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My Gathering Playlist
Zack Boatman
United States
Santa Fe
New Mexico
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By far this was my favorite year at the Gathering. I was able to get in a total of 43 games, 2 trips to Moi's, several Buckeye donuts and 17 milkshakes.
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1.
Board Game: Tichu
[Average Rating:7.73 Overall Rank:36]
Zack Boatman
United States
Santa Fe
New Mexico
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This is one of my favorite games. I was able to get in several rounds of play.
In the tournament Marty and I had a solid first round win and then got crushed in the second round. And I mean totally crushed. I'm pretty sure we had only one Tichu call. It was brutal.
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Zack Boatman
United States
Santa Fe
New Mexico
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This is by far my favorite game. I really only get the chance to play at the Gathering anymore.
Jeff, Adam, Marty and I set it up and started playing around 2 in the afternoon.
Adam took an early lead playing The Crusades on the first turn and expanding quite a bit during the first three rounds.
I was able to hang on Jeff's coattails and use some of his leaders to stay in the advance race. I was playing Paris, so I was able to sit back and get income for a few turns without having to fight or worry about anyone attacking my areas.
Since Adam was so far in the lead, almost every card that could hurt someone was played against him. His misery was advancing at a steady clip.
Jeff was right behind him in points and had more advances. Marty was doing well while I trailed them.
This led to some pretty nice card plays for me. I was able to score Silk and Spice seven times during the game, only once making less than $70. Once I had Industry, I was able to make some serious money.
Adam was driven out of the game in chaos and I was poised to take the lead. Within two turns I bougth all the advances and ended the game.
I love playing this game and wish I could get it to the table more often.
I was really happy to get to play the game with Jeff, Marty and Adam. They are excellent players and make playing AoR a fantastic experience.
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Zack Boatman
United States
Santa Fe
New Mexico
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I got in a number of prototypes this year. I usually won't sit through one unless it is early in the development stage. I'm not much for playing a game that is about to come out as I find myself judging it before the final product (especially the ruleset) is out.
But this year was a little different for me. I played a number of final stage prototypes (one's that are being published) and enjoyed them all.
The best was the new design by Peter Hawes. I was surprised to see that he had a prototype this year. I played it and I have to say it was excellent. I look forward to the finished product.
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4.
Board Game: Finca
[Average Rating:7.07 Overall Rank:284]
Zack Boatman
United States
Santa Fe
New Mexico
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This game didn't really do much for me. I played it a number of times and each time liked it less and less. It didn't really fall into the filler category as it is somewhat long and I found myself passing on it later in the week. I think it has a run-away leader problem.
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Zack Boatman
United States
Santa Fe
New Mexico
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I like this game and was able to get in three plays. I taught two of them and played in a game being taught by Adam.
When I am in a teaching game, I will try strategies that pretty much won't win, but give me a chance to explore the game.
I didn't win any game I played, but I had a great time working with the different roles and trying different strategies to maximize the market.
I was never more than 50 credits or so from the leader though, so some of my ideas might work with some refinement.
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Zack Boatman
United States
Santa Fe
New Mexico
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I got in two games of this fun "press your luck" game. In the first game I was magic. I had three turns and finished the 12, 2 and 5 columns, one on each turn. It was awesome. In the second game Nataline won; I didn't even get on the board.
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Zack Boatman
United States
Santa Fe
New Mexico
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This was a fun fantasy game that I played a couple of times. By the end of the second game, I had played it enough for the week. I like the game, but doubt I will ever bring it to the table.
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Zack Boatman
United States
Santa Fe
New Mexico
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I'd been wanting to play this game for a while and was excited to get in a couple of games.
It's a fun game that I liked from the get-go. I like the CD and the game play and how it works together in a totally different way than any other game on the market right now.
I would like to play it again at a different level and see how the game works.
I wouldn't mind picking up a copy at some point and am looking forward to playing it again.
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Zack Boatman
United States
Santa Fe
New Mexico
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I'm not sure if this is a prototype or not, so I won't go into much detail about the game.
I found it to be much less of a game than his warfrog games and more in line with the treefrog line (this may be the case anyway, I'm not sure for which line this game was developed).
It seemed somewhat simple with a little chrome added to make a slightly richer game in terms of play. I didn't think there was much to the mechanics and probably won't pick this one up when it comes out.
Just so you have an idea of what I think about the rest of the treefrog line, I think Tinners' Trail is an excellent game, don't like After the Flood at all and enjoy Steel Driver from time to time.
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Zack Boatman
United States
Santa Fe
New Mexico
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I did not like this game. I played it once and doubt I'll play it again. The mechanics make for a simple game that doesn't offer much for the experienced gamer.
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11.
Board Game: Brass
[Average Rating:8.08 Overall Rank:8]
Zack Boatman
United States
Santa Fe
New Mexico
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Had an enjoyable game of Brass about mid-week. I like this game and found out we had been scoring it wrong in our gaming group. This made the game even better. We misplayed a rule and allowed a player to keep a ship on the board after the canal era. This, of course, totally screwed up my level 2 ship tactic so I came in third 10 points behind the winner. It was still a great game.
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12.
Board Game: Fauna
[Average Rating:7.20 Overall Rank:345]
Zack Boatman
United States
Santa Fe
New Mexico
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This was a cool family game. The guessing mechanism was excellent and the game has a chance at SdJ (in my opinion). I would play it again as it was a great idea implemented well.
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Zack Boatman
United States
Santa Fe
New Mexico
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This was the first time I had played the game. Will probably be the last as well. I didn't enjoy the mechanics and didn't like the game in general.
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Zack Boatman
United States
Santa Fe
New Mexico
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A fast game that might find a place in my classroom. I don't see that it has much replay value, but I only played it once so you never know.
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15.
Board Game: FITS
[Average Rating:6.76 Overall Rank:555]
Zack Boatman
United States
Santa Fe
New Mexico
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Another game that will find it's way into my classroom. A fun tetris game that gets more complex as the game levels up. I think the starting piece cards should be abandoned and each play should get to pick the piece they start with.
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Zack Boatman
United States
Santa Fe
New Mexico
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We played it incorrectly, but since everyone was playing that way we decided it wouldn't matter much.
I like this game and building the ships much more than I thought I would. It's a fun game that has some serious replay value.
I might even pick up a copy at some point.
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Zack Boatman
United States
Santa Fe
New Mexico
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This was the game I though should have won the SdJ last year. It is simple and clever and fast. I would have liked to have seen it get more exposure. The game I played left me in a solid third place out of three. I was crushed, but I do like this game.
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Zack Boatman
United States
Santa Fe
New Mexico
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I usually don't play this game as everyone knows me and I get trampled. This one was no exception. Our six player game left me with $9 million at the end of the game. It was so much fun though as everyone was mean and played their cards and threatened throughout the entire game.
It was one of the best games of this one I have ever played.
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19.
Board Game: Le Havre
[Average Rating:8.09 Overall Rank:6]
Zack Boatman
United States
Santa Fe
New Mexico
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Not much of a fan of this game, but I will play it if someone asks. I pretty much got to watch everyone play well while I tried to figure the game out again. I didn't do poorly, but I really wasn't much of a threat throughout the entire game.
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Zack Boatman
United States
Santa Fe
New Mexico
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This is a favorite and I had a good time playing. I broke my cardinal rule (once again) and use my certificates to double play early in the game instead of waiting until the end of the game. No one started in the top left corner, which was different than any game of this I had played before.
I didn't come close to winning, but it ended up being a close (between the top three players) and exciting game.
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Zack Boatman
United States
Santa Fe
New Mexico
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I taught this game once during the week and it was my only play. I got crushed in the last round as I was waiting for copper to move up in value, but on the last turn it was worthless.
I think this is the best game in the Treefrog line and try to play it as often as possible.
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Zack Boatman
United States
Santa Fe
New Mexico
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Another game I like, but hadn't played since last year in Columbus. Again, I just sat and watched while everyone else scored tons of points. The rats disected my game play with ease.
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Zack Boatman
United States
Santa Fe
New Mexico
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I liked this game and wish I hadn't played it at the end of the week. It had some neat mechanics and it worked pretty well. I lost by not having enough influence in the rows at the end of the game. I would like to play it a few more times.
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Zack Boatman
United States
Santa Fe
New Mexico
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This was the true surprise for me out of the games I played during the week.
I got hustled into a game by Terry and there were six of us playing. It was like playing a mini game of Werewolf.
We were all laughing and accusing and totally enjoying a game that I thought wouldn't be much fun. It is on my list of games I must own and I am looking forward to playing it again.
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