Charlie Don't Surf

Last night I finally managed to get a game in of Charlie Don't Surf. For a first outing it was a lot of fun ( I played the role of the umpire).

However there were a few thoughts that came up when playing or trying to play.

The first is that the rulebook is a bit of a muddle when first playing the game and trying to work your way around it for certain aspects or abilities of your troops.
The playsheets help but I think it would be an idea to also have a summery section of how the game deck starts and when you add cards in (all this is in the book but each bit is under its own section which means you have to have read the book cover to cover and remember where something is mentioned etc).
The second aspect is that the wording is sometimes not that clear on intent. Which is fine with an umpire but could cause some issues.

Once the game gets going it does tend to flow however and doesn't feel like it takes forever to resolve something.

The scenario we played was from the expansion and was the Great Rice Hunt. This proved a lot of fun but we needed a bit more cover. Was interesting to see how players that are used to only using army lists and having what they want, handled the situation.
The blinds added another dimension to the game as well. However due to where both sides had opted to deploy they actually ran straight into each other so there wasn't much opportunity for sneaky manoeuvring. This led the game in the direction of a very messy firefight.

The end result was an overwhelming victory to the VC forces both with a military and a political victory. If the game had carried on it might have swung in the favour of the US forces for a military victory.

Either way was a fun first game with plenty of mistakes made. Next game should be interesting as I know the rules a bit better now and can introduce further aspects.

No pictures again this week (mainly because the terrain is not fully finished so wouldn't make for a good look photo).

Quick Update

The last week has seen the Defilers getting finished and the Decimator Engine for my Chaos getting painted. Just need to finish the bases on the Defilers and also finish the Decimator and then I can get some pictures up on here.
Still working out what to paint next for my Epic Chaos Black Legion force. I am thinking of painting another retinue up along with transport and possibly some Noise Marines to give myself a break from all the black and gold that I have been painting.

I got given a copy of Frost Grave as a present by a friend which was nice, still need to find time to have a read through and rope some friends into a game or two (much easier said than done).

Talking of rules sets, I have also been reading through Charlie Don't Surf as I should have enough figures painted to put a small game on. Ideally I want to paint another platoon or two of Yanks but for the time being should have enough for a demo game to some friends. Just need to get the scenery finished for the game.

Aside from all of this I have been busy reading up on 6th Airbornes exploits on D-Day and the weeks following. Going to be taking some friends on a battlefield tour of 6th Airbornes Area of Operations. Then visiting Sword beach among other areas related to the British and Canadian involvement in Normandy.
Sword Beach is proving quite interesting to read about and already I have ideas for a few scenarios for Battlegroup Overlord. Naturally the actions of 6th Airborne lend themselves quite well to the sort of game that Battlegroup is so I hope to be able to write a number of scenarios up soon.

Well that is all for this week, hopefully I will get some more pictures up shortly.