Brief Saturday Game Report

Yesterday was quite a day! I started out the day playing Wabash Cannonball, and then moved on to PanzerZug and El Grande. After a brief afternoon gaming break, I went over to Scott's house (thanks!) and played Small World and Canal Mania with Kevin, Scott, and Justin. Some thoughts? Why not:

Wabash Cannonball: I am enjoying this game more as I play it more. Costas told me that he played this over 60 times, and I guess I understand why! Wabash Cannonball is a solid game that really boils down some of the great elements of Pampas Railroads into a 45 minute format. At it's simplest, the game is a race to open the Wabash Cannonball (the last railroad that does not become available until a railroad reaches Chicago). But it is so much more than this. You must choose other players to cooperate with to capitalize the railroads that you care about and to use the available actions to build track. In my game, I tried to work with Dan to push my railroads. At the same time, I learned the downfall of allowing some players to control the single share of a railroad even for a single dividends payout. At the end, Dan won, but I came in a close second.

PanzerZug: Still a fun time. This is not a deep game but it is fun. Now, I am not a huge fan of luck-driven games and a light game is not a sure winner in my mind. But PanzerZug plays quickly and with the right crowd should be a hit. A review is likely in the future, I just need to play a game or two with my Wednesday gaming group.


El Grande: If I want to play an area-majority game, I will play China or Web of Power. This one really just doesn't do it for me. It features a couple of elements that I just don't like it games. First, it features cards. Enough said. Second, those cards allow random scoring. I know this is a good game, and I know people like it. I just feel too restricted during the game. Wanting to do things and not being able to is not inherently a bad thing....this is hard to explain. You know what, I would rather just play something else.

Small World: I drove my Sea-Faring Orcs and then my Spirit Wizards to the win. I only used two races in the game, with my Orcs scoring me points in the 4-5 point range for most of the game. Then, my Spirit Wizards, which were never placed into decline, continued to score my around 8 points, so that I was taking in 10-12 points every turn.

Canal Mania: I may be able to pick this game up in a trade, so I wanted to try it before "buying" it. And I am not sure what I think. As referenced above, some restrictions in games don't work for me. And the pickup cards or build restriction just doesn't make sense to me. On my last turn, because I had no cards in hand and didn't have a contract on the board, I couldn't do anything. That's no fun. Still, it is a pickup and deliver game and I really like those games. I am on the fence about going through with the trade, but that may not even be an option since I am still waiting to hear if the game is up for trade.

So, that was my gaming day. Sadly, it looks as if another Age of Steam day will not go through unless I take some drastic action to save it. It's this Thursday and Scott won't be able to make it. So I have Dan, but that is only 2. I'm going to keep at it, but my hope was to have some experienced players at the table and my option looks to include only new players now. This is not a bad thing, but it's not what I had hoped for.