First I chop a good portion of my thumb off, which the doctor at A&E immediately throws into clinical waste! Then the bleeding won't stop so after a two hour wait, pressing as hard as I can on my thumb to stop the bleeding, the application of glue for the same reason, it was finally decided that it needed cauterising so on went the Silver Nitrate! I don't mind telling you that although already having four doses of anesthetic injected into my thumb, it still hurt like hell when the Nitrate was added! A lot!
Despite all this medical chicanery I managed to make it to the club for Steve's promised game of Sails of Glory, or as he likes to put it, "Ships".
The game is actually a little complicated in that there's quite a bit of stuff to keep an eye on as far as record keeping is concerned . That said, the rules do produce an enjoyable game, the emphasis being on the fact that it is a game and not a simulation.
Needless to say that, it being my first game, I was the first to go down with all hands lost. Quite an honour really. That being said, the more experienced players seemed to have the rub of the green and I'm assuming that once one is used to the games mechanics it becomes a tactical affair and not one of groping at the rules as was in my case. Please note, this is not unusual for me! I do feel as though I ought to apologise for the lack of any commentary- my thumb was taking up just about all my mental energy and actually, it still is! (Off to the docs again as it's starting to smell like my ex's collection of cheeses- she was French so maybe it's time for concern!)
Anyway, for the uninitiated, the game looks like this:
The game as it progresses (notice French player controlling battleship picking on the minnos! The dishonour!)
A couple of snaps of the board from above indicating the cards and book keeping mechanism
Finally, how not to store one's miniatures!
Bye for now.
I tell you something, those models ships aren't too dissimilar to the Langton ones. Apart from the obvious extra plastic attaching the [square] sails to the masts. I wonder what they would repaint like? Er... Just googled the price, so maybe not.
ReplyDeleteDon't know to be honest Roy. If i was going to go for more of a simulation type of game I'd probably buy some ships paint them up and rig them (yep, you heard me! Rig 'em!!). :>)
DeleteStill, it was a decent laugh and I don't think the game is mean't to be a simulation of what war at sea was like back in the day.
Darrell.
Rigging the ships isn't too hard. Patience, tweezers and plenty of spare time is really all that's needed. To properly rig a 1/1200 line-of-battle ship then you've got to be looking at about 3 hours work. But if you just go for the easier 'approximation' of rigging -look then it can be done in about an hour.
DeleteSometimes, I think seeing all the standing and running rigging on these small ships is just too much and the overall appearance of the model is spoilt from the spider's web of thread that's suspended between every mast and spar.
For me it would be knowing where to put the rigging!
DeleteDarrell.