Messages

226

General Discussion / Re: POLL: Social Media Evolution

« on: August 21, 2021, 12:23:33 am »

To clarify my earlier post, I am not totally against newer social media and tonight I had every intention of logging on to admit that without Facebook it would have been much more difficult to find that the videos of NavyCon 2021 and forward are being stored on Youtube under NavyCon Official in place of USNA Museum.

However, tonight also saw the soft cancellation of Star Wars Armada via three casual sentences on Facebook.

I rarely use social media because it is designed for brevity, and I find that messaging on forums is a more permanent act, that makes later reference possible.

Forums cannot be beat for searchability!

227

General Discussion / Re: NavyCon 2021

« on: August 20, 2021, 11:54:07 pm »

Great job on the presentation!  I missed the event but just watched the panels on Youtube.

228

News and Rumors / Star Wars Armada 2022 and beyond...

« on: August 20, 2021, 11:47:34 pm »

Atomic Mass Games released the following today on the future of Armada...

As we move into 2022 and beyond, we are excited to continue support of Star Wars: Armada by prioritizing reprints of existing products and through Organized Play initiatives.  However, we currently do not have any new Armada products in development.  We will provide additional information as it becomes available.

...I would have posted a link, but Atomic Mass only posted an image of the message on social media.  There still isn't any dedicated page on any of the legacy Star Wars games they were assigned on their site, besides the press releases, but I am positive it is only a matter of time.  It hasn't even been 10 months since the first announcement and these things take time, apparently.

229

General Discussion / Re: POLL: Social Media Evolution

« on: August 18, 2021, 06:45:07 pm »

Forums cannot be beat for searchability!

230

Naval Video Game Discussion / Rebel Galaxy

« on: August 13, 2021, 09:23:51 pm »

Rebel Galaxy is free this week through the Epic Games store...

Fly a corvette through an open system, delivering cargo, escorting merchants, mining asteroids, and collecting bounties on pirates that coincidentally make up 30% of the population apparently.  The mission system and game economy tied to station nodes is based off Privateer from the 90s but with current high definition graphics.

The world is 2.5D instead of 3D with ships being assigned to slightly higher or lower planes as they come into close proximity, and the controls are much more simplified than a true space simulator.  Each ship has multiple weapon systems with an AI taking on firing whichever system the player is not currently controlling, and upgrades can be purchased that improve the targeting.

Missions have assigned difficulty / risks at the acceptance screen, and as you approach encounters a color coded danger rating comes up on the screen.  The game's definition of moderate risk is not what I would expect, but that is just at an hour in, and with the introductory ship there is a good chance of escaping an overly hostile encounter.  After being destroyed, you reset back at the last station docked at, and there is the option to drop any non-plot missions that are too difficult for your current ship.

231

Misc. Naval Games / Re: Kings of War : Armada Core Rules

« on: August 06, 2021, 09:25:08 pm »

Just received my copy of Seas Aflame today, and I have a breakdown of this expansion below…

Seas Aflame – 72 pages – 9781911516354

Introduction, Credits – 4 pages

Background – 21 pages
There are 10 pages devoted to flavor text and narratives, and another 11 pages of full art.

Map – 2 pages
There is a large map with all the major bodies of water of Pannithor, major ports, and nations marked to use as inspiration for setting up campaigns.

Rules – 9 pages
The rules are split between the introduction of fliers as a new unit type, and the use of fortifications.

Campaign – 12 pages
Linking games through a campaign is the largest section by page count, and at first appearance, these rules are the most substantial part of this expansion.

Scenarios – 11 pages
Another ten scenarios are included, with four specifically incorporating fortifications.

Fleet Previews – 13 pages
Only one of the upcoming fleets includes renders of the ships, but the other three fleets have concept art included along with the planned roles of their ships.

Overall, I am looking forward to working through all of the details of Seas Aflame as it has just as much depth (!) as any of the other expansions for Mantic’s first and foundational game Kings of War.  While Kings of War provides the setting for Armada, with what they have put together here, I can see Armada being used in the future as an avenue to build out that wider world as well.

232

The Shipyard / Re: Star Wars first pass

« on: August 04, 2021, 11:22:08 pm »

My first attempt at a structure / terrain piece, here is a Haven class medical station from the first season...


And another view from the top.

233

The Shipyard / Re: Star Wars first pass

« on: July 27, 2021, 11:10:59 pm »

Here is a set of Delta 7 interceptor tokens, along with a Hyperdrive ring, which will probably be used as an objective.

234

Misc. Naval Games / Kings of War : Armada Core Rules

« on: July 27, 2021, 11:06:56 pm »

Mantic does have free learn to play rules available, but they are designed to only be a supplement to an initial teaching game, so I thought I would post a breakdown on the contents of the core rulebook for Armada to serve a comparison to the first expansion…

Kings of War Armada – 96 pages – 5060469666419

Introduction, Credits, Components – 7 pages

Background – 39 pages
Flavor text and narratives make up 17 pages to build up the setting of Pannithor, and another 22 pages of composite art, line art, and photos can also serve as inspiration.  Those full pages are apart from the smaller pieces of art that are spread throughout the rest of the book.

Rules – 22 pages
The core rules include multiple diagrams and are much more detailed than the 5 free to download starter pages, also included are the advanced rules for wind and terrain.

Fleet Building – 3 pages
The guidelines for building a fleet are included along with the optional upgrade tables to fill out remaining points.

Scenarios – 11 pages
Ten scenarios are included along with setup diagrams.  There are also alternative map setups designed for these scenarios available as a free download.

Fleet Previews – 12 pages
At the time of printing only the two starter fleets were available, but previews of all four of the first fleets are included along with renders of the ships that were not released at that point.

Reference Sheets – 2 pages

I will put up a breakdown on the contents of Seas Aflame as soon as my copy arrives.  (50)

235

The Shipyard / Re: Ruckdog's Modern Naval Project

« on: July 24, 2021, 07:54:33 pm »

The wakes are nice, and when I saw the deck details on the John Stennis from the gallery, I was blown away.  Great job!

236

News and Rumors / Re: Kings of War: Armada (Mantic Games Fantasy Naval Combat)

« on: July 12, 2021, 12:19:30 am »

I already have my preorder in for Seas Aflame, as I was looking forward to the introduction of flying units into the game, but I was not expecting how much was going to be added into Armada.  There is a new preview up on Mantic's blog and I never knew that I needed coastal fortifications until I saw it listed here...

https://www.manticgames.com/news/five-reasons-all-armada-players-need-the-new-seas-aflame-supplement/

Also, the mentions of additional scenarios and a campaign framework is also intriguing, not fortification level, but intriguing nonetheless.

237

The Shipyard / Re: Star Wars first pass

« on: July 10, 2021, 03:05:36 pm »

Here are ARC-170 fighter tokens...


And was I saving the best for LAAT?

238

Historical Naval Games / Re: The Battle Of May Island

« on: July 02, 2021, 09:39:25 pm »

Thank you for the link, the video was really well produced... it made me nostalgic for the days long past when the History Channel was a channel that was about history.

239

News and Rumors / Spruance Leader from DVG

« on: June 28, 2021, 09:10:40 pm »

Just saw this on Kickstarter when I was getting another Battletech delay notification...  Spruance Leader is Dan Verssen Games' latest entry in the Hornet Leader / Phantom Leader series setting a solitaire player in charge of a task force in the North Atlantic during the Cold War.  The enemies cover air, surface, and underwater targets in the missions across the campaign, and it looks like the inclusion of subs really expands the detection phase compared to their earlier games.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/danverssengames/dvg-spruance-leader

My only other experience with a solitaire fleet scale game was Astra Titanus, which was abusively difficult, and after a scan of the draft rules they have put up on the Kickstarter, this seems much more approachable as each mission is scored against a goal instead of pass / fail like AT.

240

Dystopian Wars / Re: My First Attempt At A DW Scratchbuild.

« on: June 25, 2021, 03:28:19 pm »

Nice, what was your motivation in the custom unit, were you looking to use the carrier as an addition to your force for a role not currently in that faction, or as a replacement for a faction unit that was not measuring up?