The Hobbit

I found a nearly mint copy of The Hobbit in my local charity shop the other day for only four quid, which I thought was too good a deal to miss. It's half term at the moment and the weather is awful, so I may well try to get the kids playing game once I've worked out the rules. It doesn't look too complex but it's definitely a two to four player game, so no chance for me to try it out solo.

Table Air Combat Modern

Some good news from Paper Forge. There's a modern version of Table Air Combat in development with aircraft for Vietnam and the Six Day War from what has been posted on Facebook page. Excellent!

A nice cuppa...

Get That Shuttle!

Cool!

Here they come!

Missed...rebel idiots!

Shall I wave at them as they go past?

Just got to pile on the power and we're away!

I know..let's turn around and give them what for!

What the *****

Oh bugger.

Ka-Boom!

One fire dice..one!

Hello big boy.

Arse.

I played another couple of games of X-Wing with the lad this afternoon, the first not lasting very long as I had a useless HWK-290 light freighter, which looked and performed as though it was made of cardboard. The second game went a bit further as I swapped over to a Lambda shuttle, which was way more cool, even if still a little bit hopeless. I had to get off the opposite table corner from my entry point, while the lads trio of X-Wings tried to stop me. I would have got away but my over confident pilot decided to turn back to teach the rebel scum a lesson, only to be blown up by the combined firepower of three X-Wings. It was good fun as always and I really liked the Lambda Shuttle, with it's nifty sensor jammers and heavy laser cannons, even if I lost in the end.

Asteroid Field Ahead!

We played a couple of games of X Wing this afternoon to try out the rules for obstacles, in this case a rather packed field of asteroids with a couple of moons as well, just to make it a little bit more stressful. The two games went either way, with the Imperial TiE/FO fighter winning the first game and Darth Vader's TiE advanced being blown to bits by Luke Skywalker's X-Wing in the second. It was very tactical throughout and we both really enjoyed all the additional manoeuvring!

X Wing Ambush

 

I played another X Wing game today with my son, who has been given my entire collection of First Edition ships as well as some new ones for his birthday. We were a bit rusty, having not played in a while, so set up a simple ambush game featuring a patrol of three Imperial TiE fighters intercepting rebel X Wing and A Wing on a recon mission. It was a good game but we both kept rolling really bad dice or cancelling out each others hits. In the end, two of the TiE fighters were destroyed for no loss to the rebels, so a clear win for the Alliance. We'll play some more games soon, as we both enjoyed picking up the rules and now have a fairly good grasp of the system again. 

Battle Ravens Advanced Rules

I've been playing a lot of Battle Ravens with the kids during the lockdown and have now incorporated the advanced rules, specifically the army specific cards, in to the games. These add a lot of flavour and some interesting tactical twists, with each army having some very useful cards to play at critical points in the game. The Normans have had the edge in several games but I'm going to try out the Welsh next, which haven't been used yet. A brilliant little game!

Night of the Ninja

Possibly the best scenario in the Samurai Blades booklet, although I do also really like the one with the Samurai monks defending the temple. This time the ninjas were lethal and wiped out the whole of the defenders including the target, Lord Misikado, although he did go down fighting and not in his pyjamas!

Samurai Blades

The sprog asked if he could play a game of two of Samurai Blades the other day, so I'll be dusting off my old dog eared copy for a scenario or two over the week. I love this game, even if Cry Havoc is my favourite in the Standard Games series, so I'm really looking forward to it especially the ninja scenario!

Battlecars

I'm going to dig out my old copy of Battlecars for some games with the kids this week. It's one of my favourite games from when I was at school and I spent (wasted?) a lot of time in the sixth form playing back to back games with my friends instead of doing essays and homework. It's great fun and easy to pick up, so I'm hoping that the kids will enjoy it.

Battle Ravens Normans

I've just unpunched a Norman army for Battle Ravens, which looks great and has some really neat cards to give it some interesting tactical moves against the Anglo Saxons. Good stuff! You've got to love the Peter Dennis artwork as well, although I wish he'd make fewer sticky out bits on the counters, as they always end up delaminating when you punch them out.

Battle Ravens

I've been playing a few games of Battle Ravens with the kids over the last couple of days. It's now my favourite beer and pretzels board game, as it's loads of fun, very tactical and stuffed full of historical flavour. I haven't tried using the advanced rules and cards yet but I'm going to have a go tomorrow. Even better, I haven't lost a game yet playing as the Anglo Saxons! I have a Welsh army to try out and have ordered a Norman army too, so there's plenty of replay value to be had in the long run. A brilliant little game!