We're now halfway done with the campaign! And it only took four months!
Needless to say this is one of the slower legacy games I've played, and it's not to our campaign's benefit. When new mechanics are being introduced constantly, it's easy to forget key things when your games are over 3-4 weeks apart on average. That being said, people can't help that they're busy, this was certainly a hectic semester for me, but I'm hoping we can bring the campaign to a speedy conclusion in the spring (especially since I'm sitting on Rise of Fenris).
This came up this game because we realized we had not been awarding stars to people for landing the guidepost for games #4 and #5 (being able to check this blog for a record of all our games was super helpful in that regard). We rectified that at the end of this game, but it's one of those oversights that can have a big difference at the end versus more cosmetic temporary rule changes like the companion rule from last game.
The most notable change in this game was that Danielle covered her constructor, and without efficient ways to generate more than one resource at a time, the pace of game was slowed considerably. This was also the first game income buildings came up big, with Megan, Daniel, and Caralee scoring 12 points each off of Caralee's VP generating one. For my part, I focused on objectives and buildings this game. I charter-stoned to get access to my banquet hall, and built it and my distillery on sky islands. I used my brewer this game, and will be able to access my 20 point buildings after charterstoning again next game.
This was also the game where I realized I had been functioning under a major rule misunderstanding to my marked detriment, thinking that I had to put out ALL workers and minions before withdrawing them. This led me to play in some influence intensive patterns that really hurt me this game and led to a pretty dramatic late game slow down on my part as I ran out of influence a la game 2. The slow game really benefited Megan and Daniel who had sustainable ways to generate points and were neck and neck up until Daniel pulled out ahead at the end. There ended with high scores of over 80 points apiece! Megan won via extensive cloud port use (winning that guidepost), and leveraging scrolls into VP via her Treasury. And Daniel...I honestly don't know where all his points came from. I will need to pay closer attention next time XD.
I loved the legacy mechanics that accompanied the end of this game. First off, I loved seeing all the other names people chose for their charters on the cute little map of Greengully. We scored significantly above the six player average, which I was pleased to see (although a fair amount of that was Daniel and Megan). Amanda got the big ghostie as her rubber-banding mechanic for being in last. It's no exaggeration to say I LOVE this mechanic, Legacy games desperately need and struggle with "fair" feeling rubber-banding mechanics, and giving her an advantage/handicap in the form of the ghost feels like a very solid way to help a player who is lagging while not punishing the players who are winning.
At this halfway point in the campaign, it seems like a good time to assess everyone's campaign standings:
Total Glory, End of Game 6
Megan: 35
Daniel: 34
Dave: 29
Caralee: 29
Danielle: 25
Amanda: 25
There are pretty clearly three tiers of players. Megan and Daniel are neck and neck with commanding but not uncatchable leads. Indeed, just going back one game things were a lot closer. Caralee and I are holding up the middle of the pack, with opportunities to rise but also chances to slip. Caralee in particular seemed to struggle this game and ended with a glut of unused coins and resources. Pulling up the rear are Dani and Amanda, who I think suffer from some of the iffier charter specific buildings (lumber market, everything having to do with private objectives), but could potentially make some magic happen with the unique rule for next game (pay the player to use their building). For a game that has largely been solitaire up to this point, this will be an opportunity to embargo certain ascendant players *cough cough.* Danielle is really looking forward to seeing if people use her upgraded constructor.
What's most concerning is that in addition to tons of glory, Daniel and Megan also have the most developed charters and tons of personas used. It will definitely be an uphill struggle for the other four of us, but I'm confident it will be interesting. At the very least, I'm happy that this Legacy game is turning out more competitive than the two horse race of Seafall a couple years ago.
Amanda finally got her cat cafe out! I bought one on a whim as the game closed, at which point I will feel more confident ranking the minions. Right now I'm going with:
1. Robots
2. Chefs
3. Cats
4. Butlers
5. Golems
6. Ghosts
Notable that the two leaders have the probably worst minions. Shout out to Daniel for managing to snag a robot this game after going a number of games without one.
We're likely on about a month's hiatus for now, but should get started again sometime in early January.
