I am Gluteus Maximus....

....Commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next.

Sorry, getting in the mood...

Last night we had a strong showing: Mike (coming in for the first time...and hopefully not the last), Tom, JD, and Andy. Hey, that's 5...perfect for a game of Tribune: Primus inter Pares (First amongst equals), the latest game from the guy that gave us a much meatier political game, Die Macher.

This to me was one of those games that I just ccouldn't picture well in my head how it was going to work simply based on the rules. Knowing this, and knowing that first impressions from new games are really important among the gaming literati (hey, I think highly of you all), I went with all the recommendations made at Boardgamegeek.com to have the best experience with this game. First, the game should be played with 4-5 players...and secondly, they recommend that you try one of the shorter game 'scenarios' before committing to the longer ones. I happily did, again, given that I had no clue how it was going to flow. Well, we fumbled and stumbled a little bit along the way, but the rules were played right, and the game ended quickly. WE all had plenty of "ooooooh, I see now....I should have (blank)" moments towards the end.

But was it fun? Heck yes, I say. The game has a good amount of depth (but not overly complex) that is not apparent until you play a few rounds, and in a game that probably consists of 3-5 rounds depending on the length of game chosen, it may take 2 games to REALLY appreciate how everything gels together. My interest is piqued, and so I think was everyone else's. We have to play again soon before we forget the lessons learned.

So basically in this game, you play the head of an up and coming Roman family, wealing and dealing (read, placing followers on the board to claim faction cards), to gain influence and control over one or more Roman factions (Plebeians, Gladiators, Senators, Legates, etc etc). Each faction will in turn grant you special benefits/powers that help you get other stuff much easily, or they actually just give you 'assets' you need (Armies, Favor from the Gods, Money, etc etc). Very interesting game, with MULTIPLE multiple choices each round, with very few followers to use to pick from these (so every play is critical!). All of this in a 1-2hr long game. Excellent. We finished our short scenario in just a bit over 1 hr, IIRC. Personally, can't get enough of worker-placement games (Pillars of the Earth, Caylus, Age of Empires) if they keep making them this interesting. Stone Age for some reason though, doesn't seem as appealing, but I'll definitively try it if anyone gets it.

Then we played the grand daddy of worker placement games: Caylus. I wish I played this more often. Everytime I play, I have to relearn the 'flow', and make a few painful (COSTLY) mistakes along the way. Playing Caylus Magna Carta a few times between last night and the last time I played real Caylus, simply adds to the confusion. Needless to say, I ended last due to 2 TERRIBLE rounds were I got NOTHING essentially. By the time I had 'some' form of an 'engine' going, it was too little too late. Still, my opinion of it never changes: the game is simply brilliant.

Tom, Mike, Andy left... so JD and I sat down for our obligatory late night session (from 11pm until way past Midnight). We played Airships, the zeppeling-building dice game (JD kicked my Hindenburg), and Dungeon Twister (finally I win something for the night!).

Thanks for coming guys. As always, it was a blast.

Andy: Maybe someday we'll play Leonardo. Oh, and thanks again for the banana bread.