Age of Empires III

First, I am checking, and ... yes I am posting this to the correct blog.

Played Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery tonight. Boy was this one big sucking disappointment, and I came into it with low expectations. The only thing this game is good for is cannibalizing it for bits to use in Struggle of Empires.

Tikal

We played Tikal for the first time this weekend. I didn't think it was as terrible as KingPut thought I would. It does have pretty colors and treasure. The language independant player aid amused me. "This turn, I'm going to shovel a circle and jump a tent." I crushed Al and Francie, by at least 20 points. Unfortunately, this is another one of those puzzle games that I'm good at, but which doesn't amuse me. It's about as much fun as writing the logic section of the GMAT exam. Where are the restless natives with poison darts and the snake pits?

Marvel Heroes vs Puerto Rico

We played Marvel Heroes again last night. Al lost. Afterwards I asked him if he had a good time despite his loss.

Al said," I got to be the Thing and fight Juggernaut. On the other hand, I could have spent the evening selling coffee like the lady at Dunkin' Doughnuts. . . Uh, yeah . . . Let's leave Marvel Heroes set up and play again tomorrow."

Peguins

Watched Happy Feet and then played Hey! That's My Fish! Cute kid's flick. Cute kid's game. Z liked both. She's 8. Right now she is making designs with the hexes and making the little penguins dance on them.

Caylus

Played Caylus for the first time. It made Al grumpy. Afterwards we played Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots and felt better.

Tempus

Visiting brother P. Played Tempus. Meh. As Peter said, it just isn't exciting. Peter and Al are playing Wii now. Meh. The people are cute, but it just isn't exciting.

Games that give me a headache

Carcassonne - Hunters and Gatherers
Through the Desert
Torres


I'm really good at these, and usually win whenever someone *cough*Francie*cough* twists my arm into playing , but they make my head hurt and my left eye twitch.

Here is how you win at Torres.

1. Play with people who are really into the building aspect of the game. Let them use up their action points to build stuff.
2. Use your action points to get out all your Vienna Sausages and have them run around and jump onto the castles that everyone else has built.
3. Make sure you always call your guys Vienna Sausages, because it really bothers people, and makes them think about penises, which distracts them and makes them screw up.
4. Get lots of Spell Cards and cast them on your Sausages so that they can make Heroic Leaps or Teleport.
5. Make sure you call the cards "Spell Cards", and say things like, "I am casting Heroic Leap on my Vienna Sausage," because that annoys people too.
6. After you cast a spell on one of your Sausages, call it a Magical Sausage. Then everyone will start yelling at you to shut up and forget what their great plan was.
7. Make someone else score your points for you. It makes them feel all clever that they can do addition and multiplication in their head, and tricks them into thinking that you are stupid, especially since you keep saying things like "Magic Sausages." During the game they will focus on trying to out calculate the other clever players who can also do addition and multiplication in their heads, and ignore what you are doing. Plus, you don't get a headache from counting all those beige blocks.
   

Cleopatra and the Society of Accountants

F got this game for her birthday. She loves it. She wants to marry it. Well, maybe not marry it. Maybe just lick it's obelisks. I don't understand this, because whenever I introduce her to a nice man, she's all like "Meh. What a nebbish. He looks like an accountant." Considering that she finds accountants unattractive, you would think that a game where you play an accountant would totally turn her off. But she's totally into it. Go figure.