Done like a dogs dinner

[edmil]

Maddie and I played a single game tonight and unfortunately I must say I got done.

We Played with River I & II, T&B, I&C, A&M and The tower.

Maddie's 137 pt City just didn't help.  Talk about luck of the draw, While I managed to hold her off for a while as the tiles dwindled my hopes rose but a double draw provided by the builder yielded the two tiles in a row that completed it.

I had no luck with the draw - wile I managed to get a Barn down I had difficulty getting tiles that would allow for a decent farm. It was pretty much a 4 farm game with 2 each though I did manage to supply 7 cities with one of them.

Final score 285  to 198.

Interestingly the towers were not played a lot during the game. Placement of pieces just negated their use. I would say their were probably 4 captive exchanges for the game.

Game lasted just over 3 hours.

We speed things up by allowing the drawing of a tile while the other is pondering the placement - unless there is a builder in play and the tile makes it possible to get the second turn.  While not a huge difference it does help.

[Novelty]

You should try the game with more than 2 players.  Then maybe the towers might come into play more, but it depends highly on the players playing.

[canada steve]

137 not a bad score for a city ! Yeah it smarts when the wife beats us at a game we are supposed to be good at....

[edmil]

Pretty sad that she beat me again last night when we played hunters and Gatherers  but only by about 5 points, A meadow placement and one big forest were the killers.

[Novelty]

I think you need to play with more people.  I find that 2 player games aren't as interesting as 3 player ones!

[The Missionary]

I agree... when you are playing with more than one opponent, you can "gang up" on the person leading the pack (when the lead gets too obnoxious) and that kind of evens things out a bit. Even if it doesn't work and you both get slaughtered at the end, at least you have someone to commiserate with.  With only one opponent, likely your spouse, it's hard not to be frustrated when you get done like a dog's dinner. Especially during the post-game analysis when you find out if only I had played X tile, he wouldn't have been able to complete his 132 point city... etc.
Unfortunately for us, though, it's usually either a two-person game or no game at all. Hopefully our toddler will learn how to play in a couple years, though. :-)