Monday
Oct 7
Rick,
DaveO, JW, Tim Thomas, Paz
Finally
able meet up with my OCBGers after a fabulous trip to Italy.
It was a long three weeks, but incredible.
I also took the opportunity to get engaged, in San Marco square, no less.
Lisa found it in her heart to say yes, and I’m very happy.
Managed to track down a few toy stores in Italy, and picked up the
Italian Settlers by Kosmos. A nice souvenir, it is.
JW
made it down to OC for the evening, and it was great to see him.
Here’s to hoping he makes the trek again soon.
Down
to the gaming…
What
better way to get back into the swing of being home on my beloved US soil than
riding the rails of ‘ol Union Pacific.
One of the group staples, and one that Tim T has been wanting to cross
off his list. Players are seeking to control various train companies by taking
cards which are shares in the company. When a player has more shares than the
others, he scores points based on how big the company is. Over the course of the
game however, players must chose to either expand the companies or play stock
from their hand. But the real hook is that when the randomly determined scoring
rounds occur, only played stock counts, which makes for some delicious moments.
This game was shaping up to be really tight, but we’ll never know…the
game ended way prematurely, as the scoring cards came up extremely quick, and
still half the deck left when the last one was drawn.
This is the a shining example of the only thing “fractured” about UP.
On a side note, we played using the 'can only acquire UP stock by
trading' variant, which really evens things out…Tim T grabbed the title of
Rail Baron, just by a whistle-stop over DaveO.
The rest of us were disappointed, as we got it in the caboose.
Tim
112
DaveO
111
JW
80
Paz
70
Rick
47 (he swears the strategy was going to pay off)
You can always count on JW to provide a very unique gaming experience, as most of his collection of games are those that are more unconventional. I mean, the guy is a Junta Junkie. So, he brought Kremlin to the table, one of the more unique games we’ve played in OCBG. I see this one as, Citadels all juiced up.
A game of political intrigue set in the Soviet regime. Players secretly influence politicians, using them to expunge other players politicians to Siberia, promote their own, or wheel and deal. The player who successfully gets their controlled Party Chief to wave 3 times at the May Day parade wins the game. Ok so it has some blind allocation at the setup, but the dealmaking, backstabbing, etc are so much fun! I love the "aging" mechanic. I think the enjoyment primarily revolves around the purging and putting people under suspicion. The only downside is the large luck element in allocating initial points, but with a little more experience, that should make the game a bit more strategic. I liked this one far more than I thought I would, and got hammered on some fine wine in the Ruskie Tradition! Rick ended up as Party Chief, and marched on Red Square…
Next one up is Vabanque, one DaveO has been lugging around his gamebag for months, and one we never seem to get time to play. It’s a always a great night in Pazzy’s Place when Bruno Faidutti gets laid on my gaming table….
A set of mini-boards representing casino tables are arranged in a circle. Poker chips are placed on these tables, gradually accumulating as the game progresses. At the start of round one each player places four 5-value chips; at the start of round two they place three 10s; then two 20s and finally, at the start of round four they each place one 50. The total value of the chips on a table provides the basis for the payouts at that table.
In addition to the chips each player has a pawn and three cards. One of these cards is a 'raise' and increases the value of the table by the amount sitting on it; the second is a 'steal'; and the third is a bluff card, whose purpose is to help you mislead the other players as to where you have put the two cards that really matter.
Once
the chips have been placed, each player places their three cards face down next
to one or more of the tables. After the pawns have moved, all tables which have
at least one pawn on them pay out. And that is it. The winner is the player with
the most money after four rounds. This
is one hell of a bluffing game, and in typical Bruno fashion, just a damn good
time…you know something is good when OCBG plays it twice in one night, which
we did…Damn that Tim Thomas though…The guy just can’t fricking lose, and
what’s worse, it wasn’t even close….
GAME
1
Timmy
T
675,000
JW
510,000
DaveO
375,000
Chris
285,000
Rick
30,000 (good god almighty!!)
GAME
2
Timmy
T 560,000
Pazzy
440,000
DaveO
390,000
Rick
360,000
JW
200,000
It
was now nearing the one am hour, and DaveO and Rick hit the wall.
JW, Tim, and I decided on one more for the road, and it was Reiner
Knizia’s Quandary (description in earlier reports).
Again, this is one of my old favorites, and just adore the tactile feel
of this game. I vowed to beat Tim
Thomas this game, and I had the lead going into the third round, but damn him
anyway…he ended up on top by one point….FAAAAAAAAAUCKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!
TimmiT
89
Pazzy
88
Jdub
74
Excellent night of gaming made ever greater by JWs appearance. Hope he can make it more often. Next time, Illuminati! DTDB, Where are you???
Go Angels!