Trail of Cthulhu... coming soon

Trail of Cthulhu

Most of our blog posts focus on our KoffeeKlub boardgame / wargame evenings, but we also role-play on a fairly regular basis. Hillfolk and Cold City are two recent examples that we've blogged about over recent months.

I'm pleased to confirm that I intend to run a purist Trail Of Cthulhu scenario beginning in late February or early March 2013 on Wednesday evenings at The Black Knight. In the meantime watch out for further updates on Hillfolk as we progress through this cool new DramaSystem Kickstarter game.

GamesReport: 13-Jan-13 A Few Acres Of Snow, Cthulhu LCG & More

Last night I had another play of FFG's Call of Cthulhu LCG, this time against AndyA. 

His deck combined The Syndicate, the seedy underbelly of the city, with the deranged artists and raving lunatics of Hastur's cult. I played a much more civilised Miskatonic University, for their Mythos knowledge and linked it to Yog-Sothoth and it's strength in travelling between worlds.

Domain Marker

The game oozes Mythos and it's artwork and card text are an immediate attraction for any Lovecraft fan. Andy struggled to get enough supporting characters into play in the early game and I quickly took the first story-card whilst making good progress to my second. He however managed to level the field again by winning a card that forced me to shuffle my own story-card back into the deck.

I gradually managed to re-assert my dominance and used some of my spells to recover useful cards from the discard, eventually winning quite comfortably.

I enjoy playing the CoC LCG, but feel that it could run a little more smoothly, especially when handling story-card struggles between players. The theme will always have me coming back for more though, perhaps a few well chosen house rules can add to the experience a little?

CoC LCG in Play

At the other end of our table, DaveB was teaching ChrisG a thing or two about winning at A Few Acres Of Snow.  DaveB won comfortably with the French before switching sides and whopping him with the British too! These games were not without incident though, as Dave's shuffling action and discarding were brought into question. A military investigation committee to follow perhaps?

A Few Acres Of Snow

Great to see new players picking this one up.

 

We finished our evening at The Black Knight with a game of The Settlers of Catan (won by ChrisG) and a few rounds of Bluff. Perhaps I took my explanation of the Settlers rules a little far...

Settlers - Probability Curve

Elsewhere through ACTS, I'm playing a few games of Twilight Struggle.

Next Sunday at KoffeeKlub it's Game Of Thrones!

GamesReport: 11-Jan-13 Combat Commander Europe

My Combat Commander Stuff

Inspired into action by recent posts on Sgt Steiner's fine blog, I've finally managed to get Combat Commander to the table.

Back in July '12 I picked up a copy of Combat Commander Pacific to scratch a Pacific Theatre itch and it was quickly followed by purchases of the New Guinea battle pack and then the Combat Commander Europe base set from eBay. Buying is too easy sometimes and despite my good intentions these games fell behind an ASLSK renaissance. 

Sometimes the biggest barrier to playing a new game is learning a new game, so kudos to JohnK for offering to teach this one to me.

A CC:Europe card

Anyway onto the game itself...

The Combat Commander series is a card-driven system that focuses on the tactical infantry combat of World War II across it's many theatres. There are no dice as such, the cards are used to determine in-game effects... dice outcomes, random hexes, events etc.  

Learning Combat Commander
I didn't want to leave it all to JohnK, so I walked through *most* of the rules this week just to familiarise myself with the terms and the basic phases of play. Even so we struggled through the set-up and the first few turns, but I gradually got use to the simplicity of the card-play if not some of the more detailed rules... they will have to wait until I re-read the rules having experienced a full scenario...

The Scenario
Playing as the US vs. John's Germans we played Scenario #4 "Closed For Renovation".

Humaine, Belgium, December 27, 1944 - After three days of fierce combat and heavy bombardment, the town of Humaine was surrounded by forces of the US 2nd Armoured Division. Most of the German defenders surrendered after some hard fighting. Remnants of 9th Panzer Division occupying a château on the north end of town refused to give up, however, and it fell to CCR to root out these stubborn troops.

Initial Set-Up

Reinforcements At The Wall

Taking The Objective

I elected to push Elite units up the eastern side of the château and took out his 75mm IG 18 Gun and the troops stationed in the building there. I hoped that this intense pressure would draw some Germans away from the main objective to give my main attack (from the western wall) a better chance.

It worked pretty well, but the eastern assault weakened my troops there and I had now choice but to begin the second attack against the heavily fortified Germans. Time was running out!

Just one round before a sudden death finish was called, I took the 15VP objective and had eliminated enough German units to give me a 4VP win. I'd almost left it too late though. 

First Impressions
I'm very familiar with games that have fire and movement as a certainty in your turn. If you want to move, you can move and if you want to fire, hey you can fire! However, the card system in CC:E only allows you to fire and/or move if you have the cards to do so. If you don't, you have options to discard and re-draw or to play other orders instead. 

This was an early barrier to me as I planned my assault on the building objective in our scenario. The cards certainly add a chaotic feel to the game, so if I can embrace that, there will be a place for the series at my game-table in the future. Right now the jury is still out...

It's nice to get back to some wargaming!

Hillfolk RPG - Session 1: HUNGER

We tried something quite new at our Wednesday night gaming session this week. We created a story used Robin D Laws' new DramaSystem roleplaying game Hillfolk. This game is a cooperative storytelling system which shares the creative job normally reserved for the gamesmaster to the players around the table. While Hillfolk still has a GM he has just a much control of the creative process as any other player, his job is to focus the creative process of the players into a coherent story. We had incorporated a little of this joint creation in our previous games most notably Cold City but never to the level required by Hillfolk.

This style of roleplaying is different to the regular pen and paper style and takes some getting used to. We struggled a little to start with because we tried to create too much detail for each element, by trying to rationalise each idea and ended up over complicate things. An example of this was it character generation when one of the players established that what they wanted from one of the other characters was 'his silence' the other had a little difficult leaving the statement open and unexplained. We went back and forward for a few minutes trying to decide what it was his character knew and why it needed to be kept secret. We soon realised that simplicity is the key, establishing only enough at one time to give the table a hint of a story untold and leave it as a hook to be explored later.

Here is what we created this week about the setting. The text in italics are the elements added by the players in response to a GM prompt

You live in the rugged southern highlands, where the strong and self-reliant prosper. Jagged hills cut them off from the rest of the world. They shelter you and daunt your pursuers. A distinctive natural formation, said to resemble the head of a bull, marks the hill on which your band’s fortress is built. This formation lends its name, Bullhead, to both your band, and to the fortress itself.

A narrow strip of flat land, raised on a plateau, sits in the middle of these hills. Your farmers work its poor soil. Uncertain rainfall soaks their fields one year, and leaves them to parch the next. In the rolling zones between hill and flatland, your herders pasture hardy sheep, scrawny cattle, and impudent goats. They graze on its weeds and grasses.

The land begrudgingly grants you grains and meat sufficient to a meagre existence. To enrich yourself, it demands that you go elsewhere, to raid. In bad times, like now, you raid each other. In good times, when a strong chieftain unites the hillfolk, you band together to raid more distant neighbours.

 Many clans like yours inhabit the Southlands, each with its own distinct variations on a set of common customs and beliefs. Amongst these rival clans The DeerHunter tribe whose people are said to worship the Great Stag, are the Bullhead’s most tenacious and implacable rivals.

The characters we came up with are summarised as follows

Andy - Strongarm is the old tribe leader and father of the current Chief. He harbours bitterness of those who voted against him and wants his old power back. 

GaryG - Patch is Strongarm's half brother and the tribe's healer. He desires revenge for the death of his mother but fears to act will harm his reputation. 

Trevor - Forest is the tribe's hunter. He wants a peaceful life but fears that peace must be won through violence and he must destroy before he can build.

There follows some notes from the scenes that we created

Episode 1 "Hunger"

Scene 1 - (Dramatic scene called by GM; Cast - Bladedancer (petitioner), Forest (Granter); When: Early morning in Autumn; Where: the edge of the settlement near crop fields) 

Young tribal warrior Bladedancer approaches Forest the tribe's Hunter as he is preparing to head out for the morning. Bladebancer is clearly anxious and demands Forests help in putting out a fire he has discovered in the fields that hold the tribe's crops. Forest trys to calm the young man down and then rangs the alarm bell to rouse the tribe.

Outcome: +1 Drama Token to Trevor for granting help to Bladedancer 

Scene 2 - (Dramatic scene called by GaryG, Cast - Patch (Petitioner), Strongarm (Granter); When: Simultaneous with previous scene; Where: The Smoking Tower overlooking the settlement) 

Village healer Patch quizes his half-brother Strongarm to find out his intentions. Strongarm confides that he wishes to take back leadership of the tribe from his son. Scene ends with the alarm ringing out.

Outcome: +1 Drama Token to Andy for willing admitting his plans 

Scene 3 - (Dramatic scene called by Andy, Cast - Strongarm (Petitioner), Bladedancer (Granter); When: Earlier this morning; Where: The crop fields)

Strongarm approaches Bladedancer and catches him sleeping on watch over the fields. Strongarm attempts to persuade Bladedancer to set fire to the crop to implicate the Deerhunter tribe in a attack on the tribe, telling him that doing so will make the tribe stronger. Bladedancer is furious and refuses saying that he will tell Goldmane of his father treason. The scene ends with the young warrior leaving Strongarm and heading off towards the settlement.

Outcome: +1 Drama Token to Andy for Strongarm having his demands rebuffed 

Scene 4 - (Procedural scene called by Trevor; Cast - Forest, Bladedancer; When - directly after scene 1)

Initially Forest and Bladedancer have some success putting out the fire but the flames soon get out of control and surround the the men. Forest attempts to flee the burning field covering his face and body with his cloak but trips over a burning bundle which turns out to be the source of the fire. Forest finds a broach in the bundle belonging to someone he recognises. When all hope of survival seems lost Bladedancers bursts out of the burning grasses and comes to Forest's aid. The pair escape from the fields but poor Bladedancer soon dies from his burns.

Outcome: Three consequentive fails with the third enforcing a negative personal consequence in a upcoming scene for Forest 

Scene 5 - (Dramatic Scene called by GM; Cast - Goldmane (Petitioner), Strongarm (Granter), Patch; When: Simultaneous with previous scene; Where: Outside Goldmane's tent)

Goldmane rouses himself from his bed which he has been sharing with two of the tribes women. He sees that amongst the confusion of the camp only his Father and Uncle are ready to act. He demands that his father take command of the efforts to save the tribes crops even though the task looks impossible. Outcome: +1 Drama Token to Andy for accepting his son's order. 

Scene 6 - (Dramatic scene called by GaryG; Cast Patch (Petitioner), Forest (Granter); Where: In Patch's tent) 

Forest and Patch were in Patches tent and Forest was having his burns tended to. Patch tried to gain information as to how the fire was started but Forest refused to reveal any information that he had gathered from the field. Outcome: +1 Drama Token to Gary since Forest refused to talk.  

Scene 7 - (Procedural scene called by Andy; Cast - Patch, Strongarm, Goldmane; Where - The Burned Fields)

Strongarm attempts to implicate the Deerhunters in the burning of the crops at the same time hide any evidence implicating him in the crime. The source of the fire is found and Strongarm manages to persuade Goldmane that the cloak used to start the fire is similar to those worn by the rival tribe. Goldmane agrees with the argument and set his father the chance to redeem himself for his failure in saving the crops by leading the raiding band against the Deerhunters.

Outcome: A success with a positive personal consequence in a upcoming scene for Strongarm.

More fun and perhaps a couple more new players next week

Posted with Blogsy

KoffeeKlub Evening 13th of January

A Game Of Thrones (2nd Ed) was recently voted as KoffeeKlub's game of the year for 2012. This Sunday we will get our first chance to try out the new expansion A Dance With Dragons.

The expansion introduces us to an alternative set-up which reflects each House’s new position in Westeros at the time of the Dance With Dragons novel. Players will have a new set of house cards and will need to quickly adapt to the changed landscape in order to succeed in this shorter scenario.

KoffeeKlub meet at The Black Knight Gaming Centre every Sunday between 7pm and 11pm.

”Men are men, vows are words, and words are wind.” - Iron Emmett

GamesReport: 6-Jan-13 Race For The Galaxy and A Few Acres Of Snow

RFTG

A late one this week at the KoffeeKlub. Unintentional, I promise.

Not One For The Kids

Having run a demo game of Race For The Galaxy last weekend for DaveB and ChrisG, I was eager to have another go this week and made it our main game for the evening.

First up, with a few still to arrive, AndyA introduced us (and a few of the Magic players) to Cards Against Humanity, a tongue-in-cheek card game where a question or phase with a blank is read out (the black cards) and players choose the funniest card in their hand (the white cards) to play. Rules didn't seem important and we spent over an hour trying to out-funny each other with some cutting combinations. 

Q - "I know I can always get laid by _______." A - "Overpowering my father." You get the idea!? Harmless fun...sort of...

+Simple.
+Funny... mostly.
+Can handle loads of players.

-Humour will definitely not be suitable for everyone.
-Should only be taken in small doses.

RFTG

Front and centre this evening would be Race For The Galaxy, a fine card game by Thomas Lehmann. Now I've blurbed a bit on this already, so check that out if you wish. Needless to say this is a firm favourite of ours that just seems to get richer and richer in terms of depth and strategy. ChrisG described it as a bit of a brain-burner. Which it is, so get someone who knows it to teach you and you're flying!

We managed to squeeze three games in last night and only this morning I realised that I own a copy of one of the expansions Rebel vs. Imperium and haven't yet put the cards in the main deck, so expect to see it again soon.

Scores from our three games to follow:
GaryB won game #1 and GaryG won games #2 and #3

+Rich in strategy options.
+Fairly quick given the game experience you get.
+Good expansion options.

 -Tough on the first-time player (seems like a lot to take in)

AFAOS

As the evening closed GaryB and myself agreed to walk ChrisG and DaveB through a few turns of A Few Acres Of Snow, one of my favourite games from last year.

A Few Acres is a 2-player deck construction wargame covering the French & Indian Wars of 1754–1763. It combines card play with a beautiful board to represent the areas contested by the British and the French. 

The game does have it's critics, but we absolutely love it! If it hadn't been a 2-player game, and therefore featured more at the KoffeeKlub, it probably would have been my game of the year for 2012. 

Anyway our few demonstration turns GaryB/ChrisG (The British) against DaveB/GaryG (The French) got a little heated and we saw it through to a resounding French win! Apologies again to DaveB as my competitive streak took over and I ended up running the French side when it should have been him learning the game. I'll let you play more next time... :)

You can find more of our thoughts on the game here.

A fine KoffeeKlub evening. Back on track!

GamesReports: 23/29/30-Dec-12 Merchants & Marauders, Star Wars LCG and Shadows Over Camelot

I know it's January already, but we still have a few festive sessions to add before we get stuck into our gaming for 2013.

23rd of December Session - Merchants & Marauders

Michael (owner of The Black Knight) bought this one recently and kindly offered to walk us through a game in our last KoffeeKlub evening before Christmas. Merchants & Marauders gives you the chance to pirate and/or trade your way to victory by racking up ten "glory" points before your fellow captains do.

You achieve glory becoming an awesome trader, by plundering the merchantmen of the high-seas and by completing rumour missions. Throw the French, British, Dutch and Spanish navies as well as some other pirates into the mix and thing begin to get much more interesting, as moving from one port to another isn't often as straight-forward as it seems. 

Merchants & Marauders is fun and definitely the best game of it's type that I've played. Whether or not it stays the course after multiple plays remains to be seen. Certainly worth a try though. 

Player vs. Player Sinking

In our game DaveB came through to pip me at the post with a vast hidden treasure!

+It's a pirate game and you can switch between piracy and trading throughout.
+Artwork and pieces are good.
+fun to play with enough strategy for another few plays.

-Only 4-players
-May lack enough depth for many plays.

29th of December Session - Star Wars LCG

In a surprise (I didn't expect to be able to make it) additional Saturday session, I played a couple of games of the new Star Wars living card game from Fantasy Flight Games against TrevorH.

I have mixed experiences with the living card games released to date and whilst I like the idea of buying specific card sets rather than collecting random boosters, the actual game play in most of the LCGs I've tried hasn't quite hit the mark. Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game and Warhammer Invasion spring to mind.

So is the Star Wars LCG any stronger? well I've only had a couple of plays as I mentioned earlier, so this is very much a first impression. Thematically the cards and artwork are good, but they are abstracted out a little as the mechanics of the game are played through. For example you can find a rebel unit such as Luke Skywalker in conflict with a Star Destroyer attempting to take a rebel objective, so you really need to abstract out that this is of course not a direct fight, but instead a higher level struggle. To be honest I didn't have a problem with this, but some players may do.

I worry more about choosing not to engage the enemy and to instead conserve your resources for the attack you will make in your own turn. This seems wrong to me and the penalty for doing this can be quite light. A few more plays are needed though to consider it properly.

All that being said I enjoyed the couple of games very much and look forward to playing again soon.

+Great artwork and feel to the game.

+Good deck options for Rebel / Empire players.

+Fun to play and games don't last too long.

-Abstracted combat may put some people off.

-Possible issues pushing player to opt-out of some engagements with the enemy.
 

30th December Session - Shadows Over Camelot
Shadows Over Camelot, from Days Of Wonder, is a co-operative hidden traitor game similar in many ways to Battlestar Galactica. It's game-play though is much more straight-forward and it relies heavily on player interaction to drive the round-table experience.

The players are knights of the round-table and take on various quests to protect Camelot from the many threats the game throws up. Whether you choose to try to find the Grail, fight the Black Knight, quest for Excalibur or fend off the Saxon/Pict attacks, each success or failure will add either black (bad) or white (good) swords around the round-table. Score more than 6 (of 12) white swords and the loyal knights win the game.  A hidden traitor may secretly plot against this and try to bring Camelot down through careful card play and failed quests.

In truth the game-play is fairly simple and probably not enough to hold our attention beyond a few attempts. Fun, without a strong level of strategic play.

ChrisG was the traitor, but died in his attempts to kill off some other more noble knights. Even in his absence we still couldn't win and eventually succumbed to the siege engines at Camelot's door.



+Very atmospheric, with thematic quests.
+Can handle six plus players.
+Excellent components and artwork.

-Light on strategy.
-Needs a level of role-play to get the most out of the game.
-Limited re-playability.