by Steph
Hia Everyone!Business as usual this week with tons of gaming. :D As a week should be.
It all started Monday night when I walked in and was allocated to play a 3 player game of Le Havre.
I think Ron had wanted to play it and Marsha showed interest so he decided to teach the game and we got to playing. {I wonder if the Inland port game made him want to play the full version}
I know I have been itching to play Le Havre for a few weeks now but no one really every shows interest and 2 player is great- but I have only played a 3 player game a few times (live).
The game went well. I wasn't particularly a happy camper cause Ron had a very strong lead and I spent many turns just getting qty 1 of an iron or something dumb. Nothing seemed to be falling into where I wanted it.
Marsha was just figuring out the game and was enjoying herself. She never got a loan and, actually, did quite well for a first time play.
I managed to get my favorites a Wharf and the shipping line. I love the shipping line - it is my favorite card. I like to go shipping as much as possible and it just makes me feel complete when I do have it. I think I play better in 3 player games because there are more rounds.... more things accumulate- things like that. I did get lots of iron and turned them into steel. I got a boat of each type including luxury. I had probably my best score ever of 222. Marsha did very well with 212 and Ron was disappointed with his score of 197.
All in all it was a super close game. Marsha liked the game so much she played again right then with Joe H as a 2 player game. We left before they finished so I am not sure how it went.
Happy to have played it. I really want to teach more players from the regular group. I think they would enjoy it. It is hard not to. I also think of the game heavier than it actually is. It is not THAT heavy but in my mind it is. Tough to say why. Maybe the whole game is planning and upgrading and working with what you can. It just consumes me when I play so I give it a higher metal weight than it actually is. weird.
I really don't know if I like it more than Arle but they are very different in so many amazing ways I think I like them equally. I am definitely always more excited to play Arle and now Caverna. But Le havre is just so elegant and amazing it is really a top contender. They are all so freaking good!
Managed to get a 6 player game of Pictomania. Since we all knew the game we jumped right to the level 2 cards and went from there.
This game is still so amazing and fun. I am not tired of it. Even if we have seen some of the same cards multiple times. I am generally not playing with the same group of players so it hardly seems like a problem at the moment.
Still lovin' it even if Ron continues to destroy us alllllllllll. I played a very good game. I did have an easier time with the hard clues. I got the word "king" so I drew some chess pieces. simple!
I love it.
Here is some of my amazing artwork.
After Ron and I got home and ate some food we had time for a few fast games. I pulled out the dice games. We started with a single game of Qwixx gemixxt.
Hadn't played it in a while and it was hanging with the Rolling Japan game so played it first.
We didn't get high scores because the game ended super fast. We both closed a row and with bare minimum requirements.
Fun game. Don't think I need to play it all the time. Good to have a variety of boards to play around with.
I think Ron won that game.
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With a roll of his eyes Ron agreed to play Rolling Japan after Qwixx.
He doesn't really like the game. I love the game and we hadn't played in a while so I thought fast and good to play right then and there!
It was in the same box so it was just easy to do.
We were rolling terriblyI still managed to score 13 with Ron's 14 and I won.
see those dice in the pic below- yeah that was like terrible final round... Ron rolled that... terrible!
haha I love this game. I like it more than Qwixx, too.
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Tuesday night means ARLE night!! One of my most favoritest nights of them all!
I am still loving this game. I kinda want to go back and count all the games I have played. I have no idea. It still doesn't seem like enough.
Ron and I are getting very good at this game. Scoring increases, it seems, each play.
This game I didn't focus on animals. Ron was working that area. I was focused on SO MUCH PEAT!!! wow it is wonderful to have so much flexibility with the peat and resource tracks.
I managed to get a bunch of vehicles by the end and was shipping materials. I boosted my tools tracked where it seemed to be most helpful (weaving looms- always).
I bought a ton of buildings and didn't invest too much time collecting animals. I always needed food- seems to be important in acquiring better buildings.
I had all the goods in the end I had something like 45 points in materials. Another 40-50 in buildings.
By the end I snuck out a win with 122.5 and Ron had 118.5 he was just behind me!
We were close and we are getting better. Man that game is so good!
After, I asked Ron which he likes more Caverna or Arle. He said Arle since he has a chance of winning.
My winning streak in Caverna against Ron is 100% he has at least won a few Arle games. We haven't played Caverna a whole lot, yet. But, he will get me sooner or later.
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Wednesday night I pulled out Super Motherload. We hadn't played in a while and it is a fun 2 player.
I enjoy this game. it plays very well with 2 and you get more actions than 4 players. With 4 players it is a rush to get the artifacts and then the game is over after you get only a few cards added to your deck. With 2 players I managed to get a whole bunch of cards added to my deck. I am thinking there is a happy medium with 3 players.
It is fast and colorful. Definitely a good deck builder game- it is more than the cards and I enjoy that.
I would happily play this whenever requested. It kind of hides on the shelf and is never requested. I should change that. :)
I don't think Ron enjoys it as much as me. I kick his butt! This game I totally killed it. I had 50 to Rons 35 or so. I did manage to get a major award and a whole bunch of minor awards.
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I promised Ron we would try out the 2 player game of Terra Mystica.
We had been meaning to play it for a while 2 player. We ended up playing Fire and Ice.
I ended up playing as the Yeti's and Ron played with the sorcerers or something that affects the cult tracks like crazy.
All game I was having a hard time terra forming and figuring out how to best get the end game bonus points. I got tons of end game points, as it turns out. Since it was 2 player Ron also god a ton of points. Ron was getting tons of in game points and I didn't do as well in that regard.
Ron kinda blocked me from half of the board. But, in a 2 player game it didn't quite matter much.
I didn't stand chance going in, but I still wanted to try it 2 player for kicks. I don't think we will be playing it again 2p. Ron destroyed me. I had around 130 and he was at like 150 or more. Creamed me!
I did manage to get a ton in end game points and played an awesome game but I will like to save that game for when there is more players. I have to give the ice races a break as well...
Still a fun game. Just need to try it without playing against Ron! Sorry Ron!! :)
BGG Rejected
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Thursday night was Fun Group!
Jeff asked me to bring all my Japanese games- I did. And many of them actually got played! They seemed to be a big hit! A lot of them did not get played- but the ones that did were successful!
I started off by playing 2 games in a row of Sheep & Thief. I taught 2 tables this game. The first table was having a tough time trying to understand it. It is not a hard game but they are still sort of entry level gamers. I surmised they knew what drafting meant but they didn't and kept mentioning cars....
Anyways, one we got over that bump the game moved along pretty steady.
I think by the end after the Baa-ing had stopped (but never really stopped) I totaled to win the game with 33 points.
Apparently that was my # since I scored the exact same with the second game and different players and drafting.
I think the first table liked it more than the second table. But the second table being Joe and Geoff well... we got in a few other games before the other table of The King of Frontier finished up.
:)
I enjoy playing the cards and the fluffy sheep. It is hard not to like this game. :D
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So while the other table was still going I taught Geoff and Joe 猿道 (Monkey Road).
This was my first time playing as the human. I don't really know what human strategies are but i looked at a few cards.
Then I guessed a card that Joe had and I won! After like 5 rounds I managed to guess the taxi card which Joe had forgotten I had seen and played.
hahah it was cute. They weren't so amused.
I probably wont bring it to a Monday night group. Later in the night the other table got to play it and they LOVED it!! Lots of Monkey noises coming from that side of the room...
hahaha
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We still had a some time. We played a fast 3 player game of Qwixx.
I was rolling very well on my turns and taking the value of the white dice on other turns.
I managed to score one of my better scores ever- I beat Joe and Geoff combined... I did sooooooooooooooo well! :)
Fun game. I am happy to play every now and again!
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The final game of the night was a 3 player game of Elysium
Geoff taught Scott and we got to playing.
I didn't do very well this game at all. I was going last each round and I never got enough cards or money to do everything I might have wanted. I think I ended with like 58 points and Geoff won with a bunch more than that.
I am really liking this game. I am happy to own it and I am sure it will get played a bunch more.
It is fun to explore the decks - there is certainly a bunch to get into. Expansions will be easy to incorporate- so I expect that will happen eventually.
Good way to end the night!
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Friday night Ron and I got in some late night gaming. I took out a newly acquired game of Eminent Domain. New to me!
Mina has been talking about it non stop for weeks now. I had to see what it was all about. I picked it up in a math trade.
I am not a huge deck-building fan but I enjoy Dominion and the mechanic in general.
This was interesting since there was no direct conflict going on. Standard deck builder, really. You are trying to conquer or colonize the planets and gains as much vp as possible. No attacking others. Whatever action you choose to do you allow others to feed off of and copy you. So, every role selection is very important.
To no great surprise Ron destroyed me and scored over 50 to my nearly 40. yah... I might need to play that a few more times. For now- I think it was pretty good. I look forward to playing again. I don't foresee it becoming a favorite and I would still rather play Dominion if picking a deck-building game to play. It lasted a bit too long for my liking- but I surmise it will become shorter with more familiarity.
I am sad like all my images got rejected. Not cool.
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Finished the night with a very speedy game of Deus.
So speedy neither Ron nor myself built a temple. We played with the straight line up. It is still new an fresh but sooo hard to play with. It is a rush for barbarians and therefore a rush to end. I suppose it is always that way... but more so in a straight line up.
I got screwed. Ron had better placement and I ended it too soon.I ended up giving him points for coming in on the outside of the other end of the board. Risky move since I was going first and he still would get 2 more turns. It didn't work out for me. He ended up getting all the resouce points too. ugh- terrible job by me!
Final scores were around 25 to 34 or something. haha sooo low! still on my hot list and playing on BAJ :)
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Saturday was all day gaming in Salem NH. The monthly meet up- always a good time and full day of games! yay!
Ron and I got there right on time and jumped into a 4 player game of Minerva.
Scott got his copy of the game and Ron taught him so then he could play.
It is a wonderful tile laying game. It was a bit long with 2 players learning and lots of thinking to be done.
I destroyed everyone. I managed to get tons and tons of resources that worked well together and a bunch of temples. It kind of fell my way.
I can't wait to own this game. It is very clever. I think it might work well with 2 and I am eager to find out!
I think I ended with 72 and Ron was in second with about 20 less than that at like 52.
Awesome game! I need to get my hands on a copy so I can play it on my black table! :)
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Riley brought his copy of Caverna: The Cave Farmers with all the googly eyes!! Mine is still in working progress. Might be half way done by now.
I knew Steve would enjoy the game so I asked him to get into the game so we could play. Newcomer josh also sat in for a 4 player game. Riley was so kind and taught the rules.
This was the hardest most brutal game I have played- to date.
Every round was a harvest until the final 3 rounds. It gave us no time to stop and smell the roses. It was full harvest EVERY ROUND. Painful!
We all survived and both Steve and Josh loved the game so it was a definite success.
This game both newbies went for the adventuring. Riley and I hung back and did some farming. This game I had SO MUCH planting and field growing I was doing. I ended up getting the building tile that gets you 2 vps for every paid or pumpkin and wheat you have at the end. I got 14 points from that sucker. Very nice!!
All game I was I need of getting animals and what not so I was surprised on how many animals I actually had by the end of the game.while, not a ton still a bunch!
I did very well that game. I managed to score best with 78 and Steve was on my tail with around 68. Josh did ok around 58 and Riley was below around 54. I don't have the score sheet but it worked out to be about that. Riley helped me remember! :)
Such an awesome game. The more I play it the more I love it. Ron and I played back to back games on Sunday too... I will get to that later.
Sad all my images got rejected, again.
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Steve saw that I brought Ginkgopolis. He really enjoys that game. We got Josh to play with us in a 3 player game.
We did not have any expansion of Modules. I was teaching Josh and refreshing Steve on game play. This game I was trying to help out as best as I could.
Everything was falling my way. I got all the right Tiles at the right times and all the right cards at the right times. It was a near perfect game for me. I felt badly since they were on new side to the game. I ended up getting 128 points to Steves 58 and Josh's 54 I believe it was. Something along those lines.
I can't win people over with Gink if I crush them so hard. Oh well. Steve liked it SOOO much that he wanted to play again right then and there. This game does have that effect on people. Even last week it was mentioned a few times in game play that we should just play again after. It only didn't happen because other players showed up.
So Josh left to get dinner and Steve and I played Gink duel.
This time nothing fell my way. We played with the holding a card back each time and passing 2. Steve liked that a lot more. He was also doing much better this game.
On the last turn I ended up taking a big risk. I knew at least one card Steve had which he could screw me over if he had the right materials and I took a risk and it paid off anyway. It wasn't a big enough pay off to win the game but it did help me out.
All game I was just not seeing the cards I needed/wanted that would help me progress my tableau or give me good end game points.
Steve kicked my butt that time. I think he had around 105 and I had around 98. He definitely broke 100 and I definitely did not is all I really remember. Nice job!
So yes, another player who loves Gink. I obviously have to bring it around more. Maybe it will start to get some more love than it once had. I think I also just got tired of always having to teach it. It is hard to stay focused on a game when new players are so confused. guiding them and playing the game can be draining at times.
But, if I can still get it played -that is what matters, yeh?
Still #1 for me. So happy to see it get played for the second week in a row! At this rate, I am shoot for weekly games! Hhaha yeah, right. I can dream! :)
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After the Awesomeness that was Gink I played 6 rounds of 猿道 (Monkey Road).
6!
I failed being the Human this time. Well the first game was a 3 player - I played poorly.
The next 5 games were with 4 players. 4/5 were other humans and 3/5 games ended after the first turn with a random first guess that was successful.
We played a few more times after that- I played as the human again and guessed correctly around turn 4.
I recommend not playing 6 times. Maybe 2 and it will stay fresh and fun.
cute game.
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With the same group of 4 we played a game of Seasons.
Against my better judgement- 4 player is just too long for my liking. The whole time I was there like lets move ppl.
I also hate that damn score track. Ian insisted on keeping score- its not that I don't trust him its that I don't trust anyone. He positioned the score track by his side and it was in a spot I could not see... wtf
Everyone *besides me* said he should do it. I didn't want to do it but I would have rather done it since I know I can trust myself and I am very knowledgable about the cards and aware of what people are doing. He barely likes the game and doesn't know the cards. It was just very frustrating.
I should not have agreed to it. There should be other methods of score keeping.
The game went fine, I guess. I got Karin out very fast and started stealing points from everyone every round. I was collecting most points in game.
The final scores were around 140 to 135 to 130 to 120. I was the 130ish range. These score I don't even trust- so the game is shot.
I love the game. I just need to play with people I can trust. oh well.
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Riley had a new game for us to try afterwards. We played a 6 player game of Bucket King 3D. New to me!
We played 6 player.
It is a simple card/dex game. Mostly card game. you have a hand of cards and 2 buckets in each color to match. You get your initial hand of cards and then you have to stack your cups. The catch is once the game starts that's it. You can't move the cups around.
The game plays out with start player playing a card/s down and pointing to a direction to go. From there around the table players must beat the value the first player played in order to be safe. If a player can not beat the value then they just flick that colored bucket from the stack in front of them. If you have no buckets you lose. Person with the most buckets at the end is the winner.
If you have a strong hand with a bunch of yellows then you want to stack so your yellows are at the bottom. But- it might make you a target. It is an interesting game.
We ended up playing 2 times. Ron wasn't impressed but I thought it was fun. I ended up winning the first game and staying alive the second game/ not winning but not losing.
Definitely a cute game. I will play again in the future. Very colorful with cute art! :)
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Since we still had 6 players we played a round of Cockroach Poker.
Simple, yet awesome. Everyone tried to give me spiders and I refused. Sent them right on back. I could see through them. Most of the time...
The Stink bugs were piling up in front of me- but Pat was doing worse and he actually ended the game because he had no more cards in hand.
I was scared cause I had 3 stink bugs!!! I didn't have spiders so- it was all good! If Pat didn't lose I probably would have. I tend to be a target in games like this. :P
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Finishing up Saturday night we played 5 player game of Wizard Extreme.
We taught a few players and got to playing. I was failing so hard with Riley. Riley was new so I had no excuse. I was just messing up all over the place. Ron was out to get me.
I collected so many black tokens. At least 1 per round... it was terrible! hahahah
Oh well, I still have a bunch of fun with that game! I enjoy trick taking games. Very fun! A good way to end the night.
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Sunday Ron and I got to learning some new games. Yay! I love learning new games- and my new game count has been low for this month so it was definitely good to do.
Joe R let me borrow Traders of Carthage so I could see if I wanted to purchase the updated newly released version.
New to me!
The game is not very difficult. Quite easy in fact.
There are market cards to either purchase (the entire row) or pull a card from to add to your hand to use as money. They have different values and some pots.
If you purchase the row you add them to you r already existing cards in front of you and move the corresponding ship tokens 1 space per colored card. If a ship reached the end of the track it will score the cards in front of players. Ships in the danger zone are removed from players area unless they have "pots" to spend in that color. One pot to save 1 card.
it was an interesting game. I actually, the more I think about it, don't think I need to buy the new edition. I didn't find it that great. I wouldn't mind playing it but I don't think it is a game I would play all that often. I, also, don't think the new version is better than the old version. I like bold colors that traders of Carthage provides.
In this game Ron ended up beating me by a lot. Or so it felt like a lot. Maybe 10 points. He was scoring much more than I was, it seemed. I was playing it safe too much. He wasn't.
Interesting. I think it would be far too long with 4 players. We just played 2 players and it lasted too long.
Happy to play it though.
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Since we were learning new things I suggested Dungeon Twister: The Card Game. New to me!
I had picked this up a recent math trade because it looked like something we would enjoy in terms of 2 player games. It is cards with variable set ups. There is a puzzle aspect to is and it looked interesting.
Ron could not have been more interested in it. You are working to get your characters out through the gate of the other player.
We just played the easy mode version so no fighting was happening. We could pick up weapons to help us escape. Our characters had special abilities.
None of that seemed to interest Ron in the game play. It was pretty straight forward and he was just not having it. I may have liked it more if he did- but since he was just not having a good time I wasn't either. I doubt we will play again- but if we do I will try to get a harder set up with which fighting is involved. He might enjoy it more if he can beat me up.
Ron ended up winning since he escaped with both guys. I only got one out. It was pretty easy to do so... maybe the long scenarios get more complex and interesting. I don't know! :D
Seemed pretty enough.
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Since Ron was still interested in playing something new I suggested a game I picked up in Nov for $10 called The Lord of the Rings Dice Building Game. New to me!
I think it got a bad wrap around these parts. I am not sure why. I mean it is dice and many people hate dice. It is semi-co-op so yeah... BUT LORD OF THE RINGS THEME MAKES IT AWESOME. I have to say I love the damn ring that comes with it. Oh man- so good!!! Worth $10 right there.
To be totally fair Ron and I got a major rule incorrect and didn't end up finishing a full game. I can't give a full review. We will play it in full soon though.
What I can tell you is that if you like Quarriors! I see no reason why you wouldn't like this one. (unless you don't care for lotr). You are fighting Sauron and not other players. You could potentially work together to do this (for the good of the team) or purposefully not do something. It is the person with the great score by the end of the game so the term semi-co-op is legit.
I can't say I loved Quarriors but I can see this getting to the table more than it. I haven't actually played Quarriors in a long while but this one I can see playing.
That's good in my book!! Yay LOTR!!! :D
I am happy with my pictures as well!!!
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The final games of the night were back to back games of Caverna: The Cave Farmers.
Ron missed out on the game on Saturday and wanted to give it a play.
Ron has yet to beat me in this game, which might be why he is interested in playing it. Since I am winning a bunch I want to play it more. Try new strategies and see where the game takes me.
I still feel Arle is the better of the 2 games but playing this a few times gave me the opportunity to put googly eyes on my animals. I am about half way done. SO CUTE!
I want to put eyes on my Arle pieces too... YAYA!!
So this first game we played I didn't have a plan and just kinda went for tons of buildings I was going to get the Dormitory but couldn't justify it. It wasn't going to work. I did get the a bunch of yellow tiles for workers with weapons and I got farm animals and sheep. That sheep tile is awesome since it provides food immediately for all the sheep! SO HELPFUL! I didn't have to worry about food for the rest of the game.
Needless to say I beat Ron that time. He was going hard for adventures and rubies. I thought for sure he was going to win. By turn 4 he was already adventuring lvl 11... SO GOOD! Maybe he lost focus. I think I ended with 75 and he had 73- so it was pretty close.
The second game I was less confident in my strategy and end game position. I still managed to get a bunch of point via buildings and animals with a last minute harvest. I got the yellow tile that changes ore/stone/wood into 2 points. So, I HAD SO MUCH to turn. I made 16 points from that. I was save up all that material for buying lots of rooms but it didn't work out and I just did that instead. Seemed like a good trade, anyway. That was a cool tile.
I managed to win again and DO better this game with 78. Ron was just behind me again with 75. I felt I didn't do as well, but I guess it just goes to show. I got more - points this game then the game before.
Both games lasted about an hour. It plays fairly quickly, faster than Arle. More stuff so longer to set up. I think I will have to get trays or plano boxes. For now it is ok. But if we keep playing this like crazy it will be helpful to have.
I am really likin' this game. We should have played Arle too. :P
BGG Rejected
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That was it for the week. After the games of Caverna we went outside to play with Ron's new toy. Shooting some arrows. I actually managed to hit the target maybe 50 ft away. It seemed far but prolly wasn't that far. it was fun to play. I will have to keep up and keep trying. It is tough but maybe I can get good at it! :)
Here are some pics! We are just so damn cool. :P Im j/k.
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Yep! That's all folks! Besides the countless games of Star Realms that still consume me.
Thanks for reading!
Until next week!
Happy Gaming!!!
-Steph