John and I gave Nigel a brief refresher on the rules of Samurai and we got started. Last time I played Samurai I chose to start with the 3 Rice Paddy, 3 High Hat, 3 Buddha, a Ship and either a Samurai or Horseman tile. This gave me flexibility but it also meant I couldn't easily specialise, which is problematic in a game where winning depends on getting majorities. This time I started with the intention of winning a bunch of Rice Paddies so I chose two Rice Paddy tiles (including my 4) and no High Hat or Buddha tiles. Unfortunately it looked like John had a similar idea and he started winning more Rice Paddies than me, Nigel wasn't winning much early on but he had his claws into Buddhas so I switched to High Hats. This paid off and I ended up not only with the most stuff but also the only majority. Nigel and I played regionally, he concentrated at the northern end of Honshu while I was lord of Kyushu (Shikoku was pretty much ignored).
At the other end of the table Endeavor was being played. Samurai is an intense game so I wasn't concentrating on what was going on at that end of the table, but I could see Andrew P had started with two workshops to rush up the top level buildings, he also picked up quite a lot of cards. I noticed that Andrew H was doing quite a bit of shipping. The final scores were reasonably close.
Andrew H 70
Andrew P 67
Anna 63
After our three player games the consensus was to play a six player game. We seem to have hit six players at our place disturbingly often lately. I know some people say you shouldn't play six player games but there are times when people want to play together for social reasons. We've tried: Expedition, Elfenland, Pizarro & Co, TransAmerica, Hornochsen, Stichlen, Mamma Mia!, Mogul, Chicago Express, Alhambra, Acquire, Bohnanza and Frank's Zoo (and that doesn't include Lance's Birthday). I think Expedition was the most successful of the easy to learn games, while Pizarro & Co., Mogul and Chicago Express would work better with more experienced players. I think Acquire was the least successful 6 player game.
Andrew and Anna vetoed Elfenland as they thought it was too long for not much game. By some process or other we ended up choosing Medici (yet another auction game). Most of us needed to be taught or re-taught Medici (and I didn't do a very good job). In the first round people were keen on auctioning off 2 or 3 cards at a time, but in later rounds the tactics around auctioning single cards became apparent. After the first round I was in the low 50s and well ahead of everyone else. After the second round I was in the mid 50s and most people were clustered just behind me. In the third round Nigel nearly bankrupted himself but he and John who had been lurking at the back of the pack, launched themselves into the lead, while I finished in the mid 50s again! I think people enjoyed themselves despite being confused at the start.
John R 75
Nigel 71
Andrew P 59
Ian 56
Anna 55
Andrew H 50
The Rio Grande edition of Medici is a masterpiece in bad graphics design. Badly organised rules where you can't quickly look things up. Player boards where you can't see the 5 card spaces. Cards where you can't read the numbers at a distance (and 3s and 5s look similar). It is difficult to match the commodity cards to the commodity tracks on the board and the score/money track is also hard to read and use (it only has odd numbers printed on it). I promised myself I would wait for a better edition but I finally caved in when Wargames Supply had it on special. From BGG it looks like some of the other editions are not perfect either. (I also noticed that some editions have bonus values of 5, 10, 20 on the commodity tracks and other's only have 10, 20. While the French version has multiple rounds of bidding and other rule changes).
Here is a variant that reduces the luck in 3 and 4 player Medici.
Anne came home and Anna and both Andrews left and Nigel suggested we finish with R-Eco (probably his favourite filler game). As usual I did badly, while Anne thrashed us.
Anne 16
Nigel 5
John R 3
Ian -2
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