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Tag: Hobby Gaming

The Battle of Tondibi, 1591, in Miniature

The Battle of Tondibi, 1591, in Miniature

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As I mentioned in my last post, on a recent trip to Tangier I visited the old American Legation, now a museum. In a dusty back room I discovered two remarkable dioramas of Moroccan battles–the Battle of the Three Kings and the Battle of Tondibi. They were created by Edward Suren of London. Today I’m presenting some images of the diorama of the Battle of Tondibi.

After the Battle of the Three Kings, Ahmad al-Mansur took over the Saadi dynasty of Morocco. Emboldened by the crushing defeat they handed the Portuguese, the Moroccans soon turned their attention south. Al-Mansur wanted to control the desert trade routes of the Songhai Empire leading to Mali. He sent an army of 4,000 men under Judar Pasha to take control of what is now northern Mali.

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The Battle of the Three Kings, 1578, in Miniature

The Battle of the Three Kings, 1578, in Miniature

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On a recent trip to Tangier, I visited the old American Legation, now a museum. In a dusty back room, I discovered two remarkable dioramas of Moroccan battles — the Battle of the Three Kings and the Battle of Tondibi. Today I’m presenting some images of the diorama of the Battle of the Three Kings.

In 1578, the 24 year-old king of Portugal, Don Sebastian, decided to prove himself. His predecessors had lost most of the Portuguese possessions in Morocco to the Saadians, who untied the various North African tribes against them. Don Sebastian burned with desire to reconquer the region. He got his chance when a dynastic struggle led to the Sultan Abu Abdallah Mohammad II being deposed by his uncle Abd Al-Malik. Sebastian agreed to help Mohammad II regain his throne in exchange for territorial concessions. Sebastian gathered an army of 17,000 men, including Portuguese, volunteers from Castile, Flemish and German mercenaries, and Moroccans loyal to Mohammad II.

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Heroscape Wave 10: Valkrill’s Gambit

Heroscape Wave 10: Valkrill’s Gambit

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heroscape-wave-101One of the things I most enjoy about Heroscape is the great variety of figures in the expansions. Because I was introduced to the game years after it first debuted, I’ve missed out on a number of the earlier sets. I’ve been trying out all of the recent expansion sets, though. What I didn’t know when Wave 10 arrived was that half of it was a reprint from Wave 5t — now very hard to find — that another quarter of it reprinted some hard-to-find special release figures, and that the final quarter recast earlier molds with different colors and rules. I don’t mean that to sound like a complaint, because 3/4 of those figures are nearly impossible to lay hands on and the other quarter, those recasts, are now among my favorite squads.

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Concerning Interactive Fiction

Concerning Interactive Fiction

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You are standing at the end of a road before a small brick building . . .

My interest in computer interactive fiction, a.k.a. “adventure games,” dates from before I could read chapter books. I belong to the first generation to grow up with the personal computer. When I entered elementary school, computers had just made their first forays into classrooms, and I remember vividly my first encounter with a Commodore PET, the most popular educational computer during those formative years. Soon after, I met the Apple ][ . . . and Adventure. (Perhaps I met Hunt the Wumpus before Adventure, but I’m no longer sure.)

Adventure, also known as Colossal Cave, Colossal Cave Adventure, and its original file name ADVENT, started life as a simulation of an actual location in Kentucky, the Bedquilt section of the Flint-Mammoth Cave System. Programmer and caving enthusiast Will Crowther created the textual simulation in FORTRAN. But instead of simply writing descriptions of cave locations the user can visit through a series of movement commands, Crowther merged the real world with elements of Tolkien-esque fantasy and puzzle-solving. The result: interactive fiction, or IF. Most of the conventions of the genre that still exist today debuted in Adventure: the “VERB NOUN” parser, moving using compass directions, locations referred to as “rooms,” logic puzzles, treasure-hunting, locked doors and keys, mazes, monsters.

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GAMA Trade Show 2008 Report

GAMA Trade Show 2008 Report

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By John O’Neill

 

GAMA 6

Every year the game industry gathers at the Game Manufacturers Association (GAMA) Trade Show in Las Vegas, Nevada — the industry’s biggest and longest-running trade event, where publishers showcase their most exciting upcoming products for retailers and other insiders. It’s the place to be to see the best and most innovative new science fiction, fantasy, and hobby games — including board games, miniatures, role playing games, collectible card games, and much more.

This year Black Gate publisher and editor John O’Neill walked the floor of the exhibition hall, talking to over fifty companies set to launch a wide variety of fantasy titles, including the giant-monster themed collectible miniatures game Monsterpocalypse from Privateer Press, post-apocalyptic slug-fest Dust Tactics from Fantasy Flight, Wizard’s Gambit from intriguing newcomer Gryphon Forge, and his personal favorite: CthulhuTech from Mongoose Publishing, which pits mighty Cthulhu against giant fighting robots, 100 years in the future.

Read on for John’s extensive report on the very best fantasy games of 2008!

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