What game is hitting your table?

[Bix Conners]

I am getting some of the truly epic games played lately. In the last month I have managed to play:

2 Games of Eclipse
1 Game of Dominant Species
2 Game of Railways of the World with Combined Eastern USA & Western USA Maps
1 Game of Roads & Boats
1 Game of Mega-Carcassonne
1 Game of Kremlin (Yes, I call it epic)
1 Game of War of the Ring (Collector's Edition)

I apologize that I do not have a narrative on these sessions. Suffice to say, I feel like a kid in a candy store. It was good to get War of the Ring to the table again today. We were a bit rusty on the rules, but now we are in a better position to play again with ALL of the expansion rules. W00t!

[Jolo]

Last game played game was Sentinels of the Multiverse, but I won't talk about that, instead I am going to talk about the game I played last Wednesday.

Viticulture is a game about owning a vineyard, and managing your workers to get the most out of them. Winning is based on who has the most victory points, which are created from filling wine orders.

The game is divided into seasons;
Spring, when you determine the player order, and depending on where you want to go in the player order, you could get a benefit, from extra cards, VP, a temporary worker or a buck.
Summer, when you can assign your workers to tasks such as building new buildings (which allow new types of grapes, provide VP, provide revenue, allow extra cards to be drawn)), provide tours (which provides money), plant crops (which provides grapes), play Summer visitor cards (various abilities), sell grapes (for money)and get new grapes cards. When everyone has passed, you move to fall
Fall, you get a choice of drawing either a Summer or a Winter visitor card (unless you have a cottage, then you can draw any two)
Winter, in winter you can place the rest of your workers, they can, harvest grapes, crush grapes (to make wine), pick up wine orders, play Winter visitor cards, fill wine orders (for recurring money & VP), train new workers, or rent out your leftover workers (for money).
At the end of winter cleanup occurs, wine & grapes age and become higher in value, you discard down to 7 cards and get any yearly revenue you made from selling wine.
The game ends the turn someone has reached 20 VP.

This is a worker placement game, and I don't like WP games, but I do like this one. It has player screwage, you have to plan ahead for fall.

We played a 6 player game, with three never having played it before and the game took us slightly under 2 hours. There are only limited ways to get VP, so you have to do things like get your cellars larger, to allow wine to age longer, which means you can fill better orders (more money & VP) , and mkake some of the blended wines (sparkling & rose).

The only fault is that some of the visitor cards are too high powered in the first edition, second edition should fix that.

This week we are playing Atlantic Star from 2001

[Bix Conners]

Just played a four player game of Dungeon Command.

We played as two team of two. This is a very well designed skirmish game. It has some great game elements and mechanics. I have all 5 factions released to date. I am hoping that they continue to release new factions, but even with the five already available, there is a ton of reply value. I think four player team play is my favourite mode of play so far.

[Jolo]

We played three player game of one of Matt's favourites, Sentinels of the Multiverse,   vs. the Skinwalker Gloomweaver, on the Final Wasteland. The three heroes assembled were: Parse, an archer that can focus on the opponents weaknesses and exploit them, Bunker, a man in an armoured suit who can change his modes to fight better, heal or do both, and Absolute Zero, a man so cold, he needs to be kept as close to absolute zero that he can.

The fight started poorly for the heroes as Gloomweaver kept running up out and more cultists and zombies, which combined with all three relics hurt the heroes, but the cryptids from the Final Wasteland rallied around the heroes and began slugging it out with the evil. They began fighting the spawn as the heroes licked their wounds and began to heal. Eventually the weight of all the undead started to tell its toll on the heroes as Parse stumbled, stricken by an attack of Gloomweaver & his books. This only rallied the heroes as they slowly began to begin their assault on Gloomweaver. Finally he fell, and from the Skinwalker's ashes rose the Rotting God, who could not withstand the combined might of Turret Mode Bunker and Absolute Zero, and several turns later he fell.

Two things really helped us:
1) The cryptids had a card that stated that any card defeated by them was removed from the game, so they ran Gloomweaver out of cards, he had 4 cards in his deck when he flipped. Which meant no more zombies which he used to heal, nor did he have any of the relics for defence, attack or healing.
2) We balanced out our hit points so the cryptids normally hit Gloomweaver's minions, they carried much of the battle until Bunker and Absolute Zero had their damage work ready.

One thing that hindered us?
1) Our inability to heal each other, Bunker and Absolute Zero could heal themselves, as Bunker had damage reduction (-1) and a power to heal himself 2, Ab Zero had the power to harm himself for 1 (then 2, then 3) cold which actually healed him. Parse was left hanging on by the skin of her teeth, and eventually that did her in.

At the end of the game, Ab Zero was doing 8 points/turn to Gloomweaver before he played any cards. Bunker was doing 5 with a power.

The battle went for over two hours.

[Bix Conners]

We played three player game of one of Matt's favourites, Sentinels of the Multiverse...
<bunch of boring stuff removed>
...The battle went for over two hours.

I have had root canals that took less time,
   and were more enjoyable.

Just saying.

[Jolo]

Last night we played High Frontiers in a four player game
2 of the four players were new so the game did not go as fast as it could, and we stopped at 10:15 or so.

Clay (the UN) won by colonizing Mars and putting a factory there (8 points), building a factory way out in the asteroid belt (7 points) and prospecting another piece of Mars.
Rob (NASA) was second, he was first to Mars and prospected one part then returned (4 points), he built a factory out in the asteroid belt (7 points) and prospected 4 other planets (4 points)
Brent (China) finished third, he was first to a planet and back (3 points), first to a science location and back (3 points) , prospected and built a factory on an asteroid (7 points ) and had his freighter out (1 point).
I was the Japanese, I flung my Sony Walkman spaceship into space, aiming for Comet Encke (a science comet) and I got there (almost) as my ship ran into it (0 points). I built a factory out in the asteroid belt (7 points) and set off for Comet Encke again, where my new and improved Sony Discman promptly ran into it again... (0 points)

The game should have ended when there were 7 factories but we called it short, when we were only at 5 factories, I was heading out to create another factory when the game ended, and I believe the UN was as well, so probably 45 minutes longer.

I love this game

Some other things from the game:
China decommissioned two space ships, while in space, and had built the fastest thruster in the game (15 movement impulses/turn at a cost of ½ a point of energy) but it had not arrived yet in Low Earth Orbit. For comparison, my upgraded thruster was 2 impulses, ½ and the UN was using a 5, 1/3  one. NASA was using some bizarre mix of sail and thruster.
I was first in space, and was at Encke the first time before anyone else had launched, then I blew up.
NASA thought they had run out of fuel on Mars, but since Rob was a new player, I explained how he could hop to an asteroid, fuel up again and get back to earth.

[Bix Conners]

World Cup Fever caught hold, I finally got my game of Subbuteo to the table...
...I LOVE IT.

Most people who play games with me on a regular basis know that I have a soft spot for dexterity based games. Sports simulations seem to really capture my attention. I really enjoy PitchCar, AffenTennis, and now I add Subbuteo to the roster.

The first game I played was a two player game with Colin D. We played for roughly 20 minutes and the game was scoreless. Well, that seems to simulate soccer.

I played a second game with Dan B, and in the second play, I started to see more potential for setting up plays. The game requires a significant amount of coordinating your players, their field positions, and the ball handling. We played for roughly a half hour and the game ended with Dan beating me 2-1. His second goal was on a penalty kick 

The third and final play was with four players. Bryce R and I took on Greg V and Tim S. We rotated a players off the table every five minutes so there was no real downtime for anyone. In the second set of match=ups, we decided to play real-time which is in spirit of true Table Top Soccer rules. In essence, it means the attacking players, (possession of the ball), does not have to wait for the defending player to flick or position their players before taking his next attacking move. This added even more tension and tactics to the game.

I very much enjoy the game and I thinking seriously about upgraded my materials to make a higher grade permanent pitch. Big fun. If you are in Regina and would like to play Subbuteo, give me a call...

[Jolo]

We played another game of High Frontier on Wednesday, this time with 2 player.

Brent was China, I was NASA.
NASA went first and put a 5-1 thruster up for sale, which China bought for three WT. In retrospect, I should have bitten the bullet and took it for three as he used it for the entire game. We both spent some time building our forces and eventually I launched a mighty spaceship, crew and a solar sail (1-0). Brent quickly followed suit and he headed for a science planet as I went for Encke my own science planet.  China was faster and got there and back (6 points!) when I realized that my solar sail could not reach Encke because of the loss of solar push. So I went someplace else, flew back and built a better spaceship.

China, in the meantime, was ship rebuilding in preparation for another flight. I was merrily looking for things to make mine better and I ended up with a 3-4 thruster.

I guess I should explain how thrusters work, using my 3-4 thruster as an example. You have to calculate your Total Movement Points (TMP) which is a calculation of your thrust, in this case 3, minus your wet mass modifier (I will get to that, but mine was -1) plus solar bonus, if applicable (not here, so 0), plus ESA laser (not in this case 0) plus afterburner, if applicable (1). So, my TMP was 3+(-1)+0+0+1 or 3. I had 3 total movement points.  Every time I use my thrusters it would cost me 4 points of water. I had put 6 tanks of water on my ship, which gave me 16 total points of water for movement (or four steps).

I managed to get my ship out to the asteroid belt where I built a new thruster factory (the 15-1/2 one) but it was pretty late in the game by the time my freighter got home so I only had the chance to build one more factory, get to Mercury and back prospect a couple of planets. China in the meantime had built two factories, prospected a little more and we called it a game.

China won 26-21 because he had made a trip to a science site and back.

Next week, High Frontier, with some of the advanced rules.

[R Newell]

I've played very few games since January, but the wife and I have played a few in the past week (which were actually the first games I've played since April).

Mage Knight: We played a game of Full Conquest, which is our go-to mode. Her score slaughtered mine: 143-72. I should have played more aggressively and conquered some of the keeps she'd previously conquered to at least close the gap.  She beats me at this game pretty consistently now because I generally play too cautiosly.

Firefly: We tried the Pirates & Bounty Hunters expansion. I was Jubal Early in his ship and she was the other new guy in the other new ship. I was just about to drop off a bounty to claim victory by collecting a fifth goal token when she raided my ship to collect a goal token for herself as well as steal one of mine to snatch victory for herself.  I like the increased player interaction this expansion introduces.

Star Wars: The Queen's Gambit: As always, I played as the Trade Federation and she played as the Naboolians(?). What a close, back-and-forth game! My Battle Droids were effectively mowing down her Palace Guards.  Captain Panaka fell while guarding the Queen (though it turns out it was her decoy).  Meanwhile, Darth Maul killed Qui-Gon Jinn but was very quickly cut down by a vengeful Obi-Wan Kenobi. Obi-Wan then swooped into the palace, but the wife made the tactical error of running past Battle Droids to get to the third floor instead of destroying these stragglers on his way up. This would come back to bite her.  (For those who haven't seen this game, the palace actually has three floors.  Very cool.)

On the battlefield, my Battle Droids were able to bring down the Gungan shields by taking down one of those big dinosaur things. I then brought in my AATs and started soaking the field with the blood of dead Gungans (a bit more graphic than The Phantom Menace's climax, I know), though her catapults were quite competent at mowing down my AATs in return.

In the end, my Battle Droids that Obi-Wan had ran past earlier were able to swarm the third floor, kill the Queen's decoy, leaving just Obi-Wan and the Queen left alive (the good guys need three surviving units in the palace to win) to secure victory for the glorious Trade Federation. This occurred just after Anakin failed in his attempt to destroy the Trade Federation's orbiting base, thereby shuttin down every one of my droids and removing them from the game (another necessary condition for a good guy win). Epic game. I think my wife has learned her lesson: the best defence is a good offence.  If she used Obi-Wan to clear out those stragglers, she would have definitely won.

(Oh, and I rolled a pair of double-hits with a Destroyer Droid to kill Captain Panaka and a trio of double-hits with Darth Maul to kill Qui-Gon in back-to-back attacks. The odds of five double-hits with five dice? 1 in 7,776. My midichlorian count must be off the charts.)

[Jolo]

Another day, another game of High Frontier, this time with some of the advanced rules and five players, this time we used Colonization with the Support Module, the Colonist Module and the Combat Module. The players were, in turn order; Brent (Peoples Republic of China/PRC, 4 previous games played), Jason (United Nations/UN, first game), Conal ( European Space Agency/ESA, first game), Darrin (The Shimzu Corporation, second game) and myself (NASA, fifth game). Since there were 5 players the game would go to 7 factories, not that we made it that far.

I spent about 30 minutes explaining the general rules and the new rules for the expansions, as the Support Module adds three new support cards; Generators, Radiators and Reactors, as some of the original resources; Robonauts, Thrusters and Refineries, would now require them. Then I explained the colonist module, which was not as heavily used as the Support Module but was useful in that it allowed a second action, for a fee. The advanced game also uses politics, and gives victory points to whoever is in power at the time.

The game started with everyone slowly building up their fleets and we moved into Anarchy quickly, which meant that people were unable to use their special abilities except the PRC (claim jump, water steal and impolitely decommission crews in space), but as a bonus, we could all use that ability.

The UN launched first and made it out to a nearby science planet and back before anyone else had launched (6 points), using solar sails. I was the second to launch and landed on the moon, one turn ahead of the Shimzu and their juiced up cosmonauts, who then decided to head back to LEO (low earth orbit) and rebuild/replan for their next venture into space. The ESA launched and took a slow boat Mars, and by they arrived the Shimzu were there as well. I played chicken with the PRC and did not launch from the Moon until the PRC had gone by on their ship (to prevent claim jumping).

Meanwhile, the UN had rebuilt their ship and started Solar War, as apparently they did not care for the Libertarian Work ethic, this allowed us to fight. It also meant things were touch between Shimzu, ESA and PRC as they were all near Mars. As soon as Shimzu headed back to Earth to claim their glory, the PRC claim jumped and took the Shimzu claim on Mars, immediately building a factory there, the first in the game (10 points). While Shimzu and ESA struggled to get back to Earth, I built a factory on the Moon (10 points).

We ended the game at about 11 PM with the scores as follows:
PRC – 13 (10 for factory, 1 for stolen claim, 1 for freighter, 1 for factory cube)
UN – 6 (3 each for first to science and back and first back from any planet)
ESA – 2 (two claims)
Shimzu – 3 (first to Mars and back)
NASA – 13 (10 for factory, 1 for claim, 1 for freighter, 1 for factory cube)

NASA won due to having 4 WT (water tanks) compared to PRC's 2.

The game took us about 3 hours and we completed 16 or so turns, but the speed was accelerating as the UN was two turns from building a factory on Mercury, PRC was 4 turns from getting their freighter back from Mars and I was 2 turns from getting back to Earth with my freighter. I cannot comment on what PRC had built on Mars, but my Generator added 4 to my thrust, making my ship a 7:1 (7 moves at a cost of 1 each), allowing me to explore deeper in space and get to the juicier planets.

I think we will do this again in 3 weeks...