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December 06 |
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1st November 06........................................................11 Players Dave Dudley’s report: We welcomed 3 new players, Jason, Jim and Richard; unfortunately I didn’t get addressees for Jim and Richard so if anyone knows that info then please pass this on. I have copied Jason on this mail.
Acquire – 85 minutes
This was Jason’s first game of Acquire, as it would apparently be to nearly everything else we play, I hope he enjoyed the experience and San Juan below and will come again. The game was very close and seemed to go a long time without any mergers taking place, due I suspect to the tiles needed lying in other players hands.
San Juan – 50 minutes
This one went with the Guild Halls, Mike was able to produce a City Hall (I gather he had it for some time) on the last Building phase to secure the win.
Traders of Genoa – 100 minutes
Mississippi Queen – 30 minutes bgg
World Cup Game – 100 minutes bgg
There seems to be something unrealistic about this game, South Korea and USA 2nd & 3rd maybe but England winning??
Samurai – 50 minutes in total bgg
Hive – 15 minutes bgg
8th November 06........................................................8 Players Dave Dudley’s report: 8 Players tonight so we split over 2 tables
Canal Mania – 100 minutes
Another outing for Canal Mania, all the games at the club have been 4 player and this seems to be a good number, I’ve also played a 3 player with Dave & Jenny on Saturday night, but never 5, it will be interesting to see how that turns out.
Capitol – 70 minutes bgg
This is the second playing this year for Capitol, having previously been seen in February 2004. The long gap is down to me because although I have the game and like it (probably my favourite by Moon & Weissblum), I haven’t been able to find room in my bag. Thanks to Steve for bringing along his copy.
Hacienda – 60 minutes bgg
New to the club, brought along by Richard, there were some comments that it looks like Through the Desert. I don’t know how it plays though.
Family Business – 25 minutes
An old and fun filler making a welcome return.
Several members will be a Midcon at the weekend. I hope to be there myself on Saturday.
15th November 06........................................................7 Players It was nice to have Jason back for a third consecutive week. After 3 months of big attendances, the room felt a bit empty with only 7 of us.
Torres – 75 minutes
Dave D’s comments: This seemed to play slightly differently to normal with only 1 really large castle, rather than several similar ones. Matt was able to force both Steve and I out of the King’s bonus for the last round, but unfortunately Steve was able to manipulate himself up a level on that castle on the last turn and give himself the victory.
Leonardo Da Vinci – 110 minutes bgg
I enjoyed this game. It has elements from Caylus and a feel of Princes of Florence. I have played several new games recently and have liked most of them but have not felt the need to buy any of the new releases myself however I might well buy Leonardo Da Vinci.
Planning for the end game seems all important and Richard and Jason made the best job of doing this. I finished with 7 resource cards which was inefficient of me. Dave got gazumped on a couple of projects which was painful for him. I imagine that in a 5 player game you must get plenty of gazumping which could make for a more frustrating game.
Dave C’s comments: One thing I was surprised at was the use of cardboard counters for the mechanical men. I would have liked to have seen grey coloured meeples used; if I can find a source from somewhere then I'll replace mine.
Propertunity
– 30 minutes
Web site
Oh boy did I sink at the appearance of this game. It is professionally produced but the design is very dated. I can not imagine that the designer has played any of the Eurogames which have been dominating the hobby for the last 10 years. You roll a dice, go that many spaces pick up a card and do as it tells you and pass the dice. There are no decisions to make.
To have a dig at this game seems uncharitable, a bit like taking apart a piece of work a school kid has tried really hard at. It is a family game which my children would probably enjoy as a one off experience and most parents would not mind joining in because it doesn’t take too long and there is so much luck nobody feels stupid if they lose. To put it mildly, the game does nothing to further board game design though hats off to the designer for getting a lovely production job done and supporting it with an attractive web site.
We really are not the target audience.
Dave D’s comments: This apparently has a fixed 30 min. time. I noticed that one of the talked about games at Essen, Space Dealer, also has a fixed time, although that one is played in Real time with no player turns. I saw it at Midcon and it looked very nice but didn’t get a chance to play. The idea sounds intriguing to say the least.
Dave C: The game doesn't have a fixed time limit per se, that was my suggestion. The rules allow for several ending options; one of them is to play for a time limit. I combined two endings: get property and cash to €200,000 or net worth after 30 mins. I think the game is a good family game which gets everyone involved and able to play; you have to admit some of the events that occurred did generate a lot of laughter (eg: Richard's disaster-prone, divorce - littered progress around the board).
On the Underground
– 75 minutes
bgg
Dave D’ comments: I played this 3 times at Midcon at the weekend and liked it so much I bought it. It is a game that has great appeal for me, being a track laying game and also as with Canal Mania being English (Am I getting patriotic in my old age?). This was a 3 player game rather than the 5 players for all my previous tries, this giving everyone 3 lines instead of 2 and this would tend to make a bigger gap possible. Matt scored heavily here with his black line in particular (The northern line running East-West) picking up a lot of passenger traffic.
22nd November 06........................................................6 Players Dave Dudley’s report: Down to 6 players this week the lowest for some time, I gather that Steve H will be missing next week, but Gordon should be back with us.
Tigris & Euphrates – 75 minutes
Eye – 5 minutes bgg
Jason brought this one along, it looked pretty. The score card seems to say 5 minutes which seems very short. I have assumed the first player bonus for Richard and Steve, although it wasn’t on the card, not that it is tremendously significant in this case.
Gordon: I am not sure I have linked to the correct boardgamegeek entry. It says it takes 20 mins.
San Juan – 30 minutes
Power Grid – 120 minutes
This was played on the Benelux board and was somewhat peculiar, but I’m sure that at least some of that was due to not playing with 3 players regularly. I got an early capacity lead but in this version with the lowest plant being thrown out every turn, that was not significant as everyone was able to catch up. All players could power 18 cities at game end, I think Steve could actually power 19.
Mike’s comments: Firstly, I thought that Power Grid, at least on this board, delivered an excellent gaming experience as a 3-player. There aren't many 2-hour games that do that (and now that San Marco for experienced players comes in at more like 90 minutes, they're getting rarer).
After not really deserving my win last time, I did think that my overall play was a lot stronger this time, despite agonising "Is this really a good idea?" at several points particularly where buying stations was concerned. I'm still deep in the learning curve, I think. My one definite piece of good fortune was that I had to buy a 6-city coal burner at a time when coal was at a premium, but then quickly bought the 'magic 50' when it fell in my lap at cost price so in the end I think I only had to run the coal monster twice (including the final turn).
I think I was start player for at least as many turns as the other two put together (including powering 2 cities on Turn 1), which is usually the kiss of death, but I'm wondering if, because there is far less route blocking in a 3-player with mainly short routes, this may not be so bad in these circumstances? I'd be interested in what others think.
Guillotine – 20 minutes
29th November 06........................................................7 Players The attendance is down with the cold windy weather and the dark evenings.
Leonardo De Vinci – 150 minutes bgg
I have adjusted the scores a little because I forgot to add my 8 points for finishing with 3 different types of inventions. I’d won anyway so what the hell.
I benefited from having played before. I got extra men early which gave me an advantage that ran for at least half of the game. I examined the top 4 inventions late in the game and managed to have an invention finished just as it was turned over which also helped my score. I like this game a lot. However it does not feel like a classic, it is too like other euros for that but I look forward to maybe a dozen games over the next year or two. It is a shame Mike was so none plus about the game.
Mike’s comments: I think my problem with Leonardo is that it strays into the territory of three fine games - Caylus, Princes, and Mediaeval Merchant - but ends up with something that isn't quite as good as any of them. Some of the rules are very clunky, as if the game was designed by a committee - which last night I found out that it was......
Two examples - the blind auction for simultaneous discovery is a terrible idea, just so lazy (and unfair on players who cannot guess as the game progresses than others may be competing), there must be a dozen better ways of settling it, perhaps Leonardo order (or to give an interesting twist, reverse order?)? Turn order for buying is pure Mediaeval Merchant - majority control with order of entry as tiebreak - but whereas MM adds in a small surprise element with the strictly limited Custom Letters, here 'The Gate' and 'The Master' introduce some much potential chaos that placement becomes a real headache and greater increases downtime trying to work out all the potential responses.
The game is not a disaster but amidst our large library of games I feel it just doesn't stand up to the competition.
Gordon: I can understand you having problems with the "guessing" element to the game and then following on from this the blind biding. Luck would have it that in both the games I have played I have largely avoided these situations. From my experience the game is a nice design which I am excited about playing again and I will probably go and a buy myself a copy.
La Citta – 120 minutes
This is a game Steve is often pushing to play. I am glad it got an outing. We really need to get a game together with 4 or 5 players sometime to see how it plays. All games to date have been with 3.
Mississippi Queen
– 20 minutes
bgg
This looks like a fun family game. It is the sort of game I would like to play with the kids over the Christmas holidays. While I think about it I would like to open a discussion about exchanging games. I can offer any of the games I own on loan should anybody want to borrow them which is a polite way of requesting to loan games off others. Games tend to fallout out of favour with my kids rather quickly. They will get into something for a day or two, play it madly then bore of it. Lighter games that take an hour or less are a favourite. A solid theme is good eg pirates.
The girls will shun anything overly boyish (games involving fighting) and Daniel will shun anything overly girlish (games that do not involve fighting). Despite this we do find some common ground.
Games that have worked for Molly (15) Alice (12) Daniel (13) and me are:
Settlers Tonga Bonga Ticket to Ride Carcassonne Royal Turf Apples to Apples Pit
Games that I would like to try with the kids are:
Mississippi Queen Pirate’s Cove Ave Caesar Cleopatra Raj …..and anything that takes less than about 40 minutes and is light with easily explained rules.
Games I can offer on loan include all the games you know I own plus these that you might not know I have:
Memoir 44 Lord of the Rings Beowolf Age of Mythology Aladdin’s Dragons Entdecker Princes of Florence
Steve Paget wins the trophy this month with wins at Traders of Genoa, Torres, Hacienda, Tigress & Euphrates, San Juan and Mississippi Queen
Average attendance this month 7.8 |
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