Where to in 2015?

Sunday, 11 January 2015

Where to in 2015?

A new year is always a good time for a high level review. I have been thinking about where to go in 2015 with regard to wargaming. High points in 2014 for me were:

The low points for me were:

Climate change blogging - lots of research spent and no progress made
Thygs in Space - the initial code is done, but I need ships (and drawing of ships), technologies and planetary names to go to the next stage. I fear the project is dead.
Waiting for EDEE turns - you know how it is when you are on a roll, and then have to wait four days and when the turn comes you can no longer remember why that transport is redeploying across the map.

So my goals for 2015 are:

BOYS WEEKEND
Set up every Prestags scenario and play a few turns. Take photos and blog about them.
Resume work on Moderni Agone, so I can do some games on line.
Write a few pieces on Napoleon and his tactics, starting with the Capitulation of Ulm.

Boys Weekend

Yes, it will happen.

Yes, I will organise it.

Yes, it should be in New Zealand.

Yes, it will go ahead in Canberra anyway.

Yes, Junior Prestags are welcome.

Yes, we will play Space Empires.

Play a bit of Prestags

The blog is dedicated to Prestags, and the games are simple to set up and play, so why not. As much as anything, it give me something to do when no turns are arriving.

I doubt I will be able to coax Paul away ffrom his computer, but a few solitaire scenarios should make this blog much more interesting and perhaps get us into some good debates. (Moves issue 2 has a fantastic debate on the range of ancient arrows. It reads like an email chain, but was done in old school posted letters. I am keen on posting that.)

I'll start with Chariot and see how we go. The lack of stacking in chariot should make it a very bloody game, where an E and a ½E have the same effect.

Feedback on good scenarios to set up are gratefully accepted

Resume work on Moderni Agone

Combining Prestags with the internet has to be an all around winner. However, the first thing I need to fix is the name: Paul hates it and Peter ignores it.

I really enjoyed coding this game up. Even now, I keep getting good ideas for it. (My latest is an odds randomiser - just before the odds are calculated, I roll two dice. On a 2, I add two to the attacker strength, 3-4 I add 1, 10-11 I subtract 1 and 12 I subtract two. This stops the unrealistic behaviour of getting your odds exactly perfect.)

I also think I am only a few weeks from having a really playable game and we might even get Peter involved.

Interstingly, my new job is coding a phone user interface in a browser, so is very similar to this, so I expect I will be much cleverer and faster in coding enhancements

Write a few pieces about Napoleon

I agree with Victor Hugo's analysis that Napoleon was a military genius who was also the worst kind of tyrant. However, it is good to learn, even from your enemy. I have loads of good Napoleonic games that will make great photo opportunities. I am impressed with the Moves #2 issue that does a great report on a historical play of their 1812 game (Napoleon's invasion of Russia), although without photos as that was too tricky ffor a low cost puplication in the 70s.

I thought I would start with the Capitulation of Ulm in 1805.

This is a true classic where Napoleon destroyed an Austrian army of 72,000 without fighting a major battle, just a few skirmishes. Similar to the German march through the Ardennes in 1914 and 1939, Napoleon used indirect approach in 1805 to maneover around the Austrians and cut them off from their line of communications. They were forced to surrender (60,000 taken prisoner) and Vienna fell shortly after.

BTW Paul, may I have a "Napoleonic War" category, or something similar?