Old Dominion GameWorks Community Blog List

iain.ralph64@gmail.com's Blog - What is the rationale for national differences in turret hits leading to explosions?

Thu, 23 Mar 2023 09:48:02 +0000

I am new to GQ3 and first few encounters between opposing ships has led to an extraordinary high number of ships detonating.

I have noticed that the French ships are slated to blow up 33% of the time after a single turret hit (which seems extraordinarily high), most other nations at 25% (including the RN, which seems to fly in the face of their wartime record) while the German and US ships are rated at 1/12 chance which seems far more realistic.

I cannot find any information on what was fundamentally different between the various nation's turret and magazine layouts that would suggest a fundamental difference in risk.

Do the game designers have any information on this?

ODGW Company Blog - ODGW Fall-In 2014

Sat, 01 Nov 2014 16:01:00 +0000

Saturday 1 Nov 2014
Welcome to ODGW Blog about HMGS Fall-In Convention 2014.

I'm unsure how often I'll update but I'll try and get as much content here as possible. Stay tuned...

Update 7 Nov 2014
I've added a Photo Gallery... follow here: http://www.odgw.com/forums/gallery/album/37-fall-in-2014/

Update 8 Nov 2014
More pictures have been added. (see above)

The convention was a wash, in my opinion. In talking to HMGS Staff, attendance was comparable to last years numbers. However all of us have noted that there "appears" to be fewer dealers and gamers. The "Club" rooms are not full and the main game room is easy to navigate.

Attendance in our event games was also disappointing. We had eight event games scheduled but only three were attended and we shanghaied several walk up players to play our last Mein Zombie game.

This convention goes in ODGW history as a strange weekend indeed.

See you next time.....

ODGW Company Blog - Historicon 2013

Fri, 19 Jul 2013 04:33:00 +0000

Historicon 2013 - Fredricksburg VA July 18-21
updated 5:46 pm 7/19
Link to Gallery - (http://www.odgw.com/forums/gallery/album/26-odgw-historicon-2013/)

Thursday
----------------------------------
Arrives at the Convention site early. Bob set up his Mein Panzer game (Party in a Little French Town) and I set up the Mein Panzer Junior game (Wargame 101 A Kids Game). Both games were full and we actually had to turn folks away. Could have ran a second MP game with the extra folks.

Mike showed up and hung out until dinner and then we all returned for a very memorable game of Mein Zombie (Bubba BBQ). We had to find penicillin in one of the three houses on the table and return it to our house. Luck was with our heroes as we found the medicine in the closest house and was able to get it back! However 2 heroes were infected and became "super" zombie with the ability to influence regular zombies and create hoards. It was a very exciting game and we avoided running into Bubba (a non-Hero super zombie that is reported to be very hard to kill!).

Good day / evening!! More to follow. Check out the gallery!!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Friday
----------------------------------

So Friday arrives and all is well. It's 11 o'clock and we have a full house with the 10am games, Mein Zombie (Escape), GQIII Modified (Climb Mount Niitaka), and Mein Panzer Junior (Wargame 101 A Kids Game). Pictures are posted.

The dealer hall is active. Spoke to some dealers that report sales are ok, but it's "early". Hopefully it will pick up for them. The flea market was very busy fro the morning session. Again there are pics on the Gallery.

The main convention game area is probably half full this morning. But the games that are running look busy.

Afternoon games

Friday afternoon has seen the convention roll in at full speed. Gamers have finally arrived and after the initial euphoria of the dealer hall have steeled into playing a variety of games. The major game halls seem full and everyone is having a good time.

American Battle Lines (Bloody Crossroads)

Game is running full tilt! The final outcome was still a contested crossroads but the Confederate left flank was in major jeopardy due to some gutzy and rash action of the Union Commander. He managed to flank the confederates while they set up artillery and infantry to block as soon as they were visible. The Union commander pressed onward and took his lumps by charging the artillery and infantry. The unit facing the artillery lost most of it men by the time they reach the artillery but somehow (with lucky die rolls) managed to keep their moral up and press forward. The second Union unit was able to cross the road and charge over the fence to melee with the Confederates. While this was happening, the Union player on the last turn was able to sneek Union Calvary around the back of the artillery and was poised to overrun the unit from behind. The Center and opposite flank forces were still contesting the rest of the field. Good game!

Fleet Action Imminent (Second Battle of Heligoland)
This battle teetered back an forth until the last turn. This was disastrous for the British. A BattleCrusier blew up and sank allowing the Germans to escape. There were many players and all reported to haveing a good time.

Mein Zombie (Zombie Town)
This was another typical zombie game. There were several kids playing hero characters. I believe this game had one hero try to hid in an outhouse from the zombie hoard (obviously he didn't know about Rule #3 "Beware of Bathrooms"). And as luck would have it when it came time to "spawn" more zombies.... (at the beginning of the turn there is a zombie spawn die roll, this tells each player how many (base number) zombies are suddenly within 12 inches of the "Hero" [there are modifiers to the base number and to the distance]). .... this Hero had zombies spawn inside the out-house WITH him!! So he had to fight them off. I think this happened multiple times! Jim G. from Wargames Factory dropped by and presented our players with plastic sprues of thier zombie women. Thanks Jim!!

Friday night around the open gaming area was very active. There was an awesome western game (Indians vs US Calvary) with over 100 miniatures. The GM (Pete Panzeri) dressed in Calvary officer uniform and the Indian leader wore an headdress.

More pictures in the gallery.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Saturday
----------------------------------

Morning Games

Mein Panzer (Chosin River) [CANCELLED]

The person running this event had a last minute change in plans and was unable to go to the con. So I set up my game (Battle of Bi'r Gifgafa) early and offered it to his player who showed up. Plus we were able to snag a couple of walk-ups and the game was a go! The Egyptians had a nice lady player (Kim) who on her first turn was able to kill 6.... SIX Israeli tanks!!! (Note to all gamers, if there is a little kid or lady in your game, get on their side! They ALWAYS have hot dice!!) So the Israeli forces were stunned and approached the objective in a timid fashion. This gave the Egyptian reinforcements time to move in and stop the Israelis from capturing the Egyptian strongpoint. But all agreed it was a fun battle. The Egyptians were even able to sneek in a Mig 15 strafing attack.

Mein Zombie (Escape)
Another FULL game with eight players and more folks watching the action!

General Quarters III (Nagumo vs SOPAC)
I didn't get much info from this GM other than all had fun.

Afternoon Games

Fleet Action Imminent (The Wobbly Eight)
I didn't get much info from this GM other than all had fun.

General Quarters III (The Battle of Cape Esperance)
I didn't get much info from this GM other than all had fun.

Mein Panzer (Battle of Bi'r Gifgafa)
This game was fun for all, except one (I think). The a nice gentleman left early, but he had several game questions and wasn't very satisfied with the answers and unfortunately poor die rolling. The rest of the players continued and were much more aggressive that the first game. The center was able to kill all the Egyptians and prepare to face the Egyptian reinforcements that finally arrived. One flank was very weak for the Israelis because they rushed the artillery emplacments and the arty was able to direct fire on the tanks. The other flank was hotly contested but the agressivness ofh te Israeli's was thier undoing. They climbed over a hill into the overwatch fire of the Egyptian reforcements. The Egyptians won the battle but it was a close call!

Last pictures are in the gallery.

Thanks to all who played in out games. See you next year!

ODGW Company Blog - 45% off Sale on General Quarters III Rules

Sat, 15 Jun 2013 02:35:00 +0000

Attention… Attention…

Old Dominion Gameworks is having a limited time offer on General Quarters III Perfect Bound.

Buy the rule set at 45% OFF and receive ONE small acrylic turn gauge FREE!!

As you know when you buy an ODGW product it comes with a registration page. This is used to “register” the book at our web site ODGW.com. Once registered, the customer can download the book in electronic format and also download any updates or bonus material we have there. We’re gamers too, and while this may impact a few sales we decided early on that we would not be a Games {XXXX}Shop type of business requiring folks to purchase a new book just because there are typo corrections or it’s a new year. This said….

We ARE about to reprint GQIII. This new printing (GQ 3.3) will have corrections, clarifications plus the long awaited amendments one and two. This revised edition has already been available for DL for several weeks for folk who already own GQIII.

So now you can buy GQIII (Perfect Bound only) at nearly half off, get a free acrylic game aid, and receive access to the new revised rules online. Please use CODE - GQ3SALE - to have the discount applied. Remember buying GQIII today gets you access to the GQIII.3 download which includes all the updates.

This is a limited time sale.

Stop by our Online Store can get your copy today!!

ODGW Company Blog - ODGW Attending Cold Wars 2013

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 01:56:00 +0000

Updated 3/11/2013

Monday 3/11/2013

OK so Saturday was a fast blur. We had a full slate of games and each were well played. The Battle of Bi’r Gifgafa was a blast! The final outcome was a marginal Israeli victory. The southern flank was smashed and the Israelis armored forces had just to wheel around destroy the artillery battery. The Egyptian reinforcements on the northern flank were poised to smash down on the newly won Israeli position.

Check out the gallery for pictures,

Friday 3/9/2010

Saturday is here and we're thru the first round of game. We had a great turn out for the Mein Zombies game. I think this will be a BIG release when it's published for Historicon in July.

The GQIII game was also full of gamers. I'll try to get a battle report from the GM Steve for a post later.

The Mein Panzer game, Breakout from Pusan, only had a couple players but they totally rocked the river! The NK units crossed the bridge and established a footing but the M-26 Pershing Tanks made them pay dearly. This was a really good game.

Well have to get my game, Battle of Bi’r Gifgafa, started. Will have more pics later.

Thanks

Friday 3/8/2010

We're Here!!! The first game went well.... See pics in the gallery.

I'll write more later...

Thursday 3/7/2013

Hello again!! We're packing up and heading out tomorrow to Lancaster and Cold Wars 2013!

Below is a list of game we're hosting. Drop by and say hello!

F-317 - Death in a Spanish Village

F-318 - Wargaming 101 - A Kids Game

F-319 - The Wobbly Eight

S-322 - Cape Esperance

S-321 - Breakout from Pusan

S-323 - Escape

S-325 - Remember the Alamo?

S-324 - An Old Fashioned Calvary Charge

S-326 - Operation Kadesh - Battle of Bi’r Gifgafa

ODGW Company Blog - 35% off Sale on General Quarters III Rules

Sun, 17 Feb 2013 22:51:00 +0000

35% OFF General Quarters III at ODGW.

Use coupon code GQ3SALE at our online store to receive this deal!

Why!?! You ask, well GQIII has since its initial release published 2 amendments with rules clarifications and player inputted tweaks. Both Amendments have been available independently on our web site and are free to registered GQIII customers. ODGW is preparing to publish the new and revised book for sale
.
You could wait and get the printed copy with the updated rules or you could save a good deal of money now and purchase the rules now. With your purchase you will be able to register the rules and download the amendments and all the other freebie stuff available to our customers. PLUS as a bonus the you will be able to download the new GQ 3.3 book!!

ODGW has a limited quality of GQIII in stock and will be having a 35% off sale on this stock until it runs out. Please use CODE - GQ3SALE - to have the discount applied. Remember buying GQIII today gets you access to the GQIII.3 download which includes all the updates.

This is a limited time offer and once the current inventory is gone the sale is over. Sorry no back orders at the sale price.

ODGW Company Blog - Marine Nationale (French Navy) Deluxe Ship Logs Now Available

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 04:01:00 +0000

ODGW is proud to announce the release of the latest deluxe ship logs for General Quarters III.

The Marine Nationale (French Navy) now join the stable of fleets that have the highly detailed ship logs. Due the unique nature of the French Navy’s WWII experience, the logs are split into three sections:

Marine Nationale – Beginning of WWII to the Fall of France (June 1940). The entire French navy from the beginning of the war to the Armistice of 1940.

Vichy controlled Marine Nationale – June 1940 to November 1942 Those ships that remained loyal to the Vichy French Government.

Free French FNFL (Free French Naval Forces) – July 1940 to the end of the war.
Those ships that joined the Free French from July 1940, plus the former Vichy ships that joined after the Torch landings and the fall of the Vichy government and those ships transferred by the Allies to Free French control.

Additionally, the never builts (like the battleships Clemenceau and Gascogne and aircraft carriers Joffre and Painleve) are included.

The deluxe ship logs are colorized and expanded to include the all classes and every ship plus those that were canceled or incomplete. Now available as digital downloads from the Download store.

We also have deluxe ship logs for other navies that fought in World War II:

Imperial Japanese Navy
United States Navy Pacific Theater 1941-1943
United States Navy Pacific Theater 1944-1945
United States Navy Atlantic and Mediterranean Theater
British Royal Navy
German / Norwegian / Poland
Italian Regia Marina
Asian Minor Navies (free DL to GQIII registered customers)

Visit our online store to check all the ship logs available for General Quarters III.

ODGW Company Blog - ODGW Announces The Northern Navies Supplement

Tue, 25 Dec 2012 02:42:00 +0000

Old Dominion GameWorks is proud to announce the availability of an additional supplement to expand the navies for General Quarters III. This is our 2012 freebie download to GQIII registered owners.

The Northern Navies Supplement (NNS) made available all the major and minor navies that participated in WW II and 1930s naval combat. In addition to the major navies covered in GQ III, these supplements provide articles, Ship Logs, combat CRTs, aircraft Formation Cards, CD (Coastal Defense) Cards, etc. for the following navies: China, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Siam, Spain, Sweden, the USSR as well as the Cherry Trees (the major ships scrapped as a result of the Washington Naval Treaty). We believe this quite an unprecedented achievement. In each case, we provide ready-to use Ship Logs and Submarine Logs for each navy - far in excess of what other naval rules have provided. With the NNS, we have completed our coverage of the '30s and '40s, with the possible exception of the Greeks and South American navies.

The NNS specifically covers Denmark, Finland, Norway, Poland and Sweden. It begins with another fine article by Adrian Dobb and contains all the Ship Logs, Submarine Logs, and Formation Cards, CD Cards and CRTs and listings of small craft needed to cover all but the most elderly museum pieces. [And boy, did these navies have some museum pieces!] In addition to a hypothetical just for fun scenario between Finnish and Swedish armored coastal defense ships, the Supplement also includes five scenarios of major actions in the 1940 Norway invasion, along with a mini-campaign on Forcing the Oscarborg to seize Oslo. To support these scenarios, Mike prepared some great detailed maps of Narvik and Oslofjord and I added new Ship Logs for all the Kriegsmarine and Royal Navy ships involved as well as three sheets of merchant ships involved in the 1940 operations. Thus, the NNS provides considerable coverage of the 1940 Norway campaign in addition to the northern navies themselves.

Download and Enjoy!

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays from ODGW

ODGW Company Blog - Korean War Databook released

Thu, 29 Nov 2012 13:02:00 +0000

Announcing the next addition to the Mein Panzer Core Rules system line of miniature game supplements.

The KOREAN WAR DATABOOK is now available!! This is the latest databook in a line that stretches from the WWI period now thru the Korean War.

The Korean War databook will have a short history of the conflict, extensive timeline covering major events that took place during the period and information covering an astounding 19 nationalities, you will find over a thousand entries of equipment, TO&E, troop types, and special rules for the entire conflict.

The meat of this book is the equipment tables, aircraft tables, ordnance tables, naval support equipment, and small arms. Well over 600 pieces of equipment have been detailed! Virtually every piece of equipment used in Korean War can be found in this supplement, from the infamous Russian T-34/85 tank to the U.S. M46 Patton tank.

Every country that was involved in the conflict will have:
Equipment Tables
Troop Quality and Troop Type Tables detailing the five quality levels represented in the game. IN ADDITION, numerous specialty troops are also detailed
Tables of Equipment and Organization (TOE) for 18 of the 19 countries have at least one TO&E, while many have several. With this extensive collection, players can build upon real life TO&E for their games.
Finally, the Korean War Data Book contains all the special rules you may need to fight with the equipment, or use the tactics, of the Korean War. Everything you would require to play in the Korean War, with virtually any combatant, can be found here.

Mein Panzer Core Rules system is a flexible and expandable 1:1 miniature table top combined arms for recreating 20th and 21st Century combined arms ground warfare games. Designed for use with miniature scales up to 15mm, this allows players to face off and fight historical or non-historical battles. You can play tank vs tank battles or pit infantry squads vs infantry squads. Based on the innovative Drop-In ^TM system, you can add in artillery, aircraft, engineering, command and moral, and much, much more to your table top game experience.

A copy of the Mein Panzer Core Rules system is needed to fully utilize the contents of this publication. However, with few adjustments, the data and scenarios can be enjoyed using almost any rule system on the market today.

Look for other products in the MEIN PANZER line from Old Dominion GameWorks. Products such as additional Scenario Packs, Campaign Packs, Data Books, and other supplements that expand upon the Mein Panzer Core Rules system at your local game shop or from our web site www.odgw.com

Remember play Mein Panzer!

Source: Korean War Databook released

ODGW Company Blog - Historicon 2012

Sat, 14 Jul 2012 22:19:00 +0000

Hello and welcome to the offical ODGW blog for Historcon 2012. (drum roll.....)UPDATED!!!

July 22

Like the blog for Cold Wars, I will try and post every day and hopefully several times a day to give you the scoop on what's happening @ the biggest War game convention in North America - Historicon 2012.

Saturday July 14 [-5 days]
Here are the Games we will be running.. ODGW Games

And here is the convention floor layout...

More to come...

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Wednesday July 18 [-1 days]

Well time sure flies.... I'm home scurrying around and getting the last minute things packed and set to leave bright and early tomorrow. Bob B. and I will be carpooling down (I hate to drive!!) and look to arrive around lunch time.

I wanted to give a shout out to "Walt" for putting together the Official Historicon Guidebook app. This is a must have digital program for the convention. I think it's great!!

Walt's explanation of Guidebook...

First of, what is GUIDEBOOK? This is an application, or "App" in hipster parlance, that resides on a multitude of mobile devices (Ipad, Ipod, Iphone, Android smartphones, Android Tablets, and there's even a version for browser enabled phones that can access the web). GUIDEBOOK maintains a master schedule of every thing going on at a convention, Maps where everything is, general information about the convention, plus maintaining a custom version of your own schedule that keeps a list of all the things you want to do when you go to a convention.. and reminds you when you when it's time to do it. Think of it as your, extremely personalized version of the paper program guide that can store on a handy device, beeps you when it's time to go to the next item on your schedule and keeps a to-do list for you.

As usual, I've posted a "How to get it, how to use it" blogpost for this GUIDEBOOK APP. Here you are: Historicon guidebook

Gotta finish getting my @#%!& together. We'll talk again soon. Be sure to post your comments...
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Thursday July 19 [Day 1]
"WE"RE HEEERRREEE....."
Bob and I arrived around noon and started setting up the room. Tu / Mike / and Gregory all filtered in by 3pm and we had the dealer hall space set up and the room done.

Little Guy G. ran a Mein Panzer for Kids game and Bill B. ran a GQIII game that both went off well.

http://www.odgw.com/forums/uploads/gallery/album_15/gallery_3209_15_654551.jpg

Mike M. hosted a zombie game playtest for the staff and that was a blast. We had character players that had to cross a table and recover a power generator and radio to call for rescue. The table of course had zombies and "potential" zombies all over the place.
One turn I inadvertently spawned a zombie close to Tu's character and it attacked him. The next turn when it was time to spawn zombies, Tu rolled and placed a zombie next to my character!! (I told Tu not to do that or I'd return the "favor") My turn to roll the dice.... YES!! I rolled exactly what I needed to put a zombie in front of Tu's character. Again the entire table erupted in laughter. (note - Neither zombie did any damage as both were "eliminated" before they could attack.)

The Dealer hall was filled up all day. The Game rooms were not so full. However everyone was active and having a good time.

I have a gallery set up an pictures from today. Go and take a look.

See you tomorrow.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Friday July 20 [Day 2]

OK it's Friday, day 2 of the convention. All is going well, the morning games were all full. We had 2 GQ III games and a Mein Panzer game and all were full with gamers. Bob's Korean war game was a blast. I hope to get an AAR published soon. I have been going around and taking lots of pictures. Be sure to go to the Gallery to see the pictures. More to come.

Mein Panzer - Korean War

General Quarters III

Evening Update

The afternoon games went well. The GQIII games were full. Gregory reported having to turn people away. (This is a first as far as I can remember.) Mike ran an MP game that only had three people, all under legal age! I volunteered to play to fill a fourth and make things even. Mike and I always play competitively and hard. Some times we get carried away (mostly me) but in the end we have a good game and this was no different. The game was a fun adventure, Russians vs Germans. Basically each side has light tanks and there is a depot in the center of the board. The objective is to get to the depot and stay there for three "phases" w/o an enemy vehicle entering the depot. If you do this then you get a heavy tank. You can also get a heavy tank by killing four enemy tanks. The good news is that if your light tank is killed it immediately comes back in the game at the edge of the table. However if a heavy tank kills then your dead!! So there is a pretty good flow of light tanks in the beginning but when the heavy's arrive the end is near. The game went back and forth and in the last turn a Ba10 (operated by an excited 8 yr old) shot the side of my Tiger tank and brewed it up!! That was the game.

The evening Mike vol to re-run his Zombie game. So we all hung out and are having fun killing zombies. I'll post pictures and more later...

Check out the ODGW Gallery

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Saturday July 21 [Day 3]

Good Morning! Well it turned out to be a long night after all, (or short morning, as a Bob reminded me. Thanks Bob!) We started the Mein Zombie game (Name was determined last night) at around 9pm and finally was called at 1:30 am. Brother, there's a reason why I don't stay up that late and then return to the scene @ 8am! HA! We had a great time. Couple of notable happenings. One player (Guy Sr.) was in a house with a long bow and killing zombies off those of us who ventured outside, made a poor die roll and ran out of arrows. Later, Guy Sr. around 11:30pm has to leave (because he's running a game at 9am the next morning). The very next turn we find the arrows that would have benefited Guy Sr.!!! Oy. We had one hero (Bob B.) get swarmed and become a zombie himself! When a hero get "zombiefied" he gets to control other mindless flesh eaters. Additionally he becomes VERY difficult to kill! Tu's hero found a "survivor" woman who's screaming brought more nasties around. Tu being the gentleman was shepherding her to safety, suddenly turned "zombie" and tried to consummate their relationship"!! Tu politely declined her advances and promptley dispatched her. We all had a blast and I am looking forward to painting up some zombies of my own!

ZZZZZommbbbiieesss

So now to today's events..... later.

We'll I'm back a little early, had a couple fellows "ambush" me to grovel, humiliate, and beg to get in my game. (sorry guys least the names are protected.) HAHAHAHAHAHA! ... and now the true story, they did ambush me to inquire about openings in the game and of course I'll figure out something to get them in. It's truly humbling and nice to have folks want to play in a game that you have worked hard to put together. Looking forward to the game.

So fun story over, I'm back to posting pictures. Later...

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Saturday July 21 [Day 4]

OK I'm home. Had a nap and dinner... (o' for my younger days, and I'm NOT old!!)

I have finished posting pictures in our gallery. There is the main gallery with ODGW pics and 3 sub galleries with other stuff like the dealer hall, non-ODGW games, and Hobby University.

ODGW Gallery

The afternoon games all ran with full complement of players. All in all we at ODGW had a full 4 days of players and only one game that was short of players but was ran any way.

Thanks for all the folks who came by to play and a BIG thanks to those Game Masters who ran our games! ...see you at Fall-In.