I had one of these:
I used it to shoot masses of Frito Bandito pencil erasers and other little guys like this:
Brooski
7436
Huh. On the one hand, they don’t look bad, visually, and it’s always interesting to see people developing wargames. On the other hand, the track record of these sorts of projects has not been encouraging.
And on the gripping hand, East Front and Bulge.
Brooski
7438
Yeah, but the actually playable game is about the Crimea, and it’s on Steam.
Oh, didn’t see that. Must not have scrolled down all the way. How is the Crimea game?
Admittedly, if they are going for a low-ish price point and trying to sell a fair number, those topics are safe bets.
Brooski
7442
I haven’t played enough to comment on the game itself–since it’s an old Command magazine game, my suspicion is it’s probably pedestrian–but the implementation of it seems well done.
Ooh, interesting! That’s a mechanism I haven’t seen before, actually—I’m familiar with the first-generation slotted breech (like I’m modeling) and the second-generation flat-faced breech. Where was the spring on yours?
IIRC, the spring was in the cartridge for the shell. You pressed a plastic shell into the cartridge, compressing a spring, and when you moved the firing lever it triggered the spring. Something like that. It has been a while…
Brooski
7445
Jenkins’ Ear if there ever was one.
This company has like three games on the Franco-Prussian War alone.
Brooski
7446
The main guy at Conflict Simulations LLC, Ray Weiss, explains his Verdun game.
The TV drama on it a few years ago was surprisingly good, even if it had the most cliched portrayal of Bismarck ever.
I suppose for Europeans, particularly Germans and French, the Franco-Prussian War is a pretty big deal historically. Set in motion a lot of important stuff. As game fodder, though, I don’t know enough about it to figure out if there’s a lot there.
About. Goddamn. Time.
I really like this series, but Flashpoint Campaigns had some serious issues, one of the biggest is that it’s impossible to play the largest scenarios because it hits the 32-bit memory limit if you so much as zoom out. My other issue is that it’s impossible to order “snap” commands to units if you want to, say, order an immediate retreat. The game models all orders like they go through the formal order process. As a result, the cheat is to queue up a bunch of orders, and then delete the first one, thereby bypassing the long lag of orders being drawn up and communicated throughout the chain of command.
Southern Storm fixes that and a lot more. Except they’ve been working on it for years without a peep.
Spock
7450
I enjoyed that video about “1916.” Enough so that I downloaded the manual and Vassal module. The cover art – the silhouette – reminds me of the Squad Leader cover. The game itself has a number of appealing innovations, including its artillery system, the flexible way it models logistics, and the notion that mobile units lack a zone of control whereas entrenched units possess one. All very interesting. I’m going to read the manual and think on it more. Thanks for the link, @Brooski.
Spock
7451
And here’s an update on my ongoing solo play of “World in Flames: Collector’s Edition.” I’m in November/December 1941 now. Germany declared war on the USSR in May/June 1941, and Germany’s advance has been roughly historical – a bit faster in the south, a bit slower in the north. But the most interesting recent event is going on right now: Japan’s surprise invasions of the Dutch East Indies, Malaya, and Rabaul. Japan has declared war on the Commonwealth but not on the USA, and while support for war is growing in the US, it may be a few months before it enters the war.
Here’s a look at Japan’s invasion forces.
Yeah, I’ve been waiting for Southern Storm for ages too. I hope they retrofit the engine improvements to the original, for all the reasons you describe (though I never ran into those issues because of the way I play). But it is firmly in the “believe it when I see it” category.
SamS
7453
The line up for this event look promising
Vic has another wargame in the pipeline!!
Warplan expands to the Pacific
Quick, someone get @Navaronegun! It’s another Bulge game! He won’t be able to contain himself!
