Alternative Armies’ En Garde includes not just one set of dueling rules, but three. Unlike the swordplay duel, which include everything from strength to reflexes to movement to endurance, the rules for the pistol duel are simple and streamlined.  The duel itself is comprised of four phases, the first...

It’s time. Your seconds stand in silent testimony. The trash talking has been silenced.  The dancing is over.  You and your 15mm opponent have finally reached the moment of the plunge into violence. In Alternative Armies’ En Garde, when the steel meets the flesh, the players have some important...

My recent travels have led me to conclude that my collection lacks a suitable shelf of one-on-one combat games.  If you think about it, these are a natural for the more mobile gamer who has to consider variables such as weight and portability.  If all you need is a...

The implementation of vector-based spaceship combat in Traveller is easy.  It’s the strategy that results from the process that’s hard.  Like chess, the rules are simple, but lead to a wealth of complex puzzles and potential pitfalls for the unwary. Marc Miller gives Traveller (1977) players two options: Just...

NOT 3D PRINT FILES! Sheesh. A Billion Suns has been on my shelf for far too long.  That’s Mike Hutchinson’s space shoot-em-up wargame built from the bottom up with an objective system that gives it more of an economics and shoot-n-scoot flavor than a line-em-up one.  It’s been languishing...

This isn’t Captain Doose ‘s first trip to the misjump rodeo, and recent events have taught Chad Solo a thing or two about why the Doose is always loose. In the last post, we talked about how fuel-poor the Penfold sector of Traveller space is.  Of the now 25...

Who knew rolling a 6 or less on 2d6 would be so hard? In proto-Traveller, your chances of rolling up a starport that sells the good jump juice are are about 40%, and somebody really needs to explain that to my dice.  Of the 17 systems I’ve rolled only...

Ten billion people can’t all be wrong. Tobor is no paradise planet, but it’s got something going for it that keeps people there and keeps them growing the population.  Sure, it’s got no surface water and only a trace atmosphere.  It also has the most effective government in the...

The planet Herndon is an odd one, which makes it normal for the Traveller world generation system.  Check it out: 9,000 miles across Dense, tainted atmo 30% water coverage 50,000 population No government, but grenades are outlawed The last one is pretty easy.  There is a cultural proscription against...