:00.000-05:00

The project started with a funding target of $20,000 to get the OGRE Designer's Edition (a/k/a OGRE6e) off the ground, and it ended up with a total of $923,680 and a product much more elaborate than fans and the publisher could have known at the beginning.

Yes, it will cost $100, but you get a lot of game for that price. Not only that, but the Kickstarter was successful enough for SJ Games to promise supplements, minis, a computer game, and a pocket version of OGRE.

I'm looking forward to new scenarios and new units, and I can't wait to see this game in the fall! Who else will be playing some OGRE come November?

Mal & Zoe in Area 51

2012-05-11T09:02:00.000-05:00

This week, I got to help Ed the Two Hour Wargames Guy test his post-apocalyptic After the Horsemen. The game took place amid this abandoned(?) government research complex (some great looking terrain).

My two characters were two attendees at a science fiction convention who ended up stuck in the costumes they were wearing for the event

After picking up a tag-along and entering one of the buildings, my typical dice rolling gave the characters a roomful of foes who weren't in the mood for talking.

Mayhem ensued, and when the smoke cleared, the good guys were left standing.

Once again, my thanks to Ed for letting me help playtest all his games.

In the days before dice

2012-05-10T09:02:00.007-05:00

The version of the Holmes basic Dungeons & Dragons boxed set I received as a kid was missing a crucial component--dice. Because of the Great Polyhedron Shortage of the late 1970s, some printings of the game didn't include the 4-, 6-, 8-, 12-, and 20-siders needed to play the game. So instead TSR included a crappy set of numbered chits you had to cut out and draw from a cup to generate random numbers. And it even came with instructions! (Draw them from a cup? Really?)

They did give you a coupon for dice, either from your local game store or via mail order. I was unable to obtain the dice the first few months I had the game, but I did liberate the three red attack dice from our family copy of Risk so I could roll up characters without conducting a raffle drawing. Anyone else get stuck with the chits instead of dice?

New monster for Holmes basic: Aquarian

2012-05-09T09:02:00.001-05:00

This post rounds out the factions in the Starfleet Wars universe adopted for use with Dungeons & Dragons (the Holmes basic/blue book version) and my starship megadungeon (or is that megadungeon starship?) project.

Aquarian
Move: 120 feet/turn
Hit Dice: 1+1
Armor Class: 5
Treasure Type: Q
Alignment: any
Attacks: 1
Damage: 1-6 or special

As their name suggests, Aquarians are able to function in water as well as in air, and their gills act as filtration systems that give them a +2 save vs. poison gas. Their breastplates give them protection equivalent to chainmail. In addition to daggers and swords, Aquarians carry laser pistols similar to Terrans’, but will only use them if attacked. In close combat, an Aquarian can attack with its tail; a successful hit means the target is knocked off its feet. Aquarians prefer heat but dislike cold, and are not usually found in arctic environments.

New monster for Holmes basic: Avarian

2012-05-08T09:02:00.000-05:00

Next, we have the fourth of my adaptations of each species of the Five Powers for Holmes basic D&D (and my starship megadungeon project).

Avarian
Move: 150 feet/turn
Hit Dice: 1-1
Armor Class: 5
Treasure Type: none
Alignment: any
Attacks: 1
Damage: 1-6 points each

Avarians are birdlike aliens who cannot fly unassisted. Slightly smaller than humans, they wear armor that will deflect stun beams (+5 to saves) and carry a laserblade equivalent to a +2 dagger. Avarians’ ranged weapons include a grenade rocket pack (six charges) capable of delivering a 100-yard blast equal to a 12-dice fireball out to a range of one mile (roll to hit as with a giant throwing a rock) and a wide dispersion blaster that does 1-10 points damage to any three targets within 5’ of one another.

New monster for Holmes basic: Carnivoran

2012-05-07T18:06:00.000-05:00

Another new D&D monster adapted from the Starfleet Wars setting for my starship megadungeon. Like the Terrans and the Entomalians, this creature was created for the Holmes version of basic Dungeons & Dragons.

Carnivoran

Move: 120 feet/turn
Hit Dice: 2
Armor Class: 8
Treasure Type: Q
Alignment: any
Attacks: 1 or 2
Damage: 1-6 points or 1-4/1-4

Sometimes called Kzin, Aslani, or Cats, these barbaric felinoids can grow to more than 6 feet in height and prefer close combat to ranged attacks. Although strong, Carnivorans are not very agile (maximum 12 DEX). They wear no armor except for a helmet and various pieces of decorative jewelry. In the heat of melee battle, there is a 35% chance a Carnivoran will discard his mace/ax and instead bite for 1-4 points and rake his claws for 1-4 points. Carnivorans also carry stun guns that can knock humanoid targets senseless for 1-4 rounds (save vs. Death Ray to avoid).

Sunday Starships: Babylon 5 ship plans

2012-05-06T10:46:00.000-05:00

Cover

Browsing the clearance section of Half-Price Books, I came across Mongoose Publishing's ship plans for the Narn battlecruiser from the Babylon 5 television series.

Inside front cover

I like B5, even though I'm not that big a fan of the TV show; I started watching it on Netflix but it got removed because of licensing issues before I could get past the third season.

Background booklet

Still, this package looked interesting, and it was marked down to $1 from its original price of $19.95, so how could I say no?

Poster with deck plans

If nothing else, I thought the plans might provide some inspiration for my starship megadungeon.

OGRE keeps on rolling

2012-05-05T09:48:00.000-05:00

Exciting times for OGRE/GEV fans! Take a look at the OGRE Kickstarter page: as of this posting (Saturday morning Texas time), the OGRE Designer's Edition was close to breaking $550,000 in pledges--far beyond Steve Jackson Games' original goal of twenty grand. Although I'm gonna get my copy from my friendly local game store instead of through Kickstarter, I'm still thrilled by all the interest shown in this project, from new and old fans alike.

Here's a quick breakdown of what the standard (non-Kickstarter) box will contain (taken from this KS update):

Containers:

The outer shipping carton - about 22" x 18" x 4"?
The game box. Currently 21.5” by 17.625” by at least 3.5”.
Cardboard counter tray insert / “Ogre garage”

Maps:

Ogre map (2 pieces )
GEV type maps G1, G2, S1, S2 (2 pieces each)

Counter/overlay sheets (about 11 x 17, printed 4/4, diecut):

Combine 2D units (2 identical sheets, about 65 units each, 1.5 mm)
Paneuropean 2D units (2 identical sheets, about 70 units each, 1.5 mm)
Basic map overlay sheet (3 identical sheets, 1.5 mm)
Stretch overlay sheet (1.5 mm)
Assorted Ogres and buildings (3 different sheets, 2 mm)
Sponsored sheets for $3,000 supporters (5 different, some 1.5, some 2 mm)

“Mercenary” sheets - two, using Combine units
Maaaybe one w/ hidden buildings. Under discussion.
One with a whole troop of Ogres in a new color.
One, probably, with a new color of Paneuro units.

Booklets and other paper:

Rulebook - 24 pages?
Scenario book - 12 pp?
Reference sheets with CRTs, unit lists, and so on (2 copies)
Ogre Record Sheet masters (2 copies, black only)
Blueprint poster
"How to Build the Ogres" flyer

Two 19mm acrylic dice

Outside the box, there has been enough support to reach various stretch goals including new scenarios, a future expansion, a tiny version of the game resembling the pocket format in which it debuted in 1977, and even an OGRE computer game. Best of all, they're bringing back the miniatures line! With six more days to go in the fundraising period, they're also close to hiring someone to work on the line full-time and not too far from rereleasing the OGRE Miniatures rulebook.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm looking forward to all this.

For my man MCA

2012-05-04T19:13:00.000-05:00

To commemorate the passing of Adam "MCA" Yauch of the Beastie Boys, here's a link to a shot-by-shot mashup of the Sabotage video with footage from Battlestar Galactica.

AD&D Combat Computer Wheel

2012-04-30T09:04:00.002-05:00

By popular demand, here's the AD&D Combat Computer that I found with all my old gaming stuff. This item was cut out of a Dragon magazine (issue #74 I believe).

The idea was to line up the arrow with the target's AC (the inner ring of numbers) and then compare your character level (colored bars) to the outer ring of numbers to find your target number on a d20. It even included all the weapon/armor class adjustments if you needed them.

As you can see, I fastened mine with a metal brad that's actually not too rusted after all these years. I doubt I actually used this device in play. Did anyone else have one of these? If so, did you use it?

Starfleets by Superior: old flier

2012-04-30T09:02:00.000-05:00

Digging around the old Trapper Keeper notebook that I stash a lot of old gaming material inside, I dug out this old Alnavco advertising flier from the inside front pocket (along with an AD&D combat computer wheel and a Thieves' Cant phrasebook taken from old issues of Dragon magazine, a map traced from an Arduin book, and a bunch of old Scratch'n'Sniff stickers).

I like the graphic design on the front of this circular: three emblematic fighter icons in staggered formation at the top, and just three words: Starfleets by Superior in a shadowed font at the bottom. Very clean and elegant.

When you open this publication up, it unfolds onto photographs of all five factions in the Starfleet Wars line, images that spurred me to get these ships and start this blog. The text here really sells the setting background and notes "the designs of each fleet have been influenced by the physical characteristics of the beings who conceived and built them...designs based on military, scientific and fantasy considerations." There's also an image of the SfW rulebook with information about the game.

Flip the page over and you see the additions to the line, including the super galactic dreadnought models and a space station. This side also has blurbs for the MAATAC ground combat game and the company's short-lived periodical, Wargamers Forum. There's also a section about the Stardate: 3000 line of ship models, suitable for various games, with a parenthetical note that these minis "can also be used with Superior StarFleets."

The postmark on the envelope the flier came in was dated July 9, 1980. Finding this catalog was a blast from the past, taking me back to the days loooooong before the internet, when if you lived in a small West Texas town with no gaming store, you actually had to send off for a catalog like this and order products through the mail.

Interestingly, Alnavco is still in business, and they have (almost) the same mailing address--except now they're at PO Box 10 instead of 9. Although they're out of the starship business, Alnavco still sells historical warship miniatures, so go check out their merchandise--no need to send off for a catalog!

Sunday Starships: Kill Radius

2012-04-29T15:13:00.001-05:00

I think everyone who plays wargames also has the urge, deep down, to be a game designer. I'm no different, and I started working on a set of rules for the kind of starship combat game I'd like to play: simple, fast, and a minimum of recordkeeping.

I came up with Kill Radius: Quick and Dirty Starship Combat to scratch that itch. The game is short, but not as short as I intended. I originally wanted to keep the rules to two letter-sized pages (or one front and back), but it grew to almost four pages.

You can use any starship miniatures in your collection, but you do need a hex mat. Recordkeeping is fairly simple--you can fit a whole fleet on one sheet of paper. Ship design and combat is abstract, but I thought that was a good tradeoff in return for ease of play. Kill Radius still needs some work, but when I playtested it last year, we had 30 ships on the table, from destroyers to dreadnoughts, and we played five turns in about three hours. I've revised it since then to make it play a little faster.

It keeps the vector movement system that most people I game with have said they enjoy. I like the way maneuvering works in Kill Radius--you have to think where you want to be not just one turn, but several turns ahead. In last year's playtest, we started out on opposite ends of the table's long axis, closed within a couple of turns, then drifted past one another, exchanging fire all the while. Of course, then we both had several ships drift out of range (and even off the board), so we ended the game.

I have posted a preliminary version the rules on the Kill Radius web page, so take a look and tell me what you think.

2012-04-26T09:02:00.001-05:00

I had a chance to play another game of Red Sand Black Moon--this time a four-player free-for-all. I took a human soldier, my opponents were a beastman, a snakeman, and a Black Moon orc. Ed had figured out a rating system for gladiators, and my human and the serpent man were rated 8, while the orc was a 9 and the beastman 11 (the higher the rating, the better the gladiator; but if you beat someone with a lower rating, you don't gain experience).

The serpent man took a blade to the belly at the start of the combat; then the beastman sliced up the orc (cutting him more than a dozen times). The beastman and the human then engaged each other, with the human getting a couple of thrusts with her trident into the beastman's chest to win the game.

Dragon on the ceiling

2012-04-24T21:52:00.000-05:00

This fearsome beast appeared above us in our kitchen near the hallway one evening. However, there was no fire-breathing, princess-taking or other carnage involved with this little drake. In fact, he's quite the tame dragon. He and his friends sometimes come inside for a visit, and we gently help them find their way outdoors again.

Silent Fury launched

2012-04-21T10:51:00.002-05:00

Image from the Silent Fury website.

Last month I mentioned a new spaceship game in development. Silent Fury is a vector-movement game in which crew plays a vital role, both for damage control and in boarding actions. The creators have released a prototype version of the game:

One of the scenarios is a solo game, another is meant for cooperative play. I hope to try these out sometime soon. Go check it out for yourself, and let me know what you think.

Steve Jackson doesn't need my help

2012-04-18T09:02:00.030-05:00

Image from Steve Jackson Games.

The OGRE Designer's Edition Kickstarter campaign had more than $205,000 in pledges as of late Tuesday evening.

Not only is that amount 10 times what Steve Jackson Games needed to fund this project, but it's also enough for SJG to put some nice extras into the game--both the Kickstarter version and the regular retail version--things like bigger dice, extra maps and counters, and so on, as well as some more scenarios on the company's website. It looks like the fundraising for this game will set some kind of record.

So it looks like there's plenty of support in the gaming community right now for this venerable sci-fi tank wargame.

With that in mind, I've made my decision on where I will obtain my copy of the designer's edition. I'd asked this question earlier, and comments were overwhelmingly in favor of supporting Steve Jackson via Kickstarter (not to mention the extras you get by doing so). However, I'm gonna buy it from Dragon's Lair. After all, the local gaming store as tables for anyone to use--and it doesn't have to be a game you bought at that store.

I've spent many Saturdays at the San Antonio Lair playing Hordes of the Things or Galactic Knights--two games you won't find on the store shelves. And they let Lone Star Historical Miniatures meet there and play games every Tuesday night. They also will order items for you, and let you know when the store gets the merchandise.

I want to support Steve Jackson and OGRE--and I am, by purchasing the sixth edition of the game once it comes out. But I also want to support my friendly local game store--so I'm buying it retail from them, even though the Kickstarter version comes out earlier and with more stuff. I'm content with this decision, because I want to be able to play OGRE (or any other wargame) at the game store as well as at someone's house. But do you plan on buying the new version of OGRE? If so, are you gonna go Kickstarter, FLGS, or both?

Hippie ship

2012-04-17T09:02:00.001-05:00

This is the Sathar frigate with the paint job that I was unsure about. Yeah, it looks like a Grateful Dead t-shirt, but I kinda like it.

After seeking advice here and on The Miniatures Page, I decided to go ahead and keep this color scheme.

I did try to blend the colors a little better, and I used a brown ink wash to bring out details.

After some time, I think this paint job has grown on me. With this color scheme, the ship can serve as an alien scout craft or a trillionaire's luxury yacht.

Still one more Sathar (a light cruiser) to go, then I'll have all my Sathar ships completed. But don't worry; after that, I've still got plenty of metal to paint.

2012-04-16T09:04:00.003-05:00

Some closeups of my Sathar frigate, painted in the tiger stripes of the Capellan Raiders from the old Terran Trade Authority books.

The inspiration for this game from another spaceship gamer (see here)--but looking once more at his photo, I think I may have to repaint mine!

It took about three coats of yellow paint for this job to work, because for I had spray primed this ship gray, then for some reason brushed it a darker gray.

Once I painted it, I gave the ship a gray wash, then drybrushed in the same color to provide a little definition for the edges.

Not the world's best paint job, but it looks good at arm's length on the table. I'll have to see how it looks next to the starbomber I painted the same way.

Sunday Starships: Painted Sathar models

2012-04-15T13:38:00.000-05:00

I finished some of my Sathar ships from the Star Frontiers miniatures game Knight Hawks, a light cruiser and two frigates.

I was having trouble figuring out how to paint these. In the end, I decided to keep the tye-dye look on the first Sathar frigate. Looking to earlier paint jobs I'd done, I was inspired to decorate the other frigate in the livery of the Capellan Raiders.

For the light cruiser, with its bulbous, industrial look, I concluded that ships like this would be a mainstay of the Vogon Construction Fleet.

I painted this entire vessel with a bright orange. That made it look too ... orange, but a brownish ink wash took some of the orangeness away, as well as bringing out details on the ship.

I then drybrushed with a yellow ochre color, to give the ship a little more depth and convey a worn appearance. I'm happy with how this ship came out. It will make a nice target for pirates when it's not constructing hyperspace bypasses.

I still have one more Sathar light cruiser to finish painting. I'm out of time, so I'll post more photos of the two completed frigates later on.

Two dollar Warhammer

2012-04-14T11:42:00.000-05:00

I haven't played Warhammer Fantasy Battle in probably 20 years (the version I played was with a big orange hardback rulebook, probably the third edition of the game), so when I spotted this rulebook in the clearance section at Half-Price Books for $2, I decided to grab it.

I'm not sure I'll actually play this wargame, but I like reading different rulesets, as the different perspective helps give me ideas for streamlining or modifying other games, as well as inspiring me in writing my own rules.

The copyright on this volume is dated 1996, so it looks like this is the fifth edition of the WFB rules. Judging from some of the examples of rules that mention Bretonnians and Lizardmen, this book was probably meant to go with the boxed set like the one I purchased for a song back in January.

I know there's a lot of hate these days for Warhammer's publisher, Games Workshop, but reading through the rulebook so far, the game certainly strikes me as playable, even though the rules could use a little simplifying. Not only that, but the rulebook states that the rules can't cover every situation, and sometimes the players will have to come up with a solution to continue play. There's even a note at the end regarding house rules. As the author points out, the spirit of the game is more important than winning--something applicable to every wargame, not just Warhammer.

All you wargamers out there, did you every play Warhammer (fantasy or 40K)? If so, what edition, and do you still play this game?

Dungeon crawl: THW style

2012-04-13T09:02:00.001-05:00

Got together this week with Ed the Two Hour Wargames Guy and helped him playtest a rough version of a dungeon crawl game that he's working on.

It's still in the early stages and uses a deck of regular playing cards to determine the dungeon layout and your group encounters.

We used the free Swordplay rules, with that game's In Sight test, for combat. We had three battles between a trio of adventures and five or six goblins; the first group included a leader.

The battles were quick and deadly. I enjoyed putting the rules through their paces and offering suggestions regarding the game. We sure did seem to encounter a lot of goblins, though :)

All the figures are from Reaper Miniatures, and Ed tells me they're painted by Combatpainter, who lives on the border. The "dungeon" is actually 4"x4" floor tiles.

After that, we had time to play out a three-round smoker bout using the Friday Night Fights rules. This game is similar to the gladiator rules in that you need to know when to conserve your bonus dice and when to spend them--but unlike Red Sand Blue Sky, you don't get a chance to get more bonus dice during play.

I ended up KOing my opponent at the very end of the last round after he ran out of bonus dice.

The "ring" is a printout from the game. I forgot to ask where the minis came from. My thanks to Ed for once again hosting the gamenight.

Kickstarting OGRE 6e

2012-04-12T09:02:00.003-05:00

Photo from Steve Jackson Games.

By now you've probably heard the news: Steve Jackson Games is using Kickstarter to get its long-delayed sixth edition of OGRE into production. In the first day or so, the project has already tripled its funding goal of $20,000, meaning that in addition to ensuring publication of the game, the extra money will provide for added features (inside and outside the game box, depending on the stretch goals that are reached) for OGRE fans.

By the way, the weight of this box is now up to 14 pounds, and it's so big it dwarfs anything else on your game shelf. Even though this game is expensive, you do get a lot for your money.

As a fan and player with lots of miniatures for this game, I'm happy to see it finally reach the market. Evidently, so are a lot of other folks, who are pledging enough for one, two or even three copies of this game, which will retail for $100 (for details on what was going in the box prior to Kickstarter, go here).

Which brings me to my dilemma: Do I pledge the cash to the Kickstarter project and get all the extras promised to people who pledge to fund the project? Or do I act local, and support my game store by purchasing the sixth edition of OGRE through them?

I can't afford to buy two copies (and I'm not sure I'd want to), so I have to decide. So taking a page from Kickstarter, I'm gonna crowdsource my decision: Assuming you were willing to drop a Benjamin on this game, would you do it through Kickstarter or instead pick it up at the store that lets you game there? What should I do? Less than a month to make up my mind ...

Megadungeon: The Edmund Fish-Barrel

2012-04-11T09:02:00.004-05:00

Good news, everyone! I've decided to expand on my starship as megadungeon idea and start working on the project myself. I will base the adventuring site on one of the various Starfleet Wars ship models. But which one? First, I looked at my measurements of the models. Remember, these designs are approximately 1/9600 scale, meaning each millimeter on the model represents 9.6 meters, or more than 30 yards. I don't want to try anything too ambitious, so I'm staying away from the monstrous super galactic dreadnoughts (which are more than a mile long!).

Instead, I find a casting of the Aquarian Piranha-class destroyer, which at 40mm comes out to about 384 meters in length. The scale width of 20mm means the ship is about 192 meters across. Big, but not overwhelming. So background: After a great battle between the Terrans and the Aquarians, this starship crashed into a remote part of the game world, where it now beckons to treasure-seeking adventurers. Call it the wreck of the Edmund Fish-Barrel. Add in the multiple decks, and you've got quite a volume of starship to explore, as the cross-section shows.

To help me with the map, I took an extreme closeup of the model and printed it to graph paper. That way, I know where everything goes and can even draw parts of the map over the image of the starship. Another nice coincidence, the scale on this map works out to about 10 yards per square.

I have the outline and the cross-section of this ship/dungeon; now I just need to fill in the details on the map and stock it with monsters and treasure.