Andrew Maly - 04:24pm Apr 21, 2002 PST (#378 of 400) If you ain't drinkin' with us, you're drinkin' against us! Let's see... for John's info... Had a great time. Wonderful company all. Played Flagship, a nice game, very light. Like any card game where each card has its own ability, it takes a while to figure it out. After a game or two, it flows easily. Santa Fe. Played two games, first was a 250/250/232 that I finished second on the tie breaker. The next game I won on the "superior" draw a whole bunch of "7" cities strategy. Plenty of opportunity for different styles (cut-throat, friendly, points early, long term) in the game. Didn't get to play Napster War, but it was very popular. Also got in a couple of games of Clash of Giants, one of Wilderness War, one of Euro Loo, and even had time to attend my in-law's 45th wedding anniversary party in West Hartford, CT. Thanks to GMT (Andy Lewis), Allan, and everyone for making the weekend of fun. Martin Sample - 07:07pm Apr 21, 2002 PST (#379 of 400) Now playtesting the Killing Ground for NES - see W.W.II Individual game folder Highlight ( or lowlight depending on your viewpoint ) watching 4 out of 5 of Andy's French leaders roll a 1 ( a 1 in 1296 chance ) including Montcalm for leader casualty in the same battle. Allan J Rothberg - 07:09pm Apr 21, 2002 PST (#380 of 400) ConsimWorld:One big happy disfunctional family. Marty, You left out the icing on that cake. Please name his opponent and their previous experience with WW. Aaron Silverman - 08:36pm Apr 21, 2002 PST (#383 of 400) As deadly as I am beautiful! Wow, now I don't feel so bad about sucking the Wilderness away. :) My opponent (Allan/ Bill C. tag team) managed quite a few 6es in combat, but my leaders rolled a whole lotta 2s. Whew! Didn't help when Alan whipped out his Ambush card against my 21-17 attack, followed by one of his many 6 die rolls. Oy! How quickly it became 13-34. . . All in all, the con was a blast. WW is as fun as everyone says it is, and Nappy Wars is as fun as everyone is going to say it is! I would probably prefer some sort of CRT to the many handfuls of dice involved, but the rest of the game was so cool that the Dicey Zillions were easy to accept. Lots of interesting options, and the multiplayer version didn't play the same way twice. (I think there were about 6 or 8 games run over the weekend.) Also played some SF card games, namely Galaxy & Flagship. Not sure yet what to make of either of 'em; I'll have to play some more to pass final judgments. Galaxy is basically Titan: The Arena with a lot more chaos. Flagship plays just like a lot of CCGs, tasting like Modern Naval Battles/ Star Fleet Battle Force. SFBF seems a bit more balanced and skill-dependent, but again this is only based on one playing of Flagship. Future attempts (and reports) will be scheduled! I also ran a few test runs of my own concoction, Racketeer: The Game. The card game that lets you crack down on Allan's skanky bi-yatches and steal a piece of the action of Dave's numbers racket. I'm happy with how it's progressing. It's coming along nicely, especially for a first effort (if I do say so myself). Although the subject matter is a bit of a tough sell. ;) Thanks to everyone who gave it a shot--there were lots of great suggestions! (Especially Wray's idea of playing Enforcers face-down. That really added a cool angle.) Lastly but not leastly, I managed to eke out a win at Battleline (thanks again Wray!). 'Twouldn't be a big deal, but I think it's my second-ever win at that one. :) Kris Weinschenker - 09:25pm Apr 21, 2002 PST (#384 of 400) I just flew back back form GMT East ::drumroll: ...and boy are my arms tired. ::rimshot, groan:: Highlight ( or lowlight depending on your viewpoint ) watching 4 out of 5 of Andy's French leaders roll a 1 ( a 1 in 1296 chance ) including Montcalm for leader casualty in the same battle. To add some others to the list, Rich Simon and Andy Lewis's horrendous card drawing Fri night in DiF.(i tried to accept it as sheepishly as possible) The Mad Scotsman Simon Appleyard and Andy Taylor blowing up the world while playtesting Ananda Gupta's Twilight Struggle. Kudos to all who helped organize and run the Event!!! Allan J Rothberg - 09:55pm Apr 21, 2002 PST (#385 of 400) ConsimWorld:One big happy disfunctional family. The first of a few scenes from the Con: Wray eating a bagel for the first time ("what do you mean? you cut it in half and then put on the cream cheese?"). Bill R's troops emerging from behind their protective works and making short work of Dave F's advancing horde in Cataphract. The cry of "Who's got prostitutes", answered with a resounding reply of "GO FISH" from one and all in a game of Aaron's Racketeer. (I am a bit surprised that a staff member from the hotel didn't come screeching into the Con room during that particular game.) More later. Martin Sample - 04:41am Apr 22, 2002 PST (#386 of 400) Now playtesting the Killing Ground for NES - see W.W.II Individual game folder To answer Allans ?, Andy's leader killing opponent in WW was Bari ( I don't know her last name ) and she had about as much WW experience as Wray did eating bagels. How the ^%%^#% could he haev gone this long before eating a bagel ? Bob Kehoe - 06:43am Apr 22, 2002 PST (#387 of 400) Boston. SPQR, Alex, Alesia, Seige, Reds, FTP Nappy was a blast with two copies of the game sitting out. We saw Richard Berg reprise the role as the Little Frenchman and take on the world. As he started the game with a pounding of poor Austria, Russia came to their rescue and I made the warning as neutral Prussia that I would join the war against the French if he “takes Vienna”. … Richard pulled back, Austria breathed a sigh or relief, Russia marched home to begin a conquest of Turkey. Then we broke for lunch … and it all becomes kind of a blur. Richard went to lunch with Austria and over two 50 cent hamburgers formed the “McDonald’s French-Austrian alliance”, came back and whacked the rest of us. Lawyer, Game Designer, Tactician, Diplomat. Lesson leaned : Skip lunch and lose your country.:) Richard Simon - 08:24am Apr 22, 2002 PST (#389 of 400) I Still Miss My Ex.....................But My Aim Is Improving! Rich Simon and Andy Lewis's horrendous card drawing Fri night in DiF.(i tried to accept it as sheepishly as possible) Thatnks to Jason and Kris for not rubbing it in. Andy Lewis and I gave a demo on how not to draw cards in DiF. He and I got emulsified (and that's being charitable). Darn...looks like no one brought their computer to provide live reports from GMT East. You are all just too busy having fun! I'm sure the after-convention reports will be a great read. There were computers in evidence. It's just that we were so busy having fun that we were simply too tired to post. Hey, us East Coast folks can party as good as you guys in Arizona. Plus, we had five women show up! (Several of whom actually stayed for more than 30 seconds) Jason Levine - 10:41am Apr 22, 2002 PST (#392 of 400) Well...more AAR... Enjoyed the con very much. Learned that I have amazing luck when it comes to drawing cards. I played 2 games of DIF and both times I slaughtered my enemies with those pesky Zeros. Had a killing with Public Enemy (but eventually got gunned down...err stopped...by the police) as Baby Face Nelson. Love Flagships and lost only 1 game of it...although in that game I had destroyed the whole enemy fleet EXCEPT the flagship...while my only ship that was destroyed WAS the flagship...hahaha. Nappy's War was everything it was hyped to be. Will P500 it today. Santa Fe Rails is even better than the original White Wind edition. I found out that if you crash both of Andy's cars in the 1st race of Formula Motor Racing...that you will end up losing to the pace cars (err...NPC's)...damn! And lest Allan forget...I finished off both bags of candy in just 2-1/2 days! All in all it was a great time...will definitely come again next year. Jason Allan J Rothberg - 01:17pm Apr 22, 2002 PST (#393 of 400) ConsimWorld:One big happy disfunctional family. Jason, Thanks for reminding me, another memory, Wray's lovely wife coming in and describing how $28 dollars of candy for the 4 kids, her and Wray wasn't 'reasonable' in her eyes. (I pointed out that she let the kids decide what a 'reasonable' amount of candy would be. That was almost a good idea.) Peter Stein - 06:36pm Apr 22, 2002 PST (#394 of 400) If I don't go to conventions in 2002, the terrorists win!!! Re my picutre: Did you notice all the Turkish counters missing from the Near East? Don't ask. . . And despite that fiasco, I still was in OK shape until some guy named Brusilov came along and destroyed the Austrian front. I did better than Andy and Rich in DiF. Not a lot better, but better. Apparently Dave Fox is color blind, as he could never move my green car in Formula Motor Racing. But I get the last laugh as I win two races while Dave can't beat out the no-player car. McLaughlin's Nappy game looks like it has potential (note I only played one turn), but someone's going to have to explain the end of game rules. You sit down for a 2-3 hour game and it's over in half an hour because somebody rolled a "6"? Great moment in Metropolitan Wargamer history: the dinner group walks into an Indian restaurant, but before we're seated the 3 Metro Wargamers hit the eject button and race over to the Great American Pub for fried appetizers, Sam Adams beer and Bass ale. Yes! Flagship, while not my cup of tea, played smoothly. I can see a lot of people getting into that game. And anytime you get a chance to beat up on Bill Ramsay in a game (which does not happen often), it's a good thing.:-) Unfortunately I never got a chance to take Progress & Destiny out for a spin, but we'll spring it on the locals in the next few weeks. All in all a fun weekend. William Cooper - 07:00pm Apr 22, 2002 PST (#395 of 400) Summer Stormin' in Tempe 2002. Developing Victory in the Galaxy for GMT. Great moment in Metropolitan Wargamer history: the dinner group walks into an Indian restaurant, but before we're seated the 3 Metro Wargamers hit the eject button and race over to the Great American Pub for fried appetizers, Sam Adams beer and Bass ale. Yes! Interesting definition of "great".............................. Mike Lam - 08:42pm Apr 22, 2002 PST (#396 of 400) Playing in the DIF continuous experience campaigns at GMT's Games Weekends-WEST; Next Weekend: April 25-28, 2002 in Hanford, Calif Andy Lewis & Mike Nagel, Hey, I heard there was some DiF action at GMT-East but no specific details! Not even any pictures! : - ) How was the turnout and was there any special events or tournaments? I'm always looking for new ideas, formats or concepts to use. Ted Raicer - 08:58pm Apr 22, 2002 PST (#397 of 400) Xander: "We Bohemian anti-establishment types have always been persecuted." Oz: "Well, sure. You're all so weird." On the subject of luck at GMT East, playing REDS! as the Whites, one turn I rolled 8 successful rally rolls (die roll of 1 or 2 needed) in a row. Probably my hottest dice streak in any game ever. (And yes, I won that one.) Ted Peter Stein - 09:13pm Apr 22, 2002 PST (#398 of 400) If I don't go to conventions in 2002, the terrorists win!! Bill, I am a simple man with simple tastes. What else can i tell you? Supposedly there will be some pictures in the Metro Wargamer website. If Allan remembers to email them and Lou puts them up. Allan J Rothberg - 10:06pm Apr 22, 2002 PST (#399 of 400) ConsimWorld:One big happy disfunctional family. Pete, I sent them to Lou. Unfortunately I can't place names to half the faces! (Well, alright, not half, but there are about 8 people I can't seperate in my head, they all have the name Bill/Andy/Dave/Robert/William/etc./etc.) I sent him what I knew. I suggest we link them and people chime in and and ID those that I cleverly blew or omitted. (After the past 3 months and last weekend itself, I need a vacation!) You know what, screw the captions altogether, Lou, post the link and omit the captions. Andy Lewis - 10:12pm Apr 22, 2002 PST (#400 of 400) Most recent played for fun: Reds, Replay Baseball, Battle Cry. Getting back into ASL. Actually we didn't do anything exciting in DiF especially not the little we played. We did play 3 two on two games Friday night with each person taking a first round entry from Mike Nagel's WBC chart. The plane selection was limited since my set was missing all the Axis fighters (turns out the kids pushed them off the desk into a sink hole, but they have been found). Despite the match-ups being "even", the results weren't 29-5, 25-7, 40-21 (played to the death not six turns). Rich and I had the worst luck. No red cards for the wingmen when they were attacking and no blue cards for them in defense. I actually had a wingman shot down while I was engaged with another element. I've NEVER seen that happen before. My Russian Mig element which has no neutral position bursts started with 5 in my sights cards and saw NO maneuver or half loop cards the entire game. The planes that needed manuever cards had all the shot cards while the planes which needed shots had all the manuevers. The two pairs of zeros that we were up against only had to use the built-in siccors twice. I think some campaigns were run also but no big bombing mission. Flagship took the early interest of people wanting to play quick games while Nappy Wars took everybody's interest all day Saturday. I do apologize to those guys that wanted more DiF. Too many things going on for me to keep my focus where it needed to be. Richard H. Berg - 04:26am Apr 20, 2002 PST (#17055 of 17130) I can't help it. I was born sneering." Pooh-bah, in "The Mikado", by way of W.S. Gilbert "Which brings up the queston: Will Men of Iron be more reminiscent of Simon or Longbow?" Can't remember what the differences were that weren't reflective of the slightly different styles of warfare (missile-armed troops not really a factor at either Lewes or Evesham) . . . "Richard, how would you rate MEN OF IRON as an intro. war game?" Pretty good, altho I always consider Subject Matter, not complexity, more imporant when trying to get someone interested. However, the MEN OF IRON system is easily and quickly assimilated, and much of the play in (relatively) intuitive. (If you want to see what it's like you can always buy one of the BSO games that use the system [he says with a knowing smile].) "Would it be possible to know which GBOH modules are forthcoming? " Ah, to be forthcoming about modules . . . let's see. "Attila" ( for CATAPHRACT) will be out shortly. Finishing playtesting is "Tyrant" (for ALEXANDER); a game of the battle of Cronium was played at GMT East yesterday (I may be able to get a pic of that, shortly); Stephen Welch is working on "Chandragupta" (for ALEX), and Mark H. is doing same for the Alexander sieges (which may be a boxed game). Beyond that we have "Barbarian" for SPQR (the two pre-Punic battles against the Gauls.) And there's always a bunch of wanna-be's floating around . . . . Very busy First Day for GMT EAST . . . .I took lots of pics, which I hope to get up shortly. FLAGSHIP was present, and played by large numbers, including a massive 6 player game I saw as I left last night. Couple of Glorious Prussians . . . same for REDS, complete with Commissar Raicer in full fig, a bunch of PA-GLOs (that's PATHS OF GLORY, to keep it in line with PRU-GLO and TRI-GLO), a very serious-looking FOR THE PEOPLE . . . and, as I left, two rambunctious DOWN IN FLAMES tourneys. Lots of demo games were being played, from Dan Fournie's "Tyrant" module for GBoH, to Bill Ramsay's game on the Cold War and Bill Cooper's SciFi epic, to "Two from the Fox", a Nap-in-Italy battle from his follow-up to his AUSTERLITZ and his two-map, company level game on Bastogne . . . I got a massive full campaign of Chancellorsville (from the upcoming GLORY/AC-RAP) going; we got thru half a day . . . And we had a slam-bang game of PUBLIC ENEMY last night, highlighted by having Baby Face Nelson kill 11 policemen (thus earning massive Notoriety Points) until, just when everyone thought he was (depressingly) invincible, he got caught in his hideaway "in flagrante delicto" with Gun Moll Mary Kinder by a police raid. Lester's Tommy Gun jammed, and he went down in a blaze of Law Enforcement Fire (to a major whoop of joy from the players). This was followed by Red Hamilton's kidnapping of brew magnate, William Hamm, to much public outcry and media hype . . . when Hamm died before the ransom could be collected, Hamilton's Notoriety level zoomed . . . Some very successful bank robbing from both Oklahoma Jack Clark and Pretty Boy Floyd raked in some major bucks . . . and cagey defense attorney Sam Leibowitz managed to get all of his clients released into the public arena. The Barkers proved a buist (shot down before they could get out of the bank); Bonnie & Clyde were their usual, inept selves, and, unfortunately for Marty Sample, Dillinger showed up too late to have any major effect on play. We (well, Baby Face) did kill a lot of Hoover's agents, though . . . The venue for the gathering is proving most amenable . . . the hotel staff has been most cooperative and helpful. Couple of girfriends - one game player - wives and kids were around; Allan Rothberg's Eva zoned in on every retail establishment in a 10 mile radius, and even managed to throw in a manicure, that despite overshooting the directional mark (for the salon) by about 5 miles (really). I was so mellow I even joined the gang for a visit to the Outback Salt Lick. (I was attacked by two deer on the way home.) And today is another full day . . . . RHB Bill Ramsay - 05:30am Apr 20, 2002 PST (#17056 of 17130) Will draw maps for food Just to be accurate, the Cold War game is not mine, I am merely the developer. The game is designed by Ananda Gupta and Jason Matthews. Richard H. Berg - 05:27am Apr 21, 2002 PST (#17070 of 17131) I can't help it. I was born sneering." Pooh-bah, in "The Mikado", by way of W.S. Gilbert " . . .in Simon, disrupted units couldn't a)rally, and b) attack." I think that had to do with the abilities of the armies at the time. Maybe not, but i do remember something like that . . . these were fairly D-List armies. Another day of die-ing at GMT EAST . . . big crowd, full house . . .including a Special Guest Appearance by AH Gaming Legend/Designer, Fred Schacter (JERSUSALEM, et al). Big moment was arrival of Mark McMlaughlin, starting an avalanche (so to speak) of Bonapartism, as everyone rushed to play the two full-component copies of WARS OF NAPOLEON . . . and they were still doing so when I left last night. (Not the same game, so relax . . .it's not THAT long!) Lots of FLAGSHIPping, but also UKRAINE '43, bunch of CATAPHRACT and "Tannenburg" battles, several WILDERNESS WARS going at once . . . plus the playtesting for BORODINO, EUROPE ENGULFED (a block game??), and two of the LOO-system games (Phalanx's WATERLOO 1815 and 1777, FRASER'S FARM). I did get in a rousing complete play of HOUSE OF BORGIA (in less than 90 minutes!!), with much "nasty doings" between the House of Ramsay and the House of Simon (who, ironically, got to accuse the Pope of Simony twice . . . how accurate can you get in a game??). However, it was a most disappointing game . . . Savanarola died two seconds after he popped up, Michaelangelo succumbed to some sort of awful Renaissance plague, and no one elected me Pope after any of the turns. Didn't they read my nameplate??? Bill R. proved a true Prince of Foxes and won rather handily, probably because Bill Cooper appeared to be distracted by political goings on in France at Chateau McLaughlin. Did find a great way to review games, though. After lunch, four of us sat down for a go-to at Ben Hull's CURSED CIVIL WAR, Marston Moor style. The Fox and I drew the Roundheads . . . and I got assigned Lord Goring's left wing boys. While the opposition began itis initial assault on Fox, I, laden with lunchie munchies, gracefully (and very English Commander-like) nodded off into a blissful state. A short time later, I was jolted awake to immediately learn that the Roundhead Right Wing had completely disappeared, gobbled up like extras in an Aliens movie, the battle was over, and, midst some mild snoring, I (and The Fox) had lost! Having been given this insighty into the game's subtleties, without ever even so much as touching a counter, I pronounced it ready for an E-BROG review. Hopefully, the attendees will report in and let you know how much, or even if, they enjoyed it. I'll provide the visuals. Another half-day to go . . . RHB Richard Simon - 06:23am Apr 21, 2002 PST (#17072 of 17131) I Still Miss My Ex.....................But My Aim Is Improving! I did get in a rousing complete play of HOUSE OF BORGIA (in less than 90 minutes!!), with much "nasty doings" between the House of Ramsay and the House of Simon (who, ironically, got to accuse the Pope of Simony twice . . . how accurate can you get in a game??). Any reproduction or rebroadcst of this term without the express written permission of the Commissioner of Papal sales is expressly prohibited. Richard H. Berg - 03:11am Apr 22, 2002 PST (#17086 of 17131) I can't help it. I was born sneering." Pooh-bah, in "The Mikado", by way of W.S. Gilbert "HOUSE OF BORGIA" . . . First I've heard of this game. Is it a game in development? Any more details?" Designed for Alea Games in Germany. The Euro companies don't move too fast making up their minds, so I decided to see how folks here liked it. Card game (a most/very Euro card game), with (mostly) two "things" to do: auction-purchasing and stealing. Players represent the various A-List "houses" of the era - Borgias, della Roveras, Colonnas, etc - trying to get their rep to be Pope. They accumulate (by either buying at auction or stealing by "military" seizure) Holdings (cities and fortresses), Offices (mostly Papal), the support of other families (like the Sforza, Malatestas, et al); they patronze Arists (Lippi, Brunelleschi, da Vinci, Michaleangelo, Raphael, et many al . . .great visual ops here), all of which provide (depending on what they are) ducats, votes (when it comes time to elect the Pope . . .in addition to how many cardinals the family controls). They also can get cards for condotierri (most useful when seizing), spies (great for stealing cards), Death by various means (like disease or bravos), a doctor or two, Savanarola (a one-time shot the player who is Pope is not very happy to see), some accusations of Simony (to keep the Pope/player in line, as he does have some powers to distribute offices), all of which are self-explanatory in game use. Three rounds; end of each round players collect Income, elect Pope, and total VP. Each round players go round the table (several times), one at a time, bidding on that player turn's' available card (usually 10-12 a round) and then either seizing or dealing - takes c. 20-30 minutes a round. That's it. And that's about the length of the rules, too. First round is usually a big feel-out; last two can get quite nasty as "power" accumulates. The players - Bill Ramsay, Bill Cooper, Wray Ferrell, and Rich Simon - can offer their commentary (Bill R already provided a nice, easily applied, suggestion for beefing up the first round's actions). So you missed some good Sunday stuff . . . The Fox and the Candyman went at it with virtually the entire CATAPHRACT ouevre, including JUSTINIAN. Several LOO-system games puttered along . . . couple of SANTE FE RAILS,a brace of "Tannenburgs", and I got to play the NAPOLEON AT WAR thingee. As Napoleon. My kind of game . . . Why? It's a very "talky" game, meaning a large part of play is trying to exert your personality (really!!) over the others. I must have been very exertful, because, at the end of the 2nd turn (of 5 . . . this is a game with a playtime probably equivalent to HISTORY OF THE WORLD), except for some minor British footholds in Spanish/Portuguese cities along the Atlantic coast, and every German in Europe holed up in Berlin, cowering, there was no other army, other than French, west of Russia (which had already seen the Austrians take Moscow). Drawing an exceptional run of bopper cards didn't hurt. That, and watching one's opponents getting duly, decahedronically punished for being overly, and ill-advisedly, aggressive: Exhibit 1: It is not A Good Thing for the Swedes to get the Danes mad; Exhibit 2: neither is it A Good Thing for the Brits to land campaign in Holland without Wellington . . . or a sizeable army. This should be a popular item (good visuals help) . . . then again, it already is. And I didn't even mind throwing 26 dice at once to rfesolve combat. Not something I would have come up with, but, as you threw them all at once - does wonders for building up hand size/strength - it sort of had the charm of over-indulgence. I'll try to get the pictures over to Bill R to see if he can post some visuals so you can see some of what I have mentioned, and start to match the faces with all the comments olf the past few years. As for the con itself, it went off without a hitch. (Well, one minor hitch . . . the over-enthusiastic help from the hotel, in cleaning up late Friday night, threw out everything sitting in a cup. Normally, that would have been coffee, etc . . . that night it was the AM for both GLORY II and BASTOGNE. They were most apologetic.) We felt everyone had a good time, but that's for them to say. RHB Jason Levine - 11:21am Apr 22, 2002 PST (#17098 of 17131) Well...more AAR...from GMT East... Enjoyed the con very much. Learned that I have amazing luck when it comes to drawing cards. I played 2 games of DIF and both times I slaughtered my enemies with those pesky Zeros. Had a killing with Public Enemy (but eventually got gunned down...err stopped...by the police) as Baby Face Nelson. Love Flagships and lost only 1 game of it...although in that game I had destroyed the whole enemy fleet EXCEPT the flagship...while my only ship that was destroyed WAS the flagship...hahaha. This game is going to do really well...I can see all of my "eurogame" and "magic" friends getting into it...can't wait to see those 80 hull base stations in action! Nappy's War was everything it was hyped to be. Our table had a blast passing around a box to roll the "buckets of dice" for each battle. The dice had that whole Titan/VITP/WAS feel to it. Throwing 20 of them at once is great...execpt when you roll a bunch of those 6's during attrition...yuck! A very fun way to resolve combat. This is definitely worth getting...I will be P500ing it today. Santa Fe Rails is even better than the original White Wind edition. Gene...the pieces look and came out great...love the wood tracks. I found out that if you crash both of Andy's cars in the 1st race of Formula Motor Racing...that you will end up losing to the pace cars (err...NPC's)...damn! And lest Allan forget...I finished off both bags of candy in just 2-1/2 days! All in all it was a great time...will definitely come again next year. Jason David Fox - 11:29am Apr 22, 2002 PST (#17099 of 17131) "I'm an American, which means that I'll eat anything if it's served to me between two slices of bread." -- Bill Cosby "What is the Bastonge game David Fox is developing? Is that some kind of tactical WWII game or a small-scale operational one? " I'm not sure which of those categories to drop it into, maybe some examples of other games in each area would help. BASTOGNE: 1944 is a company/platoon level game on the siege and relief of Bastogne (the photo posted earlier shows the 101st Airborne rolling onto the map). It's NOT a TCS system game, instead it uses a system based on my own ideas. This game is very early in its gestation- so early that I haven't even written the rules yet- and has not been "accepted" by GMT (fair enough, since I haven't "offered" it to them yet, either). The playtest at GMT East was encouraging enough that I will proceed with the game design. My plan is to write the rules based on the many good suggestions I received at GMT East and have something ready to go at WBC. I expect this to generate an e-mail from Gene B. saying, of course very politely, "Umm, David, would you mind concentrating on NAPOLEON IN ITALY, HALLS OF MONTEZUMA, and your super-secret need-to-know only game instead ?" , so here we are. David Fox - 11:42am Apr 22, 2002 PST (#17100 of 17131) "I'm an American, which means that I'll eat anything if it's served to me between two slices of bread." -- Bill Cosby And some global props to my peeps at GMT East. Congratulations to RHB, Allan Rothberg, Andy Lewis, and all else who worked hard to bring us the three days of glory that was GMT East. It was a thoroughly enjoyable weekend (and not just because I live 3 minutes away, either) and if any of y'all were on the bubble, I'd definitely recommend making the trip next year. Specific props to my peeps Peter Stein, Rich Simon, and Bill T. for playtesting BASTOGNE 1944; and Asnadi Jamil for playtesting NAPOLEON IN ITALY. And to all of the gamers whom I met and chatted with for the first time. Bill Ramsay - 12:08pm Apr 22, 2002 PST (#17104 of 17131) Will draw maps for food I'd like to say how much I enjoyed GMT East as well. I had the opportunity to meet several people that had only been names online to me, and was also able to play some games. Wray Ferrell and Simon Appleyard were dragooned into playtesting Ananda and Jason's Twilight Struggle, and they both seemed to have a pretty good time with it. I sent them back to North Carolina and Scotland, respectively, with playtest kits. On Sunday, Simon got a win over his friend Andy with a combination of cards that was quite remarkable. Andy (USSR) played a card which allowed him to steal a random card from Simon(US). The card stolen was a U.S. event, so the event had to be played immediately. The event increased the DEFCON status to Level 1, which ends the game (nuclear war - so long, and thanks for all the fish). Since Andy's action was the one which made the event fire, so to speak, Andy lost! I got to play two or three Cataphract scenarios with David Fox, as well as Justinian. David and I earned a 5 cent commission from Andy Lewis for our role in gaining a sale of the game to Allan R. I enjoyed playing some games in development, including RHB's Borgia and Public Enemy games, as well as Aaron Silverman's Racketeer game. Bill Cooper was kind enough to show me the Victory in the Galaxy game, which looks very interesting. The Fox's big Bastogne game looks just up my alley, and we're trying to work out some time to get together to play it. I also brought home a copy of Formula Motor Racing, which my kids should have a pretty good time with. All in all, it was a terrific experience and I'm looking forward to the next one, whenever it is. Chuck Davis - 12:53pm Apr 22, 2002 PST (#17109 of 17131) GMT East, was a great time. the laidback and relaxed atmosphere was perfect. Thanks to Allan, Richard, Andy and David for bringing it all together. The Nappy game is good fun as a multiplayer game. Its not going to be strictly historical with 5 players( though it can be). played it twice and enjoyed it each time. It has the potential to be a very very succesful game, if it gets a good rules rewrite and re-organization. It will end up in my game collection. Flagship feels alot like the old Galactic Empires from companion games( a CCG). But playes easier and thankfully is not a CCG. Had my first experience with Down In Flames. Ive played some achtung spitfire in the past, never again, the feel of aircombat in DiF is very good, and it playes a whole lot quicker. ended up buying Zero, and ordering 8th airforce and a rise of the luftwaffe deck. GMT East was one of the most enjoyable cons of any size ive ever been to. Martin Sample - 02:29pm Apr 23, 2002 PST (#408 of 417) Now playtesting the Killing Ground for NES - see W.W.II Individual game folder Another GMT East After Action Report Well, I would say that the event was a rousing success . Highlights would include : - Richard Berg being dragooned into going to one of his least favorite dining establishments ( the Outback) and ordering a "blooming salt lick " for our table . - the aforementioned ringer, Bari ( last name unknown ) dispatching 4 of Andy Maly's leaders in a single battle of Wilderness War. Showing no mercy, I did manage to beat her in a five player of Ivanhoe, going so far as to repeatedly play cards on her knight to prevent her from catching up in the last round of the three that we played. - Berg gunning down ( or 'stopping' for the more PC inclined ) Baby Face Nelson after about a dozen unsuccessful - and bloody - attempts to catch him in a rousing game of Public Enemy where the general ineptness of the police made the Keystone Kops look like a SWAT team. - Watching Allan Rothberg's credit rating plunge every time his wife came back from a sortie to one of the local shopping establishments. All in all, a very good time . I managed to get in a number of different games : Played a game of Flagship with one of my usual partners in crime, Michael Johnson . Very easy to get into, but a ton of replayabiltiy, and fast . I predict that this will see a lot of action at WBC - great way to kill a half hour between tourneys. Next , played Ted Raicer in a game of Reds. Once again he has produced an interesting, easy to play design on a subject that is rarely covered . Lots of color ( visually as well as game wise ) and no game will ever play the same way . Rich took a picture of us that is on Bill Ramsay's website - my look of disgust coming after watching Ted rally about 9 out of 11 White units (* by roloing a 1 or a 2 - I don;t even want to think of the probability of that happening ) to recover from a beating my Reds had put on him....as Bill Paxton once said in Aliens, " Game over man, game over...... " . Thanks for the lesson Ted. I'll play someone who doesn't use loaded dice next time. After the trip to the salt lick , came back and played a raucous game of Public Enemy, formerly known as Dillinger. While the physical layout has been changed dramatically ( no more map for an endless casing of banks for Ed Sabatine ) , it is much cleaner and faster . Jason Levine was racking up Notoriety like mad as all our police efforts lead to a pile of bodies and Notoriety Galore for Baby Face . Alas, Richard calmly kept throwing his constables into the breach until a jammed Tommy Gun spelled the end of Baby Face. That, and an impressive haul from his bank robberies, made Rich a winner, but not by much, over Jason Baby Face Levine . Saturday was Nappy Day, as there were two tables of Napoleanic Wars being played. Between my inability to roll anything higher than a 4 and a lack of diplomacy on my part, my attempt to conquer Europe as Napolean foundered early . Still was able to pound a bunch of Austrians and Prussians before I went down, suffering the ignominy of watching the Turks briefly occupy Marseilles before Marat chased them away. Nothing like committing the Guard in a what the Grand Alliance thinks is a close battle to rout them and have them crawl back to Berlin. Before dinner, played in a five player game of Ivanhoe with Mike Johnson, Mike Nagel, Bari, and Paul " Hold 'em " Shipley . Played three rounds, the winner being the one who won the most tournaments. After two rounds, I was in the lead with 7 points and thought I could coast , as the others were a couple of points behind . However, a late rally resulted in the last tournament seeing 4 of us at the table capable of winning the whole thing on the last tournament . Rich made a late charge, but never seemed to have quite the right cards, even though his hand size was usually MUCH larger than the rest of us . We thought he was being too conservative until Andy Lewis looked over his shoulder and verified that his hand was utter crap . Mike Nagel did me the favor of winning the final round, thus giving me the win. Thanks Mike. After, I started a game of Ukraine43 with Bob Mosdal , filling in for Chuck Davis, who was finishing up at the other table of Nappy. Got through two turns as the Germans, managing to bloody several of his Russian spearheads in the process and stalemating him in the south , before handing it off to Chuck . To be fair, it was his first time at the game . Sunday I wrapped up by playing Kris Weinsmacker ( sp?) in Wilderness War . I got a paltry level of reinforcements - one leader, 2 light infantry, and a couple of regulars . Thats it....nada. The one turn I had the Highlanders card that brings on 4 of them plus a leader , he played a card that removed it, robbing me of my only other reinforcements. To add insult to injury, my Provincials were less than enthusiastic, resulting in some being removed. I had 7 Regulars and Provincials suffer attrition in HCS as his Courier card robbed me of the card I needed to move them into Winter quarters. At one point, he had 8 VP as the French . I plowed ahead, invading Louisberg, suffering attrition, and having 3 reduced RA sit there , waiting for reinforcements until the Surrender Card put an end to the siege and put me on the path the recovery . In the west, my light infantry allowed me to advance free of Ambush and clear out the defenders of Ohio Forks. And the Mohawks and the Cherokees showed up to combat his horders of Indians , who I whittled down by building stockades like mad and fighting every time they tried to raid. Levis showed up in NH with some raiders and a Regular and I dispatched him . Soon, I was near zero VP . Then, he advanced in the Oneida region with a small force of CdB and Indians and I boldly moved Loudon up from Albany, sans auxiliaries and beyond my supply line, to try to blunt his advance with three RA units . It worked and I got on the plus side of VP . Towards the end, I burned some stockades and sat in Albany and HCS, making him come to me for the win . He could do nothing, as I had Small Pox'ed his force under Montcalm that was ready to sweep down the Champlain . Nice game Kris - a wild one that had me on my heels constantly. Big Thanks to Richard, Allan, Andy Lewis, and the others who put it together. Put me down for next year. Rich Shipley - 03:16pm Apr 23, 2002 PST (#409 of 417) I remember the Ivanhoe game a bit differently. I believe I won the last two of the three rounds, but came in second to Marty due to a bad first round (1 chip). The Glory II game was interesting even though the main forces didn't quite come to grips. I did manage to leave a flank exposed near Fredricksburg, not remembering that those Rebs on the hill had two activations still in the cup, causing some jibes to come my way. I had planned on playing a couple more turns Saturday but the hotel staff absconded with the AM cup. Played the Raab scenario in Triumph & Glory as the Austrians. I need to read the 2.0 rules again to see if we were doing everything correctly, but I liked the game. Played a bit of the Nappy game Saturday night as the Russians. I used what I saw playing with Don's group last year and assembled a big Russian force to help the Austrians against the French. Worked pretty well as the Frogs were sent packing. If we had continued the game, I would have been very tempted to gut Austria the next turn. Played a couple games of Flagship. It plays like Magic crossed with one of the naval card games. I'm still undecided on this one. Santa Fe Rails was fun and I could see some similarities to some of Alan Moon's other games. I'll have to play a couple more times to see if I like it as much as Union Pacific of Elfenland. Andy Lewis was nice enough to play a game of Puerto Rico (I know - not a GMT game) with my wife and me on Sunday. I hope that GMT will produce some of the upcoming original euro-type games on the schedule. Had a good time and would go again next year. I'd probably try to plan ahead more. Should be made easier now that I've met some of the people whom I'd only read posts from before. Rich Wray Ferrell - 04:16pm Apr 23, 2002 PST (#410 of 417) Reading "The Later Roman Empire 284-602" The East Coast traveler has returned. Unscatched from $28 dollars of chocolate (we still have some if interested), a trip into the big city, and a weekend of gaming. My wife and kids want the convention to be a weeklong next year so they can see more of the city. I spent most of the weekend being the ego-raiser as I lost just about everything I played. Saturday night I thought about having a signup sheet so people that had just lost and were feeling bad about themselves could play me... Played Santa Fe rails twice, good euro-game with a lot of different strategies. Played Ananda's Twilight Struggle which was very interesting. Kinda a HoTW/card-driven combo game. A few of the cards need some tweaking, but a good game. Liked it enough to get a playtest kit to try out at the local gaming group. Aaron's card game on trying to corner various illegal things was fun. Though I shocked the hotel did not get concerned when Bill Ramsay was asking for Hos and people were responding that all that had was narcotics. The Pope's day-long tourist trip into the city directions were perfect. We took the train into Grand Central Station, ate some really good curried chicken with Nan bread and then visted FAQ Shawtz (sp?) where my wife and kids bought more candy! Really neat store. Ate at some deli on our walk where I discovered if I lived in the city I would weigh 500 pounds, man the food was good! Also realized that I would need to visit the city for about three months to see everything I wanted to... Enjoyed it. Sign me up for next year. Wray Kris Weinschenker - 07:45pm Apr 23, 2002 PST (#412 of 417) I'm actually rather erudite, I just choose not to act that way. Well, I think I'm almost caught up enough after GMT East to post my AAR... Flew into Newark Thursday afternoon, and met Simon Appleyard and Andy Taylor who were just getting in from Scotland. The worst part of the journey to White Plains was the fifteen minute shuttle bus ride across the cone-littered Burma Road to the Alamo rental agency, only to wind up a dead cat fling from the terminal from which we started. But once Simon found the driver's side door (for this country), he did an admirable job of negotiating New York traffic, no doubt thanks to Andy T's and my fine navigating. Met my PBeM partner and roomie, Jim Winslow, and in turn the four of us had dinner with local yokel, RHB, and his cohort David Fox, at a decent yet somewhat over-priced Indian resturaunt. Afterword, Jim and I started a game of TR's RTC* which we finished Sat. night. Acroymn posted is intentionally vague Played Marvin B. in PoG Fri AM. Started out well in France as the CP, but Marvin was able to get to Limited War before me. He had Yudenevich waiting for the Turks to come in and I failed to get Kemal enough support. When Marvin was able to not only beat to TW, but prevent me from getting there the next turn (8), I decided to concede. An interesting thing about the game was that Entrench was never played. I took the aforementioned Twilight Struggle out for a spin with Simon next. Found it to be a fast paced and thought provoking consim of the Cold War. Lost the Free World to Communism by Turn 5, but what would you expect from some one to the political left of Ted R? Played a bit of Galaxy:The Dark Ages with Simon, then some FMR with Doug (Nest ?) and crew while waiting for a table at Outback. Had a fine example of Prime Cut American beef and was then graced with the terrible card drawing of Andy Lewis and Rich Simon enabling Jason Levin and to send them Down in Flames. Saturday morning, Andy Taylor handed me my hat at WW as, instead of sending Montclam straight down the Hudson, I tried to get fancy and outflank it. Andy thawrted my manuever, then gathered his forces in the South and quickly captured Ohio Forks. When I conceded he was on the road to Niagra. That afternoon, I got to try out Nappy War. I was really impressed with this game. It combines elements of some of my favorite multi-player games with a card-driven engine. Nearly won with the Prussians as I allied with the French and attacked Russia (regardless of what Jason Levine says;o) Finished out the weekend on Sunday by showing Jim W. the ropes in DiF and then playing Marty S. in the game of WW he described. In hindsight, IIRC, I was dealt the Surrender! card the turn before Marty played it on Louies burg, and I probably lost that game because I played it as OPS instaed of holding it. BTW, Marty, Winetanker is also acceptable;o) All in all, a wonderful weekend of gaming! Kudos to all who helped run and support the event!