Weekend Gaming: Busy Days

Things have been busy lately, but I did get some gaming in over the past few weekends.  Last weekend was a bachelor party for one of my friends and we spent most of Saturday playing disc golf.  The weather was beautiful and we had a lot of fun playing.  That evening was spent playing Railways of the World, Five Tribes, Hawaii, and Cards Against Humanity.  Everyone had a great time.

This weekend, after spending time making minor repairs to the house to address inspection issues, Joe, Louis, Kevin, Brent, and I were able to get some gaming in as well with Eminent Domain and Lords of Xidit.  I ended up winning Eminent Domain with a ton of planets and a focus on colonization.  Louis had a really nice production/trade engine going, and was a close second.

In Lords of Xidit, I played horribly.  I seemed to be a step behind most turns, and had a couple rounds where I didn’t progress at all.  Kevin had the strongest showing with reputation, while Joe had a ton of gold.  In the final categories, I took last in every one.  Joe and Kevin made it to the final category of Mage Towers, but since Kevin had mostly ignored them, Joe took the victory.

Until next time, happy gaming!

Weekend Gaming: Firefly

It was just Kevin, Louis, and I on Saturday and Louis suggested Firefly.  After explaining the rules, we were off and running.  The goal for the game was an elaborate heist to try and steal the crown jewels.  There were three separate tests that needed to be complete across the ‘Verse with misbehaving required for each.

I tried to get a jump on the competition with a mission right where I started, but things went sour and I ended up with a warrant on my head instead.  I was eventually able to build up enough cash and negotiation skills to be the first to complete the first goal of buying an elaborate counterfeit.

Kevin wasn’t far behind, but I was on my way to get the second goal in the heist.  Louis had built up a sizable crew, but had run into some morality issues and they were a bit disgruntled.  The trouble hit when he ran across a ship in distress and didn’t have the fuel to help.  His crew deserted him at that point and he was starting from scratch.

I was on my way to the second goal, but then trouble hit.  I was taken by the guys in the blue gloves and didn’t have a means of escape.  My entire crew was killed and I was back at square one.  That gave Kevin the time he needed to catch up and overtake me.

I did manage to replenish my crew and complete the second goal, and came close.  Kevin and I had some run-ins with the Reavers near the third goal, and after Kevin failed his first attempt to steal the jewels I made a last chance, desperate attempt.  I nearly made it after succeeding all of the misbehaving tests, but I just didn’t have the guns to do it.  Kevin finished it on his next turn, taking the crown and the game.

Until next time, happy gaming!

Weekend Gaming: Anniversary Edition

My wife and I celebrated our anniversary over the weekend, and our friends were in town for the occasion.  On Friday, Nick, Laura, Gina, and I played a game of Castles of Mad King Ludwig.  It was a tight game throughout, with plenty of competition for the bonus card and basement rooms that were fairly plentiful.  I had managed to take a commanding lead on the first goal for most square footage of activity rooms.  I was was also in the running for most basement rooms, but Laura overtook me late in the game.  The surprising one for me was the number of external exits that I wasn’t really focusing on.  My bonus cards fit well with my game plan and ended up leading to a victory.

On Saturday, the four of us started the evening with Flash Point: Fire Rescue using the expansion laboratory board.  Things started off well, clearing out a couple hazmat items and rescuing one victim.  Then things devolved quickly.  We weren’t able to extinguish the fire on the upper level quickly enough and it started a series of explosions, quickly reducing the structural integrity of the building to the point of collapse.

Joe joined us at that point for The Manhattan Project.  I had decided to use espionage as much as possible, mostly focusing on Joe’s strong mines.  I had picked up a nice university that provided either engineers or scientists, so I quickly expanded my workforce and picked up some decent uranium bombs.  Joe was expanding his airforce and bombed my buildings, but not before I was able to quickly build and load a small bomb.  I was still spying regularly, though, and was able to get close to building the bomb I needed to win.  Joe sensed I was close and bombed everyone’s uranium plants, making it difficult for me to finish.  He didn’t count on me having a backup bomb that I was able to build and then load into a hastily built bomber to grab the win.  Laura revealed her hand and was only about one turn away from building two bombs and taking the victory as well.

We finished the night with Hawaii.  After teaching Nick and Laura we were off and running.  Joe started off by buying the boat and surfer bonus point god, but I got to the actual boats first, buying two.  Gina grabbed a spear hut, while Laura focused on fruit.  Nick was running all over the island building small villages for his kahunas.  With my boats and a few extra fruit and foot resources, I was able to concentrate primarily on visiting the islands.  I did get the god that increased the end of round bonuses along with a couple surfers, so I was pulling in points that way as well.  The final scores were fairly close between Gina and I, but my large village provided more bonus points to hold the lead.  Joe pulled in second.

Until next time, happy gaming!

Weekend Gaming: Tabletop Day

I was unable to celebrate Tabletop Day on Saturday in any organized fashion, though Joe was running an event.  I have been busy with family things and Nick and his family were in town.

I did get to play a few games, starting with Clash of Cultures on Friday with Nick.  It was my first play with the Civilizations expansion, and Nick’s unfamiliarity with the game proved to be unfair.  He was playing as the Celts and founding a bunch of settlements, but wasn’t defending them.  I was focusing on boating with Carthage, and Nick didn’t realize that I could sail pretty much anywhere once I learned Navigation.  He left two coastal cities undefended and I was able to sail in and claim them as my own.  After that it was pretty much a forgone conclusion and we called the game.

Then on Saturday, Laura, Nick, and I kicked things off with Castles of Mad King Ludwig.  I had a decent castle going, but I was trying to complete the “one of every room size” bonus card.  I was able to complete it, but at the cost of passing up on some high scoring rooms.  Nick had a much better flow, and was able to snag a couple extra bonus cards that helped propel him to victory.

We finished the evening with Firefly.  We were playing the Desperadoes story, trying to avoid the authorities and accumulate 15k credits before retiring.  We were each doing our own thing.  Laura was collecting crew to prepare for a big job.  Nick was gathering a small crew and started missions early.  I gathered a crew of mostly companions and planned to talk my way through trouble.  Things were going well in general, though I did get ripped off on my high paying negotiation mission and only got paid half of what I deserved due to some trouble.

Then the Reavers hit.  Nick and I got hit hard when I drew the Reaver attack card.  The deck was shuffled and I got hit again immediately.  It was looking ugly, but Nick and I finally managed to escape the outer rim, but not before he was hit again, costing him two more of his crew.

I finally made it to my mission location and was able to waltz through, thanks to a handy fake ID.  That provided the last few credits I needed to end the game.  Nick made one last push to close the gap, but was hindered by some Alliance entanglements and came up just short.

Until next time, happy gaming!

 

Weekend Gaming: Peppers, Castles, and Caves

Joe, Louis, and I tried out a couple new games Saturday afternoon.  We started with Joe’s copy of Scoville, a game of planting peppers and making the best chili.  It was a lot of fun with some neat mechanics.  I was able to position my farmer to monopolize the rare ghost peppers that are needed for the highest scoring recipes.  I created a bunch of different recipes and ended up running away with the win.

We followed that with my copy of Biblios.  I was collecting brown cards and had a little bit of green and orange.  I had pushed the value of the brown cards up, but then when a #4 in brown came up for auction I wimped out.  Louis outbid me and ended up taking control of brown and the victory.  Joe had blue and red, but they were pretty low value colors.

Then, Saturday evening Kevin joined us for a couple more, starting with Caverna.  I was going third in the initial turn order and watched Joe and Kevin take the two spots that I had planned on focusing on.  I ended up starting towards a mine, but failed to follow through and Louis took the lead in that.  After that I was struggling to find a good way to feed my family and really get anything going.  Louis had a ton of donkeys and ruby mines all provided by two well-armed dwarves, Kevin was farming like crazy, and Joe had a huge family of armed dwarves and was concentrating on bonus tiles.  Joe’s bonuses ended up being the difference as he broke the 100 point barrier.

The final game of the weekend was Castles of Mad King Ludwig.  I bought as many activity rooms as possible, since they were needed for the end game bonuses and one of my bonus cards.  The big swing in the game, though, happened with the final card.  Louis had a bunch of the small, round rooms, while I had a bunch of the small rectangles.  Each pile only had a single room left and would provide a big boost if depleted.  The final card ended up being a small rectangle, netting me a 10 point bonus and sealing the game for me.  I managed to win with nearly 100 points.

Until next time, happy gaming!

Weekend Gaming: Castles and Lords

It was just Kevin and Louis this Saturday for games.  We started off with Castles of Mad King Ludwig.  Kevin and I were fighting over the utility and food rooms, while Louis was building a “frat castle” with nothing but sleeping rooms, activity rooms, and a dungeon.  Louis built a sizable lead with the help of his basement rooms, and his bonus cards just added to it.  I lost by a large margin.

We followed that with Lords of Waterdeep.  I was trying to complete a bunch of easy quests to satisfy my baron.  Louis was building tons of buildings and Kevin was focused more on high scoring quests.  I did manage to complete 13 quests, but Kevin had nearly as many with much higher scores.  His baron also rewarded him for his high point missions and he ran away with the lead, scoring over 200 points.

Until next time, happy gaming!

Weekend Gaming: Dart Days

I spent the weekend at a dart tournament with Phil, Louis, and Ryan.  While darts was the primary focus, I was able to get a couple games played.  Nick and I played Glory to Rome Thursday evening, and then we followed that up with Phase 10 and Euchre with Gina, Laura, and Dana.  Nick won Phase 10 handily with some ridiculous hands.  He had zero points going into phase five, and his phase six had him drawing six Wilds in a row off the top of the deck.

Darts went well, though I played poorly in the Singles event.  Phil and I did alright in Cricket and managed to take 4th in 301.  Ryan and Louis did the best of us and took 1st in their Cricket division.

Following the events on Saturday, Louis and I ended up finding a group playing Cards Against Humanity.  We joined that game and played until the wee hours of the morning before calling it for the weekend.  All in all, a great time.

Until next time, happy gaming!

Weekend Gaming: Bavaria and Britain

It was just Kevin, Joe, and I for games on Saturday and we kicked things off with Castles of Mad King Ludwig.  I jumped to an early lead with some large recreation rooms, but then stalled.  Kevin bought the basement room I was hoping to get, and Joe grabbed my back-up, so I never built a single basement.  Joe was racking up points with the purple rooms and Kevin had a bit of everything.  It looked like Joe might run away with the game, but the gap was quickly closed with the end game bonuses.  Kevin’s bonus cards ended up being the difference maker and he took the victory.

We followed that with Railways of Great Britain.  It ended up that Kevin had the North, I had the center, and Joe ruled the South.  Joe and I were fighting over a couple bonus cards, while Kevin just kept delivering and increasing the capability of his train.  He had a nice loop from Edinburgh to London and back, and was making 4-6 point deliveries consistently.  It was pretty close, but Joe and I couldn’t overcome Kevin’s deliveries.  I was hoping for second place, but Joe’s baron was worth 8 points to my 5, and that left me in last.

We finished the evening with Brass.  I didn’t have a real strong plan in the first phase of the game, mainly trying to set up some coal and positioning for phase two.  The best play for me was probably sneaking two cotton mills onto the board and tanking the external market before Joe was able to ship.

In phase two I ended up with a bunch of Liverpool and port cards, so after building a decent network of rail links, I focused on building as many ports as possible.  I ended up with four of them along with a few more cotton mills.  Joe was forced to use my ports to ship his cotton at the end of the game, providing me quite a few points.  Kevin was building boats, and managed to get two of them built, but he was lacking links.  In the final scoring, Joe had the most points from his links, while Kevin had a ton from his buildings.  I had the best of both, though, and managed to come away with the win.

Until next time, happy gaming!

Weekend Gaming: Warhammer 40k

This Saturday I played in a local Warhammer 40k tournament with my Space Wolves.  For 1850 points I brought seven Thunderwolves – including a Wolf Lord, two Drop Pods with Grey Hunters, a Drop Pod with Melta Wolf Guard, two Lascannon/Plasma Gun Razorbacks with Grey Hunters, and two squads of Missile Launcher Longs Fangs.  There were only five attendees, so the tournament organizer played against the bye. The other five armies represented were Tau, Death Wing, two Blood Angels, and an Imperial Guard.

My first game was against the Tau with three Riptides, a bunch of Suits, and some Kroot.  The Riptides all had interceptor, so my Drop Pods didn’t last long after arriving and my meltaguns weren’t able to do much against his army.  Then I didn’t rush my Thunderwolves straight into the Tau, so he was able to weaken them up quite a bit before they reached assault.  They were able to kill a Riptide, but that was it.  In the end, I wasn’t completely destroyed, but I wasn’t able to hold enough objectives to prevent him from getting full points.

After that I ended up with the bye.  I played against the tournament organizer’s Blood Angels consisting of three Drop Pods, a Land Raider full of five Terminators, two Dreadnoughts, a Vindicator, and a fancy Landspeeder.  The mission was a modified Kill Points thing, so I just needed to destroy everything.  I was able to destroy the Land Speeder with my Long Fangs on turn one.  My melta squads lasted longer this game, but were still ineffectual.  The Wolf Guard scattered off target and then completely failed to take out the Land Raider.  The Grey Hunters were more effective, with one squad dealing the final blows to the Raider and the other taking out a tactical squad.  The Thunderwolves were the MVP, though.  They chewed through his command squad and the terminators in assault and took out the Vindicator as well.  I manage to all but table him and walked away with full points.

At this point, no one was completely out of competition for first place and there were four of us within 15 points.  I was matched up against the Imperial Guard with six big tanks, a large blob of infantry, a Chimera with veterans, and three Ogryns with grenade launchers.  My drop pod meltas actually did their job this game and while I didn’t get the best shooting results, they were able to take out a few tanks on the turns they arrived.  The problem was keeping them around.  Once they landed, he would focus fire on them and pretty much wipe them out.  Thankfully, this allowed my Thunderwolves to advance up the left side mostly intact.  Once they hit his lines, things started to get chewed up.  The overall objective was to take and hold a relic in the center of the table.  I was able to sneak in with one of my Razorback squads and take the relic into cover on the fifth turn.  I was worried when the game continued to turn six, but they held their ground and even after a seventh turn controlled the objective and there wasn’t much my opponent could do.  I won the game with a majority of the points available.

Overall I ended up in second place, while the Tau player took first.  I walked away with a new box Thunderwolves to increase my pack.

Later that evening we celebrated Nick’s birthday with his family.  We played 7 Wonders with the whole group and Firefly after his parents had left.  I managed to win 7 Wonders with a strong science collection.  Nick won the game of Firefly without hiring a single crew member after picking up a job to transport passengers across the galaxy.  He filled his cargo hold and dropped them off for a 3,000 credit payout.  After that it was a quick pick-up and delivery to satisfy Harken and he was off to pay his debt.  The rest of us had barely begun to get going.

Until next time, happy gaming!

Weekend Gaming: Trains, Wonders, and More

The usual crew of Joe, Kevin, Louis, Gina, and I were joined by Fr. Sean for games this Saturday.  He was a real trooper, learning three new games and picking them up quite quickly.

We started off with Chicago Express.  I spent probably too much and bought into the Red line first.  It worked alright, as Fr. Sean and I were able to get it to Chicago first and it had a very strong showing.  The problem was that I was only able to get the one share, while Fr. Sean picked up two.  This gave him too strong of a position on the board, and while I was helping myself I did more to help him.  Gina and Joe were doing well, being the only players in Blue and Green respectively, while Louis and Kevin were both working in Yellow.  The strong position of Red was the deciding factor in the game, and Fr. Sean took the win.

We followed that with 7 Wonders.  I had Giza and I made the mistake of not ensure I had access to any paper resources.  This meant that I was unable to finish my wonder or many of the other strong cards I was passed.  Both Gina and Louis next to me had very strong Science collections, and while the game was close, Louis’ science propelled him to the victory.

Next up was Dominion.  We played with the Underlings set from the Intrigue set.  We thought Louis was going to run away with the game when he started comboing Festivals into multiple Witches each turn, but I was able to swing things slightly with Masquerades to pass Louis some Curses.  Louis also slower down late in the game as his deck became less efficient, allowing Joe time to get his engine working and pick quite a few Provinces.  When we finished, Joe had the lead, despite the nine curses he had received.

After that, Fr. Sean called it a night and headed home, so the rest of us finished up with Glen More.  I was picking up a ton of tiles trying to use an annual fair, but not really optimally.  Louis had very few tiles and a bunch of whiskey that he turned into Taverns later in the game for quite a few points.  Kevin had the best town, though.  He had bonus points for his villages and was selling goods throughout the game.

Until next time, happy gaming!