Bill pretty succinctly summed up the weekend in Abnerland. It was a shame that Ashley wasn't feeling well, but she was a trooper through the whole thing and really, really good with our -younger- kids. Plus, it's always great spending a couple days watching Bill try desperately to win a single game. Somehow, despite being the biggest boardgamer in the room at these things, he manages to not win a spectacular amount of the time. It's impressive, really. Fortunately, that streak did come to an end when he and I tied for the win in Dominion. Good stuff.
Mostly I was just happy we got in a game of Railroad Tycoon: Rails of Europe (and that I beat Mary who is a seriously tough competitor in that game). I really enjoy the original RRT, but I flat out adore Rails of Europe. It's just a much better map, much more balanced and competitive. I'm glad of any chance I can get to play it and I'm hoping Kyle's pre-schooler love of trains translates to him getting into the game when he gets older. (Because Angie really doesn't care for it.)
My first exposure to the Battlestar Galactica game was also good fun. I'm a fan of the show (though I haven't watched it a couple seasons; gotta get the DVDs and get caught up) and I enjoy the boardgame Shadows of Camelot which the formula seems loosely based on. There were five of us working together in this, which meant two of us would turn out to be Cylons working to sabotage the effort of the legitimate players. I was a Cylon from the get go and Mary had me pegged right away. Fortunately, no one else did and the two Bill's at the table spent so much time accusing each other that I had managed to do a good deal of damage to the cause before having to reveal myself. (Angie ended up being the other Cylon and we were able to successfully get enough Centurions onboard the Galactica to end the game.) Good times, good times.
As for Cosmic Encounters. I'd heard some good things on the Gamers With Jobs Conference Call a couple of weeks ago, but I didn't really get into the one game of that we played. Maybe playing it again would help, but yeah, not a great first impression.
Dominion, though, is a fun game. Ultimately, I'm biased towards games with a board, rather than those that are purely card based (like Dominion), but it's pretty easy to learn, relatively quick to play, and there's a ton of variety and strategies to employ. Owing to that, it was the only game we played multiple times and I'm strongly considering picking up my own copy of it.
Yes, a very good weekend indeed.
