On First-of-the-Month Hits

From the creative mind of Keith DeCandido, “Tell what the first post of every month of the 2007 calendar year was.” Okie-day! January: On Incompetant Blundering — An after-action report of an Age of Empires III game. February: On Invitations — I was invited to a blogger conference. March: On the New Mission — IContinue reading “On First-of-the-Month Hits”

On Holding the Narrows

We met in battle in the Caribbean. I had as my ally Frederick the Great. On another island in the archipelago were Maurice of Nassau and Henry the Navigator. Early control of the water — particularly the narrow straight between my island and my opponent’s island — would determine the outcome. My strategy was straightforwardContinue reading “On Holding the Narrows”

On a Battle Amidst the Valleys

Napoleon and Frederick wanted a rematch. I had ground them beneath my boot on the sandy beaches of the Carolinas, but now I wanted to fight them in the valleys of the Appalachians. Two against one. The French and the Prussians against me. Those two in their valley, me in mine. It would be glorious!Continue reading “On a Battle Amidst the Valleys”

On a Rare and Unexpected Find

I was going through a box of office supplies just a little bit ago, and I came across something… unique. A StarCraft: Ghost mousepad. I can’t imagine that Blizzard made a ton of these, seeing as the game was in near-perpetual development hell before finally being killed a year and a half ago. I haveContinue reading “On a Rare and Unexpected Find”

On Incompetent Blundering

Henry the Navigator is an incompetent fool and a worthless ally. Our battleground today was someplace vaguely New England-like. It’s hard to say precisely, as it was a random map–Gandalf’s Random Land Map, to be precise. The landscape’s features, though, said New England, even if the native allies–the Lakota and the Iroquois–and the native fauna–herdsContinue reading “On Incompetent Blundering”

On a Fan-Made Age of Empires Expansion

I saw on AoE3 Heaven this afternoon that a group of enterprising Age of Empires III fans had designed an expansion for the game–Napoleonic Era. New civilizations. New units. New maps. How could I not take a look? Thusly curious, I downloaded the install file. Napoleonic Era adds several new map types, some European, someContinue reading “On a Fan-Made Age of Empires Expansion”