Historicon

The ODGW crew will be at H-con, running games and available for your compliments or complaints, as the spirit moves you. We always like to hear from our gamers, so stop by our host room, down the hallway on the left. Same location we have had for several years now. I will be running the Battle of Empress Augusta Bay on Friday at 10a with GQIII, not on Thursday as the program says. Hope to see some of you there.

The Lone Sentry

Here is a great site dedicated to providing contemporary information about WWII subjects. Within it are copies of field manuals, photographs, documents, and research on World War II. A wealth of good information, especially for those investigating infantry and artillery tactics of the war.

beta testing

We have hammered our latest module for General Quarters III into near beta testing shape. It has come a long way from an idea in someone's head to where it is now, and I am very pleased with the core around which the game has been built. Now it goes out to blind playtesters to try out. This is where the real test of the system happens, when people with absolutely no familiarity with the game try to play it. Are the rules well-written? Is the game playable? Is it balanced?

There is no substitute for this step, and games that do not go through it, or do it inadequately, show it. Glaring errors of syntax, grammar, holes in the rules, etc, point to this step being stinted. It is just poor editing and publishing. Not to say that anything is perfect, but a lot of situations could and should be foreseen by trying to break a rules system in advance of general distribution.

SoCal gaming

It may always be hard to put together a group and keep it together, no matter where you are, but in southern California, in Los Angeles, it has proven nigh impossible. Despite repeated attempts, and the best gaming terrain around, the Miracle Mile Gamers (MMG) have not been able to maintain a steady group of gamers. Some have moved away, some have drifted away, but it is always a struggle to stock four gamers plus a referee. So when we do, it is an event. I just wish it were more often.

TMP poll

Well, everybody does it, and being from Los Angeles, I can attest to it being done all the time — "for your consideration." There is a TMP poll here for the best new rules set or supplement of 2008, and our own humble Solomons Campaign is nominated. Take a look, and consider it.

Battlelines, Anyone?

Is there anyone out there who uses these rules? They are really a fine set, somewhat flawed in their American Battlelines incarnation by one or two errors in the text, but otherwise a very worthwhile and good addition to horse & musket gaming. Within the next two years I hope to have a new version of either a core rules set called Historical Battlelines, or, choosing a different path, begin writing a complete game for each period. All depends on what we choose to do.

That D*** Web Site

Anyone who has the slightest experience with ODGW has probably at one time or another run afoul of our web site quirks and downright flaws. Now we are redesigning it from the ground up. This is the most effort we have put into it yet, and we are hoping it will pay off. The things we ask our web site to do are fairly complex, but not impossible. We need it to be reliable and easy to use for our customers. Hopefully, this time it will work.

first view of Meine Truppen

Like pulling the wrapping off the present, the first looks at Meine Truppen have been presented to the various playtesters and to the ODGW staff. There will certainly be some difficulty in overcoming previous notions of the Mein Panzer system. The best I can hope for is that everyone keep an open mind to the changes.