Raiders of the Games Cupboard Session Reports

[carldjcross]

It was another rainy day in Burton on Saturday so it must be a Raiders day! Just as well we all had something interesting to do indoors as Carol so rightly said.

I started my day with Tomb. A game I'd been wanting to try for some time since I'm a sucker for a dungeon crawl. It's is a simple and not at all cooperative romp. Each player recruits a party of adventurers and sends them into the Tomb to die. Simple as that.

This a game that demands to be played at a fast pace. When your turns will often only consist of moving (Cluedo style – not a big fan of this part of the design) or recruiting it can be over pretty quickly leading to lots of downtime as other players encounter their monsters and traps.

It's definitely not without it's charms (“click”) but for me there are plenty of other similar games that do it slightly better.

Jim ran away with this game and all surviving players cravenly held up the white flag and moved on to something else.

Which for me was Sator (etc.) the game of moving walkways. Once I'd managed to get my head around how the pieces rotated and stopped confusing perfectly clear shapes and patterns on the cards with others I really enjoyed this one.

It's a well balanced game with no obvious leader to pick on for most of the game (so apparently by default we pick on Paul) and a vicious end game where we desperately tried to scupper each other at the cost of progressing ourselves.

Paul and Carol's set also has some very attractive pieces painted by our own Mr. Evil Ginger I believe.

Carol emerged with her fourth book as the rest of the monks threw themselves from the walkways in despair and shame.

Next I did the playtest thing with the new Martin Wallace game that I'm probably not allowed to talk about so I won't. From what I played of it though it looks like another interesting wrinkle on some old themes from an ever reliable designer.

Finally we played a quick game of Looting London. A very quick game as it turned out, I think it only lasted about 20 mins.

Looting London is a filler game of set collection. Each turn you draw cards and try to match them to claim the set or sets that you are collecting. This being a Knizia game there are a few complications: only tiles from the bottom can be collected, other players can destroy tiles and the last set to be collected does not score.

This last rule left Carol high and dry as Matt collected (actually destroyed) the penultimate tile and left Carol with a score of 2. Matt won this one. I enjoyed playing it. It has something of a Ticket to Ride vibe about it but plays much more quickly. This series of small box games from FRED distribution is turning out to be fairly reliable for quality fillers (Roll Through the Ages and Incan Gold are both in the same series).

And so another Raiders ended not with a whimper but with a scrapping of chairs and tables as the whole thing was packed away again until September.

[carldjcross]

The best thing about Raiders for me is the chance to play games I wouldn't normally play with people I normally wouldn't play with. In the past I've played monster games (Arkham), games that the usual Wednesday night crowd wouldn't play (Talisman is my guilty secret!) or just lots of smaller games with lots of different people.

This time around it was time to scratch the roleplaying itch and have a go at a D&D 4ed game. Less of an adventure and more of an event to celebrate Worldwide D&D day the idea was that two groups write an adventure for the other using a pool of common resources (a couple of maps and a generous sprinkling of monsters).

When our group got to play we managed to cock up the other group's balanced encounters by knocking the monsters from that right into the second! Our DM did a sterling job of keeping track of  all of those monsters (with a little help from more experienced players) but it did turn into a meatgrinder with the PCs desperately whittling down the worst monsters hit points.

This was a completely combat orientated game and I'm used to 4ed being compared with a minis game but it reminded me more of a CCG; combat seemed to rely on pulling the right power out of the bag at the right moment to form combos. I don't think any PC used a vanilla hit all game.

Apart from D&D I had a couple of games of the draughts like Tortuga with Jim while we sat on the ticket desk. A lovely, lovely game (how could you resist a game that comes in a wooden tube?) that Jim and I both won a game of.

I finished the day with the game of Galaxy Trucker that I had been looking forward to. We played with the expansion to accommodate five players but since I'd not played before I concentrated on getting the basic pieces down. I often blasted off with a much smaller ship than everyone else but that balanced out nicely as asteroids and pirate's shots whizzed straight past my ship while they took big chunks off the others.

I honestly can't remember who won – I know it wasn't me – but I didn't disgrace myself and it was a lot of fun.

That was all for Raiders 7 for me, wonder what I'll be playing at Raiders 8?

[Oskar]

I had a few more games than usual this Raiders which was nice.
I started with a game of Wizards Gambit with Arnu, Allan and Alfie, this card game is quite tricky, the cards can be very cruel but lots of fun, the game was eventually won by Alfie.

Next was a game of one of my favourites Robo Rally, we played Allan's game which is a newer version than mine so it looked slightly different, I tried valiantly to get round all the four flags, unfortunately I got stuck on a conveyor belt going round the second flag, while doing this I had to power down so I was getting quite dizzy by the time the winning player Alfie had touched the last flag, he was having a good day  

Later in the day there was a new game Ad Astra played with 5 people Paul, Myself, Philsy, Richard and Jerry. I don`t think it was to everyone`s taste but it takes more than one game to get into it I think, there is a lot going on and concentration is needed, I enjoyed it but still have not got the hang of a winning strategy yet, it seems Philsy has though as he beat us all hands down.

I also had a game of Shadows over Camelot, this is a collaborative game and unfortunately I spent most of the time being completely confused about what I needed to do, as usual in this situation by the time I got the hang of it the team beat the game, so I suppose I didn`t completely scupper our chances which has to be a bonus. I enjoyed it but would like another go.

Lastly was a game of Galaxy Trucker, I think we had three rounds of this as it was getting near closing time, this was a good laugh as always, Phil and Sally joined in with Paul, Carl and I, I seem to remember Phil doing rather well by the time we had finished, and a good time was had by all.

Thanks to all who came and hope you all had a good day.
 

[carldjcross]

Fittingly Raiders IX started off with something of a mythic quality: Not only did we Go There and Back Again but our brief stopoff was at that Grail Hotel.

After a bit of a quick tidy up when we got back to the Citadel (thanks to everyone who mucked in by the way) we were off for the day.

Since I was on ticket duty my first game of the day was a quick Roll Through the Ages with Peter at the front desk. I scored big with architecture and empire but lost due to the massive amounts of pestilence damage I took. I knew I should have bought that medicine.

Freed from the desk I had a quick game of Kayanak with Jan and Lauren (won by Lauren, I think she'd be practising) before moving on to two games of Monopoly Deal which befitting the random nature of the game I won one and lost one.

After lunch it was Loot and then Smallworld, which new player Ben won by a country mile with his everlasting first round creatures. A game I've not played for a while, Dominion came next which Carol won with her relentless Gardening.

I finished the day where I'd begun with Roll Through the Ages this time played with Roy and Scott. An incredibly high scoring game with Scott and myself both on 35.

Winner of this years endurance award won last Raiders by Axis and Allies goes to the 12 hour game of Tomb organised by Jim.

[CrazyFrog]

Wings of War
~~~~~~~~

I ran a game of WW1 as a taster for beginners, always a well received game due to its simple and fun game play with the aircraft models.
Afterwards WW2 with Spitfire vs. Messerschmitt was broken out for a high speed dogfight (mini Battle of Britain), Which resulted in a victory for the English.
I haven't applied the fuel and altitude rules to this game yet.  As I'm waiting for the players to become comfortable with the game, so maybe Raiders X  will see some aircraft falling from the sky due to lack of fuel.




Battlestar Galactica - The Board Game
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Great game as I'm a fan of the TV Series, it was my 3rd game so still wasn’t full clued up on the rules.
We had 6 players, most were new players and Laurie acted as GM to help explain the rules and give hints at key moments in the game to help players use the cards at the correct time.
I chose to play Admiral Adama and to begin with the loyalty card showed I was human (according to Baltars Cylon Detector)

It’s all started very badly when escaping from Caprica, as we got ambushed by 2/3 Basestars, then the fuel and ships in the fleet started to get hit which meant that we couldn’t afford an early FTL jump.
We eventually escaped to the halfway to Kobol location, during this time the Admiral had made some very tough calls, we had lost a large amount of the fleet and fuel reserves, even the morale was taking a dive. 
However all the crew could do was to complain about the incompetence of the Admiral.

During the 2nd phase I discovered I was a cylon, Baltar looked at my loyalty cards and declared I was human, therefore he had to be the second cyclon or a sympathiser.
During the 2nd crisis the crew worked out I was the logical choice for a cylon due to the colour of the cards played.
I tried to defend myself from the charges of 'CYLON' but had no choice but to shoot myself and resurrect onboard the resurrection ship.
From there I destroyed my office and the brig onboard the Galactica.  The crew knew that Baltar had to be a cylon but couldn’t do anything to stop him.
The locations where eventually repaired, however with 1 jump to go to Kobol the Fleet ran out of fuel.


So therefore victory for me and Will (aka Baltar)

[whitefire]

Tomb: Cryptmaster

Well, as Caridjcross said, it was a marathon game. Not actually 12 hours - it only ran to just a smidge over 8.5 hours. With the original game, Tomb, you have to budget around 45 mis to an hour per player, so this one with 6 players would normally have taken 6 hours or so. The new game has cleaned up a lot of the rules that were'nt quite right, plus introduced some new rules and variants (Overlords, Curses and more player v player action). Also in our infinite wisdom we thought we would use the advanced version of the new board (the original and this new one have a double sided playing board), which was pretty darned complicated.

My memory of all the details is a bit hazy now - it was weeks ago! - but the eventual winner was Styx (or A Banana on Meetup) from Melton Mowbray. Everyone ended up within 20 XP of each other, which with typicaly XP scores of around 70 demonstrates that it was quite a tight game.

Interestingly people adopted very different tactics - some favoured tooling their party's up with lots of tactics and item cards, others went for magic or holiness heavy party members, whilst some(and I shall remain nameless) favoured more rogue characters. Using the new board layout and the effects that happened from some of the traps, area effects and using magic portals to get around the board.

Needless to say there are a stack of new characters (about 80 new ones including a few pariah characters who weaken your party), new monsters (some of which are a whole lot tougher than anything in the original game), and many new cards for the items, tactics, spells and prayer decks. Just as interesting is the inclusion of a whole new type of card - Curses. These have persistent effects within the tomb, and are unveighled inside crypts just like any other card. They can have irritating or even serious impact on a players abilities.

Overall the game is great - still sometimes a little conflicted in rules terms, with the usual number of things which will need clarification through the gamers forums. Everyone who played enjoyed it - one person even nipped over to the shop to buy it at the 6 hour stage - so he couldn't have been put off! It has certainly addressed some of the problems of the first game, and looks likely to become a firm favourite for some of us.

[carldjcross]

Tomb: Cryptmaster

Well, as Caridjcross said, it was a marathon game. Not actually 12 hours - it only ran to just a smidge over 8.5 hours. With the original game, Tomb, you have to budget around 45 mis to an hour per player, so this one with 6 players would normally have taken 6 hours or so.

I may have been exaggerating slightly for comic event. 

It clearly has immense potential for a marathon charity game though.

[Zarniwoop]

So another Raiders is over this one was a little quieter than previous events and this may be as a result of the exceptionally nice weather or in some small part to the announcement this was the last event to be held in that location. We have a new venue all picked out and I will be posting a full announcement soon with all the details....

The started quietly but picked up later in the day with a good number of new people turning out for the event which is fantastic to see. I'm not sure for how many exactly, but for the recent Raiders events we do seem to be getting a steady stream of new faces in amongst the regular attendee's which is brilliant.

Started the day with a 7-Wonders, a favourite for our group, with the leaders expansion in. Not my finest hour in this game but I got a reasonable score despite some early mistakes.



The next game was Lords of Waterdeep we played this with some of the expansion, Scoundrels of Skullport, as we had a sixth player. This is a mechanically brilliant game that is just a little light on theme. It is great fun to play and the new Quests, which score big but are harder to complete requiring significant resources, add interesting choices into the mix. The playing time was not too adversely affected by adding the additional player and things rattled along at a good pace with some decent scores by the end.



Next on the list was Ivor the Engine a lighter game but full of fond memories, for those of a certain age , never the less there is a good little game in here. It was a pleasant fun game that would suit as a starting or finishing game in a session. Collect lost sheep, complete tasks or collect events that all help you to win the game.
This copy had been pimped with standies for the player pieces and an Ivor the Engine Fridge magnet start player piece



Finally we played a game of Braggart this is a fantastic little game that always produces a lot table banter. Players recant stories using cards and the others can believer or play liar cards to change those stories. The best brag keeps all cards for the score anyone else that bragged keeps the highest value card. At the end of the game the most points wins



It did feel rather strange all day and rather sad at the end, after clearing down, to think this was the last time we would be using the Salvation Army Hall. We have been there now for 6 years and it has felt like a home from home all this time, everyone who has attended events there has helped to make the days fun and enjoyable.

I hope to meet you all again when we start in the New Hall in September and hope that we manage to maintain the atmosphere that we have built up over the years.

Thanks to all and please keep watching for details about the new location, coming soon (honest!)