Friday December 7th

After work (I work at the Source Comics and Games in Falcon Heights MN) I headed to the back of the store to get in some games. I had loaded the car with Battlelore, Duel in the Dark, Race for the Galaxy, and La Citta.

The room was full. People were playing Close Action, over a dozen. There were three RPG sessions going. and two games of Munchkin. There were two board games being played, Cuba and some 18XX game. The Cuba game was going quickly, as they were playing I was observing and reading the rules, the game looks interesting and I would like to give it a go, however it does seem so much like Puerto Rico. At some point another guy showed up and was wanting to play a game. We connected and pulled out Duel in the Dark.

We played two nights, I was the Germans, it was rough, after the second night he had over 30 VP's There was no way I could make that up the following night, so I acquiesced. First he targeted Dresden, following the sea until turning over land. I did well on the raid, but he ended at +5 points. Then he went for Munich, along the south edge of the board. He did not go over a single flack on the way to the target, once at the target, the mossie bombed the flak and he escaped with many points.

After that was finished we grabbed two others and played Race for the Galaxy. This game went much better for me. After about 20 min of explanation we were off. I took a gamble during the mid-game and went to finish off the game by building my 12th item. I won by 4 points, as I had a bunch of small buildings. Though I was able to build a 6 cost development that allowed me to score a bunch of points for other developments I had already built. It was fun and I look forward to playing it again. I hope the expansions come out quick enough. I have heard that the first run is entirely out in the public's hand now, and have no idea when the game will be back on the shelves again.

Thats all for now.

Thanks for reading.

Hey all,

Yesterday afternoon I was over at a friends house and we played some games. Manhattan, Municipium, and Condottiere were on the table.

Manhattan went well, left us a bit blah, but the game is 13 years old. Newly reprinted from Rio Grande Games, we were playing the original Hans im Gluck version, imported by Mayfair. Each player gets 24 building, placing 6 each round, thus four rounds in the game. The buildings are placed in any of six cities, atop any building previously placed in one of the nine spaces. There are considerations when placing, you can not cap a building if you do not place a piece that brings your total equal to, or higher than the other. The game went well, and is very teachable to non-gamers. Had I played it 12 years ago, I would have liked it much more I think. Now we have Torres, Alhambra, and Attica, all three great games, and with a more modern flair. I say grab it, if you are new to the games scene, pass if you have played the three games listed above.

Municipium was simply great. Classic Knizia, lots of options, many ways to score points and well themed. This was a pre-production demo copy that we had at the store, so the graphics and bits were not that great. Valley Games will be publishing this soonish and it is sure to be a hit. Grab this one when it comes out, you will not be sorry.

Condottiere, was the last game of the evening. This went quick, we played the recent FFG version of the game. New card art, new cards and a smaller package differentiate this from the previous Euro-Games printing. The play is quick, with players playing cards like a trick taking game, with a ton of bluffing like poker. This may take some time to ramp up the likeablity scale, but it plays up to six, and is not that crazy when it gets that high. I say grab it.

My hope with this blog is to report on gaming activities that I am involved in. Shortly after playing the games, I will come here and let you know what happened. Also, I will be putting up the occasional editorial where I talk about what I see happening in the game industry.

Game on,
Dan