Thursday with games

I woke up in room 329 with an alarm around 7, rolled over, and slept another thirty minutes. I rose, started on the blog, cleaned up, shaved, dressed, and headed to a more comfortable space. No coffee in the room, so it is a desert when I wake up there. I traveled in Air Ford NH to Bagel Cafe, but on a roundabout route, I did a U-turn; I turned right and not left on the main drag when I started. I found coffee in the hotel’s small oasis lobby and drank it while making the longer-than-expected trip.

Air Ford NH finally seemed longer than it was. At Bagel Cafe, I had a large poppy salmon bagel and coffee with cream while I spent the morning writing the blog. While I wrote, the crowd changed a few times. It was mostly younger people in groups and folks working, taking a break. Few grey folks like me were writing or reading for a few hours. I suspect the early hours were busy when they opened at 6, and I was here for the late customers.

I have talked to Deborah several times; we are in the same time zone now, so we exchange good mornings when it is still morning. I will return to the Pacific Northwest, my beloved home of the last twenty-eight years, late Sunday or early Monday (assuming I make my connection in Seattle and my flight runs as planned). We are trying to make the long-distance relationship work.

Air Ford NH carried me to Annika’s and Clint’s place, and Clint made me a few tacos for lunch. With no plans for the afternoon, Clint got Misha and me to play the board game Lords of Waterdeep. Annika and Misha are Susie’s cousins. This is Clint’s favorite, and he soon taught us the game. This is a worker placement and resource game with a theme of the Dungeons and Dragons setting of the city of Waterdeep. The mechanics are simple without the usual engine building, multiple levels of resource management, and goal chasing of more complex games, like the board game Lisboa.

Soon, we are all running without questions and playing an intensifying game. I take the lead, but soon, Misha overtakes me, and Clint, from behind, climbs suddenly forward. I build many buildings and score a goal that gives me points for the buildings. The central point system is to fulfill quests drawn in one place with resources collected elsewhere. Your workers are placed there to get the quest or resources. There were also intrigue cards that usually allowed one-time benefits and often benefited your opponents. The game was light, in my opinion, but also fun and short. A perfect match for three players, something you don’t see often.

Next, it was nearing time for Pat, Clint’s friend, to pick us up. We headed to Manchester, the largest city in New Hampshire, about the size of Salem, Oregon, but undoubtedly wealthy and a center of business in the state. We soon located a Boards and Brews, paid the fine (or so it seemed), $5 a person added to our bill, and acquired Euphoria: Build a Better Dystopia (2013) board game from Stonemaier Games from the massive collection of games ready to play at Boards and Brews. It is not one of the game publisher’s successes (Wingspan, Scythe, Wrymspan, and Viticulture being their best-loved games), but Clint liked it, and I only heard that there were other better games. This is the earlier published version.

We made an easy mistake in play and soon corrected how the stars were placed (when you build something, it goes on the building or when removing the penalty for not building it later). Soon, like Scythe, the game accelerated to a sudden finish. I can now see some of the elements in Scythe appear in this precursor to the beloved game. I played a reactive strategy, trying to stockpile resources and take places on the board that would get me knocked out and get my worker, a die in this game, back and ready to place again. I would then slide in and complete things or place another star. Soon, Misha and I were competing to win, but with a pile of resources now, I could take advantage of positions on the board while Misha went back for more resources. I ended the game for a win like Scythe by placing my last star. There is no scoring. Again, I can see why Scythe added scoring after the game stops, as there is no payment for good play, which is an obvious complaint. 

The game style was worker placement and resource management, but it was heavier than Lords of Waterdeep. It was fun. It plays under an hour once you know it, and I may consider buying it; it sells for $65 for a new copy from the publisher, but used copies are as low as $25. I think the mix of complexity but with acceleration makes it a good game. While initially confusing, the goal cards and factions add interesting variations and allow for replayability without feeling like the game is just a repeat. Not a bad game.

Aside: My chicken fingers were served uncooked. Ick! They removed the cost of a beer for that. The folks at Boards and Brews seemed overwhelmed by a group playing a more complex game and ordering beer and food. Strange.

After that, Pat, who was driving, took us back to Clint’s house, and then Clint and I headed to a Maker Space night at the local school. I helped there and watched as Clint and my friends discussed some changes. We then headed out for beers at a cash-only local bar (a would-be towny bar but with 36 taps, PBR for $3 for the edgy folks, and food that was better than the gaming store–it was cooked) and discussed Dungeons and Dragons. There, Clint agreed I could DM, and I soon discussed how I handle large groups in 5E Dungeons and Dragons.

We agree to play D&D on Friday night, with me finding pre-made characters and cobbling a shortened version of one of my adventures. We returned, and soon, I returned to the hotel, showered, and sent out 14 or so 7th-level premises for Clint and friends. I sleep with visions of undead, horrifying traps, and spells flying in my head. I sleep well; I am the DM: Undead, traps, horrors, and spells are my allies.

Thanks for reading!