Recent content by Patrick Carroll

Yeah, but I'm not talking about anything like vanity license plates. Just about enjoying other aspects of games besides competition and socializing. To me, a good game is kinda like a sandbox you can play around in creatively, experimenting with just-for-fun chains of cause and effect...

One of my favorite things about games is finding ways to express my personality through them. In Risk, I've always sought to rule my favorite continents (sometimes even when it's strategically unsound). In chess, I have my favorite pieces and openings. I love games like Dune and Cosmic...

Thanks. I took at look at the features & screenshots. Looks like quite a game. However, I'm not asking for a lack of randomizers or a strong AI. I kinda like dice rolls (I used to be big into SL/ASL). And even a pretty wimpy AI can sometimes beat me. I'm not a very sharp player; I just...

Though I play all year round, springtime is when the urge really strikes. I dunno--guess it's just a time for starting new things, and one of my thoughts is always, "Maybe I'll really take a shot at miniatures gaming this year" or "I should look for a new PC wargame to play."

Not small enough, nor realistic enough. Kriegspiel is small enough, but even less realistic than Tactics II.

Have I ever thought of chess? Actually, that may be my whole problem. I have a tremendous admiration for chess, but I'm very noncompetitive and really suck at it. I went out of my way to learn chess when I was twelve (I discovered wargames a year later); but after thirty-seven years I'm still...

I liked Up Front too. Just hated the relative-range chits. Something about having to visualize where the groups were in relation to each other spoiled it for me. Would a map have helped? Maybe. But one of the nice things about UF was the fact that it was a compact card game, not a big...

Probably pretty hokey, given my design ability. :OHNO: But seriously, I guess my dream wargame would look a lot like Battleship Chess (http://www.apezone.com/bc.htm), except that it would: 1. be credibly realistic; 2. cover a wider range of subject matter (e.g., other periods besides...

. . . Is there such a thing? I've posted this a couple times to the ACG crowd, but thought I'd try once more in this expanded forum. I'm a longtime wargamer (started in 1968), but in recent years I just haven't been able to enjoy wargames--be they boardgames, miniatures, or computer games...

"Overeducated," according to the Dunnigan article. He says wargaming has always been a hobby for the overeducated.

Not by a long shot. According to an old article by Jim Dunnigan (based on SPI surveys from the 1970s), some 90 percent of wargamers just "read" the games solo instead of playing them with others.

When looking for a great new wargame (or even dragging out an old one, for that matter), what motivates you most? What's likely to make you say, "Ooh--this one could be a great game!"?

Not small enough You're right about it being a very good game. Been playing SP:WaW for a while now, and I'm getting the hang of it. My experience with it reinforces what I said at the top of this thread though, about how I only like very small wargames. In SP:WaW, I have to scroll...

Well, it's a pretty plain-looking game. And SPI had released it years earlier, so it wasn't exactly new when AH produced it. On top of that, we'd already seen Stalingrad and The Russian Campaign (and PanzerBlitz); did we really need another east-front WWII game? It may be a superb game for...

OK, it's been a long time since I've looked into miniatures. My last purchase was a regiment's worth of Hinchliffe 25mm figures, which I bought in 1976, partially painted, and then stored away. What I'm interested in doing now will disgust many miniaturists, but here goes anyway: I'm into...