July 14, 2004 |
Scott, Jamie (sans threatening watermelon), and Dan showed up in about a 10 minute span tonight, and so, after enjoying Scott's pictures of Jamaica (and vowing to get Smokey Joe's number should we ever get down there), we were able to play a couple of good 5-player games.
| Elfenland |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Mike | 16 | 1 | |
| Dan | 15 | 2 (Tie) | |
| Scott | 15 | 2 (Tie) | * |
| Jamie | 13 | 4 | |
| Karla | 12 | 5 | |
Notes: We hadn't played this one in a LOOOONNG time, and, although I really enjoy this game, it can drag a little bit if folks take too long to plan their routes. I chided Jamie for not planning his route when it wasn't his turn, and he was good-humored enough to smile and do so. Scott had a little trouble remembering that he could use other people's tiles to move around, and Dan made a huge hose-job on Jamie and Karla (and me, but I re-routed myself) that really knocked them out of the running in the 2nd round.
The game is more fun playing in 3 rounds, so that's what we did. It avoids the tied for 20 problem (usually), especially since we use the obstacles freely.
Anyway, everyone had a solid first round, as no obstacles were played, and almost everyone went north, except for me, who went south. We were all tied at 6 in the first round.
In the second round, Dan, who complained about all the elf bike cards he had been stuck with, played an obstacle that totally hosed Jamie and Karla, who were stuck in the northern mountains with nowhere to go but west. Karla tried to retaliate, but it only got in my way. I was able to re-route, as I mentioned, but Jamie and Karla were both forced to use 4 cards to cross the mountain space. Dan and I were tied after round 2 with 11 apiece, and Jamie did as well as he could by getting to 10. Scott did, too, though he admitted he misplayed a tile, and Karla really felt the effects of the obstacle by only visiting 3 cities.
In round three, with people ganging up on Dan out of anger, I figured I needed 5 cities to win. I was the only one going to the north (as everyone else had already visited those cities), and this was both an advantage and a disadvantage. It was an advantage because no one would place tiles in my way, but it was a disadvantage because 1) people could target me easily with obstacles and 2) I didn't have all the tiles I wanted and was hoping to get a troll cart or boar placed somewhere along my path - two cards that I had but without their corresponding tiles.
I lured Scott into using his obstacle against my first visit (I had doubles of dragons and unicorns, and was hoping he would place an obstacle on one of those two trips) but I was ready for it, and made the correct adjustment. My obstacle (which I had hoped would slow him down) only slowed Jamie to another 4-card crawl. Dan was hampered by the obstacles just enough, and Scott just barely ran out of cards to allow me the victory.
| Traumfabrik |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Scott | 77 | 1 | * |
| Jamie | 57 | 2 | * |
| Mike | 48 | 3 | |
| Dan | 42 | 4 | |
| Karla | 41 | 5 | |
Notes: I was up for three games: Modern Art, Traumfabrik, and I'm the Boss!, and presented with the choice, everyone deferred except Dan, who opted for making movies in the '40's and '50's.
Scott was masterful. He quickly got the hang of timing his productions. He managed to trump me for best movie in the second round when I had just passed Jamie, and timed his auctions so that he either had the most actors just before the parties or so that he had won the auction just prior to the party and therefore had the tiebreaker.
Jamie, though, had some nice movies early on and also made the first green and yellow movies. Karla had some pretty good stuff going, though, and seemed to be closing in on best direction, though she faltered late as she couldn't get her fourth movie finished.
I made The Sea Hawk into a real stinker, as it was worth only 3 points. I had cast Bogie in Arsenic and Old Lace, making it a really good film, but Scott, as I noted, trumped me before I could reap the benefits of it.
By the end, Dan and Karla had 3 okay movies, and the rest of us had 4 movies. The difference was that Scott and Jamie
managed to get all the awards:
Best Entertainment: Scott (18)
Best Adventure: Scott (with an 8!)
Best Drama: Jamie (15)
Worst Film: Mike (3)
Best Direction: Scott (10 stars)
With his majority of end of game awards, Scott ran away with the victory. I should add that he finished his final movie by adding just enough directing stars to take the "Best Direction" category, edging out Karla, who had 9 stars.
Although I played poorly - I had no long-term strategy, and I always developed my short-term strategy when it was way too late to do anything to help it - I had a lot of fun. This is a cool, fast-flowing game with a nice theme. And Jamie couldn't believe I had made the game myself. Here are some images of the pieces I made: