Tag: games

Finecast Models: Killing Me Softly

A wholly owned subsidery of Games Workshop

If you follow table top war games at all you know that the hobby is largely at the mercy of the commodities market. Many of the models used by table top war games companies are metal cast. This year Games Workshop decided to do something about that by abandoning metal models and using a newly developed resin instead. Resin is lighter, easier to modify and much cheaper than metal. Games Workshop hasn’t passed those savings on to their customers though! In fact, in their press releases and investor’s statements hardly mention the cost savings at all! Instead they’ve highlighted the high quality of the new resin models:

Games Workshop already makes the best fantasy miniatures in the world. All Games Workshop miniatures will now be made either in resin or plastic to ensure Games Workshop customers get the best quality miniatures available. From a strategic perspective, Citadel Finecast has established an even greater quality differential for Games Workshop over other miniature makers using traditional metal manufacturing methods.

Mark Wells, CEO Games Workshop

But of course, one of the main reasons for this change to resin was quality. One thing you’ll notice immediately when you pick them up is the exceptionally sharp detail on the model, which can only be described as staggering. For dedicated painters (which we all are to some extent) this is a dream come true.

Andy Hall, Writer Games Workshop

I’m not going to contest that the new models look great and that their resin mix does an excellent job of capturing the nuances of the master molds. My problem is that these new lighter, cheaper models cost more than their metal counterparts?! The company has said this rise in cost is due to the better detail quality of the new finecast models, but the fact of the matter is that GW and Citadel Miniatures are using the same master molds as they were for the old metal miniatures. The only difference here is the new resin! The molds have already been made the costs invested and already returned from the sale of the old metal models, so why are customers now having to pay more for a model made from cheaper raw materials?!

Cast in the traditional manner using a metal alloy
The new finecast resin model

Games Workshop has been pricing me out of their hobby for years. I have a hard time justifying the purchase of a single model for $15 moving the sales point to $18.50 ($20 in the mind of the buyer) is out of the question! Who can afford that when armies consist of upwards of 100 models?!

 

Contra Vs. Probotector: Contra III VS Super Probotector

SNES Edition

It’s been awhile since the last installment of my sprite/manual comparison of the Contra Series, you can find the previous episodes here, here, and here. Wow, it’s been awhile so I’m just going to dive right into the comparisons: Continue reading “Contra Vs. Probotector: Contra III VS Super Probotector”

Letters from White Chapel: Not a Review

The London Police search desperately for a killer...

While I received Letters from White Chapel some time back I didn’t break open the box, sit down, and play the game until quite recently. I had over the friends that had gifted me the game and sitting around the table we figured the game out. The game is set in Victorian England between August 31, to November 9, 1888 with one player acting as Jack the Ripper and the other players, up to five, playing the police investigators tasked with hunting the serial killer down.

The game is played over five “nights” each broken down into two phases. The first phase, termed “hell”, lets the person playing as Jack the Ripper place his various victims on the board with a number of decoys. Then, the other players place their investigators around the town, again with decoys. Then the victim tokens are flipped over, decoys removed, and victim pawns put on the board (the victims are termed “the wretched in the game’s documentation. I found that apt.) Now the second phase of the night is entered where “Jack” make take a victim or wait, if “Jake” waits the investigators move each victim pawn one space and then “Jack” may turn over an investigator token; if it is a decoy the token is removed if it is an investigator the appropriately colored pawn piece is place on the board. This process repeats until “Jack” decides to take a victim, up to five times on the fifth turn “Jack” must declare a victim. He declares the kill, places a scene of the crime token on the location of the murder and the hunt begins. The Jack player now must move through the streets of White Chapel avoiding the investigators and returning to his hideout (picked at the beginning of the game and written down on a tracking sheet (all of Jack’s moves are a secret to the investigators and are kept track of on a sheet that the “Jack” player maintains.))

The scene of the crime and three investigators...

The investigator players are tasked with working together to trap Jack or prevent him from getting to his hideout. Each investigator can move during their turn and either search for clues or make an arrest. Searching for clues reveals to the investigators whether any places adjacent to them have been traveled through by Jack. Making an arrest will win the game for the investigators if the adjacent place they declare the arrest in contains Jack. Jack has two limited special moves at his disposal during the hunt: he can move two spaces in a turn or jump over a block. If Jack is arrested or fails to make it back to his hideout in a specified number of moves the investigators win. If Jack makes it the night ends and the next night begins; if Jack makes it to his hideout on the fifth night that player wins.

White Chapel

Turns out this game is really easy for Jake to win! The game definitely is improved by the Jake player being risky in the flight back to their hideout. A cautious, crafty Jack player using their special moves can make it back to the hideout each night without a single investigator finding a single clue! Even once a clue or clues have been found the branching pathway system makes it difficult if not impossible to determine which direction Jack might have gone… The game definitely improves once investigators get a few clues and can start coordinating their moves in an attempt to box Jack in.  Of course, even then it still takes some luck, in one game investigators twice found themselves standing next to the killer but had searched for clues instead of making an arrest allowing Jack to escape!

I, and the friends I played with, found the game a lot of fun to play! Especially once we instituted the house rule that Jack must be daring in his flight from justice. Trying to deduce which way Jack might have gone and correlate the investigators moved accordingly is satisfying, even more so when your hunch is right and you find yourself closing in on the killer, or the location of his hideout! It doesn’t hurt that the game can be played in under two hours either!

Spacechem: Not a Review

It's chemistry in SPAAAAAAAAACE!

Spacechem is the latest game from Zachtronics Industries an indie game developer. It only came out recently though I didn’t hear anything about the game until it went up for sale on the first day of STEAM’s Summer Camp Sale and some friends bought it; then they wouldn’t shut up about it. The game looked intriguing though it was hard to tell what was going on in videos of the game. I downloaded the demo and gave it a try.

The menu screen, looks safe.
An earlyish puzzle in the process of being solved.

I’ve been describing the game as a simple scripting language,  basic chemistry, flowcharts, and puzzle game mashed into one thing. The board is set up into four quadrants two inputs fields and two output fields. The player has control over two tracks with which they build a flowing script in order to transport, manipulate, combine and tear down atoms and molecules. As the game progresses you’ll have to create multiple chains of these “reactors” to create the desired molecule in complete a level.

A multiple reactor puzzle. Inputs on the left output on the right.
A more complex puzzle in the process of being solved.

What makes Spacechem more than a good puzzle game is the fact that the game keeps meticulous records of every puzzle you complete and how you complete it. This information is then compared with all other players and your place amongst them is shown. So, while any puzzle can be solved in just about anyway there are certainly more efficient ways to complete a puzzle, either using less commands, less time to complete, or less “reactors.” Solving the puzzles is only half of the game. The part that keeps you obsessing and coming back, the part that has me seeing blue and red tracks manipulating atoms and molecules in my sleep is the knowledge that I can do better. That while my puzzle is satisfactory it is not optimal. Therein lies Spacechem’s genius.

The notoriously difficult Moustachium-208 molecule reactor
In the process of being solved.

I heartily recommend the game to those who like puzzle games. If you do get it make sure to add me as a friend on STEAM (falselogic); I’ll want to see how well you do on some of these puzzles. Also, I’ll be on ‘On The Stick‘ next Monday  (7/18/2011) to talk about the game!

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