Author: Chuck Platt

  • Review: Rainbow Moon (Sony PlayStation 3)

    Rainbow Moon Publisher: EastAsia Soft Developer: Sidequest Studios Genre: Strategy RPG Release Date: 07/10/2012 Rainbow Moon kind of came out of nowhere. A tactics style strategy RPG from the German developers of the space shooter Soldner X, Rainbow Moon didn’t have a particularly strong pedigree behind it or a lot of hype. A fan of…

  • Tabletop Review: 1989: Dawn of Freedom

    1989: Dawn of Freedom Publisher: GMT Games Cost: $65 Release Date: March 2012 Get it Here: GMT Games The death and dissolution of communism in Eastern Europe does not, at first blush, seem like the most evocative historical period for a board game to draw from. While I was young in 1989, I do remember…

  • Review: Prototype 2 (Sony Playstation 3)

    Prototype 2 Publisher: Activision Developer: Radical Entertainment Genre: Action Release Date: 04/24/2012 You can’t rate a Slim Jim. Either the spicy, salty, vaguely meaty taste and oily texture is exactly what you desire or it is not. With a watered down fountain Mountain Dew in my hand, a Slim Jim is the perfect meat-style snack.…

  • Review: Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2013 (Sony PS3)

    Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2013 Publisher: Electronic Arts Developer: Electronic Arts Genre: Sports (Golf) Release Date: 03/27/2012 Golf is a sport perfect for video game adaption. The structure of golf tends towards a solitary figure doing mental and physical combat with a series of holes, and feels something like a puzzle game. Honestly, after a…

  • Hands-On Preview: Confrontation (PC)

    Several years ago, I drifted away from Games Workshop’s Warhammer and Warhammer 40k miniatures games and started looking for an alternative. There were a few miniatures games available to fill the void, but it was Rackham Games and their game Confrontation that grabbed my interest. Rackham being a French company, the aesthetic of Confrontation‘s setting,…

  • Tabletop Review: Isle of the Unknown

    Isle of the Unknown Publisher: Lamentations of the Flame Princess Pages: 128 Cost: $28.99 (Hardcover)/$15.30 (PDF) Release Date: 12/14/2011 Get It Here: Troll and Toad/DrivethruRPG.com I fucking hate Tolkien. More concisely, I fucking hate the role-playing game legacy of Tolkien. I have no use for grandiose magic hurling wizards, polymath elves, and stand-offish rangers with…

  • Miniatures Review: GunGlaive Conversion Pack

    We take a look at some miniature mods for those who want some Gunglaive attachments in their army.

  • Tabletop Review: Carcosa Addendum

    Having reviewed Cardcosa in digital format, we now turn our eyes to the hardbound release to see what, if anything, is added to this format.

  • Tabletop Review: Carcosa

    Carcosa Publisher: Lamentations of the Flame Princess Pages: 275 Cost: $21.25 Release Date: 12/14/2011 Get It Here: DriveThruRPG.com Violence is only notable in RPGs when it is either absent or overwhelming. The threshold for sex being notable is lower, but not so much as it was pre-Vampire: the Masquerade. When I first encountered the name…

  • Miniatures Review: Biohazard Heads

    Biohazard Heads Manufacturer: Maxmini Scale: Heroic 28mm Material: Resin Price: $7.91 for ten heads Get It Here: Maxmini The first Chaos Space Marine that I found interesting, the Death Guard are one of the most intriguing Warhammer 40k factions. Starting life as stalwart, hearty drop troops, the post-Horus Heresy Death Guard are bloated with pestilence…

  • Miniatures Review: Gothic Backpacks

    Gothic Backpacks Manufacturer: Maxmini Scale: Heroic 28mm Material: Resin Price: $7.91 for 6 backpacks Get Them Here: Maxmini In the last few years, there has been a proliferation of boutique conversion bitz. Primarily intended for Warhammer 40k Space Marines and Imperial Guard, a number of manufacturers make quality resin heads and guns ripe for converting.…

  • Miniatures Review: Steam Knight Helmets

    Steam Knight Helmets Manufacturer: Maxmini Scale: Heroic 28mm Material: Resin Price: $7.46 for 10 heads Get Them Here: Maxmini For all the vitriol people spew towards Games Workshop, their Space Marine models are a perfect canvas for science fiction conversions. The “Space Marine” archetype was not created by Games Workshop, but they have certainly done…

  • Tabletop Review: Ruined Empires

    Ruined Empires Publisher: Cubicle 7 Authors: Peter Cakebread and Ken Walton Pages: 42 Cost: $14.99 (print) $7.99 (PDF) Release Date: 11/06/2011 Get It Here: Cubicle 7 (print) DriveThruRPG.com (digital) I raved about Abney Park’s Airship Pirates when I reviewed it a couple months ago, and with good reason. Airship Pirates is a fantastic game and…

  • Life During War Games 12-16-2011

    I will remember 2011 as the year I rediscovered my love of tabletop gaming. 2007 was the last year in which I had played tabletop games with any sort of regularity. The Rifts campaign I was GMing was based in Russia and was deeply inspired by the movie The Brothers Grimm. It was a fun…

  • Miniatures Review: Harook

    Harook Manufacturer: Mad Robot Miniatures Scale: 15mm Material: Metal Price: $7 for a squad of 10 When I found out the second Mad Robot Miniatures release would be an alien race, I had high hopes. Even as a nascent 15mm science fiction war gamer, I was very aware there was a shortage of interesting aliens…

  • Miniatures Review: Tachyon Mercenary Corps

    Tachyon Mercenary Corps Manufacturer: Mad Robot Miniatures Scale: 15mm Material: Metal Price: $7 for 10 mercenaries Mad Robot became an early friend to my efforts to launch miniatures coverage on Diehard GameFAN. The interview I had with Steve Stodden of Mad Robot was one of the first I did and is one I am very…

  • Life During War Games 12-09-2011

    I just came home from my first vacation in a few years, a four day jaunt to Branson, MO. My wife and I made a pilgrimage to watch the last Glen Campbell concert in Branson, a town he once owned and operated a theater in. While I never attended a show at the Glen Campbell…

  • Life During War Games 12-02-2011

    After last week’s massive Holiday Gift Guide, my wife’s amazing rendition of Alton Brown’s Thanksgiving Turkey recipe, and the preparations for my trip to see Glenn Campbell’s final concert, I thought this week would be the perfect time to catch up on some stuff that has slipped through the proverbial cracks. The jovial Ambush Alley…

  • Interview with Rob Lane of Maelstrom Games

    I was lucky enough to have a chat with Rob Lane of Maelstrom Games. We discussed the BaneLegions line of resin miniatures, including the massive BaneBeasts. Chuck Platt: I like to start with a bit of background. How did you end up in the wargaming hobby? Rob Lane: Well, both Tim and I have been…

  • Life During War Games 11-25-2011

    Since there is a scant month left before Christmas, this is as good a time as any to do a holiday shopping guide for the war gamers in your life. Be it your significant other, the guys in your gaming group, or your Reddit Secret Santa giftee, I have tried to include a variety of…