Football and gaming weekend!

ianoble    Board Games, Dominion, Innovation, Lords of Vegas, Snow Tails     Dominion, Innovation, Lords of Vegas, Snow Tails

Great game weekend for me:

Snow Tails – Looks like a simple, light race game, but there was enough to it to not feel like a “kids” game. Next time we’ll definitely add more obstacles, though, as we only had 4 trees on the board and 2 sections with reduced lanes and mountains. I don’t see this as being something you want to play with 2 players, since a good amount of strategy is not ramming into the other sleds. I did like the fact that there is a “catch up” rule in the game by awarding players bonus movement based on their place in the race. This was useful a couple times to get me back in the thick of things. I happened to come out ahead in the end, but it was neck and neck between me and another player most of the game.
Fun factor: 8/10

Lords of Vegas – Just a fun game all around. The scoring track keeps the game close by devaluing 1 point casinos later in the game. Pushes players to expand, even at the risk of losing the whole casino. A little too short with 4 players, though. Would have like a few more turns. I wasn’t able to gain control in enough of my casinos to benefit from points, even though I didn’t have any issues with cash most of the game. A few reorgs really hurt, but that’s all part of the fun.
Fun factor: 8/10

Innovation (team rules) – A recent favorite of mine. Filled with interesting decisions and a different game every time. I couldn’t get many cards into my score pile, but I did have a lot of symbols. I was able to splay pretty early, which kept me from getting attacked. Couldn’t quite take advantage of my dogma effects, though. Luckily my partner was getting all kinds of points with only 4 colors melded and only 1 of them splayed! Definitely a brain burner that sticks with you after your done playing…I like that.
Fun factor: 8/10

Dominion – Just started playing Dominion around the holidays, so this was my first with more than 2 players. Woah this game moves fast with people who’ve played before. 30 minutes is no joke. Random set of Kingdom cards this time, so there were a few I haven’t seen before. The Market was the first pile to go, so many of us has multiple actions available every turn. I took the path of collecting as much Gold/Silver as I could, so late in the game I was able to purchase Province cards with no problem. Ended up that I bought one more than the second place player, which really helped thwart off a nice strategy of Gardens that he was using.
Fun factor: 7/10

Overall weekend Fun factor: 10/10!