The Sunday Miscellanea - Liar's Dice (1987)

Once more unto the breach . . . with a game of Liar's Dice (1987).  This one tends to be at the ready for times when we have more people than games to play and need to squeeze folks in.  However, last Tuesday, when I found myself at Taco Bell around lunchtime, it became the game of choice for Tom, Brian, and I.  Allow me to say up front that what talent I may possess for fibbing falls far short of what these venerable prevaricators can muster.  When the crowd is larger, I can sometimes slip through the web of their deceit but when just the three of us are in attendance, I am the last honest man in Bluffsville.

The description from Board Game Geek is as follows:

Liar's Dice is a dice game where each player is given five dice and cup to roll and hide them with. Players make successively higher declarations regarding the results of all the dice remaining in the game, e.g. "there are ten sixes". However, someone can always contest the bid. When that happens, all the dice are revealed and either the bidder or the caller loses dice, depending on who was correct. The last player with dice is the winner.

Okay.  I lied.  I won on this day and did so in grand fashion.  I even crudely Photoshopped the guy out behind Tom's right shoulder in the first picture but left him lurking in the third pic.  Serves you right for reading my blog.  I am a bad man.

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not covered elsewhere or wanting a particular focus.

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Nostalgia Thursday - Liar's Dice (1987)

A game that gets to the table fairly often round these parts is Liar's Dice (1987).  Its simplicity and quick play, combined with fun interaction, makes this a party game with a little something more to it.

The description from Board Game Geek is as follows:

Liar's Dice is a dice game where each player is given five dice and cup to roll and hide them with. Players make successively higher declarations regarding the results of all the dice remaining in the game, e.g. "there are ten sixes". However, someone can always contest the bid. When that happens, all the dice are revealed and either the bidder or the caller loses dice, depending on who was correct. The last player with dice is the winner.

Despite all of the dice rolling, this bluffing game is largely about reading the room.  And the more players involved, the less important the dice rolling becomes.  It should be noted that a lot of folks don't take full advantage of their turn by revealing some of their dice and re-rolling the remainder.  This is especially effective if you have at least four dice and are revealing two of them, I have found.  Our buddy Ernie has two sets of this game which are combined so that a massive game of Liar's Dice can be run with a dozen players.  Great fun!

Nostalgia Thursday on MFWARS.com 

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with an eye toward the last century and before.

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The Sunday Miscellanea - Elemental Evil Boardgame & Dungeons of Dread

You can check out some details on Board Game Geek or on the WotC website but the Temple of Elemental Evil board game releases at the end of this month.

Also, I am not sure when the sale ends but the AD&D 1st Edition: Dungeons of Dread hardback which has reprints of the S-Series of adventures plus additional material is on sale at Funagain Games here.

Finally, see what the Dungeon Delver has to say about those classic adventures, their origins, and that tome in particular on his YouTube channel.

The Sunday Miscellanea on MFWARS.com 

Essentially, a clearinghouse for topics on MFWARS.com

not covered elsewhere or wanting a particular focus.

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Nostalgia Thursday - Classic TSR Modules, The Bard Class, & North Wind Adventures

Over on Creighton Broadhurst's blog, the Raging Swan has a look at "4 Overlooked Classic TSR Modules You Should Run" here.

Also, tribality.com takes a look at "The Bard Class" here in part one and onward through related posts linked at the bottom the first.

Finally, for some nostalgic old school feel, check out North Wind Games here.

Nostalgia Thursday on MFWARS.com 

Focusing on the roots of current tabletop gaming
with an eye toward the last century and before.

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Systems Saturday - D&D Classes through the Editions

Just over a month ago, on the Wizards of the Coast website for their D&D Alumni column, Shannon Appelcline has written "A Handful of Class-ic Histories" highlighting the D&D Classes through the various editions.  Read more here.

Systems Saturday on MFWARS.com 

A look under the hood of various Games, Rules and Systems.

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Avalon Hill's Classic Civilization (1980) at Gary Con VI

To close out the Gary Con VI festivities this year, a handful of us opted to play Avalon Hill's Classic Civilization (1980).  I snapped a few pics though we didn't complete the game.  We all agreed to meet next year and start quite a bit earlier and try to get in a full game on Sunday.  Enjoy!

Divine Right: TSR's Classic Fantasy Wargame

One of the highlights for me is playing in the annual game of Divine Right as set up by John Appel.  Each year, I have joined him, Steve Sullivan, and Kifflie Scott, and Dave, in the epic struggle to control a fantastical land.

In short, despite controlling most of the northern territories for much of the game, I was thwarted in my attempts to hold my title from last year as Steve managed to knock Kiff out of the action and gain enough victory points to secure the lead late in the contest.  Congrats to everyone on a great tradition well played!

Kingmaker - Classic Avalon Hill Wargamey-Boardgame

I'm playing a number of classic boardgames/board-wargames at Gary Con VI this (long) weekend and yesterday that meant playing Kingmaker (1974) from Avalon Hill.  As described on Board Game Geek -

Kingmaker simulates the Wars of the Roses, the period of sporadic Civil War in England between 1450 and 1490. Ruled by a weak and mentally unstable king, Henry VI, demoralized by the defeat in France at the end of the Hundred Years War, and encouraged by the ambitions of Richard, Duke of York, and his sons; the country's Noble families used their large private armies in attempts to gain control of the government.

The game is based on the premise that the powerful Noble families used the Lancastrian and Yorkist princes as pawns in a greater game of gaining control of England. Players control factions using their military and political power to control and influence the royal heirs, supporting the heir in their control as king while trying to take down all of the other heirs.

I've always had fun playing this game and introducing it to new players, young and old.  Some folks do not love the events deck which can be brutal to those who do not gird their strategy against any eventuality, but I find the unpredictability of plagues and calls to duty as well-based in historical possibility. So, too, when the deck is used to determine the outcome of battles, there is a chance that the nobles involved can perish, leaving a player's plans in disarray.  However, Kingmaker is also a game where someone can lose everything in the course of their attempts to control an heir to the throne, yet turn things around while switching sides and supporting yet another heir. I also find that to be true enough in spirit to actual history so as to make it a fair expression of what can happen in the game.

We played with three and managed to finish in three hours, including a couple of breaks which cut actual game time down to about two and a half hours.

I was dealt a solid group right from the start

Fred's son was holding some good cards as well

Fred's cards were decent but without many individual nobles

We all had some work getting our nobles closer to one another and although I snapped up Margaret in Coventry, a plague knocked her and one of my nobles out right away.  So, too, my noble Scrope, who I made the Captain of Calais, sailed down and sat on young Richard, and he too was wiped out by plague.  It seemed every heir I gathered would be struck down.  No matter, there are more of them.

Wearing my new lucky Beholder hat (Thanks diaglo Dave!), I plotted and schemed my way into destroying several more heirs even as Richard the elder and Henry remained in their starting locations of York and London, respectively.

I was able to use my connections in Cornwall to halve Fred's starting forces and although my own nobles kept getting drawn back to their territories to quell revolts, I was able to keep their factions strong enough to deter direct assaults for awhile.  I was also able to gather York's Edward and George in the battle with Fred's subsequently-executed noble then remove them from the equation.

It all came down to Fred's son making a move on the largest of my thin-spread forces, but some bad weather held him at bay and I was able to slip from his grasp.  Finally, a lucky chance of gaining the arch-bishopric of York at the same time as Henry was called up to Preston allowed my far-flung forces to snag the heads of both households.  With the highest of the bishoprics in my possession, as well as the chancellery, I was able to call a parliament and force the remaining heir, Lancaster's Edward, Prince of Wales, by way of Writ, into striking distance.  Everyone attended and the forces were close enough that a mere majority would be the scant advantage once the King's Peace was ended.  Knowing how swiftly even that slight lead can vanish, I chased down the final obstacle to holding the sole heir and finished the dirty job in Northern Wales.  Both forces numbered in the 600s and no nobles died in the actual battle.  The Prince was dead, Long Live the King!

We had a great time and I thanked them both for joining me.  I did have some good luck in the cards but, as I said during the game, "Fortune favors the bold."  And I think they would both agree that I jumped on each opportunity and didn't allow any of the bad turns I had to deter me from taking full advantage of the offsetting good turns.