Witches, oil barons and treachery oh my!

The March edition of Border Board Games saw the return of a lost son and a visit from the southern marches.  We were pleased that Rob was able to rejoin us and Bradford Brad journeyed north to join our merry band.  Also stopping by for the first time in ages was daniel, the chess guy.  I'm sure Shannon remembers him well.

We started the evening with a round of base set Dominion that featured Brad, Beth, Rob and myself.  It's been ages since we broke out Dominion and, not surprisingly, some of us had gotten fuzzy about what exactly each card did.  Our card set up was also less than ideal lying sometwhere between a bastard and a punch in the face.  We had only two 3 value cards and the awful thief made an early appearance.  Needless to say, coin was scarce in the latter goings with Rob the only player to acquire more than a single Province.  Despite being cash poor, my witches proved brutally effective clearing out the Curse deck as a way to spend a quick finish.  As it turned out, despite his collection of Provinces, the big pile of purple cards dragged down Rob's final score allowing me to squeak in the victory.

Next up was a game of Black Gold, the newest addition to our collection.  St. Jay Mike took one for the team replacing Dennis at the chess table.  It's still a fairly new title for us but it is a surprisingly simple game to play.  Hudson Oil appeared to fall on hard times throughout the game with its prices yo-yoing between average and terrible forcing most of the bid battles on Jet Oil and US Oil.  In the end, a key win for Brad gave him the edge and the win.  Despite a slow start including a noticeable lack of oil derricks, Dennis rebounded nicely to snag second place on the strength of a solid position of hi train in the final round.

Our final game of the evening proceeded after the departure of Brad and Daniel, one headed south, the other north of The Wall.  Shadows Over Camelot, aka The Traitor Game, was the choice of the night, both because of its ability to accomodate a large number of players as well as not having hit the table in a long time.  Not surprisingly, once again I was dealt the traitor card.  For a game with so much randomness, it is positively uncanny how often I am selected to try and sabotage the efforts of the noble knights.

My efforts would be quickly foiled, however, since only a single lasting sepcial black card ever appeared, Morgan, and it was eliminated in a single round as the Saxons were routed from England's shores.  The knights proved frightfully effective capturing both Excalibur and Lancelot's armor in addition to completing a few other quests.  Though I remained undiscovered until the end, the loyal knights had banked sufficient white swords that even a sudden reversal of fortunes was unable to swing things my way.

The next edition of Border Board games will be the BBG Roadshow in Lyndonville.  To everyone else it will be known as Spring Meltdown.  We return to the Derby Line Village Hall for the May game night.