She who must be Ubeid or How I learned to Stop Dodging and Love Warp War

ok.


I got totally PASTED at Erech.

Two Sumerian missiles on Turn 2 left my Warpship well perhaps a pictorial explanation might be better

The First Battle of Erech in pictures:
It began well, my sturdy BLOB Fleet intercepted two slightly smaller Sumerian Warpships.. I loosed my Missiles:

The Fleet lined up.

We Sized each other up.

Then  I saw his missile Salvo.

and Beams.

BLOBW3 That's not a knife:
L0 PD=4 B=2 S=2








became:

BLOBW3: That's not a knife
L0 PD=(4)1 B=(2)0 S=(2)0

I was saved by a point of allocated shields.

From Irresistible Star-spanning Warpship to Broken Little Red Wagon in one Salvo.

The Sumerians Scored missile Hit+1, Missile Hit+2 and threw in a point 'o beams for good measure.

OW!

Follow along or start another game at:
Warp War Boadgamegeek.. play-by-forum

Warp War!: Attack of the Microgames

Perceptors at Full Ensign Tannish! Yes Folks, its  Warp War!

A intro open demo Play by Forum game has started between the Sumerians (Mike Read) and the B.L.O.B (Babylonian Lunar Orbital Brigade, me) at Boardgame Geek Warp War page

BLOB forces have surged in a rearward fashion from the perfidious Sumerian Incursion  at Ubeid.

We're running the 40BP fixed forces Warpship only learning scenario with no, resupply repair etc and  no systemships.

Follow all the action Warp War demo at BoardgameGeek


Or via RSS

Initially we're using the vanilla 2nd Printing Rules, although after we've run through the basic and Advanced Scenario, we possibly may move on to using the WWDG (WarpWar Design Group) 2nd ed Rules  and variants.


Interested? Join the game thread on BGG, Comment here or PM me at BGG or join the yahoo Warpwar group

For details of the Artwork (like the above orginal cover and Winch's recent Blender Effort from the original Microgame, please checkout the website of the DaVinci of the space-gaming community: Winchell Chung. aka "Nyrath"

Winchell does amazing starmapsand his site is the goto place for rolling your own starmaps. He's done artwork for the Greats including Stellar Conquest.
His artwork and gear is o n Cafe press at Project Rho Productions

unannotated map below:
BLOB warpships at 0608, and 2 at Mari
Sumerian  warpships at Ubeid and 2 at Adab

FLASHFLASHFLASH

1st detachment of the BLOB fleet has detected Sumerian insurgent forces at Erech.

BLOBW1 Grey Area and BLOBW3 That's not a knife are moving  to engage URW2 Sapelli and URW3 Fierce

BABYLON EXPECTS EVERY HATCHLING TO DO HIS DUTY

VLARGH

MESSAGE ENDS


Warp War Map

Invasion of the Space Grognards!

Are you a Space Grognard?

Oh dear, It's an Imperium week it seems..

I pull my finger out and put the SSDs up and the next thing I know..

It's Invasion of the Space Grognards!, Holy Klono and by the scorched nose-hairs of Noshabkeming! pass me another bottle of Rhysling's Rotgut..

I stumble across another group of Imperium addicts:

A Yahoo group that was hiding under my nose in a link off Imperium's entry at BGG, when I thought that the WarpWar group was the only one offering refuge to Missile Boat Maniacs..

Timbo74 pops up and declares himself Marc Miller's lovechild and wants a PBEM game of Imperium  he's dashed out and got the PDF download  at wargames vault. (now who said blogging is a usless and pointless exercise? It got me an opponent!)

Keith Frye reminded me to "Keep the Flame!" on the Stargrunt-Full Thrust Yahoo Group.

Don Hawthorne and I exchanged curmudgeonly reminiscences via email about FT in the good old days and I observed about the Fleet books and "FT3" that:
"..as an old geezer I understand but there is a "toad syndrome"  that
insists on the newest latest shiniest and fastest amongst the youth ;) .."

You could almost hear us going "..I remember when Four firing arcs were good enough for anyone.."

As a good Space Grognard, I do a bit of scouting and evangelizing for FT tracking down Google alerts for "Full Thrust" and  connecting with the many pockets of the 'Net and wider world that don't seem to be part of the "in" crowd of GZG-xCC attendees or GZG-L denizens..

You'd be surprised how many people "heard" of FT and got into it on their own or haven't hooked up with many other players. Newbies or returnees.. all need a helping hand and light shone onto the FT/GZG Community.. that's one reason I setup the GZGfinder.

Consider it my wargaming equivalent of  the CoDominium Oath of Reunion...  theres a lot of "outies" that need  connecting up!

One such is a thread on RPG.net. at the moment:
The First post in this thread convinced me that as a Space Grognard I have a meta-duty to fledgling players to welcome them and bring them along, especially if I want to keep playing the stuff I enjoy in my dotage.

so far we're up to...

Privateer:I actually prefer having a stable platform of rules that doesn't change on a 4-5 year compulsory basis.  That goes the same for Dirtside 2 and Stargrunt 2.

Agreed I dont like Rules churn either., 

FT and Jon's approach to gaming and rules is in many ways a bit of a test, but one I find refreshing.

its flexibility and "nothing written in stone" approach is great unless you are a "rulebook" guy or game with people who arent prepared to be flexible with house rules/mods  or simply aren't of the experimental or "suck it and see" bent when it comes to fiddling wih rules.

That FT gets used as a competition set of rules and has a design system will always tempt people to break/bend/test/minimax the rules

sometimes getting wargamers to agree on anything is like washing cats.. some people will concede houserules or mods here and there to get a game rolling, some people will fight to the bitter end as if violating "the book" was an affront or heresy.

that having been said, I enjoy FT and want to keep playing it, keeping the game alive and giving it a public "pulse" is important  and while fan sites and support helps, *nothing* works for a game (and a newly introduced player) like the adrenaline of a newly acquired  rulebook..

the "unborn" next generation of Full Thrust players who perhaps have been bought up on a dihorrea of editions and expansions of Ginormous Workshop games have been spoiled by the visual riches thus published to some extent..

the "try out" or "suck it and see" experimenatlism where youd find a set of rules a few pages long in the latest "Miniature Wargames" and try them with your mates seem to have withered...

Wargaming doesnt have its "Young Turks" but  but rather "young anoraks" mumbling  "but the new 9th edition codex says  the Space Wombles Chapter Librarian doesnt get a storm bolter, you can't kitbash figures, that's  like  ..wrong"

Ahh new rules...

I just bought Bag the Hun 2 and Might and Reason for Seven Years War..  its always a buzz, getting into new stuff or revisiting old stuff again.


all this Imperium stuff tends to get me singing Mel Brooks thanks to song entry in a BGG Contest that got me some geekgold last year:

Vilani were having trouble
What a sad, sad story
Needed some new planets to restore
their former glory
Where, oh, where were they?
Where could that land be?
They looked around and then they found
The stars for you and me

And now it's...

Springtime for Dingir and Vilani
Vland is happy and gay!
We're boosting to a faster pace
Look out, here comes the master race!
Springtime for Dingir and Vilani!
Vland's a fine land once more!
Springtime for Dingir and Vilani
Watch out, Terra!
We're going on tour!
Springtime for Dingir and Vilani...

Look, it's springtime once more!

Winter for Barnard and Sol

Springtime for Dingir and Vilani!

Come on, Vilani
Go into your dance!

I was born in Guusmegraguul und that is why they call me Cool.

Don't be stupid, be a smarty, come and join the Solomani party!

Springtime for Dingir and Vilani
Goose-step's the new step today..

But the point of my Post is that if You're a Space Grognard then you have to give something back,

• welcome a newbie
• let them reroll that Damage control roll
• get those house rules you've thought a about a try 
• or better still shared and posted on the net, 
• organize a  game at your club  rather than turn up expecting  someone to have organized something.

Do that now, by Klono's Boranium Bollocks, so that you can play what you love in the times to come.  you mightn't get direct benefit for your efforts, but someone will and the hobby will be better for it.

Altruism works especially in the wargaming hobby, so work for it!

"...Then you make the sacrifice willingly? No fame. No armies or banners or cities to celebrate your name?...How do you know the Chosen Ones? "No greater love hath a man than he lay down his life for his brother." Not for millions…not for glory…not for fame. For one person, in the dark, where no one will ever know or see. I have been in the service of the Vorlons for centuries, looking for you. Diogenes with his lamp, looking for an honest man willing to die for all the wrong reasons. At last, my job is finished. Yours is just beginning. When the darkness comes, know this: You are the right people, in the right place, at the right time..."
    -Sebastian, Comes the Inquisitor.

Full Thrust / Imperium SSDs and Integration Packet.

It's deliberate that I make no secret of my two favourite boardgames: GDW's  Imperium and A House Divided 
Now available from Marc Miller of farfuture.net through your friendly PDF supplier

Or Dark Nebula? Random Geomorpic maps? exploration? 

Be tempted at USD4.95 its a baargain.. if only other publishers kept their back catalogue on the front burner as well..

So imagine my delight when a few years ago I found Don Hawthorne's Full Thrust integration packet with Imperium at Chris Weuve's website.
(Chris, like me, is also a Stellar Conquest and Triplanetary fan as well)

I'd tracked down some SSDs (I know I'm sorry I'm a recovering SFB player!) on the internet archive but the IA doesn't archive image files consistently..alas

Mark Drake recently posted on  Boardgamegeek that he had some SSDs but no hosting space, having started this blog, a light globe (Black Globe? ;)  moment ensued an I offered to rehost them here..

I've emailed Don Hawthorne who has hapily agreed to allow a z9m9z link to Don's Ful Thrust/Imperium Integration packet

Don replied "..I'm happy there is still enough interest in both games to warrant my little effort being kept available..."

Well so are we, Don! thanks!

If you love Traveller and Full Thrust,  look no further than British Isles Traveller Support's (BITS) Power Projection:Fleet - which has a fabulous Campaign System and Full Thrust Based Combat system and a conversion to Full Thrust from the High Guard and. Other Traveller ship design Systems..
(the Imperial Tigress class BB SSD is truly scary)

So here are Mark's Full Thrust SSDs for the Ships of GDW's Imperium

Terran Capitals, Monitors and Cruisers.

Terran DD, MB and Scouts

Vilani Capitals, Monitors and Cruisers

Vilani Cruisers, DDs and Scouts


I must ask Mark if he washed his ship designs through the PP:F conversion system or if these were "windage/RoThumb" FT designs,

On the other hand if you have stats for the ships of Imperium in another Traveller design system, please pass them along as washing them through PP:F would be an interesting exercise.

NB: if you'd like a PBEM game of Imperium, do get in touch :) or A House Divided

Now if only I could get a game of WARP WAR!

NB EDIT: Mark advises he got them off a bloke named Doug Evans way back when on GZG-L. thanks Doug! 

EDIT 2: Don Hawthorne has responded and is happy for the IP to be linked here.. he sounded rather chuffed that people are having fun with it!

Leaving Frankfurt.. reflections #1 A house divided

I'm leaving Frankfurt  to return to Melbourne this Sunday.
Leaving  may smarter, cuter half, heretofore known only as "She who Must Be Obeyed" or SWMBO for short, to battle on  against the elements alone.

in the last 3 months I've done a bit of gaming here but not much.. some episodes follow:
[originally posted on boardgamegeek.com 10 December, 2009]

"... I arrived in Frankfurt a month ago for 3 months and  as I will almost certainly be moving here in a few years and am spending all my winters here from now on (yes crazy, pass up an Australian summer, but the heat kills me and I happen to be head over heels with the Woman concerned!)

The process of slowly finding out about the gaming scene here in Frankfurt is an interesting one.

I have met and arranged my first game, it will be AHD against (tellus on bgg), who I located through a german miniatures  forum as I found the frankfurt mob here on BGG  just seem to do euro stuff, though I do plan on making trips to the Cafe Vorspiel in the future.

Tellus and I are both fair to say of a certain age and our collections, his and mine, and tastes reflect that; I suggested AHD as he seemed to have a few ACW gaes in his list (I converted him onto BGG muhahaha!) and it can be fairly short and easy to get a complete playing in a limited session, as I have no gaming material with me apart from a lot of lead to paint, I suggested one from his list. I suspect he'll be hooked into and demand a few more playings once he's tried it is addictive. I think he said its a GDW edition or a german "GDW-like" licensed edition.

Tellus has opened AHD and played a few turns out solo sometime back, so this will be a first play for him against "the living" as Han Solo said once.

He's chosen to play Confederate and so I will defend as Union.. We talked AHD and games miniature and board both over Früstück (or brekky I as I say in Melbourne); the Phalanx edition, which I have not seen except for photos on BGG, while it is truly beautiful and exquisite and the components divine, I realized I prefer the GDW map for a few reasons:

1. it is a clear, effective communication tool as any LINK or LINK design will testify to.

2. its READABLE. why is this important? Well sad to say a lot of us are getting old and in the ast 6 months I have noticed on a lot lists and boards players are beginning to ask questions and making choices with their vision in mind. Contrast, Colour, Size  and Typography for matter for communication as much as beauty in Design.

So I thought of a vote, on whatever basis you like for your preferred board.

Indications of owned and/or preferred editions and if your vision is hawk-like, codger-esque or Magoo-opic are encouraged but, of course optional.

I own GDW 2nd and vision-wise would love to say I'm a codger, but in reality, I'm a Magoo...."