Long Cruel Woman

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Two games today, HFD Games Long Cruel Woman: the Attack on Fire Base Mary Ann, and Star Realms.

I am slowly working my way through the HFD Games Vietnam catalog, and Long Cruel Woman is on my Wargame Aspirations for 2025 list. My usual opponent really enjoys this design, so today was a good day to get it played.

Got a bit of a late start, then we went two turns and i conceded the game as the US. This game and its brethren are swingy, which is fine, with a bit better rolling and a little bit smarter with how I played face cards, I think I would have made a much better showing.

We do intend on playing it again.

The usual opponent and I have Firebase Mary Ann set up and ready to play. This is the start of the game in the picture below.

Setup of Firebase Mary Ann

The NVA kickoff the action within an attempt to breach the wire.

Breach the wire

Here is the game end:

Game 1 end at turn 2

Star Realms 36

After a slow start and some panic in the early mid-game, I managed to pick up a collection of Empire ships, supported by Stealth Needle on the last turn to make a decisive victory. I did have a number of outposts out which were a significant factor in protecting me from a loss. I probably would have perished on opponent's next major hand, though.

Opponent scooped up a number of low cost cards at the beginning, but was not able to transition through the mid-game to a timely endgame configuration. Overall, it was closer than not, and he was rebuilding authority at an increasing rate, but he just could not muster the hits in the end game to get me out.

Empire and Robots can be very, very strong with the combination of scrapping and card draw.

Overall, very good game, very close.

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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.