Gaming Weekend: 9-10Dec17

My friend, Graham, travelled from Brussels for the weekend. The weather here has turned rather Arctic and my permanent games table is located in the garage, which is not the most salubrious place during the winter months. Therefore we decided to limit ourselves to a mix of boardgames and small wargames that could be played on our regular dining table.

On the Friday night, after dinner, we settled down to play a couple of quick card games; Parade and Sushi-Go Party. Both have simple rules to explain to a new player, and Graham is a fast learner anyway. I think I won with Parade and seem to remember Elaine winning Sushi-Go. Both games are fast but taxing, and are ideal intro games, especially when most focus is on general chatting.

Next day, Graham and I settled down for s a couple of games of Battlelore 2, which Graham had never played before. I have recently finishing painting the purple, Undead army and was keen to get the figures on the table. So I played purple against the red, Barbarian army. The battle was nicely balanced. I had the lead and got to 15 victory points first, but my now decimated army lacked the strength to achieve the final victory point to win! Graham picked off the last weak purple units for a red win instead. In the next game, Graham stuck with the reds and I changed to the blue, Medieval army. Another tight, bloody game but this time I did maintain focus and reached 16 victory points, only 2-3 ahead of Graham. Overall we both felt Battlelore gave a good game. Graham is normally a competitive wargamer who plays detailed historical rules (DBM, FoG, FoW etc.), so I was concerned he might find the system a bit simplistic. I think he enjoyed the unique Richard Borg command card mechanism and combat dice system, and felt the different armies had a different feel and characteristics, accentuated by the Lore decks. The fantasy setting allowed the game mechanisms to work and we both thought that transfer to a historic genera would raise too many anomalies, and would not feel right. So, Battlelore 2 gets two thumbs up, and is an ideal simple war/boardgame where space and time are limited.

We still had a couple of hours until dinner, so we played Jugula. After creating our gladiator schools we set to for a couple of rounds of combat. Interestingly Graham won both clashes but my school achieved the most Glory and had a Paulus-grade fighter, although Graham had the most cash. We both really liked the campaign system which lies at the heart of Jugula, the combats are an enjoyable interlude between pre- and post-fight decisions. In the combat stage Graham showed how important it is to get the crowd on your side early on, whilst I tried to demonstrate how a fast moving Veles figure can run rings around heavier opponents. I did manage to force Graham’s gladiators in to tight corners but he managed to punch his way out with the support of the partisan crowd behind him.

In the evening Elaine joined us for a game of Ticket to Ride, Europe. This classic game Graham had played before, which he demonstrated by winning! Next morning, Graham and I had time to play a game of Dead Man’s Hand before heading out to a local pub for lunch. The beautiful 4Ground buildings and accessories make this a very visually attractive game. The rules are so simple that new players easily pick up the game, and it is ideal to take to the club when you have no game planned because anyone can have a go. We played with small 12 point factions with Graham’s outlaws taking on my cowboys. Needless to say, Graham’s faction shot mine to pieces! The card-draw initiatives and special faction rules work well. I would introduce a couple of house rules concerning out-of-ammo and reloading, but otherwise the game works smoothly and is great fun. I think I might be inspired to buy a few more figures to allow me to field new factions (I would like some banditos and renegade Indians).

All-in-all a highly enjoyable weekend. It was great to see Graham again and we must plan a return visit in early 2018, especially as he has a dedicated indoor wargame room, so cold weather poses no hinderance.

Boardgame session 3Dec17

I attended the Warfare show in Reading a few weeks ago. A great show but I was not inspired on the purchasing front. I’m in a bit of a slump wargaming-wise at the moment – I’m not getting much time to play and don’t have any projects on the go to get the juices flowing. On the plus side I did buy a couple of ‘board’ games at the B&B, and got them on the table when Val and Chris visited this w/e.

First up was ‘Fleet’, a game themed on Arctic fishing (an unusual theme but it worked OK). This is a card game that involves purchasing fishing licences, launching appropriate vessels and catching fish; all contributing to victory points. The cards are dual-usage (money, vessels and captains) and need to be managed carefully. The licence auction phase is key, but was not as competitive as I expected. We all got up to speed with the rules quickly but understanding strategy takes longer. I think Elaine made some poor choices early and this scuppered her chances. I thought I was ahead but the tally at the end gave Chris a narrow win. I think my mistake was processing fish in the final turn(s) which meant my vessels still had hold space at the end. Anyway I think we all enjoyed the game and it will make further appearances in future sessions. I did also get the expansion box, but I think we will only break this out once we are more familiar with the base game.

  

The second game I bought was ‘BANG! The Dice Game’, a western themed, yatzee-style, take-that game. Light, fast and great fun. We played the 4-person version (obviously!), but I think more players would add to the experience, especially with ‘Deputy’ characters added. The individual character cards with their special abilities are a core feature and add flavour. From reading the rules I thought the ‘Sheriff’ player would struggle, but he came through OK in our games, winning 2 out of 3. I now think the ‘Renegade’ is toughest; aiming to be the last man standing and killing the ‘Sheriff’ last.

  

We finished this session with a game of ‘San Juan’, the card version of ‘Puerto Rico’. This is a classic card game that pushes players nicely. There can be some luck in the card draws (I just could not get any production facilities early on) but overall you feel you are making meaningful choices and there are many different routes to victory. The speed of play is good, there is very little AP as players choose their role each turn and all players can carry out the action simultaneously.