After Action Report – Thursday Night Gaming @ Paradise Perks, October 3, 2013

I was back a Paradise Perks for Thursday Night Gaming this week.  The attendance is was 15 – 20 people which is still low compared to what it was during the summer.  There were four games being played at any time.

This event had a very royal theme for me.  Both games that I played had the work King in their title.  However being crowned the winner in them seemed to elude me.

The first game I played was Kings of Air and Steam.  It is set in a Steampunk world where the players are owners of freight hauling networks that use airships and trains to deliver products from factories to cities that demand the product.

There are four steps to a round in this game.  The first is for the player to plot the movement of their airship.  Each player has a set of movement cards that they use to plot 4 movement actions during the second phase.  The player then moves into the second phase where the players execute their movement actions one by one in order along with an additional action which includes things like upgrading their airships or trains, or delivering loads from their depots to the destination cities.  The third phase is where the players play taxes on loads that they still have in their possession after the movement phase is complete.  The last phase is when addition demand is created for loads product is added to the factories and other general upkeep happens.

The player with the most money and best infrastructure wins the game.

Early on in the game I figured it was more important to have a strong train network.  It appeared to be the way to move loads to their destination faster.  So I spent the first couple of rounds upgrading my trains and expanding my network of depots.  As their got to be more loads available at the factories later in the game, I started to upgrade my airship so I could carry more loads.  With this I was able to develop a nice route around in a area of the board that allowed me to be able to deliver product one or two times per round.  Unfortunately, I did not place my depots as strategically as I could so one of my prime delivery points was almost too far away and caused some delays in deliveries.  As a result my potentially winning combination was only able to get me to second place.

The second game I played was King of Tokyo with the Power Up Expansion.  In King of Tokyo the players are monsters trying to destroy Tokyo.  The one who can reach 20 points of destruction first without being destroyed wins the game.

Again game play is simple.  The players take turns rolling six dice taking the results that they want rerolling the ones that they do not want twice after the first roll.  After the second reroll the effects from the roll take place.

The dice have the following symbols:  1, 2, or 3 points of destruction which are given to the player if they get a set of three or more in their turn, Energy which give one energy point for each one rolled and can be used to buy mutations, Healing which heals one point of damage to a monster for each one rolled, and Whack which causes one point of damage to the monster in Tokyo if the player is outside Tokyo or one point of damage to all the other players if the player is inside Tokyo for each one rolled.

The players are divided into two groups the player or players inside Tokyo and the players outside Tokyo.  If a player is inside Tokyo their attacks affect everyone outside Tokyo and they get 2 points of destruction per turn they remain in Tokyo, but they cannot heal any damage they take.  They may retreat from Tokyo when they take damage from another player and the player that damaged them then takes their place inside Tokyo.

The players outside Tokyo on the other hand only damage the player inside Tokyo.  The big thing that they can do that the player inside Tokyo cannot do is heal with the Healing rolls, which is important to their survival.

The Power Up Expansion give each monster a set of cards with special powers that are unique to that monster.  In order to activate them the player must roll 3 heal points.  The player then draws two cards from the deck and chooses one to keep in their hand.  The card that is kept in the player’s hand may be played out in front of them at any time.

This game of King of Tokyo did not go as badly for me as my previous play of the game.  I was not eliminated during play of the game.  I think this had something to do with all of the players not rolling much in the way of damage.  I am pretty sure I did not use the Power Up deck correctly.  I only got one card out into play, but did manage to get a couple of mutations.  I did manage to come in last.  I think I do have to figure out what dice are the best ones to choose at what time during the game, but I do not know if I want to put forth the effort.

My stats of the event are:

Game	No. of Plays	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	Avg.
Kings of Air and Steam	1	-	1	-	-	-	-	-		2.00
King of Tokyo	1	-	-	-	1	-	-			4.00
Totals	2	-	1	-	1	-	-		-	3.00