Phew, what a night!  Great showing last night, I counted at least 15 people
at one point but wasn't keeping track all night so it could have been more.
Many games were played, among those I actually caught being played were
Thurn and Taxis, Blokus, Glory to Rome, Organic Soup (Cambridge Games
Factory playtest), Puerto Rico, and Manhattan. Hopefully some others will
chime in with those I missed.

Most notebly (for me at least) was the full game of Die Macher that Mark B.,
Mark H., and I were able to get through in under three hours with rules
review. We all played well with Mark B. winning mostly due to his capture
of an 80 point victory in round 7. I came in second with a pair of wins
early in rounds 2 and three. Mark H. wasn't far behind though.

Had a great time, see you all in two weeks.

-Stephen


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Here's an excerpt from my latest column on BoardgameNews.com:

On Monday, February 26th, I shipped out the latest “games for grunts”
packages. A number of BGN readers had contributed funds, and folks in
New England gave both geld and games at Unity Games XII in January 2007.
Here’s the rather eclectic list of games that was sent to three troops
in Iraq and one in Afghanistan:

San Juan x2
For Sale
Coloretto x2
Cosmic Wimpout x3
Bang x2
Wizard x2
Take Stock
Payday
Bohnanza x2
Fairy Tale
Senator
Winner’s Circle
Harry Potter Scene It
Scene It
Stratego Legends
Risk Godstorm
Harry Potter Trivia Game
Cribbage board, plus cards
Phase 10
Canasta Caliente
Ra

I hope our armed forces contain a sufficient number of Harry Potter fans
to make use of all these games. As I noted in my Jan. 16th column,
Innovention Toys had shipped a crate of Khet to American soldiers in the
Middle East. I asked Luke Hooper, President of Innovention, for details
on the donation and he sent the following explanation:

As for the Iraq donations, we didn’t realize our troops overseas even
enjoyed boardgames until we got an email with the picture of the guys
around the old Deflexion board telling us how much the guys around the
base loved the game. We were happy to help and have since sent a case of
games with shirts and splitters overseas to make sure anybody can get in
a Khet game without much of a wait during their downtime. It’s gotten
great feedback, and we even got a thank you from one soldier’s mom.

While researching various game companies, I ran across Games To Troops,
a program organized by GAMA (Game Manufacturer’s Association) in which
game publishers donate hundreds of games to troops overseas. An
impressive effort by GAMA and all of the publishers involved. I’m glad
that Boardgame News can contribute its few boxes to this effort.


You can read the complete column at
http://www.boardgamenews.com/index.php/boardgamenews/comments/w_eric_martin_thou\
ghts_on_toy_fair_and_more_games_for_grunts/

My thanks to everyone who donated, and thanks as well to Ray Dennis at
Geeks & Gamers in Meredith, NH for once again providing a generous
discount on the order.

Eric


--
W. Eric Martin
Editor, http://www.BoardgameNews.com
Editor, http://www.FunandBoardgames.com

Someone pointed out to me privately that the final line in my post about
games for soldiers -- "I’m glad that Boardgame News can contribute its
few boxes to this effort." -- sounds dismissive. This isn't what I
intended, but I understand how it could be read this way. I merely meant
to sound humble in the face of much larger donations by publishers
through GAMA.

On reflection, I realize that my entire BGN column was fairly negative
and sarcastic. I'll try not to be such a Negative Norman in the future...

Eric


--
W. Eric Martin
Editor, http://www.BoardgameNews.com
Editor, http://www.FunandBoardgames.com

At 12:15 AM 3/4/2007, W. Eric Martin wrote:
>On reflection, I realize that my entire BGN column was fairly negative
>and sarcastic. I'll try not to be such a Negative Norman in the future...

     That'd be some sort of major life change wouldn't it?  ;-0

        Mark



"Logan...  you renewed!"
     Francis-7

Mark J. Edwards wrote:

> At 12:15 AM 3/4/2007, W. Eric Martin wrote:
>
>>On reflection, I realize that my entire BGN column was fairly negative
>>and sarcastic. I'll try not to be such a Negative Norman in the future...
>
>
>     That'd be some sort of major life change wouldn't it?  ;-0

Har de har har. (Yes, it would.)

Eric


--
W. Eric Martin
Editor, http://www.BoardgameNews.com
Editor, http://www.FunandBoardgames.com

Hear Ye!  Hear Ye!



We would like to announce the following event ...



Ye Olde Commons, the gamers' tavern and LARP camp, is pleased to host two
weekends of fun for everyone:  the Silver Kingdom Renaissance Festival



Come enjoy a day or a weekend of music, games, food, and drink in good
companionship.   Be amazed by entertainers from near and far, shop vendors
with fine merchandize for the Renaissance gentleman or lady, participate in
games of skill and carry away the prizes of combat tournaments.



Costumes are encouraged!  Boffer weapons are allowed (and may be useful)!



Please get more details at www.kingdomfestival.com
<http://www.kingdomfestival.com/>



When: June 2-3, and June 9-10



Where: Ye Olde Commons  (http://www.yeoldecommons.com)



Questions?  Directions?  E-mail us at harald@... or check out
our web sites!





[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Hmmm, it reads more to me like you are being modest about what you are
able to provide to people who are facing truly horrible circumstances.
Equally, finding your column to be negative and sarcastic? Are we
reading the same column. I do not mean to belittle you in ANY WAY but
speaking as someone who makes his living with those two attitudes
(www.collateraldamage.biz) that column came across as nice and
informative. Also, speaking as someone whose brother played for the US
Army team in the George Bush Desert Classic, a little nay-saying
sarcasm helped me to get through that incredibly long year.

--- In Unity_Games@yahoogroups.com, "W. Eric Martin" <eric@...> wrote:
>
> Someone pointed out to me privately that the final line in my post
about
> games for soldiers -- "I'm glad that Boardgame News can contribute its
> few boxes to this effort." -- sounds dismissive. This isn't what I
> intended, but I understand how it could be read this way. I merely
meant
> to sound humble in the face of much larger donations by publishers
> through GAMA.
>
> On reflection, I realize that my entire BGN column was fairly negative
> and sarcastic. I'll try not to be such a Negative Norman in the
future...
>
> Eric
>
>
> --
> W. Eric Martin
> Editor, http://www.BoardgameNews.com
> Editor, http://www.FunandBoardgames.com
>

I'm hosting game night this coming March 7th, starting at 5pm and
running until sometime between 10-12. (Game nights have been ending
earlier of late due to housework and feelings of winter hibernation, but
perhaps this time we'll run past 10pm.)

Please RSVP with an arrival time if you plan to attend; write if you
need directions.

I have a brand new copy of Fiji that I need to play and review for
Knucklebones, and I also want to play the Robot Martini titles a few
more times. Other than that, I'm open for suggestions. The game room is
(mostly) painted and should be reassembled by game time, giving us more
room to play and a better selection of accessible titles.

See you here then!

Eric


--
W. Eric Martin
Editor, http://www.BoardgameNews.com
Editor, http://www.FunandBoardgames.com

Hi, new to the group and from Southern NH.

Anyone play Memoir'44?  I just purchased it off of ebay along with the
eatern front expansion.

david5272 wrote:

> Hi, new to the group and from Southern NH.
>
> Anyone play Memoir'44?  I just purchased it off of ebay along with the
> eatern front expansion.

David, I'm in Concord, NH and part of a game group called 6am Gamers
that meets weekly on Wednesdays. A number of people in our group play
Memoir '44, along dozens of other games. If you want to attend the
upcoming game night (Wed., March 7th), please email me off-list for
directions and time.

Eric
eric at twowriters dot net

--
W. Eric Martin
Editor, http://www.BoardgameNews.com
Editor, http://www.FunandBoardgames.com

> From: "david5272" <david5272@...>

> Hi, new to the group and from Southern NH.

How Southern?  My group (SOG) usually meets in Westford, MA, a mere 20
minutes drive from sunny Nashua, but we do occasionally meet in Nashua
as well as other places ranging from Andover to Belmont.

> Anyone play Memoir'44?  I just purchased it off of ebay along with the
> eatern front expansion.

Some of the folks in SOG do -- it doesn't tend to hit the table during
our regular game nights just because we don't do a lot of 2-player
games.

Josh

Open gaming in Bridgewater is on for this Friday. Meet at the store
around 7:00. If there are enough Magic players, Dave will get the
hall, otherwise we will get a table in the store.
  I hope to see you there. If we stay at the store, the $2.00 fee is
waived, but you still get the 35% discount coupon!
ScottH.

Hey Scott,

I may be in for Friday at BOGS in Scholars.  Three times out gaming
in like 4 weeks, crazy.  Anyhow, bring Die Handler?  I've been
wanting to play a longer game such as that or Wallenstien or
Caylus.  I'll bring Wallenstien and Caylus, I also picked up a copy
of Hansa, great game and I'll bring that as well.

See you then
Greg

--- In Unity_Games@yahoogroups.com, "ScottH." <sahenshaw@...> wrote:
>
> Open gaming in Bridgewater is on for this Friday. Meet at the store
> around 7:00. If there are enough Magic players, Dave will get the
> hall, otherwise we will get a table in the store.
>  I hope to see you there. If we stay at the store, the $2.00 fee is
> waived, but you still get the 35% discount coupon!
> ScottH.
>

Die Handler will be in the gaming bag of goodies.
ScottH.

--- In Unity_Games@yahoogroups.com, "gstevens31" <gstevens31@...> wrote:
>
> Hey Scott,
>
> I may be in for Friday at BOGS in Scholars.  Three times out gaming
> in like 4 weeks, crazy.  Anyhow, bring Die Handler?  I've been
> wanting to play a longer game such as that or Wallenstien or
> Caylus.  I'll bring Wallenstien and Caylus, I also picked up a copy
> of Hansa, great game and I'll bring that as well.
>
> See you then
> Greg
>
> --- In Unity_Games@yahoogroups.com, "ScottH." <sahenshaw@> wrote:
> >
> > Open gaming in Bridgewater is on for this Friday. Meet at the store
> > around 7:00. If there are enough Magic players, Dave will get the
> > hall, otherwise we will get a table in the store.
> >  I hope to see you there. If we stay at the store, the $2.00 fee is
> > waived, but you still get the 35% discount coupon!
> > ScottH.
> >
>

Does anyone know of any gaming groups on Cape Cod?  I will be moving
back to the area in June and I don't know any gamers to play with.  I'm
mainly looking to play Euro style board games, but wouldn't mind trying
some D&D style RPG as well (I've never played D&D, but have always
wanted to try it out, I have some light RPG experience).

If anyone can help me out, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Dennis

Hi Dennis,
    We used to have a small group of gamers here on the Cape, but all of
them have moved away but me! These days I do most of my gaming off-Cape,
but occasionally can convince some non-gaming friends to play some of
the lighter games in my collection. I would love to start a regular
group closer to home, and could possibly get a couple of other people
interested. Where are you moving to? I live in Yarmouth. At the very
least, we could play some BattleLore or War of the Ring, or any of the
other fine two player games kicking around.
    Welcome to Cape Cod! Drop me a line!
-Dave

Dennis wrote:
> Does anyone know of any gaming groups on Cape Cod?  I will be moving
> back to the area in June and I don't know any gamers to play with.  I'm
> mainly looking to play Euro style board games, but wouldn't mind trying
> some D&D style RPG as well (I've never played D&D, but have always
> wanted to try it out, I have some light RPG experience).
>
> If anyone can help me out, it would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Thanks,
> Dennis
>
>
>
>
> Unity Games webpage: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Unity_Games
> To unsubscribe send email to Unity_Games-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
>

MVGA meets Thursday nights at 7pm in the
Masonic Hall in Holliston, on Route 16 just
east of the center of town. Turn north on
Church Place (which is more a driveway than
a street) to find parking.

We welcome visitors. We'll even
waive the $3.00 fee for your first visit.


Roll call:
Eric, Dan, Rich, Anton


YSPAHAN
(Eric, Dan, Rich, Anton)

The air was frigid outside the Masonic
Hall in Holliston this week, but the heat
worked just fine as we met in the upstairs
room at the back of the hall.  The live
steam group sometimes meets the second
Thursday of the month, and we weren't sure
whether they had a meeting scheduled this
month.

Eric was toting a new copy of Yspahan, the
latest in the line from Ystari games, a firm
whose game all seem to contain the letters
"Y" and "S" (they should sponsor a Sesame
Street episode!)  Yspahan takes no more than
an hour to play, and neither Dan nor Anton
had played it before, so it was unanimously
selected as our first game.

The central mechanic of Yspahan is a set of nine dice that are
rolled each round to determine what actions will be available.
As in Puerto Rico, a wide range of options is available to the
starting player each turn, and those who go later in the turn
have increasingly limited options, though everyone gets a chance
to do something.  The starting player token then moves to the
left and another turn begins.  The game consists of three weeks
with each turn representing a day, for a total of 21 turns.  In
the 3-player game, each player gets to be first seven times.  In
the 4-player game, each player gets to be first five times, with
the 21st and final turn played in order from lowest to highest
score.

When you are starting player, you roll the dice and arrange them
on a small board containing a picture of a six-story tower.  Each
story of the tower is associated with a particular action.  The
ground floor lets you obtain camels (represented by cute little
wooden tokens) and the top floor gives you money (represented by
yellow disks.)  Each of the four floors in between corresponds to
one of the four neighborhoods on the main playing board and lets
you place goods cubes in that neighborhood.  Before you place the
dice, you first arrange them in groups by number.  You then place
them in order, placing the lower-numbered dice on the lower stories
and the higher-numbered dice higher up.  If all the numbers 1 to 6
show up on the nine dice, each story receives at least one die, but
often numbers are missing.  In this case, place the lowest number
on the ground floor (camels,) and the highest number on the top
floor (gold) (unless all nine dice are equal.)  The other numbers
are placed in increasing order starting with the second floor---
thus, the fifth floor is the one that will be empty if even one
number is missing.

The starting player then chooses the dice from one floor of the
tower and uses them to take an action.  You may take camels if you
selected the ground floor---one camel per die---or gold if you chose
the top floor---one coin per die.  If you select a middle floor, you
may place one goods cube per die in the corresponding neighborhood
(there are additional details, but they are easy to understand.)

Instead of the specific action associated with the floor you choose,
you may instead take one of two generic actions:  (1) take a card or
(2) move the supervisor pawn on the board.  The cards are quite
powerful (for example, one card gives you three free camels) and it's
often more beneficial to take a card than try to use an unattractive
story of the tower.  The supervisor sends goods he moves next to off
to the caravan---another board that provides victory points for cubes
that are loaded on it.  When you first read the rules, you think the
supervisor will be used to send opponents' cubes to the caravan, but
if you do the arithmetic you conclude that it's usually better to
send your own cubes to provide additional scoring chances.  When the
supervisor sends your cube to the caravan, you may bribe him with a
camel to send a cube from your general supply instead, leaving the
original cube on the board to score, and we generally tried to work
things so this happened.

In our game, Rich scooped up a 6-camel bonanza on Tuesday of the first
week when he rolled six 1's.  He spent them to purchase several of the
buildings on his individual player board over the next few turns,
giving him special powers (take one extra camel, take two extra coins,
and place one extra goods cube in a neighborhood.)  Like the buildings
in Puerto Rico, these buildings also provide victory points, so they
are a valuable resource (though I've seen players score very well
without building any buildings.)  Eric tried to keep up with Rich in
the building game, but Rich stayed just a little bit ahead for most of
the game.  Dan was the fourth player on the first turn of the game, and
he suffered from poor die rolls (it's not as attractive to choose second
when the first player rolls six 1's) and lagged behind.  Eric placed a
total of three cubes on the caravan, Anton two and Rich one as Dan did
not use it at all.  It was clearly a close game as we counted up the
final scores, but Rich won by a small margin.

Final scores:  Rich 92, Eric 90, Anton 69, Dan 53.

Eric's rating:  8.  There's luck in Yspahan, as there is in almost every
die-rolling game, but most of the time it's not overwhelming (though you
should talk to Dan and get his opinion.)  Even though 2 of us were
playing for the first time, we finished in no more than an hour;  like
Web of Power, this is a game that moves quickly.  We all enjoyed the
experience and expressed a willingness to play again in the future.


CAYLUS
(Eric, Dan, Rich, Anton)

It was only about 8:30, so we had time for a longer game.  Rich and Anton
both expressed interest in Caylus, a game with no luck other than that of
the opening set-up.  Eric is not as fond of Caylus as the others, but it
had been a while since he had played it and he was willing to give the
others a chance to play.  Dan was chosen to be first player, Anton was
second, Eric third and Rich last.  Rich got an extra coin or two to make
up for the fact that he was last, but it's not much consolation when the
best items are snatched up before you have a chance at them.

In our group, at least, everyone tries to grab a cube on the first turn.
Those cubes can be hard to get, and no one wants to fall behind.  Eric
built the first building, the "two cloth or a spam" building.  Dan went
to the castle to build a batch.  Early in our Caylus experience, we
often fought in the castle, but it's a lot mellower these days as we
take turns, allowing the guy with the big hoard to have his way (and that
guy typically builds several houses to avoid having to return.)

Dan used his favor to take NOTHING (as we described it,) advancing his
marker on the building favor track.  Anton had the only cloth, and he
jousted on Turn 2, also taking the building route.  Rich visited the
castle, and used his favor to make it a stack of three markers on the
NOTHING space on the building track.  When Eric finally made it to the
castle on Turn 3, he built two sections, but he opted for the VP track
instead.

It was a gentle game for the most part on the bridge.  None of us made
himself a big enough target to encourage attacks by opponents (there may
have been a few tweaks back and forth.)  The free move was used to move
the provost forward, so the first part of the game finished with an empty
space left in the dungeon---everyone had built in the castle, but only
Eric had built two to get the extra favor, which he used on the VP track.

The three building track aficionados were soon able to build the stone
production buildings as Eric was unable to get to the Mason with the
right cubes (the Mason came out much later than usual.)  These buildings
are powerful, as they generate not only VPs, but a cube a turn.  We ran
low on money during the second stage, and Rich occupied the Inn, but as
it turned out, he had only a few chances to use it and was almost happy
when Anton spent a worker to eject him just as the second phase was
ending.

Eric again contributed more than his share to the castle during the
middle part of the game, enabling him to keep pace with his build-happy
opponents, pushing the VP track at every opportunity (and taking money
just twice.)  The builders now started on residences, and when Eric
added the lawyer to give himself a shot at one, Anton used it to build
two residences in a single turn, raising his income to 4.  Dan had
collected several gold cubes by now and we were closing in on the end
of the game as the final part of the castle filled up.

It looked like the last turn.  We had stacks of cubes and there were
only eight empty slots in the castle.  Dan jumped into the castle first,
followed by Eric and Rich.  Eric free-moved the provost back three and
Anton spent to move it back further.  This put a huge monkey wrench in
Rich's wheels, depriving him of the cubes he needed for that blue
building.  Dan was also looking unhappy;  he had the cubes to build 4
sections in the castle, as did Eric, but if he did so, he'd have to
forego the blue building he had his eyes on.  As a result, he decided
to build only two sections, allowing Eric to build 4 and leaving two
open for Rich.  Rich thought a bit, and counted a bit, and made the
decision to build just one section, let the game go on, and collect
what he needed for his big building.

It was an odd final turn.  Dan was the only player in the castle, as
there was only one open spot and we knew he'd take it.  Both Dan and
Rich placed workers in the turn order section, angling for first choice
of blue buildings even though the game was not likely to go on.  Dan was
trying to figure out how to build two blue buildings, and he momentarily
considered not building, taking the 2 VP penalty and allowing the game
to go on for yet another round!  In the end, however, he decided it
wouldn't get better and finished it off.  We collected our end-game
favors, three blue buildings were built, Eric collected another bucket
of VPs on the favor track, and we were amazed to see that the game had
ended in an exact tie, with Dan just 1 VP behind.  Anton mourned the
fact that an error near the end had put him off stride and cost him the
chance to make it a 4-way horse race.

Final scores:

Rich 77, Eric 77, Dan 76, Anton 63

Eric's rating:  7.  Puzzle games aren't usually my favorite genre (for
example, I rate the much acclaimed Torres as a '3', but I have to admit
that Caylus is a well-constructed game.  I'm usually engaged while I'm
playing, but I rarely go home thinking about the Caylus game I've just
played.  One nice point is the fact that (at least the way we play it)
there's more than one successful strategy in the 4-player game.


Eric Brosius

Unity Games Etiquette - REVISED January 25, 2006

This is an auto-post... Please read carefully so that the UG list is a more
efficient place for both posters and readers.

The number of posts for the Unity Games list has grown rather substantially in
the past months and so here are a few tips to help those who feel a bit lost
under the weight of the emails.

1. When posting to the Unity Games list, try to keep your subject lines in tune
with the content of your message.  If you reply to one email but the subject
starts to drift, please feel free to change the subject line to reflect the new
topic.  This makes it much easier for those reading to filter on the subjects
that interest them most.

2. When posting to the Unity Games list, try to cut down on the unnecessary
quoted text (text from the person you are replying to).  This is especially true
of the boiler-plate Unity Games material that is appended to every posted
message.  It's hard to read these messages with lots of extra quoted text -
especially in digest mode.  The number of messages has grown substantially
lately and not everyone can keep up - so please be judicious in cutting out text
in replies.

3. If the number of messages is getting to you (!!), feel free to go into digest
mode where you receive one message a couple times each day containing a digest
of all posts.  You get the same information, but slightly delayed.  There is
also web-based browsing of the group where you can read the messages online (and
get no emails).  You can configure this at the Unity Games homepage (see below
for the link - use the Edit My Membership option from the UG homepage) or you
can send a message to Unity_Games-owner@yahoogroups.com and we can do it for
you.  If you decided to stay in email mode, be aware that most good email
clients allow you to filter your incoming messages and file them away in a
folder different from your "inbox".  You can easily search on the word
"[Unity_Games]" which appears in every message from the list and use that to
trigger storing your messages in a convenient folder for later viewing.

4. To help people filter on content that is most appropriate for them, please
use the following tags in your subject lines (the braces should be included to
make the tag stand-out for filtering):

[OT] - For posts which are off topic.
[SA] - For Session Announcements (the auto-poster uses "Reminder from the
Calendar of Unity_Games" as the first line).
[SR] - For Session Reports and games played during local Sessions.
[GR] - For Game Reviews.
[META] - for discussions on or about the UG list.

Posts without a tag will be for general game-related discussions, asking about
sessions, discussions of the big Unity Games days, etc. If you miss using a tag,
don't follow up the post with an apology - just let it slide and hopefully
anyone responding will add a tag if needed. Again, most general discussion can
go tag-less. This will go a long way to allowing people to filter on the UG
content.  Remember, all UG posts will have the "[Unity_Games]" tag automatically
applied so these additional tags are used to filter and sort within Unity Games
content.

5. Speaking of off-topic posts... Please try to keep these to a minimum. 
General game discussion is fine but the list has gotten large enough that
off-topic comments (even if short) can overpower and bury the reader as they
might not have time to read everything. I've gotten emails from people who have
missed event announcements buried around lots of off-topic or only marginally
game related postings.  Posting short semi-off-topic or humorous follow-ups to
messages is perfectly fine - just cut down on the original post as much as
possible to keep the read-time short for others.

6. We do allow occasional game-related for-sale or for-trade messages as well.
These should be only for personal trade/sell game-related items and should not
be too frequent - do not flood the list with personal sales emails.  If you have
more than one item for sale/trade, consider posting them together in a single
discrete email.  Do not conduct your sales on the UG list - after the initial
post please keep all excahnges/haggles off-list in private email.  Basically, a
good use of this is when someone wants to clean out thier closet and sell/trade
games to local friends to save on shipping, hassle, etc.  Mentioning bargains
found at a store you have no affiliation with is fine (and encouraged!).  We
currently do not allow any auctions on this forum (either direct auctions or
links to auctions at another site like ebay) and we do not allow posts from
commercial sources (stores or other related parties).

Taking the time to read and understand these steps will make reading the UG list
more enjoyable for everyone.  Thanks!

To configure into digest mode or to change any of your settings, you can visit
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Unity_Games

Our main homepage is now at http://www.unitygames.org

--
Dave Bernazzani
daveber@...