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Post by Otto Harkaman on Jul 19, 2020 11:47:03 GMT -6
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Post by Otto Harkaman on Jul 8, 2020 3:08:15 GMT -6
Over 1/2 way through listening to Leviathan Wakes, long audiobook, 19 hours total.
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Post by Otto Harkaman on Jul 2, 2020 15:05:30 GMT -6
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Post by Otto Harkaman on Jun 28, 2020 20:46:50 GMT -6
When I read Elric of Melnibone when I was young, I thought he was so cool. Now that I am older I see how tragic he is.
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Post by Otto Harkaman on Jun 28, 2020 12:17:59 GMT -6
Well I lost track of this after season 1 ended. I was able to download 1-4 seasons, have to re-watch season 1. Amazing how time flies, I forget a lot of things it seems
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Post by Otto Harkaman on Jun 24, 2020 18:41:02 GMT -6
Bought myself some new Sony bluetooth headphones, listening to Elric of Melnibone. Glad I got them, makes listening to audiobooks a real treat.
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Post by Otto Harkaman on Jun 10, 2020 10:47:17 GMT -6
Hmmm well had to think on my reply, as my disclaimer stated I wasn't replying to anyone just my opinion and preference of things. I know there is a lot of academic research on Tolkien but I still think writing "The Hobbit" was an elevated creative genius, a Mozart symphony if you will. Even though he used ideas of earlier writings he achieve something unique with it. So to me it is the root of cannon.
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Post by Otto Harkaman on Jun 8, 2020 6:42:36 GMT -6
This isn't an answer to any of the posters above, just off the cuff my humble opinion. I think the root is the Hobbit, LOTR is a continuation of the Hobbit, he later fit his other writings into the world of the Hobbit.I think he was creative with his historic writings and research and started the Hobbit as a juvenile tale, which is based on Beowulf and Alfred the Great's fight with the Vikings in the 9th century. The Necromancer is the first of the lords of evil, at the end of the Hobbit and into LOTR he developed into Sauron. The Necromancer is Grendel from Beowulf click to enlarge
The Mode and Meaning of 'Beowulf' By Margaret E. Goldsmith The Eye of Sauron <O> is the Eye of Odin. Odin sacrificed his eye to drink from Mirmir's Well, also known as the Well of Urd. Odin sacrificed an eye but gained a more sacred, divine level of wisdom in return. Odin is the most prominent of the Norse gods worshiped by the Vikings. Gandalf is also Odin
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Post by Otto Harkaman on Jun 7, 2020 9:10:46 GMT -6
I thought it was interesting looking at Katherine Kurtz's map of her eleven kingdoms, knowing she based her stories on a fictional Wales. And I thought the spur of the Point of Kenlar in the region of Carthmoor seems so much like Lands End and Cornwall. Then I thought hey that is just like in Tolkien's map, Andrast is Lands End Cornwall. Penwith peninsula = Pinnath gelin? I would say now that Osgilith is London and Minas Tirith is Winchester, Gondor is Wessex and Arnor is Mercia. click for larger viewclick for larger view
The Eye of Sauron is the Eye of Odin
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Post by Otto Harkaman on Jun 5, 2020 21:43:45 GMT -6
I would be a God to my worshipers, hit the ground running as computers develop.
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Post by Otto Harkaman on May 31, 2020 11:04:24 GMT -6
Here's some sheets I did for my own counters.
Those look great!
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Post by Otto Harkaman on May 30, 2020 19:17:41 GMT -6
Thanks again for sharing these maps, very curious about the modified ones. Yes I understand your "GD" limits I am still going to get the maps from my PRESTAGS masterpack scanned at sometime, at least 600dpi at a good blueprint/print shop. Amazing looking at the masterpack, someone took extra special care of it, I wonder how many unpunched PRESTAGS there are? More of a collectors item, I put it away till I have time to get it all scanned. An unpunched PRESTAGS Masterpack is a treasure indeed. A real collector's item. Leave it in pristine condition and you (or your beneficiaries) could make a real profit. I'm not quite so sentimental; I like to use what I own. You can, as we did over here, make your own counters so the originals do not have to be touched (we did this because the mix didn't offer what we needed for good DYI scenarios). There's plenty of blank countersheets on the web that can be printed up and mounted, like this: Mounting is easy. I use packing tape to put a plastic coating on them and mount them on die-cut counter stock. I went into the "setup" portion of Prestags Vassal and found there were many battles included that are not part of Prestags, like Aksu (Umayyads vs T'ang), and Valkia (10,000 BC, from Conan), as well as variants of existing scenarios. They added some new counters for these as well, including baggage trains and even "Zulu" warrior units. There's a huge number of these. In a few of them (official Prestags ones), the terrain boards were modified per the scenario description, but the modifications were poorly executed. Not horribly so, but I could do better, and would if the software wasn't locked down tight.
Oh I have seen those counters on BGG, purple and creme. I was thinking on using them when I work on a PRESTAGS module for ZunTzu. Unfortunately ZunTzu is broken, the developer stopped working on it, closed his server so you can't use it to play online. But I like how it handles on screen graphics, doesn't jaggy the counters when you change their facing diagonal. That is awesome how you printed out your own counters. I need to cut my Playstation habit and work on some maps.
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Post by Otto Harkaman on May 30, 2020 8:45:36 GMT -6
I went into the Vassal module and chose the "save as .PNG" file option. I could have chosen JPG too, it will save them as JPG if you append the right ending to the file name.
The Yeoman map has actual "paper wrinkles" in it. No question that is a scan.
But there are also quite a large number of maps, which do not all look like scans at first glance, for pre-prepared scenarios as well. I'm wondering if those maps contain the alterations called for by the scenarios. If they do, then they would also qualify as unique maps. That, however, takes more gumption than I have stored up at the moment. Probably this afternoon.
Yes, at my age, "Gumption Depletion" is a real condition. Thanks again for sharing these maps, very curious about the modified ones. Yes I understand your "GD" limits I am still going to get the maps from my PRESTAGS masterpack scanned at sometime, at least 600dpi at a good blueprint/print shop. Amazing looking at the masterpack, someone took extra special care of it, I wonder how many unpunched PRESTAGS there are? More of a collectors item, I put it away till I have time to get it all scanned.
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Post by Otto Harkaman on May 30, 2020 6:02:52 GMT -6
Well gave my PRESTAGS master pack an quick look this morning and it looks like those are scans of the PRESTAGS maps. Some of the color palettes seem to be off, someone might have changed them to 8-bit I image to try and save space. Did you take screen shots? Or did you go into the vassal module and extract them? I am curious if they might be higher resolution.
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Post by Otto Harkaman on May 29, 2020 17:52:52 GMT -6
OK, I am trying again: And I am failing again. Now We'll try this: And that fails too. How about this? There! This link contains all 5 Prestags maps from Vassal in PNG format, plus the Alesia map. Very cool of you! Making dinner, I will have a look at them in a little bit. Get back to you in a little while.
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Post by Otto Harkaman on May 28, 2020 21:05:04 GMT -6
My Vassal Prestags has the following maps:
Chariot Spartan Legion Viking Yeoman and a map called Alesia, which looks to be a fortification/fortified city map.
I could probably post them on here using the "save as PNG" function. Let me try: (The forum software laughs at my silly attempts to post a picture of the Alesia Map.)
Yeah the forum has limited space and ability to post pictures, no hurry I was just curious
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Post by Otto Harkaman on May 28, 2020 18:18:15 GMT -6
I also have access to a Vassal Module for Prestags. It has its quirks, but it works. A good computer guy could probably polish it up. I am wondering now if your PRESTAGS VASSAL module is a conversion of the Aide de Camp game set? (Click image to enlarge)
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Post by Otto Harkaman on May 28, 2020 17:40:49 GMT -6
It's not a difficult conversion from Dark Ages to Viking. Is that map a Dark Ages map? Turns out I have Armageddon, Phalanx, Centurion, and Renaissance of Infantry, but not Dark Ages.
One of the things that we've discovered here is that Prestags maps are actually not difficult to make. The terrain types are simple and straight forward. And we further discovered that Rifle & Saber plays just fine on Prestags maps using Prestags sighting rules to cover questions. A good tactical system usually benefits from a large selection of maps.
I agree! I need to force myself to get going and work on making some maps. I would like to make them more relevant to the actual battlefields, well as much as that is possible. Yes it is the map from Dark Ages. No one to my knowledge has scanned the PRESTAG maps, at least there are no good copies up on BGG. Does your VASSAL module have these maps?
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Post by Otto Harkaman on May 28, 2020 14:28:07 GMT -6
Was the address on the shipping label the same as yours? If not, then you got a freebee. Some questions that might be fun to find if anyone else has discussed them:
1. BLs only appear in one module, Spartan, and 1 Scenario (6.0 Comparative Scenario). But if BLs are available as part of the counter mix for "do it yourself" scenarios, are they treated in a similar manner as artillery in Yeoman? The characteristics of large catapults and Bombards can be pretty similar, and catapults, like bombards, were not especially mobile.
2. Has anyone ever seen a discussion of Optional Rule 14.2, and the logic behind it (Class A & B units on slopes cannot be disrupted)? We've found it to not be a problem in the scenarios, but with "do it yourself" scenarios it proved to be a terrific imbalancer.
3. When using Spartan Special Rule 3.3, does the extended hex of range have any effect upon the fire combat strength?
I found an errata document that is a good idea to check out. One of the things it addresses is how to respond to contact results in your flank when using Optional Rule 16.0 Facing (a most excellent optional rule, by the way). I've added it as an attachment.
I haven't even opened the package, as stevemitchell insinuated I paid a pretty penny for it. But I had the funds and I thought to myself, you know you would love to have it. The first thing I am going to do is take it to a really good print shop downtown and have all the maps and counters scanned. Supposedly everything is unpunched except "Chariot". I've been working on my ZunTzu module for Dark Ages and just started to toy around with setting up the Battle of Hasting scenario. I used the creme colored counters to make my others. (click on the image to enlarge)
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Post by Otto Harkaman on May 28, 2020 8:15:40 GMT -6
Oh my goodness, look what arrived in the mail today.
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Post by Otto Harkaman on May 26, 2020 18:26:50 GMT -6
Conscience of the King by Duggan is another excellent read. It's an Arthurian-period story about Cynric, the leader of the West Saxons and founder of Wessex. Enjoyed "The Cunning of the Dove" so much I decided to read "Conscience of the King" and then maybe "The King of Athelney" which is about Alfred the Great. Great read these older books!
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Post by Otto Harkaman on May 25, 2020 11:53:11 GMT -6
Finishing up an old historical novel by Alfred Duggan 1903-64The Cunning of the Dove (1960) Edward the confessor and England before the conquest. I didn't know Harold Godwinson, later defeated by William the Conqueror at Hastings 1066, was more an Anglo-Dane than Englishman. He raided the English coast at one time as a Viking when outlawed by King Edward.
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Post by Otto Harkaman on May 25, 2020 11:34:14 GMT -6
I don't remember if I ever responded to this thread, maybe long ago.
I live in Lexington Kentucky, home of the famous "Rusty Scabbard" a gaming store which has been around a long time. Need to get over there sometime in the future for board game night.
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Post by Otto Harkaman on May 23, 2020 13:48:07 GMT -6
The digital copy I have of Dark ages has no specific setup points, its up to the designated Player (defender?) to choose a hex location on the map. He has a number of hexes from that hex to setup. The attacking player has to setup within a certain amount of hexes from the defenders hex of location. Going off of memory so double check me
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Post by Otto Harkaman on May 20, 2020 10:41:36 GMT -6
I also have access to a Vassal Module for Prestags. It has its quirks, but it works. A good computer guy could probably polish it up. That is interesting, so you must have downloaded that awhile ago? I know vassalengine.com doesn't post SPI games, I had seen rumors of a PRESTAG mod existing. I need to get back to my SPI Dark Ages project, I confess I have been playing way too much on the playstation
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Post by Otto Harkaman on May 17, 2020 12:05:30 GMT -6
I think "Kingdom Come" might be too much of a full simulation than a game, much like "Elite" takes a lot of time investment.
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Post by Otto Harkaman on May 16, 2020 10:49:39 GMT -6
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Post by Otto Harkaman on May 16, 2020 8:01:52 GMT -6
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Post by Otto Harkaman on May 15, 2020 10:46:26 GMT -6
Fantastic! just what I was looking for!
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Post by Otto Harkaman on May 15, 2020 10:31:27 GMT -6
Decided I would try "Kingdom Come Deliverance" on the PS4
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