CH BG Wednesday - Caylus and Hacienda

It's been a nice few weeks of free Wednesdays, but my time at CH is drawing to a close for the Spring, as soccer season opens with our first game on the 5th. I actually thought this would be my last night, but a change of date for the player/parent meeting means I'll probably make it next week.

I spent a fairly lazy day subbing for World Geo at CCA, giving a quiz and showing Hotel Rwanda. I was a little frustrated at the end of the day, following the US/Germany match online. Since when does the US allow 4 goals? (not since 2002, apparently, also against Germany!) Whatever. Who in their right mind gets upset about sports results? Well, practice was cold and blustery, and like a fool I didn't bring a hat. Afterward, I was frazzled and cold, with that dry-eyed feeling you get from being out in the wind and sun. I ran over to Taco John's for a quick bite, and rolled into the store just in time for the games to start.

I was hoping that the copies of Caylus and Lost Cities I ordered would be in, but now, apparently, there will be no Caylus until May. Talk about buzzkill. Aside from the bad news, the store provided me with the choice of joining either Fury of Dracula or Caylus, neither of which I have played. I chose Caylus, as it didn't look like I'd be playing my own copy any time soon, and Chris is the only person I know who owns it.

The game was Chris, Erin, Gare, and I. Chris did a very good job explaining the game, and I got most of the basics, but I was feeling a little washed out and unable to generate a pre-game strategy. In the first couple turns, I kept getting surprised by things I should/shouldn't have done, or watching people make moves and thinking "oh, that's how that works!" I had a decent start, keeping up with the others building in the castle, but I should have built a wooden building ealrier to get more rewards from it. I started the random draw last in turn order, and really should have done something to change that, but, at the time, I didn't know what I would do until it was too late... The game was racing as people pushed the provost forward to reap the rewards of new construction. In the midgame, the other players surged ahead of me with stone constructions. I finally wised up a little, changed the turn order, got some resources, and built a few things. I finished last in this game, which Chris won narrowly over Gare, but I did enough at the end to at least make it respectible, I think. Despite my poor mental state and finish, I liked the game and look forward to playing it again. I think it really should be much tighter, with more defensive provost movement. Favors are very important at all stages of the game, too, something which I took very little advantage of. The building favor track, in particular, is hugely rewarding in the late game.

We finished Caylus at around 8:30, giving us 90 minutes or so. Chris had a Wolfgang Kramer game called Hacienda with him, that should play in that time with 5 players (Nate had joined us), and we agreed to give it a go. I'm not sure if any of the others besides Chris had played it. Nate hadn't, I'm pretty sure. Hacienda is a nice looking game, with a board similar to Through the Desert, along with a vaguely similar training mechanism. It features a limited action round, with building or card-buying options, sort of like Ticket to Ride. The game should not really be too closely compared with either of the above, though, as the theme and mechanics are vastly different. Like many recent designer games, it's quick to learn, easy to play, but offers more to the gamer who is willing to put a little strategic thought into it. As has already been mentioned, last night, I was not that gamer.

After another good teaching of the rules by Chris, we set about getting our livestock to market on the South American plains. True to form, I miss-played on my first turn, putting a tile one space to the left of where it should have been, ultimately costing myself at least 6 victory points, as well as something like 9 pesos over the course of the game. This one little wrong placement also gave an equal advantage to Nate. Early plays are very important in this game, as income scoring builds with the extent of your area control, and victory will be scored twice, rewarding you doubly for good early play. That said, there are a lot of options on the dogbone board we played for good, rewarding opening moves, playing near water or in places where you should be able to quickly reach several markets. I was second to last, and Chris was last. By the time my turn rolled around, the options I had hoped for at the beginning were all gone, so I chose a different one, promptly making the aforementioned mistake. Perhaps it was contagious, because Chris suffered the same effect, second-guessing his own second-choice move.

The blocking element in the game came up mostly against Chris also, as Erin and Gare both blocked him off from markets. Nate expanded laterally away from me, and was always, of course, one step ahead of me as he was sitting to my left (note to self, expand into the same area as someone who will go after you). It wasn't until he had built a gigantic empire that Erin came over and blocked him off. Nate certainly did the most to build on the scoring possibilities in the game from the get go (aside from connecting to markets), but I think Erin had the most creative play. She was the most active blocker, and had some good use of water. Money became an issue for Chris and Erin, too, and she had to harvest.

I ended up finishing second to last, I think, with Nate winning by a fair amount, despite only connecting to 3 markets. In future plays, I think I'd like to try playing with fewer players, so that you have a little more time to realize your plans. Also, as mentioned, the first moves must be good, and in the midgame you have to look at ways to limit your opponents while also bettering yourself (with a new market or land area, for example).

Perhaps we'll get another play of this at the next game day in April, if not sooner.

GG, GL