I
What's New!
I
"In Moderation"
I
Where We Meet
I
Upcoming Events
I
After Action Reports
I
AAR Archives
I
Group Photos
I
Member Games
I
House Rules
I
We drew another good crowd - 21 signed in and I am sure
there were more that did not. Bob Titran, Frank Mestre and Tom Dunning
made it in from Bufflalo. We had 4 oor 5 new players. One a RR games shark
so perhaps Tom and I will be playing more railroad games, Kevin
Jaekley from Pike in Wyoming county so he has a long ride to get
here, Keith and Rebecca Hart were new to the group and were playing
Euros, and a friend of Bob Reed's. There was also a younger Jim present who played a few games. Crown of Roses (Stephen A. Cuyler) Frank again sat down to play Crown of Roses, this time
facing a new player named James. James was junior to Frank by a number of years and
had never seen this type of game previously. After a few minutes of explanation, they set
to it. Frank again drew Lancaster, James played York. The game has experienced a number of changes with the latest version, including a
new board with more of the feel of "A Game of Thrones". There are random events still,
but nothing on the scale of the first versions or "Kingmaker". Each player still has a hand
of numbered cards (ala Hammer of the Scots) and several single play events. Frank held initiative in the first turn and consolidated his forces. James used his
lower activation units to move into several Midland areas and establish control. On turn 2,
both players continued this behavior, though there were a few small clashes between
single block stacks and area defenders as James began gobbling up territory that
supported his enemy. When attrition came on the winter of 1451, Lancaster could not feed their armies and
had to send some of them home. To cap that off, James played his "The King is Ill" event
in the following Spring, ending the year and advancing the turn track two years. This event hurt Lancaster further, by forcing units home and taking non-heirs out of
play. In addition, James gained his third heir in play - Edmund of Rutland. This was a
master stroke by an inexperienced player in a new game - we'll all be more wary of
James' skills in the future as he seems to have the makings of a great general. The following turn was a non-game for Lancaster, as all Frank could do was hide and
rebuild. At that point James had to depart and we called the game for York. Overall I was very pleased with the changes made from the last round of testing to
the newest round, as the game seemed to go much faster and seemed much easier to
grasp. The fact that a new player sat down and effectively shut down a more experienced
opponent only serves to bolster my conviction that I'm on the right track. Compared to
earlier games, where each turn was nearly an hour, in the space of one hour, this game
progressed through nearly five full turns. I'm looking forward to many more such tests in
the near future. Thanks to Frank and James for letting me use them as guinea pigs this
month. Tom Dunning, Rex Coats, Bill Peeck, Bill
Horstkotter, and Kevin Jaekley took on Puerto Rico (Kevin has never played, so it was a
learning experience for him). Rex looked like the early leader as the corn king with 6 of them. I managed to buy 2 large buildings, but also managed to not get one manned at the end of the game. Tom Dunning also got 2 large buildings with one not manned. A close game with everyone kind of in it until the end in one fashion or another. Bill H complained he was out of it but managed to get 10 VP in one shipment of Indigo to Europe (he had been saving the indigo). Final score Tom with 43, Rex 40, Bill
P 38, Kevin 34 and Bill H 33. Rob Winslow, Kevin J, Bill P, Bob Titran, and
Tom Dunning played Alhambra. I have to document this one because these are usually
close affairs between Tom and Rob, but nothing went right for Tom in this game. Kevin was learning but obviously picked up the game quickly. Rob jumped out to an early lead with a long wall and kept that lead the whole game. Tom lost both tiles in the close out round, one that would have tied him for the lead in gardens with me. We exactly tied with me on money for it so no one go it. And I got the last other piece over Tom. Final results Rob 106, Kevin 94, Bill 92, Bob Titran some where in the 60's and Tom Dunning some where below Bob. Finally to end of the night, Mark Gartland, Steve Cuyler,
Bill Peeck, Josh Ostander, and Rex Coats were all looking for a short game. So Mark
drags out Fish eat Fish?? Advanced Squad leader this is not, but short it is. After learning the rules it seemed like a cross between the Balloon game Montgolfier,
with each playing getting the same set of cards to play; Pac man, because your fish
attacked other fish and ate them; and Go, because the board had little circles linked with
lines making a grid. Steve jokingly commented that is was like Go, and got a rash of comments,
mostly negative. So we started play - and this is the priceless part. Bob Reed had not heard the conversation, and walked up, took one look
at the board and said it looked like a Go game for Kids. We just broke up laughing. The 5 of us could not help laughing ourselves silly. You
just had to be there I suppose. Bob of course could not understand what was so
funny. I am not total sure but think that Either Steve or Mark won with 3 fish to 1 fish, and
the other 3 of us got zero. Not sure this is worth revisiting, unless you needs something
short at 9 PM at night (or you want a game like "Go" - ed.). Betrayal at House on the Hill (Mark Gartland) Rebecca, Mitch, Michel, Mark, Keith, and Josh braved nail-biting terror at the House on the Hill. Professor Longfellow – played by Michel – turned out to be a crackpot entomologist with delusions of grandeur. He lured five explorers to the creaky old house with lurid promises of ghosts, vampires, and werewolves. Instead, he delivered five giant bugs with slavering mandibles, laying in wait. This is a scenario called "Bugs." Missy Dubourde – played by Rebecca – discovered the nature of their deadly
peril in the kitchen, when a giant cockroach nipped at her heels from under the
sink. Missy cried out "Hey, it happens!" (Inside joke) and ran from the kitchen. (See Last Years WBC First Impressions from yours truly to understand the joke better). The attack of the giant bugs surprised everyone. As the bugs launched
their attack, Madame Zostra – played by Josh – was stuck in a mass of spider
webs in the attic, where she had been caught by the evil luck of the house in a
previous turn. She was struggling to escape, repeatedly crying out to the
others, "Watch out, everybody! These webs forebode an evil buggy doom for us
all!" but nobody believed her. You’d think they never saw a B-movie before. Jenny LeClerc – played by Mark – managed to gird herself with armor, arm
herself with a magic spear, and enlisted the aid of two squires to fight by her
side – a mangy dog and a roving madman. With all of this, and some lucky, lucky
die-rolls, she held a giant spider and a giant centipede at bay in the basement. This kept two bugs out of commission while the other heroes struggled to find a way to kill them. Kill them all! Missy Dubourde quickly gathered three every-day household items, ran them
to the kitchen, and cooked up a batch of deadly bug poison. MacGyver, eat your
heart out! Armed with her lethal bug spray, she became an unstoppable, unbeatable bug-zapper – a giant kamaboko slipper of doom. She marched through the bugs, cutting a swath a mile wide. Meanwhile, the other explorers managed to kill Professor Longfellow in hand-to-hand combat. The roach, spider, and praying mantis were dead. Only the wasp and centipede remained.
At this point, Michel conceded the game. |