Loot from MillenniumCon

As always, part of the fun of going to a game convention is getting stuff: Buying new products, receiving prizes for playing in games, and scoring bargains at the flea market. MillenniumCon was no different:

For playing an introductory game of Frostgrave, I received these playing aids, a couple of figures, and some terrain. More importantly, I met some local players who have a weekly game at Dragon's Lair:

From a vendor with tables stacked high with old Citadel Minis, I tracked down some additions to my Oldhammer skellies and some Halfling mercenaries to join my Bretonnians:

 

At Ed the THW Guy's table, I bought a couple of rules to try out, and for inspiration in my own designs:

At the flea market on Sunday, I couldn't resist this Star Wars diecast spaceship for one buck:

Also at the flea market, I found some more Bretonnians for my Oldhammer project, as well as Kings of War (and other games):

The same guy also had some movement trays, templates, and tokens:

Finally, another flea market vendor had some Warhammer 5th edition sourcebooks, which will provide inspiration:

Lots to keep me busy over the next few months.

The importance of playtesting

I had a chance to run the latest iteration of my Monopolis scenario for Ogre with some friends before I present it at MillenniumCon in November, and I'm glad I did. First, I was able to lay out all the terrain, and it looked cool. More important, however, I got some valuable feedback on my design.

The players were blunt about some problems with my setup: Mainly, that some objectives were too far for the attacking player to reach, and some parts of the map never saw any combat. I was told I went overboard with the terrain, and they're right. At the playtesters' recommendation, I am going to have the attackers come in closer to the city--and from more than one side of the map. I will also give the defenders some reinforcements.

Another thing they discussed were the objective cards I had printed out. They told me the cards needed pictures of the objectives (which I didn't have time to get for the playtest). I also realized that I forgot to mention that lasers can be used offensively as well as defensively, which I need to tell the players. This is something I will include in the player handout, along with other tips and hints that players unfamiliar with the rules as well might appreciate.

I enjoyed running the game, and even if the scenario wasn't perfect, I had a good time--and I think the players did too. Now, back to the drawing board!

Calling in a nuke

I picked up this "Nuke Blast Marker, Small" from Litko Game Accessories on clearance at a local game store.  It will come in handy to mark the detonation point of cruise missiles in games of OGRE/GEV.

This plastic marker pretty much covers a single hex on the OGRE and GEV maps.  Perfect, because in the game, a cruise missile destroys the entire hex it detonates in, and destroys or damages other units (and even terrain) according to the distance from the blast.  So when one of these weapons goes off, I can place the blast marker and count the hexes to see what else gets vaporized.

Since this token is assembled from flat components, just like the 3-D units that come in the OGRE Designer's Edition, it fits right in with elements from the game.  One thing, though: OGREs are tough, and while a near-miss will knock one around a bit and do some damage, it takes a direct hit from a cruise missile to take out the cybertank for sure.

Sampling OGRE Designer's Edition

I made it up to Dragon's Lair last weekend and managed to catch a demonstration of the massive new OGRE Designer's Edition from Steve Jackson Games.  Al, one of SJG's Men in Black, was on had to run the game and give out swag.  I thought he looked familiar; he was previewing the new edition of OGRE a year ago at the 2012 Millenniumcon. 

As you may already know, this game is frackin' huge--a ginormous box that ships at 24 pounds, with massive maps of the OGRE and GEV battlefields and scores of counters.  While the conventional armor and infantry use flat counters, the giant cybertanks are depicted by 3-D cutouts that you assemble.  They looked good on the board, giving the game more of a miniatures vibe than a boardgame feel (and I'm not a purist; I usually play with minis but use the boardgame rules anyway).

And how did the game play?  Smooth as ever.  Two other players, Henry and David, each took a Mk III against my and Al's conventional defense of two command posts.  Al even provided the Ogre War Room app for his tablet, as you can see in the upper right of the photo above.  This free software for phones and tablets is a playing aid that keeps track of damage to your OGRE electronically.

So the app tracked our damage, but Al and I didn't do nearly enough to stave off the inevitable cybertank victory, as they all but eliminated the defending units to grind slowly toward the CPs.  Still, we did some damage to the machines, and had a great time doing so.  And after the game was over, I received the pocket edition of OGRE, which won't hit stores until next year!  Nice.

So I've got a very portable version of OGRE to take with me on trips.  And I just found out my copy of the big game has arrived as well.  I can't wait to pick up my very own copy of the Designer's Edition this weekend.  It will be a blast!

Dice, dice, baby

Since all the cool kids are doing it, I thought I'd post a pic of my dice like everyone else:

My collection of polyhedrals includes a bunch of specialty dice for the Heroscape game, ten-sided dice for Galactic Knights, more 10-siders for Starfleet Wars in the BOX O' DEATH™, d6s for Hordes of the Things and Song of Blades and Heroes, and the white multisided dice for D&D.  Unfortunately, I haven't had a chance to play very much recently.  Hopefully, I'll get some gaming in soon.

EDIT: I see I'm not the first person to come up with this headline.

Drift Markers

In the comments to my Aquarian fleet post, Matgc asks about the use of drift markers in Galactic Knights--in particular, whether they clutter up the map too much and how to match the right token with the correct ship.  Instead of replying in the comments, I thought I'd post about it in case others were interested.

As I mentioned in the first part of my GK review, the drift marker indicates a starship's momentum, and follows it around on the table.  The faster the ship is moving, the further away the marker is, and vice versa.  The Galactic Knights rulebook has a sheet with numbered drift markers you can copy (different colors, numbered, with the Terran and Avarian logos), and the publisher uploaded a full-color version of this page to the game's mailing list.  Thing is, these markers are pretty big, taking up a whole hex.  So to cut down on the clutter--and color-coordinate with my own paint schemes--I made my own.

I took some small wooden discs left over from an assortment I'd bought to make stands for my ships.  These circles were about ¾ an inch across, about the same size as those printable circular adhesive labels you can find in office supply stores.  As you can see in the photo above, I printed out the ship type and numbers (DD-01, BC-01, etc.) to match my fleets (and numbered the bases of the models themselves), then applied the labels to the discs. 

The round labels come in different colors, so you can pick the hues that match your fleet.  That way, it's easy to tell at a glance which marker goes with which ship.  If you don't see the color you want, use a white sticker and color it with a highlighter.  That's what I did for some of those markers pictured, although the flash kind of washed them out.  If you're worried that they might shift during a game, glue a small washer to the bottom for extra weight.

As to how it looks on the table, I think it cuts down on the clutter significantly.  It's not perfect, but it's somewhat aesthetically pleasing and does its job of indicating vector movement on the game board.  I don't think it's too confusing, but see for yourself in this image from my Chimaeracon game:

Introducing: the BOX O' DEATH™

I can't take credit for this idea; someone offhandedly referred to a box of death on one of the Battletech blogs I follow (Giant Battling Robots or Paint It Pink; I can't remember), and a bit of Google-fu led me to a description on one of the BT message boards.

Basically, the idea is to save time when you need to roll a whole bunch of dice (not to mention prevent those suckers from flying all over the place, knocking down minis, rolling under the table, etc.).  Instead of making a series of single dice rolls (like when an assault 'mech fires off a dozen medium lasers at once) and tallying up the successes (usually on your fingers), you just shake the BOX O' DEATH™ and read off the results.

Since Starfleet Wars spaceships each get ten percentile die rolls for their Close-In Defense Systems, which translates into a lot of dice rolling, I decided to make my own BOX O' DEATH™ to facilitate gameplay when I run SfW at the South Texas Mini-Con.

As you can see, I took your typical compartmentalized plastic hardware storage box and filed it with percentile dice.  I also labeled each chamber with a letter to keep everyone on the same page when it came to the order of counting die rolls (the red dot is for any "special" roll that may take place).  I plan on using the BOX O' DEATH™ for any game action that requires three or more percentile rolls.  Here are the instructions for operating the BOX O' DEATH™:

1. Pick up BOX O' DEATH™ and shake it hard four or five times.
2. Place BOX O' DEATH™ on a flat surface.
3. Read each roll in alphabetical order, starting with compartment A.
4. Blacks are always 10s, whites are always 1s.
5. If additional die rolls are needed, repeat BOX O' DEATH™ procedure.

Hopefully, the instructions will eliminate uncertainty about which set of dice to start with, as well as speed up the game.  Not only that, but I can switch out dice for different games.  Has anyone else used something like this as a time-saver?

I want to play Starfleet Wars ...

... so I've been studying the rules.  The best way for me to learn a game is to make up my own quick reference sheet.  By referring to every part of the rules, going back and forth through the books to tie them all together, and restating them in my own words, I end up with a pretty decent grasp of the rulebook.

I did that for Starfleet Wars, putting most of the information needed for play onto a single 8½" x 11" piece of paper.  But in doing so, I realized the game still requires players to process a lot of information for each ship, especially if you use all the advanced rules.  The ship record sheet in the SfW rulebook is pretty sparse when it comes to giving a player everything necessary to use all the vessel's weapons, which led me to design my own.  Here's an example:

This new record sheet has a list of all the options available to a starship captain, and space to designate targets and write orders for true simultaneous play.  When I do get to play Starfleet Wars, hopefully this record sheet will make the game run smoothly.

So does anyone else devise their own play aids for their wargames, or am I just waaaaaay to obsessive?