January Game Night

 Game Night.

I met two nice guys in the same line of work. We played three games together. The first game was Nidavellir - a fantasy dwarf themed game where you are going around taverns hiring up mercenary dwarves. The theme was kind of cool but to be honest it had very little impact on the game. There was no big battle at the end, there was no impending doom that we were scrabbling to prepare against. Each round we just blind bid on dwarf cards in order to maximise scoring potential. I managed to win by about 30 points and was pretty chuffed as I feel like I haven't won a boardgame in quite a while. I was pleased with my victory. The guys said I was doing pretty well and felt I was going to run away with it, even though I was concerned. There is a mechanic where you can trade in one of your coins to get a higher value coin and thus guarantee yourself first pick of the three dwarves on offer. I was consistently lagging behind in this, but managed to get two good heroes who helped, and then I got three heroes who acted like the train stations on Monopoly where having more of them multiply their value significantly. 

In conclusion - fun game. Dwarf theme was cool, but not super relevant. I had a really good time with it though. Downside - setup was kind of a PITA, and the rules seemed really complex at first.

Two other games were played - my traditional game of Citadels where I lost again; then we played Forbidden Island. I had played Forbidden Desert years ago, so it was nice to revisit this subset of games. We ended up not finishing but were pretty much two turns away from winning by the skin of our teeth but the night was ending and everyone around us was packing away. 

Neither game made me immediately want to go out and buy it, unlike Cascadia from last month (still not purchased, but I keep coming back to it). Cascadia has remained in my head and I am doing the boardgame equivalent of the tattoo 5 year test with it. If you still want the tattoo after five years then get it - with boardgames I am giving it a few months. I don't really buy them and think I can probably get a copy over at UK Games Expo probably...

I didn't win the raffle, but was going to take the Citadel Age of Sigmar painting set if I had won.

The guy I played with last month won a second time in a row. That guy is lucky. 

Here is to February - that is in halfterm so I can see my leaving during a film night in order to get there. 

I had to park up the road it was so rammed.

Christmas Haul - The ground sloggers have arrived!

 I have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of the following purchases:

1x late war German infantry (new casts)

1x 1944 British infantry (new casts)

1x 1944 British infantry support weapons (new casts)

1x US infantry (new casts)

1x Soviet infantry (new casts)

a few Achilles TDs, GMC trucks, M20 car, Whites scout car, KV1s and a KV2. 

This was to fill a few holes in terms of vehicles, and having transport for command units etc. 

The quality and poses of all of the infantry are top notch. They really are gorgeous. Some flash, but not much. They are also easy to clip off from the sprues. Now, having begun the process of attaching British figures to bases for painting - I immediately regret this decision. I should have painted them on the strips and clipped them off for basing. Oh well. It has been a few years since I have really painted any H&R infantry en masse. 

I also had the following situation - the British infantry (and all other nations) are in strips of 5. The infantry pack came with 10 strips. There are no indentifiable Bren guns on these strips, whereas in the old US infantry packs there is definitely a BAR armed figure. I panicked! How was I going to properly equip my infantry sections? I have soviet infantry who are armed with generic looking small guns which I am happy to fudge into rifles. But in reality I want the Bren guns to be featured. Then I opened the support weapons pack and there are a few teams that I thought were sniper teams...but maybe the scope is actually a top feeding magazine? So I decided that these are my Bren teams and that will be that.

I also have one large mortar, a few 2" mortars, six PIAT teams, some men who look like they are throwing grenades? There is a strip of men lying down with binoculars - one of whom I have already enlisted as a sniper spotter. Flame throwers, mine sweepers, and a strip of figures holding long, thin explosives perhaps? Bangalores? I have honestly no idea what they are meant to be. 

I wish there were some command strip thrown in. I will remember this for my next order. As it stands I can make things work with infantry stands and hoping I can remember what stand is what when on the table.