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sGuest Post by Misha Burnett: Alfred Bester’s Golem 100
Monday , 29, February 2016 Appendix X 6 CommentsOne Step Beyond And Then A Jump To The Left: Alfred Bester’s Golem 100 Alfred Bester is known and justly praised primarily for two novels; The Demolished Man published in 1953, and The Stars My Destination (aka Tiger, Tiger) published in 1956. Both books helped to influence the course of science fiction, and both have […]
Before this last Prezcon, I had not played too many of the block wargames like the ones Columbia Games put out. I have to say… it does feel like a really substantial wargaming experience, but there just aren’t a whole lot of rules to keep up with in Julius Caesar. Although the command cards limit […]
I have a sweet tooth for WWIII novels. While at the local Barnes & Noble last week, I spotted Rick Campbell’s Empire Rising. I had to buy it. It one of those paperbacks that is in between a mass market paperback and trade paperback and retails for $9.99. The back cover has this: “The President […]
PREZCON: Texas Glory, Fire in the Lake, Britannia, and Conquest of Paradise
Saturday , 27, February 2016 Tabletop Games, Wargames 1 CommentMy favorite part of PrezCon is getting to meet the people behind created the games. Here are photos of several that I got to meet this past week at the convention. Designers Dan Mings and Carl Willner discuss Texas Glory, their block game published by Columbia Games: Volko Ruhnke teaches Fire in the Lake:
March of the Ants: 4X Strategic Simulation or Party Game?
Friday , 26, February 2016 Games Leave a commentShort Reviews will return next week with more Planet Stories! Tim Eisner’s March of the Ants is a Euro resource collection/point scorer cleverly disguised as a war game. Two to five players take on the role of ant armies determined to explore, plunder and conquer the meadow, battling for resources, fighting off centipedes and evolving […]
RETROSPECTIVE: “The People of the Pit” by A. Merritt
Thursday , 25, February 2016 Appendix N, Before the Big Three Leave a commentAfter reading “Through the Dragon Glass”, this one is a real disappointment. A. Merritt’s lush prose is completely appropriate in describing mysterious otherworldly women and strange, nightmarish landscapes. But the former is completely absent here while the latter is only given a brief treatment here. It’s compelling, though… and it’s stunning to realize that people […]
SPACE ODDITY: An SF Musical Storytelling Game. Song 2, Clue 2
Thursday , 25, February 2016 Uncategorized 4 CommentsYou can see a complete game of Space Oddity played out in the original post. The rules are simple: I’m going to tell you a short genre story that makes sense of the inscrutable lyrics of an otherwise popular song. I’ll do it in very brief parts to keep things interesting. There will be weekly clues. […]
Wargame Wednesday is reporting to you live from the PrezCon Winter Nationals. If you want to try out a dozen games, if you’re looking for a top notch opponent in one of your favorites, if you want to see the latest hot games, if you want to talk to the designers and ask them how […]
Charge! Or How to Play War Games by Brig. P. Young and Lt. Col. J.P. Lawford, presents the gamer two sets of rules, elementary and advanced, covering European warfare from 1756 to 1815. The authors state they chose this period, “because troops for the most part, still fought in close order and no War Game […]
“I like the notion that two players might be sharing the same map and moving their counters on the same map, but in effect they’re playing two different games. I like asymmetry of methods, asymmetry of functions and especially the asymmetry of objectives.” — Brian Train You don’t always have time for a huge wargame. […]
Young Josh was a voracious reader without video games or internet to distract him– and homeschooled to boot, so all that time spent not being distracted by other students meant he read literally everything in the science fiction section of the library. Or at least gave it a shot; I remember trying Gene Wolfe’s Book […]
PREZCON: Tikal, The Last Spike, Battle Cry, Firefly, and High Frontier!
Monday , 22, February 2016 Tabletop Games 6 CommentsPrezCon has officially started. If are interested in tabletop games and you are anywhere near the Charlottesville, Virginia area, you will want to check this out. This is from the opening heat of the Tikal tournament: Here’s a couple of guys learning a new one from Columbia Games, The Last Spike: