Frostgrave is one of the hottest games on the market, featuring a fast and furious combat system that children can understand. Frostgrave was created by Joseph McCullough and published by Osprey Games.
Frostgrave is a phenom.
Odin’s Ravens from Osprey Games is a race around the world. It uses card to create an environment where outwitting your opponent may be the only way to win. It takes seconds to learn and only minutes to play.
Would you believe the simplicity of this game is pretty complicated? Well, the tactics that can be created certainly are, and you can out think yourself.
Joseph talks with me about the ride that has been and is Frostgrave. Frostgrave is published by Osprey Publishing.
Over the next few months, I will be picking out my wizards for each school of magic. Come back soon and see what I have to say.
They Come Unseen
$49.95
Submarines and surface fleets battle for dominance of the seas! One team must use submarines to sneak troops into enemy ports and destroy vital strategic targets, while the other team deploys a surface fleet to hunt down the subs and protect their crucial supply lines.
In Her Majesty’s Name is a miniatures war game that is set in a steam pink setting of 1895. Small bands of of figures are assembled to fight over the objectives you establish. This is a skirmish game where you will generally field not more than ten models per player. Written by by Craig Cartmell and Charles Murton the book totals 64 pages costs about 15.00 and is also available as a pdf. If you know of any book published by Osprey publishing you already know the quality you’re getting.
This Skirmish game can be bloody quick. I’ve had games last as little as 15 minutes or as long as an hour. Play is pretty smooth, it uses an alternate activation system where models take turns following the model play of move and shoot.
Our relaunched Kickstarter has been funded largely because of what our first attempt taught us. Even though our first project was a complete bomb it has been a great ride. Gosh, I really don’t know how much to bore you here with our experience, so I’m just going to jump into the current project that is much more exciting. I may touch upon some of the lessons we experienced.
Our current project was funded in just under 24 hours. Why? Because we discarded all of the promotional items that inflated the funding goal. This was the secret to our success. We still have a T-shirt, but we felt the backers who were major contributors needed something more than just the media coverage. All of our backers are major supporters, by the way, the average daily contribution has been about $70. We can’t thank you enough for that!
For those of you that have backed this project, I’m not sure if you can see what you’re a part of. The effort you’ve put forth has opened so many doors and taught me so many things it’s not funny. Our blog and social media has increased nearly 30% in the last fourteen days, and that is because you have motivated me. My eyes have been opened, because of you, to what the essence of Through Gamer Goggles media truly is. Back to that in a minute.
I believe I will have published 300 videos before Gen Con 2015. That’s over 100 a year, plus reviews, radio shows, and release information. Through Gamer Goggles is a happening place. We offer a tremendous amount of content, but I have failed you. I have failed because the vision or essence of what is Through Gamer Goggles wasn’t realized until we attempted to fund this successful project. Through Gamer Goggles (TGG) was born with the vision of blending or balancing our gaming worlds with our real lives. Not only is that a monumental task but it has proven to be a very difficult one. Especially since very early on, I became nearly overwhelmed with the processing of game reviews. But this project has made me realize that I have failed at reflecting my personality in the content. I mean, I’m one of the most passionate gamers you’ll ever meet. I go out of my way for the gaming community as a whole by organizing events, judging, and blogging. I probably know hundreds if not thousands of gamers from such experiences. So where am I going with all this? The Gen Con Media project has kind of brought all of this to a head. I have realized that I want to take a very different approach to media. We have always been a part of the community and have run events for manufacturers (since 2000), but I don’t think it was enough to make me happy. Now, you are a part of what we do! That is the change that I was missing before. More than ever Through Gamer Goggles is about blending our lives with our gaming world. Which really means connecting with the gaming community in a unique way. We’re committed to bridging the gap from manufacturer to gamer by being involved with you! One of the results will be more of my super stunning personality as we continue to grow. This will include everything we have done in the past plus more demonstration content and regular radio shows. I might be rambling so onward to excitement!
The Project is all about going to Gen Con and having a blast with you. There are some really cool concepts we are trying to do.
The Photo Tier – every backer gets their picture taken and more.
The Coupon Book – Every backer of $20 or more will receive a coupon book (similar to the convention book but smaller). Currently we’re working with these great companies:
This is easily worth the $20.
Coffee with the crew – just as it sounds.
The coolest goal is a backer party. Basically this will be a dinner where all are invited to have a meal at a yet to be determined location. I have my eyes set on a steak house. But we will see what happens. It would be great for all of us to be in the same place at the same time to share our experiences and just get to know each other.
To celebrate our last hours I have come up with some unique ideas.
The first is a backer give away. For every ten new backers we get from now until the end of the campaign we will give out prizes to a randomly chosen backer. We are currently at 17 backers, so the prize thresholds are 27, 37, and 47. I currently have 3 prizes to give away: Combat Barbarossa 1941 German Infantryman Versus Soviet Rifleman from Osprey Publishing, Scoundrels of Skullport from GF9, and a signed copy of Forged in Fire for Mage Wars.
Second, I have decided to add another stretch goal – a scavenger hunt. This will be a simple game. It will involve backers of any pledge level to run around the exhibitors hall and do things like play games and other neat things. How dumb is that? At the end of the day we will meet up and have a drawing to award a daily prize. So far we have two Mage Wars Core Set and a copy of Forged in Fire from Arcane Wonders. That is two days of dashing from game to game. Who knows, we may create some other wacky ideas beyond game hunting. In either case it will be a lot of fun.
Like I said the Kickstarter is a door opener. It has started several new friendships, given us new direction and realization. While we’ve focused on Box Breakings, Figure Forges, Flip Throughs, and written reviews, you’re going to see more engagement from us. Beyond that we are going to strive to connect the manufacturers with you in an engaging way, while we continue to push the pace into news and media in exciting ways. Will we be perfect? No, but we have already proven that we learn from our mistakes, and that result means we will see you at Gen Con 2014 AND at Gen Con 2015! My only question is will you be part of our future?
Thanks,
Matt Lemke
King Arthur is part of the Myths and Legends series published by Osprey Publishing.
Written by Daniel Mersey and Illustrated by Alan Lathwell.
The book is what you you would expect from Osprey. That is it has a good binding, high test paper, and excellent art through all 80 pages of the book.
I think Daniel does an excellent job of bringing the myth of Arthurian legend into perspective. He takes the reader on a journey through Arthurian history, while showing the potential for the characters existence. He starts with the Medieval model, made popular by Hollywood, then moves to the Celtic model, and finishes up with the historic model. Daniel takes the immense history of Arthur and gives his reader and entertaining and factual presentation.
When I first started reading King Arthur, I was wondering what I would learn. I Always knew there was more to Arthur than I knew. It wasn’t long before I found that the book was difficult to put down. For about a week it became an addiction. When It was all said and down I had learned that Arthur has a lot more to him than I ever knew. Daniel goes into great detail about the stories that form Arthur’s legend. Without spoiling his book, Daniel does an excellent job of talking about the written and narrative history of King Arthur. Some of the more interesting, things to me, were; the accuracy of the legend as it spanned cultures; there are “giants” in the legend, and it may date back to maybe 175 A.D.
To finish out the book Daniel offers up cases that go against the theories of Arthur.
I found the book to be a very good read. I am looking forward to the rest of the Myths And Legends series.
Paul Eaglestone’s A World Aflame is an alternate/real history miniatures game. The interwar is set in the years 1918 to 1939. While there are no lists to the game he does provide some sample lists. Nor is there a particular scale to play in, he uses 28mm.
The rules set offers a unique rules that took me a little getting used to. The oddest thing for me is the army construction. With the absence of point values the units become more equipment or initiative based. Initiative is probably the most important factor in the game, since the game uses alternate activations that follow in initiative order. Outside of Construction the rules are fairly simple, that is just like most miniature games you roll the dice to achieve a target number.
There are a couple of simple rules that add flavor to the game. The best of these is a deck of Chance cards. Each card is an event that can be used. These can be anything from sniper to extra ammunition.
If I played A World Aflame on a regular basis I would probably drop the communication and ammunition tracking rules. While they add a certain amount of flavor to depict the era, I think the upkeep isn’t worth the trade.
All in all it is a well written set of rules with a tremendous amount of freedom for game play and scenarios that you create. It isn’t a tournament style game. I think you could create some pretty amazing campaigns though. If you are a Flames of War player the lack of scenarios in the book will slow you down at first.
So is it worth your two cents? It really depends on who you are. If you are a casual player then it a sure thing. If you are looking for a game that is a break from competitive play this is a good way to go. If you are a competitive player looking for competition this is not your best choice.
I have already done a review of Force on Force based off of the demonstration game I played at Origins Game Fair. This will be a little more in depth than that review. You can read that here.
Most of you probably already know that Force on Force is a modern warfare skirmish game published by Osprey Publishing for Ambush Alley Games. It is an independent miniatures game without a miniatures line. The book has several recommendations where you can purchase models . I originally thought that not having a minis line would be detrimental, but the rules are set up so you can freely play any modern forces from 1960 to present. The other unique part about not having a line of minis is there is no set scale. You get to determine the size of your battlefield based off of what you own.
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2012 Force on Force is a modern day skirmish game that has no standard line for its models. In other words it is just a set of rules. I had tha opportunity to play a quick game at Origins Game fair and I thought I would share what I learned before I do the book review. This is not in any way a complete game review and it is important you know that because you can only get so much out of a demo.
I was a little leery of the fact that there is not a miniatures line to go with the game. After playing the game I am really starting to like the fact that you can proxy your models for your force. It does two thing for me. It saves money, and it makes it easy to play any force I want. Those are important to me.
Force on Force is a simple game to pick up that allows you to apply tactics. Which is a seemingly unique quality in a skirmish game in our current trending. It was nice to play a game that wasn’t dependent on simple tricks and gimmicks to win a battle, or a game that requires the player to go first in order to win. that isn’t the feel I received from playing the demo at all.
The rules are a little different though, well the dice mechanic is. The system is set up so that different levels of units use different dice. For example, using a popular motif for labeling units, core troop would use a d6 for their skill rolls while elite troops would be assigned a d8. The basic concept is the bigger the die the better the troop. On the flipside though the smaller the die the more likely you are to roll any given number. For example, you have a 25% chance of rolling a 1,2,3, or a 4 on a d4. The dice and type of unit are cross referenced on charts to determine effects. The other thing that I thought was cool wounded models have a chance of standing back up on their next turn.
If I was to base my opinion of Force on Force entirely on the demo it is certainly worth trying. I did pick up a copy of the rules to review. I hope to have it read by the end of next week and a book review written shortly after.
