April 18, 2004 |
After waiting all day for Sam to call (he didn't), Dan and I met to play Duel of Ages after playing a couple lighter games with Annie.
| Ra |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Dan | 32 | 1 | |
| Annie | 31 | 2 | |
| Mike | 23 | 3 | |
Notes: Dan keeps getting so lucky at this game that it's driving me batty. He had a huge first round, and then, when I had the tiles to get some big turns, Ra tile after Ra tile kept appearing, which is always a benefit to the guy with the middle to low tiles, which Dan had. Annie made a nice run at him, but fell just short.
| Bermuda Triangle |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Annie | $320,000 | 1 | * |
| Dan | $240,000 | 2 | |
| Mike | $230,000 | 3 | |
Notes: My ships were all sucked up first. After a good start I was stuck under the cloud and couldn't move for a couple turns while Dan and Annie were able to scoop up some big Oil scores.
| Duel of Ages |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Mike | 4 | 1 | |
| Dan | 3 | 2 | |
Teams:
| White (Mike) | Black (Dan) | |
| Dr. Memnar (the Mad Scientist) | Private Sanchez (the Sniper) | |
| Siennya (the Amazon) | Sgt. Gritt (the Sarge) | |
| Perindor (the Ranger) | Suva of Orian (the Honorable Alien) | |
| Damon Raven (the Techno-Punk) | Sir Gawain (the Knight) | |
| Hans August (the Outdoorsman) | Marley Kenyon (the Gadget Master) |
Next on the agenda was Sgt. Gritt, whom Dr. Memnar (again in monster form) tore into ribbons with one attack. Dan was frustrated, but Suva, Sanchez, and Gawain were making incredible rolls on the Adventure challenges, and although I had more guys than Dan, I was struggling to keep up. Team Black generally had a one-point lead throughout much of the game. What would happen, for instance, was that there would be a White Point challenge, and I would eventually get Damon Raven there (+4 on Point/Aim challenges) and Dan would either (1) pass the challenge with some loser by rolling a 2 or 3, or (2) he used a cube to Dismiss all my guys from the labyrinth. Arrgh!
Confronted by such tactics I was forced to wipe out the rest of his guys. On an incredibly lucky shot from a rifle, Siennya killed Sir Gawain just before he was going to get Team Black another point. Then she challenged anyone to a dual of Lawn Darts in the Field of Honor. No one was willing to compete, so Team White gained the lead for the first time all game. With 5 guys left to Team Black's 2, it looked like a piece of cake.
Not so fast, though. In one turn of OpFire, both Hans August (Suva) and Siennya (Sanchez) were wiped out. Now it was Team White's turn to scramble, as Team Black kept making forays into my lead, and tied the score a few times. Team Black had a chance to take the lead once, but blew it. Finally, Dr. Memnar risked death to kill Private Sanchez and did, though Dan complained that I changed my movement when he said "I'm shooting at you." The fact was that I had not yet planned my move, but I was sure he had come over to attack me, since Sanchez moved from a sure adventure challenge to approach Dr. Memnar. When he said "I'm shooting," I, who was going to attack him anyway, said, "Well, then, I'll just have to try to kill you." He missed his shot, and Dr. Memnar tore Sanchez a new one. Suva made one last adventure challenge to tie, before Damon Raven and Dr. Memnar teamed up to give Team White the victory in the Future labyrinth.
Dan was incredibly frustrated at losing all his guys, but since my weapons were so good, and he kept passing those
damn challenges, it was my only recourse.