it's Friday, what's going on your table this weekend?

[bayonetbrant]

I've got it, and I've unwrapped it, but not started unpacking it.  pics to follow.

[son_of_montfort]

woot!  My copy of Mage Knight is in!  I think I know what's hitting the table this weekend :)

Bastard! Mine comes in two days.

I'll probably made a vid of it... would love some of your impressions to add to the vid!

[TheCommandTent]

I got a bunch of Flames of War minis filed & trimmed, based, and primed.

Used a can of Army Painter combo Primer/basecoat. It was the ghoul green or something. Not exactly official German WWII color but not a bad base coat from which to build. Since I wasn't doing anything with my Warhammer Fantasy Vampire Counts I figured I might as well use the primer for Flames rather than have it sit around another year unused. Actually, it's not a bad color for a light green.

Are you going to use their quick shade dip as well?

[LongBlade]

Are you going to use their quick shade dip as well?

Maybe on the tanks. I only have the heavy shade. I like it, but it tends to put an oily dark sheen on. Yeah, I know I could dull coat it, but this is 15mm we're talking about and I'm no Michelangelo.

[GJK]

For me, it's another go at Up Front with my son and a contusion of my VASL Pbem game with DV8 on the virtual game table and then on Sunday, a buddy is coming into town bringing his new copy of LnL Band of Heroes that we'll try out.  This will be my 2nd try at the LnL system-  I don't think that the rules by nature are very complex but my God the v3.0 were so disorganized and incomprehensible to me.  Maybe it's because I've played ASL all these years that a new tactical system is confusing me.  In any case, he has the v3.1 rules that I hope clarifies it a bit for me.

[LongBlade]

I'm slathering Green Putty all over the bases of my Flames of War Fallschirmjaeger company. After which I'll paint them and then lay down some flocking.

[Arctic Blast]

Played the new print run of Wallenstein this evening with 4 friends. That was the second play, and I like it a lot.

I'd like to play some more Band of Brothers (at least something beyond the first scenario) as well, but Nuklear Winter '68 arrived this week, so...

Oh, AND a copy of the Avalon Hill version of Nexus Ops. So awesomely garish.  ;D

[Rekim]

For me, it's another go at Up Front with my son and a contusion of my VASL Pbem game with DV8 on the virtual game table and then on Sunday, a buddy is coming into town bringing his new copy of LnL Band of Heroes that we'll try out.  This will be my 2nd try at the LnL system-  I don't think that the rules by nature are very complex but my God the v3.0 were so disorganized and incomprehensible to me.  Maybe it's because I've played ASL all these years that a new tactical system is confusing me.  In any case, he has the v3.1 rules that I hope clarifies it a bit for me.

Me = huge fan of UpFront.
I have one local gaming buddy who I play UF with about once a month. Not enough! I know you are well versed with Vassal, and there is an excellent UF module that is available. We should link up one of these days.

Btw, I have your Carrier module running in the background here at work today as I work my way through scenario #6 in my spare moments.

[Capn Darwin]

My printer is spitting out components for my current gaming project for playtest kits. Once we get it all cut and sorted we will be playing it a couple times this weekend.

[GJK]

Me = huge fan of UpFront.
I have one local gaming buddy who I play UF with about once a month. Not enough! I know you are well versed with Vassal, and there is an excellent UF module that is available. We should link up one of these days.

Cool!  Maybe you can help answer this question that I posted on CSW earlier today then:

Hey folks, a new UF player
here though I've owned a copy of the game for years. I found the
"updated" rules at the geek and the
concepts were fairly simple for me so I
decided to finally give the game a try. My son and I set up Scenario A and have
been playing - about half way through the
first deck. So far, the game has been a
bunch of hoping to draw movement cards
so that we can get close enough to shoot.
We even opted to allow snipers so that SOMETHING was going on. So - are we just having a slow start
because of the deck shuffle? Is there some
tactics that can be used in the game
besides just moving forward to close the
RR enough so that some combat can take
place? Is there more to combat than just hoping for the right card draw? Maybe the transition from ASL to this is
what is having me scratch my head on
what all the fuss has been over this game?

Btw, I have your Carrier module running in the background here at work today as I work my way through scenario #6 in my spare moments.

Excellent!  That's one that I need to get back into!!

[mirth]

Played the new print run of Wallenstein this evening with 4 friends. That was the second play, and I like it a lot.

I'd like to play some more Band of Brothers (at least something beyond the first scenario) as well, but Nuklear Winter '68 arrived this week, so...

Oh, AND a copy of the Avalon Hill version of Nexus Ops. So awesomely garish.  ;D

Would love to hear your impressions of Nuklear Winter '68 once you get a chance to play it.

[GJK]

Ok, we finished Scenario A of Up Front and it turned out to be a blast! 

My son (playing as the Germans) opened up with that deadly MG42 and pinned most of my Group A.  His next turn, he followed up again and took out half the squad.  I (playing as the Americans) couldn't get a rally card to save my life and Group A was soon retired.  That contained my Squad Leader, so my Assistant Squad Leader from Group B became the SL.  I was able to move Group B up close enough to block his Group B (with MG42) from moving up to the needed range 4 to set him up for the win.  I was able to get Group B up on a Hill and thus some protection but he began to whittle away at that squad.  I was soon down to 3 men and then finally 1.  I had lost both my SL and ASL so my hand was down to 5 cards and I couldn't get a good draw.

His GroupA was stuck in wire and he couldn't get a movement card either.  I was finally able to get a low enough Fire card to start taking some shots.  His GroupB was sitting in heavy cover (building) so I decided to try GroupA.  I pinned half of them and got a KIA outright on some good draws. 

His MG42 in GroupB kept trying to get my last man but the Hill (-1 on his fire) and my always have concealment cards kept him alive. 

I finally got a good Fire card that I could use with this lone soldier and his GroupB was sitting in the open so I was ready to silence that MG42 but he drew first with a Fire7 card that easily took out my last guy. 

I had a real Audie Murphy situation going on there for a while and as we became very comfortable with the rules, the game play went very fast.

Turned out to be a very enjoyable evening of gaming and I'm now looking forward to learning what I need to learn for Scenario B and beyond.  I now get the appeal - fast and fun card play with a hint of WWII history.  If you nitpick and try to look for realism in the game, you won't find it, but if you like playing card games like Hearts or Spades or Bridge where card play is quick and you can't wait for your turn to come around so that you can lay down those cards sitting in your hand - and you like wargaming WWII era games - then this will be a fun one to sit around the table and play!

[Barthheart]

Would love to hear your impressions of Nuklear Winter '68 once you get a chance to play it.

NW68 is a blast. I've only been playing solo so far but is plays welll solo. It also plays fast as most of the inof in one the counters so no charts to look up.
It uses a chit pull system for formation activation, one of the things that lends it to solo play.
Combat is just 2d6 + modifiers vs 2d6 + terrain. Difference is number of hits. 1st hit disrupted, 2nd hit reduced, 3rd hit killed.
Land units, aircraft and helos, off board arty - HE, Chem, Bio, Nuke.
Most scenaios are 2 payer with the Black Hnd appearing by event to spoil both sides.
Very thematic board and scenarios. High production values all around.

[Rekim]

Cool!  Maybe you can help answer this question that I posted on CSW earlier today then:

So far, the game has been a bunch of hoping to draw movement cards so that we can get close enough to shoot. We even opted to allow snipers so that SOMETHING was going on. So - are we just having a slow start because of the deck shuffle? Is there some tactics that can be used in the game besides just moving forward to close the RR enough so that some combat can take place? Is there more to combat than just hoping for the right card draw? Maybe the transition from ASL to this is what is having me scratch my head on what all the fuss has been over this game?

I see from your last post that things are starting to gel enough for you to begin enjoying the basic Up Front gameplay. Figured I'd still post a few comments in regards to the question you posted on CSW (roughly: does UF play mainly revolve around waiting to draw a good/needed Action Card?)

While the timely drawing of a needed action card is always helpful, depending on luck of the draw as your main tactic is not a great recipe for success in UF.  Most actions which advance a player towards their objective usually involves the play of more than one card. Ie. Playing a movement card is of less value if a player is unable to follow it up with a suitable defensive terrain card in a timely manner. Even fire attacks work much better if an initial attack can be followed up with a second one, allowing an opportunity to route any recently pinned soldiers (outright KIA's are tough to achieve with standard fire attacks). Managing your hand of action cards is a huge part of the game. Another important aspect of UF play is risk management. Even if you have an desired action card available for play it may be sub-optimal to play it immediately depending on the cards that you suspect your opponent may be holding, or your likelihood of putting together any follow-up cards that are needed. I find that UF games are filled with nail biting decisions, and in a much more dynamic way than with ASL, where your primary concern is often a matter of whether your opponent can muster a good die roll or not.

Once you get comfortable with the unique system that UF uses for movement and terrain I suspect your enjoyment of the game will spike. ASL is #1 in my books, but have to say that UF is at least as enjoyable to play and can be played in much shorter timeframe. Enjoy.

[Arctic Blast]

Would love to hear your impressions of Nuklear Winter '68 once you get a chance to play it.

NW68 is a blast. I've only been playing solo so far but is plays welll solo. It also plays fast as most of the inof in one the counters so no charts to look up.
It uses a chit pull system for formation activation, one of the things that lends it to solo play.
Combat is just 2d6 + modifiers vs 2d6 + terrain. Difference is number of hits. 1st hit disrupted, 2nd hit reduced, 3rd hit killed.
Land units, aircraft and helos, off board arty - HE, Chem, Bio, Nuke.
Most scenaios are 2 payer with the Black Hnd appearing by event to spoil both sides.
Very thematic board and scenarios. High production values all around.

Yep, this mirrors my initial impressions quite well. The rule set is simple enough to learn quickly, and you aren't going to be referring to firepower effectiveness charts or anything like that. The rulebook is initially a bit big and intimidating, but it also includes all of the scenarios and some amusingly silly background fiction to fill you in on how the game's world came to be. Easily playable solo. We also played a 2P scenario. And in both cases, Black Hand units will auto generate based on an in game event. Those are handled by chits in the draw pool, rather than the 'If you have Line of Sight to Hex H6, refer to Event A' variety this time around. We also played one of the 3P games with all three factions running around, and that was just ridiculous fun.

Components are excellent. The map is pretty big and fills about 80% of the box, so there's no way you're getting a counter tray in there and still getting the lid down all the way. Gotta go with baggies instead. But the unit counts are low enough that that really isn't going to be a problem when it comes to setting up a game.

Definitely a thumbs up from me.