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Category Archives: Competitive

Competitive Game

Space Cat Always Wins

It has become a running joke that Space Cat always wins. During games we often make comments like: “Space Cat’s going to win”, “I’m shooting for second place!”, and “Second place? That’s a win!” Space Cat is a very good sport about all this teasing, though she has pointed out that she doesn’t always win.

7 Wonders is a favorite of our group, but President Gamer thinks Space Cat frequently wins. I wasn’t so sure about this. We keep all the score sheets, so I looked through past games to test the veracity of his statement. I discovered something interesting. In reality Space Cat has only won 7 Wonders once. How could we be so wrong about this?

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7 Wonders: Cities, Leaders, Wonder Pack, and Babel: Age III

Setup details available in the first post.
Third Age:

This was when we realized that we had messed up and discarded the last leader instead of passing it on.  Oops!  My final Leader let me play a card from the discard pile for free.  I was hoping for a green card (science symbol), but Professor had already played a card from the discard pile and took the only green card.  I was disappointed that my starting hand didn’t have any green cards, and Professor indicated that he had at least one.  He also pointed out that he would be passing his cards to me.  I took this to mean that he was going to be nice to me (his wife), by passing me a green card.  Instead, he played one, participated in the Great Work, and passed me a hand with no green cards.  I only held it against him until I was able to participate in the Great Work.

  • Babel Tiles: None
  • Great Work: Archives [SUCCESS]
    • Must play a green card and pay 4 gold
    • Participants:
      • President Gamer
      • Professor (x2)
      • Space Cat (x2)
      • Chubby Unicorn
    • Reward: an extra science symbol
    • Penalty: loss of all your blue cards
  • Resolution of Military Conflicts:
    • Clumsy Ninja – Victories over Shutter and Professor
    • Shutter – Defeated by Clumsy Ninja; Victory over President Gamer
    • President Gamer – Victory over Space Cat; Defeated by Shutter
    • Space Cat – Defeated by President Gamer and Professor
    • Professor – Victory over Space Cat; Defeated by Clumsy Ninja
    • Chubby Unicorn – Protected by Diplomacy Token

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7 Wonders: Cities, Leaders, Wonder Pack, and Babel: The Final Year

Setup details available in the first post.
Space Cat looked out over her Gardens. Stage two was complete, and they would begin stage three shortly. President Gamer had already finished his Temple, and Professor had just finished his Mausoleum by using resources the others used to hire Leaders. Space Cat hoped Cleopatra would be worth the gold she’d spent to hire her.
Her spies had reported that Clumsy Ninja had hired Nefertiti; Solomon had brought enough resources to Byzantium to build a structure for Chubby Unicorn, and Caesar was increasing the military forces in Rhodos. Space Cat hoped this meant President Gamer, who’d hired Nebuchadnezzar, would turn his attentions to Shutter in Rhodos, since Space Cat’s Babylon still didn’t have a military. If she wanted to complete her Gardens, which she had every intention of doing, she couldn’t spare any resources on armies. It was time to get to work.

“Just my luck,” Clumsy Ninja groaned as she looked over the details of the next Great Work.
Declaration to all cities:
The final Great Work to be undertaken by our collective cities shall be the Archives
Each city wishing to participate must build a Scientific Structure
Fee: 400 Gold
Reward: Resources to complete another Scientific Structure
Even though she’d wanted to participate in the last Great Work, she was finding herself hampered by her inability to get glass. Her own glass resources had been used to pay reparations when the first Great Work failed, and neither Rhodos nor Byzantium had any glass for her to buy.
Though her army was nothing to laugh at, Alexandria didn’t have any Scientific Structures. Finding the resources and location for one now would prove more difficult. Plus she had only completed stage one of her wonder and pressure to continue construction was mounting.

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Firefly: The Game

Ah, Firefly. This is a favorite show for many of our friends, so it’s no surprise that we got the game.
We had no idea what we were in for.
As we usually do with new games, we followed the first game play recommendation which was to use the Story Card “King of All Londinium” (we have a first edition of the game):
  1. Goal 1: Takes a Master’s Touch
    • Goal Location:

      • Jiangyin, Red Sun
    • Aim to Misbehave x2
    • Skill Test – Negotiate:
      • 1-5 Pay $1,000. Attempt Botched
      • 6-8 Pay $7,000 to Complete Goal or Attempt Botched
      • 9+ Pay $5,000 to Complete Goal or Attempt Botched
  2. Goal 2: …and Knowing is Half the Battle
    • Goal Location:
      • Londinium, White Sun
    • Aim to Misbehave x3
    • Skill Test – Tech:
      • 1-6 Attempt Botched & Warrant Issued
      • 7+ Success: Goal Complete
  3. Goal 3: Two Card Monty
    • Goal Location:
      • Boros, Georgia
    • Aim to Misbehave x4
    • Skill Test – Fight
      • 1-9 Attempt Botched & Warrant Issued
      • 10+ Success! The crown is yours!

The first player to steal the crown wins the game.
Estimated game play time: 2 hours
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7 Wonders: Cities, Leaders, Wonder Pack, and Babel: Age II

Setup details available in the first post.
Second Age:

  • Babel Tiles:
    • All single resource brown cards now have an infinite amount of that resource
    • Brick, stone, wood, and ore cost one less
    • Playing a purple card earns you five gold
  • Great Work: River Port [SUCCESS]
    • Participants must play a yellow card, pay one gold and a loom
    • Reward: 6 gold
      • Professor (x2)
      • Chubby Unicorn
      • Shutter
      • President Gamer
      • Space Cat
    • Penalty: Lose all your gold
  • Resolution of Military Conflicts:
    • Clumsy Ninja – Victories over Chubby Unicorn and Shutter
    • Shutter – Defeated by President Gamer and Clumsy Ninja
    • President Gamer – Victories over Shutter and Space Cat
    • Space Cat – Defeated by President Gamer and Professor
    • Professor – Victories over Space Cat and Chubby Unicorn
    • Chubby Unicorn – Defeated by Clumsy Ninja and Professor

Tower of Babel and Great Work

7 Wonders: Cities, Leaders, Wonder Pack, and Babel: The Second Year

Setup details available in the first post.
In a fit of frustration, Space Cat crumpled the report. Her Leader, Berenice, would bring in a bit of extra income, but, as a lover of science, she coveted Professor’s Leader, Aristotle. Babylon already boasted a few Scientific Structures, and Space Cat planned to build more. She smoothed out the report once more and read over the rest of the information.

  • President Gamer hired Hannibal
  • Shutter hired Amytis
  • Clumsy Ninja hired Semiramis

It seemed Chubby Unicorn declined to hire a leader, and Space Cat wondered if Byzantium was suffering from cash flow issues. Since they weren’t neighboring cities, it was unlikely to have much of an impact on Babylon.

“Declaration to all cities,” the town crier of Alexandria read from a scroll. “The second Great Work to be undertaken by our collective cities shall be the River Port.”
Clumsy Ninja looked down at an identical scroll in her hands and read along:
Each city wishing to participate must be able to supply loom and build a Commercial Structure.
Fee: 100 Gold
Reward: 600 Gold
“Hmm, that might actually be possible,” she murmured.
Alexandria already had a loom supply and enough money, now Clumsy Ninja just needed to find the right Commercial Structure for her city.

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7 Wonders: Cities, Leaders, Wonder Pack, and Babel: Age I

Setup details available in the first post.
First Age:

  • Babel Tiles:
    • One defeat token turns into two
    • Everyone has access to one ore or one brick
  • Great Work: Double Walls [FAILED]
    • Participants must play red card plus pay one gold to participate:
      • Professor
      • President Gamer
      • Shutter
    • Reward: Victory Token
    • Penalty: loss of resource from Wonder
      • Chubby Unicorn
      • Clumsy Ninja
      • Space Cat
  • Resolution of Military Conflicts:
    • Clumsy Ninja – Defeated by Shutter and Professor
    • Shutter – Victory over Clumsy Ninja; Tied with President Gamer
    • President Gamer – Tied with Shutter; Victory over Space Cat
    • Space Cat – Defeated by President Gamer and Professor
    • Professor – Victories over Space Cat and Clumsy Ninja
    • Chubby Unicorn – Protected by Diplomacy Token

Tower of Babel and Great Work

7 Wonders: Cities, Leaders, Wonder Pack, and Babel: The First Year

Setup details available in the first post.
Space Cat looked down at the report from her spies, attempting to memorize the information before burning the scroll. After all, she had tried to play fair before, and now she had to work on her Wonder alone. She mentally repeated the information again:
Leaders recruited:

  • Chubby Unicorn – Bilkis
  • Professor – Croesus
  • Clumsy Ninja – Xenophon
  • Shutter – Varro
  • President Gamer – Zenobia

Space Cat felt that her own Leader, Hatshepsut, was the superior choice, and tossed the scroll into the fire with a smile.
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7 Wonders: Cities, Leaders, Wonder Pack, and Babel: Initial Set-up

7 Wonders is one of our favorite games to play. It is a very complex game (especially with all the expansions), and we’re constantly having to look at the rule books to make sure we understand the cards we’re about to play (we plan to make “cheat sheets” so we’re not all fighting over the same book).  Despite all that, it moves fairly quickly because everyone plays at the same time.

This time around, The Professor explained the new Babel rules which added Great Works and the Tower of Babel.  The Professor and I tried these out (just the two of us) and didn’t find them too difficult to understand so we felt we could add both at the same time.

Initial setup:

  • Clumsy Ninja – The Lighthouse of Alexandria
  • Shutter –The Colossus of Rhodos
  • President Gamer – The Temple of Artemis in Ephesos
  • Space Cat – The Hanging Gardens of Babylon
  • Professor – The Mausoleum of Halicarnassus
  • Chubby Unicorn – Hagia Sophia of Byzantium

We chose our Leaders, Babel Tiles, and first hand of cards.

7 Wonders: Cities, Leaders, Wonder Pack, and Babel: The Beginning

“A glorious vision came to me in my dreams,” President Gamer declared as he seated himself at the table.
Without needing to be asked a serving girl brought him a mug of cider. The others looked at him, waiting for further explanation.
When one was not forthcoming, Professor cleared his throat and spoke. “Pray tell, what was in this vision.”
President Gamer’s face brightened. “A grand temple devoted to Artemis. I have already contacted the builders to have the plans drawn up.”
“Wait,” Space Cat interrupted, gesturing with the scrolls in her hands. “I thought we were ready to move forward with my plans.”
At this the table erupted into an argument. It appeared everyone had a different plan for their city.
“No one cares about your ridiculous dream.”
“I have already found a trader willing to bring in the special marble needed.”
“The plans are finished. We should begin immediately.”
“Enough!”
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