Shifting Sands is a card driven game based on the World War II African campaigns of 1940-1943. We'll be at WeeGamers in Whitehead Primary School from 7pm to 11pm. Rat or Fox MrB?
"Sweat saves blood!" - Erwin Rommel
Boardgame and Wargame fanatics tempered by espresso!
Wednesday, 19 September 2012
KoffeeKlub Evening 23rd of September
Shifting Sands is a card driven game based on the World War II African campaigns of 1940-1943. We'll be at WeeGamers in Whitehead Primary School from 7pm to 11pm. Rat or Fox MrB?
"Sweat saves blood!" - Erwin Rommel
Tuesday, 18 September 2012
Pandemic on TableTop 4th October
Just a bit of a news bulletin here. One of our favourite games here at the KoffeeKlub is going to get 'Wheatoned'! The boardgame is scheduled to appear on the GeekAndSundry.com TableTop show on October 4th 2012. I am looking forward to this as we love both the game and the show.It could be time to bring out the haz-mat suits and have another attempt at defeating what has become somewhat of a nemesis of the KoffeeKlub gang. Come on guys if Will can do this, surely we can?
20 Questions GaryG
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| WWII |
WWII. Many, many rich theatres of war, troop and weapon types. It covers almost everything and plays out in a classic good vs. evil narrative.
2. Next period, money no object?
Nam, I'd love to play a great Vietnam game.
3. Favourite 5 films?In no particular order...
Jaws
No Country For Old Men
Back To The Future
Saving Private Ryan
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
4. Favourite 5 TV series?The Wire
West Wing
Band of Brothers
Sherlock Holmes (Jeremy Brett)
X-Files (early)
5. Favourite book and author?
Robin Hobb - Farseer Trilogy
 |
| Zhukov |
Georgy Zhukov, the liberator of the Soviet Union.
7. Favourite Wargames rules?
Advanced Squad Leader Starter Kit.
8 .Favourite Sport and team?
Football and Liverpool F.C. Y.N.W.A
9. If you had a only use once time machine, when and where would you go?having just read Stephen King's "11.22.63" I wouldn't go back to try to change anything for fear of the butterfly effect. Instead I'd go forward in time, not far, maybe 60/70 years to see what had changed.
 |
| Dana Scully |
10. Last meal on Death Row?
Roast Beef in a full Sunday Lunch. Yum!
11. Fantasy relationship and why?
Gillian Anderson (as Scully) and none of your business!!
 |
| Walter Matthau |
Walter Matthau.
13. Favourite Comic Superhero?
Spiderman.
14. Favourite Military quote?
"A good battle plan that you act on today can be better than a perfect one tomorrow." - General George S. Patton
 |
| Stalingrad |
Stalingrad. (Volgograd)
16. Biggest Wargaming regret?
Not maintaining my momentum when playing ASL Starter Kit and making it all the way to the full ASL system.
17. Favourite Fantasy job?
Film Director.
 |
| Wish You Were Here |
Far too difficult to pick these... so FIVE favourites off the top of my head!
Wish You Were Here (Pink Floyd)
Come As You Are (Nirvana)
Riders On The Storm (Doors)
Killing In The Name (Rage Against The Machine)
One (U2)
Getting a "1:1" (Double-ones) in VASSAL ASL Starter-Kit game against a hex stacked with troops. Sweet!
20. The miserable Git question, what upsets you?
Willful Stupidity! It's not ignorance, we're all ignorant after all, but it's all around us.
Want to try your own 20?
1. Favourite Wargaming period and why?
2. Next period, money no object?
3. Favourite 5 films?
4. Favourite 5 TV series?
5. Favourite book and author?
6. Greatest General? Can’t count yourself!!
7. Favourite Wargames rules?
8 .Favourite Sport and team?
9. If you had a only use once time machine, when and where would you go?
10. Last meal on Death Row?
11. Fantasy relationship and why?
12. If your life were a movie, who would play you?
13. Favourite Comic Superhero?
14. Favourite Military quote?
15. Historical destination to visit?
16. Biggest Wargaming regret?
17. Favourite Fantasy job?
18. Favourite Song Top 5?
19. Favourite Wargaming Moment?
20. The miserable Git question, what upsets you?
Monday, 17 September 2012
AAR - Memoir '44 - Pegasus Bridge
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| Memoir '44 |
D-Day Operations June/July 1944
Scenario #1 – Pegasus Bridge, June 5th/6th 1944
Scenario #1 – Pegasus Bridge, June 5th/6th 1944
Historical Background:
The late hours of June 5, 1944. Led by Major John Howard, the men of Oxford and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry step aboard six Horsa gliders on a secret airfield in Dorset. Their mission: to launch the first airborne assault of D-Day and capture two bridges, one astride the Caen Canal, the other over the Orne river, in Normandy.
A few minutes past midnight, now June 6, 1944, the gliders clip through the treetops and land in a small patch of rough field, between a pond and the Caen Canal, only yards away from their objective! Major Howard and his troops pour out of the planes, achieving complete surprise and rushing the stunned German forces. Despite furious opposition from a heavily sandbagged machine gun nest at the end of now famous ?Pegasus? bridge, they capture their objective within moments. To the east, the Orne bridge is secured equally rapidly, giving British troops the first victory of D-Day! BBC Historical Link
Pegasus Bridge Map
Briefing:
Axis Player(s): Pete & Tom
Axis Instructions:
Take 2 command cards (Germans were surprised). Draw two cards after turns 1 and 2. You will then have a hand of 4 command cards for the rest of the battle.
Allied Player(s): Gary & AndyB
Allied Instructions:
British: Major John Howard
Take 6 command cards.
You move first.
Conditions of Victory:
5 Medals*
*An Allied unit that captures a bridge hex (Pegasus & Orne) counts as one victory medal. Place an objective medal on each of the bridges. As long as the Allied unit remains on the bridge hex, it continues to count toward the Allied victory. If the unit moves off or is eliminated, it no longer counts. Both the “Pegasus Bridge” and the "Orne Bridge" must be taken as part of the Allied victory total.
Outcome:
The Allies began their advance to the bridges under the cover of darkness. However progress was slow and with daylight soon breaking through, Howard's men were spotted and found themselves under extremely heavy and accurate machine gun fire from the sandbagged German infantry at Pegasus Bridge. The resulting heavy Allied casualties, so early in their advance, would prove to be decisive and the initial Allied progress towards Pegasus bridge was painfully slow.
On the Orne Bridge flank, the German forces again spotted the Allied advance early and, taking up strategic defensive positions in the wooded areas close to the bridge, the Axis forces again effectively laid down heavy machine gun fire. As a result the Allied forces on the Orne flank never made any real progress towards securing the Orne bridge.
Back on the Pegasus bridge flank, the Allied forces soon rallied and succeeded in capturing the German sandbag position at the end of Pegasus bridge, suffering heavy casualties in the process. An immediate German counter-attack over Pegasus bridge soon recaptured the sandbagged position at Pegasus bridge, re-established German control of the area. Having suffered such heavy casualties the Allied forces could not mount another serious attack for the bridges and were forced to withdraw from the area of the Caen Canal, having failed in their mission to secure the bridges as objectives for the Allies.
Axis win with 5 Medals vs. the Allies 2 Medals.
First Play: Conquest of Nerath
I got a chance to play through of Conquest Of Nerath yesterday and jumped at the chance. I had heard a lot of good things about this game and seen it at the Koffeeklub a couple of times but never played. Given that the game looks like a fantasy version of Risk with wizards and dragons it had the old gamer inside of me jumping up and down for joy and I knew I needed to give this one a go.
The game was developed by Hasbo under their Wizards of the Coast imprint, who are most famous for their Magic the Gathering and Dungeons and Dragons lines. Dungeon and Dragons: Conquest Of Nerath is one of a number of new boardgames designed to support the D&D line and these games have been scoring well on boardgamegeek and have had critical success from games reviewers and critics. This divergance of the D&D line is a welcome development as previously WOTC have produced a seemingly never-ending stream of fluff hardbacks for the roleplaying game, which while no doubt necessary to keep the revenue coming in, had the effect of flooding the 3rd and 4th editions of the game with more content than the players could reasonably purchase and IMHO bringing about the premature end of those editions. Now it seems that WOTC are looking to smooth out the release cycle by releasing non-roleplaying products in support of the line which will keep the share-holders happy and the customers too.
The game is a joy out of the box with an excellent map and superb components. Little points like the starting units are clearly marked on the regions of the map board making setup time quick and easy. The map is designed to minimise the slow and steady build up of forces that many similar games demand and instead players are pushed into each others faces from the very first turn. See the central island on the map in the image below to see what I mean. Swords are drawn from the get go!
 |
| The central island is contested from turn 1! |
The game is deceptively like Risk on initial set-up. There are locations on the board which represent dungeons that can be delved by certain games pieces specifically the Fighters and the Wizards. The rewards for defeating the monsters found in the dungeon lairs are many and varied and it is in many cases these treasures are what make the game special. In my game AndyC who was playing the Undead Legion gained a treasure early on that granted his heroes the ability to fly meaning that the majority of his armies could circumvent my defenses and strike at my undefended regions behind the lines.
In this way the game is deceptive and replayable. No two games will play the same way twice and TimS who kindly hosted the game reports that in the numerous plays of this game that all factions have won the game and there does not appear to be a overwhelming advantage for any one faction. The game was certainly fun if not as heavy as the boardgames I have been playing lately. This is not a criticism as Dungeon and Dragons: Conquest Of Nerath is a fabulous way to waste an afternoon and an excellent way to ease new players into the D&D world
Posted with BlogsyThe Digest: 17-Sept-12 - How he learned to stop worrying and love the bomb!
Our gaming is rich right now and to be honest it has been for the past six months or so.
What's changed I hear me say? Well I think that our focus has improved and we've moved away from the talking a lot (about games) to the playing a lot (of games). This was really hammered home back in June as our Q-Con write-ups reflect, we're getting many many more games to the table. That can only be a good thing!
 |
| General Patton |
FAB Sicily
We've settled into a reasonably good pace with VASSAL and have completed our first online FAB: Sicily game, which ended in a dramatic last turn tie. The return game already has a very different feel to it as my Allies move away from the historical landing plans to attack Sicily on two fronts. Now all I need is Patton's hell-for-leather drive on Messina along Sicily's northern coast. Who cares about the odd slap or two?
Elsewhere, hamming up the Cold War theme, we've played two full games of Twilight Struggle. Both games have ended suddenly, almost without warning and been victories for the U.S. player (1 victory each). GaryB and I are still learning the game and more importantly the card mix in each of the three decks (early, mid and late war).
Twilight Struggle does have a lot of luck elements in play, from the card draws to the dice rolls you can sometimes feel that the game isn't giving you a fair crack of the whip. Generally your opponent feels that way too and it becomes a contest about who can manage their luck (or lack of it) most efficiently.
During last night's game, Mr Bingers had built-up a sizeable 9VP lead heading into the mid-war. I had NORAD in play and was forever trying to keep the DEFCON levels low to gain the advantages it offered. In the end the lure of the Big Red Button proved too strong and Mr B sent the world spiralling into nuclear war, losing the game in the process. I guess I managed my luck a little better? That didn't stop me bitchin' about it during the game though! :) Full write-ups to follow.
Shifting SandsTurning back the WWII clock a little, we'll be picking up MMP's Shifting Sands, probably from next Sunday evening. Shifting Sands covers the war in North Africa between 1940 and 1943 and uses a card-driven design to bring thematic events from that period to life. It also has a VASSAL module available, but we'll give it a go face-to-face first.
New Games?
Looking further ahead I'm considering a few potential purchases covering different periods in world history.
Maria - is based on the War of the Austrian Succession, where Austria was attacked
by Prussia, France, Bavaria and Saxony, while only Great Britain,
Hanover and the Netherlands (by forming the so-called Pragmatic Army)
helped her.
A big part of the draw with Maria is that it is a strong three-player wargame. Not many of those about.
Ardennes '44 - a reprinting of GMT's 2003 game covering the action around the Battle of the Bulge. I love the look of the map in this game and it would be a bigger investment of time to play coming in at around 6 hours. Who knows, we may end up with FAB: The Bulge to cover this period instead.
Pursuit of Glory - GaryB mentioned this one recently, a sequel to the popular Paths of Glory, also a World War I game. Paths focused mostly of the European action of World War I, but Pursuit turns it's attention to the Great War in the Middle East.
Pursuit uses the same card-driven mechanics and point-to-point
of the first game, but with some rules changes and modifications to
better simulate the conditions of the war in the Middle East.
Good times ahead!
Thursday, 13 September 2012
KoffeeKlub Evening 16th of September
 |
| Better Dead Than RED! |
We'll be serving up Cold War with Hot Coffee from 7pm to 11pm. Pass the cream Ivan.
“If you don’t like us, don’t accept our invitations and don’t invite us to come to see you. Whether you like it or not, history is on our side. We will bury you.” - Nikita Khrushchev, November 18, 1956
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