A trip back in time

A day spent at Awdry Towers took us deep into the jungle. It was a completely immersive experience. Never has so much work gone into the preparation for a days gaming. The board, the models, the ideas it was simply amazing!! We were playing something completely new and as such we brought no models or dice or anything, just turn up and play. The game - CONGO - and it was a blast.

The Game

First off it is worth taking a look at Michaels blog to really get a look at the models we were using. They are simply stunning! This was complemented by amazing and bespoke terrain features and all played out on a neoprene battle mat of jungle design. Stunning. Just look at the skull rock below. There are vines and pots and dead bodies and.... The bits box at Awdry Towers is exceptional.

Terrain features

The central idea is that a 'white man' caravan is trudging through the jungle exploring as they go. They come across a giant ape and want to capture it. The natives have other ideas and set about the new comers.

Stunning detail

The models made the whole experience truly believable. I mean the chap above looks like he could walk across the table on his own.

The giant ape

The game mechanics are unique, at least they were for me. There is a combination of tokens, dice and cards. Easy to pick up and like anything it has layers once you get into it. It was a hugely enjoyable day and we got a couple of games in. One of the things I liked about it was when rolling the dice  all you needed was 5+ to be successful. The nice thing was that you could use D6, D8 and D10's in combination depending on the the skill of the character. No complicated tables. A really neat dynamic.

Ambushed by a spider

The pieces of terrain could be 'explored'. Basically when you go into the terrain different things could happen. This was cool and brought an 'edge' to the game. Michael had models for all the potential creatures that might be encountered. Really good fun.

Warthog attacks

We also had a handful of cards with different actions. For each round you selected three to play and discarded the others. Then the cards are played in order. This was a good mechanic because it made you think about what you wanted to happen and select the cards that would help you most. The difficult thing was actually making it happen in the game.

Restless natives

I had one of the best days ever when it came to dice rolling. I mean I was on fire!! I played the natives in the first game and pretty soon figured out that it was like playing Orks. So I thought that I would throw myself into it and thrash these funny looking white people. I went on the attack looking to overwhelm and just kept up the onslaught. I got myself into position and pounced. Everyone attacking at the same time. I giggled and taunted my way through the morning making loads and loads of 5+ rolls. At one point 8 5+ saves on D6 in a row! It is the Ork way!! It was amazing and I spanked the opposition and crowed my way through lunch, as you do.

Pygmy King - The Victorious

A magnificent day at Awdry Towers and a big thank you to Michael for hosting, and doing such a great job with both the models and the scenery. Well done sir!