Cheriton, Descent, Roads, Boats, Rommel and Essen
September 3rd, 2006Last 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. 
September 4th, 2006 at 05:11
Roads and Boats isn’t particularly tricky, once you learn the rules. I don’t think the rules are that complicated either, I found it very easy to return to the game after a bit of a break, it all came very naturally. Brilliant game, definitely.
Good for you, going to Essen! Too bad you couldn’t make it last year and I can’t make it this year… =)
September 4th, 2006 at 08:18
Oh I agree it’s not particularly tricky, but the PBW interface plus the rules were just a bit overwhelming to learn easily with PBW. If I was sufficiently motivated, I could have done it.
It’s very bad we can’t meet after four years of correspondence. Maybe I’ll have to visit Finland sometime? You are always welcome in London.
September 4th, 2006 at 10:19
I’m fairly sure we’ll be travelling to London one day (I’ve been there three times, it’s my favourite city destination when travelling), I want to show Nooa the city… but that’ll have to wait.
Visiting Finland isn’t a bad idea, either.