A yearly big game!

 Twilight Imperium is never short!

Farming is so easy ...

A 4 player game of Agricola at the office.

Agricola has to be just about my favorite game.  Partly because I seem to be good at it -- I won this game handily.  But I just like the mechanic and the fact you need to look forward a few turns.

Setting Up

My Farm.  I have expanded the house.  And I had a child so I have an extra farm worker.  I only have 1 cow, and some plowed fields, but lots of stockpiled resources.  Also I piurchased a couple of improvements -- and oven and a basket weaver's workshop.

Mal taking the wood I needed!!!!!

Scoring at the end of the game.  I had managed to get some sheep and a pig, and bought a few more improvements.  Notice I upgraded the house to a stone dwelling.

Another view of the end game

Pandemic Legacy -- May (2)

We lost!!!!!!!   For the second time!!!!!

It was so close -- we had almost all of the victory conditions fulfilled.  We just needed to have one or fewer outbreaks on the second last turn, and we would have won.  But we got two outbreaks!!!!!  We had the cure for Blue in hand and the ability to build the last base to meet the victory conditions all in hand.  So close but so far!!!!

The starting position.  Not too bad.  Not much Yellow Fever disease, and only one Black Death 

The End.  Black Death eradicated.  Scarlet Fever cured.  But Yellow Fever was everywhere.

Deciding what to do.  We ended up building two military bases.

Pandemic Legacy -- May (1)

We got our arse kicked again!!!!!  The dark continent is now really, really dark!!!!!  The uncurable disease has spread from South America to Africa and has really taken hold.

We had dispatcher, quarantine specialist, researcher, and medic.  We had an option for a new character -- the colonel.  We should have taken him -- he uses military actions to kill plague carriers!!!

The setup

The first epidemic was in Atlanta -- a couple of players got scars!!!

Things are looking good

We have an epidemic.  But things should be OK as long as we dont draw Cairo.  Guess what we draw!!!  And then we draw Khartoum right next door!!!   Cascading disaster!!!!!

Don't go to Africa!!!!!!!

Pandemic Legacy -- April (2)

We replayed April.  The setup was very interesting -- the only diseases that were active were Yellow (which was incurable) and Red.  We were either going to win big or go down with a massive spread of one of the viruses.

We were also challenged, in that every time we could draw an epidemic card, we did draw one.  We never got a breathing space to get a disease under control.

We played with the dispatcher, researcher, medic, and quarantine specialist.

We managed to cure and eradicate black quickly, and then got red and blue under control to win.  But we were constantly on the back foot with Yellow.

We gave the quarantine specialist an ability to quarantine next to a military base, and built a military base on Bogota.

Waiting for May now -- what will the game throw at us next month!!!!

The starting position

And the end

If Mal hadnt won the game I was in real trouble from 'Aggressive Disease Carriers'

Robinson Crusoe

Robinson Crusoe.  We played the first scenario.  It is a great game, but long -- as the photo shows!!!  We won, but we were on the verge of death.

The game requires you to explore the island (turning over hex tiles but risking nasty encounters with beasts etc.), build equipment (such as rope. a basket, etc.) and build shelter (building a roof and a palisade).  We were lucky -- we found a cave quickly, so shelter wasn't a problem.  But we also exhausted the food supplies that were close - we never figured out how to preserve food, and we were constantly on the brink of starvation.

Fortunately we found enough wood to build the signal fire, which was the object of the scenario.

Pandemic Legacy -- January

WE WON JANUARY!!!!!!!

We had two outbreaks, and the yellow disease became drug resistant (and uncurable).  BUT, we cured and eliminated the black disease, and cured the other two diseases.  (When yellow became uncurable, the game objective changed to 'cure 3 diseases'.)

 

Matty scratching off the bonus card for winning January the first time

The final board.  Red could have been eliminated, but we chose to win the game instead!

Mal looking at what bonuses we could earn from our victory.  We chose the positive mutation for the black disease, and the pilot skill.  The black disease is now easier to cure, and we can travel around the board better!

Start of the Christmas Break

Looks like the team got some game playing in early!!!!

Cards of the Dead and 7 Wonders

Started off with 'Cards of the Dead'.  This is a zombie card game -- if you get too many zombie cards you get eaten.  You can play cards to run (which scores points) or to remove zombies.

It was a very low scoring game.  The game is the best total score over 3 games.  I won round 1 and 2 with 1 point, and Dave won round 3 with 1 point.

We followed on with a game of 7 Wonders, using the cities expansions.  Mal crushed us -- his score from science alone put him ahead of everyone else.

Muzza back in town

Murray was back in the office!  He could only stay till 6:00, so at 5:00 we stopped work and had a quick 5 player game of 7 Wonders.  I won this game.  Murray then left, and we had another 4 player game, which I didn't win -- though I got close.  I did notice that the 4 player and 5 player games played very differently -- in 4 player you had more resources, and there was less trading.

Eclipse Marathon

We finally finished a full game of eclipse. Kristian won, but only just. The game took forever -- Dave's comment near the end was 'I am over this' -- but that may be because he wasn't winning any battles.

First Try at Eclipse

Well, its actually a second try -- Matty, Murray and I played at a cafe once before with someone else who was teaching us.  It took so long to set up and explain we got two turns in.

This was a learning game.  We explained the rules, set up, and played 4 turns.  At the end people had to go, so we ended the game at 4 turns.  I 'won' along with Matty, but if we had played another turn I would have been massacred, whereas Matty was on an upward trajectory.  He had dreadnoughts, with improved hulls, that were unstoppable.  He had taken the Galactic core.  No one was able to oppose him.  So Matty really won.

Tokaido at the office

A good game of takenoko at the office.  Mal, Kristian and Dave all were playing for the first time.  I won, but by one point, with Kristian, Mal and Matty tied for second.  Dave got screwed for food at a restaurant by me, leaving him at the back.  (I took the last cheap food, and Dave couldn't afford the gourmet meal that was left)

Kristian's Amazing Dominion Run

Played Dominion after work at the office.

Two games.  Kristian won both.  I came second in the first game, and last (by a long way) in the second game.

The first game was myself, Mal, Dave, and Kristian.  A close game.

Mal had a hangover and had to leave.

In the second game, Kristian managed to build a strong hand, capable of amazing runs of plays.  In one play he went through his whole deck, getting 39 money and uncounted buys and actions!  (Given a typical play that gets over 5 money is good, this was amazing!)

Game of Thrones after work

Our first full game of Game Of Thrones.

A five player game with:
- Dave (as Stark)
- Matty (as Greyjoy)
- Kristian (as Baratheon)
- Mal (as Lannister)
- myself (as Tyrell)

Not sure 5 player is that good.  Kristian and I quickly destroyed the neutral 6th player and took over their territories, while Dave, Matty, and Mal started struggling up north.  Kristian got very close to winning, and everyone started picking on Kristian, which left him very week.  In the last turn I took 3 castles (using a leader power to attack twice) to sneak a win.  Both Kristian and I had areas to expand too, giving us both an advantage.

Game of Thrones at the office

With Matty, Mal, and Dave.

We tried Game of Thrones.  We only got to turn 3 before Dave had to go.  This was a learning experience.  A real game soon!!!!