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.

That's All Folks!

I've decided to end Kriegspiel Nacht until further notice. It's been a blast and hope we can resume at a later date. Thanks to everyone for coming over and having a raucous Saturday night for the past 10 years.

Wargame Night 09-14

Well, for September, Eric was the only member of the warlike cantata to make it over. So, we decided to update the Kriegspiel Tournament score by a simple throw of the die!

The highest roller would get first place for the night and second highest would get second place. All others who neglected to show up and those who truly couldn't make it would receive a score of 10 for the month of September. Most unfortunate. 

Eric grasped the die with the sweaty palm of his hand and held his breath. And guess what? The die rolled off the countertop and fell on the floor! I could only chuckle to myself considering the number of years that Eric has consistently managed to roll his dice off the table. He picked up the die and finally rolled a "two"! I smiled devilishly knowing that I had a good chance to make "first" place this night. I picked up the die and tossed it haphazardly upon the marble counter in the kitchen - a "5"!

Wargame Night 08-14

In August, Bob, Eric and myself got together for Star Trek: Settlers of Cataan. We set up the map in the usual manner and each drew our respective Star Trek character cards for additional advantage. I picked my usual #5 spot on the map as well as a #8 for good measure.

We basically were tied throughout the game but the breakout point came when Eric starting pulling the development cards and then proceeded to construct the longest road. In due time, Eric pulled ahead by also having the largest fleet (largest army) and gaining another 2 victory points.

Bob did pull ahead a bit by upgrading his outposts to starbases. Unfortunately, I was not so lucky or smart or both. I was only able to upgrade 2 of my outposts whereas Bob was able to upgrade all of his for a grand total of 8 points.

Eric did indeed win the game when he finally reached 10 points with both the longest road and largest fleet. Great job Eric! Bob came in second with 8 points and I came in third with 6 points.

Wargame Night 07-14

Last July, Tim, Ross and myself got together for a rockin' game night of Risk: Godstorm. Tim went for the White armies of the Norse. I went with the Brown armies of Babylon and Ross went with the Green armies of the Celts. After the initial handout of the territory cards, I decided to throw my lot in Europa. I was also fortunate enough to have most of Atlantis (4/5) with two of those territories having the plague marker, making it an ideal candidate for occupation. Naturally, the "Sink Atlantis" card would have to be found first by me considering what happened the last time I occupied this tortured continent.

Tim was very much ensconced in Germania and Africa with Ross pretty solid in Asia Minor and Hyrkania. Amazingly, Tim felt Germania could not be held and thus decided to forgo his strategic position on that continent and focus mainly on Africa. Perhaps, it was a ruse on his part to fool us.

We all decided to choose our first God to summon rather than be stuck with the War God as per the rules of the game as the first God on the board. Both Tim and I went with the War God anyway but Ross naturally picked the God of Death. Of course, in this game, points are awarded to those with the most territories, unbroken control of a continent, and holding altars and crypts in the underworld, of which there are six. I think the next time we play, points should also be awarded to Temples as well. Might juice up the game a bit however, I don't think it does need juicing up but it would be nice to capture someone's temple and get a victory point out of it. I'm sure Bob would agree.

Out of the gate, I was successful in seizing all of Atlantis and most of Europa with the expectation of solidifying all of Europe on the next turn. However, Ross decided to invade Anatolia to prevent me from gaining the continental bonus of 7 for this continent. Unfortunately, a plague marker sat in front of Anatolia and I was unable to take back this territory for the duration of the game. Anger - Rising!

I was swimming in war cards however, and I decided to play one on Tim where an army can be switched from one territory to another. I could have switched his very large army in Egypt with a plague territory but instead I decided to play nice and only switch his army in Egypt to a territory directly in front of Ross, threatening Hyrkania with invasion, If Tim so desired that is. Tim naturally, did not invade Ross with his wayward army, so in the end I should have placed them in a plague territory.

Suddenly, Ross began menacing both Tim and I with huge armies poised for invasions of Europe and Germania, threatening both of us with extinction. However, both Tim and I rallied our troops and Ross got bogged down in a few territories in Europe and completely blunted by Tim in Germania. Where Ross had a massive force, now was reduced to a mere token reserve of drunk Celts retreating before their enemies with their tails between their legs. Both Tim and I began a slow counter invasion of Hyrkania and Asia Minor. In addition, I played a death card in which I roll a die to randomly choose a continent. Once chosen, then every territory immediately loses one troop. If no troops exists in the territory, then it reverts to a neutral status. At the time, I only controlled Atlantis and had few territories in Europa. I figured I would stand a good chance in rolling for either Tim which controlled most of Germania and all of Africa and Ross who controlled Asia Minor and Hyrkania. Bingo! I rolled for Asia Minor and Ross had to divest nearly 70% of his territories in Asia Minor as most of them were only occupied by a single troop. Most unfortunate - for him.

I was now able to concentrate my forces on Tim and invaded Germania from Scotland and invaded Africa from Europe, landing in Carthage and fanning out in all directions to conquer most of Africa in one swift turn. In addition to this, I used another death card and removed a very large army of his that was certainly going to be used to counterattack me in Africa and placed his army instead in a far away territory in Spain. Tim tried to counterattack with this force into Atlantis to break my continent, but alas my forces were able to fight off his attack and I believe he lost some 5 armies attempting to break it. By then, Tim saw the writing on the wall and knew all was lost. Ross and I continued fighting in the underworld and we both secured 3 victory points to each of us there.

The final score was Bruce with 24 points. Ross with 18 points and Tim with 8 points, I believe. Oh, I held the "Sink Atlantis" card by the fourth round and thus kept it nice and safe from evil hands and hearts seeking only to do harm to me. There was much rejoicing in Babylon this night.