Okay I admit it. I’m a bit exhausted. 3 nights of going to bed around 1:00am and waking up at 6:30am is taking a toll and I’m dragging a bit! But I am alive, have diet Mountain Dew and a desire to play games so I’ll be fine…for today.

We have a big day planned with a large wargame (Successors 4th Edition from Phalanx) and then an event of Nations & Cannons RPG from Flagbearer Games. But first, as o entered the War Room I saw David Thompson sitting with a cool looking game and approached him to see if I could get a look. He then setup and showed me his upcoming game called Line of Fire: Burnt Moon from Osprey Games. The game is currently on pre-order and should be available in June.

Line of Fire: Burnt Moon is a game set in the same universes as Undaunted 2200: Callisto but is its own game which is a 2-player card game that includes both deck-building and the concept of lane battling. Lane Battling is a new mechanic for me but has been used in lots of games. The concept here is that there are 5 lanes that each have a victors point value and players will fight to control them and the one who has the most VP’s at game’s end will win.

The decks consist of different types of units that borrow the same roles and concepts from Undaunted where there are units that can scout, units that can control and units that can build fortifications. The players will place their units from their deck into the board in lanes and attempt to either capture the lane, and then defend them later, or attack the enemy Inuits in the same lane. No dice are used in combat resolution so it is deterministic and I actually thought that was an interesting choice for this design.

The art is gorgeous and the packaging is also very nifty. I actually went and pre-ordered the game right after he showed it to me. Part of that was because of the fact that this is a David Thompson & Trevor Benjamin but also because I very much enjoy the Undaunted Series.

Our first played game of the day was Successors 4th Edition from PHALANX. We expected this to consume most of our gaming day but the game actually ended a bit earlier than expected!

Successors is a 2-5 player card-driven wargame based on the wars caused when Alexander the Great died in 323 BC, leaving no clear heir to the immense empire he had conquered. It was not long after his death that the Macedonian generals began to war among themselves over who would be the regent or successor to Alexander’s empire. Successors was first published in 1997 by Avalon Hill and some years later a second edition rulebook was published that gave more options for the Tyche cards. Then Successors III, built on the foundation of the Successors II rules set plus expansion cards, appeared in the Boardgamer. The fourth edition of Successors includes more generals, more scenarios, new Tyche cards, plenty of new components, and a changed map, with Libya and Cyrene being merged.

We played a full 5-players and had a great time with the game. My one complaint is that the combat system is just so brutal and if you lose the fight you will lose all of your mercenary units, which frankly will represent a majority of your troops, and that will mean you are out of the fight with the general at least. We had a little of deaths as evidenced by the generals dispersed pool.

In the end, the victory was taken by Cullen and he had to fight very well to kill several pretenders who were attempting to bury the body of Alexander the Great to gain a large amount of legitimacy. There is a lot to like with the game but in my opinion it shows its age a bit with the combat system. I also get the feeling that Richard Berg hates players and doesn’t want them to enjoy themselves. Hahahaha.

Blue Panther also showed up and we acquired a few new games and then shot a video with Steve Jones discussing these and other new releases.

The final event of the day was 2 concurrent sessions of Nations & Cannons RPG from Flagbearer Games. We had a total of 9 players at 2 tables, which came together during the climactic act 3.

Our table was given the task of destroying the goods and stores of weapons and gunpowder for the navy in a nearby warehouse. We were able to infiltrate the warehouse, throw a grenade into the building which exploded and destroyed the contents. We then awaited the response as several long boats full of redcoats rowed across the harbor to the island and began advancing. With quick thinking, the party found a few small deck guns and rolled them into position using nearby wagons to fire.

The fire was effective and downed a few soldiers and then one of the party (me) who had donned a British soldier’s uniform began approaching the British screaming that they should stop firing as we were on the king’s business and were seeking out a double agent by the name of Joseph Warren. He was very convincing and the soldiers stopped firing and agreed to accompany us on a hunt for the traitor. They agreed to be bound and we were able to deliver the soldiers and the gun back to the patriot camp and received promotions and plaudits.

This was all made possible because of some good rolling and some quick thinking and that is one thing I love about roleplaying.

We then were ordered to Breed’s Hill where we met up with other table and had to make hasty repairs to the fireworks that were there as the British were arriving via the sea. The Battle of Breeds Hill went in our favor as we fought off column after column of Redcoats. But the battle at Bunker Hill went poorly and we noticed that the British overran the fieldworks and took prisoners including Dr. Warren.

At this point, my character, who was an immigrant and the son of indentured servants to Dr. Warren took revenge on him because he sent my parents back to the Netherlands because of some rules violations. This lead to their death and we are separated where I was left a line orphan in America. Secretly, my character was a werewolf and his bloodlust fur revenge took him as the battle raged into the evening and I changed and took his life. This forced the rest of the party to attack me and a battle ensued. I downed several party members but through good strategy and some luck they were able to defeat the werewolf and as I died I uttered the words but I did it to avenge my parents. And at this time the legend of the werewolf of Breeds Hill was born. All had fun and it was awesome to introduce 7 new players to the Nations & Cannons system.

It is now midnight and I am tired but tomorrow we have a big day on the last day of the con as we have plans to teach and play Time of Crisis from GMT Games, New Cold War from VUCA simulations and a party game called 23 Knives from Play to Z. See you tomorrow night!

-Grant