Munchkin Xmas

Not much of a turn out at the club this week, probably people too stuffed up from Xmas, so broke out the Munchkin along with a couple of the Christmas themed expansions. Reverted back to basic set and first expansion along with Waiting For Santa and Santa's Revenge.

These games were, once more, over surprisingly quickly given the number of players as seems people are more willing to help each other within the game a lot more. This was possibly the consequence of having more players than the recommended six maximum as there are not enough monster 'buffs' to counteract the additional 'help' factor.
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BattleToys

Obtained the new "Battletech 25th Anniversary Box set", the release of which is running a few years late due to various shenanigans, including attempts to bring the 'unseen' back and some dodgy in house dealing.

Martians! Mobsters! Munchkins!

Finally got my copy of Martians!!! off Phil. Contents very similar to Zombies!!! Don't think I need to punch and de-chad the tokens as can use my existing ones. As per usual with Twilight Creations one of the first things to do is check up online for FAQs and rules clarifications. Unlike previous games and expansion the rules weren't posted up on the TC site or BoardGameGeek in advance.

Started the night with a game of Family Business. A full compliment of six players lead to a lot of shutting out of participants as interrupt cards sent the turns back across the table. It not for the fact that it's a fun game then this could really annoy people but it was taken in the right spirit. The game could do with some more cards in the deck as we managed to get through the deck at least twice, might even of been three times. 'St Valentine's Day' was used to good effect twice to wipe out a number of mobsters.

Strangest quote in the game must go to the player of the Capone Gang after inspecting his mob, 'I don't recognise any of these names!', 'not even Al?'

True to life Dillinger had a couple of close escapes from the Hit List before becoming the final casualty of the game; leaving Jim with the sole surviving non-entity mobster and the win.

This was followed by a couple of games of Munchkin, the original version with both 'Unnatural Axe' and 'Need for Steed' expansions. Both were over quite quickly as, with more people than normal playing, there seemed to be more assistance given. Managed to win the first game after a string of volunteers helped me kill a high treasure monster. I gave up the loot but got two levels to jump to ten and the win. Not so good in the second game, as a joint victory happened when an elf assisted a combat with both participants at level 9, soon to be 10.
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Small Bites!

Munchkin Bites! one of the many alternate versions of the original game. Compatible with the original and the other expansions. A three player game everybody reaching level 9 prior to the winning kill.

Despite the close finish I didn't enjoy playing it as much as the original. The card balance didn't seem right with a lot of cards being passed between players due to charity and one card in particular that effectively allowed hoarding if you passed the charity cards to the right person. Also the cartoons and puns on the cards just didn't seem as good.

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Elsewhere Jim was refereeing a game of Uncharted Seas with an home-brewed convoy scenario with his own scratch built dwarven ships to supplement Graeme's fleets. Was a large game and took up three tables with five players, 2 Dragon Lords, 3 Dwarfs.

Details of the scenario are available on the Spartan Games Forum.
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Three Way Warriors

The big three way Campoon battle was the main event this week. Martin was turning up late so his forces were to appear on a random flank if he manged to turn up in time. Due to the size of the armies involved the battle was fought at half points. Mark's and Paul's forces being about equal, and Martin's at about half the others strength.

Strangely enough the night started off with a bit of a dungeon crawl, as the key to the door to the cellar had snapped a tooth forcing an expedition thru perilous secret passages in stygian darkness, our only light coming from magic stones of glimmer (mobile phones), The one light switch for the cellar being on the other side of the locked door. Despite the dodgy key I somehow managed to unlock it from the other side making life a bit easier for all the players queuing for terrain.

With the terrain now available the field for the epic battle was set with Mark surprisingly placing his piece of high ground on Paul's side of the table giving him the advantage of an almost complete ridge to deploy on.

From Campoon 3

Mark's forces also an early set back when a series of bad roles caused his cavalry to retreat from skirmishers and caused a domino effect of failed morale checks amongst his troops. Paul stayed on his ridge and patiently waited for his opponents to recover.

At this point Martin turned up and prepares his forces, nominally allied to Paul's, on the flank. Due to the starting position it would take a few turns for his force to get into a position to attack anyone. His allegiance remained undeclared but his move was occurring simultaneously with Paul's.



So the three way battle is concentrated around the one hill, after Mark sacrifices his leader to pin Paul's main force. The Nurgles strike (as anticipated) from behind trapping Paul's forces and eventually forcing the survivors off the table.

So some how, thanks mostly to Martin's nurgling, Marks managed to get the 'victory'

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Also managed to fit in a game of Munchkin, which I just managed to squeak the win after everyone else failed to convert when at level 9. Commendation must go to Baldy who managed the most impressive Munchkin I've seen in a long time, even surpassing Martin's effort in last months game.

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Munchkin Mayhem

Campoon delayed again; So time to dig out my copy of Munchkin, by Steve Jackson Games, with a couple of the expansions chucked in.

First Delve
Martin, Dave S and Me.
Martin romped this one despite it being his first game. He seemed to enjoy owning the 'Spiked Codpiece ...of Doom'

Martin's power building

From Furness Wargamers

Martin quickly built a lead and despite Dave and Mine best efforts there was nothing we could do to hold him back, in fact my character took a long time to get off 1st level.

My weak character


Martin's character certainly earned the Munchkin title.
His final character


Second Delve
Dave S, Colin, Baldy and Me.

Colin's first game and more balanced as a four player. And as seems traditional with this game he was also the winner, hitting level 10 just before Dave S and me, both of us ending on level 9.

Baldy trailed in last at level 1 after making the mistake of single-handedly trying to screw all three of us over at the same time.

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A busy night at the club.

Phil and Jock played Battlefleet Gothic.

Battlefleet Gothic lineup


Trailing badly Phil went all out in his last turn, but still fell short (one roll away from claiming half points)

Phil's last gasp effort


Another 5 player game of Smallworld, and 3 tables worth of Role-players, including one of Star Frontiers which I've not seen in years.
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