The Games We Play

The Games We Play

A repository of reports on the Wednesday night sessions of the club and anything else related to the club or boardgaming in general, which may be of interest to anyone who may be passing by.

Thursday 29 July 2010

Session Report – 28 July 2010


After the big attendance from the week before, I was aware that this week we would be down on numbers, many people having indicated that they would be missing. So I made sure that I had some games in my bag that would scale down to 2 if necessary. As it turned out it was 3 with Colin and Steve H (who was unexpected).

We played Fury of Dracula, which plays well with 2 & 3. Steve and I both know and like the game, while Colin was new. The problem with the game is that it usually runs too long for one of our sessions with about half the games we've played at the club going unfinished, this was also the case with this one although it was tight and interesting throughout, with the possible exception of the unfortunate ending (despite the fact that I made a number of mistakes).

Steve and I have played a series of games alternating as Dracula, I couldn't recall who's turn it was but Steve thought he had played the count last so I took the role (when I checked I discovered Steve was right) and Steve divided the hunters with Colin.

I started off in Dublin and remained there with a Dark Call which was necessary because I had no Vampires to start with, before heading over to Galway and placing the Vampire. It was at this point that the Evasion event occurred, really too early in the game to be of any help. Having thought for a bit I headed off to Hamburg, so leaving the Vampire unprotected as I didn't have a chance to hide (this was mistake number 1 I think, I should have played Hide with the evasion).

From Hamburg I headed down to Berlin, at which point my location was discovered due to hypnosis of Mina, and I was faced with Van Helsing heading my way, so I double backed to Hamburg so I could put to sea, stopping time so that the hunters would have to face the Vampire at night if they found it (This was mistake number 2 as it meant the time for the Vampire to mature was delayed by one turn and Dr. Seward found the Vampire with 1 turn to spare).

In an attempt to throw the hunters of the trail, I returned to the British isles, but was found and there ensued a chase around England, Wales & Scotland, when I able to keep the hunters behind me until night again fell, due in large extent to the fact that it was very foggy throughout the UK at that time. This ended when I was able to catch Dr. Seward in Edinburgh after he had been he had been stripped of his equipment by the Scottish customs, unfortunately he escaped immediately (I don't think I won a single combat roll all evening).

After this I set off to sea again and sailed around Britain, throwing the hunters off my trail, because when they thought I was in the Mediterranean I was actually in the Irish Sea. I landed in Liverpool and planted a Vampire. It was at this point that I totally screwed up, intending to hide and then head up to Edinburgh via Manchester; I actually laid the hide card and then must have had brain fade as I next laid down Edinburgh as if I was already in Manchester. This was discovered at the end when van Helsing used resolve to jump to Manchester at which point we decided to call the game. The penalty for the illegal move may well have made the game unwinnable for me at that point, but who knows.

I will take this opportunity to acknowledge publically Steve's paint job on the game figures.




Posn.
Player
1=
Dave D
1=
Colin
1=
Steve H
July 2010 Meetings 4, Games 12, Average Attendance 7.5

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