Boardgames Day

Dave of our Odin's Night Games club had the team around to his awesome gaming shed for a play date the past weekend - and a great day it was.

We started off playing an old favourite Memoir 44, in the multi-player Overlord configuration which I hadn't tried before.  10 players; on the other table a Stalingrad scenario, on ours a Tobruk game.  I really enjoyed the back and forth nature of the battle and our strategy to attrite the Germans eventually delivered an Allied Victory (heavily enabled by my partner's unbelievable dice skills, it must be said).  I understand the Soviet defenders prevailed on the other table too.

The Tobruk board laid out ready for action

The Axis commanders

After lunch the other table broke out Robo Rally...

Slowpainter John takes charge of the Robots!

...while we played Blood Rage.  I hadn't tried this out before and found it to be a fun game. The minis are just beautiful too.  Somehow I managed to jag a beginner's luck Victory on that one too.

And I have to show this pic of Dave's Gaming Emporium. He skipped the Man Cave and went directly to a full barn. Most awesome!

Thanks for a great day everyone and for hosting us Dave!

Patton Jnr

Another blast from the Lad's gaming past: here is the boy playing with my new (at the time) copy of Memoir 44, which would make him about 4 when this was snapped.

I remember him explaining that he stacked all the US tanks at one end so his soldiers could hide behind them!

Playing the same game a few years later (though a few years ago now!), must be time to break this out again soon.

Comrade James does not seem happy with his cards!

Memoir '14

MEMOIR'14 is a non official (and free!) add-on which allow you to use the MEMOIR'44 rules to play during the Early Great War.

http://gloarmy.blogspot.com/search/label/memoir%2714

Memoir 44: Winter Wars

Days of Wonder's latest offering for Memoir 44...
Just in time to make my Christmas list :-)

As would befit your ration pack if you were about to embark on one of the coldest and most bitter fights of the war, after 5 long years of weary battles, we have packed this expansion with every thing you could ever need to combat in a snow-covered environment.
But judge for yourself, soldier! Inside this pack you will find:

• 88 double-sided Winter tiles, 28 Special Unit badges, 20 round markers and 16 obstacles
• 20 Winter Combat cards, similar in concept to the Urban Combat cards introduced in Battle Map Volume 3 - Sword of Stalingrad
• 80 new Command cards, designed specifically for Breakthrough battles
• New Winter Combat rules
• New Troops, including the all new Tank Destroyer and Heavy Anti-Tank Gun units and Late War model versions of an Anti-Tank Gun, Mortar and Machine Gun

Memoir 44: Breakthrough

New hotness for Mem'44. Not a game I pull out all the time, but one I always enjoy lots when I do.

Go deep behind enemy lines at Sword Beach as you airdrop in to capture the bridges of the Orne... Join Guderian's famed Panzers as they battle the armored columns of the British Expeditionary Forces... Sign on for Operation Crusader to take on Rommel in the deserts of North Africa and liberate the garrison in Tobruk...

The Memoir '44 Breakthrough Expansion will take you deep into the battles of World War II with two, double-sided, 9-panel board maps covering all four Memoir '44 map environments - countryside, beach, winter and deserts These oversize boards stretch the limit of current printing technology and are 13 x 17 hexes deep, opening up the Breakthrough format to new, more expansive scenarios.

The Breakthrough Expansion includes 15, never-in-print-before scenarios, created by Jacques "jdRommel" David, and Memoir '44 author, Richard Borg. These scenarios cover the Western and Eastern Fronts, as well as the Mediterranean and Pacific Theaters and include classic battles such as: Operation Crusader; Operation Amherst; and two different renditions of Sword Beach - all designed for the 13 x 17 hex Breakthrough format.

http://www.daysofwonder.com/memoir44/en/content/breakthrough/?inforef=165

Birthday Lists

Its never too early to start one, though the rumoured release date for the new edition of Space Hulk will be too late for this year's celebrations (which will be synchronised with the TurnerQuade III tournament).

Instead, I want the Birthday pixies out there to know that I think these new Memoir 44 products look rather awesome. Information is power, after all...

Turnerquade II

Oz Gamers will know that Australia's largest gaming convention, CanCon, is held in Canberra every Australia Day holiday long weekend (that's 26 Jan for our foreign friends). In the last couple of years Oberst Owen and Comrade James have come to visit and enjoy CanCon, but until this year we hadn't achieved everyone being here together. This year we did -Huzzah !!! So after a full day at CanCon, we held Turnerquade II in the Man Cave.

Just like Turnerquade last year, the object was to play as many different games in a single day (although we did play a couple of games of AT-43). Here are some highlights:

AT-43, at which Reilly the Apprentice and Oberst Owen did very well....
and Comrade James and I suffered numerous misfortunes...

Memoir 44, which we used the new Middle East British Expansion to insert Aussies into a Pacific Scenario. We played the scenario to conclusion, then switched sides.

Comrade James is a little dissappointed with the performance of his Imperial Japanese force here!

Zombies!!! I'd had this some some time, but hadn't even broken the shrink wrapping. What a great game with 4 players!

Game Start. No, thats not the Lad's beer...

A game with 2 distinct halves; after a very cooperative initial half, after the Helipad was the very last tile placed then the knives came out...

Amusingly, the big boys were so busy stabbing one another in the back, the cunning apprentice slipped came through to claim Victory; Well done boy!

We also played Down In Flames WW1, which Comrade James had picked up at CanCon the day before. He took a pair of Albatross DVs with Owen taking a trio of Halb CIIs, with Reilly taking a pair of Sopwith Cames ("Just liek Biggles" he told me) while I took a pair of my favourite SE5s. The villanous Huns were dispatched without Allied loss.

Here Biggles shows Comrade James that the WW1 version also includes a "Fuel Tank Hit - aircraft destroyed" result!

And finally, after Reilly went to bed, we had another game of AT-43, this time a UNA/RedBlk Human team vs Therios in the Landing Scenario. We didnt balance the forces well but it was a very good learning game (BTW Halo and Aliens soundtracks make excellent AT-43 background music!)

Planning continues for Turnerquade III in June/July, with a special trophy in development too!

Turnerquade I

"Turnerquade" was a gaming weekend held in the Man Cave's nearby Annex, colloquially referred to as "the House", in July 2008 (the Man Cave Annex is situated in the Canberra suburb of Tuner, hence the name). Lucky attended from interstate and for two days the women folk allowed the three lads to play as much as possible. Accordingly, the objective was to play as many games, using as many different game systems as possible, in the allocated time. Needless to say, it was AWESOME.

So awesome in fact, that it was followed recently by Turnerquade II, with Turnerquade III now in planning. Here are some highlights of last July's games:
Space Marine Commanders consider the tactical options for a Difficult mission in Space Hulk (arguably GW's best ever game)

Success!

Lucky laments the appearance of the 'Fuel tank hit - target destroyed!" card, while Reilly's lone surviving fighter goes in for the kill on a Jap fighter (GMT's Down in Flames - Zero!) "Arrrggghhhh...Ahoy me me hearties!" Two scallywag Captains in a game of "Pirate's Cove" "Take that Vile Hun!" says Biggles, in a WW1 aerial game (using "Algy pulls it off" by Too Fat Lardies)
The Man Cave in action - an eager subordinate begs his Commander to engage the enemy, in a late war FoW US vs Germans game
Appropriate winter headwear was the key to Russian Victory over the Finns in the Memoir 44 game.

Germans triumph over the US in this North African encounter (Memoir 44) - a protest regarding the possible luck granted by my coffee mug's slogan is still pending resolution.