Wargame Night 12-14

Bob, Tim and myself got together for the grand finale of the Kriegspiel Tournament on December 13th, 2014. After a couple of months on hiatus, we resumed where we left off in September. The trophy was up for grabs as all three of us were in contention for first place. I had the greatest amount of tournament points albeit, from a weak position as I was only in the lead by a mere three points. Tim was in second going into the final and Bob was in third place. However, all of the scores were pretty close to make this an all or nothing game night. The trophy was taken by me last year and sat in my dining room and was brought out of "stasis" for the climatic end of the Kriegspiel Tournament. Who was going to win? We chose a Twilight Imperium game to decide the trophy's fate.

The chosen races of Twilight Imperium were lead as follows:

Tim - Clan of Saar
Bob - Embers of Muaat
Bruce - Sardakk N'oir

We also modified the ancient artifacts setup by only placing one artifact on Mecatol Rex. We decided to allow for domain counters as well as the Wormhole Nexus with the planet of Malice as the backdrop to an otherwise sterile and tightly confined 3-man map board.

We also went into the game with the adjusted rules that only allows one tactical movement per round as originally stipulated in the rules. There is a tech card, Fleet Logistics, that allows for two tactical movements in one round. Originally we had been playing that all tactical movements had to be performed in one round. Which made the Fleet Logistics card, dare I say - "illogical", considering the above now understood rules. Plus, there are some action cards and the wretched Xxacha Turtles that make it much more logical in their handling as result of the more natural game flow.

Amazingly, as the map hexes were divided and passed out to everyone, I was the only person to get all of the red zone special systems - a nebula, a gravity rift with planet, and an ion storm. I gleefully placed them right in front of Lord Hideous, Tim of the Clan of Saar. I did this slow his advance to Mecatol Rex which I was sure was his ultimate destination. I was now ready to move forward and take my place amongst the stars and fallen worlds of the Lazax Empire in the Twilight Imperium universe.

In spite of the obstacles that were placed in front of Tim, he did manage to occupy Mecatol Rex. Both Bob and I met our Preliminary Objectives and were ready to move onto our secret objectives. From Mecatol Rex, Tim made a parley into one my worlds and took it from me after a close battle between a single troop. This unfortunately, sealed my fate and even though Tim and I had 4 victory points to our name, he did reach the 4th point before I did and was technically ahead of me. Bob had a mere 5 victory points when he pulled the Imperium Rex card to end the game immediately in his favor. This made Bob the undisputed winner of game night, however his win resulted in a tie for the trophy! I had received third place for the night and once again, third in the Tournament as a result. So, congratulations to both Tim and Bob for placing first place in the Kriegspiel Tournament in 2014!

We now decided that Tim and Bob would play a game of Stratego in a final death-match to determine who would drive home with the trophy this night. After some jockeying and jousting, Tim began to edge out Bob when Tim's spy took down Bob's Marshal and left him vulnerable to Tim's Marshal. One by one Bob's army was picked apart until finally Tim had all avenues of approach guarded by outranking pieces. Bob decided to bow to the inevitable and concede the game in Tim's favor. Tim was now the undisputed champion of Kriegspiel Nacht.

Congratulations Tim for a job well done! Tim takes the trophy for a second time and once again takes the title of Kriegspiel Champion. It was well deserved. But just remember the motto of Kriegspiel Nacht, for all glory is fleeting:

Sic Transit Gloria Mundi
The glory of the world passes away!

In the meantime, enjoy the taste of victory, literally!