Over the course of the weekend we packed in:
- Star Trek Fleet Captains (Twice!)
- Risk Legacy (“Game 10″…)
- Wings of Glory WWII (7 players “every man for himself”)
- Wings of Glory WWII (Teams: “America vs Japan”)
- Chez Guevara
- Fiasco
- Killer Bunnies
Risk Legacy and WoG “AvJ” were twists on old favourites. We played our “final” game (No. 10) of the Risk Legacy “donor copy” from “Desfaber” as a 7 player (with SPOILER ALERT>>>>>>all 7 factions<<<<<<<). It was a great dust up with no room on the board for anyone to get too big, which this time was really good for “Capt. Scarlet” who returned from his “essential business” and won out! More about this and the game in general on a separate spoiler littered post, with photos of a pretty awesome pretty scarred board. We have had a really great time playing this game.
WoW was played over the weekend as a “tournament” with two games and a points system deciding who lifted the “Aces Cup” and who really deserved the mighty accolade of the “C*nt’s Cup”. Needless to say nobody wanted the latter. Especially “StA”. The second sortie was a team mission set on the “coast of Japan” with plucky Team America protecting their shiny new carrier from some dastardly cunning Japs who were protecting a perfect shiny air strip. Both teams had a dual chance to build both individual points from the earlier game with yet more air to air kills, while successful bombing missions on the carrier / airstrip or the loss of bombers had both team AND individual consequences.
This game was played minus altitude for speed of play (and because “StA” had only just mastered the complexity of Immelman turns / we all wanted to stem the bleeding from our ears from “Big Daddy Ravelsykes” whining about it). Even with “Big Dicks” uncanny knack to ALWAYS get a zero damage marker, the plucky Yanks finally shot down the East’s incredibly reliable bomber and so thought it was all in the bag… till the US bomber then got nailed 3 times by Japanese flak. BOOOOOM.
This, an earlier successful bomb drop for each side, some final air to air shenanigans and the “simple” scoring system finally resulted in both the cups having to be separated / awarded by a good old traditional… dice roll. Even using 5x D6, both cups needed multiple re-rolls to find their final home. “Big Daddy Ravelsykes” was victorious while the “The Low Country Monkey” won the lady garden.
So finally onto the NEW games… Two real stand outs from the weekend.
Star Trek Fleet Captains is a great, great board game. Two players, or a team play Federation and two players or a team play Klingon. The board starts randomly generated and unexplored. Each ship has variable settings for weapons, shields, scanners and engines. The miniatures are each superb in detail and quality and all of the game components are faithful to the genre with a great feel that all Trekkies (mild or fanatical) should relish. A big additional plus is the limitless randomised replay value. You basically need to explore the tiles to find out what they contain and to find each other… Our games ended up rather combat centric however there is real scope for clever use of character cards and missions (secret and open view), to achieve victory points in multiple ways. On both occasions the Federation (even with the “Loyal Fist” as one of their Captains) was victorious. StA did not (and never has) mastered “cloaking” even as a Klingon.
Fiasco is a RPG. It is a game that can set up in minutes with no prep and still provide incredible entertainment, real tears of laughter (and even a little bit of wee too). The name is a perfect one word descriptor. Except a fiasco is a good thing that you are trying to achieve! Each player creates “relationships” between themselves, agree a “location”, add some “needs” and an “object” or two… The emphasis is on snappy one to one role-play where anything goes, whether you choose to “establish” (set the scene you want to role-play and let the rest of the group decide the outcome) or “resolve” (where you choose the outcome, but have no idea what scene you will be role-playing or with who…)
We chose a US High School setting. Yes we got an almighty Fiasco. That is about all I will or even can put into print. However it was one of the best stand alone RPG sessions we have had for a long, LONG time! Look Fiasco up on YouTube (TableTop) or BGG for some great “pro” examples on video.
Honestly, this more-in-depth update just raises more questions than it answers:
a) What are you lot drinking out of?
b) I can guess, but who goes under the various noms de guerre?
c) What the fuck did the Cunt’s Cup look like?
d) Were Steven and Donald successful on their pantyraid?
e) Is closing his eyes in photos what Steven thinks “cloaking” means?
f) Why are there no pictures of Mr Hogg?
g) Is that a Vikings beach towel in the background and if so, does it want a start at Quarterback?
A) Basically the self catering cottage only has 2 pint glasses… then little silly 150ml ones so we started to improvise. The ~2 pint jug that Big Dicks was using was great! The shell was rubbish but looked cool!
B) Protecting the innocent. Two are plays on surnames, one is the childhood lair of its owner, one is their log-in from your old blog, one refers to the “Troubles” and the last refers to our V for Vendetta esque bohemian buddy.
C) It actually had a picture of a pilot parachuting to earth… the name came after is was made and refers to skill or lack of it thankfully. Especially as Big Dicks originally wanted to mount a big hairy moustache onto the Aces cup…
D) Washing lines in Kansas were for a short while under a “clear and present danger”…
E) Probably explains why he has always been so bad at it???
F) I will email you one to add in although it will raise yet more questions… he is also lurking with intent in the group shot.
G) Sounds like they need something and quick. However a towel, even a purple one, is way more useful than to be wasted on such a task. There are backsides needing wiped all over the world for example.
Ugh. Fleet Captains looks so fun. It’s right in that sweet spot where it rewards being a big Trek dork without requiring it (and a degree in engineering and two certifications in project management), like Star Fleet Battles did.
JIM
It is great. REALLY great and not much more complex than WoW with some additional mission and character cards, plus Settlers of Catan style exploration.
Also once you are up to speed a game should only last 2 or 3 hours max.
The models are brilliant too. Look it up on the Geek for many much better photos / videos and reviews.
Buy it! Buy IT!
You were NOT wrong about Star Fleet Captains. What a great game. Bryce (hero) picked it up. We broke it out tonight and Jim and I (Klingons!) crushed Sean and Bryce (Puny hu-man Federation) beneath our boot heels. Qa’plah!
Actually it turned out to be a narrower game than it felt and you could see how different it would have been, had all the variables been slightly rearranged. Already looking forward to the next game.
Bryce buying this game was one of the nicer things anybody’s done for any of us lately. I especially feel indebted because I thought I was asking him to buy the Wings-of-War-alike tactical game called Star Trek: Attack Wing, which is about 70% cheaper than Fleet Captains.
David’s right that it felt like we ran the Federation off the board but in truth they were probably only a turn or two from winning if we hadn’t been so aggressive. DYING to play it again already.
Great recommendation, boys.
Another fine report, gents. I especially liked the inclusion of details like the Cunt’s Cup. A well named “reward” indeed. What do you think, David, could the Cunt’s Cup be some kind of award in our Pathfinder campaign?
I think the Cunt’s Cup is held by whoever last spilled beer on the wet erase map…
Also, JC, to your reply to point b) – I doubt there were any innocents in attendance!