Sunday afternoon with the Prasads: Ghost Party, Canal Mania, Hart en der Grenze
October 22nd
Saturday night at Rick’s, Ravindra had reiterated his desire to play Canal Mania, which I had brought along, but didn’t see the table. We discussed possibly playing games the next day, and decided to go home and talk it over with the wives. Sunday, Mary called to see if we were up for some gaming. Kristin was in super prep mode, as she has a talk coming up at the University on Friday. So, I made the trek out into the country by myself.
Mary and I sat down and talked about games for a while, until Ravindra made his way upstairs. She wanted to get Ghost Party on the table, I think as preparation for the game seeing some play over Halloween weekend, so that’s what we started with.
Ghost Party
AKA Midnight Party, by Wolfgang Kramer. Yet another game that’s new to me. The players have a group of party goers, who are promenading around the house during a party. A ghost lurks in the wine cellar. Each turn, you roll a die, and then choose to move one of your party people. If you roll a ghost (the die is 1 ,2 ,4 ,5, ghost, ghost) then the ghost moves three spaces forward. Once the ghost gets to the top of the stairs (three ghost rolls, I think), then people can jump into rooms to hide. Only one person can get into a room, and if the ghost catches up with you, you go onto the steps to the cellar, scoring negative points, in decreasing amounts as more people get caught. The goal is to have the least negative points.
I figured it would take two rounds to get the rolls for the ghost to make the top of the stairs, so I grouped the majority of my pieces where they would have a good chance to get into one of the two rooms that were worth positive (3) points. However, the ghost moved up faster, and I had failed to realize the full impact of only getting to move one party person, as well as the impact of actually rolling a ghost yourself, when you get to move nobody. Consequently, this round was a bit of a debacle for me, putting me way in the rear. We played, I think, a couple more rounds, and Mary was able to edge Ravindra and come out on top. I was stuck in the cellar, although I think my play improved marginally. This was a pretty fun game, with a pleasant board and decent bits. I’d play again, on a lighter sort of evening. Maybe at a Halloween party…
Canal Mania
As has been mentioned, Ravindra has been wanting to play this. Also, as I’ve certainly said a couple times, I’ve been eager to get a play in with three players. This turned out to be the lucky rainy Sunday for the both of us.
Ravindra got first move, and grabbed the best contract, which is, I think, Birmingham-Worcester. Thankfully, Mary grabbed Worcester-Gloucester before he could, preventing the accelerated early expansion/goods movement opportunity. I went with Manchester. Ravindra and I had potential four length cube movement pretty early, but then we got stuck. Ravindra stayed in the lead for some time, with me in second, and Mary in a close third. Mary got the first five cube move, and developed a pair of nice routes going from the West all the way over to London, and started to build serious momentum. All along, the scores stayed pretty close, although Ravindra looked like he was going to have the most contracts. This certainly played a little quicker with three, and I think it balanced well, with two people to work against the leader, without the board getting too crowded. Up until the last turn and a half or so, I really thought I was going to finish last, as I felt Mary had some good cubes to move, and I didn’t think I’d have much to move in goods reduction. In the end, I was able to complete two contracts on the last turn, to tie Ravindra for most completed, and then win the tiebreaker, putting me into first, with Ravindra in second and Mary following. The goods reduction went much faster than the four player games I’ve played. There were far fewer cubes left on the board in this one. It was a close game, and pretty fun, although Mary was pretty disgruntled, stating that she felt the ten points was too much for most contracts, and had too much weight on determining the outcome of the game. I don’t personally think its too much. I wouldn’t lower it more than eight. I think the mechanism helps out people who get small/cheap contracts, which are probably worth less points than the bigger ones, and also adds some drama to the end of the game. Actually, one thing I really like about this game is how much really can change in the last turn or so, making the winner fairly hard to predict. I don’t really like playing games where I can just know, absolutely, that I can’t win, at some point fairly far from the end. It makes it a little hard to sit and come up with alternate paths to satisfaction.
Hart and der Grenze
We figured we had time for one more before I had to head home to cook dinner. Mary pulled out “the suitcase game,” another new one for me. This is a game about smuggling stuff across a border. Each player has a little metal suitcase, and will have five cards to start every round. From these cards, they can put 1-5 in the suitcase. All of them, that is, except for the player who is sheriff that round, who has a different role. Players declare to the sheriff, in order, what they put in their cases. It can only be one type of item. The sheriff then chooses one player to have their bag searched. At this point, the player and sheriff can negotiate bribes to keep the case from being exposed. If the bribe isn’t accepted, or not offered, the case is opened. If it contains what was declared, the bank pays the player an amount indicated on the cards. If it doesn’t, the player discards the undeclared merchandise, and pays the bank a fee, higher for the more valuable, contraband items.
I benefited early from getting searched when I had declared honestly. I also was paid off by drawing sets of multiples, including having a whole hand of jugs at one point. Also, I got some good bribes in, making six off of Ravindra and seven from Mary. I actually thought I had a pretty big lead, but Mary sold quite a lot of goods in the second and third rounds. In the end, I won over Mary by one little dollar. Whoopee!
This was a nice, close game. Lighthearted, yet with some odds to calculate or estimate or hunchidate, or whatever. Really nice bits, and fun interaction, which means a lot to me in the field of gaming. This is one I’d really like to own. I can see it being a hit with some of Kristin’s friends, as well as with my family. I’ll have to keep my eyes open for it. Actually – I already looked. They have it at Bouldergames.com. Maybe time to update my Christmas list…
With that, it was past time to head home for dinner, so I bade my goodbyes to Chez Prasad, and hit the gravel. One stop at Whole Foods later, and I was cooking up some chops for the little lady. Next up, a welcome visit to Dave P.’s in Durham on Tuesday.
GG, GL
JW
Saturday, October 28, 2006
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Game Night at Rick & Marnee’s: Vinci, Fairy Tale
October 21st
I thought Kristin and I were going out for dinner with Abe and Laura on Saturday, but it turned out she had agreed to go for Dim Sum. This meant that I had to, unfortunately, miss my soccer game for the week but, fortunately, could make it to the redux of R&M’s GN (due to a scheduling mixup, they ended up having events Friday and Saturday).
When I got there, it looked like attendance was a little lite, and I thought I might be getting home early. This would have suited me, as I’ve been pretty wrapped up in World of Warcraft lately. I knew my eyes really didn’t need to be glued to a computer monitor any more that day, though, so I sat down to wait and see if more people would show.
The small group of people already there were engaged in a session of Die Mauer. I hadn’t played this, so it was sort of fun to watch. It’s a bluffing/guessing game. Each person has several sections of wall, worth 1-15 points. Some can’t be built next to each other. Each turn, everyone tries to figure out which piece the master builder (rotates each turn) is has secretly chosen to build. After everyone has secretly selected a piece, they are revealed. If you chose the same piece as the master builder, you get to build it, and they don’t. If nobody chooses the same piece as the mb, then the mb gets to build. First person out ends the round, and the rest of the players finish in order of least negative points. It seems evident it’s made to be played over several rounds, with cumulative score. Rick won the first round, but finished far in the rear for the second, making him last overall. Ah, fate.
A couple more people had arrived, and we split up into two groups. One group played Guillotine, while our group played Vinci. Myself, Andrea, and Gina hadn’t played before, while Rick, Ken, and Ravindra had.
Vinci
Vinci is a tactical area scoring game. Each player gets an empire, which consists of two tokens that give that empire a number of troops for the turn, as well as, sometimes, special abilities for combat, movement, or scoring. Using the tiles you have, you come on from the edge of the board and try to set up the best scoring possibilities you can. After you feel you’ve taken that empire as far as you can, you skip a turn and get a new one. Players continue doing this until someone hits 100 points, and the game ends at the end of the round. This is simple, diceless movement and combat, on a nice little map of Europe.
It looked to me like I had a choice between taking an empire with lots of troops, or taking one with scoring opportunities. I chose the former, which was probably a mistake. It left me a little bit in the hole on vps to start with, but also meant I’d end up with the biggest early empire, making me a sort of target. I moved into an area that was good for me to take and score lots of territory. Unfortunatley, this area would prove to be a popular one, and my empire didn’t last too long. Rick jumped out into the lead, with back to back to back turns of special scoring from mines, and nobody really messing with him. I fell into last place, apparently unable to catch on to how to place my empires so that they would stick around. The game got about halfway done, and people started to pick on the leaders, who were basically Rick, Ravindra, and Andrea. In the final third of the game, I expanded into an area (Spain and Western Europe) that stuck around a while. I also got a good scoring tile, and made some points over the last three or four turns. With people really picking on the leaders, I got out into the lead and triggered the game end. Andrea was able to catch up with me on the last round, though, and we ended in a tie, followed by Ravindra, Rick, and Ken. This was a pretty fun game, with lots of decisions. With the number of people we were playing with, there was a lot of opportunity for the game state to change by the time your turn came back around. I really never felt that there was too much chaos, though. I’d definitely play again.
After this, Andrea and Gina left. Rick, Ravindra, Ken, and myself sat around and talked about Vinci and other games for a while. Then, Ravindra pulled out some quick games he’d brought along, and we decided on Fairy Tale.
Fairy Tale
This is a light fantasy card game with a drafting element. You play four rounds, and then score. At the beginning of each round, each player draws five cards, and then cards are drafted and passed in a manner very similar to a Magic: the Gathering booster draft. After the draft, there are three turns in which each player secretly selects and simultaneously reveals a card. Each card has a scoring value, and some attributes, and some cards flip other cards to make them inactive in terms of scoring. Many cards also have special, interactive scoring abilities.
Not too much to say about this. You really mostly have to watch what your opponents are doing, and pay attention to the cards you are passing in the draft, to try to minimize their scoring opportunities. I ended up getting a few big cards, and the other cards that satisfied their scoring conditions. On the last turn of the last round, I got to play a card that basically wrecked everyone else out of 3-14 points. Pretty good. I won by a decent amount.
After that, it was late and time to go home. I only got to play two games this time, but it was a really good time. It’s always nice to learn some new games.
GG, GL
JW
October 21st
I thought Kristin and I were going out for dinner with Abe and Laura on Saturday, but it turned out she had agreed to go for Dim Sum. This meant that I had to, unfortunately, miss my soccer game for the week but, fortunately, could make it to the redux of R&M’s GN (due to a scheduling mixup, they ended up having events Friday and Saturday).
When I got there, it looked like attendance was a little lite, and I thought I might be getting home early. This would have suited me, as I’ve been pretty wrapped up in World of Warcraft lately. I knew my eyes really didn’t need to be glued to a computer monitor any more that day, though, so I sat down to wait and see if more people would show.
The small group of people already there were engaged in a session of Die Mauer. I hadn’t played this, so it was sort of fun to watch. It’s a bluffing/guessing game. Each person has several sections of wall, worth 1-15 points. Some can’t be built next to each other. Each turn, everyone tries to figure out which piece the master builder (rotates each turn) is has secretly chosen to build. After everyone has secretly selected a piece, they are revealed. If you chose the same piece as the master builder, you get to build it, and they don’t. If nobody chooses the same piece as the mb, then the mb gets to build. First person out ends the round, and the rest of the players finish in order of least negative points. It seems evident it’s made to be played over several rounds, with cumulative score. Rick won the first round, but finished far in the rear for the second, making him last overall. Ah, fate.
A couple more people had arrived, and we split up into two groups. One group played Guillotine, while our group played Vinci. Myself, Andrea, and Gina hadn’t played before, while Rick, Ken, and Ravindra had.
Vinci
Vinci is a tactical area scoring game. Each player gets an empire, which consists of two tokens that give that empire a number of troops for the turn, as well as, sometimes, special abilities for combat, movement, or scoring. Using the tiles you have, you come on from the edge of the board and try to set up the best scoring possibilities you can. After you feel you’ve taken that empire as far as you can, you skip a turn and get a new one. Players continue doing this until someone hits 100 points, and the game ends at the end of the round. This is simple, diceless movement and combat, on a nice little map of Europe.
It looked to me like I had a choice between taking an empire with lots of troops, or taking one with scoring opportunities. I chose the former, which was probably a mistake. It left me a little bit in the hole on vps to start with, but also meant I’d end up with the biggest early empire, making me a sort of target. I moved into an area that was good for me to take and score lots of territory. Unfortunatley, this area would prove to be a popular one, and my empire didn’t last too long. Rick jumped out into the lead, with back to back to back turns of special scoring from mines, and nobody really messing with him. I fell into last place, apparently unable to catch on to how to place my empires so that they would stick around. The game got about halfway done, and people started to pick on the leaders, who were basically Rick, Ravindra, and Andrea. In the final third of the game, I expanded into an area (Spain and Western Europe) that stuck around a while. I also got a good scoring tile, and made some points over the last three or four turns. With people really picking on the leaders, I got out into the lead and triggered the game end. Andrea was able to catch up with me on the last round, though, and we ended in a tie, followed by Ravindra, Rick, and Ken. This was a pretty fun game, with lots of decisions. With the number of people we were playing with, there was a lot of opportunity for the game state to change by the time your turn came back around. I really never felt that there was too much chaos, though. I’d definitely play again.
After this, Andrea and Gina left. Rick, Ravindra, Ken, and myself sat around and talked about Vinci and other games for a while. Then, Ravindra pulled out some quick games he’d brought along, and we decided on Fairy Tale.
Fairy Tale
This is a light fantasy card game with a drafting element. You play four rounds, and then score. At the beginning of each round, each player draws five cards, and then cards are drafted and passed in a manner very similar to a Magic: the Gathering booster draft. After the draft, there are three turns in which each player secretly selects and simultaneously reveals a card. Each card has a scoring value, and some attributes, and some cards flip other cards to make them inactive in terms of scoring. Many cards also have special, interactive scoring abilities.
Not too much to say about this. You really mostly have to watch what your opponents are doing, and pay attention to the cards you are passing in the draft, to try to minimize their scoring opportunities. I ended up getting a few big cards, and the other cards that satisfied their scoring conditions. On the last turn of the last round, I got to play a card that basically wrecked everyone else out of 3-14 points. Pretty good. I won by a decent amount.
After that, it was late and time to go home. I only got to play two games this time, but it was a really good time. It’s always nice to learn some new games.
GG, GL
JW
Sunday, October 15, 2006
Southern High School Gaming Club, Ticket to Ride
Thursday, October 12th
Mr. Kandah, the German teacher, runs the Southern High gaming club every Thursday afternoon. I've stopped by a couple of times to watch the kids play and chat with Mr. K. On Thursday, I got there early enough that I was able to join in on a game.
While Mr. K. and Jeremy were setting up Memoir '44, and Brandon was getting a game of Terra going, Eric was setting up Ticket to Ride, and needed some players. I sat down, and the table quickly filled up, although one player left again quite quickly, as he had band practice.
Ticket to Ride
I was playing with Eric, Derek, and David. All but Derek had played before, although it seemed that they had several of the rules wrong. First, they hadn't been subtracting incomplete tickets from scores in the endgame. Also, they'd been under the assumption that you had to reveal completed tickets, and complete all the tickets you currently had, before drawing new tickets. I don't know where these ideas came from, but I ended up sort of re-teaching the game to them as we went along.
I had one of the strongest tickets - the 20 point LA to Miami, in my opening hand, and also kept the ten point Miami to Toronto, getting rid of a ticket in the Northwest that I didn't think I'd probably have enough cars to complete. The young men I was playing with actually played quite well, making good decisions about drawing cards. They did place a little to high of a value on locomotives, I think, and tended to draw off the top maybe a little too often. That said, they were out and taking routes very quickly. They were rushing to two and three car routes, though, and not scoring a lot. I was the last to claim a route, and jumped from worst to first by claiming the six black route, just edging Eric, who was at 14.
We had a little discussion about the varying values of the connections, and planning your ticket completion to include longer routes, as well as keeping an eye on continuity for the purpose of gaining longest route. As I continued to claim the long routes across the bottom, I think the boys started to appreciate these ideas, as I started to run way out in front.
I ended up triggering the game end, taking a four space route, the only cars not connected to my other routes, and going to zero cars. The other players finished up, and we scored. Everyone had done a good job, and completed all of their tickets. I think David actually had about 39 points in tickets, but it wasn't enough to catch up with me, especially with longest route. I think I ended up with 138 or so, with David in second, a ways behind me. Eric had third, and Derek ended in fourth, although he did quite well for his first game.
We cleaned up the game, and it was about time to quit, as Mr. Kandah had to leave early. He did have to wait for the Memoir game to get over, though, so I started to teach San Juan to him and Eric. We just got through the explanation when the M44 game ended, much quicker than we had thought it would. Hopefully, we'll get a game in at a future meeting.
There aren't a lot of after-school activities at Southern, aside from athletics (and there aren't even many sports teams, really - only football and volleyball right now). Mr. Kandah is to be commended for volunteering his time. The group of students is well organized, and seems to grow each Thursday, as more kids become aware of the group. It's nice to be able to do something fun with the kids outside of class.
GG, GL
JW
Thursday, October 12th
Mr. Kandah, the German teacher, runs the Southern High gaming club every Thursday afternoon. I've stopped by a couple of times to watch the kids play and chat with Mr. K. On Thursday, I got there early enough that I was able to join in on a game.
While Mr. K. and Jeremy were setting up Memoir '44, and Brandon was getting a game of Terra going, Eric was setting up Ticket to Ride, and needed some players. I sat down, and the table quickly filled up, although one player left again quite quickly, as he had band practice.
Ticket to Ride
I was playing with Eric, Derek, and David. All but Derek had played before, although it seemed that they had several of the rules wrong. First, they hadn't been subtracting incomplete tickets from scores in the endgame. Also, they'd been under the assumption that you had to reveal completed tickets, and complete all the tickets you currently had, before drawing new tickets. I don't know where these ideas came from, but I ended up sort of re-teaching the game to them as we went along.
I had one of the strongest tickets - the 20 point LA to Miami, in my opening hand, and also kept the ten point Miami to Toronto, getting rid of a ticket in the Northwest that I didn't think I'd probably have enough cars to complete. The young men I was playing with actually played quite well, making good decisions about drawing cards. They did place a little to high of a value on locomotives, I think, and tended to draw off the top maybe a little too often. That said, they were out and taking routes very quickly. They were rushing to two and three car routes, though, and not scoring a lot. I was the last to claim a route, and jumped from worst to first by claiming the six black route, just edging Eric, who was at 14.
We had a little discussion about the varying values of the connections, and planning your ticket completion to include longer routes, as well as keeping an eye on continuity for the purpose of gaining longest route. As I continued to claim the long routes across the bottom, I think the boys started to appreciate these ideas, as I started to run way out in front.
I ended up triggering the game end, taking a four space route, the only cars not connected to my other routes, and going to zero cars. The other players finished up, and we scored. Everyone had done a good job, and completed all of their tickets. I think David actually had about 39 points in tickets, but it wasn't enough to catch up with me, especially with longest route. I think I ended up with 138 or so, with David in second, a ways behind me. Eric had third, and Derek ended in fourth, although he did quite well for his first game.
We cleaned up the game, and it was about time to quit, as Mr. Kandah had to leave early. He did have to wait for the Memoir game to get over, though, so I started to teach San Juan to him and Eric. We just got through the explanation when the M44 game ended, much quicker than we had thought it would. Hopefully, we'll get a game in at a future meeting.
There aren't a lot of after-school activities at Southern, aside from athletics (and there aren't even many sports teams, really - only football and volleyball right now). Mr. Kandah is to be commended for volunteering his time. The group of students is well organized, and seems to grow each Thursday, as more kids become aware of the group. It's nice to be able to do something fun with the kids outside of class.
GG, GL
JW
Friday, October 13, 2006
Games at Ravindra’s: Sheer Panic, Byzantium, Ricochet Robot, Liar’s Dice
Saturday, October 7th
I had the pleasure of playing a few games with Ravindra (RP) at TBGT, mainly through knowing Justin G.. We generally had a good time, and I discerned that Ravindra and I had some game interests in common. I was happy to get another chance to game with him when he sent out an invitation to the Durham Gamers group to meet up at his place.
Initially, I thought I’d be late due to my Rainbow League soccer game. However, the game was cancelled, due to rain, and I was able to join RP and Greg at Sitar India Palace for the dilectible buffet. After stuffing myself on spicy dishes of rice, vegetables, and chicken, I grabbed some espresso and headed off to rural Hillsborough.
This is the most “out in the country” I’ve been since coming to NC. RP’s place is a little secluded, and it reminded me of the first time I visited Bonnie Anderson’s cabin in Wisconsin, years ago, for a Halloween party. Of course, this wasn’t quite as strange, as Bonnie had near human-sized cocoons hanging from trees in the woods surrounding her house… (a former art project of Tom Charney’s). Nor did I enter the house to find a gaggle of costumed folk, although there were Halloween decorations. Suffice it to say, it’s a nice house, and Ravindra has the largest private collection of games I’ve had the pleasure to encounter.
It was just the three of us, but Brian called to let Ravindra know that he’d be over in 45 minutes or so. We grabbed a “quickie” to carry us into that time. Greg and I hadn’t played Sheer Panic before, so Ravindra went over the rules, which actually took a while, as he had to look some stuff up. We finally got it down, and set to getting those ewes on the move.
Sheer Panic
SP is a game about moving sheep around. You have a limited number of actions you can take during the game, to move your own sheep, and others, to get into good scoring positions, the nature of which change across the different phases. You each have two sheep, and, with three players, there are two “neutral” sheep. There’s also a black sheep, and some extra pieces that represent the different scoring phases and the front of the herd, which can be important. In the first phase, you try to get your sheep close together. In the second phase, you try to get them close to the front. In the third phase, you work for proximity to the black sheep. In the fourth and final phase, the sheep are scored from the rear, and during two times scoring is triggered, the first row of sheep is removed for sheering.
I don’t have too much to say about this game. It seemed that the moves were moderately obvious, with the biggest choice being to take what might be a stronger move for the future versus getting a free “ram slam” available on the scoring/turn track. The moves are small, but can have a big effect on the board position. This means, though, that by your turn, things can have changed greatly. We stayed pretty close through the whole game, never separated by more than a couple points. In the final turn, Ravindra lost a sheep early, and looked pretty much like playing kingmaker. Thankfully, he chose a move that benefited me more than Greg, and I ended up winning a close shave (I really couldn’t help that, could I?).
Brian had arrived, and had to wait a while for us to finish. After getting the pieces bundled back into the box, it was time to choose the main course of the evening. There were a lot of possibilities. I had brought Canal Mania, but I was really more interested in playing it with four, and it didn’t seem that Brian had liked it that much. Unfortunately, it seemed that one of us had a little problem with each of the first several games that were put forth. I gave a blanket “yes” to whatever might be put forth. Finally, Brian and Greg agreed on Byzantium, and we settled down at the table.
Byzantium
This is a Martin Wallace game from Warfrog. It involves the struggle between the remnants of the Byzantine Empire and emerging Muslim forces in, I think, the seventh century. Each player represents a powerful family that has influence in both the Arab and Byzantine worlds. You have a military army for each side, which can attack and conquer cities, or defend your own cities. There are three turns, each involving the players taking turns choosing from several available actions, until everyone passes, at which time you get income based on the number, size, and type of cities you control. Some actions, like moving and attacking with an army, anyone can take as many times as they can afford. Other actions, like fortifying a city, or utilizing a fleet, are limited, and can only be taken, depending on the action, 1-3 times per turn (total). You score victory points during the game for taking cities with military force, and at the end for the cities you control. There are separate victory tracks for each of the two factions. You want to be a little careful about balancing your influence – if, at the end of the game, one of your sets of victory points is more than twice as big as the other, you only count that one for your total. Otherwise, you add the two together.
The explanation of the rules took a while, as Ravindra had only played once, and it had been a while. We got everything pretty much worked out, though (although Brian appeared to sleep through part of the rules), and got to playing. I’ve been sitting on this entry a while, and I don’t remember as much about this game as I probably should. One thing I do remember is that I misinterpreted the rules a little. You have to use a cube, of which you have a limited supply each turn, to do most actions. You have some free cubes, and otherwise you have to pay three units of money (which is a lot) to buy a cube to use. The armies have move cubes, which you put on them through one of the actions. You only have to spend one of these to move and attack. I think I spent a couple extra cubes early, before I realized this, tossing an extra cube to add cubes and to move. I wasn’t super sure about exactly what I did, though, so, maybe not… Anyway, I made one good setup choice, taking the big, Southernmost Arab city. I then blew a couple moves, taking cities that were in the area that was susceptible to Bulgar attack – a sort of “mercenary” army that can be hired by either of your factions and, as we discovered, can be a good source of Arab victory points (at least, that’s how it turned out for the other players).
As the game progressed, I was doing all right in Arab victory, and staying around the back on Byzantine victory. However, it became fairly obvious to me about halfway through the second turn that I was in trouble. I was losing a lot of Byzantine income, and my remaining cities were right in the path of two oncoming Arab armies, which was also keeping my Byzantine army penned in. One ironic thing is that Brian, who slept through some of the rules, remembered something that I didn’t – that a Byzantine army, moving to Constantinople, can move to any coastal city on it’s next turn. This would have been important knowledge for me, had I remembered it… As it was, I was forced to bemoan my own stupidity and poor memory, as Brian remembered and used this move at the very end of the game, when my army had long since moved away.
The other players slowly edged ahead of me. Brian had a slim lead, followed by Greg and Ravindra, with me a bit behind. In the third turn, unfortunately, I remained a prime target, while Ravindra also lost some, with very little being done to attack Brian or Greg. At the close of the game, due to a poor choice I’d made earlier, and someone making a last attack on me, I couldn’t pay upkeep for all my troops, and I lost a victory point. Brian won by a considerable margin, followed by Greg, with Ravindra and I trailing behind, with me ending up getting fourth by one point.
This was fairly fun – really, it was a good group of guys to game with. The game had some interesting things going on, like the dual-faction system, and the special action selection. It’s also a decent multi-player wargame. I’d like to play it again, to see what I learned, but I don’t think I’ll be looking toward picking it up. I don’t think I really need another game that can put you in a position where you know you’ve lost but still have to play when the game is only half over. Some secret info/victory bonuses might have been nice.
It was fairly late, and Greg and Brian were ready to go, but agreed to a quick “ten-minute” game. Ravindra removed Randolph’s Ricochet Robot from his reserves, and we readied ourselves for a rumble of rebounding. Again, a game I’d not played before.
Ricochet Robot
I was happy to learn this. The most recent issue of Knucklebones features an article about the designer, Alex Randolph, who was a contemporary of Sid Sackson, and co-worker at 3M. He’s also known for Twixt and Inkognito, among a host of other games. The game is simple, and quick, and can be played by a large number of people. There’s a semi-variable, four-section board, with several target-spaces marked by chits with color and symbol identifiers. There are also four robots of different colors. One player takes a token out of the supply, and the players begin to formulate, for themselves, moves that will allow them to send the robot of that color to the target space of that color and symbol. Whenever your robot hits something-a wall or another robot-you can either stop and move something else, or turn it 90 degrees in either direction and keep moving. Once you’ve worked out a route in your head, you say the number of moves it would take. This is like an opening bid, and the other players have one minute to equal or beat your number. The player who can make it in the fewest moves gets the token. In the case of a tie, the player who has the least tokens gets it. You leave the robots in their current positions and go again… as many times as you like.
This was simple, quick, and fun, and I’d be happy to add it to my collection. I think it would be fine for certain groups of non-gamers as well. In our particular play, Ravindra and Brian tied with five tokens, and Greg had four. I think I had three, but I might have had four also. There’s some laughs in this game – when someone just can’t see a move, and then, after it’s done, someone finds a simple way to solve it. Also, when someone miss-calls a number, or can’t remember all the moves they wanted to program. Good times, but we played a bit longer than ten minutes.
Oddly, though the hour was getting quite late, Greg and Brian were now ready for more. Perhaps it had passed the point at which they could expect anything else out of the night other than sleep, and they’d decided to make the most of it. I don’t know. Liar’s dice came down for what was almost certainly the closer (I actually don’t know if they stopped on this, as I left before the second game was over).
Liar’s Dice
Another first for me, though not a true first. I’d had this game explained to me in college, and I’d played a version of it at TBGT (pirate’s dice). A fairly simple dice game. Each player starts with five dice and a cup. Dice are numbered 2-6, with the one replaced by a star, which is wild. Beginning with the start player, bids are made. A player bids a number of dice showing a certain number that they think are present under all the cups combined. The next player can either call, or raise. If they call, the dice are revealed. If the number of dice exceeds the bid, the caller loses a number of dice equal to the difference. If it’s equal, everyone but the player being called loses one die. If the number doesn’t match the bid, the bidder loses a number of dice equal to the difference. If you lose all your dice, you’re out of the game.
In the first round, I played somewhat conservatively, and was second to last out, losing to Brian. In the second game, I played quite rashly, and was out very quickly. At this point, I decided it would be a good idea to hit the road, as I was getting somewhat tired, and knew I had a somewhat lengthy and unfamiliar ride through the dark ahead of me. Ravindra graciously saw me off, and, as far as I know, the gaming continued into the night.
Outside of TBGT, this was the best night of gaming I’ve had since I got down here. I hope I can get in more Saturday evening sessions like this.
GG, GL
JW
Saturday, October 7th
I had the pleasure of playing a few games with Ravindra (RP) at TBGT, mainly through knowing Justin G.. We generally had a good time, and I discerned that Ravindra and I had some game interests in common. I was happy to get another chance to game with him when he sent out an invitation to the Durham Gamers group to meet up at his place.
Initially, I thought I’d be late due to my Rainbow League soccer game. However, the game was cancelled, due to rain, and I was able to join RP and Greg at Sitar India Palace for the dilectible buffet. After stuffing myself on spicy dishes of rice, vegetables, and chicken, I grabbed some espresso and headed off to rural Hillsborough.
This is the most “out in the country” I’ve been since coming to NC. RP’s place is a little secluded, and it reminded me of the first time I visited Bonnie Anderson’s cabin in Wisconsin, years ago, for a Halloween party. Of course, this wasn’t quite as strange, as Bonnie had near human-sized cocoons hanging from trees in the woods surrounding her house… (a former art project of Tom Charney’s). Nor did I enter the house to find a gaggle of costumed folk, although there were Halloween decorations. Suffice it to say, it’s a nice house, and Ravindra has the largest private collection of games I’ve had the pleasure to encounter.
It was just the three of us, but Brian called to let Ravindra know that he’d be over in 45 minutes or so. We grabbed a “quickie” to carry us into that time. Greg and I hadn’t played Sheer Panic before, so Ravindra went over the rules, which actually took a while, as he had to look some stuff up. We finally got it down, and set to getting those ewes on the move.
Sheer Panic
SP is a game about moving sheep around. You have a limited number of actions you can take during the game, to move your own sheep, and others, to get into good scoring positions, the nature of which change across the different phases. You each have two sheep, and, with three players, there are two “neutral” sheep. There’s also a black sheep, and some extra pieces that represent the different scoring phases and the front of the herd, which can be important. In the first phase, you try to get your sheep close together. In the second phase, you try to get them close to the front. In the third phase, you work for proximity to the black sheep. In the fourth and final phase, the sheep are scored from the rear, and during two times scoring is triggered, the first row of sheep is removed for sheering.
I don’t have too much to say about this game. It seemed that the moves were moderately obvious, with the biggest choice being to take what might be a stronger move for the future versus getting a free “ram slam” available on the scoring/turn track. The moves are small, but can have a big effect on the board position. This means, though, that by your turn, things can have changed greatly. We stayed pretty close through the whole game, never separated by more than a couple points. In the final turn, Ravindra lost a sheep early, and looked pretty much like playing kingmaker. Thankfully, he chose a move that benefited me more than Greg, and I ended up winning a close shave (I really couldn’t help that, could I?).
Brian had arrived, and had to wait a while for us to finish. After getting the pieces bundled back into the box, it was time to choose the main course of the evening. There were a lot of possibilities. I had brought Canal Mania, but I was really more interested in playing it with four, and it didn’t seem that Brian had liked it that much. Unfortunately, it seemed that one of us had a little problem with each of the first several games that were put forth. I gave a blanket “yes” to whatever might be put forth. Finally, Brian and Greg agreed on Byzantium, and we settled down at the table.
Byzantium
This is a Martin Wallace game from Warfrog. It involves the struggle between the remnants of the Byzantine Empire and emerging Muslim forces in, I think, the seventh century. Each player represents a powerful family that has influence in both the Arab and Byzantine worlds. You have a military army for each side, which can attack and conquer cities, or defend your own cities. There are three turns, each involving the players taking turns choosing from several available actions, until everyone passes, at which time you get income based on the number, size, and type of cities you control. Some actions, like moving and attacking with an army, anyone can take as many times as they can afford. Other actions, like fortifying a city, or utilizing a fleet, are limited, and can only be taken, depending on the action, 1-3 times per turn (total). You score victory points during the game for taking cities with military force, and at the end for the cities you control. There are separate victory tracks for each of the two factions. You want to be a little careful about balancing your influence – if, at the end of the game, one of your sets of victory points is more than twice as big as the other, you only count that one for your total. Otherwise, you add the two together.
The explanation of the rules took a while, as Ravindra had only played once, and it had been a while. We got everything pretty much worked out, though (although Brian appeared to sleep through part of the rules), and got to playing. I’ve been sitting on this entry a while, and I don’t remember as much about this game as I probably should. One thing I do remember is that I misinterpreted the rules a little. You have to use a cube, of which you have a limited supply each turn, to do most actions. You have some free cubes, and otherwise you have to pay three units of money (which is a lot) to buy a cube to use. The armies have move cubes, which you put on them through one of the actions. You only have to spend one of these to move and attack. I think I spent a couple extra cubes early, before I realized this, tossing an extra cube to add cubes and to move. I wasn’t super sure about exactly what I did, though, so, maybe not… Anyway, I made one good setup choice, taking the big, Southernmost Arab city. I then blew a couple moves, taking cities that were in the area that was susceptible to Bulgar attack – a sort of “mercenary” army that can be hired by either of your factions and, as we discovered, can be a good source of Arab victory points (at least, that’s how it turned out for the other players).
As the game progressed, I was doing all right in Arab victory, and staying around the back on Byzantine victory. However, it became fairly obvious to me about halfway through the second turn that I was in trouble. I was losing a lot of Byzantine income, and my remaining cities were right in the path of two oncoming Arab armies, which was also keeping my Byzantine army penned in. One ironic thing is that Brian, who slept through some of the rules, remembered something that I didn’t – that a Byzantine army, moving to Constantinople, can move to any coastal city on it’s next turn. This would have been important knowledge for me, had I remembered it… As it was, I was forced to bemoan my own stupidity and poor memory, as Brian remembered and used this move at the very end of the game, when my army had long since moved away.
The other players slowly edged ahead of me. Brian had a slim lead, followed by Greg and Ravindra, with me a bit behind. In the third turn, unfortunately, I remained a prime target, while Ravindra also lost some, with very little being done to attack Brian or Greg. At the close of the game, due to a poor choice I’d made earlier, and someone making a last attack on me, I couldn’t pay upkeep for all my troops, and I lost a victory point. Brian won by a considerable margin, followed by Greg, with Ravindra and I trailing behind, with me ending up getting fourth by one point.
This was fairly fun – really, it was a good group of guys to game with. The game had some interesting things going on, like the dual-faction system, and the special action selection. It’s also a decent multi-player wargame. I’d like to play it again, to see what I learned, but I don’t think I’ll be looking toward picking it up. I don’t think I really need another game that can put you in a position where you know you’ve lost but still have to play when the game is only half over. Some secret info/victory bonuses might have been nice.
It was fairly late, and Greg and Brian were ready to go, but agreed to a quick “ten-minute” game. Ravindra removed Randolph’s Ricochet Robot from his reserves, and we readied ourselves for a rumble of rebounding. Again, a game I’d not played before.
Ricochet Robot
I was happy to learn this. The most recent issue of Knucklebones features an article about the designer, Alex Randolph, who was a contemporary of Sid Sackson, and co-worker at 3M. He’s also known for Twixt and Inkognito, among a host of other games. The game is simple, and quick, and can be played by a large number of people. There’s a semi-variable, four-section board, with several target-spaces marked by chits with color and symbol identifiers. There are also four robots of different colors. One player takes a token out of the supply, and the players begin to formulate, for themselves, moves that will allow them to send the robot of that color to the target space of that color and symbol. Whenever your robot hits something-a wall or another robot-you can either stop and move something else, or turn it 90 degrees in either direction and keep moving. Once you’ve worked out a route in your head, you say the number of moves it would take. This is like an opening bid, and the other players have one minute to equal or beat your number. The player who can make it in the fewest moves gets the token. In the case of a tie, the player who has the least tokens gets it. You leave the robots in their current positions and go again… as many times as you like.
This was simple, quick, and fun, and I’d be happy to add it to my collection. I think it would be fine for certain groups of non-gamers as well. In our particular play, Ravindra and Brian tied with five tokens, and Greg had four. I think I had three, but I might have had four also. There’s some laughs in this game – when someone just can’t see a move, and then, after it’s done, someone finds a simple way to solve it. Also, when someone miss-calls a number, or can’t remember all the moves they wanted to program. Good times, but we played a bit longer than ten minutes.
Oddly, though the hour was getting quite late, Greg and Brian were now ready for more. Perhaps it had passed the point at which they could expect anything else out of the night other than sleep, and they’d decided to make the most of it. I don’t know. Liar’s dice came down for what was almost certainly the closer (I actually don’t know if they stopped on this, as I left before the second game was over).
Liar’s Dice
Another first for me, though not a true first. I’d had this game explained to me in college, and I’d played a version of it at TBGT (pirate’s dice). A fairly simple dice game. Each player starts with five dice and a cup. Dice are numbered 2-6, with the one replaced by a star, which is wild. Beginning with the start player, bids are made. A player bids a number of dice showing a certain number that they think are present under all the cups combined. The next player can either call, or raise. If they call, the dice are revealed. If the number of dice exceeds the bid, the caller loses a number of dice equal to the difference. If it’s equal, everyone but the player being called loses one die. If the number doesn’t match the bid, the bidder loses a number of dice equal to the difference. If you lose all your dice, you’re out of the game.
In the first round, I played somewhat conservatively, and was second to last out, losing to Brian. In the second game, I played quite rashly, and was out very quickly. At this point, I decided it would be a good idea to hit the road, as I was getting somewhat tired, and knew I had a somewhat lengthy and unfamiliar ride through the dark ahead of me. Ravindra graciously saw me off, and, as far as I know, the gaming continued into the night.
Outside of TBGT, this was the best night of gaming I’ve had since I got down here. I hope I can get in more Saturday evening sessions like this.
GG, GL
JW
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Game Night at Larry and Carlee’s: Torres and Vegas Showdown
Tuesday rolled around, and it was time for another trip to Cary for gaming in the comfortable confines of L & C’s abode. Chris had something come up, so I ended up making the trek down by myself in the jeep. I’m trying to take somewhat lighter games to this event – a trend seems to have begun in which I usually end up sitting with the same folks, playing “heavier” games, and I’d like to branch out a little more. I put Funny Friends and St. Petersburg in the box, and they were joined by Hacienda, which Chris had suggested, and Vegas Showdown, just because there was room. I figured I’d just try to get into other games.
There were about ten people there, including myself, and we split into Torres (David, Keith, and myself), Coloretto, and, I think, Alhambra. One of the nice things about this group is that there seems to be a steady influx of people who are new to Euro/designer games, and many of them are “catching the bug,” so to speak. Tonight was no exception, with a couple in attendance who were getting their first taste of our hobby.
Torres
David had brought this game, and it was sitting on the table, so we decided to give it a go. Keith and I hadn’t played before, and David had played once. Torres is a Wolfgang Kramer Spiel Des Jahres winner. It’s a pretty abstract strategy game about a competition to become the new heir of a kingdom, through showing off building prowess. There are special action cards, knights, and tower levels. You have limited action points per turn. You can either play a tower level, play or move a knight, or draw or play a card. Scoring happens in each of three rounds. You score for your highest knight in a castle, equal to the height of your knight in levels times the base size of the castle in pieces. There’s also bonus scoring each round based on a “King” piece, played by the player who’s in last.
I ended up being last to start with, and placed the King to my advantage. Dave started strong in one corner, while Keith built pretty close to me on one side. I took advantage of what might have been over-building on his part to jump onto the top of the stuff he’d built (as he hadn’t put a piece there). Keith built up another castle, while Dave continued working on his. I jumped onto Keith’s other castle, which Dave had also jumped onto. Then, I jumped onto Dave’s. The way the game was playing out, I brought out lots of knights to block people and get them on the board early. Keith was trying to build, and getting thwarted. Neither of us really got in Dave’s way at the beginning, and he definitely reaped the rewards with a big lead after the first scoring round. Keith and I scored more over the next couple turns, and closed the distance, but never quite made it up. It finished pretty close: Dave 203, me 198, Keith 194. It was a good, fun game, but it was marred a little bit by mistakes made throughout the game, though especially at the beginning. We each made poor moves. I, in particular, was guilty of wasting several action points over the last three rounds of the game, as well as poor strategic choices which precipitated those moves. Overall, we all liked it, and hopefully we’ll play again soon.
Vegas Showdown
We had time for one more, and with other games (Ticket to Ride, Colossal Arena) having started, it looked like it was going to be the three of us again. Among the available games, it seemed Dave and Keith were interested in Vegas Showdown, so I got it out and taught it to Keith. Dave and I had each played once before.
I messed up this game by not removing some of the tiles at the beginning, which you are supposed to do for a three player game. I think I’ve done this both times I played. This leads to lack of competition in the mid-end game, and lets some people pick up some cheap tiles to fill up their boards. I really need to remember this next time, as it would have made quite a difference in the way the game played, I think.
VS is, really, a pretty simple game to play. Once a person figures out the relationships between the tiles, and gets down a basic strategy for developing his player board, it can really move along. There was very little AP in this session, and it moved along at a pleasant pace. I was bidding first on the first turn, and ended up not getting a slot. This proved to be the case for several turns, so it took me a while to get my income up. In fact, the way the bids went, I ended up with first turn restaurant, which cut into my early money quite a bit. In retrospect, I think this is a mistake. Taking a restaurant before a lounge really means you are probably going to have to renovate at some point to move things around, which I’d rather avoid. I’d also rather have more cashflow early. I think I was really swayed by the knowledge that there’s at least one card in the deck that bases income on population.
Dave and Keith got the early slots, and then we all started diversifying a little. One thing I noted about this game during these turns is that it’s not very easy to check the other players. That is, it’s a bit of a task to look around the table and make sure everyone is making good connections, or that all of your connections are staying correct, after renovations. I think this could be solved by making the diamonds a different color, and making a central red line for the paths through the tiles – something that could be very easily visually traced. It’s not like the tiles/player boards are really very esthetically pleasing anyway…
This was a bit of a frustrating game for me. It took me a while to get into things, and then I ended up getting stuck with just one tile slot left on my player board, and was quickly joined in that position by Keith, who was able to outbid me by a couple bucks on the fancy slot that came up. I also regretted my tile placement a couple of times - especially the way my diamond tiles were put down, as I couldn't effectively maximize scoring them without two renovations, which I didn't have time for. I ended up in second for the second time tonight, in another close game. This time, Dave and Keith flip-flopped, with Keith in first and Dave bringing up the rear. Game end scoring made a big difference, here, as I was able to pass Dave, after having lingered in the back most of the time.
Another fun play, and I’m still quite happy I bought it. I’m even more anxious, now, though, to get it out with more than three players.
It was getting kind of late, and we all had to work in the morning, so we called it a night. I think I need to get away from this weeknight gaming…
GG, GL
JW
Tuesday rolled around, and it was time for another trip to Cary for gaming in the comfortable confines of L & C’s abode. Chris had something come up, so I ended up making the trek down by myself in the jeep. I’m trying to take somewhat lighter games to this event – a trend seems to have begun in which I usually end up sitting with the same folks, playing “heavier” games, and I’d like to branch out a little more. I put Funny Friends and St. Petersburg in the box, and they were joined by Hacienda, which Chris had suggested, and Vegas Showdown, just because there was room. I figured I’d just try to get into other games.
There were about ten people there, including myself, and we split into Torres (David, Keith, and myself), Coloretto, and, I think, Alhambra. One of the nice things about this group is that there seems to be a steady influx of people who are new to Euro/designer games, and many of them are “catching the bug,” so to speak. Tonight was no exception, with a couple in attendance who were getting their first taste of our hobby.
Torres
David had brought this game, and it was sitting on the table, so we decided to give it a go. Keith and I hadn’t played before, and David had played once. Torres is a Wolfgang Kramer Spiel Des Jahres winner. It’s a pretty abstract strategy game about a competition to become the new heir of a kingdom, through showing off building prowess. There are special action cards, knights, and tower levels. You have limited action points per turn. You can either play a tower level, play or move a knight, or draw or play a card. Scoring happens in each of three rounds. You score for your highest knight in a castle, equal to the height of your knight in levels times the base size of the castle in pieces. There’s also bonus scoring each round based on a “King” piece, played by the player who’s in last.
I ended up being last to start with, and placed the King to my advantage. Dave started strong in one corner, while Keith built pretty close to me on one side. I took advantage of what might have been over-building on his part to jump onto the top of the stuff he’d built (as he hadn’t put a piece there). Keith built up another castle, while Dave continued working on his. I jumped onto Keith’s other castle, which Dave had also jumped onto. Then, I jumped onto Dave’s. The way the game was playing out, I brought out lots of knights to block people and get them on the board early. Keith was trying to build, and getting thwarted. Neither of us really got in Dave’s way at the beginning, and he definitely reaped the rewards with a big lead after the first scoring round. Keith and I scored more over the next couple turns, and closed the distance, but never quite made it up. It finished pretty close: Dave 203, me 198, Keith 194. It was a good, fun game, but it was marred a little bit by mistakes made throughout the game, though especially at the beginning. We each made poor moves. I, in particular, was guilty of wasting several action points over the last three rounds of the game, as well as poor strategic choices which precipitated those moves. Overall, we all liked it, and hopefully we’ll play again soon.
Vegas Showdown
We had time for one more, and with other games (Ticket to Ride, Colossal Arena) having started, it looked like it was going to be the three of us again. Among the available games, it seemed Dave and Keith were interested in Vegas Showdown, so I got it out and taught it to Keith. Dave and I had each played once before.
I messed up this game by not removing some of the tiles at the beginning, which you are supposed to do for a three player game. I think I’ve done this both times I played. This leads to lack of competition in the mid-end game, and lets some people pick up some cheap tiles to fill up their boards. I really need to remember this next time, as it would have made quite a difference in the way the game played, I think.
VS is, really, a pretty simple game to play. Once a person figures out the relationships between the tiles, and gets down a basic strategy for developing his player board, it can really move along. There was very little AP in this session, and it moved along at a pleasant pace. I was bidding first on the first turn, and ended up not getting a slot. This proved to be the case for several turns, so it took me a while to get my income up. In fact, the way the bids went, I ended up with first turn restaurant, which cut into my early money quite a bit. In retrospect, I think this is a mistake. Taking a restaurant before a lounge really means you are probably going to have to renovate at some point to move things around, which I’d rather avoid. I’d also rather have more cashflow early. I think I was really swayed by the knowledge that there’s at least one card in the deck that bases income on population.
Dave and Keith got the early slots, and then we all started diversifying a little. One thing I noted about this game during these turns is that it’s not very easy to check the other players. That is, it’s a bit of a task to look around the table and make sure everyone is making good connections, or that all of your connections are staying correct, after renovations. I think this could be solved by making the diamonds a different color, and making a central red line for the paths through the tiles – something that could be very easily visually traced. It’s not like the tiles/player boards are really very esthetically pleasing anyway…
This was a bit of a frustrating game for me. It took me a while to get into things, and then I ended up getting stuck with just one tile slot left on my player board, and was quickly joined in that position by Keith, who was able to outbid me by a couple bucks on the fancy slot that came up. I also regretted my tile placement a couple of times - especially the way my diamond tiles were put down, as I couldn't effectively maximize scoring them without two renovations, which I didn't have time for. I ended up in second for the second time tonight, in another close game. This time, Dave and Keith flip-flopped, with Keith in first and Dave bringing up the rear. Game end scoring made a big difference, here, as I was able to pass Dave, after having lingered in the back most of the time.
Another fun play, and I’m still quite happy I bought it. I’m even more anxious, now, though, to get it out with more than three players.
It was getting kind of late, and we all had to work in the morning, so we called it a night. I think I need to get away from this weeknight gaming…
GG, GL
JW
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)