Power Grid, gaming, and gaming comics

I went to gaming with Jeff on Friday night. I go every so often, taking my laptop and Wacom Artpad as well as other entertainment devices (including books). Even though I usually don't play, I sometimes like just hanging out in the same room because the conversation is almost always entertaining.

Last Friday, however, I actually did some gaming. I played Trans America (a short and fun game with easy rules, identical to Trans Europa
except you're building your railway across the U.S. instead of Europe) with Hrach and Scott, and then Power Grid with Jeff, Reid, John, and Iain. I've been playing board games most of my life, but mostly the casual party type (Monopoly, Hearts, Pictionary, etc.).



Then Jeff introduced me to games like Carcassonne, which involves a strategy that goes beyond just rolling a dice and move your marker around a board to get to the end. These types of games aren't for those with short attention spans or for casual parties.

I enjoy playing both types of games, but I find these more complex games more satisfying in many ways and (as long as I'm awake for them) enjoy the amount of focus they take. Sort of like reading an engrossing 400-page novel compared to reading a magazine, I suppose.



As I've mentioned before, I've tended to avoid playing games with Jeff's group because they usually play so late at night. Now that I've decided to go to the BoardGameGeek convention with Jeff this year, however, I figured I should try to familiarize myself with some of the more popular games. I want to play a bunch of new games at the convention, of course, but I suspect that if I have to learn a complex set of rules over and over throughout each day, it might get wearing.



Above: Scott's hand-painted minis for the first edition of RoboRally. Or at least he did some of them, anyway.

But I digress. I enjoyed playing Power Grid, but I have a LOT to learn. I only survived the game because the guys were coaching me throughout - the rules are more complex than games I usually play, and we didn't START playing the game until 10 pm, which is around the time I usually start thinking about crashing(!).



By the end of the game, I was barely conscious. :-) The game requires more and more math and complex strategies the closer you get to the endgame, but fortunately my game-mates were helping me out a ton. Here's proof that I managed to stay awake until 1:45 am, when the game ended:



Having played the game once, I think I have a (vaguely) better idea of overall play though I think I'll need a lot more experience before I fully grasp the subtleties of strategy. I also need more sleep.

Anyway, I've signed up for a BoardGameGeek account and have already run into jwordsmith as well as others from writing and sf communities. No filkers yet, though. If you're a member (or if you join), please let me know so I can add you to my GeekBuddy list. I'll be posting occasional gaming-related comics in my BGG gallery.

The gamers at BGG have been very welcoming/helpful, and I'm looking forward to meeting some of them in person this November.

Babylon Five Virgin Update

For those interested, I've updated Babylon Five Virgin, my blog about watching B5 for the first time. Please note there are MANY SPOILERS, so only click over if you've already watched the series.

Gaming comics

Here are a few comics I've posted to BGG (thanks to Jeff for his help with the Power Grid comic):





And you'll probably only get the next one if you've played Power Grid:





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