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October 01, 2006
September Boardgaming Summary
Covering gaming nights on September 13, 20, and 27 (I missed the 6th dealing with some late-day work meetings). Includes several new games (to me and in general).
Details below the cut.
On the 13th, I arrived at Eric's to find he and Dave playing a very interesting looking game with Eric's mother and brother (who I'd been told would be there, visiting Eric). The game was on a square table-like board, but I could see it was divided into square "cells" in which balls of 4 colors (and a couple oversized black balls) rested. The underside was fabric, not wood, and the players each had long-handled mallets. I was, at once, intrigued. The game, I was told, was Pirate Billiards (and, yes, there are pictures at that link). Their game was just ending and Eric stepped out to let me take a spot, after explaining the rules. The game involves moving the balls across the board by means of striking the underside of the board with the mallets, hopefully shifting the ball the way you want it to go, either toward the opposite side or to land in (and capture) other player's balls. I wasn't very good at the game, managing only one point. Eric's brother Russ won the game with 8. But this is one I want to try again!
I had brought along Cloud 9, which I've always found to be a fun, light game of "press your luck". No one else had ever played it, so I taught the rules, we dealt the cards... and I only managed 3rd place, as Russ and Dave pushed each other to a serious lead. 51/46/32/21/7. This would hit the table again later in the evening.
Eric wanted a quick game to fill time before a couple more people arrived, so he brought out Transamerica. I'd read the game, but never played it, and two other players were new to the game as well. Which doesn't explain how one of the new players (Matt) won handily while the other two of us (myself and Russ) were way in the tail. The game is about building links to various cities (based on the goal cards you're dealt), and while I did well enough, I had a terrible last turn (only partly due to a bad draw, one city far isolated from the others) and completely fell apart. 9/8/6/1/-1/-3. Yes, the -3 was mine. Ouch!
Eric brought out Diamant now, saying it was a solid game for 8 players (which we now had). I think he's right! This was my first time at this one, another "press your luck" game much like Cloud 9. Here, you're a team of miners, deciding each round if you're happy with the take so far or want to push on to get more, hoping that nothing goes wrong. But things will go wrong. There are as many hazard cards in the deck as treasure, and once the hazard cards match, this mine is done and anyone not yet backed out gets nothing. Repeat over 5 mines. A lot of luck involved, though good decision-making of when to pull out is vital. If you NEVER pull out, you will score nothing. In the end, Eric won with a solid score, 20/16/14/14/13/11/10/0. I had the 11, so wasn't all that competitive. We set the game up again, as a new player, Christine, arrived (a couple others left the game to set up another table). I didn't do any better the next time, but I definitely got a feel for the game by this time. Joe won with 17/16/16/15/10/5/0, with Christine and Max the two scores right on his tail while I was the 10. Linda, BTW, was the 0 both times... but the slightest bit of better luck could've won her either game, as she was always taking the greatest risks.
Bohnanza was pulled out next, and while I tried, I simply did not compete Max pulled out a win in the end, 16/15/13/12/11/11, with me one of those tail-enders. I gave away far too much and got far too little in return. A poor showing.
We played Attribut next, and I'm still undecided if this is markedly better than Apples to Apples or just behind it. I guess it really depends how you want to play. I confused my words several times, including once playing what I meant to be an opposite when I was supposed to be matching... but Linda picked it anyway and we both got a point we didn't deserve. I wasn't quick claiming other's words, which kept me score back, but I ended up in 2nd to Eric, 14/12/11/11/11/10. It was very close...
Cloud 9 was brought out again, with some more teaching so Max, Linda, and Christine could join. This time, the gambles came out fairly close, but I think people found it to suffer in comparison to Diamant (which I just might agree with, as much as I like Cloud 9). I did manage a win, 59/44/38/35/34/31. And, with that, I called it a night.
The 20th meant a gathering at Dave's, and the first game was a new one Eric had brought along, Nottingham. This is a clever card game where the players are the agents of the infamous Sheriff, sent out into the wood to gather valuables so he can pay for another year in office and you can become his right hand goon. Actually, the theme is rather thin, and the game is more a set-collecting card game with some very interesting restricted trading rules. In effect, every type of card has a unique way in which in can be given to another player in exchange for something (a card at random, a chosen card, a card just as it's being played, etc.). Our particular play ended up with lots of "ambushes" (that last sort of "trade", where you take a card away as someone tries to meld their set) being established, so everyone was afraid to play cards for much of the 2nd half of the game. In the end, Dave won and I took 2nd, 68/63/61/43/35.
I then joined Eric, Jim, and Linda as Eric showed us how to play Shear Panic, which I'd picked up at GenCon but not gotten to play yet. The game has some of the prettiest pieces I've seen, large and heavy sheep to move around in various patterns, trying to achieve certain positions. The game plays in 4 "rounds", each with its own goal. Get your two sheep together, get to the front of the herd, get near the black sheep, or get to the back of the herd. It took all of us a bit to get a handle on the odd rules, and I had a bit of a disadvantage by moving first (a disadvantage because none of us really knew how things work!). In the end, I came third behind Eric and Jim, 29/26/23/22.
Linda then went to join people in the other room and Jim, Eric, and I gave a try to Bison, which I'd picked up at GenCon and Eric had played once before. It's a tricky game of area control, with some map-building and economic management tossed in. I got off to a bad start and didn't get much better, locking too many of my pieces in low-return territories and too far from the real valuable hunting grounds so Eric and Jim really controlled the game. 29/23/19 shows how far out of the game I was.
(On the 27th, I forgot my game notebook, so I don't have as complete of notes as usual... but we played 7 games, most of them new to me, so it needs to be commented on!)
The 27th opened with just Eric and I, so he offered a new two-player game, Voltage. It's a bit similar to the very enjoyable Balloon Cup, with enough unique traits to make it stand on its own. It's also much simpler, which isn't always good. The object is to have either the higher or lower total on your side when 5 cards gather at one of the 4 play locations ("circuits"). You can play to either side, and circuits can change from High to Low unpredictably. A lot comes down to luck, but just as much it's a game of gathering resources and knowing when to start cashing them in. This game, I took a gamble and started a rush for the win while Eric was still gathering. I didn't have what I needed, but I managed to draw the cards when I needed them, so I won 5/3.
Eric brought out an unexpectedly odd game next, King of the Dicemouths. Yes, there are dice, but the game is actually a physical race game. Each player gets a cardstock "mouth" atop a ramp and a die. On your turn, you drop the die down the ramp and your move is as far as the die goes. More rolling dice (d12 or d10) have shallow ramps, less rolling (the d4) have sharp ramps. The race is around several posts, then back to the finish line. Most of the game comes down to how you set facing when you move your Dicemouth, how you use your mobile obstacle to adjust your die's path, and good or bad bounces. I had the very rolly d12, but not the best of luck. I was a rather distant 2nd.
Eric brought our Ca$h 'n Gun$ next, and I'm wondering how I missed this beauty so far. Every player gets a toy gun, the loot is split into 8 piles, and each pile is turned up, one at a time, and everyone goes into stand-off. Guns are pointed, people back down or get shot at (though each player only has 3 shots for the 8 rounds, so there's lots of bluffing). The object is to get rich, but staying alive (that is, not getting shot too many times) is critical as well. The first game, we forgot to charge people $5000 for cowardice when the back off, so two of us got an early lead and then just cowered until the end of the 8th round. I won that round, by a hair. The next round, we added the "special powers" rules, so each of us had little ways to "cheat". This time, I didn't get quite the edge I wanted, and even contributed to the winner's lead because he had a card that scored extra point for every kill, and I used my last action to eliminate Dave for less $$ than that power's payoff.
With the number of people we had, we went for Formula De next, using the Monaco track. I started off 3rd from pole, and made a few good moves, but that wasn't enough as first place went to a nearly perfect driver, more than 20 spaces ahead of my 2nd place at the end.
Traumfabrik came out next, and I now very much regret not snagging a copy of this when I had a chance 2 years back. The game is one of studio heads trying to make movies, bidding for directors, actors, music, effects, etc. Actual studios, movies, and actors are used (as are 4 directors), which won't be true in the soon-to-be-released US edition. The game itself is a nice bidding game, with occasional breaks for "parties" where everyone gets a resource. And, since you pay your bids to the other players when you make them, eventually they win because you won. Personally, I had fun with very appropriate and every inappropriate castings (I put Boris Karloff in the guest star role of Bambi, for example), but that isn't worth any bonus points, so I ended up in 2nd to Max, 5 points behind, 69/64 (and I don't have other players' scores).
And, finally, I joined Eric and Matt in a game of End of the Triumvirate. We were all new to this game, and it showed with several hesitant moves as Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus fought over control of Rome as the Republic reaches its end (a struggle that never quite got this far in real history). Eric as Caesar dove across the Med to attack Crassus's (my) North African territories, and that ended up locking us in a battle that left Pompey (Matt) just able enough to avoid to muster his political power and take the win on the first move of the 3rd year. I really like the workings of this game, even though I did very poorly in my first try, eventually left with almost no forces and few political resources in the end. I want to get a few more plays of this one under my belt, which means it's VERY likely to come along to T'Con in 7 weeks.
And that is 3 weeks of boardgaming. Lots of fun, even if it contains very few wins by me.
Posted by ghoul at October 1, 2006 02:45 PM
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