Reporting....and Quick Links to BGG con
Dennis, thanks for hosting an amazing game day. Got to play CnC Ancients for the first time ever with Steve (very very cool, but I probably won't get it knowing how committed I already am to BattleLore). Also a game of Napoleon's Triumph with Ben...my third, and his first. This is a great wargame that I strongly recommend to anyone who enjoys wargames, and likes the maneuvering aspect of it more than the chaos of dice rolling....or simply if you are looking to try something different in terms of wargaming. To be fair, I did amazingly well because he didn't really know all the nuances of the rules (read, how all the intricate battle rules translate to actual strategy).
Then got to play three (!) of my lighter euros: Thebes (chaotic fun with a great theme and mechanics), Guatemala cafe, and Fairy Tale (one of my fav 'super' fillers). Great games all IMO.... although I don't know that Guatemala Cafe can offer much new that I haven't already seen in 2 plays. Just don't play it too much, and I won't come to grow tired of it.
In other news............
Criss: You asked about what games to bring to BGG con. Trust me, don't bother. See below....with other links that all attendees may be interested in.
1. The BGG con 06 gaming library
2. Here is the new signup list for special games, and here for wargames. Tempted to sign up for a game of Europe Engulfed.
3. The Math trade
3. What is BGG con (2006 version)?
There might be other good links that I haven't found in my 5 min search... please include them here if so inclined.
posted by Rob @ 6:38 PM
18 comments
18 Comments:
First of all, thanks to Dennis for hosting.
The "Big" game of the today was History of the World, which I remain happy to play two times a decade or so. And some crokinole, which is fine every now and then.
As for BGGCon I would bring:
1) Rare games
2) New games
3) Games you want to proselytze
4) Trade/sell
5) Those you want to play
If I go (and I'm signed up, but may flake out), then I'll probably bring the red bag worth of games, plus any trade/sell.
AAAAAHHHHHHHHHH
Ok, all better now.
Also, for future reference, do NOT watch important sporting events with Jon. He is bad luck. Rudy is also surprisingly unlucky and he stopped doing his lucky licking at the most critical moments!!!! WTF mate? I need more salt.
I really enjoyed Thebes and would consider getting it. It's not particularly deep but it does have some choices to make and it looks pretty good. t plays fairly quickly as well and is easy to teach. Rule #1- draw tokens blindly from a bag well.
We also got in a game of Shadows of Camelot (my first). Pretty chaotic but I'm glad I got to play it. We also played a round of Taboo, in which our team slyly played until we were in the lead and then claimed immediate victory. That's usually a good winning strategy.
Math trade...hmm, will have to look at that.
Oh, and thanks for hosting and cooking, Dennis. *Great* day of gaming and (bleep-bleep-bleeeeeeeep-bleeep)ing football.
Thebes was good fun, though its tough to describe the game mechanics without heading deep into Michael territory.
Napoleon's Triumph was a humbling experience, but I saw depth and elegance of design all around me as I was getting bleeped up the bleep by the French army.
Last Night on Earth, in my opinion, is a good light, less than 1 hour, zombie game that provides great theme and tension. Dennis' homicidal nurse with a pump shotgun was death incarnate!
Fairy Tale is one of the best filler card games I own. Now that I think I understand what the cards mean, I'm finding it great fun.
Guatemala Cafe was good fun too. Perhaps not a classic, but I can't think of anything wrong about it.
Thank you, Dennis, for the wonderful job hosting! I'm very impressed by the poker room. Thank you to everyone for the great day of gaming.
Great to see you again, Rob! Come back soon!
I prefer CnC:A to Battlelore for a few key reasons, and some have to do with game mechanics and not just the theme. Thanks Ben for the head's up on the timetable for the expansions. It was reassuring to make sure I had my P500 order lined up, and the double-sized battles should be good.
Michael is right. It didn't matter what the cards said, or even what game was being played, Jon was the traitor at heart all day. Next time just hand him the card face up and it will save the trouble.
Incas/Aztecs followed by the US? Uncle.
And Dennis delivered the goods. Thanks!
What are the odds of me being the traitor the next time we game?
Eric Gagne needs more appearances in close postseason games in high leverage situations.
Especially if the Red Sox make it to the World Series against the Rockies.
OK, when you flip open the newspaper and see "check the web for the results of the CLE-BOS game," you know that baseball has gotten too fucking slow.
OK, they went 11 innings, but that's nuts. I started watching the game 1 hour after it started, Tivoing through the commercials, and I had caught up to the game two hours after coverage started ... and they were in the fourth inning.
Stupid Baseball. Be More Faster.
Sounds like it was a blast. I was hoping to attend, but the airlines conspired against me.
I was supposed to return from Europe Friday evening, allowing me to attend a day of gaming.
Alas, I rolled poorly on the weather table, and chaos reigned. Instead of a ~12 hr travel time, I had a ~36 hr travel time...
Sigh...maybe next time.
Lemon poppy seed muffins are good.
Last Night on Earth is pleasant. Components are fantastic, strategy is straightforward, and dice rule the land (the good guys won only because Becky the Nurse was an angel of death with unlimited ammo). It's the best zombie game I've played, but that's not a high bar to clear. The only quibble I had was that I would've preferred the zombie player have fewer, stronger cards. By the end of the game Ben had six "remain in play" effects to keep track of, but only one (heavy rain) had a significant effect on play.
Playing Shadows of Camelot and not being the traitor felt awkward.
Grilled Hebrew Nationals and asparagus are good.
I thought I was destined for third in History of the World, but a ton of events fell just right:
1. Nobody drew Rome.
2. Michael obliterated runaway leader Jon in Epoch IV.
3. The move that turned the game -- in Epoch V I drew second, pulled the second-best empire (Seljuk Turks, 12+capital), and gave it to Michael, gambling on getting the Mongols (18). It worked, as Brian was forced to give them to me on the last draw.
4. The 18 Mongol units took 17 regions, crazy good rolling even with a Leader.
5. I had *three* cards that gave me extra troops and cities in Japan and Korea.
6. Nobody drew an Eastern power in Epochs VI and VII, allowing me to keep it all.
7. Nobody drew Britain.
Still a top-ten game for me whether I'm first or last; I just love watching the empires sweep across the board, and going from 30 guys to 2 and back to 30 again.
I love that knocking out one of your own disks in Crokinole is now described by the verb "to Jeter".
Jon is the traitor at Take it Easy.
The only thing dumber than blitzing seven on third-and-goal at the 6 is bringing in Gagne in an extra-inning game.
My big mistake was not using the weapon break card on the nurse... Last game we played Jon had the chainsaw, which is the close combat version of the shotgun. Moral of the story for the zombie player: don't bunch up!
Stupid Baseball. Be More Faster.
Amen.
I had to wake up early Sunday morning to go to work so I *had* to go to bed. I saw the entire game up to the point where Gagne was pulled. Even though you might argue that that was a high point of drama in the game, I just didn't care anymore. Baseball, you lost me on that one--just too damn long.
Part of the problem is the pitchers. I counted several times where time from the pitcher receiving the ball from the catcher to the time where the catcher caught the pitch was 45 seconds or longer, sometimes approaching a minute. What?!?!? What could you possibly be doing on the mound that requires a minute for each pitch? Throw the damn ball!
Knowing that even if Cleveland did score in the 11th (and score they did) that Boston would still have their half of the inning to bat was just too much for me to take.
I guarantee Eric Gagne is not on the Red Sox roster next year. He just does not fit in there...unless you're looking for a Unabomber lookalike who is good at throwing pitches out of the strike zone in crucial situations.
The simple solution is to have the umpires apply a couple of rules that I have never seen used in my life:
8.04
When the bases are unoccupied, the pitcher shall deliver the ball to the batter within 12 (LOL) seconds after he receives the ball. Each time the pitcher delays the game by violating this rule, the umpire shall call “Ball.” The 12-second timing starts when the pitcher is in possession of the ball and the batter is in the box, alert to the pitcher. The timing stops when the pitcher releases the ball.
6.02 basically gives the same rules for batters. They should not be permitted to step in and out of the batter's box willy nilly.
This mind game crap that goes on extends games to ridiculous amounts and calling the rules as written would easily shave an hour off the game lengths.
I think next time we play SoC (at least with 6-7), we'll have to use the Squire rule (no knight gets his special power until he's on a successfully completed quest). (Perhaps in addition to motivations).
If the group can win that easily with Mists of Frickin Avalon drawn before any quest is really started, then we need a harder game.
"Rudy is also surprisingly unlucky and he stopped doing his lucky licking at the most critical moments!!!! WTF mate? I need more salt."
Out of context, this is just wrong. It's probably just as wrong in the proper context.
Looks like I missed an awesome game day. My chances of breaking 1000 lifetime recorded games before the end of 2007 grow smaller.
Post a Comment
<< Home