Something Old, Something New

There was a time, long ago, before blogs, before the Internet, when a certain Avalon Hill ruled the roost. I can't really recall how I discovered new games back then, though the magazines, General and Strategy & Tactics probably played a part. There was only one small game shop in Auckland (NZ), and I recall ordering a lot of stuff from a game shop in LA, so the local emporium can't have had everything that I wanted. I do remember wandering into the game shop one day and spotting a game called Up Front. Something about it must have appealed enough to buy it, which is pretty extraordinary in itself. I wasn't a wargame fan (not then and not really now) but I liked the small scale. Friends had tried to interest me in Squad Leader, but I found it too fiddly and complex.

For me though, Up Front worked on every level, despite being every bit as fiddly and complex as SL. We literally played that original copy to death. The cards simply fell apart, it got played so frequently. My replacement copy has taken a beating but is still usable. However, it has been lurking in the cupboard for the last decade for lack of opponents. I am ashamed to say that I wasn't even sure that I still had it, it could have been lost in house moves. Fortunately when Iain declared an interest in playing this semi-mythical game I was able to uncover it and was pleased to find that it hadn't been eaten by grubs, grues or erbs.

We played the introductory scenario, "Meeting of Patrols", last night, and it still was able to work its magic. Progress was sedate as we tried to remember or learn the rules, but there was nothing sedate about the encounter itself. Iain's maneuver group got caught on the move and was cut to pieces, it looked pretty hopeless for him. But I was unable to finish the group off, using up lots of Fire cards in the process. Moving in closer to finish the job one of my groups got pinned and trapped in wire. The support group got stuck in a Stream and then in one dismal turn Iain turned up a KIA on both my Squad Leader and Assistant Squad Leader. My leaderless group closed to try and finish things off with Close Combat, but fluffed it leaving us both on the verge of victory/defeat having each lost half our men. I sent a group of 3 with perfectly horrible Morale on a mad advance, and they managed to rush forward to Range Chit 4 and leap into some Buildings for an unlikely victory.

It may be old and tatty, and feature insanely complex rules compared to modern Eurogames, but it easily remains in my top 3 games.

On the new front I cracked open Elasund, whizzed through the ProfEasy tutorial, and played a 2 player game. I liked it. A lot. There was very little downtime, even allowing for the fact that we were unfamiliar with the rules. The usual dilemma of choosing the "best" action to perform (out of several possibilites) was much in evidence. The game suits those with a vicious streak because you can really mess with your opponent quite savagely. The winner is the first to place all 10 of their victory point cubes on the board, and one well placed action could see you place 3 of yours on the board while at the same time removing 3 of your opponents. The lead fluctuated wildly, plans were thwarted and it was all very enjoyable. I look forward to this one again soon.

I particularly liked the way the regular turn order was supplemented by a "bonus" action at the end of your turn. The bonus action let you use Influence cards to gain gold, or move/upgrade planning permits. While you might be able to guess what the other players would do with their regular actions, the bonus actions made for a nice aura of uncertainty, and the occasional "face of horror" when you realise you have been stitched up by a cunning bonus play.