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December 06 |
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2nd November 05....................................................7 Players Numbers have been slipping slightly over the last month or so. We got a turnout of 7 tonight. We are missing the company of Tony, Simon, Chris and Steve. I am hoping that Steve Paget will be back with us next month and with Steve we might get Keith join us regularly, so the membership should soon be back up.
Me (Gordon), Mike and Duncan
Caylus – 165 minutes
There is a presence about this game that to me screams greatness. This will be the next big gamer game. It is already number 3 on the geek. I suspect it will eventually topple Puerto Rico and claim the top spot. If a killer strategy appears then its fame will be short lived but I can’t see any single way of playing being better than a multitude of other methods. A good online version of the game will be needed to enable the hardcore geeks to get the hundreds of games in that will be needed to check the game play is bullet-proof. It will take many months before we will get to find out if Caylus will make the grade of classic.
There was a lovely jockeying for position in the first half of this game. Steve seemed to be falling behind the pack as we entered the later stages and then he kind of changed gear and flew from behind to take and keep the lead. Steve hit on a combination of buildings which work very nicely. Get money from the Marketplace by selling a resource and then take that money to the Church to convert it into Prestige points. In years to come it will probably be a recognised strategy covered at length in numerous heavy weight articles.
Mike was managing his workers nicely and importantly he had been the first to see the benefit of the gold mine. Mike almost pulled off a complex last turn which would have seen him buy the Cathedral, the building that awards the most prestige. I was lining myself up to take the statue which was basically the only prestige building I could afford. It would have bagged me 11 prestige points putting me right up with Steve. Unfortunately Mike’s had not factored into his plans that the bank where he needed to purchase gold to build the Cathedral came after his visit to the Architect so he did not have the means to pay for the Cathedral, he could however afford the Statue which he got depriving me of the only thing I could buy. So Mike’s little muddle up took both him and I out of the game.
Duncan was developing plans of his own that could easily have seen him take the lead.
This game played very different to the game played last week and the 2 games I have played with Daniel.
Acquire - 60 minutes
I understand Dave might have forgotten to make himself some minor payment in the game which seemed unimportant at the time but when the final totals were tallied the scores were so close that the little mistake actually cost him the game.
St Petersburg – 60 minutes
Matt had a good mown about the rather channelled strategic path this game has and Mike was quick to voice his agreement from the opposite corner of the room. I don’t know another game like it for the need to make the acknowledged correct play every turn in order to win. I accept the game for this and I enjoy the rhythm of play but then I learnt the game when it was new to all of us and the shared group effort to “crack the code” was fun. I would not fancy starting on it now as a new player among experienced players. I disagree with Mike that the game inherently forfeits the last player to buy in the first worker round. Now collecting and more importantly buying a Mistress of Ceremonies within the first 2 rounds could be thought of as a game bust because it near guarantees you victory provided you make no mistakes but it takes careful money management as much as luck to pull that off. A first round observatory is mighty strong but it is very easy to misuse it and turn out cashless, missing out on the flood of workers in the 3rd round. This game brings out the “Strategy Preacher” in me. No one likes to listen to someone who thinks he knows it all. I’ll shut up.
San Juan – 40 minutes
Six consecutive wins in a row and counting. Dave has one heck of a record at this game.
9th November 05....................................................9 Players We got a marginally increased turnout tonight with 9 of us split over 2 tables. Caylus saw its third playing in as many weeks. The other table played 4 shorter games.
Richard, Dave Cooper, Daniel, and Julian
Caylus – 160 minutes
We have been playing a rule wrong. Sorry folks. The increased cost of putting a worker in a building when one or more players drop out only applies to the neutral buildings and other players buildings. You can man your own buildings always for the cost of 1 regardless of how many people have dropped out. Implications? - The incentive to build your own buildings has increased. I like this rule.
Throughout the game I had the feeling Steve was in control. I don’t know why because he was well behind the rest of us on the prestige track all game. On the last turn Steve as predicted came galloping from the back to push his way through the pack on the score track. From out of the last turn muddle Matt emerged ahead thanks to getting a couple of late favours. All but Dave aspired to buy a prestige building but only Steve managed it.
Rigidly adhered to whole game strategies is probably not appropriate in this game. You need to be flexible to adapt to what buildings come into play however I don’t consider this a totally tactical game because seeing a plan through also seems like the way to go. I love the tension of this long term / short term dance in a game. I hope I have this assessment right and that it does not emerge that Caylus is best played by simply optimising play on a turn in isolation basis.
Duncan threw a lot of money in to bribe the Provost on the penultimate turn which kept the game going another round and stopped Steve taking a sure victory. I am certain Duncan would have liked the rest of us to have helped him with the cost.
The pace of play was break neck. This made for an exhilarating experience though I would personally like to slow it down a notch next time particularly on the last couple of turns so I can get my planning right. In my next game of Caylus I plan to make no mistakes. Once I have cut out the silly mix-ups then I will work on the problem of winning.
I had a feeling Dave would not like this game because of its similar “essence” to Puerto Rico. Dave said he would like to play again before he pronounces judgement which is probably the best reaction I could hope for.
Samarkand - 50 minutes bgg
The last time we played this game it took a whopping 80 minutes which was in my mind way too long. At 50 minutes I suspect this was good fun.
Pirates Cove – 60 minutes
This was Daniel’s favourite game of the night.
Formula Motor Racing – 20 minutes
Dave had both of his cars taken out by Richard at the start of the game.
Fruit Bandits – 30 minutes bgg
This is one of the games Julian picked up from Essen.
16th November 05....................................................8 Players Dave Dudley’s report: Just a short précis of events on Wednesday. We had 8 + Ben, so separated into 2 groups of 4, while Ben spent sometime playing solo Memoir 44, I don't know how that concluded, but assume he won. It was nice to see Pete again after a long absence, hope its not so long before we see him again.
Dave brought this one back from Midcon and it seemed to go down OK, some kind of trading game I gather. Scores seemed very low and close, I don't know whether that's normal or not.
Another outing for this one. I think Steve thought he'd won when he closed the game, but I think we were all surprised by Matt (including himself). Missing out on a lot of Innovation cards he had gone for production and growth and ended up with a pile of cash to win the game.
San Juan – 50 minutes
So my run is over, congratulations to Matt on his second win of the night. 23rd November 05....................................................8 Players So much to do, so little time. Sorry about the late report. We had a turnout of 8 one of whom was Keith. Nice of you to find the time Keith, I hope to get yourself and Steve travelling in with me regularly in the coming months.
We split into 2 table of 4 playing just one game each over the course of the evening.
Caylus – 140 minutes
Yet again we got to play Caylus. Both Mike and I used the bottom row of the favour track to get ourselves prestige buildings. I got to build the Cathedral on the last turn and Mike built the Statue.
Railroad Tycoon - 120 minutes
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