Every week at game night is good, but some are even better than others. And I have to say that this week was especially great, both in how much fun I had and in how well I performed. So, here I go…

Roll Through the Ages: The Bronze Age

Some of the crew had already gotten in a play or two of our Game of the Month! before I arrived, but Chip and Kenny were willing to join me for another game of Roll Through the Ages. I started off pretty well, managing to get a ton of workers in the first turn and building two more cities. Unfortunately, that meant that I had no food left over to feed them all on the next turn. When I rolled 4 disasters (an invasion) and no food, I found myself in a big hole.

As it turned out, though, everyone ended up with several disasters. And for me at least, my turns tended to be either feast or famine. Thankfully, my feasts were pretty significant, and through the use of Coinage and Quarrying, I managed to build up to seven cities, complete a couple of monuments, and finish out the Empire development as well to end the game. Chip didn’t fare so well, finishing just barely in positive points. Kenny… well, he did even worse.

Time: 26 minutes
Score: Me 16, Chip 4, Ken -3
Ratings: Me 8, Chip 8.5, Ken 7.5

I think that I like Roll Through the Ages even better with 3 players. While it does well as a 4-player game, it is more fun with less because there is less downtime. And with 3, you still have a good dose of the limited interaction present in the game. But otherwise, I’m still having a lot of fun with the game, and I’d easily say that it’s my favorite dice game at this point.

Traders of Carthage

I had heard good things about this game since it was released, and both Chip and Kenny were pretty excited to give it a try this week as well.  I chose a blue token from the start, while Kenny and Chip both took a red.  I managed to build a decent lead throughout the game by getting blue and piggybacking on red early on, and I thought that I had it all wrapped up.  Chip, however, built up a crazy amount of yellow goods and got a huge payout from them, but he still came up one point short in the final tally.

Time: 31 minutes
Score: Me 19, Chip 18, Ken 15
Ratings: Me 8, Chip 8, Ken 8

While there's not very much narrative for me to report about, we had a lot of fun playing Traders of Carthage.  There's a very interesting set of choices to make every round, and a lot more planning and "board control" issues to address than you'd expect in a quick card game.  I got one rule a little bit wrong, but we were definitely able to see how the game worked, and we all liked what we saw quite a bit.  I can definitely see Traders of Carthage becoming a regular filler with this group.

Castle Panic

A group was actually playing Castle Panic when we walked in, and there were a few of us who welcomed a chance to get in a play ourselves.  Alton, who normally detests co-op games with a passion, joined Chip, Kenny, and me to try and survive the assault on our castle.  Again, there's not much you can really say about the course of the game.  Monsters poured through random spots in the forest surrounding the castle, we fought them off time and again, and eventually we beat back the assault and totalled up our points.  I did well all game long, but Alton killed 7 points worth of monsters in one turn near the end of the game, and he ended up tying me, so we had to share the victory.

Time: 50 minutes
Score: Me 14, Alton 14, Chip 12, Ken 8
Ratings: Me 7, Alton 9, Chip 8, Ken 8

Castle Panic is a solid little semi-coop game, but it's definitely seeming to be a tad too easy.  As Chris mentioned in the comments from last Sunday, maybe we should try out the Overlord variant (where one person plays the attacking forces) next time.

Space Hulk

After finally playing the first mission for this on Sunday, I was very interested in getting another game under my belt while it was still fresh in my mind.  Kenny and I set up Mission II: Exterminate over two tables, and I took the role of the Space Marines this time.  I was pretty solid on their rules, but I still needed to clarify exactly how the different weapons worked (especially the autocannon) and the whole command point mechanic.

Setup for this mission is interesting, in that I and Kenny alternated placing my marines in different rooms (I guess they were all having some "alone time" when the Genestealers decided to pay a visit).  Kenny then got to start bringing in 2 blips a turn from either end of the map.  My objective was either to seal off both entrances or to survive and kill all of the aliens, since the blips aren't recycled in this scenario.  

At the start of the game, I grouped my soldiers into two groups: the autocannon and one other "regular" to face "down" at one exit, and the Sergeant (who had no ranged weapons) and two others to face the entrance to the "right".  Once they were in place, turns went quickly as Kenny built up his force to attack and I waited patiently for the assault.  In the lower part of the board, his aliens made a dash across the corridor to try and open the door to outflank me.  But the cannon spewed fire and death, cutting them all down before they could lay a claw on the handicapped-accessible lever.  Up at the top, the soldier covering the lateral hallway had a couple of weapon jams, but I was able to recover quickly enough to push them back before I was overwhelmed.

The next move was made when my autocannon had to be reloaded.  Genestealers poured forth and managed to cut down the soldier standing next to the cannonier.  But just as their movement brought them face-to-face with the barrel of that weapon, it again sprung to life and finished them off. 

At the other spot, my sergeant took advantage of a particularly good command point pull to move forward into the next room and engage an alien there.  After smashing it to bits, he backed off into the corner, protected by crossfire from another soldier.  Unfortunately, that soldier's bolter jammed when the genestealers came again, and my sergeant fell with a whimper.  Kenny focused all of his efforts on this position, and soon it was overrun.


The Autocannon Marine and Sergeant fell their targets...


but the amassing horde was too much.
So then it all came down to my lone soldier armed with his autocannon and 7 remaining shots.  Six genestealers still survived, but I had time to place the Space Marine exactly where I wanted him.  As they began to rush, one after another fell, but some of my shots missed their mark.  At the end of their phase, I was out of ammo and two aliens remained, lurking just outside the door.  Saying a prayer to the Emperor, the Marine advanced to the door wielding the white-hot barrel of his gun as his only defense against the invaders, and I placed him on Guard.


The first genestealer came... and I rolled a six to finish it off!  Then came the second, and on its first roll Kenny got a six.  I knew I was doomed, but rolled anyway, figuring that I always had the re-roll from being on guard.  But the re-roll wasn't needed, because I also rolled a six to fend off the beast!  But it had lots of actions left, and came at him again.  This time, the gods remained faithful to my Space Marine when I rolled, for the third time straight, another six to destroy it as well and win the game! 

Time: 85 minutes
Score: Me - WIN, Ken - LOSE
Ratings: Me 8, Ken ?

Again, I had a really incredible time playing Space Hulk.  We were both really excited and standing for most of the game.  And while the dice were clearly with me at the end, it actually went back and forth quite a bit throughout the game.  I think that I did a pretty good job of picking out defensible positions early, and didn't make too many blunders tactically throughout the rest of the game.  Kenny realized that he should have kept a little more pressure on the lower position near to the end, but it was obviously an incredibly close game as it was. 

I know that the missions get larger and longer as it goes, but I'm definitely up for playing through more of them with Kenny (or someone else) every so often at game night (or other times).

Other Games Played

Archaeology: The Card Game
Time: ?
Score: Chip 62, Brad 55, Alton 55, Chris 51
Ratings: Chip 8.5, Brad 7.5, Alton 8.5, Chris 7

Bang!
Time: ?
Game 1: James (Sheriff) & Chip (Deputy) - WIN;  Alton, Chris, & Jim (Outlaws) and Brad (Renegade) - LOSE
Game 2: Chip (Renegade) - WIN;  Alton (Sheriff); James (Deputy); Brad, Chris & Jim (Outlaws) - LOSE
Ratings: ?
Yes, Chip actually won as the Renegade!  Kenny had promissed a bottle of whisky to the first person to do that (mainly because he didn't think it was possible), so we'll see if payment comes next time...

Castle Panic
Time: 32 minutes
Score: James 15, Alton 14, Mark 14, Chris E 3, Chris 3
Ratings: James 9, Alton 8, Mark 8, Chris E 8, Chris 9

Catan Germany
Time: 50 minutes
Score: James 10, Alton 8, Chris 8, Chris E 6
Ratings: James 9, Alton 9, Chris 8, Chris E 10

Escalation!
Time: ? (5 hands)
Score: Mark 48, Chris 59, James 70, Brad 93
Ratings: Mark 7.5, Chris 8, James 6, Brad 6

Race for the Galaxy
Time: ?
Score: Mark - 1 win, James - 1 win
Ratings: Mark 10, James 10

Roll Through the Ages
Time: 31, 24, and ? minutes
Game 1: Chris 38, James 29, Chris E 25
Game 2: James 28, Chris I 15, Chris E 8
Game 3: Cory 28, Jim 27, Mark 27
Ratings: Chris 8.5, James 9, Chris E 9, Cory 8, Jim 7.5, Mark 8

The Stars Are Right
Time: 59 minutes
Score: Jim 10, Chris 8, Jen 7, Chris A 3
Ratings: Jim 8, Chris 7, Jen 7.5, Chris A ?