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Category Archives: Board Games

Posts about our weekly game nights.

GenCon Boardgames

So just wanted to officially note, I’m kicking Steve’s ass at boardgames this year. I won 2 Roll Through the Ages games on Wednesday, 2 Ra the Dice Game on Friday and 1 Catan two player card game on Friday. Mike 5 Steve 0. One of my best GenCon performances ever.

No comments about how it was just Steve, as I’d like to bask in my victories a little longer. :)

Update: played a new game today called “Unspeakable Words”. I lost. Twice. To Steve. On a word game. But it had a chaotic factor to it so I don’t count it.

On the plus side, we played two more games of Ra the dice game, and I won both of those. :)

Road Kill Rally

Harken back with me to the days of “Death Race 2000” where the cars had weapons and where pedestrians were points. Road Kill Rally is a racing game with guns and three types of pedestrians:  The elderly, kids, and run-of-the-mill office workers. The game play is simple. Move and run over pedestrians to earn points. Then shoot at the other cans (and pedestrians) to score more points. Speed is kept in check by Crash Checks. The faster you go the more severe the Crash Check is going to be. You soak up the damage from crashes and from your opponent’s weapons by discarding Rally Cards. Rally Cards can also be played to help you during the game. The track is random as you move along which helps make every game a little different.

The game moves pretty fast and we enjoy the various special track sections. We were well into our first game when we realized we made two major rule plunders. Frist was that you get to roll again any double-hit you roll on the dice and secondly that when you damage an opponent any Rally Cards discarded go to the attacker. (I had just happened to look at the back of the FAQ sheet that had a list of common first-time errors.) Since the game flows pretty fast, we decided to just start over.

Most of the game Ben and I were fighting for first place. (You get big points for a first place finish.)  Owen’s car was tailor made for mowing down pedestrians, so he chose the slow-and-steady approach. Mike just had awful luck and was crashing often. By the close of the game all of us, except for Owen, had a car full of wipeout tokens that prevented us from attaching any new options. It was obvious that Ben was going to grab first place, so both Mike and I tried the all-or-nothing last ditch effort to beat him. We failed. The guys will have to comment on this because I don’t remember who actually won the points battle. I believe Owen still came in first with 360 points. Ben had 350 points. I had only 170 points. (I had a hard time mowing down pedestrians.) Mike came in last with an undisclosed amount of points.

Chaos Steve

La Havre

A couple of weeks ago we play Le Havre. I’m pretty sure the game’s name translates into “You’re Screwed” because that’s how I felt most of the game. That’s not to say we didn’t like the game, because we did. It’s just that your turn can be very frustrating at times.

Since it’s been a few weeks, I’m sure I have more than the usual number of game terms wrong. There are 7 turns in a round that get split up between the players. Since we had four players, someone would only get one turn each round, while the rest would get two. On your turn you can either take resources or use a building (buy moving your token into the building.) You finish your turn with a buying and selling action—basically buying things you need, like buildings. We hardly ever sold anything.

One of the basic “screw” points of the game is planning. Maybe you’re planning to build a building or to use a building to further your plans. Odds are that build won’t be available when it comes around to your turn or you were forced to use your resources for something else so your plans crumble to dust. Also, food became a major resource as you needed more and more of it at the end of each round.
Everyone seemed to struggle during the game except Mike. He cruised through to an easy win with 96 points. Owen and I were fighting not to be in last place. Owen won that battle—just barely. Ben came in second with 59 points. Owen got the coveted third place finish with 54 and I was 1 point behind him.

One last point, it may sound like I didn’t like the game. That’s not true at all. I did like the game. We’re planning on playing it again soon so we can crush Mike…or better learn the game. I forget which.

Chaos Steve

7 Wonders

Owen brought us a new game last night called 7 Wonders. We LOVED it! It’s basically an enhanced card game with some nice dynamics and various ways to earn victory points. Four guys, who deliberate over each action for a  l o n g  time, can finish a game in under 40 minutes. AND the game can handle up to seven players! We all liked this game. Especially the guy that won two out of the three games we played. Even the guy who came in dead last in two of the games (Mike) liked it.

Our first game lasted an hour as we sorted out just what we needed to do each turn. I made a tremendous blunder during my last action of the game. I was expecting to complete my wonder and garner some victory points. Then I realized that I didn’t have the resources to complete it. I was the only player not to complete his wonder. Ben won the game with 63 points. Owen was second with 55. I still got 49 points and realized that completing my wonder wouldn’t have changed my standing. Mike came in very last with 40 victory points.

Our next game found me in a similar state during the closing actions of the game. I needed papyrus. My kingdom for papyrus! Because of my lack papyrus AND my neighbors lack of it—I could have bought some from them—I couldn’t take advantage of several great cards that came my way. This game ended with Ben and me tying at 51 points and Mike and Owen tying at 44 points. The tie breaker was gold. I was loaded with it and won the game. Owen has more gold than poor Mike so Mike was sent to last place again. This game took less than 40 minutes.

Our last game found us all getting points from different areas of the game. This made it hard for us to tell just who was in the lead or who was doing well. I finally completed a wonder during a game. It’s probably why I won with 55 points. Ben was second with 48. Mike narrowly got a third place finish with his 44 points. Owen was last, just one point behind Mike, at 43.

We will definitely play this game again.

Chaos Steve

Pillars of the Earth

This week we were the pillars of the earth. Or rather we played Pillars of the Earth, a game about building a cathedral. Ok, not some much about actually building the cathedral as much as the events the go on around building the cathedral. Events such as currying favor from those in power, mining of ore and gathering of timber, poking fun at Owen when he blurts out “I’m an idiot!” Things like that.

I like games of resource gathering that you then turn around and use the resources to garner victory points, although I do seem to have a problem with that latter part—the garnering of victory points.

Mike started out with a good solid lead, using the straightforward “Gain victory points–win the game” strategy. The rest of us struggled behind him. Poor Owen could barely muster a single VP in the early stages of the game. That soon changed. Mike continued to lead the pack but the rest of us were gaining on him. Owen picked up several great Craftsmen cards that complimented each other and enabled him to generate a goodly amount of Victory Points. He soon caught and passed Mike. Ben had plots inside of plans all bound by shadowy machinations. He worked very hard for his third place result. I had my plans thwarted at every turn–if not by the other players, then by me. I lost three Victory Points simply because I misunderstood the sequence of events on the board–the board where we had already gone through those events a few times and the board where Owen kept saying, “Steve, why don’t you take that card and get three Victory Points?”  (I think this is where I thought in my head, “I’m an idiot.”) Three Victory Points doesn’t sound like much, but it would have been the difference between coming in last (as I did) and coming in second.

In the end Owen rocketed ahead and won with 51 Victory Points. Mike came in second with 39. Ben had 37 points and I had 36.

Chaos Steve

Thurn & Taxis

So if I told you we were going to play a game where you build post office routes across Bavaria, how exited would you be? Probably pretty excited because you would know that this had to be the game, Thurn & Taxis! (A little history…) Throughout the course of the 16th century, the Taxis dynasty was entrusted as the imperial courier of the Holy Roman Empire and in the Spanish Netherlands, Spain, and Burgundy. The Thurn-und-Taxis-Post was operated by the Princely House of Thurn and Taxis between 1806 and 1867. So now you know why a post office game in Bavaria (Germany) is called Thurn & Taxis.

This was an old favorite of ours, but we hadn’t played it in a long time. We also have a couple of the expansions for the game, but decided to stick with the basic game this time. In Thurn & Taxis you gain victory points by claiming postal routes. The VPs could be for special cities, or because of the length of your route, or because of the area you now deliver too. One interesting dynamic about route claiming is that you rarely get to claim every city along your route. This is because you can only claim one city in each region along the route or all cities in a single region along the route. So you must plan, as best you can, to get the most cities claimed during your turn.

Everyone played a good game, but for most of the time the luck of the cards was with Ben. He seemed to be able to score long routes with many cities all of the time. Everyone else did their best to keep up with him. I realized midway through the game that my strategy was doomed to failure—as evident by my victory point placement. Ben quickly got down to his last five city tokens. (You use the city tokens to mark the cities along your routes.) We thought the game would be over soon, but quickly discovered that Ben was having a hard time getting routes in cities he didn’t already have routes through. This gave the rest of us time to catch up.

On what would be the next to last round of the game, Own had a choice to make. He could take a huge chance for a huge reward or play it safe and get a lessor reward. The ever safe Owen chose the latter. This caused him to tie for second with Mike at 26 points. Had he taken the chance, he would have challenged Ben’s first place showing. Ben had 33 points. I had a respectable 24 points, but still came in last.

Chaos Steve

Railroad Tycoon: Railways of England and Wales

Last night’s game night was called off due to Mike’s work going nuclear. Then we found out that Ben doesn’t read his email. He showed up at Owen’s ready to take them both to gaming. Calls were made and a plan decided upon. We would meet at my house and play Railroad Tycoon: Railways of England and Wales. I let Mike know what was going on, just in case. Turns out he could make it after all, so game night was saved and all of us got to play.

Owen and Ben both started building their railways in the north. Mike started in the north too, then moved to the west, then changed to the northwest, then realized his tracks weren’t connected properly. Ben, Owen, and Mike all took advantage of Delivery Service Bounties. That gave them all an early lead over me. I built my railways around London. I did this mostly because I could earn 8 points at the end of the game from my Tycoon card. It turned out to be a good investment throughout the game.

I was pretty much alone in the south, except for a few rail lines owned by Mike. Ben and Owen filled the north with so many railroads that it became a jumbled, twisted mass of writhing tracks. As the game wound down, Owen had the lead with Ben and me fighting for second place. Owen did win, but it was close. Ben’s seemingly endless supply of 5 and 6 deliveries, along with my excessive seven shares, allowed him to take second place. Mike and I ended in last and next to last place, just like last game. Only this time, Mike was so far in last place that I’m not even sure he played the same game as us.

Ok, that last statement was a little cruel. I mean, Mike spent all day on business calls, some having over a hundred people on them. As business fires blazed around him, he fought them dutifully and bravely all day. He deserves better than to be stabbed in the back by some callous THIRD PLACE finisher. Sure that THIRD PLACE finisher was like 50 points ahead of him, but that doesn’t matter. Mike showing up and playing, that’s what’s important here. So I want that…uh…what was I talking about? Well, I’m sure it’s wasn’t important. Looking forward to next time!

Chaos Steve

Railroad Tycoon: Railways of England and Wales

This week Andy joined us as we played Railroad Tycoon: Railways of England and Wales. Ben
and Owen had a slight advantage as they actually knew where the cities were
located on the game board. The rest of us were always asking “Where is Cabbageford?”
or “How far is Buttsandbother from Nopantshaven?”

The game started off with Owen shipping the first cube of
goods and taking a huge lead. Everyone else struggled to catch up. As the game
wore on and everyone began to carve out their rail lines, it was obvious to me
that I wasn’t going to do well. Even Andy, who had never played before, was
keeping up with the leaders. Ben and Owen were firmly planted in the center of
the board. Mike was on the western coast. Andy was mostly south and I was in
the southwest.

Owen went after every extra bit of points he could using the
cards and special rail lines to his advantage. Ben was hoping his lack of
shares would help throughout the entire game. Mike was deep into financing his
line by issuing share after share. Only at the end of the game did he realize
they counted against him as negative points. I blundered about managing to stay
in last place, but still keep up with the rest of the group. Andy quietly turned
his southern railway into a massive shipping line.

Andy won the game with Ben and Owen following behind him.
Mike thought the negative 15 points for his many shares would land him in last
place. It did not. I was two points behind him. He was very excited about that.

Chaos Steve

Rise of Empires

This week Owen brought Rise of Empires, so we settled down to play it. We’ve tried this game two other times and liked it both times. You can read about our previous games here and here. The game started out normally enough, we all jockeyed for position trying to gain resources, gold, people, and victory points. We caught Ben cheating a dozen times, and Mike once or twice. A couple of times we had to backup and redo actions that we realized broke the rules. This mostly happened during the combat action. I sure this action has a better name in the game, like “expansion” or “exploration”, but to us, it’s “combat”. It seems hard for us to remember the rules concerning how you expand your empire. I didn’t have to remember those rules, as I hardly expanded my tiny empire anywhere.

We had a really good time during the game with lots a good natured ribbing and finger pointing. I like this kind of management-type game. I also suck at this kind of management-type game. And the reason I like is the same reason I suck at it. You have lots of options and choices available to you.  I invariably choose the wrong option or make the wrong choice. Give me a straightforward game like Roborally and I can speed across the factory floor while pushing my opponents into bottomless pits—by accident of course. In these management games, my decisions border on disastrous.

So how did our game end? Well we made it through 2 of the 3 eras in about 2+ hours. Not bad. Towards the end of the game it was obvious that Mike and Ben were the contenders for the win and Owen and I were contenders for not-being-last. I cemented my position in the game by making a huge blunder on the last turn. I was last in victory points which meant I got to choose what position in the turn order I wanted to be. In the previous round, going last was good, so I chose it. Had I only realized that now, going first was much, much better. It cost me 10 victory points and 3rd place. I came in last. Woe is me. As for the less important first place position, Ben took that. Mike was second and Owen was third.

I’m sure when the other guys read this they’ll wonder “why didn’t you mention this funny thing or that great quip?” That’s because I’ve forgotten them all; just like I want to forget this game…that I hope we play again soon.

Chaos Steve

 

Sid Meier’s Civilization

Last week we played Sid Meier’s Civilization board game again. In it Players are tasked with guiding an entire civilization throughout the ages, taking ownership of their people’s technology, economy, culture, and military, as well as all the choices that go along with them. There are four different paths to victory, and each is riddled with opposition. Each player plays a particular culture. I was Germany, again. I don’t remember what cultures Owen, Ben, and Mike played, but Mike’s culture sure seemed to have some great bonuses.

The game begins innocently enough with each player exploring the area around his home, taking over villages, and purging the area of any natives. Each turn you get to add buildings to you city, build a new city, or add more units to your army. You also get to research technology that improves your civilization and allows you to lord of your neighbors (Mike). You can also invest in arts. It turns out that investing in the arts gets you some great cards to play against the other, not-so-artsy, cultures.

From the previous game, I learned that you need to play to the strengths of your culture. So this time I went hard and fast for military might. In this game I learned that everyone else can also increase their military might just as hard and fast, basically negating Germany’s military edge. Some might say it was Germany’s leadership, and to those I say “firing squad”.

Once again, I think we were far from finishing the game when we stopped. At that point, Mike was the hands down leading player, with Owen and Ben being contenders. Me, I think I was just about to fall under Mike’s Egyptian rule. (It suddenly came to me what culture Mike was playing.)

We like the game–some more than others. I will not play Germany again, ever.

Chaos Steve