Games Night Report 1st May 2013

 

This Wednesday just the four of us descended upon the garage to play some games, Zed and Cortez moseyed their way into the Wild West for some Dead Man's Hand, more on that later, but first....

"The sound of pipes keened through the swirling mists of the late morning. From the wispy edges of the woods dark shapes appeared howling in fury as they ran.
The Welsh locked shields and prepared to meet the Irish charge......."

Binx and Lordybloke played their first game of Dux Bellorum this week.
First impressions are more than favourable!

Whilst the game itself plays like a wargame it still feels like a skirmish game thanks to the fluid movement.
Even with our stuttering over certain rules it played out pretty quickly.

There is a resource management element (which we both liked) with Leadership points (LPs) being distributed around your army to aid certain things:
- Adding attack dice
- Blocking successful hits
- Interrupting the movement of your opponent (there's a sequence)
- Aiding you in getting your units/groups to move

First turn movement from the Irish, some failed morale checks on the far side meant some got left behind

A maximum of 3 points can be given to a unit/group and you only start with 6 (extra can be purchased) and with around 8 units you need to be careful where you put them.

The game largely came down to a big shove in the middle of the board but it was always going to because
a) This is Dark Ages combat
b) Its the first game and tactical finesse was never part of the plan!

With the LPs in play however its not so much the shoving but the manner in which you shove!

The battle lines clash, with the Irish being pushed back from the Welsh shield wall

 

The fringes of the line saw some interesting match ups and cunning use of LPs. Lordybloke's poor horses got mugged by some Irish nobles as he focused on the big central fight and forgot to allocate some LPs  to enable their escape! Curses!

The flanking Welsh cavalry are intercepted, and after some heavy fighting finally succumb to the Irish nobles

In the end the Irish warriors broke on the Welsh shieldwall and had you glanced at the table at the end of the game you'd think it was a drubbing but look a little closer and the brave Welsh were only hanging on by the skin of their breeches!

Good fun and more to be had yet!

Meanwhile Zed and Cortez tried Dead Man's Hand, the new Wild West game from Great Escape Games

After a swift rules refresh they got straight into it playing the first two 'scenes' from the rulebook

Reports post games were that it played really well, and the rest of us are looking forward to having a go ourselves in the upcoming weeks

The sheriff and his boys try to stop the outlaw boss escaping from the house

A lone varmint trys to help his fellow outlaws in the buildings, only to get a shotgun round in the face at point blank range!