Shadows over Camelot

As the incarnation of the Knights of the Round Table, you join forces against the game itself in an attempt to protect Camelot.
Your victory hinges on the successful completion of legendary Quests, such as the search for Excalibur, the Holy Grail, or Lancelot's Armor; the tournament against the Black Knight; and numerous wars against the Saxons and Picts.
But beware... all is not as it seems among these noble Knights. One of your number might yet turn out to be a traitor-in-waiting, biding his time while sowing havoc and destruction from the Shadows!

With King Arthur leading Sir Galahad, Sir Tristan and Sir Kay, all of the knights begin by losing life points, discouraged from adding catapults outside Camelot. Sir Galahad and Sir Kay eye up the Saxons and begin to gather resources to prosecute the war against them.

Leaving Camelot on the Quest for Lancelot's armour, Arthur immediately hits trouble as several black cards come out against him. Gaining some help from his fellows, he makes progress, as well as using Merlin to get rid of some opposition.

Sir Tristan advances against the Black Knight. But just as the Saxons are defeated, Guinevere shows up, and all of King Arthur's and Tristan's progress is wasted. Both of these quests are lost in quick succession putting the Round Table in peril.

With the Excalibur Quest close to failure, King Arthur rushes to save it from oblivion.

Returning to the Grail Quest, Galahad and Tristan find that the Dark Forest is blocking their path, and as Desolation pushes back their previous efforts, the Mists of Avalon descend upon the realm.
Seeking to rally themselves against the darkness, and leaving Sir Kay to fight the siege engines arrayed around Camelot, Sir Galahad and Sir Tristan join Arthur to complete his Heroic quest to save Excalibur.

But hope is again snuffed out, as the Grail Quest is lost. Now with six white swords and five black swords on the Round Table, only a mighty quest will bring victory! The knights charge off to fight the Dragon and just when their hope is renewed, Morgan returns to yet again deploy siege engines to bring Camelot's gates crashing down...

Even without a traitor to thwart us, this was a toughie (and obviously we lost!). A great game, that had us looking at the clock to see if we could get a rematch in.

Verdict: 4 stars.

Top (Film) Duels: #10, #9, #8, #7

As a sequel to my Top Chases and Top Firefights, I've been mulling over a list of duels, to include one vs. one or one vs. many fights (brawls and melees may be another list).

#10 Aliens (Ripley vs. Queen, aka 'Get away from her you bitch!')

At this stage in the film, we have no doubt in Ripley's kick-ass qualities and the dangerousness of the alien queen. Nevertheless, this duel to the death is a wonderful surprise for the audience.



#9 The Empire Strikes Back (Luke vs Darth Vader)

This duel is full of drama, and for the first time we harbour a solitary doubt about Vader's well-cultivated invincibility. It is not marred by any of the cut-away edits 'designed' to increase tension (say in Duel of the Fates).



#8 Scaramouche (Scaramouche vs. The Marquis)

The best fight in the best of this era's swashbucklers. This far-ranging duel defies all the dangers of the theatre (even beyond Sabatini's original vision)



#7 Kill Bill Vol. 1 (The Bride vs. Gogo & The Crazy 88s)

There are plenty of fights in the double-barrelled rampage of revenge. I almost prefer her last showdown with Copperhead in the kitchen, but for me the impossible melee against the Crazy 88s (and Gogo) takes the biscuit.



#6 through #4 next week...

So Long, 2014

More like 'good riddance!' from a wargaming/blogging perspective. I haven't played or posted much at all. But here's a quick rundown of some highlights...

Gaming Highlights

Rogue Spear (Force on Force)
Ran a short campaign inspired by Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six novels at Leprecon. Smaller Force on Force games seem to be my favourite nowadays, as exemplified by the Classified book. There may be more from me next year along these lines...

Caen Campaign (Memoir '44)
I played in one of the campaign book's campaigns over a short day. Marvellous company and access to Mr. Kinch's drinks cellar makes this one a hit regardless (though the game was also great fun).

Black Sun (Pulp)
I haven't even gotten around to posting my reports on this from Gaelcon yet! But suffice to say this went down a hit. I even ran this entombed scenario three times on the Sunday for different groups of people.





Blogs

Hetairoi
This 6mm Bretonnians project is breath-taking. I love seeing these guys in action...

Dalauppror
While still spending effort on Medieval Scandinavian matters, it's great to see something else here

Table Terror
This Scooby Gang (especially the Mystery Machine) caught my eye. Even more than Michi's usual fare!

Books

Victory Point
Gives some valuable perspective on the events shown/written about in Lone Survivor.









Losing Small Wars
If the recent withdrawal of British forces from Afghanistan gave you pause, you owe it to yourself to read this book.









A Genius for War
Perhaps overstated at times, but this is a fascinating study of how the Prussian/German army staff was set up to succeed in wars, regardless of political leadership.









Releases

SOC-R Spec Ops Boat - S&S Models
These are going to get into some action in 2015 I hope. Some more 'classified' trouble ahead!

Hell Diver VTOL riders - Clear Horizon Miniatures
I just love the concept for these miniatures. While obviously not useful in every scenario, these figures are great colour for your sci-fi VTOLs

Battlegroup Barbarossa - Ironfist Publishing
Going back in time from Kursk and Fall of the Reich for a third look at the armies of Germany and the Soviet Union must've been no easy task. However the guys produce another game feeling significantly different from those which have gone before.

TV

The Blacklist
This is a cheese and ham platform for James Spader - perhaps the only thing salvaging the overblown plotting. But it's simply fantastic







Gravity Falls
Imagine that Twin Peaks had been made for kids, no need. Watch Gravity Falls instead.








True Detective
The writing and direction (all done by the same people across every episode) mean that this is one of the most evenly produced shows I've every seen. Added to the surprisingly strong performances from both leads (Matthew McConaughey & Woody Harrelson ), I recommend without reservation.



I've been spending a lot more time playing boardgames than previously, so maybe that's taking up time and energy previously spend blogging and wargaming. Perhaps I could try posting some of that...

Anyway, hope you had a great 2014, and here's to an even better 2015!