I guess I should write up our Twilight Imperium game, since not too much else is happening around here lately....
Aaron and I drove to Johnny's, snuck the car in through the security gate, and then waited for him to get back from work. Finally, INXS' "Jitterbug" blaring, he pulled up. After admiring his hand-made hamster cage and newly-framed nekkid lady picture, we got to it.
The first turn of the game was very, very slow, probably taking close to two hours to finish. Thinking about it later, TI isn't the most complicated game in the world, but there are three separate subsystems that each take a lot of time to explain. When you read it from the rulebook it isn't so bad, but trying to get it from an explanation would be a bit overwhelming. I think when I teach it to people in the future I'll do it like this:
1. On the first turn, teach people how to move through space and fight
2. On the second turn, start using the strategies (this is a Puerto Rico-like mechanic wherein everybody takes a specific jeorb and has to execute it sometime during the turn; for example, someone will lead the political phase, etc.).
3. On the third turn, start using the Command Counters, the racial special abilities and the technologies.
Once we got past the hump of learning the rules, the game went pretty smoothly. Actually, it was a lot of fun. My psychic snake people, Aaron's gross moss people, and Johnny's "peaceful" merchants all accumulated tons and tons of ships without having too many fights. Finally I snapped and made a grab for one of Johnny's systems. I took it, but underestimated the ferocity of his lion-like thirst for vengeance and the power of the Planetary Defense Systems. Then I went for Mecatol "Mexico" Rex (the desolated planet in the middle). Johnny promptly kicked my ass there because he'd managed to build these death-star like implements of destruction. Meanwhile, Aaron, whose race was nominally the most warlike, hung back and accumulated tons of victory points by peaceful means. Finally it got to like 1:30 in the morning and we had to go since Aimey had to work in the morning, so Aaron and Johnny had one final dust-up. I forget who won.
Notes:
1. As for their claims that you can do the game in three-four hours, I call bullshit. The shortest I can see, with everybody understanding the rules, is about four hours. I think it would usually take five.
2. Their claims to reduce player downtime were absolutely true. Each individual turn is now relatively short. You never have to wait more than a couple of minutes for your turn to come around.
3. The new Puerto Rico-type system works great; each strategy gives a primary ability to the player who takes it, and a secondary ability to all the other players. You really have to make some tough choices about what you want to accomplish during the turn.
4. The combat is lots of fun (even if Johnny can't execute his 10,000-Carrier strategy anymore). The ships are relatively cheap, so I think even in a game with more fighting, you wouldn't be completely fuxored if you came out on the losing end of a few fights.
5. The great thing was that even though we stopped before the game was over, the end was in sight. Looking over the victory conditions, Aaron (the least militaristic player) probably would have won in about an hour. I don't think we've ever played TI and been anywhere close to finishing!
Jitterbug.