Comrades of Normandie

 Any chance to catch up with my mate Comrade James is a good one.  And this time we checked out a gaming venue new to us in Canberra: Three D6.  Better still, is now has the "Loaded Dice" annex with full bar and snacks, and booths to play in.  And good craft beer on tap too.

A winning combination - if you are in Canberra go check it out.

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/the-loaded-dice-a-new-pub-for-gamers-and-geeks-opens-in-tuggeranong-20160317-gnl7ia.html

They even had German Ale on tap for Oktoberfest - nice!

And so Comrade James introduced me to Heores of Normandie, which I had heard about but not seen or played before.  Really beautiful components, nice thick card stock and well sized.  While the cartoonish nature of the characters is not my normal thing, they did grow on me.


A couple of perspectives from our game:

• Think of it like good cinema with Hollywood action and a climatic ending 
• Adding your own Commando Comic style quotes along the way adds a lot to the theme ("Mein Gott", "Take that Fritz" etc)
• That aside, its quite a deep game with many many decision points and card resource management on top.
• Unlike most games, the majority of your units wont be firing their weapons very often.  Some wont fire a round for the whole game.  This is probably far more realistic than units burning though all their ammo in a half dozen turns or less.
• I liked the balanced, combined arms ORBAT approach
• It feels like a miniatures game
• Its what I wanted ASL to be, but its also fun (which ASL is generally not, IMHO) with a little bit of crazy added.  This game inspires you to engage an enemy Sniper with a Bazooka team and then send in a hero to bayonet whats left.  Well it did to me anyway (and whats more it worked!)

How we laughed when James' Handgranaten attack scattered onto another of his infantry squads!

You know you've had fun when you get home and immediately start internet shopping for the game you just played, and looking at the detailed review of its expansions!

..and how much more we laughed when that squad then fumbled their own handgranaten attack onto their own location!

In summary: Good buddy + fun new game + beer = Strategic Victory!