My Collection: Conquistador SPI 1976

Here is my SPI Strategy & Tactics Magazine Issue #58 copy of Conquistador which recreates the 16th Century exploration and conquest of the New World (North and South America) by the major powers of Europe.

This was brought out in 1976 and was one of my earliest introductions to board wargaming way back when I started secondary school in 1977. I had many pleasurable hours exploring and carving out colonial empires. 

This is a copy I picked up from Board Game Geek a couple of years ago as I never owned my own and used a friend's at the time. I still plan to purchase the Avalon Hill version as it includes a mounted board and box but it's not on my priority list.

The game map is covered with tables and charts which is very retro but I still like it's overall scope and rules mechanics. I'm toying with solo rules mechanics to allow me to play a multi-power conflict. 

 

Memoir'44 Battle of Wake Island

This is one of my favourite scenarios for Memoir'44. A good old dash up the beach by the Japanese. The special rules work very well here and give a nice period feel.

If the Japanese get enough troops onto the beach their assault is almost bound to win. The Marines need to keep them away from their positions. Not easy and I've never had a US victory. 

Bushido cat helped out!

Memoir'44 Russo-Finnish War: Suomussalmi December 1939

I played an excellent game of Memoir'44 using my Finnish ski troops for the first time. The setup looked like this.

The Finns started aggressively against the Russian positions but were repulsed. After a steady pickup of medals through attritional hit and run attacks by the ski troops and ambushing of Russian armour it looked as though the situation had been recovered. 

 

The Soviets, however,  were getting some very favourable card draws which enabled them to expolit their superior numbers and eliminate the requisite number of Finnish units. 

A narrow Soviet victory of 6 to 4.

The usual intervention by the cat!

Heroquest Adventuring: Dark Elves

I decided to experiment with a new monster type in my ongoing Heroquest adventures by introducing Dark Elves and also to give me a chance to use the great Games Workshop figures I've got to represent them.

I created Warriors and Archers as two distinct monster types to cover the majority of the dungeon denziens and a class of spellcasters acting as mage-leaders. 

The archers were allowed to shoot their bow at any non-adjacent opponent and attack with three hit dice. The warriors were formidable close combat opponents with attack 4 and defence 3. The mage leaders could use a particular element of three spells in the entire game.  

To play the game I used the Halls of Durrag-Dol quest included in the White Dwarf Issue 134 which although based on Skaven I substituted Dark Elves. Worked out well and the adventurers had a very tough time.

My Collection: Avalon Hill's Third Reich Second Edition (1976)

I've decided to start a little project to go through my games collection and post images and comments on my blog to give me a visual reference and to show off what I consider to be fine games that although I don't play them much these days, I did a lot back in the day and this might get me interested in doing so in the future.

The first I will look at is the Avalon Hill Third Reich game 2nd Edition (1976) which I used to play with my gaming group of close friends back in the late 70's / early 80's. Many a tense recreation of world domination was played out. It was a long game to play demanding a great deal of time investment but despite being an exhausting experience it was always worthwhile.  

 

My copy is still in pretty good condition despite extensive use. A few coffee stains on the mapboard and general ageing of the paper components but still perfectly acceptable and a pleasant visual experience.

Tank on Tank: Eastern Front

Here is the same setup but using my winter board and the tanks from the Eastern Front expansion. I still need to create some counters to represent the T-34s. I think it looks pretty good with all the snow tiles and white board hexes.

 

Tank on Tank: Memoir'44 Conversion

I decided to try out my Tank on Tank "adaptation on the cheap" and enhance the visual look by using my Memoir'44 tank models. I think it looks great and gives me the ability to show facing using the tank model and still keep the stats in view by attaching the counter.

I can extend this to the Eastern Front and use the T-34s in the Eastern expansion. I just need to get a hold of counters to print and mount. I can also use my winter board and terrain tiles to get that appropriate Russian feel.