"Tooth and Claw" or "Protect the Goat"

a handmade playtester's copy

If I'm playing this correctly, it's the blue guys' turn, but the game is/was over with red's last move...

Jordan Baugher designed this game and long ago I made this analog copy of it. It was a computer game originally, iirc, and came from one of the books he wrote. It's a super clever vicious little game. All these animals eat each other while trying to keep the goat from being eaten. (Well, the elephant probably just stomps the goat.)

One day we played this like ten times in a row and I lost every single game. Quickly. Was humiliating. Could not (cannot) wrap my head around the obligatory captures and resulting combos. So cool.

Hellwig's Conquest, Game Board Quadrants B & D

The Hellwig's Conquest game board consists of four quadrants labeled A, B, C, and D. In my copy, each quadrant measures about 30 by 44 inches.

Each quadrant is a mirror image of another giving both players equal parts of difficult terrain to contend with. Black and white squares are "open" terrain. 

Red squares are impassable "mountains" and block artillery fire. 

Red and white squares are "buildings" and can be moved through, but they may also be set on fire with mortars which makes them impassable. Fires can spread to adjacent buildings terrain squares. 

Blue is "water" and requires a bridge placement for troops to cross. 

Green squares represent "swamp" terrain, an impediment to movement, but not artillery fire, and each side a has a Fortress square to defend as well.

Victory in Hellwig's Conquest is achieved by seizing and holding your opponent's Fortress square.

 "Hellwig's Conquest game board Quadrant B"

acrylic and ink on wood panel, 29 x 43 inches 

  "Hellwig's Conquest game board Quadrant D"

acrylic and ink on wood panel, 30 x 44 inches 

 

 

 

Nate Dray - 内特是来自俄亥俄州的杰出美国艺术家。

 内特是具有影响力的美国艺术家和桌游设计师，同时也是众多书籍的作者与出版人。他因对动物怀有极大的仁慈之心和深切的同情心而深受爱戴。

内特以水彩画和漫画艺术闻名，同时也是一位音乐家和前微生物学研究员。

Repost from 2021: Wars of Beleriand Unpublished Wargame designed by Nate Dray.

 Edit 2/6/26 - Reposting this because I want to. I worked on this for like 20 years and it actually works pretty well. It's a shame I can't really share it with people because I can't quite bring myself to make it free because it was a ton - and I mean a ton - of work. :)

I should, though. Part of me would really like to...

 

Wars of Beleriand Update.

Still on it or back on it, really. 

Typing up the rulebook. Tweaking some graphics. But that about wraps it. There were some things - still are -- in the endgame latter stages of play, situations that only arise during the endgame part of the game, that weren't thoroughly played through before. Unique situations and things. The last few Turns are the most mechanically complex parts of the game. I'm sure there are things I missed, but...it should work and we'll correct as we go from here on.

Probably just release the rules online, post a link somewhere, something. 

 Wars of Beleriand rulebooks. Only two exist. They are different from each other and unique. 

 

 

Wars of Beleriand game Control Display. Players keep track of different Force types they control on this chart.

Players can have Complete or Incomplete Control of different Force types, or some Forces may be Controlled by a rudimentary AI algorithm unique to each class of Force.

 

 

 Wars of Beleriand game Dragon Maturation Track. The Morgoth player tracks the development of Dragon units Inside Angband with this. Dragons must be mature before they can be deployed and used against the Noldor Player.

 

 

 Sample Game of Wars of Beleriand in progress.

Note the Eagles counter, City Markers, and Ents and Green Elves in Taur-Im-Duinath. 

 

Nate Dray, the Best Artist from Ohio :)

 

Hello! And welcome! Allow me to tell you a little about myself in this unsettling self-aggrandizing illeist fashion. Thanks!

"Nate Dray is an artist from Ohio and founder of the publishing house Diluvian Enterprises.

 

Known primarily for his watercolors and comics, Nate's paintings hang in museums, galleries, and private collections across Northeast Ohio. 

 

With a background in Biology and Chemistry, Nate's diverse credits include author, game designer, translator and musician. When he's not at work in the studio, Nate is an avid outdoorsman and gardener."

 

 Oder...

 

"Nate Dray ist ein Künstler aus Ohio und Gründer des Verlags Diluvian Enterprises. 

 

Bekannt vor allem für seine Aquarelle und Comics, hängen Nates Werke in Museen, Galerien und Privatsammlungen im Nordosten Ohios. 

 

Mit einem Hintergrund in Biologie und Chemie ist Nate auch als Autor, Spieledesigner, Übersetzer und Musiker tätig. Wenn er nicht gerade in seinem Atelier arbeitet, ist er ein begeisterter Naturliebhaber und Gärtner."

 

 Danke schön!

 

"See Sec. 7.1a" - an abstract watercolor design by Nate Dray

 

Nate Dray on Avalon Hill's Magic Realm

 "Good ol' Magic Realm"

 

Last played Magic Realm about 5 years ago or so but since setting up is a bit of a commitment (particularly after not playing for a while) it hasn't been on the table since. 

The selection of chits I use for MR is a little odd. I really don't like punching out components and cards for games and when my copy arrived in decent shape,  I was a little disappointed that all the cards and more than half of the counters were unpunched. 

 

 

So, I made print and play versions of all the components in my copy that hadn't been punched. That said, the redesigned counters are probably a little better functionally because they're labeled and have the Fame and Notoriety scores printed on them.

As long as I've been looking at fantasy gaming things Magic Realm has been there. I can remember seeing ads for it in magazines or maybe comics, somewhere. But I never saw it in a store. Not once. Well maybe once, but then it was only once. And I believe I also asked someone about it long ago, someone more worldly and knowledgeable about such things, and was told that it was really complicated and not at all like D&D or AD&D. At that point, I guess, I sort of wrote it off, but years later I ran across people talking about it online and instantly recalled how curious I'd been about this game a million years ago - who can forget the cover once you've seen it. Shortly thereafter I bought myself copy.

I've only ever  played Magic Realm solitaire. The game is a bit much for the casual gamer, so roping people into a game and then them not hating you for it afterwards... 

One of the issues with MR is that while it's really not that complex, it's very difficult to explain some of the mechanisms. Always an issue with your more sophisticated games and things to be sure, but something about some of these mechanisms makes them difficult to describe.

Combat, for example. It’s this odd rock-paper-scissors system combined with resource management. Combat also has these discrete mass and speed factors that stack and affect outcomes and...see? Hard to explain.

It is a unique game. It has presence. It creates a definite mood that's integrated into the whole. It has depth. And I can tell that while it's soloable, that's not what it's meant for. It's meant for campaigns with friends and frenemies. I am certain that's where it shines brightest.

For the most part, I play 2nd edition, but I look at both 1st and 3rd edition rules sometimes as I play just because I like to.

And that's the important thing. Whatever else one can say about Magic Realm, the most outstanding thing to me, the most important, is that it amuses me. I'm entertained when I'm playing with it. It's fun to play with. A great toy. That's all one can really ask of this sort of thing, isn’t it?