Getting Ready for Historicon

With the recent release of the PDF version of The GASLIGHT Compendium and the upcoming release of the hard-cover edition, Chris and I are planning to run many GASLIGHT games at Historicon.  Two of the games I’m running are “straight” historical games, without any VSF elements.  One is a civil war game that is meant to have one of everything you hear about in Civil War battles, such as a stone bridge, small rocky hill, railroad cut, sunken road, etc.

Building "Devil's Den"
Building "Devil's Den"

This is a picture of Sammy helping me put the final touches on the “Devil’s Den” terrain piece.  This started as the hill from two Games Workshop Battle of Five Armies sets.  I added a bunch of rocks I molded in plaster.  With a lot of dry brushing and flocking, it looks pretty good.

The other “straight historical” game I’m running involves Moros in the Philippines.

Moros taking up firing positions in a rocky outcropping
Moros taking up firing positions in a rocky outcropping

In this scenario, the US players are trying to capture a Moro fort.  The Moros are trying to kill Americans, capture their baggage train, and take some Filipino prisoners.  The scenario played pretty well.

Part of the American column
Part of the American column

After the play test, there was a lot of talk about how to allocate victory points.  I didn’t want this to be a slug fest.  That’s why the objectives between the two sides are orthogonal.  The Americans want the fort, but the Moros want the supplies and don’t care much about the fort.  We also had a long discussion about how HAWKs are probably not good for play testing convention games because we tend to be more aggressive, more focused on the objective of the game, more likely to follow the plan, and more willing to cooperate with each other.  I think this will be a fun convention game.

GASLIGHT Compendium PDF Goes on Sale Today

As previously announced, the GASLIGHT Compendium goes on sale as a .pdf download today through RPG Now.

Don't be "That Guy" Who Doesn't Have The GASLIGHT Compendium
Don't be "That Guy" Who Doesn't Have The GASLIGHT Compendium

Be the first in your club to get this 190-page book, with color throughout.  The book contains the complete contents of the four previously-released books: GASLIGHT (VSF skirmishes), Battles by GASLIGHT (large VSF battles), To Be Continued… by GASLIGHT (pulp), and Adventures and Expeditions by GASLIGHT (role playing).  In addition, The GASLIGHT Compendium includes rules for fleet battles, detailed rules for aerial vehicles, redesigned vehicle damage charts, redesigned vehicle and unit record sheets, and a full index.

You don't have The GASLIGHT Compendium?!
You don't have The GASLIGHT Compendium?!

As we wrote the various GASLIGHT supplements, we worked hard to ensure all the systems were completely compatible.  This allowed a group to choose the Battles by GASLIGHT activation system, for instance, to use with their GASLIGHT games.  It also made it easy to introduce pulp elements into games.  This new book is arranged in more of a “Chinese menu” format by topic (e.g., activation, firing, melee, etc.), allowing players to customize their GASLIGHT experience to meet their desires.  The open-ended nature of GASLIGHT is part of what has made it so successful the past 11 years.

The hard-cover edition will be available in just a few more weeks.  The final price of this attractive book will be $49.  The hard-cover edition will be available at many fine retailers, including, but not limited to, Old Glory and Amazon.com.  We’ll post the other distributors as we finalize arrangements.

There are lots of cool merchandise to purchase!
There are lots of cool merchandise to purchase!

… And don’t forget all the great GASLIGHT Compendium merchandise available at www.zazzle.com/gaslightstore.