dave 65tdh
United States
San Diego
California
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So after a couple of 4 hour marathon games, I promised my opponents that tonight would be a much shorter game and that I would kill one of the hunters so they agreed to play again (my Dracula sparring partners for PBF!). It started as a 3-player for the first hour and then turned into a 2-player as the other guy had to leave (as scheduled). With this premise in mind, the game was refreshing and definitely did not disappoint.
I didn’t start with a New Vampire (NV), so decided to open with my Desecrated Soil as I made my way up the coast from Valona. I kept adding to my starting Minion, so I started a minion army from Zagreb to Prague (and later Cologne). Mina’s holding Heroic Leap and Rifle so killing her doesn’t seem too hopeful. In keeping with my attack plan, there was no room in my hand for Wild Horses as events started piling up and me keeping 2 Traps, Rage and Roadblock.
Mina ends up encountering 2 of my minions, and the hunters burn Escape Route, Advanced Planning and she loses her Heroic Leap against the Knife. VH also fought one and also lost an event as I used up 2 Traps. Both Mina and VH were down to 5 Health (Night Visit) so that was a pretty good start at defeating them. In addition, they knew about my Desecrated Soil in Valona (Local Rumors), but decided to take a pass on it and save their resolve rather than sending a hunter on the other side of the board with a 4-health hit. When Desecrated Soil matured, in order, it was goodbye Advanced Planning, Heroic Leap, Hypnosis, Money Trail, Vampire Lair, Long Day, Sensationalist Press (I had to discard), and Escape Route and, finally, I picked up the third Trap. That was a very nice flush.
So after a NV in Frankfurt (for biting, not killing but it didn’t quite work out), it’s a Minion in Cologne and Bats in Brussels. Now all along DS, after leaving England early, has been sailing around the horn towards Valona but after seeing the trail develop, he lands in Marseilles then moves to Geneva. Now at this point he only has 3 Items and then uses his Fast Horse to find me in Brussels at Dusk! Well, Bats ends his turn while the other hunters close in. He thinks I’m going to flee and send DS to the still-living minion-K/P in Cologne but I have other devilish plans.
As the time ticks to Twilight, I hide in Brussels and then RAGE on his ass! I discard his Rifle leaving him with only Garlic! My final trap is countered by an Advanced Planning, but Fangs still wins out and I bite him and fly away to Clermont-Ferrand. Sweet. Then I bat DS to Strasbourg so he can’t draw an item and then Wolf back on his ass again! Now he’s bitten and I bite him again with Fangs. Booyah! It was really a perfect plan and the dice rolls amazingly did not disappoint. So DS is back in the hospital while I make a clean getaway as I Bat to Venice, safe and snug.
I head south from Venice leaving a trail of NV, Fog, NV down to Naples as another day is completed. I’m hoping one of these NV will mature as my trail is wide open, but he guesses right and figures out Venice. LG then Resolves his way down to Bari, almost catching me with my pants down, but I make my escape and sail to Iberia. They quickly do the double whammy on my NVs. Oh well, que sera, sera.
After a string of nice cards, the hunters now have collected a nice set of 11 event cards and he decides to stop drawing leaving me nearly high and dry. I can’t have this and place Desecrated Soil, Hoax, and Desecrated Soil from Alicante—Granada—Cadiz hoping that they will trigger them all. VH obliges by Excellent Weather sailing right to Alicante and Brides comes into play. Then he burns his Forewarned (to keep his Good Luck) on the Hoax, and gives me a False Tip-off in Cadiz.
Another day ticks by so I’m at 5 VPs and now I’m back at sea and try to be clever and go to the Irish Sea even though Germany is relatively open. Well he once again guesses right and LG beats me to Liverpool with his Excellent Weather. I land in Dublin instead—resigned that I will now have to Double Back to the Atlantic. I hide in Galway getting through the daytime while he’s once again got my trail pretty well nailed down. However, he pushes his luck too far and Evasion sends me across the board and we call it at 2 hours and 15 minutes.
Really fun stuff here.
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Stephen Sanders
United States
Henderson
Texas
25% Scottish, 25% Dutch, 18% English, 15% Irish, 9% German, 5% French, 3% "Black Dutch" (?) = 100% American!
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Fantastic session of this game. Shows how really balanced the gameplay can be with the card play at the right time.
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Bob McMurray
United States
LaGrange
Illinois
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Allow me to give you the ultimate compliment for a session report: it reminds me of one of our games!
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