Incunabula

Between here, the Two Sides blog, and various other places, I’m sure I’ve mentioned that I consider the Combat Commander rulebook to be the best boardgame rulebook I’ve read in years, if not ever. Part of how it ended up that way was because Chad Jensen (the designer) was fed up with other gaming rulebooks and decided to do one right. A sentiment shared by many wargamers throughout the world, though I’d say probably only Chad and Ed Beach (GCACW/Here I Stand) have managed to pull it off.

To add on to this, here’s a post by John Foley - series developer - that I’ve lifted from ConsimWorld (which I’d link directly to, but the site is not structured to reliably support deep linking) that goes into how they’re planning future Combat Commander expansions (FWIW, this is post #15498 in the Combat Commander forum):

Rodger [ed: MacGowan] and I have a “mutual support” strategy between C3I and battle packs. For various reasons, the battle packs will not be larger than “a certain size” but we will have more materials that can fit into a particular battle pack for the subject.

So - the idea is to provide at roughly the same time (same year, I suppose), materials on the chosen subject BOTH in a battle pack and in an issue of C3I. So, Danny, Volko and I will have scenarios in the upcoming C3I which would have fit into this battle pack. Those who purchase the BP and C3I will see that “Normandy” rules will have been PRE-HARMONIZED where applicable. The C3I issued material will NOT depend on the BP (and vice versa), but you will be “playing the same environment” for the most part.

BP #4, which is in the “sketching mode” as we speak will continue to utilize this strategy and in fact, I expect to have enough material that MORE THAN ONE C3I issue will supplement that BP.

CC:P BP#1 will do the same.

So C3I will supplement your BP purchases. In some cases, you should expect that the materials in C3I will depend on ownership of “other BP’s” - for example, Volko’s mini-campaign, does require the purchase of BP #1, not just the base modules. I do not want to always make this kind of requirement, but on the other hand, when something this good is created, I want to make sure it is shared, and C3I will be perfect for this approach.

We have a three-layer general strategy: (1) The base modules provide the RSG, which is as fine a game generator as has EVER been designed in board gaming (all hail Chad!) - which gives players the opportunity to test each other in a special mano-a-mano way in a completely unique situation; (2) The base modules provide the standard scenarios, which will allow the greatest number to play heavily tested signature scenarios; and (3) The battle packs will investigate a topic in greater depth, focusing on historical details, historical maps and leaders and units - the core of the experience is the “historical narrative” - which may or may not appeal to MOST, but hopefully will appeal to MANY.

Thanks again for your enthusiastic support and hopefully we’ll still deliver years of GAMING FUN for you.

So, there’s a concrete plan: Approximately one BP/year with complementary material in a copy of C3i coming out around the same time. Each BP provides an in-depth historical narrative on a specific topic.

And boy, there’s a ton of topics to choose from.

What’s going to be interesting to see is if they do a fourth boxed game. Each game so far has had two Allied and one Axis power per box. (Americans/Russians vs. Germans, British/Allied Minors vs. Italians, and Americans/Commonwealth vs. Japanese) There doesn’t seem to be enough left to create decks of cards for anyone else. I’m betting against another boxed game, but you never know.

Just saw this ad on my facebook account:

Facebook ad for, well, what exactly?

One of those “start your own online business” things. Except guess who the guy is in that photo? Yep, that hairline and mustache are unmistakable. It’s Ron Jeremy. Probably the most recognizable male porn star in the world.

So, WHAT kind of online business is it again?

And no, I haven’t clicked on the ad.

Okay, it’s an internet meme. Yawn.

Difference - this one was actually fun, and involves a bit of creativity.

Here’s how it works:

1. Go to “wikipedia.” Hit “random… Read More… Read More” or click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random.
   The first random wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.
2. Go to “Random quotations” or click http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3.
   The last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album.
3. Go to flickr and click on “explore the last seven days” or click http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days.
   Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.
4. Use photoshop or similar to put it all together.

I got hit with this meme on Facebook, so naturally it had you tag those you wanted to play along. Problem with this one is that it’s so much fun to actually do, work on, then try to come up with the style of music that band would create. Here’s the first two I came up with:

Have fun with it!

A few weeks ago, Mike and I played Scenario C from Combat Commander: Pacific. This scenario covers a charge by Japanese infantry over the Ilu River (sometimes called Battle of the Tenaru or Battle of Alligator Creek). It turns out this exact same encounter is also covered in Avalanche’s Guadalcanal game from the Panzer Grenadier series. (Well, to be precise the Semper Fi! sub-series that they never expanded beyond two entries.)

This spawned an idea in my head. Wouldn’t it be cool to play a sequence of games that started with a tactical representation of a conflict, and then slowly zoomed out to larger and larger scales?

The initial sequence that stuck in my head was this:

1. Scenario C from Combat Commander: Pacific
2. The Tenaru scenario from Panzer Grenadier
3. Solomons Campaign from World at War #2
4. Fire in the Sky

I’m sure there’s quite a few other sequences that would work. I know Edson’s Ridge is another conflict that could be the starting point for the same four games. Other options at level three are Operation Shoestring from GMT and Campaign for Guadalcanal from 3W. I know there’s likely more, but I don’t own them. (nor do I own the two I just mentioned, for that matter.)

At level four, other options are Empire of the Sun and Asia Engulfed. In fact, if I do ever do this, I’ll probably play Asia Engulfed as the level 4 game.

The idea here is that the game at each level handle all types of combat required for that level. A series like Second World War at Sea wouldn’t work, as it doesn’t handle the ground combat you’d see for a full operation.

As the only tactical games I own are Combat Commander, Squad Leader (which I think is complete) and the ASL Starter Kits, those are the points I’d need to start from. The level two game would almost always have to be Panzer Grenadier, but anything that was less than a mile/hex would probably work. The idea here is:

1. Tactical at squad level
2. Tactical at some larger level (platoon/battalion the most common)
3. Operational
4. Strategic

In North Africa, you’d go from CC:Med to PG to, say, Crusader or Gazala from SCS, then Afrika II, DAK II, or Rommel in the Desert at level 4.

On the eastern front, you could go from CC:Stalingrad to Storm over Stalingrad to Stalingrad Pocket II to Defiant Russia.

There’s a ton of options here. The idea intrigues me – I may create a geeklist about it and see where people take it.

At times, the financial crisis can be a bear to understand. Pun intended. Here to serve, however, is one of the best graphical displays of information I’ve seen since Charles Joseph Minard’s poster illustrating Napoleon’s invasion of Russia in 1812. I picked this up off the Mint blog (and it seems to be created by the information presentation experts at WallStats.com). Utter brilliance. A picture’s worth a thousand words, right? Well this one’s worth about 4 trillion dollars by the latest estimate…

Enjoy.

Your visual guide to the financial crisis