Session Report for Saturday, 05/20/2006

7 Players, 9 Games

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Coloretto x2

(Danielle, Chris, Marshall, Scott, Drew)

MarshallPhilips –

The eternal question that has been bugging mankind for millennia is this: do you take a single wild card or wait until there are more cards on it?

When I first started playing Coloretto I would take the wildcard every time but then after I lost a couple of times doing this I decided that it might be better to wait because getting just one card (even if it is wild) is not that great. But then in this game those who took the wildcards did pretty well. Maybe the difference is in the number of players. With 5 players you’ll be hard pressed to get any color up to 5 or 6 cards so a wild card can make a bigger difference.

Oh well, I suppose the question will continue to haunt us.

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Traders of Genoa

(Danielle, Chris, Marshall, Scott, Drew)

MarshallPhilips -

Next up was Traders of Genoa, the game where anything and everything is up for sale. My favorite turn was when I used 3 special action cards (start anywhere, and 2 extra actions) to take three actions on my turn and deliver 2 large orders. After that I admit I thought I was cruising to victory but I must not have been paying much attention because in the end almost everyone had more money than I did. I must have been using my 100’s as 10’s as I was prone to do that game. Drew proved to be the shrewdest trader in Genoa (or the banker with the stickiest fingers)

Here’s a picture I took from our actual game (this was at the end during the final turn).

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Duell x2

(Kevin L., Karen)

MarshallPhilips -

Just as we had made it far enough into Traders that we couldn’t really stop Kevin L. and Karen showed up. They killed some time playing a couple of games of Duell (used to be called En Garde I believe). Fortunately Traders ended relatively quickly.

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Roborally

(Drew, Marshall, Danielle, Chris, Karen, Kevin L.)

MarshallPhilips-

I can understand the appeal of Roborally in a Rube Goldberg sort of way. It is funny to watch the robots run amok after they’re pushed off of their intended course. There’s an awful lot of chaos in the game though and the point where it becomes too much for me is when you start getting fewer and fewer cards due to damage until you eventually have to shut down.

Getting damaged is largely random and the cards you’re dealt are random to, so it’s not long before you’re unable to effectively control your robot (due to random circumstances). And all of this mostly affects the robots who happen to find themselves caught up in the pack. The leader usually has an obstacle free path which makes coming from behind especially difficult.

All of this is largely addressed by keeping the race short enough however.

Here’s an example of how not to set up your race (the board we played on is in the upper left)

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Blokus x2

(Danielle, Karen, Chirs)

MarshallPhilips –

Blockus with three? Aren’t there four corners in a square?

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Lord of the Rings

(Marshall, Drew, Kevin L.)

The fellowship of the Ring consisted of three intrepid hobbits: Frodo (drew), Samwise Gamgee (Kevin), and Meriadoc Took (Marshall). They began in Bag End in the East Farthing of the Shire, there they equipped themselves and Frodo made the fateful decision to delay their departure in order to increase their supplies. For his trouble his was accosted by dark riders and forced to discard some of those very supplies.

By and by the fellowship managed to depart Bag End and made their way overland to Rivendell. Here they were generously supplied by Master Elrond and felt that they now had the strength necessary to complete their journey. They reaffirmed the bonds of their fellowship and set out to confront the dangers on the road to Mt. Doom.

Their course first took them through the Mines of Moria.

After they figured out the devilishly clever password (Speak Friend and Enter) they were confronted by the Watcher in the Water. But neither the Watcher nor the careless Merry dropping a Stone on the Well were enough to delay their passage. They breezed through the mines with nary a Balrog in site.

It was towards the end of the mines when Frodo first put on the Ring. Being hidden from view advanced the fellowship considerably and Frodo suffered only minor corruption. Thus the fellowship emerged from the Mines strong and in good spirits.

Next they entered Lothlorien and faced the Test of Galadriel. Surviving the test proved easy however and the Lady Galadriel generously resupplied the fellowship. Ominously Lothlorien would prove to be their last friendly stop.

The road next took them through Helm’s Deep

Before arriving at Helm’s Deep the Ring was passed from Frodo to Merry. After umasking wormtounge the fellowship helped to route a company of orcs which had attacked the gate. The Riders of Rohan arrived just in time to break the siege and Merry put on the Ring to route the final attack of the orcs. Though Merry did suffer some corruption from his use of the Ring the fellowship was able to leave Helm’s Deep without major damage.

If they knew what was to come perhaps they would have stayed in Helm’s Deep. Shelob’s Lair.

Once again the Ring was passed. This time to Samwise who had retained most of his original strength. Their first encounter in the Lair was with the treacherous creature Gollum. Gollum attached himself to Merry and offered his services as a guide. Merry agreed to use Gollum and indeed he did guide them part way through the Lair but in the end he betrayed Merry and drove the hobbit further into the corrupting influence of Sauron.

The fellowship suffered through the Faces of the Dead and the Forbidden Pool. After they avoided the Search by the Nazgul they found that they could escape from the Lair without confronting Shelob. However, their corruption was such that an early exit would have been fatal to both Frodo and Merry and so they lingered as their wounds were healed. After the betrayal of Gollum Merry proved especially difficult to heal and finally Gandalf was called to see what he could do to help the little hobbit.

Thus healed by Gandalf the fellowship left Shelob’s Lair without confronting the ancient monster. A price was paid however, Merry was still only one step away from the ultimate darkness and now Frodo’s life was in peril. The fellowship had very little strength left even at the moment when it most needed to be strong.

Only one task remained. Mordor.

Gamely Sam was able to save Frodo and the fellowship regained some strength and began its trek up the slopes of Mt. Doom.

It wasn’t long however before Merry was faced with the ultimate choice. Sacrifice himself for the good of the company or put the ringbearer (Sam) in great peril. Merry chose the noble path and was consumed by Sauron in order to save Sam.

The strength of Frodo was sapped and he soon met a similar fate when a Nazgul attacked. He simply hadn’t the resources to continue the fight. And so Sam stood alone, weakened and abandoned with Sauron bearing down. He trudged on but halfway up the mountain he faced his final challenge, the Mouth of Sauron. His final act was to call upon Gandalf one more time but even the powerful wizard could not save him.

And so the fellowship failed… until next time.

about the game

The Lord of the Rings is a bit different from most games in that it’s a cooperative game. All of the players either win or lose together; they are on the same team playing against the mechanics of the game itself.

We tried to squeeze the game in at the end and were a bit rushed which was probably a mistake because you kind of have to take your time and get into the spirit of the game. At first it feels like a random affair where you draw tiles and play cards kind of mechanically but in reality the game is constantly offering up subtle decisions. Every bad event forced upon you can usually be mitigated, the question is whether to suffer the evil to save your resources for later or mitigate now and hope to survive later. It’s a game about efficiency, you need to play your cards for maximum effect, or you’ll never make it to the end.

When played in the right atmosphere it can get very tense as the fellowship makes it to Mordor and starts dropping off as the ring gets closer and closer to Mt. Doom.

There are two expansions available, the first: Friends and Foes adds another strategic layer to the game and is really good (and much more difficult). The second: Sauron lets one player take on the role of Sauron and actively play against the fellowship, I’ve yet to play this expansion. A third expansion: Battlefields is due out this year.

-- MarshallPhilips - 22 May 2006
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