Author: Aron Clark

…and now for the news from Lake Geneva

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There is a fundraiser going on for a Gygax memorial in Lake Geneva. Here’s your chance to be part of history.

I’m backing in for a paver but a worthy cause whatever you can contribute. The organizer, Paul Stormburg ran a game for me at Lake Geneva in the old Gygax house. Pretty special for me. Encourage you all to make the pilgrimage if and when you can.

Kickstarter link follows: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/617053430/gary-gygax-memorial-game-table-for-dungeons-and-dragons-fans

Some snaps of my 2024 GaryCon visit for the 50th Anniversary.

I’d also encourage you to check out the “When We Were Wizards” podcast. A great oral history of the dawn of D&D, link follows: https://pods.to/whenwewerewizards

Fighters in the Void

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Original image from Stewart Crowley’s “Terran Trade Authority” series w/ Prisma Gothic filter.

Casey Garske’s “Voidfighter” is out and I’ve just had a chance to play. I enjoyed my first game with these rules and looking forward to the next. In support of my next out I’ve quickly refined my Space Werido QRS in support of Voidfighter.

Grab the first iteration of this QRS here. Find the Voidfighter rules here.

Finally a few snaps from our first game. There are some lovely custom cards prepared by my good friend, sadly they were not enough to save my brave rebels, none of us escaped the fist of the Emperor Jeff. 😦

Update 14 September

An online gaming buddy has asked if we could play Voidfighter online, sure why not. Here are a few snaps of an Owlbear Rodeo session I whipped up this afternoon. The ships are from FASA’s Renegade Legion: Interceptor.

RT Pocket

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This thing isn’t mine, but it’s awesome

Back in 2021

In these dark times a glimmer of joy pieced my heart when a friend shared with me RT Pocket. Yes that RT, and it’s an amazing summary of the game. The most I did was upload to Lulu and futz with the cover a bit.

Get Yours

You grab your own copy at the link shared above, or if you’d like to order an at cost print copy you can find that here.

That’s Weird

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Filtered original by Jack Kamen, Weird Science Cover

SPAce…. WEirdOoos…

Our group has gotten ahold of Space Weirdos, an indie sci-fi skirmish game by Casey Garske. This is a tight little 16 page booklet, designed for custom warbands with low model counts.

There is a good deal of nuance tied up in these rules, and after my first play it was pretty clear that I needed a simplified reference during play.

My first effort was a literal cut and paste from the rulebook itself. While useful there were organizational changes I still wanted to make.

Next Generation

With a few games under our belts, I’ve bitten the bullet and worked up a one page QRS that suits my needs perfectly. You can grab the file here.

Littorally

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The USS Chung-Hoon (DDG-93) represented in the game

Inspiration

Sometime in 2022 I stumbled across an interview with Sebastian Bae discussing his upcoming wargame Littoral Commander; a wargame set in a near future Indo-Pacifc. I was fascinated and promptly ordered a copy from the Dietz Foundation.

Shake Down Cruise

In 2023 I hosted my first game of Littoral Commander for 6 players at Pacificon, a local tabletop game convention I’ve been attending since the 80s.

All 7 of us had a very enjoyable 4 hour session, learning the game, experimenting with the mechanics, and many of us ready to play again. One interesting component of the game is the tracking of hits and resources associated with each unit / counter, which is done in the core game with cards and cubes. I found that particular aspect to be a bit cumbersome, while really appreciating the unique resources of each unit.

The outset of our first game

At the Ready

Rather than give up on the game for being “too fiddly” I was convinced that these details could be better managed on paper. It has taken me some time to return to the concept, but requests to play Littoral Commander have inspired me to action.

I have created a Google Sheet (linked here) here that can produce a paper roster for any given scenario and task force. Hits and resources for any given unit can be tracked using a simple checklist model.

Sample roster from the Luzon Pass scenario