Friday Night Gaming: Mare Nostrum, Mall of Horror
December 19, 2008
Mare Nostrum
Even though we didn't have Zach tonight (and won't until January), we went forward with our plans to play Mare Nostrum. We used the Mythology expansion, but not the Atlantis board. Robert demanded that he not be Rome, and he ended up with Carthage. I don't know how the civilizations were distributed because I ran out to my car to find a copy of the rules that I thought I had.
I played Babylon, with Ian as Egypt to my left and Merwin's Greece on my right. Brian had discovered a method for Egypt to win by the end of the 2nd turn, so I bought Hermes in the first round to prevent that. In fact, Hermes got more use this entire game than ever before (and it contributed to the win). After a good start and getting Spartacus to help build up my army, I was stymied by the trading and couldn't get another set of 9. Brian "Vulcanizing" one of my caravan's* didn't help. Ian, Brian, and Robert were building slowly but surely; however...
Merwin sneaked in with a win, building the Pyramids with taxes. I'm blaming Brian, who was Commerce Director the last round and put 7 resources up for trade and giving Merwin the opportunity to grab Ian's and my taxes. But certainly there were other things that we could have done to prevent it, like attack Merwin's provinces sooner (I was just gearing up for it when the game ended). There are just so many things going on that it becomes impossible to keep track of everyone's resource progress and it puts particular pressure on the Commerce Director, who controls trading and is probably the most powerful position.
*: If I had an elephant, he would have shot it.
Mall of Horror
As we were discussing what to play next, Brian blurted out Mall of Horror, which I never say no to. However, I don't know what it is about that game (besides the poorly written rules) that makes me forget some critical rule and we end up playing wrong (I don't take all the blame, but I really should know it all by heart by now). In this case, we added the extra zombies for the most total people in one location and most cheerleaders in one location before movement instead of after. Since we played the entire game this way, it didn't really matter, but it effing annoys me.
A well-timed Hidden card in the Parking Lot saved me while Ian's and Merwin's last people were eaten by zombies. Unfortunately, it was my cheerleader who was left there and she ended up dying in the next round. We were down to 3 locations, the others having been condemned, and she had no where to run when the zombies came.
Robert then made a well-timed use of the Sprint card, which put both of his guys safely in the Cachou with my two guys** and Brian's one being overrun in the Security Office. Because there were only 5 total people left, the game would end when the next person died. Brian could have saved us by using his Shotgun, but tried to vote me off instead with a Threat card. But I countered with my own and it ended up going to a group vote. If I died, Robert would win. If Brian died, Robert would win, beating a tiebreaker with me. So, Robert won.
Several times during the game, both Merwin and Robert mentioned how they hated this game. I was assured that it was "hate in a good way," but clearly they find it more stressful and less fun than I do.
**: I was following a deliberate strategy of not doubling up a location with my own people, which I was able to do until this final round. Where I failed was not guessing at safe rooms that might open up, which would have saved my cheerleader (though not the world).
Mare Nostrum
Even though we didn't have Zach tonight (and won't until January), we went forward with our plans to play Mare Nostrum. We used the Mythology expansion, but not the Atlantis board. Robert demanded that he not be Rome, and he ended up with Carthage. I don't know how the civilizations were distributed because I ran out to my car to find a copy of the rules that I thought I had.
I played Babylon, with Ian as Egypt to my left and Merwin's Greece on my right. Brian had discovered a method for Egypt to win by the end of the 2nd turn, so I bought Hermes in the first round to prevent that. In fact, Hermes got more use this entire game than ever before (and it contributed to the win). After a good start and getting Spartacus to help build up my army, I was stymied by the trading and couldn't get another set of 9. Brian "Vulcanizing" one of my caravan's* didn't help. Ian, Brian, and Robert were building slowly but surely; however...
Merwin sneaked in with a win, building the Pyramids with taxes. I'm blaming Brian, who was Commerce Director the last round and put 7 resources up for trade and giving Merwin the opportunity to grab Ian's and my taxes. But certainly there were other things that we could have done to prevent it, like attack Merwin's provinces sooner (I was just gearing up for it when the game ended). There are just so many things going on that it becomes impossible to keep track of everyone's resource progress and it puts particular pressure on the Commerce Director, who controls trading and is probably the most powerful position.
*: If I had an elephant, he would have shot it.
Mall of Horror
As we were discussing what to play next, Brian blurted out Mall of Horror, which I never say no to. However, I don't know what it is about that game (besides the poorly written rules) that makes me forget some critical rule and we end up playing wrong (I don't take all the blame, but I really should know it all by heart by now). In this case, we added the extra zombies for the most total people in one location and most cheerleaders in one location before movement instead of after. Since we played the entire game this way, it didn't really matter, but it effing annoys me.
A well-timed Hidden card in the Parking Lot saved me while Ian's and Merwin's last people were eaten by zombies. Unfortunately, it was my cheerleader who was left there and she ended up dying in the next round. We were down to 3 locations, the others having been condemned, and she had no where to run when the zombies came.
Robert then made a well-timed use of the Sprint card, which put both of his guys safely in the Cachou with my two guys** and Brian's one being overrun in the Security Office. Because there were only 5 total people left, the game would end when the next person died. Brian could have saved us by using his Shotgun, but tried to vote me off instead with a Threat card. But I countered with my own and it ended up going to a group vote. If I died, Robert would win. If Brian died, Robert would win, beating a tiebreaker with me. So, Robert won.
Several times during the game, both Merwin and Robert mentioned how they hated this game. I was assured that it was "hate in a good way," but clearly they find it more stressful and less fun than I do.
**: I was following a deliberate strategy of not doubling up a location with my own people, which I was able to do until this final round. Where I failed was not guessing at safe rooms that might open up, which would have saved my cheerleader (though not the world).
Labels: Other Games
posted by Patrick at 9:21 AM
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