Mars Attacks playtest

Last year I bought the Mars Attacks game and then painted up all the miniatures.  I still haven't got round to painting all the scenery but I thought it was about time I actually tried the game.  An attraction of buying it during lockdown was the Solo Rules (AI cards drive the Martian behaviour) but I wanted to try a proper game with Andy first.

The game is a good blend of simplified wargaming mechanisms with card-driven events.  There is no measuring as the two playing mats are both discretely marked into an 8x8 board.  Figures can position anywhere in a square to get the benefit of cover but moving and shooting is simply between adjacent squares, including diagonals.  The cards provide bonuses to die rolls or moves, or build up into sets of support cards (like artillery attacks) that can be called upon when needed.  The game uses a set of D8s to resolve everything, for example, three dice when shooting with the shooter getting an extra die or two depending on whether they aimed or the target is fully in the open.  The defender gets three dice and typically rolls against a higher "Survive" figure, so shooting proved pretty deadly, especially since there are no wounds to record - a figure either survives or is removed from play.

It has a You Go, I Go turn order but this is split up over a number of rounds with each round providing an opportunity to activate two figures, or one figure and play a card.  Activated figures are marked with yellow counters and the first player to have activated all their figures can still play cards or pass whilst the other player continues using figures, but the former then has the initiative in the next turn.

There are also eight counters randomly distributed which are initially face down and then revealed as either "critters" (which the Martians want to take away to examine) or "alien technology" (benefit for the Humans).

The first scenario has just 8 US marines taking on 5 Martians, with none of the Hero figures and their special abilities taking part.  All scenarios are won by getting to 8 Victory Points and in this game were earned by killing by shooting (1VP), by hand-to-hand (2VP) and discovering critters or tech (1VP each after the first one).

Andy's Martians used a pretty devastating heat ray early on (highlighting the risk of having more than one figure in a square) and then a couple of random attacks that flattened some of the already ruined buildings, significantly opening up lines of sight.  It then became a shooting match until very near the end when we thought Andy had won 8-7, but we then noticed the first critter didn't count for VPs, so the score was really 7-6.  Since we hadn't yet had any close combat and James needed the 2VPs to win, he encouraged a fight which Andy gamely took on.

The final dice roll saw the last Martian bite the dust and give James the victory.

It's a fun, good-looking game.  Certainly not complex and there are random factors but that seems to fit well with the comic book theme.  The second scenario requires many more figures so we thought this should work well with more players at a future games night.

I subsequently rediscovered some fan-made cards I'd downloaded for this game which I've now printed out ready for next time, so the stats are accessible and the Hero special abilities can be more easily used and tracked.

Episode 301: Another Shabby Nazi Trick

Captain Mainwaring of the Local Defence Volunteers rushed out of his office waving a telegram.

"Listen to this, Wilson.  I've just received orders from Colonel Pritchard... An unidentified flying object has crashed just outside Walmington-on-Sea. The top brass think this could this be a new Nazi superweapon.  I'm to take my men and investigate as soon as possible.  There's no time to lose.  Don't worry about uniforms.  Gather the platoon and we'll meet near the woods.  Come with me Pike."

"I say, would you chaps mind awfully coming out for a bit of a manoeuvre?", asked Wilson, as he found Jones, Walker and Frazer sinking a few pints in the Red Lion.

The platoon quickly reached the saucer-shaped object and found a way in.

Mainwaring split the platoon and led (from safely in the middle) Walker and Frazer up the staircase.

Wilson did similarly on the other side through a strange smelling area with Pike leading the way waving his trusty cricket bat, with which he had once scored 23.

Sadly this time he was out for a duck as he encountered a strange grey hairless homunculus with large black eyes at the top of the stairs who promptly incapacitated him, and Pike fell from the stairs calling for his mother.

"Whatever will I tell Mavis", wondered Sergeant Wilson as he swiftly despatched the creature in revenge.

Mainwaring's men encountered similar beings who struck and then ran away into the bowels of the ship.  "They don't like it up 'em", cried Corporal Jones, chasing them down the gantry.

Then Frazer was set upon by a skeleton in a very strange costume.  "It's not like any diving suit I witnessed in the Navy", he exclaimed.

Recalling the tradition of parley, Frazer somehow managed to subdue the skeleton who then started fighting the grey creatures alongside the Home Guard.  Its help was vital as they were beginning to get outnumbered.

Mainwaring punctured a grey with his umbrella before turning to help Walker finish off another.  "Take that, you monochrome marauder!"

One by one the enemies were defeated providing some respite for the Home Guard to search some of the container boxes for technologies to take back to Army Headquarters.  They made their way back to the entrance, fighting off the last stragglers, before emerging blinking back into the sunlight of their seaside town.

After a minute's silence for Private Frank Pike, Captain Mainwaring turned towards his men and the strange skeletal creature who had joined them.  He tucked his thumbs under his lapels, drew himself up to his full 5ft 4 ½ and addressed the group: 

"Let us brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that if Walmington-on-Sea last for a thousand years, men will still say, ‘This was our Finest Hour.’"

[James and Andy were playing Perilous Tales, with figures by Bolt Action and Copplestone Castings. Scenery was the Galactic Core System from Battlesystems.  The Perils were Putrid Strench, Utterly Horrible and The Captain.  Villains were a lurking Master with 7 Wounds and 7 Skill, an aggressive Minion with the same, and a group of pack hunters with 5 Wounds and 5 Skill.  10 Victory Points were achieved for a "truly heroic performance".]

BKC Eastern Front

Another in our irregular series of re-booting Blitzkreig Commander.  After the debacle of Pendraken's botched update (version 3) after they bought the series a few years ago, we have decided to stick with version 2 rather than buy their re-worked version 4.

Andy set up an early Eastern Front game with Germans controlled by James attacking Andy's Russians in a defensive position around a factory complex.

Line of sight was broken up by hedges and walls preventing long-range bombardment from the start.  James generalship started well with a Command Blunder (a roll of double six) in the very first turn, depressing the command values of his HQs for that and the second turn.

On the right flank, command struggled and the lorries containing infantry didn't progress very far before being ambushed by Andy's tanks pressing forward, but in the centre the infantry did move up and started to exchange fire (admittedly as machine guns for a couple of turns before we noticed they were actually mortars - and then unfortunately too close to anything to be effectively utilised).

On the left flank, the minefields provided limited routes forwards and once suppressed, the tanks prevented anything else moving up.

As LOS opened up, Andy used his dug-in 75mm to great effect.  After our couple of hours time limit, there wasn't huge progress given our frequent consultation with the rulebook.  We still didn't get into using the Initiative Phase properly and got it wrong by providing Opportunity Fire multiple times within the same turn, but we are continuing to learn and re-learn how this game works best, and it was good to get the tanks out onto the table again.

Old School gaming

Over the last six months, John and I have had three sessions playing vintage board games from the 1960s.  Two of these were childhood games of John's and the third I picked up in a charity shop recently.  You can't really compare them with modern games but there is charm and nostalgia in re-visiting them, and certainly still fun to be had.

The first we played was Go.  Not the thousands of years old game with beads but a travel game from Waddingtons.

In this game, players travel the world by various means (after securing visas and tickets) collecting souvenirs.  A big constraint is only being able to make purchases in local currencies and there are incredibly about a dozen different types of "Monopoly money" to trade during the game.

Like several older games, you can be incredibly reliant on a particular dice roll so we made a house rule that made that easier in successive rolls after each time you failed, or else it is possible just to get stuck.

The game has an equivalent of "Chance" and "Community Chest" cards and the added bonus was that the stacks had been supplemented by extra cards devised by John and his brother back in the 70s!

The second game we played was Trek, an expedition game from Spear's in 1960.

The main attraction was the plastic four-wheel drive vehicles, although we were both disappointed to see these were modelled on Jeeps rather than Land Rovers, but they are nice components and complemented by mules and supplies.

James broke the market mechanism in the first turn by buying up most of the stock at the cheapest price which forced the price up to unrealistic levels for John.  Another rule we modified.  And then enjoyed racing from base camp to the unimaginatively-titled destination of "Camp 12".

Our most recent game was the irresistibly-titled Spy Ring, another Waddington's effort from 1965.

This is quite an unusual game.  Players control a spy and a control man who move around a city of sixteen embassies collecting secrets.  The secret cards have a couple of letters on which can be grouped to form the codeword FISH in different languages, with longer words (like POISSON) earning you more points than FISK.  And it that wasn't peculiar enough, when a player rolls a one, his spy has to contact his control man by sending a radio message.  This is signalled by placing an aerial in the spy's hat(!) making him vulnerable for a whole turn, and if spotted, the opposing player can steal a secret card.

The game ends when a player has completed two codewords but they may not win if one of their codewords is short and worth few points (e.g. single character Japanese) as it is the total score that counts.  A nice theme and a fun game to play.  We controlled two cooperating teams each so it would be good to try it with more players.

I've got another couple of 1960s games in the loft - one we played quite a bit 20 years ago, the other never yet tried - so John and I have more vintage gaming to come.

Riding through the glen

 

I got this much anticipated game for my delayed birthday gift from Louise last year although we didn't play it until the New Year.  It combines wargaming-style measuring sticks for movement, a Fighting Fantasy-style book for revealing the story, Advent Calendar opening doors for removable/flippable tiles which are built into the beautifully illustrated game board, a bit of roleplaying and silly voices, and uniquely a single bag for all the various bits that need to be drawn out during the game.

The development of characters and flipping of tiles within the game board means it is a legacy game - but one that can be completely reset and played through again.  Encounters are different depending on whether you are playing for the first or subsequent times through, and there is a branching narrative so there are two pairs of scenarios within the nine that are encountered by a different decision at some point.

It is really clever and a lot of fun.  Kieron, Stuart, David and I had played the first two chapters ("Escape" and "A Safe Hiding Place") a couple of months ago, and last night, Andy took over the Will Scarlet character from David (slightly reluctantly as Andy wanted the green figures of my Robin Hood character!).

The game doesn't have a rulebook as such with additional rules being introduced as players progress through the scenarios.  This works well for getting you stuck into the game straightaway and letting the depth of the game emerge but it does rely on a bit of memory between game sessions.

Consequently, we had a bit of a challenge with scenario 3 "Gold for King Richard".  We ran out of time but we also had collected objects we didn't know how to use which would have helped immensely, so we decided to treat our concluding the game in the one further round we played as a success.

For next time:

• The objects we collected can be used to get extra turns, extra movement and other bonuses as outlined on the inside cover of the book.  They are not carried over to future scenarios at this stage.
• The "Hope" counter drops rapidly during the game and we need the Bard to sing our praises - so it's important to defeat Guards and (especially) rob Nobles to ensure the Hope is regularly topped up, allowing more time to complete the scenario.

With the above in mind, I think we shouldn't feel under quite so much pressure in our next game.

Ancient Battles

 Andy and I got a few more DBA battles under our belts.  Last week we played Early Neo-Assyrian (I/25b) versus Early Achaeminid Persian (I/60c).

Andy lined up his Persians near the river I put down and advanced to the bank.  Leaving my horde behind to keep an eye on Andy's element in the fort on my side of the battlefield, I made my way towards the river.

As I reached it, I rolled a 6 revealing that the river slowed crossing, banks aided defence and only single elements or columns could cross.  As if that wasn't bad enough, Andy's 6s against my 1s saw his bow kill two heavy chariots before I even got a chance to cross.  And his superhuman horde even managed to push back another chariot despite being double-outflanked.

I soon lost my Psiloi and Blade on the right flank giving Andy a 4-0 victory.  I couldn't even kill one of the three hordes although as Andy informed as I was leaving, they don't count towards breakpoints anyway!

Yesterday we played Classical Indian (II/3a) against Graeco-Bactrian (II/36a).

I took another risk with the river and this time the river roll was a 4, slightly better but still reducing my Graeco-Bactrian knights to a feeble 1BW move as we waded through, and they never got in to the fight.

In the centre, battle was met but I didn't have the PIP dice to engage enough elements at the same time.  My elephant trampled one of Andy's bow but his Indian elephants did more damage.  Final score 5-1 to Andy.

We swapped sides for a rematch and I dispensed with the river this time.

My bow pushed up and killed a light horse.  There was a big battle in the centre with losses on both sides but elephants being able to quick kill knights gave me the edge, and after taking out Andy's general, I finally won a game with a score of 5-3.

Invading Italy

 Andy and I are trying to play more figures games.  A couple of weeks ago my Mongol Conquest DBA army invaded Italy, defended by Andy's Condotta.

The terrain was ploughed fields so James deployed across it as it counts as Good Going unless the first PIP roll of the game is 1.  Which Andy of course then rolled.  

By the time the Mongols had extracted themselves from the crops, the Italians had lined up a superior force of cavalry.  The match-ups were in Andy's favour and he rolled up all four of the Mongols.  In the meantime, James had taken a couple of elements in the centre and right flank, so Andy won the game 4-2.

Yesterday Italy was invaded even more improbably by Samurai.  Andy deployed an element in a fort which James thought he could take out early in the game.

Sadly, the dice were on Andy's side.  The three elements in contact with the fort were all able to attack, and all failed.  The same happened in the second round.  In both the third and fourth rounds, an attacking element was destroyed.  A 6-1 outcome on shooting saw James lose another element.  Finally, the Samurai actually killed a Knight, but a second 6-1 roll by a Knight killed a fourth Japanese blade to give the win to Andy 4-1.

In the rematch, James had more luck to start with, killing 2 Knights with bow fire, and a Light Horse in close combat.  Going in for the kill he surrounded a Knight with a Light Horse and his Cavalry General, but another extreme dice roll saw both of them destroyed, taking the score to 3-3.  Andy then took out another element winning the game 4-3.

This week's Rule 23 was clocking that command distance, and the terrain the General is in, does make a difference to the PIPs required to move elements.