Wednesday Night: Memoir '44, Pico 2, End of the Triumvirate

Yesterday's gaming session included Memoir '44 (with the Air Pack), Pico 2, and End of the Triumvirate. A good night, but, you will find out that Memoir '44 is teetering right on the edge of the trade pile. It had better shape up or it's going to be shipped out.

Memoir '44 (w/ Air Pack): I have almost all of the Memoir '44 products, and I was thrilled to pick up the Air Pack in a trade with Jim Carvin. Mike, who has consistently maintained that he enjoys the game, was up for a game during the first half of the gaming night (before Dan arrives). He arrived at around 4:30 and I grabbed the Air Pack box and the box for the base game. I had heard good things about the new player aid cards in the game and the scenario setup rules, so I was excited to try out them out, and to fly some planes around the board. BUT, we spent a good 30 minutes setting up the scenario, trying to figure out the poorly written rules, and digging through different expansions for pieces, rules, and boards.

By the time we started to play, I was nearly fed up with the game. Look, I know that it is an expansion heavy game and that it is difficult to incorporate all the different packs into the scenarios, but I have the Air Pack and I want to fly planes! Why do the introductory scenarios in the book not utilize the planes in a way that eases you into the system!

I am a pretty good reader of rules, even if I have my fair share of questions afterwards. But if the rules are well written and formatted, I can generally understand them. I don't care if DoW included cards to help with the rules, they should be properly explained in one place in the rulebook. I shouldn't have to reference three different rule books and a number of different cards.

Then, Mike barely had the opportunity to fly the frickin plane. Because he couldn't bring a plane onto the board until daylight, he only had one turn to do it and it was not the strategically optimal play. So we spent around 20 minutes trying to figure out how to use the planes and then we didn't even get the chance.

Okay, I'll calm down now, but Memoir last night was frustrating. I won't give up on it yet, but it's ease of playability score is dropping like crazy and it needs to rise some if I am going to be able to play this in the future.

Pico 2: Yay! Now this game is easy to teach. You have a deck of 11 cards ranging from 4 to 13, and 16. Each player is dealt a hand of 5 cards. The remaining card is removed from the game. Then, each player simultaneously plays a card (they choose). They are revealed and the larger value card (assuming that it is not more than 2x larger) wins and goes in the players score pile. The lower valued card goes back into the other players hand. This continues until one player only has one card left in their hand. Each player totals their points (cards have a point value) and then they switch hands. While not as "deep" as Memoir '44, I like playing this game. It is only a 3 minute or so game, but it is a good way to pass the time while waiting for another play to arrive.

End of the Triumvirate: When Dan arrived, he brought along our next game. End of the Triumvirate is a 3 player only game set in ancient Rome. Each player takes on the role of a different politician, shuttling their token around the playing board to different locations. Each location that you control either produces troops or money and you use these to influence your position on the board. Money can be used to improve your Political or Miliatary competence or to earn you votes in the election. Troops help you to acquire additional locations.

There are three different ways to trigger the end of the game. One way is to capture a certain number of locations on the board, a military victory. Or, if you win the election two times you will achieve a political victory. Finally, if you achieve maximum competence on both the military and political tracks you will win.

I enjoyed playing, but I am not sure if it is a game I really like. Last night, I described it as a lighter Wallace game, akin to Byzantium or After the Flood. While this is not a perfect comparison, End of the Triumvirate definitely had the same "feel" without many of the confusing and fiddly rules that Wallace will often include in his game. Yet those rules and details add something to Wallace games that make them neat, so I would hesitate to totally discount their value.

The playing time was only about 45-60 minutes after the rules explanaion and it did not seem to have the 3p issue where 2 players will go after each other and thus leave the third free to win the game. Because of the different victory conditions, each player has to be aware of the others standing on the board. So, good game, I would play it again, and I need to play it again before I pass any real judgement on it.

Last night, I went for the political victory, Dan went after the military win, and Mike tried to be competent. Mike and I failed and Dan won. Interestingly, we were each 1 turn away from victory when Dan won the game.