Apparently there is a limit to how long people can play games just about every other day before they get a little tired of it. We hit that wall in the last week. From Thursday, March 17th to today (Sunday, March 27th), we have played 6 games. We didn’t play anything for 3 nights. We just didn’t want to. The only reason we played a game on Wednesday was so we could get back into it. We did choose a card game that was fairly short and that we hadn’t played in a while.
Over all, the last ten days were a little lighter on games than usual, and the only reason our count is up to 6 is because we played one game 3 times this week (the short card game).
Friday, March 18th – Fury of Dracula
Results
Adam: Hunters –>WIN
Jessica: Dracula
Session Review:
The point of this game is for the Hunters to track down Dracula and take him out. Dracula stays hidden as much as he can, and lays traps for the Hunters to try and slow them down.
It looked like a clear win for Dracula when one of his minions took out Dr. Seward about half way through the game. Adam was EVEN willing to concede a victory to Dracula.
Dracula, foolish, prideful vampire that he is, refused wanting to win for real. Well, in the end, the hunters were able to pull some FABULOUS cards that revealed Dracula’s location nearly every time he moved, and they were able to best him in combat.
Saturday, March 19th – Mansions of Madness
Results:
Adam: Investigators
Jessica: Keeper –> WIN
Session Review:
This scenario was kind of creepy in that Jessica used to be a school teacher and she was the one who got to play keeper of the school. It was AWESOME!
Our scenario began with a botched first clue from the keeper, and she gave up a round of her turns to try and make up, but it probably needed to be a couple. Once the investigators were on track, they swiftly dealt with the pair of witches that appeared in the Gallery.
The frustrating part of being keeper was that I couldn’t summon monsters, so the only things I could do TO the investigators was move them away from their goal by 1 space OR use my mythos cards. I did try to make good use of them, but I’m still learning the finer points of keeping.
In the end, a Hound of Tindalos appeared in the attic, and try and they might the investigators could not stop it’s exit from the building, and they were haunted by that sight for the rest of their miserably short lives.
Wednesday, March 23 – Race for the Galaxy
Results:
Adam: 36
Jessica: 36
Session Review:
WE TIED!! Jessica hadn’t played this game is quite some time, and it was amazing that she did as well as she did.
So, Adam went early on for the Rare Elements worlds and windfalls that could produce. Whereas, Jessica took a slower Alien route.
Adam ended up playing the twelve cards needs to end the game first, but Jessica had played the right cards to maker her 10 count.
In the end, it was 36 to 36.
Friday, March 25 – Race for the Galaxy (2 rounds)
Round One:
Results:
Adam: 36 –>WIN
Jessica: 23
Session Review:
Adam won this game. Jessica’s cards just weren’t working well for her. And she didn’t get any 6 card developments that would help her.
As a result, Adam won by a landslide.
We mostly just kept on playing the same phases as each other and realized we needed to be playing the advanced game which lets you choose two phases each.
ROUND TWO:
Results:
Adam: 38 –>WIN
Jessica: 33
Session Review:
We used the Advanced Game play rules, which made for a much more interesting and speedy game.
Adam focused on getting a diversified production/consume cycle that he could milk for all it was worth. He ended up with an engine that would yield 6 victory points each turn and ran that into the ground until the end.
Jessica’s alien focus was quite valuable as well combined with a decent pile of victory points. In the end, though, it wasn’t quite enough, and Adam pulled out the win.
Saturday, March 26 – Mansions of Madness
Results:
Adam: Keeper –> WIN
Jessica: Jenny Barnes
Justin: Ashcan Pete
Jaidi: Kate Winthrop
Session Review:
BEWARE IT’S LONG AND DETAILED.
We played the first scenario of the game, The Fall of the House of Lynch, the first one that we played when we got the game. This time, we played with a different objective which, according to the rules of the game, only the Keeper knows. In this playthrough, the mansion was the home of Walter Lynch. Edith (his wife) and he had lost their son some time ago, and Edith eventually passed away as well from the same disease. Walter has stricken with grief; as a result, he tried to contact his son through a seance which backlashed on him and drove him insane. A local company had a vested interest in Walter, so when he went missing, they hired some investigators to investigate his mansion.
Ashcan Pete (Justin), Kate Winthrop (Jaidi), and Jenny Barnes (Jessica) smelled some burnt food when they entered the mansion, so they headed to the kitchen to investigate. They found a clue, which were some footprints that led from the kitchen, to the foyer, up the stairs and down the hallway where some bedrooms were. Pete also found a silver key that could hopefully be used to open a lock somewhere else in the house. Kate and Jenny decided to hurry to follow the footprints, but Pete couldn’t resist poking around the pantry for some more items. Maybe he just wanted a late night snack? Either way, it cost him dearly because no sooner was he in that small room, but a maniac burst through the door, shattering it to splinters with his axe and attacked him!
Pete managed to fend him off and tried to escape back out through the kitchen, but the mysterious evil forces of the mansion made him walk right back into the pantry as if he had no will at all! The maniac still attempted to get him, but Pete eventually delivered the final blow with his guitar and killed the maniac. Meanwhile, Kate and Jenny had been hurrying up to the bedrooms to see where the footprints led. They found the master bedroom locked! They realized in horror that Pete still had the silver key that could unlock it and noticed that he had been separated from them for a while. Jenny hurried back while Kate explored the guest bedroom to find anything useful there.
Jenny found Pete with blood all over him standing at the foyer’s entrance, but he said he’d be fine, so they headed back up the stairs towards the hallway. Before they could leave the foyer, another maniac burst out and attacked! At the same time, a zombie lit on fire started wandering down the hallway, though he seemed a bit confused and distracted. Probably that whole burning thing.
While Kate had been left alone, the mansion broke her sanity just a little. She became paranoid of the other investigators and refused to be in the same room as them. She holed herself up the in the guest bedroom for a while, and it wasn’t until much later that she was able to pull herself together and find the others. Perplexed as to where Kate went, Jenny and Pete ran away from the maniac and snuck past the meandering zombie into the master bedroom. It never really seemed to be aware of their presence. After solving a puzzle in the bedroom, they found another clue! It was a journal entry of Walter’s about how in his grief over Edith, he buried her in the basement. Around that same time, they heard a scream from that general direction. They all ran as fast as they could, with Kate now being somewhat sane again, through the foyer and towards the basement. This was where they would find the last clue!
They evaded the still lingering maniac and flaming zombie as they rushed there. They arrived at the basement, and to their horror, the screaming they had heard was another zombie who was obviously Edith, raised from the dead! While Kate was dealing with the maniac and the flaming zombie and Jenny with Edith, Pete found the last clue in the basement which revealed that Walter was still alive and had raised Edith from the dead in his insanity. He showed up in the foyer and began to attack Jenny with his axe.
So there they were, surrounded by zombies, a maniac and Walter, and Jenny and Pete were nearly dead and insane from all they’d seen. Only Kate was in any sort of decent shape. The old house, having been subjected to such evil and being so decrepit, started to shudder as if to collapse. The monsters made quick work of Jenny, killing her. Pete just couldn’t take the horror anymore and committed suicide. Kate, all alone, spent the last few minutes of her life heroically attacking Walter while being clawed upon by the other monsters. It was to no avail and her sanity couldn’t hold up. Her mind broke until she was gibbering mess. At the last, it wasn’t the monsters who ended her life. The house finally collapsed into the ground, as if swallowed up, not only killing everyone and everything, but finally putting an end to Walter and his madness.
The Splendiferous Zeppelin Escapades of the Jeppys 