376

(23 replies, posted in Game Design)

Check it out! look at www.gamesquad.com for a review of Iron Stars

But, they also have an interesting article about wargaming and where it's headed. (yes, I do occasionally read). Matt Irski provides us a laundry list of reasons why wargaming sucks now more than it has ever sucked before. Interpret the following as you will, but I truly love gaming and I like meeting gamers from all over the country. And some of Irski's points almost make some sense. However, the article never quite pulls itself out of the quagmire and never truly makes a point, near as I can tell. So with that said, I rebut.

Many of the reasons he gives are old-rehashed whinges about how nobody plays to learn anymore and complaints about skater dudes picking up clickies at the local walmart and expecting to be able to play games without a lot of complicated rules and without a lot of time investment. To that I say pshaw! if he's gonna bitch about something bitch about how impossible it is for an indie company to truly support it's designers and how a billion dollar industry can be ruled by a few major companies. Gone are the mom and pop Game Designer's Workshops and rules written for the sake of the game (okay that's lame, but I needed something to balance the GDW reference.)

At any rate, one particular piece of drivel that Irski sets forth in his tirade against kids who are cool and yet who play games is this moronic quote regarding the clickies and some "new" genres. "These are niche periods at best and some, like VSF or Pirates, are little more than fads. Despite all the hype, these periods will never be as popular as WW2 or Ancients". This is in an o'zine that has a decent review of Iron Stars. I guess Irski and Voysey didn't talk before publishing their separate articles. VSF is a fad, but the Iron Stars brand is one of our best-sellers? I mean, I guess if it is a fad, I'll throw out my copy of Space: 1889, too.

If, and in this case, I'm using the vernacular "If", the most popular game genres are ancients and WW2, why can I only find one or two games of WW2 (using the same rules) at the conventions I go to? Why is the most popular set of ancients rules lambasted by it's players for being impossible to comprehend in a single read? (It's not, by the way, we "got it" first time through.) Whereas, there are hundreds of 8-14 year olds playing impromptu games of yugi-oh, and clickie-flavor-of-the-month. Try picking up an impromptu game of nappies and see how far you get before your next game starts.

Moreover, Irzi pontificates from atop his own his higher-than-thou Désirée "They then ask if there is a watered-down version of Waterloo where they can just paint a handful of figs….Guess what? Doing something right takes time. Regrettably, the current generation of gamers just cannot be bothered about painting large armies. Here's a suggestion; turn off your Playstation, quit watching the same anime episodes over and over, and sit down for an hour a night and paint some figs."

Well, guess what Matt? Some of us do; and I haven't played playstation for months. If I wasn't working 50 hours a week for the last three months trying to deliver software to 1200 people, I might have gotten more done.

Now I have to apologize, Nappies isn't my genre, so I don't know as much as some people about Waterloo, etc. so keep that in mind on this next bit.

My counter-point is this, Waterloo wasn't fought by armies of 30,000 men, it was fought by armies of 30,000 men. Why not take a walk outside the norm and play a Nappy skirmish game? I'm sure there were times during the battles where some units started running around like idiots scared out of their wits. Take a couple of squads of nappies and play "find the frenchman" with a unit of prussians in some village somewhere.

Finally, Irzi pushes my big red RANT button with "The big problem is that gamers are gaming for the sake of gaming. It's become just one more way to kill time between taking the kids to soccer games and having lunch with the wife/girlfriend. What has become of the days of hobbyists investing some time and artistic talent in the hobby? What has become of the gamer who participated in such martial fare not just for the opportunity to kill things, but to obtain a deeper insight into military history?"

Let's break that down shall we kids, it's so full of bloated goodness that it bears some deeper detailed analysis.

1) "Gamers playing for the sake of gaming". Dude, it's just a game. If I want Compte de Lobau to cast a fireball, you better roll your save. I personally thought I was PLAYING a GAME. But maybe I'm being ludicrous, thinking that. If I had to build an historical case for why Orcs had a precedent for fast advance and thus move 5 hexes per turn, and why the Grimmpule historically had a lot of magic users in battle, I'd never get to play!

I'm not gonna touch the kids/soccer/lunch thing, that's just stupid.

2) "What has become of the days of hobbyists investing some time and artistic talent in the hobby". Well, here ya go...


      http://mj12games.com/aces/
      http://mj12games.com/ares/
      http://mj12games.com/defiance (Origins nominee, btw)
      http://mj12games.com/ftm/
      http://mj12games.com/grandfleets/
      http://mj12games.com/grid/
      http://mj12games.com/ironstars/
      http://mj12games.com/powersleds/
      http://mj12games.com/sov_stars/
      http://mj12games.com/spitfire/
      http://mj12games.com/starmada/



3) And "What has become of the gamer who participated in such martial fare not just for the opportunity to kill things, but to obtain a deeper insight into military history?"

He stopped bathing in 1972.

377

(15 replies, posted in Discussion)

Okay, I thought I had missed some geeky thing about trek I had never known.

Mind you there's a lot of those (geeky things about trek I don't know) but not as many as there ought to be

378

(15 replies, posted in Discussion)

Now you're just being childish.

big_smile

379

(15 replies, posted in Discussion)

oh, Crap,

I mean

See A Are Pee


Damn!

See Are A Pee

380

(15 replies, posted in Discussion)

better qualify, you can't say Crap, because it will always come out as Carp

381

(15 replies, posted in Discussion)

heh, there is now smile

382

(15 replies, posted in Discussion)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4XhMANcCbM

Hey man, relax.  8) Let Brudda Iz tell ya a story!

I always thought it was a bit odd too when the klingons got warbirds...

However, can you give me another example (since you claim this is one of possibly many examples) of

how they took a perfectly cool race and decided, :oops: it -- we'll just give the Klingons all their attributes

big_smile

383

(1 replies, posted in Starmada X)

purely listing.

all other posts have been deleted and will continue t be deleted.

But you're welcome to discuss design philosophy on the main starmada board.

384

(2 replies, posted in Miniatures)

Makes me want to break out Blender again

385

(0 replies, posted in Aces at Dawn)

Wings at War minis

'nuff said?

386

(4 replies, posted in Cheese)

mmmm

387

(7 replies, posted in Starmada)

I was flipping through the Bourbaki Basin and I noticed that there were a bunch of really really big ships, and at least one very small chip.

It got me thinking about playing styles. 

I know we've discussed the ogre-like battles and balance issues out the wazoo, but has anyone ever tried to play a game or better yet a campaign, where all the ships were under, say 40-50 points With no more than a couple hundred points on the board?

388

(7 replies, posted in Starmada)

Good luck with that. it's been tried. albeit the new LRS/SG combo is much less powerful than before.

Fighters fighters fighters.

389

(0 replies, posted in Starmada X)

From japridemore

390

(4 replies, posted in For the Masses)

big_smile

391

(4 replies, posted in For the Masses)

1) We toyed with the idea that leaders do not "exist".  I can't remember why we decided not to go that route.  Noel?

2) attached leaders just might work. I dunno how I feel about that.  Noel?

and brusio has now entered my vocabulary as One Cool Word(tm)

as in

Gave him a harsh brusio smile[/code]

392

(1 replies, posted in Discussion)

dan was in London last year sometime, I think

393

(3 replies, posted in For the Masses)

Can anyone help him?

I sent some stuff about "stacking" limits in larger hexes, but I'm serously trying to figure out how this changes things and I can see it going badly with multiple elements in a hex.

394

(3 replies, posted in Iron Stars)

Ftm and aces are now there too

395

(3 replies, posted in For the Masses)

Got this note in the emails from a guy who wants to use FtM with Kallistra hexes, I honestly have never even thought about that as an option so I was at a bit of a loss.



>
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: jim maher [mailto:<snip, haha>]
>Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2007 2:59 PM
>To: Majestic Twelve Games
>Subject: Enquiry from MJ12 eStore
>
>
>Hi and sorry to trouble you. I am looking for a set of hex based fantasy
>rules to play with Kallistra hex terrain which I am purchasing. I downloaded
>your extract rules from "for the masses" and they look really good but I
>have one fundamental question. My understanding ( and please correct me if i
>am wrong) is that each element in a unit is on its own hex which in itself
>is fine except for the fact that the suggested hex size for the game looks
>about a third of the size of the kallistra hexes. Have you come across this
>issue? I will be building a 6x4 hex table which I reckon will be about 250
>hexes as each hex is 10cm across.Can the game be played with more than one
>element per hex ?as i think the alternative of one element per hex might
>significantly reduce army sizes and i want to have very large battles! I am
>really keen on the rules so any help suggestions greatly appreciated.
>
>Thanking you
>
>Jim
>
>
>
>

396

(2 replies, posted in Miniatures)

doesn't look like the res is high enough to do anything small enough to actually look good tho.

It's exciting to see, however!

soon we'll all be constructing prototypes on our desktops

397

(9 replies, posted in Starmada)

Did someone say Banked Spinal Mounts?

<duck>

398

(6 replies, posted in Starmada)

I think the point is to modify the game?

If you have any ideas I'm sure Dan would be happy to hear them smile

HTTP://WWW.IRISHUKULELE.COM

<IMG src="http://irishukulele.com/gfx/irishukulelelogo.jpg">http://irishukulele.com/gfx/irishukulelelogo.jpg</IMG>

We'll be playing Irish, Celtic, Folk and other songs as well as telling jokes and overall coolness at the Hopedale Medical Complex for St. Paddy's Day.

2:00 CST.

Sorry the announcement's a bit late

400

(1 replies, posted in Cheese)

Well, I know I've never had it at least