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