Suffice it to say I'm a bit late to writing this one, but it's a well deserved post nonetheless. 2023 was a banger year, a year to top them all. 2024 is going to have BIG shoes to fill, and much of it is thanks to my collection of games, my efforts to better dedicate my time to the occupations of life that really matter, and to my friends.
The games that were played (and posts that never were)
We're staying in chronological order for this one because, well, that's what I do. It'd be a bit too creative for my history-major's addled mind to format this one out of chronological order (except when it's convenient during a mental tangent) so we're rewinding the clock a few months to our first game of Twilight Imperium.
This was a phenomenal game (game no. 3), and we've got the next one on the horizon for later this month. I sadly had to be out of town for our group's latest game. In our first foray into TI, I commanded the Sardaak N'orr (by far my favorite faction name to say out loud) and I served my bug god well. Will (the Emirates faction) and I teamed up early on with him playing the king-maker and me the underling, but found our roles reversed at the end of the game. I took Mecatol Rex after Will lost it and served as the longest serving speaker of the Council phase (my absolute favorite role). In that position, we voted Will into the position of Minister of Commerce, placed a strange crown upon his head, and I navigated a turbulent period that almost saw me ejected from power. In one Council phase, we uncovered an artifact with the potential to destroy Mecatol Rex and much of the surrounding region (which would have dealt the most damage to me) if only to advance technological research. Before I could exercise my right to quash the issue of the artifact as speaker, my representative was assassinated, the other Council members forced a vote in which to pass exploration of the artifact through the voting phase, and near total disaster was only averted when I stunted on everyone with a nature die-roll of 10. Overall a phenomenal game - three way concession/tie between myself, John, and Zach.
From the ISIS birds (the decree) to the Al-Qaeda crows (I love blowing up my teammates' clearings), I've tried my hand at a range of different factions and good lord do I have no clue how to win this game. Even as the River Company (mercenaries for hire? Goldman Sachs? Blackwater?), when I led our group's largest invasion of a hostile clearing to make a point (and only had one badger survive to tell the tale), I've had no clue how to forge a path to victory. Maybe in 2024, we'll have to see. I'm eager to try out the Mao rats next.
After trying my hand at the first year of the campaign earlier this year, Zach and I got together this fall to try our hands against each other in the US Civil War. We played the 1861 scenario and it was a close game right to the end. Our victory point lead swung back and forth. I took the Union, Zach the Confederacy. At first, he dealt me a blow from which I was pretty hard pressed to recover in the Trans-Mississippi for most of the game. Even at game end, I was still fighting for my life in Missouri. Luckily though, I'd shut him out of West Virginia.
Then we traded blows in the Shenandoah. We didn't know it at the time this photo was taken, but with my forces from WV taking Staunton, I'd accidentally put J.E.J's army in the Valley into isolation. On the isolation die roll, his forces surrendered en masse and I was luckily able to rack up a few quick victory points I desperately needed. The game's crescendo came in Kentucky, which we'd left untouched until the final turn when Zach's armies raced across the border, swinging the VP total back in his favor. It came down to a skirmish for the seat of Frankfurt, Kentucky. My state militia found themselves backs to the wall against a well led confederate army. To hold Frankfurt, I needed to roll a 6, and Zach needed to roll a 1. And we each rolled just that. With that die roll, I managed to win the game, but my victory was only one of odds. Zach won the strategy in this game for sure and I do feel as if he was cheated out of a victory by some of my dice rolls. We'll have to play this one again.
To ring in the New Year, Matt, John, and I got together for a reunion of the New Testament ... no, we got together to play Churchill, and what a game. We tried out the introductory scenario, playing through the last three conferences of the war. FDR (me) died, Churchill (Matt) and I played a game of politics forcing Stalin (John) to commit forces to the far east to ensure he wouldn't take Berlin, and by the skin of our teeth we ended the war with total occupation of Germany and a Japanese surrender (but I never made it back into the Philippines. There were a lot of questions about the Russian player's strategy in this game so we'll have to revisit it.
Last week we played Tammany Hall - not a war game, I know, I know, but its electoral politics model was fun to engage with. (Plus I've written about other non-war games on here). I made it my mission to win favor with the Germans and the English, but a rival English run on my wards and a loss of the majority with the Germans nearly sunk my efforts. I got to LARP Chief of Police for a while and forcibly remove a lot of Irish folks for a good part of the game, but ultimately John came out on top having bested Paul for popular control of the Irish. I had a good run in the last election cycle, coming in first to be elected Mayor, but it wasn't enough to surpass John or Jake (the only non biblical member of our group it would seem).
And finally we come to Wacht am Rhein. Zach (oh, I guess we have a second name not found in the Bible) and I tried out the Fight for Kesternich as an intro to the GOSS system for Zach. It was a great way to spend my birthday. We ended tying, but again, Zach had the upper hand when it came to a game of matching strategic wits. He's going to get me in one of these games, and soon too.
Then I took on the scenario for the 116th Panzer Division's fight to take St. Vith. This has always been a fascinating action to me because it includes the fighting around the Schnee Eifel where the 106th (Golden Lions) Division was destroyed at the start of the Battle of the Bulge. I read about it as a kid in Charles Whiting's Death of Division and I devoured every page. It comes highly recommended. The 116th broke through, south of St. Vith, splitting the 106th from the 28th Infantry Division's 112th Infantry Regiment, but only the timely arrival of the 7th Armored saved the day while 2 regiments of the 106th found themselves isolated and incapable of breaking out in the Schnee Eifel. St. Vith looked like it would fall, but poorly coordinated attacks from the Germans to encircle the town allowed CCA and CCB to first bloody KG Bayer's nose and then cut its head off. The rest of the KGs were next, and after that, I called it a game. A fascinating action - I'll certainly play that one again.
The games were acquired (and mostly went unplayed)
I acquired quite a few games in 2023. I played quite a few new ones as well, but more than anything I have a big mountain of cardboard to work through for 2024 and the future years.
I for the life of me can't recall which games I acquired at the end of 2022 and in 2023 so, for fear of missing one, I'm including them all:
- Axis Empires: Ultimate Edition (Decision Games)
- Army Group Center (GMT)
- Army Group South (GMT)
- Balkan Front (GRD)
- Churchill (GMT)
- Guadalajara (MMP)
- Guderian's Blitzkrieg II (MMP)
- Resist! (25th Century Games)
- The Devil's Cauldron (MMP)
- The Second World War: Barbarossa (Diffraction Entertainment)
- The Second World War: Hakkaa Päälle (Diffraction Entertainment)
- The Second World War: Operation Merkur (Diffraction Entertainment)
- Unconditional Surrender! (GMT)
- A Winter War (GRD)
- Where Eagle's Dare (MMP)
The friendships made (and meals shared)
Most importantly, though, this has been an incredible year of friendship. I finally found the friends of a lifetime and slowly, but surely, I'm introducing them to the wonderful world of monster wargames. They made my year in 2023, and they're sure to be a huge part of my 2024. It's not every day you find folks as passionate about board games and war games as you do cooking and good food. I really must have won the lottery here. From Panda Gourmet (no, not Panda Express -- it's different) and tikka masala pizza to homemade sausages (of which I apparently consume ~500 a year), grilled pineapple with catfish, and Puerto Rican pork roasts. Truly, it's as if I'm in heaven.
To the many games, meals, and drinks shared with you all, a toast and a thank you from a friend, John, Anjuli, Paul, Hayley, Zach, Meg, Matt, Nora, Jake, Will, Caleb, and Kathryn. It wasn't a 2023 without many an hour spent with you all. So here's to many more.
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