Public Service Announcement from SABG

#11: Your name is Michael or Dennis.

Brian, Dennis, and I started Monday gaming with a quick game of Glory to Rome in which Dennis picked up two early Legionnaire clients only to see Brian and me throw up Walls to block them. I was able to build a large vault and, using a building that let my Legionnaires take from opponents' clients directly into my vault, stock it with the dead corpses of Dennis' once loyal clients and earn a victory. Fun game that feels like a Race for the Galaxy rollercoaster careening wildly off the rails.

As we finished, Ted, Scott, and Jon showed up and we scratched our heads trying to figure out what game plays well with six. Since Michael wasn't around to help us answer that question, we brainstormed and came up with an answer he would have probably liked--Battlestar Galactica. Dennis took Helo, Scott took Roslyn, Brian grabbed Apollo, Jon took Adama, I played Baltar, and Ted in his first game (another SABGer introduced! The assimilation continues...) took Chief Tyrol. As luck would have it, no cylons were dealt out on the first deal, and the Good Ship Galactica sailed throughout the void with nary an interruption. Ted understandably asked more than once, "Is the game supposed to be this easy? I thought it was supposed to be hard."

Jon steered us to a planet that knocked fuel down into the red with the jump into the sleeper phase, turning me from a Cylon sympathizer into a brigged human sympathizer. With little hope of getting out of the brig (I still had two unrevealed loyalty cards), I used Baltar's once-a-game detector power from the brig to check Dennis' cards (I thought he was a Cylon from the get-go, but I was wrong; he's just a suspicious guy) and discovered that he was, indeed, a frakkin' toaster. As Brian pointed out, "Of course you're going to say he's a Cylon, no matter what he is!" So, even though Dennis was quickly arrested, I didn't earn anyone's trust with my discovery and stayed in the brig for most of the game. After Scott, Brian, and Jon all passed on opportunities to hose the humans after the sleeper phase, suspicion settled on Ted, who was likewise summarily arrested. Dennis revealed shortly thereafter, but Ted, unsure of who to trust, kept his identity secret until Galactica was well on its way to Kobol. Several Cylon base stars came out near the end, but the humans had gathered a full head of steam and could not be stopped, nuking one base star and waving at the other as we sailed on to our destination with a comfortable 5-5-5-5 human victory.

Asking a new player to play a Cylon on their first play of this game is a pretty tall order, especially when the entire game is one of "I don't trust you...or you...or you" and you just don't have a feel for what the right thing is to do in a given situation. Hopefully we haven't scared Ted off too much from BSG--it gets better when you've got a game or two under your belt and you know what to expect.

Still, it's an easy game when you know how to Spot The Cylon. Look for the guy named Michael. If he's not around, it's Dennis. We don't need no stinkin' spinner.

Jeff showed up toward the end, and we split 5-2, with Dennis and Scott going off to play Up Front, and the rest of us breaking out Ted's copy of Princes of Florence. Most of us started off leaving Jeff in the dust on the VP track with our early works. However, several bonus cards helped him start scoring exponentially, and at the end he managed to finish not-last, beating me by a few points as I overbid on several items and had to drop VPs to get enough gold to play my last work. Ted finished third, and Jon edged out Brian for the win with his "build lots of parks" strategy.

Scott, Jeff, and Ted departed, and Brian, Dennis, Jon and I finished with several rounds of Race for the Galaxy.

Good to see the turnout we had. Mondays have really picked up again the last month or two.

Saturday planning

Well, the good news is that I am suddenly unburdened by NFL playoff football next weekend.

And there is a possibility that this may be The World's Most Interesting Man's last weekend of gaming for the foreseeable future.

So, while we're in the planning mood (see Brian's post below), I'll host some open gaming on Saturday, January 3rd. Might as well plan it early because we know it's going to happen. Start at 10am, and we'll see where the day goes.

New Year's Gaming

Jacqui and I will open the New Year with Games on January 1st, starting at 10am until whenever. (Yes, 10 am is early, but we'll be awake). RSVP in the comments.

Oh, and I'll be at DLair tomorrow at 5-5:30.

Merry Christmas all SABG

Well I have yet to play a BG with SABGers but as I add to my collection hopefully i can meet up with somepeople to play. I had asked for Ticket to Ride for Christmas and my wife looked all over san antonio for it but wasnt having much luck. Time had already ran out to order anything so she came to me for some more ideas. I asked her if she tried Dragons Lair yet. Being that she works for USAA which is on the same road as DL i figured she could stop in there and pick it up on her way home. Well it turns out she did. And now im really excited to play. Also I have recently picked up an old game of Fortress America if anybody is intrested in playing that. Im also well equiped with a hand painted version of War of the Ring, a variety of Risk games and Axis and Allies just to name a few. If anybody is intrested in meeting up at Dragons Lair one day please dont be shy to shoot me a message and ill bring the games. Look forward to playing some new games with new people.

Merry Christmas, SABG!

I hope everyone enjoys a wonderful Christmas Day and holiday season. This is our first Christmas with a little one, so its a special time for us.

Hopefully everyone was sufficiently non-naughty to warrant a few games mixed in with their coal lumps. Based on recent BSG session reports of backstabbing, a few of you may have lost a few points...

I probably won't make any holiday gaming sessions, but I hope to see you again soon in the new year.

CCG --From another age

Just a quick post to possibly evoke a collectible-card-game-ghost.

First off I will blame the cold for all that follows --the cold always gets me thinking about a few things; Stew, Nick Drake folk tunes, and The Lord of the Rings.

I have been the victim of a subtle,but growing, nerd anxiety episode. When I moved from our old apartment to this house, we left most of my books in the garage, stacked in boxes. The idea was to repaint our bookshelves before unpacking the books. Of course, being a procrastinator, I left them in the garage for months, resulting in water and mildew damage. One of the books that was damaged was my copy of Lord of the Rings. My mourning, however, was short-lived. I realized that I had merely settled on that edition when really, what I wanted was the 50th anniversary edition; wrapped in real, leather-bound glory and illuminated with color-platen inserts of the archaeologically obtained, remnants of a sacred historical text that has never even existed.

While searching online for this book, I stumbled across sites for the original Middle-Earth CCG game. Of truly notable interest, was the way in which these sites and their member's correspondence, have taken on the tone and format of support groups. It was only after reading through a three page thread that I too had been convinced that this game must not only have been the greatest CCG ever, but may have the power to transform modern culture in a way that Tom Cruise could never imagine.

If you have indulged in this fantasy staple, whether as victim , enthusiast, or profiteer, let me know what you think and whether or not you believe your once feared deck will ever re-emerge from the mantle place of legends and once again face the fiery fire.

I'm also curious about the original Star Wars game by Decipher and any CCGs still in print that may be worth getting into.

My last SABG session of the year.

Agricola and Tikal are a few of my favorite games. But of course we did not get to play those.

When I got to Dennis place Scott, Dennis and Travis were playing some Kinizia game that involved making soup. There was some Crokinole played (which I am horrid at. Me and angles are a no go. Or hitting with consistency. Or aiming. And the boss wonders why I refuse to play basketball with them.....) until Chris arrived. And we knew Brian was on his way, so there was some obligatory oh just a few games of race to pass the time. Since that is how we roll. Now I admit to liking race better now that I have played it more, but it is by no means my favorite. Can we see where this is going yet.

So Brian arrives. And despite being the i have played more than anyone else title holder, Chris was not opposed to playing BSG. SInce that is what we do with 6 players. That or celebrities, but that will come later. I was opposed. Especially given the horrid BSG like typo in my exam (thanks for catching that one Amy)

I have to admit my memories of the games are a bit fuzzy. I blame it in newly acquired insomnia and getting no more that 5 hours sleep a night. But I was a failure as a cyclon in the first game, travis was as well. and the sympathizer was useless to us. I am not so good at the tricksey subtly required to be a cylon. Or perhaps I just dont want to be good at it. Somehow Brian was not a cylon as Rosalin. And Dennis, of course, was, since Michael was not there to take the job on for him.

After we got tired of BSG (for me about halfway through the first game) then I got roped into playing the other game that I love oh so much. NOT. Which I was really bad at. I mean who plays a BSG themed celebrities anyways? I dont watch the show. I know maybe 3 character names. And a few descriptors. But the wavey hands in the air thing works well for Boomer. Just saying.

After that things dies down some, and there was some rock band. Which I do enjoy. So my last gaming session of the year wasnt a total waste ;) I kid. it was enjoyable. And the baked goods and home made bread were yummy. And the dog was cute. Oh and I even had some fun gaming. But I wonder if there is a cooperative game that I will ever really love.

Back to cleaning and packing. See you all next year.

Holiday Schedule -- Week #1

OK, Dennis is hosting today (for those who can make it). But what about the rest of the week? Monday -- I could make Dragon's Lair, if there will be anyone else. I personally get Weds, Thursday and Friday off. Thursday's out for me, but the other days may be doable. (Weds in particular). Anyone else got any potential for "During the week" gaming?

Update -- I'll host on Weds starting at 10 am until whenever. RSVP in the comments.

Saturday Gaming

Scott & Tiffany showed up for the afternoon of gaming. Scott arrived earlier, so we played the "Meeting of Patrols" scenario from Up Front. Scott's Russians got off an early sniper shot against my 2nd in command as the squads moved forward. For the life of me, I couldn't get my squads to move into a good defensive setup until after I had also lost my machine-gunner. One of Scott's squads got lost following a stream, but I had to spend some time to rebalance my setup. Eventually Scott's Right Flank squad was right on top of the Germans, but paniced and pinned. People were running around, fighting in hand to hand, and generally dying. But the center flank of the Russians were setup nearby in some buildings and eventually managed to break the Germans. Both sides lost about 6 people, but the larger Russian squads can handle that better...

We then setup Le Havre and played a 3 player game. Scott managed to do very well despite not having a ship for most of the game. The overall point spread was respectable, 200-180-175 (or so). Scott had the lion's share of the buildings, but I managed to ship goods twice (for about 75 points). Still liking that.

Then we played a quick game of "Maus Nach Haus." Aidan explained the rules and almost won. We finished up with Euphrat und Tigris. An odd game, all six monuments were built (and early), so I think that was the highest scoring game I've ever seen.

Vacation.....blargh

"If you have any questions, ask them now. Because once Christmas vacation starts, it's mental retardation time. I can't even find my way home."

One of my high school teachers said that in class once, and it's always stuck with me. It's hitting me hard right now. I slept until 9:15 (outrageously late for me) and listened slackjawed to Bill Simmons podcasts for three hours this morning.

So is anyone doing anything? The entire weekend yawns before me. I can host Sunday, but that's it.

Talisman Bonus Cards

For Talisman fans, FFG is selling The Reaper expansion for Talisman and if you order the expansion directly from FFG by Friday, you get two bonus cards. Offer detail is here. Figured I'd post since it's for a very limited time.

In other news, not only did the Boards & Bits order arrive a day early, there was a GMT box with Combat Commander:Pacific and Stalingrad sitting on top of it when I got home! It's always fun to open a box with fresh new games inside. Now if I can just find someone to play with...

(I'll send out Geekmails with the games and costs to those who ordered.)

If you love Battlestar Galactica so much...

...why don't you bid on something from the auction?

While BSG is still in vogue in our group, I figured I'd mention the Battlestar Galactica official costume and prop auction. It's January 16th through 18th, and you can bid on these things online. The main auction site is here. The online catalog is here. The .pdf catalog is here (be warned, it's 320 pages).

Just think, next time we lose a raptor when scouting, we can say, "No problem, I've got an extra one HERE!"

Ok, so I know none of us really has the money to blow on this stuff. But it's pretty fun to look at all the cool things (OMG, it's got a fully lit and functional interior!). Plus, you never know. Michael trying to pull off his Brobee act while actually wearing Boomer's flight suit? Or even better, this? I'd pay serious cash to see that. That would be true theater--Michael in his element.

(Wow, that Cylon Centurion has a working helmet and makes sounds, including "By your command." Hmmm...)

P.S. I win. I'm sure I've got an award coming in the mail or something.

Then the warships came without a sound There were at least a hundred of them bearing down....

I just wanted to see if there is any one interested in trying to get a game of Twilight Imperium together during the holidays. Since this is a long game that requires a little planning (especially if you have domestic duties like me) I thought I would give us a little time to think about it.

For me a good time would be January 2nd or 3rd. December 27th might work, but I am not 100% certain. Anyway, let me know what you think.

Till then, enjoy these Star Wars clips accompanied by April Wine's Classic Song "Caught in the Crossfire"

Caught in the crossfire
Caught in a world insane, oh
War of the empire
No one will be the same, oh
Caught in the crossfire
Caught in a new age war, we were

Battlestar Galactica

I'm not so convinced that Laura Roslin as written is broken. I do think in our current metagame she is overpowered but there are plenty of ways to weaken her. I also believe if our metagame changed Tom Zarek wouldn't be the waste of paper Dennis is so angry about.

1. Nobody can argue that she is efficient as president, so early game at a convenient opportunity, require her to pass the presidency to another player. This could happen with some skill checks, martial law, or an election. I dislike martial law, because again I think that would push the metagame towards overpowering the start admiral.

A new president would distribute power more evenly and allow optimal use of the president's office. Tom Zarek is actually an excellent choice for the new president and his administration ability is useful for making the transition as painless as possible. Not only that, but President Zarek essentially has no drawback anymore if he sticks to the President's Office. He can trade executive orders with a trusted player to make the presidency even stronger.

2. Bypass her drawback by having her play executive orders on her turn if she has them. Failing that, she can scout (with tactics drawn from consolidate power). Failing that, she can consolidate power to draw tactics cards. In a pinch, she could even consolidate to draw repair cards as repairing won't activate her drawback. The description of her as useless without the presidency is not accurate at all and I suspect she would be more useful in a support role when freed up to play executive orders.

Monday Night

Seems like there will be a smaller crowd than normal. I'll be there at 5:00 (or a touch earlier), assuming that others will be attending. RSVP in comments

Ultimate Gaming Table

The top of the line Sultan table goes for $12,700, seats nine players, and has five separate built in dice towers. Oh, and it has panels to convert it back to a dining table without disturbing your game in progress. Its been a while since I had a good lottery fantasy...

In unrelated news, my X-Box (or is it XBox?) has its inards splattered about the floor of some repair warehouse in Mesquite, Texas. In the mean time Fall from Heaven 2 continues to entertain. In my latest game I've tried out the Clan of Embers (aka the barbarian orc tribes). Time away from X-Box has also finally motivated me to learn and play Tigris and Euphrates (via GameTable On-Line). Good stuff.

With the arrival of the Zooloretto Gorilla expansion pack at Thought Hammer, the mother of all game shipments is about to arrive at my house. If anyone wants a complete set of Descent (minus the latest ice expansion) for cheap, just let me know. I need the space...

Well have to run... I just remembered I need to set Tivo to record the Hawaii Bowl...

Time is running out...

...on my gaming this year. I'm out for the foreseeable future after tomorrow, so I will host one last little gaming session Sunday the 14th at 10am. I'm planning on watching the sad slow implosion of the Cowboys season at 7pm.

Don't worry--although I have no doubt that BSG will get played, I'm definitely aiming to get other games to the table tomorrow as well.

Cylon Wedding

Our first game (after Race) was .... BSG. Big shock. Jacqui, Travis, Chris, Dennis and Me. We had no cylons off the deal. After a horrific start (with something like one jump in the first 6 cards despite scouting and Roslin's power). As I declared in the middle of the game, I was destined to became a cylon with a brutal human victory.

So I becamse a cylon ... the only good news was that Dennis jumped on his turn right before my turn, and I was admiral. So I could pick a horrible jump, reveal (brigging the others) and hope. So I jump into an ambush, and Dennis's crisis forces him to brig someone if he fails. D'OH! So no brigging anyone for me. I did get the "Massive Assault" super-crisis, but it was too late. I never got another turn. Chris revealed as Roslin, which was a mistake, but the humans were going to win.

The second game added Michael and Tiffany and subtracted Dennis and Travis. I was Roslin and a cylon off the deal. Another horrible start, but with a sudden jump and cleared. I did some minor tweaking on the crisis deck, but basically played it straight, trusting the Maker to provide a good knife point. After the jump things got confusing a bit. I let Chris (as Boomer) get out of the brig. The problem was that he very well could have been a Cylon, so I wasn't sure what to do. Jacqui revealed on her turn, and it was open. I decided not to reveal on my turn, since Roslin's ability was so good, and re-brigged Boomer via Presidential Order. Then disaster struck. Both crisis cards I drew were a: non-jumps and b: not really horrible. [33 when lots of cylons were already on the board, and something else]. So now people were pretty sure it was me. (Adama jumped into an ambush or something to keep doubt alive for a bit).

But it didn't really matter. Boomer was in the brig, Michael grabbed the presidency and played two executive orders to boost morale, but forgot to assign the VP. Since I wasn't in the brig, I re-ran for president and won, and gave up all pretense of Humanity. I got to take advantage of a "President chooses" and generally messed things up. In the end, the married Cylons prevailed. Roslin is just immensely powerful.

After that Michael, Chris and I played Le Havre. I liked it, butI'll have to play a few more games to decide if on if it's good, great, or other. A few games of Race rounded out the evening.

In other news FFG published some variants, including a "No sympathizer" variant. (You start with a few less resources, and Cylons draw 3 cards instead of 2. I think that perhaps the Alexfrog/7 Spirit variant may address that better... reduce, food/pop/morale by one, the first cylon to reveal gets two super-crisis cards, the last cylon to reveal gets to take an cylon action after revealing...). I don't like the gami-ness of the Sympathizer, since it forces humans to act like Cylons and vice-versa.

Saturday Gaming with a Celebrity

Jacqui and I will host this Saturday from 10:00 am (or perhaps a touch earlier) until whenever. And perhaps we can entice the Chit Chatter of Today. Or perhaps not.

Update: Borders has BSG for $40. And those of you who have Borders Rewards can get it for under $30. So there will be a copy here. Just in case.

To Havre & To Holde

Nothing is as sweet as a new game package. Sadly, I just got back from my workout and I can barely lift a cup of water without my hand shaking, so I probably won't break it open until tomorrow. But the vegimeeples look nice.

This is probably my only Christmas game, unless I can trade for a completely necessary 3rd group copy of BSG. And just to make Sean happy...

The REAL Cylon Detector

It looks like a mere finger spinner.

Looks are deceiving.

I have seen Dennis unleash the might of this futuristic technology at the beginning of two Battlestar Galactica games. "To choose who goes first," he says. But clearly, it's no simple trinket but a technological marvel that always points to magnetic northEVIL.

Both times, he has brought it out and set it to work BEFORE the loyalty cards are dealt out, giving each of us our roles.

Saturday's Battlestar Galactica game: the finger spins and stops at Steve.
The cards are then dealt. Result? Steve is a Cylon.

Monday's Battlestar Galactica game: the finger spins and stops at Michael.
The cards are then dealt. Result? Michael is a Cylon (oh, and the Pope is Catholic).

DETECTION RATE: 100%

I recommend everyone to carry at least one of these things. You never know when you may have a Cylon in your midst. (Well, if Michael's around, you KNOW, but besides that...)

Monday night saw our attempt at a 7 player game (Scott, Dennis, Michael(cylon), Sean (playing his first game and, of course, being a Cylon), Jon, me and Brian) and it seems to work well. The dials increased by one also seems to be a good break point, as both times I've seen it played with dials at start position +1 at the beginning, it has been a narrow human victory (although I agree with Michael that Monday's game was not quite as close as the dials would indicate). I think I'm ready for some variant goodness.

Tiffany brought her friend Raquel to the group and played Tikal with her. Unfortunately, our BG game ran fairly long, and we didn't get to play games with Raquel or get to talk to her much. Hopefully, she makes a return appearance and we can find some fun stuff for her to play with the group.

Sean brought Wasabi! and taught Tiff and me how to play. Cute game with good production, easy rules and some player interaction in a short period of time. Short games always seem to go over pretty well in our group.

(On BGG, they say that you can pass without playing ingredients and instead discard as many recipes as you want as a legal move. This prevents the logjam of having recipes you can't legally complete, which just didn't seem to make much sense.)

Brian, Michael and Dennis Raced around the Galaxy several times, and Jon, Scott, Sean, and Brian got in a game of Dominion as well.

Dennis and I picked up our new WoW mini deluxe starter kits, and Tiff found a Harry Potter book. Just trying to keep DL in business.

In other news, I'm putting in my game order tomorrow night (shopping around for the best deal). Here's what I've got so far:
Me: Dominion and Neuroshima Hex
Michael the Cylon: Dominion
Jeff: possibly Race, possibly some other things
Tiff: possibly some games

Send me Geekmail or email or whatever before about 10pm tomorrow night and I'll add you in.

Vote Muffit!

So, who's going to be a DLair tomorrow? I should be that are 5:30-ish, and I expect we'll kick off the night with the de riguer game or 3 of BSG. So say we all. RSVP in the comments, or when you show up you'll be playing Helo.

Metaphorically.

By getting to watch us play.

Humanity's current death toll

Yesterday, at Casa de Chris, we played BSG and other games. Our first BSG game had Steve, Travis, his lovely wife Kate, Michael, Jon and myself (I think). Honestly, I don't remember much about that game except that a) I took Zarek (the only time we've played with him) and b) Michael convinced everyone he was a cylon in the first round, and c) everyone was right. The cylons won.

After a break for life-giving hamburgers, we split into two games. At my table, I was President Baltar (and a cylon off the deal) in a four player game with Kate, Chris and Jon. We had the most amazing destiny deck I've ever seen ... during the first few jumps there were never even two bad cards in a skill check. (I had decided to wait for an opportunity that never came). The sleeper phase made Kate a sympathizer (what with the 'friendly' destiny deck, everything was blue). Boomer was in the brig and it was my turn so I ordered the remaining human (Helo?) into the brig. And so President Admiral Cylon-in-Chief Baltar led humanity on a merry quest. Then they died.

After a bit of Rocking and Dominion, Jon decided to improve on the classic and set up a game of '500 card pick up' He's probably still sorting Dominion cards as he reads this. We also played a few games of Race. On the other game, Michael was yet again an unconvincing cylon. He should just wear that as a sign. "Unconvincing Cylon."

Jon Chris and I did a three player game where I revealed as Apollo by leaving the scene of a space battle and shooting someone (I think). Having every raider, basestar, and almost every raider and civilian ship on the field is fun. Jon and Chris managed to divert 10 of the raiders on a wild goose chase, which gave them enough time to jump. Then they drew 3 consecutive ship cards. That, combined with the two boarders they already had, was enough.

After a touch of football, we played another game of ... BSG. I was finally loyal, but Mr. Unconvincing Cylon was 3-for-3. We decided to give the humans extra resources, and they jumped into the sleeper phase with one barely in the read, and the others solidly safe. As President Roslin I had a good hand of Cylon-hate, so I think humanity may have won. But I had to go feed Muffit, so I don't know. I guess that makes the final game a cliff-hanger.

Thanks again to Chris for Hosting.

"What do you want for Christmas, little boy?"

Ho. Ho. Ho.

I'm leaning pretty heavily towards ordering Neuroshima Hex and Dominion. I'd like to get one more game, but nothing looks compelling. I know Tiff wants Mr. Jack the Expansion. I think Michael may have been considering something. And Ben is always up for buying new games (at least board games don't give you the RRoD when you open them up). I was going to talk about it this weekend, but I figured other SABGers that don't/can't come to Saturday or Monday gaming might also be interested in joining this order to save on some shipping. I'll probably order sometime next week, and post somewhere on this blog before I do so, so people have a few days to think about it.

Easy way to get Christmas gifts for that board gamer in your family! (Even if it's you...)

Werewolves unite! (now with new and improved start time change)

Kind of werewolfy, I suppose.

So the weekend is getting close. I don't have a feel yet for who's around this weekend and who wants to play something. I wondered for a moment whether Michael could play this weekend if he has to mod the game, but then I realized I have a computer if he or anyone else needs it.

So, I can pretty much play either day. Saturday would be preferable, because with Florida/Alabama at 3pm and Oklahoma/Missouri at 7pm, I don't see myself getting much work done on Saturday even if we don't play games. Ergo, might as well play games.

I'll be here slightly earlier start than normal (9am 10am Saturday morning) so that we can get some board games played before football. Hopefully I will have made my store run Friday night instead of trying to do it Saturday morning, which never works.

Oh, and Dennis, the UPS guy brought by some goodies. A whole case of them, in fact.

P.S. Please don't lynch/nightkill the host. It's not polite.

EDIT: Getting up this morning reminds me that I hate crawling out of bed early when it's cold. I'm probably not the only one. Let's make it 10AM instead of 9AM.

Last call for Haunted Village 6

No pictures for this one. I am starting tomorrow.

The signup thread is here.

The cassandra link for the game is here.

I think this rule set is a good example of where online werewolf can differ from face to face werewolf. Embedded within the werewolf game is a complex item rule set that can drastically alter the fundamental game.

First lynch will be Friday.

In which no Cylons were revealed

I arrived to find Scott and Chris playing Race, so I joined in. After a game, Travis showed up and we played Middle Kingdom. I lost. Badly. By that point Jon had arrived so we set up Wabash Cannonball. This is a minimalist train/economic game, but I think I could obsess over it. One reason -- Chris won with ~ $35 dollars, and you start with $24 (with 5 players). Another is that it plays in under an hour, but packs in lots of decisions. Gotta love that.

(One note for those who did play -- Apparently you can capitalize and choose to not auction a stock, and that's a relatively common play once you know what you are doing). This has to hit the table again.

At this point Tiffany had arrived, so we played Die Mauer. I lost, but not overwhelmingly so. Then people starting peeling away so Race closed out the night. At the very end we tried the drafting variant (mentioned in the rules). Recommended.

As the holidays approach, our thoughts turn towards long games. Chris and I discussed perhaps 7 Ages, or Here I Stand. A big game of something should be setup ... that's what holidays are for.