I was robbed near Rabaul in Task Force Admiral

I felt my last Task Force Admiral demo clash went rather well. No US vessels ended up at the bottom of the Coral Sea. The Yorktown’s winged minions well and truly clobbered the Shōkaku, losing just one Dauntless in the process. And, with a little help from AA gunners, my CAPering Wildcats downed fifteen enemy aircraft without loss. When the outcome screen declared this impressive feat a ‘strategic defeat’ and a ‘tactical draw’, I sulked for a good five minutes.

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Hmmsim Metro: Seoulful but soulless?

I’m not sure I’ll ever warm to Hmmsim Metro’s deserted platforms and ugly PSDs, but it only took me an hour or two of virtual EMU operation to get over my dislike of this Korean train sim’s pedantic stopping rules, and quick-to-intervene automatic train protection systems.

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The Fight for Faire Bissone (Part 2)

I don’t envy the polygonal Canucks endeavouring to secure Faire Bissone’s bridge in this novel Combat Mission experiment. Commanded, during monthly wargaming sessions at Calgary Military Museums, by volunteers, some of whom have no previous CM experience, their promised Sherman has yet to arrive, and their surroundings teem with potential enemy positions.

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Review Reprise: FTL

I’ve written hundreds of reviews, previews, and retrospectives during my twenty-odd years as a games inspector. As many of these appeared in the British version of PC Gamer magazine and nowhere else, now and again something from my archive may appear as one of THC’s daily posts. In late September 2012, a fab sci-fi story generator called FTL coaxed me from my cosy genre niche and persuaded me to part with 89 of PC Gamer’s precious percentage points.

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