Sunday, 23 August 2015
Mice and Mystics
Welcome to the world of mice and mystics. This is a co-operative adventure game for 1-4 players. You adventuring mice whom are trying to save the kingdom from the evil Vanestra whom has made the king, your father, sick. Your friends have turned themselves into mice to escape from prison and save the day. This what is called RPG in a box. My children have been enjoying fun farm and once they saw this, they fell in love. Everyone was so excited to play they were standing on their chairs literally. My girls love it. Great way to get everyone off the television and using their creativity. Very user friendly, my girls are aged 5 and 8 and have no problem playing. We finished chapter one in about 60 minutes with on cheese away from losing. Highly recommended to anyone. I will be playing this through and getting the expansions.
Monday, 3 August 2015
FoW Pincer US Armoured attacking Romanian Armour
The US 6th Armoured Division was given the task of clearing a village ahead of them. They could see infantry dug in along the grove of trees in front of the church. Behind the small grove was a field of crops. Their was a good chance that the enemy had AT guns hidden, just waiting to spit fire. The Old Man and the 2iC decided to lead from the front in their Stuarts. The platoon of Stuarts, with the commanders lead the way, positions themselves to clear out the infantry. The Shermans positioned themselves behind the Stuarts, ready to provide cover fire. The engineers were behind the tanks in case their expertise was needed. The Old Man told the tank destroyer commander to position his M10's to provide cover fire, in case some medium tanks appeared. The recon platoon decided it was a good idea to try, and reach the back objective while the enemy was busy with the main force pushing the forward objective.
The Stuarts raced up, and encountered infantry dug in the small grove of trees. The Old Man threw open the hatch and manned the AA MG. All guns fire !! he yelled. All the Stuarts popped their hatches and unload with everyone weapon on their tank. The effects are immediate. The enemy infantry platoon is pinned, and the assault is ready to go in.
Charge ! All the tanks form the Stuart platoon plus the Old Man and 2iC charge the enemy infantry platoon. The Americans kill all the enemy infantry for no losses. Although a few Stuarts bog in the woods. After the charge is finished a Sherman explodes behind them, and the other two take hits but lucky nothing happens. There in the field are 3 pak40's. The US commander ordered all tanks to return fire. At the same time, 3 German tanks are flanking their positions, but luckily all their shots miss. The Wolverine commander cannot believe his luck. Three German tanks are driving across his sights in the open.
The return fire from the 6th Armoured division is horrific. All three German tanks go up in smoke from the tank destroyers. The combine might of the Stuarts and Shermans are only able to smoke one pak 40. Within only two turns, the Romanians have lost two out of three platoons. To rub more salt into the wound, the us recon has made its way to contest the rear objective.
The Romanians decide to quit the field. The have lost all but one of their platoons. The Americans are contesting two objectives as well.
My mate Lionel got very unlucky in this match. I rolled great dice the first two turns, killing two out of his three platoons at the end of my turn two. He failed his company check at the start of his turn two, which made for a very quick game. This is why I play armoured now instead of infantry, as the games are usually very fast. It is always lots of fun playing Lionel, and also good to get a win back on him finally. Lionel is off to a weekend tournament tomorrow, so I hope he used up all his bad luck!
The Stuarts raced up, and encountered infantry dug in the small grove of trees. The Old Man threw open the hatch and manned the AA MG. All guns fire !! he yelled. All the Stuarts popped their hatches and unload with everyone weapon on their tank. The effects are immediate. The enemy infantry platoon is pinned, and the assault is ready to go in.
My mate Lionel got very unlucky in this match. I rolled great dice the first two turns, killing two out of his three platoons at the end of my turn two. He failed his company check at the start of his turn two, which made for a very quick game. This is why I play armoured now instead of infantry, as the games are usually very fast. It is always lots of fun playing Lionel, and also good to get a win back on him finally. Lionel is off to a weekend tournament tomorrow, so I hope he used up all his bad luck!
Timeline
I just finished playing a few games of Timeline today. I bought the inventions pack. Each pack contains 106 cards. The cards of two sides, both naming an inventions. On one side there is the date listed the invention took place, and on the other side is no date. You deal yourself six cards, no date side up. The rest of the cards are put into one deck date side down. The player that goes first takes one card off the top of the deck and places it in the playing are date side up. That player than places one of their cards in their hand face up where they think it fits in the timeline. The first few cards are easy enough, but as the playing area gets crowed with more cards, it becomes more difficult. If you like learning dates on famous events, then this game is for you. Each game only took us around ten minutes or so. The only downside is that the more you play the same deck, the more you will remember the dates (maybe). We planning on buying more decks, as they are only $20 per deck, and we really enjoying learning new things. This game was recommended to me by a fellow gamer, and I would recommend it as well. Cheap. fast, fun, and educational.
Invercargill Invasion 2015
I had the pleasure of attending my second Invercargill Invasion last weekend. The tournament was hosted by Stephen Falconer and the guys from Invercargill. I had a great time playing FoW during the day, and board gaming in the evenings. Stephen was kind enough to put four of us up in his home, and shuttle us to and from the airport. The atmosphere was relaxed and competitive. I would highly recommend anyone going for Flames of War.
I decided on US armour this year. This was my list.
HQ - 2 x M5A1 Stuarts
Combat Platoon - 5 M5A1 Stuarts
Combat Platoon- 3 M4A1 Shermans
Weapon Platoon- Armoured Mortars with one extra .50 cal
Weapon Platoon- Recon Platoon with extra Zook
Weapon Platoon- 3 M8 Scotts
Divisional Support- 4 M10 Tank Destroyers
Overall I loved this list for US Armour. Lots of firepower. Lots of .50 cals. Lots of 3+ firepower. My overall strategy was to use smoke to get in close range then use movement and stabilisers for max effect.
My first game was against Bob Kelly and his 8 Panthers. We played a Free for All. I guarded one objective with my Recon Platoon and the 2iC. The rest of my army was to push the opposite objective. Luckily about half of the table was covered in wheat fields, which gave concealment for my M10s. I pushed my entire army as far as they could move in the movement step. In the shooting step, I used indirect and direct smoke to make sure all the Panthers I was facing were smoked. After three turns of moving and smoking, I was finally within distance of being able to flank the Panthers on my next turn. By this time I had lost all the Stuarts and Scotts from each platoon. I revealed my M10s. The M10s and Shermans moved and were able to flank and destroy the Panthers on the objective. Bob's closest Panther had to make a stormtrooper to contest the objective, otherwise he would lose the game. Bob failed his stormtroooper and that was a 4-3 win to me.
My second game was against Roger and his Company of Compagnia Carri. We played Counterattack, and I was defending. I placed the Shermans in ambush, and M10s on the table. He had 16 M14/41s, 4 Semester 75/18s, 3 Recce, and some air. This was always going to be a hard fight for Roger against my AT guns. On my first turn, the M10s completely destroyed the Semesters in their ambush. From their out, my Shermans and M10s slowly destroyed tank after tank. Roger's Planes were unable to do much as my AA MGs kept them away. In the end, Roger managed to destroy all the M10s. It was a 5-2 victory for the Americans. Roger was an outstanding sport and always kept a great attitude. I voted him as best sport, and so did a lot of other players as he won best sport. Roger and I played another game, as we finished within an hour. On the second time around, he got much better results against US armour.
My last game of the day was against Jeremy Hughes. We played Breakthrough. He had a Tiger,two platoons of 3 Panzers each. He also had a couple of 8 rads. This was always going to be a very hard match up for Jeremy. I placed my Shermans and M10s on the table. I outgunned him by A LOT. On my first turn my M10s destroyed all the Panzers in one platoon. On my second turn, my shermans killed his CiC and 2iC. Jeremy failed to roll any reserves which would cost him the game. As on my next turn, I rushed all my Stuarts (which I got on my first reserve) at his 8 rads and destroyed them. Jeremy had 1 platoon on the table, 2 destroyed with no commanders. He company was broke. 6-1 to the Americans. Like with Roger we played another game, and he had much better results the second time around.
On day two my first game was against Daryl. This was a bit of a grudge match, as last time his Churchills destroyed many of my Tigers. The mission was Fighting withdrawal. Daryl played a Panzerspahkompanie. He had lots of Luchs, some recce, 5 Panzers with 3 F2s, and 2 Hornesse's. Daryl was defending. He placed most of his force on the middle objective. I placed my entire force on the objective on my far left side. We played on a desert table, and I was able to get my recce unit on the objective at the end of my turn one. The rest of my force moved as fast as it could forward to support my recce units. I dropped smoke to cover the advance of the recce units. Daryl responded by throwing everything at the objective. The result was a massive battle of our entire armies all within an area about 1 metre by 1 metre. In the end I managed to break Daryl's army. I had many platoons on their last team, but none routed. This was a match where I managed to pass all my motivation checks while Daryl failed all of his taken. Another 6-1 to US armour. As this one finished quickly we had another match, where Daryl got the upper hand and broke my company.
I decided on US armour this year. This was my list.
HQ - 2 x M5A1 Stuarts
Combat Platoon - 5 M5A1 Stuarts
Combat Platoon- 3 M4A1 Shermans
Weapon Platoon- Armoured Mortars with one extra .50 cal
Weapon Platoon- Recon Platoon with extra Zook
Weapon Platoon- 3 M8 Scotts
Divisional Support- 4 M10 Tank Destroyers
Overall I loved this list for US Armour. Lots of firepower. Lots of .50 cals. Lots of 3+ firepower. My overall strategy was to use smoke to get in close range then use movement and stabilisers for max effect.
My first game was against Bob Kelly and his 8 Panthers. We played a Free for All. I guarded one objective with my Recon Platoon and the 2iC. The rest of my army was to push the opposite objective. Luckily about half of the table was covered in wheat fields, which gave concealment for my M10s. I pushed my entire army as far as they could move in the movement step. In the shooting step, I used indirect and direct smoke to make sure all the Panthers I was facing were smoked. After three turns of moving and smoking, I was finally within distance of being able to flank the Panthers on my next turn. By this time I had lost all the Stuarts and Scotts from each platoon. I revealed my M10s. The M10s and Shermans moved and were able to flank and destroy the Panthers on the objective. Bob's closest Panther had to make a stormtrooper to contest the objective, otherwise he would lose the game. Bob failed his stormtroooper and that was a 4-3 win to me.
My second game was against Roger and his Company of Compagnia Carri. We played Counterattack, and I was defending. I placed the Shermans in ambush, and M10s on the table. He had 16 M14/41s, 4 Semester 75/18s, 3 Recce, and some air. This was always going to be a hard fight for Roger against my AT guns. On my first turn, the M10s completely destroyed the Semesters in their ambush. From their out, my Shermans and M10s slowly destroyed tank after tank. Roger's Planes were unable to do much as my AA MGs kept them away. In the end, Roger managed to destroy all the M10s. It was a 5-2 victory for the Americans. Roger was an outstanding sport and always kept a great attitude. I voted him as best sport, and so did a lot of other players as he won best sport. Roger and I played another game, as we finished within an hour. On the second time around, he got much better results against US armour.
My last game of the day was against Jeremy Hughes. We played Breakthrough. He had a Tiger,two platoons of 3 Panzers each. He also had a couple of 8 rads. This was always going to be a very hard match up for Jeremy. I placed my Shermans and M10s on the table. I outgunned him by A LOT. On my first turn my M10s destroyed all the Panzers in one platoon. On my second turn, my shermans killed his CiC and 2iC. Jeremy failed to roll any reserves which would cost him the game. As on my next turn, I rushed all my Stuarts (which I got on my first reserve) at his 8 rads and destroyed them. Jeremy had 1 platoon on the table, 2 destroyed with no commanders. He company was broke. 6-1 to the Americans. Like with Roger we played another game, and he had much better results the second time around.
On day two my first game was against Daryl. This was a bit of a grudge match, as last time his Churchills destroyed many of my Tigers. The mission was Fighting withdrawal. Daryl played a Panzerspahkompanie. He had lots of Luchs, some recce, 5 Panzers with 3 F2s, and 2 Hornesse's. Daryl was defending. He placed most of his force on the middle objective. I placed my entire force on the objective on my far left side. We played on a desert table, and I was able to get my recce unit on the objective at the end of my turn one. The rest of my force moved as fast as it could forward to support my recce units. I dropped smoke to cover the advance of the recce units. Daryl responded by throwing everything at the objective. The result was a massive battle of our entire armies all within an area about 1 metre by 1 metre. In the end I managed to break Daryl's army. I had many platoons on their last team, but none routed. This was a match where I managed to pass all my motivation checks while Daryl failed all of his taken. Another 6-1 to US armour. As this one finished quickly we had another match, where Daryl got the upper hand and broke my company.
My last match was against Stephen and his German Infantry. He had a gun line list with 4 anti-tank platoons of anti tank guns. He had ten platoons so I had to kill 2 platoons to get one point. The mission was No Retreat and once again I was attacking. He placed two platoons of 5 cm Pak guns with some infantry on the near objective. On the other side protecting the flank he placed his 3 StugDs. I placed my entire force on the flank and moved up to shoot the StugDs. I made the mistake of not pushing hard, and only pushed a little. I changed how I had been playing all day and this cost me the game. Stephen placed his ambush of 3.7s behind the StugDs. I slowly pushed up killing the StugDs. I killed some guns but failed to break them. I managed to kill his captured KV1e with my M10s for a point. The game time out for my first lost 2-5. I should have pushed the StugDs hard (like I had been doing all tournament) then as soon as he placed those last two AT gun platoons, I should have shifted back to the near objective. Stephen had started to move the 5cm Pak guns so I missed a chance for more points or possible win.
I learned a lot about US armour. Push them hard, use direct and indirect smoke until you get close. When you get close enough to flank them, use your stabilisers and watch tanks go up in smoke. I was surprised to win Best Allied in the end. There were four of us all at the top with only 4 points between us all.
Thanks again Stephen and look forward to next year.
Saturday, 16 May 2015
Tempest 2015
Today was the first board gaming event at Tempest 2015. Adrian, James, myself, and George all showed up to play as many games as we could in one day. There were over 50 players at the event whom also were invited to come join us for a game. We had one family come over, and they had a game of Chicken Cha Cha Cha. Also Lucas, came over to have a look, and joined us for a few games. Overall it was a great success, and everyone left with a very good feeling. I love how board games are for everyone. We had men, women, and children playing. Ages ranged from 4 to 43.
First, we started with Castle Panic. This was Adrian and James first time playing. It was an excellent game that went down to the wire. Adrian pulled draw four monster. One of the four monsters he drew was the Goblin King, which means draw another three monsters (all this when the Orc Warlord was drawn the turn before). This resulted in use losing all but one tower, when we finally killed all the monsters. At this point we had about 8 monsters tokens left. The barbarian had not yet come out, and about 20 cards were left in the deck. James had the scavenge card, but we decided not to trade or use it until the barbarian card came out, so we can use the barbarian twice. This turned out to be a good idea because the last lot of monster tokens revealed 2 trolls, 1 orc, and a goblin. As the monsters moved the barbarian still was not coming out. With 2 trolls in the swordsman ring, it was my turn. I drew up to 5 cards, still no barbarian, but I got draw 2 cards. I discarded one card and drew a new card, no barbarian. Then I played my draw two cards and got the barbarian on the 2nd card drawn. So I played the barbarian, killing a troll, played scavenge, scavenged the barbarian and killed the last troll. It was an excellent first game that came down to winning with one tower at the very last minute possible.
This family enjoyed a game of Chicken Cha Cha
Next we played Love Letter. This is a great, quick card game. You are drawing to win the hand in marriage of the princess. Whoever can get their love letter closest to the princess wins a token of affection from her. In the end we all had four tokens, and it came down to the last game with Adrian winning.
After Love Letter we played three games of King of Tokyo. Our youngest players, George and James ended up winning all the games. The younger players really enjoy this game, especially collecting the cards. This is a great game where you are a Godzilla type monster destroying Tokyo city. Very easy rules and fast gameplay. George won the last game easily by having a baby, then getting a shrink ray. He went in Tokyo city, and knocked everyone out in three turns.
Lucas had a game of That's my fish with Adrian, and then also got a game of King of Tokyo in. Next I showed everyone Catan Junior. This was everyone's first time playing. This is a very easy pirate game, which I review in my last blog. Everyone enjoyed this game, and Adrian ended up being the first pirate to build all 7 liars. Again the younger players, loved collecting the parrots.
With time running out, we finished with a game of Small World. I played the two younger players James and George. It was a very close game. George scored 89, James 95, and I won with 100 points. I was very impressed how close the game was. George and James are quick learners, and really did well, and I was happy to get my first win on the last game of the day. James and George walked away with the prizes for getting the most wins, and being great sports. Overall great success. I plan on offering more tables for the next big tournament, Conquest. Hopefully Tim will be willingly to offer this as a exhibition, and provided some prize support.
Board gaming is a great way to enjoy some quality family time, and meet new people. Look forward to the next tournament and report.
First, we started with Castle Panic. This was Adrian and James first time playing. It was an excellent game that went down to the wire. Adrian pulled draw four monster. One of the four monsters he drew was the Goblin King, which means draw another three monsters (all this when the Orc Warlord was drawn the turn before). This resulted in use losing all but one tower, when we finally killed all the monsters. At this point we had about 8 monsters tokens left. The barbarian had not yet come out, and about 20 cards were left in the deck. James had the scavenge card, but we decided not to trade or use it until the barbarian card came out, so we can use the barbarian twice. This turned out to be a good idea because the last lot of monster tokens revealed 2 trolls, 1 orc, and a goblin. As the monsters moved the barbarian still was not coming out. With 2 trolls in the swordsman ring, it was my turn. I drew up to 5 cards, still no barbarian, but I got draw 2 cards. I discarded one card and drew a new card, no barbarian. Then I played my draw two cards and got the barbarian on the 2nd card drawn. So I played the barbarian, killing a troll, played scavenge, scavenged the barbarian and killed the last troll. It was an excellent first game that came down to winning with one tower at the very last minute possible.
After Love Letter we played three games of King of Tokyo. Our youngest players, George and James ended up winning all the games. The younger players really enjoy this game, especially collecting the cards. This is a great game where you are a Godzilla type monster destroying Tokyo city. Very easy rules and fast gameplay. George won the last game easily by having a baby, then getting a shrink ray. He went in Tokyo city, and knocked everyone out in three turns.
Monday, 11 May 2015
Catan Junior - Review
"Land Ho me hearties" This is a game where you are trying to be the first pirate to build seven pirate liars. You build the liars by collecting resources. You get resources by rolling a D6 and comparing the results to the map. You can trade resources at the market, or with the bank for different resources. You can also take a chance on Coco the parrot, or by moving the ghost pirate. The ghost pirate gives you resources while stopping your opponent from getting them. This game is an awesome gateway game into board gaming for all ages. My five and seven year old love it. They can play completely unaided, and love blocking dad so I cannot get any resources. Gameplay is different every time. Fast, fun, and well balanced. It is funny to see how some people punt on the parrots, while others go for the resources. This game is so good, it will be the first game played at my upcoming board gaming day. A must for every board gamer to have in their collection.
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