Well, June has been really funny, a few really hot days but mostly we've all sorts of weather, from thunderstorms, hail, gales but thankfully no snow!! That comes in spades in the winter. I can't really understand Twitter, I mean, I am following a few well known gaming people, but the things they write about......do you really want to share them with cyberspace? It seems to me that there must a million things to fill your day, especially if you are working, where do they find the time to write all that very personal (in some cases) trivia. Well, that's just me.
On the gaming front, still been playing Settlers on AsoBrain and not doing very well I have to say. But I did have a couple of games of Hunters and Gatherers with Tina yesterday, it's one of the games that she really likes. Our gaming friends are due back out here beginning of July so I'm looking forward to getting some more games in then. They are here for 8-9 weeks during the school holidays so we should be able to find time for some gaming. There has been a lot of chatter about Steam on BGG lately. I really hate AoS but love Railroad Tycoon, perhaps the basic game of Steam will be a bit more forgiving and I might actually enjoy it. Do I want to pay about 40 euros to find out though!!
Happy Gaming!!
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Monday, June 1, 2009
Games again!!
A couple of days ago we had a nice evening round our friend's apartment, a few drinks, some scrummy cakes and of course a couple of games. This time I introduced them to the Carcassonne spin-off....Hunters and Gatherers. It didn't take long to run through the rules, Pauline and Stephen had played vanilla Carcassonne before and Lynne picked it up really quickly.
Tina placing her tile in H & G
The tiles and meeples are really colourful and look very nice on the table. The golden nuggets in the forests give the game an added twist and the play goes smoothly, especially if you pick your next tile at the end of your turn so you have time to consider your options rather than wait until the start of your turn.
We soon had the table covered with river networks, forests and plains filled with animals and tigers. The scores were quite spread out, but everybody enjoyed the game.
Final Scores
Stephen 94, Lynne 78, Colin 65, Tina 57, Pauline 46
As Alhambra went down really well last time we decided to have another game. No rules to explain this time and we started straight off. The tiles seemed to come out really badly....for me anyway :) I couldn't seem to get going, I managed to get the majority in purple tiles but not a lot else. I think you have to have at least some second and third places to boost your score up to be able to be in with a chance of winning the game. Well, that didn't happen for me this time. Everyone else seemed to be doing fine though.
Lynne studying the tiles for sale and Stephen looking quite happy with the way things are going
Final Scores
Pauline 106, Stephen 97, Lynne 67, Colin 59, Tina 53
Pauline and Stephen have gone back to the UK now, but will be back in July so I'm sure we have a few more sessions then.
Happy Gaming!!
The tiles and meeples are really colourful and look very nice on the table. The golden nuggets in the forests give the game an added twist and the play goes smoothly, especially if you pick your next tile at the end of your turn so you have time to consider your options rather than wait until the start of your turn.
We soon had the table covered with river networks, forests and plains filled with animals and tigers. The scores were quite spread out, but everybody enjoyed the game.
Final Scores
Stephen 94, Lynne 78, Colin 65, Tina 57, Pauline 46
As Alhambra went down really well last time we decided to have another game. No rules to explain this time and we started straight off. The tiles seemed to come out really badly....for me anyway :) I couldn't seem to get going, I managed to get the majority in purple tiles but not a lot else. I think you have to have at least some second and third places to boost your score up to be able to be in with a chance of winning the game. Well, that didn't happen for me this time. Everyone else seemed to be doing fine though.
Final Scores
Pauline 106, Stephen 97, Lynne 67, Colin 59, Tina 53
Pauline and Stephen have gone back to the UK now, but will be back in July so I'm sure we have a few more sessions then.
Happy Gaming!!
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Another Game Session
Our friends Stephen and Pauline were over for a week and they brought a friend with them, Lynne. A bridge partner of Stephen, I don't think she had played any euro type games before. Anyway, we decided to play Alhambra first, Tina and I had played a couple of times utilising the intrepid phantom third player, Dirk. After explaining the rules and answering a few questions about gameplay we were off.
Alhambra layout - Jubilee Edition
I found that with five players getting the perfect tile for your Alhambra was a lot more difficult, by the time it gets round to your turn again the tile has often been purchased. The game progressed smoothly enough and after the first scoring the points were fairly close together. By the time we had reached the second scoring Pauline had got a majority in the purple towers and took a healthy lead. Surprisingly nobody used their reserve much, I think Lynne and Pauline did once each.
Pauline enjoying the game and Lynne deciding what to buy
Eventually the final tile came out and the remaining tiles were distributed, Stephen capturing two with most appropriate money. I think everyone enjoyed the game and would 'get it' better with a second playing.
Final Scores
Pauline 88, Stephen 80, Colin 75, Tina 71, Lynne 68
Pauline suggested that we next play 'the game that Janet liked' ie Zooloretto. This is a light, family friendly game involving collecting animal tiles to place in your zoo. Last time we played I did really badly and came last in both games. Again the rules are fairly easy to explain and it didn't take us long to get under way. This time I did marginally better but still managed to get -4 points for animals in my barn. Stephen was doing particularly well with his breeding stock, although he did miscalculate once and had two very friendly male kangaroos!
Zooloretto in progress
Again this game works better with 4/5 players as the options on the lorries are more interesting. I don't think this game works so well with only two players.
Final Scores
Pauline 24, Tina 23, Colin 22, Stephen 21, Lynne 14
I have resisted Twitter for awhile now, but eventually succumbed and signed up. My user name is 'coljen' if anyone is desperate enough to see what my latest tweets are!!
Happy Gaming!!
I found that with five players getting the perfect tile for your Alhambra was a lot more difficult, by the time it gets round to your turn again the tile has often been purchased. The game progressed smoothly enough and after the first scoring the points were fairly close together. By the time we had reached the second scoring Pauline had got a majority in the purple towers and took a healthy lead. Surprisingly nobody used their reserve much, I think Lynne and Pauline did once each.
Eventually the final tile came out and the remaining tiles were distributed, Stephen capturing two with most appropriate money. I think everyone enjoyed the game and would 'get it' better with a second playing.
Final Scores
Pauline 88, Stephen 80, Colin 75, Tina 71, Lynne 68
Pauline suggested that we next play 'the game that Janet liked' ie Zooloretto. This is a light, family friendly game involving collecting animal tiles to place in your zoo. Last time we played I did really badly and came last in both games. Again the rules are fairly easy to explain and it didn't take us long to get under way. This time I did marginally better but still managed to get -4 points for animals in my barn. Stephen was doing particularly well with his breeding stock, although he did miscalculate once and had two very friendly male kangaroos!
Again this game works better with 4/5 players as the options on the lorries are more interesting. I don't think this game works so well with only two players.
Final Scores
Pauline 24, Tina 23, Colin 22, Stephen 21, Lynne 14
I have resisted Twitter for awhile now, but eventually succumbed and signed up. My user name is 'coljen' if anyone is desperate enough to see what my latest tweets are!!
Happy Gaming!!
Monday, April 27, 2009
Two Player Alhambra
Thumbs up to Queen Games and Ludo Fact, they didn't only send me my missing cards but a complete sealed deck!! Very handy, because now I can keep one deck for two player games and one for more players. Anyway, Tina and I played 3 games of Alhambra yesterday and as we were only two players we employed the excellent services of Dirk the phantom 3rd player.
Alhambra layout - Jubilee Edition
Tina had never played Alhambra before and I played quite a few years ago, but she picked up the rules very quickly and soon managed to complain about me not shuffling the money cards as they were coming up c**p! Still, she didn't do too badly in the first game, I managed to get the win. After thoroughly shuffling the money cards, I didn't want anymore complaints :) we started our second game, I know you are dependent on what tiles appear to buy, but how you position them is also very important, Tina was getting better at positioning her tiles in this game, especially regarding the walls for more points. She played really well in only her second game and won. I was even beaten by Dirk!!
In our third game, it was very close, right down to the last tile. When the tiles were handed out to the player with most money at the end of game, Tina got a purple tile which I thought gave her a share of first place. I had 4 and with her tile she had 4 as well, but looking again at her Alhambra I noticed she had five!! That gave her a close win by two points......at least I beat Dirk to second place.
Tina victorious after the 3rd game!
Happy Gaming!!
Tina had never played Alhambra before and I played quite a few years ago, but she picked up the rules very quickly and soon managed to complain about me not shuffling the money cards as they were coming up c**p! Still, she didn't do too badly in the first game, I managed to get the win. After thoroughly shuffling the money cards, I didn't want anymore complaints :) we started our second game, I know you are dependent on what tiles appear to buy, but how you position them is also very important, Tina was getting better at positioning her tiles in this game, especially regarding the walls for more points. She played really well in only her second game and won. I was even beaten by Dirk!!
In our third game, it was very close, right down to the last tile. When the tiles were handed out to the player with most money at the end of game, Tina got a purple tile which I thought gave her a share of first place. I had 4 and with her tile she had 4 as well, but looking again at her Alhambra I noticed she had five!! That gave her a close win by two points......at least I beat Dirk to second place.
Happy Gaming!!
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
A Day in Salzburg
Last Wednesday (15th) we had a day in Salzburg, my wife's sister was on holiday so she came with us. It was a lovely sunny day and the bus ride took about 90mins. Well, I can't go to Salzburg without having just a peep in the game shops there. The first, by the Mirabell Platz is really good, it has two doors, one for adults and a small one for kinder, my wife insists in going in by the kinder door!! Anyway, I saw the Jubilee Edition of Alhambra there and I had been meaning to get get this for some time, grabbed it. Walking back towards the old city you have to cross the river Salz and just over the bridge is another fairly good game shop. Browsing around in there I saw the Settlers of Catan Geographies: Germany. I had read good reports of this and seen Tom Vasel's video review (although the camera work gave me a headache), so I purchased this one as well. Our day was great, nice lunch, my wife and her sister did some serious shopping, finished off by coffee at one of the many cafes, ours was just by Mozart's birth house.
The board and game pieces are superb
I must say that the production values of the 'Germany' edition are extremely high. If you like Settlers this is a great edition to add to your collection. I haven't actually played it yet but it sounds great. The monuments and cathedral pieces clip into a special moulded box insert which keeps them securely.
Close up of the high quality playing pieces
I wasn't so lucky when I opened Alhambra, the Jubilee edition has some special playing pieces which is nice, but I was short one scoring card and 9 money cards. Doh!! Very frustrating when that happens, it hasn't happened to me before though so I guess I've been lucky. Anyway, a quick email to Queen Games on the Thursday elicited a reply yesterday with an apology for the inconvenience caused and a promise to mail the missing cards which I thought was pretty quick. I played Alhambra many years ago with my game group in the UK and I thought it would be ideal for the players I play with now in Austria.
I must say that the production values of the 'Germany' edition are extremely high. If you like Settlers this is a great edition to add to your collection. I haven't actually played it yet but it sounds great. The monuments and cathedral pieces clip into a special moulded box insert which keeps them securely.
I wasn't so lucky when I opened Alhambra, the Jubilee edition has some special playing pieces which is nice, but I was short one scoring card and 9 money cards. Doh!! Very frustrating when that happens, it hasn't happened to me before though so I guess I've been lucky. Anyway, a quick email to Queen Games on the Thursday elicited a reply yesterday with an apology for the inconvenience caused and a promise to mail the missing cards which I thought was pretty quick. I played Alhambra many years ago with my game group in the UK and I thought it would be ideal for the players I play with now in Austria.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
A couple of game sessions
I know this is a bit late but we had my wife's sister staying with us for a couple of weeks so this is the first time I have had to write this up. Pauline and Stephen were also over here so we had a couple of game sessions. In the first one we played Zooloretto, my wife is not keen on this, but we have only played as a two player so I was hoping it would work better with five. Janet (wife's sister) is not really a gamer, we've played Army of Frogs a couple of times and that was it. Anyway, everyone picked up the rules fairly easily and they seemed to like it. I couldn't get going really and played terrible.
Janet and Pauline study the tiles
We played two games and had a good time. I didn't fair well in either game coming last in the second.
Final Scores
Game one - Pauline 23, Stephen 21, Colin 16, Janet 15, Tina 13
Game two - Tina 23, Pauline 22, Stephen 20, Janet 19, Colin 11
A few days later we adjourned to Stephen and Pauline's flat and played basic TtR. Again we played a couple of games, Janet was the only one who hadn't played before. In the first game the bonus card was for longest train route, but in the second we changed it for most routes completed, it's surprising how different you play when it's most routes.
Ticket to Ride
Tina and Janet played together on this one and couldn't seem to get the routes they needed so ended up getting a pretty big minus score on the second game.
Final Scores
Game one - Stephen 136 (didn't record the other scores)
Game two - Pauline 141, Stephen 107, Colin 91 Janet/Tina 36
We played two games and had a good time. I didn't fair well in either game coming last in the second.
Final Scores
Game one - Pauline 23, Stephen 21, Colin 16, Janet 15, Tina 13
Game two - Tina 23, Pauline 22, Stephen 20, Janet 19, Colin 11
A few days later we adjourned to Stephen and Pauline's flat and played basic TtR. Again we played a couple of games, Janet was the only one who hadn't played before. In the first game the bonus card was for longest train route, but in the second we changed it for most routes completed, it's surprising how different you play when it's most routes.
Tina and Janet played together on this one and couldn't seem to get the routes they needed so ended up getting a pretty big minus score on the second game.
Final Scores
Game one - Stephen 136 (didn't record the other scores)
Game two - Pauline 141, Stephen 107, Colin 91 Janet/Tina 36
Friday, March 20, 2009
Settlers.....online!!
Well, there hasn't been much happening on the gaming front over the last few weeks. Except I have been playing a lot of Settlers online. I may have mentioned before that I play, but I have just been looking at my stats and I didn't realise quite how much. Anyway I thought I would write a bit about the site and tell you of my experience of it.
http://games.asobrain.com/index
Sign up is free and they have a few games other than Settlers, by the way Settlers is called Xplorers here. Toulouse, which a Carcassonne clone, and two other games, Match and Roadblock. I haven't played any of these so I don't know what they are like.
You can play basic Settlers or Cities and Knights, ranked or unranked. If you play ranked your games get recorded and you get...well a ranking! You can opt to play against real players or bots to get a feel for the interface. I play basic almost all the time. One of the good things is that there are multiple maps to play on, not only the default island but many others created by the players themselves. My favourites at the moment are Fifth Element, Discovery and River Runs Through It.
Start of a basic game of Explorers - Discovery Map
As you can see from the pic, there are some white hexes, you don't know what resource these will produce until you build a road to them. Also the multicoloured hexes produce any resource, you choose when the number is rolled. This is the start of the game, the players have just placed there starting settlements. I am white (Coljen), I wanted to go on the multi at the bottom left but the other players tied that up!
Middle phase, I am up to 9 points - Discovery Map
You can play games to 10, 13 or 15 points, this is a 13 point game and is well developed now. I have got 2 cities on the multi and got a wood port as well. The other two players kept dropping the robber on the multi though.
Final score, I am victorious! - Discovery Map
As you can see there are still some undiscovered hexes and another multi was discovered middle left.
Here are a few stats of my play:
Dec - Played 20 Won 3 2nd 6 3rd 11
Jan - Played 3 Won 0 2nd 3 3rd 0
Feb - Played 66 Won 21 2nd 24 3rd 21
Mar - Played 63 Won 22 2nd 24 3rd 18
Maps
Fifth Element Games 51 Won 15 Lost 35
River Runs Games 35 Won 7 Lost 28
Forest Escape Games 29 Won 8 Lost 21
Discovery Games 21 Won 9 Lost 12
Christmas Games 14 Won 4 Lost 10
March of the Penguins Games 1 Won 1 Lost 0
Default Expansion Games 1 Won 1 Lost 0
Golden Circle Games 1 Won 1 Lost 0
Dutch Empire Games 1 Won 0 Lost 1
Default Island Games 1 Won 0 Lost 1
I didn't realise that I played that much!!! Anyway it's good fun and most of the players are friendly. I have met one or two that have a real problem if you drop the robber on them.....so I do it even more :) Give it a try you might like it.
Happy Gaming!!!
http://games.asobrain.com/index
Sign up is free and they have a few games other than Settlers, by the way Settlers is called Xplorers here. Toulouse, which a Carcassonne clone, and two other games, Match and Roadblock. I haven't played any of these so I don't know what they are like.
You can play basic Settlers or Cities and Knights, ranked or unranked. If you play ranked your games get recorded and you get...well a ranking! You can opt to play against real players or bots to get a feel for the interface. I play basic almost all the time. One of the good things is that there are multiple maps to play on, not only the default island but many others created by the players themselves. My favourites at the moment are Fifth Element, Discovery and River Runs Through It.
As you can see from the pic, there are some white hexes, you don't know what resource these will produce until you build a road to them. Also the multicoloured hexes produce any resource, you choose when the number is rolled. This is the start of the game, the players have just placed there starting settlements. I am white (Coljen), I wanted to go on the multi at the bottom left but the other players tied that up!
You can play games to 10, 13 or 15 points, this is a 13 point game and is well developed now. I have got 2 cities on the multi and got a wood port as well. The other two players kept dropping the robber on the multi though.
As you can see there are still some undiscovered hexes and another multi was discovered middle left.
Here are a few stats of my play:
Dec - Played 20 Won 3 2nd 6 3rd 11
Jan - Played 3 Won 0 2nd 3 3rd 0
Feb - Played 66 Won 21 2nd 24 3rd 21
Mar - Played 63 Won 22 2nd 24 3rd 18
Maps
Fifth Element Games 51 Won 15 Lost 35
River Runs Games 35 Won 7 Lost 28
Forest Escape Games 29 Won 8 Lost 21
Discovery Games 21 Won 9 Lost 12
Christmas Games 14 Won 4 Lost 10
March of the Penguins Games 1 Won 1 Lost 0
Default Expansion Games 1 Won 1 Lost 0
Golden Circle Games 1 Won 1 Lost 0
Dutch Empire Games 1 Won 0 Lost 1
Default Island Games 1 Won 0 Lost 1
I didn't realise that I played that much!!! Anyway it's good fun and most of the players are friendly. I have met one or two that have a real problem if you drop the robber on them.....so I do it even more :) Give it a try you might like it.
Happy Gaming!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)