Session Report: February 26, 2004
Games Played: Epic Duels, Hick Hack, Land Unter!, Bohnanza
Gamers: Dylan, Chuck, Eric, Chip, Matt, Geno, Marianne, Sara
EPIC DUELS (0:55)
Eric, Chip: won
Dylan, Chuck: lost
Eric (the Emperor) and I (Jango Fett) played the dark side against Chuck (Mace Windu) and Dylan (Anakin Skywalker). Anakin came out swinging, with Padme close behind. Unfortunately, that meant that he was an easy target for Jango and his sidekick Lam, as well as the two Royal Guards. The Emperor and Mace stayed in the background, sending their minions into the fray.
After Lam finished off Anakin with a sniper shot (6 damage if not blocked), Jango and Lam went after Mace, while the Emperor and his guards tracked down Padme. Unfortunately, Dylan was stuck with mostly Anakin cards in his hand which, while they kept Padme alive, reduced his offensive and defensive options. The game ended as Mace was killed by another Sniper Shot.
This game is pretty light, but it's a lot of fun when players get into the theme, especially as much as Dylan did. Incidentally, Epic Duels is on sale at KB Toys for $4.99 online (I've heard it's $7.99 in stores). [url]http://www.kbtoys.com/genProduct.html/PID/1624639/ctid/17/INstock/Y/D/530/ls/default[/url]
HICK HACK (0:12, 0:12)
Marianne: 44, 42
Geno: 38, 42
Matt: 37, 35
Chip: 33, 24
Sara: 8, 24
After dinner, we played two rounds of Hick Hack in Gacklewack (aka Pick Picnic). Marianne beat us all in the first round and then tied with Geno in the second. Despite my relatively low scores, I did manage to eat two chickens in a single turn, netting 11 points. Otherwise, I was out sync with everyone else - placing my chickens right in front of a fox while my foxes went away hungry.
This is a great starter game - very fun, light, and social.
LAND UNTER! (0:38)
Sara: 18
Marianne: 13
Matt: 12
Chip: 10
Geno: 8
Next out was Marianne's favorite game (as long as she's winning), the drowning sheep game. We played all five rounds relatively quickly. Marianne and Sara played Matt's opening hand well, while Sara did best with Geno's initial set of cards. Matt did the best with Marianne's hand, and everyone except for Matt and Geno did well with Sara's hand. Matt also did the best job with my first hand (which I scored -1 with). Sara won by a large margin, never scoring less than 3 points in any round.
BOHNANZA (0:50)
Chip: 19
Geno: 15
Marianne: 15
Sara: 13
Matt: 13
We ended the evening with a round of Beans. While this is a solid game, after a number of plays it becomes a bit mechanical. Still, negotiating with other players and watching the dynamics change is always fun.
The garden beans (6) came out early in the game, and I was fortunate enough to eat up 5 of the six, making the last bean utterly useless. Sara was stuck with this bean twice, although I offered to burn it for her (I think she's still trying to figure out how I profited from that). I was usually the first to make an trade offer, and pushed to complete the deals before other players could put together an offer (especially a better offer!). I think this, along with a number of lucky draws, contributed to my success.
I had a great time playing games. Hope to see you all again next week for more board games (and maybe some Magic).
Session Report: February 23, 2004
Games Played: Mama Mia, Syzygy, Finstere Flure
Gamers: Josh, Marianne, Sara, Lewis, Vitas, Joyce, Chip
Thanks to Josh for hosting.
MAMA MIA (0:40)
Chip: 7
Sara: 5
Marianne: 4
Joyce: 4
I've heard a lot about Mama Mia, and was looking forward to trying it. While it does have a strong memory component, which isn't my cup of tea, I enjoyed my first play of this game.
During the first round, I was completely lost. We were all new to the game, so we didn't really know what we were doing in the first round. Nevertheless, everyone managed to complete at least two pizzas - except for me. I didn't complete any.
In the last two rounds, I tried to make sure that I ended my hand with a lot of ingredients to help complete pizzas that were otherwise impossible. I was one card short of the Bombastico in the second round, but managed to complete it in the third (while leaving an olive open for my last pizza).
I'd play this game at least once again, but I'm not really thrilled by it.
SYZYGY (0:23)
Sara: -1
Chip: -1
Joyce: -3
Josh: -15 or so
Marianne: -20 or so
Josh offered a word game and Sara jumped at it, so out it came. We were all new to the game, except for Josh.
We each had a good run of completing our crosswords as the game progressed. When a player completes his or her crossword, it's usually pretty easy to place the next tile (especially if it is a vowel). As such, usually the same player would call "Draw" five times or so before getting stuck, and then another player would take up the stream. It's a little frustrating to draw additional tiles when you're having difficulty playing the tiles at hand, but it's not overwhelming.
There was some discussion at the end about the validity of one of Josh's words. Although I was the first to question it, I was willing to let it pass. Sara, however, realized that this point could tie her for first place, and challenged the word. I believe the majority opinion was that the word in question was not valid. Otherwise, Josh would have won with 0 points.
It seems to me that a player could play very well throughout the game and then get stuck with a bad tile near the end and thus lose the game. I think that drawing more than a single tile would make an interesting variant, as it would reduce the twitch factor of the game. I would definitely play this again.
FINSTERE FLURE (1:14)
Lewis: won
Josh, Marianne, Sara, Vitas, Joyce, Chip: lost
There was a collective sigh of relief when this game finally completed. I was a little lukewarm on this game when we played with four, but seven is far too many.
I did find more strategy and planning in this game than in the previous play. At least twice, I took advantage of the fact that the monster doesn't change direction if players are equidistant. I found this sort of planning very satisfying.
Close to the end of the game, I was under the impression that Josh and I were close enough to exit with two of our pieces during the next turn. As he would be the start player, he would win. Instead of using my third guy to lure away the monster, I tried to use him to lure the monster towards Josh. Unfortunately, my plan failed and the monster ate all three of my characters in a single walk. During the next turn, I realized that Josh wasn't about to walk out the door with his second character, so, had I successfully sacrificed my third character, I would have won.
While I definitely wouldn't play this game again with seven, this second playing exposed some strategic thinking that I like. Overall, my impression of this game (with four or less players) has improved.
