This report is a little late – apologies for that. Illness and general business have kept me from writing it before now. Running launch events can be a stressful experience. Running them at the same time as a stupidly popular Yu-Gi-Oh! tournament with about 16 people in it is tricky. Running a Launch Event with 17 players, 3 DM and one Co-ordinator where everyone is … Continue reading D&D Encounters: Dead in Thay – Session 1
I am far from the world’s best player of Advanced Squad Leader. My record with Michael is about 50-50, with a slight advantage on Michael’s side, I believe. Although I am quick to pick up and remember rules, little points such as “don’t attack the Machine-Gun nest from the open street” occasionally elude me. In this scenario, the fourth of the Starter Kit #3 scenarios, … Continue reading Advanced Squad Leader report: S23 Monty’s Gamble
On the 3rd of April, 1367, the forces of Henry of Trastámara were lined up outside the walls of Nájera, awaiting the arrival of an enemy force. Henry had been fighting in a civil war with his brother, Peter of Castile (or Pedro the Cruel), for some time beforehand, and Peter had finally gained the aid of foreigners: Edward, later known as the Black Prince, … Continue reading Men of Iron: Battle of Nájera report
My Advanced Squad Leader games have recently been put on pause as Michael and I have had slightly differing schedules during the last couple of weeks. In the meantime, I finally managed to play Glen, who had rather liked the look of the game when he saw Michael and me playing it. So, ever the sucker for introducing newcomers to the game, I set up … Continue reading Advanced Squad Leader: S1 Retaking Vierville
Well, here we are. The second of Hoplite’s scenarios and it’s the most famous battle of Antiquity. Of course, the reason that it is so famous is because we still run a race named after the battle place, thanks to the inventions of the Greeks and Robert Browning. Ask anyone what actually happened at Marathon and you probably will get the answer “the Greeks won”, … Continue reading Hoplite: Marathon – Attica, Greece – September 490 BCE
Due to our scheduling, this was the final session of Scourge of the Sword Coast before the Dead in Thay launch weekend on the 10th of May. It also turned out to be the second-most well-attended session, with three brand new players turning up; I handed them some of the pregenerated characters I’ve created for this season. They’ll make new characters for next week’s event. … Continue reading D&D Encounters: Scourge of the Sword Coast finale
The latest game in Richard Berg’s and Mark Herman’s Great Battles of History series – the fifteenth title, in fact – is Hoplite, which takes a look at battles in the era of the Greek city-states before the rise of Alexander the Great. As the title says, it was the era of the Hoplites – spear and shield-carrying soldiers, often arranged into great phalanxes, bristling … Continue reading Hoplite: Ephesus (Ionia, Asia Minor – 498 BC)
My AD&D campaign split last week, as I was a bit uncomfortable with running yet another session of 8 players (and with the potential of another two players turning up!) In fact, the level range of the characters – from third to tenth – is somewhat of a problem. Yes, the low-level characters can participate, but they’re often outmatched by the experienced hands. The other … Continue reading AD&D: Enter the City
Between a Magic prerelease event and D&D, I only managed to play one board game yesterday – and that game was Suburbia, a relatively light game that Dave and Rich played with me. After quite a number of heavier games during the week, it was nice to relax with this game. It’s a game I would categorise at about the same level as Carcassonne and … Continue reading Suburbia
My ANZAC Day passed with a lot of board-gaming going on. Unusually, I didn’t play any pure wargames, but I did play some very good games spanning a few decades of gaming. Magic Realm is an astonishing game. The first time I noticed it was when, as a teenager, I opened up the Military Simulations catalogue and discovered that their example of “most complex” game … Continue reading Magic Realm, Twilight Struggle, Talisman and Lords of Waterdeep
