Twelve Games of Christmas - 2018 Edition

As per our tradition, we have been playing games while I'm off work for the holidays. Here is a summary.

Game 1 (Dec 20) - Castle Panic
We couldn't decide what movie to watch tonight, so we played a game instead. We selected Castle Panic, a light cooperative game.

Picture from Boardgamegeek

It was a fairly easy victory. Early in the game, we managed to clear the board of enemies. They made a surge late, but it was not enough. We wiped them out. Our biggest challenge of the night was trying to stop our cat Onyx from running away with the dice. Our cat Thomasina hissed at him (she hates it when he messes with the game - she just likes to watch).

Game 2 (Dec 21) - Air Raid

 I decided to play out the next raid in my Lucranian aerial campaign. My wife volunteered to play with me. I posted a battle report the day after.

Tom and Onyx really loved the game. Onyx tried to roll the dice and Tom was very frisky, running up and down the stairs.

 Games 3 - 5 (Dec 22) - Ticket to Ride, Shadows Over Camelot Card Game, Love Letter

Today was a trifecta. We visited my brothers and brought over a couple of games. One of my brothers owns Ticket to Ride so we played that. At first, I was doing well and had an extensive rail network in the west. However, I was soon surpassed and ended the game in last place. Elizabeth completed the NY-LA run however my brother Brett managed to complete 6 routes. His rail system proved supreme by a mere 4 points. Great game.

We followed it up with the Shadows Over Camelot card game. We managed to out the traitor (Brett) and had finished a few quests. We were close to victory.

Shadows Over Camelot components

Then Morgan le Fey blinded us. Unable to see the cards, we messed up some quests and ended up losing. The traitor had destroyed Camelot.

When we got home, we noticed that Tom seemed depressed. She had heard us talking about games earlier and was very cheerful but we had disappointed her by playing away from home. To improve her mood, Elizabeth and I played a game of Love Letter. I eked out a narrow 7-5 victory (much to Tom's pleasure).

Games 6 - 7 (Dec 24) - Squad-Hammer and Exploding Kittens

No game on the 23rd. We watched March of the Wooden Soldiers (aka Babes in Toyland) instead.

This morning I experimented with Squad Hammer using my 2mm sci-fi minis.

We visited with my family for Christmas Eve dinner. Afterwards, we pulled out Exploding Kittens (which was a Christmas gift from last year) and played a couple of hands with my brothers.

Elizabeth won the first round and then Brett won the second.

As of this night, we are halfway through the challenge so I will publish to the blog and then update the rest of the week.

Game 8 (Dec 25) - Oregon Trail Card Game
Merry Christmas!
Tonight we got use out of a Christmas gift - Oregon Trail.

Like the classic computer game, your party is trying to make it Oregon before succumbing to a multitude of possible calamities.

I made it about a third of the way to Oregon before I died of dysentery. My wife pressed on, and was nearly halfway there when she too succumbed to dysentery.

Games 9 - 10 (Dec 26) - Oregon Trail Card Game and Dragonwood
This night we tried Oregon Trail again. This time we gave ourselves 2 lives. Here was our result:

First, the mother Jo-Anne drowned while the party tried to cross the river. Little Heather was next; she died from a rattlesnake bite. Tim repeated her mistake and lost his reptilian encounter. The family patriarch, Billy, pressed on until he succumbed to dysentery. Rumors had it that he was eating his dead kin. The numbers are when they died. Billy made it through 30 trail cards. He needed another 20 to make it.

We then played Dragonwood, an enjoyable, little fantasy-themed dice-rolling game. Below is my wife's haul. She beat me by 4 victory points, and pulled out her victory by beating the last monster, the 7-VP Bronze Dragon, before I could get to it.

Game 11 - 12 (Dec 31) - Air Raid and Elder Sign
No game on the 27th. Instead, we spent the night tormenting ourselves with Darkest Dungeon, a rather brutal dungeon crawling video game. Death is frequent and the tension is high!

More video games on the 28th. This time Skyrim. I am finally playing the Thieve's Guild quests. I normally skip these quests because I prefer being a good guy. I decided to do these now because I created a Khajit character and stealth is a strong suit + I wanted to do something new.

Watched Notre Dame get crushed in the college football playoff on the 29th. Spent the 30th recovering from LARPing.

Finally got back to a game on the 31st. Played a full scale air raid (report forthcoming).

We decided to end the Twelve Games with a bang, or more appropriately a scream. In this case, the game of the night was Elder Sign.

This time we were trying to stop Ithaqua from appearing.

We started well, managing to wrack up several of the 11 Elder Signs we needed to stop him. Then we ran into a patch of trouble and lost 2 characters. But their replacements soldiered on and retrieved the remaining Elder Signs, thus sealing the portal and saving humanity!

Thus ends this year's Twelve Games of Christmas!