The Mean Streets of LA

My wife and I have always enjoyed detective, cop, and murder mystery shows.  From old classics like Columbo, Murder She Wrote, and Hercule Poirot to more recent fair such as In Plain Sight, Psych, and Castle.  So when a game like LA Noire gets announced, it goes to my must buy list.

What's it like?  It's not like any other video game that's been published in the last 10 years, perhaps 20.  Let me explain...

Back, Dak, and Hack

One of the many attractions of miniature war gaming is the ability to design your own army.   Sure lots of people play elves, but YOUR elf army features your favorite models, and a special combination of artillery, infantry, and cavalry that makes it your own.  Gamers who have played in a system for years have mastered just what they need for battle and enjoy coming up with new, innovative combinations that have never been seen before yet are still effective on the table top.

But what do you do when you are new to a game system, or indeed the miniature war gaming hobby as a whole?  How does one approach the daunting task of designing your first list in a system you’ve never played?

Over the years I’ve come up with a relatively simple philosophy that has served me well as I hop from one game to another.  In my experience a force needs three basic things: Back, Dak, and Hack.

Gaming with Daddy's Little Girl

Recently the school sent home a CRAZY Reuters article on how bad video games were for kids.

What's worse is that in the flyer, they only printed the first half of the article.  If you look it up, the second half of the article points out that nothing is proven.

What complete nonsense.  (My wife was really frustrated and rips the article to shreds here: link)

However, this REAL study, which was recently conducted by Brigham Young, shows that there are significant positive effects from fathers who play video games with their daughters.

While the study only focused on vid-games, I'd be willing to bet money that board games and other father-daughter activities would produce similar results.  It's common sense really: what kids want most from their parents is time and attention, share your passion with your kids, and they'll turn out better for it.

Here's an easy to digest version of the story, with links to the full study if you want the details:

http://kotaku.com/5748687/playing-video-games-with-dad-builds-better-daughters

Now if you'll excuse me I need to race home and get in a game of "Doritos Crash Course" with the girls before bed time.

Paint Your Wagon (or Tank or Boat)

For hobby gamers paint is a tool of the trade. The kind of paint you choose is usually based on personal preference, often founded in the first paint range you are exposed to. Over time you may discover that you like different ranges for different reasons. I thought I’d share my quick thoughts on the major paint brands often used by miniature war gamers.

I use all three major brands regularly: Games workshop (GW), Privateer Press Paints (P3), and Vallejo. For example my Dystopian Wars Blazing Suns frigates feature Vallejo paint for the green hull, GW paints for the brass bits, and P3 for the wooden decking, windows, and logo.

Here's what I’ve found:

Dial D for Dystopian

Note the little tabs on the fighter bases

Dystopian Wars is the new hotness from Spartan Games and it has taken our local gaming group by storm.  Even our resident historical gaming group has been sucked in.  In fact, we like the game so much we dedicated a huge chunk of the D6G episode 70 to discussing this unique miniature war game.

However, there is a fiddly bit to the game.  You must track the fuel for each tiny aircraft token in the game, and most players will have at least 10, probably 16 of these little resin flight bases winging around the board.  While the book recommends using micro dice, is was inspired to try and engineer a more aesthetically pleasing and less fiddly solution.  Although it is a little time consuming, with the right tools it's really not that hard.

Want to make your own?   Here's how...

Games for 10 to 11 Year Olds

One of the most common questions I get asked by D6G listeners is “what games would you recommend for kids age X?”   We get it so often that we produced an episode featuring 'Games of All Ages,’ but we were thinking mostly of younger kids, perhaps 5-8 year olds.

Recently I received an e-mail from a primary school teacher (Hi Tom!) who wants to start an after school game club for children ages 10-11.  What a great way to introduce kids to board games and expose them to what is available beyond  Monopoly and Clue!

As I crafted my response to Tom I realized that others share the same question, either because they too are considering starting a group or they simply are looking for good gift/game ideas for the children in their lives.  So why not post a list on my blog and share it with others?

I tried to come up with a list which has a good variety of themes, styles, and mechanics.   I really can’t imagine a 10 year old girl or boy not enjoying at least one of the games on this list.  And since school is involved I tried to sneak in some educational value where possible.

Of course all games teach the basics of following instructions, human interaction, and sportsmanship, so I didn’t worry about education too much.

So here’s the list. It’s not comprehensive by any means, just the games that came to me as I thought about it.  And although the idea is games that would appeal to 10-11 year olds I think these would make great ‘gateway games’ for any age….

[In no particular order]

Military Abstraction In Civilization

Civilization Unit Cards

So I picked up the new Civilization board game from FFG this week.  Popped it open, smelled the new box smell, tweeted a bunch of pictures, and organized its contents in preparation for my first play this weekend.

Then I dove into the rule book.  I like what I see so far, but I've discovered a layer of military abstraction that people may or may not like. I think it's very interesting, but it will be hard to judge until actually played.

There are two elements to your military power: Armies and Units.

Armies are the little plastic flag pieces which move around the board.  These represent where you can project military might.