April 3, 2004 |
We played a bunch of games Saturday night at the Radisson at OdysseyCon, a rather small Sci-Fi convention that had a decent gaming room. It started with just Dan, Annie, Karla, and I, but then Mark and Lee and eventually Jamie showed up.
| Pirate's Cove |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Mike | 41 | 1 | |
| Dan | 34 | 2 | |
| Annie | 32 | 3 | * |
| Karla | 21 | 4 | |
Notes: I played an incredibly cautious game and was rewarded for it. I figured it was far better to have no conflict at all, even at places where I didn't need the upgrade than to have conflict. I only fought other players twice, and fled once without a battle (I had picked a crappy island for me), and I did really well. Annie got into fights early, but rebounded nicely mid-game - thanks in part to a pity play by Dan - and Karla started off okay but fell victim to some fights late. On the last turn, Dan, Karla, and I took out the Flying Dutchman in one round thanks to my grapeshot attack. I had 5 bonus points at the end of the game to ensure victory.
| Liar's Dice |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Mark | 1 | ||
| Lee | 2 | ||
Notes: Lee and Mark played Liar's Dice (with 6 dice instead of the usual 5) as they waited for us to finish pirating. Mark dusted Lee in the first game, and Lee said, "I've never lost two games in a row"...
| Liar's Dice |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Lee | 1 | ||
| Mark | 2 | ||
Notes: ...and kept his streak alive in game 2.
| High Society |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Annie | 20 | 1 | * |
| Mark | 8 | 2 | * |
| Lee | 5.5 | 3 | |
| Mike & Karla | 5 | 4 | |
| Dan | OUT | 5 | |
Notes: Next up, when Mark and Lee were done with a second game of Liar's Dice, was a quick game. Karla and Annie wanted to watch the Sopranos, so we tried to pull this one off quickly, and pretty much did, though Karla gave over her hand to me about half-way through. Annie spent like crazy early, and soon had the most points, but obviously the least amount of $$$ left. I knew she still had her $25,000,000 card, so I was trying to make bids that would beat the rest but keep me with more cash than Annie had. Everyone else competed too well, though, and kept me down. Dan ended up with more points than Annie, but had spent $5 million too much, as he ended up in last in cash with one $20,000,000 card - he obviously hadn't been card counting like I had. Annie left game night for TV and DDR after this, but she said she really liked both Pirate's Cove and High Society.
| Duel of Ages |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Dan & Lee | 8 | 1 | |
| Mike & Mark | 1 | 2 | Mark |
Teams:
| White (Mike & Mark) | Black (Dan & Lee) | |
| Davy Crocket (the Backwoodsman) | Little Shaun (the Ironman) | |
| Mick the Lion (the Competitor) | Gen. James Gavin (the Field General) | |
| Homer Morgan (the Slugger) | Boris Andronov (the Mercenary) | |
| Amelia Pike (the Mole) | Jerry Gillis (the Survivalist) | |
| Marcus Aurus (the Genetic Superhuman) | Diaz El Gato Montes (the Blademaster) | |
| Bog Haunt (the Amphibian) | Dunabi (the Wild Man) |
We led in only one labyrinth - the ancient one - but were behind in the other 7 and had our butts kicked when Homer Morgan was killed by Little Shaun (in a rifle attack of all damn things) late in the game. We played with 5 platters, which was too many. There was too much space on the board, and this hurt what Mark and I tried to do. For one thing, I misused Davy Crocket, and we misused the Bog Haunt and Amelia Pike.
Amelia kept trying to use her "steal a card" power, and instead of just guarding an area, we kept running her back and forth, and we never had enough frightening weaponry to direct a guy towards her.The Bog Haunt was the sole reason we were ahead in the Ancient labyrinth, but the platter with all the swamps was put in a location that Dan and Lee stayed away from. In retrospect, we should have had the platter surround 2 or 3 labyrinths instead of our Team Base. Dan never attacks team bases anyway, so I should have just not worried about it. We also had rotten luck. Whereas Dan and Lee kept drawing cool cards - weapons and mounts - Mick the Lion kept drawing helmets - which aren't particularly helpful for him, since he can only lose a maximum of one point in an attack - and Davy Crocket never got any cards at all. We should have given him one of Bog Haunt's guns (a colonial rifle), but we were behind so quickly that I never wanted to invest the time to get the gun. Finally, Team Black acquired a lot of cards pretty quickly, and this made Homer Morgan's melee attack (Green 2 natural attack) obsolete incredibly quickly. Not that he's that powerful anyway, but maybe he could have thumped someone into submission.
Finally, one last complaint about luck - we either tended to roll great (2's or 3's), or really poorly (a lot of 9's and higher). Dan and Lee had more moderate luck - they tended to roll 6's, 7's, and 8's, which are okay rolls, since one tries to make rolls that stack the deck in your favor, and they generally result in cards or labyrinth advancements.
Anyway, all things combined to make this game a runaway for Lee and Dan, and despite my growling frustration, Mark said he thought the game was sweet.
| Liar's Dice |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Mark | 1 | ||
| Dan | 2 | ||
| Mike | 3 | ||
| Jamie | 4 | ||
| Lee | 5 | ||
Notes: It was getting late and after some partying we were too drunk to learn to play Twilight Imperium, so with Jamie in tow and Karla watching Shaolin Soccer we played 5 games of Liar's Dice - during which, as you'll note below, Lee lost twice in a row.
| Liar's Dice |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Mark | 1 | ||
| Mike | 2 | ||
| Dan | 3 | ||
| Jamie | 4 | ||
| Lee | 5 | ||
| Liar's Dice |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Mike | 1 | ||
| Lee | 2 | ||
| Mark | 3 | ||
| Dan | 4 | ||
| Jamie | 5 | ||
Notes: This one was particularly sweet as I came from down 3 to 1 to defeat Lee.
| Liar's Dice |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Lee | 1 | ||
| Mike | 2 | ||
| Dan | 3 | ||
| Jamie | 4 | ||
| Mark | 5 | ||
Notes: Lee got us all back by skunking us this time. He didn't lose one die, which is always embarrassing.
| Liar's Dice |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Dan | 1 | ||
| Mike | 2 (Tie) | ||
| Mark | 2 (Tie) | ||
| Jamie | 4 | ||
| Lee | 5 | ||
Notes: Mark kept calling Dan in this one, and Dan's bids were perpetually right on the money, so Mark cost Jamie and me dice throughout the game until very late, then Mark called Dan one last time and - with his 4th perfect bid - knocked both Mark and me out at the same time.