Games
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I've decided to throw myself into the blog section since it seems so few make use of it and I think it's a cool way for people to see glimpses into one another's gaming journeys. This is really the second in what will be my blog series covering Ameritrash mainstays that I'm finally getting to play.
See, my story is that I've always loved AT games, but never knew that's how I could help define my game tastes. Like many others, Barnes was a great help in this respect and I am grateful for his passion, humor, and candor that broadened my outlook past BBG Euro titles (though I still own and love many Euros, though my true passion is for AT) and narrowed it to explore Ameritrash titles from the past (of which I otherwise would've remained ignorant).
Anyway! On to the game!
Twilight Imperium has been probably my biggest white whale in gaming since I rediscovered it a few years back. Reading the rules, reviews, and session reports - I *knew* this game had everything I'd ever wanted in a 4X-type game. Period.
This past Saturday I was blessed with the free time and game opportunity to play. That's right, a group of 4 others (led by the same guy I played Space Hulk with) was going to get together and play AND I had all day free. So from 10:15 to 5:45 I finally experienced the gamegasm that'd been building up for far too long. I was literally giddy all during the 2 ½ hour rules/set up/eating lunch that came before the first turn. All the guys were relatively cool and by this point my criteria for "cool" was: down with spending eight hours fiddling with plastic and cardboard at the local game shop.
We played TI3 with the Shattered Empire Expansion. To the best of my knowledge the only differences from the base game included: All the new Strategy cards, Distant Suns option, maybe some errata, and colonies/refineries (but we kinda forgot about them).
We dealt out 2 races each and got to chose. I had a choice between green guys who could pass and then still take an action and The L1Z1X Mindset (borg robo killbots). I went with the 1337 dudes since they were a lot more straight forward (better ships and a general bend towards killing).
I start off expanding and generally teching up (I start with 4, but ended the game with something ridiculous like 11). Player to my right (religious zealots) and I have a nonaggression pact. This player had a similar agreement with the Haacan player on his right - and this eventually would be bad since he was the one who had to leave early and wanted to see some action. Player to my left is some shifty retreat race and the final player (to *his* left...this is so confusing) is a group of pirates or something. They are the main combatants all game since Retreato made it clear he thought I could kick his ass with my beefy dreadnaughts (which I could).
Fast forward: the game is awesome, we're all either learning or relearning (most had only played TI2 prior). No one took Bureaucracy until WAY late. What can I say? We all wanted to fight and build to be in the best position for when we eventually had some public objectives. Also, Warfare wasn't taken except twice at the very end of the game. Retreato and Pirates are still going at it and I'm honing in on my INSANE objective of snagging Mecatol Rex and having 8 ships there and a space dock. Easy... I had a war sun, a few ships and a space dock there going into the last turn. I had taken Warfare since the turn before the religious zealot guy decided to lay into me since I was there and he hadn't shot anyone all game. Fair enough really. But my HUGE tactical blunder was facing him first instead of fortifying Mecatol. I attacked him, promptly forgetting my Warfare bonus (I know, seriously) and losing everything, taking him down to one ship. Go me. So that wiped out my home planet's ships. Then the pirate guy comes after me with a crap ton of ships that I didn't really see as being able to make it since we were playing a weirdish 5 player set up (I liked it, but visually had a hard time seeing what connected with what) and I didn't realize he had tech giving his dreadnaughts more movement. He killed me, though my warsun took out a good deal. He got his secret objective and won with like 6 points.
Lesson learned: Never lose sight of the main goal, which is ‘how am I going to get victory points?' Really I think the general razzle dazzle of TI3 had me a little out of sorts, but I was also giddy that last turn thinking that I'd be WINNING my first play of it! I met up with my wife and a friend later that night, and literally couldn't stop thinking about this mistake I'd made. NEVER AGAIN.
Closing: I really loved my play of TI3 and think I'd pretty much always choose to play with the expansion. The new Strat cards seem a lot more interesting and balanced in a good way. Command counters are easier to come by, fighting's not as penalized, and the tech flowed easily. I think this is a solid 9 in my mind, but I know I really just need one more good play to bump it up. Seriously - an amazing game. World Boardgame Championships, here I come!
