WBC 2010: 9-Hour Game o' Trones Anyone?
Kurt R
United States
Philadelphia
Pennsylvania
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Took me three attempts to time this picture
This was year three of the WBC for me, and it was the best one yet. I had an absolutely wonderful 8 straight days of memorable gaming. Some epic and legendary. I rekindled some friendships, formed some new ones, and played some great games, new and old. My first year, I stayed at my sister’s house in Lancaster and went Fri-Sun. Last year, I stayed at the Continental Inn across the street and went Wed-Sun. This year, I stayed at the LH Resort and went Sun-Sun. And even so, I couldn’t get in all the gaming I had planned on.
The Theme
My theme this year (as per this GL) was “games I don’t get to play often enough or have yet to play”. I didn’t want to go there and play Hansa Teutonica or Princes of Florence as I can play them any time; rather, I wanted to play longer games which I don’t get to play. Also, I didn't want to spend time trying a bunch of games that turn out to be mediocre (made that mistake last year). I wanted to plan some key games which I would ensure I played such that anything else was icing on the cake. My #1 stated goal for the con was to get a play of Struggle of Empires in as it was my longest unplayed game having been purchased in Feb of 2008. Also, I had never tried a tournament game and I wanted to see what it was like.
Overall Experience
I love the WBC for the ability to play games. From the tournaments to the open gaming room and the (new and improved) library, there's ample opportunity to play games. I arrived on Sunday 8/1 and my friends arrived on Wednesday. I had no trouble finding gaming partners in the open game room and I actually enjoyed being on my own so I was forced to meet people. I found some I had gamed with previously and buddied up with some new ones. It didn't hurt that I brought a bunch of games that I was able to offer up for play.
A little fuzzy, but you get the idea
The con to the WBC is that you don't get to try new releases like my geekbuds were doing at GenCon, but you do get a lot of table time, and that’s what I primarily go to a con for. Another knock is that I don’t find the vendor hall very tempting. It’s fun to wander around and look at games, but since there aren’t any new releases there (at least euros), there’s nothing I had to buy there, so I didn’t purchase anything. I guess Innovation may have been new to some, but I already had a copy; everything else is old hat stuff that can be acquired much cheaper online, so why spend the money there? Not a big problem or anything, but as a member of the Cult of the New, I’d like it if I could’ve gotten my hands on, say, Constantinopolis.
The Lancaster Host
For the most part, I like the LH. I don’t know if my perceptions are off, but I thought they were more on top of the bathrooms last year than this year, though they did a pretty good job of cleaning them (man, do they get hit hard!). The hotel offers a network of rooms for the numerous tournaments yet still has ample space for open gaming. I love walking through the Lampeter room each year and looking at all the old school wargames. I might have to try a Conflict of Heroes: Awakening the Bear! Russia 1941-1942 tournament some year just so I can play in there. I guess b/c I grew up on Avalon Hill games, but the gaming in Lampeter just seems so hardcore to me. Hexes and counters and chits, baby. They call to me in some way. Old school.
I missed the free made-to-order breakfast that the Continental offers, but I enjoyed being able to go back to the room for more games, a nap, etc. The rooms are adequate at best and our AC offered full-blast or off, but as little as I was in the room, it was fine. I thought the food was adequate as well. The lunch offerings were cheap and accessible – what, you want them to be really good too? I love that they offer the dinner buffet in the lobby for quick hit-and-run dining. I even had a hot fudge sundae without having to leave the hotel. We did leave a few times to run to Wawa and actually had a sit-down dinner at Tony Wang’s -- a tradition of ours which I highly recommend.
Only image of the library I seem to have and it's only partially visible in the background. This pic was meant as an "action" shot of Brass.
The Open Gaming Room and Library
So per usual, the open gaming room was downstairs till Wed in the room which would become the vendor hall then it was moved to the huge nightclub upstairs. It wasn’t till Saturday that I noticed space was at a premium and they had to put two overflow tables in the lobby. This problem was compounded by the fact that some people had set up games on some tables then abandoned them, letting them sit there unplayed all day while taking up valuable space. I reported this to the BPA staff (yeah, I’m that kind of guy) and they said there were aware of the situation. I expect some policy re: this situation next year.
The BPA deserves huge kudos for the new and improved library. No longer relying solely on the generosity of its members, they apparently reached out to major publishers to get game donations such that the library this year was a whole ‘nudder ‘ting, laddy. They had games like Age of Industry and Fresco available for play. So now a great thing gets even greater. As I brought a lot of games with me this year, I didn’t use the library much, but it was still nice to see. Lastly, not that I partook, but there were a fair number of interesting looking prototypes you could try out. File those on the "if I only had more than 8 days!" category.
I must have that dress, er, game!
The Used Game Sale and Auction
People were lined up far in advance of the opening of the used game sale. Those in the front had boxes so they could throw the games in and keep moving. I got in line far in the back but I wasn't concerned as there was nothing I was looking for specifically; I just wanted to browse. I did come across a copy of Hit the Beach which brought back a flood of memories. A couple people waited patiently for me to decide if I wanted it or not and when I declined, one happily scooped it up. I didn't stay for the auction, but someone who did said the prices went quite high this year. Somebody paid $290 for something, but I didn't hear what it was.
The Games I Played
So below are the games I played with some pictures of the people mixed in. I tried to take pictures of every game I played for posterity's sake. Looks like I had the flash off for some and I should've had it on. Hey, I'm really just learning how to use my new camera. I also forgot to get pics of some of the games, and I wanted one of me and my crew but never got around to it. Damn games, stealing my attention! I'll do better next year.
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Kurt R
United States
Philadelphia
Pennsylvania
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I played in two heats on Sunday. These were my first two tournament games at the WBC, and I was nervous. I'd only played TtA twice in the past year, once at last year's WBC in open gaming against a young whiz kid who totally schooled me.
That's me on the left. Does this picture make me look like I'm getting my ass kicked?
Sunday - Heat 1
I thought I was doing pretty well in the first game, but I went for a military strategy and a) should've taken Napoleon when I had the chance and b) just didn't get the cards I needed at the end to go to war. Overall, I got tempted by the cards and spent too many turns using all of my APs to collect cards. In the end, I tried an Aggression against the leader but didn't go all in and sacrifice units. Had I done that, I would've kingmaked the last player into first place. As it was, I finished a respectable third, only 20 points behind.
Sunday - Heat 2
I drew the same young whiz kid I had played against the year before and knew I was done for. I somehow regressed in this game and was even less focused than in the first game. I just couldn't seem to pick a strategy and was justifying my dilettantism by thinking I was taking what the game was giving me. I see now that this game, like Agricola, is more about the cards you don't play than the ones you do, meaning it's easy to get seduced into wanting to improve everything but you can't, and then the game runs out too soon and you find yourself with no clear VP strategy. I finished over 100 points behind the leader. Ouch.
Overall, I enjoyed the plays and met some really nice people, including Deb Gutermuth, who takes all the WBC pics (she won our heat). I kind of got bitten by the tournament bug, too, in that I want to play in the tourney again next year and do better. This means I have to train, so I plan on teaching a couple more of my friends the game so we can get at least one game in a month. I'd be curious to know who won this year and if I played against them.
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2.
Board Game: Macao
[Average Rating:7.47 Overall Rank:132]
Kurt R
United States
Philadelphia
Pennsylvania
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I forgot to get a pic of my play of this, so I set the board back up and took one.
Monday
After the gym and breakfast, I started off by going down to Jay's Cafe (the Rio Grande demo game area). I sat down at the Macao table and in about 2 minutes had three players ready to teach me and play.
What the HELL?! Stefan Feld is one sado-masochistic dude. You are severely limited in your ability to plan but are penalized for when plans don't come through precisely. Holy crap! I felt like I was spinning plates on my toes standing on the back of an elephant on a tricycle riding over a pit of lava and God forbid I should drop anything! I didn't hate it, but there's no way I would purchase it. I found the opportunity for AP to be very high in this game because you need to match up the cards you want with your gamble as to how the dice will be rolled against the penalties for not having any cubes on each turn. I guess for me, I'm OK with being penalized for lack of planning, but I don't like being penalized for planning well and then being totally screwed through no fault of my own. YMMV.
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Kurt R
United States
Philadelphia
Pennsylvania
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Monday
I buddied up with Sean (on the right) and we decided to lay out Indonesia and see if we could get a couple more players. We quickly attracted a veteran player who said he'd get us going but he had to go to a San Juan tournament. Well, he sat down and got to instructing then decided to blow off San Juan.
I appreciated the assist, but damn, he didn't take it easy on the two newbs at all. He put a beatdown on us that was so bad, we called the game before Era C. He had turn order, was shipping to our cities and choking us out, and pretty much the only person making money. I guess it may help me to learn this game the hard way, but I'm not sure what to think of it. It's not a euro in that you can very well be eliminated from this game and I sure as hell would hate to be that guy. I guess if my group all learns together we'll be OK, but it's not the kind of game you want play a veteran in unless you bring plenty of ice packs to sit upon. Stefan Feld would probably like that.
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4.
Board Game: Brass
[Average Rating:8.08 Overall Rank:8]
Kurt R
United States
Philadelphia
Pennsylvania
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Monday
We rolled from Indonesia into a game of 4P Brass. Jack and Chris (both from Ottawa) were much more experienced players but Sean and I held our own. I finished a close 3rd and Sean behind me. I learned a few tricks about taking loans, including the double loans before the Rail Era/build track on the first turn of the Rail Era. It was an enjoyable play of a game which I want to play more and become better at, so I was happy to get a play in so early in the week.
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Kurt R
United States
Philadelphia
Pennsylvania
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Monday
In hindsight, I don't think this was a good recommendation to start teaching at 10:30pm and with only 4P, but we went ahead. It was an OK play, but I think we were all a bit wiped out and I think the game is best with 5P such that I don't want to play it with any less. I made a careless bribe for $200K and then was $100K short of buying a Main Department, but as it was, Chris played an event which nullified my Bribed Chairman power so I couldn't slam down another Main Dept for the win that turn anyway.
We had some laughs with the bribes, but I don't think the game shined for the three people who had never tried it the way I wanted it to. C'est la vie. We finished at 1am and were all wiped out.
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6.
Board Game: Egizia
[Average Rating:7.57 Overall Rank:109]
Kurt R
United States
Philadelphia
Pennsylvania
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Tuesday
Got up Tue and blew off the gym as I was tired from the late night before. I was over-caffeinated and didn't sleep well. After breakfast, I went to the used game sale/auction to check things out then I needed to go back to the room for a nap as I just wasn't refreshed.
I woke up after about an hour feeling much better and headed down to Cafe Jay again and saw three people starting up Egizia. I asked in and quickly started getting caught up to speed. I had the hardest time understanding the rule about feeding people and one time was caught unaware for 10(!) VPs. D'oh. Nonetheless, I had a 50 point lead on the last turn, but another player had gone to the Sphinx early and often and had 60 points of bonus cards in the hole, so he beat me by 10 points. It was a learning play but I still felt the sting of making a bad move.
I'm conflicted on this one. I liked the one-way worker placement and the choices that mechanism offered, but I don't feel the need to purchase. I was put off by how important the Sphinx is and how varied the bonus point cards were. I had some for 4 points while my opponent's cards were for number of workers (9) and other things that greatly increased his score. I'd play it again, but my first impression was that -- among equally skilled players -- it'd come down to who fished out the best bonus cards from the Sphinx.
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Kurt R
United States
Philadelphia
Pennsylvania
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Tuesday
I was surprised at how simple the game is -- play cards in one of three different ways or discard and redraw -- and I seemed to be the first person to pick up on the value of debate tokens over voting points. I languished in fifth place for most of the game then came roaring back for a huge win. Overall, I liked it. It seemed pretty chaotic until you get to know the cards and then I wonder how that will affect the game (knowing which events are with which states), but the game is short enough that you can get in and out without it overstaying its welcome. I just love the theme as I live about 10 blocks from Independence Hall and go by it during my morning walks.
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Kurt R
United States
Philadelphia
Pennsylvania
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Tuesday
This one gets an incomplete grade from me as we were playing wrong for part of the game. We got confused on the requirements for building Ships. In fact, my brain was very confused by this game after having played Brass just the day before. There's a bit for Brass players to unlearn here.
What I didn't like for certain, though, was that in the end, everybody pretty much built all their counters; there was no specialization, e.g., shipping cotton strategy vs coal and iron infrastructure vs ships. It seemed like we all were doing the same thing just in different order. I prefer the way you can't do it all in Brass. Also, the end game dragged with us trying to drain the deck to get the game to end. I saw a thread about the anticlimactic end game of AoI, so apparently I'm not the only one who experienced it.
I did love the new map, though, and the ability to play on different maps, and at this point, I'd say that's pretty much the appeal of AoI to me. I will certainly play it again and will probably end up liking it as a new map alternative to Brass, though I don't see it supplanting Brass in my esteem.
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Kurt R
United States
Philadelphia
Pennsylvania
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Tuesday
Finished up the day with a teaching game of this to three people. I played the Nuns and didn't hear a noise for 8(!) turns. I felt like the game was pretty dull but, oh my, did things start to get interesting. I made sure to use routes that swept novices hallway to prevent people from running back home and I finally started hearing some noises. I actually caught a novice a few spots away from her cell. Ha! And then on turn 15, I went into the garden, spotted two naughty novices and pounced on them for the win! Go Nuns!
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10.
Board Game: Le Havre
[Average Rating:8.09 Overall Rank:6]
Kurt R
United States
Philadelphia
Pennsylvania
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Wednesday
My crew started to gather as two of my friends showed up. We got into a game of Le Havre which was learning game for me, and .... I loved it, and I can't believe it's taken me this long to try it. It was one of those games where you grok it almost immediately and you see the possibilities and can't wait to try them out. Agricola seems more about the tension of not failing (at least in the early game) whereas Le Havre is about the tension of succeeding more than your opponents. I loved the building synergies and all the options of going for resources/buildings/ship each turn, all relative to turn order and what you expect to be available or not.
Oh, and if you click on the picture and look at it regular size, you can see that Mark's eyes are red. That's not from the camera, he really is evil.
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Kurt R
United States
Philadelphia
Pennsylvania
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Finally, I got to play the number one game I wanted to play at the WBC. I bought it in Feb 2008 and it's been on the shelf ever since. Unfortunately, this play was with someone else's copy, so I didn't even truly get mine to the table yet. The copy we used was this nutjob's:
David Bohnenberger
United States
Swarthmore
Pennsylvania
... and I mean that in the best of ways. Dave is a great guy and I enjoyed his "sky is perpetually falling" sense of humor.
Anyways, this game gets an incomplete from me as this truly was a learning play. I learned which tiles work best. I took the War Office with my first choice not realizing that "once per War" is not the same as "once per turn". I thought I'd have a free attack each turn. D'oh! Then I rolled incredibly badly (three double 5s anyone?), though I don't fault the game. I learned that this game is not about going into battle with a slight advantage -- it's about going in with an overwhelming advantage as there WILL be casualties. Fortune may favor the bold, but it punishes the under-prepared. People were outright laughing at my misfortune; one of my friends was brought to tears of laughter at my losing every...single... battle. I just sat back and thought, "Well, this just means the Dice Gods are going to repay me in another game." It kinda helped. Kinda.
We played with a father-son team (Lane and Ben) from nearby Landisville, and they had to cut out to head to a tournament. I wasn't overly sad about it as I was clearly out of the game. We would game more with Lane and Ben in the week, and there's a good chance we'll meet up over the next year.
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Kurt R
United States
Philadelphia
Pennsylvania
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Wednesday
So after our aborted play of SoE, we decided to jump into a game of Friedrich. We invited
David Bohnenberger
United States
Swarthmore
Pennsylvania
because he had been wanting to try the game for some time. We decided to give him France for his first play, and I think that was a good decision. I took Austria/Imperial Army. This game had a very interesting ending, and I'd like to hear fellow Friedrich players weigh in.
First off, I had an early battle against Prussia (well, 2 hours into the game anyway) in Clubs in which I was pretty well stacked, and I had the good fortune to have 4(!) Reserve cards as well. The battle was really difficult, and I got to that point where I had to decide if I wanted to withdraw with some Club cards or go balls to the wall and play them all. I decided to go all out. As I would learn after the game, I was one card shy of defeating Prussia, but instead we settled for a draw, but it was costly for me as I had to withdraw from the Club area and build back up. Meanwhile, I had maneuvered the Imperial Army into a position of needing its last two flags.
It took me another hour or so, but I finally had some power again and I was able to eliminate his two generals mucking around in southern Prussia. I took 10 of the 12 flags I needed for victory. Sweden and Russia were knocked out of the game. Control of the Imperial Army switched to the former Russian player. I had to rush to the center Diamond area to get my last two flags. I needed time!
Long story short, I was able to make my way over there with three cards of fate left in the deck. I was faced with the choice of a) giving the victory to the Imperial Army or b) playing another turn to get an Austrian victory but risking the "France withdraws" card coming out and ending the game in Prussia's favor. As I had controlled the Imperial Army most of the game, I felt good about giving it to them, but the Prussian player was most displeased. I felt like I earned half a point for putting the Imperial Army in that position, and it was thematic for Austria to give the victory to the IA rather than risk a Prussian victory, but I was given the "we didn't play for 5 hours for you to give the victory to another player!" charge, so I said, "OK, if this were a tournament and I could get even a half point for the IA, I'd end it here, but for you, I'll go another turn."
The "France withdraws" card came up and Prussia won... In any case, I thought the game was well played by all, I enjoyed every minute of it, and I was especially proud to come back from being regarded as out of it to actually factor into the ending.
This was my 4th play of the game, and I feel like the other times it rumbled down the runway, occasionally getting airborne but never truly lifting off until this game. The game soared with drama, great tactical play, and tense battles. I tip my hat to my friend who played Prussia. He kept the game moving and played a great game. As to game time, it took us 5:45 to play, and I simply don't see how this game can be played in less than 5 hours. I know some people do, but me and my group will never be those people.
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Kurt R
United States
Philadelphia
Pennsylvania
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Thursday
My last friend arrived and we played a game of this in order for my other friend to try it out as a possible 2P offering for him and his wife. He picked the game up way too quickly, beat me to all areas, green, and the orange/red bonus tiles. As I consider myself pretty good at this game (from playing a lot on BSW), I was in shock. At one point, I had to swipe the board or lose a 6 route, and my hand was shaking. I got what I needed and ended the game on my turn, catching the other players short. The negative points for them gave me a 36 to 34 to 23 victory.
Whew!
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14.
Board Game: Brass
[Average Rating:8.08 Overall Rank:8]
Kurt R
United States
Philadelphia
Pennsylvania
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Thursday
So we rolled from T&T into another game of Brass. I took what I had learned earlier in the week and applied it in this game. Twice I took a double loan for my turn and it paid off. Coming into the rail era, I put down four pieces of track, and then I was able to build both of my level 2 shipyards. Even so, the game was close as my friends built more track than I did (and I love that that can be an equalizer): 164 to 156 to 148.
I had been taking in a LOT of caffeine all week as well as 5-Hour Energy drinks but this was the first day that I started to feel some real fatigue, and I was a limp dish rag after this game. I needed a nap but got a cup of coffee instead.
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Kurt R
United States
Philadelphia
Pennsylvania
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Thursday
During the rules explanation, I totally crashed and had to lie down on a couple of chairs and take a 10 minute nap. Luckily, I'm a great cat-napper and I fell asleep in no time and woke up feeling somewhat refreshed.
I was happy to try this one as the WBC is the perfect place and time to get into this. Our first play was pretty weird, though, as one friend (a competitive chap) played the game like Risk and enslaved the other three of us, but then he went into chaos and lost half his people and we were freed. We called the game after 3 hours and decided we needed to know the rules better before trying again.
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16.
Board Game: Havana
[Average Rating:7.00 Overall Rank:452]
Kurt R
United States
Philadelphia
Pennsylvania
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Thursday
Ended the day with this one. An interesting play, especially because my competitive friend who had enslaved us all in Origins played his "Protection" card on the first turn so I played the "Tax Collector" for most of the rest of the game and stole from him every turn. I ended up winning, too. Ha!
There was mention of more gaming, but I was done. Fried. Kaput. Time to turn in and it wasn't even midnight. I felt lame about that.
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Kurt R
United States
Philadelphia
Pennsylvania
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Friday
This was one of my "want to play" games at the WBC, so I was psyched to try it. First off, the people who I played with and taught me were great, and we plan on meeting up some time, but they didn't do a good job explaining what all the card events were, how the skill checks worked, and what you should/should not do as a Cylon.
I pulled a Cylon card as the President and started pulling event and Quorum cards that made no sense to me. I couldn't ask questions without revealing what I was looking at and then whether or not I played the cards would tell what my intentions were so I had to spend the first hour or so of the game figuring shit out for myself and it was frustrating. I didn't know what the hell those attack cards were until it was wayyyyy too late. The Humans had no pressure on them the whole game.
Two hours into the game with nothing happening, I got bored and wanted to see something happen, so I threw two yellows into a skill check and three came up, so it was obvious that someone had played against the team. Up to this point, the table was convinced that everyone was Human but they quickly suspected me. I lost my Presidency and got thrown into the brig. I gave the Presidency to someone I had suspected might be a Cylon but it turned out he wasn't. Then when the other cards came out, my friend (another newbie) got the other Cylon card and he was too new to know how to work out of the jam we were in. There was a point at the end where it wasn't clear of 3 people who was the other Cylon, so they threw all 3 in the brig and in the accusations, I couldn't tell who was my Cylon teammate. That was pretty damn cool. After four hours, the Humans solidified their victory. I think at one point we were one something away from something and we would've won (I'm sorry, but I don't get all the space jargon).
All in all, it's a fascinating game now that I understand it. I loved the skill checks and the uncertainty the create and the game created some really nice paranoia and confusion, it's just way too long for me for what it does. If that game was 2 hours, I'd hail it as a work of genius, but playing the first 2 to 3 hours in order to get to the last hour is too much for me. I'd like a shorter game with a tighter arc, but I would like to try it again. Maybe it won't seem so long now that I understand the subtleties more.
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Kurt R
United States
Philadelphia
Pennsylvania
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Friday
Played Scenario 2 for the first time and really enjoyed it. I got to play the Demons (always the easy assignment) while my friend, Bruce, took the humans. He was doing well for the most part, but two dead end tiles hurt his chances and he didn't split up soon enough. I overwhelmed and devoured all four of his heroes with 4 tiles left. Game over, man!
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Kurt R
United States
Philadelphia
Pennsylvania
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Friday
Ah, and now the highlight of the con for me. A Game o' Trones, as my Irish friend, Mark, pronounces it... I had never played this but have wanted to for a long time. There were five of us, so we had a full complement. It quickly became clear that this game is not so much about the tactical military play as it is about the diplomatic aspects since you're always in a vulnerable position on the board and you need to be clear who your friends and enemies are. Furthermore, your friends and enemies change each turn, so you're constantly switching alliances.
I found it absolutely fascinating, in fact, we all did and I didn't realize six hours had gone by before I checked the time. The game was tense with the threat of double-cross hanging in the air every turn. I figured the game was about waiting till turn 10 to make the double-cross, but on Turn 9 another player (quite innocently) pointed out how I could attack someone I was allied with. With the cat out of the bag, I had to come up with another plan, which I did, but I still ended up in a three-way tie with 5 cities and I came in 2nd on the Barrel tie-breaker. We finished at 3:45am.
This game took almost 9 hours and it absolutely flew by. I realize that will sound ridiculous to some, but I never felt like someone was dragging the game down with AP or that we were playing slowly. We had a rule where you couldn't leave the table to negotiate and it was really fun to see who was talking to who, to switch alliances, and to check in: "We still cool?" each turn. I loved every minute of it and did not mind not winning. It was an absolute blast to play this game and one of the most memorable gaming experiences I've ever had.
I want to give a special shout out to:
Ty Hansen
United States
Dist of Columbia
We had a player drop out at some point (hell if I remember) and Ty stepped in for him. His position was tenuous at best and he really didn't have a good chance at winning this position he inherited, but he played the game with us till almost 4am. And he seemed to enjoy himself and never complained about anything once. What a great guy! Ty, we need to get you up to Philly.
A game o' trones!
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Kurt R
United States
Philadelphia
Pennsylvania
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Saturday
If they ever put this game in a tournament, I'm in, because I fancy myself pretty good at this one. I absolutely love this game and the way you need to shift your strategies, react to other players' strategies, and generally just find a way to win. One player needed one Architect client to win with the Forum and he kept playing Architect on his turn to put one in the pool, so of course on my turn I left it there and put it on the other player to labor it out of there or end the game. Oh, that kind of control felt good.
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Kurt R
United States
Philadelphia
Pennsylvania
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Saturday
We made a second attempt at this one, aided by WBC buddy, Tom Cannon. Tom patiently taught our tired and fried brains how to unlock our undeveloped brains (in the game, that is) and develop as a race. We played for about 5 hours before calling it. I'm not sure how I feel about it, I mean the way you take cards from other players' discard piles and play cards with matching symbols and increase your techs is cool, but after 5 hours, I didn't feel like I had actually done much. Also, this game made me want to go play Through the Ages: A Story of Civilization more than want to play this again. Nonetheless, I expect to get a play in some Saturday starting at noon and going as long as we can to see just what the hell does/doesn't happen in this game.
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Kurt R
United States
Philadelphia
Pennsylvania
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Second play of this one, and people picked up on the value of the Debate tokens right away. This was a bitch of a game with people slapping each other down left and right with "take-that" cards. Twice I lost the opportunity to play the GW card, once on the last turn which resulted in the last turn taking about 45 minutes in itself. We just couldn't get the game to end because my group is so damn competitive, we all were trying to squeeze out one more point. I could've ended the round and the game but decided to let it go around one more time and that's when someone played the anti-GW card. I coulda kicked myself.
Seems you can combo some nice events (if you get them), otherwise get any and all Debate tokens. I finished in a tie for third after being in last place most of the game.
During this game, I was paid a visit by
I will not rest until Biblios is in the Top 100.
United States
Budd Lake
New Jersey
Well I been watchin' while you been coughin, I've been drinking life while you've been nauseous, and so I drink to health while you kill yourself and I got just one thing that I can offer... Go on and save yourself and take it out on me
and his lovely wife, Bianca. Steve and I were going to link up to play Fresco, but as I slept the morning away, we missed our chance. He's one of the nicest people you could ever meet, and we plan on getting together for some gaming. Funny, after he left my friends were like, "Who was that?" and they were pissed I didn't introduce them when I told them it was none other than Stormseeker from BGG. 
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23.
Board Game: Ta Yü
[Average Rating:7.08 Overall Rank:466]
Kurt R
United States
Philadelphia
Pennsylvania
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Saturday
We finished up the day with this one and it was the perfect nightcap. Interesting but not brain-burning. We played two 2P teams and I think that's a great way to play the game. I like trying to synch up with partner on offense and defense. We pulled out a come-from-really-behind victory with some great tile pulls.
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Kurt R
United States
Philadelphia
Pennsylvania
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Sunday
I bumped into con buddies, Lane and Ben, and we agreed we wanted to play something before leaving, so we got in a game of this while waiting for one of my friends to get his butt in gear and play Colosseum. I like this game, but I don't play it enough to be competitive at it. I finished third out of five.
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Kurt R
United States
Philadelphia
Pennsylvania
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Sunday
And for the last game of the con, I kicked some serious butt at this game and finished 10+ points ahead. I really like Colosseum, and my friends and I always have very competitive games of this one as we all know how to aim for that last turn. Lane saw what I was setting myself up for, so he used a double-build action to buy the program I was gunning for. I was shocked as no one had done that to me before (I told him it was brilliant). Nonetheless, I got another program that suited my comedian strategy and put on a 91 point event.
And with that, it was time to get into the car and head back home. After eight straight days of often intense gaming, I was actually ready to leave. Now that's a vacation!
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Posted Tue Aug 10, 2010 4:57 am
London
Canada
Philadelphia
Pennsylvania
Orlando
Florida
Philadelphia
Pennsylvania
I don't think you saw this:
Ah, and now the highlight of the con for me. A Game o' Trones, as my Irish friend, Mark, pronounces it...
New York
New York
Great report - sounds like you had a great week!
JR