We’ve given up on ever seeing Owen again. He says he’s coming back to the states soon, but I’m beginning to doubt it. Undaunted Ben, Mike and I played Rheinlander. Rheinlander is another great game by Reiner Knizia. In it, each player is trying to create duchies along the banks of the Rhine River. You do this by playing knights in the numbered plots along the river. As you take over the plots, you also take control of castles, cities, and cathedrals–these score you points in the game. During the game each player expands and strengthens their duchies, or else they may be taken over by a neighboring duchy. You can score points during the game by losing control of your duchies—yes, losing control of them–but you score significantly more points at the end of the game by holding on to them. This is a point I neglected to remember early in the game and it cost me a few points at the then…not that it mattered. I came on strong at the beginning, but the middle and all important end of the game belonged squarely to Mike. Mike beat us easily. I sight two reasons for this, Ben and Ben. I also blame my disastrous last place finish on Ben. As you can see, Ben was pretty busy during the game—picking on me when he should have been picking on Mike! It was too late when he realized his folly; that Mike was the real enemy. Mike was and is the real enemy. How many times must I say it!
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There was a clamoring to play Kachina again, so we did. This has quickly become one of our favorite tile placement games. The rules are simple, but the play is quite strategic as you try to score as many points as you can while not opening up any big scoring opportunities to you opponents. Once again Mike came on strong in this game with Ben and me lagging behind. He was also able to actually score some big points from the Hummingbird card—our personally least favorite card. As the end of the game drew near, it was apparent that Mike was going to be difficult to beat. I was steadily closing on Mike, but right at the end he jumped ahead by 9 points! It’s hard to get nine points with just a couple of cards in your hand.  Lady luck was with me though and I had saved just the two cards I needed to not only earn 9 points, but to earn just a few more and win the game.
Poor Ben was 10 to 15 point behind Mike and me. Some might call this poetic justice for his crimes during the previous game. Some might also say that such a devastating lost was too good for him. That only a sound beating with lead-filled games boxes would do. Some might clamor for his head! Some might be plotting right now to…well, we’ll save that for next time.
Chaos Steve