Somewhere in the midst of game night this week, Sceadeau was heard to say, "I dominate with all my strategies," during his game of Egizia.  Well, in addition to being a perfect example of his staggering (and mostly justified) ego, it also came very, very close to describing my level of success throughout the evening. A level of success, I might add, which also included a decisive win even against Sceadeau himself!

Oh, and by the way, I appologize about the picture quality this week.  Due to Gwen coming to town to go with the me to a doctor visit for Corinne, I ended up not going home, and was therefore without my usual large stack o' games and fancy camera.  All images are therefore courtesy of my iPod...

Fresco [BGG]

Despite playing this once earlier in the evening, Sceadeau was excited enough about Fresco to play it once again with Keith and me.  The main thing that had him in such a titillated state was the inclusion of all three "expansions" that are included in the box along with the base game.  I had been thinking about a strategy I wanted to try out with just the base game, but was interested enough in the expansions to go along with him anyway.  Keith had never actually played before, so Sceadeau did the rules teach while I talked with Samantha (my 2-year-old ) on the phone, who was very upset that I hadn't come home with her.

I approached the game without much of a plan other than just to explore what the expansions did.  Sceadeau seemed to stick a little with a "build up for big stuff" later approach, which kept him last in points but first in choosing get-up times for most of the game.  I therefore sort of fell into the opposite approach, getting big points whenever I could and trading in sets of fresco tiles on three different occasions for the "bishop's request" tiles (which give paint as income in addition to money).  

As it turned out, Sceadeau made his move late in the game and grabbed early start times consistently, pushing me out of a few important tiles, but I still had enough options available to keep myself ahead and pull out the victory.  Keith, meanwhile, actually had a pretty good first game, but had some timing issues (which is the biggest part of the learning curve with Fresco), and set himself back too much to overcome. 

Time: 82 minutes
Score: Me 150, Sceadeau 134, Keith* 106
Ratings: Me 8, Sceadeau 9, Keith 8

I'd played Fresco a handful of times before (all with just the base game), and while I liked it, I was always a little underwhelmed by the experience.  However, with the inclusion of the expansions, Fresco really turns into a rather incredible, medium-weight gamer's game. 

I'm glad that it's Game of the Month! this month so that I can have lots of opportunity to explore it further, but the first thing that jumped out to me about the expansions was how much more important turn order/get-up time was.  Not only are you competing for first shot at completing fresco tiles (which was true with the base game), but now you've also got the special portriat cards and bishop's request tiles which have some significant play effects and are first-come, first-serve as well.  

The tertiary colors are also a pretty interesting commodity, because while there is a huge payout for completing fresco tiles using them, there is also a rather significant investment in effort to get them, and getting stuck with them after all the tiles have been taken can be pretty detrimental (again, something that Keith fell prey to in his first play).

I don't need to spend any more time talking about it now, though, since I'll hopefully be able to learn more and more about it all month long! 

Small World [BGG]

The options then presented by the group were either to play Egizia or Race for the Galaxy, and since I'm not crazy about either of those games, I asked Brad (who also seemed less than thrilled with the other options) if he wanted to join me in a game of Small World.  Actually, I think this may have been my first 2-player game with it, and I thought it played pretty well.

I started off with Dragon Master Tritons, then later switched to Forrest Sorcerers and ended with Alchemist Wizards.  Brad took Flying Ratmen, Pillaging Orcs (which are just wrong), Spirit Elves, and finished with Wealthy somethings.  I pretty consistently got a point or two more each round, and with his extra decline action (even with the Spirit power), I managed to hold the advantage and win.  

Time: 31 minutes
Score: Me 113, Brad 93
Ratings: Me 8, Brad 8

I really need to play Small World more often.  2-player feels a lot different than with more (more tit-for-tat/move-countermove, rather than the social game that it usually is), but it was still fun.

Ace of Aces: Flying Machines [BGG]

The other games were still winding down, so I offered to teach Brad about Ace of Aces.  We only played the basic game (6 life and no restrictions on moves), and it was close throughout.  In the end, I made a bold move that totally didn't pan out and instead dropped me right into his sights as he blew me out of the sky and gave me the only blemish on an otherwise perfect night. 

Time: 19 minutes
Score: Brad* 1, Me 0 (remaining life)
Ratings: Brad 8, Me 7


Factory Fun [BGG]

Despite having just ended its reign as Game of the Month! for February, I've only had one opportunity to play Factory Fun before now.  So I wasn't too disappointed when the remaining five of us chose it as our next game.

There's not a lot to really say about a particular play of Factory Fun, other than I only avoided taking a machine one time, and that I used a metric crap-ton of tubing to make my contraption work out.  I actually even managed to win on the strength of 55 bonus points for connecting outputs to inputs.

Time: 47 minutes
Score: Me 70, Brad 65, Keith 64, Kenny 62, Chip 49
Ratings: Me 7, Brad 8, Keith 6, Kenny 8, Chip 8

Factory Fun definitely came together for me a lot better this time around.  I don't know that this style of game will ever be my favorite, but I think that I could certainly enjoy it from time to time.


My game-winning factory!
Forbidden Island [BGG]

It was late, but some of us didn't want to give up the ghost quite yet.  Using the "Bone Island" alternate setup, Brad, Keith, Kenny and I made a run at it on normal difficulty.  We did exceptionally well, in fact, having three of the terasures by around the time the flood deck was reshuffled.  In the end, we were just waiting for the Helicopter lift to get the last of us to Fool's Landing and then another to get us home.

Time: 23 minutes
Score: Explorers (Brad, Keith, Kenny, & Me) - Win; Bone Island - Lose
Ratings: Brad 8, Keith 8, Kenny 8, Me 8

A $16 game that can play in 23 minutes and be that fun is just incredible.  It's still not quite Pandemic, but it does what it's supposed to do so well.


The last photograph taken during our expedition, and the last time that we would all be seen together again.  Even with the fame, fortune, and unbridled success brought to us by our discoveries, sometimes I long for the friendship and trust that we shared back then...

Other Games Played

Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer
Time: 31 minutes
Score: James 57, Chip 51, Chris 49, Shawn 47 
Ratings: James 10, Chip 7, Chris 10, Shawn 10

Egizia
Time: 65 minutes
Score: Sceadeau 111, Keith 96, Adam 84, Shawn 64
Ratings: Sceadeau 10, Keith 8.5, Adam 8, Shawn 8

Factory Fun
Time: 47 minutes
Score: Adam 75, Ken (expert board) 57, Michelle (expert board) 51, David 39
Ratings: Adam 8, Ken 8, Michelle 7.9, David 7

Fresco (+ all 3 basic expansions)
Time: 76 minutes
Score: Sceadeau 154, Chris 125, Shawn 104
Ratings: Sceadeau 9, Chris 8.5, Shawn 8.5

Julius Caesar
Time: 145 minutes
Score: Chip (Pompey) 11, Ken (Caesar) 3
Ratings: Chip 8, Ken 8.5

The King Commands
Time: 12 minutes
Score: James* 23, Shawn 23, Sceadeau* 21, Chip* 18, Chris* 11
Ratings: James 6, Shawn 6, Sceadeau 2, Chip 6, Chris 6

Race for the Galaxy (draft variant)
Time: 40 minutes
Score: Chris 84, James 79
Ratings: Chris 10, James 10

Through the Desert
Time: 40 minutes
Score: Shawn* 84, Chris 77, James 77, Adam* 49 
Ratings: Shawn 9, Chris 9, James 8, Adam 8.5

* First play for that Person