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The Gathering – Heading Home

Early flights (no delays), Prize Table acquisitions, A finaltrip to Denise’s for ice cream

Shel and I got up VERY early to catch the first leg of thetrip home – Columbus to Chicago, and I’m writing this on the plane from Chicagoto San Jose.  No delays yet, andgiven our bad luck with planes in the past year, I’m happy so far.

The Prize Table (of which I have a few audio snippets onthis week’s podcast) went quite smoothly this year, as they speeded up theprocess.  First picks were forgames such as the Risk Black Ops game, a Carabande with Action Set, the specialFunkenschlag that John and Scott mention on the audio snippets, and the Ticketto Ride Nordic Countries game that you still can’t get over here.  The “official word” is “NO COMMENT”about it getting published stateside. We’ll just have to wait and see what Days of Wonder does…

The game itself, as I said before, is quite solid and fairlynasty.  I would have taken one asmy first pick if one was still available (all 3 were taken in the first 10picks, however).

Funniest moment: Dale Yu’s name was called in a group and heSPRINTED to the front, snatched up the last Funkenschlag, and just keep onrunning, holding the box in the air triumphantly.  VERY fun, even when repeated to show how everyone shouldreact with enthusiasm.

What did we get off the table? well, I was about middle ofthe pack in the name draw, while Shelley was ¾ of the way through.  I was surprised that Aquaretto wasstill available when I heard my name, so that was acquisition #1.  I will be sure to report on what acombined playing of Zooloretto and Aquaretto is like soon. 

Shelley sent me up when her name was called and I’d had myeye on a copy of Big Points, the game with some Tutankahmun-like qualities thatShel and I had enjoyed.  It wasplaced on the tables late, and I think people hadn’t seen it when they perusedthe games.  Also (and a bigsurprise) it was placed on the 2 for 1 table, meaning you got two games off thetable at the time of your pick. Well, I took that and an old copy of Reiner Knizia’s Mole Hill (a cute2-player which I think is out of print). I would have been completely satisfied with my choices if they stoppedthere….

But we each got a second pick – running back through thenames called in reverse.  I snaggeda copy of Fischmarkt (haven’t played it, but Rick Thornquist says he enjoyed itlast year when it was a new Essen release).  It’s a Clementoni and hasn’t made it into an English version(I think).  Finally, for my lastpick I found a used copy of In The Shadow of the Emperor.

Scott Alden was able to get his desired copy of the Japaneseversion of Loopin’ Louie.  He’sright, the box is quite cool and the stickers are different.  No, I’m not feeling the need to seek outthis version too!

Other memorable prize table items: Someone had created Femoclay animals for Agricola, there were coasters for glasses with meeples oneach, a copy of We The People, a copy of Agricola delivered as soon as Zev haspublished it, etc.  BTW, we broughta shrink-wrapped copy of Thebes, a copy of Kunst Stucke, and a copy of JKLM’sScottish Whisky Race (all of which were taken on the first pass through thenames).

One final trip to Denise’s for ice cream was all we had timefor (Shelley hadn’t been yet).  Ienjoyed a cup of White Gold (butterscotch ice cream with cinnamon/caramelswirls) and Chocolate Peanut Butter. Then it was back to the room to pack for travel.

A fun Gathering overall.  I enjoyed the games, the people, and the blogging andpodcasting.  In fact, except forthe great time had with friends new and old, I’d say I enjoyed the podcastingand blogging more that the games at times.  Maybe I’m getting old, grumpy, and set in my ways, but Ijust wasn’t impressed by many of the new crop of Nuremburg games thisyear.  Maybe the companies aresaving more games for the Essen push and publicity, but when the best game ofthe convention is a prototype that’s now scheduled for an Essen 2008 releasefrom Eggertspiele, I may need to just fall back on familiar titles.  

Played: 472 | Download | Duration: 00:22:52

The Gathering – Saturday Report

Shelley’s here (less time to blog), games played again, somenew stuff to try….

Shelley arrived Thursday night, so blogging hasn’t happenedas much.  That said, I’m getting abit burnt out on games, so breaks are needed.

We headed to Jeni’s to try the other gourmet place inColumbus and enjoyed some more good treats – Chocolate with cinnamon andcayenne pepper, along with Bourbon Butter Pecan.  Worth the trip.

On to the games:

(Repeats first)

Aquaretto:

I’ve enjoyed my subsequent playings of this one more than myfirst playing, and have now tried it with 3, 4 & 5.  Each number plays a bit differently,but I’m happier with this version of the game over Zooloretto primarily becausethe money comes into play MUCH more often.  Since you’re getting a coin every time you create a multipleof 3 of an animal type, you just get more $$ and therefore there’s moreinteraction between player boards (a good thing, IMO).  I also like the addition of the workers(received when you get multiples of 5 of an animal type).  They give you options for bonuses whichthen give you paths to follow for tile acquisition.

Hanging Gardens:

Meh…It’s fine, but just doesn’t do much for me.  Earl compared it to Alhambra, which Ican see to some extent, though I’d probably play Alhambra with 3 before gettingthis out again – and I haven’t played Alhambra in a couple of years.  Shel’s not good with the spatialarrangement of the cards, so she didn’t like it AT ALL.

Metropolys:

This one continues to be a maybe for me as well.  I like that it plays quickly and thebidding mechanism works nicely.  Ijust think that the secret bonus cards are wildly different in terms of whetherthey can be achieved or not and that can sour one on the game.

Ticket to Ride: Nordic Countries:

I definitely like this one, especially now that we’ve hadclarification that Alan Moon himself was teaching us the game wrong.  You DO use the double routes in a3-player game.  Shelley did quitewell at this one, but Lincoln and I were actually more in the running than shethought, since she was able to complete 8 SHORT tickets, while I completed 5longer ones, with one that I couldn’t make.  Tight board and fun.

NEW Stuff:

Golden Compass (NOT the movie tie-in cover, but the one thatmatches the book):

This one’s a race game that I enjoyed VERY much.  You each are attempting to get to theNorth Pole, but the spots onto which you move your pawn give you neededexperience points.  These allow youto fill goals that you obtain (3 in all) that must be achieved before you canwin.  The movement is one of themost interesting aspects.  At firstyou can use any cards (valued 1-3) to move.  However, all of the movement cards (Lyra cards, for those ofyou who have read the novel) are color-coated to the players’ colors.  Once you move past the Fens space, youcan only play movement cards in the colors of the players who are IN FRONT ofyou.   If you are in the lead,then you can only play YOUR OWN colors. Neat mechanism.

Drawing cards is also unique.  Turn order is established at the beginning of each round fromlast to first.  In a 4-player gamethe person in last place draws 4 cards, the next person 3, and so on to thelead drawing 1.  Then movementoccurs in clockwise fashion from the person in last.  SO, that means you have to figure out which colored cardsyou want to draw for movement (colors are in different piles).

Landing in destination spots gets you experience OR Pancards that give you either 1 movement OR a power.  Achieving a goal gives you a helper card for progressingalong the path.

Shelley wasn’t a big fan, but I really enjoyed playing thisone.

Ubongo das Duell

Yep, another Ubongo! This one’s a 2-player game where each player has a bunch of pieces andyou roll a d-20 to determine which 4 or 5 pieces to use.  Then you aren’t going against a timer,but instead going against each other. First one to win 5 head-to-head contests wins.  Cute and you could just play this with the sets of Ubongo orExtrem that you already have.  BUT,this one’s certainly travel-sized (the boards are fairly thin paper board.

Anno 1701 The Boardgame:

Scott Nicholson was kind enough to teach this one to Shelleyand me.  I’d wanted to try it andScott said a tweak (eliminate the random cards when one is sailing) would makethe game go faster.  It certainlyflew by in about an hour with rules teach!

The main board has slots for various tiles that you discoverby sailing.  These provideresources, gold, or items on three track that give VPs.  BTW, you’re trying to get rid of  5 “points” over the course of thegame.  You also have a personalboard that generates resources and tiles to build that lead to other tiles andVP removal spots.

Money is key in the game, as if you do not have at least 3,your people are in chaos, your 6 & 8 items don’t produce, and you can’t winno matter what.

This one’s good, but certainly not a must have, and givenMayfair’s prices, it’s not one I think I’d ever buy.

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