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