Catan and Martin family game play

 Today proved a great success for getting new people involved in games - our family friends the Martins came over for an evening meal and then a game of Diamant and Eketorp - I thought I'd give them two very different types of games, a slow paced tension builder and a fairly fast paced resource management game.

Diamant proved to be a big hit with them - we were able to play with a full set of players (8) and our guests were surprised at how quick the game was over and how much fun it generated in that time. Eketorp had a mixed review, not bad in anyway, but some preferred Diamant, some Eketorp. All in all a great evening.

On top of that, I bought a couple of Settlers of Catan with my vouchers for Battlequestgames. It looked like quite a promising family game with a quick to quickish play length. It is only for 4 players, but there is an expansion for 5 to 6 players if its a family hit. Time will tell. Hope to crack on with a game of Dominion and Settlers this weekend.

Inter-family games night!

This coming Saturday will be the first inter-family games night to introduce Euro-style and non-mass trash gaming (As I refer to games like Monopoly, Cluedo, Game of Life etc) to our friends the Martins. Apparently it is also going to be a take-away night too, so food and games all round!

I've already introduced two of their family to Zombies!!! as they have an interest in that "field" via the Xbox, so they were interested to find out more about gaming that didn't involve Monopoly or Cluedo. They've also expressed an interest in going to visit Battlequestgames to take a look around and see what it is I'm always on about.

I think the first batch we'll take around to introduce them to the idea is Eketorp and Diamant. Hopefully it will become a regular family thing once every 2 or 4 weeks.

History is changed in the desert sands - this time for the greater good!

So today a new scenario was cracked open in Memoir '44 - this time Roshni and I decided on a desert based one on the desert/snow board. The scenario was set in 1943, with a British dash for freedom being curtailed by a German surprise attack.

Scenario start - the British battalion moving up the road are surprised on three fronts, left, centre and the escape road, with artillery bringing up the rear.

The battle started like a duck shoot - like history dictated - out in the desert with little to no cover, men and machines blasted away at each other - he (or she!) who shot and rolled right knocked off targets all over the place.

Mid way through, the right hand side British tanks and troops attempt a punch through
whilst the left hand side (rather unrealistically!) threw themselves against the German centre
and left to prevent a cut off.

The battle ground on, but the push by the British on the left forced the Germans to a stop and a lack of artillery support meant the right hand British units were able to push up the road and clear out several tank and infantry units. The knock out came with an air strike, destruction of the right side German artillery and their last German infantry/anti tank team! 

Gun camera of a low flying Spitfire with tracer fire scattering German anti tank troops 

and targeting a Panzer unit

With the way clear, the game ended with the road clear for the retreating British units, turning the tide of history! :)