[Operation Game Collection] Car Wars/GURPS: The Steve Jackson Connection Part 3

I have been a bit late on this one eh?  Well if those few people who actually read my stupid posts actually commented here or any of the other places I link them maybe I would be inspired more to GIT ER DUN yes?

Anyhow I want to clean up my living room and I got a few pickups these last few weeks.

Let's dig in!

But first since it has been forever, links back to the first two installments:
http://wargamedork.blogspot.com/2013/11/operation-game-collection-car-warsgurps.html

http://wargamedork.blogspot.com/2013/11/operation-game-collection-car-warsgurps_26.html

(NOTE:  You can also click most images for larger ones if you want.)

Six more of the small format Autoduel Quarterlies, four of which have the fun mailing covers on them with their little cartoons and other nifty bits.  I am worried I might already own one of them but I haven't had time to properly inventory them yet.  And they were cheap so at worst it is collateral damage.

One of the big format issues I didn't have and the new retail rerelease edition of classic Car Wars!  Because the Ogre Kickstarter proved to SJG that HOLY SMOKES THEY CAN DO MORE THINGS THAN JUST CRAP OUT AWFUL ARSE MUNCHKIN GAMES ALL DAY LONG.  

For twenty US dollars it is a good value!  It even has precut counters as opposed to the sheets you had to chop up yourself back in the day!  Sadly it keeps to the older format record sheets as opposed to the more advanced look of the last Compendium release.

Something they tried also was a stand alone card game in an anime style given the time it was released.  Obviously they.. didn't exactly get the best art.  The game itself is quite a fun little card game however.  Just ignore their bad attempts at anime people.

The thing under it is that Fantasy Trip remake's one dollar intro product.  A little solo party adventure you can also run players through as a GM.  Has a battle map and some counters to cut.  Neat!

And the previous attempt at a Car Wars reboot.  Get rid of all the cruft, all the absurd levels of megarules and nonsense?  Make it cheap to hop in?  Sure! Even everything in FULL COLOR and toy car sized scale so minis fans can customize toy cars.

But.. are you noticing what 6 bucks got you?  Repeating the majority of rules per book.  No construction rules.  Two cars and two variants plus some minor options.

They broke it down and made things easier to get into but for existing fans it was clearly a giant longer term waste of money if you wanted everything.  And things like a vehicle design ruleset, larger cars and trucks/vans, no motorbikes.  In trying to slim it down they gutted it entirely.  And as it did not do well at all it hamstrung the game as even the vehicles they do have don't fit into a construction ruleset thus even making it a failure in the future had it done well.

Its still basically classic Car Wars just streamlined to the rules you CARE about in an easy to digest format and some lovely counters.  Its just even weapon rules are generally split per book that needs it, while 80-90% of the rules in each booklet are identical.  It could almost be considered a prototype of modern BUY OUR SUPPLEMENTS gaming.  Just.. it was cheaper per hit as opposed to nowadays with 50-60 dollar core rulebooks that still need three or four other books to actually be a properly complete game.  

The rules look lovely though.  Very well put together of products.  And it removes the grid from classic Car Wars meaning it is well suited for miniatures play.  If nothing else consider getting one of the Vs books for a miniatures rules supplement.

And some of the bought at clearance GURPS books I got.  As I have said GURPS itself I think is an ok system it just gets lost up its own ass with tons of extra rules most of the playerbase seems obsessed with.  But the books are fun for fluff if nothing else.

This could even be counted as a proper game system for the amazing Steampunk setting of Castle Falkenstein which is a very addicting and interesting world setting but was also one of the first uber rules light storytelling game styled systems which I am not too keen on personally.  I go for lighter middle levels of rules crunch myself.  Enough to be interesting but not so many as to be overwhelming, annoying, slow, and forgettable in play.

And we finish out with the stand alone Prime Directive GURPS game.  So you don't even need to buy the big ass GURPS Fourth edition megabooks.  Just get Prime Directive and play Starfleet Universe Star Trek with just the GURPS you need.  And the Klingon book is cool fluff for their empire.  Making them more than the silly NOBLE WARRIORS of Next Generation and more than their Original Series NOT SPACE COMMUNIST RUSSIANS YOU JUST CAN'T TRUST.  They are by no means angels but they are interesting antagonists you can play as!  I should really see if they released the Romulan book one of these days...

Keeping with Starfleet Universe and GURPS heritage the artwork is.. nothing special at best.  And given your leanings TOS women's wear in the Federation might be distressing or hot depending on how you feel about such things...  As complicated as GURPS can get I would honestly rather play Trek RPG using this game than using FASA Star Trek rules and ship combat.  I mean I have enough Federation Commander supplements to pretty much cover the entirety of the TOS-Animated era through the Andromedan Invasion...

The core book pretty much has the foundational rules to pretty much play any of the Starfleet Universe races.  It just so happens the SFU is full of furries.  For some people this is a good thing.  For others not so much...  I am in the middle.  Don't mind space animal people races but don't exactly think what most of the furry fanbase really wants out of playing them if you know what I mean..  (And if you don't count your blessings.  Lovecraft was right about ignorance sometimes being a good thing.)

  So as far as I know/remember these are my Car Wars and GURPS things.  I may have more but if I do I don't really remember WHERE they are.  I could have sworn I had a couple more books but if I did my record of it is gone.

 You see part of the reason for this long term collection posting thing I do is not only to show off what I have, and to share my love/like/dislike of various gaming things with others but its also to organize stuff, get it all in the same place so I can find it, and then be inspired to get more storage solutions for them.  In some cases it even makes me remember things I forgot I owned!  Or want to go back and enjoy them again.  I HAVE TOO MUCH STUFF.  So nowadays I am trying to be more responsible in my purchasing and realize how much I already have that I don't get to enjoy.  

  Saves me a hell of a lot of money on Steam sales I tell you what!

Though if I could get more folks to try some of this stuff out and hopefully LIKE IT I might use it more, eh?

Retrocomputing: Why Bother? Quickie January 2015 Update

Yes I have been slow on blog updating.  Well this blog as I have been working on another project as well:  http://masterratings.blogspot.com/

So feel free to go there and read if the Master System is your jam.  Or might be your jam.

(Of course various videogames have been amusing me too.)

But I have been getting the odd bit of retro computing on.

And some Arkanoid with Vaus controller on the NES.  Sadly even with repeated cleaning and even BOILING my cartridge connector it is still not the most reliable of devices.  And my Vaus controller probably needs a little TLC as many old "Paddle" controllers are wont to need.

But let's get on to the proper fun:

 Frogger II!  And the funniest cover to a book ever, Atari computer or not.  Computer or not.  THAT DUDE IS SO DAMNED EXCITED TO BE LEARNING FORTH.  A little too excited methinks.

 Of course I STILL need to figure out how to use the RGB DIN connectors with my computers and consoles for maximum quality.  Or if the closed up SCART connection there has the electronics behind it or not.

 Frogger II is a game I first played in the mid-late 80s on a sort of friend's Coleco Adam computer which is basically a Colecovision only in a computer form.  (That helped kill Coleco.)  I have always wanted to try it again and got a very fair deal.

 Unlike traditional Frogger, this sequel has three different screens all using the basic Frogger gameplay.  A lake, ocean, and sky level.  Its a bit of good fun.  Does it replace the arcade Frogger 1 on my Xbox 360 with improved graphics modes or the Gameboy Advance port that can do the same?  No, but it is some good Frogger fun so rock on!

 Another of the three levels.  Don't ask me how alligators, hippos, and whales are all in the same place alongside ducks and turtles but.. that's videogames for ya!

And I finally tried out a couple of the legitimate game disks that were part of the big Atari 800 lot I got off Craigslist late Spring.  

 Caverns of Khafka which I never did like on the Commodore 64 but this honestly seems like an entirely different game!  A traditional collection platformer of the era.  Doesn't seem too bad.

 A WHOLE 16K OF RAM REQUIRED MAN!    Note the 1400 and 1450 Atari models mentioned!

 Forbidden Forest which I need to figure out the controls.  I kind of liked the C64 original back in the day but I don't know about this port.  Maybe Demogorgon has too many Hit Dice for the ANTIC chip?

 And a game I have never heard of before.

I am certainly going to have to read the manual because it seems weird and ugly as sin and I have no idea what the heck is going on.

There are still a few more possibly legit disks that came with the lot but I haven't gotten around to trying them and many seem to be utilities or Public Domain releases put on a disk with a dot matrix printed label.

I also need to open the Atari 800 up and see if I can't get the N key working.  Shaking it out and spraying compressed air did not help any and I would love to make the 800 my primary Atari 8 bit rig.

Mechwarrior Online: HOLY SMOKES BATMECH! LOTS OF STUFF! (Part 1)

Yes.  Mechwarrior Online rocked out with it robotic crotch ER Medium Laser out over the last two months.  I have so much to talk about it needs to be two posts!

(This one covers the actual patches, the next one will pretty much be tons of screenshots and commentary.)

 We start by remembering remembering the early something of November.  Ing. Quirks get another tweak pass and stuff is modified a bit.

 LRMs get a tiny debuff that doesn't stop people from spamming the things and AMS gets more ammo.  Nice.  Most lasers get a buff of some kind.  I approve.

A good suite of balance changes.  Still doesn't keep idiots from hiding in their backfield and just spamming LRMs as artillery.  Which is boring.

Here is an example of what Quirks do.  The freebie AH Centurion most of us suckers who spent money on the game got has these tweaks.  Quirks really make more mechs viable and encourage people to take more than just the "optimal" current mech of a size class with the same loadout.  It encourages variety which is good for the game.

Here is some of the GIVE US MONEY NOW PLEASE stuff these patches gave us.

 More Clan mechs to get.  Yay.  Sadly I can't use C Bills for the Loki to have a 60 ton Clan mech with ECM until March or so.  

 And now you can spend money on your friends!  THE GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING.  (To PGI.  Money.)

Now the Mad Dog (Vulture), and King Crab can be purchased with real money as opposed to just being reward purchase things.  I have already declared I will use C Bills if not real life money on King Crabs provided I can paint mine like Rampage from Beast Wars.

( http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Rampage_%28BW%29  http://tfwiki.net/mediawiki/images2/thumb/0/0f/BW_Rampage_toy.jpg/646px-BW_Rampage_toy.jpg )

Now more November Rain!

 A great new map (see next post for in match pictures) and a 25 ton Clan mech.  

 More fun but stupid cockpit items and some bug fixes.

 The aforementioned Hellbringer (Loki) is here for real money and some other minor bits.

Not too thrilled with Beagle Probe getting a nerf but eh.  Sometimes you still gotta take it.  It just loses the HAVE THIS appeal it did for Streak Boats.

December had a double content patch then some patches to the patch.

 New cosmetic goodies to waste cash on and some more quirk stuff and patches.

 Two new maps?  Community... Warfare?

IS THE SKY FALLING?  

CAN IT BE?

IT

HAS

BEGUN

(Mortal Kombat!  Doot doo dooot doo.... FIGHT!)

Join us next post (probably next week) for pictures and more info on the fun, lucrative, player bringing back,

Which is good because this game needed a shot in the arm.

Robotech RPG Tactics: Miniature Box First Look/Unboxing

  Like I mentioned in my Kickstarter rant http://wargamedork.blogspot.com/2014/08/kickshart-my-heart-or-why-kickstarter.html I had gotten into the Robotech RPG Tactics Kickstarter yet not only is it stupidly late (something most Kickstarter projects tend to be, and Palladium stuff is anyhow) but my picks would not only be later, but the damned game would be out at retail before my stuff came in!  So one of the local FLGSes had gotten in a shipment of the main game and a number of the box expansions, running around 36-39 dollars MSRP.  (Around 30ish shipped on ebay right now.)

  So what did my 36.50 get me?

 The box is kind of pretty enough.  

 The back shows you what you are getting.  4 models, 2 of each chassis.

 There is a helpful (ish) computer rendered instruction sheet, data cards, the bases, a BIG pack of waterslide decals, and squad cards.

 The other mech is on the back, and there are squadron cards for larger units, including some that require other boxes.  But it seems as if both factions can use the models included, which is very nice.

This however is the problem.  A pair of mechs per sprue.  Not really poseable as they have a default pose pretty much.  Except the way they are assembled requires you to build both mechs at once, and many of them have three or more sprue gates.  It does look to be normal plastic you can use model cement on thoughI am not 100% sure of this yet.  The detail looks pretty solid but..

Around 30 pieces per roughly two inch tall mini?  These are supposed to be GAMING MINIATURES.  To put together a decent army is going to take forever just to assemble, much less paint and finish.  This was not very well thought out.  At least a third of these parts shouldn't be there especially with the generally static poses.

Expect a follow up whenever I get around to building the models so I can compare and contrast to their Battletech cousins and similarly sized Macross models.

Kickstarter Ogre Battle Report!

After nearly a year I FINALLY got to run a game of the Kickstarter Edition of Ogre, in all its massive backbreaking glory.  It is not a game one just throws in the car.  It almost needs its own parking spot in a garage.

But I got a game in and even used the Ogre App for my iPad Air.  And now I will share it.

And to make it REALLY special?

COMIC FORMAT!  Another thing I haven't done in an age.  In this case the orange caption boxes are out of fiction commentary.

Given my serious lack of actual hobby games content on this blog as of late (because posting how I lose horribly at Warmachine/Hordes most weeks doesn't really count as content really), I think I have some inspiration now.

Ogre miniatures are 1/285th scale.  And what else do I have in that scale?

Lots and lots of Titan Legions/Space Marine Epic Warhammer 40K miniatures.

But first I have an Ogre scenario to prepare for this upcoming Saturday at Ellis Con in Danielson CT

I am thinking a GEV scenario of my own devising.

So look out around 4pm for Dude, Where's My Ogre, or Why is That Ogre Talking About a Blood God?