Victory Conditions
Victory Conditions

Author: Elizabeth Moon

Publisher: Del Rey

Published: 2008-02-19

Total Pages: 418

ISBN-13: 0345504828

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Elizabeth Moon’s thrilling Vatta’s War series, featuring the no-holds-barred space-faring heroine Kylara Vatta, has secured her reputation as a master of first-rate military science fiction. Now Commander Vatta is back–locked and loaded and ready to win the fight against the marauding forces of ruthless space pirate Gammis Turek. For Ky, it’s not just about liberating the star systems subjugated by Turek and defending the rest of the galaxy’s freedom. There’s also a score to be settled and payback to be meted out for the obliteration of the Vatta Transport dynasty . . . and the slaughter of Ky’s family. But the enemy have their own escalation efforts under way–including the placement of covert agents among the allies with whom Ky and the surviving Vattas are collaborating in the war effort. And when a spy ring linked to a wealthy businessman is exposed, a cracked pirate code reveals a galaxywide conspiracy fueling the proliferation of Turek’s warship fleet. Matching the invaders’ swelling firepower will mean marshaling an armada of battle-ready ships for Ky to lead into combat. But a violent skirmish leaves Ky reeling–and presumed dead by her enemies. Now, as Turek readies an all-out attack on the Nexus system–a key conquest that could seal the rest of the galaxy’s doom–Ky must rally to the challenge, draw upon every last reserve of her strategic skills, and reach deep if she is to tear from the ashes of tragedy her most decisive victory.

Engaging the Enemy
Engaging the Enemy

Author: Elizabeth Moon

Publisher: Del Rey

Published: 2007-01-30

Total Pages: 418

ISBN-13: 0345447573

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“Marvelously compelling . . . consummate military-adventure science fiction.”—SciFi In the aftermath of the cold-blooded assassinations that killed her parents and shattered the Vatta interstellar shipping empire, Kylara Vatta sets out to avenge the killings and salvage the family business. Ky soon discovers a conspiracy of terrifying scope, breathtaking audacity, and utter ruthlessness. The only hope against such powerful evil is for all the space merchants to band together. Unfortunately, because she commands a ship that once belonged to a notorious pirate, Ky is met with suspicion, if not outright hostility . . . even from her own cousin. Before she can take the fight to the enemy, Kylara must survive a deadly minefield of deception and betrayal. Praise for Engaging the Enemy “A fast-paced space adventure, with a heroine that will captivate readers.”—Omaha World-Herald “Excels in character development as well as in its fast-paced action sequences and intricate plotting.”—Library Journal “You’ll have fun with this one, for Moon keeps things moving.”—Analog

Characteristics of Games
Characteristics of Games

Author: George Skaff Elias

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2020-12-08

Total Pages: 331

ISBN-13: 0262542692

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Understanding games--whether computer games, card games, board games, or sports--by analyzing certain common traits. Characteristics of Games offers a new way to understand games: by focusing on certain traits--including number of players, rules, degrees of luck and skill needed, and reward/effort ratio--and using these characteristics as basic points of comparison and analysis. These issues are often discussed by game players and designers but seldom written about in any formal way. This book fills that gap. By emphasizing these player-centric basic concepts, the book provides a framework for game analysis from the viewpoint of a game designer. The book shows what all genres of games--board games, card games, computer games, and sports--have to teach each other. Today's game designers may find solutions to design problems when they look at classic games that have evolved over years of playing.

The Boardgamer Magazine Player Guides
The Boardgamer Magazine Player Guides

Author: Bruce A. Monnin

Publisher: Past Into Print Publishing

Published:

Total Pages: 180

ISBN-13:

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The publisher of The Boardgamer magazine created five special issues devoted entirely to one game within the Avalon Hill catalog. They were known as Unofficial Player guides, but were considered the best collection of new information, variants, scenarios, rules variations, errata, inserts, and new articles written for these games. Fans loved the materials, because it delivered new life into a game that was forgotten by Avalon Hill, but still cherished by the players. This item is the collection of two of these five guides for PanzerBlitz and Panzer Leader. Below is a description of each guide: A. In this player's guide, the third in a series of five, is dedicated to the classic, Eastern Front armor wargame Panzerblitz. The articles include: More New Expressions For A Familiar Face - Do Your Own Panzerblitz Prokhorovka - New Scenarios For Panzerblitz Historical Addendum To Prokhorovka - Historical Orders Of Battle For Each Scenario Panzerblitz Clarifications - and Question Box Variations On A Theme - For Panzerblitz Tournament Situations - For Panzerblitz Panzerblitz Tournament Situations – Part II - And An Analysis Of The Situations The Pieces Of Panzerblitz - Part 2 References From The General New Expressions For A Familiar Face II - Still More Situations For Panzerblitz Operation Wintergale - The Relief Of Stalingrad Beyond Situation 25 - Yet More New Scenarios For Panzerblitz More Historical Corrections - To Panzerblitz Situations References From The Boardgamer Other Products From The Boardgamer Insert: Countersheet - Additional Panzerblitz Counters - Required To Play Scenarios In This Issue B. In this player's guide, the fourth in a series of five, is dedicated to the classic, Western Front armor wargame Panzer Leader The articles include: More New Expressions For Another Familiar Face - Do Your Own Panzer Leader The Battle For The Remagen Bridge - New Scenarios For Panzer Leader New British Scenarios For Panzer Leader - British And Commonwealth 1944 & 1945 Situations Panzer Leader Situations - A Collection Of Panzer Leader Scenarios Panzer Leader 1940 Situations - Variant Situations Updated Panzer Leader Clarifications - And Question Box Other Products From The Boardgamer The Pieces Of Panzer Leader - Part 2 The Pieces Of Panzer Leader - Part 3 - Panzer Leader 1940 References From The General More Historical Corrections - To Panzer Leader Situations References From The Boardgamer The Panzer Leader In Normandy - Situations From The Normandy Campaign Insert: Countersheet - Additional Panzerblitz Counters - Required To Play Scenarios In This Issue

Paratextualizing Games
Paratextualizing Games

Author: Benjamin Beil

Publisher: transcript Verlag

Published: 2021-11-30

Total Pages: 364

ISBN-13: 3732854213

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Gaming no longer only takes place as a ›closed interactive experience‹ in front of TV screens, but also as broadcast on streaming platforms or as cultural events in exhibition centers and e-sport arenas. The popularization of new technologies, forms of expression, and online services has had a considerable influence on the academic and journalistic discourse about games. This anthology examines which paratexts gaming cultures have produced - i.e., in which forms and formats and through which channels we talk (and write) about games - as well as the way in which paratexts influence the development of games. How is knowledge about games generated and shaped today and how do boundaries between (popular) criticism, journalism, and scholarship have started to blur? In short: How does the paratext change the text?

Life Is a Game
Life Is a Game

Author: Edward Castronova

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2020-09-17

Total Pages: 233

ISBN-13: 1501359177

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What if life is a game? Are you winning? Have you even decided what 'winning' is? Game design could be defined in many ways, but here the term is used to denote the practice of creating choices. Designing a game, in this sense, involves crafting limits, rewards, incentives, and risks in such a way that the person who interacts with the game – the player – makes choices that have consequences. Edward Castronova urges readers to think about the fundamentals of the human condition and compare them to different games that we all know. In some ways, life is like an idle game: providing unchallenging distractions that fit easily into a person's daily routine. In other ways, life is like the game Minesweeper: You poke in different places to learn about what you don't know, taking care to avoid big explosions. Or, life is like a role-playing game: You adopt a persona and speak your part, always seeking adventure. Bringing together questions relating to diverse fields – such as politics, economics, sociology and philosophy - Castronova persuades readers to broaden the scope of game design to answer questions about life's everyday obstacles. The object of this book is to take seriously the idea that life is a game. The goal is not to make readers wealthier or healthier. Its goal is to go on a journey into the human condition, with game design as a guide.

The Fundamentals of Tabletop Miniatures Game Design
The Fundamentals of Tabletop Miniatures Game Design

Author: Glenn Ford

Publisher: CRC Press

Published: 2024-11-19

Total Pages: 297

ISBN-13: 1040166636

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This book presents a much-needed framework for the critical examination of miniatures games and their design. It provides the reader with both a conceptual model for understanding how these games work as well as a toolbox of mechanical approaches to achieving a range of design outcomes and assessing the fit of any given approach within a specific design. Though dating back to the 1820s, tabletop miniatures games have been little explored critically and lack a conceptual vocabulary for their discussion. Active practitioners in the miniature games design community, Glenn Ford and Mike Hutchinson explore what defines these games, proposing the term ‘non-discrete miniatures games’ to encapsulate the essence of these open and immersive hobby gaming experiences. Discarding the term ‘wargame’, they argue against limiting conceptions of these games to direct armed conflict, and champion their diverse narrative potential. The book provides a fresh conceptual framework for miniatures games, abstracting the concepts of positioning and moving markers non-discretely across scale-modelled environments into inclusive and generalised terminology, untethering them from their roots as military simulations and providing the foundations for a fresh consideration of miniatures games design. Written for game designers, and with a foreword by Gav Thorpe, The Fundamentals of Tabletop Miniatures Game Design is a handbook for those that wish to design better miniatures games.

The Boardgamer Volume 9
The Boardgamer Volume 9

Author: Bruce A. Monnin

Publisher: Past Into Print Publishing

Published:

Total Pages: 324

ISBN-13:

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The Boardgamer magazine was a quarterly magazine devoted primarily, but not exclusively, to the coverage of Avalon Hill / Victory Games titles and to other aspects of the boardgaming hobby. Initially, The Boardgamer’s publication ran concurrently with Avalon Hill’s house magazine, The General, but instead of focusing on new releases, it devoted coverage to those classic, Avalon Hill games which no longer graced the pages of The General. Following the cessation of The General in June 1998, The Boardgamer was the primary periodical dedicated to the titles from AH/VG, until its final issue in 2004. The contents of this volume consists of: Obstacles On The Rocky Road To Kingmaking - New Cards For Kingmaker A Three Hour Tour - An Analysis of the Victory In The Pacific Sea Areas Battle Cry - An Introduction to the Hasbro / Avalon Hill Game The Napoleonic Wars - As a Six (or More) Player Game Jutland In The Mediterranean - Germans, Austrians, British and French Maharaja Rules Adjustments - Addressing Game Imbalance The Tao Of Panzerblitz / Panzer Leader - Utility / Psychology in a Game System AREA Ratings Calculations - The Formulas Behind The Ratings Insert: Kingmaker Replacement and Variant Card Decks Insert: Countersheet for Jutland Scenario Enemy In Sight - Expansion Rules Top Guns: Dauntless Analysis - An Evaluation of Fighter Aircraft in Air Force and Dauntless A Tour Of The Magic Realm - Villains, Maps, Magic & Activity March Madness - Men’s and Women’s Teams Down With The Queen! - Evening The Odds In B-17: Queen Of The Skies Flame Tanks And Other New Units - In Panzerblitz / Panzer Leader Yeah!!! Well, So’s Your Horse - An Analysis of Gunslinger’s Showdown 7: The Bar Fight Hoka Hey! It’s a Good Night To Die - An Analysis of Gunslinger’s Showdown 8: The Campfire Hidden Movement and Searching - Without a Referee Builders and Shapers - Strategies in Puerto Rico The War of 1812 - 1813 Campaign Played on 1776 The Making of Crucible of Liberty - An Extension to the Map of 1776 Gunslinger - The Early Years Landing Forces - In Victory in the Pacific “Advanced” Naval War - Additional Rules for the Naval War Expansion Kit Reconnaissance Units - In Panzerblitz / Panzer Leader Insert: Countersheet Reconnaissance Units Panzerblitz, Panzer Leader 1940, and Panzer Leader Insert: Countersheet War of 1812 Scenario for 1776 Inserts: Hidden Movement and Search Tables for Bismarck 1968 and 1979, Jutland, Guadalcanal 1992, and Midway 1964 and 1992 TLD Mambo No. 5 - Strategy, Tactic, Play-Aids and Variants for The Longest Day Coffeeville First National Held Up - An Analysis of Gunslinger Showdown #9: The Bank Robbery Apache Hunting - An Analysis of Gunslinger Showdown #10: Eagle Pass 2004 March Madness Sweet Sixteen - Men’s and Women’s Teams The Jumbo Sherman - In Panzer Leader The Rails of August - A Guns of August Variant Clostermann’s First Kills - Le Havre, France; July 1943 Insert: The Longest Day Player Aid Card

Tabletop Game Design for Video Game Designers
Tabletop Game Design for Video Game Designers

Author: Ethan Ham

Publisher: CRC Press

Published: 2015-06-19

Total Pages: 349

ISBN-13: 1317536037

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Learn the mechanics that take your game from an idea to a playable product. Do you aspire to be a game designer but aren’t sure where to begin? Tabletop Game Design for Video Game Designers guides you through your initial attempts to design game mechanics. It goes beyond simple description and definition to explore in detail the issues that designers grapple with for every game they create. Learning to design tabletop games builds a solid foundation for game designers and provides methods that can be applied towards creating paper prototypes of computer-targeted games. Presented in a step-by-step format, Tabletop Game Design for Video Game Designers helps the reader understand how the game design skills that are acquired through creating tabletop games can be used when designing video games. Fully playable games accompany every topic so you can truly understand and experience each component that goes into game creation. Tabletop Game Design for Video Game Designers includes: Simple, highly focused games that can be played, analyzed, improved, and/or modified in conjunction with a particular topic in the book. Integrated game design exercises, chapter learning objectives, and in-text sidebars to provide further examples to apply directly to your game creation process. A companion website (www.funmines.com) which includes: "print & play" tabletop games, links to online games, game design resources, and articles about designing and developing games.

The Art of War
The Art of War

Author: Sun Tzu

Publisher: Camelot Editora

Published:

Total Pages: 81

ISBN-13:

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The Art of War is considered the best strategy book of all time. Experts claim that this treaty inspired Napoleon, Machiavelli, MaoTse-Tung, and many other historical personalities. More than 2,500 years later, the principles attributed to Sun Tzu are still followed nowadays in the world of business, sports, politics, diplo-macy, psychology, and personal behavior. It is a study of the knowledge of human nature in moments of con-frontation. The book is not limited to war. It is a work to understand the roots of a conflict and to indicate a solution.