Back to the Pacific
Hornsfan and I knocked out a scenario from the new Memoir '44 Sword of Stalingrad battle pack and, as you may surmise from the video, one from Combat Commander: Pacific.
The Stalingrad scenario we picked featured me as the evil Germans, unfortunately without our Zombie auxiliary troops this time, on the attack against a dug-in Soviet horde in a suitably gritty urban environment. I had half the German Army at my back, with support from air strikes and lots of artillery, but I might as well have been beating my head against the wall. Victory went to the good(?) guys, 9-5.
The CC:P game reversed our roles, with Chris' evil Japanese assaulting my dug-in Marines on a hilltop. Despite Chris' well orchestrated advance, laying smoke and spraying my boys with heavy MG fire, I was able to fortuitously draw hidden mines, hidden wire, hidden pillbox.... etc. By the time he had crested the hill, my reinforcements were pouring out the jungle and his troops were breaking. This time the fickle fate deck favored the USMC.
Other tangential news:
- Sold another Axis and Allies: Anniversary Edition copy. This time for $321. I love E-Bay and rich Europeans.
- I have one more WotR Gollum promotional figure (thank you, Spielbox!). Anyone interested, just make me an offer that will save me the trouble of E-Baying it.
- Power Grid Factory Manager, Roma II, and Twilight Struggle Deluxe appeared last night.
- Finally replaced my computer with a Falcon Northwest rig. Okay, Blizzard, you can release Diablo III and Starcraft II now...
- Republic of Rome from Valley Games is theoretically showing up later this week.
Labels: ramblings, session report
posted by Ben @ 5:31 AM
5 comments
5 Comments:
I may order HBO for a couple of months just to watch The Pacific.
Very cool session report - if anyone wants / needs to unload Memoir 44 I'm interested. It's my favorite of this style of wargames, just because of the subject matter.
You've got a good selection of new games - when are you showing up again Ben?
The rumors are true. I saw Ben. He exists.
This session was a lot of fun. Memoir '44 and Combat Commander are both just a blast to play. Some people may not like games so subject to the fickle finger of fate (say that three times fast), but I look at these games largely as creating a great story. The experience feels like a movie, except better, because I have some influence over the events, I have a rooting interest in the outcome, and I don't know ahead of time how it's going to end (see an old session report here for an example). Although all of us like to win the games we play, I don't get too broken up if I don't win games like this because I enjoy the drama of the experience immensely. But I know that about the gameplay going in, and I think that's key to enjoying games like these. You can't take them too seriously.
(...stupid minefields...)
You have to love a game session where the players alternate howling in agony at the ridiculous luck their opponent is receiving, with the Initiative card flying back and forth across the table.
I'll try to make another session sometime over the holidays.
I think Chris is talking about me.... I tend to be on the receiving end of those great random moments on CC. Freaking snipers...
The simplicity of the rules will always be a draw for me too.
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