Long time gone - time to Go

Ice Hockey stole my life for a few years which really put a dent into my time budget.  Sadly, gaming suffered most out of the 'other things' in life (eg. family, work, gaming).  First to go were board games.  Next, online games dropped in frequency and then almost out of the equation (limited to World of Tanks).  And then I took a redundancy and moved to the country so everything got packed and stacked in boxes and still pretty well remains there (not sure if you'd call my present state one of semi-retirement or not, but I sure have kept busy).  And before you know it, the years have rolled by (take note, young ones).

There was the odd game in the past few years, but very few.  So few, I can recall them!

Condotierre - against the nephews, winning two out of three.
Settlers - against the nephews, winning none, losing two.
Ticket to Ride - against the daughter and grandson, miracle victory as the cards fell my way.

And, recently, Go.  This one has really taken my attention for a couple of months now, playing or studying it for a minimum of an hour a day.  I use an online go site and it has started refreshing my mind back into the gamer's mindset.  Very enjoyable, and a great relief for someone who is hours away from all known gaming opponents!

But, my gaming related interests have continued.  History, and anglo-saxon / viking / early norman periods in particular.  And rules get looked at.  And armies get planned in the spare moments while chopping wood etc.

And I've even had a look at Alcazia again.

And thus it continues...

S & T Nicaragua - First Impressions

My impressions of Strategy and Tactics Issue 120?

In a word, 'impressed'. Several articles about revolutionary warfare central american style makes both for a sad list of the countries that had to undergo the ensuing 'uncivil wars' and an interesting analysis of 'low intensity' warfare environs and the strategies and tactics for use by the various factions. Of course, it hones in on Nicaragua, but the coverage is much wider.

And then there's the game. I haven't yet played it, but look forward to doing so. Suspect it might be solo, but look forward to it none the less as it appears to be a genuine 'simulation' as well as a game. I can easily foresee situations arising in the game which the dark humourist in me would enjoy - in the same way one enjoys a game of Junta or Illuminati.

Cadres, fronts, social classes, public institutions, terrorism, guerrilla tactics, diplomacy and foreign intervention, popular will, political programs, military combat and repression, propaganda, psychological operations, all interwoven quite neatly through simple row and column shifts and dice rolls. In my mind's eye, it seemed to make sense. To get a feel for it, the map and its provinces is more a 'political geography' of the land than a simulation of the terrain. In fact, the terrain rules are optional extras for the basic combat system.

Definitely a wargame, but with more of a eurogamesque approach to simulation than is usually found in such. I look forward to playing it.

To see some graphics of it (and reviews etc), check here.

As a final sidenote, the biographical notes on the game's designer (and author of almost all the articles) say he was (is) a retired US Army Captain. His military career seemed to have been spent in the psyops and then academic fields of endeavour. Thus, my theory of the game as being as much 'simulation' as 'game' might actually be correct!

Gaming atm (rave)

My gaming life at the moment, in terms of time spent playing, is primarily Renaissance Kingdoms (where have recently been summoned to travel to advise the King in Girvan while the world stumbles towards a state of generalised war), followed by a couple email games of East Front (where I am in both cases the german defender trying to hold back a russian post-kursk armoured armada), and the occasional excursion into the Yugoslavian partisan campaign in Art of War.

Of course, I am also reading various of my fellow gamebloggers and admiring their work in the real world (ironic, isn't it?), be it miniatures, boardgames, role playing, technical, after actions reports, cartooning, film criticism, or just general good natured bullshitting (some of us are very good at that). And that is very much a part of gaming these days.

I missed the Adelaide Con, I only remembered after the event (Sorry fellas!). At the time I would have been there, however, I was at a old book store in the Barossa Valley, where I picked up Arthur Machen's "Tales of Horror and the Supernatural", Panther, 1963. Apparently it's quite rare, I haven't seen it before. Paid a fortune for it as it's a first edition (do I sound like a CoC antiquinarian?), but sure am looking forward to reading the seven or so short stories within (no rush, will take in small pieces to make it last).

Even though the Con had a lot of CoC games happening, it seems I can't be tooooo disappointed...

Musings

Several days have gone since the penny clicked regarding the imagi-nations concept. I've amused myself with my musings, and have wandered around the web, seeing what others have been up to in this field of human endeavour. To force me to be clearer in my thoughts and ambitions, thought I'd use some time now to post a few of them (in no particular order).

Period - well, I have a bunch of 6mm Spanish Civil War figures and scenery all ready to go. And I have long been interested in the military and political history of the first half of the twentieth century. So, I will center myself into the nineteen thirties.

Scale and type of game - the nominal point of an imagi-nation for a wargamer is the gaming of the situations the imagi-nation thows up as it evolves. I'm not particularly limited to gaming with miniatures, though for any battles that occur I think that the 6mm scale is fantastic to have considering my limited space and time. If that's not practical, I can use John Tiller's 'West Front' to set up a scenario (albeit with forces pretty well limited to those of historical conflicts of the time) or even - if I wish to put the time into learning the editor function - The Operational Art of War III. With my own story telling proclivities and active imagination, RolePlay type 'board/card/dice' games are always a possibility also. So, if I'm versatile and patient enough, it should cater to most of my gaming needs. And, if my focus changes to another era of history, I'm sure there's a whole backstory to be filled with colonial, napoleonic, 17th century, medieval, etc gaming experiences to be explored!

The ethics of it - I have at times had pause to consider that from which my gaming is drawing its inspiration, the experience of war. While conflict interests me intellectually, I do not wish for war. The fact of it leaves me unsettled and disturbed. Be that as it may, the gaming of it sometimes creates ethical issues for me. Playing an imagined nation should reduce the occasional angst and give less cause for upset.

The socio-politics of it (I know this is getting obscure, but heh it's my blog :)) - the whole imagi-nationsphere is pretty diffuse. One can track it through such 'hubs' as Emporer v Elector, Interbellum or Imagi-nations (warning: non wargamer site) and the blog rolls of individual sites, but it has no real centre. Each is, in a sense, an island, true to itself yet part of the main due the wonderful internet. It's a non-hierarchical network of imaginary creations based on the principle of non-interference (the only real ethic I've identified is - don't presume upon others' imagi-nations). The transactions and inspirations that occur are really interesting to me for their own sake, praxis made visible (in a sense).

To return to more mundane things, I believe that it is the way to go for me for now. An imagi-nation set in the thirties with some affinities to the situation of Spain during its civil war. The next challenge was to break away from the historical cast of my thinking about the era and come up with a coherent narrative entity to function as my imagi-nation.

More to come...

In my musings, the following sites grabbed my attention:

Imagi-nations - the site that gave the concept a name back in 1997!
Morts 1938 Scrapbook - a ripping yarn indeed (on my blog scroll), with some designer notes.
For God, England and King Edward - another example of 'A Very British Coup' campaign setting used by Mort, though set in different part of Mort's england.
Crisis in Alcovia - modern day eastern european imagi-nation, with designer notes.
Vehiculos y blindados de la guerra civil espanola (in spanish, but not much text) - hundreds of pictures of a bewildering variety of locally and mass produced armoured trucks and cars and trains, ambulances, tanks of the SCW.
Military Aspects of the Spanish Civil War - another extensive Mitch Williamson reference site.

Interbellum Imagi-Nations?

This picture is of the last occasion that my combined 6mm Spanish Civil War armies paraded before their commanding officer. You'll know that they've been at peace ever since and are presently ensconced in their 'barracks', still awaiting the call to duty. I was beginning to despair when that day might come, or how it might come about, as every time I felt the urge, something in 'real life' seemed to intervene. It was getting very frustrating and, grumble as they might, the troops remained at peace. That might be about to change.

"How is that so?", the reader may well ask. Well, I'll come to that, but please first bear with me as I work my way from then to now.

Miniatures wargaming was not the only thing that took a hit as I lived my life over the past few years. Adelaide Gamer, for instance, took on a torpor often associated with death in the blogosphere. East Front and Renaissance Kingdoms were put into minimalist mode. Hardly even any boardgames and, even then, none of the hardcore ones. Something has changed recently (moved through the midlife crisis?) and I now find that Adelaide Gamer has more and more to talk about - I have probably a month's worth of posting materials lined up with more materiel arriving almost daily.

"All very good," the reader might rightly say, "but what's the relevance to the mustered 6mm armies?"

An bonus side effect of my prolonged absence from the scene was that there were lots of nice surprises when I returned, including the growth of the gaming blogosphere and many of the amazing blogs that I have since found. A 'new' subspecies of gaming blogs are those of the 'Imagi-Nations', a concept which I immediately found fascinating, if obscure in its meaning.

For several weeks I was looking around the web for a definitive guide to what this whole concept of Imagi-Nations is, and was beginning to get frustrated when I couldn't find any location. Eventually, it dawned on me that the whole concept was one whose philosophy and 'rules', such as they are, is actually contained in the accretion of sites forming the imagi-nations network of blogs and related activities. In a sense, a non hierarchical and non centralised game of games. Very philosophical, but it did make a lot of sense to me then.

After this realisation, I went back and had a look at two 'hubs' of imagi-nations with fresher eyes, Emporer v Elector and Interbullum. Now I think I get it. I like what I see. I am thinking that my armies might find their place again in my active gaming universe if I become an active player.

I love the worlds and spaces and writings created for the EvE set of Imagi-Nations, even though 17th century is not really my scene. So, when I came across Interbellum it didn't take long for the thought bubble to form, why not create my own imagi-nation set in between the two world wars? Afterall, I love a bit of history and role playing and I have a set of armies of the period, and the creative bug has been attacking me quite strongly recently...

So, I've written off to the Interbellum mob and asked if its worth the investment of time and emotion that a worthwhile imagi-nation will deserve. I think the answer will be 'yes'. If so, I'll set about creating my own imagi-nation (probably on its own separate blog) and working out some sort of campaign / battle system to take advantage of the online tools I've come across over the last few years, just in case it takes a while to sort out some space and time for the 6mm panoply.

So. Another project beckons. I'll of course keep you informed how it goes.

I think my diary is getting full!

Have added four more sites to my followed blogs:
Interbellum - hub site for interbellum imagi-nations
New Byzantium - a gamer/imagi-nation blog of interest
Battle Game of the Month - imagi-nations active, classic wargamer, philosopher
Mort's 1938 Scrapbook - a great imagi-nationesqe campaign set in a 'fictitious' English Civil War in 1938. The history of the Anglican League in particular is an interesting thread!

Atmosphere and Elegance

In commenting on this post over at the Grog I said the following:

I got closest (to the epitome of 'elegance and atmosphere', minimal rules, maximum affect) when I used the philosophy of cutting, not adding, elements in the rules and campaign setting. I boiled it down to a couple pages of charts. All was taken from AD&D (1.00000). The emphasis shifted from books and paper to dialogue, imaginings and the dice. With less dice rolled, each became more important. It was great.

When I walk into a game store these days that stocks the latest morph of D&D I never cease to be amazed at the number of volumes available, their expense, their quality of production and the amount of shelfspace they consume. Adding it all together I come to the conclusion that, besides being much more affluent than me and my 1e gaming friends were, modern gamers seem to be much more 'thing' oriented. I won't rant about the consumer society, but it worries me when I see the concentration on this vast profit making enterprise to the exclusion of home made fun and backyard businesses.

This isn't just about AD&D, RPGs, mass market computer games and so forth, but includes the other types of game as well. For example, in my little history of flight simming I have played on something for the Super80 way back when (!) right up to my present IL2 passion. I have tried maybe two dozen flight sims in my time. My favorites were 'wings' on the amiga, '1942 - Pacific War' on windows 98 and IL2 on XP. Each of these games faced off against more action oriented or more extravagent simulations, yet it is these to which I continue to return (in the case of IL2 and hopefully one day in the case of the others). Why?

Because they work well (elegant) and you can 'smell the avgas in the morning' (atmosphere).

It's like comparing the joy of the orginal squad leader game with the monster that it became - one is beer and pretzels , the other is abstract literary expertise. Both are fun, don't get me wrong, but you can probably guess which one I prefer.

'The Journey' as plotline

Big Lee wrote this post a little while ago, musing about the significance of 'the journey' in some RP worlds and its virtual absence on others. He used Tolklien's 'Lord of the Rings' as the exemplar story with this motif (fair enough, so did Tolkien). In a comment I said the following:

I think Bilbo Baggins's own book was entitled 'There and Back Again'. The story of the return of the hero is an integral part of 'The Journey' story type. Needs a fairly well developed world for this to be replicated in a game but, when it is, the sense of completion is palpable.

I had some grand adventures in various RP universes where the journey was the thing, but if there was no where you could call home it all eventually began to pale. In my own worlds I always tried to give players a sense of 'place', sometimes this evolved into a fragile sense of 'home'. But, either as player or as GM, the adventures tended to happen away from 'home', most of the emotional charge of the game occurred in the context of 'other' places. The sense of 'home' and a broader community was all rather tenuous.

This is where 'persistent' online universes certainly have something on most other forms of RP experience. If, as in RK/TN, most of your time is spent between adventures, waiting, fishing, farming, drinking at the local, etc, you do develop a sense of home and of place. Returning home from an 'adventure' defines the event in a sense, puts an exclamation mark on the story.

And there's this interesting post over at Zeta Orions (thanks Jeff of the Gameblog for the link). The author seems to be coming from somewhere near my part of the universe in hir approach to the concept of 'the game'.

Trad RP leaks into my Cyberage

With the importance of D&D, Traveller and Call of Cuthulhu in my personal history, I still have a hugely soft spot for the genre even though it's been over a decade since I last played them. And the legend and lore of Role Play (RP) influences my reading and activity even, when I well on into my cyberage. And as interested as I am in the new technology and how it can add to the RP habit, I still draw inspiration from the olden days and the olden ways.

Hence I am lodging here a few addresses of very very developed D&D blogs, Advanced Gaming and Theory and Campaign Mastery, as well as the Cartographer's Guild (a forum site for map freaks).

Passed up a game of Squad Leader

In the weekend just passed a gaming buddy looked like being relieved from his childrearing duties. He immediately suggested that he had a +3 mod on being able to have a game of Squad Leader with me. I, however, was feeling rather unwell (have had heavy two weeks at work and a resultant summer 'cold') and dodged (-2) the request for Saturday.

By Sunday, I was feeling better, to the point that suggested to an intermediary that a game of Tigris and Euphrates might be okay, me not being up to the intensity of Squad Leader but keen for a social game.

Didn't happen, in the end. Our LOS diverged from same target and we went our merry ways.

Sigh

Anyone else out there still get to play the original Squad Leader?

An Elfish Gene in Cyburbia

There's a book out there called The Elfish Gene, which I came across over at Jeff's Game Blog (where he's reading it). From the book there is a blog (or is it the other way around(?)), and from the blog there are links to radio interviews about the book. When I listened to the second of these, found here (Jan at about 14 to 24 minutes in the hour long program (11 Jan 2009, part A)), it sounded a bit to me like a dude talking about some of his ol' gaming nights with his buddies and who's a bit surprised that he's found himself on the radio talking about it.

No comment on the book as I haven't read it, but i note on the blog the author says on January 31 that he is thinking of toning down the negativity about the gaming community that is apparently evident in his book for the soft cover print run. He says this has come about following conversations with gamers since the first print run. Good on him for being flexible enough to do this. I hope his publisher is as flexible.

I'm reading Cyburbia - a kind of ethnographic montage of history observation sociology of the shift into cyber space that has occurred over the past ten years, much of it during the life of this blog. The book covers a big space of ideas, and I don't know how much i agree with its conclusions, but it is intriguing in that it is looking at what I think is the subjective experience underlying online existence (!) that interests me in my anthropogical mode. If I pull of this back to gaming specific stuff, I'll let you know.

For now, back to the Renaissance...

Blog on blog

Came across 6D6 Fireball on the comments to another gaming blog. It seems to act as a digest of gaming blog articles, concentrating on traditional Fantasy RPG and Wargame miniatures sites. Worth the odd look for a taste of what else is happening on the gaming blogosphere.

In the Dog Days

Xmas 2008 has been and gone and we're now in the period between xmas and New year. The romans used to call these the 'Dog Days' and, at different times in their history, held the Saturnalia festival through them. I use them to think a bit about what has been and what is to come.

Miniatures - very little activity on this front. I have accumulated a number of 1/32 figurines of Napoleonic French to paint up, have started some but my painting room keeps being used as a spare bedroom (heresy!) whenever the urge hits, so have stalled. Similarly with the He 123 model. As for the miniatures wargaming, a distant memory waiting to come to life again!

Comp Games - Updated my versions of East Front and Operational Art of War. Played a small series of EF games v friend via email. Lost a week of my July Holidays to playing 'Great Invasions' - if I can find the time this holiday I'll be getting back to the dark ages for at least some of the time...

IL2 Flight Sim - Have accumulated only a few dozen hours flight experience this year, mainly in the form of chase scenarios to sharpen up my own skills while waiting for the time and energy to get back into the online arena.

Blogging - This blog has suffered also this year, with only a couple dozen posts on it - and a lot of them seems to be focused on the one aspect of my present gaming life (online MMORPG). On the other hand, my favorite bloggers in the gamesphere keep going from strength to strength and have kept me going when I wonder what it's all for. Keep it up guys!

MMPORG - Continue to immerse self in Renaissance Kingdoms. Becoming reasonably skilled at the modes of online organsiation and communication which this game relies upon. Have thrived in the RP aspects of the game, even having my 'home RP' being nominated for Kingdom wide awards (a great privilege). Clan Leader, General of the local Regiment, Advisor to the Steward of Scotland, local celebrity, peace keeper, traveller. My online persona keeps me busy! Meanwhile, on the other side of the planet, my aztec peasant in the Tribal Nations continues to grow strong in his pursuit of fishing and bean farming and will soon be strong enough to tour ancient mexico.

So - it's been a good year for MMORPG for me, but the other aspects have suffered. Due to domestic issues, for example, have hardly touched a 'traditional game'. As 2009 creeps over the horizon, I wonder what will be next in the evolution of this little gamer.

Happy yuletide to you and yours, and a safe new year! May your dice continue to roll above the odds!

RIP Gary Gygax

I've just learned that Gary Gygax, co-author of the original Dungeons & Dragons, passed away earlier this year (March). Quite a shock and a tear in the eye.

This guy affected my life in a very major way, and gave me many many many hours of some of the most exciting friendship filled fun.

Despite the monster run away commercialised mega rip off that the orginal game seems to have changed into (it was out of his hands for more than the past decade, in defence of his memory), Gary's ethic was always to have fun, cut the crap, remember that the game is all. So true.

R.I.P Gary Gygax

Axis and Allies - Online Version

For some reason, this post is the one that seems to consistently draw the most googled visitors to my blog. To be fair to the new visitor, I am not a fanatic AAA player, but am interested. If you want to see what I'm up to more recently, click on 'Adelaide Gamer' above and leave a comment on the most recent post - Added June, 2011.

I have come across an online community for playing Axis and Allies. I haven't yet played it, although I have downloaded the files and had a bit of a peek. Will be worth a bit of a closer look.

I think the idea is to first get the hang of the game engine against AI opponent(s) and then go into games against other players online. This can be done either in realtime lobbies or via email. So Broadband isn't necessary to play the game, although the nature of a PBEM game is very different to a virtual FTF one.

Anyway, and if you're interested, here's the link to Triple A. Follow the links on the sourceforge site and then download the zip file. Extract from it with winzip or some such, and then click on the Triple A icon in the folder created by the extraction. Simple.

Looks like fun, but not as much fun as the RL FTF AAA.

Birthday Games

Well, tomorrow is my 41st Birthday. The photo you see of me on this blog was taken exactly a year ago on the morning after my 40th. Outwardly, not much has changed. I still need a haircut!

In the gaming world, much has occurred. I've been active online in flight simulator, space conquest and medieval peasant modes. We've played several new games at home - Puerto Rico, Munchkins, Guillotine, Pass the Bomb, Phase 10, Farkel. It has all been great fun.

To add to it all, I got my main birthday present tonight from wife and daughter, a game of "Axis and Allies". They seemed pretty excited to give it to me, so much so that they insisted I open it early! I think they want to try it out tomorrow night and thought they'd give me a night to read the rules as none of us have played either this game or its predecessor before.

The funny thing is, I've been trying to diversify from strictly combat/military games in the past couple of years as not everyone likes them and they usually get pretty involved. I said to the daughter that, "Yes I was happy to have this game but no, I don't know if they'll like it". She asked, "Why?" I said, "This is a full on wargame." She said, "Great, that's just what we thought. When can we play?"

With a family like this, what hope has this unregenerate wargamer got?

Bored barrister has fun!

Entrepeneur magazine has published this article about a board game store owner. I've known a few stores that sell games to close over the years. This is devestating if they are the ony such store within hundreds of miles (as will often be the case in regional australia).

I also find it amusing that here's a live example of a couple lawyers turning their lives over to the power which traditional gaming still has to entertain. Inspirational!

Again, thanks to Yehuda of Jersualem Games for the Link.

The Strategic Dimension

Norwegian Server's Norwegian map has renewed itself, with a new set of targets and defences. Each 'map' seems to stay online for about 60 hours before renewing itself, the set up on the new map being partly influenced by player actions on the old. To affect the ground war, and hence the front line, becomes a strategic goal of one's air actions. Bombers (including torpedo bombers) take on their historical war winning role.

Fighter aircraft too find their role being expanded to cover more of the historical 'types' of aerial warfare than the traditional dogfight map allows for. Interdiction, air defence, denial of territory, ground attack, combat air patrol, intrusion, recce, sweep - all of these types of sortie become relevant in game terms, no longer relying upon the good will of players and their willing suspension of disbelief - a pre-requirement for many single scenarios to 'work'.

This is one of the reasons I like campaigns so much, I enjoy the strategic dimension.

The downside (if you can call it that) is that a lot of players want a 'quick fix' and thus head to the popular dogfight channels in preference to the long navigational flights, counterpoised with brief moments of surprised terroror, which is typical of the campaign experience.

In my mind, the time invested to derive the benefit is well worth the payoff in terms of enjoyment.

Towards a Political Economy of Gaming

This blog post from RS Dancy on the Web is an analysis of the gaming industry as viewed by that author at the start of this year. It makes for interesting reading, as do the comments which follow it. I'd have to think a bit about the subject before putting myself forward to say much on the topic.

Thanks, Yehuda (of Jerusalem Games), for the link.

Favorite Flying Games

Regular readers of this blog know that for the last few months I have spent a lot of time flying flightsim 'games', either Pacific Fighters or IL 46. Do they know that I've had a thing for flying games for quite awhile?

I admit that a lot of flightsims (eg European Airwar) and more traditional 'physical' games about flying combat planes (eg. Avalon Hill classics such as 'Dauntless') haven't exactly excited me. And the concept of flying a civilian airliner or light plane around a peaceful map (ala Microsoft Flight Simulator) absolutely doesn't excite me.

Besides the two I play these days, other flightsims which have somwhat interested me include:

Pacific Airwar - particularly the aspect that allowed one to control entire fleets on large scale map, focus in and take control of a particular plane, swap planes under control, etc. The game also had the 'feel' which makes good flightsim games so immersive.

Janes ATF - modern jet combat. Never really understood the game's finer points but loved the vast sweeping battles and the relatively realistic terrain (for the era of about 10 years ago, that is).

B17 - More 'realistic'/difficult than the above two games, it was the functioning cockpits and difficulty of taxiing in this game that both totally frustrated and intrigued me.

Going back another ten years, there were two games which grabbed my attention more completely than anything else has until IL46 came along.

Wings - This was a graphic book game, one of those carefully designed games which usually only get one print run but whose components, luckily, seem to last forever. From memory, each player had a book with illustations on each of its pages of views from a cockpit. The players simultaneously planned and announced their actions for the turn, the announcements were cross indexed, and players turned pages in their respective books to get an updated view from the cockpit. I think we used dice for the shooting. The planes were WWI biplanes. It was great, truly excited the imagination.

Aces High - An old WWI biplane game which we played on my friend's amiga compter for over a year. Never lost its thrill. You could almost smell the oil, and I can still remember the sick feeling coming over me when given a trench strafing mission.

So what brought all of this on? Reading the review for the relatively recent card based flying combat game of 'Wings of War' over at Roll Dice Kick Ass.

Off to the games shop

I love my wife! For weeks now she's been nagging me to go and check out a gameshop she's found about 10 min from home. So, on Thursday night, we hopped on the O-bahn (bus that runs on tracks through Adelaide's Linear Park along the Torrens River Valley) and 8 min later walked into the store.

This was just a recce mission, so I checked out the games there. Heaps of Eurogames, which I've been reading about a while now on Jerusalem Gamer and Games to Go. I checked out about a dozen or so of them before we left. Perhaps luckily, they didn't have Carcassone there or I would have probably got it then (having heard a lot of it and knowing it's a good introductory game). I say "luckily", because I wasn't familiar with the others that were there and so wasn't keen to buy any without running them through Board Game Geek to check out user reviews.

The one's that most intrigued me - Puerto Rico and Amon Ra. They seem to come up trumps on BGG, with Puerto Rico in particular coming up trumps as Number 1.

If they have it still, we'll be going off in a few minutes to get Puerto Rico. Can't wait to try it out!

PS - last night I finally managed to stalk down an opponent in a full realism flightsim, and then engage and outwit him in the dogfight (I was Kittyhawk and he was zero), sending him flaming to the seas beneath. Stalked a couple others, but they were better dogfighters and ended up getting me - though I did get some shots on target. Improvement continues!