April 28, 2010

Participants: Jon, Nadine, Abraham, Bill, Eitan, Emily

We didn't split into two groups, for some inexplicable reason.

Dominion/Dominion Intrigue

Abraham 57, Nadine 51, Jon 48, Bill

Kingdoms: Council Room, Library, Spy, Workshop, Courtyard, Shanty Town, Baron, Mining Village, Duke, Torturer

I've never played with Shanty Town or Duke, and I've only played once with Courtyard, Baron, or Torturer. I considered Duke for a while, but instead decided to pursure a general 2 action/draw 3 cards strategy. My strategy netted me 7 of the 12 provinces, so it worked well. However, as you can see from the scores, it didn't work well enough.

Avraham went for early Duchy's, gaining 5 before everyone else stole the rest from him (Nadine had 4, I had 1, Bill had 2). Which means that all of his Dukes were worth 5 points each. I had more provinces than he had Dukes, but then you add in his Duchys.

What I don't get is how he managed to buy as much as he did with so many early VP cards. Apparently early Barons and Silvers were enough to do the trick.

Nadine followed a strategy similar to Abraham, but a bit behind him. Still, it surprised me even more that even she managed to beat my score. She was very satisfied with this, as she was annoyed that I used Torturer several times during the game.

Robo Rally

Abraham+, Bill, Jon, Eitan, Emily, Nadine

And so, this was one of the few games that we could find that would sensibly accommodate all six of us (I thought of Antike a moment too late).

First play for Eitan and Emily, second for Abraham. Bill had played this once many years ago.

Rules: I used one board (Pit Trap) and two flags, without having to return to start. We each started with one option, and you didn't lose the option when you died (but you did restart with two damage points, and you could only die twice; you're out if you die three times). Also, you could decide at the end of the round if you wanted to power down on the next round.

The game took about 3.5 hours, which was too long for Nadine. It was one of the few times I've played the game where there was real competition and tension until the end.

Emily started the game by walking into a pit, and then did it again, and then spent the rest of the game on the wrong side of the board, trying (futilely, as it turns out) to avoid dying a third time.

Eitan was the first to touch the first flag, and though he had died twice, he looked like he might make it to the second flag. However, Bill, who had also touched the first flag by that point, targeted him and managed to shoot and push him off the edge of the board at the same time.

Nadine also managed to die three times, but she wasn't too unhappy about it, as her head was hurting by that point.

I only died once, and I came close to the first flag a few times, but each time I was blocked. By the end of the game, I finally touched the flag, and then I walked off the side of the board (for my second death) so that I could reappear closer to the second flag. I was one or two rounds back from Bill and Abraham, however.

Bill and Abraham had to figure out how to rest on the second flag by the end of the game, without having the other one push him off the board. Luckily for Abraham, Bill simply couldn't draw the right turn cards to position himself to shoot Abraham as he had shot Eitan, and so Abraham took the win.