Grand Prix Madison
As Spring dawns on Iowa, my impending wedding and move to North Carolina cast a long shadow from the horizon of Summer. I'm starting to see things that I've taken somewhat for granted in a new light, with the prospect of leaving them moving closer to reality. Big things, like time with friends, to little things, like visiting old haunts and favorite restaurants, are getting worked in as much as possible before I become overwhelmed with wedding and move preparations.
When I heard there was a Grand Prix in Madison, I was a little excited, thinking it would be a good chance to visit a town I'd previously lived in and see some old friends. I got a little disappointed when I found out the format: three man team Standard. I haven't really played MtG since last summer, when I got into Game of Thrones, and there's no way I'm splashing the cash for a competitive Standard deck, let alone convincing two competent players that I'm worth risking their third team slot on. However, I figured, even without playing in the main event, I could just play in sides and spend time with people. Realistically, I thought, this might be my last trip to Madison.
I took off work for Friday, and started up to Madison around 9. I got in at noon and spent some time talking to Courtney and admiring the Maher twins, Hadley and Aiden, while Bob picked up his teammate Eric Froelich from the airport. A significant number of my old friends have created offspring now, and they (kids and parents) always amaze me. It's wonderful to see how people adjust to raising children, when they just seem to grow in spirit a little whenever the little ones are around. I also have to say I'm impressed with the toys infants have these days... the Maher's living room looked like a specially designed, comfy laboratory designed to expand the minds of children. When Bob and Eric got back, we all sat around and talked about life, MtG, and poker for a while, and had some subs for lunch. Bob took Eric to his hotel, and I went to see Danny and Rich at ACD.
It's always fun to visit ACD and find out about goings on in the gaming world. Danny and Rich took some time out of their afternoon, and we talked about the inception and success of Rio Grande, what games were hot, and the expansion of Rackham products in North America, among other things. I got to meet reps from Rackham and FFG, and hear a little bit about the plans of both those companies. The new Dogs of War book for Confrontation sounds like a great product, and will fit right in with the impressive organized play plans Rackham is developing, expanding the possibilities of league formats. FFG has some great stuff on the horizon, but I had to miss out on the part of the conversation I most wanted to be involved with, which was the discussion of their upcoming CMG for the Mutant Chronicles license. I have a few of the old Warzone products from first ed., and I've watched the license get batted around the gaming ballpark for years. I don't think that this has inspired a lot of retailer confidence, and it's going to take a little more than a movie and some 36mm figures to convince people to push this game. By the way, does anyone else wonder, "why 36mm?" I guess they don't expect people to use these figs with other minis games, but it seems to me like old Warzone players, and sci-fi minis gamers in general would have been much more interested in acquiring 28mm figs. I wrapped up my visit to ACD with a talk with Rich about life in general, and drove off thinking about dinner.
Az Spear called to let me know he was in town, and I went to meet him at Dan Bock & Jim Hustad's store, Netherworld Games, on Mifflin St. in Madison. Az and I had been talking about going to the tournament, though neither of us were going to play, or even judge. We figured to spend a fair amount of time just hanging around. When I got there, I found Adrian Sullivan playtesting for the GP, and got to spend a few minutes talking with him. Unfortunately, it turned out that there was nothing behind his "double dog dare" for me to come to Madison. Netherworld is a decent little store. It has an impressive array of MtG product, as one would expect from anything that Dan Bock (dabock of ebay fame) has to do with. The store also has a decent roleplaying selection, but the majority of the area in the store is taken up by board games. The store also has an excellent selection of demo copies of games, so you can get inside the box and check the game out before you buy it. A play area with a couple tables makes up the back of the store. We were about ready to leave for dinner when we found out they were going to have Friday Night Magic, but could only have it if we stuck around to make 8 players. So, it was time to draft. As I stated, I hadn't played MtG in some time, and haven't even seen most of these cards. I ended up with a passable, though unimpressive deck with no real outstanding cards. I won't bore anyone with too many of the details. My first round oponent, Kyle, totally outdrew my in game 1. In game two, I had him low on life, but I had only managed to draw two casting cost creatures. He played a guy that could be used to stop creatures of a certain casting cost from getting involved in combat, I didn't draw an answer (or many other creatures) and he came back into the game and to the win. Second round I played Levi who didn't draw enough creatures to compete, I guess. Third round I ended up facing Az. I blew him out in game one. In game two, I had him on the ropes and looked on track to decking him, but copies of my decking creature and a guy that could untap them, along with the guildmage that could make me draw cards, just gave him the game. It was a nice, tight match, and I learned a little about the format. After drafting the rares, we called up Fred Hooper (NIU grad and Ravensoft/Wizards/Fasa/Etc. illustrator) and headed out for a late dinner. We ended up at Tutto Pasta on State St., and had some pretty good food and a few beers. Late in the meal, Adrian caught back up with us, just as a DJ started spinning some loud and, to my hearing, somewhat unhip dance music. It was kind of strange, and we walked out laughing at the incongruity of the music in the pasta restaurant, as well as the hilarity of someone hanging up a "no cover" sign (you had to be there, I guess). There are lots of entertainment options on State Street, one of the most vibrant streets in the entire midwest, but we opted to walk up around the capitol to an old favorite, the Paradise Lounge. The 'dice is a great place to hang out, drink a couple beers, and eat a wonderful cheeseburger, if you're among the somewhat punk affiliated. At the tavern, we ran into the weekend's TO, Steve Port (also the owner of Misty Mountain Games), and a couple of his judges. After a half an hour or so of stories about various MtG events, everyone had to take off except Fred and I, and we talked about old times and Fred's current projects, which is always cool.
The next day I awoke to the sounds of the Maher twins playing with Grandma downstairs. I followed Bob to the tournament site, met up with Az, and went for breakfast. Az vetoed the Denny's across the street, and we spent half an hour driving around the suburban sprawl of the Western Madison area, before settling on a different Denny's, in a much busier location. As Az said, "don't people around here like breakfast?" Unfortunately, aside from being slow and not very tasty, I think something here wasn't quite right, and adversely affected my, well, waste system, say, for the rest of the weekend. 'Nuff said. After breakfast, it was Starbucks and the tournament.
Back at the Convention Center, I ran into a plethora of old faces, as well as familiar ones from Iowa. Whitey, Chris, Matt Severa, Mike Hron, Brian Kowal, Rob Castro, Dan Bock, and a list that goes on and on. Perhaps most importantly, my old friend David Lehman was there. I know David from DeKalb, and we moved to Madison from there at the same time, for different reasons. We lost touch a while after I left town for Columbia, and it was a real pleasure to run into him and hear that he is doing so well, and has a 3 year old son named Drake. After making sure we got to talk with everyone we knew, Az and I sat down to play some Alpha Magic while we waited for the Urza's block sealed deck to begin. Alpha always draws a few onlookers, and, at one point, we had about fifteen people watching, mystified by the difference in the rules and the age of the cards. Bob senior showed up and chatted for a bit, and then it was time for the tournament.
How many years has it been since Urza? I don't even want to think about it. This was a blast from the past, and probably good for me, since I knew the cards to a certain degree. My deck was all right, black/white/green with a fair amount of removal, decent but unexceptional creatures, and a rancor. The real downside was not having enough good creatures in black/green to make it two colors. My rounds went by in a flash, and I won't go into them too much. Third round I was paired against Az (again), and, at 1-1, we had to play. We agreed to a prize split, and I ended up edging him, evening the weekend at 1-1. One note is that I drew first, whenever I had the choice, which seemed to work out in the format. With my mana distribution, I figured I really needed the extra card. Fourth round my opponent forgot to pay echo twice. He was young enough that he had probably never seen the cards new... Fifth round I id'd into top 8. The top 8 booster draft was a bit of a nightmare. I first and second picked black, but the Vile Requiem that I picked up second was a killer, as the woman to my right had picked a black card, and proceeded to cut me hard. I went with two good white cards next, and then that dried up, too. There weren't good enough cards in the packs to make me switch, though, so I took mediocre/poor cards trying to cut to get rewarded in pack two. The 2nd pack went a little better, but I was starved for creatures. I probably should have switched to green at some point, but there was just no real incentive. Pack three gave me some random creatures to round out the deck. Similar to Friday, I had a playable deck with no real bombs, unless you count the Requiem. My quarterfinals opponent was pretty confident, letting a friend know that "there's no way I can lose unless I get mana screwed." He proceeded to wreck me in game one, but, I thought, his deck didn't seem that great. Game 2 he blew up the board with Planar Collapse on turn four or five, even though it was his 3 cards for my 2, I guess one of my creatures, Sanctum Custodian, was pretty good. After that, we went back and forth, and then he got on top for a while. However, I was able to stabilize and, with no time, limit, deck him. He was a little salty about this, and we went to game three, in which I proceeded to smash him with, basically, one creature and a lot of removal. He showed the composure that has, in part, made MtG unsavory for me, choosing to point out something I'd done that he thought was a mistake, and saying that he'd "drafted the best deck at the table" before leaving. I refrained from analyzing his own play. My semi's opponent was much more amiable, and was just happy to be playing. We had a nice time, in the two short matches in which he totally dominated me with blue fliers and bounce. I got two Italian Legends packs for my time. Forgetting my prize split with Az, and not thinking that the dealers would give much for them, I popped them hoping for the Mana Drain lottery win, but it was not to be. The only non-zero value card I busted was a chain lightning, which went to Az when he reminded me of the prize split. It was almost midnight by then, and the evening was rounded out sharing stories with Bob, Scott Lewis, Aaron Mechtenseimer, and Kyle Mechler. Aaron amused everyone by filling the Legens wrappers back up with worthless cards, and leaving the packs laying around.
Sunday I went back to the Site to watch Bob's team, draft, and have a second chance to talk to David and see his wife, Gabriella. Az got into a draft, drafted well, but wasn't fortunate. I drafted, did OK with black/white, and got beat in the 2nd round by David from Miami with blue/red. The Lehman's showed up, but just as I was supposed to start a match, and they couldn't really stay because they were going to a show. It was good to see them, though, and I got a hug, which is always nice. Bob's team (the Lost numbers) were rolling, and made it to top 4. Unfortunately, they got beat in the semi's, even with favorable matchups, and ended up in third. Az got roped into taking Rashad to the Milwaukee airport. With things winding down, I decided to call it a day and get an early start home. Saturday I had traded some cards to Dan Bock, so I ran over to Netherworld to pick up a couple boardgames. Then, I walked down State Street and was impressed by the amount of life happening. It was a bright, warmish early Spring day, and a lot of people were out. I bought and origami flower from a street vendor, and a t-shirt form B-Side (my old favorite record store) both as gifts for Kristin. I ran up Johnson St. to Mildred's for a Selena (my old favorite sandwich-still great!), and stopped at Big Deal books for a quick browse. I still made it out of town around 6 pm, which was great. The rest is just driving.
A heck of a weekend, and a fitting goodbye, if it ends up being that, to Madison (at least for the time being). My board game collection swelled by an alarming 8 titles this weekend, so there should be (fingers crossed) lots to write about in the coming weeks. (If you're wondering they were: Lost Cities, Through the Desert, Princes of Florence, Arkham Horror, Tikal, Power Grid, Nexus Ops, and Samurai - Hacienda and Santiago are next on the list... unless I can find a copy of Caylus!).
Congrats to Iowa AGOT organizer and all around great guy Lucas Reed on his hire at FFG this week!
GG, GL
Monday, March 27, 2006
Thursday, March 23, 2006
CH BG Wednesday - Caylus and Hacienda
It's been a nice few weeks of free Wednesdays, but my time at CH is drawing to a close for the Spring, as soccer season opens with our first game on the 5th. I actually thought this would be my last night, but a change of date for the player/parent meeting means I'll probably make it next week.
I spent a fairly lazy day subbing for World Geo at CCA, giving a quiz and showing Hotel Rwanda. I was a little frustrated at the end of the day, following the US/Germany match online. Since when does the US allow 4 goals? (not since 2002, apparently, also against Germany!) Whatever. Who in their right mind gets upset about sports results? Well, practice was cold and blustery, and like a fool I didn't bring a hat. Afterward, I was frazzled and cold, with that dry-eyed feeling you get from being out in the wind and sun. I ran over to Taco John's for a quick bite, and rolled into the store just in time for the games to start.
I was hoping that the copies of Caylus and Lost Cities I ordered would be in, but now, apparently, there will be no Caylus until May. Talk about buzzkill. Aside from the bad news, the store provided me with the choice of joining either Fury of Dracula or Caylus, neither of which I have played. I chose Caylus, as it didn't look like I'd be playing my own copy any time soon, and Chris is the only person I know who owns it.
The game was Chris, Erin, Gare, and I. Chris did a very good job explaining the game, and I got most of the basics, but I was feeling a little washed out and unable to generate a pre-game strategy. In the first couple turns, I kept getting surprised by things I should/shouldn't have done, or watching people make moves and thinking "oh, that's how that works!" I had a decent start, keeping up with the others building in the castle, but I should have built a wooden building ealrier to get more rewards from it. I started the random draw last in turn order, and really should have done something to change that, but, at the time, I didn't know what I would do until it was too late... The game was racing as people pushed the provost forward to reap the rewards of new construction. In the midgame, the other players surged ahead of me with stone constructions. I finally wised up a little, changed the turn order, got some resources, and built a few things. I finished last in this game, which Chris won narrowly over Gare, but I did enough at the end to at least make it respectible, I think. Despite my poor mental state and finish, I liked the game and look forward to playing it again. I think it really should be much tighter, with more defensive provost movement. Favors are very important at all stages of the game, too, something which I took very little advantage of. The building favor track, in particular, is hugely rewarding in the late game.
We finished Caylus at around 8:30, giving us 90 minutes or so. Chris had a Wolfgang Kramer game called Hacienda with him, that should play in that time with 5 players (Nate had joined us), and we agreed to give it a go. I'm not sure if any of the others besides Chris had played it. Nate hadn't, I'm pretty sure. Hacienda is a nice looking game, with a board similar to Through the Desert, along with a vaguely similar training mechanism. It features a limited action round, with building or card-buying options, sort of like Ticket to Ride. The game should not really be too closely compared with either of the above, though, as the theme and mechanics are vastly different. Like many recent designer games, it's quick to learn, easy to play, but offers more to the gamer who is willing to put a little strategic thought into it. As has already been mentioned, last night, I was not that gamer.
After another good teaching of the rules by Chris, we set about getting our livestock to market on the South American plains. True to form, I miss-played on my first turn, putting a tile one space to the left of where it should have been, ultimately costing myself at least 6 victory points, as well as something like 9 pesos over the course of the game. This one little wrong placement also gave an equal advantage to Nate. Early plays are very important in this game, as income scoring builds with the extent of your area control, and victory will be scored twice, rewarding you doubly for good early play. That said, there are a lot of options on the dogbone board we played for good, rewarding opening moves, playing near water or in places where you should be able to quickly reach several markets. I was second to last, and Chris was last. By the time my turn rolled around, the options I had hoped for at the beginning were all gone, so I chose a different one, promptly making the aforementioned mistake. Perhaps it was contagious, because Chris suffered the same effect, second-guessing his own second-choice move.
The blocking element in the game came up mostly against Chris also, as Erin and Gare both blocked him off from markets. Nate expanded laterally away from me, and was always, of course, one step ahead of me as he was sitting to my left (note to self, expand into the same area as someone who will go after you). It wasn't until he had built a gigantic empire that Erin came over and blocked him off. Nate certainly did the most to build on the scoring possibilities in the game from the get go (aside from connecting to markets), but I think Erin had the most creative play. She was the most active blocker, and had some good use of water. Money became an issue for Chris and Erin, too, and she had to harvest.
I ended up finishing second to last, I think, with Nate winning by a fair amount, despite only connecting to 3 markets. In future plays, I think I'd like to try playing with fewer players, so that you have a little more time to realize your plans. Also, as mentioned, the first moves must be good, and in the midgame you have to look at ways to limit your opponents while also bettering yourself (with a new market or land area, for example).
Perhaps we'll get another play of this at the next game day in April, if not sooner.
GG, GL
It's been a nice few weeks of free Wednesdays, but my time at CH is drawing to a close for the Spring, as soccer season opens with our first game on the 5th. I actually thought this would be my last night, but a change of date for the player/parent meeting means I'll probably make it next week.
I spent a fairly lazy day subbing for World Geo at CCA, giving a quiz and showing Hotel Rwanda. I was a little frustrated at the end of the day, following the US/Germany match online. Since when does the US allow 4 goals? (not since 2002, apparently, also against Germany!) Whatever. Who in their right mind gets upset about sports results? Well, practice was cold and blustery, and like a fool I didn't bring a hat. Afterward, I was frazzled and cold, with that dry-eyed feeling you get from being out in the wind and sun. I ran over to Taco John's for a quick bite, and rolled into the store just in time for the games to start.
I was hoping that the copies of Caylus and Lost Cities I ordered would be in, but now, apparently, there will be no Caylus until May. Talk about buzzkill. Aside from the bad news, the store provided me with the choice of joining either Fury of Dracula or Caylus, neither of which I have played. I chose Caylus, as it didn't look like I'd be playing my own copy any time soon, and Chris is the only person I know who owns it.
The game was Chris, Erin, Gare, and I. Chris did a very good job explaining the game, and I got most of the basics, but I was feeling a little washed out and unable to generate a pre-game strategy. In the first couple turns, I kept getting surprised by things I should/shouldn't have done, or watching people make moves and thinking "oh, that's how that works!" I had a decent start, keeping up with the others building in the castle, but I should have built a wooden building ealrier to get more rewards from it. I started the random draw last in turn order, and really should have done something to change that, but, at the time, I didn't know what I would do until it was too late... The game was racing as people pushed the provost forward to reap the rewards of new construction. In the midgame, the other players surged ahead of me with stone constructions. I finally wised up a little, changed the turn order, got some resources, and built a few things. I finished last in this game, which Chris won narrowly over Gare, but I did enough at the end to at least make it respectible, I think. Despite my poor mental state and finish, I liked the game and look forward to playing it again. I think it really should be much tighter, with more defensive provost movement. Favors are very important at all stages of the game, too, something which I took very little advantage of. The building favor track, in particular, is hugely rewarding in the late game.
We finished Caylus at around 8:30, giving us 90 minutes or so. Chris had a Wolfgang Kramer game called Hacienda with him, that should play in that time with 5 players (Nate had joined us), and we agreed to give it a go. I'm not sure if any of the others besides Chris had played it. Nate hadn't, I'm pretty sure. Hacienda is a nice looking game, with a board similar to Through the Desert, along with a vaguely similar training mechanism. It features a limited action round, with building or card-buying options, sort of like Ticket to Ride. The game should not really be too closely compared with either of the above, though, as the theme and mechanics are vastly different. Like many recent designer games, it's quick to learn, easy to play, but offers more to the gamer who is willing to put a little strategic thought into it. As has already been mentioned, last night, I was not that gamer.
After another good teaching of the rules by Chris, we set about getting our livestock to market on the South American plains. True to form, I miss-played on my first turn, putting a tile one space to the left of where it should have been, ultimately costing myself at least 6 victory points, as well as something like 9 pesos over the course of the game. This one little wrong placement also gave an equal advantage to Nate. Early plays are very important in this game, as income scoring builds with the extent of your area control, and victory will be scored twice, rewarding you doubly for good early play. That said, there are a lot of options on the dogbone board we played for good, rewarding opening moves, playing near water or in places where you should be able to quickly reach several markets. I was second to last, and Chris was last. By the time my turn rolled around, the options I had hoped for at the beginning were all gone, so I chose a different one, promptly making the aforementioned mistake. Perhaps it was contagious, because Chris suffered the same effect, second-guessing his own second-choice move.
The blocking element in the game came up mostly against Chris also, as Erin and Gare both blocked him off from markets. Nate expanded laterally away from me, and was always, of course, one step ahead of me as he was sitting to my left (note to self, expand into the same area as someone who will go after you). It wasn't until he had built a gigantic empire that Erin came over and blocked him off. Nate certainly did the most to build on the scoring possibilities in the game from the get go (aside from connecting to markets), but I think Erin had the most creative play. She was the most active blocker, and had some good use of water. Money became an issue for Chris and Erin, too, and she had to harvest.
I ended up finishing second to last, I think, with Nate winning by a fair amount, despite only connecting to 3 markets. In future plays, I think I'd like to try playing with fewer players, so that you have a little more time to realize your plans. Also, as mentioned, the first moves must be good, and in the midgame you have to look at ways to limit your opponents while also bettering yourself (with a new market or land area, for example).
Perhaps we'll get another play of this at the next game day in April, if not sooner.
GG, GL
Monday, March 20, 2006
AGOT Sunday
I woke up Sunday more ready to get the day's gaming over with than to play. I've relished the time I've had to play games lately, but it seems that it's all coming pretty fast. With a Friday night session, and all day Saturday... all day Sunday didn't seem like as much of a treat. Still, this was something different, AGOT CCG. So, I got up, gathered cards and boardgame (Warrior Knights-just in case the ccg event didn't come off), and headed over to Critical Hit.
After John Bruno's recent success with Greyjoy characterless, and knowing Jerod had been playing a deck like that, I set out to make my first Greyjoy deck, a simple, no-agenda deck with a lot of extra location destruction. I finished up a little late, but just fine on time as Jeremiah decided to play, using Jerod's deck, at the last minute.
First Round
I played Jeremiah this round, and I'm afraid it was no fun for him. I squeezed his influence sources hard from the beginning, and he could only try to stay in it with his warhorse, until I took care of the tourney grounds and finished him off. If my deck gets a decent draw here, it should be a good lock. The axeman who sacs to cancel events is really good here.
Second Round
Thomas won the battle of the Hafner brothers, and slid down the table to face me. He was playing Greyjoy, another simple deck build, without location destruction. This worried me a little, as I thought I'd have a disadvantage with fewer combat characters. He opened well, with Theon and some warships, and then the Bannermen of the Kraken, getting up to 9 or 10 power. He didn't have many resources, though, and I out-developed him. I destroyed his warships, and slowly whittled him down with military claim. He stayed in the game with Wildfire Assault, but I was holding characters (and had the location/character guys in play), and finished him off.
Third Round
I got a chance to play my first game against the younger Hafner, for the final round of our little four man tournament. He was playing Lannister Knights of the Realm. He got a decent flop, with Kevan, but couldn't back him up and lost both his characters to 2 claim off Gathering Storm on turn one. He kept trying to get back in, but could never really swing enough resources to put down significant strength. He drew some extra cards off knights, but, as the game rolled into the fifth plot, he was cleared out, and I searched for my one knight (THE Knight), and neutered his draw and finished him.
Overall, a decent performance for a deck that I built in half an hour and had never played. Each of the other guys went 1-2, so I hope it was a successful day for them in their first tournament.
It was a couple hours until the draft, so I hung around with Roger and Tim(who won the MtG Legacy tournament), just chatting, and went to Taco Bell with Tim and Steve. Arriving back at the store, we had 5 players, so Tim graciously agreed to join in, having only played the game briefly. We had a decent draft, with, I think, everyone doing all right. It was certainly a learning experience for Thomas, I'm not sure that he's ever drafted a ccg.
I usually work hard to play Stark in Winter draft, but their house was thin for me early here. I did end up passing Arya's Revenge and Huntress in the Swamp in pack two, for what it's worth. I took Targ early, although the best two cards, by far, in my first pack were both Targ. I went into Lannister, and stayed with those two houses throughout the event. I ended up with five endless guys, that were a huge pain for people, Cersei, a Festering Wound and a Blood Magic, and some armies.
Round One
Jeremiah again. I think he was playing Stark Targ. His deck was pretty solid (6 card flop), and he got up around 13 power before I stabilized the game. I drew a Lannister Iron throne late, and emptied his deck, although not until the turn I won. MVP (of the whole tournament=Blue Lipped Warlock with War Council). This was a tight game that went down to the wire, with Jeremiah having to read all the cards and consider every move, being a new player.
Round Two
I got paired down to play Thomas. Thomas had Baratheon Greyjoy. He had a big flop (5), but didn't have a lot of characters. I managed to get ahead on characters, and from there he was always chasing the game, trying to get back in. He played Bloody Trident, which kept his house card blank more than mine, but forced me to play differently, as I just couldn't afford to let unopposed challenges get through. I just had too much for him.
Round Three
Tim sat down with me for this one. Tim is an excellent MtG player and boardgamer, so I knew this would be very competitive. Tim made several good plays throughout the game, and made it very interesting. His deck was mostly Martell. He had a little of Baratheon, too. We had similar starts, with Tim's a little better than mine. We went back and forth a bit, with deadly armies and such. Again, old Blue Lip came through bigtime. He got down his Warmonger, but a little late to save him. He just didn't have enough characters over the course of the game to defend himself. I also was quite lucky to have an early Blood Magic for his first turn Student of Subtlety, who would certainly have changed the game.
A good day, with a couple of good light tournaments. I had fun, but am still wondering where the numbers are - where are the old players? I need to set a schedule leading up to Regionals, and send out some big emails. We should be having twenty people for our supported events.
GG, GL
I woke up Sunday more ready to get the day's gaming over with than to play. I've relished the time I've had to play games lately, but it seems that it's all coming pretty fast. With a Friday night session, and all day Saturday... all day Sunday didn't seem like as much of a treat. Still, this was something different, AGOT CCG. So, I got up, gathered cards and boardgame (Warrior Knights-just in case the ccg event didn't come off), and headed over to Critical Hit.
After John Bruno's recent success with Greyjoy characterless, and knowing Jerod had been playing a deck like that, I set out to make my first Greyjoy deck, a simple, no-agenda deck with a lot of extra location destruction. I finished up a little late, but just fine on time as Jeremiah decided to play, using Jerod's deck, at the last minute.
First Round
I played Jeremiah this round, and I'm afraid it was no fun for him. I squeezed his influence sources hard from the beginning, and he could only try to stay in it with his warhorse, until I took care of the tourney grounds and finished him off. If my deck gets a decent draw here, it should be a good lock. The axeman who sacs to cancel events is really good here.
Second Round
Thomas won the battle of the Hafner brothers, and slid down the table to face me. He was playing Greyjoy, another simple deck build, without location destruction. This worried me a little, as I thought I'd have a disadvantage with fewer combat characters. He opened well, with Theon and some warships, and then the Bannermen of the Kraken, getting up to 9 or 10 power. He didn't have many resources, though, and I out-developed him. I destroyed his warships, and slowly whittled him down with military claim. He stayed in the game with Wildfire Assault, but I was holding characters (and had the location/character guys in play), and finished him off.
Third Round
I got a chance to play my first game against the younger Hafner, for the final round of our little four man tournament. He was playing Lannister Knights of the Realm. He got a decent flop, with Kevan, but couldn't back him up and lost both his characters to 2 claim off Gathering Storm on turn one. He kept trying to get back in, but could never really swing enough resources to put down significant strength. He drew some extra cards off knights, but, as the game rolled into the fifth plot, he was cleared out, and I searched for my one knight (THE Knight), and neutered his draw and finished him.
Overall, a decent performance for a deck that I built in half an hour and had never played. Each of the other guys went 1-2, so I hope it was a successful day for them in their first tournament.
It was a couple hours until the draft, so I hung around with Roger and Tim(who won the MtG Legacy tournament), just chatting, and went to Taco Bell with Tim and Steve. Arriving back at the store, we had 5 players, so Tim graciously agreed to join in, having only played the game briefly. We had a decent draft, with, I think, everyone doing all right. It was certainly a learning experience for Thomas, I'm not sure that he's ever drafted a ccg.
I usually work hard to play Stark in Winter draft, but their house was thin for me early here. I did end up passing Arya's Revenge and Huntress in the Swamp in pack two, for what it's worth. I took Targ early, although the best two cards, by far, in my first pack were both Targ. I went into Lannister, and stayed with those two houses throughout the event. I ended up with five endless guys, that were a huge pain for people, Cersei, a Festering Wound and a Blood Magic, and some armies.
Round One
Jeremiah again. I think he was playing Stark Targ. His deck was pretty solid (6 card flop), and he got up around 13 power before I stabilized the game. I drew a Lannister Iron throne late, and emptied his deck, although not until the turn I won. MVP (of the whole tournament=Blue Lipped Warlock with War Council). This was a tight game that went down to the wire, with Jeremiah having to read all the cards and consider every move, being a new player.
Round Two
I got paired down to play Thomas. Thomas had Baratheon Greyjoy. He had a big flop (5), but didn't have a lot of characters. I managed to get ahead on characters, and from there he was always chasing the game, trying to get back in. He played Bloody Trident, which kept his house card blank more than mine, but forced me to play differently, as I just couldn't afford to let unopposed challenges get through. I just had too much for him.
Round Three
Tim sat down with me for this one. Tim is an excellent MtG player and boardgamer, so I knew this would be very competitive. Tim made several good plays throughout the game, and made it very interesting. His deck was mostly Martell. He had a little of Baratheon, too. We had similar starts, with Tim's a little better than mine. We went back and forth a bit, with deadly armies and such. Again, old Blue Lip came through bigtime. He got down his Warmonger, but a little late to save him. He just didn't have enough characters over the course of the game to defend himself. I also was quite lucky to have an early Blood Magic for his first turn Student of Subtlety, who would certainly have changed the game.
A good day, with a couple of good light tournaments. I had fun, but am still wondering where the numbers are - where are the old players? I need to set a schedule leading up to Regionals, and send out some big emails. We should be having twenty people for our supported events.
GG, GL
Sunday, March 19, 2006
Game day at Chris, Edie, and Annie's:
I woke up this morning with all kinds of grandiose plans about putting things away, painting miniatures, and building AGOT decks for Sunday... In the end, all I really managed to do was get cleaned up and get some games together to carry to F Street. In the end, the box ended up holding: Junta (at Chris's request), Tigris & Euphrates, St. Petersburg, Ingenious, Fjords, and Res Publica.
I arrived shortly after noon, and there was already a game going. Edie, Suke, and Tony were sitting around waiting, though, so we decided to get something quick going to warm up, so to speak. Frank's Zoo came out of the box, and we played a hand, with Tony going out first. I rocketed down to two cards, but then couldn't play on anything. We didn't get to try out the team aspect of the game, though, as the other group had finished and we decided to recombine with them for some heftier offerings.
Shortly, a group of us caravaned into the kitchen for Through the Desert. Myself, Sue, Suke, Edie, and Tony were the camel-masters for this one. This was the first time for several of us. The setup was pretty quick. This was not a group for analysis paralysis. Everyone made pretty smart choices, and I got left with a really nice corner for my blue caravan. Suke cut off my green caravan a little, but that really was what allowed me to take the big corner with my blue rider. That, and Sue focusing on her own attempt to control a sizeable area next to me on the other side. I got another area on the other side of the board with my purple camels, snaking along the back behind the oasis. There was a lot of friendly team-shifting in this game, as people tried to point out to others what they could do to interfere with others. It never was very effective, though, as most of the time players were focused on their own business. The board gets pretty crowded and chaotic to look at, too. Not a game for those bleary-eyed, late-night game session endings. The setup, simple as it is, is clearly very important for limiting other players' opportunities. Sometimes, I think you just have to suppose you won't get much out of a particular rider, and just place it behind someone in a big space. In the end, the longest caravans were pretty spread out, and I ended up winning by, I think, 6 over Suke. I think we finished this game in the time it took Chris to explain Puerto Rico in the other room.
Kurt and his brother Chris had arrived, and were, of course, looking for a game. We talked about playing Tigris & Euphrates, but decided to save it for a little later, hoping for a fourth. Instead, we decided to visit the islands of Japan. RK's Samurai came down off the shelf. Kurt and Chris had played before, and I hadn't, so they taught me the rules real quick. At first, I was looking at my tiles thinking, where's the power? I kept drawing low-number, flexible samurai and sea tiles, but no decent dedicated numbers. I wasn't able to even try to contest for the capital, which Kurt was dominating, so I built up around it to the South. Chris & Kurt were having a little battle in the North, and, as they cut down the area, I saw a use for my little tiles. With the application of the trophy switching tile, a couple sea tiles and a decent size samurai, I was able to take two treasures. I cleaned up in the mid-South, and we moved into the islands. I suppose this is a general trend in the game, since there aren't any multi-trophy spots on the islands. We fought back and fortha little, and Chris ended the game hoping to get a majority before Kurt and I could pick any more up. We had a couple ties, and I ended up winning as the only player who had a clear majority in one trophy type.
We had a lot of fun with this game, and it went pretty quick, so we decided to play again. This game was a lot like the first. Chris and I were able to move in on Edo a little, but Kurt still got most of the treasures. Kurt had a couple really nice moves, one in the North and one in the South on an island, later on, to capture double trophies. I thought he had the game wrapped up. In the penultimate turn, I used the trophy switcher to move the last buddha to a place where the game wouldn't get finished right away by someone else, and then I ended the game on my turn with a big bonus-tile move, capturing four trophies in the middle South area. This put Chris out, Kurt and I each with one majority and a tie on most buddha's, as well as other pieces taken, but his majority of high hats was bigger by 1, and he claimed the victory. A very good game. I really like the way you have to pay attention to how congested an area is getting. I also liked the potential for big moves that the bonus tiles provide. It's neat that the bonus tiles are actually really useful and fun - there are too many games where "special" pieces or cards just aren't really too useful (I felt this way in Colossal Arena, later). This game definitely goes on my want list.
By now some of the other games had finished, and there was a decent sized group of us waiting for a new game. The hosts served up some delicious veggie chilli, so we all took a break to scarf some beany goodness. Surprisingly, I didn't hear a single Bohnanza joke. After quickly replenishing the fuel supplies, it was back to gaming. Kurt had brought an Amigo game called Santiago with him, and was lobbying for a five player game. We settled on a group (Kurt, Eric, Sue, Lisa, and myself) to do this, while the rest moved into the living room for Shadows Over Camelot. Puerto Rico raged on in the dining area. Kurt explained the game quickly, and we were started planting our fields. I couldn't resist red peppers, and it was a move that paid off, being one of the biggest fields at the end. Money was pretty tight, as the bidding rules for turn order are tight and harsh. I kept spending just about as much as I was making, but I got meaningful moves out of each turn, and never had a field dry up. I was only the canal overseer once, I think, a little bit later in the game when money was running pretty short and I needed to ensure getting something watered. Turn order is important to get the fields you want to keep your field going, although one thing I didn't see that I thought would come up was people trying to block other peoples' fields from expanding. Generally, players just wanted to add to existing fields (Lisa had a really good sugar field going, but a lot of people ended up getting in on it, and I think Kurt ended up with the most points there). I think the value of the Canal Overseer role goes way up in the mid-late game, when everyone has run out o their bonus canal. The bonus canal itself is a benefit and a handicap, as people will ignore your bid at times if it is still in front of you, predicting how you will use it. There were some small mistakes made in this game, and one of them involved this situation, as someone took a bid assuming they would get someone's bonus canal on their field, only to be thwarted by an earlier player using their own water someplace else. An interesting game, simple and fairly quick, with nice flow (pun intended). On the final turn, I bid big to go first and was surprised that noone fought me. That bid allowed me to claim a good two production bean field that put me in a very good scoring postion with no worries about watering. Since I already had fields in this region, it was a bigger move for me than people thought, I think. In the end, it appears I big just the right amount, as my score of $101 was just good enough for first over Kurt's $100! Really, basically a tie at that scale. I was happy, though, to do fairly well in my first game.
Puerto Rico and Shadows were winding down, so we went for some quickie filler. Eric got Zendo out of the sack, and I played my first (can you believe it?) Looney Labs game. I like this, it has a light gaming group/almost party game feel to it. Most of us hadn't played before, and Kurt and I probably messed up by calling "mondo" on both or our, the first two, turns. This pretty much set Sue up, in the third seat, to figure out the Master's rule. Just as we were getting a handle on it, the other games finished and we decided to move on. Mystery of the Abbey was setting up in the kitchen, so the remainder of us (Sue, Dan (?), Kurt, Eric, and myself) moved to the living room for Colossal Arena. Another first play for me, I've been wanting to check this out for a long time. This was, though, probably the low point of the day for me. I ended up backing the Seraphim and Cyclops, due to cards in my hand. I didn't make a secret bet (I just didn't think I had the cards), but all of my bets were gone by the second round. Unfortunately, backing the Titan in round two didn't pay off, as he ended up getting eliminated. Only one card had been placed on him first, so I figured lots of cards, and it was Dan's only first round bet, so he'd want to keep it alive... Backing the Seraphim started to pay off, though, as I was able to use the Unicorn's (eliminated first) ability several times to good effect. we were running out of cards pretty quickly, and it came down to a turn in which I set Sue up to end the game, taking out the Magus, which neither of us had a bet on, if she could play a card over 2 on the Amazon. Unfortunately, she didn't have it, and the Amazon got taken out, huring us both and giving the win to Kurt. For Sue, it really would have just been kingmaking, as she couldn't have won. However, she would have finished much higher, as she had two bets on the Amazon. I ended up in fourth by a point, with first place four points ahead of me, missing out on my three point bet on the Amazon. All three ahead of me would have lost points if the Magus had gone, though, so it was very tight. I wasn't really into the way this game played. I think at this point in the afternoon, it took just a little too long to get your turn. I also didn't like the aspect, although this didn't come up in our game, that someone could be functionally eliminated. The referee cards all seemed like pretty much wasted moves to me. This won't be getting on my list, but it did seem a fun, quick game to me. I probably just played it at the wrong time.
There was still plenty of time left in the night, but nobody seemed gung-ho about putting forward games to play. I was a little burnt for Tigris & Euphrates, so I asked about Lowenherz and Traders of Genoa, two games I really wanted to try. We ended up getting four for Lownherz, and the rest moved off to the living room for something else. This was my first game of the day with Chris (other players were Steve and Eric), and my first game in the dining room/game shelf area. Chris went over the rules for us (none of the rest of us had played before) and we set about dominating the land. I should have been paying more attention when Chris explained the political cards, as it became clear that the renegades cards are extremely powerful. Eric built up in the corner, pushing into Chris, who treatied him. I built up on the other side of Eric and across the board, with a little interaction with Chris and Steve there over the coarse of the game. Steve settled in between Chris and myself on the other side of the board, and expanded into what would become Eric's territory. Chris made the definitive move of the game when he used renegades to eliminate Steve's knight in the middle of the table. Steve wasn't able to get another knight in there and this, combined with Chris being a little slow out of one corner, allowed Eric to create two massive areas in the middle of the board for big points. The shifting nature of scoring meant that Steve wasn't out of it, and he pulled a lot of points from Eric as he built his big region. Chris ended up lamenting his treaty, unable to cut into Eric's region in the endgame. I led early, got overtaken bigtime by Eric, fought with the others for second for a while, and then fell behind Steve as his big region expanded. I ran into real problems later on with a shortage of ducats, as I couldn't afford to put down some of the knights that I won, and didn't have space to expand into. This would have been different, I suppose, if I hadn't gone so gung ho for walls early, as I ended up getting contested on almost every one of my first several turns. I remember one time specifically when I should have gone political rather than contest for walls. I liked the game but, again, not one that moved up on my wish list. I'll have to give it another play first, if the opportunity arises. I especially liked the shifting territory and scoring. I'd like to try Domain, but I think I like the bidding for roles. I do think the bidding rules should be more sharply defined, though, as the game has a bit of a tendency to go into negotiations that take up a little too much time. It also seemed like the action deck could have been designed a little better, with the ducat rewards a little higher, and fewer walls in the later game cards. This perception could easily have been an artifact of our particular session, though.
After that was over, most of the people had taken off. Eric, Mike S. (who I didn't get to play a game with today, unfortunately), and myself were the only guests remaining. It was really too late to start anything else, so we discussed some general gaming stuff for ten minutes or so, and hit the road. Overall, it was a great day, playing good games with excellent company. I really like the mix of people at Chris and Edie's. I didn't play a game that I had played before all day (unless you count the second play of Samurai), and that really gave me good information for my next round of game purchasing. I look forward to April.
My night wasn't over, though. Kristin had gotten back from making music and going to the gym, and wanted to see a movie. We motored over to Sycamore Mall and scooped a couple tickets for the latest Alan Moore mangling. Even after what has been done to some of his other works (League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, From Hell), I was still looking forward to this, though. Somehow, I thought, this is the one that would work. The film was entertaining, and, at times, pretty fun. Performances were mostly nice, although I didn't think that Portman showed much range. Weaving could have done much more physically, also, since he couldn't express with his eyes or face. I thought the script was a little clunky, and that the narrative could have been smoothed out with better linking of V's past, present actions, and desires. They did a moderately good job of melding V's facelessness to a sort of universal humanity, although this will get lost for people post-viewing, I think. Hopefully, they remember the gist... I give a big thumbs up to the writers not dumbing down the vocabulary, but, that said, they needed to do more to make the words clearly understandable to the audience. The theatre I was in has pretty good sound, and I was really straining to make out some of V's speeches, especially when there was a lot of ambient noise in the scene. Overall, I'd say it's a film worth seeing, but leave your expectations at home.
GG, GL
I woke up this morning with all kinds of grandiose plans about putting things away, painting miniatures, and building AGOT decks for Sunday... In the end, all I really managed to do was get cleaned up and get some games together to carry to F Street. In the end, the box ended up holding: Junta (at Chris's request), Tigris & Euphrates, St. Petersburg, Ingenious, Fjords, and Res Publica.
I arrived shortly after noon, and there was already a game going. Edie, Suke, and Tony were sitting around waiting, though, so we decided to get something quick going to warm up, so to speak. Frank's Zoo came out of the box, and we played a hand, with Tony going out first. I rocketed down to two cards, but then couldn't play on anything. We didn't get to try out the team aspect of the game, though, as the other group had finished and we decided to recombine with them for some heftier offerings.
Shortly, a group of us caravaned into the kitchen for Through the Desert. Myself, Sue, Suke, Edie, and Tony were the camel-masters for this one. This was the first time for several of us. The setup was pretty quick. This was not a group for analysis paralysis. Everyone made pretty smart choices, and I got left with a really nice corner for my blue caravan. Suke cut off my green caravan a little, but that really was what allowed me to take the big corner with my blue rider. That, and Sue focusing on her own attempt to control a sizeable area next to me on the other side. I got another area on the other side of the board with my purple camels, snaking along the back behind the oasis. There was a lot of friendly team-shifting in this game, as people tried to point out to others what they could do to interfere with others. It never was very effective, though, as most of the time players were focused on their own business. The board gets pretty crowded and chaotic to look at, too. Not a game for those bleary-eyed, late-night game session endings. The setup, simple as it is, is clearly very important for limiting other players' opportunities. Sometimes, I think you just have to suppose you won't get much out of a particular rider, and just place it behind someone in a big space. In the end, the longest caravans were pretty spread out, and I ended up winning by, I think, 6 over Suke. I think we finished this game in the time it took Chris to explain Puerto Rico in the other room.
Kurt and his brother Chris had arrived, and were, of course, looking for a game. We talked about playing Tigris & Euphrates, but decided to save it for a little later, hoping for a fourth. Instead, we decided to visit the islands of Japan. RK's Samurai came down off the shelf. Kurt and Chris had played before, and I hadn't, so they taught me the rules real quick. At first, I was looking at my tiles thinking, where's the power? I kept drawing low-number, flexible samurai and sea tiles, but no decent dedicated numbers. I wasn't able to even try to contest for the capital, which Kurt was dominating, so I built up around it to the South. Chris & Kurt were having a little battle in the North, and, as they cut down the area, I saw a use for my little tiles. With the application of the trophy switching tile, a couple sea tiles and a decent size samurai, I was able to take two treasures. I cleaned up in the mid-South, and we moved into the islands. I suppose this is a general trend in the game, since there aren't any multi-trophy spots on the islands. We fought back and fortha little, and Chris ended the game hoping to get a majority before Kurt and I could pick any more up. We had a couple ties, and I ended up winning as the only player who had a clear majority in one trophy type.
We had a lot of fun with this game, and it went pretty quick, so we decided to play again. This game was a lot like the first. Chris and I were able to move in on Edo a little, but Kurt still got most of the treasures. Kurt had a couple really nice moves, one in the North and one in the South on an island, later on, to capture double trophies. I thought he had the game wrapped up. In the penultimate turn, I used the trophy switcher to move the last buddha to a place where the game wouldn't get finished right away by someone else, and then I ended the game on my turn with a big bonus-tile move, capturing four trophies in the middle South area. This put Chris out, Kurt and I each with one majority and a tie on most buddha's, as well as other pieces taken, but his majority of high hats was bigger by 1, and he claimed the victory. A very good game. I really like the way you have to pay attention to how congested an area is getting. I also liked the potential for big moves that the bonus tiles provide. It's neat that the bonus tiles are actually really useful and fun - there are too many games where "special" pieces or cards just aren't really too useful (I felt this way in Colossal Arena, later). This game definitely goes on my want list.
By now some of the other games had finished, and there was a decent sized group of us waiting for a new game. The hosts served up some delicious veggie chilli, so we all took a break to scarf some beany goodness. Surprisingly, I didn't hear a single Bohnanza joke. After quickly replenishing the fuel supplies, it was back to gaming. Kurt had brought an Amigo game called Santiago with him, and was lobbying for a five player game. We settled on a group (Kurt, Eric, Sue, Lisa, and myself) to do this, while the rest moved into the living room for Shadows Over Camelot. Puerto Rico raged on in the dining area. Kurt explained the game quickly, and we were started planting our fields. I couldn't resist red peppers, and it was a move that paid off, being one of the biggest fields at the end. Money was pretty tight, as the bidding rules for turn order are tight and harsh. I kept spending just about as much as I was making, but I got meaningful moves out of each turn, and never had a field dry up. I was only the canal overseer once, I think, a little bit later in the game when money was running pretty short and I needed to ensure getting something watered. Turn order is important to get the fields you want to keep your field going, although one thing I didn't see that I thought would come up was people trying to block other peoples' fields from expanding. Generally, players just wanted to add to existing fields (Lisa had a really good sugar field going, but a lot of people ended up getting in on it, and I think Kurt ended up with the most points there). I think the value of the Canal Overseer role goes way up in the mid-late game, when everyone has run out o their bonus canal. The bonus canal itself is a benefit and a handicap, as people will ignore your bid at times if it is still in front of you, predicting how you will use it. There were some small mistakes made in this game, and one of them involved this situation, as someone took a bid assuming they would get someone's bonus canal on their field, only to be thwarted by an earlier player using their own water someplace else. An interesting game, simple and fairly quick, with nice flow (pun intended). On the final turn, I bid big to go first and was surprised that noone fought me. That bid allowed me to claim a good two production bean field that put me in a very good scoring postion with no worries about watering. Since I already had fields in this region, it was a bigger move for me than people thought, I think. In the end, it appears I big just the right amount, as my score of $101 was just good enough for first over Kurt's $100! Really, basically a tie at that scale. I was happy, though, to do fairly well in my first game.
Puerto Rico and Shadows were winding down, so we went for some quickie filler. Eric got Zendo out of the sack, and I played my first (can you believe it?) Looney Labs game. I like this, it has a light gaming group/almost party game feel to it. Most of us hadn't played before, and Kurt and I probably messed up by calling "mondo" on both or our, the first two, turns. This pretty much set Sue up, in the third seat, to figure out the Master's rule. Just as we were getting a handle on it, the other games finished and we decided to move on. Mystery of the Abbey was setting up in the kitchen, so the remainder of us (Sue, Dan (?), Kurt, Eric, and myself) moved to the living room for Colossal Arena. Another first play for me, I've been wanting to check this out for a long time. This was, though, probably the low point of the day for me. I ended up backing the Seraphim and Cyclops, due to cards in my hand. I didn't make a secret bet (I just didn't think I had the cards), but all of my bets were gone by the second round. Unfortunately, backing the Titan in round two didn't pay off, as he ended up getting eliminated. Only one card had been placed on him first, so I figured lots of cards, and it was Dan's only first round bet, so he'd want to keep it alive... Backing the Seraphim started to pay off, though, as I was able to use the Unicorn's (eliminated first) ability several times to good effect. we were running out of cards pretty quickly, and it came down to a turn in which I set Sue up to end the game, taking out the Magus, which neither of us had a bet on, if she could play a card over 2 on the Amazon. Unfortunately, she didn't have it, and the Amazon got taken out, huring us both and giving the win to Kurt. For Sue, it really would have just been kingmaking, as she couldn't have won. However, she would have finished much higher, as she had two bets on the Amazon. I ended up in fourth by a point, with first place four points ahead of me, missing out on my three point bet on the Amazon. All three ahead of me would have lost points if the Magus had gone, though, so it was very tight. I wasn't really into the way this game played. I think at this point in the afternoon, it took just a little too long to get your turn. I also didn't like the aspect, although this didn't come up in our game, that someone could be functionally eliminated. The referee cards all seemed like pretty much wasted moves to me. This won't be getting on my list, but it did seem a fun, quick game to me. I probably just played it at the wrong time.
There was still plenty of time left in the night, but nobody seemed gung-ho about putting forward games to play. I was a little burnt for Tigris & Euphrates, so I asked about Lowenherz and Traders of Genoa, two games I really wanted to try. We ended up getting four for Lownherz, and the rest moved off to the living room for something else. This was my first game of the day with Chris (other players were Steve and Eric), and my first game in the dining room/game shelf area. Chris went over the rules for us (none of the rest of us had played before) and we set about dominating the land. I should have been paying more attention when Chris explained the political cards, as it became clear that the renegades cards are extremely powerful. Eric built up in the corner, pushing into Chris, who treatied him. I built up on the other side of Eric and across the board, with a little interaction with Chris and Steve there over the coarse of the game. Steve settled in between Chris and myself on the other side of the board, and expanded into what would become Eric's territory. Chris made the definitive move of the game when he used renegades to eliminate Steve's knight in the middle of the table. Steve wasn't able to get another knight in there and this, combined with Chris being a little slow out of one corner, allowed Eric to create two massive areas in the middle of the board for big points. The shifting nature of scoring meant that Steve wasn't out of it, and he pulled a lot of points from Eric as he built his big region. Chris ended up lamenting his treaty, unable to cut into Eric's region in the endgame. I led early, got overtaken bigtime by Eric, fought with the others for second for a while, and then fell behind Steve as his big region expanded. I ran into real problems later on with a shortage of ducats, as I couldn't afford to put down some of the knights that I won, and didn't have space to expand into. This would have been different, I suppose, if I hadn't gone so gung ho for walls early, as I ended up getting contested on almost every one of my first several turns. I remember one time specifically when I should have gone political rather than contest for walls. I liked the game but, again, not one that moved up on my wish list. I'll have to give it another play first, if the opportunity arises. I especially liked the shifting territory and scoring. I'd like to try Domain, but I think I like the bidding for roles. I do think the bidding rules should be more sharply defined, though, as the game has a bit of a tendency to go into negotiations that take up a little too much time. It also seemed like the action deck could have been designed a little better, with the ducat rewards a little higher, and fewer walls in the later game cards. This perception could easily have been an artifact of our particular session, though.
After that was over, most of the people had taken off. Eric, Mike S. (who I didn't get to play a game with today, unfortunately), and myself were the only guests remaining. It was really too late to start anything else, so we discussed some general gaming stuff for ten minutes or so, and hit the road. Overall, it was a great day, playing good games with excellent company. I really like the mix of people at Chris and Edie's. I didn't play a game that I had played before all day (unless you count the second play of Samurai), and that really gave me good information for my next round of game purchasing. I look forward to April.
My night wasn't over, though. Kristin had gotten back from making music and going to the gym, and wanted to see a movie. We motored over to Sycamore Mall and scooped a couple tickets for the latest Alan Moore mangling. Even after what has been done to some of his other works (League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, From Hell), I was still looking forward to this, though. Somehow, I thought, this is the one that would work. The film was entertaining, and, at times, pretty fun. Performances were mostly nice, although I didn't think that Portman showed much range. Weaving could have done much more physically, also, since he couldn't express with his eyes or face. I thought the script was a little clunky, and that the narrative could have been smoothed out with better linking of V's past, present actions, and desires. They did a moderately good job of melding V's facelessness to a sort of universal humanity, although this will get lost for people post-viewing, I think. Hopefully, they remember the gist... I give a big thumbs up to the writers not dumbing down the vocabulary, but, that said, they needed to do more to make the words clearly understandable to the audience. The theatre I was in has pretty good sound, and I was really straining to make out some of V's speeches, especially when there was a lot of ambient noise in the scene. Overall, I'd say it's a film worth seeing, but leave your expectations at home.
GG, GL
Friday, March 17, 2006
St. Patrick's Day Road Trip
Dan is the kind of person who gets excited at the prospect of thumbing through acres of old paperbacks, and so he decided to take a little trip up to the Marion/Cedar Rapids area on a used book quest. Also being this kind of person, I was excited to go along. So, this afternoon, Drew, Greg, Dan, and I converged at Dan's house, piled into Drew's car, and sped North to the land of 5 seasons.
Swamp Fox books in Marion was a bust, having apparently transmogrified into a bar at some point in the last few years. We turned around and headed back to the North side of CR, where we knew that the Book Trader and Half Price Books must be safeguarding some treasures for us.
Book Trader is small, dark, and not-so-handsome, but it does have several shelves of sci-fi/fantasy. Each of us picked up at least one book (I settled on "Inquisitor" by Ian Watson, the old GW sci-fi novel from their Warhammer 40K universe), and we headed off across the parking lot to HPB. I rummaged through the history and military history sections looking for "Broadsides" or any other Age of Sail book. Bust. I went through the graphic novels. Bust. In the RPG books, I found a cheap Earthdawn book. Score. I came up empty in Tim Powers, but selected books by Bradbury, Blaylock, and Asprin. I rounded out my trip with a Norwegian grammar text from 1970.
We motored over to a Chinese Buffet (Metro Buffet?) that Dan was kind of nuts about. Turns out, his insanity, in this instance, was justified. The place was a little too crowded, and, like most buffets, not all of the food looked great. I was thinking of the Peking Buffet by CHG, which really (for me) only has 2 really interesting dishes. This place came through on several levels. I really enjoyed the Black Pepper Chicken, and I had a hard time not going back for fourths on the Teryaki Steak. After filling ourselves to bursting, we made our way back to Coralville.
Lately, I've been in a mood to get away from Euros and roll some dice. To that end, I brought Wiz War, Kings & Thins, Lunatix Loop, and Warrior Knights with me. However, it was a little too late for any of these, so Dan grabbed Wizard's Quest, and we headed over to CHG.
I haven't played WQ before, and I definitely made mistakes this game. I was a little leary of this old Avalon Hill game, worrying that there would be too much die rolling, and too many random tangential effects. However, after a brief run through the rules, it was clear that the game was simple and quick, and would not have a massive amount of die rolling. The setup was pretty kind to Dan, as he ended up getting the city next to the tunnel. None of his treasures were in that bad of a position for him. Two of mine and of Drew's treasures got surrounded by orcs early. Drew got screwed by bad petitions in both of the first two turns, and then by the dragon. I don't think it was a very fun start for him, and he gets credit from me for making the best of it and sticking it out. I had a decent early start, but then got wrecked by a couple mistakes, notably leaving a big group of troops out without supporting them with the wizard, which would have made all the difference. Going into the late game, I had to make choices to go after my own thing or try to block Dan. It seemed he was going to win, so I opted to do the latter. Drew and I got closer while Dan got shut down, but it didn't last. Finally, he used some fortunate cards to swing the win, using boat privilege and two extra attacks to come from behind and win the game. Overall it was fun and simple and I'd be happy to play it again when the mood hits. I think it's very important, in this game, to maximize your initial setup, as future turns are not kind as far as redistributing forces goes.
Well, I'm fading fast, so I should shut this thing down. Looking bigtime forward to game night at Chris, edie, and Anna's house tomorrow.
GG, GL
Dan is the kind of person who gets excited at the prospect of thumbing through acres of old paperbacks, and so he decided to take a little trip up to the Marion/Cedar Rapids area on a used book quest. Also being this kind of person, I was excited to go along. So, this afternoon, Drew, Greg, Dan, and I converged at Dan's house, piled into Drew's car, and sped North to the land of 5 seasons.
Swamp Fox books in Marion was a bust, having apparently transmogrified into a bar at some point in the last few years. We turned around and headed back to the North side of CR, where we knew that the Book Trader and Half Price Books must be safeguarding some treasures for us.
Book Trader is small, dark, and not-so-handsome, but it does have several shelves of sci-fi/fantasy. Each of us picked up at least one book (I settled on "Inquisitor" by Ian Watson, the old GW sci-fi novel from their Warhammer 40K universe), and we headed off across the parking lot to HPB. I rummaged through the history and military history sections looking for "Broadsides" or any other Age of Sail book. Bust. I went through the graphic novels. Bust. In the RPG books, I found a cheap Earthdawn book. Score. I came up empty in Tim Powers, but selected books by Bradbury, Blaylock, and Asprin. I rounded out my trip with a Norwegian grammar text from 1970.
We motored over to a Chinese Buffet (Metro Buffet?) that Dan was kind of nuts about. Turns out, his insanity, in this instance, was justified. The place was a little too crowded, and, like most buffets, not all of the food looked great. I was thinking of the Peking Buffet by CHG, which really (for me) only has 2 really interesting dishes. This place came through on several levels. I really enjoyed the Black Pepper Chicken, and I had a hard time not going back for fourths on the Teryaki Steak. After filling ourselves to bursting, we made our way back to Coralville.
Lately, I've been in a mood to get away from Euros and roll some dice. To that end, I brought Wiz War, Kings & Thins, Lunatix Loop, and Warrior Knights with me. However, it was a little too late for any of these, so Dan grabbed Wizard's Quest, and we headed over to CHG.
I haven't played WQ before, and I definitely made mistakes this game. I was a little leary of this old Avalon Hill game, worrying that there would be too much die rolling, and too many random tangential effects. However, after a brief run through the rules, it was clear that the game was simple and quick, and would not have a massive amount of die rolling. The setup was pretty kind to Dan, as he ended up getting the city next to the tunnel. None of his treasures were in that bad of a position for him. Two of mine and of Drew's treasures got surrounded by orcs early. Drew got screwed by bad petitions in both of the first two turns, and then by the dragon. I don't think it was a very fun start for him, and he gets credit from me for making the best of it and sticking it out. I had a decent early start, but then got wrecked by a couple mistakes, notably leaving a big group of troops out without supporting them with the wizard, which would have made all the difference. Going into the late game, I had to make choices to go after my own thing or try to block Dan. It seemed he was going to win, so I opted to do the latter. Drew and I got closer while Dan got shut down, but it didn't last. Finally, he used some fortunate cards to swing the win, using boat privilege and two extra attacks to come from behind and win the game. Overall it was fun and simple and I'd be happy to play it again when the mood hits. I think it's very important, in this game, to maximize your initial setup, as future turns are not kind as far as redistributing forces goes.
Well, I'm fading fast, so I should shut this thing down. Looking bigtime forward to game night at Chris, edie, and Anna's house tomorrow.
GG, GL
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
Power Grid at Critical Hit
Another Wednesday night, another boardgaming session at Critical Hit. This week, it was time for a game that's been a hot hit in the area over the last three weeks, Power Grid. We played Chris S's copy of this game at Gamicon, Dan bought it a week later, and we've played it (as you can see in this blog) several times since.
Tonight, Chris showed up with his set, and Erin, Gare, Nate, and a visiting player also named Chris sat down to join him on the France board from the expansion. Dan came in with his box, and he, myself, Ziggy, Peter, and Tim set about lighting up the U.S.A., without the NW region.
I ended up going 2nd to last in power plant buying, but won the 4 cost coal plant before my turn came. This let me build first, but stuck me with one city, while three players would end up powering two at the end of the turn.
With my first build, I dropped into the NE coast. Dan went next and built in Texas. Tim went into the SE coast. Peter surprised us by setting up between Dan and Tim, in the SE. Then, Ziggy dropped an even bigger bomb, setting up next to me in the central NE. This left the SW region totally empty and open to Dan, and heavily congested the East.
In the next turn, the power plants fell in such a way that I ended up having my choice of a bunch of stuff that didn't really help me, and I ended up buying the 3 to keep my turn order low. Things started to tighten up as Ziggy, Peter, and Tim moved around near me, and I was a little worried.
On turn three, I ended up picking up the 33 wind plant for 4. This put me in first (last in turn order) unfortunately, but I had to have it to move on. It ended up saving me a lot in resources over several turns. I was the first to expande to six cities, and I sat there for a couple turns earning money until another player, I think Dan, pushed it to 7 and triggered step 2.
Peter got a little ballsy and moved in on Dan, paying hefty connection fees but really shaking up the game. Tim exploded out of the 5 cities he had been trapped in for 2 turns, shooting up to 10 cities. Tim had gotten very lucky with big number plants, something that would help him a great deal in the long game.
We were scrambling for position as it looked like Dan was on course to win the game, and power plant bidding was heavily contested this round as players scrambled to get a chance to compete for first. I got the 6 that I needed to upgrade a 4 to power 15 cities to tie Dan. Then, behind me, Tim picked up a 4 that would take him to 16 if he could build 4 connections. Ziggy and Peter fought over a 7 that would take one of them, possibly, to 15. Peter won, a 4 came down, and Ziggy was just out. Dan built to 15. Tim built to 16, with plenty of money. I built to 15, with more money than Dan to win the tie breaker. Peter edged Ziggy for 4th with his new plant.
Overall, a pretty quick game as we only just barely got to stage 3 before it was over. I don't mind the game with 5 players at all. Lots of competition, but enough space for people to expand some, and spread out initially if they choose to do so. It stressed for me the advantage that can be gained from building LAST in the first round, as you can really decide a lot about the game. I also felt that the power plants that came up had a huge impact on the game. You really have to watch your power plant progress. I really like this game, but it's not going to challenge for the top spot any time soon.
Post-main event, Ziggy and Dan and myelf sat down for a round of Res Publica to round out the evening. I've been trying to get a few more plays out of this game, in the hope that I'd find some more depth. Right now, I'm feeling like you need to play it several times with the same group, to develop some mutual understanding and cognitive maps for trading trends. I got a bit of a lucky draw early, augmented by one trade, to let me build the first city (Babylonians). My walls stood alone for four turns, before Dan, and then Ziggy, got in on the act. My first 5 technology cards, unfortunately, were all different. There were quite a few turns of just drawing in this game, as we tried to accumulate new cards that would create meaningful trade possibilities. I ended up just edging Ziggy to the 9 monument. We all continued to build cities, although I was first again to 2 and then 3. Ziggy and Dan each picked up 8 monuments, then I got 2 7s in one turn. With lots of cities, we pushed the endgame pretty hard and Dan triggered it quickly, the first time I've seen the game end when there were still people cards left. We counted up our pairs, and it ended up 31 me, 30 Dan, 29 Ziggy. A nice, tight game, that went fast, and didn't require too much deliberation. Maybe a little too light, actually, in this instance, but it filled up the time almost perfectly. I'm happy to have it around, but I don't think it will really be a "destination" game.
Well, hopefully I'll be away from this a couple days, and then have plenty to write on Sunday, as Saturday is Game Day at Chris & Edie's, and Sunday is AGOT tournament.
GG, GL
Another Wednesday night, another boardgaming session at Critical Hit. This week, it was time for a game that's been a hot hit in the area over the last three weeks, Power Grid. We played Chris S's copy of this game at Gamicon, Dan bought it a week later, and we've played it (as you can see in this blog) several times since.
Tonight, Chris showed up with his set, and Erin, Gare, Nate, and a visiting player also named Chris sat down to join him on the France board from the expansion. Dan came in with his box, and he, myself, Ziggy, Peter, and Tim set about lighting up the U.S.A., without the NW region.
I ended up going 2nd to last in power plant buying, but won the 4 cost coal plant before my turn came. This let me build first, but stuck me with one city, while three players would end up powering two at the end of the turn.
With my first build, I dropped into the NE coast. Dan went next and built in Texas. Tim went into the SE coast. Peter surprised us by setting up between Dan and Tim, in the SE. Then, Ziggy dropped an even bigger bomb, setting up next to me in the central NE. This left the SW region totally empty and open to Dan, and heavily congested the East.
In the next turn, the power plants fell in such a way that I ended up having my choice of a bunch of stuff that didn't really help me, and I ended up buying the 3 to keep my turn order low. Things started to tighten up as Ziggy, Peter, and Tim moved around near me, and I was a little worried.
On turn three, I ended up picking up the 33 wind plant for 4. This put me in first (last in turn order) unfortunately, but I had to have it to move on. It ended up saving me a lot in resources over several turns. I was the first to expande to six cities, and I sat there for a couple turns earning money until another player, I think Dan, pushed it to 7 and triggered step 2.
Peter got a little ballsy and moved in on Dan, paying hefty connection fees but really shaking up the game. Tim exploded out of the 5 cities he had been trapped in for 2 turns, shooting up to 10 cities. Tim had gotten very lucky with big number plants, something that would help him a great deal in the long game.
We were scrambling for position as it looked like Dan was on course to win the game, and power plant bidding was heavily contested this round as players scrambled to get a chance to compete for first. I got the 6 that I needed to upgrade a 4 to power 15 cities to tie Dan. Then, behind me, Tim picked up a 4 that would take him to 16 if he could build 4 connections. Ziggy and Peter fought over a 7 that would take one of them, possibly, to 15. Peter won, a 4 came down, and Ziggy was just out. Dan built to 15. Tim built to 16, with plenty of money. I built to 15, with more money than Dan to win the tie breaker. Peter edged Ziggy for 4th with his new plant.
Overall, a pretty quick game as we only just barely got to stage 3 before it was over. I don't mind the game with 5 players at all. Lots of competition, but enough space for people to expand some, and spread out initially if they choose to do so. It stressed for me the advantage that can be gained from building LAST in the first round, as you can really decide a lot about the game. I also felt that the power plants that came up had a huge impact on the game. You really have to watch your power plant progress. I really like this game, but it's not going to challenge for the top spot any time soon.
Post-main event, Ziggy and Dan and myelf sat down for a round of Res Publica to round out the evening. I've been trying to get a few more plays out of this game, in the hope that I'd find some more depth. Right now, I'm feeling like you need to play it several times with the same group, to develop some mutual understanding and cognitive maps for trading trends. I got a bit of a lucky draw early, augmented by one trade, to let me build the first city (Babylonians). My walls stood alone for four turns, before Dan, and then Ziggy, got in on the act. My first 5 technology cards, unfortunately, were all different. There were quite a few turns of just drawing in this game, as we tried to accumulate new cards that would create meaningful trade possibilities. I ended up just edging Ziggy to the 9 monument. We all continued to build cities, although I was first again to 2 and then 3. Ziggy and Dan each picked up 8 monuments, then I got 2 7s in one turn. With lots of cities, we pushed the endgame pretty hard and Dan triggered it quickly, the first time I've seen the game end when there were still people cards left. We counted up our pairs, and it ended up 31 me, 30 Dan, 29 Ziggy. A nice, tight game, that went fast, and didn't require too much deliberation. Maybe a little too light, actually, in this instance, but it filled up the time almost perfectly. I'm happy to have it around, but I don't think it will really be a "destination" game.
Well, hopefully I'll be away from this a couple days, and then have plenty to write on Sunday, as Saturday is Game Day at Chris & Edie's, and Sunday is AGOT tournament.
GG, GL
Monday, March 13, 2006
ChiCon - Mundelein
For the last several weeks, local Game of Thrones players have been discussing attending the tournament in Mundelein, Illinois. Unfortunately, we weren't able to lock down a roster of who was going, when they could go, etc. Late Thursday night, I decided to drive up and stay with an old college friend in DeKalb on Friday, and then another old gaming buddy in Round Lake on Saturday. Jerod decided not to go, Luke and Sarah drove to AJ's on Friday, and Andy drove up alone on Saturday morning.
PRE-TOURNAMENT
I got a bit of a late start on Friday, and didn't get to DeKalb until 9 pm. I linked up with Paul, got a Gyro at the old Cat and Mouse, and went to Lord Stanley's for a couple drinks. Ran into some old friends, closed out the bar (I only ever do this on visits to DeKalb), and fell asleep on the couch.
Saturday morning I got up and started driving toward Mundelein. I'm not terribly familiar with the area, and was forced to follow some Mapquest directions. I had made arrangements to meet up with a friend from Elgin, Az, for brunch. We found a nice pancake place down the road from AJ's (Elly's, I think), and I shoveled a massive omelette into the fuel compartment. The food was good, albeit somewhat standard for that type of establishment. The service was great - the most on the spot waitress I've had in years - and the place was packed! I struggled to work though some changes I wanted to make to my deck while Az and I talked about poker, work, friends, and other relative topics. Finally, I packed up and headed for AJ's.
MY DECK
A note on the deck - I have been struggling with what to play for a while. I played Stark War of the 5 Kings at Madison, and it got me 2nd place. Since then, I've worked on Baratheon rush, Lannister trait, and Targ burn decks. I've played the Lanny deck to some pretty good finishes. In the last couple weeks, as I've thought about this tournament, Jerod and I have both been working on location-based characterless/lite decks. I was really worried about the viability of most of my decks against this type of build. It came down, then, to Stark or Bara, and the former won out due to it's greater capacity for location control. I still wasn't happy, though, as I felt I didn't get to spend enough time tweaking that particular deck. The deck focuses on building on early military dominance, with a lot of immune to events characters to make it resilient and irritating. It's also mostly Tully, so it can abuse the Blackfish and Edmure's Host pretty well.
AJ's place is amazing. He lives in a pretty nice little residential neighborhood, in which he has a nice house. The real standout feature, aside from the people who live in the house, was it's basement. AJ is a sports/media junky, and there are a variety of tv's in the basement, all tuned to different sports events. The walls are covered with sports memorabilia. I felt a bit out of place, as the only sport I follow is soccer, and that appeared to be one that AJ was not into. Aside from the TV's AJ has a nice assemblage of tables on which to game, and an abundant beverage service area.
AJ let me in, and gave me the quick tour. The only people I knew there aside from the Iowa group were people who had been at the Murder tourney in Madison, including Ktom, Madkasel, LOB, and Capt. Obv. I got to meet quite a few more, and I'm sure I'll leave people out of this report, for which I apologize. AJ had provided food, but I was stuffed... it was just a hint of the generosity that was to come, though.
TOURNEY
Round 1
We all got signed up and ktom generated the pairings. I found myself sitting across from Adam, of Chicago, with his Martell Small Council deck. I got off to a pretty good start, and had a nice army going. Adam got a couple early Massing at Twilight, and my 2 claim intrigues and 3 claim military challenges (blue steel dirk) didn't seem to make enough of a dent. He drew into SOT Darkstar, and drew even more cards. Even after several high claim military challenges, he was still keeping up. Finally, I felt I got over the top, and then, of course, I ran into wildfire assault. I didn't draw anything to deal with Darkstar, and I quickly fell to Adam's rapidly enlarging team. This felt an awful lot like Madison, as I lost in the first round there, too... Also, like Madison, my first round opponent had a good deck, was a good guy and a good player, and would go on to do pretty well himself...
Round 2
*Note: I think I may have messed up some of the rounds... not absolutely sure what order I played people in, oddly...
ktom called out "Jason...vs....Jason!" and LOB and I sat down to play. Again, it was Martell, Threat from the East. LOB had a poor draw, mulled, and didn't end up with anything great. He had a 2 card drop, with no locations. I hit him with two claim military off Gathering Storm on turn 1, and he never really managed to get back into the game. In fact, with the light location draw, Threat from the East was somewhat brutal to him. He was a good opponent, and we had some constructive discussion about deck design and some of the cards.
Round 3
This round I got to play someone from the SW Michigan Meta for the first time. The Mountain that Pwns actually is, I think, my favorite screenname on the boards, and I had to complement Matt. He was playing Baratheon. Things seemed to start pretty quick for him, as he used Roberts Deathbed and Tourney Season to go get the Lanni and Bara tourney grounds. However, this was another case of me getting on top with high claim military and never looking back. TMTP had a really hard time winning jousts against my 6 str immune to events no attachments armies, and also had a hard time defending against my large forces. This was somewhat like round 2. Matt's a great guy, and we had a fun time playing and talking, even though it didn't go so well for him. I think that the Michigan group will do pretty well with a guy like this at it's center. I was impressed with his enthusiasm for the game, his friendliness, and his apparent ability to get the people around him together to do things.
Round 4
I was actually pretty happy to hear the pairings this round. I got to meet Madkasel and talk with him a little at Madison, and he seemed like a great guy (an impression which has been augmented by the posts he's made on the AGOT message boards). I figured this would be a fun round. Drew was playing Stark also, Threat from the East? (I don't remember the agenda, but a post online says this is what he was playing - Threat doesn't usually bother me too much, as my deck playes out pretty quickly). I don't remember a lot about this game. It was pleasant, we had a friendly chat going. We both had decent draws and got characters out, and traded some challenges back and forth. I should ask Drew if he remembers what won this for me. Maybe it was fat Blackfish.
Round 5
I finally got to play someone I'd played before. I got paired with Nate French, who I'd played in draft when he came through Iowa. Nate's a really good guy, and this was shaping up to be a full day of pleasant games. Nate was undefeated, too, and coming off a win over Mathlete. He was running Baratheon, by the way, no agenda, with an Asshai theme, a slightly tweaked version of a deck designed by Staton. He swayed my Fish, but Bran kept things interesting, taking his characters during challenges. High claim plots drained him down, and the Tullys cam out on top. I have a feeling, though, that Nate wasn't trying his hardest in this game, as he had decided to drop before top 8, as he couldn't win prizes. I like to think I deserved it, though...
QUARTERFINALS
I made top 8, at 4-1, I think I was 2nd seed, but I'm not sure, I might have been third. The nice thing was that Mathlete was on the other side of the bracket. I was paired up with the host, running Stark/Targ treaty. I got an amazing draw this game, the best all day. I flopped five cards, including three tully characters. I drew into all 3 of my Edmure's hosts, and had them all down on turn 2. This was a nightmare for AJ, as he had not included anything in his plot deck to blank text boxes/remove immunities. Consequently, his burn/Arya's Revenges/Festering Wounds were no good on them, and he couldn't really get out enough military to compete. He searched up some Plazas of Punishment, but ended up using one on a newly recruited Blackfish, keeping all my hosts on the table. The game took a long time, for some reason (AJ did have to get up and pay for the newly arrived pizzas), but the early dominance of the Hosts held up.
SEMIFINALS
Newport Harry had dispatched his opponent fairly quickly, and got to watch most of my game. He graciously offered to let me wait for a while before playing, but I decided it was best to get it over with. If I lost, maybe I could still get in the draft... NPH tried to pump up a false sense of security for me, saying I was sure to win, but I wasn't having any. I guess I should have been more polite and listened to him, maybe things would have gone the way he said... I mulliganed out of a bad hand, into a slightly better hand with no resources. I ended up drawing no reducers or gold producers the entire game, and had to rely on plot gold only. I also drew only one immune to events character, which proved telling. NPH had quite a few of the same characters as me, including several immune to events guys, which he used in conjuntion with story events. I hand't really seen this done before, so it was pretty cool. I had a slight edge over the first few turns and, after a couple 2 claim militaries, I thought I had the advantage. Unfortunately, I chose that turn to March to the Wall. Well, NPH had decided to launch his Wildfire Assault at the same time. When the dust cleared, we were each down to 2 characters, but he had gold/reducers and I didn't. Also, he was going first that turn, and one of his characters was Robb... Things went rapidly downhill for me from here, as I wasn't able to play more than one (little) character per turn. After the game, NPH told me that I had missed Robb on two successive 2 claim intrigue challenges when he had only 3 cards in his hand...
So, I was out, so close to the match with the champ... Well, hopefully I'll get another chance someday. I ended up in third on tiebreakers, and got 4 packs, 100 GD, a book, and three promos for my trouble. Oh, AJ covered my gas, too, which was HOT.
DRAFT
I did in fact get done in time to enter the draft. I ended up seated at a table with Savil, LOB, Nate, Jeff from Mich., Madkasel, and I forget who else. I think Adam and Complord. I opened up Westeros Bleeds, which is a hot pick, but has never worked out for me in draft. Either I'm winning or it gets intrigued out of my hand. I second picked Student of Subtlety. After that, I took a Stark Army, a Targ army, and a Baratheon army. I wasn't getting consistent runs of cards from my right, and I couldn't settle on a house(s). The second pack gave me another Student, and a Dornish Lancer, as well as a second Targ army, sending me in that direction. Unfortunately, I wasn't getting passed any of the Targ removal. In the end, I constructed a serviceable but unspectacular Marell/Targ deck, with lots of massive armies. I didn't have a lot of "flair" for it, though.
FIRST ROUND
I got paired against Nate French again. This rematch was unfortunate, in a way, since we'd already played that day. Also, I'd beaten him twice now, and figured he was due revenge... I got a decent start, but quick burn and festering wound from Nate kept anything decent off the board. He kept himself ahead of me, and emptied quite a bit of my deck with the Lannister Iron Throne (including my second Student of Subtlety). I drew Bleeds, but miss-played and put a character down when I shouldn't have. The Bleeds reset the board, but left me with only two characters in hand, and three cards in deck. Nate had plenty of characters in hand, though, and I scooped. Right after, he showed me Harrenhall, so I didn't really have a chance anyway. The last time we played, I housed him with Harranhall and the Lanni Throne, so it was very fair turnabout. Nate went on to win the tournament, too, so I can't feel too bad. Wish I would have gotten another round in, I guess.
My friend Eric was waiting up for me, so I took off. The wors fog I've ever driven in was infusing Lake County on Saturday night, and I had to drive about 4 miles an hour, with no clue what was going on 18 feet from me... I didn't even recognize the area the next morning. Sunday I taught Eric to play AGOT, gave him a demo deck, and headed for home. Hopefully, the next time I'm up that way, there will be one more person at the tournament...
Well, this is long enouch as is. Thanks for reading.
GG, GL
For the last several weeks, local Game of Thrones players have been discussing attending the tournament in Mundelein, Illinois. Unfortunately, we weren't able to lock down a roster of who was going, when they could go, etc. Late Thursday night, I decided to drive up and stay with an old college friend in DeKalb on Friday, and then another old gaming buddy in Round Lake on Saturday. Jerod decided not to go, Luke and Sarah drove to AJ's on Friday, and Andy drove up alone on Saturday morning.
PRE-TOURNAMENT
I got a bit of a late start on Friday, and didn't get to DeKalb until 9 pm. I linked up with Paul, got a Gyro at the old Cat and Mouse, and went to Lord Stanley's for a couple drinks. Ran into some old friends, closed out the bar (I only ever do this on visits to DeKalb), and fell asleep on the couch.
Saturday morning I got up and started driving toward Mundelein. I'm not terribly familiar with the area, and was forced to follow some Mapquest directions. I had made arrangements to meet up with a friend from Elgin, Az, for brunch. We found a nice pancake place down the road from AJ's (Elly's, I think), and I shoveled a massive omelette into the fuel compartment. The food was good, albeit somewhat standard for that type of establishment. The service was great - the most on the spot waitress I've had in years - and the place was packed! I struggled to work though some changes I wanted to make to my deck while Az and I talked about poker, work, friends, and other relative topics. Finally, I packed up and headed for AJ's.
MY DECK
A note on the deck - I have been struggling with what to play for a while. I played Stark War of the 5 Kings at Madison, and it got me 2nd place. Since then, I've worked on Baratheon rush, Lannister trait, and Targ burn decks. I've played the Lanny deck to some pretty good finishes. In the last couple weeks, as I've thought about this tournament, Jerod and I have both been working on location-based characterless/lite decks. I was really worried about the viability of most of my decks against this type of build. It came down, then, to Stark or Bara, and the former won out due to it's greater capacity for location control. I still wasn't happy, though, as I felt I didn't get to spend enough time tweaking that particular deck. The deck focuses on building on early military dominance, with a lot of immune to events characters to make it resilient and irritating. It's also mostly Tully, so it can abuse the Blackfish and Edmure's Host pretty well.
AJ's place is amazing. He lives in a pretty nice little residential neighborhood, in which he has a nice house. The real standout feature, aside from the people who live in the house, was it's basement. AJ is a sports/media junky, and there are a variety of tv's in the basement, all tuned to different sports events. The walls are covered with sports memorabilia. I felt a bit out of place, as the only sport I follow is soccer, and that appeared to be one that AJ was not into. Aside from the TV's AJ has a nice assemblage of tables on which to game, and an abundant beverage service area.
AJ let me in, and gave me the quick tour. The only people I knew there aside from the Iowa group were people who had been at the Murder tourney in Madison, including Ktom, Madkasel, LOB, and Capt. Obv. I got to meet quite a few more, and I'm sure I'll leave people out of this report, for which I apologize. AJ had provided food, but I was stuffed... it was just a hint of the generosity that was to come, though.
TOURNEY
Round 1
We all got signed up and ktom generated the pairings. I found myself sitting across from Adam, of Chicago, with his Martell Small Council deck. I got off to a pretty good start, and had a nice army going. Adam got a couple early Massing at Twilight, and my 2 claim intrigues and 3 claim military challenges (blue steel dirk) didn't seem to make enough of a dent. He drew into SOT Darkstar, and drew even more cards. Even after several high claim military challenges, he was still keeping up. Finally, I felt I got over the top, and then, of course, I ran into wildfire assault. I didn't draw anything to deal with Darkstar, and I quickly fell to Adam's rapidly enlarging team. This felt an awful lot like Madison, as I lost in the first round there, too... Also, like Madison, my first round opponent had a good deck, was a good guy and a good player, and would go on to do pretty well himself...
Round 2
*Note: I think I may have messed up some of the rounds... not absolutely sure what order I played people in, oddly...
ktom called out "Jason...vs....Jason!" and LOB and I sat down to play. Again, it was Martell, Threat from the East. LOB had a poor draw, mulled, and didn't end up with anything great. He had a 2 card drop, with no locations. I hit him with two claim military off Gathering Storm on turn 1, and he never really managed to get back into the game. In fact, with the light location draw, Threat from the East was somewhat brutal to him. He was a good opponent, and we had some constructive discussion about deck design and some of the cards.
Round 3
This round I got to play someone from the SW Michigan Meta for the first time. The Mountain that Pwns actually is, I think, my favorite screenname on the boards, and I had to complement Matt. He was playing Baratheon. Things seemed to start pretty quick for him, as he used Roberts Deathbed and Tourney Season to go get the Lanni and Bara tourney grounds. However, this was another case of me getting on top with high claim military and never looking back. TMTP had a really hard time winning jousts against my 6 str immune to events no attachments armies, and also had a hard time defending against my large forces. This was somewhat like round 2. Matt's a great guy, and we had a fun time playing and talking, even though it didn't go so well for him. I think that the Michigan group will do pretty well with a guy like this at it's center. I was impressed with his enthusiasm for the game, his friendliness, and his apparent ability to get the people around him together to do things.
Round 4
I was actually pretty happy to hear the pairings this round. I got to meet Madkasel and talk with him a little at Madison, and he seemed like a great guy (an impression which has been augmented by the posts he's made on the AGOT message boards). I figured this would be a fun round. Drew was playing Stark also, Threat from the East? (I don't remember the agenda, but a post online says this is what he was playing - Threat doesn't usually bother me too much, as my deck playes out pretty quickly). I don't remember a lot about this game. It was pleasant, we had a friendly chat going. We both had decent draws and got characters out, and traded some challenges back and forth. I should ask Drew if he remembers what won this for me. Maybe it was fat Blackfish.
Round 5
I finally got to play someone I'd played before. I got paired with Nate French, who I'd played in draft when he came through Iowa. Nate's a really good guy, and this was shaping up to be a full day of pleasant games. Nate was undefeated, too, and coming off a win over Mathlete. He was running Baratheon, by the way, no agenda, with an Asshai theme, a slightly tweaked version of a deck designed by Staton. He swayed my Fish, but Bran kept things interesting, taking his characters during challenges. High claim plots drained him down, and the Tullys cam out on top. I have a feeling, though, that Nate wasn't trying his hardest in this game, as he had decided to drop before top 8, as he couldn't win prizes. I like to think I deserved it, though...
QUARTERFINALS
I made top 8, at 4-1, I think I was 2nd seed, but I'm not sure, I might have been third. The nice thing was that Mathlete was on the other side of the bracket. I was paired up with the host, running Stark/Targ treaty. I got an amazing draw this game, the best all day. I flopped five cards, including three tully characters. I drew into all 3 of my Edmure's hosts, and had them all down on turn 2. This was a nightmare for AJ, as he had not included anything in his plot deck to blank text boxes/remove immunities. Consequently, his burn/Arya's Revenges/Festering Wounds were no good on them, and he couldn't really get out enough military to compete. He searched up some Plazas of Punishment, but ended up using one on a newly recruited Blackfish, keeping all my hosts on the table. The game took a long time, for some reason (AJ did have to get up and pay for the newly arrived pizzas), but the early dominance of the Hosts held up.
SEMIFINALS
Newport Harry had dispatched his opponent fairly quickly, and got to watch most of my game. He graciously offered to let me wait for a while before playing, but I decided it was best to get it over with. If I lost, maybe I could still get in the draft... NPH tried to pump up a false sense of security for me, saying I was sure to win, but I wasn't having any. I guess I should have been more polite and listened to him, maybe things would have gone the way he said... I mulliganed out of a bad hand, into a slightly better hand with no resources. I ended up drawing no reducers or gold producers the entire game, and had to rely on plot gold only. I also drew only one immune to events character, which proved telling. NPH had quite a few of the same characters as me, including several immune to events guys, which he used in conjuntion with story events. I hand't really seen this done before, so it was pretty cool. I had a slight edge over the first few turns and, after a couple 2 claim militaries, I thought I had the advantage. Unfortunately, I chose that turn to March to the Wall. Well, NPH had decided to launch his Wildfire Assault at the same time. When the dust cleared, we were each down to 2 characters, but he had gold/reducers and I didn't. Also, he was going first that turn, and one of his characters was Robb... Things went rapidly downhill for me from here, as I wasn't able to play more than one (little) character per turn. After the game, NPH told me that I had missed Robb on two successive 2 claim intrigue challenges when he had only 3 cards in his hand...
So, I was out, so close to the match with the champ... Well, hopefully I'll get another chance someday. I ended up in third on tiebreakers, and got 4 packs, 100 GD, a book, and three promos for my trouble. Oh, AJ covered my gas, too, which was HOT.
DRAFT
I did in fact get done in time to enter the draft. I ended up seated at a table with Savil, LOB, Nate, Jeff from Mich., Madkasel, and I forget who else. I think Adam and Complord. I opened up Westeros Bleeds, which is a hot pick, but has never worked out for me in draft. Either I'm winning or it gets intrigued out of my hand. I second picked Student of Subtlety. After that, I took a Stark Army, a Targ army, and a Baratheon army. I wasn't getting consistent runs of cards from my right, and I couldn't settle on a house(s). The second pack gave me another Student, and a Dornish Lancer, as well as a second Targ army, sending me in that direction. Unfortunately, I wasn't getting passed any of the Targ removal. In the end, I constructed a serviceable but unspectacular Marell/Targ deck, with lots of massive armies. I didn't have a lot of "flair" for it, though.
FIRST ROUND
I got paired against Nate French again. This rematch was unfortunate, in a way, since we'd already played that day. Also, I'd beaten him twice now, and figured he was due revenge... I got a decent start, but quick burn and festering wound from Nate kept anything decent off the board. He kept himself ahead of me, and emptied quite a bit of my deck with the Lannister Iron Throne (including my second Student of Subtlety). I drew Bleeds, but miss-played and put a character down when I shouldn't have. The Bleeds reset the board, but left me with only two characters in hand, and three cards in deck. Nate had plenty of characters in hand, though, and I scooped. Right after, he showed me Harrenhall, so I didn't really have a chance anyway. The last time we played, I housed him with Harranhall and the Lanni Throne, so it was very fair turnabout. Nate went on to win the tournament, too, so I can't feel too bad. Wish I would have gotten another round in, I guess.
My friend Eric was waiting up for me, so I took off. The wors fog I've ever driven in was infusing Lake County on Saturday night, and I had to drive about 4 miles an hour, with no clue what was going on 18 feet from me... I didn't even recognize the area the next morning. Sunday I taught Eric to play AGOT, gave him a demo deck, and headed for home. Hopefully, the next time I'm up that way, there will be one more person at the tournament...
Well, this is long enouch as is. Thanks for reading.
GG, GL
Tuesday, March 07, 2006
Random Tuesday Update
AGOT Sunday
The tournament this week was Standard. I thought we had seven players, then Jon and Kari left, apparently they needed the tournament to start early, and didn't tell me... I don't think they even said goodbye. I wonder if I did something wrong...
Well, we ended up with seven anyway, as Andy showed up with Don. It looked like a pretty interesting field. For some reason, the pairing deities conspire to pit me against Sarah in these things, and yet again we sat down for first round wolves vs. dragons. You'd think the big lizard would win... I got a good start, she never really recovered. Second round Jerod settled in accross from me. His Greyjoy stall deck is an entirely different proposition than Sarahs Targ. I managed to discard his sneaking cutthroat through intrigue early, and that slowed down his claim. I froze solid his Harrenhall, and then the Red Keep, to slow down his heavy influence requirements. Unfortunately, the next turn he his fallow fields and blackwater rush, and then it was Northern Pass time. I ramped up to 14, but Wot5K kept me from winning. Without the agenda, I would have finished it off, on dominance alone. Oh well. As it was, I kept playing cards, and he kept killing them, and we drew it out on time. Third round saw Jerod vs. Andy, who was 2-0, and I got shifted down to play the Donminator. He was none too happy to see me, as, in the battle of the collections, I come out sadly far ahead. I had a huge setup on him, and commenced to empty his board and hand with three turns of double claim. He couldn't really get back into it, and I finished him off with Blackfish beatings. Andy and Jerod tied, and my tiebreakers were terrible, so I ended up in third. No biggie, as I can't claim prizes as the Night's Watch anyway. Andy was stoked to get first, which was cool. Luke ended up in third, at 2-1, which I hope he was all right with. Overall, it was a pretty smooth, fun tournament, although I wonder where all the players have gone?
Yesterday was a gaming day off!
Tonight was online boardgame night. The turnout was much better than last week. Sean, Dave, Jef, and myself sat down for Ticket to Ride. The game started off OK, but computer problems forced me to quit. Everybody abandoned the game, and I ended up starting a new one. This one went much better, for a while. I couldn't really get into it, so I was just laying track. Sean got booted, and didn't find his way back on. This totally sucked, as Sean is the one from farthest away... and was doing well. Also, a midgame bot ads soooo much chaos. This game was extra interesting as, even with all the extra tickets, everyone seemed concentrated in the East. It made for some good tension and plan adjustment as people got close together. Jef and Dave had big piles of tickets, so I randomly decided to get some, too, and drew two that wouldn't be too hard to complete. Then, of course, the next turn, Dave takes a route I really need... I had to adjust my plan, but it all worked out fine. I was a little all over the place, but so was everyone else. I ended up completing all 4 tickets for 45 points (I think it was New Orleans/Montreal, Dallas/New York, Winnipeg/Little Rock, and Duluth/El Paso), plus longest route, plus using all my cars and being first out. I won by, I think, 19 over Jef. It was really fun to play with evreyone, but I think we'll have to go back to BSW next week, as I hate the technical difficulties we're having.
GG, GL
AGOT Sunday
The tournament this week was Standard. I thought we had seven players, then Jon and Kari left, apparently they needed the tournament to start early, and didn't tell me... I don't think they even said goodbye. I wonder if I did something wrong...
Well, we ended up with seven anyway, as Andy showed up with Don. It looked like a pretty interesting field. For some reason, the pairing deities conspire to pit me against Sarah in these things, and yet again we sat down for first round wolves vs. dragons. You'd think the big lizard would win... I got a good start, she never really recovered. Second round Jerod settled in accross from me. His Greyjoy stall deck is an entirely different proposition than Sarahs Targ. I managed to discard his sneaking cutthroat through intrigue early, and that slowed down his claim. I froze solid his Harrenhall, and then the Red Keep, to slow down his heavy influence requirements. Unfortunately, the next turn he his fallow fields and blackwater rush, and then it was Northern Pass time. I ramped up to 14, but Wot5K kept me from winning. Without the agenda, I would have finished it off, on dominance alone. Oh well. As it was, I kept playing cards, and he kept killing them, and we drew it out on time. Third round saw Jerod vs. Andy, who was 2-0, and I got shifted down to play the Donminator. He was none too happy to see me, as, in the battle of the collections, I come out sadly far ahead. I had a huge setup on him, and commenced to empty his board and hand with three turns of double claim. He couldn't really get back into it, and I finished him off with Blackfish beatings. Andy and Jerod tied, and my tiebreakers were terrible, so I ended up in third. No biggie, as I can't claim prizes as the Night's Watch anyway. Andy was stoked to get first, which was cool. Luke ended up in third, at 2-1, which I hope he was all right with. Overall, it was a pretty smooth, fun tournament, although I wonder where all the players have gone?
Yesterday was a gaming day off!
Tonight was online boardgame night. The turnout was much better than last week. Sean, Dave, Jef, and myself sat down for Ticket to Ride. The game started off OK, but computer problems forced me to quit. Everybody abandoned the game, and I ended up starting a new one. This one went much better, for a while. I couldn't really get into it, so I was just laying track. Sean got booted, and didn't find his way back on. This totally sucked, as Sean is the one from farthest away... and was doing well. Also, a midgame bot ads soooo much chaos. This game was extra interesting as, even with all the extra tickets, everyone seemed concentrated in the East. It made for some good tension and plan adjustment as people got close together. Jef and Dave had big piles of tickets, so I randomly decided to get some, too, and drew two that wouldn't be too hard to complete. Then, of course, the next turn, Dave takes a route I really need... I had to adjust my plan, but it all worked out fine. I was a little all over the place, but so was everyone else. I ended up completing all 4 tickets for 45 points (I think it was New Orleans/Montreal, Dallas/New York, Winnipeg/Little Rock, and Duluth/El Paso), plus longest route, plus using all my cars and being first out. I won by, I think, 19 over Jef. It was really fun to play with evreyone, but I think we'll have to go back to BSW next week, as I hate the technical difficulties we're having.
GG, GL
Random Tuesday Update
AGOT Sunday
The tournament this week was Standard. I thought we had seven players, then Jon and Kari left, apparently they needed the tournament to start early, and didn't tell me... I don't think they even said goodbye. I wonder if I did something wrong...
Well, we ended up with seven anyway, as Andy showed up with Don. It looked like a pretty interesting field. For some reason, the pairing deities conspire to pit me against Sarah in these things, and yet again we sat down for first round wolves vs. dragons. You'd think the big lizard would win... I got a good start, she never really recovered. Second round Jerod settled in accross from me. His Greyjoy stall deck is an entirely different proposition than Sarahs Targ. I managed to discard his sneaking cutthroat through intrigue early, and that slowed down his claim. I froze solid his Harrenhall, and then the Red Keep, to slow down his heavy influence requirements. Unfortunately, the next turn he his fallow fields and blackwater rush, and then it was Northern Pass time. I ramped up to 14, but Wot5K kept me from winning. Without the agenda, I would have finished it off, on dominance alone. Oh well. As it was, I kept playing cards, and he kept killing them, and we drew it out on time. Third round saw Jerod vs. Andy, who was 2-0, and I got shifted down to play the Donminator. He was none too happy to see me, as, in the battle of the collections, I come out sadly far ahead. I had a huge setup on him, and commenced to empty his board and hand with three turns of double claim. He couldn't really get back into it, and I finished him off with Blackfish beatings. Andy and Jerod tied, and my tiebreakers were terrible, so I ended up in third. No biggie, as I can't claim prizes as the Night's Watch anyway. Andy was stoked to get first, which was cool. Luke ended up in third, at 2-1, which I hope he was all right with. Overall, it was a pretty smooth, fun tournament, although I wonder where all the players have gone?
Yesterday was a gaming day off!
Tonight was online boardgame night. The turnout was much better than last week. Sean, Dave, Jef, and myself sat down for Ticket to Ride. The game started off OK, but computer problems forced me to quit. Everybody abandoned the game, and I ended up starting a new one. This one went much better, for a while. I couldn't really get into it, so I was just laying track. Sean got booted, and didn't find his way back on. This totally sucked, as Sean is the one from farthest away... and was doing well. Also, a midgame bot ads soooo much chaos. This game was extra interesting as, even with all the extra tickets, everyone seemed concentrated in the East. It made for some good tension and plan adjustment as people got close together. Jef and Dave had big piles of tickets, so I randomly decided to get some, too, and drew two that wouldn't be too hard to complete. Then, of course, the next turn, Dave takes a route I really need... I had to adjust my plan, but it all worked out fine. I was a little all over the place, but so was everyone else. I ended up completing all 4 tickets for 45 points (I think it was New Orleans/Montreal, Dallas/New York, Winnipeg/Little Rock, and Duluth/El Paso), plus longest route, plus using all my cars and being first out. I won by, I think, 19 over Jef. It was really fun to play with evreyone, but I think we'll have to go back to BSW next week, as I hate the technical difficulties we're having.
GG, GL
AGOT Sunday
The tournament this week was Standard. I thought we had seven players, then Jon and Kari left, apparently they needed the tournament to start early, and didn't tell me... I don't think they even said goodbye. I wonder if I did something wrong...
Well, we ended up with seven anyway, as Andy showed up with Don. It looked like a pretty interesting field. For some reason, the pairing deities conspire to pit me against Sarah in these things, and yet again we sat down for first round wolves vs. dragons. You'd think the big lizard would win... I got a good start, she never really recovered. Second round Jerod settled in accross from me. His Greyjoy stall deck is an entirely different proposition than Sarahs Targ. I managed to discard his sneaking cutthroat through intrigue early, and that slowed down his claim. I froze solid his Harrenhall, and then the Red Keep, to slow down his heavy influence requirements. Unfortunately, the next turn he his fallow fields and blackwater rush, and then it was Northern Pass time. I ramped up to 14, but Wot5K kept me from winning. Without the agenda, I would have finished it off, on dominance alone. Oh well. As it was, I kept playing cards, and he kept killing them, and we drew it out on time. Third round saw Jerod vs. Andy, who was 2-0, and I got shifted down to play the Donminator. He was none too happy to see me, as, in the battle of the collections, I come out sadly far ahead. I had a huge setup on him, and commenced to empty his board and hand with three turns of double claim. He couldn't really get back into it, and I finished him off with Blackfish beatings. Andy and Jerod tied, and my tiebreakers were terrible, so I ended up in third. No biggie, as I can't claim prizes as the Night's Watch anyway. Andy was stoked to get first, which was cool. Luke ended up in third, at 2-1, which I hope he was all right with. Overall, it was a pretty smooth, fun tournament, although I wonder where all the players have gone?
Yesterday was a gaming day off!
Tonight was online boardgame night. The turnout was much better than last week. Sean, Dave, Jef, and myself sat down for Ticket to Ride. The game started off OK, but computer problems forced me to quit. Everybody abandoned the game, and I ended up starting a new one. This one went much better, for a while. I couldn't really get into it, so I was just laying track. Sean got booted, and didn't find his way back on. This totally sucked, as Sean is the one from farthest away... and was doing well. Also, a midgame bot ads soooo much chaos. This game was extra interesting as, even with all the extra tickets, everyone seemed concentrated in the East. It made for some good tension and plan adjustment as people got close together. Jef and Dave had big piles of tickets, so I randomly decided to get some, too, and drew two that wouldn't be too hard to complete. Then, of course, the next turn, Dave takes a route I really need... I had to adjust my plan, but it all worked out fine. I was a little all over the place, but so was everyone else. I ended up completing all 4 tickets for 45 points (I think it was New Orleans/Montreal, Dallas/New York, Winnipeg/Little Rock, and Duluth/El Paso), plus longest route, plus using all my cars and being first out. I won by, I think, 19 over Jef. It was really fun to play with evreyone, but I think we'll have to go back to BSW next week, as I hate the technical difficulties we're having.
GG, GL
Sunday, March 05, 2006
Quad Cities
Yesterday Kristin and I hopped in the Cavalier and made the drive East to Cordova, to visit my parents' house to celebrate the birthday of my little sister, Katie. After a hearty meal with the family, and some gift-unwrapping, we jumped back into the car for the drive to Moline, where we would visit my friend Dave's house for some gaming/movies/hanging out.
Kristin went to get some writing done, and Dave, Kris, Grahm, and myself sat down for St. Petersburg. It was their first game, and some mistakes were made. Dave got a big lead on buildings early, helped by an income advantage due to two early double-money worker upgrades. He pulled further and further away from all of us as the game went on. I really felt we were getting too far behind to catch up. However, Dave had been basically ignoring the aristocrats, and, thanks to my early observatory and a big final turn, I ended up with enough aristocrats to surpass him by 15-20 points. I was actually disappointed with this, as I was looking forward to seeing someone do well with just buildings. The result solidified the perception that the aristocrats are an integral part of any strategy. It played a little long, and people made mistakes that really hurt their chances, but everyone seemed to enjoy the game, thankfully. At this point, Jef Smith and Kristin arrived, and we took a break to go meet up with several other locals for dinner at Chino's in downtown Moline. Fun was had by all at the restaurant, with rousing conversations regarding TV, comics, movies, music, and, of course, Kristin's dissertation. Afterwards, the ladies split off for a "girl party" at Kris' house, and the rest of us returned to Dave's for more gaming.
With the addition of Jeff and Vanessa, we had six. The decision was made to break open the five-six player expansion for Dave's Settlers set, and we moved out to the island to gather some resources. I had to set up first/last, which turned out to be really painful. I got one of the best two spots on the board, but, when the dust settled, I didn't have a good second space and I was mostly cut off from the coast. For some reason, I tuned this game out a little, and was sort of playing on autopilot. I think playing with 6 made it a little too big for me, with too many people and too much time waiting for my turn. This also put a hilight on the loose trading rules in Settlers. I should look and see if there are more rigid rules for trading in any of the variants. We had an inordinately small number of 6's rolled, and an incredibly high number of 5's. This both helped and hindered me. Everyone built at a pretty regular pace, although I think several of us felt that the game was in Jef's hands from a fairly early time. And, we were right. We watched Jef collect cards and build stuff for several turns, and then calmly win, 5 points ahead of the nearest challenger. I think I'll avoid six player Settlers in the future.
Grahm and Vanessa had to leave, so we were back down to four. The movie option was out, as the DVD and drive were occupied by Wade's copying, so the guys decided to try out San Juan. This was another first game for all of them. San Juan is pretty simple, though, and they all got into it pretty quickly. It was interesting to see how this group played it differently. My regular gaming group tends to go for cards right away, and move into producing and shipping later. We had people produce right away. More than one person built multiple indigo plants, also, apparently not holding any bigger production facilities. Everyone else passed on building at some point, and I ended up with building lead and started pushing the game. Jef had a lot of production facilities, and was making a lot through trading, but he didn't have a silver most of the game, which I did, and so I kept up with him a little. Jef plopped down a guild hall, and I knew I had some work to catch him. I got my own six-coster, and ended the game with a 6vp monument, edging him by 4 points.
It was now growing late, around 11 pm, but the boys weren't gamed out yet. Again going over the choice between movies and gaming, the cardboard was chosen. With the only two new (to them) games left in my box being Tigris & Euphrates and Puerto Rico, we went with the latter. We got through setup and instructions, and started in. It was fun, again, to see how people new to the game would play, as my group has fairly regular strategies for the choices. Early on, the guys wanted to produce, etc.. Rather than working up money/buildings/settling. I was in the third seet, and settled for a quarry, which is a pretty normal first seat move for our group. I think first seat in this game built, and second seat mayored. When the building went off, I got a small market, btw. On the second build, I picked up a hospice, and then settled for another quarry. Things were looking good for me, and the guys were getting the hang of the game quickly, especially when Jef learned a hard lesson as I Captained away four barrels of indigo from him... Unfortunately, over at the Girlparty, things were slowing down, and Kristin and Sam wanted to head home. So, we abandoned the game, picked up the girls, and headed for bed.
Overall, it was a really good time. It's always nice to see old friends, and I enjoy introducing new games to people. However, after the double Power Grid Friday, and three and a half game Saturday, I am feeling a little gamed out. Let's hope I can get through the AGOT tournament tonight...
GG,
Woodburn
Yesterday Kristin and I hopped in the Cavalier and made the drive East to Cordova, to visit my parents' house to celebrate the birthday of my little sister, Katie. After a hearty meal with the family, and some gift-unwrapping, we jumped back into the car for the drive to Moline, where we would visit my friend Dave's house for some gaming/movies/hanging out.
Kristin went to get some writing done, and Dave, Kris, Grahm, and myself sat down for St. Petersburg. It was their first game, and some mistakes were made. Dave got a big lead on buildings early, helped by an income advantage due to two early double-money worker upgrades. He pulled further and further away from all of us as the game went on. I really felt we were getting too far behind to catch up. However, Dave had been basically ignoring the aristocrats, and, thanks to my early observatory and a big final turn, I ended up with enough aristocrats to surpass him by 15-20 points. I was actually disappointed with this, as I was looking forward to seeing someone do well with just buildings. The result solidified the perception that the aristocrats are an integral part of any strategy. It played a little long, and people made mistakes that really hurt their chances, but everyone seemed to enjoy the game, thankfully. At this point, Jef Smith and Kristin arrived, and we took a break to go meet up with several other locals for dinner at Chino's in downtown Moline. Fun was had by all at the restaurant, with rousing conversations regarding TV, comics, movies, music, and, of course, Kristin's dissertation. Afterwards, the ladies split off for a "girl party" at Kris' house, and the rest of us returned to Dave's for more gaming.
With the addition of Jeff and Vanessa, we had six. The decision was made to break open the five-six player expansion for Dave's Settlers set, and we moved out to the island to gather some resources. I had to set up first/last, which turned out to be really painful. I got one of the best two spots on the board, but, when the dust settled, I didn't have a good second space and I was mostly cut off from the coast. For some reason, I tuned this game out a little, and was sort of playing on autopilot. I think playing with 6 made it a little too big for me, with too many people and too much time waiting for my turn. This also put a hilight on the loose trading rules in Settlers. I should look and see if there are more rigid rules for trading in any of the variants. We had an inordinately small number of 6's rolled, and an incredibly high number of 5's. This both helped and hindered me. Everyone built at a pretty regular pace, although I think several of us felt that the game was in Jef's hands from a fairly early time. And, we were right. We watched Jef collect cards and build stuff for several turns, and then calmly win, 5 points ahead of the nearest challenger. I think I'll avoid six player Settlers in the future.
Grahm and Vanessa had to leave, so we were back down to four. The movie option was out, as the DVD and drive were occupied by Wade's copying, so the guys decided to try out San Juan. This was another first game for all of them. San Juan is pretty simple, though, and they all got into it pretty quickly. It was interesting to see how this group played it differently. My regular gaming group tends to go for cards right away, and move into producing and shipping later. We had people produce right away. More than one person built multiple indigo plants, also, apparently not holding any bigger production facilities. Everyone else passed on building at some point, and I ended up with building lead and started pushing the game. Jef had a lot of production facilities, and was making a lot through trading, but he didn't have a silver most of the game, which I did, and so I kept up with him a little. Jef plopped down a guild hall, and I knew I had some work to catch him. I got my own six-coster, and ended the game with a 6vp monument, edging him by 4 points.
It was now growing late, around 11 pm, but the boys weren't gamed out yet. Again going over the choice between movies and gaming, the cardboard was chosen. With the only two new (to them) games left in my box being Tigris & Euphrates and Puerto Rico, we went with the latter. We got through setup and instructions, and started in. It was fun, again, to see how people new to the game would play, as my group has fairly regular strategies for the choices. Early on, the guys wanted to produce, etc.. Rather than working up money/buildings/settling. I was in the third seet, and settled for a quarry, which is a pretty normal first seat move for our group. I think first seat in this game built, and second seat mayored. When the building went off, I got a small market, btw. On the second build, I picked up a hospice, and then settled for another quarry. Things were looking good for me, and the guys were getting the hang of the game quickly, especially when Jef learned a hard lesson as I Captained away four barrels of indigo from him... Unfortunately, over at the Girlparty, things were slowing down, and Kristin and Sam wanted to head home. So, we abandoned the game, picked up the girls, and headed for bed.
Overall, it was a really good time. It's always nice to see old friends, and I enjoy introducing new games to people. However, after the double Power Grid Friday, and three and a half game Saturday, I am feeling a little gamed out. Let's hope I can get through the AGOT tournament tonight...
GG,
Woodburn
Friday, March 03, 2006
Friday Power
I had a long day of teaching phys ed today. I'm not a big fan of running kids through hours of rollerblading... I got a call from Dan today, and he wanted to meet at the store for some Power Grid tonight. Kristin wanted to work on writing tonight, so I ran down to Critical Hit for a game.
Dan, Ziggy, Jerod, and myself sat down at the power plant controls, and prepared to start networking. I was first player and got the 4 cost coal plant without a fight. From there, I jockeyed to stay in last position the whole game. Unfortunately, it didn't really pay off, as I ended up just not being able to buy a big power plant at the turning point when I needed it. I think that, so far, this has been the most limiting thing in the decision making area for this game; that I haven't made the best choices in managing the turns I have to upgrade plants. Ziggy led early, and then we stabilized briefly before Dan pushed us into stage 2. Maybe it's just the way we play this game, but it seems like stage 3 comes up quickly, and the game end follows very shortly after that. We stayed pretty tight until the last turn, when Ziggy exploded to the end game. Jerod could only power 12 plants, I could only get 11, and Dan could only get 10. Oh well, third place...
The store got really busy with Magic players, and Jerod had to step away. Eric showed up looking for a game, and, facing the alternatives of Puerto Rico or Ticket to Ride, Dan decided to initiate another game of Power Grid, this time with the USA board. Everyone was fine with this, so we hit it again. I ended up 2nd player, got the 4 cost coal plant again, and built on the East Coast in Philly. Dan built down in the SE, Ziggy went up in the NW, and Eric took the SW, pretty much making a circle. I thought I had a good handle on this one, but it got away from me. Eric decieded to bid me way up on a plant, and after I had to let it go, there was no good plant to replace it, which put me behind a turn, probably. Later, I failed to keep track of the plant that Ziggy discarded when he built, which led to me choosing the wrong plant to bid on, which in turn led to me falling further behind. Dan powered us into Stage 2 quickly, and kept pushing. I stayed close, and, a few turns later, it was I that initiated the endgame, building to 14 cities, all of which I could power. I thought Dan had more money, and that it was basically me guaranteeing myself second place. On his building turn, Dan revealed that he only had $60. We painfully watched him fail to see the one way he could win with exactly $60 for a couple minutes, as he agonized over it, until Ziggy leaned forward and pointed it out to him. For a minute, I thought I might actually win. It was a little funny to realize that I could have gotten first just by making him spend one more dollar somewhere...
So, don't underestimate the big plants. DOn't buy plants you're going to have to upgrade tooo soon. Don't not buy resources when you might need to power something if someone else pushes to 7 when you are just assuming they won't...
GG
I had a long day of teaching phys ed today. I'm not a big fan of running kids through hours of rollerblading... I got a call from Dan today, and he wanted to meet at the store for some Power Grid tonight. Kristin wanted to work on writing tonight, so I ran down to Critical Hit for a game.
Dan, Ziggy, Jerod, and myself sat down at the power plant controls, and prepared to start networking. I was first player and got the 4 cost coal plant without a fight. From there, I jockeyed to stay in last position the whole game. Unfortunately, it didn't really pay off, as I ended up just not being able to buy a big power plant at the turning point when I needed it. I think that, so far, this has been the most limiting thing in the decision making area for this game; that I haven't made the best choices in managing the turns I have to upgrade plants. Ziggy led early, and then we stabilized briefly before Dan pushed us into stage 2. Maybe it's just the way we play this game, but it seems like stage 3 comes up quickly, and the game end follows very shortly after that. We stayed pretty tight until the last turn, when Ziggy exploded to the end game. Jerod could only power 12 plants, I could only get 11, and Dan could only get 10. Oh well, third place...
The store got really busy with Magic players, and Jerod had to step away. Eric showed up looking for a game, and, facing the alternatives of Puerto Rico or Ticket to Ride, Dan decided to initiate another game of Power Grid, this time with the USA board. Everyone was fine with this, so we hit it again. I ended up 2nd player, got the 4 cost coal plant again, and built on the East Coast in Philly. Dan built down in the SE, Ziggy went up in the NW, and Eric took the SW, pretty much making a circle. I thought I had a good handle on this one, but it got away from me. Eric decieded to bid me way up on a plant, and after I had to let it go, there was no good plant to replace it, which put me behind a turn, probably. Later, I failed to keep track of the plant that Ziggy discarded when he built, which led to me choosing the wrong plant to bid on, which in turn led to me falling further behind. Dan powered us into Stage 2 quickly, and kept pushing. I stayed close, and, a few turns later, it was I that initiated the endgame, building to 14 cities, all of which I could power. I thought Dan had more money, and that it was basically me guaranteeing myself second place. On his building turn, Dan revealed that he only had $60. We painfully watched him fail to see the one way he could win with exactly $60 for a couple minutes, as he agonized over it, until Ziggy leaned forward and pointed it out to him. For a minute, I thought I might actually win. It was a little funny to realize that I could have gotten first just by making him spend one more dollar somewhere...
So, don't underestimate the big plants. DOn't buy plants you're going to have to upgrade tooo soon. Don't not buy resources when you might need to power something if someone else pushes to 7 when you are just assuming they won't...
GG
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
Critical Hit Wednesday
Another board game night that I can attend at Critical Hit! Tonight, Jerod scheduled St. Petersburg, a game I've been enjoying the heck out of through around 6 plays in the last 3 months or so. I've played mostly with two, with one three player game thrown in. I was hoping that we'd get some good games going tonight.
I showed up early and Jerod and I spent some time talking about the upcoming AGOT expansion, and we played a game with some decks we're testing while we waited for people to arrive. Chris Schaeffer showed up with Power Grid, and drew three other people to the game. Time for St. Petersburg to start then came and went, with no players having arrived. I was a little disappointed, and was thinking about trying to squeak into the PG game, when Jerod called Dan and talked him into coming down. About a minute later, Gary arrived, so we had our first four player game!
Things started off well for Jerod, as he managed to finagle a slight edge in money production. Gary and Dan caught on to the rules quickly, and the game was pretty tight between the three of us, with Jerod lagging behind but threatening a big explosion with his wads of cash. We slammed right through the mid-game, though, and I learned that four player St. Petersburg is MUCH quicker than two... There wasn't a lot of time for people to utilize things that they purchased. I wound up winning handily with a big aristocrat score at the end. Jerod managed to catch up to third, although he only pulled away from Dan with two vp's worth of rubles in hand. This really hammered home a lesson that with four players, you have to be tight with how you spend your money. Everyone liked the game enough that they wanted to give it another go, so we set it back up. At this time, Peter arrived and Jerod gave up his seat so that Pete could rest his feet. I quickly went over the rules for Peter, and we set to beutifying the city again. This time, I had a quick money advantage, then overspent on a mid-level aristocrat, and made the mistake of putting a shipbuilder in my hand during the worker phase. This really wasn't worth it, as I only really got to get him out in the last turn. I think that Dan could have played it, though, in the next seat, which would have given him a good money advantage early. Tough call. We were pretty tight on vp's early game, with Peter lagging behind. Midgame, Peter made a strong comback with building upgrades, but the late game came down to an aristocrat battle primarily between Dan and Myself. Dan got the better of the deal, and sealed the win with three aristocrat purchases on the last turn. If Peter would have bought a different aristocrat on his turn, I would have won. However, it wouldn't have changed his standing to but the other one, so it would have just been a kingmaking decision to take the one he didn't. Buildings also seem to be more important in the four player game, with the early/mid-game vp boosts counting for a lot more in a limited aristocrat field.
We all had a pretty fun time, although there's not a lot of chatter over a game like this, aside from some kibbitzing. On the other hand, it definitely allows for more casual talk than games like Puerto Rico, or Tigris & Euphrates, which are more intellectually intense. St. Pete fits nicely into my comfort zone for gaming, and I'm so glad I have it.
Speaking of intense games, while we were smiling it up over our the Paris of the East, Chris, Eric, Shawn, and Nate were busy supplying power to the United States. I know that Eric pulled out the win with a "gutsy" play, but I don't know what that play was, exactly. I'm curious to find out. It seemed they really enjoyed the game, though. Dan bought it tonight, so hopefully there will be more games around the store soon.
The game next week is Reiner Knizia's Lord of the Rings, and the week after that is Power Grid, for anyone who may be interested...
GG,
Jason
Another board game night that I can attend at Critical Hit! Tonight, Jerod scheduled St. Petersburg, a game I've been enjoying the heck out of through around 6 plays in the last 3 months or so. I've played mostly with two, with one three player game thrown in. I was hoping that we'd get some good games going tonight.
I showed up early and Jerod and I spent some time talking about the upcoming AGOT expansion, and we played a game with some decks we're testing while we waited for people to arrive. Chris Schaeffer showed up with Power Grid, and drew three other people to the game. Time for St. Petersburg to start then came and went, with no players having arrived. I was a little disappointed, and was thinking about trying to squeak into the PG game, when Jerod called Dan and talked him into coming down. About a minute later, Gary arrived, so we had our first four player game!
Things started off well for Jerod, as he managed to finagle a slight edge in money production. Gary and Dan caught on to the rules quickly, and the game was pretty tight between the three of us, with Jerod lagging behind but threatening a big explosion with his wads of cash. We slammed right through the mid-game, though, and I learned that four player St. Petersburg is MUCH quicker than two... There wasn't a lot of time for people to utilize things that they purchased. I wound up winning handily with a big aristocrat score at the end. Jerod managed to catch up to third, although he only pulled away from Dan with two vp's worth of rubles in hand. This really hammered home a lesson that with four players, you have to be tight with how you spend your money. Everyone liked the game enough that they wanted to give it another go, so we set it back up. At this time, Peter arrived and Jerod gave up his seat so that Pete could rest his feet. I quickly went over the rules for Peter, and we set to beutifying the city again. This time, I had a quick money advantage, then overspent on a mid-level aristocrat, and made the mistake of putting a shipbuilder in my hand during the worker phase. This really wasn't worth it, as I only really got to get him out in the last turn. I think that Dan could have played it, though, in the next seat, which would have given him a good money advantage early. Tough call. We were pretty tight on vp's early game, with Peter lagging behind. Midgame, Peter made a strong comback with building upgrades, but the late game came down to an aristocrat battle primarily between Dan and Myself. Dan got the better of the deal, and sealed the win with three aristocrat purchases on the last turn. If Peter would have bought a different aristocrat on his turn, I would have won. However, it wouldn't have changed his standing to but the other one, so it would have just been a kingmaking decision to take the one he didn't. Buildings also seem to be more important in the four player game, with the early/mid-game vp boosts counting for a lot more in a limited aristocrat field.
We all had a pretty fun time, although there's not a lot of chatter over a game like this, aside from some kibbitzing. On the other hand, it definitely allows for more casual talk than games like Puerto Rico, or Tigris & Euphrates, which are more intellectually intense. St. Pete fits nicely into my comfort zone for gaming, and I'm so glad I have it.
Speaking of intense games, while we were smiling it up over our the Paris of the East, Chris, Eric, Shawn, and Nate were busy supplying power to the United States. I know that Eric pulled out the win with a "gutsy" play, but I don't know what that play was, exactly. I'm curious to find out. It seemed they really enjoyed the game, though. Dan bought it tonight, so hopefully there will be more games around the store soon.
The game next week is Reiner Knizia's Lord of the Rings, and the week after that is Power Grid, for anyone who may be interested...
GG,
Jason
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