So it was a gaming day at my house yesterday. A couple of the usual suspects (Dan and Matthew) weren't around, but we made up for it with one new gamer, Steve, and a second-time gamer, Chari, who's female (which I can't help but think makes Cindy happier. Women gamers are more difficult to find, but we have Cindy and Chari, my wife plays occassionally, and if Sarah ever gets over her fear that I'm a crazed cyberstalker, we might have a fourth). Steve seemed to be having a good time, although he was pretty quiet, but admittedly, it's a bit difficult to listen to five people talking while you're trying to take in the new rules for games you haven't played before, particularly if they have some gaming and social history. That said, he seemed to enjoy Settlers of Cataan, except for the haitus in the middle of his game when he wasn't earning much in the way of resources, and what he was earning, Sean kept stealing. Sean got boxed into an almost impossible position though, so he had his own troubles. I came out on top through the "strategy" of being on the cusp turn so I could own both a big area of sheep and a port to sell them - although I still had to build my last settlement on a no-resource, two desert location to grab my last point.
There was a fairly big game of Bootlegger, which has been sort of the favorite the last two times - primarily because it's so different. Steve sat it out as he had to leave early, but five people still makes it a good time, and he was intently watching the game for as long as he was there. I was pretty sure Sean or Chari were going to win, as they were hauling in the big money, but Adam kept threatening to use the Thug cards he had unless people paid him off, and in the end his graft netted him slightly more money than their illicit shipping. I had the ignominious honor of being the only mobster not controlling his own speakeasy. However, based on Adam's general state during Munchkin (once again, the Kneepads of Allure carried the game) and Age of Mythology, he was drinking everything that went through his speakeasy doors. Chari and I had to handhold him through a few rounds of AofM until he was "undrunk". He rebounded surprisingly well and put in a good showing on the game and managed to stay awake until everything wrapped up with a few game of cards close to midnight.
The only bad part is that I had three pounds of hamburger, eighteen brats and all the fixins, and didn't get a chance to make them because people were cycling out to summer parties and eating Chari's lasagna - I'll be grilling for two weeks (although Jen is doing the grilling at the moment).
As soon as my renter in Apple Valley calls, I'm off to find her a new washing machine - she told me that it broke yesterday, along with her garage door opener. I doubt I can fix an old washing machine, so it's more likely we'll just be going to the local appliance dealer (though I'm not going where Steve went). The garage door opener will probably be my project with Andrew this week. I can install one myself (and have), but that pretty much triples the time involved and always has the threat of severe injury.
4 comments:
Scott since your renter has changed and the original contact is not in force can you rewrite it and not supply washer, dryer, and what ever is not normaly supplied in rentals?
I did enjoy Settlers of Cataan, but am already looking forward to playing it again now that I understand the rules better. Specifically, the shift in relative importance of the resources during the course of the game, and the fact that cities get twice the resources settlements gain completely escaped me during the rules explanation.
Bootleggers looked fun too, I was dissapointed I couldn't play. Hopefully next time I'll be able to stay longer. Thanks for the invitation.
If they hadn't just gotten off Section 8, I'd consider that route - but we're fairly considerate landlords, so we try not to mess with everyone (truth is, the original washing machine was/is pretty old, so it should have been replaced before they moved in).
Steve: glad you enjoyed yourself. That resource shift is a big issue - a lot of players will focus on controlling one of the resources for after the shift (wheat and/or ore) and then just pretty much wait it out until people are desperate for that resource before they start to catch up and pass everyone by either trading, or having the ability to build cities quickly when others can't. However, if there are bad rolls for you, or good rolls for everyone else, you might not catch up if they can get a port or four-for-one trades become common. One of the nice things about a game with six people is that the board fills up pretty fast and the ports actually get a lot of play, whereas in some games they're almost ignored (because you lose a roll at a resource by building there).
It's also a good game because it's fairly fast compared to a game like Axis and Allies (or Shogun, or Civilization), so you don't spend your whole day playing one game. I've noticed lately that we tend to play those games a little more often on gaming days so we get some variety (Bootleggers is the same way - fixed turns, and Age of Mythology is also limited in the number of turns by a fixed-point system).
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