Gaming at Dragon's Lair, Monday, 27 Nov 2006
Hooray! I beat the mad rush to post an announcement about our weekly Monday night gaming session at Dragon's Lair! I should be able to make it by around 4PM.
posted by Ben @ 6:37 AM
25 comments
25 Comments:
Probably can't make it tonight.
Is it too late to go now?
sessrep?
Gesundheit.
Amy and I arrived just as a game of Scepter (with Brian, Jon, Michael, and Ben) was "about to finish". An hour later, we started Air Baron.
Things started out well enough, but then a mighty river of cash began to flow into Kindt Airlines. Ben built LAX into an impenetrable fortress that roamed the West eating smaller airports.
Yes, I understand that you may have trouble with the concept of an airline functioning as both fortress and juggernaut, but I was there. I saw it happen.
After we all lost to Ben, Amy and I had to call it a night, but Stage II was being retrieved and I assume it got played.
I thought I saw Power Grid being played during my 18 second appearance.
I really enjoyed both Air Baron and Stage II. I can't wait to play them again.
Scepter of Zavandor was fun too, though I need to get another 5-6 games under my belt before I'll be able to compete against the master-level players in SABG!
That was air baron you saw.
Ben: Count me in for an all-newbie game of Scepter.
Also count me in for a game of "I don't know when to merge companies, nor do I know what to bid on a merger" Indonesia.
A'fore those games, we also got in a quick game of Goa. I'm now officially willing to play by a variant, and got into the BGG thread to prove it.
Hey Jeff, I'll sign up for your game of Indonesia if you need more players.
BTW, I think Rick would also be interested in Newb-Scepter.
If you guys like Scepter that much, I have some fantastic managerial science homework you'd be interested in.
Seriously. They're pretty much the same.
Having heard tales of Simon's legendary dislike of Scepter, I knew it wouldn't be long before he chimed in.
I bought the game based on the love poetry for the game written and uttered in various SABG forums by other members of the group. Now, I feel compelled to give it a good solid chance before I decide whether it sucketh or not. Sign me up for the Noob game.
I'm dead serious. I'll bring in a worker placement efficiency case and replace the words “right hand limit” with “Opal” and “slack sensitivity analysis variable” with “Magic Wand.” You guys will have a great time and I’ll have less work to do. Promise.
I'm with Simon. I mentioned a while ago that I thought this game should be rethemed to deal with corporate acquisition. "Hand size" becomes "Excess Profit" (any profit beyond excess is, of course, taxed away).
Magic balls become "Accountants." Magic Belts are 'subsidiaries.' Gems are 'factories,' cards are products (with profit value). Technology tracks are R&D.
Really, its a better theme.
One more note about GOA, that helps fix cards a bit. I quote:
rio grande rule (Wrong!):
Example 2: the player has 3 expedition cards in his hand and his marker is in the 4th row of the expedition column. He takes 2 expedition cards and adds them to his hand, giving him 5 cards in his hand. As he is over the hand limit, he must immediately play (if he can) or discard an expedition card. He could also choose to draw only 1 card.
The right HIG-rule (in "GERMAN English")
if the player want to do the action "draw expedition cards" he must check the limit BEFORE drawing. If you have too much cards in your cards you must play an expedition card (without an A) and/or discard expedition cards. Afterwards the player draw up to X cards! After drawing cards the player has reached his handlimit or is below his handlimit.
This will help a lot.
Wow, viewed in that light, I'm having a difficult time keeping my hand from clicking the on the "Available for Trade" box next to my copy of Scepter of Zavandor listed at BGG. If I wanted to spend time on corporate acquisition, I'd just get a part time job with my buddy's venture capital firm...
The key reason I picked up the game was the theme (perhaps always a mistake with Euros...), but for the time being I'll pretend I didn't just read Simon's and Brian's assessment. Mental shield, engage!
Scepter is Outpost rethemed. In outpost, you build your colonies. The major changes are tech tracks and workers. (In Scepter, you just have gem slots. In Outpost, you had to buy the slots, which were workers).
Cap'n, mental shields cannae take much more!
Michael likes Scepter's theme (or was he being facetious). Sorry Ben, but the theme is nothing magical (bu dum pish!). As stated above, it could just as easily have been anything else. Bottomline, if you bought the game for the theme, you bought it for the wrong reason.
It is essentially a math heavy economics game where you are looking to get the best deal/efficiency out of every single action you can take each round.... meaning arithmetic intensive. the theme although light, does fit well.
Having said all that, the game is truly challenging and extremely enjoyable once you are able to
"get it"....which in my case took 3 sessions. If you are giving it away, hey, I'll take it off your hands.
I'm not at the level of the triumvirate of Michael/brian/jon even with 5 games under my belt (did finally win my last one at BGG.con), so you can count with me for the newb game.
Count me in for some newbie games of Scepter and/or Indonesia, too!
Brian I just noticed that my new copy has it worded similar to your german-english version. In that case, maybe Montus's need for a variant may not be necessary (???... I have played but once).
I just did a Geek Trade, getting a good copy of Air Baron in exchange for Mall of Horror...
On an unrelated note, apparently our copies of Battle Lore should be arriving any day now. The DoW site says they're shipping.
Correction: Battle Lore is shipping Monday in the US. But good news: "If you placed a pre-order in our US web store on or before December 6, then we will automatically ship you an Earth Elemental figure, along with your copy of the game!"
As usual, I'm entering this strand late, but, yes, I would be interested in a newby game of "Scepter" (thanks Rob). You guys have played it so much, I figure there must be something to this game. I hope to make next Monday's session by 6.
Brian, that is an interesting change in how we've always played Goa. The one flaw with the game is the cards are too powerful. This will make the other tracks relatively more powerful. Thanks.
Oops, wrong button. Or I'm tired. Pick an excuse. The main gist of my post was that I really do like the theme of Scepter. I'm not against pasted on themes, and if the pasted on theme is interesting to me that is always a plus.
Also, count me in for the newbie game? :)
Or we can get a simultaneous oldbie game if that doesn't work out.
Post a Comment
<< Home