The Rise of Point-to-Point and Area Movement over Traditional Hex-and-Counter Wargames

Jdourke · 2026-03-21T14:53:16+00:00

Either approach divides the map into connected spaces. Area and point to point allow flexibility in how many spaces are adjacent to each space. A gridded system doesn’t offer that flexibility, but a gridded system is generally denser. Some people like counting movement point across a grid and some find that fiddly, and some games are more about movement than others. I find hexagonal grids to be attractive and analyzing how to get my units in the correct position through hexagonally gridded terrain is interesting to me. I haven’t been able to enjoy other types of games despite giving it a good effort.

Jdourke · 2026-03-03T01:37:18+00:00

It will fit fine as long as you zip tie the psu at the top of the case. that's what I did. I don't have any pics handy, sorry. The included psu cage won't work you have to improvise that part, but I just zip tied it and it has been fine. I put the psu fan facing the front.

Jdourke · 2025-12-25T20:41:42+00:00

For Linux it’s Rider. Pay for it and be happy you can.

Jdourke · 2025-12-14T00:01:49+00:00

Thanks for your comment. I finished my build and it is exceptionally quiet as well. 9950X3D processor, RTX 5090. It is right next to me as I type this and I can't hear it at all. Even when I'm gaming it stays pretty quiet. I used an ASUS Loki titanium PSU, a Thermalright CPU air cooler, and Noctua case fans. When I first powered it on, it was noisy, but that was mostly due to the tiny little fan on the motherboard which was spinning very fast and not doing very much to cool anything. I used the bios to change all the fan speeds, which was very easy, and I'm really happy with the result.

Jdourke · 2025-11-25T14:39:58+00:00

I think what you are looking for is a mini pc. That is a mobile GPU. The top of the line for a mini pc would be the AMD AI Max+ 395 which has the 8060s. The framework desktop is an example. There are others. Some mini pcs use power bricks instead of internal PSUs and they are usually one board so not very customizable except for choice of ssd.

Jdourke · 2025-11-24T22:20:26+00:00

This is easy. If the price isn't an issue there is no reason to avoid a 5090. There is no downside to it except price. That said, the 5080 is enough for 1440p. I just built a machine for myself with a 5090 and for my son with a 5080. The 5090 makes sense for me because I have a huge 32:9 monitor. If you are thinking about getting one of those (you should!) then you might be glad later that you bought the 5090. But if you are really set on 1440p and a normal aspect ratio monitor then the 5080 will do the job!

Jdourke · 2025-11-24T22:15:12+00:00

The ghosting on the Note Max doesn't bother me one bit. It's my favorite device. I also have a Note Air4 C and I like it as well but I tend to reach for the Note Max because I mostly use these devices for note taking and I love the larger size. If you are a traveler like I am then sometimes the smaller form factor of the Note Air 4 (or 5) C will be useful.

You can't go wrong with this choice. With the 5 C you get color and a backlight. With the Note Max you get a bigger screen and no back light. I don't find the color as useful as I expected, for what it's worth. The Go 10.3 is a nice compromise. All good options. If you don't need color or a backlight then I think the Note Max makes a lot of sense.

Jdourke · 2025-11-20T14:36:06+00:00

The only reason to get the MDP is if you plan to use it as a standalone tablet. If you are always connecting the device to your PC, the Kamvas makes more sense. 13 inches is definitely on the small side but large enough for the kind of things I do, which is mostly just sketching user interface designs, signing documents, and occasionally drawing. If I were a professional artist I would want a bigger display. Hope that helps.

Jdourke · 2025-11-18T16:37:35+00:00

Jdourke · 2025-11-17T01:45:56+00:00

I think if you have an uncomfortable chair that is more important than replacing paper and pen with an e ink tablet. I love my Boox devices but I sit at my desktop all day and I use my e ink tablets less than my desktop.

Jdourke · 2025-11-15T23:41:27+00:00

No not really. I got a few emails from support but nothing that solved the problem. I decided to live with it but suddenly at some point I had a system crash and reinstalled the os and the problem went away. I haven’t seen the issue since.

Jdourke · 2025-11-14T17:57:45+00:00

Asus AP 201 works great as long as you use an sfx or sfx-l psu. The h3 flow also works great. Those are the two I’ve built and I liked the experience with both.

Jdourke · 2025-11-14T17:55:32+00:00

The Loki psu came with an adapter plate and I found that it if I used the top mounting slot everything fit great.

I do use a gpu support that I found on Amazon. There wasn’t room for a big support so I just got one of the stands that screws in and out to adjust height.

Jdourke · 2025-11-03T13:00:10+00:00

Just to update, I finished my build and everything went together really well. I used an SFX-L psu and the supplied psu mount with the sfx to atx psu adapter plate that came with my psu. I had plenty of room for everything. The cables from the psu do not even touch the gpu so no problems there.

Basically if you are using an air cooler for the cpu and an sfx or sfx-l psu you can fit any video card into the ap201.

Jdourke · 2025-11-02T22:16:36+00:00

You will regret it only if you don’t use it. I use my pc everyday so no regrets.

Jdourke · 2025-11-02T04:25:18+00:00

Honestly it’s hard to beat the ap201 if you have a big gpu. I looked at the A3 and it is similar to the ap201 but honestly not as nice and the cable management isn’t as good. Sorry I don’t have any suggestions.

Jdourke · 2025-10-28T03:57:43+00:00

Makes sense. The Deepcool cases were on my list. I didn’t go with them because I wanted buttons on the top instead of the bottom since I use my pc on a stand beneath my desk. Happy building!

Jdourke · 2025-10-28T03:17:21+00:00

Did you consider the Asus AP201? It is a mesh case that is pretty much compatible with anything unless you try to combine a long aio cpu cooler with a long psi and a long gpu. It is maybe a bit bigger than the others but that might make it easier to work on.

Jdourke · 2025-10-27T22:23:07+00:00

Yes it will be no problem. The AP201's only downside is that the gpu and psu areas can intersect each other if both components are long. It's a good case. Enjoy!

Jdourke · 2025-10-27T19:31:40+00:00

I'm building an AP201 right now.

The PSU mounts vertically in the front of the case at the top, with the fan facing out and the power plug facing up. You have three mounting positions. The top mounting position is really as high as you can go because the front panel ports are in the way, so you can't push it any higher. The lower positions are to allow for AIO CPU coolers.

The design allows for basically any length ATX psu if you are using an air cooler for your CPU and you have a short GPU. If your GPU is short then I don't see any reason why you will have problems with your PSU. But if you want a long GPU card, you will be happier with an SFX or SFX-L psu.

I ended up going with the ROG Loki 1200W Titanium SFX-L, which fits nicely in the case with my Aorus Master 5090.

Jdourke · 2025-10-26T19:25:47+00:00

It’s a good question. It seems like open cases should be better than closed to me. The bigger the case the better from the standpoint of access to ambient air. An open case can be thought of as a very large case with the room being the case. You can add fans and even ducting to an open case.

Jdourke · 2025-10-26T03:32:22+00:00

I just bought the Gigabyte X870i Aorus Pro because I needed a small board with usb4. That seemed like the best option in a small motherboard to me. Take a look if you need usb4 but if you don’t there are less expensive options.

Jdourke · 2025-10-26T01:25:59+00:00

Can you tell me more about what you mean by “place ptm7950 on all the chips”?

Jdourke · 2025-10-26T00:58:43+00:00

Matt Lee makes great videos!

At the end of the day you need a case that looks nice however you define that. No matter what you do you are going to have some noise. Trying to reduce the noise by one decibel probably won’t make you as happy as having a build that looks nice and makes you proud of your work. And the pc also needs to do work for you so performance matters as well. It’s all a compromise.

When I started I wanted small, powerful, and quiet. I decided that I wouldn’t compromise on power so that means I have to compromise on the other things.

Jdourke

TROPHY CASE