5th January 05.....................................................6 Players

There were 6 of us tonight, just enough for 2 tables. For me it was an enjoyable night of abstract games.

Mike has put up a display in the library and Dave C has been putting promotional stickers on game boxes at Waylands so the recruitment drive is in full force. I have been busy putting past result charts together for the web site. I am about half way through, doing a separate page for each game played more than once. When it is all finished I will do an index to link it all together.

Oxcon is on in a couple of weeks, I am looking forward to 5 highly competitive games of Settlers. With a bit of luck I will do better than last year. I presume Peter is up for it again though I have not heard from him.

On with the games.

Mensa – 60 minutes  bgg

Steve has been playing this game with his family over Christmas. It was new to the rest of us. I liked its clean design. This is a simple to pickup abstract game that is not overly analytical. I imagine there would be less chaos with fewer players which would make it a “cleverer” game. We were all very close up until the last turn. Mensa can be added to the healthy pile of games, we collectively own, that are for 3/4 players and last about an hour.

Torres – 70 minutes

This is another hour long abstract for 3 or 4 players. It is interesting comparing and contrasting this and Mensa. Torres is a more involved game and long term more rewarding. I would say I marginally preferred my game of Mensa tonight but was I to play both games again my preference would probably be Torres. Torres needs repeat plays to get the most from it.

From the onset I got the vibe Julian would win. I only came second because Julian targeted Dave a little more than me in the opening turn. Dave made canny use of the King on the middle turn. Dave got blocked out of scoring the final King’s bonus. 

Dave’s comments:

Another great game; the more I play the more I like it. I lost out on the King's Bonus on the final round; it really is imperative that you score this. Gordon played an incredibly strategic tower that meant he and Julian shut me out of the King's tower. I clawed back by getting a big castle but it wasn't enough. Interestingly though, I could have got the King's bonus via play of cards but at the cost of losing a scoring castle. I can't decide if this would have been a decider. A great game.

 

Julian’s comments:

Torres I like as nobody else has an experience advantage over me (unlike almost every other game I've played in the last month) and the years I spent playing in chess tournaments as a youngster seem to allow me a natural feel for the way the board will change over the rounds. This is a game that Mensa would be proud of putting their name to if they can get their heads round it.

Memoir 44 – 45 minutes

This is a beautifully produced game. I understand that Julian found it a bit light for a Wednesday night. Maybe we should try the 4 player overlord version using my copy and Dave’s copy together. 

Dave’s comments:

I love this game. To me, it easily recreates memories of TT wargaming back in the 70's. As you play the scenarios, everything is in there, Special Forces, Airdrops, terrain and especially Command and Control. Julian had the edge because he could concentrate attacks on his right flank, which was my weakest: I couldn't get the orders through. I tried a diversion on my right flank but it didn't work and I was just overrun. Pegasus Bridge is unbalanced admittedly, but the game tries to recreate what really happened. Having said that, I've lost as the British; which just goes to show that it was a good job I didn't join the Army.

 

Julian’s Comments:

Memoir 44, was a nice game that if I had owned 15 years ago, I would have played loads of. I had the two killer cards I needed in the initial hand but having the patience to wait and play them to best effect was important. Possibly on the Pegasus bridge scenario the British player needs to start losing command cards for taking too many turns, it was my tactic to take my time and destroy the split German defenders piecemeal.

 

It's downside for a Wednesday is two fold.

1) The short playing time to set-up time

2) Only 2 people can play

 

I'm tempted by the idea of mini tournament, with 4 players each playing the others once using  2 sets and 3 games per person. This would be possible on a Wednesday. I would also say that in a completion situation, one player picks the scenario and the other picks the side to play thus reducing any imbalance advantage.

 

My response:

I like Julian’s idea for a Memoir 44 tournament. The game is slow to set up but quick to play so the idea of having 2 boards on the go each set up with a different scenario would help increase the ratio of game play time to set up time. I would be inclined to have 4 players play 2 scenarios for both sides thus 4 games a player with the only set up happening at the start of the session. I don't know how you would decide who played who. Count up the number of victories to decide the winner.

 Ra – 60 minutes

The only thing I know about this playing of Ra was that there was no gold for the first 2 epochs. Steve and Mike counted out all the tiles at the end of the game to confirm they were all present and correct.

Mike’s Report:

I made a good steady start - 3 Civs, most Pharaohs, some monuments, to be out of Round 1 quite early but DD and Steve had bad luck - 4 Ra's in about 8 tiles so they picked up nothing for their patience, not even some decent suns.  When I saw DD's wretched suns for Round 2 I thought Steve would be my main rival, I could now just play steadily and make sure he couldn't do anything too spectacular.  I was fairly confident that my quiet accumulation of monuments plus the 14 VP swing I got from the pharaohs in the 1st 2 rounds on him would be enough, I didn't even need the 10 VP swing on him with the sun totals at the end but I'd tried for 1st or 2nd on suns so it was nice to achieve that too.

 

Don't think I've played 3-player Ra for a while, but it plays very well, there's probably a bit more control though it then perhaps misses some of the interaction of more players - less 'fun' in some respects.  And having 3 suns instead of 4 really sharpens your decisions sometimes!  One thing I did keep forgetting was that there's a good chance of many tiles not coming out, as the number of Ra's are not reduced even though the number needed to end a round does reduce.  I wonder if it would play much differently if, say, 6 Ra's were removed from the bag for 3 players before hand?  I do think it is a great game for 3 - 5, so it actually scores over Acquire in that way as I only like that for 3 - 4 players.  This is one of my top 10 definitely, as we're discussing such things, and my favourite Knizia, even over the awesome Taj.

12th January 05.....................................................6 Players

We split into 2 tables of 3 tonight. We were joined for the first time by Mark Gemmelle who found out about us via the promotional display cabinet at the library. Mike spent some time putting the display together, it is nice to see it is being noticed.

I will unfortunately not be around next week, Daniel’s parents evening, which scuppers the plans we had for a game of Power Grid.

Vinci – 140 minutes

This was Mark’s first game at the club. I hope you enjoyed it Mark, I still fondly remember the first game I played at the club which was Taj Mahal played about 3 years ago. Vinci is a nicely themed game. During this playing Steve took an early lead which he comfortably held as the game progressed. I have had Vinci down as a bash the leader game where the early turns matter little because if you get in the lead you are going to get picked on going into the home straight so your early turns are of little consequence. This time that point of view was proved wrong. New respect, I really like this game. It is possibly at its best with 3 players.

I am racking my brain unsuccessfully trying to think of the names of some of the significant combinations we picked up. Steve’s first civilisation had a combat bonus which made him an undesirable neighbour. I declined my first civilisation after just one turn, both myself and Mark got a bonus for fields at that point so scrapping was inevitable and Steve was next to me with his blood hungry troops so I just thought I was best out of it. One of Mark’s mid game civilisations had Astronomy which he used to full effect bringing his guys in all round the map.

Steve’s penultimate civilisation scored 2 for each mine and it hung around during decline. Steve was collecting 15 plus points a round towards the end with little Mark and I could do about it without sacrificing our own positions.

Wildlife Adventure – 40 x2 minutes  bgg

I’ll paste in any comments e-mailed to me on this game.

Dave D’s comments:

Strange games these, I’ve played this quite a lot on a Saturday with Dave C and Family and although you get the occasional tie, they haven’t been common, the only thing I wonder about is the number of players with more players meaning each has fewer cards, may be with more cards there is an inevitable an evening out of the rate of visit. Equally may be the open discoveries are being evened out and having a lesser effect on the final result with more players. Apologies to those with no idea what I’m on about.

Fluxx – 20 minutes  bgg

I have played this once at a convention and it is in my opinion a dumb game. It is quick and light which is good for a filler however with heads down to read small text on your cards I felt little sense of having fun with my fellow gamers. Give me, Formula Motor Racing, Guillotine or that singing mice game of Mike’s, any day.

Dave D’s comments:

After one playing, I think I’d happily accept this as alternative filler to Guillotine or Family Business and certainly preferable to Formula Motor Racing and Katzenjammer Blues (I think that’s the one you mean Gordon). I’ll have to play a bit more to be sure though and I suspect with too many players this would lose its appeal. How many did you have in your game?

 

My retort:

There was just Keith, myself and an American guy. I don't even think we played a full game or if we did it ended very quickly. Keith if you are reading this maybe you would like to comment?

 

I don't have a problem with lighter games that take 30 minutes or less though I don't like it when they are taking time away from meatier affairs. Time allowing on a Wednesday evening I would rather play a quick medium weight game than a light game. If everyone is familiar with the rules; Web of Power, Metro, Royal Turf and Vim Kip Bus Cairo can all play within 45 minutes and there are others.

 

I do like my light/fluffy games to be none taxing, sociable, humorous/clever and predictably short. I don't think Fluxx meets any of these criteria. The need to pick your way through blocks of text on every card makes it taxing. The heads down figuring out what to do takes away the sociable (fun) requirement. I see no humour or clever theme and the game length can not be predicted before you start. I think Guillotine is a silly game but it delivers all that I ask for in such a game with the added advantage of being comfortably familiar.

San Juan - 40 minutes

This is the clubs most played game in 2004. Dave took a gamble and built a gold mine as his opening build and it paid off straight away giving him a Prefecture which is one of the best early builds. Later in the game the gold mine paid out again providing Dave with a City Hall. Julian can legitimately put this game down to bad luck, the gold mine is rarely such a significant building.

Dave D’s comments:

Yes I did well with the Gold Mine, but at a cost of only one, I don’t thinks it’s that much of a gamble if you’ve got it in your opening hand and have no more obvious build. If you’ve got the first turn, the can take the Builder so it costs no other cards, denies the privilege to any one else that round and there is a prospect of immediate return when the prospector is taken.

19th January 05.....................................................4 Players

Dave D’s Report:

I arrived on Wednesday to find Mike, Dave & Julian in the midst of a game of Flux, which was called off without result just before 8:00. I have to say my views on this are changing somewhat, having experienced a 5 players game which was also called off without result on Saturday. I think it's one of those games which is completely unpredictable with regards to length. If you can get a result within a reasonable time (may be 15-20 minutes), no problem, but after that the game begins to drag. I have haven't scored the game since I don't know the playing time, but if someone would like to let me know, it can go in as a three way tie.

We then started a game of Broadway, which has not been played for some time, but I always enjoy and Mike suggested it a few weeks ago. The game has a fairly pronounced random element, but always provides an enjoyable experience.

Broadway – 160 minutes  bgg

Dave & Mike were first out on the road with “Tobacco Road” and “Life with Father”, while Julian and I spent our money on more expensive shows at the expense of our Bank Balances. The two shows made it to Opening Night with a few Trials & Tribulations and neither made much in the way of money for the shareholders. Next out was “Born Yesterday” with Julian at the helm, followed by “Streetcar named Desire” with me. “Born Yesterday” made it round and brought in a bit of money, so Julian was able to shortly take out “Oklahoma” (I think it was Julian, the first time round), but it was at this point things took a major turn for the worse. Streetcar had been making no progress due to recurrent trouble with the unions sending it back to the station and the mounting costs were draining the finances of its major shareholders (myself, Dave and Mike), Oklahoma now started suffering the same problems and as a result, all the players had to sell shares forcing both shows off the road.

So the game entered a quiet phase, where everyone accumulated money form their holdings in the three shows already open on Broadway, eventually I was able to take “Streetcar” back out, this time with a larger holding and made it to the end without an overcall so netting a bonus and the show opened with a large advance to the joy of the shareholders, except for Dave who now only had 1 share compared with the 3 previously. With the influx of cash Mike was able to get “South Pacific” on the road ahead of “Oklahoma”, I split my money between “Oklahoma” (which soon went back on the road with Dave at the helm) and “Man of La Mancha”. “South Pacific” got to the end without an overcall and made a bit of money for Mike and Julian, although not as much as it might have done. Unfortunately “Oklahoma” did not do as well and Dave was forced to sell shares, due to overcalls, diluting his holding during the run and the poor opening on Broadway meant he was unable to buy a stake in “Hello Dolly” (note, Dave had to leave shortly before “Oklahoma” opened and left instructions as to how to proceed, in what was now well into the end game). “Man of La Mancha” performed excellently and made Julian and I lots of money and it was not long before “Hello Dolly” went on the road with Julian as producer (Mike was a bit irked, that having bought the first shares in this show, he was unable to get any more and was overtaken by both Julian and myself). “Hello Dolly” completed its run unspectacularly and the stage was set for the Broadway Theatre award, which was won by “South Pacific” (not good as I only had 1 share), fortunately both “Streetcar” and “Man of La Mancha” performed excellently at the box office and this gave me the edge over Mike in a close finish.

26th January 05.....................................................4 Players

There was just the 4 of us tonight. The room has been decorated since the last meeting which is nice. Very blue with a bit of a nineties poor man’s board room feel. We are hoping they will not increase the room rate.  

Amun Re - 140 minutes