With most of the rivals away and some AWOL, Russell was drafted in to join Stuart and Kieron for another cracking game of Power Grid. We played the Benelux countries which have the interesting rule that any ecological power stations immediately become available if they are turned up. The 33 'green for 4' station appeared very early and Russell immediately snatched it for face value as Stu and Kieron had already bought their stations. Stuart's power stations were resource dependent and Kieron had a mixture including a trash burning station that he only used once. Building was fairly rapid in an open board and Stu soon started phase 2 after about 30 minutes. Kieron and Russell had a moment of madness when the 50 'blue for 6' turned up. Kieron eventually won it for 141 Elektro and was cleaned up for the rest of the evening! The game ended before the third phase even began when Kieron helpfully pointed out to Russell that with the money he had left over from not buying the 50 point station he had enough funds to build to 17 cities, end the game and claim victory for being able to power just 10 cities!! Stuart was left being able to power 9 of his 13 and Kieron, although he had stations totalling 14, could only power 9 as he ran out of money to build any cities or buy resources to power the stations! Thus is was 1st Russell (again)10 powered cities, 2nd Stuart (more money than Kieron) 9 powered cities, 3rd Kieron 9 powered cities
What a great game this is.
Thursday, 28 June 2007
Thursday, 21 June 2007
Pirates CCG - 20 June
The first outing of the Pirates collectable card game which both James and Adrian had bought in the last few weeks - part of a series starting with Pirates of the Spanish Main, and most recently (to tie in the latest Pirates film) Pirates at Ocean's Edge. Wonderfully illustrated pirate ships are pressed out of the cards, and constructed in 3D to make really nice-looking models. Players control a group of ships to explore islands, discover treasure and fight each other.
The rules are quite simple but have some neat mechanisms, with all the info you need about your ship on its card. Notable exceptions in the rules are Wind (ships move the same distance in any direction), moving or shooting each turn (and not both) and initiative (which we introduced as rolls at the beginning of each turn). So further rules tweaking is needed or we might try using versions of Wooden Ships & Iron Men or similar rulesets which have been adapted for use with these ships.
The game started with mad rushes towards islands and we all starting stocking up with gold to return to our home bases. When the gold was more scarce, battles commenced - and masts were rapidly blasted off many of the ships - see devastation above. The number of treasures collected were roughly the same but their values meant Adrian was well ahead, with James second and Kieron cursing his paltry collection of 1 and 2 gold pieces.
A fun, good-looking game... but one not to be taken too seriously.
The rules are quite simple but have some neat mechanisms, with all the info you need about your ship on its card. Notable exceptions in the rules are Wind (ships move the same distance in any direction), moving or shooting each turn (and not both) and initiative (which we introduced as rolls at the beginning of each turn). So further rules tweaking is needed or we might try using versions of Wooden Ships & Iron Men or similar rulesets which have been adapted for use with these ships.
The game started with mad rushes towards islands and we all starting stocking up with gold to return to our home bases. When the gold was more scarce, battles commenced - and masts were rapidly blasted off many of the ships - see devastation above. The number of treasures collected were roughly the same but their values meant Adrian was well ahead, with James second and Kieron cursing his paltry collection of 1 and 2 gold pieces.
A fun, good-looking game... but one not to be taken too seriously.
Sunday, 10 June 2007
DBM 5 June Alexander v Asoka
Another practice game for Anderida, this time allowing Andy and James' Macedonians to have a go against a Classical Indian army from 270BC (the Mauryas under Asoka). The Macedonians had thinned out their cavalry command a bit, and had massed their light troops on their right and left flanks respectively. Phalanx and Artillery held the centre. The Indians had a soft centre of cavalry, chariots, light horse and expendables (which was pretty much impervious to pike). Each flank had superior bow, war wagons, elephants and some light troops.
The battle opened with the expendables destructing on the phalanx and James' knights setting off abortively towards the centre, only to retreat from bow fire and the elephant threat. That flank put the Macedonian horse under heavy pressure - they retreated throughout the game and were one element from breaking at 11pm when we stopped. In the centre, the phalanx advanced but found it hard to get to grips with the Indian cavalry. On our right, the Macedonian auxilia cheerfully presented themselves to be shot at by our bow for most of the game, never daring to attack. Throughout all this Alexander and his companion cavalry sat at the back. Perhaps things would have been different had he been true to his historical nature.
;-)
So, a 5 - 5 draw when we stopped. Another fun game.
The battle opened with the expendables destructing on the phalanx and James' knights setting off abortively towards the centre, only to retreat from bow fire and the elephant threat. That flank put the Macedonian horse under heavy pressure - they retreated throughout the game and were one element from breaking at 11pm when we stopped. In the centre, the phalanx advanced but found it hard to get to grips with the Indian cavalry. On our right, the Macedonian auxilia cheerfully presented themselves to be shot at by our bow for most of the game, never daring to attack. Throughout all this Alexander and his companion cavalry sat at the back. Perhaps things would have been different had he been true to his historical nature.
;-)
So, a 5 - 5 draw when we stopped. Another fun game.
Sunday, 3 June 2007
UK Games Expo - 2 June 2007
Our first visit to the UK Games Expo in Birmingham. Kieron and I drove up and met Adrian, Fred & Felix. First set of advantages over Salute - entry half the price (£3.95), free parking and less than an hour's drive.
The Expo was held in the Clarendon Suites, a typically charmless sixties carbuncle, but with several large conference rooms and places to get a drink and bite to eat. With our goody bag collected, we started exploring. Perhaps half the size of Salute and with the balance more towards board games than miniatures, but the latter still well represented despite the lack of Salute stalwarts like Essex. A small number of computer games stands as well, giving Kieron and I the opportunity to try ten-pin bowling on the Nintendo Wii (which was surprisingly fun).
As well as game shops, there were also several stands of entrepreneurs with their board game inventions, and it was interesting to see those and chat with them. There was a big stall of second-hand games which provided most of my and Kieron's purchases, but I also succumbed to a Pirates of the Spanish Main pack and some female gunslingers for my Wild West scenarios.
There was a really nice atmosphere at the show. No pushing and shoving around the stalls, much easier to see what you wanted and talk to sellers. The now seemingly obligatory Star Wars re-enactors were wandering about which the boys enjoyed. Weather was wonderful too which helped, as we had a lovely drive up and had a lunch break outside on the grass.
There were lots of (mainly board) games to join in with (plus competitions in a couple of the halls) but none of the big set-piece demonstrations that you find at Salute (the only downside). On balance, I enjoyed the Expo more than Salute this year (the miniatures at Salute seem to have been mostly Sci-Fi and Fantasy in the last couple of years), and so I hope we can have a bigger Rivals trip to Birmingham next June.
The Expo was held in the Clarendon Suites, a typically charmless sixties carbuncle, but with several large conference rooms and places to get a drink and bite to eat. With our goody bag collected, we started exploring. Perhaps half the size of Salute and with the balance more towards board games than miniatures, but the latter still well represented despite the lack of Salute stalwarts like Essex. A small number of computer games stands as well, giving Kieron and I the opportunity to try ten-pin bowling on the Nintendo Wii (which was surprisingly fun).
As well as game shops, there were also several stands of entrepreneurs with their board game inventions, and it was interesting to see those and chat with them. There was a big stall of second-hand games which provided most of my and Kieron's purchases, but I also succumbed to a Pirates of the Spanish Main pack and some female gunslingers for my Wild West scenarios.
There was a really nice atmosphere at the show. No pushing and shoving around the stalls, much easier to see what you wanted and talk to sellers. The now seemingly obligatory Star Wars re-enactors were wandering about which the boys enjoyed. Weather was wonderful too which helped, as we had a lovely drive up and had a lunch break outside on the grass.
There were lots of (mainly board) games to join in with (plus competitions in a couple of the halls) but none of the big set-piece demonstrations that you find at Salute (the only downside). On balance, I enjoyed the Expo more than Salute this year (the miniatures at Salute seem to have been mostly Sci-Fi and Fantasy in the last couple of years), and so I hope we can have a bigger Rivals trip to Birmingham next June.
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