The end of the world!

And the power to do it...

Last night was my second games night of 2009, and it was a small but dedicated group. We had six players and we played two games.

The first was a six player game of Power Grid. We played the United States map, with the Northwest (purple area) out of play. Chris set up shop in the Southwest part of the map, Brenda along the Southeastern part of the US, Krista went into the Eastern seaboard, Brian was in the central north with Cory directly below him and I was in the Southern US. The game ended at 15 cities, rather then 14 because three players were able to build to 15. I beat Brenda by 8 Elektros (22-14) Cory finished third with 15 cities and no Elektros. It was a close tense game that lasted about 2 hours, which was surprising for a game with 2 new players, 1 player that had played once, one player with three plays and Brenda and I.

Cory had to leave to pick up someone from the airport, so we finished up with a 5 player game of Nuclear War. I have Nuclear Proliferation, Nuclear Escalation and the booster packs so the deck of cards is pretty big. The game played the way it usually does, with both Brian and I losing our first turns due to secrets played by Brenda. We traded propaganda until Krista dropped a Scud on Chris, she did no damage but the war was on! I had started the game with only 21 million people and Brian had taken 10 million from me in the propagaganda round, so I responded the best way, by using a Stealth Bomber to kill 16 million! He was surprised...
Chris played Super Vinny and he was the most dangerous of all, he whittled everyone down (except Chris who had a Super Serum) and he eventually wiped out Krista, Brenda, Brian and myself. Our final retaliations weakened Chris so Brian wiped him out as he lay dying from the plague. Once again, Nuke War shows no one is a winner when it comes to this.

I had a great time, and I think the others did too. The next game night should be in 2 weeks.

Grab your crash helmet and your racing silks

Game night went racing!

January 10th I ran my first game night of 2009, I ran it with a racing theme. I had a pretty good turnout, with 11 players and we played 4 different games.

The first game of the night was Formula D. Chris had brought along his copy, so I got him to teach it to everyone else. There are some subtle differences between it and Formula De, the largest ones being cosmetic, but it does allow you the option of Street Racing as well. Chris won that game, a turn ahead of everyone else.

While people were showing up I played Formula Motor Racing with 2 other players. We played a 3 race series, with me winning 2 outright and winning the overall series 24-17-11.

The Really Nasty Horseracing Game was next on the list, I taught it to 5 other players, who seemed to grasp the game far better than I... Rick won by betting 55,000 pounds in a 12:1 longshot in the final race, beating Shawn by 15,000 pounds. Shawn also bet on the horse, but only bet 50,000... I wound up broke and having to sell my stable of nags... One of the highlights was Shawn's number 6 horse galloping home to win the 4th race at 50:1 odds, too bad no one bet on him.

While we were trashing each other's horse on the track, the other 5 players played Grand Prix: Detroit Cleveland. Lenora won this one.

The previous game was faster, so they wound up the night with a game of Formula Motor Racing. Brenda won this one.

I have been considering a Formula De constructor series of games. Here is a link to a condensed copy of the rules.

The Dominion of Morse

We went to Morse, Saskatchewan for New Years this year, and is as typical of many get togethers with my friends, we played several different games, but the true champion of the week was Dominion. Once it was taught, everyone wanted to play it again, and again, and again... Dominion was played about 25 times in 4 days.

We did play other games as well, Formula De twice, on the USA Track Pack 2. I actually got lucky in the second game and won it on the last corner.

I finally got a chance to play Brass as well, and I do get why it is rated so highly. It is a tough game to get your brain around, but man it is good!

I taught Rob how to play Twilight Struggle, but this was an issue of the game beating Rob up, and me knowing the game better, so he never stood a chance. It is tough to be taught the game by someone that has played it several times, mainly because of the knowledge gap. I know when I play against players that are more experienced then me, I experience the same sort of beatdown.

The last game I played for 2008 was Cutthroat Caverns, which I did not win. I finished second...

Tune in, as next week I will also publish a rundown of the game night last night.