After Action Report – Thursday Night Gaming @ Paradise Perks, June 27, 2013

The crowds are back at Paradise Perks this week.  There were around 30 people attending with up to six tables with active games at any given time.

I managed to play 3 games this time two of them were new games for me and the third was one I played before.

I started out with a card game called Biblios.  In Biblios the players are abbots of medieval monasteries trying to develop the best library of sacred books by having the best scriptorium around.

Biblios is a set taking game.  There are five suits of card that players are competing for the value of the suits in victory points are the same at the beginning of the game are equal at 3 points each, but can be changed upward or downward by specific cards during the course of the game.  There also cash cards in the game as well.

The game is played in two stages.  First is the donation stage where the players draw cards from the deck.  The number of cards is determined by the number of players plus one.  The player draws the cards one by one and disposes of them in the following manner.  One goes to their hand one goes to the Auction pile, and the others go to the table for the other players to choose from.

When the deck is exhausted the auction stage begins.  The cards in the deck that was being built during the donation phase are turned over one by one and auctioned off to the players using the money they got during the donation phase.  At the end of the auction phase the players then determine who has the highest value in the suits to get the points for that suit.  The one with the most points wins.

I started the game focused a little too much on money and not getting the cards that would get me points in the end.  After we went around the table once the goal of the game finally clicked for me and I started taking all the blue cards I could, if not that color than another one.  At one point the value of the orange cards was pushed down to one and I was getting stuck with those cards when I was drafting from the table hoping the I would be able to elevate the value of that color by the end of the game.  The auction did not help me much as I was not able to overcome the dominance of the other players in the colors that I was not focused on.  I managed to take second place in the game by take both blue and orange.

The second game I played was Starfarers of Catan.

Starfarer of Catan is set in the far future.  The players are competing for the position of Ambassador to the Galactic Council.  In order to win the position they must expand the influence of their colonies by setting up new outpost colonies, upgrade those colonies into spaceports, and develop trade relations with neighboring alien races.

The framework of the game follows the basic format of Settlers of Catan.  The players set up colonies on planets that have been assigned number values.  When the number of the assigned planet is rolled on two six-sided dice, anyone that has a colony or spaceport on that planet gets the resource.  The resources can be used to trade with the other players or build things.

Now here are the differences from Settlers of Catan.  The board an actual board with fixed locations instead of hex pieces which are fit together to create a board.  Players build a colony then move it into its final position on the board using transport ships.  The entire concept of a mother ship that is used as a template for the players transports that can be upgraded using resources to improve the performance of the players’ transports.  There is also an entire mechanic added to the game round moving ships around the board.

I performed miserably at this game.  During the game I was able to establish one colony, which I turned into a spaceport and one trading post.  The winner of the game got so far ahead so early on in the game, none of the other players managed to get close to him.  I had the honor of coming in last.

The last game of the night was Haggis.  Haggis is a trick taking game.  The deck has five suits all of which have ten cards numbered one to ten. And the players start the round with a jack, king, and queen of no suit that can be used as wild cards during that round.  The tricks are played as sets and runs.  For example it a player puts out three of a kind then the other players must put out three of a kind that is higher in value.  The player who puts out the highest set of three cards wins the trick after all the other players pass.  The round ends one all but one player is out of cards.

We played the game to 100 points which consisted of two rounds.  I managed to get a mess of cards in both rounds and did not go out in either of the rounds, but the tricks I took wound up being with a few points so I came in second in the game.

Now for my standings for this event:

Game	No. of Plays	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	Avg.
Biblios	1	-	1	-	-	-	-		2.00
Starfarers of Catan	1	-	-	-	1	-			4.00
Haggis	1	-	1	-	-	-	-		2.00
Totals	3	-	2	-	1	-	-	-	2.67