Hapsburg Eclipse (10)

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Game 10 for Hapsburg Eclipse! Finishing this game gets me another dime for the year, one that was a goal.

From Game 9 I found that I had been playing the Premszyl Fortress wrong by scoring the double Strategic Sites flags before the fortress was completely destroyed. In this game, I do not intend on making that same mistake. I may well make other mistakes, but hopefully not that one.

Being that I’m a bit burned out on this game, I’m just going to play the cards as they come up and see what happens. Also, I’m going to play the helpful markers right away to attempt to stave off collapse.

I think I’ve been using German Staff operations incorrectly as well. These apparently allow an extra, “Reserve” action during a turn, with the +1 DRM. It’s not really extra, it takes two actions to acquire one. It’s more like postponing actions for later. Still not sure these are really useful.

German Staff Operations: Once placed in a theatre they provide a permanent +1 DRM each, unless they’re spent for a “Reserve” action. I’ve been Doing It Wrong.

  1. 35 German Aid. This card is a waste of action to be pulled on Turn 1. There is nothing to do.

  2. 07 Drina Campaign. Defeat. Acquire German Staff Operations (GSO).

  3. 05 Battle of Tannenburg. Victory. Polish pushed back.

  4. 11 Putnik Reclaims Belgrade. Defeat. Carpathian pushed back to space 6.

  5. 09 Battle of the Falkland Islands. Victory. Purchase another GSO.

  6. 13 Czechoslovak Legion. Czeck Revolt. All Actions fail.

  7. 10 German 9th Army. Czech back out of Revolt. NW 0.

  8. 06 Russian Cipher Cracked. Carpathian and Czech pushed back. NW 0.

  9. 15 Treaty of London. Purchase another GSO. Action fails.

  10. 18 Von Lettow-Vorbeck. Victory. NW +1, first time I can remember.

  11. 12 Battle of Dogger Bank. Defeat. Polish pushed back.

  12. 29 Otranto Barrage. Victory. NW +1.

  13. 14 Gallipolli Campaign. Defeat. GSO purchased. I see how I can use these later.

  14. 26 Fighting in the Trentino. Victory. Action fails.

  15. 03 Battle of Cer. Defeat. Purchase GSO. Action fails.

  16. 30 Nivelle Offensive. Defeat. Anything but a natural 1 would have won this battle, so I rolled a natural 1. Polish pushed back. Carpathian canceled with Radio Intercepts.

  17. 22 Romania Joins Allies. Massive offensive failures. NW -3.

  18. 34 Hungarian Food Shortages. NW -4. Egad.

  19. 21 Brusilov Offensive. Czech Revolt. Hungarian Support -2. I’m pretty sure that’s the game…totalling up…NW -7.

AAR

Another loss. I’m 1/10 on this game, and I’m pretty sure my win was tainted as it was my second game. Barely beat my average of 17 cards.

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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.