Variety and all that...

Its been a busy week one way or another and I had almost forgot to post about The Delvers game last Friday. As usual we didn't play our D&D 4E campaign (I think that's dead on the water) but we did manage to gather together six players for a change. Instead of playing our campaign we pulled out a few alternatives and actually managed to fit in three quite different games.

Derek is a bit of a Dr Who fanatic and brought along this simple game to play. We were halfway through playing it when I realised it said "Ages 6+" on the lid of the box! 

John brought along several card based games including Fluxx. The rules start off simple. Everyone has three cards then each turn you take a card from the deck and play a card. 

Some of the cards are New Rules so the game gets progressively more complex as it goes on. We had two relatively quick games with these but decided to finish the evening with something else.

The last game we played was the Back to the Future Card Game. Each player has a unique set of pivotal events they must fix in time before time travel gets 'uninvited'. Players can change Linchpin events which in turn change several 'Ripplepoint' events to change as well. 

With six players all trying to manipulate the timeline to their own ends it quickly became very complex and frustrating. Time and again vital linchpins were swapped back and forth thwarting any attempt at a plan or strategy. Good fun but very frustrating.

We had a fun evening, swapping news and catching up as we played. We also set our timetable for the coming weeks so hopefully we can get a few more games in and avoid cancelled meetings.

Heroclix DC Super Heroes

The Dagenham Dungeons Delvers gather last week for our regular game session but this time without our GM. Unable to continue our D&D campaign we decided to spend the evening playing something else. One of our group brought a HeroClix starter set of DC Super Heroes. He also had a few other (earlier) models and between them there were enough figures for three players to put together a 300point team each.

Two of us had never played HeroClix before but we were quickly able to grasp the basics of the game and understand its simple mechanics. We started off with a training game just to get acquainted with the rules them moved on to selecting our own 300pt team and battling it out against each other. And I have to say it was great fun.



Battle on a HeroClix town scape

 In many ways what we were doing wasn't a great deal different to our regular D&D games where combat (and the use of miniatures on a map) is a large element of each game. I saw a strong parallel between the powers and abilities of the HeroClix system and the powers used on 4e characters. Certainly the combat didn't feel much different from playing out a 4e combat scenario.


The Green Lantern goes head to head with The Scarecrow

Clearly we are not about to abandon our D&D campaign to concentrate on HeroClix but I suspect that this won't be the last time we don the Spandex (metaphorically speaking of course) and battle it out against fellow superheroes. 

Revenge is Sweet - Pirates CSG

My Daughter and I had a rematch of Pirates CSG last night. Last time we played I was out maneuvered and eventually outgunned. Since then I have bought a few more packs of this simple game and increased our collective fleet from four to over a dozen vessels. So this time when we played we had more choices and therefore 'upped the ante', as they say.


We each selected a fleet of 70 points, including crew. Once again I took command of the Pirate fleet and was able to select six vessels and a handful of crew from the available options. My worthy opponent selected a similar sized fleet from the remaining ships, representing the British, the USA and Spain. The logic (such as it was) behind this motley selection of ships was they had banded together to rid the seas of the pirate scourge. If only it had worked out that way.
I split my fleet into two groups of three vessels each and devised a simple plan... let my opponents inexperience wreak her fleet in a pincer movement. So my ships stayed close enough together to be only a move apart but far enough that it looked like she could divide and destroy me. She fell for the ruse and within a few turns I had sunk one of her ships and crippled another giving me a significant tactical advantage. Notwithstanding the fact that I was playing against a 13 year old I took that advantage and ruthlessly pressed home my attack! Quickly wheeling my fleet in pursuit I chased her ships all the way back to their base island where I destroyed them, one vessel at a time. I tried not to gloat. Honest.

Now it could be argued that this harsh lesson in wargaming was a little cruel for a father to inflict on his daughter. But I consider it a good life lesson. Never trust dad when he's holding dice. Besides, victory was sweet after the humiliating trouncing I got in our last encounter!

Pirates of the Cursed Seas

Over the weekend I found myself trapped and bored in the Lakeside Shopping Centre in Essex. Just when I thought I couldn't take it anymore I found a small glimmer of salvation in a discount book store. The Pirates of the Cursed Seas Collectable Strategy Game. I've seen this game before but never actually played it. I picked up three packs just to give them a try out and talked my daughter into agreeing to play a game when we got home. Each pack contains two snap together ships (or sea monsters) and an island or other 'terrain' piece plus various tokens, crew markers and a set of rules. The pieces easily snap out from their credit card sized sprues and are easily assembled in a matter of minutes. The rules are pretty basic but this does mean that you can be playing within a very short time.

Being a typical wargamer I instantly threw out the scenario presented in the rules and devised a 'hunt and destroy' game for myself and my daughter to play out. The game uses a points system for ships & crew so it was easy to build two balanced forces to oppose each other. I took the larger Pirate ship the Prussian Crown which was being hunted by two smaller vessels the HMS Pride and the La Mezquita.

Game play is turn based and very simple. Each turn players may choose one of four different actions; Move; Attack; Explore (plunder); or Repair. My aim was to use the small islands as a shield and divide the smaller and slower vessels so that I could destroy them one at a time. Initially this tactic seemed to work as I pounded the HMS Pride with my five cannon to her three. Unfortunately she was able to escape long enough to make repairs. In my eagerness to destroy the crippled vessel I closed with her but stupidly put myself between both enemy vessels. I should have been able to take their combined fire but a series of excellent dice rolls by my Daughter soon saw the Prussian Crown mastless and sinking.

This was a very simple game to play but was great fun - even if I did loose to a thirteen year old! I will certainly be purchasing more packs of this game to increase the choice of vessels and terrain elements. And as for the rules... I am already formulating a more 'advanced' rule system to make future games more interesting and challenging.