Gray Day Afternoon: Cloaks vs. Mercenaries: A Summoner Wars Session Report

In our second game of the day, Maximan and I played the Mercenaries vs. the Cloaks.

Max with Rallul; me with Vlox.

I was determined to play better this game after losing to Maximan earlier in the day during the Battle for the Dark Beneath.

I vowed to be more cautious and make sure I didn't lose to my 7 year old twice in one day! Was I successful? Follow the game in pictures below to find out.

 I can't get my Scrappers going, but otherwise I feel I have a solid beginning...

 Max is massing for a major offensive on my Summoner. I know this because he keeps telling me so...

 Rallul has surrounded himself with walls, and I have had a Thief steal me a Mundol-flavored Magic Point and have summoned the beautiful and deadly Violet.

 The battle heats up as a mob of Stone Golems clash with my gang of Scrappers and Slashers. His Seer is out but not long for Itharia.

 Here is an aerial view of the mob vs. gang fight royale.

 After the dust settled from our street fight, I have come out to the good. Dagger has joined Violet on the board and even got to do some Backstabbing. 

 Vlox's forces are converging on Rallul, trying to break through the stone bastion in which he has imprisoned himself. Notice: Rallul is all alone. Could victory finally be within my grasp on this Gray Saturday?

Yes. Vlox and I are triumphant. Rallul falls to the deadly blade of Dagger. 

Crawl back into the wall you crawled from, Rallul.

Beware, Maximan. I don't plan on losing to you any time soon.

Thank you, good reader for visiting our blog; we hope you enjoyed your stay. Until next time, may you draw your Champions when you need them and may your Cloak of Shadows keep you warm.

Battle for the Dark Beneath: A Summoner Wars Session Report

Max and I sat down to a relaxing game of Summoner Wars on Saturday morning. Maximan decided on the Deep Dwarves, and I decided on a purple-on-purple game and went with the Shadow Elves.

Follow the course of the game pictorially below to find out how we fared and who claimed the title of King of the Dark Beneath!

Max floods the board early. I send my Summoner into hiding.

After a titanic mid game, the board is fairly sparse...

At the end, Maximan was triumphant. I had taken a risk to go on the offensive and attack his Summoner with two Blade Masters and eliminate his Champion, Gren, instead of striking at a Gem Mage. If the Blade Masters had come through with all hit results, I would have won. As it was, I fell one blow shy, and the Gem Mage was available to end my Summoner. 

I gambled and lost. 

Such is life in the war-torn world of Itharia...

Until next time, good gamer, may all of your attacks hit and may your Magic Pile never be empty.

Starshield Boardgaming Knights: Summoner Wars, 7 Wonders, and Defenders of the Realm

As is our custom of Monday nights, members of the Starshield Gaming Society congregate to participate in our favorite hobby: Playing hobby games. 

This past Monday was no exception. I brought my customized Summoner Wars decks and hoped for a nice relaxing game. Iczer grabbed the Tundra Orcs and I my precious Benders, and we traveled to the battlefield of Itharia for a titanic battle between brawn and brains. 

Brawn won. 

I just couldn't get my Magic Point engine moving, and I waited too long to bring out my Champions. Oh, well, I managed to hold out way longer than I should have. 

Next time, Iczer, beware!

From Itharia we all went to the Ancient World. By this time, Moosecadet, Weezoh, Iczer, myself, and Grez were all in attendance and as we often do, busted out a fan favorite, 7 Wonders. It was a great game made even more excellent by my 62 point victory! Yes. I won! 

The main event of the night turned out to be Defenders of the Realm. All of my fellow Starshielders in attendance had played the game before. I had not. After a quick explanation of the rules, we were off to save the Realm from the encroaching horror of the Four Generals. 

Even though we weren't able to complete the game due to time constraints, I enjoyed it. I think the game is devilishly difficult, which I believe a cooperative game should be. We were teetering on having a good position just as we were entering the mid-game when our time together came to a close. 

An excellent night of gaming, I must say. I look forward to our next meeting at Moosecadet's party on Sunday. Look for a post on that most auspicious occasion next week. Until then, good gamer, may you have fun gaming and do yourself a favor and play more Summoner Wars. You won't regret it. 

On a side note, the excellent YouTube show, WatchItPlayed just recently finished out their series on Summoner Wars. You can check out the whole series here:

Maximan/Maxifun: The Jungle Elves destroy the Cloaks

This weekend I customized all of the decks I have with the Reinforcement decks Plaid Hat produces (except the Mercenaries. Way too many choices for me to make right now. More thought will be required).  

As I was doing so, Max was quite taken with the Gorillas and Elephants I added to the Jungle Elves deck; he was eager to play them.

So, later, we sat down for a Sunday afternoon of Summoner Wars goodness. He playing the Jungle Elves, and I playing one of my favorite (though most challenging ) decks: The Cloaks. 

You can follow the pictorial batrep below...

Maximan, ready to clean my clock...

The Cloaks are off to a good start, repelling the Jungle Elves' initial advance...

An aerial view of the Jungle Elves' advance...

Things are looking up for the Cloaks. Things were going my way...

Then I got risky with my Summoner, maneuvering Vlox into position to do some serious damage, but Max had summoned Miti Mumway. The tree folk proceeded to trample through my Commons and eventually with the help of his own Summoner, take poor Vlox down. In my defense, I took a risk, and if the gods of dice battles had been with me, I would have won. Chance is a fickle mistress...

Even when I lose, I still love playing this game. Thanks for the game Max, but know this, next time we meet across the battlefield of Itharia, I shall be triumphant!

Thanks for reading, good reader, and until next time, play Summoner Wars and play even more Summoner Wars!

SurfMonkey Gets Filthy And Meets ExPatriette

At our monthly game night, the cards were flying! SurfMonkey had not yet tried out the newest Summoner Wars factions, Mercenaries and the Filth. I let him choose which of the two factions he wanted to play, and I would play the other. He chose Mercs and I got down and dirty with the mutants. Follow the play-by-play below to see how it turned out. 

The forces meet across the battlefield...

The Filth move up on Rallul and score an early wound...

I move the Demagogue into a defensive position in light of a Mercenary advance...

A major offensive by the Mercenaries forces the Filth to play defensive for a time, but the Spew Mutant is a potent offensive force...

The Filth surround the mighty Mundol after wiping out his support troops. He is not long for the world...

The offensive momentum now switches to the Filth as I maneuver my forces into position foiled by Apprentice Mages at every turn. The mages can only hold out so long...

The Filth have closed off all but one avenue to the Demagogue providing an almost unbreachable  defensive position. All three of the Mercenary Champions could not save the Mercs. 

The Abomination hits the battlefield and advances upon the defenseless Mercenary summoner who is caught between a massive hammer and a rock-hard place. The Abomination rolls a 6 Attack Value and hits with all six for an explosive finish to an excellent game! 

I am above gloating, but if I weren't I would say, better luck next time, SurfMonkey!

From the ravaged battlefield of the Summoner Wars universe to the dark and gritty Rook City. SurfMonkey and I try out the first expansion for another of my top five favorite games: Sentinels of the Multiverse!

I played Mr. Fixer and SurfMonkey played the beautiful and deadly ExPatriette, the two new heroes that came with Rook City. 

The heroes battled against Spite in the Pike Industrial Complex. 

The heroes tried their best.

Spite entered into a drug-altered state of bad-assdom.

The heroes lay defeated at the feet of the crazed Spite.

A great night of new release play. Can't wait for next month!

Thanks for reading and until next time may your heroes conquer villains and may your summoning stone bring you only good magic.

Starshield Boardgame Knights: Superheroes Get Broken By The Dawn

Once again, four members of the Starshield Gaming Society got together for a night of board games on Monday night. On the roster were magehammer (me), Weezoh, MooseCadet, and Iczer. The game of the night was one of my favorites: Sentinels of the Multiverse! 

I played Ra, Weezoh was Fanatic, MooseCadet was the Wraith, and Iczer pulled Haka. The evil Citizen Dawn was making a power play on Insular Primalis, and the heroes rushed to stop her. At first, the battle was going well for the heroes as they got into a rhythm against the Citizens. Velociraptors, Pterodactyls, and T Rexes kept the pressure on both sides, though. 

After Citizen Dawn became one with the sun, things started to look bleak for our heroes. Before we knew it, the heroes were falling one by one. Ra held out the longest. In the end, the Staff of Ra was destroyed and with it went Ra's life points. The heroes were defeated as Citizen Dawn gloated over them and moved onto the next phase of her plan for world domination. Hopefully, there are heroes somewhere who can stop the menace that is Citizen Dawn...

After we regained consciousness, we decided to play a quick game of 7 Wonders as a nightcap, which Weezoh won... just barely. Overall, a nice relaxing game night.

P.S. I received my Rook City expansion for Sentinels of the Multiverse and SurfMonkey will be in the Geek Cave tomorrow night, so stay tuned for more superhero mayhem. 

Until then, may the cards always fall your way and may random dice show up on your doorstep.

Starshield Boardgaming Knights: The Great Summoner War

Monday night four members of the Starshield Gaming Society met for a relaxing night of board game fun. Weezoh and Moosecadet hosted; Iczer and I attended. Weezoh, Iczer, and I played a game of Martian Dice while we waited for Moosecadet to get home from work. I pulled out a squeaker in Martian Dice to win.

I brought Summoner Wars as the main event. We decided in the interest of time to break the games into duels instead of playing the clunkier four-player version. Randomly, Weezoh was chosen as my opponent while Moosecadet and Iczer were paired. The plan was to have the winners of the initial duels play each other while the non-winners would go head-to-head. How did things turn out, find out by checking out the pics below.

                                   

Both Games Begin: Weezoh playing the Filth vs. Me and the Benders; Moosecadet playing the Guild Dwarves vs. Iczer's Fallen Kingdom.

After a bad tactical decision on my part where I got a bit greedy, Weezoh advanced on my position  very quickly and smashed poor Tacullu. First game: Weezoh. Moosecadet and Iczer were off to a slow start...

While Moose and Iczer seemed a bit far from an end game, Weezoh suggested we play Blood Bowl: Team Manager. A game I had wanted to play since its release. We played a game, and I really enjoyed it. I even won by a point! Definitely a fun game.

At this point, Moosecadet and Iczer were trying to set a record for the longest game of Summoner Wars ever played...

Weezoh and I decided that our second game of Summoner Wars would be against each other. He was feeling 'Jungle Elfy' while I brought the Mountain Vargath to the table. I had a great draw and beat Weezoh making us even in Summoner Wars victories on the night. Moosecadet and Iczer were still not finished, but not long after my Vargath dropped Abua Shi, their epic duel ended. 

Any night I get to play Summoner Wars is a good night, and this night was no exception. This game just keeps getting better and better for me. I look forward to my next outing onto the Battlefield. Thanks, Starshielders for a great night of gaming. May there be many, many more to come. Until next time, good reader, may the dice fall your way and play more Summoner Wars!

Summoning Fun with Maximan!

Max and I have played two games of Summoner Wars

since I received the Mercenaries and Filth in the mail. The first game I played the Mercenaries against Maximan's choice of Vanguards. The second game I played the Filth. Max was eager to play the Mercenaries after having been trounced by them so handily in our previous game. In both games, we kept the Mercenary deck as built despite having several other Mercenary cards from previous expansions to add to it. 

Pictures from both games are below. A brief overview of my thoughts on both factions follow the pics. Enjoy.

I love the card drawing theme for the Mercenaries. The Rune Mage's ability to steal Magic is awesome. Pumpable Apprentice Mages are exciting, and Mundol's Wizard buffing is spectacular. Max loved using the Stone Golems as walls. Just everything about the Mercenaries and their theme feels right and is tactically exciting for those of you who like to have many different options when playing. 

The Filth are crazy! I enjoyed playing with them because I find them sneaky. Swapping out mutations adds a whole new dimension to the decision-making process inherent to Summoner Wars design. Being able to fetch the Mutation cards you need from either the Draw Pile AND the Discard Pile is just mind-blowing. The only thing that makes me leery is that each Mutation killed is actually 2 Magic Points for your opponent. However, if you manage to swap a weaker Mutation or attack your own wounded unit, you get them for your Magic Pile and then after using them for Magic Points, you can always fetch the slain Mutation with your Summoner. Exciting stuff!

Thanks for reading and until next time, play more Summoner Wars and may the dice fall your way!