Sat Morning Wargames
Steve arrived ready for games @ 8. We had some coffee and Krispy Kreme (thanks, Steve!), and then got down to serious fun. I had set up the game the night before, so we only had to customize our Lore councils and Lore deck, and we were off.
Free Companies
We played Free Companies. I played the "vertical banners" and Steve took the "hozizontal guys". We maneuvered our troops carefully at first with most action happening on the flanks. I advanced my dwarves against his goblins, but he held back, so the burden of advance was one me. On the other side our two armies clashed. Steve did a great job of keeping his troops in supported clusters and wearing me down. I left a few units loose, and he pounced on them hard. The point of no return came when Steve shifted a bunch of units across the board. He was already ahead by several figures at that point, and soon thereafter he won the game. I forget the exact score, but it was something like 6-3.
Tourelles
To my surprise and delight, it was still early, so we went for a second game. We kept the same armies, and Steve tried to storm my stronghold. He had 3 archer units, and he had the great luck to draw two Darken the Skies at the outset. The first two turns I was met with 24 dice of arrows. That served to soften up several of my units, kill one, and build-up a nice pile of Lore for Steve. Meanwhile, I tried to learn from the mistakes of my last game and coordinate my units a little better.
The main battle raged on one flank as Steve went after the strong hold. The other side of the battlefield is constricted by a river, and we didn't draw a lot of cards there anyway, so it was stagnant except for the odd bow shot from Steve. He advanced on my stronghold while my commanders fretted about what to do (I didn't draw any cards there for several turns).
Eventually I executed a foot onslaught that pivoted around, smashing his attack and disrupting his formation. Unfortunately, I had left the edge vulnerable, and Steve took advantage of the opening. Within a few turns my units were isolated and weak, and shortly thereafter they dropped off. By this time he had taken one of the ramparts, and he sent a green infantry forward to the stronghold while the spider swooped in behind. The garrison fell, giving him the 6th pt.
IIRC, the final score was again 6-3.
Final Thoughts
We managed to get in 2 scenarios, and we weren't rushing or pushing. The big key, I think, is that I had set up one the night before, and we collaborated to set up the 2nd. I feel better about the playtime, now.
One of the key things in C&C games is the ability to improvise a plan and take advantage of sudden opporutnities. "Mini-plans" are probably key. Make small building moves while you accumulate enough cards for an attack. It seemed that Steve did a great job of adjusting plans to capitalize on opportunities as they came up.
We debated the relative merits of Lore council composition. Steve pointed out that some cards are really powerful w/ a high level guy, and this was key when I played Al; my Healing Mist was huge because I had a 3rd level cleric. While that's true, probably 3/4 of the deck isn't level dependent. Most of the time there's little benefit in having a 2nd level lore master, except that you do get an extra lore card. At this point, my preference is to have a diverse council, though I may eventually change my mind.
Finally, Steve is a great guy and a great opponent.
Here's looking forward to more Sat morning games.
Free Companies
We played Free Companies. I played the "vertical banners" and Steve took the "hozizontal guys". We maneuvered our troops carefully at first with most action happening on the flanks. I advanced my dwarves against his goblins, but he held back, so the burden of advance was one me. On the other side our two armies clashed. Steve did a great job of keeping his troops in supported clusters and wearing me down. I left a few units loose, and he pounced on them hard. The point of no return came when Steve shifted a bunch of units across the board. He was already ahead by several figures at that point, and soon thereafter he won the game. I forget the exact score, but it was something like 6-3.
Tourelles
To my surprise and delight, it was still early, so we went for a second game. We kept the same armies, and Steve tried to storm my stronghold. He had 3 archer units, and he had the great luck to draw two Darken the Skies at the outset. The first two turns I was met with 24 dice of arrows. That served to soften up several of my units, kill one, and build-up a nice pile of Lore for Steve. Meanwhile, I tried to learn from the mistakes of my last game and coordinate my units a little better.
The main battle raged on one flank as Steve went after the strong hold. The other side of the battlefield is constricted by a river, and we didn't draw a lot of cards there anyway, so it was stagnant except for the odd bow shot from Steve. He advanced on my stronghold while my commanders fretted about what to do (I didn't draw any cards there for several turns).
Eventually I executed a foot onslaught that pivoted around, smashing his attack and disrupting his formation. Unfortunately, I had left the edge vulnerable, and Steve took advantage of the opening. Within a few turns my units were isolated and weak, and shortly thereafter they dropped off. By this time he had taken one of the ramparts, and he sent a green infantry forward to the stronghold while the spider swooped in behind. The garrison fell, giving him the 6th pt.
IIRC, the final score was again 6-3.
Final Thoughts
We managed to get in 2 scenarios, and we weren't rushing or pushing. The big key, I think, is that I had set up one the night before, and we collaborated to set up the 2nd. I feel better about the playtime, now.
One of the key things in C&C games is the ability to improvise a plan and take advantage of sudden opporutnities. "Mini-plans" are probably key. Make small building moves while you accumulate enough cards for an attack. It seemed that Steve did a great job of adjusting plans to capitalize on opportunities as they came up.
We debated the relative merits of Lore council composition. Steve pointed out that some cards are really powerful w/ a high level guy, and this was key when I played Al; my Healing Mist was huge because I had a 3rd level cleric. While that's true, probably 3/4 of the deck isn't level dependent. Most of the time there's little benefit in having a 2nd level lore master, except that you do get an extra lore card. At this point, my preference is to have a diverse council, though I may eventually change my mind.
Finally, Steve is a great guy and a great opponent.
Here's looking forward to more Sat morning games.
Labels: session report
posted by Ted @ 11:59 AM
8 comments
8 Comments:
I want carriage returns between paragraphs, but I don't know how to get it. Ben did it on his dice tower post.
Can anyone give pointers?
That was a load of fun, and I can't wait to play again. The lore cards really add a new dimension to the CnC system; Ted and I managed to work some effective command/lore card combinations. My shooting was well above average, and Ted never got the cards he needed to put pressure on the Goblins. I look forward to many more games, as Ted is an ideal opponent.
I got my formatting problems figured out, but I had to play with it. It seems the format codes are a bit flakey.
Saturday may turn into my new Monday, as I'm getting a bit busy during the week. I'm glad to learn I'm not the only one who can get some gaming in on Saturdays. I'm a morning person too, so we'll have to do some breakfast potluck gaming soon.
I think I like a diverse, low level council myself. I just haven't ever been lucky enough to get the right card when I have a pile of lore in order to successfully implement one of the high-level game breaker cards.
The next time Ted (or anyone else) and I play, and the scenario allows for a "design-your-own-council", I may give a level 3 guy a try if it allows the landmark to be used.
"Balrog wept." :)
So it looks like we had at least two Saturday Morning sessions. It seems that when we meet on Saturdays that the events are planned where-as Mondays are a "Come as you are" type thing.
Steve, I look forward to meeting with you. I hosted a Saturday session at my house a couple of months back and will try to do so again. This school year Mondays are bad for me because of obligations with kids.
Ted, my soone and I have been eyeing Battle Lore, so if you have another Satuday itch to play please rememeber me.
It was good reading your session report.
Steve has been talking about campaigns, and I have the kernel of an idea for 3 linked scenarios. I'll try to work on it a bit this week, and I'll post the results.
Nice report, Ted.
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