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Today I invited several friends over to play a couple of games and share some good company. Grant G., his brother W.J., and Glenn W. joined me in rewriting the History of the World (designers Gary Dicken, Steve Kendall, and Phil Kendall - artists Charles S. Jarboe Jr, Steve Kendall, and Jason Spiller - publisher Avalon Hill), an old favorite that never seems to get enough play time. Grant achieved a fairly commanding victory, in no small part to his success in holding on to his acquisitions and generating victory points for multiple epochs, particularly with the Romans in southern Europe and several Asian civilizations and a big scoring turn with the Arabs. I had a strong early game with the Assyrians and a strong finish with the Mongols, Ottoman Turks, and Britain, but was nearly wiped off the map in the middle of the game around Epoch IV from which I never fully recovered. I finished third behind Glenn.
If HotW can be subject to the vagaries of card luck, not so the brilliantly-designed Puerto Rico. We invited my wife Kathy to join us for a five-player session. PR has become one of my favorite games for its nearly pure dependence on player decisions for the course of the game. I managed to pull out a win with some very heavy shipments of corn, tobacco, and sugar, just two points ahead of Kathy's dominant building performance.
This kick-off to the new year inspires me to revitalize my focus on boardgames and design. Although I will miss Car Trunk Entertainment's Unpublished Games Festival "UnPub II" in Dover, Delaware later this month, I look forward to PrezCon in Charlottesville, Virginia in late February.
Here's to a whole new year of gaming developments and discoveries.
Ludero ergo sum.
Wait, something actually interesting happening in Dover, thanks for calling attention to it, I may have to see what I can do to get there.
ReplyDeleteI agree board games are inherently social, I just wish I had the time and money to feed my addiction!
There are worse addictions in the world, Patrick!
ReplyDeleteI learned about UnPub2 when I met John Moller of Car Trunk Entertainment at Congress of Gamers in October. I hope you can go. I'd love to read your impressions of it on your blog.
Keep playing and keep writing!
Puerto Rico is definitely a favorite among my group as well. Less card dependency, well, you know that's my thing.
ReplyDeleteOf course, I'd never say no to a good game of Citadels!