My regular wargaming fix is to meet with a bunch of fellow historical game enthusiasts once or twice a month at Game Empire .
Game Empire, in Pasadena, is a central location for fellow gamers coming from around the Los Angeles area, and beyond. After arranging things about a week in advance. People drive in from all directions. My drive is about 50 miles which by no means the furthest distance that attendees have to travel.
With 10 in attendance we had enough players to break out a mix of two-player, and multi-player games. Here are some photo montages of the game played.
Games played included: Fury of Dracula, Wellington, The Wings for the Baron, Twilight Struggle, Guns of Gettysburg, and two games of Red Poppies Campaigns.
Karl and myself were both rusty at Red Poppies Campaigns… let’s just say the second game went better for the attacking Germans. The lesson learned was to attack on a narrow front with adequate reserves to exploit a breakthrough. A little luck is also needed in creating an opening to exploit. Both the attacker and the defender have to take risks, and therefore take causalities. Although the British are outnumbered, they have reserves that can move quickly to reinforce any weakened areas.
Wings For The Baron is a fun, historical economics game. I do have a problem with the variations in the cards for the Allied Fighter Effectiveness. The game can go into a race condition where it is impossible for the players, as aircraft designers, to match the Allied Fighters. Even so, it is a fun game where I enjoy having to modify my strategy due to the change in the fortunes of war. Having four different game-end conditions allows for a nice amount of variety in how the game progresses.
Tim
21st March 2017
Ventura County Boardgamers 