Session Report May 1, 2007

*** Thanks again to Sharon for the session report since I was at my son's baseball game ***

Attendees (11): Troy Shady, Steve Walker, Andrew Bradley, Andy Manning, Tamara Ferretti, Sharon Madden, Joel Weeks, Adam Whitney, Eileen Tooke, Pat Harmon, David Harmon

Everybody met at our place for game night this week. We welcomed our neighbors, David and Pat Harmon, for their first experience with German/Euro boardgames. David wanted to observe this first time, but we got Pat into a game of TransAmerica right away, and she pulled off the win! We enjoyed having David and Pat and hope to see them back for more fun and games!

Here's what we played:

TRANSAMERICA
In TransAmerica, each player tries to connect their rail lines to 5 cities in 5 different areas of the board -- West Coast, Southern US, Central US, Northern US, and East Coast. Players choose a starting spot on the board and build from there by placing either 1 or 2 pieces of track each turn, depending on the type of terrain. Initially, players can only build off their own rail lines, but once a line connects with another, players can build off the other lines and vice versa. The winner is the player who connects to all 5 of their cities first. The other players move their trains down the score track the number of spaces needed to connect all their cities. The game ends after several rounds when at least one player's train has either passed the barrier on the score track or taken a dive into the Pacific Ocean.
The key in this game is networking, networking, networking. The sooner you're able to connect to other rail lines, the quicker you'll connect all your cities. Yes, by doing this, you are helping other players, but in this game, you won't get very far very fast by yourself.
Tonight, Eileen was the first train into the Pacific, followed by Joel, Adam, and Pat.

RA
Joel and Adam were acknowledged by the Sun God Ra together as our most famous players with 35 points each. However, Joel impressed Ra further by having the higher total of suns. Leaving a favorable impressions on the Gods were Eileen and Pat with 34 and 33 respectively. A very close game!

THAT'S LIFE
In That's Life, also known as Verflixxt, players have a set of 3 pawns that they are moving through a design of hexes with positive and negative numbers on them. The values range from -10 to +8. Players roll a die and choose one of their pawns or a guard pawn to move. There are also fortune cards along the route which once collected, turn any negative number in a player's possession into a positive number. More than one player may land on a hex, but the last player to leave a hex gets to keep it -- whether they want it or not. Also, if your pawn is on a hex with a guard pawn and the guard pawn is still there when you leave it, you do not collect the hex. Once all players have reached the finish line, the game is over, and the winner is the person with the most positive points.
This is a light filler game that is based on luck. Sure, there is some strategy, but if you're not rolling the right numbers to begin with, you're going to come out with a low score. But hey...That's Life.
Tonight's lucky duck was Andy with 22, followed by Steve with 21, Eileen with 9 and Adam with a score was too negative to count.


UNION PACIFIC
This is one of Troy's favorite games, so he suggested it. Andy and I played it a couple of weeks ago, and we were excited to give it another go. In my initial writing about this game, I wrote that it is beneficial to collect UP cards early on, and I should have followed my own advice. My dilemma was some helpful stock cards coming up early for me, and once I got everything I needed, most of the UP cards were gone, and I ended up with only 2. It definitely wasn't my best UP game, but nonetheless, I enjoyed playing it.
Tonight's top investor was Troy with $93, followed closely by Steve with $89. Tamara came in next with $75, followed by Sharon with $67, Andrew with $66 (very close), and Andy with $57.

AVE CEASAR
Troy, Andrew and I decided to test our chariot driving skills in Circus Maximus. Players receive a deck of 24 cards, and they are numbered 1-6, with 4 of each card. The numbers totally barely enough spaces to complete 3 laps around the ring. Players shuffle their decks, and draw the first 3 cards as their starting hand. On your turn, you play one of your cards, move your chariot that number, and draw back up to 3. The only stipulations with playing cards are that if you're in first place, you cannot play a card with a value of 6, and if you can't move with the cards in your hand, you must pass your turn. During one of the 3 laps, players must detour to Emperor's Alley, stop there, salute Caesar (loudly and enthusiastically) and pay a denari as a tribute. The first player to cross the finish line after 3 laps and paying homage to Caesar is the winner.
This is a cute, light filler. It's tricky, though, because you can end up behind the finish line with not enough points to cross, depending on how your cards stack up and which tracks you're able to take. Troy was tonight's fastest chariot driver, coming in first, followed by Andrew and then me.
Just for kicks and grins, Andrew and I played it again playing with 2 chariots each. Andrew came in first and third and I came in second and fourth.