Welcome all. I’ve been playing Distant Worlds (DW) since it was first released in 2010. Since then, it’s become my favorite 4x game of any genre. No other game, except the Paradox games, come close to the breadth of options and replayability of DW, in my humble opinion of course.
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I’m going to be changing up my normal DW playstyle this time around. I normally fully control everything, and I’ve restarted a dozen different times trying to find a level of automation I can deal with. I’ve created a custom theme (mod) for this playthrough. I started with Haree78’s DW Extended Mod and merged in several other mods I thought would add a bit more variety.
Game Master extraordinaire Vance Strickland gives us a quick dash thru one of the games he supervised at the GrogHeads Wargaming Central Command at Origins.
Vance Strickland, 10 July 2014
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The last organized game of Sergeants Miniatures Game (SMG) of the con was to be a team game. We had three people show up, along with one guy’s wife who he convinced to be his team mate. She was obviously a gamer but said she was not a wargamer.
So with four people, two playing the US paratroopers and two playing the German light infantry, Rob Belli from Lost Battalion Games set about explaining the rules. While this was going on the husband kept asking me about the tactics of the game, how certain terrain worked, what was the best way to use a firebase and a maneuver group etc… which was all good, but this wasn’t Advanced Squad Leader. SMG is a light skirmish-level game that’s meant to be fun and fairly quick to play. His wife was listening intently to Rob’s explanations as were the two German players.
In my head I gave each of the players name tags. Cpt. Ernest and Plucky Wife were the US players. The German players were a gentleman in his early 60’s and young man in his 20’s. Both German players were wargamers and recognized SMG for what it was. The German players became Junior German and Senior German to me.
Each team player was given a section consisting of five troops, including a mix of rifle and sub-machine gun armed men, an NCO leader, and a machine gunner. The NCO leader gives you more action cards to draw each turn, which gives you more options for what you can do in a turn. It’s best to protect these guys but you can’t leave them too far behind because they are also the ones that can rally your pinned troopers.
The di Parmas roll on as Oberto’s death rattles the family. And now…?
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In Part 25 Duke Oberto died in an accident at the Emperor’s Grand Tournament, his son Benvenuto became head of the family but the di Parma lands were split amongst two other brothers. In Part 26 Benvenuto must appease the brothers or seek other diplomatic means to bring them to heel, calm the uneasiness in his vassals and bring stability to the region.
Benvenuto’s first action is to try and imprison Count Chiaffredo of Taranto. He is heading a faction to try and install a bishop within his land as Count of Salerno, and thats Benvenuto’s title. Its a risky move, if it fails and Chiaffredo rebels there will be a war fought Benvenuto can ill afford. In the end it pays off and the traitorous git is thrown into the dungeon
Here we go, the first brother, Buonconte challenges Benvenuto and starts a family civil war.
In Part 24 Matilda of Tuscany declared war on Parma in a bid to reclaim land rightfully held by Oberto. By concentrating his forces and those of his allies from Bohemia on the strongest armies of Tuscany, Oberto whittled down Matilda’s army to a mere guerilla force, and then called in Ceowulf and his Saxon band to mop up, after Radislav of Bulgaria and his men were lost in Parma itself. With victory almost in their grasp Matilda’s allies strike a final blow at Oberto. In this part, death of an innocent, an old crow begs, a viper for hire and the tears of a people.
In the hills of Sospiro the best of Breisgau are thwarted by the Saxon band and the last of Oberto’s men. Mathilda’s lands are left wide open to siege
Meanwhile, on the outskirts of enemy Apulia over one thousand Muslims land on the coast and begin to seige the region of Benevento
In part 23 Oberto killed the King of Sicily in the War for Apulia and Cantanzaro, took Lecce from the Apulians, and plotted to kill the Duke of Apulia’s wife in order to seat his daughter in the Duchy. In this part, an old enemy returns, an old friend fails and new friends save the day.
From out of nowhere Matilda of Genoa strikes at the di Parmas. The feud with her had been 30 years dead when Oberto declared independence from her and left her armies dead on the fields of Modena.
Oberto’s northern armies gather under the banner of Salerno, the white flag with a red slash. They are directed to Genoa where they can merge and gather their commanders.
