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Apache thunderbolt leader kicked my butt on day one. I didn't take enough risks and mismanaged my aircraft so and my second mission had no hope. I had tried to take better notes but I had to keep reading the rules and just got tired of writing. Tomorrow brings another round after I cruise through the rules again for some clarifications. But so far I really like the game and can see me playing it enough to get my money's worth. Tomorrow I will run Iraq and rapid deployment just to mix things up. I also understand why "people" clip the corners of chits. My plano box storage is less than ideal and I will be ordering GMT trays. Ropes4u fucked around with this message at 04:55 on Jun 29, 2014 |
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Jun 29, 2014 03:54
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Ropes4u posted:Probably a dumb question but...
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Jun 29, 2014 09:00
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Note to self: all the weapons in the world won't help when you run out of fuel. Round three might be the charm. 
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Jun 29, 2014 20:13
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That is beautiful, I must say.
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Jun 29, 2014 22:50
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Nice stuff, hope you are having fun with it because it's a pretty neat game.
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Jun 29, 2014 23:25
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Played a full day of the Iraq / Rapid Deployment scenario before I realized I wasn't supposed to flip a special conditions card every mission. I was really doing well so it was a bit if a "WTH" moment. I decided to start over on my next days off, my wife isn't letting this take up the dinner table for weeks at a time. Two things can improve my life with the game: I really need a table I can stand up at so my back doesn't hurt so badly, and so i don't take up the dinner table for days at a time. GMT trays or better Plano boxes for storage would help with my desire to stay organized. But I after a day of geeking on this game I can say it was definitely worth the money. Further, I know think everyone should own a few solitaire games..
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Jun 30, 2014 01:09
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I need to get Navajo Wars back on the table: need to see if I can actually manage to get to the American era.
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Jun 30, 2014 01:15
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Tekopo posted:I need to get Navajo Wars back on the table: need to see if I can actually manage to get to the American era. I really want to buy the next version of Navajo wars (forgot the name) but my copy of Andean Abyss has scared me. But the games are so beautiful I will probably buy them all, so sad... Ropes4u fucked around with this message at 01:31 on Jun 30, 2014 |
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Jun 30, 2014 01:21
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Do you mean Comancheria? Also, played some more Unconditional Surrender yesterday, we managed to knock out another year (September 1940 to September 1941), where I started the invasion of the USSR and managed to get as far as Rostock/Smolensk by the start of September. Unfortunately spain joined the war and with a safe base in Majorca that I couldn't intercept supply from, my North African Army got attritioned out of existence, although I still have the Afrika Corps ready to go and I still hold Tobruk. Getting supply down is difficult though but it will be too much of a NW hit if I lose all the cities in Italian North Africa. Syria also went down without a fight as well. I might be playing Reluctant enemies at some point in the future, should be good!
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Jun 30, 2014 11:53
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Tekopo posted:Do you mean Comancheria? Exactly, I couldn't remember the name and will probably forget again. Are you leaving unconditional surrender set up, or starting over every play?
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Jun 30, 2014 13:25
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Ropes4u posted:Exactly, I couldn't remember the name and will probably forget again. We did about a year in 6 hours for the start (but that included more or less setting up and needing to go through the rules). The second year we managed to do in about 4 hours and we were getting to the stage where we could just remember most if not all of the DRMs by heart and just list them without going to the reference card. It's pretty easy once you get a good handle in it and combat is extremely fast.
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Jun 30, 2014 13:54
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So did Fire in the Lake get charged for anyone today yet?
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Jul 1, 2014 20:58
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KomradeX posted:So did Fire in the Lake get charged for anyone today yet?
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Jul 1, 2014 21:49
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Does anybody out there know a good program for making hex maps? At this point I'm screenshoting google maps in a grid pattern around areas I like so that maybe (if I can figure out how) I can splice them together and overlay a hex grid on them. Some Test Counters (mostly made by hacking up existing stuff) 
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Jul 2, 2014 02:27
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Numlock posted:Does anybody out there know a good program for making hex maps? At this point I'm screenshoting google maps in a grid pattern around areas I like so that maybe (if I can figure out how) I can splice them together and overlay a hex grid on them. Hexographer is what I've heard, but I haven't messed with it too much.
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Jul 2, 2014 02:35
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StashAugustine posted:Hexographer is what I've heard, but I haven't messed with it too much. Its a neat program but at least with the free version it doesn't seem like the included tile-sets are going to work with ogre, or at least not fit in with the scale.
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Jul 2, 2014 20:20
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Got a GMT email saying they are charging soon, can't wait!
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Jul 2, 2014 20:31
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Ropes4u posted:Note to self: all the weapons in the world won't help when you run out of fuel. Round three might be the charm. I own Phantom leader and think it's really cool, and I'd like to kind of get a feel for the way the "Leader" series combines discrete missions, story/event elements, and persistent impact on your squadron/force. Can anyone elaborate any on how Thunderbolt/Apache Leader and Hornet Leader differ? I'd like to pick up one of those, but given the price point I don't really feel like picking up the whole series...
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Jul 2, 2014 20:43
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Day 2 of playing TAL and I am going for a bike ride after getting smoked on mission 2. I'm no expert on solitaire games but resources are very tight in this game. I suggest not getting attached to your imaginary pilots, cause two imaginary funerals happened this morning at our house. Starting over when I get back... 
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Jul 2, 2014 21:00
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I can't speak about Hornet Leader but I heard it isn't very different from Phantom Leader. TAL is completely different: for a start, campaigns both have a setting (Iraq, North Korea redux etc) which decides some of the difficulty of the campaign and situations, which show your actual objective (and can potentially make things harder/easier). The campaign itself is different because it uses persistent enemy formations that can be in a series of combat bands: either in the enemy rear (means that you can loiter for less turns), the enemy front-line, your front-line, your rear etc. Usually the game ends if the enemy manages to reach your base. You get to select which enemy formations you attack and during attacks you either outright obliterate the enemy or reduce them: you get additional points for destroying 100% of the enemies as well. Formantions can consist of different troops: some might be support formations that hinder you if they are alive at the end of the turn, some might be tank formations that can quickly reach your base, some might be large infantry formations: there are a lot of choices to make at any one time concerning what you want to target. Once you select a target, the combat takes place on a battlemap that is randomly created using hexagonal boards, which is then randomly dispersed with the enemies: this makes every combat an interesting, unique, deadly puzzle. You get a certain number of loiter turns in which to zoom around the map trying to destroy enemies, but if you stay too long you can go bingo fuel and might lose the aircraft on the way back. The combat is slightly different from Phantom Leader and the going Low/High has different connotations: everything can hit you regardless of height, but if you stay low you can use ridges to hide your approach: of course, flying over ridges when Low makes your pilot stress and potentially lose the plane. Flying high means that you don't have to worry about crashing into ridges, but everything around you can shoot you and you have to draw 'Pop-Up' counters as well. All in all, the combat feels more puzzly, more tactical and much better than in Phantom Leader. Another improvement is the way that you get ammunition: instead of using points to get certain ammo (but not other) like in Phantom Leader, you use your Points to get ordnance points and then use those to buy everything (iirc you get 10 OP per point spent). This allows you to get more bang for your back although it means that you need to be more careful because if you use up all your points then you can't arm your poo poo at all. Most scenarios, though, give you an income per turn, so it's not so bad, but other situations (f.ex. the one where you are surrounded by enemy forces) are more limited. Another good thing about the game is that it divides aircraft and pilots: aircraft can get damaged outside of simply showing pilot stress, which adds an interesting touch since you have to decide just how risky it is to let your pilot fly a heavily damaged plane. So, all in all, TAL really is the better Leader game. There's more choices to make, more interesting combat, better management of your resources and better, more dynamic campaigns.
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Jul 2, 2014 21:04
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Tekopo posted:Got a GMT email saying they are charging soon, can't wait! So pumped about this, going to be playing the sound track of every Vietnam War movie I can think of woke playing it. Just started re watching Vietnam The Ten Thousand Day War in anticipation.
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Jul 2, 2014 21:38
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Tekopo posted:I can't speak about Hornet Leader but I heard it isn't very different from Phantom Leader. OK, this sold me -- it's got basically everything I am looking for. (I'm mining the series for ideas on assembling a Campaign system for my Battletech group, and this sounds like an absolutely brilliant fit)
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Jul 2, 2014 21:44
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Quarter to Three did a podcast with Dan Verssen just 2 weeks ago and, among other things, they do talk about the differences between the three Leader games in both theme and mechanics. http://pca.st/04Ld
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Jul 2, 2014 21:44
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Fire in the Lake rules and playbook are up.  http://www.gmtgames.com/p-450-fire-in-the-lake.aspx
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Jul 4, 2014 20:57
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Dre2Dee2 posted:Fire in the Lake rules and playbook are up. EDIT:  I've been charged by GMT
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Jul 4, 2014 21:52
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Tekopo posted:Read the rules so far: the game seems fairly similar to ADP, although having two distinct sides should make the politics somewhat more limited. It's going to be very much an ARVN vs NVA, US vs VC fight it seems. Does it look better than "Andean Abyss"
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Jul 4, 2014 23:25
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Ropes4u posted:Does it look better than "Andean Abyss" The game itself is very close to ADP. I like the look of it but I'd have to see how it plays before I can really pass judgement.
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Jul 4, 2014 23:29
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Tekopo posted:Is that implying that AA is bad? It's a longer game and it's necessarily going to feel slightly more wargamey. Although, to be fair, AA was a good design but CL and ADP are certainly better. I'm not implying that AA is bad at all. I was just asking if it's an improvement over a game I have in my collection. AA is a game I haven't has time to work through yet. I need to make some time to work through it soon. I got side tracked by TAL. Ropes4u fucked around with this message at 00:05 on Jul 5, 2014 |
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Jul 4, 2014 23:58
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Could it be... a Roman Empire COIN game?  
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Jul 5, 2014 22:00
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Dre2Dee2 posted:Could it be... a Roman Empire COIN game? Where have you seen this? gently caress Vietnam, I MUST HAVE IT.
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Jul 5, 2014 22:06
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Holy moly.
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Jul 5, 2014 22:13
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Riso posted:Where have you seen this? gently caress Vietnam, I MUST HAVE IT. GMTs Instagram account, they post a lot of stuff there they don't anywhere else
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Jul 5, 2014 22:54
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I was getting afraid that it was some random person's take on COIN, but I'm now needlessly excited about it now.
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Jul 6, 2014 00:55
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Even the counters in their mocked up version of the game have clipped corners. Coming from board gaming i didn't even know this was a thing till this thread. I need to get on this level.
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Jul 6, 2014 01:24
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Tekopo posted:I was getting afraid that it was some random person's take on COIN, but I'm now needlessly excited about it now. Based on the reviews and excitement every time a COIN game is released the publishers This morning as I watched a review of Zulus on the ramparts it dawned on me why I have been obsessing over war games lately. The movie and books around Rorke's Drift have special meaning for me because my father I watched and read the books together. The movie and books provided common ground in a relationship that was not always perfect. But war was something we could discuss with very similar emotions and thoughts. A person can pick almost any period of time in history and find a war that is shaping the world, or the people in it. Despite the horrors of a war the decisions before, during, and after are fascinating. And though I am not an expert it appears the COIN series does a pretty decent job of allowing you make a decision, but you also see how it may/will hurt you on the next turn. Imagine the difficulty in choosing to send soldiers back into Iraq. Realistically this president may well be dead before his decisions are totally played out and fairly judged. No matter what he decided to do people are going to die, and everyone will second guess him. Additionally I have had family, and friends, serve in every war from WW1 through Afghanistan and those people provide a connection I cannot get with Netrunner or Eclipse. I'm not sure where I was going with these words, sorry for the dump..
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Jul 6, 2014 01:47
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I just realized I have a wargame...that means I can clip the counters.
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Jul 6, 2014 02:06
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Finally got around to playing Space Empires on vacation. We played the basic game with instant tech upgrades and I ended up having to concede because it seemed like the only thing I could do would be to drag the game on. I think under that particular set of rules that situation could come up quite often. Hopefully the advanced rules make it harder for the game to stalemate or get reduced to an unfun grind. I imagine using the normal technology rules (no instant upgrades) would help a lot too.
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Jul 6, 2014 04:33
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I'm new to ordering stuff off GMT, does anyone know when the next printing of Cuba Libre or A Distant Plain will be?
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Jul 6, 2014 16:13
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StashAugustine posted:I'm new to ordering stuff off GMT, does anyone know when the next printing of Cuba Libre or A Distant Plain will be? When they get 500 more orders for it, though I think Cuba Libre and A Distant Plain have gone though two printings at least. But I could be misremembering.
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Jul 6, 2014 18:47
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This is a public service announcement: Unconditional Surrender Europe finally has a vassal module.
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Jul 10, 2014 06:54
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