Thoughts of a Flying Sheep

If you pay really really close attention, you'll notice something different about FlyingSheep.com today.

All of the pages in the quiz section are now pre-rendered! That should mean that they display much more quickly. In fact, everything on the site should be at least slightly faster.

posted by FlyingSheep @ 3:00 PM 0 comments

I've got Jak and Dexter out for a few days, so Oni's taking a short break.

posted by FlyingSheep @ 11:25 AM 0 comments

Session Report: August 25, 2003
Games Played: Land Unter!, Formula De, Switch, Magic
Gamers: Ralph, Chip, Vitas, Sara, Lowell, (Chris, Rob, Josh, Mark)

Thanks for everyone for coming.

LAND UNTER! (0:30 for 4 rounds)
Sara: 8
Chip: 7
Ralph: 6
Vitas: 3

Ralph suggested this game because it has sheep in it. It's a lot like 6 Nimmt! except that players switch hands after each round, so everyone gets a chance to play with everyone else's set of cards.
Sara and I discussed our strategies afterwards (always a sign of a good game). I think that you should play your lowest card first, as having no flood cards is an advantage. So long as someone has a card that is higher then the two cards being bid on, the bids will be high, so getting under the bid (and staying safe), will get easier as the game goes on. Of course, bidding high occasionally (say, on two low flood cards) will ensure that you aren't forced to take a number of cards later on.
Sara disagreed with my strategy, and she won, so she's probably right (: This was a fun quick game, with very little downtime.

FORMULA DE (1:23 play + 0:17 setup)
Vitas: 1st
Chip: 2nd
Lowell: 3rd
Sara: 4th

We played on a regular sized board (#28 maybe?) with the Mini ruleset. Sara and I hadn't played Formula De before, and Lowell hadn't played with the mini-rules before. We chose the longer of the two courses, with only 1-stop curves, and limited the race to 2 laps. Afterwards, we agreed that we could have done 3 laps with the shorter course, which would have included a 2-stop curve.
I'm not a big racing fan, but I really enjoyed this game. I'm not sure if I would like it as much with the full set of rules. Having a single pile of counters to consume is a lot simpler then having different counters for different aspects of the vehicle. Of course, simpler means quicker gameplay, but also means less strategy.
I'd definitely play the mini-rules version of this game again. I'd be willing to try the regular version as well.


SWITCH (0:20)
Sara: -13
Chip: -13
Vitas: -17
Lowell: -19

Initial reactions to this game were mixed, so I wasn't sure if we'd get through 4 rounds of it. Lowell and Vitas were kind enough to indulge me, so we did play a complete game.
I think this is the best game in its class (quick card-playing), although I think removing the A1 and H8 cards would improve the game - I'll have to remember to do that next time.


MAGIC (0:46)
Chip and Sara: won
Lowell and Vitas: lost

We played with 4 decks of varying levels of quality. Sara and I played primarily green big decks, and Lowell and Vitas played Black (and Black/green) decks. Unfortunately, Vitas didn't draw any forests, so his deck didn't work as well as it should have. I think he and Lowell may have been at a disadvantage from the beginning.
Vitas played Liability (players lose one life when a card goes to their graveyard), and he and Lowell had creatures with regeneration, so they did have some good synergy between their decks. Lowell formed a 9/3 regenerating monster with Kjeldoran Dead and 2 copies of Sinister Strength. Much to my surprise, Sara forced him to attack with that creature (Boiling Blood), and I was afraid that he would attack me! Instead, he attacked Sara, who blocked with a 4/3 creature. When Lowell announced that he was going to regenerate his creature, Sara countered it with Bind. Lowell didn't have any more mana, and his 9/3 went to the graveyard, taking 3 of his life (from Vitas's Liability) with it.
I should create 4 or 5 good multiplayer decks and just leave them alone for opportunities (rare as they are) like this.

posted by FlyingSheep @ 11:25 AM 0 comments