My First Games of Pandemic

 

Well, my copy of Pandemic arrived this week I couldn't wait to open it and save the world. My friend Jo back in the UK had recommended it and he was right it's pretty cool. I have read a few comments that the cubes and dobbers are a bit big, well they are a tad on the large side but we had no problem with them. I had already downloaded the rules from Z-Man and had read them through and the wife decided to help out and rid the world of those nasty diseases.
You can play this game in easy, normal and heroic modes, for our first game we chose easy, just to get into the gameplay. The wife drew the researcher and I was the scientist, the ability to cure a disease with only four cards is pretty powerful. We were both feeling our way into the game when....bam!! The outbreaks just kept coming and we lost pretty decisively.

For our second game I had the scientist again and the wife had the operations expert. Now I thought this may be a pretty good combination....but we shall see. We started off pretty good and had cured the black disease before too long. But once again the game surprised us and the outbreaks came thick and fast and we ran out of cubes for the loss. We both really enjoyed the experience and will play again soon I am sure. Well, I couldn't wait and the next day I thought I would try a couple of solo plays. I played on easy again and took on two roles. First game I had the operations expert and the scientist, I am drawing these random by the way. I didn't do that bad, I had cured 3 diseases and only needed the red cure when I ran out of cards....doh!!

For my second solo play I drew the researcher and the operations expert. Well the operations expert definitely makes getting around a lot easier, and the researcher can use those research stations to hook up with the OE and pass cards. That made getting the required 5 cards of the same colour a lot easier. It was still pretty tight though and I discovered the last cure with only four cards left in the draw deck. Hay!! a win, but only on easy, I'm sure it will be a lot more challenging on normal and heroic. Can't wait to get the wife to play again and try for a co-operative win. If you get the chance and are not totally opposed to co-operation games this is definitely a winner.

Happy Gaming!!


The Scientist poised to wrap-around the board and emerge in Sydney

Euro 2008 and New Games

 

Well we are just about finished with the group games in Euro 2008, here in Austria there is great interest even though Austria has just gone out of the competition. I went the Salzburg for the day last week and there was a great atmosphere there. Salzburg is one of the host cities and they have a Fanzone in one of the squares by the Cathedral (see pic), with massive screens so you can watch the games. Also loads of stands selling beer and sausage and of course plenty of football stuff as well. The place was packed with fans from all countries, especially Swedish and Greek. Of course I had to visit the game shops while we was there, I picked up the new Renier Knizia game 'Keltis', this is a multiplayer version of Lost Cities. Well, I don't think I'll ever play it multiplayer here, but the wife and I both like Lost Cities so I thought this would add a few twists and be worth getting. We played 4 games off the bat and both thought it was OK. Like the idea that you can lay your cards in ascending or descending order, gives you some more options with the cards you have in hand.

A gaming buddy of mine in the UK had recommended 'Pandemic' I checked it out on BGG and thought it sounded pretty cool. The cooperation gameplay would be good I thought for just the 2 of us. Well I couldn't find it in any european shops, bricks or online so I ordered it from Shire Games in England. Took a week to arrive but the wait was worth it, we played a couple of games yesterday on easy and lost both. Once to outbreaks and once we ran out of cubes. Looking forward to playing again, which is always a good sign. Still playing on the web at MabiWeb and michaelschacht.net, and enjoying all the games there, especially Kreta.

Happy Gaming!!!