Boardgame session; Xmas 2018

Christmas is a time for families to get together and play boardgames. Gill, Paul and my niece Erin visited and we played a wide range of games, which I’m not going to detail. I think Paul emerged as the clear champion, with strong performances in logic games such as Onitama and Ganz Schon Clever.

As there were 5 players I introduced a social deduction game I picked up second-hand at a show; Deception, Murder in Hong Kong. In the first game I took the role of Forensic Scientist. Everyone soon understood the game mechanics, but trying to enforce an uninterrupted 30 seconds of analysis for each player proved difficult, so we were more free-form, but I ensured all players had a say in each round. A good indicator for a game is the enthusiasm which players show for an immediate replay, and Deception did well in this regard because we played 6 games back-to-back! We found a fairly even split between the investigators uncovering the murderer, and the murderer getting away with it. The game worked well with 5-players and I think a few players more would be even better. A larger player count would also allow for the introduction of other roles (accomplice and witness), which would be interesting. I don’t think Deception will be played frequently, but it will come out in ‘party’ situations, even with non-gamers.

The other ‘new’ game played was the 2-player game, Targi (which I received as a prezzie). I have only played this game once with Elaine, and I think it may quickly become one of my favourites. The decision making aspect is tense, with a nice degree of player interaction. The rules and mechanics are easy to pick up, and I like the 30-45 minute timescale. Anyway, that’s 2018 done with; roll on 2019.

Boardgame Session; 16Dec18

  

Visited Val and Chris for a pre-Xmas games session. We started with an old game that we have not played for a while; Castles of Mad King Ludwig. I love the theme of this game, so that even though I lost, the interest and achievement in putting together a ‘nice’ castle complex makes the game worthwhile. I feel we need to play more often so that I can start to understand the strategic options open to the master-builder when placing tiles for bidding. I’m sure I could make ‘better’ decisions during this phase. I also struggled to achieve many of my in-game goals, so it was not a surprise that I came last (but not too far behind).

Next we played Metro, basically Tsuro on steroids! Elaine and I have recently played a few times as a 2-player game, so I thought we would do well. Of course, Val and Chris romped home easily! We played the basic game, but I am interested in trying some of the variants included in the game which look as though they radically alter the game play.

We finished by breaking out Lords of Vegas. Again, not a game we have played recently and my memories of it were vague. Really enjoyed the experience as the board developed and players tussled for control of key casinos. For a long time Elaine looked to have a commanding lead with stacks of money, but her luck deserted her in the final turns as the ‘Dice Gods’ thwarted every roll she made. The game was greatly enhanced by using some really nice poker chips rather than the disappointing paper money supplied in the game. Good poker chips are so tactile and fit with the theme of the game, and I’m surprised the publishers did not go with this option from the start! Both Elaine and I enjoyed this game so much that there is a good chance we will get our own copy (we usually avoid buying games that Val and Chris own to avoid duplication).

Off the Painting Table (Dec 2018)

I have been continuing to paint my Punic Wars armies. I completed the Carthaginian spearmen with the more hoplite style figures from the Lancashire Games Battlepack. They have turned out more ‘Greek’-looking than I would have wanted, but they will do. In terms of value-for-money, I don’t think Lancashire Games can be beaten, and as a result, many of the forces for these armies will use their figures.

I have also made a start on the Roman forces using the pricier Xyston Figures. My first Legion is complete. The models are nicely sculpted and it is not too fiddly fixing the separate shields and weapons. They mix well with those from Lancashire Games in terms of scale. I was not certain about what colour and design to use for the shields, many examples I have seen have ornate designs. In the end I simply went for a plain red because somehow it just gave the figures a ‘Roman’ look. I think my mindset relates to Rome of the EIR-period best, and Romans simply look ‘right’ if they resemble the standard EIR Legionary. I also choose to arm both the Hastati and Princips with the Pilum.

My next group of figures are some Numidian cavalry, together with the Carthaginian horse. Then a large Spanish force. I am leaving the Elephants to last, acting as a form of incentive to complete the armies.

AAR: Teutonic v Pagan (Saga) 25Nov18

I bought the Saga v2 Crusader Army book recently and this was the first outing for my 28mm Teutonics and Prussian Pagans that I previously used with Lion Rampant rules. Ian and I played the basic ‘Clash of Warlords’ scenario with Ian randomly getting control of the Teutonic knights. I use a randomised method to generate 6 point armies. Ian had 3 points of Knights and 3 points of Sergeant Spearmen and Crossbowmen, significantly he had no Levy. I had a single unit of Hearthguard, 4 points of Warriors and 1 of Levy.

The terrain set-up for the scenario seems to me to be a bit restrictive; the Pagans want a densely packed table with lots of woods etc. whereas the Teutonics want an open battlefield. As a result Ian ‘passed’ a.s.a.p., so the maximum number of difficult terrain pieces I could place was 3! Anyway, the game proceeded and the Teutonics massacred my poor Pagans (Ian won by 6 points).

The main points of note were: Ian organised an 8 strong unit of Knights which were a worry to me throughout the game, but actually only destroyed a small unit of my Levy bowmen. Ian’s lack of Levy troops meant his ability to ‘sacrifice’ troops to enhance his more valuable units was not a major factor, but when he did use this, it cost him a valuable sergeant figures. I repeatedly used my ability to force one of Ian’s units to either move towards a base edge or take a fatigue (very useful). The Teutonic crossbows proved effective, especially because I did not have the terrain cover to shelter me. The lack of terrain also prevented me ‘shifting’ my small units around the battlefield. I did manage to kill the Teutonic Warlord when he moved in to finish off my sole Hearthguard unit (the highlight of the game for the Pagans). I found using small 6-man units to be effective early in the game but they wear-down quickly, losing valuable Saga dice and costing victory points.

Overall, the game played fast (~ 2 hours) and with little reference to the main rulebook. The tough decision making aspect revolved around allocation of Saga dice and ‘understanding’ the special abilities of each faction. We liked the differentiation these abilities introduce but the lack of Teutonic Levy and lack of dense Pagan terrain meant that neither side could fully utilise their ability boards. We look forward to repeating the conflict using different faction make-up’s and different scenario structures.

Off the Painting Table (Nov 2018) part 2

I have been struggling to decide on a new project to paint/game for many months now. I have finally chosen to model a pair of 15mm armies for the 2^nd Punic War, and decided to use Xyston figures to do this (I like the sculpts produced). I therefore went to Warfare in Reading with a starting Roman list and bought enough figures to complete my first Roman legion. Just before I left the show I stopped at Lancashire Games and was tempted by their Battle Packs range. I purchased a few boxes of Carthaginians which were significantly cheaper than Xyston and, although poorer quality, will match well with Xyston.

I have since painted 2 units of Lybian spearmen and some Numidian  skirmishers (photo above). The spearmen remind me of the ‘old’ minifig PB range sculpt. The figures have a simple tunic and feather headdress. The remainder of the Battle Pack has a ‘hoplite’ style of spearman, and these should provide a nice contrast. I want the Carthaginian army to have a polyglot feel, compared to the more regulated Romans.

It is good to start this project and it should occupy the next few months. I have not textured the bases at this stage because I like to do this on mass, so the effects look consistent across the army. As a side project I’m making a range of ‘marker’ bases to use on the table to replace the functional (but ugly) coloured tiddlywinks normally employed. The first batch is shown below. I like the simple casualty bases made by Warbases. I have also used some spare pouches to make ‘ADC’ or order markers to use with General d’Armee rules (I don’t want to buy a stack of special figures to use in the game). In future I plan to make some ‘Shaken’, ‘Disorder’ and ‘Rout’ marker bases.

AAR: Lysimachid v Thracian (To The Strongest) 11Nov18

This game was of Ian’s devising, using his figures, army lists, game cloth and markers etc. I must admit to being rather lazy and did not research ‘To The Strongest’ (TTS) rules or lists before the game, and my knowledge was therefore based on games of FK&P played a couple of months ago. We randomly diced for which army we would use, and I got the Thracians whilst Ian commanded the Lysimachids. The Thracians would clearly benefit from cluttered, difficult terrain and needed to shoot as much as possible during the opening moves to try a disorder/disrupt the heavier Lysimachid pikes and cavalry. I duly placed as much difficult terrain as allowed whilst Ian placed open areas. Then each terrain feature is assigned a card and the effects worked out. I like this randomising aspect, but it does radically alter the battlefield and makes pre-planning very uncertain. In this game virtually all my difficult terrain was removed and we were left with an open plain with a few gentle hills and a bit of woods on my far left flank. I therefore had a ‘bad’ feeling even before the game started!

Thracians at the bottom of picture.

After we deployed, Ian activated his ‘stratagem’ which allowed his own Thracian (traitor) forces to move forwards and take control of that lone wood I might have benefited from! A ‘sinking’ feeling became apparent in the mind of the Thracian commander. I did have a numerically strong light cavalry force on my right flank which I moved forward to engage the smaller Lysimachid cavalry and threaten the flanks of the pike blocks. I launched a hail of missiles for next few turns but to little avail. I even managed to charge the enemy horse in the rear, and bounced! I soon began to realise the weakness of light horse when charged by any heavier cavalry; they have to attempt to evade (so ground is rapidly lost) and if they fail to evade they get hit (and therefore killed) without any opportunity to hit back! I did have a few successes on this flank; I disrupted his pike blocks by shooting, and killed a few of Ian’s skirmishers and light cavalry, and wounded both of his commanders.

Thracian light cavalry facing the Lysimachid heavies!

On my left flank, my Thracian foot engaged Ian’s Thracians. I thought I would have the upper-hand because half my units were veteran and had heavy cutting weapons, but no, Ian’s forces prevailed in fairly slow grind. I also played my ‘stratagem’ to hit his commander, but only achieved a light wound. I must admit that I was not focussed on the game as much as I should have been, and simply allowed Ian to work out the values of the chits I needed to draw etc.  The reason for this lack of engagement was due to the fact I had done a ‘mischief’ to my back a couple of days earlier, and although I could walk etc., I was finding concentration hard to maintain (a lame excuse, I know!).

Thracian left flank about to go in

In the centre Ian’s disrupted pikes seemed inspired, making difficult retirement moves followed by rally actions. I had little available to stop the pike juggernaut rolling forwards, and in the end I conceded the game. Ian’s winning streak continues. In this game I felt defeat staring me in the face from the very start, but I still enjoyed playing and look forward to future games using TTS. I certainly intend buying my own copy when I attend the Warfare show next weekend.

To conclude; I really like ‘To The Strongest’ rules, they give an interesting, fast-paced game that is perfect for a club session. The activation mechanic forces a nice degree of decision making and prioritisation. Melee seems much more decisive when compared to the ECW version of the rules. I think using chits rather than playing cards is the best way to play. Overall I think I still prefer both ‘Impetus’ and ‘Sword & Spear’ rules, but ‘To The Strongest’ is a good alternative.

Off the Painting Table (Nov 2018)

I have recently bought the Crusades supplement for Saga v2 rules. I plan to trial my Teutonic forces against Prussian Pagans (previously used with Lion Rampant rules), but I require some additional Levy type figures. I have therefore painted up some archers from Gripping Beast.

There is little to say concerning the figures, the sculpts are fine and I did change some of the heads with others from my spares box to create more variety. They painted nicely but the drab colours mean they are not eye-candy on the tabletop.

I have also painted a resin 20mm ruined building that has been sitting in my ‘lead pile’ for some time. I think I got this second-hand, but when and where escapes my memory. I must admit I dislike painting items like this, and much prefer to get pre-coloured mdf versions from 4Ground. Even though I use washes to tone down and give a distressed look, the end result still looks to neat for my taste.

Boardgame session: 21Oct2018

We have not played Dungeon Petz for ages and have never tried the Dark Alleys expansion, which I received for my birthday. During the week Elaine and I tried the game/expansion to refresh our knowledge. We are not convinced the 2-player version works particularly well; it just seems a bit clunky and takes too long to finish. Anyway, we played again, using the Dark Alleys, when Val and Chris visited this weekend, and the 4-player game is much better. Chris emerged as the clear winner.

  

I have a mixed view about Dark Alleys: Some elements simply expand the base game (extra cages, add-ons, artefacts, customers and competitions), but the best additions are the large range of additional monsters! A major flaw in the base game is the limited number of Petz available. I think these new Petz are really good and quirky, especially the House Vampire and My Little Pony. The alternative turn tracker is OK and I doubt we will ever play the extended game tracker. The Black Market board works with 4-players, allowing all players the chance to buy a Pet in the first turn (solving another criticism of the base game). No-one has yet bought the Bodyguard, nor the extra add-on or artefact, but the food and cage options are good. The ‘slug-shop’ is fine and was used, as was the ‘fortune teller’ when things got tight. The ‘industrial zone’ was not used by most players, but I can see it could be useful. Overall, I don’t think Dark Alleys is an ‘essential’ expansion and I don’t think it will always feature in our game sessions, but it is worth getting simply to add those important extra monster options.

Last week we visited Oxford and called in at Thirsty Meeples. I managed to buy a copy of Ganz Schon Clever (German version). We have played a few 2-player games and then tried 4-player game today. I think this is a great ‘Roll & Write’ game, and could easily become a regular favourite with us. The rules are so simple but the choices become tougher as the game progresses. Really nice combo’s can occur that feel very satisfying, even if they do depend on the luck of the dice to large degree. The luck of the dice is possibly the weakness in the game, you may start to feel the game is driving itself depending on the numbers you roll and that you, as the player, are not making choices other than the obvious ones. I think this game represents the best £10 worth to date!

AAR Rome vs Germans (Impetus) 14Oct18

Ian and I met up for a game of Impetus featuring my 28mm EIR and Hairy Barbarian armies, who have not been out of their boxes for a couple of years. Sorry, no photos of the actual game again; I forgot my camera, which is a pity because I think these armies look nice. Ian got the Germans using the FP (heavy infantry) option, rather than the FL (light infantry) option I normally play with. I was using Romans and opted to not take artillery, which proved a mistake.

What neither of us realised was that it was the club AGM, which lost 60-90 minutes of gaming time! Therefore I decided to go with an unsubtle battle plan to ensure game completion; normally I would use the Roman mobility to force the barbarians into uncoordinated attacks. This time I ploughed straight ahead, squeezing through a gap in some wooded terrain.  As a result, Ian was able to hold back his main body and release them as a single block at the time which worked best for him. This is where some artillery would have been useful, I could then have peppered the enemy and broken up this impetuous body of troops. Instead my main block of 3 Legionary units were hit in a coordinated manner by 4 enemy ‘large’ units. I did manage to destroy 1 of the enemy blocks and weaken a couple of others, but the Romans were ground down and destroyed losing 3VD points each!

On the plus side, my Auxillary units did good work beating the single strength warbands, but this was not enough to achieve victory. Anyway, after 5 or 6 rounds the Romans reached the 50%VD loss point compared to only 35%VD loss for the Germans. So, victory went to Ian (again!).

The next game will be ‘To The Strongest’ ancients, which Ian bought at Colours, and use armies supplied by Ian, so I’m not sure what will feature. Really looking forward to this and comparing how the rules differ from those for ECW we have previously played.

Off the Painting Table (Sept18), part 2

Back in July I bought some civilian figures to ‘pimp up’ my tabletop set up. I seem to recall that some figures came from Black Tree and others from Col Bill’s, but I cannot be sure. Well, I have painted them up and added them to my growing collection of accessory figures. I’m not sure when I will need three Kings or an Archbishop in a game or, for that matter, a nagging wife restrained in a head brace! The beggars, preacher, monk and female costermongers will find more use.

Last weekend I went to the Colours show in Newbury. Again I could not find a copy of the Saga Crusades book, nor a number of other items I wanted. I think some major vendors (Caliver; Foundary; Gripping Beast etc.) are no longer attending Colours, which is disappointing. I think the venue is the best I have encountered at any show, with plenty of room and natural daylight, plus free parking. The only negative factor is the restricted room afforded to the Bring and Buy area; why the organisers don’t improve this is a mystery to me! I did spend some time talking to a couple of traders (Barwell, Great Escape Games) about airbrushing techniques (paints, thinner, cleaning etc.), and I now feel more confident about starting to use my new airbrush equipment. I bought some paints and (finally) a dice tower from Dave’s Wargames, shown below.

I called in on Peter Pig, who were demonstrating their new Western rules. I have a copy, but from my first reading I’m not convinced that they provide what I require when matching Plains Indians against 7^th Cavalry. I have yet to play them and hopefully they will get an outing in October. Regarding other games on show, I was most impressed by a WW1 28mm desert game and a large ECW FK&P game. Otherwise there were the usual types of game; a large tank-fest Operation Goodwood, a few Cold War games, a Samurai skirmish, some ancient Roman versus barbarian games etc. etc. Overall, not very inspiring and I came away from the show feeling slightly disappointed. I think the Colours organisers need to re-energise the show in some way, it has dropped in importance to me behind other shows and this is a shame.

Boardgame Session; 16Sept18

Myself and Chris started by playing a miniatures style game, ‘X-Wing’, an unusual venture for us. I had bought a starter set when it first came out but quickly realised that this could rapidly degenerate into a huge cash ‘sink’. Also I have never been a Star Wars fan and, in fact, only watched the first 3 films a couple of years ago, succumbing to pressure from friends. I was not impressed; the plots were thin and characters, shallow. Therefore, neither X-Wing nor Armada held strong appeal for me. Chris had bought a starter set plus a few additional models, plus a game mat, so we decided to give it a go.

  

I took the Rebels with an X- and a Y-Wing, versus Chris with 3 Tie Fighters. I soon discovered that the Y-Wing is a futuristic version of the Austin Allegro; slow and heavy, with little punch but able to sustain significant damage. It quickly went down in flames. The X-Wing is better, whilst outnumbered it at least toasted 1 Tie Fighter, before joining the smouldering Y-Wing. So, Chris was victorious. I think we both enjoyed the simplicity of the game mechanics, and I’m sure my play would improve with experience. I like the clean order planning mechanism, and combat was sharp and deadly. I prefer the more agile craft, even if they are potentially more fragile. I would happily play more games but I’m going to firmly resist the temptation of buying more models; that is the road to madness (and penury)!

After lunch, Elaine and Val joined us for a game of ‘Port Royal’. Surprisingly I had never played this game before. It is basically a ‘push-your-luck’ card game, with a loose piratical theme. It works well and takes little time. As with all ‘push-your-luck’ games, there is a strong element of luck (naturally!) and minimal strategy, but it is entertaining and worth the time spent playing.

We finished the session by playing the second game in the Century Spice Road series; ‘Eastern Wonders’. The game has the same economic mechanism as the first game, but has added geographic movement and area control aspects. Consequently, game play is slower and there is more to think about, but the core economic mechanic remains the central feature. I got ‘pipped to the post’ a number of times when going for objective tiles, largely because I concentrated too much on the tile lay-out and failed to monitor my opponents boards (a fundamental mistake). I like the game a lot. It is sufficiently different from the first game to make it worthwhile and interesting, and I would be curious to see how it melds as a combined game experience. If I had to choose between the two games, I think I would slightly prefer the first game, simply because the game play is so fast and so sharp.

Boardgame Session (9 Sept 2018)

We visited my sister, Gill, for the weekend and naturally played a few games. Firstly we got Erin to play her copy of Pandemic, which Val and Chris kindly gave her earlier this year. This is a newer edition compared to the one I own; the tokens are plastic rather than the wood and cardboard of the earlier edition. I like the new cure markers etc. compared to the cardboard versions, but I much prefer the early wooden markers, and the lack of petri dishes is disappointing.

  

We played a standard 4-player game and won fairly easily. We cured the black and blue diseases quickly, and only suffered 3 outbreaks in the game. We secured victory on the last possible player turn, so it was still close run, and the final player card was the last infection card (flukey!). Both Erin and Gill quickly remembered the rules and were fully engaged in discussing strategy etc., so the game was a success and hopefully Erin will feel confident enough to try it with her non-gamer friends.

Next we played a number of 5-player games of Mind the Gap; a fast, simple card game based on the London tube system. There is not much thought required and the luck of the cards dominates, but if you are familiar with the London tube then the theme works very well. As we all travel in London a lot, the game worked very well with this group of players.

We then introduced Gill and Erin to the joys of NMBR9. The mechanism is so simple, but the spacial awareness skills required make this an enjoyable (and frustrating) puzzle game. Elaine normally beats me regularly, but this weekend I was on a roll and won every game!

  

Finally, I received my belated Birthday prezzies! Gill et al. Got me Dark Alleys, the expansion for one of my favourite games; Dungeon Petz. I look forward to trying this out, and I’m especially pleased to have more cute monsters to include in the game. Elaine got me Ambition, the first expansion for Roll for the Galaxy. I think the new starting tiles will be assimilated into the base game, as will the black and orange dice. I’m not so sure about the in-game objectives and reward tokens, but we will see.

Review of the boardgaming year 2017-18

A collated list of games we have played is tabulated below. The list is primarily aimed at providing me with a detailed record of my boardgaming activity, so that I can spot and understand trends and favourites. It also sparks my enthusiasm for games I overlooked and want to play more of. The first figure is the number of times a game made it to the table, whereas the superscript number is the number of actual games played.

No Games played	Boardgame
823	NMBR9
819	Schotten Totten
813	Lost Cities
7	Paperback
613	Azul
69	Carcassonne
46	Ticket to Ride – Europe
46	Parade
37	Patchwork
36	Sushi-Go (incl. Party)
35	San Juan
35	Roll for the Galaxy
34	Quadropolis
3	TransAtlantic
25	Bang! The dice game
25	Oh, My Goods!
24	Hey, That’s my Fish
24	Mind the Gap
2	Battlelore2
2	Parfum
2	Century Spice Road
14	Splendour
13	Metro
12	Colt Express
12	Citadels
12	7 Wonders
12	Catan
12	Bloomin’ Gardens
12	Onitama
12	Kingdomino
1	Fleet
1	Cash ‘n’ Guns
1	Kemet
1	Concordia
1	Canalmania
1	Minerals
1	Lost Cities Boardgame
1	Pikoko
1	Pesky Gnomes
1	Ice Cool
1	Photosynthesis
1	Cottage Gardens
1	Backpacks and Blisters
1	Ra

 

In sharp contrast to my wargaming activity, this year has seen a bumper crop of boardgames played with a wide range of differing games. Elaine and I have played many more two player games and these feature strongly in the above list i.e. Schotten Totten, Lost Cities, Patchwork etc. Some multiplayer games translate into good two player versions i.e. Paperback, NMBR9, Azul etc.

Elaine has had winning year, especially with NMR9 and Schotten Totten, which were not games I thought she would enjoy or excel at. Whereas Paperback was a predictable favourite for her, and surprisingly Roll for the Galaxy also went down well.

The perennial favourites (Ticket to Ride, Carcassone etc.) remain popular, and think these have been joined by Century Spice Road and Quadropolis. Surprisingly, Dominion did not get played this year. I was glad to get certain games on the table, particularly Kemet and Fleet, both will hopefully make further appearances. I’m also sure that Onitama will be played more in the coming year.

A few games disappointed (Cash ‘n’ Guns, Pikoko, Lost Cities Card Game, Pesky Gnomes), whilst others hold future promise (Minerals, Concordia, Photosynthesis, Cottage Gardens).

So, a good boardgame year; very enjoyable with mixed results, no-one won too often and all had a good time. I’m looking forward to the coming year.

Off the Painting Table (Sept 2018)

I have long enjoyed playing Napoleonic skirmish games using the excellent Sharpe Practice rules by TFL. I have reasonable forces for the Peninsular campaign but lack any Spanish Guerrilla figures. I finally obtained a bag of 12 from Eagle Figures whilst at the Attack show in July.

The sculpts are slim and simple. There are 3 unique characters (a priest, a woman and a gent) plus 3 figures each of 3 other generic poses (kneeling and standing firing, and advancing). I must admit that I would have liked more variation in both pose and dress, but I have found a surprising lack of suitable figures from any other manufacturers. Maybe I just have not looked hard enough! Could any reader of this blog suggest a source I may have overlooked?

Anyway, despite my reservations, these figures will hopefully plug the gap in my collection and provide an interesting addition to work with my British regulars and rifles.