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December 06 |
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4th January 06....................................................10 Players Tonight we had a turnout of 10 split into 2 tables of 5. For me it was a great session. I really enjoyed the company and an all consuming game of negotiation. Club night can really provide a break in the week and a retreat from the “day to day”.
I have put together a list below of the most played games of 2005. As I did last year I have gone with the total player hours rather than a straight count of the number of times a game has hit the table. I think the chart below or a simple count of the number of times the top games have been played would make for a good geek list if anyone fancies taking on the task.
Our increased membership shows in the figures. We spent between us approximately 1,000 hours gaming on a Wednesday night during 2005. We could have spent the time building a row of houses for the needy, I guess, maybe another year. The 20 games listed above took up a little over half of our total gaming time. I am a little disappointed that Taj Mahal only got played once in 2005 and New England was only played 3 times but something has to give with the huge catalogue of games we have between us all vying for attention.
Puerto Rico, Carcassonne and Settlers have been kept off the table by Dave Dudley over previous years (not a dig Dave just an observation :-)). They have seen much action this year due to us consistently having the numbers to run 2 games simultaneously. Another benefit of our increased numbers has been that the slightly more hardcore games have found an audience. Game of Thrones and Liberty would not have been played so often in previous years.
The significant new games to receive their first club airing in 2005 are Caylus, Shadow of the Emperor, Medici, Game of Thrones, Maharaja and Niagara. I think Shadow of the Emperor, Maharaja and Niagara will prove to have all failed to excite sufficiently to make it onto the 2006 top 20 list. Caylus is a keeper and so is Medici, I can’t speak for Game of Thrones because I have not played it. Both Traders of Genoa and Railroad Tycoon where introduced late in 2005 so neither has got the playing hours to be feature far up the list but both games have received a very positive response and are likely to make a good showing in 2006.
The games that seem to have fallen out of favour in 2005 though I suspect they will make a strong showing in 2006 are; Taj Mahal, New England, Web of Power and Euphrates & Tigris.
The games that seem to have been out of favour for so long that they will never make a reappearance are; Alexandros, La Strada, Princes of Florence, Sherlock Holmes, Oasis and Sunken City.
Traders of Genoa – 120 min bgg
It was great to play this game with the same group so soon after our last playing. This is an intense negotiation game. My voice was going by the end of the evening.
Matt went for the connected buildings. I think he got them all by the end of the game. Steve H was mainly interested in large orders and must have been in the lead for the first half of the game. Steve G and I both went for the building ownership tokens.
I only completed 2 large orders and one message over the whole game, I brought few commodities. By contrast Steve H was buying commodities and cards nearly every turn. Even though we had two completely different approaches to the game our final scores were virtually identical. I do like the way this game balances different strategies.
Guillotine – 20 min
Matt and Steve H got stuffed by Julian who ended the last day early depriving them of a last “head”.
Antike – 130 min
11th January 06....................................................9 Players There were 9 of us tonight. Firstly I must thank Debbie (of Cash trap fame) for paying for us all to have a Christmas drink. It seems fitting that we should play Cash Trap, I will keep it in my bag for a week or two. I understand that the game is selling well. Debbie must have got a distributor because I have seen the game feature in a couple of online stores and I understand it is available from Wayland Forge. Debbie is now focusing more on the “family” market rather than the hobby boardgamers.
Caylus – 180 min
Well we were all jigging about at the prospect of playing Cayus again. This time it played a bit differently again. This is the second time I have lost but the first time where I really felt out of contention.
Matt appeared to be a man with a plan. He was out to impress the King from the off, industriously building the castle most turns and taking vp’s from the favour track whenever he had the opportunity. It did feel like the wheels came off his cart, so to speak, about halfway through the game. A couple more favours late in the game and Matt would have won.
Mike had no obvious plan at the start of the game but by mid game he hatched a plot which saw him build two prestige buildings on the last turn. A wholly deserved victory and I suspect one of Mike’s most satisfying gaming results.
Gordon. Well I did start with a plan and that was to ignore the castle and get my vp’s elsewhere. I also planned to shorten the game where possible to lessen the number of favours awarded over the course of the game. I went the entire game without a single favour so I managed that part! Overall it did not work as you can see by my end score though that could just be because I made a mess of implementing the strategy.
Steve and Duncan were, as far as I can tell, playing each turn as it came.
The question of how to play Caylus well eludes me. In an attempt to help my own thoughts settle I will indulge myself by putting my musings into writing. This is my take on how we played this time: Single whole game strategies - Matt going all out for vp’s via the favours track, I was going all out for vp’s via buildings. Half game strategy – Mike focused himself later in the game on getting a prestige building or two. No strategy – Duncan and Steve played without a consistent plan stretching from one turn to another
So is Caylus a game that benefits from strategic planning or is it purely tactical? My conclusion is… “I have no idea”. I so want there to be multiple meaningful whole game strategies but I am still to see any benefit it playing anything other than turn at a time.
Kogge – 110 min bgg
Money – 15 min bgg
18th January 06....................................................8 Players We were missing many notables tonight including the Steve’s, Duncan, Richard, Dave and Chris but we still managed a turnout of 8. Our two new visitors, Richard and Luke both discovered us via the boardgamegeek web site. New players bring fresh energy to our gathering from both a social and gaming perspective. It was great to have Richard and Luke’s company and they brought out a new dimension in two of our most played games from 2003/2004, Taj Mahal and New England.
Mike, Peter and I are off to Oxcon this Sunday to play in the Settlers tournament. We are all going to Oxford in the one car and anyone else is welcome to join us. Contact me to discuss arrangements.
As always comments are welcome, encouraged in fact, regarding anything I have written here. Copy in any or all of the mail recipients listed above. Most feedback will get pasted into the web page at the end of the month.
Taj Mahal – 90 min
Normally I would report on Taj Mahal by pigeon holing each player by their chosen strategy, palace builder, resource claimer or princess player. This game was different. We all did a bit of everything with nobody taking a runaway lead. Richard was the front runner for most the game with Luke overtaking when we had only a couple of provinces to go. I finally overtook both of them when the bonus points were awarded for the same suited cards held at the end of the game. I think this is the first game I have played with Mike where he has not hogged the Princess.
New England – 75 min
It was back in November 2003 when we last played this game with 4 players. The board was a lot tighter than I ever remember. Richard laid several aggressive tiles early in the game which seemed to box the rest of us in. Two of the square 10 point developments were discarded in the first round because nobody could play them. Richard got the first of the pilgrims. The end of game bonus cards were shared, I finished off scoring all three and I think we all got to score the boat bonus.
The complexity of the decisions in New England seem just right to me, not too ominous, not too frivolous and the simple way the coin track works is wonderful. I do think the game ends in a rather stilted manor.
Kremlin – 120 min
This game generates a lot of banter.
San Juan – 40 min
I bet Dave really fought for this win. Dave is unquestionably our clubs San Juan game guru but the results these days are not the forgone conclusion they used to be.
25th January 06....................................................10 Players We split into two tables, one of four and one of six. We don’t often go for 6 player games but Railroad Tycoon can take it and it left the other table with 4 players giving maximum flexibility with their game choice.
Railroad Tycoon – 145 min
We put two tables together to take the massive Railroad Tycoon Board. Mike, Luke and I were new to the game. Mike and I have played Age of Steam which helped us get into the rules quickly. What with the size of the board and the fact that I had chosen to build at the farthest point from my chair meant I spent must of the game stood up in a posture appropriate to an adolescent at a game of Warhammer. Six player games certainly bring a buzz to proceedings and the beautiful board and bits made for a really satisfying event. This game pressed the same buttons as Power Grid for me which is high praise indeed.
Luke, Steve and I all went for the east coast initially. Luke was perhaps a little enclosed so he went off to build at the opposite side of the board. Steve built a very long track right across the mountain and all the way through Chicago to the west edge of the board. Steve got his points from completing route cards and transported few goods. I finished with a 5 train which was the highest anyone got to.
I am assuming that the game does not normally get a runaway leader. I think this was either a fluke with the way the route cards overlapped so nicely for Steve or it is a problem that only usually happens in a 6 player game (or maybe Steve just played a lot better than the rest of us). There is little that can be done by the players to rein back the leader, to do so would usually scupper their own game. We have to rely on the game mechanics to provide a tight competition. The victory track does tail off when awarding income as the game nears a conclusion. With more players fewer vp’s are gained which means leading players don’t get far enough up the vp track to get stung by the tightening income.
Kogge – 90 min bgg
If this gets played again I will make out a results page.
Ra – 45 min
Matt got top points this month with a significant win at Traders of Genoa at the beginning of the month and tonight’s Kogge win. This is the first time Matt has taken the trophy though he got mighty close in November. We have had a different person take the top spot for each of the last 6 months; Richard, Mike, Gordon, both the Dave’s and now Matt.
Average attendance 9.25 |
