Last weekend I managed 7 games of various types, which must be something of a record.
On the Saturday it started with a game of X wing at Claymore where Chaos of the Warp were running taster sessions. My second game and I am seriously thinking of buying into this.
The other seven games were with Brian, my mate from down in Washington, who was staying the weekend.
We started with a couple of games of Wings of Glory, which he had purchased at the show. The 4 planes that come with the set are a bit of a mismatch with a Kittyhawk, Yak 1, an Italian fighter and a Japanese Hien. Brian had bought a couple of extra planes so we played two Kittyhawks against the Hein. I took the Kittyhawks in the first game and managed to shoot my opponent down but not before I had also lost a plane, so we called that a draw. On our second outing Brian managed to shoot my Hien down with no losses so a definite victory to him. I like the rules but am not sure that I will buy in.
Then followed two board games. On the Staurday night we played Fury of Dracula, with Brian taking the evil monster and myself and my wife the 4 characters trying to track him down. The board covers Europe and the trackers rely on reports of his activities, sometimes quite specific others less so. Brian spent quite a lot of time in Britain and Ireland which fooled us at first. Angela bailed out at 1 am but, after drawing a lucky card, I managed to track Dracula down to Southern Spain. Time was running out and I has not retained the right equipment to damage him, so despite winning several rounds of combat Dracula emerged victorious. Although the game was enjoyable enough I did find that last phase a bit frustrating.
On Saturday morning we started with a 'block' boardgame - Hammer of the Scots. This starts once Wallaces rebellion has gained some momentum but many Scots nobles have declared for Edward I. The history has been well thought out but once again I found it a bit difficult to fully grasp the strategy required. My plan was to reinforce Stirling, take full control of Southern Scotland and then try and push on up to the North. However an all out assult on Stirling by the Scots at the Earliest opportunity was successful (I was unable to roll 4 or more on 9 dice which did not help) and after that it was an uphill struggle. I risked all with Edward leading the English in a battle where he was heavily outnumbered and predictably lost. At that point I conceded .
We concluded with 2 games of Ludus Gladiatorius. This is a simple Gladiator game we are considering putting on at the Falkirk Big Roman week. The rules work fine and give a quick fun game. The 5 Gladiators themselves (prepainted 28mm) are great but the rest of the playing kit will need some work to make them kid proof(ish). We won one game each.
A very enjoyable weekend with both Claymore and some gaming sessions at home. Hopefully Brian will be able to come up and stay again soon. There is talk of another board game called Hannibal...
