Teachmeet Game on


The Game Based Learning conference this year will also be hosting free events on the first evening, one is a Miranda Mod, the other is a Teachmeet.

What is TeachMeet?

Learn something new, be amazed, amused and enthused. This is an informal gathering of those curious about teaching and technology. Anyone can share great ideas they've trialled in their classrooms, ask important questions or simply sign up to take part in learning conversations.

Why is it called 'Game on edition?'

The Game Based Learning Conference is being held at the Brewery, London on 29th to 30th March. The organisers of the conference, Learning without Frontiers have generously offered the use of the venue and facilities.You dont have to attend the conference to attend the teachmeet and its free but will have to register to get into teachment register http://teachmeetgameon.eventbrite.com/ The gathering of many practitioners involved and interested in games in learning, prompted the thought to invite even more people, keen to learn and share about their experiences. If you want to talk about using games in learning will be of interest, playing online games, commercial off the shelf games, video console games, game making, using games as a theme for a topic - anything! But in the spirit of Teachmeet it doesn't have to be about games if you want to share your practice success or even failure go on do it.


So if you want to sign up for what promises to be both an entertaining and engaging evening then sign register above and sign up on the wiki here


Ager Sanguinis available from Miniature Wargames




Rules for Crusader Warfare 1095-1150.
Originally published as a part-work in three issues of Miniature Wargames in 2009.
Now available to order as a bundle of all three issues:
MW January 2009 No. 309 (Rules) MW March 2009 No. 311 (Christian Army Lists)MW November 2009 No. 319 (Muslim Army Lists)

Price £11.00

Save £0.85 on the price of ordering each magazine individually + FREE UK P&P.Available only while stocks last.

http://www.miniwargames.com/product_info.php?products_id=115

Khurasan Dictator; Finding my Design-Fu

Sometimes models seem to make themselves, other times it’s like beating a steel plate with a foam rubber mallet. This project was the latter.

Jon at Khurasan has been keeping me busy; he gave me a good description and a few concept images to work with. The concepts had differing styles, Crab, Turtle and Arachnid. Jon also wanted a smooth surface free of clutter and minor details, bolts and such.

Normally I can just make a concept sketch and get to work but this one was difficult for some reason. Even after the concept sketch that Jon signed off on, I still found myself unable to jell the idea in my head. Perhaps it was my sweet dog Maggie passing. Perhaps such a large model without surface detail intimidated me. Whatever the cause it took a while to find my Design-Fu.

In the end, the “Fu” flowed and I was able to give Jon something we were both happy with.

You can see from the component view that its a dual layer turret, each can fire at different targets. The head and all six legs can be glued in place or left to move by gluing the top and bottom of the body together without gluing the components in place. Add to this all the small ball turrets and you have a very customizable model.

Isle of Fob continues


The map above shows the positions at the end of turn 4 (2nd turn of the game). The red line indicates the retreat of Seljuk army B.


From the Chronicles of Kermit the Hermit:

.....With renewed spirit the armies of the Franks sought to expand from their small bridgehead. Reynald de Winscale [D] took, by force of arms, Noaheum from those loyal to the emperor. The King, following the victory of his nephew, swiftly seized Ghazzan from the Turk......


........The King's nephew Baldwin [B], having won his victory over Sheik Mahand [B], did go in pursuit of Gudrupee, seeking to catch him far in the northwest and bring him to battle. As to bait a trap he took Despina Khatun from the him by force, but the Seljuk King did not take the bait and was content to look on from Balunyas.......


........Meanwhile, in the north of Fob Mustapha Camel [C] and his brother Mohammed Ali [D] marched south. Mohammed bypassed the King, seeking to threaten Lampron. Mustapha, being cunning and possessed of martial spirit, joined his forces with those of Sheik Mohand [B] and marched against King Chernobyl......


.......Chernobyl had marched north with an army recruited for speed of action rather than power, and his force was largely made up of cavalry and local Armenians. It was against this band that the full force of the Seljuks came to bear close to the walls of Ghazzan........



The map above shows the passage of events during the turn. Army pins with black letters show start positions, those with yellow letters end positions.

The Chronicles of Kermit the Hermit is not detailed account of campaign events. The campaign turn was peppered with raids, spying, national will morale challenges, logistics tests, etc. These are over too quickly for me to record exactly and their effect is abstracted into the campaign game mechanics. Suffice to say, that the rules are now almost perfected. Miniature Wargames magazine has expressed an interest in publishing them as part of the Ager Sanguinis series so, hopefully, copies will soon be available.

Fond farewell to a very dear friend

Maggie was about the best four legged companion one could ask for; she passed peacefully at home on the 22nd after 13 years of love and joy. We will miss her deeply.

Some more Punic Wars stuff


This month it has been hard to find the time to do much painting. As well as commercial painting jobs (I'm booked up until October-ish) I've been working on a series of articles for the wargames press. But I did find a bit of time. Enough to knock out 16 Gallic cavalry (lots on white horses - the stands will all get mixed up together when all 80 are done) and 48 Spanish infantry.

You will note that the shield pallet for the Spanish was limited to 4 colours. When I do the next batch of 48 one colour will be replaced by two others, and so on, until all 8 batches are complete. Like the Gallic cavalry they will then get mixed up together.

All figures are by Renegade. The bull's head standards were kindly provided by Gripping Beast.
Anyway, the figures.....




Next up, 48 Libyan spear men. Half finished already, and which will bring this months quota to 108. Still on target.
P.S. Excuse the crusaders in the background, I have not found time to put things away!

Fake Parallax Textures (gmk)

A very simple trick for fake parallax texture effect using multiple surfaces and 3 different textures.
Use this trick smart, for a nice looking result in your 3d games.


Walls and floors

Fur

Grass

And don't forget to say thanks laugh.gif


.gmk and .exe files included
DOWNLOAD HERE

Some work I did for Khurasan; Cafferata APC

                        Dropship Horizon Link

Isle of Fob campaign: The first turns.

From the Chronicle of Kermit the Hermit.
.....And so it was, that when Spring arrived, King Chernobyl set to cut out for himself a Kingdom. Sending his forces westward and northward he sought first to overawe Irtysh and Noahaeum, covering this move with another force that set itself at Kinana. Sending envoys to the towns with promise of fair treatment and concessions to their faith he thought to bend them to his will. The townsmen, chose to remain faithful to the Emperor and sent back the envoys with insulting replies. When the armies arrived before the walls of the towns they found the gates barred and the walls garlanded with elderberries. Before spring was out, suffering much from poisoned wells and a good defense, the King was forced to withdraw his sickly and weakened forces back to Lampron. His covering force at Kinana finding themselves isolated built a castle there to better withstand the attentions of Gudrupee....

.....Gudrupee meanwhile was more worthy of the title King. The inhabitants of Fob at first thought to emulate the people of Irtysh and Noahaeum; but following the sack Eschiva and Hethoum all other resistance crumbled and wherever the forces of Gudrupee went thereafter they found the gates open. Before the first months of summer were over a sizable part of the Isle fell under his sway......
......Feeling himself strong, Gudrupee ordered an attack on the Franks at Kinana......where his forces were soundly beaten.......

The Campaign map shows the movement of armies up to the battle of Kinana. Lines in black are spring moves. Lines in green are [first turn of] summer moves.

The Battle of Kinana.
Virtually nothing has been written of this battle. Outside of the initial deployments and that it proved to be a crushing victory for the Franks little is known. Only vague glimpses of the passage of the battle can be ascertained and they are given below.
Initial deployments...
first moves.....
general action.

Leviathan 101 An informative look at what makes a Leviathan

Gawd I been buisy... Here is something I finally got around to throwing up on the web server.
                      Click here to download -Leviathan 101-

my Action figures!!!












Here is my small collection of action figures from my favorite console games, all made by Neca.















Now I'm waiting for Dante from 'Dante's Inferno':


More to come... :)
 

Search This Blog

Popular Posts

Blog Archive