| Power Grid 150 mins | ||
| Player | Posn. | Points |
| Gordon | 1 | 16 |
| Steve C | 2 | 15++ |
| Steve H | 3 | 15+ |
| Matt | 4 | 15 |
| Dave D | 5 | 14+ |
| Mike | 6 | 14 |
Gordon and Steve Cox were with us this week, having visited Essen and come back with various goodies including the new deck of Power plant cards, so we gave this a go on the German map using the option of simply substituting the new deck for the old.
Time and more playing will tell as to what difference this will really make, but in the short term there is certainly enough to make you rethink strategy. My first thought is that there seem to be more powerful and/or efficient plants toward the upper and lower ends of the range, but in the middle range the reverse seems to be true.
The game was close and I felt that both Gordon and Chris played well, in contrast to me and I think Mike felt the same regarding his play. I think I made several mistakes throughout, but the major one was at the end, when I bought the 50 plant which powers 8 cities for 2 nuclear, I think it was the eagerness to buy such a powerful plant, which of course was far too powerful for what I needed. If I'd have settled for something less powerful I would have been able to build an extra city and got into the shootout for second place. Oh well, maybe now the novelty has worn off I won't do that again.
I really enjoyed this session. Winning a hard fought 6 player game of Power Grid is very gratifying. I was well out on my estimates of what money everyone had. I knew Steve C was behind me because we had shadowed each other all game with me a touch ahead but I was way out in my estate of what everyone else could do. I thought Matt had reserves for another couple of cities and I thought Dave was more of a contender than it transpires he was. I didn't really notice the new plants making any difference. The game felt well balanced, this was a playing that the designer could have watched over with pride. The normal deck throws up some odd games at times. Only time will tell if the new deck is less prone to odd outcomes.
ReplyDeleteI made one major mistake very early on - my 2nd plant was an absolute bargain but too big for that stage of the game (5, I think) and hence very inefficient for 2-3 turns. I clawed back from that disaster with some steady play, and in the end was, I think, only $8 short for an extra powered city at the end and a more respectable position.
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