F:AT Thursday: Dread Curse, Core Worlds, and my new other blog!

Well it had been some time since all the True Believers were able to gather in one place for our traditional Thursday gaming session but we were able to pull it off this week. The Lake House is too full of stuff and The Closet, that is my apartment, was in a whirl as my Mad Scientist wife decided it was a good night to make 16 dozen cookies of various sorts. So it was to Look Manor and it's wood paneled basement and shag rug. 

The first game we played was Dread Curse by Smirk and Dagger. This of course is the game where Josh's lovely and supremely talented wife did the art. I can't remember if I've talked about this before but if I have, too bad. You're going to hear about it again.

It's a game about pirates trying to acquire the greatest amount of gold. It has role selection, take that card play, and a push your luck element. It's all very tight, very smooth, and surprisingly fun. I say surprisingly because Smirk and Dagger games are historically not very high on my list of great games. I actively despise their dice game, Suttaku, and loathe Cutthroat Caverns, the game they are most known for. 

Yeah, calm down there Chief. I know a bunch of you really dig Cutthroat Caverns, I'm not saying it's a bad game. I'm saying I don't like it. Too much like Dragon's Gold which I also find revolting.

Ahem, to return to the subject at hand, I actually like Dread Curse. While it's just as mean as Caverns, it does away with that co-operate until you don't business which turns me off. You are against everybody at the table right from the get go. There's no mystery or suspense as to when the betrayal will come. It comes the minute you walk in the door. I like that. "Let the hate flow," as they say. Well, yes, I agree nobody but me really ever says that but you get the point. 

Also it has a monkey.

Well, surprising nobody, Al won the game although he did it by a last minute steal of one of Josh's precious doubloons, lowering Josh's score and raising his own in one fell swoop. I, naturally, made a horrible pirate. I don't mean that in a good way as it...ooooo Pirate Repo was a horrible horrible man. I mean it in the sense of oooo Pirate Repo...he couldn't rape, pillage or loot his way out of a wet paper bag with scissors in his hand. That is to say, I lost.

I think if you go to a variety of gaming events. You have had the experience of bringing along a game you are eager to play everywhere you go for months on end and having it either shot down or just not gotten to. It's frustrating. You take one for the team every now and again by playing a game your not so hot about. These jerks you call "friends" can certainly return the favor once in a while...right?!

Well the answer is "Of course they can." In our personal circle that game for Josh was Core Worlds. That game had more  miles on it than an 89 Buick driven by a pizza delivery boy. He brought it everywhere. Got shot down everywhere. Shed his tears like rain, everywhere. And there is no reason for it to not get played because it is a damn fine game.

Add in the Galactic Orders expansion and it just gets better.  A little more thinky, a little more strategic, a little more mental math, but it gives the game more depth and makes it much richer and satisfying.

I personally am not very good at this type of game usually. ("Like every other type of game!" you taunt. Har har. That's not very nice of you. It's true of course but not very nice) However, I was able to pull of a victory thanks mostly to the "Earth Ship" or "Planet Ship" or whatever it's called which is half planet half ship and gives a lot of points at the end of the game if you have it deployed in front of you. I'd like to say my win was due to some subtle and praise worthy strategy but it was more happy coincidence than anything else. Even so a win is a win so "Huzzah!"

In other news I've been trying my hand at blogging about things other than games. I've set up a page over at Blogger (Blog Spot) and you are welcome  to check out the crazy thoughts that rattle through my head like a lone pea in a coffee can.

Here's the web address    http://towjockey.blogspot.com/