Weekend Gaming

This past weekend was another exquisite non-stop romp of gaming goodness. It always amazes me how much gaming can happen when almost none was planned. I think some people think it's too much of a waste of time to specifically plan for it, but end up enjoying themselves so much once they start that they want more. Of course, we geeks already know this, and make no attempt to hide it.

Despite feeling like I'm climbing to the second plateau in Zertz, I did lose one of my three games to Mary Ann. I think I had fallen into a pattern of plays. It's a good thing she's there keeping me on my toes. We also played 4-player games of O Zoo le Mio and Carcassonne. The latter is seriously starting to lose its luster for me with non-gamers; it's only fun when everyone is really playing a solid game.

I kicked some serious ass in 3-player Manila. Evaluating the worth of the Harbor Master is still problematic. If another player is interested in roughly the same good as you, then it's much better to let them have it. Compare this to Ra, where you always know the exact worth of each lot to all players.

We also played two games of Antike--one 3-player and one 2-player. In the first game, I was the Germanic Tribes and made the mistake of spreading to the east and west in order to get ports on both sides. This resulted in me having two small fleets that couldn't support each other, all for only 1 VP (7 seas). Rome took advantage of my sprawl and cut me in two. In the second game, I was Rome and Greece. I used the Greek fleets to keep the Phoenecians at bay while the Greek armies and Rome pressed hard on the Germanic Tribes. We both reached 8 VP's on the same turn, but I won the race to 9.

I also played my first game of War of the Ring, but I'll save that for my next post, since I have so much to say.


Antike image by garyjames