All Dayer Board Gamingasm

Last Sunday we, the Gwent Reavers, got together for an easter banquet of gaming. First of all... CODENAMES!

This game has a Minesweep/Battleship/Dixit feel to it. Yes thats three games, but this combines them perfectly with an almost Resistence theme of spies and agents. Each team has a spymaster, and they they have to direct his team mates to select the right cards, laid out 5x5, and the correct agents. Each card has one word on it, and the Spymaster may only say one word along with a number of guesses. The reason for that, is that if you can tie in more than one card with just one single clue, you can get more cards found. The first to 8/9 wins the game. However... if you select a card thats either the opposite teams or a 'bystander', you lose your turn and it passes to the other team. Find the assassin, and you lose. Outright. 

As you can see above, the Spymasters share the same card which tells you where the correct cards are. The game tests friendships and knowledge of peoples interest, especially in the more vague of clues! We played several rounds and it went down pretty well, a worthy game!

I picked up Evoultion a couple of weeks back and its another game that people have enjoyed. 

Each player is given a species, in itself shows you your population and body mass. Population helps earn you points at the end and the amount of food you can collect (another source of points), while body mass can defend against any species that goes carnivore. 

Theres a bunch of card upgrades to help evolve your species and give you skills from being able to collect more food or to help defend against those meat eaters. Its a lovely looking game too, being bright and vibrant.

The Resistence also got some play, and I got to be this courageous lass! Not a spy. No, never. Always good I am!

 

Also a few weeks ago, Morg picked up Skull. 

A little like Liars/Pirate dice but with lovely looking beermats, three of whic are illustrated with flowers, one with a skull! Each player puts cards down and then one can challenge to show over  cards upto a certain number, all must be flowers and you have to start from your own pile. You get some outrageous bluffs and guesses but its another game thats proven to be great fun, upto 6 players too!

As expected the classic Ticket To Ride got a playthrough, and Mike picked up a win. Despite its simplicity this is one of those games we love going back to swearing at friends for blocking routes then cackling maniaclly when we do it tot hem. 

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While not on the same day, (although some Xwing was played I'll dedicate that to its own post) Bam, Sturdy and Louis did play some Warmachine two weeks back, Bams been interested and seems to be really enjoying. Anything that makes him even almost raise half a smile is worth it!

So some Xwing posts to come, I'll be participating in the Welsh Regionals in Cardiff so plenty of practice games coming for that! We're also looking for more games to be recommended so please share the games you love!

2015 And A Huge Catch Up!

So its 2015, which means I get to say, Happy New Year! Its been a hectic time lately for me, where I thought I'd be blogging every week and posting lots of interesting things, I've been busy working and when I've got some gaming time I've been too busy enjoying it to take pictures and write up about my experiences. But heres to a catch up!

 Xmas at the Gwent Reavers means some of the uni lads are back and we get some more gaming in. Alun came back for some 40k, a 1500 pt game between my marines and his guard that we played in less than two hours and resulted in a reasonably empty board and a win for me. 

 

Some Sons of Anarchy has been played, with a ridiculoulsy close game between myself, Gav and Bam just monday. Gav had $55k, Bam had $54, and I managed to get to $52. Such a good game! My obvious highlight is visiting Caracara Studios... Ahem...

On Xmas eve I'd been looking at getting Game of Thrones on the Xbox. I'd had a go of the trial, and thought seeing as the first episode was only £4 I'd get that and perhaps the season pass. I turn the xbox on, it slowly loads and I notice a sale. GoT first episode £2 and the season pass for almost half price. Snapped that up! The games pretty fun too.

By Telltale games, its an adventure game that follows in the same veins as many of their previous games, like Sam and Max, Back to the Future etc, where choices and reactions are gameplay and the story keeps you engrossed. You follow a new factin, the Forresters that become embroiled in a brutal situation and you get to converse with characters from the show and books, all voiced by the actual actors which helps submerse you into the setting. A good pickup and I'm looking forward to more episodes!

One club day, Gav excitedly came upto the studio with Pathfinder, Rise of the Runelods. Myself and Morgan were intrigued so we set it up and randomly had a go at a scenario. ROTR is a card adventure/roleplay game, where you choose a character and begin an adventure. Our test scenario was ill advised and we were thumped. Morg read a little more into it and we'd realised what we'd done so began again but this time, from the start. Cue a couple of full days soley playing this.

I chose Seoni, a rather wild looking sorcereress whose cleavage reminded me enough of Marg Tyrell that I didn't care about her stats or any advancements. Judge the book by the cover though, cause shes been awesome to play. Her spells have kicked some ass, and shes been the reason we've completed a couple of the harder scenarios. The last one we did, beating Mammy Graug was a nightmare but somehow I managed to roll just enough on a bazillion dice to beat the mother ogres insane boosted combat stat. It really felt like an achievement too, and its made me want to play a lot more of this type of game in the future.  

Did I mention that myself and Morg love a bit of Scrabble? Not as much as I like doing this kind of thing... But we did get a few games in and I managed to pip him to the post in a couple of close games while he destroyed me in another. I did give him a beating in another so the thrashing hurt a lot less, but sometimes you just get shit letters!

Oh X-Wing, I do love you so.

As you can see, I've been doing some customising, including the Rebels YT-2400 and three A-Wings I've got too. The grey and orange has been expanded upon with Thunderhawk Blue, which has added a little of variety without getting in the way of the main scheme. 

Oh, and this finally happened.

I've been tempted for a while, but over Xmas I finally spoiled myself (partly because my 4 Forward had disappeared) when I saw these Darksun templates from http://www.cogotwo.com/ and knew I needed them in my grasp. Delivery was quick, they're already masked off for you to paint and with some Thunderhawk Blue sploshed on they looked absolutely stunning. I cannot recommend getting some of these enough if you're into Xwing!

Lastly, we played a rather large game of Xwing between 5 players. Louis using a few headhunters from Scum and Villiany (we said he could have a go as hes hoping to get some of them when they're released so used the stats that FFG have shared) along with Bam and Josh using Imperial forces against myself and Gav with Rebels. I think there was 350 points on each side, including two YT-2400s, the Falcon, and three decimators. It turned out to be a brutal game, and came down to one Awing and a Decimator as the final two ships... pretty damn close when you consider how much was on the board! The Imperials edged it, bloody swines! Those decimators are big buggers fair play, but they're certainly not invincible! I also played a game against my nephew on Xmas day that he won, I did take a couple of pictures of the forces we used but havent got them to upload, but they are on my instagram which can be found right here!

I think thats most of whats been happening blogged about anyway, hopefully I can get back to being more regular with these posts, I want to do a more in depth look at Pathfinder, some more Xwing posts perhaps some tactics and batreps, some Necromunda things that may happen in the future and also any other games we get to play... And I'll also have to chat about Resistance.... 

But for now thanks for reading and I hope your 2015 is a cracker!

Sons of Anarchy and the 50k

Greetings overlords, to another DBD post. Yes, two in one week, tis madness! First of all however, I have to thank you all for this.

My humble blog about gaming, whether it is war or board based, has reached 50,000 views. I'm a little surprised as it wasn't long ago I posted about the 40,000 views and I'v ebeen to busy over the last few months to be that active, but still people come from far and wide to look at some of the oddities I've posted, and I cannot thank you enough. 

A quick pic of the grots I took to Dragondaze, largely done bar a few details and I will prob do bases at some point too. Better pictures will come when they're finished!

But now for the main event of this post! 

As I mentioned on the Dragondaze post, I'd bought myself a new game, Sons of Anarchy. I absolutely love the show, so the game was appealing to me immensely. 

You start off with a screen, with which to hide your stash behind, your club house with the basic rules and what you have, and then a series of locations across which you ride and exploit via specific area traits. For example, one location may allow you to buy 2 guns and 2 contraband for four cash, then another will allow you to sell one gun for four cash. Did I mention that cash is key? Well whoever ends up with the most cash wins the game, so combo-ing these deals is key to getting the most cash. 

Obviously. if you're a fan of SoA like myself you know that this game sounds a little too quiet for a Men of Mayhem game... well thats where the throwdowns come in. If two gangs are in a location, that area cannot be exploited. A throwdown however can be ordered where the two games go at it in a fight. Prospects give you +1, Members give you +2, and if you choose to use a gun, they can give you +3/ Also, if guns are used and whether you win or lose the dice roll, players choose which of their members go to hospital and potentially die. Theres an ER room and St Thomas location cards for a reason! You also gain heat for such actions, which can lead to you finding it harder to deal drugs in the contraband phase. Here, players secretly hold how many drugs they wish to deal, and depending on the combined total you get different amounts for each contraband. The less, the more its worth, where as if a lot of drugs are being sold you flood the market and make them worth less.

Its a great little game that takes little more than an hour, although now we know how to play it'll take even less. Above you can see how my stash was hidden, and I ended up winning the game too, think watching the show gave me an edge! I thoroughly enjoyed playing the game tho and look forward to a full four player game. Even if you're not a fan of the series I think people will enjoy playing this, so its a great little game to mix in with other games you play. And for £30-35 its a good price point. 

We also cracked out Munchkin to give a new member an intro to tabletop gaming, and he ended up with the best starting hand I've ever seen. At level 3 he had a level 16 combat capability... lucky sod! He ended up winning too so he was well chuffed with himself. I'm hoping next monday some X-wing will be played, having some withdrawel symptoms so hopefully a member will be looking for a game. Thats all for now though!