Archive For The “After-Action Reports” Category
Michael Eckenfels, 22 April 2019
One interesting thing about moving to the Planeteers era when only one of seven Contracts was claimed in the Mariners era: that any Contract claimed now will earn the Profit points for both that era and the era(s) before. In the Planeteers era, the Contracts are:
- Gain 2 Progress cards (pays 3 Profit, but gets another +2 since Contract 1 wasn’t claimed in the Mariners era, for a total of 5 Profit)
- Have 4 asteroid bases (pays 2 Profit + 3 unclaimed from Mariners = 5 Profit)
- Bases in 3 regions beyond Jupiter (pays 3 Profit + 2 unclaimed = 5 Profit)
- 2 bases beyond Uranus (heh heh) (pays 3 Profit; no bonus as this Contract was claimed by me in the previous era)
- 3 bases in one region (3 + 2 = 5 Profit)
- Non-Start Planeteers cards in 3 Infra spots (2 + 2 = 4 Profit) – this one means if I put three Upgrade cards into my HQ, all of which are Planeteers era and NOT Start cards, I’d get 4 Profit)
- Bases on 4 sites containing water or life (3 + 2 = 5 Profit)
There’s a LOT of lucrative contracts waiting to be picked up. I didn’t really focus on these in the last era, but this time I think I should do that. The 1st Beyond marker is a definite must-have, but these Contracts are far too fat to give up to the Competition.
So, the Competition starts off this era, like last time. Let’s see what they do…
Michael Eckenfels, 18 April 2019
We’re rapidly closing on the end of the Mariners Era, which will be interesting for me as I’ve played through this game’s Mariners era several times but haven’t played past it. We’ll probably get through the end of this Era during this episode!
COMPETITION’S TURN
Michael Eckenfels, 11 April 2019
When we last let off, the Competition has been chasing my tail since the start of the game, but we’re still tied at zero profit points (VPs), which is somewhat unusual. I have a card with a Produce 1 action that would give me one profit point/VP, as well as reward me a Contract with the ‘first Produce action,’ paying another two profit…hmm.
In any case, it’s the Competition’s turn, so here we go…
Michael Eckenfels, 8 April 2019
Part 2: Pushing Into Space
COMPETITION’S TURN
When we last left off, the Competition had two Solar Lagrange Points each being studied by a team of theirs, while I’d just landed my first team on the Moon.
For the Competition team, I draw…
Michael Eckenfels, 4 April 2019
Part 1: Introduction and First Turns
Manned and unmanned exploration of the stars had been ongoing for decades before the year 2025, though private enterprises (such as SpaceX) drove governments and other private companies alike to develop and build new systems for exploring our inner solar system. With issues coming to the fore such as climate change, population growth, and scarcity of resources, this impetus to drive for the stars became a reality by the start of 2025.
Avery Abernethy, 22 January 2019
Pearl Harbor represented the single worst defeat in US Navy history. The debacle of December 7, 1941 was so horrible that every wargame I’ve played covering the entire War in the Pacific has “special rules” to replicate the disaster. The Japanese attacked without declaring war catching the US forces in Hawaii completely by surprise. The US Army Air Corps was caught on the ground. Only a couple of US Navy Ships managed to raise anchor. Many anti-aircraft guns did not fire early in the battle because their ammunition was locked away and could not be loaded into the guns. The Order of Battle WW2: US Pacific Campaign is highly scripted in order to simulate the total surprise of Pearl Harbor.