Hapsburg Eclipse 8

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Hapsburg Eclipse is on my Dime list for 2017. I don’t think I’ve beaten it fairly yet, so it’s about time I do. It seems I usually get about 17 cards in and lose (“Crushing Defeat”). Let’s try and do better than 17 cards on this play.

  1. 03 Battle of Cer. Croat advances, Carpathian offensive succeeds.
  2. 15 Treaty of London. Nice! Second card and the war marker gets moved. This might be a good thing. Carpathian offensive succeeds, purchase resource with 2 remaining actions.
  3. 07 Drina Campaign. Victory. Polish and Italian offensives succeed.
  4. 24 Danube Flotilla Sails. Italians stay in Undine. Purchase +1 DRM with 2 actions.
  5. 21 Brusilov Offensive. Carpathian advances to Premsyl, unable offensives fail, but still acquire Russia Tires as a Victory. NW 0, not doing too bad getting started.
  6. 10 German 9th Army. Carpathian and Polish offensives succeed.
  7. 33 Battle of Passchendaele. Defeat.
  8. 02 Drive into Galacia. Czech moved back to Loyal.
  9. 34 Hungarian Food Shortages.
  10. 35 German Aid. Only 1 action for this card, Polish offensive fails. NW -4, not looking real great here.
  11. 12 Battle of Dogger Bank. Victory. Polish offensive succeeds with German Aid.
  12. 20 Strafexpedition. All offensives fail, all revolts advance. Premzyl reduced to 2. Bummer of a turn.
  13. 11 Putnik Reclaims Belgrade. Stalemate. Both offensives against Carpathian fail.
  14. 30 Nivelle Offensive. Defeat. NW -5.
  15. 16 Mackensen Takes Command. About time, this may be the only thing which keeps me in the game another turn. Carpathian offensive succeeds, but only one of them.
  16. 26 Fighting in the Trentino. Victory. Croat in revolt, revolt suppressed. Two more turns and I think I’ve beat my average.
  17. 14 Gallipoli Campaign. Victory. Spend 2 action to rebuild Przemysl. NW -1.
  18. 17 Bulgaria Joins the War. Was not able to place the Bulgarian Trench Line as Polish Front was on the 1 space. Bummer. NW -1. I’ve probably beat my average this 18th turn.
  19. 19 Battle of Ctesiphon. Defeat. NW -4.
  20. 29 Ontranto Barrage. Defeat. Balkan now advancing. More bummer. But Carpathian pushed back another space, so regain a Strategic Site. NW -4. This was Turn 20. Wonder if I can make it to Turn 25?
  21. 27 Provisional Gov. Takes Charge. This is a huge card, it flips Polish and Carpathian Fronts to their weaker sides and retreats them one space. Now if I could just get these two fronts off the map… Balkan offensive succeeds.
  22. 04 Battle of Mons. Victory! Polish and Carpathian offensives succeed. NW -1. Now if only I could get Radio Intercepts…
  23. 13 Czechoslovak Legion. Czechs revolt, crushed. Polish offensive fails.
  24. 06 Radio Intercepts. Finally. Croat revolt, crushed. Balkan offensive succeeds. NW -4.
  25. 25 Death of Franz Josef. Hungarian revolt, crushed. Carpathian offensive fails.
  26. 18 Von Lettow-Vorbeck. Victory. Balkan on Space 1, canceled by Radio Intercept. Czech in revolt. Carpathian advance also canceled via RI. This would have been the game with Radio Intercepts. Balkan offensive succeeds. Polish offensive succeeds. NW -5. Ruh roh.
  27. 22 Romania Joins Allies. War marker moved, we’re into the last deck now, first time since I can remember that happening. Romanian offensive succeeds. Carpathian offensive succeeds. Balkan offensive succeeds. Very lucky this turn, it really could have been the last turn.
  28. 32 Corfu Declaration. Balkan Front flips to 3. Bummer. NW -5. Big Bummer. But I’m doing pretty well otherwise, all the way to 28 cards.
  29. 45 War Weariness. This looks like the end of the line, with all nationalities getting triggered and no Actions allowed. Carpathian advances to Budapest, Romanian to Bucharest for a net 3 Strategic Sites lost. Hungary goes into revolt for another hit. NW -8, game over.

AAR

I just found out I’ve been playing it wrong. The Premzyl flags don’t count until the fort is destroyed. That definitely changes the game.

I have also not been tracking Stalemates, I’ve been counting these as defeats.

Not too bad, got to 29 cards this game.

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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.