Merry Christmas to All

As is our Christmas tradition, Al and I met up for some gaming this afternoon. Our original plan was to play Tide of Iron, but we were both a little tired, so we decide to play Battle Cry instead.

As I've mentioned several times in the last few posts, Battle Cry is a tactical game of battles from the US Civil War. It was the first in Richard Borg's Commands and Colors system.

We played two scenarios (battles) -- The First Battle of Bull Run and the Battle of Chickamauga. Both games were close, but I won them both 6-5.

The game is a great introductory wargame and would be the perfect choice for a new wargamer who wants to fight Civil War battles. The game was only in print for a short time when it was first released in 2000, and its price on the used-game market was quite high in recent years. Copies still in shrinkwrap were selling for over $80, and used copies typically sold for about $50. However, Avalon Hill reprinted the game last month (with some fairly minor changes), so gamers looking for a new copy can now find one at a list price of $45.

Games that end in 0

It's traditional this time of year for gaming bloggers and podcasters to publish their "Best Games of the Year" lists -- and I plan to give mine early in the new year. I'm waiting a few weeks until the official end of the year, however, in case I get a few more plays in during my vacation. (You never know how one more play might change my feelings towards a game.)

It's also an end-of-the-year tradition for many folks to give a retrospective list of the "Best Games From ... " fill-in-the-blank ... five, ten or twenty years ago. Looking over my collection of rated games, I realize that I really can't give a "Best of" list for any of these years, since I haven't played more than a few games from any of these years. So, I hereby give my list of ...

Favorite Games Published in a Year Ending in Zero
(other than 2010):

7. It's not a very good game, but it earns a sentimental mention because it's the first game I can remember playing: Hi-Ho! Cherrio was first published in 1960.

6. I gave Tyranno Ex (published in 1990) to my neice in the early '90s because she liked dinosaurs. She and I played one game, and I thought it was very interesting. It presents the general theme of evolutionary biology in a very abstract way. Although it was published by Avalon Hill, it used (what would today be described as) Euro mechanics. I was hoping that GMT's new game Dominant Species would be similar, but it's not.

5. Swashbuckler (published in 1980) was always a popular distraction for our group. Players control patrons brawling at a tavern. It was always a little too chaotic for my tastes, but you have to love a game where you can give an order to swing on a chandelier. It also has a number of sketches on its cover lifted from Errol Flynn movies.

4. I've only played it a couple of times, but War and Peace (published in 1980 by Avalon Hill) is the definitive strategic hex-and-counter wargame depicting the Napoleonic Wars. The GMT game The Napoleonic Wars is more fun, but War and Peace has the old-school feel to it.

3. I don't even have a copy of Vince Lombardi's (football) Game (published in 1970) anymore. Dennis received it as a Christmas present, and I remember watching him play using its solitaire rules. I played it dozens of times while Dennis was in the navy, and a number of high school friends (including Al, Rick, Steve, Doug, Paul S.) and I had a league using the game in 1982. Strat-o-Matic is a better game for statistical accuracy, but Vince Lombardi's Game was very elegantly designed. Pizza Box Football would probably come closest to capturing its feel.

2. I hated Battle Cry (published in 2000 by Avalon Hill) the first time I played it with Al. It was the first game in Richard Borg's Commands and Colors system. It wasn't until several years later, when Andrew and I played Memior '44, that I came to appreciate the system. I'm glad to see that Battle Cry is getting a makeover by Avalon Hill this year.

1. I remember seeing Avalon Hill's Civilization at the Smithsonian Museum of American History gift shop shortly after it was re-published by Avalon Hill. (It was originally published by Hartland Trefoil in 1980.) The description on the box got me hooked, and I got the game as a gift shortly after. The game's massive length-of-play keeps it from being pulled out too often, but it is a remarkable game. How remarkable is it? Sid Meier acknowledges that it helped to motivate the design for his historic computer game (which subsequently has inspired two board games -- one by Eagle Games and one by Fantasy Flight).

All the news that's fit to "print"

A few odds and ends to report:

1. With the World Cup announcements, Patrick and I were in the mood for some World Cup soccer. So, we pulled out the World Cup Card Game last week. As much as it pained me, I managed to lead France to a victory over Patrick's Brazil in the finals. England topped Italy in the 3rd place game.

2. The night after Thanksgiving, Dennis made it to Mom's house for dinner. And, now that Patrick's golf and soccer seasons are over, we were able to play a game of Long Shot. Dennis bought Slow Jenn, who won the race and gave Dennis the victory with $180. Andrew purchased Six Gun, who came in second -- as did Andrew, with $170. Last Chance finished third, giving Patrick a total of $115, and I came in last with $100.

3. I continue to play a number of games online at GamesByEmail. I'm 0-4 in History of the World games, but I'm winning one of the two that I'm playing now. With Epoch V almost over, I'm 15 points ahead of Tom (who has won more than his fair share of these games). I managed to win the one game of Risk we played -- defeating Al, Jeff and Drew. I (playing the UK)also teamed up with Steve (playing the Soviets) and Tom (playing the US) to win a game of Axis and Allies against Al (playing Japan) and Drew (playing Germany).

4. Labyrinth (which I pre-ordered back in February) arrived last week. GMT had a mixup on my credit card, so I didn't get it when everyone else did in early November. But, as usual, the office folks were apologetic and kind, and got it to me two days later. I've skimmed the rules, and I'm eager to give it a shot.

5. Speaking of which, it took a lot of willpower not to order GMT's new game Commands and Colors: Napoleonics. It's Richard Borg's new game using the Commands and Colors system that started with his game Battlecry in 2000. I have to admit that I hated Battlecry the first time I played it with Al, but I enjoyed subsequent games of Battelcry, as well as Memoir '44 and Commands and Colors: Ancients. What stopped me was thinking about the fact that I haven't played any of these games in over a year. So, I pulled out the Commands and Colors: Ancients rulebook last night; Patrick and I plan to play today.

6. Al (taking England and the Protestants), Andrew (taking the French and the Ottomans) and I (taking the Hapsburgs and the Papacy) played three rounds of Here I Stand using Wargameroom the night before Thanksgiving. It only took about two hours -- including the time we spent working out the computer kinks. Compare that to the six hours it normally takes six of us playing in person. The Ottomans were unstoppable, and Vienna fell in the second turn.

7. Finally, there will be a few games under the tree on Christmas, but I need to keep those a secret.