My father, born on St Patrick's Day and aptly named as such, celebrated his birthday at a casino buffet this past week, giving most of the immediate family a chance to see each other, catch up, and not play board games. But, as with any visit to the place where I'd spent much of my adolescence, we sneaked a few games in with some friends before sleeping, pulling our first slots ever, and eating a lot of food. And then more sleeping. Not a heavy gaming week, really, but a very enjoyable one! And, without further ado, we have...
Game the First: Tokaido
Tokaido. My husband has been infatuated with its visuals for what might be a full year. We've never played it, because from all that I've read, it just doesn't sound interesting in the game play department, especially for a group that is most often two. What's best about games that interest either one of us, though, is when other people own them and we can thus actually make us of the adage 'Try before you buy!' What a great idea, that is. And how difficult to actually make happen. Unless you have friends, or aren't socially inept enough to make visits to the FLGS and make budding acquaintances with fellow gamers a far off dream. As I get older, and more secluded, it has truly become difficult and increasingly uncomfortable to actually attempt to get to know people and/or play games with strangers. Which is funny, since my gaming start was primarily geared toward meeting new people and expanding my social group. It worked! Then I moved forever and fell into a giant black hole of solitary social graces, with the tremendous benefit of a fantastic husband and a home full of the love therein. Winning?
Regardless, we did indeed play a four player game of Tokaido, at first mentioning the beauty that is the game (and this wasn't even the pimped out Collecter's Edition or anything), and the pleasure at having both purple and grey as colour choices for the players. Naturally, it went over well!
I played as the guy that could paint murals whenever visiting the Inn, with Andrew pulling the Cat Lady, who can apparantly steal food from the Inn and laugh about it, while the owner of the game played a dude that manipulated the gift shop, and our friend Veence played a lady that could flirt her way into free goods from the very same gift shops! So we were split between passive bonuses from the Inn and bonuses from the gift shops. Guess where I never went?
Overall, taking the theme of a Japanese vacation to heart, the game really flows smoothly, lacks stress, and just ambles about, looking at the sights and listening to the birds that weren't really there. Lovely! We all stormed out of the opening space, picking up some panorama bits, getting monies, and visiting gift shops. How pleasant? Why yes! Yes it is!
Going through the game's plays is pretty basic, as we took advantage of double moves whenever possible, seeing as no matter what effects you are generating, they are a net positive for you, and generally not jumping ahead more than a few spaces at a time. It didn't seem that anyone painted themselves into such a corner that they'd need to move more than three spaces at once or risk a hard loss. I technically could have made a good chunk of extra points had I moved directly to the Winter (and final, for me) panorama space on the last leg of the vacation, but I opted to continue my small dedications to the shrine, out of a deep seeded feeling of obligation from my artistic upbringing on giving as the only form of survival for our flippant field. Painters!
So, yeah. Tokaido is a game. It's definitely not a game I have any reason to desire to own, beyond how pretty it is. It's simple to a point of dullness, for me. Are there tactical choices to make? Sure, albeit few and relatively minor. Is it possible to out play any other players at the table? Absolutely, but it's not the most pressing issue. It's just a fine game, and probably a greater pleasure at higher counts, what with the competition really running away and chomping at the bit to get wherever they need to be for maximum benefit!
For me and my table, however, I'm happy to have played it the one time, and would not sneer at it if it were to appear again under similar circumstances. It's exactly what it wants to be, though, which is nothing but a light, fast affair, suitable for any family, or anyone who appreciates very cute and attractive art in their games!
Game the Second: Sentinels of the Multiverse
So guess who talked about Cauldron so much that someone else picked up the remnants that had come out after that first person tittered away however longs go? This guy! Yes, our friend Veence picked up a few decks of Cauldron, though not the full play set, because it's probably overkill for the majority of people. Like, really now. But it's so delicious!
We played a pretty exciting game against The Ennead, while also combating Superstorm Akela, featuring the likes of Starlight, Expatriette, Baccarat, and Impact. What a game!
First things first, I must say that Superstorm Akela is quite the interesting and painful environment! Truthfully, we probably fought against Akela more than the Ennead, who were background to the storm's endless drama. Having an environment that focuses on the location of its cards is so simple and so effective! Within the one game, the entire deck was burned through once, and without The Ennead constantly shuffling the environment discard, we could have probably gone through it a second time! And even with all of that happening, the deck gives us the ability to manipulate it through certain means, giving the heroes a chance to lessen the terrible storm's effects by arranging the worst offenders to the left most slots.
I liked it! I'm not sure if everyone else was quite as keen, but being the guy who was controlling it usually helps. Could you believe I wasn't also controlling the villain? My soul almost left my body in sheer agony. I have a problem.
Regarding our cast of colourful characters, Paddy Wagon hit stuff with bullets, lost all of her equipments no less than three times, and then hit more stuff with more bullets. For what might be the first time since I've introduced dear husband to Expaddy, she made early and frequent use of Speed Loading, ensuring a higher damage output than otherwise. Success!
Baccarat was being played by someone relatively new to Sentinels, and obviously new to Baccarat himself. Unfortunately for him, it took most of the game before Tricks started to land in his discard pile. That's not to say Baccarat didn't help out throughout the game, because he certainly did! That's probably the best thing about Baccarat, really. While his special effects of playing doubles of Tricks from his discard pile is absolutely beyond effective, he doesn't NEED it to function. Similar to Tachyon, but more clearly built toward the singular need of discard building. But damn, once we were in the last two or three rounds, Baccarat was consistently burning the remaining Ennead, which helped cinch our way through the game! He did die, however. Partially my fault as Starlight, but it was probably unavoidable after a certain point, especially with Akela making it impossible for Baccarat to kill targets without immediately being taken out himself.
Which brings us to Impact, played by Veence, who managed to maintain his high HP through careful manipulation of the environment and a certain Ongoing he has that negates the first damage dealt to him on the environment turn from said environment. It was beautiful to have someone consistently remain the highest HP target on the Hero side! Having only played Impact myself once and him being killed so quickly that it was impossible for him to really do much, it was interesting to see Impact played in such a way that he was able to keep several Ongoing cards in play at a time, choosing to lose extra damage for his ever-growing passive effects and super moves. Yeah, it was pretty fantastic to support Impact's selfless selfishness! It's a thing.
I, as Starlight, had a blast! My opening hand and early following allowed immediate damage and I did not hold back. Being able to put out Constellations early and hit Shu (who we all know is immune to melee and projectile damage, which is pretty much everything on the table) with cold damage and also slowly build outward to. Hitting multiple targets. What was most fun, however, was the sharp turn midway through the game where Starlight went from damage to pure support! She is absolutely divine! In order to put the environment back into a manageable state after it played through half its deck and kept most out on the board, I burned every Constellation I had to remove most every cards from Akela, giving us a huge room to breathe in for several turns. Before Akela naturally built back up (and was reset just as before!) Afterward, though, I focused on Constellation-ing allies, slowly gifting heals. With enough time to set up, really, Starlight can get to a point where she is healing herself AND gifting Power use to another hero. It can be pretty insane. In fact, thought Baccarat died, Starlight and Impact were brought back into such high HP that we could have convinced a stranger that we were Gods of the Multiverse and negated everything The Ennead had every done to us. You're welcome.
This game was consistently tense, what with The Ennead bringing two or three extra dudes out, and Akela supporting and destroying them all at once! It was excellent, and I highly recommend that everyone who hasn't played Sentinels and doesn't hate it for whatever reason, to flipping play Sentinels. Now we wait for OblivAeon! Please...
Game the Third: Dominion
Dominion! I'll be honest here, as per usual. I've never been a fan of Dominion. When it comes to my games, I enjoy thematic experiences, or games so tight and speedy it isn't even needed. Dominion is neither of those things, with theme quite distant from the gameplay and every card having the propensity for combo that simplicity is also oddly missing, depending on the setup.
This game, however, was over in a shorter amount of time than it took to set up! Having not played Dominion since the Intrigue set, every single card was new to me. Pardon, as I immediately forgot every card as soon as they were stacked. One card I will never forget, however, would be Sacrifice. What a doozy! You can Destroy anything in your hand, and depending on the type of said card, gain a benefit of actions and cards, money, or VP! Everyone had one or more of these, and they were awesome.
We also had a thing that had a bunch of 2 VP chips, and anytime a player gained a VP card, they'd get a bonus chip from the thing. My strategy was short sighted and inevitably a losing one, focusing on stealing as many of those chips as possible (which was almost all of them, mind!) and picking up VP cards after, as much as I could, also using Sacrifice to Destroy the starting VP cards and buying another back, for a recycling 2 VP bonus. Lovely!
What I hadn't taken into account was just how speedy Veence would be in his money acquisition, quickly churning enough money every turn to buy the 6 VP card. Needless to say, this was primarily why the game was so incredibly short (well within thirty minutes) and Veence was the clear, decisive victor. He had at least ten points over everyone else, but we all had at least 30.
Dominion. It's a deck builder. The End!
Game the Fourth: the Gloomhaven
Yes, we're still going strong! Once again, here's a SPOILER WARNING, as they can fly fast and loose from my typing fingers. I don't think I'm too specific, but I also don't make extra effort to hold things back.
-- Game 1 --
One thing I like about Gloomhaven is that no matter how angry it can make me in one session, the next is probably going to make up for it and then some. Those Sewers sucked my balls, so to speak, and I still loathe them. Don't worry, friends, we do go back. But not yet! Nope! As per usual, Valestra and Morgan jump around to whatever tickles our fancy at any given time. And, what with Valestra getting closer and closer to level 9 every day, we really want her to retire before too long. Thus, we head to Drake's Nest.
Surprise to no one, we have Drakes as primary enemies. We had a quest to kill, and we did not disappoint. What with Valestra feeling the burning desire to remove any creature that took to the skies, Morgan focused more on the little scampers on the ground, and together we trounced everything, got some treasure, and had a gorram blast!
What struck me with this scenario, particularly after my less than enjoyable experience just preceding, was how each enemy type present had some negative condition it applied, but with each enemy doing something different and in much smaller number, it wasn't nearly as annoying as the Poison Death Cloud of the sewers. Everything was more manageable and thus fun to deal with, even as bad things piled up on out character cards. We had breathing room to recover instead of the bad piling onto the bad and making forward progress impossible or at the very least grating.
I like Drakes. Officially. They are my friends. But I did murder a crap ton of them!
-- Game 2 --
Continuing onward after our spirits were lifted ten fold by the previous scenario (and Valestra made it to two thirds of her retirement after so many games), we happily jumped back into the sewers, going into the Deep Ruins. Right. Sewers, but not. Or are they?
Unfortunately, the game opened in such a way that sewer would be an appropriate term. With new enemies in front of us that never move but have extraordinary range and rather powerful blasts, plus two treasure chests, our plan was simple. Murder things and take their stuff. We're the good guys!
What made this sad, however, was that Valestra managed, somehow, to almost die on the very second turn, getting trapped and then blasted from a distance for a total of 13 damage! One pot shot of 5 and a gun blast of 8! She...was less than happy. But, whenever she becomes unhappy in Gloomhaven, her crystals change colour and there's blood in her eyes. She lets loose, my friends, and anything in her way probably wishes it wouldn't have been, if it can wish in the afterlife. Blood. Everywhere. From magic.
Any scenario that doesn't require a high kill count is always a welcome and wonderful experience. The need to spend all of the time focusing on enemies is out, and the clock is hardly any tighter for it! One thing that will occasionally get us down about Gloomhaven is just how punishing and close the timer can be, cutting almost every scenario to the last or penultimate turn. One of us is often out, or both of us very nearly exhausted before we accomplish the final bit of the puzzle. Without murder being the primary, it's exhilarating being able to run past certain enemies, using status ailments to leave any enemies in your wake at least bruised and confused, possibly using them to your advantage later!
So, yeah. After Valestra's near fatal start, we carefully avoided what we could, jumped and flew around the remnants of the map, watched as Valestra continued to fail at inopportune times, and successfully accomplishing the final goals of making those cannons shut the heck up.
Morgan also took the time to nearly perfect his dancing skills, playing his Dance Macabre combo as often as he possibly could, which is pretty often with a Potion of Stamina. I love this man.
-- Game 3 --
Mere hours ago, we played yet another game of Gloomhaven! And it was glorious! And also full of our baby rage. Seriously. Valestra cannot get a break lately, as this scenario started raining poop on her from the very start. At least it waiting a few rounds before including me in the liquid farts cascading down the walls.
We had entered the sewers. Again. For real this time. Ancient Cistern or some such.
Oozes. I think they are what anger me about these particular sewers. With just one action they can turn a scenario victory into an immediate loss. What kills me every time is just how their babies that crap out regularly start with so much HP. In my perfect world, newborn Oozes would have half the HP of their mothers instead of equal to. That still wastes oozes (haha) or time taking out the new fodder, but doesn't put an immediate and constant stop to progress. Golly, I dislike them.
Anywho, before any of that nonsense, we have the poo storm raining on Valestra's head! You see, we were Cursed before the scenario's start, and our prone to rage Spellweaver happened to have an axe that specialized in slicing the heads off of the Undead, which is fantastic when Undead enemies seem to follow us absolutely everywhere. She planned a perfect cut for her opening play, probably one shotting a Corpse mere feet from us.
Did I mention we were Cursed? Yeah. She whiffed, after putting no less than three cards effort into the swing. True, Curse isn't quite as punishing as certain things in the world, as one could manipulate Advantage to lessen its effect, but still. It's a pretty sucky feeling to lose your entire first action like that. Just ask Andrew! Hahaha! His pain amuses me, until I join in the pain and we get to sulking like professionals!
One other thing about Curses is just how much better Morgan is able to handle them. What with his incredible amount of rolling modifiers in his deck, he can quickly burn through whatever Curse is affecting him and get back into proper fighting form with relative ease and speed. Valestra is much more locked into the whims of her modifier deck, and it can sometimes suck immensely.
Regardless, we got through the first room with no more pain, and the Oozes weren't yet making endless droves of babies. Yet. Have I mentioned my displeasure of them? Because it is there, and it is strong. Opting to leave the Corpse alive and we'd just march on, knowing that our speed will always be better than his, and he'll really never catch up, we moved on into the hall. This had the extra benefit of making me a happy boy, as I may or may not have wanted to start every round with an enemy on the board! With how the scenario went, however, that wouldn't have been a problem at all.
Oozes.
There were Oozes guarding the door. They gave birth. Fine. They gave birth immediately again. Sure. Now we have roughly one million Oozes, each with four or more HP, just waiting at the end of the hall. One good thing about Oozes is how rarely they move, causing a portion of their effects to be useless. I suppose this is to counter act their ABSOLUTE HORRORS AND ATROCITIES COMMITTED AGAINST THE WORLD! It may be safe to say that I don't like them.
I managed somehow to get stuck in the corner of the hall with endlessly spawning Oozes surrounding me and comically Nulling or Cursing whenever I tried to cut my way through. Our plan was to have Valestra just jump over them and make her way as far into the final room as she could, at the very least giving us an idea of what we had to accomplish in case we lost the scenario, which was all but certain once I got completely surrounded by Ooze.
This reminds me of the My Little Pony Movie, in which Smooze plays a role, and now I will forever sing that song in my head that the Evil Sisters sing in their hot air balloon. Nothing can stop the SMOOOOOOOOoooooooooze!
Look it up. You'll be a better person!
Anyway, Oozes, and how I hate them. Brought to you by Gloomhaven. Ahem.
Let's just say that I cheated again, because Oozes are not something I'm willing to suffer through more than once. They anger me. They single hadnedly brought this scenario into a loss, even after our less than stellar start. Without the sudden birthing that happens all too often, victory was there, visible, and within our grasp, but as soon as Morgan got locked out of movement, it was pretty much over. We waste too many actions clearing the way (for it to all evaporate with more Ooze babies, probably) or Valestra has to solo an entire room by herself, which is unlikely, even with her being level 7. She tires easily, you see. It's a blood flow problem, what with being crystal. She doesn't like to talk about it.
Regardless, we cheated. Though not until later. Thanks to Morgan's sweet, sweet dance moves, and his newfound ability to heal 1 HP whenever he kills anything, he was able to slice through two Oozes and open the door to the finale, with Valestra close behind.
Random Aside: In the aforementioned Ooze Attack, Morgan went from near full HP to death in a single round, thanks completely to the Elite Poisoning him and every other Ooze attacking, even if half at disadvantage. Just a thing. Oozes. Hate them, I do.
Back to the task at hand! We once again needn't destroy everything, which is fantastic, because there is no way in all Hell that we'd have been able to, even if asked. Regardless, we cheat here. In this very room. You see, there are these pipes in the back here that spawn horrible Imps every round. We didn't do that. At first it was because I forgot, but then it was because I didn't want to. Instead of summoning two a turn, we summoned two every OTHER turn, making the scenario manageable and victory possible. I don't regret this decision. Plus, Imps are butt holes, as we've mentioned however many games ago.
So, yes, after all the pain and misery of Ooze central and Curses McGee, we manage a victory, both of us on I think our very last set of cards. As per usual. Woof. Never. Again. Never!
Conclusion...
What a week! Not much in the way of gaming, but it was solid, full of things that we had to do that revolved around being adults, and a delicious dinner that I might very well type out in recipe form next week, because it is already ten p.m. Here and I'm ready for bed. I'm old. In spirit at least. And in body? Just take my word for it! At least I'll always be younger than my husband! Eat it, buddy!
Anywho, thank you all for reading, and I hope your gaming life and regular life are full of pleasant happenings for the week (and beyond, but y'know, it's a weekly thing I do here)!
Game the First: Tokaido
Tokaido. My husband has been infatuated with its visuals for what might be a full year. We've never played it, because from all that I've read, it just doesn't sound interesting in the game play department, especially for a group that is most often two. What's best about games that interest either one of us, though, is when other people own them and we can thus actually make us of the adage 'Try before you buy!' What a great idea, that is. And how difficult to actually make happen. Unless you have friends, or aren't socially inept enough to make visits to the FLGS and make budding acquaintances with fellow gamers a far off dream. As I get older, and more secluded, it has truly become difficult and increasingly uncomfortable to actually attempt to get to know people and/or play games with strangers. Which is funny, since my gaming start was primarily geared toward meeting new people and expanding my social group. It worked! Then I moved forever and fell into a giant black hole of solitary social graces, with the tremendous benefit of a fantastic husband and a home full of the love therein. Winning?
Regardless, we did indeed play a four player game of Tokaido, at first mentioning the beauty that is the game (and this wasn't even the pimped out Collecter's Edition or anything), and the pleasure at having both purple and grey as colour choices for the players. Naturally, it went over well!
I played as the guy that could paint murals whenever visiting the Inn, with Andrew pulling the Cat Lady, who can apparantly steal food from the Inn and laugh about it, while the owner of the game played a dude that manipulated the gift shop, and our friend Veence played a lady that could flirt her way into free goods from the very same gift shops! So we were split between passive bonuses from the Inn and bonuses from the gift shops. Guess where I never went?
Overall, taking the theme of a Japanese vacation to heart, the game really flows smoothly, lacks stress, and just ambles about, looking at the sights and listening to the birds that weren't really there. Lovely! We all stormed out of the opening space, picking up some panorama bits, getting monies, and visiting gift shops. How pleasant? Why yes! Yes it is!
Going through the game's plays is pretty basic, as we took advantage of double moves whenever possible, seeing as no matter what effects you are generating, they are a net positive for you, and generally not jumping ahead more than a few spaces at a time. It didn't seem that anyone painted themselves into such a corner that they'd need to move more than three spaces at once or risk a hard loss. I technically could have made a good chunk of extra points had I moved directly to the Winter (and final, for me) panorama space on the last leg of the vacation, but I opted to continue my small dedications to the shrine, out of a deep seeded feeling of obligation from my artistic upbringing on giving as the only form of survival for our flippant field. Painters!
So, yeah. Tokaido is a game. It's definitely not a game I have any reason to desire to own, beyond how pretty it is. It's simple to a point of dullness, for me. Are there tactical choices to make? Sure, albeit few and relatively minor. Is it possible to out play any other players at the table? Absolutely, but it's not the most pressing issue. It's just a fine game, and probably a greater pleasure at higher counts, what with the competition really running away and chomping at the bit to get wherever they need to be for maximum benefit!
For me and my table, however, I'm happy to have played it the one time, and would not sneer at it if it were to appear again under similar circumstances. It's exactly what it wants to be, though, which is nothing but a light, fast affair, suitable for any family, or anyone who appreciates very cute and attractive art in their games!
Game the Second: Sentinels of the Multiverse
So guess who talked about Cauldron so much that someone else picked up the remnants that had come out after that first person tittered away however longs go? This guy! Yes, our friend Veence picked up a few decks of Cauldron, though not the full play set, because it's probably overkill for the majority of people. Like, really now. But it's so delicious!
We played a pretty exciting game against The Ennead, while also combating Superstorm Akela, featuring the likes of Starlight, Expatriette, Baccarat, and Impact. What a game!
First things first, I must say that Superstorm Akela is quite the interesting and painful environment! Truthfully, we probably fought against Akela more than the Ennead, who were background to the storm's endless drama. Having an environment that focuses on the location of its cards is so simple and so effective! Within the one game, the entire deck was burned through once, and without The Ennead constantly shuffling the environment discard, we could have probably gone through it a second time! And even with all of that happening, the deck gives us the ability to manipulate it through certain means, giving the heroes a chance to lessen the terrible storm's effects by arranging the worst offenders to the left most slots.
I liked it! I'm not sure if everyone else was quite as keen, but being the guy who was controlling it usually helps. Could you believe I wasn't also controlling the villain? My soul almost left my body in sheer agony. I have a problem.
Regarding our cast of colourful characters, Paddy Wagon hit stuff with bullets, lost all of her equipments no less than three times, and then hit more stuff with more bullets. For what might be the first time since I've introduced dear husband to Expaddy, she made early and frequent use of Speed Loading, ensuring a higher damage output than otherwise. Success!
Baccarat was being played by someone relatively new to Sentinels, and obviously new to Baccarat himself. Unfortunately for him, it took most of the game before Tricks started to land in his discard pile. That's not to say Baccarat didn't help out throughout the game, because he certainly did! That's probably the best thing about Baccarat, really. While his special effects of playing doubles of Tricks from his discard pile is absolutely beyond effective, he doesn't NEED it to function. Similar to Tachyon, but more clearly built toward the singular need of discard building. But damn, once we were in the last two or three rounds, Baccarat was consistently burning the remaining Ennead, which helped cinch our way through the game! He did die, however. Partially my fault as Starlight, but it was probably unavoidable after a certain point, especially with Akela making it impossible for Baccarat to kill targets without immediately being taken out himself.
Which brings us to Impact, played by Veence, who managed to maintain his high HP through careful manipulation of the environment and a certain Ongoing he has that negates the first damage dealt to him on the environment turn from said environment. It was beautiful to have someone consistently remain the highest HP target on the Hero side! Having only played Impact myself once and him being killed so quickly that it was impossible for him to really do much, it was interesting to see Impact played in such a way that he was able to keep several Ongoing cards in play at a time, choosing to lose extra damage for his ever-growing passive effects and super moves. Yeah, it was pretty fantastic to support Impact's selfless selfishness! It's a thing.
I, as Starlight, had a blast! My opening hand and early following allowed immediate damage and I did not hold back. Being able to put out Constellations early and hit Shu (who we all know is immune to melee and projectile damage, which is pretty much everything on the table) with cold damage and also slowly build outward to. Hitting multiple targets. What was most fun, however, was the sharp turn midway through the game where Starlight went from damage to pure support! She is absolutely divine! In order to put the environment back into a manageable state after it played through half its deck and kept most out on the board, I burned every Constellation I had to remove most every cards from Akela, giving us a huge room to breathe in for several turns. Before Akela naturally built back up (and was reset just as before!) Afterward, though, I focused on Constellation-ing allies, slowly gifting heals. With enough time to set up, really, Starlight can get to a point where she is healing herself AND gifting Power use to another hero. It can be pretty insane. In fact, thought Baccarat died, Starlight and Impact were brought back into such high HP that we could have convinced a stranger that we were Gods of the Multiverse and negated everything The Ennead had every done to us. You're welcome.
This game was consistently tense, what with The Ennead bringing two or three extra dudes out, and Akela supporting and destroying them all at once! It was excellent, and I highly recommend that everyone who hasn't played Sentinels and doesn't hate it for whatever reason, to flipping play Sentinels. Now we wait for OblivAeon! Please...
Game the Third: Dominion
Dominion! I'll be honest here, as per usual. I've never been a fan of Dominion. When it comes to my games, I enjoy thematic experiences, or games so tight and speedy it isn't even needed. Dominion is neither of those things, with theme quite distant from the gameplay and every card having the propensity for combo that simplicity is also oddly missing, depending on the setup.
This game, however, was over in a shorter amount of time than it took to set up! Having not played Dominion since the Intrigue set, every single card was new to me. Pardon, as I immediately forgot every card as soon as they were stacked. One card I will never forget, however, would be Sacrifice. What a doozy! You can Destroy anything in your hand, and depending on the type of said card, gain a benefit of actions and cards, money, or VP! Everyone had one or more of these, and they were awesome.
We also had a thing that had a bunch of 2 VP chips, and anytime a player gained a VP card, they'd get a bonus chip from the thing. My strategy was short sighted and inevitably a losing one, focusing on stealing as many of those chips as possible (which was almost all of them, mind!) and picking up VP cards after, as much as I could, also using Sacrifice to Destroy the starting VP cards and buying another back, for a recycling 2 VP bonus. Lovely!
What I hadn't taken into account was just how speedy Veence would be in his money acquisition, quickly churning enough money every turn to buy the 6 VP card. Needless to say, this was primarily why the game was so incredibly short (well within thirty minutes) and Veence was the clear, decisive victor. He had at least ten points over everyone else, but we all had at least 30.
Dominion. It's a deck builder. The End!
Game the Fourth: the Gloomhaven
Yes, we're still going strong! Once again, here's a SPOILER WARNING, as they can fly fast and loose from my typing fingers. I don't think I'm too specific, but I also don't make extra effort to hold things back.
-- Game 1 --
One thing I like about Gloomhaven is that no matter how angry it can make me in one session, the next is probably going to make up for it and then some. Those Sewers sucked my balls, so to speak, and I still loathe them. Don't worry, friends, we do go back. But not yet! Nope! As per usual, Valestra and Morgan jump around to whatever tickles our fancy at any given time. And, what with Valestra getting closer and closer to level 9 every day, we really want her to retire before too long. Thus, we head to Drake's Nest.
Surprise to no one, we have Drakes as primary enemies. We had a quest to kill, and we did not disappoint. What with Valestra feeling the burning desire to remove any creature that took to the skies, Morgan focused more on the little scampers on the ground, and together we trounced everything, got some treasure, and had a gorram blast!
What struck me with this scenario, particularly after my less than enjoyable experience just preceding, was how each enemy type present had some negative condition it applied, but with each enemy doing something different and in much smaller number, it wasn't nearly as annoying as the Poison Death Cloud of the sewers. Everything was more manageable and thus fun to deal with, even as bad things piled up on out character cards. We had breathing room to recover instead of the bad piling onto the bad and making forward progress impossible or at the very least grating.
I like Drakes. Officially. They are my friends. But I did murder a crap ton of them!
-- Game 2 --
Continuing onward after our spirits were lifted ten fold by the previous scenario (and Valestra made it to two thirds of her retirement after so many games), we happily jumped back into the sewers, going into the Deep Ruins. Right. Sewers, but not. Or are they?
Unfortunately, the game opened in such a way that sewer would be an appropriate term. With new enemies in front of us that never move but have extraordinary range and rather powerful blasts, plus two treasure chests, our plan was simple. Murder things and take their stuff. We're the good guys!
What made this sad, however, was that Valestra managed, somehow, to almost die on the very second turn, getting trapped and then blasted from a distance for a total of 13 damage! One pot shot of 5 and a gun blast of 8! She...was less than happy. But, whenever she becomes unhappy in Gloomhaven, her crystals change colour and there's blood in her eyes. She lets loose, my friends, and anything in her way probably wishes it wouldn't have been, if it can wish in the afterlife. Blood. Everywhere. From magic.
Any scenario that doesn't require a high kill count is always a welcome and wonderful experience. The need to spend all of the time focusing on enemies is out, and the clock is hardly any tighter for it! One thing that will occasionally get us down about Gloomhaven is just how punishing and close the timer can be, cutting almost every scenario to the last or penultimate turn. One of us is often out, or both of us very nearly exhausted before we accomplish the final bit of the puzzle. Without murder being the primary, it's exhilarating being able to run past certain enemies, using status ailments to leave any enemies in your wake at least bruised and confused, possibly using them to your advantage later!
So, yeah. After Valestra's near fatal start, we carefully avoided what we could, jumped and flew around the remnants of the map, watched as Valestra continued to fail at inopportune times, and successfully accomplishing the final goals of making those cannons shut the heck up.
Morgan also took the time to nearly perfect his dancing skills, playing his Dance Macabre combo as often as he possibly could, which is pretty often with a Potion of Stamina. I love this man.
-- Game 3 --
Mere hours ago, we played yet another game of Gloomhaven! And it was glorious! And also full of our baby rage. Seriously. Valestra cannot get a break lately, as this scenario started raining poop on her from the very start. At least it waiting a few rounds before including me in the liquid farts cascading down the walls.
We had entered the sewers. Again. For real this time. Ancient Cistern or some such.
Oozes. I think they are what anger me about these particular sewers. With just one action they can turn a scenario victory into an immediate loss. What kills me every time is just how their babies that crap out regularly start with so much HP. In my perfect world, newborn Oozes would have half the HP of their mothers instead of equal to. That still wastes oozes (haha) or time taking out the new fodder, but doesn't put an immediate and constant stop to progress. Golly, I dislike them.
Anywho, before any of that nonsense, we have the poo storm raining on Valestra's head! You see, we were Cursed before the scenario's start, and our prone to rage Spellweaver happened to have an axe that specialized in slicing the heads off of the Undead, which is fantastic when Undead enemies seem to follow us absolutely everywhere. She planned a perfect cut for her opening play, probably one shotting a Corpse mere feet from us.
Did I mention we were Cursed? Yeah. She whiffed, after putting no less than three cards effort into the swing. True, Curse isn't quite as punishing as certain things in the world, as one could manipulate Advantage to lessen its effect, but still. It's a pretty sucky feeling to lose your entire first action like that. Just ask Andrew! Hahaha! His pain amuses me, until I join in the pain and we get to sulking like professionals!
One other thing about Curses is just how much better Morgan is able to handle them. What with his incredible amount of rolling modifiers in his deck, he can quickly burn through whatever Curse is affecting him and get back into proper fighting form with relative ease and speed. Valestra is much more locked into the whims of her modifier deck, and it can sometimes suck immensely.
Regardless, we got through the first room with no more pain, and the Oozes weren't yet making endless droves of babies. Yet. Have I mentioned my displeasure of them? Because it is there, and it is strong. Opting to leave the Corpse alive and we'd just march on, knowing that our speed will always be better than his, and he'll really never catch up, we moved on into the hall. This had the extra benefit of making me a happy boy, as I may or may not have wanted to start every round with an enemy on the board! With how the scenario went, however, that wouldn't have been a problem at all.
Oozes.
There were Oozes guarding the door. They gave birth. Fine. They gave birth immediately again. Sure. Now we have roughly one million Oozes, each with four or more HP, just waiting at the end of the hall. One good thing about Oozes is how rarely they move, causing a portion of their effects to be useless. I suppose this is to counter act their ABSOLUTE HORRORS AND ATROCITIES COMMITTED AGAINST THE WORLD! It may be safe to say that I don't like them.
I managed somehow to get stuck in the corner of the hall with endlessly spawning Oozes surrounding me and comically Nulling or Cursing whenever I tried to cut my way through. Our plan was to have Valestra just jump over them and make her way as far into the final room as she could, at the very least giving us an idea of what we had to accomplish in case we lost the scenario, which was all but certain once I got completely surrounded by Ooze.
This reminds me of the My Little Pony Movie, in which Smooze plays a role, and now I will forever sing that song in my head that the Evil Sisters sing in their hot air balloon. Nothing can stop the SMOOOOOOOOoooooooooze!
Look it up. You'll be a better person!
Anyway, Oozes, and how I hate them. Brought to you by Gloomhaven. Ahem.
Let's just say that I cheated again, because Oozes are not something I'm willing to suffer through more than once. They anger me. They single hadnedly brought this scenario into a loss, even after our less than stellar start. Without the sudden birthing that happens all too often, victory was there, visible, and within our grasp, but as soon as Morgan got locked out of movement, it was pretty much over. We waste too many actions clearing the way (for it to all evaporate with more Ooze babies, probably) or Valestra has to solo an entire room by herself, which is unlikely, even with her being level 7. She tires easily, you see. It's a blood flow problem, what with being crystal. She doesn't like to talk about it.
Regardless, we cheated. Though not until later. Thanks to Morgan's sweet, sweet dance moves, and his newfound ability to heal 1 HP whenever he kills anything, he was able to slice through two Oozes and open the door to the finale, with Valestra close behind.
Random Aside: In the aforementioned Ooze Attack, Morgan went from near full HP to death in a single round, thanks completely to the Elite Poisoning him and every other Ooze attacking, even if half at disadvantage. Just a thing. Oozes. Hate them, I do.
Back to the task at hand! We once again needn't destroy everything, which is fantastic, because there is no way in all Hell that we'd have been able to, even if asked. Regardless, we cheat here. In this very room. You see, there are these pipes in the back here that spawn horrible Imps every round. We didn't do that. At first it was because I forgot, but then it was because I didn't want to. Instead of summoning two a turn, we summoned two every OTHER turn, making the scenario manageable and victory possible. I don't regret this decision. Plus, Imps are butt holes, as we've mentioned however many games ago.
So, yes, after all the pain and misery of Ooze central and Curses McGee, we manage a victory, both of us on I think our very last set of cards. As per usual. Woof. Never. Again. Never!
Conclusion...
What a week! Not much in the way of gaming, but it was solid, full of things that we had to do that revolved around being adults, and a delicious dinner that I might very well type out in recipe form next week, because it is already ten p.m. Here and I'm ready for bed. I'm old. In spirit at least. And in body? Just take my word for it! At least I'll always be younger than my husband! Eat it, buddy!
Anywho, thank you all for reading, and I hope your gaming life and regular life are full of pleasant happenings for the week (and beyond, but y'know, it's a weekly thing I do here)!