Benny’s Weblog

Settlers of Catan: Two four player games.

Seafarers of Catan: One four player game of the Four Islands scenario.

Memoir ‘44: I’m starting to win as many games as I lose now which is nice. Even though I think Memoir is probably a tiny bit too random for my liking, I still love this game. We’re up to scenario 9 now, slowly working through them all. We play once as each side.

Command & Colors: Ancients: My first game of CC:A. There were enough fiddly things going on in the rules that I had to make a summary sheet of all the stuff that differs from M’44. Our first game was a little slow as we came to terms with how things worked. Biggest differences are leadership, battling back and evading. These three mechanics alone possibly take the CC system from light to middle-weight in rule heaviness and may scare off casual gamers. That’s fine with me, the added strategic options are definately worth it.
The dice, crap crap crap. Worse dice I’ve ever seen, these things don’t roll, they thud. I whipped up a little player aid which maps the symbols to a standard six sided dice. Next time we will just use normal dice.
We used the M’44 card holders for the CC:A cards. In fact the card holders are getting so much use I’m thinking of finding something heavier and more stable. They tend to tip over a little too easily spilling cards face-up across the gameboard.. Next time I might try the Ingenious holders or something..

Fury of Dracula: Seeing as I hadn’t come close to killing Drac in the last few games we decided to play to 8 vampires instead of 6. The game was excellent, best game we have played yet! So close and so much to and fro. I managed to get Drac down to 3-4 health. He managed to escape into the Atlantic in the final stages of the game. This meant he had four sea zones to move into so he lost me easily.
I learned a few lessons which I hope will help next game. I drew event cards, in fact quite a few. Some of these worked against me but others were an immense help. Drawing more is certainly better than drawing very few. Also, carrying wooden stakes isnt good enough. When Drac was found I couldn’t finish him off. He always had an easy time escaping. Next time I’m going to hoard garlic. I think the combination of garlic and wooden stake should do the job nicely. Also, I’m going to work harder at finding the vampires which keep maturing on me

Navia Dratp: We swapped sides. The simple obvious strategy to use with the Blue starter set is to accumulate enough gyullas to dratp the navia for a win. I used this strategy and took the game. My opponent made a mistake when summoning forces and neglected to summon Agyllios, the strongest piece. This meant my “Gyullas Turtle” could walk the board freely.
ND is an absolutely fantastic game, it does for Chess what Blue Moon did for collectable card games. The theme is corny, tacky, weird. I can’t tell if it’s manga, fantasy or what. I hate it but the game is good enough that I just don’t care that much. Always want to play.

Blue Moon: Late in the night, tired and hadn’t played Blue Moon properly for weeks. Had to re-learn a few rules. Need to go back and read the FAQ. My Khind deck had a couple of extra Vulca cards in it by accident. The game didn’t go well, with a few more plays I think I’ll get back into the rhythm again. Need to re-read the rulebook!

The Settlers of Catan Card Game: I won this today, my opponent decided to go for an early city instead of fighting me for the fifth settlement. The extra resources are crucial early in the game and even though cities are necessary for extra VP it is probably more important to resource early and save it all for later in the game. I think finding the transition from adding resource bonus buildings to your kingdom to building VPs is key to this game.

Another great night at Dockers. It seems one or two new players have been turning up every week. There were around 18-19 people last night.
Have been seeing a lot of classic wargames getting played and almost wet myself when I saw Hannibal Rome vs Carthage. Good to see Twilight Struggle getting a lot of play too.

I managed to get hold of Command & Colors: Ancients, ordered it from warchest.com.au. Now I’ve seen a lot of chatter about lots of stickers needing to be put on little blocks and had a bit of a chuckle to myself. I mean I’ve stickered Europe Engulfed so surely C&C: Ancients will be a drop in the pond. Nope, there are lots, and I mean LOTS of stickers! It’s no understatement, when you’ve finished you’ll feel you’ve played 10 games straight

Ingenious: Took this game against a couple of beginners. Not feeling guilty.

A Game Of Thrones: I’m all over the shop with this one. I’m not sure to which level I love or hate this game. I really need to go away and study strategy as I always end up coming either last or second last. Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of each faction’s cards seems more and more important as does the strength of ship support.

Ra: Nothing needs to be said, still a great game that I lose consistently to a certain person

Circus Maximus: I made this game today out of 1.5mm cardstock and printer label paper, it turned out beautifully.
Before playing I was skeptical if this would be an OK game but let me assure you, it is! The rules are a little fiddly and you need to study them to make sure you have things correct but this is easy for most gamers.
Imagine Formula De’ with less luck, more theme, much much more strategy and with combat and you’ll have a feel for what this game is like. Certainly the best racing game I’ve played.

I can understand why people have rated it low however. If you’re trying to get 8 players together it may be a stretch to teach them the rules. Their enjoyment of the game will be proportional to their knowledge of the rules. I think less players with more chariots each is a better idea. We played a two player game with four chariots each and it was pretty good. Having four each meant each chariot could work together in an attempt to block the opponent.
After one lap however we found we were playing one rule incorrectly so scrapped the game Looking forward to playing again sometime over the weekend!

Memoir ‘44: Finally got a win with this. We swapped sides and I won the match. Slowly getting through the base scenarios, looking forward to trying the Eastern Front expansion soon. The base set scenarios are very similar in feel with the only major difference being whether it’s beach or not.

Caylus: Two player Caylus is very nice. If you enjoy resource management and building you will love this game. The two times we began playing we did not have time finish. The game is very long, even for two. In fact it’s even longer than Starship Catan which I consider to be bordering on too long even though Starship is one of my favorites.

Settlers Seafarers: Played two three player games and one four player game. Three is a little too open at least for the scenario we played (New Shores). Four player however was fantastic fun, lots going on. Seafarers does still feel like basic Catan with the added bonus that no player gets trapped into a corner with no ability to expand. Fixes the few gripes I have with the basic game. So if you’ve got four players play Seafarers of Catan. If you’ve got three players then stick to the basic game.

For five - six players I recommend you play with the 5-6 expansion for Seafarers. This can get expensive however as you need to get Settlers Of Catan, The Settlers of Catan 5 & 6 Player Expansion, The Seafarers of Catan Expansion and the Seafarers of Catan 5 & 6 Player Expansion!!

Ingenious: Played with four, still loving this game.

Tigris & Euphrates: Played late into the night. A four player game with one faction controlled by two new players. As always this was a tense affair, lots of early aggression. The more I play it the more I see opportunities for potential points. Newcomers to the game are basically point trees in season We allowed them a three turn grace period before they would become fair game. After that time the gloves came off and they were fair game. The three of us more experienced players pretty much carved up their kingdom for selfish purposes! Sorry guys

Fury of Dracula: Two player game with me playing the hunters. I can find Drac easily but I just can’t kill him. I need to draw more event cards. The more I play the easier Drac is defeating me.

Tigris & Euphrates: Easy win over an E&T learner. I was supposed to be easy on her… apparently

Settlers Five and Six Player: This worked surprisingly well. The map feels just the right size for five players, possibly better than the four player standard game. The special build phase is an excellent idea and keeps all players involved in the game all the time. Klaus Tauber really knows his stuff and after playing Starfarers of Catan, The Settlers Card Game, Settlers of Elasund, Cities and Knights and Seafarers I can say for me he is second in greatness only to Reiner Knizia. Each of these games plays wildly different yet keeps the same great Catan theme and feel.
The six player game felt slightly weaker mainly because there is just so much stuff to keep track of. With six players you really need to keep an eye on who is doing what. Still, it was a lot of fun . One player at our table has great negotiation skills, at the beginning of our game he managed to convince us that he was in a bad game position. This meant he was able to obtain many many cheap trades, he won the game.

Ingenious: Another four player game. I was in a commanding position most of the time, had three ingeniouses ready to complete but failed to draw the necessary colors to finish any of them. So even though I came second in the game, I had not completed a single color! I blame luck. Still love the game though.

Caylus: Played a short two player game to get a grip on the rules. I’m growing to like this one and looking forward to getting right into it soon.

Picked up a copy of the Seafarers of Catan expansion today. I hope to get this one on the table Tuesday night. Played two ladder games of this online and won both. so far I’ve only playd the first scenario, New Shores.

Fury of Dracula: Beaten by Drac for the first time today. Resolve is important as is the need to steer clear of fighting Drac at night. Next game I need to be more aware of my options as the hunters. Most items are pretty weak againt him with the exception of a few obvious ones such as stake. Also, garlic is important to keep him in the fight long enough to do any real damage. So far I’m kinda enjoying the game but the starting positions of the hunters may stagnate a little. I’m trying to figure out how to shake things up. So far I’ve had no trouble finding him pretty quickly.

Navia Dratp: Tried the same strategy I used the previous game, bringing out my strongest gamepiece early (Aguinilyos) and attempting to dratp him early by earning enough gyullas from moving most of my gulled. Unfortunately this meant my opponent had time to summon many more pieces. By the time he was ready to dratp, my Navia was in check and I had lost the initiative. The game ended with my opponent’s Navia Dratp.

I picked up a copy of Cities & Knights of Catan today after playing a few games online at Asobrain. Pretty good game but I’m keen to get Seafarers too. For Cities & Knights Asobrain is good but if you want to play Seafarers S3D Connector is the go.
I read somewhere the Seafarers of Catan expansion was originally part of Klaus’s original design and they separated the components for reasons of cost and simplicity. I believe it, Seafarers is better suited to 4 players (basic Settlers with 3) with the outcome less dependant on turn-order. There is less tendency for players to become hemmed in at no fault of their own.

Memoir ‘44: Played three games, one of scenario 5 and two of scenario 6. Lost all three. My record with Memoir is shameful, something like 2 wins in 14 games! Some I know I’ve lost through bad luck but more often than not my tactics have been bad. I definately have a love/hate with this one!

Fury Of Dracula: A trial game to learn the rules. I played the hunters who quickly found Drac. and overcame him. I think this game is best with two and even though I was controlling the four hunters it was very very easy to track them all. Use the Memoir ‘44 card holders, one for each hunter. It works perfectly and saves having to drop and pickup hands. I think with two players you can finish a game of this in under 45 minutes, maybe quicker.

Starship Catan: My second play, more enjoyable than the first but I *did* win so there could be some bias! The key is remembering which resources/colonies/advenures are in what stacks and making sure you have spare Colony and Trade ships handy. The best card seems to be the $5 < -> 1 trade. When I needed cash I would fly through the same stack and use that card, it worked a treat.

- Desert VP for Vehicles and Guns are printed in red on the scenario card.
- All Axis vehicles [EXC: motorcycles] in North African scenarios set prior to October 1941 are assumed to have their MP allotments printed in red.
- Surrender may not be refused.
- The Inherent Crew (or HS) of any vehicle with a MA weapon indicated on its counter may place Smoke Grenades using the same rules as attempting to fire a Smoke Dispenser (with exceptions).

Scrub
- treated as Open Ground for all purposes other than Gun Emplacement, concealment, Hammada Immobilization.
- does not negate FFMO or Interdiction.

Hammada
- Each vehicle that is not fully-tracked must make an Immobilization DR when it enters (or changes VCA in) either a hammada hex or an Open Ground hex that is Accessible to a hammada.

Deirs
- an entrenched/Emplaced unit in a non-Lip deir hex has a LOS past a Lip Hexside only to a same-level hex formed by that Lip hexside, and to any hex at a higher elevation than that entrenched/Emplaced unit.
- A non-PRC target in a deir receives a + 1 TEM (or may claim HD status) vs Direct Fire if the firer is at the same elevation as the target and that firer’s LOF crosses a Lip Hexside that does not form part of that firer’s hex. Otherwise, a deir gives no protective benefit and is treated as flat level ground.

Wadi
- A wadi is a Depression, and is the equivalent of a gully for all purposes except as modified below.
- Unlike a gully, Crest status in a wadi may be used by all types of Infantry, SW, vehicles and Guns, within certain restrictions.
- All types of Infantry-possessed SW (as well as those SW that can be used while a Passenger/Rider) may be used from a wadi Crest position.
- Any type of vehide may gain Crest status in a non-bridge wadi hex, and may do so from either WITHIN that wadi hex or from an adjacent hex, but once it achieves Crest status it must immediately expend a Stop MP.
- A vehicle in Crest status is covered by a Vehicle Crest counter.
- A non-vehicular Gun may utilize Crest status in a non-bridge wadi hex and, provided it is unhooked, gains such status automatically when its manning Infantry do (5.4252). However, if those Infantry subsequently lose their Crest status the Gun still retains it for itself..
- A Gun may not set up Emplaced in Crest status.

Hillocks
- Units on a non-Summit hillock hex are at Level 1/2.
- A hillock hex is a type of Inherent Terrain.
- A unit on a hillock has a LOS over that hillock, and also over the next hillock its LOS encounters. The viewing unit can also see along that same LOS past yet another hillock - but only to Locations that are behind but “adjacent”
- a non-entrenched, non-Emplaced unit that is “adjacent” (6.4) to a hillock has a LOS past that hillock - and can also see along that same LOS past another hillock to Locations that are behind but “adjacent” to this other hillock.
- A unit on a hillock can claim Height Advantage vs Direct Fire if at least one full level higher than the attacker.
- A Hillock summit is an extra half-level hillock hex.

Sand
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