Harrowed Halls

We recently played an epic game of Through the Ages. It took three nights, spread over 6+ weeks to complete. (We were playing the “Advanced” game—not the “full” game.) During the game there were many shouts of victory and screams of pain. I did pretty well during the early parts of the game. That soon ended though. Owen was a slow starter which is kind of normal for Owen. He then ends strongly, when it counts. His use of colonies was fantastic. Ben was unpredictable and had to be watched carefully. Mike had highs and lows throughout the game.

During the final game session, I know I was in trouble. You need science to play technologies and I had very little of it. My military was weak also. Mike’s military was week as well and thankfully Ben attacked him. Owen continued to methodically gain ground. Ben too. Ben and Mike were the leaders with Ben having a pretty good lead. Owen and I were fighting to not be last. Then the game ended. When the game ends you go through the remaining events and play them out. This changed everything. Ben still won with 192 points. But it was Owen, not mike, who came in second with 173 points. Mike and I were suddenly locked in a battle to not be last. In the end, Mike got 167 points which put him just ahead of my 164 points.

Three days and hundreds (yes, hundreds) of hours later, I came in last. We should have played Sentinels of the Multiverse.

Chaos Steve

Ben is off traveling the country for work, but that didn’t deter us from gaming without him. We played Owen’s copy of Through the Ages: A Story of Civilization. A game I have called the most complicated card game I have ever played. Thankfully of the three variations of the game you can play (Simple, Advance, and Insane), we played a couple of simple games.

Our first game ended too quickly. All of us were expecting a much longer game, so many of our plans went unfulfilled. You win by having the most culture points. Both Mike and Owen scored a lot of end-of-game points. Me, not so much. Owen and Mike ended up tying for first place. I guess that makes me second. (Certainly not last.)

We played the next game knowing full well how quickly it could end. Mike shot out of the gate and never looked back. He quickly dominated the culture and the military tracks by skillfully snatching up a great combination of cards. Owen and I languished way behind him. On the last turn of the game, I was able to play a leader that would have gained me much culture in the future…if there was a future. As it was, Mike ended the game. After scoring, Mike won, but only by a single point! It turns out Owen had A LOT of end of game points and an action card that instantly gave him 6 culture points. I was third—not last.

Chaos Steve