BoardGameGeek Recent Additions (session)

Space Hulk - Breaking In - or a tale of comedic errors that aid the foul stealer menace

bolter — 2008-11-20T09:24:39+00:00

Evening all and welcome to another space hulk session report. The mission played was Break In, the first mission of the Last Stand campaign which can be found in Space Hulk Campaigns (or the old White Dwarfs if your collection goes back that far).

The missions that make up a few of the campaigns collected in campaigns really need to be played as part of a campaign as the initial missions are quite easy for the marine player. During these missions it has been my experience that the stealer player seeks to inflict casualties that will hinder the marine player later in the campaign rather than hoping to 'win' the mission.

I have decided to write up this mission as I felt it shows the fun that can be had playing stealers. Many people can be found on this site and others complaining that playing the stealers is dull and is really only something that you do while you are waiting for your turn to play the marines. This is not the case, playing stealers is fun once you develop some tactics and get a feel for the rhythm required to use them effectively.

Ok, enough ranting, let the session report begin. In this mission the marine player (a veteran with numerous games under his belt) is trying to stem the flow of stealers into a marine outpost by securing a hole that has been torn through the hull of the station. The entry point is in the left most room, next to the door due south of Benghazi on the Rommel in the Desert map visible under the space hulk tiles (old school wargamers will recognise the other map sandwiched between the two games).

The marine player has a single squad with a sergeant, an assault cannon, a guy with lightning claws, and two terminators with storm bolters. We made a mistake during the game and forgot that the assault cannon didn't have a reload (I blame too many deathwing missions).

Turn 1
The marines began moving out. The assault cannon would lead the drive up the centre with the lightning claws moving in to keep him safe from any stealers that managed to find a way to close the distance. The two storm bolter dudes advanced up either flank. I guessed that they would advance slowly, making sure to stay on overwatch to prevent stealers breaking through and threatening the assault cannon from the rear...

When I checked my five starting blips a plan formed. One of the blips was a genestealer hybrid armed with a conversion beamer! This lethal heavy weapon is unique in that it does more damage to heavily armoured targets and kills terminators on a shocking 2+. If I could keep the squishy hybrid carrying it alive long enough to get LOS on a marine without being overwatched (hybrids die on a roll of 4+) then I could smoke a few of the emperor's finest. I decided to target the marine advancing at the corridor along the bottom as this would keep my forces out of the assault cannons fire arc. If I could eliminate this marine quickly then I could outflank and kill the others.

The genestealer conga line...

The marine began their slow and steady advance, spending command points to push forwards the terminators in the center and placing marine on the flanks on overwatch.

My hybrid was in position to be revealed, advance, and open fire by turn three but was likely to be blown away by the overwatch fire of his intended victim. This problem was solved by having a few stealers dance around in his LOS, forcing him to take shots until his stormbolter jammed. The first two died but the third managed to cause the jam and leg it back to safety.

The terminators final shot before jamming...

Now safe from being ripped to shreds by a storm of bolter fire the hybrid revealed itself and moved into position (note: I used a hybrid with a missile launcher as a sub for the conversion beamer). With only enough action points remaining for a single shot the hybrid managed to roll a 2, just enough to vapourise its foe.

With this marine eliminated, the way was now open for a flanking maneuver that would hopefully allow the assault cannon to be rushed from both sides and killed. This was necessary as a frontal assault on the cannon would most likely result in the stealers being weakened to such an extent that they would be unable to halt the marine advance.

By turn 6 the marines were in position to rush the stealer entry point and end the mission. Blocking this advance to buy time for the flanking forces to get around was the next step to crushing the imperial defenders (or at least causing a few more casualties).

A mass of stealers with the conversion beamer armed hybrid lurking ready to strike promised to cause the marines a little anxiety.

Obviously short of command points the marine player choose to advance only the terminator with lightning claws, covered by the assault cannon on overwatch. This was a major mistake. Distracted by the many blips crammed into the corridor, the marine player had forgotten the hybrid! The genestealers moved out of the way (a few rushing forward to force the assault cannon to burn some ammo) and the hybrid was able to claim its second victim.

The terminator visible in the background and the assault cannon armed terminator just around the corner prevented me from gloating too much. The hybrid did not have enough AP to move back into cover and was certain to die if a marine could get a bead on it. Flooding corridor with stealers and hoping the marine player wasn't able to get the assault cannon into position open up with a full auto burst (that could potentially kill all targets within its firing arc). Unless the marine player was hell bent on vengeance then the assault cannon was not likely to use autofire as it would have used all five rounds remaining in the clip and bought it within range of immediate retaliation by stealers hiding around the corner leading to the stealer entry point. At the end of the stealer turn the situation look like this:

Unwilling to sacrifice his assault cannon, the marine player formulated a plan of Baldric level cunning (it was real turnip). With six stealers, an unrevealed blip, and the terminator slaying hybrid within attack range, he decided that a terminator with a storm bolter and the assault cannon would be able to hold back the imminent flood of stealers. Silently I gloated.

Unfortunately, the plan was much more well thought out than I had realised and the combined firepower elimated the first four stealers without a hitch (although it did leave the assault cannon with two shots in the clip). Loathe to move the stealer shielding the hybrid, I revealed the blip, a single hybrid, and dashed him forward. Luck was with me and the marine player rolled double sixs, enough to kill the hybrid and jam! I promptly moved the hybrid's meatshield out of the way and warmed up the conversion beamer. A third terminator melted into nothingness.

Alas, that triumph marked the beginning of the end for the genestealers. The assault cannon moved around the corner and shredded the hybrid that had done so much damage (he had inflicted more casualties than all of the other hybrids in all of the games I have played put together!). The sergeant moved into position to pick off the flanking force who were running a little late.

Stealer blood flowed as the two survivors carved their way through to the stealer entry point and secured it, ending an interesting game.

Pax Romana - Session of First Play

Rindu — 2008-11-20T00:39:49+00:00

Note: this is a session which took place in December, 2006.

My last “quiz” (they take an hour) in Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin left me feeling like I was beaten severely with a bat. So I definitely needed some down time, even though this is the end-of-semester crunch time. Thus, Pax Romana! My copy came in a little while ago; Clint knew someone who might be interested in playing more complex wargames. I asked one of my collegues if he were interested, but he balked at the invitation, in spite of having expressed some interest in wargames (or at least, he said they sounded cool). But I happened upon Philip, a graduate student in Computer Science, who was interested.

So we all got together yesterday. I set up scenario #5 and figured that we would just play a couple of turns. I hadn't read all the rules, Philip hadn't yet seen them, and Clint hadn't read them. Ironically the one who knew the game best, it seemed, was James, who has never played a wargame before—I remember at one point, one of us was trying to find something in the rules, and he said, “oh, that's rule 3.4” (or whatever it was). I've played tons of wargames, but I found myself turning to him for rules questions! Also Philip didn't shy away from Pax Romana's 40+ page rulebook, but eagerly delved in and we all worked on explaining and interpreting the rules. I must say that this was one of my favourite (war)gaming sessions, ever.

There's still hope for wargaming, that's for sure.

We drew chits to pick sides randomly. Clint drew Rome, Philip Greece, James East, and myself Carthage. Surveying the positions, I remarked that Greece seemed to be in the most precarious situation, being wedged in between Rome and East. I was so very wrong, it turned out. We played two turns, and by the end of those two turns, Rome had been captured by Greece and every last one of her forces annihilated. Philip pulled this off without any help: I didn't attack Rome at all. Instead, I subjugated East Sicily and several Spanish provinces and built a few towns. I ended up with the most Vps, 18, while Greece had 16, East had 7, Rome 0. James began the game by steadily marching across Anatolia and driving the Greeks out. Turn 1 ended with him poised to crush Greece, since Philip was embroiled in Italian conflicts. However, the Bagdad Booty Call totally changed things. Successor wars broke out, and Philip moved that behemoth army off to Egypt to fight the other East army. This gave him the freedom to really press home his offensive against Rome, and it paid off for him.

This of course changed James' strategy, since both of his Armies were in Egypt. An invasion of Carthage seemed appealing. He gathered his navy and sent it along the coast to Carthage. He also got "Alliance with Rhodes" which gave him more squadrons. I was soon faced with a large navy all up in my business. It was clear to me that he was hoping to cut my army off in Sicily while his land forces moved west and struck at my undefended home provinces. Pretty sophisticated thinking for a newbie. Unfortunately we only played the two turns so the war between the East and Carthage went unfought.

There should be more wargames like this. This game is very well done. Overall quite simple and streamlined but complex enough that it still felt wargamer-ish to me. And 4 players is actually quite a plus. It's nice to hang out with a bunch of highly intelligent peoples.

Zombie in my Pocket - Shortest game. EVAR.

tiggers — 2008-11-19T22:35:13+00:00

I just thought I'd pop a quick game of ZimP in and that's exactly what it turned out to be: quick!. You know how some games you pull EVERY tile and you run out of time?

Well this time it went like this:
Foyer where nothing happened then on to the Dining room where 2 zombies were waiting. After beating them I cowered and then moved on to the next room to find the Evil Temple. There I found an item (the candle), and of course the totem. I went back through the dining room where I found another item (oil), which is odd because I hadn't noticed it on my way through earlier. Next stop out onto the patio, where nothing much happened again. From there I could see the graveyard just a few steps away! In the graveyard 4 zombies where loitering but were quickly disposed of using the oil and candle. After that with plenty of time I buried the totem.

That's it - finished by 10:26p with 6 health and after pulling the smallest possible number of tiles! Seems too easy, but then it often goes completely the other way. Managing the chance is one of the reasons I like ZimP. I doubt it will happen again - I wonder what the actual odds are of completing the game with only 5 tiles in play?

Dominion - To Mine or not to Mine

jarratt — 2008-11-19T21:32:38+00:00

Date: 19/11/08
Players: 4
Games Played: 2

Intro
I had heard a lot of buzz about this game (as well as some negative opinions) but given that basis was collectible cards and deck building I was certainly interested to give it a try. I don't play much in the way of ccgs now but I have in the past whittled away many an hour playing ccgs or honing decks for them.

Obviously Dominion plays a little different than that, you are collecting cards to add to your deck but you do it through resources. It is essentially a nice little development game with some touches that help a leader run away with it. Normally in a resource growth game you can spiral out of control, here though if you buy too many victory points then you fill your deck with stuff you can't use.

Obviously this isn't intended to be a review of the game, but what I found interesting in the two games we played was how you need to work to keep your deck flowing. I'm sure there is some depth there in terms of playing and learning how to maximize points while keeping your deck functional. On the other side though, I wonder exactly how much enjoyment there is for playing what is essentially a solitaire game over and over. That said, here are some of things we learned.

Game 1
Deck: Beginner
Length: 45-60

How useful are actions?
It was the first game for all four of us, so none of us had a clue. Peter explained the rules and we started. As first we were drawn in by the allure of the actions. You get to play 1 action a turn so having them seemed like a good idea. In most games your first 2 draws will likely be 3 gold/2VP and 4 gold/1VP, meaning you can buy a 3 and 4 cost card. I think we all bought some combination of 2 actions though the actions varied.

The thing we found that was with too many actions and not enough gold in your deck you would get turns where you stagnated and did nothing. Rarely you might get a Villager, Market, +3 Draw and something else you might be able to do stuff with, but more often than not you would end up with not enough money to buy anything decent. So obviously you want actions, but trying to figure out just how many is the tricky part. For the most part the actions all seem great.

Mine or Market
These are the two big cost action cards in the basic set-up and various people took them in different ways. I decided that Mines were great and I would use them to increase the value of my money. What I failed to realize was that the newly developed money went straight into ones hand, which might have made a huge difference to my game if I had done that. Take for example that I would mine a 2 gold card into a 3 gold card. I could then have used the 3 gold card to buy another 2 gold and been 3 gold up in my deck. What ended up happening was that while I increased my money values I didn't add enough new gold to my deck and was still stuff with too many actions, often not being able to afford the big VP.

I tried to compliment the Mine strategy with Cellars which I thought were great for cycling through your VP cards and getting back to your money. Lance complimented his Mines with Markets and praised them heavily throughout the game. I think the advantage of a market is that while it is an action it is also essentially a 1 gold card. Any of the other cards that add + Gold work the same way. Peter, while he did get a Mine later, used mainly Markets to power his earning strategy, and Frog had way too many actions in his deck to make much use of them all. Like I said I think finding the balance in the combos and the action cards and how many you need in your deck is one of the secrets to the game, but not necessarily one that actually needs other players.

When is it too early to go for VP
I started much earlier than either Lance or Peter at getting VP and picking up the big 6VP cards. I think my failure to play the Mine in the proper way hamstrung me a bit, so it is difficult to know whether I was too soon or not. There were certainly many times when I had to settle for the 3VP instead of the 6VP because I didn't have the cash. Additionally the 3VP ran out quite quickly because all four of us started taking them as the game started to wind up. That left the 6VP as the cards to get and they seemed more elusive, especially to me. This is where the +1 Gold on the markets paid off for Peter and Lance, and where my failure to use the Mine effectively really hurt me. They could get over the 8 cost hump for the big VP while I couldn't.

Final Scores
Lance: 36
Peter: 35
Jarratt: 30 (just one more big VP)
Andrew: less

Game 2
Deck: Big Money
Length: 30

The Bureaucrat
So the Soldier had seen a little play in the first game but not as much as the Bureaucrat saw in the second. Basically a card that slows down your opponents and gets you a 2 gold card to use next turn has to be good right. Well I'm not sure about that but nevertheless we all bought them and bought them fast, so they were the first card stack gone in this game. I know I had 3 of them. There was talk about using one of the other cards to actually get rid of ones 1VP cards to avoid the negative affects of the Bureaucrat.

But the one time Lance was going to do it he had both his VP cards put back on top of his deck thanks to the Bureaucrat. As the game wore on the Bureaucrat saw a little less use as other actions became more valuable. Most notably the Chancellor who was basically a +2 Gold card and very handy for getting over that 8 cost hump to the big VP.

The Other Actions
The Adventurer looked good and while I was able to buy it the only time I actually saw it in my hand was at a time when it really wasn't useful. The Mines took a back seat to the Merchants this time and I discovered the power of the +1 Gold, but as I said the Chancellor was equally useful in the regard. None of the other actions really stood out for me in the Big Money set, but that might have been because I was determined to not buy too many action cards.

Big Money and Final Scores
The game definitely did have a lot of money in it. Twice during the game I had 12 Gold to spend but could only buy a big 6VP and the rest went to waste. If I could have bought a 1VP during one of those times I would have won. In end though Peter beat me on the tie breaker by virtue of playing 1 less turn than I did.

Lance wasn't far behind and had bought a lot of 3VP cards compared to Peter and I who had bought three 6VP cards each. Once again Frog wasn't sure when to start collecting VP, which is probably another one of the skills of the game. He did do better than the first game though.

Peter: 30
Jarratt: 30
Lance: 27
Andrew: 20

Final Thoughts
While the game was enjoyable enough I can't help but be left with a feeling of having gone out to a games evening and playing solitaire. It didn't help that we followed Dominion up with Race for the Galaxy. I also felt a distinct lack of combo orientated cards, deck control and take that moments. I think the basic concept is fantastic but I kind of wish a more combative game had been made out of it. Even the idea of a Thief, Spy, Witch, Soldier, Bureaucrat set didn't really seem like it would solve the fundamental flaw of 4 players building solitaire decks full of VP to see who could build one the best.

Chicago Express - Further Wabash Explorations

doubtofbuddha — 2008-11-19T18:09:38+00:00

I effectively have four different gaming groups. One group is the Wednesday night board gaming group that meets at Coolstuff Games. This is made up of a variety of different players each with different game preferences, ranging from Ameritrashers, to Eurogamers, to Card and Abstract players, all the way to Magic players, with a bit of crossover between them. The second group is made up largely of people who are in my RPG group and general social circle. We typically play Race for the Galaxy before and after RPG sessions but also play other games on occasion. I tried After the Flood with two of them last week, and we have played Arkham Horror, Agricola, and Pandemic on occasion. My third and fourth groups are really a variation of my “weekend gaming get together.” One is made up of people who generally prefer shorter games and like to get in quite a few such games in a single sitting. The other prefers heavier, meaty games with some lighter games in between. There is some crossover between these groups, but this is mostly how they stand.

I had already played Wabash with the shorter game group, on Sunday and had ended up borrowing it from its owner. On Tuesday we were going to meet for role-playing when it was discovered we had forgotten to invite one of the players and he was going to be unable to make it due to schoolwork. Whoops. Luckily, everyone who is in my “RPG group” who likes board games wanted to stick around at least for a little while. We played a few games of Race first before I suggested we play Wabash. They were agreeable, so we got started on the first of what would turn out to be two games that night.

The first game ended up being less interesting than the second. Initial bids resulted in my purchase of the Pennsylvania, Glenn’s purchase of the B&O, Josh’s purchase of the C&O, and Scott’s purchase of the New York. For the most part everyone just played with their single companies. There were fierce fights to maintain stock in the initial companies each individual bought into, and everyone tended to work on their own to get to Chicago. In the next to last turn the dam finally broke around the same time Chicago was hit. I bought into the C&O, Josh reciprocated by buying into the Pennsylvania. We both paid for this under the premise that the game would last a bit longer. It did not. When Glenn hit Chicago, I got into a similar, fierce bidding war over the Wabash. When it started to approach $20 in value, I realized how close we potentially were to the end of the game and jumped out. That ended the turn, and when it came back around to me I put the next share of the Wabash up for bid, resulting in another winning bid for Glenn and ending the game. Because none of us were prepared for the end game, it was thrown to Scott, who had not gotten into the expensive bidding wars of the previous turn, resulting in him getting a $42 dollar win. I came in second, and Glenn came in last largely for sinking $30 into a railroad that only paid him back $2.

The second game was far, far more interesting as they had finally gotten a feel for the game. The game opened with me winning the Pennsylvania, Glenn (to my left) winning the C&O, Scott winning the B&O, and Josh winning the New York. I immediately bought into the B&O and together Scott and I started rocketing the railroad in the direction of Chicago. This expansion ground to a halt once Josh forced his way into the railroad not once but twice. With my owning only a single share in the railroad it was no longer worth expanding. Scott agreed and used his money to buy into the New York, making himself an equal share holder. I took this time to expand the currently unexpanded Philidelphia up into Harrisburg and to finally break through Glenn’s hold on the C&O to get a share of my own. I also capitalized the Philidelphia hoping its measly $8/turn would not be valuable enough for the other players to bother bidding. I was wrong, and Josh bought a share for himself.

At this point I had shares in three of the four open railroads, and was making a reasonable amount of money on each. Scott had a minority share in the B&O and an equal share in the New York, and was mostly working to expand the New York. Josh had the majority share in the B&O and an equal share in the New York and the Philidelphia and was working by himself to expand the B&O towards Chicago. Glenn had a majority share in the C&O, but that was it. However, due to his efforts to move the C&O towards Chicago, it seemed likely he would get there first, and he did giving him (and me) a nice little injection of cash. I bought a share of the Wabash Cannonball for $17, after a careful look at the end game conditions to make sure I would get my money out of it.

The final stage of the game involved me running the Wabash to Chicago and then Detroit (resulting in its value hitting $15) and the other players alternatively developing and expanding their railroads. Eventually it became clear that the end game was going to arrive. Josh, Glenn, and I had been running neck and neck on money for awhile, but Scott was clearly out of the game. At this point his actions were mostly helping Josh. (Grrr. I was trying to get him into the position where he would mostly be helping me at the beginning of the game. Oh well.) There were no stocks of the B&O left and 1 stock left each of the Wabash, the Philidelphia, and the New York. After calculating exactly how much money I could bit on the New York and still make a profit I started an auction, jumping out at just that point and watching the auction go to Josh. At that point Glenn looked at the two options and put the Wabash up for auction. Scott ended up buying the $15 share, ending the game.

When the final General Dividend was performed and the money was counted up the final scores were $111 for Josh, $109 for me, and $106 for Glenn. Scott was significantly lower. By choosing to auction off the Wabash, Glenn had thrown the game from me to Josh.

In post-game discussion Glenn told me that if I had auctioned up the Pennsylvania first he would have auctioned off the New York. His goal was to hurt both of us much as possible and by me auctioning off the New York, the biggest amount of hurt he could do was to auction of my Wabashian money maker. His goal of course, was to knock us both down enough that he could pull off a win, but he was unaware at that point that he was just out of reach of victory.

Regardless, it was a very good game and packed quite a punch for an hour session. Everyone came out of it with a great deal of enjoyment. (Except, Scott, I think; I forgot to ask him.) It is rapidly becoming one of my favorites, and while I doubt it will topple any of the games in my top 4, I expect I will be playing it quite a bit.

Dominion - My first Dominion Sessions (4 player games)

KillerPower — 2008-11-19T13:34:24+00:00

This is my very first session report for BGG, so please feel free to give criticism, help, notes or anything else, which could help me improve my next reports.

Last weekend I had my first two sessions of Dominion. We were four players (Maik, Sebastian, Michael and myself) of which only one (Maik) had played the game a couple of times. I have to note, that we played the german version, so maybe the names of the cards I mention aren't completly right… Sorry for that!
After explaining the rules, Maik told us that there is a standard setting which should be used for the first game and so we did.

In the first couple of turns Maik, Michael and I were buying some Action Cards. Sebastian on the other hand kept buying money. Maik told him, that he will loose if he doesn't get any good action cards, but Sebastian continued buying money… He told us that he just wanted to see, if this will work or not.
As our card-decks were growing, the three of us battled for the last villages to get some extra actions and also began to buy some money so that we were able to get provinces. Sebastian finally got some action cards (the ones which will let you discard a money card to get a better one and which will let you buy more cards). Then he began to buy provinces like mad! He had around 10 money every turn and most of the times he were even able to buy provinces when he had only 3 cards on his hand. Maik really wondered about that and Sebastian made fun of him, that his turn lasts for two minutes with all those action cards he were playing and in the end the only thing he were doing is buying a province.

In the end Sebastian won with a couple of points before Maik.

In the second game we picked the action cards at random. The first thing we realised was the fact that (beside the Market, Council (???) and the Cellar) no action cards gave additional actions. The other cards were the lumberjack (additional buy and two money), the garden, the council (???) (draw 4 cards, all other draw one card), the workshop and the militia (every other drops down to three cards). Can't remember the rest, sorry…
I just thought, that the garden is quiet funny and decided, to work my strategy around this card. I bought money and a couple of lumberjacks and markets, which gave me plenty of copper (which comes for free). I also laid my hands on a province or two. Because everyone had one or two militia in his deck and there weren't any counter card for them, everybody had only three cards on there hands. Especially in the first couple of turns, where you get really fast through your deck.
After the rest realised what I want to do (and after all markets and lumberjacks were sold out) I began to buy gardens. The other three tried to stop me and bought a couple of gardens themself. In the end I managed to get 5 gardens and had over 60 cards in my deck. I won that round!

As i said earlier: This were my first two rounds of Dominion and I really like it. I do hope that I will be able to play it again soon.

World in Flames - Scandinavia in Flames 16: US Declares War on Japan; Caucasus Cleared Out

wifwendell — 2008-11-19T12:29:11+00:00

Here is the game report for our new trans-Pacific game being played via Vassal - July/August 1942. Previous turns at end below ====. There has been an unusual amount of fighting in Scandinavia in 1939-41, hence the name for the game!

The players: Stewart - Allies
myself - Axis. (actually, as of July/August 1942, this is a SOLO game)

Rules: We're using most of the normal options (partisans, etc), SIF, PIF, new MIF, divs/guns, terrs, Cruisers in Flames, 2d10 combat, "Stalin's War" Soviet production (+.25 in '42 OR when Germans declare war; '42 city mods become '43, '43 city mods deleted), Izzy's EZ oil rules. We are also trying Devin's victory point system, and Italian and Japanese surrender. We are using LOC Vichy. We are also using the errata from the Annual as well some of the optionals including Offensive Points rules, randomized naval losses (NOTE: we COMPLETELY forgot we were using randomized naval losses!), revised Chinese attack weakness, lending limits, and face-down aircraft rebasing. No ITPOTE, no DSB, no warlords, no Convoys in flames.

JULY/AUGUST 1942 - US DECLARES WAR, INVADES FINLAND. GERMANY TAKES ASTRAKHAN AND BAKU, COMPLETES CONQUEST OF CAUCASUS

On a sweltering July 2 afternoon, President Roosevelt invited Senator Arthur Vandenberg to the White House for a private meeting that lasted over two hours. Vandenberg looked angry and flustered when he left Roosevelt's office, but the next day the Senate again moved to declare war on Japan, and this time Vandenberg stood in support. The Japanese were not happy, but neither were they particularly surprised, and there was no significant action in the Pacific in a stormy summer.

Meanwhile, Mannstein and Runstedt efficiently eradicated isolated Soviet forces caught between Tiflis, Batum, and the Turkish border; Mannstein's German and Turkish armies then assaulted and this time captured Baku on August 1. Farther north, Rommel assembled his forces, with Luftwaffe reinforcements coming from the Caucasus, and launched an assault on Astrakhan. That Caspian port surrendered on August 22.

As of September 1, the Soviet Union holds the Urals (where most of their relocated factories are now) and Siberia over to Chita. Leningrad is still in Russian hands, as is Vologda, Murmansk, and Archangel. In unusually rainy summer weather, a new German headquarters headed by Kesselring was set up near Pskov and Novgorod, and German mountain units freed from Caucasus duties began to rail towards Leningrad.

Following the fall of Baku, Roosevelt got Congress to issue a separate declaration of war on Germany and Italy, and Brazil joined the Allies. An American expeditionary force led by Eisenhower landed in Karelia and took Petsamo from the Finns; other US forces began to cross the Atlantic towards Britain.

(Comment - with two consecutive '10' weather rolls, this was a very short summer turn, only 3 impulses per side. In some games a short Jul/Aug '42 can be crippling for Germany; in this game it was not, in part because of the LONG July/August '41 turn...)

BP lost: USSR 43, Commonwealth 10, Germany 8.

=============
SEP/OCT '39: Germany takes out Poland, Denmark. CW forces land in N Denmark, isolated by German subs. US occupies Iceland/Greenland. Japan whacks a Chinese cavalry corps.

NOV/DEC '39: Germany destroys British forces in Denmark, conquers Hungary. Japanese commit Rape of Chang Chow. US authorizes Chinese aircraft.

JAN/FEB '40: Rumania joins Axis after Soviets claim Bessarabia; Axis attacks Bulgaria. Japan bloodied in attack; atrocities in Chang Sha. Terrible weather in Europe. US interns French carrier. CW builds up in Egypt.

MAR/APR '40: Italy declares war on France. Germany routs Belgium. Bloody stalemate in south China. More CW units to Egypt.

MAY/JUNE '40: French pushed out of Belgium, lines begin to break. Italians conquer Tunisia. US resources to China. Japanese attacks in China get nowhere.

JUL/AUG '40: German onslaught continues. France collapses, sues for peace. Free France set up in Madagascar; most French possessions are Vichy except Asia, Pacific, Americas map territories. German assault on Sofia fails. Germany invades Norway (turn ends too soon). Japan gains territory east of Chungking. US gives CW destroyers.

SEP/OCT '40: CW reinforces into Norway, Norwegians fend off German assault. Sofia still holds out. Bomber Command hits Germany. Japanese assault in central China goes nowhere. US bans strategic materials to Japan.

NOV/DEC '40: Germans capture Oslo, but British reinforce Norwegian ports. Bulgarians repel another German/Rumanian assault. Japanese push forward in Chinese mountains. US announced Lend Lease for China.

JAN/FEB '41: Gort goes to Norway. Germans streaming into Poland from France. US authorizes resources to USSR. ZERO losses on either side - lots of bad weather.

MAR/APR '41: Minor Japanese advances in China in heavy fighting. Germans FINALLY take Sofia, conquer Bulgaria. Soviets begin to pull out of Poland, reduce troops along Manchurian border. USA freezes Japanese assets.

MAY/JUNE '41: Germany declares war on USSR, takes Kiev, Dnepropetrovsk, Minsk, Vilnius, Riga (Odessa, Vitebsk hold out). US authorized lend lease to USSR, fleet to Pearl. Stalemate in Norway. No Japanese progress in China.

JUL/AUG '41: Germans bust through the lines, roll into Moscow, capture Rostov, Stavropol, approach Stalingrad and the Caucasus. Japan attacks USSR, takes Vladivostok, Khabarovsk. Germany and Italy declare war on Greece; Axis attack on CW-reinforced Athens fails. CW and Italy STILL not at war. US sends Lexington, Yorktown, battleships to Pearl Harbor.

SEP/OCT '41: Soviets abandon Stalingrad. Germans approach Caucasus; no combat on Russian Front in wet weather. Axis attack on Athens fails, again. British bombers sink Scharnhorst in portl. Japan pulls back from forward positions in China, align Siam. US first gear up.

NOV/DEC '41: Germany declares war on Netherlands. Japan declares war on Commonwealth, invades Ceylon, Netherlands East Indies, Malaya, Hong Kong. Another Italian attack on Athens fails. Yugoslavia joins Allies after CW reinforces Greece. Germans capture Smolensk pocket, approach western approaches of the Urals. Soviets put a line up in the Caucasus. Japan captured Blag-city. USA
announces lend lease to USSR, impose oil embargo on Japan.

JAN/FEB '42: Poor weather. Japanese land on coast of Australia between Melbourne and Canberra. Imperial Japanese Navy sinks 2 CW carriers in Arabian Sea. All quiet on Russian Front. US second gear-up.

MAR/APR '42: US fails 3 declaration of war attempts. Japan quits Australia. IJN sink Italy conquers Greece, finally. Rain in Russia.

MAY/JUNE '42: Italy declared war on the Commonwealth, sank the Ark Royal. Turkey joined the Axis; Germany and Turkey took Tiflis, but the Soviets held out in Baku. Germany took out Yugoslavia. CW declared war on Vichy France, occupied Syria. US Senate refused to declare war.

Memoir '44 - Air Pack - WF 05: First Wave at Omaha

ColtsFan76 — 2008-11-19T04:17:12+00:00

I don't usually post session reports unless a game stands out as something special. After 160+ plays, not many are out of the ordinary. Tonight was different as I continue to get comfortable with the Air Rules.

FelixPhantasm put out a call for a long term "campaign" on Vassal. It would be a host of the revised Air Pack scenarios loosely based on the "Band of Brothers." We are meeting on Tuesdays with him as the Axis and I left with the Allies. Tonight, we continued onto our second match and wrangled in Omaha.

The Axis opened up with a Barrage and I thought for sure I would not get to play with the Destroyer this game (seems anything unique is always destroyed before I can play with it). Instead, an Armor in the middle was targeted but managed to survive. Wanting to focus on the Artillery so I wouldn't be subject to potshots all night, I Counter-Attacked and scored one hit on the gun on my right.

The next couple of rounds were duds as I struggled on my Right to take out that gun and he struggled to do much damage on the Infatry wave on my left. But my Probe Left and an Infantry Assault finally broke his other gun and gave me a solid beachhead. The retribution from the pushback was severe but I managed to keep my bloodied infantry from falling apart.

Over the next couple of turns, his baseline center units were able to relieve his right flank and scored his only two medals of the game. With a General Advance and a Close Assault held onto from the beginning, I managed to clear his last Infantry on the Sea Cliffs on his Right and take out the last Artillery on his Left. I took the lead back with 3 medals to 2. This also set up my armor for an Assault I had been sitting on since the initial draw.

He played Their Finest Hour and I expected to lose the tanks before my plans could be finalized. But another poor roll only activated one Infantry and I shrugged off his attack. I then let loose the tanks hoping to tear up the rest of his reserves. But the tank pushing through the E-1 gap stalled out after only 2 hits. The tank pushing in D-1 only managed a single hit. No overruns to report and I expected his second Direct from HQ orders to punish my tanks for pushing so far inland and getting surrounded. But poor rolls plagued him yet again.

I focused on Vierville-sur-Mer hoping to pick up two easy medals and another from casualties along the way. Armed with a handful of Attack Right cards, I knew I could sustain a final push for the win. This time, the tank was able to roll some flags, and while only hitting a 4-figure infantry twice, gained the high ground and forced both weakened infantry units to move into town. The Axis decided to go on the defensive and began to Dig-in. Vierville-sur-Mer was entrenched, or so he thought.

All through the game, I was contemplating my Air Sortie card and how best to use it. Strafing seemed the obvious choice, especially as I was eyeing that 1-figure artillery during the first several rounds. But I held off while I chewed on the Ground Interdiction and Ground Support options. With the Dig-in card, it appeared that Ground Support was my best bet. Instead of measley pot-shots on the 1- and 2-figure units, I could negate the bags and town bonuses and use my ground forces to clean up.

I played the last Attack Right along with the Air Sortie. The P-38 was called in behind enemy lines while my Ranger unit and veteran tank rumbled towards Vierville-sur-Mer. With the P-38 giving support, the armor chased the 2-figure Infantry into the corner as he took ground and grabbed a medal. The rangers finished it off with their own 2-Flag attack that made the last infantry retreat into oblivion. With 2 medals gained on that attack, the game was over, 6-2 (with casualtiesa more even 18-17 in case we need a tie-breaker at the end).

I have been slow to use the Air Rules so perhaps my excitement is a bit naive. However, I really like the subtle changes that it brings out. Having the option to pick between 3 different air "attacks" also presented another level of strategy. With Strafing, I would have ended up with 5 dice. Ground Support gave me the same amount but also offered the removal of the flags - which proved the key move in this roll. The Air Pack has proven to be a good value in the few games I have played. But tonight was the first night I got to see the Planes shine while in action. And it was good.

Sorry! Express - Express is an understatement

droberts441 — 2008-11-19T01:21:40+00:00

I just picked up this game last weekend. Tonight, I played my son for the fourth time, and I had about the fastest game (all time) I have ever played.

My son picked Green (his favorite color), and I picked Blue.

My son rolled first and his three (3) dice were: two (2) "Sorry!"'s and one Green. I thought I was looking good. His "Sorry!"'s were useless since I hadn't even gone yet, and I didn't have anything on my Home wedge to steal. He grabbed a Green pawn off of the Start, placed it on his Home wedge, and it was my turn.

I rolled a Blue, a Wild, and a Yellow. I promptly took two (2) Blue pawns off of Start, and placed them on my Home wedge, and took a Yellow pawn off of Start and placed it on my Home base waiting area.

A good start, let's see what I can do.

My son then rolled three (3) Green, and promptly placed them on his Home wedge and declared victory.

Game time: a minute at the most.

I just shook my head, and thought to myself: "That would be good session report for this game. "

In the other games of this we played, including a couple after this one, it wasn't that fast, but this is not a game you have to worry about it taking a long time.

My son likes this game, and I don't mind it at all.

It was a perfect game to play while we were watching Monday Night Football.

Bolos and Krags The Philippine American War 1899-1902 - Bolos AAR

Gangrel — 2008-11-19T00:00:47+00:00

OK here is a second play of the game, I'm shifting to telling it in a more story based way since I think the last AAR focused on the system.

Turn 1

Nov-Dec 1899

USA PW 80

PR PW 60

OK, so far Gov. General Elwell Otis has declared victory in the Philippine Insurrection(which started mid 1899). Unfortunately, the war is far from over and the Philippine Republic under President Emilio Aguinaldo just shifts to guerilla tactics to try to defeat the Americans.

The situation on the ground at the start of late 1899 is the US effectively controlling Southern and half of central Luzon. Manila is under US control but the Philippine Republic control a few nearby provinces namely Batangas and Cavite. The rest of central Luzon is mostly contested with footholds by US and PR forces. Northern Luzon however is firmly under PR control.

So the first moves the U.S. tries to eradicate the PR strongholds in Batangas and Cavite but the guerillas are elusive and the US do not find any. The guerillas in central Luzon however try to infiltrate past the US cordons with minimal success contesting Laguna but looses Francisco Macabulos in a anti guerilla sweep in Tayabas.

US hold in North Central Luzon becomes more solid with the US establishing control over most of North Central Luzon with PR hold outs in Bataan and Zambales. A major battle ensues for control of Bulacan results in the death of Gen. Lawton and Pablo Tecson. Bulacan however is still a warzone and contested.

The PR solidifies its grip on North Luzon practically controlling most of it. However Pangasinan is USA controlled while Nueva Vizcaya is contested.

Casualty tally for turn 1

USA 5 companies

PR 13 companies

Turn 2

Jan-Feb 1900

USA PW 90

PR PW 64

The New Year sees an exuberant USA fully confident it can defeat the PR rebels.

Northern Luzon is solidly under PR control. Central Luzon is more or less under US control but the provinces around Manila is unstable and the PR controls a few provinces in Central Luzon. Southern Luzon is solid under US control.

33 Shadow Government, PR establishes underground Shadow Governments all over the Philippines in order to resist American domination gettin an extra Strategic chit in the process.

The US gets 80 RPs(80 million dollars in 1900) war budget from congress to stamp out the PR rebels. The PR gets 3 RPs(3 million) from taxes.

US sends 26 companies to Luzon.

Basically the campaigns to clear Luzon of insurgents did not really change much. While the PR insurgents got a terrible beating, they also inflicted significant US casualties. In fact the worse was the death of General William Kobbe in Nueva Vizcaya which saw him go up against El Presidente himself and his best General Miguel Malvar. Gen. Kobbe was outnumbered at least 3-1 and faced rifle carrying PR troops of better quality than usual and was outmaneuvered as well. Gen. Kobbes battalion was severely mauled and 1 company managed to escape. The PR however lost Malvar and half of his troops in the battle. Also significant but less so was the battle for Pangasinan which saw Juan Cailles stall an offensive by Col. Howze inflicting significant casualties on the Americans.

Total casualties for Turn 2

USA 9 companies

PR 33 companies

Turn 3

Mar Apr 1900

USA PW 70

PR PW 54

General Elwel Otis steps down as Governor General of the Philippines and retires claiming the war in the Philippines is won. General Arthur MacArthur takes over and warns in a secret report that the war in the Philippines is far from over and there is no light at the end of the tunnel.

13 Mindanao PR guerillas intensify their efforts in Mindanao forcing 4 USA companies to be taken off the game(redeployed to Mindanao).

US Congress approves a 40 RP(40 million dollar 1900 money) extra budget for the war.

PR gets 3 RP.

Another American drive to destroy the PR rebels results in failure. An overconfident Col. Funston walks into a carefully planned PR ambush and is almost destroyed, Col. Funston survives but most of his battalion is destroyed.

The US however manages to establish a foothold in North Luzon by controlling Nueva Vizcaya. Central Luzon is basically under US control except that the rebels have just run from concentrations of American power and set up somewhere else retaking Pampanga. Bataan also goes back to PR control. However not all is lost as the Americans manage to secure the areas around Manila but the rebels run and establish strongholds in Batangas. Tayabas becomes contested.

While deemed a failure. The PR guerillas have taken a beating again but not as good as last turn.

Casualty figures for Turn 3

USA 9

PR 25

Turn 4

May June 1900

USA PW 54

PR PW 70

President Mckinley pulls out all his influence in Congress for them to approve a 60 million dollar budget for the war.

The PR gets 4 RP

Casualties

USA 13

PR 23

Probably one of the worst months of the war for the US, a PR offensive in Tayabas mauls a US regiment, US counteroffensive which floods the area with many US troops manages to inflict some guerilla losses but on the whole teh PR guerillas melt away into the jungle.

However, the US manages to clear rebel strongholds in Batangas, and drive deeper into Northern Luzon.However, US control on North Central Luzon is weakened by guerilla infiltration.

Turn 5

July-Aug 1900 Typhoon.

USA PW 32

PR PW 64

General Order 100 General Macarthur twists this civil war code of conduct on treating civilians and captured enemy soldier to his own ends.

US congress approves 20 mil for the war but is strained in doing so since its becoming costly in money as well as bodies.

PR gets 3 RP.

US sends 5 companies to Luzon.

The US congress is starting to get unhappy with the war so far. and the US elections are coming up in the next few months.

General Capistrano leader of the PR in Mindanao surrenders due to US and Moro pressure.

The PR offenisve taking advantage of the heavy typhoon rains fail. while taking some provinces in North Central Luzon. His offensive in Southern Luzon is a failure. US manages to inflict heavy casualties on the PR. The US counteroffensive doesn't do much either as the Typhoon rains bog down US transports as the dirt roads turn to mud.

Casualties:

PR 36

USA 8

Turn 6

Sept-Oct 1900 Typhoon

USA PW 35

PR PW 57

Partido Federal: A Filipino Pro American party is formed from Ilustrados and meztizos which provides an alternative to the Philippine Republic.

Casualties

USA 10

PR 19

1900 US Elections

President William Mckinley: 1 mil + 5.5 mil + 315,000 = 6.815 mil votes

William Jennings Bryant 5 mil + 930,000 = 5.93 mil votes

The US offensive & low recruiting manages to tremendously damage the PR cause. Worse still, President Mckinley gets reelected to a second term and the war continues and the PR looses 8 PW due to their heavy expectation of a Democrat win.

However the US suffered more casualties than usual and expected a better casualty exchange, anyways the US offensive manages to clear Southern Luzon of PR guerilla infiltrators but Sorsogon remains contested despite heavy US presence.

Central Luzon however sees an increase in PR control despite the lower numbers of PR guerillas and leaders on the ground.

Northern Luzon has seen more penetration by US troops under the command of Col Kennon(you know Kennon road for those who know Baguio) expedition into Lepanto aided by local native guides.

US PW is low but the US gov. has reckoned it has to continue the war in order to win.

Turn 7

Nov-Dec 1900

USA PW 22

PR PW 56

War in the Visayas seems to get worse, 2 US companies are redeployed there.

Casualties

USA 2

PR 15

The US offensive has proven to be a success which brought central Luzon solidly under US control. There is some guerilla prescense in Souther Luzon and the US has made some significant gains in Northern Luzon.

Turn 8

Jan-Feb 1901

USA PW 44

PR PW 34

Because of significant gains. US congress approves a 40 million dollar budget.

PR get 2 mil.

USA loss 8

PR loss 12

More disaster for the PR. The latest US offensive has regained control of Central and Southern Luzon and made gains in controlling Northern Luzon.

Turn 9

Mar-Apr 1901.

USA PW 52

PR PW 21

Another successful USA offensive nearly takes all of Northern Luzon under US control.

In the end only President Aguinaldo is holding out in Abra.

USA losses 5

PR losses 18

Turn 10

On Turn 10 mid 1901. President Emilio Aguinaldo was captured in Ilocos Norte by General Luther Hare with the help of the Macabebe scouts after a tremendous and desperate battle.

PR looses 20 PW and the PR PW is zero.

Game ends in a major US victory.

USA losses 6

PR losses 5

Bolos and Krags The Philippine American War 1899-1902 - Bolos & Krags AAR

Gangrel — 2008-11-18T23:55:57+00:00

Looks like the final development of Bolos is happening and the game is being readied for a 2009 release from Fiery Dragon(probably mid to late).

Now here's what the AAR of the final version is like.

OK here is a second play of the game, I'm shifting to telling it in a more story based way since I think the last AAR focused on the system.

Turn 1

Nov-Dec 1899

USA PW 80

PR PW 60

OK, so far Gov. General Elwell Otis has declared victory in the Philippine Insurrection(which started mid 1899). Unfortunately, the war is far from over and the Philippine Republic under President Emilio Aguinaldo just shifts to guerilla tactics to try to defeat the Americans.

The situation on the ground at the start of late 1899 is the US effectively controlling Southern and half of central Luzon. Manila is under US control but the Philippine Republic control a few nearby provinces namely Batangas and Cavite. The rest of central Luzon is mostly contested with footholds by US and PR forces. Northern Luzon however is firmly under PR control.

So the first moves the U.S. tries to eradicate the PR strongholds in Batangas and Cavite but the guerillas are elusive and the US do not find any. The guerillas in central Luzon however try to infiltrate past the US cordons with minimal success contesting Laguna but looses Francisco Macabulos in a anti guerilla sweep in Tayabas.

US hold in North Central Luzon becomes more solid with the US establishing control over most of North Central Luzon with PR hold outs in Bataan and Zambales. A major battle ensues for control of Bulacan results in the death of Gen. Lawton and Pablo Tecson. Bulacan however is still a warzone and contested.

The PR solidifies its grip on North Luzon practically controlling most of it. However Pangasinan is USA controlled while Nueva Vizcaya is contested.

Casualty tally for turn 1

USA 5 companies

PR 13 companies

Commands & Colors: Ancients - Rundown of my solo plays, C3i #20

badweasel — 2008-11-18T23:16:06+00:00

These scenarios did not seem as well balanced as the ones in C3i #19. In two of these scenarios, Rome has a definitely better chance of winning. Castrum Album entirely depends on whether the Carthaginians can prevent a Roman unit from exiting. Once this occurs, the heavier Roman units can focus on beating the weaker Carthaginian units. Still, the scenarios were fun to play, especially Iliturgi with its odd setup.

Cissa Hanno made sure his line held on the hills for the first half of the battle. They were severely outmatched and it would be the only way to challenge the superior Roman forces. Unfortunately, Hanno became impatient and moved his flank units that were not on the hills forward to try and establish a forward position. The Roman response was swift as the cavalry routed the weaker Carthaginian units. Scipio saw an opportunity and forced his cavalry to move behind the Carthaginian line. This proved too tempting of a target for Hanno to resist and he moved some of his units off of the hill to take advantage. Rome responded by rushing several units to the foot of the hills. Hanno now realized a Clash of Shields was going to occur next turn, why else would the Romans stall for a turn? Scipio unleashed a devastating Clash the next turn completely annihilating several units from the hills for the victory.

Rome 6 - Carthage 3

Cissa Hanno was much more cautious this time, trying to resist the bait the Romans set out for them. Scipio would leave a wounded unit a hex away from the Carthaginian medium and heavy infantry trying to draw them out. Hanno was able to hold for a while, but once the battle became closer he could no longer resist. I mean, look, it was an easy banner right there! I can just pull back to the hill next turn. It will be easy! Unfortunately, this was exactly what the Romans wanted and they kept using bait to force the Carthaginians to move. If they did not grab the banner when the could, the Roman left flank was slowly eating its way through the hills. In the end, this effective move helped Rome to their victory.

Rome 6 - Carthage 4

Iliturgi The battle opened very awkwardly. Rome focused more on harassing the units in the camps trying to weaken them down before moving in, while Carthage tried to bring Mago's forces into play. Hannibal was apparently sleeping the entire battle as none of his units moved at all. The ranged fire by the Romans was pretty effective, severely weakening the auxilia on the hills. Unfortunately, the initial Roman charge did not go so well as two dice out of every attack managed to roll a sword and a flag versus the camp hex units. Eventually the continuous attack wore down the Carthaginian units and Rome was able to take two of the camps. Carthage tried to swing luck to their side through a well maneuvered cavalry charge that failed to do much damage at all. After Rome resisted the initial attack they slowly pushed back the remaining Carthaginian units in the center till victory was theirs.

Rome 8 - Carthage 5

Iliturgi Rome took a very early lead as the Scipio brothers took apart the weaker Carthaginian units in the center. The massed legion troops helped support this aggressive attack. The battle began to turn when the Carthaginian left entered the battle forcing Gnaeus to respond or lose his flank. This conflict was fought to a stand still, but most of the fighting was still in the center. The Romans eventually spearheaded an aggressive attack to take two of the camps at the cost of spreading their forces out. Hasdrubal tried to take advantage by using his elephants to clean up isolated units, but there was too much damage already done and Carthage fell soon after.

Rome 8 - Carthage 6

Castrum Album Publius reckoned that he would need to quickly push some light units off the map in order to claim some banners and satisfy the victory conditions. Unfortunately, the Carthaginian command was prepared for this. Hasdrubal instituted a devastating cavalry heavy offensive that smashed the Roman line to pieces. This of course was helped by two consecutive Mounted Charges followed by a blue unit to finish off the weakened line. Rome also had a good shot at clearing a unit from the battlefield, but Hasdrubal made sure no units approached his side of the battlefield.

Carthage 6 - Rome 1

Castrum Album After witnessing the destruction last time, Scipio decided to really push his right medium cavalry forward to get them off the battlefield. The unit managed to survive several attacks from the Carthaginians and was able to get off the map, clearing the way for a Roman victory. Once this was done, Scipio focused on beating the crap out of the Carthaginian mounted units who were out of place after a failed mounted charge. The constant pounding took its toll and eventually all off the mounted units broke and fled giving the Romans a nice victory.

Rome 6 - Carthage 4

Sylla - Sylla - Session Report

gschloesser — 2008-11-18T22:54:16+00:00

NOTE: My full review of Sylla will appear in the upcoming issue of Counter magazine. What follows is an abbreviated version.

Sylla was considered the unquestioned leader of Rome in the century prior to the birth of Christ. The game that bears his name tells the story of Sylla’s impending abdication, and the resulting power struggle to assume control. Players represent Senators vying for power, but having to deal with a bevy of natural disasters and demands of the people. The player best utilizing their power and finances to deal with these problems and satisfy the people will rise to the throne.

The ultimate objective in Sylla is to acquire status points, which are earned in numerous fashions. Striking the right balance between these various methods is critical to one’s success.

The board does a fantastic job of graphically depicting the game’s phases and the actions that occur within each one. Indeed, after a turn or two, there was virtually no need to return to the rules, as the board made everything very clear.

Players will acquire characters and buildings during the course of the game, both of which will help them in their pursuit of dominance. There are six types of characters – merchants, legions, senators, vestal virgins, and slaves – and each can either be used to help purchase buildings, or be used during a specific phase of a turn. If a player uses a character in one phase, it is unavailable for future phases that turn. Deciding when to use a character is one of the toughest choices in the game.

Each turn, player will participate in seven phases, including the recruitment of new characters, purchasing of buildings, dealing with events and famines, and constructing “Great Works”. Each character in a player’s employ is useful in certain phases, and buildings help provide additional flexibility in terms of income, food, and other useful abilities. Dealing with events is quite clever, as players will attempt to exert influence in dealing with these events, hoping to reap rewards and prevent the most damaging ones from occurring. Of course, players often have competing interests, so there are often furious power struggles during this phase.

The Great Works phase often holds the potential of great victory point rewards, but players must compete in contributing the most to their construction. This is done with Senatorial votes and, of course, money. Conserving these for this phase is important, but they are also so often needed in other phases of the game.

At the end of each turn, players must feed the Roman people and deal with any crises that erupt. Failure to do so can cost a player dearly in victory points.

At game’s end, Rome converts to Christianity and players will earn additional victory points for Christians in their employ, as well as freeing slaves. Further, the value of the three different types of Res Publica tokens is tallied, and the player with the greatest number of victory points emerges as Rome’s new leader.

Sylla offers an abundance of what I enjoy in strategy games. There are decisions to be made in droves, and making one decision often means sacrificing potential gains in another area. This makes the decisions tough, and sometimes agonizing. It also has that “spinning plates on poles” feel, wherein you are frantically trying to manage a variety of tasks and aspects at once, with an ever-present danger of one or more collapsing to the floor. Further, there are a wide variety of viable strategies to pursue, with dozens of different building and character combinations possible.

There are many games wherein cards can be used for a variety of possible actions, and players must choose how best to use each one. I am a big fan of this mechanism, and it is used to great effect here. A character can generally be used to help purchase buildings or render their special power in a specific phase. Using them in one manner eliminates the possibility of using it in any other fashion that turn, which is a costly sacrifice. It can be gut-wrenching deciding when to use the various characters. And, of course, there are still the buildings, events, Great Works, Res Publica tokens and other factors to consider!

Ystari has developed quite a reputation of publishing deeper strategy games. Personally, I have enjoyed every one of their games, and most of them rate very highly with me. Sylla has not been an exception, and is destined to take a spot amongst the top Ystari games to date.

When reading the rules, I thought I would have a problem explaining Sylla, as they appeared to be somewhat confusing. In particular, the set-up seemed quite involved. I am pleased to say that, in practice, this proved a cinch, and the board actually made following the sequence of play extremely intuitive and easy. The only omission that I can see is the failure to provide a marker to designate the First Consul.

It was interesting to see the various strategies that each player pursued. Rhonda’s was the most obvious, as she secured numerous senators and stalls. This gave her a superior position in terms of votes and money, both of which are needed to determine the First Consul and aid in the construction of the Great Works. My strategy was centered on Vestal Virgins and, to a lesser extent, legions, as I angled to grab as many rewards from the events as possible. Ryan, with an eye on the end-game scoring, had a considerable number of Christians and slaves in his employ. Mark’s approach was a little more difficult to discern, and he initially suffered due to a lack of wheat fields. Ultimately, though, he obtained a sizeable number of buildings, and used every opportunity to grab Res Publica tokens.

Rhonda’s strategy allowed her to burst out into an early lead, which she expanded in the second round. Fortunately for her, the famine level remained low throughout the game, and was never a major concern. As the game progressed, we began closing the gap, and all of us had hopes of overtaking her in the final scoring of Res Publica tokens, Christians, and slaves. Alas, we fell just short, but the scores were extremely close.

Finals: Rhonda 75, Greg 72, Ryan 71, Mark 70

Ratings: Greg 7.5, Rhonda 7, Ryan 7, Mark 7

Magic Realm - Trying to find the beauty buried beneath a ton of rules (Teaching Session 1)

Grumpf — 2008-11-18T22:52:43+00:00

This is the story of me learning Magic Realm and trying to introduce it to some of my friends. The story got quite long without telling too much about the actual game (we played less than one week). If you are looking for a thorough session description with great battles and cunning maneuvers, look elsewhere. This is the story of some MR noobs struggling with the game system

Getting and learning the game

(This section is not really important if you want to know how the session went. Feel free to skip to "The Session". Otherwise, read on and learn a little bit about my personal fight with the rules book)

I bought Magic Realm at OMGEssen2008 without knowing much more about the game than "Those people who manage to learn the game think it is always a blast".

Of course i was eager to try it out, but i had to learn the rules first. The volume of the rules book is intimidating (The game came with Second Edition rules, but i used the third edition rules i found online). Many chapters, paragraphs and sub-paragraphs explain every detail of the game but fail to give a good overview. So, after having a somewhat brief look into the rules, i decided learning from these documents would be impossible.

Other "beginner" help files like "Magic Realm in Plain English (MRIPE)" and "The least you need to know to play Magic Realm" helped somewhat, but still left me with many questions and a general feeling that i would not be able to play or even explain this game.

But then i stumbled over the excellent MR videos from Lawrence from BookShelfGames (link can be found in the "Links" section of the game). The contents of these videos is basically MRIPE read out and enriched with videos showing the stuff and actions described. Somehow, this was exactly what i needed. After viewing all 6 videos and a sample character video, i felt confident that someday i might be able to play this epic game

I downloaded RealmSpeak and had some fun and some frustrating moments seeing all of my solo characters die within 2 weeks. At this point, i decided i was ready to go.

I wanted to use Dan Evans redesigned monster chips, which I had learned to like during some RealmSpeak sessions, so i printed them on sticky paper, pasted them onto cardboard, cut them out and sealed it with acryl spray.
Also, i redesigned the appearance chart with some ideas from the discussion of Karims (great!) Redesign.
]]>

The Session
Two weeks ago, the big day had arrived. I gathered three friends and braced myself. None of us had played an epic (3+ hours) game before, and I was curious wether the would like it or not. I prepared the Setup Card and the map in advance, and seeing the complete setup on our big gaming table was very rewarding. I planned a "beginners version" of MR, without magic, natives and PvP. Additionally i did not want to use the character history sheets (actions should go "on the fly" by group communication).

After giving a short introduction, I started with explaining basic character vs. monster combat, using examples as often as i could. This took about an hour. Some 10-20 minutes later, the rest of the basic rules (available actions, turns and terrain) was explained and we were ready to go. We selected some non-magic characters (White Knight, Dwarf, Woods Girl and Swordsman). My friends formed a team, and I decided to go soloing (playing the Dwarf) and decided to go soloing just to show that it was not absolutely neccesary to team up.
The group went into the mountains, learning the basics of hiding and searching while fighting off 2 snakes on the way. They went on and discovered the Lost Castle (3 treasure sites) on the next tile, disturbing a resting dragon. The Woods Girl saved the day with a lucky roll in the first round of combat, so the path was clear to loot the first site. The Dwarf had visited an almost empty caves tile and fought some monsters without serious problems, but travelling was going oh so slowly).
At this time, we were ~45 minutes in the game. Dennis (playing the Swordsman) was really annoyed by his character, and we all agreed that guy seemed really weak. We agreed on playing a little longer to see wether the group could survive on the Castle.
Some rounds later, the dwarf stumbled into the demon while hidden, and the Woods Girl (separated from the other 2) encountered the flying demon. I dedided to take the chance, missed on the free strike and found myself very dead when the demon rolled a "the target is instantly killed" result. In a similar way, the Woods Girl did not do enough damage on shot 1, and the following Power of the Pit attack from the flying Demon cancelled the second attack (wound all asteriks chits). Needless to say, she did not survive the next round.

This ended our first session quite violently, and we switched to playing some Tichu instead. In retrospective, i think it went quite ok, but far from great. I probably got some rules wrong and completely forgot about the day turn marker, but it was good enough to get a feel for this game.
I was still sure that the game had great qualities, and explained that i hoped with the inclusion of trading and hiring, the characters should be able to get along better. The others (especially Dennis) were a bit more sceptical.

Looking back, Magic Realm must have something special about it. I have not known a game before where people are willing to wade through >1 hour of rules explanations without getting bored.

Conclusions:
- Take care with character selection. Weak fighters (Amazon, Swordsman, Black Knight, Captain) are not meant for big monster hunting, but have specific advantages that allow them to gather points and to contribute to a team in other ways. The players should be aware of this. ~~are not very beginner friendly, especially when playing without hiring and trading, since they are not really good at monster hunting.~~
- Use the character sheets! Let each player denote some goals and allow him to keep track of his own advancements and actions.
- Stay clear of the demons!
- Print out player aids! You need fast access to tables and weapon lengths without having to look into the rules book.

Stay tuned for the next reports

EDIT: Rewrote the part about "weak fighter charackters"

Thorn Princess and the Four Knights, The - The Thorn Princess and the Four Knights -- Session Report

gschloesser — 2008-11-18T22:51:33+00:00

NOTE: My full review of The Thorn Princess and the Four Knights will appear on Boardgame News. What follows is an abbreviated version.

The young and temperamental princess has fled her home and taken refuge in an old castle on the edge of the kingdom. The king is desperate to have his daughter returned to him, and charges four of his bravest knights to travel to the castle and escort her home. The problem is that the princess is quite spoiled, and it isn’t long before she begins whining about her needs and desires. Food, drink, clothing and more … she is difficult to pacify. A knight must successfully meet the princess’s desires and escort her safely to the king in order to win favor and the game.

Such is the story behind The Thorn Princess and the Four Knights, a fanciful game from Seiji Kanai and Japon Brand. Players represent knights charged with the task of escorting the spoiled princess back home, meeting her whims and desires as they do so. Players play cards to move around the kingdom, deal with the princess’s whims and other events, and battle other knights. The ultimate objective is to satisfy three of the princess’s desires and safely escort her into the king’s castle.

The cards are the driving engine of the game. They are used for movement, combat, and to randomly place markers or displaced knights. The majority of actions and events in the game are performed or determined by the playing or drawing of cards.

Each turn, players will draw three new cards, and perform as many of the eight possible actions as they desire. These actions generally involve playing cards to move, search for items, or battle an opposing knight in order to gain an item or control of the princess.

When the princess is being escorted, she will begin whining. The player has three turns to satisfy her cravings – usually by finding certain items – lest the princess explode in rage. If this occurs, the knight loses control of the princess, is randomly placed at a new location, and loses a previous whine card he may have collected. Since a player must possess three whine cards to possibly win, this is a costly penalty.

Fighting is the most complex and difficult to understand aspect of the game. Indeed, I’m still not sure I fully understand it. The attacker, followed by the defender, can play one or more cards. If playing one card, it is a simple matter of comparing the suits played, with the outcome being determined in a “rock-paper-scissors” format. It is when the attacker opts to play more than one card that the confusion begins. Certain rules must be followed, and either numbers or suits will be compared to determine the victor. Complicating matters even more is that there appears to be a third method by which a player can play sets of cards possessing the same amount of power, but of different suits. Further, there are special power cards in the deck, and each knight has his own special power. These can also be used in battle to create even more confusing situations.
No, the battle aspect of this game is NOT its strong suit. Indeed, I’m not even sure the game has a strong suit.

The objective of the game is to successfully satisfy three of the princess’s whines and escort her into the king’s castle. This generally takes 45 minutes to an hour, but the time can vary considerably. Each player’s turn is usually quick. A player’s hand limit is six cards, so there are only so many actions he can take before depleting his hand of cards. Quick turns are actually a blessing, as the game itself seems rather basic, with few real choices to be made. There is a bit of opportunity for humor and role-playing, but not much … and the little that is present does not save the game. Sadly, The Thorn Princess and the Four Knights is not one of the better offerings from Japon Brand, and it is a kingdom I prefer not to visit again.

Rhonda, Mark, Ryan and I assumed the roles of the good knights charged with the unenviable task of escorting the immature princess back to the castle. We did our best to inject humor into the game, continuously making sport of our character names and artwork, as well as role-playing the whining princess. Alas, none of this saved the game, and we were all disappointed in it.

There were times when several of us were in position to satisfy a second whine or secure a needed item, only to have the luck-of-the-draw prevent us from succeeding, even though we had saved several high-valued cards expressly for this purpose. Battles were frequent, but quick, and the princess changed hands often. Ultimately, Mark managed to satisfy the princess’s third demand, and scurry into the castle on the next turn.

Finals: Mark 3, Rhonda 1, Ryan 1, Greg 1

Ratings: Mark 5, Rhonda 5, Greg 4, Ryan 3.5

Snow Tails - Snow Tails - Session Report

gschloesser — 2008-11-18T22:49:46+00:00

NOTE: My full review of Snow Tails will appear in the upcoming issue of Counter magazine. What follows is an abbreviated version.

Usually known for crafting games around adorable 3-D figurines, Fragor Games has departed from this tradition with their latest offering, Snow Tails. Instead, they use a healthy supply of cardboard and wooden pieces to represent the sleds and obstacles faced in a dangerous, fast-paced dog-sled race along the Arctic Circle. While perfectly functional, one can’t help but miss those attractive figurines.

Snow Tails is also one of the Lamont Brothers’ simpler games. Their previous games have been split between family offerings and designs more suitable for gamers. While easier to learn and play than all of their previous titles save Leapfrog, the game is also one that seems most likely to appeal to both markets.

Players represent brave sledders speeding across the frozen tundra in hopes of victory, fame and glory. A wide range of courses can be constructed from 14 double-sided track pieces. Most of these track sections are basic straights, curves and corner pieces, but some offer challenging obstacles such as trees, snow drifts and chasms. Maneuvering around these turns and obstacles can be challenging, and as a player’s sled becomes damaged, it makes such skillful handling even more difficult.

The key to movement is properly balancing cards played between two dogs and one’s brake. Failure to skillfully maneuver through turns and around obstacles will result in nasty dents to one’s sled, which reduces one’s movement options.

A player will then move his sled forward according to the combined speed of the two dogs, minus his current brake level, which ranges from 1 - 5. If one dog is pulling faster than the other, drifting will occur. Drifting requires a player to move his sled in a forward / diagonal direction, which can be useful in navigating turns and avoiding obstacles, but can also result in collisions.

The race continues until the conclusion of a turn when at least one player crosses the finish line. The player whose sled is furthest across the finish line is victorious, and with much rejoicing, becomes the hero of the Arctic Circle!

Snow Tails is another installment in a long, long line of race games. Mechanisms and objectives are similar to that of other race games: play cards to move, navigate around turns and obstacles, and try to conserve your resources to finish strong. However, there are some significant differences. The apportionment of movement cards amongst dogs and braking is certainly different, as is the method used to determine drifting and bonus movement. Indeed, it is these creative movement mechanisms that sets the game apart and makes it worth a look.

Snow Tails does a fine job of appealing to both casual gamers and those who take gaming more seriously. However, don’t be fooled: the latter group may enjoy the game, but only as a fun diversion. It certainly won’t satisfy their cravings when searching for a deep, strategic experience. When they are looking for a game that is fast and fun that they can play with both gamers and their families, Snow Tails does a fine job of fulfilling that desire.

Mark, Rhonda, Ryan and I strapped our dogs to the sled, and began the perilous race around the “Dagger of the Mountain Troll” course. This course has one “U” turn, and a treacherous stretch wherein an abundance of young saplings wait to damage sleds.

Rhonda held the pole position at start, while Mark and I settled for the far outside positions. It wasn’t long, however, before we slipped past the leaders. Mark opted to enter the turn at a fast speed, causing damage to his sled. He later smashed into the side, causing yet more damage, and earning the nickname “Captain Dent”!

I raced past Mark coming out of the treacherous “U” turn, and was able to successfully navigate the forest of saplings without incurring any further damage. This allowed me to maintain my lead and race to the victory.

Ratings: Ryan 7, Greg 6, Mark 5.5, Rhonda 5.5

Kingsburg - Kingsburg: The First Play

megasquidd — 2008-11-18T22:14:23+00:00

Greetings. This is my first session report or review, so here goes nothing...

This past weekend we had a chance to try out our new copy of Kingsburg. I had spent the first few days reading the rules and going through a few practice rounds. It seemed pretty straight forward in its design.

My wife and I who are pretty heavy gamers invited a couple to play with us. They are fairly new to board games, but they are enthusiastic about games and seem to pick up quickly on stuff. I was very worried though when they brought their little sister with them. She is 13 yrs old. I have had some bad experiences with teenages losing interest quickly in games, so I was concerned.

I began to explain the rules of timing such as the seasons and how we decide turn order and the such. I was amazed how quickly my noobier friends and their sister picked up on the game. I would say I spent a total of 7 minutes on the basics before we played the first season. This seriously impressed me.

The game flowed well with several people leading and even the very inexperienced teenager competed well until the end of the game. Towards the end of the game the building combination strategy got a little much for her, but I could tell she would be beating me in 3 more games.

Everyone seemed like they had a good time. I always ask everyone to honestly tell me how they liked a game and everyone stated that they wanted play again. I love to host people for game night so having a fun game that everyone can get into is important to me. I have found very good games that people don't enjoy that I love (Power Grid).

My initial impressions are:

-easy to learn; easy to teach
-multiple paths to victory
-awesome production values and nice bits

-leans a little heavy towards the military buildings
-luck is an issue

All in all I look forward to more plays of Kingsburg and writing a review for it.

Race for the Galaxy: The Gathering Storm - My First Game - Solo against Robot

DocSavage2001 — 2008-11-18T21:28:13+00:00

Ok this was my first game of RFTG, not just first solo game against the robot player, but my first game ever. I had bought the game recently, hadn't had a chance to play it with real people yet and then this expansion came out, so I figured playing the robot might not teach me how to play against people, but could be good just to learn how to play period.

I think it worked. I lost to the robot, but it was close and I think I played everything right. (I think I forgot to draw a card once or twice when I chose the Settle option, but otherwise, pretty sure I got everything right.) The iconography was not so hard for me at all. The only symbol I had a tiny bit of trouble with was finding the reference to the little circle that designates Rebel worlds.

I played on easy level with random start worlds and even though this was my first game, I did not go with the pre-set hands.

Start Worlds

Dave - Alpha Centauri
Robot - New Sparta

One thing I noted about the robot with New Sparta. With its Settle action drawing five cards every time, the robot NEVER came close to exhausting its play hand.

Turn 1

Dave - Explore 1, Develop
Robot - Develop, Settle

I developed Expedition Force (1VP), the robot got lucky in its Development and the first development it flipped was a six-point Mining League (6VP) and since the Robot still had one credit to its name, it got that and then Settled New Survivalists (1VP). I had nothing I could afford or wanted to afford to settle in the Settle phase. In retrospect, I should have developed Space Mercenaries on the first turn instead, then I could have put out a planet too.

VPS: Dave - 1, Robot - 8

Turn 2

Dave - Explore 1, Develop
Robot - Settle, Consume x2

I developed Space Mercenaries (0VP) this turn better late than never. The robot could not respond to my Develop as it had no credits left. I settled Alien Robot Sentry (2VP), the robot settled Runaway Robots (1VP). Since the Robot's economy was zero, the Consume x2 netted no VPs this time, but economy went up to 1.

VPS: Dave - 3, Robot - 9

Turn 3

Dave - Explore 1, Consume: Trade
Robot - Settle, Consume x2

The robot settled Damaged Alien Factory (2VP). I settled Smuggling Lair. I used Smuggling Lair in the Consume phase to get a boatload of cards. The Robot gained 2 VPs from the Consume x2 and its Economy went to 2.

VPS: Dave - 4, Robot - 13

Turn 4

Dave - Settle, Settle
Robot - Develop, Settle

I developed Investment Credits (1VP). For the robot, it was Space Marines (1VP). In the first Settle phase, I settled Rebel Miners (1VP) and the robot settled Malevolent Lifeforms (2 VP) with its Settle action. In the second Settle phase, I settled Epsilon Eridani (1VP), the robot settled Outlaw World with its Settle response.

VPS: Dave - 7, Robot - 17

Turn 5

Dave - Settle, Settle
Robot - Settle, Settle

Finally a turn where I made up some ground on the robot! I managed to settle both Pirate World (2VP) and Lost Alien Warship, the latter using Space Mercenaries Settle power by discarding cards for temporary Military strength. The robot, meanwhile, settled Alien Robot Scout Ship (2VP) and Last of Uplift Gnarrsh (ZERO VP). Yay, a zero VP world for the robot!

VPS: Dave - 12, Robot - 19

Turn 6

Dave - Explore 1, Explore 2
Robot - Develop, Consume x2

Here's how I figured things coming into this turn. I'm down seven points and the robot has 10 cards in its tableau, 2 more and the game ends. I didn't have any really big ticket items in my hand at this point. So I took a gamble. Yes, the robot could have gotten two Settles again (which would have both worked, its hand was huge at this point), or a Develop and Settle (same thing), but if I chose Settle, I could probably almost guarantee the robot might finish up its tableau this round.

So I went for the two Explores, hoping I'd find something good (I would be drawing nine cards with the two Explores) and the game would last one more round. The robot picked Consume x2 as one of its actions so I WAS going to get one more round. The robot developed Contact Specialist. The only development I had in response was my Contact Specialist, but I didn't want to play it (even though Investment Credits would have made it free to play), because of the reduction in military power would not then let me play my treasure I found in the Explore phase! The Robot's Consume x2 netted it 4 VPs now and kicked its economy to three. I used the Consume phase to draw more cards, discarding some windfall goods I still had.

VPS: Dave - 12, Robot - 24

Turn 7

Dave - Settle, Settle
Robot - Settle, Settle

Ok, last turn, here goes. I settle Rebel Base (6VP) (using my Military) and Lost Species Ark World (3VP) (discarding the rest of my hand to pay for it). The robot settles Fuel Cache (1VP) and Former Penal Colony (1VP) and the game ends and I end up losing by five points.

FINAL VPS: Dave - 21, Robot - 26

Summary: This was a lot of fun. I think (am pretty sure actually) that I got all the game play elements correct, including what the robot was supposed to be doing each turn. I can see already a couple places where my game PLAY itself could have been improved, starting with the first turn. So, all in all, I don't consider a five point loss to the robot in my first ever game to be too bad.

Comments from others who have played a lot more would be welcomed!

hope this was useful/fun for someone else.
Dave

Space Alert - From the Black Box of Sitting Duck Flight 77492

fbi_boy — 2008-11-18T19:44:44+00:00

Unless I missed something, We started our very first tutorial mission, with just 2 players. We did not use any androids because I didnt read anything about them in the first few lessons in the handbook. I stopped reading when it said "stop! you can start playing now and dont need to keep reading!" or whatever it says...

Maybe I was just dumb, and missed anything about using androids with 2 players...But anyways, we started playing, just two of us! I knew it was going to be hard, but I didnt think it would be that chaotic! We start the simulation, and are pretty much completely overwhelmed right away!

We try to coordinate but threats pop up everywhere...we have no idea what cards we should need, and so both data transfers pass by with no switching cards. We were so busy panicking and being flustered, that we didnt bother reading any of the threats, and completely missed their special abilities....so we get slaughtered...making classic mistakes talked about in the handbook...such as firing at the destroyer on turn one, before it has appeared!....well, lets try again!!

This time we are better coordinated. Pass a card with the data transfer..do actions that actually HELP. By the time the 7 minutes is up, we killed one threat, and survived JUST barely, with 6 damage on the red zone, and a bunch more damage on the others zones. We were feeling better and decided to move onto tutorial 2...

Fresh off our first victory, morale is high aboad the sitting duck! Captain Roxy is taking charge, and the communications officer is doing his job. things appear to be going well...until we get to the resolution round...we realized, even though we discussed making sure not to, we powerd up shields turn one, and then subsequently lost them from the energy cloud.

It was also now we realized we forgot a rule...pulling the energy from the reactors automatically pulls enough to fill to capacity...in this mission, and the first mission that we succeeded...we had only pulled one energy...
this completey screwed up our red side, and the gun ship deals us 7 damage and we lose again...

Now we are really demoralized, since we didnt actually beat the first tutorial...well, we did...but incorrectly...By now we are so fed up and frustrated by the game, that we hate it, and put it away, never to play it again...
ok ok.. so thats not true...we ended up playing again and again until after midnight, until we got it right!

Game of Thrones, A - AGOT Ultimate 4 Player Mod - First PBEM

Umbratus — 2008-11-18T17:57:16+00:00

Hi all, lets see if we can get abit more flavor and attention to this board section by a little session report. They've become very rare for AGOT unfortunately. Hope you enjoy

Speaking of my attempt to make the most enjoyable and most balanced game out of the good old board here in its first test game by email:
http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/350050

For the mentioned archer units refer to here:
http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/339812

I am repeating the general setup of this game first, so you dont necessarily have to refer to the threat discussing the Mod creation:

Playing this map here 4 player on the original board:
]]>

AGOT House Cards, ASOS Westeros Cards with modification to Deck III (see original thread about this mod)
Mod to KingsCourt Track, last place still has a star order, 1st place gets 4 of them.
Playing with Wildling Attack cards. Having Garrisons on home capitals.

Units per House: 8 footmen, 4 archers, 4 knights, 2 sieges and 7 ships. Using forts as well.

We voted on a few things and had draws on whether to use the ASOS or the AGOT supply track, also a draw on whether to use the lower strength neutral tokens or use the ones supposed to use when playing with leaders.

Random decision was used to determine to use the AGOT supply track, the tighter one and to use the higher strength neutrals, denying Baratheon the option to take Kings Landing or Sunspear in Turn 1 right away.

We played no leaders, no tactics, no OTOs but Westeros Variant, as usual in PBEM.
Starting positions and units unchanged to out of the box.

Random House Assignment yielded the following:
James - Stark
Laurent - Tyrell
Piotr - Baratheon
Me - Lannister

Fine, so we got started, finally

First events showed us the following:

2 A Throne of Blades* Dark Wings, Dark Words* Rains of Autumn*

3 Mustering Clash of Kings Punish the Guilty A

4 Supply Nothing Happens* Nothing Happens*

Wow, 3 times Wildling growth in Turn 2 right away, along with 2 decision events.
Looking ahead, no Wildling Attack to come, not before Turn 5, but if they'll strike its with at least 10 strength if not max strength of 12 - ouch

Turn 1

Everyone was pretty much going for his native belongings in the first round, everyone going with 3 marches but Tyrell who decided to put a consolidate on Dornish Marches.

Stark took the Narrow Sea, put a control marker on White Harbor and set footmen to Moat Cailin, Mountains of the Moon and his knight going to the Twins.

Baratheon evacuated his footmen from Kingswood to Dragonstone just to put him back there later on along with taking Crackclaw Point and Storms End.
One of his starting ships sailed to Blackwater Bay, claiming sea support on his native belongings.

Tyrell and Lannister dealed that Lannister leaves Sunseat Sea open, puts his ship to Ironmans Bay instead, while Tyrell sails eastwards with his ships, into Summer Sea, contesting Baratheon for the southern realm.
Lannister took Riverrun and Harrenhal of course, while Tyrell grabbed Starfall and The Reach, while leaving Oldtown empty as a sacrifice to his power collecting footman in Dornish Marches.

Turn 2

Baratheon made it a Mustering while I made it a Game of Thrones as it yielded me quite abit of coins, everyone else lacking behind.
More troops came in handy for everyone amount of new troops was pretty much evened out on 4 points for everyone.
Some decided to put an archer or another while ships were built as well, helping to expand.

New future events:
5 A Throne of Blades* Clash of Kings Wildlings Attack!

So we'll have a clash in Turn 5 to be followed by a full strength Wildling Attack, gonna be a tough one !

Footmen didnt provide combat strength while supporting this turn so I didnt bother putting a support to Stoney Sept but went with a CP instead. Marches for me on Harrenhal and on Riverrun, getting ready to contest Stark around Ironmans Bay where I had one ship on a support+1.
As the board looked it was clear I couldnt take both Flints and Seagard but I was assured of taking at least one and actually content with that.
I was hoping to be able to grab Seagard so Stark couldnt muster a ship in Turn 3 in its port to start raiding Ironmans naval support.

But James Stark placed his knight wisely on The Twins, going with support there and marching from Moat Cailin, avoiding Rains of Autumns effect.

I was about to get settled and be content with Flints instead, making plans for taking Seagard in the turn after already, when Baratheon announced his first march which gave the game a totally different direction all at once.

As he mustered an archer at Crackclaw in addition to his existing knight, I thought he will use those units to bear down the neutral forces at Kings Landing or Sunspear (he mustered a ship to Sea of Dorne from Storms End for southern access).
But he decided differently, he saw an option to attack me at Harrenhal with his 1st march before I could head back westwards and contest Stark.
He was able to play his Melisandre of Asshai card against any card of mine, enabling her special ability to pay 1 power and drop my best card.

Not only that but also my knight was now routed and without strength this turn, this screwed all my plans to contest Stark so I couldnt do anything else this turn but watch the Direwolf take Seagard and Flints as well :/
I realized at once that this will turn the whole board upside down, thats why I didnt expect such a move at all.
Tyrell and Stark were not long to hesitate to make use of this move, so while the Stag advanced on me, they closed in on Baratheon from two sides, leaving me, the beaten Lion unharassed, they surely saw where glory was to get now.

For this wild move I swore bloody revenge and retreated my beaten knight to Blackwater actually instead of taking it back home, deep into Lion country. I was hoping to encircle and destroy the Baratheon invaders.

Turn 3

Stark mustered ALOT of troops with all the free cities he was allowed to take, Tyrell and Baratheon both mustered alot as well while I was falling behind even further, only controlling Lannisport and Riverrun.
Good thing was though as everyone was on the move alot during the first turn and not much to not at all collecting power I was comfortably ahead to take good spots during the first Clash of this game.
I made sure to control the Iron Throne where Baratheon wasted alot of his power already just to come in 2nd. Tyrell kept his hand on the blade while I was 2nd, this allowed me to control the bid for the Court as well, grabbing the Raven.
For the decision card in deck III Tyrell decided that nothing should happen.

New future events:
6 Supply Game of Thrones Sea of Storms*

Meanwhile Baratheon had taken Kings Landing as well and Tyrell was controlling Sunspear, while Stark was setting up a big fleet in Narrow Sea and built a threatening siege engine.
Being on 5 cities already, he was definately first contender for the throne: Winterfell, White Harbor, Moat Cailin, Seagard, Flints.
Only neutrals to beat at The Eyrie and having a shot on Crackclaw Point. At least he would have to use his siege on The Eyrie first, a helping archer was nicely positioned at Mountains of the Moon to support on both Crackclaw and The Eyrie.

Meanwhile, still mad, I was having my bloody revenge on Baratheon who tried to collect power or build a fort at Kings Landing and was trying to defend+2 with 2 knights at Harrenhal.
I pillaged 1 power from Blackwater and thwarted his knights from Harrenhal, playing Ser Jaime to produce 2 power. One of his knights died on the retreat as it couldnt be supplied with the army at Crackclaw, his only retreat.

Baratheon began to feel the results of his folly move while Tyrell was constantly advancing and taking territories south, Storms End fell, while Stark was preparing to make Crackclaw Point to game decisive spot.
It all looked like a Stark win soon enough if not Tyrell was able to abuse the situation any quicker.

Turn 4

Now if there was one thing holding off Stark it was his tight supply, he starts on 1 barrel which allows only armies of (3,2) on the AGOT track.
As we were seeing our first supply adjustment this turn this obstacle was finally gone as well, while Stark shot up on 5 barrels.
5 for Tyrell and Lannister as well, while Baratheon had to stay put on just 2. Nothing happened in deck II as well as in III this turn.

New future events:
7 Supply Dark Wings, Dark Words* Wildlings Attack!

With the clash and the huge wildling attack ahead next turn I decided to be all passive this turn, put 3 CPs, Riverrun, Harrenhal and Stoney Sept which should yield 6 power,
along with raiding another foolish crown at Flints in an attempt to build a fort there, that pillaging further increased my income and turned out to make a huge gap to everyone else.

Finally the situation on Baratheons ground was going wild, like anticipated. While he was able to slip into Sunspear and Yronwood in order to repell Tyrell and keep him from advancing to a winning position, he lost Sea of Dorne to Tyrell who had to leave Summer Sea open though, using all 2 available ships for doing that. Baratheon was able to conquer a ship in Sunspears port though, while he was still able to use ship transport through Sea of Dorne.
The Stag saw it already coming but couldnt do a thing to prevent it so he was following another course entirely.
Stark was charging ships at Narrow Sea, a fleet of 4 ships to crush Shipbreaker Bay with 3 of them while battles were fought south.
The Direwolf was trying to make this sure for next turn instead of hoping on a lucky punsh on Crackclaw.
Not bad a plan actually. Crackclaw was sealed and Stark only had bad positions on the tracks after the recent clash, I untied him as low as possible.

Turn 5

Baratheon scattered and in flames, Tyrell and Stark wrestling for the win while me, Lannister sitting on a huge stack of power with the clash and the wildlings to come, but contained to a few territories.
The last chance I saw to prevent Stark from winning on his first march was announcing a Mustering for event I, while it gave Stark even more troops it opened new options for me as well.
Putting two archers on Lannisport and upgrading to a siege in Riverrun was gonna carry out the plan I had in mind
As Tyrell had to leave Summer Sea empty when taking Sea of Dorne last turn, Baratheon was able to muster a new ship from Sunspear in Summer Sea.

During the clash I was able to grab all 3 tokens on 1st positions !
The Wildlings were unbeatable though and with Tyrell and Stark both having saved coin to prevent the worst happening to them, Baratheon was gonna take it.
Wildling card revealed was the one that downgrades 2 knights to footmen of everyone, Baratheon had to downgrade all 4 of his knights.
Another bad hit, as he was having an army of 3 knights on Yronwood to wreck havoc on the southern territories, keeping Tyrell in check.
His 4th was defending KL along with an archer. All downgraded left him in even worse shape :/

New future events:
8 Mustering Game of Thrones Storm of Swords*

Now it was time for me to get back into business, finally quit hostilities with Baratheon for the greater good.

Going 1st I put a raid on Ironmans Bay to cancel any raid from Seagard, the designated target, to protect the supporting siege engine, making way for attacking archers from Lannisport.
Stark didnt see it coming, great, he only put 2 marches, wasting his only star order on a defend+2 to maintain his position in Shipbreaker Bay.
So against support and defense I was attacking 7 vs 4 with just one archer on Seagard, enabling me to play Cersei, winning the battle and cancelling his march order in the Eyrie on an army of 2 footman and a siege engine.
Going down on 5 cities and having lost his march on The Eyrie, Stark was contained for now, just a single siege at Winterfell left to march.

The situation was going absurd now finally as Tyrell tried to attack Kings Landing, asking me for support from Blackwater ?!
I denied this and had to support Baratheon so he could defend the capital and keep his realm together instead of falling apart finally, once and for all.
It cost him his best card in order to defend, probably this was all that Tyrell wanted.

Situational alliance was changing already with the next march again.
Baratheon marched+1 two ships out of Blackwater Bay in an attempt to retake Shipbreaker Bay out of Starks hands just before the Direwolf could move his siege from Winterfell in, settling down in Dragonstone for a 6th city.

Baratheons own support was coming from Summer Sea and he has hoping Tyrell keeps his word and supports from Sea of Dorne as well.
The operation was successful and so Stark was repelled at the cost of another card of 2, so while Baratheon is down on cards of 0s and 1s to be played, Stark still has 4 ships in Narrow Sea now.
Stark secured his supply level by moving his siege from Winterfell to Stoney Shore.

Turn 5 is not finished yet, we are yet to see Tyrell and Baratheon marching twice each, Stark is done for this turn, Lannister has a march left on Harrenhal.

Victory Points seem pretty even at the moment, 3 for Baratheon, 5 for Stark, 4 for Lannister and Tyrell each.
But then Tyrell can easily take Oldtown making up for his 5th and we are yet to see what the remaining marches south will bring.

The board is on fire, Stark and Tyrell may win any time. Lannister is working to recover while trying to stabilize Baratheon his former arch enemy and foolish oppressor.
I'll post the rest of the story once the game has finished...