Border crossing nonsense aside, the trip was well worth it.
Friday night was beer and AA1914 in the FMG Bunker with Jeremy, Tim, and INGWU man. (Sorry, but with so many new faces I always have trouble remembering the names. Maybe after a few more events it will finally stick!)
We central powers were rocking after three reounds. 8-)
Saturday was a long Global 40 game in which I played Japan as part of the winning Axis team. It was called after 8 or 9 rounds with it looking like USSR would eventually fall to the German assault.
I fumbled a round five amphib on the Philippines that start a bit of a chain reaction on non combat moves to cover my ass. The US then went for a knock out blow on the weakened Home Island defense fleet. Only through good dice rolls was I able to turn that battle into a (mostly) mutual annihilation affair. The Pacific then kind of stagnated through the rest of the game as the US then had to try to rebuild while spending more in the Atlantic to help out the UK there.
Italy did well early on and even amphibed the West Indies, but was slowly slapped down by UK efforts in Africa and the Middle East. I cleared out China but burnt the majority of my land units on a UK India stack in Burma. I was looking for a wipe out of both sides but the Inf/art stack that the UK had rolled really well and I had to eventually bail the air out.
USSR contested Leningrad for along time but finally fell back as the Germans pushed in the south. The Germans traded Stalingrad with the Soviets just as the Japanese moved in from the back side with some units. At the same time a small recon task force of the Wermacht was starting the long slog across Siberia.
The Germans even took a turn to put in a small nuisance fleet turn 6 to harass the Allies in Atlantic.
Good game!
End of the night was a game of Conquest of the Empire- the second rule set. Got crushed by Aaron in the third (and final) round of play. Ah well, still fun.
Sunday was a couple of other games (Ticket to Ride Europe and Carcassonne) and then a bit of talk with guys before making the trek home. Some of the same guys (and other new guys) who played Global 40 with me on Saturday were playing Oztea’s Global 41 set up. Looked like a fun change of pace.
Jeremy and crew run a great event. I would highly recommend it to all A&A gamers.