Outdoor games at church and board games at Scott's - 08/06/10

Stonebridge hosted an evening of outdoor games. I played a game of Bocce ball and a bit of Volleyball. I also dropped off 11 more board games for the Club 56 game closet. I think that brings the total number of games to over 40.

After it got too dark to play games outdoors, I dropped the family off at home and proceeded over to the Hunters for a couple of board games.
We played A game of Rattus which is a quick Euro style game that had quite a bit of "take that". Very enjoyable. As usual I feel it needs another play for me to get a better feel for it. Then we ended the evening with a play of Jet Sets. I like this game a lot. It's kind of like Ticket to Ride on steroids. Lots to think about. I really would love to try it again.

VCSBM 08/03/10

Had my first play of a classic board game "Shogun". We played a 5 player game of Shogun (Sword of the Samurai). We didn't get a chance to finish and I didn't do very well, but I had a blast and I would love to try it again. We played for 4 hours.

Descent - Road to legend session

Friday the 30th The Hunters hosted another Descent Road To Legend session. We spent about 4 hours working on a single level of a dungeon. The heroes made it through but there was a big cost. We took a peak at the second level and it involves some sort of graveyard with lots of skeletons. Should be hard but lots of fun. I can't wait to give it a go.

VCSBM 07/27/10

Played a 4.5 hour, four player game of Runewars last night. I played the Elves and unfortunately was blocked in by 4 dragons which was hindering my expansion. Ultimateli I lost the game. Still lots of fun and I can't wait to try it again.

VCSBM @ Border's in Thousand Oaks - Game day #2

On 07/17/2010 we played games at Border's in T.O. The games I played were:
Battlestar Gallactica
Dominion
Metro
Runewars

Metro was the only game I won.

VCSBM @ Marty's -7/20/10

Played 2 new games at VCSBM this time. Container was very interesting. The theme is a bit dry, but the game play was deep. At least it felt like I was constantly having to think a few steps into the future. And you have to think about what you are doing plus what you would like to try to make the other players do. I would like to try it again.
Tim taught us how to play Endeavor. I like this game a lot. I think I'll have to add this to the game library.

Wargames at Tim's - 7/15/10

Tim has started a Thursday night game event that will concentrate on War Games. Last night I attended the second event (my first time there) and we played "The Flames of Midway" Which was a fun, card driven Aircraft carrier battle game that included a lot of dice tossing... which I love. The game mechanics were pretty cool and I would like to play this game again. We played for about 3 1/2 hours but it didn't feel that long.

VCSBM 07/13/2010

Played a 4 player game of Dominion... I did not win.
Played a 5 player game of Ra (finally)... I did not win.
Played a 5 player game of Alea Iacta Est... I almost won.

Had a blast as usual. Thanks Marty!

Caswell visit!

The Caswell crew stopped by for dinner at Viva La Pasta and after we came home we played a boisterous game of Telestrations. A good party game that plays best with 6 to 8 people.

VCSBM in Agoura

Met at Snopes in Agoura. It was in a rec room near the Rock Store and overlooking a nice little lake. We had ducks and rabbits wandering by all night. There were 6 of us, so we played a few 6 player games.
Transeuropa - loss
ChinaTown - loss
Castle Panic - win for the team but loss for me.
Lots of fun and a pretty unique location.

Happy 4th of July!

Took a couple of games over to Stonebridge's 4th of July celebration but only managed to play a game of Electronic Pictionary man.

VCSBM 06/29/2010

Played a nice 4 hour long game of Runebound at Marty's. As always.. a fun game.

Game day at Borders (VCSBM) 06/26/2010

VCSBM had an all day board game day at Borders in Thousand Oaks. This was the first of an on-going, once a month event. Unfortunately I also had The Summer Book Bonanza and face painting at church so I could spend the whole day there. I did head over in between the events and and later in the evening and managed to play most of a game of Battlestar Gallactica a full game of TransAmerica and No Thanks. I can't wait for the next Borders event... I hope I won't be too busy that day too.

06/22/2010 VCSBM

Brought, taught and played 2 games of Carson City. The first play was a 3 player game that I won. And the second play was a 4 player game that was a loss for me. Unfortunately nobody else seemed to like the game that much. I still love it. Oh well!

06/14/2010 Disneyland

We spent 2 days at Disneyland and California Adventure. Managed to convince Samantha to play a 2 player game of Wasabi with me in the hotel room.

VCSBM 06/08/2010

I started with a 4 player game of Smallworld - loss.
Then we played a 4 player game of Mystery Express... which I also did not win.

VCSBM 06/01/2010

Played my first game of Powergrid. Lots of fun! It was a 6 player game and I won. It took all 4 hours to learn and play.

GAMEX 2010 - Strategicon - 05-29-2010

Had a lot of fun at Strategicon. Competed in a Warstone tournament and after 4 plays I was the 2nd place finisher over-all. Which garnered me 1200 points, A Warstone T-shirt, booster, signed card and a Warstone battlepack. I also played Stronghold with Bob. I lost as the invading forces. Next we played our first game of Forbidden Island. We barely made it out alive. And finally was a game of Smallworld which I won. Yay! Great games and great people.

VCSBM 05-25-2010

Played a 5 player game of Kingsburg and came in third.
Taught and played a 3 player game of El Capitan and won.

D'Orc Day One

I haven't posted on here in a while so I guess I need to play catch up here...

D'Orc day One was a big success.
I think the total headcount was around 28 people, including kids.
Scott brought his Crokinole board and I had a large Heroscape map set up ahead of time. We also had Bocce and a Craps table set up. We had hot dogs and chili. We played from 1:00PM to 1:00AM. The games I saw being played were:
*Crokinole (many plays)
Blokus (many plays)
If Wishes were Fishes
*Colosseum
Craps (many plays)
Bocce Ball (many plays)
Chaos
Mission Red Planet
Galaxy Trucker (2 or 3 plays)
Picnic Panic
Sitting Ducks
Carson City
*El Capitan
*Cash N Guns
*Incan Gold
Penguin Pile Up
Fluch Der Mumie
*Battlestar Gallactica
We had members of the Simi Game Knights and Greg was the only one from the VCSBM group that made it out.
Three people went home with games for prizes. The biggest loser of the day was Chris G. and he chose Travel Blokus. The two biggest winners were Steven and Todd. Todd chose Knizia's Beowulf and Steven took home a copy of Pecking Order. I'll edit in some pictures soon.

VCSBM 051810

I missed last weeks meet up as it was Charlotte's birthday. It looks like the games I missed were Fortress America and Tribune.
Last night I attended and played some Descent. We had 5 total players and I was the only one who had played before. Marty had read the rules a few times and he played the Overlord. We played the first dungeon in the base set. After 3.5 hours the Heroes were victorious.
The other table had 5 people playing Shogun. Their game also lasted 3.5 hours.

D'Orc Day 1

D'Orc Day 1 takes place at Weller Court on Saturday, May 22, 2010. We will be gaming all day long. The select list of attendees may include family, Church family, Simi Game Knights, Sherman Oaks Game Knights, Heroscapers and Ventura County Strategy Boardgamers. More info to follow...

Club 56 game day

Sunday the 16th was Game Day at Club 56. There were approximately 15 players. In 2 hours I saw the folowing games played:
Rockit Pocket Pool
Hang in there (a hit)
Pickin Chickens
Uno
Chaos
Tumbling Tower
Life - Rockstar edition
Slappergories
Cathedral (BIG hit)
Rumis
Heroscape
Cloud 9

VCSBGM 05/04/10

Last night at the Ventura County Strategic Board Game Meetup 3 different games were played. Agricola was played by 5 people and took the entire night to finish. I jumped into a game of Colosseum (my first play and a win) and then We only had about an hour so we played a game of Blue Moon City. I had fun playing both games.
Photo by Richard van Vugt

Sunday Afternoon Descent

We spent around 5 hours playing Descent, The Road to Legend, on Sunday afternoon. Our Heroes had a few problems in the first dungeon we encountered. It was a second level and the Overlord ended up with a lot of points. We moved into the third level, with most of us fully healed after being killed, and we made it through with an extra 5 conquest over the Overlord. We didn't exactly make up for our mistakes in the previous dungeon but what can you do. We are currently somewhere around 115 points and 25 hours into a 600 point campaign.

Friday Night Family Gaming at Scott's

Last night Mantha and I went over to Scott's to play a few board games. We played 5 games in 6 hours. We showed up and sat down to our first play of a classic card game No Thanks. I liked it and feel after a few plays I would have a much better feel for when to take cards and when to pitch in some chips. Then I suggested a quick game of Pow Wow. Always a fun, ice breaker type of game. It came down to Bob and Whitney, each having 2 buzzards, and Whitney eventually triumphed. The next game we played was another one I brought... Stone Age. I still love this game and it was the first play for everyone else. I feel everyone enjoyed the game and looks forward to getting it to the table again.
After that Scott broke out the Adventurers. A light family game that I've been wanting to play since the day it came out. It's very short game but I actually wanted to play it a second time but we moved on to Dice Town. Bob taught us to play this dice rolling game with a western theme that was an absolute blast. I might just have to add this to the collection.

Thrift Store finds!

I've had some really good luck over the years with thrift store game finds. Just the other day I found 2 copies of Guillotine for $2.99 each. One was in shrink and the other has never been played (cards were in shrink). I have since played it a few times and I think this will be perfect for family game days. A few days before that I came across an un-played copy of Memoir 44 for $3.99. I already own and love BattleLore so I know the system and hope to get this to the table a lot. The same trip garnered a full box of Battlecards ($4.99) which is an old scratch off card battle game that came out before Magic the Gathering, and a core rulebook for an RPG called Danger Quest ($1.99). The Battlecards were still in shrink and probably worthless but I think it makes a nice addition to the game museum.
Some other recent finds include:
Mad Magazine game - $1.99
Parcheesi (1959) - $2.99
Thirteen (1955) - $.99
Royal Flush $.99
Scotland Yard (long box) - $1.99
Key to the Kingdom - $1.98
Battle Masters (2 copies) - $2.98 each - currently worth over $100.00 each
ShadowLord - $1.99
Vampire Hunter - $.99

VCSBM

A couple of months back I decided to join a local game group called "Ventura County Strategic Boardgame Meetup". They meet on Tuesday nights in Thousand Oaks, so it's close by and on a night that is generally not that busy for me. So far it has been very enjoyable. I've met a dozen new gamers and I've had the opportunity to play a few new games.
The first time I went I played Stone Age (which I love) and 2 new (to me) games, Lost Cities and Medici. Lost cities is a re-styled version of the Reiner Knizia, Spiel Des Jahres winner Keltis. It was light but fun and I think the family might enjoy it. Medici was bit more of a gamers game and I liked it a lot. The board was terrible though and difficult to work with.
The second time I went I played to new (to me) games - Kingsburg and Hamburgum. Hamburgum involves a few different mechanics, like Worker placement and resource management. I liked it a lot and would love to play it again. It's a bit heavy for the family gatherings though so I probably won't add it to the library unless I come across a fabulous deal on it. Kingsburg was awesome. Some people have commented on it being a bit long for the type of game that it is, but I didn't think so. I loved it and will some day add it to my collection.
The next Meetup I had to skip because of our family spring break vacation trip to Cambria, but last week I went and played just one game and it was a classic older MB game called Fortress America. I had a lot of fun even though we lost. It lasted about 4 hours. I would love to play it again.
This past Tuesday I played a 5 player game of Battlestar Gallactica that lasted for over 4 hours. In the end all of us humans lost. I was mistakenly taken for a cylon and placed in the brig. Very frustrating. The other table of gamers played Bootleggers and Ra.

I can't wait to see what's on the table next week.

The blogger that didn't...

Wow - I just remembered I had this game blog sitting here doing nothing for me... or anybody else for that matter. I guess I might as well write a little update.
My game collection is currently over 850 games.
I hosted a "family game day" at my house this past Saturday. I think we all had a blast. I counted 20 people in attendance but 7 of those were too young to do any serious gaming. Although, come to think of it, one of them did play a game of Heroscape. A lot of the teens just played Rockband.
I built a large Heroscape map and made piles of games everywhere for people to choose from. I managed to play a 4 player game of Chaos in the Old World. It was my 3rd play but I still had to go through all of the rules to remember how to play. I'm looking forward to trying it again. Soon, hopefully, so I don't forget how to play and all of the strategy I worked out a little too late in the game.
I also played Cash N Guns, AaarghTect and Jamaica. The other games I saw people playing were Texas Hold'em, Heroscape and Castle Panic.
A few gamers went home with door prizes. I gave out a copy of California, Travel Blokus and Stixx.

I guess that will have to do for now. Maybe I'll update this blog more often now???