Session Report 3 June 2009

There were just the 5 of us this week, the ideal number for another game of Battlestar Galactica, this being Donald's first try at the game.
The characters were Gaius Baltar (Mike), Admiral Helo (Andy), Chief Tyrol (Donald), Apollo (Myself) and President Laura Roslin (Steve H).
This game was somewhat different to the other games we have played, as apart from right at the beginning when Galactica was briefly damaged and quickly repaired, space was pretty well clear of Cylons throughout (it was so quiet in fact, that despite the fact that I spent most of the game in a Viper, I never got to shoot at one raider). The humans appeared not to get off to a good start, when an early crisis was Legendary Discovery, this would have got have got us off to a flying start, but an Investigative Committee revealed Destiny badly against us, before most had received a full hand of cards, so this was failed.
I later realised that failing that check could have been a blessing in disguise, because the first destination was the 3 distance Asteroid Field, if we had passed the Legendary Discovery check, this would have brought us to the sleeper phase after just one jump, although I suppose Andy could, of course have picked the other destination. As it was we proceeded to a second jump, which was also an Asteroid Field, so by the time the Sleeper Agent phase was reached, we were already at 6 distance, only 2 from Kobol.
It didn't take long now for the Cylons to make themselves known, as both Roslin and Baltar threw negative cards into a skill check covered by an Investigative Committee. On Roslin's turn she did not reveal but used an Arrest Order to throw Helo in the brig (making me Admiral), Baltar did reveal, sending the Chief to Sickbay, although an Executive Order from Helo got him out before his turn. We removed Roslin, from office and I became President as well. Roslin still didn't reveal in the hope of better interfering with Skill checks, while Baltar moved to Caprica and took a choice of 2 crises, but by this time we had already reached 8 distance we were soon able to make the final jump at a risk of 3 population, we had plenty in hand.
So an easy win for the humans, the first we've had at the club, I gather Mike was a cylon from the beginning, while Steve didn't receive his card until the Sleeper phase, by which time we were almost home.
A quick statistics note, after all the play this year, usually with 5 players, Battlestar Galactica has jumped into our all time Top 10 and currently sits at number 8.

Battlestar Galactica 160 mins.
Posn.	Player
1=	Donald
1=	Andy
1=	Dave D
4=	Steve H
4=	Mike

UK Games Expo 6 & 7 June 2009

This weekend it is the third UK Games Expo at the Clarendon Suite on the Hagley Road. Dave C & Ben will be involved with the Living Dungeon and will be there both days.

I shall also be there both days and will be running Demo Games for Great Fire on Saturday morning, short precis of the game can be found here.

No doubt reports of the weekend's events will appear in the new future.

Catch Up – May 2009

More catching up
6 May
6 players, I believe Dave & Ben had another Monsterpocalypse session.

Small World 90 mins.
Posn.	Player	Score
1	Mike	90
2	Andy	89
3	Steve H	84
4	Dave D	82

I was surprised at this result, I and I think the others thought I was doing quite well, but the reality turned out a bit differently.

Dominion 60 mins.
Posn.	Player	Score
1	Andy	29
2	Mike	28
3	Steve H	27
4	Dave D	23

Andy & I went for gardens and split them 6 each, I ended up on 39 cards, 1 short of 6 extra points.
13 May
5 players

Power Grid 120 mins.
Posn.	Player	Score
1	Paul	14+
2	Dave D	14
3	Mike	13
4	Steve H	12
5	Steve Pe	11

Played on the Central Europe map
Steve H & I then left.

Katzenjammer Blues 15 mins.
Posn.	Player	Score
1	Mike	8
2	Steve Pe	4
3	Gordon	3

 
20 May
9 players, we welcomed Donald for the first time.

Planet Steam 120 mins.
Posn.	Player	Score
1	Gordon	625
2	Dave D	589
3	Donald	569
4	Steve P	549

Interesting game of resource mining on an alien planet. It has a very nice resource market mechanism, although perhaps too many auctions for my taste. The pieces are very nice, although I do think that the board is one of the ugliest I have seen.

Liberté 150 mins.
Posn.	Player	Score
1	Dave C	16
2	Steve H	14+
3	Mike	14
4	Andy	12
5	Ben C	6

I know Dave & Steve have been wanting to get this on the table for some time and they finally had a chance this week.
27 May
4 players plus Dave running Corporation in the same room having been thrown out of the bar due to the Champions League final.

Power Grid 150 mins.
Posn.	Player	Score
1	Steve H	20
2	Gordon	17
3	Dave D	15
4	Donald	11

This was played on the German map with large power plant deck, so there were 32 cities in the game and the end game trigger was 20. 3 of the 5 plants thrown out randomly at the beginning were garbage plants, so this resulted in big demand for Coal & Oil. As has been common this month I had a bad game, but I should really have had second place at the end. I spotted that I could deny Donald the Oil he needed and bought enough to do this one the last turn, but I missed that I could screw Steve in the same way by buying some more. Gordon could have ended the game at that point and would have had the victory with me second. I blame all the noise coming from the other table.
Power Grid now moves back to the number 2 game so far this year, but I can't see it overtaking Battlestar Galactica.

Catch up 15-29 April 2009

Ok, a long time has passed, so this is going to be a very quick recap of what has gone in the past weeks with very little commentary. This post covers the end of April; hopefully I'll do May tomorrow.
15 April
8 players

Small World 100 mins.
Posn.	Player	Score
1	Dave D	99
2	Andy	98+
3	Paul	98
4	Mike	84
Njet! 30 mins.
Posn.	Player	Score
1	Andy	67
2	Dave D	60
3	Paul	59
4	Mike	52

There was some discussion of the rules for this game, which we revisited after a long period, looking at it, afterwards, I think I discovered that we had made a few errors.

Pillars of the Earth, The 90 mins.
Posn.	Player	Score
1	Steve Pe	56
2	Gordon	40
3	Steve H	38
4	Simon	33

This was the basic game without the expansion.

Dominion 30 mins.
Posn.	Player	Score
1	Steve Pe	30
2	Steve H	25
3	Gordon	23
4	Simon	21
Dominion 30 mins.
Posn.	Player	Score
1	Steve Pe	29+
2	Simon	29
3	Steve H	23
4	Gordon	21

 
22 April

 
5 Players

Battlestar Galactica 160 mins.
Posn.	Player
1=	Dave D
1=	Andy
3=	Ben C
3=	Dave C
3=	Steve H

We introduced Andy to this, but I don't think it is really his type of thing. Characters were Dave D– Zarek (Cylon), Steve – Tigh, Ben – Starbuck, Andy – Apollo (Cylon), Dave C - Chief Tyrol.
I seem to recall that Ben made a move that I thought indicated he was a cylon and therefore my ally and so, as President, I played an arrest order on Apollo, the other pilot. It turned out that it was actually Apollo who was my Cylon ally, but all turned out well in the end as the humans were defeated.
29 April
7 players, Dave & Ben played Monsterpocalypse, I don't have details of that game

Comuni 150 mins.
Posn.	Player	Score
1	Gordon	43
2	Steve P	29
3	Mike	24
4	Steve H	21
5	Dave D	11

I have to say that if I never play this again it will be too soon, the game seems to exemplify everything that is wrong with many of the recent euro game that I have been introduced to. A hodgepodge of mechanics slung together to make a really boring game that is almost like Caylus in its ability to cure Insomnia.