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!

Weekend Gaming: Chicago Express and Eminent Domain

I was joined by Joe, his friend Brent, Kevin, and Louis on Saturday.  We started off with Chicago Express.  I wanted to take the green line across country to Chicago and I did manage to get the first share of it, but things didn’t quite go as planned.  Joe, who didn’t have any shares quickly put the second share up for bid and it ended up with Brent.  Louis had sole control of Red, but Brent and I were making it difficult for red to continue.  Blue was pretty much halted after its first expansion.

Brent and I were working well on green.  Eventually, though, I lost any semblance of control when Kevin picked up a share and Brent bought a second.  At this point I knew I was out of it, so I tried to derail green, but was unable to before Kevin connected it to Chicago.  Brent picked up the first black share, and I quickly bought the second.  It didn’t end up mattering much.  Kevin quietly had control of green and yellow and was making quite a bit each dividend.  He finished with over $70 and the victory.

We followed that with Eminent Domain including the Escalation expansion.  It was interesting.  It took a bit to explain everything, since Brent hadn’t played before.  Once we got going, it was a little slow as well.  Adding a fifth player seemed to add a bit if you weren’t following the other players’ action often.  Joe was doing some warfare, while Kevin and Brent each had Peace Treaties in play for bonus points.  Louis and I were working with production and trade, but I was slow to get started due to expensive planets.  Kevin had picked up a bunch of research cards and got a nice combination being able to get replenishing fighters and the ability to trade fighters like resources.  Kevin won with a score in the 40’s.

Until next time, happy gaming!

Weekend Gaming: Happy Mother’s Day

First off, happy mother’s day to the mom’s out there.  I was able to spend a little time with my mom on Sunday, so that was nice.

Our Saturday evening games started off with Chicago Express with Gina, Joe, Louis, Kevin and I.  I started off poorly with the green company, while Louis, Gina, and Kevin were progressing the red company quickly to Chicago.  They stalled out, though, as I bought into blue with Gina and Louis.  Blue managed to get to Chicago first earning a big dividend.  Kevin quickly bought into black, and expanded to Chicago for a payout, which subsequently prevented red from ever reaching Chicago.

During all of this, Joe had a monopoly in yellow and ended up trapped in the southern portion of the board.  He never really managed to get out, and Gina’s majority in blue ended up providing her the wealth to win the game.

Gina headed to bed at that point, and the rest of us played Clash of Cultures.  I started off with the intention to develop some trade routes, but Joe put that to rest with his only military unit to score an objective.  Louis had been developing his military pretty heavily, and Kevin wasn’t far behind.

Louis moved toward Kevin, but was able to repel him, causing him to direct his attention to Joe instead.  There were a couple barbarian settlements just between Kevin and I on a choke point between our settlements.  He took one, and I took the other.  We then traded cities back and forth for a couple rounds until I managed to repel an attack from four of his armies with only two of my own.

While Kevin and I were spending our time building and rebuilding our forces, Joe had been developing a peaceful society.  He was about to really expand heavily when Louis attacked and Joe couldn’t defend.  Louis managed to take two of Joe’s cities before Joe could stabilize.

Kevin and I eventually realized we were getting nowhere, so we stopped attacking and just built up.  I was able to score  a couple objectives because of this.  One was for having the most fortresses, which was only possible due to a lucky event draw providing the resources needed.

The game finished with Joe, Louis and Kevin all tied at 24 points.  I finished in the lead with 35.  It was one of the more memorable games we’ve played.

Until next time, happy gaming!