2nd March 05.....................................................9 Players

We had Chris join us for the first time this week, he arrived with Steve G bringing us up to a healthy attendance of 9. This also meant Dave got to try out the first run through of A Game of Thrones with a full complement of players. Hope you had a good time Chris and will be able to join us again.

Mike was awarded the Trophy for February which he will get to keep for a month. The last time Mike won was the first month we ran the contest back in January 04. Back then we had not actually got a trophy to lend out. Nobody yet has managed to notch up the most points without attending all the months sessions, it will be done someday but has not happened yet. Mike misses a session most months so he is usually up against it. He attended all the sessions in February.

Puerto Rico - 75 minutes

This was our 6th recorded games of PR and each game we have had a different winner. Toby had a confident aura throughout and deservedly took the victory. Sometime during the last 3 years the outside world got good at this game. I got to play a fair bit when it first became available and back then I was quiet a contender but all the playing this game has received during the interim from the board game community at large has evolved playing methods. We have been under a rock and missed out on the new wisdom. Mark Stretch and now Toby have brought the new ways into our club and kicked our group arse good and proper.

Toby held a monopoly on sugar for several rounds. One of his early builds was a University which is the first time I have ever seen one purchased, it served him well. He also had an early small and large market which worked well with his sugar monopoly.

I was late into producing anything and finished the game with only 5 shipping victory points. I took a factory and managed to produce all 5 goods. The Guild hall scored me nicely at the end as did the city hall. I finished the game by filling my city with buildings. The last building I brought was the big building that scores for number of colonists though I did not get to man it so I did not benefit from the bonus.

Mike did not get a factory which is unusual. He got reasonable use out of a wharf and extra vps for a harbour each time he shipped. I ended the game early costing Mike dearly as he was well set up and would have easily overtaken me in another round.

Julian started well but got cut out of the big buildings which brought his score down. Again Julian could have done with another round or two to realise his strategies.

Settlers – 75 minutes

You should not laugh at others misfortunes but Julian’s thwarted attempts to build a 4th settlement really tickled me. Look at the rings I have overlaid on the photograph. Four times he built to available junctions only to have the position stolen by one of the rest of us.

I had a blazing run of luck on the early dice rolls. I got a road and a settlement on my third turn and that is without being on a port or getting brick or wheat. I finished off with Largest Army. Julian got longest road.

Mausoleum – 15 minutes  bgg

This was played with 2 packs of cards. We called the game when the deck came to an end. It is a light quick game with the simplest rules and plenty of “take that” going on between players. The theme raises a smile.

A Game of Thrones – 130 minutes

This looks like a nicely produced game. It seems to have been favourably received. I understand that the Dave's were at the point of extinction by the end of the 5^th turn and the game was brought to a halt. It is nice to see that the new guys have no qualms about laying into our Mr Dudley when the opportunity arises.

Steve H’s report:

 This was a new game for the Daves and me - Steve G and new member Chris had played it a couple of times with fewer players. The production values were great, good graphics and lots of chunky pieces including a big sword to stab the winner with. It was also right up my street in theme - fantasy and conquest. It could only really lose with me if the games system turned out to be pants (which it didn't).

In the game you get randomly assigned one of 5 powers on a map that looks suspiciously like England. There is a barbarian power north of the border that occasionally rushes over causing bother (possibly wearing kilts?). I was white (sort of Carlisle), Dave C was black (Isle of Man), Steve G was red (Manchester Utd), Chris was yellow (Norwich City), and Dave D was green (Devon cream gone off?). The powers are roughly the same, but there were key differences: for example red had good resources but poor geography sandwiched between most of the other powers. You had to capture seven fortresses to win the game, which is a fair deal of expansion. There are several elements to consider: a random element signified by event cards; a bidding element where success equals bonuses; a logistics element where you need to keep your armies supplied, and a military element where you need to concentrate force at the right time and in the right place, and defend adequately.

The game started with most of us doing what you would normally do in this type of game - build up a power base by slow expansion. But Steve G went for it right from the start and attacked Dave D. His first attack failed due to an impromptu alliance of the Daves. But this didn't put him off and the next few turns were characterised by the War of the Daves as Steve G took his revenge. He was able to do this by a timely Muster card coming up, enabling him to immediately rebuild his losses. While the others were fighting Chris and I were expanding and eyeing each other suspiciously. Dave D also suffered badly at the hands of the barbarians, through not keeping back enough power tokens.

On what turned out to be the last turn, I attacked red and yellow to grab some key fortresses. Chris also attacked Dave D with a lot of success. We had to finish early but I had just edged it with six fortresses to Steve and Chris's five. I had a plan to win it on the following turn which involved a sea borne attack down the west coast. I daresay Steve and Chris also had plans. What we didn't know is what fate the cards would deal out.

I liked this game a lot and would definitely like to give it a few more attempts. There was some debate about balance, but I don't think you can judge that on one playing. 

Dave C’s retort:

Steve, I'm glad you liked the game, I'm all for playing again soon so it'll be carried around. I like the game system, it's fairly fast but with lots of decisions.and options for alliances.  The impromptu alliance with DD was simply that I saw Yellow (Chris) had the potential to expand at an alarming rate unless Green (DD) was there to slow him down, and you didn't appear to be willing to start a war with Chris at the time. Actually, all I did was to use a Raid order to cut Steve's support from his fleet. That was the only attack I made against Red until the last turn (when it was over for me anyway.) It was unfortunate that Steve took a heavy loss on that attack, causing him to move back north and commit genocide on me. Then, with the Wildings attacked and we lost the units, I was gone by then and DD was badly hurt, he might have survived but the game would have ended next turn.

The game, to me, is like a modern version of Diplomacy, but with much more streamlined mechanics and options. I expect that each House will develop its own preferred moves and playing styles; you said we started off by building up a power base slowly. As Black, I now think that was a mistake. I should have gone straight over on to the mainland, dug in there and made damn sure that no-one could get across to my Home. Also, the couple of games I played at home with Ben to try it out, I thought White was in a crap position. You've opened my eyes on that.

Ps: Sorry, forgot I Raided Steve G on the first turn and got a power token from pillage. Still, raiding's not a *real* attack, is it?

PPs: Maybe he thinks it is.

9th March 05.....................................................7 Players

We had a turnout of 7 tonight. We got cracking on a good night of gaming with 4 substantial games hitting the table. I have been rather indulged over the past few weeks with plenty of my own games getting played. I will gag myself next week when what to play gets discussed and leave my games in their bag.

Maharaja - 100 minutes

Steve and I played this a couple of weeks ago. Chris and Steve G are new to it. I got the rule explanation out more efficiently this time. We did not use any of the optional rules though I intend to use role bidding at the start of the next game.

Chris started out with the number 2 character that pays out a gold per turn and the number 1 character was out at the side of the board so he got a palace in the centre spot in the first city.

This game was very tight with us all drawing for number of palaces placed turn after turn. The last couple of turns did not work well for Steve G with the city orders getting changed to his detriment. The rest of us matched each other right up to the end when money was used as the tiebreak.

Web of Power – 40 minutes

This was the first playing of Web of Power for both Chris and Steve G. The rather convoluted scoring system in this game makes it difficult on a first playing to know how well you are doing. Prior to the advisor scores getting totalled we were all about even. This game can be won without a single advisor being placed by the winner. Mark Stretch won a game that way a couple of months ago. It does not seem to be a good idea either to be the only one placing advisors or to be the only one not placing advisors. It is a go with the crowd game.

This will not be the most thrilling computer gaming experience you have ever had but an online, against AI, version of Web of Power is available:

http://www.onlinebrettspiele.de/old/kuk/Default.asp?en

I rate this board game highly primarily because it packs a full helping of strategic satisfaction into a very quick playtime. An added bonus is it plays equally well with 3, 4 or 5 players. 

Mike’s Comment:

Tried this last night, I'm afraid I'm as dubious about it as Gordon - the Artificial Intelligence is decidedly lacking in intelligence.  I'm notoriously crap at this game, even though I love it, and I still breezed it by over 20 VP's.

Pirate’s Cove – 80 minutes

Another beautifully produced game by Days of Wonder. It looks like a lot of fun.

Saint Petersburg – 60 minutes

I rate this game as one of the most experience dependant multiplayer games we play. By that I mean that if you played a less experienced you (think time warp) the more experienced you would win 50% more often and that is if you number 1 had played say 10 times and you number 2 had played 5 times I even think that would hold true up to you number 1 on 30 games and you number 2 on 10 games. Much beyond 30 plays I don’t suppose you improve much so the “you number 2” would stand more of a chance.

Now Dave D and others who hail Settlers as too luck dependant would find it difficult to explain why the benefit of experience, though not as extreme as with St P, does go on for longer. If you played a less experienced you the more experienced you would, in my opinion win 20% more often and that is if your more experienced self had played 200 times and the less experienced self 100.

The topic of “improvement with experience” is of interest to me. Once you stop achieving a discernable improvement in your play at a strategy game it could be said that you have got the full depth out of the game for the amount of effort you are willing to put in. I like to play games often enough to get out all they have to offer, the game can then be graciously put into retirement to be aired once in a while for nostalgic reasons. I have played very few games so often that it can be said that my play is not improving, the only one that springs to mind is Acquire. 

Steve H Comment:

So what did the second half of Gordon's report mean then? I don't get it, but I think the ghost of Amun Re is haunting him (probably literally)...

 

Dave C’s agreement:
Yes, I was wondering that as well.

16th March 05.....................................................7 Players

This week saw another turnout of 7. Next week we are going to be without Dave Cooper and Steve Hilton has to juggle his social life if he is to make it. I suspect this will be the calm before the storm with up to 12 players expected over the Easter period. 

Steve’s comment:

Unfortunately I won't be there next Wednesday. I'll be in Leeds with my brother playing War of the Ring for two days. I'm being Sauron. Bad timing 'cos I had an outside chance of the trophy this month. I'll be back the following week though.

 

Mike:

Unlikely to make the start of the meeting next week.  I may drop in anyway, may just catch a table playing the '2-game strategy' around the end of the 1st one.

A Game of Thrones - 100 minutes

This game ended on the 5th turn. If you want to submit notes for the archive I will paste them in when I do the March web page. 

Steve’s comment:

I did enjoy myself yesterday. As I thought from the first playing Game of Thrones is right up my street, although I think it is better with five. The chaps quickly decided (after about two turns) to gang up on me - I don't blame them at all but it meant that the diplomacy / alliance element was lost. In a three-player red was exceptionally strong. I just had to bide my time and hold on until the muster got going. After two musters I had a red horde and it was just a question of applying the force in the right places. I also pushed hard to get the Sword, which gives you a further combat edge. I'll have to try yellow next time to prove it wasn't all luck.

 

Julian:

I've seen a 3 player variant for Game of Thrones that helps balance it out. Replace the green and black units with 3 knights on their home towns. You therefore need 6 army points to take these and stops red from expanding too quickly to the easy high value towns.

 

Dave:

I enjoyed AGOT again; it would appear that each House has a different strategy and it’s a matter of developing that. The Neutrals variant suggested by Julian seems a good idea and I'll put that in next time.

Formula Motor Racing – 30 minutes

Steve’s comment:

What a super game. Knizia is German for God (probably).

Saint Petersburg – 80 minutes

Well finally I got myself included in a game of St P. I find myself wanting to talk lots about this game but I will restrain myself this time because of the mess I got into in last weeks write up :-)

Mike never stood a chance, he was never going to come anything other than last against players as experienced as Toby, Dave and myself. In this respect the game disappoints me, if all the players have put in the necessary hours to get up to speed with the strategy (and there is only one best way to play) then the game is won or lost by the luck of the cards or the focus of the players in not making mistakes. If any of the players are inexperienced they will get trampled, so, boring with all experienced players and uncomfortable playing with inexperienced players. I like St P but I am coming to accept that the experience of playing will never be great for all the participants.

I guarantee you that anyone willing to play 100+ games of the computer version of this game, with its excellent bots, will achieve a perfect understanding of the best strategy. Yes I am being arrogant but I have seen the light, barring dumb play I am the perfect player. It is nice to have a game I can say that about, though the hobby would be very dull if all games were as solvable.

Dave was unfortunate in that he went last in the first Aristocrat phase and first in the first building phase with no observatory showing up, I can’t think of a harsher start. Toby got a Mistress of Ceremonies on the table on the first round and I got a first round Judge, more nails in the Dave’s coffin. On balance I think I had the best breaks and should have won the game. My downfall was a confused move in the first building round when I cleared a 5th space instead of leaving it at 4 resulting in Toby getting an additional aristocrat. Toby played without making a mistake. 

Mike’s comments:

Well, I gave this a second chance, but I won't bother about the third.  The game mechanism is too unforgiving of mistakes, and, to be honest, I just find the game dull. Doesn't seem to be much player interaction, doesn't have any redeeming features which compensate for the luck of the draw which seems to determine the result then experienced players are involved. 30-40 other games I enjoy better, so why bother?

 

My retort:

I take your point regarding St P it can't have been much fun for you. I have enjoyed playing it against the computer and I will take the opportunity to play it face to face if offered but I would now be very cautious about introducing a new player. I actually think a handicap of additional 5-10 roubles at the start would balance out inexperience but that is a rather artificial fix.

 

Mike:

Funnily enough, yesterday I thought about doing a little VP track for it so players are a bit more aware of how they're doing.  I'll definitely do this some time (and even if I forget, I usually carry Carcassonne so we could use the track from that!).

Verrater – 60 minutes  bgg

It was interesting to play this forerunner to Citadels. Toby managed to keep alert and focused throughout the game and with a confidence that comes from a string of victories, he nailed another one. Dave and I were early allies though it was not long before Dave dumped me to join the winning team during the second battle. Mike generally backed the right side. 

Mike’s comment:

if you could feel sorry for a game, I would feel sorry for this one.  We really don't play it often enough for most players to get comfortable with the mechanics and the German on the cards, and a primary reason for that is it really needs exactly 4 players, where we already have so many excellent games for that number.  There's some very subtle play possible in here, not sure we'll ever get into it enough to really explore it.

 

My retort:

I am glad you got a chance to play Verrater. I appreciate its influence on Citadels and possibly Puerto Rico. That said I always have a resistance to games with foreign text and pencil and paper records don't do much for me either. I believe I have got over that personal hurdle with this game and would certainly play it again.

23rd March 05.....................................................5 Players

It was down to one table tonight for the first time in a couple of months. Matt showed up having seen Mike’s display in the library. It has become traditional for new players to come along and win their first game but Matt took the tradition a stage further and won both of the evenings games.

We should have some big attendances over the next two Wednesdays though maybe not the dozen folk I had been predicting with both Mike and Julian away.

Modern Art - 60 minutes  bgg

This is another great Knizia bidding game. It was one of the few highly rated German games on boardgamegeek.com that I had not played. It is both taxing and fun in a similar way to Ra.

Ticket To Ride – 90 minutes

We took advantage of Steve H not being around and played Ticket to Ride. I have played this game many times with family, at conventions and now at the club and I think this time was the most exciting playing I have experienced. Matt drew the game to a close by getting down to two trains and finished with the longest railroad. Toby would probably have won if the game had gone an extra turn.

It is tempting to block other player’s routes but in my experience most attempts to block others backfire. For example you can do a 2 carriage track to block an opponent only to end the game a carriage short of longest track or you can have happen what happened to me, by blocking a route of Toby’s he went a different way round, straight across my planned route which resulted in me missing out on 3 of my tickets.

30th March 05.....................................................13 Players

13 of us tonight. I thought 12 would be the room’s capacity but we managed to get all of us in without too much trouble. Maybe we should approach Barry regarding the big downstairs function room on weeks like this.

A throw away comment by Keith in the car on the way home got me thinking. Keith made comment that he knew no more about the people he had come in contact with between the start and end of the evening. Have we got too immersed in games to communicate other elements of our lives? Are we overly geeky?

I hope others will join me for a brief spot of therapy. I’ll go first, leading with the obligatory owning up to geekdom and then a bit of personal none game related information:

“My name is Gordon and I am a boardgame geek. I go on a tread mill 3 times most weeks, I have a dodgy left hip but I still pride myself in being a good runner.” Not good enough try this one. “I live with Claire who I first dated when I was 19. We lost contact from my early twenties for about 10 years during which time we both went off and found different partners to marry. I had 2 children Molly and Alice and Claire had Daniel. Neither marriage lasted and by a twist of fate we got back together.” This is liberating I’ll try another. “Cats and dogs make me sneeze.” I’m on a roll. “Not only can I touch my toes but I can rest my palms on the floor with my legs locked straight.” Gee I better stop and get back onto the boardgames.

El Grande - 130 minutes

Like Princes of Florence and Amen Re this game really benefits from having a full complement of 5 players. This was an exciting game that went right up to the wire.

Raj – 10 minutes

I think it is only Dave who has played this before. This is a very simple game that takes only 10 minutes to play and it gets a laugh and has a good dose of tension.

Kremlin – 150 minutes

Dave’s Report:

A great fun evening of Backstabbing in the old Soviet Union was had by all.

The Old Hero of the Soviet Union Nestor Aparatschik died in the first year and was given a state funeral where everyone mourned. He was succeeded by Iwan Manjak at age 64, who was in the pockets of the Old Line Marxists (Matt), but just as he was about to take to the balcony he was taken ill and rushed to the Sanatorium as a precaution, there was nothing seriously wrong and he quickly returned, but the parade was over. Manjak remained as party chief for the next 3 years and waved to the masses twice in that time, although he did miss one year through illness. By the fifth year however, Manjak had fallen out of favour and was brought to trial for crimes against the state. He was banished to Siberia, never to return. Foreign Minister Natasha Nogoodnik (who many parties seemed to have an interest in) was forced to nominate Ulan Putschnik, backed by the Red Army Militarists (Dave D) as his successor, this nomination succeeded due to the extremely high death rate that year among the Politburo and Putschnik became chief at the young age of 58. His first act was to demote Nogoodnik who he did not trust and she was later banished to Siberia at the instigation of Putschnik’s ally Igor Doberman, Head of the KGB(Nogoodnik later returned and again began to move up in the Politburo). Putschnik remained in Power for 6 years despite plots and ill health, that he survived so long being a tribute to Glorious Soviet Medicine. It was not till right at the last moment though that he was able to stagger back onto the Balcony, having missed two years to wave for the final time at the age of 79.

Apologies for any inaccuracies that may have crept in to my remembrance of the game.

Pitch Car – 60 minutes

Robot Wars – 40 minutes  bgg

Labyrinth – 30 minutes

 
Either Steve H or Toby deserved to come out on top this month. They both suffered for missing out on a week, 2 in Steve’s case. We could say you score 120 points for each missed session. I quiet like this idea and I have been contemplating suggesting it for several months but I have not done so because it adds a little complexity and up until now it would not have affected the top position. I still don’t feel strongly enough about it to introduce a change without being pushed to do so. Perhaps someone might like to comment.

Average attendance this month 8.2

Trophy points are calculated separately for each game by multiplying the game length in minutes by the number of participants and dividing that figure by a player’s final position. All players’ points go back to zero at the end of each month. There are 3 special situations that are dealt with below: 

  1. Points awarded for draws are calculated by averaging the points that would normally be scored for the drawn position and the skipped positions. Eg in a 6 player 100 minute game the results are Player A gets 15 victory points, B-15, C-15, D-10, E-10 and F 5, so there is a 3 way draw for 1st place, a 2 way draw for 4th place and F comes 6th.  Players A,B and C will get (600+300+200)/3, players D and E will get (150+120)/2 and player F will get 100 trophy points.
  2. In games that involve team play, a team is a player, for the purposes of calculating trophy points. Eg in a 100 minute game of Scotland Yard there is one player playing Mr X and 3 players playing the detectives, the winner (either the player playing Mr X or the players playing the detectives) gets 200 trophy points and the loser(s) get 100 trophy points (each).
  3. In some cases the results of a game might be unclear. Eg Games that are not completed or the results are hard to call because of a rule misinterpretation discovered half way through play. In these cases a common sense result will be called. In the cases where the decision is controversial we can reach a solution by the consent of the effected players and if an arbitrator is required the ultimate decision goes to the player who is least effected by the controversy.