Tuesday, July 05, 2005
Game Weekend. Days 1 and 2.
This last weekend was the inaugural Alaska game weekend, and it was a blast. We held it at a private campground near Denali Park. If any of you find yourself near Denali Park in need of lodging I can whole heartedly recommend Grizzly Bear Campground . We rented a few tent sites and one cabin with running water and a shower. The cabin was much nicer than most hotel rooms of similar price.
The weather was cloudy with frequent rain showers, but we were well equipped to deal with a little rain. Not only did we game in the cabin, one guy brought a portable tent-gazebo and it did a marvelous job of keeping us dry, as well as keeping the bugs at bay. The campground also has numerous shelters/awnings available that serve to keep campers dry and functioned very well as a gaming shelter.
I think 15 adults and 8 kids came and went over the weekend. Two guys could only be there on Saturday and several others were only there Saturday and Sunday. We picked up 1 person who was only there for the whitewater raft trip.
I had intended to bring a dozen or fifteen games. I brought closer to 40. Others brought more than they had planned. There was definitely no shortage of games.
Myself and a few others arrived on Friday afternoon. We played some 6 player Catan, and I'm the Boss as well as numerous 2-player games that first evening. A couple arrived late Saturday night. The female half of the couple isn't a gamer, although she likes Settlers, so on Saturday morning we played more 6-player Catan and King Me!.
We moved to the cabin just before noon Saturday, that is when many other gamers started to arrive. I participated in a 7-player game of "Shadows over Camelot" that afternoon. It was a learning game for all of us, but I was impressed. The traitor had some trouble figuring out how he was supposed to screw the rest of the group. His frequent questions made his identity known fairly early in the game, but it was still a good learning game. The loyal knights were able to win, although it was a real horse-race right up to the end of the game. It was much better than Knizia's "Lord of the Rings", which is the game that Camelot is consistently compared to.
I forget what I played after that, nor am I sure what other games were going on that afternoon, but we started Twilight Imperium 3 at about 6:00 that evening. We had one kid and a newbie playing, although they did well they slowed the game down a little. We had to call the game after 6 rounds at 1 a.m. We were playing the game outdoors in the tent-gazebo. Since it doesn't usually get dark in central Alaska until the end of August no one thought to bring a lantern. That night was particularly overcast and rainy. Although it was light enough that we could struggle through the game had we chosen to, it was almost too dark to read the text on the political and action cards. I was in good shape militarily, but I didn't have enough victory points to win the game. I had the "8" card taken away from me due to a political vote the one time I was able to acquire it. I think the kid tied with the newbie for the lead at the end of the game.
Tomorrow: Whitewater Rafting, Candamir, and Camelot pt. II. Plus some pictures if I can find the camera.
The weather was cloudy with frequent rain showers, but we were well equipped to deal with a little rain. Not only did we game in the cabin, one guy brought a portable tent-gazebo and it did a marvelous job of keeping us dry, as well as keeping the bugs at bay. The campground also has numerous shelters/awnings available that serve to keep campers dry and functioned very well as a gaming shelter.
I think 15 adults and 8 kids came and went over the weekend. Two guys could only be there on Saturday and several others were only there Saturday and Sunday. We picked up 1 person who was only there for the whitewater raft trip.
I had intended to bring a dozen or fifteen games. I brought closer to 40. Others brought more than they had planned. There was definitely no shortage of games.
Myself and a few others arrived on Friday afternoon. We played some 6 player Catan, and I'm the Boss as well as numerous 2-player games that first evening. A couple arrived late Saturday night. The female half of the couple isn't a gamer, although she likes Settlers, so on Saturday morning we played more 6-player Catan and King Me!.
We moved to the cabin just before noon Saturday, that is when many other gamers started to arrive. I participated in a 7-player game of "Shadows over Camelot" that afternoon. It was a learning game for all of us, but I was impressed. The traitor had some trouble figuring out how he was supposed to screw the rest of the group. His frequent questions made his identity known fairly early in the game, but it was still a good learning game. The loyal knights were able to win, although it was a real horse-race right up to the end of the game. It was much better than Knizia's "Lord of the Rings", which is the game that Camelot is consistently compared to.
I forget what I played after that, nor am I sure what other games were going on that afternoon, but we started Twilight Imperium 3 at about 6:00 that evening. We had one kid and a newbie playing, although they did well they slowed the game down a little. We had to call the game after 6 rounds at 1 a.m. We were playing the game outdoors in the tent-gazebo. Since it doesn't usually get dark in central Alaska until the end of August no one thought to bring a lantern. That night was particularly overcast and rainy. Although it was light enough that we could struggle through the game had we chosen to, it was almost too dark to read the text on the political and action cards. I was in good shape militarily, but I didn't have enough victory points to win the game. I had the "8" card taken away from me due to a political vote the one time I was able to acquire it. I think the kid tied with the newbie for the lead at the end of the game.
Tomorrow: Whitewater Rafting, Candamir, and Camelot pt. II. Plus some pictures if I can find the camera.
# posted by Coldfoot @ 1:30 PM 
