A Free Man of Color

by on January 9, 2017 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Books

I know of Barbara Hambly for her various epic fantasy stories, so a historical murder mystery was a bit of a surprise for me.

As a historical story, it’s great. It’s obvious that Hambly spent a lot of time and love getting the feel of 1833 New Orleans. The novel does travel outside the city a bit, and since geography does have some bearing on the plot, I’d actually like a map of where everything is. But mostly, it is about society, or the various different micro-societies existing alongside each other, and the change of eras. The major problem of the book is that the cast of characters is large, including a good number of people observed and talked about, but not really an active character. Include the fact that most of the names are in unfamiliar French… and much of the middle of the book sinks under the weight of names, especially if you’re reading it alongside other things, like I did.

As a mystery…. Well, I don’t read many of those, so it’s harder to say. Certainly, I didn’t guess things ahead of time. But the realization that untangles the knot of plot threads, and sends the book hurtling towards the end is well done, as is the ending itself, though it is a bit too laden with secrets coming out.

At any rate, it is the best writing I’ve seen from Hambly (which is not a surprise, since I’ve mostly read her early books), and confirms that I really need to follow her more closely.

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SL294 Operation Stabilize

by on January 5, 2017 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: SFB

Crossposted from the SFU blog on BGG

Just as Patch and I were gearing up for an SFB battle in Y159, I got Captain’s Log #42, which featured a scenario set in Y158. Mark and I found time to give it a try this last Monday, since we were both still off work for New Year’s. We had a lot of catching up and chatting to do, which was great, but did hold us to only getting four turns in.

One particular action early in the operation involved two Hydran frigates: the Brazen and the newly commissioned Catkiller. The Catkiller was one of the first of the new hellbore-equipped ships. The two frigates were returning after not having found anything worth attacking when they picked up a small Lyran convoy nearing a base station. The frigate commanders diverted to attempt to destroy the convoy before it could reach the station. The convoy’s escort, a Leopard destroyer, had been called away to another location during the earlier stages of the Hydran raids. Those Hydrans had been driven off before it arrived. It returned to its original mission just in time to attempt to protect the freighters from the Brazen and Catkiller long enough for the convoy to get under the umbrella of the base station’s weapons.

It’s yet another battle that features early use of the new hellbore torpedo, though it doesn’t headline the scenario the way it does for “Where Wisdom Fails” or “Catching Hell”. We had to review the hellbore/ESG interaction rules, since they just haven’t come up for our group before. The setup is on two maps, with the freighters about 50 hexes from the base station, and the DD actually a few hexes in front of them, while the Hydrans come on the board 26 hexes away from the freighters and slightly in advance of them. While the BS’s ph-4s can reach that far, they don’t do much (or possibly any) damage at that range, and lending EW only works out to 15 hexes, so it’s mostly an appropriate ‘end goal’ for much of the game. Victory is with a unique schedule of points that mostly revolve around destroying cargo boxes on the freighters.

Mark had the Hydrans went fast the first turn, 21, while the DD went 15 with one overloaded disruptor, and the freighters kept together at speed 10 (which is the best the F-S can do without turning off fire control completely). The initial pass weakened shields, and I did a few internals to the CU, knocking out a phaser and a little power, but no more than that.


The main action after Turn 1.

The second turn featured some slowing down to charge everything up. I interposed the DD between the Hydrans and freighters, and was about to announce the ESG to force him to turn off (since the hellbore had fired last turn) when Mark did so anyway. In the maneuvering that followed, he got a few internals on the DD and took out a disruptor and the ESG, which gave him greater freedom to maneuver.


End of Turn 2.

Mark pounded the small freighter during turn 3, and completely depowered it. The main action over the next turn was grabbing the large freighter in a tractor and trying to haul it back away from the BS, since it was nearly to range 15, where it could loan ECM, and the ph-4s on the base would get even more dangerous. However, this was a slow process, as the F-L was larger, and still going at a good speed. Given a little time, he could depower it some more to help, but the DD would eventually come back to help. Meanwhile, the DD had tractored the F-S, and was hauling it closer to the base.

It’s hard to say just where the scenario was going at the point where we had to leave it. Certainly, if Mark managed to completely destroy the F-L, he’d have 93 points (including destroyed cargo on the F-S), but both of his ships had been damaged, for a final total of 83, and a Tactical Victory. However, since the DD was in generally good shape (though with two down shields), it would not be that easy. Quite likely, at least one of the frigates would be crippled, which would drop him down to 68 points and a Marginal Victory. If I drove him off with the F-L, say, half-destroyed, that’d be… (call it 28 cargo vs. two crippled frigates) -8 for a Tactical Defeat. I’d say we were headed for a draw or Marginal Victory for him.

It’s hard to properly protect the freighters, but Mark was rightly worried about the fact that they were getting closer to the BS (which is why he tractored the F-L). Sacrificing the DD will actually work if it can buy enough time to save the freighters. Mark got lucky that the ESG was hit early, before I had a chance to use it, but the HN had taken 14 internals, and the CU had taken 21, including the hellbore, and the Scanner was down to ‘5’. The DD had taken 11, but its shields were in better shape, and it was about to repair the second disruptor as a range-10 version. It’s easy to ignore the BS in the early game, but it should be taking some potshots with the ph-4s and the disruptor, while keeping self-generated ECCM up.

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2016 in Review

by on January 1, 2017 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Life

This year’s main goal for the blog was to have a new post up every 3-4 days, and to spread out any ‘clumps’ to maintain an even posting schedule. I mostly stuck to that, though there were a couple times in January where the gap stretched out to six days, and a two-week period in July with no posts, largely because I was ill, and not doing much. The idea is to build up a small (probably rotating) reserve of posts that I can schedule into the dead spots, and that hasn’t really happened. Most of the time, I’m posting right on top of deadline. So this year, the goal is to get the schedule a little more stable. A count of the posts says I did 91 this year, which is down from 2015.

Taking a quick look at the categories involved, I had 29 in Books, 12 GURPS, 11 Boardgaming, 6 D&D, 5 each Four Vassal War, BvR – The Wind, ASL, 4 each MMO, CC:Ancients, Anime, 2 each F&E, SFB, and 1 each in Life, Computer Games, and Comics. Folding those up the subcategories gives 12 in F&E, and 29 in Boardgaming, 18 in RPGs, and 5 in Computer Games. I may need to split up the Books category some (fiction and non-fiction, most likely).

One of the things hurting the posting schedule is a lack of gaming. Communication has been breaking down in the FtF group, and Bel’s been busy, so the near-monthly feed of F&E updates has gone dry. I’m doing some PBeM ASL, but that takes a while, and is a lot of effort to write up. I’m thinking that I need to find something new to slot into the dance card. I’d prefer either something a little smaller, or something that’s worth reporting on in 1 (or 2-3) turn chunks like F&E is. So, I’m thinking of trying for some EFS or OCS games, or maybe GCACW. I’d also like to try out the Der Weltkrieg series. We’ll see what happens.

As I just implied, not a lot of gaming happened this last year. Similarly, board game purchasing has been down this year, and all I got was the new ASL Journal, an impulse on-sale buy of Osmanli Harbi, a gift of Hakkaa Päälle!, and the issues of Captain’s Log that made it to PDF. I haven’t done a lot of computer gaming either (though I’ve just about finished up a full game of Europa Universalis IV; no small feat!), and the major purchase there is a 2DS and Pokemon (and that’s about the only thing bringing spending into line with other years). You can see the full details here.

The major purchasing attention has been GURPS, even though I’m not really getting any closer to doing anything with that than at the beginning of the year. I can blame the robust GURPS blogging community for the attention, which has helped keep it in my scattershot brain through much of the year. Further, doing some worked-out spells and creatures has helped fill out a lagging schedule some, giving me a practical incentive. Lately, the fact that I’ve done some work has put me in mind to actually see it in motion, but I keep being wishy-washy on what I want to do.

I hit my Goodreads goal of 52 books read this year (one a week; and I actually hit 53), though that includes a number of modules and graphic novels that I generally don’t count as they’re so short. My “Reading Through History” project is mostly bogged down with new books on earlier eras, but I’m up to the 1730s now. As usual, the annual visit to my parents and Christmas have left me over-full on to-read physical books again, which I’ll spend the next few months trimming back down. I’d say the main reading highlights of the year were Peter the Great (Massie is always very good), The Name of the Rose (which actually has some problems, but is still a very interesting read), and Zita the Spacegirl, which is a very fun graphic novel.

So the year’s goals are to do over 100 posts again, get more wargaming done, and read more books. …Fairly typical actually.

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21 Among the Ruins

by on December 29, 2016 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: ASL

A while back, Tom Arnold contacted me interested in playing an ASL game over Vassal. We ended up going for a scenario from the just-rereleased Yanks. I ended up taking the Germans in this late-’44 scenario set in Aachen (a popular location for scenarios).

The Germans defend two of the city boards with twelve squads, two HMG and MMG each, and a quad-20mm AA Gun. The Americans have twenty-three squads with four MMGs and three Shermans. They need to cross the majority of the boards longways and exit nine squads in 9.5 turns (this is down one squad from the original, which is surprising, since ROAR shows the scenario as being very balanced). The Germans get to place ten rubble counters to block off easy passage of key points, and get to place some of them on non-building hexes, as long as they’re adjacent to rubbled buildings.

They also get to HIP two squads and use Bore Sighting and Sewer Movement. I got so involved with trying various schemes with placing rubble that I completely forgot about those parts (I have a decided tendency to forget about HIP while setting up). At least I remembered that everything gets to be Concealed. Those goofs did me no favors, though at least my rubble layout was pretty solid, giving me some cover in convenient places, some protection to lateral lines of movement, and clearing up some fields of fire (particularly around 20T3—I rubbled two adjacent hexes to give a HMG+9-2 nest lots of field of fire). The major problem of the setup was figuring how to protect a 20-hex wide front so that I could then concentrate where the main push was.

However, Tom attacked on a broad front. His major concentration was in the east, but there was another sizable group in the west, and another three squad group right in the center. After deploying a number of squads, initial Prep was limited to firing on a large stack in 21S8, which turned out to be a HS that broke and a bunch of Dummies. Opening moves started working the flanks, with an 8-0 leader rushing forward to prove that my stack in 20O8 was dummies, though fire from my 9-2 led HMG in 20T3h2 broke him. A Dash in the center section ended (just barely) in LOS of a MMG, which got a KIA to kill the squad (it would later break another squad). A HS Searched L9, convinced there had to be something nearby (even if I had remembered HIP, I wouldn’t have had anything that far forward).


Situation, American Turn 1, showing the entire board. North is to the left.
↓ Read the rest of this entry…

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Anime Fall 2016

by on December 26, 2016 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Anime

The year and the latest season of anime are coming to a close together. I haven’t been watching so much new stuff, though the sheer number of episodes is still high.

Sound! Euphonium — Smudge had been wanting to show this to me for some time, and then, just as we got through watching it, we discovered a second season was starting up; so our timing was excellent! It’s a very nice slice-of-life story revolving around a high school music club competing in the national contests, with drama and a dash of shojo-ai. Despite that, there’s no fanservice or other pandering, and it’s my favorite series of the season.

Haikyu — We were surprised to see this one turn up again. The entire season was spent on just five matches against one team in the tournament… and it still worked. The tension and pacing is nicely tuned, and there’s a surprising amount of character development going on. Still recommended, despite the fact that it should be ‘tournament hell’.

Natsume’s Book of Friends — This is always a good series, and this season didn’t disappoint. However, it was a bit more slice-of-life centric than usual, so I keep feeling like nothing really happened.

Izetta: The Last Witch — It’s an interesting premise, with a world that isn’t quite Earth (all the names are shifted around a bit) having a war much like WWII (including most of the equipment). Into this is stuck a small Alpine country (it’s about a quarter the size of Switzerland and just to the east of it) and magic. I would recommend it, as it was well done… but for the fact that almost every episode has entirely unneeded fanservice, and it really bogs the series down.

And then Pokemon. Lots of Pokemon:

Indigo League (aka ‘original’) — Thanks to the scattered availability of episodes, I’ve only seen up through about episode 60. I think I’m less annoyed by the characters than Smudge is. I think the biggest shame is that the calm head of the group—Brock—has become defined by what started as a one-off gag of being distracted by a pretty girl. Ash has a serious case of ‘impetuous hero’ syndrome, but at least he starts growing out of it.

Pokemon XY (and XYZ) — I just recently caught up where this is in American broadcast, which is months behind Japan (I’m so used to the simulcast services…). It’s a big jump up from the original stuff, and largely very good. Ash is at his best as a character here, and the supporting cast is very strong. My main problems come from pacing: too often an immediate goal would be set (fight at the next gym!), and then would get deferred for several episodes for other adventures, making me feel like the main plot was stalling.

And we’ve watched several of the movies:

Mewtwo Strikes Back (The First Movie): I’m iffy on this and several of the other movies. In this case, it kind of feels like an extended episode other than the ‘forget-me’ at the end which meant that it didn’t have to impact the series itself.

The Power of One (Pokemon 2000): Yes, Ash really is The Chosen One. And let’s face it: this is a world of sparks and kami. The action and plot actually gelled a lot better for me in this one. Lawrence III worked a lot better as a villain than Mewtwo did for me, and you really get to rooting for the heroes. However, the Required Movie Allowance of legendary Pokemon bugged me by not really showing as much intelligence as most of the normal ones.

Spell of the Unown (Pokemon 3) I think this is the best of the early movies, and really weaves together a more cohesive plot. Also, its the first one where the fate of the world isn’t really at stake, which is something that gets pulled out too often in the games, anime, and movies. Also, I really liked the opening credits, which do a good job of introducing Pokemon, Poke-fighting, and showing off some character, all in pantomime.

Celebi: Voice of the Forest (Pokemon 4Ever): It kind of tries to be a Miyazaki movie, complete with flying scene. However, the contemplative moments actually are in service to the plot. Another recurring problem of the movies is on display here: a deus ex machina ending. Apparently, this is one of the lower-rated Pokemon movies, though I liked at least as much as any of the other movies.

Kyurem vs. the Sword of Justice: Okay, so Kyurem gets voiced by Vic Mignogna (Eric Elric), and… has a very similar personality. This caused all sorts of positive associations, and frankly, the movie is fairly good in its own right.

Genesect and the Legend Awakened: Another fairly solid plot concept, and a bit lacking in execution. Bringing back Mewtwo was an interesting choice, and it really does work with the plot.

Diancie and the Cocoon of Destruction: This one was a lot of fun, and is one of my favorites, possibly just because the cast of characters was a lot of fun (notably including Diancie and her harried advisor).

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