The End of Gaming as We Know It...

As a terrible storm descended upon Toronto, the members of WAGS huddled together in Kozure’s home for the final WAGS session of 2004, minus one member, Easy, who had wisely elected not to brave heavy snow and slushy streets to get into town.

In keeping with the “final days” theme of the evening, I had Wreckage and Gammarauders as the games for the evening.

We have played Wreckage a few times before, but I haven’t felt satisfied with any of our sessions. I keep thinking there’s a better game in there trying to get out. Tonight the game provided a fairly satisfactory result, but still had some nagging issues which I am now satisfied are part and parcel of the game design.

The first game, Tili joined us for the first time and demonstrated that survival of the fittest need not always go to the combative. While I engaged in aerial stunts and Shemp and Hapi battled it out near the centre of the table, Tili quietly sneaked in the victory by fairly rapidly poaching three gas cans.

In the second game, a much more drawn out battle occurred; with more manoeuvring and some drivers managing to limp on after sustaining a lot of damage, the game felt more strategic than usual. Unfortunately for Tili, battle damage left her unable to turn save in one direction, and unable to slow down except by collision. By this point, I had grabbed two cans, Shemp one, and Hapi had been eliminated by trying to go head to head with Shemp’s SUV in a mid-size sedan (my attempt to ram Hapi in reverse with my motorcycle predictably did more damage to me than to him). With all of us carrying gas, but none with enough to win, it was evident that we would have to hunt down one of the survivors to win.

In the end, I managed to snag Tili’s gas cans after she careened into a wall at full speed, in a conscious attempt to put herself out of her own misery. Reversing the whole way, I managed to run over the cans and tap lightly into the wall without destroying myself in the process. Reversing, it seems, is an overlooked tactic (I am Reverxxor!).

Wreckage is a game that I want to be better somehow. It seems to have all the right elements for a quick, fun game, but somehow they don’t add up. I think one issue is player elimination – Hapi had to sit out for about 15 minutes while we finished up. Another is the rather crippling effect of critical hits – and the very steep price for fixing oneself in an emergency repair. If you are (randomly) affected by critical hits early in the game, you can find yourself literally spinning your wheels with no chance of a comeback.

Suggested future house rules might include that any eliminated player may return in a new vehicle of the same colour (flip side, preferably) but has their victory condition upped by one – that is, they must now take four cans instead of the three required initially. They begin in a standard start location furthest from the action, or if two locations are equidistant, use the spinout counter. Another house rule may be to reduce the requirements for emergency repair – a player may, at his option, regain a steering card by sacrificing one card from the hand and applying a hit counter, as well as the standard sacrifice of two steering cards. As the game already punishes emergency repair players by effectively skipping one of their action phases, I believe this substitution is fair.

The second game was Gammarauders. Unfortunately with a long rules explanation and already running overtime as a result of a slow start, we only had about forty-five minutes to play. This tongue-in-cheek TSR game from 1987 puts a strange Godzilla/Mechagodzilla/Giant Robot spin on the usual Post-Apocalyptic tropes, adding strange twists like the “energy podinoids”, or pods for short, and “factoids”. All too convoluted to explain in a short blog entry, the game world is essentially the Gamma World universe from TSR put through a humour/bizarre blender and left overnight on the shelf to congeal. The result is a mutant creature that feels a little like Settlers of Catan (hexes, variable location resources) mixed with a wargame.

I really enjoy this game, having played many day-long sessions in high school, and I think that Shemp and Hapi warmed to it as well after the initial unfamiliarity. With less than an hour to play, we were well short of anyone winning (though I was on my way to losing) so hopefully we’ll get another crack at this in the new year.

So, with the last blog of a WAGS session in 2004, I’m pleased to say that this has been a great year for gaming. Thanks to Shemp for setting up the blog site, and thanks to all of my honourable opponents for a year that was much more recreationally fulfilling than years previous.

Big Drunken Tiger Kickboxer : Fatal Killer

It's a semi random title, and although it was actually the name of our hand of "Kung Fu Samurai", it appropriately sums up the theme of the evening: Frankenstein creations.

The bulk of the evening was spent playing an unholy union of HeroClix and Robo Rally (RoboClix? HeroRally?). Essesntially, we formed teams, as usual, but played on the RoboRally boards. To make up for the relative freedom of movement alloed to us by ditching the programming cards, we made the course pretty long... 4 boards, start flag int he center and the next 4 flags in the corners (in such a way that the board needed to be crossed diagonally between flags). In RoboRally, that would be a recipe for a 16 hour game, in Robo-Clix (Henceforth christened) it took about 1 1/2. Since I'm a HeroClix dummy (I'm not a comic book fan, and therefore can't really tell the superheros apart, or know what they are supposed to do), I picked my team based on cool figurines. I wound up with Iceman, Doc Oc and a sniper. I don't really recall the other teams that well, but here goes: Luch had Blade, Daredevil and a blue/orange guy with a gun; Kozure had Captain America, Storm and another girl, Shemp had Jeanne Gray, Toad and Rogue.

Either way, random beat out knowledgeable this night, as I somehow cruised to victory. Doc Oc seems to be the ultimate RoboClix character, since his combination of leadership (which potentially allows a second action), Willpower (which allows pushing without damage) and climbing (which allows him to break away without rolling, and otherwise ignore character and terrain hindrances) proved extremely powerful. Iceman, with his ability to put up barriers, could also have been very useful... (Side note: My original plan was to put up barriers around the flags and have Doc Oc climb in and out on successive actions... I wasn't really able to get the timing right. Oh, and Ice Man died).

Other MVPs:
Kozure's Captain America, since he was in second place
Shemp's Jeanne Gray, for throwing many a character into a pit.
Luch's Blade, for taking a lickin' and keepin' on tickin'

All in all, a fun game. It improves on HeroClix by making the terrain an important feature, and for giving direction to an otherwise random fight-fest. I'm still a little uncomfortable with the rules (esp. the move OR fight rule, which gives an ENORMOUS advantage to the few characters who can do both... like the magneto clan). Also, I realized that if I had been killed, I would have been twiddling my thumbs for an hour or so until the game ended (since everyone else had pretty much abandoned chasing the flag in order to take me down). I think that Kozure's suggestion was a good one: Take the team to 200 points, so that more actions can be undertaken concurrently (chase the flag AND kill the leader).

Next up was Kung-Fu Samurai, a silly card game involving making a movie and sending your protagonists and antagonists to fight the characters of other movies... or something. Either way, the game was fun (and funny). This one is firmly entrenched in the Star Munchkin/ Chez Geek "play to have a good time" type game. Strategy is pretty much nil, it's mostly about having a chuckle at the cards and seeing how the whole thing plays out (oh yeah, and you get to make up a kung fu movie title at the beginning, too!). Draw cards, fortify yourself, screw yer neighbour, end your turn. Draw cards, fortify yourself, screw yer neighbour, end your turn. That type of thing. More than Star Munchkin or Chez Geek, there is quite a bit of text to read, and more cards in your hand each turn, which slows things down a bit more than the others. It's probably my least favorite of the three, but still fun for what it is.

RoboClix: 6.5
Kung Fu Samurai: 5.5

Rambling on the Rails to Pirate's Cove.

This entry will be a bit more free form than most. Rambling, so as to entertain Easy, who was absent. (Punk.)

(It's a busy time of year, that's my excuse, and I am sticking to it.)

How'd it go Wednesday? Anything interesting?

The standard sort of interesting. Game-playing, Kickass Chilli (thanks to Ogami).


We played two games of Ticket to Ride. Ogami won the first with four players
(Tilli played) and Kozure won the second with three players.

Then we played Pirate's Cove. Shemp won the first game. I think we played a second game of Pirate's cove, but I can't remember for certain, or who won.

Actually, I am certain we played a second game. The first game of Pirate's Cove we played, Shemp and Kozure actually tied for points, which by the rules is resolved by a final player-vs-player battle. Shemp won, but it was a big fight. It was a three player game, so we had two legendary pirates on the go. Kozure and Shemp both teamed up to defeat Blackbeard, and then fought. And then there was a tie, and another Kozure-Shemp throwdown. Epic.

The second game of Pirates Cove, Tilli played. The winner of the second Pirate's Cove game was either Kozure or Ogami, but Kozure still can't remember who won, but knows it wasn't him. I know it wasn't Shemp or Tilli. Must have been Ogami, then. I think that matches up with my recollection. There was a battle with the Flying Dutchman, who was also hanging around on the first game. Of Pirate's Cove, not Ticket To Ride. The Flying Dutchman in Ticket to Ride would just be wierd. Since I am dictator, I decree that Ogami won the last game last week.

If we can't even keep track of winning, so much for being able to keep track of winning, showing, and placing. Maybe we can start that with the New Year. We could resolve to...

HMMM - this is a little light on analysis. That's the problem with waiting nearly a week to Blogue.

Ticket to Ride (actually, both games) have relatively simple mechanics which lend themselves to a finite set of tactics that can be mastered. Strategy is almost beside the point in TTR, I think, due to the randomness of the tickets that you can recieve. Both are fun enough to play with anyone at any point, but neither seems particularily DEEP. Maybe that's why I am having some difficulty writing about them.


Look. Hey, look. Here's the thing. Both games are prime for what Kozure calls "Meta Gaming". Playing the players. Trying to guess what others will do. Trying to conceal your intentions. The players are all trying to pull off a con (a confidence game), with brightly coloured, well designed pieces. It's a more elaborate poker.

Fun. Interesting. You can do some math on the game. Resistant to commentary.


Apologies to Kozure for the liberal cut and paste theft from his email.

I am such a punk.

Win, Lose Or Draw

Well folks, it's been nearly a year, so I decided to roll up my sleeves and attach some quantitative values to our decidedly qualitative experiences in WAGS. In short, the win-loss rates of our various players.

Although I can't really attach the Excel chart itself, I can post our respective records, in alphabetical order:

Easy: 29W, 56L, 0T = 34%

Kozure: 15W, 72L, 1T = 18%

Hapi/Ogami/????: 21W, 63L, 0T = 25%

Shemp: 32W, 53L, 1T = 38%

Tili: 1W, 3L, 0T = 25%

We have played 99 rounds of 39 different games in 45 sessions, averaging 2.2 rounds a session. The most played game is tied three ways between Domaine, Carcassonne and Princes of Florence.

One thing that this chart does not reflect is the rank order of finish, i.e. 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th, which might be more instructive. Since we have not been keeping track of this ranking quite so dilligently, I could not generate these statistics. Despite my relatively dismal win record, I do think that if points were awarded for 2nd or 3rd place, I would rank a little higher.

But, as it is, I am teh suXXor.

Return of the King

This Wednesday we played two games which look similar on the surface, but are substantially different in practice... El Grande and Risk (Lord of the Rings Edition).

First up was El Grande. Frankly, I'm surprised at how long it's been since we've played this one. It' s probably my favorite game, yet there has been a constant flow of new games, or games I'd like a second crack at, keeping this one off the radar for a while. Either way, I'm happy we played it! The game started with Shemp letting us all know that he had been on the 'Geek, and come up with a new strategery to try out. OF course, that's all it took for us all to target him as the leader! Unfortunately, it was to no avail... in the end he won by ONE POINT. I say that with all caps because I was the one who came in second... Always nice to see a photo finish.

Second was RISK, Lord of the Rings Edition. All of us had played standard RISK before except for Shemp. After a brief recap, and an overview of the considerable changes specific to this edition, we got going. True, this is still RISK... and the game is therefore somewhat "simple" in concept and execution compared to most of our other "big" boardgames (think El Grande, Ideology, Civilization, etc), but the changes bring enough to the table to make this a pretty fun game. The movement of the ring eliminates the original's two biggest flaws... player elimination and eternal game length; the leaders, Keeps, places of power and missions add depth and strategy options completely missing in the original; the instants and events add a fun level of surprise; and finally the board and pieces are pretty attractive.
The game saw me and Shemp as good while Kozure and Luch were evil. It's a shame that this distinction has nothing to do with the game other than inital placement (and a few card mechanics). Having the good somehow work together, somehow related to the movement of the ring, might have brought the game closer to the actual theme. As it is, me and Shemp started doing what we do best... fighting each other (in the North-West) at the expense of either of our chances. Meanwhile, Kozure and Luch were amassing armies and territories to the East. Kozure was dragged into a few fights he didn't do to well in (the dice were not his friends this night), leaving Luch and his massive hordes with total control of two regions and a runaway win by the time the ringbearers made it off the map.

I had a great time, and I have to say that I was very surprised to get a whole game of Risk in after El Grande while still being out by 11pm!

Note to self: Saying "Really?!!! You're going to do that? Are you sure?" never actually deters a player from making a good move against me.

RISK (Lord of the Rings edition): 7

Easy