Well, a combination of circumstances have resulted in the session probably being cancelled again this week. Richard has flown of to the States for some skiing, Steve is working in Southampton and probably won't be back in time, and as he is hosting that poses a bit of a problem. On top of that Garry is feeling a bit under the weather with the flu. So no games again......the good side is that the wife bought me The Thief of baghdad for a Valentine's day present and actually played it with me. Whooo Hooo! Mind you that will probably be the last time she plays it :)
I have just been looking on the Ragnor Brothers site about the upgrade kit for Canal Mania, my name is down straight away. I like the game a lot and it will be good to have the revised bits without having to buy a whole new game.
Nothing else has happened of any note gamewise....oh I have just received my new copy of counter so a bit of good reading to do.
Happy Gaming :)
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Monday, February 19, 2007
Gaming last week
Sorry for the late posting of this, I didn't make the game session last week and Garry has just sent me a brief report of what was played.
Report from Garry
We were due to play Tigris and Euphrates this week (it's number 2 in the BBG chart and we're meant to be working our way down the list. Well when we sat down to play we realised that no one had a copy to hand. I'd sold my copy to Joe the week previous and the others thought I still had a copy so didn't bring theirs - doh! Any way we decided to have an open choice and started with Yspahan.
Yspahan was one of my Essen purchases and this was the fist time I got a cance to play it. It took a while to go through the rules, and to be honest I was totaly confused by the time we started, seems like a poor set of rules. After a couple of turns it all kind of fell into place, although the strategy was a little unclear, whilst I'm sure we played the game to the correct rules I think it'll need a couple of more plays to get the hang of it. It's not complicated, just not to clear what the best way to win is. Not bad, and it definately needs a couple more plays to 'bed-in'.
1st - 75 Garry, 2nd - 69 Richard, 3rd -62 Steve.
Yspahan didn't take to long once we got going so we had time for a game of Fiji. Colin, Steve and I had played this last week and enjoyed it so we decided to introduce it to richard. It's a good fun game that is best played reasonably fast using a bit of intuition rather than cold logic. With this in mind it plays fast, is over pretty quick and can be quite a laugh. File next to Hol's der Geier and Diamant.
1st - 6 Richard, 2nd - 4 Steve, 3rd - 2 Garry.
So this week we shall be playing Tigris & Euphrates, if someone remembers to bring a copy.
Report from Garry
We were due to play Tigris and Euphrates this week (it's number 2 in the BBG chart and we're meant to be working our way down the list. Well when we sat down to play we realised that no one had a copy to hand. I'd sold my copy to Joe the week previous and the others thought I still had a copy so didn't bring theirs - doh! Any way we decided to have an open choice and started with Yspahan.
Yspahan was one of my Essen purchases and this was the fist time I got a cance to play it. It took a while to go through the rules, and to be honest I was totaly confused by the time we started, seems like a poor set of rules. After a couple of turns it all kind of fell into place, although the strategy was a little unclear, whilst I'm sure we played the game to the correct rules I think it'll need a couple of more plays to get the hang of it. It's not complicated, just not to clear what the best way to win is. Not bad, and it definately needs a couple more plays to 'bed-in'.
1st - 75 Garry, 2nd - 69 Richard, 3rd -62 Steve.
Yspahan didn't take to long once we got going so we had time for a game of Fiji. Colin, Steve and I had played this last week and enjoyed it so we decided to introduce it to richard. It's a good fun game that is best played reasonably fast using a bit of intuition rather than cold logic. With this in mind it plays fast, is over pretty quick and can be quite a laugh. File next to Hol's der Geier and Diamant.
1st - 6 Richard, 2nd - 4 Steve, 3rd - 2 Garry.
So this week we shall be playing Tigris & Euphrates, if someone remembers to bring a copy.
Saturday, February 10, 2007
February 6th - Metromania/Fiji
This week it was my choice and I thought I would choose a couple of games I purchased at Essen this year but hadn't got around to playing yet, Metromania and Fiji. Metromania is published by Speil-ou-Face and designed by Jean-Michel Maman. In the game the players dig two subway lines each across the city, trying to connect places of housing, leisure and factories to gain points. The play is not difficult, in a turn a player may lay up to 3 subway tiles or build a station, if his line connects to another line a station is built automatically. Players also have some destination markers with letters on the backs, these must be placed during the game and at the end journeys are made between them, the lines that consist of the shortest journey time score points for their owners.
The Board
A journey is also made between the park and the lake. So players must complete their two lines or they get a penalty and they are trying to connect to the destinations so they score points in the journeys at the end of the game. The game components are OK, the triangular tiles and stations are a bit fiddly to lay, especially when the board gets a bit crowded, but overall not a bad game with some interesting situations arising for placement. Garry got blocked on one of his lines and so could only build on his other line. I think we may have played the ending condition wrong at this point, in the rules the ending conditions are if 5 lines have been completed or blocked, or a player finishes his second line. We ended the game when Garry had finished his second line, but in reality this was only his first as his other was blocked.....ah well, get it right next time.
Board Close Up
We were only 3 tonight as Richard couldn't make it, and the board was crowded with 3 so it would have more so with four. I enjoyed the game and there is some interesting plays to be made.
Final Scores
Garry 29, Steve 20, Colin 9
Fiji
Fiji is a game by Friedmann Friese, and if you don't like auctions this is probably not the game for you. In this game you are bidding gems to win more gems and the player with the highest amount of the right gems at the end of the round gets shrunken heads as a reward. The game consists of 4 rounds each of 3 auctions. Each player starts with a set of gems which he places behind his screen, one extra set is placed as the pool. The four goal are shuffled and rotated at random then dealt alongside the idol card, the nearest one is the first goal the rest are tiebreakers. Then you shuffle the condition cards and lay out 4, then the action cards and lay 4 alongside the condition cards. Each player secretly chooses a number of gems to bid and then they are revealed together. Each players bid counts for all 4 of the condition cards, you win depending on what the condition card says, most green gems, least blue and yellow, there are different combinations on all the cards. You do this 3 times then their is a scoring round the player that meets the 1st goal card, it may be most gems or least gems of a particular colour, gets 2 shrunken heads, second player gets 1.
You play 4 rounds and the player with the most shrunken heads at the end is the winner. As I say if you don't like auctions it's maybe not the game for you and you don't want to analyse the cards too much when you bid it loses it's fun flavour. It's best played fast and loose, it was a lot of fun and we all enjoyed it.
Final Scores
Steve 5, Colin 4, Garry 3
The Board
A journey is also made between the park and the lake. So players must complete their two lines or they get a penalty and they are trying to connect to the destinations so they score points in the journeys at the end of the game. The game components are OK, the triangular tiles and stations are a bit fiddly to lay, especially when the board gets a bit crowded, but overall not a bad game with some interesting situations arising for placement. Garry got blocked on one of his lines and so could only build on his other line. I think we may have played the ending condition wrong at this point, in the rules the ending conditions are if 5 lines have been completed or blocked, or a player finishes his second line. We ended the game when Garry had finished his second line, but in reality this was only his first as his other was blocked.....ah well, get it right next time.
Board Close Up
We were only 3 tonight as Richard couldn't make it, and the board was crowded with 3 so it would have more so with four. I enjoyed the game and there is some interesting plays to be made.
Final Scores
Garry 29, Steve 20, Colin 9
Fiji
Fiji is a game by Friedmann Friese, and if you don't like auctions this is probably not the game for you. In this game you are bidding gems to win more gems and the player with the highest amount of the right gems at the end of the round gets shrunken heads as a reward. The game consists of 4 rounds each of 3 auctions. Each player starts with a set of gems which he places behind his screen, one extra set is placed as the pool. The four goal are shuffled and rotated at random then dealt alongside the idol card, the nearest one is the first goal the rest are tiebreakers. Then you shuffle the condition cards and lay out 4, then the action cards and lay 4 alongside the condition cards. Each player secretly chooses a number of gems to bid and then they are revealed together. Each players bid counts for all 4 of the condition cards, you win depending on what the condition card says, most green gems, least blue and yellow, there are different combinations on all the cards. You do this 3 times then their is a scoring round the player that meets the 1st goal card, it may be most gems or least gems of a particular colour, gets 2 shrunken heads, second player gets 1.
You play 4 rounds and the player with the most shrunken heads at the end is the winner. As I say if you don't like auctions it's maybe not the game for you and you don't want to analyse the cards too much when you bid it loses it's fun flavour. It's best played fast and loose, it was a lot of fun and we all enjoyed it.
Final Scores
Steve 5, Colin 4, Garry 3
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
30th January - Mykerinos/Raub Ritter
Steve had wanted to play Heart of Africa again this week, but I think he realised that it was not one our favourite games and took pity on us and chose Mykerinos instead. Mykerinos is a game where the players are archaeologists working for patrons. The game consists of laying out a pattern of tiles to represent the desert, depicted on the tiles are pyramids, er lots of sand and symbols for the various patrons, they are divided into 6 squares per tile. Players start with a number of cubes in their colour and these are placed on the tiles, when everyone has passed the tiles are evaluated and the player with the majority of cubes has the choice of either of the two tiles (they are placed in pairs), or to place a cube in the museum. On the back of the tiles the patrons are depicted, each patron has a special power and as you collect them you can use their power once per round. They can do things like allow you to start an expedition with 2 cubes, place a cube in the museum, place a cube on a pyramid and so on.
The Desert
If you collect a set of the 5 different patrons at the end of the game this is worth 5VPs. When you place your cubes in the museum the various rooms have a number associated with a patron, at the end of the game you multiply that number with the number of that patron you have won. So cube management is basically the name of the game, you don't have enough cubes (8 in a 4 player game) to compete for every tile in the display, so you have to go for the ones you really need. For the patrons special ability and as a multiplier at the end of the game, also to get the set to a lessor degree I think as this is only worth 5VPs.
The Museum and Scoring Track
I really liked this game it plays smoothly in about an hour or just over, the components are good quality and gives you some interesting decisions to make.
The Patrons
Final Scores
Steve 49, Colin 44, Garry 42, Richard 36
Raub Ritter
As we had a bit of time left we had a game of Raub Ritter. I had only played this once before but after Steve had quickly revised the rules off we went. A tile laying game where you lay a tile in the landscape and play you knights onto the board to try and capture the Castles, Villages and Towns. You can place your knights on top of other players to capture them, and the player who's knight is on top at the end of the game gets the points. Again a nicely flowing game with some really hard decisions where sometimes you must play where you don't really want to.
Final Scores
Richard 32, Steve 24, Garry 24, Colin 22
The Desert
If you collect a set of the 5 different patrons at the end of the game this is worth 5VPs. When you place your cubes in the museum the various rooms have a number associated with a patron, at the end of the game you multiply that number with the number of that patron you have won. So cube management is basically the name of the game, you don't have enough cubes (8 in a 4 player game) to compete for every tile in the display, so you have to go for the ones you really need. For the patrons special ability and as a multiplier at the end of the game, also to get the set to a lessor degree I think as this is only worth 5VPs.
The Museum and Scoring Track
I really liked this game it plays smoothly in about an hour or just over, the components are good quality and gives you some interesting decisions to make.
The Patrons
Final Scores
Steve 49, Colin 44, Garry 42, Richard 36
Raub Ritter
As we had a bit of time left we had a game of Raub Ritter. I had only played this once before but after Steve had quickly revised the rules off we went. A tile laying game where you lay a tile in the landscape and play you knights onto the board to try and capture the Castles, Villages and Towns. You can place your knights on top of other players to capture them, and the player who's knight is on top at the end of the game gets the points. Again a nicely flowing game with some really hard decisions where sometimes you must play where you don't really want to.
Final Scores
Richard 32, Steve 24, Garry 24, Colin 22
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
23rd January - Canal Mania
On the table tonight was Canal Mania, we had played once before with 5 players, tonight we were only four. I really like this game, all be it another track/road/underground laying game. I like the way you have to choose contracts so you are restricted to build from a specific location to another. Richard and Steve quickly started excavating their canals in the centre of the map, I built Manchester to Stoke and then opted for long route from Manchester to Goole, in the end this slowed down the expansion of my network somewhat. I think that using the engineers more can make the game easier, a thing I keep forgetting to do. The efficient expansion of your network does depend to a certain extent on which contracts are turned up, sometimes you just can't make them link up, also taking cards with the right colour goods cubes that benefit you the best is important.
Garry had completed 6 contracts by the end of the game earning the 10 point bonus for most prolific builder, but 4 of these were small and 2 I think were isolated from the rest of his network, I had a good run from Stoke through Manchester to Goole, but couldn't expand it anymore as the right contracts didn't come up until right at the last. I managed to build a reasonable link from London to Nottingham on which I managed to ship a few cubes. In the end Richard's and Steve's network in the centre of the board was able to ship a goodly number of goods to get them to 1st and 2nd places.
Final Board Position
Final Scores
Richard 77, Steve 72, Colin 67, Garry 65
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
16th January - Leonardo Da Vinci
Ah......Leonardo Da Vinci, last time we played this on November 14th last year I had a pretty awful experience. Didn't invent a single thing, put the wrong components under my lab for one invention and came a dismal last place. Well, I couldn't do any worse this time.....could I? After a quick recap of the rules off we went, playing the advanced set-up where each player chooses 3 favours at the start of the game. I have just had a look at the Nov 14th report and I actually took the same 3, extra apprentice, 4 components and my other lab.
The game flowed fairly smoothly this time and only lasted around 90 minutes, last time we struggled with the rules and mechanics and it lasted nearly 3 hours. We still played the last 2 rounds wrong, we thought that you couldn't declare new inventions in those 2 rounds, but you can....Ah well, next time we'll get it right.
The game is fairly straightforward once you get the hang of it, I think Steve put the wrong components in a lab once, so I am not alone in that :) Looking at the top 4 inventions on the deck seemed quite popular being taken a number of times, Garry took it last, only so he could rearrange them so that the last person to do it (Richard I think) wouldn't know what was coming up next. In the end Richard still won, beating Garry by 7 points. On the invention front, I had 3 different, Garry 4, Steve 2 and Richard had 3.
Final Scores (Inventions Bonus - Money in Hand)
Richard 8+50 = 58
Garry 13+38 = 51
Colin 8+27 = 35
Steve 0+25 = 25
The game flowed fairly smoothly this time and only lasted around 90 minutes, last time we struggled with the rules and mechanics and it lasted nearly 3 hours. We still played the last 2 rounds wrong, we thought that you couldn't declare new inventions in those 2 rounds, but you can....Ah well, next time we'll get it right.
The game is fairly straightforward once you get the hang of it, I think Steve put the wrong components in a lab once, so I am not alone in that :) Looking at the top 4 inventions on the deck seemed quite popular being taken a number of times, Garry took it last, only so he could rearrange them so that the last person to do it (Richard I think) wouldn't know what was coming up next. In the end Richard still won, beating Garry by 7 points. On the invention front, I had 3 different, Garry 4, Steve 2 and Richard had 3.
Final Scores (Inventions Bonus - Money in Hand)
Richard 8+50 = 58
Garry 13+38 = 51
Colin 8+27 = 35
Steve 0+25 = 25
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
9th January - Puerto Rico
When I compiled the list of games we played last year Puerto Rico didn't feature once, that's strange as it's such a great game. We had a talk last night about how we choose what games to play, for a long time we have had a rota of sorts, youngest to oldest, and they pick which game we play that week. Garry suggested that we tag on an extra place on the rota in which we play a game from the BBG's best games list, starting at the top and work our way down. We started doing that last night and as Puerto Rico is top that hit the table.
Jo was also able to make to our first session of 2007 so that was nice. Puerto Rico is such a good game and has many winning strategies, our game was extremely close for 2nd, 3rd and 4th with Jo taking first place with an extremely good score. He went down the corn route, combined with the small and large markets, which gained him some good income. I had indigo and tobacco and also small and large markets. . Steve had diversified into sugar, coffee, indigo and some corn too I think. Garry had tobacco and indigo and sugar.
I made a bad mistake when I thought the game wouldn't go on for too much longer and hadn't got enough for a second 10 building so I bought the cheapest 3VP building, I should have bought the wharf as I got caught out 3 or 4 times after that and couldn't ship. That cost me second place I think. A good start for 2007 then, next week Richard should be back and I think it's Garry's choice.
Final Scores (VP - Buildings - Bonuses)
Jo 40 - 20 - 18 = 78
Steve 21 - 22 - 7 = 50
Colin 14 - 24 - 11 =49
Garry 28 - 19 - 0 = 47
Sorry there are no pics this week......forgot the camera :)
Jo was also able to make to our first session of 2007 so that was nice. Puerto Rico is such a good game and has many winning strategies, our game was extremely close for 2nd, 3rd and 4th with Jo taking first place with an extremely good score. He went down the corn route, combined with the small and large markets, which gained him some good income. I had indigo and tobacco and also small and large markets. . Steve had diversified into sugar, coffee, indigo and some corn too I think. Garry had tobacco and indigo and sugar.
I made a bad mistake when I thought the game wouldn't go on for too much longer and hadn't got enough for a second 10 building so I bought the cheapest 3VP building, I should have bought the wharf as I got caught out 3 or 4 times after that and couldn't ship. That cost me second place I think. A good start for 2007 then, next week Richard should be back and I think it's Garry's choice.
Final Scores (VP - Buildings - Bonuses)
Jo 40 - 20 - 18 = 78
Steve 21 - 22 - 7 = 50
Colin 14 - 24 - 11 =49
Garry 28 - 19 - 0 = 47
Sorry there are no pics this week......forgot the camera :)
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