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Monday, February 7, 2011

EGG (Eugene Games Gala) - Days 2 & 3 quick update

Again, it is late and I am tired after a terrific weekend of gaming. So, I logged my plays with some text and am reproducing here. Sorry, lazy and tired today. I'll try to do a good writeup of EGG (from my point of view) in a couple of days.

SATURDAY, FEB 5TH - EGG Day 2


This game: All plays | User plays
I joined last minute after finishing Merchants & Marauders - excited I made it! I've read the rules before so quick rule coverage and I was ready to go. This is a game of timing but timing is tough to get down when you haven't played before. Loved the way you commit workers that take more or less time depending on what you commit them to (i.e. don't get them back until later). Not a super heavy game but I really like this interesting worker placement game. Looking forward to playing it again.



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Last game of evening. Rog and Ferrel, as usual, wanted to play Agricola! I was up for it even though it was late as it's always a great time playing it with them. They wanted to play with the new Gamer's Deck and Legendairy Decks. Yes! I just got copies of these and this was a great chance to try them out! The special abilities were really nice and using the draft method helped to line them up somewhat. Also, the Legendairy deck really changes up the game with some very powerful cards. I was able to both get permanent first player and also was able to look at the top 3 cards on 3 occasions which gave me some nice combos. I got my farm built out really well very early on but my inexperience still hinders me somewhat on this game although I WAS able to get to stone house with 4 family members. and just about everything on my farm except hogs. If I had filled in my 3 empty farm spaces I might have won.


This game: All plays | User plays
Really interesting piratey game. I'm not so much into pirates but this was definitely a more 'serious' type of pirate game and I did enjoy it. There is a lot to absorb here - lots of text to read and understand. Every card is different and there are 4 different types of cards that you get in different ways. Every space on the board is different. Every type of ship is different. Everyone has a captain that has a different ability. Plus there are 2 different ways to have battles with ships, one for generic ships on the board and one with other player ships and some of the various ships that come out. THEN, for this 2nd type you can have shooting or boarding battles. Plus, the board is constantly changing. Really, there is a LOT to think about here. This one would take several plays to become fully familiar with all your options. Overall, it is fairly heavy for a pirate game. This game ultimately was very good but kinda slow for the first go. I can see this being faster and even more fun once everyone has the mechanics and all the different aspects down well. I got really lucky with some card draws and got 3 of my 10 points on one turn! Then, I attacked Eli's heavily loaded merchant ship, stole all his gold, and won the game in 2 more turns when I deposited into my stash for my last 5 points! Next play of this will be awesome I think.


SUNDAY, FEB 6th - EGG Day 3




After an abortive 2 turns (2 illegal plays - not by me) and a nice position and great hand for me, we started over in fairness.

This Brass style game by MW I think runs a bit smoother than Brass in some ways due to the 'simplicity' of the rounds in comparison. Although, it has been quite a while since I played my 1 game of Brass it eventually became familiar to me (after my slow morning brain start). Chris B had strong money position early and throughout the game, esp. after he finally got his boxes shipped. Mary struggled the whole game with 2-3 debt chips but eventually did a massive ship on the last turn to rid her of debt, but unfortunately a bit late for strong points. I had a very slow start and, due to my predicament, built a number of rails in the middle of the purple area which, thankfully, eventually netted me a ton of money at the end (total of 9-1/2 points worth) giving me a tie for 2nd place with Jeremy with whom seemed to be just right on the heels of each other in turn order and money. However, it was Aaron's superb planning and timing that netted him the win with a strong push at the end. I was lucky as I missed his last potential play to push the end, BUT I had already set myself up to build a 2 Port and ship my goods to it. Awesome game (though much too long due to rules questions and restart).

This game: All plays | User plays
Really interesting cube pushing game. Love the mechanics with the following aspect for secondary access to a city to be able to get goods or fulfill contracts. Unfortunately, Anna and I really had horrible bonus cards and couldn't get any decent combos going. This game never fully clicked for me, although I think I might do better given another shot at it. I ultimately snuck up and got some high valued contracts and hoped to get the 14 point contract to force the end-game and also hopefully win. If I had I think I could have beaten Bryon but, alas, I fell to 3rd (I was happy that I was really only a couple of turns out though from the possibility of winning). Looking forward to trying this again.


This game: All plays | User plays
Apparently Troyes was the HOT game of EGG this year! I seemed to miss this fact despite my homemade copy being looked at extensively (although never played due to 2 regular versions available for play)

Not that I don't want to play Troyes but I was hoping to play something NEW today. Alas, this was my only real option at the end of EGG. I do not regret it a bit as it was a terrific game and continues to impress me. There was a LOT of early jockeying for building positions which was interesting. Also, virtually no Cathedral building occurred. I did two builds on my first turn and never touched it again. Total of 7 builds total on it I think. Both John and I had the VP engine going on Yellow and Bryon was little by little racking up points and influence for defeating the enemy (I only did 1 the entire game). I loved how varied the strategies were and they all proved viable. Bryon beat me out 51-50 for the top spot! Ugh, I just know I likely missed a point or two somewhere. Ah well, just means we will have to play again!

Oh, and I should have some pictures to post as well!

2 comments:

  1. Sorry you didn't get to get in as many new games as you wanted, Matt. Neither did I, on the plus side I still have a stack of them I want to try!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes, I do as well. I'm sure you'll be getting an invite soon :)

    ReplyDelete

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