Wargame Night 11-12

In November, Tim, Bob, Ross and myself got together for Settlers of Cataan: Seafarers. We haven't played this game since I bought it last year and I thought it would be interesting to play. In addition, if we played two games then our scores for the tournament would be doubled as well. Unfortunately, for those that didn't show, and you know who you are, then your tournament scores would be doubly "awarded".

As it were, I decided to place my first settlement on a 8-9-10 hex combination. It seemed to work at first and I was able to capitalize on a lot of stuff that came to my way. But as time went on I went into a recession of sorts and lost my way. Tim and Bob placed their first settlements on the westerly island whereas, Ross and I chose to hunker down on the more larger easterly island.

In this game we later came to find out that ships themselves could alter their course after they have been placed during the build phase on another turn. Thus, the ship at the furthest end of the line could be picked up and placed on another path next to another ship or harbor/settlement thus allowing the player to go off in different directions if he so desired. However, the placing of a pirate ship in the hex where ships are prevents them from moving until such time the pirates are driven off.

I was the red team and Tim was the white team which I believe makes him a racist? Don't know for sure but we both aimed for the opposite ends of the unknown section of the board looking for the mysterious and elusive "gold" hex. The owner of the gold hex, that is, the colonizer of the gold hex receives any resource he desires if the number on that gold hex is rolled.

Eventually, Tim outplayed me and surrounded the only gold hex on my side of the board and prevented me from settling this venerable but highly sought for piece of real estate. Bob was the orange player and absolutely refused to build any ships to contest the other players over the gold hexes. Ross as the blue player was the first to discover a gold hex and built a settlement on it. However, I don't believe it did him much good as he only scored once or twice from it.

Surprisingly, Tim was able to pull into first place yet once again even though he started off poorly. Bob surprisingly placed second on a non-naval platform and I came in third with Ross unfortunately in fourth place.

In the second Settlers game, Bob got first place, Ross got second place, Tim and myself tied for third place. Yet again, I seem to be predisposed to third place. Ross I'm sure felt good getting into 2nd place.

Now for some stats. The first game was played up to 16 rounds. The second was played up to 19 rounds. For both games the most popular number was "8" - it came up 8 times in the first game and a whopping 13 times in the second game. The number "8" is clearly the King of Kings and Lord of Lords in Settlers.

The second most common number rolled was "5,6 & 11" in the first game as these numbers equally came up 7 times, however the number "10" did show up a healthy 6 times. In the second game, far and away the second most popular, the number "6" came up, again a whopping 12 times with "5 & 10" coming up 8 times equally in third. However, the number "11" did drop off precipitously in the second game only being rolled 3 times in a 19 round game. So, it appears from both games that the number combo of "5,6, & 10", is a powerful combination not to be trifled with or ignored and to do so invites great peril.

Naturally, the dread pirate/robber came up 6 times in the 16 round game and 9 times in the 19 round game.

The least performing numbers in both games were the numbers "2 & 12". The first game they only came up 3 times each. In the second game, only the "12" came up one time! With the number "2" not being rolled once! Stay away from these two outlier numbers. Of course, we may roll differently on the next game.

Interestingly, the numbers "3 & 4" were the most consistent in both games - coming up 6 times each in both games! And surprisingly, the number "9" which should be a strong number was relatively weak only coming up 5 times in both games.

Should be curious how we play next time.

Wargame Night 10-12

In October, Bob, Tim, Ross and myself got together for Twilight Imperium Shattered Empire. The following races were randomly selected:

Tim - Naalu Collective
Bob - Clan of Saar
Ross - The Yin Brotherhood
Bruce - Universities of Jol-Nar

We decided to go with a "3 ring map" instead of our usual "4 ring map" to keep it simple. However we did turn the map red for maximum surprise and indeed it seemed I suffered the most with very little to choose from as far as planets were concerned as systems placed around me were meager pickings as I later found out.

Tim on the other hand was completely non-plussed by the one advantage that gave the Naalu their edge against the other races - they get to always go first. Tim always prefers to go last and as a result his own racial advantage was a disadvantage to his playing style. That didn't stop him from being ruthless, however. Tim and I did bump up against other and I did seize two artifacts which game me 2 victory points, albeit temporarily.

Bob as the completely mobile Clan of Saar slowly ventured out of his wolf den only to turn around at the last moment and place every single ship he owned back onto his homeworld thus leaving his nearby systems completely naked to rape and pillage by neighboring races. Amazingly, neither Tim nor Ross took advantage of Bob's tail between his legs.

Ross as the Brotherhood of Yin began a steady and slow exploration of nearby systems and had placed the Warfare Red Alert token on his ships for a quick shot to who knows where? The quirky but sly Ross didn't let on as to where he was going and so I picked the Diplomacy Strategy card and ensured he wouldn't invade me that turn.

Well, to make a long story short, Bob built up his fleet and suddenly burst forth from his lair and scrapped with Tim over some planets in his sphere of influence. Ross invaded Mecatol Rex and Tim headbutted me over an artifact on some no-name planet that I just can't seem to remember. In the end, Bob got first place with 8 pts. Tim got second place with 7pts and Ross and I tied for third place with 4 points.

For some odd reason it was a rather intense game if I recall correctly. Perhaps it was due to the smaller map and to the fact we each had to choose 2 Strategic Agenda cards that made the game so on edge.

For some odd reason I keep getting in 3rd place. Perhaps it's due to the absence of Eric? I just don't know. Surely, it can't be me.

Next time!