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  1. Patrick Carroll

    Personalizing Games

    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...
  2. Patrick Carroll

    Personalizing Games

    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...
  3. Patrick Carroll

    Small, quick, interesting wargame . . .

    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...
  4. Patrick Carroll

    Best time of year for your wargaming?

    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."
  5. Patrick Carroll

    Small, quick, interesting wargame . . .

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

    Small, quick, interesting wargame . . .

    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...
  7. Patrick Carroll

    Small, quick, interesting wargame . . .

    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...
  8. Patrick Carroll

    Small, quick, interesting wargame . . .

    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...
  9. Patrick Carroll

    Small, quick, interesting wargame . . .

    . . . 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...
  10. Patrick Carroll

    What's your main motivation . . . ?

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

    What's your main motivation . . . ?

    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.
  12. Patrick Carroll

    What's your main motivation . . . ?

    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!"?
  13. Patrick Carroll

    Any recommendations?

    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...
  14. Patrick Carroll

    Board Wargame Longevity

    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...
  15. Patrick Carroll

    Which miniatures should I use?

    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...
  16. Patrick Carroll

    How much detail in the paint job?

    I was being facetious, of course. In truth, I go to the opposite extreme: priming is painting, as far as I'm concerned. Frankly, I've never liked the look of most miniatures. Most sculptors go too far, IMO, toward lifelike realism; and most painters carry it even further, trying to make...
  17. Patrick Carroll

    Board Wargame Graphics: Likes and Dislikes

    Something in between Here's the short version of all the longwinded stuff I wrote earlier in the thread: I wish there were something in between board wargames and miniatures wargames--something suitable for solo wargaming. To me, board wargames are too flat, with too much paper &...
  18. Patrick Carroll

    New Gamer

    And if it just doesn't seem realistic enough, check out "Enhanced Battle Cry" at: http://www.thewargamer.com/battlecry/resources.html
  19. Patrick Carroll

    Is DBA the perfect game?

    What I like about DBA is that it's small, quick to set up, fast to play, and has been house-ruled to cover all periods of history (and fantasy/sci-fi genres as well). I'm a wargamer, not a craftsman. What I like is summed up in the following quote (snitched from the Fanaticus site): If...
  20. Patrick Carroll

    New Gamer

    There's a short article (and a free intro wargame to download and play) at the link below. I wouldn't suggest asking your wife to read the article--but if you read it, it may bring some of the basics back to mind. Then you can relate those to her in your own words...
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