gaming and shooting aliens in photos

27 Dec 2009. Through the Ages. This was one tight game that I won by only 11pts, in a game with scores above 300. I didn't do so well in stone production, but Masonry, and later Engineering, and some yellow action cards helped me. This was one game that I managed to hit 29 culture per turn (although only on the very last turn).

The other part of my civilisation. One unusual thing is I managed to build two Age A wonders. This was due to a combination of not spending stone on anything else (except one early mine), the timing of the wonders, and also one timely yellow action card that allowed building one stage of a wonder for 2 stones less. I always like the Hanging Gardens. Even better when combined with St Peter's Basilica. I think I could have taken Michaelangelo if I had wanted to (not too sure), but I didn't, because I needed to get my infrastructure up to speed. I find that Through the Ages is all about building good overall infrastructure and all about preparing yourself for the big gains in Age III (or starting from late Age II). I rarely focus on culture in the early game. I don't like wonders like Taj Mahal (an early, culture-only wonder).

Michelle's civilisation. She had four colonies, and most of these were seeded into the events deck by me! I was really unlucky with colonies. She always had just enough colonisation strength to beat me. One colony came up immediately after I had to discard two expired colonisation cards. I only had 2 colonies, and only one was won via an event. The other was a gift from Columbus (my leader). Possibly one reason that Michelle lost was she had not made use of leaders for all 4 ages.

Michelle's civilisation. Her governance was better from early game. Towards the late game her actions started to feel inadequate.

27 Dec 2009. Space Hulk (1st edition). Han and I played Mission 2. One squad of 5 marines need to kill 30 genestealers (aliens) to win the game. The genestealers need to kill the whole squad to win. The game starts with all 5 marines in different rooms. In the centre of this photo Han's marine captain had advanced down the long corridor. I had one blip (unknown number of 1 to 3 genestealers appearing as a blip on the marines' sensors) hiding just behind a corner, and another one trying to catch the captain from behind.

The set up for this scenario was huge. It barely fit my dining table. Han pushed his marines towards the two ends, where genestealers could appear. If he could secure both ends and be within 6 spaces of the genestealer entry points, no genestealers would be allowed to appear anymore and the marines would win.

"Am I royally screwed or what?"

This strategy didn't work out very well. Han had played Mission 2 of Space Hulk 3rd edition with Chong Sean, which is very similar but has some differences. I think his strategy was somewhat affected by this. His captain had an unfortunate gun jamming, and was quickly overwhelmed by the genestealers.

Two marines guarding the doors at the other end of the board. My genestealers lurked behind the doors, reluctant to attack until more "back-up" came.

Han's flamethrower marine was rather undecided where to go. He initially decided to go help out those two marines above, but later decided to go the other direction. Those two marines were probably thinking, "With friends like these... "

The flamethrower was rather unlucky. He fired at two of my genestealers, and miraculously both didn't get killed. Both rolled 1's and survived. They soon killed the flamethrower. Eventually the marines were overwhelmed.

This was a second game we played, of the same scenario, but we switched sides. Learning from the first game, I played defensively instead. I retreated my marines towards the centre of the board. Here two regular marines were on overwatch (i.e. on the genestealers turns they could shoot at anything that moves - with some risk of the guns jamming though). My flamer had come to meet up with them. I was planning to have all three of them retreat down the corridor on the left.

The other side of the board. The captain (red base) was running (well, as close to running as you can get wearing such heavy armour) away from the approaching blips. The other marine had opened the door for him.

This was one exciting moment of the game. My flamer had died, having only fired one shot. He was caught by a genestealer in the room on the right. The genestealers were now approaching my two regular marines. Thankfully one was on overwatch and could keep shooting. I had been quite lucky with overwatch shooting. Many 6's (hits) and not too much jamming (doubles). In the background the captain and the other regular marine were both on overwatch shooting down the corridor.

I was in progress to retreat to this room. All four of my marines were on overwatch now. Eventually I was able to kill 30 genestealers, and all four of these guys survived.

Space Hulk is a very exciting game. It really feels like being in an action movie. It is fast paced. The two sides play very differently. But one can't help identifying with the marines. I think the genestealer player will be rooting for the humans too, but of course he has to do his best to give a good challenge to his opponent.

27 Dec 2009. Pandemic with Virulent Strain variant from On the Brink. A 3 player game with Han and Michelle. Yellow was the virulent strain, but it was red, the last disease to be cured, which almost defeated us. Hmm... I wonder whether someone who doesn't know the game will think these are high-rise buildings. Shanghai and Tokyo do indeed have many high-rise buildings. I think.

27 Dec 2009. Hacienda. 2-player game with Michelle, in which she beat me very decisively. She blocked me mercilessly, and this photo is the evidence. She completely surrounded that market with 4 sheep. She did play well. She did her market-connecting very well, having 3 more than me at mid-game scoring. She also played the lakes better (and earlier).