For September, Border Board Games will change from its regular venue and join Green Mountain Gamers down in Lyndonville on September 18th for an all day game fest called Fall-oha. The game day will be held at the Grange hall on York St. and will run from 10 AM to 10 PM.
There will be all sorts of open board gaming the entire day. In addition, try your skill at the Small World tournament. If you are victorious, you will go home with the Cursed expansion. For all those mini players out there, there will be an introductory game of Flames of War.
Keep visiting the Green Mountain Gamers website to check for updates on the game day.
Border Board Games will return to its normal venue of the Derby Line Village Hall on October 16th.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Death avoids me most of the time
The brave heroes gathered to consider what steps they should next take. The ravages of the red dragon, let's call him Bumface for now, has put Mayor Wolverine on edge. However the heroes have acquired part of a magical relic that, supposedly, will keep the winged evil at bay. The fact that the kobold shaman and his hench reptilians thought so was enough for us to go on. Besides, we had no idea how to proceed in the wizard's tower anyway.
Our first mistake was believing that having Yama and Dingus (aka Gorebelly) drive the ox cart would be a good idea. Npcs are supposed to be good at tending to the draft animals while the heroes perform heroic deeds, right? Not these two. The ox bolted after getting plunked with an arrow from somewhere beyond the ford. Our sorceress (Sorry Angela, neither Beth nor I can remember your character's name ATM) toppled off the wagon into the stream whiole Yama nimbly avoided disaster by leaping into the bushes. Gorebelly, for reason unknown, jumped atop the ox rather than maintain control of the reins. We hoped he would die. He didn't.
Meanwhile Amra and Splinter were busy flushing kobold hunters from the under brush, largely by having them insert arrows in Amra's chest. Dordo the elf and Noname raced forward hoping to support the attack even as the wagon rumbled by in a tangle of maddened bovine and maddened dwarf. Dordo promptly startled a kobold and received a devastating wound as a result. Having left the city only hours before a series of grievous wounds so early in the day did not bode well for our continued survival.
Soon enough the kobolds were felled and we stumbled over to where Gorebelly and our ruined wagon lay. The dolt had slaughtered the oxen and received a horn in the side as a result. Sadly he still refused to die. later on Splinter found one of the kobold's giant deer traps. sadly he found it by remembering where it should be and springing it upon himself. A squad of kobold hunters promptly charged forward and skewered him with their spears after he taunted them with possession of their sacred stick.
Luckily the trap was built with giant deer proportions in mind and we were able to come to Splinter's rescue. In quick order we cut down the kobolds, ridding them of their accursed dragon shaped pewter necklaces. Well, everyone got one except for Dordo who claimed the items were tainted with evil. Soon after we were alarmed by the smoke and heat surrounding our little neck of the woods. Not content to raze parts of the town Bumface also felt it necessary to burn part of the forest while he was at it.
Once again we left Dingus to his own devices as he clubbed a giant hart with the ox horn he retireved from his chest wound. We fled hoping to distance ourselves from his alcohol-fueled insanity. The dragon caught up to us and threatened to kill us slowly unless we could prove ourselves in the field. Since we were headed to the kobold village anyway seeking to reunite the stone with the stick and the crystal skull, it wasn't such a hard deal to accept under the circumstances.
Our plan soured almost immediately. Animated statues provided extra assistance to the kobold guardians atop the wall. That Noname was forced to use her sling from an exposed position also hurt our chances of succeeding at a bold, brilliant and utterly doomed plan to have Amra and Splinter infiltrate the village covertly while the rest of us provided covering fire and a distraction. The statues detected the thief and barbarian's advances even as Dordo rained death upon the kobold ranks.
Noname hatched what could have been a brilliant plan, had it worked. Which it did not. She drew from her store of fire bullets determined to set either the guards or the pallisade alight. She mistimed her throw and instead incinerated her own sling effectively leaving the covering fire entirely up to Dordo. By this time Splinter had managed to get himself captured by the golem even as Amra scaled the wall only to discovered massed ranks of the foul creatures gathering beyond.
Luckily, though pinioned, Splinter remained invisible thanks to the sorceresses continued concentration on the crystal skull of invisibility. the same could not be said of Amra. Enemies soon piled onto the wall and rushed his position. Dordo felled several more kobolds before his accuracy took a devastating hit. Luckily the dragon chose that moment to reappear and marvel at how well we had done, in spite of our general failure.
Dordo wasn't paying attention but somehow Splinter ended up at death's door yet again, Sweet Club not withstanding. Noname, Dingus and Amra rushed toward the kobold temple and Noname was actually able to secure the sacred stone before the dragon could prise the roof off of the building. The sorceress moved in to support the recovery effort and prepared to surround the group in a fresh globe on invisibility even as Dingus and Bumface engaged in some futile pissing contest behind us.
In time we made it back to the town having reconnected the sacred stick, skull and stone that would effectively protect the city from the dragon's aerial predations. Mayor Wolverine was grateful, or, rather, as grateful as he ever was with a measly word of thanks. Fortunately the elder families showed greater respect for our prowess and bestowed upon us some treasured family heirlooms. Dordo certainly looks forward to plying his enchanted bow against whatever evils the gang will next encounter.
Our first mistake was believing that having Yama and Dingus (aka Gorebelly) drive the ox cart would be a good idea. Npcs are supposed to be good at tending to the draft animals while the heroes perform heroic deeds, right? Not these two. The ox bolted after getting plunked with an arrow from somewhere beyond the ford. Our sorceress (Sorry Angela, neither Beth nor I can remember your character's name ATM) toppled off the wagon into the stream whiole Yama nimbly avoided disaster by leaping into the bushes. Gorebelly, for reason unknown, jumped atop the ox rather than maintain control of the reins. We hoped he would die. He didn't.
Meanwhile Amra and Splinter were busy flushing kobold hunters from the under brush, largely by having them insert arrows in Amra's chest. Dordo the elf and Noname raced forward hoping to support the attack even as the wagon rumbled by in a tangle of maddened bovine and maddened dwarf. Dordo promptly startled a kobold and received a devastating wound as a result. Having left the city only hours before a series of grievous wounds so early in the day did not bode well for our continued survival.
Soon enough the kobolds were felled and we stumbled over to where Gorebelly and our ruined wagon lay. The dolt had slaughtered the oxen and received a horn in the side as a result. Sadly he still refused to die. later on Splinter found one of the kobold's giant deer traps. sadly he found it by remembering where it should be and springing it upon himself. A squad of kobold hunters promptly charged forward and skewered him with their spears after he taunted them with possession of their sacred stick.
Luckily the trap was built with giant deer proportions in mind and we were able to come to Splinter's rescue. In quick order we cut down the kobolds, ridding them of their accursed dragon shaped pewter necklaces. Well, everyone got one except for Dordo who claimed the items were tainted with evil. Soon after we were alarmed by the smoke and heat surrounding our little neck of the woods. Not content to raze parts of the town Bumface also felt it necessary to burn part of the forest while he was at it.
Once again we left Dingus to his own devices as he clubbed a giant hart with the ox horn he retireved from his chest wound. We fled hoping to distance ourselves from his alcohol-fueled insanity. The dragon caught up to us and threatened to kill us slowly unless we could prove ourselves in the field. Since we were headed to the kobold village anyway seeking to reunite the stone with the stick and the crystal skull, it wasn't such a hard deal to accept under the circumstances.
Our plan soured almost immediately. Animated statues provided extra assistance to the kobold guardians atop the wall. That Noname was forced to use her sling from an exposed position also hurt our chances of succeeding at a bold, brilliant and utterly doomed plan to have Amra and Splinter infiltrate the village covertly while the rest of us provided covering fire and a distraction. The statues detected the thief and barbarian's advances even as Dordo rained death upon the kobold ranks.
Noname hatched what could have been a brilliant plan, had it worked. Which it did not. She drew from her store of fire bullets determined to set either the guards or the pallisade alight. She mistimed her throw and instead incinerated her own sling effectively leaving the covering fire entirely up to Dordo. By this time Splinter had managed to get himself captured by the golem even as Amra scaled the wall only to discovered massed ranks of the foul creatures gathering beyond.
Luckily, though pinioned, Splinter remained invisible thanks to the sorceresses continued concentration on the crystal skull of invisibility. the same could not be said of Amra. Enemies soon piled onto the wall and rushed his position. Dordo felled several more kobolds before his accuracy took a devastating hit. Luckily the dragon chose that moment to reappear and marvel at how well we had done, in spite of our general failure.
Dordo wasn't paying attention but somehow Splinter ended up at death's door yet again, Sweet Club not withstanding. Noname, Dingus and Amra rushed toward the kobold temple and Noname was actually able to secure the sacred stone before the dragon could prise the roof off of the building. The sorceress moved in to support the recovery effort and prepared to surround the group in a fresh globe on invisibility even as Dingus and Bumface engaged in some futile pissing contest behind us.
In time we made it back to the town having reconnected the sacred stick, skull and stone that would effectively protect the city from the dragon's aerial predations. Mayor Wolverine was grateful, or, rather, as grateful as he ever was with a measly word of thanks. Fortunately the elder families showed greater respect for our prowess and bestowed upon us some treasured family heirlooms. Dordo certainly looks forward to plying his enchanted bow against whatever evils the gang will next encounter.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Fall-oha Game Day
For September's Border Board Game session, we will move further south of the border and join forces with Green Mountain Gamers game day, Fall-oha, in Lyndonville, VT on Sept 18th. The game day is goes from 10 am to 10 pm at the Grange Hall. It's an all out game day fest full of open gaming and a Small World tournament. For more information, please visit the Green Mountain Gamers website.
Next D&D session
The next D&D session is planned for August 28th at our (Richard and Bethany's) house. We should start as soon as Rob the DM arrives, which has been usually around 7:30 to 8:00.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
All A-Board Game!
As is often the case, sometimes what you plan to play turns sideways and other stuff happens first. Rob did bring Axis and Allies and, one of these days, it will get played. Unfortunately its extended playing time coupled with some other gaming favorites persuaded us that next time would be sometime in the future.
We had a new player turn out this week - Chris. Chris is a fan of rail games and brought along his copy of the Avalon Hill Classic Rail Baron. We started the night with a gateway game of Ticket to Ride. My pronouncement that Chris ought to be wary of the little blond girl proved prophetic as Chris' early lead (with some mighty long routes) evaporated as Alexis unveiled her coast to coast masterpiece. Despite losing 21 points for being locked out of Washington she still posted an impressive 165 point end game to beat Chris by a handful of points.
After TTR we split into two groups. Chris and Beth played Rail Baron, which Beth likened to a kinder, gentler Empire Builder styled train game. The addition of extra players would affect the dynamics of the game immensely as players find themselves increasingly forced to ride their opponents' rail lines, she said.
Rob, Angela, Homer, Alexis and I indulged in a game of Last Night on Earth. Not surprisingly it gave rise to Evil Homer the Zombie Master. We randomly selected a scenario, discarded it (because we had the town set up and were not about to undo it for the mansion set up) and chose the Rescue the Townsfolk scenario. The early signs were inauspicious as Evil Homer slapped down zombie cards that forced the heroes to discard the top card of the hero deck. Within four rounds two of the six townsfolk were in the rubbish bin and the best we could manage was a single rescue of the Principal. Interestingly enough he was located in the high school.
Our stash of weapons was equally unimpressive. Father McFeely found a flare gun which he put to good effect as he dashed pellmell across the town to the barn realizing he had inconveniently forgotten something there. Otherwise we were left with the Father's baseball bat, a pair of fire extinguihsers and the revolver that Sally found in the high school. Though the heroes managed to slay half of the 11 zombies that originally spawned (interestingly enough Evil Homer never managed to spawn more), the pairing of the dirty drifter who had a peculiar love-hate relationship with student Sally (two Last Night on Earth zombie cards with a Bickering card sandwiched between them) caused the heroes to lose half of their actions on three consecutive turns.
In the end the zombies won out by trapping and slaying Jake and Sally as the two consummated whatever perverse and complicated relationship they experienced in the trashed remains of Zombie Town High. That scenario seems to be one of the scenarios that gives a decided advantage to the zombie player. There are only six townspeople available and "Just What I Needed" cards aside, losing a third of them in the early goings was a blow from which our heroes could never recover. Granted, Evil Homer did play the right cards at the right time, even orchestrating the fact that Jake needed to spend a round with a female character to rid himself of a curse card setting the pair up for three lost turns.
After the zombies destroyed the world Kim joined us for a game of Shadows Over Camelot. For whatever reason it seems impossible for me to not be the traitor. It seems to happen most often as I select King Arthur but, on this night, Sir tristan led the knights astray. Once again I found myself in the unenviable position of being the traitor and yet, based on my cards in hand, I was as equally hard pressed to betray as to aid. There really is only so much a fistful of 1 and 2 fight cards can do for a fellow.
My hand was so bad I could only go and toss them away on the Excalibur quest knoing that their loss didn't hurt the knights much but, by securing the sacred sword, I might be able to deny the heroes an advantage later on. Sadly I continued to draw mediocre cards even as King Arthur (Alexis) won Lancelots armor while Sir Gawain, Sir Percival and Sir Galahad tackled and won the Holy Grail. With such victories under their belts and in light of Sir Palamedes staunch defence of the castle from the enemy catapults, the treacherous Sir Tristan never had a chance.
It was actually one of the few games of Shadows where the knights succeeded with far greater frequency than they failed. The Black Knight quest ran its course twice over but the Knights of the Round Table defeated all three of the artifact quests as well as repelling a single threatening Saxon invasion. It isn't unusual for the courtyard to be overrun with catapults, the Picts and/or Saxons standing one draw away from invasion and either the Grail or Excalibur quest belching out catapults like Gotterdamerung except on this night when Sir Tristan's little sabotages could hardly outshine the glorious deeds of his brethren.
We had a new player turn out this week - Chris. Chris is a fan of rail games and brought along his copy of the Avalon Hill Classic Rail Baron. We started the night with a gateway game of Ticket to Ride. My pronouncement that Chris ought to be wary of the little blond girl proved prophetic as Chris' early lead (with some mighty long routes) evaporated as Alexis unveiled her coast to coast masterpiece. Despite losing 21 points for being locked out of Washington she still posted an impressive 165 point end game to beat Chris by a handful of points.
After TTR we split into two groups. Chris and Beth played Rail Baron, which Beth likened to a kinder, gentler Empire Builder styled train game. The addition of extra players would affect the dynamics of the game immensely as players find themselves increasingly forced to ride their opponents' rail lines, she said.
Rob, Angela, Homer, Alexis and I indulged in a game of Last Night on Earth. Not surprisingly it gave rise to Evil Homer the Zombie Master. We randomly selected a scenario, discarded it (because we had the town set up and were not about to undo it for the mansion set up) and chose the Rescue the Townsfolk scenario. The early signs were inauspicious as Evil Homer slapped down zombie cards that forced the heroes to discard the top card of the hero deck. Within four rounds two of the six townsfolk were in the rubbish bin and the best we could manage was a single rescue of the Principal. Interestingly enough he was located in the high school.
Our stash of weapons was equally unimpressive. Father McFeely found a flare gun which he put to good effect as he dashed pellmell across the town to the barn realizing he had inconveniently forgotten something there. Otherwise we were left with the Father's baseball bat, a pair of fire extinguihsers and the revolver that Sally found in the high school. Though the heroes managed to slay half of the 11 zombies that originally spawned (interestingly enough Evil Homer never managed to spawn more), the pairing of the dirty drifter who had a peculiar love-hate relationship with student Sally (two Last Night on Earth zombie cards with a Bickering card sandwiched between them) caused the heroes to lose half of their actions on three consecutive turns.
In the end the zombies won out by trapping and slaying Jake and Sally as the two consummated whatever perverse and complicated relationship they experienced in the trashed remains of Zombie Town High. That scenario seems to be one of the scenarios that gives a decided advantage to the zombie player. There are only six townspeople available and "Just What I Needed" cards aside, losing a third of them in the early goings was a blow from which our heroes could never recover. Granted, Evil Homer did play the right cards at the right time, even orchestrating the fact that Jake needed to spend a round with a female character to rid himself of a curse card setting the pair up for three lost turns.
After the zombies destroyed the world Kim joined us for a game of Shadows Over Camelot. For whatever reason it seems impossible for me to not be the traitor. It seems to happen most often as I select King Arthur but, on this night, Sir tristan led the knights astray. Once again I found myself in the unenviable position of being the traitor and yet, based on my cards in hand, I was as equally hard pressed to betray as to aid. There really is only so much a fistful of 1 and 2 fight cards can do for a fellow.
My hand was so bad I could only go and toss them away on the Excalibur quest knoing that their loss didn't hurt the knights much but, by securing the sacred sword, I might be able to deny the heroes an advantage later on. Sadly I continued to draw mediocre cards even as King Arthur (Alexis) won Lancelots armor while Sir Gawain, Sir Percival and Sir Galahad tackled and won the Holy Grail. With such victories under their belts and in light of Sir Palamedes staunch defence of the castle from the enemy catapults, the treacherous Sir Tristan never had a chance.
It was actually one of the few games of Shadows where the knights succeeded with far greater frequency than they failed. The Black Knight quest ran its course twice over but the Knights of the Round Table defeated all three of the artifact quests as well as repelling a single threatening Saxon invasion. It isn't unusual for the courtyard to be overrun with catapults, the Picts and/or Saxons standing one draw away from invasion and either the Grail or Excalibur quest belching out catapults like Gotterdamerung except on this night when Sir Tristan's little sabotages could hardly outshine the glorious deeds of his brethren.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
August 21st
For the next session of Border Board games on August 21st, we will be bringing along Axis and Allies, Ticket to Ride, Puerto Rico and whatever other games will fit in our bag. If you have any requests, please let us know.
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