Happy Birthday CWF!

Today the CWF Game Cast turns 1 year old. Huzzah! It has been a journey started on July 4, 2006 when we officially reorganized from a message board to a blog.

Our first post shared the wonderful news of the fresh blog with everyone. Since then we’ve come a long way.

We ran an internet radio station, have an ongoing podcast, added new friends, branched out into new venues, and now have a great newsletter.

This first year has been one of trial, error, and success. We thank everyone for their support over this past year.

We especially want to thank Warvault, the New England Podcasters, all our readers, our staff, the Pacific Marauders, and Battleground Games. You believed in the CWF Game Cast, you helped out grow, you spread the word, and you provide a place for us to game. Without all of you none of this would be possible.

We pledge to continue our motto and mission of discussing what you play. A year ago I told the world that “You Play It, We Discuss It” and that has continued to be true.

Look forward to more great content about the games you play. We look forward to talking gaming with you for many years to come.

Thank you!

War @ Sea: Revised U-Boat Terror

I’ve discussed a couple U-Boat Terror fleets a couple times before. First was a 100pt fleet I devised and then a 200pt fleet created by Steve R. from Battleground Games.

This time I have a 100pt, tourney legal, list originally posted on the official War @ Sea message board by TheJudge.

The list is comprised of a battleship, 2 u-boats, and 4 aircraft. It uses the Bismarck, 2 U510 submarines, 3 FW200 Kondors, and 1 JU 87B Stuka. This differs from my 100pt list through the elimination of cruisers, 1 less submarine, and 1 more Kondor.

The game plan with this new fleet looks sound. The Bismarck uses its range 4 guns to take out surface vessels that get too close to the objective markers. The u-boats threaten anything the Bismarck cannot hit along with needed anti-submarine capabilities. The Kondors have a multi-purpose role of pinpointing vessels for u-boat attack, ASW, and taking out enemy ships from 1 space away (Antiship Missile SA). The Stuka is a nice land based dive bomber that can deal 9 dice of damage.

Your opponent is guaranteed to have an air shield. Wildcats, your likely fighter opponent, can wreck some havoc on you. But, the Bismarck has sufficient Anti-air capabilities (8 dice). Plus, at least 1 Wildcat will stay at home to protect the carrier or other vital ships. That leaves your Kondors free to stay 1 space away and drop 9 dice of bombs on a vessel.

A concerted American assault, think of the Iowa, Enterprise, and their ilk, will be problematic. Considering the American bias in the game this is perhaps one of the best Axis fleets you can field. It uses each of the 3 main game winners. It uses a battleship, aircraft, and submarines. Not too shabby.

The Pacific Marauders’ Flying Circus!! Games Day LA 2007

Come join us at Games Workshop’s Games Day, Los Angeles on Saturday, August 11th, 2007. We will be hosting The Pacific Marauders’ FLYING CIRCUS – It is an Aerial Combat game, Fantasy Battle Style! It is an all-original, easy to learn, fast paced game of 3 dimensional combat high above the earth. All the flying units of our favorite fantasy games will see battle in the skies. Pick a side, come to the table and play! Here’s a taste of what you can play:

The Good Guys: Skinks on Terradons, Warhawk Riders escorting a Giant Eagle, Knights and Wizards on Pegasi, A Warrior Priest on a Gryphon, A Paladin on a Hippogryph, and a Squadron of Dwarven Gyrocopters!

The Bad Guys: Chaos Wizard on a Disk of Tzeench escorted by Screamers, A Zombie Dragon, Orc Warlord on a Wyvern, Beastmaster on a Manticore, A Balrog, and a Fellbeast!
Then there are those unscrupulous sell-swords, the Ogre Doomdivers! Yes, that’s right, I said Ogre Doomdivers. That can’t be good!!

Gameplay is fast, each game should take 30 min to 1 hour, so you can try it out many times, and still have time to see everything else going on at Games Day.

This completes our goal of having Games Day tables that cover land, sea and air!
2005 – 40K Big Game Hunt kill team table -Best Club Table (Land)
2006 – Marauder Island Fantasy Ship Battle (Sea)
What to do next year…maybe Space?

Our website and forum: www.pacificmarauders.com

July 2007 Newsletter Available

We are proud to announce that the July 2007 issue of the CWF Game Cast Newsletter is now available.

All subscribed CWF Game Cast fans have received a copy of the newsletter in their e-mail.

To subscribe all you have to do is e-mail cwfgamecast@wargamingforums.com (Titled “Subscribe”). Sign-up now and keep informed about the happenings in the world of gaming!

For everyone else please go to July 2007 Newsletter.  We also look forward to all constructive feedback.  Please send feedback to cwfgamecast@wargamingforums.com.

Carcassonne: King & Scouts Expansion

If you’ve ever played Carcassonne you know it to be a strategy game filled with hours of fun, intrigue, and recreation of medieval Europe. The base game is great and even includes the Rivers expansion, which makes your endeavor to build large cities, create the longest road, and own the largest farm that much more difficult.

King & Scouts, on the other hand, adds a new level of gameplay and fun with 12 new tiles. There are 7 tiles for the core game and 5 to use with Hunters & Gatherers. We’ll leave those 5 tiles from Scouts for another time after we’ve actually played with Hunters & Gatherers.

The 7 tiles for King are very useful. 5 of them are played in the game and have part of a city on them. They may have a monastery or even roads too. The tile with 2 cities connected by an overpass bridge is by far the most interesting. It counts as just one tile in a city but can help you to build one of the largest cities you’ve ever seen.

Added to this mix of city tiles we have the King and the Robber Baron. These add that extra level of gameplay. The first player to create a city, placing the last tile to complete the 1st city, gets the King card. If a different player completes a larger city that player gets the King card. End of the game grants the player with the King card 1 point for EVERY completed city in the game. This can add up fast and although it won’t replace the monumental sums you can accrue for farming it can help the urban planner.

The Robber Baron works exactly like the King…almost. Whatever player has the longest road gets the Robber Baron card. If a different player completes a longer road he/she gets the Robber Baron card. End of the game provides 1 point for each completed road to the player with the Robber Baron card.

I tend to lose out on the battle of urban planning but road construction is my game. In a close game having the Robber Baron can be enough to put you in the lead for the win.

Neither card, or the 5 playable urban tiles, are the Ace up the sleeve. Players still need to balance their gameplay and rely on what has worked for them in the past. But, the addition of King makes Carcassonne more suspensful and exciting than ever before.

If you haven’t played Carcassonne before I highly recommend you give it a try. I’m sure your FLGS has an open copy you can use. Or, you can always make the trip to Battleground Games in Abington where I game on most Monday and Wednesday evenings.