Power Grid at Critical Hit

Another Wednesday night, another boardgaming session at Critical Hit. This week, it was time for a game that's been a hot hit in the area over the last three weeks, Power Grid. We played Chris S's copy of this game at Gamicon, Dan bought it a week later, and we've played it (as you can see in this blog) several times since.

Tonight, Chris showed up with his set, and Erin, Gare, Nate, and a visiting player also named Chris sat down to join him on the France board from the expansion. Dan came in with his box, and he, myself, Ziggy, Peter, and Tim set about lighting up the U.S.A., without the NW region.

I ended up going 2nd to last in power plant buying, but won the 4 cost coal plant before my turn came. This let me build first, but stuck me with one city, while three players would end up powering two at the end of the turn.

With my first build, I dropped into the NE coast. Dan went next and built in Texas. Tim went into the SE coast. Peter surprised us by setting up between Dan and Tim, in the SE. Then, Ziggy dropped an even bigger bomb, setting up next to me in the central NE. This left the SW region totally empty and open to Dan, and heavily congested the East.

In the next turn, the power plants fell in such a way that I ended up having my choice of a bunch of stuff that didn't really help me, and I ended up buying the 3 to keep my turn order low. Things started to tighten up as Ziggy, Peter, and Tim moved around near me, and I was a little worried.

On turn three, I ended up picking up the 33 wind plant for 4. This put me in first (last in turn order) unfortunately, but I had to have it to move on. It ended up saving me a lot in resources over several turns. I was the first to expande to six cities, and I sat there for a couple turns earning money until another player, I think Dan, pushed it to 7 and triggered step 2.

Peter got a little ballsy and moved in on Dan, paying hefty connection fees but really shaking up the game. Tim exploded out of the 5 cities he had been trapped in for 2 turns, shooting up to 10 cities. Tim had gotten very lucky with big number plants, something that would help him a great deal in the long game.

We were scrambling for position as it looked like Dan was on course to win the game, and power plant bidding was heavily contested this round as players scrambled to get a chance to compete for first. I got the 6 that I needed to upgrade a 4 to power 15 cities to tie Dan. Then, behind me, Tim picked up a 4 that would take him to 16 if he could build 4 connections. Ziggy and Peter fought over a 7 that would take one of them, possibly, to 15. Peter won, a 4 came down, and Ziggy was just out. Dan built to 15. Tim built to 16, with plenty of money. I built to 15, with more money than Dan to win the tie breaker. Peter edged Ziggy for 4th with his new plant.

Overall, a pretty quick game as we only just barely got to stage 3 before it was over. I don't mind the game with 5 players at all. Lots of competition, but enough space for people to expand some, and spread out initially if they choose to do so. It stressed for me the advantage that can be gained from building LAST in the first round, as you can really decide a lot about the game. I also felt that the power plants that came up had a huge impact on the game. You really have to watch your power plant progress. I really like this game, but it's not going to challenge for the top spot any time soon.

Post-main event, Ziggy and Dan and myelf sat down for a round of Res Publica to round out the evening. I've been trying to get a few more plays out of this game, in the hope that I'd find some more depth. Right now, I'm feeling like you need to play it several times with the same group, to develop some mutual understanding and cognitive maps for trading trends. I got a bit of a lucky draw early, augmented by one trade, to let me build the first city (Babylonians). My walls stood alone for four turns, before Dan, and then Ziggy, got in on the act. My first 5 technology cards, unfortunately, were all different. There were quite a few turns of just drawing in this game, as we tried to accumulate new cards that would create meaningful trade possibilities. I ended up just edging Ziggy to the 9 monument. We all continued to build cities, although I was first again to 2 and then 3. Ziggy and Dan each picked up 8 monuments, then I got 2 7s in one turn. With lots of cities, we pushed the endgame pretty hard and Dan triggered it quickly, the first time I've seen the game end when there were still people cards left. We counted up our pairs, and it ended up 31 me, 30 Dan, 29 Ziggy. A nice, tight game, that went fast, and didn't require too much deliberation. Maybe a little too light, actually, in this instance, but it filled up the time almost perfectly. I'm happy to have it around, but I don't think it will really be a "destination" game.

Well, hopefully I'll be away from this a couple days, and then have plenty to write on Sunday, as Saturday is Game Day at Chris & Edie's, and Sunday is AGOT tournament.

GG, GL