iMosse.net

2 Days in Gaming

Mon, 12 May 2008 14:19:00 +0300

Our beloved F.L.G.S. (Friendly Local Game Store) Lautapelit.fi was having a "boardgames day" last saturday, when they sold off odd copies of games and such. Always up for a bargain me and brother Jens and his GF Linda decided to go hunt for treasures. And it also got us a chance to get together the evening before, to get in the right spirit of things with the help of some wine and games.

I've been truly inspired by Vaynerchuck and his Wine Library TV, and am keen to try out different kinds of wine. This evening we finished off my bottle of Senorio de los Llanos Gran Reserva Tempranillo (which had improved greatly by being open two days!) and a bottle of Crokodile Rock Cabernet Merlot that Jens and Linda brought. The Merlot was an "easy" wine which wasn't bad per se, but lacked real substance. I have way too little experience to rate wines yet so I'll leave it at that...

All through the evening and the next day we played a handful of games of Crokinole, which is fast becoming my most played game. And it is great fun! I'm finally noticing my shots go approximately where I'm aiming, but then again sometimes you make five or six shots in a row hit the very same post and ricochet out of bounds. Sometimes I feel like the game would actually improve if it didn't have the 20-point hole in the center.... Allow me to be more specific... What I enjoy most with the game is the tactical feel of leaving your discs in the most advantageous (for you) and disadvantageous (for you opponent(s)) positions, as he has to make his shots off yours. But making a full 20 points for making a lucky (or skilled) first shot takes something away from it. Maybe replacing the hole with a simple black dot - and whoever (if any) has a disc on top of that point in the end would get that 20 points? Anyway - absolutely love the game - and again, my thanks to Hans Reinhold of the Crokinole Companions for all the help confirming my rules questions!

Next up, we played a game of El Capitan that Jens had brought. Having now played the game, I'm trying to come up with intelligent things to say about it, but I'm having a hard time at that. It's definately not bad. It's good, but not excellent. I wasn't bored when playing it, but the instant it was over I had already forgot about it. The definition of a "Meh"-game - I'll play it, I'd just rather play something else. The components of the game are gorgeous, but don't on themselves carry the game.

As we were finishing off our second bottle of wine we played the Spiel des Jahres 2007-winner Zooloretto. I'm a complete "loretto-virgin", not having played even Coloretto before. So we started filling up our little zoos with animals. If I recall correctly I collected pandas, monkeys, zebras and leopards, and managed to do a nice job at it. I got the most money too, once receiving a wagon with three moneys, which meant I could rearrange and empty my stables.

Zooloretto is definately a whole-family game. There are few games which can be played by both children and adults, even fewer which can be played by both children and adults at once, without the adults "dumbing down" their actions. As such, I can understand why it won the very family-friendly oriented Spiel des Jahres. Filling up the wagon is a push-your-luck game, after which it is pretty crystal clear what to do with what you get. As every player has their own zoo, and the interaction between players isn't that high, you can easily give advice to younger players without it destroying the gaming experience - although I doubt they will be needing any.

As we were heading out reasonably early the following morning, we ended the day there, and headed out to Helsinki on saturday.

Not much from the clearance-tables interested me, although I jumped at the chance of getting a copy of Duel in the Dark. It's been on and off my wishlist, and now that it was at half price I took it. The owner warned me of serious bad-odor problems with the game, but assured me the smell would go away. I was reminded of our experience with Drakon, which reaked to much we had to leave it out for days before it was even playable. I also picked up a copy of Frontiers: Liberty or Death, which I had read some good stuff about. A miniatures-game without miniatures (more importantly, without the price-tag of a real miniatures game) sounded too good to pass. A visit to the other Helsinki based boardgamestore Fantasiapelit later and I had added 10 Days in Africa and the expansion RoboRally: Grand Prix to my library.

The odor-problems didn't end up being that bad. Either my nose isn't as delicate as the shop-owners, or he's just protecting his back (which is understandable) or my copy wasn't just as bad as the others. There were some slight signs of moisture, and a slight smell, which I wouldn't describe as mold, but rather ink-ish... So - not that bad...

We did try 10 Days in Africa when we got home, and it went so fast we played it again, and again. Three times, with each of us winning once. Could it better?! 10 Days in Africa is a educational game without it being educational. It's more of a rummy game, but the educational part of it kind of sneaks up on you. Early on in the game, each time you get a country-card you spend a while searching the map for it, but already after two games we had a pretty good grip of where most African countries were. The games are insanely quick but fun nevertheless. And you learn stuff - without having to "study". And that's the only way to learn!

The New Old Thing

Thu, 08 May 2008 10:32:05 +0300

It's been about a year and a half since I last redid the code for my homepage. This, in Mosse-time, is an eternety. Naturally, I have learned a thing or two during these months that I didn't know back then. And with this new knowledge in mind - I was appalled at the sight of my code. The HTML, the PHP, the mySQL, but actually most of all, the CSS was really, really sub-par. It was time for a redesign, so I cracked up my PhotoShop to try to come up with a new look as well...

After about four of five tries I had come up with a handful of new designs, which weren't bad in itself, but (in my own head) didn't improve on the graphical design I already had. And if it isn't broken, why fix it? I decided to concentrate on just rewriting the code leaving the visuals mostly as-is. I did clean up the visual end as well, but the basic design still remains the same.

If you're viewing this on an old Internet Explorer, there are some features which look less than optimal, because there are some CSS-stuff the old IE doesn't understand, as well as a handful of png-images files, where IE doesn't know how to show the transparency correctly.

My old page received about a hundred spam-comments a day. Which means I was deleting comments and updating a blacklist of ip-numbers and keywords on a daily basis. As the amount of black-flagged ip-numbers was nearing to three digits I understood I had to do something new. Therefore I made the easy anti-spam system you see in the comments-window. Five small input fields, and a couple of images telling you which two-letter keyword you're supposed to enter into which textfield in order to get the comment through. Please send me an e-mail if this system is creating a problem for you, if you can't see the images or something or other.

As I switched to the new site, I took away my entire blacklist. No forbidden keywords, no forbidden ip-adresses, no forbidden e-mails. Just to check how much the anti-spam system catches. It's now been up for three days, and so far I have not received a single spam-comment! So far, it's a success, then! (Please don't take this as a challenge...)

I hope you like the "new", old design. I'm as pleased with it as I was with the old one a year and a half ago.

The Flickr

Sun, 04 May 2008 22:16:07 +0300

When I was about the size of a fire extinguisher, we used to build racing tracks in the back yard sandbox. We then had small, plastic cars with big, plastic wheels - generally called "neppis" (approximately "flickered", in bad finnish), with which we raced on our sandy tracks. The rules were simple - you were allowed one "flick", after which it was you opponents' turn to do the same. If your neppis-car went off the track, or flipped over, you used your next turn to place it back on the track from where it left the course. Something of a 3-dimensional PitchCar, but where the cars actually had wheels (making tight turns really difficult!).

In my quest to relive childhood racing glory I have stumbled on several flicking-type games, and discovered that I like most of them. Back when I lived in the city I used to play quite a lot of billiards with my friends, and since I wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth, at home we played Couronne. Since I rediscovered boardgames half a decade ago I bought PitchCar (mini), but wasn't too impressed. I also bought the much less serious ElchFest, but wasn't yet satisfied. After several years I managed to secure a used copy of the brilliant Subbuteo, which I really liked. But there was still one more flicking-game I needed to have in my collection. And now, finally, I decided that I was worth it. I was worth a Crokinole-board!

I opted to get a Sterntaler-board from the German-based Crokinole Companions. And I have not regretted it. The service I got from Hans Reinhold of the Companions has been first-rate, with all my queries answered promptly. I went for the slightly smaller board because it would fit on my kitchen table perfectly. And since it arrived a few weeks ago it is rapidly becoming my most played game. It also seems to sink in well with my couronne-playing family members.

The game feels like a collaboration of Couronne, Curling and Snooker. Players take turn flicking wooden discs, attempting to leave them in advantageous positions. In order for them to be legal shots, however, you must shoot them off your opponents discs. This little rule, in addition to eight rubber-covered posts surrounding the most valuable areas makes the game really tactical and not just an accuracy game. It also gives the game a whole lot more interaction than, for example, Couronne. Once all 24 discs (12 per team) have been flicked, discs remaining on the board are tallied and the winner will score the difference in points (areas are scored at 20, 15, 10 and 5 points, so there's no higher level math needed...)

For the first few dozen flicks I could have sworn that the good people at Crokinole Companions had put some strange form of wood-magnets into the discs, because they always managed to hit the posts. These posts, because they are covered in rubber, act like pinball bumpers, shooting the discs off deep into hyperspace. But once you manage to find your aim the game really begins to shine. There is an undeniable feeling of great accomplishment when you succeed in a great shot - clearing maybe more than one opponent disc while leaving your own in a spot your adversary can't reach - at least not without considerable risk. Oh, there is much rejoicing then! Similarly, you can almost feel a bad contact deep in your spine. You instantly know, from the moment your index finger leaves the thumb and propels the disc towards evident doom... It hurts - badly...

The game can be played 2-player, or 4-player in teams of 2. There is also a 3-player version, but it requires a different board. I've been lucky enough to play both ways, and although the 4-player is naturally better (the more the merrier, plus I really like team games) the 2-player version is certainly not bad at all.

After many years of searching, it seems I have found the ultimate flickr...
If you have this, and a good copy of Subbuteo (not the Hasbro-kind), you have the flicking-games you need.

In Vino Veritas

Fri, 02 May 2008 16:54:05 +0300

Enthusiastic people intrigue me. I don't even like wine! Sure, I'll have a glass of white every now and again - but haven't yet found a red wine to my liking. Therefore I wasn't expecting a lot when I found myself at the free videocast Wine Library TV downloading an episode. A program about winetasting? I'd seen a few of them on TV, and they were always snobish besserwisser twats describing every wine like the word of God. But I had heard enough good things about this particular show to give it an honest go. And I don't even like wine!

But something happened. The host, the maniacal, hysterical and whacky yet strangely appealing, friendly and approachable Gary Vaynerchuk, co-owner of the wineseller Wine Library didn't treat me like an idiot even though I can't name ten different winegrapes and where they grow. Even though he clearly has a vast array of knowledge when it comes to wine, instead of bragging about it, like most others - it has turned into a burning enthusiasm of the subject. It's evident that not only does Gary love wine, he loves talking about it, telling people about it and teaching his captivated audience about different wines. Best of all - he does it without using big words whose only reason of existance is belittling everybody else - like bouquet, which I hear a lot from whineheads...I mean wineheads...

I don't even like wine, but wines have always fascinated me. I could never wrap it around my head how something which, in essence is a juice (you're welcome to send your hatemail to the adress in the sidebar...), can have such a massive impact on so many people. (I have a similar feeling about fashion, by the way, although I couldn't really sit down and watch a fashionshow if it wasn't for all the beautiful girls...) Vaynerchuks enthusiasm is undeniable, and contagious. His show is lovingly called "The Thunder Show", he drinks his wine from "The Big Ass Glass" and after watching a single episode of the show, it's now clear to everybody that before you taste the wine by doing "The Whirl", you gotta do "The Sniffy-sniff". Adorable!

His table is filled with american football paraphernalia and action figures. Instead of feeling like a pharmacist at a government-run drugstore - all-knowing but distant, Gary is the kind of guy you'd want at your barberque party. Did I mention his enthusiasm is contagious? After watching my first episode, I went to my booze cabinet, opened up the only bottle of wine I had, a bottle of Tollo Bianco ("Tollo" means approx. "Doofus" in finnish, which might not be the best of criterias for choosing your wine...) and watched the next episode. And the next... And the next...

Although I still haven't found a wine I really really like, I'm going to keep searching now.
...and I don't even like wine!!! (But maybe one day, I might...)
...and I got to get me a Big Ass Glass...

Snow-white and the Seven Clones

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 13:58:05 +0300

The President of the United States is dead. He was murdered in the morning sunlight by a four-year-old boy.
With these words begins the free-of-charge science fiction audiobook 7th Son by author J.C. Hutchins.

Isn't it fantastic what you can just stumble on while aimlessly cruising the Internets?
Isn't it awesome when somebody actually gets it? How the internets work?

Hutchins wrote the book (trilogy, actually) 7th Son, about seven strangers who are involunarily collected together after the strange assassination of the president. They are told that they are part of a genetic experiment called "7th Son", that they are all, in essence, the same person. They are all carbon copies of the man simply called "John Alpha" - the original. Although they are all the same - different upbringings have molded them differently. Having been told the truth about themselves they are given a task... Find John Alpha.

A story about cloning, then? A classic in Sci-fi litterature. The "book" can be downloaded (either from the site or via the iTunes Music Store) for free as a kind of podcast, chapter by chapter.

So far I've only made it to chapter five (out of 27) of Book One (although some authors have stretched the meaning of the word "trilogy", this one actually is only three books) and I'm hooked. The trilogy is completed already, so all chapters are available for download. I hear it's actually being published in book-form too, during next year. And with the success and cult-like following it's getting, I wouldn't be surprised if we saw a movie sometimes soon... Once I make it through the book, there seems to be a sequel called Obsidian in the making as well.

The author reads the book himself on the audiofeed, and he does a great job at it. He has a voice which is really easy to listen to. Before and after the chapters he speaks freely for a minute or so, about how things are going with the book, as well as mentions other podcast novels he likes.

Listening to audiobooks (or, as Leo Laporte puts it - "reading audiobooks") can be a strange experience for the uninitiated. I've listened actively to a number of podcasts for several years, but still getting into audiobooks was a bit of a leap. When you read a book, you are actively doing something, you read the text, your eyes move along the lines, and every now and again, you turn the page. Not with audiobooks. You have to get used to doing absolutely nothing (except maybe driving, walking or whatever it is you do whilst listening) but receive the information through headphones/speakers - but still concentrate enough to follow - especially when the language isn't your mother tongue. In my opinion, though - it's worth it.

After months of listening to the TWiT shows with Laporte, and hearing him rave about audiobooks from Audible.com, I bought a few books via the iTunes music store, mainly a few Sherlock Holmes short stories, and some old time radio dramas (why don't they do radio dramas anymore?!) by Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke. I've enjoyed these immensly, and was happy to see a book like this given away for free.

It seems others have enjoyed it as well. We geeks, it seems, make for very intensive and loyal fans.
Isn't it awesome when somebody actually gets it? How the internets work?

I Taught I Taw a Tweet!

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 12:43:04 +0300

Being an avid listener to This Week in Tech with Leo Laporte (and a handful of other tech-podcasts too) one word kept coming up constantly - TWITTER. For a very long time I avoided it because it seemed like a completely useless online application. Why would I want to know trivial facts about what people are doing?

For anybody who doesn't know what Twitter or Twittering or Tweets are, I suggest you watch the brilliant educational film "Twitter in Plain English" from the folks at Common Craft. I slowly began to see that any single tweet in itself was truly trivial, unnecessary and not even very entertaining. But a continuous flow of tweets builds up to a complete picture of a person.

Part of what's been holding me back so far was the way a few of the profiles on Twitter handled it. It became a competition of who got the most followers, think friends on Facebook. This always irritated me with Facebook as well. Although I do have a Facebook account I do not log in frequently anymore, and to tell you the truth - I don't even know how many friends I have on Facebook.

I know Twitter is more for the tech-crowd than it is for the gaming crowd (I concider myself to be part of both), and Scott Nicholsons geeklist for Twitter users among Boardgamegeeks never caught on, but I think gamers can have as much use and fun from Twitter as the techies. Stuff that's too little to write a blog-entry, a session report or a review about. The fact that the tweets are limited to 140 letters actually makes sense, not only from a traffic point of view. Single sentence thoughts rarely or even never end up in blogposts.

Anyway - I bit the bullet and signed up for an account. If you feel like following me, feel free, welcome and hop on. I'll probably follow you back.

http://twitter.com/imosse

So what is my impression of Twitter? It's like a blog, yet nothing like a blog. It's like Facebook, yet nothing like Facebook. It's like an instant messenger, yet nothing like an instant messenger. It's like SMS:s, yet nothing like SMS:s. Make sense? No? Well, how much of the Web 2.0 experience actually does?

Combat in the Chateau

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 10:37:01 +0300

A while back, my kid brother and I grew tired of just staring at each others faces (our faces are easy to grow tired of) when playing our boardgames and wanted some fresh faces around the table. I put up a post at a national online community saying anybody interested would be welcome to join. Only one dared answer the call, and Jan came to our first official meeting. He has since returned, and also expressed an interest in wargames, so yesterday we got together for some of that.

The game of choice had to be a short one, as we only had one day in which to go through the rules and play through an entire session in that time. Although I knew Jan was a newbie he has (again and again) proven to be a fast learner and tends to win more games than he loses - so silly-simple games like Memoir '44 were out of the question. I also didn't want to go to ASL Starter Kit, as I am playing that against my brother - I thought I could take this opportunity to play some game I myself hadn't played in a while. A quick stare at my wargaming shelf later and I reread the rulebook to Combat Commander: Europe, a game that fell a bit flat last time I played it (which was also the only time so far I had played it).

Both me and Jan served in the artillery, so I wanted a scenario with off-board artillery. I settled for Scenario 4: Closed for Renovation where a group of 9th Panzer Division germans were defending a stronghold at a chateau in Humaine, Belgium. Being the good host - I gave Jan the Americans with their artillery, I settled for the IG 18 Gun and the defending Germans.

I set up first and immediately made a complete ass of myself. My train of thought was set on "ASL" which means I placed my leaders where they would best give rally support for routing, broken troops. But in CC:E, you need your leaders to activate more than one unit at the time. I set up two MG-nests in the chateau itself, another MG nest in the house covering the northeast corner and the spread the rest of the troops in the sparse woods north of the objective building. As the VP-score begins at 20 for the Germans, and the chateau is worth a massive 15, the Americans really have to take the castle to win. Jan set up his forces and began his attempt to do just that.

I had placed my first guard quite far north (all Americans enter from the north map edge), as I had been in my ASL-state of mind and planned to make a controlled retreat while firing, to slow the Americans, pressed for time, down. Of course, it is not as simple as that in CC:E. The first line of defense did hold out, though, for a while. The outpost in the northeast house were eventually overrun from lack of support, and Jan controlled the map east of the chateau walls. These troops never made it past the wall, though - because as soon as his squads approached the wall my IG 18 blasted them to kingdom come. Jan also wanted to use all cards available at his western flank, which was actually advancing.

Having the defensive stance and only holding four cards is extremely limiting. I need to hold on to as many Fire-cards as possible at the same time also using Move- and Advance-cards to make controlled retreats. In hindsight, I maybe used too many of my Firecards in my own turn, meaning I held none when Jan made his bursts of advance. It was also past the halfway-point when I finally got my leaders in more CC:E-optimal positions, from where they could activate more units. The American leaders have a command range of 2 to the German 1:s, meaning the Americans were more mobile, and when they opened fire, they did so on a much broader front.

I held my ground as best I could, while Jan circled around the west flank. The two MG-nests in the chateau fired as often as they mustered. As Jan got troops on the south side of the castle, he quickly thought about collecting VP:s by exiting his troops, but it wouldn't be enough to get the VP marker over to his side. It was to be the chateau or defeat - so he set all his might to attacking the building. With concentrated and sustained fire he took out the first MG nest and sent in troops. In a single sweep he took half of the building. All I had left in the chateau was a single 5-man team with a light MG and a leader. Thankfully they got some support from the squads in the woods who started to lay fire into the half occupied by Americans.

The south side was completely unprotected and Jan managed to sneak two teams around, ready to advance into melee fighting. Bringing a lot more firepower to the table meant any close quarters combat would be a bloody defeat for me. In a case of nothing less than divine intervention I got some help from the Luftwaffe, which made a single air strike, just breaking the two American teams on the back side of the building! Vielen Dank, meine Herren!

At this point, all Jan needed was a Recover-card to flip his broken units, and an Advance-card to take out my remaining inhabitants. We were, however already on the Sudden Death-marker. Jan drew his Recover, played it and started to make Rally "rolls". One of which was a Time Marker Advancement, but he survived the Sudden Death roll. He played as many cards as could to be able to draw as many fresh ones as possible - hoping for that Advance card.

My turn, and I made some arbitrary shooting, basically from lack of other options - I was in complete survival mode at this point. One of my Fire-rolls, though, resulted in yet another Time Marker Advancement. We found ourselves on the 9-space of the timetrack, and I drew an 8. Sudden Death.

The game was over, with the VP-marker way on my side. We had both eliminated a handful of enemy troops (Jan more than me) but nowhere near enough to cause an automatic surrender. Even though the game basically ended with 19 VP in my favor, I had only won by a hair. I was on life-support and would have had no chance of either defending myself against or surviving an American advance.

Although the game improved immensly in my eyes I still have some issues with it. Even though I am fully aware that this game is not supposed to be a "ASL-killer", I can't help but compare it to ASL Starter Kit, which (in my opinion) is of approximately the same complexity. But I will not compare the two as to "which one is better", just because they are so different. My major gripes with CC:E are; speed and power.

Let me be more specific... "Speed" as in how slowly it moves forward. In ASL, you (may) move all (able) units every turn. This moves the game forward in a more speedy fashion. In CC:E you need strong leaders (at least a command value of 2) to activate more troops at once, or else activate only one unit per card. Sure, you can play as many move-cards as you want, but when the push comes to shove, there aren't that many of them in there... "Power" as in how little firepower a massive firegroup actually produces. In ASL, when you manage to build up a firegroup, you add together the FP of all participating units. In CC:E, you take the FP of one of the units, and add the amount of supporting pieces, no matter the FP of that supporting piece.

The result of this is, ASL of the two is the faster and bloodier game, which in some way is a bit surprising. Again, I'm not saying either one is "better" than the other.
I will continue playing both.

It was bound to happen

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 07:39:01 +0300

I hate it when it happens. I got a blog-challenge. I usually respond to them with some silly insult straight from a Monty Python-skit, but now I was challenged by my big brother, and he can beat me up!

This challenge started OK, the first two questions were actually pretty interesting - but it deteriorates rapidly... Anyway - take it as is.

1. How many blog entries have you written?
In this blog there seems to be 162 since december 2005, any entries older than that I deleted when I updated my database a while ago. My recently started swedish blog has all of 9 entries, and then I have a few dozen diary entries at the swedish online community Extrem.

2. Why did you start writing your own blog?
Intially as HTML-practice, actually. Then I learned PHP and MySQL and redid them. And every time I learn some new techiques I redesign the entire site. I've now started to study CSS a bit deeper and began to understand what an adverse tool it is (and how crappy my CSS has been up 'til now) - and I'm now working on the n:th redesign.

3. What other websites do you frequent?
The list is too long to mention. Boardgamegeek.com is probably the most visited. For studying webdesign Google is probably the most versatile. I also follow a handful of podcasts and webcasts. Check the sidebar of my blog...

4. Do you have your own website (blog not included)?
I used to run a smaller, swedish languaged, boardgaming discussion site, BiM, which I finally closed off about a year ago. It's still up, but you can't log in or post anymore. I didn't have the time to moderate or develop it anymore.

5. Do you speak any other languages but your mother tongue?
My mother tongue is swedish, but I also speak fluent finnish and english. My german could be a whole lot better, but I don't get to use it too often. I also know very basic french. I'm also fluent in a lot of silly accents.

6. What programs do you follow on TV?
Not very much anymore, except for The Office. I mostly watch webcasts nowadays, from Revision 3, for example... (Of course there are the classics, starting with the Simpsons, which I watch whenever I remember to.)

7. Elevator or Stairs?
Depends. Going up or down - referring both to my lateral movement and my mood of the day?

8. Lucky or unlucky number?
Definately unlucky. Numbers aren't my thing. (just for good measures sake, let's say 42...)

9. Challenge three other bloggers to this?
I completely and whole-heartedly refuse. If somebody still wants to do it - knock yourselves out.

Over and out.
Now I feel cheap and dirty...

On another note - I'm suddenly getting a flood of spam through the comments here. I'm deleting them as fast as I can and updating my blacklist-filter, but don't be suprised if somebody is trying to sell you herbal viagra or male connector enlargement plans over here. I'll kick solicitors as I spot them, and will probably add some form of anti-spam field to the comments section as fast as I can get around to it.

I Can Be Your Hero, Baby

Sat, 19 Apr 2008 09:52:03 +0300

I finally gave in. After months of thinking it wouldn't be for me I caved and bought Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock for my PS2. My doubts of rythm-games being too simplistic and boring were proved wrong when I got stuck playing the very creatively named browser-based flash game Super Crazy Guitar Maniac Deluxe 2. And GH3 is way better!

It arrived yesterday and I immediately hooked it up and started to effectively rock. I completely and utterly raped the first song, Slow Ride by Foghat. It takes a while to get it into your head that you don't play the note by simply pushing the buttons, but instead you have to press the fret button, and then time the note by strumming on the strum bar. So, like playing a "real" guitar you have to start playing the note a bit in advance. I played through Slow Ride (a song I now, suddenly, love, by the way...) about three times before it started to sink.

But once that happened, I forgot the 12-hour shift I had just come home from - all the evil customers and other cr*p I had had to deal with during the day. I rocked. I was also reminded of how f*cking (sorry about the wording - I'm in a rock'n roll state of mind...) great music they used to make a few decades ago. Rock and Roll All Nite by Kiss, School's Out by Alice Cooper, Barracuda by Heart... I hadn't even realised I liked Rage Against the Machine until I got to play Bulls on Parade.

I do play a little guitar for real also... No, not a little guitar as in a ukulele... I have three guitars and play equally bad on all of them. I have a 12-string, an electric and a nylon-string classical guitar. And no, playing Guitar Hero is not like playing the guitar - but it does not claim to be and it does not need to be. But neither is playing Gran Tourismo like driving really really fast and recklessly for real. However, playing Guitar Hero does feel like playing the guitar, and I get the same feelings of frustration from missing a note in Guitar Hero as I do when screwing up a song when playing for real, and the same sense of invincibility when everything is going smoothly. Also, as with playing a real guitar, missing a note makes it real difficult to get back in rythm.

There are two main reasons why it feels like playing a real guitar. Firstly, because you have to be half a bar faster with your left hand striking the strum bar but hitting the notes on que with your right forces you to think like you're playing a real guitar. Also, because the notes aren't arbitrary but logical and in rythm - actually swinging, stomping your feet or singing along helps you keep that rythm at the same time as it's helping you get into the atmosphere and the right state of mind. Brilliant!

Looking through the playlist of available songs I see I have a whole lot of goodies ahead. ZZ Tops La Grange, Black Magic Woman by Santana and the classic Welcome to the Jungle by Guns'n Roses. Rock On!

Double Danger

Sun, 13 Apr 2008 14:27:02 +0300

After my solo endeavor of Manoeuvre a few days ago I was aching to give it a shot for real. Kid brother Jens had the afternoon off as his girlfriend Linda was at work. We had intended to play the next scenario of Men of Iron: the Rebirth of Infantry, but decided to start with Manoeuvre.

The dice decided sides (say that three times fast!) and I was first player, contructing the battlefield to be. Jens decided that the Spanish army and the Ottoman Empire were to do the fighting - and of these two I opted for the spaniards. A quick walk through the rules and we were off!

This was to be a very mobile battle. The frontline would shift from my side to his back and forth. The ottomans big strenght is their cavalry, which meant Jens was able to move around quickly. I built redoubts after redoubts, which were all then forsaken when I went on the attack, causing the enemy to retreat, meaning I had to advance. These advances caused holes in my line, through which Jens sent cavalries to collect victory points. Luckily I had also punched a hole in the Ottoman line, and managed to send through an infantry force before nightfall.

This single unit collected five VP:s to counter Jens' cavalry unit which at the last turn got only four. Victory to the Spaniards (me) five to four. And as we waited for the cheese on the pizza in the oven to melt we decided it had been both a great match and a fantastic game. Although there are similarities to other games it's not really like any of them. Sure it feels a bit like chess, but at the same time - not at all. It also feels like a "real" wargame, yet it is not. Units are activated with cards, like in the Command & Colors-system games or the Combat Commander-games, yet they do not cause frustrations in the same manner. (I've always though the Command & Colors-system would benefit greatly from separate decks and the ability to discard.) At the same time the cardplay itself is very different from these other, similar yet different, games. To it's benefit - in my opinion.

Time flows fast when you're having fun, and a quick glance at the clock later we decided we could not have the time for Men of Iron this time. Instead we decided for a second game of Manoeuvre. The roles changed, and Jens built a map with marshes and lakes. I lined up the Russians and the Prussians, of which Jens took the Russians. I stared myself blind on the marsh, and hastely decided I didn't want in on my side, so I spun the world around. As Jens started to line up his russian army I suddenly realized I had perhaps not taken the best map half. The combination of lakes and marsh made a pocket in which my units would be trapped. Well, no sense crying over it - I lined up my folks as best I could and the battle was on!

This time thing did not work out for me. I knew the russians big strenght was an abundance of leaders. This meant that he could better combine his attacks for deadly results. A few turns later and our armies were lined up at the halfway-point. At this point I made a blunder which is very characteristic of me. I do this in almost any wargame, and each and every time it turns around and bited me in the *ss. I spot a hole in the enemy's line and send in forces without support. This time I saw that by using a Forced March-card I could get one of my two cavalry units into a town square on the Russian side of the battlefield. From this good defensive position, I could then attack the russian flank.

Bad judgement call. The cavalry made the journey, attacked a russian infantry unit which withdrew into the hills. Of course my cavalry went into pursuit leaving the protection of the town, and although they did inflict some damage by the pursuit, they were now caught in the plains between two russian regiments. Death was upon them. On the other side of the map things were about to get a bit better for me. My 25th Infantry Regiment was on a field facing the Orlov Regiment, who was in better defensive positions on a hill. I held both an Assault-card and a Bombardment-card for my 25th, and knowing I was in trouble I decided to risk it. I would first assault, hoping to get the enemy reduced, so that I could then finish them off by bombarding them.

As Jens was in good defensive positions with a unit stronger than mine, he wasn't too scared and didn't add any defensive cards. To improve my odds I added a leader to my attack. All my three dice maxed, giving me four times his defensive value, eliminating the Orlov regiment where they stood. Sadly, this was a bit too little a bit too late.

Jens had eliminated four of my units against the two killed russian units. He needed only one more for an immediate Attrition victory. He combined two units (an infantry and a cavalry) to attack my 13th Infantry, causing me to both take a step loss and retreat. He made a small blunder, though, advancing the infantry instead of the cavalry which could have eliminated my unit in a pursuit. A mistake I was more than happy to point out to him.

But it didn't change the outcome. Nightfall was coming and with the shere power in numbers Jens advanced into the Prussian half of the map collecting nine victory points to my puny two. Although I lost big it had been an interesting game. It was nice to see how much the armies differ from each other, which adds tons of replayability to the game. I lost the game mostly for my stupid advance in the early game, but in my defense, I didn't see a single leader-card on my hand until the last third of the game. This, of course, means I wasn't able to combine attacks to get high attack values. And when they finally appeared my army was too reduced to attack effectively.

A fantastic game that instantly became one of my absolute favorites. I can't wait for the designer's next game the Storm Breaks, which I have on pre-order. I hope it does well, as Jeff Horger spoke on an episode of Point 2 Point podcast of the next game in that series possibly being about the Finnish Winter War. If he manages to make a balanced game about the German invasion of Poland, I'm hoping for a game of the Winter War that is exciting for both players (and playable in a single evening)!

I'm a Jeff Horger-fan.