Saturday Game Day

Saturday was a full day. I woke up and made my way to Willow Creek park for an hour and a half of soccer. Muggy and hot, I was happy to be spending the rest of my day relaxing. After that, it was World Cup time. In group E action, Ghana took down Czech Republic 2-0 in an exciting game that was good news for the USA. After that, it was the rollercoaster USA/Italy match, with three players sent off, ending in a 1-1 tie. It's honestly better than I expected going into the game, but I really felt the USA could have had all three points. Stupid plays, especially by Mastroeni, to get sent off, and then the coach not using the last substitution. It just boggles my mind.

Anyway, after the matches were over, it was time to head across town for some games. Chris & Edie's monthly game day had been underway for 3 hours or so by the time I got there, and things were in full swing. The turnout was a little light, only 11 gamers present before I got there. There was 6 player Bohnanza in the dining room, and 5 player Carcassonne in the kitchen. I knew a couple people were interested in Nexus Ops, so I went back over the rules while I waited for the games to finish.

I've had NO for a while, but haven't played it. I spent last GenCon running Avalon Hill board games for Passtimes Events, and I'd taught the game numerous times there, but never played. I subsequently picked it up, and have been waiting for a while to get it on the table. It's a neat little game with cool (if somewhat impractical) pieces, a direct descendent of the MB Gamemaster series, mingled with some common designer game principles. It takes the dice, little plastic figs, and some combat elements (single round, unit iniative order) from MB, but puts it into a nice framework of short playing time, variable board setup, changing victory conditions, and victory point accumulation as a victory condition. The premise is that you are mining corporations in the future, fighting over a rare energy-producing mineral called rubium. To do so, you enlist the native lifeforms to fight for you. You get cool little bright, semi-transparent gamepieces, which are sometimes a little hard to distinguish.

It didn't take too long for Bohnanza to finish, and I got Nexus OPs set up for Chris, Mark, Tony, and myself. When the province developing in the kitchen finished, we got started, with the remaining players moving into hotel management with a game of Acquire in the kitchen.

Mark was first. He really made it pay, showing the advantage that is the tradeoff for the low starting money, by taking the monolith first and holding it uncontested for three turns of extra energize cards. At first I thought I hit a few too many unit tiles during exploration, but the mines ended up being pretty decently spread out. In the early game, we all filled out our territory, and made some minor squabbles over mines. In addition, people started to feel out the Secret Mission cards, and adjust their plans accordingly.

Tony and I launched consecutive attacks to dislodge Mark from the monolith, feeling that he had gained a huge advantage, and we couldn't afford to leave him there. I got to hold onto it for two turns, and then lost out to Chris, who stayed there for the remainder of the game. The Energize cards started flying, combining with Secret Missions to build blocks of victory points. I benefited from a combination of cards that let me move four fungoids between two fungal forests, as well as Secret Mission cards that gave me points for winning a battle in a fungus forest and controlling more of them than any other player. I hit a couple big turns of victory point building, and got to 11, with the closest other player at 7. At this point, there wasn't too much the other players could do if they didn't have vp explosions of their own, as all I had to do was win one fight on my turn. Chris pressured, slaughtering quite a few of my units, but I was able to put together a big force of crystallines to win a battle in a crystal spire, to finish the game.

Everyone seemed to have a good time (I certainly enjoyed it), and Tony and Mark both commented that this was a game they liked enough to buy. Even Chris sounded like he was thinking of picking it up, as he thought he could play 2-player with Annie. Maybe we'll get another play next month. I'm anxious to get a couple more looks at this game. I'm wondering how similar the early game will be every time, and how often the person that wins will just be the one who draws the best Secret Mission cards. Regardless, I really like the cards, as they add an element of uncertainty to the game, as well as the opportunity for big, game-finishing moves.

Acquire finished just before us, and several of the players left. Nate had arrived in the mean time, and we were left with four (Chris, Eric, Nate, and myself) for Power Grid. This game was on the Italy map, excluding the Northernmost and Northeasternmost sections. Chris had some poker chips on hand to mark off the unused cities, a trick I might have to try out next time I play.

I've never won PG, in probably 5-6 plays, and was trying to come up with something different. Unfortunately, it had been so long since I played that I was having a hard time remembering how the game went. I did know that I usually bought the four plant to start, so I decided to splurge, buy a bigger plant, and try to start making money from two cities early. This seemed like a mistake, as it put me in a bad position buying resrouces and building early in the game.

I built last, and with Eric going North, Chris South, and Nate just under Eric, my choices weren't that great. I could go down in the toe of the boot, and risk being cut off by Chris, or into the middle, where the connection fees were high, or up North, risking direct competition. I decided for the North, as I figured I could get an outlet, and probably get to at least six cities in Stage one.

The early game looked good for Chris. He was expending unchallenged in the South, and looked to have closed off the toe of the boot. Eric, Nate, and myself were running into each other a little. In the third turn, I held my building to get a better build order in the next turn, and it payed off, as I was able to build in two cities, closing down Eric quite a bit. The turn after, Chris and I got to six cities, with Eric and Nate stuck on five.

Some power plants get removed at random for this map, and there is less coal. Oddly, as the game went on, a lot of coal plants came up. In a bit of a mis-bid, I ended up getting a four-power wind plant to go with a 5 coal. Coal was a big problem, with, at times, three of us going for large amounts of it. I grabbed an oil plant, and was the only one in that for a while. Between oil and wind, I was able to proceed relatively cheaply, despite needing to buy coal.

We only had one turn of stage 2 stall, and Chris built to seven to force the progress, as he thought that Nate would build through him later in the round. This wasn't too hot for me at that point, as I was building after everyone. Fortunately, Nate and Eric weren't able to build too many places, so I had a couple cities I could expand into. After a couple turns of steady building, three of us got to 13 cities, while I think Chris was still at 11. I held up again, needing to get buying order for resources the next turn, as coal had completely run out, and I wouldn't be able to power if I couldn't buy (and two other players had big coal plants still). In power plant bidding the next turn, I screwed up and started bidding on a five wind against Nate. During bidding, I stopped to look at the board, and realized the only way I could really expect to win was by getting a seven plant to replace my four. The problem was, there was only one seven on the board, and it was the coal. That would put me at five coal, which would be more than what was actually available that turn, and there was only one unrevealed plant left. I decided that I had to gamble that that was a plant I could win with, and left off the bidding. In an amazing stroke of luck, that last plant was the seven garbage, the perfect draw. I ended up getting it for cost, as Chris was the only bidder left, and he couldn't afford to spend money on it, and didn't really want it. I had a lot of money saved up, from going ahead on plants early, and then not having competed for plants too much, and I was able to expand to 17 cities that turn, and power them, giving me the win. Everyone else tied at 16, and, taking the money tie-breaker into account, it was Chris, then Eric, then Nate.

It was a gripping conclusion to a competitive, well-thought out game (not necessarily on my part), and a fine end to the evening. Looking back, it was a scary game, with me in a bad buying position for several turns. I think the big difference is picking key turns in which you need to go first, and making moves to get there - in other words, trying to feel out the tempo of the game. Also, of course, I just would not have won if the right power plant had not come up (or, if I had not gambled, and had kept bidding against Nate). This was a really good group to play a long, considered game with, and that made it extra enjoyable. It's always a breath of fresh air to have the opportunity to play games with the people who come to Chris and Edie's game days. They're an admirable group of gamers.

With a long day past, and a great night of gaming done, I packed up my gear and headed for home, thinking about getting up early to watch Japan/Croatia, and then, of course, BRASIL!

GG, GL