Saturday, October 26, 2002

Thanks to the power of Sourcefroge we can now get Reader Feedback:)- If you have read Countermoves Volume 1 Issue 3 please take a few seconds to use the easy to fill out Survey over at the Survey Section of our site. Your feedback will help us fine tune Countermoves. Thanks for the help.

Tuesday, October 08, 2002


Volume 1 Issue 3 Released

Volume 1 Issue 3 ( Spring/Summer 2002 ) is now sitting in the Files Section.

This issue is packed full of great game goodness. There is a run down on the results of the Microgames Design Contest 2002 as well as the game that took First Place, Operation Whirlwind by Brain Train. Walt O'Hara checks in with some variants for The Illuminati as well as the solutions to last issue's WordFind. There is a double dose of Trevor Blake, an article on using coins for dice and a public domain chess rules. Devlyn Davis has a stinky game of dice for kids called Skunk. Of course there are this issue's installment of the Tech Deck, various words from yours truly as well as some graphical fun.

There are two version to choose from. The Print Ready version is all set to be sent to your printer; print odd pages on one side, even pages on the other..even without a duplex printer this is a snap. The Display Ready version is for viewing on your screen, that is the pages flow sequentially as opposed to the Print Ready printer ready sequence.

Either way they are there for you to read , enjoy. Issue 4 should be here by the end of December

Tuesday, October 01, 2002

Volume 1 Issue 3 beta Now Ready

A proof ready color copy of Volume 1 Issue 3 ( Spring/Summer 2002 ) is now sitting in the Files Section. Please download it, read it, enjoy it , and send back any feed back to me. If no major changes need making this will become the full release version.

Monday, September 16, 2002

The Results of the Microgames Design Contest 2002


The contestant worked thier magic, the judges played the creations. Now we see just whose cusine will reign supreme....sorry too much Iron Chef.


Aside from honor and glory of doing a job well done the winners in each category as well as the #1 and #2 overall winners will be spotlighted in a special issue of Countermoves. All entries have the option of being publish in Countermoves.


First place overall gets first pick of any two prizes listed below. Second place overall gets the pick of one prize listed below.


Task Force Games Valkenburg Castle

Metagamings Artifact

Interplay #1

ButtonMen Vampires (Angel/Buddy)

US Patent Number 1

20 bucks

Countermoves #2 color printed version



Before we go any further I want to thank everyone who helped out in doing the MDC2002. I learnt a lot form it and hope the next one will be even better. I want to thank all those who entered games, they all are winners. I also want to thank those who sent in judge reports. I also want to thank my wife for not killing me during the contest.
From the time I started to plan it till now we have had a newborn son enter the house:)- It makes me want to do a Newborn Microgame..but not right now.


Now...it is time.


In first place....Brian Train's Operation Whirlwind.

In second place...a three way tie

Joe Scoleri' Glider Pit Gladiator 2002

David Allen's Harvest the Wind

Gottardo Zancani's Steel and Crystal



Thursday, July 18, 2002


Countermoves is proud to announce that it is now part of the Sourceforge Open Source Community. A new site is being hosted on the Sourceforge servers to facilitate distribution of the Countermoves publications, several mailing lists and discussion forums, game development collaboration tools and a host of other services which will make interaction between the game developers, players and readers more efficient.


You can find the new Workspace, News, Message Forums, Files section on the navigation bar near the top of this page.


Monday, June 10, 2002

Updates Updates



Microgame Design Contest News

The deadline for judgng has been pushed back to Aug 15th 2002. The sheer amount of great games submitted has left more than a few judges needing more time to fully report on the games. So if you have not already, pick up one, some or all of the games at the MDC2002 Games Warehouse, play them, and write up a judges report to send in (send them to mdc2002@wsmf.org ). The reports can be as short (rate them by the numbers) or as verbose as you want, but everyone will help the game designers not only win prizes but tune up thier games to be even better.



Countermoves Zine News


The last issue (vol 2 iss 2) really took a lot of work to do up and so we have revamped our outlook for future issues. Rather then trying to put out WarandPeace sized issues we will work to put out more regular issues which will be easier for folks to print out and distribute.


Yes I got carried away with Issue 2, I admit it. I went color crazy and insert crazy and drove my wife crazy. Thankfully the voice of reason sat me down and told me what i need to do..that is focus on the goal of what the zine is supposed to be. It is supposed to be a way to get cool games to as many people as possible via a geurilla distribution system. Putting out big assed glossy looking affairs may be cool for the ego but horrible for the goal.


So we scale to realistic proportions and my wife stops glowering at me every time I talk about stappling centered evenings.




Thursday, May 02, 2002


http://groups.yahoo.com/group/microgamesdesigncontest2002/files/


The Microgame Design Contest 2002 is a place for game developers to show off thier Iron Chef Game Design skills and for game players to judge the works.May 1st 2002 is the deadline for geame developers for entering games, and then the real fun starts...judging. Here is a list of the games you can playtest and judge. Deadline for judging is June 1st 2002.

BlitzCommander -A microgame representing Operational Level Warfare during World War 2 by J. Pardeck

Glider-Pit Gladiators 2002-A microgame of ancient aerial combat by Joe Scoleri

Harvest The Wind- A microgame of tactical combat in the 19th Century American West by David Allen

Leetown and Elkhorn Tavern- A microgame of the the Civil War battles in Leetown and Elkhorn Tavern Arkansas by James Acerra

Operation Whirlwind -A microgame of the situation in Budapest in November 1956 by Brian Train

Richthofen WWI Air Combat Car -by Michael Maners

Search Diver- Search Diver is a microgame involving dive planning and underwater search by David H. Allen

Steel And Crystal -A solo microgame of conquest in a fantasy land by Gottardo Zancani

WarpQuest -An abstract microgame system that depicts goal driven scenarios by Lloyd Krassner and the WarpSpawn Crew

WarpSkirmish -An abstract microgame system that utilizes a mix of board, card, dice and unit elements to create a system with chess-like strategy, fog-of-war uncertainty and module expandability by Lloyd Krassner and the WarpSpawn Crew

Way Of The Warrior-
A solo microgame system to simulate small tactical war operations by Gottardo Zancani

Wednesday, April 10, 2002






Countermoves Zine Volume 1 Issue 2
is done. You can find the PNGs to print out at the Countermoves Files Section