Anyway, turns out that surprise traffic into fourhman.com was because somebody added my card games to the BGG database. As if they're real, actual games or something. With my name listed as game designer, spelled correctly and everything.

So, I'm flattered.

And I returned to Board Game Geek to see how they've been doing for the past five years. Now, with detail-oriented user profiles, you can track, rate, comment on, discuss, trade and submit pictures for any game in their system... and you can submit session reports, where you describe a recent game. I thought it would be fun to write up some session reports for my games, so when Tony, Josh, Steve and I got together last night, I took notes during two games of TaleSpin. I'm cross-posting the sessions here, in case BGG thinks I made them up and rejects them. I'm submitting the pictures and reports to the TaleSpin page. Don't worry, BGG has literally millions of stupid photos like that.

GAME ONE
We played a four player game, using the base card set, the first expansion, and the as-yet-unreleased second expansion. The game lasted about an hour, which was pretty good considering it had been awhile since the last time we played and we all needed some rules refreshers. The goal of the game was four cargo in play. Going clockwise in turn order: I played Baloo, Steve was Molly, Josh had Karnage, and Tony chose Kit.

ROUND ONE
Baloo added Wildcat as his first passenger, moved to the Loading Dock played a cargo.

Molly started off strong by dropping Katie as a passenger (6 Shipping!) and then Spigot to protect her. Molly moved to the Iron Vulture, played a cargo, and forced Baloo to discard Wildcat.

Karnage stayed in theme and played Gibber to the table, then did something to pull Wildcat from the discard pile (I forget what, exactly.) Moved and played cargo.

Kit added Trader Moe as a passenger. Then, clearly bored by all this non-aggression, sent the Military Guards after Karnage. Karnage refused the dogfight, so Kit opened one of his cargo (it was real). Kit then replaced the Cargo with the Bayou Critters. Kit moved to the Air Circus, played a cargo, and Moe discarded himself.

ROUND TWO
Baloo played Becky, moved to Higher for Hire, played a cargo. Becky discarded herself.

Molly took her big Shipping band over to the Land of 1,001 Lakes for the ol' cargo double play. She ended her turn at three packed cargo.

Karnage accurately evaluated Molly as a threat, so he attacked Molly directly (after playing Wildcat as a passenger for the Pilot bonus). Unfortunately for him, Molly defended successfully! Undeterred, Karnage played Monkey in Your Tank on Molly, opening two of her three cargo. Both were real, so Karnage had to open one of his (also real). The exciting news was that one of Molly's real cargo was the Bells of Tinabula! The Bells (one of the unreleased cards) shuffle the deck and discard pile and remove the top 20 cards from the game! After that was finished, Karnage played Mayday on Molly and discarded her real Cargo. Karnage drew some extra cards with Takin' the Day Off. He then replaced his Bayou Critters with the Lightning Gun, and used it to shut down the Land of 1,001 Lakes. He ended his turn by moving to Higher for Hire and playing cargo.

Kit played Trader Moe (who was re-drawn after the Bells shuffle) and Khan's Board of Directors as new passengers. Moved to Higher for Hire and played cargo.

ROUND THREE
Baloo drew Becky again (!) and played her. Then he used Henry to attack Kit... Henry won and did three damage to Kit, wiping out all of his cargo. Baloo then replaced Karnage's Lightning Gun with the Gorilla Birds. Baloo played the Monkey Workers as a Becky buffer, moved and played cargo.

Molly saw an opportunity to go for the win by using the Thembrian High Marshal to attack Baloo. Baloo ended up winning the dogfight, but had the High Marshal won, he would have stolen an artifact for Molly and put her in a winning position. Molly ended her turn by moving to the Iron Vulture, playing a cargo and killing Wildcat again.

Karnage started his turn by playing Air Raid on Molly, opening her two packed cargo. They are both real, so Karnage got to steal one of them! At some point, one of Baloo's cargo was opened and exposed to be real (I forgot to note how), and that inspired Karnage to use Covington to challenge Baloo to a dogfight. Baloo accepted. During the dogfight, Molly played Like Taking Candy From A Sitting Baby Duck On A Log which opened one of Karnage's cargo and one of Baloo's cargo. Both are real, so Molly did not affect the game overmuch. Covington won the dogfight, so Karnage stole one of Baloo's Cargo and won the game with four cargo in play!

GAME TWO
This was a three player game, using the base card set, the first expansion, and the as-yet-unreleased second expansion. The game lasted about an hour; the goal of the game was four cargo in play. Going clockwise in turn order: I played Baloo, Josh had Karnage, and Tony was Kit.

ROUND ONE
Baloo started the game by adding Ratchet as a passenger. Moved and played cargo.

Karnage played Torque to his passenger chain. Moved and played cargo.

Kit had nothing to play. Moved and played cargo.

ROUND TWO
Baloo's second turn was more productive. First, he played In My Sights to get a temporary Range and Pilot bonus. This was largely a ruse, since he had bigger dogfight plans for later in the turn. To begin, Baloo attacked Kit directly... Kit naturally refused since Baloo only does a double draw, so Baloo happily drew the free two cards. Then he played Sky Scramble (for a extra dogfight attack this turn), pulled Covington and went after Karnage. Baloo had some strong cards, but Karnage defended with two Lucky Shots... which were both drawn at the start of the dogfight! Baloo played passenger Dunder, moved and played cargo.

Karnage played Katie Dodd and Trader Moe, giving him a total Shipping of 9. So he moved directly to the Land of 1,001 Lakes and played two cargo.

Kit sent the Slush Patrol after Karnage, who refused the dogfight and thus had to discard Moe and open one of his (real) cargo. Then Kit did something to discard that Cargo (missed noting that action). Kit still had no passengers to play!

ROUND THREE
Baloo take aim at Karnage's three cargo by playing Monkey in Your Tank on the pirate captain. Karnage flipped over the Airfoil artifact and the Bag of Treasure artifact! Since both were real, Baloo had to flip over one of his cargo... and revealed the Lightning Gun. After some internal debate, Baloo pointed the Gun at the 1,001 Lakes. Then Baloo sent McNee after Karnage, pumped up with Head On... and, somehow, McNee lost. Baloo moved and played cargo, bringing him to three.

Karnage had a low-key turn, playing I Think I Know Just How To Do It to pull a card from the discard pile. Moved and played cargo.

Kit put the screws to Baloo on his turn, baiting the ace into a dogfight against the usually docile Cargo Pilots. Having played all but one card of his hand on his turn, Baloo was eager to accept the challenge and get some fresh cards... but Kit surprised him with Asleep At The Controls, which reduced his Pilot skill to zero. So Baloo had to defend a dogfight with only one card... and even though that card happened to be a Lucky Shot, you can't win a dogfight with only one card. So Kit slapped a damage maneuver on his second play and handily won the day. Kit chose Baloo's Lightning Gun as the discard, then he moved and played cargo.

The second turn ended with Baloo at two cargo, Karnage at three, and Kit also at three.

ROUND FOUR
Baloo sent Captain Hotspur after Karnage, who lost the fight and his Airfoil artifact. Usual turn end, moved and played cargo.

Karnage had Khan's Pilots attack Kit, who refused to fight on the grounds that he will be at an even worse disadvantage than if he just takes the hit. So one of Kit's cargo was opened and it was revealed to be a bluff. Karnage added Klang as a passenger, then played Double Check and played a cargo. Kit responded with What Dumb Excuse Is It This Time and opened that cargo; it was also a fake. Karnage ended his turn by moving to the Iron Vulture (kills Dunder) and playing cargo. Baloo played Empty Promise on Torque to erase his effect table for the turn, and Klang discarded himself.

Kit shook his fist at the universe and did nothing but move and play cargo.

The round ended with everybody at three cargo! It's anybody's game!

ROUND FIVE
Baloo attacked Karnage directly; Karnage refused and Baloo drew his two cards. Baloo held a recruitment drive and played Hacksaw, Gibber and the Monkey Workers as passengers. Unfortunately, it is kind of an anticlimactic ending, because neither of the other players held any means to stop Baloo from simply moving and playing his fourth cargo. Baloo for the win!