We had a family meeting Wednesday night and decided to do a game night Friday evening.  Jacob and I will be on the coast at Adventure Cove camping with the Cub Scouts while Matthew and Julie will spend the week at Camp Ireland at day camp – we needed some time together with just the four of us.  Consensus was to start with a light opener then tackle the new Days of Wonder release Shadows Over Camelot.

I was eager to finally try the light auction game For Sale. I recently picked up the Uberplay reprint and was able to teach the game in less than 5 minutes; we played in about 20.

Jacob, Julie, and Matthew during our game of For Sale.

This was a big hit!  Jacob pulled out the victory with Julie and I close behind tied for second.  Matthew wasn’t that far back and everyone enjoyed it.  I love games with a simple mechanic or two that can be played quickly.  For Sale is played in two phases: first is the buying of properties, second is the selling.  When buying properties, a number of cards are turned up equal to the number of players who then bid in clockwise fashion for the privilege of getting the best property.  When a player passes he gives half of his bid (rounded up) to the bank and takes the worst available property.  The player with the highest bid after all of the other players have passed pays the full amount of the bid and gets the best property.  This is repeated until all of the properties have been auctioned.

Next comes the selling phase.  In addition to the property cards, there are an equal number of “checks” that correspond to the income from selling cards.  This phase starts with a random draw of a number of checks equal to the number of players – the checks are valued anywhere from 0 to $15,000.  Each player secretly chooses a property to sell, then all players simultaneously reveal.  The best property revealed gets the best check, and so on.  Simple but elegent, this one should come out often.

We then decided to learn and play the new cooperative game Shadows Over Camelot.  Coop games are generally a big hit in my family, and for many reasons I like Jacob and Matthew to play games where they work together rather than against each other.

Jacob and Matthew strategize in Shadows Over Camelot.

 The production of this game is, as expected, first rate (read about the mechanics here).  Learning the game was not trivial – I’m glad I was able to observe part of a session at work first, as learning from the rulebook was a bit challenging for everyone.  We misplayed a few rules in our first game, and I suspect we are violating the spirit of the discussion/cooperation rules.  Who cares – we had a blast.

Julie, Jacob, and Matthew examining the board.

We lost our first game to the siege engines but it was close.  Everyone wanted a re-match tonight (Saturday) so we gave it another try.  It played much faster this time and we won fairly easily.  In both games we played without the traitor – I wanted us to win as a group before introducing that element of the game.  Next time we’ll give it a try.

I somewhat reluctantly started listening to Podcasts about a month or two ago.  I say reluctantly because initially I didn’t really see the point of downloading amateurish audio content, plus the mechanics of listening in the “early days” (5–6 months ago) were a bit of a pain.  I did listen to the first 6 GeekSpeak episodes last year on my PC but dropped out for several months.  This June I took the time to wire up iTunes and my iPod to a few Podcasts using the fantastic iPodder software and subscribed to the trifecta of GeekSpeak, BoardGames To Go, and The Dice Tower.  They are now regular commute listening for me, and Jacob has even been requesting Geek Speak when we drive out to the coast.   I’ve listened to each enough to write some commentary, so here goes.

As far as boardgame oriented Podcasts go, this is the one that started it all.  Derk and Aldie (Aldie and Derk?) continue to innovate with BoardGameGeek and GeekSpeak sets the benchmark by which the others will be measured.  This show has the A-list guests and the shows continue to improve.  Some highlights include Mike Fitzgerald, Peter Sarrett, and Guido Teuber.  I’m less fond of some of the interludes in the show – the Origins reporting by Ted Cheatham was painful and the audio quality of Aldie’s soundseeing tour of the Gathering was poor.  When they stick to their core, which is interviewing notable guests.  This podcast also happens to be Jacob’s favorite, mostly because of Derk’s antics. Maybe it would hurt the chemistry, but at times I do wish Derk would tone down the sarcastic digs against his guests (and Reiner).  I guess I expect more respect for the guests – a few pokes now and then are fine but keep it professional.  Think of GeekSpeak as the Daily Show of boardgame Podcasts.

Mark Johnson has maintained a popular weblog for some time and recently started producing a Podcast on boardgames.  Mark’s Podcast is more of a solo effort and has a keen focus on reviews, session reports, and special topics of interest to Mark.  Mark is also experimenting with including his kids on Podcasts – I think this is a great idea when done in moderation.  It is difficult enough for the run-of-the-mill amateur Podcaster to maintain a level of quality to keep audience interest; with kids on the show I think the challenge is even greater.  Mark is at his best when he covers special topics, and his intro shows (Intro to Podcasting and Intro to Boardgames) are top notch.  I particularly like Mark’s humility (Derk could use a bit more of this ) and willingness to listen to listener feedback and adjust accordingly.  Think of Mark and Boardgames To Go as the the Jim Lehrer of Podcasts.  A bit dry at times, but solid content worth tuning into.

The Dice Tower is the brainchild and production of Tom Vasel and Joe Steadman. For entertainment value, The Dice Tower sits right in between GeekSpeak and Boardgames To Go.  I appreciate that Tom and Joe aren’t trying to just be another Derk and Aldie – they’ve taken a unique approach to their shows, relying on banter and the push-pull of their different interests.  Tom prefers European-style boardgames while Joe is a grognard wargame enthusiast.  I particularly enjoy their top 10 lists (favorite publishers, favorite gateway games, etc.) as it is interesting hearing their different views and the ensuing dialog.  At times their banter becomes a bit too vitriolic for my tastes – I understand they are good friends and the jabs are probably good natured, but without knowing them (and seeing body language) the exchanges seem a bit over-the-top at times.  I suggest they tone down the conflict and keep it civil without losing the healthy debates that make the show entertaining.  Think of the Dice Tower as the Hannity and Colmes of boardgame Podcasts.

Well, that’s just one man’s opinion and I’ll keep listening to all three and hope to see even more (unique) Podcasts show up on the net.

Here are some snapshots from this year's visit to Keuka Lake in western NY (we do this every year - read more here).

Julie's college roomate Deb joined us for the July 4 weekend; I took her new husband Eli and son Philip out sailing on the flying dutchman.

Philip loved playing Mystery Rummy: Jack the Ripper (my new favorite).  Recommendation: listen to the GeekSpeak interview of this game's designer Mike Fitzgerald.

We had a rousing game of Bang! that everyone enjoyed.

At the very end of our trip last year we picked up a used Walker Bay rowboat.  This is now one of Jacob's favorite activities, though Matthew certainly enjoys being a passenger.

We had a great skiing year - Jacob was able to get up and stay up on a slalom ski (not shown here) and Matthew was able to ski on two.

Jacob and I spent three mornings out fishing deep for lake trout.  We did reasonably well, cooking fish for two meals.  This picture was our big surprise - a 19 inch largemouth caught about 40 feet below the surface.

Have you ever heard this quotation?

How do you make a small fortune in the boardgame business?  Start with a large one.

This quotation often gets attributed to Reiner Knizia, but it is a general statement for just about any hobby/lifestyle business that involves capital investment.  Here are some other examples:

• Motor Sports
• Winemaking
• Bass Fishing
• The Internet
• Airline Consulting
• eCommerce
• Commodities Trading
• Gambling
• Model Rocketry

The funny thing is that in just about each of these industries, someone attributes the origin of the quotation to a specific individual in that business.  Clearly this saying originated from some context... wonder where?

After returning from the beach on Sunday afternoon, Jacob suggested we give Wizard Kings a try.  I love the block game format and picked this up on eBay with the hope that Jacob might be drawn to it because of the theme.  We played a short introductory scenario with just two boards and with the standard armies supplied in the basic game

Jacob prepares to move his elf army.

The rules were very easy to learn (Jacob taught me this time), especially having just played Gettysburg: Badges of Courage which has the same basic mechanics but is quite a bit more complex. Jacob is still learning some of the basics of strategy and tactics with these block games and is a bit too aggressive in his attacks.  I pummeled him pretty hard just sitting back and defending, then built a dragon and started swoopoing into his cities and cutting into his production.  I won very easily but I'm sure he'll give me a stronger match next time.  Thumbs up on this one and I look forward to trying this with some more chaos units mixed in.

Last Tuesday night I hosted the RipCity folks as part of a new rotation we are doing.  I argued for some more events on the southwest side (mostly Mike Deans and myself) and for some mid-week choices besides Thursday.  Of course this means I need to get on the hosting rotation which I'm happy to do, though scheduling can be tough with my travel schedule.

Doug, Mike, and Jake joined me, and Doug suggested and brought Candamir.  This is a Klaus Teuber game set in the Settlers of Catan universe, but it borrows very little from that series other than some trading.  Of the games I've played lately this is most like Runebound - a sort of role-playing game where you build up your character by going on quests and collecting goods.

There are some nice elements to the game - the theme is interesting and it was nice to see a game like this not set in a typical dungeons and dragons universe.  There are some strategic elements to the game as players can compete for dominance in certain areas on a main board which allows for some longer-range planning (but not much) and light tension, but overall the game was too long.  Maybe it is better with three players (I had exactly the same feedback on Runebound and would never play it again with four players).  I think everyone was ready to be done with an hour still left in the game.  Downtime isn't terrible but can be a factor, and it is much harder to "pipeline" player moves in this game than it is in Runebound (we always play with the next player making his dice roll right after the current player chooses his move).

Doug, Mike, Jake, and I play Candamir.

There is also very little player interaction in the game despite the ability for players to trade with each other.  The game has great production elements though and I'd like to try it again with only 2 or 3 players to see if it can be played in 90-120 minutes (our game took about 3.5 hours).  In this genre, however, I think I prefer Runebound.

After returning from my trip to Israel, and thanks to a rare lack of scheduled baseball games, we worked in a weekend out at the beach.  The weather was spectacular, giving us the opportunity to take a hike up at Drift Creek Falls and spend some time at the tidal pools below the Inn at Spanish Head.

Jacob, Julie, and Matthew on the beach.

This is a great beach for agate collecting and searching tide pools for critters.  It usually best to go at very low tides.  Speaking of critters, there were a ton of sea stars, hermit crabs, sculpins, and anemones in the pools.

This was a particularly cool scene - drooping anemones clinging for their lives.

I brought out a few games to try, including the new release Caribbean.  Jacob, Matthew and I gave it a try one of the mornings.

Mathew, Jacob, and I giving Caribbean a try.

My reaction to the game was "eh", but Matthew and Jacob were pretty fond of it.  Players vie for control of a fleet of pirate ships trying to steal booty and deliver it to safe havens; you control a pirate by making the most substantial bribe of rum to a ship.  Each player starts each turn with same available set of cards and allocates each one (numbered from -1 to 5) to a particular pirate ship.  Obviously the higher number gives you a better chance of influence that ship.  The number played also determines the number of spaces that ship will be able to move.  This is where the -1 tile comes in - you can't win influence when you play a -1, but you subtract one from the movement for that ship.  Points are earned by picking up treasures and by delivering them to your own safe haven.

I found the game a bit too chaotic and I've never been too wild about the try-and-outguess-everyone-else mechanic.  However, it played quickly (about 40 minutes) and was some good light fun, so I'll definitely play it again if the boys ask for it.

I've been on vacation and very busy with work and assorted volunteer stuff.  I expect to make several postings over the weekend, including:

• Keuka Lake vacation wrapup (caught some cool fishies this year)
• Several gaming session reports (including a Candamir session this week)
• My thoughts on the big three boardgame-oriented Podcasts (GeekSpeak, Dice Tower, Boardgames-To-Go)