Air shark miniatures! I may have to... not that I need them, you see, but... I mean, look at those things! :eek:

Great report, Calithena.

Thanks, Melan. They are Emperor's Choice models, EC also makes a phraint fig and some of the other cool Arduin stuff.

Pierce, people really like M44, rules-wise it's supposed to be the simplest Borg game. C&C:A is most complex though Battlelore has more room for add-ons (more structure in the former, more modularity in the latter, if that makes sense). M44 and Battlelore have the advantage of being Days of Wonder games which means the components are second to none. There's a fourth Borg game for the civil war too which I think is supposed to be intermediate complexity. But they all run on essentially pretty similar engines.

Sett, I think what I want is a game where there's more overall battlefield control, or the potential for it, every round. So like, you could have limited information about the battlefield, a general plan your units followed, limited orders on the DBA/Borg model to tell some units exactly what you wanted, maybe a chance for smart captains to make individual adjustments in the field, and then probably blindness about precise enemy locations etc. I think you'd probably need a general or a computer to process a game like that. But anyway, that sounds more like 'simulating the process' to me.

Cali, yes I noticed, the difference in production values is dramatic. C&C:A is rilly plain (and more expensive), M44 is pretty and Battlelore even prettier. The M44 rules amount to about one page of Squad Leader, but that's just it: This friend of mine is a WWII nut, and I'll try to use M44 as an entry drug.

On that note, I also noticed the Flames of War minis. Thank god I can't paint, or I'd lose a fortune buying into that game.

Quote from: Pierce InverarityOn that note, I also noticed the Flames of War minis. Thank god I can't paint, or I'd lose a fortune buying into that game.

... or not...

QuoteActual occurence in my trial game at a Con, refereed by an official GM or I would have assumed we were doing something wrong:

As the Germans, I had a US infantry unit completely surrounded by a combined arms force including infanty, artillery and a freaking Panzer. The target was in open ground and within point blank range of my infantry and my Panzer.

I rolled my dice, he rolled his. He escaped completely unscathed.

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/122796

:confused:

Do you have a question, Settembrini?

Not anymore:

QuoteIf you're looking for a WH40K-derived game which happens to use WWII miniatures, you'll enjoy the FOW approach (the codices even include warhammer style Hero figures). I like the books for painting, modeling, and organizational info and the rules certainly attract new players. But it also attracts hardcore "fan-boys" who would believe 2+2=5 if the FOW staff said so (yes, they've even defended the idea that 40+ guys could fit on a motorcycle ).

But the minis are SO PRETTY!

It sounds like an amazing game, Cal.  I don't think that I quite followed the 'story' (a bit confusing to me, but then I'm lazy when reading such things), but your shared setting sounds quite fun ... and very 'gonzo' (maybe like the original Blackmoor setting, as run by Arneson, or an amped up version of the Wilderlands?).

Great pictures!

Good to hear from you, Akrasia!

This was only the second really prop-heavy game I've run. I think it was a good effort, not one of my absolute best, but fun.

The 'story' stuff may be hard to follow because like a lot of these kinds of games it's rooted in years of play that came before. Basically you can break down the adventure like this though:

1) Elves are leaving, head archmage of continent is retiring, half-elven prince who is old friend of head archmage goes to pay respects and play role in new choice.

2) Wild elf 'local hero', who told half-elven prince about the insanity of current head archmage, is trying to fend off another army coming out of the east, commanded by an old rival of half-elven prince. The pair team up to fight off the invading army.

3) Wizard's conclave blows up, lots of people die.

4) The party tracks down the traitorous archmage through the wizard's tower, kills the things that came through her gates, and kills her.

5) Everyone left surviving goes to a tavern.

The stuff about the empress, meteor strike, elven migration, etc. are all world events that cut across campaigns but maybe not essential to what happened.

Our setting (Advent) has some gonzo stuff lurking around the corners, which high level types tend to encounter. Also, you can kill gods (they're physical beings of massive power that live on the moons ('gods'), under the earth ('demons and devils'), and under the sea (monstrous cthulhoid entities) - our setting is supposedly entirely materialist at bottom), which is pretty gonzo.  On the other hand, it also has those useful rural villages with cold winter coming and giant coal-eyed wolves stalking lone stragglers, for firsties to get their blades wet.

I've always assumed my campaigns were actually just to the east of the standard wilderlands maps, actually, and have even included Tarantis as a city which PCs have visited, though the entire Ebony Coast is a blasted wasteland and some other stuff. But most of the play action I've run has taken place in the far north (which has at times included Blackmoor), the Solaran empire (run by the Empress), in the Kingdom of Ilthar, and in the decaying cities of the east coast (Valyr and Sarmis). Del's run in Solara and in his own area of Westermarch (where the battle occured here), Steve and Duncan in Solara, and Chris in Ilthar, among others, and we keep each other up to date on what we do from time to time.

"Rumors of Robilar's demise are exaggerated".

Rob's been thought dead before.

Quote from: SettembriniFrom my limited knowledge, I´d think DBM would be the thing to go for.

Alas, what is one going to simulate? The resut or the process?

More often than not, BorgWars can be used as a black box, who´s results are then broken down/interpreted to the sim level.

EDIT: The more I learn about Military History, the more I´m suspicous of the "Simulations" to be encountered. For example, I do not believe in Fire, Fusion & Steel anymore. Or in games where you have too much control over your units. But: I don´t think the Striker/ Command Decision route is a fun way to do things, if you know what I´m talking about.

Command Decision is a really good game.

For medievals, I STILL prefer CHAINMAIL over all others.  Of course, I have the knowledge to use it; CHAINMAIL itself is little more than hit tables.  It tells you nothing about medieval warfare.

SO I went out and got a BA in medieval history.

I never really took a deep look at DBM, probably because 1)  DBA was such a turn-off and 2) I had CHAINMAIL and 3) a friend of mine has spent 15 years refining his homebrew Renaissance rules.

Sure, the Command Decision/ Striker way of doing things is an option.
But not very player-base friendly.

Finding players for such a game is very, very hard. Especially when one has to incoprorate it into such a mixed bag of preferences as an RPG group.

Not to derail any further (sorry, Cali!), but... being a man of action, I played M'44 already. Clearly, one could be snobby about the experience. However, I had a lot of fun. I was THIS CLOSE to defending Pegasus Bridge when it was my turn. But in order to win that one, the Germans need even more luck than I had.