Monday was slow.
I was soooo tired Monday morning. I guess it was backlash from the busy, busy weekend. Massive coffee kicked in around ten, though, and I rocked through the day until falling asleep in front of the incredibly boring "Last Days" by Gus Van Zandt. Unforunately, now I feel like I have to pick it up where I fell asleep to see if there was anything to it. I doubt it will be rewarding, though, as Kristin was baffled by the film's existence...
I stopped by Critical Hit on the way home last night, and managed to get in a couple of games of San Juan with Jerod. I like the quick, easy gameplay with two players, but it's not a great 2 player game. There's not really enough back and forth interaction for me. In both games, oddly, Jerod seemed he had the better hand early on, and then I caught up and passed him. In game 1, I had silver early, and got to buy lots of stuff even though he was the one pushing production. In the end, my three big buildings racked up massive points (54). Second game was a little slower for him, but he went silver fast, pushed production, and was ahead of me on cards quite a bit. Oddly, he drew way too many production facilities, and not the right violet buildings to back him up. I drew lots of cards with the library, and, again, built three six costs, for not quite as many victory points, but more than enough to win, especially as he only managed to build eight buildings.
One of the good things about my recent plays of this game is that it has become clear that there are multiple "paths" to victory, and that it's important to determine (and continually evaluate) what path you are on. You can build a building that doesn't help you too much, but you can't build more than one... or even one that doesn't help you at all (like a triumphal arch with no monuments).
I've got quite a bit of gaming coming up this month, including AGOT tournaments in Chicago, a game day in Iowa City, and, hopefully, Magic: the Gathering in Madison. It should be an interesting few weeks.
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Saturday, February 25, 2006
Gamicon, Day Two
Well, last night wansn't incredible. I played three games I'd played before, with people I already knew. I was still optimistic for today, though, when I crawled out of bed at 6:40 in order to make it to the 8 AM slot for El Grande. When I arrived, I was happy to see that the game wasn't full. Unfortunately, the only takers were myself and GM Patrick Johanns. Patrick and I sat and chatted for a couple minutes while I finished my breakfast banana and worked on the massive mocha I had purchased at the Java House. While we were sitting there, a couple people came into the room to run Risk 2210. However, there was nobody waiting to play in their game, and with the mildest coercion they joined us.
I have been hoping to get to try this game for some time, and so I was raring to go. Patrick went through the rules thoroughly, and we were off to Spain. We played the shortened version, with only 6 rounds, so everything went really quick. One thing I thought was a bit of a disadvantage was getting stuck on a low-scoring region. Through the course of the game, it can cost you several points. I really liked the feel of intersecting choices in this game, and how decisions you make can come back quickly to pay off in subsequent turns... or to hurt you. I mest up the Castillo once, and it probably cost me second place, and four points off the leader... I don't have too many comments for this play. Christine and Andrew were very nice people to game with. Everyone made nice moves at one point of another, and Christine roared into second in the midgame with a repositioning of a scoring over-tile, and movement of the king, along with benefiting from my Castillo mistake. Patrick outclassed us all, though, with intelligent play throughout. I look forward to playing again.
I ran into the auction, hoping for the used/out-of-print games I wished the dealers had, but it was pretty disappointing. Mainly, a bunch of roleplaying books, with not much else laying around. I ditched and went back to gaming.
After stopping off in the dealer area to say hi to Jerod and Spud, I went back into the board game room. Patrick's brother Tim had showed up, as had Dan Chapman, so the four of us and Andrew sat down to Alhambra. This is another new play for me. It's not a game I've been overly enthusiastic to play, but I have wanted to try it. It was just a little similar to Palazzo, with the different currencies and building. I went into Towers early, and led the scoring for the first two rounds. Then, the buildings that came up got on a bad streek for me, with two other people getting into Towers, and me getting spread out. The second scoring round came early, too, so there was a lot of time for people to catch up and pass me. Tim worked a couple early shortages, like Mezzanines and Chambers, into three strong first place positions, and first place. Patrick caught up with me and passed me on the strength of his many Towers, and his long, long, wall.
I had to split for a while, to take care of some business at the school. After getting lunch and seeing to preparations for tomorrow's tournament (today's!), I headed back home to chat with Kristin a little and rest. A little napping and a little reorganization of the game bag, and I was on my way back to the con.
I had to sit around for a little while when I got there, as everyone was already in on games. I decided to pass the time browsing the Power Grid rules, a game I wanted to play very much. I watched Erin, Eric, Gare, and Justin Green play a couple games of Rumis. It seemed they had a lot of fun, except maybe Gare, who went from winning the first one to being out in the second round of the second game. After they put that away, we got a five player game of Modern Art going. I predicted I would be terrible in my first play, and boy did I back it up. I made a couple of really poor decisions, including bidding on the wrong thing and offering the wrong thing for auction. In the end, I finished well in last place. I did like the game, and there was a lot of snappy banter to go with it, which made it extra fun. I'm afraid I'm just not really into the auction mechanic.
I decided to wait for Dan and Ziggy to finish their Puerto Rico game in order to get Power Grid going. The others were waiting for Chris to finish his game, to start Caylus. While we were waiting, Eric and I got in most of a round of Fjords, and I chatted with Justin about Durham, where he's just moved from and I'm moving to in July. The games ended quickly, though, and we were soon back on the cardboard.
Power Grid felt like a little bit of a headlong plunge, to me. I was in last place after turn one, and from there I went into the lead for most of the rest of the game, only losing the lead in the last couple turns. I messed up one turn as we thought there was one more city needed to trigger phase two, and I hadn't wanted to rush ahead, so hadn't bothered to buy a new power plant, when I could have powered more cities. This cost me a little. Bigger, though, were the good plants I let go for cheap, thinking I would get a better one from the other row, only to have a poor, cheap plant in it's place. Also, I messed up in the final round of plant purchasing. Worried that there was little coal on the table, and many people using it, I felt that I should purchase an alternative plant to ensure that I could power 14 cities. This wasn't a horrible idea, really, but I ended up paying way too much for the plant, and it probably cost me the game. In the end, Koch, Ziggy, and I got to 14 powered cities on the same turn, and Koch won on mony by almost twenty. However, I payed 60 for my plant, and my resources only would have cost around 20... Well, we live and learn.
After Power Grid, I was pretty gamed out, so I cam home to write this and hit the sack. I was really happy with my day. The only problem now is which game to buy next (it would be El Grande, but the reprint isn't scheduled until April). Overall, 4 new games in one day isn't bad at all. I could have played a little better, but it was still lots of fun.
Well, last night wansn't incredible. I played three games I'd played before, with people I already knew. I was still optimistic for today, though, when I crawled out of bed at 6:40 in order to make it to the 8 AM slot for El Grande. When I arrived, I was happy to see that the game wasn't full. Unfortunately, the only takers were myself and GM Patrick Johanns. Patrick and I sat and chatted for a couple minutes while I finished my breakfast banana and worked on the massive mocha I had purchased at the Java House. While we were sitting there, a couple people came into the room to run Risk 2210. However, there was nobody waiting to play in their game, and with the mildest coercion they joined us.
I have been hoping to get to try this game for some time, and so I was raring to go. Patrick went through the rules thoroughly, and we were off to Spain. We played the shortened version, with only 6 rounds, so everything went really quick. One thing I thought was a bit of a disadvantage was getting stuck on a low-scoring region. Through the course of the game, it can cost you several points. I really liked the feel of intersecting choices in this game, and how decisions you make can come back quickly to pay off in subsequent turns... or to hurt you. I mest up the Castillo once, and it probably cost me second place, and four points off the leader... I don't have too many comments for this play. Christine and Andrew were very nice people to game with. Everyone made nice moves at one point of another, and Christine roared into second in the midgame with a repositioning of a scoring over-tile, and movement of the king, along with benefiting from my Castillo mistake. Patrick outclassed us all, though, with intelligent play throughout. I look forward to playing again.
I ran into the auction, hoping for the used/out-of-print games I wished the dealers had, but it was pretty disappointing. Mainly, a bunch of roleplaying books, with not much else laying around. I ditched and went back to gaming.
After stopping off in the dealer area to say hi to Jerod and Spud, I went back into the board game room. Patrick's brother Tim had showed up, as had Dan Chapman, so the four of us and Andrew sat down to Alhambra. This is another new play for me. It's not a game I've been overly enthusiastic to play, but I have wanted to try it. It was just a little similar to Palazzo, with the different currencies and building. I went into Towers early, and led the scoring for the first two rounds. Then, the buildings that came up got on a bad streek for me, with two other people getting into Towers, and me getting spread out. The second scoring round came early, too, so there was a lot of time for people to catch up and pass me. Tim worked a couple early shortages, like Mezzanines and Chambers, into three strong first place positions, and first place. Patrick caught up with me and passed me on the strength of his many Towers, and his long, long, wall.
I had to split for a while, to take care of some business at the school. After getting lunch and seeing to preparations for tomorrow's tournament (today's!), I headed back home to chat with Kristin a little and rest. A little napping and a little reorganization of the game bag, and I was on my way back to the con.
I had to sit around for a little while when I got there, as everyone was already in on games. I decided to pass the time browsing the Power Grid rules, a game I wanted to play very much. I watched Erin, Eric, Gare, and Justin Green play a couple games of Rumis. It seemed they had a lot of fun, except maybe Gare, who went from winning the first one to being out in the second round of the second game. After they put that away, we got a five player game of Modern Art going. I predicted I would be terrible in my first play, and boy did I back it up. I made a couple of really poor decisions, including bidding on the wrong thing and offering the wrong thing for auction. In the end, I finished well in last place. I did like the game, and there was a lot of snappy banter to go with it, which made it extra fun. I'm afraid I'm just not really into the auction mechanic.
I decided to wait for Dan and Ziggy to finish their Puerto Rico game in order to get Power Grid going. The others were waiting for Chris to finish his game, to start Caylus. While we were waiting, Eric and I got in most of a round of Fjords, and I chatted with Justin about Durham, where he's just moved from and I'm moving to in July. The games ended quickly, though, and we were soon back on the cardboard.
Power Grid felt like a little bit of a headlong plunge, to me. I was in last place after turn one, and from there I went into the lead for most of the rest of the game, only losing the lead in the last couple turns. I messed up one turn as we thought there was one more city needed to trigger phase two, and I hadn't wanted to rush ahead, so hadn't bothered to buy a new power plant, when I could have powered more cities. This cost me a little. Bigger, though, were the good plants I let go for cheap, thinking I would get a better one from the other row, only to have a poor, cheap plant in it's place. Also, I messed up in the final round of plant purchasing. Worried that there was little coal on the table, and many people using it, I felt that I should purchase an alternative plant to ensure that I could power 14 cities. This wasn't a horrible idea, really, but I ended up paying way too much for the plant, and it probably cost me the game. In the end, Koch, Ziggy, and I got to 14 powered cities on the same turn, and Koch won on mony by almost twenty. However, I payed 60 for my plant, and my resources only would have cost around 20... Well, we live and learn.
After Power Grid, I was pretty gamed out, so I cam home to write this and hit the sack. I was really happy with my day. The only problem now is which game to buy next (it would be El Grande, but the reprint isn't scheduled until April). Overall, 4 new games in one day isn't bad at all. I could have played a little better, but it was still lots of fun.
Friday, February 24, 2006
Gamicon-First Night
Tonight was the kickoff for this year's Gamicon, a convention I haven't gone to in over a decade. With my recent heavy involvement in gaming, I thought I'd wander over there and see what was up. At the worst, I'd get a chance to play some games with people I already know, and contribute $25 to the con itself.
I was around the 150th person to register, and I could see quite a few gamers wandering around the IMU. It looked pretty promising, really. I agreed to join a game of Carcassonne: Hunters & Gatherers with Ziggy and Dan. While they were setting up, I ran off to sign up for the 8 O'clock Puerto Rico game Dan was running, and visit the dealer area.
The dealer area was pretty boring. Really, it was 5 different dealers seeling in-print games, and one table of people selling some pretty cool, arty fantasy t-shirts they had made. I'm not a crazy t-shirt fan, so it wasn't too exciting. I was hoping for some kind of selection of used/out-of-print stuff, but it wasn't to be.
Returning to the table, Andy Miller jumped into the game, and we all exchanged some banter with Steve Groom while he was opening some AGOT packs. Dan taught Andy the basic rules, and the game got underway. As an abstract game, Hunters & Gatherers seems better constructed than basic Carcassonne. However, I have a hard time getting into it. The tile layout just never really coalesces into something interesting to me. Consequently, I think it contributes to me not paying as much attention to the game, and me having less fun. The bonus tiles can be a really big thing, too, which can be somewhat arbitrary. It adds a little more of a swingy nature to the game, and the chaos can be nice. Dan seemed to be the early threat, for some reason, but the tile-laying was sowhat random. I committed too many fishermen early, three of whom ended up getting trapped until fairly late in the game. As a result, my point scoring opportunities were very limited. I got the tile to release one of my fishermen as my last tile of the game... after playing him on maybe my third or fourth play. Things were back and forth, although Andy ran behind most of the game. He had a big hunter at the end, but not as big as Dan's, who's gigantic hunter went very well with his huge fishing hut (courtesy of the four fish bonus tile). I got into position to tie into Dan's big hunter, but Ziggy drew the standing stone bonus tile, and set it where it would tie him in too, if I played a piece to tie in. Of course, I didn't play that piece, even though I drew it. In the end, Dan won, putting me in second by about 5 points. Ziggy followed in third, and Andy brought up the rear of the formation.
After H & G, we had a little time to kill before Puerto Rico, so I taught the other two San Juan. Ziggy had a really nice opening draw of small purple modifier buildings, which set him up well to progress in the game. I had a poor hand, and went right for coffee, hoping to produce and draw cards. Ziggy's early gold mine paid off big several times in this game, generating some nice buildings for him. Getting to look at four and pick (when it works) makes it pretty good, I think. I ramped up to sugar, putting out a Guild Hall and 5 production buildings. I was a turn away from a Palace, which would have given me the game, but Ziggy wisely closed off the building while Dan and I had little money, and his massive number of purple buildings, big building, and Chapel were enough to take it, with me in second, and Dan frustrated to the point of not even counting his victory points.
Dan went right to setting up Puerto Rico, as Jerod had arrived from the dealer area to join us. We got set up, and it ended up Dan first, then me, then Jerod, then Ziggy. Dan settled for quarry, and I got corn. I built for small market, and Jerod and Ziggy picked up construction huts, which served them well. As the early game progressed, I planted more corn and scored a couple pretty good Captain rounds. In the midgame I lost the plot, and chased a couple of the wrong buildings, misanalyzing how many more shipping opportunities might remain. I ended up with both a small and large market, but got kept out of trading two or three times, which really cost me. Jerod ended up making quite a bit of money, and despite buying the wrong building at least once, he got to purchase two good big buildings. This proved to be the decider that would carry him over my early shipping. I should have shipped or produced at least two more times, rather than building myself. In the end, Ziggy chose to build for the last big building, when it would end the game (as Jerod had only one spot left), and when he was pretty clearly losing the game. Despite my pointing this out to him, Dan egged him on, and he went through with it. When the adobe set, Ziggy was in last, with Dan in third, me in second, and Jerod in first. I was a little frustrated as I didn't understand Ziggy's play at all, when he clearly needed to produce to try for another shipping round (of course this would have helped me also, although I don't think I would have won). It was a pretty enjoyable game, up until the end. I only wish I would have been a little more intellectually involved.
Hopefully tomorrow I'll get to check out the auction, and play a couple games I haven't played before. Chris and Edie run the board game room there, and they have several games (Torres, Java, Power Grid, Caylus...) that I haven't played and would love to try. Hope I get a chance to spend some time with them tomorrow.
Tonight was the kickoff for this year's Gamicon, a convention I haven't gone to in over a decade. With my recent heavy involvement in gaming, I thought I'd wander over there and see what was up. At the worst, I'd get a chance to play some games with people I already know, and contribute $25 to the con itself.
I was around the 150th person to register, and I could see quite a few gamers wandering around the IMU. It looked pretty promising, really. I agreed to join a game of Carcassonne: Hunters & Gatherers with Ziggy and Dan. While they were setting up, I ran off to sign up for the 8 O'clock Puerto Rico game Dan was running, and visit the dealer area.
The dealer area was pretty boring. Really, it was 5 different dealers seeling in-print games, and one table of people selling some pretty cool, arty fantasy t-shirts they had made. I'm not a crazy t-shirt fan, so it wasn't too exciting. I was hoping for some kind of selection of used/out-of-print stuff, but it wasn't to be.
Returning to the table, Andy Miller jumped into the game, and we all exchanged some banter with Steve Groom while he was opening some AGOT packs. Dan taught Andy the basic rules, and the game got underway. As an abstract game, Hunters & Gatherers seems better constructed than basic Carcassonne. However, I have a hard time getting into it. The tile layout just never really coalesces into something interesting to me. Consequently, I think it contributes to me not paying as much attention to the game, and me having less fun. The bonus tiles can be a really big thing, too, which can be somewhat arbitrary. It adds a little more of a swingy nature to the game, and the chaos can be nice. Dan seemed to be the early threat, for some reason, but the tile-laying was sowhat random. I committed too many fishermen early, three of whom ended up getting trapped until fairly late in the game. As a result, my point scoring opportunities were very limited. I got the tile to release one of my fishermen as my last tile of the game... after playing him on maybe my third or fourth play. Things were back and forth, although Andy ran behind most of the game. He had a big hunter at the end, but not as big as Dan's, who's gigantic hunter went very well with his huge fishing hut (courtesy of the four fish bonus tile). I got into position to tie into Dan's big hunter, but Ziggy drew the standing stone bonus tile, and set it where it would tie him in too, if I played a piece to tie in. Of course, I didn't play that piece, even though I drew it. In the end, Dan won, putting me in second by about 5 points. Ziggy followed in third, and Andy brought up the rear of the formation.
After H & G, we had a little time to kill before Puerto Rico, so I taught the other two San Juan. Ziggy had a really nice opening draw of small purple modifier buildings, which set him up well to progress in the game. I had a poor hand, and went right for coffee, hoping to produce and draw cards. Ziggy's early gold mine paid off big several times in this game, generating some nice buildings for him. Getting to look at four and pick (when it works) makes it pretty good, I think. I ramped up to sugar, putting out a Guild Hall and 5 production buildings. I was a turn away from a Palace, which would have given me the game, but Ziggy wisely closed off the building while Dan and I had little money, and his massive number of purple buildings, big building, and Chapel were enough to take it, with me in second, and Dan frustrated to the point of not even counting his victory points.
Dan went right to setting up Puerto Rico, as Jerod had arrived from the dealer area to join us. We got set up, and it ended up Dan first, then me, then Jerod, then Ziggy. Dan settled for quarry, and I got corn. I built for small market, and Jerod and Ziggy picked up construction huts, which served them well. As the early game progressed, I planted more corn and scored a couple pretty good Captain rounds. In the midgame I lost the plot, and chased a couple of the wrong buildings, misanalyzing how many more shipping opportunities might remain. I ended up with both a small and large market, but got kept out of trading two or three times, which really cost me. Jerod ended up making quite a bit of money, and despite buying the wrong building at least once, he got to purchase two good big buildings. This proved to be the decider that would carry him over my early shipping. I should have shipped or produced at least two more times, rather than building myself. In the end, Ziggy chose to build for the last big building, when it would end the game (as Jerod had only one spot left), and when he was pretty clearly losing the game. Despite my pointing this out to him, Dan egged him on, and he went through with it. When the adobe set, Ziggy was in last, with Dan in third, me in second, and Jerod in first. I was a little frustrated as I didn't understand Ziggy's play at all, when he clearly needed to produce to try for another shipping round (of course this would have helped me also, although I don't think I would have won). It was a pretty enjoyable game, up until the end. I only wish I would have been a little more intellectually involved.
Hopefully tomorrow I'll get to check out the auction, and play a couple games I haven't played before. Chris and Edie run the board game room there, and they have several games (Torres, Java, Power Grid, Caylus...) that I haven't played and would love to try. Hope I get a chance to spend some time with them tomorrow.
Ever since I finally had a chance to unbox Tigris & Euphrates, I've been itching to play again. I've given it a little thought, and have been hoping that my understanding of the game is somewhat deeper. In hope of getting a game going last night, I rang Dan C. After waking him up from his afternoon nap, I got him to groggily agree to meet me at the store for gaming at 8 pm. While waiting at the store, I had to convince Peter, who Dan had called, that I was not going to play Mutant Chronicles: Siege of the Citadel with him, as I had T&E burning a hole in the bottom of my mind. Dan arrived, and he, Peter, Jerod, and myself sat down in the cradle of civilization.
In our first play, we went at the game like it was a race for monuments. This quickly proved a mistake, as the early monument holder was caught out in conflict and became a man without a kingdom. That first game was really a learning experience in the mechanics of internal and external conflict, and gave a hint of the game's potential. This game, I wanted to utilize a more cautious gradual kingdom-building approach.
We spent several minutes explaining the basics of the game to Dan and Peter. A couple of things that didn't stick for them that I probably need to explain better were needing a green leader for treasure taking, and multiple conflicts (aside from conflict in general...). We got into the first game, proceeded several turns, got into some conflicts, worked out some misunderstandings, and then decided to start over, now that everyone "got it." The second game advanced more quickly, with players advancing kingdoms and building toward treasures. Jerod threw some chaos into the mix, making a couple moves based on how he felt rather than what he should have done to advance himself. This is fine, of course, and ultimately ended up helping the new players, which is good. As we got into conflict, it became apparent that everyone didn't "get it" yet, so we had to sort some stuff out/take moves back/etc.. Consequently, I'll still be looking forward to a "real" play of this game. We had some really intersting situations, as Jerod built up in the middle and became a sort of axis of conflict, as Peter, and then myself, moved in to try to link up for some treasure/vps, and then Jerod made a bad decision on attacking Dan based on a misunderstanding. I had luckily remained relatively isolated on one side of the board, taking the three treasures there. With a catastrophe tile to cut off Peter, and a timely link-up to the middle, I forced some more interaction there. Dan built a red monument at the lower middle board hoping to pump up black vps a little. However, the next turn I tied into it, won several external conflicts, and forced the game end by dumping my whole hand of tiles into the ensuing battles. It ended up being a little shakier of a decision than I thought, as I only beat Peter by a point. Dan was only probably one or two actions off the win, while Jerod was further behind. I think multiple conflict losses kicking his leaders off the board cost him too many actions. He also went last in this game, which seems it might be a disadvantage in 4 player games. You really have to pick where you are going to start to build from, and I think that fourth player will often get stuck in that middle position, which becomes vulnerable from too many sides. That said, I think the middle gets better as the number of players goes down to three, becoming a bit of an advantage, especially if you snag it early, probably influencing the other two to fight it out under the river/around you. I'll have to try it out. Of course, it depends on who you are playing with. This game would have been entirely different if Peter hadn't become obsessed with one of the corner treasures (the one opposite my own expansion). Overall, a good, fun play for me, althought a little frustrating for the new players I think. Ready for next time...
Perhaps it will come this weekend. I'm still waffling a little on Gamicon, but I think I'll go. We'll see if the game can make it out at the IMU.
In our first play, we went at the game like it was a race for monuments. This quickly proved a mistake, as the early monument holder was caught out in conflict and became a man without a kingdom. That first game was really a learning experience in the mechanics of internal and external conflict, and gave a hint of the game's potential. This game, I wanted to utilize a more cautious gradual kingdom-building approach.
We spent several minutes explaining the basics of the game to Dan and Peter. A couple of things that didn't stick for them that I probably need to explain better were needing a green leader for treasure taking, and multiple conflicts (aside from conflict in general...). We got into the first game, proceeded several turns, got into some conflicts, worked out some misunderstandings, and then decided to start over, now that everyone "got it." The second game advanced more quickly, with players advancing kingdoms and building toward treasures. Jerod threw some chaos into the mix, making a couple moves based on how he felt rather than what he should have done to advance himself. This is fine, of course, and ultimately ended up helping the new players, which is good. As we got into conflict, it became apparent that everyone didn't "get it" yet, so we had to sort some stuff out/take moves back/etc.. Consequently, I'll still be looking forward to a "real" play of this game. We had some really intersting situations, as Jerod built up in the middle and became a sort of axis of conflict, as Peter, and then myself, moved in to try to link up for some treasure/vps, and then Jerod made a bad decision on attacking Dan based on a misunderstanding. I had luckily remained relatively isolated on one side of the board, taking the three treasures there. With a catastrophe tile to cut off Peter, and a timely link-up to the middle, I forced some more interaction there. Dan built a red monument at the lower middle board hoping to pump up black vps a little. However, the next turn I tied into it, won several external conflicts, and forced the game end by dumping my whole hand of tiles into the ensuing battles. It ended up being a little shakier of a decision than I thought, as I only beat Peter by a point. Dan was only probably one or two actions off the win, while Jerod was further behind. I think multiple conflict losses kicking his leaders off the board cost him too many actions. He also went last in this game, which seems it might be a disadvantage in 4 player games. You really have to pick where you are going to start to build from, and I think that fourth player will often get stuck in that middle position, which becomes vulnerable from too many sides. That said, I think the middle gets better as the number of players goes down to three, becoming a bit of an advantage, especially if you snag it early, probably influencing the other two to fight it out under the river/around you. I'll have to try it out. Of course, it depends on who you are playing with. This game would have been entirely different if Peter hadn't become obsessed with one of the corner treasures (the one opposite my own expansion). Overall, a good, fun play for me, althought a little frustrating for the new players I think. Ready for next time...
Perhaps it will come this weekend. I'm still waffling a little on Gamicon, but I think I'll go. We'll see if the game can make it out at the IMU.
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
The gaming slowed down a little, obviously.
Sunday didn't amount to much. We didn't have enough interested players to run the AGOT tourney, so we played a couple group games instead. I played Stark Wo5K, won the first and came in 2nd in the 2nd. After that, Jerod and I played a couple games. His Baratheon Threat deck wasn't fully tweaked, though, and after a couple games he got called away to deal with customers, and I started to build decks. Steve decided to start priming some figs in the back, and the residual fumes that the figures brought in with them were really bothering me (I am, for some reason, really sensitive to this stuff), so I left. I had a dinner party to go to anyway, so no big deal.
I'll throw a little comment in here on some other gaming I've been doing. Based on a geeklist I found under the St. Pete entry on boardgamegeek, I've been playing a couple free downloadable games that you can play against bots, San Juan and a two player Tigris & Euphrates program. San Juan is an interesting play. The Tigris game is, I think, pretty useful just for practicing how to think about various situations in the game. There are still a couple bugs in the latter, though.
Speaking of online gaming, our weekly online boardgame group met on Tuesday, and it was Carcassonne again. Jef joined Sean and I, and we had a nice, competitive game. Jef was, at one point, very nice to Sean. As usual, we had a big farmer battle, but everyone had a really hard time tying in. I built up a big enough early lead, and it held out over Jef's slight farmer advantage.
Tonight was boardgame night at Critical Hit. The game of the night was Robo Rally. I got there early, so Shawn, Chris, and I played a quick 3-player game. This was good, as I had forgotten how some of the board options worked. I messed up a progam, and, bang, it was over. Chris won. The second game, we had seven players, and it was pretty chaotic. We were only playing one board and two flags, and this game went pretty quickly as well. Erin and Gary, who hadn't played before, had some trouble and didn't really get anywhere. I started well, but a timely bump from another player put me right out. In the end, Chad ripped from middle of the pack right into the victory.
After our second Robo Rally game, Chris offered up Tikal, which I've been wanting to play, so he, Erin, Gary, and I moved to another table to start excavating. Two more Robo Rally games got played tonight, and everyone seemed to be into it. Oddly, all three of the copies present were the old Wizards edition. We played a variant on the Tikal rules, in which you turn up a tile for each player at the beginning of the round, and then bid victory points for first pick/turn. I thought the game was pretty good, I enjoyed the choices available with tile-laying, choice of how to use action points, building, etc., however, I would really like to play it without the variant. I thought the tile auction made the game take a lot longer, and also brought with it a strange order to the turn-taking that seemed to be fairly regular, despite the bidding. I'm sure it's at least in part an artifact of differing play style/experience, but I ended up placing all of the volcanoes to trigger the scoring rounds. We were pretty tight in the first round. I scored really big in the second, and took the lead, but very quickly lost it due to a porr bidding decision against Erin. I did pretty well in the third and final round, and ended up tied for 2nd with Chris. I mainly enjoyed the midgame of Tikal. The endgame seemed a little bit of a letdown, as the far end of the board had some uninteresting/uncontestable zones in it. It seemed like one could get trapped, too, with a lot of workers in a place where they couldn't really do anything. People who had gotten more out of their workers early were able to coast on those advantages and watch other players chase them. I'd like to play this a couple more times though, next time for sure with the original rules.
Gamicon Omicron is this weekend at the IMU. Hopefully I'll get to attend for a little while and play some games. Nothing on the schedule I'm really looking forward to, but just playing will be great.
Sunday didn't amount to much. We didn't have enough interested players to run the AGOT tourney, so we played a couple group games instead. I played Stark Wo5K, won the first and came in 2nd in the 2nd. After that, Jerod and I played a couple games. His Baratheon Threat deck wasn't fully tweaked, though, and after a couple games he got called away to deal with customers, and I started to build decks. Steve decided to start priming some figs in the back, and the residual fumes that the figures brought in with them were really bothering me (I am, for some reason, really sensitive to this stuff), so I left. I had a dinner party to go to anyway, so no big deal.
I'll throw a little comment in here on some other gaming I've been doing. Based on a geeklist I found under the St. Pete entry on boardgamegeek, I've been playing a couple free downloadable games that you can play against bots, San Juan and a two player Tigris & Euphrates program. San Juan is an interesting play. The Tigris game is, I think, pretty useful just for practicing how to think about various situations in the game. There are still a couple bugs in the latter, though.
Speaking of online gaming, our weekly online boardgame group met on Tuesday, and it was Carcassonne again. Jef joined Sean and I, and we had a nice, competitive game. Jef was, at one point, very nice to Sean. As usual, we had a big farmer battle, but everyone had a really hard time tying in. I built up a big enough early lead, and it held out over Jef's slight farmer advantage.
Tonight was boardgame night at Critical Hit. The game of the night was Robo Rally. I got there early, so Shawn, Chris, and I played a quick 3-player game. This was good, as I had forgotten how some of the board options worked. I messed up a progam, and, bang, it was over. Chris won. The second game, we had seven players, and it was pretty chaotic. We were only playing one board and two flags, and this game went pretty quickly as well. Erin and Gary, who hadn't played before, had some trouble and didn't really get anywhere. I started well, but a timely bump from another player put me right out. In the end, Chad ripped from middle of the pack right into the victory.
After our second Robo Rally game, Chris offered up Tikal, which I've been wanting to play, so he, Erin, Gary, and I moved to another table to start excavating. Two more Robo Rally games got played tonight, and everyone seemed to be into it. Oddly, all three of the copies present were the old Wizards edition. We played a variant on the Tikal rules, in which you turn up a tile for each player at the beginning of the round, and then bid victory points for first pick/turn. I thought the game was pretty good, I enjoyed the choices available with tile-laying, choice of how to use action points, building, etc., however, I would really like to play it without the variant. I thought the tile auction made the game take a lot longer, and also brought with it a strange order to the turn-taking that seemed to be fairly regular, despite the bidding. I'm sure it's at least in part an artifact of differing play style/experience, but I ended up placing all of the volcanoes to trigger the scoring rounds. We were pretty tight in the first round. I scored really big in the second, and took the lead, but very quickly lost it due to a porr bidding decision against Erin. I did pretty well in the third and final round, and ended up tied for 2nd with Chris. I mainly enjoyed the midgame of Tikal. The endgame seemed a little bit of a letdown, as the far end of the board had some uninteresting/uncontestable zones in it. It seemed like one could get trapped, too, with a lot of workers in a place where they couldn't really do anything. People who had gotten more out of their workers early were able to coast on those advantages and watch other players chase them. I'd like to play this a couple more times though, next time for sure with the original rules.
Gamicon Omicron is this weekend at the IMU. Hopefully I'll get to attend for a little while and play some games. Nothing on the schedule I'm really looking forward to, but just playing will be great.
Friday, February 17, 2006
No school today, for the break between quarters, so I had most of the day off. After reading about a 75% off games sale at participating Barnes & Noble Booksellers, I decided to make a drive up to Cedar Rapids.
Unfortunately, the B & N was a little disappointing. Posters had mentioned seeing some FFG games there, and I had nurtured a tiny hope that I would find a forgotten copy of Twilight Imperium, Doom, Game of Thrones, or Citadels here. Alas, it was not to be. Since I'd made the drive, though, I decided to blow some money on some cheap crap. I bought a magnetic travel chess set for $2.50, a copy of Cranium for $7.50 (even though I don't like this sort of game, my collection doesn't contain any party games, and it might come in handy...), Risk: Star Wars Clone Wars edition (I don't like Risk, either, but this version gets props on boardgamegeek.com, and, again, it might come in handy) for $6, and a silly looking little game called Pumpkin King for $3.50. The rest of my trip consisted of a visit to Halfprice Books, and a stop at TRU, although neither of these was too exciting.
After completing my minimal occupational responsibilities for the day by supervising wrestling practice at the high school, I returned home to spend some quality time with Kristin. Since it was so cold outside tonight, we opted to stay in, and she chose St. Petersburg as the evening's entertainment. Things were nice and calm at the beginning, with no big aristocrats showing up to party. Kristin splashed some cash for a really big building a little early in the game, which crippled her in a couple upcoming phases, and allowed me to get ahead on workers/ruble production. The aristocrats and trading cards fell pretty well, and I managed a 10-7 advantage in endgame aristocrats, for a handy win. Kristin beat me last time out, and I was expecting a fierce battle here. I think she overlooked a very important facet of the game this time, though, when she failed to manipulate the cards on the table with an eye on maximizing the benefit of upcoming rounds. For example, she once failed to clear an extra card off during the building phase, when there was only going to be one open space in the aristocrats phase, and I was going first.
It turns out she wasn't quite done yet, and we busted out Fjords. Reviewers on boardgamegeek have made very good posts about this game. I agree that the board construction phase is sub-optimal, as quite often there is only one option of where to place a tile. Nevertheless, We've found Fjords a pleasant diversion. It's quick play and low cognitive demand, coupled with the pleasing aesthetics and sense of building, make for a game that just about fits Kristin's game interest level pretty much on the money. It's nice light filler. Tonight's game was close, as they usually are. I led by 1 after round 1, 3 after round 2, and 7 at the end of the game. However, the entire game really came down to who got to go first in the final field placement round, as that was roughly a +6 point swing for me in that round, as I was just able to seal off a sizeable area that we both had access to. Kristin could have done a little more to try to be the first player, but it turns out she misunderstood the rules/didn't think of it.
After we got done, while Kristin was poking through the Target page looking for wedding registration potentials, I cracked open Pumpkin King and gave it a whirl. This game is terrible, and it pains me to look at it. It has high production costs, packaged in a metal tin, with molded, painted plastic pieces. The rules, unfortunately, are totally underwritten, leaving out a number of important and obvious details that necessitate personal clarification. The gameplay is juvenile to the point that I have to assume that the game went straight from someone's idea to production, with little to no playtesting in between. It's a pathetic roll-and-move game, which has a universal "return to go" disruption mechanic, and necessitates that you roll the exact number needed to land on the end space to win, without telling you what to do if you don't... there are an extraordinary number of other problems with the rules considering the size of the game, but they aren't worth going into. Don't buy it. Not even for $3.50. It might be worth $.50, if you wanted to use the tin for something...
I'd like to end on a positive note, so I'll throw in that I'm looking forward to A Game of Thrones on Sunday, as well as the notorious "Ham Fest." (Don't you wish you knew what I was talking about...)
Unfortunately, the B & N was a little disappointing. Posters had mentioned seeing some FFG games there, and I had nurtured a tiny hope that I would find a forgotten copy of Twilight Imperium, Doom, Game of Thrones, or Citadels here. Alas, it was not to be. Since I'd made the drive, though, I decided to blow some money on some cheap crap. I bought a magnetic travel chess set for $2.50, a copy of Cranium for $7.50 (even though I don't like this sort of game, my collection doesn't contain any party games, and it might come in handy...), Risk: Star Wars Clone Wars edition (I don't like Risk, either, but this version gets props on boardgamegeek.com, and, again, it might come in handy) for $6, and a silly looking little game called Pumpkin King for $3.50. The rest of my trip consisted of a visit to Halfprice Books, and a stop at TRU, although neither of these was too exciting.
After completing my minimal occupational responsibilities for the day by supervising wrestling practice at the high school, I returned home to spend some quality time with Kristin. Since it was so cold outside tonight, we opted to stay in, and she chose St. Petersburg as the evening's entertainment. Things were nice and calm at the beginning, with no big aristocrats showing up to party. Kristin splashed some cash for a really big building a little early in the game, which crippled her in a couple upcoming phases, and allowed me to get ahead on workers/ruble production. The aristocrats and trading cards fell pretty well, and I managed a 10-7 advantage in endgame aristocrats, for a handy win. Kristin beat me last time out, and I was expecting a fierce battle here. I think she overlooked a very important facet of the game this time, though, when she failed to manipulate the cards on the table with an eye on maximizing the benefit of upcoming rounds. For example, she once failed to clear an extra card off during the building phase, when there was only going to be one open space in the aristocrats phase, and I was going first.
It turns out she wasn't quite done yet, and we busted out Fjords. Reviewers on boardgamegeek have made very good posts about this game. I agree that the board construction phase is sub-optimal, as quite often there is only one option of where to place a tile. Nevertheless, We've found Fjords a pleasant diversion. It's quick play and low cognitive demand, coupled with the pleasing aesthetics and sense of building, make for a game that just about fits Kristin's game interest level pretty much on the money. It's nice light filler. Tonight's game was close, as they usually are. I led by 1 after round 1, 3 after round 2, and 7 at the end of the game. However, the entire game really came down to who got to go first in the final field placement round, as that was roughly a +6 point swing for me in that round, as I was just able to seal off a sizeable area that we both had access to. Kristin could have done a little more to try to be the first player, but it turns out she misunderstood the rules/didn't think of it.
After we got done, while Kristin was poking through the Target page looking for wedding registration potentials, I cracked open Pumpkin King and gave it a whirl. This game is terrible, and it pains me to look at it. It has high production costs, packaged in a metal tin, with molded, painted plastic pieces. The rules, unfortunately, are totally underwritten, leaving out a number of important and obvious details that necessitate personal clarification. The gameplay is juvenile to the point that I have to assume that the game went straight from someone's idea to production, with little to no playtesting in between. It's a pathetic roll-and-move game, which has a universal "return to go" disruption mechanic, and necessitates that you roll the exact number needed to land on the end space to win, without telling you what to do if you don't... there are an extraordinary number of other problems with the rules considering the size of the game, but they aren't worth going into. Don't buy it. Not even for $3.50. It might be worth $.50, if you wanted to use the tin for something...
I'd like to end on a positive note, so I'll throw in that I'm looking forward to A Game of Thrones on Sunday, as well as the notorious "Ham Fest." (Don't you wish you knew what I was talking about...)
Thursday, February 16, 2006
Well, I'm just in a posting frenzy...
We woke up this morning to the sound of freezing rain pattering against the windows. I stumbled to the computer and, lo, school was cancelled. Facing a forced day off, one can only guess at what I would do... Of course, I had intentions of cleaning, organizing clothes, etc., but it just didn't happen. Instead...
TTR ONLINE
I played games. It started with a visit to Ticket to Ride Online. I really enjoy this game, and their online site is great. The interface is really smooth, and the tutorial is very well done. I mostly end up playing against bots, as I don't usually set aside time specifically to play, and don't want to anger any other players. Today, I got ridiculous tickets, including LA/Chi, LA/NY, and Sea/NY. That's 59 points, the most I've ever made in tickets. Nebulousbot2, Dumbot3, and Directbot4 didn't stand a chance. No pride for this, but a nice little diversion in the morning.
TIGRIS & EUPHRATES
After running some errands downtown (time to pick up the comics, and deposit the paycheck!), I ran over to Critical Hit. Jerod had a lot of work to do, so of course, he agreed to play games with me... We busted out Tigris & Euphrates for it's inaugral run, and were joined in the threesome by Jeff Press, who graciously set aside his miniatures painting to fill out the game. This was the first play for all of us, and mistakes were made. Regardless, I was really impressed with the depth of the game, and how much each play mattered. Early on, Jerod misinterpreted the conflict rules, and I sent two of my own leaders back to my hand making a monument, which set me back a bit... Jeff seemed to get the best handle on the middle game, utilizing leader movement for some nice plays. In the end, I had balanced my victory acquisition the best, and also made some moves to get most of the treasures and force the game end. I pulled it out by 4 points over each of the others, 10-6. I'm very much looking forward to further plays of this game. I anticipate moving away from focussing on personal building, into more methodical, balanced area control/disruption.
SAN JUAN
We weren't done after that, though, and we busted out this month's payday acquisition, San Juan. Jeff had to leave, so it was just Jerod and I for the two player. Again, it was the first play for both of us. In game one, I went first, and Jerod had to chase me on building. I got a nice draw of cheap purple buildings that would keep my hand full, and had the 6 cost building advantage when Jerod picked the last building phase to force the end. One thing I didn't like here is that he could tell that I was going to win before he initiated the phase... he just didn't feel like he had a way back into the game, so it might as well end. I had a second 6-cost in my hand, which I played, and I would have built on my turn. He knew I would build, as I had lots of cards, and he needed to get his six-cost down, so... On to the second game. Jerod went first, and I made a big early mistake, picking producer when he had an aqueduct that I didn't notice. This allowed him to trade and net a large number of cards. This mistake really put me behind, especially as I was chasing him on building. I never really caught up until the third to last turn, when Jerod made the mistake of playing the six-cost building which gives victory for monuments, when he didn't have any. It wasted a building phase for him, really. On top of it, as I was governor next turn, I was able to build while he had no cards in hand, and even things up. For the final building turn, I had a good big building, and he didn't, allowing me to pull into the lead. Certainly not as deep a game as Puerto Rico, I enjoyed the ease and quickness of play, and I'm happy that it plays well with two. It should be a good game for Kristin and I.
BSW CARCASSONNE
Amazingly, I wasn't done there. Tuesday night is my regular online boardgaming night with friends who live around the country. This week, of course, Tuesday was Valentines' day, so we cancelled. Sean and I rescheduled for tonight, though Chris and Eric couldn't make it. We logged onto BSW for Carcassonne, and played an engaging two player. I've mostly played Carc on BSW, and it plays pretty smooth. The one complaint is that, sometimes, people miss-click, which can have a huge effect. No mouse slips tonight, and a pretty good game. Sean jumped out to an early lead with a road, cloister, and a big city. The farmer battle started right off the bat, and we were working to tie new agricultural engineers the rest of the game. Sean drew quite a few cloisters, and built steadily, but I kept up on points (5 behind when the game ended), and managed to draw a piece to give me sole possession of the great majority of the farmable area. I ended up winning by 32. Carcassonne plays pretty well with two, but I prefer it with 3-4 (using river with 3, and also inns & cathedrals with 4). I think we'll move on to St. Petersburg soon.
Congrats on making it to the end, and thanks for reading the lengthy post.
Peace.
We woke up this morning to the sound of freezing rain pattering against the windows. I stumbled to the computer and, lo, school was cancelled. Facing a forced day off, one can only guess at what I would do... Of course, I had intentions of cleaning, organizing clothes, etc., but it just didn't happen. Instead...
TTR ONLINE
I played games. It started with a visit to Ticket to Ride Online. I really enjoy this game, and their online site is great. The interface is really smooth, and the tutorial is very well done. I mostly end up playing against bots, as I don't usually set aside time specifically to play, and don't want to anger any other players. Today, I got ridiculous tickets, including LA/Chi, LA/NY, and Sea/NY. That's 59 points, the most I've ever made in tickets. Nebulousbot2, Dumbot3, and Directbot4 didn't stand a chance. No pride for this, but a nice little diversion in the morning.
TIGRIS & EUPHRATES
After running some errands downtown (time to pick up the comics, and deposit the paycheck!), I ran over to Critical Hit. Jerod had a lot of work to do, so of course, he agreed to play games with me... We busted out Tigris & Euphrates for it's inaugral run, and were joined in the threesome by Jeff Press, who graciously set aside his miniatures painting to fill out the game. This was the first play for all of us, and mistakes were made. Regardless, I was really impressed with the depth of the game, and how much each play mattered. Early on, Jerod misinterpreted the conflict rules, and I sent two of my own leaders back to my hand making a monument, which set me back a bit... Jeff seemed to get the best handle on the middle game, utilizing leader movement for some nice plays. In the end, I had balanced my victory acquisition the best, and also made some moves to get most of the treasures and force the game end. I pulled it out by 4 points over each of the others, 10-6. I'm very much looking forward to further plays of this game. I anticipate moving away from focussing on personal building, into more methodical, balanced area control/disruption.
SAN JUAN
We weren't done after that, though, and we busted out this month's payday acquisition, San Juan. Jeff had to leave, so it was just Jerod and I for the two player. Again, it was the first play for both of us. In game one, I went first, and Jerod had to chase me on building. I got a nice draw of cheap purple buildings that would keep my hand full, and had the 6 cost building advantage when Jerod picked the last building phase to force the end. One thing I didn't like here is that he could tell that I was going to win before he initiated the phase... he just didn't feel like he had a way back into the game, so it might as well end. I had a second 6-cost in my hand, which I played, and I would have built on my turn. He knew I would build, as I had lots of cards, and he needed to get his six-cost down, so... On to the second game. Jerod went first, and I made a big early mistake, picking producer when he had an aqueduct that I didn't notice. This allowed him to trade and net a large number of cards. This mistake really put me behind, especially as I was chasing him on building. I never really caught up until the third to last turn, when Jerod made the mistake of playing the six-cost building which gives victory for monuments, when he didn't have any. It wasted a building phase for him, really. On top of it, as I was governor next turn, I was able to build while he had no cards in hand, and even things up. For the final building turn, I had a good big building, and he didn't, allowing me to pull into the lead. Certainly not as deep a game as Puerto Rico, I enjoyed the ease and quickness of play, and I'm happy that it plays well with two. It should be a good game for Kristin and I.
BSW CARCASSONNE
Amazingly, I wasn't done there. Tuesday night is my regular online boardgaming night with friends who live around the country. This week, of course, Tuesday was Valentines' day, so we cancelled. Sean and I rescheduled for tonight, though Chris and Eric couldn't make it. We logged onto BSW for Carcassonne, and played an engaging two player. I've mostly played Carc on BSW, and it plays pretty smooth. The one complaint is that, sometimes, people miss-click, which can have a huge effect. No mouse slips tonight, and a pretty good game. Sean jumped out to an early lead with a road, cloister, and a big city. The farmer battle started right off the bat, and we were working to tie new agricultural engineers the rest of the game. Sean drew quite a few cloisters, and built steadily, but I kept up on points (5 behind when the game ended), and managed to draw a piece to give me sole possession of the great majority of the farmable area. I ended up winning by 32. Carcassonne plays pretty well with two, but I prefer it with 3-4 (using river with 3, and also inns & cathedrals with 4). I think we'll move on to St. Petersburg soon.
Congrats on making it to the end, and thanks for reading the lengthy post.
Peace.
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
I've rarely been able to make it to board game night at Critical Hit, but tonight was an exception that should soon, hopefully, prove the rule. The featured game this evening was Citadels, from FFG. Chris Schaeffer brought his copy in and taught us all to play.
It was a big, 7-player game, and I was curious to see how it would work out. I don't normally have that many people for a gaming session, but there have been times when it's occurred, and I need some more games to fill in that player number slot.
I've heard a lot of positive chatter about the game, and it didn't disappoint. The turns went quick, and there's a moderate level of involvement in other peoples' activities, at least for some of the roles. I never felt board or out of the game, although I did feel a little scatterbrained, which I'll take the easy route and blame on my long work day. The building started immediately, but it was very hard to predict who was doing well until the 4th or 5th round, when some players had a clear advantage in districts played. The woman to my right, whose name I unfortunately have failed to remember, built a few big buildings and became a target. I failed to manage my hand well, and suffered from the Magician on two or three turns. The session was very tight, with people pretty close on points. I managed to stay just close enough to be in contention, but far enough behind to not be a target of aggression. Thankfully, turn order fell well for me, and I was able to force the end game, going to eight districts first with all five colors on the table. It tied me on points for first with another player (Gary or Greg, I have to get better with names!), but I won on the gold tiebreaker. There was a shuffling of seats as two players left to play Eurorails with Nate and Ruxton, and another went to work on her laptop, and three new players joined. I felt I had a little clearer handle on the roles in this game, but I failed to impose myself on the role choices, and ended up in the same position for extended periods of time, forced into sub-optimal roles. I think this game suffered (as the first one probably did without me noticing it) from some poor decision making on the part of some of the new players (assassinating the wrong role, etc.). I got really stuck with an unfortunate collection of buildings, and just couldn't get ahead. An unlucky assassination in a turn when I finally had the merchant (four other players were ahead of me at that point) really put me down. Jerod, sitting to my right, triggered the end game with all five colors. I made it to eight, and all five colors also, but it wasn't nearly enough. Unfortunately for Jerod, it wasn't enough for him, either, as Kirk, sitting to our left two seats, snuck in under the radar to pip the game by, I think, two points.
I really did enjoy the game. Our games were both tense, close affairs, and there was enough hidden information and randomness to keep us guessing, coupled with enough important choices to keep it provocative. I would happily play it again, and it should join my collection soon to fill the abovementioned slot, if nothing else.
Next Wednesday is Robo Rally - I still only have the 1st edition, and am hoping someone brings the new one. With any luck, I'll get in a game or two this weekend, hopefully finally breaking in my copies of Tigris and Euphrates and/or Lunatix Loop (a gamer can dream, can't he).
It was a big, 7-player game, and I was curious to see how it would work out. I don't normally have that many people for a gaming session, but there have been times when it's occurred, and I need some more games to fill in that player number slot.
I've heard a lot of positive chatter about the game, and it didn't disappoint. The turns went quick, and there's a moderate level of involvement in other peoples' activities, at least for some of the roles. I never felt board or out of the game, although I did feel a little scatterbrained, which I'll take the easy route and blame on my long work day. The building started immediately, but it was very hard to predict who was doing well until the 4th or 5th round, when some players had a clear advantage in districts played. The woman to my right, whose name I unfortunately have failed to remember, built a few big buildings and became a target. I failed to manage my hand well, and suffered from the Magician on two or three turns. The session was very tight, with people pretty close on points. I managed to stay just close enough to be in contention, but far enough behind to not be a target of aggression. Thankfully, turn order fell well for me, and I was able to force the end game, going to eight districts first with all five colors on the table. It tied me on points for first with another player (Gary or Greg, I have to get better with names!), but I won on the gold tiebreaker. There was a shuffling of seats as two players left to play Eurorails with Nate and Ruxton, and another went to work on her laptop, and three new players joined. I felt I had a little clearer handle on the roles in this game, but I failed to impose myself on the role choices, and ended up in the same position for extended periods of time, forced into sub-optimal roles. I think this game suffered (as the first one probably did without me noticing it) from some poor decision making on the part of some of the new players (assassinating the wrong role, etc.). I got really stuck with an unfortunate collection of buildings, and just couldn't get ahead. An unlucky assassination in a turn when I finally had the merchant (four other players were ahead of me at that point) really put me down. Jerod, sitting to my right, triggered the end game with all five colors. I made it to eight, and all five colors also, but it wasn't nearly enough. Unfortunately for Jerod, it wasn't enough for him, either, as Kirk, sitting to our left two seats, snuck in under the radar to pip the game by, I think, two points.
I really did enjoy the game. Our games were both tense, close affairs, and there was enough hidden information and randomness to keep us guessing, coupled with enough important choices to keep it provocative. I would happily play it again, and it should join my collection soon to fill the abovementioned slot, if nothing else.
Next Wednesday is Robo Rally - I still only have the 1st edition, and am hoping someone brings the new one. With any luck, I'll get in a game or two this weekend, hopefully finally breaking in my copies of Tigris and Euphrates and/or Lunatix Loop (a gamer can dream, can't he).
Monday, February 13, 2006
Sunday has been my big gaming day for the past few months, since I agreed to run A Game of Thrones CCG events at Critical Hit. I generally arrive about 12:30, and stay until 10:00 or so. Yesterday was a decent example, although the store was a little slow.
Contents of this post: AGOT tourney report, Standard format, and Puerto Rico game session.
AGOT CCG TOURNEY
When I got there, the store had around 8 people in it. Unfortunately, only 4 of us were there for the ccg tourney. Since we started having weekly events, the numbers for our total community have gone up, but attendance at tournaments is down. Are people just expecting that they can miss because there's always another next week? Is the noob factor turning people off? Did people have too many NPE's from losing consistently too often? I don't know. I just know we've done a lot of work to build the community, and it's not paying off in the organized play department. That, I suppose, is fine, especially from the perspective of the store and FFG, as they still sell cards. Anyway, the format was standard constructed, and I played Lannister Trait Manipulation, since it's the only deck I still have together after my other four decks got butchered to make my peasant deck for the last tournament... I played Chad's Lannister deck in the first round. Chad is a new player, with a small collection, and this round suffered from the imbalance in CCG constructed formats created by collection limitations. In other words, my big collection beat Chad's tiny collection. Chad was a great sport, though, and made the good comment that coming and getting beat still taught him about what deck types were viable, what cards were good, and how to appropriately play. I have no doubt that in a couple months, he will be pretty competitive. Second round was Jerod (Clu/store owner) playing Baratheon Threat From the East. Jerod is the guy who got me into the game, and is a very competitive player, with a big collection, who comes up with interesting combinations of cards. This was no exception, and we had a long and complex game with a lot of hard decisions. He was able to consistently bring back cards with the Tourney Knight, and his recycling was a real pain. Fortunately, I kept the tourney knight off the table much of the game, and ended up winning with Gregor's Retainer, as he was very attachment-lite and couldn't defend. Third round was Chris with Stark. Chris has been playing for a while, but hasn't collected all the rares he wants for this deck. It was basic military, with some search effects. Unfortunately, he only drew 3 characters the whole game, so there wasn't really much of a game here, more of Chris bemusedly dropping locations and attachments on my guys, and discarding events to my intrigue challenges until I got to 15. I wouldn't have made any changes to my deck afterwards, although I did learn valuable information about Threat decks. Not much of a day, and I hope that more people start showing up. We'll keep working on it.
PUERTO RICO
While we were finishing up AGOT, Dan and Peter were teaching Peter's girlfriend Rachel to play PR. PR has been a big favorite aorund our group the last couple months, and Dan is always ready to play. After the tourney ended, Jerod and I took our seets at the table, and went into PR mode.
Peter was in seat one, followed by Rachel, Dan, Jerod, and then myself. I really don't like being last in this game. Too many important choices are made in front of you, and you start with corn sitting to your right. When we started playing, I liked the first corn seat best, as you have the chance to dominate a shipping strategy. However, in recent games we've seen the corn get really spread out, and the corn player not being rewarded. Now, I think I'm leaning toward the first seat, settling for a quarry. We may be undervaluing some of the starting buildings, though, and the option of having first crack at them.
I came into this game with back-to-back victories in our last two plays, each being 4 experienced players and a new player, like this one. I wasn't optimistic about my chances here, as I was in poor position, and I figured Dan would convince everyone to gang up on me. Fortunately, Dan was the early leader, and the hounds decided to chase him and ignore me... In fact, I was never perceived as a threat until I bought my big building in the penultimate round...
In my first few games, I felt that poor play on my part, and failing to grasp the tempo of the game, were to blame for me not winning. In the last few games I've won, I think that it was other peoples' mistakes, rather than my own excellent maneuvers, that were responsible for my victories. Dan gets really frustrated with people making what he considers to be poor plays, as he feels it corrupts the game. I like my games to have a little luck, though, and I guess that's the luck factor here. The luck of other peoples' choices. Some of the odd choices in this game, to me, including Jerod building construction hut and using it once, passing on a small market when he was in the first corn seat. He also passed on a quarry in his first settling phase with active CH, going for Corn instead. This signalled confusion to me, as one generally goes shipping with that seat, and he was signalling building with construction hut, then going the other way with the corn plantation. Nobody punished him for the construcion hut move, and he bought the small market later. Diversifying may have cost him later, though, as everyone got into corn. A second odd choice on his part was chosing to build a harbor in the second to last turn, when he could have saved his money for a big building on the last turn, and he probably wasn't going to be able to use the harbor (he did not get to). I know I made a noteworthy mistake, but I failed to take note of it... One thing I remember is that I passed an obvious choice of Trading which would have limited the benefits to the player to my left, Peter. Peter bypassed the cheap goods, and went right into tobacco. He was slow getting into the game, but then he hit several good Traders, with a large market, and snagged a lot of money, which made him a force in the late game. He ended up in second, by nine points. Rachel had a good early game, pumping up sugar, but got hurt by two craftsman phases in th mid-game, when I got sugar before her, and took most or all of the supply. Dan had a quick start, and then got hurt by people trying to slow him down. I think there were some times when he should have traded, also, to make money on his coffee. His late game suffered from low funding and an inability to buy big in the later building stages.
I won with 56 points, the most I've accumulated to date. I'm still learning a lot about this game, and enjoying the experience. In this session, I tried to build effectively in conjuntion with my plantations in the early game, and I went for small market, hospice, and a couple quarries. In the mid game, I pumped up my sugar production and went for a wharf. The late game timed out well for me, picking up the fortress, which ended up being worth 6 extra points. This is the first time I bought the University. I did it because I though that the last two turns would come out with someone mayoring, and then someone else building for points, and I wanted to be able to build big and have it manned. It didn't work out that way, though, as I ended up building and then mayoring, as other people chose to craftsman/captain/etc.. Oddly, the University still got me points, as I did get a colonist in the building phase which gave me an extra fortress point. Only one time that I've played has the game ended by someone filling their city. Every other time, we've run out of colonists. I wonder if this is a factor unique to our group? This time, we were close to the other conditions, with someone only two buildings away, and with only around 8-9 vp left. It was a good, long game, and I appreciated not being able to calculate who the victor would be until the end of the game. I wouldn say that everyone was a viable contender going into the last round, which was great.
We rounded out the night with the excellent Peking Buffet next door, which I can happily recommend to any visiting gamers. A little pricy at $10.50, but a good meal. I tried to entice people into Tigris & Euphrated or St. Petersburg, but, unfortunately, they'll have to wait for another day...
Contents of this post: AGOT tourney report, Standard format, and Puerto Rico game session.
AGOT CCG TOURNEY
When I got there, the store had around 8 people in it. Unfortunately, only 4 of us were there for the ccg tourney. Since we started having weekly events, the numbers for our total community have gone up, but attendance at tournaments is down. Are people just expecting that they can miss because there's always another next week? Is the noob factor turning people off? Did people have too many NPE's from losing consistently too often? I don't know. I just know we've done a lot of work to build the community, and it's not paying off in the organized play department. That, I suppose, is fine, especially from the perspective of the store and FFG, as they still sell cards. Anyway, the format was standard constructed, and I played Lannister Trait Manipulation, since it's the only deck I still have together after my other four decks got butchered to make my peasant deck for the last tournament... I played Chad's Lannister deck in the first round. Chad is a new player, with a small collection, and this round suffered from the imbalance in CCG constructed formats created by collection limitations. In other words, my big collection beat Chad's tiny collection. Chad was a great sport, though, and made the good comment that coming and getting beat still taught him about what deck types were viable, what cards were good, and how to appropriately play. I have no doubt that in a couple months, he will be pretty competitive. Second round was Jerod (Clu/store owner) playing Baratheon Threat From the East. Jerod is the guy who got me into the game, and is a very competitive player, with a big collection, who comes up with interesting combinations of cards. This was no exception, and we had a long and complex game with a lot of hard decisions. He was able to consistently bring back cards with the Tourney Knight, and his recycling was a real pain. Fortunately, I kept the tourney knight off the table much of the game, and ended up winning with Gregor's Retainer, as he was very attachment-lite and couldn't defend. Third round was Chris with Stark. Chris has been playing for a while, but hasn't collected all the rares he wants for this deck. It was basic military, with some search effects. Unfortunately, he only drew 3 characters the whole game, so there wasn't really much of a game here, more of Chris bemusedly dropping locations and attachments on my guys, and discarding events to my intrigue challenges until I got to 15. I wouldn't have made any changes to my deck afterwards, although I did learn valuable information about Threat decks. Not much of a day, and I hope that more people start showing up. We'll keep working on it.
PUERTO RICO
While we were finishing up AGOT, Dan and Peter were teaching Peter's girlfriend Rachel to play PR. PR has been a big favorite aorund our group the last couple months, and Dan is always ready to play. After the tourney ended, Jerod and I took our seets at the table, and went into PR mode.
Peter was in seat one, followed by Rachel, Dan, Jerod, and then myself. I really don't like being last in this game. Too many important choices are made in front of you, and you start with corn sitting to your right. When we started playing, I liked the first corn seat best, as you have the chance to dominate a shipping strategy. However, in recent games we've seen the corn get really spread out, and the corn player not being rewarded. Now, I think I'm leaning toward the first seat, settling for a quarry. We may be undervaluing some of the starting buildings, though, and the option of having first crack at them.
I came into this game with back-to-back victories in our last two plays, each being 4 experienced players and a new player, like this one. I wasn't optimistic about my chances here, as I was in poor position, and I figured Dan would convince everyone to gang up on me. Fortunately, Dan was the early leader, and the hounds decided to chase him and ignore me... In fact, I was never perceived as a threat until I bought my big building in the penultimate round...
In my first few games, I felt that poor play on my part, and failing to grasp the tempo of the game, were to blame for me not winning. In the last few games I've won, I think that it was other peoples' mistakes, rather than my own excellent maneuvers, that were responsible for my victories. Dan gets really frustrated with people making what he considers to be poor plays, as he feels it corrupts the game. I like my games to have a little luck, though, and I guess that's the luck factor here. The luck of other peoples' choices. Some of the odd choices in this game, to me, including Jerod building construction hut and using it once, passing on a small market when he was in the first corn seat. He also passed on a quarry in his first settling phase with active CH, going for Corn instead. This signalled confusion to me, as one generally goes shipping with that seat, and he was signalling building with construction hut, then going the other way with the corn plantation. Nobody punished him for the construcion hut move, and he bought the small market later. Diversifying may have cost him later, though, as everyone got into corn. A second odd choice on his part was chosing to build a harbor in the second to last turn, when he could have saved his money for a big building on the last turn, and he probably wasn't going to be able to use the harbor (he did not get to). I know I made a noteworthy mistake, but I failed to take note of it... One thing I remember is that I passed an obvious choice of Trading which would have limited the benefits to the player to my left, Peter. Peter bypassed the cheap goods, and went right into tobacco. He was slow getting into the game, but then he hit several good Traders, with a large market, and snagged a lot of money, which made him a force in the late game. He ended up in second, by nine points. Rachel had a good early game, pumping up sugar, but got hurt by two craftsman phases in th mid-game, when I got sugar before her, and took most or all of the supply. Dan had a quick start, and then got hurt by people trying to slow him down. I think there were some times when he should have traded, also, to make money on his coffee. His late game suffered from low funding and an inability to buy big in the later building stages.
I won with 56 points, the most I've accumulated to date. I'm still learning a lot about this game, and enjoying the experience. In this session, I tried to build effectively in conjuntion with my plantations in the early game, and I went for small market, hospice, and a couple quarries. In the mid game, I pumped up my sugar production and went for a wharf. The late game timed out well for me, picking up the fortress, which ended up being worth 6 extra points. This is the first time I bought the University. I did it because I though that the last two turns would come out with someone mayoring, and then someone else building for points, and I wanted to be able to build big and have it manned. It didn't work out that way, though, as I ended up building and then mayoring, as other people chose to craftsman/captain/etc.. Oddly, the University still got me points, as I did get a colonist in the building phase which gave me an extra fortress point. Only one time that I've played has the game ended by someone filling their city. Every other time, we've run out of colonists. I wonder if this is a factor unique to our group? This time, we were close to the other conditions, with someone only two buildings away, and with only around 8-9 vp left. It was a good, long game, and I appreciated not being able to calculate who the victor would be until the end of the game. I wouldn say that everyone was a viable contender going into the last round, which was great.
We rounded out the night with the excellent Peking Buffet next door, which I can happily recommend to any visiting gamers. A little pricy at $10.50, but a good meal. I tried to entice people into Tigris & Euphrated or St. Petersburg, but, unfortunately, they'll have to wait for another day...
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