Gaming routine

Quiet on the posting front, and not much activity from me in the board gaming area lately. Thanks to some increase responsibilities as of late, and a decline in interest for some reason from my 9-year old (the first real decline since we started gaming when he was about 5 years old).

We broke out the Carrera slot cars also, which killed a couple of weekends.

There's a session planned for Saturday, which looks like an all-day affair... Kevin is asking about playing Twilight Imperium... now we're talking!

Railroaded at Northampton game night

Kevin and Marci hosted our 3rd Northampton game night last night. I arrived late, they had just finished a close game of St. Petersburg, Kevin winning by just 2-3 points over Dough. Kevin had 10 aristocrats, Doug had 8 in their four-player game with Caleb and Kim.

After a wonderful dinner, and some kidding around at Willie-Joe's expense (thanks Mike!), we got down to a 3 hour game of Railroad Tycoon, originally published by the defunct Eagle Games. Designed by the great Martin Wallace (Age of Steam, Struggle of Empires) this game ranks 19th on the geek, and is know for a huge board and great pieces.

Long story short, Caleb ran away with it, dominating in the Northeast. I built from NY to Boston, buy he controlled the NY to Philly to Baltimore/DC area, and was able to cheaply and steadily out-earn us all until his was buying level 5 rail upgrades for cash.

I was able to fulfill my secret objection (level 6 trains), and Doug racked up some great local bonuses. Kevin built junctures to some key routes and was carried along by his opponents needing the to finish longer lanes. Mike stayed in the Atlanta area.

Caleb won by what looking like 20 points ahead of the rest of us, who were clustered more tightly together. One of the key advantages he had was getting 4 moves in the first move due to the advantages of his age (lowest goes first) and a double-move card at start. We all agreed to play the game again, but bid for the right for first turn to eliminate any advantage here.

Thanks Kevin and Marci for a wonderful evening!

Java Crazy

Okay, okay... I've been going a little crazy with the Java games. Here's one more (and then I promise to take a break):

Spikey's Bounce Around

Silversphere

Clever puzzle java game with techno sound track and sharp graphics. Give it a try! (click the screen shot to go to the site)

New Tigris and Euphrats art

Tigris and Euphrates is being reworked into a new version, I am really excited about this.

This game is ranked 2nd on the Geek, and has been for many years now. I've played around 50 games online, play-by-email on the Geek, and a few face to face at the Gathering of Dayton a couple years ago.

It's certainly a more serious game (rates 3.6 on a 5 point "heaviness scale", with El Grande at 3.18, and Settlers at 2.3), and it rewards concentration not negotiation or trading.

Fancy Pants

Neat little side-scroller called "Fancy Pants". Use the arrow keys, plus the "s" key to jump.

Tower Defense

I know I've been posting a lot of these Java games lately, but I can't help it! This one, called Tower Defense is really cool... Tab and I had a discussion about the fact that once you have a computer and high-speed connection, you really would never need to buy any entertainment ever again... there are so many cool things out there on the web for FREE.



Can you beat my score of 70?


Update: Ben got to 72, and I did several times as well, and finally got to 73 tonight. Screenshot of my accomplishment:



Here's what I've learned so far...

The Blue towers can reach to each corner when fully upgraded if positioned where they appear in the screenshot.

The Green towers are the "most efficient" in terms of the damage that they put out compared to the price.

The Flower appears to be worthless, as it has a slow rate of fire, short range (150 compared to 300 for a fully upgraded Blue tower, for a total cost of only 3360 compared to the flower at 3,000). I have not yet upgraded to the second level tower (it costs 5,000), but it reduces range and damage only increases by 50%. It appears that two Green towers, fully upgraded cost less than 5,000 total, so unless the third upgrade for Flowers does something really impressive, it must be about positioning now.

Updated 3/14: Got to 76 with the following layout (Green towers are the most cost effective in the game)

Sand game

Doesn't look like much... but this is a very interesting little... "game"... click the image to check this little time-waster out...

Rick T. plays Caylus Magna Carta

Rick Thornquist (formerly of boardgamenews.com) has posted a nice (brief) review of the new card game version of Caylus Magna Carta.

Here's a snippet from his review:

"This is basically a card game version of Caylus. The major changes involve using cards for the buildings instead of a board and tiles, simplifying the rules, and shortening the playing time.

In Caylus Magna Carta, each player gets their own deck of building cards. You start with three in your hand. A couple of neutral buildings cards start on the table to start the road - the rest of the buildings will be built from the player’s hands. On your turn, instead of placing a worker, you can draw another building card, exchange all of your building cards for new ones, or build a building by playing one from your hand to the table at the end of the road. "

And his summary:

"It might be useful to make a comparison to some other games that have card game versions. For example, I found Caylus and Caylus Magna Carta much closer to each other than Puerto Rico and San Juan are." "I think this would be a good game for those who want shorter, simpler version of Caylus. I would prefer to play Caylus, but if I was pressed for time I would be quite happy to play Caylus Magna Carta."

There you have it. No word on availability yet, but I am sure it will be soon. And you know it's on our wish lists, right Kevin?

The Police

Not game related, but certainly from the 80's, my formative years in gaming.

The Police. Madison Square Garden. August 1st and 3rd.

Be there.