Race for the Galaxy: Alien Artifacts report

At long last, the Alien Artifacts expansion for Race for the Galaxy has arrived, and Sarah and I have been able to play a few games of it. Unfortunately, we haven’t had a chance to play the new “orb” game, as our schedules have prevented us from having much gaming time together over the last week, but we’ve still had the chance to play a … Continue reading Race for the Galaxy: Alien Artifacts report

Advanced Squad Leader report – S2 War of the Rats

Kalum wandered by on Friday afternoon and we had a second game of ASL Starter Kit 1. Kalum is quite young, and doesn’t pick up rules as quickly as I do, but his unconventional tactics actually posed a problem for me in this game. I’m also growing old and forgetful, which didn’t help. This scenario sees a lot of badly-trained Russian defenders trying to stop … Continue reading Advanced Squad Leader report – S2 War of the Rats

Magic: Born of the Gods prerelease (Ballarat Good Games)

I’m writing this at the 11 am prerelease for the newest set of Magic: the Gethering, Born of the Gods. Apparently the midnight prerelease got 45 players here, and there are quite a number here for the season, about 28 by my count. The final number turned out to be 33. I chose Green as the colour of my pack, and ended up with the … Continue reading Magic: Born of the Gods prerelease (Ballarat Good Games)

Notes from a Deadlands Noir campaign

The following are notes taken during play from our Deadlands Noir campaign. They’re from the last two sessions. My character, James, a reporter, is aided by Jenny, Jessica, Jacques and Junior as he discovers there’s more going on in Great Depression-era New Orleans that he knew. At this point, he and his friends are aiding Pierre Deveraux, a “music vampire” in a fight against the … Continue reading Notes from a Deadlands Noir campaign

Advanced Squad Leader report: S7 Prelude to Festung Brest

Thursday evening was a light night for boardgaming – both of my regular opponents cancelled on the day, and so I went home early. I did manage to play through one game of the Advanced Squad Leader Starter Kit though, playing through scenario S7, the first of the scenarios printed in Operations magazine. I have played this scenario before, although I can only remember how … Continue reading Advanced Squad Leader report: S7 Prelude to Festung Brest

Squad Leader report: 3a – The Streets of Stalingrad

The third scenario in Squad Leader does an interesting trick: it takes the first two scenarios (The Guards Counterattack and The Tractor Works) and puts them together, depicting a rather busy day in the fighting for Stalingrad. Indeed, it’s a very crowded map when set-up, with the Russians having a total of 60 squads on the board! Squad Leader uses a system of teaching the … Continue reading Squad Leader report: 3a – The Streets of Stalingrad

First impressions of A Study in Emerald – a board game by Martin Wallace

My D&D session last night was cancelled when three players cancelled at short notice, leaving the four of us sitting around a table with my new copy of A Study in Emerald, an unholy mash-up of Martin Wallace’s game design skills, Neil Gaiman’s writing, Sherlock Holmes, and the Call of Cthulhu. They were slightly dubious going on. They left raving. No, no – in a … Continue reading First impressions of A Study in Emerald – a board game by Martin Wallace

Advanced Squad Leader report: S6 – Released from the East

Friday afternoon arrived and, much to my delight, so did Mick. As a result, we were able to play the latest in our series of ASL Starter Kit games. This is our fourth game together, I think. This time we were playing scenario S6, Released from the East, the final scenario in Starter Kit 1. After perusing the scenario set-up, Mick chose to play the … Continue reading Advanced Squad Leader report: S6 – Released from the East

Advanced Squad Leader report: S1: Retaking Vierville

My afternoon games of ASL have continued, although not always against the same players. This was another new opponent, a younger gentleman who otherwise was unoccupied on a hot Thursday afternoon. Seeing as I haven’t posted a report in this run for the first scenario in SK1, Retaking Vierville, despite playing it a couple of weeks ago, I thought now would be a good chance … Continue reading Advanced Squad Leader report: S1: Retaking Vierville