Board Game Geek - Session Reports

Harlem Heights – Sept. 16, 1776

I recommend this scenario for new players in particular. It has only 3 types of terrain hexes, each side has only 3 or 4 types of units and the only special rules are the presence of Victory Point markers.

Notes on Notation:
I will be notating the game, so that you can set up the board and follow the action if you choose to do so. I will use the map notation where each row of hexes is numbered 1-9 from top to bottom and each staggered column of hexes is lettered with A-M (or ending with L on the shorter rows) from left to right. Thus, the upper left corner hex is 1A and the bottom right corner hex is 9M.

Movement is recorded from start to end hex with a dash between (3F - 4E). Fire combat is noted with the attacker’s hex (and unit ID if needed) and target hex with an arrow between and followed by a bracket noting the number of hits achieved (7E > 8E [2]). A close combat attack is noted by the use of two symbols, with “>>” denoting a successful attempt and “=>” denoting a failed attempt. Leader casualty checks are noted in parentheses after the hit notation with the number of successes per dice rolled (LC: (0/1)). When a unit is destroyed “VP” will follow the hit notation.

Optional rules:
The two players involved were both experienced with the system, so most of the optional rules were in effect, except 11.7, 11.12, 11.13 and 11.15.

Deployment:
In this scenario there is only a choice of where to place your leaders (when using optional rule 11.6). The American player put Washington in 6C and Knowlton in 2E. The British player put Howe in 5M and Leslie in 8D.

Victory Conditions:
The Americans need to earn 6 VPs in 22 turns or less. The British also need 6 VPs or to hold off the Americans until their turn limit to win.

Turn 1
American AP=3+1
1. 1G – 1I
2. 1F – 1H
3. 8B > 8D [0] LC: (0/1)
4. 6C > 8D [1] LC: (0/1)

British AP=2+2
1. 9D – 9E
2. 8D – 8E
3. 4L (Art) – 4K
4. 6L (Art) – 6K

Turn 2
American AP=3+3
1. 1I – 3I
2. 1H – 2I
3. 3D (Art) – 3E
4. 3E (Inf) – 5F [1]
5. 4D > 5F [0]
6. 5D > 5F [0]

British AP=2+1
1. 5F – 5G
2. 6E – 6F
3. 7E – 7F

Turn 3
American AP=3+2
1. 3I – 5I
2. 2I – 4H
3. 3E (Art) > 5G [0]
4. 6C – 6D
5. 2E – 3F

British AP=2+1
1. 5G > 5I [0]
2. 4K – 5I [1]
3. 6L – 6K

Turn 4
American AP=3+2
1. 5I – 7H (VP marker)
2. 4H > 5G [0]
3-4. 3E (Inf+Art) – 4E
5. 3F > 5G [1]

British AP=2+3
1. 8E – 8G
2. 7F > 7H [0]
3. 6F > 7H [2] VP
4. 5G > 4H [1]
5. 4L – 4K


The American player tried sneaking in his fast light infantry to grab the VP markers. He got one, but lost the unit that took it. And with the British lights now guarding the other two, he saw no hope of pulling it off again. So far the game is tied at 1 VP apiece.

Turn 5
American AP=3+2
1. 3F – 4F
2. 4E (Art) > 5G [2] no save VP
3. 4E (Inf) > 6F [2]
4. 6D > 6F [1]
5. 4H – 5G

A bad round for the British Elite infantry, one unit lost and one reduced to just 1 MP. The British player began thinking about moving up reinforcements.

British AP=2+3
1. 6F > 5G [1]
2-3. 6K (Inf+Art) – 6J
4. 5M – 5L
5. 7M – 7L

Turn 6
American AP=3+2
1. 4F > 6F [0]
2. 4E (Art) > 6F [0]
3. 4E (Inf) > 6F [0]
4. 6D > 6F [1] saved
5. 5G > 6F [1] saved

The Americans fired volley after volley to no effect, while the British grenadiers showed the toughness of an elite unit, holding fast onto their last morale point.

British AP=2+2
1. 6F > 5G [1] VP
2. 8G rallies to 3 MP
3-4. 6J (Inf+Art) – 6I

And those much harassed British grenadiers took out the last unit of American light infantry.

Turn 7
American AP=3+3
1. 4E (Art) > 6F [0]
2. 4E (Inf) > 6F [0]
3. 4F > 6F [1] saved
4. 6D > 6F [0]
5. 4D – 5E
6. 3D – 4D

British AP=2+3
1. 6F – 7G
2. 8G (Leslie) – 7G
3. 7F – 5E [0]
4-5. 6I (Inf+Art) – 6H

Turn 8
American AP=3+2
1. 4F – 4G
2. 4E (Art) > 7G [2] no save VP (Leslie to 7F)
3. 5E > 7F [1]
4. 6D > 7F [0]
5. 1E – 1F

British AP=2+1
1. 6H (Art) > 4G [0] LC: (0/1)
2. 7F – 8E
3. 5L – 5K


Ironically, after surviving two turns of heavy fire, the British elites were pulled back into a position to be rallied, only to succumb to artillery fire on the very next turn. Then the British player hunkered down behind the fence line and continued to work on moving up support from the right. The American player was pondering how to push through the British center to get at the remaining VP markers. At this point, the Americans held the lead at 3-2 VPs.

Turn 9
American AP=3+1
1. 4E (Art) – 5F
2. 4G > 6H [0]
3. 6D – 7E
4. 1F – 1G

British AP=2+3
1. 8E > 7E [2] LC: (0/1)
2. 6H (Art) > 4G [1] LC: (0/1)
3. 5K – 5J
4. 5J – 5I (leader bonus move)
5. 9E > 7E [0]

Turn 10
American AP=3+2
1-3. 7E >> 8E (with 2 dice leader bonus) (retreat roll failed) [0], LC: (0/3) for both sides, retreat moves: 8E – 8F and 7E – 8E
4. 4G > 5I [0] LC: (0/1)
5. 1G – 1H

The American player declared a close combat in hopes of pushing the British Elite unit out of the fence line and spent and extra AP to get Washington’s 2 bonus dice. The roll was 1,1,1,3,4. The “4” missed due to the fence combat penalty, so no hits were scored at all. Both players were convinced that their leaders were about to be lost, but remarkably, they both passed the 3 dice leader check.

British AP=2+1
1-2. 8F >> 8E (retreat roll failed) [1] LC: (0/1), retreat moves 8E – 8D and 8F – 8E
3. 6H (Art) > 4G [0] LC: (0/1)

The previously retreated British unit declared close combat in return and pushed the Americans back across the fence.

Turn 11
American AP=3+2
1. 8D – 7D
2. 1H – 1I
3. 4G > 5I [1]
4. 5F > 5I [0] LC: (0/1)
5. 1G – 1H

British AP=2+2
1. 6H (Art) > 4G [0]
2. 5I > 4G [2]
3. 6H (Inf) > 4G [1] VP (Knowlton to 4F)
4. 8E > 7D [1] VP

Turn 12
American AP=3+3
1. 4F – 4G
2. 5F > 5I [1]
3. 7C – 6C
4. 8B – 7C
5. 1I – 1J
6. 2D – 3E

British AP=2+3
1. 6H (Art) > 4G [1]
2. 6H (Inf) > 4G [0] LC: (1/1) VP
3. 5I > 4G [0]
4-5. 4K (Inf+Art) – 4J


After Knowlton has a unit disintegrate around him, he leads another unit into the same position, only to himself fall under a turn of concentrated fire. All of the American attacks along the fence line and the center were repulsed with units lost. The British now had a strong lead at 5-3 VPs. Could the Americans still pull out a win?

Turn 13
American AP=2+3
1. 4G > 5I [0]
2. 5F > 5I [0] LC: (0/1)
3. 1J – 2J
4. 7C – 7D
5. 3E – 3F

British AP=2+2
1-2. 6H (Inf+Art) – 6G
3. 4J (Art) > 4G [0]
4. 5I – 5H

Turn 14
American AP=2+3
1-2. 4G => 5H [1]
3. 5F > 5H [0]
4. 7D – 7E
5. 2J > 2L [1]

British AP=2+2
1. 5H > 4G [1]
2. 6G (Art) > 4G [2] VP
3. 6G (Inf) > 5F [1]
4. 8E > 7E [2]


The British take the final VP needed for their 6-3 victory. In post-game discussion, the American player felt that he was impatient in attacking the center and should have maneuvered more units into position for a stronger attack. The British player observed that the Americans committed the firepower of four or five units over more than two turns to take out the stubborn British Elite unit, which if it had been eliminated sooner would have left the Americans in a much better position to take the center early in the game.

Three things that I must say before I start:

1. I hadn't followed the show when I played on Thursday at the convention.

2. I've since watched the pilot. I'm watching it with my wife now for the second time, thinking it's something she might want to watch also, so I need to check before I delve into the journey of watching however many seasons I'll need to get the full story.

3. Memory from six days ago, I’ll do my best!

Thought those needed to be said. Not sure why though...

I was sitting in a room filled with hundreds of tables and what seemed to be thousands of other board gamers, had just finished reading the instructions and was starting to punch out the bits from my own copy when a guy who I talked to earlier about the game ran over and told me that four other guys were starting a game in the adjoining room and that they needed a sixth. I enthusiastically stowed my stuff into my giant FFG bag, grabbed my backpack and moved in that direction. Introductions rolled by and I immediately failed to catalog anything remotely related to a name, so I'll just go with the names from the board game.

Gaius sat to my left, and from there clockwise it was Saul Tigh, Chief Tyrol, Admiral Adama, Starbuck and finally me, playing Tom Sarek. Tom's special abilities seemed criminal, which was confirmed quickly when I read his negative attribute, which was called "Convicted Criminal". Alright then, we'll see how that goes. Amazingly, I fully expected that fate would make me a Cylon, or at minimum a sympathizer, but alas, it was never to be. In fact, I was President!

I was immediately impressed with the game play. Everyone quickly got down to business and began moving about the right paths to get their respective jobs done to defend ourselves as best we could from what can best be described as a constant and more than slightly unnerving threat of annihilation by the Cylons. As if that wasn't bad enough, those 12 units of population we started with were a downright unruly bunch, breaking into riots, challenging authority, and eating a bunch. Instant resource busts on two of the four resources, food and morale, that we had to keep from reaching zero! Seeing as those units of population were the third of the four resources we had to keep at least SOME of to win the game, we repaid their misbehavior by leaving them behind frequently when we made panicked FTL (faster-than-light) jumps to escape Cylon raiders, heavy raiders and basestars. I haven't played too many board games compared to most here on the BGG, but I will say that I think that that mechanic, along with the cool-as-all-get-out skill check mechanic, make this an incredibly neat and interesting game. It just helps to know that the person initiating the conversation around taking the risk to the fleet by jumping early is doing it for the right reasons!

Halfway through our journey back to earth and hopefully, victory, the remaining set of cards in the loyalty deck (the deck that contains cards that tell you whether or not you are a Cylon) were dealt out. Obviously not having been dealt a card indicating that I was a Cylon, we all stopped for a few moments. If memory serves me right Gaius received the card saying he was a sympathizer, but since we had already drained a few of our resources down, he just went to the brig location and had to wait a turn to get out. At about two hours in I felt the call of nature, and told the crew that I'd be right back, real quickly.

In what couldn't have been 5 minutes, I returned to see Gaius pointing at Admiral Adama. Gaius said he had used his once a game ability to look at all of one player's loyalty cards, and had seen that Adama was a Cylon. "He's a frakking toaster", he said. Adama's response seemed weak and lacking in passion.

"No he's not, he's frakkin' lying, he's the toaster."

So, we all agreed to immediately lock the Admiral in the brig, and I helped the case along by reducing the difficulty check by 2 points. Yeah, I know, I had "friends" in the fleet who helped me frame him, lie about him, whatever you want to call it, but I knew Gaius wasn't a Cylon so I knew he was telling it like it was in regards to Adama's loyalty. Gaius had made a false reference to the rules when he revealed the sympathizer loyalty card he had been dealt earlier, which led me to believe that he wasn't a Cylon player. I was right.

We were getting hammered by Cylons, running through our action cards like fiends trying every trick in our respective areas of expertise to keep the dream alive, and the we were losing just as many skill checks against crisis cards as we were winning. The destiny deck was doing a good job assisting the Cylons with shutting down our checks on the crisis cards, considering that one of their kind was in the brig already and could only play one card against those checks, but we pulled out some critical checks by playing some actions that made the votes go our way. We were able to make one more jump, and it was at that point that Starbuck decided to reveal them self as a Cylon and damage the hell out of our beloved Galactica. Adama killed the weak charade and boosted an attack role from a basestar on the Galactica moments later.

Gaius, Tigh, Chief Tyrol and myself pulled out the stops, but the odds were going against us at that point. Our risk modeling, the thought process we used when deciding earlier to sacrifice some population to jump out of tight spots, wasn’t very well thought out, this being everyone’s first game, so when we dropped into what would have been our final system a quick scan of the resource meters at the top of the board revealed a grim situation. Morale resources were down to one or two units, population was our only decent resource and it was at less than half capacity, and I had already failed multiple attempts at doing anything beneficial with my quorum cards. Fuel was dwindling also. Looking back I think Tigh had already decided the situation was hopeless, so he utilized his special ability to take the presidency away from me, effecively making him both Admiral and President. If memory serves me correctly I don't think he achieved much with the quorum cards either. I'm telling you, the civilian politic portion of our game had been brutal, and it didn't let up, even in the end. Chief Tyrol kept busy repairing locations and ships like an intergalactic grease monkey. We were quickly spiraling towards the end of the line, one way or another.

A pack of Cylon raiders hit the zone around the Galactica with two civilian ships in it, and everyone realized that the end was upon us. The first ship was flipped to reveal a heavy population loss and a morale loss that put the morale dial on zero. Over three hours in, which seemed to be much shorter that it really was, pieces were quickly picked up, thanks were exchanged, and I had to hit the road for the evening. It wasn't until halfway through the drive that night that I realized that I had missed the opportunity to play my "unconventional tactics" once per game action during those last few turns in the end, which would have allowed me to sacrifice a point of population for one point in any other resource type. I'd like to think that Tom Zarek will end up being the type of guy who, in this case, took the point of population but never came through on the rest of his bargain. His ship made one more FTL jump right at the last moment and continued the adventure somewhere else. I guess I'll have to watch more of the series and find out what this Tom guy is like.

This one was a ton of fun. Can't wait to play again!

I've got a copy of the SPQR reprint on the way, so while I was waiting I broke this one out.

Staring from the beginning meant first up was Chaeronea.

The battle opened up fairly traditionally, with Alexander trying to squeeze around the flank (the edge of the map makes this a bit tricky) and Phillip demonstrating the value of doubled phalaxes vs. the HOplites in the middle.

Before too long there is enough room for Alex to squeeze some cavalry past on his left , which is not good for Thebes (or the other greeks for that matter).

However, the next turn, after forming up, our precocious youngster hits some hoplites (not the Sacred Band, they were already being attacked form multiple directions) in the rear. The resulting leader check roll means Alex = dead. Good thing for the Macedonians he's not worth 70 rout points in this battle...

Phillip however has been making short work of the Athenians and assorted other city states in the middle. Now it becomes a race to see if he can do enough damage to route the Greeks before the Thebans can mop up their right flank. With no leaders over there there's not much to be done by the Macedonians. The edge of the map makes even withdrawing when the hoplites close somewhat tricky, and traffic congestions means some will doubtless be caught.

Seeing his left flank collapsing Phillip throws caution to the wind and pounds the hoplites for all he's got. And with a three activation turn pushes the Greeks tenuously close to routing from the field.

More mopping up on the Greeks right means another turn or so and the Macedonians have had it.

Being now or never for Phillip, eh again hits with everything at his disposal. Including a few phalanxes that are near the breaking point themselves. And shatters two more hoplite formations while his troops hold on (barely).

Result: Victory for the Macedonians, but no Alexander the Great.

Notes:

-I have now played this battle at least three times. In every single on Alexander has lost his life in the very first combat he throws himself into.

-The map edge along the Macedonian left makes squeezing past difficult

-It also makes routing units on that flank disappear very quickly.

- This was played without the Spartans. Assuming Alexander died in the same fashion, they would easily have made the difference this time.

- Off to fight the Triballians with zombie Alex.

This caught my eye at GenCon, so I demoed it with a group of friends.

First Impression:
I really like the look of this game. The art is reminiscent of of old time carnival.

Watching people play, it's sort of like 3d Twister for your hands. I watched a few younger kids play, and it seemed like their hands are too small for it.

The Rules:
Everybody has a reserve of colored balls. You are on two teams- one with the person to your right and one with the person to your left. As you go around the table, each team member flips over a card indicating a finger. Then they try to hold a ball between the indicated fingers without dropping any other balls. When a ball is dropped, the team puts it back in the box and loses it for the rest of the game. Scoring is done by adding up the number of balls left in play.

Gameplay:
My group played for about 10 minutes. It was kind of fun for the first round, but my group could never get more than one ball of each color in the air at the same time. Whoever put the first ball in the air dropped their second ball every time. It might be better with less players. There were 5 of us, and it was just a tangle of hands.

Cons:
The balls don't like staying in the little hoops. When you grab one ball from the hoop, sometimes the other balls go rolling off the table. If you try to grab them before they fall, you run the risk of dropping the balls you're holding.

It's not as much fun as it look like it would be.

Pros:
The art. I keep seeing the box, and I want to buy it even though I didn't enjoy the game.

It might be fun if you have steady hands.

It's very unique. I've never seen another game that plays in a similar way.

The first round of this was over so quickly (6 turns) that we switched sides and played again the same lunch break, which I always prefer. This looks pretty simple: not even any optional air rules

Game 1

I'm playing the Allies first. I have tanks! That's gotta be good right?

Turn 1 I begin with a Recon in Force and decide I'll get all three Special Forces on the beach from the start. I have an Assault Right in hand, so I hope to do more on that flank if possible. I end up drawing another Assault Right! Momentum! My opponent responds with a Recon in Force of his own, but does no damage.

Turn 2 Now I play my Assault Right. I score a single hit on the Right Center bunker. The Axis match me with a Probe Left and score two hits on my tank (:surprise: There goes most of my momentum) and retreats my special forces back.

Turn 3 I play my next Assault Right and totally wiff on the bunker. My tank unit advanced to hit at the Infantry near the woods of Lion Su Mer, but all that does is retreat him. Interestingly I draw a second Counter-attack card to add to one I already have.

He responds with an Attack Left that kills the tank and commandos both. So even if I counter-attack, I don't have as much to do on that flank anymore. Not sure if that was the best call though.

Turn 4 I play my Attack Center, and score one hit on infantry. He counters right back with a Probe Center that scores three hits total on my infantry.

Turn 5 I play Probe Left for a measly single-fig hit. He responds with Attack Right that scores three hits that kill my infantry and 1 hit on my tank.

Turn 6 I play Counter-attack and score one hit on the tank, and make it retreat 2 hexes, but it comes back with an Attack Right that kills the Commando and brings victory to the Axis.

Game 2

Turn 1 He starts off with Assault Right, but moves his tank towards the center, preparing for a later center action, I'm sure. My Recon in Force manages to score two hits on said tank with my center Artillery. This is hopeful!

Turn 2 His Attack Left accomplishes nothing. My Probe Right gets 2 hits on infantry he has at the center left hedgehog.

Turn 3 No his center move actions pay off with Assault Center. Forces are on the beach! he score on hit on the bunker, but fortunately retreats my tanks (which had moved up on my right through Riva Bella to the centerline (since I have an Assault Center waiting.) My big turn: I Assault Center back. One hit is scored against the infantry assaulting my bunker. I kill his damaged tank with my artillery. My tank scores two hits that kill his infantry, and I take ground to score one hit on another tank. My draw is Firefight!

Turn 4 He Probes Left and retreats my tank again, and scores 2 hits on my infantry in the bunker. Firefight should be awesome. I pick all Right units plus my artillery. But unfortunately I wiff the first unit's attack on his tank, finally score one hit, and 2 hits on another infantry, My artillery is called in to finish the job on his second tank. Not as good as I hoped.

Turn 5 Recon in Force scores a hit on my Right Centerline bunker, kills a 2-fig infantry on the left, and retreats my tanks again. I Attack Right and hit a tank an infantry.

Turn 6 He plays Recon Center to activate his 1 fig tank, figuring he needs us use it or lose it. He misses entirely though. I Recon in Force, and while I score a kill against his infantry attacking my Left bunker, I wiff his tank entirely, and it lives

Turn 7 While he knows this is over, he score a moral victory over my 5-0 loss before, by loosing only 5-2 when he kills my bunker infantry with a Probe right. I can kill him any number of ways, but the Barrage I've held since turn 1 takes out the less risky single fig Commandos hiding in the hedgehog.

I'm actually still ahead in campaign points for our ongoing Air Pack campaign! Not a typical place for me. We'll see how the next beach scenario goes, and then we have a break for a while.

Feel free to let me know if my colorizing of cards names helps make it more clear who is doing what: green for Allies, gray for Axis.

We broke into two groups at the Game Parlor--Railroad Tycoon and Agricola (duh.) The four of us sat down, set up the game, dealt the cards (I-deck), read the cards and...

"Hey, can I play? I really want a game of this."

Um, OK.

Goodbye food-generating cards. Hello pile o' mediocrity.

I went second and grabbed the freebie occupation space (first player took the clay.) I put down the Fence Delivery Man, thinking I better get this down ASAP or it won't be worth anything. I struggled (meaning I may have taken inefficient actions) to find the extra food to pay for the first 4 fences in round 7.

Start player moved two to my left, but there was a lot of resource grabbing and I could play another occupation--the Musician--in the next round. Get one grain whenever another player takes travelling players. That word _another_ was annoying, because there were a few times I wanted the 3 food on there. Also, other players tend not to do what you want. :)

On turn three, I took the starting player and placed the Flagon. I secretly cursed the flagon for the next 6 rounds, figuring nobody's ever gonna build the *&^% well. It was feast and famine, because in round 8 the guy to my right built the well and then upgraded in the same turn! I took in 8 food. I went from wondering where my next meal was coming from and how to pay for my next round of fences to personal supermarket in a few minutes.

But that flagon didn't pay off for awhile. I was wondering where the food was gonna come from. I had to take the food as first player--gee, what a great use of that--just to ensure non-starvation. In the meantime, from rounds 2 - 4, Greg was raking in the resources and starting his extensions. Doug (the fifth guy) was generating a major grain factory with his "Field Watchman" getting a ploughed field every time he took grain.

After round 4:

Greg and Doug didn't have food problems early and did get their family going. Greg had a fishing net along with a big food grab. Doug had the Clay Oven and was baking bread like a mad man.

John was pursuing his "anti-farm" strategy -- a milking cow, a Wildlife Reserve, and the Cabinet Maker. He found just enough food at each stage.

Malcolm wasn't exactly getting anything going.


In the next few rounds I started grabbing resources, as those who already had them were now building with them. I fretted inwardly about where my food was coming from, but I play this game boldly (not necessarily well, but boldly!) Gotta grab 6 clay or 8 wood when you can, and I did both and more grabs besides.


After round 7:

I had built the first of two delivery-man fences at the start of round 7, scraping up the food I-forget-where--probably the old-fashioned way: I fished for it. I built an extension and three stables, which along with fence deliveryman set me for the best animal farm in the village by game's end. I still had only 2 family members; but on the plus side(?) there was one or two less family to feed.

Greg and Doug were already at 4 family members. My only hope was in their lack of diversification. Greg didn't have any fields going and Doug didn't have a good set of stables and animals, although he hardly had any unusued fields--he did the giant pasture thing along with a few stables.

John still had NOTHING on his fields but was working his cards like a magician.

Malcolm took a begging card. He got the slaughterman down, but we weren't doing a lot of that by this point. The game was kind of playing him.


Now is where my aforementioned Well of Bounty kicked in. I would have two fields with grain planted. I would no longer be living hand-to-mouth. Animals were breeding; I wasn't forced to eat them bfore they could.

Many cards were played by this time--too many to track. I know Doug had manure and the shepherd's crook.

After round 9:

I finally had three family members; but that would be all I'd ever get. I renovated to clay. I could never get the stone I wanted to build the major improvements. Either there was just one stone on the action card or I passed on it for "more pressing and important" things to do (sound familiar?) and then it would be gone. (For this case, it really hurt only having two family.)

During the renovation then improve, I played the wood path. I knew Doug had the stone road, becasuse he asked about what it was in the beginning of the game. :) I figured he wouldn't have the time/resources/inclination to play it by this point. (I would be correct.)

Doug and Greg seemed to be busy playing cards and finding food. Greg was scooping up stone and other resouces.

Malcolm was finally getting use from his slaughterhouse. He always seemed to be a resource short for what he wanted to build.

John was John.

Fade to End

Doug 33 -- his lack of unused spaces, his 5 family members, and good crop growing pulled out the win. The grain getting a plowed field card really got him going.

Greg 31 -- Great use of resource conversions, family growth and the only one to get a stone house, but he didn't get his crops or animals going. Greg's a big proponent of Wood. I'm still in discussion with him about this--do you grab at all costs, or do you look for more efficient avenues (for example, clay, renovate, build up with clay) if everyone's grabbing wood at any cost? We played some two-player games where there is only one wood spot--wood is very valuable there.

Jim 31 -- I forgot about the Wooden Path getting 2 bonus points until this session report. But with or without it, I didn't win. Once or twice I got a major hosing from the player before me (John) who grabbed what I wanted. I stormed down the back stretch, really building a complete farm (4 cattle, 4 boar, 4 sheep) along with maxing grain and managing two veggies. I had 4 or 5 (can't remember) unused spaces and only 3 family members.

John 26 -- 11 unused spaces and he still posted this score. He renovated to clay and had two extra family members without room. (He made a round 12 start player grab and took this both times.) He had each animal type on his reserve and had grain and veggies in his stock! Quite cool and I might make use of some of his ideas in future games. This strategy really speaks to the game of what you can accomplish and how you can go about it.

Malcolm 17 -- Like John, he doesn't love this game like Doug, Greg and I do. It might be said that interest level decided this game. Doug was desperate for a game of this. Greg and I reallly like it, but we had played recently. John and Malcolm weren't putting their best in, so frequently they were taking the "wrong" things and/or setting others up.

Speaking of setting each other up, I'd almost like a Caylus turn order rather than just clockwise. A couple times I snagged some major resource hauls because John as start player had his own plans. I benefitted from where I was in the seating not because of anything I did. Also, I think Greg beneffited from Malcom (on his left) NEVER taking the start player. I realize this would complicate the game some, but what's one more thing? It's not difficult in Caylus, and this is a gamer's game after all.

Our experience with Agricola, some thughts and observations.

I got my copy of Agricola last Thursday. Then I spent a few days making fimo animals and resources with my kids.
My wife is an occasional gamer. She's played Purto Roco, Die Siedler, Mu, Lost Cities, similar stuff.
We played a lot of two player Serenissima, endless games of Gin, and a lot of Rummikub. She is the current Irish
Rummikub champion. Still, she's not a _gamer_ if you know what I mean.

I suspected that she would like Agricola though. Why? Because it has what I think of as the 'Sim City' factor.
Now, as far as I know she's never played Sim City, but what I mean is that a large part of the game is about
building somehting of your own. You manage resources, purchase stuff etcetera, but essentially you're adding
stuff to make something you own better. In Sim City it's city blocks, in Die Siedler it's a nework of towns and
cities, in Agricola, it's a farm. I know she likes that kind of thing, owning something, building it up.

So, having seem me make the Fimo animeeples, reading the rules, fiddling with it and all, she suggested we try it out
two player on Sunday night.
As expected, she did like it a lot. We did a lot of things wrong the first game, and took a long time, probably over
two hours. Gwen won by a five point margin I think. The scores were in the thirties. On Monday, I was mildly
surprised that she suggested we play again, as soon as the kids were in bed. This time, we made fewer mistakes and
were finished in less than two hours. This time, I won, by a narrow margin, but we were doing the breeding wrong (giving
a baby aniumal for every pair) which probably gave me the game.

Now, on Tuesday, she suggested we play again. Gwen got a bad hand of cards. The night before, after the game, we'd
gone through the 1-player E deck (al that we've used so far) looking at what we thought was good and what was bad.
I'd got a great hand, I thought, so I let Gwen mulligan two hands, although I think she actually ended up with worse
cards than she'd started with.

From the start I was doing well, and after a while, I caught Gwen's eye looking up at the clock. I asked if she wanted to stop, but
to my surprise, she said she was wondering if we could get another game in that night.
In the end I won again by a massive margin. I had had a great hand, and I think her cards did not work well together.
Also, I monopolised the wood, and in two players there's a lot of contention for building resources.
Nevertheless, after the game, Gwen's enthusiasm was undiminished. I am sure she'll want to play again tonight.

The point? I think there's a particular sweet spot in the build-my-own-cool-thing game genre and Agricola is right
in it. There's not much interaction, very little conflict and your 'thing' keeps getting better as the game progresses.
The card mix keeps it different and interesting from game to game and it's all very well presented.

While it's very much a gamer's game, I think Agricola has a large amount of mainstream potential. In truth, I don't
see it ever becoming a big seller as a game for non-gamers, but I think the next game that does so, will be
similar to Agricola. Perhaps simpler, with a more modern theme, and fewer choices.

I liked it too, but I like everything from Modern Art to Republic of Rome.

As JR noted, five of us broke out Herr Berg's Medieval at JR's last night. First time for Dr. Rob, Bill T, and that rabble-rouser Nate. Chris was also a novice, while I was the hoary old veteran with two whole games under my belt.

Opening choices saw Chris get the HRE and Ayyubids, Rob snag France and Byzantium, Nate Spain and Venice, moi England and Latin Kingdoms (?!), and Bill picking up the Almoravids and Hungary.

Hungary quickly falls to Chris' HRE which puts Bill in a hole he never recovers from. Spain is not whole until the end of the game when Nate manages to put it all together, only to have Rob's French cross the Pyrenees and take the northern half at the end. A mad scramble in the Baltic saw Chris and Rob steal most of the spoils, and the Knights of Christ set up in the Baltics as usual.

The Mongols threatened to come early, before all the buffer states had come out, but a little bribe here and a little cajoling there got more map cards on the table in time. In the end, the Mongols ate five cards, taking chunks out of Russia and the Near East.

Many Crusades were called, but only a couple resulted in anything worthy of being called booty. [(c) Straight Line Emporium]

When the smoke cleared, Chris had a clear lead at 36, followed by Rob at 28 and myself at 27. I'll spare Nate and Bill the embarrassment of posting their scores (Nate's Russia suffered worst at the hands of predators both Mongol and otherwise...)

Out of my five powers, four were in Civil War on the last turn...

As always, we did get a couple rules wrong. You only get the bonus VP for multi-province powers at the end, I'm sure we scored that wrong. Also, you cannot play Civil War on a power unless it started the turn eligible. This would have changed a couple of combo plays.

Otherwise, I think everyone agreed that while it's a bit long and very chaotic, it was a reasonably good time in good company. I'd certainly play it again as is, but I have a laundry list of changes I'd like to try out sometime...

This will be a lengthy session report for a solo (?!?) game of this extremely cool game.
I know, I know, playing solo with this game is not very straightforward, but it might work.
Every time a dummy comes into play (attack, defense), a die is rolled. 4-6 nothing happens, dummy goes to refit. 1-3 the comms get to swap the dummy with another unit in that military region that has not seen battle yet and the dummy goes to refit.
Kinda works...

Sorry about the images, they're not in BBG due to the "extreme$$" selection rules in place.

Anyway...

[IMG]http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o117/pbar1469/Start.jpg[/IMG]

As you can see by the photo, this is the situation at start. US strategy will focus in keeping comms away from cities, and gathering force to steam roll VC's and NVA's out of corps regions in a controlled manner, while at the same time denying the communist player freedom of movement.
It will not be easy, but it might work.
As the communist, strategy will be to keep allied units on the move to put out small fires and by that denying them strong stacks. At the same time, focusing on the political front, with sieges and the occasional city capture. Protecting the CBA's will be the second strategical concern.

Turn 1

Some units decide to provoke the US Marines division in the B4 area, by sending two units to sit between the cities of Quang Tri and Hue. The allied forces at the firebase near A Shau CBA watch that bold move with some surprise, not knowing what forces are there. Divisions? Alert sounds in allied command. Response comes in the form of a Delta Force insertion, revealing a week brigade and a dummy, that is unable to resolve to anything else (4-6, eheehh). Situation is immediately dealt with by the marines, with the populace in the two cites cheering.

Down south, a large detachment of units moves towards Tam Ky, threatening all bases and cities there. A surprise attack eliminates a ARVN division, sending political waves of destruction to the free world. The garrison holds in position though. Allies see no way to resolve that problem for the time being.

Another attack down south, near An Loc results in some success. One less ARVN brigade.

[IMG]http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o117/pbar1469/T01-1corps-1.jpg[/IMG]
(This is the 1st corps situation at the end of turn 1)

A full force attack across both Laos and Cambodia results in an SF camp being overrun. It was no match for two full NVA divisions, that are able to maintain a siege to Kontum.

Another detachment of NVA units in the Delta region moves into an unsuspecting South Saigon, putting it into siege, and making the headlines the next day.

All over South Vietnam sieges take place, putting the allied command into shock.

The allied forces take onto themselves to limit the political effects of the communist offensive.
Although not yet able to fully use their resources, like mobile movement or “proper” bombing, they move their units into better positions, trying to relieve sieges and at the same time start to reduce communist capability to gather forces or reinforce communist camps.

2 units from Da Lat decide to risk an assault on a communist unit near Bo Loc, as the 1st Air Cav will be able to defend Da Lat the next week if needed. Their assault proves effective, shattering the first communist brigade.
Defense in Tam Ky is increased to face the assault from the NVA division and trying to hold on until relief comes from the Marines division up North (hopefully).

The ARVN marines stationed in North Saigon move south to help defend the southern part of the capital, and they succeed in also making the headlines the next day with a brave counteroffensive.
To the west of Saigon, a full on attack attempt to eliminate communist base 359, will 7 units surrounding them. The attack proves to be successful but somewhat limited as only one VC unit is eliminated.

[IMG]http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o117/pbar1469/T01-Saigon.jpg[/IMG]
(Saigon area, as described above. "A" represents the Saigon siege, "B" is the target of the Allied offensive, CBA 359)

Up North, near Bong Son, the Korean division tries to relieve a siege and at the same time siege the communist camp. And succeeds with another VC unit chalked down as a military victory.

[IMG]http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o117/pbar1469/T01-ROK.jpg[/IMG]
(Korean sucess!)

The bombing campaign, still plagued by major logistic issues, only manages to provide suppression in three hexes in Saigon and Delta military districts, not a bad result considering the odds. Mostly, they've focused on areas of clear terrain for maximum effect. No point in bombing CBA's at the time since the odds would be shifted to NE.

In the Delta region however, things didn't turn out as good for the allies, with the attack designed to relieve Soc Trang falling victim of an Ambush, thanks to a very effective dummy swap. Another ARVN bites the dust.

All in all, not a bad starting move for the communists, taking advantage of the initial deployment problems of the american logistics. 1st Air Cav just watched and wasn't able to do anything, as per rules.
Allies responded as possible, not wanting to move to far out from the bases and cities just yet.

Results in VP's at the time:
Comm Military Points: 4
Allied Military Points: 5
Comm Political Point: 9 (!!) Not too bad considering that if the allied player hadn't responded, it could have gone as far as 18 points!
Allied Political Point: 0

A cautious start for both sides, but with the report reaching President Johnson being one of concerned news. Sieges all over the country are a major problem. It must be dealt with.


More to come.....

I demoed this at GenCon 2008. There were 6 players at the table.

Gameplay:
Each turn, 6 rorschachs and one descriptor are revealed. Each player indicates which rorschach best fits the category on a six sided die. When two or more players' answers match, they get tokens in each other colors. When a player selects a roschach that nobody else selects, they get a marker of their own color. The goal is to collect markers in each color.

Session Report:
On the first turn we drew the descriptor "most elegant." All six of us selected the same rorschach, so we each received a marker in every other players' color.

On the second turn, we revealed 6 new rorschachs and drew the descriptor "Most Likely to Scuttle Out From Under a Rock." Since we all only had to get our own color of marker to win, we were trying to pick a rorschach nobody else would pick. This turn was more interesting than the first, because we had to try to outguess each other. The player who won picked something that didn't look particularly like it hast just scuttled out from under a rock, but it didn't look like it hadn't either.

Thoughts:
This game went quick- under 5 minutes from beginning to end- but I imagine most games would take longer. It wasn't bad, but I can't say I'd be interested in playing again. It would make a passable party game given the right crowd.

I've been of the opinion that the solo series is a neat idea - rewarding you for good play, and becoming harder and harder to "win" each game by raising the target score. However in the first 5 solo games I played it seemed incredibly easy to not only succeed in the first game, but to blow the target score away, starting the second game with plenty of food to play Occupations, pay for nifty stuff your occupations give you, or just feed your family in the first harvest.

Granted, those 5 games were all played "two-headed moron" style - where a friend and I would basically collaborate on a game and try to do our best. It's probable that makes it easier to do well, and I figured our team of 2 was probably doing better than most single people could do... but I got the impression that even alone the game would be too easy.

So, tonight I played 2 games in a new Solo series using the E deck. I tried to make it a point to play faster than we do in the "team" game, rather than meticulously planning every action up to the next harvest. Instead, while I did a lot of planning, I tried to go somewhat with my gut. In the first game I managed a score of 65, and chose to keep the Mason. I think that was a mistake, because I also had the Grocer, which would probably have been a better bet, especially considering I was going to start game 2 with 7 food, enough to buy just about all the groceries the guy had to offer! I did well in the early game by hiring that Grocer, taking Day Labor several times, plowing 2 fields, and then planting the Grain and Veggie I got from the Grocer. I figured that Day Labor was sort of like taking 2 resources (the ones off the top of the Seller's stack), and I went from there. It helped that the Grocer gives a Stone in the early game, so I was able to get a Clay oven in a hurry.

In the second game I was sorry I didn't have the Grocer because I realized I'd have to wait forever to get Stone. I had several Minor Improvements that required 1 Stone! But I made use of the Mason by only having to build rooms once during the game. I had an Axe (requires 1 Stone!), so I saved up enough wood to buy 4 Stables and 2 rooms (12 wood), and built it all at once. Later, after upgrading to Stone I immediately got a 5th room. I ended with a score of 71 points in that game, a full 16 points ahead of the target score - an even bigger margin than in game 1! I nearly chose to keep the Clay Mixer (2 extra Clay when you take the Clay space) in the first game, and I drew him again here. I also had the Seasonal Worker guy (+1 Grain with Day Labor action), who I nearly kept this time as well. Instead I decided to keep the Meat-Seller, because I figure next game I can start by getting room for 3 sheep and starting to breed them right away, and that's 2 food per turn right there. No need to buy a Fireplace or Hearth (I'll likely be getting an oven anyway). The biggest disappointment was not keeping the Grocer because getting Grain, Veggie, and Stone that early and without even having to spend an action is a really big deal.

I'd already given some thought into how to make the Solo Series more challenging and therefore more fun. One thing that I think would help is to stop juicing the animal spaces once they get 4 animals on them. I wouldn't want to quit juicing anything else, but with the animals I think it makes sense - if you want them to breed then you have to actually make room for them and take them onto your farm... not just let them breed int he wild before collecting all of them at once!

One more thing that might make it a bigger challenge is to spread that free food out so you don't get it all up front. Maybe put 1 food on each space, starting from Round 14 and counting down... so if you start with 7 food you get it in rounds 8-14. This would still be a reward, as the later part of the game would lighten a little, but the early food combined with free occupations really makes the game trivial.

Any other thoughts on making the Solo series more of a challenge?

Just had the most incredible 2-player game. My wife and I, both equally seasoned, broke it out. This was our 7th play (5th with full rules). For those of you reading other posts, yes we got the game Saturday afternoon, and today is Tuesday... lol! There was one minor rules question, would change victory point total but not winner, that I will note later.

My wife's strategy and best use of cards was to quickly build up her hut and pastures (animals make great food), while not neglecting farming of course to make sure balance was preserved. The cards she had reinforced this strategy.

My strategy was to be a vegetarian -- my cards supported this play style, and it is starkly different from my early Sheep diet I had relied on for previous victories.

By the end of round 7, we both had veggies...woohoo!

By round 9, my wife had a 5-room wood hut and a ton of stone; I had my Stone oven and a lot of veggies. I was a clay hog, since I had a clay hut and was trying to expand and build stables, since I had mostly neglected rearing animals.

Two passed minor improvements were used:

1. Keg (free guest worker action -- this basically let me take starting player for 1 Wood, w/o losing an action) -- this was passed once
2. The one that lets you fence a field entirely for 2 food (this was passed twice)

My Vegetarian strategy worked out quite well.

Here are the final farmyard layouts:

Me:
___ ___
Cla F F1V|3CS|2BS|
--- ---
Cla F2G F2V|4Sh |
--- ---
Cla Cla F2G E E
(1Sh in house)

F = Field
G = Grain
V = Vegetable
C = Cattle
S = Stable
B = Boar
Sh = Sheep
Cla = Clay
Sto = Stone
E = Empty

Total people: 5
2 Grain, 1 Reed left over

Cards played: Seasonal Worker, Seed Trader, Stone Oven, Potato Dibber

For those of you tallying the results, that is a whopping 41 points! I was in great shape.

My wife:
___
F F1G F1G F1G|2Sh|
---
Sto Sto Sto Sto|1B |
___ ___ ___
Sto|2Sh| 1C | |
--- ------- ---

F = Field
G = Grain

Ending resources:
3 Wood
2 Stone
3 Grain
1 regular Veggie

5 people total

Cards:
1 Veggie on Pumpkin Oil (still scored)
Corn Scoop
Axe (which was key to getting 5 wood rooms)
Grocer (played at the beginning, came in very handy)
Chief
Chief's Daughter (this is the only rules question which arose -- can the Chief's Daughter be played for free if the same person has the chief? We decided yes, because it's a real disadvantage if you can't -- the Chief's Daughter is taking up space in your hand otherwise)

For those who tallied it up, that is a whopping 50 victory points! (47 if the chief's daughter was played inappropriately)

I think this has got to be close to, if not the, highest scoring 2-player game when you tally up both sides. A whopping 91 points between the two of us -- wowee! I thought 41 points was good for 2-player, but it turns out 50 points, the score which is good for solo with no competition, is achievable!

(It also looks like a Vegetarian strategy is very possible, planting fields and sowing, with ovens, is a great way to go if your opponent is building like crazy; you can stay even.)

Oh, I lied -- actually we had one other rules question, but I am almost 100% sure we played it right. Are the # of fences given to each player meant to be limited? I doubt it -- I recall the rules state there was no intentional limit other than # of people available to each player -- so we played now (and in other games before) that you could build more fences than pieces given to you, unless of course a card limited the number of fences total you could build.

Great game; this one was amazing!

Scenario #4: The dominating power of the US CV! :cool:

This is a series of session reports of the playing of the introductory and intermediate scenarios of 6th Fleet in which I play the USA and attempt to valiantly defend the American Way of Life (Life, Liberty, and Pursuit of the Almighty Dollar :devil: Whoops! I mean Pursuit of Happiness! :kiss: and Thad defends the Utopian, Communist Workers Paradise or, as I like to call it, he defends the no good Godless, Atheist, Pinko Soviet Union. :)

So here we go again!!

Pregame:

USA: Strike the AA and leave the CR go since they can only score a maximum of 5 VP. Keep the JFK away from Soviet surface units. Thus, destroy Soviet AA and keep JFK from being sunk is the winning plan!

USSR: Attempt to protect AA, protect CR at all costs since CR+sunk JFK=WIN! :) Try to create as many SAG as possible (or one big one if practical) and close on JFK and shower it with SSM to sink the pride of the USA navy!

Turn 1:
Strategic Air: USA uses P-3 to detect Minsk and AA groups, uses CV AEW to detect Soviet Group with CS Bernz. Soviets detect CV JFK.

Moves:
USA Surf: CV north toward Crete.
USSR: Sovrm toward Aegean Sea
Otlch follow Turkish coast eastward toward Syria
Slava moves south of Cyprus
Minsk NE toward Crete
Skrmn south along Greek Coast
PC around south side of Crete. Unleash SSM against CV JFK (50 SSM points!). Attack fails, a near miss(result= :d10-3: )
USA Air: F18 sinks Rogov
F18 sinks Bernz
2 F14 attack all 3 PC splitting bombing values. Sink ALL 3 PC :cool:

Turn 2:

USA: To quote R.Lee. Ermey in Full Metal Jacket, “Out ^&%*(%$ standing” I sunk both of the high value Soviet ships and survived the SSM assault of the PC and sunk all three of those ships. If there is a better way to start this scenario, I’d like to see it! :cool: :wow:

USSR: Man, I got hammered right off the bat. Tim may not always know how to use his P-3 planes :p but he sure knows how to use those combat aircraft. Now, with my highest SSM value ships gone, I’ll need some luck to sink the JFK. I noticed he ignored the CR units and rightfully so, IMO. Got to try to box him in the Aegean and use some ship(s) as spotters for SSM attacks by ships that maybe cannot get right next to the JFK.

Moves:
USSR: Sovrum along Greek coast deeper into Aegean
Otlch still heading east to Syria
Slava on westward course to help hunt JFK
Minsk closes with JFK and unleashes SSM assault. Another near miss (another :d10-3: ) result! :shake: :what: :angry:
Skrm toward Minsk group
USA Surf: SSM attack on DD Ognvy(due to SSM value of 7). DD damaged! JFK moves north to Turkish Coast.
USA Air: 2 F18 and 2 F14 attack AA group. One F18 damaged :gulp: AA Vilkv, Gagra, and Lazo sunk. AA Ropch damaged.

Turn 3:

USA: Nothing breeds success like success! :D Now I have his AA force basically crippled. I’ll finish them off with air units this next time, try to sink one of his big CG or the Minsk if possible and make sure I don’t get boxed into the Aegean Sea. If I get to move first next turn, I should be able to use my surface SSM to finish off one of the AA units.

USSR: Well, this not going to be my game. Another near miss on the JFK and I do mean near miss. I need a :d10-4: result to damage that CV and have narrowly missed twice. Depending on die rolls, I might not get another chance. My AA force is on life support. CR are fine, but killing the JFK is now an absolute must.

Moves:
USA Surf CV JFK to close on Sovrm group. SSM attack sinks AA Batum.
USSR Sovrm moves deeper northward into Aegean
Otlch continues to Syria
Slava moves to Rhodes
Minsk goes to north side of Crete via east coast
Skrm goes to north side of Crete via west coast. Launches SSM attack that damages CG Halsey.
USA Air: F14 and F18 on remaining AA. Ropoch and Trtsv both sunk.
F14 and A6 attack Minsk. F14 damaged in attack and attack misses Minsk.

Turn 4:

USA: All AA are now at the bottom of Davy Jones Locker :) Missed the Minsk, but that is okay. Now I just need to win the next die roll to keep the JFK out of range to seal the deal.

USSR: I guess I’ll take the hit on the Halsey as my consolation prize. I don’t think there is any way to win now. If Tim moves first this turn, it is essentially over. :shake:

Key die roll for initiative!

USA: :d6-5: :thumbsup:
USSR: :bd6-4: :cry:

The USA has the luck of the :devil: this game! :surprise:

Moves:
USA Surf CV moves west along south part of Greece, abandons damaged Halsey.
USA Air A6 attacks Sovrm (SSM value 9) damages Sovrm
2 F18 and F14 attack Minsk. F18 destroyed, but Minsk is damaged! :cool:
USSR: Otlch heads to Syria
All ships in Aegean vicinity into one giant stack to pursue JFK.

Turn 5:

USA: It will be all over but the :cry: ing if I move first this turn. Situation looks good! :)

USSR: Need to win this die roll.......

Die roll:

USA :d6-6:
USSR :bd6-1: :yuk:

USSR: What a fitting end!

Post Game:

USA: Not much to say here. Got all the AA and caught the breaks with the SSM attacks on the JFK. I don’t think there is any way to keep the JFK from being hit with at least a couple of SSM assaults. So long as you can survive the PC attack, I think the USA can easily win this scenario. If the JFK had been hit one turn one, that would’ve altered things quite a bit. I admit I had good luck this game and I will gladly take it!

USSR: I think my plan was sound, I just had bad luck. ‘Nuff said this time around.

So the current 6th Fleet series tally:

Thad: :d10-2:
Tim: :d10-2:

"...to sail the wide accountancy..."

So humming, I set out on a couple of solo games of Blackbeard this weekend. I like Blackbeard, I really do, but the state of its rules, with a number of emendations, clarifications, additions and retractions in force, make it quite a difficult game to play at the present time and be sure you're doing it right.

Of course, if I'm having fun, I'm doing it right, surely?

Well, yes, but I'd like to know that I'm having fun whilst using the rules properly. :) Indeed, I'm quite sure that the rules keep changing as I play them, or more correctly, my recollection or understanding of them does. It'll be nice when that Living Rulebook finally comes along.

Still, solo games. Blackbeard against three "system" pirates.

Incidents and Commentary
I'm not going to give a detailed play-by-play breakdown of these two games. At some point, I intend to do so for a future game, but my note-taking has been a bit erratic of late. Instead, I'm going to relate a few anecdotes about what happened in the games.

Pardon? General? The first game saw the very first "Must Play Immediately" card being draw as the General Pardon game. It was obvious this was going to be a short game. (I've just been reading a few posts on CSW that imply that you shuffle the discards into the deck when you first insert the General Pardon card - no such cards were in the game). Of course, the second time I saw the General Pardon card there were only a scant handful of cards in the deck. No easy retiring for these pirates... they were there for the long haul!

Help, sir! Please! Chase off these Pirates! In the first game, Warships were curiously absent. I wasn't drawing them, and the SPs weren't using them against me. Were none being drawn? Well, not quite. Every time I drew a card for a SP's action allotment, it was a Warship card. The poor Merchant ships really wondered why they'd been abandoned. However, the King's Commissioners weren't far behind.

He was a good pirate. Here's one for Davey Jones! For the first time, I managed to sink a System Pirate. Poor old England, he was only in a sloop when one of the more fearsome King's Commissioners came over the horizon. He survived the first attack, although he took much damage, but he couldn't outrun the second attack and that sent him to the bottom. Hey, VPs for me!

So, when does this game end again? According to the rules (heh!), the game ends when Blackbeard retires with 120+ VPs, or the SPs score 100+ VPs between them. Thing is, does that mean potential VPs (as a pirate with 30 Notoriety is worth 30 VPs if he's killed, or 60 VPs when he retires) or actual VPs? Do the System pirates have to actually retire or be killed first? For both games, Blackbeard would have been just pipped at the post - he reached high notoriety and once he retired he would have won, but the potential VPs of the system pirates reached 100+ before he actually retired...

Beware, the KC hunter! The first game, it was Blackbeard who the KCs feared. The second game, one of the SPs went on a KC hunting cruise. Heavy Guns and great luck meant many KCs went to the bottom (well, two), and then he retired with a useful Letter of Marque.

Beware, the KC hunter! The second game, I, as Blackbeard, actually got hunted by a KC and it wasn't good. I had a Brigantine (the most heavily armed pirate ship), but the KC was brilliant, and he was rolling high. It required a couple of expenditures of Blackbeard's cunning merely to prevent taking more than a point of damage in the each of the first two skirmishes! The third battle finally saw Blackbeard take the wily KC down - I think it was Maynard. Blackbeard limped in with his battered ship to port, whereupon the next KC ousted him! Eventually he got away, but the amount of time he spent running allowed the SPs to do very well indeed.

Hostages? Who needs them! The SPs tended to be brutal with their hostages, slaughtering them for fun (rarely did they get any information out of them, never did they actually use the information). Blackbeard was pure kindness in comparison, ransoming them off. Although, I occassionally wondered why... he wasn't making *that* much money.

Net Worth? Sadly, no pirates ever got a net worth. They always retired or the game ended before they sold anything. No, wait, I think Blackbeard in my first game was worth 1000 doubloons...

Final Thoughts
Blackbeard takes me somewhere in the order of 60-90 minutes to play solo, although it takes up a lot of real estate on my table. I've bought a few cheap plastic "dipping bowls" from the supermarket which I use to put the chits in; they work very well indeed.

I'm enjoying playing it, although one can certainly say that luck is better than skill, and Pirates become famous through eliminating KCs rather than gaining booty... I wonder if there's something wrong there?

A solo adventure using the base game 2nd edition rules along with the optional Travel hazards rule. Variants used: 1. Gameplay is 30 days(turns) long. 2. If the hero is killed the game is over. 3. Resolved encounters end a turn in the same manner as resolved challenges.

5 xp to level


Randomly drew Ronan of the Wild : Ranged: 3/1 Melee: 2/1 Magic 2/1 Life: 4 Stamina : 4Special Ability: After rolling movement dice, you may take 1 exhaustion to re-roll 1 die.


Day 1:
Before leaving Talamir, Ronan heard word that there was a Shield of Light available for 7g at the Market in Dawnsmoor. He decided to head south towards Dawnsmoor and see if he could find some battles that might net him enough gold to buy the shield.
Crossing the Blackwing Swamp he ran into an Atavax 9/0 16/3 10/0 2L. They can be deadly at close range so Ronan carefully kept his distance and hit the Atavax with a ranged attack netting him 2g.

Day 2:
Staying along the Flametail River, Ronan heard stories of an elven Hidden Treasure(end your turn in a forest space without an adventure counter and receive 3 gold) from some of the common folk he passed by. Things were looking up!

Day 3:
Ronan decdied to venture forward and look for the gold at a later time Moving South he ran into a Ghost Stag 12/0 12/1 9/1 3l. Needing only a 9 to hit and doing 2 damage in ranged combat, Ronan wasn't too concerned with the stag. The Stag, however proved quite elusive and it took 3 rounds of combat before Ronan was able to down the Stag. Ronan took two wounds during the battle but received another gold. He now just needed 1 more gold buy the sheild at Dawnsmoor.

Day 4: Forgetting about his wounds( I really did forget), Ronan explored on and the gods seemed to be with him. He ran into a preist of Kellos who handed him a potion of healing (Gift of the Gods)to help him on his quest.

Day 5: Ronan immediately used the potion to heal a wound and felt strong enough to head North a bit to secure 1 more gold. He ran into an Ambush 15/1 12/2 9/0 2L. Ronan failed the before combat test but still only needed one successful ranged attack to defeat the attackers. He failed in the first round taking one wound but successfully defended in melee. Again in the 2nd round Ronan did not hit in ranged taking another wound. Again he successfully defended in melee. With 3 wounds Ronan HAD to hit on his 3rd ranged attempt or he would be dead. A hit would kill his attackers and he could attempt to make it to Dawnsmoor to heal. Needing a 12 or more Ronan aimed and ....missed. 3 attempts to roll a 12 or more had failed and Ronan became the latest hero to fail to defeat Margath and his minions.

Well, pretty bad rolling again plagued me in this game. Of course my lapse in memory in forgetting about his wounds from day 3 led to him having one lless wound to work with in the last battle. Maybe one more round was all I needed to roll that 12. I never did get to use his special ability. I'm guessing that becomes more useful later on in the game as adventure counter become further apart.

I will say that I really like having the encounters count as a turn. Having the Hidden Treasure or Gift of the Gods encounters come up felt like I was on an adventure interacting with characters instead of just always drawing until I fight a challenge. I can see this maybe being different in a multi player game if one player kept drawing the encounters while the others were getting challenges but I think it works great in a solo game and add to the whole adventure experience. As a result though, you may have noticed that I now extended the game turn Limit to 30 days instead of 28. Hopefully one of these days I'll get my hero to the end of the game.

Next up...Spiritspeaker Mok

The Daughter asked for a game of this tonight, and when the Son came in from playing we decided to all give it a go (except Mom, who read her book).

We're using the miniatures, but not the altitude rules. My son picked the Fokker D.VII (Schaefer), (since the [BGCOLOR=#FF0033]plaid[/BGCOLOR] color is "cool") daughter took my new Spad XIII miniature, and i went for the trusty Sopwith Camel (the Albatross is just too bad of a plane, even though I'm handicapping!)

We stared equidistantly on the end of our rectangular table. I headed toward my daughter and my son headed for both of us. Daughter traded a few shots and son got in a few licks too, but nothing too serious. (We take the explosion damage out of the deck when playing single planes).

The kids (9 and 7) are getting better at planning maneuvers, though daughter and son both got too close to the edge, and dad had to invoke the "I'll move you back but you take 1 damage card" rule. And then I had to do the same for myself, forgetting I had damage preventing a plotted turn!

Son had a big advantage with his "L" maneuver deck, which we just noticed has a very short distance card that doesn't have a steep symbol on it. Unless that's a misprint, its a very nice thing to have, and he exploited it well.

Toward the end I accumulated mechanical trouble, which really spells the end when no one else has it. Daughter would have done better, but we both got close in, and I started her burning, which did her in on the second turn leaving Schaeffer to fly home to GGermany without further auf wiedersehen

After a bit of a break, we played another game of Mare Nostrum last night. Present were:

John (Egypt)
Phil (Carthage)
Jeanette (Rome)
Terry (Greece)
Ben (Babylon)

Phil and Terry were new to the game.

Although there were only five players we still used the expansion board, and played to 5 honders, with the pyramids costing 13. This game confirmed the sense in this and I would not play to four honders again.

I had never played with Egypt before, and in our previous games, Egypt had never been in the game, being crushed early by Carthage, so I was not hopeful. However, after a standard round one, where Carthage traded three and everyone built caravans and markets on the obvious places, I had enough tax for a honder on turn two, and I chose Helen Of Troy, which more-or-less made me protected from attack, at least for a while.

However, Egypt’s expansion options are pretty limited, although the papyrus is always good for trading.

It was a tense couple of rounds when Carthage decided to trade eight on round three and five on round four. I was very concerned about someone building the pyramids, until we realised that there was no pottery or gems being produced yet.

Part of the reason for the big trades was that people were concerned about me getting enough tax to build the pyramids, which with Hermes (produce an additional three of one type of resource) was quite possible. My problem was that with Carthage trading a lot I could not hold my taxes for producing honders, let alone the pyramids!

Meanwhile the other countries were doing the same as me: expanding and building honders – Jeanette and Ben each built honders on rounds three and four, so the rest of us started excluding them from the trading until there was poor cards (for them) remaining.

Jeanette (Rome) partly solved that problem for herself by buying the Temple Of Artemis, which produces one resource of any kind. Ben (Babylon) bought the Lighthouse, which allows you to build influence anywhere, so he put one on the pottery area. It also put Jeanette and Ben on four honders each.

I grabbed Hermes again, and on round six I built another honder (my third) – Antigone, which lets me not participate in the trading phase. This meant that I could produce eight tax (four cites with temples), plus two carried over from the previous turn, plus one from Cleopatra’s ability plus three from Hermes, making 14 for the pyramids which was immune to how many Carthage nominated to trade! What I did not figure on was Greece using Baal to destroy one of my cities, leaving me with only 12 taxes and agonisingly one short of winning.

Carthage traded five, so Greece, Carthage and Egypt simply traded amongst ourselves, to keep Rome and Babylon from getting enough for their final honders. I had to put out some tax, and near the end of the trade Jeanette suddenly realised that Greece (Terry) was grabbing all of the tax offered, and with his big tax production he may have 13 – and so he did. Terry sneakily crept up on us and won the game! By then he was Political Leader as well, so the fact that Ben could build his fifth honder meant Ben came second and not equal first.


Thoughts

The feature of the game was that there was only one very minor battle the whole time. This was partly because I had Helen Of Troy, which made Egypt (usually an easy target) much tougher, but the main reason for the lack of battles was that there were so many cards traded that we did not need to battle to secure resources for honders.

In retrospect, I think that whoever plays Carthage should know what they are doing, more than the other nations, although its been only after this game that I had realised this. Director Of Commerce is a very powerful role so in the future I think we will make sure that an experienced player has Carthage. This is, of course, no criticism of Phil in this game.

Even without this, the game progressed along a similar path to the others – the resource production is such that someone will build their fifth honder within 7-8 rounds, which makes it a very quick game without much time for building armies and battling. This leaves me curious as to how battling comes about in other games, since it seems like turtling is clearly the best way to go for all players.

Normally I don't even log my online plays, much less report on them, but I had a memorable game of Carc today and I want to record it for my own amusement. Be warned that I make no claim that what amuses me may prove amusing to others.

I was playing on AsoBrain, a most excellent if unlicensed implementation of this game. It should be noted that my opponent was no slouch, coming into the game with a rating of 80 for the month of August - this translates to a 90th percentile player. We were playing, as one always should, with Inns & Cathedrals and Traders & Builders in play.

I like to play an agressive style, actively looking to trap enemy meeples whenver possible. My opponent responded in kind, putting my builder in jeopardy very early in the game. He further esteemed himself in my estimation by threatening a large city of mine with his bully, then knocking the bully out himself a few plays later when it started looking like I would successfully kill the city. Meanwhile he finished off my builder by requiring me to find an "anti-Q" tile, and I put his builder in jeopardy on a road.

But then my large city started to come around to looking like it could be completed and my opponent went hard after the steal. As is my modus operandi, I switched into kill mode rather than fight-over-it mode. And at this point my opponent got greedy, agressively trying to finish the city and investing more meeples in it, to the point of not freeing his builder when he had a chance. I made sure that chance was not extended, putting the finishing touches on making his builder-road impossible to complete. Meanwhile, he started up a second substantial city not far away and worked 2 meeples into it.

Through persistence and opportune tile draws, I was able to connect his 2 cities and make them an all-or-nothing proposition with a cathedral tile. He was not about to give it up, however, and did come quite close to finishing it before I was able to create an impossible tile situation. The city died at a size of 33 tiles, containing 5 of his meeples and 1 of mine. Most of the trade goods also died with it.

For the final 30 tiles I had a few meeples while my opponent had none. He did have a nice mid-size city with a cathedral that required a specific but not rare tile to complete (R-R-C-C), but it didn't come up for him. I was able to place a 4-city farmer, but beyond that every available field offered only 1 city to be supplied. Opponent did a commendable job of reducing my opportunities for easy points.

Final score: 118 - 21. Definitely a record for me in terms of opponents score, and I suspect also a record for lowest total score. And also the first T & B game I've seen where no trade goods were scored.

for Part I: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/334199

We last left off with war having broken out between the Warsaw Pact and NATO after the USSR and US had begun fighting over Iran. The Pact had elected to settle the issue with NATO once and for all by invading in Europe.

Turn 2: in the second week of the war, storms roll across Central Europe reducing the ability of both sides’ air forces to impact the battles then raging. This is a major setback for NATO which depends much more heavily upon air support. This means no missions without all weather capability, and no close ground support.

Norway: the Soviets are satisfied with their small toehold in northern Norway and settle down a stalemate for the duration.

Germany: With only cloud cover overhead, the tank armies of the Warsaw Pact smash into the Ems River defense and break through Belgian positions. The British in the area of Osnabruck are also hit hard, losing one division and a helicopter brigade. Second echelon forces exploit the holes created and overrun the Netherlands. Polish forces move north after the battle for Berlin and take Lubeck. Further attacks destroy a weakened German division and the Danish Jutland division. In the south Regensburg falls and forces advance on Munich and Augsburg. After NATO forces start withdrawing, Stuttgart is also seized.

With defenses collapsing on both flanks of the central front, NATO begins to withdraw the bulk of its forces behind the Rhine with a strong bridgehead formed in the Ruhr. Having been given release for their use, NATO forces employ tactical nuclear weapons, but are still not able to hold back the red tide.

The Balkans: Istanbul falls to Pact forces after an intense nuclear barrage from Soviet units. French expeditionary forces retaliate in kind with their own nuclear attacks. With the fall of Istanbul, Pact forces follow through attempting to push farther on the south bank of the Bosporus. Forces are also released to counterattack Greek forces.

Persian Gulf: The opposing forces continue to stare each other down in stalemate. American air strikes hit Esfahan and harass Soviet ground forces. The Soviets finish cleaning up opposition outside the US redoubt. NATO forces in Iran consist of about only 4 Iranian divisions, plus US expeditionary forces of heavy division, the 82nd Airborne, an attack helicopter brigade, and several Marine brigades. The Soviets have about 10 divisions plus an air assault division. NATO maintains air superiority over both the Persian Gulf and Western Asia air theaters.

End Phase: NATO commanders plead for the release of more nuclear weapons to bolster the defenses of Europe. In particular, the CinC of NorthAG believes that only the use of nuclear battlefield interdiction by Allied air forces can stem the tide. He argues that the use of the short ranged battlefield nukes currently in use, are not enough. The civilian governments refuse further escalation. The Soviets, in a propaganda move, announce that they will use restraint in nuclear weapons.

Turn 3: The weather remains poor in central Europe but air power is able to make its presence felt even if not at full power due to the overcast conditions. Not only did the Pact ground forces get relief from air attacks in the prior week to storms, it also allowed the Pact air forces to catch up by putting back into service many aircraft that were grounded due to maintenance. Although possessing inferior aircraft, numbers once again prove to have a quality all their own by giving the WP air superiority once again.

Pact commanders of the Western Strategic Direction buoyed by their success against NATO’s central front allow the diversion of Category B divisions just arriving from the Soviet Union. A total of 4 tank armies are diverted to reinforce the Balkan and Persian Gulf theaters. On the NATO side, Italian and Spanish troops arrive in Germany to bolster flagging defenses.

Norway: All is quiet

Germany: With the NATO withdrawal, the Pact forces advance to occupy the east bank of the Rhine River. Pact forces of the 28th and 3rd Shock Armies fight their way into Wiesbaden. The reduction of the Ruhr Salient also begins with the 8th Guards Army and 1st Guards Tank Army assaulting Dortmund and overwhelming the German Heimatschutztruppen with masses of artillery and armor. To the north, the pact advances across the Rhine into Belgium and then turns southward meeting Spanish, British, and Belgian troops. British Tornadoes hit Pact tanks with air strikes and close ground support of defending forces. The Germans hold the line along the west bank of the Rhine as the 10th panzer division holds off the 26th and 8th Guards Armies at Monchen Gladbach. Desperate fighting continues for a week as both sides end up using battlefield nukes.

Italian forces occupy the banks of the upper Rhine allowing American heavy divisions to move northward to stop the Soviet spearheads. With it completely occupied, the Netherlands surrenders its remaining forces. After heavy fighting, Antwerp also falls to the WP, and Belgian forces have become Demoralized. At this point about 5 Pact armies have crossed to the west of the Rhine. NATO’s situation in central Europe is desperate.

The Balkans: With the help of Hungarian forces, the Pact pushes the Greeks at Salonika destroying an armored division. Heavy combat continues on the south bank of the Bosporus, but the pact succeeds in clearing the waterway. Now only the Dardanelles remains to be cleared for the Soviet fleet. The Bulgarian offensive grinds slowly towards this goal. Only the assistance of French forces has really been able to hold up this attack. By the end of the week though, Greek morale has become Shaken.

The Persian Gulf: in comparison to the bloodbath in Europe, the fighting is limited in this theater. Soviet forces, reinforced with another tank army begin squeeze the American redoubt by advancing along the coast. The aim is to outflank the Americans and trap them in the mountain passes. Air strikes continue to harass Soviet units, and hit Esfahan as well.

End Phase: Once again NATO ground commanders demand escalation to staunch the bleeding, but the governments; fearful of the consequences, withhold authority. With losses mounting in both Turkey and Germany, French morale is nearly Shaken (30 brigades). Turkey’s morale is also waning in spite of the tough fighting. Spain quietly withhold further support as its morale also fails.

Turn 4: The skies over central Europe are finally clearing, but the advent of the full effect of Allied air power appears to have arrived too late. Soviet forces have crumbled the NATO left flank and are on the verge of driving across the open fields of Flanders. Fighting has quieted along the Rhine front, but the line has been irrevocably turned. After consultations among Allied governments, NATO asks for an armistice in place with the Warsaw Pact.

While I hate having only four cards, especially when my opponent has six, I was willing to to play the Axis for the first side of this scenario. I was hoping the radar station would give me some kind of air advantage over my opponent that I could exploit, and the general strength of the defense position in the Memoir game would be worth the card disadvantage.

As it was I never brought a planes on the board, always having something better to do with my regular hand.

Turn 1 my friend begin with an Attack Center, which was fortunate, because without center cards he would be very disadvantaged in mounting his attack. He scored one hit on the center artillery which was worrisome, but at least it survived for my orders Direct from HQ. It struck back along with more units in the center and mu distant Left flank artillery, killing one of the allied infantry and hitting one fig off on another.

Turn 2 He repeated his Attack Center, concentrating fire on the artillery again, but the hard-to-hit artillery was unscathed. I was short on options, having an Infantry Assault and a Probe Left in my hand but not in a good position to use it (I'm not about to Assault out with my infantry from my bunkers and towns!)

So I play my Counterattack, and manage to roll three flags on one unit heading up the beach (stripping it of two figs as it hits the ocean), and another flag on another one. Retreats become a key factor in the play of this scenario. I appreciate retreats in Memoir '44 because they allow the forces to "try again" without leaving them vulnerable. And there are enough places where the retreats can still be turned into kills if necessary (like where the water's edge is close at hand!)

Turn 3 My opponent plays an Armor Assault, bringing one tank unit on the beach, and moving the other two close in, including close to the left shore (and my Radar Station). His tank scores the second hit on my center Artillery, killing it :( I knew it couldn't last. I respond with an ineffective Probe Left.

Turn 4 He orders his infantry to Move Out! getting them up on the beach along my Right Flank line but making no attacks. I respond with my Infantry Assault in the center, keeping in place but allowing my forces to take shots at his now closer units. I score two hits on infantry, but miss the tank.

Turn 5 General Advance! Uh oh. He lands the tank on the Beach Item (where the Radar Station lies), scores hits on the hill unit and the bunker unit, and forces my infantry in Le Hamel back (now I can better hold the VP though). All I can do is a measly Probe Left, but one where I hit the center tank (though missing the one threatening the Radar.)

Turn 6 We continue this exchange of blows with his Probe Right (minimal effect) and my second Probe Left. This is fairly useful as I hit and retreat the advancing tank, and I hit and even force the hedgehog protected unit out and back on the beach.

Turn 7 My opponent is unfortunately unable to keep his attention on my left flank, and Probes Center instead. He misses the Artillery again, but scores two hits on my forces in Le Hamel. I keep up the pressure on the Left with an Assault that hits one tank and kills the second damaged tank unit.

My friend will later identify this as a turning point for him, as he was unable to keep up his attack there.

Turn 8 A Recon In Force does no damage, and I use Medics and Mechanics to invigorate a left infantry unit that score 2 hits (and a flag that is ignored) on his beach infantry.

Turn 9 He brings orders Direct from HQ, but even that isn't helping when the troops in the field all miss their objectives. My Move Out in response kills the tank and my center infantry force him out of Le Hamel and I retake it.

Turn 10 The battle for Le Hamel is on! A Recon Center forces me back out, but with no damage. He discards a Firefight. Its always disconcerting to see a powerful card hit the discard. I Recon Center as well and score 2 hits on his men in Le Hamel.

Turn 11 With his recon he drew, and now plays, Barrage He calls in four dice against my artillery, and rolls three stars and a flag (ignored). I respond with my Attack Center and I retake Le Hamel for the second time (those timely retreat rolls!)

Turn 12 A Close Assault is not as effective as intended because of retreats, though my Probe Center kills another unit and two retreat give me Hamel again!

Turn 13 We both play Recon in Force. Mine scores 2 hits. His scores nothing. We see how this is going.

Turn 14 Behind Enemy Lines wiffs in attacking the Radar station, and my Assault Center wins by killing his sixth unit.

What a slog! These beach scenarios take a long time to effectively play.