Through The Ages

The attendies were in the mood for TtA, so TtA we played. This game was interesting in that only one attack was made during the game. And absolutely no wars. Which is good, I guess, since I spent the whole game behind militarily. Also, there were no colonies that were up for grabs. It seems that I was the only one drawing them and I discarded them since I couldn’t fight for them. Mike was ahead for most of the game. But I finally got my victory point generation going with 21 victory points a turn. It took me a while to catch up, but I finally did. And when the final scoring came around, I stayed in the lead (probably because I drew most of the scoring cards and decided which ones to put in).

Merchants of Venus

Tonight was a repeat of last week. We played the same two games as we did then. First of was Merchants of Venus with five people.

Race For The Galaxy

And then we played Race For The Galaxy. Not that much to add this time around…

Race For The Galaxy

First up was a two player game of Race For The Galaxy while we waited for Jon to arrive. I started off with the New Sparta home world and a bunch of useless developments. However, I soon drew the New Galactic Order. That was just too tempting not to use. So I spent all of my cards to lay it down. Now I am looking at a +4 on military worlds and no cards in my hand. So I am reduced to trying to draw military worlds. Which, I learned, is hard to do. I certainly suffered for it. I eventually ended up with a +11 military ability, the Galactic Imperium, the Rebel Homeworld, and the Rebel Base. But it was just not enough points for the win.

Merchants of Venus

Next up was an old Avalon Hill game that I just recently came across. I played it during the Lone Star convention and fell in love with it. At least enough in love for the $80 going price for it on eBay. This is a shipping game. But based in space with a Science Fiction theme. It also has a dice component to it. You roll a number of dice that is your engine level. The sum of these dice is how far you can move. And you pick one of the dice as your “navigation number” which is sometimes important along some switching segments. So the randomness of the dice is not that painful usually but it can be critical sometimes. It is more about establishing profitable trade routes. The first person to $2000 will win the game.

So, towards the end of the game, I count up my money and add it to what I will get on the next trade that I will get when I land on the planet. And it comes out to $1999! Argh! One dollar short of victory! If I had only have known on the turn before that I could have traded an artifact in for half value. I also have in front of me two unused I.O.U. chits from way back when I discovered those two civilizations. Sigh. Sadly, this money does not count for the win. Fortunately, Jon finds out that he is also short to win on the next turn.

So it comes back to my turn. I need to roll one 5 on four dice to activate my tele-gate and make it to the planet to trade the goods in for the win. I roll the dice and no 5 is rolled! Argh! Fortunately, I also have the mulligan drive artifact and can re-roll one die. Which comes out a 5!!! Woot! How dramatic of an ending…

To Court The King

We finished up the night with a light dice game to counteract the meaty dice game. Man, its been a while since I have played To Court The King. It seems that the dice god was favoring me tonight. I started off strong and kept progressing up through the levels. I reached the King first and was easily able to roll the best set of numbers for the win.

Roll Through The Ages

First up was an interesting dice game based on one of my favorite games, Through The Ages. This is a heavy game. The dice are wooden. There are four wooden peg boards. And there is a rather thick score pad. I like the game! It has the feel of a lightweight version of TtA and the feel of a push your luck dice game.

Torres

Next up was an older game. Sadly, it seems that I only play this game once every year or so. Too many games and not enough game days. I did quite well in the game. And ended up in first place.

Race For The Galaxy: The Gathering Storm

We played Race For The Galaxy with the expansion pack. It comes with a number of modules. One module is more cards to add (to allow another player to play). Another module is bonus points to compete for (like first with a 6 development, or first with powers for all phases, or most developments, or most producing planets, etc). We played with these two parts. I like the fact that this game also comes with blank cards where you can define your own powers. And some other time I will have to try the solo game (at least once).

Fast Flowing Forrest Fellers

Next up was the latest Friedemann Friese game. A four F title. This is a lighter game about trying to get your pieces from one end of the board to the other. Some parts of the board have current on them which automatically moves the pieces. Some areas have logs floating on them which you have to push past. But you can only push up to two things in front of yourself. So, ideally, you want to have your three pieces in a row and have the third piece do the moving/pushing.

Medici

Tonight, we had six people. Usually, we split off into two separate groups of three (ignoring the amusing one and five suggestion). However we decided to play six player games. First up was Medici. It proved rather hard to find goods that other people were not fighting over. Usually it is something that three people want. I didn’t do to well in this game. And, to top it off, my last bid was a mistake that cost me a rank in the final score.

Imperial

Ah, my favorite rondel game. We played both without the investor card and with initial purchasing of shares (rather than the pre-determined setup). This game was quite different than every other game that I have played of this. I initially had control of one country: Russia. I later took over control of another neighboring country: Germany. However, and this is what turned it into a different game, I lost control of both of those countries before I had the chance to take them to taxation (and get a bonus for my effort). Now that I am without controlling interest, I am in a good position. I sit back and watch which countries are likely to get the best multipliers. I then invest in them but only enough to avoid taking control of the countries. This allows me buy shares in countries before everyone else. Which is really powerful.

Thankfully, everyone was running their countries correctly. They were concentrating on making the countries pay out and not wasting their time on other useless options. Both Chapel and Mike were in the end-game stage of paying extra for the taxation/invest loop. This helps both make sure that your country ends up in the times five multiplier and gives more money for you to purchase other shares. Naturally, I also took advantage of their efforts.

In the end, I ended up winning the game while spending the vast majority of it not running a country. Which is a tough and satisfying accomplishment.

Steel Driver

With the holidays and all, another game day was in order. First up was Steel Driver. In this game, I tried a different strategy. Well, I tried two different things. I saved up my bid so that I could higher and therefore build longer on later turns. I also avoid trying to maximize my build score and focus on cheap routes, but longer term prospects. In the end, since I didn’t get two shares a round like everyone else, my score suffered. The number of shares really does matter. And it seemed that building tactically for maximal score was better than encouraging long term planning and cooperation. Which reduces my rating of this game slightly.

Le Havre

Next up was Le Havre. This game is pretty Agricola-like and I struggle to find reasons to own the two. Le Havre’s problem is that the game exponentially bogs down as more and more new cards are added to the mix of available buildings.

In this game, Mike shipped (goods for money) four times and I only did that once. I believe that this was the difference in our scores. I was able to build two luxury liners to his one. But he still beat me in points.

Witch’s Brew

Vacation is running out of time to be used. So we might as well use it on gaming. Ed and Susan brought new games with them which effectively rendered my large collection useless. We started with a new Alea game about collecting ingredients to build potions and score them. Unfortunately for me, this is a blind guessing game. Everyone selects 5 cards from a hand of 12 roles. Then the roles are individually revealed. If no one else picked your role, you lucked out! If they did, the first person very likely to be screwed. The second person must decide to let it pass and get less of the result or try and take over the first person’s role. If you are the last person in the chain, the decision is a no-brainer: screw the first person! Otherwise, you must decide if the people downstream of you are likely to have the card.

This type of mechanic immediately puts this game in the the light-weight category. Sure, you might be able to guess what people are likely to go for. But not entirely and not with any surety. Definitely not one for my game collection. And not one to play again any time soon with all of the choices out there…

Sutter’s Mill

Next up was a game with more of a perfect information, no luck based design. Thematically, it is set in the gold-rush Old West. It has two major phases: building up your pieces and abilities, and tearing down what you previously built up. The key decision in this game is deciding when to switch from build-up to tear-down. Because you cannot go back!

It was my favorite of the night. And one I would be willing to try again.

Battlestar Galactica

Ahh, a two-sided game. Good versus Evil. Or, in this Sci-Fi themed game: Humans versus Cylons. You start off the game as everyone being Humans. Or at least claiming to be Humans. There are secret identities that are dealt out. One at the beginning and a second during the halfway point in the game. So, you could start out as a Human only to discover that you are actually a Cylon sleeper agent! Neat. This means that you have to play the game on the edge of a balanced agenda. You don’t want to help the Humans out too much because you just might be doing the wrong thing.

Chapel was playing Gaius Baltar, and he had the first move in the game. He plays a card that allows him to look at Susan’s (playing Laura Roslin) secret identity. He then loudly declares that Roslin is a Cylon! Hrm, how interesting. It wouldn’t make sense that one Human says that another Human is actually the enemy. Or that one Cylon would out a co-conspirator as an enemy. That would mean that either Baltar is a Cylon or Roslin is a Cylon. But who do I believe? And that is the real dilemma here. Susan was pretty quiet so I leaned towards believing Mike. But, as a group, we did nothing. However, Mike’s constant accusations did force Susan’s hand. She declared herself as a Cylon, switched sides, and started working to help the enemy.

In this game there are two Cylons and three Humans. Who is the second one? And would we have to wait until the second half of the game to find out? But it turned out that Jon was indeed an early Cylon. He declared himself and switched sides as well. Unfortunately, we could do nothing about it.

The Humans at this point were in a world of pain. Critical supplies such as food, fuel, and population were running out. We fought the brave fight, took many risks to try and reach Earth, but, in the end, we failed…

Nowadays, there are many choices for cooperative games where someone (or some group of people) is a traitor. I am not a fan of owning them all, so I would have to pick one. And this one would be it. I like the Sci-Fi theme and the mechanics just fine.

Bunte Runde

We started out with a filler game of Bunte Runde. It was nice and quick and definitely ranks high on Knizia fillers.

Big Three

Next up was a quick game of Big Three. We were waiting for a fourth but he never showed. It was quick and brutally one-sided. I ruled them all!

After The Flood

Well, onto the meat for the night. I used the same strategy as I did in my first playing of it: secure Nippur and control a lot of Sumer. And it worked well, putting me way ahead in the game. I was able to score with one completed city and troops as much points as people with two completed cities and no troops. So, when I started scoring my cities, I pulled ahead for the win.