The Games We Play

The Games We Play

A repository of reports on the Wednesday night sessions of the club and anything else related to the club or boardgaming in general, which may be of interest to anyone who may be passing by.

Saturday 10 October 2009

Session Summary – 7 October 2009

A 4 & 2 split as Donald and Steve had a rematch of Combat Commander Europe, Steve winning this one.

Combat Commander: Europe 150 mins.

Posn.

Player

1

Steve H

2

Donald

That left 4 of us to play Kremlin, which saw mass deaths in the politburo on the first turn, although Nestor was able to make it on to the podium at the end to wave for my faction. After that there were a couple of new party chiefs over the next turns, but none waved again until turn 4, when Mike was able to pick up a point. An interesting thing during the middle turns was the role of Anatol Mischif, who under Mike's control presided over 3 or 4 Funeral commissions, either as Foreign Minister or as a proxy, but never making it to the top job.

I got another wave on turn 6 with Niewitko, but he died the following turn. The funeral commission brought Ulan Putschnik to power, who had the dubious distinction of earlier being the only politician in the game to be sent to Siberia (on the first turn), despite the best efforts of various KGB heads and Defence ministers, I don't think I can recall a game when Siberia has been so quiet. Putschnik himself did not stay long as he had my 10 influence on him and I think it was Nestor himself who rehabilitated him.

Putschnik rose to power with the help of Andy and Dave F, who both had good influence in him and I was then able to jump in and take control, once he was in the top job to win the game on turn 7.

Kremlin 90 mins.

Posn.

Player

Score

1

Dave D

3

2

Mike

1

3=

Andy

0

3=

Dave F

0


After that we played Ra: The Dice game, the first time I have tried with 4 players. It was a very close game, with Andy taking victory by a point. He was able to inflict a drought disaster on his penultimate turn, causing the other 3 of us to lose our floods. We were each able to reflood but couldn't therefore do other things which might have earned us extra points.

Ra: The Dice Game 45 mins.

Posn.

Player

Score

1

Andy

52

2

Mike

51

3

Dave D

50

4

Dave F

45

5 comments:

  1. I really need to get a game of Ra: The dice game. It seems to be getting to the table ahead of Dominion which is a similar length and weight. Nice to see a Knizia being played at the club.

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  2. I hadn't thought of it pushing Dominion out, but I suppose it might be. A big advantage it does have is it is so much quicker to set up and put away.

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  3. Having never played Ra, I don't know anything about the dice game, but I'm not thrilled with Dominion. It's okay, but it feels like an over-long filler to me, and I don't ever care whether I win or lose. I don't dislike it, and am happy to play if it's what others want, but I've never been interested enough to learn how the cards interact and suspect it's one I'll never improve at because of this. It's not a game that makes me care for some reason.

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  4. Comrades! Is good to see first game of mother Russia is still playing without me.

    Dominion doesn't grab either. Shuffling with no player interaction...? I had a game of this with the Horsham guild where we said very little for about an hour. I bystander asked if was as boring as we looked. We were forced to agree and haven't played it since.

    Chicago Express though- it's a good train game. Or rather, it's good. And it's a train game.

    See you at Essen on the 24th.

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  5. I thought with your skills at card shuffling that Dominion would be right up your street Matt.

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