Bocage

Combat Commander was played again this week, Hedgerows and hand grenades was the scenario and my Americans were beaten. The scenario was a nightmare for movement and line of sight. The hedgerows funneled my troops into one area and my hand management got them stuck. I had 3 ambush cards for most of the game, desperate to use them on a close assault but a lack of move cards held me back.
My artillery attacks initially did very well, but I never had the troops available in the right place to capitalize on it. In the end Mudhoney managed to win on sudden death with the majority of the VP's.
It was a good game if a little frustrating for me. It has however taught me more about hand management.

Other gaming has been only online. Yspahan has been released on the Yucata web site and I really like this game. It's a mid weight euro game that seems to tick the boxes for me. I have also got Catan for the Xbox 360 and enjoyed playing it this week. I think I have played 4 or 5 games against the easy AI and won easily. I think it's time to up the skill level a bit.

Jungle speed and the Swiss ticket to ride expansion arrived recently. I am desperate to give the Swiss map a play. The rules look really good and I am sure its going to make for some tense games. Hopefully this will hit the table soon.

Go home to Mama

Monday saw Combat Commander Mediterranean land on the table courtesy of Mudhoney. We have been trying to get some regular plays in of Combat Commander as we both enjoy the game.
We played the scenarios Saint Agthna which involved an American patrol coming across some Italian defenders. The Italians had the advantage of numbers, plus they could hide some of there troops and deploy them when the time marker hit 2. the Americans had better weapons with a hvy machine gun and light motor as well as a couple of medium machine guns.

I played as the Americans and deployed my units in two areas on my side of the map. My plan was to move one group armed with the hvy mg into a building while the rest were to move up the edge of the map and flank the Italians.

Things started out well, I quickly took hold of the buildings at the bottom of the map taking out the Italians that were using it. Meanwhile my other squad was getting pinned down by a medium mg in the woods. Over the next few turns my hvy mg was making mincemeat of any Italians I could see from the relative safety of there building. My other flank had now lost its leader and was not looking so good.

The Italian reserves appeared and Mudhoney decided to spread then about a bit. Unfortunately they were in range of my hvy mg and they didn't last that long. The number of Italian casualties was mounting and things were not looking good for them. Several had routed home to mama which I couldn't really blame them for. Things were getting worse on my other flank. I had lost my leader but gained a hero only to loose him again. Without a leader movement and firing was hard work. Especially as the Italians were dug into foxholes in the woods on top of a hill. My mortar rounds were ineffective as were any shots I sent that way. I sent another group that way to help relieve them and to add more firepower but it wasn't looking pretty.
Next thing we know a fire had started near the Italians and was spreading both towards them and a small unit I had sent that way. Fortune came my way with a jam and subsequent break of the Italians mg which allowed me to move up a veteran unit. They survived some pot shots and then advanced into combat with some ambush cards. I won the fight and the game as the Italians had now hit there surrender limit.

I was trailing on VP's all the way through the game as I couldn't get to the objective areas. I was pinned down in a couple of places and was loath to move my heavy gunners out of there cover. I was pushing for a surrender win and it eventually came.

It was a good match and if Mudhoney had placed his reserves in a different place things would have changed for the worse.

Stalingrad

The last weeks gaming has been very different. First up Mudhoney came over to give the new Stalingrad expansion for Combat Commander a go. We are both keen Combat Commander players but there are so many games in our collections that it doesn't see the light that often.

Stalingrad gives you more scenarios, rules to cover urban combat and some more counters. All in not a bad little bundle, its just a tad over priced. We played the Sea Devils scenario which saw my rag tag band of Russians attempting to defend the important grain silo from the invading German Wehrmacht. I had less units but spread them over the center of the map and both flanks and awaited the impending assault. The game played really well, my troops were generally decimated but luck was with me. A couple of well placed mine cards and slung satchel charges took care of a few Germans and time event cards slowly brought the end closer. After a few hard fought incursions I had lost a few objective areas and the victory point marker was on 0. We were in sudden death and things were not looking to good for my comrades. Luckily another time event was pulled. I got 1 VP for defending and Mudhoney pulled a card. Sudden death was triggered and it was all over. I had scraped a win by 1 point. All in a great game and a lovely scenario, edge of your seat gaming.

Zooloretto has also been played twice in the last week. The first time with my 5yr old son who seemed to get it and lost by 3 points. Last night he wanted to play it again as did my youngest (3) and my wife was brought in to help out. She isn't a big gamer but after a couple of rounds had picked up the game. Things were going well with us all managing to fill our enclosures when the tiles started to turn bad. Well for me they were. I was being hosed by my kids.
Game ended with Noah winning by 2 points. Everyone enjoyed it so I am expecting it to be played more often.

I have managed to post two reviews on the IGUK blog, dominion my favorite new game and Army of Zero a new English designed and produced game. Give them a read when you have a few minutes.

Pitchcar arrives tomorrow, just in time for the gathering of POB on Friday. Festing pub in Southsea from 6:30PM if anyone is free.