Play real time strategy with gamers around the world
GameTable Online is a nice website that allows registered users to play a number of strategy boardgames online. Titles include Battle of the Bands, Nuclear War, Ten Days in Africa, Kill Dr. Lucky, Igel Argern, New England, Bosworth, Condottierre, Cosmic Wimpout, Creepy Freaks, Euphrat and Tigris, Lord of the Fries and Vampire. I have been able to play Battle of the Bands, Nuclear War, Ten Days in Africa, Kill Dr. Lucky and Euphrat and Tigris, so I cannot comment on the rest of the games they have.
The interface is all written in Java, with each game being a separate module. Fortunately, there is a central meeting room where all players can meet and decide what to play. TDIA and E&T seems particularly popular. What really surprised me was how easy it was to get in and play a game. None of the games are that complicated and most can be completed in less than an hour, which is ideal for playing over a lunch break or a quick diversion at home.
Games
Euphrat and Tigris - This game looks and feels like the real thing. I have played quite a few games of this at game clubs and the look is spot on, the gameplay is very nice and the almost ease of calculating conflicts makes this worthwhile to play. One of the advantages of playing online is the computer's ability to give you the math instead of relying on the skill of the players to calculate correctly.
Kill Dr. Lucky - Looks a bit better than the original Cheapass version (but what doesn't?) and plays pretty smoothly. Some of the buttons for actions seem oddly placed and not obvious, but after a few minutes of play, it becomes easier. I am hoping that GTO is able to get some of the expansions, but time will tell.
Nuclear War - From what I can recall, this was one of the first games designed for GTO but it has been maintained well. It includes Nuke War, I believe, but no expansions, which I would love as an option sometime down the road, but I know additional programming will be required for the MX missile and other odd cards. This version uses the updated graphics for the cards, so you aren't looking at the old graphics from the original game.
Battle of the Bands - I had only played a few demo games of this at Origins, so it was nice to get in a couple of full games. It is a simple card game that involves a lot of backstabbing. If I have to criticize, it would be the fact that the cards are small on the screen and the text isn't always legible, so a few times, something happened and I lost a band member and I couldn't figure out what card play caused it. A more detailed log for this game might be warranted.
In conclusion, GTO is a nice diversion to play a couple of games a day so, go to gametableonline.com and check out the games. I am WarFrog, feel free to ask me for a game...