Fjords

While Adam and I were waiting for people to show up, we started out with this new two player game. It is played in two phases. The first is carcassonne-like where you create the area of the Fjord and place farm houses on it. During the second phase, you claim territory by placing markers on farmland. The player who places more markers will win the round. We only played one round but I was able to win it. I would certinally like to play it again.

Fiese Freunde Fette Feten

Mike and I orded this new Friedemann Friese game from Adam Spielte because there were rumours that Rio Grande Games was going to censor it and tone it down (which is a shame. they were a good company. we are adults here). This game is basically a set collecting game. It seemed like it would be a fun game. But this requires that all of the people get into the mood of role playing during the game. Unfortuately, I was counting on (social gamer) Mike to liven it up but he was quiet and reserved during the game (too bad Dan wasn’t playing it). I would certinally play it again with the right crowd.

Ubongo

For our next game, we play a quick playing puzzle game. Each player has a set of twelve colored tetris like pieces and receives one puzzle card. Then, each player flips the card over and reveals a number of tetris pieces and the shape that they have to arrange the pieces into. The first player that solves the puzzle in the time alloted can then move up to three spaces and then collect the first two gems on the board. The next can move up to two spaces (progressing down to zero). At the end of the game, the person with the most like colored gems wins the game. This was an unexpectedly fun and tense game for me.

Easy Come, Easy Go

To finish up the night we played two games of Easy Come, Easy Go. I am still liking this game as a quick filler game. There is a little bit of thought that is required when you decide which dice to lock (and therefore, which prize to go after).

That’s Life

Well, I hosted a somewhat last minute Labor Day Gaming. I am so out of touch with holidays that I didn’t know that Labor Day was coming up until my manager mentioned it. We always intend that during these day gaming sessions people will play longer, meatier games. Since a couple of people were running late, we started off with a quick and light game. And unfortunately for me, the dice hated me and I got my lowest score ever. Which made me realize that when the dice hate you, this game does not give you that many other choices. Yes, you can hope move the sentinels but other people (who are having better luck) are doing that as well. Fortunately, its a quick game.

Wallenstein

Sadly, this game was the only long and meaty game that I played. And we got off to a rough start. I has been a while (year +) since we played this game last so we slowly read the rules. The translated rules are rather horrible and left many holes/questions. Fortunately, Ed has played the game online and was able to answer our questions. Also, Mike wanders by after we carefully set up the game and seed the cube tower. He picks up the tower and shakes it and asks “What’s this?” Gah!

This is a game that would play better when all of the players are experienced and familiar with the strategy. I was able to get second place, but I was not aggressive enough in the end.

Roborally

Ed brought out Roborally for us to play. And it has been a while since I have played this game online, so I decided to give it a try. And boy, what a chaotic and painfull game it was. If your robot has no damage, then you get nine cards to play which you must quickly figure out which order to place them so that you can move towards a goal. I was dealt a lot of useless cards (almost all turns or all moves). Which meant that it was not until the third turn that I was able to move out of the starting gate. I was able to eventually get close to the third goal, but Susan was able to win the game. So we decided to play again. This time we all got three option cards and was able to choose one. I chose double lasers which I thought would be nasty. Ed chose an option that allowed him to lock one of the opponent’s cards. Susan chose remote control which was by far the most dangerous weapon in the game. When you are hit with it, you erase the opponent’s cards and they use yours. Needless to say, Susan was able to hose Ed and take him out of the running for the game. And then she set her sights on me and I was reduced to a smoking cripple. As Susan came close to winning, we decided to forget about going for the goals and try to take her out. But unfortunately, she was able to avoid us and get the last goal.

San Juan

Gaming was winding down and people were leaving. So Jon pulled out a quick game to cap the night off with. While not exactly mind-less, it is a somewhat quick game. I have a feeling that there are only so many strategies that you can take with this game. But, fortunately none of us playing the game were one of those type of people.

King Arthur the Card Game

Well, thankfully, Jon had an emergency hosting of game night, since I was innundated with a work-related emergency. For the first game, we tried out a new game that I ordered from Adam Spielt. And that was a new Knizia game that was based on another of his board games. It is a quick game about completing adventures of the Knights of the Round Table. Doug and I got off to a quck start by completing easy adventures while Jon opted to gather large sets of Knights to complete the tougher adventures. When I finished the game, I found out that Doug pipped me by one point! I guess I tried to go for too many easy (and low point scoring) adventures… I was a good game that I would play again.

Coloretto Amazonas

For our second game, Doug’s roommate, Matt, joined us. And I brought out another new game that is the sequel of a popular game, Coloretto. In this game, each player has 4 spots to place cards based on color. During their turn, they have two choices: they can play a card on their own area, or they can give a card to their opponent (and hopefully remove a card from them). Unfortunately, Matt did not seem to understand this game and gave Doug several cards (instead of giving them to someone else to remove them). And this, I believe, helped Doug win the game. I think this game needs another playing to determine if it is as good as the original game. In the first playing, it did not seem like there was enough difficult decisions to make. And there was no feeling of pushing your luck either.

Maharaja: Palace Building in India

For the last game of the night, we play a relatively new game which unfortunately we do not play anymore for some reason (perhaps because there are too many new games now). I made one critical mistake during the game which put me out of the running to win the game. I had the build a palace for 9 guy with just enough money to perform my two actions. Jon went before me and accidently selected the “steal another player’s ability” action. He then decided to steal mine and then I could not perform my two actions. This allowed Doug to be the sole winner of one area (giving him a +5 bonus I think). Unfortunately, this game is brutal in that you cannot recover from such a mistake to get back into the running. Sigh.

Another thing that was not fun was that both Grimms were seriously grimming during this game. It seemed like it took forever to finish the game.