First games of Zombicide: Black Plague

I had my first try at the new Zombicide: Black Plague game last night. I had played the original Zombicide a couple of times and didn't enjoy it at all. I felt it was too hard and unforgiving of mistakes. I agreed to play this new version because I didn't have a game arranged for last night and thought it would be better than nothing. I wasn't expecting much but I really enjoyed it.

 

The new version has been tweaked to improve certain things apparently (although I have no real idea what these are). I did like the trays you got to organise things and the fact that you got to choose your starting weapons.

 

 

I played as Nelly, the tavern wench, which I liked as I got a free movement action straight away. Sadly I never got enough experience in either of the games we played to try out the orange and red abilities.

 

 

I think we had three other fighters a ranged character and a mage (who worryingly is called Baldric!). The first game we had to rescue six villagers from various locations around the board. There were also two crypts we could enter which held a powerful spell and a powerful crossbow. Much to my surprise we won and did so without anyone dying. Although there were a few close calls.

The second game was more complicated. We had to examine some markers until we found a blue one and a green one which would allow us to open specific doors that would grant us access to the two crypts which in turn allowed us to access an area with a book we needed to retrieve (I think). Sadly by the time we got there we were on orange and the four rooms spawned a host of runners walkers and fatties. Luckily judicious use of spells and abilities allowed us to clear it out. All we had to do now to win was get one character to red. We did manage that but lost one character in the process.

 

All in all a good nights fun with a good group of people playing cooperatively. I'm looking forward to the next game when hopefully the rest of Steve's Kickstarter pledge will have arrived. Then we might not get swamped because we've run out of walkers!

"Victory at Waterloo" arrives.

As part of my on-going attempt to replace the games I rashly got rid of when I quit gaming years ago I bought a copy of "Victory at Waterloo" on eBay. It arrived this morning and I wasted no time setting up a game.

 

On the surface it's a very simple game (the rules only run to four sides). It takes minutes to set up and the combat is fairly basic. However it requires a lot of thought to play well. The French have a limited time before the Prussians start to arrive so have to move quickly and decisively. The British on the other hand have to dig in and try to hold on. The optional rules add a lot of nice features which enhance the game, particularly the command & control rules which limit the amount of units you can move each turn. Plus it can be played solo and still give you a fun game.

 

Turn 2. The French are trying to flank the British while the British
on the other flank are trying to draw troops away from the
Prussian entry points.

I quickly set up the game and played a few moves to get back into the swing of things. I made a few mistakes but the memories came flooding back and I look forward to playing a full game soon.

Games I'd Forgotten: Cosmic Encounter

I was reading through a few blog posts yesterday when I came across a mention of a board game called Cosmic Encounter. It rang a bell with me so I Googled it and sure enough I found this picture which brought it all back to me.

As the name suggests players represent alien races that are seeking to spread themselves onto five foreign worlds. To accomplish this, they make challenges against other players and enlist the aid of interested parties. But alien powers, which are unique to each race, give players ways to bend or outright break some of the rules in the game. There's another game of the same name available now from Fantasy Flight Games which is a more modern remake of the original. 

Some of the games different races

A game in progress

I remember playing this lots back in the late 70's it was great fun but simple to play with lots of opportunities for backstabbing. Sadly yet another game I wish I'd kept now. I may look at buying the new version but it's rare that I get a chance to play a board game with three or four others. So I'm not sure I want to invest £40+ on a game i may hardly get a chance to play.

First Game of Cry Havoc in Years

Monday night saw me dig out Cry Havoc for a game. I had a quick look through the rules before the game and they were just as simple as I remembered. A couple of minutes explaining the rules to Chaz and we were ready to go.

We decided to play Scenario 1 first to get the hang of the game as it only used a few characters. The scenario was a fight between two bands of local thugs, each vying for the position of top dog in the village. Then we hit the first minor problem, sorting out the counters. There are two counters for each character (four for mounted knights) showing the different states they can have, so it took a while to go through all the counters picking out the ones we needed. Once we got that sorted out the game went pretty quickly. A few checks of the rules later and we started to get the hang of the tactics, ganging up on opponents, steering clear of archers and using the terrain to advantage. I lost my bowman early on and never recovered, with Chaz gaining an easy win.

Having got the hang of things we moved on to a more complex scenario played on the same map, shown below.

This time a few knights with a mix of archers & billmen were protecting the Lady Edith after her town had fallen to a seige. They were hiding out in a poorer quarter of the town hoping to survive till reinforcements arrived to rescue them. I played the dastardly attackers.

Again it took us ages to sort through the counters, I'll have to get a tray for the counters or label some bags to help sort them out. I outnumbered Chaz but he had more crossbows and archers. Having suffered at the hands of Chaz's archers last game I took great pains to avoid them and they were a lot less effective this time. As the game progressed I managed to use my superior numbers to wear down Chaz's forces and it soon became clear that the Lady Edith was in for a rough night so we called the game as a win for me.

Having played a couple of games now we could see how things could have been done better by both of us. For a simple set of rules there are some complex tactics in play. But it was an enjoyable night and I look forward to playing Cry Havoc again soon.

eBay Bargain

I've finally lucked out on eBay. Usually stuff I want I lose at the last second or the price goes way higher than I want to pay. But last week neither of these things happened. I posted awhile ago about Cry Havoc, a board game that I'd liked years ago but forgotten. I said at the end of the post that I might have a look on eBay to see if I could pick up a copy.

Well there were a couple of copies on eBay as well as a few of the expansions but they all went for £25-£35, much more than I wanted to pay for a trip down memory lane. I kept checking every couple of weeks to see if any more turned up and then I noticed a copy of Siege, one of the stand-alone expansions, up for auction. I thought about bidding for it but I really wanted the original game. I had a look at the details though and it turned out that he was selling Siege and included in the box was also a full copy of Cry Havoc. So I placed a bid expecting it to go for £30-£40 as usual.

Well bidding was quite slow till near the end as usual and I placed my final bid not expecting to win. Then to my surprise I got an email saying I'd won and for only £8.48 + £6 p&p! I've no idea why I managed to get both games for such a low price. In fact a copy of Siege on it's own went for £20 just a few days later.  The game has arrived now and it's all there and in good order so I'm a happy camper. Now all I need to do is to find someone who'll play it with me.

Games I'd Forgotten: Cry Havoc

I was looking through some posts on TMP when I came across one asking about a board game called 'Cry Havoc'.

For some reason I followed a link that had been suggested and I ended up at a site all about the game. It was there I recognised some of the counters which prompted me to explore further. Sure enough it started to come back to me. I remembered playing the game and enjoying it. I think I must have bought it back in 1981 when the game first came out as I seem to remember it coming in a large ziplock bag rather than a box. I think it must have been at a wargame show in Preston. In fact the more I think about I'm sure I can even remember what the stand looked like! Even though it was over 30 years ago.

The game was a recreation of medieval combat at, iirc, skirmish level and was designed to be a fun game that was quick and easy to play. One of the reasons for it's success was the counters, they looked gorgeous, colourful and were all different. The system of decreasing values that the game used was a true innovation back in 1981.

Sir Conrad, a brave knight (or a baron)
 looks superb and is ready to fight.

Here he is a victim of his own passion and
gets wounded (note the broken lance and the torn garments).

Over the years they added expansions and new maps and scenarios which I don't think I ever bought although the expansion called Outremer does seem familiar.

The Village map

The maps were fairly simple but gave you interesting tactical problems to solve, and for some reason they were yellow! Why they didn't use green I guess I'll never know.

If you want to know more about this game or its expansions check out the Cry Havoc Fan site. Here you can find out more about the game, download things like the rules and even buy new counter sheets and maps to use with the game. Who knows I may even see if I can find a copy on eBay some time.

Blast from the Past: Space Hulk

I fancied a change of pace from my usual tabletop gaming so I arranged to play a board game at the club this week. After a bit of discussion Matt and I decided to give Space Hulk a run out. I think the last time I played Space Hulk must be 20 years ago or more. But I still remembered the horror of weapon jams and being eaten alive by Genestealers.

We decided to play a mission where you have to go collect a relic and then get back out. The layout of the board can be seen below.

Things started out ok for me as I got to grips with the rules again. I had a couple of guys doing sterling work on overwatch near the entrance and the rest were moving forward with no problems. Then I cocked things up and lost my Flamethrower guy. But I felt I was doing ok. I had my escape route sorted and my dice were doing well.

 

The board just before I grabbed the Chalice



I managed to grab the Chalice and started to head back out. That's when things started to go wrong. I rolled 6 pairs of dice for overwatch shooting without a single kill and lost my second Terminator. Now I had to watch for Genestealers coming from behind and in front. Gradually Matt whittled me down until I just had the Terminator with the Lightning claws left. He had to move over to the centre of the board to try and pick up the chalice dropped by the Librarian. I didn't hold out much hope at this point and nearly conceded.

 

The chalice has just been picked up and a horde of Genestealers
 blocks my way to the exit with more arriving all the time

But, miracle of miracles I managed to fight my way through waves of Genestealers and make it to the exit for a win! The two dice for the Lightning Claws and the +1 made all the difference.

The heroic moment of victory captured for posterity.

Needless to say Matt used his much greater experience of playing the game to give me a good stuffing in the return match. He used the flamethrower and Psychic powers of the Librarian much better than I did. Although it must be said he had some great die rolling as well. He was in a strong position until a jam let me in and he quickly lost two Terminators. Unfortunately for me he pulled a high command chit and managed to get his Termie carrying the chalice to the exit before I could reach him.

So a good night for both of us with one win each and more surprisingly two wins for the Marines. The game was just as good as I remembered and I look forward to playing it again.