Author Archives: Clayton Oliver

Eagle Leader Pilot Builder Worksheet

One of my ongoing projects over the past couple of months has been to reverse-engineer the design formula that DVG uses to build and balance pilots for the Air Leader series of games. The first step was to spreadsheet every printed pilot card in the Eagle Leader run, which was a non-trivial but oddly-relaxing data entry project.

Then the analysis started. That was considerably less relaxing.

I still haven’t isolated the formula that DVG actually uses (and I have, at times, had serious doubts that it actually exists, or that they follow their own math if it does exist). But I do have a ~85% solution that I’m considering “good enough for now.”

If you’re one of the 0.3 of my readers who are interested, you can get it on my main DVG resources page.

Shaghāl

I recently finished reading Jackals, designed by John-Matthew DeFoggi and published by Osprey in 2021. It had been on my items-of-interest list for a couple of years as an RPG that kept popping up in Reddit threads about underrated gems. In April, while heading home from a rifle class in Alabama, I swung through the Chattanooga location of McKay Books and found a copy in their used gaming section. I’m glad I go to this one ahead of a number of other books that have been languishing in my to-read queue for more time, because “underrated gem” is definitely an accurate descriptor for this one. This will be more of a pleased burble than an actual review, but it’s not like I’m getting paid to do this, so I can occasionally indulge my enthusiasms.

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Alpha Jet Alpha Test

After letting some thoughts on the Luftwaffe in Eagle Leader percolate for a month, I bought a replacement power cable for our flatbed scanner, grabbed some images at 600dpi, and did a little bit of hacking and homebrewing in GIMP.

I don’t know if this’ll go any farther – it’s not like I have a shortage of other creative projects – but I’m pleased with what I was able to accomplish with a few hours of research and tinkering.

Near as I can tell, the fonts DVG used are Gunplay Regular (by Typodermic) for the vertical text (aircraft models, service years, and SO costs), and something really close to Bombardier for everything else.

Head to Head Engagement: Eagle Leader vs. Fulcrum Leader

Over the past couple of months, I’ve been playing – and thoroughly enjoying – Eagle Leader. I recently picked up its sibling, Fulcrum Leader, and am currently playing through my first campaign. These are collectively the newest additions to Dan Verssen Games’ Leader series of solo wargames (more specifically, of the Air Leader sub-branch, which originated with Hornet Leader). I won’t say too much more about the games’ shared ancestry here because there is plenty of content elsenet, and this is neither advertisement nor review (despite me dumping this in the Reviews category for ease of later return).

So whatthehell am I spending electrons on, then?

My intent with this post is to illustrate the points of congruence and divergence between the two games – beyond the “well, duh” obvious of NATO versus Warsaw Pact player-avatar perspective. Basically, I’m putting together the kind of information that I wish I’d had when I was considering whether to buy one or both, because it was all too easy to conclude that they’re the same game with different skins. That, I’m happy to report, is in no way the case. While they definitely share the core mechanics and gameplay loop of the Air Leader sub-series, the devil is in the details – and there are a lot of details in which they differ.

The following assumes a baseline level of familiarity with the Leader series, particularly the Air Leader sub-family (Hornet Leader, Phantom Leader, Israeli Air Force Leader, Corsair Leader, Zero Leader…).

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Composite Squadron II

After having an inordinate amount of fun with Eagle Leader despite its editing and playtesting issues (thank the gods for an active and mostly-helpful boardgamegeek.com community), I broke down and picked up the full run of Fulcrum Leader. Despite some lingering misgivings about playing the default bad guys from my childhood (and, arguably, again from 2014 forward), I’m finding it an equally-enjoyable play experience – and arguably better-designed than its cousin.

As my regular readers may anticipate, I’ve built out a random squadron generator here.

Cyclopean Skeleton

A random thought on a Shadowdark creature and the loot it may leave behind.

An animated skeleton with a glowing gem set in its forehead.

AC 15 (chainmail + shield), HP 11, ATK 1 longsword +1 (1d8) or 1 javelin (far) +0 (1d4), MV near, S +1, D +0, C +2, I -2, W +0, Ch -1, AL C, LV 3

Undead. Immune to morale checks.

Reflecting Cabochon. First hostile spell with a spellcasting check less than 20 is reflected at caster.

Reflecting Cabochon

A one-inch gem polished to a mirror sheen.

Benefit. When struck by hostile spell, destroy reflecting cabochon and roll DEX (DC equal to spellcasting check result). If you’re a spellcaster, may choose to make spellcasting check instead. With success, reflect spell at original caster.