That AA game

The August edition of Border Board Games brought out some old favorites and brand new titles.  We'd like to welcome Karl to the fold and look forward to sharing some new games from his collection and ours in the future.  This month we had myself, Beth, Karl, Mike O., Andrew, Dennis and St. Jay Mike.  It provided us with enough folks to hit up two tables of games.

Castle Panic!, courtesy of Karl, occupied Mike, Andrew, Beth and Karl as the opening game.  the group valiantly struggled against the invading hordes but, eventually, a succession of giant boulders breached their castle walls and led to their downfall.

Meanwhile Dennis, Mike O and I tackled Agricola or, as St. Jay Mike calls it "That game with A at the beginning and A at the end."  needless to say, it is not one of his favorites.  It was the first time that Mike O has played though he has witnessed a few games of it in progress.  As is often the case, sometimes just not getting begging cards is a victory of sorts.  It was a surprisingly tight race at the end as Dennis managed to fill his farmyard in the late goings.  His early farm was a pitiful affair with a couple of rock strewn fields, a pig in his house and a surprisingly robust stone mansion to his name.  In the end, however, the early advantage of the Midwife proved the deciding factor.  having those extra actions courtesy of the additional farmhand allowed me to squeak out a 42-38 win.  Sadly, Mike O didn't do so well but finished with 20 points.  In his first game of Agricola, finishing with points in the twenties is a sort of victory in and of itself.

As Agricola wound down and castle panic! ended in crushing defeat, the first table switched gears to the ever popular Lords of Waterdeep.  It has proven to have enduring replayability with a slick and engaging theme.  Though there is only a superficial depth of strategy, it is sufficiently varied to keep the interest of repeat players, approachable and easy in concept and execution with just the right level of randomness to keep things interesting.  Beth proclaimed her first ever victory in the game, a fact which she made abundantly clear with her pronouncement of jubilation.

After Agricola and Lords of Waterdeep concluded we broke out into new groups with the two Mikes, Andrew and Dennis picking up a game of Power Grid.  Admittedly I didn't follow the progress of the game quite as much as I should have.  It did become apparent that Andrew developed a fascination for resource-less wind energy and rapid expansion.  Though he was poised to breach the cities controlled barrier, his free energy lacked the punch to power all of those towns leading to widespread blackouts in his sector.  While I believe St. Jay Mike eventually triumphed, admittedly, I don't know that for certain.

Karl, Beth and I brought out a game that hasn't hit the table in quite some time: Giants.  Thematically, it is one of the most excellent games in our collection.  Everything from the difficulty of getting hats and Moais to their pedestals to the deforestation of the island to make it happen play well with the Eastern Island mystery theme.  It was a tight race down to the end.  Indeed, if not for a miscalculation on his use of logs, I think Karl may have actually pulled this one out of the bag.  I was able to win the game despite a slow start.  Capping all of my Moais and scattering statues and hats on different sides of the Island enabled me to maximize my points.

Due to scheduling conflicts, the next Border Board Games game night will take place at the Lair (our home) on Friday, September 14th.  Keep you eye out for FB messages or e-mails informing you of changes in the schedule.