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× Talk about the latest and greatest AT, and the Classics.

Buried Gems of the Ameritrash Rehabilitation Movement

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01 Aug 2014 17:22 #183708 by Jackwraith
Even though they're slightly off the AT-meter, I loved TSR's minigames from the early 80s and still own a couple: Revolt on Antares, They've Invaded Pleasantville, Vampyr, Viking Gods. They're wargames, but have all kinds of flavor/chrome tacked on. Metagaming's stuff, like Chitin, Rivets, Melee, Wizard, etc., are similar but a bit more grognard oriented.

One game I own that most people have never seen but I think is really great is The Hellgame. There's a good dose of strategy involved based on your triumvirate's place on the ranking ladder, but you also have to roll with the completely random and often horrible effects of the Hell deck and/or the appearance of environmental effects like Lilith. I've played it a ton, but I know the company, UGG, is still in business but I think they switched over exclusively to wargames.
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01 Aug 2014 17:23 #183709 by word_virus

SuperflyTNT wrote: KICKSTARTER.


My first thought, as well. Oh, the delicious irony.
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01 Aug 2014 17:30 #183710 by word_virus

SuperflyTNT wrote: A Call To Arms: Star Fleet is one that I may be the only one here who has played. If you have Attack Wing stuff, all you need are those models and a couple scraps of paper to play. And a ruler, and some dice. More or less. Don't let that stop you from trying it though, it really is the best "star trek" licensed game I've ever played.


I've played it. I dunno about best Star Trek licensed game ever (taking place as it does in the SFU, which is an entirely different thing /adjusts glasses), but I feel like it totally delivers on being a fun, quick playing version of Star Fleet Battles, while still retaining the feel of SFB. It's wayyy better than Federation Commander, in my opinion.

Does it really work well w/the Attack Wing ships? I thought they were a lot smaller than the Starline stuff the game's 'made for'.

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01 Aug 2014 17:47 - 01 Aug 2014 17:49 #183712 by Shellhead

Jackwraith wrote: Even though they're slightly off the AT-meter, I loved TSR's minigames from the early 80s and still own a couple: Revolt on Antares, They've Invaded Pleasantville, Vampyr, Viking Gods. They're wargames, but have all kinds of flavor/chrome tacked on. Metagaming's stuff, like Chitin, Rivets, Melee, Wizard, etc., are similar but a bit more grognard oriented.

One game I own that most people have never seen but I think is really great is The Hellgame. There's a good dose of strategy involved based on your triumvirate's place on the ranking ladder, but you also have to roll with the completely random and often horrible effects of the Hell deck and/or the appearance of environmental effects like Lilith. I've played it a ton, but I know the company, UGG, is still in business but I think they switched over exclusively to wargames.


I've got two of those TSR mini-games: Vampyr and Viking Gods. I agree that Viking Gods is a wargame, though the dynamic of the game is changed simply by having Hela function like a wandering Sphere of Annihilation. The game simulates Ragnorak, the final battle between the Norse pantheon and their enemies. I haven't played Viking Gods in over 20 years, but I have kept it because I remember some very close and exciting endgames of it. The game does tend to skew a bit in favor of the bad guys, and is only moderately fun unless the endgame is close.

Vampyr also has a hex map (for the first half of the game), but it is definitely not a wargame. Instead, it is a roll-and-move adventure game. For the first half of the game, characters wander around Transylvania searching for Dracula's coffins. The first player to smash three coffins gets a free item, like a crucifix or a pistol. In rough terrain or evil areas, you roll for a possible random encounter, and sometimes instead of finding a coffin, you get a free item or encounter a monster. In the second half of the game, you flip over to play on the other side of the map, in Castle Dracula. Monsters chits are flipped over and randomly assigned to rooms. Some monsters can be killed, others are re-stocked in the castle randomly at midnight. Each player's turn advances the clock an hour, which is important because vampires are tougher at night. A player might be forced to switch sides after accumulating three bites from vampires. Or maybe become a werewolf, if the third bite is from a werewolf. My high school gaming group played the hell out of Vampyr, and I still dust it off for a game once every few years, including just two months ago.

I nearly bought the Hellgame several years ago, but it seemed to be bogged down in excessively chromed rules. I would still love to try it some time.
Last edit: 01 Aug 2014 17:49 by Shellhead.
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01 Aug 2014 21:29 #183725 by Jackwraith
There is a ton of chrome to The Hellgame, but that's what makes it work for me. I guess it trends more in the Arabian Knights direction, in that the games occasionally turn out to be more of a storytelling venture with a wargame tacked on (the way to win is to control an entire ring of Hell.) There's a lot to keep track of, but I'm fine with that in the same way I am Arkham Horror and this is often much more visceral.

My favorite of those TSR minigames is still Revolt on Antares, mostly because of the occasional cool interactions between the special powers of the house leaders, the various artifacts, and the abilities of some of the more interesting mercenaries. Plus, there's three scenarios in a tiny game, which is pretty cool.

Guess I should have thought of the GW games: Doom of the Eldar, Battle for Armageddon, and Horus Heresy (the original.) Don't know if they qualify as "underrated" but they're often forgotten these days and are all pretty solid. Battle for Armageddon is the best, I think.

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01 Aug 2014 21:35 #183726 by Chapel
This was my very first AT. Alert Force I got as a gift with pocket Ogre for my birthday. I played the hell out of this microgame. It was in the prime of the Red scare days of Reagan, and played the same summer that Red Dawn came out.

Wolverines!

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01 Aug 2014 22:01 #183729 by VonTush

Jackwraith wrote: Guess I should have thought of the GW games: Doom of the Eldar, Battle for Armageddon, and Horus Heresy (the original.) Don't know if they qualify as "underrated" but they're often forgotten these days and are all pretty solid. Battle for Armageddon is the best, I think.


Doom of the Eldar I think is a pretty awesome asymmetrical 2-player game. But I haven't played the others in the series though. But I like the siege feel of DotE, the hidden Tyranid ships and the Eldar player scrambling around their Craftwrold anticipating the attacks. Good, good game.

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01 Aug 2014 23:25 #183731 by wadenels
Doom of the Eldar is great. Horus Heresy I hope to play soon. Haven't gotten Battle for Armageddon yet, but if Horus Heresy is as good as Doom of the Eldar then BfA will be on my "get" list.

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01 Aug 2014 23:46 #183732 by VonTush
I think the best thing about my copy of DotE is that I got it for free! My buddy bought an unpunched copy, we played it a few times, he decided to sell on eBay, USPS put a fist through the front of the box or something, got it shipped back and then gave it to me.

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01 Aug 2014 23:54 #183733 by Michael Barnes
Man, they just don't make 'me like Alert Force anymore...that illustration...

Space Crusade is another that gets discussed once for every 1000 times somebody talks about Descent. Which is a shame, because it's freaking great. Better than Heroquest, better than Mutant Chronicles (by FAR) but in the same vicinity. You outfit a couple of Space Marines (literally putting weapons in their hands) and make with the dakka dakka against a player controlling Orks and so forth. Uses a "blip" system sort of like Space Hulk. Super easy, fast and fun.

There were two expansions, one that adds dreadnaughts and another that brings in the Eldar. I've never seen the Eldar expansion. I have the dreadnaughts though.

It never came out in the US, If it had, it would be as revered as Heroquest.
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