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When we discovered that Christopher Weuve was not only a former Naval Warfare college professor and a gamer, but also an expert on alien spacecraft...we just HAD to get him on the show. Imaging our excitment when he also managed to reach out and squeeze Chris Carlon, one of the minds behind the classic game "Harpoon," into the third chair as well! The D6G takes to the sea!

Up first: Naval Mulling Mechanics: We tackle what kind of key mechanics you really want to see in a naval combat game if you really want to emulate the challenges of naval combat.
Later we jump into a detailed review of Firestorm Armada second edition. Does it have what it takes to get naval experts excited about this kind of space combat game?

And as a bonus: The My Little Pony collectible card game is out! Total Fan Girl chats with a very special guest about how the game plays and why it is fun.
All that and our other not-too-horrible segments including:


- Total Fan Girl
- Do You Ever Notice
- The Hollywood Minute
- News
- & More

Link to episode:
http://www.thed6generation.com//d6g-ep-138-firestorm-armada-2nd-edition-review-naval-mulling-mechanics-my-little-pony-ccg

Please let us know what you thought of the show!

I'm looking forward to this one. FSA 1 was a good game, but I just couldn't get my head around all those messy "wings" whichturned the game into one of "chit management" rather than anything else. The models are solid, and I love space/naval games as a concept, so if they've fixed that one (as they pretty much have with Dystopian Wars, then I may be forced (forced I tells ya!) to partake!

D6G is evolving!
I love that you guys ventured into "Grognard territory" with Harpoon! From my experience with the show this is a new dimension!
It was a great step into the some of the more complicated wargame sims beyond the popular, big name wargames from PP, GW, Wyrd, etc.
Glad to see you stretch the bounds with this one.

Two "quick" observations:
3rd Chair:
Chris was a fascinating 3rd chair and I like the direction you're going with getting people from other zones of gaming. Chris was very credible and likable. Kind of long-winded, but I forgive him that as his unique perspectives were a breath of fresh air in the 3rd chair. Also I like Chris' gaming choices. For the record, Space Empires 4x is simpler than Twilight Imperium. While it can go long with 4 players, in my experience the base game sets up and plays in about 1/2 the time of Twilight Imperium.

Advanced Squad Leader is not the Devil
I was surprised at Craig's comments disparaging Advanced Squad Leader compared with Harpoon.
Craig's points about Harpoon looking great are well taken. It looks great with the right models and setup.
Advanced Squad Leader is top-down geomorphic mapboards.
If this doesn't excite you, then there is nothing I can say. And I feel sad for you :

Using the Starter Kits, Advanced Squad Leader is relatively easy to learn (12 page illustrated rulebook vs. 129 pages for Harpoon), and while its an old game design,it provides a uniquely deep squad level combat experience. Once you get to rules transparency, playing Advanced Squad Leader "feels" more like WW2 tactical combat than any of the games I've played on this topic.

Just my $.02.
Thanks again for a brave and excellent podcast.
Happy New Year!

Good episode again I enjoyed it a lot

I'll agree that the Exordium series is a great read (very cheap kindle link for book 1 for those who don't do audible

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Phoenix-Flight-Exordium-Book-ebook/dp/B0051J66J4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1388697981&sr=8-1&keywords=exordium

(hopefully new paperbacks will appear soon as mine are looking very tired)

Also pleased to hear a name check for FASAs Renegade Legion: Interceptor as it was probably my most played board game during university with it's asterioids style movement

Great show! Rose was adorable. My girls are still too little (5 and 3) to do much with gaming, but I'm looking forward to when they are older and hopefully still fascinated with my miniatures.

It was great hearing from Chris and Chris. The knowledge and background they brought was really cool to hear.

As a multi-wargamer (I play a lot of different games) it was great to hear from Chris and Chris about things like scale, turn method (I-go U-go, alternating and pre-written), and pre-knowledge / stealth / position. Those things apply to all miniature wargames. The double blind game one Chris described sounded awesome.

The only "naval" game I've played is Full Thrust (space combat) - but I've played it a lot. It uses pre-written orders for movement, and alternating for attacks. It was very interesting hearing the wet navy stuff, while in my head applying it to space games.

Using counters or generic minis for ships until they are officially spotted sounds like a great method. For land combat, I really like the "jump off points" used in Too Fat Lardies' new Chain Of Command rules. It results in a "They might be over there, or over there. I think I heard something from that way..." kind of feel.

I've been listening for about 4 months or so now, and I've got to say, this was the best episode yet. I even got the Lost Chapters for it. I really like the miniature wargame direction you've gone in lately, since that's where my main interest lies.

Thanks!

Great episode guys !

Hey Guys,

I just wanted to chime in and say that this was a great episode. The Lost Chapter about naval/space games was great as well.

@Russ - your daughter sounded adorable, I hope she finds her pony to complete her collection.

@Craig - sorry to hear about the recent woes, I hope everything works out with the family and they all get well soon.

Vin

I have been listening for a few years now and this is my favorite episode in recent memory. I really enjoyed the naval discussion, in both the show and in lost chapters. I've played a few WW2 naval games, GQ3, Naval Thunder and No Safe Port (which I think is the game Chris mentioned where facing doesn't matter and you have point on point battle). I would love to see you guys expand into historical stuff a little bit more, although I know it's not your core interest it is still a large part of the hobby.

Have you guys checked out Sam Mustafa's rules? They have straight forward mechanics, the activation has an interesting card-driven and you don't need a lot of models to play a game. Longstreet is his latest game and I mention it because Craig has played some ACW games in his uni days: http://www.sammustafa.com/honour/modules-games/future-modules/

Hey Guys,
I've been listening for a while now and just got through this episode. Definitely my favourite of what I've listened to so far.
So you've got me super excited about Firestorm Armada. To the point that I'm ready to buy the 2p starter set and give it a whirl. Here's the thing though. I'm totally new to miniatures gaming. The closest I've come is games like heroScape and Battleship Galaxies. I've never assembled a model and haven't really done any painting. I'll be getting into this totally on my own with the hope of roping a buddy in once I get everything assembled and painted and I get a handle on the rules.
So, am I crazy? Is this game accessible enough for someone like me? If not do you have an alternate suggestion?
I'm really excited about this game based solely on what you've said about it so what do you say?
Thanks,
Eric.