When I got to game night on Tuesday, the assembled crew (including long-lost Graham) were already deep into a game of Toledo, our Game of the Month!  I therefore wandered around the store for a bit, bothering Denise about games she needs to get in, and ended up buying a fresh copy of the newly-reprinted Saboteur card game.

Saboteur

I read the rules, and after Chip claimed the win in Toledo, we pulled out Saboteur and gave it a try.  With 5 players, there were 4 Gold Digger cards and 2 Saboteurs, and in all three rounds, both Saboteurs were dealt out.  The first round was probably the best overall, filled with tons of mistrust and deviousness.  It didn't help that I was loyal but had a hand full of special (i.e. broken tools) cards.  So right from the get go, I made some guesses about who were the bad guys.  It didn't help, as we eventually watched the deck run dry and were unable to make it to the gold.  Chris and Chip were the Saboteurs, and each claimed enough gold to eventually win the game.

I was again loyal in round 2, and we managed to make it to the gold, giving Alton and me our only payout.  In the third round, I was a Saboteur, and had a great hand of dead-ends and other assorted mischief.  Unfortunately, we hadn't been as precise in setting the target cards exactly 7 card-lengths away, and I ended up waiting too long to reveal my true nature because I didn't count the distance myself.  So I sucked at it, while Chris and Chip tied for the win and Graham came in a close second with two wins as a gold digger.

Time: 28 minutes
Score: Chip 4, Chris 4, Graham 3, Alton 1, Me 1
Ratings: Chip 6, Chris 8, Graham 7.5, Alton 7, Me 7.5



Our three expeditions for gold!

Saboteur was pretty much what I expected it to be.  It was a good use of the traitor mechanic in an incredibly short but still interesting game.  The thing that worries me the most about it is the scoring, which seems a little clunky and obviously lacks granularity.  But I plan to bring it with me every so often because it seems like a nice filler.  

Race for the Galaxy

We then decided to pull out Race for the Galaxy for a rare mid-evening appearance (they usually play it a few times to start the night off before I even get there).  We played two games, both of which were incredibly close.  I used a military strategy both times, and in the first game I felt like I was humming along pretty well.  But in reality, I tied for last.  In the second play, I felt frustrated all game long, and ended up one action short of winning (if I had chosen to develop, I would have won).  Chris and Alton (who is nearing his 1000th play of Race) were the winners, not that I could tell you anything about their strategies.

Time: 24 and 21 minutes
Game 1: Chris 39, Graham 36, Alton 31, Chip 31, Me 31
Game 2: Alton 40, Me 38, Chip 37, Chris 35, Graham 33
Ratings: Chris 10, Alton 10, Me 9, Chip 8, Graham 8

Yeah, I'm definitely not enjoying the game as much as I used to.  Whether it's the dilution of the deck or the distraction of the alternative victory point goals, something is rubbing me the wrong way.  I haven't lowered my rating of it yet, but we'll have to see what I think of it with more plays of the expansions. 

Mission: Red Planet

Brad arrived just as we were finishing up Race, so we split into two groups.  While Alton, Graham, and Chris played Revolution!, Chip and I played Mission: Red Planet with Brad.  I was really wanting to try out some possible variants to fix the "Event Card Problem", which is the only weakness that I see in the game.  But Brad hadn't ever played before, so we went with the base rules.

My initial Bonus card was to occupy the 5 lower regions, and I took the Scientist on the first turn, unfortunately drawing a stupid Discovery card.  At some point, Brad drew a Discovery card as well with his Scientist, while Chip got another Bonus.  As we drew close to the first scoring on round 5, Brad was actually doing very well.  But I had started to dump astronauts into Mars, getting off a Travel Agent early (turn 3 I think) and then performing the Recruiter a couple of turns before both Brad and Chip, which let me get off another Travel Agent when they were playing their Recruiters.

On turn 8, just before the second scoring, I managed to get off a Secret Agent that let me fill one rocket and prematurely launch the other one that I had astronauts in, which was a pretty cool move to give me the advantage in a couple of areas.  Then, sometime in the last few turns, I played the Scientist again, this time getting another Bonus card that I was also able to complete (getting the most of the 2-value resource (Sylvanite).  And as usual, I held my Explorer action for the last turn, doing my best to position my astronauts to get my bonuses and score well.

As we did the final scoring, Chip came out with the most Ice and got the extra 9-point Terraforming bonus.  After tallying everything up, however, I came out one point ahead of Chip for the win!  Unfortunately, after re-counting, Chip discovered that he had missed a couple of points, and so I instead lost by one stinking point. 

Time: 33 minutes
Score: Chip 56, Me 55, Brad 38
Ratings: Chip 8.5, Me 8.5, Brad 8

Mission: Red Planet is just freaking fun!  And in 33 minutes, it's really hard to beat.  Again, I need to play it more often to try out some variants, but I just never get tired of its cool mix of role-selection chaos with area-majority maneuvering.  Turns move so fast, but they're always filled with tough choices and great interaction. It's definitely still on the way up in my estimation. 

Tribune: Primus Inter Pares

Speaking of games that are only getting better for me, Tribune was the next game to hit the table.  Graham had to head out, so we joined back together and pulled out this awesome game.  Having five players, we decided to go with the Quod Erat Demonstrandum victory card, which only requires 3 victory conditions, but has an obligatory Tribune. 

Things got started, and I made my first move in taking control of the Plebians.  I guess that my initial thought was to try for both the Legates and the Patricians as well to get the Tribune, but I never had the chance to get the cards I needed.  Instead, I saw the opportunity to take control of the Senators on turn 2, getting my Scroll.  I was able to pick up a couple of Vestal Virgin cards that round, so I went all out with the Chariot auction, winning it by one denarius over Chip (who had bid everything he had) and covering up the Senators.  I then took control of the Vestal Virgins on turn 3 and got the first Tribune of the game.

At the time, the Tribune was the only victory condition I had.  For some reason, I was thinking that I needed to get 4 to win (which is what was required last week), so I was working really hard to go after another faction control marker, the eternal favor of the gods, and then 30 denarii.  On my first action, I went to the Pantheon and saw that I would need a Legate card to get the eternal favor of the gods (which, of course, was the only faction that I didn't have any cards from).  Chris had already claimed one of the two Legate cards on the board by then, and he took the other one on his next action.  So, confident that someone would take my Virgins from me, I spent two of my actions trying for the face-down cards at the Atrium Auctionorum and Catacombs, and the other to claim the Gladiators for my 4th control marker.  Of course, no Legate cards were to be found in either area, and I was unable to get the eternal favor of the gods.

So as we came to the resolution and faction powers phases of round 4, I thought I would have get through another round before I could have the chance to win.  But by some stroke of luck, no one else claimed the Vestal Virgins, I got the temporary favor of the gods, and someone else reminded me that I only needed 3 (not 4) conditions to win.  "Veni, vidi, vici!" I said.


That's my stuff!
Time: 36 minutes
Score: Me 3, Alton 2, Brad 1, Chris 1, Chip 0
Ratings: Me 9, Alton 9, Brad 8, Chris 8.5, Chip 8.5

While Tribune is still a truly great game, none of us were very thrilled by this particular victory card.  The obligatory Tribune with a total of only 3 required victory conditions in a 5-player game makes it pretty much a "first to get the Tribune wins" situation.  In fact, I think that consensus was for us to try out the victory point variant next time we play... which I hope will be soon.

FITS

It was late, but some of us still weren't ready to call it a night.  Alton, Chip, and I convinced Denise to join us for a last game of FITS before closing up shop.  She hadn't played before, but that only takes about 2.3 seconds.  As we got started, it was obvious that I wasn't going to do so hot this time around.  Chip was the only one in positive scoring land after round 1, with Alton and Denise even at 0 and me in the rear at -3.  Denise had a really great round 2, but Chip managed to stay a few point ahead of her.  Alton got on the board at 2 points, and I was right behind at 1.

I actually "won" round 3, by scoring 2 whole points.  Chip added a single point to his total, while Alton and Denise were scoreless.  And then, on the last round, Chip again had the highest total and took the game.

Time: 25 minutes
Score: Chip 19, Denise 11, Alton 6, Me 6
Ratings: Chip 8.5, Denise 8.5, Alton 8, Me 7 

FITS is definitely solid as an interesting abstract game, and Chris let me borrow his copy to see if Gwen might be interested in it.  We'll see...

Other Games Played

Backgammon
Time: 11 and 11 minutes
Game 1: Alton - WIN, Chris - Lose
Game 2: Chris - WIN, Graham - Lose
Ratings: Alton 10, Chris 7.5, Graham ?

FITS
Time: 21 minutes
Score: Chris 20, Graham 13, Alton 6
Ratings: Chris 7.5, Graham 8.5, Alton 8

Toledo
Time: 43 minutes
Score: Chip 20, Graham 16, Alton 13, Chris 11
Ratings: Chip 9, Graham 8, Alton 9, Chris 8.5

Revolution!
Time: 33 minutes
Score: Graham 215, Alton 162, Chris 109
Ratings: Graham 8.5, Alton 9, Chris 9

It's a little strange that Toledo ended up being the the longest game played throughout the evening.  I know that we're a fast-playing group overall, but that's a bit ridiculous.  Maybe we need to play something a little heavier next week.  But it was cool to have Graham back with us, and it sounds like he'll be there next week as well.  I can't wait!