Crusader Kings II - Medieval Europe's Kings, Mayors, Dukes, Doges, Counts and Everybody in Between

They say all politics is local and boy in the latest grand-strategy Paradox's game Crusader Kings II politics is as local as across the hallway of your virtual palace.

The game spans from September 1066 to May 1453 and it is played over a map that covers all of Europe, the Middle East, northern Africa and what nowadays is European Russia.

A massive and highly detailed portrayal of the intricate political, religious and economical landscape of medieval Europe, Crusader Kings II follows in the steps of Sengoku with a gameplay where your character matters most. Yes, it is all about you and your dynasty now and you better watch out who you marry, who you ally with, who likes you or not, and who may be plotting to kill you.

I am still on the look for a strategy game that will not demand me to quit my day job, and the size and scope of Crusader Kings II has certainly caught my attention. Follow the link the below for some screenshots of an exploratory game session I enjoyed this weekend.

ArmA 2 Operation Arrowhead - Named Area of Interest "Viking" - Fear in Shades of Green: Up to the Wire

The decision to attack the combat outpost is a go. Much of what we can do with the Takistani rebels (assault or attack by fire) depends on that concertina wire that surrounds the outpost. Tonight, my best scout and me will infiltrate the combat outpost to determine if the wire is likely to be breached with an off-road vehicle.

Gamer's note: I'm using the Zeus Mod, which allegedly gives the AI a bit more wisdom. In this particular night mission, I hope the mod improves the AI's awareness to noise. This mission makes use of the plain vanilla "guard" waypoint, which will drive enemy AI units towards any detected infiltrators. So, our plan is to stay undetected.

Steam and Iron: The Great War at Sea - Naval Exercise in the North Sea - Part One

The game: Steam and Iron: The Great War at Sea
The purpose: Take some German dreadnoughts into a practice, randomly generated scenario

My humble task force's location. Random scenario settings with dreadnoughts as largest ships, small size. I've modified the colors for sea and land to shades of gray, just to give the whole affair a more WWI atmosphere (not sure how it will work for you guys).

I really wanted this to be some sort of naval exercise to observe what friendly AI-controlled divisions would do when assigned different roles. But I quickly got absorbed in the seamless combat experience this naval war game delivers. My ships did very good today, and the intoxication of victory will bias any future attempt of naval scholarship.

Command Ops Highway to the Reich - Ten Reasons to Parachute Back Into Market Garden

Maybe you never played the original Highway to the Reich or maybe you already played it to death. Either way, here are ten reasons to get back into Market Garden with the latest Panther Games engine. If you have played Conquest of the Aegean, you will know all of these but nonetheless it's worth to recount what's new since the original Highway to the Reich.

Achtung Panzer Operation Star, Sokolovo 1943

Released a while ago, this DLC for Achtung Panzer Operation Star brings a Czech flavor to the struggle for the Ukraine.

A panoramic view of the northwest tip of the town of Sokolovo. The red icons are from the 1st Czech battalion, which is under the operational control of the 62 Gds. Division.

X-Plane for Android/iOS - Lunch Breaks Got Very Entertaining

Yeah! A flight simulator that you can take with you while on the run.

X-Plane is one of the best flight simulators for the PC. To my total surprise, a light version of X-Plane 9 is available for tablets and smartphones.

Steam and Iron: The Great War at Sea - A Naval Combat War Game Both Tactical and Operational

This one came out last week and it is fantastic. Very interesting design: depending on the level of difficulty, you can move and target individual ships or just be in control of divisions and above.

This is a brief entry (rushing to the office right now), just some screenshots.

ArmA 2 Operation Arrowhead - Named Area of Interest "Viking" - Akbar Amin's Unbelievable Shot

Continued from this entry.
The Takistani Army is overextended in NAI Viking. Their patrols are minuscule in size and predictable in their range. As for the Takistani rebels, they have a penchant for explosives, rockets and extreme range fire. The latter never achieving too much ... We are scouting approaches to the infamous Takistany Army's combat outpost, where we intend to introduce the Takistani rebels to the benefits of close combat.

Enter Akbar Amin, a goatherd who is the best guide to the region. I met Akbar a couple of hours ago in his house for an observation patrol. I was expecting him to come out with his crook but instead he brought his SVD rifle. There was no way to convince this man to leave the weapon home.

I got a Tablet and I Like It

After a lot of thought (money is tight), borrowing iPads and tablets from friends for test drives and hunting for deals, I finally took the plunge.

In order of importance, my "needs" were: (i) everywhere access to an ever growing collecttion of technical reports/papers in PDF format; (ii) internet browsing with high portability; (iii) access to games/simms manuals while playing such games/sims and (iv) ebooks and other assorted niceties a tablet/iPad could offer.

The iPad is the undisputed darling of the market. Surprisingly, the android tablet I got outperforms it for reading the huge pdfs I use everyday. But that will not impress you, I reckon. The DCS A-10/Ka-50 flight Sims manuals (very large and graphics intensive) are rendered faster in my android tablet than in my neighbors iPad2. Also, the android tablet's storage can be expanded through a microSD card.

For internet browsing, I preferred the iPad. Its shape and weight are a work of art. My android tablet is a bit heavy to hold for long periods of time.

E-books are not a priority for me right now and you can read them with cheaper alternatives. A gadget that I will miss by not getting an Ipad is that wonderful app that connects to the DCS-A-10 ( http://www.ipadpit.nl/).

Anyway, the winner was the Acer Iconia A200 ( http://us.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/series/iconia-tab-a/iconiataba200/), an entry level tablet powered by the Android Honeycomb OS. Got it at my local Microcenter at a nice discount ($300.00). Powerful, not too fancy and is helping me with work and leisure.

Cheers,

Weekend Venture to the WWII Pacific Ocean ... And Skies

Pass the ammo. And the ritalin, because I was not able to focus on one game ...

HPS's Guadalcanal is a 2D simulation of WWII naval combat. I'm messing around with the Savo Island scenario and I needed to "see" how the area of operations would look like. "Seeing" meaning getting a better grasp of how big is the area and such other things you can't get from a 2D map.