"Duel of Eagles: Mars la Tour" Now Available

I'm happy to report that Duel of Eagles, which features my artwork, is now available from White Dog Games and Victory Point Press.

I don't have my copy yet, but from what I've seen, the production values of the printed game are pretty darn high - nicely reproduced counters - and thick too.  And a high quality print job on good card stock for the map.

I have a lot of respect for the improved quality that the team at Victory Point Games has achieved, and it's really icing on the cake that they are printing the game, which was a pleasure to work on in collaboration with designer Hermann Luttmann and publisher and chief of White Dog Games, Michael Kennedy.

Prussian Blues

National uniform color was simply tradition. At a distance, an army’s colors proved incomprehensible save for the Austrians who wore white and the British who wore red. At cannon shot, Prussian blue was much like French blue, and the Russian green was not distinguishable from either of them. Cavalry regiments were particularly difficult to distinguish at longer range, and friendly fire was a constant threat from enthusiastic gunners. —Roman Jarymowycz, Cavalry from Hoof to Track

The above quote is an excerpt from the vastly interesting web essay by Joshua Cohen titled Thirty Six Shades of Prussian Blue, which examine's the pigment's influence on culture from its discovery in the early 18th century through its discontinuance as a Crayola crayon color in 1958, all while touching on art, the Holocaust, and radiation poisoning.

I came across Cohen's essay while trying to satisfy my curiosity about the origins of the pigment and its relationship to the Prussian military uniform color.

Vinkhuijzen Collection of Military Costume Illustration,  New York Public Library.

Famously worn by the Prussian army in the 17th-19th centuries, the color Prussian blue is both a descriptive term for the dark blue of Prussian uniforms and it is a proper noun: Prussian Blue, the first synthetic pigment, accidentally discovered by the paint maker Diesbach in 1706 in Berlin. It appears to be a coincidence that the blue pigment so closely matched the dark blue Prussian uniform which had already been in use for more than a decade.  The pigment was also known as Berlin Blue, Milori blue, and Paris Blue, but those appellations have fallen by the way.  Perhaps the name Prussian Blue stuck because of the visual link with the uniform color.

Fading and Colour Change of Prussian Blue: Methods of Manufacture and the Influence of Extenders,National Gallery Technical Bulletin, 2004

The history behind the paint pigment is interesting.  Up to the point of the discovery of Prussian Blue, painters had to rely upon lower quality blue tints derived from such sources as Indigo, or super-expensive Lapis Lazuli, a stone then only found in Afghanistan. Diesbach and a close ring of associates guarded the secret recipe for Prussian Blue for 20 years, making good money from selling the pigment in Holland, France, Switzerland, and elsewhere.  However, by the mid-1720s, the secret was out and manufacture of the pigment spread.  French Chemist P. J. Macquer experimented with Prussian Blue and developed Prussic Acid (also known as Hydrogen Cyanide), which could be used as a dye but also eventually a number of industrial applications, including becoming a key ingredient in Zyklon B.

The first known painting using Prussian Blue was by Pieter or Adriaen van der Werff: Detail of  Entombment of Christ (Picture Gallery, Sanssouci, Inv. No. GK I 10008) 

Prussian military blue, however, was for the most part probably made using dye created from the Woad plant. Prussian Elector Friedrich Wilhelm is said to have chosen blue as a uniform color in the mid-late 17th century to support the peasantry involved in producing Woad.

Coat of the First Battallion Guard with embroidered Order of the Black Eagle, worn by Frederich the Great.  From the collection of the DEUTSCHES HISTORISCHES MUSEUM.

Woad blue is an ancient dye recipe, having been found in excavations of iron age habitations.  Dye derived from Woad is made with leaves from the plant combined with human urine, and alcohol   It is said that dyers and dye makers would consume alcohol and then urinate into the vats to formulate the dye.

When Indigo became available from the east, its use was banned in many European countries to protect to the Woad industry.  Eventually, however, Indigo, which was defamed as the Devil's Dye, would be adopted throughout Europe and the U.S. because of its superior blue color.

As Cohen points out, Prussian Blue was one of the original 48 Crayola colors, but was re-named "Midnight Blue" in 1958 because students in the U.S. could no longer relate to the history of Prussia.  Perhaps teachers grew tired of trying to explain it, or maybe they just didn't know. It seems a shame, because Prussian Blue is a proper name for the pigment.  Especially when you consider that in 1958 Crayola introduced two additional pigment-based colors with obscure names: Burnt Sienna and Raw Umber.

Battle of the Bulge for the iPad Review

New on my iPad this week is what must be the first high-quality, purpose-built wargame app for the iPad, Shenendoah Studio's Battle of the Bulge.  Here are my initial impressions.

At a wargamer's first glance, the game is dead sexy.

The Fat Bastard of Bastogne enjoying a well deserved spa outing.

Oops... sorry about that.

Ahem, the game features a beautiful map with counters that are plain and simple, but still eye-catching.

Under the hood, the game engine is that of a boardgame. Having begun my career in wargaming with more complex PC games that try to leverage the computational power of the personal computer, Shenendoah's game feels a bit shallow.  But it is what it claims to be: "...based upon the best design practices and traditions of board wargaming." Indeed, the game is the baby of veteran board wargame designer John Butterfield.

The early goings are favorable for the German offensive.  

I've pretty much moved on from PC wargames to boardgame versions, and I like the style and the playability of this game, and enjoy the challenge of Shenendoah's creation and the convenience of having it on my iPad complete with an enemy AI.  I haven't tried playing a human opponent yet, in "pass the iPad" face-to-face mode, or using the Apple's GameCenter's ability to play an opponent remotely. I think that will be fun to do.

I beat the big campaign in my second try on the easiest level (aka Monty) before the skies cleared and my armor and mech units started taking punishment from the Jabos.  So, the game might be a bit easy, but I'll reserve judgment until further play on the tougher setting (aka Patton).  I suspected that the defensive AI would be tougher than the offensive AI, but not so.  The offensive AI pushes for the Meuse like a regular Joachim Peiper.  Traditionally, it's always more difficult to code a competent offensive AI, so kudos to Shenandoah studios.

Days later, I've exited two Pz Divisions through Liege, and have been able to withstand Allied Counter Attacks.

In reading player comments online, there seem to be two camps.  Those who love it (board wargamers) and those who aren't impressed (PC wargamers). And I see both sides of the argument.

A few more strategic choices would be fun... being able to coordinate attacks from multiple areas, being able to "dig in" when on the defensive, having to follow certain command-chain strictures that disallow moving the 2nd Pz from the southern sector to the northern sector on a whim, etc.

I also think that the game could easily allow a couple of options that would extend playability, namely random weather patterns and random reinforcements, and maybe random victory conditions.  I mean, as it is, the game feels a bit scripted. Who doesn't know that the German schwerpunkt wasn't punkty enough... and that the shortest distance between the German jump-off point and the Meuse is to head for Liege.

Plus the victory conditions when playing the Allies seem a bit sketchy.  Additionally, I think a couple of units have been nudged away from their historical starting points. E.g., I don't know if this is a game-play thing or an oversight, but the CCB 9th should start out south of St. Vith.  A minor quibble. 

"Hans, pose for a photograph, you'll be featured in many computer wargames someday"
"Okay, but hopefully nobody will put a big medal ribbon over my face."

The boardgamer in me has no complaints.  The game is elegant, fun, and I find myself smiling when my little bastards hold out in Bastogne for one more turn.  I recommend Battles from the Bulge from Shenandoah Studios. El Alamein is next, but what we really want is Market Garden.  

Minifigz Rule Middle Earth

This past Friday, I pulled our two boys out of school early.

The jail-break had been planned ahead of time, so that I and the older one (age 10) could see The Hobbit, ASAP. (The younger one, who has a strong sense of justice, demanded early release as well, though my wife and I felt he was too young at 7-years-old to attend the movie... instead he enjoyed a DVD on the couch at home with his mom.)

We (the eldest son and I) both really enjoyed the movie.  I feel it beats any of the three Lord of the Rings movies. (I mean, didn't Jackson's Sam and Frodo wear you out after a while?)  The battle scenes in The Hobbit were really very good.  And, as a huge Guillermo del Toro fan, I thought I perceived a vestige of his immense creativity inside Erebor, which features some of the most stunning imagery in the movie.

My son was taken by the whole thing.  In fact, it inspired him to design a large Middle Earth Lego skirmish game in Moria, in the chamber of Balin's tomb... on our dinner table.

To fight the battle, we used the simple but effective Minifigz ruleset.  Two pages filled with some very basic instructions and guidelines for adapting the rules for any imaginable battle.  My son picked the sides:

The good guys...

• Frodo (+1 for Sting)
• Bilbo (+1 for another Sting, plus the ring)
• Gandalf (Wizards Staff and +1 for Orcist)
• Aragorn (+1 for Narsil)
• Gimli (+1 for his ax)
• Balin
• Legolas (+1 for his bow)
• Galadriel (Power to heal, can't be killed)
• Boromir (+1 for being Boromir)
• Eomir
• and... a nameless Rider from the Mark

In true Moria-style, there would be 3 waves of howling orcs and monsters...

Wave 1

• 5 Orc Grunts
• 2 Orc Archers
• 2 Orc Seargants (one with a Shield for +1 Defense)

Wave 2

• All of the Wave 1 Orcs (again)
• 1 cave troll who had a nasty +1 Attack and +2 Defense and 3 Lives

Wave 3

• The Orc chorus from Wave 1
• 2 Warg-riding Orc Bosses

Notes on the army lists:  In addition to the weapon bonuses listed above, each member of the fellowship proper was granted a +1 attack for being awesome and +2 defense for being a major movie character. They were also granted two lives, just in case.  These were adaptations I suggested to my son to make the battle more "cinematic" and to ensure that when he commanded the good guys, things would go his way (fun is still the objective for our games!). My son added the following flourish: The Ring, held by Bilbo, grants the wearer invisibility when he chooses.  Unspoken until later in the battle, I learned that the ring-bearer may attack when invisible, and his opponent will not be able to defend.  Very powerful, this "One Ring."  Gollum is also in the scenario.  He runs about and really plays no role outside of lending a certain LOTR-ness to the action. 

I was the leader of the dark forces of Middle Earth, bent upon the destruction of the fellowship and capture of The Ring.  I would be successful when I wiped them all out.

My son, leader of the free peoples of Middle Earth, need only withstand the three waves to emerge victorious.

Wave 1 - Orc ineptitude on display.

The stage was set and we rolled for initiative, which, to the chagrin of the free peoples of Middle Earth, I won. The orcs of Wave 1 charged into the ranks of my son's forces.  But the sword blows and arrows and the howling of the blood thirsty orcs came to naught.  Even when I triple-teamed Boromir, he simply shrugged off the attack by spending one of his lives.   

Then it became my son's turn.  And each stroke of every weapon of the fair and good people struck home, smiting an orc.  My ranks were quickly thinned, and within one more turn, Wave 1 had evaporated without claiming a single good guy.  I'd say we really found the right game play balance to achieve the feel of the LOTR movies!

Wave 2 - In which the nasty hobbit tricks us!

Luckily for me, at the beginning of Wave 2, my attacks began to bite hard on elves, men and dwarves!  For in this turn, my orcs and cave troll laid low the nameless Rider of Rohan and Balin himself!  (How lucky for Balin that he died a few feet from his sarcophagus, presciently built and labeled for just such an occasion.)

Alas, even though my prospects for victory started to look up, my son employed the power of The Ring to check my momentum through stealth attacks from an invisible Bilbo.  This led to a debate between he and I in which I called such trickery unfair and un-movie-like.  Rather than give in completely to my complaints, he introduced a die roll to balance the equation.  As Bilbo was such a middling fighter, each attack would be mitigated by a die roll.  On a 1 or 2, Bilbo dealt a death blow.  On any other result, the creature under attack would freak out and run 12" away from the battle. Was this fair?  I have no idea... but I thought it was inventive and deserved to be enshrined as a rule.  Wave 2 also went to my son.

Wave 3 - Look for it in the sequel.
The start of Wave 3 was interrupted by the arrival of my son's friend from next door, and we agreed to pick up the battle later on.  Which didn't happen by dinner time, so dwarf and man and elf and orc were all seen off by plate and bowl and knife and fork.

It was an unexpected end to a glorious battle



Postscript... When I picked up my boys that Friday, I only had a vague idea of what had happened in Connecticut.  Sadly, gun wielding psychos are becoming so common-place that I had developed a level of fatigue with the whole news genre and I was not going to let anything get in my way of enjoying the outing.  But, since the horrific depth of the Sandy Hook event has transpired, my boys have been getting a lot more hugs and kisses.  My prayers go out to the all in the community affected by this tragedy, and I wish all of you a safe and peaceful holiday season.

Mice and Mystics

A couple of days before my son's birthday, he asked that I buy him a boardgame - one we can all play.  He's become a good gamer.  We played a second-hand copy of HeroQuest over the summer.  And, through the generosity of a gamer friend, we have an enormous HeroScape collection, which we enjoy setting up and playing every couple months.  Plus a myriad of other games, among which King of Tokyo, Hey That's My Fish, Launch Pad, and Pitch Car are staples.

At the time of this last-second game request, however, my son's birthday gifts (mostly Lego sets) had already been purchased.  Adding any decent boardgame would mean going over and above the normal and accepted (but not spoken of in direct terms) budget.  Was this request calculated to swell his birthday take?  I think it might have been.  He displays cunning when it comes to getting what he wants.  (We wants a game, my pressscious!)

You see, it's well known in our house that I'm a push-over when it comes to buying boardgames.  And truly, game nights have become a family tradition that we all enjoy - so he likely would have known that the request would play well with his mother, too.

Trapped in his web, my wife and I went to a local game store and bought Mice and Mystics.  She wanted to be in on the purchase, and while she doesn't care for the plastic-characters-fighting-it-out-on-a-board genre,  Mice and Mystics was an easy choice because it's such a "cute" theme and very family-oriented. 

We played through two scenarios during a number of after-dinner game sessions.  It's been a hit with everyone: birthday-boy playing the chief protagonist Collin, and the rest of us as members of the adventurous team of friends.  Then Colin (our Colin who serendipitously shares the name of the hero) decided it was time to paint the beige plastic minis into something more immersive.  I said we'd do it together.

As with many such pursuits, his enthusiasm ran high early in the project as we sat and painted together.  I taught him some valuable things like how not to load up the mini with paint.  Once the going got tedious, however, he drifted away, happy to consign all the minis to the ticklish lashings of my brush alone.

And so I pass time painting, which, I confess, I do enjoy.  When he wanders past my station at the dining room table, he checks my work and gives direction. The rats musn't be all the same color.  You still have to paint the sword, right?   Sometimes, because he is afraid to hurt my feelings, I get his critiques via my wife.  He wants the eyes of that hero to be black - the yellow looks creepy.  

The Prince Collin mini will be last and he will be working on that one with me.

Otherwise, the gaming has paused and I'm under pressure to get the darn things completed.  I squeeze in some work at the end of dinner.  I do some more before bed.  And slowly the painted minis emerge.

Colin is excited - he's certain they will make the game nights even more enjoyable.

A *rare* Family Circus

Rare. Because it's funny.

Reading round-up

Marines Who Love Space Marines - Slate.com

A glimpse at geeks in the military.  "McBee doesn’t often struggle to find a game—his 600-plus person unit includes 13 regular 40K players."  There is probably some 40K in my future.  Being a fantasy geek, I'm more inclined toward Warhammer, but the White Dwarf magazines and Space Hulk game I have here at the house have exerted a strange influence on the younger family members.   Yesterday my six year old told me he thought he'd like an Eldar army. 
http://www.slate.com/articles/life/gaming/2012/09/warhammer_40k_why_american_troops_love_to_play_a_game_featuring_orks_necrons_and_space_marines_.html

Incredible "Battles from the Age of Reason" (BAR) Fan-site

As an average wargamer, BAR always looks out of reach due to its complexity.  This site doesn't lower the "bar" but much it makes me even more envious of those who have the time and space for such a cool system.

https://sites.google.com/site/battlesfromtheageofreason/home/bar


Playing at the World Is a Must Read for Gaming Geeks - Wired.com

An interview with the author of what looks to be like an interesting book.

http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2012/09/new-d-d-history-book/