The Sunday Miscellanea - Tabletop, Giant X-Wing, & Blood Rage

Over on wilwheaton.net, Will tells us "Here’s The Game Lineup for Tabletop Season Four."  He adds a few caveats and explanations here.

Also, on fantasyflightgames.com, they show off a "Giant X-Wing Board and Pieces!" here.

Finally, on the Toucan Play that Game YouTube channel, they have a new video titled "Blood Rage - Play through - The 1st Age."  Enjoy!

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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Terrain Tuesday - Polystyrene, Roundhouses, & Viking Village

Over on manorhouseworkshop.com, there is part one of a good tutorial on "How to work with high-density polystyrene" here.

Also, on myevergrowingarmies.blogspot.com.br, have a look at some "Gallic Roundhouses" here.

Finally, on the Spellscape YouTube channel, check out the "Viking Village Terrain."  Enjoy!

Terrain Tuesday on MFWARS.com 

For purposes here, the term Terrain is used broadlyto cover
3D tabletop pieces made from foam, felt, and other materials.

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Nostalgia Thursday - Ancient Chinese Die & Ivory Vikings

Over on cnet.com, they recently told us about a "Lost board game found in 2,300-year-old tomb" which uses a 14-sided die.  Learn more here.

Also, on livescience.com, they tell us a bit more about the aforementioned game and the tomb in which it was found here.

Finally, on medievalists.net, as part of their "Book Talk" series, they discuss "Ivory Vikings by Nancy Marie Brown" 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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Tabletopper Friday - Hnefatafl Corner Escape

I've posted previously on Hnefatafl (400), the ancient Viking game but this post is specifically highlighting some videos on the Hnefatafl Modern YouTube channel showing the standard Corner Escape version on an 11 x 11 square board.  This is my personal favorite version to play and one I have been modifying into a Dwarven skirmish game within my own Grymvald RPG setting.  Enjoy.

We managed to squeeze in a couple of games with a makeshift board yesterday for Game Like a Viking Day!

Tabletopper Friday on MFWARS.com 

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unless they have a decidedly wargamey feel.

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Tabletopper Friday - Asgard (2012) for Game Like a Viking Day!

For Game Like a Viking Day! yesterday, we opted to play Asgard (2012).  It's a delightfully complex game with some clever mechanics that presents options while requiring flexible tactics in the face of other players secret machinations.

Having watched some videos (linked below) on how to play the game, I found myself coming up with a few ideas about the best way to approach gameplay.  It seemed likely that ignoring the temple-building would leave someone in the dust and playing catch up in the latter stages.  After five turns of regular gameplay, there is also a final Ragnarok phase that requires some preparation to take full advantage of it.

From the description on Board Game Geek:

The end of days is close. Darkness and light will clash.

All Gods know what this means for them. Blood ties will no longer be respected, brother will fight against brother, and no man will spare another. Odin, Freyja, Týr, Loki, Hel, Thor, and Baldr forge their plans and promise great rewards to the ones who will help them prevail. Eventually Fenrir, Mímir, and Surtr will join the battle.

Ask for help at the right time, and the gods will grant you their powers. Will you ask Freyja to recruit the fallen warriors of Valhalla, or will you use the cunning of Loki and Hel to make an opponent's armies die or switch sides at a critical moment? Will you ask Týr to help win a decisive battle, or will you consult Mímir's wisdom in order to gain a tactical advantage?

In Asgard, you want to support the gods by erecting temples and by convincing brave warriors and mighty giants to side with them. You can influence which god will fight which during the final battle — Ragnarök — the outcome of which will depend on how well you strengthened their armies.

Beware, only a few of them will come out victorious. Will you side with the right ones? As a mortal, your place in the new world depends on it.

Our own game proved to me that not also spending some resources toward battles along the way cannot make up for simply dominating temple-building.  John, who best exploited ongoing battle was able to also dominate the Ragnarok phase and thus reap the lion's share of victory points and win the day.  We'll play this one again, hopefully on the next Game Like a Viking Day!

On Wednesday, I linked to the first video on the the Rahdo (Plays Through) YouTube channel but here is that video again, along with an extended play video from the same channel and a "Final Thoughts" video, the third in his series on Asgard.

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Tabletopper Friday - Midgard (2007) Revisited

Just a couple days ago, I posted about Midgard (2007).  You can check that out here, so I won't repeat the details of the game.  I do recommend the video to which I linked in that last posting as a primer if you are interested in the game.  The plan was to get in a game of Midgard for Game Like a Viking Day, which happens on the third Thursday of every month, for those interested in joining in the fun with your own organized Viking-themed games each month.

We did indeed squeeze in a game of Midgard and I have some insights to add to my previous posting.  Firstly, the discussion we had after the game reached consensus in a few areas.  We agreed that the micro-rewards in so many areas make a ranch of strategies viable, particularly if you can avoid the strategies being exploited by opponents and make quick adjustments as you keep track of which cards your opponents seem to be drafting.  Secondly, and this one I am revising relative to what we discussed post-game as I have reflected on it further, Asgard *doesn't* stink on ice.  We came to general agreement that sending too many Vikings to Asgard can keep you out of the running elsewhere but now I think that is only true if you don't build it into your strategy properly.  That is to say that if you send Vikings there without keeping a flexible way to draw some back if they aren't needed, then Asgard can be problematic.  But if you keep an outlet card, shall we say, so that a couple of Vikings can be brought back to the three Kingdoms, I think both Asgard and Vanaheim can be useful and not simply worker-pits.

Finally, the combination of gaining two points for those Vikings becoming Doomed and the additional point they each gain returning from Valhalla means you have to be sure no one runs away with all of the villages in Doomed provinces round after round.  If you want to hang onto a high numbered Gold card, thus requiring you go first in that same round, it behooves you to jump into a Doomed province to be sure you aren't playing the rest of that round catching up to someone going subsequently in the round.  Once you don't otherwise, if a subsequent player works heavily toward occupying villages in the Doomed provinces, they can really create a wide gap in the scoring.  This is compounded if those Doomed provinces are spread fairly evenly around the board, since they will also be collecting sets of tokens along the way.  Perhaps even worse if the Doomed provinces are bunched up in Kingdoms where you have few cards to dislodge them, and they also manage to gain majority before their Vikings are happily swept off to Valhalla.  So, those are just a few additional thoughts on the game and I hope you get the chance to enjoy it soon yourself!

Tabletopper Friday on MFWARS.com 

Mostly about card games and board games,
unless they have a decidedly wargamey feel.

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