Session Report January 19, 2003

Games Played: Set, Bohnanza, Carcassonne - Hunters and Gatherers, Dvonn, Kites
and Darts, Dance Dance Revolution, Cave Troll, Elfenland, Magic: the Gathering

Players: Ralph, Nancy, Vitas, Sara, Leah, Chip, Liz, Harlan

SET

Ralph arrived first, so Sara and I introduced him to Set. We didn't get farther
then a few practice rounds before Harlan, Liz, and Leah showed up. At this
point, Ralph and Harlan joined me outside for a quick game of "Push Chip's Car".
When we returned, everyone else had arrived, and we all jumped into a game of .
. .

BOHNANZA (1:10)
Leah: 11
Sara: 8
Nancy: 7
Harlan: 7
Vitas: 6
Liz: 6
Ralph: 6
Chip: 3

After a 5-minute explanation for the new folk (myself included), we were off. It
was a very hectic game, and I think everyone enjoyed it. Sara felt that she
would have won (or tied) if she hadn't bought her third bean field, as she
didn't get much use out of it.

I look forward to playing this game again, preferably with a smaller group (say
4 or so), so I can keep better track of who has what beans. The chaos of a big
group is fun, but I think I'd enjoy more of the nuances of this game in a
smaller setting.


We then split up into two groups, one of which played . . .

CARCASSONNE H+G (1:15 including rules)
Ralph: 81
Leah: 81
Harlan: 66
Liz: 60
Vitas: 35

I didn't participate in this game, so I don't have much to say. Read Vitas's
session report for details.

DVONN (0:31)
Sara: 27
Nancy: 14

KITES AND DARTS (0:45)
Chip: 1
Nancy: 2
Sara: 7
(lowest score wins)

This is a game that Nancy has developed. The object is to lay tiles in a
particular pattern without forcing another tile. When an opponent sees you force
a tile, s/he calls out "Penrose" (the name of the mathematician who developed
the pattern), and your turn ends.
I tried a few times to distract my opponents before laying such a tile. I felt
sort of guilty afterwards, but Nancy assured me that it's all part of the game.


Vitas, Nancy, and Ralph played Cave Troll while the rest of us took turns at
Dance Dance Revolution.

ELFENLAND (1:42)
ROUND: 1 2 3 4 Final (cards left)
_ _ _ _
Liz: 6 5 4 4 19 (0)
Leah: 6 5 7 1 18 (6)
Chip: 7 4 5 2 18 (4)
Ralph: 6 6 4 2 18 (2)
Sara: 6 5 3 4 18 (2)
Vitas: 4 5 5 4 18 (0)

As the scores indicate, it was a close game. In the first turn, I abandoned the
trail I had envisioned before the game began, and I paid for it later in the
game. I've decided that picking a route at the start of the game and sticking to
it is still a very good strategy. Unfortunately, I always lose my nerve during
the actual game, and try to maximize the number of cities I visit in my first
turn (in this game, taking 7 tokens proved too tempting).
One of the things I like most about this game is that every time I finish
playing it, I can't stop thinking about different strategies I could employ. I
can't wait to play this game again. I was also impressed by the quickness of the
game with 6 players. I've played longer games with only three players.

To compensate Vitas for forcing him to play Elfenland, I agreed to a few games
of Magic. Who am I kidding? I would have played anyways.

MAGIC
(0:21) 8 turns
Vitas: -1
Chip: 17

Vitas played a Black-Red deck (from what I could see), and I played my
Golbins/Erratic Explosion deck. The ideal combo for that deck is to have a
goblin spy in hand (to reveal the top card of my library), an Erratic Explosion
in hand (pay 3 mana to deal X damage where X = casting cost of the top non-land
card in your library), and a Stratadon (casting cost = 10) on the top of my
library. While this particular combination didn't occur, I did get most of the
pieces on the board, and I discovered a different combination:
With Goblin Chirurgeon (which is sadly banned in extended tournaments) in play,
you can regenerate half of your goblins when Goblin Pyromancer (+3/+0 to all
goblins for one turn) leaves play. This ensures that some creatures are around
to block the following turn.

(0:18) 8 turns
Vitas: -1
Chip: 12

Vitas played a 5-color deck with some banding creatures, and I played a black
deck in which all creatures had a power of 3 with 4 dark rituals to speed things
up. For some reason, Dark Rituals manage to float to the top of this deck, which
is very useful. I think I played 3 in the first 5 turns.

(0:10) 5 turns
Vitas: -8 (?)
Chip: 46

My Acridian (2/4) was equipped with an armadillo cloak (+2/+2, trample, gain
life for damage dealt), and two copies Ancestral Mask (+2/+2 for each other
enchantment in play). Vitas had one enchantment in play (can't remember which
one), which made the Acridian a 16/18 trampling creature that added 16 to my
life total each time it attacked. No wonder this was a quick game!

(0:15) 8 turns
Vitas: 4
Chip: 16

For our last game, we each selected our favorite decks. I played with my Goblin
deck, in the hopes of getting my combo to work (it didn't). Vitas selected his
5-color banding deck.

See you all at Unity Games V!
.chip