Honeymoon, with Games
William Wood
Canada
Toronto
Ontario
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My fiancée Lisa and I got married September 20 in Toronto. In keeping with our mutual love of games, seating was arranged by tables with game names instead of numbers (yes, there was an Arkham Horror table), games were given as prizes, and guests that wanted to make the couple kiss had to come up to the head table and throw a die for a simple roll-and-move game (patent pending) that resulted in either a kiss, a kiss following a successful answer to a trivia question, or the thrower having to kiss someone themselves.
Each guest received a commemorative deck of playing cards as well.
Our honeymoon was a week spent up at cottage on Georgian Bay. The place was enormous and we had it all to ourselves, with nothing to do but take it easy. It was the perfect antidote to all the planning and hubbub of a wedding.
Naturally, we brought a large pile of games to play, and the cottage's huge dining table was the perfect venue.
Here's a list, in roughly chronological order, of the (board) games we played.
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1.
Board Game: Vinci
[Average Rating:7.12 Overall Rank:596]
William Wood
Canada
Toronto
Ontario
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Vinci is a game I found out about, grew interested in, and purchased through BGG. One more little reason while this site is a force for good in the world.
Although the game was close, I managed to squeak out a win. I was winning handily, but Lisa's second civilization demonstrated the power of Mining + Mountaineering.
Note: the picture shows the positive effects of Bailey's on gaming enjoyment.
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William Wood
Canada
Toronto
Ontario
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Twilight Struggle was won by Lisa as USSR, although her victory was somewhat marred by an ongoing series of complaints that things weren't going her way -- as her point total climbed higher and higher, culminating in the Europe scoring card doing me in on Turn 6.
Nobody likes a whiny Commie!
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3.
Board Game: Carcassonne
[Average Rating:7.43 Overall Rank:139]
[Average Rating:7.43 Unranked]
William Wood
Canada
Toronto
Ontario
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Carcassonne is probably our favourite game, mutually speaking. Over the course of the week, we played five games, with three wins for me. Although we brought a few expansions up, we stuck with "vanilla" Carc the whole time (well, we usually use the River). Most of the games featured intense farmer battles, as we play with the original farmer rules.
Note chicken being dismembered in background -- farming is rough.
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William Wood
Canada
Toronto
Ontario
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Age of Gods is another game we both really enjoy, and although it's not supposed to be a two-player game, we think it works well that way.
Lisa as the God of Death managed to beat me (God of Conquest) by two points. I got a bit unlucky in that I built up the Humans using them as a "cats paw" and they turned out to be her Level 4 civilization. Oh well.
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William Wood
Canada
Toronto
Ontario
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Fury of Dracula was a bit of a rout for me as Dracula. I managed to get two vampires to "mature" and then killed Van Helsing by weakening him with night-time attacks and chasing him into some Wolves. I employed the ever-popular Ireland start (there were no Hunters in the UK) and never looked back, really.
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William Wood
Canada
Toronto
Ontario
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Another game discovered and acquired through BGG, this turned out to be a bit of a fiasco for us. We played two games (using the Minion Nation expansion as well) and lost both -- badly. As the image shows, we spent a lot of time in the hospital. Ultimately, this game seemed really rough with two players.
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William Wood
Canada
Toronto
Ontario
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I finally got the chance to break out my 25th Anniversary Edition of Divine Right and it was a bit of a letdown. I have loved this game since the TSR version and played it to death (the box disintegrated -- I keep that old set in a Dutch Cookies tin). When I started "recollecting," this version was high on my list, and after many failed attempts I managed to snag one on eBay for a princely sum.
My impression? Meh. Oh, the game is still fine, but this edition is kind of a failure in my eyes. Let's start with a special edition that has pages and pages of errata. As an editor, I find that lack of attention to detail disappointing. I love the mounted board, but much prefer the old colour scheme. This new board is too muted. The new nation colours are odd and sometimes hard to read (and since I'm used to the older version, just plain "wrong", really). And the chits are very hard to punch and end up with ugly perforated edges. Only the Basic game rules are included (you have to print out the others from a CD). And last but not least, apparently the creators just kept adding unnecessarily to the game, because what was once fairly simple (although full of options) now comes with a metric ton of units (the rules for which are buried on the CD, naturally).
Anyway, Lisa as Rombune won because my Dwarf king was too adventurous and failed a Leader Fate roll.
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William Wood
Canada
Toronto
Ontario
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Monsters Menace America is another favourite of ours. Lisa is almost always the winner, so it was a bit of a surprise that my Toxicor/Marines managed to defeat her Megaclaw/Army. Actually, it was a combination of my crafty use of the "hamper" maneuver to limit her late-game movement, and my "luck" at getting killed/sent to Hollywood late in the game, getting out, and stomping an as-yet-unflattened LA for a rush of hit points.
The picture shows Toxicor crushing our marriage locale.
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William Wood
Canada
Toronto
Ontario
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In the "didn't make it to the table" column, we have For the People. I bought it (including the deluxe map) because Lisa studied the Civil War in university and was a fan of the card-driven mechanic a la Twilight Struggle. However, FTP turned out to be too wargamey for easy rules absorption, with a lot of finicky situations. Maybe we'll get to it some day, but it seems unlikely at this juncture.
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