Princess Ryan's Star Marines (first play)

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Vintage Avalon Hill, definitely silly, but something fun to poke around with on a holiday weekend.

I like these sorts of games from time to time. There is nothing pretentious about them, there is no point to them other than having fun, and that's not a bad thing.

Since I'm having trouble getting started this morning, I'm just going to jump right into playing, and will worry about sorting out all the rules later.

Round 1

It says to skirmish in Site 1 before proceeding, so let's do that.

Skirmishers for this initial round are Deadeye and Kitty. Guard has skirmish value of 16, so both of these Marines need to use their abilities to win the skirmish. Since Kitty is highest rank (5), she wins the skirmish. This was a blunder, the Site skirmish is -3 Guards, so I don't need to use Kitty's Skill.

  1. Move: adjacent, draw 6 flip Site card for Site 31 Revolution.

  2. Time: check draw 8 > 5, pass.

  3. Garrison: Draw a Guard "Laser Guided Perimeter Defenses." This Guard shows a reinforcement may be drawn, but the site disallows it.

  4. Skirmishers: Steel Dome (4) and Insurance Man (2).

  5. Weapons: Plasma Projector (5)

  6. Combat: Marines win 11-10, Dispatch "Marked Man."

Round 2

  1. Move: 3F, draw 11, pass Site check.
  2. Time: draw 6 <= 9, fail, Time 14.
  3. Garrison: Mind Meld.
  4. Skirmishers: Insurance Man and Grandma.
  5. Weapons: None.
  6. Combat: Grandma Stunned.

Round 3

  1. Move: 4F, fail site check draw Site 29 Special Forces Camp.
  2. Time: draw 12 >= 2, pass.
  3. Garrison: Security Robots and Laser Rifle Team, with +8 for total of 38 Skirmish value. Bad.
  4. Skirmishers: Dead Eye and Kitty.
  5. Weapons: No weapons.
  6. Combat: Guard win, Deadeye is casualty draw Sick Bay. Guard check for replacing site: draw 12 >= 7. Further Casualty from icon, draw 13, captured. Pursuit check: draw 10 to replace site 4 with Radar Tower.

Ok, the way I read the rules, I can either stay here and fight, regroup and stay here and fight, or flee to space above or below essentially starting a new round.

Round 4

  1. Move: Flee to Radar Tower.
  2. Time: draw 9 >= 1, pass.
  3. Garrison: Doomsday Bomb (S), Mobile Armored Infantry (32), Reptilian Scouts (6), with +4 for site for total 42. This is pretty much automatically a loss, because there is also casualty and kill markers on these cards.
  4. Skirmishers: Steel Dome and Insurance Man.
  5. Weapons: None, pointless.
  6. Combat: Guard win. Draw 12, Insurance Man goes to Morgue; draw 9 Steel Dome is KIA, goes to Morgue. Could have probably played the Dispatch card for capture, didn't have enough Skirmish though, this is a good reason to add weapons regardless of losing.

Regroup

  • Sick Bay: draw 7, Deadeye goes to Ready Room face up.
  • All other Marines are killed or captured.
  • Time now 11.
  • Weapons: Shuffle and draw 2 each.

Round 5

We're in Site 4, and have to fight here after the regroup.

  1. Move: stay and fight after regroup.
  2. Time: 3 >= 2, pass.
  3. Garrison: Light Infantry (14) and Floating Gun Jeeps (22). Bummer. Total is 40.
  4. Skirmishers: The Transformer and Harvard.
  5. Weapons: None.
  6. Combat: Loss. Transformer goes to Sick Bay.

Still having trouble for what to do after Combat loss. The Guard site management and Marine flee movement are not clear.

Round 6

  1. Move: Stay and fight.
  2. Time: none, not moving.
  3. Garrison: Automated Listening Posts (4)
  4. Skirmishers: Da Scribbler (2) cancels the reinforcement draw, Harvard (2).
  5. Weapons: Laser Rifle for 5.
  6. Combat: This is a win for the Marines. Dispatch "Short Cut."

Might be stopping here. Going to log this as a play, but leaving it on the table until tomorrow. If there is good morning light tomorrow morning, I'll play a couple more rounds.

AAR & Review

First thing: I have a hard time reading the cards in low light. The font is some sort quasi-futuristic styled "digital" type face, and the letters are very difficult to read in my typical lighting conditions. It doesn't help that the day I played this was very rainy and foggy. This makes me sad, and detracts from the game play.

Open questions:

  • What happens when the Guard deck is exhausted?

Turn Sequence

  1. Move:
  2. Time:
  3. Garrison:
  4. Skirmishers:
  5. Weapons:
  6. Combat:
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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.