Topic of the Week: Your Best Sessions (or Worst)

[EnterTheWyvern]

A worst session involved some nonsense take that card game where one player complained loudly and repeatedly that everyone at the table made this game boring. Add in bullying of one particular player and I lost my rag. After a politely suggesting they made the best if it and stopped traducing the other players it continued. I put my cards down, said I’m not staying to listen to this, with a ‘you’re the one ruining the game’ and various expletives chucked in. I packed up and left the club for the night. A few days later I discovered he’d gone to the club’s forum and whipped up a mov against me for having committed the sin of leaving a game before it had finished. That person was, in retrospect, relentlessly a dickhead so there could be more tales of them being crap in games. I put up with them for a while due to being part of a larger friendship group. They ruined a lot of games, also they had 2 helpers so they’d win all the games by directing the minions to their benefit.

My favourite game was a 3 player game of Warhammer 40K. I think it was 4th edition, where I had 2000 points of Marines in the centre of an 8 foot board with 1500 of Necrons encroaching one end and 1500 of Eldar zipping on from the other. Winner was whoever held the objective in the middle. Highlights include immobilising the Monolith 24.5” away when it’s longest range gun was 24” and creating a line where no one went past for fear of the strongest gun in the game. The Eldar and Marines duked it out until the Necrons walked in to range when a temp alliance saw us fight of the skeleton robots and game finished with only a handful of troops left and an Eldar victory with a silly fast vehicle hiding to nip in at the last after hiding away. This game was played nearly 20 years ago and we still all reminisce about the fun. As ever I think the people make it but it was played with so much laughter and engaging with each other’s successes and failures.

Another notable moment was buying Warriors, getting it out to learn and play at the club. Read the rules and thought it sounds shit, let’s not play this. However looking at the example in the rule book the pretend players were Larry, David and Richard. I’m David and I was sat there with Larry and Richard so we had to play. 5 games later we had proof it was better than the rules suggested it would be. I still own it now and enjoy it for a 10 minute dice chucking filler.

[Acacia]

Coming back to this as I didn’t have time to post last week.

Cyclades - My first game of this was a win. But the final act of the game had two of us in deadlock for that second metropolis. The auction mindgames were intense, with a “you need to go here and I need to go here, if I go here you’ll outbid me so I’ll go here, where you have to outbid me, and then I can go there, but then HE will outbid you again…” on and on. And the push your luck on how much someone would pay for something. It just got intense and it was exactly what the game was supposed to be. I’ve had a few real sessions of this and all have been good but none had quite the endgame that first one did.

Tigris & Euphrates: I once taught this to a chess master. Like, professional chess coach, ranked somewhere 500-1000 globally. Not going to make any headlines or win any tournaments, but he was in the game.

It was fascinating to watch him watch the board, watch all the aha moments and quiet tile placements as the pieces came together.

He won.

Memoir 44: This is one of my last real game night memories. Shortly before my second child was born, my best friend still lived three miles away. I went over to his house and we drank beer and played a few scenarios. It was Memoir, there were some big bets, some bad rolls, some perfect hands and some uncalled bluffs. Kinda magical. When I had my second kid that had to shut down for a while, and before we got to a regular evening schedule he’d moved to the other side of DC. Still only 30-40 minutes away, but that makes it a 4 hour trip with gaming time. We keep saying, one day…

Air Land & Sea: So, in theory, IHOP gives you free pancakes on the anniversary of the day you sign up for their pancake club. We decided to make a thing out of that and, from all the holidays with a fixed calendar day, decided that Valentines Day was going to be free pancake day for the rest of our lives, so help us God.

IHOP is not an administrative powerhouse, though, and somehow my coupons always come in February and my wife’s come in April or June or maybe not at all. We haven’t been back.

But ONE VALENTINE’S day we went and we had pancakes and we played Air, Land, & Sea. I like playing in public, the viewers looking over shoulders and wondering what is going on and, if it’s possible, are you having more fun than them.

This was one of my first plays and ALS just shines with equally matched players. There was a lot of aha and take-that and brilliant moves reversing a set back. I’ve loved the game ever since but I seem to always be playing it with new people. It just doesn’t work as well when one person is already up the learning curve of what’s possible.

Skull: When my sister turned 40 we all went to Napa. Night one someone pulled out Mille Bournes which is ohhhh my gosh can we stop when will it endddddddddd. I really hate that game.

Night 2 I swung by the front desk and grabbed a stack of promotional postcards. When Mille Bournes came out I firmly suggested that I had something great that would seat more people. We each drew a mark on one of our postcards and it began.

It’s what you want Skull to be. A group of people huddling around a table in public, periodically shouting at each other or erupting as a group, and passers by all wondering what is going on.

I bluffed one time and had someone flip my stack based on my own confident bet, only to blow them up. No one flipped my cards after that. Someone else drew a penis as his ‘mark’ and he just looked so innocent all night, sitting there quietly, never betting and my gosh if we didn’t flip that penis over round after round after round. We never learned.

Last call out is El Grande here with you all. I was still somewhat new to the group. The card came out where everyone picks a region and, if only one player picked that region, it scores. I absolutely fleeced @lalunaverde and had him pick my top scoring region while I also scored my second region with my own dial. If chatboxes could speak…

[RogerBW]

@Acacia

I’ve loved the game ever since but I seem to always be playing it with new people. It just doesn’t work as well when one person is already up the learning curve of what’s possible.

I think this is even more true of Spies, Lies & Supplies.

[Griffster77]

@Acacia

Memoir 44: This is one of my last real game night memories. Shortly before my second child was born, my best friend still lived three miles away. I went over to his house and we drank beer and played a few scenarios. It was Memoir, there were some big bets, some bad rolls, some perfect hands and some uncalled bluffs. Kinda magical. When I had my second kid that had to shut down for a while, and before we got to a regular evening schedule he’d moved to the other side of DC. Still only 30-40 minutes away, but that makes it a 4 hour trip with gaming time. We keep saying, one day…

You know its on BGA? You can still videolink and play! (I know its not quite the same - dice rolling on a computer and dice rolling by hand are very different experiences)

[Acacia]

Actually, yeah. He used to be in a very slow government job so we had a standing “1:1” during the work day that lasted maybe four weeks. He’s moved into a new job that pays much better but is absolutely draining his soul and now I can’t even get replies to emails.

But yeah, this was a nice substitute for a bit.

[yashima]

@yashima

So I dabbled a bit and then took it on a bi family get together where my partner played this all night with my cousin while I had a cold and was too sick to participate.

So I have a late addition. Apparently this game of Leaving Earth was so legendary my cousin is still talking about it and his wife (whom I have yet to meet for reasons) contacted me about obtaining a copy for Christmas

Sadly, Leaving Earth is really difficult to find and apart from ordering directly from the US publisher (it is unclear from their shop though if they actually have stock…) or used ones for crazy prices from the geekmarket in dubious states of “acceptableness” , I could not find a trace of Leaving Earth on this planet.

[RogerBW]

They don’t have stock. They wait until they have enough orders, then run off another batch. It can take months. (The designer left them even though it’s a family business because he got so frustrated with this and other things.)

[yashima]

@yashima

Apparently this game of Leaving Earth was so legendary my cousin is still talking about it and his wife (whom I have yet to meet for reasons) contacted me about obtaining a copy for Christmas

In the most random of random occurrences apparently my cousin snatched a copy of Leaving Earth on ebay yesterday. Just thought it was too funny not to share that.

[Acacia]

Since we’re back here:

I’ve only gotten to play Dark Moon once. It was February and I thought having people over to huddle in the dark cold would be thematic. It was 70 (21C) that Saturday and instead we had to loan everyone sun hats at the outdoor table.

Anyway, one person was saying how much they didn’t want to be a traitor. We dealt the cards and that person made a face and whispered a comment. They tried to play it off, and we played along, but we all kind of knew. And yeah, they were one of the traitors.

I spent the whole game wondering why I didn’t re-deal? Why didn’t I re-deal? And several years now still wondering and wishing I could play again.

I’ve gotten very good at teaching Race for the Galaxy now; there’s kind of a science to it. Before that, I still wanted to teach people. One teach didn’t take and a single session lasted over 90 minutes. One player clicked around 60 minutes in and was engaged, so we didn’t want to call it off. One player was increasingly “out the door” as we went. We were flipping back and forth between open and closed hands, pausing to re-teach things that had obviously not been picked up, etc. But it was awful. Especially the jokes they threw at me at the end about calling it “crawl for the galaxy.”

Ironically, that player who never got it and went limp halfway through is now a big fan and regular player. The one who got it that night refuses to play.

[Marx]

My best gaming memories are usually around party-style games. We had a magical game of Monikers that had a 4th round where it was “Use your hands past the frame of a door,” my buddy sticks his hands out and claps five times (Clap-Clap-Clapclapclap) and we all shouted “Rasputin!” which was pretty damn amazing.

There was a game of Captain Sonar in which the opponent captain detonated a mine and hammered us with a torpedo at the same time, taking us from full health to dead in one amazing swoop. Damn fine play.

Worst game ever… a buddy once flipped a table during a game of Diplomacy because his younger brother eliminated him. Like, physically flipped it. He is no longer invited to game nights.

I also had a friend-of-a-friend who was just the whiniest, worst winner imaginable. Just non-stop whine whine whine “Aww you’re all picking on me no it’s fine just keep picking on me it’s okay it’s not fair and it’s stupid but it’s fine” and then he would win and gloat and it was just the worst. Thankfully I don’t see him any more.

[pillbox]

@Marx

a buddy once flipped a table during a game of Diplomacy because his younger brother eliminated him. Like, physically flipped it. He is no longer invited to game nights.

Is this not an endgame condition for Diplomacy?

@Diplomacy Rulebook

Step 8: Check if the table has been flipped. If the table has been flipped, the flipping player declares “This is bullshit!” and storms out of the room. In the case of a tie (multiple players flip the table at the same time), all tied players throw their hands up in the air and say, “God damnit!”

[Simfers]

I’ve mentioned the very special bond Maryse and I have developed with base Pandemic before, it’s sort of taken this mystical, almost sacred meaning for us and has led to some genuinely terrific moments, giving hope in darkness.

I think the worst session I’ve ever had was a game of Terraforming Mars where I actually got LAPPED by Maryse. I did so badly it actually became hilarious. She offered to call it before the end, but I wanted to see just how bad it could get. Oh boy, it could get bad.

[SteveB_uk]

@Marx

a buddy once flipped a table during a game of Diplomacy

If it’s any consolation, Diplomacy has been doing this regularly for 60 years. I’m not sure even the original author wanted anyone to finish a game without real-world drama and recriminations. Absolutely the number one game most likely to cause a table flip I’ve ever seen.

(My one game, where I was Germany, might be in my “worst experiences” list).

[Griffster77]

I’ve played some great games of Diplomacy. I remember one when it was loooooong with long periods of not much happening. BUt then at the end, it all went batshit, everyone betraying each other and attacks still managing to work because people you weren’t expecting were supporting you and somehow someone managed to nick enough victory points. Something like 9 hours of play and it resulted in 2-3 turns of craziness when it all went haywire

[Brattyjedi]

Little late to this. Most of the sessions that come to mind for me aren’t about great moves or strategy or whatever. They’re about the fun stories that emerge and are mostly co-op with my husband. For examples:

The time we were playing Dead of Winter and a lucky crossroads card combined with the scenario we were playing to make us win in one round. Took longer to setup than to play and we spent most of the playtime making sure we could meet our individual objectives.

The time we were playing Legendary, the Marvel deckbuilding game (my favorite game) and were about to lose. We needed one more hit on the big bad guy but it was the last turn before the deck ran out (we’d lose) and whoever was up didn’t have enough fight power to attack the big bad guy. They used what attack they had to hit a little bad guy and that let them rescue an innocent bystander. The bystander turned out to be the special Stan Lee card which let them get a hero out of their deck who then let them draw more and at the end of everything that played out from there, they had enough to defeat the big bad and win the game. We still refer to that as the game Stan Lee won for us.

[GabrielH]

My Bests:

From 2012-2018, my brother and I would play Axis & Allies twice every year, at christmas, and again on my birthday in June. Most of these were fairly mundane, but we will always remember “game 7”, in which the Allies sought to end Germany’s winning streak, but ended with Japan invading the US capitol from Sweden.

Another shoutout would be the 24-hour game marathon at the FLGS, that ended with a game of Dixit, only using noises. Which of these pictures looks like brrrrrgthk? There is only one correct answer.

Worsts:

Trying to play Android. ‘The Teach’ started at 6, and ended around 9, and then we put the game away because everyone was too tired to process something that convoluted. I suppose there’s a reason why only Netrunner lived on when the franchise died…

Also there was the attempt to play Archipelago, where the host of the game night talked with his sister-in-law for a few hours about lame pop music, while the rest of us were waiting for our turns… we may have made it through a round or two of actual gameplay…

[Phil]

If I try to think of my “best” sessions, I just think of a friend who died whom I played games with more than anyone else in the past decade or so. One on one we often played Memoir '44 (I’ve never played that with anyone else, in fact). The campaign of Imperial Assault that he ran for a group of us is a highlight – he had all the minis, had painted everything up, had a Star Wars soundtrack playing, and the game itself was great (frequently going down to the wire), so we always looked forward eagerly to the next session. I remember getting over-confident early on and charging into battle to the dismay of the rest of my team who then had to bail me out when I completely failed to do the thing I’d thought I’d do with ease (I pretty much just ran the wrong way, swung at thin air, and then got completely pummelled). It’s not so much that the games were remarkable than that I miss my friend, but it was games that we bonded over, so those are my “best sessions”.

It’s easier to get specific about “worst sessions”.

• Anticipated games - #653 by Phil was the worst single game session I’ve ever had at a games con.

• A game of Settlers of Catan at work involving a colleague with the worst AP. He spent something like 10 minutes mathing out the best possible places to put his starting pieces, and then just crushed us. (During the set-up the preceding player had to go out and fetch their dinner, so they placed their pieces and then left us to get on with it. When he got back he could not believe that we were still waiting for the same person to make their first move as when he’d left.) Essentially he’d decided how to win the game on his own before it had started, and then we all played out that result.

• A game of Space Hulk: Death Angel (I typed Space Hunk and was sorely tempted to not correct it) with a friend and one of his friends, the latter of whom I never invited to play games ever again as a result. SH:DA is a tough co-op game and without good teamwork it’s very easy to lose, so we would figure things out together, agree on the plan, and… this one player would do something completely different. Every time. He was obviously entertaining himself and didn’t care in the slightest that it made the game take twice as long as it would have done otherwise (which would have already have been a long game) as we tried to adapt to his chaos and make new plans. I figured that even given a competitive game, a person like that would be just as likely to try to ruin the game for another player as they would be to try to win the game for themselves, so that was the one and only time I played a board game with him.

[Lordof1]

Memory is a cruel mistress; I have had wonderful experiences playing board games but for the most part the details fade and all I can remember is a general sense of well-being; I remember a long-ago game of Arkham Horror 2nd Edition at a games convention where we we all so caught up in it that we cheered when we won, with people excitedly coming up to ask us what was going on… but I can remember almost none of the actual details of the game.

It’s rare that I have a bad experience playing a game, but I think I’d have to say the my worst game ever was any game at all where I had to do the rules teach. Goodness me I love playing games, but I find teaching games incredibly stressful. I become very self-concious, forget all the rules to even well-known games, and (this is the worst part) then feel personally and absoultely responsible for the enjoyment and overall experience of absolutely everyone playing the game. If even one person looks bored or angry, then I have an absolutely miserable time, because I feel as if that’s my fault. Now, I’m somewhat sensitive anyway, so even in a game I haven’t taught I’m get stressed if someone doesn’t seem to be having a good time, but in a game that I’ve taught it’s magnified massively to almost unbearable levels. I recently had to teach Chaps in the Old World and even though it went okay, I spent the whole time thinking I’d done such a crap job of teaching and that I’d forced these poor people into playing a game that they hated. It hugely colours my enjoyment of a game. Am I alone in this?

[RogerBW]

Well, you didn’t teach Chaps the exact same way I would have, but I understood it well enough to play, so:

(I really enjoy teaching games, in part because I’ve set myself the goal of getting good at it.)

[Simfers]

Nah, you’re not alone. I’ve had a couple of absolutely MISERABLE teaches where I was sure I’d ruined the game for us, but Maryse insists I did a great job and never seemed like I was floundering. She also points to the fact that she keeps kicking my hairy butt as evidence that I’m a great teacher.

I mean…Fair enough?