[Gaming] 2017-10-13 FSPA Gaming Group meet-up notes and analysis

[William F. Wulf II]

Contents:

Location
Attendees
Announcements
Next Meeting
Games played
Game analysis


Location:
"Talisman Annex" William Wulf's townhouse in Columbia

Attendees:
Rich A., Steve and Emmett J., Wulf

*Announcements:*

   - This was the first of several sessions attempting to clear one
   "season" of Pandemic: Legacy
   <https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/161936/pandemic-legacy-season-1>.
   - Pandemic: Legacy only allows for a maximum of 4 players, thus this was
      not a regular open-meeting
   - Reminder that there is a Slack server used by FSPA members, and within
   that there is a channel just for gaming discussions.
      - use the @here or @channel commands if you would like to invite
      people for group gaming.

*Next Meeting:*

   - Next open-gaming meeting date is to be determined.
      - Someone closer to Virginia should probably host soon, to help
      include more of our
   - Next Pandemic: Legacy meeting is scheduled for Friday, Oct. 27th
   (which is the Friday before Halloween, and also the day Stranger Things 2
   is supposed to debut on Netflix).
      - If anyone from the first session cannot show up to the second
      (aside from Rich, who owns the game) we will probably try to find a
      temporary replacement

*Games played:*
Wulf's Wing Challenge: Seeing if the four attendees could finish off a
family pack of whole chicken wings (thigh and drumstick). Result: loss.
There were still enough wings for Wulf to feed his brother leftovers the
next day. But it was also a win, because the recipe from the Cooks'
Illustrated Meat Book
<https://www.amazon.com/Cooks-Illustrated-Meat-Book-Game-Changing/dp/1936493861>
was phenomenal. Who knew baking powder could do that to chicken?
Pandemic: Legacy
<https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/161936/pandemic-legacy-season-1>, for
the month of January, though it took two attempts to complete the month.
The first attempt was lost due to a sudden mutation of the black-colored
disease, and several epidemic cards drawn early on, thus outbreaks chained
across the middle-east and Asia. We also failed to properly utilize the
special abilities of all of the characters, in order to move about the
board and prevent outbreaks.

*Game analysis:*
Pandemic: Legacy uses the basic Pandemic set, but with additional rules,
cards, and accessories. Legacy refers to effects that last between sessions
of the game, as well as meta-effects that occur between sessions r are
triggered during sessions. The box comes with stickers that get applied to
the board and to character cards, boxes of new pieces that get opened as
events trigger them, cards that are revealed only when triggered by events
or other cards, cards that have scratch-off panels revealed depending on
triggers, and even instructions to completed destroy cards after their use
had been negated.
One season consists of 12 months. Teams get two attempts to clear each
month. There are rewards earned between sessions depending on the outcome
of the session, including bonuses for clearing the session and for
eradicating a disease.
One of the legacy effects is that cities that suffer outbreaks--exceeding 3
counters of the same color--gain permanent counters that represent the
unrest in those cities. As these counters increase, those cities become
less and less accessible. Another legacy effect is the mutation of
diseases, both beneficial and harmful. The black disease, mutated in the
first month, is currently unable to be cured, and is more difficult to
treat (takes 2 treatment actions in a turn to remove a counter).  We were
able to beat the second round, because there were many beneficial rewards
even for failure, just by making it through so much of the game before we
lost.
Much of what will happen in further months is currently still sealed within
their containers. It is hard to say how well it will play after several
sessions, and since you only get two attempts at each month before you have
to move on, if the difficulty is raised too high there won't be enough
rewards to compensate.
Another thing to consider about Pandemic: Legacy is that it is only
playable once, through a season. There are many effects in the game that
permanently alter or destroy cards--in that they tell you to tear them up
when you use them, or have scratch-off panels. Also, there are stickers
that affix to the game board and cards to represent the legacy effects.
Despite this, it is still ranked #1 on BoardGameGeek.com
There is a second season scheduled
<https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/221107/pandemic-legacy-season-2>. I do
not know if that will use the first season as a base, or provide an
entirely new game board, sets of cards, and accessories. It does sound like
it's set in the future, though, some 71 years after civilization ended,
from the linked description.




*William WulfLunaria, Ltd. Consultingpsyque at gmail.com
<psyque at gmail.com>410-428-0070*
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