Time of Crisis

Actually not that much of a crisis.

I've been playing Time of Crisis solo against the bot from the Iron and Rust expansion. The bot is clever in the way that it abstracts the deckbuilding, so you are not fiddling with a deck and hand of cards for each AI player, which would be a pain in the neck. However, in the way that many of these bots work, it has a priority list of actions that you have to work your way down every turn, and the wording of this list is both expansive and sometimes unclear. However, I got the hang of it after a few repetitions, and had a fun game. My AI opponent was Gordian III whom I beat by a wide margin. I hope I was playing it right! I got Emperor fairly early in the game, and Gordian took a long time getting organised to challenge me. I wonder if one of the others would play more aggressively.
 

Peaceniks at war

Another game of Struggle of Empires last night with the Mennonite boys. Just the three of us, and we were a little worried about the odd-man-out possibilities, but it seemed to work fine, and no-one felt their chances were closed down early in the game. Still, it doesn't matter how many times I play this game, I don't seem to be able to get the hang of how to win. One of my favourite tricks was much in evidence last night - buying a nice tile (such as Reserves) and then forgetting to use it at the critical moemnt. That re-roll could have spared me a lot of pain!

Darren was so inspired by the game that he resolved to buy it immediately, regardless of the OTT prices being achieved on eBay these days.

We finished with a round of Race for the Galaxy, where I managed to scrape a last-turn win against Sam's Spartan war-machine. Very satisfying.

Caucasus Campaign

I've been going quite slow on the game acquisition front - still money left in the 2010 budget - but I recently bought Caucasus Campaign (Mark Simonovitch, GMT) after reading very positive comments from Chris Farrell. Maybe I give too much weight to Chris's opinions sometimes, but I'm very pleased I followed his recommendation on this one.

I'm becoming a bit of a sucker for East Front panzer-pushers, accumulating a small stack of them on the shelf (Roads to Leningrad, Stalingrad Pocket, Von Manstein's Backhand Blow), but this one looks at first sight a little bit special. A beautiful map with large hexes, a small number of large attractive counters, 16 pages of clearly laid out rules printed in colour, and colourful and clear player-aids, all combine to make a very appealing first impression.

It's all laid out on the table awaiting my first solo play-through. Looking forward to it.

There's something about Maria

I finally got the chance to play Maria on Sunday. I've been excited about this game for a while, bought a copy a couple of months ago, and have been itching to play ever since. Iain "the acceptable face of gaming", and his friend John agreed to try it out last weekend. I loved it. As Prussia/Pragmatic I played very poorly. Not really thinking about the implications of what I was doing, I hammered into Austria with the Prussians and into Northern France with the Pragmatics. Won lots of battles, but handed the game to the French. But this game is a beautiful beautiful thing. I love the subtleties of hand management interacting with the suits on the board. I love the positional play and the simple way that the flavour of 18th century siege warfare is captured. I love the look of the board and the pieces. Maria is currently well on the way to joining my exclusive 10-rated list, alongside timeless works of art like Civilization, 1830, and Tigris & Euphrates. When can we play again?

In which we plays Blackbeard, me lads.

Something else we played at Nick's last weekend was Blackbeard (GMT's new edition). Danni easily beat Nick and me, storming ahead in notoriety and booty after sacking Portobello. This is a fun game, though poor Nick spent most of the game scanning the rules for us. He was effectively a full-time GM so it's hardly surprising he came in last.

I have the 1st edition and used to play it solo quite a bit (back in my lonely bachelor days). A couple of things that struck me about the 2nd edition - first, dumping the hexes is no great loss. It always felt a bit anomalous cruising around the hex-grid with no regard for wind direction. Second, the cards are considerably simplified (and prettied up). However there's a cost - a lot of complexity is offloaded onto the huge player reference card.

Let's face it, Blackbeard is all about the chrome. In fact there's hardly a game there at all - it's all chrome. So not a satisfying collection of graceful interlocking mechanisms. More a chaotic pile of historical accidents. Like a roleplaying game, it's all about imaginative immersion.

A happy time with the Unhappy King

I had an epic game of Unhappy King Charles with Nick last weekend. I was the godly faction, and things were looking pretty bad for my foppish long-haired opponent by the end of 1643, after a series of disastrous attempts to take Bristol. But he hung on to the end, and I scraped home with 13 points. Excellent fun! 7 hours of really first-class wargaming.

This is the second time I've played UKC. The first time I felt pretty lost, and a bit grumpy too with some of the complexities of the game. This time round I pwas better prepared, and I'm beginning to see that this game is a real classic, with serious intellectual muscle under the surface. Whatever you might think of Charles Vasey's online persona, you can't deny that he has put a lot of thought into this design. I can't wait for another chance to play.

Our Island Story

Well I'm off to Cardiff today to meet Nick for a weekend of unbridled wargaming. As we are both Englishmen and wargamers, it seems highly appropriate that we plan to spend the weekend playing games about Englishmen killing each other, namely Unhappy King Charles and Richard III.

Wish me luck.

What a lovely surprise - World War 2!

I have the loveliest wife imaginable. She has no interest in military history - in fact I suspect she is rather appalled by the idea - but yesterday she presented me with Anthony Beevor's "D-Day". What a great gift! I have to admit I have put my current read ("Last Night in Twisted River") on hold for the time being - I had a quick look at my new book last night before bed, and before I knew it I was at the end of the first chapter. He has a great way of getting on with the story and drawing you in from the first page. The opposite of stuffy.

Must get Breakout Normandy on the table again!

Barbarossa to Berlin: the "to Berlin" bit

Phil came back today to "finish the job" on Barbarossa to Berlin. I was fully expecting to lose before lunch, but actually managed to drag it out until 4:30 and the penultimate turn. I failed to get "Totaler Krieg" played, but a 2-year siege of Kiev, no less than two failed invasions of France, and a mistimed play of "Casablanca" all kept the tension high right to the very end - Phil's final victory in Spring 45.

What a great wargame! I think Ted Raicer's decision to cut out the phony war and start with the invasion of Russia was inspired. It makes for a tight, compact game (we finished inside 12 hours, whereas I have played Europe Engulfed for 3 exhausting days in a row and still not finished) that feels like World War 2 - fewer opportunities for the weird "what-if" branches from history that a game starting in 1939 has to navigate.

Do I prefer it to Paths of Glory? Not sure, but I'm leaning towards BtB. PoG has the big strategic decisions (East or West) that are kind of settled before BtB begins. But there's still a lot of strategic thinking that has to be done about balancing risks, covering your back (guess where the next invasion comes) and managing your manpower resources (RPs vs the latest crisis). And I definitely prefer it to Europe Engulfed - it's more compact both in time and space.

A weekend of the hard stuff

Yes, a weekend of complicated deep games.

Wonderful.

1825 Unit 2 on Friday evening with Sam the Connecticut Yankee, a smart young Mennonite who is in London for 3 years volunteering. I tentatively suggested an 18xx game but warned him they are a bit complicated. "I like complicated games" was his response, and sure enough, he cottoned on really quickly. I got off to a good start but by the end game his Midland was a real powerhouse, churning out £380 a round. He did a great job using the GCR (which was owned 50/50 but run by Sam) as a source of cheap locomotives for his other companies. In the end he nearly caught me, but not quite.

Then on Sunday son Phil came over for Barbarossa to Berlin. As the Germans I kicked off with the Barbarossa card and managed to make a real hash of things. I got nowhere near Moscow or Leningrad, and by the time winter and the Siberians arrived I was having a terrible time - a real fight for survival. But then in 42 Phil eased off the pressure and allowed me to rebuild - but at the expense of losing more ground in Russia. We didn't finish - hoping to do that on Sunday. My biggest worry is I won't get the Totaler Krieg played - I'm already down to 9 VPs. It's a great game - enjoying it a lot in spite of my tribulations. I must update my BGG entry - I was feeling a bit grumpy about errata at the time. Most of my experiences of BtB have been with a certain opponent (yes Dave I mean you) who likes to play the Germans, has his two years of fun, doesn't do as well as he hoped, and concedes - denying me the fun of planning invasions and driving into Germany etc. An antisocial habit, and one I will eschew - I 've promised Phil I will go down fighting....

Dune brings out the best in people.

I'm off to Scotland tomorrow, to walk the West Highland Way followed by the Great Glen Way. Yes that's 170 miles of rugged country from Glasgow to Inverness. And in case I don't come back, in case we freeze to death on Rannock Moor or fall off Ben Nevis or get eaten to death by midges, I want you to remember me for this: I won Dune as the Bene Gesserit. Possibly my finest gaming moment ever. I put my son Phil down for a Harkonnen win on turn 5, manipulated him into an alliance (yes manipulated my own son, callously playing him like I was some Cold War spy handler) and stole our joint win for myself.

The look on Phil's face. Betrayal. Confusion. Sorrow.

Priceless.

More blatant consumerism

Talking of consumerism, it really is time I stopped buying new games. I'm supposed to be a student on a tight budget after all. In the last few months, I can think of at least 5 new titles that I have picked up:

Chicago Express
Race for the Galaxy: Rebel vs Imperium

I just collected these today. Very excited, especially about Chicago Express, which might be a possibility for Christmas Eve with the boys.

Beyond Valor

The big one. The purchase that says "I'm serious about this ASL thing". But am I? I certainly haven't punched the counters yet.

Peloponnesian War

Kind of pre-ordered this by accident from GMT. Got stung on import duty/admin fees.

Stalingrad Pocket
Modern Art

OK these are Maths Trade acquisitions. But I also acquired an (unwanted) Drive on Stalingrad as part of the deal.

Res Publica

Vic bequeathed this to me before he left for Canada.

Roll Through the Ages

My Mum got me this for my birthday, bless her. Last time she got me a game I was about 8. I like it a lot too, especially as Sue enjoys playing it.

Napoleon's Triumph
After the Flood
Unhappy King Charles

These are purchases from slightly earlier this year, so maybe don't count. Excellent (but expensive) all three of them.

Oh. That's more than 5 isn't it.

In the same time period I have sold exactly one game (BattleLore) and traded another two (Flandern 1302 and Conquistador) , so it's clear which direction of flow predominates.

January may have to see a little clearout, I think.

Conundrum

Well, I collected my first installment from the recent BGG maths trade - Stalingrad Pocket (1st ed, The Gamers), and an unwanted sweetener - Drive on Stalingrad (Decision Games). The latter is a simple, rather ugly, rather old-fashioned two-mapper. I'm wondering whether to pass it on to my 11-year-old step-nephew, a keen boardgamer, in a cynical attempt to snag him into the world of hex-and-counter wargames. Crack in the playground sort of idea. But to be honest it doesn't look like a top-flight game, and I don't want to turn him off wargaming before he starts, so maybe I should shelve the idea (and push DoS out on eBay or the next maths trade) until I can get him something really high quality.

Like Stalingrad Pocket for example.

They've redesigned the wargame!

I played Iain at Napoleon's Triumph last Sunday. Poor Iain wasn't really in the mood for the huge mental gear-shift involved in learning this game. Previous wargaming experience isn't much help, indeed may even be a hindrance.

In fact I destroyed him (his words not mine) after just four turns. As the Allies I managed to succeed with the plan that they failed with historically, smashing the French right wing before they reinforced it.

This is a stunning game, both visually and intellectually. Not yet sure if I *like* it, but I already have a huge respect for it.

It's like Beyond Valor all over again.

I've been thinking longingly about Napoleon's Triumph for a couple of years now, ever since I saw it on a table at MidCon, laid out in all its spectacular miniaturesy glory. But every time I see it in the games shop I pick it up and think "Ouch, £45. And after all, do I really need any more games?"

So recently I've been reading the reviews and listening to the podcasts and getting to the "must have" stage, so today I look on the Leisure Games website and - oh bother! - it's out of print.

I've waited too long, AGAIN!

(Like what's-his-name the elf who lingered too long in Middle Earth.)

But wait, The Orc's Nest still have one. I'll be down there tomorrow......

It's NOT Warhammer

I played Space Hulk today with Phil - twice through the first scenario "Suicide Mission" switching sides, but with the same result both times: the Marines got creamed in short order.

It's been a while since I played Space Hulk, but I found that this old classic still retains its charms: fast, good-looking, tense, action-packed, scary. And my recently painted "Blue Moon" squad got their first combat outing. Great fun.

The card-driven century

There is a scale of enjoyable wargaming experiences, with playing a poor game against an opponent with personality problems at the very bottom, and playing a great game against a genial and well-matched opponent at the very top. So playing Paths of Glory against my 25-year-old son Phil last weekend must be pretty much as good as it gets.

So here he is on Saturday afternoon, looking pretty confident as his British and Russian armies easily halt my 1914 offensives in the West and East.

But here's an altogether more frantic Phil on Sunday morning, as 1917 sees the collapse of Romania, Germans pushing through Italy into Southern France, and a breakthrough by massed German armies into northern France.

Anyway, the idea is we will play out the whole 20th century in card-driven wargames. So next up is Barbarossa to Berlin, and after that we tackle the Cold war with Twilight Struggle. It should be an excellent summer!

I've just finished reading Harry Pearson's hilarious memoir of a life in wargaming Achtung Shweinehund!. (Thanks Iain for the recommendation!) I particularly enjoyed the chapters about his childhood - Airfix kits, Waddingtons games, spud guns, Commando comics, war films, Airfix OO/HO figures - my own childhood obsessions are all there. The chapter about Action Man had me gasping for air - I can't remember when I last laughed so much.

C.S. Lewis wrote "We read to know we are not alone." This book is a funny and touching reflection on what it means to live with our compelling, fascinating, but socially rather embarrassing hobby.

DaveCon 2009

I spent last weekend in Salisbury enjoying Dave's hospitality, and catching up with my gaming group of yesteryear, including Nick, John and Steve. We played Powergrid. Imperium and Circus Maximus from GMT's Rome, and Odin's Ravens, but the highlight of the weekend (for me anyway) was a 6- hour Arkham Horror session on Saturday. What an immersive experience! And such a lavish production from Fantasy Flight! All sorts of clever touches. for example the way that different characters are more or less flexible about changing their stats. It was all a bit overwhelming at first. but once I had figured out that losing all your health/sanity brings nothing worse than a short spell of bedrest, I started to relax a bit. Even being lost in time and space - surely a fate worse than death - proved to be a handy bus service from one end of the board to the other.

Of course the game was too long - our 6 hours only brought us within distant sight of the end game. We seemed to be coping well enough to stave off disaster. but nowhere near well enough to win a sudden death victory. So there was a slight feeling of being suck in limbo. And the lack of serious consequences - like insanity or death - didn't feel quite right. I wanted to feel more frightened than I did. But it was an immersive experience game, and I'd happily try it again. Thanks to Nick for lugging it all the way from Cardiff and for patiently talking us through the rules. and thanks also to Dave for hosting a great weekend.

The non-violent wargamer

A few weeks ago I took the plunge and became a Mennonite - the culmination of a six-month novice process where I was coached by my mentor (Kathy Thiessen) in "The Ways of the Mennonite". Basically this means I am now a member of tiny Wood Green Mennonite Church for whom my wife works part-time.

As part of my novice process I had to think very carefully about my attitudes to peace and war - the Mennonites are a historic peace church - and I came to the conclusion that a firm commitment to non-violence is required of anyone who claims to follow Jesus.

But wait a minute! What about all those wargames on your games shelf Peter?! And all those war movies on your DVD shelf? And all that military history on your bookshelf?

Well, I admit I am still more than a little in love with war and its mythology: Spitfires scrambling to fend off the Luftwaffe....Monty at Alamein....the squares at Waterloo....the English longbows at Agincourt.... I admire the military virtues: courage, comradeship, perseverance. And I am fascinated by the intellectual challenges of generalship, and the qualities of the great commanders of history.

And I love wargames. There is something viscerally compelling about playing a really great wargame (Breakout Normandy, Paths of Glory, War of the Ring, Up Front, to name a few) face-to-face with a genial but competitive opponent. Not sure I want to give that up, no matter how committed to non-violence I am.

"To depict is not to advocate" - that's one way I think I can square this circle. To enter imaginatively into the experience of other humans, even in extreme or violent circumstances, whether through books, movies, or games, may be to sympathize with their predicament, but does not necessarily involve condoning their actions. It would be fine (in my view), more than that, useful and constructive, for a pacifist to take a course in War Studies for example.

And so, with my copy of Twilight Struggle in one hand, and a CND newsletter in the other, bravely ignoring all internal contradictions, I proceed....