July 8, 2008

For the first time in a long time, we had enough people to have two games going at once.

• First, I played a game of Torres with three new comers, Greg, Amy, and Jo Yu (sorry if I’ve misspelled her name). Despite being the only person who’d played the game before, I came in last. Jo Yu won with 178, Amy had 177, Greg had 157, and I had 143.
• In the meantime, Hal, Eli, and Ian started a game of Stone Age. Eli won with a score of 183.
• Stone Age was still going on when we finished Torres, so I brought out Princes of Florence. Again, I was the only one who played before. All three new players picked up on the game fairly quickly. I won with a score of 64, but Greg wasn’t far behind with 59, Amy had 44, and Jo Yu had 39.

Our next session will be on July 22.

June 10, 2008

• First up, was Race for the Galaxy. Eli won with 31, Chris had 28, Jamie had 24, and I brought up the rear with 20.
• Next, the four of us played Vegas Showdown. Jamie won with 67, Eli had 63, I had 52, and Chris had 38.

May 27, 2008

It was just Eli, Phil, and myself tonight.

• Tzaar - Eli and I played two games of Tzaar, the newest addition to the Gipf series of two player abstract games. In Tzaar, each player has three types of pieces: 6 Tzaars, 9 Tzarras and 15 Totts. The pieces all have identical capabilities. On each turn, a player must first capture one of his opponent’s pieces. He then gets a second, optional move, in which he can either make another capture or create or add to a stack of pieces. A stack of pieces can capture any stack of equal or lesser height. A player loses if he can not make a capture on his first move of the turn, or if he no longer has at least one of each of the three types of pieces on the board. Eli won both games.
• Pacific Typhoon - Phil joined us, and wanted to try Pacific Typhoon. Pacific Typhoon, an updated version of Atlantic Storm, is a trick taking card game with a World War II naval theme. On his turn, a player draws two battle cards, and chooses one to be fought over. Battles occur in different years (1941, 1942, 1943, 1944, or 1945) and may be day or night. The player then looks at his cards and decides if it will be an air, surface, or submarine battle. Starting with the start player, each player in turn decides whether to play for the Allies or the Japanese, and can then play one or more combat cards of the appropriate type. After all players have played (or passed), the strengths of the two sides are compared. The side with the higher strength wins the trick, and the player who contributed the most to the battle gets to decide how the point cards are distributed. The game is okay with three, but plays better with six. Phil won with 47, I had 35, and Eli had 19.
• Blue Moon City - We managed to squeeze in a game of BMC before closing time. I got off to an early lead, and quickly got 4 markers on the obelisk, while Eli and Phil still had only two each. I placed my 5th marker before either of them could catch up, and won the game.

Our next session will be June 10.

April 22, 2008

• Yinsh - Phil and I. This was a fairly close game, which I eventually won 3 to 2.
• Blue Moon City - Eli joined Phil and I for the second game of the evening. Eli was new to the game, while both Phil and I had played before. Phil won the game by making his 5th contribution to the central obelisk, while Eli had 4, and I had 3.
• Tantrix - Phil had to leave, so it was just Eli and I. This was also a first playing for Eli. I won 28 to 18.

Our next session will be May 13.

April 8, 2008

• Pünct - Phil and I played a game of Pünct. Forgetting that it would end the game, I played my last piece to the board before either of us could make a connection. Phil won on the tie-breaker, having the most points covered in the center hexagon.
• Wiz War - Phil, Eli, and I. Right at the start of the game, both Eli and I went after Phil. I dropped one of Phil’s treasures on my home base, but Phil caught up to Eli and cast Walking Death on him (Walking Death causes the player to lose hit points for moving) before he could reach his home base. Eli never made it back to his home base, and Phil was able to get two treasures back to his home base and win before I could get a second one.
• R-Eco - Phil, Eli, and I. This turned out to be Phil’s night, as he clobbered Eli and me in R-Eco, winning all three games of the evening. Final scores were Phil 14, Eli 5, Eric 3.

Our next session will be on April 22.

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.