March 25, 2008

There were four of us tonight: Phil, Hal, Eli, and myself.

• Illuminati - we played with the Y2K and Bavarian Fire Drill expansions. With four players, the main goal was to control 12 groups. Phil was Discordia (special goal: control 5 weird groups), Hal was the Society of Assassins (special goal: control 6 violent groups), Eli was the Church of the Subgenius (special goal: control 11 groups), and I was Shangri-La (special goal: control 5 peaceful groups). Hal and Eli had a rough start, and Hal especially was plagued with bad rolls throughout the game. I managed to gain control of two peaceful groups quite early, but couldn’t get any more to turn up. Lots of weird groups came out early, and the game started to look like an easy win for Phil. Eli managed to snag several high income groups, and was generating an impressive amount of cash. Several times we managed to keep Phil from getting his last group, but this ran everyone out of cash. In the meantime, Hal was able to get five violent groups. He then turned up Frankenfoods (a group which takes on the alignment of its master), and was able to take it over with a violent group, turning Frankenfoods violent, and giving Hal the win.

Our next session will be April 8.

March 11, 2008

We had four people tonight, including one new-comer, Adam.

• R-Eco - Phil, Adam, and I played this simple card game with a recycling theme. The game was new to both Phil and Adam. Adam and I tied at 16 (both with 2 dumped cards), while Phil ended with 1 (and 4 dumped cards).
• Before the Wind - Eli arrived right after R-Eco, and joined us for a game of Before the Wind. Adam was the only one who hadn’t played before. The game went three rounds, with Eli and me in the lead for most of the game. Phil had trouble getting the action cards he needed, but managed to pile up a good deal of cash. Going into the third round, I had 34 points in ships, and the right goods to fill a 12 point and a 6 point ship, which would give me over 50 points and the win. Eli had two large ships and one small ship, but didn’t have the right goods to fill any of the available large ships. It was my turn to select cards. I drew two shipping cards and two warehouse cards, and selected a shipping card for myself. Phil immediately bid 20 ducats on my shipping card. As I only had 4 ducats in hand, I had to give him the card. The game went on for a few more turns, and Eli was able to collect the goods he needed and ship before I could get another shipping card, giving him the win. Final scores were Eli 58, Eric 46, Adam 29, and Phil 18.
• Uptown - We finished up the evening with a game of Uptown. This was a first playing for Adam and Eli. Adam managed to tie up the 9 column completely, while the other three of us fought over the middle of the board. Phil managed to connect his two groups right near the end of the game. Final scores: Phil 1, Eli 2, Adam 3 and 9 captures, Eric 3 and 12 captures.

Our next session will be March 25.