Session Report – 27 January 2010

I thought I'd put a bit of info about a game's history at the club into the reports, so here goes.

8 this week, split 4 & 4. On one table the games played were Metropolys, this is the 3^rd time the game has been played at the club (previously in July last year), with 3 different winners.

Metropolys 90 mins.
Posn.	Player	Score
1	Mike	35
2	Andy	33
3	Donald	31
4	Colin	18

Following on from that was San Juan, which seems to be getting a bit more play of late. This game was the 44^th time (previously last November) it has come to the table, putting it second to Power Grid. I have the most wins with 14 (+ 1 tie), Gordon is next up with 11.

San Juan 50 mins.
Posn.	Player	Score
1	Mike	29
2	Andy	23
3	Donald	20
4	Colin	18

Over on the other table, we had World without End, which I'd just acquired so this was the first play. This is the game based on the sequel to Ken Follett's novel Pillars of the Earth, the game of which is one I like very much and I have to say more than the novel, which I have just finished reading, the book is OK but I felt it was far too long for what it eventually delivered.

Anyway back to World Without End, this is by the same designers and the board is by the same artist, Michael Menzel, who probably produces the most beautiful of all game boards, but it is a completely different game to Pillars.

Gone is the worker placement of the first game to be replaced by a clever mechanic involving the drawing and then placing in a specific orientation of a random event card, followed by each player in turn playing and discarding an action card, of which each has an identical set of 12. After 6 turns therefore all the action cards have been used and you start on the next chapter.

There are 4 chapters, each of 6 turns, each having a different set of events, which I presume are ordered so as to occur in the approximate order they do in the book, which I haven't decided whether to read yet. At the end of each chapter you have to meet certain obligations of possessing enough food and piety and also pay tax to the king. If you are short of anything you lose VPs and have to pay another penalty at the beginning of the next chapter.

The main sources of VP are assisting in various building projects and also the treatment of plague victims in the second half of the game. Everyone seemed to enjoy the game, with Dave F winning this one by a good margin by virtue of his great medical knowledge.

World Without End 120 mins.
Posn.	Player	Score
1	Dave F	53.5
2	Dave D	45.5
3	Steve H	38.5
4	Andrew	31.5

January 2010 – 3 meetings, 7 games played, average attendance 7.