Wargame Night 04-13

On April 13th, Tim, Bob, Eric and myself got together for another Twilight Imperium/ Shattered Empire slugfest. The following races were randomly chosen:

Bruce - Universities of Jol-Nar
Tim - The Winnu
Bob - Sardak Norr
Eric - Brotherhood of Yinn

Because there were just four players this night we decided to forgo the usual rolling of the dice to decide where we would be seated, a highly unusual move to say the least considering past performances. As such, I was seated between Eric and Bob with Tim straight across from me.

The map was painted red and all requisite markers were placed where they should be per the rules of the game or some derivative thereof as agreed by all players.

As the Universities of Jol-Nar I was already quite ahead in the Tech field and was positioning myself to reap great rewards with the public objective cards hoping they would turn up in my favor. As the map came into focus with our explorations, it became clear to Tim at least that it was going to be a long night! Though he was merely 3 hexes away from Mecatol Rex, he might as well have been on the far side of the moon with the Nebula and Ion Storm blocking a quick move to Mecatol when the time was ripe for him.

I believe I had something to do with placing the Ion Storm during the initial setup phase but I wasn't the only person trying to slow Lord Hiddeous down. I think Bob placed the Nebula in Tim's way as well. Of course, this would force the Winnu under Tim's tutelage to tangle with the Brotherhood of Yinn being lead by Eric. Mixing things up even more between Eric and Tim was the fact that an ancient artifact worth one victory point sat between Eric and Tim, enticing both antagonists to duke it our over this relic from the past.

Needless to say, Tim was having a rough time with his precarious position as both Eric and Bob continued to squeeze the Winnu from either side and preventing a true breakout to gather planets and ultimately points to win the game.

Bob as the Sardak Norr and I as the Universities of Jol-Nar were of a natural kin-folk as we "slapped suckers" as Bob put it and sealed a deal to allow each other to expand without provocation from either one us thus avoiding war between the two pond-scum alien races. This allowed both Bob and I to gather victory points at the expense of Tim and Eric. Surprisingly, neither Tim nor Eric ventured a temporary alliance to counter our very thin truce/alliance much to their eventual loss.

In the meantime, Tim maneuvered two starfleet task forces around the Nebula and Ion Storm with both Eric and Bob watching anxiously from afar. Tim now had a ready force available to strike Mecatol Rex on one side of the Ion Storm and another force captured the ancient artifact located on the planet of Tar Mann opposite Eric's purple-colored fleet. Tim was certainly walking on egg shells around both Eric and Bob knowing full well that any little match could set off the powder keg of war. For good measure, Tim dropped space mines in orbit above the planet of Tar Mann. Naturally, Eric as the Brotherhood of Yinn decided to follow suit with his own space mines as well.

Eventually, Tim did in fact strike Mecatol Rex with ease, taking down the native space fighter defense forces as well as mopping up the remaining token ground forces without so much as coughing or sneezing. There was much rejoicing on the part of Tim.

Unbenownst to everyone else, however, Bob as the Sardak Noor decided to build a War Sun and laid the keel of it right next to the recently occupied Mecatol Rex that Tim so easily invaded. Clearly, a War Sun so close to a strategic planet like Mecatol could only mean one thing - war!

In the meantime, Eric as the Brotherhood of Yinn opened up with a salvo on the Winnu fleet stationed at Tar Mann. Eric won handily over Tim and was able to seize the ancient artifact from him much to his chagrin. There was much rejoicing on the part of Eric.

Bob was also eyeing the ancient artifact that Eric had just taken from the Winnu and decided to move his War Sun task force into the Mecatol Rex system. Naturally, he took out Tim's outnumbered space fleet with ease.

It was at this time that I grabbed the political strategy card and forced Eric to read a political card from his hand for the galactic council to vote upon. Eric then read aloud the card which stated that an ancient artifact had been found on Mecatol Rex and that to open it could either bring reward or doom depending on how we rolled the dice. If we rolled a "six" or above then we would all get two tech advancements for free, however, if I rolled a "five" or less then the entire Mecatol system would suffer a Hiroshima-like nuclear explosion from the ancient artifact and destroying every single unit in the Mecatol Rex system with each system touching Mecatol Rex suffering a similar but less deadly fate. If we voted yes then I would roll the dice but if we voted no then the card would be rejected and nothing would happen. Naturally, both Bob and Tim voted against opening the artifact and setting off who knows what but both Eric and I voted for opening the artifact. The vote was passed. I rolled the dice. And I rolled a "five"! Booooom! The entire system was destroyed taking Bob down with it much to the joy of Eric who made a hail Mary pass with that vote as he was certainly on the receiving end of Bob's War Sun. I'm sure it was like a million suns shining forth from Mecatol Rex leaving nothing in its wake. I believe that was the first time that a War Sun was destroyed by a political card. Good job Eric for playing the card! Good job Bruce for rolling the die!


So Eric was saved and both Tim and Bob were stunned. As the game wound down for the night I was indeed well positioned to profit and eventually placed a decent 2nd place finish. Eric had tied with me but takes 3rd place as no two people can tie in Twilight Imperium. Unfortunately for Tim, he would take last place but certainly made the best effort anyone could possible do in the confines of his empire. Bob despite his grotesque losses on Mecatol Rex did in fact win the game for April! Not sure how that happened but it did. Great job Bob!

Great game everyone!

Wargame Night 03-13

On March 9th, Tim, Bob, Ross, Eric, Doug, Paul and myself got together for a 7-player Twilight Imperium game. The following races were randomly chosen:

Tim - The Mentak Coalition
Bruce - Clan of Saar
Bob - Yassiril Tribes
Ross - Barony of Letnev
Eric - The L1z1x Mindnet
Doug - Brotherhood of Yin
Paul - The Xxcha Kingdom

We built a 4-ring map with hexes face down for exploration. Players in the 1, 4 and 5 positions - Ross, Paul and Tim - received extra trade goods as their locations on the map were considered less than desirable per game rules.

As the game got started it was apparent to Bob that the alien races at the far south end of the map - the Yassiril Tribes, Barony of Letnev, and the L1z1x Mindnet - were going to have to align themselves strategically and if necessary, make an alliance (directly or indirectly), to go head to head with the more advantaged races sitting pretty comfortably in the center and north side of the map.

Needless to say, Ross, aka Chaos Monkey, couldn't come to grips with such a necessity as joining a regional alliance for the preservation of his race. It was his way or the highway and consequently neither Bob nor Eric could accept such a rogue player with delusions of grandeur to plague their foreign policy in their part of the galaxy. Tensions mounted thusly amid Ross' many prevarications regarding his intentions going forward. The other alien races applauded the Barony's bold moves and independent actions in defiance of his neighbors self-serving policy choices. A clash of arms was imminent.

In the meantime, Tim insisted on being confrontational as he led the Mentak Coaltion to position a fleet merely two hexes away from my homeworld in direct violation of alien protocol. Of course, as the Clan of Saar, it's not as much of a threat since we don't need our "homeworld" of asteroids because we can live amongst the stars with our floating space docks. That being said, clearly his militaristic breast beating could not be countenanced and thus a cold war standoff ensued with multiple ships and troops taking up positions opposite each other. An "accident" was just waiting to happen to set off a local war.

On the far side of the galaxy, Doug and Paul sat next to each other nervously eyeing the other's local area for opportunities to exploit. As the newbie's in the game, they took a cautious approach and ventured forth carefully not to arouse their neighbors ire. Paul as the Xxcha Kindom of turtle-backs had defense going for him, whereas, Doug as the Brotherhood of Yin had fanatical conversion going for him as his strong suit. Even though both Doug and Paul are Den Leaders in their local cub scout pack, a queasy feeling of distrust soon developed between them and their public discord became evident when Doug kept "marking" Paul's system for exploration much to Xxcha chagrin.

Meanwhile, back on the southside of the galaxy, Ross began a menacing buildup of dreadnaughts that neither Bob nor Eric could accept. Eric attacked first and seized one of Ross' colonies right outside the Barony's homeworld. Then came Bob with a direct attack on the Barony's homeworld utilizing the Warfare Strategy Agenda that gave the puny and very ugly Yassiril Tribes the upper hand. I then seized an ancient artifact from Bob which was precariously close to the battlefront between Bob and Ross. It should be said that the Yassiril Tribes did abandon this base and I had no opposition when we invested the planet with Clan Saar Troops. Nevertheless, it was a cynical plot by the Yassiril Tribes to sow envy and mutual recrimination between Ross  - aka Chaos Monkey - and myself which almost worked if I hadn't dropped space mines in a timely manner to protect my assets which in turn gave pause to the Barony on seizing this valuable artifact from me.

Back to the far side, Doug finally pulled the trigger and invaded Xxcha territory in spite of Paul's massive War Sun that was sure to block the Brotherhoods ambitions in that part of the galaxy. If I recall correctly, they both annihilated each other and Xxcha territory still remained in Paul's hands. Doug then invaded another sector of the Xxcha Kingdom and was able to take two planets from Paul. I'm quite positive that Paul will not let Doug forget what he did to him in the next game. As you may or may not know, we may forgive one's egregious and foolish actions but we never, ever forget!

On my side of the galaxy, Tim couldn't resist his impulse to push other people around and invaded my Clan Saar lands. Of course, we were waiting for him. Naturally, we failed miserably in stopping his invasion and lost one of our precious planets to his lesbian cohorts of thieving armies. This could not stand. In response, The Clan brilliantly executed a double envelopment that utilized both of my Space Docks as improvised war suns. Each space dock was the flagship for each fleet that counterattacked my lost territory and invaded one of his own. Both of his fleets were vaporized supporting his forces on the planets below and the Mentak armies became isolated and without hope as a result. They slowly began to starve which is the way we wolves of the Saar Clan like it! We prefer skin and bones to fat and flesh when we gnaw on our enemies! All hail the Clan of Saar!

Amazingly, the score was dominated by me as the Clan when we reached 8 points in a 10 point game but then suddenly lost all of our wind and was stuck right there for the duration of the game. Tim's inhuman ability of bouncing back when down, brought him back from 7th place to 2nd place overall.

Interestingly enough, in spite of being sandwiched between Eric and Bob and their rather testicular military policy of crushing someone in between, the Barony of Letnev under the tutelage of Ross was able to somehow eek out 3rd place! The final scores were - Bruce with 9 points (1st), Tim 9 points (2nd), Ross 6 points (3rd), Eric 6 points (4th), Bob 5 points (5th), Doug 4 points (6th) and Paul 4 points (7th). To be fair, I barely won this game and much credit should unfortunately be given to Tim for a great comeback.

And in the end, in a rather awkward and not so insignificant development, Mecatol Rex was left completely open and unmolested the entire 7 player game! How did that happen? May it never happen again.

Great game for our first ever 7-player Twilight Imperium slugfest. Or was it our second 7-player game? Can't remember. At any rate, cudo's to Doug and Paul for absorbing the arcane procedures and byzantine world of the Twilight Imperium universe and playing a very decent first time game for a bunch of newbies.

Wargame Night 02-13

On February 9th, Tim, Ross, Eric (yes, Eric) and myself got together and played Twilight Imperium. The following races were randomly chosen.

Eric - Universities of Jol-Nar
Ross - Mentak Coalition
Tim - L1z1x Mindnet
Bruce - Barony of Letnev

Everything was set-up as usual for a four-alien game within a 3-ring map (sorry for all the dashes). The map was painted red to keep the spirit of exploration alive and well within the Twilight Imperium universe. The wormhole nexus was placed and ancient artifacts were ensconced in the proper hexes in good order.

The map was set-up with red sides up to mask our planet and system placement. As the game got going, I knew I had a tough secret objective because I needed to occupy Mecatol with 6 dreadnaughts and space dock and some troops. It seemed I could achieve this secret objective if only I could get to Mecatol Rex. Not a problem!

As I ventured forth from Homeworld, I decided to take a detour and seize the artifact conveniently located exactly midway between Ross's Mentak Coaltion and myself. Thankfully, I got there first and was rewarded with a victory point right away. I also felt it prudent to lay some mines for good measure in the system containing the ancient artifact. And wouldn't you know it, but Ross started sending some large capital ships near the system trying to find the right time or right excuse to attack there when it suited the Mentak Coaltion's alien agenda.

As it was, I was saved by Tim's L1z1x Mindnet bell! It was at this time that Tim decided to go George Zimmerman on Ross' Trayvon Martin by falling upon the peaceful world of El Nath with many warships and troops. And boy was it a slugfest, much to my glee. Ross insisted on keeping this piece of galactic real estate at all costs and Tim also felt it was much needed regardless of his costs. And pay they both did. Ross lost all of his cruisers which consisted nearly 70% of his fleet. Tim in turn lost somewhere between 3 and 4 Dreadnaughts as the system of El Nath became littered with the detritus and debris of shattered vessels and wrecked fleets.

In the meantime, Eric decided to make a bold move and seize Mecatol Rex much to my chagrin. He took it effortlessly, if I recall. Amazingly, it was in this game that both Eric and I were able to complete not just one or two but three "Transfer Actions" in the game between the both of us. As you may or may not know, transfer actions have become a source of heated debated whether they are really necessary and merely window dressing that we have yet to understand all of its implications.

As it were, Tim eventually took over El Nath from Ross after much death and destruction. Ross sued for peace. But apparently, Tim would not brook weakness from his enemy. He continued to press forward towards Ross' homeworld and eventually surrounded it and occupied it. Ross was left with merely two systems to lick his wounds with the remaining demoralized and defeated fleet of the Mentak Coaltion. Eventually, Ross would soon feel the shameful boot of occupation as Tim repeatly bitch-slapped Ross with demands that even I couldn't stomach. Indeed. Tim lived up to his moniker - Lord Hideious! It was pathetic I have to say! I kept reminding Ross that he still had dignity and didn't have to accept licking Tim's black boots of oppression. It became apparent that Tim was occupying his home world for his Secret Objective and I believe he indeed received his 2 points for doing just that.

I could see at this time that Tim was amassing for an invasion of my empire. Therefore, I ordered all cruisers to lay mines throughout the Letnev systems of control. Nearly every hex that I controlled had a space mine. And I believe that forced Tim to accept his fait accompli and reverse course back to his homeworld. As the game started to wind down, it was apparent that the game was going to end up being a tie between Eric and Tim...so I made a strategic decision and evacuated an outer system containing another artifact worth 1 victory point and let Eric occupy it in hopes that he would win the game. But alas, Tim drew the Imperium Rex public objective card which ended the game immediately in Tim's favor.

Tim got first place. Eric got second place. I got third place and Ross was dead last in fourth place. It was an interesting and exciting game even with just four players. Another great game.

Wargame Night 01-2013



On January 12th, Ross, Tim, Bob and myself got together for the first wargame of the new year and played Twilight Imperium Third Edition, Shattered Empire. The following races were randomly chosen:

 

Bruce - Clan of Saar

Tim - Federation of Sol

Bob - Brotherhood of Yin

Ross - Sardakk Norr

 

We decided to create the map with red sides up for maximum surprise. So far, we haven't had any troubles with map creation following this method but someday it may prove to be a problem as someone will probably be unable to leave homeworld due to hazards like supernovae or ion storms.

The wormhole nexus was placed and the artifact tokens were randomly chosen and placed on the red hexes. We agreed that if an artifact was discovered in an open space hex, supernova or any other red-sided hex space then it would be considered lost.

As the Clan of Saar, I had the special ability to move my space docks but then I read that I could only move "or" build at the same time. Unfortunately, I was used to building and moving at the same time in other games.

Needless to say, I ventured forth cautiously but optimistically in hopes of securing a world of peace and harmony. Alas, it was not to be. I had the clever but sneaky Ross on my left side and the troglodyte Bob on the right side. Neither one can be trusted for very long. Eventually I did discover a wormhole and was able to warp on into the Wormhole Nexus with the planet Malice featured prominently in this space zone. Everywhere I went I dropped mines from my nimble cruisers including dropping some in orbit around the planet Malice.

As the game wore on, it was apparent that Tim was gearing up for an occupation of Mecatol Rex. He had expanded near the border of Mecatol and was fully prepared to invest it fully with capital ships of the line and a number of expeditionary troops to compliment it.

But Ross, like a loose canon on a rolling deck, used an action card against Tim (Signal Jamming) and forced him to place a command counter on his fleet that was amassing for the invasion of Mecatol. As a result, this forced Tim to wait one more round before he could launch his glorious invasion. Unfortunately for Tim and fortuitously for Bob, this allowed the Brotherhood of Yin to move on into Mecatol Rex unmolested by Tim's forces of the Federation of Sol on that turn. For the Brotherhood of Yin, there was much rejoicing. And yet, Bob was not collecting any victory points for occupying the regal planet of Mecatol while the rest of us contemplated our next moves.

With Tim bogged down near Mecatol with nearly all of his forces, Bob preoccupied on Mecatol and Ross gearing up for an attack on the Federation of Sol, I decided to make a bold move from the Wormhole Nexus. I had noticed that Tim had a wormhole next to his homeworld and with my forces building up on Malice in the Wormhold Nexus I figured it would be a simple jump to his homeworld with enough forces to occupy it and prevent him from garnering any more victory points. Up till now, he had two ancient artifacts but with his homeworld occupied by my forces then he would not be allowed to collect any additional points per game rules. Thus, we revved up our FTL Drives and appeared in orbit around his homeworld in force enough to take out what token forces were left behind in addition to killing a leader, I believe an agent in fact, by our landing. Much to the Federations' angst, the invasion was a success. Naturally, once the planet was secure, I dropped an additional mine from my cruiser for good measure. If Tim was going to take it back, it was going to cost him dearly.

In the end, however, Tim was unable or unwilling to retake his homeworld. For Bob, the occupation of Mecatol Rex paid off for him. In addition to collecting points for other objectives, Bob was able to secure first place for the night. Ross' patience and strategic planning placed him into second. Amazingly, Tim was still able to hold third place in spite of my treachery. Again, I tied with Tim for third place as well.

A great game to start off the new year!

Wargame Night 12-12

 In December, Bob, Tim, Ross and myself got together for 2012's final game night tournament. I decided to pull out Shogun since Ross had never seen nor played the game. As far as the tournament was concerned, Bob was 2 points behind Tim who was in first place. Bob needed to basically reduce Tim to fourth place in Shogun and seize first place on top of that not only to win the game but the tournament as well.

I played black, Bob played blue, Tim played red and Ross was yellow, er, played yellow.


I personally wanted to stay away from Tim and let Bob go at him for the tournament cup therefore, I set up my initial armies in and around the small island of kyushu in the pink zone (please don't read too much into that). Tim pretty much set up in the far north and hunkered down for a battle royale. Ross, like the proverbial loose canon he is, set up in the central part of Japan in the most inhospitable area on the gameboard in terms of survival. Bob also chose the central and southern areas to consolidate his holdings.

As the game got going, it become clear that Bob was going to try hold every territory he had and not let one go to further his war aims. I decided therefore, to attack Bob in the southern area of Japan to force his hand upon Tim up north. I nearly drove Bob out of southern Japan except for one lone outpost of Kai. Naturally, the Herg beefed up this lone outpost to the hilt!

Needless to say, Bob held on to that outpost for the duration of the game much to my Japanese chagrin. However, in spite of Bob's intransigence, I was still able to consolidate my holdings in the entire pink zone and was the sole shogunate for that area. In addition, I was able to construct enough buildings to monopolize the region and earn extra points for the only Castle, Kabuki Theatre and Shinto Temple in that region. By the first year, I had a solid lead ahead of everyone else.

As the second and final year got going, Bob needed or some one needed to reduce Tim to fourth place but the dirty deed had yet to be done. Basically, as the Tim held up in the north it fell upon either Ross or Bob to destroy Tim's ability to consolidate his area before he would gather his points in the last season of the year. Both Bob and Ross did in fact battle Tim for central Japan but alas, by the fourth season in the second year, it was just too late. Tim held out with ease against a numerically superior but disunited enemy in the persons of Bob and Ross.

The final outcome of the game had myself in first place, Tim in second place, Bob in third and Ross in fourth. We decided that whoever should come in last would have to leave gamenight in honor by enduring the only way a true Shogun can endure such humiliation: by performing Hari Kari. Thus, Ross knelt down and drew his samurai sword for the coup de grace. I as the victorious Shogun made sure I had the final say.

And so, the final act of the final night of Kriegspiel Nacht 2012 was befitting with Ross' head rolling down the hallway and Tim taking the now famous and infamous silver trophy and claiming the title of Kriegspiel Champion of 2012.

The final tournament score was:

Tim:     32 points
Bob:     35 points
Bruce:  50 points
Ross:    59 points
Wayne: 75 points
Eric:    105 points

I have to say that Tim played exceptionally well regardless of the type of game played. Bob also played extremely well coming back from way behind to almost take the cup. I had a rather rough year as I kept on getting 3rd or 4th place almost every month. Ross, being the rookie, suffered for his lack of experience, however, I have a sneaky suspicion that 2013 is going to be more competitive for him. Wayne actually did very well and could have clinched it this year had he not moved away to Tennessee. As for Eric, well hopefully, 2013 will be a more productive year and I would just love to see him take the Trophy for 2013 just to prove to everyone that indeed he can live up to his German origins and be the Hun he was always meant to be!

Now, with the advent of the New Year, the Kriegspiel Tournament begins anew with all scores reset to zero. Will Tim hold onto his well earned trophy or will another Champion arise to seize his prized possession?

Only time will tell.



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!