Off the Painting Table (Sept18), part 2

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

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

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

Boardgame Session; 16Sept18

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

  

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

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

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

Boardgame Session (9 Sept 2018)

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

  

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

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

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

  

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

Review of the boardgaming year 2017-18

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

Off the Painting Table (Sept 2018)

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

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

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

Review of the wargaming year 2017-18

The fourth year of my blog has now been completed and the number of hits seems to have reached a plateau, only 90% compared to the previous 12 month period. The USA remains the leading source of hits, followed by Russia (but a lower amount than last year), then the UK, France, Ireland, and Australia. There is a good worldwide distribution from many far flung places, but I’m still seeing bursts from Russia (which I assume are spurious ‘fishing’ hits) and this confuses analysis of the blog. The most popular post was my review of the rule set ‘For King & Parliament’, with that for ’10 Essential Boardgames’ in second place. I still would like to see more comments but overall I’m happy with how the blog has gone. My main purpose is to keep a diary of my activities for my own record, and I’m happy that others may find this interesting.

The games I have played this year are listed below:

	Period	Rules	Type	Scale
2	Gladiator	Jugula	Opposed	28mm
1	Old West	Dead Man’s Hand	Opposed	28mm
1	WW1	Square Bashing; French v German	Opposed L	15mm
1   2	Ancients NKvHittite Ancients TurkvHung	Sword & Spear	OpposedL   Solo	15mm
1 1	ACW Riverine	Hammerin’ Iron	Solo OpposedL	3mm
1	Medieval	Lion Rampant Teutonic v Pagan	Solo	28mm
1	Samurai	Impetus	Solo	28mm
2	Napoleonic	LaSalle	Solo	28mm
2 1	ECW	For King & Parliament	Solo OpposedL	15mm
1	ACW	Fire & Fury	Solo	15mm
17

 

I have played many fewer games compared to last year (only 17 compared to 47) and have only played 7 opposed games, most of which I have lost. Most of my gaming continues to be solo which is disappointing and is due to an overly packed social diary preventing me from attending club meetings.

It is difficult to pick out wargame highlights for the year, but I think the release of ‘For King & Parliament’ is clearly one. I missed out on the ancient version (To The Strongest) but had heard good things about the game, so FK&P gave me the opportunity to try the system, and it did prove worth the time and effort. I’m not sure it will become my favourite ECW rule set but it will make it to the table in future. I also liked the release of Saga v2 but have yet to play any games. I plan to get the Crusader listings to use with my Teutonic armies. In relation to actual tabletop games I think the most enjoyable experience was Hammerin’ Iron; I really want to play more games using the system.

In summary 2017-18 has been a very quiet and disappointing year. I must play more regularly next year. I don’t have any specific plans in mind, which is unusual for me, but maybe I will get some inspiration following the upcoming Colours show in Newbury.