Holiday in Paignton plus Warfare 2024

No blog posts for a while, because we've been on holiday in Paignton for a couple of weeks.  In November?  Are we mad?  Actually we had two weeks of dry weather, warm for the time of year (16C in the first week, down to 11C by the end) and a fair amount of sunshine.

I got to see the cirl buntings in Brixham, watch seals from Goodrington Esplanade and see gannets diving for fish off Berry Head.  There were a lot of cooked breakfasts, meals in the pub and other creature comforts, along with a lot of shopping.  I got a new leather belt, just like the one I bought on Newton Abbot market over 20 years ago (and am still wearing).  There was also a significant haul from the charity shops, including a lot of CDs and DVDs that many shops are practically giving away at the moment.

Some relevant finds in charity shops

That lot in the photo cost me less than a tenner.  In fact I spent more on a grilled mackerel breakfast in the Guard House restaurant (which was excellent and well worth the price).  It was a good mix of familiar haunts and new discoveries.  Sad to see Oldway mansion looking so run down; apparently it has been closed since bits of masonry started falling off in 2022.  Originally built for Isaac Merritt Singer, the inventor of the sewing machine, the last time we visited it was in use as the local registry office.  Sue Barker learned to play tennis on the courts outside.

Oldway Mansion looking a bit tatty.  The other side looks worse

While away, I started playing Mike Lambo's Fields of Normandy.  In this book, the player commands a platoon of the 6th Royal Scots Fusiliers clearing the Germans from dug-in positions around Caen as part of Operation Epsom.  The first few scenarios are a tutorial and I cleared each of them at the first attempt, getting the hang of scouting, flanking and supporting fire.  The fourth scenario by contrast had me stumped with a srting of 4 successive defeats.

Fields of Normandy, going the safe way

Here you see my stealthy approach,  Starting from the space at the bottom (with the black triangle) I've sent all three sections around the hill, scouting the German infantry squad position to find it looking the other way.  A section has already gone ahead and scouted the position of a second German squad (also looking the wrong way), so the attack should be simple.  There is a third position in the NE corner, still just a question mark.   I played the scenario four times this way and didn't lose a man, but there wasn't quite time to clear all three in six turns.

Eventually I took a chance and rushed straight over the hill into the first German position with the whole platoon.  I got lucky and cleared a light MG position, but it could have gone badly wrong.  As a result, the platoon was on hex further east and a turn sooner, leaving plenty of time to tackle the other two positions more carefully.

There's a surprising amount to think about in such a small scenario.

Drove home on Friday and on Saturday went up to Reading's Warfare show at Farnborough airport with my brother-in-law.  Spent a long time around the trade stands, but better not talk about the haul.  Let's just say that money changed hands, and unlike my companion I managed to stick to my orders and didn't buy any more toy soldiers.  MDF bases, scenic accessories, a rulebook and some special dice are not toy soldiers.  And we don't live in an elastic-sided house.

Most of the pleasure for me in a show like this is to look at the demonstration and participation games.  They are far beyond my ability to paint so many models, build so much fabulous scenery and above all find anywhere in the house to store it afterwards.  But I do like to dream.

Guilford Courthouse with Sharp Practice by Huntingdon Wargame Society

This beautiful layout is a great example.  You'll need to click on the image to see it full-size and appreciate how good it is.  The crown forces are at the far end, and will have to fight through three lines of rebels to cross the whole length of the table and achieve a significant victory.  While staring at the table, I eventually realised that I had met one of the organisers (Mark, on the left) last year at Posh Lard in Peterborough.  So we chatted a little.

There are a lot of familiar faces at a show like this.  I didn't spot any magazine editors this year, but plenty of other faces that I only know from their hobby blogs (or in one case from the television).  Keith Flint was there, which reminds me that one year I must make it to his Cotswold wargaming day.  And I also ran into a couple of Postie's Rejects.

Ray and Lee with some smug-looking bloke.  What's he so pleased about?

It's good to see Ray up and about for an event like this.  He said something on his blog about coming to say hello, so it would have been rude not to.  Actually I saw him at Warfare last year, and got as far as "Hello Ray" just as someone else that he already knew (it may have been Lee) appeared and started talking to him.  I left them to get on with their conversation, thinking we were bound to pass each other again, but it's a big enough show that it didn't happen.  So we got a proper hello this year, before I go back to being just a page-view statistic from Blogger.

I'll just say that there are a number of blogs that inspire me to do better at the hobby, and if I don't leave a comment, that's only because I've got nothing of value to add.

Update: Ray has published a much fuller report on the Warfare show on his blog [here]

So that's a summary of a busy couple of weeks.

Until next time, health & happiness to you all.

Board Game Lounge

Last night I went out to a local community centre for an evening of board games.  They are now doing this twice a month on slightly different formats.  As usual, I went with my brother-in-law (or maybe he isn't - you can read me waffle on about in-laws [here] if you're interested).  We were there a little before the 7pm start time, because the car park fills up quickly.  As a result we helped set up the hall.

Anyway, it was a good evening out.  It's also very good value.  For £3 you get the use of the hall (tables and chairs) and free coffee or tea, along with one ticket for the prize draw.  Extra tickets are 50p each and there are boardgames for prizes.  Because there were only two of us, we stuck up our sign for 3 more players and were soon joined by a young guy on his own and a couple who live a few miles away.  Everyone was friendly and we enjoyed a couple of games in the 3-hour session.

Heat - US track

First we played Heat by Days of Wonder, which Trevor had brought.  None of us had played this one before, but Trevor had read the rules and watched some videos of how to play.  We played the two-lap US track.  It took about half a lap for people to remember to claim the advantages of being at the back and to remember that they could boost their speed at the cost of some heat in the engine.  By the closing half-a-lap they were recklessly charging around tight corners far too fast and just hoping to make it past the finish line.

For the record, I was in last place on the starting grid and finished second-to-last, so I count that as a positive result.  There were times that I had the lead, but just couldn't find the high cards for the final dash.  The handicapping system works well to keep the cars close together on the track (one square extra move for last place and slipstream benefits when catching another car), and the last two corners saw all 5 cars bunched up into 3 sections of track.  It could not have been closer.

Unstable Unicorns

Our other game was Unstable Unicorns, which looks like it should be all fluffy fun for little girls, but is actually quite mean as the players gang up to pick on whoever looks to be in the lead.  You win by having 7 unicorns in play, and once Jem became the first player to have 6 unicorns down the rest of us were most unpleasant to him.  As a result, Trevor and I managed to catch up with him and reach 6 as well, and then the meanness was spread around more evenly to take us back down to 5.  Eventually I got lucky with a ginormous unicorn (counting as two) at a moment when all the defensive cards had been used up to avoid Jem winning.

This is probably a game that favours regular players who will recognise the card combinations and winning moves, but it was the first time any of us had played, so nobody had an advantage.

At 10pm the raffle was drawn, and I think six games were handed out as prizes, but not to any of our table.  Then there were three lucky people who played Higher or Lower to win a free admission to the next session.  Only one of them won it.  And then there was half an hour to finish off any games that were still going and head for home.

Until next time, health & happiness to you all.

Gaming reunion 2024

It's been quite a long time since a bunch of people met at university, discovered a shared interest in games and became friends.  This week one of that group has kindly hosted another six of us to spend a week at his place, playing boardgames, Dungeons & Dragons, eating and drinking too much and generally having a good time.  It's great to catch up with people that I now only see on Zoom conferences or a couple of times a year face to face.

The antiques roadshow - old geezers

Midsomer Norton is a surprising town, with the biggest Wetherspoons in England (hidden behind an unimpressive front door).  There's also a model shop, so I picked up some more static grass, since I'm running out and my local shop has gone.

big 'Spoons

Before Dafydd arrived on Friday we got in a quick game of Diplomacy (Dafydd hates that game), followed by a very long game of Citadels (billed as a quick card game, but soon wallowing in analysis paralysis).  Trevor pulled off a very close victory by playing the card that causes an early end to the game with 7 districts instead of the usual 8 when he was just a couple of points in the lead.

Saturday dawned bright and sunny, although I was suffering from a hair of the dog.  Literally.  Matt's dog Rufus had been in to inspect the visitors on Friday evening.  I react badly to all furry creatures, and was sneezing with my eyes watering and generally feeling pretty poor.  As is traditional, a few of us spent the morning at the local shops to forage for provisions (and in my case enjoy some fresh air).

Lunchtime saw a first game of It's a Wonderful World, a kind of variation on Seven Wonders.  As a new thing, we all missed the point of how to play well and performed poorly.

It's A Wonderful World

In the evening, Darrell cooked pork chops for us, followed by a seriously extravagant cheeseboard (Baron bigod, Vacherin, High Moor, aged Gouda and a dozen other smelly delights)

pork chops flambée

Sunday morning we revisited It's a Wonderful World now we know how to play.  To my surprise, I came first on 61 points, followed by others on 60, 59 & 58.  It could hardly have been closer.

Then we moved on to D&D.  Massive trouble was stirred up when the party visited a friendly elf noble in Larston.  We stayed at his town house, but one of the Chaos faction raised an angry mob, supported by hired mercenaries and spellcasters.  There were people breaking in on the ground floor, fireballs cast through the windows on the first floor, the rear wall partly disintegrated, and earth elementals summoned to undermine the foundations and demolish the house around us.  Never before have I heard the expression "abandon house!"

D&D - fighting on a floorplan

Chinese takeaway for dinner, home-made Irish coffee, filler games (The Mind and Maior, see notes at the end of this post), time for bed.

Irish coffee

Monday we played a "quick" game of Starfarers of Catan in only 4 hours - not a great choice.  I languished in last place with dreadful production until one strange turn at the half-way stage when I jumped into first place and was the first one to be too successful to receive charity resources on my turn.  It still felt like I was last, right up to the final turn when Matt was in first place, needing only one more point to win.  Matt rolled poorly, couldn't score.  When it came around to me, I scored another leap forward and won.

Starfarers of Catan

The problem with the Catan games is that a bad start just gets worse, while early success allows a player to build villages and then gather extra resources each turn and push further in front.  It can be so disheartening to keep going with a bad position.  Although obviously I don't get to moan about this particular game, since I found a way to buy the victory (with fame rings, using one of the alien trade cards).

Another game of It's a Wonderful World, which Darrell won by a landslide with 93 points.

Dafydd cooked ragu with penne for dinner, followed by more cheese and port.

Then a game of Obsession, a social climbing game with worker placement for the servants and also the family.  I'd describe it as multiplayer solitaire, with very little scope for any player to affect the others.  Only one player is doing anything at a time, so the game grinds to a halt while David decides what to do.  It's not possible to all play in parallel, because we're all trying to by improvements to our country houses from the same pool of available options until one is bought and replenished.  We called it a night and resumed on Tuesday.  I'd guess that a 6-player game took us something like 6 hours, including teaching the rules, eating lunch and other faffing about.  It probably won't be back on the table very soon.

Dafydd won narrowly over David, Trevor & Darrell, commenting that he had felt like he was doing badly the whole time.  Matt almost managed a negative score.

Tuesday afternoon's D&D started at 5pm, delayed by the long boardgame.  There was a break for dinner, coq au vin by David with some serious wines and then chocolate fudge cake, after which the group were somewhat low on energy for serious gaming.

fudge cake

Wednesday - another Wonderful World (Dafydd won this time), then the new Kingmaker.  This was a great trip down memory lane, with all the usual shenanigans.  I had Scrope (as archbishop of York) & Percy with his troops, so spent my first turn travelling to York, grabbing Richard and getting him crowned.  My ally Up North was Matt, who spent his turn grabbing Durham, only to get caught by the plague straight away.  Dafydd grabbed Henry VI when we was called away to meet a papal emissary.  We had about 5 turns of fun, most people were getting nowhere, then Matt made nachos and we decided it had been fun, but we'd had enough.  Exactly how I remember it from school days.

Knights with nachos

Then we moved on to more D&D.  The party made a hasty departure from Larston and went to see the Blue Witch at the far end of the island.  She told us that Saratak had been waiting a week to speak to us, but if we had time she would like to speak to a goblin somewhere in the nearby desert, so could we find him and bring him to see her?  She's busy trying to control the growth of the desert, which is only there because she had a fight with another dragon rider, creating a mana storm and a spreading region of dead sand.  We couldn't resist, so we spent some time faffing about at the edge of the sand trying to work out why there was an army of ghostly goblins in the desert.  Faffing about letting the ghosts possess one of the party so we could ask them what was going on.  Also, faffing about trying to discover any weaknesses in the 48' tall sand elemental thing that seems to tour the desert.  No progress.

I cooked a kedgeree for dinner, the first time I've ever cooked for this number of people or in a professional kitchen, followed by more chocolate fudge cake.  People were polite enough to eat up and Dafydd even had a third helping (as well as left-over kedgeree for breakfast on Thursday).

That's a seriously big pan

We faffed about some more in the name of D&D, before deciding to go to bed before the big combat starts.

Thursday's game of Wonderful World was David's turn to win.  This has clearly become a favourite with the group.  Like Seven Wonders, each player chooses one card to build and then passes the rest around the table.  There's an additional complication that each card can be cashed in for a resource to be used for the building.  Dafydd ordered a copy today.

Dafydd also filled our downtime with The Big Knights [link here].  Highly recommended, hilarious.

The Big Knights

More D&D.  We attempt to defend the surviving goblin in the desert, while he performs a ritual to open a gate and go back to the Void along with all of his dead clanfolk (the army of ghosts we saw).  During the ritual he can not maintain the wall of fire around his camp, so the scuttling, acid-spitting beetle-things and dust dervish / sand elemental things can get in and attack him.  We would have to keep them out for three hours.  

The party has its back to a wall of ice (or cutlery) as two large sand elementals (disguised as beer cans) bring the damage. 

We fought for about an hour, when the remains of the other dragon rider turned up.  Like the sand elementals, it seemed to be made of sand & stones in a human shape.  He could throw Cone of Sand (like cone of cold) and a sand stome (like an ice storm), and when we took down all of his hit points he dissipated into a pile of sand.  Three rounds later we saw him coming back out of the dunes.  We did this a couple of times, before Dafydd has the bright idea of using holy water to cause damage that he can't regenerate.  That's another week we've kept Saratak waiting...

Friday - sad partings, with an arrangement to meet up for a pair of rock concerts in London next year.  Two of our favourite bands will be appearing on successive nights over the spring bank holiday and the tickets went on sale this week, while we were together.  It's like someone was sending us a message.

Footnotes on games

The Mind is an odd game.  The players have hands of cards from a deck numbered 1 to 100.  Without any communication, they must play the cards in order.  As the game progresses the hands become bigger (starting with 1 card each).  There are some lifelines to be earned, including regaining lives on completion of every 3rd level.  Our best score was to complete level 7 (4 players with 7 cards each) and then fail on level 8.

Maior is a bluffing game.  There are 2 dice in a box.  Each player has 3 lives.  The first player shakes the box, opens the lid to look at the dice, calls out the roll (higher number then lower) and offers it to the next player around the table.  The next player can challenge the call, in which case the box is opened and one the two loses a life, depending on whether the score was as good as the call or not.  Or the player can accept the box, may shake it some more (optional), may take a look inside (optional) and must pass it on with a call that is higher than the last call.  The order of the calls is: 31, 32, 41, 42, 43, 51, 52, 53, 54, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 11, 22, 33, 44, 55, 66, 21 (called "maior", the highest call).  The calls keep rising until there is a challenge and someone loses a life, after which the challenger becomes the first player and starts again.  Any challenge on a call of maior or a roll of maior in the box costs 2 lives.

Crafty players like Darrell may under-call the roll, e.g. roll 65 but call 64.  After the box has passed right round the table, he can then pass it on again as 65 without shaking or looking.

Chaotic players like Dafydd do things like accept a box with a call of 61, shake the box, don't look inside, and pass it on with a call of 62.

Until next time, health & happiness to you all.

What happened there?

Suddenly it's a month since my last post.  What happened there?

Nothing much, just the typical mix of computer trouble (all fixed now, I hope), health problems around the family, and being distracted by other things.  Mostly trivial stuff like having some posts written but not being able to find the right images to go with them.

My usual opponent has been away on holiday, the D&D campaign has missed a few weeks because people were busy doing other things, all that stuff.

I bought a dozen Falklands-era troops to add to my Bad Spelling crew.  I didn't recognise the models, but they were already painted and a good price.  Sadly the seller just slipped them into a snappy bag and popped that in a box with some bubble wrap.  They turn out to be metal figures, probably TQD from Checkpoint Models, and they rattled around in the bag and lost quite a bit of paint.  Also a few gun barrels needed to be straightened.  So I spent a while retouching the shiny bare metal patches.

New recruits for June/July

Then I decided to get a game on the table, but just needed to move a couple of boxes of models to get at the ones I wanted.  Crash they went down onto the floor.  Tick off another day for repairs.

At least I've got in some cycling and a couple of games of Squad Leader.

Until next time, health & happiness to you all.

Board games with the in-laws

Last night I went to a local boardgame group. They meet once a month in a community hall and organise a night of boardgames.  I went with my brother-in-law and we met his son-in-law there.  We played Lost Ruins of Arnak (Lee won, I came second) and The Grizzled (we all won!) and it was an evening of fun.  Would definitely go again.

At the end of the evening there was a raffle and some people won boardgames.  Not any of us, but that doesn't matter.  One of the players has had a book published and he gave away a signed copy as a prize.  The whole event struck me as well organised and the hall was full.

Lost ruins of Arnak

Lost Ruins of Arnak is a big-box mix of worker placement, card drafting (similar to Dominion) and trying to get more actions into a turn before passing, with many different strategies to score points.  It takes about 30 minutes per player.  I've now played it once, but it would need a dozen games to get a feel for the appropriate mix of scoring to use. It seems very unlikely that I will get to play it more than three times in my life, because by then someone will have bought another new game and we'll be playing that instead.  So many games come to the table once or maybe twice, in my case that includes Caverna, Tapestry, Wingspan, Wyrmspan, Planet Unknown, Sidereal Confluence, War on Terror and Root.  Some of these are probably great games, but I'll never find out because I play with people who buy new games before they've really explored the last new game they bought.

The Grizzled

The Grizzled is a short card game, with the players taking the part of French soldiers in the Great War.  The goal is to do just enough soldiering to work through the pile of "trials" without becoming overwhelmed by them.  It took about 45 minutes to a complete result.

My favourite feature is that the players undertake a mission at the front until it gets too tough, at which point each player in turn gives up and goes back to base; because the soldiers are French, a successful mission is one where all the players give up and go home.  Maybe it loses something in translation?

But here's what's been bothering me: what relation are the other two players to me and I to them?  Our English terms for relatives are not much help.  When I married my wife, her sister became my sister-in-law, and I became her brother-in-law, which is clear enough.  But my sister-in-law was already married and her husband became ... what?  I've always called him my brother-in-law, although that may overstate the closeness of our relationship.  Perhaps he's just my sister-in-law's husband?

My wife's sister has two daughters and the other boardgamer is married to one of them.  The daughters are my neices and I'm their uncle (by marriage).  But a neice's husband is ... a nephew-in-law?  That's not a term in common usage, so I have to either upgrade him to a full nephew or else accept that he's just some guy that I play boardgames with.

It was the same when we visited my wife's first cousin last month; is she my cousin too?  We don't have cousins-in-law.  And what about the cousin's husband?  I get on really well with them, and am happy to just describe them both as our cousins in Wales, but with that nagging feeling that I'm being over-familiar.

Until next time, health & happiness to you all.