Monday 27 July 2020

Update on recent games (plus Force on Force is back!)

Well, it has been a long-time since I have updated this blog.  What reminded me to update is we recently played a game of Force on Force.
We played the introductory scenario.  I forgot how different, and mentally hard, Force on Force is compared to other games.  Everything has a cost.

Other than Force on Force we have been playing Pulp Alley 2nd Edition (Stella Bella aka Star Wars), Runequest with Miniatures, Frostgrave, What a Tanker! and Chain of Command.  I have lost count of the number of Chain of Command games we have played, from Crete, Sicily, to Cassino, to nearly every town in Normandy, the breakout and pursuit, up the road to Arnhem, the US paras and British paras in Operation Market Garden, and from 1942 to 1945 all over the Eastern Front.  We have tried several campaigns, by we are all Pyrrhus and hardly get past scenario 1 without immense bloodshed.

Over in the file section of the blog is a new double-sided Quick Reference Sheet (QRS) for Chain of Command.  I think there is one on the net which is 6 or more pages, that is a Quick Reference Book!

We currently have a US Para, US Army, New Zealand, German Para, German Infantry, Soviet, British Para and Italian armies for Chain of Command.  And, if I get my thumb out of the proverbial sphincter a Japanese army.

Recently, we started playing Pulp Alley 2nd Edition.  I wanted some way of helping our LFGS through the Covid-19 and seeing the nice Star Wars Legion figures decided to give them a try.  I did not fancy another large figure game, and wanted skirmish rules, enter Pulp Alley.  So far, I think we have played 4 games, all with maximum shenanigans!  Marcus grabbed sure victory from Kristof in last weeks game on the last dice.  Extreme shenanigan!  Star Wars is ideal for Pulp style play, and we have been able to create Starwaresque "forces" that are flavourful,

And, we go back into roleplaying: Runequest, D&D and Aliens.  So far, Runequest has been the most fun, and for the first time for me, we used miniatures.  See picture below.

Painting?  Well, an army or three of grey primed ghosts is staring at me.  First the WW2 Japanese need to be finished (95% already done!).  Then more tanks, than an Armoured Division, have to be painted.  An Anglo-Dane army for Saga is all grey and staring.  And, like an idiot, I just bought a British and Mahdi army for 1882-1885.  And then more Star Wars legion figures.


We generally have 3 to 6 players per game, so they are usually on the big side.  We have 7 regulars.  We have a new set of house rules to play Chain of Command with 4+ players without adding too many tanks.  I will post the rules soon.









Runequest figures, in a quick painting method.


Stella Bella (Pulp Alley 2 edition)



7 comments:

  1. Yay, great to see! Good to see the Pulp Alley getting some love!
    Mark and I dusted off FoF for the first time in ages just last weekend. You're right: it is a brutal game and really does punish sloppy play.
    Some great looking games of Chain of Command there too.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hello,
    The black cat has been in play. :)
    Good to hear that you are also giving FOF a revive. All probabily have a FOF this Wednesday.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Very good to hear. Such a simple addition, that brings so much anxiety. Which is extra amusing because most of the time it doesn't actually do anything!

      Delete
  3. Ha ha, just noticed the golden Holden in the FoF picture! Did it have any particular significance in the game?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well spotted! And remembered. Took me a while to find it. Can't play without it. I hope Mark brought his one to your game.

      Delete
  4. Nice to see some activity on your blog again. FoF *is* pretty challenging to get into. I always seem to be destroyed handily when I've tried playing with my buddy.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think in most I-go-you-go games you are able have a turn of advantage, but in FOF you hardly ever do. The enemy always gets to vote on your cunning plan.

      Also, if you play 40k or its ilk FOF can be a hard teacher.

      Delete