Got game

Well, like I said earlier in the week: Friday night Tony came round with 'his' Very Dear- Di; and with 'my own' Very Dear- Ros, we had a boozy night round the gaming table, managing to get in 3 games of Settlers.

Ros and Di are both very good Settlers players. Ros specialises in sitting there quietly and buying lots of development cards. Di is just uber competitive and a devil of a negotiator. Tony and I were expecting to be put on our mettle, and so it turned out.

I can't write up detailed reports of the games for obvious reasons, but they were good fun. Neither Ros nor Di had played Settlers for a couple of years, so they were both a bit rusty. This didn't stop Ros winning the 1st game in her traditional fashion, and by what I remember being a convincing margin. This was helped by Ros having almost total control of the robber IIRC.

The next game was the closest of all, with all of us vying for victory in the endgame. Things got quite tense as debates opened up about the validity of my perpetual call for the 'pick on the person in front' tactic when dishing out the dirty with the robber- Di is just so competitive that the very notion of any kind of cooperation beyond that entailed by trading just wouldn't compute for her that night!

In the end, I managed to sneak in another close victory: barring a 7 Di would've won the very next turn. The pleasure of victory aside, this game was noteworthy for my long battle with Ros over the Longest Road, which I eventually secured.

The 3rd game went my way too. This game we decided to play without a balanced layout, restricting ourselves to ensuring a minimum of 2 of each region type on the table. Di went for an audacious setup which proved to be a disaster, leaving Ros, Tony and myself to fight it out. The night was getting on at this point, so I can remember less about this game than the others, but I do remember winning it with 2 builds- a settlement and a city- in my winning turn. A nice feeling.

Final score on the night then:
Me: 2
Ros: 1
Di/Tony: 0

#Grins#

Four-colour friends

The Authority: The Magnificent Kevin #2
DC/Wildstorm
Writer: Garth Ennis
Art: Carlos Ezquerra
Colours: David Baron
Letters: Phil Balsman

Picked up #2 of this new Authority miniseries the other day. The high quality I enjoyed so much in #1 is maintained, and there are even a few laughs. But this issue deals with how Kevin helps the Midnighter out of the fix he got into in #1. In the course of this we are treated to the story of Kev's army career, and the reasons why he joined the SAS in the first place. So this is not a funny comic really. In fact, in places it is one of the most genuinely spooky comics I've read in a long time. Good stuff, and I'm looking forward to seeing where this goes in the next 3 issues.

The Call of Chaos
GW: Black Library
Writing/Art/Lettering: various

Still looking for more material to feed my WFRP GM's imagination, I picked this volume up in my local GW the other day. Just like the Tales of Hellbrandt Grimm (ToHB) which I reviewed a few weeks ago this is a compilation of stories reprinted from the old Warhammer Monthly (WM) comic.

My previous negative comments about WM notwithstanding, one thing I do remember finding interesting about it was that it was an American-style comic that used the familiar British editorial format (and not just British btw). That is to say: it was the size of the Marvel/DC comics with which we are all so familiar, but it contained several different stories each issue, after the fashion of the comics I remember reading as a youngster.

This was the source of what I felt was one of WM's weaknesses: it was very bitty, and few of its stories developed the sort of epic plot-arcs common to both American and British comics. Even when a promising character did come along for more than an issue or two, they never really lasted long enough for the character to take off to this reader's satisfaction.

Anyhoo, oddly enough, I would have to say that this weakness of the original WM appears as more of a strength in the compendia I have read so far.

The Call of Chaos (TCoC) treats us to a total of 15 stories, ranging from 1-shot shorts, to mini-series. As with ToHG these are all 'sting-in-the-tail' stories, in this case all themed around the idea of the path to damnation that is falling for the lures of Chaos in the Warhammer Old World. Futile bloody vengance, the trials and tribulations of the servants of Chaos, grudge-bearing dwarfs, ancient curses, foolish alliances: all this and more is to be found in the stories collected in this little volume.

To single out a favourite story, I guess I would have to plump for 'Hammerbildt': the story of a man who retutns to the place of his birth from an adventurous life to discover that the adventure has followed him home. This is a nice wee story that would be a boon to any WFRP GM looking for ideas for a scenario of their own devising (as would most of the stories in this volume, naturally enough).

As for my favourite artwork, Logan Lubera's work on the 'Curse of Dubois' gets my vote here, because I've liked his style ever since I first saw him in action. This was in the Space Hulk short he illustrated for WM#0 IIRC.

I also liked the fact that the text in this compilation was largely much, much more readable than the tiny wee script I complained about in ToHG.

My remarks about TCoC can't all be positive though. There was one story that I didn't like when read it on its first publication in WM, and which I liked no more on rereading it here. That story is 'Dwarf Lords', the single longest piece in this compilation. I'm sorry to have to dump on writer/artist Paul Davidson, but this story just didn't work for me on every count. Well OK, to be fair, the idea of a bunch of grumpy and foul-mouthed dwarfs cast through a dimensional gate and having to trek and fight their way home is a good one, to be sure. But something went wrong between conception and execution I have to say.

The first thing that went wrong was the artwork. In a certain way the artwork is not bad. I mean to say Davidson can certainly draw, and he has a natural feel for the denizens of the Old World. The problem here is that, in 'Dwarf Lords', he didn't seem to know how to illustrate a comic. Page after page is full of panels whose detail is almost impossible to make out because of poor use of light and shade on top of too little simple line work to define forms. It's a bit like watching TV with the brightness turned way down.

On top of this, the flow of the narrative is poor, being more like a series of jump-cuts sustained by an endless series of retorts like “Wazzocks!” as these invincible dwarfs hack their way through a selection from an Old World bestiary.

And the plot itself is really quite poor. There are too many different encounters with not enough happening in each one, making the story read more like a violent travelogue than any kind of epic quest. And then to discover- after wading through 51 pages of this- that it is all just a shaggy dog story in the end... Well, let's just say I was not impressed.

To sum up: the 14 short strips that make up the bulk of this compilation vary from not bad to really quite good. The remaining strip is not celebrated by yours truly. For this reason I would only recommend this comic to GW fans, or to WFRP players looking for a taste of the Old World, and I would recommend ToHG first. But if you see TCoC on a shelf, take a look, because you might disagree with me.

Good reading everyone. ;)

A rash of enthusiasm...

... For Memoir'44

Part 4: The authenticity of sheer playability
This has been the hardest part of this series to write. I mean: it's easy enough really to analyse the different elements of the rules to expound their simulationist merits. But the authenticity of sheer playability? This is a new one on me. I hinted at my take on this issue in the 1st part of this short series: with my reference to the 'learning curve'. I will expand on this, but it is not where I propose to start.

The sheer playability of Memoir'44
M44 is an astonishingly playable game. If you've been following my series on the game, then you should by now have some idea of how neat and clean its rules are. Add in components whose sheer vividness give a board that is easy to read and to keep track of, and playaids that distill all the key rules into near ideal forms for quick reference, and you have a game that plays about as smoothly as it is possible to get with a boardgame.

Among my own many games are those I played with my 14-year old cousin and a friend of mine who has played some Eurogames, but never a wargame: 2 people who represent a small sample of the wider family audience Days of Wonder (DoW) were aiming this game at. Both players took to the game very quickly. Both enjoyed the cardplay and the tactical puzzles it offered. And both- naturally enough- enjoyed the experience of winning their first game by taking Pegasus Bridge.

In terms of replay value and accessibility to new players both then, M44 is a cut above the rest. But this is still hardly an aspect of its simulationist credentials, so I'd better get a move on, eh?

'Here's the situation, Sir'
One thing that has struck me about how the cardplay makes this game easy to pick up is that it focuses the players' attentions on making immediate choices from a limited set of options. I mean to say: when you play your first game- as the British in Pegasus Bridge, say- you have a 6-card hand. This means that you don't have to sit there figuring out layer upon layer of 'what-ifs' based on premises you can barely grasp. Instead, you have a much simpler problem to deal with: unfolding your preferred sequence of events based on a clear array of choices.

In simulationist terms, this is again a matter of the enforcement of POV through cardplay. What we have here is not only the way in which players' hands represent the sitreps and available command decisions fed to a field commander by his staff. More than that, we also have a neat simulacrum of the way in which an exising staff would work gently to ease into place a newly promoted commander.

The learning curve
This last point feeds into the idea of the learning curve where I began. As I have already said: players in M44 typically represent brigade/regimental or maybe divisional commanders (unit and ground scale in M44 is notional, and ultimately dependent on the scenario in play). Although I would imagine that few officers of this rank in WW2 came through from the ranks, they would at least have been time-served soldiers, many with experience from WW1.

The upshot of this is that, through a combination of training and field experience, the prototypes the players represent would have studied, played out and taken part in dozens if not hundreds of actions of the type M44 presents. M44 is so playable and appealing that anyone who takes to it can easily play several games in a single sitting, even on their first session, with back-to-back play of the same scenario being particularly suitable for beginnners.

As a result of this, M44 provides not only a neat simulacrum of the viewpoint of the players' notional counterparts in any given action, but also a similarly neat representation of how that same viewpoint develops with experience. And this is more than just a matter of sheer replay value. Simply by swapping sides you can also get a taste for the way that good military training would include studies of the major armies of the day, especially likely enemies. More even than that: with its card-driven command system M44 is a game in which there is no such thing as a perfect plan. Add to that the sheer playability, and you have a game that really encourages tactical experimentation.

I mean to say: there are many great board wargames out there that can take a whole day- or even much, much longer- to play to a conclusion. By their very nature these are games which only the most dedicated of hardcore grognards are going to play more than a few times. So you're going to pick what you think is the ideal strategy and stick to it, if you've got any sense. Playing M44 though, you can really try out things that might immediately appear dumb. And they might even work, cardplay being what it is. This goes beyond the learning curve too:- it also recreates something intrinsic to its subject: the power of the unexpected.

Conclusion
I'm not really sure what else I can add here. I have restated my fondness for cardplay command and control, surveyed the basic rules of M44 in all their deceptive simplicity, and explained how the game's sheer playability deepens the authenticity offered by Borg's fusion of cardplay and the classic board and counters. All I can say now is: buy this game! Play it! Enjoy it! Celebrate it! ;)

Related@RD/KA!
- Part 1: another hymn of praise to cardplay
- Part 2: The Elements of Fire and Movement
- Part 3: A few little details

In review: Blood Bowl, the novel

Blood Bowl
Matt Forbeck
GW: Black Library
http://www.blacklibrary.com/bookdetail.asp?id=435

Well, as alert regular readers might've guessed, I was lucky enough to blag myself a copy of this from author Matt Forbeck when we met in Prague recently.

This is my review.

Before giving my opinion of this novel, I must enter some traditional disclaimers.

1. I was given this book by its author, so don't expect me to turn round and 'bite the hand that fed me', although I can promise no bs.
2. I am a big fan of the game this novel is based on: in fact, I regard 3rd ed. Blood Bowl (BB3) as one of the slickest new editions of any game I have ever seen; so expect my enthusiasm for Mr. Forbeck's subject matter to shine through.
3. I like the gridiron game, and have followed the fortunes of the Green Bay Packers on and off ever since this sport hit British TV- to the extent that my own Orc BB team is called the Green Bogey Pickers; so while I would never call myself a 'cheesehead', expect enthusiasm as per #2 above.

So, the first thing that struck me (and others I would imagine) upon seeing this book on the BL site was a question: is the Blood Bowl game suitable material for a tie-in novel? I mean to say: the game is manifestly set in the Warhammer Old World. Well, to be precise: a Warhammer Old World, because the crazed and brutal sport that is Blood Bowl is notable by its absence from the offical Old World setting of WFB and WFRP.

This question provides the first hurdle that this novel has to get over: can it credibly make this game of fantasy football feel at home in an Old World which doesn't really admit that the sport exists in the first place?

The second hurdle that Matt Forbeck's first BL novel has to cross is that of bringing to life the on and off-field antics of a team participating in a Blood Bowl season.

So what has our author given us in his run at these hurdles?

Our hero is one Dunk Hoffnung, elder scion of a disgraced family. We first meet him on an adventure upon which he has embarked to restore the family's honour. When this proves to be a futile quest, he falls in with a smooth-talking halfling- Slick Fullbelly, who just happens to be a Blood Bowl agent on the lookout for new talent. There follows a long journey so that Dunk can attend the training camp of the Bad Bay Hackers- the only Blood Bowl team down-at-heel enough to take a tip from Fullbelly.

Long story short: Dunk makes the team and is plunged into a world of murderous rivalries, treachery, backstabbing, the attentions of media hacks, Blood Bowl officials, and sundry other lowlives. By the time he takes to the Astrogranite for his first play as a would-be star player, young Dunk finds himself in a world that is, if anything, even more dangerous than the adventuring life whose grim and perilous realities had proved such a shock.

Throw in some sibling rivalry, a dash of romance, heavy doses of skullduggery, and the stage is set for a dilemma in which Dunk must chose between a rock and hard place with more than just his life at stake. At least he makes a friend or two he can rely on.

By now you might have twigged that I liked this book quite a lot. It captured my attention quickly, and kept it.

I liked the idea of playing Blood Bowl being a survival option for those would-be adventurers who would otherwise be unsung for being less than heroes. This part of the story thrust me immediately into the Old World that I like so much, thus getting Mr. Forbeck quickly and neatly over the first hurdle. Matt kept this up throughout the book too:- whether it is the various journeys our hero and his companions take, or the places like Altdorf where the games are staged: the strangely 'invisible' #1 sport of the Warhammer Old World is put right where it belongs with nice attention to detail.

If Forbeck's treatment of the Old World is as convincing as you'd expect from someone with the Blood Bowl game in his resume, then his handling of the game itself is also up to scratch. As the name of the story's team- the Bad Bay Hackers- suggests: Matt is a longtime fan of the gridiron game (a.k.a. American football), being a 'cheesehead'; ie. a hardcore fan of the Green Bay Packers. The knowledge this implies shines through in the story: whether in the high jinks on and off the field of play; or in the cast of supporting characters our author has assembled for our entertainment- they are all archetypes recognisable to pretty much any and all fans of BB the game, or of real-life sports for that matter.

All of this is helped by the book being rather well written. The story moves along briskly, with good dialogue, evocative descriptions, plenty of jokes (some of which I am laughing at from memory even as I type this), and enough plot twists to keep this reader at least guessing to the last. Mr. Forbeck's treatment of the actual games deserves some mention. He cleverly restricts himself to a key moment or two from each game. This gives a good flavour of how the game works and of Dunk's early career therein, while at the same time allowing the book the scope to cover an entire Blood Bowl season, something I would regard as more-or-less essential for a successful novel about this lethal sport.

So, after all these nice words, do I have any complaints? Well, yes, and no. There are a couple of moments when I thought that Matt had taken his eye off the ball (if you'll pardon such egregious punning) with accounts of events that didn't ring true to me. But these are really quite minor, and they certainly don't undermine plot or character development. Yes and no #1.

And I also have to repeat what someone else said to me after reading the first couple of chapters of my copy: Dunk Hoffnung is a homage to Felix Jaeger from Bill King's Gotrek and Felix novels. I would like to suggest that this goes further: there is a 'mutt and jeff' thing going on in this novel which is a homage to Gotrek and Felix both. Is this a problem? Well, only if you want to make it one. I mean to say: as Matt himself tells us in his own blog: Bill King is one of his best friends. It's sufficient to add that the 'mutt and jeff' pair-up is one of the classic narrative archetypes; and that Bill King's Gotrek and Felix are the Old World archetypes of this well-used duo; so that..., well just draw your own conclusions.

In sum then: Blood Bowl is a thumping good read, and one I would recommend to anyone with an interest in fantasy without a po-face. If you like the Blood Bowl boardgame, or even just sports, then that'll be a bonus.

Score: 4/5 (Because it can't be perfect, can it?)

Who'd've thunk it?

Taking a look round the new posts on Matt Forbeck's homepage blog yesterday, I came across the topic 'Promoting Games', in which I found a link that led me here - Worldwide D&D Game Day.

Worldwide? WOW! This is just so far beyond what I imagine any of us geeking geezers could've expected when we tasted our own personal first thrill of roleplaying taking those very first steps as PC dungeonbashers.

Tony and I talked about this yesterday, and we've decided that we can't miss the chance of doing something that day. I don't expect that we'll be on the list of official events, but I'm sure we'll get together and get a taste of the d20 D&D incarnation. And I've got an excuse (as if I needed one!) to invest in my first d20 fantasy supplement. I wonder which one will suit my purposes? More on all of this later I hope. ;)

Meanwhile...

Well, Tony had things to do today, so we couldn’t get in our regular weekly GM’s scheming session. Still, we’re getting together to play some games later in the week, so that’s OK.

We did meet up in town though, and ended up in the local GW. Money changed hands as ever, and I ended up walking out with a box of the new plastic assault marines. These are hardly news to 40K fans, but I’ve somehow managed to miss the sight of them on the shelves for I don’t know how long. Really- I don’t know. The thing is you see that GW had such a large stock of the 3rd ed space marine plastics that none of the new 40K4 plastics were being put out on the shelves until the old stock had shifted. So I guess I’d just gotten used to going into my local GW knowing that none of the new stuff that I was interested in would be available.

Anyhoo, I got my hands on the new box today. What do I think then? Pretty damn good, all in all.

What GW have been doing with their 40K4 plastics range is largely rationalisation. I mean to say: the 3rd ed. plastic assault marines came something like this:

1. 5 separate leg and torso sprues, each with head and 2 accessories
2. 5 separate sprues with chainsword, bolt pistol, plasma pistol and shoulder pads
3. 5 separate sprues with jump packs.

The new assault marine pack comes with just 3 sprues. Between them they contain all the parts noted above, with the following additional parts:

1. 5 regular torsos and backpacks- so you can make assault marines without jump packs (or veteran/HQ squads with BP/CCW) should you wish
   
2. 19 additional accessories, ranging from a new power fist and combat shield to enough grenades fully to kit out the entire squad.

That’s a total of 34 additional parts.

All in all this is very impressive, being just yet another example of how GW continues to provide a multitude of extra parts with which even the newest modeller can start to build a serious bits box. This has long been one of the company’s strengths, and remains something which improves with each new release.

That said, I do have some complaints about this set. The first is the casting quality. I have for a year or two now been of the opinion that GW’s production schedule is forcing them to overwork their venerable old casting machines. This speculative opinion is sustained by the flash on the set before me. The mould lines are very marked in places, and one of the standard backpacks has flash fully 1mm deep in addition. This is not good, and GW should be doing better.

My other complaint is minor compared to this: despite the generous allocation of extra accessories, and some brand new parts (plastic right-handed powerfist- yay!), the leg parts in this kit remain the same as ever. I find this disappointing. There are 2 new legs available already in the other new space marine plastic sets released for 40K4. So why then are there no new leg parts in this kit? Likewise, I would’ve liked to have seen some variants on the ‘left arm straight’, ‘right arm bent’ pattern established by the 3rd ed. assault marine kit.

That’s about it really.

So, to sum up: this is a kit that fans of space marines old and new will be wanting to get their hands on. It contains a generous allocation of extra stuff making it more worth its purchase price than its mere 5 figures might at first seem, although some might still shrink from spending up to £3 for plastic minis. And it contains some of those priceless new parts that online space marine fans have been clamouring after for simply ages. It’s just a shame that there weren’t more of these.

3.5/5 (Negs for casting and the new parts that weren’t there.)

Prague snapshots

Here is a picture from the wedding that I was sent the other day.


Note the cheesy grin! ;)

Not my little Old World

Well I was still dead tired today, so I promptly fell asleep for an hour and a half after today’s 3 players arrived. Erm, no roleplaying today then. Shrugs. Still, Donald did get Antony put through character creation for Flashing Blades, and Andy and I did some WFRP stuff, so we got something done.

There were a quick couple of games of Ivanhoe thereafter, which went to crafty Sir Andy and brave Sir John respectively. Which was nice. Donald and I rounded off the night with a very nice meal at a pub by the river Kelvin. And that was it really.

Righto, off to get something done ready for next week’s game I feel. ;)

Got game

Well, Badger was round last night like I said.

Memoir’44
We set to with some M44: 2 games, with random selection of scenario and sides each time. That meant me taking the Canadians into Juno Beach, then leading them into Operation Spring- part of the Falaise operations in late July. These gave me more tanks to play with, but Badger had the Tigers of the 9th and 10th SS Panzer divisions at his disposal in the 2nd game.

I don’t have the time for lengthy replays, but they both ended up fairly serious pastings for Badger, even if he was in with a shout till the last moment in both games.

At Juno, I cleared the right flank with little difficulty, then slowly and painstaking pulled everything over to swing round from the left. Seeing what I was up to, Badger launched some well-timed local counter attacks which kept me on my toes. A game that could easily have gone either way then, despite my feeling that I never really lost the upper hand.

In Operation Spring I ended up doing pretty much the same: clear the right then swing left. This game saw some really bloody tank battles on the left; a nicely timed airstrike that broke the back of a German reserve massing to attack my right; and Badger’s daring final assault that came within 2 missed dice of victory. As it was though he failed, and his brave lads were promptly surrounded by 8 (yes-8!… heh!) Canadian units the very next turn. I liked that bit.

2-0

Ivanhoe
Badger had had a hard day at work so by the time we’d finished 2 gruelling games of M44 (by M44’s easygoing standards naturally enough) he didn’t fancy UF. So we had a quick couple of games of this great cardgame.

I won the first with what I again remember as significant pwnage. The second was much closer, with Badger’s canny play leaving him victorious in the end. My main memory of this game is going for broke on a minimal hand because Badger looked to have even less cards than me. I was pipped at the post! Still…

3-1

#Grins#

Meanwhile...

Only got time and energy for a short entry at the moment.

Still on rest and recuperation. Tony was round yesterday, but we just hung out and talked, which did- of course- include a reminder of the rash charge which led to last week's sound beating! Badger's due tonight, for more M44 and Japanese at UF. I've got WFRP to prepare for Sunday. I've got to get busy. In the meantime then...

In the pipeline

A rash of enthusiasm...
For Memoir'44
My short series on Memoir'44:

• Part 1: another hymn of praise to cardplay
• Part 2: The Elements of Fire and Movement
• Part 3: A few little details

rounds off with a look at how the game's sheer playability is such a simulationist asset. ;)

On the racks

Sigmar's Heirs
The new WFRP2 supplement, which should come in handy quite soon. I expect this to be up to the high standard this new line has already set and maintained.

Pulp HERO
So that's 17@32cm now with this weighty 432 page tome from Steven S. Long. I expect a thorough treatise on the matter at hand!

HERO Combat Handbook
A slim 176 pages of largely reprinted material in a snazzy cover? I bought it without a second thought. And it's certainly a boon for GM's. But... But... Well, but what exactly?

ED. 02/10/05
Of course, I forgot to mention Static Games, my FLGS where I bought these products. ;)

Meanwhile...

So no RD/KA! yesterday- the first I've missed in 47 days since hitting the blogshpere. And I've put up 55 articles that time. Ah well. But my much vaunted (well, by me at least!) unbroken upload record is now gone for a Burton. Och.

Anyhoo I had a busy day yesterday. Apart from just continuing to wind down after my big trip, I set to work reorganising the shelves above my painting and modelling station.The paintbrushes are calling out to me again y'see.

I last picked up a brush last May or thereabouts, burning out- as is my habit- after a frenzied burst sorting out and starting to work on some of the finnicky wee details that can plague the finishing of a space marine army. This time though I have a good feeling about making a stab at something I've wanted to achieve for years: the regular daily 1-2 hours at the painting table. That's how all the masters of the craft do it.

Still, I was pleased with getting the shelves done. My workspace is now more compact, which I hope will curtail my foolish habit of laying out huge trails of miniatures to work on simultaneously, so that none of them get finished before the burnout. Everything being better organised should help too. Fingers crossed I guess.

As well as all of that I also got the gaming shelves better organised. A good day's work all-in-all I thought. A pal came round later and we had a thoroughly enjoyable evening in front of the TV. One programme of note last night was The Story of One. Presented by the ex-Python Terry Jones, this was a "look at the history of numbers, revealing their importance to different civilisations, and why the Catholic Church attemtped to ban zero".

If you keep your eyes open around the BBC website you might get a chance to view this again over the web. Otherwise, just let me say that it was history-lite done just right: very informative; and with lots of laughs, including a simple CGI running gag that had me giggling like a mad thing for most of the programme. ;)

Back to reality- but first...

So it's back home, and Glasgow's Glasgow, which is OK, except that it's not Prague. At least I can do more than say 'Please', 'Thank-you', and ask for the bill.

The trip was just great, as regular readers will already know. I'm already thinking about future trips. I'd just like to extend my thanks to the bride and groom for letting me join in their special celebrations. I was delighted and proud to be there. All the best to you both, now as ever.

And to everyone else I met:- family and friends of the bride and groom both: it was a real pleasure meeting you all. Your generous company made this barely seasoned and somewhat nervous traveller happy and comfortable amid the beauties of the fair city of Prague. No names no pack drill, but my thanks to you all.

Some special mentions are here required.
1. To 'The Boss', for letting me keep my Squeaky Rubber Hammer of Doom.
2. To the Cheesehead, for putting up with my ASL geekery, and for the book: it stood me in good stead on the journey home- thanks man!
3. And to a certain young Scotsman unexpectedly lumbered with me as a flatmate over a long weekend in Prague:- thanks for services above and beyond; I very much doubt I could've survived the whole experience without your generous assistance. Good luck to you in everything!

So, if any of you should find yourselves reading this: thanks again one and all. ;)

Yes, yes. I know it's just filler...

Back from Prague, and having trouble staying awake. Just time therefore to post another piece from the archives: 'Claymore 2002- a review'. As before: I posted this to several efora at the time.

**********

I attended my first Claymore in the old Chambers St. Edinburgh University venue back in the early '80's. I have missed several since then, but the annual Claymore bash has always been the highlight of my Scottish gaming calendar. This year's convention was the familiar package: scads of trade stands groaning under the weight of goodies too numerous to mention; dozens of demo and participation games modelled and painted to the usual high standards; and the bring-and-buy where lucky finds and bargains lurk. Traders which particularly caught my eye this year were: i-Kore- but they didn't have the new Syntha and Fomorian stuff I wanted; 2nd Chance Games- where I finally gave into temptation and bought myself the 2nd ed. Advanced Squad Leader rules, and also a GREAT new game called Ivanhoe; and Foundry- whose racks yielded various lovely WW2 25's for skirmish games and some really neat preview minis for the upcoming 2000AD range.

Amongst the many great looking tables two which particularly caught my notice were: the large-scale WW2 'Saving Private Ryan' skirmish, and the US/Britain v. the Germans 'Last Days of the Reich' battle featuring superheroes alongside the regular grunts, tanks and so on. The 54mm terrain on the former was particularly lovely and (so I hear) won a well-deserved prize. I have yet to hear who were the other winners, so can only hope that my personal favourite on the day (the WW2 superheroes natch) featured on the prize list.

I also took the chance to chat to as many people as possible. So Baz explained to me that GW's Conflict Regional- Edinburgh 2003 will just have to go ahead at Inglistone as this year. No other suitable venue is affordable apparently and, looking around Claymore's Meadowbank venue as we chatted, I could easily agree that the venue wasn't suited to Conflict.

And from John Robertson at i-Kore I learned that this dynamic little Scottish company will continue to make the most of the asset that is Kev White's ability to sculpt the best buns in the industry. John also confirmed that i-Kore will indeed be redoing the Prosthene's for their Void Syntha range. Good news all round for i-Kore fans then.

Finally: Claymore was stowed out on Saturday. Even without any seating set aside for the canteen, there wasn't enough room for all the confirmed demo-teams. All accessways were overcrowded and going was awkward, especially when pushchairs and gamers' bags were added to the mix. I also heard comments made about the cramped layout of the bring-and-buy. Being crammed-in like this won't have seriously ruined any days I reckon, though it surely must have led to some con-goers leaving earlier than they might have anticipated. Claymore has simply outgrown its venue. SESWC deserve all our applause for all their efforts down the years which have seen their event go from strength to strength. I, for one, look forward to seeing where in the future they will take their premiere event on the Scottish convention circuit.

**********

That's it for today. Nornal service will be resumed asap. ;)

More general wootage!

Another brief entry today to keep RD/KA! alive and well in cyberspace.

So, the wedding was just lovely. The ceremony was delightful, with a beautiful location in Malo Strana- the old centre of Prague. Your humble scribe was moved and touched by the events, and will even confess to having had a 'bit of grit in his eye...' We repaired thereafter to a nice restaurant, where a lovely meal and a nice evening was had by all.

Meanwhile, here I sit in a touristy internet cafe- as opposed, that is- to the more local cybercafe from which I have posted before. The first nice thing is that the keyboard is of a familiar standard. I also managed to get into my ISP, and thus check my emails. I got within an ace of being able to post an old article from my files, which I had cleverly emailed to myself for just such an eventuality. But it didn't quite work.

I learned a good lesson though: if you're going to do this sort of thing, use the simplest possible format- ie. Notepad; because there's always the chance that more highly formatted files- eg. MS Word, will not be available on the particular machine you end up using.

Anyhoo, that's it for today. This is my last day in Prague, and I plan to make the most of it. It's just a pity that something seems to have gone wrong with my damn camera! ;)

Onwards, to bigger and better treasure

Got a lot to do today, so not much time for anything lengthy. I think I´ll just go geek on the fair city of Prague.

First though, I just have to say that Prague is surely one of the jewels in the crown of European culture. It is balmy and beautiful. Here I am in late September, enjoying weather of the sort I would associate with the height of an unfortunately all-too-rare Scottish summer: t-shirt weather in other words. The sky is blue, the leaves are green and turning brown and golden, and the women are to die for. Prague is also friendlier and less expensive than Paris for sure. More beautiful too I´ll warrant- certainly for fans of the Gothic. And it is certainly far, far more romantic than the hitherto crowned capital of the European romantic getaway. The view of central Prague across the Vltava just has to be seen to be believed, to fall into tried and tested phraseology.

Geekwise: well, if you´re a fan of the Warhammer Old World, then Prague is the city for you. In the centre of Prague you are quite literally surrounded by an Old World city, and there is more within an easy day´s outing away (eg. the original for the city of Middenheim, so I´m told). This is my second visit, and in the 2 weeks or so all told that I´ve spent in the city I´ve barely had time to scratch the surface of these delights. You could also run a Gotrek and Felix tour of the city, pointing out to fans of this heroic duo actual locations used by author Bill King in books like Skavenslayer.

All-in-all a cornucopia of delights for gaming geeks with over-active imaginations. Just don´t forget your romantic companion, is all. Got to go. More tomorrow I hope.

THIS is more like it!

So, that big trip I´ve been talking about: well, here I am in Prague, blogging from a Russian-run cybercafe and struggling with the peculiarities of a Czech-language keyboard (some keys are reversed, and there´re some things I´m not sure I´ll master at all!). No matter: this is the internet age, and this is as cyber as I´ve ever been. Wootage!

I flew in from Glasgow yesterday, via Amsterdam. I had to go with KLM because I left my booking too late to go with any of the cheaper carriers. I was annoyed at first, but the approach to Schipol over the coast turned out to be worth every last penny. I mean, both my flights were just great: flying through clear blue skies bathed in sunshine, with following tailwinds making us prompt if not early. The sort of flights, in fact, that are beginning to make me positively enjoy flying (something I´d never´ve expected to have been saying only a few years ago).

But coming in over the coast of Holland was something else entirely. As soon as I caught sight of land, I could see the famous lowlands. Mist still shrouded the depressions, making the place look like some kind of ethereal extraterrestrial landscape. I saw the canals, and what must´ve been a dyke. Then I saw a tanker parked in a side canal... WTF?! I thought: look at the size of that thing!

Flushed with excitement, I only had time to grab a snack before heading off to wait to board my flight to Prague. I have several nice memories of this flight, but one in particular is just geeky beyond belief. As we descended in our approach to Prague the details of the roads, buildings and other features below us became ever more apparent. Something about them struck me as strangely familiar. Then I realised what it was: everything looked like a giant Squad Leader mapboard, even down to little details like having paved (grey) and unpaved (brown) roads.

I had a peculiar moment of insight: those lovely mapboards that so marked Squad Leader out from everything else at the time of its release? Well, it looks like they were a product of the advent of cheap air travel in America in the 50´s and 60´s. How else could the game´s mapmaker have got the idea for what he did with those lovingly detailed maps which were as much part of the game´s immediate charm as Hill´s groundbreaking design?

Arriving at Prague I also rediscovered one of things that makes me really hate air travel: bloody baggage claim! I mean, having been through 2 flights in the space of some 4 hours, I then had to wait at least half an hour to get my luggage. I was livid, I can tell you! Especially because I knew the pal whose wedding I have come to attend and his bride to be, and perhaps another guest would all be waiting for me, and I was at least as keen to see them all as they were me.

Got game

Donald's FB concluded for the day, and some nosh later, last Sunday's gaming was rounded off with a couple of quick boardgames. So, in the spirit of milking for all it's worth, here is a look at what went down between myself, Donald, and Tony at the gaming table that night.

Settlers of Catan
For the uninitiated- WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN FOR THE PAST DECADE?!

Seriously: this is without a single shade of doubt the boardgaming phenomenon of our times- the mother of all Eurogames. Its designer Klaus Teuber can ride this game and its many expansions and sequels laughing all the way to the bank for as long as he can get away with it as far as I'm concerned. Long may he prosper this damn genius of a German. (Expect 'Rash[es] of Enthusiasm...' sometime I guess.)

Go here to find out more about the game (including a neat online tutorial that will help the uniniated understand what follows).

And go here (click through Club to Boardgames Corner) and here if you'd like to read some of my earlier- brief- apprecations of this game that is somewhere in the 2nd division of my most played games ever.

Oh, and go to your local FLGS to get yourself a copy of this modern classic if you don't already have one!

So, to Sunday's game. We had a balanced region layout, but with 7 (yes, 7! red resource markers down; 5 of them 6's; and 3 of them adjacent- IIRC). We expected a fast game, and we got it.

Losing the roll to go first, I got the going last consolation, giving me a solid and diverse resource base with great city-building potential; not to mention good access to ports, including a 2:1 brick (with a brick resource generator on 8- across the island-neat!). I was definitely out of the running for longest road though, with my inital settlements on opposite sides of the island of Catan. So I felt good after set-up.

I soon felt better than that, as resources flowed in and early development was rapid. Then I made my Big Mistake of the Game: getting an early city up, I chose to go for the city-building corner (2 ores and a grain IIRC), thinking that I was going for a city-building strategy in the end after all. I should, of course, have gone for the city on the lumber/brick/sheep settlement, for the roads and settlements needed to expand outwards before upwards.

This mistake was amplified by Donald's rapid expansion to my east- he seemed to have roads, settlements and cities popping up everywhere, just as my error was bearing its bitter fruit and my own expansion was stymied. Those damn dwarfs! In no time at all, Donald was reaping the rewards of settlements and/or cities on 3 different 6-points, drawing as many as 6 resources on a number that came up above and beyond the mean in this particular game. I was starting to feel the heat!

Tony's development was slow, but then he was the least experienced player alongside 2 seasoned players, and seriously rusty to boot. Tony's knowledge of the game shone through though: he knew that- as lead player- Donald had to be singled out for whatever finkery the robber allowed, because that was how to keep the game open long enough to give himself his only chance of recovery towards a chance of victory.

So it was that Donald suffered a lot from the robber, and from an all-out trade embargo when he reached the 8VP mark with disturbing rapidity. This was helped by his garnering the Longest Road's 2VP on top of his burgeoning colonial expansion. Tony gamely tried to contest this, but Donald just kept on slapping down new roads, and we knew it was not to be: the game would be decided, one way or another, before Tony could get his hands on the resources to steal Donald's 2VP prize away from him.

It was at this point, ironically enough, that I bought another Development Card (of 4 I bought in the game): Road Building- 2 'free' roads. If only Tony had got that I found myself thinking! In the end, I used it to expand towards the build of the extra settlement that was vital to my plans, so I'd been wrong about who needed it most.

My other 3 Development Cards were all Soldiers. I used the first to chase the robber off back to hamper Donald and his furiously digging dwarfs. The other 2 I got in a snap decision to buy 2 Development Cards both at once in the hope of getting 1 or 2 of the decks' 5 Victory Point cards- each worth 1VP.

Result!

I now had 3 Soldiers all told. Playing the 2 from hand would give me the Largest Army- worth 2VP just like the Longest Road. I would need 2 turns to play them; and I would have to consider the timing too, given the chances of the robber screwing everything up if Donald rolled a 7 and sicced the robber on me.

Speaking of which: Donald was really unfortunate with the robber in this game. Not only did my Soldiers keep me pretty much free of this blackguard's attentions (and guess where I was putting him?) but I seem to remember that most of the 7's in a game- in which they were about as regular as you'd expect; well, where do you think they went too? Moreover, Donald was hit mebbe 2 or 3 times with 8+ cards in his hand when the dread 7 came up.

The end-game went something like this.

Donald hit 9VP with me on 8 (IIRC), and Tony out of the running but still playing like a pro. Both Donald and I were sitting on resource bases ideal for our positions (except for that darn robber in Donald's case, naturally enough!). I managed to get to 9VP without Donald getting that 1VP he needed (how I did this escapes me). We were both looking for a city now.

Somewhere in what followed came a big blow to Donald IIRC: another 7, and a big whack to a large hand of resources. I can't imagine how I could've survived otherwise. Meanwhile, I was sitting in that unique sweat of waiting out the dice, looking for those rolls you know must come; hoping that nobody else's come first; and holding your nerve against the prospect of another damn 7 as a couple of good rolls start to build your winning hand as your next turn approaches.

And what a hand I had after Donald's last roll: my city, in a hand big enough to keep it even if the robber came round for a visit. I'd won, but it'd been the closest run thing I can remember for a long time.

1-0-0

Nuclear War
Fancying another game and looking for a beer'n'pretzel quickie before repairing to the pub, we easily agreed to have a blast of this classic satirical game of global thermonuclear holocaust. And so it was that Libronia (me), Ulanda (Tony) and Dwarfonia (guess who?!) started rattling their sabres behind protestations of peaceful intent, as ever.

Go here to visit the website of this venerable game, which is 40 years old this year btw. Happy birthday Nuclear War, and thanks to all concerned with this gem of gems for my own 25 years of laughter in the face of madness.

Anyhoo, going first as is my right as owner of the game (yes:- it is in the rules, and anyway: I waited a long, long time for that particular privilege- some 20 years in fact) I did nothing much with secrets, and set out my stall for some routine pleas for peace (aka. stealing your opponents' population with Propaganda cards- all useless once the bombs start dropping, naturally enough).

Tony did a bit more- including hitting Donald with missing his first turn of the game; and laid out his own initial strategy.

Then Donald- looking a bit shamefaced- but still evidently pleased to be enjoying a bit of payback for my theft of his victory at Settlers, sicced me for a loss of 50 million population. That took care of my 2 25 million population cards then. I wasn't feeling quite so sanguine already, and the first turn hadn't even begun! Donald then did a poor sap on me: feeling guilty no doubt at exercising such petty revenge, he hit Tony with a missed turn. Pah! In that situation I know what I'd've done: revenge or not, I'd've kicked me while I was down. This is Nuclear War after all!

And off we went. Tony revealed himself to be an immediate warmonger- revealing an immediate missile delivery system IIRC- as Donald and I played nip and tuck with Propaganda cards.

As the game progressed, several ABM systems went on display to discourage fruitless expenditure of valuable hi-technology. Being the first player so not to suffer from the others' attacks gave me a warm feeling I can tell you!

Other highlights included: Ulanda's foolish decision to invest in Libronian missile technology for one of their B70's (down in flames on it's first payload- heh; aimed at me too IIRC- double heh!) ; Radio Free Libronia making it to the moon, again(!); and my putz's mistake in putting a Titan down behind my Saturn, thus loosing the chance to launch my 100 megs towards Dwarfonia. "Doomed!" I thought, "I'm doomed."

And this one:
1. Donald hits me with 'A disastrous earthquake [that] destroy[ed] 10 million of [my] population'
2. You fool I cry, they're really a secret strike force tunnelling their way to launch a sneak attack on Dwarfonia...
3. The deck is reshuffled shortly thereafter
4. I hit Donald with, guess what?
5. See? I told you so, I gloat.

The endgame saw me and Tony- with 1 or 2 population cards each forming a pact to whittle away at Donald's pile much larger than both of ours put together. First on our agenda is stripping him of his 2 ABM's. I'm forced to reveal my population when I have to cash my last population card in for change after a strike from Dwarfonia.

Then Donald wiped Tony out with a Secret. Ulanda's final retaliation was impressive but not decisive. As peace breaks out, Libronia and Dwarfonia eye each other nervously across the glowing rubble as cards laid but unplayed are picked up and replaced.

Dwarfonia having disposed of Ulanda, it was Libronia's move. 'Peace!' we cried, playing a 25 million Propaganda card. Joy was unbounded as the people of Dwarfonia declared allegiance to the Libronian way of life, leaving their once revered leader to nurse hopes of revenge in some sad place of exile. Relief was evident among the 8 million Libronian survivors, who realised that their own government had been right all along, and that there was, in fact, no need to decamp to Dwarfonia after all (a 10 million Propaganda steal would've left Donald celebrating the lack of final retaliation instead of me, next turn).

Another very, very close run thing!

2-0-0

And so Felix Mephisto slept soundly in his bed that night in Paris despite everything it would seem in the end. Or: payback is sweet!

#Grins#

Meanwhile...

Well, Tony was round again this afternoon. He's never properly seen HERO5 in action yet- our last roleplaying run having run out of steam under the rule of 4th ed.; so we tried out a quick bout of fisticuffs to familiarise ourselves with the new stuff that we both hope to be GM'ing and/or PC'ing just asap. We had a good laugh; admired some of the nice touches in the revisions to the combat system; and some cleverly chosen maveouvres and a couple of well-timed haymakers (not to mention a hefty dose of Sheer Dumb Luck on Tony's part: to which he has already confessed, so this is less than Sad Loser's Whinging!) left my basic template mook dying- from injuries to the face and head. OUCH!

After that we continued developing the key NPC's behind the new superhero campaign we're working away on. As a result of today's efforts we now know the following to our satisfaction: who they are; where they came from; how they first met; what went down through that first encounter; how they fell in together thereafter; and, what roles each fulfils in their double-act. We are both well-pleased with how this longstanding project is now beginning to develop ever more rapidly with each session we put in to shaping it up.

Whiling away some time before tea thereafter, I took a look through a book I've had on my shelves for years now, but which has only finally revealed it full value to me since Donald started his FB game. I picked up this book some 25 or more years ago for the then already low price of £1 in a 2nd hand bookshop in Perth. It is:

The Student's Manual of Modern History

Containing the
Rise and progress of the principal European nations, their political history, and the changes in their social conditions

With a history of
The colonies founded by Europeans

By
W.C. Taylor, LL.S., M.R.A.S.
of Trinity College Dublin

The sixth edition, with additions

London:
John W. Parker and Son, West Strand
MDCCCLVI
[1856]

Really rather the worse for wear, it wasn't the price which made this book an instant purchase for me. No, it was this section from the Preface:

"In this the sixth edition the Supplmentary Chapter has been considerably enlarged, so as to bring down the History to the Treaty of Paris signed at Paris, March 30, 1856..."

What the...?! Imagine that I thought: a 'stop press' to update a book for the end of the Crimean War. I would like to think that was the moment when I realised what history was really all about.

Whatever the truth of that matter, this volume has had a cherished place on my bookshelves down the years since the day it came into my possession. I can say with more certainty that this book did give me a taste for works contemporaneous with my favourite period of history- namely the 1st half of the 20th century (I was a teenage tankie, y'see); and that it is the nearest thing I have to a genuine antiquarian work in my 'library' (thank goodness for those classic orange/blue and white Penguin and Pelican originals!).

And the book itself? Well, apart from its antiquated style, which is just perfect for atmosphere, here is a sample of its contents:
I. Consequences of the Fall of the Western Empire;
VI. The Reformation, and the Commencement of the States System in Europe;
VIII. Growth of the Mercantile and Colonial System;
XIV. History of the Jews.
There is also a 16-page Analytical and Chronological Index (that's A5 approx. in max. 8-point type- THIS OR SMALLER IN OTHER WORDS) that runs from AD 50 onwards. In short, Taylor's old Student's Manual looks like it will prove invaluable to my WFRP and to Donald's FB both. I certainly know that I saw Donald with his nose deep in its yellowing pages Sunday last during our break from the adventures of Felix and the good Baron. ;)

The Adventures of Felix Mephisto, Gentleman: Part 2

Chapter 2. In which: Comforts & Clever Contrivances Notwithstanding, Felix Just Suffers

Fortified by a night of prayer, sincere repentance, and the sound sleep of the just, Felix rose at 7am according to his well-regulated habits. He was surprised - and not a little nonplussed - to see the Baron arrive bright, early, and confoundedly chipper at their designated rendezvous for the day. Thus refreshed, both our servants of the Crown faced the new day with the same idea: why not just maintain a watch upon the Bank of the Brothers Di Vittoria, to see what befell?

Preparing themselves again for hazard, they set off. Unfortunately there was no convenient tavern nearby to provide a comfortable vantage point. Fortunately there was an aging wealthy aunt of the Baron's living just across the street... ["You'll need a VERY good roll on your Luck," said Donald, in reply to Tony's query about local contacts. Tony rolled his dice. "Is a 2 good enough?" chorused our grinning faces.]

Greeted generously by said aunt's wrinkled retainer upon his answering the good Baron's knock at the door, we were introduced first to the aunt's lady companion: a veritable battle-axe of a virago who greeted our intrepid pair with all the warmth of a polar hurricane. Jean-Claude's aunt, on the other hand, greeted her prodigal nephew with questions about his health and his persistent bachelorhood, in the sort of barrage unique to distaff doting dotards. Sensing how long this would persist, the already noticably taciturn Felix requested a moment with the aunt's lady companion.

Showing her the Constable General's warrant that he had obtained from the deluged Jean-Claude, Felix explained the situation to this steely-eyed and icy matriarch. Spying her rosary, Felix privately bemoaned the loss - to the True Faith - of such a staunch matron. With a show of reluctance and evident distaste, she instructed the decrepit butler to show our young gentleman to the balcony, which turned out to have the perfect prospect for our pair's purpose.

Settling down Felix attended to his deck of cards, and to the game which had already cost him 8 of his precious 48 disposable livres per annum (an unprecedented run of luck for our good Baron, though insufficiently lucrative to recover the fortune his hitherto poorer luck had cost him, naturally enough). Brought some refreshments by the household's serving staff, he also began to enjoy a taste of the comforts to which he aspired. Eventually, he was joined by the Baron. Lunch was served soon thereafter.

In the hours they spent at their post, Felix and Jean-Claude saw 3 men follow the steps down to the basement door that had earlier caught their attention, only to reappear some quarter hour or more later. All of them wore in their breast pockets the vivid red kerchief which our PC's had found just so on the body of the dead le Droite; which le Droite and Chevalier Didonner were similarly wearing when the former was last seen alive - by the barman at the Black Cross Club; and which Felix still retained - for the sake of a possible ruse, naturally enough.

After a brief conference, our good Baron and his gentleman friend agreed that this was not a situation into which they could afford just to blunder, relying merely on the red kerchief and Felix's silver tounge. After all, there might be passwords, secret signs, and so on. They agreed on a simple plan proposed by Felix.

And so it was, after loitering in the street by the bank for some considerable time, Felix contrived to have to step smartly out of the way of the next wearer of a red kerchief who made to descend the steps to the basement door, then to drop his pack of cards. Picking them up gave him plenty of time to spy out the fellow's entry, which turned out to require nothing more - apparently - than the sight of the red kerchief through a spyhole in the door.

Things started rapidly to fall into place at this point. The situtation was thus: the war with England; Italian bankers handling Crown bonds to raise funds for the armed forces of France, and raising investments to equip ships of marque to take the war to the English in the Orient; a mysterious Spaniard lurking somewhere behind the band of the red kerchiefs; and the Constable General's fear that his own staff had been infiltrated. Our 2 companions were clearly facing more than merely the larceny that Felix had long suspected.

But all of that was as nothing right at that moment: it was time for dinner, and the good Baron and Felix were to dine with the Baron's aunt, and - as it turned out - a cousin of his: female, and also unmarried (tragically - in the eyes of the aunt, naturally enough).

This cousin turned out to be a prattling horse-faced dullard with a laugh like a braying donkey, a sentimental attachment to the indigent, and a passion for her Catholic faith. All of which reduced her to less in Felix's eyes than the utter disinterest Jean-Claude could barely be bothered to conceal. The meal passed in a strained atmosphere utterly devoid of conviviality. Even Felix's charm failed him conspicuously.

Suddenly our young gentleman felt a stockinged foot stroke his calf under the table. The man's astonishment rapidly turned to utter horror when he realised that his would-be seductress wasn't the droning mare. No. It was the grim-faced battleaxe (a hatchet-faced hag aged some thrice Felix's 19 years, by God!), whose foot spoke of something of which her face betrayed not a jot. Begging to be excused, Felix attended to his toilet in the hopes of regaining a measure of what would pass for composure, and the cessation of this torment on his return to the table.

Luck was not with him however. So he grit his teeth, planted both feet firmly on the floor, and added his grimly restrained hysterical outrage to the pleasures of the company for the remaining courses of the longest meal of his short life. The gentlemen's retreat to the smoking room came as a blessed relief.

We have business to attend to, he implored the Baron.

At this time of night, when the ladies are about to join us? came the crushing reply.

As the evening wound its painful way to a polite goodnight, Felix fondly hoped that the successful conclusion of their mission would not only benefit his beloved France, but would also bring him his just reward in terms of favour, fortune and advancement.

Otherwise... Otherwise... Otherwise...Well, otherwise what exactly?

**********

How we laughed! ;)

The Adventures of Felix Mephisto, Gentleman: Part 2

Chapter 1. In which Felix Suffers For His Naiveté

Well, the pressures of organising my upcoming jaunt- not to mention my rampant foolishness in deciding to run a WFRP scenario of my own devising- mean that I decided last week to put my little Old World on hold until after my return. And so it turned out that yesterday's roleplaying took place entirely in Donald's version of Dumas' Paris, dateline June 1643.

Meanwhile pressing issues of real life and other things had reduced yesterday's group to just Donald, Tony and myself.

**********

So it was that, having gleaned the name of the Chevalier Didonner from the barman at the Black Cross Club, our 3 companions retired for the evening. Van Horstmann to the comforts of his apartments and an attentive flunkey. The good Baron and Felix first to the Club of St. George, for a slap up feed which- at a hefty 5 livres- cost our young gentleman fully one tenth of his annual disposable income.

Over dinner our PC's resolved to find out more about this Chevalier Didonner. They consulted the Club's concierge. A few more livres from Felix, topped up by the Baron, brought the assurance of some information on the morrow.

Thereafter: to the Baron's apartment, there to await a report from Piedro on the contents of the goblets from which the late M. le Droite had been seen sharing a bottle of wine with the aforementioned chevalier just before the untimely death that had caused the Constable General to call upon his acquaintance Baron Tourné in the first instance. Van Horstmann's flunkey delivered his master's word in the course of the evening. The results of his chemical studies of the 2 goblets from which the Chevalier Didonner and M. le Droite had shared what had turned out to be the latter's last drink?

Poison.

An as yet undiscovered 2nd corpse was thus our heroes' immediate concern for the next day.

It was that evening also that Felix discovered an unexpected taste for gambling at cards, while the good Baron hit an even more unexpected winning streak. Felix retired to the Baron's guest room 5 livres down on the night (and some quarter or more of his annual disposable gone already, in a single day!).

Rising early as is his wont, Felix had to awaken Baron Jean-Claude to answer the door. They beheld an urchin bearing a message from the concierge at the Club of St. George: said Didonner happened to live at Rue St. Michel 18, surprisingly close to the Bank of the Brothers Di Vittoria (Rue St. Michel 32). It was to this very bank that our trio had been pointed the previous day by a major clue uncovered by their grisly examination of the already almost rotting corpse of the unfortunate le Droite.

Making haste to find out about the fate of the Chevalier, the Baron and his gentleman friend made first for the office of the registry of births and deaths, where they discovered that no Didonner had been reported dead in the appropriate period.

There was nothing else for it then but the Rue St. Michel 18. Diverting only to prepare themselves for the possibility of a trial at arms, our intrepid pair made haste thence. Arriving, they conducted a quick reconnaissance to discover it stood secure against entry via the alleys at each side, and from the yard at the rear. The front door it was then.

Deciding to exploit their official status, the Baron knocked and presented their warrant to the flunkey who answered the door. They were told that the Chevalier was most definitely alive (despite having drunk of the poison?- how strange); that he was out; that their man could tell us nothing of his master's whereabouts- despite Felix's protestations that it might be a matter of Didonner's life or death; and that the time of his return was uncertain.

Felix insisted on leaving a note:

"On the business of the Constable-General of France, we have reason to fear for your safety. Must insist on an immediate audience before the day is out.
"RSVP care of the Club of St. George."
Signed (with a flourish),
"Felix Mephisto, Gentleman"

This done, off our pair headed to the bank. There Felix posed as Baron Tourné's amateur financial advisor while Jean-Claude asked about potential investments with said bank. The Baron's income frankly announced soon revealed him as small fry beneath the Bros Di Vittoria's notice, although a couple of useful clues were picked up about the bank's major current ventures. These immediately struck Felix and the Baron both as somewhat germane to their investigation.

[Oh, and Felix criticaled on his Banking roll (1 on a d20 of 9-!), meaning that not only did he give an utterly convincing account of the Baron's financial prospects- thus leaving the invaluable 'good impression' despite everything; but he also got 1 of the 2 checks needed to advance his Banking to 10-. Heh!]

This lead exhausted, our pair of companions returned to Felix's club to await the Chevalier Didonner's reply. This not coming, the good Baron hired a coach to take them back to #18 with appropriate speed and due propriety. Brooking no argument, Felix insisted on satisfaction in the face of more ignorance on the part of the same flunkey at the threshold, the result of which was a list of his master's haunts. The name of the Black Cross Club immediately caught Felix's eye. Back in the coach, off they went.

There the good Baron and Felix spoke again with the barman who had proved so helpful the last time, although their warrant secured his services rendered at a 100% discount. Yes, the Chevalier had indeed been there earlier that afternoon, staying only long enough to share a quick libation before departing in the company of the veiled lady of means with whom he had shared a rendezvous.

Curses!

Luckily though, our louche Baron guessed their game, having already noted the name of a sometime haunt of his own on the list of places where they were to track down the unexpectedly still living Chevalier: the Nun's Habit. Flush with the thrill of the chase, Felix came up with a ruse with which he hoped to beard their #1 suspect in his den of lascivious iniquity.

And so it was that Felix Mephisto, Gentleman - a charming but gauche young fellow, of pure heart and honourable intentions - found himself sitting in a tavern across the way from the Nun's Habit: a place infamous for its ruthless enforcement of discretion in all matters pertaining to liasons dangereuses; awaiting the arrival of his friend, the Baron Jean-Claude Tourné, in the company of a certain married lady of his intimate acquaintance. It must have been the time the young man had to ponder on his own machinations, because it has to be said that young Felix certainly wasn't as pleased - at his own first visit to this den of vice - as was Tourné's companion at hers.

In any event: playing his part, Felix gave Tourné 10 minutes, then approached the door with the letter our, erm... 'adventurous' pair had prepared, to be delivered with all urgency ( naturally enough) to the Baron. As noted, Felix's discomfiture at what he had so eagerly and so unwittingly become a party to began to rule his head as well as his already sinking heart [he fluffed his highly respectable d20:14- Charm roll]. Thus it was that, Felix's protestations notwithstanding, a burly bouncer instructed our young hero to wait outside while he ensured the delivery of this 'message' of such vital import. Not unaware of how these things go, Baron Tourné required 'his gentleman'(?!) to be brought to his private dining room.

Discretion forbids me from detailing the sights that our hapless young gentleman beheld on his passage thence. Sufficeth to say that, by the time he arrived to speak to the Baron, his horror knew no bounds, and he knew that his scheme to seek the Chevalier within these walls was sheer and utter folly. The sound of rustling silk from behind the screen whence had disappeared the Baron's lady companion was the last straw.

Felix fled into the night.

A rash of enthusiasm...

... For Memoir'44

Part 3: A few little details
This is to round off a few details I didn't cover in my treatment of the basic fire and movement of tanks and infantry.

Artillery
The artillery rules in M44 are as neat and simple as those for tanks and infantry:

1. Can only move 1 hex, and can't move and fire in the same turn
2. Has firepower: 3/2/1 at ranges 2/4/6
3. Needs no LOS and ignores terrain effects on firepower.

The movement rules mean that you really don't want to redeploy your artillery during a battle if you can avoid it. The combat rules nicely reflect the greater deviation likely over longer ranges, and the extra power of the plunging fire, not the mention the sheer terror of being under an artillery strike. The net effect is to make artillery the best unit in the game for clearing the enemy out of heavy cover and prepared positions, which is as it should be.

A final note on artillery: there is no artillery symbol on the battle dice; while artillery units only have 2 models. So on top of the slick representation of the role and power of field artillery, we also have artillery that is hard to hit - because it is typically well dug-in; but easy to kill - because of the few cannons/unit and the vulnerable crew.

All of which means that M44's rendering of artillery fills out and complements Borg's clever treatment of tanks and infantry very nicely.

Various terrain features
Wire
The way the wire rules work, once you're in wire, you will not be moving any further that turn under any circumstances. In addition, if the unit is a tank the wire will be removed from play. If the unit is infantry, you will be faced with a choice: fire, with -1 firepower (which can often be the difference between having an attack or not); or spend your combat action clearing the wire. So tanks just plunge through wire, though it will give them pause (ie. no overruns in particular!); while infantry can get hung up on it for as long as you choose to leave them there. All very credible.

Hedgehogs
These are impassible to tanks, naturally enough. They offer flag protection to infantry, which is a nice touch: they don't reduce enemy firepower, but all that solid steel is still reassuring. Need I say more?

Bunkers and bridges
Bunkers in M44 can only be used by the owning side; their hexes can't be entered by tanks at all and give tanks the max -2 firepower reduction in combat. Bridges let you cross rivers, surprisingly enough.

These are not the most interesting thing about them though. What is most interesting is that they both block LOS (which ties in with the prohibition on entry by tanks). At first sight, you could say that this is a bit dumb, in that both of these features are elements of their hexes, and not the hexes themselves. The point is though that that approach would've resulted in dual-type hexes, which would've undermined the essential simplicity.

So the bridges and bunkers represent locales which to some extent 'warp' the already abstract scale of the hexgrid. Is this a matter of authenticity? Well yes, insofaras it strikes me as another example of the enforcement of the POV enabled by the cardplay. This is because terrain features of this type would indeed loom large in the awareness of the commanders the players represent in a game of M44, because of their supreme tactical/strategic importance.

It is as a result of this that making these features fill their hexes works so well: it makes them locations with environs and approaches, instead of just a feature of an existing hex. Abstraction and simplicity in action yet again.

So far then I have tried to explain how M44's cardplay command and control and its treatment of basic fire and movement give a game whose simulationist authenticity arises from the subtle interplay of deceptively simple elements. I will return to M44 just as soon as I can to explain why I believe that the simulationist merits of this delightful gaming engine are capped by the game's sheer playability. ;)

Related@RD/KA!
- Part 1: another hymn of praise to cardplay
- Part 2: The Elements of Fire and Movement
- Part 4: The authenticity of sheer playability

Four-colour friends

Another visit to my local Forbidden Planet Wednesday last to get hold of some reading material for a train journey east. There was 1 comic in my order, and 2 new comics and an old TPB caught my eye. So, without further ado.

Ex Machina #14
DC/Wildstorm
Writer: Brian K. Vaughan
Penciller: Tony Harris
Inker: Tom Feister
Colours: JD Mettler
Letters: Jared K. Fletcher

The ads for this comic caught my eye immediately, so I picked up #1. It has since been a part of my regular order, and I’ve enjoyed every issue so far. The premise is simple enough to state: in a world very much like our own, a certain Mitch Hundred has an encounter with some kind of alien artefact in the Hudson river (that is what the river in NYC is called, yes?). He gains the unusual powers of communication with and control over machines as a result (ie. machine empathy).

After a brief period as a… no, not a, but the costumed adventurer, he retires to campaign for mayor of NYC. He gets elected. And so the scene is set for a series whose stories I would sum up as Steven Bochco meets Buffy with the X-files thrown in for good measure.

The current issue is a good one. Having accepted a call-up for jury duty for the sake of setting a good example last ish, Hundred found himself in a jury-room hostage situation. This is resolved in a way that ramps up the series’ existing paranoia to a whole new level. Meanwhile, the hero’s ‘sidekicks’ are off clearing up some other matters.

I like this series because it dramatises the real world in a way that the best of American TV always does: well. The issues are part of the plot rather than vice versa. And it has to be said that Vaughan’s central premise- which of course is that of the Slayer (ie. the lone hero with sidekicks), with a twist; well, this has translated well to its new context. Vaughan also knows how to play fast and loose with history and his cultural references in a clever way without showing off. Plus, this reader’s just gotta love anyone who can reference that classic line from 2000AD’s ‘Judge Dredd’: “There’s no justice. There’s just us.”

Oh, and the artwork is very nice too, but I’ve no more space to go into detail.

The Authority: The Magnificent Kevin #1
DC/Wildstorm
Writer: Garth Ennis
Art: Carlos Ezquerra
Colours: David Baron
Letters: Phil Balsman

For a comic that wears its radical counter-cultural credentials on its sleeves, The Authority also has a history of worm’s eye views of its protags (Stormwatch: Team Achilles- a comic that seems to have sunk without trace), not to mention outright spoofery. The present comic falls into the latter category, being the 3rd series to feature the adventures of the hapless Kevin and the most dangerous fighters of the good fight in comicdom.

First of a series of 5, this issue makes me think that the 3rd run of the Authority and Kevn might be the funniest yet. Ennis’ script had me guffawing like a buffoon in places, with its witty pastiche on the Aliens series of movies: “I’m a v…”. No, I just can’t give the slightest hint of a spoiler here.

Also of note for this reader was the artwork by Carlos Ezquerra. He was one of the favourite artists of my childhood, with work on such great stories as ‘Major Easy’- a Clint Eastwood clone in the Battle comic; or ‘Judge Dredd’ a Clint Eastwood clone in 2000AD. Ezquerra also did the art on what was, for me, a seminal moment in the history of 2000AD- the adaption of Harry Harrison’s The Stainless Steel Rat. Nostalgia aside, Ezquerra’s artwork is as good as ever, and strikes me as being very well suited to this particular subject.

Ghost Rider: The Road to Damnation #1
Writer: Garth Ennis
Art: Clayton Grain
Letters: Chris Elipoulos

Johnny Blaze, a.k.a. the Ghost Rider will need no introduction to many of my regular readers. Those who need an introduction to this- one of Marvel's iconically weird 1970's characters: well, what do you think google is for?

I saw this comic on the shelf and it all but jumped into my hand. From its delicious cover to its last panel, I just loved this comic. Everything that made Ennis’ work on Preacher so powerful seems to be on display here. Sure, the nods to the Constantine movie strike even me as being pretty obvious. But I don’t care. I just really enjoyed all the moves Ennis was pulling here.

The artwork deserves special mention. I’m sometimes not a fan of ‘photoreal’ comic art. Illustration of this sort is often too wooden to my eye, which means that it loses precisely the sense of dynamism that is one of comic art’s greatest strengths. But Crain’s artwork in this comic is just lovely. It has a sort of manga-esqe feel to it that makes it cartoony and fluid. And Crain’s rendering of the flames of hellfire and damnation is just lovely. You can almost feel those flames licking across your hand as you turn the page.

This comic is going onto my regular order pronto, so that I don’t miss the rest of this more-than-merely promising looking 6-part miniseries.

Wildcats: Vicious Circles (TPB vol.2)
DC/Wildstorm
Writer: Joe Casey
Art: Sean Phillips
Colours: Wildstorm FX
Letters: Richard Starkings and Saida Temofonte

This one is going to have to be brief after all that has gone before.

I’m a bit of a fan of the DC/Wildstorm universe, it being pretty close to the way I like to do superheroes in roleplaying. My acquaintance began with The Authority, moved on to the original Ellis Stormwatch, and more lately I’ve started trying to follow up on Wildcats.

This TPB compilation of ##8-13 is great stuff. I love the premise- of superheroes as warriors in a long-concluded alien war; Casey’s plot and dialogue provide great characters and layer upon layer of intrigue, all delivered through writing that is a joy to read (except for the odd bit in French, which just got on my tits frankly); and Phillips’ artwork is the sort of stuff I really like- definitely comicbook and not ashamed to show it, with a real flair for cinematic panel layouts that are active co-conspirators in the story.

Mention must also be made of the lettering and the colours. The former uses differing font styles to denote different voices in a way that doesn’t get too tricksy. Hardly novel these days (or those days- these comics date from 2000- either no doubt), but I found that these techniques really did add something to the stories. The colouring uses naturalistic tones mostly, with variations on a chosen hue to represent unusual lighting conditions. Again, not novel, but nicely done.

All in all then, each of the different elements of this comic were done to a uniformly high standard. The overall effect is of a superior adaption of something by Raymond Chandler or Graham Greene. Which is pretty good going for a comic IMO. I certainly intend to fill out my collection of Wildcats TPB’s.

Good reading everyone. ;)

General gamism #1

This is the heading under which I will discuss what you might call games theory. Longtime readers might recall that I touched on this from day 1 here at RD/KA! . Otherwise, you might’ve noticed the odd aside in which I expressed games-theoretical opinions in other articles. I would even go so far as to venture the hope that some regular readers will have been waiting for just such an article as I now propose to deliver.

So, without further ado: RD/KA! presents the first of JMcL63’s discourses on ‘General gamism’:

Player use of non-PC knowledge: metagaming munchkinism; or sane and sensible roleplay?
This theme is immediately inspired by 2 things:

1. Andy P’s witty remark about the ‘4th wall’ in response to an early ‘My little Old World’ column.
2. My subsequent experience of the issues Andy’s remark raised while GM’ing my WFRP2 campaign.

What I intend to expound are my thoughts on the apparently quite widespread opinion that there is a conflict between: good roleplaying, on the one hand; and players’ use of their own (ie. not their PC’s) knowledge of a given setting or system during play. In other words, the opinion that if a PC don’t know it, the player can’t use it.

My attitude to this can be summed up quite straightforwardly: the pox take anyone who tries to belittle my (or anyone else’s) roleplaying because I am willing to use my non-PC setting and/or system knowledge to roleplay more effectively and entertainingly (not always as synonymous as they might appear btw).

In my- admittedly limited- knowledge of contemporary roleplaying theory, this kind of play is typically stigmatised by 1 of 2 terms. These terms are: ‘munchkinism’ and ‘metagaming’. The application of these terms seems to vary according to:

1. The kind of player whose roleplaying is being so done down.
2. The kind of player who is dishing out the doing down.

I won’t be spending any more time on that stuff. Except, that is, to issue an obligatory and fairly obvious disclaimer: rampant munchkinism (a.k.a. powergaming) is A Bad Thing. So is rampant metagaming. But so, also, is rampant pretty much anything else in roleplaying, according to the old nostrum- “too much of a good thing”. (NB. Even that disclaimer needs its own disclaimer, but I’ve no intention of falling into the fallacy of the infinite regress in RD/KA!’s first ‘General gamism’ column.)

Anyhoo, to my point. It seems to me that this particular brand of roleplaying One-True-Wayism (OTW Ultra-Immersion Theory… hmm, that has a nice ring to it… OTWUIT - crap acronym though); anyhoo, this UIT strikes me as fallacious on 2 counts:

1. It is psychologically implausible- for the players
2. It is psychologically implausible- for the PC’s.

Is that too cute? I don’t know. I’ll take these in turn, as is my wont.

Impossible demands on players
In essence this is not a complicated matter: it is psychologically impossible to erect an impermeable mental barrier between your own setting/system knowledge, on the one hand; and your PC’s notional self-consciousness, on the other. To attempt to do so is frankly barking; to succeed would be quite literally schizoid.

Moreover: GM’s make use of precisely this kind of knowledge, if they are any good at their jobs; eg. designing NPC’s tweaked to a given PC’s weaknesses. If this is fair- indeed: to be expected- as GM, why should the exact same mode of play be considered intrinsically unfair as PC?

This is to begin to home in on the gist of my dislike of this stance. What I mean to say is this: even if a hardline application of UIT weren’t to reach genuinely psychotic extremes, it strikes me that it would be the kiss of death to enjoyable roleplaying in any event. Why do I say this? Because it invites- if not actually requires- players to become their very own ‘thought police’, in the service of their very own ‘Big Brother’- the exact opposite of free creative expression in other words. That this is to take place in the pursuit of a psychologically impossible goal strikes me as a somewhat disturbing addendum to thinking that is, in the end, really rather counter-productive.

Part of what I mean to say here falls under the next topic. The other part is this: if, as I argue, this UIT is indeed psychologically impossible, then why get so twisted up over player use of non-PC knowledge? Just like anything else that is inevitable in roleplaying, good players- be they GM or PC- will simply take it for granted, and exploit it for maximum entertainment value.

Hamstringing PC’s
In a roleplaying game PC’s are inherently limited by virtue of what they are: ie. abstract constructs in pencil and paper (P&P) rpgs. They have no sense of self, no senses, no independent perceptions- nothing. Sure, a good GM will try to compensate for this, try to bring the PC’s immediate surroundings and their wider world(s) to life as vividly as possible. But at the end of the day even the greatest GM’s will be both limited and partial.

Limited: because they cannot simulate even a fraction of the real modes of experience (of ‘reality’, not EP’s, you munchkins!) that PC’s necessarily lack. Partial: because GM’s have no choice but to focus on the particular mote- of that fraction- that suits their own immediate purposes in the game (and hopefully everyone else’s too).

What these remarks amount to is an argument towards this conclusion: UIT is bad thinking because precisely what it disparages is the great equaliser in the situation outlined above. That is to say: the sole conceivable means available to players to give them a real form of knowledge enabling them- to some degree- to circumvent the inherent limitations of PC’s as gaming constructs. In other words: a kind of knowledge which- in substituting for all the inevitably lacking modes of experience of a real, thinking being- can give depth to PC’s and bring them to life (subject to all the all-too-familiar disclaimers, naturally enough).

Conclusion
According to the case I have here presented, there is a widespread consensus among a section of roleplayers in favour of a conception of intelligent play in roleplaying that is simultaneously psychologically inane (which is being kind) and crippling to rich play of PC’s. There is a definite subtext to this it seems to me: disabling the PC’s; which can, perforce, only spuriously empower the GM. And this in the name of good roleplaying? I beg to differ.

Epilogue
My fellow blogger RPGpundit has already had much to say about this fairly obvious subtext to this thinking. I have to confess that I sometimes shudder at his invective. But I’ve always agreed with his arguments.

29/9/05
ED. Corrected link leading to wrong page.