|
| There is no way to deny it : I'm going through a serious case of Wingofwaritis. Though of course, Battletech remains my favorite game, it's again this time when you need to see if the pasture isn't greener elsewhere. These times go, as the newness of the games wear out, and all tactical combinations are explored (and Wings of War offers but a few of these... simplicity has a price!). I've gone through a few of these (Confrontation, Mechwarrior Dark Age ) and all faded away, but right now, it's in full swing, and I'm dreaming of taking some rickety kite over muddy Flanders fields to offer , in knightly fashion, bataille champel to some Teutonic Ritter. Feeling the nostalgia of a time when the young noble men of Western Europe were eager to renounce a life of privileges and ready to give their lives for King, Kaiser or the République, who, while recognizing the value of a worthy foe they had mercilessly hunted down, were ready to mourn their death... Guynemer declining to shoot and waving Udet free, as his guns were jammed, or Immelman dropping flowers on the aerodrome of a fallen foe. Gallantry without hate. These may be teenage fantasies, but so much more uplifting than today's bleak realities. At any rate, I've even painted a few minis to supplement the already good standard minis Immelman's Fokker 
Lubery's Nieuport 
Navarre's Nieuport 
Bréguet XIV  
And they also ring a bell in the Battletech universe : Gunslingers and Samourais duking out before the fall of the Star League, or Davion & Kurita nobilities sparring on the border for centuries. As a Davion fan, the Draconis Border is where my heart lies, dreaming of being a Crucis March noble and have the distance to be spared the hate... Besting honorable foes in an honorable way, that's all war (and wargaming *wink* ) should be! Navarre meets Immelman (Alex and I blooded the minis *chuckles* )  It looks like I'll have to go through this one, after all. | | |
| You may well not be aware of my elder son, Alex, and the fact he is a problem child. Today he has won a victory over himself, a victory he (and I ) can be proud of. These are the most difficult to win... I have bought, a few months ago, Nexus' excellent Wings of War game, and I have introduced both my kids to it. For Alex, it is a problem to remain concentrated,and to keep his calm when things turn bad, to the point I stop the game when this happens. Well, today, for the 1st time, we managed to complete a game that was not gpoing his way. Alex took a German UFAG, and I opted for the American DH4 :  0810.jpg
The battle started with a few passings by. It's some help to have rear gunners!  t19/DSCN0811.jpg
But I managed to get the UFAG to veer under the DH's rear guns, and unleashed a crippling salvo :  jpg
With some drastic results : 
Alex takes it well, and tries to assess why he lost : 
| | |
| Some things annoy me, other things just make me sick... I haven't reached my 48th year without losing a good part of my naïveté, or getting used to the violent ways of this world. There is however a stark difference when you know the place, and the actors, involved in the current bloody play on the world's bloodthirsty stage. There is a whole dimension of emotional involvement we're usuallyprotected from by our lack of de situ knowledge. Not so for me this time with the current events in Madagascar, a country I toured last summer, where my wife comes from, and where we have many relativez and loved ones... It's hard to keep one's detachment, and unfair to these other tragedies that kill so many more in places I don't know. 23 people (latest toll ) have been killed by the police in this afternoon's demonstration. They were unarmed civilians, fired on by the police with kalashnikovs and possibly grenades. This took place close to the square where you'll find the hotel we usually stay at when in Antananarivo, the capital town. This is a huge matter of sorrow for me. The Malagasy are a very friendly and hard working people, and foreigners (Vazahas, literally "managers" ) are very readily accepted there. They had been, till 1992, been under the ruthless of Admiral Ratsiraka, a tyrant who had sold the country to the Soviet Union during the Cold war. After some deadly demonstrations, he was ousted from power, only to regain 5 years later as the victorious opponents fell prey to division and personal greed... In 2002, he eventually lost the election to his rival Ravalomanana, but did not relinquish power until he'd been compelled by a not so bloody "civil war". Since then, Ravalomanana, though an autoritarian by western standards (one of my relative, who is fairly vocal opponent, has been threatened wxith prison, and other people have actually been jailed ), seemd to have things relatively well in hand. The country even seemed to be a bit more prosperous last summer when we visited. But even then, we'd heard of discontent in the capital town, and of the opposition between the President, and mayor Rajoalina, of Antananarivo. Rajoelina has built on the discontent of the poorest people, and created a strong movement in the capital area. He has addressed many of the issues Ravalomanana chose to neglect, till his power base in such a vital area became a threat to Ravalomanana, a threat that could not be ignored any longer, and things came to a clash. And there Madagascar stands now, on the verge of another civil war, with 2 strong contenders vying for absolute power in the middle of destitute poverty. The Mayor ahs called for the removel of the president, and the president has sacked the mayor. Then Rajoenaly has created his own government, courting the other provinces, and possibly the armed forces. Where that will end no one can know for now... all we can hope for is that once more, tragedy will be avoided. If you feel so inclined, please pray for Madagscar! | | |
| Yesterday, we were only 2 present at our club's weekly gaming session (I must say, due to my being ill the last few times, I have not had an exemplary attendance as well) , so, no joy for a RPG. Fortunately, I'd brought along my new Introductory Boxed Set, so we could rig a quick game of Batletech with my friend. And I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but I'll say it again, the new Introductory Boxed Set is an unending source of awesomeness. I didn't have to bring all my heavy impedimenta, and the game was as enjoyable. Makes me wonder why I'm painting and keeping a hundreds strong minis collection. We used the little set up I'd made for the Introductory Set. Build a 240 tons max lance, using only the minis available in the box (so, no two copies of a same mech ). We rolled, he won, so he had first pick at the mechs while I got to make terrain and pick my edge. So, I opted to set myself on the Battletech map, leaving the hills close to my edge, and gave him an open terrain map to start on (the one with fewer trees ). This done, he picks the Awesome, and me the Catapult. Then he takes the Jenner, and I take the Spider. Then he opts for the Quickdraw, and I get the Vindicator. That leaves him at 175 tons, and as te only 65 tonner left is the Jagermech, he opts for the Dragon. Being at 140 myself, well, you can easily guess what i picked. I know the Atlas' rep is a bit overdone, but it's a fun mech to play, and if you play it well, really devastating. So, as my opponent is our lead Drac, it felt like a little raid on Galtor III... My plan was somewhat simple : sneak the Atlas within short range of his Awesome, thanks to the cover of the trees ( sticking the Opfor on a level 0 map is so sweet, as it obstructs LOS ). The Catapult sets up shop on a wooded L3, while the Vindy gets ready to jump into a heavy wood. The spider gets ready to exploit any opportunity. Predictably, the Awesome, escorted by the Quickdraw and Dragon, makes for the heavy woods near the closer edge of the open terrain map. He then rolls a 12, hitting the right arm of my Vindy... Ouch! I however score a fewLRMs on the Dragon, which backs up the following turn into the woods. The Jenner starts a flanking move. I stubbornly continue with my plan, and my big guy reachs its starting line having taken a single PPC hit in the right arm (having run up the Opfor's THN to 9 and 10 till then ). The jenner braeks cover andruns towards my Catapult. Unfortunately, it moves 9 hexes to 7 hexes from my unmoving Cat... THN : 7 against its tinfoil armor... both launchers hit, and, quite luckily, I crit 3 actuators (except the hip ) in a leg... the Jenner alphastrikes and misses. It falls and won't get back up, failing PSRs of 8 consistently.The Quickdraw breaks cover as well, and hits the Vindy with LRMs, but gets hit by the Atlas LRMs. The decisive turn comes. The Atlas breaks cover at a run, ending its move 3 hexes from teh Awesome in its heavy woods. Not enough, as all 3 PPCs hit. The SL even hits... and the return fire is poor for te Atlas, scoring with a single ML. The Catapult keeps destroying the poor Jenner, taking out a leg, and all armor on side torsos. The Quickdraw makes a curious move, jumping back first behind the Atlas, but misses The Dragon stood its ground in the woods, but failed to hit the running Spider which hit teAwesome with a ML. The Vindy however made the breaking shot, hitting the Awesome head, and critting a Sensor. The Atlas failed its PSR and fell, while the Awesome stood... but there was little suspens left. The following turn, the Cat destroyed the Jenner's other leg and a side torso, leaving the poor thing helpless and stranded on the battlefield. The Atlas stood up, and moved adjacent to the Awesome, prompting a last minute run of the Dragon towards its back... the firing phase was uneventful, nearly everyone missing, but the spider, who scored 2 hits on teh Awesome. The physical phase, however... the Atlas and Awesome kicked each other, and both hit. The Atlas passed his PSR, not the Awesome, which finioshed off the 2 remaining head IS points in the fall... that clinched it, as the surviving Dragon and Quickdraw could easily run away. A little game, and one I enjoyed immensely. Once again, it demonstrates the awesomeness of the Boxed Set. All the things I used (well, but for my lucky CBT dice) were out of it. So, this set really captures the spirit in which CBT was first created, and gives us the chance to enjoy it as its early designer intended. If that was indeed the purpose of Catalyst, they have aimed true. If not, that's indeed something they can build upon. | | |
| Returning I can't believe it has been 2 years (nearly ) since my last update to that Blog. Why has it been so long? Well, I have to face it, I have never been that good a writer, and a lot of what I write I find boring, or silly, or both when I review it months later. And other things competed for my free time as well, such as managing the Fan Grand Council (and let's afce it, I have dropped the ball on this one as well), painting for Camospecs (big rewardsthere, as I have some of my stuff in the most recent rulebooks ), reading. And the kids are growing up and take more and more of my time, which is, after all, as it should be (now, what form this will take in one or two years remains to be seen. Alex is 12, after all ). I'm quite happy with the boxed set. The minis aren't perhaps the best quality, but it's commonplace (and true ) that you won't beat the bang for the buck. You've got 24 of them, after all, and, I must say, they paint up really well (except, that is, that Catapult but that'sa minor thing ). Hopefully this will help the sales, as people can see what they look like when (well, hopefully ) painted. Reactions from shopkeepers here have been enthusiastic, which bodes well, provided we get a translated version. 
On the home front, ClassicBattletech France has been a reality fornearly a year. It took quite some time to get it started, with a 6 months stop due to health issues of teh site designer. But it's working now, with players willing to work for the hobby. http://www.classicbattletech.fr/ Next step is to recruit moreFrench Commandos, as, well, I can't hope to expand CBT here more than i do on my own. Hopefully we will soon get official recognition, which would help immensely. Oh, and to all who have patiently read so far, a merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2008!  | | |
|
