I had a great time at game night this week, but it was only partly because of boardgames.  As I mentioned in my last post, I was also involved in some RPG-related activity, which I won't go over again here.  But anyway, let's take a look at what I did play, and how they turned out...

Carson City

My good friends were waiting for me with Carson City all set up and ready as I walked in.  I sat right down, took my trusty green pieces, and got right to it.  They had decided to use the alternate "river" map (which, as you'd expect, has a river running through the middle of it).  So there were a few extra rules related to that, but nothing too different.

After last week, I had some ideas about what I wanted to try.  Chris' gun-totin' strategy worked pretty well, but my saloon/grocer action turned out pretty good for me as well.  So as the game got started, I decided to try and combine the two.  In initial setup and on turn 1, I made sure to reserve a few parcels of land near the town center that I could use later.  I took the Mercenary as my first role, and used it to win a duel against Chris over a Mine as well. 

In turn 2, I took the Captain and bought 3 extra cowboys.  I picked up a Saloon and claimed the house at the town center, and again used my extra men to fight off Chris for a Hotel.  At the end of the round, I owned a $20-income Saloon and still held onto the 3 extra cowboys for the extra firepower they gave.

On turn 3, I chose the Grocer and took the $4/VP, $2/gun, and three extra guns actions.  I doubled my Saloon income (to $40), had my Hotel and Mine money, and added in $18 extra for all my guns and cowboys.  After converting all the cash into VP, my score was up around 23 or so, well ahead of everyone else.  

Since I passed so early (by taking only 3 or 4 actions), I also had first choice of role in round 4, and again took the Grocer.  Unfortunately, Chip took the Sheriff, and used it on his first action to take the $5/VP space.  I could only hold $60 for the final $6/VP buy out, which was almost covered just by my own buildings.  So instead, I again took the 3 guns and 1VP/2 guns spaces, as well as buying a Prison for the extra guns it gives.  I also got a little aggressive and placed a few cowboys on Chip's and Alton's more lucrative buildings, both to push me up to my $60 limit and to knock them down a bit.

In the end, Chip made a good run for it through his more advantageous $5/VP conversion and owning a lot more parcels, but my bullying and having parcels next to the bridges we built helped to keep me ahead of him for the win.        

Time: 78 minutes
Score: Me 53, Chip 50, Alton 41, Chris 32
Ratings: Me 7.5, Chip 7, Alton 8, Chris 7

I don't really know whether this session helped or hurt my impression of Carson City.  On one hand, I was able to plan and execute a strategy that worked rather well.  I focused on certain aspects of the game and ignored others (indicating the possibility of multiple strategies), but others that tried different approaches were still competitive (which means that they were probably viable as well). 

But I also saw how firepower again dominated the game.  And frankly, I also saw how losing one duel in the first round (and another in the second) completely derailed any chance that Chris had at being competitive.  And in my winning strategy, I actually was less involved in the game than everyone else, since I passed so early in rounds 2 and 3, which made winning actually kinda boring.  And in thinking about the game more, I'm just not convinced that there really is a lot of strategic depth going on.  

I didn't change my rating yet, and there's still a couple of weeks left in the month to play around with it, but I'm a little less excited about the game than I was last week. 


Tribune: Primus Inter Pares (with the Expansion)

Kenny, Tom, and I did our Diaspora thing after Carson City, but were able to jump back in with the rest of the group at the end of the evening for a play of Tribune.  It was Tom's first time playing the game, and since the rest of the table definitely wanted to use the expansion, the rules explanation was exceedingly difficult to teach (let alone listen to and understand... poor Tom).  But Tribune is like that anyway, since so many of its actions and victory conditions are interdependent, and rarely does a player really get his head around what's happening in their first play.

But anyway, James volunteered to try out the Bruti faction, which let all 6 of us play.  I managed to pick up a Patron tile for freeing some slaves on turn 2, which then also let me claim the Favor of the Emperor tile that turn as well.  But on turn 3, I was just starting to build up to another victory condition while Kenny realized that he could put together 3 victory conditions in that turn alone to end the game and win.  He turned in two sets of slaves (Greeks for laurels and Nubian/German for a patron tile) and won the Vestal Virgins (for the temporary favor of the gods), to go along with his own previously-earned Favor of the Emperor.  It was pretty incredible, and ended the game after just 3 turns!     

Time: 52 minutes
Score: Ken 4, Alton 2, Chip 2, James 2, Me 2, Tom 0
Ratings: Ken 9, Alton 9, Chip 9, James 9, Me 9, Tom 7

In his blog, Gaming Ground, Matthew Chua recently made the criticism that he didn't particularly like Tribune because it is, at its heart, a race game with limited player interaction.  Specifically, it sounded like what bothered him most was how you seem to only be concerned with your own path to the finish line, rather than being able to survey and possibly influcence/limit what the other players are doing.  As I think about it, he makes a pretty fair point there... except for that fact that it doesn't bother me in the least. 

First of all, I like race games (good ones at least).  So I'm not bothered at all by the "get to the finish line first" mentality of Tribune.  Plus, you can also play using the Victory Point variant, which still has a variable end (based on how many faction markers you have), but there is a lot more choice in being able to pursue longer-investment but more valuable goals. 

And as he even alluded to, most worker-placement games tend to have limited interaction.  Of those that I've played, however, Tribune seems to be pretty high on the list of interaction.  Not only do you have the actual competition/timing interaction of placing your workers, but you also have the faction control/takeover aspect of the factions, a couple of auction opportunities, and a few other small tidbits of interaction going on in Tribune (such as Assassination and several of the new Bruti powers).  


The bigger issue is whether or not it would be a good thing to be able to see what your opponents are going to and try to block them somehow.  Personally, I think trying to do so would be rather impossible, especially with 5 opponents.  And as in many cases, it doesn't usually pay off (especially in a multiplayer game) to invest your energy in screwing with someone else rather than working on your own goals.  But again, there actually are several ways to screw with someone else in Tribune, if you care to figure out what they're going for and want to waste the energy to stop them.

But I know what he's saying, it's more that the atmosphere of the game encourages you to be "heads down" and focused only on your own strategy, which seems to leave him "dissatisfied".  So I'm not really arguing, I guess I'm just  pointing out that it's more a matter of taste than any real flaw in the game.

But that's enough talking from me today.  It was almost midnight when we finished up Tribune, and so unfortunately, thus ended another game night.  
 
Other Games Played

Blue Moon City
Time: 31 minutes
Score: Alton 4, Chris 3, Chip 2, James 2
Ratings: Alton 9, Chris 9, Chip 9, James 8

Catan: Germany
Time: 55 minutes
Score: David 12, Mark 9, Michelle 9
Ratings: David 9, Mark 8.5, Michelle 8.5

Claustrophobia
Time: 35 minutes
Score: Chris - Win, Mark - Lose
Ratings: Chris 8.5, Mark 8

Escalation!
Time: 30 minutes (multiple hands)
Score: Mark 67, Michelle 117, David 141
Ratings: Mark 7.5, Michelle 8, David 8

No Thanks!
Time: 40 minutes (4 hands)
Score: Chris 118, James 129, Alton 200, Chip 201
Ratings: Chris 8, James 9, Alton 8, Chip 7.5

Pandemic
Time: 35 minutes
Score: Pandemic - WIN; Humans (Ken, Tom, Mark & James) - LOSE
Ratings: Ken 9, Tom 9, James 8, Mark ?

Race for the Galaxy
Time: 21 minutes
Score: Alton 36, Chris 30, James 26, Chip 22
Ratings: Alton 10, Chris 10, James 10, Chip 8

Red Dragon Inn
Time: 32 minutes
Score: Michelle 18, David 0
Ratings: Michelle 7.5, David 7