Wellycon Warm Down (23 January 2010)

It was a wet windy day at the end of January in the Metropolys of Wellington and the citizens were wondering when summer would arrive, so what better to do than go to the Wellycon Warm Down at Thistle Hall on Cuba St. When I got there Tony and Shem were looking for a game and agreed to my suggestion of Metropolys. Part way through the rules explanation Gynn joined us.

Shem played his top pieces early against advice from Tony and I -- and paid the price. Gynn got the difficult statue goal, which I think should be worth more points.

Ian  43
Gynn 26
Tony 23
Shem 16

In my humble opinion Caylus is a deep, tough game, where experience and planning pay off. It's been a number of years since I last played so I needed Gynn's excellent rule explanation as much as the people who hadn't played before. Gynn led until the final turn by building more buildings than other players. Andrew burst past him in the final turn by building the only blue building of the game for 25 points. Your's truly came last through dismal planning, especially were castle building was concerned.

Andrew 72
Gynn   63
Anna   55
Tony   45
Ian    43

Anna and Andrew were so taken by Caylus they did a trade for a copy.

Friends Nathan and Roland were looking for a game so I taught them Nexus Ops. There was a bit of wasteland between Roland and I so we tended to attack Nathan more. Roland was doing well and looked threatening with his dragons but I had a good last turn.

Ian    12
Roland  9
Nathan  4

Martin and Felicity were looking for a quick game before leaving and Stephen and John were at a loose end so I taught No Thanks! My prior experience paid off in the first game.

Ian      19
John     25
Stephen  27
Felicity 33
Martin   38

(Remember low scores are good)

One game is not enough. John grabbed a lot of cards (as an experiment) and it showed in his score!

Felicity 21
Martin   25
Stephen  26
Ian      30
John     39

Game 3 wasn't my game! But look at Martin's improvement!

Martin    2
Stephen   8
Felicity 27
John     28
Ian      40

Then John pulled out his New Zealand map of Ticket to Ride. It involved lots of tunnels and also some road links which involved playing wild cards. The South Island players did better than the North Island players for what it is worth. Personally I prefer the passengers of Märklin to the tunnels of Europe but I guess it is better to base an expansion on the cards available in the base game.

When we got back from dinner Anna and Andrew taught me this light dice rolling, push your luck game (Pickomino). It's all skill I tell you

Ian    12
Andrew  9
Anna    3

Valdora was by far the pettiest game of the day. A straight forward pick-up and deliver game. I didn't recognise it as a Michael Schacht game! Optimization is the order of the day. Andrew's prior experience paid off, having unboxed it and learnt it earlier in the day he was ready to teach it in the evening. He was doing 2 or 3 things a turn while we were doing one.

Andrew R 122
Anna     105
Ian       94
Andrew H  88

It probably wasn't a good idea to try and teach Andrew Rea a game during the last 45 minutes of a Wellycon event. It probably didn't help that Anna is not a fan of Chicago Express! But Tony nobly took over from Andrew when he got distracted by administrative tasks.

Though none of the above is an excuse for my score!

Red dead ended once its shares were held 3 ways. Green had the most enthusiastic builders and Black only other railroad to reach Chicago.

Andrew Hubbard  $62
Andrew and Tony $52
Ian             $41
Anna            $24

Games Played in 2009

This entry is based on something I wrote for BGG.

Normally I'd check out the Friendless Extended Boardgamegeek Stats Server for info about my plays for 2009, but it is not reachable at the moment .

So directly from my Boardgamegeek records I played 318 face-to-face games, made up of about 137 distinct games and expansions. Slightly down on 2008's 323 plays of about 140 distinct games and expansions.

• Expedition tops my play list with 33 plays - its been my "go to" gateway game for 2009 (and the second half of 2008).
• Chicago Express is second on 16 plays - this is my game of 2009. A share-buying, network-building railway game that plays in 60 minutes or less and which is more about getting others to help you more than you help them.
  
• 10 Days in Europe hit 10 plays, together with it's African cousin (6 plays) they are the most played filler games of 2009.
  

The nickels (fives) list is headed by Brass and On the Underground with 8 plays each.

• Brass was 2008's game, and I achieved the same number of plays this year (though twice this year I suffered the pain of coming second on the tie-break).
• On the Underground was Anne's Christmas present though many of 2009's plays were with Peter's copy prior Christmas. This train game is about gaining points through the often conflicting goals of connecting particular stations (or making loops) and meeting the needs of the travelling public.
  

I like card games almost as much as board games, I was introduced to climbing card games this year through Frank's Zoo and Tichu and if the player numbers are right Tichu may be a hit game of 2010. Other games I played for the first time this year, which will hopefully be back on the table regularly, are:

• Dschunke - A Michael Schacht game from 2002, it has blind bidding which is not my favourite auction form but I find this game intriguing
  
• Nefertiti - Another auction game set in, wait for it..., ancient Egypt
  
• 1960: The Making of the President and Twilight Struggle. These last two lent to me by different Andrews are the culmination of a quest to find a good game for me and Anne in the 1-3 hour category. Though we still haven't decided which one to buy.
  

I played 3 different prototypes this year: Andrew Rea introduced me to Dawn of Nations - a print-and-play dice game which is more interactive than Roll Through the Ages: The Bronze Age. Earlier in the year I played the latest versions of Jarratt's Age of Steam map and his Letter's of Marque.

There were a stack of game that I only played once. Many of which I'd like to play more, such as: Galaxy Trucker, Hansa, Modern Art, Patrician, Princes of the Renaissance, Sticheln and WildLife.

I regret not playing an 18XX game in 2009, not playing Stephenson's Rocket and playing far too little Age of Steam. On the other hand I did manage to reduce my unplayed games list to single digits.

My main gaming achievement for 2009 is establishing a regular gaming group at our place usually meeting on Friday nights.

The new gamers I played with in 2009 include:

• Andrew and Anna refugees from Brisbane and laid back Tichu fans who I met at Wellycon Warmup and are regulars on Friday nights
• Brandon a refugee from Auckland, introduced to me by Travis, and who has an unfortunate aversion to train games
  

For best days of gaming I'd have to choose between Wellycon Warmup, Wellycon Saturday, a couple of games of Die Macher and various birthday game sessions.

Thankfully I can report that I survived 2009 having been nagged into playing only 4 games of Dominion and 1 of Pandemic: On the Brink

Friday 1 January 2010

I thought I'd start 2010 as I'd like to continue it, by playing games.

In addition to the usual suspects, two Johns and Nigel, Nasia arrived from downstairs bringing her Christmas present, Tobago, and big plate of chocolate dipped strawberries. Tobago is a game where players play cards to narrow down the location of treasures on the island of Tobago, they also drive around the island in the 4WDs in order to be at the right spot when a treasure location is narrowed to one hex. We decided to split into 2 threes. With Nasia teaching John and John Tobago at one end of the table while I taught Nigel and retaught Anne China at the other end. China is a relatively simple game but with some important rules to remember. I don't think Nigel and Anne were concentrating as I explained the rules though Nigel blamed my explanation.

China results:

Ian   66
Nigel 53
Anne  48

Tobago results:

John R 44
John B 35
Nasia  27

There was probably enough interest in Tobago for another game with the same or different players but we decided to play a six player game and settled on Expedition for some reason. Nigel who has played often enough seemed to have trouble remembering rules. Somehow when we weren't looking John R was down to his last card, leaving some of us with rather too many cards in hand.

John R 13
John B 12
Nasia  11
Nigel  10
Ian     8
Anne    6

We decided to play again. This time Nasia got 5 points on her first turn, and she kept her lead for the win.

Nasia  16
Ian    15
John B 13
Anne   12
John R 10
Nigel   8

It was 11:30pm and we were looking for a short 6 player game (I probably should have pulled out For Sale, but it slipped my mind) and I suggested Hornochsen (the second Wolfgang Kramer game of the evening). John B played the "get out as quick as possible with a non-negative score" strategy while I played to stay in with more cards than other people to give myself options (which is risky but paid off this time). Anne started well with some good positive points but ended up with some bad piles. Nasia took no cards for a safe zero.

Ian     50
Nigel   16
John B   3
Nasia    0
Anne    -8
John R -16

The chocolate dipped strawberries were a great success and I think Nasia will need to bring Tobago back so more of us can try it.