Whuff, been a while
.. but as usual a lot has been happening.
Games
Publishing schedule is now:
- Finnish Civil War (1918) in #82 of Paper Wars magazine, later 2013 or early 2014.
- Greek Civil War (1947-49) in #11 of Modern War magazine, summer 2014 (publisher had me adapt the game's "Algeria" family system to a COIN system Joe Miranda will introduce for his Iraq game in Modern War #6, but it wasn't hard to do and I managed to keep the flavour of the game)
- Next Lebanon War (hypothetical 201? IDF invasion) in #13 of Modern war, fall 2014. New system very loosely based on Joe Miranda's Bulge 20, shows asymmetry between high-tech conventional IDF and inchoate Hezbollah quite well I think - was to go in issue #9 but DG's publisher thinks an attack on Iran is more likely, so mine got pushed back for a game on that instead. I hope we're both wrong.
- Kandahar (2009-10 COIN in Afghanistan) in #17 of Modern War, summer 2015. Had an ambitious and intricate COIN system like a very upgunned Algeria that worked quite well and did a lot, in many subtle ways. But publisher thought it was too complex for a magazine game (they figure people want to spend 20 minutes or less learning the rules and plan to play these things possibly twice before the next issue comes out), so dropped in the District Commander engine for it (see below), which runs faster.
- Green Beret (1964 Central Highlands Vietnam, before US intervention) in #18 of Modern War, summer 2015
- Palace Coup, simple small multi-player game about a coup in an imaginary country, sent to Victory Point Games in the winter, they liked it but haven't heard from them lately
- EOKA (Cyprus 1955-59), been shopping this around but it's too obscure a subject, a guy made a very nice map for it but wants to put it on Kickstarter and I have my doubts. Sometimes I just want to dump these things on Wargamedownloads.com and let the 25 or 30 people who really want it, have it for $9.95 and then I'm shut of it.
- District Commander, COIN in a generic Red vs. Blue setting, just to test the engine which has three levels of complexity (diceless, diceless with chits, 1d6). I designed it with classrooms in mind, and in developing historical scenarios for it later (e.g. Helmand, Al-Anbar province, etc.). Kandahar will be the first such, now.
- Dios O Federacion, just worked this one out, it's a multiplayer card game on the power struggle in post-Chavez Venezuela (though really it's the setting for an engine I want to test out). Meant to point up the tension between expending resources on building one's own power base and battling others, and expending resources to solve common economica dn social problems which if left unattended make things worse for everyone, quickly. And you can do a coup.
Next week I am going to Montreal for six days for "Stack Academie", a game convention where I am Guest of Honour (!) with Volko Ruhnke. We are finishing off the last bits of A Distant Plain (our game on Afghanistan), which will be a major focus, and will cause some stir when it comes out in August. I haven't been in Montreal for 25 years, taking an extra day or two to walk about and see what's what. I don't care for flying anymore but I am looking forward to this. Also haven't spoken any French for 25 years, we'll see how much of it comes back.
Music
Circuit Breaker has been chugging away monthly, quite nicely! Two-year anniversary in January. Have started a Facebook group for it now, don't know what took me so long.
Setlists:
January 12, 2013 - Two Years of Circuit Breaker!
Murnau
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft - Co Co Pino
Klaus Nomi - Cre Spoda
Nash the Slash - Wolf
Cabaret Voltaire - Doom Zoom
Neon Judgement - Chinese Black
Severed Heads - Mambo Fist Miasma
Chris and Cosey - Pagan Tango
Suicide Commando - Better Off Dead (remix by Dive)
Blutengel - Der Spiegel
Manufacture - Armed Forces
Feindflug - AK47
Apoptygma Berzerk - Friendly Fire
Tactical Sekt - Syncope
Clan of Xymox - Emily
Aircrash Bureau - 120 BPM
Ayria - Insect Calm
Legend - Benjamite Bloodline
Otto Dix - Ostrazhenie
Komor Kommando - Love Your Neighbour (request)
Neuroticfish - Prostitute (NYC club edit)
February 10, 2013
Murnau set list:
Nash the Slash - Reactor #2
Portion Control - Divided
Chris and Cosey - Pagan Tango
... Cabaret Voltaire - Doom Zoom
John Foxx - Underpass
Skinny Puppy - Deadlines
Kraftwerk - Numbers
Ege Bam Yasi - This is an Egg
Front 242 - Operating Tracks
Severed Heads - 4WD
Funker Vogt - Child Soldier
Covenant - Dead Stars
Mechanical Cabaret - Let's Go to Bed
2Bullet - Army March Drawn Sword Police
Combichrist - This is my Rifle (AK-47 remix)
Orange Sektor - Endzeit
Straftanz - Blood In Blood Out
Wumpscut - Krieg
AD:Key - Gruene Augen Luegen
March 10, 2013
DJ Murnau
Nash the Slash - Wolf
Einsturzende Neubauten - 3 Thoughts
Nash the Slash - Reactor #2
Portion Control - Chew You to Bits (rebuild)
Danse Macabre - She Believes
John Foxx - He’s a Liquid
Chris and Cosey - Exotica
Skinny Puppy - Chainsaw
Matt Sharp - We Have a Technical
Spine of God - Stripped
Covenant - Like Tears in Rain
Combichrist - God Wrapped in Plastic
Nachtmahr - Boom Boom Boom
Rotersand - Life Light
Technoir - Darkest Days
Apoptygma Berzerk - Friendly Fire
Ayria - The Gun Song
Orange Sektor - Polizisten
April 14, 2013
DJ Murnau
Test Dept - Long Live British Democracy (Which Has Flourished And Is Constantly Perfected Under The Immaculate Guidance Of The Great, Honourable, Generous And Correct Margaret Hilda THATCHER. She Is The Blue Sky In The Hearts Of All Nations. Our People Pay Homage And Bow In Deep Respect And Gratitude To Her, The Milk Of Human Kindness)
Test Dept - Legacy
Klaus Nomi - Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead
Attery Squash - Devo Was Right About Everything
Digital Emotion - Go Go Yellow Screen
Welle: Erdball - Tanzpalast 2000 (Commodore 64 version)
Kraftwerk - Die Modell
Nash the Slash - Swing Shift
Gary Numan - Cars (Dave Clark remix)
Prayer Tower - Warm Leatherette
John Foxx - 030
Clan of Xymox - Emily
Assemblage 23 - Surface
Spine of God - Stripped
Solitary Experiments - Star
AD: Key - Gruene Augen Lugen
Hocico - The Intruder
Ayria - Hunger
Eisenfunk - Citizen
Jeez
And now this:
"A bill that would revive some provisions of Canada's Anti-terrorism Act will get a final vote in the House of Commons Wednesday night.
The bill - known as S-7, the Combating Terrorism Act - would bring back two central provisions that were originally instituted by the Jean Chrétien government after the 9/11 attacks in New York in 2001 but were "sunsetted" after a five-year period.
One allowed for "preventative detention," meaning someone can be held without charge for up to three days just on suspicion of being involved in terrorism. The person can then be bound by certain probationary conditions for up to a year, and if he or she refuses the conditions, can be jailed for 12 months.
The second provides for an "investigative hearing" in which someone suspected of having knowledge of a terrorist act can be forced to answer questions. The objective is not to prosecute the person for a criminal offence, but merely to gather information.
If he or she refuses, that person can be imprisoned for up to 12 months. When the Harper government, during its first term, tried to bring back the terrorism measures in 2007, the Liberals opposed the move. Now, however, the government has Liberal support and only the official Opposition, the NDP, is protesting the bill.
The bill has already been though the Senate, and has been awaiting third reading in the Commons for months, but was rushed suddenly into debate on Monday in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings. A final vote expected Tuesday was deferred for a day.
Opposition critics have accused the government of trying to exploit the events in Boston and have skeptically pointed out the coincidence of pushing the bill to debate on the same day a major terrorist arrest was announced in Toronto.
In debate, the NDP pointed out it had proposed 17 amendments to the bill at the committee stage, but all were rejected by the Conservatives, who dominate the committee.
The Liberals support the bill and proposed no amendments."
I suppose this is as close as They feel they can come to a home-grown Patriot Act, at least for now. And I also find it difficult to believe that the arrest of those two useful idiots on Monday, who apparently had been under uneventful surveillance for a year and hadn't worked up to do anything yet, was not somehow coordinated with the Prime Minister's Office and the near-railroading of this bill (though with the help of the Liberals, it will be a slam-dunk).
Games
Publishing schedule is now:
- Finnish Civil War (1918) in #82 of Paper Wars magazine, later 2013 or early 2014.
- Greek Civil War (1947-49) in #11 of Modern War magazine, summer 2014 (publisher had me adapt the game's "Algeria" family system to a COIN system Joe Miranda will introduce for his Iraq game in Modern War #6, but it wasn't hard to do and I managed to keep the flavour of the game)
- Next Lebanon War (hypothetical 201? IDF invasion) in #13 of Modern war, fall 2014. New system very loosely based on Joe Miranda's Bulge 20, shows asymmetry between high-tech conventional IDF and inchoate Hezbollah quite well I think - was to go in issue #9 but DG's publisher thinks an attack on Iran is more likely, so mine got pushed back for a game on that instead. I hope we're both wrong.
- Kandahar (2009-10 COIN in Afghanistan) in #17 of Modern War, summer 2015. Had an ambitious and intricate COIN system like a very upgunned Algeria that worked quite well and did a lot, in many subtle ways. But publisher thought it was too complex for a magazine game (they figure people want to spend 20 minutes or less learning the rules and plan to play these things possibly twice before the next issue comes out), so dropped in the District Commander engine for it (see below), which runs faster.
- Green Beret (1964 Central Highlands Vietnam, before US intervention) in #18 of Modern War, summer 2015
- Palace Coup, simple small multi-player game about a coup in an imaginary country, sent to Victory Point Games in the winter, they liked it but haven't heard from them lately
- EOKA (Cyprus 1955-59), been shopping this around but it's too obscure a subject, a guy made a very nice map for it but wants to put it on Kickstarter and I have my doubts. Sometimes I just want to dump these things on Wargamedownloads.com and let the 25 or 30 people who really want it, have it for $9.95 and then I'm shut of it.
- District Commander, COIN in a generic Red vs. Blue setting, just to test the engine which has three levels of complexity (diceless, diceless with chits, 1d6). I designed it with classrooms in mind, and in developing historical scenarios for it later (e.g. Helmand, Al-Anbar province, etc.). Kandahar will be the first such, now.
- Dios O Federacion, just worked this one out, it's a multiplayer card game on the power struggle in post-Chavez Venezuela (though really it's the setting for an engine I want to test out). Meant to point up the tension between expending resources on building one's own power base and battling others, and expending resources to solve common economica dn social problems which if left unattended make things worse for everyone, quickly. And you can do a coup.
Next week I am going to Montreal for six days for "Stack Academie", a game convention where I am Guest of Honour (!) with Volko Ruhnke. We are finishing off the last bits of A Distant Plain (our game on Afghanistan), which will be a major focus, and will cause some stir when it comes out in August. I haven't been in Montreal for 25 years, taking an extra day or two to walk about and see what's what. I don't care for flying anymore but I am looking forward to this. Also haven't spoken any French for 25 years, we'll see how much of it comes back.
Music
Circuit Breaker has been chugging away monthly, quite nicely! Two-year anniversary in January. Have started a Facebook group for it now, don't know what took me so long.
Setlists:
January 12, 2013 - Two Years of Circuit Breaker!
Murnau
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft - Co Co Pino
Klaus Nomi - Cre Spoda
Nash the Slash - Wolf
Cabaret Voltaire - Doom Zoom
Neon Judgement - Chinese Black
Severed Heads - Mambo Fist Miasma
Chris and Cosey - Pagan Tango
Suicide Commando - Better Off Dead (remix by Dive)
Blutengel - Der Spiegel
Manufacture - Armed Forces
Feindflug - AK47
Apoptygma Berzerk - Friendly Fire
Tactical Sekt - Syncope
Clan of Xymox - Emily
Aircrash Bureau - 120 BPM
Ayria - Insect Calm
Legend - Benjamite Bloodline
Otto Dix - Ostrazhenie
Komor Kommando - Love Your Neighbour (request)
Neuroticfish - Prostitute (NYC club edit)
February 10, 2013
Murnau set list:
Nash the Slash - Reactor #2
Portion Control - Divided
Chris and Cosey - Pagan Tango
... Cabaret Voltaire - Doom Zoom
John Foxx - Underpass
Skinny Puppy - Deadlines
Kraftwerk - Numbers
Ege Bam Yasi - This is an Egg
Front 242 - Operating Tracks
Severed Heads - 4WD
Funker Vogt - Child Soldier
Covenant - Dead Stars
Mechanical Cabaret - Let's Go to Bed
2Bullet - Army March Drawn Sword Police
Combichrist - This is my Rifle (AK-47 remix)
Orange Sektor - Endzeit
Straftanz - Blood In Blood Out
Wumpscut - Krieg
AD:Key - Gruene Augen Luegen
March 10, 2013
DJ Murnau
Nash the Slash - Wolf
Einsturzende Neubauten - 3 Thoughts
Nash the Slash - Reactor #2
Portion Control - Chew You to Bits (rebuild)
Danse Macabre - She Believes
John Foxx - He’s a Liquid
Chris and Cosey - Exotica
Skinny Puppy - Chainsaw
Matt Sharp - We Have a Technical
Spine of God - Stripped
Covenant - Like Tears in Rain
Combichrist - God Wrapped in Plastic
Nachtmahr - Boom Boom Boom
Rotersand - Life Light
Technoir - Darkest Days
Apoptygma Berzerk - Friendly Fire
Ayria - The Gun Song
Orange Sektor - Polizisten
April 14, 2013
DJ Murnau
Test Dept - Long Live British Democracy (Which Has Flourished And Is Constantly Perfected Under The Immaculate Guidance Of The Great, Honourable, Generous And Correct Margaret Hilda THATCHER. She Is The Blue Sky In The Hearts Of All Nations. Our People Pay Homage And Bow In Deep Respect And Gratitude To Her, The Milk Of Human Kindness)
Test Dept - Legacy
Klaus Nomi - Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead
Attery Squash - Devo Was Right About Everything
Digital Emotion - Go Go Yellow Screen
Welle: Erdball - Tanzpalast 2000 (Commodore 64 version)
Kraftwerk - Die Modell
Nash the Slash - Swing Shift
Gary Numan - Cars (Dave Clark remix)
Prayer Tower - Warm Leatherette
John Foxx - 030
Clan of Xymox - Emily
Assemblage 23 - Surface
Spine of God - Stripped
Solitary Experiments - Star
AD: Key - Gruene Augen Lugen
Hocico - The Intruder
Ayria - Hunger
Eisenfunk - Citizen
Jeez
And now this:
"A bill that would revive some provisions of Canada's Anti-terrorism Act will get a final vote in the House of Commons Wednesday night.
The bill - known as S-7, the Combating Terrorism Act - would bring back two central provisions that were originally instituted by the Jean Chrétien government after the 9/11 attacks in New York in 2001 but were "sunsetted" after a five-year period.
One allowed for "preventative detention," meaning someone can be held without charge for up to three days just on suspicion of being involved in terrorism. The person can then be bound by certain probationary conditions for up to a year, and if he or she refuses the conditions, can be jailed for 12 months.
The second provides for an "investigative hearing" in which someone suspected of having knowledge of a terrorist act can be forced to answer questions. The objective is not to prosecute the person for a criminal offence, but merely to gather information.
If he or she refuses, that person can be imprisoned for up to 12 months. When the Harper government, during its first term, tried to bring back the terrorism measures in 2007, the Liberals opposed the move. Now, however, the government has Liberal support and only the official Opposition, the NDP, is protesting the bill.
The bill has already been though the Senate, and has been awaiting third reading in the Commons for months, but was rushed suddenly into debate on Monday in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings. A final vote expected Tuesday was deferred for a day.
Opposition critics have accused the government of trying to exploit the events in Boston and have skeptically pointed out the coincidence of pushing the bill to debate on the same day a major terrorist arrest was announced in Toronto.
In debate, the NDP pointed out it had proposed 17 amendments to the bill at the committee stage, but all were rejected by the Conservatives, who dominate the committee.
The Liberals support the bill and proposed no amendments."
I suppose this is as close as They feel they can come to a home-grown Patriot Act, at least for now. And I also find it difficult to believe that the arrest of those two useful idiots on Monday, who apparently had been under uneventful surveillance for a year and hadn't worked up to do anything yet, was not somehow coordinated with the Prime Minister's Office and the near-railroading of this bill (though with the help of the Liberals, it will be a slam-dunk).