Games as a way of life

It's been a while, I hope any potential readers didn't miss me too much! :)

Yesterday saw the unwrapping of Chicago Express, the Narrow Rails/Erie expansion for same, Homesteaders and Terra Prime.

I got Chicago Express as part of a package, because I wanted the English rules (I picked my copy up from Germany) and the expansion looks good. Homesteaders and Terra Prime were pre-ordered. This new publisher needs to do something with his supplier. Both games were very nearly dripping despite desiccant packages that were added after they arrived in the states. On the bright side, I only had some minor tearing when punching. The main board and player shields are slightly warped, but probably still usable. I'll be trying to get these games on the table at ROBA today!

My in-laws arrived and after eating too much, repairing a long broken closet door (my father-in-law can fix anything, I think) with JB Weld, playing some Wii and catching up on a few computer games, then setting the tone for the evening watching some female relatives discuss the Yule log that we'd gotten from Rudy's (a great little local grocery), we cleared the table for some games.

I still owe a review on Word on the Street, so we dragged it out for another play. The "girls" beat the "boys" convincingly without using the magic word, YAMS! Then we started a marathon Dalmuti game with seven of us that lasted a few hours with Z reigning supreme with 54 or 58 points. Then some of the guests departed and we played a few games of four player Run Wild, a real time Rummy game. We finished the evening (and a couple bottles of wine) off with a couple games of PowWow.

Here is my geeklist from Great Lakes Games: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/48294

Because we had commitments on the weekend like Marching Band State Finals and hockey practice, I took Thursday and Friday off school and convinced my friend, John to head down with me. I'd have loved to have had Zandra and Hanson along, but didn't think suggesting that they skip school to attend a gaming convention would be well received. There were a bunch of kids there, so I may try for one day off next year and hope that it doesn't conflict with marching band.

About four games in, I realized that I'd not played a game at the con that I'd played beforehand. So I decided to make a theme and played only games that I'd not played and only play them once. (Towards the end, I bent a little and we played Dominion: Seaside three times.

I enjoy learning and teaching games, but am not sure that two days of it does justice to the games. The next to last game was one called Shipyard and I came away with a less than good impression (as outlined in my Geeklist). I've since read reviews and discussions that make me think that I didn't like it only because of new game overload (a rare condition for me to be in). So I'll have to try it again someday.

I think Dungeon Lords may have been my favorite and I am definitely looking forward to playing it again. This year was an odd one for me in that I didn't pre-order (or post-order, for that mattter) many Essen releases. Partially a budget constraint, but also, my basement game area is full. I need to clear out some games and/or play some of my shrinkwrapped treasures.

We dug out and old one to let my kids humble me. H beat me in a game (convincingly), then Z took a homework break and won a close one. then H really humbled me. I really like the game, but am not fast enough. My wife found some at Dollar Store for a buck, so we evangelized some. At least one game has proven a hit at some neighbors.

Then tonight, H and I logged on to BSW for some Dominion, then discovered a new one (to us) called Numeri. Checking it out on BSW, we learned it's from the 70's, but we couldn't find any for sale on eBay.

Labels: family gaming

I just squeaked out a Race for the Galaxy win over on the Genie server http://genie.game-host.org/main.htm.
Going into what looked like the last turn, my opponent had the lead, but no cards in hand. I had six cards, I think. There's no way that he could have known it, but I couldn't play enough points to catch him. I picked develop and settle which would get me close. However, he explored which gave me a nice planet instead of the low point one that I would have played.

In my opinion, he made the right play by exploring, hoping to play a card in whichever phase that I chose. In this case, it backfired. It's a little frustrating to be in the situation where you do the "right" thing in a game, but it proves not to be the case in that situation.

Larry and Kevin were just setting up Race for the Galaxy when we arrived, so Hanson and I jumped in. Hanson bailed after the first game, but we played another and were just finishing as Steve arrived.

I suggested Last Train to WensleyDale and no one objected, so I explained the rules and we were off. The goal is to deliver the most cheese, rock and passengers while retaining as little track as you can. It definitely puts a different twist on train games. So in each of four turns (with four players), you want to build enough track to grab the pre-game seeded passengers and cargo, then sell the track to one of the two major (NPC) companies. Each round there's an auction for influence in four areas; political, equipment and each of the two major railroads. The political determines who builds track first and is consumed when removing citizens opposed to trains. The equipment influence determines the order that players buy trains and pick up cargo. It is consumed to purchase the trains (each of which has a different capacity). The influence with the railroads is consumed to build into spaces where the railroads are and to convince them to take your track. Profit (or loss) each turn is calculated by goods shipped (two for rocks) minus total track owned by the player. After four rounds, players get a VP for each good and passenger shipped plus a bonus of two VP for each set of four. Then VP are lost for each link of track still owned by each player and the final profit (or loss) is added to the VP total.

I enjoyed it, but the others weren't sure about it. There is a lot going on and I think familiarity will make it more intuitive. I look forward to trying it again.

We finished with two more games of RftG. Good night of gaming!

Our company has installed some filters and unfortunately this site is filtered out. So it's harder to blog because I have to do it in the morning or evening now instead of while eating lunch.

The only new game since my last post was Halo. H enjoyed it, but I wasn't impressed. Friday I did get to play Race, Power Grid and Dominion at Kevin's. Hoping for some more gaming this weekend.

Ted Alspach's fall package arrived and I am really looking forward to Beer and Pretzels.

Last night after H's hockey practice, we headed to Kevin's for some gaming. Larry taught us his new game, Magnifico. This is war in the middle ages if Leonardo's inventions had been realized. So in addition to infantry and castles, the players can build tanks and gliders.

Some really neat ideas, but not sure it works well for five players.

This afternoon, H and I tried Lord of the Rings two player and didn't make it out of Shelob's Lair. We want to play with more than the two of us.

Croquet was fun with three balls each, though. Beautiful weather, so we also went on a couple bike rides. One to hardware store and one to the grocery.