tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-40433728923885828992024-03-13T20:53:54.399-04:00Settlers of DuneYou don't stop playing because you grow old, you grow old because you stop playing.Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10127199317146493976noreply@blogger.comBlogger41125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4043372892388582899.post-89673900927587270362011-10-11T00:56:00.002-04:002011-10-11T00:58:27.026-04:00WrightCon 2010To honor WrightCon 2010, I thought I'd write it up before we have WrightCon 2011 (this weekend).<br />
<br />
After a the usual back-and-forth on dates, we chose December 30, 2010 as our last gasp to get in a gaming session before the end of the year. Just squeezed it in.<br />
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We met at Casa Wright, which is close enough to the whole crew while having dual advantages of being in the Land of Cheap Beer and is close to fantastic barbecue (<a href="http://www.goodycoles.com/" target="_blank">link</a>)!<br />
<br />
We started sort of late; 11:15, with a game of <a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/33160/endeavor" target="_blank">Endeavor</a> contested by Alan, Joshua, Mike, Ross, and Scott.<br />
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I waited waaaay too long to remember details of this game, except that it has dozens of playing bits that are frankly not that cool. But the game was good, a close contest (as the final scores will attest) where Scott came from behind in the last two turns to pull out a victory in just about 2 hours.<br />
<br />
The final tally:<br />
<br />
Scott = 55<br />
Joshua = 52<br />
Mike = 51<br />
Ross = 48<br />
Allan = 43<br />
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We had to break for lunch then, and IIRC it was subs instead of BBQ -- which has to be a "booooo" even though the sandwiches were very good.<br />
<br />
At 2:00, the same five players played the new and improved version of <a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/5/acquire" target="_blank">Acquire</a>, Lloyd's Rules with the wild-card pieces. In this version, each player gets one "wild card" piece to start the game, and it can be played on any open space on the board. The idea is that it pretty much guarantees every player can cash in on an early merger, which means no one is stock-rich/cash-poor for too long.<br />
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It worked out pretty much as expected, and not all of the wild card pieces even got used. Allan and Joshua enriched each other with two mergers, alternating majority and minority shares and both getting the big bonus and the small bonus once each. Ross then gave both of them another merger with minority share, putting them even further in the lead.<br />
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No one got cash tight, although there were several complaints about the continual stock trading allowed in Lloyd's Rules. It seems to give players incentive to calculate how to skim out another $100 or $200 a round, while they wait for the right time to merge and get the big payoff. This rule was intended to make sure no one got stuck with all shares and no cash, and thus nothing to do for most of the game -- but somehow in our hands it became another game strategy.<br />
<br />
Anyhow, as we hit mid-game, Scott locked the majority in what would become the game behemoth, and Mike had the minority share mostly protected. Then Ross and Scott happened to pull off the same "Allan/Joshua majority/minority" gambit three times in two turns. Scott was the beneficiary, holding the majority stake two of those times. And he combined that with the majority in the largest company to scoot by for the win at 3:45.<br />
<br />
The final tally:<br />
<br />
Scott = $48,800<br />
Joshua = $44,800<br />
Allan = $42,300<br />
Ross = $37,300<br />
Mike = $30,500<br />
<br />
Ross had to leave, so Allan, Joshua, Mike, and Scott played <a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/30549/pandemic" target="_blank">Pandemic</a>, which was really the game that made it all worth while. We played it four times and the game beat us every time... that's what made it worth the trouble. It was hysterical to play, as the game continually kicked our ass and we theorized on how to play better the next time, only to start up and get pummeled again in minutes.<br />
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Here is the tally, with Panedmic winning every time:<br />
<br />
Started at 4:00, lost at 4:15<br />
Started at 4:15, lost at 4:35<br />
Started at 8:45, lost at 8:48<br />
Started at 9:00, lost at 9:50<br />
<br />
All told, we played four games in 88 minutes and the uber-experienced gamers couldn't win a single time.<br />
<br />
But the funny part was Mike told us his kids beat the game more than 60% of the time. In fact, we were playing the easiest rules, and his children beat the game on both easy and medium, and almost beat it on hard. We all thought he was misplaying it at home, missing some crucial rule that was kicking our ass. Joshua made the argument that the game was mathematically impossible to win, and the company should be paying <b>us</b> for play-testing it.<br />
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Allan didn't want to play it any more because it was clear we sucked at it. And Scott said the game constituted false advertising because it said "takes 45 minutes to play" and we averaged just 22 minutes a game.<br />
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But the bottom line is that Mike has played over a dozen games since then, and his children continue to win on a regular basis. So maybe if he brings it up we can try it again -- with a little tutoring from the kiddies.<br />
<br />
In between the second and third games of Pandemic, we took a break with a nice relaxing game of 1830, which is a fantastic game, but it's one we played to death years ago. Joshua called for the game, because he wasn't in the group when we played it before, and we agreed only if we played the short version.<br />
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Again, it was Allan, Joshua, Mike, and Scott, and the game of <a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/421/1830-railways-robber-barons" target="_blank">1830</a> started at 5:00. I confess it has been too long for me to remember the game in the kind of detail I'd like to give, but here's my best shot.<br />
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In a four-player game everyone should be able to start their own railroads on the first turn, but that did not come to pass. Allan bought the Pennsie small railroad, but then started the B&M, which meant he couldn't get it fully started until the third time we came back to the stock round. Once he had the B&M, he ran it like a champ, getting into New York and paying huge dividends. His was the stock to own; but that initial mistake cost him too dearly.<br />
<br />
Scott got the small stuff to start the CanPac (or as we like to call it, the "Hopes and Dreams" railroad). He ran it well, paid out nice early dividends and even got some additional investors. But his fateful mistake was forgetting to sell in his small stuff at the end of an operating round, and thus having to wait until the next turn to start his next railroad. And Mike beat him to the New York Central, leaving Scott with the Erie, which languished for a few turns and never really paid much.<br />
<br />
Joshua started the B&O and had the southern side of NYC all to himself for a long time. But his second railroad was the C&O, which was just too far away in the short game to do him much good. He made a good run of it, combining to further hold down Allan after he finally started the Pennsylvania, but in the end, he came up short of the juggernaut.<br />
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That would leave Mike, who started with the New York New Haven, ran it for good money and sold in his small stuff at the right time, and then combined it with the New York Central. With all those railheads and the early lead in combining railroads in high-priced real estate, it was almost certain that he'd win.<br />
<br />
But just for fun, he spend one stock round buying up shares of our stock and dumping them just to pound the price. And when Scott tried to swing into NYC for a last-gasp, of course Mike was there to thwart him with a carefully placed railhead. I guess when you're the king you can beat up whomever you want -- even if it's everybody! He wrapped up the win at 8:30 -- just 3.5 hours, not too shabby.<br />
<br />
(Not bad recall for something that happened months ago, eh?)<br />
<br />
The final score:<br />
<br />
Mike = $3,020<br />
Allan = $2,866<br />
Joshua = $2,124<br />
Scott = $1,989<br />
<br />
Last game of the day/night was <a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/36218/dominion" target="_blank">Dominion</a>, with the same four players, starting at 10:10. This is a card game, and this was our first time playing, so I won't have any of the terms right. But it sort of went this way.<br />
<br />
Allan pulled to an early lead, developing a strategy that converted gold into VP, and Scott followed a similar one, converting something else into VP. Mike and Joshua were lost at first, with Mike collecting too many cards to protect him from things that didn't happen very often, and Joshua immediately stocking up in one area instead of being diversified.<br />
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Scott noticed that Joshua's "hoarding two items" strategy allowed for an early game-end scenario, so he started buying the same thing once a round. And after he and Joshua emptied that pile, the game was over at 11:15, and Scott had correctly calculated that he was slightly ahead of Allan.<br />
<br />
The final score:<br />
<br />
Scott = 21<br />
Allan = 18<br />
Joshua = 7<br />
Mike = 5<br />
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Scott was declared the WrightCon 2010 Champion, with three victories to Mike's one -- although there was some joking that Pandemic beat us four times, which should make <b>it</b> the Grand Prize Winner :)<br />
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The victories did allow Scott to eke past Joshua in the "Overall Victories" tote board (check it out at the top-right of the page). And that is about it.<br />
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Hope you enjoyed reading about it as much as we did playing!Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10127199317146493976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4043372892388582899.post-42145195429387728732010-12-27T18:00:00.000-05:002010-12-27T18:17:24.065-05:00CombsCon 2010It all started with an email from Allan, pointing out that some weblog said we hadn't gamed in over six months. He was right, of course, that blog is meticulously kept by yours truly, and it had been quite some time since we sat down as friends and beat the crapola out of each other.<br />
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And so it was decided, we'd meet at the board of battle on August 14, 2010, and make sure no one left without questioning their own game skills after getting at least one sound beating for the day. It almost worked out that way. I am a little bit fuzzy on the details of the day, but read on for what I can remember and don't forget to check the comments below for corrections from the aggrieved parties.<br />
<br />
It started innocently enough; a game of <a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/40692/small-world" target="_blank">Smallworld</a> with Allan, Mike, Joshua, and Scott. We started at 9:30... and at 9:35 Scott said, "I've blown it already." Luckily for him, we had to undo the first two moves since we misread the rules -- which is our own <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfWDilXZQEo" target="_blank">Classic Blunder</a>. So we reset the game and started again.<br />
<br />
Not that it helped; Scott chose Haflings and then put their hidey holes in places that were already difficult to attack -- leaving his other forces easier to defeat. To compound his problems, he hammered Mike for a few rounds, convinced that Mike was a close second; only to find out Mike was way behind. Oh, and Scott also rolled like Allan... er, that is he rolled poorly, all of which sealed his fate as a third-place finish.<br />
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Mike put his Elves into a different set of mountains and declined them, and then ate up two races from the southern edge of the board. But between mediocre payoff from the Elves and the beating he took from Scott, he finished a distant fourth.<br />
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Joshua made better use of his restart, moving his first race into the mountains and declining them immediately. And those guys went on and on; just piling up points the whole game. He paid dearly for his next race (I think it was Orcs), but it was worth it as they dominated the west side of the board for a long time. <br />
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Allan used the classic deflection strategy, continually complaining that he was DFL (dead fucking last) while all the time building on a solid base. He took a race with 6 bucks on it, used them and then declined them for another race the next round. It was a solid play, and almost got him there. But in the end, Joshua eked out a victory over Allan. The game ended at 11:45:<br />
<br />
Joshua = 97<br />
Allan = 93<br />
Scott = 91<br />
Mike = 75<br />
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Scott had the quote of the game, when he was trying to figure out which race to take in the mid-game: "It's better to be *bad* at math in this game."<br />
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After licking our wounds for 15 minutes, we cranked up a game of <a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/5/acquire" target="_blank">Acquire</a>, adding Tom to the mix, and playing with "<a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/294305/lloyds-rules-of-acquire" target="_blank">Lloyd's Rules</a>" (a variant Allan bought online). We started at noon, and by 12:40, Scott found a rule we'd forgotten was "in old print, in *both* sets of rules!" It didn't affect play at that time, so we didn't have to undo anything.<br />
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Lloyd's Rules allow for selling stock back in if you are cash tight, and as per usual under these rules, all 8 companies were started and active within a few rounds. No risk in starting a new company, you can always sell out later, so there were companies all over the board, including in all four corners.<br />
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America started in the lower-middle, and Scott was the unchallenged king of that stock. Unfortunately, Joshua had the two tiles that would merge it, and he sat on them almost the entire game. Most of the action took place up top of the board, with Quantum taking over Hydra, and Saxon looking like it would become too big before Quantum ate it up, too.<br />
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Tom was the merge person for several of the early acquisitions, and even though Joshua and Mike benefited from them, he was in the minority position most of the time so he was flush with cash. Allan and Mike had a strange little back-and-forth for a few rounds, buying mirrored shares of Zeta and Saxon, and in the end being the top two dogs in only Saxon.<br />
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It was too late for Scott and Allan by the time they got their first mergers (America and Saxon, respectively), and so they were out of the running. But oddly, even though Tom wasn't the top stakeholder very often, he rode stock appreciation and some minority stakes to the win. It wasn't pretty, but in his first game, Tom came out with the victory:<br />
<br />
Tom = $39,100<br />
Joshua = $37,000<br />
Mike = $31,600<br />
Allan = $28,400<br />
Scott = $24,600<br />
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We followed that up with a game of <a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/40692/small-world" target="_blank">Smallworld</a> again, given that everyone except Tom was well versed in the rules. That would also give us a great chance to come back from that lashing Tom gave us in his first game with the group. Or so we thought.<br />
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Scott hopscotched around the central lake, putting his race in positions that were difficult to attack. Mike went for the southern strategy, putting his Dwarves in the mountains and declining them, only to start another race that didn't quite pan out. Allan brought out one of the gobbling races and slogged his way through Joshua's minions from northwest to southwest, before chomping through Mike's guys in the south.<br />
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Mike changed strategies by bringing in the Wizards and packing away the points in Allan's abandoned northwest. However, Scott was nearby and decided to take them out, so they didn't last long in decline; though in the end the decision to hammer Mike was another blunder.<br />
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In the meantime, Tom brought out the Humans and ran them toward the north, getting double points multiple times along the way. Scott beat him up pretty good, but even with only three men left, Tom stuck to his guns and didn't decline them. He scored 5 points a round by double-pointing two of them, and despite advice to decline them, he played them to the bitter end and pulled out the victory. It also earned him a promise that we wouldn't help him as much in the future; although we all advised him to decline the Humans and he rode them to victory, so what do we know?<br />
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The final tally:<br />
<br />
Tom = 84<br />
Scott = 79<br />
Mike = 71<br />
Allan = 78<br />
Joshua = 68<br />
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Determined to restore our honor, we brought out old standby <a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/475/taj-mahal" target="_blank">Taj Mahal</a>, kind of a fun card-and-board interaction game with cool pieces. Frankly I waited too long to write this update to remember, but I recall it seemed close until the last three rounds, when Tom shot out to a big victory. He wasted us again:<br />
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Tom = 50<br />
Mike = 37<br />
Scott = 36<br />
Allan = 33<br />
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Joshua begged out, claiming he had tickets to some concert or something as he whimpered in the corner. We all knew he just couldn't take the beating; but at least he escaped without having to face Tom the Juggernaut again.<br />
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We tried a classic Liars Poker variant, <a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/13301/caribbean" target="_blank">Caribbean</a>. Allan and Mike fought to a stalemate the first round, and Tom and Scott picked up and delivered one cargo each. Mike said, "How did we miss that one?" The second round was the same, except Scott got two cargoes in the southwest quadrant. Mike repeated, "How did we miss *that* one?"<br />
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By that point it was a Scott and Tom battle, with Scott picking up enough rum to take the lead and Tom delivering enough to stay close behind. But less than a half-hour in, Scott was just inches away, so he picked up two he couldn't deliver to get to 29, and then delivered one next turn to end it.<br />
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Scott = 34<br />
Tom = 27<br />
Allan = 20<br />
Mike = 4 (that's right, 4)<br />
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And so in the end it was Tom winning 3 of 4 games he played, and emerging as the CombsCon 2010 Grand Champion. Of course, that left us all licking our wounds and wondering how the hell it happened. He beat us by flying under the radar, but listening to our advice, and by ignoring our advice. Maybe he's just good at this board game thing.<br />
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Congratulations to Tom and thanks to all for playing. It was a lot of fun; sorry the update took so long.<br />
<br />
- ScottScotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10127199317146493976noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4043372892388582899.post-82951319505382297012010-01-09T10:34:00.030-05:002010-01-09T15:48:09.543-05:00WrightCon 2010<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">We started the 'Cons early in 2010, meeting at Allan's the second day of the year for a Saturday of gaming destruction and overall merriment. Here are the results of the first 'Con of the new year.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">The snow slowed the commute for some participants, so we started our first game at 10:00, a five-player </span><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/40692/small-world" target="_blank">Small World</a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">, with Allan, Joshua, Phil, Ross, and Scott. The game has you competing for terriroty with existing and declining races, and it has an interesting game mechanic. Each race has special abilities and each is joined with a "type" that adds its own extra abilities. So identifying the most potent combinations is key.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Phil and Ross jetted out to early leads, scoring 12 - 17 points a turn through the early rounds. Ross got the Merchant Skeletons, a race that regenerated itself and paid double for each land section; Phil played several races, and continued to score on his declining one for a while. And of course, given that they were the dreaded "game leaders" the other players hammered those two to bring them back to the pack. It worked on Phil, but Scott and Allan weren't fully coordinated and let Ross' Skeletons survive far too long. Allan said: "I did my part," and Scott replied: "Ummm... I didn't know I <span style="font-weight: bold;">had</span> a part?"</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Allan started with the Dwarves, which he said was the losing move when he made it. And of course, that proved prophetic, as he held three mountain spaces with them for much of the game but it didn't add a lot to his score. Scott wasted the first few rounds, then used the Flying Giants to get back in the game, before sending them into decline too quickly. He eventually got the Humans and played them to great effect on four farming territories for 8 points a round (plus his declining Giants).</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Joshua got the Ghouls about halfway through the game, a race that plays like a living race even in decline. He did okay with them but didn't decline his other races quickly enough to take full advantage of having an extra race to score. And by the time he knew that Wizards weren't Sorcerers... well, it was time for him to complain that it threw off his strategy (just kidding, sort of).</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Late in the game, Phil was obviously toast, having lost his early mojo to legions of doom from multiple other players. Joshua never made the Ghouls really pay. And though it looked like Al and Scott were also-rans, each was scoring 10-15 points in the late rounds to close the gap. But in the end, they couldn't catch Ross and his wire-to-wire Skeletons, who went on to victory even though they are undead flesh-eaters that you'd never invite to a party. Er, I meant the Skeletons are the undead flesh-eaters... not Ross, he was a pretty decent guy. The final tally:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Ross 97</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Allan 92</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Scott 90</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Phil 78</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Joshua 73</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">When the game was over, Joshua noted: "I was wrong; it's 1:00 and Mike </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:trebuchet ms;" >still</span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"> isn't here." Mike arrived 3 minutes later :)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">We went for lunch before returning for a six-player </span><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/19319/power-grid-franceitaly" target="_blank">Power Grid: France/Italy</a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"> (with the new </span><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/29416/power-grid-the-new-power-plants-cards" target="_blank">Power Plant Cards</a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">). As a group, we </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:trebuchet ms;" >highly</span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"> recommend the Power Plant Cards (they fix some of the big problems of the original deck) and also suggest the France/Italy variant -- new maps are always good.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">It all started as one would expect. Phil got the lowest numbered power plant and so he took all three spots in Paris. The players stuck with high numbered power plants had to build last and that led to some complaints about where people had to build (your ears burning, Allan?). The first round had Phil at 3 cities and rest of the crew at 2. Ross and Joshua competed north and west of Paris and Mike and Scott shared the south and east. Allan was on his own in the expensive area near the Swiss border.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Because of the adjusted rules, there were some seriously good plants coming out. Heavy bidding led to some semi-expensive plants; a green 3 plant and some flex-fuel 3 and 4 plants went for 50% above face value. Ross and Scott mostly stayed out of the big bids, both using position to wait until the rest of the players were out of the auctions. Allan went fifth or sixth in the auctions, but was hamstrung by waiting for the 39 plant (a green 5) to come to market. So he was short on plant capacity for much of the game and definitely in the end game.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">On the board, Ross spilled over to Allan's area, giving Al both competition </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:trebuchet ms;" >and</span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"> expensive builds. Scott and Mike had their sections mostly to themselves, though late in the game Scott built quickly north to ace Joshua out of some cheap builds and extend the game. Phil didn't quite get his plant buys right, and on the board he was surrounded, with expensive builds to the south and three players to his west, east, and north. You might guess from that that he ended up in last, which is correct, three cities behind the fifth place player.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Back to the front-runners. Joshua fell behind the pack when Scott boxed him in, and thus got his choice of plants and very cheap fuel. Mike was one city behind the two leaders, having built all the cities he could in his area, but he had plenty of plant capacity, His next building area was north, toward expensive cities and in competition with Allan and Ross, so he sort of needed Phase 3 to come, which it never did.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">In the last round it was obvious that Joshua and Scott would end the game with at least 14 cities. Joshua spent some money on fuel so he could run his plants for the cash tie-breaker. Scott was building second-to-last, so he skipped the fuel because he couldn't guarantee his city builds. And that was the deciding factor. Both of them got to 15 cities, but when Joshua ran his plants he had more cash and that won him the game. The final score:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Joshua 15 cities ($115)</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Scott 15 ($41)</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Mike 14</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Ross 12 ($220)</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Allan 12 ($120)</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Phil 9</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">We discussed the ending for a bit, before deciding on a six-player </span><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/5/acquire" target="_blank">Acquire</a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">, with a modified rule set that Al bought. The new rules have a way to trade in stock if you are cash tight and do away with two-for-one stock trades when mergers happen. There are also some rules about tile placement at the end of the game, but that didn't change the game this time.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Hydra started early on the edge of the board, and Saxon started dead center. When Phoenix and Quantum (with Scott noting once again: "Quantum never crashed!") started above and below Saxon there was a run on Saxon stock. But Phil had some tiles that merged it and some that made it bigger, so while Al and Scott fought over the majority stake, Phil was growing Saxon and eventually it was too large to be acquired.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Once that was over, the stock trading rules came in. Joshua and Mike were buying more expensive stock, and when they were out of money they traded their Saxon to buy more Phoenix and America. That meant Scott and Al had to keep an eye on their Saxon holdings, as more stock became available on a regular basis. Mike traded his Saxon to load up on Phoenix and Quantum, even as they got more expensive.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Joshua thought the rule didn't help very much. Since most of the majority/minority stakes were decided and you couldn't two-for-one, he thought it was just a way to chase stock appreciation, which is questionable proposition, especially in a six-player game. That makes sense; even if you have tiles to grow your stock value, no guarantee you'll get to play them before someone merges the company.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Phil developed this odd habit of merging companies in which he had no stake, enriching Allan once, Joshua twice, and Mike three times. Ross and Scott wondered when their turn would come, but it never did. (Setting up a likely "Ross and Scott gang up to hammer Phil" at the next game session. Nothing personal, Phil.) But with Mike, Joshua, and Allan newly flush with cash, and most of the companies now active, the buying frenzy left the stock market nearly empty.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Allan still had to protect his Saxon position (as Saxon grew and grew), so he didn't get as much Zeta or Quantum as Mike. He had some Hydra, but that didn't merge until very late in the game, and by then Scott had beaten him to the minority share. But again, the majority bonus went to Mike, and it was clear he was the game leader. But Saxon was taking over everything in sight, and Mike didn't own much if any, so his victory was not assured.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">When Joshua merged a late-starting America, the majority stake was shared by Phil and Scott. We went a full round where everyone placed a tile and bought as much Fusion as they could, as it was their only play (no room for new companies, no other stock to be had). And once Fusion was merged it was time to count up the carnage.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Scott was the Saxon majority share-holder by one over Allan, which was a $6,000 swing. And the bank actually ran out of money. But in the end, the Saxon effect wasn't enough to overcome Mike's advantage of being in so many acquisitions, which gave Mike a $400 win. The final score:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Mike $38,200</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Scott $37,800</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Joshua $32,700</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Allan $30,100</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Phil $27,400</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Ross $23,800</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Ross went home at that point, leaving Mike, Allan, Scott, Phil, and Joshua to play finish the day with a five-player </span><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/40692/small-world" target="_blank">Small World</a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">. This one was strange. Allan took the Skeletons to start, but they weren't Merchants so they didn't pay like they did in the first game. Nonetheless, Phil hammered Al on turn 3, after two rounds of bad scores by Al. Allan took it personally, and he and Phil got into a mutually-assured-destruction deathmatch in one corner of the board.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Meanwhile, Joshua got the Ghouls earlier and made them pay by keeping them in the mountains and skimming off three of four points a turn the entire game. He quickly brought the Wizards into play and sent them into decline so he could play a third one. Scott took Elves that could live in the water and marched across the board to hold all three water spaces, after which he put them into decline. Mike used the Tritons to clean up some of the Wizards, and then he put the Tritons into decline.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Phil finally pulled a "no mas" in the fight and brought out the Rats, taking large chunks of the board near Joshua's Ghouls. And Scott scooped up 5 victory points on the Orcs and had a big round with 8 more points from them and 5 from his declining Elves. He was also near the Ghouls, but Joshua kept them stacked up in the mountains and they paid through the end of the game. Allan continued to play the Skeletons, marching around the board picking up easy kills to grow his group and score well.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Mike started another race (can't recall which one), and he cleaned up Joshua's declining Wizards and some of Scott's declining Elves. Joshua's third race was the Dragonmaster Haflings, who have hidey holes that make specific spaces nearly undefeatable, and their Dragon control meant they could destroy one stack of someone else's pieces per turn... and trust me, Joshua took full advantage of that.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">The game sort of played like the board was too big; what with Allan and Phil battling to the death in one sector and three other players moving around mostly unencumbered. The end game had Scott foolishly holding on to the Orcs, Mike ending Joshua's run with the Wizards, and Joshua holding on for the victory. Mike complained that other players advised him to take on Joshua for the possible win, when he could have been hammering Scott and come in second. So in the future we have to remind Mike that he would rather come in second. Often. I personally pledge to do it as much as possible :)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">The final score:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Joshua 89</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Scott 84</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Mike 82</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Phil 66</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Allan 57</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">On the whole it was a lot of fun -- called "the best snow day ever" by many involved. Thanks to Allan for hosting, and to the rest of you for slogging through the bad weather. Next time we have to do a six-player Dune; and hit </span><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://www.goodycoles.com/" target="_blank">Goody Coles</a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"> for sure!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">See you in the sand... or the snow,<br /><br />- Second Place Scott :(<br /></span>Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10127199317146493976noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4043372892388582899.post-13259213990325884602009-12-17T19:40:00.012-05:002009-12-17T20:04:33.220-05:00Overall Victories Updated!<a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVb8nW6jwCY53MX9YTfdfTyUytGRE2KBcFYL-fy-JtOV7qQZbjW-AAV_rQbcalIXWF0Pt4FgHv389BuCLQIyICW1boRScaV7y6yBozGkpu5PAzC3TSCSVnLUiWL-V10l-4iV-WV-oHA6Lp/s1600-h/before.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 235px; height: 277px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVb8nW6jwCY53MX9YTfdfTyUytGRE2KBcFYL-fy-JtOV7qQZbjW-AAV_rQbcalIXWF0Pt4FgHv389BuCLQIyICW1boRScaV7y6yBozGkpu5PAzC3TSCSVnLUiWL-V10l-4iV-WV-oHA6Lp/s320/before.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5416370937109364674" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy-6qnv4hM5OFkEdxqDCx8JfJL4BFIMnQdCNcD03fc4XWgtQik6KTd9K1y83Xxd3F5AXhQ05n77pcUn7Tq-PszPLqtCzvZDJYUjfw3K8ZzFcpzheu_YjmMsBRf3kCyfvQCk5rVeKJ0QBNQ/s1600-h/after.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 202px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy-6qnv4hM5OFkEdxqDCx8JfJL4BFIMnQdCNcD03fc4XWgtQik6KTd9K1y83Xxd3F5AXhQ05n77pcUn7Tq-PszPLqtCzvZDJYUjfw3K8ZzFcpzheu_YjmMsBRf3kCyfvQCk5rVeKJ0QBNQ/s320/after.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5416375644505818722" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">I went through all the recorded games we played but that aren't yet summarized, and came up with the definitive "Overall Victories" list. The current running total is at the right, but as a basis for comparison, I took screen shots of the before and after totals.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Joshua just maintained his lead, but the gap closed, from 4.5 games over Allan to a razor-thin 1.5 games over Scott. Note that between them Joshua and Scott have more victories than all the other combatants combined (103.5 to 97.5). Allan slipped to third, but he and Mike C. have a solid toe-hold in the second pack. Anne is a surprising fifth (and looks likely to keep that position for some time), though Lori W. still games once in a while.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">As for the rest of the names, I have no idea who Eric, Tony, and Kevin are. Lori K. and Mike B. don't game much any more, and Christine and Vishal are long gone. Though Vishal will always remain in our hearts -- stopped by to play two games and skunked us both times, then went out on top like </span><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Elway" target="_blank">John Elway</a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Anyhow, this update is based on games from the following Conventions:<br />CombsCon 1998<br />CombsCon 1999<br />WrightCon 2000<br />CombsCon 2000<br />CombsCon 2001<br />WrightCon 2002<br />CombsCon 2002<br />WrightCon 2003<br />and WrightCon 2004.<br /><br />The "Overall Victories" do not include any video game wins. Tie games with no tie-breaker (or no notation of who won the tie-breaker) are 1/2 win for each player, and communal wins (e.g. an allied win in Dune) count as a win for each player in the group that won.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Enjoy the update; I will enjoy the belly-aching at my methodology, the crying about how a Guillotine win shouldn't count as much as a solo Dune win, and the trash-talking.<br /><br />Let the jockeying for "head boot-licker" begin!<br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">- Scott</span>Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10127199317146493976noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4043372892388582899.post-63063875415396380002009-12-02T14:07:00.016-05:002009-12-03T10:41:52.445-05:00CombsCon 2009, Part III<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Allan, Mike, and Scott convened on 11/28/2009 for a quick day of gaming, and it was a very interesting and enjoyable gaming session to be sure. But there seemed to be a theme running through the day: "Never throw in the towel." At least two games were marked by players not giving up in the face of overwhelming odds and coming out on top. More in the the updates, but the lesson of the day seemed to be that as long as the game continues you have a chance to come back. To wit...</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">We started with an 11:00 game of </span><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/475" target="_blank">Taj Mahal</a><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">, an enjoyable card and property game Allan found at a gaming convention. After a practice round, we got started, and Scott jumped to an early lead, getting three senators to Mike's one, while Al got the city. Al continued building cities and extra "goodies" to get the matches that meant more victory points, and Mike tried building a chain of properties that would connect and re-connect for extra VP.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">All of us learned the lesson that sometimes it's better to pass early and get better cards for the next round. In fact, during the game, Allan said that you should always keep an eye on turn order so you have enough cards to play when you are the first to go. And of course, even though he said it, Scott had to learn the lesson on his own -- twice! Mike always had lots of cards, so he seemed to understand from the beginning.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">The game was close, with all three players playing the role of "game leader" from time to time. But turn 9 or 10, Allan used almost all his cards to dominate a round, and he powered to a commanding lead. The scores were something like: Allan 45, Mike 30, Scott 28, and it looked like a blowout.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">At that point, Mike actually said out loud that he was trying to decide if he should go after Allan or hammer Scott to solidify his own second place position. In the end, he played the last rounds to win, and it paid off. Allan was out of cards, so Mike mostly won the next round, with Scott keeping pace. So now rather than a 15-point lead, Allan led Mike by about 7 or 8 points.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">In the last round, Allan tried to win some things with his five-card hand, but couldn't do much of anything. (Afterward, he said he would have scored eight points if he'd just passed, but he ended up with only three.) Scott was a non-factor -- just too much ground to cover -- so it came down to Mike's huge stack of cards and Al trying to squeeze out some points and hold on. In the end, Mike came through, winning by five points with an inside chain that surrounded the main city and had most of an outer ring, too.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">The game notes say he "chain-ganged us to death" and that's how it felt. Again, Allan might have won if he'd dropped out first in the final round, but tried in vain to get something going only to get shut out after using up his hand.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">The spoils of not turning on your fellow gamer and trying to win outright:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Mike 56</span><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Allan 51</span><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Scott 51</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">The game only took about 90 minutes, and would go even faster if we replayed it. Highly recommended as a three- or four-player game. Five-players might be interesting, too, as you'd have to compete for the five decent things you can win every round.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Next was a quick game of </span><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/13301" target="_blank">Caribbean</a><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">, with the same cast and crew, Allan, Mike, and Scott. Most of the action took place up north, with Allan and Scott butting heads over some ships early on. Mike was the game leader after two rounds, and it appeared that it might become a runaway. All this despite his apologetic assertion: "I'm sorry guys; there are three rules and I can only remember two of them."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">When the southern booty showed up (no, not </span><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gisele_B%C3%BCndchen" target="_blank">Gisele Bündchen</a><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"> -- Cartagena and Caracas!), Allan got back in the game with a nifty steal and delivery. Scott was back close a few rounds later, and all of a sudden it was a dead heat to the finish. Mike and Al blocked each other for an entire round -- and by that, I mean they had the exact same tiles in every single position. Scott sneaked by to hold the lead for just a moment. But he was out of moves, and Allan won with a right-side of the board delivery and a pick up in the lower left.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Final Score:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Allan 42</span><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Scott 34</span><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Mike 34</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">(Our second tie for head boot-licker.)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">We broke for lunch and then Allan, Mike, and Scott came back to play </span><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/2651" target="_blank">Power Grid</a><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">. This was a fascinating game. Al got semi-hosed by ending up first (thus getting the worst plant), and Scott jetted out to an early lead by placing his cities in an advantageous building area and powering two in the first round. Mike was close behind, and Scott went third for a while by keeping his bad plants but paying through the nose for of fuel.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Allan got a "green" plant and wasn't paying much for fuel. And he espoused the strategy that if you can't power a city, then don't build it. That led him into last place, but it was a very strategic move because last is best in the mid-game (you get to buy fuel and build cities first). Mike and Scott had more cities than Allan for a while, and the cost of coal and oil was through the roof. We even ran out of coal one round.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">About the time we got to 10 cities, Allan moved back into the lead. He just couldn't help building, and Mike had no money because he spent $150 for the 25 plant. It was a bargain, as he ran it until almost the end of the game, but he was hamstrung when it came to building cities. At 12 cities, Scott could have won the game with a 5-city round, but he would have had to not buy any fuel in order to build those cities, and he was sure that would have been noticed. Unfortunately, that missed opportunity left him with the most cities but lousy plants.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">This was the second time a player faced the "tank it or keep trying" dilemma. It looked like Allan was a lock to win, only one city behind Scott and lots of plant power. Scott even pondered aloud, "I guess I could just build to 17 cities and let Allan win so we can move on to another game." But for the second time, the player decided to keep trying, and in fact, Scott used the uncertainty of whether or not he would end the game to make the other players work to one-up each other whenever they could.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">In any event, it was then that we hit the inevitable three-player Power Plant Lull. The plants available for auction sucked and would have done nothing for any of us, so we passed for three rounds. In another round there was just one plant bought, and Step 3 hadn't appeared, so our city-building opportunities were limited. We were in stasis with Scott at 16 cities, Allan at 15, and Mike at 12.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">The last round before Step 3 the power plant logjam broke and all three players got new plants. At that point, it didn't make sense for Mike or Scott to end the game, and Allan spent all his dough on plants, so we went one more round. Then Step 3 arrived. Allan kept just enough cash to build two cities to get to 17, and he bought more plant power than the other players could match. Mike got the 50 plant (for $50, BTW) -- the first time that plant had ever been in a game of ours -- and Scott bought all the plant power he could but it only added up to 17.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">But in a twist of fate, the last round went like this:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Allan could only build 17 cities, even though he could power 18, so his final score was 17.</span><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Mike could only build 17 cities even though he could power 18, so *his* final score was 17.</span><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">And Scott could have built many cities, but could only *power* 17, so his final score was 17.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">That's right, folks, a three-way tie for first. And with Allan and Mike lower in cash, Scott skated by for the win he might have gotten 8 turns earlier. The final tally:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Scott 17 cities (242,000 in Elektro -- i.e. cash)</span><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Mike 17 cities (125,000 in Elektro)</span><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Allan 17 cities (0 in Elektro)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">It was another example of not giving in to the temptation to end the game prematurely. Scott could have tanked it, but ended up winning by staying the course.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Our final game was a quick one of </span><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/5" target="_blank">Acquire</a><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">, with Allan, Mike, and Scott playing again. Apparently this is an old game, going back to 1962, but we have a more modern copy (</span><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/183002" target="_blank">link</a><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">). The game started okay, with no new companies for about five rounds. But once they started coming, it was fast and furious. We were out of companies quickly, and waited quite a few rounds to get our first merger.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Allan loaded up on America and Hydra, whereas Mike bought up Quantum and small amounts of three other companies, and Scott went with America, a minority in Quantum, and two other small companies. Unfortunately for Al, America would never merge and Hydra went most of the game without buying or being bought by anything.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Quantum swallowed three companies in succession (Phoenix, and two others), with Mike and Scott trading majority/minority status. Allan was left out in the cold, and since he was cash tight he would never get back in the game. Mike and Scott continued to restart companies, and soon we were corporation tight again. And that was sort of interesting, as players tried in vain to place tiles that wouldn't start companies and wouldn't add to companies they wanted to have acquired.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Scott broke the corporate logjam by having Quantum take over Saxson and Zeta in successive turns, and Allan owned some Zeta so he got a little cash to play with. America was takeover-proof by then, with Scott now the majority shareholder, and when America finally acquired Hydra, Mike was majority owner in *that* too.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">If you hadn't picked up on it by now, Mike was in on all the mergers and was the clear majority owner in the Quantum behemoth. And so it is written; the rich got richer and the game ended thusly:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Mike $60,100</span><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Scott $48,900</span><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Allan $34,600</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">We discussed whether there should be some mechanism for feeding money to players who are out but don't get in on mergers. It seems like a game flaw that if you happen to buy three companies early and they all get too big to be acquired, you are not only out of the game, but it is extremely boring to continue playing.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">The best plans we came up with to remedy this were:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">1. Give an $500 extra to each player when a merger happens. This would not imbalance the game, since everyone would get the same extra money. And with this rule, if you are out of the merger and out of money, you can get back in the game -- or at least *play* the game.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">2. When a player is about to buy stock, if s/he has less cash on hand than it costs to buy a single share of stock, that player would get a set amount of money (perhaps $500). This might imbalance things, since one player could get thousands of extra dollars in a game. But honestly if you are out of cash and sitting on mountains of un-acquriable stock, you are basically in last place no matter what else happens.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">3. There was another plan, but I can't remember it. Perhaps one of the players will post it if he remembers was we discussed.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">It was a very close day of gaming, as evidenced by the two ties for second place and the three-way tie for first in Power Grid. But in the end, the Grand Champion of CombsCon 2009, Part III is Mike with the final wins tally looking like this:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Mike 2</span><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Allan 1</span><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Scott 1</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">With his two victories, Mike vaulted over Scott for third place on the Overall Victories tote board. But I think I'll go through all the gaming sessions that aren't counted yet and get that total *really* up to date.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Congratulations on both victories, Mike, and on your new status as Assistant to the Head Boot-licker on the Overall Victories list.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">And thank you for hosting -- it was a lot of fun!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">- The Eye in the Sky</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">PS. As always, I look forward to everyone's corrections and amplifications of what *really* happened.</span>Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10127199317146493976noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4043372892388582899.post-57843907782242918402009-08-03T08:30:00.002-04:002009-08-03T08:39:36.225-04:00WrightCon 2009<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">After a scheduling mishap early in the month, we finally worked it all out for a day-long session on July 26 up in the land of cheap beer (New Hampshire). Al hosted, so the day bears his name as the 'Con of the moment.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">The usual suspects, Al, Joshua, Mike C., and Scott (Four Horsemen of the "Awww... I Just Missed!") attended, along with the most famous Phil Collins I'm ever likely to meet. So we had five players, which was great; though sadly we didn't take real advantage with a game of Dune.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">In fact, we started the day with </span><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/17133" target="_blank">Railroad Tycoon</a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">, which has a game board as large as its payouts are small. My bad luck started the night before when my car battery died, so we didn't get started until 11:00 am (Mike kindly drove an extra hour to pick me up). All five played this game.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">With 13 advantage cards to start, you'd expect the two-operations card to show, and of course it did right away. Joshua realized the value from the practice round they'd played earlier, so he bid high and won the right to go first. He took full advantage, connecting two cities in the northeast and delivering a good before the rest of us realized what happened. By the end of the first round, he had about nine victory points to second place's two or three.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">And of course, that meant more income for Joshua which meant more track which meant more points which meant more income which meant more bonuses which meant... sigh, which meant that it looked like a runaway after about 15 minutes. Which, if you read this blog sounds about right for this group. But things don't usually stay that way for long.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">The second round of bidding for pole position got a lot more interesting when Scott blurted out that a bonus was easily available to the first player. And Joshua's long-winded explanation of how valuable the bonus was brought about the quote of the day, courtesy of Mike: "Josh, you put the 'agony' in agonizing every move." Trust me, that was not the last time we heard *that* quote on the day -- and it probably won't be the last time we ever hear it, either.<br /><br />Allan won that bid and completed a link that put him in a solid second. But the bidding cost him a bit too much so he had to borrow an extra $5,000 from the bank... and gave us our next quote of the day: "No, it *wasn't* worth the buck!"</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">As the game progressed, Joshua was in the mid-Atlantic, with Mike down south and Allan up north. Track was built and rebuilt to avoid using any else's rails. Scott had an east-then-midwest strategy and Phil strictly midwest (with a nice run through the center of the country). In fact, going west looked good for a while, as Phil and Scott kept their debt to a minimum and still made significant inroads. But there was too much "red" to deliver out there and too many tiles to build to Chicago (the only "red" city in the area) and those two butted heads ended up canceling each other out.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">For a while it looked like it would be Joshua or Allan for the championship, though Joshua maintained his lead. But Mike made a lot of hay in the south and kept delivering and delivering among three cities. And a late push by Phil made a possible track bonus a big deal. However, even with Mike's late surge, it was Joshua who kept racking up the bonus points (first to use a three-train, first to buy a four-train, etc.), and he did end up with the win. After a two-hour game, here were the results:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Joshua = 49</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Mike = 40</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Phil = 34</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Allan = 28</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Scott = did not finish (actually, an embarrassing 21 points -- yuck!)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">We broke for lunch at a great local rib joint (<a href="http://www.goodycoles.com/" target="_blank">Goody Cole's Smokehouse</a> -- try the frito dish; it's outstanding!) before heading back to beat each other into the ground.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Next up was a five player game of </span><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/18602" target="_blank">Caylus</a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">, one that we'd tried before but thought was unnecessarily complex. But Joshua arrived second so by tradition he got to call second game.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">It started out simply enough, with Scott building three tiles and heading out to a commanding lead (about 18 to 8, I think). Mike got screwed by a few rules that he didn't think were made entirely clear -- you know, little things like not pissing off the King... TWICE! All the while, Phil and Allan built some stone and green buildings for decent VP and mounted their comeback.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Al passed Scott about halfway through by taking chances necessary to get some gold for large buildings and used very strategic placement of "the provost" (and late "passes" for good position on the bridge). Phil kept building small stuff, while Al and Joshua started converting pink buildings to VP-laden ones. VP for them, that is... naturally. And Joshua and Mike were still very far back, but Joshua hording goods, stacking them in sets of threes that looked destined to build the King's castle. But that wasn't his strategy, as you'll soon find out.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Turns out some of what Joshua was hording was gold, and on the very last turn, he went first and built the 25-VP building, which vaulted him from waaaaayyyyyy back into first. In fact, between that play and some other stuff, he scored at least 29 of his 69 total points on that turn alone! Which means he scored at least 42% of his points on one turn in a game with 15 or 16 turns.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">So how did it all end up? Well, Scott did his best but couldn't overcome the combination Karama/Guild Hall/Emperor for Life scam that Joshua sniffed out. And so the final standings showed yet another victory for Joshua. "Curse you, Red Baron!"</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Joshua = 69 (victory points)</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Scott = 65</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Mike = 56</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Allan = 55</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Phil = 52</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Phil had to leave, so we finished up with a four-player </span><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1897" target="_blank">Starfarer's of Catan</a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">, which might have some of the coolest pieces of any game ever. And let me say up front that Joshua's luck finally ran out -- he was dead last from the get-go. Of course, my luck hadn't changed since the dead battery, so I had high hopes for this one.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">We started at 6:30, and by 6:35 Mike bemoaned not following his *own* strategy. He thought you should have a spaceport in the front row to enable easier ship launching, and then ended up with none there. He did okay, though, getting two trade ships out and landed (though with a bad event card one ended up taking forever). Joshua puttered around with lasers and boosters, as the resources just wouldn't come to help him build ships.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Allan and Scott were tooling around the universe, looking for decent places to land. And then it happened -- the oh-so-friendly Travellers gave space-jumps to Mike and Joshua. Josh's was lame, giving him a trade ship that he couldn't land. But Mike leveraged his to a landed trade ship (just ahead of Joshua), and before you knew it he had three of the "friend" disks (worth 2-VP each), and had vaulted out of the charity area to the lead.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Scott was sort of middle of the pack, using a space jump and spaceport strategically to enable ship launching from the middle of the board. But in the end, he didn't have the freight rings to land trade ships, and his strategy petered out. Maybe he was there just to make Joshua not feel entirely lame; I think Joshua was actually in VP deficit at one point :)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">But Al mounted a furious comeback, building a laser-and-freight ring laden ship that blasted through "red" planets, getting VP for it. He even got a space jump (after much wailing at the cruel universe), and appeared poised to take the game.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">However, in the end, Mike's lead was just too great, and when he bought the fame ring to end the game, Al thought he was two turns away. Final standings looked like this:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Mike = 15</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Allan = 14</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Scott = 10</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Joshua = 9</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">So that was WrightCon 2009. Only three games, but still a heck of a lot of fun. Thanks to Al for hosting, to Mike for driving me up, and to Joshua for driving me home.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Be well, and I'll see you in the sand,</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">- Scott</span>Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10127199317146493976noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4043372892388582899.post-86240037718932787702009-05-25T23:13:00.012-04:002009-05-26T00:17:04.408-04:00CombsCon 2009, Redux<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">After months of planning and a few fits and starts, we finally got a game session together for last Saturday. Mike and Anne were our gracious hosts, and we played two three-player games and three four-player games.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">We started at 10:00 with Allan, Mike C., and Scott playing </span><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/2651" target="_blank">Power Grid</a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">, though the start was interrupted when the CEO of Scott's company lost email access. But we got rolling quickly enough, vowing to play by the actual rules this time. Which somehow we did.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Even with the correct plant replacement rules, Mike scored an early 7-city plant and Scott snagged an early 6-city plant. Allan missed out on those, but ran three wind-power plants for much of the game. This had a curious effect -- it was a boon for all. Allan didn't have to buy fuel, so he had more money on hand, and Mike and Scott got to buy *cheaper* fuel because there was one player out of the fuel market.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Anyhow, Allan initially had the second-most cities and try as he might he could not fall behind Scott, so Al got railheaded out of cities and that cost him any chance for a victory. Scott couldn't keep up with Mike's powering capacity; just too many 2- and 3-city plants available and nothing he could upgrade. So in the end, Mike squeezed out a victory in a very quick game (by our standards). The game was 2.5 hours, and the final standings went like this:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Mike 15 (powering capacity)</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Scott 14</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Allan 12</span><br /><blockquote style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Note: Joshua called to say he'd be there by 2:30. There were some skeptical eye rolls, but I'm not at liberty to say who's eyeballs were rolling.</span><br /></blockquote><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Our second game was </span><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/3076" target="_blank">Puerto Rico</a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">, which we highly recommend, as it plays great at three-, four-, or five-players. It was a strange one, with Mike bolting to a big lead in victory points and looking for all the world like he'd run away with a second win. He produced lots of different types of goods and had a Factory to take advantage of it. But in the mid-game, his lack of a Warehouse cost him lots of goods during shipment phases, and that probably cost him the game. Lots and lots of tobacco was lost -- and that is a very valuable commodity.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Meanwhile, Allan produced lots of corn and he and Scott used Quarries to build, build, and build. Unfortunately for Al, his corn wasn't worth anything with the Trader, whereas Scott was trading of coffee at four-ducats a throw. And Scott had an Office to boot, so he could always trade Coffee no matter what.</span><br /><blockquote style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;">Note: at 2:30 Joshua called to say he'd be there at 3:30. More updates as they become available.</blockquote><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Riding the money from all that coffee (and his Quarries), Scott got three of the 10-ducat buildings and nearly got a fourth -- Al just edged him out. That made the score closer, but Scott eked out a win at the 90-minute mark:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Scott 57 (victory points)</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Allan 54</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Mike 44</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;" ></span><blockquote style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Note: Joshua showed up just as this game ended at 3:30. He then claimed that he could have been there at 3:00. And even though we prefer to be charitable, we can't think of any reason why you'd put off getting to the game table. Perhaps Joshua will post his reason in the comments area.</span></blockquote><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">After a 15 minute set-up, we started </span><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/24480" target="_blank">Pillars of the Earth</a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"> at 3:45 -- all four of us: Allan, Joshua, Mike C., and Scott. Not that it mattered much; it was a runaway most of the game, with Mike hitting a big lead around the third turn. Others might remember this one better, but Mike had some huge Victory Point machine; it depended on Stone but he had plenty of it.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Allan went for some metal but never made it really pay in the end, though he ended up with a very good showing. Joshua avoided some *very* bad news early on, but his strategy got bunged up when Al edged him out of two things he needed. Scott had a money-making machine, but took too long to optimize it for Victory Point production.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Mike rode his big early lead to a comfortable win. And even though Al and Scott were closing the gap, it would have taken at least two more turns, and that's a lot in a six-turn game. The final standings:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Mike 49 (victory points)</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Allan 45</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Scott 45</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Joshua 42</span><br /><blockquote style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;">Note: If you haven't figured it out, Joshua was at the game table by this point, so there will be no more updates on his whereabouts.</blockquote><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Next up was another round of Power Grid, and I'd like to reiterate that it is *so* much better when you play by the rules. Scott waited to buy his first power plant and ended up with the best one, which of course meant he went last in all the important phases. That lasted two rounds and cost him dearly (missed an early build round by a BUCK). He never recovered and was only a factor in how he could screw other players.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Speaking of which, he screwed Mike in a build phase and then helped Mike screw Joshua that same round. Never got around to Al, but I'm sure he had his eye on him. And when Mike aced Joshua out on that build, it set Joshua back and he never really recovered. So it became a two-man race: Mike and Allan.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Al chose the best spot on the board, with seven cheap cities he could build with no interference. And he used that to get us to Phase 2 quickly. Then he slowed his building and let Mike catch up, which gave him cheaper fuel and a shot at better plants in the auction. And he used that strategy to stockpile money and wait until he had more plant capacity than anyone else -- at which point he built 5 cities (getting to 17) and ended the game with an impressive win (though it did come in a tie-breaker):</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Allan 12 (plant capacity), and $25 cash</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Mike 12 (plant capacity), and $21 in cash (the tie-breaker)</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Scott 11</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Joshua 10</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">We started our last game at 7:45, a "quick game" of </span><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/531" target="_blank">Merchants of Amsterdam</a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">. Everyone started with a strategy of not overpaying for auction items. That lasted until the first auction went for $160,000. Just something about the possibility that others might win the auction rubs us the wrong way. It's the same reason we never made any money in Ransom; but that's a story for another day.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">This game was dominated by those who had actual strategies: Joshua and Mike. Both got multiple bonus payments, both played their cards just right before payoffs, and both ended up at the top of the leader board. Joshua had spots sewn up on the commodity market, and first or second in just a few other places. Mike had some commodities, but was more dominant in the world market. Allan was probably most dominant in the warehouse strategy. And Scott... ummm, he brought Girl Scout cookies, so I guess that's something.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Anyhow, time moved too quickly for Allan several times, and Mike took an early loan that was costly to repay later (though he said it was totally worth it). And though it was tough to give up some of the perks in the later rounds, Joshua managed a fairly comfortable win, joining the $500 club three times over:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Joshua 1,650 (Guilders)</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Mike 1,480</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Allan 1,290</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Scott 1,070 (and Thin Mints!)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">The final tally (which has been added to the Overall Wins tote board) was as follows:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Mike C. 2 wins</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Allan 1 win</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Joshua 1 win</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Scott 1 win</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">In any event, a good time was definitely had by all. In fact, it was so much fun that we're gonna try that whole "playing by the rules" more often. Pinky Promise!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">- Scott</span>Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10127199317146493976noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4043372892388582899.post-49157729076568592482009-01-27T20:51:00.010-05:002009-05-26T00:18:21.110-04:00CombsCon 2009<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Hi all,</span> </span><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Allan, Joshua, Mike, and Scott got together on Saturday to eat bad food and play bad games... er, that is to say, play games badly. We got in five board games, and played exactly *one* of them without blowing at least one major rule. That's right, wicked experienced gamers mess up basic rules and throw the entire session into chaos; film at eleven. Oh well, when will we learn the most often given advice on this blog: "Read the rules!"<br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Anyhow, our first game was just with Allan, Joshua, and Scott (Mike was on a conference call). We played </span><a href="http://boardgamegeek.com/game/13301" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Caribbean</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">, a light little game where you have pirate ships pick up and then deliver plundered booty. Seemed simple enough, with only a page and a half of rules, so what's to mess up, right? Well, turns out that in addition to getting paid for delivering the booty, you are supposed to get paid for picking it up! I guess that's what we get for being pirates.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">It only took an hour, Allan won:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Allan 32</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Scott 26</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Joshua 24</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">The three of us promised to play it again by the actual rules. It was the first of many promises to be ignored on the day.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">When Mike joined us, we tried </span><a href="http://boardgamegeek.com/game/24480" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">The Pillars of the Earth</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">, where you play builders in medieval England, trying to construct the most beautiful cathedral in the world. It started out well, with advice from the most experienced player simply not working out and lots of hilarity at bogus random events and such. Wasn't until the end that we realized that the most precious commodity in the game, metal, *cannot* be purchased at the market. But by then, it was too late -- and Allan had such a store of metal that the rest of us couldn't even benefit when the king decided to hand some out.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">The outcome was preordained, and Allan converted that metal store into a four-point victory:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Allan 51</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Joshua 47</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Scott 45</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Mike 44</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Having blown a second game, we decided to play The Pillars of the Earth again, this time with the proper rules. Allan got seriously hosed by bad randomness. You don't roll dice in this game, but it was like hitting snake eyes four rounds in a row. Somehow he overcame that to come back strong. But Joshua edged Scott out for the Glassblower, and rode that to a shocking come-from-behind victory:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Joshua 50</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Mike 46</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Allan 43</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Scott 37</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Having seen enough of this game, we agreed on </span><a href="http://boardgamegeek.com/game/2651" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Power Grid</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"> next, a game of power plants that had us mostly sitting in the dark. You see, there's an auction for new plants, and for most of the game, when the auction ends you move the highest priced plant to the bottom of the deck. This guarantees that you don't get too much power capacity or spend too much money early in the game. Except, of course, when you are us and you forget to do it.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">So in our version of the game, Joshua had three permanent plants before we finished a third of the game, and when we realized it, there was just no way to correct it. We concede the game to Joshua, though I am not counting it as a win. It was just too egregious of an error, so sorry Joshua, you'll have to forgo the victory on this one. Maybe we'll give *two* wins to whomever claims victory in our next game of Power Grid... the one where we READ THE RULES before starting :(</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Next up, </span><a href="http://boardgamegeek.com/game/1897" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Starfarers of Catan</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">, the space version of the classic </span><a href="http://boardgamegeek.com/game/13" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Settlers of Catan</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">. Starfarers has some of the coolest bits of any game in existence. Space ships that accept expansion boosters, lasers, freight rings, and fame rings. Very cool looking and very well thought out. So you might ask what mistake we made here. Well, in the very first turn, I was instructed to play without getting my free resource and without rolling for additional resources. So when I had to face a challenge, I decided not to give a resource (since I had so little) and my ships were grounded. They corrected Joshua when he did the same as I had done, but never went back to redo my turn -- which hamstrung me from the beginning.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">There is some controversy about whether or not that constitutes a rules violation; but if they'd made Joshua go with his mistake I could have accepted it. But when he got a do-over... well, I vowed to use the blog to get my final say.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">The game itself was a lot of fun, and even though he didn't realize it until we pointed it out, Joshua ended up winning:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Joshua 15</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Allan 14</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Mike 10</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Scott 10</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">So all-in-all that is two victories for Joshua and two for Allan -- and a totally botched game of Power Grid. We never did get back to Caribbean, but who cares. If the rest of the day was any indication, we would have botched that one, too.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Besides, the best part of the day was the food -- that's all that really counted. Allan brought homemade salsa and the planet's best root beer, Capt'n Eli's. Scott brought homemade chocolate cookie dough and cooked it up during Starfarers. And Mike provided dinner. Of course, all Joshua handed out was ass-whippings, but that's about what we expect when playing with him.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">A big "thank you" to our hosts, Mike & Anne. I had a great time and hope others did, too.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">- Scott</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">PS. I updated the Overall Victories tote board.</span></div>Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10127199317146493976noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4043372892388582899.post-26027066832231532412009-01-01T10:45:00.002-05:002009-01-03T12:12:20.839-05:00The CombsCon Email that Started it All<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">In 1997, some of the gaming crew and I considered a trip to the annual AvalonCon board gaming convention in Baltimore. But after reading the game schedule and closely inspecting hotel prices, etc., Mike sent an email, and that is how it alllllll started.</span><br /><blockquote style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Subject: CombsCon 1997<br /><br />Does taking 3 days off work and flying to Baltimore for gaming sound fun but hard to justify to your boss?<br /><br />Were you disappointed to find that in three days at AvalonCon you'd only get to play 5 games you really liked?<br /><br />Do you have better things to do with your money than pay for airfare and a hotel?<br /><br />Try the local alternative: CombsCon!<br /><br />Conveniently located in Cambridge, CombsCon 1997 offers more!<br />-- More gaming time<br />-- Less time away<br />-- More of the games you want to play<br />-- Less expensive (no fee, no travel time)<br />-- Gaming celebrities, including:<br />---- Scott O'Neil, star of the infomercial "Make a million with the<br />Canadian Pacific RR"<br />---- Allan "I never rolled a 6, unless it was bad" Wright<br />---- Mike Combs, master of lose-lose negotiating<br /><br />WHEN:<br />Friday, August 1st at 9am through Saturday, at midnight. 39 Hours!<br /><br />WHAT:<br />Games! Each attendee gets to name the games they want to play for a 4 hour period.<br />LaserTag! We'll go Friday AM for the discount rate, and longer play times.<br />Bolo! Bring your Mac for a massive network Bolo session.<br />Food! Lori has offered to create a special treat.<br /><br />HOW:<br />Tell your boss now that you're taking next Friday off.<br />Send everyone on this list an email to confirm.<br />Let me know if you want to stay the night.<br />Bring a six-pack of your favorite beer.<br /><br />See you there!<br />--<br />Mike Combs</blockquote><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">When replying with great enthusiasm for CombsCon, some of us showed off our ultra-geeky signature files.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Mike:</span><br /><blockquote style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">"How will it end?" -- Centauri Emperor<br />"In fire" -- Ambassador Kosh<br />==== don't miss babylon 5 ====</blockquote><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Allan:</span><br /><blockquote style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">You fell victim to one of the 'classic' blunders!</blockquote><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Scott:</span><br /><blockquote style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">"WE must play some time."<br />"Certainly we must -- by POST!"<br />- Live from the Green Dome...<br /></blockquote><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Then began a debate over whether to play certain games.</span><br /><blockquote style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Joshua: I'm in (as long as we try to get at least some sleep).<br />PS. So are we going to play a few Dune games a few Railroad games and Bolo or are we going to try to squeeze in one game of Civilization?<br /><br />Mike: If your requirement is that we get some sleep, then we probably can't play Civilization. CombsCon 1997 is only 39 hours long, you know. Actually, Scott has a new game, Age of Renaisance (sp), which is supposed to be Civilization with the rules improved.<br /><br />I'd also like to play a game of Republic of Rome. Every time I go to a<br />game shop and tell them which kind of games we like to play, they<br />recommend RoR. The game deserves another chance.<br /><br />Scott: This would be a great opportunity to play Age of Wren-Uh-Sance (sp?), if anyone wants to set aside 4 hours to try it out. It'll probably take longer than that to play, but if it's any good, we could just continue with it. I'll bring it, in any case.<br /><br />Allan: I've seen Age of Renaissance played at a con - I'm interested in trying it.<br /><br />Mike: I bought Air Baron today. Here's a list of games we own, that we haven't played much, that are worth revisiting:<br />* Air Baron<br />* Age of Renuhsawnce<br />* Ransom<br />* Mediteranian<br />* Republic of Rome<br />* Lords of the Sierra Madres (Just like RoR, people keep recommending this highly. With the rules clarifications Allan found, we should try it again sometime.)<br />* Speed Circuit (well, i thought i'd try to sneak this in)<br /><br />Allan: Don't forget Eurorails!<br /><br /></blockquote><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Then the celebrity guests chimed in.</span><br /><mike@combsnet.com style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"><soneil@cs.umb.edu></soneil@cs.umb.edu></mike@combsnet.com><blockquote style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"><mike@combsnet.com><soneil@cs.umb.edu>I'm proud to be one of the celebrity guests at the inaugural CombsCon, and even prouder to announce that I've chosen CombsCon 1997 to preview my new 1830 book: "Why It's Called 'The Erie': Strategies that Win You Praise When You Lose the Game." Program note: during the autograph sessions, I do NOT sign body parts.<br />-- </soneil@cs.umb.edu></mike@combsnet.com>Scott "Make a million with the Canadian Pacific RR" O'Neil<br /></blockquote><mike@combsnet.com style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"><soneil@cs.umb.edu></soneil@cs.umb.edu></mike@combsnet.com><mike@combsnet.com style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"><soneil@cs.umb.edu></soneil@cs.umb.edu></mike@combsnet.com><blockquote style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"><mike@combsnet.com><soneil@cs.umb.edu>Well, I went to HistoriCon, gamed for three days straight with 'normal' luck (instead of my usual bad luck), wow what a great three days... The van I rented for the trip died in the middle of the Tappan-Zee bridge at 5:00 in the middle on Sunday rush hour traffic. We had to get three rental cars and leave the heap in NY. I was supposed to get home at 8:00 p.m. but instead got in at 3:00 a.m. the next day. Looks like my Karma is back in balance now.<br /></soneil@cs.umb.edu></mike@combsnet.com><mike@combsnet.com><soneil@cs.umb.edu>- Allan "I never rolled a 6, unless it was bad" Wright<br /><br /></soneil@cs.umb.edu></mike@combsnet.com></blockquote><mike@combsnet.com style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"><soneil@cs.umb.edu></soneil@cs.umb.edu></mike@combsnet.com><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">The first deal of the 'Con was struck.</span><br /><blockquote style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Mike: Allan, please bring me two six-packs of Oregon IPA at NH prices. I'll reimburse you. (Unless you'd like to die roll for it.)<br /><mike@combsnet.com><soneil@cs.umb.edu><br />Allan: </soneil@cs.umb.edu></mike@combsnet.com>I'll gladly do that and import additional beer at NH prices upon request.<br /></blockquote><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">One of the core crew bailed out, but still made a contribution.</span><br /><mike@combsnet.com style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"><soneil@cs.umb.edu><br /><aew@unh.edu><soneil@cs.umb.edu></soneil@cs.umb.edu></aew@unh.edu></soneil@cs.umb.edu></mike@combsnet.com><blockquote style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Mike B: Mike, It's wonderful you're doing this. I must, reluctantly, stay away and work. I hope to hear stories. I have Republic of Rome here. If you need it, just let me know and I'll drop it by on Thursday evening or Friday.<br /><br /><mike@combsnet.com><aew@unh.edu><anne@combsnet.com><bbaker@lynx.dac.neu.edu><joshua_nicholas@avid.com><panoramrus@aol.com><karaca@tony.bc.edu><rayl@cushcraft.com><soneil@cs.umb.edu><mathurv@netscout.com>Mike: Yes, can I get RoR from you? Drop it off whenever is convenient. If you pick Thursday evening and we're not home, put it on the back porch. Do not try to slide it through the mail slot. The SlobberDog thinks that everything that comes through the slot should be treated as food.<br /></mathurv@netscout.com></soneil@cs.umb.edu></rayl@cushcraft.com></karaca@tony.bc.edu></panoramrus@aol.com></joshua_nicholas@avid.com></bbaker@lynx.dac.neu.edu></anne@combsnet.com></aew@unh.edu></mike@combsnet.com></blockquote><mike@combsnet.com style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"><aew@unh.edu><anne@combsnet.com><bbaker@lynx.dac.neu.edu><joshua_nicholas@avid.com><panoramrus@aol.com><karaca@tony.bc.edu><rayl@cushcraft.com><soneil@cs.umb.edu><mathurv@netscout.com><mike@combsnet.com><aew@unh.edu><anne@combsnet.com><bbaker@lynx.dac.neu.edu><joshua_nicholas@avid.com><panoramrus@aol.com><karaca@tony.bc.edu><rayl@cushcraft.com><soneil@cs.umb.edu><mathurv@netscout.com><aew@unh.edu><aew@unh.edu><aew@unh.edu><soneil@cs.umb.edu><triack@fred.net><g><triack@fred.net><soneil@cs.umb.edu><g><g><aew@pease1.sr.unh.edu><dinabinet@sms.com><br />And with all that, we were off and running. IIRC, I was less than three weeks away from a new job, so taking that Friday meant saying I was too sick to work -- though I wanted to say I was too *well* to work :) -- and then giving my notice less than a week later.<br /><br />Over the years, we not only learned how to spell "</dinabinet@sms.com></aew@pease1.sr.unh.edu></g></g></soneil@cs.umb.edu></triack@fred.net></g></triack@fred.net></soneil@cs.umb.edu></aew@unh.edu></aew@unh.edu></aew@unh.edu></mathurv@netscout.com></soneil@cs.umb.edu></rayl@cushcraft.com></karaca@tony.bc.edu></panoramrus@aol.com></joshua_nicholas@avid.com></bbaker@lynx.dac.neu.edu></anne@combsnet.com></aew@unh.edu></mike@combsnet.com></mathurv@netscout.com></soneil@cs.umb.edu></rayl@cushcraft.com></karaca@tony.bc.edu></panoramrus@aol.com></joshua_nicholas@avid.com></bbaker@lynx.dac.neu.edu></anne@combsnet.com></aew@unh.edu></mike@combsnet.com><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Renaissance", but the group </span><mike@combsnet.com style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"><aew@unh.edu><anne@combsnet.com><bbaker@lynx.dac.neu.edu><joshua_nicholas@avid.com><panoramrus@aol.com><karaca@tony.bc.edu><rayl@cushcraft.com><soneil@cs.umb.edu><mathurv@netscout.com><mike@combsnet.com><aew@unh.edu><anne@combsnet.com><bbaker@lynx.dac.neu.edu><joshua_nicholas@avid.com><panoramrus@aol.com><karaca@tony.bc.edu><rayl@cushcraft.com><soneil@cs.umb.edu><mathurv@netscout.com><aew@unh.edu><aew@unh.edu><aew@unh.edu><soneil@cs.umb.edu><triack@fred.net><g><triack@fred.net><soneil@cs.umb.edu><g><g><aew@pease1.sr.unh.edu><dinabinet@sms.com>morphed from gaming every other weekend to occasional mini-convention style gaming. CombsCon 1997 was the first of many of these, and I'll post what information I have about them, including who won the 'Con and updates to the Overall Victories tally.<br /></dinabinet@sms.com></aew@pease1.sr.unh.edu></g></g></soneil@cs.umb.edu></triack@fred.net></g></triack@fred.net></soneil@cs.umb.edu></aew@unh.edu></aew@unh.edu></aew@unh.edu></mathurv@netscout.com></soneil@cs.umb.edu></rayl@cushcraft.com></karaca@tony.bc.edu></panoramrus@aol.com></joshua_nicholas@avid.com></bbaker@lynx.dac.neu.edu></anne@combsnet.com></aew@unh.edu></mike@combsnet.com></mathurv@netscout.com></soneil@cs.umb.edu></rayl@cushcraft.com></karaca@tony.bc.edu></panoramrus@aol.com></joshua_nicholas@avid.com></bbaker@lynx.dac.neu.edu></anne@combsnet.com></aew@unh.edu></mike@combsnet.com>Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10127199317146493976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4043372892388582899.post-881808858332481002008-12-27T13:41:00.001-05:002009-01-03T12:03:36.375-05:00Our History in Boardgames<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:arial;" >Some friends and I have been gaming off-and-on for the past 12 years. Mostly board games, some video games, and a few online games. I unearthed the 30 or so boardgame summaries I wrote in 1996 and 1997, when we first started up.<br /><br />I've posted them <a href="http://settlersofdune.blogspot.com/search/label/game%20summaries" target="_blank">here</a>, and <a href="http://settlersofdune.blogspot.com/search/label/game%20summaries?updated-max=1996-03-23T14%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&max-results=20" target="_blank">here</a> for your viewing pleasure. Please excuse the crudity of my writing (and the few typos) -- I was busy writing less important stuff... like college papers and grant proposals :)</span><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:arial;" ><br />I'll have more about our history as gamers and gaming together. I've kept track of many of our gaming sessions over the years, though I did not write updates at the time. But I'll be able to give you a general flavor and some impressions/thoughts about when we were able to game.<br /><br />And of course, I'll keep a running "Overall Wins" list (see the sidebar), to keep those competitive juices flowing!</span><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:Arial;" ></span><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:Arial;" >(Note: the "Overall Wins" list only includes games and gaming sessions posted to the blog. As I fill in more games, Joshua's seemingly insurmountable lead will vanish -- trust me!)</span>Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10127199317146493976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4043372892388582899.post-83695001091059659291997-08-05T08:30:00.001-04:002009-12-03T10:54:05.379-05:00CombsCon 1997<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6bErM_eY9Fl74D-pKsW9-kwOt_7Qlj6E4uIHvjRrUwJfLsvWkJnppHs1a17LM4EIbK1aC1WicxeR9V8H5x5T7Gjg4DgpO3khQN7rWushwdR0UD2s_qi8aKcXpJP_zHQ3637XcbNfwDIdy/s1600-h/CombsCon+1997+Logo.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6bErM_eY9Fl74D-pKsW9-kwOt_7Qlj6E4uIHvjRrUwJfLsvWkJnppHs1a17LM4EIbK1aC1WicxeR9V8H5x5T7Gjg4DgpO3khQN7rWushwdR0UD2s_qi8aKcXpJP_zHQ3637XcbNfwDIdy/s320/CombsCon+1997+Logo.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5287067239139672258" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">As detailed in the email, w</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">e convened at Mike's house at 9:00 am on 8/1/1997 for the inaugural CombsCon. Mike surprised us with T-shirts in honor of our first 'Con, with a 1997 CombsCon logo, shown in photo. (Note: I made the *ultimate* sacrifice to get this picture -- I pulled out the ironing board to make sure it wasn't wrinkled. Now *that* is commitment!)<br /></span><div style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Joshua showed up first, so after he and Mike finished their game of Twisted Metal 2 (for the original PlayStation), Joshua had the honor of choosing the first game of our first 'Con. Ironic indeed that he chose Mediterranee, because he refuses to play it any more. Something about Mike blockading him in his home port... but who really remembers these things?</span></div><div style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span class="Apple-style-span">The game has some cool pieces, but the initial setup and reading through the rules gave us a 10:00 start time. Allan made the first bad pun at 10:40 ("Always keep a sailor in your galley or you sink, which would be a 'Titanic' mistake."), and after three hours, Mike said, "You know, after every move, I realize I screwed *that* one up, too!" And in what would become a running theme with us, it took us almost five hours to play a game that takes most human beings two.</span></div><div style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span class="Apple-style-span">In the end, Allan skimmed out a win over Scott ($18,000 to $16,500), with Mike and Joshua totally checked out and playing Twisted Metal in the other room. Come to think of it, that's yet another running theme -- but more on that later.</span></div><div style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span class="Apple-style-span">At 3:45, Scott chose RoboRally, a very cool game that involves strategy, luck, and skill -- something we were sorely lacking. In the middle of the first move, at 3:52, Mike exclaimed "Oh shit," so I think it wasn't going well for him. Not much detail except that Scott got to the flag first, followed by Joshua. But Joshua won because his robot pushed Scott's off the board before the end of the turn. Strangely enough, that's yet *another* running theme :)</span></div><div style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span class="Apple-style-span">We moved right into Ransom (Allan's choice -- more bitter irony, if you ask me), a card game where you try to make money building some of the skyscrapers in New York. Emphasis on "try to." You start with $50 million, and often our winners have ended the game with less than that. Guess it's a good thing none of us went into real estate development. Anyhow, halfway through the game (at 5:25), Joshua said to Allan, "$40 million?! That's like *all* my profit." Allan's rejoinder: "That's Ransom!" Naturally, those two ended up third and fourth. Scott crushed the competition, winning by 44% over the next competitor with $95 million (Mike had $66 million, Joshua had $59 million, Allan $41 million).</span></div><div style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span class="Apple-style-span">At 6:00, we played another round of Ransom. This time we read the rules first and were impressed that we were only breaking two or three of them in the first game. However, the result was the same, Scott won with $110 million, and Mike ($96 million), Joshua ($72 million), and Allan (still stuck on $41 million) marveling at his real estate empire. Maybe the point is only </span><span class="Apple-style-span">*I* could be a real estate developer :P</span></div><div style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span class="Apple-style-span">At 7:20, we started a game of Settlers of Catan, which has too much die-rolling for Allan's taste. At 7:21, Mike regretted his first move :( At 7:55, Allan promised revenge against Joshua for setting the Robber on him. And the Robber obliged by coming three turns in a row -- ending up on Joshua, Joshua, and then Allan. By 8:30, Mike almost had it won, and was naturally shunned for it. He did pull out the win a few turns later, just eking by Allan 10 to 9. Joshua and Scott pitched a heated battle for last, with Scott ending up at 5 to Joshua's 6.</span></div><div style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span class="Apple-style-span">9:30 pm, and we made our first critical mistake. Never start a game of Eurorails that late at night, especially if you aren't playing the "fast game." By 11:00 the board was a bloody, multi-colored mess, and by midnight, Mike, Allan, and Joshua had fallen so far behind that they were playing tag-team Twisted Metal between turns. That was sort of annoying, though it did give Joshua a chance to say, "I love this, Allan. You're so much easier to kill than Mike!" The end was long, slow, and inevitable: Scott $280 million, Allan $124 million, Mike $108 million, and Joshua $102 million.</span></div><div style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span class="Apple-style-span">It was 2:00, and the sane among us (Joshua and Scott) headed off to sleepyland. But being the gluttons of the group, Mike and Allan played Air Baron until 3:30. Then they quit for the night, satisfied with 7 games in 17 hours.</span></div><div style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Day Two (8/2/1997) began with a 10:00 game of Ransom, which Joshua won with $106 million (to Allan's $96 million, Scott's $95 million, and Mike's $86 million). It seemed we were getting the hang of that game, as all the scores were higher and closer together. So of course, we never played it again during the 'Con.<br /><br />Then we tried Lords of the Sierra Madre, starting at 11:00. I don't know who called for the game, but we tried it multiple times over the years. It was expensive, and we kept hearing how great it was. But by 11:45, Mike was crying out for a mercy kill of the game, and Allan declared, "Lords wins again!" We just never got that game. Something about our competitiveness or maybe a misinterpretation of the rules. But it seemed that no matter what, no one was allowed to make any money except the Ruales and strikers. Whatever the case, if you want to pick up a copy cheap, make us an offer.</span></div><div style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Allan won a one-hour game of Air Baron, and Mike said he didn't want to play that game again. As you can see, we were slowly whittling down the games we would play.<br /><br />We then played a few games of Speed Circuit, a racing game that is much, *much* better when played without the Chance Table. But at this point, we still used that aberration, which puts a lot of luck into the game. Interestingly, with more luck involved, Allan won two games, with he and Joshua each winning on the Monza track and Allan taking the rubber match on the Monaco track. Note: Mike and Scott struggled to finish the races, with each failing to do so once. I'd blame that on luck, but it might sound like sour grapes. So congratulations to the winners -- here's hoping you injure yourselves in the post-race celebration ;)<br /><br />Mike and Allan tied on the final game, a five-hour marathon of Mediternee, with $11,500 each; while Joshua and Scott tied for last with $8,000 apiece.<br /><br />Allan was declared CombsCon 1997 Champion, and the final victory totals were as follows:<br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Allan 4.5</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Joshua 3</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Scott 3</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Mike 2.5</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><br />And that was about it for CombsCon. If we'd gone to AvalonCon, it would have cost hundreds of dollars each and we would have gotten in five or six games. The totals for CombsCon 1997:<br /><br />26 hours of gaming<br />13 games<br />no offensive smell from un-bathed geeks<br />hundreds of dollars saved<br />Countless bad puns<br /><br />It was one hell of a good time for all involved, in fact, more fun than I could possibly convey here. For proof, consider this post-CombsCon 1997 email:</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><br /></span><blockquote style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Mike, Anne, Joshua and Scott,<br /><br />I just wanted to drop a quick E-mail to all of you to let you know how<br />much I enjoyed getting out for the weekend and gaming - what a blast! Great<br />company, food, games and T-shirts that will draw the envy of every GQ model<br />out there!<br /><br />Sorry I faded towards the end - I can truely say we gamed until I dropped<br />this time!<br /><br />See you all in the sand,<br />Allan</blockquote><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">See you in the sand... man, we never played Dune!!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">BTW, </span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Check the Overall Victories tally now, and you'll see that Joshua's 4 victory lead is down to 3.5 victories. Trust me, that will dwindle more as we go along -- I believe Allan won the first three 'Cons we held!</span><br /></div>Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10127199317146493976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4043372892388582899.post-38999712831207199681997-05-31T20:00:00.001-04:002009-12-03T10:50:55.985-05:00Priceless Game (5/31/1997)<div style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Players: Allan, Joshua, Mike, Scott<br /><br />Three games of <a href="http://boardgamegeek.com/game/3528" target="_blank">Priceless</a>; three winners; and the gaming gods smiled on Scott, dealing out two cards and a coin and facilitating a trade (with Mike) for another of each. Mike was stuck with antiques (expensive at game's beginning), Joshua and Allan with nothing connected, in fact, Allan passed his first turn to better his hand. A lot of trading in this game, and to the betterment of most players. Scott vaulted to an early lead, with Mike a bit behind and the rest of the riff-raff on the fringe, but around mid-game, Joshua caught Scott in points, and Allan started stringing together a collection of toys and cars. Mike rounded out his antique collection, but had to split his team and built in pewter next, whereas Joshua invested in timepieces and musical instruments (with a possible connection to artwork). Scott's luck extended to jewlery, but when he and Mike bid against each other on diamonds, it was clear nothing was going to come easily for the rest of the game. Opposition on gold coins cost Scott too, and Allan looked formidable with a three-category chain and checks galore. When Allan went for 1890s toys to end the game (last frame), he scooped up mega-points (somewhere in the 40 neighborhood -- nice neighborhood, I've always thought), and that put him over the top for the game. Final tally was something like Allan $1.3million, Scott 1.2, Mike 1.05, and Joshua 850,000. Thus was broken the symmetry that the gaming gods had devised for the night, and I'm sure Allan will suffer great losses in the future for shunning their obvious wishes. BTW, good game, Al.<br /><br /><center>A word from our winner Allan</center><br />"This win had more than a little luck involved. A last minute blackmail of Scott had him giving me the fourth toy (for my final frame) to keep me out of bidding for Chineese coins. He would probably have won if he could have just outbid me or stuck me with the bogus coin. But to the tip: I took my first turn as a pass to avoid having to spend 2 checks to get my game started and get my check value up. The 2 cards I pulled allowed me to trade for what I needed to make a chain in a non-contested part of the board. Sacrifice whatever you have to to save checks. If you can build slower, but still make good purchases without spending checks, do so. My extra checks. Sacrifice whatever you have to to save checks. If you can build slower, but still make good purchases without spending checks, do so. My extra checks really paid off in the end."<br /><br />Scott's words to live by:<br />- Next up, Combscon 1997!!!<br /></div>Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10127199317146493976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4043372892388582899.post-18758790871721768901997-05-31T19:00:00.001-04:002009-12-03T10:50:46.843-05:00Settlers of Catan Game (5/31/1997)<div style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Players: Allan, Joshua, Mike, Scott<br /><br />You never saw the number 5 so many times in a two-dice <a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/13" target="_blank">Settlers</a> game -- Mike and Allan being the main beneficiaries of that odd twist of luck. Allan drew four special cards before anyone built anything, and when the building began, Mike went for the longest road. Joshua and Scott waited and waited for the dice to come up anything but 5 (seemed like eternity), but when it finally began happening, most roadways were clogged and the best areas were developed. Joshua went for cities, with Scott desperately trying for longest road and a 3-fer port; meanwhile, Allan and Mike had two cities each and enough sheep to keep them company for many a winter, and when it became obvious the battle lay there, Joshua and Scott tried to help Allan (after all, Mike won Speed Circuit). However, when that strategy failed to help Allan, the two leaders were left pretty much on their own. Mike went after the largest army, got another settlement (which hindered Allan's progress) and appeared to be on the way. But Allan just had too many cards, and when he finally built the settlement he was after, he revealed 3 victory points in his hand and that was game. Mike had 8 or 9 points, Joshua 6, and Scott a paltry 4. Says here that Allan is now a legitimate threat in dice rolling games -- won one a few weeks back, too. Will the Earth ever be safe again?<br /></div><br /><center style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">A word from our winner Allan</center><div style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"><br />"The moon was full, Jupiter aligned with Venus, the tide was high and I was scorched, some thought from the fires of hell when I made my deal with the devil: 2 wins in one night? I could get struck by lightning any minute now! "I'd like to revise my previous tip of looking for settlements that produce groups of commodities that work together (like wood and brick) to specificly any combination of your first two settlements that produce ore, grain and sheep. I was lucky that my cards drawn were heavy on the VP type of cards, but I still see the cards as the fastest way to get victory points. There's the often unclaimed largest army bonus in there plus the knights to move the thief for you. I got about the same number of resources that everyone else did, but while they were building roads I was hording advancement cards. I think I pulled 7 or 8 before I won."</div>Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10127199317146493976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4043372892388582899.post-9646306490415762921997-05-31T18:00:00.001-04:002009-12-03T10:50:46.844-05:00Speed Circuit Game #2 (5/31/1997)<div style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Players: Allan, Joshua, Mike, Scott </div><br /><div style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Second game of <a href="http://boardgamegeek.com/game/1194" target="_blank">Speed Circuit</a>, same track, different cars. Mike actually stalled at the start, and once again, Scott blazed out to an early lead, and burned much of his wear in the first lap, while Joshua coasted behind him, "slipping" and braking to avoid the wear that was killing Scott. Desperate to make up ground, Allan tried an insane turn and crashed. Mike followed him, and the race was all but over, with Joshua's car coasting in comfort and Scott's spitting bolts all the way. Eventually, Scott crashed on the same turn Allan and Mike hit, and Joshua literally coasted to victory (in fact, we didn't even make him before declaring him victor -- actually, that means he finished neither race, what a wimp).<br /></div><br /><center style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Happy to report that Joshua did not submit a winner's tip :P</center>Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10127199317146493976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4043372892388582899.post-28807384670984071571997-05-31T17:00:00.002-04:002009-12-03T10:50:34.701-05:00Speed Circuit Game #1 (5/31/1997)<div style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Players: Allan, Joshua, Mike, Scott<br /><br />We played one of the shorter courses in <a href="http://boardgamegeek.com/game/1194" target="_blank">Speed Circuit</a>, and there was instant jealousy over each other's cars (something's always greener on the other side). Scott's good start speed and 180mph top speed bought him an early lead, which he stretched out over Mike and Joshua. Allan balked at the start and that cost him dearly as the other cars became distant specks. Scott roared around half the track, but used most all his wear during that time, and when he tried to save some, he blew it on one of the tables and limped toward lap two. Mike caught him near the start/finish line, and with judicious "slips," Scott remained a solid-second. Joshua and Allan battled until Joshua fell behind and Allan set his sights on the lead pack. I believe Mike played it safe, knowing Scott was seriously handicapped and the others were unlikely to catch up, and he still won by a full turn,. Allan just missed a chance to move up to second, and Joshua never finished (to my recollection).<br /><br /><center>Sorry, Mike did not submit a winner's tip</center></div>Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10127199317146493976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4043372892388582899.post-91527881629222574461997-05-03T18:00:00.002-04:002009-12-03T10:50:19.322-05:00Dune Game (5/3/1997)<div style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Players: Anne (Harkonnen), Joshua (Bene Gesserit), Mike C. (Atreides), Scott (Guild), Vishal (Fremen)<br /><br />In Spice Harvest, The Fremen bid 9 spice to become Harvest Manager and proceeded uneventfully through an eight-spice gathering. Unfortunately, he spent all his spice on one Access card, and consequently, the job passed to Atreides, who pocketed an extra three spice (out of another small harvest) when the BG and Guild disagreed with his distribution formula. For some strange reason, Harkonnen got the majority of the spice as we moved to the surface of <a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/121" target="_blank">Dune</a>, and was off and running with a lot of cards that the BG claimed put her in the lead. No harvest in turn three when Atreides bought an extra card and got wormed, and when the job passed back to The Fremen, it fell to Atreides again because the poor Fremen couldn't scrape together the necessary spice to keep the job, and fell further when Atreides purposely spent all their cash to pass it to Harkonnen. Harkie then made out by announcing lower than actual and paying The Fremen handsomely and paying Atreides just enough to get their vote. (Ummm... that is they paid one spice for a "yes" vote -- which upset the BG to no end. Not suprising, then that the BG got hosed in shares next round, too.) Final round, Harkonnen announced ten spice harvested, and distributed only nine, which left the door open for a successful challenge -- with all four votes going "thumbs down." Twice in this game, someone got skunked for a single spice. Greed, greed, greed. Tsk tsk.<br /><br />Well, on to the game. After trading Access cards, Harkonnen got Arrakeen, The Guild got Carthag (trading most of the Access cards for spice because the half-rate shipment made it worthwhile), The Fremen got spice only (and precious little of that), Atreides got Habbanya, and The Bene Gesserit took Tuek's Sietch. Auctions on Treachery cards were spirited because people didn't mind paying a lot for them -- as long as it went to the bank and not The Emporer. Based on knowledge of Access cards, The BG claimed that Harkonnen was the player to beat, and then twice sent a single troop into Atreides' zones to fight with a strength of 6 (guaranteed survival of the leader) and soak off some green counters. The Fremen appeared just above the Great Flat (for spice) and moved half their troops into Sietch Tabr, and seeing this, The Guild reinforced Carthag and Atreides moved into the Imperial Basin, waiting for scraps. Harkonnen shipped down a few more to Arrakeen, and The BG went along for the ride.<br /><br />Next round found The Fremen in Carthag (in force), and one of the BG/Atreides skirmishes broiling in Habbanya. The Guild defeated The Fremen but was left with only three troops, as the storm moved past Tuek's and toward the dreaded Shield Wall. The Bene Gesserit then shipped to a spice blow near Habbanya, and Atreides abandonded the city for that spice (and blew away the BG). The Fremen hoard returned from the tanks to park right outside Carthag, and a "conservative" Guild took and empty Habbanya with 6 (of their best) men. Three players took Choam Charity (including the first time we've ever seen The Guild do so), and ten spice blew in right next to Tuek's Sietch. The Bene Gesserit swarmed all over it, and Atreides called a summit with The Fremen and Guild leaders. Emerging from a smoke-filled foyer, The Guild cross-planet shipped from Habbanya to Tuek's, and agreed not to fight The Fremen in Carthag (in return for the spice that allowed that shipment).<br /><br />The BG guessed right ("Do not play a projectile weapon") and saved their leader but still lost the fight. The Guild threw the battle in Carthag, and The Fremen looked mighty powerful, with two cities and a smallish Harkonnen force in Arrakeen. The Storm locked up Sietch Tabr, and The Fremen split the Cathag force to invade Arrakeen. The BG and Guild needed a round to regroup before mounting another offensive, and most players thought Harkonnen would destroy The Fremen, what with six cards and all, so Atreides ignored the possible attack in Carthag and awaited the outcome. Atreides helped Harkonnen (to prolong the game) while The BG aided The Fremen (to get it over with), and once Atreides saw those magical 6 cards, he wished he'd taken on the Fremen, too. No weapons meant little chance for victory, and with the BG using a Truthtrance to reveal some of Harkonnen's battle plan, Vishal had little trouble winning the city and claiming victory his first Dune game. Cleaned our clocks again, giving him a 50% winning percentage in our group.<br /></div><br /><center style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">A word from our winner, Vishal</center><div style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"><br />"I was pretty surprised to win the game with one battle. I think I had an advantage in playing The Fremen, as I could put my troops on the board without any cost. First I sent my troops to Sietch Tabr and then to Carthag. I think other players should have taken this move very seriously. Now to win the game I needed one more city, so my next goal was Arrakeen which was held by Harkonnen. I won the battle and eventually the game by using my best leader and a poison weapon. So the bottom line is: Any time a player has two cities assume that his next move will be for the game and do your best to block him."<br /><br />Scott's words to live by:<br />- Read the web page: Joshua told us last time that a weakly held city should be taken away, but none of us ever went after Sietch Tabr<br />- Don't assume that new players are less of a threat than experienced ones<br />- Be persistent about getting the winner's tip if you want a timely web page<br />- Keep this up, Vishal, and we'll send Deep Blue after you</div>Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10127199317146493976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4043372892388582899.post-89327098638915057461997-05-03T17:00:00.002-04:002009-12-03T10:49:44.177-05:00Robo Rally Game (5/3/1997)<div style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Players: Anne, Joshua, Mike, Scott, Vishal </div><div style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"><br />Decided to play <a href="http://boardgamegeek.com/game/1569" target="_blank">Robo Rally</a> while waiting to see if our mystery guest showed, and it worked out perfectly. Allan painted the 'bots and not only do they look great, you can actually tell which direction your 'bot is facing -- excellent! Phase one saw Josh kill his robot on the conveyor of doom and a serious crusher threat to Mike's robot, while Scott and Anne's 'bots bounced around in the wall maze, both real and both sustaining real damage. All of this tempered Vishal's wish that his virtual robot get real soon. Joshua went for the conveyor again (a move he'd soon regret), and Mike forged into the lead, dodging crushers like laundry duty. Vishal's robot no sooner became real than it conveyored itself off the board. When Anne faltered at the crusher conveyer belt, Mike seemed assured of victory and already had his winner's tip written: "What's the big deal. You program your robot and run it. Simple." (Hope those words taste good ;-> ) Luck of the non-Irish kicked him when he was three squares away from victory and was dealt seven, count 'em seven, turn cards. This allowed Joshua and Scott to move in, gumming up the works on the main conveyor and both dealing and receiving some serious damage. Joshua got off the conveyor by diving into a pit (death number three always sucks), and Mike and Scott raced for the flag.<br /><br />Scott's robot passed over the flag and pushed Mike's into a wall, and the two 'bots traded damage for a few phases. Mike locked two of Scott's registers, and then had one of his own locked, after which he announced a shutdown following the next turn. Mike's 'bot passed over the flag and shut down precariously at board's edge, while his opponent (the "damn the torpedoes" robot) spun and sputtered to the flag just before bumping Mike's 'bot off the board. What happened to Anne and Vishal's robots is a mystery. Anne was still going at game's end, but Vishal was restarting for the third time, and of course, parts of Joshua's machine were strewn all over the board. We'd originally set up two flags for a one-hour game. Someone remarked, "We always underestimate this game," to which Mike replied, "No. We always overestimate ourselves." </div><br /><center style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">A word from our winner Scott</center><div style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"><br />"In the past, I've believed you should shut down rather than dying and coming back. However, tonight's game was a sprint, so I didn't think any shut down was advised -- just roll on and hope for the best. Three pieces of advice: think about which way you want to go before the timer begins; always turn your cards so their all facing up while the dealer is finishing the deal; first thing once you turn your cards over? separate the turns from the move. A swivel chair doesn't hurt either."<br /></div>Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10127199317146493976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4043372892388582899.post-31635712149604511511997-04-12T20:00:00.002-04:002009-12-03T10:47:52.924-05:00Settlers of Catan Game #2 (4/12/1997)<div style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Players: Allan, Joshua, Mike C., Scott<br /><br />This game of </span><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/13" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span">Settlers</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span"> didn't go accoring to plan at all. After placing the tiles, the obviously fertile land of 5, 6, and 8 die rolls produced like the frickin' desert. Allan banked on that land, and was initially hurt, and Joshua battled him for central-board supremecy. Mike and Scott pursued coastal strategies out of necessity once Allan and Joshua clogged up the middle. Mike tried building cities rather than expanding his range of settlements, and both he and Scott seemed destined for mediocrity as they were pushed toward the outside of the board. Allan grabbed the longest road (again) and then made a crucial error in trading Joshua what he needed to build a settlement -- the settlement that chopped Allan's road in two. This gave Scott the longest road (which he held to the end), and completely fouled up Allan's strategy.<br /><br />At this point, with Mike and Scott marginalized and Allan falling, it seemed Joshua's game to win. That's when the vindictive non-fraternization policy went into effect. Allan, Mike, and Scott adhered to a strict no-trading-with-the-leader rule for the remainder of the game, and it almost worked. Mike began to get those cities established and developed the Largest Army, while Scott put together a few more settlements and got necessary resources from both Allan and Mike. The Robber remained on Joshua's property for the duration, and though he finally pulled out the win (with a Library or something on his last turn), it was far closer than it should've been. Final score was Joshua 10, Scott 8, Mike 7, and Allan's precinct still hasn't reported.</span></div><div style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span><center><span class="Apple-style-span">A word from our winner, Joshua</span></center><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />"Location, location, location.<br /><br />"Resource Order According To Joshua: Grain, Clay, Wood, Rock, Sheep.<br /><br />"Try to pick a location that sets you up to be getting the resources that are more precious (especially if the numbers make them rare). Either that or you have to expend resources to get a port that can trade, which is too costly in the beginning when you need to be collecting resources on all sides."<br /><br />Scott's words to live by:<br />- Happy May Day to all, and to all a good night</span></div>Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10127199317146493976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4043372892388582899.post-76011633809330743261997-04-12T19:00:00.002-04:002009-12-03T10:47:38.897-05:00Settlers of Catan Game #1 (4/12/1997)<div style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Players: Allan, Joshua, Scott<br /><br />This round of <a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/13" target="_blank">Settlers</a> was a blowout. Allan put down his stuff first, and got a primo space with a 5 and 6 roll that brought timber and brick, and when he combined it with a "3 of anything" port, the writing was on the wall before the Robber showed. He got the longest road, built two settlements into cities, and kept raking in the resources. Meanwhile, Joshua and Scott were competing for dead second and dead last, with only Joshua even close for a short time. Scott got his "empire" cut in half, and Joshua could only stay close if Scott traded him everything he needed (not bleedin' likely). Meanwhile, Allan rolled so well that he not only got tons of resources, but he got to place the Robber most of the time. His only setback came when he finally scooped up a ton of wood only to have it taken when Scott called a forest monopoly (getting a total of 11 trees), though that did give Allan a great story to tell afterward. By the end, the resources poured in so fast he didn't even care if he had to lose some cards. The final tally was something like Allan 10, Joshua 6, and Scott 4.<br /><br />Allan's victory is significant for one other reason: it came in a dice rolling game. Congratulations, Allan. Hope you didn't use a lifetime of luck on this one game, as I was hoping to ally with you next Dune game. (And don't forget, you still have a coupon for two free spice next time we play Dune. Coupons can't be honored if you don't bring them.)<br /><br /><center>A word from our winner, Allan</center><br />"Probably already said by many, but be aware of the catalystic relationship between the resources you plan to harvest. Work on pairs of wood and brick (for roads and towns) or 3 of a kinds for cards. Always develop cities on your best villages if you can. Beware of monopolies when you harvest 8 wood (argh!)."<br /><br />Scott's words to live by:<br />- Can't wait to get pictures of the Robo Rally figures posted. Way cool, Allan</div>Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10127199317146493976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4043372892388582899.post-24346411750457988371997-04-12T18:00:00.002-04:002009-12-03T10:49:13.088-05:00Priceless Game (4/12/1997)<div style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span><span class="Apple-style-span">Players: Mike B., Mike C., Vishal<br /><br />All that is known of this game of </span><a href="http://boardgamegeek.com/game/3528" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span">Priceless</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span"> is the following. The two experienced players, Mike B. and Mike C., cost each other MAJOR coin trying to get each other to overpay for items. The plan failed, however, because they forgot there was a third player, and thus Vishal discredited the Mutually Assured Destruction strategy by kicking their tushies and is now one of the few undefeated Priceless players we know. The final tally (as can be best estimated) was about $900,000 to a pair of $450,000s (though Mike B. claims victory over Mike C. - perhaps a reamatch is on tap). What wisdom does Vishal have to pass along? Read below and learn, Grasshopper.<br /></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span><center><span><span class="Apple-style-span">A word from our winner, Vishal</span></span></center><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span">I will attribute to my victory less to my skills and more to Mike B. and Mike C. mutual destruction play. This was the first time I was playing the game. When Mike C. expalined to me about the the game, one thing was clear -- that you have use your checks very carefully. I could see that both of these guys had used up their checks very quickly. Here are some tips which I think will be useful:<br /><br />1. Don't buy the 4th item in the group, rather it would be good to buy articles from the adjacent groups as they save your checks and allow you to form a chain.<br />2. In the auction, if you think the price has gone to high, don't go for it.<br /><br />Scott's words to live by:<br />- When ordering from Wok & Roll, split a dinner, don't try to eat one yourself -- they put in too much food</span></span></div>Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10127199317146493976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4043372892388582899.post-4525609357518446161997-04-12T17:00:00.002-04:002009-12-03T10:49:02.469-05:00Time Agent Game (4/12/1997)<div style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Players: Allan, Joshua, Mike B., Mike C., Scott, Vishal<br /><br />Three reasons this summary will bite: with a new game you have to explain the game and the action of that night; I can't remember any of the other player's character names; and I waited way to long to write this up. Bear with me. In <a href="http://boardgamegeek.com/game/311" target="_blank">Time Agent</a>, players send agents into the past to change key events from history -- events that once hurt their race (or that once helped other races) -- and try to destroy time travel when history smiles more upon their race. For some players, it's tougher to find events that help your race (umm... the Buralti spring to mind), so those players should change what they can to hurt other races, whereas some players benefit from almost every alteration in history and simply look around for the changes that help them most.<br /><br />During your turn, you can look into the past (up to three tiles per time machine), build new equipment, buy new squads and agents, or send agents and/or squads into the past where they can rotate tiles or alter events. Combat ensues when opposing squads/agents have opposing plans for the same hexagon. Most players opted to search before sending troops into the past, except for the richest player (Scott) who sent troops back to explore rather than waiting a turn and for the most economically challenged player (Allan) who didn't even have the cash to explore (SUCK!). After that first turn, all players started exploring the past, searching in accordance with the "cheat sheet" provided that tells you where your most important events are. Josh had to take away his own Victory Points to get cash (a cruel twist in the rules), and Allan built his empire from the ground up, exploring the less expensive tiles of the recent past and working his way back. The two Mikes tried with little success to bolster their empires (for every step forward, seemed one backward was right behind), and after a slow start, Vishal roamed the western part of the board unopposed for most of the game.<br /><br />At this point, "blood" was spilled for the first time in our gaming sessions. Mike B. knocked over his wine glass, and as Malcom McDowell once said, "The vino was flowing," flowing all over Mike B.'s cheat sheet and character description. We surveyed the damage and all realized that this would be a much cooler (and cleaner) game if ACTUAL Time Travel was available. Also might've helped if loose fitting clothes were out of style. Mike C. dispensed his advice for all time: "When you're gaming with a new group, this is how NOT to get invited back."<br /><br />Perhaps spurred by the sight of blood on the table, Allan roared to second place (all the while whining about other players' advantages -- deception at its finest), and the rest of the pack crept toward the Buralti (who start the game miles ahead), so Scott tried to end the game but was temporarily rebuffed by those pesky rules. Mike C. cost Allan and Vishal points just to play spoiler, and knowing the game might end the next turn, Joshua sold back his economic advantage for Victory Points. When Scott destroyed Time Travel, the Victory Points jumbled and juked, and in the end, Josh won with Allan a close second and all others crushed in defeat.<br /><br /><center>A word from our winner, Joshua</center><br />When playing the alienraceIplayed (sorry, can't remember what they're called) the VERY first thing you MUST do is reverse the invention of alienraceIplayed's philosophy. This does two things for you:<br /><br />1. You get 15 more bucks per round.<br />2. Your victory points go down so you look weak and helpless (pretty much true).<br /><br />Once this has been accomplished (by turn 2 at the latest) always buy one time machine per round since the only way to win the game is for the alienraceIplayed to know which turn the game is going to end and reverse all of the key events on that turn only. (Since you're going to lose that 15 extra bucks per round and have too many points to fain weakness.) Figure out who is going to stop time travel and "advise" them sufficiently such that you know/control when the game will end.<br /><br />Scott's word to live by:<br />- Time Agent might be a keeper if the different character advantages don't get predictable<br />- For years now, "Guild counter in the salsa" was our worst disaster. Now that Mike B. has raised the bar, should we fear our next gaming session?</div>Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10127199317146493976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4043372892388582899.post-57174432626772072551997-02-15T17:00:00.003-05:002009-12-03T10:49:58.642-05:00Joshua Brings the Hammer (2/15/1997)<div style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span><span class="Apple-style-span">Players: Allan (Harkonnen), Anne (did not play Dune), Brian (Fremen), Joshua (Atreides), Mike B. (Emporer), Mike C. (Guild), Scott (Bene Gesserit)<br /><br /></span><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/121" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span">Dune</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span">...<br /><br />What an effin' wipeout. Played four games, Joshua won three and we didn't finish the fourth. He brought the hammer alright, and my head still aches. We started out with Dune, skipping the Spice Harvest because of time constraints on one player (he had only three hours), though it turned out we should've played Spice Harvest and skipped Dune. First round was pretty boring, Atreides took Habbanya Ridge Sietch sans opposition (and with only two tokens), the Fremen got spice in The Great Flat. The Worm appeared and the Fremen rode it into Tuek's Sietch, and next turn, the Guild moved out for spice and the Emporer swooped in to fight the newly arrived Fremen in Tuek's. Everyone else passed until Atreides sold some information to the Emporer, which gave him just enough spice to ship into Sietch Tabr to battle the Fremen. The Bene Gesserit (and everyone else at the table) did not realize that this was for the win, and the spiritual sisters skipped their turn. This meant that an Atreides win in Sietch Tabr meant a one-player victory on turn two of a six-player game, which is exactly what happened as he wiped out the no-treachery-card Fremen and ended the game early.<br /><br /></span><a href="http://boardgamegeek.com/game/1569" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span">Robo Rally...</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /><br />After we detached our chins from the floor, we decided to play a serious game of Robo Rally. Mike C. screamed out to an early lead (first one to the second gameboard), while the other players bumped and lasered each other around on the massive "conveyer belt vortex." Allan reached the second gameboard next, and his reward was a robot that immediately spun into a small pit, and the "bots" got pretty spread out due to robots enticed by the edge of the board or Scott and Joshua's "laser-magnet-bots." Mike C. muddled around around between walls and lasers and couldn't get himself going, Scott's bot took serious damage and shutdown (while on a slow conveyer), while Joshua, Anne, and Allan rebuilt their robots and started over. Eventually, Mike was forced to shut down, and Brian flew into a pit; but restarting looked like a pretty good strategy when Allan got back to the second gameboard right away and Anne kicked ass with her nine cards. Scott avoided the crushers by swooping across them toward the backside conveyers. Mike B. stopped for multiple rounds on a repair spot to shed some damage, and Mike C.'s robot was finally compacted into a can and had to restart (though his archive point was close to the flag -- close geographically, that is), and Scott finally navigated the conveyers to land first on the first flag, which left only two flags to go.<br /><br />Brian had to leave, so we removed his bot. Allan reached goal No. 1 next, and was hot on Scott's trail (and halfway to the next flag) when Mike B. made it. Joshua got there next, and Scott and Allan missed on their first pass at the 2nd flag, meanwhile, Mike C. and Anne pounded each other into oblivion at the edge of the board, and Mike's robot died as he was trying to shutdown whereas Anne rode the momentum of Mike's defeat to the first flag. The second flag was on the edge of the board and had three layers of conveyers between you and it, and was particularly difficult to reach, but Allan appeared to have it in sight when he changed his plan just before the timer sounded (we used a two minute timer). His new plan was safer, but he realized he would've gotten there with the old one and kicked himself the rest of the game. Scott shut down again (and again was on the conveyer at the time) Finally, after the shutdown, Scott reached the second flag, followed closely by Joshua and Anne (the latter of whom knocked the former off the board -- which was Joshua's third death and the end of the game for him). We called it quits then (with still one flag to go). Finally tally was as follows: Mike B., Mike C. & Allan reached the first flag, Allan nearly reached the second one (Anne nuked him before he got there) and Mike B. had the healthiest robot ever after spending multiple turns on repair spots. Scott, Anne, & Joshua reached the second flag, with Joshua knocked out of the game by Anne right afterward, and Scott on his way to the third flag, carrying no damage at all (and still on his first life).<br /><br /></span><a href="http://boardgamegeek.com/game/3528" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span">Priceless...</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /><br />Priceless went sour fast. In the first game, Joshua built an early lead with cars and coins, Mike B. and Scott competed for games and in the end they both lost (overpaying for half the points), and Mike wandered around the board because he had nothing together. The luck of the draw indicated that Joshua should win, and he did -- by about $500,000 -- as he locked up antiques, cars and coins (the three most valuable groups on the board).<br /><br />The second game was more competitive, with Allan moving out to a quick lead (collecting antiques), Mike C. gaining when he lost an early auction to Scott (who once again overpaid -- this time for glassware). Joshua started slowly, lining up some stamps and card through shrewd trading, while Scott tried to recover by grouping clocks and one antique with his early glassware error. Mike started a nice collection of cars and married it to a chain in toys (and one glassware) that brought him to the lead for a moment before Allan filled in his third artwork item and catapulted back in front. Joshua added a few coins (and one jewelry) to his chain, and built momentum that appeared ready to carry him to second place.<br /><br />Allan erronously thought Scott was ahead of Joshua and used an Auctioneer card to spoil Scott's attempt at a respectable last-place finish, and when Joshua bought his third stamp right afterward, Allan realized he should've saved that dastardly deed for Joshua. Mike could never finish his jewelery collection (price was driven through the roof), and that ultimately relegated him to 3rd place. The Joshua/Allan sweepstakes ended with Joshua at $1.4 million and Allan at $1.36 million -- our closest finish ever and quite a disappointment to Allan who might've won if he'd hosed Joshua rather than Scott.<br /></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span><center><span><span class="Apple-style-span">A word from our winner, Joshua</span></span></center><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span">For Dune:<br />"ANY time a player has two cities (no matter how weakly held), assume that his next move will be for the game and block him. Especially when he's got a mere 2 troops holding a city. Remember this: The more pathetic a player looks the more he deserves to be in tanks instead of being in a city. If nothing else lobby to pay someone to eradicate the weakest city held. Otherwise you might as well go for the six player alliance."<br /><br />For Priceless:<br />"Don't listen to the bull look at their points. That's where the real money comes from. Keep a tally of how many checks each player has spent and you immediately know how much their worth and probably where they're headed next. Also, if you go with a middle group then don't plan on buying the 4th item; it's just way too expensive. However if you go with one of the outer groups then it's just a measely $100,000 for the 4th item and you still get the 10 bonus points. Two adjacent outer groups can be worth way more than solid inner groups since they won't deplete your check supply while your building up points. One check makes a difference big time."<br /><br />Scott's words to live by:<br />- Joshua was lucky enough to follow both his Priceless strategies in one night -- and win twice<br />- In Robo Rally, anyone else notice the correlation between the name "Anne" and the phrase "knocked out of the game"?<br />- Also in Robo Rally, don't give up a life too easily; shutting down for a turn is better because you don't go back to your archive point and you (usually) come back with fewer damage points<br />- Next time I'm that far behind in Priceless, I vow to cheat<br />- I propse a variant on 1830 where we play Spice Harvest first for either cash or stock in companies. This might eliminate some of the predictability of the game</span></span></div>Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10127199317146493976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4043372892388582899.post-2963548455808759861996-11-16T17:00:00.002-05:002009-12-03T10:47:27.466-05:00Priceless Games (11/16/1996)<div style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span><span class="Apple-style-span">Players: Joshua, Mike, Scott<br /><br />You gotta love </span><a href="http://boardgamegeek.com/game/3528" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span">Priceless</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span">, a game with blank checks that can be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars (especially considering that you start with NINE of them). Leaping off point for this game: players start with little cash and a bunch of blank checks (that are also worth little, at first), and they then purchase collectible objects (from Art to Cars to Cards). Buying additional items within one category increases the value of your collection but is also more difficult financially, and putting together "chains" of items (i.e. items that connect to each other on the game board) builds your wealth faster as well. At game's end, the player with the greatest value (comprised of cash on hand and value of remaing blank checks) wins.<br /><br />I won't describe all three games we played (play time is roughly one hour per game), so I'll just provide some specific rememberances and general principles that we discovered while playing. I remember Scott won all three games -- there, I said it, and I'm glad. The first game started out close, with all three of us trying to put together chains, without spending too many checks. The strategy of the game dictates that you cannot use all your checks if you expect to win, so we all struggled with the balance of saving checks and building income so that we could make future purchases in cash. In the first game, Mike and Scott managed that balance better than Joshua, who eventually overspent checks to start his first chain. No specific turning point stands out, but Mike and Joshua battled over some similar objects d'art, while Scott built a collection along the western side of the board. Joshua and Mike traded property cards a few times, and Mike made it out of the cellar first, followed by Scott.<br /><br />We encourage trading as it makes the game more interactive and interesting and offsets the luck factor (which can become enormous if players don't trade). In the third game, early trading between Joshua and the two other players put Mike out in front at first, and a late trade between Mike and Scott locked in two entire categories for Scott and a long chain for Mike. However, you should always (and only) trade when it helps you corner a certian category or build a chain for yourself. In fact, this strategy worked for both Mike and Scott in the last game, where Scott collected within a category while Mike traded and auctioned effectively enough to chain seven items together; in the end, both players built their buying power exponentially and raced toward the finish and ended up within 15% of each other. Overall, the first and third games were competitive whereas the second game was a wipeout.<br /></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span><center><span><span class="Apple-style-span">A word from our winner, Scott</span></span></center><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span">"At first, this game feels like a delicate balance between building your wealth while trying to save blank checks for the end, but the more we play it, the more it appears that you simply have to bite the bullet and spend checks aggressively to get over the income hump. That hump is the point at which you can purchase a property each round (up to about $35,000) without spending checks; that way, you can build within a category without suffering much and you can effectively bid on items in an effort to get them or to make others pay more for them."<br /><br />Scott's words to live by:<br />1. If an auctioned item is worth $20,000 to you and $100,000 to another player, force that player to PAY for it. Lack of blank checks hurts more than plenty of collectibles helps<br />2. If given a choice, build within a category rather than in a chain<br />3. If your hand stinks, don't pass your turn until you've explored all trading opportunities</span></span></div>Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10127199317146493976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4043372892388582899.post-17183099836932391631996-09-28T18:00:00.002-04:002009-12-03T10:47:15.563-05:00Settlers of Catan Game (9/28/1996)<div style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span><span class="Apple-style-span">Players: Joshua, Mike B, Mike C, Scott<br /><br /></span><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/13" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span">Settlers</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span"> is a pretty fun game, loosely based some other game (though what it is, I don't know). You randomly deal out land, water, and seaport hexagons, interlocking them into the shape of a large hexagon, and then (sort of randomly) put numbers onto the land hexes. Players build their initial settlements and roads (two of each), the former placed at the intersection of three hexes and the latter placed along the edge of land hexes, and then the fun begins. You roll two dice and the land segments with that number produce raw materials that correspond with the type of land on that segment (forest produces lumber, rocks/ore, et cetera), and players then trade these raw materials either with each other or for roads, settlements and other cool cards. All settlements and cities, longest road in the game, biggest army, and so on -- all that stuff is worth victory points (VP), and ten VP win the game. Seemed simple enough and was just what we needed to pass the time until Nazim showed up for the main event (a rousing game of Dune).<br /><br />Unfortunately, there isn't much to tell about the game as it went. The Thief showed up right away (moves around the board whenever someone rolls a "7" and steals from the people adjacent to the new hexagon). We started out with a lack of timber that seemed to stretch far into the game, brick was plentiful and we were all poor at first. Mike C. had the grain market cornered, but didn't harvest much of it; Scott made bricks by the truckload, but without timber, it was virtually useless; Mike B. had sheep, sheep, sheep, and Joshua the same. As I saw the board, the southwestern quarter was the most crowded, hemming in the building process for the first five or so rounds. All of this didn't leave the Thief much to steal.<br /><br />Mike B. offered wholsale trades to his friends (one of something for one of something else) and retail to other players (seemingly all of us) where he wanted greater quantity for in-demand items. Mike C. did the same but actually treated some of us as friends, and Joshua and Scott traded more with the "bank" than with other players. Later in the game, we were all screaming for ore (which lead to several bad puns about how many "ores" it took to build a city) and grain, as Mike C. moved into the lead. The "Longest Road" bonus changed hands several times, finally won out by Mike C., and Joshua, Scott and Mike C. started their quest for the largest army (and another two VP), with Joshua beginning a drive for institutions (Library, Tower, et cetera) at one VP each.<br /><br />Mike B. played the Monopoly Card (which gave him all of one commodity from all players), and then regretted it when the Timber market exploded, with literally dozens of timber cards produced and now in the hands of his opponents. With the Longest Road bonus out of his hands, Scott fell hopelessly behind, and Mike C.'s only challenger was Joshua. With Mike C. at nine VP, Joshua gambled by trading in most all of his materials for Institution Cards, and the gamble paid off when he pulled up a Tower to complete his ten VP and the win. Sorry I didn't make this more dramatic or interesting, but it's the first time we played and I'm still trying to figure out how to play, let alone how to report on it. I promise to do better next time.<br /></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span><center><span><span class="Apple-style-span">A word from our winner, Joshua</span></span></center><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span">"The best thing to do is spread out as fast as you can, remebering that it's better to be getting a little of everything than to dominate a certain resource. Also, don't underestimate the development cards. Buildings are a sure way to victory and using the Knight to attack acquire resources that your opponents are hording isn't too bad either. (Beware the robber.)"<br /><br />Scott's words to live by:<br /><br />This game has definite possibilities, and here's why:<br />1. The land set-up is random enough to keep the game almost endlessly interesting<br />2. It supports between three and four players, so we don't need a big crowd to play<br />3. It's fast enough that we can play a few games of this or a quick one while waiting for the main event (just as we did on Saturday)<br />4. Economy works pretty well, as one player cannot corner any market unless other players allow it to happen.<br />5. My loser's tip: Don't get caught up trying for the longest road. It's a sure path to defeat (just ask Mike C., with whom I warred over the road thing)</span></span></div>Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10127199317146493976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4043372892388582899.post-84709507362095736311996-09-28T17:00:00.002-04:002009-12-03T10:47:00.533-05:00Dune Game (9/28/1996)<div style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span><span class="Apple-style-span">Players: Joshua (Guild), Mike B (Fremen), Mike C (Emporer), Nazim (Harkonnen), Scott (Bene Gesserit)<br /><br />Aaaalllllrighty-then... </span><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/121" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span">Dune</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span"> it is. The Fremen placed their troops near Tuek's Sietch and in Sietch Tabr (right by the spice blow), putting them in a strong position already, but Harkonnen was lured by the spice and held a quasi-threat against the Fremen city after the colletion round. As you can see, the game started with no Atreides, which left Arrakeen open for whomever wanted it and left us in the dark when we bid on Treachery Cards. The Emporer and Guild battled over the empty city first, with three Saurdukar up against a dozen or so Guild troops, which of course, meant that the Guild squeaked out a victory.<br /><br />Undaunted, the Emporer went for Carthag next round, a move that the Emporer believed would convince Harkonnen to fight the Guild in Arrakeen, but instead, Harkonnen reinforced Carthag and left the spice for a hungry Bene Gesserit. The Fremen became even more dangerous when they took over Habbanya Ridge Sietch, and with their proximity to Tuek's (and Sietch Tabr already in their pocket) they were looking mighty mighty. Carthag went to Harkonnen (doesn't it always), and the Emporer appeared pretty beaten and bruised. The Guild went for spice just above Arrakeen, opening them up to another attack, and the B.G. continued to mass in the Polar Sink (hole); meanwhile the storm parked itself over Sietch Tabr, thus allowing the Fremen to commit troops all over the board.<br /><br />The Guild then donated spice to Harkonnen so that the latter could stop the Fremen from ending the game. It was the first time in all our memories that Joshua did something so wonderful, so selfless, so benevoleant, and we thank him for having us in his presence when the blessed event took place.<br /><br />Harkonnen brought some of his tired troops into Habbanya, and the Fremen (aren't we always talking about them?) moved out to the rocks and were thus no threat to end the game by sweeping into Tuek's. The Guild moved back into Arrakeen, the Emporer and Bene Gesserit took the round off to collect their thoughts, and STILL no worms so no alliances (and boy did I need one). Next round, the Emporer fought Harkonnen over Carthag again (must be good-looking 'ores there), but this time the Baron (Harkonnen) could not reinforce from on-planet, so he split off three troops from Habbanya to pursue spice. Seeing this, the B.G. moved non-advisors into the partially-vacated city, while the Fremen finally attacked Tuek's Sietch, convincing the Guild to call a special conference in Arrakeen (all Guild required to attend). The Shield/Lasegun brought all that Carthag business to an ugly close, Harkonnen collected his spice and lost Habbanya to "those bitches" in religious garb.<br /><br />The Bene Gesserit bought erroneous storm information from the Fremen, and thus did not play Weather Control, a crucial mistake as Habbanya was now vulnerable to attack, which the Guild gladly provided. In fact, the Guild went for the win by splitting forces between Arrakeen and Carthag in addition to Habbanya, and the chase for a longer game was on again. With donations from Harkonnen and the Emporer, the B.G. guaranteed a victory over the Guild in Habbanya, and the Baron attacked a weakened Guild in Carthag while the Emporer spent the round recovering from the force of that Lasegun. The Fremen then surprised few when they marched troops into Arrakeen, and the combination of that city with Sietch Tabr (which they occupied from the start) and Tuek's Sietch gave them the win when the Guild could offer little resistance (due to lousy cards). So the Fremen were finally free men (which hadn't happened in a long time), and the rest of us had to "pound sand" as slaves to Dune's natives.<br /></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span><center><span><span class="Apple-style-span">A word from our winner, Mike B</span></span></center><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span">"It may have looked like patience and cunning were what gave the Fremen the win. However, part of the victory must go to stubborn pride. The way the spice came up in the game (which was remarkably short, all things considered), Harkonen always had a shot at it. His offer to let me get it and pay him for not attacking offended my native sensibilities, so I preferred to remain poor and weaponless through the whole game. Also I didn't want to fight the Baron without any weapon. I believe it was just good fortune that all the other players except the Guild slaughtered each other, and then the Guild made a play for victory without weapons or overwhelming force.<br /><br />"I was pretty surprised to win the game with one battle. If I had gone along with the Harkie offer, I would have obtained cards, and may well have been more aggressive, and who knows what would have happened. In retrospect, I think that in most of the games the Fremen can successfully adopt a wait untill the other guys finish each other off strategy, just by lurking near three cities ready to pounce."<br /><br />Scott's words to live by:<br />- Sometimes, a lack of alliances makes this game feel a bit like McMulti<br />- Did the Fremen deliberately hose me with bad storm-movement information? Just to win the game? Can't be, can it?<br />- The Emporer aptly pointed out that it's easier to play when you know the other players, something he learned during those massive and unexpected wars with Harkonnen<br />- Happy Birthday to Lori (8/2) and Mike C. (8/4).</span></span></div>Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10127199317146493976noreply@blogger.com0