Creating Game Memories Memorial Day Weekend

Sunday night I went to Zoltar's place to sit down with the Starshield Boardgame Knights for a night of Seven Wonders and Codenames. It was great to be in the same space with everyone again and to meet a new friend. 

Then Monday I go down stairs to find Max at magehammer's Gaming Table making a character to play solo sessions of D&D. That so warms my gamer heart! He made a 2 weapon wielding fighter named Major Verne. Apparently, Major had some trouble on his adventure. I look forward to seeing where Max's solo adventures take him. 

 

I also made time all weekend for some solo Cardfighting. Ahh, Gear Chronicle!

Monday found us at Grandma and Grandpa's house for a leisurely afternoon filled with conversation, food, and games. Max and I clashed on the mountaintop dojo of Onitama (Max won, btw).

We also introduced Grandma and Grandpa to Codenames. The boys took their turn as spymasters. So much family fun!

Until next post, folks, keep on chuckin' dice and slingin' cards.

Starshield Boardgaming Knights Become the Lords of Waterdeep and Visit the 7 Wonders

On Monday night as is our custom, the Starshield Gaming Society sat down for a night of games, friends, and fun. First up on this beautiful Spring evening was the new hotness from Wizards of the Coast, The Lords of Waterdeep.

LoW is a Euro-style game with a fantasy theme ripped right from my soul: The majestic City of Waterdeep located in the Forgotten Realms, home to my imagination for over thirty years now.

Now, anyone gamer who knows me knows I don't like Euros. I am firmly an Ameritrash fan! However, with the theme I was willing...nay...excited even to crack open this gem and see what was inside.

Follow below to see how the games went...

 The board is absolutely gorgeous and really triggered my nostalgia factor, sending it into overdrive. Beautiful!

 The game in action. It is a worker-placement game that allows some direct player interaction through the use of Intrigue cards. 

 Our first of two games, I played as the Harpers. Except for the color, the factions are just for flavor. However, your Masked Lord does have a game mechanic. Which Lord was I? The Lord of Waterdeep card holds the answer, but I am not telling...

 A pic of the entire game board in action. Like I said gorgeous.

 It is a Euro game, but thanks to the Intrigue cards, I was able to get in some Ameritrash-style smack talk with Iczer in the first game. Weezoh heard the talk that is smack in the second after he started to gain too much power...

I love this game and highly recommend it to any gamer out there. Yes. I said it, I love a Euro game. It will appeal to both camps of the hobby gaming community; it is a perfect game for when the Euros and the Ameritrashers assemble.

Keep in mind, though, take away the theme and the Intrigue cards, and it's just another Euro worker placement. Take notice game publishers, take notice.

Below are some pics from our 7 Wonders game. The second pic is my end game spread. Though I didn't win, we discovered compliments of Weezoh's handy tally app, that I have the highest average scoring of all the Starshielders. Not bad for the resident Ameritrasher.

Looking forward to more games next Monday night. Keep the table warm, Zoltar. See you all soon.

Starshield Boardgaming Knights: Summoner Wars, 7 Wonders, and Defenders of the Realm

As is our custom of Monday nights, members of the Starshield Gaming Society congregate to participate in our favorite hobby: Playing hobby games. 

This past Monday was no exception. I brought my customized Summoner Wars decks and hoped for a nice relaxing game. Iczer grabbed the Tundra Orcs and I my precious Benders, and we traveled to the battlefield of Itharia for a titanic battle between brawn and brains. 

Brawn won. 

I just couldn't get my Magic Point engine moving, and I waited too long to bring out my Champions. Oh, well, I managed to hold out way longer than I should have. 

Next time, Iczer, beware!

From Itharia we all went to the Ancient World. By this time, Moosecadet, Weezoh, Iczer, myself, and Grez were all in attendance and as we often do, busted out a fan favorite, 7 Wonders. It was a great game made even more excellent by my 62 point victory! Yes. I won! 

The main event of the night turned out to be Defenders of the Realm. All of my fellow Starshielders in attendance had played the game before. I had not. After a quick explanation of the rules, we were off to save the Realm from the encroaching horror of the Four Generals. 

Even though we weren't able to complete the game due to time constraints, I enjoyed it. I think the game is devilishly difficult, which I believe a cooperative game should be. We were teetering on having a good position just as we were entering the mid-game when our time together came to a close. 

An excellent night of gaming, I must say. I look forward to our next meeting at Moosecadet's party on Sunday. Look for a post on that most auspicious occasion next week. Until then, good gamer, may you have fun gaming and do yourself a favor and play more Summoner Wars. You won't regret it. 

On a side note, the excellent YouTube show, WatchItPlayed just recently finished out their series on Summoner Wars. You can check out the whole series here:

Starshield Boardgame Knights: Superheroes Get Broken By The Dawn

Once again, four members of the Starshield Gaming Society got together for a night of board games on Monday night. On the roster were magehammer (me), Weezoh, MooseCadet, and Iczer. The game of the night was one of my favorites: Sentinels of the Multiverse! 

I played Ra, Weezoh was Fanatic, MooseCadet was the Wraith, and Iczer pulled Haka. The evil Citizen Dawn was making a power play on Insular Primalis, and the heroes rushed to stop her. At first, the battle was going well for the heroes as they got into a rhythm against the Citizens. Velociraptors, Pterodactyls, and T Rexes kept the pressure on both sides, though. 

After Citizen Dawn became one with the sun, things started to look bleak for our heroes. Before we knew it, the heroes were falling one by one. Ra held out the longest. In the end, the Staff of Ra was destroyed and with it went Ra's life points. The heroes were defeated as Citizen Dawn gloated over them and moved onto the next phase of her plan for world domination. Hopefully, there are heroes somewhere who can stop the menace that is Citizen Dawn...

After we regained consciousness, we decided to play a quick game of 7 Wonders as a nightcap, which Weezoh won... just barely. Overall, a nice relaxing game night.

P.S. I received my Rook City expansion for Sentinels of the Multiverse and SurfMonkey will be in the Geek Cave tomorrow night, so stay tuned for more superhero mayhem. 

Until then, may the cards always fall your way and may random dice show up on your doorstep.

Starshield Boardgaming Knights: A Voyage Through the Multiverse and Other Stories

It was that time of the week again when our gaming group, The Starshield Gaming Society, assembled for its weekly gaming session. Taking a break from the RPG grind, we opted for board games. Many new games have hit the table lately, and this night was no exception.

We started out with what is becoming our warm-up game of choice: 7 Wonders. I had a miserable game and tied for last with Zoltar. Grez was the winner this night. Congrats, man. 

From the ancient world to the multiverse. I brought to the table the uber-cool card game Sentinels of the Multiverse, which is swiftly becoming one of my favorite games! The mixture of super hero goodness, excellent artwork, and awesome cooperative play leave me thirsting for more!

For the first game I played Bunker. Mage went with Ra, and MooseCadet played the Fanatic. We were trying to stop Baron Blade in Megalopolis. This game I tracked hit points with dice instead of the poker chips I used in my previous game. It went much better with the dice. 

Before I knew it, the Baron's 2 Backlash Fields had taken their toll on poor Bunker, and he was the first to fall. The others didn't survive too much longer after that. We did manage to flip the Baron, turning him into the Vengeful Mad Scientist, and he did have his vengeance. 

Next up, Weezoh traded places with MooseCadet at the Settlers of Catan table where Zoltar finished off the rest of the Society pretty quickly. We were at the beginning of our game, however, and continued on to try to defeat the Baron again; this time on Insula Primalis. I played Absolute Zero, Mage played Haka, and Weezoh piloted Tempest. I told Weezoh that Tempest was sort of like Aquaman. He said, "If they can make Aquaman cool, then it's a good game." We did realize, however, before the end of the game that Tempest is a mix between Storm and Aquaman. Either way, Weezoh loved the game. 

 I, of course, was the first too fall. I never really got Absolute Zero up and running. Couldn't get the synergy needed in the combination between his equipment and elemental powers to make him effective. We flipped the Baron, but he--in the end--defeated us heroes, once again destroying the Earth with the moon. 

Insula Primalis was brutal on us. Lots of dinosaurs chomping at us and foliage hindering us. I really enjoy this game! The narrative and cooperative aspects really shine for me. In fact, as I type these words, I really just want to be down in the Geek Cave playing it solo. I am very excited for the expansion, Rook City, which according to the forums at Greater Than Games, will be showing up on Kickstarter any day now! Looking forward to another crack at Baron Blade. Can't wait!

At the other table, the other half of the Society finished up a longish game of Quarriors! In the end, MooseCadet was Queen of the Quarries and head Quarrior! Excellent end to an excellent night.

Thanks for visiting my gaming table. Until next time, good reader, may the dice fall your way and may you play, play, play!

Starshield Boardgaming Knights Stop by the 7 Wonders and see the Sign while fighting Quarriors

On Monday night, the Starshield Gaming Society assembled for our weekly game night. We opted for boardgames this week to give Weezoh time to prepare his Realms of Cthulhu  campaign beginning next Monday. As I have obtained several new tabletop games in the past months, I was all for it.

Of the various games I brought, it was my two newest that hit the table but not before we sat down to a game of 7 Wonders. I, of course, was stuck next to Iczer who tries to "starve out" his immediate opponents by not building resources they can use. Frustrating but a valid strategy. 

However, it didn't serve him well this game as Zoltar and I pummeled him. 

In the end I ended up tied for second with Grez. I was happy with that finish as it is my highest 7 Wonders finish yet. 

From 7 wonders we divided our eight members into two groups and broke out Quarriors! and Elder Sign. Since I was the only gamer there who had played the game, I was in charge of teaching and playing Elder Sign, which was fine with me as I enjoy that game immensely and had only played solo once before and wanted to see how it played in multi-player. It took me about 15 minutes to set up the board and explain the rules. Then we were off to lose some Sanity.

The first group was Zoltar, Grez, and Mage. I pulled Joe Diamond. The other characters were Mage: Mike McGlen , Zoltar: Darrell Simmons, Iczer: Mandy Thompson. 

We played against Yig. Thankfully, we were able to shut him down with 10 Elder Signs before he awakened. There were, however, a few tense moments in the middle of the game. Turns out I was playing a few things incorrectly because I hadn't read the rulebook well enough and didn't want to stop the action to look up a couple of questions. The way we were playing just made the game a little easier to beat, but did not take away from our enjoyment of the game.

 After that game, I was joined by Weezoh: Monterey Jack, April: Jenny Barnes, Grez: Vincent Lee. We worked to keep Yig asleep. There were many more tense times in this game, with Lee dying and being replaced by Amanda Sharp. We, too, managed to prevent Yig from awakening in the 13th hour. It was a close one. 

Overall, the games went smoothly, and I believe everyone enjoyed both Quarriors! and Elder Sign. As for me, I love Elder Sign the more I play it. I just really get caught up in the theme and the tense suspense brought about by the dice and the advancing clock. Even after I realized we had been playing Focusing wrong and allowing removed dice to be returned to the pool after successfully completing one Task, I was happy with my experience with the game and the Starshielders.

Hopefully, on our next round of boardgames, Elder Sign will hit the table again, and we will play it completely right. That could only make it even more intense. Looking forward to it.

Thanks for visiting magehammer's Gaming Table, and Until next time, may the dice fall your way and play, play, play!

Starshield Boardgaming Knights Quarriors! with a Ticket to Ride to the 7 Wonders to Say Anything

Members of the Starshield Gaming Society assembled in the Geek Cave on Monday night for our weekly gaming session. Tonight it was all about board games. 

While we waited for Grez first and MooseCadet (aka Brigid), Iczer, Weezoh, and I played a rousing game of Quarriors! The spread was pretty good, I must say and there was a lot of room for back and forth leads. In the end I was triumphant. 

After Grez arrived, we played another. I was once again victorious. Good playing and fortuitous draws led me to victory. I culled the first game and didn't the second game just to see how they worked out. I guess I didn't really notice a difference. I may have just had the spirits of the Quarries in me, I don't know. What I do know is, I love this game!

After MooseCadet/Brigid arrived, we sat down to a Ticket to Ride: Europe game. This was my second play of this game, and I must say I enjoyed it much more the second time around. I even had strategies and stuff in my head. The game was also notable because MooseCadet scored the 8 line shown below. That was an exciting moment for all. However, unfortunately, MooseCadet failed to fulfill a number of tickets and took a major hit in end game scoring. She ended last. 

I ended up third. Much better than my last showing. 

From the fabled railways of Europe, we continued onto the ancient tableau that is 7 Wonders. This game is swiftly becoming one of my favorite. It has a cool card-drafting technique and has, of course, cards! Love cards. 

Though I ended the game with a stack of 3 gold (14 to be exact), I failed to win and came in third...again. A trend was beginning to develop as the night wore on. Our final gasp was a game of Say Anything, which really lived up to its name. Highlights for me: Nikola Tesla, Dickens is boring, and our friend Zoltar.

Our next game night should be a character creation session of our foray into the Dresden Files RPG. Looking forward to what comes of that. 

Until next time, good gamer, may the dice roll your way