Memoir '44 On-Line with Vassal: Awesome

I spent a little time recently playing Memoir '44 via Vassal. For those nights when getting out of the house is just not in the cards, dice, or whatever, Vassal is a great tool, particularly for wargames.

Memoir '44 seems to be particularly well suited to Vassal, as its quick, easy, and has a relatively simple set of things to keep track of. A recent upgrade to the program even added all of the recent expansions and scenarios. Apparently this program is unofficially approved by Days of Wonder, under the theory that the more people play their games, the more people will want to buy them.

Hammer of the Scots and a few other games that seem to be of interest to the group are also on Vassal. If anyone ever wants to play some Memoir '44 or any of the other Vassal games, either real-time or PBEM, just let me know.

Enjoy the dark epic space empire theme of Twilight Imperium 3?

If so, then I highly recommend you check out the Metabarons graphic novel series. The series of 13 books is a dark, galaxy-spanning, epic space opera set in the far flung future. The art is fantastic, and the story I found to get better with every page. The books have it all: huge space battles; bizarre, secret factions (ala’ Dune); swashbuckling adventure; and writing with a wicked sense of humor that seems to take pleasure in torturing the main characters of the story.

The series is written and drawn by the team of Alejandro Jodorowsky and Juan Jimenez and was originally a huge success in Europe. After several years, the series was finally published in English and has quite cult following here now. Metabarons has even spawned two spinoff series (The Incal and Technopriests) as well as an RPG.

Anyway, if you’re interested in checking it out, let me know, and I can hook you up with a copy to see if you would enjoy it.

Abandoning the Barony of Letnev

So we played a six player game of TI 3rd edition. I had a chance to command my Barony of Letnev forces efficiently, but my expansion was limited by being surrounded by empty space not too far away from my home planet. This hindered my progress, but we still pushed through. Instead we opted to expand sideways, and even took a planet right from the Emirates of Hacan's feet. From my other flank, I was threatened by my next door neighbors, but we prevailed protecting our precious planets.

Unfortunately I, Barony of Letnev Supremene Commander, was summoned by the Reverend Mother Gaius Mohiam (better known as my wife) from Mother Earth, and was forced to abandon my forces in the midst of Galactic War after 5 hours (6-7 rounds? I lost track).

What happened to the loyal soldiers who fought bravely to uphold our way of life? Who will go to our home planet to tell the families of so many that their fate is unknown? One can only hope that they survived the power struggle, and were at least able to hold on to the few planets we were able to conquer. If you ever meet them in the vast void of space, let them know that they are not forgotten.

Gaming, 30 Nov 2005

Perhaps this is a sign of game addiction, but I hope some of you are interested in getting together to play games on Wednesday evening, 30 Nov 2005.

Unfortunately, I'll be deploying to California for a week with the military starting 4 December, then out of town on business the following week... So, I'm just hoping to get one last gaming fix that will last me for a few weeks.

Who's up for it?

Friday, 25 Nov 2005: A Magnificent Day of Gaming

First, let me say thank you to Amy and Jeff for your kindness in opening your home for three rabid gamers to come piling in. I sincerely appreciate your tremendous hospitality. I had a fantastic time!

Members present: Amy, Jeff, Kendahl, Robert, Ben

Games Played (Winner):

Ticket to Ride Europe (Kendahl)
TTR Europe with five players was very awesome. I felt myself really focusing on each person's plays and making some truly painful decisions. Always a good sign.

Evo (Kendahl)
I would say Evo might have a bit more white-knuckle tension if we played with the variant where there's one less mutation than the number of players. I did think the components were great, and I enjoyed the theme.

Colossal Arena (Ben)
At long last, victory in Colossal Arena was mine! I was dealt a great hand with a good amount of spectator cards. When I first started playing the game, I thought the spectator cards were kind of lame and was hooked on playing the monster powers. Now I understand the value of the specators as pseudo-wild cards, very useful to help out your team of monsters across the board.

Bang! (Kendahl the Sherrif and Amy the Deputy)
Bang! was a blast. I think now that I've played it once, my strategy next time would be much improved. I do find it hard to envision a scenario where the Renegade wouldn't either face two fugitives or two good guys at the end, but perhaps the expansions improve this a bit. It would be especially cool, perhaps, if each person had a slightly different role.

All in all, a fantastic day of gaming!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to each of you and your families. One of the things I'm truly thankful for is nice people to play games with.

I'm returning from Puerto Rico on 12/26!

It's funny , but the title should be "I'm going to....on 12/15!" instead of what it is. The reason is that the geek side of me (and that's a big side) is more excited about the return flight because I'm bringing my brother with me. That means we'll have another warm body to play board games with at least until 1/14/06.


If anything, I'll finally be able to play all my block games (Hammer, Crusader, Rommel...), more Memoir 44 scenarios, Battle Line, Blue Moon.... sweet. Nothing like a gaming buddy staying at your house.

To Grog or not to Grog, that is the question...

Just a little off the boardgaming subject... If anyone else besides me is at all into World War 2 wargaming, you definitely need to check out this game, and its brother Combat Mission: Beyond Barbarossa. I think you can get them both for $30 total now, and they are a real hoot.

Every tank, squad, gun, etc. is rendered in 3-D, though the graphics aren't quite the best. Each player puts in his orders and then watches a 1-minute movie showing what happens next. Then, you put in more orders... kind of hard to explain, but its great fun. If anyone else has or gets these, I'd love to PBEM or on-line.

Kung Fu Fighters or Gorillas with Machine Guns?

Okay, I admit it. Sometimes I have a little fun torturing my wife, Vicki. She isn't a gamer, though she does her best to humor me at times. I love her truly, but I do have fun seeing how far she'll indulge my nerdidity.

For instance, I often play a little game with her where I ask her out of the blue, "Which would you rather have in your army?" A squad of Panzer Grenadiers with a halftrack or a thousand cave men? Darth Vader or Terminator? Michael Jackson or Jar Jar Binks? ...and then I debate with her the merits of each.

One of my favorite comparisons recently is to get her to rate my Heroscape figures. For instance, Gorillas with Machine Guns or Kung Fu Fighters. She usually picks the Gorillas, but I point out that though they have vastly superior firepower, the Gorillas are very excitable and can become very unpredicatable in the heat of battle, breaking things, eating all the food, and eventually shooting up your own HQ with everyone in it. About this time I get an "okay I've had enough," look from her...

Jester: MIA

Anyone heard from Patrick? Did he survive Gencon?

Spontaneous gaming denied

My dad was here this past weekend, but he left early Sunday afternoon. While he was here, we went to the Alamo, and I was also able to engage him in one of my lighter wargames (War of 1812). This really whetted by appetite, so after doing a few chores around the house Sunday, I called some guys who had expressed interest in wargames to find some one to play Hammer of the Scots.

Unfortunately, I found no takers. Bummer!

I have been finding myself fondly recalling the days of high school when it was easy to get together with folks.

My wife's family will be here this week, so I'm out of the local scene, but I'm hoping to convince my brother-in-law to play. I think he'll bite.

Gaming Etiquette 101: Body Parts

Okay, I love hosting gaming sessions at my house, but I really must insist you pick up all bloody, rotten monster body parts from the floor at the end of the evening and take them home with you.

Kendahl: Frankenstein's arm is safe and secure.

Turkey Week Gaming Plan

Here's what I'm looking at this week:

Tuesday: Brian: With multiple other gaming sessions this week, I'm probably going to have to postpone WotR until another night. If I play both Friday and Saturday, I think I'll need the rest of the week to produce good will tokens at home.

Wednesday: Again, I'm going to select the producer role this night, generating more good will tokens.

Friday: I have the space to host multiple tables if people wish to game at my pad. I just have one extra card table in addition to my expandable coffee table, but this should work okay for most games. My only limitation is that I'd need to have things wrapped up by 5 PM. I can start as early as people want, however.

Saturday: I'm still up for it, but if possible I'd like to start early enough that we don't extend into the witching hours... Hopefully we can get at least four players for TI:3. We'll also need at least a 4' x 4' table.

Arkham Horror: Ben takes roleplaying just a little too seriously...

In the game Arkham Horror, you play the role of an investigator, trying to find clues to stop the mysterious happenings in the town of Arkham (which eventually turn out to be an evil invasion from another world).

Well... taking this investigator role just a bit too seriously in real life, I seem to have stumbled upon one of Fantasy Flight Games' secrets, documented here:

Link

Whoops. In hind sight, I feel kind of guilty at spoiling their suprise..., but hopefully they were about to make the announcment sometime soon.

Descent: Journeys into Home Improvement

So there I was... minding my own business... playing with Descent; dutifully punching pieces; checking out all the cool treasure cards; putting the huge monster figures together; and excitedly reading all the rules, when I hear a huge "BOOM" like a cannon going off!

After I convinced my skeleton to run back from down the street and jump back in my body, I went outside to see a gas vent cover from my roof laying at the edge of my driveway about 20 yards from my house, totally bent in, hot, and smoking. Yikes! Needless to say, a repairman was quickly summoned.

The repairman had me climb on the roof and reattach the vent cover while he tried to see what happened. Five minutes later, "BOOM," the poor gas vent cover that never hurt anyone in his whole life was again launched to the end of my driveway. Well, apparently the guys who put our ultra modern, high efficiency furnace in this summer forgot the critical step of making sure there were no gas leaks....

So, returning to my peaceful toying with Descent, I reflected that Varikas the Dead and I almost had more in common than I would have preferred!

1830: An old friend remembered yesterday

Yesterday, Kendahl asked me if I still had my copy of 1830. Unfortunately, I stupidly E-Bayed my copy away about ten years ago when I went through a brief phase where I thought I was done with gaming (between the death of AH and the rise of Euro's... otherwise known as the Magic Era...).

Anyway, Kendahl's question caused me to think a lot about my past love of all games 18XX, but none more so than 1830. This game really was a eurogame before its time. The game had no player elmination; nothing random; an amazingly elegant simulation of stock market manipulation, auctions, and financial double dealing; and a relatively short playing time for its day. This game had it all!

So, I fired up the now freely downloadable PC version of the game and had a great time! After playing the 18XX board games almost every week for a year, I used to be able to totally destroy the computer on its ultrahard AI setting. Now, I had a very tough time just on hard... oh well... it was still great fun. Anyway, I highly recommend that if you ever see an 18XX game at a decent price... buy it!!

Camelot saved for the third time...

Last night I had the chance to play Shadows for the third time. This time for a second there, I actually felt some pressure from the "invisible enemy" that we are all fighting together. But the moment quickly passed and those feelings were replaced by the boredom that comes from playing a semi-scripted game for the third time.

Excitement was replaced by arguments over what the next step should be. Eventually all was quiet while we tried to end it. Instead of staring at the board, I was staring more at my watch. The game kept draggin on and on... only to end by winning once again fighting an imaginary enemy... weepie, woohoo.

This left me wondering whether coop games can be as good as regular "confrontational" games. Personally, I like to stare at my opponent in the eye while I play my next killer move. I enjoy being surprised by an unexpected move by my opponent as well. To be fair, I won't generalize and say "all coop games are bad". I'll try to play others like Arkham Horror before I make that kind of a statement.

I just feel like the randomness and the element of surprise you get when playing with a real opponent, can't be emulated well with a scripted game. The card system tries, but I think it fails.

The reason why I love T+E so much is the same reason why I'm not enjoying coop games. T+E is like chess where you learn a few basic rules, but the possibilities are practically limitless. T+E, like chess, is a tabula rasa where all players are free to create whatever they want.

Riddler: Turkey Weekend

Okay... looking at the table below I'm a little concerned... it looks like the group is splitting down the middle as to who can play Friday and who can play Saturday. Maybe two separate game groups that weekend will work best. Also, I'm sensing perhaps just a tad less than wild enthusiasm about spending a whole day on Twilight Imperium 3.

I can realistically play on one day or the other. Friday's much better for me just because its a work holiday and my wife is working, so there's zero scheduling conflict with family activity. So, I guess what we really need to know is:

1. Are you definitely committed to showing up on one of those particular days? Which day?

2. What do you feel like playing? One big, long game? Lots of shorter games? Any particluar game(s)?

Big Daddy

Okay, I've finally come to the realization why I was having so much trouble with the wimpy unicorn! The perfume scented Unicorn? Bah! Doesn't Barbie have a pet unicorn?

The Ettin is the choice for manly men. Just look at 'em! He's rough. He's tough. He even smells bad. This guy definitely doesn't bother to shave on weekends. When he wants to play board games, well he darn well plays them. Two, three times per week? Just try to tell him no! Monopoly? Pictionary? I don't think so.

On top of that, our boy even plays two cards per turn! True, he doesn't have the bloody blow or the fiery breath, but he can take keep his eye on both of them at once.

Yep, I'm backing this guy...

Oh so tempting indeed...

The One Ring...the one chance to play... my Precious indeed.....TIME that is.

So yes, War of the Ring rulz. It is a cool game, and as I mentioned before, I had been trying for over 4 weeks to play it. Time is such a precious thing. So I finally did... but the price I paid. My fellow comrades sent the Nazgul to haunt me and curse me with an afternoon of couch-potatoing.

Instead of bidding for priceless art, and moving monsters around, or slaying unicorns ruthlessly, I simply chilled.

Kidding. It wasn't that bad. I catched up with LOST, and tried watching Invasion for the first time. It sucks. No better time than quality time with your frien.... wife.

After Action Report, 16 Nov 2005

Attendees: Amy, Jeff, Ben, Kendahl

Games Played:

• Modern Art: My first time playing the game, which I tremendously enjoyed. I loved the psychological aspects of the game, while also enjoying the need to keep an internal profit/loss projection meter running in my brain. Based on my performance, my meter needs a bit of calibrating. Kendahl kept quiet, buying very little and selling a lot at huge profits as the rest of us perhaps overbid just a bit.
• Colossal Arena: I took great pleasure in killing the Unicorn with a zero-strength Serpent card. Take that! Alas, both Kendahl and I didn't count on Amy using the Ettin's double play power towards the end of the first round, and we missed out on making secret bets. Kendahl again pulled out a victory, using the Cyclop's "bloody blow" power to much effect throughout the game.
• Fearsome Floors: Oh, victory was so near I could actually taste it... but no! As two of my Adams family members were rushing towards the exit, Kendahl sacrificed one of his team in order to turn the monster on mine, killing them within mere steps of victory. After cursing the injustice of it all, I guided my remaining guy, Uncle Fester, back across the board. Again, victory was in range. But no again! Careful play by Amy kept me from positioning my man in range of the exist before hers could make the final dash. A close, well-played game by all.

My Precious...

War of the Ring. Robert's recent reports on how good the game is had me reading over the rules a bit today. I really can't wait to play the game. Heck, it was fun just messing around with the little plastic figures, reading the cards, staring at the board... I almost found myself calling the game, My Precious... yikes! Now to find the time...

Fearsome Floors Haiku

Scary green monster
Kendahl’s cool game from the Con
Ben’s meeples eaten

The Mythical Gaming Wife

Legend tells us of a fantastical creature, mentioned only in hushed tones around campfires and empty pizza boxes during late night game sessions, known only as the Gaming Wife. Does such a creature truly exist? Its doubtful, but here's an image, purported to be the only time one has actually been caught on camera.

Game Plan for Wednesday, 16 Nov 2005

This week's gaming session:

Emergency Change of Plans:

1. Ben will step up to host.
2. Directions have been e-mailed to the group. I have the guest house set up for gaming. Just walk down the driveway, past the main house, towards the gravel pile (slightly smaller than 2 weeks ago…) and you’ll see the front door.
3. Start time is 7 PM.
4. My cell number is 849-4257. Work is 536-5523.
5. I’ll have my game pile, but bring anything else you might like to play.

This week's theme: War of the Ring, a game or an addiction.
Alternate theme: How to turn your spouse into a gamer.

Hope to see you there!

Turkey Weekend Game Planning

To hopefully make this more efficient, here’s a table showing who’s available when:

Name	25 Nov	26 Nov
Ben	Yes	Yes
Patrick
Jeff	Yes	No
Amy	Yes	No
Kendahl	Maybe	No
Brian	No	Yes
Ted	No	No
Robert	Yes	Yes

I can’t remember who else is available when… though, I think Ted is booked. For me its just about getting together and gaming, so if the group would rather play something besides Twilight Imperium: 3, just let me know. Another possible crowd pleaser would be Descent. Just post comments to this Blog posting, and I'll keep updating the table.