Gary the Game Hound's second Games 'til You Puke event was a rip-roaring success. Everyone seemed to have a good time and no one puked - always a plus for any event. We were glad to have some new faces and revisit with gamers from Cons past on Saturday. A good melange of games was had with everyone contributing a pile o'games to the festivities, not to mention a veritable mountain of comestibles.
The game day kicked off in earnest when Amos popped over and taught Beth and I the basics of Tigris and Euphrates. Just as we started our first trial game Rob and his daughter Willow arrived and we quickly worked Rob into the game. It turned out to be a big mistake as he systematically tore first mine and then Amos' kingdoms apart to win by a commanding margin.
Shortly thereafter the Barre contingents poured in with the Bob, Ericka, Kristin (sp?), Kaye, Vaughan and the Joes. Bob broke out Fury of Dracula which kicked into high gear as soon as Kim, Homer and Zeke showed up. Homer having a penchant for evil monster games was no doubt disappointed he couldn't be the Count right off the bat.
Other games that hit the table included Arkham Horror which, while enjoyable in its own rights, does seem to drag with more players. It certainly helps to keep evil fromswamping the town quickly but the amount of downtime between turns does cause the experience to suffer somewhat. Willow finally got a chance to play the hardcopy version of Ticket To Ride and did quite well considering her less than awe-inspiring selection of starting tickets. Later on Amos' copy of Ticket to Ride Marklin also came out.
I'm not sure what exactly was happening over at the coffee table but it had something to do with wind-up zombies, All Wound Up, and seemed to have captivated our younger gamers' interest. Kaye and Vaughan had a quick game of Uptown before migrating to other events. The night closed to a draw with a session of Kill Dr. Lucky in the dining room and a six-man Dominion throw-down in the den. For whatever reason the distraction of the tune played by an ice cream truck remains one of the highlights of my Kill Dr. Lucky experience. Thanks for that memory, Zeke!
Despite getting short-shrifted on dollar cheeseburger tribute, the likelihood that Gary the Game Hound would permit his humans to have another game day in the future seems bright. For now, however, he just needs to find a comfy chair to curl up in and catch up on some much needed sleep. It ain't easy being the host with the most - fur that is.
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Monday, May 24, 2010
Next Board Game Day
The next evening of board gaming will be June 12th, not June 18th. We are veering from our regularly scheduled 3rd Saturday so people can attend the Green Mountain Gamers, Game 'n Grill in Essex, VT.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Of Heroic Inadequacies
Last night, May 22, marked the second adventure for the Border Board games RPG group. Our party was pleased to introduce two new characters played by Josh and Ken. In the wake of the mysterious overgrowth of the surrounding forest, the mayor had asked us to investigate both the cause and some probable solutions to the town's dilemma. Without access to the vital trade routes connecting the outpost to the rest of the empire starvation would rear its ugly head.
Little does he understand the depths of that danger as we soon discovered. Not only do hostile kobold tribes infest the great woods, the animals within have grown preternaturally large and, of more import, not at all timid of humanoids. Likewise the coinciding disappearance of the elven wizards from their tower and the vanishing of the knight warders has left the town all but defenseless. That's where our party fits in.
If only the mayor had better options available to him. Jakob the druid, Nonname the half-elf rangeress, Splinter the half-elf rogue, Stripe the sorcereress, Yama the monk and Amra the barbarian are the last hope of the colony. Gods help them all.
While our intentions were good, our abilities were somewhat lacking on the evening. A festival of critical fumbles ensued leading to a calamitous number of deaths for the party, most of which were endured by Splinter, our resident trap springer. It started out as badly as could be imagined. Though the door to the knight's keep was ajar, we should have turned around right then and fled to the tender mercies of the woods.
While investigating some corpses found within we noticed that two of the bodies were dessicated by great age and another, fresher, appeared to have been mauled about the face and neck. Meanwhile Splinter and Noname were busy activating flame-gout traps as we approached the door leading deeper into the keep. We managed to clamber into the stairwell leading to the second floor only to discover a rolling log trap. Noname ducked the log, Amra jumped it while Splinter and Jakob bravely tried to stop the log with our bodies. Splinter died and narrowly avoid irreversible death when the log was eventually prevented from impaling us on spikes along the opposite wall.
The second floor proved no boon either. As a newly revived Splinter went forward to check on the skeletal remains inhabiting the former dining hall, he apparently inspired them to rise and engage in one last act of murder. Still weak from his misadventure with the log he quickly went down again. Luckily Yama took pity on him and hustled his bleeding body out of the dining room of horror and to the relative safety of the lower level.
As always seems to be the case in combats with skeletons, it took far longer than it should. An endless series of whiffs and ineffective rolls severely impaired our ability to down the foes with anything approaching efficacy. With Yama hauling Splinter to safety, Noname remained the only adventurer in the room at all equipped to deal with skeletons. Stripe and Jakob bravely plugged away while Trip the Snake bravely attempted to poison creatures with minimal anatomical systems. Fortunately, despite grievous wounds, Noname and Amra managed to kill the fell creatures. Jakob did what he could for the wounded and the party barricaded itself in the room to rest.
Following the rest period the disaster resumed in earnest. Exploring the next floor revealed zombies stitched up with alchemical compounds designed to explode. What manner of twisted fiend creates zombie-bombs anyway? As Amra stood in front of Splinter, ostensibly to shield the thief while he worked on a locked and trapped door, Splinter again succumbed, this time to a toxic needle trap. Jakob charged forward to help while Amtra battered his way into the room. Once inside a body was dismembered and a bed set on fire. The exact details escape me at the moment.
In the meantime the fire-pellets continued to shoot down the hall, lighting the zombie-bomb on fire. using a combination of trusty woolen blanket and Ray of Frost Noname and Stripe extinguished the burning undead while Yama hauled the fell thing away. Newly revived for the third time, some ingenuity on part of Splinter and Amra managed to stop a fire-pellet trap by shoving a dismembered zombie head into the hole.
Eventually we managed to escape the level with a bejeweled sword, a shiny ring and a crown and the tatters of our dignity. The final level of the keep proved no better for our party than any of those previous. Some manner of devilish thing cackled and tormented us as his sluggish zombie guardians moved to attack. The creature, an imp we would later discover, proved frustratingly adept at evading harm while inflicting misery on our company.
Jakob cast the first stone, a magic stone, and struck the foul beast solidly. It was pretty much all downhill from there. The archers studded the zombies with arrows to little effect while the Imp disappeared. Over the course of the battle Noname fell and then Jakob. In spite of flanking bonuses granted by Trip, the imp seemed to easily avoid the wild swings and ineffectual jabs of our heroes. Stripe expended her cache of spells wounding the Imp but not felling it. The Imp in turn beat her within an inch, or HP, of her life. In a daring move, which ultimately proved the better judgement, Splinter's Choice was to administer a healing potion to Noname to get her back into the fight. Jakob was too far gone to be certain that the potion would do more than stabilize him. The group needed swords, not malingerers.
It came down to the raging barbarian whose mighty axe swings battered the wicked creature. As the imp dropped into the pit, did I mention the gaping pit to the Abyss in the middle of the room?, a ragged cheer went up. Efforts by Yama and Stripe to stabilize the dying druid failed and Jakob went on to a better place - the Seventh Pit of Hell for example.
While the knight's tower may have been ridded of its pestilential evil for the time being, the heroes will proceed sans their lone divine caster. Fortunately I have another character idea in mind. Just need to find a sharp pencil....
Little does he understand the depths of that danger as we soon discovered. Not only do hostile kobold tribes infest the great woods, the animals within have grown preternaturally large and, of more import, not at all timid of humanoids. Likewise the coinciding disappearance of the elven wizards from their tower and the vanishing of the knight warders has left the town all but defenseless. That's where our party fits in.
If only the mayor had better options available to him. Jakob the druid, Nonname the half-elf rangeress, Splinter the half-elf rogue, Stripe the sorcereress, Yama the monk and Amra the barbarian are the last hope of the colony. Gods help them all.
While our intentions were good, our abilities were somewhat lacking on the evening. A festival of critical fumbles ensued leading to a calamitous number of deaths for the party, most of which were endured by Splinter, our resident trap springer. It started out as badly as could be imagined. Though the door to the knight's keep was ajar, we should have turned around right then and fled to the tender mercies of the woods.
While investigating some corpses found within we noticed that two of the bodies were dessicated by great age and another, fresher, appeared to have been mauled about the face and neck. Meanwhile Splinter and Noname were busy activating flame-gout traps as we approached the door leading deeper into the keep. We managed to clamber into the stairwell leading to the second floor only to discover a rolling log trap. Noname ducked the log, Amra jumped it while Splinter and Jakob bravely tried to stop the log with our bodies. Splinter died and narrowly avoid irreversible death when the log was eventually prevented from impaling us on spikes along the opposite wall.
The second floor proved no boon either. As a newly revived Splinter went forward to check on the skeletal remains inhabiting the former dining hall, he apparently inspired them to rise and engage in one last act of murder. Still weak from his misadventure with the log he quickly went down again. Luckily Yama took pity on him and hustled his bleeding body out of the dining room of horror and to the relative safety of the lower level.
As always seems to be the case in combats with skeletons, it took far longer than it should. An endless series of whiffs and ineffective rolls severely impaired our ability to down the foes with anything approaching efficacy. With Yama hauling Splinter to safety, Noname remained the only adventurer in the room at all equipped to deal with skeletons. Stripe and Jakob bravely plugged away while Trip the Snake bravely attempted to poison creatures with minimal anatomical systems. Fortunately, despite grievous wounds, Noname and Amra managed to kill the fell creatures. Jakob did what he could for the wounded and the party barricaded itself in the room to rest.
Following the rest period the disaster resumed in earnest. Exploring the next floor revealed zombies stitched up with alchemical compounds designed to explode. What manner of twisted fiend creates zombie-bombs anyway? As Amra stood in front of Splinter, ostensibly to shield the thief while he worked on a locked and trapped door, Splinter again succumbed, this time to a toxic needle trap. Jakob charged forward to help while Amtra battered his way into the room. Once inside a body was dismembered and a bed set on fire. The exact details escape me at the moment.
In the meantime the fire-pellets continued to shoot down the hall, lighting the zombie-bomb on fire. using a combination of trusty woolen blanket and Ray of Frost Noname and Stripe extinguished the burning undead while Yama hauled the fell thing away. Newly revived for the third time, some ingenuity on part of Splinter and Amra managed to stop a fire-pellet trap by shoving a dismembered zombie head into the hole.
Eventually we managed to escape the level with a bejeweled sword, a shiny ring and a crown and the tatters of our dignity. The final level of the keep proved no better for our party than any of those previous. Some manner of devilish thing cackled and tormented us as his sluggish zombie guardians moved to attack. The creature, an imp we would later discover, proved frustratingly adept at evading harm while inflicting misery on our company.
Jakob cast the first stone, a magic stone, and struck the foul beast solidly. It was pretty much all downhill from there. The archers studded the zombies with arrows to little effect while the Imp disappeared. Over the course of the battle Noname fell and then Jakob. In spite of flanking bonuses granted by Trip, the imp seemed to easily avoid the wild swings and ineffectual jabs of our heroes. Stripe expended her cache of spells wounding the Imp but not felling it. The Imp in turn beat her within an inch, or HP, of her life. In a daring move, which ultimately proved the better judgement, Splinter's Choice was to administer a healing potion to Noname to get her back into the fight. Jakob was too far gone to be certain that the potion would do more than stabilize him. The group needed swords, not malingerers.
It came down to the raging barbarian whose mighty axe swings battered the wicked creature. As the imp dropped into the pit, did I mention the gaping pit to the Abyss in the middle of the room?, a ragged cheer went up. Efforts by Yama and Stripe to stabilize the dying druid failed and Jakob went on to a better place - the Seventh Pit of Hell for example.
While the knight's tower may have been ridded of its pestilential evil for the time being, the heroes will proceed sans their lone divine caster. Fortunately I have another character idea in mind. Just need to find a sharp pencil....
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Next D&D Session
We will continue with our D&D campaign on May 22nd at our house. Contact if you are interested in joining this campaign.
May 15th Session Report
It was a fantastic night for gaming in Derby Line on Saturday. The damp and dismal weather outside did nothing to diminish the carnival of fun in the village hall.
We will start off by sending our greetings to the three newest folk to join us for Border Board games Josh, Ken and Shannon. Glad to have you aboard and we hope y'all return for future events.
We'd also like to thank our recurring guests, Eric and Jessica and Kim and Homer. We missed having Rob and Angela especially since we may have found some new bold adventurers for next weekend's D&D 3.5 session!
The night started with a couple of split sessions of Dominion. Beth, Kim and Homer sat at the veterans table while I introduced Ken, Josh and Shannon to the game at another. In a strange twist of fate, in spite of combining the base set and Intrigue, NONE of the 20 cards selected by the randomizing program selected ANY attack cards.
Over at the veterans table Homer emerged victorious in spite of being denied his favorite Intrigue card - the swindler. The lack of attack cards apparently didn't hurt as he won by a double digit margin. At the newcomer's table strategies quickly developed and went into play. The Chapel languished unused as it lost functionality in the Curse-less deck. Ken came into some serious good fortune drawing four coppers and a Coppersmith and converting the lot into a province on no less than three occasions. Though the rest of us struggled to catch up with combinations of Harems, Great Halls and Barons, Ken's early lead carried him to ultimate victory with an impressive score of 58.
The arrival of Eric and Jessica spurred a new round of gaming. Homer, Josh, Kim, Shannon and I launched into a game of Age of Empires III. Kim, Homer and I were familiar with the board game but it was an entirely new experience for both Josh and Shannon. Several strategies emerged in the early going with Homer working the exploration angle, Kim advancing with colonization and myself pursuing a Big Money strategy. Unfortunately my gamble failed, owing in large part to sorrowful neglect of first age colonization scoring. Kim pulled away with the combination of Monastery and Cathedral as her protestant Dutch swamped the New World.
Beth led the second table through three rounds of entry-level Pandemic. That table featured Eric, Jessica, Ken and Beth struggling to end SARS, AIDS, Swine-Flu and whatever that disease is that kids bring home from school. The world came to a sad end in the first two attempts. Infector cards arrived with alarming frequency quickly rendering the bold CDC team impotent. In the final game the team triumphed against the cooties. Teamwork between Jessica the Scientist and Ken the Researcher enabled the team to develop vaccines to wipe out the Blue Plague and the Yellow Scourge.
Given that Pandemic plays more quickly than AoE III the four moved on to a game of Trans America. In spite of a shaky start that saw her train slip well down the track early in the game, Jessica emerged triumphant in the game. Eric certainly suffered from hard-luck drawing cities as geographically diverse as the game permits. Indeed, no sooner had I voiced the dismay I have experienced at combining Duluth, Jacksonville and Seattle than those three very same cards erupted in his hand. His pandemic heroics aside, Ken's train was the first to slide off the rails to land unceremoniously into the Pacific Ocean.
Which begs the question, what wonders shall we break out on the next Border board games game day, June 12th? There has been interest expressed in returning to Galactic exploration with Space Alert as well as utility management in Power Grid. Ticket to Ride with the 1910 expansion as well as Last Night On Earth are also tentatively on the gaming menu. Would anyone be up for a little monsters, madness and mayhem in Arkham Horror, it being one of the longer games in our collection? Drop us a line if there is something you want to play whether it's from our collection or yours.
We will start off by sending our greetings to the three newest folk to join us for Border Board games Josh, Ken and Shannon. Glad to have you aboard and we hope y'all return for future events.
We'd also like to thank our recurring guests, Eric and Jessica and Kim and Homer. We missed having Rob and Angela especially since we may have found some new bold adventurers for next weekend's D&D 3.5 session!
The night started with a couple of split sessions of Dominion. Beth, Kim and Homer sat at the veterans table while I introduced Ken, Josh and Shannon to the game at another. In a strange twist of fate, in spite of combining the base set and Intrigue, NONE of the 20 cards selected by the randomizing program selected ANY attack cards.
Over at the veterans table Homer emerged victorious in spite of being denied his favorite Intrigue card - the swindler. The lack of attack cards apparently didn't hurt as he won by a double digit margin. At the newcomer's table strategies quickly developed and went into play. The Chapel languished unused as it lost functionality in the Curse-less deck. Ken came into some serious good fortune drawing four coppers and a Coppersmith and converting the lot into a province on no less than three occasions. Though the rest of us struggled to catch up with combinations of Harems, Great Halls and Barons, Ken's early lead carried him to ultimate victory with an impressive score of 58.
The arrival of Eric and Jessica spurred a new round of gaming. Homer, Josh, Kim, Shannon and I launched into a game of Age of Empires III. Kim, Homer and I were familiar with the board game but it was an entirely new experience for both Josh and Shannon. Several strategies emerged in the early going with Homer working the exploration angle, Kim advancing with colonization and myself pursuing a Big Money strategy. Unfortunately my gamble failed, owing in large part to sorrowful neglect of first age colonization scoring. Kim pulled away with the combination of Monastery and Cathedral as her protestant Dutch swamped the New World.
Beth led the second table through three rounds of entry-level Pandemic. That table featured Eric, Jessica, Ken and Beth struggling to end SARS, AIDS, Swine-Flu and whatever that disease is that kids bring home from school. The world came to a sad end in the first two attempts. Infector cards arrived with alarming frequency quickly rendering the bold CDC team impotent. In the final game the team triumphed against the cooties. Teamwork between Jessica the Scientist and Ken the Researcher enabled the team to develop vaccines to wipe out the Blue Plague and the Yellow Scourge.
Given that Pandemic plays more quickly than AoE III the four moved on to a game of Trans America. In spite of a shaky start that saw her train slip well down the track early in the game, Jessica emerged triumphant in the game. Eric certainly suffered from hard-luck drawing cities as geographically diverse as the game permits. Indeed, no sooner had I voiced the dismay I have experienced at combining Duluth, Jacksonville and Seattle than those three very same cards erupted in his hand. His pandemic heroics aside, Ken's train was the first to slide off the rails to land unceremoniously into the Pacific Ocean.
Which begs the question, what wonders shall we break out on the next Border board games game day, June 12th? There has been interest expressed in returning to Galactic exploration with Space Alert as well as utility management in Power Grid. Ticket to Ride with the 1910 expansion as well as Last Night On Earth are also tentatively on the gaming menu. Would anyone be up for a little monsters, madness and mayhem in Arkham Horror, it being one of the longer games in our collection? Drop us a line if there is something you want to play whether it's from our collection or yours.
Friday, May 14, 2010
May 15 Border Board Games
On the heels of last month's game day it seems appropriate to break out some favorites and some slightly dusty (haven't been played in a while) games.
Our growing fondness for Dominion, coupled with the fact we can accomodate eight people between two sets, makes this one a no-brainer. Base set and Intrigue.
Looking to get medieval on someone's ass? Try the mostly cooperative Shadows Over Camelot. The Knights of the Round Table are defending a kingdom in peril from marauding dragons, hordes of Picts and Saxons and, can it be? A traitor in their midst?
If anyone is interested I'd love to break out Age of Empires III once again.
A nice, quick introduction to the genre of train games is Trans America. Gather five city cards and lay track to connect your cities. It's really that simple!
Another classic "gateway game" is Settlers of Catan. Pandemic, though difficult to beat, is a madcap race to stem the tide of global pestilence. Will your team of doctors, scientists, engineers and radio operators have what it takes to prevent the spread of this year's flu-du-jour?
Something on the list you'd like to play? Drop us a line or bring along some of your favs.
Our growing fondness for Dominion, coupled with the fact we can accomodate eight people between two sets, makes this one a no-brainer. Base set and Intrigue.
Looking to get medieval on someone's ass? Try the mostly cooperative Shadows Over Camelot. The Knights of the Round Table are defending a kingdom in peril from marauding dragons, hordes of Picts and Saxons and, can it be? A traitor in their midst?
If anyone is interested I'd love to break out Age of Empires III once again.
A nice, quick introduction to the genre of train games is Trans America. Gather five city cards and lay track to connect your cities. It's really that simple!
Another classic "gateway game" is Settlers of Catan. Pandemic, though difficult to beat, is a madcap race to stem the tide of global pestilence. Will your team of doctors, scientists, engineers and radio operators have what it takes to prevent the spread of this year's flu-du-jour?
Something on the list you'd like to play? Drop us a line or bring along some of your favs.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Next Border Board Games
The next evening of board gaming fun will be May 15th at 6PM at the Derby Line Village Hall. Please email us if you have any gaming requests.
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