Archive
Games Sessions - October to December 2003
12th
December 2003
Games
Played: Die Brucken von Shangrila, Terra
Die
Brucken von Shangrila
Players: Nige, Mark K, Mark G, Garry
Our last session of 2003 and this time we return to
Kosmos' Essen releases for The Bridges of Shangrila from another of my
favourite designers, Leo Colovini. In this game about spreading your tribe
of guildsmen over the villages of Shangrila, there are seven guilds and
each player starts with one master from each guild placed across the 13
villages. Players can then do one of three things on their turn: recruit a
new master in a village where they already have a presence; recruit two
students to be attached to masters who are not current training a student;
migrate students from one village to another, where they may become
masters in their own right or continue training with another master of
your tribe or be banished from the village by a stronger opposing master.
The villages are connected by 23 bridges and each time a student migration
takes place, the bridge they cross gets destroyed. Progressively, each
village gets more isolated and, once completely cut off, a Stone of Wisdom
is added to that village and no further activity can take place there.
Once 11 villages have been isolated the game ends and players count up how
many masters they then have, the one with the most being declared winner.
We played this slightly wrongly because there are 12
Stones in the box (there's one spare) and I mistakenly thought that the
game ended when all the stones had been played. This meant that there was
one almighty battle at the end in the last two villages with two equal
forces of students (in which case defender wins). Although it got resolved
properly, it seemed a bit strange and the correct rule makes more sense. I
don't think the extra battle made any difference to the final scores but
people may have approached the end-game a bit differently. Anyway, we all
enjoyed this one especially Nige. He thought it one of the best games he's
played this year. It is definitely a thinking game which will either make
it attractive to you or put you off, as there was quite a bit of down-time
between turns. It took us about 90 minutes to finish which was a bit long
but it will undoubtedly speed up with subsequent playings now that we have
a better idea of the way to play. I stuffed my position up on a couple of
turns by forgetting what I had resolved to do from my previous turn. We
all decided that this was because I had fallen asleep between turns (due
to the extended thinking time). Mark G established a strong presence in
the West and this enabled him to expand readily, particularly as the rest
of us were concentrating on battles elsewhere. This brought him a deserved
win.
Result: Mark G 27, Mark K 22, Nige 19, Garry 14
Ratings: Mark G 7, Mark K 7, Nige 8, Garry 6
Terra
Players: Nige, Mark K, Mark G, Garry
We then tried the new semi-cooperative card game from
Bruno Faidutti about fighting global environmental crises. The deck of
cards is comprised of 2 types: 18 crises and 90 solutions. Players try to
collect solution cards so that when the crises turn up, they are able
collectively to overcome it. If they are able and choose to do so as soon
as it is turned up, the first player to attack it and the greatest
contributor to the solution gain 3 VPs each. If it isn't resolved
immediately it becomes a full blown crisis and players can contribute to
solving it later on. If they do this, they can also set aside 3-card
combinations to bring VPs at the end of the game and the person who
finally overcomes the crisis gains 5 VPs. If crises are kept sufficiently
under control, once the draw-deck is exhausted, the game ends and the
person who has accumulated the most VPs wins. However, if too many crises
arise without solution, the game ends with a total loss of control and
EVERYBODY LOSES. Hence you need to keep a balance between advancing your
individual gain and the common good.
In our game, peace reigned early on with all of us
building our hand of solutions up to the maximum of 8 cards quite quickly.
A couple of minor crises were tackled and eradicated, but then in the
middle of the deck the crises started turning up thick and fast. We all
felt this was a good time to allow for some full blown crises to continue,
while we all hoarded some three card combinations. Unfortunately, the more
valuable the three card combinations, the less able you are to tackle the
crise and we were only about two thirds of the way through the deck when
disaster struck, the earth was destroyed and we made our excuses for not
being sufficiently friendly to the environment. I found this to be good
fun but I guess it may take a couple more games for us to overcome our
"greed is good" instincts and end the game in success. Once
there are multiple crises to deal with, there is quite a bit of tension
and I think the card mix is likely to be nicely balanced so that the game
isn't too easy to beat. Good fun, although Nige was less struck on it than
me.
Result: Mark G+Mark K+Nige+Garry = LOSERS!
Ratings: Mark G 6, Mark K 6, Nige 5, Garry 7
28th
November 2003
Games
Played: Anno 1503, Iglu Pop
Anno 1503
Players: Nige, Mark K, Mark G, Garry
Four of us again this week so I decided we should try
one of Kosmos’ new Essen releases. Anno 1503 is by Klaus Teuber and is
supposedly based on the computer game of the same name. As a board game,
it is very much a cross between Settlers and Entdecker, but it is very
well implemented. Players are competing to develop their own islands
faster and more efficiently than their opponents. They aim to develop the
inhabitants of their islands from initial pioneers through to merchants,
establish links with other resource yielding islands, negotiate trade
agreements to reduce the cost of their purchased resources, build
impressive buildings in their settlements and accumulate gold. Each of
these goals has a set target and the player who reaches three of these
targets first is the winner.
Resources are limited and unlike Settlers there is no
trading between the players, only buying and selling with the bank. Player
interaction is pretty low as you are basically just manipulating your own
resources to best effect. However, some of the goals enforce competition
so there is some element of trying to beat your opponent to the goal. In
our game, I built a fire station early on to protect against one of the
hazardous events that can come up on the roll of a 6 on the die (other
numbers yield resources). Unfortunately for Nige, he was running his
operation on a shoestring budget of gold and fire decimated his settlement
three or four times in quick succession. The chances of this happening
were very remote but lady luck doesn’t listen to the laws of
probability. The end of the game was extremely close, with me failing to
get the resources needed to gain my third VP because of another 6 on the
die (4 other numbers would have seen me achieve my goal). This left Mark K
to sell off sufficient resources to rake in 30 gold and claim his third VP
and the win. Very good game that we all thoroughly enjoyed, even Nige
despite getting stuffed by the fire damage.
Result: Mark K, Garry, Mark G=Nige
Ratings: Mark K 8, Garry 7, Mark G 8, Nige 7
Iglu Pop
Players: Nige, Mark K, Mark G, Garry
We finished off with a game I nearly decided to give
a miss at Essen. I’m glad I did pick it up as it is great fun with the
family and is a game of pure skill. Twelve igloos sit in the middle of the
table and each igloo hides between 2 and 13 beads. Circling the igloos are
a series of 9 cards displaying a single number or a range of up to 3
numbers. Players frantically shake the igloos trying to determine by sound
alone how many beads they contain, then placing them onto a card with a
number they think matches the beads in the igloo. Once all the igloos have
been placed, each igloo is checked to see if the player got it right or
not. If they did, they win the card which also displays a number of
eskimos (VPs). If they were wrong they lose one of their 10 life tokens.
The game ends when one player or more is out of life tokens or when all
the cards are gone. Life tokens are added to the VPs on your cards and the
player with the highest total wins.
Mark K managed a perfect score in this game –
perfect if losing all your life tokens in just three rounds can be
considered as such. In the first round, we all were not listening closely
enough as only one card got taken (by me) and we all lost a stack of life
tokens. However, Nige and I then became more attuned to the skill of the
game and forged ahead with me being just that bit more skillful. This is a
good fun family game that will see lots of play and laughter.
Surprisingly, though, ‘No-Fun’ Nige thought it was good fun as well.
You can’t get a higher recommendation than that.
Result: Garry 17, Nige 13, Mark G 4, Mark K 0
Ratings: Garry 6, Nige 6, Mark G 5, Mark K 5
21st
November 2003
Games
Played: Attika
Attika
Players: Nige, Mark K, Mark G, Garry
This week, there were just four of us so we tried out
the game that, for some, was the hit of the Essen Fair this year. Probably
best known for Verrater a few years ago, Marcel Andre Casasola Merkle
designed this game about developing a Greek city-state, by building
various constructions making best use of the available resources. Players
draw tiles representing their constructions and can either build them
straight away on the map if they have the appropriate resources, or store
them on their player board for construction later. Buildings placed on the
map next to associated buildings can be erected for free and groups of
associated buildings yield an amphora allowing extra actions later in the
game. There are four shrines at the edge of the initial map and the winner
is the player who can either be the first to link two shrines with a chain
of their buildings or complete the building of all 30 of their buildings
on the map.
At the beginning of our game, Nige got blocked in the
centre of the map quite badly whereas Mark K and I made a couple of quick
attempts to try and link shrines. When these failed, we all started to set
about building all of our constructions and for the most part, ignored the
shrines. Mark G managed to expand the map to an area where he had best
access and took good advantage of being able to build steadily and
cheaply. The end was pretty close but Mark G pulled through with a
deserved win. This was a very strong and thoughtful game which I think
will see a lot of play. The excellent production was typical of Hans Im
Gluck and we all thought it was very good. It took a little longer than it
perhaps should, but next time, we will have a better idea of what we are
doing and it should play more quickly.
Result: Mark G=winner
Ratings: Mark G 7, Mark K 7, Nige 7, Garry 8
14th
November 2003
Games
Played: King Me, Finstere Flure, Die Sieben Siegel
King Me
Players: John, Nige, Mark K, Mark G, Garry
While waiting to see if Nige was going to arrive
(which he did as soon as
I’d finished), I explained the rules to this new release from Da Vinci /
Mayfair Games. The king is trying to find a successor and 13 candidates
are hoping to get the job. Each player has an interest in 6 of the
characters and aim to move these characters towards the throne room. The
closer a character is to the King, the more points it scores. When a
character reaches the throne room, the players all vote on whether the
character should become King. If all vote Yes, the round ends and players
score points for each of their characters. If anyone votes No, the
character is eliminated from the round and play continues. As players have
a limited number of No votes at their disposal (2 with five players),
eventually a King must be chosen. After three rounds, the player with the
most points wins.
This is a very simple game and quite enjoyable in
trying to work out who is going to vote which way. You don’t want to
waste your No votes if someone else could be voting No anyway, but you
then run the risk of everyone else thinking the same way, resulting in a
unanimous Yes. The first round saw several characters eliminated before a
successful vote took place, meaning the scores were pretty low for most.
The second round was a lot quicker with the second candidate getting the
thumbs up and netting Mark G a good score. The final round was also quick
and Mark K and John emerged tied for the win.
Result: John=Mark K 69, Garry 67, Mark G 63, Nige 57
Ratings: John 7, Mark K 7, Garry 6, Mark G 7, Nige 6
Finstere
Flure
Players: John, Nige, Mark K, Mark G, Garry
The latest game from Friedemann Friese is this fun
game about trying to escape from a dungeon while avoiding the clutches of
the resident monster. Players control three characters each and are aiming
to be the first to get two of these out of the dungeon alive. Each
character is able to move up to 7 spaces during the course of two turns so
everyone, theoretically has the same chance of winning. However, players
often will wish to forego movement so that they remain out of sight of the
monster. At the end of each turn, after everyone has moved, the monster
wanders around the dungeon. If he sees anyone, he moves towards the
closest character, unless more than one character is closest – in which
case he gets confused and carries on in the direction he was already
going. If a character is caught by the monster, they either are returned
to the start square during the first phase of play, or die in the second
phase.
This played pretty quickly and we all enjoyed it.
Early on, I misjudged where the monster was going and got a character
caught by the monster. I then resolved to try and use this character to
try and disrupt other people’s plans. Nige was the first to get a
character out of the dungeon closely followed by me. However, Mark K got
two of his characters very close to the exit and looked favourite to get
them both out. However, Mark G and I engineered a route that could
cut Mark K off, providing the monster’s movement allowance was
enough to reach him. Sure enough, the monster did the right thing and
stopped Mark in his tracks. When the dust settled, I managed to sneak
through with my second character to claim the win. Good fun, although I
admit Mark was pretty unlucky.
Result: Garry = winner
Ratings: Garry 7, John 6, Mark K 7, Mark G 6, Nige
5
Die
Sieben Siegel
Players: John, Nige, Mark K, Mark G, Garry
With time running out, we just had time for a couple
of hands of this new trick-taking game from Stefan Dorra. The twist here
is that, not only do you have to predict how many tricks you expect to
take, but also in which colours. You get penalty points for any variance
from your prediction, especially for winning tricks in colours you had not
predicted. Also, one player can choose to play the saboteur, whose aim is
to try and stop the other players from achieving their predictions.
In our game, which only lasted two hands because of
the time, nobody chose the saboteur in either hand. Nige managed to get a
zero in the first round and I managed it in the second, but Nige’s
second round score was lower than mine in the first, so he claimed the
win. We were a bit undecided whether this was sufficiently different to
warrant repeated plays but I think we need to play a few more hands and
experiment with the saboteur to make our minds up.
Result: Nige -2, John=Garry -4, Mark K= Mark G -10
Ratings: Nige 7, John 6, Garry 7, Mark K 6, Mark G 6
7th
November 2003
Games
Played: Industria, Trendy
Industria
Players: Nige, Mark K, Mark G, Garry
With four of us this week, I was keen to try out some
of the new games I’d brought back from Essen. We decided upon Industria
as we tend to enjoy most of Michael Schacht’s games. The game is about
the spread of industrialisation over time and concentrates on five epochs.
The course of the game involves a whole series of auctions. The auctioneer
draws four cards and auctions them off one at a time. The auction is
once-round-the-table and the auctioneer can accept the highest bid or take
the card for free (which is also the forced outcome if no-one bids for a
card). Once the auctioneer takes a card, the role of auctioneer passes to
the next player for any remaining auctions. The cards represent factories,
technologies, resources and improvements(bonus tiles). Once the four
auctions have been concluded, all players then use resources to build
their factories/technologies/improvements and gain VPs for doing so. There
are extra VPs available for linking certain factories/technologies
together by the end of the game.
In our game, we felt that the final player was at a
significant disadvantage as they had little chance of generating cash in
the first epoch and this limited their ability to build and gain VPs.
Although they begin as auctioneer in the second epoch, the initial
disadvantage is hard to overcome. In subsequent games, this perceived
problem could well be taken into account in the bidding during the early
auctions but it wasn'’ something we anticipated in this first playing.
However, as it was only Nige who was the last player, the rest of us
didn’t mind too much. This is a game where you definitely need to watch
what other players are doing as I found I managed to grab some critical
cards for little competition and this enabled me to race away to an
unassailable lead. We all felt the mechanics were very good and we enjoyed
the game. We just hope the Last Player issue doesn’t turn out to be too
significant.
Result: Garry 56, Mark K 39, Mark G 36, Nige 27
Ratings: Garry 7, Mark K 7, Mark G 6, Nige 6
Trendy
Players: Nige, Mark K, Mark G, Garry
We finished off with a couple of hands of this little
card game from Reiner Knizia, which I have been wanting for a while and
managed to get at Essen for just 2 Euros. It is a simple “play a card
then draw a card” game where you lay cards in the hope that they will
score for you. The cards represent fashion designers and as soon as there
are a number of cards on the table equal to the number on that
designer’s card, they “break through” and points are awarded to
those who have laid cards for that designer. All other cards are discarded
and do not score. The person with the most points after a set number of
hands is the winner.
This is a very light but fun game. In the first hand,
Mark G missed out on the points only managing 4 in total. He did better in
the second hand but Nige amassed the highest score in both rounds, making
him the big winner. I can't believe Nige turned out to be the most trendy
of us all.
Result: Nige 77, Garry 56, Mark K 55, Mark G 25
Ratings: NIge 5, Garry 6, Mark K 6, Mark G 6
17th
October 2003
Games
Played: Liberte
Liberte
Players: Nige, John, Garry
Just three of us this week and John kindly agreed to
host this session. I had suggested to John that we have a go at Liberte as
I had never played it and I knew that John had a copy. He hadn't played it
yet either so I read up on the rules beforehand so that, between us, we
could work out how to play without reading through the rulebook on the
night.
The game is about the French Revolution and players
aim to gain VPs by having influence in the government and the opposition
after each of the elections at the end of each game turn. There are three
factions (Royalists, Moderates and Radicals) vying for power and players
play cards to place faction blocks on the board. At the end of each game
turn, the various provinces on the board are evaluated to see which
faction wins the election in that province. Often, however, the factions
are tied and then players try to break the tie by using cards they have
set aside for this purpose. Once all the provinces have been resolved the
faction winning the most provinces forms the government and the faction in
second place forms the opposition. The players who have the most influence
on these two factions are awarded VPs. Later in the game, VPs can also be
won by leading the revolutionary army in battles. After four elections,
the person with the most VPs will normalyy be the winner. However, there
are two other ways the game can end where VPs are not relevant, through
either a Royalist counter-revolution or a Radical landslide at one of the
elections, which means that those lagging behind in VPs can still win.
In our game, the first two turns were very tight, but
in turns three and four Nige pressed his advantage in the provinces where
extra VPs were available. Although I had tried to get a presence in these
early in the game, both John and I had forgotten about the benefits these
provinces gave in the second half of the game, allowing Nige to grab
control. Nige also managed to acquire good cards for election ties and the
good cards seemed to elude me and this helped him cement his position in
the important provinces. Having said that, Nige played a good game and
certainly deserved the win. We all thought Liberte was an excellent game
with lots to keep an eye on with very little downtime.
Result: Nige 27, John 17, Garry 13
Ratings: Nige 8, John 8, Garry 7
10th
October 2003
Games
Played: Euphrat & Tigris, Guillotine
Euphrat
& Tigris
Players: Mark G, Nige, Mark K, John
I was unable to make it this week so Nige stepped
into the shoes of your roving reporter:
"With Garry away it was down to me to write the
games report for this week. As there were only four of us and we hadn't
played it for a long time it was time for a play of my all time fave
Euphrat and Tigris. Let's get this straight right from the start I am a
huge "Reinerphile" and this in my opinion is his all time best.
As we have played this before a synopsis of the game will be in the
archives so I will not waste time going into it again.
We all started off building our own small kingdoms and just collecting VPs
for laying tiles. I joined up a couple of uncontested kingdoms to get the
neutral VPs Things were running quite peacefully. Mark G built a couple of
temples and my leaders were in like a shot to stake a claim in the
pickings. Mark K didn't quite have the right tiles to kick me out and
after a few turns I was picking up VPs in a fairly balanced abundent
manner. Mark K eventually did kick me out but it was too late - the game
was mine.
Both Mark G and John hadn't played before and this certainly
hindered them. I think Euphrat is a game which you need to play a couple
of times as there is just so much to consider when playing tiles."
Result: Nige 11, Mark K 7, John 5, Mark G 2
Ratings: John 7, Mark G 5, Others already rated.
Guillotine
Players: Mark G, Nige, Mark K, John
Nige again.
"To finish off we played a game of Guillotine. This is
a card game by WotC which is based on the French Revolution. 12 noble
cards are laid out on the table.When it is your turn you behead the noble
at the front of ther line and gain the victory points listed. By the
judicious play of action cards you can alter the position of the nobles
hence ensuring you behead the highest point nobles.
John started off the first day (round) with the best score - he had a
small number of high pointed nobels. I had a large number of heads in my
basket but sadly there were of very low order nobles - not many points.
In day 2 Mark G sabotaged John's stack and one of John's high pointed
nobles went missing. By day 3 Mark G had got a considerable lead
which he held onto until the end, winning by a short head (groan - sorry
couldn't resist)."
Result: Mark G 22, Nige 17, John 15, Mark K 13
Ratings: Mark G 6, Nige 6, John 6, Mark K 6
This page was last updated on 22 November 2004
