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It seemed like a very large crowd, especially since it was in the 80's outside. Frank and Tom made it from Buffalo, Dan Brass from the Northern Tier, Alan B from Oswego, and Dallas Hoag from down Salimanca way. No problems with the cold in the game room. I counted 35 sometime around mid day. We will have to see if Steve gives us a better count. We distributed Millennium discount cards to the people that were there. If you want yours, show up to a Saturday session or get a hold of Steve as he has the supply. They get you a 20% discount off of board games and board game supplies. Its good any time not just game day. I heard a couple of comment about 20% not being very much, compared to some places on the web. Just remember we get to play at Millennium for free, so perhaps purchasing a game or two a year from them at 20% is the price of the room, instead of having to pay dues like the Columbus Area Gamers, or the Eastern Pennsylvania Gaming Society has to do for their game room. Steve was keeping a list of games played. I think he said he had 35 different ones. A fantastic turnout - we officially had 52 members and guests present. Thats a new record folks! 34 were known registered members, so a great showing just among the membership - one of the highest to date as well. These 52 played 33 different titles throughout the day, many hitting the tables multiple times. Hannibal (Bill Peeck) Frank and I played Hannibal and Frank got his revenge for my win in Buffalo. Somehow he managed to keep the Carthaginians with a 5-9 province lead and I almost went under as Rome. I tried to attack Hannibal
with Scipio Africanis. Hannibal had 4-5 double envelopments. So Hannibal killed Scipio in battle. At that point I gave up. Brass (Bill Peeck) Mark, Frank, Jeff Aaronson, and myself played a game of Brass, a euro based on the start of the industrial age in England. You go 2 rounds, one where you can only build canals, and one where you build
Railroads. The objective is to collect victory points by owning and operating coal mines, cotton mills, ship yards and iron smelters. As each is used you get Victory points and increase your revenue. Interesting game. I think it was better than some of the Euros I have been introduced to. I did not quite understand the strategy. Jeff said he had played 3-4 times and still did not understand it. In the end game I build 2 cotton mills, but it appeared that I could not score them as there were not unused ports, but Mark build 2 ports intending to use them for his mills. As I cleaned up the room around 9:30, Mark, Frank, and Jeff scored the game and told me I won by 1 point. Crown of Roses (Stephen A. Cuyler) We tried a 4 player playtest of my Crown of Roses block game. Players consisted of myself, Bill O'Neal, Mike Cardwell, and Greg Dysenko. We used the newest components (smaller player decks, unit counters for
sending nobles to parliament in secret). We also tried the voting parliament option and the new Anarchy rule. Random draw gave York to Mike, Stafford to Bill, Neville to Greg, and Lancaster to myself. Mike has tested before, so was familiar with the game, and Bill is a veteran gamer. Greg had never played a block game
before. After some explaination, we were off and running. Turn one saw Lancaster make a move to secure economic victory, placing influence along the southern coast, while the others built up armies. In parliament, Lancaster sent everyone, while the others sent only about half of thier units. This meant that Lancaster had a
strong position for determining awards, and I was happy to use that power to my advantage. A quick negotiation with Stafford gave me King and gave him Chancellor, and that was pretty musch it for turn 1. At the start of turn 2, Greg begged off to play another game that he had scheduled, but veteran Rob Winslow agreed to sit in for a turn or 2 until lunch. Turn 2 and 3 went pretty much te same as turn 1, and then Stafford mentioned that I had 1/3 of the turns needed to win politically and it all went to hell for me. (Thanks alot Bill...). Rob left after turn 3 for lunch, leaving us with a 3 player game. Rather than restart, we simply removed the Neville faction and continued.Strangely enough, the game did not seem to suffer, which I feel is a good thing. Turn 4 saw combat, as Lancaster made a pre-emptive strike against York with Beaufort and Holland. York was starting to play his supplemental heirs, so was sure to grow in the near future. The battle was inconclusive, with both sides suffering losses and
withdrawing. But it set a precedent. Later in the turn, Stafford and York both made attacks of thier own against each other. Parliament on turn 4 saw a 2v1 situation, as Stafford and York cooperated to prevent Lancaster from gaining anything. Stafford became King, York became Chancellor. Turn 5 saw more combat, with Stafford loosing Humphrey, Duke of Buckingham - his largest heir. Buckingham's son (also named Humphrey), the Earl of Stafford, was available to assume the mantle of family head, so Bill was still in the running. York meanwhile,
added Edward of March and Edmund of Rutland to the game, giving him a numeric advantage on the board. At this point all of us had played at least one ally from our decks, but no one had done any recruiting. The random events had prevented recruitment for several turns during the game. Parliament was much more chaotic on turn 5, as York had more votes than previously, so Stafford was forced by neccessity to side with Lancaster. This led to a state of anarchy, as parliament could not determine who to support as King. Turn 6 started with a series of events (consistent with the new Anarchy rules) - a plague in the eastern portion of England wiped out influence over a wide area, and forced Stafford to check for losses to the black death. He got lucky and lost no troops. The other events
were less critical. Turn 7 started with a series of French raids that cost Lancaster Henry Holland's life, and wiped out any chance for an economic victory as Lancaster lost influence all along the south coast. This left York with a commanding lead in units, as George of Clarence made an appearance. Stafford held out with just Humphrey of Stafford, but had John of Mordaunt in his hand to play at any time. Turn 7 saw
another Anarchy in Parliament as well. At this point it was getting on in the day, and each of us was getting hungry, so we called the game Stafford/York draw. Fast Action Battles - the Bulge (Jack Morrell) I introduced Spencerport Bill (not O'Neal) to the introductory scenario
which goes 3 turns and uses only 8 by 11 playing map. Bill had the glory of the German blitz and made it to the objective Bastogne on the last turn. Here his attack met a stout defense but by aborting his attack he won by a point. My defense put 3 hits on his attackers but the offense can take 1 hit and stop attacking. This left him with 2 extra factors in the victory objective. Pacific Typhoon (Jack Morrell) Pacific Typhoon is the new card game following the success of Atlantic Storm.
Cards have a lot of historical info. Can be played with up to six players and relatively fast if all players know the system and use of special cards. Many players like to bargain during this game to enhance their point gain. I find this diplomacy slows the game. Suitable to use as filler while waiting for real historical game and to be sociable (nothing wrong with that). In our 6 player game we played around 2 times before I wished I was playing something else. Later a 6 player game was played to completion by a different crew. Jeff Burdett graciously introduced me to this new and easier system of tactical Cold War combat. This is one of 3 in a series. The map is not large, the OoB uncomplicated, and the rules mechanics easy. Many details found in other tactical systems are subsumed by dice roles. i.e. His T72 rolls 4 dice to hit me on 5 or 6, then I roll 3 dice for 6 to see if my armor defeats his hits. Depending on the number of saves I am ok, disrupted, or hit. This looks like a quick system to play and the price is right at $25. Commands and Colors Ancients (Jack Morrell) Agrigentum (262 BC) - The key to this battle, get lucky when you draw sides and get the Romans. The Carthaginians are poorly lead, badly disposed and of inferior quality. Does this give you a clue to which force I commanded? Having 2 mounted charge cards in hand I tried to exploit this with my elephants. Two charges did some hurt to Steve Cuyler’s wings but yielded better results for him in the battle back, elephants being very brittle on defense. The situation stood at 5-5 as Steve's numerous legions approached via multiple line command cards.
I threw my Warriors against his line and did not sunder it. His Legionaries made short work of survivors to garner a 7-5 victory. |