Deep Thoughts: Realism Vs. Escapism

We watch movies for one reason, to immerse ourselves in a story and get a break for a couple hours. We play table top war games for much the same reason, to get take a break from reality and let our imagination take over for a bit. Table top war games are designed to provide one of two different things, realism or escapism. Realism necessarily provides a complex and thorough rule set that provides a structure for imposing a sense of realistic outcomes in a random game setting. Escapism attempts to provide a break from reality by immersing the player into an alternative reality, complete with a compelling background, where they can do battle. These two concepts don’t necessarily need to be mutually exclusive, but normally game designers will drift towards one or the other.

Living the Raider lifestyle: Escapism

Gaming: Mass x Velocity = Momentum

Momentum can be defined as "mass in motion." All objects have mass; so if an object is moving, then it has momentum - it has its mass in motion. The amount of momentum that an object has is dependent upon two variables: how much stuff is moving and how fast the stuff is moving. Momentum depends upon the variables mass and velocity. In terms of an equation, the momentum of an object is equal to the mass of the object times the velocity of the object.

Planetary Empires: Campaign Complete

In the latest round of Planetary Empires I got in three games; one against the Eldar, another game against Tau and a final game against Eldar again - but a different player. Mars, the guy who organized the campaign, allowed players to switch armies after the 4th round if they wanted to try something different. Mars chose to switch from Dark Angels to Eldar, which is why I played two against Eldar this turn.

Gaming: Timing is Everything

The other day while discussing 40k tactics with some friends the subject of timing came up. Timing of assaults, timing of turns and timing of games in a tournament setting are all critical to success or failure - yet we never discuss them. Sure we talk about math hammer, we discuss point cost efficiencies, evaluate movement distances, whether to reserve or deep strike and we even talk about how to game wound allocation, all while totally skipping perhaps one of the most difficult to master and critical parts of the game. Timing.

Planetary Empires: Don't Get Cocky

‘Great, kid. Don’t get cocky.’ Some sage advice there from Han himself; well - I got cocky. I got full of myself and I didn’t pay attention during terrain set up, and during deployment I made some mistakes. I didn’t think through the objectives and I ended up chasing my tail for 4 rounds while my opponent basically drove in reverse and picked me apart at range while I struggled to catch up. I made all my mistakes early and my list simply couldn’t make up the difference.

Planetary Empires: Round Two Conquest

With round two coming to an end I again had three wins under my belt. (Mars agreed to play again right before the conquest rolls happened) With three conquest rolls to make I had to try and gain the final two tiles I needed so that I could try and wrap up the campaign in round three. I needed another tile in the center of the board so I could have better rolls against the other players, in Planetary Empires having a tile adjacent to your target increases your odds of taking the tile. With my first roll I went for the space port of the Tyranid player because it sat in the middle of the northern portion of the board and would give me access to everyone else. With my first roll I seized the spaceport and gained my 9th tile, you need 10 to meet the first campaign victory condition, so I had established my foothold in another portion of the board.  Unfortunately for me the foothold didn't help as I failed my next two conquest rolls miserably and stayed at nine tiles, DOH!

Photo from Mars Project Blog

Planetary Empires: Round Two Battle (part 2)

For my second game of round two I played a game with one of the other Space Marine players in the planetary empires campaign against Salamanders. Because I had two more tiles and he has an additional manufactorium he had 200 points more than me for the battle, again - select your tiles carefully to avoid battles like this! So with my wolves at 1500 points we mounted up to face some 1700 point Salamander fury.

"On the Anvil of War are the strong tempered and the weak made to perish, thus are men's souls tested as metal in the forge's fire."

Planetary Empires: Round Two Battle (part 1)

Each round of the campaign lasts for two weeks as all of us in the campaign have real world commitments that limit our gaming time. We meet up when we can but its very rare to see everyone in the same room at once. So for this round I managed to get in two games, one each week, against the lone Tyranid player and a Marine player using Salamanders. My first game for this round would be against the bugs and my opponent had been making a mess of the other players winning his first few games as I had. Due to the amount of tiles I had compared to him and his additional manufactorium he went in to the battle with 100 additional points, so I would start the battle already with a handicap. Campaign note: Winning territories in Planetary Empires can good and bad, select your tiles carefully because different tiles do different things and greatly effect what you can bring to the table for games; as I learned this week!

The gribbly little bastards all lined up!

Planetary Empires: Round One Conquests and Bounties!

Over the weekend we had the 'conquest round' to end our first turn of the Planetary Empires Campaign. During the 'conquest round' any player who won a game can roll against the territories of the player(s) whom they beat. In my case I had won four battles which gave me the opportunity to try and seize territories from other players. In Planetary Empires it is much easier to take a territory if you are adjacent to it, however because I was consolidated at the super secret moon base, the only things adjacent to me were other space ports down on the planet surface. It seemed to be a perfectly logical step to first seize a spaceport so I went after the ork space port. Luckily I rolled well and gained possession of the space port, gaining a foot hold on the planet! 

Photo Credit 'Mars project Blog'

Planetary Empires: Round One! (part 2)

Round two was upon me and I pulled the Dark Angels of the 'diabolical man-child' who's house we were playing at and who's campaign we were playing in. Really dude has some lovely stuff, his terminators and Captain in particular are well done. Luckily for me his dreadnought had a 'bounty' placed on it by one of the other players, meaning in a previous game the dreadnought tore someone up and they decided to put a 'one beer bounty' on the guy - whoever destroys the unit with the bounty on them collects the bounty. I positioned the relentless Long Fangs just out of range from the dreadnought, which had a plasma cannon, and deployed the rest of my force.

Planetary Empires: Round One! (part 1)

With our Space Puppies resting peacefully in their cozy new doggie beds, and not those crappy Wal-Mart ones either - we're talking about the real deal Costco super soft beds, on the super secret moon base it was time to venture out into the night and find some kibble. Five of us gathered in the 'gaming shed' for an afternoon of rapid fire 1,000 point gaming. Arrayed on the table were Dark Angels, Orks, Eldar and another Space Wolf player. For the first week of battles the games were to be played at 1,000 points on a 4x4 table, this represented the players sending out their reconnaissance forces to find the enemy. Also in this round the Hive City, which is very important apparently as it 'counts as' one of each of the other building types, was 'in play' becuase at the end of the two week round whomever won the most 'cities of death' games would gain control of the Hive city.

Gaming: Planetary Empires

For most of us Planetary Empires is simply a book sitting on the shelf in our local game store, gathering dust. For others it becomes a chance to create a truly unique experience where cagy veterans can gather round the tables and trade blows while talking smack, trying new armies and building a sense of camaraderie rarely seen in most gaming circles. It is an interactive campaign with many players that follows a general format that is easily modified, all while building veteran abilities for your units and trying to maintain a tenuous grip on your territories and trying to gain new ones. One of the guys ('guy' is an inadequate description, perhaps 'diabolical man child' would be more appropriate) in my local gaming area suggested a Planetary Empires campaign a few months ago, with some hesitancy I accepted in the spirit of trying something new.

Deep Thoughts: Soft Core Cheating

To me there are two types of cheating; both of them are evil, stupid and have no place in the hobby for anyone. The first type of cheat is a gamer who is hard core in their cheating, they will make stuff up and rule lawyer you to death using arguments they know to be false hoping that you will concede the point just to not be a bad guy. They read forums and know what the counter arguments are and rehearse their cheating before playing, to ensure that it comes across as true and accurate. The other kind of cheater is a soft core cheater who will make snide remarks while presenting a cheerful face and simultaneously apologizing for mistakes that are planned and deliberate. In my opinion, the soft core cheater is by far the worse of the varieties of cheaters because they will present a friendly and welcoming appearance to your face while simultaneously waiting for any opportunity to stab you in the back.

My Chimera, Soft Core Cheater Target

Game Time: Custom Building Rules

A friend of mine recently purchased the complete 'Fortress Kit' from WarMill Gaming, which he plans on using at the next big get-together with all his assorted gaming buddies from up and down the east coast. While I can't comment on the quality of the kit or offer a complete product review on it, I can offer some advice on some custom rules for this new piece of terrain that will make for a more interesting game.

The War Mill fortress set

Deep Thoughts: The Road to Geekdom

Royal Assassins, Sorcerer Queens and Ali From Cairo are three names that were burned into my memory at an early age when I first bought my first pack of cards. At the time I didn’t know how to play or what it would all lead to, but there I was buying my first pack of cards with lawn mowing money. Fast forward twenty years and here I am, blogging about sharing that same experience with my children.

My clones outside the local gaming store

Deep Thoughts: What makes a great game?

What makes a great game? It really is a simple question; however, the answers will be as diverse and complex as the individuals who play the game. Some people enjoy playing the game above all other considerations and whether or not a single mini is painted doesn’t bother them in the least. Other people want to have a detailed battlefield with a well painted army on both sides. Other people simply want to get away from their everyday life for a bit and share some stories with a friend while playing a game on the side. Whatever your idea of a great game is, odds are you have found at least a few people who share your views of what a fun Warhammer game entails and you naturally play more games with those people more often than not.

The old King is dead, long live the King!

Blogging, gaming, hobby and life are all constantly evolving. Change is constant and when we stop evolving we are either dead or already dying. ‘Flashlights of Fury’ was born of necessity as a creative outlet when I decided to leave the world of forums; it was created quickly and without a lot of thought. More successful, entertaining and eye opening that I ever anticipated it quickly became evident that I would need a more permanent home that would more accurately reflect my continuing evolution.

Deep Thoughts: WYSIWYG?

For the uninitiated WYSIWYG is shorthand Warhammer geek speak for, What You See Is What You Get, which means that if the model has an item of wargear, a weapon, a type of armor or a tooth ache – you gotta represent it on the model. Lots of major events publish rules that say WYSIWYG is the law of the land, but who actually plays WYSIWYG these days?

Deep Thoughts: Translation Please

The other day at a major national chain of coffee restaurants featuring a green logo highlighting a mermaid, that shall remain nameless so that I may feel better about not boosting their over bloated sales through my own little advertisement efforts. We all know this place to be the purveyor of that delicious black substance we love and understand as coffee, it was in this place that a question was posed to me as I attempted to purchase some coffee beans.

Deep Thoughts: Make Your Fun

Local gaming clubs build a sense of friendship and community over time. Players will gravitate towards a core of like minded players who naturally think about the game and play the game with similar taste. Over time, playing with the same group of players, with the same armies and the same terrain can become a bit boring. New codex’s help for a bit, trying out different point levels and adding new units also keeps things interesting, but ultimately our hobby doesn’t update at an alarming rate, leading to what can be described as ‘gaming malaise’.

One way to combat this is by asking a simple question: ‘Why do we limit ourselves to the special characters listed in our army codex books?’