Dude! Take Your Turn!
A Gaming Life
New Garphill Games Kickstarter – Cards! And Other Things
(Edit: It appears that the promos in the 5-Year Anniversary Pack for Shipwrights of the North Sea are direct reprints and not compatible with Shipwrights of the North Sea: Redux. Still, it’s only 9 cards and the rest of the promos in that batch look really cool, so I’m not going to change my pledge.)
Today, Garphill Games opened an 8-day Kickstarter (though this time they will actually use a Pledge Manger for late pledges, though not for letting you add things to your pledge later.
Make sure your pledge is correct if you are going to do it now.
I was a bit torn at first, but there is some cool stuff in there.
First, the stuff I didn’t go for.
They are offering two sets of playing cards with artwork from all of the Medieval trilogies.
They’re also offering the Raiders of the North Sea playmat, the Raiders solo system, and the North Sea RuneSaga.
I wasn’t interested in those, but here’s what I did just pledge for.
One of the sometimes irritating things about Paladins of the West Kingdom is the Suspicion cards and how everybody is drawing from the same deck. One person might get lucky every time they draw a Suspicion card and get 2 silver, while others might get unlucky and get 0 silver because the 2 silver cards are already out of circulation (you do keep the Suspicion card until you have to discard it).
In this Kickstarter, there are individual Suspicion card decks so that won’t happen!
You could still get unlucky in your draws, but you won’t be affected by what other people have drawn and kept. Those 2-silver cards won’t be out of the deck unless you kept them.
In addition, you can buy every promo card for their North Sea and West Kingdom games that wasn’t part of the original Kickstarters in individual packs so you can pick and choose.
Did you back all of the Dice Tower Kickstarters and so already get those promos?
You don’t need to get them again!
I bought every promo pack except the one that’s exclusively for Raiders of the North Sea (mainly because I haven’t played that in ages, though I want to!).
So, basically I spent around $96 Canadian for about 135 promo cards and Suspicion cards.
Was that stupid?
If so, I don’t want to be smart.
The Kickstarter ends in 8 days so if you want to get in on this action, you better hurry!
Though at least there is a late Pledge Manager this time.
Oh, I almost forgot.
Garphill mention.
Yep, and it’s not even Friday.
Have a good night!
Combat Commander – After Action Report – Scenario 38 – Not One Step Back
It’s that time of the month again!
Time for another tale from the Combat Commander ladder, that monthly tournament of one of the best games out there that’s run by the renowned Patrick Pence, he of Patrick’s Tactics & Tutorials fame (and formerly of the Top of the Ladder but not after last month)!
After a bad losing streak, I managed to get a win last month. However, this month’s scenario was looking pretty bleak for my side.
The scenario is Not One Step Back, from the Stalingrad battle pack, and it looks really hard for the Soviets (which I was). The Germans are pouring fire down on the Soviets from four levels up and the Soviets don’t have much, if any, cover.
However, up to my play, there were 20 games finished so far and the Soviets won 10 of them!
Maybe I could make it 11?
My opponent was somebody I’ve never played before, Bay C.
Here’s the starting positions.
(Don’t forget that you can click on a picture to blow it up)
As I mentioned, the Soviets (brown – me) are on one side of this long gully stretching across the board. The Germans (grey – Bay) are up on the Level 4 heights across the way.
The Soviets can set up 5 hexes deep from the south side of the board, so sure, I could be on the Level 4 heights too.
However, look at the ranges on these units (the middle number on the counter).
They can’t reach shit!
Not to mention that the Infantry Gun and weapons team have to set up on the bridge (which at least has some cover).
Plus, I drew the public “Exit Points Are Doubled” secret objective, so I had to set up at least a token force to try and prevent any exiting off of the right side of the board.
The only cover on my side of the board is two hexes of brush, which I positioned Sgt. Maisky in to keep Biermann honest.
I basically copied another player’s Soviet setup because they won their game.
So why not?
This is a rules-light scenario. Basically, the Infantry Gun has to be on the bridge and the weapons team can’t move or rout off of it unless the gun is destroyed.
Secondly, the other Russians have to set up on the hill, so no setting up in the gully for what little cover that offers.
They have to be out in the open (except the two brush hexes).
That’s it!
Want to see how I did?
That’s why you’re here, isn’t it?
Read MoreBottoscon 2024 Retrospective
Once again in November I was able to attend Bottoscon, the largest wargaming convention in the Pacific Northwest. This year, they managed to get over 150 attendees, which is amazing considering that when they began 18 years ago, they had 32 attendees.
The convention is run by Rob Bottos, a prominent wargamer, and a cohort of other people who help keep the con organized and well-run, solving problems and making sure that everybody is having a good time.
It helps that I’m good friends with two of them!
The convention is in beautiful New Westminster, British Columbia, right along the Fraser River at the Inn at the Quay.
While the convention started as a wargaming convention, “regular” board games have assumed a bigger space as time has gone on.
This year, there were even some RPGs! Which I wasn’t aware of until it was mentioned in another blog post.
Wargames were still quite prominent, though.
Just like last year, the con was a 4-day convention, running Thursday – Saturday, November 7-10 (though Thursday had limited tickets available) and it was a very long, but very satisfying convention.
I wasn’t as tired as last year, though probably because I stayed at the hotel Friday and Saturday night so I had no travel time.
I’m going to go through the four days and talk about all of the many games I played: 24 total plays of 20 games!
And a bunch of new to me games, so I won’t go into great detail about them.
I’ll save that for my New to Me games post in early December.
Just like last year, the lighting was terrible for taking good pictures, so pardon the shadows!
These were taken on the fly.
Also, I’m not going to detail when we took lunch and dinner breaks, but this year the Boathouse restaurant (attached to the hotel) offered tableside service for lunch and dinner on Friday and Saturday so you didn’t even have to leave your table.
And you could get beer!
I took advantage of that on Friday, so it was non-stop gaming, but Saturday we walked over to the River Market and had some food there.
A chicken burrito from the Mexican food place and Chinese Sausage and Fried Rice from another restaurant, both were to die for!
It was also nice to just get outside for a bit.
But I did enjoy my beer on Friday night. That was a rare treat.
With that, let’s begin!
Read MoreTalisman 5th Edition – App Review
I’ve always enjoyed the Talisman app from Nomad Games. They’ve done a brilliant job not only bringing this game to computers and mobile devices, but also including all of the expansions for it, including a digital-only expansion!
The game of Talisman itself is a tabletop classic, though after playing the app, I know there is no way I would ever play it on the table.
It’s a roll-and-move fantasy game where you are moving around the board, drawing adventure cards, meeting strangers or events or possibly fighting monsters, and perhaps dying because you meet a 10-strength dragon when your character only has 2 strength.
Now Nomad Games has released a vaunted 5th edition of this classic game. Avalon Hill is releasing the tabletop version of it. The digital edition, I have to say, is quite good.
And it also reminds me why I will never play this live online or on the table.
Because this game is long.
And not the most exciting thing if you’re going to be playing for 4+ hours!
As an app, though?
Brilliant.
And I love the changes the 5th edition makes.
More after the jump.
Read MoreNew to Me – October 2024
As I mentioned the other day, October as a month really sucked, especially for gaming.
Being sick, missing three game days, I was totally surprised that I actually managed to play any new to me games!
Much less three.
I even managed to placate the Cult of the New to Me members by getting an older game in there.
I am getting a bunch of new games and want to get them played, so it’s becoming even more imperative that I get some older ones in there too.
Or I might have a riot!
Or a president chastising me.
Funny, I didn’t even realize he was in my cult.
Who knew?
Anyway, without further ado (all of my ado was stolen by a raccoon and buried in a tree anyway), let’s get started!
Read MoreOctober 2024 Gaming
October was a really bad month.
Not just for gaming, but in general as well.
I was sick for a week and I’m still not feeling 100% even a week later after I went back to work.
But for gaming, it really sucked!
There were some good things about it, but I missed three Sunday game days.
The first one, the venue was full due to other reservations (some kind of marathon, the ingrates!).
Then, being sick, I missed two other Sundays.
That was hard. I knew I needed to get better, but part of me wanted to play games!
Not to mention the fact that, being sick, there were no lunchtime games at work either.
However, there were some positives.
Here’s the list of games that I played in October.
Not a lot!
Only 11 plays of 9 games in total.
Thankfully, there were three new to me games, so at least that post will have something to say (though it probably will be a bit delayed.
Here’s that game list in grid format!
Many thanks to the excellent BG Stats app that made this possible!
What were the highlights?
While they were few and far between, they did exist.
Read MoreFriday Night Shots – Top 1000 BGG Games
I know what you’re thinking.
Two Friday Night Shots posts in a row?
That must mean Dave got the jukebox fixed!
It’s amazing what paying your work people can actually do.
Maybe that’s why I can’t keep a bartender?
Anyway, welcome back! Pull up a chair and I’ll get you a drink.
Whatever you like.
Ok, not that…but anything else?
Oh, and don’t mind my cat.
She’s just insane.
With something good finally on the jukebox, let’s talk about boardgames!
Namely, the Top 1000 games on Boardgame Geek.
Read MoreFriday Night Shots (Saturday Edition) – What Attracts You to a Game?
It’s been a month and the bar’s been closed! More renovations needed (and I’m just lazy, actually), but I’m glad you happened by and could stop in!
The jukebox renovations took up most of the month, partially because I kept forgetting to pay the repair folks.
Think that might actually make a difference?
Belly on up to the bar, though, and let me get you a drink of your favourite beverage.
That’s…different. But I can do it!
What day are you on?
Let me fire up the tunes so we can talk privately without all of the people that guy in the corner hearing us.
Ok, maybe you should pay your repair people.
Anyway, let’s talk about what attracts you to a boardgame!
Read MoreCombat Commander – After Action Report – Scenario M5 – Blind Man’s Bluff
I have been having a horrible streak of luck and bad play in my monthly Combat Commander ladder games, with a three-month losing streak going into my October game!
That is not good, and shall not stand!
Or maybe it did. I guess you’ll find out at the end of this post.
Let’s start at the beginning, though.
The Combat Commander ladder is the monthly tournament of one of the greatest wargames of all time, administered by the impressive Patrick Pence, he of Patrick’s Tactics & Tutorials fame on Youtube.
And it really is fame. Youtube fame is almost as much celebrity as those Hollywood starlets!
Though I don’t know anything about his fashion sense.
In September and October, we leave the cozy confines of Europe to go to the Pacific, where a bunch of the rules change and you have to remember not to do things the way you are used to.
The October scenario is from the Combat Commander Pacific: New Guinea battle pack and is a scenario I’ve never played before.
It’s basically a cage match between the Japanese and Australian forces!
That’s because nobody can gain points by exiting the map.
My opponent this month was John L. We are both in the same time zone, so setting up our match was a breeze.
The Blind Man’s Bluff scenario has a meeting of Japanese and Australian patrols, which then resulted in an Australian attack on the Japanese screening force.
Here’s the setup.
(Don’t forget that you can click on a picture to blow it up)
The setup is weird in that the Australian Company B sets up first, then the Japanese Pinning Force and Screening force sets up next, and finally the Australian assault force.
The Japanese (white – me) are trying to destroy Company B and hold off the Australian (tan – John) assault force as well.
There are a couple of special rules too.
First, nobody can gain points from exiting the board.
As Patrick has pointed out on Discord, though, the scenario does not say that units exiting the map are eliminated, like many scenarios like this do.
No, it just says that you don’t get any points.
So Company B could exit and then reappear on the Australian board edge after the next Time Trigger.
Nobody really realized that before.
Anyway, the second special rule is that the Australians can only call in the artillery (mortars) with a leader on a Level 2 hill hex.
Finally, in addition to the weird setup sequence, Company B sets up with all units suppressed.
Considering that it takes Revive orders to remove Suppression markers, that can be big!
Would my losing streak finally end?
Let’s take a look!
Read MoreNew to Me – September 2024
This post has been a bit delayed, for reasons.
Some of those reasons were me killing a whole bunch of Greek soldiers in Ancient Egypt in Assassin’s Creed: Origins, which is super-addicting right now.
The game, not the killing.
I’m fighting for Cleopatra!
Or something.
Anyway, it’s also been my lack of writing energy as well.
September was a pretty good month for new to me games, which made me happy after August.
It made the Cult of the New to Me happy too!
When they saw that the first new to me game I played in September was from 2012, you’d think they were attending an ancient Roman bacchanal!
We’ll have to see what October brings, with one game day already cancelled.
But we shall persevere!
So without further ado (all of my ado was used for bidding on my lumber business anyway), let’s begin!
Read More
Dude! Take Your Turn! 