Sunday Session Report

I arrived at Chris's at 10:30 to find him in a Race game with Michael and Scott (not sure who won, but I think it was Michael with five billion developments in front of him). I was dealt into the next one and was dealt the nigh-unbeatable combo of Colony Ship and the Lost Ark world (the 5-green production world that gives two extra cards in the production phase). The hand culminated in a 12-point Pan-Galactic League but a surprisingly narrow 4-point win over Michael, who was one Settle away from locking me out on the previous turn. In the second game there was a lot of complaining from Michael about his horrible start. Turns out the Terraforming Guild was his "only good card" as he wrote "won easily" in his notebook.

Next up was team WoW miniatures, two minis per player. Scott and Chris took Alliance, while Michael and I chose Horde. We went with a melee-heavy strategy. Warrior Wilton Thorne and rogue Delyn Darksun both reduced a target's armor on a crit, which we hoped would allow our shaman's huge melee attack to one-shot some folks. The evil Alliance built their army around an epic figure, the nigh-unkillable paladin Bolvar Something-or-Other...but his extra cost meant the Alliance would need 25 VP to win, while the Horde would only need 21.

In the end, our strategy worked...sort of. Delyn was the MVP thanks to his Cold Blood action bar card, which allowed him to change a die to a crit. In fact, we only scored three crits all game, and two came from this card. Our shaman was almost useless, doing only four hits of damage on her first four attacks (24 total dice, minus armor). But her high resists allowed her to soak up a lot of damage, and Bolvar wasn't dealing much out. On turn 17 it came down to a single attack from our shaman on the defenseless Alliance druid -- if she critted, we win. Of course, she didn't. Then all Bolvar had to do was crit on his attack and the Alliance would win. Surprisingly, he didn't either. Delyn stepped and finished off the hapless druid for the really close win. What did we learn?

- A rogue (particularly Delyn) with Cold Blood is awesome
- It's great to have an unkillable figure, but Bolvar may not have enough offense to justify his cost
- As Michael predicted during our setup, we can't roll to save our lives
- WoW minis is always close and surprisingly tactical

After some food came BSG. We've played this waaaaaaaay too much now, and the level of table talk is making me cranky. Go here, not there, do this, not that, if that happens we win, oh no that card means we lose, we're saved, we're screwed, what the hell are you doing? I scarcely need to be present for my own turn anymore, and can't hear myself think anyway. The inevitability of this particular round didn't help -- Baltar (Scott) got both Cylon cards off the deal. He insta-revealed, gave his other card to Roslin (Jon -- did I mention he showed up?), and the humans were lucky to jump five units. It did reveal a severe weakness in Boomer; if there is a Cylon to her left, her scout ability is completely neutralized.

Finally there was much rocking, using Chris's XBox for once. Right after Jon left, we discovered that Chris hadn't unlocked any songs, so we cranked through the first four band challenges to start the process. Which means I've had enough of punk girl bands for 2009.

And thus does the curtain close on a long and slothful vacation. I have to go to work tomorrow? Seriously?