Wednesday, August 09, 2006

A New Start

Since I can't get enough of Euro-games (probably known to both of my readers as "bored"games) I started up a new game night just for boys. Now don't get all up in my grill about not inviting the ladies. It was actually the Spousal Unit's idea. Since most of our time is spent with Jenny and Shelly (that's still fun to say), Sylvia thought it would behoove me to have a little extra time with the penis-bearers. And so I did. Fortunately I have friends who are nearly as dorky as I am. Who'd have thought, huh?

The inaugural Boys Night was attended by my friends Knotts, Frank, and Marcus who I cannot thank enough for joining me. So, on to the games.

We started out with a game of Through the Desert. It's a fun game where you play these cute, pastel-colored, plastic camels into long trains in an attempt to reach watering holes and oases, and section off areas of land in an attempt to score more points than the others. OK, that sounds stupid, but it's really a lot of fun and quite strategic. There are a lot of tough decisions to make because you only get to play 2 camels per turn and that's never enough to reach the point-making areas AND prevent the others from doing the same. I managed to beat Marcus by the slimmest of margins (that would be 1) thanks to having 2 of the 5 longest camel trains. I think we'll play this one again some time and I'm sort of surprised it hasn't come out at one of our big game nights because it's easy to learn and the pieces are excellent.

We then got down to the real meat of the evening. No, Zoe, that wasn't it. Sicko. It was actually a game of El Grande. This is the first game I thought of when Boys Night was conceived. It's a deep, area-control, strategy game where you need to outnumber your opponents in different regions of the gameboard. It leaves a lot of room for screwing over the others, making great plays that score big points, and, did I mention screwing over the others? About 3/4 of the way through I said something about trying to enjoy a nice, friendly game of El Grande and all 4 of us nearly unanimously said, "There's no such thing as a friendly game of El Grande." I had a big lead after the second of three scoring rounds and that meant only one thing. Gang up on Phollower. The final scoring ended up being very close with me hanging on for dear life and eeking out a 3 point victory. 3 points is not much in El Grande, for those who were wondering.

Knotts and Frank needed to head home after that but Marcus was up for one more and Sylvia was a bit jealous of our night of gaming so she hopped in for a 3 player game of Samurai. We had played Samurai with Marcus at one of our full-size game nights and we're just finally starting to feel like we're getting the hang of it. Marcus was sly in this game and ended up winning rather handily. It was only by 2 but in Samurai that's sort of a lot. I know I didn't feel like I was even in the hunt although I was the one in second.

It was a great time and I'm looking forward to another. I think at future Boys Nights we're going to try to get out one game we've played recently, so we can get a better feel for it, and one game that hasn't hit the table yet just to keep it fresh. 'Cause that's how I roll.

7 comments:

limpy99 said...

Our boys night is tonight. Wiffle Ball followed by Texas Hold 'Em. Oh, its no El Grande, but there's nothing like screwing your buddies out of a few bucks to make for a pleasant evening.

Until it happens to you.

Anonymous said...

Now I am jealous. I really like Thru the Dessert. And miss having you and Sylvia to play games with. MDF and I have been playing quite a bit of Battle Line. She likes it and plays it well. Thanks for giving it to me for my birthday.

Phollower said...

LIMPY- That sounds good too. Have you ever played El Grande? It's pretty excellent. Shelly would've killed us if we had played Hold 'Em without her.

DADDY- We miss having you here too. I may have to get a copy of Battle Line although having Schotten-Totten already (and having Sylvia like it better) might put other games in front of it. What does MDF stand for? Mrs Daddy Fucker?

Fellhammer said...

Hey now I resemble that "almost as dorky" comment....or is it resent :D

We have lots of new games to try out.

Lk has them all listed on her blog.

Cheers

Phollower said...

FELL- I'm pretty sure it's resemble. You guys got a PILE of new games. I'm pretty psyched.

MrsOz said...

so are you going to start acting like a guy now?

Phollower said...

MRSOZ- Don't hold your breath.