Game: Princess Ryan's Star Marines

Thread: Re: Lost Rules

GornTC — 2008-07-23T22:59:15+00:00

Wow, no response for over a year? Are you still in need of the rules?
Michael

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Beorndog — 2008-06-25T02:58:01+00:00

Personality cards fro Avalon Hill General 31-6

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karinto — 2008-05-01T04:07:48+00:00

Boxfront

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karinto — 2008-05-01T04:05:47+00:00

boxback closeup. "HeartBreaker scout model (pewter !) included"

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karinto — 2008-05-01T04:00:38+00:00

Boxback

Thread: Re: BROG IN OUTER SPACE

Colonelgordy — 2008-03-24T04:02:56+00:00

Agree...mostly. I got my copy on e-bay for 15 bucks new, plus ship. Played it several times from both sides. I liked the interaction and the variety of play, but it tends to get repetitive and end game play is the same old fight for survival. But, I have to say I got my moneys worth, even if I don't ever play it again.

Thread: Re: BROG IN OUTER SPACE

SorenK23 — 2008-01-25T19:18:40+00:00

I keep this game in my collection as a reminder never to impulse buy a game of this price again. Not having a boardgame background when I saw this in a hobby store while I was travelling, I thought, "Avalon Hill doing a Sci-Fi boardgame? Looks interesting! Let's read the stuff on the bottom of the box. Hey, looks neat! Think I'll buy it!"
At least I think the price point was under $40. As Richard notes, the rules are about 10-times denser than they needed to be for an actually simple game.

After one play, I suspected I was an idiot for buying it; two more plays confirmed my first suspicion. There is some game there, somewhere, but darned if I could find it.

Live and learn.

Thread: Re: BROG IN OUTER SPACE

BROG — 2008-01-24T21:46:01+00:00

"...Mark told me that he gave up the fight because they had deeper pockets..."

That is usually what happens. Its not whether you;re right or wrong (unfortunately) but whether or not you have the money to defend.

RHB

Thread: Re: BROG IN OUTER SPACE

Barry Kendall — 2008-01-24T21:34:14+00:00

I'm not quite that far, Richard: I still look at this one.

The cover soldierette didn't sell me. Mark's name didn't sell me. The large and inconvenient-to-store box didn't sell me.

The small popping sound made when Avalon Hill was sucked beneath the earth at the last is what sold me.

"Just in case" it turned out to be a good game and I'd find myself kicking my own shins later in frustration 'cause I missed it (I did something similiar with "Hannibal" and now, boy, do I feel smart--at least once in a while).

Mark used to run a kid-friendly miniatures game at HMGS-East cons called 'Princess Ryan's Space Marines.' Same little Miss Ryan--a cutie. Probably very similar rules, with figures, not cards. Kids seemed to enjoy it.

Then Mark was reportedly contacted by corporate attorneys for Games Workshop, protesting his usurpation of "Space Marines." I know you're an attorney and I'm sure I'd get the legalities wrong, but Mark told me that he gave up the fight because they had deeper pockets, or some such, and changed the name. AH, apparently, changed the mode of presentation, having no interest in marketing a miniatures game (Starship Troopers is a pretty good explanation of why that was a good decision on the part of AH.)

Your review is fair, complete, entertaining as always and reminds me of the conclusion that I reached some years back explaining why PRSM sits primly on my shelf in-between some "Smithsonian" games and AH "Starship Troopers" (another Buy It Now Because AH Has Been Eaten purchase).

I found I absolutely, positively, cannot digest the rules during commercials in between something I'm actually interested in watching, and it isn't worth investing the effort at other times because anybody I show the thing to invariably asks, "What else do you have?"

Even kids.

Thank you for resurrecting this review; it prompts me to mentally move the game to the "Held in Reserve for Trading for Exotic Disirables" category. So many other (trying not to say 'better') games to play, so few years left to play them . . . .

Thread: BROG IN OUTER SPACE

BROG — 2008-01-24T15:26:55+00:00

Another one from the vaults of BROG . . . anyone. Note dated references go an out-of-date view of the game-buying/playing market . . . RHB

OH DAD, POOR DAD, YOU’VE PUT MY NAME ON THE BOXCOVER AND NOW THE CONSUMERS ARE FEELING OH SO SAD!

PRINCESS RYAN’S STAR MARINES by MARK MCLAUGHLIN

from AVALON HILL

Two 16”x22” mounted boards; 202 Cards; one rather unsteady metal figurine; Rules Book; Basic Training Folder. Boxed. Avalon Hill and your local retailer. $55.

Reviewed by RICHARD H. BERG

What to make of this rather unusual, and not uninteresting, game. More to the point, who, exactly, is this game aimed at?

Some of you are probably aware that this game has been around in various guises for several years, a popular home made brew from Mark McLaughlin, designer of a small host of somewhat unusual games, such as Viceroy. The word spread to the sumptuous Harford Road offices of Avalon Hill, and, sooner than you can say “Who’s Jim Rose?”, we now have a full-blown, and somewhat over-produced version, all ready for popular consumption. Question is, who’s going to bite?

PR/SM is a Saturday cartoon, Science Fiction game in which the good guys have to rescue the Princess from the Bad Guys. We’ll draw a grateful cover over the remarkably un-PCish name for the Bad Guys, The Black Guard, their leader, the not-very subtle quasi-Japanese Dar Yamaguchi, along with several similar types of faux pas that will garner reams of dreary comment on the Internet. I will also, with some sense of mercy, comment only briefly (below) on the remarkably sophomoric “in-jokes” rampant throughout, perhaps left as a clue as to where the marketing aim is focused. What we do have is a nice combination of every other pseudo D&D, What’s-in-this-Room?, style of game with - and are you ready for this? - Clue. (Most ironic: a game partially based on Clue aimed at the “Clueless” crowd.) It’s either a lot better than it sounds, or just as bad as it sounds, depending on your comfort level for this sort of thing. For the hefty $55 tariff, it sure better be the former.

You get a lot of graphic and cardboard bang for those $55 bucks, if that matters to you. Granted, the graphics are sort of nouveau-rococo Magic, complete with arcane symbology standing in for information, leading to a lot of “what the hell does this mean?” conversational gambits for the first hour or two. There are lots of cards, several different decks totaling over 200 entries, two large, connecting gameboards (forget that kitchen table for playtime) that are unusual in play terms, but a bit dark in effect, and one rather clumsy (and unpainted) metal figure, representing the Star Marines, that kept falling over every 30 seconds - drunk? vertically challenged? lousy workmanship? - until we replaced it with a chess piece. As for the boxcover, I’m sure I saw that specimen of Study Hall Art on the front of something Travellerish, but it is complete with several steroidal men, none of whom look like they could solve a Weekly Reader crossword puzzle, along with two women, both poised to show off their rather impressive pectoral development. Most of the female Marines in the game, I noted, have an androgynous look, resembling nothing less than a casting call for Aliens VIII or GI Jane II (heaven forbid) … all designed, one presumes, to appeal to those who are somewhat overactive, hormonally. Which lets out most wargamers.

Which brings us to the title. Why not just Star Marines? Why bring the kidnapped doofette, Princess Ryan into the picture, a choice certainly not one anyone interested in marketing this game to male board gamers - a group comprising the far greater majority of the purchasing public than the “other” group - would appear to make knowingly. (It gives the game a more than faint ring of one of those paperbacks that 10-12 year old girls read.) Well, appears that Mark M had a bit more clout than any game designer has had in recent (or all of) AH history: he insisted that his daughter’s name appear front and center. And that’s where it is … more or less. Give Mark 5 points of credit for filial love and devotion. Subtract 10 credit points from his bank for inability to understand who buys these things.

Think that’s unfair? Ask yourself this question. On the basis of the title alone, how interested are you in running out to check on this sucker? (And that does not include those of you who simply like to look at sophomoric drawings of big-chested women, which is, probably, most of us.) Anyway, if you’ve been going by the title, alone, or the somewhat teeny-SF subject matter, it would behoove you to have some (not lots, just some) second thoughts, because, hidden behind a somewhat hemorraghic display of The Cutes - juvenile puns abound, most almost - but not quite - as bad as the old SPI efforts, Swords & Sorcery and Freedom in the Galaxy (which, ironically, AH is releasing in computer form!) - is a pretty good, if somewhat overwrought, game. Then again, I liked it better than my co-players.

We played the three-player version; you can go from 1 to 4. Essentially, two of us were Star Marines, the third, the Black Guard Bad Guys. However, even though two of us were playing the same side, only one can win … usually the first to find out exactly where the Ryan babe is being hidden. This, in itself, makes for same very interesting play decisions.

The game system is an often clever variant of D&D, as noted above. As a matter of fact (we tend to treat our opinions as fact), the game is rather more enjoyable in its details than in its overall effect. Ryan is hidden in one of the 40 sites on the board. The job of the Starboys is not to find and rescue her, per se, but, through a mechanic that greatly resembles Clue - it’s Princess Ryan, in the First Republican Bank, being worked over by a Security Robot with a blowtorch - deductively guess which one she’s in. (If this sounds like it will be nigh impossible, it isn’t.) Once you’ve done that, if you can successfully transit the board and make it into the Royal Suite before the Bad Guys can stop you, or the clock stops ticking, you win. More or less.

Which brings up an interesting point: that ticking clock. The game uses a randomized timing mechanic, in which you use pennies - which you supply - to keep track of how much time is left. (It can go up and down.) Pennies? In a cup? For $55 you gotta supply your own components? Jeeeez!! What about a simple Timer Track and one cardboard counter. Is there some sort of charm in dropping pennies into, then pulling them out of, a cup? We didn’t think so. Must be one of those brilliant Greenwoodies that we see every now and again. (Then again, I could be wrong; wouldn’t want to give Don too much credit.)

To reach that telling point, the SM player(s) travel along the path of sites on the board, dropping into them to see what bad things await them - and there can be some pretty bad surprises for our intrepid, if inane, hero(ine)s. If they survive, they get to keep going. If they don’t, they get to regroup, call for reinforcements - which means dealing out some new cards - and then continue on. The play tactics involve what cards the players use - each has his own soldiers and a variety of one-shot-only weapons he can use - in a particular site, without actually knowing what awaits them. As there are lots of these things rattling in and out of play, the variety of play is a major plus, at least in terms of what one does in any given site.

Unfortunately, the variety of play as to what one does in terms of “the operation” isn’t quite as inventive. Anyone seen (the excellent) movie, “L.A. Confidential”? Remember the scene where the cops burst in on the runaway (supposed) mass killers, and the shoot-out that ensues. Vividly filmed, exciting in its play-out, but pretty much the same as many similar scenes from other movies. That’s what you get here. After dropping in on a bunch of sites and opening fire, either winning or losing, it does start to drag a bit. One’s enjoyment of it all depends on at what level of play one seeks one’s fun.

To the designer’s credit, there are some very nice mechanics to keep everything hopping. Each site on the board has an alternate site - in the form of an unrevealed card beneath it - to which the SM’s may be forced to travel. Most of these are nastier than the expected destination; some can be rather beneficial. But this sort of variety does provide each individual “trip” with the sort of suspense one does not usually find in board games.

And there is also wide variety in the dramatis personnae of the game, although SM players will go to great lengths to hold onto the better soldiers. The choices given The Bad Guy are often more random, but he does have some mighty heavy heavies (such as the “Bugs” card, a not too subtle nod in the direction of Mr. Heinlein.)

Much of whether you want to buy this game will depend on whether playing an SF version of D&D is your cup of espresso latté. However, while the game works at the level the designer wants it to, it is saddled with a set of rules - actually two sets of rules - that has booked early admission to the Opaque Hall of Fame. The manual seems so intent on telling you how to play the whole game in each, separate paragraph, that the best (try only) way to fathom them is to simply start playing, looking up each rule as you need it.

But that isn’t all. In addition to the manual, there’s a 4-page “Basic Training” folder (which applies only to the 4-player version), but manages to appear to contradict not a few of the premises in the formal manual while maintaining the same level of obscurity. This is not a complex or inaccessible game. It is somewhat of a mystery as to why someone has gone to great lengths to make it seem so.

Which brings us back to the original question. So, it’s not a bad game, probably a pretty good game for some. Question is, who is “some”? When you go into a store to buy a game, or a book, or similar entertainment, you don’t know if it’s Good, Bad or Indifferent when you pull it off the shelf to look at it. (Unless, of course, you’re a BROGer, which places you on a far higher plain than the ηοι πολοι, to be sure.) You pull it off the shelf because the title, the subject matter, or even the graphics, catches your eye. And, for Princess Ryan’s Star Marines, I’m most curious to know exactly who is in that shelf-reaching group. I’m even more curious to see how it sells: maybe there’s a new niche out there. I somehow think that 12-14 year-old girls with $55 in spare change and an abiding interest in board games is not a viable niche.

A note for the non-theater types. The review title is a “play” on a famous (?) play of the 60’s by Arthur Kopit, made into a movie with, among others, Jonathan Winters and Barbara Harris.

CAPSULE COMMENTS

Graphic Presentation: Excellent. A penny for your thoughts on Turn Tracks, Don.
Playability: Good, once you learn to ignore the rules book.
Replayability: Excellent variety, no two games the same.
Wristage: None; uses Don G’s beloved “numbers on the cards”, closed-end randomizer… as opposed to the open-endedness of dierolling.
Creativity: Some very clever mechanics here, very interesting from a design point of view.
Comparisons: Mostly to D&D, not an area in which I have dabbled extensively.

Overall: Micro fun; Big Picture a bit repetitive. But from any view, a marketing curiosity. Hope it sells; the system has great possibilities.

still play this one?

Thread: Re: Re:User Review

jtrleone — 2007-09-10T20:25:05+00:00

I agree completely. I really wanted to like this because of the nice theme and cards. But after a few plays, I found it completely pointless.

Thread: Lost Rules

DSpangler — 2007-07-15T00:38:30+00:00

Over the years, the rules have been lost to this game. Are copies available online?

Thread: User Review

aristarco — 2004-03-09T23:02:18+00:00

"Princess Ryan's Star Marines" is, in the end, a punyly simple game. One player plays as the Very Bad Guys, the others as the Perfect Good Guys. Every round each player chooses a card. Add together the Good Guys' cards and compere the grand total with the Bad Guys' card. The highest value wins the "skirmish". That is it, period. Nothing else.

Add a lot of chrome rules with absolutely NO DECISION-MAKING. Randomly decrease the timer, randomly choose the location of the next skirmish, randomly heal you wounded marines, and so on. You don't even decide which card to play, there is only one possible choice: the highest valued. Some people enjoy it, presumably because of the theme (what made me waste my money on this game :angry. Nowadays I've discovered Boardgamegeek and wouldn't make this mistake again. Don't do it yourself.

There must be a way to design a new game from scratch with the amazing components of "Princess Ryan's Star Marines". I still have to find it.

Thread: Re:User Review

shadowkeeper — 2003-09-17T13:34:41+00:00

Once upon a time, Avalon Hill was known for producing clever games at an reasonable price. Now, it seems, the company has undergone a personality split. While AH still produces those affordable gems (Titan: The Arena is a recent example), it also produces grand, expensive, lavish productions, complete with big production values and big price tags. Take, for example, History of the World and The Age of Renaissance, two games with similar themes and similar components, but with the latter costing nearly twice the former. Or their new "revamped and repriced" Acquire, a game that is admittedly fantastic, but can be readily found in your local thrift store at a thirtieth of the current price.

Another recent publication of Avalon Hill's evil twin is the science-fiction epic Princess Ryan's Star Marines. According to the game's introduction, the evil Viceroy Dar Yagamuchi has taken Princess Ryan hostage, and is holding her captive in his base. Fortunately, the starship Schenectady, chock full of Star Marines, happens to be in the neighborhood. The game depicts the crew's attempt to blast their way through the Dark Cathedral to rescue the hijacked highness. All of this plays out on a huge playing board, which shows the 16 regions the Star Marines must traverse in order to reach Dar's stronghold, the Royal Suite.

Each time the Marines enter a new area, they must first check to see if they get lost, and then check to see if they have lost any time in the journey. Getting lost causes them to wind up in a different site then they had anticipated; losing time causes the Marines to surrender one of their initial 15 time chips. Once the region and time delay are determined, the Marine players must fight a Skirmish against Yagamuchi's "Black Guard". If the Marines are triumphant, they may continue on to the next site. If they are defeated, their progress is stymied, and they must again check to see if they've gotten lost, check to see if they lose a time chip, and then fight another Skirmish in the same area. The game continues until the Marines run out of time (Yagamuchi wins), or they win the final battle in the Royal Suite (one of the Marines wins).

Although the game comes with an enormous playing board, much of the game centers around the playing of cards. The cards come a variety of types, including Marine cards, Guard Cards, Site cards (which depict the various location where Skirmishes may be fought), Dispatch cards, and Weapon cards. The Weapon cards, which range from 1-13, come in four 'suits" (edged, vehicular, energy and firepower), and serve three functions in the game. First, Marines may use these cards when fighting Skirmishes. Second, these cards determine random events and effects: players draw the top weapon card and refer to its value rather than rolling dice. Finally, before the game, Yagamuchi draws a random weapon card and notes it's suit and value. This is the "cell" in which the Princess is being held (e.g. "firepower 4' or "edged 12". If the Marines manage to win the final battle, only the player who correctly guesses the cell is considered the winner.

Skirmishes are fought by the playing of cards. First, Yagamuchi plays a "Guard" card, which shows a number between 4-60. Each Marine player then commits one of his Marines to the battle (each of which has a value from 1-4), and then adds a weapon. After all the players have put down cards, the Marines add the total of their combatants to the total of their weapons, and if the sum is greater tha n the number shown on the guard card, they have won. If, however, they fail to meet or exceed the Guard's value, Yagamuchi has prevailed.

If the Marines win, the player who had the greatest "Skirmish Value' (equal to the value of the Marine he played plus the value of the weapon he played) reaps rewards: a number of "promotion points", a dispatch, and the opportunity to ask Yagamuchi a single "yes" or "no" question concerning the Princess' cell. The other Marine players get nothing. If, however, Yagamuchi wins, he receives the dispatch card, and has the opportunity to change the location the Marines are currently occupying.

At its heart, Star Marines is a very, very simple game: bad guy plays a card, good guys play a bunch of cards, highest total wins. The game is so simple, in fact, the designers gussied it up to disguise the fact that it's essentially a $60 version of "War." Every turn involves a comical number of modifiers, special situations, exceptions and rules twists intended to make each Skirmish unique. Each site will have one or more modifiers, prohibiting the play of "firepower" weapons, for example, or halving the value of guard card played. Each Marine has a unique skill, which may affect the course of a battle. "Dispatch" cards can be use to do any number of things, from looking at another player's hand to assassinating a Marine. To top things off, each Marine has a rank (which determines who can do what), there's a "shuttle" the Marines can use to skip sites, there's a "Do or Die" option in case the Marines players get stuck, etc.

This is a game of exceptions, not rules. Taking their cue from Cosmic Encounter, the designers tried to take a basic play mechanism and give it enough tweaks to make the game interesting. Unfortunately, they overshot their mark: this game has so many tweaks that they rapidly become annoying instead of intriguing. The bewildering morass of special cases make the game frustrating to teach and an ordeal to learn. In your first session, you'll probably be still explaining things during the last battle of the game. Perhaps after playing the game several times, the game could be fun - after everyone had thoroughly absorbed all of the rules - but I find it unlikely that many groups will have the resolve to play this more than once. Indeed, you may be lucky to even get through a single game: one of my playtest groups called it quits in the middle of the session, when they realized that they had reached the halfway point and still didn't know all the rules.

Making matters worse is the fact that it's nearly impossible to formulate any strategy. Before my first game I was excited about the idea that only one Marine would reap rewards in a given battle, because it seemed that this would encourage strategic play: Marine players would want to play high cards (to win the battle), but not their best card, unless they were certain it would be the highest played. This (I reasoned), would create an exciting tension, as the playesr weighed the "good of the group" against personal advancement. Sadly, this is not the case. Because any number of unknowable factors may affect future Skirmishes,there's really no method (or point) to planning ahead. You best strategy is often to play your best card every turn, because you may not have it -- or it may be disallowed -- in the next battle.

Star Marines is a game with lots of complexity but almost no depth. And although I subscribe to the school of though that says that price should not be factor in recommending a game -- a good game is beyond price, the theory goes - it's difficult to review Star Marines without making mention of this aspect. At $60, Star Marines is one of the most expensive board games on the market. For this you get components that are of high production value, but sloppy all around. The cards and board feature beautiful computer-generated artwork, but poor choices in color, font and design make some of the cards virtually illegible. The rule book is not very well written, and the single miniature included with the game (to record the progress of the Marines on the board) doesn't fit snugly into the base, rendering in useless. And adding insult to fiduciary injury, the game does not include the time chips which are required to play - Avalon Hill suggests using pennies, pushing the total price up to $60.15.

Frankly, I'm a bit mystified by all the good press Star Marines has received: Games Magazine hailed it as the best adventure game of 1997, and there are several enthusiastic reviews scattered about the Internet. I beg to differ. While Star Marines isn't a terrible game, it is a thoroughly mediocre game that fails to justify the money required to buy it or time required to learn it.

Thread: User Review

BoardGameGeek — 2002-01-24T17:16:05+00:00

A very funny game. If you want to pass a good afternoon, this is your game. Tons of possibilities. Every game is different because you never know what cards you'll fight against. I'm still enjoying very much with it. Great.

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2001-11-30T18:16:19+00:00

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2001-01-10T06:59:33+00:00

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2001-01-10T06:59:20+00:00

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2001-01-10T06:59:07+00:00

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2001-01-10T06:58:46+00:00

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2001-01-10T06:58:36+00:00

Thread: Session Report

derk — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

Scott, Ken, George, John, Derk

We were having a devil of a time picking out the next game, until Scott suggested this Avalon Hill title. I’ll be honest. I’m fairly prejudiced against non-German games now a days. I guess it’s a backlash from all the gaming that I did prior to discovering the tightly-knit designs that tend to dominate the genre. I look back on the last year’s gaming, and it’s not hard for me to compare the worst day of German gaming to my best days of gaming before that period. Maybe I just need to unbunch a little. I dunno. But it was with some trepidation that I started to learn the workings of this game.

Scott had only played once or twice before, so the explanation was a little piecemeal, but quite sufficient considering the game. There was tons of writing on the board and tons of writing on the cards that none of us (minus Scott) understood, but it was quickly apparent that it mattered little. The game is more or less a card game. One player takes the role of the Black Guard, which is holding the Princess Ryan in some undisclosed room in some castle. The other players are the Marines that are battling through various nasties (a.k.a. the Black Guard) to rescue her. Each player gets some marines that have various strengths and various special abilities. Then each turn, the player with the highest-ranking marine moves the troop forward along a track toward the Princess. Usually a combat is fought, and each of the players commits a marine and a weapon card from his hand. All the marine values and weapon values are added together to determine whether or not the fight was successful. If defeated, the marines have to battle in that space again. If they vanquish their opponent(s), then they get rewards based on how much they contributed to the battle. The three best marines will usually get something. Like a question for the Black Guard as to the location of the Princess (the correct location is needed to win the game), or a special card, or victory points/promotion points which give you more weapon cards and break ties if more than one marine knows where the Princess is.

So the game haltingly began. I happened to be given a marine named “Buckets of Blood,” and quickly got into the spirit of the game by barking orders and reciting lines from “Full Metal Jacket.” Incidentally, he was the Commanding Officer for most of the first half of the game. Anyway, we advanced our motley group of mercenaries and learned the in’s and out’s of space marine combat through trial and error. We were able to deal with most of the obstacles quite well, considering most of Scott’s bigger cards came out early. But it was John that seemed to be ruling the day. I won a couple early battles when I committed ol’ Buckets of Blood, but not terribly often.

Then Scott did something to kill good ol’ Buckets and things started to get weird. First of all George was in charge then. So we started making ‘wussie’ moves and taking votes and other pansy things like that. However, George was doing fairly well for himself, winning the right to ask questions. But John had already figured out half of the puzzle, so it was only a matter of time. Just to stir things up a little, John played a weapon card to ‘frag’ George’s commander, but George was able to turn back time to retain command. Then we got slaughtered and needed to regroup. The whole while George and John were fighting for the icing on the game-cake, Ken and I were vying for the miniscule crumbs left in the stupid pan. It was awful.

Anyway, we entered into the last part of the game, and it looked like John was easily going to win. He’d been able to nail down the answer to the Princess’s location, and he’d earned ten+ promotion points (so he’d easily win the tie-breaker). At this point, Ken ran into a bit of luck. He won the right to ask Scott a couple questions, and the luck bastard asked all the right questions. It had taken me three questions to determine the freakin’ suit, whereas he’d gotten it on the first try. Then two more questions and he had a 50/50 shot at the correct answer. Sigh. Anyway, John was still winning practically every combat (he’d been able to retain his six-level marine for the entire game, and had almost all the high weapon cards constantly; it was disgusting). Personally, I wanted the damn game to end, and quickly. Eventually, it did and everyone turned in their answers. I was the only who didn’t get the right answer. Double sigh.

Ah well, it wasn’t as bad as it sounds, actually. We all enjoyed the game quite immensely, despite the completely random ending. I wouldn’t mind playing the game again, IF it wasn’t too soon after the last playing. It’s one of those games that just doesn’t have too much replay value in my mind, but it’s definitely a decent time. I wouldn’t mind adding one rule to the mix: when the marines re-group, the one marine that each player retains should be selected randomly. Just so that you don’t see one soldier dominate the game, as happened in this game. That said, there’s little reason for trying to balance this game. It’s so completely random, what’s the use?

Thread: Session Report

gschloesser — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

DISPATCH: STARDATE 3174.6

To: Commander Eisenhower, Commander of Imperial Forces

I regret to inform you that mission 'Royal Retrieval' has met with failure. Five elite marine squads from Army Group 7, 3rd Corps, Company A were lost. I fear the Princess is also lost. Video / Audio recordings from the dropship and from each marines' suite cameras are enclosed for your review.

Sincerely,

Col. A. Schwartzenegger, IMC

P.S.: Good luck explaining the situation to the Emperor. I wish I knew what happened.

DISPATCH: STARDATE 3174.9

To: Commander McArthur, Army Group 7, Quadrant 3

Below is an account of the 'Royal Retrieval' mission. Most of this account is fact taken from the computer banks of the IMCS 'Sigourney Weaver' and may seem somewhat Alien. The rest of the account is conjecture based on evaluation of the files and military history of the marines involved in the mission.

Commander Arnold mulled over the mission: Rescue the Princess. Bah!! There would be no glory in this mission. Not like exterminating the Xenophobes of Aygnus IV or subduing the shape-shifters from the moons of Betelgeuse II. A thought crossed his mind: No glory, UNLESS your squad was the one to retrieve the princess. A smile crossed his face as he surveyed the men and women in the dropship. These were not over-muscled supermen. Each was, however, a lean, mean fighting machine. The least of them could hold a running firefight on a 2g world all day and spend half the night repairing high tech equipment and weaponry. Brains and brawn aplenty. This platoon was known as the 'Avengers' to fellow marines. The general populace called them the 'John Wayne' brigade as they had never failed a mission. Five elite squads -- Comeaux's Commandos, Leo's Lone Wolves, Maus' Marauders, his own brother's Daredevils of Doom, and his own squad -- the Angels of Death.

Word came that touchdown was in two minutes. Suddenly, Commander Arnold was struck with the eerie thought that the other squads also knew that the only glory would go to the squad that retrieved the princess. Maybe he could share the glory with his brother's squad. Nah!!!

The dropship 'Sigourney Weaver' touched down. The marines were out, the adrenaline was flowing and the first wave of Guard defenders were swept away. The Marauders found a dispatch which pin-pointed which wing of the fortress contained the princess. Should they share this information with their fellow marines? Nah!!

The marines pressed steadily forward, losing only two marines to a Doomsday bomb. One of these casualties was Commander Arnold. Commander Comeaux assumed command and the marines pushed forward. They re-grouped and waited for the supply shuttle. The marines then attempted a successful ballistic insertion and were running well ahead of schedule. They won battle after battle. However, gathered information was hoarded by each squad. Mistrust was growing and moral began slipping.

The marines re-grouped again and tried another ballistic insertion. They won two battles, but were finally defeated and forced to retreat. Time was still on their side and casualties were low. They pushed forward, gathering information as they went. Finally, the gates of the fortress were breached and they were in the outer courtyard.

The Guard tried another Doomsday bomb, but the marines were ready. The Commandos used their high-tech, pulsar modulated transduced diffuser to neutralize the bomb. The doors to the fortress were open and the marines -- sensing victory -- surged towards them. "Find the princess, call the dropship and we are out of here", thought Commander Comeaux. A sudden blast blocked the entrance with rubble. The marines whirled as one to see Lenny, the Lone Wolf, standing there, smoking weapon in one hand and the Simmons coil from the diffuser in the other. "I go in first, or no one goes in", he sneered. The Doomsday bomb exploded. The monitors on the 'Sigourney Weaver' revealed a gruesome sight. The vital signs of one marine after another went flat-line.

Casualties were now heavy. The Black Guard had reinforcements and squad after squad of them poured into the courtyard. Marine strength was down to 10..8...5...then 3. Time was running out on the marines. Each squad had selfishly squandered their promotion points on weapons and dispatches. They had none left to buy time to re-group. The last three marines awaited the next attack with their few remaining weapons -- a piece of jagged metal, a sharp stick and a pair of panty hose (I told you she wore panty hose under her uniform!). The suit cameras painted a grim picture.

Three dirty, bloodied marines blocked the entrance and a dozen Guard squads crossed the courtyard. An agonizing woman's scream was picked up by one of the marines suit monitor and transmitted. The computers of the dropship identified the voice-print as that of Princess Ryan. The last three suit monitors then went black.

IMCS Sigourney Weaver
Admiral Nelson commanding

END TRANSMISSION

The game was Princess Ryan's Star Marines by Avalon Hill. The Black Guard player and victor was Greg Schloesser. The Star Marines were Jon Comeaux, Ashton Arnold, Darren Arnold, Lenny Leo and Jerry Maus. Playing time: 4 hours. The marines should have stayed in Montezuma's Halls and sung marching songs!

Thread: Session Report

gschloesser — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

A super turnout for our Wednesday night gaming session ... 15 gamers. We also welcomed back David Shapiro who had been in South America for several months.

Darren and Walt had been asking for this one for some time, and we finally had the right numbers to break out the game. We drew randomly to see who would be the Black Guard player ... I received the honors again, but John Moore was hesitant to allow me to play the evil Guard again as I had played that role in every previous game. Thus, I granted the dubious honor to John.

The marines were represented by Lenny Leo, Darren Arnold, Walt Nunes and myself. We did play using Ted Cheatham's suggested rules variation wherein following a marine victory (which came very frequently in this game), the top valued marine gets his choice of one of the three spoils of victory

· He can ask a question of the Guard player as to the Princess' location;
· He can choose a dispatch card; OR
· He receives the Promotion Points

The asking of a question seemed to be the most important and frequently chosen decision. Walt, who had in his possession Hank 'The Tank' Martin was the C.O. for nearly the entire game. He took advantage of this, committing him to nearly every battle. He was able to place in the top 3 ranking marines in nearly every battle and was thus able to reap most of the battles' spoils.

At first, time looked as though it would be a problem for the marines. We failed nearly every time check on the first few spaces. Battles weren't the problem ... we were regularly kicking Black Guard butt. We struck an early gold mine, though, when we failed a move check, only to have the new site benefit us greatly by allowing us a FREE ballistic insertion if we won that battle. Of course, we were loaded for bear and easily dispatched the Guard's troops.

We opted for the ballistic insertion, jumping two columns ahead. We were detected, but still had enough remaining firepower to again dispatch the Guards in the ensuing two battles.

We followed the two battles with a regroup, re-filling our hands to maximum capacity. In the entire first segment, only one marine had been killed and no battles had been lost. We appeared invincible. Time appeared to be our only major obstacle.

On our next move, however, we ran into a hornet's nest of Guard reinforcements. John literally drew six reinforcement cards in succession from the Guard barracks. The Guard total was a staggering 140 points. Realizing that we were toast, we sent in our weakest marines armed with cap pistols. Needless to say, they were annihilated, resulting in a few wounds and the death of Crystal 'The Designer' Cassidy.

With our two initial shuttles still available, we opted for another two column ballistic insertion. Again, we were detected, but still had all of our powerful marines and weapons at our disposal. We quickly won the two ensuing battles and were making stunning progress towards the palace and our objective of rescuing the Princess.

Flush with our success, we opted for yet another ballistic insertion, again utilizing a two column jump. Again, we were detected, but succeeded in the next two battles. It was now time for a regroup.

We were worried as the timer was now at three chips, but our C.O. (Walt) played a timely Dispatch card which allowed us to replace three chips into the timer. We now had a full six and were within two steps of the palace. Unless John had something up his sleeve, victory was going to be ours.

Since we had a marine with a special ability to allow a -2 on 'Climb' attempts, we opted to enter the palace through the back door. The climb was successful, but John had in his possession the dreaded 'Doomsday Machine', which automatically wins all battles it is used in. We did have the weapon to diffuse the machine, but, alas, it was a vehicular weapon and could not be used in the location of the battle. Thus, we suffered our second defeat and were forced to reach the palace by the other, more hazardous route.

Fortunately, we had a major arsenal of weapons on hand, while John was, unknown to us, suffering with some low valued Guards. We easily won the next few battles and fought our way into the palace for the rescue.

Walt, who had been able to ask at least five or six questions during the game, correctly discerned the location of the Princess and captured the victory.

This was probably the 'easiest' Marine victory I've seen. Nothing at all against John's play, however, as the reinforcement cards just did not surface as often as they had on the two previous plays when I was the Guard player.

The ratings: Darren 8; Walt 7; John 6; Greg 6; Lenny 4

Thread: Session Report

gschloesser — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

Again, Bill agonized over which game to select next. Ultimately, a desire to try one of Avalon Hill's multi-player games led him to select Princess Ryan's Star Marines.

Jon begged to be the evil Guard player, so we agreed to let his dark side prevail. Trevor, Bill and I led the courageous marines in their quest to free the lovely princess from the clutches of the Guard. We did use a few variants, including the 'Cheatham' variant wherein a victory by the marines allows three separate players to reap rewards by either asking a question of the guard, taking promotion points or drawing a dispatch card. I honestly feel that this variant proved too powerful as it gave the marines too many dispatch cards and promotion points. The other variant used was forcing the high valued marine to take the first casualty check.

Our initial landing attempt proved disastrous as Jon successfully battered our troops with a nasty chemical attack. This was followed by two other early defeats for the gallant marines, forcing an early re-grouping.

From then on, however, it was all marines as we continually dispatched the guard, making copious use of individual marine special powers, much to Jon's dismay. He does have a point as using several marine powers each turn can easily be overwhelming. Has anyone else experienced this problem?

Anyway, we marched relentlessly towards the prison cells and final victory. Trevor had supplied high valued marines in most battles, using his reward to ask questions of Jon as to the location of the princess. About 1/3 of the way into the game, it was evident that Trevor knew the location. I was next and was able to also discern her location before the game's end. Bill, meanwhile, was consistently supplying grunts to the combat and was forced to take whatever reward Trevor and I passed over. Thus, at the end, he was forced to make a wild guess at her location ... a guess which proved incorrect.

We managed to storm the guard headquarters without much concern and win the final battle. Sure enough, both Trevor and I knew the location of the princess, but Trevor claimed the victory due the tie-breaker of having played the highest valued marine on the final battle (a very objectionable tie-breaker, in my opinion!).

Although the game has never been a favorite of mine, I still find the system fairly enjoyable. However, I will agree with Jon that the marines do have a large advantage due to the special powers individual marines possess. There should be some limit on the use of these powers to even up the odds.

Ratings: Trevor 6.5, Greg 5.5, Jon 4, Bill 3.5