Miss you all bringing news and information, and the attention you give out of print games too…

We hope to be able to do more, more often.

Looking forward to hearing you sum it all up in the annual Kublacon podcast… maybe in about 11 months?

Looking forward to your coverage of Federation Commander and Red November.
-Jeff

Rick

Seriously, though, I hope everything is OK with you guys…you’ve been off the airwaves for too long…

Jeff@gameopolis.org

Any news on when the next episode will be posting?

It’s too bad that your podcast lost steam after this episode, though. I was looking forward to hearing your take on some of the other Star Trek tactical systems.

(>_<)

Just kidding… …Where are you guys???…

–Adam at Roll 2d6

While we are awaiting the triumphant return of Roll 2d6, I thought I would tell you all about a new podcast my buddy Mark and I have started up.

http://www.gameopolis.org

Hopefully Adam and Nate won’t get upset about this posting. But I also hope some of you will check out our new ‘cast!

My main focus is on miniature games, but you guys have a good chemistry that makes the shows fun to listen to. I also enjoy the fact that most of the stuff that you cover is not main stream stuff so I can get a sample of other things that are out there. The Western games and Battlestations are two great example of this.

Hope to hear you guys again soon!

This is related to A&N’s comments about using little tiny dice to represent defensive EW in Bab5 Wars. In show 20 they mention using little tiny dice to indicate number of hexes moved in Battletech. My comment is closer to the second, since it deals with movement dice in Battletech.

In Battletech (for those of you not familiar), movement hase two different effects: First, when you are shooting at a target, the number of hexes your TARGET moved gives you a targetting penalty:

0-2 hexes +0
3-4 hexes +1
5-6 hexes +2
7-9 hexes +3
10+ hexes +4
…plus, if your target jumped, an extra +1

The Second effect of movement comes from the movement MODE that the FIRING unit used that turn:

Stood still +0
Walked +1
Ran +2
Jumped +3

The group I play BT with have come up with a way to represent BOTH of these things with one movement die. What you need is three bunched of small d6s in three colors: White, Red, and Green. Whenever a unit moves, place a dice next to it: the COLOR of the die is determined by that unit’s movement mode:

white=walk
red=run
jade (green)=jump

and the value showing on the die is the moving unit’s targeting modifer (NOTE, this is NOT the number of hexes it moved, but the resulting modifier). So, for example, if my unit jumped 4 hexes, I would put a green die with a “2″ next to it.

Any unit that gets no movement modifier (for example, if you walked 1 hex) gets a die with a “6″ (since it is impossible to get a modifier of 6 using the standard tournament-level rules).

=]
Dan

– Adam at Roll 2d6

Next year, that all changes!!!

–Adam at Roll 2d6

-Jeff

Maybe you could put out a casting call to have fans of the show pick-up the recording of individual episodes, that you and Nate could then slap a three-minute intro on and upload. You guys could become a franchise!!!! At this point, all of your avid listeners know your style so well, we could probably do a decent (just-shy of inadequate) job of emulating the style of the show.

–Adam at Roll 2d6

KublaCon 2009 just a few weeks away…

Sigh…

Roll 2d6… R.I.P.

Matt V, AWESOME blog page! I am always happy to see someone else who plays BT without a hex grid. I have tried to run BT this way at several conventions, and always seem to have trouble selling people on the hexless miniatures rules. That has always been very strange to me since the game doesn’t seem to be too much different/harder without the grid (the main difference to me is that the terrain just looks SO MUCH COOLER without hexes all over it). Nicely done!

Matt

There isn’t a place to email you guys, can you email me. I have a couple of questions for you.
Matt

Some suggestions for content, based on things from past episodes:

Review of Star Trek Red Alert
Review of Hordes of the Things (or DBA, or both!!!)
Reprisal of “Operation Thrifty Grognard”
Reviews of some newer Cheap Ass Games stuff (have you guys tried Cube Farm? I recently converted my non-gamer sister into a gamer with this one)

…although….April is coming…and that means…Pre-Kubla show!!!!!

How about you pickup a copy of Ideology – its my new favorite game.

Even better come to Melbourne (Australia) and join our weekly boardgame night.

Thanks for the new show and the rundown of everything you played at Kubalacon. It sounds like a blast, and reminds me that I have “The Far Side of the World” to finish reading one day this fall.

The naval and western games sound like a blast, and I’m thinking of tracking down that baseball game; sounds like something my daughter might enjoy.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dan_de_lion/2996422090/

JL

You can get Legends of the Old West from the Warstore – http://www.thewarstore.com/product10516.html

Another Roll 2d6!!! Now I can take a break from all of those other gaming podcasts that function as my “Adam-and-Nate-surrogates”.

I’ll post again after I get a chance to listen. Best episode ever, eh? I CAN’T WAIT!!!!

All I have to say is: you and me both, man. you and me both.

Of course I should remember the old saying, ‘Let those with out a pod, cast the first-’ No, that’s not it. Those who can’t cast, pod? Maybe it’s something about living in a glass iPod. I can’t remember.

But I don’t hate SFB’s alternate Trek-universe, it’s just different. I’ll have to re-listen to this one to see if I really said that I hate it. And now that I’ve played Federation Commander, I’m less afraid to try out the full Star Fleet Battles system and I’d probably enjoy it. But, given that Federation Commander now exists … I don’t have any need to play the full SFB (and I don’t know anyone who plays it anyway).

Keep on listening! The next episode will come out … soonish.

I’ve GOT to comment on your inconsistency with regard to your love-dislike of the SFB universe…..

So at some points you say that you HATE SFB for its “alternate reality” license…it is Trek but NOT Trek….

…and then at other times you say you LOVE something (e.g. Prime Directive)….precisely BECAUSE it is “trek and NOT trek”

….I dont’ get it……

In episide 3, you say that the main feature of STIII:TCS is that it is “all about Power management”. Honestly, I have played both systems, and I found the Power Management aspects to be comparable (maybe not identical….but definitely comparable)……so I have to ask….WHAT IS IT you don’t like about SFB?

Despite the flamejob….truly DEVOTED to your show…LOVE IT!!!!!
-Jeff

Nate!!!!!

WHERE ARE YOU?!?!?!?!?!?

Guys, I am down to my last gasp of air!!! I am listening to “B0/\rdg/\me$t0g0″ and “Ha\/egame$wi11tra\/e1″. They are OK, but the latter is too self-serving…let get ME more licensing deals and let’s tale abut GENCON AGAIN…and AGAIN….AGAIN……..and the former….well…it’s just …well…bo/\rdg/\me$.

Please bring back your fun, spontaneous, and irreverent treatment of gaming.

-Jeff (or “J3ph”, to be consistent….)

What happened? I wanna hear about more Star Trek games!

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/twohourwargames/

The free THW rules use a single stat for characters called “reputation” which represents grit, experience or morale. Characters have to make reaction rolls versus their reputation on two dice. Each dice that is less than or equal to reputation is a pass. So for example, if a character is shot at, he must take a “shot at” test. Passing 2 dice means you can act as normal, passing one dice means that you duck down, and 0 dice means that you run away back to cover. It’s a very non-linear system. Since it’s free, it’s worth downloading and giving it a try.

Comment 1: A great game…I LOVE IT…That being said, I don’t like the mechanic that any routing unit can be rallied with 100% certainty simply by expending a command action. As Adam and Nate describe in the cast, the entire beauty of this game is the feeling that you aren’t TOTALLY in control of your units, and that you are just barely managing to hold them together in a coherent fighting force. This goes down the drain when a unit goes totally panic-stricken and start fleeing for its life, and then just automatically obeys when you say “turn around and fight.” I think for my games I will introduce a house rule that expending one command action gives you a 50% chance to rally a routed unit, and expending TWO command actions automatically rallies the unit.

Comment 2: Will the REAL rules version please stand up? I went out and bought four starter sets at my local “Your Move Games” store, and among the four starter sets there were THREE different rules versions!!!! Two of the sets were Version 1 (I presume they were version 1, since they did not state a varsion number), one set was version 2.0, and the last was version 2.1. That is a bit ridiculous!!! It gives the impression that they really didn’t playtest.

Comment 3: Cheesy CGI “art”work. Come on, folks…there are a lot a great artists out there that aren’t ridiculously expensive…I’m sorry, but orcs are just much less scary when they are mady of polygons.

Idea: This is very simply, but I find it helpful. The rules describe using numbered counters to mark target units and target locations (for example R5 means Ranged attack on the enemy unit I designate “5″). I found it convenience to mark target locations with numbered counters, and target UNIT with LETTERED counters. So “C2″ always means “close to locate marked “2″, while “CE” means “close to attack enemy unit “E”. A very sublte change, but it really helps me to mentally keep track.

….and to restate, despite all of my negative comment above, I DO love this game. Thanks for the fun, complete coverage on your podcast, Adam and Nate.

http://www.noisemaker.libsyn.com

Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZHZOD_0drs&feature=related

This scene has one of my favorite lines: ‘I’ve never seen a man get through a day so fast.’

Great movie, even if you don’t care for westerns.

Sorry I don’t have any prizes for our only contestant, but maybe these posts will get Adam and Nate to push out another show!

Till our RPG apostles make it back to the recording studio, let’s play a game- What movie am I from? NO GOOGLING!!! (or other manner of internet search)

Does “few” now mean “eight”???

Hoping you guys are able to get another show up soon. I had an awesome time at this year’s Kubla (ran my very first RPG there) and I’d love to hear how things went with you!!!

If you’re interested, check out my little video/slideshow thingy on YouTube. It only features a bit of Thursday night (pre-con) and Friday, but it will give you a taste of the glory that is Kubla!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reLpmSnNJ3A

I just looked at the pictures that you have posted so far and it looks really cool. I especially like the little red pools of blood under the dead characters in the Old West game; definitely a nice touch!

Looking forward to seeing more!

Glad to hear that you are still alive and kicking and I would love to hear what you think of Gutshot! It is one of the more popular small press mini games here in Sin City though I must admit that I have never had a chance to play. : ( Looks pretty cool though.

Have fun this weekend and looking forward to the next podcast!

I also appreciated the discussion of vector vs. node turning mechanics. How do you do a vector turning mechanic on a hex map? I suppose it could be done, but being a miniatures guy, I’d rather it be free form.

I’ve got to say, guys, that the descriptions of the game mechanics was awesome. I may not be the rule on this, but the way I see it, the more mechanics the better. I suppose this is because I’m thinking about developing my own kind of space combat game for my friends, building everyting from the ground up (even making molds for space ships, etc.). So, I really like game mechanics.

So, keep it up! Thanks for your work, and I’m looking forward to more… Looking forward to that Fed Commander episode, so I can justify buying the game to my wife… She’s not a gamer (yet…)