Colonial Twilight a solo outing

 

Had another solo session with this hugely enjoyable game.

Played the full scenario again but it ended on fourth Propaganda card with an FLN auto win by +3 VP.

Even solo I love the depth of decision making and choices each side is presented with on every card.

The sense of history is prevalent throughout despite the random nature of card event 'timeline'.

Colonial Twilight a close run thing.........

 

Played that most excellent 2-player COIN game Colonial Twilight with my Dad.

We played the full length (5 deck) scenario and it went right to the last Propaganda card (with only 5 Event cards not used).

Dad played as the French/Government and I was therefore the FLN insurgents.

As always a totally engrossing topsy turvy flow of events and actions and tough decisions.

French twice failed by just 1 Victory Point to achieve an auto win but in the end the FLN pipped them at the post by a narrow 2 VP after 'Agitating in a 2 Population area to tip balance from a drawn result.

Such an excellent game.

A Wargamers 'blind date'

++++ Precursor/disclaimer - I am not cheating on my wife of 35 years !! ++++

I was contacted recently via Board Game Geek by a chap (Colin Campbell) who lives in Belfast who had seen my Blog.

Colin is a long time Wargamer (whose name I recognised but did not recall meeting before) who has recently moved abode and had to downscale (oh the horror !!) his miniatures collection but who has fallen in love with Board Wargaming in last 18 months or so.

We agreed to meet (ie the 'blind date') and so I trundled off to his home last night (30 min drive).

Colin had Clash Of Monarchs set up and is playing through the introductory scenario to try to learn this fairly deep but complex CDG.

We ended up waffling (ie chatting/discussing for you non Ulster readers) for hours about our wargaming history and likes/dislikes and mutual acquaintances, being NI not unusual to find we sort of ran in same circles unbeknownst to each other (I already regret not having had a game in 'The Basement') over the years.

We did play a short card phase of COM as I took first Austrian Turn so did manage a little bit of actual gaming !

Colin to visit me next and maybe we might actually play a game but no promises..............

Clash Of Monarchs on Colin's table (note his home made stand-up Leaders) and he has highlighted the various Theater and Regional boundaries on the map.

  

Mortem Et Gloriam - Galatian versus Selecuid a very bloody affair

Played another game of MEG today.

Another Maximus game with my Galatians facing off against Stephen's Selecuids.

What a bloody match up this proved to be !

Galatians are a good deal better than Gallic types with Devastating Charge, Short Spear and Melee Expert.

Pikes and Elephants on Greek side are also tough as are the Superior units of Companion Cavalry.

I made a boo boo on my initial Impact Phase by forgetting my lot had Short Spear so lost out on an 'Up 1' but discovered way too late and after too many combat rolls to rectify so just let things stand as they were.

I actually had decent rolls anyhow.

Things started bloodily with a unit of Celt Cavalry and a unit of Average Companions mutually destroying each other in one turn, with two opposing Generals also dieing !!

Selecuid mounted power began to tell although their two Elephant units proved brittle.

A too and fro bash in which we both needed to kill 5 TUGs to win.

I lost 5 but the winning Greeks had lost 4 so a close run thing.

Not sure how best to field some units in terms of width vs depth.

Is a unit of say 8 Warband foot better 4 bases wide and 2 deep or should one go 2-3 wide with some depth to absorb casualties ?

Part of me thinks having paid for Impact factors like Devastating Charge and Short Spear one needs to put it all in front line, but this can make units susceptible to quick deaths.

Tribal units like Galatians however need Yellow or better cards to expand/fill in gaps so those deep ranks not always easily usable and even if deployed they have lost Impact factors and generally outclassed in Melee phases by most other foot even with Melee expert.

Tis' a poser.

Combat Commander - couple of scenarios played

Couple of scenarios from Combat Commander: Mediterranean played with my Dad.

First set on Eastern Front in 1941 pitting Romanians against Russians the second a 1940 bash with Germans versus French.

As always two great games (both Allied wins). 

Mortem Et Gloriam - Avar versus Carolingian

Another outing for MEG this time at Stephens and trying a 'Maximus' game.
Stephen picked Carolingian and I fielded Avar and I struggled to field the 10,000 points for Maximus game.
Some Hun figures had to substitute for 'true' Avars (not much of a stretch).
Even Stephen with his copious amounts of figures had a couple of substitute stands.
Units of Light Infantry in groups of 8 or 9 stands is bit different to other sets we have armies for.

Another fun game as we tried out different troop types.
I tried charging with Avars and also Skirmishing with them.

These 'shooty-horse' type armies need a bit of practice (and dare I say a plan).
Certainly compared to the 'line-em-up and charge' Franks they need more subtle and varied tactics.
The lack of suitable cards in any given turn can be a real bind.
Was unsure if Shooting and Skirmishing was best tactic as always a risk of being caught and in Impact and Melee the Avars are quite decent.
Carolingians did have a nasty unit of Exceptional Cavalry and several Superior Cavalry (I had but two Superior noble units) and had an advantage at Impact with possible Shatters.

Biggest problem I faced was Stephen rolling Skulls against files I had 2 General fighting in and then killing them both !

Games are certainly bloody as whilst I lost the requisite 6 Tugs Stephen had lost 3 in victory and we both had ton of dead stands.

Fire In The Lake - solo play of short scenario

Had a quick solo play of Fire In The Lake trying out the short (3 deck) scenario for first time.
Great game even solo as so many choices and events although again I did not use the 'Bots' as too time consuming.
Scenario covers 1965-1967 with only 24 cards (+3 Coup cards) from the 1965 portion (48 cards) of deck.
NVA have a larger initial presence than in other scenarios and indeed finished a close second to the US.
VC third with ARVN in last place as I continue to struggle to play them effectively.
COIN system is very addictive.

Mortem Et Gloriam first try with new edition

Game with Stephen using new edition of Mortem Et Gloriam.
We last played MEG back at start of 2018 so pretty much starting afresh with rules.
I fielded trusty Punic Romans and Stephen had Hannibals chaps.
We tried the new Magna sized game (essentially 2/3rds scale) which uses a 4' x 3' table.
This was mainly due to my Romans not having enough Triarii or Legionaries for full sized game (now termed Maximus).
My Romans having been re-based as 'doubles' for L'Art De La Guerre not optimal for MEG which allows for unit expansion and suchlike (like Field of Glory) but doable with a few pipe cleaner markers.
Thankfully the cards and dice from first edition are still perfectly usable with new set.


Game was great fun despite our having to re-learn even the basics.
The card 'activation/orders' system is great linked into its colour coded system and similar dice system.
Moves are large (base widths) and armies get into action in at most 2-3 turns.
Shooting (we had few shooting types) and Combat all very easy to relearn.
The QRS is comprehensive and clear but maybe a bit small in it print for aging eyes on either side of the table.

Game saw a clash of Infantry type all along the table with Cavalry on flanks.
To and fro with dice rolls although for some reason rolling a 'blank' seems less traumatic than rolling a 1 :-)

Carthaginians were in ascendancy when we finished (game not completed) but no bloodless victories in MEG as both sides taking a lot of casualties.

Fun stuff and we will be trying these again.

Stephens comment of game being Ancients "how Barker intended" seemed apt but we are novices with intricacies of tactics.

Interested to try the Pacto version (single file units) as a direct comparison to LADG scale.