Feed aggregator

"Sound out the trumpet noise, the cannons bark and jump for joy
Someone's dread and darlin' boy has fallen on his saber"
- Hey Ho, by Tracy Grammer



Nothing says summer like a carriage ride down a wooded path...with an artillery piece in tow. :D Maybe that is why I like the ACW so much: so many of the battles took place in some wonderfully bucolic venues. Anuhoo...

So here goes another Scourge of War AAR. This time, for a change of pace, I decided to play with the big guns of an artillery captain, specifically Capt. William A. Tanner, Courtney Light Artillery of Early's Division. Doing a little research, I discovered that this artillery unit was:

...recruited in Henrico County, was organized during June, 1861. After participating in Jackson's Valley Campaign it was assigned to A.R. Courtney's, H.P. Jones', and W.E. Cutshaw's Battalion of Artillery, Army of Northern Virginia. It disbanded early in 1865. The company served in Courtney's, Jones', and Cutshaw's Battalions Reserve Artillery. Its captains were Alfred R. Courtney, Joseph W. Latimer, and William A. Tanner. Tanner himself seemed to be in the thick of a number of battles, including Chancellorsville, Gettysburg and South Mountain. His brief bio has a number of interesting incidents:

TANNER WILLIAM A.: Capt. Born AL Res. Pow Co Enl. as Sgt. July 8,1861 at Deep Run Ch. for 1 year,. Reduced to Cpl by Aug 1861. "Elected 2nd Lt. Apr 28, 1862 at reorganization of Comp." Absent sick June 23 - July 1862. Wounded at Fredericksburg Dec 13, 1862 1" Lt. by Feb 12, 1863. Capt. By Mar. 2, 1863. "Wounded at Bristow Station on 14th Oct 1863." absent from that time. POW, captured Oct. 24, 1863 at Warrenton. Sent to Old Capital Prison, Washington D.C. Nov. 7, 1863. trans. to Ft. Del. Oct. 23, 1864. Sent to Cav. Corp Hospital Nov. 4, 1863. Sent to Hammond Gen Hospital Feb. - Apr. 1864 with "Partial Fract of Condyl External of L. Femur. G.S. wound L. thigh Lower 3d out aspect as out 3 inches above joint, ball striking bone (schrapnel ball) not producing fracture subsequent inflamation and extensive suppuration & still discharging." Trans. to Pt. Lookout from Hammond Gen. Hospital. May 30, 1864. Trans to Wash. D.C. Sept 23, 1864 Exchanged Dec 27, 1864 at City Pt, age 23. Jan 31, 1865 in Staunton Va. Invalid Corp Feb 27, 1865 at private quarters in Rich. NFR, "Entered OSH, Richmond from St. Louis, Mo." Died Dec. 21, 1912, age 73, bur. Hollywood Cem. Lived to 73! Not bad for a man who clearly had seen his fair share of war.

[As an aside, I have to say that it is refreshing to be able to research the people and places featured in a game. I've spent so much time in the world of fictitious gaming that I have forgotten the subtle pleasures of historical gaming.]

This time, the avatar of the good Captain Tanner was ordered by General Early to take his battery and support the division as it repelled a division-sized attack that was expected to come from the west. With that in mind, I limbered up the unit and headed down the turnpike:




The march went without incident and my men had plenty of time to deploy their cannons:




Facing west like everybody else....

Of course, no plan survives first contact with the enemy. As my men were enjoying the shade of the trees, we hear a bit of commotion behind us as another artillery battalion suddenly begin shifting its pieces from the west to the east. As I sat atop my horse scratching my head over this, one of the shifted artillery pieces booms with a shot at something down the road. I spur my horse to go take a look and see...a mess of blues coming down the pike! We're flanked!

I immediately order my men change direction post haste! They do me proud and are in action within minutes:



Turns our we caught 17th Connecticut in the van of an entire Union division. "Give 'em shrapnel, boys!"

The poor 17th is shredded under the weight of my guns, and those of Early's other artillerymen. The feds retreat, giving Early just enough time to redeploy his brigades and engage. "We've got your backs, boys!"




What follows is a loong battle where Early succeeds in pushing the Union division back east up the Turnpike, forcing me to eventually move my battery from it's nicely wooded high ground into the turnpike itself:


Those fallen blues in front of my cannon mark the high-water mark of the 17th Connecticut

We really pushed those fellas, driving their infantry in front of us, and scattering their forward artillery as well (thank you very much! :D). It was all going soooo well....

Then the feds brought up reinforcements. The formerly distant sounds of gunfire suddenly got louder and louder and, before too long, our distant greys...weren't so distant anymore. :OHNO: I knew I had to prepare for trouble when I saw a panicked unit break from the woods and run right past us:


Panic on our left flank!


First thing I did was tell my men to resupply immediately as I knew half of them were under 20 rounds. Somebody flag down that wagon!




Time flew quickly, the enemy's guns growing louder all the while. Suddenly, things started to get hot for us when enemy shells started bursting overhead, and bullets hit a few of my men:




I could see a real firefight raging just a few hundred yards to my front. Time to pull out. I immediately dispatched riders to tell my men to start falling back by recoil:


My courier making his rounds with bad news (I'm off to the right watching the carnage)


I confess to getting a bit panicky by this point. If the feds broke through the ever-crumbling line of confederate troops screening our position...well, things would NOT look good for us. However, I did spy something behind me that gave me heart:


There stands Early....

It appeared that General Early kept an entire brigade (or more?) in reserve just behind a treeline. I found it interesting how the AI was just biding its time, waiting for the right moment to commit them. Well, I couldn't afford to wait anymore as the blue coats were getting closer with each passing minute. "Limber up and retreat behind the infantry!"


You can see how close the Union boys were just behind us!

Unfortunately, I waited a bit too long as one of my guns dallied a bit after resupplying and was caught by an advancing Union regiment! They didn't get the gun, but my unit did rout off the field. :(

It was only a few minutes after we reached our new firing position that that AI Early decided to counter-attack. There they go, forming up for the attack! And we provided the covering fire, of course!




The feds must have been at the end of their rope - I know my men were exhausted by this point! - because when the reserve brigade hit them, they broke and Early chased them clear across the road and back into the Wilderness. Before long, my battery was back on the Turnpike providing covering fire:




And that is where the battle is paused for the moment. I think we have this one in the bag as I could hear the firing dying off in the distance once again. Unless the blue backs have another surprise for us, I think we successfully stopped this (three hour) attack.

And again I have to say what a fantastic wargame Scourge of War truly is. To be able to have so much unpredictable fun in an unscripted sandbox environment is truly remarkable. And the graphics aren't half bad if you help them out a bit. ;) Well done, Norbsoft, well done. :salute:

Another indie to keep an eye upon:



Quote: FRONTIERS blends the feel of first-person RPG classics like Daggerfall with the relaxing tempo & simplicity of a point-and-click adventure. Discover ancient mysteries, live off the land and fight deadly creatures, all in a beautiful & massive open world. I wonder how the "relaxing tempo" is going to be achieved.

Originally Posted by 'Ol Fezziwig beetlejuice, beetlejuice, beetlejuise!!!


:smoke: Attached Thumbnails

I said I was gonna wait for a sale, but I gave in and purchased Scourge of War: Chancellorsville after visiting that darn Chancellorsville 360 website. :D Oh well. I am more than happy to give some bucks to one of the last remaining ACW game developers (I think I am going to reinstall HPS' Gettyburg, too. I might have to pick up their Vicksburg expansion soon :)).

Anyhoo, I installed the game and immediately tried a sandbox scenario on one of the new Chancellorsville maps. The first thing I will say is that now I fully understand why the Plank Road and the Orange Turnpike saw so much activity! SoW really did an excellent job of bringing the Wilderness to life! Wow, you could really lose an army on that terrain it was so densely wooded!

I picked Union Col. Walter Phelps Jr.'s First Brigade (First Division/First Corps) in a division level engagement. Now, when I was ordering my brigade, I made the mistake of setting them off after the secondary objective to the far southeast of the map, instead of heading with the rest of the division to the main objective that was to the far southwest corner of the map. I was gonna stop my brigade and reverse march, but I figured what the heck, this was just a test of the new game anyway. I realized I was probably gonna get cut off and destroyed in detail marching off all alone like that (and, no doubt, face a court martial upon returning! :D) but I figured lets see what happens when we throw the AI a curve ball.

So I made a looong march after the secondary objective, which was nice because, again, I got to see how wild the Wilderness actually was. I eventually reached the secondary objective (far south of Tabernacle Church) without meeting any resistance, albeit, I could hear the cannons firing off to the far west (SoW has some real nice sound design). So I decided to march due west and try to take the Rebs from the rear.

After another 10 minute march, we came upon the rear elements of A.P. Hill. So I signaled the attack, and my regiment commanders did a real good job of deploying in textbook fashion, two up with two back in reserve, right across the Plank Road, and started hitting them in the rear. :horse: We quickly got the upper hand as I think our surprise attack shook their morale.

chan1.jpgHow pleasant to fight in the woods :)

What's that saying: "You messed with the bull, now here come the horns"? Well, the AI eventually recovered itself and threw everything it had in my direction. My NYers did a find job of holding their ground, so the AI started to pivot to turn our flanks. Seeing what it was up to, I threw in my reserves, including the 84th New York Zouaves:


chan2.jpgBrooklyn represent!

Again, we held them. But not for long....

Later in the battle we intercepted a note from the Reb commander pleading for support from A. P. Hill! Guess we got their attention! Unfortunately, Hill must have responded because we soon had an entire division coming down on us, something that forced a slow retreat back down the Plank Road. It was clear that we were just over-matched at this point. I did send out a messenger to my commander asking for support, too (but I don't think higher level HQs respond to player requests; I think that was in the manual). I don't know if it was coincidence, but soon after I could see a single AI-controlled unit trying to fight its way to my position. Unfortunately, it never made it and I had to retreat with what was left of my brigade: a single regiment (24th NY):

chan3.jpg
Interestingly, the AI only pursued us for a short distance. Once we left the Plank Road and withdrew into the Wilderness, it broke off its attack.

I eventually marched my brigade across the map to where my division had a supply wagon so we could resupply (the 24th NY was down to 4 rounds apiece!). When we got there, it was clear that he missed one heck of a fight:

chan4.jpg
Wow! :crosseye:

Unfortunately, we could still spot a few reb units in the area, so we had to hightail it out of there right behind the supply wagon.

Seeing that my units fighting days were over for the time being, I ended the game and got an inconclusive battle result.


As always with this game, I had a great time. Norbsoft really nailed the sweet spot between realism and ease of play with this franchise. Sure, the graphics are dated (albeit, I think they added some nice new trees and unit sprites with this expansion), but as far as ACW wargames go, you really can't do better at the moment.

Highly recommended. :thumup: Attached Images

• chan1.jpg (58.1 KB)
• chan2.jpg (54.9 KB)
• chan3.jpg (71.5 KB)
• chan4.jpg (58.6 KB)

Might as well give this stand-alone its own stand-alone thread. :)

Here are some screenies I took of a 10v10 MP match I was in. I tried the WP Polish deck this time.

This is my starting forces: some T-55s, a helo and some assorted light armor:



My first fight was for a little complex. We met some light resistance that my infantry and APCs handled with not too much fuss and the help of a teammate:



Infantry dismounting and going into the fight:



Still advancing:



Later in the battle, I purchased some arty. Here you can see them firing on some assorted NATO units. Off to the left, you can see a Cobra hitting some of my T-55s:



Later in the battle, one of my T-55s spotted a lone Bradley and popped it. That's it burning on the road in the distance. It was recon for a larger force (of M1s...I would later discover to my chagrin :():



So I laid down a smoke screen and sent in the tanks:



My tanks got chewed up real fast, so I sent in a recon helo to see what was the deal. Here, it can be seen firing its rockets at some infantry and light armor:



It got shot-up pretty good, too:



So I sent it to the rear to re-arm and repair:



Continued....

Okay I updated my GitHub site with the new DTO maps, a few missing extensions and maps, and a new set of empty folders and all the current maps in both the "vasl" format (no extension) and as a image file for reference (look under the boards directory for a folder called images). Also, included are all the overlays.

So in short these are all the version 5 maps, overlays, and HASL maps as well as all the TPP stuff and extensions. If you follow this link in the center of the screen are two links (ZIP and TGZ) which you can then download to your machine and use for VASL.

Best regards (I'll keep my GitHub site up-to-date as I find new maps or Tumo posts updates).

http://dlazov.github.io/vasl-boards-extensions/

Just backed this. I know if I'm not keen my daughter will love it. It seems to have taken all the good bits from minecraft and it's clones etc and wrapped it into one bundle with a god game elements and RPG elements etc etc.


http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013...h/#more-151480

I just find it supremely humorous that now that we own PCs capable of photo-realistic graphics and realistic physics, the most exciting & popular games are those that resemble and operate at the 16-bit level, such as Minecraft. Case in point: Starbound:

http://playstarbound.com/

Quote: About

Starbound is a brand new game undergoing active development by Chucklefish, an indie game company made up of a lovely group of dudes and dudettes. If you like what you see, please feel free to leave a comment or tell your friends. We hope this blog can be an insight into the trials and tribulations of the development process, the people behind the game, and what we hope to achieve.
A story within a sandbox

Starbound begins with you fleeing your homeworld in a space shuttle, just as it’s destroyed by an unknown enemy. With nothing to guide it, the escape pod shoots into space without direction, becoming hopelessly lost in a sea of stars. As luck would have it, the space shuttle touches down on a habitable planet and an adventure begins that will take you hurtling across the universe. Starbound contains both quests and story driven missions, buried inside its vast sandbox universe.
Endless Planets to visit

Planets in Starbound are entirely procedurally generated and filled to the brim with unique content. We went into the planet generation with one simple goal: no two planets should be the same. By procedurally generating even the smallest details, we’re doing just that. Not only is the terrain of the planet procedurally generated, but the weather, the gravity, the difficulty level, the plant life, the behaviour and appearance of alien creatures, and much more all contain random or procedurally generated elements.

We want you to feel like an explorer!

Because we’re working so hard to make each planet unique, we want to give you the tools to catalogue the things you find and make sure absolutely everything you find has depth in the world. Much like old school point and click adventures, absolutely every object in the world, right down to the trees and flowers, can be examined for a description.

See a weird alien tree? Examine it! Maybe you’ll discover something about its use! For any explorer, sharing discoveries is important. So whilst the game is fully coop (Bring your friends along! Form an expedition!) you can also record your findings in an electronic logbook. Not only that, but each and every planet has unique coordinates in the Universe that you can share online, so other players can check out exactly what you found!

Finding a new home

Exploring is wonderful, but everyone needs a place to call their own. That’s why we’re letting you claim an entire planet!

When you claim a planet as your new homeworld, a whole new aspect of gameplay opens up. Everything that makes a planet unique is at your command. Feel like changing the weather? Build a weather centre! Don’t like the terrain? Terraform it! Every aspect of the planet is under your control. Once you’re happy with it, start populating it with characters you’ve met in your travels and take care of them! They’ll have needs and desires and won’t hesitate to ask for your help if they require assistance.

This is only just scratching the surface of what we have in store for you in Starbound. It certainly sounds good. Apparently, others think so, too:

Quote: We’ve officially sold $1,000,000 in pre-orders! Words can’t even express how grateful and overwhelmed we are by all the support you’ve shown us– not just over the past couple of weeks, but for the past year or so since Starbound was officially announced. You’re all amazing, and we’re going to continue to work our butts off to make Starbound an awesome game for you. You can't make this up. Gaming, like the rest of the world, is clearly in a state of regression. Don't know what to make of that....What do you think? Is this trend good for gaming? Or just a sign that perhaps video games are jumping the shark? Maybe it just means that AAA gaming has killed itself by raising the production costs to unsustainable levels?

I got tired of using 2-3 different web sites to download all the VASL maps and extensions. I am really into Version Control and I just love GitHub, it's totally awesome, makes CSV/SVN feel like the difference between say MS Word and Notpad. So I created a GitHub repo for all the maps and extensions. For ease of use I also created a nice GitHub Page and you can download it as a zip or tgz file (contains all the files up-to-date).

You can find the link here:

http://dlazov.github.io/vasl-boards-extensions/

I hope this helps those out using VASL to play ASL.

Best regards~
Don

Kotaku spotted this one:



Not much of a city builder fan myself, but this one looks interesting. I like the sedate nature.

Website: http://www.shiningrocksoftware.com/?page_id=680

strafing suitable for what kind of weapons?
There crossbow of course, diablo 3 gold buying the best, after all, the upper and lower limits, and the IAS is also suitable. The power of the wind that should also be good, after all, more than a 1:00 hate reply. The landlord does not have the force of the wind, can not test. One-handed crossbow, estimated to be not very suitable for this build

So, I was browsing Steam the other day and I saw the latest trailer for Metro: Last Light, the sequel to Metro 2033. The trailer was interesting in that it seemed to emphasize that some of the more critical flaws of the original game were thoroughly dealt with once and for all. I particularly found the enhanced stealth mechanics to be interesting (and reminiscent of Far Cry 3 and Deus Ex):



Okay, you have my interest.

I figured, though, that before I jump into the sequel, I should at least play the original. Seeing how Last Light doesn't come out until mid-May, there was time. So I went looking for a copy and was surprised to see, once again, that GameFly had it at a deep discount for $4.99 (GameFly has been having some excellent weekly sales. Keep an eye on them as well as Steam, especially seeing how most of their games come with a key for Steam anyway)! So I bought it for that price. Heck, what was there to lose?

Now, I had heard that a portion of the original Stalker team had formed 4A Games, but I didn't realize that Metro was clearly meant to be the other side of the Stalker coin! And that is exactly what it is. In fact, in one scene of the game, you find a dead human clothed just like a Stalker. You co-hort says: "A Stalker. These poor souls wander the poisoned surface looking for bits of scrap they can sell for a profit". Stalkers are even mentioned by the game! There are all sorts of other Stalker elements, too: such as anomalies, psychic flashbacks, mutated monsters, limited ammo and other survivalist elements.

Speaking of the survivalist elements, you can clearly see that Metro took it a bit more hardcore than Stalker. The big addition here is your gas mask. Whenever you venture outside, or enter underground chambers with seeping gas or leaking radiation, you need to put on your mask. Since your filters only last a few minutes, you are always worried about running out of air, something that becomes increasingly claustrophobic as you hear your breathing becoming more labored as your filter runs out. Nice touch! Then there are the pneumatic weapons (quality cartridges are a rarity in this world), and your all important helmet lamp that needs to be powered by a hand crank every so many minutes.

Now, most of Metro 2033 takes place underground in the Russian subway system. This was something that I didn't think I would like as I got a kick out of the open air environs of Stalkers, especially the random weather. But I have to say that 4A Games did an excellent job with this environment, too. Basically, the Russian Metro is portrayed in a similar fashion as Stalker's larger underground and interior environments: it is big, rusting, and littered. Likewise, it is filled with environmental hazards, roving gangs, and mutated monsters lurking in the shadows. It is also very claustrophobic, too. 4A Games plays this wonderful trick on the player whereby you are constantly coming across sunny day posters of Moscow before nuclear Armageddon. At first, you don't even pay them any mind. But after a few hours in the dark tunnels of the Metro, you suddenly find yourself starring at these scattered posters with the same forlorn passion as the game's characters. This game really makes you feel like a tunnel rat. This is something enhanced by 4A Games excellent use of lighting. Nothing in this game is brighter than a 60W bulb (well, except for a handful of searchlights). Everything is suitably dark and grim.

The only real distinction I see between Stalker and Metro is that Metro is an on-the-rails shooter. You are pretty much led along by the nose as you are passed from one character to the next. Truth it, this also didn't turn out to be as disappointing as I thought it would as the story is pretty darn interesting, and the characters are memorable, too, with each having an interesting story to tell about their experiences in the Metro. I remember one of the devs saying that they went with this scripted approach precisely because they thought having a good story was more important than allowing the player to go off on his own. Usually I am skeptical, but in this case they were right. I just hope the story doesn't flop in the end like Black Ops 2 did. :rolleyes:

My only real criticism is the somewhat broken combat AI, one of the things critics knocked the game for when it was released. The mutated monsters act okay, but the human bad guys swing between stupid and all knowing. I really haven't seen all that many stupid things (occasionally an enemy will inexplicably turn his back on you) so maybe they patched that, but I have seen the AI know precisely where you are from one second to the next. This is bad because there is a nice stealth element to this game where you can turn off lights and knife people from behind. Unfortunately, as soon as an AI spots the body, it immediately knows where you are hiding! This completely kills the stealth mechanic and almost always forces you to go on the offensive after a kill! Stupid! (I am glad to see that the sequel seems to have addressed this.)

I also don't like the checkpoint system - no quick saves here. This can lead to some frustration, especially in tough firefights.

My last concern is the game's length: it is reported between 8-15 hours (depending on who you ask). 8 would be short, 12+ would be okay with me. I mean, I only paid $5, and the sequel is due out in four weeks, so I won regardless of the length. :D But I am really enjoying the story, so I don't want it to end!

All things, though, I am so sorry I didn't play this game sooner! If you are a Stalker fan, go get it now!

Color me interested:



Only $10! The feature list sounds good:

• Tactical Action: Plot out your turn in advance and watch your plans come to fruition alongside your foes’ moves
• Form Your Fleet: Customize your fleet choosing from multiple ship types and arm them with a vast set of both offensive and defensive weaponry
• “Sink” Your Devices: Cross-platform play between PC, Mac, iOS and Android with built-in cloud saving functionality, allows you to continue your sessions from any computer, tablet or location (Mobile versions sold separately)
• Enlist Your Shipmates: Bring along up to 3 other players for five individual challenge missions, or a full co-op campaign spanning nine levels
• Own the Oceans: Prove your dominance of the sea by saving replays of your battles
• Support for Marooned Sailors: Offline mode available for campaign and challenges

The only thing that bothers me with these small games is that they rarely achieve critical mass and the community often quickly dwindles to you and one other guy. :D That is why I rarely jump right onto these titles. I rather wait and see 1) how well it is received, and 2) If the dev is committed to long term support.

Still, this one might get me to jump in sooner rather than later.

I didn't even realize there was a sequel in the works!



Time to jump back in to this EXCELLENT space strategy game!

Link: http://triton.ironhelmet.com/#landing

Still having fun with NorbSoft's Scourge of War: Gettysburg. I participated in one pre-made scenario and two sandbox scenarios, and each time I had quite the fun time! Here's some screenies of my last sandbox fight, what I like to call The Battle of Ol' McDonald's Farm. This fight took place on a fictional map ('Alpine') - hence, the name. :) Other details: it was a division vs division fight, with me taking the command of Edmund L.Dana's Second Brigade for the Federals. Here's what happened....

[NOTICE: because the sprite-based graphics of this game aren't all that spectacular to look at, I decided to put all my screenshots through an "ink sketch" filter to give them that 1860's hand drawn look. I think it makes for an interesting presentation. In fact, I have to ask whether such an artistic approach might serve SoW better since it cannot match the slick, HD graphics of mainstream games anyway.]

Upon arriving on the battlefield, I am ordered to march about a mile or so north and take position on Ol' McDonald's Farm (I just made that up. As I was using a non-historic map for this skirmish, I needed to invent a name). Upon arriving, I see that the rest of my parent unit, Third Division, has already entered the fight against the CSA:




I immediately deploy my three regiments into the plowed field to the west of the road so as to engage a regiment of CSA troops that have formed up there:




Let'em have it, boys!

Eventually, and with few casualties, we drove that original enemy unit off the field. But the CSA command took note of our performance and sent in reinforcements. The battle got even harder, with one of my units, the 150th Pennsylvania, being forced slightly out of position (the rightmost unit):




The CSA even called in some artillery. Here, you can see two shells air bursting overhead - they did more than a little damage to my men:




Nonetheless, my brigade held...and left more than a few CSA bodies on the field (and our own, too :angry:):




No breaks for us, though. The enemy reformed and counter-attacked. It got so bad that I had to pull the 143rd Pennsylvania out of line on the right flank and rush them to the left to repel a fresh attack:




While my left flank was strengthened, my right weakened. Ultimately, the 150th Pennsylvania broke and retreated from the front line, back to Ol' McDonald's farmhouse. While annoying, it didn't prove fatal:




The battle raged on and on. By the time it was 2/3's over, my brigade had sidestepped to the left quite a bit from its original position:




But those rebs...they kept on pushing. Another unit, 149th Pennsylvania, broke next:




Fortunately, the 14th Tennessee of Fry's Brigade, our primary foe during this stage of the battle, finally threw in the towel. Here you can see the 149th returning to its position...conveniently after the enemy had begun to run away (that's them streaming off into the green field on the left):




It was over. My men, exhausted, bloodied, and battered, pulled off the field and resupplied at a nearby ordinance wagon near McDonald's farmhouse:




Refreshed, we prepared for the next action. But there wouldn't be another action this day as neither side had the strength left to seize control of area. With the exception of an occasional artillery shell, the remaining units on both sides just held their positions and glowered at each other.

Final view:




My Second Brigade suffered 174 casualties. But we held Ol' McDonald's farm.

So who's playing Bioshock Infinite? I just started, but I can say it retains the same wild design and great production values from the earlier titles in the series. And it's got a very weird vibe to it. I'm not sure what the hell is going on in this game just yet, I'm just killing everybody who attacks me.

Here are some basic links/instructions to setup VASL.

Originally Posted by dlazov One set of instructions:
http://wargamecenter.wordpress.com/2010/05/10/vasl/

Another:

Download java (1.6 or 1.7 works fine)
http://www.java.com/en/

Download VASASL 3.1.20 for your platfom
http://www.vassalengine.org/releases/

Download the VASL mod file (the main ASL engine)
http://advancedsquadleader.net/index...itle=VASL_mods

Download all the maps and overlays:
v5 (don't worry about the dead LOS engine itls defunct and no longer working/supported, etc)
https://sites.google.com/site/vaslmapbazaar/

Go to this site and download the indivdual DTO boards (until tumo creates them)
http://advancedsquadleader.net/index...ategory:Boards

Alternatively go here for the HASL maps you want
http://advancedsquadleader.net/index...ry:HASL_Boards
Or here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=7kzb699hvtsvk

Don't forget the extensions
http://advancedsquadleader.net/index...ASL_Extensions I am currently setting up a Ubuntu VM (for use with Oracle VM which is free) that has the default OS pre-configured and VASSAL 3.1.20 and VASL 5.9.3, plus all the boards, overlays and extensions installed and ready to use. Not sure where I can store this exported appliance yet but will make it available.

This is not the era of bad AI everyone is talking about....

Whatever Happened to Video Game AI?


Been reading excuses and promises like this for the past decade. No matter what they say, we all know that AI in most games operates at the cognitive level of an infant. And it's not getting better.

This got caught in my TF2 net. For $5, it might be worth it. The last good game of poker I played was in the FC3 poker minigame. :)



Quote: Poker Night 2 ??

Poker Night 2 is the unnecessary sequel to Poker Night at the Inventory! In the original game, you played poker with a bunch of weirdoes for fame and fortune Team Fortress 2 items and the satisfaction of beating the odds. Now, In Poker Night 2…

A different bunch of weirdoes officially licensed, triple ‘A’ characters (Claptrap, Brock Samson, Ash Williams, Sam)
More prizes than ever before (what you can win depends on the game system you’re using)
From the Portal game series, your dealer is GLaDOS!
Two poker styles – Texas Hold ‘Em and now Omaha!
MORE satisfaction in beating the odds (though it’s not guaranteed, since satisfaction is subjective and it must be pointed out, not legally binding in any way)!
Hilariously witty banter between your new poker buddies
It’s a dream come true!

Are you a poker wizard? You’ll love it. Can you barely count to 21 or remember what day it is? You’ll love it too because in Poker Night 2, even when you’re losing, you’re winning. And vice-versa.

Man, Ubisoft is throwing a lot of curve-balls lately. It appears this FC3 stand alone is going cyberpunk...and stars Michael Biehn!

Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon is standalone; features Michael Biehn

Quote: “Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon is THE Kick-Ass Cyber Shooter taking place on a bizarre open-world island crawling with evil. Welcome to an 80’s VHS vision of the future. The year is 2007 and you are Sargent Rex Colt, a Mark IV Cyber Commando who’s fighting against a cyborg army gone rogue. Your mission: get the girl, kill the baddies, and save the world. Experience every cliché of a VHS era vision of a nuclear future, where cyborgs, blood dragons, mutants, and Michael Biehn (Terminator, Aliens, Navy Seals) collide. Playing Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon doesn’t require a copy of Far Cry® 3.” Sigh. Guess it is time to get back to my FC3 campaign.... :)