Death in the Clouds

The Coldest Dawn

“Mein Gott! Must we fly in this?” The new leftenant waved a thickly gloved hand through the swirling flakes that descended in the gray dawn. He glared at his crew, as if daring them to disagree.
“We fly when the Fatherland needs, no matter what God sends our way— or the Devil.” The voice was young, but there was a coldness to it, deeper than the frozen air, as of someone who had danced with Death many, many times.
The leftenant’s crew snapped to attention, as he spun around to face the speaker. “I am Leftena—” he started, but cut off his speech, his face blanching as one with the snow. “I-I- forgive me, Herr Commandant!” The glove snapped up in a salute.
The commander waved the salute away. “It is of no matter, leftenant. I am none too fond of this weather myself.” He looked up. “But it will be a fine day above these clouds, with the mother Sun behind our backs.” The veteran pilot smiled. “But do not expect her to warm them much. Icarus must have flown higher than I to catch her heat.”
“Sir, I just hope we shan’t catch our deaths in this cold!”
The commander stared at the leftenant. “It is war. Someone always catches Death. And it is always cold.”
The Red Baron turned and walked across the snowy aerodrome to his crimson triplane, which blazed like fresh blood against the snow-streaked ground.

A Flight for War and Glory

Recently my group gathered for an evening of Wings of War/Wings of Glory, featuring my as yet unblooded Gotha GV bomber. We had a new victi— that is, player— joining us, who eagerly selected the bomber as his plane of choice. A bit much for a rookie to the game, but he was insistent, and we felt we could coach him through any difficulties (though admittedly, none of us had ever flown one of the “Giants of the Air” either!). (I apologize for the fuzzy photos— aerial photography is hard!)

DOGFIGHT!

For simplicity’s sake, our scenario was simple: The rookie bomber pilot would have two targets for his bombs; a factory placed in the center of the table, and a bridge placed towards the farthest corner from his entry point. If he could succeed with both bomb drops, the Central Powers (Germany) would win; if he was shot down without achieving this goal, victory would go to the Allies (Britain).

The table, as you can see, is triangular, making for an unusual set up. We took advantage of this to create a three-point entry situation: The Gotha from one corner, the Allies (all Brits) from another, and the German fighter cover from the third (as if on advanced patrol near the targets).

We paid no attention to points, but merely allowed each side to select their favored aircraft. As the rest of us were experienced pilots, and we felt the bombing run was rather simple, we allowed the Allies fighters (Michael and Chase) to take four planes (two per player), while Will and I commanded three— Will, a lone Albatros D.II, and myself an Albatros D.Va and the famous crimson Fokker Dr.1— the Red Baron himself. The British planes were a Bristol F.28 two-seater fighter, an R.E.8 two-seater, and two Sopwith Snipes. (Clearly, we also didn't pay attention to concurrent service years, either.)

I had not packed my traditional green felt table cover, so we used the table’s existing white pad as our surface, which we decided represented a snowy dawn over France, with enough break in the clouds to reveal the bomber’s target (“The Devil always leaves a path for Death,” says the Red Baron).

Duel above the clouds! Or the snow! Take your pick!

The fight started off with a rather lengthy approach (due to table size), which included the Rookie inevitably miss-plotting and turning back across (and off) the table. In our group we call that “pulling a Fleming,” for the hapless pilot among us who first pulled this error (and still does, from time to time).

Not this Fleming, but not the other one, either. "The rookie did it!"

"Of course I can fly it. See? I turned around all by myself!"

Having corrected for this mishap by allowing the bomber to return to the field, the fight began in earnest. Early hits went to the German aces, but soon the first victim plummeted through the clouds to the frozen lands below— the Red Baron himself! (Truly, the Fokker Dr.1 is just too fragile an airframe, maneuverability or not. Though admittedly losing that maneuverability in the first fracas didn’t help!)

No! Not the Baron!

Jammed rudders suck.

After the death of the Baron, the fight finally reached the Gotha, and she began taking hits— and dealing them. But not before a second German plane went down— prompting its pilot to abandoned his loyalties and take up arms for the other side! (Will claimed one of the extra Allied craft so as to stay in the game— a poor excuse for treason as ever there was!)

Another German down! So sorry, Will. You shall be avenged— uh, Will? Why are you in a British uniform?

But the Central Powers pressed on, and soon the first British plane spiraled into the ground— and the bomber reached her first target. Down went the bombs, and the factory was ablaze. “That one’s for the Baron!”

British take a long fall.

BOMBALAMA BOOM BOOM!

On to the bridge, a desperate chase— the Allied suffered another loss, the Albatros finally making good on its presence. Fire continued to pour into the Gotha, but on she flew, inching ever closer to victory— closer, closer, almost there... (Wait, wrong movie.)

Stay on target...

Stay on target......

And down she went, just shy of that final break in the clouds. The Devil got his due, but the Kaiser did not.

Well, so much for that!

The lone Albatros abandoned the field, returning to bring news of mourning to the aerodrome.

Final Briefing
It was generally agreed that had not the bomber “pulled a Fleming,” the victory might well have gone the other way. The delay in reaching the first target certainly allowed the Allied planes the time to close. We were stunned at the amount of hits the bomber took— he kept drawing card after card after card— but the tale of the deal showed that many were 0s, resulting in no actual damage to the craft. As the British had chosen planes armed with weaker B guns, this had much to do with the Gotha’s longevity in the fight.

A lotta bullets and a lotta blanks.

Wings of War (or Wings of Glory, as it is now sold) is always a satisfying game, and a real pleaser for rookies. We’re already set up for return engagements of the game. I for one, relish getting in the cockpit again— though not the Dr.1. No, I have something (and someone) more exciting to fly...but that surprise will have to wait.

‘Til then, thumbs up and watch your six!

—- Parzival, the Wargamesmonger

The War of the Reluctant Caesars

Well, I've been away from this for awhile for a host of reasons, but I'm finally back to catch up with a least a few fun gaming stories. So without further ado, I give you (stirring drumroll)...

The Tale of the Reluctant Caesars

Last weekend saw the gathering of my semi-irregular-hey-are-we-gonna-do-this-or-not gaming group. Which turned out to be the theme of the evening.

Only four of us could get together, so I set out what I thought would be some workable games for a mid-range number of players. The choices included my newly acquired copy of Dungeons & Dragons: The Conquest of Nerath (essentially the Axis & Allies system in a fantasy setting), Risk: The Lord of the Rings Trilogy Edition, Risk: Godstorm, and Conquest of the Empire. The first two games on this list are ideally intended for four players, whereas the last is designed for up to six (a detail which I believe was more significant than we anticipated).

The players for the evening consisted of my friend Michael, his teen-age son Chase, and Lon, a friend from work and new addition to the group. As one probably guesses, given the title of this post, Conquest of the Empire (hereafter CotE) won out as the preferred choice.

"It's YUGE!"

If you're not familiar with CotE, it's a reprint by Eagle Games of one of Milton Bradley's classic GameMaster series. The Eagle Games version (now sadly OOP) is quite simply a stunning production. The map features the Roman Empire at its greatest extent (completely surrounding the Mediterranean Sea, and including Britannia). As one would hope, it is gorgeous. It is also HUGE. The board is 3'x3.5'; we had to place some old oversized "dining room table protectors" inherited from my wife's grandmother on top of my 3'x4' kitchen table to give us extra edge space on which to set our pieces. (I brought over a small side table to hold mine.) The pieces are brightly colored plastic figures of Roman legionnaires, Roman generals, Caesars, Auxiliary cavalry, Roman galleys, and catapults (with working swing arms!). There are also cities, city walls ("fortifications"), and Roman roads, plus assorted faction markers and over-sized heavy plastic "Roman" coins in two denominations, one "gold" and one "silver." The custom dice are a bit oversized, and depict the various forces that can participate in a battle (match the image rolled to a unit which is attacking, and that unit kills an opposing piece). The game also includes markers and cards for an entirely different game using the same pieces (and called "CotE II"). Since the rules for these, however, have proven to be about as intelligible to us as a Latin manuscript, we strictly play the "classic" version, which is only slightly modified from the original. The goal of the game is to capture every opposing Caesar; each player has just one. This is done by capturing provinces, collecting tribute, building armies, navies, cities and roads, and engaging in singularly devastating combat.

Except for Lon, the newbie, this was to be our group's fourth time playing CotE (if you count the time a player was eliminated on the very first turn; on that time, we proclaimed a "do-over," and his Caesar was resurrected). So we're somewhat familiar with the game, but hardly experts, and barely qualify as veterans. Lon chose the red army, Chase, blue, Michael, purple, and myself, black.

Gentlemen, Start Your Legions

Each Caesar begins the game in control of a specific starting province, dictated by the rules and the number of players in the game. Unlike Axis&Allies or Risk, each force holds one and only one province at the start of the game; the rest are solely acquired through movement and conquest. Provinces are worth either 10 "talents" (1 gold coin) or 5 "talents" (1 silver coin) during a player's "collect tribute phase." A city on a province (only one per province) adds 5 more talents. After all movement and combat by a player, these talents are collected and used to purchase forces, which are then placed on the starting province only, ending the player's turn.

Movement is simple; depending on the piece, on a turn it moves either 1 or 2 provinces (or sea spaces, for galleys). However, all pieces can only move if a general or Caesar accompanies them. So if you don't have one of these with your forces, they're staying put until one of these leader units joins them. Galleys can move by themselves, but a leader is required to accompany any land forces the galley transports across the sea. So, no leader, no legion— at least, not a mobile one.

Combat is equally simple. When forces enter an enemy's province, and that province has troops, then a battle must occur. (Unoccupied provinces are captured without a fight; Roman citizens appear to have fickle allegiances.) Both the attacker and the defender divide their troops into a "battle line" and a "reserve." Battle line troops can fight and be killed; reserves cannot (though reserve catapults can attack— "Unleash Hell!" Which I think is why we have leash laws). Leaders can increase the number of troops on the battle line, which adds more combat dice. There are a few other niceties, but that serves as an explanation. Once all non-leader forces have been eliminated, or either player opts to retreat, the battle is over (though cavalry gets an extra attack against retreating forces). The survivor conquers the territory. Any unsupported leaders are captured. Generals may be ransomed and returned to their forces (the players agree on any terms, including alliances, permission to use roads/straits, or just plain gold), or executed, their remains ignobly interred in the cardboard game box. A captured Caesar eliminates the player controlling it from the game, with the victor claiming his forces, lands and tribute.

Build Armies! Build Cities! Build Roads! Build Walls! Fight Inflation! (Wait, What?)

The real strategy of the game, however, lies in tribute and purchasing. Different units have different costs, some quite significant compared to the amount of tribute received. Cities, fortifications, and roads may also be built, giving advantages in tribute, combat, and movement (respectively), and roads can only be built between cities (and adjacent cities at that). Roads allow land forces to treat movement along them as 1 movement cost, regardless of the length of the road, allowing the controlling player to move his forces rapidly from one end of the map to the other— that is, if the roads are built. And as in real life and the real Roman Empire, all this is complicated by inflation! Once any player exceeds 100 talents in tribute at the end of his turn, prices of all units and terrain features double for everyone. At 200 talents, prices triple. You may have more gold, but it's worth a lot less! This, too is significant.

On the Night In Question, or Who Wants To Be A Tough Guy Anyway?

Back to the start of our game. With four players, we each had the following starting locations: Chase held Macedonia (midway across the north half of the map, more or less), Michael held Mesopotamia (extreme eastern edge), Lon claimed Hispania (oh, you know where that is), and yours truly was granted the glorious province of Numidia (Ancient Carthage, modern Libya-ish; either way, I got a desert. Woohoo). From there, we each in turn spread our meager armies (5 legionnaires, 4 generals, 1 Caesar) as far as we could, and stopped. Literally, we just stopped. Each of us quickly made agreements to not attack across our extreme edge borders, and just began collecting tribute. There were minor "province swapping" moments with provinces left undefended, and a skirmish here or there, but for the most part nobody was willing to commit forces into all out attacks on anybody else.

For three hours.

I kid you not.

Oh, yes, some galleys got sunk. I even sent out two galleys to successfully sink a naval invasion force sent out by Chase ("It was against him!" he protested to me, pointing at Lon. "Well, you didn't tell my navy that," I replied. Hey, nobody sails through my sea without the proper paperwork and environmental impact forms, or at least a few talents slipping under the table. Preferably the latter.)
We did make a lot of jokes, including a few obligatory Python retreads and references to Dr. Who and Black Adder ("That's your cunning plan?"), but as for actually conquering the Roman Empire? Not these Caesars. "Yeah, that last guy? He got poisoned. The guy before that? Stabbed by his own bodyguard. Caesar, shmeaser, I think I'll take a pass and build a nice villa overlooking the beach."

The game wound up being called on account of "dang it's late and three of us have work tomorrow." We ruled that Chase would have wound up being the target of everyone for triggering the first round of inflation (these Caesars were not only reluctant, they were cheap), but it really wasn't possible to declare a victor.

How to Make War

In retrospect, it may be that CotE really isn't suited for a small group of players. As spread out as we were, and with the limited starting forces, it took two full times around the board for anyone to actually encounter anyone else, and at that point the incentive to fight each other was limited, due both to weak forces strung out over too many provinces and to fears of triggering inflation if another province got picked up. If we'd had a fifth Caesar, however, I think we'd have wound up with forces quickly pressing against each other, with tributes remaining low enough to encourage battles over provinces without the fear of the inflation jump.

Despite that, I think we all did enjoy building up our forces based on our personal strategies. Lon favored land units and connecting roads. I went for the largest navy (having little land mass in which to spread without potentially devastating combat). Michael and Chase attempted a mix. So a good time was had, even if the lands of Ancient Rome were a lot less bloody than we had expected.

Stay tuned for our next adventure in gaming...whenever that actually happens!

Howard Shirley, aka Parzival

PS: No pics, 'cause I didn't have my camera ready. Maybe I'll add some shots of CotE later.

A Legacy of War!

Once again my gaming group assembled for an evening of warfare, and this time we stepped away from our recent obsession with a galaxy far, far away, and instead went with an alternate Earth— in this case, that alternate Earth is the premise behind Hasbro’s Risk: Legacy. Rather than the standard Earth of classic Risk, the setting is a parallel Earth. After centuries of global warfare (most beginning in Australia, it appears), Earth’s scientists have discovered a method of transporting people (and their weapons) to alternate, uninhabited, duplicate Earths. In Risk: Legacy, you lead one of five factions attempting to colonize this new Earth and avoid the past of the old Earth. Naturally, you ignore that latter noble sentiment and begin whacking on your neighbors as soon as your forces arrive on the new planet. It’s the simple things that make us human, after all.

Q: So, how does this world work?
A: Very well.
The Generals, L-R: Yours Truly, Michael, Will, Chase
Taking photo: "Warlord Jim"

 So, If It’s the Same Map, How Is Anything Different?

Yes, if you look at the map, this is the exact same layout as classic Risk (with a handy sea-link to note that, yes, the Middle East is connected to East Africa). And your forces are the same in that one troop figure=one “army” (or “battalion” or whatever) and a tank (or some other impressive military device) is equal to three armies, and so forth. No change there, and no change in the combat rules of three dice vs. two dice, ties to defender, etc.. If you’ve played Risk, you’re familiar with all that.

What makes this game different is that the game changes as you play. And, the kicker is, it changes permanently. Depending on what happens and what you choose to do, you alter the map with stickers and even pen and ink— and those changes are in effect the next time you play. You may even wind up altering the rules or (gulp) destroying components as you continue to play! On top of this, how those changes are applied will be different for any group who plays the game. Once the game has been played just one time, that map and the assorted elements will be unique to that copy of the game. My group’s experience with Risk: Legacy will be different from your group’s experience of the game, and grow even more different each time we play ours or you play yours.

If you’re the type who likes to repeat gaming experiences in exactitude, or view a game as a pristine work of art, you’re going to have a conniption fit about this game. My advice: get over it.

The Grand Opening: Welcome to Earth You

The Legacy box is unique among Risk games from the start. It has a carrying handle, making it like a cardboard briefcase, and bears a tape seal reading: Note: What’s done can never be undone. Yes, that’s intimidating, but it also has a nice challenge aspect to it— as if to say, “Don’t open this unless you have what it takes to handle this.” Okay, maybe that’s a bit over-the-top for a board game, but it sets the mood for getting into the whole premise of the game, right from the start. My group very much approved.

The Founding Fathers sign in.
I think America began this way...

When we opened the box, we were first faced with the back of the game board, and upon that another label and another challenge: We, the undersigned, take responsibility for the wars that are about to start, the decisions we will make, and the history we will write. Everything that is going to happen is going to happen because of us. (Cue Billy Joel: We Didn’t Start the Fire…)
We would not be dismayed. We signed in blood! (Okay, not really. Will found a cheap ink pen, and we all used that.) Note that Jim got a little bit of a big-head and gave himself a title— “Warlord.” Right, Jim. Dream on, buddy.

Beneath that board were a series of five large “Faction” cards naming the groups we could lead, a sticker sheet containing cities, fortifications and more, a large cardboard side board to track the card decks, a bunch of punch-out missile tokens, a bunch of punch out Red Star tokens, Territory Cards, Coin Cards, Scar Cards (with Scar stickers) and Faction special abilities cards (with special abilities stickers), five bags of the different factional army miniatures (each faction has figures unique to that faction in both design and color), dice, and the rulebook— and bunch of sealed envelopes and compartments with different instructions printed upon them, like “Open when all 9 Minor Cities have been founded,” and “Open the first time a faction is eliminated from the game,” and so on. Very tempting, these sealed bits, but per the game instructions we left them alone. We’ll find out what happens if and when it happens.

The cards are a bit flimsier than most board games, but in part that’s because certain events may cause you to literally destroy a card— yep, tear it up and throw it away. (Some of you are screaming “NO! I CAN’T! I WON’T! YOU CAN’T MAKE ME!” Trust me, it’s not that big of a deal. Not that we’ve had to do it yet…) Otherwise, the components are good quality and the art work is excellent— and for those of you who care about such things, the board does have the dreaded “American valley.” Not of much concern to us, and it doesn’t really affect anything except aesthetics. We did like that each of the factions had unique figures, as well as unique HQ markers, all sculpted to match the fluff for each faction.

Time to Face the Strange Ch-ch-ch-changes

The first difference in Risk: Legacy is that the faction you choose in the game is your faction for the remaining games— a full 15 game campaign, in fact. So pick the flavor that you like, or accept what fate decides to deal. We did the latter, but declared that swaps were allowed if someone preferred.
We then assumed command of the factions as follows:

Chase Fleming— Imperial Balkania (think Edwardian Britain and Star Wars’ Imperial Guard.)
Michael Fleming— Die Mechaniker  (we think that should be pronounced “dee me-kahn-ick-ur”, but it will be far more fun to shout, “Die, Mechaniker!” when attacking him.)
Will Sensing— Enclave of the Bear (looks like a cross between Braveheart and Conan the Barbarian)
Howard Shirley (yours truly)— Saharan Republic (Mad Max-style super models with heavily armed dune buggies, and a hint of Dune’s Fremen warriors. Works for me!)
“Warlord” (snicker) Jim Weaver— Khan Industries (yes, I did shout “KHHHHAAAAAAANNNNNN!!!!” when reading about them.)

And with that, the first component change begins, as you select one of two possible faction powers, listed on stickers, and affix them to your Faction card. Your faction will now have this special ability throughout the remainder of your wars in the world of Risk: Legacy. (To quote the old Crusader, “Choose wisely.”)

Each player then receives a “Scar” Card. These cards hold stickers that at any point in the game can be played to alter a territory on the board, for good or ill. Once altered, that territory remains altered for all future games. If you scar it, it’s scarred for life. The starting Scars consist of Bunkers (which give a territory a permanent bonus on defense, regardless of who holds it) and Ammo Shortages (which give a territory a permanent penalty on defense, regardless of who holds it). We suspect other Scars are in the sealed envelopes, but don’t know yet. We’ll find out…

Next comes another component change. Resource Cards containing “Coins” are used to purchase extra troops during the beginning of a player’s turn. This takes the place of the “three of a kind” card rules from classic Risk. It allows you to turn in much quicker, as the lowest turn in value is 2 coins for 2 armies, but it also limits the sizes of the armies you’re likely to be able to afford. The more coins, the more armies. Also, Coin Cards and Territory Cards are together counted as Resource Cards. Turn in four of these, regardless of coin value, and you can purchase a Red Star token (needed for victory). So the strategy here is whether to turn in or to save for a Red Star token, or to sacrifice a high-coin-value card as one of the four for that token (you don’t get “change”). The game comes with each Territory Card equal to one Coin in value— but before the first game, you must select up to twelve Territory Cards and give them additional coins, increasing the value of the card and the strategic importance of the associated territory (more on this later). You can decide how this is done in any manner your group chooses. We shuffled the Coin and Territory cards together (they have identical backs) and dealt out four groups of three cards, assigning each group three coin stickers. If a Territory card was part of a group, it got a coin sticker. If the group had one or more Coin cards, any Territory cards with it received the extra stickers. We did rule that at least one territory card had to be from each of the seven continents to get a coin before any duplicate continent territories could get a coin, preventing Asia from getting too many valuable cards.

With these changes permanently done, we began the game.

Winning At Some Cost

Winner takes all... well, or at least some...

In addition to the Scar Cards, during your first game each player starts with a Red Star token. The object of the game is not to eliminate all the opponents (though you can win that way), but to collect four Red Star Tokens, or a combination of tokens and faction HQs. Each faction HQ is worth a Red Star for whomever holds the territory the HQ is in. Yes, you can capture an enemy HQ. Once placed on the board, it remains on the board for the game (but can change starting locations in other games). It has no attack or defense value and does not count towards a defender’s troops. If the last defending troop is lost in an HQ territory, the attacker moves in and gains control of the territory and the HQ. So you don’t have to buy Red Stars to win— you can simply (ha!) conquer three other HQs (and hold your own) to win the game.

Collecting Resource Cards is slightly different than in regular Risk. You do have to conquer enemy territories to gain a card, but you only gain a Territory card if you control a territory that matches one of four Territory cards which are face up on the deck tracking board. If this is the case, and if you’ve conquered any territory on the board (not just an exposed one) you may select the matching exposed Territory card for your hand (if you control more than one match, you pick the matching card you want). If you don’t hold a matching territory, you draw a Coin card. In the latter case, if no Coin cards are available, you don’t get any resources. Sorry, general.

The game begins largely with an expansion phase. Unlike normal Risk, all your forces begin on a single starting territory (of your choice), and you only begin with 8 troops. In the first turn you can expand into adjacent empty territories. Although it was a little unclear, we ruled that you could only expand into empty territories immediately adjacent to your controlled territories at the start of the turn. That might have been wrong, but it seemed to follow the rules which stated that eliminated factions could return to the game through unoccupied territories— which we figured couldn’t happen if everyone suddenly expanded everywhere in the first turn. Attacking troops, however, could “steamroller” on as in classic Risk.

Our game quickly became divided by continents. Will established the Enclave of the Bear in Australia, and nobody opted to begin in Asia to block him. Instead, Chase claimed South America, Jim started in the frozen north of North America, I opted for the climes of Africa (seemed to fit my faction, after all), and Michael fittingly established his vaguely German “Die Mechaniker” troops right in the middle of Europe (Germany, in fact).

I decided to move quickly, wishing to grab leads early. Chase had moved into Northern Africa from Brazil, so I slapped him out, and, overextending myself unwisely (as it turned out) I drove north into Europe, claiming the Die Mechaniker HQ. I had a Bunker Scar Card, which I thought would help me hold off any counter attack.

Meanwhile, Jim quickly claimed all of North America and established a truce with Michael “for three turns” between Greenland and Iceland, and proceeded to enter Asia, where Will was quietly expanding uncontested.

Chase responded to my efforts by charging back across the Atlantic from Brazil. I bunkered North Africa (our first scar!), but even with the advantage, I still lost the territory. Meanwhile, Die Mechaniker proved that desert babes with dune buggies don’t belong in Europe, and trashed me out of his HQ, scarred Egypt with an Ammo Shortage, and kicked me back towards southern Africa. He then established a truce with Chase, and I thought my goose was cooked. I began egging Jim on to attack Chase in South America.

At first, Jim seemed content to kick Will around Asia, plucking up territories. Michael left him alone, as promised, but both were building up bits and pieces on the Iceland/Greenland border. Truces are uneasy things, after all. Chase ignored both of these other threats, and hammered me down to one lousy army left defending my HQ. Just when I thought we’d be opening the “faction eliminated” envelope in our very first game, my dice turned lucky— my one army held on against four assaults by Chase! As I was celebrating this moral victory, Jim finally considered my communiques, and poured into South America, claiming Chase’s HQ… and I began to worry that maybe I’d traded the Brazilian piranha for a Great White Shark.

But Michael at this point made his play. He began by giving up four Resource Cards, buying the first Red Star token purchased in the game. He then piled his forces upon Iceland, overwhelming Jim’s Greenland wall, and surging across to face the lone trooper who thought he’d pulled easy duty standing outside the HQ… till a bunch of German mechas came marching across the tundra. The Khan HQ fell, and “Master Michael ‘Lucky’” claimed the win and the first war.

But Wait, That’s Not All!

The New World Has Begun.

In addition to winning bragging rights, Michael got to sign the board and, out of a number of options offered in the rules, chose to rename North America into “Mikeburia,” inscribing that name permanently upon the map. (Not sure what I think of living in “The United States of Mikeburia.” Mikeburia, the Beautiful… nope, that does *not* work for me.) For future games, if Michael manages to claim the continent of North America Mikeburia, he and he alone gains an additional bonus army. “Die, Mechaniker!” indeed.

The rest of us at least got the lovely consolation prizes of founding and naming a Minor City. (Minor cities gain small bonuses when calculating additional troops at the start of a turn.) Placing stickers once again on the board, we carefully chose the names their citizens would forever revere. Thus the towns of Chaseburg and Sensingville (Will’s) naturally appeared. I, in honor of the spirited defense of my HQ, dubbed my metropolis Holdonburg (as “Hold on! Hold on!” was how I admonished my troops during those desperate hours). Jim, however, chose to commemorate the feeble and fickle nature of diplomacy, dubbing Greenland forever after as “Villain’s Pass”. (In retrospect, I think this was a rules flub, as I believe you had to actually hold the territory to found a city in it, but “what’s done can never be undone.” And it was funny.)

The World Has Changed Forever

And thus begin the annals of our wars. A quick consult of the rules reveal that our next game will already have different rules because of completing the first one… and what changes will our later conflicts provoke? Only time and the vagaries of war can tell.

I for one, can’t wait to find out.

The Search for Solo— An X-wing Report

Episode V and a .V

The Search for Solo

Following the disaster at Bespin, Lando Calrissian and Chewbacca are searching for Han Solo and his captor, the bounty hunter Boba Fett. Rebel intelligence report no word of either Fett or Solo on Tatooine, the obvious destination— but then, where are they?

Bribing his underworld connections, Lando learns that Fett's ship has been sighted near the Anootla asteroid cluster.

The Alliance Command issue order— disable the Slave 1 and scan her for Captain Solo's presence— or at least clues to his whereabouts.

Within hours, Lando and a small fleet jump for Anootla... but are they headed to a rescue, or something else?

Back to a Galaxy Far, Far Away

(or at least a thirty-minute drive at rush hour).

Once again my gaming buddies and I converged for an evening of X-Wing, which appears to have become our current obsession. (We do play other games— honest!) On the evening in question, our location of choice was Will's domicile— Commodore Will, for the purposes of this evening's game (and the starting college football season— Go Vandy!).

The story— an original scenario featuring the Firespray-31 "patrol and attack craft," better known as Slave 1, Boba Fett's personal ship from Episode V The Empire Strikes Back.

Although I don't own this ship myself (yet), Will had brought it to one of our earlier games, and I thought it would be good to try it out in a balanced scenario, with a theme appropriate to the devious, self-serving bounty hunter.

The Forces of Good and Better Than Good, holding their secret orders.
Rebels, L t R: Lieutenant Chase, Commodore Will, Commander Jim
Empire, L t R: Darth Alexander, Darth Michael (as Colonel Soontir Fel)

I decided to go all out with this one, giving each side "mission dossiers"with their goals and battle intelligence. And yes, this meant that both sides weren't fully informed as to the other's objectives or capabilities. I knew, of course, which is why I operated the Slave 1. Its role wasn't particularly secret to either side, so I could play without having any unfair advantage. Command of the Empire forces was thus left to Darth Michael, with my son Darth Alexander fulfilling the role of eager young officer... who got his command thoroughly shot up over the course of the evening. (So he fulfilled his role well.)

The Battle Begins

The Rebels arrive...

... and the forces advance.

The scene opens on the Anootla system, near a prominent asteroid cluster, as the Rebel forces approach Slave 1 and her suspiciously small escort. Yes, they had two of the fast and dangerous TIE Interceptors, but the Rebel commanders were not blind to the apparent weakness of the foe.

Starting forces:

Rebel Alliance:

Millenium Falcon, piloted by Lando Calrissian (Commodore Will).

 3 X-wings: Luke Skywalker, a Red Squadron pilot, and a rookie (Lieutenant Chase, rebellious son of Darth Michael)

3 Y-wings with ion cannon turrets: "Dutch" Vander and two Gold Squadron veterans (Commander Jim)

Empire:

TIE Interceptor: Soontir Fel (Darth Michael)

TIE Interceptor: Turr Fennir (Darth Alexander)

TIE fighter: Black Squadron (Darth Alexander)

Slave 1, piloted by Boba Fett (yours truly)

Yeah, you can do the math, too, right?

First Moves to First Blood

Darth Alexander loses his first wingman on the first turn!

Things got off with a bang— specifically, the silent "bang" created when a TIE fighter turns into so much cosmic vapor. The first TIE got fragged without firing a shot! The Rebels were celebrating an early sighting of victory as they reached the asteroid field...

Guess What...

Okay, yeah, everybody saw this coming. But it was still fun.

The Rebel commanders observe the tactical situation with dismay:
"Where'd all those TIE fighters come from?"
"I told you it was a trap."

Revised Empire Forces:

2 TIE Interceptors: Soontir Fel, Fel's Wrath
3 TIE Fighters: Howlgunner, Night Beast, Black Squadron Pilot (all Darth Michael)
1 TIE Interceptor: Turr Fennir
3 TIE Fighters (+1 already destroyed): Backstabber, Mauler Mithel, Dark Curse (all Darth Alexander)
Slave 1 (still me)

[Note on both sides, upgrades, secondary weapons, etc., were all fully utilized; the total points were close to 260 for each side.]

The terms of the scenario allowed the Empire to announce the added forces after the plotting phase, any time before the Rebels entered or passed the asteroid field; this turned out to be Turn 2. This allowed the new TIEs to be placed and plot their movements.

Demolition Derby

A Big Hairy Furball... and Lando just had the Falcon waxed.

The sudden arrival of new ships messed with everyone's plotting— almost every ship found itself colliding with either another ship or an asteroid or both. (Slave 1 passed through the field and the furball unscathed, thanks to someone's amazing piloting skills. *Ahem.*)

Boom...

...Boom...

...Boom... and the Y-wings close in.

Despite the confusion, most fighters had a targets, and the close range blasting took out shields and ships left and right. Darth Alexander's forces took the brunt of the attacks; by Turn 4, he was down to two ships, with all but one of his damaged, while Darth Michael was largely unscathed. Yours Truly lost a few shields, as did the Rebels, but they looked to be sitting pretty, and set off in pursuit of Slave 1, with ion cannons primed for action. Seeking to throw the Ys offtrack, I deployed a proximity mine. It didn't work (well, not as intended), but we did manage to blast a Y-wing off my tail— the first Empire kill of the night!

Commander Jim does not look happy. I can't imagine Y...

But they got some payback immediately.

Hey, he's gonna shoot you, too...

... another TIE bites the dust.

The bright spot for the Empire forces came with the destruction of Luke Skywalker, after a brutal team-up by Darth Michael's and Darth Alexander's commands.

No, lieutenant. There is nothing that will save you now.

But the Empire was still taking losses, and the remaining Y-wings were catching up to Slave 1.

And another one's gone...

Yours, Mine and Ours

Commander Jim proved to be too skilled a pilot for my deadly traffic cone... unfortunately, Darth Michael did not— my very own ally flew into the mine, barely surviving with a hit and a critical hit!

Darth Michael makes a wrong turn... "click— BOOM!"

Our trap seemed to be falling apart, and we were turning into our own worst enemies...

Turning the Tables

Boba Fett fights back... scratch another Y-wing!

I'd been doing "scoot and shoot" maneuvers with the Slave 1, relying largely on the aft firing arc for potshots at the Y-wings and the Falcon. But I needed heavier efforts, especially as I now bore four target locks on me and my shields were gone. I flipped the ship to bring my hunters into my foreword arc for use of my powerful secondary weapons— a heavy laser cannon and an assault missile. It was a good thing I did so, as Jim hit me with two ion blasts in succession, leaving me unable to maneuver for a turn. But my heavy weapons were now aimed at the hounds, and the hunters became the hunted. The remaining TIEs closed in as well. The Falcon drew fire to protect the crucial Y-wings, but all were now in trouble, and the Falcon, out of shields, was taking hull hits. My blasts took out a second Y-wing, which all but assured victory for the Empire.

Y Becomes the Final Letter in the Alphabet

The final shot came down to Darth Michael. At this point, all but three of the TIEs had been destroyed, and the remainder were not likely to survive much longer. But on Turn 7, Michael lined up a long range shot on the sole remaining Y-wing... and blew her out of the asteroid cluster.

Y did we shoot you? Because we could!

Now unable to fulfill their mission objectives (get four ion counters on the Slave 1 in one turn), the Rebels abandoned the field. Lando would have to travel to Tatooine to find his frozen friend...

Well, That's a Wrap.

All in all, the evening was a success. We had a great time, and the scenario made for a fun mix of vessels and tactical options. It's hard to say after one play whether all the objectives worked. Jim had concerns that the Rebel task— score 6 ion hits on the Slave 1 in a single turn— was too unlikely with only three Y-wings. He's probably right, but as the Ys took a long time to catch up to the Slave 1, and took hits along the way, they never managed to get into a coordinated range for an attempt. In retrospect, I think reducing the goal makes sense, as well as allowing at least one of the hits to be a "carryover" from a previous combat round (per the large ship rules regarding ion hits). I also think a fourth Y in place of an X-wing is a good call as well.

The "It's a Trap" moment was a hit. Jim confirmed they suspected reinforcements would arrive... but not in the middle of the asteroid field, which caught them by surprise. I think they had also planned their entry around an attempt to eliminate the escort and then pursue the Slave 1. In retrospect, the Ys probably should have started from the center of their battlefield edge, not their left, and gone for the Slave 1 from the start.

The Empire objective worked well, and given the losses they took remained in doubt till the end of the game.

As Boba Fett, I found myself questioning my presence on the battlefield. As bait, it became clear to me that Fett needed other motivation to hang around besides just luring Y-wings into a death trap. Yeah, group effort, take one for the team, blah, blah blah— he's a self-serving bounty hunter, not a professional decoy! So I may tweak that a bit, especially as I like the idea of a three-way objective split. (Heh, heh, heh.)

And I'm going to eat my words regarding the Firespray-31 spaceship. I had said I wasn't interested, as I never really cared for the design (like somebody stuck a Viper onto a computer mouse and stood it on its nose...), and also because the Slave 1 never engaged in combat in the original films. (We shall not speak of the "prequels," which Do Not Exist in my Star Wars universe). But FFG have turned the Firespray into a must-have vessel, with unique tactical elements and abilities. I like the fore/aft firing arcs, and the ability to drop mines and bombs. It was a lot of fun to "fly" the Firespray and plot my targeting arcs. And when my own ally flew into the mine... getting to razz Michael about his piloting skills— well, that's just gaming gold! (Seriously, he had to maneuver into the mine to hit it; if he had just flown straight or turned left, he would have been safe. Yet another product of the Imperial Fighter Pilot Academy... "Blow up all you want; we'll clone more.")

Coming Soon: Wave 3 Ships (I've got my pre-order in)

Yes, I'm expecting a B-wing, a TIE Bomber, a Lambda Shuttle, and the Moldy Crow (it's from a Star Wars video game)— probably next week. You can bet I'll be testing them out and posting here.

Till then, cue the Imperial Death March and celebrate the victory over the Rebel scum!

Risk of the Rings

Well, it has turned out to be unexpectedly quite the gaming weekend for the Wargamesmonger. Friday morning I received an e-mail from my buddy Michael, asking if the lad and I were available for an impromptu game night.

Why even ask the question?

So we bundled ourselves and a selection of games over to Michael’s Haven of Hospitality (basement den) and proceeded to choose a favorite for an evening of strategy, tactics, and inevitably bad dice rolling.

The choice of the evening? One of my favorites: Risk: The Lord of the Rings, Trilogy Edition— based, of course, on the noted novel and the Oscar-winning film trilogy. This game is perfectly suited for a four-player evening of conquest, and is far more than just Risk with a pretty wrapping (though that wrapping is terrific).

The Beginning of the Beginning of Middle-Earth.
Left to right: Alexander (Sauron), Michael (Michaelfindel) and Chase (Saruman)

Rules of the One Ring

I won’t go over the rules of Risk again— this game has been a wargaming staple so long it needs no introduction. However, The Lord of the Rings edition is a truly variant game, with special rules of its own that go beyond just the gorgeous map of Middle-Earth. A quick summary:

• The game is played in teams, 2 “Good” players versus 2 “Evil” players.
• Every army has two Leaders at the start of the game. Leaders add 1 to their side’s highest die roll in combat (assuming the Leader is in the warring territory), and allow you to gain special cards and achieve special missions during play.
• The game has a deck of Adventure Cards that trigger special events, allow players to take special actions (like attacking through normally impassable barriers), or give extra troops to certain “Sites of Power” territories (like “Edoras” or “Weathertop,” etc.). They also boost victory points at the end of the game.
• Ports allow for sea-born attacks between connected ports.
• Certain territories have “Strongholds” that add one to the highest defense die roll when that territory is attacked. Stronghold and Leader bonuses add together, so a +2 advantage is possible (and darn hard to beat).
• The One Ring is a token in the game that serves as a randomly progressing game clock. It moves from Hobbiton to Mount Doom, following the path of the Fellowship. The game ends when the Ring is successfully cast into Mount Doom (a die roll).
• Card combination bonus troops are set at a flat rate rather than an escalating progression. The rates are 4, 6, 8 or 10 armies, depending on the specific combination turned in.

The changes are fairly simple, but they add a great deal of variety and twists to the game, and the best strategy prepares for these twists (as will be seen).

Hasbro offers the rules as a free download.  (This link is directly to the PDF, so expect a download and a bit of a wait).

The battle for Middle-Earth begins...

Good vs. Not As Good
The boys both clamored to be the “bad guys” (what is it with teenagers?), while the two dads joined forces as defenders of all that is “good and green in the world.” We set aside our armies and divided the board up. The initial deployment is determined according to “Good” and “Evil” status— 16 Good territories are randomly assigned to the two Good players, 16 “Evil” territories to the two Evil players, and the remaining “neutral” territories are done through the “take turns picking one” method. From there it was a matter of piling our starting armies about, and then the great War of the Ring began.

Michaelfindel (gold armies) would be first, followed by Chase (red armies— think “Saruman”), then myself (“King Howarden” green) and last Alexander (black— think “Sauron”).

A play by play of a Risk game isn’t likely to be worth reading, so I’ll stick with highlights.

The War Begins

We opened with fighting to secure the two extremes of the world (like that never happens in any Risk game). Rather than South America and Australia, this fight would be over Rhûn (northeast bonus region) and the Haradwaith (southeast bonus region). Mordor was going to be solidly Sauron’s almost from the start— Alexander had black over nearly the whole thing, and the only other spaces were held by his ally, Chase (red). Meanwhile, the central areas of Mirkwood and Rohan would be contested largely by yours truly (green), while my ally Michael (gold) held the majority of Arnor.

Early moves saw Saruman-Chase (red) claiming Rhûn and Harad, but he never managed to hold either long enough to collect a bonus, thanks to constant attacks by Michaelfindel, who also quickly established control over Arnor for the 7 point bonus, and kept Sauron-Alexander from gaining control over the Eriador bonus region in the northwest.

Rhûn falls to Saruman, but Michaelfindel holds Arnor.

I managed to claim most of the Rohan bonus region which would likely fall on my next turn, and my ally broke into the Haradwaith, inflicting severe harm on Saruman-Chase. I managed to follow up by driving the forces of evil out of Mirkwood the Great, gaining yet another bonus region. Michael and I openly discussed using my forces in Rohan to break Sauron-Alexander in Mithlond via the sea route, putting his Eriador forces between the golden hammer and a green anvil.

Alas, that plan would never come to be...

Rohan rising— only Minhiriath and the port blocks my path.
Oh, and there are some goblins in Moria. Nobody worries about them.

“They Have a Cave Troll”

Thinking ourselves secure in Arnor and Rohan, and assuming that Saruman-Chase would contest us primarily for Harad and Ithilien, where his armies and leaders were, Michaelfindel and I had unwisely ignored the goblin stronghold of Moria, leaving only token defenses near it. Saruman-Chase saw our folly, and poured out of the curséd depths of Khazad-dûm with a terrifying army— they did indeed have a cave troll in Moria. (And a ringwraith!) Bursting through Eregion, Chase broke Michaelfindel’s hold on Arnor and shattered my feeble forces in Rohan, claiming even the sea port of Minhiriath, and eliminating my leader there!

Unholy Balrogs! Where did those orcs come from? Oh... right. Moria.

 Things looked bleak indeed as a great shadow spread across the realm of Middle-Earth. The Valar were with the Free People, however— Saruman-Chase drew the event card “The Mustering of Middle-Earth,” which ended up adding battalions to lands held by Michaelfindel and yours truly. Quoth the sage Michaelfindel: “You kicked our butt, and then you put a bandaid on it.” 

Resisting the Shadow

Minas Tirith and Mirkwood are both in peril!

Though set back, the will of the Free Peoples remained indomitable. Though I surged back in Rohan, I could not take it nor protect it. Fortunately, I still held the great forest of Mirkwood, and built up the southern woodlands to defend against a certain break-out by Mordor. 

Angmar sneak attacks the Carrock! Hold, elf, hold!

 But Sauron-Alexander was far craftier, and countered by cutting across Arnor instead, and laying down a “The Way is Under the Mountains” card from within the realm of Angmar to assault my lone battalion in Carrock! If he succeeded, my bonus in Mirkwood would be lost... 

Angmar is foiled!

So in the forgotten realm of the Carrock, one lone elf looked up to see the orc hordes emerge from hidden tunnels beneath the Misty Mountains. Undaunted, he raised his bow, and took aim... and stood his ground! The orcs could not break him, and Mirkwood remained free.

The Return of Some Relative of Isildur (or Someone Important Like That)

Sailing into Gondor. Didn't somebody else do this once?

The relief of both the North and South fell upon Michaelfindel (Isildur’s Heir’s Second Cousin’s Third Great-Nephew, Twice Removed). He began by driving Sauron-Alexander’s forces completely out of the North, seizing Eriador, and also driving Saruman-Chase out of western Rohan, also blocking the bridge across the Wold as added security (“None Shall Pass” card). In the South, he drove up into Gondor, putting pressure on Saruman-Chase in an effort to lift the siege of Minas Tirith, alas to no avail. Minas Tirith fell to Saruman-Chase’s forces, who drove up into Rohan— but could not reach either Arnor or Mirkwood. But the Dead Marshes were teeming with orcs, and Mordor looked strong...

The North is free (or at least cheap)! But look at Mordor...

Saruman makes his move...

The Scouring of Mordor

... but the Rohirrim and Elves had done some recruiting! Amassing every troop I could muster (and I mustered quite a few), I went all out, slamming directly into the hordes on the Dead Marshes. They could not withstand the charge of the Rohirrim, and broke. The way lay open into the Black Gate, and I took it, storming through Mordor with wrath and fury, claiming the heights of Mount Doom, the fortress of Minas Morgul, and even Sauron’s great dark tower of Barad-dûr (where I repeatedly poked a stick in the eye of Sauron— because I could). Only the fields of Nurn remained in Sauron’s hands—‘twas a furious battle, but Sauron-Alexander’s lone orc proved that he could be as feisty as an elf on the Carrock, and held his ground. Mordor was not yet done...

Minas Tirith avenged! But what's that white stuff?!?

Last Stands

Sauron-Alexander turned in, gaining ten battalions for his orcs in Nurn, and seized the Gorgoroth plains. But once again, the Valar had intervened— winter storms had struck, and the Udun Vale, which had not known any covering but the ashes of Mount Doom, lay waist-deep in pure, white snow— a more formidable obstacle than any gate built by men, elves, dwarves or orcs. With no path to break out, Sauron-Alexander bided his time, marshaling further forces.

Michaelfindel contemplates his move.
Behind him, Sauron tries to generate power for a hair dryer to melt the snow.

Michaelfindel turned his focus on Saruman-Chase. With ample recruits, and facing a divided enemy, Michaelfindel split his forces into the realms of Haradwaith and Gondor. Marching north up the great river Anduin, Michaelfindel struck the red orcs with unmatched resolve, retaking Osgiliath, Minas Tirith, the Gap of Rohan and finally breaking Saruman-Chase from the stronghold of Isengard. The orcs were also driven from fair Ithilien— only the distant Haradrim Encampment survived his onslaught.
The Haradrim could do no damage, however, and the final act would fall to yours truly.

Saruman's last grasp. His arm has grown very, very... short.
And Sauron's hair dryer scheme doesn't appear to be working.

 Intelligences suggested that Sauron-Alexander had access to many hidden forces (he held a large hand of territory cards, and he and Chase were openly discussing his next move). Fortunately, I too had discovered a Way Under the Mountains— and this time the lone orc in Nurn could not withstand my onslaught from Minas Morgul. The forces on the Plains of Gorgoroth proved otherwise— I could not crack them, and Sauron-Alexander laughed with glee.... but he had not accounted for two small hobbits.

Dang, those are tough orcs— but who's that climbing up the volcano?
It ain't Edmund Hillary...

Throw It in or Jump in with It— We're Not Picky!

 The One Ring had reached Mount Doom. Would Frodo succeed in his quest? Or would Sauron have his moment of revenge? Every eye watched as I lifted the lone die to the top of the Tower of Fate...
Clatter...
clatter...
clatter...
...thunk.
6.
The game was over— the One Ring perished in the fires of Mount Doom, and the shadow was banished from Middle-Earth with the gentle blow of the West wind.

The Ring is consumed by the fires of Mount Doom— Middle-Earth is free!
(Note Sauron's cards in Chase's hands— doom was at hand, if not for Frodo.) 

FINAL NOTES

It was a great evening and a fun game. Even the boys enjoyed it down to the end, despite the slaughter of their forces. Perhaps a little more building and a little less rampaging on their part might have turned the tide in their favor, but the dice rolling really hit them hard at the last.

This remains one of my favorite Risk variants, and not just because of the setting. The cards give the game unexpected moments that keep the end from seeming inevitable. I also like the team-play aspect— it does eliminate the wheeling and dealing of the classic Risk game, but the open plotting of strategy fills the void and keeps the interaction strong. (You can, of course, play the game without teams, still using the Adventure Cards, and keeping the scheming in place, if you prefer).

Alas, the game itself is Out of Production, which is a shame. If you don’t have a copy, you’ll probably not find one cheaply. Be aware that there are actually two versions— the “Conquest of Middle-Earth” version released after the first movie, which plays the same but has only a partial map and fewer Adventure Cards— and the Trilogy Edition, which you see in the photos. Hasbro did release an expansion set for the first version, so ask if the seller has that, if you cannot find the final edition.
Hopefully Hasbro will re-release it or a Hobbit-themed edition as the new movies come about. In the meantime, if you can get a copy, do so.
But you’ll not get mine...

Okay, I'm really not *that* obsessed.

Really.

Despite what my wife says.

:-)

Thanks for reading!