Olympic OGAM Day - game three

After a brief break for more beverages and a photoshoot it was back to game three where I would play Kev with his Pan's People. Specifically, Pan, a huge cyclops, a harpy legend some centaurs and several units of satyrs.

We played a tweaked variant of the sacred spring scenario, with a well guarded by a unit of harpies who attacked random units that got too close.

The random hand of fate (James' cards) gifted me a unit of archers.

I parked the sheep in the woods with instructions to pray (bleat) hard.

Kev used his harpy to deny me a corner.

The harpies swooped about their well.

Th 'uge cyclops lobbedd rocks.

The well harpies attacked the bow armed sayrs

Then flew off to have a go at Pan.

Hermes forces crept forward.

The Big Cyclops threw rocks hard enough to push the Huge Cyclops back into the garden

The well harpies were a proper nuisance.

Pan's satyrs surged toward the well

The archers got their first but were then  jumped by the centaurs

The archers dealt with, the centaurs had a go at the hoplites.

Pan kept making people tremble or be transfixed.

I'm not quite sure exactly how things ended, but they didn't go Hermes way and Pan's People were triumphant.

Another cracking game and Kev's beautifully painted army looked amazing. He was also a gent to play with.

And with that we bade our farewells to Letsxcape café and headed home after a terrific day of gaming.
  

Olympic OGAM Day - game two

So, fortified by a Black Pudding panini (delicious) it was time to face Chris and his followers of Athena. In addition to 'er Ladyship Chris had centaurs (sober) and a small unit of hoplites with the Minotaur, Herakles and a Generic Greek hero by the name of Jason,

We were playing the sacred grove scenario.

The forces assemble

Orpheus strums a little ditty to raise morale.

The Centaurs decline to get "on the cans"

The Athena model is from the Mythic Pantheon boardgame and Chris' paint job was great. Lovely model.

Big Herk soon ran amok. Much to Odysseus' relief he headed off in a different direction

Hermes and the Harpies moved up into back field.

Perseus had joined my crew (James had some cards with small random additions to forces that we drew after each game).

My archers began creeping around the grove.

Soon enough Athena popped Hermes

And Jason did for Perseus

Odysseus finally dared the Sacred Grove and, inevitably fell victim to the vengeful spirits. Orpheus sang a lamentation.

 

Hermes popped back and clashed again with Athena, this time aweing all and sundry.

Altogether now "Awwwwwwwwww"

With time ticking Athena nudged into the grove

Orpheus did his best to stay out of range.

Herk and the lads moved up.

While Hermes went and picked on the centaurs.

The reduced harpies made a nuisance of themselves

But Athena was ruling the grove.

Herk chased off the hoplites and victory went to the goddess.

Another great fun game. A bit less swingy this one, we both stayed clear of the grove - with good reason as it turned out. Chris was a splendid opponent and his army looked cracking.

Olympic OGAM Day - the morning

James and I have talked for a while about the idea of organising an Of Gods and Mortals gaming day. With relatively small tables needed it would, we reasoned be quite easy to get a few like minded souls together in the room above a pub and play for the day. So we went ahead and booked it and invited some like minded souls. We agreed on a Greek themed day, rather than a godly free-for-all as we always like a bit of a theme to our gaming.

Unfortunately the pub neglected to mention the Nottingham Marathon would be on the day we had earmarked, rendering the car park inaccessible and meaning transporting even the small amount of scenery and soldiers a chore. However in nearby Newark there stands the very lovely Letsxcape Together Board Games Café run by one of James' chums who very generously agreed to step in at the last minute. It's a lovely café with excellent food, cakes and drinks in a historic building on Newark's market square. Well worth a visit even if you aren't planning on playing a board game.

In the end a couple of last minute Covid related drop-outs (get well soon guys) meant there would be just six of us, which fitted very nicely into the basement of the café - three from Nottingham - James, Martin and I and three from Leeds - Kev, Chris and Tom. As part of the point of days like this is to play new opponents we decided to play Notts v. Leeds in the games.

First up I was to play Tom - a Clash on the Tomtans if you will. James played Chris and Martin took on Kev.

I took my Hermes force - the god himself, Odysseus and Orpheus and a Cyclops (downgraded to big, rather than huge as he's not all that large) and with the ability to throw rocks. For mortals I had eight hoplites, six archers, five harpies (Q4, C1, flyer long move) and five sheep (Q4, C1, Animal) whose sole raison d'etre is to generate an extra die for Hermes (or bring him back if he gets killed).

Tom had a Zeus list with Cyclops, Hydra, Minotaur, Skeletons some nymphs for praying purposes and satyrs.

We played a slightly tweaked version of the temple scenario.

Orpheus and the archers seized the temple

Zeus and his lads turned up

Harpies flap in to view

Meanwhile on another part of Greece... Chris' Athena worshippers faced the Amazons of Poseidon. The harpies were protecting the well from trouble.

And further off Martin's Hecate force clashed with Kevin's Pan's People.

Back at my game Zeus and his force closed in.

Hermes pushed up at a leisurely pace.

Zeus sent his heroes to deal with the harpies.

While the Cyclops got stuck in to the Skellies.

Lightning strikes began to whittle the hoplites.

Meanwhile Poseidon had managed to summon a Kraken.

To great surprise on my table Hermes banished Zeus. Which saw the nymphs flee the table.

But the big lad was soon back.

Rain was affecting the archer's shooting.

Over by the well it was *all* kicking off.

However back at the temple Hermes got himself banished, many of his mortals fled and it was easy pickings for Zeus and his heroes to mop things up.

 A great fun morning's gaming - our game swung (as OGAM tends to) quite alarmingly with Zeus only getting the upper hand in the closing stages.

Then it was break to sample some of the excellent Letsxcape catering.