Sunday Club (Star wars)

It was quite a strange day yesterday at the club. There was to be a large "Hail Ceaser" game with 6-8 of us playing, but John (Who was hosting the game) could not make it for family reasons so I had no real idea what I would be playing when I turned up. As it turned out I played "Star Wars" I have played wings of war, but this I found a far better mechanic. I was impressed by all the components and Dave had a set of boards with a trench so terrain was all sorted.

We managed to get two games in. Having not played before (the other 3 players had, although one player claimed only once but that was disputed) I went with a force that Kev selected for me. As far as I was concerned he knew best so I was happy to go with his selection..... It turned out to be quite good.

If you don't know I am quite strongly dyslexic especially when it comes from knowing my right and left. I can tell them apart don't get me wrong, I know I write with my right hand and that's how I work out right from left. Working out right from left on someone else is a step harder. Working it out on a space ship that is at an odd angle to me (which does not have arms!!) a step harder still. Working out left and right on a playing piece with a dial that is then inverted is actually pretty hard for me. If I only had one playing piece I would have a very good chance of working it out. And here's the problem..... I was controlling 4 tie fighters.

In the first game I had all four ties destroyed pretty quickly as much by my own ineptitude and the fact that I was somehow magnetic to the asteroids as enemy shooting. I would have been alright with just the asteroids, but with a X Wing and the Millennium Falcon to contend with as well, let's just say goodnight Vienna pretty quickly. Which left Kev with his 4 ties to face pretty much a whole rebel squadron as well as the Falcon. I think he lasted 3 or 4 more turns before the weight of incoming fire utterly destroyed him. I have to admit it was my fault he was facing more and bigger ships but without weight of numbers. I felt bad for him but Kev is the kind of bloke that plays for fun and not for victory.

The second game was a different story. We had an objective. We had to pick up some damaged satellite pieces. I was more aware of asteroids and I had worked out a lot of the rules. Kev and I very quickly decided that we would ignore the victory conditions and shoot the shit out of Han Solo and the Millennium Falcon, and that would be enough for us. (We're like that!)  Dave (A fairly new club member) was controlling the Falcon, he also had an X wing for support. . Ian two X wings and a single Y wing. I screwed up on the first turn and steered a Tie the wrong way and it ended up directly in the way of all my other plotted moves. When the dust settled and my little game of bumper cars had sorted itself out Kev had managed to strip most of the screens from the Falcon. Ian had picked up one Satellite and Dave's X wing had nabbed another. But I was back in the fight and could keep bearing 2 of my Ties onto the big ship.

My tie advanced (Kev kindly gave me Vader to control, more out of kindness than the belief I could do anything useful with him) was well out of the action steering well clear of asteroids (well sometimes). Anyway there was a rush to pick up the last two pieces. Dave grabbed one with the extra large base of the massive ship and both me and Kev had a Tie closing in on the last one as did Ian with his Y wind. I overshot it and had to spend two turns turning round. Kev undershot it and Ian killed his Tie with the Y wing.

Meanwhile, More by luck than judgement my two Ties took the last of the Falcons hull points and it was out of the game and dropped the satellite token. Dave's X wing was headed of table to secure the victory point for the rebels so Dave was out of the game. One of my Ties managed to pick up the token and started to head off the board with an X wing chasing me. I set the move dial to right instead of left. Left would have set me up for getting of the table the following turn and it was the only sensible option. Right was towards an asteroid and the no go section of the board edge which we had already been informed was instant death. Left was the only Option. In my mind I was going left and knew that Ian's X wing would have a free blast at me. I worked it all out and set the dial for a hard left, confident I had a tighter turning circle. And then I turned the move dial over only to see the hard right manoeuvre revealed.  Remember my dyslexia? Well sometimes it works in my favour. I was out of shooting arch and still had JUST enough room to avoid the wrong board edge and the asteroid.

Darth Vader meanwhile had been out of the game pretty much since the start playing dodge the asteroids but somehow Ian's Y wing with the satellite came into range and arch of fire. So I shot him down. Yeah Ok it took me two turns but I did it!) Vader then managed to pick up the bit of space junk and with nothing rebel close headed for the board edge.

My last Tie was also "stressed" but moving super fast (speed 5) in a straight line and coming to join my other tie behind Ian's last x wing. Cutting to the chase I managed to turn the Tie carrying the Satellite so close to Ian's ship he had to move beyond my tie and that allowed my other two Ties to get the killing blow.

 It wasn't pretty, it was lucky and I really enjoyed the game.  Sometime Dyslexia is a joy. Kev got chewed up pretty badly but I think he stole one Satellite part. The game finished with me having 2 of the satellite pieces and a full compliment of ships (some very beaten up though). Somehow I won the game. Mostly I think from a combination of luck, ignoring the victory conditions, shooting down the falcon and Kev doing all the hard work!

Conclusion: Having played Star Wars I would be tempted to buy it myself. However as Dave has a everything (Apart from A wings and a couple of other ships) and Kev also has a copy (basic set). My purchase of it would be redundant. And that is the only reason I have not  been checking the internet for the best price today. Over all a great fun game and worth playing again.

That's it for today. Sorry it's so wordy and with so few pictures but I was more interested in playing then taking pictures and I think that is the real testament to the games quality.

Wednesday is the next post so with luck see you then. All the best Clint.