| Ralph's Game Log for March 2003 | Minutes |
| 3rd |
| Mystery Rummy 1: Jack the Ripper | Lunch Time:
Played three hands of MR1 during lunch. First hand went to Holly but once again Craig dominated the last two hands.
Criag (113), Holly (85), Me (73)
| 30 |
| 6 Nimmt! | SOG:
We had seven but didn't want to commit to a long game until the rest of the gang showed up. Eric had a knack for this game. I was doing ok but during the last two hands, I got stuck with 50 points.
Only Josh did worst than I did. We called the game as soon as Chris, Chip and Lewis showed up.
Lewis (16), Eric (23), Chip (40), Rob (42), Mark(51), Me (60), Josh (63)
| 40 |
| Modern Art | SOG:
I broke in my recent purchase of Modern Art. This was a first play for Chip.
I'm still horrible at this game. The first round look good for me since, I hesitated to bid too high.
There were a couple of time that I really blew people minds at the offers I made, most notably during the blind bids. Hope to play this at least once a month.
Rob (470), Chris (431), Chip (406), Ralph (373), Matt (349)
| 75 |
| Euphrat and Tigris | SOG:
First play for Chip. This is another of those games that I just can seem to grasp.
I love this game and this was one of the few times I really felt that I was doing good.
Chris was really going nuts building monuments and I was always getting a leader in there for some free points. Three other players were done and were looking to start a game, so I made a play that finished the game but didn't really help me.
Chris (8), Me (6), Chip (4)
| 60 |
| Call My Bluff | SOG:
Made some bluff and got caught. Went out pretty quick. Matt was doing well but he didn't have the experienced of a final confrontation, which is more a mental thing.
John, Matt, Chip, Chris, Me, Rob
| 25 |
| Hick Hack in Gackelwack | SOG:
Closer for the night, a game Rob had requested to play. Chips first play.
Chris (36), Rob (34), Ralph (33), John and Chip (26),Matt (21)
| 10 |
| 4th |
| Carcassonne | Craig's:
Went to Craig's for dinner. After dinner and ice cream, Cheryl suggested we play Carcassonne.
I started out by placing some farmers early in the game. Also got several temples and a double valued road.
Cheryl was going crazy building cities. She built a couple 30+ cities. She lapped Craig and I once. The farmers didn't help that much.
Cheryl (134), Craig (102), Me (83)
| 40 |
| Wyatt Earp | Craig's:
Play four hand of Wyatt Earp. Very close game.
Cheryl (30), Craig (28), Me (27)
| 40 |
| 5th |
| Can't Stop | Al's:
Only Al, Maria and I were on time so I pulled out my handmade version of Can't Stop. Al and Maria's first play.
Everybody busted during the first round. Maria locked out the 7 and 2 column early and beat us the punch on the 4 column.
Al and I locked out no columns.
Maria (3), Al and I (0)
| 30 |
| 6 Nimmt! | Al's:
Introduced the gang to 6 Nimmt. Played three hands, Tufo was eating chicken wings so he didn't play the first hand.
Rich broke the 66 point limit but I'm pretty sure it would have been Tofu if he had played all hands.
Steve really enjoyed it and wants to buy a copy of it.
Me (15), Al (29),Maria (39), Steve (34), Tofu (61), Rich (70)
| 40 |
| Bucket King | Al's:
Played two hands of the bucket game. First hand tufo and I got knocked out. The second hand tufo and maria got knocked out.
Al was high scorer in both games.
Al (23), Rich (15), Maria (11), Me (5), Steve (5), Tofu (0)
| 30 |
| Give me the Brain! | Al's:
Didn't have too many games that could handle 8 players. Pulled out Give me the Brain.
People enjoyed themselves but had the same remarks as Kill Dr Lucky had, "When is gonna end?!"
Tofu
| 30 |
| Call My Bluff | Al's:
What can I say, this is the groups favorite game.
Game 1:Steve, Me, Al, Roberto, Rich, Dimitri, Tofu, Maria
Game 2:Maria, Al, Dimitri, Rich, Steve, Tufo, Me, Roberto
| 60 |
| Hick Hack in Gackelwack | Al's:
Several players drifted off to play Amped on the Xbox. Steve was wonder about Hick Hack so we taught him how to play.
Roberto (42), Me (40), Maria (32), Steve (25), Rich (14)
| 30 |
| Money! | Al's:
First play for Steve and Rich. We played two hands, I scored 810 point in the first hand while Rich and Steve scored low due to a misunderstanding on the scoring.
The second round scores were a little better. Maria unload three Francs in the final exchange, which gave me a 220 point swing!
Me (1330), Roberto (920), Maria (910), Rich (850), Steve (780)
| 30 |
| 6th |
| Kingdoms | Chris's:
I was going to attend Chip's poker night but I couldn't find the house. The snow played havoc on my rat senses.
Went to Chris's house to get his phone number or address but Chris didn't have either.
We didn't even know Chip's real name, first or last. Instead I played a game of Kingdoms.
I scored huge points during the first round. I managed to out score Chris during the second round too.
It was looking good for me. Chris had his 4x castle and one of his 3x castles in addition to the standard 1x castles.
I thought I hurt his cause when I placed a nasty -6 point tile next to his 4x castle but he still managed to get enough points to beat me by two.
Chris (245), Me (243)
| |
| 7th |
| Bucket King | B20:
Campbell and I showed up about the same time. Matt and Dave F came in a few minutes later. Campbell proceeded to go over the rules of diplomacy for Dave F, since he's going to join a PBEM of it.
First game of the night was the Bucket King game with the "tie reverses" and "first player direction choice" variants.
We played three hands and it seems that Eric and Campbell were clearly whipping boys.
Dave F (4/4/7), Me (8/0/7), Matt (4/2/2), Dave L (0/4/4), Eric (7/0/0), Campbell(0/7/0)
| 60 |
| Sunda to Sahul | B20:
Vitas showed up and pushed Sunda to Sahul. It's a jigsaw/carcassonne puzzle game.
There are several ways to play the game and Vitas said that real-time was better than the turned based approach.
First game was the basic real time game.
When an island node is completed the player scores a point.
A first player to play all of his pieces ends the game.
Dave F crushed us; it only took him 5 minutes to play his 22 pieces.
Half the people left in disgust do to the nature of the game.
I pushed for a turn base version but Vitas again insisted on real time with advanced rules.
The second game would allow a player to add to a tribe instead of scoring a point for a completed node.
We would also take into account lakes/atolls. It didn't happen so it didn't matter.
Game 1:Dave F (15), Vitas (8), Mike (3), Me (3), Eric (3), Joe (0)
Game 2: Me (33), Vitas (30), Dave (26), Steve (15),Pat (7)
| 40 |
| Age of Steam | B20:
First play for Mike and Matt. We took about thirty minutes to go over the rules.
First of all, Vitas made a mistake in the first turn that would have forced him to leave the game but we forgave him and let him stay in the game.
We did the same for mike a few turns later. I have a long-term mistake in my first turn urbanization placement. I place a red city and connect to a red city.
Great move for the first turn but during the second I connect another red city and I had a railroad line connecting three red cities. Opps! I couldn't move red tokens more than one link and I had nothing else.
I was forced to use other people rails to score points.
I proceeded to issue more shares and began my slide towards bankruptcy.
Matt (61), Mike (53), Steve (37), Me (-9), Vitas (-28)
| 162 |
| Dungeoneer | B20:
Vitas had bought this game today. First play for all of us so it was slow. This was a dungeon crawl like Hack but this implementation better.
It seems to flow than Hack or Abduction.
Each time a player moves thru the dungeon they acquired Peril and Glory tokens, which are specified by the tile.
Peril is bad karma with allows opponents to play wandering monsters and traps on your character.
Glory tokens are used to get object and enhancements for your character.
Each player starts with three quest, when a quest is complete a player goes up a level.
First player to get to four level wins.
Me Sole survior, Steve (killed), Vitas (killed)
| 70 |
| 8th |
| Sands of Time (prototype) | Danger Planet:
Play tested a prototype of game being designed by Jeff who moderated the game.
This is a civilization building game with some diplomacy aspects to it.
I won't say much other than I thought it handled well for an early prototype.
Looking forward to play testing it again.
Chris (54), Matt (36), Jason (32), Rich (28), Ralph (24), Vitas (22)
| 226 |
| Money! | Ilise's:
Started the night with a game of Money while we waited for Ilise's neighbors to arrive.
We were scoring the first hand when they arrived.
First time I've seen Ilise not do well in this game.
Me (72), John (730), Ilise (400)
| 70 |
| Dominoes | Ilise's:
Debbie and Kent brought over some standard games. We played dominoes using the Chicken Feet Variant.
Doubles start a three-way branch that had to be filled before any other dominoes are placed.
We played two rounds.
Me (16), Debbie (23), Cathy (56), Kent (80), Ilise (90), John (134)
| 30 |
| Sequence | Ilise's:
This is a board game, which uses two decks of regular playing cards. Each player starts with five in their hand.
A player will play a card that match a card on the board by placing a colored chip on it, with Jacks having special abilities. After playing a card they get to draw a new one.
First team to connect "5 in a row" twice wins.
Cathy/John (2), Ilise/Kent (1), Debbie/Me (0)
| 30 |
| Hick Hack in Gackelwack | Ilise's:
Played this game for Brianna. Debbie tried to help Brianna (4 year old) with her picks but she didn't want any help. Hey, she beat two adults.
John (49), Kent (39), Ilise (32), Brianna (28), Me (19), Cathy (10)
| 30 |
| Carcassonne | Ilise's:
First play for Cathy. We went over the rules for Cathy and a refresher for Debbie and Kent.
Ilise started farming early but didn't build too many cities in her farmed areas. Kent was busy building cities and roads.
I was able to break into and dominate a farming area controlled by Ilise, which gave me enough points to win.
Me (68), Kent (67), Cathy (50), Debbie (50), Ilise (35), John (28)
| 60 |
| Call My Bluff | Ilise's:
John favorite game. Cathy's first play.
Game 1: Ilise, Cathy, Kent, Debbie, Ralph, John
Game 2: John, Me, Ilise, Kent, Debbie, Cathy
| 60 |
| 6 Nimmt | Ilise's:
Everyone played the first hand except Debbie who didn't seem interested in playing anymore.
The first game was rough since three of the rows were locked out with high cards, which no one wanted to play.
So every turn people would play cards for the empty row and the person who played the highest card got hosed.
We got Debbie to play so we would have that problem.
Me (40), Cathy (44), John (50), Debbie (57), Kent (64), Ilise (66)
| 40 |
| 10th |
| Carcassonne: Hunters and Gatherers | SOG:
Justin, Maria and I started play a game of H&G. Mark and Josh streamed in just as we started placing the first tiles.
Justin and I rush out to the lead and never looked back. I picked up the Stonehenge tile but it turned out to be useless. Mark got the forest fire late so it too was useless.
Maria and I locked up a nice 15-point river network.
Me and Justin (83), Maria (78), Josh (58), Mark (47)
| 45 |
| La Citta | SOG:
Chris wanted to play a game off his "wanna play" list. First play for Justin and Chris, so we spent about 30 minutes going over rules.
Justin started out aggressive by moving his city within the influence range. Chris and I concentrated on building farms and quarries. After the second round Chris decided to ride the odd and started adding culture to his cities. This is because after the first two rounds, 8 of the cards drawn were education and health cards, leaving 9 culture cards out of 19 left. It didn't work for him. Some how culture never was a requirement except for the last turn. I built a third city but it was too late in the game to make it worthwhile.
Justin (36), Me (31), Chris (26)
| 150 |
| 11th |
| Settlers of Catan: City and Knights | SOW:
Lloyd started out strong. I thought I messed up my placements cause I didn't have a strong wood producer but I was able to crank out the wheat.
Lloyd got he longest road pretty early and was looking at his 7th win in a row. About half way through the game I was able to take longest road and I acquired a wheat port. That move made me unstoppable.
I was able to get a couple "Defender of Catan" points and upgraded to a metro for the victory. Helen had a metro too.
Me (13), Lloyd (7), Helen (7)
| 60 |
| 12th |
| Mystery Rummy 1: Jack the Ripper | Lunch Time:
Went to lunch at Tweeds and played three hands of MR1. I won the first hand. The ripper escapes card was play in the next two hands. Once by Holly and the other by me.
Me (89), Holly (50), Dimitri (30)
| 30 |
| 15th |
| Bohnanza | Holly's:
Went to Holly's for her housewarming party and game night. First game was Bohnanza.
Ilise was playing tight, wanting free stuff but never giving.
I made several good deals with Matt and John.
It was looking like I was going to win my first game of Bohnanza but when it was over, Annette had the lead. Arggh!!!
People noticed that the people that bought the third bean field scored in the bottom half. Will track that stat.
Annette (17), Matt (15), Ilise (14), Me* (13), John* (12), Holly* (10)
* = bought third beanfield
| 540 |
| Union Pacific | Holly's:
First play for Holly, Matt and Annette. Played the rule that you can only acquire UP stock by discarding.
I played an early lead in the top three railroad and concentrated on getting the lead on UP.
John and I shared the lead in UP stock, Ilise had none and the rest shared 4th place.
Annette had a bad time since most of the stocks she placed were in heavy competition and she was usually in third place.
John (97), Me (88), Holly (88), Matt (62), Annette (59), Ilise (47)
|
| Call My Bluff | Holly's:
I played three games of bluff through out the night.
I got bounced bad in the beginning of third game when I was called on 15 five's with 4 showing and there were only 10 fives total, ugh.
Game 1: John, Christine, Matt, Annette, Me, Holly
Game 2: Annette, John, Matt, Holly, Christine, Me
Game 3: Hope, John, Matt, Kevin, Dimitri, Me
|
| Carcassonne | Holly's:
Kevin was a new player; he was recovering from his first experience with Puerto Rico.
We played with the latest rule set, which are no small city exception, and farmer wars are meadow-based instead of city-based.
This was a close game except for Dimitri who was still dazed by his Puerto Rico victory.
I was able to get into a tie by stealing a meadow from Holly.
Christine (63), Me (63), Hope (53), Kevin (52), Holly (48), Dimitri (27)
|
| Bucket King | Holly's:
I taught the group the Bucket game. They seemed a little wary about it but it looked like they enjoyed it.
Holly got the raw deal here, losing her pyramid every time.
Annette was the consistent winner.
Annette (6+5+9), Chet (5+4+2), Me (3+8+0), Christine (0+0+11), Hope (4+1+1), Holly (0+0+0)
|
| Trans America | Holly's:
We played four rounds, in which Chet won the first two and I won the next two.
Me (8), Chet (7), Annette (5), Hope (4), Holly (3), Christine (-1)
|
| Settlers of Catan | Holly's:
First play for Kevin. Matt hosed me good in this game.
He used a road-building card and built a settlement, which isolated my best settlement growth position.
I had to concentrate on my other settlement which had some low numbers but it turned out to be a blessing since those turned out to be the numbers that consistently rolled.
I was able to build three additional settlements and was close to taking longest road but John was able to take it and the largest army for the victory.
Kevin had two victory points, in addition to his three settlements.
John (10), Me (6), Matt (5), Kevin (5)
|
| 16th |
| Settlers of Catan: City and Knights | Ilise's:
I went over to Ilise's for dinner, which was followed by a game of City and Knights.
John was immediately hosed in this game, when sixes rolled about 7 or 8 in a row. He had nothing on sixes while Ilise and I had grain cities.
As a result Ilise and I were able to build knights and upgrades cities.
John got smacked by the barbarians and had a hard time rebuilding his city. Ilise and I vied for Defender Points but we always tied except near the end of the game where she won it. I was able to get a metro, the longest road, the merchant and a progress card Victory point.
Me (13), Ilise (10), John (5)
| 90 |
| 19th |
| Mamma Mia! | Lunch Time:
We decided to play a game that we don't play often. They were quick enough for two games. First game was a three tie but Holly had the most cards (tie breaker).
I was solid last in both games.
Game 1: Holly (5-5), Dimitri (5-3), Campbell (5-2), Me (4)
Game 2: Craig (8), Holly (6), Dimitri (5), Me (4)
| 90 |
| 6 Nimmt! | Al's:
Holy Moly! Chris brought in an Italian sub measuring 6 feet long and about 10 inches wide!
After the banter about Chris's sub size we commenced playing.
Chris had a knack for collecting rows with plenty of color, especially during the final hand where he scored more than half his points.
Me (14), Al (30), Tofu (38), Steve (42), Rich (51), Chris (87)
| 40 |
| Bohnanza | Al's:
Requested by Steve since it was something he wanted to play. Luckily he had read the rules online so teaching the rules was down to a quick brief.
There were plenty of crazy trades in this game but the one that stands about was Al giving two cocoa beans to Chris after he planted his cocoa beans.
Once again the third bean field buyers were at the bottom half of the scoring. hmmm....
Me (13-2), Chris (13-1), Tufo (11), Rich * (11), Al * (10), Steve * (9), Roberto * (9)
| 60 |
| Settlers of Catan | Al's:
Another game requested by Steve.
Went over the rules for Steve, which took about 15 minutes mainly due to the fact that everyone had to watch the intro for Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball, an Xbox game with a high jiggle factor marketed to young boys and married men.
I dominate the game on good placement and lucky rolls. I won by having four cities, a settlement and acquiring a dev card VP. I was also one away from longest road and largest army. Luckily the spanking didn't turn of Steve who is still interested in play SOC again.
Me (10), Roberto (4), Steve (4), Chris (3)
| 60 |
| Wizard | Al's:
Decided to teach the group a game I enjoy but don't play enough. I used my Rage cards to create the wizard deck.
Went over the rules and game proceeded smoothly after the third hand.
It seemed Chris didn't hear the "you must play a card from the lead suit if you have one" rule.
Al had the lead through out the game but falter at the end. People enjoyed the game. Hopefully it will be played a little more often.
Roberto (190), Al (150), Chris (130), Me (120), Maria (90), Steve (90)
| 60 |
| 21th |
| Mare Nostrum | B20:
Played my first game of Mare Nostrum. We spent about thirty minutes going over rules.
I was Egypt, Adam was Rome, Scott was Carthage, Dave was Greece and Ben was Babylon.
The game started out peacefully with Scott and I concentrating on retaining our power positions by building our respective items.
Adam and Dave built up their armies.
After the first wave of wonder/hero building, defenses went up.
Ben attacked my homeland and took control of the cities but I was able to counter attack and regain control.
Scott and Dave took advantage of the situation.
Scott attacked and possessed another of my province while Dave took over a Babylonian province. With Ben having to defend his territory, I was able to counterattack and keep control of the province.
Dave resorted to doing hit and run raids; take a province's cities and caravans for a turn and retreating so not to lose any troops.
Adam was on the verge of winning by getting three Hero/Wonders, so Scott, the Commerce director, made sure no trading was done.
During this time, I was able to build my third Hero/Wonder because I was able to get 9 taxes. Once again attention was turn toward me with the Dave coming over to occupy a province. I was able to once again recover my province keep the taxes and goods flowing. I was able to get 9 taxes, so the Commerce director issued a 10 card trading session in the hope that the others would conspire to keep the necessary cards away from the leaders.
Realizing that people would try to prevent me from getting taxes I decided to get a resource set instead.
Luckily, no one realized what I was doing until it was too late. Since I was Political directory I choose myself to have the first building phase. Turns out that Adam had enough to build his 4th and Dave acquired enough taxes for the Pyramids.
Me-Egypt (4), Adam-Roman (3), Dave-Greece (2), Scott-Carthage (2), Ben-Babylon (2)
| 240 |
| Settlers of Catan: City and Knights | B20:
We got a game of City and Knights going. Kyle, Campbell and Jesse were veteran players that have apparently being playing the game slightly wrong.
Rules that I had to correct.
* VP progress cards have to be played immediately.
* The merchant piece is worth a VP
* Diplomat card cannot be used to remove a road that has a knight a the end of the road.
* The player playing Turncoat card doesn't pick which opponent's knight to remove.
After verifying several of the rule misconceptions, I was referred to as the Human Almanac.
Campbell had a bad set up and the initial rolls didn't help him.
Jesse and I got off to an early lead and I eventually got 10 point by claiming the longest road and getting the Merchant piece.
Of course I became the focal point of everyones attention.
Kyle exploded to victory by building a city, getting a metro, getting longest road and the merchant all in one turn.
Kyle (13), Jesse (8), Me (7), Campbell (6)
| 80 |
| 22nd |
| Purchase:Mare Nostrum ($45), Meuterer ($6.50), and Giganten ($33) |
| Flux | Chris's:
Chris, Maya, Karen and I played two games of Flux while we waited for more people to show up.
Game 1: Me (Goal: Chocolate Milk)
Game 2: Me (Goal: Only Love)
| 35 |
| Bohnanza | Chris's:
Roberto (16), Maya (13), Al (12), Me (11), Chris (10), Maria (9),Karen (2)
| 60 |
| 6 Nimmt | Chris's:
We had nine people and I only had one game that could handle it. Most of the people had never played this game so I went over the rules.
We play only one hand since more people arrived during the first hand.
Susan thought she was worst player but I showed her my log, which had Chris recent scores, it made her a little happier.
Chris (1), Al (2), Karen (6), Tom (8), Me (13), Maria (18), Maya (22), Roberto (22), Susan (40)
| 30 |
| Werewolf | Chris's:
We had 13 or so people in the house giving us enough people to play Werewolf.
Chris tossed in some roles, in hope that people to role-play (i.e., merchants, town whore, town drunk).
I played the drunk even when I didn't have the role. :)
Game 1: Werewolves win
Game 2: Villagers win
Game 3: Villagers win
| 90 |
| Carcassonne | Chris's:
We split up into two groups of to play Carcassonne.
We went over the rules for the first timers.
I decided not to play any farmers because as Al later stated, "those blank stares said it all".
This group wasn't really a gaming group and I think Carcassone was pushing the limits.
Tom(62), Frank (57), Roberto (53), Chris (53), Jeremy (44), Me(43)
| 60 |
| Apples to Apples | Chris's:
Went back to playing a game more suited for the group.
Chris, Frank, Louise, Tom, Me, Kristin, Jermey, Susan, and Maya, played two games of Apple to Apples.
Game 1: Kristin
Game 2: Kristin
| 90 |
| 22nd |
| Wyatt Earp | Lunch Time:
We played three hands of Wyatt Earp. This was the first time Craig didn't ask, "how do play this game". I guess it is finally starting to sink in.
He still kicked our butts.
Craig (33), Dimitri(22), Me (20)
| 40 |
| Money! | SOG:
Chip and Vitas were wondering why Money had garnered such an interest on the Unity Games discussion group.
I went over rules a couple of times cause people kept arriving.
Rob (540), Chip (340), Me (310), Lewis (260), Vitas (100)
| 30 |
| Call My Bluff | SOG:
Marcus, Chris's neighbor, showed up to tell us he couldn't play. Since Chris was busy putting his munchkins to sleep and Bluff is best with six we convinced him to play one game.
First play for Marcus so we gave him a quick run down of the rules. He was to my left; needless to say he was out pretty fast.
Rob was knocked out when he called Lewis and the bid was correct. Lewis had 5 dice and I had four.
Losing one die at a time I was able to whittle Lewis away. I had three dice left when I knocked him out.
Me, Lewis, Rob, Vitas, Chip, Marcus
| 30 |
| Torres | SOG:
We had to give up on playing Mare Nostrum because we had six and it can only handle five. Chris, Lewis and Vitas decided to play Age of Steam and I join the group playing Torres.
It looked like one of those abstract games I usually don't enjoy but this one proved to be interesting.
The idea of the game is to build and control castles where the value of the castle is equal to the base times the height of your highest knight.
The game has three round and each round has four turns. During each turn a player had five action points which can be used to place blocks, move and/or create knights, buy action cards, etc.
At the end of each round the castle are scored and the lowest player moves the king (bonus points) to a different castle.
Me (250), Rob (234), Chip (223)
| 60 |
| Bohnanza | SOG:
Chip pushed for Space Beans but Rob and I preferred to play Bohnanza. Since Rob was the play who recently had eaten bean we gave him the first player status.
First time I've played with three players and it is definitely different.
The quick turn around between turns caused me to harvest beans earlier than I'm used to.
Rob was really good at making deals and got some really lucky draws too!
Once again the 3rd bean field buyers scored on the lower half.
Rob (32), Chip* (25), Me* (22)
| 45 |
| Lost Cities | SOG:
Chip left and the others were still playing their game. It was time for a two-player game, so we choose Lost Cities.
Had one good hand, but it was countered balanced by two really bad hands!
Rob (45+4+28=77), Me (-13+68+0=55)
| 30 |
| Settlers of Catan: City and Knights | Online:
Tried to get Chris into a game of Catan but he was busy playing Battle Cry. It was off to the races with Lloyd and I, the winners of the last five games. We both were vying for a 3 for 1 port.
I lost and Lloyd got a commanding lead. It was starting to look like he was going to get another notch in his belt when the rolls turn toward my favor.
I developed a brick strategy for the game and getting the merchant help out. I got longest road, three cities, two settlements and the merchant. I was one metro away from winning when the seven started rolling.
It just seemed that whenever I had enough material to get a metro or upgrade my settlement to a city the seven would roll.
John didn't have that problem, he took longest road and this built two metros for the win.
John (13), Lloyd (12), Me (9), James (9), Helen (5)
| 120 |
| 27th |
| Drakon | Danger Planet:
Karl and I were going over the rules for Crypt when Cindy and Vitas showed up.
I only had two starter packs of Cyrpt, so Karl pulled out Drakon, which can handle up to 6.
This is a tile laying game where the object is to be the first player to collect 5 gold.
Each turn a player places a tile or moves his Hero.
Some tiles cause the player to take special actions, some good some bad.
Kyle broke away from the main group of players and built himself a repeating loop for collecting gold from other players.
Karl (5), Vitas (3), Me (2), Cindy (0)
| 50 |
| Dungeoneer | Danger Planet:
Vitas continued the dungeon crawling theme by pushing Dungeoneer.
This was the first play for Karl and Cindy.
Each player gets a hero and three quests to accomplish. The first player to finish his quests wins the game.
I began by get a good opportunity at completing my one of my quest during my first turn but I couldn't beat the "Troll".
I decided to complete my easier quests but a Crypt Ghost killed me in the Crypt.
Karl's hero died while trying to fulfill the "Impale Vladimir" quest while in the Crypt. Hmm, a trend.
Vitas and Cindy continued the game, while Karl and I drifted off to browse the store and play another game.
Cindy won by completing her third quest, Vitas was still lost in the dungeon.
Cindy (Lvl 4), Vitas (Lvl 2), Karl (Lvl 1), Me (Lvl 1)
| 70 |
| Lightspeed | Danger Planet:
Karl and I played a game of Lightspeed. This is a "real-time" game were players play cards around an asteroid card.
Once a player places his last card a scoring round begins. Yes the slow players are screwed cause they can't play their remaining cards.
In ascending order, each ship determines the result of the ship's laser fire. If a ship hits another ship that ship takes damage. If it hits an asteroid it mines the asteroid.
Ships with more damage than health are destroyed and the player that scored the most damage gets the ships. A player's score is the sum of the ship destroyed and mined asteroid points.
Karl and I didn't feel too thrilled about it and we stopped after the first round.
After the Dungeoneer game was over we played it again as a four-player game, which made it a little more interesting.
Game 1: Karl (19), Me (10)
Game 2: Me (25), Karl (20), Cindy (19), Vitas (8)
| 30 |
| 27th |
| Kings and Things | Ilise's:
A few months ago, John and Ilise played a game of Kings and Things.
They liked it so much that they asked me to find them a copy of it.
After a few unsuccessful attempts at acquiring it via Ebay,
I mentioned that there was a German version of the game.
The order finally arrived and we immediately broke it in.
We have to declare this game an asterisk game because I failed to add the City and Village tokens to the mix till about half way thru the game.
John started out strong getting by getting two income tiles giving him a strong money start.
Everyone except for me encountered no resistance to their expansions.
During the fifth turn John suffered an all out attack because he had acquired enough income to build a citadel.
Ilise attacked two tiles, Kurt used all of his flying creatures for an attack on another tile and I assaulted two other tiles.
He lost all the battles. I acquired enough income sources to build my citadel, he he sneaky.
On the next turn, I did an assault on John's Fortress hex. I succeeded in taking the hex and the Fortress was destroyed.
I won because no one else was able to build a citadel.
Me, Ilise, Kurt, John
| 210 |
| Settlers of Catan | Ilise's:
It was late but we were able to entice Kurt into playing a game of Settlers. Once again John got to a great start by dominating the ore tiles and building on the ore port.
John stalled in the mid game due to robber placement and die rolls.
I focused on brick and wood hexes because I figured I could grow to the ore but Kurt and John blocked me out with their initial growth. I was forced to build roads and settlements. There was a three-way race for longest road, which I secured when I built the longest possible road.
I started buying development cards and got two victory points.
Ilise started off slow but was able to surround a sheep hex in addition to building a sheep port. She made a late game charge for the lead but it was Kurt who got there first.
Kurt won it by building settlements and upgrading them to cities and getting the largest army.
Kurt (10), Ilise (9), Me (9), John (5)
| 65 |
| 29th |
| Napoleon in Europe | Monster Night:
A month earlier Vitas bought a copy of Napoleon in Europe for 1/2 price and I agreed to host the game.
The scenario, Peace and Options, wasn't too heavy on the troops so it was pretty easy to set up.
We started the game after the rules brief and dinner.
The nation order was as follows:
Rob (France), Vitas (England), Me (Prussia), Marcus (Russia), Chris (Austria)
No alliance, everybody neutral.
It a large map, bit loaded monster of a game with plenty of downtime, especially when there were battles to be played.
Chris and I looked over Hammer of the Scots and played about three turns of it during our downtime. Marcus perused thru my collection of Roborally tiles.
Rob and Vitas never had downtime cause they seemed to be involved with most of the battles.
So what happened? France attacked Austria. Austria not content with a one front war attacked the Ottoman Empire.
Russia happily joined in the fray against the Ottoman Empire.
England invaded Denmark but Prussia protested by moving a large force to threaten the English in Denmark.
The English backed off and attacked Spain and lost lots of troops.
A confident Prussia annexed Denmark and several other minor nations.
The Ottoman Empire collapsed and sued for peace.
Five turns and four and one half hours later the game was terminated.
Vitas (Major Victory captured nothing, retained naval supremacy; what a great game!)
Marcus (Major Victory captured half of the Ottoman Empire, the true winner)
Chris (Minor Victory, captured half of the Ottoman Empire and all he got was a lousy tshirt.)
France (Survival - What can you say about the French)
Prussia (Survival- Peace doesn't pay)
| 270 |
| Call my Bluff | Monster Night:
Played a quick game of bluff. Chris was elated he came in second.
Me, Chris, Marcus, Vitas, Rob
| 20 |
| Big Cheese | Monster Night:
Vitas pushing a load of Cheapass games on us, while Chris and I pushed for Modern Art.
We compromised, one cheapass game and then Modern Art.
This was a bidding game (like Modern Art) with cheesy art (no cheese in Modern Art).
Each player starts with 10 tokens (100 in Modern Art). The deck is comprised of cards like Veto, Big Cheese and values of 2,4,6,8,10,12 and 20 (pretty color pictures in Modern Art).
Veto returns the current card to the bottom of the deck. The Big Cheese gives you a re-roll. The value cards score a die roll of the appropriate die. The first player to 40 points wins.
Each turn a card is flipped over and players bid for it (just like Modern Art).
The winner takes the card and placed his bid tokens on the card.
Any previous card with token gets to remove one token, which returns to the player bidding pile.
A card that has its last token removed scores a die roll of the card value.
After of couple of rounds of bidding a certain chant began and it gave me the willies. It went like this;
2, 3, 4, 5, Remove your tokens, 2,3,4,5 remove your tokens, 2, 3,4,5 remove your tokens.
I'm pretty sure someone fired up some incense and started speaking Latin.
Pretty soon I was in an altered state and I drifted away.
I returned when Vitas broke the rhythm by claiming victory.
Vitas (43), Marcus (35), Me (29), Chris (29), Rob (20)
| 20 |
| Modern Art | Monster Night:
More proof that I really suck at this game. After three games I felt I was getting a handle on this game.
There were two newbies, Rob and Marcus, and Vitas.
I felt my only true opponent would be Chris.
Rob's initial crazy bids gave me a good feeling that I was going to do well in tonight's game. Hell, even Vitas did some crazy bids, like paying me more for a picture than its maximum possible value.
Several times I beat down my urge to bid high and let other people take the hits.
When the game was over the crazed bidders were on top and I was dead last. Arrghhh!
Vitas (425), Rob (407), Chris (341), Marcus (341), Me (294)
| 60 |
| 31th |
| Mystery Rummy 1: Jack the Ripper | Lunch Time:
Lunch time at Harry's. Play four hands. Dimitri had done something I've never seen before, he got negative points on a hand.
Me (93), Holly (87), Dimitri (35), Craig (17)
| 40 |
| Bucket King | SOG:
We started a game of the Bucket King while we waited for more people to show up.
Rob was knocked out first followed by Lewis.
Pete and Matt arrived as we finished the first hand.
Me (5), Chip (5), Josh (1), Lewis (0), Rob (0)
| 20 |
| Settlers of the Stone Age | SOG:
Josh pulled out the new Settlers game and Chip ran off to join Pete and Matt who were going to play games not named Settlers.
Josh went over the rules for Rob and Lewis. We used the basic set up provided in the rules.
The game was off to a slow started due to some bad rolls. The initial thrust was to move our nomads to asia/europe and create new settlements.
Once the game was rolling we started the "he so winning" routine between Josh, Rob and I.
Josh had run up a huge lead on the exploration chits before we realized its strength. The exploration chits reward the collector victory points; move robber or the nasty ability to convert a hex in Africa into a desert.
I was the first into North America but Rob beat me into Australia for the peoples (1 of each of the 4 races) VP bonus.
Josh won by building a settlement and pushing on the of tech trees to the max level for a bonus VP.
Josh (10), Rob (8), Me (5), Lewis (4)
| 90 |
| Money! | SOG:
We broking in Josh's Money game while we waited for Chip & company finish their third game. They finished just as we finished the first hand.
Rob (580), Me (540), Lewis (510), Josh (130)
| 20 |
| Sternenhimmel | SOG:
Chip and Josh called it a night so we were down to five.
We played this semi-blind influence game that uses mats of constellations, which are comprised of major and minor stars.
Each player gets tokens, which are placed, on the stars of the constellation.
If the star is a major star then the token is placed hidden otherwise it's placed value up.
The constellation mat is scored when they are full and replace by a new mat, player get their tokens back.
The interesting aspect of the game is that you're better off getting second place because the points for third place come from the first place player.
I don't how I did it but I was able to squeak out a victory. Interesting game would play again.
Me (42), Matt (41), Rob (34), Lewis (29), Pete (Unmentionable)
| 60 |
