Weekend Gaming: Another Birthday Bash

We headed out of town this weekend to celebrate Laura’s birthday over the weekend.  Joe, Phil, and Dana also joined in on the festivities.  On Friday night, after the majority of the party had quieted down, we started in with the board games.  Gina and I showed up while they were finishing up 7 Wonders.  We then setup Trajan and Agricola.

Gina played Agricola with Phil, Nick, and Laura.  I played Agricola with Dana and Joe.  I had intended to use wheat to feed my family and then gather sheep to take advantage of my loom.  Sadly that didn’t pan out.  I never got the wheat rolling, and ended up using my Manufacturer to get the Joinery and Pottery cheaply to help feed my meager family.  Joe and Dana were both grabbing sheep, so I missed out on them.

Joe and Dana both managed to fill their farms, but Joe had played a ton of Improvements for points.  I managed to score 33, but Joe ended up with the win.

While the others finished Trajan, we played a quick game of Dominion.  We had a fairly expensive selection of cards, but the 6 Gold Village that gives another card when it is purchased was available, so that and the Highway went very quickly.  Joe was using the Highways to get a couple Provinces, but wasn’t drawing many cards, so it was hard to sustain.  I had picked up a couple Margraves, so it took a little longer to get my engine running.  It got rolling, though, and I was able start getting points, and even managed a couple multiple Province turns with extra buys.  That was enough to take the victory.

We finished the night with Cards Against Humanity.  Everyone had a blast, and while I only won a few hands, it was entertaining all around.

On Saturday, Gina and I finally went to see Guardians of the Galaxy.  It was awesome all around.  I loved the characters, the special effects, and the music.  I can’t wait to see it again.

Until next time, happy gaming!

Weekend Gaming: Agricola, Terra Mystica and Keyflower

Joe and Kevin joined us Friday night, and we kicked things off with Agricola using the Netherlands deck.  I had plans to use the  General so I didn’t need to worry about empty spaces, and the Match Maker to send off one of my workers on the last turn to get the extra items I needed.

I was forced to keep my empty area in the center, because I used a flower garden card that let Gina pick a space that must remain empty.  I did get everything else going, though, and was able to feed my family quite easily after scoring a huge load of grain from Joe’s Night Watch.

Speaking of Joe, he had the Monastic Vows occupation and decided to use that as much as possible.  He ended up with 11 Begging cards, but still did relatively well.  He played one silly occupation on the last turn that doubled his negative points, but without that he would have scored in the mid-thirties even with the begging cards.

I did end up winning, but it was pretty close with Kevin and Gina right behind me.

Gina headed to bed, and Joe, Kevin and I played a game of Terra Mystica. I was playing as the Halflings, with Joe as the Witches and Kevin as the Alchemists.  I quickly upgraded my spades to decrease my terraforming cost.  I then quickly set to work expanding my empire.  Joe was working towards Temples, and Kevin had his own area in the upper left that he was building in.

I managed to get one town completed rather quickly, and then I set out completing my second.  The cult track was getting rather crowded at the top, with Kevin climbing the Fire and Water tracks.  Joe had the Air track, while Joe and I were close on the Earth track.  I was able to build my Sanctuary and get three more points in Earth, pushing me to the top.

We were each able to construct two towns, and I was able to get a boat upgrade, netting me 12 total buildings in my empire.  Joe was actually able to complete three towns and had 13 buildings in his empire.  He took first for that and the Air cult, and Kevin had the Fire and Water.  The final score was close.  I won with 115, Joe had 109, and Kevin had 92.  Had Joe beaten me to the Earth cult, he would have won.

 

Then on Saturday, Joe, Kevin, Tyrell, Jeff, Louis, Phil and I learned how to play Kevin’s new game, Keyflower.  Since it only had enough for six, Jeff opted to sit out.  It took us about 30 minutes to go over the rules, and then we were off.

I happened to have a bunch of blue workers, so I decided to keep that up. I was able to get a gold mine, and a stone mine that provided gold when upgraded.  From there, I focused on getting more and more gold.  In the Fall season, I managed to snatch a stone statue from Joe and won another tile that upgraded with Gold.  In the winter, I was able to collect my Jeweler tile, which doubled the value of my Gold.

With all of my tiles upgraded and a pile of Gold, I managed to score 70 points; enough for a win.  Louis was a close second with 64.  Definitely an enjoyable game that mixed a lot of neat functions like auctions and tile laying, and worker placement.

 

Until next time, happy gaming!

Weekend Gaming: Agricola

We were out of town visiting family this weekend, but there were still plenty of games to be played.  My son convinced me to buy the Star Wars Miniatures Game and we played through a game with the quick start rules Saturday afternoon.  It was close coming down to a single hull point on our ships, but he had the winning shot.  It’s definitely a neat game, and I hope to get some more complex games in soon.

Later that evening Nick, Laura, Gina and I played a game of Agricola with the NL deck that I had picked up earlier.  It’s definitely a interesting twist on the occupations and improvements.  There is a lot of emphasis on vegetables, plowing/sowing and fishing.  Laura was the only one of us not focused on fields, and she was doing a fair bit of fishing.  I had a good set of cards to get my food, but I had little in the way of a plan to get points.  I was very slow to upgrade my house and by that point it was too late.  Nick had a nice stone house and a bigger family.  He also had a bunch of bonus points.  He ended up winning the game with 40 points, followed by Laura, Gina and myself.

We finished the night with a couple hands of Euchre.  Nick and I split the two rounds, with Nick winning the first one in a speedy six hands.

Until next time, happy gaming!

Weekend Gaming: Snow Day!

Saturday night started off with Louis, Kevin, Gina and I playing Thurn and Taxis.  I started off well by picking up the purples, but then slowed down.  Because of the cards available I decided to try to grab all of the central gray areas in one route.  I did manage to do it, but there was some slowdown when two of the locations didn’t turn up when I’d hoped.  Kevin ended the game with a big run through gray, but it was Louis with the most points at the end.

Joe and Dana had joined us at this point, so we broke out 7 Wonders. I wanted to go with science, but I never do well with that tactic. I ended up working with military and commercial. Joe was to my left and he had no military, but Dana had played a few so I actually had to work foot my victories. Louis on the other hand was able to maximize his military points with only two cards. The rest he spent on blue card picking up a ton of points. He also scored a bunch of points with a couple of guilds. He ended up with over 70 points and the win.

Dominion was next. The first game had a bunch of extra actions available but no extra buys. Everyone had a ton of money but could only get one card a turn. Platinum was very popular and I was having a tough time buying cheap cards because it seemed like a waste of the money in my hand. I eventually got a Minion engine running, but it was too late. Louis had been running Villages and Labs for a bunch of money and had the early lead on Colonies. He earned a big win in yet another game.

Another game of Dominion followed, but it was harder to get money. Joe was stocking up on King’s Courts, but rarely had anything to pair them with. Thieves were very popular, but they actually ended up helping Louis and I thin ours decks. I was trying to use the Forge to get Colonies, but rarely had the right combination of cards. Again Louis had the right idea using King’s Courts to triple Markets for big money. He was buying points left and right and ended with yet another win.

Dana and Louis took of at this point, so the rest of launched into a game of Agricola.  I had a decent grain/bread engine going for food, but I had little else.  Joe managed to pull the bookshelf and the occupation that gives food if other players randomly select which one to play.  This provided him tons of food just for doing a normal action.  He managed to easily fill his farm and maximize his family for the win.

Until next time, happy gaming!

Weekend Gaming: Going to California

Not much of a write-up today, as I just got into my hotel in California and I was packing last night so I didn’t get a chance to write last night.

Kevin, Joe, Louis, Gina, and I played Lancaster and Agricola on Saturday night.  Lancaster was close, but I was trying to fill my table with nobles and missed by one.  Joe was able to get points through conflicts along with gathering nobles, so he ended up with the win.

In Agricola, I was able to get a full farm, which helped me score 5 points from one of Joe’s occupations, but Louis got a bit jump on his family members, and even though he had -9 points from beggar cards, he was able to maximize his actions so score 44 points for the win.

Until next time, happy gaming!

 

Weekend Gaming: Hawaii and Agricola

Gina wasn’t feeling well on Saturday, so I ended up heading over to Joe’s for games.  I brought Hawaii with me at Jaime’s request, so we started that with Jaime, Kevin, Louis and I while Joe was watching their baby.

I decided against going for boats, before realizing how strong the starting islands were.  I was going for spear huts and trying to maximize the end of round bonuses.  At this, I was mostly successful.  I was able to get two basic spear huts and the spear god.  With that I was able to buy up locations to complete three villages out to the starter tiki on my island.  Louis was pushing boats and keeping it pretty close all game.  Kevin had a bunch of small villages with kahunas for each.

In the end, it game down to a gift from Kevin.  I had two shells left and Kevin decided to buy a Hula Girl for six shells to score some spear points, leaving one available for two shells.  I was able to grab that, giving me enough to make the quota from the round and an additional six points for my island.  That six points proved to be the difference.  I finished with 101, Louis at 96 and Kevin with 94.

 

Jaime decided to head to bed, and Joe joined us for Agricola.  I was looking at a hand with a weak grain feeding engine, but I really wanted to get a Manufacturer and Tradesman down to pick up Major Improvements easily.  It didn’t quite work out, as I grew my family too quickly and was struggling to feed my family most of the game.

Kevin also grew very quickly with the Midwife, but leveled out earlier than I could.  He ended up with a nice sized stone house, and a little of everything for end game points.  I managed to finish a stone house and a Mansion improvement, significantly boosting my points, but it wasn’t enough.  Joe had the feeding thing figured out, but didn’t have much for end game, while Louis only had two family members, but filled his plot very well with animals and fields.  The end game down to empty spaces and family members primarily and Kevin won that battle and the game.

 

Until next time, happy gaming!

Weekend Gaming: Return to Gaming

After a couple weekends without much gaming, this weekend was a distinct change in the right direction.  On Friday, Gina and I played Thurn and Taxis, Hawaii and Eminent Domain.  Thurn and Taxis was relatively uneventful.  I was performing well with smaller routs, but quickly grabbing control all over the board.  I managed to get a size 7 cart on the same turn I ran out of offices, ending the game for a narrow win.

In Hawaii, both of us ended up getting a strong supply of fruit.  They were plentiful on the board, and I was able to use my one boat to get one as well.  We both ended up with two large villages on our islands, but I was able to score the bonus points on the end of the last round.  That combined with my end game bonuses were able to outscore Gina’s spear points and fruit bonuses.

 

We finished the night with Eminent Domain.  Gina was spread too thin, while she could have been doing well with a Produce/Trade game.  I was focused heavily in Survey, Colonize and Research.  I was able to get a bunch of planets colonized while also picking up a couple level three technologies for a dominant win.

Then on Saturday, Joe and Kevin joined us for Agricola and Lancaster.  I was feeding my people easily with grain and bread, and was able to quickly expand my family.  I didn’t really develop my farm all that well, but I did get a couple nice improvements with points.  I ended up limiting my negatives well enough and actually squeaked out a win.  It was pretty close between Kevin and I, but I always seemed to be taking exactly what Kevin needed one turn before he was about to do it.

Kevin had brought Lancaster, so we took some time to learn it.  It was an interesting combination of worker placement and voting that worked out pretty nicely.  There was some confusion with the order of voting and scoring, and we ended up playing the laws wrong so we didn’t have any voting in the last round.  It was a close game with Joe getting a decent lead from some conflicts and board locations, but I was positioning myself for the end game bonuses.  Kevin and I both mistook the order of actions in the last round and battled for some rewards that ended up not benefiting us in scoring.  because we wasted those resources, Joe was easily able to keep his lead at the end of the game.

Until next time, happy gaming!

Weekend Gaming: The Hobbit and More

Busy weekend.  In gaming, my wife and I played Agricola Friday night.  I had the Tutor occupation and the Writing Desk improve mt allowing me to play out all of my occupations.  I had a bunch of points on my improvements as well.  I ended up taking a couple Beggar cards early in order to advance my game rather than feed my family.  I ended up with a nice 6 room stone house, a full family and a large pasture covering the rest of my farm.  Gina was pushing heavily into fields of grain, and then ended up with a little of everything in scoring.  It was by far her best game and she finished with 46 points.  My bonus points were just enough, though, to edge her out as I finished with 48.

Then on Saturday, my son and I build the LEGO Hobbit Bag End kit.  It’s a lovely kit and was a lot of fun to build.  My wife and I then had a nice afternoon movie and dinner date going to watch The Hobbit.  It was a wonderful movie, and I would highly recommend it.

We finished up Saturday with Louis, Joe, Ryan, Kevin and Jaime joining us for games.  Ryan, Louis, Kevin and I started the night with Castles of Burgundy.  I was trying to fill my large city area with Churches and Markets after getting the knowledge allowing multiple copies of the same building.  I was successful in that, but Ryan snagged two of the bonus point knowledges before I could.  Kevin was completing a bunch of small areas early in the game and jumped to an early lead.  He never relented that lead, using animals, shipments and area completions to rack up points.  By the time we finished, Kevin had 100 points on all of us for a massive win.

Joe, Gina and Jaime had played 7 Wonders in the meantime, finishing with a 52-52 tie between Gina and Joe, with Jaime coming in second with 51.

We finished up with Gina, Joe, Kevin, Louis and I playing Navegador.  I was trying to push a heavy factory strategy, but I got a bit distracted with privileges and a couple early churches to really get it going.  The others were all playing pretty balanced too, so there weren’t any goods being mass produced.  Kevin was focusing on exploring and colonies, but Gina and Joe were the ones pushing to Nagasaki.  Joe forced the end of the game before pretty much anyone other than Kevin was ready.

The game finished with Kevin in the lead, followed by Louis, myself, Gina and Joe.

Until next time, happy gaming!

 

Weekend Gaming: Games Away From Home

Between being of town all weekend visiting relatives and our new camera needing to be sent off for repairs, there are no pictures of the games this week.

We did play a bunch of them, though.

On Friday, we headed over to visit Nick and Laura and played Puerto Rico, 7 Wonders and Sentinels of the Multiverse.  I managed to win Puerto Rico with a very strong trade/building strategy.  I was able to monopolize coffee early, and with an Office and both Markets I was buying the large buildings at full price.  I ended the game with only 7 shipping points and 39 points from my city.  Nick was a close second with 38 points and the two large buildings that I didn’t buy.

7 Wonders was a close one.  I was playing Giza, but didn’t have any access to paper, so I couldn’t finish the wonder.  I also ended up with no access to Ore, so the last Age was rough.  Laura ended up dominating all of us for the win.

It was the first time for all of us playing a borrowed copy of Sentinels of the Multiverse.  I was playing as the big robot Bunker, Nick was Absolute Zero, Gina had Fanatic and Laura had Visionary.  We were fighting against The Matriarch in Rook City.  We started off alright, but then we hit a card that brought all of her birds back as the last card in the deck, causing us to face every single bird in the deck.  Between that and her ravens killing of Nick’s and my equipment, the game went downhill quickly.  It’s a fun game, but definitely needs some good luck to have a chance.

On Saturday evening we again joined Nick and Laura.  Joe and Jaime had also come to town for some shopping and Nick’s sister Anna paid a visit as well.  Nick, Joe and I started with a quick game of Agricola with the K deck.  Joe was pushing for a heavy enhancement + rooms game, since a lot of his cards made for easier room building.  I was trying to get animals because of the Tanner, Pelts and Loom, but Nick was making it difficult by grabbing animals too.  We didn’t let Joe get easy access to the wood he needed, but Clay and Stone were undesired for most of the game.  He did get to a six room house, but the rest of his farm was empty.  I did get enough Boars to make the good use of my Pelts and Tanner.  Cows and Sheep were secondary and helped with my Organic Farmer points.  The biggest impact was that Joe lost 9 points for unused space, while I only lost two.  That combined with my end game bonuses propelled me into the lead.

Next up was 7 Wonder with everyone.  I was playing as Rhodes and was able to make the most of my military in ages 2 and 3 for some good points.  I also played a bunch of the yellow cards that allowed me to not worry about resources as much.  I ended up with a pretty balanced score, and even managed to grab a set of the sciences.  The game was close, but I was able to pull of the win by a single point.

Joe and Jaime left for home at this point, and so Gina, Anna, Nick, Laura and I played Ticket to Ride.  My opening two routes were to connect Vancouver and Seattle to Montreal and New York.  I quickly connected Vancouver to Seattle and Montreal to New York, and then spent the rest of the game working to connect the two.  I had to fight with Anna and Gina for a couple spots in the North, but otherwise I was pretty well left alone.  I was able to complete the three 6-train connections and the 5-train connection in the North, which really helped my score.  I did add another route from New York to Nashville late, but the majority of my points were from the long connections and my two initial routes.  I ended the game while everyone else had quite a few trains left, which earned me some dirty looks.  Nick and I shared the Longest Route, but I had him by about 30 points at the end of the game.

Nick, Gina and I finished the night with Castles of Burgundy.  Gina and Nick were grabbing points throughout the game, while I was focusing more on end game points with Shipping and buildings.  Nick had a big field of chickens, scoring himself a bunch of points, while Gina was filling everything else.  She just missed out on finishing her large city area, which hindered her score quite a bit.  They were both about 50 points ahead of me when the game ended, but neither of them had any significant end game bonuses, though, so I knew it would be close.  I was able to pass Gina, but I finished just behind Nick, ending my winning streak.

Until next time, happy gaming!

Weekend Gaming: Labor Day and Games!

Long weekend here, and we spent a bunch of it playing games.

Friday night, Gina and I played Castles of Burgundy, followed by a game of Agricola that I forgot to photograph.

On Saturday, Joe and Jaime joined us for some Kingdom Builder.  The first game was quite close with me edging Jaime out by a couple points.  The second game wasn’t nearly as strong for me and Joe went on to win with a bunch of Worker points.

After they took off, Gina and I played another game of Castles of Burgundy.

Then on Sunday, Joe and Jaime joined us in the afternoon and brought over Tikal.  Joe had just picked it up a few weeks ago, so it was new to most of us.  I started off weakly, but did manage to get into some nice treasure sets.  As the game went on, I was was able to sneak into a couple decent monuments and in the end, I snuck past Jaime again for the win.

After dinner, we snuck in a quick game of Kingdom Builder before John and Dana showed up.  I completely forgot that Lords awarded second place as well, and Joe capitalized on them for the win.

Next up was Hawaii with Dana, John, Jaime, Gina and I.  Dana was focused mostly on boats, while Gina was hitting the Spear Huts hard.  Jaime and I both were going for fruit, and John was trying for Kahunas.  I ended up maxing my Kahunas and getting enough Tikis to score all of my villages but it wasn’t enough to clear 100.  Dana managed to score a bunch of end game points, which was enough to get ahead of Gina to win.

The last game of the weekend was Agricola with Joe, Jaime, Gina and I.  I was originally trying for sheep early and then progressing into Major Improvements and grain, but it never happened.  Joe bought up the Major Improvements early while monopolizing the Occupation spots using the Bookcase and Professional Scholar to feed his family.  Gina snatched up all of the Sheep and Jaime and I were fighting over wood and reed.

I was able to get a single room and kid early, and then had pretty much unhindered access to the Family Growth without Room action to fill out my family.  Joe had played the Constable, and I was able to capitalize for an extra couple points.  The biggest bonus, though was just getting a large family, allowing me to finish a bit more comfortably with a nice 44 point win.

Until next time, happy gaming!