A Game of Thrones LCG – Ballarat Store Championship

Yesterday was Good Games Ballarat’s turn to hold their A Game of Thrones LCG Store Championship. In contrast to most of the stores running the championship, GGB chose to run the event using the newly released Draft format for A Game of Thrones. Thirteen players competed for the prize and – much to my amazement – I walked away in first place. There’s also no … Continue reading A Game of Thrones LCG – Ballarat Store Championship

Republic of Rome – an awesome board game

Last night, Sarah, Tim, Michael, Jon and I played two games of Republic of Rome, an awesome board game originally published by Avalon Hill and later republished by Valley Games. We were using the Valley Games version. It’s a long game and is best played with five players, but seeing that we had five players and that I had it in my car, Sarah leapt … Continue reading Republic of Rome – an awesome board game

ASL Report: S16 Legio Patria Nostra

Italy had a terrible time during World War 2. In 1943, Italy attempted to sign an armistice with the Allies, only to have the Germans invade. This scenario took place in June 1944, by which time the Allies were attempting to neutralise the Germans in Italy as well as those forces still loyal to Mussolini. A small number of men from the French Foreign Legion … Continue reading ASL Report: S16 Legio Patria Nostra

D&D Next: Healing and the playtest Cleric

There isn’t a cleric to be seen amongst the current players of D&D Encounters at my FLGS. There has been in previous seasons, but this season is heavy on the rogues, rangers, paladins and mages for some reason. As a result, the groups are struggling somewhat to heal between encounters. It’s a dynamic that is unfamiliar to the 4E players of the group. Of course, … Continue reading D&D Next: Healing and the playtest Cleric

D&D Next: The Playtest Rogue

Over the past few months, I’ve seen a fair deal of the playtest rogue from D&D Next. Tait’s been regularly using one in our D&D Encounters game, and it hasn’t been unusual to see another player with a rogue at the same time. Mechanically, it reminds me of the way D&D Essentials handled the thief. I’m very fond of the Essentials thief. You’ve got a … Continue reading D&D Next: The Playtest Rogue

D&D Encounters: Scourge of the Sword Coast, session 5

No new players turned up to this session of Scourge of the Sword Coast, but we had a number of returning players who had missed a session or two, and a few regular players who couldn’t make it. All of which conspired to allow us three tables, one with three players, one with four players, and one with five players – with a DM at … Continue reading D&D Encounters: Scourge of the Sword Coast, session 5

ASL Play Report: S15 Hammer to the Teeth

16th December, 1944, and the Battle of the Bulge was beginning. In Bleialf, Germany, the Americans of the 106th Infantry found themselves under attack by the 293rd Volksgrenadier regiment. They had courage, and they had anti-tank guns – not great against infantry, but perhaps enough. Michael and I played a scenario based on this situation the other day. Michael chose to take the part of … Continue reading ASL Play Report: S15 Hammer to the Teeth

D&D Next: The Wizard and Spell-casting

One of the best feelings I have when reading new material is when I see an innovation which makes me think, “Why hasn’t anyone done this before?” I got that feeling when initially perusing 3E on two matters. The first was Armour Class scaling upwards and being the target number. So obvious – so brilliant. And the other was the 3E Wizard being able to … Continue reading D&D Next: The Wizard and Spell-casting

ASL Report: S14 88s at Zon

Operation Market Garden. It’s a legendary operation, although possibly legendary for all the wrong reasons. The idea – capture a lot of bridges simultaneously with paratroopers, and drive up the length of a long road to gain a “back door” into Germany – sounded great, but actually pulling off the operation required entirely too many things to go right. And things, it turned out, could … Continue reading ASL Report: S14 88s at Zon