Blog entries

Analogue gamer finally grokks digital? #1. In which I neither got nor 'get' computer games

JMcL63 — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 20:58:42 +0100

My sorry excuse for a computer game collection …

I noted the paucity of my digital gaming experience last September in my review of Death Ray Manta. Getting a bit more precise: as far as I can...

Financial Simulation Board Game. Good or Bad Idea?

Kevin Nicholson — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 14:52:58 +0100

America has just gone through a recession. So it might be to safe to say that the good ol’ U S of A might do well with a little financial advice. Are there any board games out there that give you any clarity on how the financial system works? Does a board game that weaves finances and gameplay together even sound fun? Should children be taught how to handle finances better so they don’t make the same mistakes we have?

My Obervations; Wars of the Roses games

Simon DeSmet — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 16:07:22 +0100

The Wars of the Roses Triple Hit

In this post I’m really going to look at GMT's recent Crown of Roses, but I think the best way to do this is by comparison with two earlier games on the topic of the English Wars of the Roses; Columbia Games...

Those Who Are Dead and Those About To Die: A Review of D-Day at Omaha Beach

Jeffrey Luce — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 00:40:16 +0100

"You are about to embark upon the great crusade toward which we have striven these many months..." Dwight Eisenhower

D-Day at Omaha Beach is a solitaire war game put out by Decision Games back in 2009. In it you command the men of the 1st and 29th infantry divisions as they storm the beaches of Normandy on that fateful day in June 1944. Your mission, and let us not fool ourselves...

Casual Gamer Appeal

Kevin Nicholson — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 13:22:09 +0100

I’m in the midst of working on creating the rules for a board game that I’ve been working on for quite awhile. I plan on making the game for an expansive multi-generational target market, so I need the game to be somewhat simple in play. However, the game mechanics I have so far seem complex.

Here’s the setup. I have a scoring scheme that involves accumulating money, points while you maintain a b...

Alarm!!! - A Review of U-Boat Leader

Jeffrey Luce — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 17:14:49 +0100

We left in the first glow of dawn, the docks of Wilhelmshaven fading quickly in the morning mist. Brave and bold we were then, still flush with the immortality of youth. We had much to learn....

U-Boat Leader is one of a series of solitaire war games produced by DVG games. In it you lead a small group of German submarines through one of four eras of the Battle for the Atlantic. You are attemptin...

F:AT Thursday - Last Night on Earth: Timber Peak and Star Trek TOS

Jeffrey Luce — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 12:38:15 +0100

And so it was that the True Believers gathered once more at the Secret Lair by the Lake of Crystal in the wild lands known as Connecticut. In a world of chaos and flux, they cling to the one sure thing, the one thing they can most assuredly count on, that if it is F:AT Thursday, there will be games.

All the members of our little cabal were there this week along with a special guest appearance by Jared who is Josh's brother. Jared seems to be nice but perhaps a bit shy or intimidated an...

Confessions of a one-time would-be career gamer

JMcL63 — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 02:14:26 +0100

“He’s not dead yet!”

Emerging later than usual from the incommunicado of the long darkness of my annual slough of despond, I found myself drawn back into social networking v...

Strategic Titles

Sagrilarus — Fri, 24 May 2013 21:46:02 +0100

For the last few months I've been sitting on an article, largely because my understanding of the subject matter changes every two weeks. My son aged 12 has been attending a Strategy Gaming "club" that meets on alternate Saturdays for six to eight hours per session. Lunch is eaten on the fly, coaching occurs throughout the session and after-action reports occur at the end of the day. Conquest of the Empire, Axis & Allies, Joan of Arc, mostly long DoaM games...

F:AT Thursday Tales of the Arabian Nights and Physical over Digital

Jeffrey Luce — Fri, 24 May 2013 01:54:56 +0100

When you walk up to the velvet rope at the door of The Crystal Palace but get told that you aren't cool enough to enter, when you shuffle away with your self esteem in tatters and your spirits low, when you then run into a powerful sorceress who has a proclivity for practical jokes, when you offer to become her assistant but instead she informs you that you shall be her latest punchline as she turns you into a talking donkey, when you then follow your spirit guide in the form of a ghostly mul...

Crowdfunding with Kickstarter

Kevin Nicholson — Thu, 16 May 2013 13:23:51 +0100

Crowdfunding is a blessing to the gaming community. We the gamers are now in complete control of what we will play. Take a browse through the Games section on Kickstarter. People out there are waiting for backers for games that they spent countless hours dreaming over. Their entire future rests in fingers typing up credit card numbers and PayPal accounts.

It is absolutely stunning to look at the numbers. 85 cents of every dollar funded has gone to a successful game. H...

My Observations; Games with Pax

Simon DeSmet — Tue, 14 May 2013 00:41:19 +0100

Pax, I'm told is latin for peace. I'm not sure why its so popular for titling games about war though.

I don't know anything about the Con Pax east, thats not what I'm yattering about there. No its games with the word Pax in them

Pax Porfiriana, and Pax Baltica, two reviews below;

F:AT Thursday - Fury of Dracula and Cornerstone

Jeffrey Luce — Sat, 04 May 2013 11:29:44 +0100

Many years ago, in a small nowhere town in a tiny nowhere state on the Eastern side of America, a small baby was forcibly ejected from his mothers womb and entered the world. An event that happens millions of times a day the world over and fairly unremarkable. However, every year since then, the people in my life have insisted that the event be commemorated in one fashion or another.

So it was that last Sunday, my mad scientist wife and I invited the True Believers and sundry others ov...

D&D S-Series: Dungeons of Dread

Pete Ruth — Fri, 03 May 2013 15:02:30 +0100

Many, many moons ago, I was an RPG adherent, drawing detailed topographical maps on graph paper and using Ral Partha miniatures that I'd painted when I was ten years old. I loved the idea of Dungeons and Dragons, although I was only lukewarm on the actual role playing. I think, in my heart of hearts, that my dabbling in Dungeons and Dragons, as well as my theoretical physicist cousins' love of war gaming, is what influenced my lifelong love of miniatures, fantasy war gaming, and really, board...

My Observations; Planet Side 2’s micro transactions and power creep

Simon DeSmet — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 14:28:42 +0100

My Observations; Planet Side 2’s micro transactions and power creep

Sooner or later I will post a positive post here on the FAT, but until then I will continue to be a Grinch in this corner of the internet.

I’ve been playing a lot of Sony Online Entertainments Planet Side 2 lately. It’s a good gam...

Three hats: the three parts of creating games

Lewis Pulsipher — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 16:44:55 +0100

(While I begin by talking about RPGs, I am later going to generalize to all kinds of tabletop and video games - “sit-down games”.)

When I used to write lots of articles about RPGs for White Dwarf, Dragon, and other magazines three decades ago, I mostly wrote two kinds of things: game rules, and advice about how to play and especially how to referee Dungeons & Dragons successfully. I rarely wrote settings; and only occasionally in the ma...

F:AT Thursday - Hannibal: Rome vs. Carthage and Clash of Cultures

Jeffrey Luce — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 12:47:54 +0100

Ok kid, come over here. Take a knee. I want to discuss something with you.

You see that guy over there? The one in the dark robes, kinda boney, got a big scythe?

Yah? Well he was looking for you. Yes you specifically. It's lucky for you he still relies on Mapquest for his directions. Otherwise he'd have found you rather than standing over there with that puzzled look in his dark empty eye sockets.

Settle down. I didn't tell him where you were. I gave him the old "At...

Buyers versus players

Lewis Pulsipher — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 08:26:26 +0100

It’s going to take a while to get to the point of buyers versus players: please bear with me.

In earlier posts I’ve wondered what the effect of free to play (F2P) video games would have on tabletop gaming. We already know that it’s a disruptive force in video gaming. F2P games have helped put pressure on AAA console games and have helped ruin the market for mid-level console games. They also put video game developers in a dilemma, becau...