Panzerblitzer

Kobold Quarterly Adopt-a-Soldier

2009-12-17T00:24:00.001-06:00

Kobold Quartely is giving away subscriptions to active duty soldiers of any nationality. So, if you know a soldier who RPGs or would like to help out by buying a subscription for a soldier, go to this link, Kobold Quarterly Adopt-a-Soldier or here. You could also win yourself a prize as a sponsor.

Seriously, when I was on active duty, it was cool getting to the hobby shop off-base and filling up on Dragon and General mags. Part of the stress of being in the service is the boredom between patrols or missions. In a combat zone I can only imagine it is worse....nothing to do but think about those patrols and missions.

So, help a soldier get his mind off the real world for just a little while and click on the link.

Kobold Quarterly Adopt-a-Soldier or here and mention my name in the comments section.

Thanks!

2-1/2 month update ... I'm getting better

2009-08-10T16:48:00.004-05:00

Spent a lot of time this summer reading RPG material. Now that 4th edition D&D has been released, I've discovered that 3.5 really wasn't that bad.

It really started sometime last fall. I discovered that Dungeon magazine had released a four part super poster map of the World of Greyhawk. As a younger RPG player, Greyhawk was the first fantasy world I had found. It inspired me to create my own worlds and introduced me to characters and places that intrigued me.

Anyway ... Paizo Publishing was the publisher of Dungeon magazine at the time. While shopping their website I discovered they had their own RPG in development. And you could get it for FREE! (Well, it was the beta playtest, but....it was FREE!!!) So, I downloaded it. Tried learning it. And discovered the wealth of cheap 3.5 books available now that 4th edition was on the market.

Since then, I've totally fell in love with Pathfinder as an RPG. The campaign world Paizo has developed to support their RPG (Golarian) is unique and flavorful. I'm slowly building a library of 3.5 sourcebooks from a number of publishers.

I've given time to write a few proposals for modules in the open competitions the company has and am now actively developing my own campaign world and adventures with an eye towards publishing it myself on a site like Lulu.

So....thats what I've been doing.

Oh...also built a game shed this summer. Still no power or windows or interior walls, but, its water tight and a good temporary place to store my gaming stuff.

The 3 Month Update....

2009-05-29T11:43:00.003-05:00

You'd think I could do a better job of posting to my blog.

So ... Panzerblitz 2 has finally printed. And with it a whole raft of errors, questions and issues. All in all, though, the response has been overwhelmingly positive. Myself and a few others have already started working on the next historical module (Mortain). I'm also in the process of reconstructing the unit data for the first core module. The numbers I originally delivered to Darren and MMP were on a spreadsheet along with the formula to calculate unit strengths. I only delivered the numbers for units they needed for Hill of Death. I had burned the sheet to CD for what I thought was posterity. I didn't account for CD rot, or degradation or whatever you want to call it. When I reopened the file to send everything I had to Darren, it would not load. I was finally able to extract a few lines of data from the file. Enough to get me going in the right direction, but, a lot of number crunching has to be recrunched, now. A L-O-T of numbers.... I'm mightily sickened by that.

3 More Months....

2009-02-25T11:22:00.001-06:00

So...no gaming of any consequence to report.

I've actually been pretty caught up in my writing. Paizo Publishing is an RPG adventure and magazine publisher who has positioned themselves to inherit a large number of D&D 3.5 adherents. Their "Pathfinder" RPG is often described as D&D 3/75 or what "3.5 should have been".

I don't know. I haven't played an RPG since I divorced my first wife ... coincidentally right about the time 3rd edition D&D replaced the long running 2nd edition.

Anyway ... Paizo often holds open calls for scenario submissions as well as their annual "RPG Superstar" contest. I've been spending what little free time I do get from work and kids to sharpen my writing skills and submitting a few things to them. In the back of my mind I have the idea to get myself writing again and hopefully finding a way to make a living at it. I have notebooks full of story ideas I've always wanted to write. Perhaps its time to do what I went to college to be in the first place.

I have done a little miniature painting. Clearing two more Cryx units from my Warmachine backlog. One more 'Jack to finish and all my Warmachine will be painted.

Now to finish the 1000 pt Norman and 1000 pt Alexandrian armies for Warmaster Ancients.

And the Circle of Orboros units for Hordes.

And the War of the Roses Might of Arms army.

And the drawer full of 1/144 WW2 figures.

And the half drawer of modern microarmor/6mm.

And the drawer full of 6mm Imperial Romans for a DBA army (or maybe Might of Arms, I haven't decided yet).

And of course I still have a Sub-Roman British DBA army to paint.

I think I'll stop now.

I also recently bought a bunch of AT-43 miniatures really cheap. I hope to actually go gaming for a day in April with the West Texas Wargaming Association up in Big Srping. :)

I almost forgot "the shed." I should hopefully be getting a 12' X 16' shed built in the backyard ot move all my gaming gear into. I'll finally be able to set up at least 1 4'x 8' table for wargames and have plenty of space to store all my games.

1 month, 2 months, 3 months or 4?

2008-11-24T23:44:00.003-06:00

Well, since Rob won't let me alone until I post something.... Here's my current game table. I've given it over to the boys for a honking Heroscape set up. I'm in the process of working up an actual scenario to use while they push some DYO units around and roll dice.

...And Another Month Gone By

2008-10-28T20:51:00.002-05:00

No gaming to speak of, really. A few solo games of Warriors of God. Decent quick playing game. even got the wife to give it a go with me.

Ralph (my ex's father) was with us for about a week-and-a-half to visit Brendan, so, I was out of my gaming room (which is also my spare bedroom) and the wife was all over the computer.

Setting up my semi-annual OCS fix. The Southern Pincer scenario from Guderian's Blitz II. Again, I know....soomeday I will get through at least a full scenario without screwing up something that kills the enjoyment. I have Burma on the shelf, but, couldn't bring myself to punch and clip all those counters when what I want to do is play.

Also been playing around with a Wars of the Roses game using Warriors of God as a basic engine. I think it would work well, if I could get myself to sit down and get it together. I'm giving myself a Christmas deadline to have a playtest kit together for it.

I'm also twiddling with my writing again. (I must have ADD, I swear). Been thinking a novel about the old AD&D campaign setting of Greyhawk would be cool. Death Knights. The Black Crusade.

Also thought it would be cool to introduce my boys to roleplaying.

Now if I oculd just make myself buckle down and finish something. :(

3 months?!?!

2008-09-26T10:51:00.010-05:00

Wow....3-1/2 months.

I'd planned to do a lot more with this blog.

So, GB II only lasted a turn or two. I miscalculated a lot of supply, ran too many artillery bombardments and basically screwed everything up. I considered doing a reset, but, abandoned that as I had moved enough crap around to make a real mess of things.

I tore it down and set up "Northern Pincers" and then promptly made the same basic mistakes.... OCS can definitely be frustrating.

If I remember correctly, since then I've soloed "The Mighty Endeavor" and played about half a game of "R.A.F." (Interesting at first, but got boring). I also took Totaler Krieg for a solo spin. I find this game fascinating but as a solitaire game its kind of boring. I think with more players this would deliver the advertised "panzer pushing fun." Finally, I also set up and played a few turns of John Prados' Third Reich from Avalanche Press. Another game I think would be better with other players.

I'm currently in 2 "Here I Stand" games, a newbie game on ACTs (HiS154) moderated by Ed Beach, and a game on CSW that seems to be dragging and going nowhere.

On the table right now is a huge pile of Panzerblitz/Panzer Leader variant material, courtesy of Ward McBurney and his excellent Imaginative Strategist website. Loads of new counters and maps for the games. I'm mid stream and hate to quit now, but, I want to clear some of it off the table so I can continue working on my Operation Luttich module for PB/PL.

I recently picked up "Warriors of God" and I'm hoping to find someone to do some VASSAL PBeM with.

I finished reading "Child 44" last month and am working my way through "The Dragonbone Chair" by Tad Williams.

OCS - Guderian's Blitzkrieg II

2008-06-11T14:11:00.008-05:00

Guderian's Blitzkrieg II from Multiman Publishing / The Gamers is the first monster game I've set up since was a 17 year old kid playing Objective: Moscow on my bedroom floor. I first set up the Typhoon (Oct 41) full campaign game a few years ago over a Thanksgiving Day weekend. Being the holidays, I never got the time to actually play any of it. By the time the holidays had passed, I'd lost interest, so, I took some pictures and posted them to my CSW blog, tore the game down and stowed it away.

Since then I've had two or three abortive attempts at the Tunisia campaign game and not much else.

Then I played Case Blue at CSW Expo '08. Now the OCS juices are really flowing and I'm hungry to play some more.So, here it is again. The full Typhoon set up (7.1) from OCS Case Blue. I've got my tweezers sharpened and a better appreciation of how the game plays after my Expo experience.

The northern front.

The central front
just west of
Smolensk.

Guderian prepares to drive west.

I plan to post updates as I get a chance.

New Games!!!!!

2008-06-10T11:56:00.011-05:00

A whole new slew of new games on order from CoolStuffInc. First up "Wings of War: Watch your Back!" I made a mistake by ordering this one. I didn't realize the series actually started with "Famous Aces." All that means is I have another game I need to purchase.

Next, a game for the family. Recently, a BGGer misshipped some games to me and Hive was one of them. The game intrigued me and looks like one my sons could understand and enjoy. And adding it to the order qualified me for free shipping :)

Combat Commander: Med Theater. I picked up the base game (Combat Commander: Europe) at CSW Expo after seeing a lot of guys playing it. I enjoy playing Command & Colors: Ancients solitaire and after looking over CC:E thought a similar simple solitaire system could easily be developed.

And while I'm at it, I might as well get Combat Commander: Paratrooper and complete the whole currently available set, right?

CSW Expo Pictures

2008-06-05T22:56:00.009-05:00

Finally got around to downloading my pictures from the Expo. Unfortunately, this is all I got :(

I've got some out of town visitors staying with me now, but, hope to get some gaming content up this weekend.

CSW Expo

2008-05-26T20:15:00.011-05:00

I'm off to CSW Expo tomorrow. 6 days of OCS Case Blue with friends like Morris Hadley. I also hope to get some Face to Face gaming in with other friends. On the slate for possible table time is Wellington, Friedrich, The Napoleonic Wars, Power Grid and Here I Stand.

Also looking forward to getting some duels in Mike Lam's "Down In Flames Aces' Campaign." This is supposedly a great ongoing event. I haven't had a chance to play DiF in quite sometime, so, I'm looking forward to getting some "stick" time. (Keep your lewd comments to yourself, Winslow ;) )

I hope to have my digi-cam with me and post some pictures and reports from the Expo!

A New Beginning?

2008-05-26T10:02:00.007-05:00

One of my good online friends, Rob, has started his own blog. I've had this thing started for quite some time, but never got around to doing anything with it. So, Rob has kinda inspired me to start doing something with it. With that said, here we are, free from the personality politics of CSW. Trolls and ego-deficient whack-jobs need not apply.

Panzerblitz 2 Preorder

2006-10-11T09:10:00.003-05:00