Robo Traders of the Nexus Catacombs
For whatever reason, I've been sort of procrastinating about this report. I've been busy at work (and as always, at home), so I've just been vegging out on YouTube or somewhere else when I have some time online rather than writing. But anyway, here we go with the continuing adventurers of GamerChris and the Hypermind Boardgamers!
Traders of Carthage [GeekDo]
Chip had played ToC before, and when he asked about it, Alton jumped into the game as well. I managed to put together a huge yellow delivery early on that scored me 8 points (partly because I chose yellow as my starting trade token), and even though Alton got an 8-pointer later in the game, I managed to keep at least some distance between us. In the end, I took the win in what was still a pretty close game.Time: 31 minutes
Score: Me 21, Alton* 17, Chip 15
Ratings: Me 8, Alton 7, Chip 8
I think that what really impresses me most about Traders of Carthage is just how efficient and integrated the game is. In a lot of ways, it reminds me of China (even though the games are completely different in their mechanics) because of how all the different elements are dependent on each other. Even though the turns themselves are very simple, there are always a wealth of things that you need to consider in what you choose to do. It's just a great little game.
Nexus Ops [GeekDo]
After the voluminous number of comments from last week, rife with lots of Nexus-Ops-related trash talk, we had to get Alton, Britt, and myself together this week. As we started, I managed to spread out fastest and claimed control of the monolith for 2 or 3 turns. Alton and I attacked each other pretty aggressively, while Chip (having the benefit of the most ample rubium mines) sat back and built up his forces. Britt and I mixed it up a little on our border as well, but he got pretty distracted by Chip's slow but steady growth.
Alton stored up rubium from turn to turn rather than spending it each turn, so there were turns when he had almost no units on the board. On one such turn, I used a Forced March card on one of my units to get it onto his 3-rubium home space and won a battle with his lone human there, then playing a 3-point Secret Mission card to take me up to 9 points. In what turned out to be the last round, I used an Energize card to make an alpha strike on one of Chip's liquifungus forest spaces, and if I won, I would have won the game. Unfortunately, the dice weren't with me and I couldn't eliminate all of his forces. So on Alton's next turn, he made another huge bundle of units and used his clutch of energize cards to move his new Rubium Dragon and other units where they needed to go to win a couple of battles and score the 4 points he needed to win the game... again.
Britt, however, apparently needed a little-girl-pansy-alliance with someone else, because he didn't do very well.
Time: 66 minutes
Score: Alton 12, Me 10, Chip 7, Britt 7
Ratings: Alton 7.5, Me 7, Chip 7, Britt 7
You know, Nexus Ops isn't a really what you'd call a "great" game. But it's a solid design, and the theme and atmosphere it fosters is pretty awesome. And more than anything else, it's a lot of fun. Especially when you have experienced players that can finish in about an hour, it's a great way to scratch that "roll-a-bucket-o'-dice and kick-yer-buddy's-teeth-in" itch. I may not play it for a while after this month is over, but it's definitely keeping me entertained in its reign as Game of the Month!
RoboRall-E [GeekDo]
I had been looking at my copy of RobyRally for the last couple of weeks and thinking about bringing it to game night. So when Chris mentioned it as well this week, I took it as a sign that it's time had come again. Chris, however, has totally pimped out his copy with these cool Wall-E miniatures (hence the "RoboRall-E" title above), so it was even an extra-special play of the game invoving a total of seven players! We know, of course, that RobyRally can drag on at times, so Chris used a simple, 1-board arena with 3 flags that we had to tag in order.
In the random assignment of start positions, I got a little screwed by being on the edge as far away from the first flag as I could be. I took this too as a sign, though, and decided to keep to the edge and avoid the maelstrom of robot-on-robot melee action as much as I could. Britt, however, didn't fare as well on his side of the board, and was pushed off the edge of the board (thereby losing his first life) on the third action of the very first turn.
Somehow or other, Chris (using his preternatural ability with the game) emerged from the scrum first and made it to flag #1 first. As he was tagging #2, I completed my end-around and got to the first one as well. While he was trying to get back around to #3, I met him in the middle, and the result was him crashing into me and taking us both off into a pit. While others struggled to catch up with us (some of which just seemed to be spinning in place), I decided to try a different approach, again zagging when the obvious path was to zig. Unfortunately, and despite two or three other robots being close to him, Chris managed to program the perfect moves to slide right into the third flag and win the game.
Time: 71 minutes
Score: Chris 3, Me 1; Everybody else (Britt*, Chip, Brad*, James & Keith*) - 0
Ratings: Chris 7.5, Me 7, Britt 6, Chip 7, Brad 7, James 7, Keith 7
RobyRally is incredibly chaotic and can be made or ruined by the luck of the cards, but it's always a freaking barrel of monkeys! I really need to play it more often, just for the silly fun of watching everyone's plans go to hell in a handbasket each turn, if nothing else.
My robot tagging the first flag, while Chris' (Eve, seen to the left) was on the second... and the whole robot-runnin' gang!
A typical turn's programming for both Britt and Chip (especially late in the game)
Catacombs [GeekDo]
Britt and a few others wanted to pull out Catacombs next, and I offered to let Britt be the Overseer for a change. He chose the Gorgon (who is probably my favorite Catacomb Lord), I grabbed up the Wizard, Brad took the Thief, Brett played the Barbarian, and Keith assumed the role of the Elf. One of the reasons that I like the Gorgon so much is that her wandering monster is the Skeletal Archer, which I think is an incredible unit for being worth just 100 gold. In the first room, while the new players in the group were still figuring out the game, they did some decent damage to us. But then we started working together better and mowed through the second room with little trouble. At the merchant, we got the Cloak of Invisibility/Poisoned Knife combo for the thief, as well as the throwing axe for the Barbarian and the Ranger thingy that lets him make both a melee and a ranged attack.
On the strength of our purchases and growing skill, we plowed through the next two rooms pretty easily, and then brought most of us back near full health at the healer. So going into the second-to-last room, things looked really good for us. The biggest trouble in this room was a group of three Ghouls, which can each stun a character on a melee hit. Just to be safe, I teleported the Barbarian into the midst of the monsters, and he took out two of the ghouls on the first turn. He was therefore incapacitated, of course, but we only had some archers and one more ghoul to take care of.
On the next turn, Brad de-cloaked his Thief right next to the ghoul and just had to make a simple, half-inch flick to kill it and basically clear the room. But that plan didn't exactly work out. For whatever reason, be it making his attack too quickly or just having a massive stroke of stupidity, Brad proceeded to line up his shot and flick the thief directly into the Elf's freaking disc, which was sitting right next to the ghoul. I was dumbfounded, and apparently struck stupid as well, because instead of just taking cover or using a ranged attack to try and damage the ghoul, I made a melee attack and flicked my Wizard disc right up there next to it. This set Britt up to make a flick with the Ghoul that hit both the Thief and the Wizard, incapacitating the last two active heroes and winning the game.
Just for fun, we played out the last room, with each of the hero characters losing half the health they had left, and we wiped the dungeon floor with Britt's pittiful Gorgon. So, if not for stupidity in the extreme, we adventurers should have won the day. Unfortunately, stupidity is the one adversary that we could not overcome!
Time: 50 minutes
Score: Britt (Overseer/Gorgon) - Win; Heroes (Brad* - Thief, Brett - Barbarian, Keith* - Elf & Me - Wizard) - Lose
Ratings: Britt 7, Brad 7, Brett 7.5, Keith 7, Me 8
I don't need to say any more about Catacombs, just go read the review of it I just wrote.
Other Games Played
CarcassonneTime: ??
Score: Michelle 98, Ian 87, David 77, Drew 56
Ratings: Michelle 8, Ian 9, David 8, Drew 10
Castle Panic
Time: 40 minutes
Score: Invaders - Win; Defenders (Carol*, Drew*, Michelle, David* & Cristian*) - Lose
Ratings: ???
Dixit
Time: 36 minutes
Score: Michelle 31, Chris 28, Brad 24, Britt 22, Drew* 19, Carol* 17
Ratings: Michelle 9, Chris 9, Brad 9, Britt 8, Drew 8, Carol 8
Escalation
Time: ??
Score: Michelle 6, David 12, Drew* 37
Ratings: Michelle 8, David 7, Drew 6
Perry Rhodan
Time: 60 minutes
Score: Denise* 70, Matt* 60
Ratings: Denise 7.5, Matt ?
The Settlers of Catan
Time: 75 minutes
Score: Adam 10, David 9, Michelle 6, Drew 4
Ratings: Adam 9, David 10, Michelle 10, Drew 9
The Swarm
Time: 60 minutesScore: Robert* 123, Chris* 93, Brad* 92, Matt* 73
Ratings: Robert 9, Chris 8, Brad 7, Matt 8
Thunderstone
Time: 60 minutes
Score: Brett* 30, James 23, Adam 21
Ratings: Brett 8.5, James
, Adam 8.5Thurn and Taxis
Time: 40 minutes
Score: Chip 26, Matt 11, Alton 5
Ratings: Chip 8.5, Matt 8, Alton 8.5
* First play for that Person
Posted by Chris Norwood at 8/13/2010 5:19 PM 
Categories: Game of the month, Gaming Weblog, Hypermind BoardGamers
Tags: Nexus Ops Traders of Carthage
Categories: Game of the month, Gaming Weblog, Hypermind BoardGamers
Tags: Nexus Ops Traders of Carthage
Well the best of the “old women’s table” (Alton & Chris N.), now known as the MANLY MEN of Nexus Ops, met the very best of the “men’s table” as taunted by group member Britt; to get it on Nexus Ops style.
The old women left their “girlfriend alliance” at home as suggested by Britt; the now aggressive player looking for some vindication after losing his last game at the “men’s table” because of his aging and feeble mind and forgetting to play a card, of course every ready to pounce and win Chip stepped right in for the steal and won of that game. Anyway back to the present.
So with “no excuses and no alliances BS” off the lips of Britt; the “old women”, as Britt called Chris N. and I saddled up to do battle with the best of the “men’s table” and the game was on for anyone to win. Looks like the “men’s table” had a very bad night. Nuff said about that for now.
All and all the game was a really good game and could have been anyone’s to win.
BTW the current Top Five Players for the game of the Month Championship game for those interested are Chris N., Chip, Britt, Tom and I. Followed by Chris I., Shawn and Adam.
Maybe next Tuesday I can get into a game with Tom, Chris I., Shawn, Adam or Chip and let Chris N. see what he can do in a game without me getting in his way.
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Of course, getting Secret Mission cards that you could actually use helped you and Chris. Meanwhile, Chip and I were staring at unplayable SM cards. Add in our lousy dice rolls that left us stuck in combat w/o Energize cards, and you have a recipe for defeat.
BTW Alton, had I not instructed you about three easy battles that you could execute against Chris using your striders, you would have been without 3 VPs and looking at Chris as the winner.
So you're welcome.
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Well boo-frickin'-hoo.
I feel so bad for you and your bad cards and poor dice rolls. Do you need a tissue, or to have your bottom powdered?
I'm pretty sure that you and Kenny were the ones pushing for Nexus Ops to be GotM!, so suck it up and quit yer whining!
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Thanks! You were a great ally.
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You're welcome, friend.
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I'll play Nexus Ops again.
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Actually, no complaints from me about Nexus Ops, loser.
Hypermind needed a break from its euro rut. Nexus Ops fit the bill.
Now Game Night needs a 3+ hour game for its game of the month. One like that has never been chosen.
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Power Grid felt like it was 3+ hours...
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I didn't realize that Power Grid was 3 hours.
I played it once a year and a half ago. IIRC that game lasted about 90mins - 2 hours.
Hmmm...I was thinking along the lines of Struggle of Empires, Shogun (new version), etc. Of course, I will shortly depart game night again. I hope that this suggestion will be held until next May or June.
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Oops....just reread your post, Chris.
Ha ha.
PG does feel like a 3+ hour game.
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I'll third the "PG should count as a 3+ hour game" sentiment.
But let's see, you want something that we've never done before, 3+ hours... how about Monopoly?!!! It's an "American" game, so that should make you happy, Britt, right?
Seriously, though, you've got to realize that a weekday game night just isn't a good venue for a 3+ hour game to be played with any regularity. We've played an odd game of Fury of Dracula, Warrior Knights, and Struggle of Empires here and there, but it just wouldn't work for a Game of the Month!
I've said it in jest some before, but I think that it might actually work, however, to have a singular Game of the Month! that we actually play just once, but that would take all month long. Diplomacy (to which I'm actually still a virgin) would be the game that immediately comes to mind to do this way, but I suppose that there may be another game or two that would also fit the bill. Maybe you (Britt) could work up a big board that we could use next summer to get it done. I know that we could do it online, but for GotM!, I think that we should have at least one "real, live" game in the store. What do you think?
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Diplomacy would be very easy to do, especially if spread over the course of a month---90 mins - 2 hours per game night.
Getting 7 players for a full game and to be at every game night for a month would be the most difficult parts.
BTW my mention of a long game was not exclusive to "American" games.
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Forgot to say I like this idea of a month-long GoTM as well! If you let me claim 2 months I could probably run one two-player game of 1805: Seas of Glory over the course of those 8-9 nights!
Who's in?
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I don't believe you. I'm still waiting for that Thurn And Taxis game on Yucata.de.
But I'd be up for a month long game. Descent comes to mind.
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I'll throw in my two cents here and say I still think your idea of having a 'theme' instead of a singular game for the GotM would be a good idea too. There's a couple of ways to slice that apple:
-a loose theme, like the 'tropics/islands' theme you mentioned
-similar/identical mechanics: for example, "The Borg Collective" of BattleLore, Memoir '44 and C&C:Ancients
-maybe have a designer of the month?
What do you think?
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Designer... YES! Let's start with Martin Wallace.
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I'm hip to that! You still need to play his great game 'Waterloo!'
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I'm up for that. Wallace gets my vote too. I've not played many of his games.
Hey Kenny, Perikles is a Wallace game AND is a 3 hour or so one.
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I in NO WAY said that I thought a "theme" was a good idea for GotM!
GotM should always be a game, not a theme or a designer or anything else all weak and watered down like that.
We tried it once, and it pretty much bombed (we did "Zombie" games in October 2008). Instead of being something that people could look forward to and learn from and use to deepen their understanding of a game (which is the whole point of GotM), it was just something that they wanted to get over so that they could get on with the other games they wanted to play. We play a ton of different games all the time, and GotM is supposed to be at least one chance to play the same game over and over again so that you can go to the "next level" with understanding and strategy. There's no way you could ever do that playing a bunch of different Martin Wallace games one time each in a month.
The closest thing that I think works is if you have a series of what is essentially the same game. "Ticket to Ride" as a series worked, but that's because they're all basically the same game. "10 Days in the ..." would work as a series, because they all play the same (even though they wouldn't really be a good choice for GotM because they're too simple). The C&C series might work, but they each seem to play out with quite different strategies, so I'm not sure that it would be a positive thing to play each one only one time.
The closest thing I might would support as a "theme" would be for games that have already been GotM, but from way back before most of the current membership were around. Pick four games (T&E, Pillars of the Earth, Arkadia & Cuba, maybe) that would each be focused on for a week of the month, just to "catch up" some of the current regulars on where we've been.
We just don't need to forget that the Game of the Month! isn't just about "spotlighting" a game or trying to increase the number of people who buy it. It's about turning it into a game that we, collectively, understand and can bring back out with fond memories and a deeper level of strategy for a long time to come.
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What he said!
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Which is it?
"Alton wrote:
Designer... YES! Let's start with Martin Wallace. "
or
"Alton wrote:
What he said! "
?
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What Chris N. said... However, if we did do a designer month my vote would be MW games.
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Apologies. I thought you were the one who brought up the concept of a theme for GoTM when the discussion was floating around the store for the 'tropic' theme to go with your recently acquired copy of Tobago.
In any event, I'll just point out that like your apparent earlier experience with the 'zombie' theme, there have been more than one Games of the Month that I felt were more of a chore to play than something to look forward to, dive into, etc. I think when I realized that there was no real reason to make absolutely certain that I played the GoTM once a week, it became less of something to dread and more of something to evaluate on its own merits, just like every other game that makes it to the table.
Having said that, I do think it's important that you sort of elucidated your idea behind the whole point of the GoTM in this post, as it wasn't clear to me what exactly your goals with it were. You've touched on it a time or two in conversation, but this sort of explicit declaration of the point of GoTM is helpful for me, at least, in that it does two things:
1) helps me see what sort of criteria a proposed GoTM needs to meet, and
2) reinforces my desire for an alternative.
Now #2 there might sound combative, but it's not meant as such. It's more of a realization that the itch the GoTM process is scratching for some of the Hypermind crew is not the same itch I'm working on when I've been suggesting GoTM ideas lately.
Granted, some of you guys have (apparently negative) experiences with the themed concept. But I'm wanting to give it another shot - possibly this is because since I'm comparatively newer to the boardgame scene and to Boardgame Night in general. Some of you guys are wanting real in-depth study of one game at a time, which I also enjoy; however, I also like getting a bigger variety of games played. There's stuff that I've gotten to play once or twice that never seems to come back out, and maybe something like a 'theme for the month' concept can flush some of these games back out of the woodwork.
So don't think of this as me jumping the GoTM ship entirely, or declaring a revolution against it. But I am thinking, very seriously, about starting up something to supplement it. We'll see, and of course I want to hear what the rest of the group thinks about the idea. But for example, if regardless of whatever gets picked for the GoTM next month, I may run the earlier-suggested 'Borg Collective' idea up the flagpole. We'll see who salutes, I guess.
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Yeah, I just don't get this comment. We play a ton of different games pretty much all the time. We've got variety coming out of out butts. In fact, the whole GotM thing came out of the fact that, very early on, we realized we weren't playing much of anything more than once or twice. So we decided to pick one game a month that we would spend some time on and get familiar with.
At the same time, you're saying both that you want more variety and that you want to get some games back to the table again.
If you want more variety, well, come to game night and play all the tons of frickin' games that people bring each week. Heck, it used to be that almost only Chip and I brought in a lot of new games (and we still didn't play them more than a few times each), while we've got 5 or 10 people bringing them in now. If you want more variety, just look around and play more of the games that are already there.
If you want to get a game played more, then nominate it for GotM, and it'll see play every week for a month. That's what it's for. And, as you said, if a GotM doesn't float your boat, then play it a time or two and bow out of the rest of the month. No obligations for everyone to get into it, just that the group as a whole gets it to the table. And I, at least, try to look at the games we've chosen as GotM and keep it pretty balanced. Where some are quicker and easier, so that everyone will have more time to play other games throughout the evening, while others are longer and more complex, so that you can get more out of the experience. It's also why the 2+ hour games and 2-player games aren't such a good choice; they eat up too much time and space for our setting and venue.
But if you want to do something different, then do it. Play whatever the heck you want to play! That's what game night is all about.
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All I'm saying is that I'm glad we had this discussion, because it both clarifies for me what sorts of suggestions are useful for the GoTM process, and solidifies my wish to run the occasional parallel event rather than gum up the GoTM works with concepts that don't fit the goal of GoTM. Like the 40k theme night I brought up a while ago, or the 'Borg Collective' idea for a month, or something else along those lines. I feel like. Maybe it's the limitations of the text medium, but I feel like this has turned combative when it was not intended as such. We should talk about it a bit after game night, maybe.
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Chris and Kenny,
If I may interject, a series of games, Settlers of Catan, was chosen in the past. While each Catan game shares similar mechanics, each Catan game (standard, Rome, Germany, etc) is different.
Thus there is a precedent for selecting a series of games or games that revolve around a similar mechanic.
Kenny's suggestion for the Command and Colors games by Richard Borg is fantastic. Each game is unique, but shares common mechanics. Each C&C game can be played with 2, 4 or 8 players. Each game has about a 1 hour playtime and a short setup time (~15 mins).
What would not allow this suggestion for GoTM, Chris?
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Couple of points... If you check out the reports from March 2008, the "Settlers of Catan Series" actually just meant the base game with some expansions. It didn't include the Rome version or Germany (which may not have even been released back then), or anything more exotic than Cities & Knights.
And still, I'm not vehementally opposed to the C&C thing or anything like that. I really like BattleLore, and have had good experiences with C&C: Ancients and Memoir '44 as well. But dspite the "series" being a good idea or not, I still just don't know whether any of the games would be a good choice for GotM. Setup is a lot closer to 30 minutes (especially for the Epic/Overlord games), and play time (again, for the multiplayer versions) is more like 90 minutes. And in reality, despite variants for multiplayer, the games are meant for 2-players, so to play them exclusively in multiplayer form wouldn't really do the games themselves justice. And we clearly don't have near enough space for us all to divide up into pairs and each play a game of a C&C game. I love the idea and the games themselves, but just not every game is suited to be a GotM.
Still, though, if the group as a whole wanted to do this, then that's what we'll do. I'm just one vote. Admittedly, I may arguably be an influential vote in the process, but I go along with what everyone else wants to do.
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Kenny, I just don't know whether or not I'll even be able to look at you this week. I am so pissed off that I can barely see straight. How dare you contradict my rule over this group, and for that... you are banished!!!
This is the internet. It's like a rule that you have to be confrontational and insensitive. So why did you go and break down the fourth wall there and ask about our real feelings? And heck, I'm even a blogger, so taking strong stands and making inflammatory posts are practically part of the job description.
Seriously, though, I obviously have strong opinions about GotM; but I don't get to make all the decisions. You're free to suggest anything that you think is a good idea, and the group decides on what it wants to do each month.
But I still may need to beat you down after game night is over.... Just as long as you surrender your firearm first.
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I had a lot of fun with RoboRall-E and would like to try it again sometime. The line between chaos management and chaos victim is tantalizingly thin. I managed to emerge from the initial scrum unscathed and crossed the first flag right before Chris reached it. Unfortunately crossed is the operative word as with his gentle nudge I failed to stop on it and proceeded into the pit beyond. The game has a nice "just one more try" feel to it for me.
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LOL..The only reason I am even on the reserve for Game of the month players is because probably that group you have listed is the only ones that have played it the last 2 weeks...lol...I want to play this this week. I'll be there about 5PM...I know Chris N talked about going to B&N this week around 6:30. My only issue with playing Nexus Ops this week would be, I really can't stay much past 9PM, and for us to get in a game it would have to start probably no later than say 7:45ish...
But heck yeah...I'd love to play it with you Alton! Bring it on...and maybe we can make an alliance against Britt...lol...just kidding.
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I will not do any alliances in Nexus Ops Shawn with anyone; it just slows you down from winning the game.
In Nexus Ops it's every creature for themselves playing the cards life (the game) has dealt them to their best advantage.
JUST SAY NO TO ALLIANCES!
and kingmaking too.
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I just want to play some games. Please.
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If you come, you shall play.
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