Shores of Tripoli Wargame Playthrough - Episode 1 - Fort Circle Games - Session 

Thanks, Dragons! That's cool to hear! It's a very accessible historical game, which helps a lot, and I'm always curious to hear how it strikes people who aren't familiar with this category of game. Graphically, the pieces and the map help draw me in as well. Thanks!

Not late at all. It's an eternal digital party! Thanks for stopping in, Hex, and I hope you enjoyed them! :)

Thanks, and yes, this one is designed to be fast to play, less than an hour in most cases. :)

Thanks! And that's awesome regarding Men of Iron! I'd be curious to hear how you like it. There are so many scenarios to play in that game, such great value. I'm going to move to some of the bigger ones (off camera).

Thanks! I've really enjoyed playing this one. The AI bot makes for a fun and challenging fast game. :)

Thanks, Mike! I'm glad you liked it. I've played this game more than any other game I have, as it's great for 2-player single sitting games. :) I did pick up the digital version of Red Sea, I should add that one to the list, yes. :)

Yes, the dice gods have shined on us so far! I think we've been above average in rolling hits as the US, and Tripoli has been right about on average with their raiding rolls, maybe? ~ The cards drive a lot of the events roughly along historical lines, and there is a very powerful card that the Tripoli player will always want to play that removes Swedish support. I'm not up on role Sweden played in the war, but I'm assuming their support and subsequent withdrawal are both historical events that play out in the game. The game does a good job of incorporating the history into the gameplay in a way that doesn't feel overly constricting.

Thanks, Charles! This was a fun little series to make. The game continues to surprise me with its layers of depth.

@@ZillaBlitz never had a game that I had so much fun losing.😃

It's nice, too, because if you lose, it's not like you've lost in 3 hours. You've probably lost in about 30 minutes, which feels ... less painful. :)

The solo rules are pretty straightforward for the pirates, but their play will change as cards come into play for them and we (hopefully) start to put pressure on them. As a human Tripoli player, it's quite different. They have three ways to win, and while raiding is the early and obvious path, they need to make a lot of decisions as the game progresses and have to balance defense with offense, and consider where to press for victory and when to defend.

I'm curious, how do you mean? Easy to win?

Yes easy to win

Interesting, you're one of three people who have mentioned that now. :) I'm going to do a full review after the playthrough, where I'll comment on it more, but at this point I think that might be _slightly_ true. Things will shift (I hope) as this playthrough progresses. I think there are a bunch of things in play that impact this: gameflow, complexity, knowledge of the game/cards, luck, and inherent difficulty.

Ha! I totally forgot I did that. :)

@@ZillaBlitz Cracked me up! I have had this game in my "someday I'll pull the trigger" cart for a while... Stumbling across your playthroughs from last year finally convinced me - it also helped that I found it on Amazon (free shipping is a hell of a temptation). My copy is supposed to arrive Monday, now. Funny thing is that I found your Tripoli playthroughs as "suggested videos" while watching your Votes for Women playthrough - and now I want to have that in my collection as well - so ...

Oh, that's interesting that the recommendations are from the same company, interesting. I suppose that makes sense from a YT standpoint. :) I hope you enjoy Shore of Tripoli! It was my most played game last year. I'd also recommend checking out the Shore of Tripoli on Rally the Troops, where you can play asynchronous anytime. It's a great way to get lots of games in against other humans. :)

@@ZillaBlitz Yeah, I noticed the Fort Circle games connection too. I received Shores over the weekend, but haven't had time to play yet (long story). I sleeved the cards, though - lol. Speaking of Fort Circle Games, have you put up the third episode of Votes for Women yet? I don't see it ...

Hi Joel - I got a bit sidetracked with some real life stuff the past week or so, but should be posting the next episode this weekend if all goes well. :)