Session Report for Friday 10/5/2007

13 gamers 10 games

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Liar's Dice

(Joanne, Gina, August, Stephanie)

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Incan Gold

(August, Clint, Russ, Robert, Bart, Marshall)

I think I'm ending my infatuation with Incan Gold. It was a fun filler at first but it's got a horrible runaway leader problem. Once someone gets out to a lead (which will almost certainly happen in the first round) that person just has to leave every expedition at a reasonable time to ensure the win. The rest of the players can't catch up because they ALL need to catch up, which means they ALL have to stay in the expedition, which prevents any one of them from catching up. It's a catch 22. The game mainly seems good for handling lots of people quickly, and there's something to be said for that. But I don't think it's a great game on its own merits.

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10 Days in Asia

(John, Joanne, Gina, Kevin L.)

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Railroad Tycoon

(Marshall, Kevin, John, Russ, Joanne, Gina)

I was checking my games played on BGG and noticed it has been a year since I last played Railroad Tycoon. A year really? It sure doesn't feel like it, I wonder how that happened. Anyway, this was a game with four new players, only Kevin and I had played before.

I think everyone did really well for their first game. The way this game played out really highlights the fact that RRT is really about the long deliveries. The game tries to distract you with lots of enticing Major Lines and First Delivery Bonuses, but in the end it's really about who delivers the most the longest. In this game Gina did a great job connecting New York to Kansas City with a Western Link, which is worth 20 points. Along the way she also picked up bonuses for New York to Chicago and Boston to Toledo. That's about as much bonus as you can get in a game, but still it was only good enough for second compared to Kevin's surge in long deliveries at the end of the game.

The moral is deliver long, deliver often.

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Power Grid

(Bart, Robert, August, Clint, Greg)

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Cartagena

(Matt, Marshall, Kevin, Russ)

I finally found a strategy for Cartagena, and coincidentally (?) won my first game. My strategy was to move one pawn up and then back for two cards (if possible which it usually was) then move my furthest back pawn as far forward as possible. This strategy works pretty good because it keeps you filled with cards and prevents any of your pawns from falling behind. It's not a good idea to leave stragglers in this game as their ability to catch up is removed if they lose contact with the pack.

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Ra

(Greg, August, Kevin)

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War on Terror

Hey Bart, thanks for the session report. Feel free to write about any game here whenever you want to.

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10 Days in the USA

(August, Kevin)

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XiangQi^?

(August, Kevin)

-- MarshallPhilips - 05 Nov 2007
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