Life be good when your team wins. Especially when they win in Foxborough over a "greened-out" Patriot logo! Finally, something worth watching in that stadium.
In wargaming news it looks like Bill and I will definitely be tackling Thirty Years War by GMT. It's one I haven't looked at in years. My memories of it aren't very fond, but, I hope, the rules changes made since I've last played will make it a better game. Two points stuck with me as being completely unsatisfying -- the "Draw Spread" of victory points was something like a 20 point range, so games almost always ended in a draw. Yuck. Also, "Foreign Aid" was supposed to be important, but was lost in the shuffle as neither side bothered with it. New optionals make Foreign Aid something both sides need. I still have to go over the rules and set up a time to play, I'm thinking Thursday. I will post a full report once the game gets going.
Otherwise, Mike and I are continuing our monster game of Red Storm Over the Reich by Compass. This game is about the last 4 months of the 3rd Reich, as Soviet forces just overwhelm the German defenders. We're on game #2, and Mike's Soviets are closing in on Berlin. I'm counting on him running out of time, but it will be close. In our first game, Mike retreated too quickly (I would have done the same -- 1st games in wargaming are often "learning" games where "rookie" mistakes are made) and the Soviets were able to overrun enough cities after 3 turns for an Auto Victory. This game uses basic concepts and some clever mechanics to keep things interesting, but I imagine this will be my last game of Red Storm. Hex games where one side moves everything and fights, then the other side does the same, just aren't my cup of tea, so to speak. But I have to do some grading, so a missive on my wargaming likes/dislikes and the categories today's games fall into will have to wait for another day.
4 comments:
Damn those evil Kraft's for letting people use their stadium to watch sporting events other than the Pats & Revs.
Like the state HS football championships and that event Rob talked about plus others.
Damn right they're evil!
Of course, $$$ is everything ;-)
I think I'm over my Patriots as asterisk phase, unless, of course, a Patriot fan says something stupid (not directed at John, as he's actually a normal Boston fan -- there should be more like him!)...
Hell, I may have to make plans to head to Boston next Memorial Day weekend. I wish all my Boston relatives were still alive, but it's only 2nd and 3rd cousins by now, not the great aunts and uncles of my youth. Those were the days...
Is Red Storm any good? it looks like sone of those situations where one side spends the entire time getting the crap knocked out of it and wins by having one unit in some totally out-of-the-way location that had nothing to do with the actual situation.
Rich, I'm not real big on igo/yugo hex games, but this one isn't bad. The Germans are on the retreat, and Berlin is the ultimate prize, but the Soviets do need to clear out the map, as well, to win. While the Germans do get knocked around pretty well, the combat mechanism (not a crt, but rather each side fires based on strength) wears down the attacker, too. The trick for the Germans is knowing when to fight and when to retreat -- and where to make the Hitler mandated attacks.
Frankly, I would have thought this game wasn't for me, but I'm glad I tried it. Like I said, I doubt I'll ever go back to it, but the 2 games with Mike have been fun. The consensus seems to be that it's very tough to win as the Commies, and in my current game there's a good chance Berlin (and the Bunker) might hold out. We shall see...
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