Cult of the New and Love of the Old – October 16

[Charlie Davis]

Cult of the New and Love of the Old – October 16
Charlie Davis

Two days to CHARCON! Are you ready? I am not. I have to organize the games that I am bringing, pack them, inventory them, coordinate with the other Appalachian Gamers what they need to bring, get the score sheets for the Premier Boardgame Tournament and the Settlers Tournament, get the FREE games for the Premier Tournament organized, make some buttons, wash my CharCon staff shirt, finish the work week, keep advertising CharCon, be at the convention center Friday night to set up, buy some wine for my host family for the weekend, get a tire fixed, and a few hundred other things. I am looking forward to playing and teaching some games.

CharCon News
Uhhh, well, I don't have any at the moment. The CharCon forums are buzzing with lots of questions and chit chat. I think the crowd should be good.
Our theme is HORROR so be expecting a few more horror related games and stuff. There is an adult costume contest Saturday night at 8pm. Sunday is FAMILY DAY and we are having a “Skull Hunt” at 11 am for kids and a costume contest at 2 pm for kids.
Come on out and bring your friends.

Game Reviews
I am back on track and am giving you 1 new and 1 old game this week.

CAPTAIN CLUELESS (Gamewright, 2008)
Captain Clueless by our own Appalachain Gamer, Ted Cheatham, has just been named one of the top ten toys for 2008 by Family Fun Magazine. That is not the top ten games but the top ten TOYS! This was the only game on the list. Holy Cow! I don't know how easy it will be to get a copy after the word spreads but Kid Country Store in Charleston had 2 copies on the shelf last weekend.
So what is the game about. There will be 2 teams of players trying to maneuver a ship from southern Florida to 3 destination cities in the Caribbean and then return to Florida. The first team to do this wins. Your team does this by flipping over a destination city card from the deck. Then your captain draws a line on the board (with the special pens that come with the game) from Miami to the destination city without touching another island. Each member of your team will get to be captain on one turn. Sounds easy enough. However, if you know Ted, there has to be a catch and there is. You see the Captain can't see. The Captain has to wear a blindfold while drawing the line on the board. The other teammates get to say words (stop, left, turn, etc) to help the captain and they can only say a few words each turn. Oh, there is also a timer so you have to draw fast. A game can be finished in about 20 minutes. It is a great family game because you share the Captain honors and work as a team. I think you should try it.

UP FRONT (Avalon Hill, 1983)
This game was designed by Cortney F. Allen. From the Boardgamegeek intro “A card game that is loosely based on Avalon Hill's Squad Leader series. Each player directs a squad of men in various scenarios with cards driving the action. Nicely balanced and very playable for a wargame. The only real problem with this game is the rulebook. Have a friend teach you.” They are right about that but that was true with most of Avalon Hill's rulebooks. The cool thing about this game is that the action was based on card play and the cards carry all the information, much like Magic the Gathering cards. These cards are glossy playing cards and have held up well, though card protectors should be used. There are cards for shooting, terrain, rallying troops, smoke, wire, radio, movement and a bunch of other stuff. The cards were used as random number generators to see who was shot or if a jammed gun could be repaired. Individual soldiers and vehicles are represented by smaller card stock cards. There are a bunch of scenarios in the rule book that when played in order will slowly teach you all the rules. The basic idea is that each scenario has an objective and a soldier list for each side. The basic game has Russian, US, and German troops. You make 3 or 4 squads of soldiers from the soldier list for your side and each squad will get to play one action/card each turn. There are rules for discarding and refilling your hand. Each game has a number of times that you go through the deck for a timer. I think I have played the game about 20 times and still only know about half the rules. You see, I never had anyone to teach me. This one is getting harder and harder to find. If Uncle Joe has one of these on his shelf, get him to play it with you sometime.


My Games
Nothing since my last article but I am going to make up for it this weekend. See you at CharCon.