Session Report: February 6, 2003
Players: Chip, Sara, Vitas, Laurie
Games played: Cave Troll, Poker, Magic
CAVE TROLL (0:50)
Sara: 13 31 51 76
Chip: 20 43 66 93
Vitas: 15 35 46 57
After 15 minutes of set-up and rules explanation, we began. Sara hadn't played before, and took her time playing in order to avoid any false moves. This strategy paid off, as she surpassed Vitas in the 3rd and last scoring round. Vitas slowly moved his wraith towards my most expensive room as I raced to finish off the game while still in the lead.
I enjoyed this game, and it seemed to be the first time that all the scoring tiles appeared at regular intervals, rather then too early or not at all. I'd definately play again.
POKER (1:15)
Laurie, Sara, Chip, Vitas
I didn't really keep track of how much money each player gained or lost, except I believe I came out ahead by all of 35 cents.
MAGIC
(0:25) 11 turns
Vitas: 0
Chip: 8
Vitas played with a 5-color deck, and seem to draw cards in exactly the order he wanted (hmmm... Maybe I should have cut his deck again). I still managed to bring out enough creatures with my red/blue creature heavy deck. My deck combined red enchantments that punish opponents when creatures are played (e.g. Onslaught and Furious Assault) with blue creatures/spells with bounce (e.g. Saprazzan Outrigger or Arctic Merfolk). Vitas countered (via Power Sink) my Furious Assault, but I did get Onslaught into play.
(0:10) 7 turns
Vitas: -1
Chip: 20
Vitas played with a black-artifact deck. At one point he used Gauntlets of Chaos to exchange my only swamp for a Mishra's Workshop (useless to me, as I had no artifacts in my deck). I played with a black-red goblin disruption deck. Vitas wasn't able to get a creature in play, so it was a quick game.
(0:12) 9 turns
Vitas: 15 (conceeded)
Chip: 15 (won)
I didn't record Vitas's deck, although I think it was blue, black, and white. Vitas had me down to only 2 life in the last round. However, I managed to get a Llanowar Cavalry enchanted with Armor of Thorns, Ancestral Mask, and Armadillo Cloak (talk about putting all of one's eggs in one basket!) With two other enchantments in play, my sole creature was a 13/17 trampler, and every time it attacked, I gained 13 life. At this point, Vitas threw in the towel.
.chip
Session Report: February 3, 2003
Games Played: Call My Bluff, The Great Brain Robbery, Capitol
Thanks to Chris for hosting.
CALL MY BLUFF (0:20)
Players (listed in order of elimination)
Mark
Ralph
Vitas
Don
Chris
Chip (won)
This is a fun quick dice game. Don, who had not played before, was usually left with the most difficult decisions. I enjoyed this game and would play it again.
THE GREAT BRAIN ROBBERY (0:40)
Lewis: 10
Vitas: 0
Ralph: 0
Mark: 0
Don: 0
Chip: 0
After about 10 minutes of setting up the game and explaining the rules, we set off in search of brains. Early in the game, we all had expensive brains that we couldn't use, so we ended up discarding them to move faster. There were a few fistfights in the engine room, but Lewis managed to hang on to his brain long enough to stop the train and end the game.
I liked this game with its zombie theme. Despite not being the quick 20-minute game that we originally anticipated, it was light, relatively fast, and fun.
CAPITOL (1:15)
Ralph: 4 12 22 39
Marcus: 1 9 20 36
Chip 3 15 27 39
Chris 5 12 22 27
We spent about 15 minutes setting up and explaining the rules. I was surprised at the amount of information that was transparent to everyone: Each player, hypothetically, could know every card that was in each player's hand. I was afraid that my poor memory would put me at a disadvantage, but it seems to me that no one attempted to memorize everyone's hands.
I did, however, try to take note of which players took permit cards in which areas, so I would have a better idea of what I needed to defend. Between that knowledge and watching which rooftops other players used to cap off their buildings, I felt like I had a decent idea of where the next threat was coming from. The next time I play this game, I'll have a better idea of what to pay attention to.
There was also some confusion about how the bidding system worked. Each player decided ahead of time which cards would make up his bid, and placed a marker card to separate the bid from the rest of his hand. Then all players simultaniously revealed one card at a time. It seemed to us that when only one player remained in with the highest bid, that player would win, and would only have to pay the cards revealed.
However, the rule stated that the winning player had to pay his entire bid, regardless of when the other players dropped out. This doesn't seem very intuitive to me: if I decide that I'm willing to pay 20 dollars for something, and the highest competing bid is 9 dollars, I should only have to pay 10 dollars.
Anyways, this was a very fun game, and I'd definately play it again. Between this and Elfenland, I'm going to start seeking other Alan Moon games to try. Ralph suggested Union Pacific, which I hope to try next week.
Session Report: Februrary 1, 2003
Games Played: Magic, Starfarers of Catan, Haste Worte, Crokinole
Players: Chip, Sara, Vitas, Shaun, Alex, Bruce, Mark, Ralph, Rob, Greg
Shaun and Vitas came to my house to play a few rounds of Magic, and then Vitas and I headed over to Matt's house for more gaming goodness. Thanks to Matt for hosting all weekend.
MAGIC (0:55) ~10 turns
Chip: 12
Shaun: -2
I played a green Elf deck, and Shaun played a white rebel-soldier deck (his first constructed deck). Shaun's only been playing Magic for a few months now, but he's got a really good grasp of the game. It was a creature stalemate for most of the game (hence the unusual length for a duel), until I cast Wirewood Pride on an unblocked attacker.
MAGIC (1:29) ~17 turns
Chip: 8
Shaun: 28
vs.
Sara: 0
Vitas: -5
We played a multiplayer game with 2 teams of two players each. Shaun played his white rebel-soldier deck, Sara played a blue tapping deck, Vitas played a black/artifact deck, and I played a black/red goblin disruption deck.
Shaun got a lot of creatures out early (a strength of his deck) and attacked Sara (who wasn't able to bring out creatures as quickly as Vitas). Sara responded by enchanting Shaun's creatures to prevent them from untapping. Between Flood (which hit the table early), and her Giant Oysters, she was able to slow down his assault.
I brought out a number of goblins, including a Goblin Chirurgeon and a few Festering Goblins. I would sacrifice one of the later to regenerate (and thus tap) one of Vitas's opposing defenders as well as kill off one of Sara's 1/1 creatures.
STARFARERS OF CATAN (with 5-6 player expansion) (2:55)
Alec: 10
Vitas: 8
Bruce: 6
Mark: 16
Chip: 9
Ralph: 10
After about an hour an half of setting up the board, finding 6 players, and explaining the rules, we began. Vitas and Mark were ahead towards the end of the game, although Alec (much to his surprise) accumulated 3 points in a single turn close to the end of the game.
This game has really nice bits (especially the starship with attachable components), and the mechanics are interesting and balanced. My personal preference is for shorter games, so I probably wouldn't look to play this game again.
HASTE WORTE (2:00)
Thanks to Rob Elkind for organizing and running this game.
There were 6 teams of 4 (or more) people. The team that I was on took an early lead, but finished the game tied for last. We overbid on a few categories by a single point. This was a fun big-group activity.
CROKINOLE (0:30)
Greg, Chip 25 or so
Rob, Vitas 105 or so
This was my first time playing this game, and I got to witness some amazing shots. I really enjoyed this game, and I'd like to play it again. Perhaps, some day, I might even get good at it (:
Some monthly stats for January
Total games played: 43
Unique games played: 21
Total Gaming Time: 24:53
Total Set-up Time: 1:26
Average Game Length: 0:35
Games played most often (other then Magic):
Set, Quiddler (4 each)
Elgenland, Culture Shock, Dvonn (3 each)
Game of the month: Bohnanza
Computer Games played:
Finished American McGee's Alice
Started Serious Sam II: the second encounter
PS2 Games played:
Dance Dance Revolution
NBA Street
Sly Cooper (rental)
Notes:
Unfortunately, I lost my game journal at the end of the month. I was able to recreate most of these stats from Session Reports, but there are a handleful of games that are not accounted for. Hopefully next month's report will be more complete.
