When Imagination Fails

Narn completed

I finished gluing together three of the painted Narn ships I had. 1 remaining G'Quan was partially primed.  My next ACTA game will probably be a meeting engagement of a the Bin'Tak and 2 G'Quan against 2 Brakiri Avioki and 1 or 2 Earth ships.

What is it about miniature game designers and poor graphic design

I just picked up a copy GHQ's post-WWII rules.  What is it about miniature game designers and poor graphic design?

Is is really so hard to make your section headings in a larger font size than the body text?  I know the headings are bolded, but that just isn't enough.  And why don't they use a San-serif font (i.e. like Helvetica or Arial) for the section headings and a Serif font for body text?  Why is the font so tiny and cramped?  Hasn't anyone ever heard of white space?

It is not just GHQ's rules.  Crossfire, which I like and think is incredibly imaginative approach to company and battalion scale games, does the same thing, as do others.

I know WRG used a similar style, but it is 20 years later and page layout has improved noticeably.  Actually, my 25 year old WRG moderns rules were laid out better. 

Come on game designers, lay out the rules so we can read them easily and find what we need!

Posted Pics of PsiCorp vs EA/ISA Game

I posted pictures of the PsiCorp vs EA/ISA Game we played today.  Start at the picture linked here and click the right most thumbnail picture in the "whenimaginationfails' photostream" set of pictures on the right. Keep clicking the right most thumbnail picture to cycle through the game. 

Suffice it to say that my EA / ISA forces got their clocks cleaned with the all three Earth ships either exploding or being reduced to no hull and crew.  After the Omega died in turn 4, the White Star opened a jump point in turn 5 and performed an All power to engines special action to get out and tell others what had happened.   I'll post a more detailed turn by turn account when I can.

Photos from Torvalus vs Shadows Game

I put up the two most interesting photos from my Torvalus vs Shadows game.

Torvalus had bet on the development of the younger species at GLrdBffVb.  When the Shadows started to interfere in the GLrdBffVbians development and affect the Torvalus' bets, the Torvalus sent their Dark Knives to enforce a blockade of GLrdBffVb.

The Shadows decided to force the issue and run the Torvalus blockade.

In the picture below, after the initial clash, the Dark Knife in the lower left used its super maneuverability to retreat and get a side shot on the ancient Shadow cruiser while the others moved to engage the other ship.

The view from the other ship:

We had to cut the game short and so we never found out who would win.  Unfortunately, I couldn't find my normal camera and had to rely on my cell phone camera instead.

A bit of trimming

Fall is here and with it the cold.  I am in the process of cleaning and trimming the miniatures I want to prime before it becomes too cold out doors to do it.  This includes:

• 1 Minbari Sharlin
• 2 Brakiri cruisers
• 4 Brakiri Halik frigates
• 2 Shadow Hunters
• 6 Shadow scouts
• 1 Shadow cruiser
• 8 stands of Shadow fighters
• 8 stands of Vorlon fighters
• 8 stands of Minbari Nial fighters
• 9 stands of Narn Frazi fighters
• a whole bunch of Mauridian & Deisho from Ravenstar's Cold Navy line.

With any luck, I'll also finish trimming 2 Shadow Omegas.  A bit under half way done so far.

Also, I ran a game where the Shadows try to run a Torvalus blockade.  We had to cut it short due unexpectedly.  I'll post the pictures I shot with my cell phone soon.

Microarmor game: Israel vs. Syria

The local game club ran a Cold War Commander game last month.  It was Syria vs. Israel 1967 with modern equipment.  Due to a twist in the scenario, the points favored the Syrians who advanced on the Israelis in good order.  Syrian Taskforces 1&2 destroyed most of the Merkavas of Israeli Taskforce 2, while Taskforce 3 flanked the Israelis and routed their support elements without suffering a loss.  You can see pictures of the game on Flickr and as a slideshow.

It was my first time playing Cold War Commander.  CWC seemed to have far too many die rolls for too little effect.  Afterward, one group tried out a small engagement using GHQ's microarmor rules, while the other, including me, tried a smaller CWC game that we played to completion.  While I liked the order system of CWC, with a few mods, I still prefer Fistful of TOWS 2.

ACTA EA/ISA vs. Drakh Game

We had an ACTA EA/ISA vs Drakh Game at the local game shop.  Since there were two of us, we first ran a small game of two Earth Alliance Chronos Frigates vs. two Drakh Light Raiders.  It took about four or five turns, but we ended with each side with a ship running adrift without crews, the remaining Raider undamaged and the last Chronos ailing.  You can see a picture of the final state here.

For the second game, another joined us and we ran a game where a Drakh taskforce was running from an heavier EA taskforce.  We split the EA taskforce among two of us and I ran the Drakh.  Earth had:

• 1 Warlock Advanced Destroyer
• 1 Marathon Cruiser
• 1 Omega Destroyer
• 2 ISA Whitestars

The Drakh had:

• 1 Cruiser
• 1 Light Cruiser
• 2 Fast Destroyers
• 3 Light Raiders

The game began with the Drakh Cruiser and Light Cruiser attempting to high tail it out, while the Light Raiders and the Fast Destroyers turned to engage.  The Marathon bore the brunt of the Raider fire, but managed to weather it.  One of the Raiders went down, and another was heavily damaged.  The Whitestars and other EA ships closed as quickly as they could.

By the second turn, Cruiser and Light Cruiser slowed down to engage the Warlock.  The Raiders ended up out of range of the Marathon, but the Fast Destroyers engaged the Marathon and scored the first Reactor Explosed.  Still the Marathon persevered.  Between the Marathon, the Warlock and the Whitestars, the Destroyers and Raiders went down.  Each of the Fast Destroyers suffered Reactor Explosions and were soon running adrift without a crew, trophies for Earth.  One Raider remained, practically unharmed by the Aurora fighters attacking it.  The Omega was not able to engage any targets.

The game ended there.  The two Drakh cruisers were going to try to outrun the Earthers, but with two thirds of their force gone, their chances look slim.

Pictures of the game are up at Flickr and viewable as a slideshow.

Preparing for a Game

I will be running an ACTA B5 game in about a week an a half so I needed to finish my EA ships since it will be Drakh-EA/ISA face off.  I put the Hyperion on hold to clear the flashing from, clean and prime some Aurora and Thunderbolt fighters.  These are the first fighters I have painted so it should be interesting.

ACTA - Narn vs. Shadow game

Two of us met and gamed a Narn-Shadow meeting engagement. 

Pictures up on flickr or you can view them as a slide show turn by turn.

Here is the description:

Setup

The Shadows on the right had:

2 young cruisers
2 scouts

The Narn on the left had:

1 Bin'Tak Dreadnought
1 G'Lan cruiser
2 T'Loth Assault Cruisers
1 Dag'Kar Missile Frigate
1 Ka'Toc Battle Destroyer
1 Sho'Kar Light Scout Cruiser

Shadows won initiative and the Narns started setting up first.

Turn 1

The Shadows won initiative and had the Narns move first.

The G'Lan cruiser, Dag'Kar Missile Frigate, Ka'Toc Battle Destroyer held back while the T'Loths, Bin'Tak and the scout advanced.

The Shadows advanced at max on all fronts. However, the two scouts were out of range and saw no action this turn. One Shadow cruiser concentrated its fire on the vanguard T'Loth, while the other attacked the Bin'Tak. Both Narn ships took significant damage. The Bin'Tak remained in the battle, but the T'Loth was immobilized and one crew point shy of having a skeleton crew.

The vanguard T'Loth attacked the closest Shadow scout, but wasn't able to destroy the scout. The Bin'Tak and Dag'Kar loosed the energy mines and other long range armament, but aside from damaging the scout closest to the vanguard T'Loth, the Shadows took little damage.

The Narn scout reduced the stealth on a scout, but didn't much damage.

Turn 2

The Narn won initiative and had the Shadows move first.

One Shadow cruiser attempted to move into a flanking position on the Bin'Tak, while the other moved to engage the undamaged T'Loth and G'Lan. The damaged scout flanked the immobile T'Loth. The other scout played chicken with the Narn scout and ended up getting hit in the rear, but no damage result owing to the Shadow scout's shields.

The G'Lan cruiser, and the mobile T'Loth moved up next to the ailing T'Loth as did the Ka'Toc Battle Destroyer. The Dag'Kar Missile Frigate held back while the Bin'Tak rotated in place to engage the Shadow cruiser. Both traded blows with one another, with the Shadow cruiser received scratches while the Bin'Tak took it on the chin, but still focused it fire.

The damaged Shadow scout finally dispatched the immobile T'Loth while the other Shadow cruiser concentrated on the G'Lan and gave it quite a bruising including critical hits that left it immobilized.

The Dag'Kar and Ka'Toc attacked the Shadow scouts, but did not take either down.

The Narn fighters did engage the Shadow fighters, but with the local advantage in numbers, the Shadows prevailed in the two dogfights. Amazingly, a Shadow scout was able to avoid significant damage from a cloud of Narn fighters.

Turn 3

The Shadows won initiative and had the Narns move first.

One Shadow cruiser continued its attempt to flank the Bin'Tak, and positioned itself just to the side of the Bin'Tak and out of range. The other Shadow cruiser continued to engage the G'Lan.

The Shadow damaged scout turned its attention on the Ka'Toc and was able to reduce it to a skeleton crew in the first shot. The other scout focused its attentions on the G'Lan.

The Dag'Kar Missile Frigate, its energy mines fully loaded, attacked the Shadow scout attacking the G'Lan. The Narn scout sailed behind the Shadow ships. The remaining T'Loth contemplated opening a jump gate next turn.

Over all, while the scenario was balanced points wise, the Shadows were able to out maneuver the Narns and were well on their way to winning the day. Both players felt that the Narns needed more ships to balance the game out better.

Playing Heroscape with my son

My son has been playing Heroscape for over a year now and quite enjoys it.  My wife and I have a fun time playing against him.  He has a tendency to set the terrain and forces to suit his tastes.  Since that tends to include the monsters, my wife and I are left with the outnumbered humans.  We do our best against stacked odds and just have a fun time.

In a recent game we had, he and a friend followed standard practice of selecting all of the heavies and the very advantageous terrain.  I decided to even the odds.  Since he laid out the terrain and chose the forces, I got to decide from which direction to attack.  Naturally, I attacked from the rear.  To make sure things weren't too much in my favor, I chose a smaller force that was high on ranged weapons and low on Vikings. 

The attack went well and I ended up destroying most of his heavies and his hive.  I should have set my objectives better since I let myself get bogged down fighting his light forces instead of destroying his commander.  With my remaining Samurai, I got to a hex away from him, before succumbing to his light forces.  Oh well.

The next game my son and a different friend set up their side of the board.  I setup the side for my wife and I with lots of high terrain that our ranged forces could use to good effect.  We did pretty well, holding off my son's light forces and taking down many of the heavies run by my son's friend.  Our forces got whittled away, though, and we were left with the Vikings and a lone four-eyed wolf-like beast.  I decided to have my remaining forces perform a fighting withdrawal.  Amazingly, the four-eyed wolf-beast took down their dragon and I called off the withdrawal and just played to the death.  We lost, but took out 2/3 of his force.  Everyone had a good time.