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Games and stuff
Oh god, how did it get to be so late? I'm alternating late-early again, it seems.
Actually, I know how it got to be so late. Started chatting fantasy baseball with one of my baseball buddies and next thing you know it's 2am. I have like five moves I want to make to my team and just can't do them. BRIAN GILES, WHY MUST YOU VEX ME SO?
Tonight we had board games at the House of Slack. First, we played TransEuropa outdoors, while grilling sausages for dinner. Josh kept finishing his city set RIGHT BEFORE ME which was sort of frustrating, but I don't take that game seriously. After that we played a game called Ostia, I think. I won, but it was annoying as all hell. Basically, this game is mostly an auction game, sort of a fucked up combination of Bohnanza and uhh... I dunno, Taj Mahal maybe. Anyway, what blows about it is, it also has the Settlers issue of where, if you get too far ahead too early, everyone makes the rest of the game really unfun for you. And I had 9 victory points after 3 out of 5 rounds, and the closest anyone else had was like 3 or 4. So people started just being real jerks to me, which was just no fun at all, and I couldn't really do much of anything in the last two rounds. I still won the game, with 14 victory points to the next highest 10, but still, it just was dumb. I understand the way these games work, and I don't bear a grudge for people dogpiling the leader and all, but it still doesn't mean I think it's a good game mechanic. In general, I thought this game suuuuucked.
And that's about the evening. I'm sad that the SABR con is in town and I'm not at it, but I don't think the time off and the registration fee would have really been worth it, since all I'd really want to do is mingle. I'm going to try to go to the book reading tomorrow night at Elliott Bay, except I just realized I lent my copy of Baseball Between The Numbers to Drew, so I can't even get Jonah Keri to sign it, and he's moving out of town next month. So sad.
And then I will come home and pack. Because Friday night I fly to Oakland. Wheeeeeee. And Saturday I get to hang out with I-Gene, and Sunday I get to go to the A's game with my Evil Wonder Twin, and Monday I get to go to Tim and Jenn's wedding, and Tuesday I think I get to go to another A's game with Rem, and hopefully inbetween all that, I'll get to see some other friends in the Bay Area, but I've really been a slacker on making a ton of plans. Whoosh.
Actually, I know how it got to be so late. Started chatting fantasy baseball with one of my baseball buddies and next thing you know it's 2am. I have like five moves I want to make to my team and just can't do them. BRIAN GILES, WHY MUST YOU VEX ME SO?
Tonight we had board games at the House of Slack. First, we played TransEuropa outdoors, while grilling sausages for dinner. Josh kept finishing his city set RIGHT BEFORE ME which was sort of frustrating, but I don't take that game seriously. After that we played a game called Ostia, I think. I won, but it was annoying as all hell. Basically, this game is mostly an auction game, sort of a fucked up combination of Bohnanza and uhh... I dunno, Taj Mahal maybe. Anyway, what blows about it is, it also has the Settlers issue of where, if you get too far ahead too early, everyone makes the rest of the game really unfun for you. And I had 9 victory points after 3 out of 5 rounds, and the closest anyone else had was like 3 or 4. So people started just being real jerks to me, which was just no fun at all, and I couldn't really do much of anything in the last two rounds. I still won the game, with 14 victory points to the next highest 10, but still, it just was dumb. I understand the way these games work, and I don't bear a grudge for people dogpiling the leader and all, but it still doesn't mean I think it's a good game mechanic. In general, I thought this game suuuuucked.
And that's about the evening. I'm sad that the SABR con is in town and I'm not at it, but I don't think the time off and the registration fee would have really been worth it, since all I'd really want to do is mingle. I'm going to try to go to the book reading tomorrow night at Elliott Bay, except I just realized I lent my copy of Baseball Between The Numbers to Drew, so I can't even get Jonah Keri to sign it, and he's moving out of town next month. So sad.
And then I will come home and pack. Because Friday night I fly to Oakland. Wheeeeeee. And Saturday I get to hang out with I-Gene, and Sunday I get to go to the A's game with my Evil Wonder Twin, and Monday I get to go to Tim and Jenn's wedding, and Tuesday I think I get to go to another A's game with Rem, and hopefully inbetween all that, I'll get to see some other friends in the Bay Area, but I've really been a slacker on making a ton of plans. Whoosh.
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I can decide if i thought it was interesting, or annoying, that nothing really counted during the game except for the senate stuff. Selling things was a bit questionable - it almost seemed like you were better off just not buying anything. And storing things... well, at the last round you might care, but before that i don't think you do. I couldn't even really convince myself that collecting cards of the same color was useful, and i never got enough of a color that meant something in the senate the next round... erg.
At any rate, i hate that bullshit about 'so and so is ahead, i'm going to screw them over'. I think its childish and annoying. I understand that you can make an argument that it is the best way to stay in the game, but, it still annoys the shit out of me. I'm surprised Josh was so hard core about it, too, since people do that to him all the time (whether he is winning or not), but, i guess he thought maybe he had a chance to pull ahead.
Oh, i also hate that they meta-game talk about it. One thing is that maybe i wouldn't have come to the same conclusion, and even if my conclusion is strategically dumber, i should have the right to arrive at it my self. Another thing is that i think it emphasizes that 'gang up' mentality, because people sort of start going with the plan, regardless of what they may be thinking themselves.
Anyway, - gaming, good. Ostia... blah.
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I've been a Settlers player for ages, and I still enjoy it and games of its type. I don't deny that Screw the Leader is a big part of the game, nor that being stifled by the other players after sprinting to an early lead is terribly frustrating.
So for me, part of the game is don't sprint to an early lead. Most of my family is really passive-aggressive with stuff like this; in any game, one can basically assume that the louder Squid bitches about his lousy situation, the closer he is to winning. (The fact that I'm often bitching about a legitimately sucky situation doesn't seem to engender a lot of sympathy. Huh.)
I'm not saying it's a great game mechanic, nor am I trying to make people enjoy games like that. I also admit that it's a mechanic that only makes sense to people who have become very familiar with that kind of game. But knowing that it's out there, and treating is as a feature instead of a bug, has certainly helped me avoid a lot of the frustration that comes with Screw The Leader, and has added the corresponding level to my tactical thinking.
And if you ever find yourself being helped by me early in a game, you'd best remember that I'm probably not acting out of the goodness of my heart.