Cool Free Stuff on the Internet: Warning Order Magazine

I grew up reading gaming magazines.  My dad had a subscription to The General, Avalon Hill’s house magazine.  I would pick up issues of White Dwarf and Autoduel Quarterly from the game store and devour them.  I have been pleasantly surprised to find out that there are a large number of game magazines that are published in digital format and that are released for free on The internet.

One magazine that I have found is Warning Order.  Warning Order is a free magazine published by the Wasatch Front Historical Gaming Society.  They have just released issue 48, and their entire backlog is available for download from their website.

Warning Order focuses on miniature wargaming and board wargames.  Each issue usually has some battle reports, game reviews, and other miscellaneous articles.  One cool feature that started in issue 36 is the inclusion of scenarios for miniatures games.  I also enjoy looking at all the pictures of painted miniatures set up for battle.

The latest issue (48) has a review of Twilight Imperium Fourth Edition, a review of GMT’s Next War: Poland, an interesting article on the current state of hobby gaming, and some battle reports.  If you are a fan of miniatures and Wargames I would check out Warning Order. All 48 issues are free to download at http://www.wfhgs.com/wrngorder.html

Rolling Wednesday: Free Dice Contest still going!

Last Wednesday I announced the retirement of the Rolling Wednesday posts.  In celebration I decided to send some free dice to someone.  There are no claimers yet so here is what I have decided.  I will continue this contest for another week.  I will add more dice to the pot.  If there are no winners by next Wednesday, I will add even more dice to the pot. 

Soldiers playing dice in a tavern by Adriaen Brouwer 

Here are the rules to the contest.

If you would like me to mail you some free dice, here is what you need to do:

Send an email to nedpatrick ( AT ) yahoo ( DOT ) com.
Put "I love Dice" in the subject line.
In your message include your name and your favorite kind of die.

That's it.  Next Wednesday I will pick a winner.  If I get no entries then I will add more dice to the pot and continue the contest.  There are currently 12 mystery dice in the pot.

Good luck and happy rolling!

Adventures in Free Gaming: Federation Commander - First Missions

I love free games.  This week I got to play another free game that I downloaded off of the internet.  It is called Federation Commander - First Missions.  Federation Commander is a streamlined version of the Star Trek inspired wargame Star Fleet Battles.  Just like Star Fleet Battles, the game's publisher has posted a beginner version of the game online.  I have posted before about Star Fleet Battles.  My advice is to start with Federation Commander first.

Federation Commander: First Missions is a 34 page PDF that contains all of the rules, maps, and counters that you will need to play the game.  The rules include a Federation and Klingon ship and two scenarios.  The rules are a stripped-down version of the Federation Commander rules, as rules for drones and seeking weapons (missiles) are removed and some of the more complex movement rules are missing.  However, this does not diminish from the rich tactical experience that the game provides.

The game simulates space combat between a Klingon and Federation warship.  During the game you use energy to power your ship's movement and weapons.  The game reminds me of Car Wars in that you pick your speed and then that speed determines on which part of the turn you move.  The game is very tactical as maneuvering your ship correctly can mean life or death.  Weapons have certain firing arcs so you want to be in the right position to send your photon torpedoes down your enemy's throat.

The two ships fight it out.  These counters are actually from the Star Fleet Battles PDF.

Energy is the currency of the game.  Your ship produces energy from its warp engines.  Energy is used for movement, firing weapons, and reinforcing shields.  This will put you in situations where you will have to make tough choices, such as do you save energy for firing your weapons or do you use it to repair that damaged shield?  Also, if your engines take damage then you will produce less energy.

My Klingon Battlecruiser

This game makes me feel like I am a true spaceship captain.  I have to manage my ship while trying to outfox my opponent.  The PDF comes with two scenarios.  One is a ship vs. ship duel, which is what we played.  The other is a convoy scenario.  The PDF is easy to read and contains counters and a hex map that you will need to print out in order to play the game.  My only complaint is that the PDF has a decorative border running down the side of each page.  The border is a black strip with stars on it.  It may look nice but it eats up ink when printing, so I went to Kinko's to print out my copy.

My opponent shortly before being disintigrated

If you are into Star Trek or space combat then I would check this game out.  Also, if you think Star Fleet Battles seems too complex then try out Federation Commander first.

Federation Commander: First Missions

Adventures in Free Gaming: Star Fleet Battles

My favorite price for a game is free.  Therefore, I love getting free games.  I recently discovered that you can download an introductory module for the venerable space combat game Star Fleet Battles.  Is this too good to be true?  Is the module worth my time?  I decided to download it, print it out, and give it a try.

If you are unfamiliar with the game, Star Fleet Battles is a space combat wargame published by Amarillo Design Bureau.  The first version was published on 1979 and was based on the Star Trek universe as it existed at the time.  The company has a convoluted license agreement that allows them to use ships and races from the original series era of Star Trek, but they can use nothing from later series nor can they use named characters.  This allows them to have Federation, Klingon, and Romulan ships.  There are also Gorn, Kzinti (from the animated show), Tholians, and various other races.  If you are familiar with the tone of the original series then the setting will make sense.

The introductory module, or the Star Fleet Battles Cadet Training Handbook, is a 75 page pdf that leads you through a series of missions to teach you the rules of the game.  The pdf consists of rules and scenarios, charts, ship system displays (SSDs), counters, and hex maps.  Star Fleet Battles has a reputation as being a complicated game with thousands of rules, and this product aims to debunk the notion that the game is impossible to learn.

Map, counters, charts, and SSDs printed out and ready for play!

The Cadet Training Handbook introduces the rules for Star Fleet Battles a little bit at a time.  It breaks the game down into scenarios.  I have currently played through scenarios one and two.  The first scenario involves flying a spaceship around the map and shooting drones.  The second scenario is almost the same, except this time the drones track your ship and try to blow you up while you shoot them.  The goal of the two scenarios is to learn how ship movement works as well as learning basic weapons and damage rules.

I really like how the Cadet Training Handbook breaks the rules down and simplifies them through the scenarios.  Star Fleet Battles uses turns that are divided into 32 parts called impulses.  In the first two scenarios you use a turn that is only eight impulses long.  Star Fleet Battles uses a complex energy allocation system.  The  Cadet Training Handbook waits until scenario four to introduce the concept.  More than one of the scenarios are designed for solo play or can be played solo.  As you work through the book you gain all of the rules needed for ship on ship combat.

I am a fan the Cadet Training Handbook.  The scenarios take the right path in introducing rules to the player.  Concepts are taught at just the right level before moving on to the next scenario.  The book has twelve scenarios and includes ships for 8 of the races in the Star Fleet Universe.  If you are a science fiction gamer and have not tried Star Fleet Battles then I would recommend at least giving this book a read through.  If you don't want to print out the counters and map there is a VASSAL module available.  My goal is to work through all twelve scenarios and convince some friends to have some spaceship duels.  Hopefully I will have more posts on the topic at a later date.