5/29 Memorial Day Session Report

We played this gamenot.

Despite a relatively late Sunday night, I pushed myself to make it there at 10 am. About halfway there I got really paranoid that I would show up and nobody would be there again so I called Rob to verify that he would indeed be showing up. Guaranteed an opponent, I pressed on.

Dennis and Brian were already there as luck would have it and I suggested we begin setting up 7 ages immediately so as to allow us to enjoy the full 2/7 of a game to which we were entitled. Unfortunately, seeing the lukewarm responses to the 7 ages suggestion in the planning post, Brian had left it at home. In rapid succession, Rob, Chris and Steve arrived. Steve verified that he had already finished WOTR with Ben and that Ben would arrive shortly.

We played a quick game of To Court the King while waiting. If I recall correctly many dice were rolled repeatedly.

Next, since there was a noticeable lack of Ben, we busted out a prototype that I think should rename nameless here. I have been instructed to avoid any specific comments in public. Hmmph. Speaking from past experience in this genre, I don't think this is a game I would be wanting to play with Amy though (vague enough right?).

Ben arrived while we were in the middle of that game, so after a lunch break we split into the Runebound group (Ben, Chris and Dennis) and the Winds of Plunder group (Rob, Steve, Brian, Al who arrived in the middle of the rules explanation and myself). Winds of Plunder is a pirates game that revolves around running around collecting the types of things Pirates tend to collect(treasure, weapons, supplies , crew, and maps). I quickly decided that I wanted to be the weapons master. I didn't want to be someones personal punching bag. So I went all in on that and punished people who tried to steal my thunder. Brian won and Rob (who got gang banged into submission(guilty) on the last round) and I tied for second.

The Runebound group was still going and we were not particularly pleased with their progress so I think we played Glory to Rome next. Quickly for those who have not played: its a San Juanish game where cards have truly become everything. They decide which roles you can call, are the material for buildings, are the basis of the buildings themself, are the clients you hire and the swag you steal in the process of doing everything else. I like the game because there are multiple paths to victory and it is relatively short. Anyway, in this particular game it was all about stealing the most stuff it turned out. Since I did a great job doing that I pulled out the victory.

Steve left after this and Runebound was still not complete so we played a game of Bottle Imp. This is a highly themed trick taking game. Basically we are all making deals with the devil but we don't want to be the last one. The intuition is very strange to me and I have a hard time wrapping my head around things like you can win the trick without trumping and without following suit. But in terms of theme these things make perfect sense. Brian really ran away with it (no exaggeration this time) and Rob was wishing we had played something fun.

Finally, Runebound (if you need the gruesome details, it seems there is a recap in the planning post) was over. Brian ran to grab food and Rob left so at my suggestion we played a game of Stage II. Brian arrived in time for the third question and for 90% of the game he wasn't Jon, but he played one on TV. In the end Dennis ran away with it and was shocked at our incredible lack of knowledge and lack of ability to determine themes. My one complaint about the game is that there is such variance over the quality of the themes (stuff having to do with WWII wtf?)

I believe at this point we might have done another game of To Court the King but to be honest it's pretty hazy if we did. For sure though soon after everyone but Brian, Al and myself left. We played a few more games of Glory to Rome including one that ended at 9-6-6 without a catacombs being built.

I do want to point out that in my opinion 7 ages would be right up alot of our groups ally. It is by far the best civ builder type of game that I've played and would rank it as probably the only one in that genre that I would suggest myself. It is dripping with theme, much more so than any other that I've seen. So enough with the 7 ages bashing guys.