Nobunaga Pokemon

by on April 29, 2020 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Computer games

Even though I wasn’t into Pokemon at the time Pokemon Conquest was announced, the idea tickled my fancy to no end. The concept of a Nobunaga’s Ambition game using Pokemon was one of those fun, silly ideas that comes well-developed out of Japan every once in a while.

So, a couple years ago, I finally got around to picking up a used copy, and picked my way through the opening campaign off-and-on, finishing up this February.

First off, as a tactical game, it works. Frankly, regular Pokemon battles are always a bit rough for me, as they’re pure matches of ‘moves’, with some neat complications of statuses and the like, but there’s no actual maneuvering, and I have to wonder just how some of it is working.

Here, all the fights are on a reasonably-sized square grid, and not only are you maneuvering around terrain, but fights are between teams of Pokemon (generally six), and each attack has has its own area that it hits (from the square directly in front of you, to a three-wide area, or a three-long area, or all surrounding squares… you get the idea).

Typing on Pokemon and their attacks is intact, so all the familiar ‘super effective’ mechanics are in the game. On the other hand, every Pokemon has one, unchanging, attack, and one passive ability. This nicely simplifies things down, as the field battle is going to be much more complex than the normal Pokemon game battles.

That said, I’d like to see a version of this that goes the full-featured tactical RPG route. Keep (or adapt) the normal move set, let Pokemon swap out abilities as they grow, and let every one be individual.

There is still some of that as well, as Pokemon do still evolve, which gives them different abilities.

And there’s no complaining about the amount of content. The initial campaign is basically a long tutorial that slowly doles out more of the system as it goes (and there are all sorts of complications, like recruiting more warriors/Pokemon, and training, and…) and ends with taking all 17 regions of the map (there were 17 Pokemon types when this game was done—each type has it’s own province.

The first campaign itself is a bit too long for how much of a tutorial it is. But beating that opens up a bunch of other scenarios, and some of those open up even further ones. In all, there’s about 20 campaigns, and I haven’t gotten around to checking any of the others yet. So, it’s well done, and has a lot to do, I need to revisit Ransei and try one of the other campaigns.

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Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire

by on April 25, 2020 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Books

Another book bought because of non-selective Kindle sale buying. And a worthwhile one as it turns out.

This is a fairly interesting look at the highest level of British society at the end of the 18th Century. As a biography, everything stays centered around Georgiana herself, and it stays strictly focused on her life. However, along the way, this brings in the Regency crisis, Whig politics, the French Revolution (at somewhat of a distance, but she was in France for some of the opening parts), and high fashion.

Naturally, the bulk of the book is still the more expected soap-opera of unhappy marriages, lovers, gambling—and some astonishingly large gambling debts—friends, rivals, and and the stresses of producing and raising children. Georgiana is treated very sympathetically, and Foreman has a great liking for her. This is fine, and frankly despite some problems, she is a person who it is easy to sympathize with, being generally a progressive person for her era, with her faults more lying in the realm of lack of self-control, than any actual desire to cause problems.

So, it’s a fairly engaging, but fairly long, look at an important period in history, from someone who is a bit more central than might be immediately supposed. I recommend it if you already have some interest and knowledge of the period. It adds a nice personal touch.

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AP18 Village of the Damned

by on April 22, 2020 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: ASL

Patch and I finally got around to revisiting Action Pack #3 recently, which has a number of inventive scenarios around the collapse of the Italian 8th Army in Russia. “Village of the Damned” has seven Italian squads and two and a half German squads left behind by the main retreat determined to sell their lives dearly as the Russians approach the village they’re sheltering in.

The action is on board 48, with the Axis needing to have at least one unbroken MMC at the end of 4.5 turns. Most of the squads are (secretly) declared Walking Wounded (an idea from Pegasus Bridge, where IPC is reduced, MF is limited to 3, and they have a penalty in CC). Leadership isn’t bad, and there’s some markers for Dummies, and a single Italian LMG for SW. The Russians have ten squads and two half-squads and a T-60, which enter from the east, north, and/or west on turn one with a MMG and two LMG.

Extra wrinkles: There is ground snow, two buildings are randomly set ablaze before things begin, there is a Mild Breeze blowing smoke from those buildings across the board. The Russians get to declare HtH CC once during the scenario.

Thanks to the extra distance, and short time frame, I’m sure the Russians don’t usually do much with the east and west, and my defense was generally oriented toward the north. The Germans all went on the west end, with their Dummy stack in K7, and the squads backing up the Italians. The German HS was in the gully, where he could potentially interfere with the Russian advance, or even try to stay out of LOS for most of the game, and then pop into the victory area at the last moment. My two forward Italians were a Dummy and a conscript squad (not WW, as I hoped he’d get a chance to run).

Patch forgot the setup instructions for a moment, and his first setup was to attack from the south…. Which said nice things about how mine was working. His revised entry stretched over a good portion of the north edge, but didn’t use the other edges at all, and the T-60 was in the middle of things to provide cover across the initial approach. I had forgotten the breeze during setup, and my LMG position was promptly smoked-in by the fire in R3, which was less of a problem than it might have been.

Patch’s first entry was straight into the gully, which was going to be more than a HS could handle, but there was still some hope of keeping him cautious. The T-60 came on with one squad doing Armored Assault, and he stopped once the LMG set up a fire lane across his advance. A HS searched U2 to find my conscripts there, who then pinned them on DF that cowered, and then broke a squad with FPF. A second squad moved up, and further FPF was a ‘2’! Which… being conscripts, cowered down to 0FP. Worse, that was HOB, and they decided they were out of ammo, and had done their part, and surrendered to the Russians. Flames spread to R2.


Situation, Russian Turn 1. The red lines are the victory area.
↓ Read the rest of this entry…

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The Honorable Barbarian

by on April 18, 2020 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Books

The problem with shopping in used book stores is finding only the middle parts of series. However, it turned out that the fifth and final volume of de Camp’s Novarian books is a good place to start, because it picks up with a brand new main character. There’s a good number of references to the earlier books (often as stories told), but it’s by no means dependent on them.

Kerin, our new main character, gets into trouble with one of the looser respectable ladies of the area, and needs to take an extended trip. This powers the action of the rest of the novel, as he sets out for the east on an industrial espionage tour (he’s trying to find the secret of a better clock escapement).

And… this eventually comes up, near the end of the novel, and in a slightly unrelated note, the rest of the plot collapses into a conclusion shortly thereafter. The bulk of it is really more wandering travelogue, with somewhat episodic adventures, and a fair amount of humor. And also a fair amount of archaic speech. One of de Camp’s passions was history, and I think he does it to get more into the feel of the time and culture that his world is based around, but it does take quite a bit of getting used to.

It’s probably the closest I’ve read to a Myth Adventures book in some time. It’s certainly not the same (the brand of humor is different), but it’s aimed at the same light-hearted adventure on the road feel. It has also reminded me that I need to read more of de Camp’s books, and that there’s a number I’ve meant to get to. Overall, the tone is good, though certainly with a bit of male wish-fulfillment, and and the archaicisms are the toughest part to get into.

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Two Rounds of Indus

by on April 14, 2020 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: CC:Ancients

After finishing off yet another epic ASL struggle in Budapest, Patch and I did our usual two rounds in Commands & Colors: Ancients in the first half of March This time is a somewhat speculative battle (more so than normal, as there’s no records of particular battles for this campaign), pitting Seleucus against the Mauryans, from Expansion #1. The Seleucids have a nice solid body of Heavy Infantry in the center, and other forces scattered about, including cavalry and elephants behind a forest. The Mauryans have a more compact army with elephants and Heavy Chariots, and three units of Auxilia that have the three-hex range of Light Bows on their left, behind the Indus.

Patch started with the Indians/Mauryans, who go first, and Ordered Three Right to move up a LC, and drove my left Aux off the hills. I moved up various units (with ranged shots that did nothing), while Patch got his center in motion. Order Lights let me drive his LC off the hills, and did a banner and a block to his elephants, who then did a block to his Heavy as it retreated, and then I did a block to his HCH.

Patch followed with Mounted Charge, which slammed his main line into mine, forcing a Heavy back, doing two blocks to another, three blocks to Seleucus’ Heavy, and three blocks to an Aux. In return, he lost both HCH, the Elephants, and a MC. I brought up my better units, and Patch hit again with Order Three Center, destroying my damaged Aux and both damaged Heavies, but I drove off a LC, and did a block to another. I Ordered Four Center for everything that was left there (including Seleucus, who’d lost his unit), with both of our Heavies taking two losses. Patch Ordered Three Center, forcing a LB to evade, and knocking out my weakened one (they stood on a 2-die attack hoping for battle back… nope), and doing a block to another LB who did a block to his LC in return.

I Ordered Two Left to regain the hills and drive off his MC, then Patch hit with Clash of Shields. His Heavy did three blocks to an evading LB, but a LC missed my other evading LB. Leadership Any Section allowed me to bring in the cavalry, who finished off one of his LC. Patch moved the surviving leader off to his right, and I Ordered Lights for a round of archery that knocked out his Heavy. 6-4

I started the second game with Order Three Left to get my Bow Auxilia into the Indus, and Patch used Move-Fire-Move to bring his LB up, forming a solid line from his left to his center. Order Lights moved the Bow Auxilia up again, and I did two blocks to a Light, and drove off a LB. Line Command got Patch’s center closer, and drove off a LB and damaged a Light. Out Flanked put the LB back, and I knocked out a Light (it had taken all its hits from banners while trapped at the edge of the board), and drove off a LB.

Order Three Center put Patch into contact with my Bow Auxes; both sides retreated an Aux, and I traded an Aux block for a Heavy block. Order Two Left reformed my Aux line, but did nothing, while Patch’s Coordinated Attack brought his Elephants and LB up, while the forward Heavy did two blocks to my weak Bow Aux, who chased him off with a banner. Move-Fire-Move let me get a couple LC up, drive off a LB, and then move my weak Bow Aux back.

Patch then used Mounted Charge; thankfully, the Elephants were the only thing in range, and they traded blocks with a Bow Aux. Order Three Left finished off his Elephants after a Rampage that thankfully did no damage, and I did a block to his MC. Patch Ordered Three Right to bring up the cavalry (and a LB), and did another block to a Bow Aux in return for a block to his MC. I Ordered Four Left (though I only had the three Bow Aux there), and drove off his LC while finishing off the MC. Patch shifted his right flank a little, and Inspired Center Leadership let me finally deploy into a line there. Patch Ordered Two Right, which did a hit to my Heavy, and wiped out a LC when it was forced to retreat. Order Lights drove off three units with missile fire, and did a hit to a LB. Order Two Center moved two of those up again, and did a block to a Bow Aux.

Order Mounted let me get to his line with most of my heavier units; Patch used First Strike on my Elephants, doing one block, before they did two blocks to him, and they retreated a hex. The Elephants used Momentum to get at the next Heavy in line, which took three blocks and retreated. I also knocked out the already-damaged Heavy and forced an Aux back, but lost a HCH in the process. Patch Ordered Three Center to finish off the Elephants and wipe out a MC, but he lost a Heavy in return. I’d lost the MC by not evading because the average was (barely) in my favor, and I wanted them there for Clash of Shields, which only ordered my remaining HCH. I did three hits and a banner to an Aux, and then finished them off with Momentum. 6-4

Afterword

The second round went a lot longer than the first, as I made use of all the left-section cards I was drawing, but both finished in a hurry once the centers got into the fight. Seleucus only has three heavy units to five Indian ones, but other than a single Heavy Infantry, the Mauryan units are a lot more fragile. The Bow Aux were very handy (especially with all the cards I had for them), and helped weaken things just enough that I could use my center with some confidence.

The terrain is a lot more jumbled than you usually get in these battles, and army compositions and deployment are also unusual. Definitely a fun battle even (especially?) if it’s going to turn into a demolition derby right before it ends.

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