Last and first games

My last game of 2019 was a 5 player game of the Game of Thrones boardgame.  I haven't played this for several years so was quite hazy about the rules...all I could remember was it involved a lot of treachery and backstabbing (obviously).  As the Lannisters I found myself slap in the middle of the map and it took a few turns for me to work out what was going on.  The southern half of the board was pretty peaceful as the 3 players here decided to largely ignore each other... the Pykes and Starks to the north had other ideas and I lost quite a lot of ground in a mutually destructive war with the Pykes.  Somehow (and I still don't really know how!)  I managed to sneak into the lead in the last turn and won the game!  I can only think that as everyone was targeting which ever player was in the lead no one noticed me until the end as I'd been pretty weedy for most of the game...a life lesson in there somewhere I think!

2020's gaming started with an outing for Star Wars Rebellion...another game I hadn't played for ages.  It took us ages to set up and remind ourselves of the rules but once we got started it all made sense.

Like a lot of Fantasy Flight Games Star Wars games this suffers a little from having too many 'bits'...I got very confused about which was the Action cards, the Tactics cards, the Projects cards, the Mission cards etc.  This wealth of 'stuff' was one of the things that put me off other FFG games such as Armada.  Luckily my son has a much better grasp of this than I do and kept me on track.  The game is a big strategy game set across a map of the Star Wars universe with the Imperials trying to locate and destroy the secret Rebel Base while the Rebels have to hang on and convince systems to join the alliance.

The Imperials not surprisingly dominate militarily with Star Destroyers, ATATs and even a Death Star available to crush resistance.  They can also potentially build the 2nd Death Star later in the game.  The Rebels have some troops but have to rely more on persuasion and sneakiness to survive until the game end.

Having decided  where my secret base was I then started with most forces in Ryloth in the top right corner...big mistake as I was immediately hemmed in and had a Death Star and Star Destroyer bearing down on me.  Luckily the rebels move first so I was able to slip away.

Each player gets to recruit characters from the film's (some are rather obscure) who can move troops or carry out missions.  Very quickly Darth Vader  captured the Rebel leader Mon Mothma who is their best diplomat and really useful for convincing systems to join the rebellion.

I did eventually manage to rescue her and support for the rebels was slowly building across the galaxy.  Unfortunately the Imperials were advancing faster...they can convince systems to join them but can also subjugate them by landing troops on the planet.  This also reveals whether or not the hidden rebel base is present.  My hideout was on the Wookie system of Kashyyk and had 2 Imperial fleets getting closer and closer so I had to abandon it and relocate to one of the few remaining systems that my son hadn't investigated.  Sadly this only bought me a turn or 2 and he quickly invaded with a fleet and ground troops...game over.

I realised part way through the game that I'd made some early blunders with my tactics.  Although the rebels are relatively weak in military terms, they still need to be a bit aggressive and stop the Imperials having free reign to march all over the galaxy gaining resources and sussing out the location of the Rebel Base.  My 'run and hide' tactic was always doomed to failure.

Good fun and a game that gives a very different experience depending which side you play.  Let's hope my success rate improves for the next game in 2020!