Alan Snider - Sep 28, 2005 12:47 pm (#10841 Total: 10883) On the Playtest Table: Khyber Pass Games' "The Battle of the Little Bighorn"; and announcing the "Northern Knights Wargaming Group" in Vancouver, Canada with a retail store of it's own at http://www.stalag17wargames.com/ GAMENIGHT, Sept 24: Day 2 of Fallcon in Calgary, Alberta. I begin the day setting up the introductory/battle scenario for the upcoming ATO game "Cactus Throne" with Hjalmar Gerber. Some of the discussions that Hjalmar and I had the night previous return not long after we've started. We never really get going on this playthrough, as we are locked in discussion over a few details in the game. I actually got visions of another game that I'd played in the past which appeared to share similar characteristics that I was less than enthusiastic on. It was about that time that Kerry Anderson walked in and a round of greetings was in order. There was some discussion about trying something together on the Sunday prior to my involvement with the Sword of Rome tourney. Then (yes, again!)...Ian Scofield the notorious prairie pirate strolls in and whisks me off to an undisclosed location in Calgary to play Sword of Rome with his buddy Ed and his son. Our first game of Sword of Rome had Ian as the Romans, myself as the Estruscans/Samnites, Ed as the Greeks, and Chris as the Gauls. We opted for the 6 turn game, as we planned on getting through two games before the day was through. The Gauls went hard at the Etruscan spaces with raids, to attempt to get a few plunder markers and were having much success. I could not really not go after them with my Etruscans, and the Romans did not seem to worried about them either. That left me in a tough situation to start. Usually the Etruscan player is able to align with someone to start the game, but I found no takers... The Romans slowly began to build cities in the clear spaces adjacent to Rome, and their armies recuitment kicked into high gear. It did not take long for Etruscans/Samnites to fall behind the pace, as the Gauls and Romans seemed content with building their empires without any vision into the future. The Greeks were constantly hounded by the Carthaginians, and were slow out of the blocks...even needing to recapture Messana from the Carthage Crew. About mid-game, the Etruscans had fallen seriously off the pace, but managed to convince the Gauls of the importance of aligning vs. the Romans. This allowed me to turn my energies into reconverting some of the independant space back into Etruscan control. Of course, when the Gauls began to surge ahead in the late game, I broke ties with the Gauls and struck up an alliance with Rome. This kept me in the game, as both the Romans and Etruscans went hard at the Gauls. Quite deftly, the Gauls reeled in their forces a bit, and slid down the coast to raid the Samnite spaces. This made it difficult to venture out to get them lest they leave their cities in the south insufficiently garrisoned. The Gauls and Romans were nose to nose headed into the final 2 turns. The Vosci proved to be a bit of a wild card, as they headed straight down the coast to hit hard at the Greek fortress on the edge of the Roman frontier. This is basically what kept the Samnites safe. The Samnites simply hoped that enough damage could be inflicted by the Vosci that they could take either the Roman fortress or the Greek one by games end. In fine fashion, the Gauls held on to claim the victory, edging out the Romans by a single point. The Etruscans/Samnites did move a little closer to the rest of the pack in the final 2 turns with some survival type diplomacy, but essentially just made their game respectable. The inability to align with ANYBODY to start the game really hurt them. The Greeks got hit by a late loss with the Romans landing a force right in the middle of their empire. The Carthaginians did the rest. Victory goes to Chris and his Gauls, in his first ever complete game of Sword of Rome. Nicely done. We swapped things up a bit for the second game. I took the Romans, Ian was the Etruscans/Samnites, Ed took the Gauls, while Chris tried his luck with the Greeks. The Greeks once again got a rough ride, as the Carthaginians kept them busy while the rest of us tried to figure out how to eake out one more point per turn (+1) in order to pull ahead. I did not pay enough attention to Ian's strategies with the Romans, and neglected to build any additional fortresses until late in the game. The Roman armies look huge enough that the temptation is to get too ambitious. This is a nickle and dime your opponent to death kinda game, so it oughta be approached that way. Once again, the Vosci went on a rampage...taking both the Roman and Greek fortresses in the South. they looked like anything but a non-player power in this game. As the Romans attempted to reconquer and consolidate their empire, this left the Gauls unchecked to raid at will. The Transalpine Gauls seem to be effective for about the first 3 turns, then they get slaughtered and are far less effective after that. The Gauls realizing that they had what they needed to win...pulled back to within their own frontiers and protected their cities; and block the Transalpine gauls from all 3 of their entry points. This pretty much sealed the deal. The evening ended with Ed's Gauls claiming the victory..that is 2-0 record for the Gauls on this night. As I have now played all 4 powers in Sword of Rome, I will be in good shape to play in the Sword of Rome tourney slatd for Sunday afternoon.