November 24th, 2004 |
It was the day before Thanksgiving, so I got ambitious and had us all try a longer game. Everyone gave it a good go, and it was cool to see how Wallenstein worked.
| Wallenstein |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Scott | 20 | 1 | * |
| Karla/Jim | 20 | 2 | * |
| Dan | 13 | 3 | * |
| Mike | 12 | 4 | * |
| Annie | 11 | 5 | * |
Notes: I've lost my notes, but I remember the bulk of this game. We only played for one year, because Karla and Annie were none too crazy about the game.
As for the game, Annie and I were the only people who tried to expand early on, but we both were defeated. We probably advanced before we were ready, as we used medium strength provinces to attack. The trick was that we tried to expand into areas where it was unlikely for us to be attacked. The farmers crushed us.
Dan never made one attack the entire year, and spent the whole game fortifying and re-fortifying his countries so that they wouldn't be attacked. He also built several buildings, and he looked like he was in great shape if we should progress into a second year. Seriously, that's all Dan did, which is odd, since he loves killing things in every other game.
Karla and Jim (who teamed up to be Gustavus Adolphus), made some nice forays, crushing me a couple times, and making nice progress on their buildings. Scott pretty much stayed to himself as well, but he spent more money on buildings than armies.
Annie and I were in bad shape, as our early attacks failed, leaving us weak, and we had less money for buildings (and fewer territories). We each were attacked and defeated by the evil aggressors of Jim/Karla and Scott, though Scott was also defeated by the Jim/Karla tandem once.
Dan, whose huge armies scared off attacks, looked good, but then he forgot to harvest enough wheat, and with the -4 penalty that hit at the end of autumn, he found himself having to defend two regions against insurgent farmers. He didn't want to risk throwing all his defenders in the dice tower, so he only tried to enjoy advantages of 5 to 3 or 4 to 3 - not incredibly overwhelming odds, and the dice tower is a fickle friend. He lost both provinces - along with all their armies and buildings - and this cost him the game, I think, as I calculated that it cost him about 7 or 8 points.
Ironically, Karla and Jim used all their forces in their rebellious provinces to survive both attacks - barely. Scott and Annie, who had fewer countries, had no revolts, and neither did I, as I had some excellent wheat producers in my regions.
In the end, Scott's building production was just enough to edge out Karla's and Jim's slight advantage in provinces. He won on the second tie-breaker, most overall churches.
Dan's effort taught me two things: patience, and the importance of overwhelming odds. When opposing someone, a 5 to 3 advantage is nothing. The dice tower is much too fickle. Go in with at least a 4-person advantage if you can swing it, especially when it comes to defending your land against a rebellion at the end of the year.
| Killer Bunnies |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Mike | Magic Carrot (1) | 1 | |
| Scott | 7 Carrots | 2 (Tie) | |
| Annie | 7 Carrots | 2 (Tie) | |
| Dan | 4 Carrots | 4 | |
| Karla | 1 Carrot | 5 | |
| Jim | No Bunnies | 6 | * |
Notes: This was a particularly vicious game. Everyone kept hosing each other with various cards. I was struck with some sort of Viking Expedition that took my bunnies around the table, killing one and giving one to Dan. I kept making other folks feed their bunnies. Scott and Jim kept hosing each other, and no one was able to keep their bunnies alive for very long.
Scott and Annie were both able to use their Super Supplies Surprise to get a bunch of stuff, so they were rarely attacked with Feed the Bunnies. Karla was in good shape until she wiped herself out with the Mad Donelaith Bakery. This was the second time in as many games she used it and it killed all her bunnies.
Dan was doing pretty well, as he had 4 carrots early, but Scott kept getting "Choose Two Carrots" cards and was hogging them all. I had two carrots early, but lost one in a game of poverty poker. Everyone took part, and everyone lost a carrot to Annie. That's how she managed to get so many.
When Dan played the Viking card on me, I was all set (I had about 20 Dolla) to purchase a new bunny from the pawn shop. Then, Karla, just before me, CLOSED the pawn shop, and then tried to buy a bunny. Sorry, sweetums, if you close the shop, you can't buy the bunny. This really bugged me, and I felt doomed. I grumbled and bitched, tossed away my choose two carrots card and fumed for a few turns.
Finally, with only 1 carrot left to go, I gave Dan all my money for one of his bunnies, just so I could survive to the end. He bought the last carrot, and the game ended. Scott had the Zodiac card and he, in an act of vengeance, deprived Jim of his only bunny and his chance to win. Jim's carrots went to Dan (sitting on my big pile of cash).
My one little carrot, Teal'c, survived to the final draw between me and Scott, and, holy crap! wouldn't you know it?!? I won. I couldn't believe it, and it made me feel bad for being so angry with Karla and her move I decribed as "stupid." I wouldn't have been so angry, but the game was taking forever, and I hadn't anticipated a card as devastating as that viking card (which took away two awesome bunnies - the red timid bunny and a triple specialty). I also felt bad for Jim. I don't think he enjoyed the ending (or the chaos of the game) so much.
| Ra |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Scott | 37 | 1 | |
| Karla | 34 | 2 | |
| Dan | 31 | 3 (Tie) | |
| Mike | 31 | 3 (Tie) | |
| Annie | 22 | 5 | |
Notes: Jim headed out, and the rest of us played Ra. I had just lost a close game of Ra (to Dan, of course), the other day, and Dan couldn't believe I was willing to punish myself with yet another game of it. This time, I was determined to win (again).
The scores may not be perfect, but they're close to what they really were. I was forced to go for a monument strategy, and Dan pretty much spent the whole first round gathering only pharaohs. Scott managed to get some rivers, and I managed to get a civ, but nobody else got much of anything, and Karla and Annie were in poor shape after the first round. Dan's +5 for pharaohs was erased by the -5 no civ penalty.
Karla then started making a move (she grabbed 3 civs in the 2nd round), and Scott added a lot of monuments to his river tiles. Dan started expanding a bit, getting a nice chunk of rivers in the 2nd round, which he managed to accompany with a flood. I was doing okay, but I was unable to get any immediate plus tiles. That is, I couldn't get enough pharaohs to take the lead, I wasn't getting any river tiles, and I was only managing one civ per round. I also wasn't getting any gold or god tiles. Scott, I should note, was making nice use of his god tiles, either grabbing a flood or civ tile, as needed. I also was only able to use two of my bid chips in the 2nd round.
In the third round, my strategy was apparent. The only chance I had was to get a ton of monuments (which only Scott, Annie, and I were collecting at all), to stay out of the pharaoh penalty, and to get the most points for suns. I managed two out of the three. Although I managed to get the 16 point sun, my other two were lackluster, but I did get a ton of monument points, about 20 on my last turn. Karla had a nice balance of stuff, but not quite enough gold and gods to beat out Scott. Dan really could have used a flood tile, but couldn't find one to fit his 5 rivers. Scott "greeded it up" for his last turn, and kept drawing. He managed to get a flood and some extra monuments.
When we checked for bid tile points, Scott beat Dan 21 to 20, which was enough to give him the plus 5. Had Dan been able to get that lead, he would have won, 36 to Karla's 34 to Scott's 32. It was a good, close match, and if I just could have gotten some gold or gods along the way, I probably could have pulled it off. Dan, as always, had the pharaoh lead all three rounds.