Week 19 (10th - 16th March 2014): The Call of Cthulhu RPG - Alone With My Appendage.

So, to continue celebrating the month of H.P. Lovecraft's death, this week's offering (and marking the 77th year since HPL's shuffling off this mortal coil on March 15th 1937) is a game that surely needs no introduction: The Call of Cthulhu rpg. The first and - surely the best - horror rpg. Over the years, a few solitaire scenarios have been produced for CoC:

On this occasion, I chose a personal favourite: Alone Against the Wendigo. This takes the now classic Fighting Fantasy/Choose-Your-Own-Adventure approach of numbered paragraphs leading you through the scenario's multiple narratives, whilst using the CoC percentile-based rules to resolve conflicts.

This particular scenario places the player in charge of a small expedition in the wilds of Canada, wherein an encounter with the Great Old One Ithaqua (the Wendigo in question) potentially plays a prominent part. For my part, after managing to avoid a group of Mi-go, losing the better part of my expedition, and killing a sasquatch (taking its head as a trophy), I managed to survive my travels through the northern wilds without losing any sanity (a rare event indeedn in CoC!). Helpfully, the Wendigo was avoided in this regard. Nice.

Great fun, and a nostalgic blast from the past. Happy Death Day, HPL!

Week 18 (3rd - 9th March 2014): Arkham Investigator - Futilely Tugging My Tentacle

Not an auspicious start to the month of Lovecraft. I've some choice items lined up, but decided to start with another as-yet unplayed item: the free online print-and-play game Arkham Investigator. Based on the Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective game engine (another unplayed game I own), Arkham Investigator is a (seemingly) free-form game of Cthulhu mythos investigation which I was very much anticipating. Not so much a game in and of itself, but rather a system supported by multiple scenarios, the Arkham Investigator sets up a situation, and then allows the players relative free reign to discover a solution by following up clues - provided by the initial set up and various other documents supplied at the beginning of the game - to said mystery. In this case, the attack upon a young woman in Arkham. To this end, one is provided with a map of Arkham detailing the city's environs, a list of helpful contacts, and a directory of the city which includes links to locations in the scenario book. By following up these leads (i.e. checking their locations in the scenario book), players are able to to tie together the various elements of the plot and arrive at a satisfactory solution. Having done so, players answer a series of questions at the back of the scenario book, and assess their success according to how accurately they are able to respond.

All in all, this seems to be the ideal format for Lovecraftian game playing, which is not dependent on the artificiality of a combat system (largely irrelevant where the Lovecraft Mythos is involved, as inevitably you will die) and a sanity system (also largely irrelevant where the Lovecraft Mythos is involved, as inevitably you will be sent mad); as such, the relatively free-form investigative nature of the game very much suits the Lovecraftian oeuvre.

In practice, however, things took anotherr turn during my play session: everything was progressing nicely during the first three quarters of the game, until suddenly I encountered a metaphoric brick wall. In brief, many of the clues I had encountered were directing me to the Miskatonic University Exhibition Hall, but I could find no reference to this anywhere in the directory, or any hint as to which page number to which I needed to turn in the scenario book. Looking in the city directory, I did discover that the said Exhibition Hall did have an entry both on the map and in the scenario  book, but I was not able to explicitly find the numbered location in any of the documents available. Ultimately, the only way I could solve the scenario was to 'cheat' by turning to the relevant entry in the scenario book.

With no other options seemingly available, this was a disappointing end to the game. Whilst intriguing, Arkham Investigator thus proved to be ultimately frustrating due to what seem to be inherent design problems. That said, a second edition of this has been put online - hopefully one that resolves the seeming mistake in this iteration which prevented me from a staisfatory conculsion. Overall, this has the potential to be an outstanding game, but needs further development.

6/10 on the Gaming Self-Abuse Gauge (tm).

Week 17 (February 24th - March 2nd 2014): Castle Ravenloft - Vigorously Sharpening My Stake

Now just under a third of the way through this year of ludic self-abuse.  Anyway, continuing with the fantasy theme, this week I've had a crack at the D&D dungeoncrawl boardgame Castle Ravenloft. This is based on the classic and eponymous D&D module which pits the players against the spooky realm of the vampire Count Strahd von Starovich - so lots of Hammer Horror stakey anti-vampire action involved.

In theory the game ticks all the boxes that would normally satisfy my gaming requirements: a solitaire/co-operative dungenoncrawl, an undead/horror theme, and miniatures (which, I spent a shitload of time painting up in anticipation of the ultimate D&D boardgame experience). But sadly the game itself disappoints - at least as a solitaire experience: the rules are over-simplified, lack tactical depth, and overall it feels like Wizards of the Coast have tried unsuccessfully to package D&D in a manner that would appeal to a disparate audience of 7 year olds on the one hand, and adult gamers looking for the ultimate boardgame-based dungeoncrawler on the other.  That said, I've played this once before as a multiplayer co-operative, and it was a blast. Though perhaps my reasons for enjoying the game on that occasion was due to the fact that a) it was played in a pub and b) it was played in a pub. Otherwise, playing this sober in solitaire mode, my overall assessment is the following: this is a shit game.

 

This game is as shit as this picture. I spent a fucking shitload of time painting these miniatures, but couldn't be arsed setting them up so you could see them properly because the game is so shit.

On the Gaming Self-Abuse Gauge (tm), this scores a lowly 4/10.

Up next is the month of Lovecraft. March being the month during which all good gamers celebrate H.P. Lovecraft's Deathday (March 15th). So a bunch of Lovecraftian solitaire games to look forward to.

Nice

Week 16 (17th - 23rd February 2014) - Warhammer Paths to Victory, Beneath the City of the White Wolf: Fondling the Shaft of My Mighty Warhammer.

As per usual, I've ended up engaging in ludic self-indulgence late on a Sunday evening (and let's be honest, what better time for it?). This time around, I've been indulging in my private passion for a bit of Warhammer self-love, throttling the old gaming pole-arm in search of a bit of spirit self-satisfaction. Being a massive fan of the Warhammer universe - one which is very much primed for a bit of the old innuendo (power-fisting anyone? How about a spot of rear penetration using a rod of retribution?) - today I engaged in a bit of tomfoolery with Games Workshop's 'Paths To Victory' chose-your-own adventure rpg books. Making use of the old 'Fighting Fantasy' format, these books adapt a simplified version of GW's wargaming system to the solitaire gamebook format, and quite effectively.

On this occasion I played the Beneath the City of the White Wolf gamebook, to good effect. Typically of the warhammer universe, this fuses gritty fantasy with a Call of Cthulhu-like investigation into strange and reality-bending cults to pretty good effect. Whilst this recapitulates the classic 'Fighting Fantasy' format, GW certainly know their audience - this is definitely written for the more mature gamer, incorporating typically whacked-out GW ultra-violence with oddly prescient political statements (my encounter with a group of the rat-catchers discussing the problems of capitalistic wage-labour in the sewers under Middenheim).

Great stuff. On the Gaming Self-Abuse Guage (tm), this scores 7.5/10.

Week 15 (10th - 16th February 2014) - Okko: Furiously Polishing My Katana and Some 'One-Handed Photography'

Sadly, another rather late entry this week - something I aim to rectify shortly. Again, the consequence of this is that this post will be relatively brief, with a view to revisions being made early next week. This week's choice is Okko: Era of the Asagiri. Part of my ongoing 'series' of fantasy-based games, Okko is effectively a miniatures skirmish game (not unlike last week's entry) set in an alternative fantasy version of Japan, and presented in boardgame form (miniatures and terrain being replaced by very nice cardboard standees and geomorphic boards representing the interior of 'typical' Japanese house).

The game pits warbands of demon-hunters against villainous Oni, and involves an interesting mechanic involving dice with elemental symbols on their faces which allow characters to activate special abilities when rolled. That said, I did initially find the game to be a rather pedestrian implementation of IgoUgo mechanics involving fairly standard move/shoot/melee procedures. I

Additionally, this is not strictly speaking a solitaire affair, but due to the fact that no hidden information is typically involved in gameplay, Okko can be soloed fairly easily. Production values are outstanding, but my initial experiences lead me to suspect that there might not be much outside of the lovely look of the game to commend it. That said, I have only played the basic introductory scenario so there may be more to Okko - the only problem being that this initial experience hasn't really suggested that the game may be worth revisiting. On the Gaming Self-Abuse Gauge (tm) this currently scores a 6.5/10.

 

A badly taken photo of the game set-up. The shaky camerawork here is, I imagine, a result of some one-handed photography (if you know what I mean) - presumably in anticipation of some hot three-way action (the scenario displayed being, of course, played with three characters on either side).

Week 14 (3rd - 9th February 2014): Dwarf King's Hold - Beating Off The One-Eyed Bone Monster

Update to come, but the game was played a couple of days ago. Photo below says it happened. Poor production values, but excellent game coming in at an 8/10 on the Gaming Self-Abuse Gauge (tm).

Dungeon tiles laid out to play the first scenario

 

As per the post title: a Dwarf warrior prepares to administer a damned good bludgeoning to a monocular skeletal beast

 

Ok, just a quick update. As part of the series of fantasy-themed games I'll be playing for the next few weeks, I've chosen a game that has been on my shelf for a while, but another as-yet unplayed offering: Mantic Games' Dwarf King's Hold. Basically, this is a fantasy version of Space Hulk, where two asymmetric sides (Dwarfs outnumbered by Undead) battle it out using miniatures in mission-based scenarios in the eponymous dungeon environment. The game rules are relatively simple, but their simplicity belies the fact that the game involves a significant degree of tactical nuance and depth. The game also plays fairly quickly (I managed two games in under an hour) depending on the scenario chosen. I have to say, this is an outstanding game - at least in terms of gameplay.

Where Dwarf King's Hold suffers a little is in production values. The game comes with over 30 plastic miniatures (which need to be assembled and painted), and these are of solid quality but nothing exceptional (the miniatures displayed in the photos above are not from the game - I already had a number of painted Games Workshop Dwarf and Undead miniatures, so employed these in my first games). The dungeon tiles and counters are workmanlike, but are relatively thin when compared to the quality of similar tiles one finds in games such as Fantasy Flight's Descent, and the game box is a very flimsy affair. Another downside is that the game isn't really set up to be playable solitaire as some hidden information is involved - so on this occasion I ended up playing both sides. As such, this doesn't quite fit the description of being a solo game.

These issues aside, the game is eminently playable, and an excellent introduction to skirmish-level miniature wargaming with a fantasy theme. As per the above, this still retains its score of 8/10.

Week 13 (27th January - 2nd February 2014): The Lord of the Rings Bord Game - Fingering My Own Ring

 

What it says in the post title.

Well, I'm up to week 13 which - for good or ill - represents the quarterway mark through my 52 week journey of ludic self-abuse. Continuing the fantasy boardgame theme, this week I've given another Tolkien co-op game a go: Riener Knizia's The Lord of the Rings boardgame. As per last week's post, my time is limited at present, so I'll be keeping this short - with regard to which, this blog is primarily intended as motivation for my personal journey through my gaming collection, not an attempt to offer in-depth game reviews. Even so, time permitting I may return to some of the shorter posts in order to add more depth (last week's Runebound certainly warrants this, it being one of my favourite games of all time).

Lord of the Rings game setup

Lord of the Rings is a lovely little game, albeit a little abstract for my tastes (to be expected given the designer). Regardless, the game is quite a nice little representation of the hobbits' famous journey through the narrative of Tolkien's epic. The game's core mechanic is card-based, with each player (who each take on the role of one of the named hobbits from the novel) using cards drawn throughout the game which are then used to complete various tasks or overcome specific challenges during each turn. This will ultimately lead to the players completing the journey to Mordor and casting the One Ring into Mount Doom, or become corrupted by the Ring's influence and thus lose the game.

This latter occurs as players are also tasked at various points in the game with rolling the Mordor dice, usually with dire consequences: either moving the hobbits towards the Sauron marker on the main board, or moving Sauron towards the hobbits. If at any point Sauron and the hobbit who is currently designated as the Ring Bearer end on the same space, the Ringberarer is corrupted and Sauron is victorious. The game is relatively challenging, and took me about an hour and forty minutes to play from start to finish (I lost on this occasion). One potential issue from a solitaire perspective is that the game has to be played using a minimum of two hobbits/players, and each player is required not to reveal their cards to other players. However, the rules do allow players to communicate freely the content of their hands, such that playing solitaire is not really a problem if the no reveal rule (which seems somewhat redundant anyway) is simply ignored.

This being another of Fantasy Flight Games' fare, the production values are extremely high, and notable for the inclusion of famed Tolkien artist John Howe's illustrations on the game boards.

Overall a solid little game, especially for fans of Tolkien. If a little abstract, the game nonetheless does give a sense of the story of LotR. On the Gamic Self-Abuse Scale (tm), this scores 7.5/10.