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by naoe_

A new GeekList has been posted 2012 エッセンシュピール　チェックリスト

A new board game has been added to the database: Shark Attacks

by thearkhammonk

"The first generation to know peace will soon have their own war stories. The Second Great War has begun and the 6 Factions fight to insure they'll be around when the carnage ends. Tooth & Nail: Factions puts the players in the middle of conflict, commanding their own single Faction (Standard games) or a loose alliance of Factions (Alliance Games).

Each game represents a single battle of the Great War. Getting the other player's deck to zero cards before he can do the same is the goal of the game. The game ends when a player has no cards left in his deck, with the other player winning the game."

Tooth and Nail: Factions is another production from Small Box Games from Atlanta. It initially launched as a Kickstarter project and is now available from their website. I had already purchased 'Omen: Reign of War' and 'Hemloch' from Small Box Games, so I knew that I'd receive a quality product when it finally arrived. Just days before GenCon, my copy arrived in the mail. I quickly tore open the package and started in on the rule book so that it could go in tow with us to GenCon.

What do you get in the box?



6 Factions who are ready to battle in the Second Great War.

The Enrodenta, Ostra Vultura, The Pride, Marauders, Aeon Walkers and the Red Claw Tribe. Each Faction containing 30 cards, made up of 6 units of 5 cards each.



There are also 5 Action Point Cards, as well as the 'Dogs of War' a smaller faction of 20 cards, made up of 4 units of 5 cards. (This was a part of the Kickstarter program, I'm not sure if all of the future copies of Tooth and Nail: Factions will include the Dogs of War).

Each Faction also comes with a Faction Command Card, as well as an 'Alternate Faction Command Cards' for the Kickstarters, as well as 3 'Menagerie' Special Faction Command Cards.

A full color rule book and a set of card dividers. (The dividers may also be a kickstarter exclusive, I'm not sure what future copies will contain).



So how does it play?

In the base game, each player will choose a faction and the game is player over a series of turns. Each player taking turns performing actions until he has no more Action point cards and then other next player will take their actions. This will continue until there are no cards remaining in a players deck. On a players turn, he is called the "Alpha Player" and the opponent is the "Opposing Player".

Turns are broken down into 2 steps taken in the following order.

Recharge Step followed by the Action Step.

The Recharge Step consists of the Alpha player preparing his faction for the rest of the turn and can do several things in the following order:

~ The Alpha player can draw 1 card from his deck and for doing so, he will gain 1 action point card.

~ The Alpha Player can draw 1 card from his deck or gain 1 Action Point Card for each Troop in his Command Zone.

~ The Alpha Player can recharge all troops in his Command Zone.

~ The Alpha Player can recharge 1 troop in his War Zone.

~ You can do the above in any order. You choose how to gain the Action Point Cards.

*During the Recharge Step of each players First Turn of the Game, he draws 5 cards and gains 3 Action Points.*

The Action Step

This is where a majority of the game will take place and the Alpha player has a few options in this phase.

For 0 Action points the Alpha Player may before the following actions:

~ Use the Command Ability of a Troop in his Command Zone

~ Use his Factions Ability (From the Faction Command Card)

For 1 Action point the Alpha Player may before the following actions:

~ Play a troop card from his hand into either his Command Zone or his War Zone.

~ Initiate an Attack.

Actions are completed one at a time, with the player announcing what action he is going to take. There is no order to the actions and they may be taken in any order or in any pattern throughout your Action Step. The only limitation that the Alpha Player has is the amount of Action point cards that he has to spend on his turn. Once an action that requires an Action Point Card to be played is taken, the player then discards the Action Point Card into the center of the table. (As both players will use these cards for their actions). You are not required to take actions for every Action Point Card in your hand.

Now lets cover some other important terms that pertain to game play.

A card may call for you to Drain a troop, or turn it 90 degrees (tap it), all troops that are turned 90 degrees are now Drained Troops. You may also Recharge a troop, at this point it is rotated 90 degrees clockwise back to its original position.

Destroy means a card is sent from play to the top of the players discard pile. There are also card abilities that are going to direct you to 'remove a card from the game'. When a card is removed from the game is is move to the side of the play area and no longer used in the game.



So, now you may be even more confused than before because I've used the term Command Zone and War Zone but haven't described what those zones are. Each player will have 2 zones that he may play cards into.

As you play a troop into a Command Zone, they grant the player powerful abilities listed on the card. As noted above, the number of cards in your command zone will also grant you Action Point Cards without drawing additional cards from your own deck. Important Note: A player may never have more than 3 troops in their Command zone.

It will always cost a player 1 Action Point Card to play a troop into their Command Zone. It never costs an Action Point Card to use the Command Ability listed on the card. Here's where the difficulty comes into play. To use a Command Troops ability the Alpha Player drains the troop and performs the troops ability as stated on the card. Then, he must remove the troop from the game, unless he can discard a troop of the same name from his hand. If he is able to discard a troop with the same name, the troop in his command zone remains in play.



As you play troops into your War Zone, these are the troops that will allow you to attack the other player (meaning moving cards from their deck into their discard pile or removing them from the game). Important Note: A player may never have more than 6 troops in their War zone.

It will also always cost a player 1 Action Point to play a troop into their War Zone. Troops in your War zone are how you attack your opponents draw pile and win the game (coupled with the cards in your command zone). Once there are troops in your War Zone you may now Initiate Attacks. There are 2 types of attacks that can be initiated by the Alpha player.

To initiate a non-formation attack, the alpha player must discard 1 Action Point Card. The troop is then drained and deals the amount of damage equal to its strength to the opposing players deck. (We'll cover the anatomy of a card coming up).

Boosting a non-formation attack, to boost an attack, the Alpha player removes 1 card from his hand from the game that matches the Attacking troops type. Boosting the attack adds 1 to the damage that is dealt. An attack may only ever be boosted once and is always options for a non-formation attack.

To initiate a formation attack, the Alpha player still must discard 1 Action Point Card from his hand. The Formation Attacks are granted by each unique Faction Command Card and are generally much more powerful than a Non-Formation Attack. It allows the player to attack with more than 1 troop for only 1 action point. To be able to complete a formation attack, the troops in play must match the required types and number of troops listed in the Command Card. A Formation Attack may never be boosted.



Anatomy of a Card:

[img}http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/r638/thearkhammonk/96F66...[/img]



Troop Name: Each Faction has 6 individual troops, each with their own name.

Troop Faction: Will have a picture of the troops faction symbol.

Troop Strength: This will be the amount of damage that a troop will deal to the opposing player.

Troop Type: Either Arcane or Tech.

Troop Command Ability: Powerful abilities that aid the player, this ability is only ever used in the Command Zone and never in the War Zone.



Example of a game in Play:



In the above photo, you're able to see an example of a hand in play. In this case, the Alpha Player is playing with the Enrodenta. You can see the Faction Command Card in play directly above the draw stack. Next to the draw stack is the discard pile. Directly above the Faction command Ability Card is this players War Zone and below the draw deck is the Command Zone. In this case the player has out 4 troops in his War zone and 3 troops in his Command zone. 3 Troops in his War zone are drained from attacking.



The Verdict and other opinions:

Tooth and Nail: Factions is a fast paced, tactical card driven war game. There's a great amount of depth that the game delivers even for the casual player. The game play allows for some very difficult decisions, especially in deciding whether or not to draw additional troop cards and drain your own draw pile. The variety of factions and faction abilities keep the game fresh and allow for a lot of different strategies to be employed throughout the game. No two factions play alike, and because of so, you'll have a good amount of re-playability before you even begin to think the game would become stale.

There are multiple playing options for players and I'd suggest that after you play an initial game with the base rules, immediately forget about ever playing that game again. What you should do from that point forward is jump immediately into the 'Alliance' Rules. This allows a player to draft and combine 2 different factions, opening up a huge amount of variety, new strategies and new interactions. This rule option also allows a player to play up to 4 troops into their Command zone and 8 troops into their War zone.

I've also played a few 4 player games, which allows two teams of players to draft 3 factions per team. Then each team uses the same draw deck and takes turns playing off of the same deck. (Note: There are additional set up rules for both the Alliance and the 4 player: The Enemy of my Enemy games that I did not go into detail on).

My game group enjoyed this at Gencon, while partaking in a few drinks. My wife and I have played more than a few times and have enjoyed it quite a bit. I've also taught the game at FLGS and the response was good.

I highly suggest that you look into picking up a copy of Tooth and Nail: Factions from Small Box Games as the components, quality and game play are excellent. In fact, I don't think that you could go wrong with any of the Small Box line up.



You'll note that I didn't go into depth on the Faction abilities, or too deep into the different factions. That's mostly because part of what's awesome about this game is learning how cards play off one another, and how factions work together, or don't work together at all. I think any fan of Summoner Wars, Omen: Reign of War or other similar card games will thoroughly enjoy Tooth and Nail: Factions.

by Norbert Chan

I was teamed up with Jean, while Gary and Don were a team. We had all played three times, except for Gary who had not played this expansion yet. I kept three tickets, Sukkur-Ulan Butar (12), Dihua-Mukden (14) and Shanghai to Hong Kong (8) (The point values are approximate, I can't remember them exactly). Jean had asked who gets to go first, so he could decide which tickets to keep, and who in the partnership gets to go first. We decided to interpret the rules as allowing the whole team to play, and you had to decide which tickets to keep before knowing who went first. It turned out Gary and Don went first. Don played a white card to go from Canton to Hong Kong, and as luck would have it, Gary played a red card to go from Canton to Hong Kong, shutting us out.

Jean and I did okay having the longest route from Sukkur to Ulan Butar to Mukden and down to the south east part of Asia. But Gary and Don overwhelmed us with their destination points. We didn't make 2 routes, one of them being the Shanghai to Hong Kong route.

Scores: Gary/Don: 169 (60 train, 10 most tickets, 99 destination), Jean/Norbert: 151 (77 train, 10 longest train, 64 destination)

Lesson #1: Don't keep any Hong Kong routes since they are too risky. You need luck to go first to get a claim to it. So perhaps the rule discussed in the rules forum makes more sense: if you allow only one member of a team to play when they go first, then the Hong Kong destinations make more sense to keep. However, if playing three teams, you are at risk again since the middle team could potentialy shut you out, so don't gamble with any Hong Kong route. Other cities, such as Fort Bayard, with 2 single links going to it are also at risk, so you have to evaluate if these cities are worth it.

Game 2: This time, Jean and I got to go first. I had similar tickets to what I drew in the first game: A northwest city going to Ulan Butar, then needing to get down to Chengdu to get to the south east. My first play was to play both remaining tickets so Jean knew what needed to be done, and Jean also played down his remaining 2 tickets. Armed with the knowledge we were able to build and react like a team. Meanwhile Gary and Don were laying down a lot of single track in the south east part of the board to get to Hanoi, Vientiane, and Manning.They felt this was too little effort for too little gain. You don't get too many points for your 1 track trains, and it takes a whoel turn to do it.
We got the longest train and they got the most tickets again, but we got more points in tickets.

Scores: Jean/Norbert 191 (72 train, 10 longest train, 109 destination), Gary/Don: 161 (50 train, 10 tickets, 101 destination)

Lesson #2: Gary and Don felt they put down too many single track lines (which resulted in their relatively low train score of 50). The lesson here is try not to play too many single track.

Game 3: I had a a couple of Delhi routes (Delhi to Hanoi and Delhi to Mandalay (I think), and since they seemed to match, I kept both. All three of mu tickets ran from northwest to south east, but Jean's routes all seemed to run from southwest to northeast. We spent a lot of our time getting to our destinations, and I only had time to get one draw of destination tickets. I knew Jean wanted to earn points by playing a long stretch of track, but I didn't think that was going to work. We only got 7 tickets to Gary and Don's 12 tickets.

Scores: Gary/Don 183 (74 track, 10 longest track, 10 most tickets, 89 destination), Norbert/Jean: 140 (62 train, 78 destination)

Lesson #3: Make sure you leave time to draw more tickets. You can earn big scores through ticket draws, and since we only drew once, while Gary. Don drew a total of 4 times, it shows in the score.

Incidentally, with 6 games under my belt now, my record is 2 wins and 4 losses which leads to lesson #4: playing team Asia with a guy with an Asian last name is no guarantee of success!

by Roel81

A new GeekList has been posted NPE (Negative Play Experiences)

by StAtiC9

A new GeekList has been posted My awesome wife and how she saved my love for the hobby.

by sgtmath

A new GeekList has been posted A Year in Wargaming

by drunkenKOALA

A new GeekList has been posted Sunday Shilin: 2012/09/09

by Marcon

As someone pointed out, I messed up the first time around, I don't think it would have mattered, but hey, that's why I post the reports in the first place so here we go one more time...

Player 1's deck

Dain Ironfoot, Dwalin and Gimli. Initial threat of 31.

3x Gandalf (Core Set)
3x Bofur (The Redhorn Gate)
3x Gondorian Spearman
3x Snowbourn Scout
3x Veteran Axehand
3x Zigil Miner
3x Ancient Mathom
2x Dunedain Warning
3x Dwarrowdelf Axe
3x Horn of Gondor
3x Unexpected Courage
3x A Test of Will
3x Feint
3x Foe-Hammer
3x Hail of Stones
3x Hasty Stroke
3x Sneak Attack

Player 2's deck

Thorin Oakenshield, Bifur and Thalin. Initial threat of 28.

3x Gandalf (Core Set)
3x Erebor Record Keeper
2x Erebor Hammersmith
3x Erebor Battle Master
3x Miner of the Iron Hills
1x Henamarth Riversong
3x Legacy of Durin
3x Steward of Gondor
2x Hardy Leadership
3x Dwarven Axe
3x Fresh Tracks
3x Sneak Attack
3x Feint
3x Daeron's Runes
3x Expecting Mischief
3x Goblin-Cleaver
3x Khazad! Khazad!
3x Lure of Moria

First player token to Player 1.

See my previous report for We Must Away, Ere Break of Day... I don't have the treasures so this is gonna be tough! The only strategy I have so far is to stall in Stage 2 until Bilbo has 5 resources to ease my way into Stage 3. I took the opportunity of this 2nd playthrough to replace Fast Hitch by Fresh Tracks in Player 2's deck.

Player 1's starting hand : Horn of Gondor x2, Hail of Stones x2, Sneak Attack and Veteran Axehand.

Player 2's starting hand : Erebor Record Keeper x2, Erebor Battle Master, Lure of Moria, Feint and Sneak Attack.

Pretty average hands.

Setup :

Bilbo Baggins controlled by Player 1. Stone-Giant in the staging area. Encounter deck reveals Lone-Lands and Galloping Boulders surging into Stone-Giant.

Dodged those boulders but 2 Giants at the same time could be trouble...

Round 1 - Resource phase

Player 1 draws Zigil Miner, Player 2 draws Fresh Tracks.

Round 1 - Planning phase

Player 1 plays Horn of Gondor on Bilbo Baggins.
Player 2 plays Erebor Record Keeper.
Player 2 activates Bifur to get 1 resource from Thorin Oakenshield.
Player 2 plays Erebor Record Keeper.

Round 1 - Quest phase

Player 1 commits Dwalin, Gimli and Bilbo Baggins.
Player 2 commits Thorin Oakenshield, Bifur, Thalin and both Erebor Record Keepers.

Encounter deck reveals Dreary Hills and Guffawing of Giants.

Fine, I wanted to engage it anyways...

Willpower of 19 to a threat of 13 = 6 progress tokens are put on the quest card (6/16).

Stone-Giant engages Player 1.

Round 1 - Travel phase

Travel to Dreary Hills.

Round 1 - Encounter phase

Nothing happens.

Round 1 - Combat phase

Dain Ironfoot blocks Stone-Giant, Shadow card is Galloping Boulders (Put on top of the encounter deck), Dain Ironfoot is dealt 3 damage.

Round 1 - Refresh phase

Player 1's Threat = 32.
Player 2's Threat = 29.
First player token and Bilbo Baggins are passed to Player 2 (Yes I know this might be confusing).

Round 2 - Resource phase

Player 1 draws Snowbourn Scout and Player 2 draws Expecting Mischief.

Round 2 - Planning phase

Player 1 plays Snowbourn Scout and Zigil Miner.

Round 2 - Quest phase

Player 2 commits Thorin Oakenshield, Bifur, Thalin, both Erebor Record Keepers and Bilbo Baggins.
Player 1 commits Dwalin, Gimli and Zigil Miner.

Encounter deck reveals Galloping Boulders (Zigil Miner is killed, Bilbo Baggins gets 1 resource) surging into Overhanging Rock and Dreary Hills.

Willpower of 19 to a threat of 11 = 2 progress tokens are put on Dreary Hills (Player 1 discards Veteran Axehand and Player 2 discards Sneak Attack at random), it is explored (Bilbo Baggins gets 1 resource) and 6 progress tokens are put on the quest card (12/16).

Round 2 - Travel phase

Travel to Overhanging Rock.

Round 2 - Encounter phase

Nothing happens.

Round 2 - Combat phase

Snowbourn Scout blocks Stone-Giant, Shadow card is Galloping Boulders (Put on top of encounter deck), Snowbourn Scout is killed, Bilbo Baggins gets 1 resource.

Round 2 - Refresh phase

Player 1's Threat = 33
Player 2's Threat = 30.
First player token and Bilbo Baggins are passed to Player 1.

Round 3 - Resource phase

Player 1 draws Bofur and Player 2 draws Gandalf.

Now I miss the discarded Sneak Attack...

Round 3 - Planning phase

Player 1 activates Overhanging Rock, revealing Gondorian Spearman (Kept) and Hasty Stroke (Discarded).
Player 1 plays Gondorian Spearman.
Player 2 plays Gandalf, drawing Gandalf, Miner of the Iron Hills and Daeron's Runes.

Round 3 - Quest phase

Player 1 commits Dwalin, Gimli and Bilbo Baggins.
Player 2 commits Thorin Oakenshield, Thalin, Bifur, both Erebor Record-Keepers and Gandalf.

Encounter deck reveals Galloping Boulders, dealing 3 damage to Gimli, surging into A Suspicious Crow (Killed by Thalin) and Guffawing of Giants.

Willpower of 20 to a threat of 9 = 3 progress tokens are put on Overhanging Rock (It is explored) and 8 progress tokens are put on the quest card, Stage 2 is completed, the board is cleared, The Great Goblin is added to the staging area, Player 2 plays Fresh Tracks, dealing The Great Goblin 1 damage. 5 resources are discarded from Bilbo Baggins to reduce to 1 the number of cards revealed from the encounter deck.

This is where I made a mistake the first time around, I thought you could pay 6 resources from Bilbo to completely avoid revealing cards. Fresh Tracks reads that you can play it in response to an enemy being "added" to the staging area as opposed to Thalin that says they have to be revealed from the encounter deck. That means he'll stay in the staging area, ready to be ripped by Hail of Stones next round.

Goblin Runners are revealed (Dealt 1 damage by Thalin) surging into Goblin Bent-Swords (Dealt 1 damage by Thalin).

Round 3 - Travel phase

No travel.

Round 3 - Encounter phase

Player 1 engages Goblin Runners.
Goblin Bent-Swords engage Player 1.

Round 3 - Combat phase

Gondorian Spearman blocks Goblin Runners, dealing them 1 damage and killing them (Shadow card was Goblin Bent-Swords).
Player 1 plays Sneak Attack, putting Bofur into play.
Bofur blocks Goblin Bent-Swords, Shadow card is Goblin Miners, Bofur is killed, Bilbo Baggins gets 1 resource.

Would have been a bonus to keep Bofur alive.

Round 3 - Refresh phase

Player 1's Threat = 34.
Player 2's Threat = 31.
First player token and Bilbo Baggins are passed to Player 2.

Gandalf is discarded from play, Bilbo Baggins gets 1 resource.

Round 4 - Resource phase

Player 1 draws Feint and Player 2 draws Fresh Tracks.

Round 4 - Planning phase

Player 2 plays Daeron's Runes, drawing Steward of Gondor and Feint and discarding Erebor Battle Master.
Player 2 plays Steward of Gondor on Thorin Oakenshield.
Player 2 activates Steward of Gondor.
Player 1 plays Hail of Stones, exhausting Gimli, Dwalin, Thorin Oakenshield, Thalin, Bifur and both Erebor Record Keepers to kill The Great Goblin.
Player 2 plays Lure of Moria to ready all dwarves.
Player 2 activates Bifur to steal a resource from Dain Ironfoot.
Player 2 plays Gandalf, dealing 4 damage to Goblin Bent-Swords and killing them.

Thorin is slowly becoming a powerhouse, gaining resources like crazy. I think this is the first time I manage to fully benefit from Lure of Moria.

Round 4 - Quest phase

Player 2 plays Expecting Mischief.

Player 2 commits Thorin Oakenshield, Bifur, Thalin, Bilbo Baggins, Gandalf and both Erebor Record Keepers.
Player 1 commits Gimli and Dwalin.

Encounter deck reveals Grip, Grab! Pinch, Nab! Goblin Miners and Goblin Runners are added to the staging area. Player 2 plays Fresh Tracks to put 1 damage on Goblin Runners. Encounter deck also reveals Front Porch.

Again, no damage on the enemies put into play via GG!PN! but Fresh Tracks works. Expecting Mischief is wasted, which is an oddity in this scenario.

Willpower of 23 to a threat of 7 = 16 progress tokens are put on the quest card.

Round 4 - Travel phase

No travel.

Round 4 - Encounter phase

Player 1 engages Goblin Miners.

Round 4 - Combat phase

Gondorian Spearman blocks Goblin Miners, it is dealt 1 damage, Shadow card is Chaos in the Cavern, Gondorian Spearman is killed, Bilbo Baggins gets 1 resource, Goblin Miners return to the staging area.

The plan was to kill it with Dain but it doesn't matter much.

Round 4 - Refresh phase

Player 1's Threat = 35.
Player 2's Threat = 32.
First player token and Bilbo Baggins are passed to Player 1.

Gandalf is discarded from play, Bilbo Baggins gets 1 resource.

Round 5 - Resource phase

Player 1 draws Sneak Attack and Player 2 draws Miner of the Iron Hills.

Round 5 - Planning phase

Player 2 activates Steward of Gondor.
Player 2 activates Bifur to steal a resource from Dain Ironfoot.
Player 2 plays Miner of the Iron Hills.
Player 1 plays Hail of Stones, exhausting Miner of the Iron Hills and killing Goblin Miner.

Round 5 - Quest phase

Player 1 commits Gimli, Dwalin and Bilbo Baggins.
Player 2 commits Thorin Oakenshield, Bifur, Thalin and both Erebor Record Keepers..

Encounter deck reveals Goblin Runners (Dealt 1 damage by Thalin) surging into The Goblins' Caves and Goblin Runners (Dealt 1 damage by Thalin) surging into Goblin Bent-Swords (Dealt 1 damage by Thalin) surging into Great Cavern Room.

Willpower of 19 to a threat of 14 = 5 progress tokens are put on the quest card, GAME OVER!

Final score

Player 1's threat = 35 + 3 wounds = 38.
Player 2's threat = 32 + 0 wound = 32.
4 complete rounds = 40.
-3 VPs

107

Even managed to beat my previous score by 30 points (Granted, I cheated the first time around but still). The surging gets crazy, Stage 3 is not a place you would like to linger too long in, it reminds me of the "Into the Pit" scenario which throws a lot of small enemies at you.

by LadyDi

A new GeekList has been posted Sunday Afternoon Board Games (September 9, 2012)

A new weblink has been added for board game designer Lester Smith: Author's Website

by drunkenKOALA

A new GeekList has been posted Friday Yanming: 2012/09/07

by pconvy

We played our first Dance with Dragons game over the weekend (I was Baratheon). It was rather interesting.

Tyrell and Martell formed an alliance right at the start and tried to take Storms End on the first round (lucky I had the Stannis house card to fight them off). They pretty much honored their agreement until the last round when all bets were off and they began attacking each other.

Greyjoy kept some pressure on Tyrell from the sea and tried to take Highgarden, but they were pushed back and decided to focus their attention on Stark and Lannister.

Our Lannister player lost Kings Landing within the first 2 rounds and then spent the majority of the game on the defense until eventually attempting to take back Kings Landing in the last round when a Web of Lies westeros card was drawn and screwed up Tyrell's support plans.

As Baratheon, I formed an agreement with Stark not to attack their lands in return for allowing me to keep my hold on the north-east region. I managed to take hold of Shipbreaker Bay from Tyrell, which opened up Dragonstone and Storms End, however by the 4th round the Tyrell and Martell alliance managed to take it, Dragonstone, and Storms End away from me, forcing my units north again.

Overall it was rather difficult playing as Baratheon.I ran into some bad luck when Mustering came up in the first two Westeros phases and I was still on 1 Supply, so everyone else built up their forces and I was essentially left with what I started with(apart from a random ship or two) due to supply limits.

I think that another mistake I made was honoring my agreement with Stark. In hindsight I think I should have been putting more pressure on Stark from round one, maybe take some of their supply.

Stark ended up winning at the end of the final round because of Supply Tyrell and Martell were tied with Stark on 5 castles). Our Lannister player was rather new to the game (it was his second game ever) and I felt that if he had a little more experience he might have put more pressure onto Tyrell. Great scenario though and hopefully I'll not get my ass kicked next time

by Cmdr_G

A new GeekList has been posted Board Game Reviews by Gordon of Kapiti Board Gamers

by ASLChampion

A new GeekList has been posted ISTANBULOPOLIS City of the Straits

by Scratches

A new GeekList has been posted US - Bundled Games Auction - FFG, Stronghold, Grind, WHQ supplements, card games, FFP

by wmreed

A new GeekList has been posted Games Played at the 2012-09-07 CABS Meeting

by Dapper

On Friday, September 7, 2012 the DFW EiA group played the second session of the 1792 Campaign Game. We played until about 3am, but still only got four months finished. The British player brought his famous chillie, which he claimed was Lady Bird Johnson's recipe. If that's true, the Johnson White House must have smelled pretty bad.

May 1792

Spain declared war on Sardinia (Fra)
Portugal war lapsed with Great Britain. Russia retains control of Portugal.
Mecklenburg war lapsed with Prussia. Russia retains control of Mecklenburg.
Great Britain and Russia announce an alliance.

Naval Phase
Great Britain announced they'd move last.
The Portuguese fleet moved out of the London blockade box and back to Lisbon.
The Denmark fleet, controlled by Austria, attacked the Holland fleet controlled by France in the London blockade box. Holland won the wind gauge roll 3-2 and rolled a "5", sinking 5 Danish ships. The Danes rolled a "3", destroying 3 Dutch ships. The Danes were retreated to the North Sea area.
The Holland fleet, being the last hostile fleet blockading London, decided that discretion is the better part of valor and moved back to Amsterdam.
The British then moved most of their fleet from London into the English Channel. An invasion force with a cav corps and an inf corps with two fleets moved to the Copenhagen sea area.
It appears that diplomacy has saved England from invasion!

Land Phase
France decides to move last.
Turkey achieved a breach in Tripoli, which resulted in surrender.
Prussia broke into Dresden, and eliminated all the Saxon defenders.
Great Britain landed in Copenhagen and breached the walls, which resulted in a surrender.
The Austrians in Piedmont received their marching orders, and moved into southern France. Moving one corps to Marseilles, and the bulk of their army to Toulon, laying siege to the 15 militia garrison there.
The French army, alarmed by the sudden Austrian activity, moved their army in Champagne back to the south again, positioning for a showdown.

Conquest Phase
Turkey conquers Tunisia
Austria conquers Tuscany and Romagna
France conquers Flanders
Prussia conquers Poland and dissolves it.
Russia absorbs Podolia, Lithuania and Polesia, and takes control of West Galicia.

June 1792

Great Britain declared war on Berg (Fra) and Duchies
Prussia declared war on Duchies too!
Both players stared at the board for a while, then stared at each other, deciding whether they should back down or not. Finally both players wrote down their decisions and revealed them. Cooler heads prevailed and both backed down!
Great Britain allied with both Austria and Turkey.

Naval Phase
Great Britain announced he'd move last.
The Danish fleet, still smarting from their defeat outside London, decided they wanted some more blood. They set sail for the port of Lisbon, but didn't stop at the blockade box, they moved into the port, facing the harbor defense of 50 guns. The result was the Danes lost another eight ships, with the Portuguese losing three. The Danes are beginning to question the decisions of their Austrian admiral.
France moved most of his fleet (52 ships) off the southeast coast of Spain.
Turkey moved his two fleets into the ports of Tunis and Tripoli.


Land Phase
France announced that he'd move first, and moved to lay siege to the Austrian corps in Marseilles. He achieved a breach, and killed all 8 Austrian defenders in a brutal fashion.
Austria broke into Toulon, and the remaining garrison surrendered, having suffered horrendous foraging losses during the siege.
The Austrian then moved his main army to confront the "Butchers of Marseilles" and a field combat ensued.
THE BATTLE OF MARSEILLES
44 Austrian factors attacked 33 French. The chits were ESCALATED ASSAULT vs. OUTFLANK. The French split his three corps into one corps pinning (14 factors) with 19 factors outflanking.
Dumouriez, having recently returned from his unsuccessful defense of Poland, commanded the French, and Mack led the charge for the Austrians.
In the first round, Austria rolled a "3", resulting in 4 French casualties. France rolled a "4", killing one Austrian. Dumouriez's outflanking forces arrived, with a roll of "2". It looks like he'll keep his head for another month!
The second round resulted in the Austrian rolling a "2", killing two French, and the French rolling a "6" on the 5-4 table, drawing oohs and aahs from the crowd, and breaking the Austrians while causing 10 casualties. His pursuit was not decisive, however, only causing one additional cav factor loss. The Austrians were retreated eastward with a demoralized look.

Conquest Phase
Turkey conquered Tripolitania
Spain conquered Sardinia
Great Britain conquered Denmark and Norway
Prussia conquered Saxony

Economic Phase
Victory Points are as follows:
Russia 12
France 9
Prussia 8
Spain 7
Great Britain 7
Austria 6
Turkey 5

Spain ceded The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies to Great Britain! This move caused quite a stir among the players.

July 1792

Austria declared war on Papacy (Rus) Switzerland (Fra) and Bavaria (Fra).
Prussia successfully declared war on Duchies (Rus)
Turkey declared war on Algeria (Fra) and Cyrenaica (Fra)
Great Britain declared war on Kleves (Fra)

France and Austria announced an INFORMAL PEACE!
This announcement resulted in a lot of grumbling around the table, with one player saying this game should be called "Empires in Love".

Naval Phase
Great Britain announced he'd move last.
Turkey moved his two loaded fleets into position for invasion of Cyrenaica and Algeria.
France moved two fleets from southeast of Spain to the port of Bordeaux.
Great Britain moved his fleet from the Denmark invasion back to London, along with the cav corps.

Land Phase
France announced he'd move last.
Turkey failed to breach at Algeria, but landed his troops at Benghazi, resulting in a field combat:
BATTLE OF BENGHAZI
Eight Turkish infantry at 3.0 morale attacked 10 Cyrenaicans at 1.5 morale. The chits were ECHELON vs DEFEND. The battle lasted only one round, resulting in the Cyrenaicans breaking. The Turks rolled a "6" and the Cyrenaicans rolled a modified "2". The Cyrenaicans retreated southward.
Austria began his trek eastward out of southern France.
France, having secured his southern flank, started to once again move northward with his army.

Conquest Phase
Great Britain conquered Berg

August 1792

GREAT BRITAIN DECLARED WAR ON FRANCE!
AUSTRIA DECLARED WAR ON FRANCE! (Huh? Didn't they just go to peace?)

PRUSSIA SUES FOR PEACE TO RUSSIA
Russia takes a conditional, with the conditions being A1 (no corps removal), B3 (reparations), and B2 (extended peace)

The Austrian declaration of war on France caused more than one person to scratch their head. The political point loss pushed them into the Instability Zone, and caused the loss of Venetia, Romagna and Tuscany. Either there's been a coup in Austria, or we are dealing with a schizophrenic monarch!

Naval Phase
Great Britain announced he'd move last.
France, with 52 ships, sailed out of Bordeaux and headed north, they were intercepted in the English Channel by 47 British ships. Another bloody naval battle ensued. Great Britain won the wind gauge, and rolled a modified "6" destroying 12 French ships. France rolled a "4", sinking 6 British ships. The French chose to retreat to Amsterdam, where they were blockaded by the British. The entire French fleet, along with the Dutch, are now blockaded in Amsterdam.

Land Phase
France announced he'd move first, and advanced into Munich, where he met his arch enemy Austria in a LIMITED FIELD COMBAT OF MUNICH.
France/Bavaria chose ESCALATED ASSAULT, while the Austrian chose DEFEND.
Since Munich is in a forest, the casualty tables were adjusted down.
First round, France rolled a "5", dealing two casualties to the Austrian. Austria rolled a "4", also dealing two casualties. In the second round, France rolled a "5", dealing three casualties, and Austria rolled a "6", causing two casualties and breaking the French. There was no pursuit.
In other action, Turkey breached Algiers, which resulted in a surrender.
Russia invaded Austria and occupied Lemberg, while cossacks entered Brunn.

Conquest Phase
Turkey conquered Cyrenaica
Great Britain conquered Kleves
Austria conquered Papacy

We finally called it a night, with things looking a bit dire for France. Our next session will be this Saturday, Sep 15th. We wonder which Austrian will show up.

by william4192

Conclusion:

What a wacky good time! This is a quick, fun game that is very fun for small kids (and adults!). While this game can be hard to track down and buy, it is well worth all the hunting.

Loopin' Louie is one of those games that small children are drawn too and once they see it they can't help but want to play it. Just watching Louie fly around and doing his loops is enough to enter the imagination of any kids, no matter their age.

This game was so much fun to play with my daughter and she actually got better at it as we played it. She is only two so she is younger than you should be to play this game, she did love it.

This survives the purge and will be a very fun family game.



Components:

You get a nice plastic contraption that makes Louie fly around (check out pictures to see what I'm talking about). You get some discs that you have to sticker to look like Chickens. When you buy this game you have to build the whole thing and sticker it (I hate this part of it).

The game requires 8 AA batteries that do not come with it. Everything is made of very hard plastic and is top notch.



Rule Book:

This is a kid's game, so it is very simple. The rules are very clear and to be honest are not needed. It is so simple to play that you know how to play by just looking at the game. This is one of the joys of this game and the fun starts as soon as you put it together.



Flow of the Game:

Loopin' Louie moves around in a circle (with batteries) while you use your dexterity to push your ramp to get him to miss your chickens. Weird? Yep. Hard to explain in this review? Yep. Watch a video on youtube and you will have no problems playing this game.

You get three chickens and when your three chickens are hit, you are out of the game and you lose. If you are the last person with a chicken left, you win.




Should I buy this game?


Yes! This is a very fun family game (or with your beer buddies) and as long as it holds up you will have a lot of fun. Kids can't help but see this game and want to play it. It is fun to see Loopin' Louie do his flips and just miss your chickens. This game is simple, quick, and all about having fun.

It survives the purge.

by dinobottm2

A new GeekList has been posted Express Games and other simplified versions