Three Moves Ahead

Bruce and Rob welcome Troy back to the show by monopolizing conversation as they describe their reactions to War in the East. Bruce consults von Manstein's Lost Victories in the hopes of discovering where they went, but Rob is pretty sure the Germans dropped them somewhere in the Pripyat Marshes. All Troy knows for sure is that 2by3 scored a big win with this game. Then Rob takes a trip into Dungeons and finds a pleasant surprise, while Bruce is pleased by an invasion of Poland wargame with a marvelously bad interface. Show links: Battle of Smolensk (1941) - The map may help you enjoy the show Rob's Dungeons review September 1939

Rob turtles up for a free-for-all discussion of RTS multiplayer gaming with Tom Chick and Chris Remo. What really powers the Starcraft II community, and why can't other RTS games match it? It looks unstoppable, but does a challenger arise with League of Legends? 3MA favorites Supreme Commander II and RUSE depress the panel with their multiplayer front-end, but Chris cheers himself up by building a cathedral in Dawn of Discovery.

Game Table Online's Robert Eng joins Bruce, Julian, and Rob for a discussion about online board gaming. Topics include business models, what goes into a successful conversion, and what these services mean for the board gaming hobby. Game Table Online

Rob and returning guest Jenn Cutter discuss what they saw at the Paradox convention in New York. The Escapist's Greg Tito helps out with some good questions and pro-tips on how to make a game presentation awkward for journalists. Troy Goodfellow just can't quit you, and refuses to leave until you understand how great Crusader Kings 2 looks. Games discussed: Naval War, Magicka, Pride of Nations, Salem, Pirates of Black Cove, Gettysburg Armored Warfare, Crusader Kings 2 Production: Michael Hermes Greg Tito's previews from the Paradox Convention: Magicka Mount and Blade: Fire and Sword Salem Jenn Cutter's previews from the Paradox event: Magicka Pride of Nations Rob's thoughts for Gamers With Jobs.

Troy makes a shocking announcement that leaves the podcast in shambles.

Scott Jennings (Lum the Mad) fills in for an ailing Rob as he and Bruce and Troy welcome Joel Billings (2by3 Games) and Erik Rutins (Matrix Games) to talk about what Gary Grigsby's War in the East means for wargame design, scale, realism and detail and marketing of wargames.Pardon some of the sound issues from time to time.

PCGamer's Dan Stapleton returns to help Troy and Rob make sense of 2010. Why Starcraft 2 matters, why Troy resents DLC, the magic of Achtung Panzer and why Rob has no idea what is coming out this year.

If you chat with me about strategy or board games, I have mentioned Bronze to you. Alex Kutsenok is the lead designer of Bronze and he sits down with me and Julian to talk about the development and inspirations for this deep but easy to learn computer/board/strategy game. Prepare for a love fest.I also give shout outs to all the people who helped make Three Moves Ahead in the past year.

On the night before the day before Christmas, Troy and Rob and Julian sit down to talk about Jon Shafer leaving Firaxis, mega patches for turn based games Civ 5 and Elemental and then we wrap up with seasonal reflections including New Year's resolutions for the podcast.

In response to a listener/reader question, Troy and Rob talk about end games that work and end games that don't. What do we mean by the "end game"? What role do strictly defined victory conditions play in making an end game appealing? Can you avoid the late game drag?Apologies for the duet show. That time of the year.