inconsequential ruminations

I like the concept of the new piecepack contest, Good Portmanship. The idea is to replicate an existing game using the components of the piecepack – in the same way that open source software ports existing commercial software. This is not about just cloning the old game, but instead improving upon it.

There is already a good geeklist of games that can be played using piecepack components. I was suprised to see what could be accomplished.

I went into my local Oxfam shop over the weekend and found Der Herr der Ringe: die Gefährten das Kartenspiel by Reiner Knizia for £2. There must be other euro gamers in Chiswick… It is a pity I already have it as it is a fine game.

Another UK Maths Trade has started.

Last Sunday Rob came over to lend me Descent and to play The Battle of Cheriton 1644.

My first emotional response to seeing Descent was WHOA! All the reviews said it is enormous and there is loads of plastic, but I was thinking along the lines of War of the Ring, which is big but not insane. The box is probably twice the size of the largest box I have and the figures are extravagant. I am hoping to DM Descent this week, but I have to get enough people together – which might be a struggle. Maybe if this is a runaway success, I will run an experimental Savage Worlds RPG adventure?

Dizzily, after drink of water and a sit down, we tried The Battle of Cheriton, from the Musket and Pike Battle Series. At the two hour point we had only finished the first turn, including set up and rules explanation, but I am convinced we could play it reasonably quickly if I read the rules and we got more familiar with it. Playing through the first turn of a wargame always seems to take a minimum of a quarter of the duration. The system itself is interesting, especially as I know shamefully little about the English Civil War. Movement seems pretty fluid, rather like DBA, which always makes for an interesting wargame.

Sadly, I had to bail out of Roads and Boats PBW. I am going off the idea of learning games, especially complicated ones, via PBEM. My work is getting pretty stressful these days, so devoting 15 minutes to rereading the rules and pondering my game position just is not feasible any more. On the positive side, from reading the simple rules this seems to be a deep game that presents you with an overwhelming decision tree. I look forward to trying this face to face. I will consider PBW after that.

Tragically, I had to bail out of playing Rommel in the Desert with Peter again. I am even more irritated than he is. We have had to reschedule at least three times, and I am always to blame.

Fantastically, I am going to Essen this October. Vanessa got a job so we can finally afford it (obviously she got the job for other reasons too). I booked the flights and hotel, so she will have to pull something miraculous of her box of tricks to stop me going now.