Thunderstone (Chris, Chris2, Donny, Josh, Keith) Except for Chris, this was everyone's first time playing Thunderstone. A hybrid of Dominion and Ascension, this game tries to take the mechanics of the previous two (drafting) and apply it more thematically, separating out the "monsters" and the cards for purchase into distinct areas. You are allowed to perform one action per turn. The main gameplay difference here is that you can level up heroes to gain attack value or other special abilities. The game was fun, but if anything, I would have liked to see it go a bit longer and perhaps add another level or two to the monsters as things end just as soon as they really start to get interesting. Will play again without a doubt. Set up is a little more time consuming than Ascension.
King of Tokyo (Brandi, Cristian, Dennis, Jamar) THE DRINKING GAME. Since our game of Thunderstone went a little longer than the end of the Lakers game, the rest of the group went to this old fall back - but decided it was a little too tame to play as is. After some consultation they decided to modify the rules. As a penalty for leaving Tokyo, the player must take a shot. The game started out quiet and slow, but within 20 minutes was the loudest game of KoT I had ever witnessed. I was able to witness the last play. Jamar had been eliminated and Dennis in Tokyo sitting back confidently waiting for Cristian to finish rolling so it would get back to Dennis' turn and he could win goddammit. Cristian realized the only way to win was to roll five threes as he was at 15. This was explained to me in great detail while Brandi argued that if Cristian had committed to an attack strategy, she would have finished Dennis off on her turn. Dennis sat back quietly waiting for the plots to fail. Cristian had one roll left and two 3's showing. Then he realized he had forgotten about the cards for purchase. There was a card with two victory points but take 3 damage. He had the money, he just needed on more three, not three more. He rolled and got the three he needed. Everyone else erupted with numerous expletives while Cristian celebrated his flawless logic.
Mansion of Madness (Brandi, Dennis, Jamar, Keith) This was the great tragedy of the night. I had only managed to finish the Drakkenstrike video for the components breakdown, but not the gameplay order. I have been been wanting to play this for months now and finally pulled it out and started setting it up, with 3 others gamely (and drunkenly) joining in. Turns out 20 minute estimate for setting up is technically true if 1. You know what the hell you're doing, and 2. does not incorporate an explanation of the rules to everyone. So I started with the rules explanation, then went about setting up the board for the first encounter. After placing all the cards in the rooms I realized I was supposed to draw all cards in addition to some random cards which were to be placed throughout the empty rooms. I was a little too drunk and impatient to figure out which additional cards I needed so I had to pull all the cards off the table and start again. In the meantime Dennis, Jamar and Brandi had come up with back-stories for their characters and decided to play the Jamar designed game of High-Low. High-Low consisted of rolling a dice and declaring if the next number would be higher or lower than the current result. I feel as though I have inadvertently contributed to the bettering of this game design as a 10 sided die is clearly better than the standard 6. :) So after 20 or 30 minutes of intense High-Low action which Dennis won with 12 correct predictions before busting out, the liquor had worn off, all were impatient, and the board was ready to go. It was also close to 1 am. So we started the game, all investigators taking their first movement and actions, when I realized I had not put the various object tokens on the board. That was the last straw, it was too late, we were too sober, so the game was left on the board for me to figure out in the morning. Drakkenstrike's video of part 2 should have been the first resort for explaining the rules, and now that I know how to set up the board and what all the cards and tokens are things will go much faster next time. I just have to convince everyone it is worth giving another go...
Roborally (Chris2, Cristian, Donny, Josh) I was not a part of this one, but I am fairly confident it was a lot of Chris2 bumping into things. Ultimately Cristian won. Though the game is difficult as many of us have not used the parts of the brain this game requires since at least high school, the game is still a lot of fun if done properly and played with the right people. A group of us had played once before with a too large too complex board and gave up after the first player had nearly run away with the lead - to the first flag. Another note is that as cool as the old school pewter figures are, Chris2, who had played with the newer version before said that the newer version was easier to play with because of the starting map as well as some counters or accessories that make keeping track of the game and the starting positions much more streamlined.
Three Dragon Ante (Brandi, Cristian, Dennis, Keith) a/k/a Nerd Poker. A couple of people were still down for a game after the Mansions of Madness/High-Low fiasco so we played some Three Dragon Ante, one of several awesome and simple games Chris has introduced us to. Cristian was the only one who had never played, and managed to play most of the rules wrong at least once - activating dragons that were higher than the previous player, because he thought it was lower than the starting player, drawing four cards when he needed to buy instead of up to four, and finally (all his fault) not reading cards before playing, specifically the dragon gods. Playing one of the two dragon gods causes you to lose if you have any dragons of the other type in your flight. (Good dragon god only works with two other good dragons, and vice versa.) The last one was his own fault, and ultimately cost him a hand and the game. You can house rule this game to death, but we played with the 30 gold per player, when one player is bankrupt, the player with the most gold wins. I had many lucky hands, the best of which was the second to last hand - a strength flight of 9. I could have played higher cards but wanted to win the pot while simultaneously driving Cristian and Dennis to near bust. WIth 27 showing on my hand, and Dennis within striking distance, he played a low copper dragon. The dragon power allows to discard the card and put the top card of the deck into play. It was a 4 and I won the pot. Dennis took the next hand which bankrupted Cristian. I held a commanding lead, Dennis and Brandi were within 8 of each other, and Cristian ended with -8.
This Thursday is the first work game night, can't wait! The guys putting it together are primarily analytics guys who are into miniatures and less beginner friendly games. I'm hoping for a Descent campaign!
King of Tokyo (Brandi, Cristian, Dennis, Jamar) THE DRINKING GAME. Since our game of Thunderstone went a little longer than the end of the Lakers game, the rest of the group went to this old fall back - but decided it was a little too tame to play as is. After some consultation they decided to modify the rules. As a penalty for leaving Tokyo, the player must take a shot. The game started out quiet and slow, but within 20 minutes was the loudest game of KoT I had ever witnessed. I was able to witness the last play. Jamar had been eliminated and Dennis in Tokyo sitting back confidently waiting for Cristian to finish rolling so it would get back to Dennis' turn and he could win goddammit. Cristian realized the only way to win was to roll five threes as he was at 15. This was explained to me in great detail while Brandi argued that if Cristian had committed to an attack strategy, she would have finished Dennis off on her turn. Dennis sat back quietly waiting for the plots to fail. Cristian had one roll left and two 3's showing. Then he realized he had forgotten about the cards for purchase. There was a card with two victory points but take 3 damage. He had the money, he just needed on more three, not three more. He rolled and got the three he needed. Everyone else erupted with numerous expletives while Cristian celebrated his flawless logic.
Mansion of Madness (Brandi, Dennis, Jamar, Keith) This was the great tragedy of the night. I had only managed to finish the Drakkenstrike video for the components breakdown, but not the gameplay order. I have been been wanting to play this for months now and finally pulled it out and started setting it up, with 3 others gamely (and drunkenly) joining in. Turns out 20 minute estimate for setting up is technically true if 1. You know what the hell you're doing, and 2. does not incorporate an explanation of the rules to everyone. So I started with the rules explanation, then went about setting up the board for the first encounter. After placing all the cards in the rooms I realized I was supposed to draw all cards in addition to some random cards which were to be placed throughout the empty rooms. I was a little too drunk and impatient to figure out which additional cards I needed so I had to pull all the cards off the table and start again. In the meantime Dennis, Jamar and Brandi had come up with back-stories for their characters and decided to play the Jamar designed game of High-Low. High-Low consisted of rolling a dice and declaring if the next number would be higher or lower than the current result. I feel as though I have inadvertently contributed to the bettering of this game design as a 10 sided die is clearly better than the standard 6. :) So after 20 or 30 minutes of intense High-Low action which Dennis won with 12 correct predictions before busting out, the liquor had worn off, all were impatient, and the board was ready to go. It was also close to 1 am. So we started the game, all investigators taking their first movement and actions, when I realized I had not put the various object tokens on the board. That was the last straw, it was too late, we were too sober, so the game was left on the board for me to figure out in the morning. Drakkenstrike's video of part 2 should have been the first resort for explaining the rules, and now that I know how to set up the board and what all the cards and tokens are things will go much faster next time. I just have to convince everyone it is worth giving another go...
Roborally (Chris2, Cristian, Donny, Josh) I was not a part of this one, but I am fairly confident it was a lot of Chris2 bumping into things. Ultimately Cristian won. Though the game is difficult as many of us have not used the parts of the brain this game requires since at least high school, the game is still a lot of fun if done properly and played with the right people. A group of us had played once before with a too large too complex board and gave up after the first player had nearly run away with the lead - to the first flag. Another note is that as cool as the old school pewter figures are, Chris2, who had played with the newer version before said that the newer version was easier to play with because of the starting map as well as some counters or accessories that make keeping track of the game and the starting positions much more streamlined.
Three Dragon Ante (Brandi, Cristian, Dennis, Keith) a/k/a Nerd Poker. A couple of people were still down for a game after the Mansions of Madness/High-Low fiasco so we played some Three Dragon Ante, one of several awesome and simple games Chris has introduced us to. Cristian was the only one who had never played, and managed to play most of the rules wrong at least once - activating dragons that were higher than the previous player, because he thought it was lower than the starting player, drawing four cards when he needed to buy instead of up to four, and finally (all his fault) not reading cards before playing, specifically the dragon gods. Playing one of the two dragon gods causes you to lose if you have any dragons of the other type in your flight. (Good dragon god only works with two other good dragons, and vice versa.) The last one was his own fault, and ultimately cost him a hand and the game. You can house rule this game to death, but we played with the 30 gold per player, when one player is bankrupt, the player with the most gold wins. I had many lucky hands, the best of which was the second to last hand - a strength flight of 9. I could have played higher cards but wanted to win the pot while simultaneously driving Cristian and Dennis to near bust. WIth 27 showing on my hand, and Dennis within striking distance, he played a low copper dragon. The dragon power allows to discard the card and put the top card of the deck into play. It was a 4 and I won the pot. Dennis took the next hand which bankrupted Cristian. I held a commanding lead, Dennis and Brandi were within 8 of each other, and Cristian ended with -8.
This Thursday is the first work game night, can't wait! The guys putting it together are primarily analytics guys who are into miniatures and less beginner friendly games. I'm hoping for a Descent campaign!