Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Let's have a Cup o' Tea...

4pm and it's time for some tea.  Well, at least that's the English tradition.  But with this cup o' tea, I raise my cup because the English are coming through for me.  I am securing the rights to make my map a reality. It's going to be a slow road, and yet, slightly expensive.  Stay tuned for even more updates!

Friday, October 2, 2015

People Still Play D&D...

Yes, Dead Ale Wives club does it right.

Now, I was asked recently how do you play D&D?   Hmmm tricky question.  How DO you play D&D...

Well, my answer is complex.  so I put it simply.  D&D is a lot like acting.  An actor(the player) in a movie is playing a role.  A director(the Dungeon Master) tells the actor what the scene is.  the actor then does his part for the movie.  being a hero fighting bad guys, or a drama where they are in a court room discussing the next case.  BUT, this is scripted acting.  D&D is more improv really.  The DM gives you the scene, then you have to decide what your character would do in that situation.

In D&D, you have a character (the role) that you play.  When given the role, you fit into it and "roleplay" that character.  What are his mannerisms, what's he like?  gruff?  timid?  does he run screaming at the sight of a yellow canary?  All of this is decided before the game is started.  Once is determined, then the player can play his role better.

The DM then sets the scene.  He give out the atmosphere, or flavor text of the situation.  For example:  The rain is coming down hard.  Your cloths are soaked from the rain.  Your boots splash through puddles in the street as you run towards the nearest tavern.  Opening the doors to the tavern, you are greeted by the dimly lit interior.  Several patrons glance up in your direction, sizing you up then go back to their drinks and meals.  The smells of freshly cooked meat fills your nostrils.   The place is crowded, but there still does remain a table empty.  What do you do?

At this point, the players take over and tell what they would be doing.  Do you go in and sit at the table?  Do you look around the room to see how rough it is before going in?  do you back out slowly into the rain and find another place? Do you ignore the table and belly up to the bar?

Once your decision is made, you announce it to the DM.   "I belly up to the bar!"  or "I sit at the empty table".  or if you wanted to be deep in your role, you'd say something like this:  "Drugar stands tall, ignoring the people that looked in his direction.  I shake off the rain from my cloak and head towards the empty table where I take a seat, then summon a bar wench."   Doing something descriptive like that always gets you points with the DM and extra XP.

XP?  what the frik is that?   Well, that is Experience Points.  You get these points for doing tasks, killing monsters, quests, and yes, even roleplaying.  The less street talk, aka table banter, the better.

Some of my best players have been ones that role played their characters well.  If all you do is quote rules and sling dice, then it's not roleplaying, it's ROLLplaying.

Thursday, September 17, 2015

Is that your Final Answer??

Why yes... Yes it is...

To keep it short:

Thank you for your interest in Google. We have reviewed your request to use Google Earth images. Google Earth images always require the Google Logo be displayed and cannot be altered in any way. If your map is an altered image, we cannot approve this use.


I guess I can't sell, or distribute the map in any way.  Sucks really.  So now I work on other avenues to work with this map and/or create anew.

Questions/thoughts/ideas always welcome...


P.S.  Project is NOT dead.  just have to work around it.  ;)

Sunday, September 13, 2015

Permissions...

Request for permission to use Google brand features

Thank you for your request. Due to the great number of brand permission inquiries we receive, please allow for two weeks for us to respond. We will get back to you as soon as we can.
The Google Permissions team

Yea, just gotta bide my time and hope they say yes.

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

Legal Beagle...

I have been working hard on getting prepped for the eventual sale of my map.  However, since this is a map made mostly of Google satellite imagery, I need to get their permission to use them in this project to make any sort of money.  So in the immortal works of the Emperor...


Happy Flying!

Monday, August 17, 2015

Look to the right --->

Yes, look right... Or left if you're from down under and reading this upside down.  ;)

There is a poll for you to answer.  I'm trying to gauge response on my map and how much would you pay for it.  Please take a moment and let me know.  The quicker I get responses, the quicker I can get this out to everyone.

Thursday, August 13, 2015

Gencon and the map...

For those who met me and or my map and are stopping by for an update, well, here it is.

I have several seemingly daunting things to do.

1.  Incorporate myself as an LLC

2.  Insure said LLC

3.  Get the full rights to the imagery that I used for the existing map, OR start from scratch building with imagery that is public domain or the license purchased through a company.

I think #3 will be the hardest to do.  it does delay the map somewhat as I don't want to get sued for this project thus terminating any future plans of mapping, (like my no mans land map).  The current map that Jim has from Ares games is ok, since he just paid cost to print it.

Stay tuned...

Tuesday, August 4, 2015

Gencon 2015 AAR Report: Battle over Margate

Scenario 2:  HMN1576939  German Bombing raid on England, July 7 1917.
Captain Kleine, commander of the England Squadron, has given the order for the raid to start at 8 in the morning.  24 Gothas are to take flight. Your mission is this, break off of the main formation with three bombers and attack Margate.  There are several factories working for the war effort.  As a tactical diversion from the main target of London, obliterate them and return home. 

Scenario 2:  HMN1576939  Defense of Margate, July 7, 1917
                The RNAS has found out that three bombers have broken off of the formation headed for London and are now headed towards Margate.  The RNAS has scrambled fighters to intercept.   Stop these bombers from bombing the factories in Margate.


The battle over margate, I had designed with 9 defenders, and three gothas.  4 of the defenders were coming from other Aerodromes, so these 4 were set up to come out of the clouds and drop into the battle 3 rounds in. I have directional dice to show what direction they drop in facing.  a cool idea for sure.  However, I was 4 people short, so the first four who died would take up one of the four to come in later.

Before the game, this was the shot from the Brits side.  The bombers are a long way off.

And a shot from the Gotha's side...

The game has begun, the bombers moving into position for the bombing run on the first target.

My players setting up their moves.

The bombers are set up for their attack run.

After a fierce attack run, the bombs have all missed their target.  Two hit the coal pile of the power plant, but the plant remained intact.

The bombers move on the second target...

One unlucky Brit got too close to two bombers shots and was riddled until only bits of broken wood rained down.  Bombs rain down towards their target!

Hit, you can almost see the building tear apart from the bombs hitting it!

A successful run!  Four good solid hits on the rail yard.  Mission completed.

A shot from the camel takes out one bomber as they turn for a second attempt on the coal plant.

At this point, only two defenders remain to stop the bombers.

Make that none.  The last defender is taken out.

The aftermath as the two bombers fly home, empty of their payload.  The coal plant survived, with minor damage.  They needed two hits on the plant, best to get one onto the plant itself.

The railyard was hit with major damage, a successful target obliteration.

Gencon 2015 AAR: Destroy the Zeppelin Sheds

Scenario 1:  HMN1576939  England’s Caproni CA.3 planes, June 1917.
Near the end of the Zeppelin Bombings of London, the British had two Caproni Ca.3 Bombers on loan from Italy, complete with their bomber crews.  They were stationed there for this mission, to destroy the Zeppelin Yard in Dusseldorf.  Two Caproni CA.3s and three escort planes head across the channel to destroy the sheds. 

Scenario 1:  HMN1576939  Defense of the Dusseldorf Zeppelin Factory, June, 1917
                Wire has come in informing that the British are flying towards the Dusseldorf Zeppelin factory.   Drive them away from the factory and do not let them destroy it.  We are staging our Gotha Bombers there for a raid on England next month.  Several have already arrived and have been hidden inside the sheds.

The Germans got wind of the British flying in to attempt to destroy the Zeppelin Sheds at Dusseldorf.  Scrambling some of the Flying Circus, the Germans attempt to stop the British from their bombing run.

 The bombers and their escorts get into position for the run, while being harassed by the circus.

A very unlucky German gets caught in between two bombers and an escort.  He didn't survive.

A German setting up for a flyby, opens up his guns on the bomber...

Kill Shot!  A bullet hits one of the bombs in the payload and it explodes, raining fiery debris over the countryside.

The pilot of the bomber didn';t line up right for a bomb run, he's got to now circle around for another pass.

German Aces chase after the British bomber.

Another look from behind a German plane.

The Bomber is still trying to circle to get a good run at the sheds.  not one bomb has dropped yet.  German planes surround him, the escorts are no match.


The killing shot, ends the attempt at bombing the sheds.  The Germans are successful at keeping the Gothas stations inside the sheds a secret for next month's raid on London.

Saturday, August 1, 2015

Friday, July 31, 2015

Zepplin sheds survived!

A quick AAR...

The Germans repelled the British bombers and the sheds survived.  The two bombers fell to the might of the flying circus!


Look for more pics and a full AAR after the con.

Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Gencon Bound!

I am heading out for Gencon tomorrow.  See everyone on Thursday!

If you are coming here for the first time stick around.  I will have pictures from the con, and more information about how to get the Custom Map for Wings of Glory shown below!




Thursday, July 23, 2015

One Week.....

One week and I'll be at Gencon.  I have my planes packed for each event, with a couple extra just in case.  My maps are also packed in boxes as well.  I've got two boxes.  the 6x10 sections for Ares Games Booth, and the other box holds my two pieces that I'm gaming on.  Plus, one 3x5 section to showcase the entire map.

Hope to see you there and may your plane fly high and your shots ring true!

~The LingSter

Thursday, June 18, 2015

Gencon and Ares Games


Ok folks, it's official.  I will be at GenCon this year. My map will be making it's official debut there.   I will be playing two scenarios on my map.  The parts I am playing on are going to be 5&9 and 12&16.  If you'd like to see the coastline up close and personal, The coastline will be divided into two parts, 1,2,5 & 6 and 3,4,7 & 8.   these two 6 foot by 10 foot sections will be showcased at the Ares booth.  So stop by and have some fun!

UPDATE:  My games at Gencon are almost full.  There are three slots left for the Friday game, to destroy the Zepplin Sheds.

Friday, June 12, 2015

The Map...


This is the map in it's 16 three foot by 5 foot peices.  That's a total of 12x20 feet for the whole thing.  I am expecting to offer this map in most anyway I can slice it.  3x5, 3x10, 3x15, 3x20, 6x5, 6x10, 6x15, 6x20, 9x5, 9x10, 9x15, 9x20, 12x5, 12x10, 12x15... well I could go on, but you get the idea.  Plus, the bigger splices, say... 3x10... there are 12 potential different maps in that size.  so yea, it's epic... and deserves something really epic to go with it.

Thursday, June 11, 2015

WAR! Over England!

The Germans have launched attacks at England.  Their bi-planes fly over our cities... bombing our factories.  it's your duty to join the fight.  Take the fight to them.  get them away from our homes and our children!






What you are looking at is the final version of my map. I have enlarged it to look 10x better than before.  it fits with the planes nicely...

Now comes the hard part of trying to make this monster available to the world.

Songs of the Great War....

If you were playing a game of Wings of Glory, would you want some music playing?  Some music that puts you into that time period?

Monday, June 8, 2015

Prototype of England....

Ok folks, here is a prototype of a section of my map.  I am printing one more prototype to see if that helps.  This seems good, but the next might be much more awesome.  For now, here's some pics of it:

The glare is from the sunlight coming through the tee I was under on my picnic table.

A SE5a flying over a small town and a very high altitude...

At this altitude, will the bombs hit their target?  

More to follow come the end of the week!

Saturday, May 23, 2015

A new suprise on my doorstep...


In fact, I didn't even let the guy drop it off.  I snatched it right out of his hands...



Unboxing is coming tomorrow!

Thursday, May 14, 2015

A surprise on my doorstep!

I came home today to find a wonderful surprise on my doorstep...


The banner map had arrived!

However...


It came in a box.

A rectangular box.

that wasn't 3 foot tall.

that was split in two and taped together.

I sliced open the box to get at the map inside and low and behold....

A folded banner.

A badly folded banner.

a badly folded banner that wound up being badly creased.

a badly folded banner that was badly creased and thin.

This thin, badly folded and creased banner was printed badly.  the print was blurry and pixellated.    The image had print lines on it throughout, as if they needed to clean their print heads.

UGLY.

So.. now I have to scramble to find a better place.  all because I thought that "banners on the cheap"  might actually be decent.

So now I have a badly folded and creased blurry pixellated map of england that came in a not quite 3-foot tall box that was split in two and taped together....

Friday, May 8, 2015

Gencon!!!

It's official.  the events are active and veritable and you can sign up for them!!

HMN1576939 World War 1: Destroy the Zeppelin Sheds has been made Active and your space has been confirmed. 


HMN1576938 World War 1: Battle Over Margate has been made Active and your space has been confirmed. 

Shipping Extra....

The first map has been shipped from the printer!  Let's see what ti's going to look like in a few days... may 13th is when it's expected to arrive!

Thursday, April 23, 2015

English Coastline... This Is My FINAL Answer.

Ok folks, if you're here reading this, you've been waiting for this moment for several months if not years for this moment....   May I present to you THE map...  Complete, I'm not changing things, it's good, fini, etc. etc.

Oh wait... that's the ORIGINAL Image...      Let's try this one:



Put these two images side by side and you'll see why it took 2 years to complete.  The above is the original unedited map.  The bottom is the edited map.  Here's a list of things I did to the map it's not all inclusive, I did lots more to it that I'm listing here.

1.  Removal of all 20th century giant power lines.  You know the type, the stand 100ft tall, made of metal and look like they could jolt you with 1.21 Gigawatts.

2.  Adding forests

3.  Sending the waterfront to a guy I know on the Aerodrome forums who goes by the handle PrivateBuzz.  He fixed the waterfornt and made it look great.

4.  Expanding the right city some, to make a bigger target.

5.  Added a Coal Power plant as a target... It's actually the one in my backyard... oh and my backyard and house is also on the map  :)

6.  Added Stow Maries Airfield, last known intact airfield, as it stood back in 1916...

7.  The Cardington Zepplin Sheds.

8.  A factory, a building that is part of Xerox, over in Webster.  Looked good enough to be a nice target.

9.  A railway wandering through the map, complete with several rail stations.

10.  The Charlotte Hojack Rail bridge.  This bridge is long gone, one of the last known to exist, Originally it was a swing bridge that allowed trains to cross the river.


All in all, plenty of targets on the map.  Each 3x5 section has several targets to choose from, many are in the middle of the map, or at least, not too close to the edge, so that it'd prove difficult to turn around after bombing.



This map is going to the printers this weekend for a test print.  if the place I've chosen printed good enough, then I will print more of it.  here is a breakdown of the differnt variations of the map you could get.  In order from top to bottom:  Four 3x5ft sections, Two 3x10ft sections, Two 6x5ft sections


As always, let me know what you think!

Monday, April 20, 2015

English Coastline... Semi-final map....

I have my map "done".  I split it into all parts I wanted to split it into....  BUT....  I found two issues on the map.  One, a traffic Circle...  and second, a bridge that has tree shadows on it... but no trees near to throw those shadows...


This is a preview image of about 10% the original size.  This is to whet your appetite for some coastal bombing runs.

I plan on getting a test print run from a place I know.  We shall see how it turns out.  Once I have my map in my hands next week, I'll let you all know what it looks like and then hopefully just go with the same place and get a bunch printed.  and a really decently priced vinyl map.

Thursday, April 9, 2015

A preview of the coastline


Here is a small shot of one of the 3x5 sections of the map that I have been making.  Note, you've got a fair chunk of the map as water, with a factory near the middle as a target...  don't forget the railway cutting across the lower right section of the map.  Gotta bomb the train!

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Choo Choo!




The last thing going onto the map for a target.  this makes 4 good targets, one per section.