Session Summary – 23 July 2008

Quite a collection this week with the school holidays on. Dave C was running Castles & Crusades upstairs, while Gordon, Matt & I gathered downstairs. I don't know if Dave is going to post a report of his session somewhere, but here is a rundown of our gaming.
First up was Pandemic, which was a new experience for me although I have been waiting to give it a try. We played 2 games with 5 epidemic cards and lost both times, the first due to reaching 8 outbreaks and the second when the yellow disease ran out of cubes. We were hampered in the first game by the lack of the medic and the scientist, while in the second I had the medic and we actually were able to eradicate the black disease, but it may have been a better idea in retrospect to head over to South America to deal with Yellow.
Opinion on the geek seems to be that the game is easier with fewer players and I don't know whether this is generally true, but I actually had a go with 4 players at Manorcon on Saturday and we won at the last possible moment, curing the black disease on the turn when the deck was empty so the need to draw cards would have ended the game. Anyway this is a game I like and will probably get when it is available again, although I guess from hints in Steve's Rosliston report that he may not be so keen.

Pandemic 30 mins
Player	Posn.	Points
Gordon	1=	Lost
Matt	1=	Lost
Dave D	1=	Lost
Pandemic 30 mins
Player	Posn.	Points
Gordon	1=	Lost
Matt	1=	Lost
Dave D	1=	Lost

Next up was Race for the Galaxy, Matt's first try and I think Gordon's second. I have played 14 times now and that is a fraction of the numbers for some and a fraction of the number I would like to play. This like the last few games I have played was a low scoring affair, which I won by virtue of military power combined with the New Galactic Order. There was hardly any consumption in the game and I think this was possibly due to the fact that this aspect is probably the hardest for new players to get their heads around, I think it may have been beneficial for Gordon and Matt to go for Consumption more, but I was happy to let it be as I had very little in the way of consume powers and no production worlds throughout the game, all my goods coming from windfalls as I settled them.

Race for the Galaxy 50 mins
Player	Posn.	Points
Dave D	1	29
Gordon	2	23
Matt	3	20

We rounded off the evening with a quick game of Tsuro, which went down well with Gordon and Matt, both new to the game. To me this seems to play well throughout its 2 to 8 player range, although the character of the game probably does change with more. I played a 5 player game at Manorcon and someone passing our table asked whether we were playing "nice" or "nasty" Tsuro, now to me the game can be pretty vicious with the standard "nice" rules we were playing, but apparently what he meant was that in "nasty" Tsuro you are allowed to play a tile at the end of someone else's path, I dread to think how that would play.

Tsuro 15 mins
Player	Posn.
Matt	1
Gordon	2
Dave D	3

Session Summary – 16 July 2008

4 this week, nice to see Gordon at the club again, when I saw him at expo he was saying he had lost some of his enthusiasm, but maybe this has been rekindled by the recent Rosliston weekend.
We played a couple of games which have not seen the table for some time (first time this year for both. First was Acquire, which I think I actually prefer with 3 although 4 is OK. I had a good start being able to pick up a set of tiles to form 2 chains and then merge them all in successive turns. This enable me to take the majority bonus for Continental with Mike second. We both kept our shares and Mike reformed the chain and again was able to merge it into my other original chain (Festival), this time with him getting the majority over me in second. By virtue of this neither of us was short of cash for most of the rest of the game.
After that Gordon and Steve were also able to get into some of the merger action and I started having difficulty because I went through a spell when I had 4 or 5 tiles that could form a chain, but there were none to form. Every time a merger happened it seemed that someone else had the chance to restart the chain before me, leaving me quite constrained in my choice of plays. Eventually I was able to form Imperial at size 3 and I hoped to have it take over American, which I had the majority in the following turn, which would have put me in a strong position having exchanged my American shares for Imperial. Unfortunately I had had to form Imperial close to Worldwide, which was the same size (and I had no holding) and Mike was able to have Imperial take over that. I was still able to take over American, but now there were not enough Imperial shares available having fulfilled the demands of the Worldwide shareholders and I was left with 3^rd place in the Imperial chain at the end after Mike and Gordon tied for first. This seems to have been the decisive play as if I could have gained the Imperial majority I should have won.

Acquire 90 mins
Player	Posn.	Points
Mike	1	53800
Dave D	2	47000
Gordon	3	46900
Steve H	4	39800

Next was San Juan, which I have not played with other people since I got Race for the Galaxy, although I have played against my PC. I have to say that I was well served by the cards in this one, drawing a City Hall at the beginning of the game and then getting a Guild Hall from the Gold Mine. I had a bit a problem wondering whether to go production or violet, but eventually ended up playing both cards having 6 production and 6 violet buildings, much helped by getting a Library as (I think) my 4^th building.
The notable thing about the game to my mind was Steve's early chapel, under which he was able to put 11 cards, including both the other prefectures after he had built the first. He also had a place but, perhaps partly due to all the cards he put under the chapel, he only had 6 (or 7) buildings at the end. Mike had a City Hall, which got him second, while Gordon never found anything of note (other than a late chapel).

San Juan 40 mins
Player	Posn.	Points
Dave D	1	40
Mike	2	33
Steve H	3	27
Gordon	4	25

Session Summary – 9 July 2008

5 of us this week, with Steve & Paul down from Telford, Steve H had emailed to say he would be late and would join in with what we had set up. With an expected 6 players we went for Pillars of the Earth (expanded), which I know Steve likes. Of the players involved, Ben was completely new to the game, while Dave had played once a long time ago, so there was some explaining to give Steve time to arrive, but as it turned out, he failed to appear due to an event overrunning at School, so we carried on with 5 players.
I can't remember a great many details, so here are just a few comments. On the first turn I picked up the Woodworker and the Toolmaker, so I was flush with money, having picked up the metal from the King's Court. Steve picked up the Beggar, which Steve H used to great effect in the first game we played with the expansion.
For the first 4 turns, everybody was close together, but Steve, Paul & I, were able to break free after that. Steve suffered in the last turn when I was able to grab the Inspiration in Saint Denis card before him and I thought I was set for the win, the only way I thought I could fail was if the event came up, which lowered the production of the resource cards, leaving me a short of a stone which was worth 2 points and also a wood, which would be worth 4 gold in the tie break. Paul had been able to take the Archbishop's Office space so he could ignore the event and I could not. Of course the event I feared came up and Paul & I were left level on54, both having zero gold having used our goldsmiths.
Thinking about it later I realised I could have won, since I had the Empress Maud card from an earlier turn which would have allowed me free trading to and from the supply. I could have bought 1 wood for 3, which the woodworker could have converted into 4 gold, so I would have had 1 gold left over and won the tie break. Oh well never mind.

Pillars of the Earth, The 130 mins
Player	Posn.	Points
Paul	1=	54
Dave D	1=	54
Steve Pe	3	51
Dave C	4	40
Ben	5	39

Session Summary – 2 July 2008

We were down to 2 tonight, with just myself and Mike, who had indicated that he probably would not be around so I narrowly escaped being on my own.
We were somewhat short of 2 player games and eventually decided to give Power Grid a try using the German map and original power plant deck. While I went to request the lights in the bar be turned on, Mike started setting up and selected the areas to use. These were the western Red, Blue & purple areas.
I went first and bought the 4 coal plant, while Mike bought the 5, both of these went for face value which set the tone for most of the game, with very little competition for plants. I set up in Koln (or possibly Dortmund) on one side of a set of expensive connection while Mike went for one of Wiesbaden and Frankfurt-M, which have a free connection between them. In retrospect my choice was probably mistaken bearing in mind the 10 city target for step 2 because I ended up 1 short of this, having miscalculated the number available on my side, when Mike grabbed Kassel. This left me in the position where I would have needed to spend 50 in connection costs to trigger step 2.
Fortunately this was not a fatal error because of the way the plants came out. Being a 2 player game there was a shortage of decent plants early on and I was able to grab the first 5 capacity plant when it became available. This was the 20 and produced the only serious auction battle in the game, I ended up paying 50 and wondered if that was too high, but it was probably a game winning play because it meant I could power 8 cities with 2 plants, while Mike needed 4 for the same capacity and the price of fuel had risen almost to the top of the scale. All this meant Mike could not afford to sit on 9 cities because of my efficiency advantage.
Once step 2 starts in a 2 player game it is pretty much a case of who can build to 21 the quickest because there is no longer any competition for cities, the only complication being fuel shortages. For the last couple of turns both Oil and Coal ran out on more than one occasion and I actually failed to power my 20 plant. Garbage would also have started running out if the game had gone on as I acquired a garbage plant as well as Mike. At the end I ended the game by building 9 cities on a turn to get 21, Mike made it to 20.
Power Grid is not a bad 2 player game, but I think we both agreed that it does lose something over the multiplayer experience, with reduced completion for Power Plants and cities.

Power Grid 120 mins
Player	Posn.	Points
Dave D	1	21
Mike	2	20

At the end of the evening we had a couple of quick games of Tsuro. I don't think this is quite as good with more players, but still a fine filler.

Tsuro 5 mins
Player	Posn.
Mike	1
Dave D	2

Tsuro 5 mins
Player	Posn.
Mike	1
Dave D	2

Until Wednesday.

Rosliston 2008

Belatedly, here are the results from the Rosliston weekend away of June 2008, with brief comments from me on each one. As usual we had a great time, and many thanks to Gordon for organising it.

As the non-serious competition for the weekend, we decided to adopt the old points system we used to have at the club, the formula being number of players x number of minutes in points for the winner, with that number halved for 2nd place, halved again for 3rd, halved again for 4th, with zero for coming last.

I've included here every competitive game we played, so the cooperative game I can't remember about plagues is excluded.

Game 1: Settlers (60 mins)
1: Gordon 10 (240pts)
2=: Mike 8 (90)
2=: Steve 8 (90)
4: Simon 7 (0)

Ah, the traditional start to the weekend of a game of Settlers; subtitle - hand Gordon a nice easy win to begin with. He didn't disappoint. Matt arrived.

Game 2: El Grande (135 mins)
1=: Simon 116 (506 pts)
1=: Steve 116 (506)
3: Matt 113 (169)
4: Mike 102 (84)
5: Gordon 101 (0)

The mad Spanish game - I absolutely love it. Exciting from start to finish, and everyone has a chance to win throughout. Simon and I somehow emerged from the chaos.

Game 3: Poker (90 mins)
1: Gordon (450 pts)
2: Mike (225)
3: Steve (113)
4=: Simon (28)
4=: Matt (28)

Wow I didn't come last. Gordon got the best bed for the third year running.

Game 4: Age of Empires III (210 mins)
1: Steve 76 (1050 pts)
2: Mike 73 (525)
3: Gordon 70 (263)
4: Simon 64 (131)
5: Matt 58 (0)

A stunning game, highlight of the weekend. My shoot everything that moves strategy paid off for the second year in a row. The best bit for me was murdering the entire Dutch population of Peru in one turn (6 of 'em). But in the end it was the faintest of margins - Mike missed out by one discovery going wrong.

Game 5: Koalition (80 mins)
1: Simon 53 (400 pts)
2: Matt 22 (200)
3: Gordon 21 (100)
4: Mike 16 (50)
5: Steve 15 (0)

Suddenly there was no one left for me to shoot, and you had to be devious instead. So of course Simon won.

Game 6: Container (120 mins)
1: Matt 116 (600 pts)
2: Simon 70 (300)
3: Steve 67 (150)
4: Mike 56 (75)
5: Gordon 36 (0)

I started off hating the game, then I warmed to it, then I sort of hated it again. Ok it's a crap review, but you'd know what I mean if you were there. I remember Gordon was badly stuffed by the games mechanics. Matt crushed us all with his production strategy.

Game 7: Amun-Re (110 mins)
1: Matt 45 (550 pts)
2=: Steve 41 (206)
2=: Gordon 41 (206)
4: Mike 39 (69)
5: Simon 36 (0)

The Knizia classic, one of the best five-player games ever. Simon's first try and I think he liked it. Matt's hot streak continued.

Game 8: Poker (110 mins)
1: Simon (550 pts)
2=: Matt (206)
2=: Mike (206)
4: Gordon (69)
5: Steve (0)

Back to my usual poker form, Matt took me out with a straight flush. So I went to bed.

Game 9: Zooleretto (90 mins)
1: Gordon 27+ (450 pts)
2: Mike 27 (225)
3: Simon 24 (113)
4: Matt 21 (56)
5: Steve 17 (0)

After this I had a strong desire to kill every zoo animal in the whole world with my bare hands. And then strangle myself.

Game 10: Power Grid (105 mins)
1: Steve 15+ (525 pts)
2: Matt 15 (263)
3: Simon 14+ (131)
4: Mike 14 (66)
5: Gordon 11 (0)

Eastern Europe board. Gordon would have won but I did that fiendish brown-out thing to him that leaves you all bitter and twisted if it happens to you. Gordon, being a brilliant sport, took it in his stride.

Game 11: Ra (60 mins)
1: Mike 48 (300 pts)
2: Steve 47 (150)
3: Gordon 28 (75)
4: Simon 26 (38)
5: Matt 25 (0)

You can't beat a game of Ra. Even if you get a drubbing it's only an hour.

Game 12: Caylus (140 mins)
1: Mike 70 (700 pts)
2: Matt 66 (350)
3: Steve 62 (175)
4: Simon 58 (88)
5: Gordon 44 (0)

Ditto, you can't beat a game of Caylus. It's always different which is why it's so playable. This time we filled every space in the castle which I've never seen happen before. Mike won by nicking all "my" gold. Gordon, normally the Caylus king, was oddly sluggish - maybe it was a stamina thing...

Game 13: 6 Nimmt (40 mins)
1: Gordon (200 pts)
2: Steve (100)
3: Matt (50)
4: Mike (25)
5: Simon (0)

This game was a blast - I'm going to get it when I can. Just when everyone thought Gordon was out for the count, he minimised his bull count to great effect. What do you mean, "huh"?

Game 14: Il Principe (60 mins)
1: Gordon 68+ (300 pts)
2: Mike 68 (150)
3: Simon 49 (75)
4: Steve 48 (38)
5: Matt 45 (0)

This game is an acquired taste that most don't acquire. Gordon claimed not to know what he was doing but we weren't buying it. Simon went.

Game 15: Taj Mahal (100 mins)
1=: Matt 61 (300 pts)
1=: Steve 61 (300)
3: Gordon 45 (100)
4: Mike 38 (0)

Great end to the weekend. This was Matt's best performance among many good ones. His connection strategy was perfect. I only drew on the old sneaky card collection count.

Well I've just enough energy to compile the final table:

Rosliston 08
1: Steve 3403 pts
2: Mike 2790 pts
3: Matt 2772 pts
4: Gordon 2453 pts
5: Simon 2360 pts

Champion again! Interestingly, if you average this out by number of games played, Matt beats Mike and Simon beats Gordon. So argue amongst yourself chaps. Until next year.

Session Summary – 25 June 2008

Just the 3 of us tonight, with Steve and Ben, of the regulars, missing. Mike gave a quick rundown of the events of Rosliston and I gather Steve is going to write up some kind of report. From Mike's description it sounds like a fairly even mix (games wise) of the good, the bad & the ugly.
Onto the evening's game and we continue to try out the new stuff from Games Expo, in this case Confucius, which Dave was lucky enough to acquire one of the few copies of. Dave had played before at home (see his report here), I had been given a run down by one of the guys at Surprised Stare at the expo and had downloaded and read through the rules, while Mike was coming to the game completely blind.
Setting up at the start the foreign invasions were (in order) were Korea, Manchuria and Annam. The distant lands saw Africa and the Spice Isles worth 4 points each. India was 3, while Arabia and the Americas were 2. The points for the ministries were Bingbu 7/5, Hubu 8/5 and Gongbu 7/6. We were playing the basic game so there was no petitioning of the emperor. There now follows an overview of the play, note the events mentioned are not necessarily in the order they happened
Dave was selected as first minister for the first turn and the general tendency (I don't quite recall if it always happened was for this to be passed to the right, presumably on the basis that the outgoing minister would get first action in the next turn, that was certainly my reasoning). I spent the first turn giving Dave a gift and buying my 3 cost gift, together with gathering income, while the others went straight to the bribing of officials.
Over the next few turns, we all did a bit of bribing and buying of junks, followed by setting sail to foreign parts. Mike was first to visit Africa, while I followed up with a visit to the Spice Islands and Dave went to India, all picking up Emperor's reward cards. Mike got a free gift and of course took his 6 value one, which he then gave to me, while Dave got a free bribe. I held onto my free army, for a short while as there seemed to be no action on the military front.
The first ministry to be resolved was Hubu, which Mike took 4/3 over Dave, I also had a single official and would have been obliged to support Mike in the resolution, but took the opportunity to transfer my influence before the resolution, cancelling Mike's 6 value gift in the process. In the other 2 ministries I was able to get ahead, through use of the imperial examinations, replacing one of Dave's officials in Bingbu and Mike's in Hubu, then displacing an unbribed official in Bingbu to force the resolution for me 4/3 over Dave. Gongbu was resolved at the end, again in my favour over Dave, who unexpectedly (to me) displaced Mike for second. Dave took the extra point for first minister at the end of the game.
As has been said there was not much action on the military front, Korea went by with no one placing any armies. The invasion of Manchuria failed as I was the only one who sent an army (which was free), placed to gain the emperor's reward card, yielding a free bribe to help me in Bingbu. Mike and Dave supplied the 2 armies to invade Annam at the end, Dave taking the 4 points and Mike 3 and the emperor's reward. I built one more army to take the extra point at the end as General. I wonder if there would be more action in this area with more players, since (barring emperor's rewards) it costs 1 action to raise a single army and then another action to send a single army to war. Even a small invasion is going to take 4 actions to complete and I suspect that more players committing more actions would make this area more viable.
In contrast there was plenty of action in overseas voyages. As mentioned before we each made one of the early voyages, while Mike started another and I finished a voyage to Arabia at the end for 2 points and an emperor's reward of a free bribe, which helped in Gongbu. I took the extra point as Admiral. In this case you can buy multiple junks as a single action and then send multiple junks to sea, also as a single action. Admittedly the points available are not as high as those potentially available from military action, but you can do it all yourself, rather than being potentially reliant on the help of other players.
In the end the final scores were

Confucius 120 mins
Player	Posn.	Points
Dave C	1	24
Dave D	2	22
Mike	3	15

This was after a recount. Having awarded the game to me on a tie break at 22 all, I went home and worked through it in my head and came up with the above. In this game the scoring possibilities are set in advance and there are not so many of them that you can't remember who got what when. The key to Dave's victory I think was having a share of each ministry resolution which in turn gave him the point for first minister at the end.
What do I think? Well on the evidence of 1 play I would give a qualified thumbs up, even on this play I saw an interesting game with scope for varying strategy. I was able to make good use of the Imperial examinations, by triggering them when I had the only candidate; this is particularly useful in combination with the Imperial favour because no one can then comeback at you. I say qualified because I think that it would be better with more players for the reasons I mentioned about the military path. Additionally with more players you would have more options with your gifts, with three to get 5 actions you need to have given a gift to each of your opponents and received one back (or given one and received 2) and to make this work you need one of your opponents to have given back one of equal value creating mutual obligations. With more players there is more scope and I suspect this would mean more players with the full 5 actions, meaning more gets done.
The one problem I found with the game has nothing to do with the game play, it concerns the way the imperial favour is marked with a cube on the same display as the actions that have been performed. Throughout the game I was looking at the cubes on the display thinking that many actions had been performed and getting confused because one of the cubes represented an action which hadn't been performed. This may say more about me than the design, but I feel it would have been better to have a card to represent the imperial favour, which could be given to the first minister who could place the cube on the card rather than placing it on the display and confusing poor souls like me.
Anyway just to repeat, an interesting game which I hope to play again soon with more players.
Until tomorrow.