Zulus! 31 August 2011

After having painted up 180 Zulus, 30 Natal Natives and 60 British plus a couple of wagons it was time for a game of Black Powder before everyone got too busy again after summer hols. James and Orhan took the roles of the brave British garrison at the mission station at Myers' Drift. Opposing them was the massed Mblini clan under the princely leadership of Andy ('Hyena of the Pongolo'), David and Kieron.

The Zulus had lain up for a day, hidden in ambush in the hills and mealie fields around the mission station, awaiting the arrival of the supply wagons and the doughty Naval Brigade. Their plan was to attack the wagon train, drawing out the Redcoats into a close quarter ambush.

The attack from both sides of the road had the Sailors and Native contingent fleeing (after a British command blunder) although Andy's attacking impi stalled on the hillside after the rapidly moving British relief column set up a firing line and kept them suppressed with enfilade fire.

As the wagons and porters headed for the camp, the Natal Natives, Boers and Sailors were pummeled by Andy and David's warriors. The 24th Foot started to form up to repulse the attacking Zulus, only for Kieron to unleash his main force - the elite Impis of the Royal army from the mealie field into the rear of the thin red line. Luckily for James, his supporting company was able to join the melee, hitting the first band of Zulus in their rear - only for the second Impi to crash into combat.

The British held for a time (their Stubborn and Steady ratings being key) but eventually the first company crumbled and the impi charged on, heading for the wagons. At this point the power of the British firing line came into its full effect - the Gatling gun on the hillside opened up with enfilade fire at the same time as the third company of infantry. The impi melted away. The final turn saw Orhan preparing to retire his remaining Redcoats as David sprang his own mealie-field ambush - necessarily prematurely in terms of the game, but it was getting late.

The umpire declared the game at honours even. The vital supplies looked like mostly being rescued, but at a high cost in dead British soldiers and sailors.

This was probably the largest 28mm game we've played with Rivals' figures - and the first to use casualty figures, which, for this period at least, seemed to work.

Dominant Species - 24 August 2011

First outing for Orhan's birthday gift to James - Dominant Species.  This is a complex and thoughtful game simulating evolution.  It sounds quite dry but is actually a lot of fun with plenty of interaction between the players. There are a lot of facets to the game but not all come into play at each decision point so the complexity felt manageable, but we agreed this is definitely a game to play when everyone is feeling alert!

Although we avoided analysis paralysis, the game is lengthy and we played 3 turns, rather than the 5 or 6 the full game would take.  We discussed ways to shorten it (without rushing it) and having now read some of the BGG postings, I like the following suggestion:

• Remove all Action Pawn-related cards (Intelligence, Parasitism, Omnivore, Immigrants). Fewer pawns = fewer phases = shorter game.
• Randomly remove an additional card (or better still take out Blight - the devastating card that nearly wiped out David in the very first turn).
• Shuffle the Ice Age card with 4 more cards and put them at the bottom of the draw deck.

That way, the game is at least one turn shorter, and no animal has an advantage over another.

The lead changed a lot throughout the game but James' growth in number of species in the final turn meant he cleaned up in the final reckoning when each and every terrain tile is scored one last time.  James got 88 victory points, David 72, Orhan 71, Kieron 65 and Adrian 63.  One to play within the next few weeks I think whilst the mechanisms are still fresh in our minds.

St Petersburg - 17th August 2011

Not many for games this week so we played a less well known 4 player game called St Petersburg. David and Adrian had played it before, but it was new to James and Kieron. Prior experience helped David build up a commanding lead that was never threatened. James and Adrian fought for second place, while Kieron fell behind in income early on and struggled for a couple of turns.

It's a good game, with straightforward rules and simple games mechanics, but incorporates good money vs victory points balancing.

The board was cleared away before I had a chance to record the scores - I think Adrian pipped James for second place?

Lee withdraws from Gettysburg - 29 July 2011

Three weeks on, my scribbled notes from this game aren't that clear - so here's a quick summary and some  photos from another great ACW game set up by Jonathan.

Following defeat at Gettysburg, General Lee (Jonathan) is withdrawing with the rebel army west towards the Shenandoah / Cumberland valley with its rail links back to Richmond.  The Third and Fifth Corps are in the Vanguard of the pursuit, swinging south via Frederick, through High Knob Pass towards Sharpsburg seeking to cut off the Confederate Army before the Potomac River crossings and safety at Williamsport.  On the 11th Lee has ordered Longstreet and Hills division to hold the Hagerstown to Downsville line to screen the withdrawal over the Potomac.

The Union Army (James and Kieron) has the chance to seal the victory and defeat the main rebel army in the field, brush aside the covering force and seize the crossings bring this war to a close.

Jonathan charged onto the table in his first move but failed his command roll in the second turn so his advance was halted.  Nevertheless his artillery and shooting managed to break the first Union brigade that very turn.  James then got his first (of very very many) command blunders (a double six).  By the fifth turn, he'd had four command blunders - but his flank march did arrive pretty early.

With lots more scrapping and shooting, by lunchtime it was still anyone's game.  Early in the afternoon, Jonathan's flank march had also arrived and the Union was taking a beating.
 

The classic moment came in turn 10 when Kieron and James rolled four successive double-sixes - blundering all over the battlefield.  A couple of turns later it was all over with a decisive win for Jonathan.

Small World - August 10th 2011

Another outing for Small World with guest gamers Fred and Felix. A great game ensued with Fred and David battling for the high scoring rounds, while Adrian seemed to be picking up the passed over combos, gaining lots of coins for his selections while not achieving a great deal with them. Felix did a good job of explaining to everyone why they should attack Fred instead of him, while Orhan who admitted this was a game he didn't seem to get reverted to attacking whoever attacked him last. Perhaps we could replace him with an AI next time...

By the end, Fred had a consistently high scoring empire of skeletons. David went for broke with commando giants which allowed him to conquer a large number of regions but left him completely exposed on the last turn. End result was Fred wins on 86, Adrian on 84, David 81, Felix 72 and Orhan 65.

Kingsburg, 3 August

Summer holidays meant depleted Rivals this week, with Adrian, Deej and Orhan being joined by guest gamers Felix and Fred. We opted for Kingsburg, the rather clever influence-the-king's-advisors game which has a certain amount of luck (in the dice rolling) but lots of opportunities to adapt tactics to match. Orhan put his faith in the religious buildings, reasoning (correctly as it turned out) that their victory point contributions would more than compensate for the reduced opportunities to boost military strength. This paid off. Final scores: Orhan 40; Adrian 33; Fred 31; Deej 24; Felix 11.

Imperial 2030, 27 July

Six players round at Adrian's, so the hyper-modern version of Imperial came out. We played the variant where anyone, starting with the player that owned the country in play, could invest in that country. This meant that we had lots of investment opportunities, but it was extremely difficult to dislodge an existing player from their starting country (given that they always would have first chance to reinforce their position). Lots of fighting in the centre of the board meant that those on the edges, most notably Kieron as South America and Adrian as Russia, had the opportunity to build up a commanding lead. As the last turns rolled round, Adrian was in the fortunate position of having invested in both himself and Kieron, which meant a fairly comprehensive victory. Final scores: Adrian 103; Kieron 70; Orhan 63; Deej 62; James 52; Andy 38.