Another Great Night at the Table

It's been quiet here in the Loner's Lounge on ST, and I feel like I'm playing the part well (being a loner that is. Seeing as how things are pretty quiet around here lately)...

I've been into a real gaming rythym since mid-December though, and it feels really good! 2022 (gaming wise only) has started off awesome!! I'm getting something to the table MOST days of the week, and have the excitement back every day to play!

Tonight was another excellent night. First off, I convinced my 13-year old to play a game with her (formerly) cool Dad! Whoa! I'm still working on her to try out Tiny Towns, Everdell or play a co-op with me like Aeon's End or Shadowrift (she enjoys fantasty type stuff) but she's really been reluctant to learn a new game for the last while. She chose Pandemic though! Off to the table to SAVE THE WORLD FROM THE RIDICULOUSNESS!!! And guess what!?!?! We did! TWICE! We played with only 4-Epidemics (easy level) mind you, but it had been a while for both of us. We were still pretty proud of our work, and I was happy to get my daughter to the table with me again. 😀

THEN... IT WAS TIME...

I've been eager to get Scythe back to the table lately, so that's exactly what I did! And I chose to play (for the first time) against THREE Automa, at the "Automa minus" level. Whoa! Hold onto your hats folks... This is BIG!

I've also been very eager to get back into my Rise of Fenris campaign!! The chaotic year that 2021 was for us, really didn't allow me the energy (or time) to put my effort into it. And I miss it, because it was FANTASTIC. I figured, tonight would be the night that would either force me to play a few more games to build my confidence (good problem), or it would give me the confidence to get RoF to the table real soon.

No Scythekick app tonight. It was a random shuffle of the faction boards to see what came up. First for the Automa and then for me. I ended up with Crimea, Saxony and Albion as my opponents. And it was the Nords as the good guys! 😉 I shuffled up the player boards after that to pick my board, and ended up with Patriotic to work with.

Just look at this table! What a pretty sight that is! Wow. Time to dive in.

BUT WAIT!!!! Do you see what's missing??? Neither did I at first. 🤣Notice the gap on their player mat??? (second from the top on the left) I was so excited to get into the game, that I completely forgot to give the Albion faction their mechs and Connor & Max (their character token). Oops!!! 🤣

This looks much better...

Here we GO!!!

At first, I really had to make sure to slow myself down since I'm running 3-Automa. I'd play their turns and when it would get to my turn, I'd take a second, scan the board and take my time making my decision (allowing my brain to switch to the 'good guys').

What I learned tonight was not only how crowded things get with 4-factions on the board (of course) but also how different of an experience it was playing against the Automa. Even compared to only playing against 2-Automa, when you play three of them, there's less space, which means more battles. More battles also means the Automa are gaining starts quicker. Yikes! Honestly at first, I thought I was in real trouble and was going to be absolutely pummelled. My popularity was low for quite a while, I wasn't move anywhere too quickly (Nords are one of my weaker factions I find... even though I like Bjorn & Mox) and I had no stars compared to 2/3 factions who jumped to 2-3 stars pretty quick.

However, I tried to keep my cool and as I got into the flow, I was making some nice decisions. I got lucky once or twice as well. And quickly, I tossed a few stars onto the tracker. From that point on, I was right with the Automas in terms of number of stars. But I was still unsure what the end result was going to be.

Factions were on the move, let me tell ya. With the exception of Albion who just came out like a rocket and dropping those flags of theirs, all other factions on the board were fairly quiet at first. Then it was like all of sudden everyone decided to gain control of more territories and get on the move (in typical Automa fashion - I knew it was coming eventually, even with the more crowded board).

Here's a little aerial shot of the mess that was starting to happen...

I had an absolute blast at the table! If it wasn't a weeknight, I most likely would've played another game!! Although 3-Automa did take longer than my usual solo game length. I was so pumped, it didn't matter and I would've loved to have tried to defend my crown.

What's that you say??? Did I win!?!? YES... I... DID!!!!! HOLY JUMPINS!!!! Here's the final scores:

Nords (me) - 67

Crimea - 57

Saxony - 55

Albion - 63

That's a close one! There's probably 3-4 decisions I made that saved my bacon and preserved the win for me let me tell you! With this win, especially against 3-Automa minus', I'm totally ready to jump back into my campaign with Rise of Fenris. OH MAN!!!! I can't wait!