Gaming News

by fnord23

While gameplay seems to be essentially the same as FITS (except for not losing points for incomplete rows), the scoring for board two seems to be different...

This is what my gamer German has gleaned; is anyone able to confirm or clarify?:

Positive points for each complete row (and uncovered symbols count towards complete rows), and 3 bonus points for every complete set of 3 symbols of one color left uncovered.

by brianeknoll

I almost felt sorry for the Germans after playing this scenario. Just sad really.


-----

The Partisans, with their knowledge of the woods, ran circles around the Germans, using wire, mines, foxholes, and satchel charges to wreak all kinds of havoc. Just their conniving-ness infuriated Biermann -- the way they moved out of gun and melee range, dancing around the Germans, laying traps. The Germans, usually deadly efficient, were like an adult in a child's playground -- unwieldy -- or an awkward, goofy teenager on a first date -- highly ineffective and just embarrassing to watch.

Schrader never even got into the fight -- he'd headed north to scout and taken shots at a militia squad across the tracks. But then Biermann called him for support in the south woods. "I'm having a hell of a time getting any traction down here, Schrader -- I could use your help."

The entire fight really occurred in the S-SEast woods. The Germans had entered the area here, bunched up in a line. They pushed west until they met Bulganin's force.

The Partisans, as expected, were all over the place. Maisky and Bulganin, hearing the Germans were in the area, ran around the forests, like modern day Robbin Hood's, rousing and organizing troops, weapons, checking fortifications.

To put it mildly, Biermann was not having a good day. Usually an effective leader, he and his squad got mired in the woods in wire -- "Damn, Partisans!" -- and had a satchel charge dropped on them by a green unit. Biermann, a credit to his military strength, reorganized his troops, but to no avail. The Partisans sat, just out of reach, mocking him, refusing to engage, knowing they had the advantage and the that time was on their side.

When Biermann had to report back that no real progress had been made -- that an effective method of routing the enemy had not been found -- his only semi-positive report was that he'd eliminated two militia squads ("You call THAT an accomplishment, Sergeant?!") and a team of green soldiers ("OUT OF MY SIGHT!").

What Biermann DIDN'T tell his boss was that one of the militia squads and the green soldiers were actually killed by snipers in the area, and not his men -- he had to try and save a little face. But his failure would haunt him -- whenever he felt frustrated, like he wasn't making progress -- the sweaty, dirt-streaked face of Cpt. Bulganin -- this country hick (although he did have a glint of hard intelligence in his eyes) -- whom he's only glimpsed once, smirking, through the trees -- would return to him.

On the Partisan side, because the reports were that Bulganin was doing so well keeping the Germans busy -- crazy bastard reported that he was having fun! -- Sgt. Maisky was able to turn his attention elsewhere -- to a key length of railroad the Partisans planned on destroying to further disrupt German supply lines. It was key because they'd easily be able to pick off any repair groups, being that this was, after all, their woods.

So Maisky strolled over and sat on the secret objective (5), where he and his men smoked cigarettes, told dirty jokes, pined over not seeing their families and women.

Meanwhile, to the east, Bulganin continued to playfully peck at the Germans. The Germans gave them a scare twice: once, when the Partisans saw another German group stumbling its way through the woods. But their confidence returned when they realized the support group couldn't get at them either. "We're just too good," smiled Bulganin. Well, prepared, really -- with the mines they'd laid and the wire they were able to hastily setup in the Germans path. The other time was when the Germans actually did corner a squad and advanced into melee -- where everyone died.

Time ran out for the Germans -- they hadn't made progress and needed to get back to base. As the Germans retreated, they could hear -- out of sight -- the Partisans haranguing them and cheering their retreat. "Look at the Nazi Dogs leaving, their tails between their legs like beaten pups!" Every German leaving the engagement did so with their pride in tatters.

On the upside, their loses were few, only two VG squads. "Next time," Biermann thought. "Next time..."

--------

Quick rules question:
While Biermann was trapped in the wire in the woods, I pulled a suppressing fire event. While Biermann DID have a squad with an LMG and those pesky partisans were in an adjacent hex, I determined that I COULD NOT suppress them, because suppressing fire came from the machine guns, which couldn't be used in the wire.

Did I play it right?

------

Observations:
- The Partisan move bonus is insane -- allowed me to do all kinds of fun things to the Germans. That said, only having one order per turn was scary.

- Really like this scenario and the random distribution of Partisan forces -- this scenario felt WAY different than others, having to run around and gather troops and the fight mainly woods-hex to woods-hex.

- Now I've GOT to sift through the forums to see how this resolved for others. Have the Germans won? If so, HOW?

-----

Always a cinematic experience -- can't wait for Velikiye-Luki!!

by Maffo123

i own both runewars, descent and runebound and thought it would be a good idea to add some of the heroes to get more variation. Give me some feedback on these and I will try to make some cards for them:

Good heroes
Vyrah the Falconer
S 1
A 4
W 2
Wounds: 4
Instead of attemting a quest during the questphase, make opponent retreat 1 triange, rectangle or circle from the area

Aurim
S 2
A 2
W 3
Wounds: 3
During your turn, you may exchange 3 rewards on this hero for a dragon rune

Zyla
S 2
A 2
W 2
Wounds: 2
May move 3 spaces during the quest phase and have flying.
orb: 1 damage, 1 prevent damage

Jonas the Kind
S 4
A 1
W 2
Wounds:4
Instead of Questing, may take 1 damage to make a diplomacy attempt affecting 2 neutral non-hexagon units in same area, even if the neutral units are allied with opposing plauer. If successful, place those units routed in any friendly area.

Neutral heroes
Kirga
S 2
A 3
W 2
Wounds: 3
If an opposing hero wants to duel he must draw a fatecard. On a fail, the duel is cancelled but Kirga takes 1 wound.

Brother Glyr
S 4
A 2
W 1
Wounds: 4
If Glyr is in the same area as a stronghold during a battle, gain +1 strength when determing winner of the battle.

Ispher
S 2
A 3
W 2
Wounds: 3
Ispher may heal 1 wound after every duel or quest attempt and may take a heal action even if not in a friendly area.

Corbin
S 3
A 3
W 1
Wounds 4
If corbin is present in an area with a mountain border, friendly units may move from that area ignoring the mountain border.

Evil Heroes
Truthseer Kel
S 1
A 2
W 4
Wounds 3
At the end of every Questphase, you may look at one rune torken or exploration token.

Tetherys
S 1
A 3
W 3
Wounds: 3
If an enemy hero enters Tetherys area, draw one fatecard and resolve it as if it was a duel. Then the opposing hero continues his turn.

Trenloe the Strong
S 4
A 2
W 1
Wounds: 4
Once per duel, redraw a fatecard you just drew.

Grey Ker
S 2
A 4
W 1
Wounds: 3
If in the same area as a battle, rout one triange unit before calculating winner of battle.

Thoughts?

by dragoncymru

I'm very excited and pleased to announce that the game wil soon be going to include the Classic series with a new series of expansions.

Starting in April with 'The First Doctor' and then bi-monthly, each expansion will have stats for TARDIS Characters (Doctors and Companions), some enemies, famous adventure locations and new events and rules to allow players to recreate their favourite era from the Classic series.

So join up in April to visit Vortis, travel with Marco Polo, battle the Daleks on 22nd century Earth and much more besides!

by tcollett

We played this for the first time yesterday. After scanning through the rules questions, I didn't see an answer to this so I thought I would ask.

Can a player create more than one main department within an area like Communications?

We played it that players couldn't but thinking about it, that doesn't seem right because a player can move a main department so what would stop them from moving a main department to another department that already contained a main department?

by Coldwarrior1984

1. Players may add hold, play, or discard their cards rather than playing them immediately.

2. Players may move some, none, or all of their die roll during a turn.

3. Players may land on another player, creating a conflict that is decided by a die roll (modified +1 by each card turned in), and ending with the high roll sending an opponent up or down the tower or by stealing an opponent's card(s).

by Horder001

I recently moved house and rediscovered quite a lot of these cards.

All are first edition (black bordered) but not a full set I think (not sure) that there are about 20 missing.

I also have maybe 1000 spare cards, plus a box (yes box) of unopened Booster Packs, and finally a Limited Edition Boxed Set (the silver boarded cards).

They are now surplus to requirement and its time to sell....

If anyone is interested I could give exact details.

Please bear in mind that I live in the United Kingdom and wont check this everyday.

My email is swordweaver@hotmail.com if anyone wants to contact me direct.

by T Worthington

Just a quick note that I have added Adventure of D to the Indie Boards and Cards line up. What this means to you in North American is that you can save some money on shipping getting the game from me.

Jack is sending me a big package of games, so if you order from me now I can save one of the those copies for you, saving you about $5 in shipping costs. I'll send just as soon as I get them.

Once I get games from Jack I'll be able to get them to you much quicker and without delays of international shipping.

I look forward to working with Jack on this and future projects.

You can learn more about Indie Boards and Cards at www.indieboardsancards.com

by Jez2k

As someone who owns the original Hero Quest (the Advanced/Master edition, with all expansions and extra free cardless quests from around the net. Note, I intentionally only bought UK box sets, as I didn't like those thin cut-out cards printed on the backs of the American edition manuals, but I digress), I have toyed with the idea of buying this and the expansion. But I don't like the idea of using a reference chart instead of cards. The Wizards of Morcar expansion pack introduced even more cards to the original game. Other dungeon crawlers I own use a similar mechanic (D&D Fantasy Adventure Board Game with both expansions, Dragon Strike, Legend of Zagor, Classic Dungeon - when I finally get it).

True, rolling dice is no more or less random than a deck of shuffled cards. However, a reference chart, in my view, takes away some (not all), of the fun of a good dungeon crawler and makes it feel more like a pen and paper role-playing game. Plus, after a while, you'll become familiar with the numbers without having to look them up.

This is one aspect of the game that isn't properly mentioned elsewhere in the forum, so I hope this is of help to someone besides myself.

With all of the dungeon crawlers I own, plus Warlock of Firetop Mountain, I would probably never have time to fit in AHQ, so maybe it's a good thing I'm not so drawn to it as the other games.

by Xookliba

Turn 1
Nobunaga impulse: Oda negotiates with a soldier unwisely left by Anti-Oda without Azai watching over him. He manages to barricade himself into Odani while the other two loyal soldiers beat on the doors in vain! What a start!! Oda pulls his usual withdraw from Kanagasaki.
Anti-Oda impulse: Ashikaga fails to recruit any oda soldiers, so Miyoshi moves against Ibaraki. Araki goes into siege there.
Azai/Asakura impulse: Azai is, strangely enough, OOC due to the quirk of the betrayal. Ashikage moves against the remnants of Oda's force in Kanagasaki. The Asakura force drives them into the castle to set up a siege situations there.
Ikko-Ikki impulse: the monks join the siege in Ibaraki. Araki loses his soldier unit, but survives for now.
Turn End.

Turn 2
Nobunaga impulse: Oda moves through Kyo with a large force to relieve the siege at Ibaraki. The Anti-Oda forces retreat in the face of the huge Oda stack, but not before they take quite a bit of damage.
Ikko-Ikki impulse: Saika moves against Mt. Shigi, and Matsunaga and Tsutsui's combined forces decide to meet them on the field of battle. Bad decision as it turns out, because they are wiped out and clan Matsunaga falls to Saika.
Turn End.

Turn 3
Oda impulse: Oda moves against the Ikko-Ikki in Arioka and also the huge stack adjacent to Noda Fukushima lays siege to Miyoshi there. Not all the Miyoshi clan will fit in the castle so 3 units are left to be slaughtered in the field. Unfortunately, the Oda forces are too much and Sanninshu himself falls (but is only injured).
Nobunaga impulse: Will it ever end? More troops are moved in to assail Arioka, and Tokugawa moves against the increasingly hapless Azai. He attempts to retreat to Odani (which is still under siege), but is wiped out in the process. That's what you get for being too cautious in this game! Most daring of all, Oda's large force from neighboring Noda Fukushima moves against Ishiyama. Has Oda over-reached?
Ikko-Ikki impulse: not a good time for this! The monks move to Yamato in a bid to cut Oda's communication lines. There are enough monks in the area to cause some serious trouble for him if they succeed. Luck is with them, as they roll very well and the lightly defended Yamato falls to siege. The Tsutsui fall to Saika! he is tearing through Japan like a whirlwind (and amassing forces, too).
Azai/Asakura impulse: Yoshikage finally wins back Kanagsaki from Oda's forces there. But the Azai fail to relieve their desperate situation, Odani remains under siege and Azai remains OOC.
Turn End.

Turn 4
Nobunaga impulse: Tokugawa finally arrives on the scene at Odani. He had been making his way there for the past several turns while Azai was otherwise occupied, doing great damage along the way, and now the fate of Azai is finally decided at Odani as it falls to Tokugawa. Oda withdraws from Ishiyama to attempt to relieve the siege at Yamato and crush the pesky Saika once and for all, but he manages to escape without incident. Perhaps Ishiyama was merely a feint.
Oda impulse: back to back impulses YET AGAIN let you know how Oda is doing so far. With either first to go and/or back to back impulses for the 4th turn in a row, to say things are going his way at this point is an understatement. However, fate is so very fickle... Tokugawa continues his advance, hoping to wipe out Yoshikage and secure the northern flank once and for all. He decimates the Asakura there and Yoshikage is wounded. Clan Asakura is teetering on the brink. Niwa leads a force against Nagashima, but satisfies himself with driving the monks into the castle.
Anti-Oda minors impulse: The Anti-Oda Faction is in complete disarray from the pounding it has gotten. So far, 6 of the 11 impulses of the game have gone to Oda. Ashikaga converts to Daimyo and unsuccessfully attempts some negotiations. All he can do at this point is gather some of his forces at Noda Fukushima, which is recaptured but empty of Oda forces.
Turn End.

Turn 5
Oda impulse: Chit pulling trend continues, Oda moves against the marshaling forces of Ashikaga at Ibaraki, sending Sakuma there. Ashikaga himself is caught in the net and is badly wounded in the siege. He goes to Tomo to be a pain to Oda for the rest of the game. More forces are poured into the siege at Nagashima. Niwa finds out first hand what a meat grinder this place is as he fails to do any damage but takes heavy losses. Takigawa is sent to lay siege to Rokkaku at Mitsukuri. Oda ends his impulse with a "Ninja in camp" to get the Akechi betrayal card. Oh well, at least I guess he is fairly safe.
Ikko-Ikki impulse: Saika moves back to Ishiyama to help relieve the siege there. The monks sortie and Sakuma is driven off (and wounded in the process).
Asakura impulse: Clan Asakura can do nothing but bemoan their impending doom.
Turn End.

Turn 6
Asakura impulse: Are you kidding with this? Where weer these at the start of the game when I needed them? They can and will do nothing.
Oda impulse: Takigawa finishes off the Rokkaku clan for Oda. Tokugawa continues his relentless march, crushing Ichijo-dani. Clan Asakura falls to Tokugawa! Sakuma regroups and comes at Ishiyama again. Saika is there, and bravely leads a small force to the field of honor to meet Sakuma while the bulk of the force retreats inside the iron-clad fortress that is Ishiyama. Much to his dismay, Saika meets "Massed Gunnery" in the field, fights well but is badly wounded. However, Sakuma finds the doors of Ishiyama tightly shut. The monks did not take the bait which was dangled before them. Anti-Oda plays "Master of Tactics" and gets the "Gunnery" card to boot!
Nobunaga impulse: 9 of 18 impulses? Can you beat these odds? Oda himself regroups and heads off for Ishiyama. Niwa again breaks upon the rock that is Nagashima and is again repulsed after heavy losses, while doing no damage at all.
Turn End.

Turn 7
Will Takeda's appearance change the momentum in this game?
Takeda impulse: Shingen arrays his forces against Hamamatsu. Tokugawa has been active in the north, and has left few behind to watch his tenuous LOC, so Shingen has decided to put all his effort into bringing that castle down.
Turn End.

Turn 8
Turn End. It is hard to tell who this screws more. Takeda is looking at a lightly defended Hamamatsu, but every turn end means that Tokugawa gets to strengthen it. And worse yet, Ieyasu himself is now back at Hamamatsu after disbanding a turn earlier. One impulse this turn would have meant that wasn't possible. Now we are looking at the defenders hitting on a 2+ instead of a 4+, which will make all the difference in the world...

Turn 9
Oda impulse: With time running out, Oda will put all his effort into siege battles at victory locations. Against all odds, the two E-J monks at Mt. Hiei stand against 10 Oda soldiers! (note: the movement of Mori's and Uesugi's entrance is irrelevant at this point). Niwa finally makes some progress at Nagashima, killing half of the defenders, but the castle still stands.
Turn End. (rapid turn end chit pulls here are really affecting the game, but as I said earlier, fate IS fickle...)

Turn 10
Do or die for Oda. He is close, but things are starting to slip through his fingers. He needs his now customary two impulses this turn to win.
Takeda impulse: With Hamamatsu looking not quite as ripe, Shingen has no choice but to follow through. However, he makes very little progress on the siege. Things are looking a little tight for Anti-Oda now. One impulse will probably be all it takes for the last to victory locations to fall. What will the next chit be?...

Turn End!

Game End.

What a tense game!! There were quite a few notable items in this game. First, Azai was very susceptible to betrayal from Oda. It is definitely unwise to leave vital spaces in the hands of soldiers who are easily swayed. Better to have their leader looking over their shoulder! Next, even though Oda drew more than half (!) of the games impulses, he still came up a little short. It is REALLY tough to get to that magical 6VPs. On retrospect, perhaps he could have thrown less of his resources at Ishiyama, face it that place is not going to fall. With 6 inhabitants hitting at 2 or better, it would take many turns of sustained activity to bring that place down.

However, by concentrating on Ikko-Ikki's backyard, he really kept the only big threat (outside of Takeda) from being a factor in the game. If the monks get out of hand, they can make life hell for Oda!

Finally, you may be tempted to say that the Turn End chit screwed Oda. I would counter that it was an example of luck balancing out against all those back to back chit draws. You've gotta pay the piper! Plus, it screwed Takeda equally. Given Tokugawa's deep foray into the green spaces, Hamamatsu should have been an easy target for Shingen. Without the turn end chit coming up, he could have laid siege and brought that space down, reducing Oda to 5VP again, even if he had gotten both Hieie and Nagashima to fall (which presumably would have happened, had the turns not ended so early). So we are back to the 5VP that Oda can usually get. Bear in mind that with the Daruma rule, that would have been an Oda victory.

That may be my only complaint about the short game, which is immensely fun due to the tension. There is a HUGE difference between 5VP and 6, so how do you change that balance? It will either be very difficult for Oda or Anti-Oda, depending on whether you say 5VP or 6VP is the mark. There is no good "fine-tuning" sort of tweak since there are so very few victory locations. No other two strength space is close enough to be realistically playable in the short game. So that still leaves me looking for a good play balance tweak, as I think the game is skewed (we have several more plays as of this writing). However, it still seems as if our games are very close, strangely enough. Maybe we still simply have not learned effective Oda strategy, but there are some good nuggets in this AAR if you want to be effective as Oda. I think my opponent is on the right track! Great game!!

by sisteray

If you are interested in becoming a playtester for upcoming Steam expansion maps please PM me.

by zzyzxuk

1.) For the 'suggestion' spell, when the card says you must pay the cost of the monster or withdraw it, does 'withdraw' mean just for that round of battle, or is the monster then 'spent' and can't be used again in subsequent battle rounds that year?

2.) For the 'illusion' spell, if the 'imaginary adventurer' isn't eliminated in the round in which the spell is cast, does he persist and stay in the line-up of adventurers in subsequent rounds of battle?

3.) For the 'invisibility' spell, when the card says the wizard can't be harmed, he can still get fatigued though, yes?

In my last game, all 3 questions came up, so we guessed that for 1.), the answer was no, for 2.) it was 'yes', and for 3.) it was 'yes' - but did we do it correctly?

Answers with citations pointing to actual rules preferred over mere opinions.

by DSpangler

The more I play this game, the deeper it gets and the more I enjoy it. A real tour de force, Dan.

As an old Up Front player (in both senses of the word "old"), there are a couple of things I miss. I really enjoyed the uncertainty of terrain in UF since you played the terrain card from your hand; gave a dynamic feel of moving through unknown countryside and discovering the land as you went along. And I miss the ability to entrench, though FL offers a kind of entrenching feel with Dig-In cards and the shovel. Actually what I really miss is the joy of discovering as I'm crawling through Open Space a bit of cover like a foxhole or a bit of ruins at just the moment I need it.

So I'm thinking it might be nice in an expansion if there were terrain-modifier cards that could be in the action deck, a card that would be placed permanently on a Terrain card or that might have a counter placed on that terrain card that might alter it in some way. I like the terrain rules in FL, but being able to modify the terrain and discover new things in a terrain would make the landscape seem more dynamic.

I realize as I write this that the Action Cards already cover many of the effects of terrain without specifying the actual terrain characteristics that create those effects, (Finding a Dig-In card when I need it, for instance, could be interpreted as finding a foxhole or the ruins I mentioned.) But I guess I just like the idea of being able to alter terrain itself in surprising and unexpected ways.

by krakenfan69

Are there supposed to be card backs for the game? I just d/led the files and looked at them quickly. Did I miss them or they just don't exist?

The game looks great! Thanks for the PnP!

Kraken Fan #69

by BartowWing

Can an operations card queue span across turns? I did not see anything in the rules one way or the other so I am presuming the answer is yes?

(It hasn't actually happened but my opponent asked me that question last night while we were playing.)

by Kirin_9JG54

Greetings aces

With the current SFU discussion Squadron Strike appeared back on my radar. Having like a whole fleet of painted Colonial Vipers and Cylon Raiders I wondered if anyone has worked out a rule/ship-set to use those minis with and if the ruleset is playable with a fighter vs. fighter vs capital ship setting.

I've seen BSG conversions for Full Thrust, Silent Death and Hard Vacuum - with HV coming closest to what I want. From reading the games description SS seems to fit in quite well. But I am far to lazy and unimaginative to work out my own Vipers and Raiders...

by LordHellfury

While I enjoy the demo game being made available for players to make up their mind about the game, I think it would be helpful for the publisher to send out copies of the rules for various people to review. (if this hasnt been done already).

I went through and played the demo game with the models I do have (having a decent pulp era model collection) and enjoyed it, but am curious as to what other miniature wargamers think before taking the plunge and buying the rulebook and expansion magazine.

by tonksey

I've played Macao twice now & really like it. However, the luck factor in the dice rolls bugs me a bit in that you can be screwed on occasions by planning far ahead enough by putting 5 or even 6 cubes of a certain colour on the 5 or 6 space with the intention of being able to activate a certain card or two (or taking a city quarter) that required at least one cube of another colour... only to find the dice just haven't rolled the way you need them to. Therefore you have not very much control in terms of the dice's numbers/colours. This small aspect is the one thing that stops Macao being as good as the stellar alea games for me.

What I suggest is that each player gets a Macao token, which they can choose to use up ONCE during the game after the dice have been rolled.

Instead of choosing two dice as normal, they can spend their Macao token to choose one dice as normal & take a number of cubes in another colour of their choice as desired two spaces further back than normal (so 1 cube would go on 3, 2 cubes on 4, etc... therefore not possible to take 5 or 6 cubes). If anyone hasn't spent their Macao token at the end of the game, they get 5pts.

I thought this might work by giving the players a very small measure of control if they needed it & not suffer due to pure luck, without changing the nature of the game. Playing sufficiently well enough without needing to spend the token (or deciding not to) should get rewarded.

Any thoughts/tweaks?

by hank__hill

I wanted to get a quote locally for getting something done like Maka's wooden counters. Is there a list somewhere of the dimensions of all the pieces including the expansion stuff?

Thanks,
Scott

by BartowWing

Opponent wanted via Vassal or Vassal/ACTS (there is an ACTS module in the "custom" section.")

Play by email or live or both.

Send me geekmail if interested.