CABS has finally moved out of their New Market Mall location and they’ve landed in what I would say it a pretty nice space. The new space is twice the size of the space depicted above (two long rectangular rooms joined by two doors along the long sides of the rectangle) residing in a mall area just north of Morse Road near the Easton Mall. The CABS game library is still in a state of flux from the move and from it’s trip to and from Origins last week but you can see some of the games piled up waiting to be organized and tagged again for the member library check out.
My friend Rich came tonight and became a new CABS member for the remaining portion of 2006 but unfortunately we both arrived at a time that was offset from most games so we ended up having to play some two player games until we finished up when other tables were finished up.
We first played Pueblo, a Rumis-like game for 2-4 players. I liked Pueblo. To me it felt a little more strategic than Rumis. In Rumis players vie throughout the game to limit the number of visible squares on the growing structure when viewed from above. Your Rumis pieces are all different shapes and the rules of block placement are more strict. However, players are striving for the single end game score. In Pueblo, all players possess the same shaped blocks. Your blocks are of two different colors (neutral and ‘your’ color) grouped into pairs. On your turn you choose to play a single neutral or a colored block from a pair. On subsequent turns you must exhaust the other block from the pair before moving to the next pair.
After placing your block you move the Chieftain around the track from 1-4 spaces so that he can view your handiwork. After placing the Chieftain, you score points based on what colored blocks he can see from his position. The higher the block, the higher the value of the points. When the Chieftain is placed on a corner block, the quadrant for the corner is scored by counting those colored blocks that are visible from above.
After the last block is placed, the Chieftain makes one final lap around the board and every single position is scored and the player with the smallest score wins. I like the tension of determining how best to minimize your score by limiting the exposure of your colored blocks, maximizing the exposure of your opponents blocks through defensive block placement, and tactical positioning of the Chieftain. Between Rumis and Pueblo, I’d give Pueblo the nod.
Next up, Rich and I played the signed copy of Memoir ’44. Memoir ’44 is an okay game to pass the time but it’s not something I long for or have a strong desire to work at getting better. I had fun playing the Axis side of the Sword Beach scenario though. Sword Beach is a really tough cookie for the Axis side. Your center is soft even though you have a bunkered artillary and you have a soft left flank.
After Rich and I finished up we talked with a first-time visitor as well as another player who wanted so badly to play someone in M’44. Unfortunately, we were pretty much killing time to get in a larger Eurogame. We pulled the first time player into a game of Ra where both he and Rich did very well. It was my second playing of Ra where I presented a dismal performance and came in a distant last in a five-player game.
I left early but managed to snap a picture of the signed copy of Tigris and Euphrates. At least I think it’s signed by Reiner Knizia. The dots seem to be in tthe right places and I’m not sure who else would have signed the box. Anyway, that’s all I have. It was a short night and I’m turning in a little early. Tomorrow is a VERY big day that I’ll blog about tomorrow. I don’t want to be too sleepy for my 9am appointment.
