Air Leader

The Air Leader Series - Past, Present, and Future

The Air Leader series of games started back in 1991 with the release of Hornet Leader. The solitaire game placed the player in the role of a squadron commander for the US Navy’s FA-18 Hornet strike fighters.

Whenever I’d tell people about the game, they’d always ask, “Is it a card game, board game…?” and I’d respond with, “Well…”

Hornet was a new kind of game. It used cards to hold data, but you didn’t hold the cards in your hand. Nor did you play them. The cards were used to generate missions and to represent your pilots and aircraft. The game did use a board and counters, but most of the counters were used to represent weapons and pilot status. Also, because each pilot had his own unique set of skills, and could gain experience and improve, the game also had a mild role-playing element. All in all, it was a difficult game to describe. Twenty years later, I still have a hard time describing Hornet, but luckily, we now have google for those who are new to the series.

I designed Thunderbolt+Apache Leader a year or two later. The core concept was the same: solitaire, command a squadron, manage your pilots, blow-up the bad guys, but the details of how the two games worked were very different. For you TAL fans out there, yes, we plan of revising and releasing TAL. Hopefully in 2011.

Skip ahead 10 years. I dusted off Hornet to re-release it in Vassal/PDF format, and found the old game somewhat lacking. While a solid design, if had not aged well. It was too complex, had too many procedures, and had far too many die roll modifiers.

For any one taking notes on game design philosophy, die roll modifiers always seem like a great idea during the design stage, but they are the best way to kill the feel and flavor of a game. Here’s why. People use the emotional side of their brains to feel and become connected to a story, which is what a game is. When you force their brain to do math, they switch the logical side of their brain, and you suppress their feelings and emotions. This instantly turns an exciting mission deep into enemy territory into a mathematical exercise with little pictures of airplanes.

Anyway… I revised Hornet Leader and named it Hornet Leader II. I know, very creative. I streamlined the mechanics and simplified the game while keeping all the core concepts of flying over other people’s countries and blowing stuff up. Over the course of 3 expansions, I added new types of aircraft like F-14 Tomcats, A-6 Intruders, AV-8B Harriers, etc. Overall, I was very happy with the design.

Flash forward to 2010 and the release of Phantom Leader. Phantom built on the HLII design and took it a step farther. The game added some very cool new options for spending Special Option points that changed mission planning on a high level. Phantom also incorporated the Politics track to capture the politically imposed limitations of the Vietnam Air War.

This brings us to Hornet Leader – Carrier Air Operations, our newest game in the Air Leader series.

The original plan for HL-CAO was simple: gather the components from HLII and its 3 expansions, replace all the art, and release it as a printed game with high quality components. Then I started looking at the games. They were good, but not perfect. As time passed, I revised a rule here, and added a new one there, until we’re at where we are now, with a highly updated game.

Here’s a list of the major changes to date. During the next few weeks, I’ll detail each of them (and probably add to the list):

Situational Awareness

Target Traits

Campaign Skill Levels

Bad Event XP

New Special Option point Scale

Stand-Off Range Band

F-35 Stealth

Reworked Ordnance Counters

Situational Awareness

This is a new pilot skill. The skill range is 0 to 3, with most pilots having a 0 most of the time. As with most skills, a pilot gets more of them as he progresses in experience. A pilot gets 1 Situational Awareness counter each mission for each point of skill he has.

A Fast pilot may discard a counter during a Slow step to attack. A Slow pilot may discard a counter during a Fast step to attack. This attack is in addition to the pilot’s normal attack that turn.

At the start of each mission, you get to select the most experienced pilot flying the mission to be your Flight Leader. The Flight Leader can use each of his counters as normal, or expend them for other pilots during the mission as you see fit.

The E-2C Hawkeye support aircraft have a built-in ability. They can always expend their counters for other pilots.

This new skill adds a great deal of flexibility and decision-making to pilot selection, arming, and Over Target tactics.

Game Over Man! Game Over!

For those of you who don’t know how NFL overtime rules work, consider yourselves lucky. Briefly: If the game ends in a tie, they flip a coin, and the winner gets the ball. The first team to score wins.

This means that a team may never get possession of the ball in overtime before they lose. Kind of like a baseball game going to extra innings. If the visiting team scores a run, they win. The home team gets an at bat.

As a game designer and a Vikings fan, I have a suggestion for the NFL…

New Overtime Rule:

They play until Team “A” scores. Team “B” then receives a kick-off. During its possession, Team “B” will either:

A) Not score points, or score fewer points than Team “A” = Team “B” loses

B) Score points equal to Team “A” = Reset, do it again

C) Score more points than Team “A” = Team “B” wins

Vikings Fan

It’s a good year to be a Minnesota Vikings’ fan. Most years you figure on the team going 8 and 8, or maybe lucking into a play-off spot. Like I said, it’s been a good year.

I’ve been a fan since I was about 5 years old. My family lived in Bellflower, CA where my dad owned an Arco gas station. The company was called Richfield back then. One of his customer’s was the Yary family. Their son, Ron, played football at Bellflower High School. He later played as on offensive lineman at USC. He was the first draft pick of the Minnesota Vikings in 1968.

Around 1974 we moved away from the area and lost touch with the Yarys, but I continued being a Vikings fan.

Tonight, in a burst of Viking’s support, I decided to shave two Viking horns into my hair. I copied the helmet art from online graphics, printed a few to get the sizing right for my head, then cut-out a template. Holly then traced the templates on my head with a magic marker, and then cranked-up the electric hair trimmer. An hour later, I was the proud owner of Viking horns!

Kevin and Kira also helped with the shaving. Just the other day, Kira was saying how we should have more family time. So it worked out well for everyone. Actually, both kids are mortified and have insisted only Holly pick them up from school until the hair grows back. Riiiight!

Here's hoping the Vikings defeat the Saints, then go on to win the final battle - Super Bowl XLIV - RAGNAROK!

Hornet Leader Has Launched!

Hornet Leader is in the air! We just launched our new mega-boxed game Hornet Leader – Carrier Air Operations for pre-order.

This game is huge! It includes 330 cards, 2 counter sheets, an 11” x 17” mounted Tactical Display, Player Aid Sheets, Rulebook, and a die.

With this one game, you have all the material you need to replay US Navy strike missions throughout the service life of the Hornet, from 1983 to present day, and beyond.

This game is perfect for newbie pilots as well as you old hands who have been there and seen that.

Visit our web site to see artwork, details, and pre-order!
 
http://www.dvg.com/

Dan's Top 7 Predictions for 2010

The DJIA will end the year between 12,000 and 12,500.

The housing market will bottom-out, and start a nice recovery.

National unemployment will top out at 10.5% then decline to 8.5% by year-end.

US troop levels in Iraq will remain the same. US troop levels in Afghanistan will significantly increase. By year-end, neither region will be any more stable than it is now.

Yemen will emerge as the new “bad guy” country.

North Korea and Iran will further their nuclear ambitions. There will be much condemnation and sanctions, but nothing significant.

Credit and bank loans will remain tight throughout the year.

Cutting Your Losses

Another key lesson learned from games is cutting your losses.

There are times in a game when your chosen strategy just isn’t working. Maybe another player is farther along the path you’ve chosen, an unforeseen event has popped-up, etc. In these situations, you need to re-evaluate and change course or you are going to lose. Giving up on a partial plan is painful, but you must do it, or you will lose, which is even more painful.

This applies to real life choices like the Tiger Woods situation as well.

I think the marriage is over in all but name. The wife has been humiliated in front of the world, and I’ve got to believe she is out to cause maximum pain and grab as much of his money as she can get her hands on. Today. Tomorrow. Forever.

So, while it might be painful for Tiger to change course today, it is the best thing for him to do in the long run.

It seems like Tiger really likes to play golf and meet women (plural). So, his best course of action is to file for divorce, pay out the hundreds of millions, and get back to the golf and ladies. He will re-earn the money in a few years, and he won’t have the stress of keeping multiple relationships secret.

Risk/Reward

Some advice for the rich and famous guys of the world.

When you design games, you need to understand human nature. The core of which is risk/reward. Which is to say, how much risk is someone willing to take for a given level of reward. Risk/reward is the core of games, and life.

Every time a player makes a purchasing decision, expends a resource, or commits forces to a battle, it is an exercise in risk/reward. The player is weighing the risks in expending resource points, action points, movement points, etc. against the reward of moving closer to winning.

Which brings me to rich guys and extramarital affairs - another example of risk/reward.

The reward is kinda obvious, you get to have sex with many beautiful women. The reward is just as obvious. Your life gets ripped apart.

Fact, guys like to have sex with beautiful women. Notice that women is a plural word, as opposed to woman, which is a singular word.

Here’s the thing. If you’re a rich, good looking, famous guy who travels the world meeting women, you gotta realize that must stop when the ring slides on your finger. Think of it like Sauron’s ring, except you don’t get a volcano escape clause.

It don’t come off.

So here’s the advice. If you’re a rich, good looking, famous guy who travels the world meeting women… Do. Not. Get. Married.

Here’s the second piece of advice. If you’ve just gotta, gotta, gotta, marry a woman (singular), date her for a couple years. During that time, do not sleep with any other women. After two or three years, see if you still gotta, gotta, gotta marry her. If you do, great! But, if in those couple years, you’re still having fun on the side, then maybe marriage isn’t for you.

As for Tiger. Lots of bad stuff is being said about him, but there are some bright spots. Here’s a guy who’s married, earns millions of dollars each year playing golf, has 9(!) mistresses spread around the planet, and kept it secret for years. Talk about organized! If the US government were half as profitable and covert, it would be the envy of every other country on the planet.

Annabelle

Annabelle is the newest addition to the DVG household!

She is a 9 week old Beagle puppy. She might have a bit of Basset also based on those ears!

Kira took this photo. No Photoshop involved. Annabelle really is this cute.   :)

Down Time at DVG

I saw the news story about the White House gatecrashers. Before long, I started thinking about national security, so I called a guy I know at the White House. I explained my concerns and asked to access past security footage of the President.

He replied that it is classified and not available to the public.

I reminded him that I’m a game designer.

An hour later, a black SUV rolled up to our front door. Two stern-faced guys in the black suits and sunglasses handed over an external hard disk. One hulk muttered. “You got 24 hours,” while the other checked his watch.

So, I finished Frontline, sent the game files to the printer, then plugged in the hard drive to have a look.

I found a couple interesting images. I think I managed to bring out the details with my limited photoshop skills. At the 23-hour mark, I called my friend with the news.

Of course, the White House wanted first access, but I cut a deal. Before I handed over the images, I got to post them here first…(click to enlarge)...

Why Holly gets nervous when I have free time. :)

Almost There...

We are (finally) wrapping-up design for Frontline and Phantom Leader! The files will go to the printer in a week or two. We’ll take a day or two off, and then on to the next games!

If you are new to DVG, we offer a unique feature in the gaming industry. If you pre-order one of our games through our web site, you get your name printed on all the game boxes. All you have to do is pre-order, and then send us an email saying it’s okay to print your name on the boxes.

Very easy!

If you’d like to pre-order more than one copy, you get a name for each game you pre-order.

Here’s the back cover of the Phantom Leader box to show you how it looks…

Phantom

Here’s our web site…

DVG

Soon to be famous Photo

Army Reserve Staff Sgt. Brett Bennethum was preparing to depart from Fort Dix, N.J., for Iraq. Paige Bennethum, 4, holds her daddy's hand as he lines up in formation. Photo Credit: Abby Bennethum

Dan's prediction: Ten, twenty years from now when we think back on this period in our nation's history, this will be the photo we remember.

When Its Done!

I’ve gotten some emails asking when Frontline and Phantom will be done. People have correctly said, “Hey, you said they would be done months ago…” And they’re right. I did. Here’s the problem.

They’re not done yet.

Months ago, both games were good. All modesty aside, I would even say they were great. But, they weren’t perfect, which is our design standard.

Both Frontline and Phantom are hugely important games for DVG. We hope that Frontline will be the cornerstone of a whole series of WWII tactical card games, and we hope Phantom will relaunch the Air Leader series that has lain stagnate for 15 years.

This all brings up one of the biggest bonuses to producing our own games. When we designed for other companies, there were always deadline clauses built-in to the contracts. Those game designs had to be turned-in on time or bad legal things could happen. As our lawyer has told us many times, “Contracts are signed on sunny days, but they’re only pulled out of the file cabinet on rainy days.”

The bad news is, they’re close to done, but they’re not done yet.

The really good news is, when they’re done, they will be wonders to behold.

Now, back to my game polishing…

"Them" Tax

The government has figured out a great new tax system. It’s a tax on “them.” After all, people don’t complain when someone else is paying taxes.

Here’s how it works…

If you tax a lot of people, they get upset and vote you out of office.

If you tax very few people, you don’t get enough revenue to make it worthwhile.

The sweet spot seems to be about 20% of the people

Tax 20% of the people and you rake in the bucks, but you don’t upset the masses.

Examples…

Tax on smoking

Tax on alcohol

Tax on SUVs

Proposed tax on sodas

Proposed tax on people without health insurance

Am I right? Let’s test the theory. Look through the above list. If I’m right, only 1, maybe 2, of the taxes will apply to you.

How does all this relate to game designs?

Nothing direct, but as a game designer, I need to be able to quickly spot trends or DVG would need to spend even more time testing games. I mention this taxing trend because I think it is something we should all be aware of.

15 + 15 + 15... Minutes of Fame

Step 1: Yell something inappropriate in Congress, Beat-up your famous girlfriend, Interrupt an awards ceremony, etc

Step 2: Gain notoriety

Step 3: Issue a “heartfelt” public apology

Step 4: Gain more notoriety

Step 5: Issue a “private” apology and notify the media

Step 6: Gain even more notoriety

Step 7: Play down the event as being no big deal, on national TV

Step 8+: Milk it, milk it, milk it…

Moving Forward

Things are moving along very nicely on Frontline and Phantom Leader. Phantom is almost done, and then we will turn our full attention to Frontline, which is pretty much done.

We’ll be updating the DVG site with new cards and rules in a day or two.

Once the press is done, we’ll launch Field Commander Napoleon for pre-orders.

Lieutenant Commander Michael “Scott” Speicher

I remember the first night of Desert Storm in 1991. Holly and I were working on Hornet Leader, and I was still living with my dad.

On that first night, one US pilot was shot down, Lieutenant Commander Michael “Scott” Speicher. He was flying an FA-18 Hornet. Because of the association with the game, his shoot down stuck in my brain all these years. It was unknown if he was captured or killed. Searchers found the Hornet’s wreckage, but no parachute or body. His fate remained unknown all these years.

Until today.

A local Iraqi led US troops to a grave containing skeletal remains. By using dental records, they were able confirm they were the remains of Lieutenant Commander Speicher.

After all these years, Scott is finally coming home.

Summer Schedule

So, I got a call from a friend at 10:30 last night. He apologized for calling so late. I said that it wasn’t a problem because DVG is on a summer schedule since the kids are on summer vacation.

He paused to ask. “What’s the summer schedule?”

“We all just wake up, and go to bed whenever. I went to bed at 5 in the morning and woke up at noon. Holly went to bed at 10 at night and woke up 4 in the morning. Kevin stayed up until 2 in the afternoon and is asleep. Kira just woke up a couple hours ago.”

“That’s not a schedule! That’s chaos!”

I thought about it. “Yeah, you might be right. The local grocery store is only closed from 1 in the morning until 6 in the morning, yet it’s amazing how often that’s inconvenient.”

Frontline and Phantom

The AARs for Phantom Leader and Frontline are up on the DVG site!

For me, these two games cover some interesting ground in gaming that has only been rarely touched upon…

FRONTLINE (1 to 4 players) – A WWII tactical infantry combat game. Tactical, means small in size. In this case each card is one soldier. Here’s what makes the game unique. There are a lot of WWII land combat board games. Most however, look at the battles on a much larger scale. In those games, each piece represents hundreds, thousands, or tens of thousands of soldiers. Rarely do games get down to the individual soldier level.

Another unique aspect is I’ve drawn on my CCG design experience to make each soldier card an individual with personality worked into the cards through game stats and flavor text. For example, your riflemen are not all the same. They have different skills, and you can get a feel for their story and personality from the flavor text. This gives the game a strong Band of Brothers feel.

We have also refined the design to be quick playing and action-packed. Most tactical games are slow moving, with lots of complicated rules. Just the opposite of what you’d expect from such a game, but there it is. Frontline can be played in under an hour. For tabletop gaming of a tactical situation, this is huge!

Finally, the art is amazing! Wan has done a great job of capturing the style and period of WWII.

PHANTOM LEADER (1 player) – This is a solitaire game that places you in command of a squadron of US jet fighters flying missions during the Vietnam War. First, Vietnam is kind of a forgotten war in gaming. Yes, there are a few games, but not very many.

Phantom is also designed to let you get to know your pilots. Each pilot has unique skills and handles the stress of combat differently. As you fly missions they build-up experience, which will improve their skills. This puts you in a position to make some tough choices. Do you keep flying your good guys, until they’re too shaken to fly? Or, do you give your new guys a chance, rest the good guys, but have a harder time completing missions?

Phantom also takes into account the political supervision of the war. During the war, the military leaders had their planning dictated by political issues back home in the US. They were not free to attack whichever targets made the most military sense if it would hurt the political situation. This made their missions tougher because enemy defenses that could have been destroyed were left intact. High value targets were ignored, while low value targets were attacked. Frustrating? Yes! But, this was part of the war, so it is part of the game. As a side note, some of the young officers who endured this in Vietnam later went on to be some of the US’s greatest commanders during Desert Storm in 1991.

Okay, on to the pre-ordering pitch...

Pre-order now! I want to get these games printed and share them with the world, but the only way to do it is to get about 60-70 more pre-orders for each game. This is a small number of pre-orders, and these are some of the best games to come out of our company.

If you'd like to see more info and art on either of these games, their titles above will take you to their pages on our web site.

AARs

In a day or two we’ll add AARs (After Action Reports) of a Frontline battle and a Phantom Leader mission to the DVG web site. We’re planning the AARs looking very cool with graphics of cards, counters, etc.

If you have any interest in air combat or ground combat games, please take a look. Both games can be pre-ordered now. By pre-ordering, you get a 20% discount, and we have a special promotion where you get your name printed on all the boxes.

Phantom is a solitaire game and Frontline is for 1 to 4 players. Both can be played in an hour.

Cyberpunk

One of my all-time favorite books is Neuromancer by William Gibson. In 1984 Gibson invented “cyberpunk”. He dreamt up the internet when there was none, and populated it with cyber cowboys cruising dataspace to earn enough creds to buy their ramin noodles at the corner kiosk.

Wiki Neuromancer

Anyway, I bring this up because, as I remember it, the first line of the book goes something like, “The sky was the color of television tuned to a dead channel.”

Well, it’s been 11 days since our TV took on that dead channel look. I must admit, I miss it. I didn’t think I would, but I do. I was never a big TV person, but I’d watch for a few minutes here and there, just to break up the day.

Hey Mr. Gibson, if you’re out there, thanks for an epic creation!