Treachery and Betrayal makes this a Black Christmas

"That's not natural" my nephew was once heard to declare after seeing promos for the holiday horror flick Black Christmas. Ever since then Beth and I have referred to any holiday mishaps as contributing to a Black Christmas. Border Board Games' last game night of 2010 also marked the holiday extravaganza of treachery and betrayal.

As I arrived at the hall I was pleased to see a new/old face in Bill Parker. Bill had made the trip up from Bethel to join us on an evening of misery and dismay. Bill, Carlo, Josh (OJ), Homer and Beth were involved in a game of Cockroach Poker as Shannon and I arrived. While I'm still a little fuzzy on the details, the game appears to involve considerable amounts of dishonesty as players pass around vermin and insects making spurious claims as to their actual nature. "It's a bat" "It's a rat" "It's a bat" "It's a rat" and back and forth until someone finally calls the bluff and gets stuck with whatever wicked beasty is printed on the card. As Beth explained it the game plays until one player no longer can pass out cards or acquires a verminous four of a kind and therefore becomes the game's lone loser.

Hoping to get in on a game later Shannon and I broke out Race for the Galaxy. Though the two player experienced rules were available, this being Shannon's first game we stuck to the standard rule set and also tactfully ignored the Rebel vs. Imperium takeover rules. For his first game Shannon managed quite well quickly getting his economic engine rolling. Indeed, I don't think i have ever seen anyone produce as often as he did and to good result. he made efficient use of the Consume: Trade and Consume: 2x VP powers to get off to an early lead. meanwhile I chugged along exploring a lot trying to get some of my alien planets and tech into play. Eventually that patience won out as my alien tech 6 point development card pushed me over the top. I had pitifully few chips on my side, owing to a lacklustre production scheme) but most of my points ended up on the board.

As we finished up RftG the others started a game of Citadels. Though not a new game by any means, Homer's latest pick-up has proven popular as a fill-in game. It plays quickly enough that it can bridge a group between turns but has sufficient strategy and backstabbing potential to keep gamers interested in the outcome. It would actually prove to be the first of two rounds of Citadels we would play that night. What I have found is that, in a 6 or 7 player game, there does appear to be one player who simply never gets off the ground. In each game we played there was always one person who lagged so far behind that random deathblows from the Assassin were almost assured. I don't know how that came to pass as I haven't bothered to study if player start position has any influence in the matter or not but it might be something worth keeping an eye on.

We also laid down the law with a 7-player shoot-out game of Bang with the Dodge City expansion. Sheriff Josh and his trusty deputy Homer efficiently gunned down the outlaws (with help from one other outlaw at least) even though Deputy Beth was the second to bow out of the game. I held on as best I could as the Renegade but the Sheriff was surrounded by so many cards and the Deputy healed like a troll and I simply could never take out the lawmen. Sadly the dynamite, though appearing twice in the game, only moved along once before being Cat Ballou-ed into the dustbin of history.

Next up we embarked on a quest to save Camelot from itself. King Homer and his brave knights tackled many of the grim problems besetting Camelot and, while some quests quickly went south, we succeeded at enough of them to eventually prevail despite Shannon's devious machinations. At first we had questioned his attempt at Lancelot's Armor when he declared himself unable to finish the quest despite having spent two turns playing Special White cards while on the quest. I had written it off as his inexperience with the game and only later came to suspect him as the traitor. Evidently I was the last one to do so in spite of having held the Fate card since the opening round of the game. The Picts and Saxons stormed ashore, Lancelot's Armor was lost in the mists of time but we managed to defeat the Saxons once while Heroism was in play (the only good move my Sir Kay was apparently able to manufacture), recovered the Grail (with alarming ease) and plucked Excalibur from the depths as well as kill some catapults along the way.

One thing that emerged was the acknowledgement that Sir Kay is perhaps the least competent of the Knights of the Round Table. Based upon how his power reads, his ability to lay an additional White Card ONLY applies to quests where Black Cards are revealed, hence he really is only good at the two solo quests (the jousting lists and Lancelot's Armor) as well as the Dragon fight. It's a pretty weak power considering how many other quests there are. The knights can only hope that Sir Kay is the traitor in their midst for his wrath would be a pitiful thing to behold.

December Game Days

For the month of December, here are the following dates for game nights:

December 3rd - D&D 3.5. It seems with Thanksgiving and Christmas that our regular D&D nights have to be shifted around. In addition, the regular D&D night for January will have to be scheduled for another night other than the 4th Saturday since Richard and I won't be home to host it.

December 11th - Carlo will be running a one time Trail of Cthulhu game. So far, we have 4 players and could fit a 5th so if you wish to join us, send a message.

December 18th - Border Board Games regular board game night continues. There was debate of making the game night a time to celebrate 'Black Christmas' with dark themed games but I think it would be best to just bring along whatever games strikes out fancy. Take a look at our list of games on our website and send us a message if there are any games you wish to play.

Something to be thankful for

Saturday, November 20 marked the latest Border Board games game day at the Derby line Village hall. Featuring a theme based around colonization and exploration as well as hauntings, demons and other unassociated things, was held to mark the upcoming holiday.

We had two new faces to the Border Board Games community though neither was especially new per se. Welcome to J-Roc and Carlo and thanks to the Burlington crew for swinging by. Alex, Rachel and Tyler made the trip from parts west to join in the fun and mayhem. My apologies for the lack of squeak in the cheese curd but the large poutine lived up to the hype (I hope!).

We had games, games and more games as the crowd swelled to 16 (plus the wee ones as well) allowing us to run many games simultaneously. The night started off with a game of Age of Empires III. Original Josh's unusual strategy allowed him to sneak off for the win by a significant margin. He never earned much money, had lots of mismatched trade goods, owned few capital buildings but consistently scored well in the colonization rounds. The battle for Canada was fierce as Ken flooded the northlands with tons of British settlers in an attempt to crowd out Shannon's Spanish presence.

Next up we tackled a game of Stone Age. This time Homer came over and worked up a big point tool strategy. He never had much in the way of huts and earned only a few points here and there during the regular rounds but his eight-times tool multiplier catapulted him from the back and into second place. Only my plantings and technologies (7 of 8) allowed me to sneak ahead by a handful of points.

Elsewhere Rob, Ken and Josh ventured into the depths of Castle Ravenloft followed by a game of Cyclades. The Burlington crew and Carlo played Incan Gold before moving on to Battlestar Galactica when Beth came in with Shannon. The game featured a partial introduction of the rules from the Pegasus expansion. Carlo chose to be the Cylon commander John Cavil to add some spice. Rachel (Starbuck) turned out to be the Cylon saboteur. As it turned out the brave crew was unable to defeat the insidious Cylon threat before disaster claimed the fleet.

Later on the group broke out Betrayal at House on the Hill joined this time by Angela. The traitor turned out to be a pre-pubescent boy played by Carlo. Luckily the heroes ended up destroying their voodoo dolls in time to thwart the evil but not before two of them had perished in that grim domicile. At another table Homer, Kim, Zeke and Alexis burned and salted their way through a game of A La Carte as well as played through a game of Puerto Rico earlier in the evening.

A late start coupled with my failing memory of a single play five months earlier derailed an ill-advised foray into Dungeon Lords. We played long enough to get a feel for the game but not long enough to withstand an onslaught of heroic invaders.

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.

The best laid plans....

Our D&D 3.5 group gathered for the October installment on saturday night. The gang assembled minus Ken (where are you dude?) and discovered that its latest task was the most hazardous yet. Despite the hazards, Splinter somehow managed to avoid getting clobbered. Instead it fell to "Soak" Amra the barbarian to absorb the misfortune that rained down on us.

The task was fairly clear from the start. A hobgoblin champion was attempting to infiltrate the wizard tower and alter the course of history. The whole was complicated by an apparent temporal shift. Just as the gang had gotten used to fighting in the future, we were suddenly transported back into the ethereal past as a result of our meddlings in the Wizard's Tower. Our band of mercenraies, assisted by a cadre of inexperienced troopers and war mages, was tasked with stopping the champion in his tracks.

In truth we had only to steal the hobgoblin's amulet and return it to our wizard contact. The hobgoblin was not in an especially cooperative mood however, forcing us to take it from his dead, lifeless hands. Sort of. DM Rob actually managed the complexity of a mass melee in a format that was both logical and less tedious. The mobs of troopers squared off against mobs of enemy warriors leaving the individual combat to the PCs and a select few enemy combatants. This enabled us to experience the fear and uncertain of large scale combat without hundreds of tedious die rolls between the NPC forces.

Our plan fell apart almost from the begining. We had initially decided to purloin some uniforms from the enemy dead. Doing so on an open plain with magical might arrayed on both sides was not helping things. Homer, aka Splinter, was acually able to acquire a uniform with little fanfare. Josh, aka Amra, was not so lucky. Dordo's plan to pretend Amra was an enemy combatant by shooting at him failed. the barbarian failed to understand the plan and simply exposed both he and Amra to withering arrow fire from both sides of the battlefield.

Splinter managed to return to the town sporting his new enemy uniform. This was in itself a problem as the guards promptly assumed he was a spy. "At least we know it works," Homer declared. he managed to talk his way out of imprisonment but the remainder of the party was not so lucky. We had a good night's sleep in the maximum security stockade before we managed to escape and formulate a new plan. Since sneaking into the enemy camp and assassinating the hobgoblin was no longer an option, we had to take the direct route.

The enemy forces advanced en masse and our little band was tasked to identify and take down the champion. The wizard cadre accepted the direction of our resident Sorceress, played by Angela, and used their magic to help divine the location of our foe. having spotted him and his legions, we moved to intercept. Dordo's unparalelled longbowmanship harried the advancing hordes. Angela managed a well-timed volley of magic missiles that disperesed the enemy's peasant levies as Beth, aka Noname, and Amra moved forward to bolster the front rank of swordsmen. Our elation proved short lived. The hobgoblin's crack troops surged forward to engage our troopers.

Amra was a beast on the battlefield swinging his axe to terrible effect. Enemy soldiers died by the dozens as Dordoand the sorceress provided covering fire. The invisible Splinter slithered forward with the goal of stealing the amulet. Noname also moved forward to engage the champion hoping that her flanking would help her and Splinter eliminate the champion once and for all. Splinter, however, had a different plan in mind. With a well-executed snatch, he pulled the amulet away from the hobgoblin even as Noname struck.

Soon enemy soldiers rushed to their commander's aid, surrounding Noname on all sides. In a rare moment of bravado, Splinter struck and delivered an awesome blow to the champion. Coupled with the wounds the hobgoblin suffered from a final magic missile assault, Dordo's continuious rain of fire (in spite of using the doomed eight-sided d4) and Noname's attack, the champion fell. Splinter sent up the signal flare and the elven cavalry surged forward to scatter the demoralized enemy troops.

Having emerged victorious on the battlefield, we returned the amulet to our contact only to find the boundaries of time shift once more. As the gaming session wound to a close the party found itself transported into a desert valley. Our journey into the dreaded Canyon of the Yellow Sun was only begining....

October D&D Session

The next D&D 3.5 session will be on Saturday, October 23rd starting at about 7:30 PM at Richard's and Bethany's house.