For the game we used my TrOY! rules, recently bashed together specifically for this event. It uses a flexible card based initiative system - quite different from my other designs - and a super-simple combat system that is a pretty straight rip-off from the DBx series; in combat you either tie, push the other guy back (with potential follow-up) or inflict a wound. Normal men can only take one wound, while Heroes can take three. Pretty simple stuff.
Here are some snaps from the game (Trojans are primarily in red and Greeks in blue):
Hector and a few of the other Trojan heroes decide to face the Greeks outside the walls of Troy on turn one, deploying in the infamous "flying wedge" formation. In the background one of the Titans forces a size XL Odysseus into a size L chariot. Take that Odysseus!
On the other flank, Achilles (in the lead), his Myrmidons (in black) and Patroclus (the punk in the rear), threaten the Trojans by their mere presence. Achilles is the most bad-a$$ed figure in the game. He actually didn't accomplish anything significant on turn one, but was a key factor in turn two as he pretty much monopolized the Greek's actions.
Things turned sour for the Trojans on turn one, in spite of playing the Ares card. Ares fired six of his magic arrows, all at Agamemnon. He only inflicted a wound or two though, which left Agamemnon alive and so gained the Trojans nothing. The Ares figure is pretty cool though. :)
We're getting close to the end of turn one, and a lot of regular troops have already fallen. The Trojans have come out from the walls in an effort to finish off Agamemnon (he survived). If you look in the upper left corner of the snap, you can see Hector making an extremely clever but somewhat desperate attempt to burn one of the Greek ships by himself. Go Hector, go!
It's the start of Turn 2 and the Trojans, convinced by the effectiveness of Odysseus (run by Bobby) and his chariot, buy one of their own. Unfortunately, they had lost two heroes the previous turn, including Hector who's brave but reckless end-run around to the Greek ships ended up with him getting rat- (or Greek-) packed as every Greek hero in the area went after him. With the Greeks down only one hero to the Trojans' two, things would only continue to get worse for the defenders.
The Trojans had also slain Patroclus (with a Hero Card) near the end of turn one to eliminate the threat of Achilles for that turn. Unfortunately (for the Trojans), this turned Achilles into a huge threat in turn two. Fortunately (again, for the Trojans), Achilles headed straight to Memnon, the second best warrior in the Illiad and the only man capable of negating Achilles advantage in combat. Memnon was slain in the end, but it took Achilles a long time to do the job and it ended up keeping him from single-handedly taking Priam's keep.
The Trojans drew the Boagrius! card on turn two, and played it to summon the giant to aid them. Boagrius is the large fellow from the beginning of the movie version of the story, or "Sir not appearing in the Illiad", as I like to call him. He hits like a truck but has a glass jaw. He slowed down the Greek advance, but was quickly overwhelmed.
The above snap is at the end of turn two. Achilles very nearly got into the Priam's keep, and it was only the crazy maneuvering of Paris and his men, and Priam's guard, that kept him from doing so. Actually, Paris et al had plenty of chances to take Achilles out of the fight, but Dave Wilhelm exhibited some of consistently crappy dice rolling ever seen in the CGC (and that's saying something), and was unable to finish the job. He would get another chance in turn three...
Another snap from the end of turn two. Odysseus and his men have snuck around the Trojan flank, but didn't do it in time to scale the wall and help Achilles take the castle. It would have to wait another turn.
Turn three turned out to be the final turn (out of five maximum possible - a number I may reduce to four). The Trojans could see the writing on the wall, being down to Priam and Paris, and Priam being so old he didn't fight as a hero. Dave set Paris up as close to the Greek camp as he could, trying to at least finish off Achilles. Achilles lost his auto advantage, thanks to being wounded by Paris, but Paris and his men couldn't finish the job. I think forgetting about all the rerolls he had stored up helped. :) Anyway, at this point there was no doubt about the Greeks eventually winning, so I think this was the Trojans' best bet for counting coup and getting some bragging rights - as well as it being a beautiful spite shot - before the end.
While Paris tried to kill Achilles and Achilles tried to not be killed, Odysseus raced for the castle and took it, killing Priam and claiming Helen and the royal treasury for the Greeks. Our game reflected "history", thereby justifying the entire event (at least to me). Things went so quickly and smoothly that I may bring it to Kublacon (assuming I can find a cat-sitter).As always, it was a great time, getting to hang out with everyone in a very lively and social atmosphere. I think the best dish of the event award has to go to both Jochen for his awesome roast, and to whomever brought the awesome chili-cheese dip (I think it was Scot). Hurrah for an excuse to cheat on the diet!
We do need to determine a venue for next year's event, assuming Timmy does end up shutting down the shop (not that we want him too, but totally understand the situation). My place is always available, and we can discuss some other options over the course of 2011.
Thanks again everyone who came, or who wanted to come but couldn't! I'm thinking of the next CGC event to have up at my place and will post about that soon.
Cheers!
- Rod
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