Yummy TI3 Cake - and good for you too - if you are a cyborg!
Today we had a game of TI3 at my house. This was a game that was supposed to be for those have not yet played.
This was a great game. Ted literally came within a single role of the die from winning. He and another friend of mine were neck & neck the whole game, with Ted in control of Mecatol Rex. He was surrounded on two sides by war suns of two different players and assaulted on other fronts all at the same time. But he kept his cool even as the “Iron Jaws of Vissage Grim” closed in. His mighty fleet at Mecotol Rex was annihilated by one of the War Sun fleets in a titanic space battle. And although he lost in space he managed to cripple the attacker (Hacan) while a single ground unit of his held on. He was able to persuade the other War Sun fleet to leave him alone. But finally another very powerful fleet of dreadnoughts, cruisers, and fully loaded carriers finished off the crippled (Hacan) fleet that was besieging Rex and finally finished Ted’s single ground force.
What made this such a spectacular end was this was the last turn with Ted (The Cyborgs) at 9 points and ready to gain a 10th in the final status phase. Dennis, the 2nd place guy (Jol-Nar) occupied Rex with a tattered fleet (from the battle with the War Sun) with four damaged dreadnoughts. Had just one of the dreadnoughts been destroyed, the Jol-Nar would not have been able to use his Bureaucracy card to claim the two points he needed to get to 10 before our very own Ted could gain his one point in the Status phase. This was a SUPER example of a well played Bureaucracy card by my friend Dennis.
Although Ted and I fought some big battles, I was rooting for him at the end. After all – we are all part of the order of San Antonio Board Gamers.
But I think that Ted had a good time and I am confident that he will be ready and willing to play TI3 again the next time we roll it out!
BTW – Please wish him a belated happy Birthday as well as congratulations for a game brilliantly executed! Please notice the delicious work of art that his wife provided for us. Did you notice that it looks like the Supernova in TI3?
posted by Carlos @ 7:51 PM
8 comments
8 Comments:
It was a great game. In retrospect, I can see a few places I should have made some different decisions. That's one of the marks of a great game.
Carlos's son, Alex, made a great opponent. I was impressed with his canny decision early on to retreat from a battle. Eventually he developed a powerful fleet with two War Suns. Having that threat on one side was a powerful deterrent.
Thanks especially to Carlos who was a great host. He explained the game, provided helpful hints, and organized a great group of players. Thanks a million Carlos.
Sounds like it was an exciting game. Glad to hear you enjoyed it! Did you get to play with the expansion?
That's a neat cake.
But the cake is a lie.
Yes, we used the expansion, but we kept the optional rules to a minimum. We used the rule that displays all the objective cards throughout the game. I think that all or most of us who have played think this is better than turning them over as the game progresses.
I think both are good. We tend to play the same way, although revealing as you go creates its own dynamic, as I'm sure you can imagine. A number of cards give VPs for controlling Mecatol Rex. Imagine not knowing whether those cards will turn up as the game progresses. Do you make a push for Mecatol Rex or turtle up around your homeworld? If someone else pushes for Mecatol, do you stop them, not knowing whether they will eventually get VPs for it or not? A lot of interesting choices to be made both ways. Personally, I think I like the way where the cards are up, but I could live with them turned up one at a time as the game progresses every now and then.
In addition, some of the replacement role cards are much better than the original. I can't remember which we generally use, but we use almost all of the expansion roles with one or two of the originals.
Wow, now I want to play.
Great cake!
I'm ready to play just about any Saturday or holiday.
I believe we've been favoring use of Imperial 2 over Bureaucracy in our most recent games. This drives an epic fight for Mecatol Rex. Of course, holding Mecatol and your homeworld simultaneously is usually quite a feat.
What Ben said is true about holding Mecatol and your home world was demonstrated to be correct in yesterdays game: Ted lost Mecatol and he had a war sun adjacent to his home planet. He had retreated there after being chased across two systems by the Nalu fleet that was bent on revenge. That was some smooth talking on his part convincing my son to send his war sun to a planetless void somewhere. How do you do that???
But I cannot emphasize just how close Ted came to winning the game. Just one more hit on the attackers dreadnought would have done it...
We need to play again. Next time with an experienced group of players, the game will go faster. As might be expected, we started slowly, but this was a bright group of players and by lunch time we were rolling!
Oh, regarding Chris's comment: Not only was that a good looking cake, it was superb. A very moist chocolate cake with chocolate icing on the inside. I was hoping that Ted would "Abandon" it here, but with no such luck.
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