Over 2009 gaming at Hobson St has evolved from occasional special events and as an alternate venue for Peter's Wednesday night games, through to a semi-regular and now effectively regular Friday night (occasionally Saturday night) gaming. More recently I've been sending out results, sometimes with comments about the games. I decided to re-use this old blog to record these brief session reports and as a mechanism for publishing future reports.
November 2009
Thursday, 1 January 2009
Monday, 30 April 2007
Mina -- femme fatale (28 April 2007)
London, 28th April 1907
Story confirmed story, the evidence was overwhelming.
Dracula was back!
The rumours were maddeningly vague or contradictory about his location. We couldn't ignore them any longer. We were scattered around Europe. Mina on the French coast, Dr Seward in Spain, Dr Van Helsing in Italy and Lord Godalming in Budapest. The hunt was on, we were ill equipped and had no idea where He was, so we moved randomly, looking for clues, and things that might be useful in our fateful quest.
Then a breakthrough, newspapers reported suspicious activity in Frankfurt. The trail was fresh. The hunters converged on northern Germany. Mina was closest and when she got to Hamburg -- Dracula stuck. How like that damnable coward to attack the weakest member of our team? But he underestimated her. The resourceful Mina had garlic and magic bullets, and proved more than a match for the lord of vampires. Lord Godalming arrived to protect our brave Mina and also managed to grapple with Dracula, inflicting more injury, before the monster fled to sea.
Unsure where he was heading three of the hunters spread themselves along the coast while Van Helsing investigated Dracula's back trail in Germany in case there were any vampires. Unfortunately he was struck by lightning which killed his dogs and left the veteran vampire hunter injured. Not wanting to give Dracula any opportunity to gain extra power Van Helsing refused to rest and recuperate and pressed on.
Where was Dracula's ship heading? Down the English Channel? Out into the Atlantic to land the undead Count in France, Spain or Portugal, or was he heading for home via the Mediterranean? While we were bickering among ourselves about Dracula's likely course, our spys were at work. Information arrived to say that Dracula had travelled to the Irish Sea, but was now on land. We pored over the map. There are only three ports to investigate: Dublin, Liverpool and the small port of Swansea. Mina found a fast ship and good weather and raced to Liverpool, but found no sign of vampire activity and Dracula had time to move on.
With both the doctors at sea and not due to land for awhile, Lord Godalming also had luck with the weather and reached London in record time. Luck was with the aristocrat and he found that Dracula was in London but encountering one of Dracula's minions he only had time to send a telegram to Liverpool. Where the redoubtable Mina chartered a special train to reach London and deliver the coup de grâce using a fresh supply of garlic and magic bullets.
Going though Dracula's personal effects we found his diary (yes, we too were surprised that he had such an English habit). In it we found evidence that his attack on Mina in Hamburg wasn't an accident but calculated decision to reduce the number of hunters by attacking the weakest (there was also an indecipherable reference to gaining 2VP). He also wrote of his intention to rest up and feed in Swansea but Mina's swift arrival in Liverpool changed his plan. He seems to have thought the hunters were having too much luck. We prefer to think of it as God's will.
Story confirmed story, the evidence was overwhelming.
Dracula was back!
The rumours were maddeningly vague or contradictory about his location. We couldn't ignore them any longer. We were scattered around Europe. Mina on the French coast, Dr Seward in Spain, Dr Van Helsing in Italy and Lord Godalming in Budapest. The hunt was on, we were ill equipped and had no idea where He was, so we moved randomly, looking for clues, and things that might be useful in our fateful quest.
Then a breakthrough, newspapers reported suspicious activity in Frankfurt. The trail was fresh. The hunters converged on northern Germany. Mina was closest and when she got to Hamburg -- Dracula stuck. How like that damnable coward to attack the weakest member of our team? But he underestimated her. The resourceful Mina had garlic and magic bullets, and proved more than a match for the lord of vampires. Lord Godalming arrived to protect our brave Mina and also managed to grapple with Dracula, inflicting more injury, before the monster fled to sea.
Unsure where he was heading three of the hunters spread themselves along the coast while Van Helsing investigated Dracula's back trail in Germany in case there were any vampires. Unfortunately he was struck by lightning which killed his dogs and left the veteran vampire hunter injured. Not wanting to give Dracula any opportunity to gain extra power Van Helsing refused to rest and recuperate and pressed on.
Where was Dracula's ship heading? Down the English Channel? Out into the Atlantic to land the undead Count in France, Spain or Portugal, or was he heading for home via the Mediterranean? While we were bickering among ourselves about Dracula's likely course, our spys were at work. Information arrived to say that Dracula had travelled to the Irish Sea, but was now on land. We pored over the map. There are only three ports to investigate: Dublin, Liverpool and the small port of Swansea. Mina found a fast ship and good weather and raced to Liverpool, but found no sign of vampire activity and Dracula had time to move on.
With both the doctors at sea and not due to land for awhile, Lord Godalming also had luck with the weather and reached London in record time. Luck was with the aristocrat and he found that Dracula was in London but encountering one of Dracula's minions he only had time to send a telegram to Liverpool. Where the redoubtable Mina chartered a special train to reach London and deliver the coup de grâce using a fresh supply of garlic and magic bullets.
Going though Dracula's personal effects we found his diary (yes, we too were surprised that he had such an English habit). In it we found evidence that his attack on Mina in Hamburg wasn't an accident but calculated decision to reduce the number of hunters by attacking the weakest (there was also an indecipherable reference to gaining 2VP). He also wrote of his intention to rest up and feed in Swansea but Mina's swift arrival in Liverpool changed his plan. He seems to have thought the hunters were having too much luck. We prefer to think of it as God's will.
Sunday, 22 April 2007
Guatemala Café (21 April 2007)
For a change of pace Lance taught us his new game Guatemala Café. In this game you are buying coffee sheds, workers and ships and laying roads from the coffee sheds to the ships. The resources to buy are laid out in a grid with a path around the outside. A "Coffee buyer" walks around this path, and you can only access the resources on the row or column he is adjacent to.
The only way to get money in this game is to trigger a scoring in one of the brands of coffee instead of buying (this gives you $8). The brand that is scored is also determined by the where the "Coffee buyer" is on his track
Everyone who has workers and a shed of this brand score a point per worker. If they are connected to a ship of this brand as well that score is doubled (trippled for 2 ships and quadrupled for 3 ships).
This game is more devious than I've made it sound as Lance demonstrated at one point by taking advantage of my peniless state to force me to do a scoring in a brand that he had and the rest of us didn't!
As money is very tight throughout the game it is good to build one or perferably two medium sized plantations early (to score with) and worry about ship and road building later (which will bring big scores).
The only way to get money in this game is to trigger a scoring in one of the brands of coffee instead of buying (this gives you $8). The brand that is scored is also determined by the where the "Coffee buyer" is on his track
Everyone who has workers and a shed of this brand score a point per worker. If they are connected to a ship of this brand as well that score is doubled (trippled for 2 ships and quadrupled for 3 ships).
This game is more devious than I've made it sound as Lance demonstrated at one point by taking advantage of my peniless state to force me to do a scoring in a brand that he had and the rest of us didn't!
As money is very tight throughout the game it is good to build one or perferably two medium sized plantations early (to score with) and worry about ship and road building later (which will bring big scores).
Lance 42
Ian 24
JohnB 19
Anne 11
Thursday, 3 August 2006
Three new games - 3 August
I played 3 new games at Peter's last night (though only one is a new release).
Stephenson's Rocket - which reminded me a lot of Through the Desert (though more complicated), rather than Acquire or Union Pacific. It has a scoring system which is probably the complex I have come across for a Knizia game. Understanding what actions will score the most £s now and later is far from easy. Lance and Peter came first and second with very different strategies. Jarratt would hate this game as the scoring system is most of the game. I want to play it again, but still have no idea of a strategy.
Jericho - a quick card game with a "take that" element. I don't generally like "take that" elements but I'll make an exception for this one as it takes out the highest cards of a suit on the table regardless of whose they are (at one point I killed one of my cards and 2 of Peter's to my advantage). You are not directly choosing your victim - you choose the suit you are attacking instead. It is also only 10-15 minutes long, so if you get shafted it is over quickly (actually the scores were 18, 16, 16 in our game)
Big City - a city building game with numbered cards for the building spots (as in Chinatown) and prerequisites for each building. You score for what you build but also may create opportunities for others as you fulfil their prereqs. I didn't like this as much as the others, perhaps with 5 players it is rather chaotic. The bits are nice though.
On the other table Amun Re finished with scores of 45, 44, 44, 43!
Stephenson's Rocket - which reminded me a lot of Through the Desert (though more complicated), rather than Acquire or Union Pacific. It has a scoring system which is probably the complex I have come across for a Knizia game. Understanding what actions will score the most £s now and later is far from easy. Lance and Peter came first and second with very different strategies. Jarratt would hate this game as the scoring system is most of the game. I want to play it again, but still have no idea of a strategy.
Jericho - a quick card game with a "take that" element. I don't generally like "take that" elements but I'll make an exception for this one as it takes out the highest cards of a suit on the table regardless of whose they are (at one point I killed one of my cards and 2 of Peter's to my advantage). You are not directly choosing your victim - you choose the suit you are attacking instead. It is also only 10-15 minutes long, so if you get shafted it is over quickly (actually the scores were 18, 16, 16 in our game)
Big City - a city building game with numbered cards for the building spots (as in Chinatown) and prerequisites for each building. You score for what you build but also may create opportunities for others as you fulfil their prereqs. I didn't like this as much as the others, perhaps with 5 players it is rather chaotic. The bits are nice though.
On the other table Amun Re finished with scores of 45, 44, 44, 43!
Saturday, 27 May 2006
Two new games - 24 May
Beowulf
This game may look like a multi-player cooperative adventure game but in fact it is a push your luck game with a variety of auctions gentler than Taj Mahal to a script that is reminicent of Merchants of Amsterdam. Peter didn't give us a great rules explanation and we started with only 2 cards rather than 7, we didn't understand until near the end that we could use Risks during a round the table card auction. We were playing the simple rules but tried to play the gold auctions. Despite all these rule issues we still all had fun and while it looked like Lance and Andrew were going to win, they both faded at the end and my late run pushed me to the lead.
There is a lot of criticism of this game on the geek, especially over the Risk element. But I am keen to play the game again. This time with the correct and advanced rules. I would put it into the same category as Manila - a game where playing the game is exciting rather than serious and competition is secondary.
1503
Is another Settlers of Catan type of game. Peter had at least played this game several times before and not only could teach the rules but also had some idea of strategy. The turn is divided into 3 parts. Throw the dice and everyone collects resources (or deals with pirates or fire). Buy and sell reasources and build stuff. Explore islands with any ships you have. Islands give you good stuff. There is a money based economy and various ways to win the 3 victory points necessary for a win. This gives rise to various lines of strategy but you have to limit yourself otherwise you end up like Lance and I who persude too many strategies and came last.
It was a close finish between Luke and Peter and it was the luck of the dice rolls by me and Luke which gave the game to Peter rather than Luke.
This game may look like a multi-player cooperative adventure game but in fact it is a push your luck game with a variety of auctions gentler than Taj Mahal to a script that is reminicent of Merchants of Amsterdam. Peter didn't give us a great rules explanation and we started with only 2 cards rather than 7, we didn't understand until near the end that we could use Risks during a round the table card auction. We were playing the simple rules but tried to play the gold auctions. Despite all these rule issues we still all had fun and while it looked like Lance and Andrew were going to win, they both faded at the end and my late run pushed me to the lead.
There is a lot of criticism of this game on the geek, especially over the Risk element. But I am keen to play the game again. This time with the correct and advanced rules. I would put it into the same category as Manila - a game where playing the game is exciting rather than serious and competition is secondary.
1503
Is another Settlers of Catan type of game. Peter had at least played this game several times before and not only could teach the rules but also had some idea of strategy. The turn is divided into 3 parts. Throw the dice and everyone collects resources (or deals with pirates or fire). Buy and sell reasources and build stuff. Explore islands with any ships you have. Islands give you good stuff. There is a money based economy and various ways to win the 3 victory points necessary for a win. This gives rise to various lines of strategy but you have to limit yourself otherwise you end up like Lance and I who persude too many strategies and came last.
It was a close finish between Luke and Peter and it was the luck of the dice rolls by me and Luke which gave the game to Peter rather than Luke.
Sunday, 21 May 2006
Trains, Boats and Ox horns - 17 May
We arrived early and Peter was doing phone support. So Anne, Luke, Nigel and I played Hornochsen while we waited. This game was new to Nigel and probably Luke. My experience gave me the game. By the time we finished there were eight people ready to play. Luke, Peter, Jarratt and Andrew started a game of Jenseits von Theben while the rest of us were trying to pick a game. Peter was anoyed that we picked Manila!
The bids for the job of Manila's harbour master started high and went up from round to round. More often than not 20 pesos were paid for the privelege! John was the most agressive persuer of the office and the extra shares, so much so that he spent most of the game in debt. The pirate option was also popular and sometimes successful. Nigel had buckets of money for most of the game and not supprisingly won. I lost.
While we waited for the archiologists on the other table to finish we had a second game of Hornochsen (with John instead of Luke). I won again.
The final game of the evening was a 6 player game of Union Pacific. Peter suggested the unlimited Union Pacific shares varient, only Luke objected. The varient is designed to reduce the rush for Union Pacific shares in the standard game, which it did. The first score card must have been about card 24 in the deck because it took a supprisingly long time to come out. I grabbed an early lead with a good mix of firsts and seconds and a strong push to make the green company the biggest on the board. There was a battle over the ownership of the yellow company and some minor tussles over the other companies. Three people had 4 UP shares but they were later trumped by people when someone went to 5. Two of the scoring cards came out close together leaving me no opportunity to change my shareholding between them. Andrew won with 105 to my 100.
The bids for the job of Manila's harbour master started high and went up from round to round. More often than not 20 pesos were paid for the privelege! John was the most agressive persuer of the office and the extra shares, so much so that he spent most of the game in debt. The pirate option was also popular and sometimes successful. Nigel had buckets of money for most of the game and not supprisingly won. I lost.
While we waited for the archiologists on the other table to finish we had a second game of Hornochsen (with John instead of Luke). I won again.
The final game of the evening was a 6 player game of Union Pacific. Peter suggested the unlimited Union Pacific shares varient, only Luke objected. The varient is designed to reduce the rush for Union Pacific shares in the standard game, which it did. The first score card must have been about card 24 in the deck because it took a supprisingly long time to come out. I grabbed an early lead with a good mix of firsts and seconds and a strong push to make the green company the biggest on the board. There was a battle over the ownership of the yellow company and some minor tussles over the other companies. Three people had 4 UP shares but they were later trumped by people when someone went to 5. Two of the scoring cards came out close together leaving me no opportunity to change my shareholding between them. Andrew won with 105 to my 100.
Tuesday, 16 May 2006
Temple wins - 14 May
Anne wanted to play more Aton. So we played four more games, all ending in a temple victory.
- I tried for temple 4 and Anne tried for temple 1. I won when the scores were 27-25.
- I tried for temple 3 and Anne tried for temple 2. She won when the scores were 4-8.
- I tried for temple 2 and Anne tried for temple 1. I won when the scores were 24-27.
- I tried for temple 4 again. I won when the scores were 2-8.
Sunday, 14 May 2006
Carl and Bab's place - 12 May
Modern Art
When I arrived at Carl's place, Lance had almost finished explaining Reef Encounter to Carl, John and Travis (Matt was watching rugby again). But Reef Encounter is a four player game and they graciously switched to a five player game -- Modern Art. This is one of my favourite game though one I don't generally do well at it. All artists got some exposure, painting by at least three artists being sold each turn and by the end of the third round all artists were on the board and worth at least $30. In other words in the fourth round any artist that finished in the top three would be worth between $40 and $70 a painting. I bought a Gitter at the start of the fourth round for quite a lot of money but as that was the only Gitter sold that round I had thrown away my money. To make matters worse I had thrown it at John who won, Carl second, Lance then me with Travis being the only one not to have $300+ at the end.
Reef Encounter
Matt returned and as we couldn't agree on a six player game, Carl and John played Aton while Lance taught the rest of us Reef Encounter. I have played this game once before but this is a tricky game and I feel you need to play several games in succession to get the hang of the consequences of the various actions. Travis got off to a good start followed by Lance, Matt saved lots of orange for a big finish (as did Lance to better effect) and I just bumbled along. Travis came second to Lance with Matt and I trailing well behind but third equal.
Meanwhile Carl and John played three games of Aton. John winning the second and Carl winning the other two. In the final game John was on 34 going into the second scoring round with Carl on less than 20. Carl played second and restricted John to 3 points while gaining well over 20 himself to win! They then played a game of Caesar and Cleopatra.
Light Speed
Light speed is a real-time Cheapass game where you place your spaceships (cards) on the table. The first to finish calls the end of the game. Then comes the scoring which takes much longer. Experience tells in this game as all the ships have different capacities. Where in the firing order they are. What lasers they have and what shields. I ended up on one point after shooting too many of my own ships. Carl won.
When I arrived at Carl's place, Lance had almost finished explaining Reef Encounter to Carl, John and Travis (Matt was watching rugby again). But Reef Encounter is a four player game and they graciously switched to a five player game -- Modern Art. This is one of my favourite game though one I don't generally do well at it. All artists got some exposure, painting by at least three artists being sold each turn and by the end of the third round all artists were on the board and worth at least $30. In other words in the fourth round any artist that finished in the top three would be worth between $40 and $70 a painting. I bought a Gitter at the start of the fourth round for quite a lot of money but as that was the only Gitter sold that round I had thrown away my money. To make matters worse I had thrown it at John who won, Carl second, Lance then me with Travis being the only one not to have $300+ at the end.
Reef Encounter
Matt returned and as we couldn't agree on a six player game, Carl and John played Aton while Lance taught the rest of us Reef Encounter. I have played this game once before but this is a tricky game and I feel you need to play several games in succession to get the hang of the consequences of the various actions. Travis got off to a good start followed by Lance, Matt saved lots of orange for a big finish (as did Lance to better effect) and I just bumbled along. Travis came second to Lance with Matt and I trailing well behind but third equal.
Meanwhile Carl and John played three games of Aton. John winning the second and Carl winning the other two. In the final game John was on 34 going into the second scoring round with Carl on less than 20. Carl played second and restricted John to 3 points while gaining well over 20 himself to win! They then played a game of Caesar and Cleopatra.
Light Speed
Light speed is a real-time Cheapass game where you place your spaceships (cards) on the table. The first to finish calls the end of the game. Then comes the scoring which takes much longer. Experience tells in this game as all the ships have different capacities. Where in the firing order they are. What lasers they have and what shields. I ended up on one point after shooting too many of my own ships. Carl won.
Thursday, 11 May 2006
Peter and Michelle's place - 10 May
Chinatown
Peter, Carl, Lance, Andrew and I played Chinatown and I think I must have played the worse game ever by coming fifth. I let things go too easily and also traded too early. Peter won dispite his game long protestations of loosing.
Variant
I did think up a variant on the way to work the next day which changes the luck of the bonus card to one of choice of bonus card (for those that think that there is not enought to negotiate).
My idea is that after getting tiles but before negotiations start, deal two bonus cards face up. After the negotiations finish and before placing businesses on the board the start player chooses which of the two bonus cards will apply this round. The other bonus card is shuffled back into the deck. The trick to make this work is that the start token becomes another item up for negotiation.
(My original idea was that there was an auction for the privilege of choosing which of the two bonus cards apply but I think that making the start token negotiable is more thematic than an auction).
Note: the start token passes to the left as normal between rounds.
Il Principe
The other game of the evening was Il Principe. I have never really got the hang of this game. I certainly didn't get much control of the roles (which is a very important way to score points from other peoples city building and also a way to improve your position). Lance, Carl and I were short of green cards for much of the game which seem to be vital for building most of the cities. In the last two rounds I got no yellow cards which were required for all the cities available at that time. I got another fifth place.
Peter, Carl, Lance, Andrew and I played Chinatown and I think I must have played the worse game ever by coming fifth. I let things go too easily and also traded too early. Peter won dispite his game long protestations of loosing.
Variant
I did think up a variant on the way to work the next day which changes the luck of the bonus card to one of choice of bonus card (for those that think that there is not enought to negotiate).
My idea is that after getting tiles but before negotiations start, deal two bonus cards face up. After the negotiations finish and before placing businesses on the board the start player chooses which of the two bonus cards will apply this round. The other bonus card is shuffled back into the deck. The trick to make this work is that the start token becomes another item up for negotiation.
(My original idea was that there was an auction for the privilege of choosing which of the two bonus cards apply but I think that making the start token negotiable is more thematic than an auction).
Note: the start token passes to the left as normal between rounds.
Il Principe
The other game of the evening was Il Principe. I have never really got the hang of this game. I certainly didn't get much control of the roles (which is a very important way to score points from other peoples city building and also a way to improve your position). Lance, Carl and I were short of green cards for much of the game which seem to be vital for building most of the cities. In the last two rounds I got no yellow cards which were required for all the cities available at that time. I got another fifth place.
Aton, Anne's second win - 7 May
Anne challenged me to some more Aton. The first game was won by me on points 51 to 30. In the second game I tried for a temple victory in the forth temple and was successful. In the third game it was Anne's turn to try for a fourth temple victory. The TV was on and we both got distracted and Anne missed a win. Then I missed a way to stop her letting her win in the end.
I won 2 games to 1 bringing my overall record against Anne to 8-2.
I won 2 games to 1 bringing my overall record against Anne to 8-2.
Saturday, 6 May 2006
My games at Carl & Bab's place - 5 May
John, Sean and I arrived just as Matt, Carl and Babs were worried that no-one else was going to arrive. While Carl and Babs put the boys to bed we put games on the table. Oasis was chosen
Oasis
The first player token moved between Matt, Carl and Sean, while John concentrated on the green and yellow grass. Carl picked up a big pile of multipliers and built lots of stone. I seemed to get stuck with 3 cards or less and didn't get much of anything until I started to collect camels, and ended up with ten. Matt started off with a good camel herd before diversifying into just about everything. Sean got the biggest camel herd but like me not much of anything else.
John 120
Carl 108
Matt 103
Sean 69
Ian 63
California
Matt left to watch rugby and the remaining four chose California over Mexica merely because Carl hadn't played it before. John reversed his luck of comming last in his previous games by jumping out to a lead, and Sean followed both grabbing various bonuses. Sean kept the brown visitor for most of the game which meant a present each time he got a different visitor. John had a perpetual party with two or three visitors. Carl and I made much heavier work of it, both of us choosing to go after a bonus tile that John was two moves closer to winning with the obvious result. Unlike the rest of us Carl managed to stay out of debt.
Sean 21 + $3
John 21 + $1
Carl 13 + $2
Ian 13 + $1
Hornochsen
We finished California at half time and then looked for another 45 minute game to play during the second half. I suggested Hornochsen and Carl was enthusiastic. I made a slight omission when explaining the rules by not explaining that you could only put one +5 and one x2 on each pile. This game takes a couple of playings to appreciate the tactical options and I was at an advantage with three beginners. I ran out of cards first but made the mistake of keeping my +5 and x2 until the end so had to rid of them where other people could use them. Carl ended up picking up a fair bit of red stuff.
Sean 20 (4x5)
Ian 9
John 8
Carl -ve (I forget how much)
You're Bluffing
Sean left and the rest us wanted to play a short game. I suggested "You're Bluffing" which Carl and co. have been put off before by the children's picture book style artwork. This time I stress its similarity to "For Sale" (which might be dubious) and got it onto the table. We were all scared of the bluffing aspect and there was little trading before all the animals were auctioned. I only had three sets in front of me and kicked off the major trading by spending big to get a pair of donkeys from John. My next trade in dogs was unsuccesful and I lost my dog. I finally got the last pig to give me two sets and take me out of the game. At this point John had the most money and a pair of horses, with Carl holding the other pair. Gradually Matt worked up to two sets. Everyone had at least one goat and goats became the most traded commodity causing the fourth goat to rotate around the table with money moving from hand to hand in the opposite direction. No-one getting a significant money advantage over the others. Finally the sets sorted themselves out with the game taking considerably longer than advertised.
John won (Carl could provide the scores)
Oasis
The first player token moved between Matt, Carl and Sean, while John concentrated on the green and yellow grass. Carl picked up a big pile of multipliers and built lots of stone. I seemed to get stuck with 3 cards or less and didn't get much of anything until I started to collect camels, and ended up with ten. Matt started off with a good camel herd before diversifying into just about everything. Sean got the biggest camel herd but like me not much of anything else.
John 120
Carl 108
Matt 103
Sean 69
Ian 63
California
Matt left to watch rugby and the remaining four chose California over Mexica merely because Carl hadn't played it before. John reversed his luck of comming last in his previous games by jumping out to a lead, and Sean followed both grabbing various bonuses. Sean kept the brown visitor for most of the game which meant a present each time he got a different visitor. John had a perpetual party with two or three visitors. Carl and I made much heavier work of it, both of us choosing to go after a bonus tile that John was two moves closer to winning with the obvious result. Unlike the rest of us Carl managed to stay out of debt.
Sean 21 + $3
John 21 + $1
Carl 13 + $2
Ian 13 + $1
Hornochsen
We finished California at half time and then looked for another 45 minute game to play during the second half. I suggested Hornochsen and Carl was enthusiastic. I made a slight omission when explaining the rules by not explaining that you could only put one +5 and one x2 on each pile. This game takes a couple of playings to appreciate the tactical options and I was at an advantage with three beginners. I ran out of cards first but made the mistake of keeping my +5 and x2 until the end so had to rid of them where other people could use them. Carl ended up picking up a fair bit of red stuff.
Sean 20 (4x5)
Ian 9
John 8
Carl -ve (I forget how much)
You're Bluffing
Sean left and the rest us wanted to play a short game. I suggested "You're Bluffing" which Carl and co. have been put off before by the children's picture book style artwork. This time I stress its similarity to "For Sale" (which might be dubious) and got it onto the table. We were all scared of the bluffing aspect and there was little trading before all the animals were auctioned. I only had three sets in front of me and kicked off the major trading by spending big to get a pair of donkeys from John. My next trade in dogs was unsuccesful and I lost my dog. I finally got the last pig to give me two sets and take me out of the game. At this point John had the most money and a pair of horses, with Carl holding the other pair. Gradually Matt worked up to two sets. Everyone had at least one goat and goats became the most traded commodity causing the fourth goat to rotate around the table with money moving from hand to hand in the opposite direction. No-one getting a significant money advantage over the others. Finally the sets sorted themselves out with the game taking considerably longer than advertised.
John won (Carl could provide the scores)
Thursday, 4 May 2006
4 games at Peter's place - 3 May
Hey! That's My Fish!
While people were arriving we played this cute filler of moving penguins and eating fish. The penguins were Peter, Nigel, Andrew and myself. This is one of those games where it is easy to see what you should have done once the next player or two have played!
I won despite letting one of my penguins get unnecessarily isolated.
Great Wall of China
Peter, Eugene, Andrew and Nigel went off to play at being archiologists. So the rest of us tried to find a five-player game that we all wanted to play. Some people were feeling a bit picky so it too awhile! Card games don't often get played at Peter's place but with John, Luke and I in favour of this game it got played.
Luke started with a power play that won him 3 tiles early on but left him short of cards in hand for the rest of the game. I wasted a lot of cards early on in battles where I came second or third and tried in the second half to use my cards more wisely. I was not alone in wasting cards, there were a couple of expensive battles. At the end I was left in a guessing game with Jarratt and Luke was left in a king maker position.
This is another game where you see the move you should have done once the next player or two have played! Jarratt is "off" Reiner Knizia at the moment and was feeling in the mood for something more baroque so didn't enjoy himself (not that there are any games that fit his requirements and his time limitations!).
Lance and I won with 30 each and the rest were close behind.
California
Jarratt left and with the other table still playing we brought out California to fill in time. Lance got off to a lead by getting the first present and the first bonus tile. The rest of us tried to play catch up. For the last three days Lance was looking for a green piece of furnature and John was looking for some green floor. Much to the amusement of the rest of us.
Lance won. Luke and I came second.
Hacienda
People left in droves and we were down to six people. Again Peter, Luke and Eugene grabed a game (The Ark) and headed for the other table. Lance, Nigel and I were left to choose a three player. We finally settled on Hacienda. This was my second playing of this game and Nigel's first. We played the 'random' side of the board in this game of claiming land and taking herds to market. It is a deceptive tile laying, hand management, money management type game with multiple ways of scoring points. I thought I played a lot better than previously but didn't reach enough markets.
Lance won by a substantial margin.
While people were arriving we played this cute filler of moving penguins and eating fish. The penguins were Peter, Nigel, Andrew and myself. This is one of those games where it is easy to see what you should have done once the next player or two have played!
I won despite letting one of my penguins get unnecessarily isolated.
Great Wall of China
Peter, Eugene, Andrew and Nigel went off to play at being archiologists. So the rest of us tried to find a five-player game that we all wanted to play. Some people were feeling a bit picky so it too awhile! Card games don't often get played at Peter's place but with John, Luke and I in favour of this game it got played.
Luke started with a power play that won him 3 tiles early on but left him short of cards in hand for the rest of the game. I wasted a lot of cards early on in battles where I came second or third and tried in the second half to use my cards more wisely. I was not alone in wasting cards, there were a couple of expensive battles. At the end I was left in a guessing game with Jarratt and Luke was left in a king maker position.
This is another game where you see the move you should have done once the next player or two have played! Jarratt is "off" Reiner Knizia at the moment and was feeling in the mood for something more baroque so didn't enjoy himself (not that there are any games that fit his requirements and his time limitations!).
Lance and I won with 30 each and the rest were close behind.
California
Jarratt left and with the other table still playing we brought out California to fill in time. Lance got off to a lead by getting the first present and the first bonus tile. The rest of us tried to play catch up. For the last three days Lance was looking for a green piece of furnature and John was looking for some green floor. Much to the amusement of the rest of us.
Lance won. Luke and I came second.
Hacienda
People left in droves and we were down to six people. Again Peter, Luke and Eugene grabed a game (The Ark) and headed for the other table. Lance, Nigel and I were left to choose a three player. We finally settled on Hacienda. This was my second playing of this game and Nigel's first. We played the 'random' side of the board in this game of claiming land and taking herds to market. It is a deceptive tile laying, hand management, money management type game with multiple ways of scoring points. I thought I played a lot better than previously but didn't reach enough markets.
Lance won by a substantial margin.
Sunday, 30 April 2006
More Aton at home - 30 April
Anne and I played two games of Aton tonight.
In game one I initially tried for a temple three victory but was successfully blocked so I switched my attention to temple one. In the end we both passed forty during the second scoring round. I got 55 and Anne got 46.
In game two I tried for a temple two victory, unusually we both played low in the first cartouche most of the time. Anne blocked me sufficiently to stop me getting a victory before the first scoring round, and she roared ahead of me around the score track. I switched my attention to yellow as I already had 4 in temple two and I grabbed 4 more in temple one. I then grabbed the 3 in temple four and temple three became the battle ground. I was pretty reckless when it came to points and other majorities, but unluckily for Anne she wasn't drawing many threes and fours at this point and I grabbed the last yellow for victory before the second scoring round. Anne got 30 points to my 8.
So a yellow or green victory is possible.
In game one I initially tried for a temple three victory but was successfully blocked so I switched my attention to temple one. In the end we both passed forty during the second scoring round. I got 55 and Anne got 46.
In game two I tried for a temple two victory, unusually we both played low in the first cartouche most of the time. Anne blocked me sufficiently to stop me getting a victory before the first scoring round, and she roared ahead of me around the score track. I switched my attention to yellow as I already had 4 in temple two and I grabbed 4 more in temple one. I then grabbed the 3 in temple four and temple three became the battle ground. I was pretty reckless when it came to points and other majorities, but unluckily for Anne she wasn't drawing many threes and fours at this point and I grabbed the last yellow for victory before the second scoring round. Anne got 30 points to my 8.
So a yellow or green victory is possible.
Aton at home - 29 April
Anne and I played 5 games of Aton tonight (Anne's first games and my second to sixth games).
Neither of us tried for a green or yellow victory. On reflection both of us think that a yellow or green victory is the hardest type. There are 14 green (or yellow) squares to occupy (compared with 12 in a temple), no guarantee of points while you are doing it and it is easy to spot and counter.
- I won with a points victory
- I changed strategy and won with a first temple victory
- Anne went for a first temple victory and I went for a 4th temple victory. I gave away lots of points and got very close but Anne got closer and filled her temple
- I went for a first temple victory but won on points
- I won on points
Neither of us tried for a green or yellow victory. On reflection both of us think that a yellow or green victory is the hardest type. There are 14 green (or yellow) squares to occupy (compared with 12 in a temple), no guarantee of points while you are doing it and it is easy to spot and counter.
Saturday, 29 April 2006
The three game session week - 24, 26, 28 April
I haven't written up any game sessions for awhile. But I think it is good practice for writing skills and game analysis skills.
This week we had three game sessions. Because Peter was sick last Wednesday we had games at our place. Peter was probably feeling under-gamed because he invited us to games on Monday night, Tuesday being a public holiday was another useful excuse for more gaming.
Peter’s place - Monday 24 April
Ticket to Ride - Märklin Edition
The passenger rule makes this game more interesting than the original Ticket to Ride. There are passenger cards in the deck, a little pile of tokens on most of the stations and everyone has 3 plastic passengers. When you play a set cards and claim a section of track you can optionally put down one of your passengers on one of the two stations. On a future turn you can (instead of the normal actions) move your passenger along your track as far as you like picking up the station tokens as you go. You can also play passenger cards to allow you to use other peoples track sections. The tokens have decreasing values (like the bonus tiles in Thurn und Taxis). Most of the stations have tokens ranging between 1 and 4 points but Berlin starts at 7 points. Your passenger is discarded after it moved.
Even though Peter warned us of the importance of getting ones passengers down on the board and then moving them most of us didn’t make much effort to do so until the middle of the game. The passengers mean it is important to decide where to place your early track so that your first passengers get a good run through the best stations. This is often at conflict with securing the important choke points to score your tickets. I enjoyed this game a lot more than the original, though still think it take a bit long for a game of its weight.
There are other differences from the original game: 2 separate decks of tickets (long & short), 2 types of wild card, a ten point bonus for most tickets completed rather than longest route and bigger cards. But the passengers are the most important difference.
Note: Ticket to Ride - Europe also has big cards and separate long and short ticket decks (players start with 1 long and 3 short), players may need 0-3 extra cards to build a section with a tunnel., some sections need 1 or more wild cards to complete (ferry routes), each player has 3 stations which cost 1-3 cards to lay and cost 4 points if not laid, each station allows the use of another players section when scoring a ticket.
Thurm und Taxis
Lance and I introduced Jarratt to 'Thurm und Taxis'. I was half expecting Jarratt to win but he didn't. The scores make it look like Lance ran away with the game but the game didn't feel like that.
Lance 29
Jarratt 16
Ian 14
Peter’s place - Wednesday 26 April
Die Handler
Kate, Luke, Peter and I played this game while the other eight people played on the other two tables. For most of us this was our second playing of this game but it had been many months and many other new games in between playings and we all needed a rules refresh.
This is a game of buying, transporting and selling goods coupled with an increasingly expensive status ladder, which must be climbed to win. There is reasonable scope for shafting when it comes to loading the wagons, moving the wagons and manipulating the prices. There is also a shortage of cash caused by the increasing expenses on higher rungs of the status ladder we all must climb to win, and the increasing cost of moving up the ladder as the game progresses. Experience should speed this game up and should also make us ready for the advanced version of the game.
Everyone enjoyed the game and I beat Peter by 400 guilders on the tie break.
Medici
Peter, Kate, Luke, John B and I played this purest of auction games. It turned out to be one of the most brutal games of Medici we have played, including the most nasty accidental shaft we have seen when John after thinking carefully for awhile bid 16 without noticing that this was exactly the number of points that Luke had (Luke being the other person interested in the cards on offer).
Carl’s place - Friday 28 April
Aton
This was the first time anyone had played my new two player game about vying for power in the temples of Egypt. The components are straight forward: two identical decks of numbered cards, 2 sets of counters and a pretty board containing four 12 square temples, an eight square city of the dead, a score track and 4 cartouches each. But the rules are more complex. Basically each player draws four cards from their deck and places them face down against the 4 cartouches, then all cards are turned up. The cartouches determine how the number on each card is evaluated: turn order, how many counters you get to take off, how many you get to put on and which temples can you do this in. The game is about controlling the temples and scoring points in various ways. There are four different game-end/win conditions and seven ways to score points so there is plenty to keep track of.
I ignored the first cartouche (which scores someone up to six points per turn) to my cost and concentrated on going for a green victory (placing counters in all the green squares). Carl played for points and won on about turn 7 or 8. We both enjoyed this game.
Oltre Mare
Sharon’s liked this game so much last week that I brought it again, this time Carl and Matt were also keen so Oltre Mare edged out California and Great Wall of China as the game to play. It was Carl’s first game but he caught on quickly. In the first half Matt, John and I dominated the trading but the half way scoring saw Carl, Matt and John clustered around the thirty mark while Sharon and I trailed ten points behind, but I had more pirate cards than all the others put together. In the second half Matt, Carl and Sharon dominated the trading. Matt and I did the most sailing while the other three spent much of the game sitting on pirate free ports. Sharon did her usual thing with sticking on "hand limit 6, play 1" cards and planning up to three moves in advance.
Carl won and I think this game will get played again.
Great Wall of China
This new game was also a big hit last week and this time we played five player, with Sharon being the new player. Last week we had decided that conflict would mainly benefit the non-competing players and we were very peaceable about dividing the spoils. This meant that no-one was in danger of playing all the cards much before the others and also that we all had plenty of good cards left at the end to squabble over the last few tokens. The 7 and 8 point tokens all came out in the first half of the game and those last tokens we fought over were mainly 1s, 2s and 3s! The scores were very close this week and I think we all have more to learn about this game.
Matt 31
Carl & Sharon 30
Ian 29
John 27
This week we had three game sessions. Because Peter was sick last Wednesday we had games at our place. Peter was probably feeling under-gamed because he invited us to games on Monday night, Tuesday being a public holiday was another useful excuse for more gaming.
Peter’s place - Monday 24 April
Ticket to Ride - Märklin Edition
The passenger rule makes this game more interesting than the original Ticket to Ride. There are passenger cards in the deck, a little pile of tokens on most of the stations and everyone has 3 plastic passengers. When you play a set cards and claim a section of track you can optionally put down one of your passengers on one of the two stations. On a future turn you can (instead of the normal actions) move your passenger along your track as far as you like picking up the station tokens as you go. You can also play passenger cards to allow you to use other peoples track sections. The tokens have decreasing values (like the bonus tiles in Thurn und Taxis). Most of the stations have tokens ranging between 1 and 4 points but Berlin starts at 7 points. Your passenger is discarded after it moved.
Even though Peter warned us of the importance of getting ones passengers down on the board and then moving them most of us didn’t make much effort to do so until the middle of the game. The passengers mean it is important to decide where to place your early track so that your first passengers get a good run through the best stations. This is often at conflict with securing the important choke points to score your tickets. I enjoyed this game a lot more than the original, though still think it take a bit long for a game of its weight.
There are other differences from the original game: 2 separate decks of tickets (long & short), 2 types of wild card, a ten point bonus for most tickets completed rather than longest route and bigger cards. But the passengers are the most important difference.
Note: Ticket to Ride - Europe also has big cards and separate long and short ticket decks (players start with 1 long and 3 short), players may need 0-3 extra cards to build a section with a tunnel., some sections need 1 or more wild cards to complete (ferry routes), each player has 3 stations which cost 1-3 cards to lay and cost 4 points if not laid, each station allows the use of another players section when scoring a ticket.
Thurm und Taxis
Lance and I introduced Jarratt to 'Thurm und Taxis'. I was half expecting Jarratt to win but he didn't. The scores make it look like Lance ran away with the game but the game didn't feel like that.
Lance 29
Jarratt 16
Ian 14
Peter’s place - Wednesday 26 April
Die Handler
Kate, Luke, Peter and I played this game while the other eight people played on the other two tables. For most of us this was our second playing of this game but it had been many months and many other new games in between playings and we all needed a rules refresh.
This is a game of buying, transporting and selling goods coupled with an increasingly expensive status ladder, which must be climbed to win. There is reasonable scope for shafting when it comes to loading the wagons, moving the wagons and manipulating the prices. There is also a shortage of cash caused by the increasing expenses on higher rungs of the status ladder we all must climb to win, and the increasing cost of moving up the ladder as the game progresses. Experience should speed this game up and should also make us ready for the advanced version of the game.
Everyone enjoyed the game and I beat Peter by 400 guilders on the tie break.
Medici
Peter, Kate, Luke, John B and I played this purest of auction games. It turned out to be one of the most brutal games of Medici we have played, including the most nasty accidental shaft we have seen when John after thinking carefully for awhile bid 16 without noticing that this was exactly the number of points that Luke had (Luke being the other person interested in the cards on offer).
Carl’s place - Friday 28 April
Aton
This was the first time anyone had played my new two player game about vying for power in the temples of Egypt. The components are straight forward: two identical decks of numbered cards, 2 sets of counters and a pretty board containing four 12 square temples, an eight square city of the dead, a score track and 4 cartouches each. But the rules are more complex. Basically each player draws four cards from their deck and places them face down against the 4 cartouches, then all cards are turned up. The cartouches determine how the number on each card is evaluated: turn order, how many counters you get to take off, how many you get to put on and which temples can you do this in. The game is about controlling the temples and scoring points in various ways. There are four different game-end/win conditions and seven ways to score points so there is plenty to keep track of.
I ignored the first cartouche (which scores someone up to six points per turn) to my cost and concentrated on going for a green victory (placing counters in all the green squares). Carl played for points and won on about turn 7 or 8. We both enjoyed this game.
Oltre Mare
Sharon’s liked this game so much last week that I brought it again, this time Carl and Matt were also keen so Oltre Mare edged out California and Great Wall of China as the game to play. It was Carl’s first game but he caught on quickly. In the first half Matt, John and I dominated the trading but the half way scoring saw Carl, Matt and John clustered around the thirty mark while Sharon and I trailed ten points behind, but I had more pirate cards than all the others put together. In the second half Matt, Carl and Sharon dominated the trading. Matt and I did the most sailing while the other three spent much of the game sitting on pirate free ports. Sharon did her usual thing with sticking on "hand limit 6, play 1" cards and planning up to three moves in advance.
Carl won and I think this game will get played again.
Great Wall of China
This new game was also a big hit last week and this time we played five player, with Sharon being the new player. Last week we had decided that conflict would mainly benefit the non-competing players and we were very peaceable about dividing the spoils. This meant that no-one was in danger of playing all the cards much before the others and also that we all had plenty of good cards left at the end to squabble over the last few tokens. The 7 and 8 point tokens all came out in the first half of the game and those last tokens we fought over were mainly 1s, 2s and 3s! The scores were very close this week and I think we all have more to learn about this game.
Matt 31
Carl & Sharon 30
Ian 29
John 27
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