A Request for Historical Help!

Hi all!

First off, I am sorry things have been SOOOO quiet around the House of War recently... work and life have been VERY busy. And with all the computer work, the House of War has been ESPECIALLY bereft of anything toy soldier! Argh! For shame!

Hopefully in the near future that will change.

However, for now I have an important question to ask, one where your answer might make its way to national television!

I have a very near and dear friend who is a writer for one of the top television shows in the United States. He is currently on script and needed some help from the military community... and I was hoping you all could help!

He is looking for an example from history, preferably a none-too-obscure example, in which one side in a war or battle began the war or battle with a quick, decisive, and violent strike, a strike which was so devastating that it almost ended the war or battle before it could even begin!

He will be working this into an upcoming script, so if you can think of the perfect example of such an event (remember, it cannot be too obscure... it is being referenced by a pretty average guy on the show, so this is not the ideal time to try to show off your intimate knowledge of the 1823 Swede-Franco Battle of Flargeton Village!) and could let us know I, and he, would truly appreciate it!

Thanks everyone, and fear not, the House of War will be back to toy soldiers soon!

The modern city tile set

Hey all,

Not a lot to report today... just a quick mockup of the new tile set, the European set... if anyone has any suggestions or things they think would improve it, please share!

New Roster Work

Hey all,

Well, did a little refining on an old roster shot! First, updated the pictures with the actual ingame shots that we will be using. I also changed up the rating system to use the colored dots that we think we will be using... it is just easier, at a glance, to see how effective your guys are using these, and I think they will work well. Stats marked with a red are being brought down by something (in the case of this team, a wound) and stats in green are being increased (in this case, by the squad leader's skill and two guys being within his command radius.)

I also did a second version of the roster sheet... I am not sure which one we will end up going with! The second version has the advantage of being able to do drag-down menus to select the guys in the squad, their gear, and the like, and a little more direct ability to compare squad members. I think the second one is actually a bit more useful, although I enjoy the look of the first better; it makes the guys look more individual to me. In the end, however, I think this second version is likely to be the one (or at least the style) that gets used. Maybe double clicking on a guy on THIS screen would bring up a character card, which would also list things like medals and awards, and big actions?

Squad Classes in Squadcrawler

Hey all! Well, we've been discussing and brainstorming about our new squad based combat game... and one thing I've been considering recently is squad "classes." All teams will have a class. There will be a number to choose from; right now, I have five in mind, each with their own advantages and disadvantages... so I thought I would share them here!

Squad Class: 3rd World Militia

Advantages: Lots and lots and LOTS of cheap, cheap troops. 3rd World Militias will invariably outnumber their enemy. Plus, their troops are very hard to pin down... often because they aren't smart enough or experienced enough to know when to hit the dirt!

Disadvantages: Severely limited weapon access. Rare will be the chance to pick up anything other than a battered AK47, and you can forget any thoughts you had of heavier gear or sniper equipment. Little to no armor, plus absolutely no ability to get technology like scopes and the like. 3rd World Militia troops are usually bottom of the barrel civilian types, with no formal training... you just need to make up for lack of quality with quantity, quantity, quantity.


Squad Class: 3rd World Military

Advantages: A good number of relatively-trained troops. Decent access to weapons and armor, although the more exotic stuff will be out of their reach. Some training.

Disadvantages: No real access to the top weaponry, tech, or trained troops. 3rd World Military squads don't have the sort of support options that 1st World Military squads do.


Squad Class: Insurgent

Advantages: Troops are cheap, and have very high morale. Decent access to weapons, similar to the 3rd World Military squads, as many insurgencies are supplied by friendly governments. Unique abilities, such as being able to deploy much further into the map than most enemies, or to plant explosives in certain key areas before the battle.

Disadvantages: No access to the top weaponry, armor, or trained troops, and almost no tech. Insurgent troops have little to no training and are outclassed man-to-man by almost every other type of squad with the possible exception of the 3rd World Militias.


Squad Class: 1st World Military

Advantages: Very well trained troops. Wide range of weapons, armor, and tech available. Support options like gunships and the like often available to 1st World Military squads.

Disadvantages: Quality isn't cheap; almost everything in the 1st World Military squads is expensive, so you will be outnumbered by most every enemy.


Squad Class: Special Forces

Advantages: The very best trained troops around, capable of killing many times their numbers. Access to any and all weaponry, technology, and armor. Some exotic support available.

Disadvantages: Special Forces squads are abhorrently expensive... you may only have a handful of troops to hold off that swarm of enemy militiamen!

Work Continues on the Modern Combat Game

Well, myself and the coder had a "Come to Jesus" talk last night, and decided to put the wargame video game on hold for now. We have the basic graphic work done, but thought we would enjoy working on the modern squad combat game a bit more... so, that is what we are doing! We haven't totally shelved the wargame, of course, as it would be a fairly simple project, so tabletop wargamers, fear not; something will be along at some point!

Anyway... I thought I would take a short while and work on the second set of buildings; namely, the European/North American city ones. So far this is just the basic work... I have some more to do, but I think they will look nice... here is are a couple demonstration city blocks! I think they will look pretty sharp once I have all the details done.

What's that? An actual wargame video game?

So... please keep in mind that the above photo is a complete composite. One unit, a bunch of times... terrain is just tiled, trees are repeated... yeah... wargaming on the computer with massive collections, with the ability to download other peoples collections to use...complete with modular terrain and the like...? Yeah, this could be somewhat cool...

I'll have more in the near future when we figure out what to do with this. Suffice it to say we have some cool ideas:)

My XBOX game is released!

Hey all!

Well, my first XBOX game is out!

"Zombie Armageddon" is a tower defense game for the XBOX 360, available on XBOX Live. It is a sharp game, with 11 levels of story mode, three difficulties (that changes more than just stats, no fear) and an unlimited sandbox mode, Onslaught, so you can play as long as you would like!

Anyway... here is the official "press" info.

"My first day on the job just happened to be the day the world ended."

Meet Lt. Jacob Hanson, fresh-faced US National Guard "butter bar." His audio letters home to mom are his only link to the world he knew---a world free of zombie dogs and fanatic undead. Thrust into command when his revered Captain Pitts is taken by the massing hordes, Hanson must lead his remaining troops---and the civilians they've rescued---to the safety of the harbor and a waiting ship. Will they make it out alive before an increasingly organized and sophisticated undead army overruns their defensive position?

· Story mode: Innovating within the tower-defense genre, Zombie Armageddon puts you into the action as Lt. Hanson, the terrified but resolute newbie thrust into a leadership role when the Field Manual, and everything else, goes straight to Hell. Will you discover what happened to Captain Pitts and who is out there organizing the scabby hordes?

· Game play: Zombie Armageddon innovates on the classic genre in several ways.

· Humvee deployment: Defenses can be deployed only via your Humvee, which ventures out from the safety of HQ to set up positions and deploy upgrades. Choose wisely: the deeper you send your team into enemy territory, the greater the chance they will succumb to your ghoulish foes.

· Civilian Rescue: As if fighting off hungry undead weren’t challenging enough, civilians are trapped in various places around the city. Only you can make the hard choice between tactical defense and mission of mercy.

· Building Height: Taller buildings give you greater tactical advantage, but the best positions are sometimes the hardest ones to get to. Your ability to identify and take the best locations will mean the difference between success and a short career.

· Tower Demolition: See a tall building behind an inferior position? Call out your Demolition Squad to make your own opportunities. Be careful, though. The zombies won't stop attacking while you're busy playing with dynamite.

· Onslaught mode: If you just can't get enough of those undead hordes, try your hand at Onslaught mode, where you never see the same map twice! Zombie Armageddon will continue spawning wave after wave of zombies until they can reach your HQ and feast upon your tasty brains. When you’ve been torn apart by the horde, the only thing you’ll have left is bragging rights to High Score.


Anyway... to learn more, check out...

"Zombie Armageddon!"

And Zombie Armageddon on Facebook

So, how would you represent...

Hey all,

I know that video games are not the typical gaming medium of readers of this blog, but since that is my current project, I wanted to ask for some help!

In the game, we need to represent that a guy can be "pinned." This means he has come under fire and is suppressed, unable to move or do very much at all.

We want to represent this using some sort of graphic over the head of the soldier in question. Right now we are considering some sort of "Spidey Sense" indicator, like Spider Man has over his head when he detects trouble...

But I did want to ask; does anyone have any idea for a simple graphical indicator we could use to indicate a guy is under fire, panicked, and pinned down?

Some experiments with Roster Pictures

Well, I've been playing around a bit with roster pictures... we want to be able to layer on gear with these photos as well as the in-game photos, so you can see your guys wearing the appropriate gear. It took a bit of thinking... for example, the INSIDE of the helmet has to be layered on first, then the head, then the outside of the helmet. Otherwise you would run into some big match-up problems. But overall I think it will work nicely to reflect your team... below is the actual ingames of the guys pictured above!