The Howling Hag that got away and other timely misfortunes

It was a strange sort of Border Board games for February 18th.  With the village hall seeing some other use, the action moved to the newly re-christened Creaserton Abbey.  Mike and Dennis came up from St. Jay early to get their game on.  The afternoon started with Age of Empires III.  Beth and her Dutch legions staked an early lead that she would not relinquish over the ten turns of the game.  Racking up many points in the colonization rounds coupled with some fortunate capital buildings allowed her to run off with a commanding victory.  Dennis and his Portugese forces employed an interesting armed camp variation that effectively slashed into Beth's point total while bolstering his own.  While the French under my leadership explored like mad, my lack of a presence in the colonies hampered my startegy.  Though not sure what strategy Mike employed, his was at least as successful as my own despite a fourth place finish.

We then launched into a few rounds of Trans America at which point Mike O arrived.  As Trans America goes, it tends to end quickly and a disasterous secound game saw Dennis plunge into the Pacific in near record time.  I hink everyone saw the advantage ofusing the Screw You pieces and the second game saw frenzied placement in the rush to avoid a cliff-diving finale.

We then brought out Castle Ravenloft in a co-op frenzy to defeat the Howling hag.  It was, in my estimation at least, one of the more difficult scenarios I have played to date.  Having the party scattered to the four corners of the map forced us to rely on our own pitiful skills in the early going.  My wizard and dennis' rogue teamed up in the one two-man group while the Mikes and Beth had to fight their way out of their respective corners.  Dennis and I caught up to Mike O's ranger in short order while we blazed a path to the central summoning circle.  Dennis, amazingly, managed to draw four of the five zero monster tiles in our push ahead.

Beth had poor luck as she almost instantly drew the howling hag figure.  The tile placement was also working against her, locking her into a corner while Mike's fighter tried to cut his way down.  Eventually we managed to open the circle and start whittling away at the time tokens.  This is where things took a turn for the weird.  Mike O had already taken heavy damage, often as the result of unfortunate Encounter draws.    With two of the five time tokens off, the hag teleported Beth closer and herself further from the action.  This is where we thought we had it won.  Suddenly, my raggedy wizard was sucked off into a corner with two monsters including an Environment strengthrned ghoul.  I used my fire blast but managed to slay only the rat swarm.  The ghoul took one swipe and down I fell.

Meanwhile, the others battled an assortment of fiends near the circle as well as dealing the death blow to the hag herself.  sadly, two of our companions dropped as well.  All we needed to do to win was remove the final three time tiles by simply starting and ending our turns in the circle.  unfortunately, two of the four characters in the circle were lying in pools of their own blood and we had but a single Healing Surge remaining.  Thus, with the monster defeated, we still took the loss.

To cap off the night we rolled out an oldie but a goody: Settlers of Catan.  It went as settlers often does.  While most of us bickered amonst ourselves, the 8s were noticeably absent and the 4s and 10s obscenely prevalent.  This was good for virtually everyone at the table except for Dennis and myself.  Mike O pulled out the ninja victory by slowly but surely building up his roads and armies while everyone else concentrated on whomever built the latest city.  In a stunning final move Mike O connected his two neighborhoods snatching away the longest road from Mike while simultaneously laying down his third knight to claim largest army for the win.

An Unexpected Game Day

Border Board Games took the show on the road as we combined forces with the Goodrich Memorial Library in downtown Newport. The celebration of National Game Day on November 13 was, in my opinion, a success for both our game group as well as the library. My expectation was that the members of our group would converge and have an extra session of gaming. While I had hoped for a few people to show up, we actually attracted a lot of new faces.

The library brought out a fairly substantial selection of traditional board games as well as a Nintendo Wii system on which to run a Mario Kart tournament. In the spirit of the day the tournament was largely self-governing with various children taking turns or combining for four-player races. We brought along a Big Frakkin' Bag of goodness including a few of our newest acquisitions.

Hoping to attract game enthusiasts who might not be terribly familiar withEuro games, we started off easy with a game of Settlers of Catan. One fellow said that the game was something he had tried on a virtual platform and enjoyed quite a bit. Having a chance to play face to face with a physical game board sounded like fun. And he was right. The game also proved immensely popular with a pair of brothers, one of whom caught the tail-end of our inaugural game. Having watched us for a few rounds, he quickly picked up on the concept and decided he wanted to try it out for himself. Though he played it in 2-player mode (I should have told him it is based on a 3-player minimum), the boys liked it quite a lot and had so much fun they played two games in a row.

Meanwhile Beth guided a couple of other young fellows in a game of Power Grid. Personally I found it interesting that a couple of teens would have taken interest in a game based on operating an electric utility, even more so considering the lack-lustre box art. Seriously, does a dude in a lab coat looking at dials and buttons scream "play me some more." Heck, though disingenuous, even Atari made Super Breakout look fun by putting astronauts on the cover. Beth remarked that the boys had fun playing and certainly began to appreciate the levels of strategy and management necessary to win the game.

Our friend Rob came by with his kids and Homer, Alexis and Josh also stopped in for gaming mayhem. We introduced Rob's friend to Race for the Galaxy and Ave Caesar and then dived headlong into an eight-player Bang! showdown (with our Carnage acquired Dodge City expansion). We were so caught up in the moment that I almost forgot to check in with some of the folks to see how their games of Magic: The Gathering went as well as get some general feedback on National Game Day in general. Before we knew it the library was closing down around us and we had to get going.

It turns out that half a day of gaming wasn't going to be enough. So we retired to The Lair (Beth always wanted a Lair) for a continuation of the day's festivities. Homer, Alexis, Josh and new Josh came by that evening for a game of Cyclades and several rounds of Bang! Having two Joshes in the group is proving slightly confusing. Especially when someone declares "I'm shooting Josh." We've tossed around some thoughts on how to qualify the two: Original Josh or OJ or Josh 2, Jay-2, J-Roc or some derivative to distinguish between them. I'm sure if we apply ourselves to the task we can reach an alternative that makes everyone happy.

It also appears that we may have picked up one or two new players for our mponthly D&D game. Jeff is interested in joining the crew and DM Rob ex[pressed a willingness to add a new face to the mix. Jeff's daughter may also be joining in the fun. I guess we'll need to consider putting in both leaves for the table on the 27th.....

Gaming in November

November is a busy month for gaming!

The first weekend of November from 5th to the 7th, is Vermont's only gaming convention, Carnage. Carnage takes place in Fairlee, VT at the Inn on Lake Morey and is an awesome gaming event. If you cannot make it for the whole weekend, we highly recommend going for at least one day. We are heading down on the 5th and and are coming back at about noon on the th. We have one spot available in the car for a passenger so if you are looking to hitch a ride, let us know.

Then, on November 13th, we will be at the Goodrich Library in Newport, VT (or visit them on Facebook)to participate in National Game Day. We will bring along some board games, Magic the Gathering cards and some roleplaying books. We hope we can introduce some people to some new games.

On November 20th, we will have our regular Border Board Games game night. To honor Thanksgiving, we will bring along board games with a exploration and colonization theme. So we'll have Settlers of Catan, Castle Ravenloft, Battlestar Gallactica, Age of Empires III, and Race for the Galaxy. If you have any gaming requests, please let us know.

And, to end of November, on the 27th, we will plan to have our regular D&D session.