My Favourite Games

The Games:

Dark Matters

This is a near-to-mid future space combat game by Eric Henry. It manages to maintain a wonderful mix between complexity and fun. Highly recommended. (for the record: yes, I am mentioned as a contributor. This is because I believe in the game. No, I don’t get paid when games are sold, but if you try the game because of this link, and like it, let Eric know. I'd LOVE to get a cut....)

Hard Vacuum

World War 2 space combat in a world that should have been. Sure, it’s not the hardest of science, but what can beat the fun of blowing up Nazis in the dark void of outer space....

Voidstriker

This is another good space combat game. Lighter (and less ‘hard science’) than Dark Matters, Voidstriker does offer more flexibility. It's a better Babylon 5 simulator than Babylon 5 Wars, a better Star Trek simulator than Starfleet Battles (although the Federation Commander series comes quite close for Star Trek), and I’d better stop mentioning trademarks before I get myself sued. Voidstriker 2 used to be known as “The Stars Our Decimation” and is currently named in honour of Charles Oines’ first game, a complicated (but neat) game called (surprisingly enough) “Voidstriker.”

For the record, Babylon 5 is owned by (and a trademark of) Warner Brothers, Babylon 5 Wars is owned by (and a trademark of) Agents of Gaming, Star Trek is owned by (and a trademark of) Paramount Pictures, and Starfleet Battles is owned by (and a trademark of) Amarillo Design Bureau. No challenge is intended to any of these trademarks.

Ok, that's done with. On to the NEXT game....

Attack Vector

Belonging to Ken Burnside, this game/teaching tool can well be described as a “holy grail” of tactical space combat games. It may be a bit more complex than “Full Thrust” or “Voidstriker”, but the results are worth the effort. Incredibly accurate physics in three dimensions (including separate tracking of displacement and velocity), fast-playing, and with the best play aids on the market. What’s more, if you want a popular licensed property, the game has been adapted to the “Honor Harrington” universe as the “Saganami Island Tactical Simulator” (SITS). The original “Attack Vector” background is also exceptional in its design and attention to detail.

Stargrunt 2

Developed by Ground Zero Games, this is a squad-level miniatures game of future infantry combat. While GZG has their own background universe, the game is designed to play in any universe, and it has proven to be flexible enough to handle pretty much any size of game, up to several companies on a side (but set aside a few days for anything that big). GZG’s online catalogue is here.

Game-related

Not containing actual games (usually) but still related thereto....

Steffan O’Sullivan's page

This page contains an eclectic mix of game reviews, essays, and resources. The author is the creator of Fudge and assorted sourcebooks for other games. The page is well-designed and contains useful and well-written information on many different games spanning everything from The Settlers of Cataan to Fringeworthy to Bunnies and Burrows. What more reason do you need to go there?

Chris Weuve’s Page

This page has game ideas, book reviews, and in general a broad mix of interesting information. Well worth visiting.

Pyramid Magazine

This is a superb magazine for anyone interested in gaming. It contains a wide selection of informative and interesting articles, including a complete set of archives available for subscribers. If you can afford the subscription, and you're interested in gaming of any sort, this is almost certainly a worthwhile place to look.

Page last updated February 26, 2008

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