Somewhat Annual Fourth of July Gamefest - 2011 Edition

Each year we try to have a small potluck & game session on July 4th - some years we are more successful than others in arranging it. This year the event went off perfectly. Ann and Todd Smith came over bringing not only Steve Jackson Games' The Stars are Right game but Ann's famous pulled pork, potato salad, corn salad, and an ice cream maker to make what was easily the best vanilla custard I have ever eaten. Nick Gillispee arrived shortly afterwards bringing his new Faux*Cabulary game and more importantly, a dish of Rosie's rice pudding. We supplied a bowl of ambrosia, scalloped potatoes, and green beans. Everything was truly amazing!

Image from BoardGameGeek

We started the gaming with Lords of Vegas by Mayfair Games. Truly, I am beginning to love this game. The combination of interesting twists on area control mechanics and a strong theme are destined to make this a long time favorite. I pulled ahead quickly as the other players watched the Aqua casinos pay out repeatedly and when the Aqua looked played out I deftly switched to silver. This continued until Ann eventually wrested control of the nine tile silver casino from me in the end game. My large early lead lessened somewhat but I still won handily. I am looking forward to playing this more as we all become more comfortable with the rules. One criticism of the game, the included turn sequence card starts out after the rather complex card drawing procedure ends. A card detailing the steps in this procedure would have been appreciated.

Image from BoardGameGeek

After a break for a fantastic lunch we continued with The Stars are Right. I had been wanting to play this for some time and everyone really liked the game. Nick pulled out the win through deft manipulation of the stars but I finished as the only one to have summoned a Great Old One.

Image from BoardGameGeek

Next up was Ingenious, which Todd and Nick had not played. This game was tight throughout and I managed to win by a single point. I do believe I may have made Dr. Kniezia at least an iPhone sale to one or both of them. I'll be expecting my cut anytime that is convenient for you Reiner :-)

Image from BoardGameGeek

Last up was the deceptively simple co-op game, Castle Panic from Fireside Games. As Nick explained, "you start feeling confident as you take out the initial group of monsters but they keep coming". Things went well early on except for a nasty series of giant boulders rolling down on our castle from the forest. A few Draw Three Additional Token chits later and we were positively overwhelmed. Luckily we cooperated well and managed to save the castle with even a few walls standing. Great game. Simple, yet challenging and easy for less experienced gamers to pick up (though our four were all veteran gamers).

Thanks to everyone for a fantastic day of games and food and friends.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Updated 7/5/11 to add links,images, and to correct one misspelling.

Day Four of Origins

Day four of Origins is a wrap for us. We played several new games today. First up was Lords of Vegas. This was a great game with a lot of interesting mechanics that are not present in the rest of our collection. I'll detail game play later but suffice it to say, we used one of our 50% off Mayfair coupons on this one.

Next up, after an amazingly long wait, was the Settlers of Catan dice game. Not a bad game and one I enjoy playing on occasion on their website but fir us really it was a way to try a new game and get the Clay ribbon we needed to complete our quests to become Knights of Catan. Thanks to Mayfair for running this fun promotion again this year. It is always at the head of our to do list for Origins.

On the way to the board room we stopped and played the deck building game, Ascension. We both liked this game, especially Lissa, and we plan to grab this on our way out tomorrow.

In the board room we checked Word on the Street out from the CABS library. I expected to enjoy thus one and after playing it I hope to grab a copy tomorrow as well.

Also, thanks to Rio Grande Games we each were given a free game for being in the board room. I received Asteroyds and Lissa got Loch Ness. We look forward to trying these out.

Over the next week or so I intend to flesh out these posts and add some links and pics and the like. Stay tuned.


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Wednesday Night Gaming - Steam by Mayfair Games

Rosie, Nick, Jeff and I played Steam by Mayfair Games.  This is one of Jeff's Origins purchases and he had not played since the convention.  Steam is a train game with quite a few interesting mechanics.   The turn sequence for one turn is based off of the previous turns action selection and each action can only be performed by a single player.  Otherwise it is basically a build routes and deliver goods game.  Fun game.  Rosie came out ahead followed by Jeff and I tied for 2nd place with Nick close behind. 

Figure 1: Steam by Mayfair Games

Origins 2010 Recap

Lissa, Jeff and I had a great Origins. We picked up a ton of games and minis and played lots of games. Most of our time we spent playing board and card games and earning our “Knights of Catan” ribbons.

The Mayfair folks had a Microsoft Surface table there running Settlers of Catan. It is a nice port but it is still in beta and there are a few things that need to be worked out before it is ready to go and the $12,000 price of the system means that we will all have to save our pennies for a while. Other Mayfair Games games that we played included “Hey That’s my Fish,” “Station Master,” “Modern Art,” “Settlers of Catan” on a large 3-d board, and some sheep game that had cute pieces and a couple of nice mechanics but the demo was poorly ran. We also demoed a game that we had been meaning to play for a while but had never gotten around to trying – “Fluxx” by Looney Labs. This was a really neat game where each card can change the rules of the game.

Our purchases were a bit more focused this year as we went in with a list ahead of time. We picked up a bunch of board/card games including Carcassonne, Munchkin, Martian Fluxx, Station Master, and a bunch more. Minis-wise we picked up a bunch of figs to flesh out our western and swashbuckling games from Reaper Miniatures and some new packs from Rebel Minis and Splintered Light Miniatures. I also picked up several rulesets from Two Hour Wargames. Jeff is now a dedicated Mayfair Games fanboy and picked up several of their games and an archaeology based game from Queen Games. Finally, I picked up my friend Jack Shaw’s western collection – buildings and figs.

This was a really relaxed con for us and it could not have been better timed. For once we neither pre-registered for a ton of games nor did we spend a huge chunk of time involved in tourneys (however fun they are).