Wednesday, April 28, 2010
PBEM Olympics - UR Game 1
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Geekway to the West 2010
Beyond getting to see (and beat repeatedly) good friends, there are the games. The first year I attended I didn't know what to expect and played a pretty good variety of games. Some new and I taught a number of games I knew. Last year we wanted to play certain games and only got in a handful of ones we planned to. What we ended up doing a lot of last year was playing the excellent selection of games from the Play to Win table. For those unfamiliar with the PTW table, here's the deal - sponsors have donated a huge selection of games that are available to checkout and play. After playing, everyone that played the game gets their name entered into a drawing for that game at the end of the Geekway. This year's table is again loaded, but I think we may actually try to play a few more of the games we've been talking about this year. I think last year's table was actually a bit more interesting - not a slight against the sponsors, rather the games that came out this past year just aren't as interesting (to me).
There are also the other events - tournaments and the trade table. This year there are a number of tourneys being run. Justin and I are returning as The Droids Ur Lookin 4 in the Crokinole tourney. I'm also planning to play in the Pitchcar tourney. Both are going to be nice breaks from the mental strain of being abused by my so called friends for three days. The trade table is a deal where you put your games up for trade. At the start of the event, a name is drawn at random. That person gets first pick from the trade table. After that, whomever's game is picked picks next and so forth. Good fun.
There are some changes to the event this year. Previous years have been in smaller venues with fairly "normal" hours (8Am-11Pm). As the event has grown, so has the need for a larger venue. This year the Geekway is being held at a hotel and there will be 24-7 (24-3) gaming. I'm not sure how well I'll hold up (its hard getting old), but I imagine I'll push through. In truth, I know that after two solid days of gaming my brain is fried. Perhaps the open ended times will take of some of the "pressure" to cram in as much playing as possible. Also, since we are staying at the same location as the actual event, taking a break whenever we like will be nice.
So, what games am I looking forward to trying (or trying to play)? Here's what I'm packing:
Amazing what you can fit into one regular sized game box.
- Q-Jet 21xx
- Edel Stein and Richt
- Fjords
- Tichu
- Landlord
- Buried Treasure
- Excape
- Sushizock im Gockelwok
- Undercut
- Senji
- Wings of War II (minis)
- Steam
- Steam Barons
- Gulf, Mobile, Ohio
- A Game of Thrones
- Twilight Struggle
- Combat Commander: Europe
Monday, April 26, 2010
Combat Commander: Europe - Closed For Renovations

After dinner, it was Dancing with the Stars night, so I thought I'd check and see what Robert Bolan was doing. Turned out he wasn't doing anything so a little while later he stopped over and we sat down to play the 4th scenario for Combat Commander: Europe. This scenario pits the US forces in an assault against the German defender. The Germans have only two "1" command leaders and a small force of Elite Rifle Squads backed by some good weapons - heavy and light machines guns as well as the bad ass IG 18 Gun (pictured). Robert was tired of playing defender and choose to be the US forces this time around, so I setup my Germans. The main objective to the map was the chateau in the middle of the map (worth 15vps), so I setup the bulk of my forces there and one small group on my left flank. I setup wire in front to slow down any guys wanting to make a charge. Robert had to setup his US forces only in the first row of the map and spread out accordingly. My first turn was vanilla - I fired the IG 18 to let the Us forces know I could see them. Robert's cards weren't quite what he wanted, so he discarded the first hand - something I hoped for early - and I capitalized by getting reinforcements immediately. I choose a sergeant (leadership 2) which immediately gave me a huge amount of flexibility that I hadn't had a minute earlier. The US forces then called upon their artillery to lay down a couple of thick fields of smoke. With the German vision of the enemy reduced to one unit, there was nothing to do but fire and wait. The Germans managed an early kill by breaking and then routing an American squad. Then there was a lot of waiting - by both of us. Robert couldn't get movement cards, and I was holding cards waiting for the inevitable assault. It never came. Time ticked away rapidly in the early stages of the game. Finally Robert was able to press - he started moving troops up the German right flank, covered by a wall and lines of trees. Rather than waiting to be hunted down, I moved a couple of weapon units and heavy machine guns from the position in the house, out to some trees outside the wall in the hopes of catching the Americans out in the open. The US forces caught the Germans moving into position and open fire, breaking both weapon teams. I was forced to use my Recover card to restore the teams instead of getting off some shots with my Assault Fire. Once recovered, the machine gun teams were able to break an American leader, but the US brought up a medium machine gun and blasted the weapon teams, breaking them again. For a while it was a stalemate as the US tried to finish off the troops, but they were able to dig in a bit and last (though I couldn't get a Recover card to restore them to fighting prowess). Finally, I used an advance to pull the group back. A breeze came up and wiped the smoke from the map. With the view cleared, both sides started firing, though to little effect. And then the game went against Robert. Time and again, he called for an artillery barrage - time and again, the people shooting the artillery missed. A lot. Twice Robert hurt himself with artillery while the German forces looked on. The third time cost Robert the game. The third time, Robert rolled a Time! and then rolled sudden death. He never got a chance to see the perfect shot his artillery was about to deliver into the heart of the Germans. Sadly for the Americans, not a single German unit was lost, while the US suffered 3-4 losses and lost by a score of 31! I fear for our next game - Robert's luck has been so bad these two games, it will be bound to swing around soon enough.
Friday, April 23, 2010
Combat Commander: Europe
Outside Brest-Litovsk, June 24, 1941 - A Soviet forward command post belonging to the retreating 133rd Infantry Regiment is to be abandoned by noon, but not before all communications equipment is smashed and documents burned - including detailed plans of much of the frontier fortifications in and around Brest-Litovsk several miles to the east. A battered company of Russian militia must halt the German juggernaut long enough to affect a withdrawal to the relative safety of the Brest-Litovsk citadel.
Basically, the Russians (Robert) are defending the map. The objective on the far side of the map is worth a whopping 16 victory points - the Russians also start with 20! In order to win, the Germans will need to smash most of the Russian army and/or take the major objective before time runs out. To make matters worse, Robert gets to setup first - including a dozen wire obstacles in the way. He uses these to funnel me away from the forest (and cover) and towards a couple of houses he's setup in with machine gun units. This turns out to be a mistake. As the first turn taker, the Germans immediately overwhelm and eliminate 3-4 Russian units. They chase down and kill another couple while making a lightning fast push up the Russian left flank. Robert has to pull his troops back together and tries to regroup. I've got a couple of good positions, so I hole-up and start firing on his units. I'm now within a couple units of forcing a surrender. I figured this was my best plan of attack, as not a single German unit has been killed. Then Robert gets lucky - reinforcements. First artillery, then a new squad. I have one unit pinned down and am relentless in shooting at it, but can't ever even break it. The Russian artillery is becoming annoying, but not seriously damaging, so I regroup and re-position some troops to try and apply more pressure. The Germans finally break a couple of Russian units and then immediately rout them off the board to force the Russian surrender. This is an important lesson - when the Russians break, they are often hard to recover and easy to rout by the Germans. Without leaders, the Russians are just too easy to push back.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Hedgerows and Hand Grenades

Bocage Country, Normandy France, July, 1944: A few weeks after the D-Day landings, General Bradley was keen to choose a suitable place for a swift, decisive breakout with a minimum of casualties in order to get his armored forces into more tank-friendly terrain. The key ground to the south of US First Army, however, was the town of St. Lo along the Vire River - which could only be had via a tough slugging match through moors, marshes and a patchwork of tiny fields surrounded by dense hedgerows. One such skirmish occurred amongst the latter terrain on the outskirts of Pont-Hebert, just a few miles from the vital St. Lo-Coutances road.
The map for this one was nasty. Lots of hedgerows, very little line of sight. Since Robert won the previous match, I chose my side - the Allies (Americans). I had to setup my side first in the first three rows of the map, after which Robert could dig himself in anywhere else on the map. I decided to go with the attackers so I could play with the mortar and artillery. As the defended, Robert would have a lot of ways to make life hell for me though - including being able to setup heavy machine guns pointing down the only easy terrain - the roads. Robert also started with 10 VPs. After we setup, I was allowed to place one of my leaders - Lt. Blankenship in position to be my forward observer. I placed him near the back of map - I hoped to get a few artillery shots on the rear flank, then exit him off the map for points and a quick reinforcement. Our objectives for the map? 2pts for each of the 5 spots, plus Robert drew a house in the middle worth an extra point, and I drew the one objective on Robert's side of the map for an extra point :(.
The battle started with my moving my troops up the left side, while the group on the right used the mortar to try and soften Robert up. Lt. Blankenship was able to call in a couple of artillery strikes, but to no real effect. The one effect - I got my Real American Hero into the game! I placed him near Blankenship - planning to exit them both off the map (only realizing after I did that, that the hero is worth ZERO points). Robert had advanced one of his squads and a leader into a house, which I decided I needed to invade (despite not being an objective point). A quick advance let me eliminate a couple of his guys right away and a few rounds into the game, I was quickly gaining points back. The first time card came in fairly early and Lt. Blankenship and the hero re-entered the game, moving to support my mortar team. By this time, Robert had taken control of the central locations - two houses tucked away from line of site of anything. I was forced to advance into the house and my group overwhelmed the occupants. I had now knocked Robert's lead down to a mere 2-3 points and had comfortably advanced to a point where I thought I had a chance. Then lady luck struck.
Robert, tired of being shelled, moved some units down to eliminate my mortar team, which they did with a swift advance. In addition, a couple of events for Robert were letting him score points for objectives held and units he had eliminated. Before I knew it, his points had skyrockets back up to 15! He also managed to get a number of foxholes, some wire and other crap into play. My offensive had stalled and was in danger of being done. He started breaking my units, and if he had gotten some rout cards, I was going to be in a world of hurt. That was when I noticed that I had killed a lot of Robert's guys. Though I wasn't going to be able to dig out his guys much, I was in pretty good position to win the game if I could kill a couple more guys. With that in my head, I made a push to try and take out another of Robert's groups. He brought in another team to try and help, and that was the mistake I needed. He made a group vulnerable and I brought a number of fire teams down on him and was able to force Robert's surrender. Robert had a huge number of points, but the casualties were too much for him. I may have won, but I think future attacker/defender battles will much much harder now that we know a few more of the tricks.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Things of No Interest
- I saw this article on the BGG about pimping up Combat Commander with bits from Litko and of course I couldn't resist. It is a little pricey for the size of the bits, but looks awesome. BTW, the pieces aren't assembled - if you do this, watch out for the glue. It works really well. It works too well - It dries in seconds and there is no forgiveness. I accidentally globbed a ton out on one piece and for lack of a better term - it is hosed. After that, I got a toothpick and started applying it that way - also a pain as you can't squeeze out much (remember, it dries damn fast). At any rate, I pimp up my normal games, so doctoring up a game that is all chits shouldn't come as a surprise. And yes, of course I clipped my counters. Even got a jig for it.
- I also found (ok Robert Bolan) a copy of Combat Commander: Pacific for $50 shipped - in sleeves and the chits all punched and sorted in a plastic box. The next logical purchase should have been Combat Commander: Mediterranean or maybe Combat Commander: Battle Pack #1 - Paratroopers, but the price was right and so I couldn't resist - though I did resist for one day to see if Robert was going to buy it himself.
- In keeping with the WWII theme, I also grabbed a copy of Wings of War: WWII Deluxe - this is the WWII (in case you missed that) version of Wings of War, and comes with 4 of the minis included. I ordered an additional four planes and plan to bring the whole shee-bang along to the Geekway To the West 2010 in a couple of weeks for a little bit of 4 vs 4 action.
- Speaking of the Geekway, I'm not sure what we'll get played for sure this year. As always, there is a laundry list of games that we'll never have the time to play. Last year we played a lot of games from the Play-To-Win table. This year, there are maybe 3-4 games I really want to play from the table. The rest I either own or just don't care about I guess. Which games are they? Samarkand: Routes to Riches, Kingsburg (a little), Runewars (a little), and I can't decided about Dungeon Lords. I hear it is ok and it is not all that. I know lots of folks want to play it, but I've decided there aren't quite that many worker placement games that capture my interest.
- So if I'm not totally engrossed in PTW games, what do I hope to play? A couple of Splotter games maybe - Greed, Incorporated and/or Indonesia. Steam and Steam Barons. I'd really like to play a big game like Descent, but I'm guessing that won't happen. And then there are the games that will for sure happen - Chicago Express, Tichu, Twilight Struggle, Combat Commander: Europe, Pitchcar, Crokinole, Wings of War (as I've already noted) and a host of little side games like Sushizock im Gockelwok and Exxtra. All I know is that normally about 15% of what we plan to do happens. This year they are having 24-3 (there is only three days) gaming, so who knows what we might fit in...
PBEM Olympics - Amun-Re Game 1
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Combat Commander: Europe
A week later, Robert Bolan came over so I could teach him CCE. We also played Fat Lipki, but since I had only played the German side, I took the Russian this time out. Also, the first thing we drew was the 5 point #5 objective - one of the houses. This meant that instead of random skirmishes, the game was going to be mostly about #5. It only took about two turns for Robert to declare that he loved this game. Maybe that was because at the end of the turn, I rushed the house with a rifle squad and a leader and got turned away. Down almost immediately with my best leader, I scrambled to get into position to take the house. Again I rushed the house, this time with two rifle squads and luck was not with me. The battle was looking rather hopeless and my casualties piled up. I tried to get my units into position again - looking again for an advance and ambush card and hoping Robert wouldn't have one too. His Germans flanked my team and started shooting from the woods, but the Russians held and managed to get dug into some foxholes. Then they started returning fire ferociously and a few routs pushed his wounded men back. Finally the cards were right and I went for a last ditch melee. This time the Russians were victorious. A bonus card for surviving the melee brought me back to within 5 points. If time ran out, we'd be tied - and Robert had the tiebreaker card! I hoped to massacre his remaining troops when they crossed the road (I had multiple cards for using my machine guns on moving targets), but time ran out and so did my luck. The game ended in a tie, and Robert still held the initiative card.
What is There to Say? Its Ballon Cup
Friday, April 09, 2010
PBEM Olympics - Puerto Rico Game 4
PBEM Olympics - Fearsome Floors Game 2
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