Twilight Imperium 4th Edition Review

Check out this hilarious review of TI4:

https://youtu.be/PLybps39ZwM?t=1s

Wargame Night 2017

 

Well, it looks like Bezeel-Bob is the winner of the Kriegsspiel Kup for 2017! Both Bob and Tim played better this year than last year with Bob at 84 points this year versus 80 points in 2016. Tim got 80 points this year versus 74 points last year. In fact, Bob did so well this year he actually took the trophy home in November! However, it was still possible for Tim to snatch victory from Bob's jaws of defeat were it not for the timely outburst of Andy last December game night! A game night first? I believe so. I'll call it a Black Swan Event in the Kriegsspiel universe! I had to stop game night because of his antics and the scores were sealed as they were forever! Great job again to Bob for an excellent year of Twilight Imperium.

I had previously discussed with the wargame group that I was going to change things up for 2018. I was going to rename game night to some other name but after thinking about it for some time I decided against it and will keep the German name with the slight twist of returning to Nacht (night) from Tag (day) for official purposes. I did however, change up the blog to reflect more of a space theme since we are always playing Twilight Imperium as the "flagship" game of Kriegsspiel Nacht.

The Tournament will still go on as usual with the same scoring method for 2018 as it was in 2017. We will throw out the two lowest scores out of the twelve for the year and see where we all stand. We will still have the Kup but this year I am going to introduce a first, second and third place medal award to encourage more active participation by other less competitive (and competent) players in the Tournament. So the first place tournament player will get the Kriegsspiel Kup to add his name to plus a first-place medal to keep. The second and third place finisher will just receive a medal (still cool) to keep as well. Of course, the Kriegsspiel Kup can be taken by another champion the following year and will have to be relinquished to the victor.

Again, this Klub of wargamers is open to new initiates and guests are still welcome to come over. The more the merrier as Robin Hood once said (I could be wrong on that).

Good luck and good hunting in 2018!

Wargame Day 12/16

Well, another year and another Kriegspiel Tournament come and gone! 2016 went fast and furious with the new tournament scoring that kept things simple and sweet. If you showed up for game-day then you got points. If you didn't show up then you got no points. If you got first in a game then you got 10 points. Second got you 8 points and so on. Sixth place and lower got an automatic one point. If you were a no-show for game-day then you got zero points. At the end of the tournament we decided to adjust for missed days as well and decided to throw out from the scores the lowest two monthly totals to round out the year. Thus, the final score had Bob in First Place at 80 points and Tim in Second Place at 74 points. Everyone else was somewhere in the 40's!

There was a sudden dash for Third Place by Luke who was trying to overtake me at the end of the Tournament but alas he just couldn't quite pull it out and I did come in third but barely. I came in with 42 points with Luke at 40 points. Eric did end up with a score of 36 points after adjusting for missed days. Thus, Third Place could have gone to either one of us. Joey and Josh were added together as either one would show up for game day depending on their schedules. Thus, one would play for the other and their final score came to 28 points after adjusting for missed days.

Bob had an exceptional year in 2016 as nearly every game night ended up with him in First in Twilight Imperium. Tim also had a good year and he was gracious enough to insist that we throw out the two lowest scores to reflect a more true Tournament which favored Bob in the end.

Eric and Luke had a great year as well and their scores reflected as much. Luke is getting better and better each season and it is only a matter of time when he too will clutch the trophy in his hands. Joey and Josh are formidable players and someday their invasive strategies will pay off for them as well as the younger generation begins to learn that victory points are more important than destroying your opponent in space! However, how to destroy fleets is a lesson well learned from the more cynical and crustier Gen-Xers. Let's hear it for the X-Men! When will Generation Z claim the title of Kriegspiel Champion?

As an added bonus this year we decided to mix it up a bit by including "House Rules" and tweaking the game for added fun in Twilight Imperium. Each race would start off with their Flagship included with the initial set-up at the beginning of the game. Also, each race could also start with a Racial Tech of their choice included for free in their tech-tree at the beginning as well. Everyone was in agreement that this was a good idea. Finally, we included the "Gamma Quadrant" to the game which was another area of the game board that could only be entered by going through a wormhole, Wormhole - A to be exact. The Malice system does have two wormholes and it would serve as a chokepoint if no other "A" wormholes were found on the starting game-board. I included the second Mecatol Rex planetary system for added fun and included an ancient artifact as well as a domain counter that either would be a Lazax Survivor, a hostile native PDS unit, or a Settler faction depending on a random drawing of these three domain counters at the initial setup. This Mecatol Rex system was considered the "Founders" home world in this quadrant of our make believe universe.  All rules that applied to Mecatol Rex would only apply to the original map board and would not affect the "Gamma Quadrant". The MR in the GQ is actually more productive and influential in that this planet has a production number of 3 and an influence number of 6! Thus, getting to the GQ and onto the Founders Homeworld was a prize worth fighting for and Tim naturally was the first to get over there. He in fact scored so well that in addition to a most valuable planet and probably THE most valuable planet in our Twilight Universe he also reconned the Lazax Survivor domain counter and found an active Ancient Artifact - a trifecta of Lazax proportions! Luck of the Irish? Perhaps.

Great job to everyone for another fun year in the "Tag"!

Wargame Day 12/15

Well, that was quick wasn't it? The year just jammed by and before I knew it 2015 ended quite suddenly with Tim winning the Kriegspiel Trophy yet once again. Congratulations to Tim for another stellar year of Twilight Imperium.

Interestingly, the year had Tim in the lead with Bob in second and myself in third for almost the entire year. This is the third year in a row we have seen this "phenomenon". The final Kriegspiel Tournament scores were recorded with averages accounted in addition to placing and attendance:


Tim.......... 96.5....First
Bob.........108.0... Second
Joe.......... 158.1....Third
Bruce...... 168.8....Fourth
Luke........181.5....Fifth
Eric..........194.7....Sixth

Also, this was the first year of the Tournament where we played Twilight Imperium every month for the whole year. The reason for this was that the number of players that show up on any given game day determines the type of game we play. We have had a really good year where we have seen at least 5 to 6 people playing each game day. Thus, Twilight Imperium was the chosen game because it can handle up to 8 players easily.

Next year, scoring for the tournament will be made more simple with no averaging taken into account nor any punishing 10-point attendance scores for those who can't make it. If you get 1st place in a game then you get a simple 10 points. If second, then 8 points, if third then 6 points and so on. If you can't make it that month then you get a zero. Therefore, all points are merely added up at the end of the year and voila! - you have a winner. Should be pretty easy to keep track.

Overall, even though I got in fourth for the Tournament, I had a great time with everyone and look forward to 2016.

Wargame Day 1/15

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!

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!

Kriegspiel Nacht is Baaaaack!

Okay, so I couldn't resist any longer and had to have game night back. So, now, it's official: Kriegspiel Nacht is back on schedule!

So with all the rules in Twilight Imperium to screw up and considering how Bob and I went round and round over movement and fleet logistics last summer, I thought a Daffy Duck intro would do wonders to lighten things up a bit as we usher in the final month of Kriegspiel Nacht 2014.

Yep, Daffy Duck is me.