Hold the Line

 It's the 250th anniversary of the USA's Declaration of Independence (a semiquincentennial apparently) so it seemed a good moment to dig out a game I've had for years but have never actually played... Hold the Line which was published a few years ago by Worthington Games/PSC

Visually it looks very like Memoir 44 or Commands and Colours.  It comes with lots of plastic figures  in either red or blue.  These are very bendy and have some pretty poor sticker flags to denote units.  To be fair though it gives the game a toy soldier aesthetic which I think quite suits it.  It did occur to me that I could substitute these for some of my 28mm AWI figures.  Unlike M44 etc it doesn't use a card activation system but replaces this with Action Points (APs).  Each side has a base number... in the scenario we played the British had 3 and the bad colonials had 4.  Each turn 1-3 points are added to this and points are used to move, shoot or rally units.  I love the C&C system of cards activating units in a sector but it can be frustrating at times, eg when you only have cards for  the Left sector and want make a breakthrough on the Right.  I thought this might be an interesting way to avoid that problem, which it does, but it adds a new level of frustration at times

The overall board... the British have captured the hills above the town, but there are lots of small, annoying American units around

American Militia defend Concord (or is it Lexington?)

Rules are very simple with a simple die roll to determine casualties (no special dice here) and the AP system is very intuitive.  Scenarios determine how many VPs you'll need to win, either by destroying units or capturing objectives.  The game comes with a scenario book and we decided to start at the beginning... Lexington/Concord.  The scenarios are arranged chronologically  and I'd thought this might be a nice introductory scenario but it's actually a tough game for the British.  They need to push through to the other side of the board and/or capture the 2 towns.  They have some reinforcements which turn up halfway through but in reality they had so few APs that they struggled to get these moving.

One nice touch is the varying size of units so , as the US player, I had lots of units but many of these were only 2 figures strong representing militia, rather than the standard 4 strong.  If hand to hand combat occurs, the charged unit has to test to see if it retreats after the fight, even if it goes on to win which was a little odd but does mean the smaller units are likely to be driven off at the bayonet.  We used an optional rule which is that units also have to test to initiate a charge (and spend the APs even if they fail) which I think feels right for this period and again, especially for militia.

The game was very tough for the British who did manage to get half way across the board, occupy Lexington and kill a number of US units, but were nowhere near completing their objective.  The lack of APs (made worse by some unlucky dice rolls) meant they really struggled to get going.  On the other hand I had points to spare... as a defender it's a lot easier to just keep falling back in front of the attackers and take the odd pot shot (and I had some very lucky dice rolls here!)  The game was interesting and a good alternative to C&C.  I did feel it was lacking something though.  Apart from the variability in the number of APs there is little else in terms of friction and perhaps some 'tactics' cards to allow things like bonus moves, charges, random events etc would make it a more interesting game.  As it was I'd defintely play it again but I'd still default to C&C as my 'go to' system

Gazing into the abyss...

 

"If you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you"

This is possibly the most navel-gazing post I've ever made!!!

I was intrigued by a post on the excellent Prometheus in Aspic blog in which the author quoted a summary of their blog given in response to a question to AI.  As AI increasingly features in our daily lives it was interesting to see how it summarised and interpreted a bloggers regular posts and the 'feel' of the blog.

So of course, thanks to unbridled vanity, I couldn't resist asking Gemini (other AI overlords are available... this is the one I use most, mainly at work), tell me about the blog 'A Wargaming Gallimaufry'...

Apparently the blog is "an active and cozy corner of the "Old School" blogging scene."  I'm defintely old-school and I quite like the cosiness!  And it has "a personal, conversational tone that feels like chatting with a friend at a local gaming club".  It picks up on the mix of posts... game reports, reviews of shows and books (although I haven't done a 'what I'm reading' post for ages so I might get round to that), and increasing reports on boardgames (true... I seem to playing a lot more of these).

The blog "serves as a digital diary of a lifelong hobbyist, documenting the evolution of projects over years rather than weeks" which I think means this is a man who paints incredibly slowly and never gets a project completed!!

It finishes with "Fun Fact: Alastair once got temporarily banned from a major wargaming forum for calling someone "a bit of a dick" during a heated argument—an incident he shared on the blog with a self-deprecating "ho hum."  I've no idea where this features in the blog or why Gemini decided this was a fun fact but I stand by every word... the person in question was indeed a bit of a dick!!

So a not inaccurate take on the blog I think... now I just to ask Gemini to sort the rest of my life out!!

I have been to... Cavalier 2026

 I only made it 1 show last year...Salute, almost a year ago.  I usually get along to Colours and Warfare later in the year but these clashed with work or family things and, to be honest, I wasn't really fussed about going along.  This year I feel a bit more like getting back out in the wider wargamey world but then realised that Salute this year will clash with a big day at work so that's out of the question.

One of the shows I always enjoyed going to is Cavalier in Tonbridge, Kent.  Checking the blog it turns out it's been a shocking 9 years since I was last at the show. It's a fairly modest, quite traditional show and must be one of the earliest in the year.  So on Sunday it was off round a remarkably quiet M25 and, after a bit of negotiating some road closures, into the Angel Centre.

Like I said, Cavalier is a pretty traditional shoe but has its own charm.  Nearly all the games were historical (with a couple of exceptions) and the traders, apart from Warlord Games and a couple of others, seemed to be more smaller companies.

The games were pretty good... a good mix of demo and participation games.  My usual gripe about organisers of games concentrating more on the game than interacting still stands in a couple of cases but most were pretty good at engaging the punters.  I bumped into a couple of people I knew... one from my old Guildford club, and it was nice to catch up with Ray of Don't Throw a 1 fame.  I bought precisely... nothing.  

I spent a while browsing but there wasn't anything that caught my eye and I stuck to my resolve (mentioned in my last post) of not hoovering up yet more rules that I don't need.  ( my name is Alastair and it has been 3 weeks since my last rules purchase....)

So here are a small selection of photies... sometimes I've even made a note of the subject and club, apologies if I didn't.  I also missed a few games

Malplaquet 1709 - Hailsham Wargames Club

The Labyrinths of Mars - Maidstone Wargames Club

Polish Blitzkrieg - Deal Wargames Club

The Mogaisciou 1993 - Milton Hundred Wargames Club

Launch all Fighters - Friday Night Firefight Club

Kent & Sussex D&D and RPG Club

Port Arthur or bust!  Tonbridge Wargames Club

Team Yankee Game - Gravesend Gamers Guild

The Englishman's Castle  -Shepway Wargamers

Assorted boardgames

We've played a few boardgames at home over the last few weeks and I realised I hadn't posted anything about these.  My son and I actually managed to buy each other the same game for xmas... great minds!!  Luckily he was able to exchange his and bought one of the other games we played instead so a good result in the end.

Game #1 is Dominion.  This has been around for several years (2008 according to BGG) and is a card based game.  Players are rulers of a kingdom and play out their hand of cards to gain coins, estates (which are what give you victory points) and a range of advisers or buildings.  These provide players with more actions, cards, or special effects for a turn.  Initially your hand of cards is small and some of the slots are taken up with coins (which you can use to buy more cards) or estates which are important but annoyingly take up valuable slots in your hand.  Each turn players can choose to buy one of  10 types of card which remain the same throughout the game.  As the game progresses though, your hand grows and, if you know what you're doing, you can build up increasing chains of actions, or trade up your coins to something more valuable which take up less space in your hand.  Very simple but really fun and requires some clever thinking.  What's appealing is that the game comes with 25 types of card of which 10 are in play in any given game so there's lots of variety.  There are also lots of expansions to add to the mix.

Little paint pots act as markers

Our next game was Kanagawa.  This is the game we both bought each other... we both have a liking for all things Japanese and games that are visually pretty and this ticked all the boxes.  In this game you are a student under the great Hokusai and are trying to complete your own painting of different landscapes.  Each turn there are a selection of cards played out which players can claim and then use to either add to their painting or improve your studio.  Essentially it's a 'push your luck' game... if players pass on the 1st round of cards, more are added so you need to decide whether to go for the limited number of opening cards or wait and hope your opponent doesn't snaffle the card you really want.  Paintings build up a number of 'harmony' points which win the game.  It's pretty simple and only takes about 45 minutes but is very nicely themed and looks lovely.

The final game is Viticulture which is the game my son bought as an alternative to Kanagawa.  This 2013 game is a brilliant worker placement game.  As you can guess, you own a vineyard and have to maximise your wine production and fulfill contracts to earn VPs.  You only have a limited number of workers however and there won't be enough slots for each action for everyone to do what they want each turn so it's very strategic and clever.  Each turn is divided into 4 seasons.  In Spring yo sort out player order and a benefit for that turn... an extra card, some cash, a temporary worker (this last one seemed really useful so we were both after it each turn).  In Summer you take turns allocating workers, offering tours round the vineyard to raise some cash, building extra structures such as irrigation systems, windmills etc all of which are useful but cost cash and a valuable worker slot, and crucially you can select vines  and plant them.  These can be harvested in the autumn to give you grapes and eventually, wine.

Cards selected in the Fall provide you with useful visitors (wine specialists, workers etc) which can be played in the Summer or Winter.  Here you can also acquire contracts... these are the only way to convert your lovely wines into Lira but you need to be able to house your wine in your cellar while it matures and the cellar will need to be expanded to accommodate the bottles... all of which (you guessed it!) costs Lira!

It's a brilliant game... actually very simple but really engrossing and full of character.  AS soon as we'd finished I was itching to play again which is a sign of a great game!

Adventures on Mars

I played a great game this week using one of the Wiley Games 'Fistful of Lead' rules.  In this case it was the Glorious Adventures in the Age if Steam rules and took us off to Mars.

The game set some High Martians against a British Patrol who were trying to rescue 'Miss Lucy', a spy who found herself stranded in the Martian badlands (Miss Lucy is the figure from the Temple of the Beastmen game).  The Martians were armed with a mix of pole arms and bows but had the advantage of being able fly over the rough terrain while the rifle armed British had to pick their way around it.  

The Martian Leader scoops in to capture Miss Lucy...

...while the British advance in pursuit 

The shaken spy is rescued! (After being shot by her rescuers!!)

As usual the rules made for an exciting game which went to the wire.  Casualties mounted on both sides and the Martian leader almost escaped off table with his prize but was slowed down when a redcoated rifleman unsportingly took potshot at him, hitting Miss Lucy instead, but thankfully not actually wounding her.  The resulting shock slowed her down though, allowing a better aimed shot to kill my leader and free his prisoner.  Not sure that's really the way Anthony planned it but it worked!!

FFOL are probably my favourite skirmish rules... I've used them in settings from Ancients through to 19thC, as well as the SF version Galactic Heroes, and they always give an exciting and fast moving game.  In our post-game discussion I admitted that, while I'm an unashamed rules junkie with far too many unplayed sets filed away, I've been increasingly jaded with many of them.  I guess ultimately there are only so many rules mechanics and often rulesets promising 'new innovative features' are a rehash of several other existing games.  Like a number of gamers I've chatted with I'm finding that increasingly I'm narrowing down to a few sets to use more consistently rather that flitting, moth-like, to the next shiny thing.  Doesn't stop my buying new rules though!  More on recent acquistions in another post...

In space, no one can hear you whimper...

This week Anthony and I played a board game which both of us have acquired in the last couple of months... Alien: Fate of the Nostromo.  I'd bought a copy off eBay a while ago but it has been sat in the 'to play' pile so when Anthony mentioned he had it as well I knew it wouldn't be long before it appeared on the table.

As you'd expect it's a nicely produced game with miniatures for each of the key crew members and one of the Alien itself.  The map features rooms and corridors on the Nostromo split over 2 levels.  

The game is cooperative.  Players are allocated 3 random missions that they have to complete before the final mission is revealed.  Each turn random event cards move the Alien or pesky Science Officer Ash who is doing his best to thwart the crew's actions, usually by confiscating the scrap material you'll need to build things like cattle prods, flame throwers etc. and generally getting in the way.  Some of the cards are incident free and Jones the cat makes the occasional appearance.  As the game progresses the more benign cards are removed, meaning the tension ramps up as things build to a climax.

In our case the final mission involved having each player in specific locations and having to manoeuvre the Alien into the airlock.  Of course the Alien is doing it's best to attack the crew... if it does, no-one actually dies.  Instead the player has to flee and the morale tracker counts down.  In our game we'd got 3/4 of the way through the morale track before successfully blowing the creature out of an airlock.

It's a fairly simple and quick game but nicely challenging and replayable.  And the board also features a lovely picture of Jones... what more could you want!

Nam!!

 1st game of the year was a chance to dig out some neglected figures and venture back to Vietnam for the first time in years.  

Last year I'd picked up a copy of the 2nd edition on Peter Pig's 'Men of Company B' rules... I used to play the original rules quite a bit and really enjoyed them.  Like a lot of PP rules they contain some really interesting concepts, but sadly like a lot of PP rules the layout can make it had to make sense of the rulebook!  I've picked v2 up a few times but never got very far into the rules so, when I'd suggested a Vietnam game to my friend Andrew I thought this might be a good spur to get to grips with them

In the event I failed completely to read them and had to dig out v1 since I was reasonably familiar with these rules.  MOCB is a small scale patrol-style game with the US (or ARVN) troops on a mission to drive off NVA troops and seize supplies, both of which gain victory points.   The US player has a choice of missions from 'Hearts and Minds' which gives more points for securing supplies and penalties for civilian casualties, to 'Bodycount' which emphasises wiping out the NCA/VC and is less worried about innocent bystanders!

The US troops activate zones by contacting markers which reveals hostile troops (possibly), civilians, and supplies.  Of course the NVA/VC player has a choice about where to place the markers and how to populate them.  There are options to 'interrogate' the locals and to call in artillery or air strikes.  The NVA/VC player has a chance of redirecting these however!

The M113s trundle happily down the road...

Uh oh....

In our game the VC sprang an early ambush from a paddy field, causing an expensive US casualty and pinning down one of the 2 M113s that were advancing down the road, thanks to a well-aimed RPG.  Sadly this was the high point of the game for the plucky revolutionary heroes.  I made a mistake in my allocation of troops... in hindsight I should have concentrated the bulk of my force in one location to hit the US troops hard... they really can't afford too many casualties.  Instead I'd spread them piecemeal across the table and lacked the killer punch I needed.  This allowed Andrew to deal effectively with each VC cadre he encountered and then to hoover up supplies and Intel.

Marines take cover in the jungle

Interrogating the locals...

I really like this game although I'm not sure Andrew was as convinced.  It has inspired me to properly read the v2 rules and have a think about other Vietnam rules that are out there.