Recent Posts

61

General Discussion / AI and Naval Wargames

« Last post by Kelly on February 29, 2024, 08:14:32 pm »

While I have never used a language model AI to prepare any writing project, or given any input or prompts to one, I did have an output only tag come up from Bing’s Copilot GPT that may be of interest.  I do disable the predictive assistant each and every time the browser updates, so the below tag was personalized solely from my search history…
What are some popular naval miniatures wargames and their rules and strategies

For the first time ever I clicked on a tagged suggestion, and Copilot then gave me the following recommendations: Victory at Sea, Black Seas, Topside Minis.

Victory at Sea at number 1 makes a lot of sense as it is probably the best selling historical naval game currently, with their drawn source being total searches.

Black Seas at number 2 was again a historical naval game, and the two sentence summary did give an overview of the setting and some of the mechanics, but not the initiative system which was its most innovative one.

Topside Minis was the biggest surprise at number 3, which I thought was a mistake at first but then found their pdf download for WWII actions on the site so there are starter rules available.  All in all, that would be a success for Topside’s SEO that their search presence is large enough to make it into Copilot’s top three picks.

I have searched for each of the above, but not for several months, so their detection algorithms are good enough to recognize an interest in naval games, but not very specific yet as each of the above are all historical entries instead of science fiction or fantasy.  As far as browsers go, on game searches, the predictors have a long way to go to reach HAL 9000 status, much less Skynet level, but I would start to be concerned if the above recommendations were all Armada and Homeworld though…

62

Misc. Naval Games / Re: Homeworld Fleet Command

« Last post by Kelly on February 24, 2024, 03:50:15 pm »

Campaign Expansion – 5060523345939 – MUH052368

Here is a breakdown on the campaign expansion components:
Another 100 ships are included within 8 types, 6 large and 2 small, which does expand the silhouettes available to play over and above the multiple card versions included in the base game.

The campaign supplement is 32 pages and includes 8 more missions that are built around sequential play and customization through fleet upgrades purchased each mission.

For cardboard, another two sheets of tokens are included that allow the use of most if not all of the new ships for very large games, a second board, also for very large games, and card decks which support the new scenarios and upgrades.

In total, the campaign expansion has a fair amount of content, and is a good value that matches the standards of the base box.

63

Dystopian Wars / Re: MBS DW Fan 2.5 FAQ - Working Thread UPDATED 2/20/18: FAQ is Live!

« Last post by Kelly on February 22, 2024, 07:33:35 pm »

A question - Does anyone recall the 6 engined bomber that was offered at IIRC Salute one year, the Valkyrie? And would anyone have the stats?

Sorry, did not have anything copied on it from the before times; normally my go-to for missing cards is eBay listing images, but the only thing up right now for the Valkyrie's Fury is one item that is marked as 'Unidentified bomber' so no luck there...
https://www.ebay.com/itm/315148079935

...there was a partial image I found of the promo card, the best of what I could make out are below:
Fore Cannons (P)   10   10   5   5
Wing Guns (S)      6   5
Aft Guns (S)      6   5
Bomb Bay (T)      5

Large Aerial Capital Class Model
Minimum move 4”   Turn Limit 1”
Turn template 45 deg   Squadron size 1

Area Bombardment (Bombs)
Combat Patrol
Hunter (Surface, Bombs)
Squadron Support (PLC SAS fighters 4)
Strategic Value (25)

Model is fitted with an internal shield (2) generator for no add----
Model has the piercing (fore cannon) munitions type
Models has incendiary (bombs) munitions type

Two wing guns (2) have a 90 deg fore fire arc
One fore cannon (p) has a fore fixed channel fire arc
One aft guns (s) has a 90 deg aft fire arc
Three bomb bays (t) have a 2” range and a 360 fire arc

Esmerelda and the Valkyrie’s Fury are available to all Dystopian Wars----
40% Non-Core element of a force.  ----

64

The Swap Shop / Re: Selling new Dystopian Wars and Dropfleet Commander

« Last post by fez_the_druid on February 22, 2024, 02:43:56 pm »

I live in the Netherlands, is the Dystopian wars still available?

65

Dystopian Wars / Re: MBS DW Fan 2.5 FAQ - Working Thread UPDATED 2/20/18: FAQ is Live!

« Last post by Covertwalrus on February 17, 2024, 11:14:05 pm »

 Hey all, long time no see! Too busy playing 2.5 and converting "new" craft.

 A question - Does anyone recall the 6 engined bomber that was offered at IIRC Salute one year, the Valkyrie? And would anyone have the stats?

66

Misc. Naval Games / Homeworld Fleet Command

« Last post by Kelly on February 08, 2024, 12:07:29 am »

Homeworld Fleet Command – 5060523345922 – MUH052367

Here is a brief breakdown on the base game components:
First of all, the ships arrive assembled and are a moderately soft and dense plastic, think boxed games from Fantasy Flight, or 1/72 historical miniatures from Hat Industries, not a sharply defined rigid polystyrene.  With that material choice there is less detail possible, but the modelers made the best use of the plastic possible, and the mold lines are well hidden.  At first glance this would seem to be a negative, but as these ships are not intended for stands or bases, in fact the game has them stored loosely in wells, a more durable plastic is a reasonable choice, and if the ships arrived on traditional sprues there would be much less room in the box for less ships.

At 101 total within 11 types, the number of ships is a good amount for variety of play, especially with the different unit cards included.  The careful observer will note that almost half of that total is composed of fighters, but I cannot criticize anyone boosting a ship count by including the smallest options possible.

The rulebook is 52 pages and includes 10 missions that roughly correspond to the events in the original Homeworld RTS game.  The first 7 scripted missions lay out the rules in order of escalating complexity which are in preparation of the final 3 that expect players to select their own fleet compositions.

Almost half of the box is composed of the other cardboard pieces required for play.  The board is hex based, and two decks of cards are used for activations and to track unit statistics.  Multiple tokens for modifiers, objectives, and statuses are included and in enough quantities for regular play.  All of these are good quality cardstock or board, but the one downside is that the molded inserts are tightly sized to their components, so much so that there is no room for card sleeves.

All in all, a good production given the design goals and that fits the majority of the original Homeworld onto the table.

67

News and Rumors / Re: Kickstarter for 3D Terrain Files

« Last post by Ruckdog on February 01, 2024, 04:05:52 pm »

I'm really excited by how well the campaign went! Looking forward to getting my hands on the files and playing around with them.

68

News and Rumors / Re: Kickstarter for 3D Terrain Files

« Last post by Toxic_Rat on January 31, 2024, 06:08:41 pm »

Fully funded, and wow, a lot of content.  The ol' printer is going to be busy on this one.

69

News and Rumors / Re: Homeworld : Fleet Command

« Last post by Kelly on January 27, 2024, 08:36:24 pm »

North American fulfillment is in process now,

...and now it is finally here!


Several hundred ships are soon to be scattered across the table, with updates following shortly after I hope.

70

Space Naval Games / Re: Played in a SW Armada Tournament!

« Last post by Kelly on January 26, 2024, 05:15:52 pm »

Congratulations!  Will we be getting a breakdown of your list, how it performed against the other fleets, or any changes to be made going forward?