When we got together to play games this time, one of the guys had left his brain in Vegas and another one was talking muscle relaxers and pain medication. You would think that I had a pretty good chance of winning whatever game we were playing. You would think that; but you would be wrong.
We broke out Struggle for Rome again. It didn’t take long before Ben, the Vegas-brained gamer, took his first turn…moving my army and collecting his spoils. I pointed out in no uncertain terms that I was playing blue and he was playing white. He agreed, so it didn’t come to blows.
About halfway through the game, Feel-No-Pain Mike made sure that I would note that his poor performance was drug related. Soon after Owen, clear minded and alert, accused me of cheating. Me!? I was outraged; and so were the other players. Somehow Owen had confused me with Ben. I was cleared on all charges and the game continued.
As the game progressed Ben and I seemed to be doing well, but I knew I was in trouble. Mike on the other hand had slowly built up a good base and had a solid future. Owen’s bad luck continued as he had trouble getting, and keeping, resources. (Ben kept stealing Owen’s resources from him. Yes, it was Ben; and only Ben.)
In the end, it was Mike who announced that he had 10 victory points—enough to win. He actually had 11 once it was all added up. And according to his wishes, I should point out that his win was drug induced having no particular connection to his skills. I had a respectable 9 points. Ben had 8 and Owen had 7. Owen is due for a win here soon.
This time I don’t think many of use enjoyed the game as much as we did the first time around.
Chaos Steve