Battles with the Brother

 It has been awhile since I have been able to play games with my brother Randy, I would like to more often as we approach games in a similar way and it is always fun. We got to dig into some decent two player games that I have not been able to get on the table, so I was stoked to do so. The first one that I have been dying to play but pretty much would only play it with Randy due to the historical nuances to it (he is a history buff), is A Few Acres of Snow. It is actually fairly simple to play, a card driven war game, but each side has their own unique set of cards, units and even abilities. I played the British and Randy the French. As the French he had better alliances with the Native Indians and income from fur trade, while I started with more money and cities with abilities. Once he started raiding my towns I went into defensive mode, fortifying my positions and cutting off his paths. We only had three city sieges in the whole game, and none were successful. As this game has a deck-building component, I spent energy thinning my deck and upgrading my towns until I won in a whimpy way by camping and protecting. It is a pretty cool game, although not much variety, but I would play it again.

We also played the Civil War game Battle Cry, and just set up the first simple scenario. It is also card driven, but more limited in your choices. I made a rash bold move with my artillery and Cavalry at the beginning of the game that cost me both of them, and was on the run from there. I battled back with some hit & run tactics, but ended up having 4 flag bearers on the run and it was just a matter of time before Randy picked them off for the victory. The picture below shows my stupid artillery charge in blue on the right that led to defeat:

We also got in a game of Jab:Realtime Boxing, but I had the clear advantage of having played before. It seems I can only win that game when I play someone older than me.