We were able to fit in a holiday game day this week. We held it at Owen’s new place. Best game day ever. He had all the accoutrements a bunch of gaming guys would want—mostly delicious food, snacks, and drinks. He also recently purchased a dining room table that was the perfect sixe for gaming. Especially when you consider the first game we played was Civilization.
We played the 2010 version of Sid Meier’s Civilization: The Board Game by Fantasy Flight Games. Apparently this version is in no way related to the 2002 game by Eagle Games which has the same name. Owen did a stellar job going over the rules with us. We had played this game at least once in the past, but I only vaguely remembered it. Mike seemed to remember a good bit about it. Ben wanted to skip the rules and just start playing it. We’ll see later what happened to Ben.
Ben was Egypt, Mike was China, Owen was Russia, and I was Germany. Mike decided to take the Culture Point path to victory. Ben mentioned that this was how I won the game the last time we played. I didn’t remember, but was glad I did so well. Being Germany I concentrated on military might. I’m not sure what Owen’s overarching plan was, but his cities flourished. Ben seemed to flounder. Maybe he should have listened to the rules. Owen and I were the first to get three cities on the board. Mike soon followed. I don’t think Ben ever had three cities. And if he did, it was only for a moment.
Soon it was a Culture Point race between Ben and Mike. Mike found many ways to use his Culture Cards…usually against me. Apparently my military might was scaring my neighbors. (I don’t think I lost a battle the entire game.) Owen’s country prospered.
Coming down to the end of the game, I had already destroyed one of Ben’s cities and I had my eye on his capital. (One of the ways to win the game was to destroy an <evil> opponent’s capital.) Another way to win was to get the level five tech advancement of Space Flight. Owen was only a few tech’s away from that. Both Ben and Mike had slowed their Culture Point advancement. (You could also win by getting to the end of the culture track.) Suddenly I found myself with another military player on the block. Owen has raised his mounted forces all of the way to tanks! He too was heading for Ben’s capital. Mike attacked one of my city’s, mostly to weaken my military stash of units. It worked to a degree, but he ended up losing the battle.
Owen was now in position to attack Ben’s capital and win the game. Even with his tanks, he didn’t think he could do it. “But you could win the game!†we all said. Instead Owen attacked and destroyed one of Ben’s cities. The city contained a general so this weakened Ben. What was Owen up too? It appeared that his move only helped me to more easily take Ben’s capital. I pounced on Ben’s capital, only to be stopped by a Culture Card played by Owen! I could NOT march on Ben’s capital this turn. We all knew Owen had something up his sleeve, but none of us could figure it out until he played that card. Now he had another turn to build his forces and attack Ben before me…but he didn’t.
On my next turn, I once again pounced on Ben’s capital. Once again Owen played the same Culture Card to stop me. He had TWO of those stinking cards! Ben’s forces were next to nothing, but he got a huge bonus from his capital. I decided to use a single army, consisting of 3 units to attack him. Ben had 3 units as well. My only hope was that Ben’s army was crap. It was! I won the battle by a slim margin, winning the game.
We all enjoyed this game and hope we can find the time to play it again soon. It took us six hours to complete it.
As the Munchkin box says, “Kill the monster. Steal the treasure. Stab your buddy.†So it was with us. This is a fun, lighthearted card game of trying to be the first player to get a 10th level character. During our game, Ben lagged behind—maybe because he didn’t have a “Boots of Butt-Kicking†or “Flaming Armorâ€. Maybe because he didn’t listen the rules and just wanted to start playing the game. I don’t know. I was the steady leader until Mike got a bunch of treasure for helping out (taking advantage off) his friends. He got 3 or 4 quick level-ups to put him at 9th level. To reach 10th level you must kill a monster. On Mike’s turn all he had to do was draw or play a monster and then kill it. He got one. Fortunately I had a card to divert his monster to Ben. Ben got the level-up, not Mike. I reached 9th level next, but I did it the old fashion way, by fighting and clawing my way there. Around to Mike again—no monsters showed up on his turn, nor on my turn. Owen reached 9th level. Again, no monsters for Mike. No monsters for me. Owen got a monster…a level 2 monster—something he could kill in his sleep. We played everything we had against him, but it was too little, too late…until Mike played his card and sucked a level from Owen. Owen killed the monster and was back up at 9th level with Mike and I. Again no monsters for Mike or me. Mike and I were hoping against hope for Owen to pull a 20th level monster; something he couldn’t easily kill. Owen pulled a 20th level platinum dragon from the deck and defeated it to win the game.
We all love 7 Wonders. We played two games of it. During the first game, we pretty much thought Ben had it sewn up with his green tech cards. He was close, but somehow I squeaked by him with 57 points. Ben had 55. Owen had 50 and poor Mike had 33. Mike’s constant cry during the third phase of the game was “Why don’t you turkeys have any glass!!â€
The next game Mike made up for it by handily winning with 54 points. I was second with 47. Ben had 45 and Owen had 40.
We had a great day! Thanks to Owen for hosting!!
Chaos Steve