Terrans get tooled

Previous:
Next:
Tags

Got in a quick game of Starship Troopers, Scenario 1, this time played correctly.

Here's the set up for the Skinnies:

Skinny set up for Scenario 1

This picture is terrible, it was at night with an old iPhone camera. At some point I'll replace it. Regardless of the picture quality the important thing is the positioning for the Skinnies, which is shown clearly enough.

The idea is set up all the targets behind a defensive line along the road, where the Skinnies get road bonus moving from strong point to strong point.

Terrans all over the map

The Skinnies had the Terran forces running all over the map.

Final score was Humanoids 29, Terrans 25.

And this is with unavoidable "intelligence" attempting to play both sides fairly solitaire. I think this could be pretty hard to win as the Terrans, against someone who really has it together playing the Humanoids in Scenario 1.

Shouldn't be too hard to handicap though, just reduce decoys and workers. Alternatively, with a powerful Terran player, add decoys and workers.

Pretty good game, really. The only thing I found kind of wack was massive counter stacking, but I understand this was not uncommon in '70s era games. And it makes sense given this game and the unit scale.

Previous:
Next:
Tags

What to play next?

Deciding what to play next is always a tough call when faced with a closet full of games, all of which were purchased with intent to play. Here's one I'm dealing with the decision.

  • Something New: this means both something new to me and a game which has been published recently, within the last two or three years.
  • Something Classic: I've acquired a number of games properly considered "classic" which haven't yet been played. The current example would be PanzerGruppe Guderian.
  • Something Again: mastery requires constant practice, which means playing games many, many times to allow nuance to appear.
  • Something Vietnam: as I'm on a Vietnam binge. I don't have all the Vietnam games ever published, but I can say that I have a lot of them, and probably more than most people.
  • Something Obscure: as it's fun to poke around in the dustier corners of game design.
  • Something Different: break away from the same old publishers and try a game from one of the new kids on the block. Or, conversely, dip into legacy with a classic tried and true.
  • Something Light: once in a while it's nice to actually finish a game all the way through in one sitting, in an hour or two.
  • Something Heavy: if possible, it's nice to set up something big and complicated which can be left out for days or weeks or even months, for a leisurely stroll through a very large or long game.

There are surely many more ways to choose, but the above method keeps me busy enough, helps me get both breadth and depth into my play, and provides me with a sense of progress.

The odd man out

When there is an odd man out:

  • Have a solo game ready to play.
  • Keep score or advise on a game in progress.
  • Referee a game in progress.