Laughter and rage from page to stage

Yer actual culture
Thursday night there I teamed up with Gavin, Michael and Liam at Glasgow's Tron Theatre to see the Communicado Theatre Company's production of the late poet Adrian Mitchell's adaption of Nikolai Gogol's classic 1836 play, The Government Inspector. (Check the poem on Mitchell's homepage and you'll get some idea of why this man- whose name was utterly unknown to me before Thursday, has been so lamented: poems like Song in Space could conceivably finally heal the scars inflicted on yours truly- as on so many others, by poetry at school.)

Gogol: titan and progenitor
The father of one of the greatest literary movements in world history- the great Russians; of whom Dostoyevsky once said "We all came out of Gogol's 'Overcoat.'"; Gogol's works weren't new to me. A friend had lent me Dostoyevsky's (Memoirs from) The House of the Dead back in mid-80's Edinburgh. Astounded and entranced by the world I had entered, for several years thereafter I read as many of the works of these Russians as I could get my hands on. Dostoyevsky was my favourite and I also sampled Turgenev, Tolstoy and Chekhov as well as Gogol. Later I became fascinated with the Russian revolution- whose conseqences reverberated down through history as strongly as ever back in the 1980's and 90's, and I read up on that subject more avidly even than I had consumed the literature.

Consequences, consequences
Steeped as I am then in the social and cultural background against which Gogol's writings are set; likewise the social explosion- and its tragic consequences, triggered by the issues he took as his subjects: the play's opening sent me quickly into a peculiar and delightful transport.

Russian peasants: from whose teeming masses will have been screwed every ruble and kopek diposed of so liberally by the characters in The Government Inspector

Communicado casts its spell
The performance began with the cast performing Russian music as if in a salon ensemble, very conducive to the atmosphere and repeated throughout the performance to great effect. This over, the scene quickly changed (quick scene changes- carried out by the cast, were a key feature of the piece; they had to be really quick so as not overly to interrupt the performance's breakneck pace) to the drawing room of the house of the Governor of a backwater provincial town somewhere in Russia. Bad news soon arrived: the town was to be visited by a Government Inspector; the finger-pointing began and the stink of corruption rapidly filled the air.

The sheer- almost timeless, primitiveness of peasant life in the vast hinterlands of which the town in The Government Inspector was a far flung and insignificant hub

The quality of the production was already evident. I was particularly impressed by the dialogue: moving as snappily as that in a Marx Brothers movie it nonetheless retained the effect of real people relating to each other, as opposed to actors just delivering their lines at each other. This must be very difficult to write and to perform.

It was around this point that the social and cultural references of the language began to tell on my imagination. In my mind's eye I could see the stinking hovels, the toilers in the fields, the strutting nobles and the ignorant priests. I could almost hear the groans of the overworked labourers; the cries under the lash of the knout; the sneers of the parasitic elites at the crudity of the bedraggled masses; the aimless witterings of big-city wannabes in their soulless provincial parlours. In short: the whole world Gorky had distilled into The Government Inspector sprang to vivid life in my head. A transport of delight as I said.

The plot thickens
The laments and recriminations of the town's Governor, Judge, Teacher and Doctor done, the bad news got worse. In a brilliant comedy turn played with superlative timing and which had the audience roaring, two local landowners arrived with grave news: not only was the Government Inspector already in town; he'd been there for two whole weeks, living it up in the inn on his fat expense account.

Further lamentations and recriminations ensued, after which we cut to the inn. There we met the Government Inspector's servant; from whom we learned that the much-feared Petersburg man was a mere petty clerk- wastrel and spendthrift to boot, on his way back to the nearby family home with his tail between his legs. This sad sack had nothing more on his mind than where his next meal was coming from because he'd squandered all his money losing at gambling, and the innkeeper had refused him any more credit (the truth of the 'fat expense account').

I cut to the chase
Thus Gogol set the scene for a comedy of mistaken identity played out as the collision between two groups of utterly selfish and quite self-deluding characters whose mendacity was like quicksilver as they tripped from one venal emotion to the next. They were more vile than the most evil of Hollywood blockbuster villains- no matter the megalomaniacal scope of their murderous schemes, because these people were so believably human. A mark of this was the inevitable final reveal: truly terrible; completely deserved.

And so?
A ticklish ambiguity
Profoundly observed rip-roaring delight though this production was, one small thing nagged away at me throughout the performance: where did Gogol end and Mitchell begin? Familiar from watching docudramas, this feeling reached its peak in the troika scene near the end. Prophetic about the fate of Russia in a way reminiscent of the Grand Inquisitor parable in Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov- which to me was pregnant with reference to the tragic transition of Bolshevism into Stalinsim, this scene seemed to me to be just too good to be true. That is to say: I felt that it had to have been written with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight. Disappointingly this is apparently so.

The 3rd dimension and the 4th wall
Thursday night's performance was also a potent illustration of the power of theatre as a narrative space. The Tron's auditorium is small, with highly banked seats looming several metres above the floor on which the actors perform. In this sense the audience are dominant over a cast deprived of the power of their usual platform and proscenium arch. Of course this relationship was turned upside down as soon as the performance began: the casts' physical presence simply took control of the space, and therefore of us.

More interesting even than that was the way in which the staging played games with the 4th wall to subvert the dynamic tension already created between audience and cast. This seems to me to have worked on several levels:

• Speeches and asides were often delivered at the audience but not to us: so tacitly ackowledging the 4th wall.
• Once- maybe twice IIRC, we were directly addressed: so piercing the 4th wall.
• Stepping outside the narrative and so the need for a willing suspension of disbelief the musical interludes dispensed with the 4th wall entirely.

I suspect that these little games worked to make our minds more receptive to the drama, eg. contributing significantly to opening up my imagination to its little transport of delight. If I am correct in this, I think that it just goes to show the abiding merits of Bertolt Brecht's theories of epic theatre. I've long been convinced that Brecht was right on the mark with these ideas, so I guess I can say that this was the icing on an already delicious cake. ;)

Web 2.0 and tabletop roleplaying #1: the past

A big day for all concerned?
World-historical anniversaries are all very well but today also happens to see my 400th post here @RD/KA!, so I've been racking my brains trying to think of a topic suitable to highlight this latest small landmark in my bloggery. What could be more apt I decided, than a subject which has its roots in my halcyon days- the 1980's; about which I wrote right back when this blog was but a stripling; which represents furthermore one of my major unfulfilled aspirations as a roleplayer?

Phase 1: "When ah were a lad..."
My fascination with what Web 2.0 can offer tabletop roleplayers is rooted in experiences predating the invention of the World Wide Web itself. It all began, naturally enough, with Katana: Sword Against Evil™, that renegade ninja who has set out to destroy the Evil that spawned him.
(Graphic via Trends in the Living Networks)

A team-playing ninja?
Katana's early career took place in a typical student roleplaying circle: a large and fluid pool of players with plenty of time on their hands; resulting in appearances alongside a mixed cast of characters, the most regular of whom went by the name of Wildcat. We used to style these games after the old Marvel Team-Up comics. Earnest as we were in our search for strong characters and satisfying stories (regular readers might remember just how large Katana the PC looms in my life) we would talk a lot about character development: after games, in the pub, and so on.

No, not quite!
Eventually this roleplaying circle drifted apart, as it had to when people graduated and started getting jobs, the usual kind of thing. In particular: Katana's GM- Bill, left Edinburgh; so that Katana's later adventures were restricted to Bill's occasional visits. One consequence of all this was that Katana's later adventures were all solo runs. We were maintaining a steady snail mail correspondence at the time (how prehistoric is that?!). Soon we were exchanging snippets about Katana: staging little vignettes, feeding each other plot ideas and so on.

Fun as this was in its own right, Bill and I soon realised that it was bringing unexpected benefits to our roleplaying:

• We were able to hit the ground running so to speak; ie. our games began with events already in motion, shortening the routine setup and enabling us to approximate the narrative technique in medias res without running the risk of railroading; all of which heightened the drama, naturally enough.
• Our games were more focussed: the read and review facility of our writings meant that we both had a better idea than normal of what we wanted from each particular session, and of where we were going with it.

The result was some great roleplaying- including Katana's Finest Hour, but that's another story.

Parallel development?
Readers familiar with HERO might recognise that what Bill and I were doing bears some resemblance to blue-booking. A resemblance there certainly is.

The phrase 'blue-booking' first entered the roleplayers' vocabulary in 1988 in the highly esteemed HERO supplement Strike Force, by Aaron Allston: simply one of the biggest names in roleplaying design and writing of his day. Phil Masters' definition linked above also notes some of the possible pitfalls of blue-booking; points amplified in a thread- The Pros and Cons of Blue-Booking, over on the HERO forums (the OP there gives a more detailed account of blue-booking's origins than does Phil Masters). I'll return to these issues later.

Phase 2: Caught in the web
A long time coming
I owned my first computer in 1990: my dad's old Amstrad PCW 8256, that quirky little all-in-one machine sold by the even 'quirkier' Alan Sugar. The PCW 8256 was primitive even when new and 5 years old when I got my hands on it but the potential of the computer word processor was still obvious. I fired the PCW 8256 some 6 years later when my dad passed on his old IBM compatible PC- with a 'monster' 44 Meg hard drive and a processor which could double-clock to a mighty 18MHz(!), and which ran WordPerfect IIRC. I never really got the hang of WordPerfect and always missed my trusty old LocoScript.

I'd heard about the internet and the World Wide Web by this time, naturally enough. An 80's Cyberpunk fan, I even had some notion of what it might be its capabilities. But despite poking around on it at a friend's workplace once or twice, I really knew next to nothing about it. It wasn't until 1999 that I finally bought a decent net-capable PC, which for some strange reason came with Lotus Word Pro pre-installed: my first fully featured word processor, at last! Still fondly remembered because of its excellent bulleting/numbering and its unique little formatting tool- both never equalled in my experience, Word Pro was left behind with some regret when I discovered how terrible are its tables and spreadsheets.

Soon enough, I went cable broadband. I was in!

First fumbling steps
The powerful tools Word Pro put at my disposal were quickly put to use developing HERO character sheets, GM's combat sheets and other goodies. I was imagining too all the amazing things I could do with a fully featured graphics package of the sort that was then quite beyond my means: GIMP and the Open Source as we know them today were then in their infancy. Meanwhile my adventure gaming ecommunity activity was devoted to tabletop miniatures gaming sites, especially The Bolter and Chainsword: the ideal home for this fan of 40K Space Marines.

Then in March 2002 Bill launched his Trollslayer Yahoo group, to be followed shortly thereafter by Trollslayer.net. It didn't take me long to realise the potential of web-hosted mailing lists and online document storage for roleplayers, especially for a group dispersed as our old Edinburgh crew is. Character sheets could be stored online so that you no longer need worry about forgetting them; GM's could store their secret information in private folders- enabling them to travel light; meets could be arranged; plotlines could be seeded; scenarios could be reported on and their implications discussed; players could interact in downtime- you can see where that's heading I trust dear readers:- the possibilities seemed limitless.

Before long I had started my own Yahoo group: the HERO System Resource Group. Moribund for several years now, the HEROsrg can hardly be called a great success, and Yahoo groups were clunky even back in 2002; but the few months' lively activity it enjoyed proved a few of my points to my satisfaction: in particular that centralised apps of the sort that were to flourish as Web 2.0 social networking could serve to rally dispersed groups of roleplayers to tell their 'fish stories' and to prepare new games. Not a complete failure then.

A grinding halt?
Just over two years later- back in August 2005, I fired up "Roll dice and kick ass!", not long after I'd started my WFRP2 Ashes of Middenheim campaign. It was obvious that this was going to provide material for my bloggery: in fact WFRP2 was the subject of the very next post I made after the four with which RD/KA! opened- covering Interaction, the 63rd World Science Fiction Convention held in Glasgow that month. As old hands here @RD/KA! will know, AoM did indeed provide a lot of material: as of the time of writing a total of 42 posts- just topping 10% of my total, appear under the 'my little old world' label; 41 of these are AoM related.

Strange to relate though- when you consider all that has gone before: my very first AoM campaign report- following on directly from the one about the WFRP2 basic rules linked above; this post includes the following statement:

"I mean to say: this particular corner of cyberspace is not going to be a campaign resource base for myself and my players- a Yahoo or similar group is much more suitable for that purpose it seems to me. Nor do I intend this blog to create some kind of online environment in which me and my players can do game- blogs might be good for that kind of thing, but so also should be bulletin boards, and there is already one devoted to WFRP, so that base seems to be covered right now."

So, I set out eschewing exactly what it was that most interested me about the online environment and roleplaying, from the get-go? And on my own blog? Sheesh. The reasons I gave at the time might retain some merit but all I can say now about my perplexing decision is that I got exactly what I asked for: occasional chatter in comments to my stories of each session notwithstanding, no one used the web for any game-related purpose during the campaign, myself included.

Which brings us more or less up to date. The subject of what exactly it is I am looking to achieve by bringing Web 2.0 to tabletop roleplaying; the resources available which might be adapted to these ends; and how I hope to be able to make this happen: all that is for another post. ;)

Talons tear into the Tau

A newfound opportunity
This story begins late last year when I was invited to join a fB group called 40K for Glaswegians, which needs no introduction. David- the group's creator, contacted me to ask if I was interested in playing some 40K. I confess my feelings about this were mixed, echoing those evoked in me by the 40K game itself: I just love GW's 40K Dark Millenium- which I think is one of adventure gaming's great subcreationist endeavours; my DIY Space Marine army Penumbra's Talons is one of my proudest hobby creations; the tabletop rules though have long frustrated me because they're so like the Windows OS- buggy as all hell edition after edition.

Feelings mixed or not, my beloved Talons were just too much too leave lying- I knew I'd be playing sooner or later: I had been hoping for this since last year after all. David and I did the usual coffee meet last month to check each other out. We quickly hit it off. A game at the earliest opportunity was soon agreed upon. That opportunity finally arrived last Tuesday.

Getting down to business
Dave plays Tau. An attractive army with firepower sufficient to intimidate even Space Marines with their power-armoured 3+ saves, the Tau are also a fluffy opponent for my Penumbra's Talons: Belon- the Talons' homeworld, is located in the Eastern Fringes of the Imperium of Man, somewhere to the galactic south-east of Ultramar- fiefdom of the Ultramarines. This means that the Talons'll've been in the forefront of Imperial encounters with this recently discovered alien species.

Belon (precise location as yet undefined) relative to Ultramar

(Inset map via Schola Progenium- 40KRP fansite)

With more- and much more recent, 40K experience than yours truly- including a tournament only the previous weekend, Dave had an army list ready to roll which he generously shared with me in advance. Pushed for time as I was, I didn't even manage to skim my copy of the 5th edition rules.

The night before our game I dug out my collection and picked out some favourite models, including my serving Chapter Master: Ezekiel Cromwell ("Also known as Zeke, but never to his face.")- above left; and the obligatory squad of jump pack assault marines- my favourite space marine models. The result was that Dave had a fluffy army well tailored to the strictures of the new rules, while mine too was quite fluffy but poorly adapted to the new rules for the missions (army lists).

What went down
The setup
I arrive to find that David has set up a table full of his homemade terrain (he's an avid terrain builder). We roll for Mission and Deployment:

• Mission: Annihilate.
• Deployment: Spearhead- table quarters.

The mission is my first stroke of luck. Only Troops units can hold objectives for VP in 40K5- which would be difficult for my unbalanced army with its mere 2 Troops units; the Annihilate mission is all about kill points, so my lack of Troops units isn't an issue. David sets up first then it's time for me to come up with a plan.

David's impressive table (top) & our deployments (bottom)

Putting my lascannon on the high ground of the ruined building is a no-brainer, as is sending my main force swinging left to engage the Tau as quickly as possible. The deployment of my dreadnoughts and my Fast Attack units is decided by the available space, and by their speed relative to the distance to the enemy. My other Tacsquad will advance through the woods, while I deploy my heavy bolter Devestators in a position to discourage David from mischief with his infiltrators- the Stealth suits, and his deep-striking reserves- the Crisis suits.

Turn 1
David has first turn. He loads up 2 units of Fire Warriors into his Pathfinders' Devilfish and edges them gingerly forward ready to face the expected onslaught of my bikers and jump packers. His Pathfinders' markerlight targeters light up a couple of my units and his first fire isn't wasted; irritating as it is however, it doesn't worry me too much to be honest:

• Brother Elias loses his assault cannon: a very good result for any opponent facing this awesome weapon; Elias still has his fearsome dreadnought close combat weapon though.
• The scouts lose 1 man: nothing to worry about.

My original plan- to turboboost my bikes to double their move and gain a 3+ 'cover' save while they screen the jump packers, changes immediately. I decide not to waste the bikes' impressive firepower: T/L (twin-linked) bolters aren't to be sneezed at, especially against Tau. Seeing no Tau dropping from the skies my heavy bolter Devestators move up towards the centre of the table- a strong fire position for weapons which can wreak havoc upon the puny and lightly armoured xenos. Elsewhere, my units move forward according to plan, even Elias- who should've had second thoughts.

My firing has one significant result: a Tau Pathfinder unit loses its markerlights. David will rue this more than once. Oh, and I maintain my longstanding tradition of ineffectual lascannon fire against vehicles!

Turn 2
This is when it all begins to kick off. A Devilfish unloads its Fire Warriors into the face of my bikers, and the Vespid jump in to confront Zeke and his lads.

Other manoeuvring done, the Tau open fire. The combined fire of 2 Devilfish, the Fire Warriors, the Vespid and the Stealth suits costs me a biker and 3 jump packers- about average really.

David ponders long and hard in the assault phase before deciding not to pile in with the Vespid and the Fire Warriors. I suggest he should've gone for the extra attack on the charge, but David points out that he'd probably just've given me the chance to finish off his units in his turn instead of my own. I can see the sense in this.

My units continue their manoeuvres according to my plans.

That lascannon, and Stirner's krak missile and autocannon shells bounce harmlessly off a Devilfish, then it's time for Zeke, his lads and the bikers to unleash hell. They do, and a satisfyingly large number of dice are rolled for shooting and close combat. When the dust settles I have only 2 jump packers left (one was taken down when his own plasma pistol overheated!) and- amazingly enough: 3 Fire Warriors have survived HtH 16 attacks! A temporary setback at best, and David knows it as well as I do.

Turn 3
A temporary lull falls across the battlefield after the previous turn's outbreak of carnage. The Devilfish move forward to bring more weapons to bear while the rest of the Tau hold their positions.

Between the tanks and the Stealth suits their fire manages to do for another jump packer- Zeke's leadership means that the last man holds steady. On the left flank the Pathfinders continue their long range sniping battle with my scouts. Shas El Quixo- the Tau leader, rolls the 2nd of 3 consecutive 2d6 rolls getting 1 and 2 to see his accurate fire bounce harmlessly off Stirner's armour. The heroic trio of Fire Warriors bite the dust in close combat as expected and I consolidate my bikers ready to zoom off to attack the Tau firebase in the far corner.

My moves see the bikers hare off across the table, while I lose my last jump packer to a dangerous terrain mishap as he and Zeke move in to mop up the Pathfinders lurking in the fortification on the Tau table edge.

My firing is ineffectual: more lascannon foolery, naturally enough; while my heavy bolters continue to have problems ranging in on the pesky Stealth suits.

Turn 4
David's reserves finally arrive this turn, giving him his last chance to turn the situation in his favour. The Kroot and their Kroot hounds enter in a good position to attack my base of fire. He drops his 3 deep-striking Crisis suits so that they can have a go at the wayward Brother Elias. Meanwhile his Devilfish move to plug gaps in his line, his last unit of Fire Warriors disembarking to face off against my bikers.

The Tau shooting is enough to cost 2 casualties to my lascannon squad; another 1 to my bikers; and to reduce Elias to burning wreckage. It's good but nowhere near decisive enough, and David can already feel the game slipping from his grasp once and for all.

My lads are busy this turn. Brother Stirner ensures that the 3 Crisis suit Tau won't be going home to celebrate their kill. The bikers make short work of the Fire Warriors trying to hold them at bay. And Zeke and the Tacsquad sergeant have a go a Devilfish with plasma pistol and meltabombs- all to no avail. These pesky tanks make me nervous; even so, I'm sure the day is mine.

Turn 5
The kill points I've accumulated mean that the battle is by now irretrievable for the Tau but David is game to the last. One Devilfish continues to try to finish off the bikes that have caused David so much grief, while the other tank-shocks my Devestators- to no effect. Meanwhile the Kroot move up to do what they do best: close combat.

My own turn is similarly low key, involving mostly manoeuvring to position my units to receive the Kroot assault. Mostly but not all: my meltagun biker destroys a pesky Devilfish with a single shot.

Turn 6
This turn sees the Tau's last hurrah. The Kroot swarm in and chew their way through my screening Tacsquad in short order. At the other end of the board my bike squad finally break and run after a hail of pulse rifle fire reduces them to a lone biker- the heroic meltagunner, naturally enough. More pleasing to David is the stroke of luck which sees Zeke carried from the battlefield. Pesky snake-eyes!

The Tau's last hurrah and the aftermath

Ready and waiting, my heavy bolter Devestators unleash a murderous hail of fire on the Kroot right under their noses. The xenos promptly go to ground but are still reduced to a mere 5 Kroot hounds.

Aftermath
The game over, the following units survived from Dave's army:

• Stealth suits.
• A unit of Fire Warriors.
• One Devilfish.

The surviving Talons were:

• 1 biker.
• Scouts.
• Heavy bolters.
• Brother Stirner.

Score
Tau 6 kill points.
Talons 10 kill points.
:-)

Note
I screwed up on the fate of the surviving Devilfish- which I thought had been destroyed until I double-checked my notes at the very last moment. It was too late at that point to do anything but cross out the offending references. I'll try to do better next time. :-/

Afterthoughts
What an awesome game! I loved every minute. Winning a decisive victory was cool, naturally enough; as was enjoying an army whose 3+ saves give it a degree of battlefield impunity unmatched by any other in the 40K universe. And the overwhelming impact on the battle of my marauding bikers is a gaming memory I shall treasure for years to come. David too made a vital contribution, being a good-humoured, generous and sporting opponent, even when I was tanning his hide. But there was more to my delight than all of that.

Unique and precious things
First and foremost was the sheer thrill of seeing my lads in action on the tabletop again. No matter how thrilling are games like Combat Commander or Descent- and they are both intense games of teeth-grinding tension and anguished decision making; tabletop miniatures games enjoy unique virtues in this respect. When you deploy an army of lovingly converted and carefully painted miniatures on the tabletop they are yours in a way that boardgames simply cannot match.

This profound psychological link is deeper still for me in the case of Penumbra's Talons. Not only is this DIY Chapter Astartes one of my proudest hobby creations in one of my favourite gaming universes; it is also- because it is my own creation, almost like a roleplaying character for me. The Talons have their own mythology, stories which I have developed down the years. Mostly in my head, these have largely been derived from the models I have built and from the games I have played. This particular collection of toy soldiers is therefore a living, dynamic entity in a way typical of a favourite roleplaying PC.

Fast and furious fun
Many readers will be aware that people can get sniffy about Warhammer games, for various reasons. Now I'm as much a fan of historical authenticity, sophisticated turn sequencing and carefully crafted command systems as anyone else. But the simple truth is that games of toy soldiers ultimately stand or fall by one simple criterion: do they or don't they let you move your models around the tabletop in dramatic and entertaining ways?

I'll forbear today from talking about the rules of 40K. Instead I'll direct readers to the pictures in my battle report. Just look at how so many units moved so far across and around the table. This demonstrates convincingly the sheer dynamism that makes the current iteration of 40K a winner. 'Nuff said! ;)

Related@RD/KA!
- The Tau bite back

London days #3: We hit the gaming table, again

On Friday night then we turned to the "star attraction- specially requested by Mike" to which I'd referred last Thursday; that being Battlestar Galactica. I confess I was just a tad daunted at the prospect of this play of the game I like so much. It's one thing to teach a game like this to a bunch of confirmed gaming geeks including some experienced rules interpreters; it's quite another to teach it to people whose face-to-face gaming experience doesn't extend beyond card games and classic family boardgames.

Thank goodness then for the excellent setup guide in the rules, which provides both a nice picture of the game's layout on the tabletop, and a step-by-step list of how to go about getting the game up and running. Of course that didn't stop me from screwing up on Friday night. Jo had chosen Gaius Baltar and Mike had chosen Sharon "Boomer" Valerii: both are characters who change the composition of the Loyalty deck used to determine who is Cylon, which was something I forgot. D'oh! Fortunately the most important mistake- Gaius Baltar's extra Loyalty card at the start of play, was spotted early enough to be quickly corrected; and the other- Boomer's extra one in the Sleeper Agent phase, was easy enough to correct before it mattered too much.

What went down
With the political and the pilot already chosen, I was going to have to be the Military Leader. Nukes? Oh dear me, what a responsibility. My choice was easy: who else for Jo and Mike's first game but the man himself- William Adama? Easy this choice might've been, but Adama's inability to send people to the brig would prove to be a much bigger limitation than I had at first imagined.

The game started in a unique and amusing fashion: first to play, Jo drew the 'Detector Sabotage' Crisis card. We failed the Skill Check- Mike and I only had our initial draw of 3 Skill cards, with the result that we were prohibited from looking at each other's Loyalty cards for the rest of game: looking at someone's Loyalty cards just happens to be Gaius Baltar's one-use special ability! Jo was to bemoan this more than once as the game progressed. As a loyal human throughout the game I was a bit scunnered at this a few times myself I can tell you.

This setback aside the early game went well for the humans IIRC. We were able to escape the marauding Cylon fleets without too much difficulty and reached the halfway point on our journey to Kobol with our resources in pretty good shape. Sure, there had been the usual paranoid accusation and counter-accusation: I persuaded Jo to slap Boomer in the brig because I was sure she was Cylon. Mike wasn't slow to exact his revenge so that Adama was stripped of his rank when he too ended up in the pokey. This meant that our chief Cylon suspect- Boomer, was now in charge of our deadliest weaponry.

Jo and Mike: well, who would you suspect?

The paranoia became less shrill after the Sleeper Agent phase, when we knew one of them was among us for sure. I was pretty confident that Mike was our Cylon, though I couldn't be sure because he'd done nothing to vindicate my suspicions. Of course I was right, but Mike was playing a very canny game, holding back on his reveal with admirable patience as the situation began to deteriorate rapidly for humanity: at one point we had no functioning Vipers for example. Ultimately we were spooling up for our final jump to Kobol when the endless run of crises proved just too much; we were driven into defeat by the depletion of one of our several resources which had been teetering on the verge for several turns.

Score
Human, all too human 0
Sleekit, all too sleekit 1
:-[

Afterthoughts
Unfortunate clunks and fumbles notwithstanding, this was yet another great game of Battlestar Galactica. My main worry- that the game would just bomb, proved unfounded; even though Jo in particular found both the systems and the length challenging at first. I believe that the proceduralism I discussed so extensively last year proved its worth here: although there is a wide range of options to consider each turn, the very repetitiousness of the turn sequence makes it easy for new players to get into the swing of things.

I think the teamwork and the prospect of treachery also demonstrated their profound appeal. They give BSG a social and dramatic dynamic which is very different from the sort of games which'll be familiar to casual family boardgamers. The combination of cooperative play and the built-in plot twist serve to draw everyone in so that even being picked on- as a Cylon suspect, is a very different experience from what it is in games like, eg. Monopoly.

A hit again then. ;)

Related@RD/KA!
London days
- #1: I hit the big city
- #2: The big city hits me

London days #2: The big city hits me

Confessions of a small town boy
I've often summed up Glasgow as "big enough to be cosmopolitan, but small enough so that you can encompass the city as an individual instead of getting lost in it, as in, eg. London." This long-held viewpoint took a knock after the last time I expressed it- to someone I met during my recent trip to Prague.

Back in Glasgow shortly thereafter I was listening to BBC Radio 4 in the kitchen, as I do. It'll've been Front Row I was listening to, because that's the mid-evening arts show that often accompanies my cooking. I was struck by one of those sudden realisations of something you've always known but never quite fully understood: in this case, that pretty much all of the arts and culture discussed in Front Row is London-based; and that certainly little or none of it hails from Glasgow.

These recent days in London have left that sense of the richness of that small northern city more threadbare still. The maelstrom that was mid-evening London outside Liverpool St. underground on Tuesday night swept over me like a drenching in a tropical storm. Barely recovered from the sheer buzz I immediately noticed the incredible ethnic diversity, which strikes me as being qualitatively on a whole different level from that of Glasgow, a pretty multicultural city itself.
Whatever truth might attach to my notion of the individual and the urban space, there must surely be surely be emergent properties of simple scale in respect of which Glasgow cannot but stand in London's shadow. Forever? I don't know, but such is the logic of the thought.
The world on our doorstep
And so this afternoon I take a stroll up the Mile End in search of an internet cafe. As ever, I find myself admiring the famous London brickwork, and more of what it is that people love about this city impresses itself upon me: even if it's a bit run down, it's just so beautiful to look at.

Then I hit the Mile End. Again the sheer splendour of humanity in this multicultural mecca delights the senses. I find myself in Burdett Road, heading for the internet cafe past a cornucopia of little ethnic grocers and cafes. I find a Mediterranean cafe where I just know I'm going to take a late lunch after my spell on the web. That lunch turns out to be a simple Mediterranean salad and some delicious concoction of fruit juice and honey. This is heaven. I think I might go back tomorrow.
To the heart of the metropolis
The evening begins with a rendezvous with Mike to pay a visit to the Forbidden Planet Megastore in Shaftesbury Avenue. Frakk me but this place is huge! Both of Glasgow's comic stores could fit inside no bother, probably with room for our 2 FLGS to boot. I've never seen so many comics, TPBs and sundry other geek paraphenalia in one place before. I am mesmerised, and mourning my limited budget. Still, I pick up 4 shiny new TPBs to add to my already overburdened shelves back home; including volumes 2, 3 and 4 of Girls, volume 1 of which I'd picked up in Borders' closing down sale last year.
Jo's left work and is on her way to meet us for dinner at this point, but we've just got time to sneak in a visit to the Orc's Nest, central London's famous games store. It's small but well stocked, and I like the industrial styling of the interior. The owner* [see below] explains to me that this a restyling after 10 years of a Tolkienesque/dungeon vibe. I control my self indulgent impulses (limited luggage space might've had as much to do with this as fiscal prudence I confess) and limit myself to picking up a copy of issue 2 of Ancible, the new F&SF gaming magazine. Independent adventure gaming magazines had a chequered history even before the web questioned their very validity, so I can only wish this new venture well.
Dinner takes us to the Gourmet Burger Kitchen, where I've been assured I'll find a burger that'll make up for my voluble disenchantment with the quality of the fare in the global franchises. I'm not disappointed. Not only do I get to sink my teeth into a blue cheese burger every bit as good as Tuesday night's pizza; but I also suck up a top class chocolate milk shake and eat my way through a great pile of fries. The pleasure revisits me even as I write. Of course, GBK is nowhere to be seen in dear old Glasgow.

And that, dear readers, was my cold February Thursday in London town. Tomorrow we game. ;)
Correction
Cheesy self publicist that I am, I sent a link to this post to the Orc's Nest. The owner replied to inform me that he wasn't in the shop yesterday, and has disclaimed all responsibilty for events that did, did not, might or might not have transpired on the premises. I guess I'm just going to have to redirect that lawsuit then. :0)


Related@RD/KA!
London days
- #1: I hit the big city
- #3: We hit the gaming table, again

London days #1: I hit the big city

Ain't life a bitch?

I flew down to London on Tuesday for a short holiday, visiting with my cousin Jo and her boyfriend Mike. Mike's a gamer, so that 3 choice games from my collection are in my luggage. Of course there is more to life than gaming, eg. food; so Tuesday night began with a visit to Strada, where I finally found the perfect pizza I've sought unsuccessfully these last few fmonths in Glasgow. And it is too good to be true because sure enough- there's no Strada in Glasgow: the search continues. :-(

Card-sharps or just sharp at cards?
Pleasantly satiated on pizza and chocolate pudding and ensconced chez Jo and Mike, we start as we mean to go on: getting down to some gaming. The hour is late and my hosts have early starts because they have jobs to go to, so the star attraction- specially requested by Mike, has to wait for a more appropriate occasion. I decide therefore that the elegant simplicity of Fluxx is called for.

The game is as quick and easy to teach as ever:

• I show and explain 1 each of the 5 kinds of card:

1. Creeper.
   
2. Keeper.
   
3. Goal.
   
4. New Rule.
   
5. Action.

• I explain the importance of reading each card fully and carefully, and following the instructions word for word.
  
• I point out the Draw and Play rules.

And we're off.

What went down
We played two games that night. As you'd expect, the sheer range of cardplay options was a bit bewildering for Jo and Mike at first; prompting Jo to play the sympathy card. Mike knows her too well to fall for this though. And yours truly? I'm just too hardnosed, an attitude that later proved all too wise.

I won the first game with one of those series of spammy draws and plays that you either just love or hate in Fluxx:

• Playing the 'Draw 2 and Play Them' Action I draw a pesky Creeper.
  
• I discard it immediately with my first play- 'Trash Something'.
  
• Then I win by playing the Goal '10 Cards in Hand' (increased to 11 by 'Inflation'). :0)

The second game was much more strategic, because Jo and Mike are both experienced cardplayers (that proof of wisdom alluded to earlier). The draw rate was cranked up while the play rate remained low. We were all amassing big hands while at the same time the rules had changed very little throughout an entire deck- a novelty in my experience; so everyone was cagily looking for their winning strategy before opening up the game to make their grab at victory. This fell to Mike in the end with 'Party Snacks'.

Score
Sheer dumb luck 1
On his game 1
Well, it had to be someone 0
:-)

Afterthoughts
I was talking only yesterday about the essential elements of Fluxx strategy and whaddaya know: a mere 24 hours later my point is proved by a couple of Fluxx newbs who are experienced cardplayers. Not only did Mike win because he built his winning hand and then played it out; Jo had her own winning hand ready to play and was pipped at the post.

Mike is already a confirmed fan then. Jo is reserving judgement until she wins ("Competitive? Moi?"). After seeing Tuesday night's performance, I don't think that'll be a long wait. ;)

Related@RD/KA!
London days
- #2: The big city hits me
- #3: We hit the gaming table, again