Monday Night Gaming

So, I arrived at Dragon's Lair at my typical time ... only to see naught but tumbleweeds. What gives? Where are the vibrant crowds from a mere six weeks ago? Gone with the holidays, I suppose. After polishing off a chapter of my book (The Nutmeg of Consolation), Michael showed up. Thus began the epic 2-player battle.

First off, I took the light side in LOTR: The Confrontation (yes, that's the wrong picture. But it has hobbits). There were several close moments where I basically choose my combat card randomly, but I got Frodo past the mountains and advanced him into a position where he could advance to Mordor with a bit of luck. Sam stayed back to guard the shire, everyone else having died. Luck was with me.

Next up, two games ofRoma. The first battle had me jump up to a large VP lead (Forum + Temple), but Michael managed to get his own VP engine, and snuck out a win by breaking the bank. (Odds are I would have won on my next turn). The 2nd game was a more typical "Pound 'em down". I got smacked early, and eventually spiraled down. So both games were 1-2 point difference, but 20-19 plays completely differently than 2-0.

By this time Simon had appeared, waiting for Ben. He had Ruse & Bruise, so we played. No review yet; I'm cautiously optimistic. Simple basic idea, but lots of fiddly chrome. He had to go back to class, so that was that. Back to 2 player games.

Jambo, Rudiger Dorn's elegant little game took up our time and we wandered the African Plains, buying and selling. Ben showed up, looking for Simon. But then he left. Close games again, but I took a pair of victories this time.

So we set up San Juan, and got in a game. By this time Al had arrived, so our second game of San Juan was three players. After the 2nd game Jon appeared,
so we set up Imperial. This was Al's first time; and the third for the rest of us. I think I've reviewed this elsewhere, but each player invests in countries, with the biggest investor running the government (during World War I). A few countries changed hands quickly, but Russia rolled over the rest of Europe. In fact, Russia ended the game with no other country past the 2x multiplier (Russia's bonds were worth 5x). Jon and Michael were close, but Michael pulled out the win (83 to 80, I think). Al and I were way behind, having each lost an early country just prior to taxation, and being too heavily invested in the Italy, who lagged the rest of the countries (Austria-Hungary also didn't fair well). I want to play Imperial a few more times, but I'm getting a bit worried about it. The endgame seems to be getting more abrupt.

And then things fell apart.

Anyway, I'll hopefully be there next monday. And so should the rest of you slackers.