December 6, 2005 |
| Tsuro |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Scott | Still Alive | 1 | |
| Karla | 2nd Out | 2 (Tie) | |
| Mike | 2nd Out | 2 (Tie) | |
| Lee | 1st Out | 4 | |
Notes: We were waiting for Dan and Annie to show up, so we played Scott's quick game of Tsuro. It went pretty well at first, though Lee was forced to take himself out at one point. Then, when I thought I might survive to harry Scott, Karla took both of us out at the same time, leaving Scott to win with one more card to play.
| Elfenland |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Scott | 17 | 1 | |
| Karla | 15 | 2 (Tie) | |
| Dan | 15 | 2 (Tie) | |
| Mike | 14 | 4 | |
| Lee | 12 | 5 (Tie) | |
| Annie | 12 | 5 (Tie) | |
Notes: Scott selected Elfenland, much to my delight. We've been exhausting my 6-players lately, but this one has snuck beneath the radar for some reason.
The first round was even except for a couple things. First, Annie, Dan, and Karla conspired unknowingly with me to give me the most perfect first round ever played. I zipped into 8 cities on 8 cards - I couldn't have scripted it better. Secondly, Lee, who's a bit unfamiliar with the tactics of this game, went for a "hose" strategy when he wasn't sure what to do, which meant he placed pieces in odd places (starting with his second chip play). As a result, he had a pretty poor round (and game, as it would turn out). Scott went a unique way, heading north and west instead of southwest and north, and couldn't quite get the chips he needed, so he ended up tied with Dan and Karla. First round visits:
Mike: 8
Dan, Karla, Scott: 6
Annie: 5
Lee: 4
In the second round, I drew a Dragon as my upside down chip, and I also had a troll cart. Unfortunately, I had no dragons and only 1 troll cart. My whole turn in the second round relied on getting across the mountains on a Unicorn. As I only had one unicorn, I needed it to be unobstacled...Dammit! Lee put his obstacle there, upsetting me, Karla, Dan, and Annie. Scott was unhindered on his trek south and east, and Lee ended up dinking around the middle of the board. Dan had one of the worst hands I had ever seen: 4 troll carts, 3 unicorns, and a raft. He almost gave up the game, but did manage to get to three cities (despite their being surrounded by clouds, elf bikes, and boars).
Though I couldn't follow up my awesome first round too well, I was still in a tie for first, but my route was no longer very efficient and as I was by myself in the northeast corner, I was very stoppable if I didn't get the right cards. Scott was by himself, too, though. Second round total visits:
Mike, Scott: 12
Karla: 11
Dan, Lee, Annie: 9
In the final round, I again had only one unicorn and no dragons. My other cards were pretty scattered and I also only had one raft (which stunk, because I was at the north end of the river - all sailing would have to go upstream). I tried to slow down Scott with an obstacle, and he responded by (of course) putting the obstacle on a unicorn card, meaning I couldn't go in the direction that would have netted me a chance at victory. I was now doomed, and as no one else tried to slow Scott down (Lee was targeted in round 3 by Annie and Karla for slowing them in the second round). Dan also tried to slow Karla for some reason. In the end, bad luck in cards (and chips - I drew to upside down dragons the last two turns, but never had a dragon card) and Lee's and Scott's uncanny ability to slow me with the perfectly placed obstacle, knocked me from a glorious first round down to 4th place.
To add insult to injury, Scott had two elf-bike cards, so my attempt to slow him did nothing at all. I managed all of 2 (#*$#@&) visits. Dan had a very nice final round to tie for second with Karla. Lee was delighted to tie with Annie.
| Killer Bunnies |
| Results | |||
| Player | Score | Place | First Time? |
| Annie | Magic Carrot (out of 3) | 1 | |
| Lee | 15 Carrots | 2 | |
| Karla | 2 Carrots | 3 | |
| Mike | No Bunnies | 4 (Tie) | |
| Scott | No Bunnies | 4 (Tie) | |
| Dan | No Bunnies | 4 (Tie) | |
Notes: When nobody committed to another game, I let Annie pick, and she had a Killer Bunnies bug in her ear, so we played it. This was our first play with the Twilight White expansion, which seemed decent enough.
Carrots were chosen with a frenzy early on, with everyone but Scott picking up a couple. Everyone except Karla had a bunch of Bunnies, and then they were all killed in a flurry of craziness.
First, Annie lost a bunny to the Beta Aliens, then Dan, who amassed 6 carrots ("I've never had this many carrots before!") lost all his bunnies to various attacks from Annie, Scott, and Lee. Then Lee put two bunnies in an F-14, and one by one they killed all 5 of Scott's bunnies. Then I lost mine to something or other, Karla lost hers to the mad Donnelaith Bakery.
Scott managed a replacement bunny, but Dan and I never recovered, and it was pretty apparent that our 5 and 4 carrots (respectively) were going to go to the highest bidder, which turned out to be Lee when he took the last carrot.
The O.R.P. also created a little bit of Havoc, forcing Dan to give up a carrot and his water, but Scott kept rolling things he didn't own, like pawns and dollas.
In the end, it wouldn't have mattered, as Lee's 15 carrots were shutout of Magic-Carrotdom. Annie's one carrot (Gus, the Mr. Spock Carrot) held on for the countdown and she won, much to her incredible delight. Dan said he was happy, too.