Erin made it for the first time, and Mark and Karla didn't come despite a couple "probably" responses. Kaveh came, though, and we eventually had 8 of us, though Dan, Kaveh, Brian, and Annie all came a smidgeon after 7 or so.
November 29, 2005 |
| Circus Flohcati |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Lee | 82 | 1 | |
| Jamie | 75 | 2 | |
| Mike | 73 | 3 | |
Notes: After Jamie and Lee finished their sandwiches, we played a game of Circus Flohcati. It was a pretty even tilt, as I felt I had the best hand of cards early on (a lot of 7's and 6's), but Lee made a lot of sets. By the end, he had 5 of them, while Jamie had 2 and I had 3. I kept getting stuck, though, when I was trying to make the grand display, and never got more than 8 colors.
Jamie managed to get it with just a few cards left, and he ended the game. My late game craptacular drawing killed my chances, and Lee's set strategy (along with some nice hand cards) gave him the victory.
| Circus Flohcati |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Erin | 81 | 1 | * |
| Jamie | 66 | 2 (Tie) | |
| Lee | 66 | 2 (Tie) | |
| Mike | 63 | 4 | |
Notes: Erin showed up about 3/4 of the way through the first game and expressed interest in Circus Flohcati. She's new to the whole Euro Game thing, and she may have been expecting stuff like Scrabble or Monopoly or Cranium. Not in my Game Night!! Though sometimes I'll submit to a little Family Feud...
Anyway, my crapilicious drawing continued in this game, though I did manage to get an early 7 and a late 7 to make my score look respectable. I had as many sets as anyone (3), but most of my cards were peaking at 4 or 5. Yech!
Unfortunately, Jamie and Lee were having similar problems, and Erin kept drawing 7's and getting the special cards, which were really hurting Jamie. She drew two of his 7's, leaving him with 2. Lee had none. We went one last turn around the table while Erin realized she had one card of each color (she had only put down one set for 10 points), and I let her include the +10 even though we ran out the deck while she checked. She murdalized us. She had 6 of the 10 7's and probably four or five 6's to boot. She liked this game.
| Colossal Arena |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Jamie | 8 +2 for Patience | 1 | |
| Lee | 6 | 2 (Tie) | * |
| Kaveh | 6 | 2 (Tie) | * |
| Erin | 5 | 4 | * |
Notes: With about 5 minutes left in Circus Flohcati, Kaveh, Brian, Dan, and Annie showed up, and they amused themselves for a few minutes. Then, our game broke up, there was a smoke break, and Jamie called for Colossal Arena, while Dan chose Amun-Re from my stack of tougher games (such as Maharaja, Princes of Florence, Puerto Rico, and Domaine).
Kaveh, Jamie, and Lee were all for Colossal Arena, and Brian was torn. Erin was still smoking. When asked what Erin should play, I said that Colossal Arena was more her speed. Amun-Re is a pretty intricate game, with complicated scoring, auctions, and unintuitive play. I'd rather break her in with Modern Art, Traumfabrik or Ra before she plays Amun-Re.
Anyhow, Kaveh was kind enough to make a lot of notes. According to his extensive dabblings, it was "LOUDEST game of Colossal Arena Ever!!" and he changed the title of their bout to "Colossus Magnus Anus."
It certainly was a very loud game, I must admit, as we were almost overwhelmed a couple times while playing Amun-Re. Dan and Brian made a few yells in order to compete, but we stood no chance.
The Archer died first, followed by the Magus, the Unicorn, the Colossus, and, finally, the Daimon. The Cyclops, Serphim, and Gorgon all made it. I think Lee was the Gorgon backer, because he yelled that the "Gorgon is mine!" one time.
I was asked for some clarifications a couple times, but Lee brought up the "end of game" question. He read the rules, which say the game ends when the deck is empty. That rule stinks, so when he asked me about it I said, "No no, fuck that." Jamie appreciated that, as did Kaveh, who wrote it down for the record. Thus, the Daimon ended up dead instead of just 4 guys. Sometimes the game can end with 5 monsters still alive, and I ask you, what sort of Arena is that?
Jamie held out for the win, and with the +2 for Patience he received after the fact, he won by 4.
| Amun-Re |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Mike | 48 | 1 | |
| Dan | 47 | 2 | |
| Brian | 41 | 3 | * |
| Annie | 35 | 4 | |
Notes: While Kaveh, Erin, Jamie, and Lee fought in the arena, Dan, Annie, and I went to Ancient Egypt to appease the most holy Amun-Re.
I had a pretty firm strategy in the first round: make as much money as possible and go easy on the pyramids. The pyramid investment just isn't worth it early on.
In the first round, then, I focused on power cards and farmers, and I just wanted one set of pyramids. I've competed for the biggest pyramid in the first round before, but the expense never justifies the points, as you tend to forego money and give your opponents a good purchase for the next round.
I also had the Farmer bonus point card, so going for farmers was fruitful. Annie had two camel provinces, and though she made a good haul in the first turn, after building up a double pyramid in the second turn she was broke, as Dan, Brian and I all wanted massive farmer money. We got it. Dan and I were cash rich for round three, and I managed to purchase the double temple province. Dan had the other two single temple provinces, and Brian went cheap and built a set of pyramids.
At the end of the third turn, the temples were worth 3 each, and I had made the best sacrifices to Amun-Re every time, so I was still the first to act. I won the tie-breaker twice to keep Amun-Re. Thus, I managed 9 free things, which I mostly spent on power cards and farmers (especially in the 2nd and 3rd turns, when the temple buildings were at 4 and 3).
Annie was broke and was unable to make a set of pyramids. Brian had one set plus the most pyramids in one area, plus a bonus card. Dan and I were exact matches, with 1 set of pyramids each plus the farmer bonus plus 2 temples. Annie had most pyramids, no sets, and a bonus card. Old Kingdom scores:
Mike and Dan: 15
Brian: 14
Annie: 11
The New Kingdom was awesome. Dan and Brian went for early farmer territories, Annie went for a cheap one, as she was still broke, and I went after the two temple territory, anticipating the end game sacrifice. I still had a lot of money left over from the Old Kingdom, and I had two goals after attaining the temple territory: get 3 sets of pyramids and try to complete a bonus card. It would be tricky, though.
Dan and Brian continued their forays into farmers in the 2nd turn of the New Kingdom. I went cheap, but wanted to avoid getting stuck with the only pyramid-less province. To my surprise, Dan took it for free, then stocked it with farmers to make it somewhat profitable. I took a province that had trade (which I wasn't counting on) because it matched my bonus card, and I didn't really want the other territories anyway. Annie purchased the double pyramid spot on the left bank and started building like mad.
I managed to get the two bricks = pyramid cards at this point, and was ecstatic. I easily managed to get three sets thanks to those cards. Brian seemed determined to get the most pyramids on the right bank, but I managed to catch up to him, then pass him on the final sacrifice. Dan managed to tie me for first. Thus, I tied Dan for the most on one side, Annie had the most on the other.
On the last sacrifice, it looked like I was in the lead, so Brian had to decide whether to give me 12 more gold or 2 more VPs. He went for the VPs. I calculated this decision afterwards, and he made the right choice. Had he gone the other way, I would have won by 2 instead of 1, I believe.
Anyway, my assets were out there, and the final tie with Dan for most pyramids saved my butt. As we added up the points, it looked like I had a huge lead on Brian, who was only at 35, whereas I had skied up to 48. Then we tallied Dan's points, and he was stuck on 43. If he was first in gold, he would get 6 points and trump me for the win. He had 48 gold, I had 26, Annie had 32, and Brian had...55. I held on for a 1-point win.
For once my strategies worked and I didn't overpay for any one province. I was helped by a couple things: 1) Dan went for less useful provinces in order to complete a power card. He took the pyramid-less province in order to complete the "all on the bank" card. 2) Brian, in the last auction, did the same thing to get the "all lower Nile" card complete. 3) I had the double temple province, and the two other single temple provinces didn't show up until the final auction. This meant that no one else would get more than half the points I would from temples. That made it easier for me to spend low and not compete on the provinces. Had I been forced to fend Dan off from two temple provinces in the rounds 2 and 3, I might have overspent myself and lost.
My low cash pyramid strategy barely held on for the win. Brian and Dan were super cash rich, but were low on good power-cards. They sold theirs about 5 or 6 times. I only sold mine once or twice. My low cash in the New Kingdom was offset a bit by saving some money from the Old Kingdom, so I was able to get a quick initial burst in pyramids, then got the building power cards that helped make further building cheaper. I had just enough money and bricks to get the victory.
After Amun-Re Game Night ended, as it was 9:30.