Dallas may be the hotbed of gaming this weekend for those attending BGG.con, the Shadow Creek Ranch Gamers did have our monthly get together, where loads of board gaming fun was had by all. We had a light, but good turnout. Rob stopped by early, but had to leave. Chris & Keri stayed for the long haul. Alex was in early and out a bit early, and Dave got here about 4 and stayed till the end. So what did we play?
Melissa, Rob and I started the day off with a couple of games of Coloretto. Rob had to leave so I wanted something that I could teach and play fast. Everyone caught on fast, and I caught a lucky break on two wild cards in the first game, and was able to leverage them into two six card runs. We played a second game, and I had 5 colors in my hand before the end of the second round. I was able to keep the off color counts pretty low, but I could tell that Rob was getting every color combo he wanted (sorta like I had in the first game), and sure enough he pulled out a win with two runs of six. I think this is one of my favorite lite, easy to teach card games. I am throwing this one in my bag for Thanksgiving.
Rob departed and the rest joined us, and it was time to play a game of Cutthroat Caverns. I have been eagerly awaiting this game since I saw it on BGG and that it was available at Time Well Spent. I will write up a separate review of the game, but suffice it to say that this is a game of fantasy combat (sort of), in a dungeon (sort of), where managing your resources is a key to the game (sort of), and you have to very carefully screw your neighbors (this is the big one) to pull out the victory (where you kill all of your neighbors). We played through the game pretty well, discussing and planning our moves, all the way to the end where we faced the Arc Mage’s encounter. The idea is that each player must attack with increasing value. As soon as one player does not the round is over and the other players take damage. We were able to plan the first round out, doing a bit of damage to the Mage’s. The next round was a bit trickier. Our starting score ended up being 30 and we were having a hard time figuring out what to do. This is where my deception came into play. I was supposed to play 40, I think, and instead I played a double strike card, and laid down 100 points worth of damage (40 more than I needed). No one could stop me, I killed the Mage’s and the game ended on my deception. I REALLY like this game. I think everyone did. I expect this to be played at the next couple of game days.
After my deception, and victory in the caverns, we pulled out a game that is not new to me, but is new to the game group. We played a game of Metro, one of my favorite tile laying games. It also happens to be a good screw your buddy game. Dave joined us for Metro, and some homemade pumpkin pie I might add. So the object of Metro was to screw me. Everyone played to screw me, and I was quickly tapped out with about 36 points, I managed one long line. Once I was out though, the screwing didn’t stop. The other 4 players then decided to make sure that they all beat me if they could. They managed to pull it off with only a single sacrificial lamb to take the bad tiles for the team. I didn’t come in last.
Condottiere was our last game, and some bad shuffling made for a short game. With two players left Dave was able to sneak in and grab three territories in a row. Oh well. I still like this game, and it is due for a review as well.
We ended up the day with a sort of team based 4 player game of Crokinole. People had remarked on my board, which I finally got hung up on the wall. They wanted to know what the game was and how it played. Everyone enjoyed the game. Dave and I were a team, playing against Melissa and Chris & Keri (who took turns playing). Dave and I ended up winning in the end. This could have very possibly been the top game of the day.
Good game day all in all. I have another game day coming up in a few weeks with some guys from work. We are going to do the all day, big board war game thing. I am hoping to play Britannia, Tide of Iron, and Conquest of the Empire.
Find related information: board, game day, game, conquest of the empire, tide of iron, condottiere, metro, cutthroat caverns, coloretto, shadow creek ranch, pearland, britannia, crokinole