Personal D&D Highlight of the current Campaign: "Elven Magic User, do you remember the time when, ..."

Snuggly settled into a quiet corner of a tavern, the players reminisce together: "Elven Magic User, do you remember the time when, ..."

" ... You got scared after a Spectator hit you with a ray and you sprinted off down a random dungeon corridor screaming at the top of your voice until you were out of sight? And then, when we eventually found you, weren't you chained to a large rock, barely clothed, shivering in the middle of a cavern surrounded by [as yet] unanimated skeletons? 

We rescued you but you kindly forgot to tell us about, ... the fact that a Wraith had put you there as bait to lure the party into the cavern and he was coming to get us?" ... pause ...  "And, as the Wraith was 'getting us' you were totally without any magical powers of any sort to help us - being striped of spell books and ingredients for spells, by the clever Wraith. 

And ... if it wasn't for the fact that 'Beady' our lovable, but slightly murderous Gnome thief was secretly [as in unbeknownst to the rest of the party] possessed and under the malevolent power of an ancient, evil, intelligent artefact - which made Beady hand itself over [that is the evil artefact, aka a 'Mark of Chaos' - which everybody is now agreed as a "bad ass" thing for him to pick up in the first place and not tell us] to the Wraith which was then .. to our complete surprise .. was consumed by an unnatural red ball of energy that opened a dimensional portal, out from which stepped forth a Greater Demon spitting forth lightning and destruction - which we narrowly ducked, despite it bringing the roof of the cavern partially down?" 

Gasp of breath and sip of beer, then the Dwarf continued ...

"Which meant that, instead of being simple undead servants of the Wraith, we were alive but now responsible for releasing a terrible monster into the realm of men-elf-dwarf-gnome, the likes of which has never been seen in centuries and something we are desperately trying to hide from all the authorities, despite their persistent questioning?" 

Now that is a good tale for a long, dark, wintry, night in a tavern - providing it doesn't end up in a bar room brawl (see below, the scene in question from the adventure, proof that 'a fellow party character in need' [magic-user chained to a large rock] is definitely a pest of the highest order): 

Meanwhile back at the bar ...

"Yes?" said the Elf rather truculently, "I do kind Dwarf, I do remember the incident in question, but what of it?". "Well I only ask," said the Dwarf sipping his tankard of beer which was almost empty, "because I thought, isn't it your round at the bar?"

Good Old Fashioned Board Game Fun: Stratego

Well, this was a 'second chance impulse' buy. I first saw it in a local "Yorkshire Store" shop, one sells all manner of goods, with a rambling toy section [sometimes useful for picking up cheap "counters" and the like for games] - I had it in my clammy hands but put it back down. Driving home, I regretted it, though I was in a little bit of a quandary as to what it actually was (and for £20 was I going to just get a pile of "plastic tat?"), A fortnight later I was in the same store looking up at (probably) the same box and it was a case of "green for go in my head" <the sound of the cash register follows or rather a "beep" in these modern times> - done deal, item bought (see below, I opened it up and was well satisfied that it was not the feared "plastic tat" but a nicely presented, mounted board, with good plastic playing pieces, simple instructions and even better, "something" that could be extended in traditional maverick Wargames Design fashion): 

But who would play it with me "out of the box"? My youngest son (11) started but he then aborted after a few moves, sad emoji. Next I tried my "old sad puppy dog eyes" on the wife and much to my surprise she acquiesced and we played a couple of games, in the wings my eldest son (16) eyed events with interested curiosity but it was my (14) daughter who took up the gauntlet - egged on by the wife ("you go beat him" [I gave no mercy in my games with the wife]) and I'll be damned if she nearly did and took me to the wire (I was facing a "female team" at this point). Great fun, great fun, so it looks like the dark nights will be partially filled with more than a few battles. Thank you Yorkshire Store and Jumbo Games ;) 

Update: The daughter expressed an added interest to move onto chess :)   

The Nights are getting Darker .. which means the Season of "Family Games" Approach'eth ... Winter is Coming!

Game, game and more game to come out of the cupboards. From the 'crowd pleasing' (see below, "Beat the Parents" - the grans and granddads can be quite smug at this one):

To those games that teach important 'life skills' - like learning to lie convincingly to friends and family (see below, "The Pretender"):

So important in fact it is usually played at least twice at Xams (see below, moving from dining room to kitchen table): 

Then there are the specialist "themed" games .. such as "Escape from the Dark Castle" (see below, collaborative play at its best - selfishness gets you killed): 

Edging along from tense encounter to tense encounter until the final "boss fight (see below, by this time the "party" of escapees are usually very battered and bruised - a good game rule though being "all out alive" or no win, except that is for the survivors of the "boss fight" - but eternal shame on those who try to hang back [they will miss dessert!]):  

Conversely if you want to learn "how to lose friends" then "Munchkins" is for you (see below, nervous clenched fists reveal all - mothers and fathers are turned on their sons and daughters): 

Then there is also "Pandemic: The Cure" which is the theme of the year for the whole world (see below, the ideal end game position - four deadly diseases cured - we could do with those 'good dice' just now):  

There are also tense "bad dice" moments too (see below, that is definitely not a "cure" roll - even by teh scientist):

All in all a very clever game or rather series of games (see below, nice game mechanics that always seem to mean a tight game that is touch and go until the last turn): 

Cometh the hour cometh the Scientist with pipette and test tube .. is there a cure for the forth disease on the final turn (see below, "arghh .. we're doomed!"):  

Family "bubble time" approaches, you have been warned!

Getting Ready for The Xmas Rummicub "Battle Royale"

With the pending arrival of the Scottish in-laws it was time for me to brush up on the rules - I had already "gone over the rules" with a colleague at work so felt half prepared (see below, getting familiar with the playing pieces):

Note: Please don't be alarmed at the bright red, fake "cap" gun laying on the table, it was something absently minded left on the table by my youngest - so nothing to do with a high-stakes gangster gambling den.

Rummicub is a cross between cards and dominoes it plays an entertaining game. I was to discover there can be regional rule variations - Newcastle to Edinburgh variants, all subject to the subtle interpretation of the English/Scots language. The Scots lore took precedence, something I will pass back to my Newcastle colleague. In the long rule my "rule discussions" with the mother-in-law served to focus the attention of my wife who swooped in to win and be hailed as Christmas House Champion!

Update: Won first game of Rummicub (thanks to wife showing me how I could get out with an "Orange 4"). Technically "Reigning House Champion" but another game is scheduled after dinner and I fear my performance may be alcohol affected!

Back to "Escape from the Dark Castle" for me then!

It is the Season of Party Games: "Munchkins", "The Pretender" and 'Pandemic: The Cure'.

Unexpectedly or rather totally unplanned on my part, I notice it has been a canny while since I last bogged, as this December seems to have been a most hectic affair, but in a good sense. I seem to have dropped out of the blogging habit (partly because I find one of my kids constantly in front of the family computer) but on the plus side too I have been "doing" plenty of "stuff," just not getting to report it. It does also seem to be the party game season. Two separate instances of old friends bringing their families together with mine caused much hilarity through 'Pretenders' and 'Munchkins' (see below, 'Pretenders' is a family favourite as one player has to guess what the others are miming before it's their turn to mime, so are you faking it or just bad at miming?):

'Munchkins' is the deadliest of games, addictive and unforgiving - a D&D spoof as it is a race to get to 10th Level through a combination of kicking in doors, killing monsters, looting treasure, stealing treasure off other players or cursing other players and basically getting lucky at other players expense. "You are dead to me!" is a frequently used phrase in our games as backstabbing and mischievous double dealings are 'normal behaviour' (dystopian or what). The game really assumes its best form when the players "go dirty" in a bare knuckled free for all, running away and dying (getting busted back to Level 1 with no possessions) is all par for the course (see below, a pile of 'door cards' and a pile of 'treasure cards' and a foursome of players adventuring around them):

The third of the trio of games is my personal favourite genre, that of collaborative problem solving, "Pandemic: The Cure" which a remodelling of the original Pandemic game using smart (intelligent rule driven: dice and cards) playing pieces to reduce the 'required pre-game reading' and rule memorisation. Instead of small car manual it is reduced to eight A4 sheets of large print rules and diagrams. Good job by the designers as the play flowed smoothly (see below, the game is in progress, we are three players trying to find the cure for four diseases, you can sense the game mechanics are finely mathematically balanced between winning and losing):

With the exception to "Pretender" which is a classic pick up and play in 30 seconds, the other two "Munchkins" and "Pandemic" had to be first played with a dry-run round (or two) to get the feel for the rules and a sense of what the strategies were. In fact richness in the "Munchkins" cards and interactions were revealed with more and more play. Being nasty (for "Munchkins") was a characteristic of play that had to be learned (counter intuitive in many ways to be so overtly nasty and in your face). We were not getting the rules wrong (the sequence of play was very simple) but combinations of cards "worked". "Pandemic" is a little more frustrating because after playing it four times I "think" I have the rules now .. and the designers did a good job making it simple .. something about how the dynamics pull together. It makes me think I should make better of You Tube instructional videos and the like, games like Chain of Command fro the Two Fat Lardies unashamedly use it wisely. The classic statistic from the 1970's/80's Avalon Hill/SPI period was that 55% of games never got played - those that did, I wonder how many were really played correctly? Are we any better off now in getting games played?

Lifestyle Choice: Exploding (and Imploding) Kittens

Advertised as the "most backed Kickstarter ever" I can understand why (see below):

Gripped my family over Xmas with all the relatives joining in, eventually I won a game. It is terrible the things your family will do to you in this game .. brilliant, a must have. So good I immediately bought the Expansion#1 (Imploding Kittens) as soon as I saw it on the shelves of Forbidden Planet. 

Balsa Tank II

Little pairs of eyes "watch and copy" what "big people" do, something that I continually forget, so it was with no small amount of surprise and pride that I witnessed the 'Balsa Tank' move onto a higher form courtesy of my youngest son and daughter (see below):

A "Two-Tone Brown and smudge of black Black" Tank that could be NATO's secret weapon in Tim Gow's Garden Wars!

:)

Getting them started early: Labyrinth

I picked this up in a "Charity Shop" and thought 'this looks good' one for all the family (see below, note even the balsa tank in the background [that my youngest son had weathered up for me with a black crayon] did not help me win):

We got the family round the table and gave it a go. Early introduction to a bit of role playing (RPG) methinks and true to form the kids wiped the floor with me and my good wife. Something about agile little minds (plastic intelligence?) and old 'world-wise' minds crystallised in set patterns. I didn't stand a chance really.

"No dice" involved with threw me a critical blow as I could not just blame the dice or "get lucky"!

A Balsa Tank?

One of the "fun" things I was given at Xmas. My wife's predictions were, a usual, true to form. In the sense that although I was a little dismissive of it at first (understatement, "What's this for?"), once my tiny little hands started working on it I really 'enjoyed it' in an "Art Attack" way. Crude, rough and ready but FUN! The finished product IMHO is as good as many (any?) a GW 40K vehicle product [dig dig, I like their figures but don't see the point of the majority of their vehicles, aka "The Basilisk" come on that thing fires "off planet" for gawd's sake!] at a knock down SALE price of a couple of quid (see below, end result being a modern 2000+ supertank?) :

It needed a bit of UHU glue in places, although it has a Red (Chinese or Russia) Star I think it has a American "Super Patton" feel to it. All balsa and 95% old old fashioned "Workwood Slot Joins". I think it could even fit into one of Tim Gows - 54mm Garden Wars!

 :)

Just Another Day in the Space Marine Corp (4)

With the primary objective completed and no further Chaos minions to despatch it was time to exit before the computer operated (via a simple countdown timer) attachment clamps disengaged the Docking Ports back to the mothership. The Imperial Fists were situated close to their exit but the Ultra Marines had to traverse the whole length of the Space Hulk's sector. This lead to an amusing series of random event rolls whereby the Chaos Overlord (aka me) was hoping to get a Genestealer into play to 'make my day'. As 'befit to the fickle whims of Chaos' the Genestealer appeared only 'after' the last Ultra Marine was safely behind the bulk head door. Aw shucks! No amount of 'creative' cajoling by myself and the other Space Marine players could entice the brave Ultra Marines back out (see below, "I'll huff and I'll puff"):

Counting the Cost: The Deadpool

The Blood Angels:

Despite suffering 100% casualties the official report showed that The Blood Angels showed "Good Heart & Soul" [The Chaos Commander glibly added "and  liver, spleen and brain matter all over the floor and walls of the Space Hulk"] in their combat, but they faced overwhelming odds and unlucky dice rolls in combat. Fate favours "lucky generals." Zero Points. The Blood Angels are currently in the process of recruiting a new batch of Space Marines heroes for their next mission, apply within (see below, some Chaos kills but horrific casualties):

The Imperial Fists:

Despite losing two Space Marines the Emperor's Elite Bodyguard brought in the goods with an impressive bounty of kills, including the primary objective (aka, the Dreadnought, see below). The Imperial Fists were declared the game winners and the Space Marine Commander was promoted from the ranks of a lowly Sergeant into the bottom rung of the Space Marine Officer Corp. How this 'Sharp-like' character takes to the formality of the Officers Mess is still another matter. Still as a reward The Imperial Fists get plenty of extra equipment cards to play with on the next mission as well as a second Command Card, "Oooh!" Well done (see below, a haul of dead Chaos minions both major and minor):

The Ultra Marines:

A very 'canny' (as in clever if not cautious) performance that preserved force integrity (no casualties, not quite the Space Marine Corp if you ask my humble opinion). Clipping their way through the Chaos minions and taking out the dangerous Recon Android showed tactical prowess. Some would say The Ultra Marines were a tad risk adverse but they are at least are ready to "go again," now tooled up with some extra equipment. Their mettle will be truly tested next time  methinks (see below, the kill total really needed that androd):

Chaos:

Yes, all his (or rather my) minions were dead or destroyed, but already the strange Forces of Chaos were twisting and threading their parts together, reconstituting or spawning a new army of minions. Aided with plenty of new Space Marine biological matter, diabolical horrors will await the Space Marines. The toll of Space Marines [seven all told including a precious Space Marine Commander] greatly pleases the warped Chaos entity. The Chaos Commander has earned the right to pick a "Random Event Card" of their choice as a backup 'trump' so the Genestealer is now a definite for the next game [evil laughter] so he eagerly awaits the next scenario in anticipation, especially as it promises him an additional three androids to play with (see below, these Space Marines did not make it back to their 'mothership'):

All said and done a really good night of fun, dice and beer. Fab, cannot wait for the next one!

Just Another Day in the Space Marine Corp (3)

The ferocious Dreadnought unceremoniously pushes the inert body of the Blood Angels Commander, supported by the last Chaos Space Marine Trooper they engage in a firefight with the last two surviving Blood Angel Space Marines. Bolters versus a Plasma Gun and Autocannon. The Bolter bounce harmlessly off the armoured hide of the Dreadnought (see below):

Predictably the Space Marines are gunned down by the superior heavy weaponry of the Dreadnought. The Blood Angels true to the spirit of their cadre have taken 100% casualties (see below):

Their work done on the Blood Angels the Dreadnought and surviving Chaos Space Marine (now nick named 'Bud') hunker back into the 'Alamo' and await the Imperial Fists and Ultra Marine teams "to have a go". Time is on the side of Chaos as for every turn the Space Marines delay an "interesting" Chaos event card is drawn. The Chaos Commander eagerly awaits an opportunity to play a Genestealer on teh reduced strength Space Marines (see below):

Showing tactical brilliance along with bravery of the highest order the Imperial Fist Commander goes headlong into the fray with a Dreadnought busting Megabomb equipment card in hand. A spectacular roll of double three (6 damage points) and an additional one and three (four damage points) from his power sword in hand-to-hand combat splits the Dreadnought down the middle, leaving is a fused bunch of spare electronic parts, radiating noxious fumes. All hail to the Imperial Fists (see below):

The last combat act was the execution of the remaining Chaos unit on the table, despatched by a tooled up Imperial Fist touting an Autocannon (see below):

In the last few rounds Chaos' fortunes had crashed from the high of wiping out an entire Space Marine squad to being smashed up by a no-nonsense 'Alamo' clear-out. The Ultra Marines emerged from their tactical positions (being somewhat gun-shie after rolling a lot of double zeroes all game they deduced that discretion was the better part of valour! All the Space Marines had to do now was survive a series of random event cards until they got back to their 'shuttle entry points'.

Next: Run, Run, Run Away ... I mean Mission Accomplished Tactical Withdrawal in Progress

Just Another Day in the Space Marine Corp (2)

Space Marine teams penetrate deeper into the "Space Hulk Abomination". The Blood Angel team gets caught up in a vicious fire-fight with a renegade Chaos Space Marine Commander sniping down a Blood Angel grunt (see below):

Incensed the Blood Angel Commander takes out his opposite number mano-on-mano style (see below, scratch one servant of Chaos):

All three Space Marine teams had made excellent progress room-clearing minor Chaos minions. The Imperial Fists commander had taken issue with the Chaos Space Marine Heavy Weapons gunner that had taken out two of his troopers (see below) while the Ultra Marines had taken out the potentially deadly recon android. All that was left was to find the Dreadnought, kill it and then get out of "Dodge".

The Blood Angels were the 'lucky' team to find their "Primary Mission Objective" hunkering down in its "Alamo" bolt-whole, a Space Marine Trooper paying the price for the "reconnaissance by contact" strategy (see below):  

The Blood Angels reacted the only way they know. The Commander takes on the Dreadnought hand-to-hand with his power-sword. Alas, the Chaos Force effect was strong with the dice (evil laughter) and he fell "a hero to the corp", but dead nevertheless (see below):

Two remaining Blood Angel Troopers faced off against the deadliest of alien killing machines, the final Chaos Space Marines and a dirty "reptilian" Orc Grunt. The Imperial Fists and Ultra Marines teams were heading as fast as they could to the critical battle-zone but will they be quick enough to save the beleaguered Blood Angels?

Next: Face-Off against the Dreadnought!

Just Another Day in the Space Marine Corp (1)

I have been a bit slow on the 'practical' side of wargaming as of late, but here is the long overdue saga of a Space Crusade game played before Xmas ...

Everyone (aka read 'geek' of Big Bang Theory description) dreams of joining a Space Marine Chapter, "Don't they?". In the case of the undecided I offered 'free beer'. Even better they brought their own so it was obviously going to be a "good gaming night". The Space Marines deploy finding a small [Getchin] moving metal thing to beat up (see below):

Anyway, to go off hunting bug-eyed monsters and killing deviant followers of Chaos, as per the Emperors' instructions (or rather the semi-lucid incantations from his throne/life-support system). So therefore we find Space Hulk "Abomination" welcoming three rookie squads on a 'Hunt the Dreadnought' mission. The boys all tooled up with heavy weapons 'pile in' and start wading into the minor minions of Chaos (see below, a Blood Angels Space Marine Commander trying to look "hard and cool"):

As the going gets slightly tougher (as in the second round of combat) a "rookie marine" reports 'equipment failure' as in "Sarge my dice aren't working they keep rolling noughts!" (See below, a discussion on the merits of the d20 fantasy dice rolling a number but missing being more satisfying that "a pair" of zeroes):

The (Yellow) Emperor's Bodyguard (aka The Imperials Fists) poked a solitary Space Marine out as point, to which Chaos reacted violently (albeit ineffectively). The 'ambushers' were in turn ambushed by Imperial Fist reinforcements (see below, both photos):  

However never underestimate a Chaos Space Marine armed with a Plasma Cannon, the straight beam cutting down two Imperial Fist grunts. The merits of spreading your figures and avoiding clustering became apparent! The fighting was getting 'down and dirty' (see below):  

So far the three units of Space Marines had covered a lot of territory but the bulk of the Chaos counters seemed to be bunched in protecting "Sector 4" where the priority objective of the mission (aka a 'Chaos Dreadnought') had to be!

Next: Into the Devils Den 

FrostGrave .. OK so I bought the book ;)

"Shiny thing, shiny thing, alert, alert!", but as we all know resistance was futile ;)

So all it took was a  quick look on eBay [where I spotted it at a cheaper than the original RRP, a bargain, for want of a feeble justification/excuse] and much to my surprise or rather embarrassment (aka my wife's inquisitive "What's this then another toy?") The parcel arrived promptly at the door. Despite the third degree at least it's here now (see below):

The good news is that it fits in perfectly with my existing Dark Ages/Fantasy collections so there is no additional figure purchases required .. that is unless I want to and of course I always want to! 

Perfect  for a "beer and pretzel" style game night.

;)