Wargame Night 01-2013



On January 12th, Ross, Tim, Bob and myself got together for the first wargame of the new year and played Twilight Imperium Third Edition, Shattered Empire. The following races were randomly chosen:

 

Bruce - Clan of Saar

Tim - Federation of Sol

Bob - Brotherhood of Yin

Ross - Sardakk Norr

 

We decided to create the map with red sides up for maximum surprise. So far, we haven't had any troubles with map creation following this method but someday it may prove to be a problem as someone will probably be unable to leave homeworld due to hazards like supernovae or ion storms.

The wormhole nexus was placed and the artifact tokens were randomly chosen and placed on the red hexes. We agreed that if an artifact was discovered in an open space hex, supernova or any other red-sided hex space then it would be considered lost.

As the Clan of Saar, I had the special ability to move my space docks but then I read that I could only move "or" build at the same time. Unfortunately, I was used to building and moving at the same time in other games.

Needless to say, I ventured forth cautiously but optimistically in hopes of securing a world of peace and harmony. Alas, it was not to be. I had the clever but sneaky Ross on my left side and the troglodyte Bob on the right side. Neither one can be trusted for very long. Eventually I did discover a wormhole and was able to warp on into the Wormhole Nexus with the planet Malice featured prominently in this space zone. Everywhere I went I dropped mines from my nimble cruisers including dropping some in orbit around the planet Malice.

As the game wore on, it was apparent that Tim was gearing up for an occupation of Mecatol Rex. He had expanded near the border of Mecatol and was fully prepared to invest it fully with capital ships of the line and a number of expeditionary troops to compliment it.

But Ross, like a loose canon on a rolling deck, used an action card against Tim (Signal Jamming) and forced him to place a command counter on his fleet that was amassing for the invasion of Mecatol. As a result, this forced Tim to wait one more round before he could launch his glorious invasion. Unfortunately for Tim and fortuitously for Bob, this allowed the Brotherhood of Yin to move on into Mecatol Rex unmolested by Tim's forces of the Federation of Sol on that turn. For the Brotherhood of Yin, there was much rejoicing. And yet, Bob was not collecting any victory points for occupying the regal planet of Mecatol while the rest of us contemplated our next moves.

With Tim bogged down near Mecatol with nearly all of his forces, Bob preoccupied on Mecatol and Ross gearing up for an attack on the Federation of Sol, I decided to make a bold move from the Wormhole Nexus. I had noticed that Tim had a wormhole next to his homeworld and with my forces building up on Malice in the Wormhold Nexus I figured it would be a simple jump to his homeworld with enough forces to occupy it and prevent him from garnering any more victory points. Up till now, he had two ancient artifacts but with his homeworld occupied by my forces then he would not be allowed to collect any additional points per game rules. Thus, we revved up our FTL Drives and appeared in orbit around his homeworld in force enough to take out what token forces were left behind in addition to killing a leader, I believe an agent in fact, by our landing. Much to the Federations' angst, the invasion was a success. Naturally, once the planet was secure, I dropped an additional mine from my cruiser for good measure. If Tim was going to take it back, it was going to cost him dearly.

In the end, however, Tim was unable or unwilling to retake his homeworld. For Bob, the occupation of Mecatol Rex paid off for him. In addition to collecting points for other objectives, Bob was able to secure first place for the night. Ross' patience and strategic planning placed him into second. Amazingly, Tim was still able to hold third place in spite of my treachery. Again, I tied with Tim for third place as well.

A great game to start off the new year!