Last night, six of us gathered at my house to play a few games. We split into two tables so that one group could get started while my group waited on the sixth. The group on the big table tore into Railroad Tycoon since space was readily available for the ‘big game’. Jason, the most experienced player, ended up winning the game. Brian and Brandon said they liked the game but would like to play it again with more players. The game apparently played out as triple solitaire. I have yet to play the game with more than three but the size of the board certainly lends itself to playing with a minimum of four to increase the likelihood of conflict.
When John showed up, my table sat down for Tigris & Euphrates. Having played recently I felt much more prepared to teach the game to two new players. I lost miserably but mostly due to repeated failed attempts (in different colors) of one player attempting to merge kingdoms in external conflict granting large numbers of cubes to the third player. My penchant for drawing very low numbers of red and blue tiles didn’t help my chances either. But in reality, I think it was my lack of experience that inhibited me from capitalizing on any advantage I may have had.
I still like T&E very much. Yes, there is the luck factor in the tile draw but I think the negative impact of bad draws can be minimized. At one point in the game I said, “I just don’t think by brain is smart enough to see what needs done.” There’s something to be said for a game that makes you feel like there’s almost always something useful to do but you just can’t see it yet. I’ll just have to keep plugging away and get more games under my belt. I respect a game that requires that of the player turning a sound thumping into a desire to play again.
Brandon cut out between games so our second game was Mission: Red Planet for five. This was a new game to all of us and has a much different flavor than the games I play with my monthly group. The game certainly has a heightened sense of schadenfreude by allowing players to kill other players astronauts, blow up ships, trigger accidents on the planet, etc. I had a great time even if I did come in last. The game is extremely simple to play and chaos reigns. But if you know that going in and the point is to just have some fun, then I highly recommend it. I need to get some little plastic astronauts to take the place of the wooden discs though.
Bob brought Taj Mahal and John brought Shogun both of which I’m itching to try.
Forgive me for the picture-less post. I like to include an image or two with each gaming post but I was just too busy losing last night to think about grabbing the camera. Thanks everybody for coming. Let’s do it again soon.