Greetings from the PNW

So there are 6 months of posts on a single page in this blog. I recall when two weeks would have rolled over at least once and maybe twice.

I guess that Rob R's meet-up is now how San Antonians are getting their game on?

I'm sure it makes for good times and good games, but it doesn't leave much record, does it?

Fortress America

I never played this. I was just too poor when it came out, but a lot of guys I knew really enjoyed it. It seems that FFG is going to re-release it. Does anyone have the MB version? Did you like it?

While I have been away from the SABG, I have had a chance toplay a good number of TI3 games with my game buddies from my church. Over the past year we have evolved a few house rules that I thought I would share with y’all. They have worked out quite well and would be
interested in your feedback.
·
Hidden Carrier Compliment – For just a few dollars (less than $6), I was able to get some small six-compartment boxes. We mark each compartment with a number and also a corresponding carrier (1 – 4) and war sun (5-6). Instead of placing fighters on the board, we place them in the box. This masks the number of fighters that a carrier has aboard. You would be surprised how well this works!! People now see carriers in a whole new way – does it have the full complement of fighters or just one or two…maybe its empty and just a bluff. The rules of the game
were not changed, just the units on the board. I loved the way this worked out. It also considerably reduces the board clutter.
·
PDS rule modification – A PDS planetary shield
can now effect a war sun similar to the way it effect a dreadnought. Basically the PDS will reduce the number of
dice that a unit (dreadnought or war sun) rolls by one during planetary
bombardment. So a war sun will roll only
2 dice when bombarding a planet with 1 PDS and only 1 dice if the planet has
two. Why this rule? We just thought that even if a war sun could get
past the PDS, it should still at least be hampered by it.
·
Double the amount of Political
Cards: This is only for the second set of strategy cards as these give you more
control over the political cards. Basically every time you draw a political
card, you take two instead. When you play a political card you will also
discard one without playing it. This will give more attractive choices for the
political process. We did this because we all agreed that this just gives us
more choices about playing political cards and we are more likely to use the
political process. It works well.
Before shuffling the objective deck, we photo copy the cards so that the
players can all see what the cards will be. This gives the players a chance to
know what to work for, but not know when the card will come up

Well, I was finally able to get my latest Twilight Imperium expansion
on the table. I don’t think that Shards
of the Throne was as good as Shattered Empire, it defiantly is worthwhile if you
are a fan of the game. But for this
time, all we used were the new Flagship units and the Mechanized ground force
units.

The Flagship was phenomenal.
Each one is quite unique and because they were new to us their effects
were quite a surprise. Interestingly
enough the mechanized units were not used much at all in this game. I was rather disappointed with my own
Flagship of the Xxcha Kingdom – probably the lamest of the Flagships. The Human flagship had an impressive to care
scores of ground troops. This made it a
very worthwhile venture.

We did not try the mercenaries or the new political
system. Some of the buzz I have been
reading about the political system is that it slows the game without adding
much. I have mixed feelings about the mercenaries. My son really wants to try them out, so maybe
we will next time.

I think that I would have been happier with just
the new units. I do want to give the historical
scenario a try one day, but who knows when that will be. I have not read any feedback about it on BBG

Terraclips + Miniatures = Ridiculous

If you haven't seen Terraclips yet, here's a look. I bought the Streets and Buildings set. What's shown is only about 60% of the Streets set; I haven't even punched out the Buildings yet.

They are not Lego bricks; they don't go together instantly or fit perfectly. You need to plan a little before you start throwing things together. The layout shown took about 15 minutes of forethought and an hour of assembly (and that's cheating a bit, since it's a simplification of what's on the Streets cover). Also, the raised levels do not attach to the walls below. This is a feature in that you can lift them off and manipulate figures underneath, but it's less visually appealing than I'd like (notice the slightly levitating tower in the background).

That being said, you can create just about any cityscape with these two sets, up to 3'x3' in area and several levels tall. It should make skirmish games like Song of Blades and Heroes tremendously more fun. Not to mention diorama building. Check out the crossbowman near the stairs, who just realized they are being outflanked.

Dice Tower Plans

Anyone willing to post some dice tower plans here or email to me?

I know Brian hates this but...

I put a post up on the BGG San Antonio Board Gamers guild site soliciting interest in a monthly casual Tichu gathering. If any of you fine readers are interested, feel free to weigh in!

Hey, all, I have a question that I may have asked before but I am not sure. Have any of you played WotR with 3 or 4 players? I have never done this but from time to time consider trying it. When I read over the rules I get the impression that the players who are on the same team would get in each others way almost as much as your opponents - maybe even more so. So as a result I have never ventured to attempt the multi-player version of this game.

Any thoughts or experience with this matter?

BTW, while I am on this do you know if they are still selling the card sleeves for the collectors edition?