Pursuit of Victory

by on February 2, 2009 at 10:24 am
Posted In: Boardgaming

Had Mark over yesterday for another attempt at Pursuit of Glory. It went pretty smoothly, and we got through the end of Turn 3, which is pretty much an extra turn, and last time we were on a script.

Mark took the Central Powers again, which is just as well, as I’m just not sure what they should do. Or, maybe, do first.

I went for the expected opening and went for the Russo-British Assault. Pretty standard, took Basra, attacked on the flank of the Turkish line in the Caucuses and knocked a unit out permanently, despite Turkish Withdrawal. Past that, things have not gone so well on the Russian front. The Turks got some good reinforcements in, and advanced in a couple places as well as extended the line into Azerbaijan before the Russians could do much. I used Enver Goes East at the beginning of the second turn, and the main attack that generated got good weather and knocked me out of Kars. However, between a blizzard and the assault, the second one knocked out the Stanke Bey unit.

That helped me zip a spare cavalry division into Trabzon, besieging the fort, and immediately focusing all Turkish attention there. The Turks were already in Kars, and the end of the second turn saw our first sieges (the Turks barely missed forcing my unit back out on the last round). Thankfully, Kars held out while Trabzon fell.

If I had been thinking I would probably have either SRed the division out, or SRed some reinforcements in on the first round of turn 3. But I was happy to let it be a diversion, as it gave me time to redress the situation on the rest of the front (including driving back into Kars). I have yet to get to clearing out Azerbaijan, but there are spare troops nearby, and the rest of the front looks stable now.

Also, thanks to Kitchner on turn 2 and Asquith/Lloyd George Coalition on 3, I was able to turn some spare British RPs into Russian ones and rebuild much of the army, which had been fading fast.

Meanwhile, the Turks also got busy in Palestine and attempted to Liberate Suez before I had done much with it. He didn’t quite clear the west bank of the Suez Canal, but I’ve had no luck with driving him out either. Thankfully, the Jihad level is still low enough to keep a revolt from breaking out, but I’ve got to kick him out soon.

Also, the initial troubles in Russia meant I’ve had no chance to get into Persia, so the Turks managed to grab everything of worth with their Persian Push.

Progress in Mesopotamia has been slow, as I haven’t had the forces to feel comfortable stringing myself out, but some Indian Army Reinforcements landed the Tigris Corps in Basra at the end of turn 3, and things may be about to start moving.

Right now the Jihad level is 3, the VPs are at… 12? (have to look again), and the Allied Powers have a good lead in getting to a Total War commitment (Mark was complaining of a poor turn 3 hand). Technically, he’s in the lead, but I get the idea he should be doing better from other reports. I’ll have to look at them again. We’ve transferred the setup to Vassal, and should be continuing the game by email.

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Giant Anime Meme

by on January 19, 2009 at 11:33 am
Posted In: Anime

Swiped from Elin & Smudge. Okay, I typically avoid memes, but this one hits close enough to home for me to actually care.

Go through the list and check off the titles you have watched. For our purposes, “watching” a title means that for TV and OVA series, you have to have seen at least one episode. For one-shots, you have to have seen the whole thing. At the end of each genre/category, add up your sub-total. At the very end, add up the sub-totals to come up with your grand total. If your grand total is 80 or over, congratulations — you are an obsessive anime watcher!

I. Action and Adventure
(X) .hack//SIGN
() Airmaster
() Battle Arena Toshinden
(X) Bleach
() Blood+
() Burst Angel
() City Hunter (seen the live action movie)
(X) Cowboy Bebop
(X) Dragonball (a few episodes of Dragonball, none of Dragonball Z)
() Flame of Recca
() GetBackers
(X) InuYasha
(X) Lupin III
(X) Mai-HiME
() Naruto
() One Piece
() Tenjou Tenge
(X) TRIGUN
() Saiyuki
(X) Yu Yu Hakusho
Total Here: 9/20

II. Comedy and Parody
() 2×2 = Shinobuden
() Adventures of the Mini Goddesses (read the manga)
(X) Azumanga Daioh
() Bokusatsu Tenshi Dokuro-chan
() DiGi Charat
(X) Dragon Half
(X) Excel Saga
(X) Fruits Basket
() Galaxy Angel
(X) Here is Greenwood
() Kodomo no Omocha
() Kyou Kara Maou!
() Midori Days
() Ouran Koukou Host Club
() Pani Poni Dash
(X) Project A-ko
(X) Ranma 1/2
(X) Tenchi Muyo
(X) Those Who Hunt Elves
(X) Urusei Yatsura
Total Here: 10/20

III. Drama and Miscellaneous
() Beck
() Full Moon wo Sagashite
() Gankutsuou
(X) Genshiken (the second series should be required watching for anyone wanting to get into comics)
() Glass Mask (original)
(X) Haibane Renmei
() Hitsuji no Uta
() Honey & Clover
() Kaleido Star
(X) Last Exile
() Le Portraite de Petite Cossette
() Monster
() Paradise Kiss
(X) Princess Mononoke
(X) Read or Die
() Speed Grapher
() Twin Spica
() Weiss Kreuz
(X) Wings of Honneamise
() Yakitate!! Japan
Total Here: 5/20

IV. Ecchi/Mature
() Agent AIKa
(X) Cutey Honey
() Ebichu
() Golden Boy
() Grenadier
(X) Hand Maid May (I wouldn’t really put it with these others….)
() He Is My Master
() Iketeru Futari
() La Blue Girl
() Lingerie Senshi Papillon Rose
(X) Mahoromatic (well, okay May and Mahoro belong together)
() Mezzo Forte
() Miyuki-chan in Wonderland
() My Dear Marie
() Najica Blitz Tactics
() Negima
(X) Puni Puni Poemi
() Urotsukidoji: Legend of the Overfiend
() Wicked City Noir
() Yumeria
Total Here: 4/20

V. Fantasy and Supernatural
() Angel Sanctuary
() Aquarian Age
() Berserk
(X) El Hazard (OAV, Wanderers, and second OAV)
() Final Fantasy Unlimited
(X) Fullmetal Alchemist
(X) Howl’s Moving Castle
(X) Magic Knight Rayearth
(X) Mushishi
(X) Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
(X) Record of Lodoss War
(X) Scrapped Princess
(X) Slayers
() Tales of Eternia
() Trinity Blood
(X) Tsubasa Chronicle
(X) Vampire Hunter D
() Violinist of Hamelin
(X) Vision of Escaflowne
() X: TV
Total Here: 12/20

VI. Historical and Alternate History
() Anne of Green Gables
() Basilisk
() Barefoot Gen
() Chrono Crusade
() Grave of the Fireflies
(X) Fire Tripper
() Kaidomaru
() Legend of Condor Hero
() Millennium Actress
(X) Nadia – Secret of Blue Water
(X) Ninja Scroll (well, II, not impressed)
() Otogizoushi
() Peacemaker Kurogane
(X) Porco Rosso
() Rose of Versailles
(X) Rurouni Kenshin
() Samurai 7
() Samurai Champloo
(X) Steel Angel Kurumi
() Victorian Romance Emma
Total Here: 6/20

VII. Kids and Family
(X) Angelic Layer
() Astro Boy (anime no, I have a volume of the manga)
() Beyblade
(X) Castle in the Sky
() Detective Conan (would like to see it)
() Digimon
() Doraemon
(X) Hamtaro
(X) Kiki’s Delivery Service
() Kimba the White Lion
() Monster Rancher
(X) My Neighbor Totoro
(X) Pokemon
() Samurai Pizza Cats
() Sazae-san
() SD Gundam Force
() Sonic X
(X) Speed Racer (loved it when I was 5….)
(X) Spirited Away
() Yu-Gi-Oh
Total Here: 7/20

VIII. Magical Girls and Boys
(X) Cardcaptor Sakura
() DNAngel
() Earth Girl Arjuna
() Elemental Gelade
() Hime-chan no Ribbon
() Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne
() Magic Users Club
(X) Magical Girl Pretty Sammy (OAV and series)
() Magical Stage Fancy La La
() Mahou no Star Magical Emi
() Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha
() Mythical Detective Loki Ragnarok
() Ojamajou DoReMi
() Oku-sama wa Mahou Shoujo
() Pretear
(X) Sailor Moon
() Saint Tail
() Tokyo Mew Mew
() Ultra Maniac
(X) Wedding Peach
Total Here: 4/20

IX. Romance
(X) Ah! My Goddess (OAV and the movie, and the series)
(X) Ai Yori Aoshi
() Air
() Ayashi no Ceres (have several volumes of the manga…)
() Boys Be
() Chobits (seen the beginning of the manga, not impressed)
(X) Fushigi Yuugi
() Hana Yori Dango
(X) His and Her Circumstances
(X) Kimagure Orange Road (way back when)
() Kimi ga Nozomu Eien
(X) Love Hina
(X) Maison Ikkoku
() Marmalade Boy
() Peach Girl
() Piano
() Please Teacher!
() SaiKano
() To Heart
(X) Video Girl Ai
Total Here: 8/20

X. Science-Fiction
(X) Appleseed
() Blue Seed
(X) Bubblegum Crisis
(X) Crest of the Stars
() Galaxy Express 999 (seen some of the manga)
() Gundam (any)
(X) Macross (any) (‘Robotech’ version, Do You Remember Love, and Macross II)
(X) Outlaw Star
(X) Patlabor (well, the movies)
(X) Planetes
() Please Save My Earth
(X) RahXephon
(X) Saber Marionette
() s-CRY-ed
() Soukyuu no Fafner
() Space Battleship Yamato
() Stellvia
(X) Transformers (any)
(X) Voices of a Distant Star
(X) Xenosaga: The Animation
Total Here: 12/20

XI. Shounen-Ai and Shoujo-Ai
() Ai no Kusabi
() Descendants of Darkness
() Earthian
() FAKE
() Fish in the Trap
(X) Galaxy Fraulein Yuna
() Gravitation
() Haru wo Daiteita
() Kannazuki no Miko
() Kizuna
() Lesson XX
() Loveless
() Maria-sama ga Miteru
() Mirage of Blaze
() Oniisama E
() Seikimatsu Darling
() Song of the Wind in the Trees
() Sukisho
() Yami to Boushi to Hon no Tabibito
() Zetsuai/Bronze
Total Here: 1/20

XII. Sports
() Ace wo Nerae (Smash! Volley!)
() Ashita no Joe
(X) Ayane’s High Kick
() Baki the Grappler
(X) Battle Athletes
() Buzzer Beater
() Captain Tsubasa
() Eyeshield 21
() Ginban Kaleidoscope
() Hajime no Ippo
() Hikaru no Go
() Initial D
() Major
() Monkey Turn
() One Pound Gospel
() Prince of Tennis
() Princess Nine
() Slam Dunk
() Suzuka
() Wild Striker
Total Here: 2/20

XIII. Surreal and Psychological
(X) Akira
() Betterman
() Boogiepop Phantom
() Elfen Lied
(X) FLCL
() Gantz
(X) Ghost in the Shell (movie or TV)
(X) Hellsing
() Jigoku Shoujo
() Karas
() Madlax
() Melody of Oblivion
(X) Neon Genesis Evangelion
(X) Noir
() Paranoia Agent
() Perfect Blue
(X) Princess Tutu
(X) Revolutionary Girl Utena
(X) Serial Experiments Lain
() Texhnolyze
Total Here: 9/20

Total: 89/260

It’s not a bad list, but there’s some decidedly notable titles missing. No Dirty Pair, no Crusher Joe, no Gall Force, no Megazone 23, and no Comic Party. And personally, I’d expect to see Fashionable Judo Girl Yawara and Touch in the sports section.

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Game News VII: Yanks

by on January 14, 2009 at 9:45 am
Posted In: ASL, News

Mostly news from MMP catching my interest at the moment. Brian Youse posted on ConSim World on the 8th:

“It is with great, well, shock, that we have to announce that Yanks, the American expansion for ASL, is out of print. Ten years and 8 days after we signed our contract with Hasbro.

I, personally, never thought we’d sell out of Yanks. I am still shocked.”

Yanks was reprinted by AH shortly before being bought out by Hasbro, and MMP has always characterized the stock as being huge (consider that they’ve reprinted Beyond Valor which you need before Yanks two or three times, and are about to run out again in the same period of time).

A quick look at the state of ASL ‘core components’:
Rulebook – 2nd edition in print.
Beyond Valor (Russians, Germans, system counters) – Just a few left, due to be reprinted when they can gather the cash. Say this summer.
Yanks (Americans) – Out of Print. They’re going to have to recreate the entire thing from scratch. Presumably, they have the original art, and that’s it. Given the time it takes MMP’s tiny part-time staff to do this stuff, it’s going to be a couple years at least. Expect to see the scenarios from Paratrooper (which is permanently gone) with it when it does get printed.
Partisan (Allied Minor infantry) – Considered obsolete and on sale until gone. Presumably, its scenarios will be in the next printing of Armies of Oblivion, but until then, they’re only available here. (Admittedly, it doesn’t have any that players consider anything special.)
For King and Country (British) – Replaced the combined British/desert West of Alamein, and is out of print. Due to be reprinted with Beyond Valor, it should be going onto the pre-order list soon to help them raise the money.
Hollow Legions (Italians) – Out of print. This had the rest of the desert materials, and the plan is to reprint it with all of the desert materials. The Italian part has been printed by MMP before, but the desert materials (chapter F and overlays) need redoing.
Pacific (Japanese, Chinese, USMC, Pacific theater rules) – Both the old Code of Bushido and Gung Ho are long out of print, and they are going to be re-released as one big module (actual name unknown). They’ve been working on the layout of this for some time, so it’s possible it’ll come out late this year—or not.
Croix de Guerre (French) – In print, and I think, still AH stock.
Doomed Battalions (Allied Minors) – Originally rushed out the door as the last thing AH did before the Hasbro buyout. Out of print, but due to be reprinted at the end of January. The new version will also include all the materials from the old Last Hurrah module (also in print…).
Armies of Oblivion (Axis Minors) – Marked ‘temporarily unavailable’ on the MMP site, but you can still order it there. Not sure what’s going on.

Also, Action Pack 5 is out and shipping to customers. The reprint of ASL Journal 2 sounds like it will go to the printers about the same time as Doomed Battalions. And they’ve put a new scenario pack up for preorder, Turning the Tide. It’s going to have 20 scenarios translated from various Squad Leader sources. I haven’t kept track, but that sounds like just about all that’s left on that front.

Outside of ASL they’re also keeping busy: PanzerBlitz: Hill of Death (once known as “PanzerBlitz 2000″…) has started printing components, the game itself will probably ship in February. Bastonge and GD’42 are also going to the printers.

They’ve also put a reprint of Guderian’s Blitzkrieg II up for preorder, along with Battle Above the Clouds. This last has me particularly excited, as it’s a new game in the Great Campaigns of the American Civil War series, which gets great reviews… but has been completely out of print for some years. I can only hope that this is just the beginning of more work (and reprints) of the series.

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An Ancient Afternoon

by on January 12, 2009 at 10:34 pm
Posted In: CC:Ancients

Well, we were scheduled for a continuation of an interesting Soldier Kings game yesterday, but Patch was unable to make it, so we had to adopt Plan B for the remaining four of us.

Which we quickly decided was a day of Commands & Colors: Ancients. This was another first time for Zjonni, but it’s a simple and fast game. All told, we managed ten two player games during the day. For most of the day, I was squared off against Jason (who seems to be the best of the group on CC:A), and Zjonni was facing Mark. For the final round, Mark played Jason, and I played Zjonni.

On my side of things, we started off with the second part of Utica (there are two scenarios covering the two days of fighting). This is an interesting affair, with two ridgelines going down the length of the board, and the opposing armies drawn up on top of them. Since this is 49 BC, the Julian Legion rules are in effect, which really changes the nature of the game (heavy and medium infantry move faster and have limited missile ability). I don’t remember too much about the first game (as the Romans under Curio), except that I could never figure out what I wanted to do, which showed in the final score of 1-5 (as well as some good dice from Jason). Of course, I also found out afterwards that I had accidentally missed setting up a unit of medium infantry. It would have helped, but I don’t think it could have saved things for me. Still—very embarrassing!

The second playing, with us switching sides (and the extra unit put back in), went a lot better, even though I made the mistake of pressing forward off the ridgeline at the start. As a result my (Pompeian) right flank pretty much ceased to exist, and some good fighting towards the middle got the score to a 4-4 tie. However, much of my army was smashed and easy to pick off, while there wasn’t much I could get at in Jason’s forces. Before I could come up with anything, he got the fifth banner and the win.

Mark and Zjonni were still involved in the longer Paraitacene scenario, so Jason and I went on to the longer Lauron scenario (76 BC, during Sertorius’ rebellion against Sulla). This is a fairly complicated scenario. The town of Lauron appears on the board as four impassable hexes, Pompey’s army is ranged around it, and Sertorius’ entire left wing is on the Pompeian edge of the board (coming out of the hills in an ambush). This creates a certain amount of fighting against instincts, as units retreat toward the friendly board edge, but instincts are saying to move them away from the enemy body of troops.

Jason led off with the ambushing force attacking fairly piecemeal and losing their best units (warriors) to no effect. This rather solidly gave me the initiative, and good card draws helped me keep going. Certainly, it’s the only time I’ve seen Jason at a loss in this game. And I wrapped things up at 7-2. Of course, I then had to figure out how to do better as Sertorius. The first thing was to lead off with the ambush, but keep more of them together. It’s hard to move six units all together, and I only moved four of them out of the hills into Pompey’s flank. However, as that included the leader, I was able to hit a lot harder, and got an early edge. Despite a six-card to five-card edge, and going first, this is a tough battle for Sertorius as his army is broken up while Pompey has a good line, and and his units are not as tough. Things went back and forth for a while, with Jason slowly closing the opening gap, and he pulled out an eventual 6-7 win. Again, he smashed a greater portion of my army, and left me with few good options, and the game ended with a risky cavalry move deep on my right flank to try and force him to loose a unit to casualties and retreats. But my units were in bad shape, and when they couldn’t get a result, the battle back got me.

At that point, Mark and Zjonni’s third game wrapped up, so we decided to swap opponents. Since Zjonni and Mark had just played one game of Cynoscephalae, we played a second game of that, with Zjonni switching sides, and I taking the side that Zjonni had taken earlier (the Romans).

It decidedly has some interest, with a jumble of hills in the middle separating the two forces. The Macedonians have a decidedly heavier force, but if the fighting stays in the hills, that won’t matter much. Also, the Roman force has a single unit of elephants on the right flank. They, of course dominated much of thoughts of the early game, with me trying to drive them into the Macedonian positions, and with him eagerly shooting them whenever adjacent to my troops. Surprisingly, for all the effort expended, and several trample attacks, they managed not to create too much carnage. They did catch a Macedonian heavy infantry as they came off the hills and managed to wipe it out, before dying in the next turn or so.

Other than that, the beginning of the game saw a lot of ranged attacks without much close combat. This eroded units on both sides, but did not generate much of a decision. In the end, luck told as Zjonni got two Double-time cards and pressed into the right flank with his heavies, causing great carnage both times (three banners per card!). Final score 1-6.

We mucked around for a little bit after that, but it was well past 4 by that point, and when Mark and Jason finished their second game a little bit later, we packed up for the day.

I don’t know what happened in the other battles, as I was too busy to really look in, but Mark won both of the first two matches with Zjonni (Paraitacene) 7-4. He also won the first game of Cynocephalae 6-4. Mark’s and Jason played Dyrrhachium twice, with Jason winning both times (giving me the only victory against Jason, and the only loss against Zjonni…) 6-4 and 6-2.

This gives Jason the win for the day with 31 out of 36 possible banners (or 86%), Mark had 26 out of 32 for 81%, Zjonni got 18 out of 26 for 69%, and I got 19 of 30 for 63%. More importantly, everyone had a great time with a truly fun game.

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