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!