Abbagav Broke His Shoulder (Antike)

Plans sure have a way of changing.

Rachel was invited by the Beit Shemesh women's tefilah group to give a speech after Friday night services and a shiur at shalosh seudot (Sat evening meal). Services on Friday night were supposed to be at Abbagav's house, and Abbagav and family invited us for dinner afterward.

I invited my brother to come to Beit Shemesh this shabbat so that we could see them as well, and they could see Rachel before she leaves for OH. And their kids and my kids could see each other, as they haven't seen each other in a long time. Since my brother's family takes up a lot of space at my parent's house, Rachel and I needed to sleep at a neighbors. One of my first thoughts was family X.

That's the setup.

Sunday, we heard that Mr X's mother passed away. No problem as far as finding a place to sleep; we asked family Y.

Wednesday, My daughter Tal decided not to come for the weekend because 20 of her friends from around the country were getting together elsewhere this weekend.

At 2:00 on Friday, we got a call that Abbagav broke his shoulder in a bicycle accident (he'll get better, I'm sure, but right now he's in pain). No problem. Services and dinner invitation switched to family Z's house.

At 3:00 on Friday we got a call that my brother's son had a fever and the entire kit and kaboodle were staying home for shabbat after all. No problem. Called family Y and told them we're sleeping at my parent's house after all.

My parents had an empty house and lots of food. We would be finished too late to eat with them or for them to join us on Friday night dinner, but we convinced Abbagav's family to join us at my parents for lunch (they live two doors down from each other).

Gaming

I left my parents a copy of It's Alive; they hadn't received a copy yet. Maybe they'll take it out and play it, sometime.

I went back with Abbagav to his house after lunch to help take his mind off of his shoulder. Naturally I had a bag of games with me. I took out Antike. First play for him. It was a success.

As two players, we toyed with the right way to play, and ended up simply playing one nation each, with the pieces from two colors, until 14 points. Abbagav played Greece and built his temples close to his front, which proved to be a mistake. He built many more units and cities than I did, but I kept throwing units in his direction to threaten his temples, and that kept many more of his units pinned down for defense.

Meanwhile, as the Germanic tribes, I concentrated on Know-Hows, taking 6 of them first (6 points). By the end of the game, we both had complete sets of all Know-Hows (1 point). Add 10 cities (2 points), 14 seas (2 points), and 3 temples (1 point), and I was 1 point away from winning. Abbagav meanwhile had 2 Know-How points and 1 point for the complete set (3 points), 20 cities (4 points), 6 temples (2 points), and 14 seas (2 points). He was able to churn out three more temples, but I was able to built my 15th city and end the game.

He liked the game, but it's important to keep track of where your points are coming from and move toward that. And to remember that you don't lose points if you lose items (ships, temples, cities); you only lose the income and strength they bring to you.

Or, maybe I just won because his brain was fuzzed out from the painkillers.