We started out this game day with six people. So we split into two groups of three. Mike suggested Java. And I nominated Elasund. Yeah, I know Ed and Susan might revoke my meaty card, but I was in the mood for settlers!
I like this settlers. It is different enough from the other settlers games to justify itself as a stand-alone game. And it has a nasty bite to it. You see, your buildings which you built are not safe. People can build over them if they play correctly and there is space around your building. Jon was in a tough position. The dice were not going his way (no big surprise there. Someone always gets hosed in settlers games). And Francesca and myself were attacking his buildings. Towards the end of the game, his hope was to save enough money to build three church pieces for the win. But I was able to build a medium sized building on a double-windmill spot to place two cubes for the win!
Next up, was Carcassonne. Which I haven’t played in a while. I was burned out for quite a long time when I played it a lot in Russcon. But it made it back on the table. And this time Francesca dominated in the game. She was able to score many large cities for the win.
Finishing out the night was a quick game of Masons. I like Colovini games and their abstract feel. However, this game is a little bit too reliant on the luck of the card draw. I was able to get good cards for most of the game. But Adam was able to score more than I during the end game. My three choices were not that great. Peter and Francesca did not have that good of luck in drawing cards either.
I think that perhaps instead of discarding one card and drawing two during a scoring round. You should be able to draw four. You are already giving up on a lot of points (anywhere from 6 to 20 or more points other people can score in a round). I think that drawing two cards is not enough of a compensation for missing out on a scoring opportunity. The other option would be to start off with more cards in your hand (instead of 6).
Other games played:
Yo! This here’s Rocko, enforcer from de Carivore Club. We’ze been gettin’ reports that you’ze guys ain’t been playing no meaty games. For your sake, I hope that ain’t so. Youz know that your membership agreement states that you can’t play no games that play in less than an hour or have dice in them. I hope I don’t have to send my friends over during your next game night to “discuss” this with youz.