Defense of Vigilus

I've never really been a fan of Risk, as I found games from the Axis & Allies family to be a bit more interesting, but I picked up a copy of the Warhammer 40k version of Risk for Nathaniel for Christmas. The boys had never experienced Risk in any form and found it to be a fast and fun gaming experience; meanwhile, I was pleased to see a few new tactical elements in this version, such as unique abilities for faction commanders and major and minor objectives that confer useful rewards upon completion. 

We recruited Amy for a full family game today, and it took up a good chunk of the afternoon. Nathaniel played as the Ultramarines (big surprise there!), Matthew led the Chaos Space Marines (the orange minis in the image below), I was the Orks (green), and Amy was the Genestealer Cults faction (purple). 

Matthew and Nathaniel each conquered continents early on, giving them significant advantages in reinforcements. I held a continent in the center of the map for a good chunk of time, but ended up taking hits from all directions, while Amy's poor Genestealers were gradually pushed back into the hinterlands. It ended up being a back-and-forth conflict between the boys, with Nathaniel consistently having the upper hand yet unable to deliver the knockout blow. 

Finally, it came down to a battle of two single units, one Ultramarines and one Chaos. If Matthew prevailed, he'd get massive reinforcements on his next turn and would have a great opportunity to push deep into Nathaniel's territory. If Nathaniel prevailed, he'd earn his final objective and win outright. After Matthew dragged out the moment for maximum drama (admittedly, with a great deal of help from me), they made their rolls and Nathaniel vanquished the heretics to win the game.

Above is a photo of the map from the final turn. At the top, you can see Amy pointing to her one remaining unit of Genestealers, who survived the war and may yet live on to infect civilizations elsewhere in the galaxy...

It's a Sanguinala Miracle!

I'm not sure which game I like better, Blackstone Fortress or Cursed City. They use the same basic mechanics, but while Blackstone is so perfectly elegant in its simplicity, the more complex Cursed City offers greater opportunity for long-term character development. They're both awesome in their own ways, and the only downside to either of them is that Games Workshop seemed to have abandoned this line earlier this year. They ended any further Blackstone supplements and then, when Cursed City was released this spring, it was abruptly discontinued. Only a lucky few of us -- thank you, Millennium Games! -- managed to snag a copy of this red-boxed beauty. 

Fast-forward to today: CURSED CITY IS COMING BACK!!! Not only is the core game being re-released in 2022, there will be expansion sets to continue the adventure. Huzzah!

Halfway to History

I've reached the midpoint of Season 6 in my historical hockey league, and it's likely a lot of records will be set and milestones will be reached before the Creighton Cup is awarded. Here are some key developments as we head down the stretch...

• At 5-0-3, the Victorias are solidly in first place, and their eight-game unbeaten streak is two shy of the league record. They're first in goals per game and goals against per game, and second in power-play percentage and penalty-killing percentage. My favorite stat, however, is that the Vics' goal differential of +13 is 14 better than the next-best team; that's right, every other team in the league has a negative goal differential right now. For what it's worth, the Bulldogs and Comets would also reach the postseason if the playoff started today, but it looks very much like the Vics will obliterate the competition en route to their third cup and first since they won back-to-back titles in Seasons 1 and 2.
• A major contributor to the Vics' success is rookie winger Newsy Lalonde (5 G, 9 A, +5). He's tied for second in the league in points (with last year's Forward MVP, Barney Stanley) and just two points behind league leader and teammate Cyclone Taylor. Lalonde has been magnificent, but he's far from a guarantee to win Rookie of the Year, as Comets pivot Dick Irvin (5 G, 7 A, -3) is right on his heels. 
• Two-time Forward MVP Frank McGee is off to a scorching start for the Comets. He shifted from center to left wing this season to accommodate the arrival of rookie center Irvin, and any fears of a learning curve for his new position were clearly unfounded. With ten goals in eight games, he's on pace to break his own single-season record of 18 goals. Along the way, McGee has also passed Cyclone Taylor as the league's all-time leader in goals scored. At this writing, he's sitting on 68 career goals, three ahead of star rover Taylor.

Welcome, Bud!

Another nineteenth-century ballplayer has been elected to the Hall of Fame, so my Strat-O-Matic league will add another player for next season. Welcome, Bud Fowler!

Level Up!

This weekend in Cursed City, our heroes scoured the ruined manor house of my character, Glaurio, in search of loot to fund our resistance movement against the city's vampiric overlord, Radukar the Wolf. (Along the way, we discovered a mysterious and obviously very important tapestry, but I guess that's something that will be explained later!) When we finished the mission, our three main characters all leveled up. It's awesome to have a (non-Gloomhaven) a board game that allows you to play a character who grows and evolves over the course of the campaign, just like a real RPG. 

The only wrinkle is that our shared characters -- we started with one in order to get us to the requisite four-character party, but added another one this weekend -- haven't leveled up yet, so we'll need to undertake more missions over the course of the campaign in order for them to keep pace with the three main heroes. To the boys, however, that's a feature, not a defect, because it gives us more playing time -- it felt like we finished Blackstone Fortress far too quickly!