A Weeks Gaming

A varied week of gaming started of on Sunday night in Guildford. Games hitting the table were Blokus, Ubongo and Formula D.

Blokus went down well and it became quite an aggressive game with lots of blocking going on. Frank managed to win 2 of the 3 games but most were very close. I was trying to start off with different pieces trying to gain the edge on getting the most number of corners into the center. It worked well, but not well enough.
Ubongo is a good quick game and I managed to grab the win. Frank didn't really like it but the other 2 did so I expect it to be played again. Some of the puzzles seemed to be harder than the others but I am sure its not the case.

As the Formula 1 started on Sunday it was fitting to play Formula D. Due to time constraints and a diversion on the way home we only played a single lap. I started in pole position but ended last. Typical ! We played the advanced rules for the first time and they made a huge difference. You couldn't afford to be too gung ho with your car.
I do like Formula D and the new expansion is tempting but the dice just hate me.

In the week I played Heck'n'Peck with the kids. I thought that they would get the game but it was a bit of a struggle. My youngest beat me by 3 worms so he must have been doing something right.

Delivered this week was Ticket to Ride Switzerland as I was after a TTR map that played well for 2 players and Jungle Speed as it looks like a great laugh. I am sure the POB guys will have a blast with it.

Indigo growing F1 drivers

Wednesday night saw Dobbie and Moley over for a few hours gaming. I had planned to teach them Puerto Rico, my new favorite game. I had missed Puerto when it was realease and it just sort of fell by the wayside.

After explaining the rules the game started and the others picked up the rules and the way the game plays quite quickly. The colonist supply started to drain very quickly due to lots of building large process buildings. Dobbie setup a good trade route with repeated use of the captain role. Moley managed a fair bit of trading but was slow to apply manpower to his wharf and harbour.
I went for a mixed building and shipping plan. Just enough shipping to get a few points but built a couple of the larger VP buildings.
end score was me on 42, Dobbie 40 and Moley on 30. A good game.

Next up was Pandemic, another new game for Dobbie. The initial spread of virus's was harsh. Black was very concentrated along with red. Outbreaks were rife for the first quarter of the game but we managed to cure blue and eradicate it. By then Moley the medic had calmed down Black and we were making good work against Red. Cures for Red and black came next. Yellow had been ignored up until now and was started to spread. All hands to the deck and a bit of card trading and a cure was in site. We finally won the game with 6 outbreaks, a good session with a few tense bits and it felt like we had worked hard to win the game.

Finally Formula D hit the table, basic rules on the Monaco track. Two cars each and lots of dice rolling to be done. Moley initially stormed into the lead while the middle pack kept together. Dobbie and Moley both had a trailing car but half way through the game Dobbies had caught up with the middle pack. By now we realised that pushing your car through a corner for WP damage was not the end of the world so the last third of the track saw some crazy dice rolling and damage. Unfortunately it was all a bit too much for Moleys trailing car and he crashed on the second to last corner. It was all down to first place and a just high enough dice roll from me clinched the win.

All in a good evening of gaming, plus a copy of Dominion to open. But more on that later.

Christmas Gaming

Didn't get a huge amount of gaming in over the Christmas period. Mainly because we did a fair bit of visiting and the Xbox 360 was used maybe a bit too much.

Anyway, new additions to the gaming libary are

• Puerto Rico, my BGG Secret Santa present. I was a bit suprised to recieve it but after playing it I absolutely love it and want to give it another go asap.
• Dungeon Twister Expansion #1, I love Dungeon Twister but find it hard to get opponents to play against. I am hoping that new character may spark a bit of enthusiasm into the game again.
• Munchkin, I used to play D&D allot and this game looks like it could be fun.
• Formula D, The new Asmodee version. Components look fantastic and I have given it a quick game against the wife. Really enjoyed it and look forward to giving it a go against more players.

Hopeing to get more gaming in over the next week, and I will try to blog a bit more on whats going on.
Also expect more game reviews on the IGUK blog.