The term is over, and the calculus papers are graded and recorded (it's all over but the crying). Hurrah! Hurrah!
I finally made an appearance at the local monthly games night. I didn't have time to put together a miniatures game but was happy to show up for the first time in a dog's age. I was very glad that I did as I met a local gamer who has an interest in miniatures (sadly he's shipping back to Oz this summer). We played a new game that has intrigued me in the shop.
This is an area control game where there are 5 forces in 2 sides. The British control the redcoats, Canadian militia and the Natives while the Yankee imperialist pig-dogs (excuse the bias here) have regulars and militia. Each force has a move in a turn, but the sequence of play is random so that the US can move twice (i.e. the regulars and militia) before the Brits get to react wit their three moves (redcoat, militia and natives) or it can be more IGO-UGO depending on how things turn out. Also, if a force moves and other allies in the area get to move at the same time. So if a militia move from Prescott to Ogdensburg then any redcoats and Indians at Prescott also get to come along too. I'm probably making a botch of describing this but it gives a game which is very fluid and has very strong ebb and flow - much like the real conflict.
The map shows the familiar (at least to Canucks) frontier from Detroit to Montreal. Ship based movement is allowed based on select cards which can be played if available. The army units are small wooden cubes in appropriate colours.
One entertaining combat aspect is the the dice have "hit the enemy" results "try again but you can retreat if you want to" and "you run away" results. I had a lot of fun letting Ian roll away and watching him lose more troops than I did! Militia and Natives are prone to flee, US regulars less so and redcoats not at all. Therefore a small core of redcoats can outlast all the others in a prolonged conflict, especially if there are militia or natives to take the casualties!
I won the war as the Brits, conquering Ft. Meigs in a last gasp attack where the redcoats prevailed while the US militia ran away. It was a highly entertaining game that literally went down to the last die roll.
I then played 3 games of "Hey That's My Fish" which was at a level of intellectual challenge after 122 Math 103 papers. I won once, game second once and third once in 3 person play.
