I will get around introducing myself soon, but first I want to discuss this year's International Tabletop Day experience. I love tabletop games, especially Catan and Fluxx. This past Saturday April 11, marked the 3rd anniversary of Tabletop Day, hosted by Wil Wheaton of Geek and Sundry fame. This year, I attended the event held at Pandemonium Books and Games in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In the main event area there was the usual group of Magic the Gathering players. Not surprisingly, there was a sizable crowd there eager to learn to play games.
The range of games being taught included Lords of Waterdeep, Ticket To Ride, Android: Netrunner, and Tokaido. Having played Ticket to Ride countless times and knowing the length of Lords of Waterdeep, I decided to take a jab at Netrunner. This game was a 2-player card game in which the players play a runner and the corporation. The runner's objective is to make runs at/hack the corporation, hoping to steal agenda cards, needing 7 or more points. The corporation's objective is to prevent the runner from stealing the agenda cards while also trying to score 7 points worth of agenda cards. I had a chance to play as both the runner and the corporation, yet was unable to score a victory in both cases. The other game I played was Tokaido. While I have seen gameplay of it on Geek and Sundry's Tabletop show, I felt like I needed to play it firsthand to truly experience the marvels of the game. A group of 4 players, including a representative for the game company, sat down to play this round, two of us having never played the game before. The objective of Tokaido is to embark on a journey from Kyoto to Edo, along the way amassing gold, goods, paintings, friends, as well as stopping for food, bathing in hot springs, and paying respects to the shrines. Everyone moves in sequence, but the unique part of this game is that the player who is furthest back will be the first to advance. There is thus this notion of advancing very little in order to force other players to essentially lose a turn. At the end of the game, the player with the highest score, factoring in amount of paintings, food items, goods, amount donated, and friends acquired, is declared the winner. At the beginning of the game, we were all given a random role that had various benefits. Mine was the foot-soldier who could meet a friend right before every meal. Other roles included the old man, who earned an extra victory point per hot spring visit, and the priest who would donate one extra per gold donated to the shrine. At the beginning of the game, I planned my strategy around making sure I took the lead early, especially in the paintings, which could rack up points easily. This strategy was paying off for me, as I was able to snag two of the three bonuses for paintings. However, this came at the cost of less visits to the shrine and thus losing out of the donation bonuses. I was also less worried about always going first, since I knew that I would be able to encounter a friend right before every meal, potentially boosting my victory points or making up for lost gold. In the end, it was very close between me and the player who had the role of the priest, since that donation bonus was relatively significant. Luckily, the bonus I had from friend encounters was enough to hang on to the victory. As much as I enjoyed discussing the meta game with fellow players, the victory was even more sweet. Both Android: Netrunner and Tokaido are just two of many spectacular board games in the realm of tabletop games. International Tabletop Day was just one of many days that such games may be played and enjoyed with others. The notion that I am able to share my passion for these strategy games thrills me. Even though Tabletop Day has come to a close this year, as Wil Wheaton puts it, "Play More Games"! This is my first (of hopefully many blog posts). Expect to see a huge variety of topics discussed. That's all I have for now. :D |
About MeHi, I go by letsmaybeLP92 on many sites on the Internet. I enjoy reading and testing out the newest and oldest games out there, as well as sharing my passion with others. Archives
March 2023
Categories |