Last week was, as I've said on several occasions already, our 3rd Anniversary, so I made sure to get there at a reasonably early time.  I had at least two loads of stuff to get in from the car (including my laptop, the voting ballots, the custom dice, our year three report, and my carrom board in addition to 6 or 7 other games).  Thankfully, I was able to jump right into a game once that was all settled...

Ghost Stories  (with the White Moon expansion)

I 'm a huge fan of Ghost Stories, and I own the expansion, but while I've seen Chris play it with a few other people when I wasn't able to join in, this was my first chance to give it a try.  Things looked dire from the start, with lots of big-resistance haunters coming out in the first quarter or so of the deck.  We focused a lot on saving the villagers, probably too much, and by the end we ran out of steam.  The new Shapeshifter incarnation of Wu Feng finally came up, and we were unable to dispatch it in the two shots we had before we all lost our last Qi.  

Time: 61 Minutes
Score: Wu Feng (Shapeshifter) - WIN; Hopeless Taoists (Chris, Mark, and Me) - LOSE
Ratings: Chris 8, Mark 8, Me 8.5

I'm not going to make up my mind yet about the expansion.  Chris loves it because it gives the Taoists more to work with and seems to be a little easier than the standard game (since one of the most significant gripes about the game is its difficulty).  My first impressions are more that it seems to add in some complexity that may or may not be more fun.  It also seems to run a bit longer now, which is not really a good thing.  But I hope to give it several more tries both in groups and solo, and I'll get back to you then. 

Carrom

Chris and I then went over and I showed him the basics of Carrom.  I ended up winning, but just barely.  The game is so much about skill, and not having practiced in the last couple of weeks made it like I had never played before.  He seemed to have a pretty good time, though, and I'd love to have a more regular partner to play with.

Time: 30 Minutes
Score: Me - Win, Chris - Lose (1 man remaining)
Ratings: Me 7.5, Chris 7.5

Cosmic Encounter

There was some discussion in my 2009 Year in Review post about playing Cosmic Encounter, so I made sure to bring it along this week as well.  Chris (the CE expert of the group), Carol, Britt, Kenny, and I pulled out the pretty Fantasy Flight version (my copy, as opposed to Chris' Mayfair edition) and got down to business.  I jumped out to a bit of an early lead along with Carol, but she balked at pushing us both to 4 foreign bases when she had the chance.  Everyone then had the chance to catch up, and my advantage was lost. 

Soon, everyone except Kenny found ourselves knotted up together at 4 bases, and Britt almost made a brilliant move.   He played the Spiff, who are able to crash-land on a planet when they lose a battle by at least 10 or so (can't remember right now).  He attacked me, and all I had in my hand to defend with was either a really small card (a 5 or 6, I think) or a really big one (a 30).  Frankly, I didn't even remember his power at the time, so I plopped down my 30 and felt all smug about it.  Fortunately for all of us, Britt misinterpreted his power as well, and played a Negotiate card, thinking that it would mean he would certainly lose by more than the needed amount.  Of course, however, the Negotiate card made his power null and void in the battle, and so he lost the chance at solo victory.

Instead, everyone but Kenny ended up winning together when we all put a fifth base down as a part of the same attack.
   

Time: 50 Minutes
Score: Britt 5, Carol 5, Chris 5, Me 5, Ken 2
Ratings: Britt 9, Carol 9, Chris 10, Me 8, Ken 8.5

I really don't know why we don't play more of this game.  Even in a 4-way tie, we had a great time full of wheelin'-n'-dealin', cool card plays, and unfettered intimidation.  I can see how some people wouldn't like the game at all, but for us, it's a big-time hit, and I'm hoping that the release of the Cosmic Incursion expanision will help it see even more play soon.

Liar's Dice

Somewhere in here, we finialized the voting for our favorite games of the year and cut the cake.  In all the revelry, we decided that it would be very appropriate to play a game of Liar's Dice, which is a favorite of the group from our early days together.  I decided to be blantantly overconfident and intimidating, and had a hand in eliminating at least 4 or so people.  As it came down, though, a couple of ladies, Carol and Beth, seemed immune to my mind games.  I eventually got into Beth's head, though, and she too fell by the wayside.  And it looked like Carol would do the same when I whittled her down from 3 dice to 1, but in her pickle round, she made a bid I that I could neither call nor raise, and no matter of bluffing could help me. 

Time: 35 Minutes
Score: Carol 1st, Me 2nd, Beth 3rd, Britt 4th, Mark 5th, Ken 6th, Eliot 7th, Graham 8th
Ratings: Carol 9, Me 8, Beth 10, Britt 7, Mark 8.5, Ken 8.5, Eliot 7, Graham 8


Endeavor

We played a quick hand of Escalation! while waiting for the other group to finish up, and then got together a game of Endeavor to make sure that we didn't ignore the Game of the Month!  Even after my railing against slavery (the mechanic, not the institution... not that I support the institution or anything, but it's just that I didn't complain about it on this blog recently) last week, three of us decided that it might be beneficial (and hard to punish) in a 5-player game.  We felt a little bad about it, since it was the day after the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, but it is just a game, you know.

Anyway, I concentrated on shipping and occupation mainly, aided by the advanced buildings I could get from the slavery boost.  I felt like I was doing pretty well, but Kenny looked like he was in the lead because he put together like 6 or 7 cities in Europe and the Mediterranean.  Chip looked like he started slow with a pile of left-over dudes on his board, but then went into heavy-duty combat action later on and came on really strong.  Graham was quiet and his strategy was unobtrusive, and I really don't know what he was up to. 

Brad got a little slow start himself, and didn't seem to really find his strategy until it was pretty late in the game.  He almost screwed me up, though, by taking a 3-point card that I really needed.  Kenny even pointed it out to him and the whole rest of the table, mainly by accident, which may well have ruined our friendship if he had been able to capitalize on it.  Thankfully, Chip decided to attack one of his positions in that colony, reducing him below the 5 presence needed to draw the card, and I was able to pick it up anyway.

In the end, I rode the strength of buying a couple of Universities on the last two rounds to get the win!  Graham surged up into second place, but I don't know how he pulled it off.     

Time: 60 Minutes
Score: Me 55, Graham 52, Chip 50, Ken 48, Brad 47
Ratings: Me 8.5, Graham 7, Chip 8, Ken 9, Brad 8

I'm still liking Endeavor a lot.  In fact, I've already decided what my strategy will be this week, and I can't wait to see if it will work!

Unspeakable Words

It was pretty darn late by this time, but we still weren't quite ready to give up the ghost, so Kenny pulled out Unspeakable Words in an attempt to drive us all insane.  Graham played right along, losing all the first five sanity rolls he made and promptly came unhinged.  I followed suit soon thereafter, going insane when I tried to pronounce a made-up word using all the letters in my hand (which is a variant rule for players with only one remaining sanity).  Kenny then powered to yet another win using his preternatural abilty to form words from cards picturing Cthulhu mythos characters.  But in the end, the joke's on him, because if you're going to have a preternatural ability for anything, that one's gotta be a bummer in the grand scheme of things. 

Time: 22 Minutes
Score: Ken 102, Brad 77, Alton 76, Me 93 (and frickin' nuts!), Graham 60 (and certifiably insane)
Ratings: Ken 8.5, Brad 8, Alton 8, Me 7, Graham 7 

It's still one of the coolest word games around, even when you go insane.  And the oddest thing is how so many of the words seem oddly appropriate for the admittedly pasted-on theme...  

Game night's end always comes too early, but this was a particularly great evening.  It's hard to believe that we've been going for 3 years already, but I'm still just as excited about it now as I was at the start.  And I certainly hope that it's a huge part of my life for years and years to come! 

Other Games Played

Blue Moon City
Time: 36 minutes
Score: Brad 4, Chip 3, Alton 2, Chris 2
Ratings: Brad 8, Chip 8.5, Alton 8.5, Chris 8.5

Endeavor
Time: 91 minutes
Score: Ken 57, Brad 49, Carol 46, Britt 46, Chip 45
Ratings: Ken 8.5, Brad 8, Carol 8, Britt 8, Chip 8

Lord of the Fries
Time: ?
Score: Beth 121, Mark 116, Brad 66, Chip 14
Ratings: Beth 9, Mark 8.5, Brad 6, Chip 7

Race for the Galaxy
Time: ?
Score: Alton - 2 games, Steve - 1 game
Ratings: Alton 10, Steve 8

Roll Through the Ages
Time: 45 minutes
Score: Graham 29, Alton 28, Michelle 21, David 12
Ratings: Graham 8.5, Alton 9, Michelle 8, David 8

Settlers of Catan
Time: 62 minutes
Score: Graham 10, Michelle 6, David 5, Alton 5
Ratings: Graham 8.5, Michelle 10, David 9.5, Alton 10

Wasabi!
No report sheet