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Bobby Warren
United States
Glendale
Arizona
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It's highly unlikely that I will play any games tonight or tomorrow, so here are the games I played in November.
First, I wanted to wish everyone a belated Happy Thanksgiving. Even those not in the US have things to be thankful for and I hope you have a chance to reflect on those good things.
It was a good month because my good friends Dave and Kris visited. We didn't play as many games as we usually do, but we did get several games in, including a hot new dungeon crawl. I also got to play my first Warmachine game with my own figures, and there were new expansions for Dominion, Thunderstone, and Quarriors, plus I played the San Juan expansion for the first time.
Budget-wise, I will need to cut back on my game purchases for a while because I have made some big non-game expenditures, so let's hope I get to play some of the older games I like a little more.
For November, I Played 29 games a total of 52 times, with five of them being new to me. I played seven expansions (counting the San Juan cards from the Alea Treasure Chest) a total of 16 times, and four of them were new to me. I played 12 of the games and three of the expansions back in October.
Here are the games I played in alphabetical order.
7 Wonders
Times Played: 2
Last Month Played: 10/11
Expansion Played: Leaders x1.
The first time played was me teaching Dave and Kris how to play without the leaders. Later in the day, we played with the expansion and more players.
Airships
Times Played: 1
Last Month Played: 4/10
A fun dice game that doesn't get played that often. You're trying to increase the quality of your dice by collecting equipment to build zeppelins which are worth victory points. After a disappointing game with a similar engine played earlier in the month, it was nice to get this played.
Carcassonne
Times Played: 1
Last Month Played: 6/11
Expansions Played: Inns & Cathedrals, Traders & Builders, and The Mini Expansion.
Dave and Kris were visiting and brought their copy, which had all these expansions in the box, so we played with them. It might have also had the tiles from the King and Scout mini expansion.
I decided early on to avoid the farms and see if I could win by scoring as often as possible while doing what I could to join in on the larger scoring cities and roads. It turned out to be a close game, but I lost by a few points to Kris.
Castle Panic
Times Played: 1
Last Month Played: New to me
A light cooperative game that is more of a family game which can easily be played with younger children. It was fun, and I would play it when asked - as long as I am not asked too much.
Dark Minions
Times Played: 2
Last Month Played: New to me
Another game which sounded good but disappointed in playing. There is no reason to work on conquering a city because it is too easy to have all the points taken away from you before your turn next comes around. If you can't do it all at once, don't do it at all. I'd be happy if I never was asked to play again.
It turned out that both Mike and I thought it was similar to Airships, which was why he wanted to play that game later in the month. My recommendation, stick to Airships.
Edit on 12/3/11: Whoops, we played it wrong and I now would like to play it again. See the discussion in the comments.
Deadwood
Times Played: 1
Last Month Played: 10/11
Last month we played this for the first time with three players and this time it was played was with five.
It still worked really well and I suspect I will like it best with four. The board was really tight and we didn't see the second saloon until late in the game and I never hired an additional ranch hand/cowboy/whatever they are called. That was in part because I lost my level 3 piece early on and never felt confident making a play for the Saloon after that.
I still managed to be near the lead most of the game and just about everyone managed to finish the game within five, or so points. I'm looking forward to playing this again.
Dominion
Times Played: 4
Last Month Played: 10/11
Expansion Played: Prosperity x2 and Hinterlands x2.
The first two games were with the always-favored combo of the original and Prosperity mixed. The next two were with the cards from the new Hinterlands expansion mixed with the original set. So far, I am really enjoying the new cards. I don't think Hinterlands will pass Prosperity as my favorite expansion, but I can see it fighting with Seaside for second-best expansion honors.
Elder Sign
Times Played: 3
Last Month Played: 10/11
The three of us won the game in three rounds, beating Yig which had no doom tokens on it. We need an expansion that makes the game a little harder.
Another group and I played against Yig and had a slightly harder time with him, but we still prevailed.
Eminent Domain
Times Played: 2
Last Month Played: 10/11
Kyle, Nico, and I played a couple of games.
The first one, Kyle was trying the production strategy while Nico seemed to be following along with what either Kyle or I tried. I rushed on colonizing planets and doing research and won, proclaiming that "Research is the only way to go!"
The next game, Kyle seemed to abandon the production strategy in favor of Colonize and Research. I went warmonger all the way and was helped out by both choosing warfare once during the game, and I ran away with that game proclaiming "Warfare is the only way to go!"
Yes, I am an ass. 
Exxtra
Times Played: 1
Last Month Played: 10/11
Last month the dice loved me. This month, not so much.
Fairy Tale
Times Played: 1
Last Month Played: 5/11
Simple and quick drafting game. We played with four and I thought I was doing well, but wasn't.
King of Tokyo
Times Played: 1
Last Month Played: 10/11
Just one game, which is a bit of a shock. It was still a five-player mega-brawl with the ugliest of us all winning. (That would be Dave.)
London
Times Played: 1
Last Month Played: 8/11
This came down to the tie breaker at the end. I really do enjoy playing this a lot and I have just bumped my rating up to a 9.
Ninjato
Times Played: 1
Last Month Played: New to me
This is an example of why it is good not to be down on a game early on in your first playing. I lost an early gamble and really wasn't enjoying the game, but as it progressed, I saw more on of how the game would play and why knowing the and what to expect would make a better game. I'm looking forward to trying it again.
This is another game that suffered from a crappy rulebook with things not clearly defined. Someone needs to come up with a list of things every game rulebook has to have, should have, shouldn't have, and should leave out at all costs.
Notre Dame
Times Played: 1
Last Month Played: 3/10
It was a five-player game which I was the most experienced player. I believe both Jeff and Michael had played once, and it had been a while since either had played. Dave and Kris were new to the game.
I focused on keeping my rats at bay and managed to get two workers in the park to collect the bonus VPs whenever I scored and I ended up with a fairly easy victory, even though I made a couple of bone-headed choices during the game.
Piece o' Cake
Times Played: 2
Last Month Played: 8/10
I also taught this to Dave and Kris. It's a terrific filler and I will make sure I get it back into the rotation of games I take on Saturdays.
PitchCar
Times Played: 1
Last Month Played: 12/08
I won a five-player race on a basic track. I like this with the expansions, but it gets to be a pain in the butt to carry it all around.
Quarriors
Times Played: 4
Last Month Played: 10/11
Expansion Played: Rise of the Demons.
I ended up trading for a copy, which I will trade away once the box version comes out.
I tried the Plano storage solution and the spaces are too small to easily get the dice out of, so it is almost as big a pain as having each type of die in its own bag. I need to find a better way to store it.
The last two games used the expansion. The dice are much better looking with numbers being clearer and better stamped on them. I liked the new Corrupted Quiddity and the additional cards for the original dice. All-in-all, it is a good expansion for the game.
Ra: The Dice Game
Times Played: 2
Last Month Played: 9/11
Two four-player games, one immediately after the first. Neither were won by the good guy.
The dice betrayed me…
Race for the Galaxy
Times Played: 2
Last Month Played: 10/11
Expansion Played: The Gathering Storm.
A couple of games with Dave, Kris, and Jeff at the store as we closed out the day of gaming.
Rattus
Times Played: 1
Last Month Played: 8/11
I taught this to Dave and Kris who were completely whelmed by it. Since it was a teaching game, I decided to just use the original characters and skip the expansions.
San Juan
Times Played: 4
Last Month Played: 1/11
Played with the cards from the Alea Treasure Chest for the first time, though we did not use the events in the first game.
I played this once at the store and then three times with the visitors.
I really like the Harbor, which has you bury a good when you sell at least one. Each buried card is worth 1 VP at the end of the game. I saw it early on in the first game and then not again until late, when it wouldn't have done me any good. I didn't get a good chance to build it in the other games. Another popular card was the Park, but that is because we played it wrong: we were building over it without having a Crane.
The events are interesting and not too powerful or disrupting to the game. The only one which I would even consider not playing with is the Free Build event.
I need to bring my copy to more gatherings. I guess it would also fit in a smaller card box, which would help it get packed.
Snow Tails
Times Played: 1
Last Month Played: 11/09
Five players. A dangerous track. Bad luck on my part. Worse for my dogs.
The post-race BBQ was excellent, by the way!
Super Dungeon Explore
Times Played: 3
Last Month Played: New to me
Dave, Kris, and I played three games. One beginner "8-bit" and two "16-bit" games.
First, I need to say that the rules suck. They form an informational vacuum strong enough to suck a small moon through and I am not exaggerating at all! (Okay, maybe a little.)
Once you get past that and play the game, it can take a while to work through but it is enjoyable. From what we saw, it definitely feels stacked towards the bad guys in the beginning but I suspect that as the players learn the game and the right characters to pull into the fray, the game will balance out.
Besides the rulebook, I was disappointed by there being only one the one big baddie in the game. It would have been nice to have a second option, or even different levels for the one included, so you could tailor the difficulty level of the game. It would have been as simple as adding a couple of cards to the mix to change the power level of the big boss. Maybe future expansions will do something like that?
Sushizock im Gockelwok
Times Played: 2
Last Month Played: 6/09
More dice fun. Sushi, bones, and a nod to the worm…
Thunderstone
Times Played: 4
Last Month Played: 10/11
Expansions Played: All the available ones were in the mix for all the games.
Mike and I played a couple of close two-player games, and another slow game near the end of the month. I also played a couple of games at the store with three and four players.
To Court the King
Times Played: 1
Last Month Played: 10/11
Dave and Kris' set is well-worn from being played quite often. Their experience showed as they finished fighting for the crown as Jeff and I were sitting on the outside looking in.
Unpublished Prototype
Times Played: 1
Last Month Played: New to me
A prototype card game which I did not enjoy. The idea sounded good, but the game disappointed and I am not sure this one can be fixed so I would enjoy it.
Warmachine
Times Played: 1
Last Month Played: 10/11
This was a battle of my Searforge dwarves were hired to stop a Menoth incursion led by Mike. (Being an honorable mercenary, I can't see Gorten Grundback leading his troops in an illegal invasion.)
I learned a couple of good lessons about some of the models in the army, and made a couple of tactical errors. Mike had played his army only a couple of times and is still learning their abilities, and we came down to a close game with my small gun warjacks finishing his warcaster off on the turn before he would have likely eliminated mine.
Here's to playing this or Hordes more often.
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