A gaming weekend at Staff HQ

This past weekend (Memorial Day weekend) we had quite a few boardgames going on at "Gaming with Chuck" staff headquarters.

Starting out Friday with a game of Small World, for just the immediate staff members (me, Anita and Heidi). Very fun, very light, fantasy wargame. Everyone at HQ seems to enjoy this one.

On Saturday we had some lovely folks visit from out of town. We broke into two groups (the boys and the girls). The benefits were - (1) two game tables, so neither was overcrowded, (2) different game tastes. But I usually like playing with the girls, so next time we might split up different.

The boys played two games - Stone Age and Hansa, and then talked a bit (quite a bit) about wargames - old (Avalon Hill and SPI) vs. new (Columbia Games and Richard Borg). This involved taking a look at the old classic Napoleon, and the more recent "classic" Memoir 44.

The girls on the other hand, played three games and spoke of other things. They played Ticket to Ride, Unspeakable Words, and Apples to Apples. The event also included catered sandwiches and chicken, as well as lots of fruit and cheese. Since the youngest staff member at HQ was celebrating her 11 year old birthday, there was also Cake.

All in all, a great weekend, and some good times playing games with friends.

Tags: boardgames

Blitzkrieg - Used for other Games

I recently came across an article over at Lead Doesn't Bleed that discusses his love affair with the old TAHGC classic, Blitzkrieg. Evidently, the author of Lead Doesn't Bleed is active on the Consimworld Blitzkrieg Board as well.

He, it seems, uses the game (and the mythical countries presented therein) as the setting for other gaming activities, and most recently has started building up armies to play Cold War Commander set in that world.

Years ago, I did something similar with the game Russian Campaign, also from TAHGC. I set up forces for the Soviet and German side, that corresponded to platoons and companies in the OGRE gaming world, then I moved them around. I had a repair/reinforcement schedule and rules for what else was happening in the world (partisans/insurgents, economy changes, diplomacy, strategic strikes, etc). I played it out. This was during the brief time I lived in West Virginia, in 9th grade (the same time period where I got interested in both Historical Miniatures and Roleplaying).

Anyway, I think this is a great idea for Cold War Commander. A similar application could be something like the mythical countries that one can generate for AK-47 (see a nice review here). For fun see the AK-47 army event sheets here. Those events are all rolled up before the battle, and really make each game a mini-campaign.

The world of Blitzkrieg is a large continent, crisscrossed with roads, rail lines, and encompassing every sort of major terrain (from swamps and forests to mountains and deserts). The west is dominated by the Blue Empire of Azurnerreich, and the east is controlled by the Red State of Krasnynorad. In between, five smaller satellite states make things interesting. In the west, we have Nord Walkure and Sud Walkure (both in the Blue Hegemony), while in the east we have New Endor and San Estados as states under the Red Shadow. In the center there is Calaedia, which is almost neutral, but leans to the Red (Krasnynorad). Some very interesting things can be done with this simple structure.

Tags: wargames