Crossing the Rubicon

Moving

2008-06-01T17:00:00.001-04:00

This blog has moved to:

http://ctr.blogspot.com

Java St. Cafe

2008-05-31T22:55:00.001-04:00

To Court the King: Jamie*, Jim

Downfall of Pompeii: Sam*, Jim, Jamie

Extra Friday at KK

2008-05-30T23:27:00.001-04:00

El Grande: Dave won

Empire Builder: I won, woo hoo!

Perikles

2008-05-23T12:17:00.000-04:00

Won my first game of Perikles.

Boardgaming can be profitable

2008-05-14T12:17:00.000-04:00

On Saturday I attended a party where the theme was "the 60s". All were encouraged to dress up in 60s style, and there would be prizes.

I knew most people would be dressed up as "hippies" so I took another tack...

I wore a suit and tie (and my "summer buzz" haircut) and told everyone I was a "square, part of the establisment, the man, over-thirty. .. and your worst nightmare, I'm from the Draft Board!" However, the piece of my "costume" that put me over the top, and helped earn me first prize was the "Nixon for President" lapel button that I improvised from a Momentum Token taken from my boardgame, "1960: The Making of the President."

Nixon Now!

Railroaded at Krystal Keep

2008-05-09T12:10:00.000-04:00

Friday, May 9, at Krystal Keep

Rairoad Tycoon

Ticket to Ride: Europe

TTR on a Sunday

2008-04-27T16:06:00.003-04:00

Turns out I didn't have to work to day afterall, so I stopped by to game with the Donato's Sunday group.

I introduced Steve and Mark to Ticket to Ride, and Steve pulled off a suprise big win.

Game Report - Friday April 25 - Kystal Keep

2008-04-25T23:40:00.002-04:00

I didn't catch all the names of everyone who played each game... feel free to fill in the gaps

Last Night on Earth: Garry & Jeff were the Zombie winners! (Everyone should have know Jeff was one of the zombies... his face is on the box!) Who else played? Dan, Sherm, Alf...?

Two games of Rails of Europe, the expansion for Railroad Tycoon:
Dave*, Jamie*, Sean, Russ, Charlie

Hansa: Sherm*, Joel, Garry, Alf (are we sure that Sherm isn't also a zombie?)

To Court the King: Sean*, Russ, Charlie, Dave, Jamie

HunterCon

2008-04-20T12:40:00.003-04:00

I was able to spend most of the weekend at HunterCon. As always, I played some new games and some old favorites.

Friday:

Trias
Herds of dinosaurs outrunning Pangea...
Jim*, Tom, Hunter, Jamie

Keythedral
Hunter*, Jamie, Tom

Railroad Tycoon
Jeff*, Greg, Neil, Hunter, Jamie

Saturday:

To Court the King
Chris*, Jamie, Greg, Bruce Kevin

Struggle of Empires (abbreviated)
Dont' fall behind or you are out of it early
Hunter*, Bruce, Neil, Chris, Greg, Jamie, Jeff

Rails of Europe
Improvement on an already excellent game (Railroad Tycoon)
Jamie*, Greg, Bruce, Chris, Kevin

Carcassonne
Matt*, Bruce, Jamie, Marcus

Guillotine
Jamie*, Marcus, Matt

Sunday:

10 Days in Asia
Has no one ever played Racko as a kid?
Bruce*, Jeff, Jamie, Hunter

History of the World (incomplete)
Bruce (in a commanding lead going into the last epoch), Greg, Hunter,
Jeff, John, Jamie

Metro
Greg*, Jamie, Hunter, Lori, John

Bohnanza
Forrest*, Lori, Derek, Jamie, Greg, Hunter

Seafarers of Catan: New Shores with The Fishermen of Catan
Excellent combination. I will make sure we include Fishermen in my next game of Catan.
Jamie*, Hunter, Lori, Greg

Game Night - SiS - Thursday, April 17

2008-04-17T23:40:00.003-04:00

Thin turnout tonight...

Yspahan: Jeff*, Dan, Jamie

1960: The Making of the President: Jamie*, Jeff

This is the third time Jeff and I have played this game, and I finally won. I was Nixon, and I defeated his Kennedy in an extremely close race, 271-268 electoral votes, because I was able to steal Texas from him at the last minute. So, much for Johnson!

Friday, April 11 @ Krystal Keep

2008-04-11T13:35:00.001-04:00

Big turnout again tonight, and some new players! I came in late, so I'm not sure of all the games that were played, or if I have the names right. Please correct or fill in the gaps.

The only game I played tonight was Power Grid. I came in a close second, but Kim came out the winner. Congratulations, Kimberly, and good luck on your move to California. I hope you are able to find some other gamers!

On the plus side, Kim.... I won't bug you to pose for anymore photos.... :-)

Carrie won Carcassone

Russ won Downfall of Pompeii, but I think he looks more like Uncle Martin from "My Favorite Martian"... (you youngsters can Google that one...)

Amanda won Treehouse.... AGAIN!

Four winners in "Last Night on Earth"... does that mean you were...or weren't the Zombies?

Mark won To Court the King

Jeff won at Antike

Mike was the winner in Apples to Apples

Father & Son Night at SiS

2008-04-03T23:24:00.004-04:00

Father & Son wins at Sew-In-Style tonight, along with an out-of-town visitor.

Eric, the editor of Boardgamenews.com was in town for a conference and joined us. Eric has posted his own, more detailed game report.

There were two aborted attempts at games... First we started History of the World, but then after a 7th person arrived, we switched to Win, Place & Show. However, after two races, we discovered we had failed to follow several rules correctly... so we just dropped that too. Finally, we got a couple games in:

Power Grid (Benelux ed.): Steve*, Russ, Jeff, Eric, Garry, Jamie

Gisborne: Russ*, Steve, Eric, Jeff, Jamie

Nixon beats Kennedy

2008-04-01T22:07:00.000-04:00

Tried "1960: the Making of the President" again with Jeff. This time I was Kennedy and I lost in a landslide, by nearly 100 electoral votes.

Krystal Keep - Friday, March 28

2008-03-28T23:01:00.004-04:00

Great turnout at KK, four new participants and three tables going most of the evening. I don't remember all of the games and who played what... so feel free to correct or fill in the gaps...

To Court the King: Jeff*, Kim, Dave, Charlie, Jamie

Hey, That's My Fish!: Kim*, Mike, Katie, Alf

Merchant of Venus: Jeff*, Russ, Charlie, Dave, Arnie

Volcano: Mike*, Kim, Alf

Metro: Joel*, Katie, Sherm, Phil

Puerto Rico: Jamie*, Katie, Sherm, Phil, Alf

[Another game using those plastic pyramids that I don't remember the name] Joel*, Kim, Mike

Battleline: Jeff* Russ

Battleline: Russ* Jeff

Play Testing at Hunter's

2008-03-20T22:48:00.000-04:00

We play tested a game still in development. I won't name it here. Couldn't come close to finishing it. Needs some work. Interesting mechanics... just too many of them.

Finished the evening with Bhonanza. Lost again, as usual.

Kelly Wins Three at Krystal Keep

2008-03-14T23:25:00.002-04:00

Welcome to James and Kelly, first time participants, and congratulations to Kelly, big winner of the evening with three wins!

Railroad Tycoon: Russ*, Hunter, Jamie, Dave, Jeff, Charlie

Carcassonne: Kelly*, James, Brent, Eric

Apples to Apples Jr.: Kelly*, James, Brent, Eric

Allhambra: Brent*, Jamie, Eric, Russ

Power Grid: Jeff*, Dave, James, Charlie

To Court the King: Kelly*, Jamie, Russ, James, Dave

Thursday Night at Matt's

2008-03-13T23:45:00.001-04:00

Big night for Matt. He wins both games:

Puerto Rico

Bhonanza

13th Tribe (Indianapolis) Game Day March 8, 2008

2008-03-08T23:25:00.002-05:00

I finally made it to a gathering of the Indianapolis 13th Tribe gaming group. Instead of writing up a bunch of details, I'll use the info from Adam's Geeklist. Much better detail than I would have done...

Here are the games I played:

Railroad Tycoon
Downfall of Pompeii
Guillotine
To Court the King
Cleopatra and the Society of Architects
Power Grid

In addition, over the Ian and I played an aborted game of Russian Rails, and two games of Axis & Allies Europe.

Board & Wargames Meetup

2008-03-02T21:43:00.002-05:00

I finally had a chance to play for a bit with the Board & Wargames Meetup group.

Two games of To Court the King.

Ticket to Ride Europe To Court the King

2008-03-01T23:42:00.002-05:00

Got Chris to play some games with Ian and me tonight:

To Court the King

Also, finally got to play my new birthday game:

Ticket to Ride Europe

MVUUF

2008-02-29T21:27:00.001-05:00

Made it game night at MVUUF for the first time in months. Only had time for a couple little games with Ian, Gwen and John:

Downfall of Pompeii
Guillotine

New Faces at Krystal Keep

2008-02-22T12:57:00.003-05:00

Three new folks tonight, and a total of nine attending, and two new games for me.

The first was a game called "Treehouse". No, that is not a tube of toothpaste, but the actual game container, from Looney Labs.

Amanda*, Katie, Mike, Jeff, Jamie

Another new game for me was Zooloretto; winner of the 2007 Spiel des Jahres

Mike*, Amanda, Katie, Jeff, Jamie

There's always time for a quick game of Guillotine. Katie and Amanda won a rare tie.

Katie*, Amanda*, Mike, Jeff, Jamie

Everyone was dizzy after playing Metro, a swirling maze of tracks in the Paris subway system.

Mike*, Katie, Amanda, Jeff, Jamie

Finally, Amanda proved herself to be a chip-off-the-old-block by stealing the King from her Dad, Jeff, in To Court the King, making her the big three-time winner of the evening!

Amanda*, Jeff, Jamie, Katie, Mike

In addition, Charlie, Greg, Dave and Russ were playing a game of 1830. I am not sure if they played to a conclusion.

Hamburgum

2008-02-14T21:22:00.002-05:00

Jeff introduced us to the newest "rondel" game, Hamburgum. The "rondel" is also used in Antike and Imperial. In this game, players produce beer, sugar and cloth and sell these goods with their ships overseas, then use their profits to make donations towards building new churches in the town. Players earn "prestige" (victory points) for these donations.

Jeff beat Jamie and Garry in two games (but we got a little closer in the second...)

Guillotine

2008-02-10T14:45:00.000-05:00

From Cartophilia:

Guillotine: "The revolutioniary card game where you win by getting a head."

From the back of the box: "This irreverent and humorous card game takes place during the French Revolution. Players represent rival guillotine operators vying for the best collection of noble heads."

This has become one of my favorite card games. This simple game can usually be played in 30 minutes. Just the right kind of filler in between longer, more complex games. Appropriate for ages 12 and up (just don't think too much about the theme).

Players use a variety action cards to rearrange the order of the nobles as they wait their turn... Marie Antoinette and King Louis are worth 5 victory points, while governers, generals, and the Archbishop are worth 4. My only objection to this game is that the Royal Cartographer is only worth 1 point! Surely he is more important than that! Even Robespierre is worth 3 points!

An important part of the charm of this game are the humorous illustrations by Quinton Hoover and Mike Raabe.

Game Day at the Arsenal

2008-02-09T14:49:00.000-05:00

I had the pleasure of spending a day of boardgaming at The Arsenal Game Room & Cafe, in Indianapolis. It is a delightful little shop that offers boardgames for sale, good food, and plenty of space for boardgamers and role players to get together. They were a good group of people, and I had fun teaching some of my favorite games to the participants; many of them new to boardgaming.

Games played:

To Court the King x2

Guillotine x2

Ticket to Ride

Settlers of Catan x2

Downfall of Pompeii

The only new game for me this day was Heroscape. The store owners were kind enough to open a new copy so that Ian and I could try it out. It was pretty fun. I liked it much more than I thought I would.