by Scott Ferrier
Wednesday - Niagara Falls, NY & Toronto, CA(04/18/2018)Dokmus (Craig, Dan, Stephen and Scott)(4P) - Stephen and Dan had never played this before so Craig brought them up to speed while I set up all the pimped out pieces but I forgot to bring down the new volcano pieces I had been painting during down times (I packed some paint and brushes) :D It was a strange low scoring game with Dan & Craig tied for the win (they tied with the tie breaker to). I managed to hit all 8 tiles but so did everyone else, I didn't connect all the temples but neither did anyone else as all the tiles seemed exceedingly hard to connect. In the end it was a pretty tight pack with only 3 points between the top and bottom I think. They loved the pimped out pieces, yay those 30 hours 3d printing where not wasted :D
8/10The Game of Toronto![]()
(Craig, Meegan, Kerry, Jeremy and Scott) (5P) - We spent an exciting day in Toronto. We where greeted with the road we needed to go down being roped off by police because of construction and found a garage but it was the most f*#@ed up garage ever, lol. Craig was driving up it to find a spot and it just ended with no way to turn around so he backed out and Meegan spotted the 1 empty spot we missed going in and on the way out we exited through 1-way doors with no way obvious way to get back in the garage so we might never see the car again. It felt like we where trapped in a Seinfeld episode. First stop was 401 games, such an amazing store that has great organization and at least 5 people on staff at all times you can always find help and not someone that you feel your bothering to buy stuff :D Thousands of titles to buy from with all the latest releases so we all picked up a fun copy of Decrypto and I got a copy of the newest Acquire (the game that really got me into the hobby back in 1980) as it had some neat plastic bits and a smaller box footprint then my Avalon Hill 1999 edition. Next stop the AGO (art museum) with some world famous art (Andy Warhol's Elvis painting comes to mind) with my favorite being the picture Craig took of Meegan who had all the right clothing by accident (or was it) to match the iconic Warhol painting and a very intricately carved 500 year old walnut that had the last supper in great detail with a hinged front. We did at least 3 miles of walking and they had some delicious Persian food but I was afraid everything would be covered in cilantro so I ate next door and had some amazing pizza with real Canadian bacon (Massachusetts has no idea what that is), pepperoni and mushrooms called "The Canadian," it was so good I usually just have one slice but had to get a 2nd :D I guess everyone does transactions with credit cards there as the cashier seemed very shocked when I produced cash. Great trip but we where all happily exhausted when we got back.
Decrypto(Lou W., Dan B., Geoff, Scott and more) (6P) - We where really bad and the other team was hot and cold so they solved our stuff at the same time as they killed themselves which meant we had to get their words but we only got 1/4 and they got 3/4 as we had too man obvious clues. So fun to get my copy already played, they had 5 players and I overheard them talking about that they had an odd number but they wanted to play Decrypto so I said I'll fix that problem and, in fact, was opening my new set at the time :D
7/10The Voyages of Marco Polo +
The Voyages of Marco Polo: Agents of Venice +
The Voyages of Marco Polo: The New Characters (Steph, Ron and Scott) (3P) - Steph had been hounding the Hans im Glück guys all week for the new Secret Passage promo but Moritz was waiting till he saw someone playing the game which we where and he came over to talk with us. I found out they had actually used my copy last year to test the Venice expansion :D He was very nice and saw I had the original German version with the missing 48 and told us some funny stories about it from the forums about how 48 is near Sicily and they hate 48 so the mafia made it disappear. So I now have the new mini expansion that has some secret passages and an extra guy and vp tile :D
8/10The Voyages of Marco Polo: The Secret Paths of Marco Polo (3P) - Thanks so much Moritz Brunnhofer from Hans im Glück. Love the Voyages of Marco Polo and played this expansion the next day. A funny thing is I'm so bad with names I take pictures of peoples name badges just to keep thing straight for my blog notes but Moritz had his badge on his belt so it looked like I was taking a picture of his junk but while I was very happy to get the promo I wasn't
that happy :laugh:
Thursday - Niagara Falls, NY (04/19/2018)Heaven & Ale (Constantine, Scott Russell, Jeff Baker and Scott)(4P) - Twas a total group of newbies but Constantine had watched others play it and was interested in learning and anyone with a frigging amazing Totoro tattoo I can not refuse. They messed a few things up even after I did an example of how scoring a pasture doesn't activate a monk so I'm taking a cue from Adam next time and emphasizing the difference between
activating and
triggering. They really enjoyed it and Scott R. had played once before but was a little gun shy about playing it again but he did well this play and it helped that I totally botched my last turn and spent all my money so I couldn't get the last tile i needed to fill a side and activate a pasture costing me like 20 points :P I did still win with 45 but Scott R. was right behind me at 40 points.
8/10Unpublished Prototype (Michael X., Patrick K., Jon B. and Scott)(4P) - Hans im Glück prototype. It's and interesting Engine builder, with a little drafting and other stuff. I can't go into details as it is still in development but I liked it even though I came in last.
?/10Deep Sea Adventure (Kevin, Seana, Jeremy and Scott) (4P) - Seana and Kevin had never played Deep Sea Adventure, such a travesty I had to set it right! Jeremy joined us so we had 4 as 3 is not the best number to get a feel for the game. I died so much but Jeremy joined me so I had company at the bottom of the ocean ;D Seana and Kevin rocked it and ended up in the 30+ range for points with I think Seana coming out on top at 34. Can't believe I still enjoy every play of this one even after so many plays. Such a good press your luck design.
8/10Viticulture +
Tuscany: Expand the World of Viticulture (Ron, Seana, Kevin and Scott) (4P) - We needed something that was a bit meatier and not go over 2 hours so this was perfect and I seem to only get it to the table at the Gathering :D We where sure not to go over 2 hours because Ron was in the game and he always seems to be able to make that score marker go over the 25 line whenever he wants, damn his soul :old man shaking fist in air: This ended pretty much that way but I had fun, poor Seana had some issues as she went through her money early first round and was not able to hire a worker so she was running behind. It was Ron-some stupid score, Kevin-26, Scott-22 and Seana-back there somewhere.
8/10Glenn More 2 spotted but I didn't get a chances to playTV Game Show Greats (50P) - We did the Dice Tower Game Show. I had skipped it the previous years as it was a little intimidating going in and being put on a team with randoms but there was no need it was very friendly and not stressful at all. Craig talked us into it after dinner so we worked on a name and because we are from the Salem, MA area (they have flying witches on the police cars even) we came up with a Orange is the New Black inspired Witches Gots to Learn! I think my favorite team name was "We Put the N in Stupid!" It was a lot of fun and everyone helped on our team, luckily we acquired Adam who came in late looking for a team and he was a great help as he knew a lot of games we didn't. My favorite round was when they did a silhouettes of an iconic game graphic and you had to guess the game and Friedemann Friese had two of his games up there and he missed them both :D Good times!
9/10Terraforming Mars (4P) -David really wanted to play my set so we went to set up with Geoff Spear and walked past Ron being stuck in a game called Santa's Workshop looking sad. We where talking about setting up when Ron appeared behind us saying "Terraforming Mars?" and never had I seen him so happy to escape a game. We got going and Ron went full Venus but Geoff and I hate drafted him so bad he ended up 3rd. Geoff worked hard and really got some points after having to shift out of Jovian tags as we also hate drafted those. I went crazy into building things but missed out on all the Milestones and awards which proved fatal but I did get a enough to beat Ron mwa ha ha.
8/10Friday - Niagara Falls, NY (04/20/2018)Santa Maria (4P) - I had forgot a lot of this game it had been so long. The other players where highly offended at the theme of the game. They did come up with a funny re-theme that was we where in the ghetto of a town called Santa Maria and where pharmaceutical kingpins that where trying to push cannabis, crystal meth, coke and a new drug that looks a lot like a log called "Santa Maria." Our job was to get people happy thus all the pink happy faces. The people on roads where our distributors. I was pretty miserable most of the game as they seemed to waste a 1/2 hour just complaining. One player had a case of unbridled restless energy. So much so he was standing up and doing squats next to the table and non-stop tapping of legs and hands. One player went full on shipping because he thought it was broken and tried to prove that but was happy when two other players beat him by a significant amount proving it wasn't. I came in last as I couldn't really concentrate but like the game :P
7/10Bunny Kingdom (Ron, Constantine, Scott H. and Scott)(4P) - Constantine and I wanted to learn this game and needed a teacher and Ron was free so I know he knew this game and he was happy to teach us. Yay, as I had just bought it. This was an enjoyable Light/Medium game with drafting and luck. Ron cut my little kingdom in half as he got the right card to kick out my squatter rabbit. It's not the best game ever but cute and fun for the 30 minutes I think it would take to play.
7/10Biosphere![]()
(Craig, Allan M., Jason H. and Scott)(4P) - I was having problems finding a game as it was a light crowd and they where all in games so I finally visited the falls and got some exercise in but when I came back there where still no open games but Craig had just got back from his wine tasting and was ready to play. I drafted some drifting players after making the decision to hide the box lid as that actually chases people away. They where hesitant and we explained none of the dice are actually rolled which gave them some relief. Allan brought some tart bowls that where of perfect size for us to use. The new players ended up loving it, yay! Craig got early victory conditions but stalled out. Allan had the toughest condition of control of 2x2 grid early and was going to get a 5th on my turn but I had a way to get 6 conditions but Jason playing a little unpredictably managed to mess those plans up but it didn't matter as I had missed that Allen had the 2x2 goal already and I was uselessly blocking that and left it open for him not to complete his 5th goal but it also tied to a 6th, doh! Craig had stalled out at the end with 4 goals. Great game, glad Craig hauled it up as there are no other copies there.
8.5/10The Voyages of Marco Polo +
The Voyages of Marco Polo: The Secret Paths of Marco Polo (Adam, Craig, Scott and Bob)(4P) - Craig and I set up but it was so dead there was no one coming by but Adam came in and brought Bob who hated his last play but played with us out of pity. I wanted to try the new expansion out and Adam took the new leader that got secret passages every turn so I made a b-line to the blue town income spot that did a weaker version (Adman got to pick best of 2). Adam zoomed around the board with Bob getting tons of points. Craig was trying the nothing but contracts strategy without ever moving. Because I was on Craig's left it hurt me a lot as I was late in the turn order and Adam wanted to go first a lot so I got 3rd position, so bad. I made due and did manage to fill some big point items, Craig rolled badly and could not steal the 6 gold contract that I could take and make bank! Great Game. Adam-98/Scott-94/Bob-83/Craig-80.
8/10Terraforming Mars(Ron, Geoff, David and Scott) (4P) - I was trying to get a game started but I had an unfortunate timing problem. Geoff jumped in and dragged David with him. It was going along good but David was the only one generating heat but he could spend heat for money so the game was never ending and went about 3.5 hours (usually it's 2) and Geoff and Ron where making so many points they didn't end it and all the while David thought I was winning and in fact gave Geoff 2 points over me with my park placement :P So sad, but it was still fun to play but getting up the next morning early to get ready for the flea was tough. Ron or Geoff won with me coming in 1 point behind David but I was so tired I couldn't remember the score so figured I would Steph it :D
8/10
