Fire In the Lake

Started by Mad Russian, December 29, 2014, 01:04:11 PM

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Mad Russian

I got this for Christmas and want to try it multiplayer with all 4 factions manned.

Is there anyone out there starting a Vassal game of FITL?

Good Hunting.

MR

The most expensive thing in the world is free time.

bayonetbrant

I'm sure you can get B_C to play, and if you send him a PM (so he doesn't miss the thread) you can usually rope Diced_T into a VASSAL game, too :)
The key to surviving this site is to not say something which ends up as someone's tag line - Steelgrave

"their citizens (all of them counted as such) glorified their mythology of 'rights'...and lost track of their duties. No nation, so constituted, can endure." Robert Heinlein, Starship Troopers

ArizonaTank

I am interested.   On my second PBEM game, so happy to start a third.

Try asking Ubercat as well.

Johannes "Honus" Wagner
"The Flying Dutchman"
Shortstop: Pittsburgh Pirates 1900-1917
Rated as the 2nd most valuable player of all time by Bill James.

Mad Russian

I have never played any of the COIN series yet. So would be green. I would prefer to get at least one seasoned player in the group.

Good Hunting.

MR
The most expensive thing in the world is free time.

Ubercat

I'll have to sit this one out. I only have so much time for gaming and after 2 FitL games I'm getting a real itch to play something WW2 and operational in scale. I'm thinking DAK 2. A small scenario to start (for re-familiarization with the system) followed by a grand campaign, if I can get an opponent!
"If you have always believed that everyone should play by the same rules and be judged by the same standards, that would have gotten you labelled a radical 50 years ago, a liberal 25 years ago, and a racist today."

- Thomas Sowell

Mad Russian

Well, after 2 FITL games what do you think of it?

How long did it take for you guys to finish a game?

Good Hunting.

MR
The most expensive thing in the world is free time.

Ubercat

We're still playing the 2nd game. I won the first as the VC in Coup 3(?). I believe that we just passed Coup 3 in the second game. I was close to winning as the US and my victory condition achievement faded away like some desert mirage shortly before the Coup came.  :(

It's a great system and I think that FitL is my favorite COIN game. I also have AA and got most of the way through a 4 player of that some time ago before the game just died when someone had to stop for R/L issues. One thing I've noticed is that Vassal players don't seem to negotiate much, if at all. There is a huge king of the hill aspect to COIN games and cooperation can be vital when someone has a clear lead. It doesn't seem that people do any coordinated operations and my first FitL game was a fairly easy win because of that.
"If you have always believed that everyone should play by the same rules and be judged by the same standards, that would have gotten you labelled a radical 50 years ago, a liberal 25 years ago, and a racist today."

- Thomas Sowell

Mad Russian

Are these games played live on Skype or by PBEM?

Good Hunting.

MR
The most expensive thing in the world is free time.

Ubercat

DropBox and Vassal.

Each player makes a log file as they take their turns and drops it in the appropriate Dropbox folder. We have a continuing Gmail thread where we notify all the other players when we've submitted our latest turn and also give a helpful heads up to the player that's up next.
"If you have always believed that everyone should play by the same rules and be judged by the same standards, that would have gotten you labelled a radical 50 years ago, a liberal 25 years ago, and a racist today."

- Thomas Sowell

Mad Russian

Could you not simply drop those files on Skype and have the message and the file all at the same time, in the same place?

Good  Hunting.

MR
The most expensive thing in the world is free time.

Ubercat

I suppose you could. I'm more conditioned to checking Email for messages as opposed to opening Skype, but I see no technical difficulty in that.
"If you have always believed that everyone should play by the same rules and be judged by the same standards, that would have gotten you labelled a radical 50 years ago, a liberal 25 years ago, and a racist today."

- Thomas Sowell

JasonPratt

Per Aztank's recommendation for trolling for players!

I've been setting up a four-player forum game of Fire in the Lake, which I'll be hosting on Tabletop Simulator -- but just using that to track the players, and reporting back to the forum using snapshots of the 'table' and some text reports. In other words, you won't need TTS nor to schedule a 'meet' time with me to play your turns.

ArizonaTank, Banzai_Cat, and I, have already started a test-run of initial turns. I'm taking the opportunity for some Absolute Newbie tutorial posts starting here, although tracking AzTank's first move (as the United States) starts here with a continuation of my tutorial attempt.

Once we get past my tutorial efforts, things will move a lot faster, but I wanted to help novice players (like myself!) be able to try the game, or at least try to understand what anyone else is doing and how and why!

Anyway, we're still looking for one or possibly two more definite players to join in. I'll take a fourth player slot if absolutely necessary -- not grudgingly because I do want to play, but I'm trying to stay out in order to eliminate conflicts of interest since I have total control over the game functions and presentation.

Jomni and Panzerseast have both expressed interest, but neither has made a definite statement of joining, so anyone more certain that you want to play will get added.

(We may or may not continue the game we've started for test purposes, depending on whether players want other factions, and maybe on any issues that arise from tweaking the process -- I've already had to reboot a turn due to my forgetting that certain pieces should be flipped over before game start, for example, although I caught that early and so no damage was done to a player's efforts. Right now player order is being set first and then factions randomly assigned as they come up for play. Az got the United States, and Banzai has been assigned to the Viet Cong. The Army of the Republic of Vietnam, and the North Vietnamese Army, still remain, probably to be assigned in that order. The NVA player will have to deal with AzTank having seriously nuked your bases on his first turn!)


Here are the two current map halves for reference (after Az's move but before Banzai's):






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RobO Q Campaign Generator -- archived classic CMBB/CMAK tool!

Geezer

Fall of Saigon, a Fire in the Lake expansion, is coming some time next year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gg0-S0Kq8GI
We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.  George Bernard Shaw

al_infierno

A War of a Madman's Making - a text-based war planning and political survival RPG

It makes no difference what men think of war, said the judge.  War endures.  As well ask men what they think of stone.  War was always here.  Before man was, war waited for him.  The ultimate trade awaiting its ultimate practitioner.  That is the way it was and will be.  That way and not some other way.
- Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian


If they made nothing but WWII games, I'd be perfectly content.  Hypothetical matchups from alternate history 1980s, asymmetrical US-bashes-some-3rd world guerillas, or minor wars between Upper Bumblescum and outer Kaboomistan hold no appeal for me.
- Silent Disapproval Robot


I guess it's sort of nice that the word "tactical" seems to refer to some kind of seriousness during your moments of mental clarity.
- MengJiao

ArizonaTank

Quote from: Geezer on August 12, 2019, 10:47:02 AM
Fall of Saigon, a Fire in the Lake expansion, is coming some time next year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gg0-S0Kq8GI

Very nice...thanks for sharing
Johannes "Honus" Wagner
"The Flying Dutchman"
Shortstop: Pittsburgh Pirates 1900-1917
Rated as the 2nd most valuable player of all time by Bill James.