HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: Patrick_Andrew_Barnes@cup.portal.com
Newsgroups: rec.games.board
Subject: Re: Battle Master by Milton Bradley
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 92 04:16:01 PDT
Organization: The Portal System (TM)

For what it's worth, I pretty much agree with everything Charles had to say
about Battle Masters.  One thing I unfortunately can't agree with him is
price.  My copy of the game cost $45, not $36.  Given the game's decided lack
of depth or detail, the $45 price tag was pushing the limit.  I would
recommend the game at $36 though.  
Charles (or anyone else who has the game): Were you able to find the use of
the unit tokens?  I found a grey token for each unit in the game and found
them listed in the components list, but I found no rules concerning what the
unit tokens were for.
Newsgroups: rec.games.board
From: cpbeaure@undergrad.math.waterloo.edu (Chris Beauregard)
Subject: Re: BTECH Scenerio
Organization: University of Waterloo
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1992 11:46:33 GMT

In article <1992Jul22.042104.26464@peponi.wcc.govt.nz> taia_a@kosmos.wcc.govt.nz writes:
>In article <BrqMu8.I1v@undergrad.math.waterloo.edu>, cpbeaure@undergrad.math.waterloo.edu (Chris Beauregard) writes:
[Ever get the feeling that this is almost a two-person conversation?]
>>Say, speaking of mags, anyone ever seen the White Wolf with the Useless
>>Mechs in it?  That Ballista isn't as bad as it looks....
>
> Never seen it as New Zealand is a very long way away! My Challenge mags.
>take six months to get here :-(

This one came out about 3 years ago.  Number 12, or thereabouts.  

The useless mechs are fairly interesting, in that most of them break
rules.  As an example, the Meteor jumps further than it walks.
Something like 4/6/8 movement.  Designed specifically for DFA.  Since
it's ~70 tons, that kinda thing hurts.  No penalties mentioned for
jumping like that...(We used the house rule that jumping wasn't a
problem, landing required a piloting roll with a +1 target modifier for
every hex past walking max that you jumped...Also works for those times
when you lose actuators but not jets...)  The Sprite was a 15 ton
shitbox, and the Jack-in-Box (or something like that) was...well, two
mechs.  Jack was a small mech (really more of an exoskeleton) that actee
as the head of Box.  When Box got the shit blown out of it, Jack leaped
out and carryed the mechwarrior to safety.  Neat idea.  Bad mech.  The
Ballista was a fairly decent mech (in comparison)  60 tonner with 2 LRM
20's and an LRM 10.  Fairly heavy armor, except for the arms (none - not
that it needed anything there...).  Had this slight ammo problem also,
if my memory is correct.  One other ammo problem involved the storage of
1 ton of LRM 10 ammo in the head...

As I said, mostly useless mechs.  This is not a personal opinion either,
folks, that was the title of the article....

>Tony Taia
> tai-shu@akeake.vuw.ac.nz, TAIA_A@kosmos.wcc.govt.nz

Chris Beauregard                                cpbeaure@cayley.waterloo.edu
Differently Expressed:  The politically correct term for politically
correct people.
From: scimatec1@uoft02.utoledo.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.board
Subject: SEARCHING FOR STOCKMARKET WESTERN PULISHING
Date: 26 Jul 92 13:07:42 EST
Summary: WOULD LIKE TO FIND STOCKMARKET GAME
Keywords: STOCKMARKET
Distribution: world
Organization: University of Toledo, Computer Services


SEARCH FOR STOCKMARKET WESTERN PUBLISHING

I would like to find a copy of a game called stockmarket published about 20
years ago by western publishing company.  The game has a long bar that goes
through the middle of the game board that represents the current market.  Game
is played by moving in and out of various company blocks where stocks split or
were surrendered.


Newsgroups: rec.games.board
From: bcm1@cec2.wustl.edu (Brandon Charles Morrisey)
Subject: Re: Supremacy Rules 3.0
Organization: Washington University, St. Louis Mo.
Date: Fri, 31 Jul 1992 03:54:06 GMT

We have a different way of dealing with the market problem.  We use
simultaneous random play (of course), and bidding.  Each player who
bid is allowed only three selling transactions to the market.  You
roll a die to see how many units may sell after you have decided what
you want to sell.

Example:  A player decides to sell oil.  He rolls a die and gets a
two.  the market price was 1 billion so that player receives two
billion.  He then decide to sell oil again. Rolls a die and receives a
5.  That player may sell up to five units of oil at the new price.

This system works very well in that it is not "winner take all", and
also more realistic in that you cannot dump huge amounts of resources
onto the market quite so easily.  this also means that If you want to
try to control market prices, you will need to form a cartel with
other players.

We also corrected the 12 Nuke problem fairly well.  10 th Nuke has a
1/6 chance of ending the game.  11th numke a 2/6 chance of ending the
game And so one.

This makes the "I won't win so no one will" idea less certain.  It
also makes nuclear warfare more tense later in the game.  There is
always that temptation to use just one more nuke and risk it.

You of course may set the 1/6 mark at 14 or whatever.  Depends on the
mentality of the group.  I play with a bunch of war hawks, so we set
it low to discourage nuclear warfare.

Just my two cents worth.

______________________________________________________________________
Brandon C. Morrisey    -    bcm1@cec1.wustl.edu    -    (314)862-2627
      Who are you to take away others' angels, just because
      you think it's in their best interest? - Jean-Paul Sartre
Newsgroups: rec.games.board
From: gletty@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (Bruce Gletty)
Subject: Re: The Longest Day (again)
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1992 18:21:19 GMT

doug@abby.chem.ucla.edu writes:

>Well, let me start by saying that I've never played this particular game, but
>still have a few comments...

>You complain about "lack of exploitation of successful attacks in a game
>where one side was fully motorized."  From what little I've read, this "full
>motorization" was a myth.  The infantry WALKED, for the most part, as God
>intended them to B^).

There is a mechanised movement phase in the game, it just happens during the
opponent's turn. Historicly there were no breakthroughs until the germans
were 'ground into dust' in front of the units that made the breakout. You
make your breakthroughs in this game by using the defensive fire on a weak
screen in front of you and then moving through the hole in your movement
phase. Units have no ZOC except in very specific terrain. Defensive fire
comes after your mech move phase before opponent's combat phase.

>I can't comment on the game's supply mechanics, since I don't know them, but
>I do know that the Allied commanders insisted on having HUGE amounts of
>supply before they'd get off their butts at all.

Especially Montgomery.

>I'm not really sure just how many truly mechanized units the Allies had in
>France at the time, but I don't think there were that many.  There probably
>SHOULD be something like a mech movement phase for the units that were
>mechanized, but then consider that vehicles had particular difficulties in
>many areas due to the terrain (hedgerows, swamps, etc.).

Almost all the infantry was truck borne for transport and fought dismounted.
Only a very few tanks swam ashore with the initial waves.
From: urban@cis.rand.org (Michael Urban)
Newsgroups: rec.games.board
Subject: Re: Diplomacy - Time for an Update?
Date: 27 Jul 92 15:23:55 GMT
Reply-To: urban@cis.rand.org (Michael Urban)
Organization: RAND, Santa Monica CA

In article <BAS.92Jul27123117@carlo.phys.uva.nl> bas@phys.uva.nl (Bas de Bakker) writes:
>
>IMHO, there's nothing wrong with the current rulebook. Why update
>something that is good, even if it's 10 years old ? The rules are
>few, precise, and very complete.

Back in 1986, I picked up a copy of the French edition of
Diplomacy, published by Parker (yeah, the Monopoly folks).
Judging from its placement in the store where I bought it,
Parker attempts to market Diplomacy as a `family' game
on a par with Risk.  As a result, the rules are rather
conversational and informal; consequently there are several
omissions and errors (nowhere is it explicitly mentioned that
fleets cannot move inland, and in the sample game, a fleet
gives support across a land boundary).  

I think the current legalistic rulebook is very good as it
stands.  AH may want to _supplement_ the rulebook with
an informal rule introduction that defers to the existing
rulebook as the final arbiter of rule disputes.




   Mike Urban
	Michael_Urban@rand.org
From: jesse@uts.amdahl.com (Jesse Mundis)
Newsgroups: rec.games.board
Subject: Re: **BOGGLE**
Date: 24 Jul 92 19:03:23 GMT
Organization: Amdahl Corporation, Sunnyvale CA

apurmal@us.oracle.com writes:

>In article <Tanya_Davis.esh.qmail.slac.stanford.edu-180792154445@tahiti.slac.stanford.edu>, Tanya_Davis.esh.qmail.slac.stanford.edu (Tanya Davis) writes:
>>                       I am looking for someone(s) in the Bay Area who would
>> like to get together to play Boggle.
>> 
>> I'm also looking for people to play scrabble with.
>> 
>> 
>> - Tanya_Davis.esh.qmail.slac.stanford.edu

>I tried sending you mail, but it bounced.  Try sending me mail.

Ditto.  I actually had a number of attempts bounce. (Creative mail addressing
is your friend)  Anyway, try sending mail to me, as I am a boggle player
as well.

Jesse
jesse@uts,amdahl.com
-- 
    Jesse Mundis     |      Amdahl Corporation       | Freedom is just chaos
jesse@uts.amdahl.com | 1250 East Arques Ave  M/S 316 | with better lighting.
   (408) 746-4796    |   Sunnyvale,  CA 94088-3470   |    -Alan Dean Foster 

#include <Disclaimer.standard>
From: elm4252@zeus.tamu.edu (MOORE, ERIC LEE)
Subject: BTECH-InterestingCombatResult
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Organization: Texas A&M University, Academic Computing Services
Date: Tue, 28 Jul 1992 22:33:00 GMT


hello again.

This scenerio just brought up another interesting question.

In the compedium, all missiles launched at building from an
adjacent hex hit.  Do yall consider the LBXs to be the same
way.  The previous scenerio has 120 hits because the mechs
were adjacent to the dropship.  The dropships are considered
to be LVL 4 buildings in combat for targeting purposes and such.

What about this poser?

					Mok

a.k.a.  Mjr Kessel
        CMDR 537th Heavy Company
        (2nd Company on the horizon...<WHOA Salvage>..)
        Mercs employed by Federats

	How can you expect to outwit a maniacal genius on an
	empty tummy?   
					-Eve
					 Mann and Machine
From: db@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Dave Berry)
Newsgroups: rec.games.board
Subject: Re: 2 player Britannia
Keywords: Britannia
Date: 23 Jul 92 13:36:43 GMT
Reply-To: db@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Dave Berry)
Organization: Laboratory for the Foundations of Computer Science, Edinburgh U

tc37942@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Tani  Chen) writes:
>Does anyone know of a good 2-player version of Britannia?

Have you tried a bidding version?  Give both (all) players 100 points each,
and let them bid for each new power as it appears.  It supposedly works well
for multi-player games.  Frankly, I'm dubious that you'll ever get a good
2-player version, but this might be worth a try.

Dave.
--
        What would you say if I said that I'm not from Edinburgh after all,
	but from a small planet in the vicinity of Betelgeuse?
Newsgroups: rec.games.board
Subject: Re: BTECH: C-3s the final word?
From: taia_a@kosmos.wcc.govt.nz
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1992 04:32:50 GMT
Reply-To: taia_a@kosmos.wcc.govt.nz
Organization: Wellington City Council, Wgtn, NZ

In article <Brr1FJ.C2C@undergrad.math.waterloo.edu>, dlwoods@undergrad.math.waterloo.edu (Dave Woods) writes:

 [ Charrette quote deleted etc ]

>I hate to say this, but that passage is NOT describing C-3 systems, it
>refers to the dual cockpit Battlemasters ACCIDENTLY shipped to the Combine
>by Comstar.  That mech has advanced communications, yes, but no, it's not
>C3.  The Draconis Combine did not develop C-3 till much later after the
>War of 3039 (from whence this quote originates).

 The old circuits are heating up over this one. But then if you say this
where did they come from? This then leads to Stefane mention of a Castle
Brian. Now I am not that closed minded that I won't accept new ideas.
 Assuming the Castle Brian theory, then C-3 might be difficult to produce
due to its' complexity. So the only real resource of the C-3 is what was in
the Castle Brian itself! This could explain why the Combine has
underutilised(sp?) this very valuable device, there just aren't enough to
go around! BTW Stefane do I get credit for this? :-)
 If this train of thought is so, C-3 is limited and even the Fedcom wouldn't
have them for a very long while. But then I prefer the Combine just to have
the beloved C-3!

>	Dave Woods
>	dlwoods@descartes.uwaterloo.ca
>	aka
>	Tai-sa Martin Kurita 
>	mkurita@hq.dcms.luthien.dc      

 This has been....
Tony Taia
 tai-shu@akeake.vuw.ac.nz, TAIA_A@kosmos.wcc.govt.nz
3067:The Stacalkas-Nomen, when the Combine destroys the Clans!
 *sigh*Not another Cluster, we'll be here till Christmas.
 HEY! VUW and WCC don't know Btek, so you know that this is mine!
From: kgnome@concour.cs.concordia.ca (MATIS stephane)
Newsgroups: rec.games.board
Subject: Re: Aerotech: Yeck!
Date: 22 Jul 92 14:14:10 GMT
Organization: Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec

From: ajross@husc9.harvard.edu (Andrew Ross)
dv52151@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Axly) writes:

> >	Upon an indepth look at the Aerotech rules, we decided to
> >	convert the numbers into some real world figures. This
> >	is what we came up with:
> >	
> >	I would have to say that Aerotech is BROKEN in a major
> >	way. Does anyone know if FASA is planning on doing 
> >	anything to fix these shortcomings in the near future?
> 
> Granted, the system sucks.  The time and distance scales, though, are
> almost identical to Air Superiority, which is a pretty good (if overly
> complex) game.  I've often thought of trying to derive a simplified
> version of the AS rules for use in Aerotech games.  Anyone else try
> anything similar?

Don't FIX it! ... It's being done now ... by FASA.

For more info... wait a little .. I was surprised that they are actually
considering this. I guess, the next FASA upcoming sheet should include
this. Publication : 1993, April ?

Aerospace, DropShip, JumpShip and WarShips ...

Go figure...


> Andy Ross
> ajross @husc.harvard.edu


Roll!       ___      +---------------------------------------------------+
Over!   __ ( . )      From        : Stephane I. Matis
      _/__\(___)      Internet    : kgnome@concour.cs.concordia.ca
    / /\\[==]//\ \    Working for : Monenco Systems Group 
   /_/  |THOR|  \_\   Working  at : Newfoundland Offshore Contractors 
  [00] _//==\\_ [00]  Writing for : Mecha*Press and FASA's BattleTech
      / _/--\_ \      Studying at : Concordia University, Montreal
     |__|    |__|     "It Just Works... " - Steve Paul Jobs, CEO NeXT
     (__]    [__)     "Clam Warships are landing on Toycod !" - Anonymous
    [_=_]    [_=_]   +---------------------------------------------------+
From: urban@cis.rand.org (Michael Urban)
Newsgroups: rec.games.board
Subject: Re: Monopoly Stock Exchange
Keywords: expansion
Date: 22 Jul 92 01:35:00 GMT
Reply-To: urban@cis.rand.org (Michael Urban)
Organization: RAND, Santa Monica CA

Thanks for posting this.  I wonder if the folklorish Free Parking
rule is the result of imperfect memory of this expansion on the
part of adults who had seen or played with it as a child.  If this
were the case, we would expect to find that people started playing
with the Free Parking bonus sometime roughly in the mid-50s.  I
have not been following alt.folklore.urban lately...

I also wonder why Parker has not published this very inexpensive
and marketably gimmicky expansion in forty years?

Anyone have the tools to calculate if the additional Advance To Stock
Market cards skew the probabilities of landing on properties in an
interesting way?  In particular, the oranges (St. James etc. in the
USA) might lose their position as best return on investment.

   Mike Urban
	Michael_Urban@rand.org
From: szy@Apple.COM (Steven J. Szymanski)
Newsgroups: rec.games.board
Subject: Looking for good Operational Game
Keywords: Supply Command Logistics Wargame
Date: 23 Jul 92 16:31:07 GMT
Organization: Apple Computer Inc., Cupertino, CA


I've been playing TacAir (by AH) and have enjoyed the interplay between
logistics, command, and combined arms; and was wondering if there was
another/better game on them market which:

1. Is still in print
2. Has a good, non-abstract model for supply/logistics
3. Has a good model for command/organization
4. Is WWII or later
5. Can be played (at least somewhat) Solitaire

and for an extra bonus:

6. Is NOT fixed to a particular battle, but can be used to simulate many 
different battles within a theater/war, including Design-Your-Own 
scenarios. (Like ASL, PanzerBlitz, Soldiers, etc. NOT like TacAir. Is 
there are standard term for games like this?)

.szy
-- 
AppleLink: szy				       "Apple has no idea what I am
Internet:  szy@apple.COM			saying here and should not be
UUCP:	  {sun,voder,amdahl,decwrl}!apple!szy   held responsible for my raving"
Newsgroups: rec.games.board
From: danm@cpqhou.compaq.com (Dan Mazina)
Subject: Gangsters Question
Organization: Compaq Computer Corporation
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 92 17:56:01 GMT

Just bought the new AH game Gangsters and had a question that was unclear.
In the rules on shootouts, it states that a joint has two joint guards per
every level of the joint. It also states that the joint guards can absorb
one hit for each level. However, in the example following the rules, they
don't have the joint guards absorbing any hits at all but have the racketeers
taking the damage. Is this just an oversight or am I reading the rules
wrong?

It seems like with a level one joint, an invading gangster must do at least
2 hits in the shootout to reduce the joint to unowned status. If only one
hit was done then nothing happens. For a level two joint, it takes 3 hits
to reduce it to a level 1 joint. Does this make sense?
Newsgroups: rec.games.board
From: dv52151@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Axly)
Subject: Re: BTECH Scenerio
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1992 15:16:11 GMT

c9036991@cc.newcastle.edu.au (UNFORGETTABLE ... IN EVERY WAY . AND FOREVERMORE .. THATS HOW WELL STAY) writes:



>	You have to remember that the Locust would have to get in behind the 
>	Atlas first so it would have to be a suprise attack or bad initiatve
>	on the half of the atlas?

Not really. If the Atlas moves, it isn't going to be able to hit at all. 
So if you win initiative, you go behind him. If you lose, you just move around
so he is forced to take a shot that has a 13 to hit and wait to win initiative
again. Patience is a virtue when driving a trashcan.

>	But i agree with you, in a scenario i played, my Charger was bearing
>	down on an Archer, and from out of nowhere a Locust got behind me,
>	the Charger pilot was not impressed, he had no rear armour left by 
>	the time that another of my mechs (another Locust) arrived to save
>	the Chargers butt!
> 
	One Mech that I've seen growing in popularity is one of the Solaris
	'Mechs that is basically a Locust with a Large Pulse Laser. Speed
	and armor are comparable to the original, although this 'Mech  does
	weigh in at 25 tons. Still, I've found this to be one of the most
	useful variant 'Mechs designed yet.

	

Axly
Newsgroups: rec.games.board
From: silber@m.cs.uiuc.edu (Ami A. Silberman)
Subject: Re: 6mm figure sources
Organization: University of Illinois, Dept. of Comp. Sci., Urbana, IL
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1992 20:15:29 GMT

ixanian@sco.COM (Ixanian Nichols) writes:



>	I've now found out about two sources for 6mm figures in the
>U.S. besides Enola Games, both of which I'd like to investigate.
>Unfortunately, I can't find their addresses anywhere. Can anyone 
>help me out? They are:

>	Modeller Mart (in Orlando, FLA, I think).

>	The Emperor's HeadQuarters (in Chicago).


>						Thanx
>						- Ix
You can also order some of them directly from England. Irregular Miniatures
makes Napoleonics, Colonials, and Ancients. Unfortunately, the Ancients, at
least, are cast in blocks, so if you don't play using WRG 6th edition they
don't work, and its hard to paint between the figures, and the cavalry figs
legs all merge. 
Heroics and Ros make WWII, modern, colonial, 30ys war, 7yrs war, Napoleonic,
Ancients, Dark Ages, Medieval etc. I have their Sassanid Persians and Late
Romans. Nice figs, decent price. They come in packs of c. 20 cav and 50
infantry, expect breakage of about 5%. You can pay by credit card, which
saves on the exchange rate, and even telephone orders. Their British ads
should be in the back of Military Modeling or various British publications.
	Why should you order from England? Even with the poor exchange rate,
its still considerably cheaper. As of a few years ago, Heroics and Ros went
for L2.15.
-- 
ami silberman - janitor of lunacy
	silber@cs.uiuc.edu
From: Xorg@cup.portal.com (Peter Ted Szymonik)
Newsgroups: rec.games.board
Subject: Re: Game sale - After the Holocaust
Date: Sat, 25 Jul 92 06:35:16 PDT
Organization: The Portal System (TM)
Distribution: na

If in excellent condition, I'll ofer $25 for ATH and will pay shipping.

Thanx
Peter Szymonik
xorg@cup.portal.com
Newsgroups: rec.games.board
From: willows@cslall.enet.dec.com (Steve Willows)
Subject: Re: Supremacy
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1992 23:45:31 GMT


In article <1992Jul29.174826.16443@CSD-NewsHost.Stanford.EDU>, 
vadim@CS.Stanford.EDU (Vadim Akselrod) writes...
> 
>The problem we have had is with the 12-nuke rule.  Once the 11th cloud is
>placed on the board, all nukes become relatively useless; and if someone 
>with a nuke is about to be eliminated conventionally, they can set off the
>nuke (in their own country) to blow up the world.  We have come up with
>some possible solutions, but none have worked too well.  If anyone has
>found a good cure, I'd love to hear about it!

    I've never played Supremacy, but this problem is common in many games. 
Nothing should be absolute. Create a table that offers a *chance* of the world 
being destroyed depending on how many nukes have been employed. Something like;

    12-14 Nukes - Player forces are reduced 10%. Roll percentile dice. 50% 
chance of world being destroyed.

    15-18 Nukes - Player forces reduced 50%. Economies drastically effected.
80% chance of world being destroyed.

    19+ Nukes - Player forces reduced another 50% Economies nearly totally 
destroyed. 95% chance of world being destroyed.

    Obviously, tweak the scale and values to whatever you think works.

---
Steve Willows		willows@cslall.enet.dec.com
    			--or-- ...!decwrl!cslall.enet.dec.com!willows
    			--or-- willows%cslall.dec@decwrl.enet.dec.com
    			--or-- willows%cslall.enet.dec.com@uunet.uu.net

    "Even historians fail to learn from history - they repeat the same 
mistakes." - John Gill
---
From: lxrosser@cco.caltech.edu (Alex Rosser)
Subject: Mail-order numbers
Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
Distribution: NA 
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1992 22:31:17 GMT

Hi...
  I was wondering, could someone please be so kind as to mail me
a phone number for someplace I could back-order copies of AH's
General magazine(Avalon Hills phone number would be fine... I'm
just stuck away from my catalogues right now...)

Thanks,
  Alex Rosser
  lxrosser@cco.caltech.edu 
Newsgroups: rec.games.board