This evening the family celebrated my brother-in-law Jim's birthday. I took my copy of Carcassonne over to his place. He and his sons Ian and Alex agreed to play it, after I lured them in with promise of new expansions. We had a great time of it. I came in last, thanks in part to some agressive play by my nephew Ian boxing-in some cities and a cloister of mine. I did make better use of farmers (better, but not necessarily good use), as I've been focusing on farmers in my last few games. Once again I was struck by how some tiles work much better in the midgame than in the beginning or endgame. I'm thinking particularly about foursided city tiles. Jim drew a cathedral pretty late in the game and it really drug him down.


Jim's is a hardcore wargamer, playing the hex-and-chit historical games that sometimes fascinate but mostly frustrate me. He has recently gotten into the "upright counter" games from Columbia. These are hidden unit games that I might be able to get into. They kind of strike me as "Stratego for adults". My old gaming buddy Dave and I played the crap out of Stratego when we were kids.