Tuesday Night Strategy Games at Larry and Carlee's

I've stepped back from the gaming a little bit lately, with soccer taking up a lot of my free time and energy. I've joined a co-ed rec league in Chapel Hill, the Rainbow League. My team has over 30 registered players, who range from a fifteen year old girl to a couple guys who are pushing sixty. We tied our first game, 3-3, in near hundred degree heat and punishing humidity. It's been quite fun.

All the same, I've been looking forward to the impending Triangle area boardgame convention, TBGT, which will be held the weekend after next. I decided to attend Larry's game night, as they are nice people, and I'd like to participate in their events at least once a month.

Tuesday afternoon came and brought with it the anticipated UPS box containing my new copy of the Ragnar Brothers' Canal Mania. I unwrapped it, punched it, and read over the rules, in anticipation that I might get it on the table that night. With not too much time to spare, I hopped in the Jeep and sped off down the Durham Freeway.

I arrived in Cary to find a few people sitting around, just chatting. It turned out a few people were going to be late, some weren't coming, and nobody was in a hurry. To my chagrin, Chris, the person most likely to have a rabid desire to get Canal Mania on the table, was ill and unable to make it. The group waffled over games a bit, and the first game decided on was Alhambra, which Larry wanted to try. They had four players immediately, and, as I didn't like Alhambra that much with five players, decided I should encourage them just to play with four. Of those of us remaining, Sarah was interested in trying Thurn & Taxis, so we set it up. The game was only able to attract one other player, Christy, as the other attendees decided to just chill and chat.

I tried to be pretty careful explaining this, but it became evident over the first couple few turns that Sarah and Christy had some misconceptions. It took a while for them to figure out exactly how to play cards - for one thing, there was the belief that you were just laying cards down that connected to any of the cards one had previously laid. For another, there was the idea that you could "build from" places that you had already established a station. This makes me feel that I need to include a couple more comments in my teaching of the game specifically about card layouts and route building. These weren't huge hangups, though, and the game played pretty smoothly.

Christy was the first to get a coach, and we all proceeded to move through the upgrades with relative quickness. Sarah hit a definite connection snag, and had to discard a route. I hit a run of bad cards, and had to spend a long time on my last two routes. Christy had a very good run of cards, then stalled, and then spent a couple of turns claiming small routes to get the VP chips. This put me in a position to be first to get a seven route, and I took it, ending the game.

This play of Thurn & Taxis, although fairly close, was not the most competitive or interesting, but I certainly learned some stuff about the game. In particular, I got more comfortable with route building towards a goal, and realized I really need to pay more attention to the routes people are using and the cards that have been used up. It was a pretty fun game, as Sarah and Christy were nice to talk with.

With the teaching time, and some fairly slow turns, it took us a while to finish this game. I've been having to get up at five thirty to go to work, and consequently I wanted to head home a little early. One group was starting Shadows over Camelot, which was too long for me at that point. Another was continuing to chat on the couch. Yet another was leaving. I decided to join the exodus, as it didn't look like I was going to get too much gaming done if I stayed. In the end, I got home at a good hour, and was thankful for it.

So, I drove down to Cary to play a three player game of Thurn & Taxis. Not a terrible game night, but certainly a bit of a letdown in the shadow of the recent twenty seven attendee event in Iowa City... What a great group they seem to be building up there! Hopefully, I'll get to put Canal Mania on the table soon, and I can write up a real review. Until then, I guess I'll just keep dreaming...

GG, GL