TechEd is essentially over for me - I'll be driving to the airport tomorrow morning and should be home by around noon. It was a good week - though only about half of the presentations I attended met my expectations.  I was able to use the week to write some long overdue white papers on integrating .NET into the Corillian Voyager platform, as well as play with some message-based concept code I've been working on with our chief architects, Scott Hanselman and Bradley McLain.  Clemens' talk on AOP cemented many concepts I've been thinking about incorporating, particularly relating to session management and audit logging.  If only this stuff was baked into the .NET framework today.

The highlight of the show for me was Scott Hanselman's presentation (that's Scott on the left schmoozing the crowd before his talk): Learning to Love WSDL.  Granted I'm a bit biased, but damn he's good at this.  He has a way of blending humor and personal stories with great content.

On a much lighter note, I ran into Scott Ladewig (that's Scott on the right, I'm on the left), a college roommate and old friend (well, he's young, but we've been friends for around 17 years I suppose).  Scott manages the IT infrastructure at the Washington University School of Business.  Scott and I lived in the same dorm freshman year, then shared a suite our sophomore year. Scott was a ChemE and one of the smartest engineering students I knew at Wash U.  He worked for Exxon for a while, but decided he liked computers more so went back to WashU for a couple of graduate degrees and ended up working there.  I was absolutely floored when I ran into him at the show, and I'm glad we got some time together.

Scott and I wrapped up the evening at the closing TechEd party, featuring Smashmouth and the Wallflowers.  The Wallflowers were amazing - I've been a fan since their first album and they didn't disappoint.  Great way to end the week.

 

 

Update on my week of travel.

I picked up the book Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture by David Kushner this week while in Columbus.  This is a great book - right up there with The Soul of a New Machine and Show-stopper!.  Having lived through this era (Wolfenstein 3D to Doom to Quake), it is especially nostalgic to recount the impact Carmack and Romero had on our culture.  The first time I ever played Doom deathmatch was actually on an SGI box while working at Wright Labratory for the USAF doing cockpit research.

I traveled to Colorado Springs this week for a business trip, and had the pleasure of spending an evening at Plenary Games headquarters with Angela Gaalema. I've been a gamer for most of my life, but have only recently become engaged with the boardgaming world.  These games are indeed wonderful, but it is clear to me that the reason this community is so vibrant is the people.  I spend way too much time on the road, but it is amazing how easy it has been to hook up with folks in the gaming network no matter where I travel.  In the Seattle area I managed to hook up with two guys in a brewpub for an evening of gaming; a month later in Redmond I joined the crowd at WizKids for a great session.  While in Providence, RI I had a chance encounter with Lawrence Whalen of Face2Face games.  And of course right in my hometown of Portland there's a great presence of regular gaming groups, like PortlandGamers and the crowd at Benjamin's.

Angela was very quick to answer my email letting her know I would be in Colorado Springs and was kind enough to invite me to her home and company headquarters.  I purchased Fresh Fish recently directly from Plenary , so I was very curious to see how she manages her operations (and of course to play some games).

My visit started with a tour of her warehouse, which sits on top of a recently covered indoor pool.  Angela assembles all of her shipments (from the source components) by hand, and she has certainly been very busy lately keeping up with her orders (I think I recall her mentioning that she shipped around 250 copies this week).  Her warehouse is full of big empty boxes for shipping, unsorted stacks of tiles, wooden bits (yes, including the often maligned red/orange ones), game boxes, inserts, rules, and game boards. I asked many questions about the business and Angela was extremely forthcoming about the challenges she faced getting the game shipped in such short order - the project didn't even start until around October of last year.  She is clearly envious of the higher quality printing available from German printers - even though it would be cheaper for her to send her printing overseas, she is (understandably) unwilling to give up the control and predictability of working with American printers.  In any case, her first offering is a great first effort and I look forward to seeing the future releases from Plenary.

Angela then showed me her game collection (allowing me to further rationalize my meager collection and feel safe that I'm not nearly as much of a gaming geek as my wife might think) and we spent some time talking about her recent trip to the Gathering of Friends.  Then we spent some time gaming.

Balloon Cup

Having read about this game for some time on spielfrieks, I was very eager to try this (still hard to find) offering by Stephen Glenn and Kosmos/Rio Grande Games.  I don't get the theme and how it relates to the game (well, I guess I do, but it is not a natural linkage), but I think the game is fantastic.  In this two-player card game, players compete for color bits that vary in rarity - if you accumulate a certain number of bits (smaller number for the rarer bits) of a certain color, you win the corresponding trophy card for that color.  Win 3 of the 5 trophy cards, and you win the game.  At any given time, there are 4 landscape cards on the table with 1, 2, 3, or 4 bits of varying colors on each one.  Depending on the card, each player is trying to accumulate the lowest or highest score of a set of cards matching the colored bits on the landscape card.  So if a card has a "high" goal with a red and blue bit on it, then each player is trying to lay down the highest combination of a red and blue card to claim those bits.  Player interaction and disruption comes from the ability to play cards on your opponents side of the table (e.g., play a high card when the goal is to achieve a low score).

Angela got off to a flying start in our game, and while I managed to claw my way back to respectability, she easily won the game.  This is a fantastic 2-player game that I will be sure to pick up as soon as I can find it.  Funagain claims that they will have it in stock by the end of May.

Clans

Clans is an interesting game.  It has a theme of nomadic groups that consolidate to form groups and villages.  There is a hidden element to the scoring in that players do not know what color (tribe) each other player is trying to push forward, but this game mostly plays like an abstract strategy game with a nice theme and pretty bits.  Angela beat me handily in this game, but I can't say I was terribly engaged - a bit too abstract for me.  Not a game I plan to add to my collection.

Kupferkessel (Copper Pot Company)

This is a beautiful two-player card game - the theme revolves around wizards trying to accumulate ingredients for spells.  There is a memory component to the game, as each player is trying to consolidate on a few sets of ingredients - players in general are rewarded for collecting multiple instances of a particular ingredient and penalized for getting only one of a specific type.  The catch is the players are not permitted to inspect their stack of collected ingredients, so it is important to memorize what has been collected.  There is a small degree of player interaction - there are certain cards that can force the top card of the opponent's ingredient deck to be discarded.   I finally managed to win a game against Angela - this game played very quickly, and I enjoyed the mechanic and loved the theme and artwork.  I'll definitely play this again and may consider adding it to my collection.

Mush

Angela wanted to try this older game by Alan Moon - in fact, she was given this by Alan Moon himself at the recent Gathering of Friends.  Mush is essentially a roll-and-move racing game set in the theme of dogsled racing in Alaska.  I'm not a huge fan of racing games, and the mechanic felt very clichéd - players can decide to rest or move (or even press their dogs after they've moved).  The harder players push their dogs, the slower they will ultimately go.  I won this again, but we were both eager to get it over with.  Nice theme, but not my cup of tea.

Puerto Rico

It was pretty late (12:15am or so) by this time, and I was preparing to go when I mentioned how much I liked Puerto Rico.  I've only played about 4 times, but I like the game enough that I'm sure I could play at least daily (I really need to start playing on BSW - my handle is CaptainCaveman in case you care).  Angela offered to play me using the two-player variant where each player plays two separate boards.  I'm still trying to grasp some of the strategic subtleties of this game, but I had a blast losing to Angela (she claims to have logged over 300 BSW games last year).

I scheduled a fairly impromptu afternoon of gaming at my house this Sunday - Doug and Mimi joined us, fresh from their trip to the Gathering of Friends in Columbus, as did Kevin Graham.

Games Played: Goldland, Amun Re, Bohn Hansa, King Lui

Goldland

Played By: Chris B. Matthew B. Jacob B.
Game Length: 60 min.
Jacob, Matthew and I decided to give Goldland a try while we waited for our guests to arrive. This is one of the nicest looking games I've seen to date. Very high quality cardboard cutouts, solid wooden pieces, and fantastic artwork. This just arrived on Saturday and only had the German rules so I went to the 'geek and printed the very well done English version.

Matthew's strategy was to get to the "goal" square as quickly as possible, get his amulet, and take the pool of reserve gold. Jacob spent his time finishing as many adventures as he could, then working his way to the amulet. I never quite made it to the goal to get my amulet, but focused exclusively on finishing adventures. On the second-to-last turn, I managed to steal an adventure token away from Jacob, which put me in the lead for good. My initial rating is 8 - especially since it will be easy to get the kids to play this one again.
Winner(s): Chris B.
Finish: 1-Chris B. 2-Jacob B. 3-Matthew B.

Amun Re

Doug and Julie at Amun Re.

Played By: Chris B. Julie B. Doug W. Mimi W. Kevin G.
Game Length: 120 min.
This was a first play for all but Doug and Mimi, who had played this recently at the Gathering of Friends in Columbus. I had specifically requested Doug to bring this one. Julie decided to join us.

Wow - lots of choices to make in this game, and I can't comment too much on strategy - if you want that, talk to Julie since she smoked us! In the first era, she focused on getting many farmers and managed to remain pharoah each round. In the second era, she built pyramids like crazy and ran way with the victory.

I want to play this a few more times before I consider purchasing it. Given the choice between this and Puerto Rico, I think I would choose PR.
Winner(s): Julie B.
Finish: 1-Julie B. (48) 2-Doug W. (41) 3-Chris B. (40) 4-Mimi W. (39) 5-Kevin G. (37)

Bohn Hansa (Bean Trader)

Matthew getting ready to play Bean Trader.

Played By: Chris B. Matthew B. Doug W. Mimi W. Kevin G.
Game Length: 90 min.
Kevin was eager to try this trading game, based loosely on the popular card game Bohnanza. Matthew decided to join us. This was a bit challenging for him, though afterwards he said he loved it (though not as much as Goldland). My strategy wasn't too involved - finish as many of my contracts as I could, trading as necessary along the way. I had a few fortunate "invitations" that brought me closer to my target cities, and managed to win the game. I'd like to think there's more to this game than that, but I don't think there is. I'll give this one a 6 - I'd play it if offered, but won't seek it out.
Winner(s): Chris B.

King Lui

Played By: Chris B. Doug W. Mimi W. Kevin G.
Game Length: 30 min.
We played this very light card game as a closer. The deck contains cards representing dishes of a king's feast (ham, wine, turkey, etc.). Each turn, 8 cards from the deck are laid out in front of the players. In turn, a player chooses one of the dishes to add to his collection (there may be multiples). Any cards not taken go to the king's table. At the end of the game, you get points for each card of a particular dish - the points per card being the total number that the king holds. So, if you hold 3 wine cards in your hand and the king ends up with 5 on his table, you would get 15 points.

The catch is this: if you have more cards than the king, you don't get any points for that dish. There is also the dragon cards, which you can play to eat some (two cards) of a particular dish from the king's table. This is how you can mess with your neighbor.

Fun game - suspect my kids would like it. I'll give it a 7 - comparable to other lighter fare like Fluxx.
Winner(s): Chris B., Doug W.


Session Report generated by GameTracker (©Goldraven 2002)

I hosted my first open gaming event on Sunday, April 13, at my home in Sherwood, OR.  We had a great turnout, we three folks I've gamed with before (Ken, Brandon, and Kevin) and three newcomers  (Matt, Jeremy, and Elliott) joining the fray.  I'll do this again sometime in May, so let me know if you'd like to be on my notification list.

Attendees: Chris Brooks, Ken Rude, Brandon Rude, Jacob Brooks, Matthew Brooks, Julie Brooks, Kevin Graham, Jeremy Hauss, Matt Riley, Elliott Mitchell

Games Played: Carcassonne - Builders and Traders, Apples to Apples, Settlers of Catan, Drakon, Piratenbucht, Wyatt Earp, Landlord

Carcassonne - Builders and Traders

Played By: Chris B. Jacob B. Matthew B. Julie B. Kevin G. Jeremy H.
Game Length: 60 min.
This was everyone's first time playing the new Builders and Traders expansion for Carcassonne. We played with The Expansion as well (helpful since we had 6 players). This was a light game given the variance in age and experience in the group.

Builders and Traders adds a great new mechanic which creates a sort of "co-opetition" - there's now an incentive to finish certain buildings that supply trade goods. No longer is it a no-brainer to ensure your opponent's buildings remain incomplete. If there are special tiles in the building for trade goods, if you finish the building you get those goods. The player with the most of a particular good at the end of the game gets 10 bonus points.

There are 2 new "meeples" in the game: Pig (we call him "piggle") and Builder. The Pig is placed like a farmer, but doesn't score points on his own - instead, he increases the value of each of the cities supplied by your farmers in the pig's region. The builder is placed on either a road or a building, and when you extend the builder's road or city, you get to take an extra tile and place it.

In this game, I got over-committed to one particularly large city with a cathedral that I ultimately had no hope of finishing. I finished second-to-last, barely edging out my 6 year old son. Jeremy, clearly a seasoned Carcassonne player, played a disciplined game and scored some bonuses for trade goods. He won by a good margin.
Winner(s): Jeremy H.

Apples to Apples

Played By: Chris B. Jacob B. Matthew B. Julie B. Kevin G. Jeremy H. Matt R. Elliott M.
Game Length: 45 min.
Since the bulk of the group had arrived (minus Ken and Brandon), we decided to play a round of Apples to Apples "by the book". i say by the book because within the family we usually don't play with the timing rules. I've found that, particularly with large groups, the timing rule (last card played doesn't count) really speeds the game along. This was a fun game - great way to get to know the new guys (Matt, Jeremy, Elliott), but I was ready to move on to something a bit meatier.
Winner(s): Matt R.

Settlers of Catan - Cities and Knights

Played By: Brandon R. Jacob B. Matthew B.
Game Length: 60 min.
The Jacob and Matthew decided to teach Brandon how to play the Cities and Knights expansion to Settlers. Needless to say, a 6 and 8 year old explaining this non-trivial expansion to a 12 year old was a bit tough, but they got through a few rounds. They tired after several rounds and decided to go play computer games.
Winner(s):
Finish: Brandon R. Jacob B. Matthew B.

Drakon

Played By: Chris B. Ken R. Kevin G. Jeremy H. Matt R. Elliott M.
Game Length: 90 min.
Everyone wanted to stay together for our next game, so we had limited choices for 6 players. I had seen Drakon played when I was at the WizKids store in Redmond and thought it looked interesting, so we gave this a whirl.

Drakon is a dungeon-crawling game that reminded me of Zombies, though it does have a bit more depth. There's a degree of strategy, but not enough to keep me interested. Testament to that is the fact that I had to go to the restroom, and my opponents were able to play my last two turns for me (I ended up winning). I'd play it again if forced, but don't think I'll be buying it anytime soon.
Winner(s): Chris B.

Piratenbucht

Played By: Ken R. Kevin G. Jeremy H. Elliott M.
Game Length: 90 min.
This was the first play of my new copy of Piratenbucht - unfortunately I didn't get to play! I spent about 15 minutes explaining the rules, showing off my english language tavern cards, then set them on their way. There was some rule confusion at times, but they found their way through it and had a great game. Ken came from behind in the last round to win the game. They played the semi-random Blackbeard variant, where he moves either 1 or 2 islands forward each turn after players have chosen their island.
Winner(s): Ken R.

Wyatt Earp

Played By: Chris B. Julie B. Matt R.
Game Length: 45 min.
I love this card game! I first played it with Andy Christensen up in Bellevue WA and had recently bought a copy for myself. Julie, Matt, and I only had time for 1 hand since Matt had to get going. I think Julie and Matt enjoyed the game.

Wyatt Earp is a rummy-style card game with a Western theme. Melds represent your efforts to capture an outlaw like Billy the Kid, Jesse James, etc. Turns out we were not exactly playing by the rules (we forgot that you can only play one sheriff card per turn and that each outlaw starts with a $1000 reward).

Winner(s):
Finish: Chris B. Julie B. Matt R.

Landlord

Played By: Chris B. Ken R. Kevin G. Elliott M.
Game Length: 60 min.
Kevin introduced us to this light closer - interesting theme, since I just got out of the landlord business myself. The opportunity to get revenge on tenents was mighty inviting.

The game was mildly enjoyable - I'm fairly certain that Kevin won, but I can't quite remember.
Winner(s): Kevin G.

Session Report generated by GameTracker (©Goldraven 2002)

Chance encounter in Providence.