Still in the midst of a busy holiday season, it was very nice to get together at our last regular game night of the year and spend a little time with great friends and great games! 

I was actually able to get there a little early this week, but it didn’t help me much since the only other people present had just started a game of Ghost Stories with the new White Moon expansion. I watched them play and read the rules, and even ended up picking it up before the night was over. But despite the fact that it was even played once more in the evening, I still didn’t get a chance to play. It kinda sucked, especially since I probably like the game more than anyone else at the store, but I’ll try to make a point of getting it to the table soon, either with others or solo.

Tobago

Once that game was over and a few others arrived, I jumped at the chance to show them all my favorite new game, Tobago. Gwen and I had already played it 4 times in the last 3 days, and I actually played it two more times on this night.

In the first game, Chris, Kenny, and Steve joined me for the big treasure hunt. Although it was new, the game is very intuitive and easy to pick up on, so everyone was very competitive. In the end, Steve pulled off a massive (and somewhat illegal, as I’d find out shortly) turn to get the treasures he needed to win.

Later in the evening, I had the chance to play Tobago again with three other players. This time, however, I had a bit of an education about the game myself. Chip also got it for Christmas, and while he hadn’t had the chance to play it yet, he had read the rules and apparently picked up on a few items that I’d missed. I’m going to blame it on the fact that I actually read the rules a couple of months ago when I first put it on my wishlist, so when I tried to start teaching it, I did the “quick skim” while teaching. Thankfully, I feel relatively comfortable that I’ve got it down now.

One of our newer attendees , Michelle, edged me out for the win, making me finish in second yet again.

Time: 44 and 60 minutes
Game 1: Steve 28, Me 26, Chris 23, Ken 22
Game 2: Michelle 31, Me 27, Chip 18, Alton 6
Ratings: Steve 8, Michelle 8, Me 8.5, Chris 9, Chip 8.5, Ken 8, Alton 8

Tobago is such a unique and interesting little game! I’ve never seen anything much like it before, and I’m having a crap-ton of fun with it right now. It’s definitely been the biggest hit for me from Christmas, and Gwen thinks that it may be her favorite game… like, ever. With two of us owning it in the game group, I’m already wondering if it would make a good Game of the Month!

 
Kachina

If you’ll remember, I got this as one of my first Christmas presents of the season from my BGG Secret Santa. I still hadn’t played it, but a few of us took this opportunity to give it a try. Despite a few of us making a serious push at the end, Kenny took a lead early and kept it throughout. At least we think that he won, anyway, because the score track and markers for the game are completely atrocious, and it is entirely possible that something was mis-scored early on.

Time: 51 minutes
Score: Ken 66, Chris 64, Me 59, Steve 53
Ratings: Ken 7, Chris 6.5, Me 7, Steve 7


Kachina is a solid little abstract tile-laying game. I really like how the tiles all seem pretty well-balanced between their value and their powers. There are also lots of opportunities for clever plays, and you often have to weigh the benefit of taking the quick score versus setting yourself up for a bigger score later. Unfortunately, there is also a significant problem with analysis paralysis, and I sort of question how much fun potential the game actually has. As of right now, I think that it’s something that I’ll give a few more tries, especially a couple with just Gwen and me to see if it's better 2-player.

Pandemic (with On the Brink)

I had brought along Pandemic with hopes of playing with TomG, but a number of us wanted to face off against the world-ending diseases even though he couldn’t make it. We had five players, and decided to play with the Virulent Strain challenge using 5 Epidemic cards.

Things started off pretty well, but they definitely hit high gear when a special event card allowed Chris to trade in his Scientist role for the Dispatcher. Combining him with Brett’s Containment Specialist did a lot to control the board, while the rest of us worked more specifically on curing the diseases. Overall, we worked really well together, and managed to cure the last disease with just two player turns remaining.

Time: 36 minutes
Score: Brett (Containment Specialist), Chris (Dispatcher), Ken (Field Operative), Steve (Researcher), & Me (Operations Specialist) – WIN; Pandemic - LOSE
Ratings: Brett 8.5, Chris 8, Ken 9, Steve 9, Me 10

Escalation!

After playing my second game of Tobago, a handful of us played a hand of Escalation!

Time: 10 minutes
Score: Alton 30, Me 49, Michelle 59, Chip 65
Ratings: Alton 8, Me 7, Michelle 7.5, Chip 7

Liar's Dice

And then to finish off the evening, five of us pulled out a long-time favorite of the Hypermind BoardGamers, Liar’s Dice. Neither Josh nor Kenny had ever played before, but they were the two that survived to face me at the end of the game. In fact, at one point, I had 3 dice while each of them had only one apiece. But through a series of bad choices on my part and some preternatural guessing by Kenny, he ended up making the right calls and won!

Time: 25 minutes
Score: Kenny 1st, Me 2nd, Josh 3rd, Denise 4th, Alton 5th
Ratings: Kenny 8, Me 8, Josh 8, Denise 9, Alton 9

We pretty much burned out on Liar’s Dice back when the group was new, but I certainly hope that it is a game we can get back in the regular rotation in 2010. 

Other Games Played 

Ghost Stories (with White Moon)
Time: ?, 25, 47, and 57 minutes
Game 1: Chris - WIN (Score 50), Ghost Stories - LOSE
Game 2: Ghost Stories (Vampire Lord) - WIN, Chris & Josh - LOSE
Game 3: Chris & Josh - WIN, Ghost Stories (Hope Killer) - LOSE
Game 4: Ghost Stories (Forgotten Ones) - WIN; Chris, Josh, & Ken - LOSE
Ratings: Chris 8.5 (solo) and 8 (mutiplayer), Josh 8, Ken 7

Masons
Time: 33 minutes
Score: Mark 84, Beth 83, Josh 51
Ratings: Mark 7.5, Beth 6.5, Josh 6.5

Race for the Galaxy
Time: 60 minutes (for 2 games)
Game 1: Alton 84, James 51
Game 2: Alton 57, James 29
Ratings: Alton 10, James 10

Roll Through the Ages
Time: 45 minutes
Score: Alton 38, Ian 24, Chip 17, Michael 16
Ratings: Alton 8, Ian 8, Chip 8, Michael 8

Settlers of Catan
Time: ?
Game 1: Mark 10, Michelle 8, Beth 7, Josh 3
Game 2: Mark 11, Beth 8, Josh 7, Michelle 4
Ratings: Mark 8.5, Beth 9, Michelle 9, Josh 8.5

Witch's Brew
Time: 36 minutes
Score: Josh 24, Steve 18, Ken 15, Beth 14, Chris 12
Ratings: Josh 8, Steve 8, Ken 9, Beth 9, Chris 9