Sharing some gaming joy

F:AT, I need to share some game joy with you.

I am currently in the honeymoon phase of a game group I've started. A few weeks ago I put together an email list of around 15 people I know, a few of whom are really into games, but most of whom are just fun and potentially interested.
I've been spamming this list with invitations for weekly gaming events. First only one other player came out. Then there were four of us a few weeks. Now it's up to 8 people. The cool part is that I'm basically the only one who has games (a couple of others have one or two games), so on the menu are all my favourites. Imperial, Cosmic Encounter, BSG, Tigris & Euphrates, Dead of Night, Agricola, Talisman and so on.

But get this! I put out a special invitation to spend a day playing Successors (3rd), and enough people replied that I can schedule TWO (!) games of it in the next week or so when my wife is out of town. (It might have helped that in my invite I promised to serve brunch at the start, and have yummy food and ever-flowing boozethroughout the day.)

In case you're curious, here is the original email I sent out that got the ball rolling (with one or two updates):


====================================

Hi folks,

I am putting together an email list (this is it!) of people I plan to
email weekly or bi-weekly about opportunities to meet to play a
boardgame or two. If you're on this list, it's because I think you are
potentially interested. If you prefer NOT to receive these emails
please let me know and I'll take you off the list. If you know someone
who'd like to be added, please let me know that too! 

THIS WEEK'S BOARDGAME PROPOSAL 

* Where & When: <snip>

* RSVP: Let me know BEFORE TUESDAY if you are in. I will send an email on Tuesday confirming one way or another if we have enough bodies for games. Since games need a certain number of players to work, I need to have an idea of our numbers so that I know what games to bring. I also may need to re-read some rules. However, if you decide at the last minute to come, don't worry about RSVP-ing -- just show up! :)

* Directions: <snip>

* If you would prefer not to receive boardgame spam, please let me know.

Here are some game options depending on our total numbers (see short game descriptions below):

-- 2 players: Incursion, Dead of Night

-- 3 players: Dead of Night, Agricola, Steam, Talisman, or Tigris & Euphrates

-- 4 players: same as above, plus Chaos in the Old World, Acquire, Steam or Cosmic Encounter

-- 5 or 6 players: Imperial, Cosmic Encounter, Mare Nostrum, Steam (5 players), or Battlestar Galactica

-- 7 players: 2 games (5 and 2, or 3 and 4)*

-- 8 players: 2 games (eg 5- and 3-player)*

-- 9 players: 2 games (eg 5- and 4-player)*

-- Etc ..

* Someone will have to facilitate one of these games. I can facilitate the other game.

GAMES MENTIONED ABOVE (in alphabetical order)

Acquire (2-3 hrs): This is a classic economic game from the 1970's that has been republished a number of times, so it has stood the test of time.  Each player is an investor buying into hotel chains. You want to buy low and sell high, but it's hard to predict which chains will grow so that you _can_ sell high. You need to watch what other players are doing and look for opportunities when your interests converge. But you are also competing with them! The game is very easy to learn but it is very suspenseful and agonizing. Awesome game.

Agricola (~40mins per player): One of the most popular games to come out in the past few years. Set in the 17th century, the object of the game is to build the best farm. That sounds boring, but it's actually quite intense. This game is an agonizing struggle against scarcity. You need to build your farm, but you are always short of resources, so every action you take needs to count. You also need to feed your family, and if you can't you have to go begging. Food or resources are very limited, and sometimes other players will take what you need. There is a lot to juggle in this game.

Battlestar Galactica (3-4 hrs): BSG is a psychological war. It's a cooperative game in which everyone works together to survive and defend the ship against cylon attacks. But one or two players are traitors (cylons who have infiltrated the fleet) and their objective is to sabotage everyone else. Who do you trust? How do you deflect suspicion? How do you scapegoat the innocent? This is an epic and intense game.

Chaos in the Old World (~1.5 hrs): In this game we play evil gods competing against each other to destroy humankind. Each god has a different focus (killing, disease, sado-masochism, chaos) and requires its own strategy to win. This is one of my favourite games. It has fairly simple rules, but the strategy that results from how the different gods interact can get tricky.

Cosmic Encounter (~1hr): This is a classic science fiction game from the 1970's that has stood the test of time. It was the first game where each player has very different powers. In this game, you try to expand your space empire by colonizing player's planets. Turns go quickly, you're constantly making and breaking alliances, and some very wild things can happen in a game. This game has a cult following.

Dead of Night (~3hrs): This game recreates the survivor horror depicted in classic zombie (eg Romero) films. Zombies are driven by blind hunger, like moths to light; they do not anticipate or react, they do not hunt or trap. They simply gravitate towards living human flesh. Like infections and plagues, zombies grow steadily in numbers until there is no escaping them. Players need to work together to fend them off or escape. The game also captures another element of survivor horror: how survivors deal with each other in a situation where safety is a scarce commodity. There are 5 of us, and only 4 can fit in this car. And maybe it's wiser to just take the car for oneself.

Imperial (~3hrs): This is an economic game with some military elements. It is an extremely dynamic game. Players are global capitalists who invest in 6 nations. Each nation will have multiple investors, nut the player who has the highest investment controls that nation and can make it do things (like attack other nations). Control over nations often changes hands, and alliances are always shifting. Of all the games I've played so far, I think Imperial has the mix of dynamism, improvisation and strategy that best suits my taste in games.

Incursion (~2hrs): Easy to learn but intense 2 player (or 4-players with 2 teams) game set in an alternate history of WWII in which Nazi Germany develops a biological weapon which turns the people it kills into zombies. The action takes place in passageways and tunnels under the Rock of Gibraltar which fell to the Nazis and was used by them as a research and command base. One player (or team) controls the Germans and zombies, the other controls a team of US commandos sent in to clear the caves, and basically each side tries to kill the other. One of the nicest looking games I've seen.

Mare Nostrum (~3hrs): Easy to learn and teach, but the gameplay is fantastically dynamic and open. Each player controls an early civilization (Rome, Greece, Carthage, Egypt, Babylon, and Atlantis) competing with others in a race to build wonders of the world. There is a mix of trade and military expansion which throws all kind of deal-making and breaking opportunities at players. Each civilization can recruit the help of mythological creatures or gods in their struggle against each other. Very interactive and exciting game.

Steam (~2-3hrs): This is an economic game themed around the railroad expansions during Robber Baron capitalism. Each player controls a train company. You borrow money to lay train tracks and try to connect different cities. You make money by delivering goods between cities. You need to plan carefully where you want to build your tracks so that you can get access to the best deliveries and get money from other players for using your tracks. This is lots of fun and the game looks great.

Talisman (~2-3hrs): This is a fantasy adventure game that has been around since the early 1980's and was recently republished. Talisman games simple, unpredictable, colourful, and they tell stories that are often filled with dramatic reversals (and reversals of reversals). The turns go very fast around the table, and the game is very easy to learn. The game is gorgeous too.

Tigris & Euphrates (~1.5hrs): Tigris & Euphrates remains one of the most exciting and intense games I have ever played. Themed (very loosely) around conflicts within and between ancient city states in the Fertile Crescent, this game is a thrilling mix of gambling and strategy that pushes you to constantly adapt and improvise. It's is a game of conquest and usurpation, of building and trapping. It's hard to describe outside of actually playing it, but it starts with a bang and it doesn't let up until the end.