The King is Dead - A review

The quality of the components of this game are very good - cards have a nice feel, the box and board have good quality art work. There are a number of printed faction counters and coloured cubes to represent followers of each faction. 

The cleverness of this game is the different levels of strategy required to win. 

There are 3 factions Scots (Blue), Welsh (Red) and Romano-British(Yellow). 

To win you need the most followers of the winning faction, the factions win by controlling the most regions of Britain - but by collecting followers you reduce the number of that colour to win the region. To win a region a faction need the most followers in that region. 

However if there is a tie or no followers in a region then the Saxons take control..... If they do this 4 times then the game ends and the method of identifying the winner (leader of the resistance in this case) changes to the most number of complete sets (1 of each colour) each player has. 

You also only have 8 cards to play over the whole game - each player has exactly the same cards. 

The challenges are -

Forcing them to play cards - playing the last card can be a game changer. 

Bluffing your opponent about your intentions. 

Knowing when to let a region go - either to the Saxons or a different faction. 

Not identifying with a colour or faction - as this can lead to a faction controlling a number of regions but not have the faction's colours!

I have only really played this a 2 player game - roughly 25 minutes a game. It is worth the money to buy as there is plenty of depth to it. Would like to play with 3 and the 4 player "team" game. The game also has a variation to add extra challenge!

A recommend game!

Thanks to Steedo for coming over and winning one ..... Out of seven I think!

Morts 

Santa has been!

Well this is my gaming haul this Christmas!

To be honested I picked and probably paid for these but it is nice to get some stuff in the Christmas pile. 

I have read both Kings of War and Dragon Rampant which both seem to be good games, which I look forward to getting them to a table. 

I have managed to get the Better Half and Thing 1 to play The King is Dead, which appears to be a clever and subtle game - with different strategies to get a win. Unfortunately my opponents didn't seem to get the subtleties of the game (although Thing 1 did win!). I really want to play this again as it appears that it plays quickly and with lots of sneaky ways to win or lose. 

Morts

Star Wars - the force awakens - my thoughts

Well I got to see Star Wars - the force awakens last night. 

So for what it's is worth here are some of my thoughts on it.

1- did I enjoy the film? Yes I did thank you very much.

2- did it pass the numb backside test? Yes it did. It moved along at a good pace.

3- did I enjoy it? Yes - fits in with the Star Wars we all know and love.

The new and returning characters were developed and you cared for them - remember Peter Jackson characters you care about drive the story not big set piece special fx! Still narked how PJ managed to not make a good version of the Hobbit - I think there is a good film in there just needs editing, I digress. 

So it is a good film, but ....... Something was missing from it.

There wasn't anything new in this film to the Star Wars universe - it followed the same basic story as the original - even some of the ship scenes came out of 1977 (but with better special fx). Some of the plot twists were similar to those employed in Star Trek into darkness - changes of character, dark having doubts/worries of going to light. 

For all of the prequels failings and there were many they did expand the universe and how things worked politically - the big picture. In the force awakens set 30 years after the fall of the empire there is talk of the New Republic, the First Order and the Resistance. 

Now I know that I am massively over thinking this but after the fall of the Empire there would be chaos across the galaxy far far away - lots of peoples carving out their own bit of space in the aftermath - this is only 50 years or so since the clone wars and the Rebellion would have struggled to manage a smooth transition as it had been fighting the Imperial military for a number of years - or did most of the old imperial commanders just sign up with the Rebels and the New Republic? If so they would have lots of imperial kit.

So as I see it the First Order are a gang of old imperials trying to restore the empire - the Resistance are a front for the New Republic to fight the First Order. But I am guessing, so I personally think a bit of background development would have benefited the universe development... But perhaps they were worried about repeating the errors of the prequels.

Anyway go a watch it - it is a good film.

Morts

Men of Gondor

Well got some more figures painted - Men of Gondor or Numnenoreans for the Lord of the Rings range by GW.

On the whole pretty happy with them - not the best paint job I've done - but it'll do ....

Also did Denathor - again an ok job. 

Plan to use this lot with the GW games skirmish and War of the Ring, Lion Rampant (the soon to be arriving Dragon Rampant 👍), HotT (using sabot bases - see the old posts) .... They might also make in into a Frostgrave warband - Denathor would make a good wizard!

What to paint next ..... Should try and finish something, but my attention span probably means I won't!

Morts

Got some painting done!

Finished off some archers for Warhammer and or Lion Rampant! Or for Dragon Rampant which is on order from Amazon with release date of the 20th December, but if I'd ordered from Northstar would be in my grubby mitts! Hey oh my fault for going with the global beast .....

There are 12 - but not in the picture. Just got to varnish and base.

Morts

Cheap super glue!

Wasn't even making a model ..... Fixing Christmas decorations and this happened!

I keep buying cheap super glue and the nozzle doesn't seal probably, so the  bloody stuff escapes onto the tube! Had a number of finger sticking incidents when I put the gripping beast Vikings and Saxons together!

This was the worst to date 15 minutes of wiggling under running water sorted it!

Caught the index finger on the same hand on the gate latch - blood and ouch!

Hopefully will get some painting done so I can update with something else!

Morts

Battlelore - first game for me!

DK brought over his nicely painted copy of Battlelore. 

Took a little time to set up but I enjoyed  it. A nice cross over between a boardgame and a wargame (could be a nice diversion from all those computer games for you and the boy bro!).

The setting is Fantasy Flights Runebound world - which appears similar to the Warhammer old world. 

If I am honest l'm not that keen on the Chaos demon thing but I am obviously in a minority - I like the Knights versus barbarians thing. 

The game flowed well with the orders/action deck dealing with what units did what - no order no action - which was a little frustrating at times, no doubt the intention of the cards. These cards could be used in conjunction with the lore cards which allowed you to act in the others players turn or buff up units for an attack.

The purpose of the game is to get 16 objective points to win. You pick your objectives and the terrain on your side of the board and your opponent does the same using cards. The points are scored every turn so getting your objectives holding and knocking you opponent off theirs is the key to victory - something I didn't really grasp in the game we played so even after starting first I ended up chasing DK for points until he won :(

I did kill many more of DK's troops - which should be worth points so a moral victory to me :)

Overall a good game of that I'd like to play again, which also (with DK's painting) has some of the spectacle of a wargame - and certainly not beyond the wit of man to make some 3D hills etc for it.

Morts

ORC'S DRIFT - The outcome......

Well we finally got together and fought out the final battle at Orc's Drift. 

How did it go?  ..... There were some issues with the conversion of a 2nd Edition scenario park and 6th Edition rules - most were fudged but some just didn't seem to work. Probably because I didn't think about it enough! 

The compound at morning muster. 

Turn 1 - King F'yar and the Severed Hand Orcs arrive from Ashak Rise. 

Turn 2 - The Kwae Karr Orcs arrive fresh from Linden Way.

The Elves pepper the advancing orcs with arrows - but they pass the morale check

Excellent use of Mistress of the Marsh - on either side of the bridge really slowed the Kwae Karr Orcs!

King F'yar goes in for the kill...... Forgot the fear tests!

The wall makes it difficult for the orcs to land hits - but their unit strength, ranks mean they "win" the melee - but the special rules mean the defenders don't rout! I hadn't thought this through - I felt this poor bit of fudging by me turned the game into a bit of a dull grind fest. 

Approximately turn 7 - More Orcs arriving from Kachas Pass and more attack the outpost compound. 

Brommedir holds the Orcs back - this character had a poor game - I don't think he killed a single Orc with his bow! Using the skirmish rules the orcs would have been able to surround him!

Meanwhile King F'yar and Chardz battle it out - the use of the Beast Cowers made the Wyvern impotent in the combat....... The result was a see-saw fight which F'yar lost!

I should have made the orcs take morale checks at this point to see if the loss of their King would dishearten them ... Another error!

The distressed Wyvern defends F'yar's body! As more Orcs and Guthrum Mane (although he was too drunk to do anything this turn) attack to test the defenders resolve!

The mass of Orcs break into the compound - which is where I called time.

I have to say that I was disappointed with the way the game played out - it started well but didn't develop how I hoped it would. There were errors in my reading of the rules (and I should have used considered rules from the 6th Edition's  Skirmish and Seige Appendices, but I didn't think about it at the time). 

The key sticking point was the defenders not routing within the compound - so no break tests - but this meant the Orcs couldn't push the defenders off/away from the walls - I think playing the game as a Skirmish would have made a lot more sense - after all Warhammer Rules are basically large skirmish rules anyway. Or if the Orcs won allowing some over the wall, or pushing the defenders back 1" and the Orcs get over the wall ... The benefit of hindsight!

However there were some really cool parts it the game as well - the Druid being an Alcoholic which mean the defenders lost the ability to cast or defend magic - although when be was sober he made the Orc shaman Bagrash a little redundant with the disparity in levels. 

Hopefully Steedo and Snake-eyes (the defenders) and DK and Sylon (the attackers) enjoyed the game - which was also curtailed due to time constraints. As I have said the game didn't flow right for me and I made too many errors GMing - not sorting the "wall" issue, Wyvern and Giant fear tests and not making the Orcs take a morale check when F'yar was killed......

I am wondering about running this battle again, now that I know what to do or what might be more appropriate solutions.

Morts

ORC'S DRIFT - they are almost upon us ....

Been quiet recently - got a quick game of Star Trek Attack Wing (and an argument over the "cloaking" rules), a number of hands of Have At Thee and a few of Carcassone with my bro while he was over. 

But the weekend is the grand finale of Bloodbath at Orc's Drift so I thought I should muster the forces so that DK and Sylon know what they have and Steedo and Snake-eyes know what they face ....

Sorry for the picture quality and lightning....

Anyway 

King F'yar and his guard 

Now the Vile Rune Tribe fresh from Kachas Pass

The rich Severed Hand Orcs from Ashak Rise

The victorious Kwae Karr who stormed through Linden Way

Now the defenders of the outpost - Brommedir's Bows, Osrim Chardz Engineers and the Druid Snart and his patients ....

Good luck ......

Maurice Scenario and morning gaming ......

Well managed to get a morning game of Maurice in ..... Which was nice.

Steedo came over and we squeeze in a scenario based on the Battle of Bladensburg from Neil Thomas' One-Hour Wargames (number 26 if you are interested). It took longer than an hour to!

We doubled the forces from the book. So Steedo took 6 regular foot and 2 artillery as the defender and I took 5 regular horse and 7 regular foot.

Initial deployment below.

Morts makes a sweeping rush on his left flank ......the cadance national advantage gets the troops into link as well.

With the use of find a way the cavalry are through the wood and it looks like it is all over .....

First blood to the attacking Swedes - Steedo is thinking can we get another game in. But his army morale only drops by 1 point......

Steedo does juggling with his line and causes damage to the middle unit in the force. Morts thinks not a problem.....

Steedo's plan comes off (Ooo err) - middle unit destroyed and now there are 2 forces for Morts to have to move ..... And 3 points off army morale .... Still 9 to go shouldn't be a problem....

Time to unleash the horse on the infantry and artillery on the hill!

Steedo's national advantage "Steady Lads" nicely muffs up the attack! Here I think Maurice has a nice way of dealing with horse vs foot .... The horse can't get anymore damage on the foot except by charging - but Steedo's volley phase will put pay to any thoughts of a glorious cavalry charge through the artillery park! By the end of the game that single infantry unit emptied the saddles of 2 Swedish cavalry regiments......

Coupled with this was Steedo isolating the last 2 foot units on the Swedish left ..... Army morale down to 3 ....... It's all going wrong!

The Swedish general (well me) legs it over to activate the other half of the army! Quickly getting the cavalry across!

Take them in the flank ..... The dice gods were not with me! The horse repulsed! Run away - which is the correct tactic against those nasty infantry volleys!

Of course as Steedo moved to counter my horse his flank was exposed for my foot to exploit!

It was almost if there was a combined arms attack plan ......

By this time we had whittled each other down to 1 army morale point each ... "The death of a Hero" card was very helpful!

The next kill would clinch it!

Unfortunately it wasn't to be Steedo's day ..... But it was a damn close run thing!

Victory to Morts and the Swedes - but the cost was high! 2 units of horse and 3 units of foot broken and army morale down to 1. Steedo was very unlucky - only 4 units destroyed, and heavily outnumbered from the start. A great game very tense, very pleased I won this one.

Maurice is a really nice game with tactical choices to be made all the time .... Not having the right cards is frustrating but adds to the challenge. The habit of getting focused on our part of the battlefield or one unit .... Knowing when to pass to collect cards and knowing when to let units be destroyed.....

Like so many things I want to get an imagi-nations campaign up and running for this. But when with my short attention span!

Morning gaming is very civilised - tea, coffee and millionaire shortbread. A recommended activity.

Morts

Halloween - so some skeletons!

First bit of painting in months - some table standard skellies for Frostgrave and because there are 12 of them also Lion Rampant or the soon to be released Dragon Rampant. In fact for any game I choose.

There are a mix of makes in this lot - Black Tree Design, Citadel (a pre slotta and plastics) and Eureka (Hopitle style).

I wanted to get these done and while painting remember that I don't really like painting skellies - I think they should be easier than they actually are, so these aren't the best painted figures in the collection ...... Anyway they are done now.

Morts

A couple of games of Risk and things I have bought!

Well we managed to get together on Thursday and played 2 games of Risk Legacy - we started the campaign back in August. I managed to win the first game and name a continent, go me!

The next two games did not go well for me first Steedo and then Snake-eyes taking my capital to win the games. They also named continents - the game does play to the ego (the rest of us named cities!

Already thinking of new names 😀.

The initial games are all about placement of the capital - I was unlucky enough to place last and 2nd to last in the two games we played. In the first game this put me in the position to try a stop DK (in Australia) having a free run at Asia or Steedo at Europe (from North America) or Snake-eyes Africa from South America ..... I went for Japan. Which stopped DK in Asia but not Steedo who took Snake-eyes' capital in the first turn and conquered North America .......

The second game of the evening invoked Steedo and myself stopping DK with the Bear Clan but allowing Snake-eyes to again conquer North America and take my capital in Iceland .... Placing a capital at the end is a real disadvantage. The Imperial faction is the most successful, and the Bear faction has the most upgrades, but because of that it needs slapping down (sorry DK). 

Unfortunately DK the most experienced Risk player is yet to win (apparently he is always picked on.....).

Then I bought these .....

Money years ago DK and I tried out the quick start rules for this and to be blunt played them once and that was it.

But I have been looking at various rule sets recently (and a copy was cheap on eBay) so I thought I give these a try out (I reckon I can break even if I don't like them). Having read the rules they seem fairly simple with some interesting tactical decisions to be made during the game. I plan a quick solo bash using my HotT based Lord of the Rings armies and just record casualties (probably like DK and I did 6 years ago ... With the quick start rules). 

I am planning to rebase the LOTR stuff so I can use them for the skirmish game - see the movement tray posts. 

Morts

All quiet on the blogging front.......

Well it has been very quiet on the gaming front recently, hence the quietness on the blog - nothing done since the DBA3 play through, not even fixing damaged figures/elements front the ham fisted DK's attempt at running a combined arms Macedonian army ...... 

Until Thursday night when DK and I managed to get a round to Steedo's for a chat and a game of Arctic Scavengers! I do like this game but I am rubbish at it DK won again - building lots and managing to dig lots, so he won the masons and gearheads bonus cards. Steedo won the Pharma card .... I won Nothing! So the new strategy not to dig as much really didn't pay off. So after two games I still don't have a winning strategy..... I think that by reading the rules (background fluff) DK has a distinct advantage .....

Friday night saw a game of skittles - team came second ... Steedo's fault 😜

Any I was trawling the web and found Mantics - Warpath Kickstarter 

These are interesting for 2 reasons - you get 2 rules sets, one a massed battles set and another set called Firefight - which are in line with Warhammer 40k. Now unusually I watched a Beasts of War video on the rules for massed battle with one of the games' designers and I have to say the game that was described sounded really good fun and tactical. The mechanics involve alternate activation of units, so you can soften up you opponents before sending in close combat troops or by charging you can force unactivated opposition unit to use up the activation for a turn. I have to say I was impressed by the description of the rules. 

I am tempted by the Kickstarter... But I might wait until they are generally available.....

DBA3 - First play through

DK came over for a quick game of DBA3. It was our first game of this version of the rules. We have played a number of games of DBA2.2 in the past and have had DBA3 for a while, but with life getting in the way and other games on the table we hadn't got around to playing it.

Anyway we had Camillian Romans versus Pyrrhic. Due to the extra details in the rule book I had to have Thracians standing in for unassimilated Italian Allies Ax3. 

The Romans were defending (on the left below) with the light troops on the right flank due to a difficult hill and ploughed fields (I liked the way you didn't know if this would be good or bad going until the first die roll). DK lined up the Pyrrhic forces opposite, putting his elephant and Kn General on his right - hoping for quick kills against my general and cavalry. 

The Romans advance! Trying to get the Ps to the Elephant. 

Clash of the cavalry ..... 

Amazingly DK rolled some truly awful dice .... Pyrrhic Cv flee, general recoils and the Elephant dies!

Whenever the elephant comes to battle it dies ... So much the the anicents super weapon. Having said that the scythed chariot is another useless element in our experience.

The Pyrrhic centre advances to steamroll the Romans. 

A minor skirmish develops on the Roman right. 

Pyrrhos goes for kill - unfortunately for DK his dice rolling isn't getting any better and DK's general is dead!

The Romans only need to kill one more elements for the win - but the phalanx is grinding up the centre. 

Now the push of pikes. 

The Roman cavalry move in for the kill on the remaining Greek cavalry. 

The phalanx takes out another part of the legion but the last of the Pyrrhic cavalry is wiped out and a win to the Romans. 

I enjoy this and not just because I won. The solid flank support made the spears tougher. The movement was quicker and the game flowed well. The phalanx grinding up the legion apparently follows current thinking of the period as I understand it. 

The key to victory was of course DK's terrible dice rolling - something which does happen very often and the loss of the General - 2pips to do anything!

Before the next game I will have to read the explanation with diagram pages in the rules ... It might make us stop having to check the rules so often 😃

Only have 2 armies to paint - Carthaginian and Celtic ...and everything else ......

Morts