Saturday at Ravindra's: Antiquity, Das Zepter Von Zavendor
November 18th
I'm going to start out by thanking Chris, who is one of few people who has really responded to my efforts here. It really is nice to get some actual feedback. Maybe someday, there will actually be some game-related discussion here... Recently, I was very excited, noting that there were five responses (a new record!) to one of my posts (the one about online gaming). Unfortunately, only one post (Chris's) was genuine, with three others being solicitations for some sort of money making scheme, and one being a greeting from an individual who shares my name. Sigh. Back to gaming...
Occasionally, discussion on one of the game-related mailing lists I subscribe to actually culminates in some game-playing. So far, both times have been trips out to Ravindra's place, which is always a treat. Ravindra has an excellent collection that never ceases to provide quite a conundrum - what to play? Several recent acquisitions were offered to the table, and, since all present were strategy gamers who don't mind a long play, we grabbed the chance to engage in a game of that variety, and chose Antiquity.
Antiquity
This is another offering from the designers of Roads & Boats, put out by the same Dutch company, Splotter Spiele. This is a sort of mini-civ building game, involving constructing cities, gathering and managing resources, and damage control. It's a "big" game, with a modular, changeable board, and tons of chits. It looks, honestly, like a bit of a monster. And it is.
In Antiquity, you start with one city. You use your workers to go out and get resources: food/fish, stone/wood, luxury goods, that sort of thing. In turn, you use these items to build new stuff: more resource gathering, inns to expand your control area, new cities. New cities give you more space to build more stuff. The whole time, you produce pollution, ruining the land in your control area. At some point, you need to start working toward victory. You build a chapel, dedicated to one of four saints, each of which gives a different special power, and dictates a different victory condition. When you satisfy that condition, you win.
Most of this game seems to be played solitaire. You start off pretty isolated, and it seems it should take a while to really run into someone. We spent most of the early game just worrying about staying alive, playing almost cooperatively. We shared information about what buildings we thought we should build, ways of dealing with polution and famine, and wondered if we shouldn't have all went out exploring right away (immediately increasing the famine level).
We kept referencing the rules, and generally had things figured out, and kept playing. I didn't really feel like victory was really in sight for anyone, and it didn't seem that all the victory conditions were even really viable. Maybe I just need to play more. I certainly learned one important lesson: DON'T RUN OUT OF WOOD. The game suggestions mention this. And I even read them, aloud. Yet, I did it. I just flat out forgot. This basically stranded me, barely holding on, until Greg took pity on me, built a market, and traded me some wood. Ravindra had to go out for a while, so we decided to just solitaire through the last few turns. Brian was the only one who looked like he could realistically win in a few turns, especially with Ravindra out of the picture. I just wanted to see if I could find a way to stabilize my position and move forward. Brian just called it quits. Well, to make the story end more quickly, Greg found his way to victory, and I figured out how the alchemist worked, and the game, well, ended.
Brian had to go, but Ravindra returned, and the three of us were up for another one. We didn't want to play anything too heavy (Antiquity is a bit of a thinker), or too long (it was getting late). Ravindra pulled down Das Zepter Von Zavandor, which he claimed would "definitely probably finish in around two hours" (which did much to encourage Greg and I...).
The Scepter of Zavandor is a game about accumulating fairy dust and magic gems, to buy more magic gems, to get more magic artifacts, to get more gems, and advance your knowledge of certain things, which gets you more gems, all of which gets you some victory points. At a certain point, you use your fairy dust to buy yourself some sentinels, which give you more victory points, and when enough of them have been purchased, the game ends. There's a lot of game here, and a fair amount of theme. Resource management, auction for artifacts/sentinels, and a sort of tech tree. THis game realy didn't grab me, though. We had a pretty good time playing, and took turns running in the lead. There's a payment penalty for being in first, less for second, so later players get to "draft" off the leader, and judge the best time to surge forward. Ravindra did this, made a ton of money from monopolizing diamonds, and then went #1 with a bullet, repeatedly, consecutively, buying big sentinels.
Scepter is, for me, perhaps prone to a runaway leader problem, despite the handicapping mechanism. If someone makes a lot more money, you really can't stop them from getting what they want, which directly prohibits you from getting it. I'd heard good things about this game, but after this play I haven't found anything to encourage me to seek it out again any time soon.
GG, GL
JW
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Game Night at Rick and Marnee's: Robo Rally, Antike, For Sale
November 17th
People were a little slow to arrive at this edition of the monthly gamefest at Rick's. We stood around a while and talked games, while another few people sat in the basement and discussed, I think, nitting. After about half an hour, we finally got enough people to get Robo Rally going, and we hit the factory floor.
Robo Rally
We had six for this: Rick, myself, and four new players. We explained the game and got to racing. We were playing the first edition, using expansion boards. I don't know if I've discussed this game before or not. It's a Richard Garfield (MtG) classic, which involves drawing cards which have movement options on them, and using them to program a robot who's racing through a factory with elements that will effect movement - conveyor belts, pushers, crushers, spinners, pits, etc.. It generally involves a lot of humorous interaction, as people mess up their own or others' programs. The game got off to a good start, with almost everyone taking advantage of board elements to enhance their movement. Many of us capitalized on a long oil slick. About two thirds of the way to the first flag, things got interesting, with some miss-moves and collisions resulting in pushes. Rick made it to the flag very efficiantly, while I got stuck moving back and forth facing another player, shooting each other at each phase. This was, as RR usually is, lots of fun. However, at this point in the game, Ravindra and Chris were starting up Antike, which I really wanted to try, so I bailed out. I usually won't (almost never) abandon a game. However, RR is a game you can get out of without really affecting other players' enjoyment/position, so I didn't feel too bad about it. I don't know who won, but I know they had so much fun they played another round, with more players.
Antike
There is a newish Rio Grande reprint of this German game, for which Ravindra owns the original. I don't know the designer off the top of my head. This is a sort of civ building game, with a very small tech tree. It uses an interesting rondel (sp?) for action selection - you get one power/action type per turn, and you can choose any with in three spaces of you, or you can pay to move further around the circle (something I should have done, at least once, but didn't). You can harvest different raw materials, build different things (temples/units), or move/attack. You score points from accomplishing a variety of different goals over the turns, and play until someone hits nine points.
There was a lot of solitaire play in this, as each player is pretty isolated. It really seemed to me that you spend most of the game just doing what's best for you. There is a race element, for different victory points/tech powers that drives some consideration of opponents, but there's not too much negotiation/direct conflict. Ravindra jumped out to an early lead, and pretty much stayed there. I made a huge mistake in the last round, when I could have paid to take a victory point that would have moved me out of my tie for last, and kept him from winning that turn. However, I knew I was going to score something else, and didn't see his impending victory. The pacing of this game is important - it's hard to score, and especially hard to score multiple points in a turn, so you really have to keep up. Ravindra was first, Scott was two behind in second, and Chris and I were a point behind him, in third/fourth. This was pretty fun, and came in at about two hours. I'd play again, although it won't be near the top of my list.
For Sale
Chris and Ravindra and I sat around chatting about games for a while, waffling on playing another game. Chris was ready to go all night, but Ravindra and I were feeling the call our respective beds. We decided on a quick filler, while Chris waited for the second RR game to finish.
For sale is a game of investing in real estate properties. Each round, a number of houses equal to the number of players are put up for big. Each has a unique value, which will determine, to some extent, how much it's worth at the end. There is an auction phase, in which the first to pass takes the lowest, the high bidder gets the highest, and the second to pass pays half his bid, rounded up, and takes the second highest card. After all the houses have been auctioned, there are several rounds in which checks are turned up. Each player makes a hidden bid of one of his properties. Highest value property gets the high check, second high value gets second high check, and so forth. After all the checks have been handed out, you count them up, add them to remaining starting cash, and the person with the most money wins. Chris had $81, and Ravindra and I tied at $86. Ravindra won the tie breaker of having the most starting cash left. A fun little filler. This is a type of game I think my collection is a little weak on, so I might try to pick it up.
With that, I made my way out the door, a little jealous of Chris, Rick, and some others who were setting up Power Grid.
GG, GL
JW
November 17th
People were a little slow to arrive at this edition of the monthly gamefest at Rick's. We stood around a while and talked games, while another few people sat in the basement and discussed, I think, nitting. After about half an hour, we finally got enough people to get Robo Rally going, and we hit the factory floor.
Robo Rally
We had six for this: Rick, myself, and four new players. We explained the game and got to racing. We were playing the first edition, using expansion boards. I don't know if I've discussed this game before or not. It's a Richard Garfield (MtG) classic, which involves drawing cards which have movement options on them, and using them to program a robot who's racing through a factory with elements that will effect movement - conveyor belts, pushers, crushers, spinners, pits, etc.. It generally involves a lot of humorous interaction, as people mess up their own or others' programs. The game got off to a good start, with almost everyone taking advantage of board elements to enhance their movement. Many of us capitalized on a long oil slick. About two thirds of the way to the first flag, things got interesting, with some miss-moves and collisions resulting in pushes. Rick made it to the flag very efficiantly, while I got stuck moving back and forth facing another player, shooting each other at each phase. This was, as RR usually is, lots of fun. However, at this point in the game, Ravindra and Chris were starting up Antike, which I really wanted to try, so I bailed out. I usually won't (almost never) abandon a game. However, RR is a game you can get out of without really affecting other players' enjoyment/position, so I didn't feel too bad about it. I don't know who won, but I know they had so much fun they played another round, with more players.
Antike
There is a newish Rio Grande reprint of this German game, for which Ravindra owns the original. I don't know the designer off the top of my head. This is a sort of civ building game, with a very small tech tree. It uses an interesting rondel (sp?) for action selection - you get one power/action type per turn, and you can choose any with in three spaces of you, or you can pay to move further around the circle (something I should have done, at least once, but didn't). You can harvest different raw materials, build different things (temples/units), or move/attack. You score points from accomplishing a variety of different goals over the turns, and play until someone hits nine points.
There was a lot of solitaire play in this, as each player is pretty isolated. It really seemed to me that you spend most of the game just doing what's best for you. There is a race element, for different victory points/tech powers that drives some consideration of opponents, but there's not too much negotiation/direct conflict. Ravindra jumped out to an early lead, and pretty much stayed there. I made a huge mistake in the last round, when I could have paid to take a victory point that would have moved me out of my tie for last, and kept him from winning that turn. However, I knew I was going to score something else, and didn't see his impending victory. The pacing of this game is important - it's hard to score, and especially hard to score multiple points in a turn, so you really have to keep up. Ravindra was first, Scott was two behind in second, and Chris and I were a point behind him, in third/fourth. This was pretty fun, and came in at about two hours. I'd play again, although it won't be near the top of my list.
For Sale
Chris and Ravindra and I sat around chatting about games for a while, waffling on playing another game. Chris was ready to go all night, but Ravindra and I were feeling the call our respective beds. We decided on a quick filler, while Chris waited for the second RR game to finish.
For sale is a game of investing in real estate properties. Each round, a number of houses equal to the number of players are put up for big. Each has a unique value, which will determine, to some extent, how much it's worth at the end. There is an auction phase, in which the first to pass takes the lowest, the high bidder gets the highest, and the second to pass pays half his bid, rounded up, and takes the second highest card. After all the houses have been auctioned, there are several rounds in which checks are turned up. Each player makes a hidden bid of one of his properties. Highest value property gets the high check, second high value gets second high check, and so forth. After all the checks have been handed out, you count them up, add them to remaining starting cash, and the person with the most money wins. Chris had $81, and Ravindra and I tied at $86. Ravindra won the tie breaker of having the most starting cash left. A fun little filler. This is a type of game I think my collection is a little weak on, so I might try to pick it up.
With that, I made my way out the door, a little jealous of Chris, Rick, and some others who were setting up Power Grid.
GG, GL
JW
Game Night at Dave's: Maharaja (PBiI), Winner's Circle
November 7th
Again, I'm lagging behind. It seems that my first impulse on sitting down at the computer is to open WoW. No, it hasn't worn itself out yet, although I can see my interest waning a little bit.
So, back to boardgaming... The all-too-infrequent game night at David's place rolled around on the calendar, and I was happy to work my way down to the South side of town for some pawn pushing.
This is usually an event for strategy games, so I brought some relatively new acquisitions I'm hoping to get on the table: Union Pacific and Volldampf. I brought one other game, but I can't remember what it was. In the end, we decided on Dan's copy of Maharaja. I'm always happy to play another Kramer/Kiesling game.
Maharaja
Maharaja is an area influence game, in which you build/earn in different cities each turn, scoring points in the city currently being visited by the Maharaja. Which city he will visit can be manipulated a little, but, in general, he follows a specific path.
I focused on building central palaces (worth the most points for the $) in as many cities as possible, and tried to develop those cities for scoring. If I did anything important, it was changing the order of the Maharaja a little earlier than people expected, which disrupted other peoples' ability to get money, and left me with a fat pile of cash in the mid-game. After this, though, it was a question of me using my money to play catch-up, and getting myself into a position where I could win. I had all these clever moves in my head... but then there just wasn't time for them. Most of your moves in this game have to be geared toward getting those palaces on the table, and you can't affor too many moves that just mess with other people or set up your position, so you have to make them count. In the end, it was a close finish between myself, Dan, and Keith (who triggered the game end, if I remember correctly), and I pulled out the W. Fun.
Winner's Circle
After this, we had just a little time, so David pulled out Winner's Circle, which was also new to me. This is a Reiner Knizia game of betting on horse racing. We played one race, which was enough to grasp the basics of the game. Each race, you place secret bets on three horses, one of which is a null bet. Multiple people can bet on the same horse. There's an element of bluffing, using your null bet to get people to believe you'll help them move a horse. Also, there's the realistic cooperation - multiple people on one horse they want to move together to guarantee a share of the spoils. Each turn, you roll a die, and choose a horse to move. Different horses move different distances for each type of die roll. Top three finishers place and pay off. I don't remember anything outstanding as far as strategy in this game, just that I ended up third, in the middle of the pack. One thing that really struck me about this game is that it could easily fit right into the comfort area of traditional American family games. It's nice and light, with an engaging theme, and features the obligatory dice rolling. However, it does involve decision making, planning, and negotiation (to a certain extent), making it enjoyable on a somewhat deeper level.
GG, GL
JW
November 7th
Again, I'm lagging behind. It seems that my first impulse on sitting down at the computer is to open WoW. No, it hasn't worn itself out yet, although I can see my interest waning a little bit.
So, back to boardgaming... The all-too-infrequent game night at David's place rolled around on the calendar, and I was happy to work my way down to the South side of town for some pawn pushing.
This is usually an event for strategy games, so I brought some relatively new acquisitions I'm hoping to get on the table: Union Pacific and Volldampf. I brought one other game, but I can't remember what it was. In the end, we decided on Dan's copy of Maharaja. I'm always happy to play another Kramer/Kiesling game.
Maharaja
Maharaja is an area influence game, in which you build/earn in different cities each turn, scoring points in the city currently being visited by the Maharaja. Which city he will visit can be manipulated a little, but, in general, he follows a specific path.
I focused on building central palaces (worth the most points for the $) in as many cities as possible, and tried to develop those cities for scoring. If I did anything important, it was changing the order of the Maharaja a little earlier than people expected, which disrupted other peoples' ability to get money, and left me with a fat pile of cash in the mid-game. After this, though, it was a question of me using my money to play catch-up, and getting myself into a position where I could win. I had all these clever moves in my head... but then there just wasn't time for them. Most of your moves in this game have to be geared toward getting those palaces on the table, and you can't affor too many moves that just mess with other people or set up your position, so you have to make them count. In the end, it was a close finish between myself, Dan, and Keith (who triggered the game end, if I remember correctly), and I pulled out the W. Fun.
Winner's Circle
After this, we had just a little time, so David pulled out Winner's Circle, which was also new to me. This is a Reiner Knizia game of betting on horse racing. We played one race, which was enough to grasp the basics of the game. Each race, you place secret bets on three horses, one of which is a null bet. Multiple people can bet on the same horse. There's an element of bluffing, using your null bet to get people to believe you'll help them move a horse. Also, there's the realistic cooperation - multiple people on one horse they want to move together to guarantee a share of the spoils. Each turn, you roll a die, and choose a horse to move. Different horses move different distances for each type of die roll. Top three finishers place and pay off. I don't remember anything outstanding as far as strategy in this game, just that I ended up third, in the middle of the pack. One thing that really struck me about this game is that it could easily fit right into the comfort area of traditional American family games. It's nice and light, with an engaging theme, and features the obligatory dice rolling. However, it does involve decision making, planning, and negotiation (to a certain extent), making it enjoyable on a somewhat deeper level.
GG, GL
JW
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Online Gaming
The weather is getting colder. My friend Paul contacted me the other day, and in conversation he noted that in the winter he often has strong desire to bunker up and spend hours playing computer rpgs. I'm not sure if it's seasonal or not, but I know I go through cycles of computer gaming desire/repulsion. Recently, I felt the urge again.
Spielbyweb.com
I've been using sbw for a while, but I've been in a real frenzy lately. A lot of my games have just ended, so if anyone's up for some gaming, let me know. I really like being able to just take a quick move whenever my turn comes up on e-mail. It's so convenient.
So far, I'm really enjoying Reef Encounter and Hacienda. The turns play pretty quickly, and the game moves along at a good pace. I'm not as happy with Santiago and Amun-Re, in which there are a great number of stopping points that hold up the game progress, and make it extra-frustrating when you have a slow player. I haven't tried Tikal yet.
The game of Hacienda I just finished reinforced the idea that going for as many market connections as possible is good. I started with a corner water opening, and then moved to the middle, connecting to all but one market ftw. In the game I have still going on, players are being more confrontational, with one player spending his opening moves completely isolating one of the side markets. It will be interesting to see how this develops.
The Amun-Re game that also just ended saw a three way tie for 2nd, as Thies pulled a huge second round ftw, and I made the second most second round points, to go from the basement into the second place tie. I think I failed to make enough money in the first round, and got unlucky card draws, with something like 10 free farmers and 9 master builders(you can only play one per turn, for 6 turns) over the course of the game. I do like the way this game makes you think about the future, and I'd like to own a copy irl.
World of Warcraft
Lots of my friends have been deeply involved in mmorpgs over the years. I've mostly resisted, although I've tried my hand at Ultima Online and Runescape. Recently, WoW went on sale and, when Sean picked it up, I decided I'd give it a go at the same time.
I've spent the expected (way too many) hours on the game since purchasing it a week or so ago. I'm pretty happy with it, though. I think they've done a fine job of designing game content that can be satisfactorily played as an individual or with a group. One caveat, though, is that few of the quests really involve critical decision making, and are fairly repetitive. I doubt the game will hold my interest for more than four months, although I guess that's a pretty long time...
I've played mostly on my own, but have enjoyed grouping with old friends from NH (Sean), and CA (Chris). I've grouped with people I didn't know when it was clear we were finishing up the same quest. I'm interested to see how enjoyable it will be to form groups with people I don't know. I'll probably wait until I understand the game a little better - I don't want to really frustrate anyone. While I'm mostly interested in the game as a way to keep in touch with old friends, in a recent conversation with my friend Bob (I'll take this moment to publicly congratulate Bob on being voted into the Magic: the Gathering Hall of Fame), he stated that he was mainly interested in playing with people he was not previously acquainted with. Bob is also pretty serious about pursuing the most competitive way to do things, so he probably gets the most out of it this way.
So, if you play WoW, and you're interested in gaming together, drop me a note and I'll let you know which server I'm playing on, and I'm sure you can get a character to my level pretty quickly, as I only recently started. I'm at the point where I'm trying to get friendly people together for Ragefire Chasm.
GG, GL
JW
The weather is getting colder. My friend Paul contacted me the other day, and in conversation he noted that in the winter he often has strong desire to bunker up and spend hours playing computer rpgs. I'm not sure if it's seasonal or not, but I know I go through cycles of computer gaming desire/repulsion. Recently, I felt the urge again.
Spielbyweb.com
I've been using sbw for a while, but I've been in a real frenzy lately. A lot of my games have just ended, so if anyone's up for some gaming, let me know. I really like being able to just take a quick move whenever my turn comes up on e-mail. It's so convenient.
So far, I'm really enjoying Reef Encounter and Hacienda. The turns play pretty quickly, and the game moves along at a good pace. I'm not as happy with Santiago and Amun-Re, in which there are a great number of stopping points that hold up the game progress, and make it extra-frustrating when you have a slow player. I haven't tried Tikal yet.
The game of Hacienda I just finished reinforced the idea that going for as many market connections as possible is good. I started with a corner water opening, and then moved to the middle, connecting to all but one market ftw. In the game I have still going on, players are being more confrontational, with one player spending his opening moves completely isolating one of the side markets. It will be interesting to see how this develops.
The Amun-Re game that also just ended saw a three way tie for 2nd, as Thies pulled a huge second round ftw, and I made the second most second round points, to go from the basement into the second place tie. I think I failed to make enough money in the first round, and got unlucky card draws, with something like 10 free farmers and 9 master builders(you can only play one per turn, for 6 turns) over the course of the game. I do like the way this game makes you think about the future, and I'd like to own a copy irl.
World of Warcraft
Lots of my friends have been deeply involved in mmorpgs over the years. I've mostly resisted, although I've tried my hand at Ultima Online and Runescape. Recently, WoW went on sale and, when Sean picked it up, I decided I'd give it a go at the same time.
I've spent the expected (way too many) hours on the game since purchasing it a week or so ago. I'm pretty happy with it, though. I think they've done a fine job of designing game content that can be satisfactorily played as an individual or with a group. One caveat, though, is that few of the quests really involve critical decision making, and are fairly repetitive. I doubt the game will hold my interest for more than four months, although I guess that's a pretty long time...
I've played mostly on my own, but have enjoyed grouping with old friends from NH (Sean), and CA (Chris). I've grouped with people I didn't know when it was clear we were finishing up the same quest. I'm interested to see how enjoyable it will be to form groups with people I don't know. I'll probably wait until I understand the game a little better - I don't want to really frustrate anyone. While I'm mostly interested in the game as a way to keep in touch with old friends, in a recent conversation with my friend Bob (I'll take this moment to publicly congratulate Bob on being voted into the Magic: the Gathering Hall of Fame), he stated that he was mainly interested in playing with people he was not previously acquainted with. Bob is also pretty serious about pursuing the most competitive way to do things, so he probably gets the most out of it this way.
So, if you play WoW, and you're interested in gaming together, drop me a note and I'll let you know which server I'm playing on, and I'm sure you can get a character to my level pretty quickly, as I only recently started. I'm at the point where I'm trying to get friendly people together for Ragefire Chasm.
GG, GL
JW
Games at David's: Tikal, Saboteur, Black Vienna
October 24th
First, I apologize (for anyone who actually reads this regularly) for this post being out of order, as well as for having gotten so far behind. I'll be pretty much caught up, though, at the end of today.
It's always nice to drive down to David's place for some friendly gaming. Tonight's gaming was to focus on Santiago, one of my favorites. However, we had eight people. Santiago really shines with five, so David and the people who really wanted to try it played that, while Larry, Dan, and myself played Tikal, another game that I'm happy to play pretty much any time, and works fairly well with three.
Tikal
Larry got a big start, moving just far enough into an area that Dan and I hadn't committed workers to, and building up a temple. Larry, sitting to my left, also kept drawing the treasure tiles, meaning I wasn't getting too many of them. Dan and I were stuck fighting over some smaller stuff waiting for the board to develop. When the first scoring round hit, Larry was well in the lead, with me bringing up the rear. The middle of the board started to fill out. Unfortunately, I didn't draw any tiles that would allow a big move, such as a big temple, or a blank tile to get access to one at the right time. I did make modest gains, though, as Dan and I were more successful spreading into the middle of the table than Larry. Things continued in this way. I got on the wrong side of the board, although I was pretty much by myself with a couple temples, as I had not placed a camp until after Dan and Larry had placed both of theirs. On the right side of the board, Larry had put the last treasures and a good sized temple where he and Dan would fight over them. Dan was stronger, though, and took the lion's share of the points. This gave him the lead, with me pulling into second, and Larry ending up in third. It was a fairly tight finish, though, to a dynamic game. A good play of Tikal, which made me feel that it's important, in a three player game, to get pieces on the table and spread out, in the early game, with an eye on espansion potential in the midgame, while working to create personal scoring areas for the later game. It's dangerous to let this turn into a fight between two players, who are ignoring a third.
Larry had brought one of his favorites, Saboteur, which we decided to try next. We joined the remaining players from the other table for this.
Saboteur
This is a light group cooperation/hidden traitor card game. The players have the role of dwarves, who are trying to mine for gold. However, 2-3 of the dwarves are working toward their own agendas, and are trying to keep the other dwarves from reaching the gold. There are three face down cards, 2 coals, and one gold, that are six card lengths away from the start. Players can play tunnel cards onto the table, or sabotage another dwarf's equipment, or play cave in cards on the tunnels that have been built. There's a really interesting conversational dynamic in the mid game, as players try to figure out who's on their side. Some of our players took some delight in making this harder for people. In the first game, I was a saboteur, and we won. In the second game, I was part of the regular group, and lost.
Black Vienna
This is a deduction card game with note-taking, similar in some ways to Sleuth. It's out of print, but apparently there's a version available as a free download. David had used this online resource to make his own set.
In this game, there is a deck of cards with each letter of the alphabet, plus an o with an umlaut (sp?). All the cards are dealt out secretly, except three, and each player notes what they get. The object is to be the first to correctly guess the three that have been removed. Of course, if you guess and are wrong, you can't win.
There are three cards face up, which each have three letters. On your turn, you can give a card to someone, and they have to say how many of those letters they have. They put a suitable number of markers on the card, and it stays in front of them. Later, players have the option to move cards that have no markers on them to other players.
My note taking skills were not good, and at least once I recorded responses under the wrong player (David's responses in Dan's column). This meant that I spent a fair amount of the midgame trying to check my notes while the game was progressing around me. Apparently, my system for note-taking was fairly poor, as I was quite far from figuring it out when Dan won the game. This was fun, though, and I'm sure I'll get more chances to play this, and it's cousin Sleuth, at David's.
With that, it was time to end the night and get some sleep before work.
GG, GL
JW
October 24th
First, I apologize (for anyone who actually reads this regularly) for this post being out of order, as well as for having gotten so far behind. I'll be pretty much caught up, though, at the end of today.
It's always nice to drive down to David's place for some friendly gaming. Tonight's gaming was to focus on Santiago, one of my favorites. However, we had eight people. Santiago really shines with five, so David and the people who really wanted to try it played that, while Larry, Dan, and myself played Tikal, another game that I'm happy to play pretty much any time, and works fairly well with three.
Tikal
Larry got a big start, moving just far enough into an area that Dan and I hadn't committed workers to, and building up a temple. Larry, sitting to my left, also kept drawing the treasure tiles, meaning I wasn't getting too many of them. Dan and I were stuck fighting over some smaller stuff waiting for the board to develop. When the first scoring round hit, Larry was well in the lead, with me bringing up the rear. The middle of the board started to fill out. Unfortunately, I didn't draw any tiles that would allow a big move, such as a big temple, or a blank tile to get access to one at the right time. I did make modest gains, though, as Dan and I were more successful spreading into the middle of the table than Larry. Things continued in this way. I got on the wrong side of the board, although I was pretty much by myself with a couple temples, as I had not placed a camp until after Dan and Larry had placed both of theirs. On the right side of the board, Larry had put the last treasures and a good sized temple where he and Dan would fight over them. Dan was stronger, though, and took the lion's share of the points. This gave him the lead, with me pulling into second, and Larry ending up in third. It was a fairly tight finish, though, to a dynamic game. A good play of Tikal, which made me feel that it's important, in a three player game, to get pieces on the table and spread out, in the early game, with an eye on espansion potential in the midgame, while working to create personal scoring areas for the later game. It's dangerous to let this turn into a fight between two players, who are ignoring a third.
Larry had brought one of his favorites, Saboteur, which we decided to try next. We joined the remaining players from the other table for this.
Saboteur
This is a light group cooperation/hidden traitor card game. The players have the role of dwarves, who are trying to mine for gold. However, 2-3 of the dwarves are working toward their own agendas, and are trying to keep the other dwarves from reaching the gold. There are three face down cards, 2 coals, and one gold, that are six card lengths away from the start. Players can play tunnel cards onto the table, or sabotage another dwarf's equipment, or play cave in cards on the tunnels that have been built. There's a really interesting conversational dynamic in the mid game, as players try to figure out who's on their side. Some of our players took some delight in making this harder for people. In the first game, I was a saboteur, and we won. In the second game, I was part of the regular group, and lost.
Black Vienna
This is a deduction card game with note-taking, similar in some ways to Sleuth. It's out of print, but apparently there's a version available as a free download. David had used this online resource to make his own set.
In this game, there is a deck of cards with each letter of the alphabet, plus an o with an umlaut (sp?). All the cards are dealt out secretly, except three, and each player notes what they get. The object is to be the first to correctly guess the three that have been removed. Of course, if you guess and are wrong, you can't win.
There are three cards face up, which each have three letters. On your turn, you can give a card to someone, and they have to say how many of those letters they have. They put a suitable number of markers on the card, and it stays in front of them. Later, players have the option to move cards that have no markers on them to other players.
My note taking skills were not good, and at least once I recorded responses under the wrong player (David's responses in Dan's column). This meant that I spent a fair amount of the midgame trying to check my notes while the game was progressing around me. Apparently, my system for note-taking was fairly poor, as I was quite far from figuring it out when Dan won the game. This was fun, though, and I'm sure I'll get more chances to play this, and it's cousin Sleuth, at David's.
With that, it was time to end the night and get some sleep before work.
GG, GL
JW
Eurorails with Chris
October 30th
Chris and I hadn't gamed for a while, so, Sunday, while playing Dune, we discussed getting together to play some games on my day off (a teacher workday for DPS). I ran some errands in the morning, and Chris came over in the later afternoon. We had a few hours, and could play something a little heavier. I received Eurorails through ebay a while back, and Chris was very familiar with playing it 2-player, so we decided to give it a go.
This is one of Mayfair's crayon-rail games. A pickup and deliver game, on a map of Europe, that involves making connections by drawing in crayon on the board as you build track. You build based on contracts that you get, which require you to bring goods of one type to specific places. The individual goods are only produced in certain areas, so you build, based on your contracts, to do more building. Later in the game, you try to build to harder to get goods, in order to satisfy higher value contracts. The game ends when someone has connected to seven cities and has 250 million in money.
I expected Chris to win, and he did. I didn't do too poorly, though, and would have met the victory conditions in two turns. The big turning point in the game, I think, was when I had a set of not very desirable contracts, which I flushed (wasting a whole turn) only to replace them with even less valuable cards. The only way I could see making these cards valuable was going up into Scandinavia, which seemed like a poor proposition. I didn't want to waste another turn, so I kept them, and built up North. This slowed my expansion West into more desirable territory. It did pay off for over 100 million in big contracts on my second to last turn, and provided me with all the resources needed to finish the game. I just didn't have enough time. I guess that's the whole point, though. There was a little bit of a feeling that the game was playing me, though, as, often, it seemed I just had obvious choices to make with the contracts/building. At least they were choices, though.
This was pretty fun, a nice way to spend my day off, and I'm happy I own it. I'm sure I'll get to play some more, and knowing the crayon rails system will certainly be helpful.
GG, GL
JW
October 30th
Chris and I hadn't gamed for a while, so, Sunday, while playing Dune, we discussed getting together to play some games on my day off (a teacher workday for DPS). I ran some errands in the morning, and Chris came over in the later afternoon. We had a few hours, and could play something a little heavier. I received Eurorails through ebay a while back, and Chris was very familiar with playing it 2-player, so we decided to give it a go.
This is one of Mayfair's crayon-rail games. A pickup and deliver game, on a map of Europe, that involves making connections by drawing in crayon on the board as you build track. You build based on contracts that you get, which require you to bring goods of one type to specific places. The individual goods are only produced in certain areas, so you build, based on your contracts, to do more building. Later in the game, you try to build to harder to get goods, in order to satisfy higher value contracts. The game ends when someone has connected to seven cities and has 250 million in money.
I expected Chris to win, and he did. I didn't do too poorly, though, and would have met the victory conditions in two turns. The big turning point in the game, I think, was when I had a set of not very desirable contracts, which I flushed (wasting a whole turn) only to replace them with even less valuable cards. The only way I could see making these cards valuable was going up into Scandinavia, which seemed like a poor proposition. I didn't want to waste another turn, so I kept them, and built up North. This slowed my expansion West into more desirable territory. It did pay off for over 100 million in big contracts on my second to last turn, and provided me with all the resources needed to finish the game. I just didn't have enough time. I guess that's the whole point, though. There was a little bit of a feeling that the game was playing me, though, as, often, it seemed I just had obvious choices to make with the contracts/building. At least they were choices, though.
This was pretty fun, a nice way to spend my day off, and I'm happy I own it. I'm sure I'll get to play some more, and knowing the crayon rails system will certainly be helpful.
GG, GL
JW
Dune, with five players
October 29th
I was fortunate enough to get an invite over to David's for a game of Dune. This is something I've wanted to try for a long time, as the comments on BGG are intriguing. I'm not a big fan of the story - I never finished the book (only one attempt to read - when I was about 12), but now I'd like to at least see the movie again.
Dune is an old Avalon Hill classic, out of print since the early eighties, aside from a reprint in French, by Descartes, which I believe is also now out of print and somewhat hard to find. The old AH copies that come up on eby generally go for 40-80 dollars. I've managed to pick up a very slightly incomplete set for $35. This is a quite complicated game, and I don't think I'll explain much of it here. Doing a search for one of the Dune fan sites would give you the best background, if interested.
Today's game was Dan (who brought and explained the game), David (the host), Chris, Lori, and myself. We were one player short, so we left out the Bene Gesserit (sp?). I was the Guild. Basically, the players are trying to control four of the strongholds to win the game. The Fremen have an alternative victory condition, and, if nobody else wins by the end of the 16th turn, the Guild does. Each group has special powers and advantages, and the game has a unique combat system based on commiting and expending forces and leaders of various strengths, using a cool combat wheel.
A worm card, which signals an opportunity to form binding alliances, came up quite early. Since I was the only new player, and only needed to keep others from winning, I sat out of the alliances, hoping the other players would fight between themselves and basically ignore me. This worked, for the most part, although it didn't make for a very exciting game for me. The alliances were Dan (fremen) with Lori (emperor), and David (Harkonnen) with Chris (Paul Muad Dib). I made a few poor decisions in the early game, and then basically sat out and watched for a while. Near the end of the game, I started commiting troups to the board. In the last couple turns, I tried to tie up battles in key spaces to keep people from winning. In the end, neither alliance was able to break through, so I got the game.
This is a long game, and took us almost six hours. I really enjoyed it though, as it presents a lot of different opportunities for decision making, and is thick with theme. I look forward to playing again, with six players, and trying different factions. I think we could certainly make it faster by enforcing the time limit on bidding, and just getting people to play a little quicker. As it was, it was a fine way to spend a Sunday afternoon.
GG, GL
JW
October 29th
I was fortunate enough to get an invite over to David's for a game of Dune. This is something I've wanted to try for a long time, as the comments on BGG are intriguing. I'm not a big fan of the story - I never finished the book (only one attempt to read - when I was about 12), but now I'd like to at least see the movie again.
Dune is an old Avalon Hill classic, out of print since the early eighties, aside from a reprint in French, by Descartes, which I believe is also now out of print and somewhat hard to find. The old AH copies that come up on eby generally go for 40-80 dollars. I've managed to pick up a very slightly incomplete set for $35. This is a quite complicated game, and I don't think I'll explain much of it here. Doing a search for one of the Dune fan sites would give you the best background, if interested.
Today's game was Dan (who brought and explained the game), David (the host), Chris, Lori, and myself. We were one player short, so we left out the Bene Gesserit (sp?). I was the Guild. Basically, the players are trying to control four of the strongholds to win the game. The Fremen have an alternative victory condition, and, if nobody else wins by the end of the 16th turn, the Guild does. Each group has special powers and advantages, and the game has a unique combat system based on commiting and expending forces and leaders of various strengths, using a cool combat wheel.
A worm card, which signals an opportunity to form binding alliances, came up quite early. Since I was the only new player, and only needed to keep others from winning, I sat out of the alliances, hoping the other players would fight between themselves and basically ignore me. This worked, for the most part, although it didn't make for a very exciting game for me. The alliances were Dan (fremen) with Lori (emperor), and David (Harkonnen) with Chris (Paul Muad Dib). I made a few poor decisions in the early game, and then basically sat out and watched for a while. Near the end of the game, I started commiting troups to the board. In the last couple turns, I tried to tie up battles in key spaces to keep people from winning. In the end, neither alliance was able to break through, so I got the game.
This is a long game, and took us almost six hours. I really enjoyed it though, as it presents a lot of different opportunities for decision making, and is thick with theme. I look forward to playing again, with six players, and trying different factions. I think we could certainly make it faster by enforcing the time limit on bidding, and just getting people to play a little quicker. As it was, it was a fine way to spend a Sunday afternoon.
GG, GL
JW
Halloween Party at the Prasad's: Ligretto, Liar's Dice, Hart an der Grenze, Nacht der Magier
Saturday, October 28th
Halloween was coming around and we were lucky enough to be invited to a party out at the Prasad castle. I'm thankful we've been able to make friends quickly enough to have social opportunities like this.
The costume theme was medieval. Unfortunately, the various costume elements I utilized during my six summers as a character at the Bristol Rennaissance Faire are languishing in a cardboard box someplace in a barn in Western Illinois. Since Kristin and I have been so busy, and, well, neither of us is handy enough with sewing to come up with anything suitably "medieval," we ran out to the party store on Saturday morning. Thankfully, we were early enough to beat the majority of the crowd. I grabbed the fairly appropriate and simple medieval monk costume, complete with ridiculous monk-hair wig. Kristin didn't really like any of the costumes, and settled for a simple nun get-up, that looked like it could be re-used as a part to other costumes.
Late in the afternoon, we jumped in the car and made the drive out into the countryside. This is a beautiful drive, at a wonderful time of year, and put us in a pretty good mood.
Upon our arrival, there was a game of Ursuppe going on, and several people sitting around. There were a bunch of cards sitting on the table where we were sitting, and, in turns, Brian and Ravindra variously explained the game, Ligretto, to us, as well as to Greg and Michelle.
Ligretto
This is a simple card game. There are several (I think four) colors, with numbers 1-9. You have four face up cards, and a table deck of ten from which replacements for them will be drawn. The rest of your share of the cards (all of them are delt out) is in your hand. The object is to work through the ten cards in the table deck. You do this by playing cards, in order from one on up, on top of each other in sequential order, out on the table. The first to empty their deck has a score of 0 plus the number of cards they've played. Everyone else has negative points for each card remaining in their deck.
We played two rounds, getting various rules wrong, and not really keeping score. This was a hectic, intense game, not really my cup of tea for a relaxed game evening, but a fun exercise for a party mindset. We all enjoyed it.
Liar's Dice
We were joined by two more people, who's names I've forgotten (sorry). There was some sort of contest going on, playing LD for chocolate coins. We didn't stay until the end of the evening, so I don't know if anything ever came of it. The first game was a learning game, and I won, without losing any dice (my first real victory at this game). The second game I also won. We played a third round, which Kristin won (her first group game victory, of any kind, in NC). I sat out the fourth round, which had a thrilling conclusion with admirable bluffing by Michelle.
After this, we were read a scary story by Sarah, and ate dinner, which was a splendid affair involving sausage, chicken, tasty potatoes, and green beens. There was a brief media interlude to watch the "Hush" episode of Buffy, and then we had a play-dough sculpting contest. After that, there was more gaming.
Hart an der Grenze
Mary wanted to get a game of Hart an der Grenze going, so Kristin and I jumped in on that, along with the couple from Liar's Dice who's names my brain is inadequate to remember. I had a huge first round, with tons of contraband, putting me well in the lead and putting a big target on my back. I still had a good round the second round, guessing and bribing fairly well, and getting some good stuff through. However, the final round was terrible for me. I was dealt nothing big, and was searched about every time, with nobody accepting bribes. I only took a few points through. Mary won, and Kristin also passed me handily, especially with Mary managing to hide three big idols under her case.
Nacht Der Magier
Mary wanted us to get a chance to play another one of her new acquisitions before we left. NDM is a neat game that is played in the dark. The board is raised off the table and has several dark disks on it, which are surrounding several cylindrical pieces, which each have a glow in the dark symbol on the top, which in turn are surrounding a hole in the board, which is covered. Players each have a pushing piece, and are trying to get one of the cylinders with their symbol on it into the hole. Your turn consists of edging your pushing piece onto the board, stopping when you hear something fall off the edge of the board and hit the table. This is a very quick, fun little game that is perfect for Halloween parties. I'm glad we got a chance to play it. I don't remember who won, except that it wasn't Kristin or I.
After this, it was time to head home, as it was getting fairly late. I'm sure the gaming went on well into the night, though.
GG, GL
JW
Saturday, October 28th
Halloween was coming around and we were lucky enough to be invited to a party out at the Prasad castle. I'm thankful we've been able to make friends quickly enough to have social opportunities like this.
The costume theme was medieval. Unfortunately, the various costume elements I utilized during my six summers as a character at the Bristol Rennaissance Faire are languishing in a cardboard box someplace in a barn in Western Illinois. Since Kristin and I have been so busy, and, well, neither of us is handy enough with sewing to come up with anything suitably "medieval," we ran out to the party store on Saturday morning. Thankfully, we were early enough to beat the majority of the crowd. I grabbed the fairly appropriate and simple medieval monk costume, complete with ridiculous monk-hair wig. Kristin didn't really like any of the costumes, and settled for a simple nun get-up, that looked like it could be re-used as a part to other costumes.
Late in the afternoon, we jumped in the car and made the drive out into the countryside. This is a beautiful drive, at a wonderful time of year, and put us in a pretty good mood.
Upon our arrival, there was a game of Ursuppe going on, and several people sitting around. There were a bunch of cards sitting on the table where we were sitting, and, in turns, Brian and Ravindra variously explained the game, Ligretto, to us, as well as to Greg and Michelle.
Ligretto
This is a simple card game. There are several (I think four) colors, with numbers 1-9. You have four face up cards, and a table deck of ten from which replacements for them will be drawn. The rest of your share of the cards (all of them are delt out) is in your hand. The object is to work through the ten cards in the table deck. You do this by playing cards, in order from one on up, on top of each other in sequential order, out on the table. The first to empty their deck has a score of 0 plus the number of cards they've played. Everyone else has negative points for each card remaining in their deck.
We played two rounds, getting various rules wrong, and not really keeping score. This was a hectic, intense game, not really my cup of tea for a relaxed game evening, but a fun exercise for a party mindset. We all enjoyed it.
Liar's Dice
We were joined by two more people, who's names I've forgotten (sorry). There was some sort of contest going on, playing LD for chocolate coins. We didn't stay until the end of the evening, so I don't know if anything ever came of it. The first game was a learning game, and I won, without losing any dice (my first real victory at this game). The second game I also won. We played a third round, which Kristin won (her first group game victory, of any kind, in NC). I sat out the fourth round, which had a thrilling conclusion with admirable bluffing by Michelle.
After this, we were read a scary story by Sarah, and ate dinner, which was a splendid affair involving sausage, chicken, tasty potatoes, and green beens. There was a brief media interlude to watch the "Hush" episode of Buffy, and then we had a play-dough sculpting contest. After that, there was more gaming.
Hart an der Grenze
Mary wanted to get a game of Hart an der Grenze going, so Kristin and I jumped in on that, along with the couple from Liar's Dice who's names my brain is inadequate to remember. I had a huge first round, with tons of contraband, putting me well in the lead and putting a big target on my back. I still had a good round the second round, guessing and bribing fairly well, and getting some good stuff through. However, the final round was terrible for me. I was dealt nothing big, and was searched about every time, with nobody accepting bribes. I only took a few points through. Mary won, and Kristin also passed me handily, especially with Mary managing to hide three big idols under her case.
Nacht Der Magier
Mary wanted us to get a chance to play another one of her new acquisitions before we left. NDM is a neat game that is played in the dark. The board is raised off the table and has several dark disks on it, which are surrounding several cylindrical pieces, which each have a glow in the dark symbol on the top, which in turn are surrounding a hole in the board, which is covered. Players each have a pushing piece, and are trying to get one of the cylinders with their symbol on it into the hole. Your turn consists of edging your pushing piece onto the board, stopping when you hear something fall off the edge of the board and hit the table. This is a very quick, fun little game that is perfect for Halloween parties. I'm glad we got a chance to play it. I don't remember who won, except that it wasn't Kristin or I.
After this, it was time to head home, as it was getting fairly late. I'm sure the gaming went on well into the night, though.
GG, GL
JW
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)