Catch-Up!

Been playing quite a bit, so there's been some blog-lag!

Mini-Games Night
Had a small group get together and played a few games after being frustrated at not getting to play over Easter weekend! Shadows of Camelot was the game du jour. Good game and seemed to have some good re-playability. The forces of good trounced the forces of evil (i.e. Tristin) with a whopping 12 white swords - a total that has elicited several cries of "you probably weren't playing right." We ended the night on a game of Betrayal at House on the Hill which has lost a bit of the luster in our eyes, but it was a good game anyway. Greg ended up the traitor with a veritable horde of insects at his disposal and neatly mopped up our ragtag band of heroes.

Hard Core Night

Hard core night did not disappoint! Four whopping titles were played! We started off with Railroad Tycoon, which was a really great game, but definitely favors those who've played through once or twice. That said, I managed to spawn a massive system that allowed me to sneak into second, losing by a single point to the forces of Travis! Next on the docket was another Eagle Game, Conquest of the Empire. We played the eurogame version and...well...uh...we're Americans. We immediately launched into a policy of warfare that ultimately favored the turtle in chief, Greg. I swear to play it like a eurogame next time - really! We quickly progressed into a game of Cosmic Encounter which has been on my "to play" list for a while. I really liked the idea of a confrontational eurogame, though I really don't think this compares to Twilight Imperium (Yeah, they're both in space, but that's about it). Kirk led a rousing early expansion - after figuring out how the game worked, I rode his coat tails into a victory using the power of peace (pacifism kicks butt!)! It was at this point that we became desperate for a Kirk win (did I mention it was Kirk's birthday?) - so we did the only thing we could - we pulled out a racing game.
Daytona 500 is a racing game with a Nascar theme to boot! Regardless of my understandable skepticism, this was a really good game that I would seriously consider picking up. And Kirk won. We wound up the night with a game of Tongiaki, which can best be described as Carcasonne with chain reactions - a neat little game that wound up in a tie between Kirk and myself (but he won the tiebreaker).

Video Games
Halo 2 maps are out - remakes of Derelict and Hang 'em High. The maps are gorgeous and they play well. I think the Derelict remake will be the most popular in the long term. Good symmetric map with lots of opportunities for clever play and some really dynamic movement. The other is a great wave of nostalgia, but I really only want to play snipers and rockets on it.

My most current addiction is a little game for the DS, Puzzle Quest. You may have seen the Penny Arcade guys write about it. This game is lethally addictive - just go buy the darned thing...trust me.

Miniature Games
Last but not least, this weekend I got Mongoose's Victory at Sea and the brand-spanking new AT-43 rulebook. Victory at Sea is going to be one of those games that I'll end up blowing $100 or so on the miniatures and I'll drag out to play every so often. Its an alright system, but the rulebook isn't great, though the inclusion of counters so that people can play right away is terrific. AT-43 on the other hand is likely to become my number 1 or 2 game - its that good. These rules are tight and logical. They go right up to the point of simulation and then back away slowly - giving me exactly what I want: a minimum of "that just doesn't make sense" moments. And we're talking about well-painted, pre-painted, reasonably priced miniatures to boot. Color me impressed.