April 14th, 2005 |
Dan opted out tonight because of some Death from Above band, but Jamie, Sam, Jim, and Scott more than filled the ranks for his and Annie's absence. It was generally pretty light-hearted until I got pissed at Jamie.
| For Sale |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Jamie | $58,000 | 1 (Tie) | * |
| Mike | $58,000 | 1 (Tie) | |
| Scott | $54,000 | 3 | * |
| Jim | $49,000 | 4 | * |
| Karla | $35,000 | 5 | * |
Notes: Our first play as a group of this game, and Karla was taken unawares, thinking that there were more rounds to it or something. Basically, you spend money in auctions on a certain number of properties (7 each for 4 players, 6 each for 5 players, 5 each for 6 players) and then turn around and sell what you've bought in a blind bid for checks. There's a little more to it than that, as it combines an Age of Steam bidding mechanism with 6 Nimmt! card play. It works pretty well and is very enjoyable.
This game was a learning experience, and Jamie and I just barely topped everyone else.
| For Sale |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Mike | $47,000 | 1 | |
| Jim | $46,000 | 2 | |
| Scott | $45,000 | 3 (Tie) | |
| Sam | $45,000 | 3 (Tie) | * |
| Karla | $42,000 | 5 | |
| Jamie | $40,000 | 6 | |
Notes: The second game was incredibly tight (4 players within $2000 of victory), and I felt positive that Scott was going to win it, but he was stuck with a VOID check at one point, and finished in a tie for 3rd. I just barely squeaked by Jim to get the win.
At this point Jamie started to argue that this game was all about luck and had no skill to it.
| For Sale |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Mike | $55,000 | 1 | |
| Jim | $50,000 | 2 | |
| Scott | $49,000 | 3 | |
| Karla | $40,000 | 4 | |
| Sam | $37,000 | 5 | |
| Jamie | $30,000 | 6 | |
Notes: As if in mockery of Jamie, I then won the third straight game. Jamie still insisted it was luck, but I said, "It's not luck, it's chaos." Jamie felt that chaos was the same as luck. Chaos, though, is when people are unpredictable, and Luck is when outcomes are unpredictable purely by themselves. 6 Nimmt! and By Hook or Crook are two other chaos-y games, and I tend to do pretty well at them. I don't think it's luck, exactly. I think a study of tendencies and risk/value assessments are pretty useful and helped determine victory.
I also think that I bid on my real estate very well. There's not much luck in that.
| Elfenland |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Scott | 16 | 1 (Tie) | * |
| Jim | 16 | 1 (Tie) | * |
| Mike | 15 | 3 (Tie) | |
| Karla | 15 | 3 (Tie) | |
| Jamie | 15 | 3 (Tie) | |
| Sam | 13 | 6 | |
Notes: Finally, we were discussing whether to play Betrayal, Elfenland, or Citadels, and Scott voiced a desire to try Elfenland, so we dug it out. Before setting it up, I asked those around if we should play with or without the obstacles. Sam said, "We've got to play with the obstacles." I thought it might help people catch up and team up on someone, so I agreed. (In retrospect, I think this was an incorrect belief.)
The first round went pretty nicely, with everyone kind of taking the northern route, either taking boars and unicorns and going across the mountains or (in Jamie's case) going downriver first. I was the only one to go on the southern route, and Jim and Scott stopped going north and cut southwest across the kingdom. Jim, Scott, Sam, and I all ended up at the same city. Karla and Jamie had almost identical city visits. Though I wasn't bothered too badly, I had inefficient card play, helped by the fact that no one placed tiles in my direction and I could only use three tiles altogether. I would have gone north with Jamie and Karla (I had 3 rafts), but I had no Unicorns and unicorns were everywhere up north.
First round visits
Jim: 7 cities
Scott: 7 cities
Karla: 6 cities
Jamie: 6 cities
Sam: 6 cities
Mike: 5 cities
In the second round, things got interesting. First, I claimed that Sam was trying to trick us by being in second place instead of first so that other people would be the target. Sam said, "See, this is what Mike always does, he puts the focus on someone else and then wins!" I was joking, though, trying to get Sam worked up. It worked. (Sam got the last laugh though - see below...).
Jim had been the starting player in the first round, followed by Jamie, Scott, Sam, me, and Karla (this is important info!). I had a very decent route, as I decided to go from the southwest corner to the northeast. I managed to not only use my own tiles well, but Karla and Sam helped me out by placing a boar and a troll cart in two very useful places. Everyone else seemed in good shape, so Sam used his obstacle to go after Jim, who was one of the co-leaders. Jim retaliated immediately by placing an obstacle in Sam's way. The obstacle Sam placed ended up not affecting Jim at all, though it did slow Scott down a bit, and the obstacle Jim placed utterly ruined Sam's chances. My route was cheaper than everyone else's and I was able to catch up, netting 7 visits (including the "dead end" city).
Second round total visits
Jim: 12 cities
Scott: 12 cities
Karla: 12 cities
Jamie: 12 cities
Mike: 11 cities
Sam: 10 cities
In the last round, things had played out perfectly. Scott, Sam and I were heading across the northern mountains, and it looked like I was going to scoop up another 6 cities. As everyone else had smaller clusters of cities to visit (no one really had more than 5, though perhaps Jim could get 6, too), I thought I'd be able to pull off the victory. So, since Jim and Karla had gotten so upset with Sam for playing an obstacle in the 2nd round (which came back to crush him), I dropped out of tile placement, deciding not to use my obstacle. After all, despite being behind, I felt I had a good chance of winning, and my route was very fragile.
So what does Jamie do but target me, placing an obstacle on the most critical part of my journey. I was livid and I got incredibly upset with him. "What the hell'd you do that for?!" Jim and Karla re-iterated their "Be Kind to One Another" mantra and agreed with me. Sam laughed and laughed, and when I got more grumpy, saying, "Fine! Then I'm putting out an obstacle" I couldn't, and ultimately didn't, but I my fragile chance at victory had been crushed. Sam, between guffaws, said something along the lines of that's what I get for saying that he was trying to be sneaky in the first round.
I suppose I could have placed my last non-obstacle tile out and waited to see if anyone was going to hose me, but as Jamie was last to place tiles he could have hosed me anyway. As it ended up, he upset Scott and Karla, and since they were both still around, they put obstacles all around Jamie's boot, and his travel turn began, "Shit, you guys really screwed me." In the end, Scott was unaffected by the obstacle, but Sam and I were devastated. Jamie realized that he could have played the obstacle on a different path and only hosed me, but only after he had already been attacked. In the end, he didn't slow down Scott or Jim, and they netted victory, leaving me in a tie for 3rd. Karla's pieces were spread too thin and she was forced to use Jim's tiles, which weren't very helpful for her.
Jim and Scott had the same number of cards in the end, so they got to share the kingship, like Polynices and Eteocles, and it worked out great for them!