Gameing With Nathan

Nathan Winchester came on over Thursday night for a few games. I had just finished playing Blink and Viva Topo! with the kids, so as I put them to bed, Nathan pondered the collection. We had talked about a rematch of DVONN earlier, so I pulled this off the shelf to start us out. I tried for (and got) lots of outside places on the initial setup, but it worked against me and Nathan kicked my butt. In a stupid side note - the box picture shows the pieces concave down, opposite of how we have been playing (not that it makes a difference one way or another). Just curious which way other people play with the pieces.
I also grabbed Taluva, which Nathan had bought and played some with his wife. having a few games under his belt made for a closer game than last time. This time around, I needed a grassy area on my last tile for the win, and didn't get it, allowing Nathan to dump the rest of his huts.
Next up was Samurai, which Nathan and I haven't played in a couple months. I like this game a lot, but usually play a ton until I'm burned out, then I quit and "forget" how to play well. Well, I played poorly against Nathan and failed to notice that he was going to win until after he did. Nathan started an online game for us - I hope to acquit myself a bit better.
I followed that up with Ingenious. Nathan seems to enjoy abstracts so its a good thing I have a ton of them (unfortunately, he's better at them than I am). I did manage a win against Nathan this time, but I have to give him most of the credit as he pointed out he had no green, so I cut off all the green for him. Thanks Nathan!
We finished the night with a game new to us both - Mexica. A read of the rules didn't seem bad (though we missed two small things, neither effected the game at all) and we got underway. I started the game making plays that sucked and Nathan made me pay immediately after each turn. Despite that, the game wasn't terribly out of hand, and I felt like I had a shot near the end. I played it a bit too close though and Nathan ended the game (I didn't think he could) before I could get my last buildings down. The end scores don't look close, but it was one turn from going the other way. Nathan won 131 to 113.
We ended the night playing a quick (5 minute) game of Tsuro. I dropped my rating on this, because there is nothing interesting here. Its simple and short, but that's about it. There isn't much strategy or tactical play really. It is nice looking, but that's all.