Headed For The East Coast Man

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Wargames - Battles at the Kitchen Table

Wargames are games that usually use military tactics while focusing on some fantasy type situation. In the real world military war game means that they will try out some military training maneuvers in a game like setting. These exercises help real soldiers to develop strategies and learn how to be prepared for any tactical situation.

In 1898, the creation of non-military type of wargaming was created by F. Jane who was famous for recreating sea battles, using lead and tin solders to replicate whole armies were the basis of these recreations. These collections of earlier armies were used to show how famous battles were won and lost.

In the 1970's and 80's wargaming opened new doors when they added science fiction situation and fantasy scenarios, using these miniature figurines whole lives could be created and entire wars could be carried out. These games quickly became a favorite of gaming enthusiasts and science fiction fans, people all over the world could live out whole lives in these games and create complicated strategies for winning, causing many companies to come up with many different wargame games.

The wargaming environment comes in three different categories, each with different types of game play. The first of these games is the historical wargames, in these games you are recreating historical wars, you can play games such as Napoleonic Wars, or the American Civil War. These games can be exciting recreations of interesting wars. The next type is the Naval games which recreates the famous at sea battles such as Jutland and Trafalgar. The last of these three are the most fun of all of the types is the fantasy wargame miniatures, they come in popular types such as Warhammer, The Lord of the Rings and Dungeons and Dragons Miniatures.

Playing these games require strategy in how you collect your pieces and build your terrain using skills like building a model railroad. You will want to research the history and make accurate recreations. Figures are usually made using pewter, lead and in many cases plastic. The games themselves are usually made up by the creator of the game and are usually based on history. Many like to create their own models, however in many cases, you can buy these sets in specialty stores and through their manufacturers.

There are some normal scales for the actual height of the figures; in any of the series you will find that they are all about these sizes.

The figures have standard sizes, most are 1 inch high or about 25 mm, and this is called the 1:72 scales. Usually this is the size of most toy soldiers. Another popular scale is the 1:32 scale in which the figures are about 2 3/8 inches high or about 54-56 mm high. Many of the British soldiers are this height. The more modern miniatures are somewhat smaller; because the belief is that if the figure is smaller the battle can be bigger. The models come in many small sizes such as microarmor which is 1:285 or 6mm and Dungeons and Dragons miniatures are 1:64 or 1 1/4 inches or 25mm and is one of the most popular for fantasy role playing games. There are also some that are used specifically for heroic leads, which may be 28mm.

Victor Epand is an expert consultant for board games, chess boards, and dungeons and dragons miniatures. You will find all these things and more if you visit used board games, chess boards.

A spokesman for the coup leaders reads a statement in this image made from Guinea TV broadcast, Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2008. A military-led group sent tanks through Guinea's capital on Wednesday and said it would hold power for two years after initially promising elections within 60 days. The National Council for Democracy and Development announced Tuesday that it had seized control of the West African country after the death of its longtime dictator.  Capt. Moussa Camara, the group's spokesman, said on state radio. 'We are here to promote the organization of credible and transparent presidential elections by the end of December 2010.'  (AP Photo/Guinea TV)AP - The leader of a coup in Guinea and several thousand soldiers paraded through the capital Wednesday as cheering crowds screamed "long live the president!" Renegade army Capt. Moussa Camara said his group would hold power until elections in two years.

Video Game Tester Information - Some Things You Need To Know

Many people have a misunderstanding on what it takes to be a professional video game tester. The fact of the matter is it can be a rewarding job, both fun to do and financially lucrative; however, don't buy into the dream that you can sit around in your underwear, play video games all day, and make a lot of money. It's not quite that easy.

If you want to succeed as a paid game tester, there are some basic skills you need to have first. First of all, you have to be good at communicating with others. This will be required when you first start out working for different companies and begin landing jobs to test video games. At the same time, excellent writing skills are going to be needed when you start giving your analysis on the beta versions of the video games that you're testing.

Testing a game is similar to playing a game for fun, with a few somewhat minor differences here and there. The big difference when you're testing a game is that it requires much more patience. Not only are you trying to beat the game, but you are trying to explore every single part of it; every nook and cranny, and every crevice. What are you looking for? Well, in a sense, nothing. You are just playing a game, but your hoping that the bugs and glitches FIND YOU!

Some gamers would rather just play the game for fun and pure enjoyment. Those are usually the people that say testing games ruins their experience. Having said that, if you're one of these people and feel that you don't have the patience to explore every part of a game (numerous times), then maybe you don't have what it takes to become a video game tester.

This brings us to the next point: you have to be VERY good at playing video games. Generally speaking, if you can't beat a game without pulling your hair out and screaming, then you can't test it properly. Therefore, being a highly skilled gamer is not only recommended, it it required. Another thing...although you can apply for testing jobs for specific platforms and/or for certain types a video games, you should know that the more platforms you have access to and the more game genres you're good at, the more job opportunities you will ultimately have.

Finally, you will need to acquire better "people" skills. The better you are at networking, the more likely you are to get high-paying video game tester jobs. This doesn't mean that you can't get jobs as a game tester solo; because you can and still make good money doing it on your own. It just means that in order to get the really high-paying jobs, and to get constant work, you have to make strong connections in the video game industry. This doesn't involve anything fancy or complicated; just simple, plain ol' good communication and people skills.

If you have these skills, or are willing to work on them, then you should consider becoming a video game tester!

Do You Think You Are Ready For a Career in Video Game Testing? Are You Prepared To Make Up To $50 an Hour Testing Video Games? If You Are, Click Here To Find Out How To Get Started With Your Very Own Video Game Testing Career.

LiveScience.com - What makes us feel spiritual? It could be the quieting of a small area in our brains, a new study suggests.The area in question - the right parietal lobe - is responsible for defining "Me," said researcher Brick Johnstone of Missouri University. It generates self-criticism, he said, and guides us through physical and social terrains by constantly updating our self-knowledge: my hand, my cocktail, my witty conversation skills, my new love interest ... ...