Session 29
| Date/Location | 1/15/2002 Memorial Union |
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| Session Length | 270 min. |
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| Attendees | Todd Jensen, Everett Proctor, Sara Friedemann, John Richards, David Solie, Sterling Wight, Steve Mading, Matt Larson, Joel Uckelman, Mike O'Brien |
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| Games Played | ZÈRTZ, Fist of Dragonstones, Das Amulett, Puerto Rico, Schnäppchen Jag, Schnäppchen Jag, Capitol, Kardinal und König |
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| Summary | Another good turnout, especially for it being winter break for the students. I'd like to welcome Sterling to the group (he was here last week with his family, but I forgot his name when I was writing up last week's Session Report). I have some pictures of the night here. |
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| ZÈRTZ |
| Played By | Todd J. Everett P. |
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| Summary | Todd and I were the first ones there, and since I had never played Zertz before, Todd insisted that I had to give it a try. As two-player abstract strategy games go, this is a good one. However, I only really appreciate abstract strategy games if I can play them frequently, and since I doubt that I will get to with this one, I doubt that I will ever appreciate the depth of the game. However, for those who do get a chance to play a lot of 2-player games, I can see this one holding their interest for a while. |
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| Winner(s) | Todd J. |
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| Finish | 1-Todd J. 2-Everett P. |
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| Ratings | Todd J. (6) Everett P. (6) |
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| Fist of Dragonstones |
| Played By | Todd J. Everett P. Sara F. John R. David S. Sterling W. |
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| Summary | This is the newest game from the designer of Citadels, Bruno Faidutti. This one definitely has the "Faidutti feel", with a lot of chaos, bluff, and out-guessing your opponents. Each round players bid on 8 regular characters and 2 random "special"characters in order to use their special abilities. These abilities range from getting more gold to bid with, getting gems, turning in gems for points, to other various meta-game effects. The bidding for these characters is a blind bid, with the losers losing their bid as well. The first player to score 3 points wins. It's an agonizing exercise in guessing what the other players will bid. It seems to me that you don't have much control over the game and out-guessing your opponents is the key to winning.
We had a very close game, with many of us having multiple characters that could give them the win in the last round. |
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| Winner(s) | Sterling W. |
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| Finish | 1-Sterling W. (3) 2-Everett P. (2) 2-David S. (2) 4-Todd J. (1) 4-Sara F. (1) 4-John R. (1) |
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| Ratings | Todd J. (6) Everett P. (5) Sara F. (6) John R. (5) David S. (7) Sterling W. (6) |
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| Das Amulett |
| Played By | Everett P. David S. Steve M. Matt L. Joel U. |
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| Summary | A few more people showed up, so we split into two groups. I had wanted to give Das Amulett another try, and found a group willing to play it. I really like the resource management aspect of this game. You have to use your energy stones to get spells, you use your spells to get metals, you use your metals to get jewels, and you use your jewels to win. We had a very close game, with all but David having the potential to win on the last turn. On the last move of the wizard's hat, David had two choices: move it to a city space (in which case Matt would win) or move it to a forest space. Since we all knew Matt would win in the city, David moved to the forest, and I had one more silver than Matt and collected my 8th and winning jewel. |
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| Winner(s) | Everett P. |
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| Finish | 1-Everett P. (8) 2-Matt L. (7) 3-Joel U. (6) 4-Steve M. (6) 5-David S. (4) |
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| Ratings | Everett P. (8) David S. (6) Steve M. (6) Matt L. (7) Joel U. (5) |
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| Puerto Rico |
| Played By | Todd J. Sara F. John R. Sterling W. |
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| Summary | The rest of us played everyone's favorite, Puerto Rico. This was the first time we tried playing with the new buildings. The ones they tried out were Aqueduct, Lighthouse, and Guest house. However, the new buildings only got a lukewarm response. It ended up being a close game, with John beating Sara by a tie-breaker. |
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| Winner(s) | John R. |
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| Finish | 1-John R. (52) 2-Sara F. (52) 3-Sterling W. (43) 4-Todd J. (38) |
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| Ratings | Todd J. (9) Sara F. (9) John R. (10) Sterling W. (10) |
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| Schnäppchen Jag |
| Played By | Todd J. John R. Sterling W. Mike O. |
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| Summary | The Puerto Rico players played a couple of hands of Schnappchen Jag afterwards. Since I've never played the game, and they left no comments, I can only give you the final scores. |
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| Winner(s) | Todd J., Mike O. |
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| Finish | 1-Todd J. (3) 1-Mike O. (3) 3-Sterling W. (1) 4-John R. (-1) |
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| Ratings | Todd J. (7.5) John R. (7) Sterling W. (7) Mike O. (7) |
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| Schnäppchen Jag |
| Played By | Todd J. John R. Sterling W. Mike O. |
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| Summary | 2nd game of Schnappchen Jag. |
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| Winner(s) | John R., Sterling W. |
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| Finish | 1-John R. (4) 1-Sterling W. (4) 3-Mike O. (3) 4-Todd J. (1) |
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| Ratings | Todd J. (7.5) John R. (7) Sterling W. (7) Mike O. (7) |
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| Capitol |
| Played By | Everett P. Steve M. Joel U. |
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| Summary | After Das Amulett, we decided to give another Moon/Weissblum game a go: Capitol. I am impressed with how these two game designers can come up with so many good games, that are so different. Even though I was the only one to have played the game before, I got crushed by both Steve and Joel. Steve did a particularly good job of taking over the wealthy sections of the city, and started out with a lead that just got bigger as the game went on. |
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| Winner(s) | Steve M. |
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| Finish | 1-Steve M. (62) 2-Joel U. (52) 3-Everett P. (45) |
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| Ratings | Everett P. (6.5) Steve M. (7) Joel U. (7) |
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| Kardinal und König |
| Played By | Todd J. Sterling W. Mike O. |
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| Summary | Todd, Mike, and Sterling wrapped up with Web of Power. This was the first time for both Mike and Sterling. This is one of my favorite filler game, and works particularly well with 3 players, which is rare in most games. |
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| Winner(s) | Todd J. |
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| Finish | 1-Todd J. (72) 2-Sterling W. (63) 3-Mike O. (57) |
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| Ratings | Todd J. (8) Sterling W. (8) Mike O. (7) |
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| La Vallée des Mammouths |
| Played By | Sara F. David S. Matt L. |
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| Summary | I had to go to work, but Sara was good enough to keep notes on the games I wasn't there for.
Sara's comments:
According to Joel, who periodically stopped over to see how the
women-stealing was going, this was an exceptionally long game (lasting
around 2 hours?). All three of us were at one point each a turn away from
winning, but then a storm came and I lost my fire, so I couldn't win, then I
stole David's fire from him so he couldn't win, and then when Matt almost
won once, David managed to get one of his tribe over to take over an
encampment. The game ended with Matt finally securing four camps for two
turns, Sara having two women left, and David having gone extinct some while
back. (Matt's comment: Someone actually won!). |
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| Winner(s) | Matt L. |
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| Finish | 1-Matt L. 2-Sara F. 3-David S. |
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| Ratings | Sara F. (7) David S. (7) Matt L. (5) |
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| Carcassonne |
| Played By | Todd J. Steve M. Joel U. Mike O. |
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| Summary | Sara's notes:
Carcassone (with expansion, no river)
While waiting for Matt, David, and I to finish up, the other four decided to
play around of Carcassone:
(Steve's comment: I like the game a lot but it's getting a lower score because I play it so much). |
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| Winner(s) | Mike O. |
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| Finish | 1-Mike O. (6) 2-Joel U. (8) 3-Todd J. (8.5) 4-Steve M. (7) |
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