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dagibbsSo, this was Cangames weekend. I didn't do it quite as intensively as last year -- pre-registered for fewer games, and spent more time away from the convention. But, I also ran a couple games.
On Friday evening, I played Twilight Imperium, 3rd edition. A bit of a monster of a game, and with 7 players some of whom probably shouldn't have been in the game (it was listed as experience level 3 (on a 1-5 scale) and I came in never having played but having read the rules -- a couple players hadn't even read the rules and seemed quite slow picking things up as well), it ran long and didn't get anywhere near finished. It has lots and lots of bits. It has an interesting combination of economic, action point allowance, variable player powers, and a Puerto Rico like role selection mechanism. I'd be interested in playing it again, but don't think I'd buy it.
Saturday morning, I ran Aquadukt then Saga. Both had very few registered players, but gabriel_le had run Saint Petersburg just before, with 8 players, and many of those 8 transferred over to Aquadukt and I got two full tables of 8. One table finished quickly with scores of 18-18-18-17, so they decided to play a 2nd game (with my full encouragement) and at least one player tracked me down later to get the full proper name of the game, and ask about where to buy it.
Several of the Aquadukt players then moved to Saga, and I had 7 players for that. Again, people seemed to enjoy it, and one table (4) decided to play a 2nd game as well.
In the afternoon I played Imperial, which is kind of like Antike (Rondel, one for one cancellation in combat) but with an economic/stock ownership game underlieing it. It was a lot of fun, though it ran late. I had to leave before the end (over an hour after the nominal finish time) because of dinner plans. I liked this game a lot, and bought it.
I had dinner with an old high school friend and her girl friend who were up visiting from Toronto. Then commodorified and raynedaze and a friend joined us for bubble tea. After tea, raynedaze and friend wandered off and the rest came back to my place for social time and some port. (I opened one of my bottle of the Australian 21 year old.) I wandered back to Cangames in time to meet gabriel_le after her volunteer shift, and she and ironphoenix came back to our place for some more port and chatting.
I also went shopping on Saturday and (in addition to Imperial) bought Taj Mahal, Maharaja, and Medici. All were either on my to-buy list (3 of the 4) or top 100 (3 of the 4) or both.
On Monday, I was registered for Dune in the afternoon and after a lazy morning made it there. Unfortunately, the person running/explaining the game (Michel Boucher, never play in a game he's running) was utterly incompetent. He repeatedly got rules wrong and was very unclear on how the game ran. Still, looks like an interesting game, and con_girl (who also played) liked it.
After looking for, but not finding, gabriel_le, con_girl and I went for Pho. Then we came back and played Lord of the Rings, a cooperative game. In our first game, Sauron retrieved the ring and the world was lost. We played a 2nd game, and the 2nd time round the world was saved. It was a fun game, and I'd play it again -- but still not something I'd likely buy.
After Sunday, ironphoenix and con_girl joined gabriel_le and me for some nice social time, before they both wandered home around 1am.
Yes, a good weekend on the whole.
Sadly, though, no climbing today.
On Friday evening, I played Twilight Imperium, 3rd edition. A bit of a monster of a game, and with 7 players some of whom probably shouldn't have been in the game (it was listed as experience level 3 (on a 1-5 scale) and I came in never having played but having read the rules -- a couple players hadn't even read the rules and seemed quite slow picking things up as well), it ran long and didn't get anywhere near finished. It has lots and lots of bits. It has an interesting combination of economic, action point allowance, variable player powers, and a Puerto Rico like role selection mechanism. I'd be interested in playing it again, but don't think I'd buy it.
Saturday morning, I ran Aquadukt then Saga. Both had very few registered players, but gabriel_le had run Saint Petersburg just before, with 8 players, and many of those 8 transferred over to Aquadukt and I got two full tables of 8. One table finished quickly with scores of 18-18-18-17, so they decided to play a 2nd game (with my full encouragement) and at least one player tracked me down later to get the full proper name of the game, and ask about where to buy it.
Several of the Aquadukt players then moved to Saga, and I had 7 players for that. Again, people seemed to enjoy it, and one table (4) decided to play a 2nd game as well.
In the afternoon I played Imperial, which is kind of like Antike (Rondel, one for one cancellation in combat) but with an economic/stock ownership game underlieing it. It was a lot of fun, though it ran late. I had to leave before the end (over an hour after the nominal finish time) because of dinner plans. I liked this game a lot, and bought it.
I had dinner with an old high school friend and her girl friend who were up visiting from Toronto. Then commodorified and raynedaze and a friend joined us for bubble tea. After tea, raynedaze and friend wandered off and the rest came back to my place for social time and some port. (I opened one of my bottle of the Australian 21 year old.) I wandered back to Cangames in time to meet gabriel_le after her volunteer shift, and she and ironphoenix came back to our place for some more port and chatting.
I also went shopping on Saturday and (in addition to Imperial) bought Taj Mahal, Maharaja, and Medici. All were either on my to-buy list (3 of the 4) or top 100 (3 of the 4) or both.
On Monday, I was registered for Dune in the afternoon and after a lazy morning made it there. Unfortunately, the person running/explaining the game (Michel Boucher, never play in a game he's running) was utterly incompetent. He repeatedly got rules wrong and was very unclear on how the game ran. Still, looks like an interesting game, and con_girl (who also played) liked it.
After looking for, but not finding, gabriel_le, con_girl and I went for Pho. Then we came back and played Lord of the Rings, a cooperative game. In our first game, Sauron retrieved the ring and the world was lost. We played a 2nd game, and the 2nd time round the world was saved. It was a fun game, and I'd play it again -- but still not something I'd likely buy.
After Sunday, ironphoenix and con_girl joined gabriel_le and me for some nice social time, before they both wandered home around 1am.
Yes, a good weekend on the whole.
Sadly, though, no climbing today.
