Mike Boeck - 08:35pm Aug 3, 2000 PST (#343 of 403) Currently chucking at: The Devil's To Pay; PoG WBC update: PoG PoG and more PoG, which is spreading and threatening to subsume the entire convention. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Steven Bucey - 05:57am Aug 4, 2000 PST (#344 of 403) Buckeye Game Fest, October 27-28 (http://home.earthlink.net/~cratex/Tournaments/BuckeyeGameFest/BuckeyeGamingFest.html) Enough PoG! :-) It's a good game, but there are some good new ones out. Anybody playing Ukraine '43 or Risorgemento, for instance? Or maybe games from somebody other than GMT? Most of them have a few new ones out, and I know that Decision Games is also there (Battles of the Ancient World III). -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bob Titran - 09:34am Aug 4, 2000 PST (#345 of 403) Buffalo, NY I'd be interested in feedback from any Pacific Victory games happening, or the PoG CP/AP win/loss record. Sounds like they're all too busy playing to be posting here :( -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mike Boeck - 10:04am Aug 4, 2000 PST (#346 of 403) Currently chucking at: The Devil's To Pay; PoG I saw Ukraine '43, but not Risorg. Battleline was flying off the shelves. Gene and Company seem to know how to blitz these things. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- John Vasilakos - 12:19pm Aug 4, 2000 PST (#347 of 403) Annandale, VA So I am working late here inside the Beltway, blame the Navy, and I wonder is it worth driving up just for a few hours tommorrow- Sat? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mike Boeck - 12:57pm Aug 4, 2000 PST (#348 of 403) Currently chucking at: The Devil's To Pay; PoG John: I was in the same boat (though not the Navy's) and only able to get away for one day (yesterday). I drove up from Silver Spring and had a good time. Single day registration is $20. There is a lot of non-tourney, open gaming going on. The 'coming attractions' I took in yesterday include Wilderness War, This Accursed Civil War, For The People II (big map), The Devil's To Pay (big map), Circus Minimus, Barbarossa to Berlin (Racier's new one), a stack of Berg products including American Civil War, all the battles in GRINGO!, a neat-looking treatment of Alexandria (Egypt, not Virginia), Dillinger, and all the other ones that I am forgetting at the moment. OTOH, the weather is supposed to be very pleasant this weekend, and why would anyone hole up in the basement of a convention center when there's all that yard work to catch up on? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- John Vasilakos - 07:56am Aug 6, 2000 PST (#349 of 403) Annandale, VA The cost of a half tank of gas: $7.00 The cost of a one day admission to WBC: $20.00 The cost of luke warm bottle of coke: $ 1.50 The value of seeing Berg and Dean dance the Macarana at the WBC ball, PRICELESS! Just kidding about the last bit (but I admit the image is scarey) I went I saw I played games, actually one game of OCS-Race for Tunis. Which was great as I had a chance to learn the system from an experianced player. Also wandered around and met many of the denizens of this board, some familar faces form past Origins and some new ones too. Picked up my copy of For the People, returned the extra 1 0f 4 countersheet to Gene, and....to answer my own question... it was worth a trip even if its just for a day to browse around. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Peter Stein - 08:08pm Aug 6, 2000 PST (#350 of 403) I have just returned from gaming heaven. (Can you guess how this review is going to go from the above?) Wait on pre-reg line at WBC- 3 minutes. At 10 AM when the convention officially started. Forget Origins, the hot dog line took longer!! (DG made me promise I post this. But it's the truth.) I'll get into specifics likes games I bought elsewhere, but here I'm going to applaud the efforts of all the people who make this the best convention period, from Don G to the volunteer GMs. The hotel seemed to make an effort to keep the place a little cleaner. Heck, we even got Rich Berg playing a game of Mississippi Queen. BTW, I did hear that the attendance set a record, but I didn't get a number. It certainly looked more crowded. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- jeff mullet - 09:53pm Aug 6, 2000 PST (#351 of 403) Just returned from my first WBC. Great time. Blows Origins away. The only complaint is that most people there are painstakingly slow. I was going to play Brittania but I saw one game take eight hours, a couple others took four hours. I know with my luck which table I'd be at. That's just one example. I enjoyed games that GMs put a time limit on. I think they should all be that way. I would estimate most games took about 25-35% longer there than we take in our group. I could not believe how wishy-washy people were when trying to decide how to take their turns. Even so, barring unseen circumstances I'll now be making a yearly trek. charles eastman - 05:43am Aug 7, 2000 PST (#353 of 403) I was able to attend Saturday only - and I must say, it was the best $20 entertainment value I've had in a looooong time. I probably packed six months worth of gaming into that one long day (although the time flew). High points for me include the painless registration process - I was the only one in line :) and also the friendly people - I had absolutely no problems jumping into games and found that people we also quite willing to explain the rules. If it is humanly possible, I'm going to find a way to attend the full con. next year. Chip -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- J. R. Tracy - 07:38am Aug 7, 2000 PST (#354 of 403) Big City ASL Great con - I agree with Pete, numbers looked higher. I saw a badge number in the 1300s. I played more 'events' this year than before, adding AoR and Successors to my list, making the finals in the latter before my incompetence overcame my luck. Otherwise it was all ASL with lots of Eurogames filling in the downtime. It seemed like there were a lot more kids this year, and many of them were playing wargames. Well, a dozen or so anyway, which is a sign of hope. Open gaming was thriving, and the multiheat structure of some of the more popular events allowed folks freedom to enjoy a wide range of gaming. Some players did a little *too* well, as one guy was playing his Britannia and Republic of Rome finals simultaneously! As for new material, there was an ASL scenario pack consisting of SL scenarios ported over to ASL; Battleline, an ancients-themed card game; Galaxy, which looked Titan:The Arena-esque; and a Settlers-like game set in space featuring supercool Buck Rogers style rockets. Interesting works-in-progress included a further iteration of Mark Hinkle's Cobra game based on the Victory In The West system; a Breakout-style area game on Market Garden; a grand strategic Nappy game; Circus Minimus from the Gamers; and our own Bill T.'s strategic ancients game. Overall, there was a very healthy buzz of of activity around the dealers. Charlie Spiegel seemed quite happy with sales, particularly with a stack of old SimCan stuff that fell into his hands recently. Give Clash of Arms a call if you have any interest in those titles - they seem to have them all. Overall, it was a very satisfying five and a half days. Looking forward to next year - JR -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bob Titran - 08:50am Aug 7, 2000 PST (#355 of 403) Buffalo, NY So who won the CSR awards? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rob Winslow - 08:58am Aug 7, 2000 PST (#356 of 403) WWBTCD (What would Bill the Cat do?) Paths of Glory and Burma won for pre-WWII and WII to present. Interesting that the best Origins game (Russo-Japanese War) wasn't even in the running -- didn't even witness a pick up game of this in Hunt Valley! Gee, I wonder which awards are more reflective of what folks have actually played (and even though I'm not an OCS person, the OCS talk and play at WBC was extensive, so I know these games are seeing a lot of play throughs) Ted Raicer won for design elegance, and Gene Billingsly got into the Hall of Fame. I don't know about the mags and such. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mark Guttag - 09:36am Aug 7, 2000 PST (#357 of 403) Alexandria, Virginia I don't have my notes from the CSR Awards handy, but here's what I remember from the ceremony: Best Amateur Game: Tie: Bloody Beach Omaha by Bill Ramsay and Chantilly by Ivy Street Games Best Professional Magazine: S&T (Decision Games) Best Pre-WWII Game: Paths of Glory (GMT) Best WWII or Post WWII Game: Burma (The Gamers) James Dunnigan Design Elegance: Ted Racier Hall of Fame: Gene Billingsly All well-deserved winners IMHO. Mark -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Michael Rinella - 02:48pm Aug 7, 2000 PST (#358 of 403) All in all a great time. I got in seven games of Breakout Normandy (five in the event, two open gaming), two games of Afrika Korps, 1 Age of Renn., 1 Paths of Glory, and one full playtest of Barbarossa to Berlin. That, and a great meeting with MMP to hash out details of Operation Market Garden (should be out in time for the 2001 WBCs!). If there were 1,300 people present, about 1,275 were great, with the to-be-expected 25 idiots/a-holes. A couple of people's behavior left something to be desired. But all my opponents were very gracious in both victory and defeat, and that's quite important when considering a return trip (but of course!). Bruce Monnin - 07:04pm Aug 7, 2000 PST (#359 of 403) Editor of the BOARDGAMER Here's the award winners Mark missed: Best Wargame Graphics: River of Death (GMT Games) Best Pre-20th Century Era Computer Wargame: Age of Empires II (Microsoft) (Bill Gates did not appear to pick up the award) Best 20th/21st Centura Era Computer Wargame: Operational Art of War, Vol. II (Talonsoft) Best Magazine Published Game: Borodino & Friedland (S&T/Decision Games) Best Historical or Scenario Article: Eqqus: Cavalty Batttles by Dan Fournie (C3i #10) Best Game Review or Game Analysis: La Bataille de Lutzen by Juan Rosario (Paper Wars 32) Best Amateur Wargame Magazine: The BOARDGAMER (and richly deserved, I must add :) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tim Olson - 07:59pm Aug 7, 2000 PST (#360 of 403) Now Playing:We the People; Saratoga; OConnors Offensive(WG#41);Pokemon >The only complaint is that most people there are painstakingly slow. I was going to play Brittania but I saw one game take eight hours, a couple others took four hours. I know with my luck which table I'd be at. That's just one example. I enjoyed games that GMs put a time limit on. I think they should all be that way. I would estimate most games took about 25-35% longer there than we take in our group.<< One reason I have never wanted to venture to Avaloncon/WBC is because of the perceived focus on competitive gaming. Its not surprising to me that people take longer to make decisions/moves. Noone wants to be subjected to "public" ridicule because of a bonehead mistake in a game. I know that people are often as likely to make mistakes after a lot of thought as they are after a little but it doesnt seem that way when its your turn. My worst fear is being pared up with a veteran of a 100+games in a game that Ive played about 2 times. He puts every unit where he knows its supposed to go each turn with out counting MPs and then taps his fingers while I count out hexes and actually think about what strategy I want to employ. I dont need this kind of anxiety during my vacation. Do feel free to tell me Im wrong. Tim O. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rob Winslow - 08:47pm Aug 7, 2000 PST (#361 of 403) WWBTCD (What would Bill the Cat do?) Tim, while you may run into the occasional a-hole who acts like that, it's not the norm. I lost my only tourney game of Hannibal, and went 0-1-1 in We the People. In all 3 of those tourney games (quite disappointing, as I usually fare much better...), I played excellent opponents who also happened to be nice guys -- Jim Eliason, Mike Nagel, and Kirk [forget last name] from New Hampshire. All three were gracious winners (or "drawers"), and there was no pressure (other than what I put on myself) in these games. These games, with friendly folks, are the norm, in my experience, at Avaloncon/WBC. Slow play, on the other hand, can be a problem, especially since I'm a fast player. I feel that chess clocks are the best answer -- the Victory in the Pacific tourney uses them. Don't know about the types of games you play, but in the card-driven ones there are no "perfect moves" that can be thought out in advance of playing -- both players are at the same disadvantage 8^) Finally, some of the best fun I had was in open gaming -- whether playing a dozen games of Battleline, fighting it out at Seven Pines in On to Richmond, helping test Ted R.'s new game on the Marne, or just plain old kibbutzing. DonCon gives a nice mix of competition and friendly gaming, though there are some folks who do almost all competitive stuff, while there are others who concentrate solely on the friendly side of things. Whatever you want, it's basically there (as long as it pertains to boardgames...) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Peter Stein - 08:52pm Aug 7, 2000 PST (#362 of 403) I have just returned from gaming heaven. My worst fear is being pared up with a veteran of a 100+games in a game that Ive played about 2 times. He puts every unit where he knows its supposed to go each turn with out counting MPs and then taps his fingers while I count out hexes and actually think about what strategy I want to employ. Yes there are a few that meet this description. But my experience is there are many more who will either give helpful critisim or hints during the game or after. For example, I know most of the vets in March Madness will help a obvious newbie along (unless newbie is up by 15 in the 2nd half, but that's another story). I've heard similar help given in two player games such as BKN. And personally, my thought is that if you help your opponent to become better, eventually you'll become a better player. I've always liked Don Greenwood's rule of setting time limits on multi-player games. If a game hits the limit, the game is adjucated, but if the entire board agrees that one player was excessively slow, that player can't win. Fortunately, in seven years of Kremlin GMing, I've never had this problem. Ken Rothstein - 11:35pm Aug 7, 2000 PST (#6119 of 6204) Hello board. Saw the don con topic and thought I would chime in,,, It was a blast. After my successes at Advanced Civ, RuneQuest (don't ask) and Air Baron in years past, 2000 was a disaster in the competition department. I went 3 for 30, and one of those wins was against an 8 yr old girl at Gangsters. My highlight was the open game of Race For The White House. I cannot recommend this enough, especially as we quasi role played our candidates. Also, Pit provided a lot of laughs, and I had a lot of fun at Slapshot when a 16 yr old told me he was going to make me his bitch in the game--and basically did. He destroyed me. I had a heartbreak at Air Baron when I owned Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Francisco and 2/3 of Denver...but couldn't roll the 5 I needed to deprive my nearest competitor of any shot and solidify myself at the same time. Such is AB. Tikal was interesting as they used bidding in the semis and I had never played that. I lost by one point. Not bad. UP: the crowd threw me a little as my gaming group is relentlessly competitive and looks to jump on any chace to take the lead in owning UP. At the con, my strategy of declining UP for actual stock backfired when my opponents were far to trusting and all took the time to play stock with me-thus nullifying any gains. Jay at the Rio Grande table is a saint, and I recommed Aladdin's Dragon and Carolus Magnus (or Magnus Carolus--whatever) and Andromeda. Facts in Five has been dumbed down a little, but I still stunned the table with Epee for a weapon that begins with E. My lone complaint is that my favorite game, Circus Maximus, has all heats at 9 AM. Who wants to scream and act like a jerk at that hour??? I sure don't and am more interested in coffee. I am glad I gave up on Advanced Civ. They had a 15 hour game, and I don't think I could survive that. I know Peter goes, but if any of you are on the fence, I don't think a gamer could ask for a better week of gaming that Don Con. Dave Powell - 12:29pm Aug 6, 2000 PST (#2247 of 2247) Guys, I am just back from DonCon - our first time there, and a good time had by all. Dean will fill you in on how good later, but we had a successful trip. TTS: I am very gratified by the responses I have seen so far about the game - Each one of these monsters is a massive project, and I strive to fully justify the price:) So far, I feel that you get more than your money's worth for RSS Gettysburg and Chickamauga. In TTS there is research that appears nowhere else in print, and each Scenario is crafted with an aim towards repeated play. RSS Antietam: While on our way to Baltimore, we stopped at Antietam (in a driving rainstorm.) It did not take long to rekindle Dean's always latent interest in the battle, and I suspect that he will be giving it some thought within the next few months or so. We talked at length about Burnside, maps, etc. I would like to see the gap fights (Turner's and Crampton's) get in the project, but that is of course up to Dean. Crampton's has the unique advantage of being the home of the Blair Witch, as some of you might know... Circus Min.: We demoed this one again, and it drew much attention and much good comment. Perhaps I should take a minute to duscuss the "Euro" question. Frankly, guys, don't expect Euro-style games from us. Dean and I don't like them. Euros tend to be clever, simple mechanics with a patina of historical stuff layered in to give it a "theme." While I would never have the temerity to critisize a genre of games that is far more successful (both in revenue and sales) than anything we will ever do, by the same token we don't intend to publish anything we don't really play. Hence, we peddle hard-core Wargames. Even Circ-Min is this way: it is a wargame about Ben-Hur, basically.:) I know that this crossover stuff is all the rage - but not with us. Dave Powell Rick Barber - 11:34pm Aug 6, 2000 PST (#2249 of 2249) Illustrator/Cartographer/Designer of SUMMER STORM. Currently playtesting THE DEVIL'S TO PAY. For info on my Black Cat Studio offer or a signed copy of Summer Storm at a great price, email me. Well, since I've spammed your other sites, I may as well not miss this one! :-) As Dave said, we all had a great time down at DonCon, though I'm sure I enjoyed the ride home more than he did. Dave got to show off TTS, and Dean spent most of his demo time showing folks the ropes at Circus Minimus - looks to be a great game, and I'm sure I'll be picking it up as soon as possible! Just a quick note for you TATC players out there - I'm in the final testing for The Devil's to Pay!, the add-on for my Summer Storm game that cover an alternate but still quite plausible location for 'the Big One' a bit closer to Harrisburg. (Dave got to kibbitz in person, as he and Dean were at the next table up the hall at DonCon the last 4 days). Given that the ground scales are virtually the same, TDTP could just as easily be played as a CWB game, with Dave and I checking to see what minor adjustments will be needed to cover any differences in the TEC. As with SS, you TATC players already have the counters and rules needed to play this one, and it provides you with a very different location and situation in which to have fresh fun with your most well known Order of Battle! Dave may want to give his own take on the situation portrayed, as he had a good time watching my growing dilemma as Lee! TDTP has to be ordered directly from Clash of Arms, and will cost $15 Prepub (approx. end o' Sept.) and $18 afterwards. (1 full sheet map with scenario book and 2 small op/maps to handle what's going on off-map). I'll post the entire blurb here if there seems to be any interest in the next couple of days. BTW, If you want to play TATC on a field with a bit more room to maneuver, I still have some of the rolled, 3 sheet, heavy stock mapsets from Summer Storm available, for $20.00 (S&H incl.) Again, same scale, and IMHO they don't look too bad to boot! :-) El Carto John Kisner - 10:46am Aug 7, 2000 PST (#2253 of 2254) Playing in Des Moines: Gamers' Marengo & Sicily. A note from Dean Essig: Howdy Guys! Dave and I got back from a great time at DonCon very early Sunday morning...still haven't quite got my feet on the ground, van hasn't yet been unloaded, etc. But the 146 e-mails have been dealt with and I did the tabulation on it all. Doncon netted sales of $4573. Certainly less than out $9,600 showing at Origins this year, but nothing at all to sneeze at. Especially as our first appearance at the show. I'm putting out a call for volunteers who want to run events for next year's show and Allan Murphy will be the coordinator for the whole thing. Also, I need to hear from somebody who can act as e-mail link between Allan and the rest of the group as he has no e-mail...that person needs to not only have an e-mail but know or be close to Allan (Wash. DC) so he can act as a communications officer for the group. Any takers? The more the merrier. Also, I got back to find that Sara had worked up the figures for sales in the month of July. I about fell out of my chair.... Sicily has already sold _more_ copies than Drive on Paris has in the four months it has been out! We sold almost as many units in July as we did in the fire sales of late 1997-early 1998. And get this: raw revenue for the month of July 2000 was the greatest we have ever had. One other time (the release of DAK and Crusader) did I have to draw a line _above_ the graph on the wall and post a note where the value might be up near the ceiling)...not only did I get to do that again, but the number was actually higher. We sold over $135k in July. (We might just get out of debt....) Thanks to all of you for your great support. Dean PS--I am totally swamped and won't be able to get over to Consimworld for a few days, could some kind soul please post this over at the company topic and give them my great thanks. -- Rob Winslow - 08:54am Aug 7, 2000 PST (#1775 of 1781) WWBTCD (What would Bill the Cat do?) GMT seemed to be in high gear for the WBC. A lot of newly published games, with others just over the horizon. QED: I got to chat with Evan and watched him play Mark Herman in Blue vs. Gray for a while. It was extremely interesting listening to Evan after each card play, as he explained why things worked as they did. In addition to being a true creative genius, his knowledge of history (and certainly as it pertains to his games) is something to admire. Ted R: Congrats on winning the true wargaming awards (as opposed to the GAMA stuff, as they seem to go to games very few have played!). I got to watch several "Barbarossa to Berlin" games (I wish I had the time to have played myself, but there was always something coming a few hours down the pike that precluded this), and this one seems like it will be a winner. All parties seemed to be enjoying themselves. I did get to playtest about 1/3 of Ted's "Marne" game, and I liked it (even though this playtest had Ted making some changes, something he had just wanted to confirm). A simple game (rules wise and component wise), with some interesting twists -- varying army movement, demoralization, the BEF running south -- and a novel combat system (you throw units into combat, how well they do is based on their "tactical effectiveness rating"). Some good things on the way from Ted. A lot of other games there -- Dave Fox's "30 Years War," Volko Ruhnke's "Wilderness War," both of which I'm very excited about (Dave's because I want to play it, Volko's because I'm involved with it, and I want to play it, as well!). Richard Berg had numerous games with him, and he should pipe in here when he gets a chance to describe them (there were so many, I know I'll forget some--"Mexican American War Battles," "Medieval," "Dillinger," "Alexandria,"). Just the description of "Outbreak" made it sound like fun! Toward the end of the con, Ananda Gupta was showing a game called "Cold War." All who played seemed to like it (I just watched), and the cards were great -- like the card with Slim Pickens riding the bomb from Dr. Strangelove! Battleline has me hooked -- played probably a dozen games of it. Also participated in the Galaxy tourney -- lost both my heats, but enjoyed the game. I have never played Titan: the Arena, but Galaxy was described to me by some who have as Titan on steroids! Picked up Risorgimento and For the People 2. I already had Ukraine '43, or I would have splurged for that one, too! The GMT guys are as good as it gets, and I enjoyed seeing folks again, as well as meeting new ones. All in all a great con -- if you haven't "done" the WBC, you should 8^) Richard H. Berg - 04:00am Aug 7, 2000 PST (#6095 of 6108) Am still in the Recovery Room in Intensive care following 3+ days at the WBC . . . as usual, a very well-run, "feel-good" con. We did ask the owners of the local "Outback" to change the name to "The Salt Mines". Got opportunity to run playtests of DILLINGER - won by Peter Perla on the very last turn when he shot down the Kidnapper from Hell, George Birdwell, who had managed to kill both his victims before collecting the ransom (thus earning no money but a barrelfull of Notoriety). Best part was Mark Herman showing how to cut one hour off play time with almost no change to the game. That's why he gets The Big Bucks, folks . . . The initial look at MEDIEVAL goes Enigma went better than expected, althop we do need to trim play time down a bit. The arrival of, and mechanics for, The Mongols were a house favorite, the players actually grasped how The Knights of Christ worked, two attempts to invade England quickly revealed why Naval Power - which gains no one control of anything - was important (and made the Venetian player smile a lot), the ability of the player who was Pope (by card, white smoke optional), to ex-communicate caught on, and we did get one Crusade going (wherein everyone made some money, especially the Pope). I will be starting outside testing on this shortly . . . Watched Mark Hinkle, on the constant advice of John Leggat and Dean Essig, end up swimming to Calabria in a rather botched invasion north of Syracuse in The Gamr's SICILY (a very striking game map) . . . so much for military advisors. Just as striking were Mark's maps for his upcoming NES game on the Falaise Pocket. The Gamers also sold out rather quickly on Udo Grebe's rather colorful take on all of WWII, BLITZKRIEG GENERAL (we're really starting to push the envelope on titles, folks) . . . again, very visual. Folks playing it said it was a notch or two above AXIS & ALLIES in terms of relationships to reality . . . but highly playable. Avalanche showed up two days late . . .car broke down. (Either that, or the Paranoia Police stopped them at the border asking for papers). Even Doc Decision was there . . . In Person and smiling like the proverbial canary swallowing cat most of the time. A good sign that the con is becoming very popular were the booths with folks selling "private" games. GMT sold BATTLELINES - or "Poker game at Darius's tonight", complete with music by that old singing group, The Javelineers. (It's javelinists, folks.) - like condoms at Mardis Gras. Followed by a similar reaction to the late arriving new edition of FOR THE PEOPLE, of which one of those giganto versions Bill Alderman comes up with, was going all weekend. Interesting sidelight of the GMT talk on Friday night was that virtually everyone there works in some capacity for GMT. Dave Powell and I checked Gene for new tentacle growth afterwards. Bill Terdaslovitch had a most interesting looking game that appears to be a sort of better take on CIVILIZATION - I said "appears to be" - that also garnered much passer-by interest. Volke Rhunke spent most of the time playing any and all comers in his PoG take on the French/Indian War, WILDERNESS WAR. Lots of player enthusiasm for this project . . . but no Daniel Day Lewis (or Mel Gibson) counter. Probably the only names actually left out of the game. Plus several others that my sleeping neurons are overlooking . . . Of course, much Euro-ing going on. Rio Grande had its usual satchel full of imports. We played WEB OF POWER (formerly titled, in translation, "Cardinal and King", or something like that). Not a bad game . . . tile placement (in the form of cloisters on a vaguely middle age map of Europe), for those steeped in Euro-styles. CAROLUS MAGNUS looked a bit too abstract for me . . . and the Something in the DESERT game that The Fox bought had too many camel pieces that looked like gummy bears for my taste. The most interesting looking game being played, DER TAL DE KOENIG (?), something vaguely pyramidical and Egyptian, turned out to be not available. Oh, I did win, and get to be, MISSISSIPPI QUEEN. When that happened everyone re-read the rules to see what they had forgotten. And I purchased a copy of VINO, because Pete Stein said he'd liked it and Brandon had said it was good. (Told you I wasn't feeling that well . . . ) I have no idea what happened at the tournaments, altho wandering thru them I did get to see some old friends, like Tom Oleson (The Anzio King, Bruno Sinigaglio, et many al. The most heart-lifting and spiritually gratifying aspect of the entire con is that, standing and looking around, I realised that I, visually, and comparatively, looked slim and in good health. That, alone, is a remarkable feat. Good time. If you've never been to one, you're really missing what the hobby is all about. RHB David Fox - 08:20am Aug 7, 2000 PST (#6101 of 6108) "Sorry, but I have a rule about not getting involved with possessed people. Actually it's more of a guideline than a rule..." - Bill Murray in "Ghostbusters" I had a good time at WBC, better than last year, much better than Origins, even tho some moron stole my copy of SEMPER FI and my Protestant cards for my 30YW game. I had them glued on the fronts of old Netrunner cards, so hopefully this loser found them ruined once he got home. What did I play ? Let's see- WEB OF POWER (purchased by RHB, of all people) which we enjoyed, a very subtle game but one that I don't think I could play all that much without getting sick of it. Same with RICOCHET ROBOTS, a game requiring considerable skills in logic and spatial mathematics, which gave me a headache as Peter Stein and I were thoroughly hammered by Aaron Silverman. LOST WORLDS, the fantasy dueling books game, fun as ever. SLAP SHOT, an "eh, so what" game that is a great social experience as part of the huge Saturday night SLAP SHOT marathon. A day-long game of AUSTERLITZ, with myself as the Allies roundly trounced by the beastly French. We played the free movement historical scenario but without the Fog (to speed up play and get the armies into contact sooner). That damned Napoleon was able to add a corps to the LIM Pool three turns in a row and used the Cavalry Reserve and Bernadotte's I Corps to isolate Bagration and cut my army in half. GLADIATOR, where I always draw one of the fast naked guys and get killed by one blow from a slow armored guy, which is just what happened. WOODEN SHIPS & IRON MEN. THROUGH THE DESERT, a quirky if weird-looking game which I kinda liked. MISSISSIPPI QUEEN (we let RHB win the first game out of respect for his elderly years), CIRCUS MINIMUS, a neato chariot-racing game from The Gamers where Bill T. was pulled from his chariot by Aaron and crushed beneath the wheels of Dean Essig. And lots of GOLFMANIA. Bought SEMPER FI (grumble grumble), SimCan's ORTONA (Clash of Arms had a box full of their stuff for 10 bucks each), RICOCHET ROBOTS (for my Dad the retired math teacher, who loves this sort of thing), STARSHIP TROOPERS, and PARATROOPER, the ASL module reputedly easiest to convert to Basic Squad Leader. Aaron Silverman bought about 50 games, I think; while we were playing WEB he kept getting up to run back to the vendor area to buy more. JR Tracy was playing ASL non-stop in the ASL room that was air conditioned to about 5 degrees. By Sunday I think he had pneumonia. Bill T. found lots of interest in his Ancient game, which was very encouraging. First time I've ever seen Peter Stein drunk, too. Volko F. Ruhnke - 07:49pm Aug 7, 2000 PST (#1795 of 1799) Back to the French & Indian War Great DonCon again. In addition to some of the wildest SARATOGA games I've ever experienced (who says the rebels can't capture Bourgoyne's baggage, hm?), watching Mark Miklos play BRANDYWINE on the Big Board, I think I finally see how the rebs can snooker the British. Also got a look at the virgin playtest of GUILFORD--looks like another approach battle along multiple possible axes of advance through the woods, ala SARA. Should the Americans stall for time with advance forces, march up to meet the threat, or fall back to stand in unison? Also got to see the full AUSTERLITZ underway--it's grand enough to look like one of the GMT blow-up demo boards, even though it was just the same copy sold in the box! Ananda G's and Jason Matthew's Cold War PoG (provisionally titled IRON CURTAIN) has got to be the most visually pleasing playtest set I've ever seen--complete with card graphics and painted wooden markers. It covers 1946 to 1989 in nine 6-card hands. I played the US and immediately escalated things in Europe in what turned out to be a vain attempt to liberate East Germany (while the Sovs racked up the VP in the Middle East with a more quiet build up of influence). I soon had to turn to more sober influence-building tactics, plus investment in the space race. The game uses PoG-like card mechanics, but with a twist: if you play ops using your enemy's event, it happens! This turned the whole calculus of card play upside down and made for a really fresh feel to decisionmaking and card management. The "ops" are the placement of influence markers, attempts to remove enemy influence, or, if you like, military attacks. This focus on marker placement rather than maneuver of units will give the game a familiar feel to the non-wargame crowd. GMT is looking at the game, so we'll see... I only had the chance for a few card-plays of DaveFox's 30YW. It uses three decks per side like PoG, but leader activation like the other card-driven games. The map is a checker board of Catholic and Protestant allegiances, and both the new forces that can be entered and the victory points you can go for are highly varied, so this looks to be a wide-open situation. I also got lots of great feedback on WILDERNESS WAR on Thursday and Friday (and thanks for the kind comments above). Thursday the French won a campaign game with an auto-victory in 1760 and Friday the British won the 1757-1759 scenario (that means the game's balanced, right???) I have a full list of new ideas to incorporate--mostly to do with further streamlining to make sure the game is fast-playing. Thanks again to all who took a look at the game and helped with comments! vfr Peter Card - 08:23pm Aug 7, 2000 PST (#6117 of 6118) Most recently stuffed at Paths of Glory Doncon was a blast. First round exits from all my tournaments ensured plenty of time for open gaming. The Down in Flames tournament seemed to have the best format, which is probably due to the short sharp nature of the dogfights, allowing plenty of variation in 3 hours of first round play. Despite the traumatic shredding of my Fw-190D element by evil Hurricane IIs in a single pass, it was hugely enjoyable. Battleline from GMT was a big hit. The game mechanics are simple, but the end result is a subtle game with plenty of depth, playable in 15 minutes. Then you want to play again. Jay Tummelson of Rio Grande was tirelessly intercepting passers-by in the open gaming area and persuading them to play his wares. Blitzkrieg General was shaping up for a rather longer experience than I was expecting when we called a halt after a round of Barbarossa. Plan for spending a full day on the campaign game. Once we got into it, the game went smoothly. Some points that were driven home include ... Getting the USA into the war in a timely fashion requires focussed effort and a dollup of luck. In our game, the Germans left one or two neutrals alone, and the pre-emptive Allied invasion of Belgium actually pushed entry back one turn instead of forwards. Properly sequenced exploitation combat works like a boxing one-two combination and is just as deadly. Leaders, armour and airpower work together. Outside the con, low points were American Airways losing all our baggage for 24 hours, necessitating a quick trip to the Ghost Mall for fresh clothes. High points were the B&O museum in Baltimore, catching Chicken Run pre-con and Space Cowboys* afterwards, and finally getting into The Outback at the very end of the convention after several attempts. I dread to think what a genuine Aussie would make of the place though. Despite what you may have read, the movie commits several offences against orbital mechanics and the laws of physics in general. Despite that, the site of Tommy Lee Jones stealing the movie from Clint Eastwood made it all worthwhile. That and the final shot ... Rob Winslow - 09:18pm Aug 7, 2000 PST (#2657 of 2657) WWBTCD (What would Bill the Cat do?) I played a little of Ted's Marne game with him at DonCon. o All Allied armies start demoralized and are retreating from the North board edge. o Each army (5 Allied, 4 German) rolls for movement separately and then moves -- thus, you don't know how far the army next to you will move, so you have to be careful. o It is an igo/hugo game, though each army moves when its chit is drawn, so it's hard to coordinate (see above). o ZOCs are rigid, though friendly units can "hold the door" and allow other friendlies to leave sourrounded positions. Cav ZOCs doen't affect infantry. o Combat is unique -- there's no CRT. Just declare which units are attacking what defenders, and the "odds" will give a +/- drm (as will terrain and demoralization). Then, you check each unit's tactical effectiveness rating, or "TER" (4s for most at start Germans and Brits [some 5s, too], 3s and 2s for most French). This is done by rolling a die -- if the roll is higer than the "TER," then the unit takes a step loss and must retreat [length based on how high the roll was]. Remember, there will be +/- modifiers for the TER rolls, based on odds, terrain, etc. A natural "1" always passes, while a natural "6" always flips a unit, regardless of drms. ANother twist is that if you get up to higher combat odds, you don't have to check all unit's TERs, so this enables the attacker to "screen" some weaker units on large attacks. o Victory is based on 8 major victory hexes -- if you have 5 at game's end, your side wins. If the score is 4-4, you then check the 9 minor victory hexes, and the player that owns the majority of those wins. No ties. o The early game sees the Allies running away from the German lines -- Allied movement is usually faster in the beginning of the game when they're running [demoralized], as it gets harder to order them back into the fight after they rally. This battle saw a big Allied counterattack (correct?), though we didn't get that far. Overall, I was impressed, and look forward to it (and to Tannenberg) as fun, quick playing games are always in demand at my house 8^)