Qugong and Viticulture

Why play one game when you can play two. I see I even have a label to accommodate this type of activity.

Five for Qugong.  For Russell it was his first time, but Richard, Jeff, Stefan and myself are old hands, well, perhaps not so much Stefan who was lucky to get an audience with the emperor on the last turn.

Richard (yellow) wins beating me (pink) by one point!

Jeff (white), Russell (red) and Stefan (blue)

My vineyard.

The board.

Oh!  I won.

(I'm burgundy, Richard yellow, Jeff white and Stefan blue).

Commentary from Richard.

Hi everyone

Thanks for playing yesterday and welcome back Russell who was dropped

right into the thick of a new game.

We had another fun game of Gugong.

Some interesting game play observations. The Great Wall area certainly

seems to be a great points generator, but as I found out, being behind

on intrigue can cost you dearly especially if someone has a double

servant. Mark was able to get multiple Great Wall VPs by being able to

exploit the wall being largely complete with 3 of my servants and

sometimes one or two or someone else's by placing his double servant

and/or one other, winning the tie and then being able to reclaim the

double servant with intrigue points. I got stuck on the wall because I

ran out of servants because I bought that Level 3 decree early in turn 3

and wasn't able to do a lot after that. Ironically, this decree ended up

saving me in the end, but couldn't have got any closer.

Which canal rewards to take are certainly a tricky decision. The extra

card can be an advantage, but the double servant seems to offer a

significant advantage, especially for the Great Wall area.

Interestingly in this game the travel area did not get nearly as much

attention compared with last game.

By far the most interesting game play, however, came from Stefan who

decided to try a sprint finish to the Palace of Heavenly Purity in the

final turn.

For future games, at some point I think we should introduce some of the

modules from the Panjun expansion to keep things challenging.

Viticulture was good too, but I always feel this game is too much of a

race especially with all VPs being public. You really only have a very

limited number of turns and if you don't get decent card draws there is

not a lot you can do and then the end game state is triggered. I do have

the Tuscany and Bordeaux expansions so would also be interesting to play

with them at some point to see how the game play changes. Overall a nice

relatively low stress game.

Thanks again for playing. The next multi-player session will be on 30th

July. I will be back in touch before then to advise the game(s).

Regards

Richard

Later Merovingian versus Later Fatimid Egyptian

Nothing like a bit of practice pre match.  I cobbled together some Frankish types to face Mark B's Fatimids.

Out scouted, the Franks deploy aggressively with their flanks protected 

by difficult terrain on the left and a lake on the right.

The Fatimids are on a gentle hill.

The Franks get straight into action

and it all starts to fall apart.

The Franks keep on fighting, hoping their luck will change.

It doesn't.

Decisive win to the Fatimids.

STP

Some supplementary photos:

British Napoleonic Commanders

In working out an OOB for the Battle of Orthez I realised I was quite a few command stands short.  This has now been fixed (almost I think).

Divisional commanders

Corps commanders.

A small army commander.

Old Nosey

He'll be glad to see the back of the French.

All together.

Military Dress of the Peninsula War

This is a classic and one of my all-time inspirational books for the Napoleonic period.  As part of my research into what is now the 1813-14 campaign, I read chapters 7 and 8 and have now gone down a Battle of Vittoria rabbit hole.

In this book I found a very useful map of the Battle of Vittoria and think I can readily adapt it for Napoleon's Battles.

Burgundian Ordonnance versus Burgundian Ordonnance

My seasoned Burgundians take on Dave's newish Burgundians. I will refer to the two sides as Maximilian versus the Revivalists.

The Revivalists out scouted Maximilian's forces and deployed on a hill 

with flanks secured by a lake and some difficult going.

It was like looking in a mirror.

Both sides advance.

Seeing the Revivalists holding the initiative, Maximilian halted.

Bad move as his forces received some telling fire.

More long-range shooting occurs, with both sides taking casualties.

The shooting continues although rather inconclusively.

The ineffective shooting was testing whose patience would run out first.

Maximilian was determined to hold his ground.

The Dukedom belonged to him by rights of marriage to Mary of Burgundy.

Both sides advance their feudal crossbowmen.

The Revivalists crossbowmen lose heart and flee.

Maximilian has moved with his knights to the left.

The Revivalists order their pikeman forward.

Maximilian moves his organ guns ready to inflict some flanking fire.

Maximilian also advances his crossbowmen on his right to get them into range. 

With their pikemen now advancing, 

the Revivalists launch their knights.

Maximilian's feudal crossbowmen miraculously stand their ground,

this proving to be a sign from God that right (eh luck) is with Maximilian.

The Revivalist's soon collapsed.

Their pike failed against Maximilian's pike.

Maximilian himself rode down the Revivalist knights including their commander.

A quick and decisive ending to a slow and cautious start.

RAF

Introductory scenario for the operational level game of the Battle of Britain.  We played it twice through, changing sides to get the full feel for the game's systems. The scenario was just on day of raids, the cards for which are listed on the right-hand side (a random/hidden draw).

First time through we made a mistake with deployment giving the RAF had a few extra squadrons.

Second play through resulted in very similar outcome.

Next, the four-day scenario.

Hunters and Gatherers

The game I have played the most and blogged the least.  I play this with my partner after dinner, two or three times a week.  I have learnt not to overly encroach on her territory.

Very easy to set up and start playing immediately.  Not too hard to pack up when finished.  Perfect.

I play black and oh, look, I won:.177 to 139.

Portuguese Infantry

It's not just all reading, I'm actually actively creating more units for my Peninsula related army.

Old Glory figures of some sort, not meant to be Portuguese I think,

 but in that generic British uniform that was supplied to Portugal.

Flag from the Internet and embellished with some extra paint.

A purpose made casualty stand, sans marker.

These have been painted to represent the Regiment 19 Cascais

as that was a place I stayed in Portugal last year.

Essex this time and again not meant to be Portuguese but that is what I have painted them up as.

Getting ready to invade France.

The Peninsula War 1807-1814 by Michael Glover

Continuing my research, I thoroughly enjoyed reading Chapters 17 to 22 covering the period after the Battle of Vittoria to Napoleon's abdication. 

Published in 1974 and I've no idea how I came into its possession, but I'm glad I did.  Maps are excellent. The text most informative and inspiring.  The chapter on the east coast activities were very interesting as was the coverage of the Battle of Toulouse.  The latter so much so that I am now working on a scenario for that.

Santiago and Qugong

Richard, Simon, Jeff, Stefan and myself played two games.

First was Santiago.

I was red and did well with bananas and grapes.

Then we played Qugong which I had played before, but not with five and as it turned out I had forgotten how to play. (I was the pink token, Richard was the yellow in first place, Stefan was white in second, Simon was the dark red and Jeff the blue).

Both excellent games.

Hunting The Hunters - Twice

This is semi fictious scenario that is supplied with the Torpedoes and Tides rules:

Intercepting MTBs was not easy, especially before reliable radar became available. The British developed a special type of fast attack craft, the Motor Gunboat, to hunt down German S-boats. They would lie in wait near a German base and pounce on boats returning from a sortie.

The returning S-boats are coming in from the right.

Mark B has four MGB hoping to intercept them.

So far the Germans have not been spotted.

But that all changed quickly.

The black smoke indicates damage

most of which they commence with.

One German boat is speeding off, but the second boat looks like it might be trapped.

The last German boat is having some difficulties maintaining a course

The second German boat is having a hard time 

and that last German boat seems to have lost its course.

Well, the first German boat might have escaped, but the second one has been sunk.

What will be the fate of the last German boat?

It is struggling to make progress and is close to the shore 

A triple roll of ones on the red dice!

Understandably the crew lost its nerve and ran the boat aground.

Time For A Rematch

No blinds this time, action was immediate.

I have control of the MGBs,

The S-boats are keen to get home.

The MGBs attack but lack firepower

In the confusion collisions occur.

It is a moonless night.

One S-boat has been sunk, but the other two look like they are getting away.

Only one MGB seems able to give chase and it is battered.

The MGB crew lose their nerve and decide to break off.

The Germans escape. 

Truely a delightful game!