Race for the Galaxy: The Understanding

"Don't judge a book by a first read!"

Migo told me after our 5th Race for the Galaxy game last Wednesday when I told him I think I am enjoying it already. I have my first last Friday before we left for a trip to Northern Mindanao. It was a disaster. I didn't understand what I'm doing at all, so I told him I might not be playing it again. He was devastated so I withdraw my words. I told him I will try my best next time.

We arrived from the trip Tuesday. I have a video shoot so I went to office early and in return, went out early. Since Migo is on leave, he urged me for a game session. It was not a game session actually but a Race for the Galaxy session. I can feel Migo's perseverance for trying hard to make me appreciate the game thus I also tried my hardest to understand it. The first game was still like my first try. I didn't know what I was doing at all. I told him maybe I was not really cut out to play it. I wanted to quit. Migo won't allow me. We had another. I don't know if it's luck or just my cards, I actually loss to Migo by 2 points only. Migo was of course exhilarated because I finally understood the game. Actually, I still didn't but something's changed. Losing to Migo by a slim points awakened my competitive side and give me a new will to completely understand everything about RFTG.

I first knew about RFTG last month when Migo decided to buy the game. He wants me to check it out too. He doesn't want to buy a game I wouldn't think of playing. Reading the reviews overwhelmed me. I told Migo I might not like it. He asked me to re-consider. In the end, I was as excited as he is to play the game. On our first session with batch 2, we were not able to play the game because we were having a hard time understanding the game play. The overwhelmed feeling was back.

Yet after playing RFTG for 5 times, I think I have misjudged it. It was not really that difficult at all. At first, you will really feel it's difficult due to a number of things to remember but as soon as you familiarize everything then that settles it.

I'm not pro yet but I wanted to be. I want to beat Migo. I understood the game now but I can't transfer my knowledge to someone else yet. I still need time to fully and confidently understand everything. I'm taking my time. :D

Welcome batch 2!

After a long wait, Migo’s package was finally delivered last Friday. Since his excitement overwhelmed me, I just had to postpone our laag to make way for a game session.

The package like the batch 1 has 3 games, which makes Migo’s collection into 6. The games were Ticket to Ride, Last Night on Earth and Race to the Galaxy. The boxes of Ticket to Ride and Last Night on Earth had the same size, while the box of Race to the Galaxy is the same as the box of Carcassone of batch 1.

Migo and his new toys!

Migo invited some friends to welcome batch 2. But before that, he wants us to understand and play them first. I promised him that I should be the one to read the game setup of Ticket to Ride but it didn’t happen. I was happy that because of his excitement, he did it himself. Beginner’s luck was on me for I win the first game of Ticket to Ride.

No sweat!
I won!
Hahahahaha!

The look of defeat! 

The next target is Last Night on Earth. We were not able to play the game as planned because Migo had a hard time getting the feel of the game because he hasn’t slept yet. 

Unwrapping!

When our friends arrived, we had the 1^st game of Last Night on Earth. Migo plays the zombie role. PJ, Dhunve and I play the heroes. I play 2 heroes, the Sheriff and Sally. PJ plays Father John. Dhunve plays Johnny. For this game, the ideal setup would be to have 1 zombie player and 4 hero player. Since PJ had some errands to do, Victor assumes his role. We played the scenario “Die Zombies! Die”. The game play is that the zombie and the heroes will fight each other. Heroes won if they can kill 15 zombies. Zombies won if they can kill 2 heroes. There is a sundown tracker too, heroes lose if the tracker will reached maximum. Zombies won in this game which can be attributed to Migo’s superb ability in handling dice which most of us suck.

Migo explaining the game rules.

Enjoying the game.

The best zombie ever!

The best hero ever!
Johnny!

The next game was Ticket to Ride. Migo won the game with a whooping score of 155. I got 100. Dhunve got 99. Victor lost with 56 points due to some 30 points deduction for not completing his tickets.

Finally, I have my face!

We had dinner at Siomayan sa Tisa after. When we came back, we played Carcassone. It was Dhunve’s first time. PJ won the game. Victor lost again. After the game, Dhunve left.

The Gays!
Complete!

We played Ticket to Ride again for PJ’s sake. And beginner's luck was on him. Booo! I forgot who lose. I think it’s still Victor. Hmmmm!

PJ wants to play Last Night on Earth since he wasn’t able to finish the first game. This time he takes the zombie role. Victor, Migo and I play the heroes. We won because of PJ’s ultimate failure at handling dice. Yahooo!

The next game was still Last Night on Earth since Victor wanted to play the zombie this time. I was sleepy that I asked Migo to play my hero.  

By morning, Migo told me that after the game with Victor as zombie, PJ and he played Race to the Galaxy four times. He won thrice. PJ won once. Victor was sleeping soundly by this time.  They left at around 6 AM.

I have yet to play Race to the Galaxy maybe soon because Migo really wants me to try. I’m contented with not knowing how to play it though because I really feel it would be difficult. Hmmmm!

To have an idea of how each game is played just stay tuned for the detailed blog on each. 

More pictures here.

Experience: Pandemic

The long overdue blog. I almost forgot I miss this if not for Migo's reminder. :D Read a detailed and fun pandemic review here.

What I like about Pandemic is that it can be very challenging and thrilling at times most especially if I'm in top condition to play, which means I'm not sleepy and is playing at my own choice. Haha! You see this is really Migo's hobby and though I learn to love it already, there are those times that I didn't really want to play but still does because he likes it. This occurrence is just rare though because often times Migo is considerate, which makes me love him more and support whatever he likes.

I've played Pandemic for I think 10 times already. Win some. Loss some. Most of those are played with only 2 players, Migo and me. I noticed that without the role "Medic" in play, there's really less chance of winning. Without it, you need the exact number of actions to eliminate disease cubes in a city. If all disease cubes are used, you will lose so you really have to monitor the usage. A maximum of 3 disease cubes can exist in a city, in excess creates an "outbreak", which can infect all connecting cities and increase the "outbreak" count. Only 8 outbreaks are allowed. If you reached the 8th outbreak, you will lose. Aside from the cube and outbreak count, another area to look out for is the epidemic rate, which will determine the number of infection cards to draw. Your epidemic rate increase if you draw an epidemic card. The number of epidemic cards exist in the deck is considered the difficulty of the game. There are 6 epidemic cards.

Migo and I always played with 5 epidemic cards. We played with 6 once and lost. We have yet to conquer it. 

The object of the game is to discover the cures for all disease. You must not forget that. At times in play, you will be very busy cleaning the infected cities that you'll lose sight of it. 

Pandemic is a cooperative game that's why I didn't enjoy it as much as playing Carcassone. I like to do things on my own. I hate the collaborating part because almost always my moves are not entirely my own. :D