Board Gaming Galore!
Whereas, in the course of daily events, I have been inspired to create a page dedicated solely to one of my favorite pastimes.
Recent Games Played11-20-10Three-player Hanging Gardens in progress.
Another Seize Your Turn game day! Lots of fun, LOTS of new faces, and a couple of new games! I finally got to play my never-opened Princes of Florence, tied for first but lost on money. Shades of EQ!! Learned a new game called Alien Encounters and actually managed to win it, then went on to win (by three points) a round of Ticket to Ride USA 1910. Last game of the day was another new one, The Hanging Gardens, which is a really quick but neat little filler game. I'm horrible with names but here's a pic of that game - the guy on the right beat the crap out of us, 84-49(me)-27. Still, it's a good game, I'd play it again. :)
11-19-10Dominion (Prosperity/Intrigue) - Three games w/Kevin & Paula. We did the 6 prosperity and 4 intrigue combo again, getting more familiar with the new cards. Game results:
Game 1 - Paula 55, Kevin 51, me 41 Game 2 - me 81, K 69, P 42 Game 3 - me 41, P 34, K 29 11-12-10Dominion (Prosperity/Intrigue) - three games with Paula as Kevin was working. This is the new expansion of Dominion and we were eager to try it out, so we used 6 Prosperity cards and 4 from Intrigue to round it out a bit. I had my butt handed to me in each game! Some of Prosperity cards we definitely like: Counting House, Royal Seal, Rabble, Talisman and Kings Court. Game one was pretty close, 45-41, but game two was a total blowout at 107-67! I made good use of the Monument card but it wasn't enough to overcome Paula's constant Colony-gathering. Her Goons also kept me from gaining any kind of advantage. Game three was closer, but I could never seem to have the right cards in my hand when the Mountebank showed up. Multiple Contrabands kept Paula from gaining the big cards frequently, so the game lasted longer, but I still couldn't improve my standing, ending with 45-39.
EuroQuest, 11-4 through 11-7A semi-final of Power Grid in progress.
Final statistics aren't up yet, but I created a geeklist on BGG detailing my experiences.
Some games we played over the weekend include: Lost Cities, Princes of Florence, Power Grid, Settlers of Catan, Ticket to Ride, Can't Stop... 10-8-10Dominion (all versions) - three games w/K&P, in KOP. LOL. :) The first game Kevin beat me by two points 44-42, but P had a rough time ending with only 20. The second game saw two attack-curse cards come out, Familiar and Sea Hag, so the ending point totals were correspondingly low. How low? This low: I won with ZERO points! Both K&P were in the negative, -2 and -3, respectively. The final game was similar to the first with Kevin beating me by one point: 47-46-27.
10-3-10Ingenious - this was an afternoon of games we haven't played in a while, and Kevin couldn't win no matter what he did, heeheehee. :) This one was pretty close, 12 to 9.
Senet - this is an Egyptian strategy game for two players, and we played it twice. Kevin had never played this before so he had to give it another try after he lost the first, but while the second was closer, I still won. Carcasonne Hunters & Gatherers - I got this game a few years back as a door prize at a mini-convention, and had never played my copy of it til now. Another close game, but the clincher for me was getting a hunter in a meadow with no tigers at all, pushing me into the lead 159 to 148. 10-1-10Puerto Rico - another Friday night of gaming with P, K & D. I struggled the entire game, boo. K emerged victorious with 50 points, followed closely by P with 48. I was a distant third with 37.
Dominion (all versions) - two games, I won both while K was 2nd each time: 25-19-13, and 48-33-31. 9-24-10Power Grid - (France map with the new Power Plant deck) - one game w/Kevin & Paul. We kinda messed this one up a bit during set up so it went on longer than it should have (forgot to remove 8 plants from the deck), but it made for an interesting game, seeing all the plants come out. Kevin once again dominated the whole game and finished in first, powering 14 plants. Paul and I could each power 13, but I had more cash than he did.
Dominion (all versions) - one game w/Kevin & Paul. One word: possession!!! OMG...never have I seen that card used so much! I actually managed to possess Paul, who pulled the Possession card himself so I possessed Kevin in turn, who ALSO pulled the Possession card during play which allowed me to possess myself!! That's never happened before - wild! Kevin, however, was able to get at least four Provinces from possessing us (FOUR!! #$(*%&*($&%), so he won with 52 points. Paul was second with 39, while I came in a distant third with 25. 9-18-10Sieze Your Turn game day! (see the full write-up of the day here)
Dominion (all versions) - first time I've played a 5-player game of this one, and with curses flying everywhere it was a very low scoring game. Final tally: me with 14, followed by Kevin (11), Marcie (9), Kevin S (3) and Paul with exactly zero. Hey, at least he wasn't in the negative! :) [Side note: a couple of other games of this were played later in the day but one of those was The Game That Wouldn't End - it went on for two hours!! Sheeeez.] Settlers of Catan - another 5 player game, which had the Longest Road title flipping back and forth several times, causing the lead to be gained and lost frequently. It was hard remembering who was in the lead, but I emerged victorious, retaining Longest Road then placing another village and flipping over a Victory Point card I'd gotten earlier from the Development deck. Woohoo! Ross was hot on my tails with 7, followed by a three-way tie (!!!) for third between both Kevins and Marcie. For Sale - we played two games of this very quick bidding game, with Marcie winning the first by a decisive margin (14 points over the second place player), and Kevin S beating her in the second game by one point! Incan Gold - another quick push-your-luck filler game, and much better when more people join in. Ross won this by a wide margin (55 pts), while the rest of us struggled in the 30's. Scrabble Slam - Kevin S and I played two hands of this one, he won both. I got stuck with the J in both hands and could not get rid of it! Pfooey. :p Hive - A quick strategy-filler game with Kevin S resulted in a tie, where both of our queen bees got smothered. Oh well. Ticket to Ride (USA 1910) - I seemed to be the only one in this game that had tickets running in directions that were nowhere near everybody else's! The east-west route through the middle of the country was getting fought over like crazy, but even with tickets that didn't have that kind of competition, I couldn't quite catch up to Kevin S, who won with 110 pts. I followed with 99, then Jawad (78) and Ross - who unfortunately lost points because he got blocked out of Las Vegas early (46). Good reminder of those odd little cities that have one or two entrances/exits - get them early!! :) 9-17-10Puerto Rico - one game w/Kevin and Paul. Kevin dominated the entire game! Shipping, building, trading - you name it, he was rolling in the dough and points. He won with 57 points, while Paul topped me with one point, 42-41. Grr.
Dominion (all versions) - two games w/Kevin & Paul. These were pretty close games - Kevin came out on top in the first game with 37 points, followed by me with 30 and Paul with 29. The second game had myself and Paul tied with 44 points each (Kevin had 39). The original Dominion rules for tie breakers are friggin goofy so we never use them, opting for counting our cash instead. I had 26, Paul had 19. |
9-10-10Dominion (all versions) – three games w/Kevin and Paul. The first game we played was a total blowout, with each player being 30 points away from the next! I won with 93 points; Kevin came in second with 62, while Paul rounded it out about 35. I’ve never seen a higher score in Dominion, nor such a huge difference in point totals! The next two games were much closer: I barely beat Kevin in the second game (36-31-22), but Paul came out ahead in the final game, edging me by 11 points (33-22-9).
September 1-7, 2010Vacation time! Spent a week in Montego Bay, Jamaica, but managed to get a few game plays in:
Scrabble Slam – the new card game version of the classic board game. We played two games, I won both. I like this game. Kevin doesn’t. Heeheehee. Knizia’s Decathlon – Hot dice! We played three games of this on two separate days. On the first day we each won a game, Kevin won the third. 8-28-10It's a Ticket to Ride mini-tourney again! Three games with Kevin:
Nordic Countries (1 game) - VERY close game, I won by one point, 102 to 101. USA 1910 Mega (2 games) - The first of these two games was another nail-biter, but Kevin prevailed 137 to 132. He insisted on a tie-breaker, which ended up no contest. We were pretty close in track points, the both of us going cross-country on several tickets. He went from LA to Boston via Canada, while I went LA-NY right through the midwest. The ticket total put me in the lead, and while Kevin got the 10-pt contiguous route bonus, I had completed 3 more routes than he did so I got the 15-pt most tickets completed bonus, pushing me further ahead with 174 to 158. 8-27-10Power Grid - one game w/Kevin and Paul. This was Paul's first time playing PG - we're getting him familiar with Eurogames in preparation for EuroQuest in November. :) Naturally we helped Paul out, giving tips on strategy and why this plant is better than that plant, etc. This is also Kevin's favorite game and of course he won. He was the first to build 17 cities, triggering the end of the game, but he could also power 18 so he would have won either way. Both Paul and I built to 16, but Paul had waaaay more money than I did, so he came in second.
8-21-10It's a Ticket To Ride bonanza! We played one game of all three, where I could not seem to get the big-point tickets at all. Kevin swept this mini TTR tournament:
Nordic Countries - Kevin 179. me 91 Switzerland - Kevin 103, me 90 USA 1910 - Kevin 167, me 93. Well, at least I'm consistent. :p Scrabble - one game w/Kevin. I won this one, 229 to 209. How did I manage to get the SAME SCORE again??? This is totally weird... 8-20-10Puerto Rico - one game w/Kevin and Paul. This game had a different feel than the one we played last week, not only with game familiarity but also the odd mechanics of a three-player game. (no Prospector?!? Agh!) Lots more building and producing going on. This time I got the Construction Hut early and got 4 Quarries out of it, while Kevin jumped in early on both the Small Market and the Office, but he didn't notice how I'd gotten both the Small Market and Large Market, enabling me to trade single barrels of Sugar for 5 cash! Paul concentrated more on cornering Indio production, and both he and Kevin kept crafting and shipping. However, seeing that I couldn't compete with the shipping gurus, I instead kept buying violet buildings including the Factory (which worked nicely when they kept crafting) as well as the Harbor, We all got at least one big building, Kevin got two, but my building strategy paid off in the end as I finished in first with 59 points. Kevin was a close second with 57 then Paul with 44.
Dominion (all versions) - two games w/Kevin and Paul. I got absolutely destroyed in the first game, mainly because I could not for the life of me get rid of the pile of Familiar curses being thrown at me. The only card that could get rid of them was the Apprentice and I could never get 5 coins in one hand to buy one! Serious deck pollution. Nobody - and I mean nobody - got a single Province card in this game! I ended in the positive (barely) with 4 points, Kevin had 14, but Paul won with 21. I came back with a vengeance in the second game, however, and once again the curse deck was emptied, this time by the Witch. Even though I again had trouble getting rid of curses (I used the Masquerade for that, not one I'd normally use), I did manage to acquire a buttload of Duchys which pushed me into first with 35 points. Kevin had 18 with Paul not far behind with 14. 8-13-10Friday the 13th!! Worked out pretty well for me:
Puerto Rico - one game w/Kevin and Paul. This was Paul's first time playing PR so we helped him out a lot. Kevin was in position one but got stuck with no money for most of the game and thus could not get ahead no matter what he did. He could produce indigo and corn and then ship them but that's all he could do. Having no money was crippling and he could not build at all in the mid-section of the game, so he ended with 30 points. Paul did quite well, making good use of the Construction Hut and Small Market, finishing with 46 points. I got the other Small Market as well as the Harbor which pushed me into the lead with 57 points. I almost never win PR, so that was nice. Dominion (regular, Intrigue, Seaside AND Alchemy) - one game w/Kevin and Paul. Interesting assortment of mostly Seaside cards including the Black Market, Ghost Ship, University, Sea Hag and Baron. Paul and I got a few choice cards from the Black Market early in the game which spiced things up a bit. Both Kevin and Paul ended the game with point totals in the 30's, but I prevailed with 50-something points, bwahahahahaha! :) 8-10-10Thurn and Taxis - one game w/Kevin and Greg. This is another one we haven't played in a while, so we were all kind of new to it. Kevin and I were jockeying for first place the whole game as Greg kept getting distracted by his 1-yr old son, otherwise he would have been right there with us. In the end I emerged victorious by a whopping two points! Oooooo.
8-8-10Thebes - one game w/Kevin. We hadn't played this one in ages, so it was nice to revisit this archeological treasures game. It was pretty close, too, but I prevailed: 98 to 91.
Scrabble - two games w/Kevin. Ahhhh, the classics. Always fun to drag this one out every now and then. I won the first game 229 to 188, while Kevin won the second 261 to 229. How'd I get the exact same score on both games?!?? Weird! :) 8-3-10Ticket To Ride Switzerland - two games w/Kevin. First game was close; I won by 12 points. Second game was a total blowout - I nearly lapped him in points. His winning streak appears to be over, bwahahahaha!! :)
8-2-10Ticket To Ride Nordic Countries - three games w/Kevin. I absolutely CRUSHED him in the first game so severely that we didn't even bother totalling up the points; he would have been in the negative. He made the bold move of keeping all five of his original tickets, but because I cut him off at a strategic point early in the game, he only actually made ONE ticket. Ouch. He won the next two games. Rats. :p
Monopoly (Star Trek edition) - one game, which Kevin won again. He got Fleets on ALL of his properties; I couldn't compete. Boo. 8-1-10Ticket To Ride (1910 mega version) - three games with Kevin. He won ALL THREE. I was not pleased.
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My GamesStill working on it! Actually, at this time of year, it's more than likely going to change, thanks to BGG's Secret Santa. :) In the meantime, here is my wishlist on Board Game Geek.
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