"Alas, I am undone!"

Sieze the day?
I said last Thursday that I wanted to get Dominion to the table up here in Glasgow "at the earliest opportunity". That opportunity arose when Badger appeared for Friday night gaming. I'd been touting for a game of Conflict of Heroes- what with the upcoming demo tour, but the lure of Dominion proved too much to resist. A Euro-style cardgame that can keep this grognard's favourite treadhead's game off the table? Regular readers will realise that this must make Dominion something really special.

What went down
The rules of Dominion include a few recommended sets of Kingdom cards to give beginners balanced games which demonstrate different dynamics of play (you only use 10 of the 22 different kinds remember?) so- knowing what I was looking at and for this time, I was quickly able to get the game set up using the starter game cards (all shown in the illustrations left and below). Five minutes later we were playing. Five minutes after that Badger was playing his cards like he'd been playing Dominion for ages: grinning all over his face as he surveyed good hands; grimacing at his hands of shite.

UK Games Expo'09 #3: I eat dirt and die

I'd had a long lie on the Saturday morning, but I had to get up bright and early(ish) to get to the Clarendon Suites for Barry Ingram's Commands and Colours: Ancients tournament, my entry into which readers might remember. I was looking forward to this a lot. Regular readers might remember that C&C:A is my favourite version of Richard Borg's Commands and Colours system; yet, because Badger and I just can't get Combat Commander off the table, I've played C&C:A just once in over a year.

The C&C:A tournament took place upstairs in the Clarendon. I'd wandered round that area on the Saturday afternoon, noting without really seeing the militaristic tone of the cases of medals, flags, paintings and so on which decorated the walls. It wasn't until Sunday that I cottoned on that this was all Masonic memorabilia and regalia; rooms and rooms of it. I couldn't resist snapping a few pictures.

And they're off!

I'm just waiting for Andy to come and collect me for the drive down to Birmingham. In a couple of days, my Combat Commander tournament at UK Games Expo'09 will be over. I am already confident that there'll've been enough players to make it a good couple of days' gaming.

UK Games Expo runs over 2½ days. My CC tournament slots will amount to one of those days. I already know where I'll be on Sunday: playing in Barry Ingram's Commands and Colours: Ancients tournament. I'm looking forward to this; C&C:A is my favourite iteration of Richard Borg's Commands and Colours system.

The rest of the time? I won't know till I get there. If I had to pick out just one possibility, I guess I'd have to hope that Uwe Eickert might be able to make it across the Channel for the Expo. I'd just love to have the chance to play him at Conflict of Heroes, a game I'm keen to see get past CC onto my WW2 tactical gaming table one of these days.

That's it for now. See you on the other side. ;)

Related@RD/KA!
UK Games Expo'09
- #1: Time to kill
- #2: And so to war
- #3: I eat dirt and die
- #4: Old friends and new stuff

Adjusting the throttle

Bloody hell! No sooner had I survived the mayday gaming bash with Mark, Badger and the lads, than I found myself snapping awake and bouncing out of bed in the instant; a sure sign of my Stage 1 Hypomania. Oh dear, I thought, and I'd just got used to the unanticipated mood downswing.

Faced with this wakeup call, and after a frazzled week at the end of which I was pretty weary, I've decided that RD/KA! will be taking 2nd place in my gaming priorities until June. Or, to be more precise: Mark's, Badger's and my mayday weekend's games of Combat Commander and Up Front will be the last full-length game report I post before I return from CC@UK Games Expo'09.

CC@UK Games Expo'09
The event now has 4 players booked (myself excluded), plus 6 CC sets available. This means that we can already accomodate up to 12 players. Such a turnout would push the event up to the limits of this year's space, which would just prove my point about the demand for a WW2 tacsim tournament circuit in Britain. Fingers crossed I guess.

Meanwhile, I've made a start on the task of clipping, bagging, tagging and inventorying all the games I'm taking with me (CC aside, I'm taking my Memoir'44 and my Commands & Colours: Ancients to lend to Barry Ingram for his main-event tournaments (Saturday and Sunday, respectively). Hardly a thrill a minute (task and entry both), I'm going to get the latter done so's I can make headway on getting the former dusted. I've got two Sundays' games results to post, which I should get done before the week is out. ;)

Cards, commands and combat #1. Golden Oldies

Badger and I enjoyed something of a WW2 tactical megasession last Thursday as I'd said.

Up Front

As brilliant as is Combat Commander, 2 years solid play had left both me and Badger looking to ring the changes a bit in our gaming sessions. And as much as I want to see Conflict of Heroes in action again, there really was nowhere else to go to reopen our gaming horizons than back to the great grandaddy of CDG's, Up Front.

Badger was quite happy to have a go. He'd won his 1st and 2nd games against me after all, way back in 2005 (although I must point out, for Badger's benefit, that our Up Front score stood at 2-1 in his favour on Thursday night, not 2-0 as he'd imagined). I gave Badger the standard scenario I offer to players new to Up Front: Germans against my Americans in Patrol.

In which I am Donald's beeyatch!

A spate of cancellations reduced last Sunday's session to just Donald and me. We'd been having such fun with games of Battlestar Galactica and other multiplayer stuff in recent weeks that I wasn't quite sure how that would turn out. So I took advantage of the situation to get out some 2-player games I've not played as much as I'd like.

Starship Catan

Exactly whose idea it was to give this a try on Sunday now escapes me, but I was happy enough to give Starship Catan another go. The 2-player version of Settlers' sister game, Starfarers of Catan, I bought Starship Catan several years ago, while full in the flush of the first phase of my Settlers enthusiasm. I've played it a few times since then, finding it quite enjoyable though not as much to my taste as Settlers cards.

Prague games roundup #1: the family front

Ivanhoe
Hogmanay's Settlers was soon followed by a session of this stalwart. I was hoping to repeat my previous feat of winning on both Catan and Ivanhoe's field of honour. It was not to be.

Our 1st game started in a fashion that was to prove to be typical on the night: Bill leading the charge in a bout he ultimately lost. Bill's sitting on Radka's left made this so typical, because she won 3 out of the 5 games we played. Some of these were the closest possible, with all 4 of us sitting on 3 of the 4 tokens needed to win. Radka's victory on the night was complete though, as she won both more games, and more tokens overall (Daniel was keeping count). Bill and I trailed on 1 game each, with me pipping him by a single token.

The manner of my lone victory was pleasing, winning as I did with an uncontested 4-card purple laydown which had left me with an empty hand.

Start the week @ RD/KA!: Meanwhile... elsewhere, at the table, and on the shelf

It's been an eventful few months in the gaming industry since last August. D&D4 had been announced just before that last post and has wreaked its attendant hullaballoo across the net in subsequent months. I haven't played D&D regularly since my teenage years, so I've not been following much of this at all. I daresay I'll end up buying the game just to see what it looks like. The most I can hope for from it is that I'll find it interesting enough to read it from cover-to-cover, unlike D&D3 and 3.5

Black Industries finally releases one of the longest awaited and most hotly anticipated roleplaying products ever, namely the 40K RPG Dark Heresy. It shifts shedloads just in time for GW to announce the closure of their Black Industries subsidiary, the better to concentrate on Black Library's core publishing. Lamentations and woe betide us all! Until Fantasy Flight Games rode to the rescue with a licencing deal for GW's (non-miniature) boardgame, cardgame and RPG licences.

Note that Black Industries made their announcement on Jan 28, FFG's was Feb 22. What was the purpose of this three and-a-half week delay I wonder? Was there really so much unfinished business? Or were there just salesmen who couldn't resist the opportunity to sow the seeds of some panic-buying, such as yours truly, who promptly went out and bought the Dark Heresy book which might otherwise've been left lying for some months to come, and who finished off his WFRP collection for good measure, "just to be on the safe side". Also, some readers might remember that BI had procured the licence for the DC RPG. Has this now reverted? Or can we expect something from FFG? Its announcement refers specifically to GW's IP, so I won't be holding my breath.

Elsewhere, Steve Long announced summer 2009 as the release of HERO 6th edition. In a surprising move, he also announced that he'd sold the Champions Universe property- the official setting of the Champions' RPG since the original edition- to Cyptic Studios, who are to use the setting (but not the rules) in their upcoming Champions Online MMORG. Long meanwhile plans to licence the IP back from Cryptic Studios for use in the HERO games line.

Finally, as roleplayers the world over know, Gary Gygax died on March 4th. As people've tried to put his contribution to roleplaying into perspective, we can be sure that roleplaying would've happened without him, but he certainly put his unique stamp on the early days of the hobby with things like his infamously quirky list of polearms in the AD&D DMG. And, whatever his precise contribution at any stage of the creation of D&D was, Gary Gygax became, to all intents and purposes, the founding father of roleplaying. I think the last thing any of those guys were thinking as they dreamed up new ways of playing games with their toy soldiers (when they really ought to've been "far too old for them", remember!) was that they would start anything which would transform the gaming industry, let alonge grant possible 'founding father' status to any of them. So we have to reckon that Gygax's coming to bear this honour was probably as unexpected by Gygax as by anyone else. When all is said and done, he seems to made a tolerably good job of bearing it. And D&D and roleplaying have outived him, which must have pleased him in the end, wouldn't you think?

Gaming stopped completely for a couple of months last year after I went offline, restarting in December in time for the Xmas day Combat Commander bash with Badger. Combat Commander has been at the table a lot since then, but regular sessions with Andy and Donald mean that a lot of other favourites, new and old, have been seeing action. Highlights have included my first victory as the Overlord in Descent, the thrilling tales of my derring duo of ace pilots in Crimson Skies, and my first game in more than 20 years of the old AH game of chariot racing Circus Maximus. Commands and Colours: Ancients and Settlers Cards have also made welcome appearances recently, which I would hope to see again in the future.

Of course, I've bought a few new games, mostly filling out games with expansions: Days of Wonder's Memoir'44 Air Pack and Battlelore Specialist Packs, CC:A expansions #2- Rome & the Barbarians and #3- The Roman Civil War,and the Descent expansions, including the new The Road to Legend campaign expansion. Fast Action Battle: the Bulge and Manoeuvre, both by GMT, are 2 completely new games I've bought recently. Alert readers will already've noticed that I've recently played Manoeuvre (see right...), but it's still too early to report other than to say that it looks like the game delivers what I'd hoped (which was 'what it said on the tin'- check out the link to its page at GMT's site to see what I saw...). I'm still digesting FAB: the Bulge, but I like the look of it quite a lot. Quite a lot indeed.

Start the week @ RD/KA! : Got game!

It continues to be games-a-gogo for yours truly this August with a bumper weekend's gaming, most of which was a pleasant surprise (in more ways than one).

Battlelore and more
It all began Friday night with a visit from Ros. I'd been promising to introduce her to Battlelore for some time, and we finally got round to it. So it was back to Agincourt and another chance to save the day for the English in the topsy-turvy world of the Battlelore Uchronia.


This game was an important test of my enthusiasm for Battlelore. Y'see Ros is exactly the sort of person at whom Eurogames are aimed: she likes competition without destruction and prefers player interaction which is about negotiation instead of conflict. So, for example (as regular readers will already know), she really likes Settlers of Catan and Carcassonne, and for all the familiar reasons put forward by fans of those games. (You could check the BGG:Settlers and BGG:Carcassonne forums if you don't already know what these reasons are and you're interested in finding out more.)

Now I really like games like Settlers of Catan and Carcassonne myself. I really do. I enjoy playing them and also appreciate them as designs. But among all the familiar family games I grew up playing were games like Risk and Campaign. Plus I was a teenage tankie who shared with his brother the fun of writing our own wargames rules for our model collections, and I gravitated to professional tabletop rules and then board wargames in my teens. So there is a part of my gaming self which always yearns for the chaos and carnage of all-out battle.

So, after Ros' and my 24-game stint of Carcassonne in recent months, I couldn't help but feel it was time to step up to some butt-kicking dice-rolling for a change of pace. Battlelore struck me as the best battlegame in my collection for this purpose. I felt that Richard Borg's Commands and Colo[u]rs(!) system offers the ideal style of gameplay to appeal to Ros (who is an avid and regular Bridge player) as her introduction to tactical battlegaming. Moreover I suspected that the chivalric fantasy themes of Battlelore would appeal more to Ros than those of Memoir'44 or Commands and Colours: Ancients. On top of that, I hoped that the wide range of options offered by the fully expanded Battlelore will entice Ros into many future games.

And? Well?

I can report we got off to a good start. The limited range of options offered by her hand of Command cards made it easy for Ros to start making decisions from among an otherwise bewildering array of options, the underlying logic of most of which were beyond her understanding as she got her first ever Battlelore army moving. With the minimum of coaching she was able to form her army up nicely as my English archers maintained a steady hail of largely ineffectual fire.

The first moment of contact was indecisive IIRC, and I could see Ros' spirits wilt. But it wasn't long before the dice started going Ros' way. By this time she was standing up to watch every dice land in the dice box. The moment of her first truly decisive attack was telling: instinctively exulting as she swept my little plastic men from the board, Ros was almost as quickly taken somewhat aback. But she could scent victory and would let nothing get in her way, of her rampaging cavalry especially.

Ros' well-earned triumph followed shortly thereafter: 4-1. I decided I could live with that. I knew there'd be another day. ;)

Score
0-1 :b

Usurpers dethroned!
The pleasant surprises began on Saturday with a call from Bill inviting us to a family boardgames night. I accepted with alacrity.

First, I regain my kingdom
The evening began with a 5-player game of Settlers of Catan (in which we all made sure to play the proper expanded board, unlike the last time we'd played- d'oh!). Facing each other across the island of Catan we had:

• Radka, the unchallenged queen of Catan at our table.
• Bill and I, both smarting from Martin's recent romps to victory.
• Daniel, chomping at the bit to reassert himself after winning at his first ever game many moons ago.
• Ros, keen to establish her winning credentials among a new group of players.

As cut-throat a bunch of colonising desperadoes as you could expect to encounter in virgin lands in other words!

The distinguishing features of that night's isle of Catan were, IIRC, a relative paucity of 6-point, 8-point and brick regions. And the gameplay? Looking back I would say that Development cards were one of the key features of the game. The particular nature of the resource base meant that lots of Development cards were being bought- we all often had both the resources and the time to spend them. The inter-turn building rule of the 5-6 player game meant that many of us were buying these Development cards in other players' turns, so that we could play them immediately in our own next turn. The net result of this was these cards were bought and played more often than is typical in an average 3 or 4-player game.

The upshot of this was that we entered the midgame with Bill in front thanks to his Largest Army while the rest of us were developing our own colonies quite nicely. For my part I was in a desperate life-or-death race based on a potentially fatal flaw in my initial setup. That flaw was the absence of Ore in my initial resource base. Without city-building resources I would be doomed.

I had only 1 way out- a 5-road build towards the centre of the board from my coastal fastness. A Road Building Development card helped me on my way, as did some careful use of the Robber to deny road-building resources to Radka and Daniel, who might've chosen to develop their own colonies towards my strategic target. I achieved my goal, but it was a close-run thing.

My road-building efforts drew attention to me thanks to the Longest Road, thus putting me in pole position for potential spoiler play via the Robber. And Ros started to build her own roads towards precisely the nexus I was aiming at just as I was collecting my resources for my final build. One or two different resource rolls or more favourable trading agreements were all it would've taken to pip me at the post to give Ros the endgame position I was aiming at, and Ros' excoriations when I finally got that settlement built (thanks again to inter-turn building) was sufficient proof that she knew this as well as I did!

And so I entered the endgame in front, with Bill a close second. This was a very dangerous position to be in. Y'see, among the many gaming skills Bill enjoys is that of being a silver-tongued devil. Last Saturday this came into play to distract the other players from his own potentially winning position while he was (with some legitimacy it must be said) rallying everyone to pick on the person in front- namely me.

On Saturday night this almost worked too: it turned out that Bill was a mere single Sheep card from gaining the resources he needed to build sufficient roads to steal the Longest Road from me for the win. In the end though the dice failed him where they didn't me, and I was able to play Year of Plenty to build my winning city.

I won by 2 points over Bill, with everyone else on 7 points. But it could easily've been very different: Bill could've lost his Largest Army but taken the Longest Road off of me. This could easily've kept the game open long enough for everyone to reach 8 or 9 points thus being in with a real shout in a whole different denouement.

Score
1-0 :)

Then I establish my kinghood
We then moved on to play 3 games of a favourite of Radka and Daniel's: Ivanhoe. I won all 3, even after Bill decided to join the last game after having sat out the previous 2 (his Ivanhoe record against me is at least as good as his recent Up Front record!). Perhaps Bill sought to intervene to stave off the terrible fate he saw looming? I don't know, but it was to no avail in any event.

I'd love to be able to put all this down to skill, but I can't. I did play my cards well for sure, but there was also at least one time when I took a great risk in playing out most of my hand, so that I was liable to get shut out of the rest of the game while everyone else raced ahead of me. I also enjoyed some luck with the other players confounding each other so that they couldn't get ahead of me while I sat rebuilding my hand.

No matter. Be it luck or judgement, the night was mine. You can be sure that my fellow players (some at least!) were as despondent as I was delighted, although I must tell you that I was modest enough to forbear a victory dance... ;)

Score
4-0 :b

Finally I show those French a thing or two
Returning from chez King, Ros and I rounded off our own evening with a rematch at Agincourt.

Looking back at our first game, I had concluded that my main mistake was that I hadn't been aggressive enough, ie. that I'd spent too long sitting back firing with my archers, so that my army wasn't well prepared for the moment when the French made contact. For the rematch, I was determined to change this. I did.

Dealt a Foot Onslaught card in my starting hand, I set out to form up my medium and heavy foot to exploit this to attack the French with an unexpected 2-hex charge into melee. This didn't go entirely to plan because I split my forces thanks to misreading the Foot Onslaught card, but I was still able to launch 2 medium and 1 heavy foot units right into the the French lines, then to push them further forward with the other Foot Onslaught.

Ros gamely tried to retrieve the situation, but the cards and dice were against her. I won 4-1.

Revenge aside, what was interesting about this game was the ideas it prompted about how to deal with the knotty problem of teaching basic battlefield tactics to a player to whom this kind of gameplay is utterly new. This problem is amplified by the very nature of card-driven games like Battlelore, where you simply can't separate your knowledge of your own cards from the advice you give your opponent. I hope to return to this another time.

Score
1-0 :)

Curse you Biggles, curse you!
The weekend's (pleasant) surprises were rounded off with a call from Andy, who had some unexpected time on his hands, and was angling for some games of Wings of War. A quick visit to Static Games- our FLGS- later, we sat down to Dawn of War: Wings of War, featuring Andy's 2 Spitfires against my 2 Me109's.

Maybe it was the fact that I was too caught up in the weekend's existing medieval mindset to play my 20th century aerial steeds to their best advantage; maybe it was just that I played really badly (and I have to confess that my first game demonstrated the worst wingman play I've yet shown, with my 2 planes ending up halfway across the table from each other); or maybe it was just sheer dumb luck (and I'm sure that even Andy would admit that- short of outright one-shot kills- some of his shooting was superb beyond reasonable expectations... Hmm?).

Whatever the cause, I lost 1 plane then exited my other with just 1 damage point remaining in our first dogfight. In the second I feared my first plane's days were numbered thanks to its taking an initial 13 damage (out of 19) in our first pass. That'll be the last time I play chicken with 1 plane against 2 then I guess. My fears proved correct, although I did manage to down 1 of Andy's Spitfires in the same (IIRC) deadly pass which saw my own plane crash and burn.

The hopes thus raised were not realised. Luck was with Andy and my remaining Me109 was lost while his last surviving Spitfire flew home on spit and polish (2 damage left out of 17!). My 2 pilots parachuted into the drink quietly adding Goering's name to Biggles' as the object of their curses.

Score
0-2 :(

Weekend's tally
5-3
Grins

Got game!

Commands & Colours: Ancients
Gav and I got together Sunday there for a long-awaited session of this game I just don't get to play often enough.

Lake Trasimenus, 217BC
We reached a quick consensus to play our way through the scenarios in order, and Gav was happy to let me have another go with the Romans in this scenario, since he'd tanked me utterly the last time we played this match-up.

Last game I'd learned that priority #1 for the Romans is to get Flaminus' cohorts off their baseline so that they aren't routed into Lake Trasimenus. I was dealt a Line Command as part of my initial 2-card hand, so I was confident of achieving that much- I'd be playing that card no matter what Gav did to start with. And he began with what turned out to be a rash charge with his light cavalry, which lined them up nicely in front of my units in front of the Lake. Two-dice, swordless against supported units didn't worry me overmuch, and my battle-back was healthy. All of which got me off to a good start.

My next task (after tidying up some illegal moves which left units atop the impassible hills on the right; all those wasted orders- sheesh!) was to try to pin the Carthaginian lights in the centre, while advancing to the hills to get the advantage over those pesky warriors. Meanwhile, Gav launched a Double Time, bringing his heavy left wing into contact with the light troops screening my right. The battle swung back and forth on these 2 fronts, leaving us tied and looking for our last 2 banners for the win when the dust settled.

By this time Gav had a lone heavy infantry block exposed in his centre. For my part I was mostly exposed with depleted units which I'd pulled back on my right. But what I'd done was march the best of my infantry around the hills to my rear. This made them available to join my lone cavalry unit in its attack on the centre, at the same time taking them effectively away from Gav's strong left wing. Gav had to manoeuvre to cover this vulnerable heavy infantry while simultaneously going for the win. This proved too much for his troops.

The end came when I got my heavy and medium infantry plus my cavalry right in among his depleted units. I was rolling some dozen dice for the sake of 2-3 kills. Fortune didn't turn against me, and I won our bitterly fought battle in the nick of time 6-5: I had won at Lake Trasimenus!

During our brief post-mortem Gav and I were both struck by how empty the battlefield looked.

Score
1-0 :)

Cannae, 216 BC
And so we came to Hannibal's greatest victory. This was a game we knew we were going to play twice, so random selection gave Gav Carthage for our first outing.

My opening strategy was determined by my being dealt a Clash of Shields card- I just had to make use of this as soon as possible, not just because it's a good card, but to get it out of my hand quickly too. So I set on the plan of advancing the auxilia on each of my wings full speed ahead to form supported cohorts on each flank. My hope was that these would entice the Carthagians into an early attack which would prove rasher than they expected. Then I would swing left or right with my centre as the situation and cards permitted.

This was duly executed, and things went about as well as could be expected. I was feeling quite confident about how I might fare as the Romans at this rerun of Cannae.

Unfortunately I went 8 turns without drawing any Centre section cards, and was therefore forced to stand against the advancing Carthaginians with my weakest troops. I did eventually get the Order Mediums card which would've brought my medium infantry forward and then through that Centre section card I was to draw. Unfortunately Gav attacked one of my light infantry units, which promptly retreated to block my mediums' exit, so rendering that card utterly useless.

My frantic and frankly desperate attacks in search of consolation victory banners couldn't turn the tide. Gav won 7-3 with me still holding my lone Centre card for the game! :(

I won the rematch as the Carthaginians, though I made heavy weather of it in a game which went right down to wire at 7-6. I think this was because I spent far too long marching the heavies on my right to form up with their fellows on my left. This meant they spent some 3 turns moving sideways instead of forwards... Erm... Not that clever in hindsight really.

Still, once they'd formed up I was able to clear my light units out of their way with a flourish, leaving me to launch a Double Time into the Roman lines. Gav played Counter Attack IIRC. It got very hairy at that point. I ended up faced with the choice of rtrying to Rally my depleted units which were liable to die- so losing me the game- on Gav's next turn; or just launching the biggest attack I could muster with those same units. I chose the latter option, and pulled it off: 7-6. Whew!

Score
2-1 :)

Memoir'44
Agreeing that it was time for something different, Gav was happy to join the playtest of the M44 Expanded Nationality rules. He said he wanted to try the Americans, but ended up choosing scenario#13: Arnhem Bridge- the British it was then.

Random selection of sides gave me the Germans. Outnumbering the British 2-1 looks good on the face of it; but with all that armour trapped on the wrong side of the Lower Rhine, and with only that single long bridge to get to the other side- this is a very hard scenario for the Germans. As it should be: this scenario represents the early days of the battle for Arnhem, before the Germans' material superiority had taken its toll on the British paras. (The results of a premature attempt on the bridge can be seen in that episode from A Bridge Too Far, when the SS' rash advance is utterly destroyed.)

Getting their armour out and across the river aside, the Germans face a key strategic problem in this scenario: coordinating 3 separate sections none of which can make much headway without the efforts of the others. Carefully preparation coupled with timely aggression are in order in other words. It was just pity then that I demonstrated precious little of it in my cardplay. I lost 5-2, then tried again only to do it worse, losing 5-1.

OUCH!

Still, I think I learned some lessons I'm looking forward to applying in a future game.

Score
2-3

Start the week @ RD/KA! : DiceConWest 2007 #1. A gathering of friends

It's been a busy week for your humble scribe since I posted my 'Last call for DiceConWest 2007' last Monday. Doing the rounds by phone I managed to get a few friends to attend. Hugh, a gaming buddy from the old Edinburgh crew made the trip for a short weekend; Gav (already known to regular readers) made an appearance; and Donald (best known as the young dwarf Mordrin in my little Old World) turned up with his daughter Natasha, both eager to try their hands in the Settlers tournament. In addition to all this, I arranged to borrow Ros' digicam so's I could take some pictures, so I had to master that too (not difficult really, but you never really know about these things when you find yourself becoming an aging technophobe as contemporary developments increasingly outstrip your capacity to keep up!).

In any event, I dragged myself from my slumbers at the appointed hour of 8am yesterday to get ready to arrive promptly for this, the 5th annual DiceConWest. Donald arrived at the appointed time and drove Hugh and I there with Natasha, which was much appreciated by yours truly, bent as I was under the weight of my big bag of games. We met Badger at the entrance to the venue- the Quality Central Hotel- and we were in! We met Andy (of Berthold, the mincing scribe notoriety) inside. Andy's interest yesterday was to have another game of Descent: Journeys in the Dark, so I claimed a table and got setup underway while he went off to sort out mundane stuff elsewhere.

It was barely 10am by this time; gamers were arriving in steady dribs and drabs; and games were already under way as people took their pick from the wide choice made available by the SBGA.

Just a part of the DiceCon gaming library.

By this time Andy had returned, so I left him to be the Overlord in Descent, which handily freed me from setup chores, and let me wander around, soak up the early-day atmosphere, and look for some suitable targets for the digicam I was so eager to try out.

I couldn't resist taking a pic of this game underway- it just looks so neat. If anyone out there can tell me what it's called and what it's about I'd love to hear from you.

In no time at all, the Settlers tournament was under way.

Donald and Natasha at the outset of their attempts at this year's Scottish Title.

Meanwhile, among the welter of familiar faces I was saying hello to and trying to put names to was Barry, who'd taught me such a harsh lesson in lore management in my first Lore game of BL at DiceConEast 2006. He and another friend of his were interested in joining the Descent game Andy was getting moving, so after a hiccup about keeping places open for other friends whose arrival was expected any time, this pair sat down to set to some serious dungeon-delving.

Swords and sandals once more
And so it was that I finally managed to get into my own first game, which turned out to be introducing Hugh to Commands and Colours: Ancients, which meant yours truly enjoyed another chance to see what can be done with the Carthaginian army at Akragas (the beating of which I'd already undertaken).

Hugh and I getting ready to start play once we'd found a table with suitable lighting.

Here's the setup which will be familiar to anyone who's played this great game even just a few times.

The game started well for Hugh: he grasped the rules quickly and moved his units confidently forward, positioning them well. I helped by making a foolish swing forward and left with Himilco's force. I really don't know what I was thinking- I could do nothing with them except beat a hasty retreat from the heavies who were soon bearing down upon them.

There was nothing for to do but turn this to my advantage. I promptly marched Himilco and his lads right across the gap between the 2 armies. The Syracusans hit them in the centre, naturally enough. All those heavies dished out some serious punishment you can be sure, but they didn't get off scot free. When the dust settled we pursued our plans. Hugh used a Line Command and Leadership cards to close in on my centre-right. I combined Himilco and Mago's best frontline infantry, formed into a column, and tried to punch a hole in the Syracusan line.

The dice flew thick and fast and I was able to win through 5-3 in the end. Hugh was a bit stunned that my crazy manoeuvres had pulled the win out for me after his good start, but I'd managed to achieve my primary tactical aim, which was to achieve a local superiority so that his heavies couldn't just smack me down. It also has to be noted that Hugh suffered from his lack of knowledge of the Command deck, and of the pace of the gameplay. This last point was particularly important with his Line Command, which was under-utilised because he didn't take the time to dress his lines first (he still enjoyed playing it mind you!). There really is no way round this in C&C:A- the only way to learn what your armies are capable of is to send them into the fray as you will and find out the hard way. And then try again.

Score
1-0

Meanwhile, Bill and his family had arrived while Hugh and I were playing C&C:A. Late thanks to the wonders of the railway service and Saturday morning traffic, Bill and Daniel took the places which were being kept for them in the Descent game.

Andy demonstrating the cheerful insouciance typical of all the best Evil Overlords as Barry, Daniel, Radka and Bill look on in... in... well, in what exactly? I think that is best left for you to figure out for yourselves dear readers.

Settlers Cards
Not resting long content with merely sitting as an onlooker to others' gaming, Radka readily agreed to my suggestion to try a game of the Catan Card Game. I was keen to play this yesterday because I'd just upgraded my old set to the new edition, passing my old set on to the King family at Saturday night's family games session (3 games of Bill's newly acquired copy of the nice GW edition of the peerless Cosmic Encounter, a game much enjoyed in days of yore; and much enjoyed by yours truly Saturday, what with 3 wins, 1 of which was all my very own!).

Radka is a fan of the boardgame (regular readers will already be aware of her reputation there), so she was very interested in finding out how the cardgame worked.

Radka and I early in the opening phase of the game.

Radka grasped the rules very quickly and played very well. Just like Hugh in our C&C:A game, she was hampered by her lack of knowledge of the deck. And she did begin to wonder at her fate when her development stalled as we entered the midgame, while mine seemed to be roaring ahead. But as I knew would happen, her strategy paid off eventually, while her play became more assured to boot. She was able to pull back to level-pegging at one point, and was certainly in with a shout as the endgame approached the finale. Most important of all: Radka enjoyed the game, and is already looking forward to trying it again. Job done!

For my part, I like the new edition. The rules tweaks make sense of a few old anomalies, while other upgrades just make the new rules all the more playable. Well worth the £28 price of admission IMO.

Score
2-0 :)

Elsewhere, the Descent game over, Daniel got the chance to play what I'm sure is his favourite game right now: Ivanhoe. Published by GMT, this most excellent Knizia design has sadly been out of print for some time, although a honcho from GMT has announced that it will be reprinted soon, probably this year. I know that I read this on the ConsimWorld forums somewhere- probably on the GMT games forum, but I can't for the life of me find it again. Anyhoo...

Daniel exercising his Ivanhoe skills. Did he win any games I wonder? I never found out (or I did, and forgot).

Elsewhere:

Gordon Lamont enjoying a cardgame (a Knizia I expect) at the registration desk.

It's been a good time for Gordon and his brother Fraser at Fragor Games, with their games being snapped-up by publishers all round the world. The German edition of their last Essen hit Shear Panic was on display yesterday, while Mayfair Games have an English edition in print now. The world is now waiting to see what sort of storm the Lamont brothers' new game- Hameln- will kick up at Essen later this year. Have fun guys!

Elsewhere still:

Two Up Front veterans deep in concentration as they ponder the next moves that their cards offer them.

Meanwhile, I also had the chance to say hello to an old DiceCon acquaintance- John Poulter, webmaster at Web-Grognards, who I'd first met at DiceConWest 2004. He and a friend were playing another GMT hit...

John and Richard with GMT's Twilight Struggle.

This is another card-driven game which is on my 'must-buy' list. I was amazed at how attractive it looked. Antony (yes, that's Antony of librarian-thwacking blunderbuss-toting psycho-dwarf infamy- he'd arrived earlier in the afternoon) was interested in what the game was all about. And John, for his part, was surprised that it wasn't already in my collection! It will be sooner or later John, I can assure you! ;)

Start the week @ RD/KA! : Last call for DiceConWest 2007

The Scottish Boardgame Association's latest annual boardgames convention DiceConWest takes place this coming Sunday (full details here). As I noted before, DiceConWest's official Scottish Settlers of Catan tournament will offer you your chance to play for a subsided trip to the world's biggest games fair in Essen, there to compete for the title of Settlers World Champion. There'll also be a Kniziathon, a tournament based on playing as many games as possible by famously prolific games designer Reiner Knizia.

That's what I can assure you will be taking place this Sunday at DiceConWest 2007. What I must sadly tell you won't be taking place is any kind of Commands and Colours tournament (at least, not as organised by yours truly). I've just been unable to put in the preparation needed. But I can assure you that I'll be there with my C&C games and other boardgame goodies to boot. I expect I'll lay on a game of Epic BL to attract some attention to this latest DoW offering. Games of M44, C&C:A, CC:E, and Up Front might also be on the cards... Bwah hah ha ha!

Meanwhile I'm hoping that I'll be able to start to shape up towards making a serious stab at a C&C tournament of some kind at a future DiceCon. Fingers crossed I guess. ;)

Start the week @ RD/KA!

Last Words... the Current Big Thing
Grognard reflexes honed over years of Squad Leader, Up Front and HERO rules-tinkering caused my bout of the Battlelore blues: I was pining for some more classically-detailed tacsims of the hex-and-counter school; challenges which M44 just can't deliver. M44 already looking a bit patchy, core BL beginning to feel a bit claustrophobic, and my just not getting enough games of C&C:A- I needed a new gaming fix.

I found exactly what I was looking for in GMT's Combat Commander: Europe. The title caught my eye while I was browsing through GMT's Project 500 lists last year: sample counters, map sections, and fate cards. Skimming the playtest rules (here are the current rules, and the FAQ, all laid on for your perusal) my immediate reaction was no more original than most- looks like a cross between Squad Leader and Up Front I thought. This prospect excited me, and I bought the game from the FLGS around new year.

Badger and I played a couple of games, and I liked it as least as much as I hoped I would. Then Martin had a go on his recent visit. His first impressions were mixed- not bad, but a bit meh. A few games later he was singing CC:E's praises as the best game I've shown him in years. Tony is similarly enthusiastic, and we've been playing several games a week lately. Badger and Donald are keen on it too.

Designer Chad Jensen has a definite hit on his hands. My most played game of 2007 so far. ;)

Meanwhile...

A healthy diet of roleplaying
My little Old World
Restarted last month, the WFRP saw my PC's accept the challenge to venture further down the Paths of the Damned, driven if nothing else by Berthold's unexplained insistences on tracking down the mysterious Dagger of Yul K'Chaum, which apparently contains yet another daemon of the sort that perished in the cleansing fires of the Sacred Flame of Ulric. Hopes of advancing her wizard's apprenticeship frustrated by the Middenheim Guild of Wizards and Alchemists, Alane too was keen to visit Altdorf to meet her mentor Van Nilstrom. Grundi, Seigfried and Mordrin had nothing better to do, and wintering in wartorn Middenheim was not the most appealing prospect in any event. So off they all went.

Without pre-empting a possible write-up, sufficeth to say that the journey has been very eventful so far, with beastmen attacks, some unexpected company, and an object lesson in how the stuff of Chaos impregnates the very warp and weft of the fabric of reality.

Eberron
Bill, who ran the Midnight session last June (written up here, and here) has managed to fulfil his promise to start his own regular midweek game. He chose to run WotC's Eberron- which he's run before- to make life simple for himself.

The game began as a True20 adaption with just myself and Tony (a.k.a. Alane elsewhere). So we had 2 PC's each to begin with. I went with a rogue- who was my first choice for the archetype I wanted to play; and a warforged fighter- who was to be my backup 'schmuck'. With Brian and Andy (Seigfreid and Berthold to regular readers) soon joining in, I had to choose which of my 2 PC's to keep playing. Confounding my initial expectations, I had no difficulty whatsoever in deciding to run with my warforged fighter. Why? Easy: I couldn't resist the sheer vicarious thrill of being near invulnerable in combat (having an Adamantine Body does that for you) while dishing out the smites great cleaving with my mighty warhammer. Thus began the saga of K'Dun the Hammer.

The game itself soon changed too, as Bill decided to run it as a True20 D&D hack instead of the original True20 adaption. This is working very well. Meanwhile I'm having fun nurturing my inner munchkin as I contemplate the new feats I'll be buying with my new levels even as I wade into combat full of the joys of the various buffs the party spellcasters use to make my smites ever smitier. Heh.

Meanwhile, Brian has started his own blog: Dangerous Brian: A Wargaming Blog; check out his first Eberron post for a quick introduction to the PC's.

Finally for now... DiceConEast 2006
The Scottish Boardgames Association's biannual boardgames event DiceCon takes place in Edinburgh today. A bunch of us are going through for the day. I'm taking a big bag of games. You can be sure that M44 and C&C:A is among them. There'll be a few old favourites in there too no doubt. I'm looking forward to some good gaming. More anon I trust. ;)

Got game!

Heavy Metal Mania!

So Badger dropped in last night for another session of the wonderful Commands and Colours system. Neither in the mood nor enjoying the time for a lengthy session over the cooker, I laid on one of my favourite quick lash-up meals: pasta carbonara. This time I tried adding a finely chopped fresh chilli (red, to contrast nicely with the green chopped parsley) to the cream sauce at the last moment. Although perhaps a whole chilli was a wee bit too much, it gave the dish an aromatic flavour of mellow fire without any burning aftertaste. Result!

Grub done we turned to the games. Badger wanted to begin with M44 after our recent games of C&C:A, and announced his desire to play the Americans. Having recently posted my thoughts about the Armour Assault tactics card on a thread over at the DoW M44 forums I had only one answer to this: the Germans, and tanks! Thus...

25s Ardennes - Bastogne Corridor, West - Dec 30th, 1944
Full details can be found here.

I was delighted with Badger's choice of scenario: 6 special forces infantry units; 6 tank units- 4 special forces; and 1 artillery unit against 8 infantry, 7 tanks, and 2 artillery. With terrain open enough for massed armour exploitation, and with artillery ranging-in on units as soon as they crossed their start-line, I could see that this was going to give me exactly the game I was looking for. It did, and how!

We played 3 times in all.

In the first game I was dealt the Dig In card, which determined my opening moves: I spent a couple of turns advancing infantry to forward fire positions so that I could dig them in and get some use out of that pesky card when I ditched it from my hand. I then plumped for a drive up my left flank and moved my centre armour into position. This done I quickly found myself with a reasonable hand for my planned attack while not having any worthwhile options for shuffling around elsewhere. So I faced a choice: I could waste time which Badger might enjoy using to keep me under artillery fire while preparing his own attack; or I could advance. I chose the latter.

The risky part of this plan was that I would be engaging the Americans without immediately being able to exploit my position with my main attack (yep, I was holding an Armour Assault up my sleeve!). I was going to have to pause to develop the attack before I pushed it home. I did have good cards to respond to any counter-attack by Badger, but I'd have to survive first. Survive I did, and my armour did their job. There was certainly some action elsewhere in this game, but the battle was largely decided by my attacks around Moircy and Remagne.

Badger naturally just had to try again. This game was notable for 2 things: it was a much, much more closely fought battle than the first; and more Armour Assaults than you could shake a stick at! Badger did a better job of dictating the flow of play this time, and the battle resolved itself into a mighty armoured clash around the centre with us both level-pegging on victory medals as we approached the endgame.

I played an Armour Assault which generated the full 32 dice of attacks (the most dice you're likely to generate in a single turn in M44: do the arithmetic to see how many units would otherwise be needed to generate 30+ dice in a one turn; then ask yourself how likely you are to be able to order all the required units with a single card). Victory was in sight! Badger Counter-Attacked. The game was balanced on a knife-edge! I Counter-Attacked in my turn, giving me the game. Three Armour Assaults in a row: the cauldron of battle and no mistake!

I took the Americans in our 3rd and final play of this scenario. The lesson I took from the previous games was that the Americans would do better to draw the Germans in then riposte than to initiate the battle themselves. To this end I began with some familiar tentative manoeuvring: throwing forward some infantry as pickets, then concentrating my centre/right armour to threaten the Remagne/Lavaselle areas. As this developed, I fixed on the plan of leaving my right flank temptingly open, inviting Badger to throw his left flank forward towards Sibret. Badger duly complied and his left was crushed by my carefully prepared counter-attack.

I had been hoping to exploit this local victory to make a run for Chenogne and a victory medal that might force Badger to split his forces, but was pre-empted in this when Badger launched his main assault through the centre. With little in hand to respond directly, I was forced to launch my long husbanded Assault up my left, unfortunately with little in hand to ensure any momentum. The battle swung backwards and forwards in a bloody fashion as armour raced here and there in search of that decisive attack. When the dust settled, I had won, but again only just.

3-0
Grins. :)

Baecula - 208BC
Three games of M44 down, it was a cinch that Badger and I were going to head back to ancient times to this battle in which the young Publius Cornelius Scipio had proved that the Roman legions could adapt their tactics to defeat the Carthaginians. We'd played it before see, getting in 3 games during our last session, back in October. These had all gone in favour of the Romans, with Badger coming out 2-1 up, leaving me to take consolation from having put up a better show with the Carthaginians than had Badger.

Full details can be found here.

Random selection left me playing the Carthaginians first, which was just what I wanted: I was keen to put the lessons of our previous games into practice. These lessons were:

• the Carthaginians shouldn't try and hold the hills- Badger had done this in our 1st play last October, and had been utterly stuffed as a result
• the Carthaginians should however make the Romans pay for gaining the hills- I had withdrawn from the hills in good order thanks to evasion, only to realise that I needed at least 1 or 2 victory banners from that phase of the battle
• the Carthaginians need to get their heavy infantry into action as quickly as possible- I had held them back defending the forts until the endgame because I'd wanted to wait to see which on flank the Roman mediums were most committed
• the Carthaginians shouldn't waste their light cavalry.

Having pondered these lessons I quickly ended up with plan of standing to fight on the hills with the light infantry on my left, while evading elsewhere. The stand on the hills was intended to buy time for my heavy infantry to mass on my right to get stuck in to the advancing cohorts of Roman legionaries. I was nervous about this plan because it involved a lot of preparatory movement- including redeploying Hasdrubal himself, and I'd seen before just how startlingly quickly the Roman medium infantry could advance; because it offered the Romans a fair stab at overrunning the camps on my left- those 'free' victory banners might prove decisive; and because I was nervous about the stand on the hills. But I had no choice but to try, since simply to repeat the tactics of my previous games would prove futile I was sure.

Pulling off a plan like this one with a mere single leader and a puny 4-card hand proved every bit as difficult as I'd imagined. The 4-card hand coupled with Badger's capacity relentlessly to drive the Romans forward meant that my manoeuvres were typically hasty and/or shallow: long sequences of good cards were hard to build, let alone hold on to. The result was a lot of reactive cardplay in which I was forced to make my key moves as soon as I could without waiting for a good sequence. On top of this the nature of the terrain and my position near my own board edge combined with my sole leader to make coherent battlelines a luxury I could rarely afford to consider.

These difficulties notwithstanding, I did manage to move into and hold together the formation my plan required. Battle raged on around the hills for what seemed like an age as the Roman legionary cohorts ground forward and closed-in on my increasingly cramped lines. Even so the situation looked very hairy indeed as we approached the end-game: I had taken a heavy toll on the Romans, but had only actually managed to kill a single unit. So I wasn't feeling very sanguine about my chances as my heavies and Badger's mediums finally got wired into each other on my left. In fact at one moment I almost despaired of victory.

In the end though luck was with me: I was able to pick off several of the Roman units I had previously whittled down, and my heavies' 5 dice did the business in close combat- I won 6-5. Whew!

As tradition demands, we swapped sides for our final game of the evening. What can I say about the crushing victory that ensued? Erm, it was in the cards. Opening with a Move, Fire, Move, I was able to bring the Carthaginian holding force under fire then engage it in a single turn. Some quick redeployment of Auxilia later and a Line Advance took my entire left and centre cohorts forward in one go. Two turns later, a 2nd Line Advance took my entire army forward in one go. There was very little that Badger could do after this. I won 6-1.

4-1
Grins :)

A satisfying margin, with the added delight of opening and closing the session with crushing victories by the heavy metal masters of their respective periods. But before I get too smug, I really do have to point out that the final outcome does flatter me a bit: 3 of those games were so closely fought that the whims of chance need only have been tweaked slightly in Badger's favour for the result to have been very different. Still... Heh! ;)

Meanwhile...

Battlelore buzz!
Days of Wonder games recently confirmed rumours that Battlelore would be their next release of a game using Richard Borg's renowned Command and Colours game system.

The images on the blog linked above show the quality of the contents of the new game as well as the mechanics' kinship with those of C&C:A. The details noted in the very informative interview with DoW's Eric Hautemont and Mark Kaufmann posted at Boardgame News give a good idea of just how much of those components there will be in the new big box; eg. Battlelore will have 210 miniatures and a total of 168 cards, compared to 148 and 69 respectively in M44.

Box-stuffing goodies aside, what intrigues me most so far are the hints at how the game will handle 2 of the most important features of the fantasy setting, namely heroes and magic: "Lore Masters, such as Wizards, Clerics, Warriors and Rogues gathered in customizable War Councils". Hmm. So it seems that heroes will be handled by a special unit type which will have special abilities dependent on how many of the classic archetypes the unit contains? Sounds interesting.

Anyhoo the game is due for release in November, and DoW will be maintaining a flow of teasers to maximise the buzz, so no doubt there'll be more anticipatory slavering here at RD/KA! before I finally prise open the box and go ballistic!

Commands and Colours: Ancients- GMT update online material
As noted in my last post, GMT Games were planning on making available living rules and new scenarios as downloads for fans of C&C:A. This material is now available here.

The 2nd edition rules were announced in advance as due to contain only minor clarifications. It turns out that there are actually some rules changes which are significant even if their effect on games won't actually be overpowering. These changes effect close combat and missile fire of units occupying terrain- which is significant; but which only apply to 4 of the 10 scenarios in the 1st edition of the game- which is hardly a sweeping change to gameplay as players will already know it.

The extra scenarios give C&C:A players 10 new battles in which to test their skills and nerve. More important though are 9 more chances to get out those elephants and hope for some serious rampaging!

TheRPGsite's looking lively
The late unlamented Nutkinland messageboard's new incarnation looks to have generated sufficient momentum to get off the ground and have a viable future, with a healthy posting rate on topics that have provided some interesting reading.

Winner in the realm of sheer simple curiosity for this reader was the thread about Things game companies do that piss you off?. Apart from bringing up the first serious test of the pundit's moderation-lite, I was intrigued when another thread-drift- on the topic of Freemasonry- brought out the source of the term 'Landmarks' the pundit uses to denote his list of fundamentals of anti-Swine roleplaying theory: according to the Wikipedia entry (an infallible source, I know!) the Landmarks are "the ancient and unchangeable precepts of Masonry". Not trying to make any particular point here; it's just that the idea of the Freemason's theory of roleplaying tickled my funny bone somewhat! ;)

Got game! A Gavbot tests its mettle

I'd noted in passing having played C&C:A already when I wrote up my thoughts on the production, analysis of the new rules, and my first impressions of play, which had been enriched by those recent games with Badger. Those first games had been against Gav, me old mucker from the committee and the early days in the gaming ecommunity (when he went by the Gavbot handle). Checking at the BoardGameGeek C&C:A forum last week I got a serious hankering to get some more games in. Gav filled the bill.

Command and Colours: Ancients

"Hannibal? Crossed the Alps?! Hannibal..."
We set to C&C:A with a will then. Akragas and Crimissos River under our belts from before we headed straight for 218 BC and Ticinus River. 218 BC? Ah, this time Hannibal himself versus the Roman legions proper! Erm, not quite...

Just look at all that cavalry! I vividly remember my immediate instinct the first time I had that much of an all-cavalry army in front of me- line them all up and charge! Gav got to ride out as the Carthaginians first this time though. I, as ever sought consolation- in the lessons I learned about how to handle all that heavy cavalry (HC).

Expecting light cavalry (LC) en masse to do more than just skirmish, I was still shocked by the impact of the 2 wings of Carthaginian light cavalry. Their hit and run attacks separated my units, they massed quickly for exploitation, and their pesky evasion gave them surprising staying power. They ran me ragged and eventually won Gav the game, though it was a close fight.

For my part I'd decided that I needed to open passage to my cavalry through the centre. Fearing all that light cavalry I saw the chance to secure my right against the Ticinus. I didn't get off scot-free pulling this off, but it did leave me where I wanted. Unfortunately I'd been holding a counter-attack handy on the left, which I rashly chose to launch when it'd've been wiser to regroup to the centre. I ended up strung out and Gav was able to mop up a few units to sneak his win.

Playing the Carthaginians in my turn, I knew that it was vital to get the heavy cavalry moving quickly. Otherwise they'd simply get left behind leaving the actual fighting to the lights, as had happened to Gav. So I set out with all due haste to swing them to the open flank, screened by the lights. Hasdrubal's heavy cavalry in place, reformed, and thundering up my right, I took Marhurbal's screening Numibian horse and whipped them out, line across the centre and charged with them. The Roman centre thus effectively pinned by this brilliant manoeuvre, Hasdrubal ran his heavies all the way up the right wing, and was working his way back down the centre when it was all over. A satisfyingly crushing victory!

Lake Trasimenus
The Carthaginian cavarly having proved their worth at the Ticinus River Gav and I were game for more, so off we headed to Lake Trasiemenus, the following year. Hannibal makes his appearance at last!

Gav lucked-in by drawing the Carthaginians, leaving me to play the Romans under the leadership of the "vain and incompetent patrician," Consul Gaius Flaminius. Outnumbered, my army's right wing split off by impassable hills, and Flaminius' own cohort caught with its back to the Lake Trasimenus, I certainly felt that Flaminius utterly deserved to be remembered in such unflattering terms!

I didn't have many options available to me, starting as I did with a 2-card hand that would build up to 4 in a couple of turns. Realising that I just had to get Flaminius' cohort's backs off the banks of Lake Trasimenus, I decided to aim to engage the Carthaginians in the defile, in the hope that I might be able to coordinate an attack between my centre and my right. This all started off rather nicely with a bit of 'Inspired Centre Leadership'- an apt riposte to Flaminius' unflattering reputation I felt.

It mattered not a jot. The Carthaginian cavalry swept in from my left. Flaminius' cohort died in droves as they were pushed back into Lake Trasimenus. Then they turned on my left wing, and it was soon all over. A victory every bit as crushing as my own splendid day at the Ticinus River only the year before.

1-2
Gurns!

Memoir'44

Guadalcanal- the Slopes of Mount Austen
Enthused by our visit to ancient times, Gav and I opted to head for the Pacific Theatre so that Gav- who's already played some M44- could get a taste of the Japanese. Random scenario selection left us paying a visit to Guadalcanal in January 1943. The Americans were trying to secure the very same Henderson field my attempts which to capture had cost the Japanese so much blood when I'd led them against Badger's USMC only recently.

We played this scenario twice, swapping sides in the traditional manner. The Japanese lost each time. The Japanese faced several key problems in this scenario

• they are on the defensive, which plays against their strengths
• they are heavily outnumbered
• the USMC have lots of artillery.

Playing the Japanese first Gav had a hard time as my experienced USMC units rained down fire in the inevitable artillery duel, and to whittle away at the Japanese units to deprive them of their crucial close combat ability. It wasn't long before the Japanese line was decimated. Gav gamely pulled back the remnants from 'Gifu' and 'Seahorse' and regrouped so as not to just give me the game. But there was little he could do and my USMC just closed in from all sides and seized victory.

The main difference in the 2nd game was that I could see the folly of just standing and fighting. So my plan was to abandon 'Gifu' and pull those troops back to hold the centre, while everything else would attack the American right. I made some progress in this- including, IIRC, successfully breaking through to destroy the US artillery unit on their right- but in the end the USMC's superior numbers and mobility won the day.

Wake Island
Plunging-in to Guadalcanal like this had been a harsh introduction to the Japanese for Gav, so we turned the pages of history back to December 23rd, 1941 and the Japanese invasion of Wake Island.

The purpose of this game being to give Gav a taste of why I had been so singing the praises of the Japanese in M44, he naturally enough came storming up those beaches. I made the best fist I could at figuring out the proper tactics for a US win, but to no avail. Still, the point had been made, and Gav could see why I had likened the Japanese in M44 to rampaging Ork mobs in 40K!

Breakout at Klin
Both still full of fight and with Gav eager to see more of the new M44 in action, there was nowhere else to go but the Russian Front. Gav again agreed to plunge in blindly, so another random selection took us to a German breakout operation, part of their regroupment after Operation Typhoon- their attack on Moscow in 1941- had stalled in the winter snows.

Drawing the Russians, Gav had to contend with both the Russian command rules and the Blitz rules. For my part I had a very strong force with a couple of combat engineer units. These were to prove decisive.

Faced with overwhelming force on his left, Gav did the sensible thing, pulling his covering units back towards Golyadi. Meanwhile I decided nothing ventured, and launched my combat engineers at the trenches. The fighting was bitter, but the engineers' special abilities made them deadly in close assault and they'd soon secured the central trenches. My victory wasn't long in coming, and it was pretty decisive.

3-4
More gurning! (But I found consolation in my handling of those Panzers at Klin, heh!)

Ivanhoe
With the hour well-advanced it was time for something quicker and dirtier even than M44 to round-off the session. So off to the medieval field of honour it was for another bash at this classic little game of tournament combat by Reiner Knizia.

The games went nip and tuck until it was 2 each. What I remember most about those games is the number of times I went in with a lance looking for final victory only to loose. So I was pretty pleased when I won the final game with an irresistible mounted charge. Gav asked afterwards why I hadn't just slapped all my purple cards down to claim an immediate victory. Experience has taught me that this can be a dangerous tactic, although there are surely times when it is absolutely the right thing to do. That last game was undoubtedly one of those times, but I guess I was playing my hand cautiously after having lost so often at this very same point in the previous games!

6-6
A satifying hard-fought draw. (But I was still master-at-arms and panzer-leader supreme! Mwah hah, etc!