Sarah, Michael and I had our first game of the new Nations board game yesterday. Sarah and Jon, upon seeing what was in my possession, were not surprised: I’m a sucker for Civilisation games, and this one has been getting a moderate amount of buzz on BoardGameGeek.com. It is quite expensive. Even with the recent MilSims sale, it had still cost me over aus$100, and … Continue reading A first look at the Nations board game
The up-and-down numbers of my AD&D player base saw only four players attend this weekend’s session. I wouldn’t be utterly surprised if I’m dealing with ten players next week; it’s that sort of campaign! The regulars of Jesse and Tait were there, along with Tim and a new player, Mike. Mike rolled up a fighter, and so we had characters from 1st to 9th level … Continue reading AD&D – The Frost Barbarians – session 65(ish)
Various factors combined to have us with fewer players this week than last week, which left my table of keen D&D players with only three players: Tim, playing a paladin, Tait and Harry, both of whom were playing rogues. As Tait and Tim were using characters they’ve played in previous Encounters seasons, that meant we had a 2nd level rogue, a 5th level rogue and … Continue reading D&D Next: Scourge of the Sword Coast, session 2
My latest game of Advanced Squad Leader saw Mick and me facing each other over the fields of Sicily. The victory condition of this scenario required the Germans to get a certain portion of their force off the far side of the map (lengthwise), whilst not losing too many of his own units. Mick chose to play the Germans (who have a slight advantage on … Continue reading Advanced Squad Leader report: S11 A Long Way to Go
If there is one adventure that really shows how different and ambitious the UK division of TSR were, it is this one. Published in 1983, Beyond the Crystal Cave is notionally in the World of Greyhawk, although the world it evokes is one that would be unfamiliar to most players of D&D at the time. Indeed, the entire adventure would feel unfamiliar, as it moves … Continue reading Review of AD&D module UK1: Beyond the Crystal Cave
One thing was certain, that the rules of naturalistic adventure writing had nothing to do with it: — it was Gary Gygax’s desire to do an adventure based on Lewis Carroll’s works, and Lewis Carroll’s best writing came from taking ideas found in his (and our) world and twisting them to be amusing and possibly satirical. And, when Gary Gygax became involved you got an … Continue reading Review of AD&D adventure EX2: Through the Magic Mirror
And so it begins. The third part of “The Sundering” series of adventures started around the world this weekend with the D&D Encounters Launch Event for Scourge of the Sword Coast. We at Good Games Ballarat had our largest turn-out for some time: fifteen players and three DMs. And we were still missing potential players who couldn’t attend! All the tables were running D&D Next … Continue reading Scourge of the Sword Coast: D&D Encounters launch event report
There are a few board game designers that I pay a lot of attention to. Stefan Feld, Vlaada Chvatil and Martin Wallace are likely the three top designers on that list. Martin Wallace has a great range of designs, some of which I enjoy, others which I avoid, but there’s no doubt that his design of Brass, which looks at the Industrial Revolution in Great … Continue reading Brass game report
Scenario S10 is the first scenario in the ASL Starter Kits to feature two “minor” nations of World War II fighting each other. In this case, it is the Greeks against the Italians in a chase across the board. Set in November 1940, Italy’s leader, Mussolini, had decided to impress his German allies with a “parallel war”, and so had sent his troops into Greece. … Continue reading Advanced Squad Leader report: S10 Paper Army
Horror on the Hill was published in 1983, and is one of Douglas Niles’ early works for Dungeons and Dragons. Niles, a wargamer, would contribute significantly to the Dragonlance series in a couple of years, and then write several Forgotten Realms novels. I’ve already covered two of his adventures, Against the Cult of the Reptile God and Curse of Xanathon. His early work has a … Continue reading Review of B5: Horror on the Hill
