Gaming Vacation

The Sweet Spot
Back from a great visit with friends in the Carolinas.  We pretty much gamed sun-up to sun-down (and beyond) for nine straight days. We played lots of RuneQuest Classic (2nd Edition); we started and finished Ballastor's Barracks, an adventure in the Big Rubble written back in the '70s. In my opinion the adventure still holds up well. It had been about 30 years since I had played it last and so it seemed all new to me as my memory could pull up very few details concerning the "Barracks". Also played a full campaign of Legion of Honor (LoH), Clash of Arms Napoleonic RPG that uses a card driven system to take players from 1792 through 1815 as an officer in Napoleon's Grande Armee.  We all finished as full Generals in the service of the Emperor in 1815.  My Grognard accompanied Napoleon to Egypt where his career took off as a light cavalryman.  A buddy stormed the bridge at Lodi with Massena in Italy.  My character came back from Russia in very bad health and missed Lutzen and Bautzen. Another spent a period as a prisoner of war. My character fought several duels and ended his career as commander of the cavalry of the Imperial Guard during the Hundred Days. For those with an interest in Napoleon, LoH is a fun way to play something unique and works well as a solo game. It reminded us of En Garde! the GDW RPG from the '70s. We played several boardgames, Fire & Axe which is a Viking saga game where you play a Viking raider/explorer and can discover and settle Iceland, Greenland, and America like Lief the Lucky. Star Trek Ascendancy is a newer boardgame and the best of the many Star Trek games which I have played, but it only supports 2-3 players right now. We also played an introductory scenario for the Star Wars RPG from Fantasy Flight and it was a big hit with my friends. We also played the Arkham Horror Living Card Game from Fantasy Flight which is a card deck roleplaying game of Cthulhu mythos and has great potential for long term play. Each of the several characters available is "built" using various cards to form a deck of skills, equipment and special abilities. There are already a number of supplements for the game and promises of more to come, hence the "Living". A friend ran us through a Dungeon Saga game which was also a lot of fun. Dungeon Saga is Mantic Game's dungeon tile and minis game and I think it is one of the better ones in a crowded market. I ran a short adventure using the Dragon Age RPG and we had fun with that. Also played Advanced Squad Leader (ASL), which is always something I look forward to. ASL is a tactical WWII boardgame with an emphasis on infantry which has been a staple in our gaming since the '70s. We broke out the historical miniatures and played the new Swordpoint rules using Carthaginian and Polybian Roman armies. We also played a game using L' Art De Guerre rules ( Greek colonial vs. Campanian armies) and enjoyed them as well. I try to make a couple trips a year south to visit with and game with these very special friends I met through gaming over 40 years ago. We are fortunate to have stayed in touch despite several hundred miles separating us today. Gaming with and hanging out with such old friends is one of the real pleasures in this hobby for me.