Suddenly, no gaming.
So, on Wednesday, it was just too important to watch the Lost season finale with Kristin. And my re-entry into Wed. night at CHG was postponed again.
I did get in some gaming on, I think, thursday. In the morning, I checked out the free download version of Reiner Knizia's samurai. It's got a nice little tutorial, and a good interface. The AI's arne't great players, but it's a really nice way to learn the game if you haven't played before, and it's fun to play against the bots a few times. That afternoon, I headed over to Jerod's with Nexus Ops and RK's Samurai. We decided to play the latter.
We blew through two quick games. I really like the depth and tension this game provides, especially in the quick play time. The learning curve isn't too steep, either. Once you've played a few turns, you should have it, and certainly by your second game you will really know what's going on. I think I prefer to play the game with random tile selection, as opposed to picking. I guess that adds more strategy, but it gives an even greater advantage to the experienced player and adds, albeit only a little, more time to the game. I won both of the games, I think primarily due to a nice, balanced flow of fast tiles that let me make impact moves at a good pace. The trophy switch is a shocking tile, and the ronin is, of course, something you really have to watch out for. If you get no fast tiles, it's hard to really make an impact. On the other hand, if you get too many, you can be robbed of the ability to have really efficient/effective turns. I don't think that's really a problem with the game, though - on the rare occasions when it happens, you can play yourself out of it in a turn or so. I'm really happy with this game for two or three (where it fills a nice space), but with four the board starts to get pretty chaotic, and you lose a lot of control.
I'll wait a little longer for Nexus Ops to hit the table...
GG, GL
Monday, May 29, 2006
Friday, May 19, 2006
Magic at Critical Hit, Tuesday May 16
Tuesday night on the way home from practice I stopped into Critical Hit for some reason that I can't remember right now. The weekly M:tG booster draft was starting, and they needed one more player to make it even. I haven't drafted in a while, or played much Magic at all, for that matter, but decided to jump in to save Jerod a headache.
I like the new sets. Lots of interesting cards and cool color combinations. I think drafting it is pretty tough, though, especially without having seen the sets, as it's hard to read signals or evaluate card value. I first picked black, for a creature with come into play removal (reduction). I picked two red cards, as there was no black, then the red dried up, black came back a little, and I took black/red, passing good white cards repeatedly. Finally, there was no b or r in my packs, and only white. I started taking white and really regretted passing three of the good white cards I let go while taking sub-optimal black and red. In the second pack, I got passed a raft of black, along with a little white and I even took some random late red. Third pack went about the same, picking up a lot of white, some black, and a red card or two.
Deckbuilding was moderately easy. I had a big problem of not really having any large creatures. This is where the cards I passed early would have come in handy, 3/3 flyers with convoke would have given me a win condition. As it was, all I could really hope to do was rush them a little early, and then keep sneaking in damage with my three and a half tappers.
Round 1: I played Walter, who I don't know too well. He had blue/green/black/red. He used a land-destruction land as a mana-fixer, which I hadn't thought about during the draft. That was certainly useful to see. I won the first game, rushing through damage, getting him real low with a damage redirection spell (which I discovered couldn't target creatures), and finished him off. The second and third games were similar: I came out with small creatures, did five or so points of damage, he stabilized the board, killed my tappers, and finished me off with giant creatures and graft.
Round 2: I played young Tom H., who was running blue/green/white. These games weren't too good. Game one, I couldn't get any black mana and was stuck with 4-5 black cards in my hand most of the game. game two I had the same problem, but with white.
I made several mistakes over the course of the night, fromt the draft to playing, and it really showed me how much of my Magic playing ability I've lost. It was really educational, though, and should be a big help if I draft again soon, which I'm actually hoping to do, online if nothing else.
GG, GL
Tuesday night on the way home from practice I stopped into Critical Hit for some reason that I can't remember right now. The weekly M:tG booster draft was starting, and they needed one more player to make it even. I haven't drafted in a while, or played much Magic at all, for that matter, but decided to jump in to save Jerod a headache.
I like the new sets. Lots of interesting cards and cool color combinations. I think drafting it is pretty tough, though, especially without having seen the sets, as it's hard to read signals or evaluate card value. I first picked black, for a creature with come into play removal (reduction). I picked two red cards, as there was no black, then the red dried up, black came back a little, and I took black/red, passing good white cards repeatedly. Finally, there was no b or r in my packs, and only white. I started taking white and really regretted passing three of the good white cards I let go while taking sub-optimal black and red. In the second pack, I got passed a raft of black, along with a little white and I even took some random late red. Third pack went about the same, picking up a lot of white, some black, and a red card or two.
Deckbuilding was moderately easy. I had a big problem of not really having any large creatures. This is where the cards I passed early would have come in handy, 3/3 flyers with convoke would have given me a win condition. As it was, all I could really hope to do was rush them a little early, and then keep sneaking in damage with my three and a half tappers.
Round 1: I played Walter, who I don't know too well. He had blue/green/black/red. He used a land-destruction land as a mana-fixer, which I hadn't thought about during the draft. That was certainly useful to see. I won the first game, rushing through damage, getting him real low with a damage redirection spell (which I discovered couldn't target creatures), and finished him off. The second and third games were similar: I came out with small creatures, did five or so points of damage, he stabilized the board, killed my tappers, and finished me off with giant creatures and graft.
Round 2: I played young Tom H., who was running blue/green/white. These games weren't too good. Game one, I couldn't get any black mana and was stuck with 4-5 black cards in my hand most of the game. game two I had the same problem, but with white.
I made several mistakes over the course of the night, fromt the draft to playing, and it really showed me how much of my Magic playing ability I've lost. It was really educational, though, and should be a big help if I draft again soon, which I'm actually hoping to do, online if nothing else.
GG, GL
Palazzo at Critical Hit, Monday May 15
After the game Monday, I decided to stop by CHG on my way home, to order a copy of Battle Line as this month's game purchase. I stuck around for a while to chat with Jerod, Gigi, Jake, and Jeff, and while I was there some people (Eric, Lisa, and, I think, Kate) started a Palazzo game, and wanted a fourth. I figured, it's a quick game, and jumped in.
I was surprised about how little I remembered about how to play. I spent the first few rounds basically taking money and browsing the rulebook. Unforunately, my money draws weren't very good, and I missed a huge turn where the people in front of me let a bit too much build up in the middle. Eric turned over tiles and was able to buy a 3-4-5 of the same color from the middle, for something he already had 1-2 of, for like 12. This was a huge turn for him, and I didn't think we could come back. I managed to build a couple five story buildings and tie for second with Lisa. Our game went pretty fast, so we decided to try again. I felt a lot more into it this time, but, after initially buying three 1st floors, I just couldn't seem to get more tiles to go on top. I managed a couple of four story buildings, of consistent colors, but never built on my other 1. The game ended on my turn, and if I could have bought that turn I would have had a nice little three story for a net gain of about 10. As it was, I drew the last finishing tile (with 4 tiles left), and finished in third.
I like Palazzo. I like the auction elements, the different currencies, and the quick play. However, there's a lot of randomness in this game, which can frustrate people. This partiular group pushed the auctioning a lot harder than people I've played with in the past, who tried to build up sets of currency before getting too many tiles on the table. I think that pushing the auctioning can leave you without money and open up later players to being able to win auctions for better lots for very little money, as you've exhausted your chance to bid against them. I think this game is a little underappreciated, and I should probably pick it up sometime, if only for it's very quick play time, as a filler perhaps. It's certainly much faster than the game I see it compared to most often, Alhambra, although I should certainly play that a few more times, too.
GG, GL
After the game Monday, I decided to stop by CHG on my way home, to order a copy of Battle Line as this month's game purchase. I stuck around for a while to chat with Jerod, Gigi, Jake, and Jeff, and while I was there some people (Eric, Lisa, and, I think, Kate) started a Palazzo game, and wanted a fourth. I figured, it's a quick game, and jumped in.
I was surprised about how little I remembered about how to play. I spent the first few rounds basically taking money and browsing the rulebook. Unforunately, my money draws weren't very good, and I missed a huge turn where the people in front of me let a bit too much build up in the middle. Eric turned over tiles and was able to buy a 3-4-5 of the same color from the middle, for something he already had 1-2 of, for like 12. This was a huge turn for him, and I didn't think we could come back. I managed to build a couple five story buildings and tie for second with Lisa. Our game went pretty fast, so we decided to try again. I felt a lot more into it this time, but, after initially buying three 1st floors, I just couldn't seem to get more tiles to go on top. I managed a couple of four story buildings, of consistent colors, but never built on my other 1. The game ended on my turn, and if I could have bought that turn I would have had a nice little three story for a net gain of about 10. As it was, I drew the last finishing tile (with 4 tiles left), and finished in third.
I like Palazzo. I like the auction elements, the different currencies, and the quick play. However, there's a lot of randomness in this game, which can frustrate people. This partiular group pushed the auctioning a lot harder than people I've played with in the past, who tried to build up sets of currency before getting too many tiles on the table. I think that pushing the auctioning can leave you without money and open up later players to being able to win auctions for better lots for very little money, as you've exhausted your chance to bid against them. I think this game is a little underappreciated, and I should probably pick it up sometime, if only for it's very quick play time, as a filler perhaps. It's certainly much faster than the game I see it compared to most often, Alhambra, although I should certainly play that a few more times, too.
GG, GL
Monday, May 15, 2006
Iowa City Game Day at Chris and Edie's House, Saturday, 13 May
Time sure flies. It really doesn't seem that long since the last game day. Perhaps I'm just that busy. On the other hand, maybe it's just that I've grown to anticipate them so much. Either way, I woke up on Saturday, ready to game.
It was drizzly and chilly Saturday AM, which is nice, as I wasn't going to feel bad about spending the rest of the day indoors. I guess I probably would have anyway, as I was out late the night before, soaking up second-hand smoke in the Foxhead with my visiting friend Erik, in town from London, Ontario. As a consequence, I had just a bit of a headache as the day began.
Shooting for the noon start time, I ran out to buy some snacks to take along, got a sandwich at Milio's and a quad iced soy mocha at the Java House. With a full tank and caffeine jump, I cruised over to F street, St. Petersburg, Princes of Florence, Res Publica, and Nexus Ops in tow.
When I got there, there was a fury of Dracula game going, and a few people waiting around for something to start. I had brought Princes of Florence at Chris's request, and we decided to set that up. About three quarters of the way through the explanation, two new players, Jason and Laura, showed up. Chris bowed out of the game to start something else, and Jason and Laura joined our game. We went through the rules again, which, I think, was good, as it made sure we were all on the same page, and then got started.
Starting turn order was: Gare Erin, me, Jason, Laura. Nobody but me had played before, and I had only played two games with three players. Bidding in the five player game was much higher than in the three player game. Our first round of bidding, however, was pretty low, with the firest jester going, apparently, low for 700, and the first builder going for 600, and everything else going for 200, I think. Maybe one of the landscapes went for a little more. Laura created a work on the first turn, going last, to get the quick pp. Bidding on the jester jumped up to 1500 in this round, and the builder went for 800. Jesters continued to be high bids, going for 1400 and 1100 and 1500 over the next three turns before falling to 300 and 500. The builder dropped to 200-400-400. Nobody went for a builder strategy, prefering to take a balanced approach. Laura and Erin both picked up two prestige cards as the game went along. I miscalculated my money a couple turns in a row, and, as a result, cost myself a few points. I should have let the 2nd turn builder go, and gotten a prestige card instead. I ended up missing out on prestige entirely, due to money miscalc (I couldn't bid high enough), and in the last round I couldn't get anything at all. I did build a gigantic work, though, for 35, and caught back up with the 17 pp it gave me. As the 7th round rolled by, we were all pretty tight on pp. Revealing prestige cards, it turned out that Erin didn't make one of hers, and Laura was able to sneak up and snag the victory by a point. So, the final standings were: Laura, Erin, Jason, me, and Gare. I liked the game much better with five, and this was a fun, good group to play with. I really need to keep better track of my plans, with upcoming rounds in mind, to spend my florins optimally. I look forward to playing again.
Another game broke up, and we split into three games. I ended up with Reef Encounter, a game I keep seeing people talking about on BGG. Jason brought the Zman edition, and taught the game to myself and Erin, with Laura also sitting in. There seems to be some debate over the game's art. I like the look of this game, it's nice and colorful (the screens could probably be moreso, and could maybe have some reminder/rules summaries on the back. Jason said the designer had worked hard to incorporate details marine biology into the game, but with a lack of such specific knowledge, the theme seems purely aesthetic, and the game is basically an abstract. The rules were quite different from pretty much anything else I've ever played. I felt pretty bewildered throughout the explanation, and really didn't know what was going on as the game started. I had a basic understanding of the course of a turn, and got some stuff on the table. I think I started one batch of coral too quickly. I think we were already in the midgame when I stopped to exclaim "I really have no idea how I could possibly make anything happen in this game." I just gave up a couple turns and did nothing besides taking tiles, as I felt I was slowing down the game though analysis paralysis. I watched the two experienced players, and came up with some ideas for plays. I ended up, though, rushing into eating my black coral, which was the one decent sized group I'd built up. I could have made it a few bigger the next turn, and should have, because it looked like it would be worth the most, with two tiles locked up. The tile I had started in my fish box was black, though, and I figured I'd have the advantage there, without scaring away the people who were working to make it dominant. After that, I slowed down, made a silly play, and suddenly it looked like Jason would win the game. I had a pretty fun penultimate turn at that point, eating a decent set of coral, flipping and locking some of the dominance tiles. I still didn't really understand the game, but I made things happen, and that made me feel a little better. I experienced a lot of brain burn in this game, coupled with significant downtime due to analysis between many of the turns. With four players, the game is pretty chaotic, and it would require a high degree of concentration and dedication to be able to play strategically consistently. I felt I might enjoy the game quite a bit more with fewer players, as there would be less changing between each turn. I wasn't real happy with this particular session. I won't be rushing out to buy Reef Encounter. That said, I found the game interesting, and the mechanics intriguing, and I'm going to try to play it a few more times, both on spielbyweb and in real life, and I expect it will become quite interesting.
Groups were re-dividing again, and I found that I didn't have a preference for any of the games being put forward. I decided to just let people put me wherever they needed a player. I didn't really come into this game day with specific games in mind - I figured I would play Princes, and was maybe hoping for Caylus. The only things I really have wanted to get in on were Union Pacific (which unfortunately went off while we were playing Princes), and Santiago (which Kurt has brought, but he wasn't there this time). I ended up playing Ticket to Ride this time, with Judy, Erin and Chris.
The two tickets I kept were a 17 and 20 that both went along the Southern part of the map, though the big black, green, and red routes. These were really nice starting tickets, big points that worked together with plenty of 6 car routes. To me, getting tickets like this is a significant advantage in this game. Another advantage became clear as it appeared that everyone else was building mostly in the North, so I was able to waltz across the map with little, well, basically no, interference. The gameplay was quick, as we knew that Tower of Babel in the other room was not a long game, and we wanted to be done at around the same time. There was little, or basically no, defensive play, although a couple times people were unintentionally blocked. Chris took some extra tickets, and so, I think, did Judy. I decided to take one after I finished my routes, which was probably a bad idea, but I get nervous when other people have five tickets and I have two. I picked up one I could finish pretty quickly, and ended up blocking the ticket Chris had just taken with my next move. I managed to trigger the game end with two cars, and then play them on the end of my string of cars to make myself only 3 cars out of perfect on longest route, taking it by a fair amount. With a considerable lead already, longest route, and fifty points of tickets, I ended up way out in front at 168. Judy was 2nd with 122, Erin in third with 104, and Chris was the caboose with 74 (I think he would have been close to 100 with his other ticket completed). This was a nice group of people, and a pretty fun game, but I think I've played enough of basic Ticket to Ride for a while. Oddly, it's a game I own, and consequently don't try to get into at the game days, but is the only game I've played two game days in a row. I wish they'd print an expansion with a fifth 20+ point ticket, so that you could distribute big tickets to everyone before the game, as in TtR: Europe.
Several people wanted to play St. Pete, so I sat them down and taught the game. It was weird teaching the game without sitting at the table, and I felt I needed to hurry as there were three players in the other room waiting for me to play Stephenson's Rocket. I hope I wasn't too confusing in this hurried state. Sometimes I forget that, for some people, this game doesn't seem as simple as I think it is. After explaining, setting up, and getting things going, I ran into the other room for my second train trip of the day. I knew Stephenson's Rocket was a Reiner Knizia game, which is a good sign, to me. I also had a general impression, though, from BGG geeklists and stuff, that this was not that popular of a game, so I came in expecting a medium-level experience. Chris taught the game, and, perhaps due to my rushed state, or the general sort of brain fuzz I seemed to have going all day, I really didn't visualize the rules well. It took me until what I would consider the end of the early game to have a feeling that I could develop some strategic moves. At that point, I promptly over-thought a couple of them and missed out on some important money by not putting down stations I should have. I focused on getting down stations on one train (green) and taking it across the board to hit some of the cities I had majorities in. It took me even longer to figure out that the game isn't all about hitting those cities, as that's not how you score the really big money. That was made apparent when Steve started making tall cash off of the purple train with his two stations, and even more so when Steve ran the blue train into the green line, making Sue a heaping pile of bank notes and a tidy sum for himself as well. I couldn't seem to find a way to successfully alter my tactics at this point, though, and pretty much just kept doing the same thing. I wasted my majority in green stock to veto Steve's move and put the train in my station. In the end, I would have had 14 grand more by not doing so, as Steve never managed to run the red line into green, and I would have still had station majority with two. As it was, the train tiles ran out and the game ended with several active lines on the board- green, which was huge, red, which was pretty big, orange, which wasn't terribly large, and grey, which was small. Chris had a lot of majorities, and looked like he might contend. Sue had made huge money once, and consistent money around that. I though I might have a chance to beat Steve. Well, it appears I really have no handle on the game, as Steve ended up winning. Steve had 66k, Sue was 2nd at 65k, Chris was third with 62k, and it was my turn to caboose with 55k. This game was moderately close, and it became clear to me that each little move, costing a few thousand, was tremendously important. I certainly mispicked a couple times early in the game, just based on this. I liked SR, and would play again. However, I don't think I'll seek it out. The goods majorities really seem to play too little a part in the game. There's also decent downtime and the analysis problems that come with too much known information.
That ended up being it for the night. I only played 4 games on Saturday, which is fewer than usual. The games I played were longer - especially Reef Encouner! Also, I just wasn't in a mood to hustle any games today. It was fun, and I got to play some new games, which is always a goal of mine. No new classics, for me, but lots of food for thought. These game days keep getting bigger and bigger - maybe we'll have to move into the library! I look forward to next month, when maybe some of us will have to play outside... (I'll bring a soccer ball). It's great to be meeting so many new gamers, and having such good times, but for me it has an ironically sad side, too. I wonder why it has to be the case that now, since I've finally found a big group of great people to game with on a regular basis, I have to move across the country. It's no big deal, though, I'll just enjoy it while it lasts and look forward to meeting the gamers of the Triangle area.
GG, GL
Time sure flies. It really doesn't seem that long since the last game day. Perhaps I'm just that busy. On the other hand, maybe it's just that I've grown to anticipate them so much. Either way, I woke up on Saturday, ready to game.
It was drizzly and chilly Saturday AM, which is nice, as I wasn't going to feel bad about spending the rest of the day indoors. I guess I probably would have anyway, as I was out late the night before, soaking up second-hand smoke in the Foxhead with my visiting friend Erik, in town from London, Ontario. As a consequence, I had just a bit of a headache as the day began.
Shooting for the noon start time, I ran out to buy some snacks to take along, got a sandwich at Milio's and a quad iced soy mocha at the Java House. With a full tank and caffeine jump, I cruised over to F street, St. Petersburg, Princes of Florence, Res Publica, and Nexus Ops in tow.
When I got there, there was a fury of Dracula game going, and a few people waiting around for something to start. I had brought Princes of Florence at Chris's request, and we decided to set that up. About three quarters of the way through the explanation, two new players, Jason and Laura, showed up. Chris bowed out of the game to start something else, and Jason and Laura joined our game. We went through the rules again, which, I think, was good, as it made sure we were all on the same page, and then got started.
Starting turn order was: Gare Erin, me, Jason, Laura. Nobody but me had played before, and I had only played two games with three players. Bidding in the five player game was much higher than in the three player game. Our first round of bidding, however, was pretty low, with the firest jester going, apparently, low for 700, and the first builder going for 600, and everything else going for 200, I think. Maybe one of the landscapes went for a little more. Laura created a work on the first turn, going last, to get the quick pp. Bidding on the jester jumped up to 1500 in this round, and the builder went for 800. Jesters continued to be high bids, going for 1400 and 1100 and 1500 over the next three turns before falling to 300 and 500. The builder dropped to 200-400-400. Nobody went for a builder strategy, prefering to take a balanced approach. Laura and Erin both picked up two prestige cards as the game went along. I miscalculated my money a couple turns in a row, and, as a result, cost myself a few points. I should have let the 2nd turn builder go, and gotten a prestige card instead. I ended up missing out on prestige entirely, due to money miscalc (I couldn't bid high enough), and in the last round I couldn't get anything at all. I did build a gigantic work, though, for 35, and caught back up with the 17 pp it gave me. As the 7th round rolled by, we were all pretty tight on pp. Revealing prestige cards, it turned out that Erin didn't make one of hers, and Laura was able to sneak up and snag the victory by a point. So, the final standings were: Laura, Erin, Jason, me, and Gare. I liked the game much better with five, and this was a fun, good group to play with. I really need to keep better track of my plans, with upcoming rounds in mind, to spend my florins optimally. I look forward to playing again.
Another game broke up, and we split into three games. I ended up with Reef Encounter, a game I keep seeing people talking about on BGG. Jason brought the Zman edition, and taught the game to myself and Erin, with Laura also sitting in. There seems to be some debate over the game's art. I like the look of this game, it's nice and colorful (the screens could probably be moreso, and could maybe have some reminder/rules summaries on the back. Jason said the designer had worked hard to incorporate details marine biology into the game, but with a lack of such specific knowledge, the theme seems purely aesthetic, and the game is basically an abstract. The rules were quite different from pretty much anything else I've ever played. I felt pretty bewildered throughout the explanation, and really didn't know what was going on as the game started. I had a basic understanding of the course of a turn, and got some stuff on the table. I think I started one batch of coral too quickly. I think we were already in the midgame when I stopped to exclaim "I really have no idea how I could possibly make anything happen in this game." I just gave up a couple turns and did nothing besides taking tiles, as I felt I was slowing down the game though analysis paralysis. I watched the two experienced players, and came up with some ideas for plays. I ended up, though, rushing into eating my black coral, which was the one decent sized group I'd built up. I could have made it a few bigger the next turn, and should have, because it looked like it would be worth the most, with two tiles locked up. The tile I had started in my fish box was black, though, and I figured I'd have the advantage there, without scaring away the people who were working to make it dominant. After that, I slowed down, made a silly play, and suddenly it looked like Jason would win the game. I had a pretty fun penultimate turn at that point, eating a decent set of coral, flipping and locking some of the dominance tiles. I still didn't really understand the game, but I made things happen, and that made me feel a little better. I experienced a lot of brain burn in this game, coupled with significant downtime due to analysis between many of the turns. With four players, the game is pretty chaotic, and it would require a high degree of concentration and dedication to be able to play strategically consistently. I felt I might enjoy the game quite a bit more with fewer players, as there would be less changing between each turn. I wasn't real happy with this particular session. I won't be rushing out to buy Reef Encounter. That said, I found the game interesting, and the mechanics intriguing, and I'm going to try to play it a few more times, both on spielbyweb and in real life, and I expect it will become quite interesting.
Groups were re-dividing again, and I found that I didn't have a preference for any of the games being put forward. I decided to just let people put me wherever they needed a player. I didn't really come into this game day with specific games in mind - I figured I would play Princes, and was maybe hoping for Caylus. The only things I really have wanted to get in on were Union Pacific (which unfortunately went off while we were playing Princes), and Santiago (which Kurt has brought, but he wasn't there this time). I ended up playing Ticket to Ride this time, with Judy, Erin and Chris.
The two tickets I kept were a 17 and 20 that both went along the Southern part of the map, though the big black, green, and red routes. These were really nice starting tickets, big points that worked together with plenty of 6 car routes. To me, getting tickets like this is a significant advantage in this game. Another advantage became clear as it appeared that everyone else was building mostly in the North, so I was able to waltz across the map with little, well, basically no, interference. The gameplay was quick, as we knew that Tower of Babel in the other room was not a long game, and we wanted to be done at around the same time. There was little, or basically no, defensive play, although a couple times people were unintentionally blocked. Chris took some extra tickets, and so, I think, did Judy. I decided to take one after I finished my routes, which was probably a bad idea, but I get nervous when other people have five tickets and I have two. I picked up one I could finish pretty quickly, and ended up blocking the ticket Chris had just taken with my next move. I managed to trigger the game end with two cars, and then play them on the end of my string of cars to make myself only 3 cars out of perfect on longest route, taking it by a fair amount. With a considerable lead already, longest route, and fifty points of tickets, I ended up way out in front at 168. Judy was 2nd with 122, Erin in third with 104, and Chris was the caboose with 74 (I think he would have been close to 100 with his other ticket completed). This was a nice group of people, and a pretty fun game, but I think I've played enough of basic Ticket to Ride for a while. Oddly, it's a game I own, and consequently don't try to get into at the game days, but is the only game I've played two game days in a row. I wish they'd print an expansion with a fifth 20+ point ticket, so that you could distribute big tickets to everyone before the game, as in TtR: Europe.
Several people wanted to play St. Pete, so I sat them down and taught the game. It was weird teaching the game without sitting at the table, and I felt I needed to hurry as there were three players in the other room waiting for me to play Stephenson's Rocket. I hope I wasn't too confusing in this hurried state. Sometimes I forget that, for some people, this game doesn't seem as simple as I think it is. After explaining, setting up, and getting things going, I ran into the other room for my second train trip of the day. I knew Stephenson's Rocket was a Reiner Knizia game, which is a good sign, to me. I also had a general impression, though, from BGG geeklists and stuff, that this was not that popular of a game, so I came in expecting a medium-level experience. Chris taught the game, and, perhaps due to my rushed state, or the general sort of brain fuzz I seemed to have going all day, I really didn't visualize the rules well. It took me until what I would consider the end of the early game to have a feeling that I could develop some strategic moves. At that point, I promptly over-thought a couple of them and missed out on some important money by not putting down stations I should have. I focused on getting down stations on one train (green) and taking it across the board to hit some of the cities I had majorities in. It took me even longer to figure out that the game isn't all about hitting those cities, as that's not how you score the really big money. That was made apparent when Steve started making tall cash off of the purple train with his two stations, and even more so when Steve ran the blue train into the green line, making Sue a heaping pile of bank notes and a tidy sum for himself as well. I couldn't seem to find a way to successfully alter my tactics at this point, though, and pretty much just kept doing the same thing. I wasted my majority in green stock to veto Steve's move and put the train in my station. In the end, I would have had 14 grand more by not doing so, as Steve never managed to run the red line into green, and I would have still had station majority with two. As it was, the train tiles ran out and the game ended with several active lines on the board- green, which was huge, red, which was pretty big, orange, which wasn't terribly large, and grey, which was small. Chris had a lot of majorities, and looked like he might contend. Sue had made huge money once, and consistent money around that. I though I might have a chance to beat Steve. Well, it appears I really have no handle on the game, as Steve ended up winning. Steve had 66k, Sue was 2nd at 65k, Chris was third with 62k, and it was my turn to caboose with 55k. This game was moderately close, and it became clear to me that each little move, costing a few thousand, was tremendously important. I certainly mispicked a couple times early in the game, just based on this. I liked SR, and would play again. However, I don't think I'll seek it out. The goods majorities really seem to play too little a part in the game. There's also decent downtime and the analysis problems that come with too much known information.
That ended up being it for the night. I only played 4 games on Saturday, which is fewer than usual. The games I played were longer - especially Reef Encouner! Also, I just wasn't in a mood to hustle any games today. It was fun, and I got to play some new games, which is always a goal of mine. No new classics, for me, but lots of food for thought. These game days keep getting bigger and bigger - maybe we'll have to move into the library! I look forward to next month, when maybe some of us will have to play outside... (I'll bring a soccer ball). It's great to be meeting so many new gamers, and having such good times, but for me it has an ironically sad side, too. I wonder why it has to be the case that now, since I've finally found a big group of great people to game with on a regular basis, I have to move across the country. It's no big deal, though, I'll just enjoy it while it lasts and look forward to meeting the gamers of the Triangle area.
GG, GL
Monday, May 08, 2006
Sunday 05/07, at CHG
Sunday was a lazy day. I got up late, having been out the night before with Jerod, Luke, and Roger. I went downtown to Daydreams and picked up my comics. Then, I ran over to the store to say hi to Luke before he left. I grabbed a bite to eat at Peking Buffet, and then went back to the store to read comics and hang out.
I sat around for a while watching the four person AGOT draft, which Lucas won. The Heroclix tournament got over, and I asked Tim and Jerod if they would be up for learning Princes of Florence, which I bought a few weeks ago, but hadn't had a chance to play. They were interested, so we set it up, went through the instructions, and got started.
PoF has an auction element, limited actions, tile placement, and some interesting resource exchange choices. It also plays deceptively quickly, compared to it's complexity. About two thirds of the way through the game, when we all had a bunch of money and I exchanged florins for pp's for the first time while constructing a work, we decided we needed to play again. We finished up, with me in the lead, but Tim ended up winning handily on the strength of his two Prestige cards, leaving me in 2nd and Jerod in 3rd. Things we noticed in this game were that builders seemed very good to get early, and the Prestige cards were quite powerful. I had a suspicion that we were letting things go too cheaply in auction.
We stayed in the same seating order and started another game right away. I ended up winning builders on all of the first three turns. The first one was certainly valuable. The second two I bid on to not let others get them cheaply, and then they ended up giving them two me. I ended up only getting two buildings for free, though. Having only two actions really limits the usefulness of the builder. I took professions early, trying to maximize the points I would get from playing works on the upcoming turns. I did take a turn to play a work, for sub-optimal points, when I was going last and someone hadn't played a work that turn. I think, with three builders on turn three, that I should have just bought buildings. However, I thought that the pp's for the works would just end up being more. I need to look at this, though, as I think It's pretty close. This meant that most of my last few turns were taking either bonus/building/prestige and laying a work. This paid off, cancelling Tim's "most works" prestige card, as he ended up not being able to get enough pp out of the profession he drew in turn 7 to be able to build it. I ended up winning, with Tim in 2nd and Jerod in 3rd.
Our impression was that the game was good, and quick, and would probably be more exciting with the pressure added by playing with 4 or 5 people, when buildings would be limited, and it could take a lot longer to get a builder. We also felt that the game, for our two plays at least, would have benefitted from another turn, as our palazzos were not really too crowded at the end of the game. I had a feeling in this game that you could easily get by without a builder, making me want to investigate the possibility of a successful building strategy even more. It should be fairly simple to work out the timing of a works strategy also. It certainly seems better to pick up prestige early, so the timing of that particular strategy should rely on early game prestige picks and mid-late game flexibility. The first couple turns are going to be taken up buying freedoms, and the second action should be determined by your strategy. Although, I guess, if you are just building you don't need freedoms. Prestige probably does.
Well, there's a few thoughts on the game, anyway. We all agreed that it was a good game, and are looking forward to playing again with more players. Hopefully, Jerod will get it into stock, and then host a game night for it at the store. I think we will also get another play at Chris's next Game Day, as he expressed interest in getting it on the table. For now, a few days off of gaming will be nice.
GG, GL
Sunday was a lazy day. I got up late, having been out the night before with Jerod, Luke, and Roger. I went downtown to Daydreams and picked up my comics. Then, I ran over to the store to say hi to Luke before he left. I grabbed a bite to eat at Peking Buffet, and then went back to the store to read comics and hang out.
I sat around for a while watching the four person AGOT draft, which Lucas won. The Heroclix tournament got over, and I asked Tim and Jerod if they would be up for learning Princes of Florence, which I bought a few weeks ago, but hadn't had a chance to play. They were interested, so we set it up, went through the instructions, and got started.
PoF has an auction element, limited actions, tile placement, and some interesting resource exchange choices. It also plays deceptively quickly, compared to it's complexity. About two thirds of the way through the game, when we all had a bunch of money and I exchanged florins for pp's for the first time while constructing a work, we decided we needed to play again. We finished up, with me in the lead, but Tim ended up winning handily on the strength of his two Prestige cards, leaving me in 2nd and Jerod in 3rd. Things we noticed in this game were that builders seemed very good to get early, and the Prestige cards were quite powerful. I had a suspicion that we were letting things go too cheaply in auction.
We stayed in the same seating order and started another game right away. I ended up winning builders on all of the first three turns. The first one was certainly valuable. The second two I bid on to not let others get them cheaply, and then they ended up giving them two me. I ended up only getting two buildings for free, though. Having only two actions really limits the usefulness of the builder. I took professions early, trying to maximize the points I would get from playing works on the upcoming turns. I did take a turn to play a work, for sub-optimal points, when I was going last and someone hadn't played a work that turn. I think, with three builders on turn three, that I should have just bought buildings. However, I thought that the pp's for the works would just end up being more. I need to look at this, though, as I think It's pretty close. This meant that most of my last few turns were taking either bonus/building/prestige and laying a work. This paid off, cancelling Tim's "most works" prestige card, as he ended up not being able to get enough pp out of the profession he drew in turn 7 to be able to build it. I ended up winning, with Tim in 2nd and Jerod in 3rd.
Our impression was that the game was good, and quick, and would probably be more exciting with the pressure added by playing with 4 or 5 people, when buildings would be limited, and it could take a lot longer to get a builder. We also felt that the game, for our two plays at least, would have benefitted from another turn, as our palazzos were not really too crowded at the end of the game. I had a feeling in this game that you could easily get by without a builder, making me want to investigate the possibility of a successful building strategy even more. It should be fairly simple to work out the timing of a works strategy also. It certainly seems better to pick up prestige early, so the timing of that particular strategy should rely on early game prestige picks and mid-late game flexibility. The first couple turns are going to be taken up buying freedoms, and the second action should be determined by your strategy. Although, I guess, if you are just building you don't need freedoms. Prestige probably does.
Well, there's a few thoughts on the game, anyway. We all agreed that it was a good game, and are looking forward to playing again with more players. Hopefully, Jerod will get it into stock, and then host a game night for it at the store. I think we will also get another play at Chris's next Game Day, as he expressed interest in getting it on the table. For now, a few days off of gaming will be nice.
GG, GL
AGOT CCT CHG 5/6/06
Today was the Regional tournament for AGOT at CHG. I had to get up early to be at the soccer fields, as we had a game that morning vs. Regina, one of the better teams in the state (we are NOT one of the better teams in the state...). The boys got hammered 9-0, and I felt bad that I had to leave the varsity coach quickly after the game to hustle over to the store and get ready for the tournament.
I got to CHG about an hour before the tournament was supposed to start. I disassembled one of my old decks, and tried to make a couple changes. I wanted to make a new deck, but didn't have time. In the end, I settled on the basic Stark deck that I played to third place at ChiCon, with a couple changes. I hastilly scribbled down my decklist, and got ready to play. Our old friend Lucas Reed came down from FFG in Minnesota, and ended up sitting out to judge the tourney. One of the local M:tG players, Eric, had been conscripted to do deck check-in and run the computer. Jerod had a lot of great prizes lined up, and had set up the tournament to run smoothly.
Round 1 - Sarah F. with Targ
I've played Sarah several times, and her deck doesn't match up well with the one I was running. She has mostly event-based removal to rely on, and I run a large number (8) of characters that are immune to events. I got a good start and won the game fairly quickly.
Round 2 - Josh from Waterloo, playing Baratheon
The last time I played Josh, he sat down before the game and talked for a few minutes about how he hadn't played in a long time, didn't know the cards, and was all set to lose, and then commenced beating me in 2 and a half turns with power rush. He started the same thing this time, I reminded him about last time, and asked him to chill. We shuffled up, he won the roll to go first when we both revealed Gathering Storm, and he got an amazing draw. By the end of turn one, he had Renly with Lightbringer and Chosen by R'hllor, as well as fallow fields, Acolyte of Asshai, another location, and six power. He also had two Shadow Play in his hand, which I knew because he revealed them with turn one Massing at Twilight. I think I had a couple characters left, including Catelyn. He played 2 I am King here that turn, btw. Turn two he dropped a Bara Tourney Ground and Born to be King on Renly. I didn't have anything to stop attachments or locations, and his plays guaranteed him 9 power in challenges, and he was going first, so it was all over. He started to moan about how he was probabaly going to lose out the rest of the day, and I got steamed. I get tired really quickly of people complaining and acting like they're the underdog when they beat me in a turn and a half.
Round 3 - Kari with Martell Wildling Horde
Kari seemed to be playin a Martell/Wildling Scorching Deserts deck, but she only dropped one Wildling, who wasn't a mono-con, and one Martell mono-con character. She got the Deserts, and had a pretty good start on me, neutralizing my Gathering Storm claim by switching intio the WPS plot that reduces claim. I got a few characters on line, though, and used more high claim to take control of the game, neutralizing a Deserts with Frozen Solid. After the point where I got advantage, it was a slow, resisted, march to the finish.
Round 4 - Adam with Lannister Defenders of the North
I played Adam first round at ChiCon, and lost to him. I knew he was a good player, but I didn't know anything about his deck. He had a ton of kneeling effects, including some I'd never really seen before. I got a pretty nice start, ramping up to two Edmure's Hosts on turn 2. However, Adam Massing'ed a couple times, and had lots of cards. He knelt my stuff with characters, and events, and kept them from un-kneeling. I made a mistake, holding back a Trident Defender, worrying about Wildfire Assault. He got up to four doomed in his yard, and was drawing tons of cards and kneeling tons of dudes. My team pretty much looked like they were asleep the whole game. I never really got anything going, and he took the game around, I think, the sixth plot. I had a chance to win that turn - I had two Arya's Revenge left in my deck, but I didn't have any influence in play (I only drew 1 location, a reducer, prior to the end of the game, and that on like the 5th turn). So, I Benjen's Cached for Red Keep, hoping to draw into the Revenge that would kill his Jaime and give him 5 doomed. However, I just drew two, random, useless characters, while he drew into two stealth/renown dudes, icing the game for him.
Round 5 - Andy Mills - Lannister/Greyjoy Treaty
I've played Andy a bunch of times, but never with this deck. I saw him play it a little the week before, at the tournament I ran but wans't able to play in, but I wasn't really sure what it did. The one thing I knew was that it had a bunch of trait manipulation elements and Tavern Braggart. The thing I didn't know about turned out to be Greyjoy cancellation events. He had a Bard right away, along with a Braggart. He got one of my first characters with a Fallen Brother. He neutralized my high claim early. He cancelled the Arya's Revenge I tried to play on his Bard, and then he, in succession, dropped he Lanniser army that can get a trait each phase, and took control of one of my big dudes with the wildling gal that takes stuff, whose name I can't remember for some reason. At this point, things were looking prety grim. I was way down on characters, and didn't have a lot that could get me back in the game, so I just conceded.
Well, everyone I lost to ended up in top 8, and I finished 10th, out of 20. I ended up getting a pack and a shirt for my troubles, along with the Regionals promo cards. I was pretty frustrated, after two bad days. In fact, these were my worst performances since the day I learned how to play, when I went 1-1-1 in constructed (borrowing a deck from Jerod), and 1-2 in draft. I think with different pairings I could have made top 8 pretty easily, but, all the same, I got roughly the finish I deserved. I didn't put any time into building my deck or playtesting the environment, and that's how it goes. It ended up being Jerod and Nate Harmon in the finals. Jerod had already beaten Nate, in the Swiss rounds, but this time he got a horrible draw, mulliganed it, and pulled an even worse hand. He flopped one card, Harrenhall, which is, of course, a terrible setup phase. Nate couldn't have asked for better, and he pretty much walked away with the trophy, sword, box of cards, and 1,000 Gold Dragons from FFG.
Eight of us who didn't make top 8 sat down to draft. I ended up Greyjoy/Targ again. I ended up going Greyjoy with Euron, then getting passed a Viserion to go into Targ. Targ was overdrafted, again, and I managed to pick up no removal other than the little location that gives -1. I did get the Night's Watch guy that discards creatures and wildlings. My deck had pretty good characters, and ended up with a couple good locations, Damphair's Chambers and the one that switches two dudes' strength during challenges.
Round 1 - Amanda - Baratheon with, maybe, Lannister
We both got slow starts. Amanda got a big dude down, but I was able to get around him. She had a reducer on the flop, but was unable to get any more resources. Stuck with just plot gold, she kept replaying a Lord's Assassin to soak claim, and couldn't build up a team. Meanwhile, my side of the board was just getting more and more croxded with dudes itching to challenge. We played for several minutes, trying to talk casually, but I felt a little rough. It was a pretty big beating, and not very fun for her, I'm afraid. This game doesn't have an incredible number of mechanisms to get you back into a game when you are down.
Round 2 - Kevan from Waterlo - I don't really remember what he was playing
I don't remember much about the early game here, except that he got Tommen really quickly. He only had one Minor Fiefdom, though, so he was accumulating power slowly. He was playing out his dudes carefully, but at a good pace, and I could never threaten Tommen with claim or deadly. I was hoping for Euron's Servant to take care of his Minor Fiefdoms, but it ended up being the bottom card of the deck. He got out to a lead, and I had to stop military challenging him. I knew that we both had Wildfire Assault, and I couldn't afford to give him anything during challenges. I got Student of Subtlety and Band of Free Folk down, and started sucking away his power. I took the lead. Wildfire hit, and he went to 19, but I got to challenges and won. A very tight, fun game.
Round 3 - Jeremiah D.
For some reason, I don't remember a lot of this game, even though it's the last one I played. I know I had a hard time getting stuff out - I drew too many of my expensive characters, and ended up having to discard quite a few good cards to intrigue challenges. Jeremiah had a lot of deadly, notably Jaime and some big Lanni armies. He had student of subtlety, which was killing me, taking away my power icons, leaving me with only military since I couldn't draw intrigue. I got my own Student, to try to get back into the game, but he killed it by playing First Ranger on his. This made it vulnerable to my Fallen Brother, but I never drew it. I had good cards in play - Viserion, Tormund, two War Councils, but I just couldn't make much of a game with only military icons. Lacking the ability to get rid of Student or influence, I had to just sit back and watch him grind into the win over the next couple turns.
I ended up second. There weren't really any exciting rares here. I would have been happy to have the Winterfell Barracks, but Jeremiah took that first.
We cleaned things up at the store, and Jerod, Luke, and myself headed down to the pub to meet up with Roger and have a nice two or three hours of conversation, none of which seems really all that important, in hindsight...
And that's how it ended. I'm hoping to put some more time into making a new deck, and actually play it a little, followed by hitching a ride with Luke down to Missouri for the South Central Regional in June, in an attempt to redeem myself. We'll see what happens. It's too bad I can't make it to Chicago in a couple weeks, as that would certainly be good times.
GG, GL
Today was the Regional tournament for AGOT at CHG. I had to get up early to be at the soccer fields, as we had a game that morning vs. Regina, one of the better teams in the state (we are NOT one of the better teams in the state...). The boys got hammered 9-0, and I felt bad that I had to leave the varsity coach quickly after the game to hustle over to the store and get ready for the tournament.
I got to CHG about an hour before the tournament was supposed to start. I disassembled one of my old decks, and tried to make a couple changes. I wanted to make a new deck, but didn't have time. In the end, I settled on the basic Stark deck that I played to third place at ChiCon, with a couple changes. I hastilly scribbled down my decklist, and got ready to play. Our old friend Lucas Reed came down from FFG in Minnesota, and ended up sitting out to judge the tourney. One of the local M:tG players, Eric, had been conscripted to do deck check-in and run the computer. Jerod had a lot of great prizes lined up, and had set up the tournament to run smoothly.
Round 1 - Sarah F. with Targ
I've played Sarah several times, and her deck doesn't match up well with the one I was running. She has mostly event-based removal to rely on, and I run a large number (8) of characters that are immune to events. I got a good start and won the game fairly quickly.
Round 2 - Josh from Waterloo, playing Baratheon
The last time I played Josh, he sat down before the game and talked for a few minutes about how he hadn't played in a long time, didn't know the cards, and was all set to lose, and then commenced beating me in 2 and a half turns with power rush. He started the same thing this time, I reminded him about last time, and asked him to chill. We shuffled up, he won the roll to go first when we both revealed Gathering Storm, and he got an amazing draw. By the end of turn one, he had Renly with Lightbringer and Chosen by R'hllor, as well as fallow fields, Acolyte of Asshai, another location, and six power. He also had two Shadow Play in his hand, which I knew because he revealed them with turn one Massing at Twilight. I think I had a couple characters left, including Catelyn. He played 2 I am King here that turn, btw. Turn two he dropped a Bara Tourney Ground and Born to be King on Renly. I didn't have anything to stop attachments or locations, and his plays guaranteed him 9 power in challenges, and he was going first, so it was all over. He started to moan about how he was probabaly going to lose out the rest of the day, and I got steamed. I get tired really quickly of people complaining and acting like they're the underdog when they beat me in a turn and a half.
Round 3 - Kari with Martell Wildling Horde
Kari seemed to be playin a Martell/Wildling Scorching Deserts deck, but she only dropped one Wildling, who wasn't a mono-con, and one Martell mono-con character. She got the Deserts, and had a pretty good start on me, neutralizing my Gathering Storm claim by switching intio the WPS plot that reduces claim. I got a few characters on line, though, and used more high claim to take control of the game, neutralizing a Deserts with Frozen Solid. After the point where I got advantage, it was a slow, resisted, march to the finish.
Round 4 - Adam with Lannister Defenders of the North
I played Adam first round at ChiCon, and lost to him. I knew he was a good player, but I didn't know anything about his deck. He had a ton of kneeling effects, including some I'd never really seen before. I got a pretty nice start, ramping up to two Edmure's Hosts on turn 2. However, Adam Massing'ed a couple times, and had lots of cards. He knelt my stuff with characters, and events, and kept them from un-kneeling. I made a mistake, holding back a Trident Defender, worrying about Wildfire Assault. He got up to four doomed in his yard, and was drawing tons of cards and kneeling tons of dudes. My team pretty much looked like they were asleep the whole game. I never really got anything going, and he took the game around, I think, the sixth plot. I had a chance to win that turn - I had two Arya's Revenge left in my deck, but I didn't have any influence in play (I only drew 1 location, a reducer, prior to the end of the game, and that on like the 5th turn). So, I Benjen's Cached for Red Keep, hoping to draw into the Revenge that would kill his Jaime and give him 5 doomed. However, I just drew two, random, useless characters, while he drew into two stealth/renown dudes, icing the game for him.
Round 5 - Andy Mills - Lannister/Greyjoy Treaty
I've played Andy a bunch of times, but never with this deck. I saw him play it a little the week before, at the tournament I ran but wans't able to play in, but I wasn't really sure what it did. The one thing I knew was that it had a bunch of trait manipulation elements and Tavern Braggart. The thing I didn't know about turned out to be Greyjoy cancellation events. He had a Bard right away, along with a Braggart. He got one of my first characters with a Fallen Brother. He neutralized my high claim early. He cancelled the Arya's Revenge I tried to play on his Bard, and then he, in succession, dropped he Lanniser army that can get a trait each phase, and took control of one of my big dudes with the wildling gal that takes stuff, whose name I can't remember for some reason. At this point, things were looking prety grim. I was way down on characters, and didn't have a lot that could get me back in the game, so I just conceded.
Well, everyone I lost to ended up in top 8, and I finished 10th, out of 20. I ended up getting a pack and a shirt for my troubles, along with the Regionals promo cards. I was pretty frustrated, after two bad days. In fact, these were my worst performances since the day I learned how to play, when I went 1-1-1 in constructed (borrowing a deck from Jerod), and 1-2 in draft. I think with different pairings I could have made top 8 pretty easily, but, all the same, I got roughly the finish I deserved. I didn't put any time into building my deck or playtesting the environment, and that's how it goes. It ended up being Jerod and Nate Harmon in the finals. Jerod had already beaten Nate, in the Swiss rounds, but this time he got a horrible draw, mulliganed it, and pulled an even worse hand. He flopped one card, Harrenhall, which is, of course, a terrible setup phase. Nate couldn't have asked for better, and he pretty much walked away with the trophy, sword, box of cards, and 1,000 Gold Dragons from FFG.
Eight of us who didn't make top 8 sat down to draft. I ended up Greyjoy/Targ again. I ended up going Greyjoy with Euron, then getting passed a Viserion to go into Targ. Targ was overdrafted, again, and I managed to pick up no removal other than the little location that gives -1. I did get the Night's Watch guy that discards creatures and wildlings. My deck had pretty good characters, and ended up with a couple good locations, Damphair's Chambers and the one that switches two dudes' strength during challenges.
Round 1 - Amanda - Baratheon with, maybe, Lannister
We both got slow starts. Amanda got a big dude down, but I was able to get around him. She had a reducer on the flop, but was unable to get any more resources. Stuck with just plot gold, she kept replaying a Lord's Assassin to soak claim, and couldn't build up a team. Meanwhile, my side of the board was just getting more and more croxded with dudes itching to challenge. We played for several minutes, trying to talk casually, but I felt a little rough. It was a pretty big beating, and not very fun for her, I'm afraid. This game doesn't have an incredible number of mechanisms to get you back into a game when you are down.
Round 2 - Kevan from Waterlo - I don't really remember what he was playing
I don't remember much about the early game here, except that he got Tommen really quickly. He only had one Minor Fiefdom, though, so he was accumulating power slowly. He was playing out his dudes carefully, but at a good pace, and I could never threaten Tommen with claim or deadly. I was hoping for Euron's Servant to take care of his Minor Fiefdoms, but it ended up being the bottom card of the deck. He got out to a lead, and I had to stop military challenging him. I knew that we both had Wildfire Assault, and I couldn't afford to give him anything during challenges. I got Student of Subtlety and Band of Free Folk down, and started sucking away his power. I took the lead. Wildfire hit, and he went to 19, but I got to challenges and won. A very tight, fun game.
Round 3 - Jeremiah D.
For some reason, I don't remember a lot of this game, even though it's the last one I played. I know I had a hard time getting stuff out - I drew too many of my expensive characters, and ended up having to discard quite a few good cards to intrigue challenges. Jeremiah had a lot of deadly, notably Jaime and some big Lanni armies. He had student of subtlety, which was killing me, taking away my power icons, leaving me with only military since I couldn't draw intrigue. I got my own Student, to try to get back into the game, but he killed it by playing First Ranger on his. This made it vulnerable to my Fallen Brother, but I never drew it. I had good cards in play - Viserion, Tormund, two War Councils, but I just couldn't make much of a game with only military icons. Lacking the ability to get rid of Student or influence, I had to just sit back and watch him grind into the win over the next couple turns.
I ended up second. There weren't really any exciting rares here. I would have been happy to have the Winterfell Barracks, but Jeremiah took that first.
We cleaned things up at the store, and Jerod, Luke, and myself headed down to the pub to meet up with Roger and have a nice two or three hours of conversation, none of which seems really all that important, in hindsight...
And that's how it ended. I'm hoping to put some more time into making a new deck, and actually play it a little, followed by hitching a ride with Luke down to Missouri for the South Central Regional in June, in an attempt to redeem myself. We'll see what happens. It's too bad I can't make it to Chicago in a couple weeks, as that would certainly be good times.
GG, GL
A Game of Thrones CCG Booster Draft, Friday, May 5th, Critical Hit Games
It was the beginning of another long gaming weekend. CHG was hosting the North Central Regional Tournament for AGOT CCG on Saturday, and this draft was supposed to be the warmup event. It didn't start off very well for me. I had a long, stressfull day subbing for HS PE. The kids were really squirrelly, and it took a lot out of me. Soccer practice was also sub-optimal, as the athletes just didn't seem to have a good attitude about things. I showed up to the draft a little flustered, and was disappointed to see so few people from abroad in attendance.
There were two guys in from out of town, Dan and Kevin, who came from Missouri. This was actually a little depressing, as we were expecting several players from the Madison and Chicago play groups, as well as, possibly, some people from Minnesota.
We had ten players for the draft, but we only played 3 rounds due to time. I don't remember a lot about it. I was seated next to Kevin from Missouri. I ended up going Targ with my first pick, taking Blood Magic. Unfortunately, the house unded up being a little overdrafted at the table, and didn't pay off for me. I picked up a fourth or fifth pick Arya's Revenge, which sort of amazed me. That was all the Stark I saw in pack one. In pack two, I picked up a Jojen, and then Stark dried up. As Targ was thinning out, I ended up going into Greyjoy, as I was getting passed a lot of characters. I don't think I went in on anything strong - just repeated characters. I did get a Damphair's Chambers, which I like a lot. I splashed some Martell - Deadly Seduction and Student of Subtlety. I got a late Festering Wound to add to the removal.
First game - Tom Hafner
I honestly don't remember which houses Tom was playing. He got a pretty good start with some big characters, but I hung on, and stabilized the board. I got Jojen out early, and decked him in a few turns. This game was pretty complicated, as we both had pretty high quality characters out, and, since we were both running wildfire, the game was getting repeatedly reset. I got the advantage, and took the lead in power. Unfortunately, as time was called, I could only get to, I think, 18 power. He had no deck, and no hand, and only 14 power, but time was up and there was nothing for it but to take the draw.
Second round - Amanda
Amanda is a relatively new player, who has picked up the game quickly and done pretty well. I can't remember what houses she was playing either. She had only a two card drop - big army/reducer. I knelt her army, and won 3 challenges and dominance. She was in trouble from the get go. I had early Jojen, too, and decked her. She ran out of options quickly and the game was mine.
Third round - Jeremiah Duggan
Jeremiah is another relatively new player who's picked up the game quickly and done well. He has the advantage of having been a long-time, moderately competitive Magic player. He was Stark/something. Not sure about his second house. Baratheon, I think. He got a pretty good character start, but I had the advantage and jumped out to a 9-2 power lead. He stabilized the board and started to catch up a little. We were back and forth a bit. The game got very complicated, with multiple deadly characters/Damphair's Chambers/etc. He drew Edmure's Van, and it took me a couple minutes to get rid of it with Deadly Seduction. We knew time was running out, and we were both trying to force points through. I drew Band of Free Folk, but couldn't play it, because I had to get rid of some Night's Watch. The next turn, time got called. I got to 18 power, but couldn't punch the last couple points through. He was, I think, at 14 at the end. We each had about 8 cards left. My next couple cards were Jojen and some random creature, and I had Festering Wound coming up. I felt pretty silly, drawing two games I felt I should have won. I resolved to make sure to play faster/keep better track of the time.
I ended up in 5th place, but got some decent rares out of it. Overall, it was a decent time. I went home hoping to work on my deck for the next day a little, as I hadn't thought about AGOT constructed for weeks. Unfortunately, Kristin had been out celebrating with friends, and they were at our house, intoxicated, watching a movie, and needed rides home when the movie was over. So, I didn't get anything done, and didn't get a lot of sleep, which would end up becoming pretty obvious the next day...
GG, GL
It was the beginning of another long gaming weekend. CHG was hosting the North Central Regional Tournament for AGOT CCG on Saturday, and this draft was supposed to be the warmup event. It didn't start off very well for me. I had a long, stressfull day subbing for HS PE. The kids were really squirrelly, and it took a lot out of me. Soccer practice was also sub-optimal, as the athletes just didn't seem to have a good attitude about things. I showed up to the draft a little flustered, and was disappointed to see so few people from abroad in attendance.
There were two guys in from out of town, Dan and Kevin, who came from Missouri. This was actually a little depressing, as we were expecting several players from the Madison and Chicago play groups, as well as, possibly, some people from Minnesota.
We had ten players for the draft, but we only played 3 rounds due to time. I don't remember a lot about it. I was seated next to Kevin from Missouri. I ended up going Targ with my first pick, taking Blood Magic. Unfortunately, the house unded up being a little overdrafted at the table, and didn't pay off for me. I picked up a fourth or fifth pick Arya's Revenge, which sort of amazed me. That was all the Stark I saw in pack one. In pack two, I picked up a Jojen, and then Stark dried up. As Targ was thinning out, I ended up going into Greyjoy, as I was getting passed a lot of characters. I don't think I went in on anything strong - just repeated characters. I did get a Damphair's Chambers, which I like a lot. I splashed some Martell - Deadly Seduction and Student of Subtlety. I got a late Festering Wound to add to the removal.
First game - Tom Hafner
I honestly don't remember which houses Tom was playing. He got a pretty good start with some big characters, but I hung on, and stabilized the board. I got Jojen out early, and decked him in a few turns. This game was pretty complicated, as we both had pretty high quality characters out, and, since we were both running wildfire, the game was getting repeatedly reset. I got the advantage, and took the lead in power. Unfortunately, as time was called, I could only get to, I think, 18 power. He had no deck, and no hand, and only 14 power, but time was up and there was nothing for it but to take the draw.
Second round - Amanda
Amanda is a relatively new player, who has picked up the game quickly and done pretty well. I can't remember what houses she was playing either. She had only a two card drop - big army/reducer. I knelt her army, and won 3 challenges and dominance. She was in trouble from the get go. I had early Jojen, too, and decked her. She ran out of options quickly and the game was mine.
Third round - Jeremiah Duggan
Jeremiah is another relatively new player who's picked up the game quickly and done well. He has the advantage of having been a long-time, moderately competitive Magic player. He was Stark/something. Not sure about his second house. Baratheon, I think. He got a pretty good character start, but I had the advantage and jumped out to a 9-2 power lead. He stabilized the board and started to catch up a little. We were back and forth a bit. The game got very complicated, with multiple deadly characters/Damphair's Chambers/etc. He drew Edmure's Van, and it took me a couple minutes to get rid of it with Deadly Seduction. We knew time was running out, and we were both trying to force points through. I drew Band of Free Folk, but couldn't play it, because I had to get rid of some Night's Watch. The next turn, time got called. I got to 18 power, but couldn't punch the last couple points through. He was, I think, at 14 at the end. We each had about 8 cards left. My next couple cards were Jojen and some random creature, and I had Festering Wound coming up. I felt pretty silly, drawing two games I felt I should have won. I resolved to make sure to play faster/keep better track of the time.
I ended up in 5th place, but got some decent rares out of it. Overall, it was a decent time. I went home hoping to work on my deck for the next day a little, as I hadn't thought about AGOT constructed for weeks. Unfortunately, Kristin had been out celebrating with friends, and they were at our house, intoxicated, watching a movie, and needed rides home when the movie was over. So, I didn't get anything done, and didn't get a lot of sleep, which would end up becoming pretty obvious the next day...
GG, GL
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
Wednesday night at Critical Hit
We didn't have a soccer game tonight, so I had a little extra time. Jerod had advertised that Chris would be teaching Hacienda tonight, and I jumped on the chance to play a boardgame that I liked a lot for the second time.
The game ended up being Andy Mills, Chris Shaffer, Subway Guy (don't remember his name), Gare, and myself. Me, Gare, and Chris had played before. Chris taught. We played the basic dogbone map again.
I had a decent opening draw, and was able to work my way to two of the plantations that are by water. I pursued a strategy of trying to connect to multiple markets, but others were going very hard on developing individual areas. Moving along in the game, I couldn't seem to get a big land area or a chain of animals going, so I kept working on just finding new markets.
I was doing all right, hanging out in 2nd after the first scoring round. I kept picking up new markets, others kept developing, in some cases branching out a little bit. Andy triggered the endgame, and we had a thrilling final scoring round with ups and downs. I ended up being connected to seven markets, the next biggest being four, and that gave me quite a few points. Myself and Chris were very close in this game, and he might have been able to triumph with one more turn. Probably the most important move I made was one that cut him off from reaching a new market, and gave me better access to another, all in one stroke. So, with all the markets and the timely place of a few water pieces,I took the win, over Chris, by just a handfull of points, with the others languishing somewere behind. I really liked it, and look forward to playing again.
Well, I'm fading badly now, and should go.
GG, GL
We didn't have a soccer game tonight, so I had a little extra time. Jerod had advertised that Chris would be teaching Hacienda tonight, and I jumped on the chance to play a boardgame that I liked a lot for the second time.
The game ended up being Andy Mills, Chris Shaffer, Subway Guy (don't remember his name), Gare, and myself. Me, Gare, and Chris had played before. Chris taught. We played the basic dogbone map again.
I had a decent opening draw, and was able to work my way to two of the plantations that are by water. I pursued a strategy of trying to connect to multiple markets, but others were going very hard on developing individual areas. Moving along in the game, I couldn't seem to get a big land area or a chain of animals going, so I kept working on just finding new markets.
I was doing all right, hanging out in 2nd after the first scoring round. I kept picking up new markets, others kept developing, in some cases branching out a little bit. Andy triggered the endgame, and we had a thrilling final scoring round with ups and downs. I ended up being connected to seven markets, the next biggest being four, and that gave me quite a few points. Myself and Chris were very close in this game, and he might have been able to triumph with one more turn. Probably the most important move I made was one that cut him off from reaching a new market, and gave me better access to another, all in one stroke. So, with all the markets and the timely place of a few water pieces,I took the win, over Chris, by just a handfull of points, with the others languishing somewere behind. I really liked it, and look forward to playing again.
Well, I'm fading badly now, and should go.
GG, GL
Tuesday night - Dinner with my parents
It was my father's birthday last week, and Kristin and I couldn't make it back to Illinois to celebrate with the family. We took the opportunity to invite my parents (Jon and Cindy) out here for dinner, and they were gracious enough to make the drive.
After a bountiful meal, we decided to take a walk around town. Our visitors were curious about the tornado damage, so we took them down to the park, then up Iowa Avenue, and back on Governor. I hadn't been in that area too much myself, and there is still quite a bit of damage to be repaired. We all were impressed by the devastation, coupled with the relative lack of damage to some adjacent properties.
When we got back, we broke out the cake Kristin had baked earlier, and sat down for a game. My parents aren't gamers, but every once in a while I can convince them to try something out. They must have been in a pretty good mood last night, because they were ready to go. I gave them a choice between Ticket to Ride and Through the Desert, and Mom picked TtR, because she, apparently, likes trains.
We passed out tickets, and everyone kept only two, except me. I had Duluth/El Paso, and Chicago/Santa Fe, which go together very nicely, and Seattle/New York, which is just a very hard ticket to give up. I decided to keep them all, and go for it (a philosophy which hasn't served me very well in the recent past, but makes for an interesting play). This was 41 points worth of tickets, which is quite a large amount, just starting.
The newbies seemed to grasp the rules pretty well, and Dad led for much of the first several turns. The scoring remained fairly close all through the mid-game. My father seemed very prone to taking locomotives, and used them often, completing routes fairly quickly. As we entered the midgame, my strategy of going from the SW, up along the W coast, and then straight across to link up in Duluth via the yellow and rust 6-routes was crumbling with each passing turn. I had all 6 yellows, but was stuck on 3 rust, and just couldn't seem to get any more, as people had gotten on to me taking it and were scooping it up. So, I took an alternate route, worth far fewer points, but much easier to do, comprised of small, grey routes that run down through Kansas and Oklahoma.
I ended up completing my tickets, triggering the endgame (while everyone else still had several cars left), and getting the longest route. The scoring was pretty close, although I was in the lead, before revealing tickets. However, my tickets ended up being worth 20+ points more than everyone elses, and I cruised to victory by over 20 pts..
Everyone had fun, and my father even seemed sort of interested in playing again. Perhaps his recent Sudoku fixation has given him more of an appetite for games and puzzles. This fun, relatively fast, session has helped to keep Ticket to Ride high up on my list of games to play with non-gamers. It also brought out one of the weaknesses for first time players - being able to gauge how many points you need in tickets by looking at what others are doing.
GG, GL
It was my father's birthday last week, and Kristin and I couldn't make it back to Illinois to celebrate with the family. We took the opportunity to invite my parents (Jon and Cindy) out here for dinner, and they were gracious enough to make the drive.
After a bountiful meal, we decided to take a walk around town. Our visitors were curious about the tornado damage, so we took them down to the park, then up Iowa Avenue, and back on Governor. I hadn't been in that area too much myself, and there is still quite a bit of damage to be repaired. We all were impressed by the devastation, coupled with the relative lack of damage to some adjacent properties.
When we got back, we broke out the cake Kristin had baked earlier, and sat down for a game. My parents aren't gamers, but every once in a while I can convince them to try something out. They must have been in a pretty good mood last night, because they were ready to go. I gave them a choice between Ticket to Ride and Through the Desert, and Mom picked TtR, because she, apparently, likes trains.
We passed out tickets, and everyone kept only two, except me. I had Duluth/El Paso, and Chicago/Santa Fe, which go together very nicely, and Seattle/New York, which is just a very hard ticket to give up. I decided to keep them all, and go for it (a philosophy which hasn't served me very well in the recent past, but makes for an interesting play). This was 41 points worth of tickets, which is quite a large amount, just starting.
The newbies seemed to grasp the rules pretty well, and Dad led for much of the first several turns. The scoring remained fairly close all through the mid-game. My father seemed very prone to taking locomotives, and used them often, completing routes fairly quickly. As we entered the midgame, my strategy of going from the SW, up along the W coast, and then straight across to link up in Duluth via the yellow and rust 6-routes was crumbling with each passing turn. I had all 6 yellows, but was stuck on 3 rust, and just couldn't seem to get any more, as people had gotten on to me taking it and were scooping it up. So, I took an alternate route, worth far fewer points, but much easier to do, comprised of small, grey routes that run down through Kansas and Oklahoma.
I ended up completing my tickets, triggering the endgame (while everyone else still had several cars left), and getting the longest route. The scoring was pretty close, although I was in the lead, before revealing tickets. However, my tickets ended up being worth 20+ points more than everyone elses, and I cruised to victory by over 20 pts..
Everyone had fun, and my father even seemed sort of interested in playing again. Perhaps his recent Sudoku fixation has given him more of an appetite for games and puzzles. This fun, relatively fast, session has helped to keep Ticket to Ride high up on my list of games to play with non-gamers. It also brought out one of the weaknesses for first time players - being able to gauge how many points you need in tickets by looking at what others are doing.
GG, GL
Monday, May 01, 2006
Hanging with Chris Lackey last Saturday night
My good, old friend Chris was in town this past weekend for a funeral. We don't get many chances to see each other, as he lives in California, so whenever he's in town, we always make a special effort to get together.
I loaded up a carload of games as I wasn't sure how many people would be around, or what Chris would be interested in. The drive to Moline sucked, dark with pouring rain. I got there without problems, though, albeit a little frazzled. Chris and I headed over to Theo's Java Club in Rock Island to get some coffee.
Caffeine intake commenced, and we broke out the pair of two-player games I'd brought in my bag, Fjords and Lost Cities. Chris chose Lost Cities, and we set about laying down some numbers.
This was my first time playing LC since last week's introduction to Battle Line. I think playing BL actually made me a little better at LC, as I think I was more cautious about starting expeditions and was a little more into the confrontational aspect of this game, providing/denying the opponent with cards. These were Chris's first plays of LC, though, so it took him a bit to learn. The first three games, I hammered him. This, I think, was due to a variety of factors. For one thing, the first game just shouldn't count. Over the next two, it was clear that Chris was learning more about when to start expeditions, when to discard, and when to jump values. By the end of the night, I would say the thing he had the most problems with was discarding, as he probably didn't do it enough, preferring instead to just lay cards down and try to make the best of it. The negative points from unfunished expeditions really hurts. Another thing that contributed to my early success was drawing a copious quantity of high value cards. It's much easier to confidently lay down investment cards if you have a ten in your hand. The only drawback was one game in which almost my whole hand was 9s/10s of different colors, forcing me to play out expeditions that ended up being worth only 0-3 points. I had a lot of cards, and specifically a lot of valuable cards, on the table, but few expeditions that had investment cards/went over 20 points by much. The fourth game, Chris managed to win. He played well this game, and was really the beneficiary of one very strong turn, in which I struggled to get anything going and he had one very, very strong expedition. this basically won the game for him, as I won one hand and the other was very close.
We had been in the booth for a while, and had some fun watching the hip youngsters of the QC come in on their way to/from prom. All beverages had been consumed, so we headed back to the Lackey residence for sandwiches and further gaming.
Chris had played some Warmachine at a con in CA, and wanted to get a little more familiar with it. I had borrowed Jerod's Khador box, so that we could play two-player, so we sat down and went box-to-box, Cygnar/Khador.
This is a tough matchup, that I haven't played before. The Khador 'jacks have very high armor value, which means Cygnar pretty much has to use bonus damage focus to get through. They also have a longer range (14 inches) weapon, which means you have to get a little closer to them, and can't run-and-gun at all. We had OK games, but me failing to hit vs. a 5 on several occasions (5-6) really put things out of whack. Also, I think Sorsha's power is broken the way we played it, as it basically took away my whole turn. In the second game, it certainly took the game from being quite winnable for me, to having very, very little chance.
After two WM games, it was time to call it quits. We relaxed and talked for a while about games, writing, politics, and the world. After a half an hour or so, I went to sleep on the couch, with the kind of satisfaction that only a good talk with an old friend can provide.
My good, old friend Chris was in town this past weekend for a funeral. We don't get many chances to see each other, as he lives in California, so whenever he's in town, we always make a special effort to get together.
I loaded up a carload of games as I wasn't sure how many people would be around, or what Chris would be interested in. The drive to Moline sucked, dark with pouring rain. I got there without problems, though, albeit a little frazzled. Chris and I headed over to Theo's Java Club in Rock Island to get some coffee.
Caffeine intake commenced, and we broke out the pair of two-player games I'd brought in my bag, Fjords and Lost Cities. Chris chose Lost Cities, and we set about laying down some numbers.
This was my first time playing LC since last week's introduction to Battle Line. I think playing BL actually made me a little better at LC, as I think I was more cautious about starting expeditions and was a little more into the confrontational aspect of this game, providing/denying the opponent with cards. These were Chris's first plays of LC, though, so it took him a bit to learn. The first three games, I hammered him. This, I think, was due to a variety of factors. For one thing, the first game just shouldn't count. Over the next two, it was clear that Chris was learning more about when to start expeditions, when to discard, and when to jump values. By the end of the night, I would say the thing he had the most problems with was discarding, as he probably didn't do it enough, preferring instead to just lay cards down and try to make the best of it. The negative points from unfunished expeditions really hurts. Another thing that contributed to my early success was drawing a copious quantity of high value cards. It's much easier to confidently lay down investment cards if you have a ten in your hand. The only drawback was one game in which almost my whole hand was 9s/10s of different colors, forcing me to play out expeditions that ended up being worth only 0-3 points. I had a lot of cards, and specifically a lot of valuable cards, on the table, but few expeditions that had investment cards/went over 20 points by much. The fourth game, Chris managed to win. He played well this game, and was really the beneficiary of one very strong turn, in which I struggled to get anything going and he had one very, very strong expedition. this basically won the game for him, as I won one hand and the other was very close.
We had been in the booth for a while, and had some fun watching the hip youngsters of the QC come in on their way to/from prom. All beverages had been consumed, so we headed back to the Lackey residence for sandwiches and further gaming.
Chris had played some Warmachine at a con in CA, and wanted to get a little more familiar with it. I had borrowed Jerod's Khador box, so that we could play two-player, so we sat down and went box-to-box, Cygnar/Khador.
This is a tough matchup, that I haven't played before. The Khador 'jacks have very high armor value, which means Cygnar pretty much has to use bonus damage focus to get through. They also have a longer range (14 inches) weapon, which means you have to get a little closer to them, and can't run-and-gun at all. We had OK games, but me failing to hit vs. a 5 on several occasions (5-6) really put things out of whack. Also, I think Sorsha's power is broken the way we played it, as it basically took away my whole turn. In the second game, it certainly took the game from being quite winnable for me, to having very, very little chance.
After two WM games, it was time to call it quits. We relaxed and talked for a while about games, writing, politics, and the world. After a half an hour or so, I went to sleep on the couch, with the kind of satisfaction that only a good talk with an old friend can provide.
Subbing at Tate, last Thursday and Friday
I subbed at the alternative High School in Iowa City last week, and had some strange lesson plans left for me. The teacher instructed me to have the students play Monopoly in each class.
I haven't played Monopoly in years. I re-read the rules, and realized that I had played with a variety of house rules that corrupted the game a little. We played with some of the fast-play rules, with each player starting off by buying two randomly dealt properties.
I don't have a lot to say about these games. A fifty minute class period is not nearly enough to get a good estimation of the winner of a game of Monopoly. There is a little more thought in this game than what I remembered from my childhood plays, but not much. The kids picked up pretty quickly, for the most part, on just aquiring property. It seemed like we barely got to the end of the early game in the time allotted. Few houses were purchased, nobody went bankrupt. Playing time alone will keep me from ever owning this game, unless I inherit one or something. With this particular group of kids, the games were certainly worthwhile, giving them practice being patient, taking turns, following rules, etc.. Not to mention counting money.
Friday afternoon is supposed to be physical education time. However, three of the teachers were missing for various reasons, so the school opted for inside activities, like movies, art projects, and the like. I ended up playing poker with one of the other subs and a group of kids.
I've never played a lot of poker. The only game I really have an idea about playing is hold 'em. This was basically a silly pastime, as we had limitless chips that were all the same denomination, and had a very limited amount of time to play. When everyone will play on almost every hand, you might as well just roll dice and see who gets high, low, whatever. We played dealer calls, and ended up with a funny variety of games/wild cards/etc.. The kids did learn some minor lessons about proper play, and about ettiquette, which, I suppose, is good.
I wish I could get more sub assignemnts that involved playing games, with the caveat that I would hope that those lessons would include better educational links between the game and the subject. It's hard to manage a class when they believe that what they are doing is a simple, nigh-pointless time-filler.
I subbed at the alternative High School in Iowa City last week, and had some strange lesson plans left for me. The teacher instructed me to have the students play Monopoly in each class.
I haven't played Monopoly in years. I re-read the rules, and realized that I had played with a variety of house rules that corrupted the game a little. We played with some of the fast-play rules, with each player starting off by buying two randomly dealt properties.
I don't have a lot to say about these games. A fifty minute class period is not nearly enough to get a good estimation of the winner of a game of Monopoly. There is a little more thought in this game than what I remembered from my childhood plays, but not much. The kids picked up pretty quickly, for the most part, on just aquiring property. It seemed like we barely got to the end of the early game in the time allotted. Few houses were purchased, nobody went bankrupt. Playing time alone will keep me from ever owning this game, unless I inherit one or something. With this particular group of kids, the games were certainly worthwhile, giving them practice being patient, taking turns, following rules, etc.. Not to mention counting money.
Friday afternoon is supposed to be physical education time. However, three of the teachers were missing for various reasons, so the school opted for inside activities, like movies, art projects, and the like. I ended up playing poker with one of the other subs and a group of kids.
I've never played a lot of poker. The only game I really have an idea about playing is hold 'em. This was basically a silly pastime, as we had limitless chips that were all the same denomination, and had a very limited amount of time to play. When everyone will play on almost every hand, you might as well just roll dice and see who gets high, low, whatever. We played dealer calls, and ended up with a funny variety of games/wild cards/etc.. The kids did learn some minor lessons about proper play, and about ettiquette, which, I suppose, is good.
I wish I could get more sub assignemnts that involved playing games, with the caveat that I would hope that those lessons would include better educational links between the game and the subject. It's hard to manage a class when they believe that what they are doing is a simple, nigh-pointless time-filler.
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