Last weekend I had a small group of friends out at the beach house for some gaming.  This is my mostly regular gaming group, the RipCityGamers, and was an experiment of sorts.  This group has a long-standing tradition of going to Doug's Sunriver house twice a year; I had the pleasure of attending the event late last spring.  I offered up the beach house as an off-cycle choice and several of the core group took me up on the offer.  Mike and Eric have already done some writeups on the weekend.

I drove Jacob and Dave out Thursday evening, stopping for some burgers and frosties along the way and arriving about 9:30pm.  After unloading the games, I went to work installing some speakers and a receiver while Dave challenged Jacob to a Magic: the Gathering duel.  They used a couple of decks I've had around for about 7-8 years with Dave winning easily.

Friday morning after canoeing we sat down for a game of Runebound.  This game is holding up pretty well for us when played with three.  There's no deep strategy here, but I like the role-playing element (in terms of character-buffing and collecting) and downtime has definitely decreased as we all learn the game rules.  There's usually only a small amount of player interaction in the game, though in this instance Dave and I went hero vs. hero.

Dave, Jacob, and I in the loft for a game of Runebound.

Dave had a shot at defeating High Lord Margath but couldn't pull it off.  After several dice rolls left me stranded in the hills, I was able to move in and defeat him myself.

Next up was Einfach Genial, the Knizia abstract released last year.  I quite enjoyed this in my only prior play in Melbourne. I'm pleased they didn't try to paste a theme on this game.  Teaching it is simple, scoring is simple, and I think there is probably some serious depth in strategy.  Player interaction is high as there are many opportunities to block opponents to minimize their scoring opportunities in their weakest colors.  Dave blew Jacob and me away; Jacob and I effectively tied with me barely winning on the fourth tiebreaker color. 

We'll be simply ingenious.

Dave challenged Jacob to a chess game, winning handily but providing some good coaching along the way.  It would be great if they could play more together - Dave would be a much better teacher at this point than I.

Chess near the opening.

Next, Dave brought out Station Master. This is a relatively new game that I new almost nothing about, and I was pleasantly surprised.  This is a light card-game with a serious take-that element to it andit was a fun ride. 

Dave and Jacob building out their trains.

Players take the role of station masters, outfitting train locomotives with cars and passengers.  Cars are cards played from a player's hand, while each player has a collection of chips representing passengers.  Each chip has a hidden value from 1 to 3.  When a train is scored (after it fills up), players score the value of the train times their own passenger count.  Sometimes the train value will be negative.  There are cards that can swap cars between trains, you can put animal cars on passenger trains to spoil them, etc.  Most of the strategy comes in how the passenger chips are played.  Fun one and given the low price I'll probably pick up my own copy.

The last play of the day before Doug arrived late Friday afternoon was A Game of Thrones: CCG.  Dave had been working on a deck so I played a weaker deck to try some real playtesting (at least I'm sticking to the story that the deck was weaker - couldn't have been my play).

Dave squares off against me in A Game of Thrones: CCG.

I like this game for its depth and for the theme - most everyone who has read the books in this series is eagerly awaiting the next one.  Seeing the characters and locations come to life in the game artwork is very appealing.  I held my own in this game for a while, but over time Dave was able to dominate and we eventually called the game.

This must be one of the funniest South Park episodes ever.  Remember that line the next time you are role-playing superheroes and don't want to be limited to just a single super power.

We finally got out into the estuary waters around Siletz Bay.  Dave is out here for a group weekend with my regular group that I scheduled a while back as a mid-stream alternative to the regular Sunriver trips we make.  The rest of the crowd arrives tonight.

We put in right at the Siletz Bay National Wildlife Refuge.  Jacob consulted the tide charts last night and our timing was great.  You really need to hit it around high tide to get around.

The trees and wildlife are very cool here.  This area was very damaged by sawmill runoff but is on a steady recovery.

We paddled under the 101 bridge to show Dave Siletz Bay proper.  Didn't see any harbor seals this time though.

OK, I caved in and bought Doom: the Boardgame last Friday after work. The kids have played the computer game, it is of course dripping with theme, and the light roleplaying element with a dungeon crawl is right up our alley.

Matthew and Jacob played the marines in the first scenario - I handled the invaders.  It was rough going for the marines - they didn't even make it to the final room before I accumulated 6 frag points.

The game is well designed for what it is.  The combat system is easy to learn and reflects the computer game very well - ammo can be scarce and the respawn after death feature keeps everyone in the game.  Teamwork is necessary to win - this game is tough on the marines (maybe too tough).  My favorite aspect is the roleplaying element combined with the variable marine configuration via card draw.  This can lead to different strategies for individual players and the team as a whole.

So far so good with this game - I hope to get it out again next weekend with a larger (and different) group to see how it plays with 4.

I've managed to attend a few different gaming sessions over the past 10 days.  Two Saturdays ago Jacob and I traveled to Vancouver to attend a game day at Doug & Mimi's - our first time there in quite a long while.  As always their hospitality was first rate - swedish meatballs, good wine (OK, I brought the wine), and great company.

I jumped on the opportunity to play Anno 1503, a title I've wanted to play for a while.  Opinions are certainly split on this game (it has a relatively low BGG rating of 6.63 right now), and while it was enjoyable I doubt this is a game I would ask to play very often.

Tyler, Doug, Jacob and I play Anno 1503.  The board in the middle represents only a small portion of the game (island exploration) - most of the action occurs in each players' individual area.

Some have classified this game as multiplayer solitaire, but I think that's a bit harsh.  There was plenty of player interaction (dialog, tradeoff discussions) - much more than in the St. Petersburg game that followed. I just didn't see much that was new or interesting in the game.  I would much rather play a new Settlers scenario if I want a resource acquisition / building game (and Settlers has trading - Anno does not), or Entdecker if I want to play an exploration game.

Another group decided to play the new crayon rail game Russian Rails. I jokingly commented 'see you in 6 hours,' which turned out to be not far from the truth as they were still playing when Jacob and I left 5 hours later.

Jacob and I finished the evening with a game of St. Petersburg with two folks we'd never met before (and I forgot to write down their names! one of you reads this weblog, so please write your name in a comment to me).  This was a four-player game with three fairly seasoned players plus Jacob - he is still learning the ropes to this game and it can be a rough ride when you are playing with players with experience.

St. Petersburg was our final game of the evening.

That was it for Saturday.  The following Thursday evening I was in the Tigard/Beaverton area for a district scouting meeting, so I stopped by Mike's place for my gaming group's Die Hard Thursday event.  Tim was also there and my arrival was timed well.  I suggested Hansa, the game of trading and merchants of the Hansiatic League.  A fairly dry (surprise) game, but I found it to be quite unique and fun.  It played quickly and I would like to see this played more in our group. 

Tim, Mike, and I playing Hansa.

There's a real arc to this game and Tim played well, transitioning to populating as many merchants in cities as he could towards the end of the game.  Mike and I caught on a bit late but were able to close the gap and tighten up the game.  I finished second to Tim a couple of points behind, I think Mike was one point behind me.

Next up was what is quickly becoming my favorite trick-taking card game, Die Sieben Siegel.  I played my best game so far, winning by a relatively large margin.  I'm not sure this is a great three-player game, but we did have fun.  I think it is probably quite a bit more chaotic this way as it can be difficult to assess hand strength when one player chooses to be the traitor.

We finished the evening playing the Steven Segal game.

The next Friday was our weekly gaming session at work.  Eric Landes and I decided to start this a while back and we are starting to promote it a bit more.  We have new tenants sub-leasing space at our corporate HQ and, as they share the cafe with us, we thought it made sense to publicize what we are doing and make folks feel welcome joining us.  We'll see if attendance picks up beyond the 4-5 regulars we have now.  Eric did a nice promotional flyer for us:

Last Friday we brought out the Knizia classic Samurai, one of the first games I picked up after re-entering the gaming world two years ago.  This game is extremely easy to teach and learn but has some great depth.  Arron enjoyed the game enough that he went out and bought his own copy at Rainy Day Games.  I was the winner in a close final showdown with Jason.

We invited the Humphrey and Rude families out to Salishan for an extended weekend of fun and games. This was our first test of the house for a large group of guests, and it went extremely well.  We had a total of 13 people staying at the house and pretty much everyone was able to sleep on a bed in relative privacy (with their own family).  Jacob and Matthew camped out on the floor in the master bedroom - we need to fix this next time as that's rather uncomfortable.

We had mixed weather over the Thu-Sun extended weekend - Thu and Sun were nice, but Fri/Sat were mostly rain with frequent high winds.  Interleaved with the gaming at the house were frequent trips to the Salishan Lodge swimming pool, beach walks, a trip to the batting cages / miniature golf / arcade, a tidepool hike, and a beach football game.

The rest of the story I'll tell with photos...

Jacob and Matthew brought out Magic decks early on, and this would prove to be a constant activity over the weekend.

The women break out the fine Buyword game on the first night.  I don't think it was well received.

Josh, KC, Ken, and I played Boomtown the first night.  Josh crushed us, but it was a learning game for everyone but me.  There's a strong luck factor to the game, but it is fun.

Julie and Justin play their first game of speed.  They would play a total of 28 over the weekend, splitting the match 14-14.

KC, Ken, and I play one of my favorites - New England.  KC pulled out a narrow victory.

I planned a few special events over the weekend, the first being a Texas Hold'em tournament with prizes for first, second, and last place.  Everyone got involved and had a great time. Rita won the last place prize (Kill Dr. Lucky) and earned the right to deal for the rest of the tourney.  Chelsea took second, winning Oceania for the Rude family.  KC was the tournament champion, winning the two-player game Jambo.

After the poker tournament the adults sat down for a rousing game of Schrille Stille.

Now it is New Year's Eve (Friday), and the day starts off with some two-player gaming.  I taught KC and Rita their new game Jambo - I think they like it a lot.

All of Friday afternoon was spent playing a 5-player game of the great trading card game 7th Sea. This a great multi-player CCG, its main detractor being the extraordinary amount of downtime when two players are resolving a boarding attack.  Josh cut out early to join the other kids, but the adults hung in till near the end - we had an early dinner and had to call it short.  Rita, Ken, and I were all in and strong when we called it quits.

The special event for New Year's Eve was a sealed deck Magic tournament with tournament packs from Mirrodin and boosters from Darksteel.  This is by far my favorite tournament format.  I ran it swiss-style and we had 8 players.  Ken and I were neck and neck throughout the tournament, but in my second to last match Matthew pulled out a draw (we played two games per match), putting me a half point behind Ken going into the final match.  This meant I had to to win both games to win the tournament, while Ken only needed a draw, which he was able to achieve.

After the Magic tourney we played a 3-on-3 game of Magic general, which is a special format where each team has a general with a lieutenant on his right and left flank.  Ken and I squared off as the two generals - I had KC on my left flank.

Ken had Matthew on his right flank and won the match.

On Saturday morning the Humphreys brought out Rumis, an abstract building/block laying game that we gave them for Christmas.  The game plays quickly and I like the variations that are built into the game.

Julie plays some solitaire while Ken and Tracy play a game of Settlers of Catan: the Card Game.

Saturday afternoon KC brought out a game I hadn't heard of: VOC!. We played the basic game, which I think is meant to teach the core mechanic of the game: tracing a shipping route on a wet erase board with your eyes closed, trying to avoid land masses and arrive at ports! Players work together to give advice based on the number of sailors they have on the player's ship.  Big score in creativity, but the game play itself was very lacking.  KC and I read ahead into the advanced rules, which brings a much better strategic element and trading process to the game.  I look forward to trying it again.

I picked up Santa Fe Rails last month at a sale at GMT Games.  This game has real promise - in hindsight, we all agreed we placed way too little emphasis on city cards, forcing a premature ending to the game as we built out all of the major lines quickly.  In fact, non of the short lines ever came up.  I'll be playing this again soon and will give a report.

I taught Chelsea, Ken, and Tracy one of my favorite games for kids: O Zoo Le Mio.  I think the Rudes really liked it, especially Chelsea (maybe because she won?).

The final evening consisted of an Apples to Apples game, a draft Magic tournament, and a little more poker.

I expect to try this again next year - I can't think of a better (or safer) way to spend the New Year celebration.  This was also a good warm-up for a gaming event I'll be holding out at the coast towards the end of January.

Mark Johnson poses the question “what's right for 2005?” in terms of year-end reports (games played, 5/10 reports, etc.).  I don't know either, but I can say this: my inbox is filled (well, not exactly as I used gmail to auto-archive and label them) with 117 unread spielfrieks messages that are mostly end of year reports that I probably won't ever read.  I also decided not to track my games played this year - that quantitative summary isn't very useful to me.  I prefer to rely on a subjective retrospective.

I am a fan of the aggregated 5/10 summary reports that should be coming out soon so that I can see broad trends (other than the fact that, surprise surprise, a lot of people were playing Ticket to Ride last year).  The problem, however, with the aggregated report is that you lose some of the value of the individual reports where you might find tidbits of surprise.

Looking back on 2004, what games do I subjectively recall playing a lot?  Here goes:

• Memoir '44 - at least 10 of these plays were at GenCon teaching others on behalf of Days of Wonder.  Even with that I played the game around 20 times I suspect.
• St. Petersburg - fun, easy to learn, great depth/time played ratio.
• San Juan - same comments as St. Pete.
• Acquire and Union Pacific stick out in my head not because I played them a lot, but because I played each about 3-4 times and would love to play them even more next year.
• Magic: the Gathering - still, in my book, one the best games ever designed.  And yes, you can play this game without taking out a second mortgage.
• Havoc, Pizzza, NW Trek, and Tres Amigos - KC Humphrey designs that I played frequently for a good reason (we are likely to publish one of these in 2005).
• O Zoo Le Mio - I think this is the best gateway game for kids ages 6-10 and I expect to see it come out even more frequently in 2005.

Beyond this list there are probably 50 or more games that I played once or twice.  There's good and bad in this approach, but mostly I love learning new stuff and surveying the landscape.  If it happens again next year that will be fine, though I'd like to explore a few games with depth and play them 5-10 times.

My unplayed but owned list isn't all that big any more.  I hope to play all of these in 2005:

• War of the Ring - Played 2 turns with Jacob, so we have a decent handle on the rules.  Time to play it through.
• Europe Engulfed - Played 1 or 2 turns in an aborted email game with Doug Walker (sorry Doug).  I need to reserve a 12 hour day to play this through face-to-face.
• 1830 -Considered one of the best of the 18xx games, and I haven't played any of them yet.
• Iron Dragon
• Silverton