What's on your table right now?

BanzaiCat · June 13, 2016, 06:42:43 PM

Meanwhile, Houston is pretty much fringe when it comes to gaming. Hardly any damn groups around here...at least not that I can find.

Ubercat · June 13, 2016, 06:50:58 PM

If my wife and I are ever forced to move it will most likely be to Houston. If that happens, we can wargame FtF. Till then, Vassal is your BFF!

BanzaiCat · June 13, 2016, 07:31:44 PM

Meh. VASSAL *is* pretty damned cool, but it just isn't the same as actually pushing counters around on a map and talking smack with a gaming buddy or three. :-\

GJK · June 13, 2016, 07:49:08 PM

There is a Houston ASL group that belongs to the CenTex group but it's been *very* slow lately (see: http://asl.casagranda.com). The webpage is several (SEVERAL) years out of date and I have no way to tell if they even meet any longer, however, you may be able to pull some names off there and reach out to them to see if you can get in some games and to perhaps revive that club. Be the savior. ;)

Austin group is hopping (see www.texas-asl.com) so if you can plan to join us for a monthly game day (usually the first Saturday of the month), then please do!

Forgot: the CenTex Wargamers group is very active as well as mentioned - they game every Tuesday evening and most every weekend. Anything from CC:A/N to Saga to OCS to whatever you bring. They have a Yahoo group if you want to join the mailing list: Central_Texas_Historical_Wargamers@yahoogroups.com

Rekim · June 13, 2016, 08:42:34 PM

I've never had issues with talking smack while playing VASSAL

Crossroads · June 14, 2016, 12:09:39 AM

Quote from: Banzai_Cat on June 13, 2016, 07:31:44 PM
Meh. VASSAL *is* pretty damned cool, but it just isn't the same as actually pushing counters around on a map and talking smack with a gaming buddy or three. :-\

+1

Having said that, I managed to get VASSAL working with TBL module installed. The most difficult part so far was to figure out how the map was first hidden underneath the text box, with the initial view :D

BanzaiCat · June 14, 2016, 02:41:38 AM

I'm not much into Squad Leader or any of its iterations (ASL or otherwise).

I know, I know - blasphemy!

GJK · June 14, 2016, 05:19:47 AM

Quote from: Banzai_Cat on June 14, 2016, 02:41:38 AM
I'm not much into Squad Leader or any of its iterations (ASL or otherwise).

I know, I know - blasphemy!

Why Private Joker...I don't believe that I heard you correctly! You do play ASL, don't you???

BanzaiCat · June 14, 2016, 06:07:48 AM

Hahahaha, no. I played Squad Leader when I was in high school. A LOT. Alone. Talk about demented and sad and not even social. Anyway I got completely burned out on it, and it still makes ASL and similar games not entirely appealing.

Barthheart · June 21, 2016, 07:55:56 PM

This year's Origin's haul:

OST was a KS pickup at the con, The War was a regular purchase (I owe Doug a punch in the face), Falklands was a gift as was WarParty.

GJK · June 21, 2016, 08:07:18 PM

It seems to be a real love-hate relationship with "The War". I was following that one for a while and the "how to play" videos on the Geek make it seem like a fairly solid game- once you get through the rules, which appears to be the real Achilles heel with this one.

Barthheart · June 21, 2016, 08:10:12 PM

Yeah, having glanced through the rule book, 118 pages worth :o , I can see how it might be hard to get into. But I've read that the scenarios can ease you into the game if you don't jump off the deep end with the campaign first.

ArizonaTank · June 21, 2016, 11:32:36 PM

Quote from: GJK on June 21, 2016, 08:07:18 PM
It seems to be a real love-hate relationship with "The War". I was following that one for a while and the "how to play" videos on the Geek make it seem like a fairly solid game- once you get through the rules, which appears to be the real Achilles heel with this one.

Did "The War" ever get a vassal module?

Barthheart · June 22, 2016, 05:10:09 AM

Quote from: ArizonaTank on June 21, 2016, 11:32:36 PM
Quote from: GJK on June 21, 2016, 08:07:18 PM
It seems to be a real love-hate relationship with "The War". I was following that one for a while and the "how to play" videos on the Geek make it seem like a fairly solid game- once you get through the rules, which appears to be the real Achilles heel with this one.

Did "The War" ever get a vassal module?

I heard/read someone mention one but I haven't looked for it yet. Maybe it was only for testing.

BanzaiCat · June 22, 2016, 07:36:39 AM

I'm going to drag myself out of the house on Saturday morning to go to a gamer's flea market at a nearby game store, one I've never been to before. You bring in old games, people come in, and if they want to buy it, you agree on a price and they go buy store credit for you in that amount, and voila, it's yours.

I have culled about 71 games out of my collection that's done nothing but look pretty/gather dust, and it's depressing how most of it is stuff I've actually bought but never played over the years. Or, took out of the box, looked at, and put it right back, unpunched. Of course, I think this plays well into the prices I'll be asking for on these, but we will see.

I asked a friend of mine that's been to these before at this store, and he said 70 games is not at all unusual and depending on my prices, I could easily sell all of them.

In that case, if I can get rid of 70 games and get a few solitaire-leaning ones, I'd be quite happy.

And no, none of the games I'm selling are review copies that I've received over the years; I wouldn't feel comfortable doing that at all.

So, there may be a few new ones on my table this weekend.

As for actual games, I have Silent Victory on the dining room table right now, along with another game called Der Kessel. I'm also getting Kido Butai to the table again a few more times before the weekend so I can finish my review of it.

Silent Victory is all kinds of awesome. My first patrol of my first game, I sunk a large freighter in one engagement, a small one in another (if I remember right...but it was two merchantmen, I know that). Those damnable Mk14 torpedoes aren't worth a crap; I had a lot of hits but a LOT of duds, so I was not doing really all that well. But then I stumbled on a warship, and rolled up the Akagi. I sent my last four fish at her, and two actually hit. I figured they'd both be duds...but they were not. I rolled a 5, then a 6, so they both exploded. Then, I thought, surely they didn't have the 'oomph' needed to damage her severely...but I rolled a 1, which is 4 points of damage for the first fish, then a 2, which is 3 points of damage...enough to sink her. My boat sank over 43,000 tons of shipping in her first bloody war patrol! Which of course means some peasant in a hollowed-out tree-trunk canoe is going to sink her with a couple of WWI-era hand grenades in the next patrol, I'm almost certain of it.