Owlfeather's World

Double Trouble!

2012-03-03T17:21:00.000-08:00

The schedule for the CWGG has changed to include two (count 'em-2) games this year of "Empires of the Middle Ages" and "Space Empires"! We still must find time for "Republic of Rome,""Sword of Rome,""Barbarian, Kingdom and Empire,""Pax Romana," and "Imperium Romanum II"....does one note a pattern?

2012: The Year of the Hobbit!

2012-01-08T11:06:00.000-08:00

Schedule for 2012:

"Virgin Queen" (if it arrives in time) March 24th at 9:15 a.m. at the library. CW is running it so talk to him if you want to reserve a place when the time comes.

"Empires of the Middle Ages" on some Saturday in April at the library. We will use army and navy counters as well as independent magnates.

"Space Empires Advanced" on some Saturday in May at the library. All rules in use.

"Republic of Rome" (Early scenario) in June.

"Imperium Romanum II" in July.

"Soldier Kings" in August.

"Supremacy" in September.

THANKS

Upcoming Games for the rest of the Gaming Season

2011-09-20T03:21:00.000-07:00

The Season is about to wind down and here are some games that I have coming up.

"Britannia" is my choice for the MMSGS library day on October 1st. It may be "broken" but I like it, and I am interested in the Dark Ages right now.

Above is an example of a game of "Space Empires", which I will run at the library on October 15th at 9:15 a.m. I am running my second playtest of this, and I believe we can go ahead and jump into the more advanced options...or maybe I am being too ambitious. In the 4P playtest I am running now, two Doomsday machines are making life interesting (or is it death interesting?) for two of the players.

"Conquest of Nerath" is a new game of Dungeons and Dragons DONE STRATEGICALLY and I will be doing a 4P playtest of that as soon as I wrap up the Space Empires playtest. This may be a real winner! We will be using Valhalla's Gate at noon on October 23rd.

Next will be yet another game of "Empires of the Middle Ages" at the library at 9:15 a.m. on November 12th.

For the final game of my Gaming Season this year, Ernie will run us in "Red Russia", the Avalanche Press game of the Russian Civil War. It is similar to "Soldier Kings".

Also, next Thursday night CW will show me "A Few Acres of Snow", the wildly popular card game of the French & Indian War.

Bug World bites it in Space Empires playtest!

2011-09-10T14:51:00.000-07:00

I solo-playtested GMT Games' "Space Empires" today and did some things wrong but got most of it figured out. I failed to include the nebulas and "lost in Space" counters in the mix of the deep space tokens, and also I didn't keep track of the different battle groups correctly. But I played seven turns of a two-player game between the Bug World Empire and the Dirty Rotten Human Empire, and the DRHE demolished the BWE home planet with a couple of Battle Cruisers and a Cruiser, even though the BWE had a base. In fact, building a base right off is what hampered the BWE development so much that it was playing catch-up to the DRHE in technology all game. The BWE got lucky in the initial placement of good planets, while the DRHE had three "Barren" planets to develop. Many planets weren't even developed. One BWE colony was wiped out and another blockaded by the DRHE. Below is a picture of the last of the Bug Home world.

Stilgar Betrays his own people!

2011-08-20T09:00:00.000-07:00

We had an epic Friday night game of "Dune" with two new players, Kait and EE. EE played the Harkonnen and won the game, while Kait was his ally as the Atreides clan. Puma played the Bene Gesserit and the Shrike guided the Guild. Sabryin played the Fremen and attempted to take the Atreides stronghold, Arakeen, from Kait, but she had a traitor in the ranks of the Fremen, Stilgar, and won the attempted invasion of her stronghold. Sabryin's game went downhill from there, and the Harkonnen played two Fremen traitors in addition to Kait's Stilgar! It was a great game!

Empires of the Middle-Aged!

2011-08-06T04:03:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday we had a test-run game of "Empires of the Middle Ages". GG, EB and I figured it out pretty well except we were doing the "ruling" endeavor wrong...I had a leader with an Administrative Stature of "9" and I couldn't improve my outlying French provinces! I did manage a "diplomatic conquest"of the neutral land of Burgundy, but then I didn't keep a year card for defense and GG took his opportunity and wrested the newly-won land from me. GG was the German Empire and did well in Italy, plus he saved up capital and when he pounced on France he had the finances to back it up. When Burgundy was taken, the French failed to call a parley although they could have won the vote, but they did that on the next German conquest, Champagne, and the Germans were a little miffed. EB had horrible troubles as the Byzantines because he drew two "Leader dies Heirless" cards! So GG won with 76 points and EB came in a very close second (75 points) while my French folk came in last with 64 points. We will try it again on August 27th, and this time Professor Smale will join us. The scenario may be different than the one we played before, but I don't know.

Grunge Match of Age of Conan!

2011-07-04T06:52:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, July 3rd, 2011 we had a game of "Age of Conan" with RH winning. EB came in a close (1 point back) second, and then Sabryin and GG were in the last places. It was the first game in which Sabryin used the new Anubis statue for the First Player Token, and also introduced green gems for Sorcery tokens, black gems for "Crom, count the dead" tokens, and amber gems for Raider tokens.

At the beginning of the game, GG shot ahead in Empire Points with a swift Stygian military conquest of the Southwest, while EB conquered some in Central Hyboria with the Aquilonians, but then stalled in several attempts to diplomatically convert Zingara. Meanwhile, RH led the Hyperboreans in a measured military and diplomatic offensive in the central North. Sabryin was unlucky in that he didn't get any "play-on-the-table" cards for a while, although he was lucky in some of his military and diplomatic attempts.

After the game got going, EB finally won Zingara, and Sabryin's Turan launched an offensive against the Stygians, while the Hyperboreans took advantage of Turan's distraction to take Zamora. Hyperborea then added to insult to injury by taking the Steppes from Turan as well. EB's Aquilonians took the Pictlands from RH's Hyperboreans and did succeed in some diplomacy in Central Hyboria. Below is a picture of Turan at the height of it's power.

Then, Stygia mounted a counteroffensive in the south against Turan, and the Hyperboreans came at Turan from the north to whittle down the empire Sabryin had built up.

Sabryin got lucky and managed to crown Conan king of Turan, but it did not help him enough, and RH won with 46 points as Hyperborea, followed at 45 points by the wealthy Aquilonians of EB, and then Sabryin's Turanians had 40 points and GG's Stygians came in last with 39 points.

Twilight Imperium Great Learning Game

2011-06-25T06:30:00.000-07:00

Eight-Player game of Twilight Imperium with both expansions used!

(Note: the image above has nothing whatsoever to do with the game last night, it just showed armor.)

The Shrike, as the Arborec, did well and nearly completed a last objective, but Sabryin's forces of the Barony of Letnev managed to stop him from gaining a planet and stopped that. Bizax, playing the Nekro Virus, did well and the Shrike and he were in the lead when we quit at midnight. Puma as the XXcha did well and stopped Sharpglance, playing the Winnu, from gaining two victory points at the end. WV as the Emirates of Hacan did well in his learning game, as did RH playing the Clans of the Saar. GG played the Ghosts of Creuss and was set to take the Arborec home system so that the Shrike could not fulfill objectives (but we ended the game around then so the point was academic). Sabryin completed his goal of gaining one victory point as the Barony of Letnev; he even got two more to finish up the game in the very last, but not with a "perfect score" of zero! Just for the fun of it, the Barony of Letnev attacked the Nekro flagship to see it blow everything up.

AFTER-ACTION REPORT: BARONY OF LETNEV- (3 VICTORY POINTS AT GAME END)
1 victory point was won (with GG's help in recognizing my qualifying) by controlling 5 planets outside of my home system.
1 victory point was gained from my preliminary objective card by eliminating 2 cruisers (Nekro Virus cruisers).
1 victory point was gained from spending 3 influence and 3 resources from planets and 4 trade goods.

Mistake: I built two Space Docks on my two home planets, but didn't ever have enough command counters in my Fleet Supply area to take advantage of that by building space ships. I also built one in a system next to a Beta Wormhole, so I had built my three and couldn't build one nearer to Mecatol Rex! I eventually asked the Shrike what to do and learned I could scuttle a Space Dock, but by then I had missed at least one opportunity to build one where I really wanted it.

Mistake: I lost a planet to the Arborec needlessly because I had 4 PDS units on my adjacent Home world and possessed "Deep Space Cannon" technology, but I failed to fire on his lone carrier when it came in and took a planet.

Mistake: After I developed "Sarween Tools" technology, I forgot to use the +1 production bonus.

Mistake: I should have thought out a new technological progress strategy instead of single-mindedly going for the "War Sun" technology, and also I should have developed all my "red" technologies because I had two planets with red tech bonuses.

Mistake: (Although it didn't matter because the game was ending at a certain time) I should have built a War Sun instead of attacking the Nekro Virus' home world and having his flagship blow up all my stuff.

Mistake: I should always go for the "Neural Motivator" technology.

Mistake: I should not have left a flank open to attack by the Arborec. This is Twilight Imperium: trust nobody!

I did get three points, which was much better than my showing in the last game (0 victory points)!!!!

Conan, the...Timid!

2011-06-19T05:38:00.000-07:00

We had a fiasco yesterday caused by my disorganized nature: I had a game of "Advanced Civilization" scheduled for the library, but when RH, WV, GG and I showed up we discovered I had no room reserved!

We waited two hours and went to Valhalla's Gate, where they were very accommodating and gave us the front table where we played a learning game of "Age of Conan". We played from 11:30 to 6:30 and WV won while protesting that he "did not understand the game".

(This photo is not from the game I am discussing, it's from a play-test I did)

I was doing so much wrong in the game mechanics when I play-tested it, but I think we have it hashed out and we will have another game of it, hopefully, on Sunday, July 3rd. Unfortunately, RH can't make it, so we might have different players.

WV had the eastern kingdom of Turan and, after some flailing around at first, developed a great "southern strategy" with military conquest of the southwest part of the map. GG was running Stygia and left a sort of military vacuum for the Turanians while occupied with other things, like getting five or six "play-on-the-table cards" in play. At the end of the game, GG busted out militarily and tried to put the keebosh on a Turanian victory, and then switched to messing up Sabryin's land of Aquilonia.

Sabryin had Aquilonia and did all right until GG came after him, but he had the chance to crown Conan in Aquilonia and decided not to. As GG pointed out, Conan would not have been so timid.

RH played the Hyperboreans in the north and we made some mistakes that set him back. He did all right by the end of the game, though.

All in all, it was a great day of fun, but Sabryin regrets that he didn't crown Conan...it might be a long time before he gets the chance again!

Miserable Week out of time lost!

2011-05-23T00:54:00.000-07:00

The game of "Twilight Imperium" in the last post ended way late, so my sleep for the weekend was thrown off. Then on Sunday I dressed too lightly and there was a cold rain and a long game of "Arkham Horror" and a ride home to be given after. By 1 a.m. Monday morning it was obvious I had a fever and was coming down with something! This would be the second bout of it since the beginning of April! The Horror was beginning, the Horror of Flu! Nurgle gathered me up and pulled me in.

This posting is a week later and it's been a time of unrelenting misery for me, mainly because the coughing won't allow me to sleep. Also, I have been having nightmares of Lovecraftian demons and twittering things when I do sleep. I have come to the conclusion that I am too "sensitive" or "impressionable" to read such negative stuff....it's too dark. It's even darker than Warhammer, which at least has heroes. So I put all my Chtulu-related games and books up for sale. Now I hope that this bug finally clears out and I can be done with the slime-time!

Once again, my game commitments were getting to be too much. I don't know if I will even get library rooms for many of the months of the year ahead. But I do have a game of "Advanced Civilization" planned at the library for June 18th, and D and A may postpone a trip out of the country on my account! That is really nice of them! We will see if we play with the deluxe board or not, but the game will proceed in any case! On July 1st and 2nd, I am having a game of "Cedar Mountain" with KH. After that, the only game commitment is the October 1st MMSGS game day at the library, which is my choice, and I will run "Republic of Rome"...with extensive help from my friends!

P.S. I forgot about MMSGS tournament games....I still have two games each of "Campaign Manager" with GG and EB, and then to finish getting stomped at "Stone Age" on June 14th! Sharks in the water! Board Game Sharks!

A Twilight Imperium bumbling, stumbling game

2011-05-14T11:00:00.000-07:00

Last night I got home at 1 a.m. from a Twilight Imperium that was Epic!

I bumbled and stumbled around as the Norr, but Puma really concentrated on his game and barely defeated Bizax and the Shrike around 12:15 a.m. last night! It was great, and today, the day after, I am re-reading my Twilight Imperium material and getting ready for the next game, which is a rare event but I want to go over things while the game last night is still fresh in my memory and maybe I can learn some real lessons. The Gods know I need some lessons in this game; I didn't score any victory points AT ALL and could barely function!