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Date: Tue, 15 Aug 2017 23:43:31 -0700 (PDT)
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Subject: Fort Worth Gamers: gaming session 08/15/17
From: Michael Ward <mward258@gmail.com>
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Tuesday, 08/15/17 6 to 9 PM at the Hulen Mall food court, at 4800 South
Hulen Street, in southwest Fort Worth, TX.

We had eight gamers at two tables, including newcomers Trish and Aaron L.


Table #1 - First, Michael Z’s The Settlers of Catan (4th ed.). I believe Zach
had Longest Road. I gleaned no other details. Scores: Aaron L 10, Zach E 9, Michael Z 8, Trish 3.


Then, Zach E’s Valley of the Kings. Scores: Zach E 12, Trish 7, Aaron 4, Michael Z 4.



Table #2 - First, Michael L’s Carcassonne (new edition) + The River + The Abbot expansions. I began farming immediately, even before the river was fully formed. And just about every time I placed a farmer Michael L did as well nearby, attempting to glom on to my fields. Ultimately this only worked in one (minor) spot. Connor and Justin spent most of their time constructing huge cities. I believe we all used our Abbot meeple (an expansion new to all) at least once. Yet some of us did so 1-2 more times during the game. I believe it was legal to place him on a monastery. But only Michael L did that. The rest of
the time Abbots were placed on fields (that scored almost like monasteries).


Scores: Michael L 96, Connor 93, Michael W 90, Justin 80. Duration: 53 minutes.


I liked the Abbot expansion that came in the new edition of Carcassonne. Though
I admit there's not much to it. They threw The River in the new box as well. To me its always been an "eh" expansion, as all it does is add a few turns to the game. I did find some of the incidental artwork on the new edition tiles distracting as it was 2-3 times the size of the old version's minor artwork (pig pens, sheep corrals, and the most annoying, buildings around road intersections). See https://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/2500613/carcassonne for
some examples.



Next, Justin’s Tiny Epic Galaxies, plus its Beyond the Black expansion. Frankly I was unaware we were using an expansion until the game was more than half over. In retrospect I *really* wish it had been left out, as I had a hard enough time figuring out how to play the base game without the added complications / distraction of an elaborate expansion. In fact, I'm not sure how much we used tonight was the expansion. The only bits I'm sure of were Unexplored Space, new ship types, and the Pilot cards. Though I suspect there were some more.

Speaking of complications, the game seemed logical when Justin explained it, but soon had me flummoxed. Yet Michael L and to a lesser extent, Connor, seemed
to have little trouble with it. Basically it reminded me of Race for the Galaxy, a game with the same space exploration theme. They both rely heavily on
a multitude of icons. And like RftG, TEG's icons often bore no resemblance to what they were called.

The only way I got through the game was throwing myself on Justin's mercy almost every turn and asking for advice. Otherwise I had no clue what I should be doing. Nor after 15 minutes did I really care. For I could tell within two minutes of it coming out of the box I was not going to like the game. I'm sure it had strategy, yet it alluded me. For most turns consisted of, "you could do this, or you could do that, or maybe this other thing". Or the "you rolled bad,
you're screwed; you can't do anything this turn" type comments. This was not the type of game where you chose a path (strategy) and adhered to it. This was more of a roll with the punches (dice rolls) game. Which can be OK, *if* you have a deep grasp of exactly how the game works. I never did; not even by the end. In brief it was a very irritating experience.

Scores: Justin J 25, Michael L 25, Michael W 13, Connor 7. Duration: one hour and ten minutes.

Overall I found the base game overly complicated and its heavy use of icons royally annoying. One of the worst was one of the die faces that looked like the stock market was on the rise. I think what it really meant was take some type of colony action. How anyone could get that out of an image of a jagged arrow I have no idea. I also found the "tiny" part (very small components and miniscule places to place them) quite irksome. I hope to never see the game or its expansion again. I rated both a "3" on BGG. Blech!


See BoardgameGeek http://www.boardgamegeek.com/ for more information on the games mentioned above. And if you're in the area on a Tuesday night feel
free to join us for a game.

--
Michael Ward
Fort Worth Gamers
And check out our MeetUp page http://www.meetup.com/FortWorthGamers/ .
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