Sword of Rome

Some friends and I got together recently to try out GMT Game’s CDG about the early Roman Republic, The Sword of Rome.   This was the first time playing this for all of us so it was very much a learning game all around.   I drew the Romans, actually the Greeks but agreed to swap with another player, long lost  SABG member Carlos drew the Etruscans and two other players took the Gauls and the Greeks.

The Gauls opted to go first throughout the game.  Their first action was to propose an alliance with the Etruscans which was accepted and held through most of the game.  The Etruscans with their limited reinforcements spent most of the game building up their forces, while the Samnites used their mountain lair to harass everyone.  The Greeks spent the early game sparing with Carthage and driving them out of Sicily.  The Rome tried to stay neutral while building a defensive ring of cities. Unfortunately, the Gallic-Etruscan alliance made this impossible.  Rome was quickly brought into conflict with its neighbors as the Gauls attacked its outlying cities.

The early attacks on Rome meant I had to burn a lot of my cards activating leaders and rebuilding my forces. This left little time to build colonies or deal with the Volcii.  Constant attacks by the Gauls wore down the Romans and eventually Rome itself was sacked.  The Gauls opted to take the victory point instead of occupying the city.  With Rome focused on the Gauls and Etruscans, the Greeks evicted Carthage from Sicily and started conquering the southern Italian peninsula.  At that point we had to call it a night and everyone made a last dash for Victory Points.  I think the Etruscans actually won by blitzing into Gaul territory to claim a victory city, but it was late so I’m not sure of that. 

The Gaul-Etruscan alliance was something that surprised me and I still don’t know if it was a rookie mistake or a brilliant move on the part of the Gauls.  I kind of learn toward brilliant as it enabled them to deal with the Trans-alpine Gauls without worrying about their backside and it kept Rome in check from the beginning.  In the endgame Gaul would have to crush the Etruscans since that is the best way for them to gain VP—looting Etruscan territory—but they can do that easily enough after the Roman threat is neutralized.  This is because Rome can build walled cities (colonies) while Etruria cannot and the Romans receive more reinforcements.   

It was an interesting game but I really didn’t get a chance to see if I liked the game or not.  We spent a lot of time struggling with the rules, partly because I didn’t learn them well enough ahead of time and partly because of a poorly written rulebook.   I felt like we didn’t understand what we were supposed to be doing and how to acquire territory.  It seems like the heart of the game is contained in the Political Control (PC) rules but they are not well written or as the Tao of Gaming called them, “opaque”.   I felt like this really detracted from the game.  I was able to locate a player’s aid for the PC rules on BGG and I would recommend anyone playing this game get a copy beforehand.

I think I need to play this game one or two more times to get a good feel for it before I decide if I like it or not.  I give it 6.5/10 on the BGG rating system.

Its On!

Hornsfan and I are squaring off in an epic struggle for island domination via GMT's Combat Commander: Pacific (via Vassal). Above you can see the initial set up of our randomly generated, 1945 scenario set in Okinawa (since Chris selected the super powered Okinawa Company).

I'm the attacker, with a good portion of the USMC at my back. Chris is the defender, with lots mines, wire, trenches, and bunkers. As an added bonus, we both have lots of flamethrower equipped troops, so things should get very crazy at some point.

We're now about two turns in, with some long range sniping taking place on both sides as I crawl up through jungle in the south. I ended up with artillery denied, and Chris now has a 150mm division battery at his disposal. I really need to break that radio....

I'll keep you posted as we proceed. Happy holidays!

Kicking it, old school

Scott arrived first, so we broke out the elder statesman of the Command and Colors system -- Battle Cry, the minor battle of McDowell, part of the Stonewall Jackson campaign (released as a supplement for Origins and GenCon in 2000). I took the outnumbered but aggressive union forces and got off to a decent start ... having 6 cards to 4 helps, but I had to discard one card each time I lost a flag. The early skirmish saw each side lose two units, a nearly broken union infantry rushing off the front lines to resupply helped keep things even. As the battle ground on we were tied 4-4 (first to five wins) and I held a reinforcements and a counter-attack. When Scott played an attack left, my counter-attack would be useless ... so I summoned my cavalry to threaten the center, but it was a bluff. The confederate attacked the center and broke the Union's will.

Tiffany had arrived, so we broke out my recently re-assembled copy of Gargon. Dropping a card game inside the big red bag (which has support rods and a surprising number of nooks and crannies) meant that it took me a year or so to find and count all the cards. Gargon is a big game of bully. All the cards show their suit on the back, and players can either play cards face down to battle or draw cards. In battle, high card wins but low cards score better. So the first player may lay down (say) a pair of two red cards. The next players can lay down any pair or draw cards. The last player can play or follow, but can't play any new suit. So the penultimate player may notice "Hm, nobody has played gold, and the last player doesn't have two gold, so I'll play the Gold zero and gold 1, and they'll win and score!". Like I said, picking on the weak.

Tiffany and I had 96 and 98, while Scott bullied us by about 20 points.

Next we had to herd the shy animals into the Ark. As always, for most of the game timid creatures had literally no space they'd enter (because of fear of carnivores, even if safely in another cabin). The end of the game had a burst of provisions placed, which meant the shy animals suddenly had cabins away from the carnivores. So of course shy carnivores were loaded first, scaring the rest of the shy animals. In the end, I snuck out a small victory, partially thanks to having placed lots of slow animals early on. This time we also managed to save the unicorn and dragon.

We also played the "Almost Citadels, but reversed" game of Castle. I really do need to think of a variant to make soldiers more interesting, but I still like the game.


Finally, Tiffany and I flicked moose across a river.

Crom, Count the Dead.... Age of Conan the Board Game

"Hither came Conan, the Cimmerian, black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand, a thief, a reaver, a slayer, with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth, to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandalled feet.

Jon (Stygia), Michael (Turan), Steve (Hyperboria), and I (Acquilonia) faced off today in the new Age of Conan board game. This was a learning session with a few minor asterix and all of us only having a vague understanding of final victory scoring until the very end. Still, what great fun!

Jon led his evil Stygians to quickly woo the southern kingdoms under his banner using intrigue actions. This netted him a huge pile of gold, but few VPs. He also seemed to constantly have a monster pile of sorcery tokens, all very true to theme. His army became slightly bogged down in the politically incorrect kingdoms, but he was able to control Conan to his great advantage most of the game.

Steve, the undead Hyperborian overlord far in the icy North, built an army worthy of Mordor composed of his giant sorcery spawned giants. However, when he marched them out of the snow and into the desert, they did their best Frosty the Snowman imitation and spent at least three full turns deep in a quagmire. Steve too had a respectable performance with Conan, raiding his neighbors much our chagrin.

Michael, the whirling dervish from the East, made the best use of his emmisaries, and launched an impressive golden spearhead of troops across the board at me. Unfortunately, when I counterattacked all he had left was a few camels and an unguarded harem or two, scoring me my one and only Crom counter.

I pretty much ignored Conan the whole game, though I did convince him to follow the path of righteousness for one adventure headed down towards the kingdom of political incorrectness. Instead I girded my loins and focused on building an iron curtain of client states around my kingdom, heavily garrisoned against any foreign adventurism.

Still, Jon was able to crown Conan the King of Stygia, severely crushing our chances of victory... or so we thought!

In the end, it was my successful boring of my opponents during rules explanation that secured my triumph. After 15 minutes of lecture they begged me to start the game, skipping discussion on the finer points of the final victory scoring mechanics. At the end of the game all conquered territories you were able to retain are re-added to VP total. As I had done the most conquering, this propelled me to the lead.

Overall our Age of Conan game was a very enjoyable experience, and one I very much look forward to repeating. Now that we've played, I think we'll have a much tighter, hotly contested military game next time.

Thanks, guys! Great fun.

Introducing Friends to Gaming

One of my friends came over tonight for a nice introduction to some Euro gaming. She has heard me talking about this mysterious gaming thing that I do, and is contemplating some Monday gaming, but wanted to try some things out first. So she came over for some snacks and gaming goodness. After looking at my collection, I wanted to give her a sampling of gaming, without bashing her over the head with stuff. She liked the look of Puerto Rico and Notre Dame, but since it was the two of us, i decided against it. I also didn't wanna attempt Agricola, though the thought did cross my mind, and I was quite tempted. So after all that inner monologueing we I decided that perhaps starting with Fjords was a good idea.

Sandra caught on quickly and won one of the three rounds, but the final round was very close. I ended up winning by one space. (much to my relief (sadly))

We then moved on to Cartagena, a nice little game of pirate debauchery. We ended up playing two games. I pulled ahead quickly in the first game, and she did not get her people out fast enough. In the second game she won, pulling all her people into the boat before I could get my last two there.

Then I decided to move onto something with more depth. Something near and dear to my heart. Tikal. And she liked it (much to my happiness. the more people who will play it with me the better). We ended up two final points about.

And so, Sandra said that she would be in touch about gaming. So I might start bringing a friend. :)