Ludus

Tonight we played Pandemic.

• Richard, Larry, and Craig lost Pandemic, thus dooming the world.
• Shaune, Tony, Larry, and Craig lost Pandemic, thus dooming the world -- again.

Attendees:  Craig Trader and Carrie Hafer, Sallie and Tony Montuori, Shaune Lee, Larry Timson and Richard Butler.

Tonight we played Railroad Tycoon, Race for the Galaxy, and Battlestar Galactica.

• Craig won Railroad Tycoon, followed by John and Dave.
• John won Railroad Tycoon with 125, followed by Dave (117), Tony (114), and Craig (98).
• Tim won Race for the Galaxy with 58, over Shaune (30).
• The Cylons (Brian) won Battlestar Galactica against the humans (Lije, Chris, and Larry).

Attendees:  Craig Trader and Carrie Hafer, Brian and Lije Carpenter, Dave, Sallie, and Tony Montuori, Shaune and Tim Lee, Chris Hom, Larry Timson, and John "Fuzzface" McMahon.

Tonight we played Sequence, The Red Dragon Inn, and Dominion.

• Dave/Sallie won Sequence against John/Jim and Craig/Brian.
• Dave/Sallie won Sequence against John/Jim and Craig/Brian, again.
• Dave won The Red Dragon Inn, outlasting John, Shaune, Tony, Jim, Craig, Brian, and Chris.
• Chris, Larry, and Shaune tied The Red Dragon Inn, outlasting Brian, John, Tony, and Craig.
• Tony won Dominion with 41, followed by Brian (39), and Craig (26).

Attendees:  Craig Trader and Carrie Hafer, Rachel and Jim "Blaise" Trigg, Dave, Sallie, and Tony Montuori, Shaune Lee, Brian Carpenter, Chris Hom, Larry Timson, and John "Fuzzface" McMahon.

Tonight we played Ticket to Ride: The Dice Expansion and The 3 Commandments.

• Chris won Ticket to Ride: The Dice Expansion with 170, followed by Richard (152), Craig (127), and John (97).  Dave burned down, fell over, and sank into The Everglades.
• Chris won The 3 Commandments with 62, followed by Tony-Carrie (58), Richard (56), John (54), and Craig (40).

Attendees: Craig Trader and Carrie Hafer, Richard Butler, Dave, Sallie and Tony Montuori, Chris Hom, and John "Fuzzface" McMahon.

Tonight we played Ticket To Ride: The Dice Expansion, Race for the Galaxy, Coffee!, and Dominion.

• Craig won Ticket To Ride: The Dice Expansion with 177, followed by Richard (113), Dave (106), and Sallie (90).
• Shaune won Race for the Galaxy with 45, followed by Sarah (34), Tim (28), and Tony (26).
• Shaune won Coffee! with 37, followed by Tim (-24), Tony (-35), and Sarah (-42).
• Craig won Dominion with 48, followed by Richard (27), and Dave (26).
• Craig won Dominion with 27, followed by Richard (27).
• Craig won Dominion with 38, followed by Tony (31), and Richard (29).

Attendees: Craig Trader, Carrie Hafer, Dave, Sallie, and Tony Montuori, Shaune and Tim Lee, Sarah Wise, and Richard Butler.

Tonight we played Gargon and The 3 Commandments.

• Craig won Gargon with 67, followed by Tony (64), Shaune (56), Richard (36), and Tim (31).
• Craig won The 3 Commandments with 75, followed by Shaune (66), Tony (65), Richard (61), Tim (49), and Chris (41).

Attendees:  Craig Trader and Carrie Hafer, Tim and Shaune Lee, Tony Montuori, Chris Hom, and Richard Butler.

Just a reminder that Brunswick Games Day 2009 will be held Saturday January 3th from 10:00 A.M. to 11:00 P.M.

I went last year and had a lot of fun, and plan to go this year as well.

Tonight we played Vegas Showdown and Dominion.

• Dave won Vegas Showdown with 73, followed by Craig (65) and Jim (62).
• Chris won Dominion with 32, followed by Dave (30), and Craig (19).
• Chris won Dominion with 39, followed by Dave (39), and Craig (31).

Attendees:  Craig Trader and Carrie Hafer, Dave Montuori, Rachel and Jim "Blaise" Trigg, and Chris Hom.

Tonight we played Ca$h 'n Gun$, Ticket to Ride: USA 1910, and Race for the Galaxy.

• Blaise won Ca$h 'n Gun$ with 100, followed by Craig (95), Dave (90), Brian (75), and Richard (died).
• Blaise won Ca$h 'n Gun$ with 105, followed by Craig (100), Dave (100), Richard (60), and Brian (40).
• Richard won Ca$h 'n Gun$ with 175, followed by Brian (125), Blaise (65), Dave (died), and Craig (died).
• John won Ticket to Ride: USA 1910 with 121, followed by Sallie (109), Shaune (91), Rachel (87), and Tony (76).
• Craig won Race for the Galaxy with 48, followed by Shaune (43), John (43), Richard (41), and Dave (25).

Attendees:  Craig Trader and Carrie Hafer, Rachel and Jim "Blaise" Trigg, Sallie, Dave, and Tony Montuori, Shaune Lee, Richard Butler, Brian Carpenter, and John "Fuzzface" McMahon.

Tonight we played Button Concentration and Dominion.

• Chris bested Rachel, Carrie, and Shaune at Button Concentration.
• Craig won Dominion with 46, followed by John (30), Jim (25), and Dave (18).
• John won Dominion with 26, followed by Shaune (21), Tony (20), and Chris (17).

Attendees:  Craig Trader and Carrie Hafer, Rachel and Jim "Blaise" Trigg, Dave and Tony Montuori, Shaune Lee, Chris Hom, and John "Fuzzface" McMahon.

Tonight we played Spy Trackdown, Dominion, Race for the Galaxy.

• Tony won Spy Trackdown with John, Shaune, and Sallie.
• Brian won Dominion with 38, followed by Craig (33), and Chris (26).
• Chris won Dominion with 36, followed by Brian (26), Craig (22), and Tim (18).
• Tim won Dominion with 36, followed by Brian (30), Chris (18), and Craig (12).
• Richard won Race for the Galaxy with 37, followed by Dave (34), and Jamie/Tim (18).
• Shaune won Race for the Galaxy with 48, followed by Tony (38), and Richard (16).

Attendees:  Craig Trader and Carrie Hafer, Sallie, Dave, and Tony Montuori, Shaune and Tim Lee, Richard Butler, Jamie Reese, Brian Carpenter, Kris Trader, Chris Hom, and John "Fuzzface" McMahon.

Saturday afternoon, Carrie drew my attention to a local Craig's List posting, advertising a copy of Axis & Allies for a mere $12.  I contacted the seller and confirmed that it was a second edition set (1986 printing), so I hustled over and picked it up.  The set is in good condition (missing a single Russian control token, and someone had carefully marked the board's territories with PBeM identifiers), so I'm pleased with the price.  We'll have to break it in some time soon ...

On our way home, Carrie and I decided to have dinner in Chantilly, and swung past Game Parlor, where I was stunned to find both Dominion and Race for the Galaxy: The Gathering Storm, sitting on the shelves, waiting to be bought ... but not so stunned that I didn't immediately scoop them up.

Brian Carpenter brought Race for the Galaxy: The Gathering Storm by Ludus a couple of weeks ago (and left his Lockheed jacket), so I'm not going to talk about it, other than to mention that I read through the solitaire rules, and they look interesting.

Dominion is the hottest new game from Rio Grande, and currently ranked 30th 23rd at Board Game Geek.  You can also play it on Brett Spiel Welt.  You start with a deck of 10 cards (7 copper, and 3 VPs).  Each turn you can play 1 (maybe more) actions from your hand, buy 1 (maybe more) cards from the supply, discard what's left of your hand, and then draw back up to 5 cards.  Every time your deck runs out of cards, you reshuffle your discard pile and complete your draw.  The goal is to purchase a balanced mix of money, action, and victory cards such that you have the most victory points at game end (either you run out of province cards in the supply, or you run out of 3 types of card in the supply).

What makes it interesting is that while you only play with 10 types of action cards in any given game, there are 25 types of action cards to choose from.  What makes it hard is that you're not allowed to review the cards in your deck or discard pile.

I'm looking forward to playing this at Ludus...

Tonight we played Monty Python Fluxx, On the Underground, Settlers of Catan, and Race for the Galaxy.

• Carrie won Monty Python Fluxx against Sallie, Jim, Rachel, Richard, and John.
• Shaune won Settlers of Catan with 10, followed by Sallie (8), Tim (6), and Jim (5).
• Richard and Dave tied for the win On the Underground with 36, followed by John (33), Tony (29), and Chris (26).
• Chris won Race for the Galaxy with 45, beating Craig (42) and Richard (35).

Attendees: Craig Trader and Carrie Hafer, Sallie, Dave, and Tony Montuori, Rachel and Jim "Blaise" Trigg, Shaune and Tim Lee, Chris Hom, Richard Butler, and John "Fuzzface" McMahon.

Tonight we played San Juan, Ticket to Ride: USA 1910, and Race for the Galaxy.

• Richard (with the assistance of Brian) won San Juan with 41, followed by John (25), Sallie (21), and Craig (20).
• Craig won Ticket to Ride: USA 1910 with 142, followed by Sallie (135), Brian (116), Richard (104), and John (88).
• Dave won Race for the Galaxy with 40/2, followed by Richard (40/1), Brian (34), and Craig (31).

Attendees:  Craig Trader and Carrie Hafer, Richard Butler, Dave and Sallie Montuori, Brian Carpenter, and John "Fuzzface" McMahon.

Tonight we played Masons, Ticket to Ride: Nordic Countries, and Puerto Rico.

• Richard won Masons with 112, followed by Jim (106), Dave (104), and Craig (104).
• John won Ticket to Ride: Nordic Countries with 98, follwed by Rachel (95), and Sallie (92).
• Richard won ((game Puerto Rico) with 59, followed by Shaune (58), Tim (52), Tony (47), and John (40).

Attendees:  Craig Trader and Carrie Hafer, Richard Butler, Rachel and Jim "Blaise" Trigg, Dave, Sallie, and Tony Montuori, Shaune and Tim Lee, and John "Fuzzface" McMahon.

Tonight we played Power Grid: Korea / China and Race for the Galaxy.

• Craig won Power Grid on the Korea map with 17 cities powered, followed by Dave (16) and John (15).
• Tony won Race for the Galaxy with 42 and 16 cards, followed by John (42/1), Craig (35/7), and Chris (35/3).
• Chris won Race for the Galaxy with 36, followed by Craig (28), Tony (17), and John (12).

Attendees: Craig Trader and Carrie Hafer, Sallie, Dave, and Tony Montuori, Shaune Lee, Chris Hom, and John "Fuzzface" McMahon.

Carrie & I stopped by Game Parlor yesterday and found the newest maps for Power Grid: Korea / China, so we picked them up. I mentioned them to Fuzz, so he stopped by last night for a little play-test. While adding a new set of maps to Power Grid always add variety, to really make things interesting you need to adapt the rules to match the geopolitical terrain of the new map. In that light, the newest Power Grid expansion really outdoes itself.

The Korea map represents both North and South Korea, which are given separate resource markets to reflect the differences in cultures. Each market has different refresh rates, and different capacities. During the resource purchase phase, any player can choose to buy resources from either the North or the South, but they must buy all of their resources for the turn from the same market. During the bureaucracy phase, the North market refreshes first, followed by the South. Both markets combined are the same as any other Power Grid map, but the North market (12 coal, 8 oil, 8 trash) is smaller than the South (12 coal, 16 oil, 16 trash, 12 uranium).

The China map reflects the state-managed economy with a rigidly controlled power plant market. The Power Plant deck is stacked -- all plants up to the 30-plant arrive in ascending order, with no future market. In the first round there will be one plant available for each player; in subsequent rounds in Steps 1 and 2 there will be always be one fewer plants available than the number of players. In Step 3 there will always be 4 plants available, regardless of the number of players. The power plants only refresh in the Bureaucracy phase and there's no difference between Step 1 and 2 except in the number of players who can connect to each city. To make matters worse, the map starts resource-poor (coal and oil start at 5, trash starts at 7, and there is no uranium at the start), and some of the more useful plants are eliminated.

We decided to play the China map, and Carrie consented to join us to make the game more interesting. It took some time to really understand the nuances of the map, but after a while we got the hang of it. Through careful bidding I succeeded in being able to connect and power more cities than either Carrie or Fuzz, but that meant that I was paying more for my resources. I balanced that out by being the only player with Trash plants. Fuzz focused on Nuclear and Wind plants, and Carrie carefully stayed at the back of the pack, hoarding coal and oil. Eventually I built up a lead on connected cities, but I misjudged the timing on a build-out and by the time we were in the mid-20s on plants I had connected 15 cities, Fuzz 14, and Carrie 13 ... leaving us unable to connect more cities while we waited for Step 3. One poorly executed bidding war later, I was left with the 30-plant ... and not enough money to fuel it -- oops. That mistake put me out of the running, and when Step 3 arrived, Carrie was able leverage her fuel monopoly and overtake Fuzz for the win.

The China map is the least random of all of the Power Grid variants ... and the most brutal. It will be interesting to play it again with 4 or 5 players. I'm also looking forward to playing the Korea map.

Tonight we played Nottingham, Race for the Galaxy, and Chronology.

• Richard won Nottingham with 73, followed by Sallie (67), John (67), and Craig (61).
• Craig won Nottingham with 110, followed by John (80), Richard (67), and Sallie (52).
• Tony won Race for the Galaxy with 49, followed by Shaune (37), Tim (32), and Chris (24).
• Tony won Race for the Galaxy with 53, followed by Shaune (39), Tim (39), and Chris (31).
• Tony won Chronology with 10, followed by Shaune (9), Tim (9), Dave (8), and Chris (6).
• Craig won Race for the Galaxy with 39, followed by Richard (37).

Attendees:  Carrie Hafer and Craig Trader, Sallie, Dave, and Tony Monturori, Shaune and Tim Lee, Richard Butler, Chris Hom, and John "Fuzzface" McMahon.

Tonight we played RoboRally and Race for the Galaxy.

• Blaise won RoboRally followed by Richard, Sallie, Rachel, Dave, John, and Craig.
• Craig won Race for the Galaxy with 33, followed by John (27), Richard (21), and Dave (20).

Attendees:  Craig Trader and Carrie Hafer, Rachel and Jim "Blaise" Trigg, Dave and Sallie Montuori, Richard Butler, and John "Fuzzface" McMahon.

Tonight we played Cineplexity, Settlers of Catan, Power Grid, Chronology, and Race for the Galaxy.

• Carrie won Cineplexity.
• Sallie won Settlers of Catan with 11, followed by John (7), Chris (6), and Rachel (6).
• Craig won Power Grid on the France map with 14 cities powered, followed by Dave (13), Richard (12), and Blaise (11).
• John won Chronology with 10 questions, followed by Rachel (8), Sallie (7), and Chris (6).
• Craig won Race for the Galaxy with 49, followed by Blaise (27), and Richard (20).

Attendees:  Craig Trader and Carrie Hafer, Rachel and Jim "Blaise" Trigg, Dave and Sallie Montuori, Richard Butler, Chris Hom, and John "Fuzzface" McMahon.