F:AT Thursday - Legendary and Glory to Rome

The Asgardian god of mischief stands atop the roof of one of  Manhattan's many sky scrapers. The storm clouds gather like roaches behind him as he looks down upon the ant like humans below.

"Yield to me and I shall be merciful" he bellows.

A man clad in red, white and blue calmly approaches.

"These knees do not bend." the star boss of the shield reflects the defiance in Captain America's eyes.

"Aye! Well spoke. Thy time is at an end, Loki" thunders the voice of Thor as Mjolnir  begins to spin.

"Look, I've got a reservation at Le Bernardin at 8. So, let Thor smite you a little bit and hurry this along. I'd hate to be late."  The metallic voice issues from the helmet of the man encased in silver and gold armor. His repulsor rays allowing him to hover a few inches above his fellows.

The green behemoth's blood shot eyes narrow as they find a focus for his unending rage. His huge hands ball into fists and his lips curl back from his teeth.

"Not time for talk!" he growls. "Time to SMASH!"  With that he hurls himself forward and delivers a devastating blow to the renegade, Loki, sending him careening off the edge of the rooftop. Bits of concrete and steel accompanying him as he falls towards the streets below.

Three people ignore the screams of wonder and terror from the assembled crowd of civilians who now scramble to escape the falling debris. The antics of the Avengers are of little concern to them. They are here to play board games. It is F:AT Thursday.

This week featured the return of Engineer Al and Ubarose to the folds of the true believers. We met in their new secret lair known only as "The Cottage".  It is a bit smaller than their old abode but in more of a cozy than shoebox way.

We did feel a little guilty for Josh was locked away in his capitalist dungeon slaving for the enrichment of "The Man" and couldn't be with us. I said a "little guilty" so it didn't stop us. It seemed a poor judgement call to me to work rather than game but who am I to judge.

First up was Legendary: A Marvel Deck Building Game. Put aside your thoughts of daring exploits and amazing conflicts. You will have none of it. In case you got bored halfway through the overly long name of this game, it is a deck builder with all that implies. Basically this game is an Ascension clone. Yes it has Marvel heroes instead of strange creatures. No it doesn't have the cool gems for scoring. Is it fun? Sure in the same way that Ascension is. Fun-ish while you play it. Forgotten immediately after.

A couple thoughts occurred to me as we played it. First, why do you include Doom-bots and the Negative Zone in a game but fail to put in a single member of the Fantastic Four? Second, doesn't the outfit worn by the Shield Commander chafe horribly? Just seems like skin tight spandex would rub the wrong way after a while.

We did make one horrible mistake in that there is a game timer in the form of certain cards called "scheme cards". If 8 of these come out the game ends with all the players losing. One of us whose name will remain unmentioned but will be described as an Engineer forgot to include these  in the deck. Once this was discovered we sort of had to call the game. Based on the points accumulated up to that point, Uba was the best Avenger.

Then it was time for Glory to Rome. Old school style with the original art. This game still delivers. It was a pretty surprising game as Al completed building after building. I had the building that gives you the win if you get a client of every color but Uba kept cock-blocking me whenever I tried to play an action that would get the colors I needed into the pool so that I might subsequently get them into my posse *ahem* clientele.  She's scoop 'em up with some bullshit Labor action or other crappy strategy. I say crappy because it worked perfectly. Meanwhile she was stuffing materials into her secret stash. In the end Uba's purloined goods outweighed Al's noble rebuilding efforts and Uba was proclaimed the greatest Roman. Viva Uba!

Last we played a quick game of Quarriors using the two-buy rule. I am completely useless at this game. Yah, it is basically another deck builder but there is no denying that the dice are more fun to use than cards for this type of thing.

Uba once again won. It was all Uba all the time this week as she was undefeated. No doubt she will make full use of her bragging rights until next week.

In the bull session portion of our evening we, and by "we" I mean "me", rambled on with enthusiasm about my new found desire to play the Savage Worlds RPG. Specifically the Space: 1889 setting which I think is just a fantastic concept. Thomas Edison discovers a machine to travel to other planets so you have late Victorian technology, Colonialistic Powers, and Jules Verne/Edgar Rice Burroughs adventures. I blame Josh for infecting me with this virus but there is no question I'm eager to play.

I am contractually obligated to write the following:

"Uba is the Queen of All Board Gaming and We Bow Before Her Glorious Magnificence!"

(Gonna be a long seven days)