[chas]

Had a truly epic Breakthrough format game of Memoir 44, using the new fan created Korean War expansion after solitairing through all 18 of its scenarios, and having the designer address the FAQ I did for it on BGG.

This was on the most famous battle of that war Chosin Reservoir. After two games where the Americans lost, and I thought it impossible for them to win, this battle ended 12 to 12 with a totally unexpected American victory. On the final turn I as the Chinese should have taken an ungarrisoned town to win with the Behind Enemy Lines card, but I got Ambushed and wiped out!

Since the game required 12 VPs, one of which had to be one of the two victory towns, I saw the American player take his 12th VP to win, while I had the 12 VP but not the town. At the end of his desperate struggle, my opponent had a mere four units with six figures left on the board! It was an amazing performance he made by sticking with an almost hopeless situation, and I bought him dinner and a beer afterwards for it!

***

Meanwhile, another pal won a bid for me on eBay for a copy of Risk Europe, a very fun game. I've got both it and Merchants and Marauders on my March "Retro Game Month" schedule. M&M has just been reprinted, and I may soon also get Seas of Glory, its only expansion, which should be reprinted soon. I'll be running it for the first time next week. And next month's game dates will also include Blood Rage (with "new" original player animal clan counters for their player boards and three new monsters just released on Kickstarter.

And on the schedule for next month is also Alien Frontiers, for which will be delivered the new Factions Definitive Edition by crowd funding in March. This will include 14 small expansions and a brand new one. AF was the very first board game design ever offered years ago on something brand new called "Kickstarter!" Wonder how that will work out...