On January 11th, Bob and his boys- Joe & Josh, Eric, Tim with myself and my son, Lucas got together for the first ever - Wargame Day! Our previous get-togethers have been at night but this year saw a time change to the afternoon and the inclusion of the next generation of gamers to the wonderful world of Kriegspiel Tag - Joe, Josh and Luke. They are also included in the Kriegspiel Tournament and have the opportunity of taking home the infamous Kriegspiel Trophy. Of course, all are welcome to join as this is not a "closed" group. Note the disparity in height. Don't let this fool you. Napoleon was merely 5 feet from head to toe!
I was eager to try a Twilight Imperium game with 7 players and so we proceeded to set up a 4 ring map with a total of 53 hexes placed on the table with Mecatol Rex at the center.
The following races were randomly selected:
Bruce - L1Z1X Mindnet
Eric - Sardakk N'orr
Josh - Nekro Virus
Tim - Embers of Muaat
Luke - The Winnu
Joe - Yassiril Tribes
Bob - The Universities of Jol-Nar
I decided to set up the game in the kitchen area with everyone spread out on the bar and a smaller table and then using the kitchen table which is taller than the dining room table as the "battle board" and Galactic Senate. This may have been better suited for Bob (he could move pieces on the board without bending over - barely!) due to his sore back which he courageously and painfully endured for this years January game day.
Slowly the game progressed as each race moved out into the unknown. I had intentionally placed all my red zone hexes towards Tim to lock him in place knowing full well he could pass through supernova hexes as the Embers of Muaat. Nevertheless, he felt compelled to move around the hexes I placed in front of him for good measure. Thankfully, I was sitting right next to Eric and Bob with the crazy kids away from me! Of course, the sinister Mr. Tim was completely on the other side of the galaxy but again still posed a menace as he began the game with a War Sun. Amazingly, Joe and Josh ended up waging war between them from opposite ends of the galaxy! Josh as the Nekro Virus utilized wormholes to suddenly strike very close to the homeworld of Joe. This in turn required a visit by Joe on Josh's homeworld with the Yassiril Tribe fleet and unfortunately for the Nekro Virus, resulted in their homeworld being occupied, if I recall correctly. Both Eric and I were slow in leaving our sphere's of influence but Bob was hampered by Joe and his Yassiril Tribes in his space lanes of communication. Tim and Luke were the only ones able to break out and take some ground from other worlds. Ultimately, Tim managed to get to Mecatol Rex once again! Perhaps Tim is related to the Lazax? I don't know, but the rest of us were in no position to challenge him and thus he sat supreme at the center of the galaxy. A conspiracy if ever there was one!
Naturally, I encouraged Luke to belatedly attack Tim and rescue the rest of us from his evil rule. Of course, this meant he would take casualties and perhaps suffer a visit to his homeworld with Tim's War sun! Luke didn't take my bait, unfortunately for me, and thus pursued his own interests without considering my own fate sandwiched as I was between Bob and Eric. Perhaps a bribe or two will encourage more creative investments by my opponents in other people's spheres of influence?
The game ended with Tim taking 1st place and little Luke in 2nd! Joe got 3rd with Bob in 4th. I took 5th with Eric in 6th. Josh got locked out with a 7th place finish. No problem! Better to get 7th place than not show up at all!
