The BFF found an iPod app that randomly picks which card sets to use, which completely solves one of my problems with this game. (who gets to pick, and possible arguements) So he and I and the Artist Extreeme played two quick games yesterday afternoon, while the snow fell.
I didn't take the time to write down which cards we played, but the first game we had four or five attacking cards with no defensive cards out. Crazily, we ended with a three-way tie!! With 42 points each. Hmm, maybe there IS something to that number...
The second game the gardens came into play, so I decided to try my flying-under-the-radar strategy. For me, this is almost a game within a game and it works with several games. It's basically all about seeing how long you can play a certain way before the other players notice. In this case it was buying as many garden cards as I could, starting with the very first turn. Garden cards are the ones that give you one extra victory point for every ten cards in your final deck and by the time The BFF figured out what I was doing, he and The Artist Extreeme each had two, and I had ALL the rest! (that's eight, for those of you playing along at home)
When we each counted our number of cards, we each had 50 (rounded down), so my gardens alone gave me almost as many victory points as my total victory points from the first game. Final scores were great for all of us, 58, 62, and 68.
And the snow continued to fall...