More board games, just what I needed...

 

So, I have acquired a few more board games over the last couple of months, starting with some used games that I found at Hotlead in March and culminating with a new game this week. As some may know, I have quite a few games already so more games is a little crazy but then again so am I.

These three games came from the bring and buy at Hotlead, all used, more or less and all were inexpensive. 

Campaign was a game that I had owned in my distant youth, I had played it a few times but it never really captured my imagination. I have my doubts about it being all that good to my addled adult mind, but nostalgia and a low price convinced me to buy it. The box is not in the best of shape but the map is and all the components are there and intact!

History of the World is a game that I already own, in an earlier less plastic fillet edition. Again this was low priced and in good shape. In fact once I opened it up I found that it had never been played, nothing punched out and all pieces still in bags. I do not really need all the plastic armies but the larger cards are a lot better for aging eyes. I have always liked this gameit is fun to play, well balanced and no one can be eliminated from the game unlike some other multiplayer games.

Quartermaster General 1914 is a game that I have never played, but is a game that intrigued me. It has a 7.5 rating on BOARD GAME GEEK and the subject matter appeals to me. Again this game is in great condition, intact and was selling well below market price.

War of the Worlds is a deck building game that I was blissfully ignorant of until I recently stumbled upon it. I have a weakness for War of the Worlds and I had picked up a solitaire game of it a while back. My primary board game opponent and I do play a lot of deck building games so I figure this one should fit in well enough. Hope to get it on the table sooner than later.

Fate of the Fellowship was picked up last month. I had been searching for this game since first I heard about it last year but I could not find any available copies. Thankfully these new fangled online stores often have a wishlist system that will alert you when an item is back in stock. So I was alerted to the restock, but by the time I logged into the store website they were out again. However it did prompt me to search some other stores and lo and behold I found a copy at a local store that was less expensive than where my wishlist had been. The game is based on the Pandemic system, a system used in some other games that we play and apparently has a good feel of the subject.

Dragons Down just arrived yesterday. It is a modern version of the old Avalon Hill game magic Realms. This copy is the weighted version which means it has some fancy upgrades to the base components, like metal coins, extra set of dice, fancy character boards etc. It was the only version that I could find for sale (another tough to locate game) but it is quite spiffy looking. This one will probably hit the table next week once we have had a chance to learn the rules and maybe watch some videos.

Anyways, that is some of the new board games that I have picked up recently in he meantime our Invincible campaign continues.

Midgard AAR May 2nd Game 2

 

The battlelines are drawn

Orc right flank

Orc defenders

Hilltop defenders

Dwarf attackers

Opening moves

Assault on the hill, while Dwarf scouts harass the advancing Orcs

Midgard AAR May 2nd Game 1

 

So, we had a game day this past Saturday, two groups of players two games, same scenario. In game 1 the Dwarfs were the defenders vs a horde of Orcs. The scenario was too eager and both sides were built on 499 points. This time around I created my own army list, I built the Dwarf army inspired by a Roman army, for the Orcs I upgraded their armour and made the odd other tweek. The two army lists can be found here Midgard army lists The battlefield was largely devoid of terrain save for the large hill at on the Dwarf left flank. The scenario called for the deployment of an advance unit of Dwarfs on the hill with the remainder of the Dwarfs deploying to the right of the hill. Starting at the end of turn 2, the top of the hill grants one reputation at the end of each turn to whichever army controlled it.

The Dwarf commander deployed two elite units supported by a formed crossbow unit 

Orcs deployed in force, focused on the hill

Midgard Heroic Battles AAR from April 26th

 

Orc opening moves completed

So, I changed up the scenario from my 'Badlands' scenario to the official scenario 3; Take the High Ground. Not too much different really the defenders get to stay in place while the attackers have to march across open ground. Like my solo game, the attackers had a tough time trying to achieve their objective, the high ground. Also the defenders start in possession of three salient points that begin to grant bonus reputation at the end of turn three to whoever holds them. It was an uphill struggle for the Orcs!

The two armies were from the rulebook, built on 400 points. It was the first time playing the game for three of the players, but they picked it up pretty fast.

Some Dwarf units take advance positions off the hill

Goblin cavalry continue their flanking move

Orcs  engage in the centre

Orcs won on their right flank and try to turn the Dwarfs but the Orcs loose in the centre

The Dwarf left flank drive back the Orc attackers while Orc units are routed in the centre

The Orcs, while numerically superior were just no match for the Dwarfs. The difference in armour had a major impact. Interestingly the Brittle trait did not have that big an impact on the outcome like I thought it would. Missile fire was not a major factor though the Dwarf cannon inflicted a lot of damage more than than any other missile unit. 

The inability of the Orc commanders to roll their command for movement was a major impediment and stopped them from being a credible threat regarding the salient points. 

Ultimately we found the scenario was not well balanced. the bonus reputation for the salient points all went to the defenders who really just had to hold their ground, all the effort was by the attackers. The Dwarfs had too much reputation, the Orcs were never going to  catch up, and as they lost units they just saw their reputation in tatters. Giving the attackers more points than the defenders may have been a simple solution to the apparent imbalance. 

Nevertheless we had a fun time playing the game.

May 2nd upcoming game of Midgard

Roman Dwarf army

Two army lists for upcoming game.

Midgard Heroic Battles Solo game AAR

 

Orcs and Dwarves form their battle lines. The Dwarf defenders were in a defensive stance primarily on three hills., while the Orc invaders stacked their centre but also deployed troops on both flanks in an attempt to flank the defenders.

Turn 1

The Orcs had deploy on some hills on their own side of the battlefield. Turn one saw them advance into the grasslands between the two ridges. 

Mounted bows advanced into range to harass the Dwarf left flank 

The Orc centre advanced towards their Dwarf counterparts

On the Orc left flank, two units of Orcs with a Mage try to outflank the Dwarf line

For the most part the dwarf army stayed in place, playing the waiting game. On the dwarf right flank one unit was move off the hill to defend against the Orc flanking march.

Midgard Heroic Battles

 

So, we had our first real test of Midgard today. Last week me and Steve hashed out a small battle based on the first scenario, but it was really more of a walk through of the rules rather than a proper game. This weekend I played GM to two other players as we played the first scenario with 300 points a side. We used the sample Orc and Dwarf army lists as it seemed a good place to start.

Orc light wolf cavalry and Ogre bodyguards flanked by rank and file troops

The Dwarven defensive line, scouts on the left flank and massed rank and file in the centre and right flank.

Game day April 11th Devilry Afoot and What a Cowboy!

 

Devilry Afoot

What a Cowboy!

So, two games played this past weekend. We had our first try at Devilry Afoot and a second try at What a Cowboy! Both went quite well, Devilry a bit better as I did not mess  up any rules! I acted as GTM for both games just to try and help people out with unfamiliar rules. (note to self, be more familiar with the rules next time) 

More Sentinels of the Multiverse

 

This one took a while. It was our second game of the night.In our first game it was Fanatic and Captain Thunder aided by Absolute Zero and Dr Manhattan. I have forgotten the other details, but I do remember that a low hit point Fanatic delivered 27+ points to bring down the villain.

Terrorform started with 200 hit points and had some help from the environment to keep our heroes at bay. In the end we managed to flip it which reduced it down to 86 hit points. That helped. It was a combined effort of Omnitron and Haka (the only two heroes still standing) that unleashed enough damage to drop Terrorform.

New gaming mat

 

So, on an impulse buy, I purchased yet another 3' x 3' gaming mat, in this case a double sided mat. One side is 'mud' or more like swamp. It is a nice image that I suspect will get some use. I placed some scenery for an upcoming game of Devilry Afoot to see how the items will blend in. 

 I think it works well.

The other side is cobblestones.

I do have some cobblestone mats already, but this is far more portable. Again this should do the job. 

Close up of the mud

So, a silly impulse buy has, in my mind worked out well! There is a bad lesson to be learned here!

Board game night

 

So, we got together Easter Monday night to play some board games. This time around we played two games of Horrified D&D and one game of Sentinels of the Multiverse. We had a bad time of it in the first Horrified game and won the second game with no cards left in the draw desk! 

The first game we played a warrior and a thief vs the dragon and the displacer beast. For the second game I switched to the cleric and we swapped out the displacer beast for the beholder. It is an amusing game but does have some weak spots in the rules.

I also find that the map is not the clearest map, the art sometimes overrides playability. It sometimes take me a few moments to figure out where the spaces connect. Also given that they numbered most (if not all) of the spaces would it have killed them to mark the items with location numbers?

Anyways, the second game was much better, not because we won, but because the rules and board did not annoy us as much.

Our other game that night was Sentinels of the Multiverse. It was setback and Guise (original edition) with Haka and Argent Adept (Definitive edition) vs Ambuscade (Definitive edition) at Wagner Mars base.

The base worked out to be a really bad location for Ambuscade and great for us players! At one point the base prevented any damage from being inflicted which allowed us to buff so that when we finally eliminated the 'offending' environment cards Haka had built up a very large amount of potential damage that he launched at Ambuscaded, thus ending the game.