Dave Townsend


Welcome! I'm a computer programmer and gamer located in the northern Virginia area. This site started out as a game support page for a single game series but has rather grown since then. Sorry for the lack of edgy hipness.

Board Game Support
Wings for the Baron, my own WW1 airplane production game [Playtest] [Playtest 2] [Playtest 3]
Above the Trenches, a series of essays for an ongoing WW1 aerial warfare design of my own
Blue Vs Gray Tracker for tracking status during online play
Death in the Trenches combat calculator
Great Battles of History series of (mostly) ancients battle games. Lots of info, dating back to 1997.
Wars of the Imperial Age series event cards, for the games published in Strategy & Tactics magazine.
The Great War at Sea was a brief interest of mine. It looks so good, but the scenarios were so bad...
Freedom in the Galaxy was a unique game based on a Well-Known Motion Picture. I wanted to make it easier to play.
Articles
Civilization IV Leaders, by Trait
Worth a Thousand Words? Some thoughts on using, and not using, graphics.
Microsoft Writer's Style Guide so you, too, can be a Famous Author!
The Cryptonomicon, a "review" of Neal Stephenson's popular book, written in the style of the The Cryptonomicon.
Context Please, I can't figure out what you're talking about
Judging Jim Bakker, how Andy knew not to trust him
Magnetic Personalities?, never thought I'd have one
Lindbergh, a book review
Why I Hate Tabbed Dialogs
Grab Bag
What's New? (02-Jan-12)
What I did: 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001
Grognard Writings, bits of stuff I've written that are on Grognards
The Most Amazing Things Ever Said to Me
Where were the Jastas in World War I?
Aero Squadrons in World War I, an improved revision of the Jastas map
Confederate Ironclads, an interactive database
Pictures from a business trip to Italy
 
Programming
C++ as a Better C a quick example.
 
Links
Web Grognards is where you go for wargames support.
Like Golden Age comics? Patronize my brother.
Battle Reports
Trent's Reach battle report, a game session with Civil War ironclad miniatures [2nd] [3rd]
Red Baron battle report, a WW1 air miniatures game
Close Action battle, 18th century sailing ships
Another Close Action battle, 18th century sailing ships
Another Close Action battle, Swedes vs Russians
Flight to the Ferry, a Lord of the Rings miniatures battle [again]
Weathertop, another LotR battle
Short Cuts Make Long Delays, another LotR battle
Hold the Fort!, yet another LotR battle
Wrath of Rohan, still yet another LotR battle
Kingslayer, another LotR battle [again]
Maggot's Farm, yep another LotR battle
Fog on the Barrow Downs, LotR
Scouring of the Westfold, LotR
The Banks of the Harnen, LotR
Battle in the Ruins, LotR
 

A very tiny claim to fame: I wrote a program that converts 3D Studio Max characters into Unreal format. In the real world it doesn't matter, but it's a pretty cool thing to work into the conversation with computer game nuts. Here's Unreal Info if you don't know what it is, an Unreal Technology page where the converter lives (it's free for the download), and a direct download page since Epic Games insists on using frames. I haven't touched it in two years now, but I still regularly get a few emails each month because my email address is published there. I'm gonna come up with a FAQ one of these days....


Dave Townsend (townsend@patriot.net).