A minimalist blog, with a pretentious title, about strategy board games.
Bruno’s choice has been the best predictor of quality for me over the years, apart from possibly the International Gamers Award.
This year, I am not sure. I was not blown away by Himalaya, and I never enjoyed Lord of the Rings too much, so I doubt Shadows Over Camelot will be my type of game. Manila looks good. I’m short on gambling games – I think just Royal Turf.
We returned yesterday from a week’s holiday to Carcassonne in a gîte with another couple and their baby. We had a good time, although the first couple of days were around 38°C (100°F), so Ness, who is 32 weeks pregnant, found it tough. We had a lot of plans to see sights and get things done, but the holiday improved massively once we abandoned them and enjoyed just going to the local outdoor pool and eating in restaurants.
Carcassonne is a reasonable place to stay, but if you are on an itinerary it is only worth a day. The walled city looks great from the river, but is disappointing inside, mainly due to too many people and shops selling touristy tat.
Monty’s Gamble turned into Iain’s Gamble – a bit of a gaming disaster. My friend Julian had the stamina to read the rules but was much more interested in long evening meals and drinking red wine than working out how to play the game. I did not think he was being unreasonable, especially considering the heat of the evenings and the learning curve of the game. The fact that most of his father’s family were murdered by the Nazis in Vienna was certainly a factor in his lack of enthusiasm. He did say WWII was not his favourite genre, but I did not realise the level of his revulsion. 
After much rules consulting, we played through the first day of the operation and then gave up. On the positive side, I learned a lot about wargaming and the history of the campaign. I would love to play more wargames, but I will have to be cleverer about picking opponents. In the mean time, does anyone want a Cyberboard game of Monty’s Gamble?
Julian did say he would play an ancients wargame with me. Do I wait for Hannibal: Rome vs. Carthage to be reprinted or are there any others I should consider? A strategic level one is required, as he already plays a lot of DBA.
After I bowed to the inevitable, we played a couple of simple two-handed card games that were conversely surprisingly successful.
Over six hands, players take turns to lay cards onto a 3×3 grid. One player scores the highest scoring row; the other scores the highest scoring column. Your score is multiplied if you get combinations of suits in your rows/columns.
There is plenty to think about tactically. It strongly reminds me of the Piecepack game, Power Lines. I’d say this is my second favourite traditional two-player card game, after Schnapsen.
24 cards are laid out in a row. Players take it in turns to draw one, two or three cards, trying to create sets or sequences. Your final score from cards drawn is multiplied by the number of cards your opponents takes. We played this too late at night to analyse it properly, but it is certainly interesting (in this case that means good).
As usual, David’s Parlett’s card games were top-drawer. Julian was very impressed.
A couple of BGG tricks you might have missed:
It’s been frenetic recently. Last weekend we went to Scotland for a wedding, and this week I was in Madrid on business.
The wedding was in Edinburgh, but we spent a day shopping in Glasgow. Naturally, I consulted the uk.games.board faq and checked out the local game shops, which are five minutes apart. There are two and both are pretty good, but aimed at different markets.
Static Games is in a crummy indoor market, but the selection is good, with lots of Euros, wargames, miniatures and RPGs.
Likewise, The Dragon & George has the shabbiest exterior imaginable. It was so scruffy, I was sure they had closed down as I approached. This is much more of a wargames specialist and there are only a few €uros and miniatures. The wargames selection is very good, although prices can be breathtaking. A few of the GMT wargames cost £50+.
I was not planning to buy anything, but in the end I went for Monty’s Gamble: Market Garden. I am going on a holiday to Carcassonne next month and ironically I do not want to just play light euros. We are going with my DBA -crazy friend and fortunately, miniatures are too heavy to carry. 
I think he will enjoy a wargame, although WWII is not his favourite theme.
I have considered trying a WWII wargame for some time. I have almost finished Martin Gilbert’s World War Two, which has enthused me. Operation Market Garden seems like a proper place to start – a classic British military disaster – brilliant! Monty also went to my old school, so I feel slightly obliged to learn a little about him. Chris Farrell also says a lot of good things about it and he was spot on about Wizard Kings.
Another positive factor is that the box is small enough to stuff in a backpack. On the other hand, it was far from cheap – £32. Multiman proclaims on the box that the game was “Proudly made in the USA” (or something like that), complete with the Stars and Stripes. It is a pity it means such exorbitant prices.