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Date: Tue, 28 Nov 2017 21:58:32 -0800 (PST)
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Subject: Fort Worth Gamers: gaming session 11/28/17
From: Michael Ward <mward258@gmail.com>
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Tuesday, 11/28/17 6 to 9:05 PM at the Hulen Mall food court, at 4800 South Hulen Street, in southwest Fort Worth, TX.

We had five gamers at one table this unseasonably warm evening.

First up, my Taj Mahal, which was new to Connor and Michael L. By round three
was leading with about 9 points while the others had 0-5. Ah, but then I'd about run out of ammo (cards in hand,) and some of the others caught up with me. Rounds fours through round nine saw the score markers stratify, with me in the lead and Connor breathing down my neck. Then Duane, Emanuel, and Michael L grouped together at least a dozen points behind the leaders.

Connor was doing an excellent job of making points via palace/province connectivity the whole game. Whereas my main strategy was two fold. First, doing my utmost to keep the +2 Points special card by continually by specializing in Princess cards. My other prong was a sort of catch all; half connectivity and half by province control (goods). It was enough to keep 3-7 points ahead of Connor though the mid-game.

In the last quarter of the game (rounds 10-12) Connor's connectivity was growing while mine had almost petered out. Also during this time Michael L., who was prior to this often in last place, managed to gain and keep a slight lead on Duane and Emanuel.

The final/12th round was a nail biter for me. I began 7 points ahead of Connor.
I pointed out at round start all Connor needed to do to win was put down one palace that connected with his other provinces. That alone would give him 7 points and tie me. And if he put down a second palace he'd take the Agra chit for another four points. So it surprised the heck out of me when Connor, who had begun the round with about the same number of cards in hand as me (around 7), was forced, after playing four cards, to drop out of the round first. And gain... nothing!!! For he was outgunned in Moguls by Emanuel, Monks by Michael L, and Viziers by Duane L. So... my opponents thus inadvertently handed me the game.

Final scoring for our long colored suits was anticlimactic, as no one had more than 4-6 cards to gain additional points for. (In some past games I've seen people plop down 14+ cards at this point.) As Connor and I each had 5 cards to lay down, I maintained my lead over him from round 11.

As to province control, I don't recall anyone taking more than three province chits. Concerning holding the valuable +2 special card, I had it 5-6 of the ten
possible times (so, plus 10-12 points with it alone). I think Michael L and Connor had the card twice each.

Final scores: Michael W 44, Connor 37, Michael L 32, Emanuel 28, Duane 27. Duration: one hour and 48 minutes. Connor quite liked the game. Michael L's impression was somewhat tepid. I think their views were each at least 50% colored by the fact Michael L was in last place most of the game. And Connor was in a close second place the majority of the game.



Next up, my Eight-Minute Empire. I bid high (2 gold) and decided the play order
would be : Duane, Emanuel, Michael L then me. With my first turn I moved by sea to another continent. On my third move I moved to yet another continent. Michael L then removed my cube there. Next he moved one of his there. I then reciprocated. Meanwhile Emanuel, Duane, and Connor were all wrestling for control of the Start continent's areas. I ran out of gold my 4th (of seven)turns. From then on I was forced to take the first card in the row that cost zero. So I then knew I'd lose badly.

Ultimately none of us did well in goods sets. Duane's goods rose to mediocre only by snagging two Wild cards. Everyone but Emanuel did very poorly in area scoring. So overall a pretty low scoring game.

Scores: Emanuel 11, Michael L 8, Duane 7, Michael W 7, Connor 5. Duration: 22 minutes. Note: Duane took 3rd place over me due to having more armies on the board than I did.



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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