Another Midgard Heroic Battles game played

 

We played another game of Midgard on May 24th, Empire vs Orcs. It was the first time for the Empire to show up on the table and while they had some good successes ultimately the Orcs looked to prevail. (game cut short for dinner)

We may yet get another game in before the end of May.

Recent game day Midgard Heroic Battles

 

Game two Orcs defending on the left, Dwarf attackers right.

Game one Dwarf defenders left, Orcs attacking on the right.

Two games of the same scenario, same results, the attacker won. In game one the Dwarfs were the defenders, game two the Orcs defended. There were two sessions, morning/afternoon, five players, one ref. There was no duplication of players so each group came up with their own battle plans.

The rules seemed to go over well with the players, as the ref I certainly liked them. I look forward to the next game of Midgard.

Full AARs can be found on the main site HERE.

Recent game day

 

So we got our two games in this past Saturday. There were three players for Devilry and four for What a Cowboy! (not including me as GM) A good time had by most, if not all even though defeating the witches seem nigh impossible. 

What a Cowboy was fun and moved along quite well despite a gaff in rules understanding.

Up next will be a game  of Midgard Heroic Battles at the Sgts Mess this Saturday!

Fantastic Battles upcoming game

 

So this weekend we will (hopefully) be playing another game of Fantastic battles, Orcs vs Dark Elves. The scenario is one of my own creation heavily inspired by a scenario in a wargame magazine. The original was a recreation of the Battle of Camlan. It had an interesting pre game sequence involving both sides in a mini Strategic stance showdown. Each side selects a strategy, Ambush, Cautious advance or bold charge. Once selected their choices would be crossed referenced and one side would be deemed to have out scouted their opponent or have tied each other. This end result dictates the deployment zones for the two armies.

In this case the bold charge has run into an ambush. The Orcs will deploy their army facing east while the Dark Elves will form up a blocking force to the east and an ambushing force to the north. The Orcs will deploy 75% of their force with the remainder arriving later in the game.

Their strategic stance choice also granted them a bonus army strategy and an objective. Hopefully this game will give me the chance to test out some new rules that I have been working on.

All Quiet on the Martian Front - Return of the Tripods

 

Scooping up some civilians

American forces advance into the gap!

 

 

 

This weekend we gave Return of the Tripods a try, a reworking of All Quiet on the Martian Front rule set. It was a fun game. There were a few changes to the rules, some good, some bad. However for the two players that did not know the old rules, it seemed to flow fairly well.

This weekend Terminator Genisys!

 

So, since I am going to play this game at our outreach public gaming session in a couple of weekends I thought it would be nice to refresh my memory about how it is played. I have played it at least once, maybe back in 2022, so it is a refresher not a complete learning of the rules.

 

VSF Glorious Adventures in the Age of Steam FFOL game 2 for April 12th

 

Just working on the set up for the next game. This one will be less of a free for all more structured, perhaps... I am looking over scenarios to see if I can modify one for the game. At this point not certain how many players will be attending and there might be late arrivals. I am thinking about an escalating game so that late arrivals can still participate.

 So maybe a raid on a farmstead while at the same time there are some archeologists that need rescuing. This time around I am cutting down the army lists a bit, no artillery for starters and I think I will try to keep it down to the recommended 5 units per faction.

VSF table for this weekends game of Glorious Adventures in the Age of Steam (GAAS)

  

So, GAAS is a variant, of sorts, of the Fist Full of Lead games Bigger Battles. There are minor changes in the rules from Bigger Battles and a real focus on the VSF aspect.  I have set up a roughly 8' by just over 4' area and the game will see up to 6 different factions fighting it out.

Pulp Alley China Station campaign has ended!

The lost cause

We had our final game day of the China Station campaign. We added two extra scenarios, not in the campaign book, and finished off with chapter 12 of the actual campaign. In preparation for what was to be a marathon session, I set up three separate tables.The day started for me at 11;30 and ran to midnight, a total of 6 games were played. Three players arrived for the 11:30 start then two more around two, and the last two around 6pm. The early crowd left around 5pm, but there was an overlap that saw a couple of games being played at the same time. Everyone played at least two games and everyone played in the last chapter, one game with three players, the other with 4 players.

Recent event Fantastic Battles game

 

So, this weekend some of the members got together to play a game or two, it worked out to be a game. Since I still had a game set up from a week or two ago I thought it might be good to run two players through the rules. 

 

July 15th game All Quiet on the Martian Front

 

 So, a brief diversion before the start of the new Pulp Alley game, a few of us got together to play AQMF.  It has been quite some time since this game has been on the table so a crash course on the rules was in order. I know I made some mistakes but for the most part I think it ran pretty well. The armies were approximately 1860 points each with the Martians the attackers while the humans occupied some ruins on the edge of town. The scenario was 'The Outskirts' from the rule book. The Americans deployed many of their troops as hidden (being represented by blips markers) and also deployed one ambush party. 

July 2nd gameday

 

Initial setup for the primary game and a test of some of the buildings that may show up during the campaign. A few things clearly need to be worked on. The gate is almost painted (the detail work is a killer) and all of the other buildings require some touch ups. The green and red/brown building was newly painted for this game but I did not have time to weather it, so that needs to be done. 

The centerpiece of this game was the market square where the leagues encountered a dangerous maze of market stalls. The X indicates a perilous area, while figures with coloured disks under them are bystanders that if befriended will aid what ever team they are with in navigating any perils in the market.

Gameday Pulp Alley

This past game day saw us return to Pulp Alley this time 2nd edition. We also had a new player to the group! The game ran smoothly with only some minor errors and was a great refresher and learning experience. Full AAR can be found HERE.

 

Game day Saturday April 29th

 

So, looks like we are a go for Saturday April 29th to play a variety of games. What with the staggered arrival I will try to set up something for each grouping. I plan to set up 3 game boards!

For the first two players we will try a game of What a Cowboy, or a game of The Walking Dead. I am leaning towards WaC as it promises to be simple quick play rules. Maybe we can get a few games in of it.

When our third member arrives we will no doubt shift to Pulp Alley. I am thinking about trying out one of two scenarios from the scenario book.

Finally once our last attendee arrives we may yet shift to a board game, certainly a short one as our first attendee must depart around 6pm. Hopefully a longer game can be played for the remainder of the evening (assuming the players can stay late enough) The suggestion of another game of Spartacus certainly sounds good to me! 

An actual gaming day! Boardgames, boardgames, boardgames

 

So three of us sat down to watch gladiators die for our pleasure while we tried to backstab each other. We went with the shorter version of the game as it had been a long time since we had played this game. It wound up being pretty quick to pickup and provided a couple of hours of good amoral entertainment. While there is a slight problem with the actual gladiator matches the rest of the game offers a lot of play value. The game also flows pretty fast the turn sequence is tight, you have opportunities to carry out intrigues against your opponents but not so many chances in a turn that the turn bogs down. 

After Spartacus we broke for dinner, and the two remaining players returned and played a game of Sentinels of the Multiverse and Undaunted Normandy. 

A good time had by all, hopefully we can get another day set up sooner than later!

Another game day in the books

terminator Genisys was the game of the day. It was our first time trying the game and I think it went pretty well! The game saw 10 Terminators trying to control more territory than the 17 humans could. While the resistance soldiers got off to a strong start by the end of the game the robots had managed to inflict a lot of casualties, even if they were unable to hold any objectives. the game played well and lasted around 3 hours. 

After the game these was a good bull session amongst the three attendees, with one of them also using the time to also paint some figures, while I worked on some fields.

An after action report will be posted up on the main blog, soon.

Next game day TBD.

 

Next game day and update regarding Pulp Alley game from our last session

 Looks like next game day will be Sunday September 17th 18th.

So far I believe What a Tanker! is still on the list, as is Mare Nostrum (time permitting) I have been working on another game this week but I do not think I will have it ready in time. 

Also I have posted an AAR for our Pulp Alley game from August 21st. Click HERE to see the report.

Another fun game day thanks to all who attended!

So despite an interruption in the gaming day, we were able to tackle a few games today. The 'big' game saw us return to Pulp Alley after too long an absence. Two leagues of apes, one a scientific expedition, the other a gorilla general and his troops struggled over a ruined city landscape each trying to capture (or help) a lone astronaut (Brent) 

The game worked out to be very hard on each players gangs. The Chimpanzees lost their gorilla zoo keeper gang in a brawl that also resulted in their gorilla gang that they were fighting being eliminated. The other two gorilla gangs found disaster due to terrain & plot point perils. Ultimately it was a close match going right down to the end of turn six, but a well placed shot by the gorilla leader, along with a clever card play, saw Zira wounded forcing her to drop the plot point that she controlled. This left the gorilla leader as the only owner of a plot point and thus the winner!

While we were able to jog our collective memories about the rules and were able to play with only a few errors, it is kind of sad what simple rules defied or immediate recollection.

After Pulp Alley we tried out a board game called Mare Nostrum, an empire building game. It was good to finally take this one off the shelf and give it a whirl. Like all games there was a rules learning curve and lots to think about regarding strategic goals. The game itself is actually quite simple, rules wise, but presents a lot of options for the path to victory with lots of replay potential. The turn sequence is quite intuitive and quick to pick up leaving players able to focus on their plans for conquest.

We rounded off the day with two quickie games, Tsuro and King of Tokyo. Both lightweight games but both entertaining.

Next time we will hopefully play a full game of Mare Nostrum and maybe What a Tanker. Still want to do more Fantastic Battles as well!

Next game date Sunday August 21th

 

Planet of the Apes Pulp Alley game. Beneath a blazing Betelgeuse like sun, ape leagues and human leagues battle to acquire a critical item that will aid them in the conquest of the planet! Who will escape with the mysterious item?

Followed by, maybe, a game of What a Tanker! This would be a chance to test out artillery and anti-tank weapons.  

If not What a Tanker, maybe a boardgame like...

See Y'all on Sunday!!

Pulp Alley of the Apes

 

Maybe for our next game? This was the board I made for the Analogue Painting Challenge. I am thinking maybe a quick one off Planet of the Apes game? I can certainly create some leagues, or those that want to can do the same, and we can have at it, maybe a four player game.

I still have room for another Fantastic Battles game and can certainly clear off the secondary table for some other game.

The big question will be when. So when can people get together again?

In the meantime some more teaser pictures.