Last week our annual vacation to Keuka Lake finished (perhaps I'll post a few more pictures this weekend), so we are gradually working ourselves back to some degree of normalcy.  It was a busy weekend however, as our Cub Scout pack was running the dunk tank at the local Robin Hood Festival here in Sherwood.  This is a decent fundraiser for the pack (usually nets about $500), but there's a ton of work to set up, run, and tear down the tank.  Sunday was a particularly long but fun day, starting with the annual Corillian golf scramble.  My team did well, tying for the best score at -8 but losing in the tiebreaker.  After the tourney I joined a few other folks from scouts to tear down the tank and return it to storage.  I thought my day would be over at that point (around 4:30pm), but Ken Rude called up asking if we were up for some gaming - how could I resist?

Foppen

I've come to enjoy this light trick-taking game quite a bit, and so is the family.  It came out twice while we were at Keuka Lake and was a big hit.  So Ken, Brandon, Jacob, Matthew and I started things off with full game.  This game is fun if you don't think and try too much - poor hands can be very frustrating and can set you up for a certain loss very early in the game.  This is because recovery is so difficult - the most you can gain on a given hand is 10 points, while it isn't unheard of to get set -30 or -40 points on a hand.  I know if the game is played well this shouldn't happen, but I've been trapped in a hand before where it became nearly impossible to dump high cards.  For example, if you are holding a large chunk of the high value green cards and are unable to capture the lead, you may never get an opportunity to dump them.  Still, this game is easy to teach, is a great introduction to trick-taking card games, and is always fun to play.

Hoity Toity

Matthew has been begging for this game to come out, and Ken and Brandon agreed as they had never played before.  I'm not wild about the game, but had been looking forward to playing with more than 4 players.  In case you aren't familiar with the game, I'll give a brief overview.  Each player plays the role of an English lord obsessed with showing off their antique collections.  The game plays quickly and has very few decisions.  Each player is dealt 4 antique cards at random, with each antique having an identifying letter (from A to G I believe).  An antique collection must consist of a consecutive run of letters (e.g., AABC).  On a turn, players first choose where they want to go: the Auction House (to buy more antiques) or the Castle (to show off their exhibits).  Players reveal their choices.  Those that chose the auction house then decide to bid on one of two pieces up for auction with cash, or play a thief to steal from the till.  The player with the highest bid wins the auction and chooses one of the two items up for auction to add to his collection.  If a single player played a thief, she steals the cash used to pay for the auction.  If more than one player played a thief, or if nobody bid on the auction, nobody steals anything.

Those that chose the castle have similar choices: exhibit, play a thief, or play a detective.  Of the players that exhibit, the best two exhibits will advance on the scoring track.  Each of the thieves played get to steal an antique from each of the players that exhibited.  If any thieves were played, and at least one detective is played, the thieves will go to jail and be unavailable.  The detectives also advance along the scoring track based on their current position (5th place advances 5, 1st advances 1, you get the picture).

That's it - not much strategy involved, and this is mostly a rock-paper-scissors type guessing game.  I've heard of people being very good at this game, but for me I think the random approach would almost be the best strategy.  I just have a habit of making the wrong guess.  Somehow in this game, though, I managed to come from behind and win the game, with Ken finishing a close second. I didn't expect to have much fun, but I was pleasantly surprised and would play again with 5 or 6 players.

Memoir '44

The kids went upstairs to play on the computer, so Ken and I brought out my new copy of Memoir '44, the fantastic two-player tactical wargame by Richard Borg.  We played scenario 8 - Operation Cobra.  I played the Allies, Ken the Axis, and we found the scenario to be pretty balanced.  My feelings on the quality of this game haven't dimished - this is a fantastic light two-player wargame.

I got a bit too aggressive early on with two of my tank units and almost gave up the game, but I was able to regroup and reinforce on my right flank.  I pulled ahead 4 medals to 2 when Ken played an airstrike command card and wiped out two of my infantry units, pulling the Germans even at 4-4.  Luckily, I had just drawn my own artillary strike command card and was able to destroy another of his units to pull out the victory.  There was lots of tension in the game, as well as some frustration at the card draw.  The Axis player is short-handed unit and card-wise, but Ken played it smart and stayed put most of the game waiting for me to advance.  I look forward to playing more scenarios.

Tonight, we had a rare evening free so it was time for some family gaming.  Julie wanted to join us and I wanted to try something new (and unplayed), so I pulled out La Strada.  I hadn't read the rules before, but this game is easy enough to learn on the spot.  This game plays very quickly - I would compare it to Transamerica (which I also like) with a bit more strategy and challenge.  I'm curious to see how player order affects the outcome of the game in the long run (the first player appears to have a distinct advantage), but win or lose everyone had a good time.    Julie and I tied with 24 points each, I won the resource tiebreaker.  Matthew was third with 20, Jacob 19.

Jacob, Matthew, and I then brought out Tongiaki.  After a quick rules refresher, we were off and running.  Matthew plays this game in an interesting way: he gets very focused on sailing to new islands at any cost, often abandoning islands to his opponents.  I guess he needs to work on his strategy a bit, but everyone still had fun.  Final scores: Chris 30, Jacob 27, Matthew 13.

Check it out: Settling Catan.

Greetings from Keuka Lake, NY!  We took the red-eye from Portland last Thursday night, arriving at the lake cottage around 11am on Friday morning.  The weather has been very decent so far, though as of now (Sunday evening July 4) we are in the midst of a thunderstorm watch.  This could put a damper on our plans to take the boat up to Branchport to watch the annual fireworks show from the lake.

Our time at the lake is usually divided by a set of activities that is frequently weather-condition determined.  When the winds are blowing up, that means sailing and tubing (white caps mean lots of bouncing!).  When it gets calm, particularly during mid-week when there's less traffic, that means water skiing.  And when the rains come, we usually hang out inside the cottage and head up the road for a gully hike to enjoy the increased water flow.

On a July 4 weekend, there's usually too much boat traffic to water-ski so we hoped for some winds today.  The weather cooperated - in fact, there's a major low-pressure front coming in that created some outstanding southeasterly winds this afternoon, allowing all of us to spend some quality time in the Sunfish.  Things are blowing up a bit too much to do a checkout right in the Flying Dutchman, so we'll wait for a quieter day before venturing out in the larger, older boat.

Tomorrow Jerry and I will head over to Seneca Lake for some golf at the course on the west side of the lake.  This is an affordable quality public course that I've enjoyed playing for the past 10 years.

Check out this interesting article in the recent issue of the GiocAreaA online magazine. The translation is a bit stilted at times, but the content is very nice.

I finally received my copy of Memoir '44 this week, the new game from Days of Wonder.  DoW is on a roll, with the Alan Moon designed game Ticket to Ride winning the Spiel des Jahres award announced this week.

Jacob and I sat down for a quick game tonight before dinner (Matthew was preparing dinner for all of us to earn a Cub Scout achievement) to give this one a try.

Having already played the great American civil war game Battle Cry, learning Memoir '44 was a snap.  I hadn't pre-read the rules and we were able to get started within 20 minutes.  10 minutes of prep time was setting things up for the first scenario, Pegasus Bridge.  This scenario is a great way to learn the basics of the game as it only includes infantry and a subset of the terrain features.

Turns happen very quickly - there's essentially zero downtime.  Command cards greatly limit the choices each player has in a turn (these simulate the challenges of command/control in this tactical environment, though I wonder how well this translates in WWII-era gaming.  Civil war I can understand, but I think operations could be better coordinated than is depicted in this game.  Alas, this is a game, not a simulation...).  Luck plays a significant factor, both in the luck of the draw and in the dice rolling.  This appears to be a great family game for us and I highly recommend it for fans of A&A D-Day, Battle Cry, and other lighter tactical wargames.

The components are first class, particularly the rule book.  Days of Wonder is doing a great job supporting the product as well, providing an excellent portal for folks to share scenarios, after action reports, and strategies.

Sort of old news, but it gives me a good reason to post something.  Read about it here!

Wow - long time since I've posted anything too meaningful.  This post won't break that trend.  It has been a busy few weeks, so very little has happened on the gaming front.  Work has been extremely busy - I manage to get home at a decent hour most days to see the boys' baseball games (this coming week they play every evening M-F, and Jacob has tournaments both this weekend and next).  But most of my evenings tend to involve working again from 8pm until about midnight.  Here are a few things going on though:

• Doug Walker and I are going to try a Cyberboard game of Europe Engulfed (gameset here). I still have not been able to play this game face-to-face, but I'm anxious to try it so this is probably the best way.  Doug, sorry I haven't sent you my initial setup yet!
• Jacob, Matthew, and I did manage to play a great game of the original Settlers of Catan on Tuesday after Jacob's baseball game. I was ahead 9-6-4 (Jacob in 2nd, Matthew 3rd).  On my next turn I would win the game as long as I didn't roll a 7 - of course I did and lost enough cards to prevent me from building my city.  Jacob then managed to steal longest road from me, pulling ahead 8-7-4.  Things were tense for a while, but I was able to pull out the win by taking back the longest road and building my city.
• My latest eBay purchase arrived: the classic game Camelot (originally Chivalry) by George S. Parker, founder of Parker Brothers.  I recently read the book The Game Makers, a history of Parker Brothers (great book! I'll write a review shortly), and this game was mentioned frequently as one of GSP's favorite games.
• Jacob's team won their baseball tournament last weekend in Gladstone, and are looking good in the Sherwood tournament this weekend (2-0, likely heading to the championship game).  Their team is also undefeated in league play (team name is Sherwood-Dyer).
• My parents have been in town for about the past 10 days.  It had been a few years since they were here and it is has been great having them here for a week of baseball.  Julie's mom was up here for a few days this week as well to look at some property on the Oregon coast.

Matthew Baldwin does it again: DNC Urges Clinton's Demise.  Hilarious (Hillary-ous?).

Shannon Appelcline wrote a nice review of the Iron Dragon Computer Game over at RPG.Net.  Funny thing, I just discovered this game on Saturday after a referral from Doug Walker.  I've played the demo and was quite impressed.  I purchased the game at a fire sale at Amazon ($15 or $20) but still haven't played the “real-life” version.  I'm going to try the trial a few more times but it looks like a likely purchase.