Christmas Games part one

I always try to get in a couple of games over the Christmas-New Year period. By the nature of things these have to be (a) multi-player, (b) capable of adjustment for last-minute drop-outs or arrivals, and (c) easy to pick up. 

On Wednesday 27th I arranged for two games; What A Cyberman (using an adaptation of the What A Cowboy rules) and Action on the Rippach (a semi-historical Thirty Years War fight using The Pikeman's Lament). Both games played quickly enough that we were able to play them through and then swap around so that everyone (except Jamie and I) got to play both games.

What A Cyberman is, of course, a Doctor Who themed game. In it 1920s Torchwood soldiers fight Cybermen in a tunnel complex while the Doctor goes about a mission of his own. First time around I refereed the game for Stuart, Matt, and John. It looked like the Cybermen were going to successfully kidnap the Doctor when, at the very last moment, one of the players managed to roll three sixes with their Action Dice and the Doctor escaped! As the first Pikeman's Lament game had just finished, we decided to call it a draw.

A Cybermat menaces the Doctor

New cave entrance bottom left

The new cave entrance (brown in the picture above) was added to give an alternative route into the heart of the tunnel system. It meant that it was harder for the Cybermen to bottle Torchwood up in the corridor leading from the rope bridge.

In the afternoon I played the role of Torchwood commander against Andy.  My ability to resist was hampered by Andy's skilful deployment of his Cybermats and my inability to roll decent numbers on a die. Despite the new route through the cave, Andy managed to restrict my movement significantly. His Cybermen successfully kidnapped the Doctor.

The scenario has the Doctor moving to a new location the moment anyone throws three or more sixes to activate. The first time I playtested the scenario this happened four times, which rather gave me a false impression of how the scenario typically plays out. I think next time I'll try it with the option to spend two Bonanza tokens to move the Doctor. This should see the Doctor move more frequently and allow for a bit more tactical decision-making by the players.

At the other end of the kitchen table we had a couple of games of The Pikeman's Lament based very loosely upon the fighting across the Rippach stream on the eve of the battle of Lützen.

In the morning session Andy's Swedes sought to cross the stream in the face of Jamie's Catholic trotters and Croat horse. This was the first time Andy had played the Swedes without the Wild Charge special rule and I believe he was much happier with at least a modicum of control over what his forces would try to do!

I always like to have a new terrain piece in any game I run and this was no exception. The river board (top, above and below) features a nice resin watermill by Baccus 6mm.

Jamie's Catholics were hampered in the first game when, shortly after the photograph below was taken, a random event meant that a quarter of their force was called away for other duties by the General.

In the afternoon we added a third board and additional forces to allow Jamie, Stuart, John and Matt to play a four-handed game.

For a set-up that was conceived as a portable option to allow play "down-the-pub", the Thirty Years War toys have proven very useful, albeit they are yet to see action in their intended environment.

More to follow later when I write up Friday's game.