April Games

 Oh, I guess it's May now... Maybe I should post this!? 

Monday, 2 April 2023

No games over the weekend, but on Monday Jasper and Brent stopped by and played Wingspan. This week I added all the European and Oceana cards back in. Brent won this one, largely by playing ALL THE NECTAR - seriously, he won - by a LOT - in all three regions, totalling 15 points for nectar!?

Tuesday, 6 April 2023

Tuesday evening, Other Tim stopped by and we tried out Xenos Rampant. You can read the full game report here:

Xenos Rampant - Daemons of Sidon IX

Saturday, 8 April 2023

Out of nowhere Amanda suggested playing Agricola on Saturday. Okay, I might have suggested it was a game I'd like to play sometime, amongst a long list of games we could play when she suggested we play a game that evening. It's been FIVE YEARS since we last played, so... we did not do well... 

Well, Amanda did not do well, somehow it all came together for me near the end...!? Kind of forgot about the negative points for NOT having any particular thing or unimproved spaces on your farm... That burned Amanda a LOT more than me. 

Sunday, 9 April 2023

Amanda felt she needed to redeem herself after last night's debacle...

I have to say, this is probably the most diverse farm I've ever made! 

Amanda also had a much more diverse farm and consequently scored 200% more points... She still didn't catch up... 

So she suggested we play again in the evening?!

That evening. 

Very pleased with her very diverse little farm! (As she should be - it was a well played game!) 

And now that she's won, she said we don't need to play it anymore... which is a shame, as we'd played three games!? Two more and I'd have a game locked in for a 5x5 challenge!? (Am I still doing that!?) 

Wednesday, 12 April 2023

Our friends Ryan and Andy came by and played Wingspan with us. It was so great to see them. It felt like it has been ages since we'd seen them.

Amanda just destroyed us all. She scored 22 points from Bonus Cards alone!? I think she ended with 107. Andy and I only barely made it into the 90s - and Ryan only had 77 (He'd had a bonus card that gave him points for having birds that were 4 points each, or less!?) 

Thursday, 12 April 2023

No Brent this week, so Jasper came by to try out the two-player version of Wingspan: Asia

The game plays pretty quick, once you know what you're doing... or... can pretend you know what your doing, like me... 

The game went so quickly, we set it up and played again. Both times Jasper won and now he only wants to play the two-player version. 

I informed him the next time we will play with Wingspan: Asia will be to try out the SEVEN-PLAYER version that Amanda is keen to try out!? 

Thursday, 20 April 2023 

One week later, Brent came by to try out the two-player version of Wingsapn: Asia.

 We ended up playing two games... the first one I felt like I had no idea what I was doing. I lost. By a LOT. 

Second game was marginally better. Got a few more cards out. Scored a bunch more points. Still lost... 

Friday, 21 April 2023

If that weren't enough Wingspan, Friday evening I threw a little surprise party for Amanda (whose birthday was this weekend) and set up a SEVEN-PLAYER game of Wingspan! 

Despite my initial concerns that it might be a bit unwieldy and take FOR-EVAR, the rules for playing with six or seven players are pretty slick and it all played very smoothly. It took less than 3 hours, and one player had never played Wingspan before!? 

I like the "friendly ties" thing. 

Sunday, 23 April 2023

Sunday afternoon, I played one of the battles for the Back of Beyond campaign Summer 1921 turn. 

Monday, 24 April 2023

Monday was a VERY BUSY day of gaming! 

First, I I played the second battle for the Back of Beyond campaign Summer 1921 turn. You can read teh full report of both battles here:

Back of Beyond - Summer 1921

In the afternoon, Brent came by to play a game. Jasper was supposed to join us, but had to bail at the last minute - which was a bummer as he's a big D&D fan, and we'd been planning to play a D&D themed game (and ended up playing TWO D&D themed games!) 

Finnegan joined us and we played Lords of Waterdeep. It was good fun. depite playing it over a dozen times in the first few years we had it, we've onlyolayed once in the last FIVE YEARS!? 

I played the Harpers (secretly controlled by Samnereza Sulphontis). Finnegan played Larissa Neathal and the Red Sashes. Brent played Silver Stars and Kyriani Agrivar. Despite not building THAT many buildings (Larissa Neathal's secret goal), Finnegan totally won the game! 

Afterwards, Finnegan mentioned he'd like to try out Tyrants of the Underdark sometime as well. As Lords of Waterdeep had not taken us very long and we had nothing else planned for the afternoon, Brent and I suggested he get it out and we try and blunder our way through a game. 

I forgot to take a picture of us playing. Largely because I was so focused on trying to figure out what the hell I was doing!? It's an interesting game. There is a deck-building element to it, very similar to Marvel Legendary, which we've played a lot of in the past, but it is NOT co-operative and there's a board with an area control element to it... 

I'm pretty sure we got the game for Finnegan for his birthday a few years back... but may have picked it up at the ToonCon auction or maybe "used" at the Dragon's Den...? Though it seems the game had never been used (the inner circle markers hadn't been punched) other parts were missing!? This included the victory point tokens (not that big of a deal, we have plenty of things that could be used as vidtory tokens) and the control tokens. The latter was a bit more tricky, as on the tokens was printed the benefits for controlling the relative locations. Mostly we were able to figure this out by looking at pictures of the game on Board Game Geek (but later we realized we got the Victory Point bonus for one of them wrong - though I don't think it would have made any difference in our game, as it was not controlled until the end of the game - by me - and I don't think I had it under total control - which gives the victory point bonus) 

Definitely a fun game - there are a LOT of moving parts and things to keep track of and SO MANY WAYS your opponent can mess with your plan!? I hope we get to play it again - a few times - so I can get my head around some of the strategies! 

Saturday, 29 April 2023

I played the final game of the Back of Beyond Campaign (One-Hour Wargames). You can see more pictures and read the last campaign report here:

Back of Beyond - Autumn 1921

All in all, not a bad month... What got played:

• One-Hour Wargames x5
• Wingspan Asia x4
• Agricola x3
• Wingspan x3
• Lords of Waterdeep x1
• Tyrants of the Underdark x1
• Xenos Rampant x1

Demolition began in my basement yesterday - beginning what will (hopefully!) be the last of the basement renovations. So the game room is closed up - possibly until the fall. I did bring up a few board games and some stuff to play Kill Team - which I'm hoping to get back to playing this summer! 

Xenos Rampant - Daemons of Sidon IX

 Other Tim popped around Tuesday evening to have a go at Xenos Rampant. 

Initially I thought he was bringing his Emperor's Brethern Space Marines, and I had initially thought I'd roll out the Chaos Space Marines... but that seemed boring. I figured an asymetical battle might be more interesting - xenomorphs vs heavily armoured marines... I didn't have enough tyrnids/Genestealers/Generic Bug Aliens, but I DID have a bunch of Daemons! So, I cooked up a bit of background fluff and a scenario that seemed like it might be fun.

Then he brought Eldar...

SITUATION

There has been a great disturbance in the warp. 

Astropaths working for Inquisitor Marnie McGuffin of the Ordo Malleus, have detected a warp anomaly on Sidon IX. It is entirely likely that local heretics, performing dark rituals, have opened a gate in the fabric of reality and daemons of the warp may very well be pouring into realspace and corrupting the planet rich with valuable resources. 

A Strike Cruiser of Emperor's Brethern Space Marines are in the vicinity - just a short warp jump away. Less ideal than the Grey Knights for investigating such a disturbance, they are the closest Marine detachment, by far and time is of the essence. The Inquisitor has despatched them to investigate the anomaly.  

Farseers of the Unixos Craftworld have detected a warp anomaly on Sidon IX. It is  likely that local Mon-kee, performing dark rituals, have opened a gate in the fabric of reality and daemons of the warp may very well be pouring into realspace and corrupting the planet rich with valuable resources. 

A Strike Craft with a Host of Aspect Warriors was despatched to Sidon IX to investigate and, ideally, deal with whatever they found. 

SCENARIO

We played Scenerio Echo: Orbital Drop - straight out of the Xenos Rampant book.   

There was a target locale at the center of the table that the Attacking Marines Eldar need to solely control at the end of the game. Deployment for the attackers was determined randomly at six landing zones spread out across the table. 

FORCES

Emperor's Brethren Detachment 

Unixos Eldar Craft World War Host 

Autarch and Striking Scorpions - Heavy Infantry (@2), Incread Unit Size (+2), Assault Doctrine (+2), Close Quarters Doctrine (-1), Infiulltrators (+1) = 6AP

Dire Avengers - Light Infantry (@1), Armour-Piercing (+1) = 2AP

Falcon - Transport vehicle (@4), Skimmer (+1), Armour-Piercing (+1) = 6AP

Jet Bikes - Light Infantry (@1), Increased Unit Size (+2), Reduced Model Unit, Mobile (+1), Undisciplined (-1), Heavy Weapon (+2), Armour-Piercing (+1) = 6AP

RAngers - Recon Infantry (@2), Sniper Team (+2) = 4AP

Daemons of Khorne

Bloodmaster, Herald of Khorne - Leader (Aggressive) - Berserk Infantry (@2), Single Model Unit, Increased Squad Size (+1), Demonic (+0), Unarmed (-1), Heavy Armour (+2), High-Powered Blades (+1) = 5AP

Bloodletters - Berserk Infantry (@2), Increased Squad Size (+1), Demonic (+0), Unarmed (-1) = 2 AP 

Karanak, The Hound of Vengeance - Greater Xenomorph (@4), Single Model Unit, Demonic (+0), High-Powered Blades (+1) = 5AP 

Flesh Hounds - Lesser Xenomorph (@2), Reduced Model Unit, Swarm (+2), Demonic (+0) = 4AP

Flesh Hounds - Lesser Xenomorph (@2), Reduced Model Unit, Swarm (+2), Demonic (+0) = 4AP

Flesh Hounds - Lesser Xenomorph (@2), Reduced Model Unit, Swarm (+2), Demonic (+0) = 4AP

Because I was playing Khorne, I was sure to wear my MAGA Hat: Make Angron Great Again! 

THE GAME! 

Daemons of Khorne, running rampant in the ruins of this small industrial town. 

The Bloodmaster watches over the portal through which it expects more daemons to join them! 

The first to drop was the Falcon grav tank...

Games Workshop has gotten very clear on the differences of within or WHOLLY within. The scenario said the unit has to be set up WITHIN 6" of the marker (that little barrel with a Zombie coming out of it), Other Tim took this to mean "at least part of the unit must be within"... which is what GW defines as "Within" (if at least part of the unit is within). I feel like the meaning was what GW calls WHOLLY WHITHIN - i.e. all parts of the unit must be set up within... but whatevs... it came back to bite him in the ass the next turn. 

The reason for setting up here was to not be within Wild Charge range of those Bloodletters and getting a chance to shoot them at least once before they charged. with Armour of 5, I'm not sure he had that much to worry about... buuuut... 

The autarch and his host of Striking Scorpions landed in another corner of the table. 

The Rangers landed within charge range of the Flesh Hounds which did indeed charge, and utterly shredded the unit!? 

Bloodletters come out to play. I don't think he even got a shot off in the end, because he tried to activate the Jet Bikes and Failed... ending his turn. So I went again and these Bloodletters charged and dealt it enough hits to lose a Strength point... and they are FEARSOME, so the tank failed Courage and had to retreat... off the table... 

Flesh Hound poking its nose around the corner sniffing out it's prey. 

Karanak went after the Jet Bikes and leapt into the air swatting one down. It pounced on the rider and tore them to shreds! The bikes did get in some shots and injured the Beast of Vengeance... but the Beast slaughtered a few more the rest flew away (off the table). 

Flesh Hounds charged the Striking Scorpions and their Autarch. Every time, tearing limbs and slashing arteries. 

With the Tank out of the way, other Flesh Hounds Charged the Dire Avengers. Those not killed in the initial assault fled away off the table! 

There was a bit of back and forth between the Striking Scorpions and the Flesh Hounds. 

Things were starting to look bad for the initial pack of Flesh Hounds that had attacked the Striking Scorpions... 

But then the other pack arrived... (that had killed the Rangers) 

and then the OTHER other pack arrived.... (that had driven off the Dire Avengers) 

Soon it was just the Autarch, trying their best to hold back the tide and allow their wounded warriors the chance to slink away into the shadows - to hopefully regroup and plan a better method of attack! 

So that was Xeno Rampant. 

I like it. 

I like all of Dan Mersey's rules. I kind of wondered how this one might work with all it's little tweaks and changes, but this played out very fast. I was worried it might - with Heavy infantry fighting heavy infantry, it might get drawn out into a protracted shooting match where no one was able to take out any of the enemy... Part of the reason I went with Xenos and Berserk infantry - figuring an asymmetrical battle would go one way or the other quickly! I did NOT expect it to go SO poorly, SO quickly for Other Tim's troops! (he did have a few abysmal activation rolls...) 

I am keen to try it out again with other eras. Modern, Wierd Wars, post-apocalyptic or zombies (it's been a LONG time since I played a game with ZOMBIES!!).   

It's kind of also got me thinking about Other Dan Mersey games again - Dragon Rampant, especially...