ATTIKA (Eric, Bill, Anton, Charlie)Games that MVGA owns are titled in red. Most of our session reports are provided by Eric Brosius. Thanks for your hard work, Eric!
1 January 8 January 15
January 22 January 29 January
5 February 12 February 19
February 26 February
4 March 11 March 18
March 25 March
1 April 8 April Gathering
2004 22 April 29 April
6 May 13 May 20
May 27 May
3 June 10 June 17
June 24 June
1 July 8 July 15
July 22 July 29 July
5 August 12 August 19
August 26 August
2 September 9 September 16
September 23 September 30 September
7 October 14 October 21
October 28 October
4 November 11 November 18 November
2 December 9 December 16 December 23 December 30 December
Roll Call: Rich, Jeff, Roland, Paul, Mike
We had our second first-time visitor in less than a month. Roland read about MVGA on the Internet and decided to come. Of course, he didn't pay the $3.00. We also had Mike visiting from Virginia for the first time in a long while. This gave us 9 gamers, the largest attendance since August. Dave Bernazzani will be happy to hear that I have 3 pre-pays for UG7 ready for him.
ATTIKA (Eric, Bill, Anton, Charlie)
Although January 1 was New Years Day, we had agreed at our previous session to meet. Most of us thought it would be more fun to play than to watch college bowl games all evening. We met an hour early because none of us had to work that day.
Eric and Bill arrived promptly at 6:00 and chose Attika as the first game. We played two games of Attika in December and it works well for 2, 3 or 4. As it turned out, Anton and Charlie arrived as we were setting up, so there was a full complement. Only Eric had played before, so he explained the rules to the 3 new players. The object of the game is to place all 30 of your buildings on the board first (or, as a more dramatic but relatively unlikely option, to connect two shrines with an unbroken chain of your buildings.) Shrine connection serves more as a threat than as an actual way to win, but if you miscalculate, someone may be able to pull it off.
This game began with a quick connection threat on the part of Bill, who played first and got about 5 buildings in a string across the map. Charlie drew his main city tile at the start, and this gave him the firepower he needed to block Bill, as his subsequent white tile draws were full of white city tiles and he was able to draw and place for free a few times. Eric played in the middle of the board and got hemmed in quickly, while Anton focused on one corner and had plenty of room, but no immediate connection threat.
The initial rush of placements left us card-poor, so we paused to replenish our hands, placing buildings here and there as our settlements grew. We started to deplete stacks, giving us the right to place new game board tiles and opening up fresh connection threats. The extra room allowed Bill to make a fresh attempt at a connection win, and he came within 1 hex at his high water mark, needing only to draw his one remaining road from a set of about 10 tiles, but Charlie held him off and blocked the move for good. Normally a player who is forced to block as much as Charlie winds up wasting cards and falling behind, but Charlie used space and resources on the board well, and was well ahead of us at this point. We tried half-heartedly to stop him, but the best we could do was delay him for a turn or two before he placed his last building.
Winner: Charlie (there are no second and third places, just a winner)
Eric's rating: 7. It's obvious that luck and skill are both critical in this game; what's not clear yet is where one leaves off and the other begins. Charlie had some good luck, but he also had bad luck in having to stop Bill twice, and he won convincingly. This game took almost two hours; it moved more slowly than the two games we played in December.
WYATT
EARP (Rich, Jeff, Mike, Paul)
While Attika was underway, the 7:00 shift arrived, with Rich and his son Jeff and Mike who was visiting from Virginia. We asked Mike whether it was his first time and he said he was here 16 or 17 years ago, so we took his $3.00. Wyatt Earp is a top filler for us, and this game proved to be close. Paul arrived after the first hand and joined in to fill out the table.
Final scores: Mike $22K, Jeff $21K, Rich $19K, Paul incomplete.
Eric's rating: 9. I played Wyatt Earp 29 times in 2003, more often than any other game.
AMUN-RE (Charlie, Rich, Jeff, Mike, Paul)
Both games ended at roughly the same time, so we had 9 gamers looking for two games. Rich suggested Amun-Re, one of his favorites, and 5 of us sat down (the ideal number for Amun-Re.) After a rules review for the new players, the game started off, and it was a close one the whole way. Rich has had a lot of success with his "favorite of Amun-Re" strategy, but in this game he kept being outbid by small margins. You can win by bidding high or by bidding low, but it's hard to win by bidding high and getting meager gifts. The top three players finished in a pack; the other two did not divulge their scores. Charlie completed his sweep with two wins in two games for the evening.
Final scores: Charlie 46, Rich 44, Mike 43, Jeff less, and Paul even less.
Eric's rating: 6. This was an ideal night; Rich got to play Amun-Re and I didn't have to help!
MAGNA GRECIA
(Anton, Bill, Roland, Eric)
Roland arrived in time for the second set of games, and after we all introduced ourselves, we chose Magna Grecia for the remaining 4 players. Eric got this game as a Christmas gift and had read through the rules, but it was a first-time playing for all of us. The rules are quite straight-forward and logical, but it's almost impossible to get your head around them the first time you play. One key thing to remember is that the cost of a market is the number of hexes in the city or village plus the number of opponents' markets, while the value of a market is based on the number of things the city or village connects to. We played the 8-turn version (which is more like a supermarket sweep in that you try to grab as much as you can) rather than the longer 12-turn version that involves more head butting. The rules suggest 8-turn games for beginners.
The first tile was poor for roads and cities but good for restocking. Bill, Anton and Roland started cities and began road networks, but Eric simply restocked 7 tiles (before even laying a tile.) On the second turn, he hooked onto Anton's city and struck out for the center of the board, which was ripe with possible connections. We kept asking questions as we played in an attempt to figure out what we were doing. Roland started a large city on one side of the board, while Bill speculated by placing a few markets in villages that looked like they'd develop into important hubs.
Halfway through the game Eric was touted as the runaway leader given his central cities and temporary oracle dominance, but this was a bit of an illusion. Bill and Roland had some key markets in Eric's cities, and as Eric connected, he drove up the value of those markets. The game seemed to fly by, and in fact took a little under two hours. When we added up the final scores, the victory points and the tiebreaker were both even, so the result was a tie. Bill missed an oracle connection on Turn 8 that would have won it for him, and Roland ran out of roads and had no time to restock or he could have won as well.
Final scores: Bill 40 with 1 extra tile, Eric 40 with 1 extra tile, Roland 38, Anton 34.
Eric's rating: 8 at this point for a game that moved nicely, had a lot of interesting decisions and that was close at the end. Next time I'll have to watch more carefully to make sure my connections aren't helping my opponents (through their markets) more than they help me.
PUERTO RICO (Bill, Anton, Eric, Roland)
The other game was still going, so Bill suggested Puerto Rico, which he learned only recently and wanted to try again. We've played a few dozen times now at MVGA and we have a good feel for the game, though we are by no means sharks. Interestingly enough, Roland had played on BSW but the face-to-face version was new to him. He protested that his record was 0 for 13 lifetime, but that's not an unusual result for someone playing on BSW.
Bill took Builder as Governor, building a free Small Indigo. Anton also built Small Indigo, Eric Small Market and Roland Construction Hut. Anton then snarfed a Quarry, making him the early favorite, and Eric mayored. There were several instances of loose Crafting in the early going, and Eric profited with several good Trades. Anton took the first Factory and Roland the second, leaving Eric to build Harbor and then Wharf from the proceeds of his Trades. By mid-game Anton was a money machine as the rest of us tried to ship around him, but quite a few large production buildings were bought and the resulting colonist shortage ended the game, leaving Anton with over 10 doubloons in unspent cash compared with only a few coins for the others. This was a quick game of Puerto Rico and the scores were relatively low. Bill was cash poor but had 12 VPs before anyone else had 5, and Roland got moving just a little bit too late.
Final scores:
VP Bldg Bonus Total Eric (seat 3) 20 + 19 + 5 = 44 Bill (seat 1) 23 + 15 + = 38 Anton (seat 2) 15 + 16 + 6 = 37 Roland (seat 4) 11 + 14 = 25
Eric's rating: 10. I played Puerto Rico 50 times in 2002-2003 and I enjoyed my first playing in 2004 just as much.
ATLANTIC
STAR (Rich, Jeff, Mike)
Paul and Charlie had to leave, but the other three decided on Atlantic Star as a closer. When you play with fewer players there are dummy players that fill in the gaps. I don't have the details, but Jeff proved he can hold his own with anyone.
Final scores: Jeff 56, Rich 50, Mike 35. The players made sure to tell me that one of the dummy players scored 43, leaving Mike in fourth place in a 3-player game!
Eric's rating: 7. My rating is 8 for Showmanager, the earlier of Atlantic Star with rules that are identical, but I don't like the theme of Atlantic Star nearly as much.
Roll Call: Dan, Eric B., Dave, Walt, Eric-4, Russ, Rich, Mike, Evan, Anton, Scott
It was a banner day for MVGA as we welcomed three first-timers. When combined with the eight regulars who made it, this made eleven gamers in total. We had three multi-player games going at once partway through the evening, and we finished with two simultaneous five-player games. The extra attendance we've been enjoying recently gives us welcome flexibility; someone who has a less-well-known favorite game can find a group that is willing to give it a shot.
I've been writing session reports for about six months now, and it seems like a good time to include some general comments on the character of MVGA. The group has been meeting regularly since 1965; you don't last that long unless you have some resilience and adaptability. We're not playing the same games we were playing in 1965, but we do embrace a wider range of games than some groups. We have the unique asset of a permanent location with a game closet. The club's collection is listed on the Game Library page but we also have a number of older Avalon Hill and SPI wargames from the old days that aren't shown on the website.
We take ourselves less seriously than some gaming groups, although we have some strong players and we try hard to win. We achieve social cohesion through cheerful trash-talking; this seems to keep us on good terms without leading to bad feelings. There's a strong sense of community; players recognize that they need to consider the needs of the group, and not only their own personal desires. Walter Hunt serves as the honorary father figure, collecting the weekly fees for the Masonic Hall and providing gentle reminders when one of us gets out of line (and he seems to get slightly more than his share of the trash-talking as a result.)
We play a wide range of games and are willing to try new ones. Even if a new game isn't at the top of the recent Essen list, we'll give it a shot if someone asks for it. We aren't limited to short games; we'll play a multi-hour game every so often (in recent months we've played El Grande, Age of Steam, Lunar Rails, Funkenschlag, Age of Mythology and History of the World.) Come visit us some Thursday. We're easy to find on Route 16 in Holliston.
MAGNA GRECIA
(Dan, Eric B., Dave)
We had 3 players at 7:00, so we decided to try Magna Grecia. Eric B. had played for the first time at MVGA last week, but it was brand-new to Dan and Dave. We were delighted to welcome Dave as a first-timer. As Eric B. was reviewing the rules, Walt came in, followed by first-timers Russ and Eric-4 (we've had a lot of Erics at Unity Games groups recently, so it seems that numbers have been assigned. I think Eric B. is actually Eric-2, with Eric-1 being Eric Schultz, but I'm not absolutely sure. When your name is Eric, you don't get a lot of practice dealing with multiple Erics; it's not like being a Bill or a Mike.) We decided to stick with 3 players for Magna Grecia and let the 3 more recent arrivals choose a different game.
The random set-up left oracles in some awkward spots, so that there was no obvious green town to start in. Eric B. had explained that players who work together are likely to outperform those who remain isolated, but despite this warning, we all started in separate areas. After the first few turns, however, Eric B. and Dan had managed to link up, while Dave took an additional turn or two to join us. One of the tricks in Magna Grecia is selecting places to buy markets. If you are too conservative, you'll buy a market you could have had for free later when you founded a city, but if you're too aggressive, you won't be able to activate your market (and you'll lose any points for it.) I don't know how much the 3-player game differs from the 4-player game (we played with 4 last week,) but in this week's game none of us had to sell a market, and none of us had an inactive market at the end. We played to 8 turns rather than to 12; it seems you'd only go to 12 if you become dissatisfied with the shorter game.
Although the game provides opportunities to restock your road and city tiles, it's hard to resist pressing your luck just once more and putting the restock off until next time. This problem was aggravated by the fact that we had only one 5-tile restock in the 8 turns, and that occurred on Turn 1. As a result, we all ran our stock down close to zero by the end. Eric and Dan's tempo advantage gave them an edge over Dave.
Final scores: Eric 39, Dan 37, Dave 24.
Eric's rating: 8. Some people have complained that this is a dry game, but I am enjoying it. It moves quickly and it's fun to discover that the game has lured you into running out of tiles even when you told yourself you'd resist (it feels a little like Union Pacific in this respect.)
PUERTO RICO (Walt, Russ, Eric-4)
As Magna Grecia was starting up, the three newer arrivals pulled out Puerto Rico, a game that has become a lingua franca for Euro gamers. Walt was looking good, but slipped at the end when he failed to populate his large building and the game ended before he could fix the problem. This allowed Eric-4 to nip in at the wire for a close-fought victory.
Final scores:
Final scores:
VP Bldg Bonus Total Eric-4 (seat 1) 20 + 22 + 7 = 49 Walt (seat 2) 22 + 25 = 47 Russ (seat 3) 17 + 28 = 45
Eric's rating: 10. This is not only a great game, but one that you can play with people you haven't played with before. It's almost sure to be a good way to get to know each other.
WYATT
EARP (Dan, Eric B., Dave)
Puerto Rico hadn't finished yet, so we pulled out Wyatt Earp, one of our favorite fillers. Dave had played before, so we started right in without a rules review. The first hand was fairly quiet, though Eric B. wasn't able to get many useful cards down, and after we scored it was Dan 6, Dave 5, Eric B. 2. Oddly enough, few outlaws were captured, but there was quite a bit of money left on the cards. During the second hand, Dan took off like a rocket, with huge melds on some of the outlaws that had leftover money from before. Eric B. tried a Hideout which Dan foiled with a Wyatt Earp. Late in the hand, Eric B. dropped a photo on an outlaw meld and Dave said "you aren't allowed to play a photo except during your own turn."
This made Eric B. and Dan figuratively smack their foreheads ("duh!") We've always played Wyatt Earp at MVGA using the variant that allows you to play a photo out of turn when another player makes an initial meld for that outlaw. This makes the game a little less predictable and makes it easier and quicker to get the sheriff cards out of your hand. But it's not in the rulebook. I understand that this was the original rule used by Mike Fitzgerald, the designer; I don't know why it was left out of the rulebook. When we sat down with Dave, who'd never been to MVGA before, we didn't even think to talk about this issue. Dan and Eric B. pointed out that we had already dropped about six photos using this rule before the one Dave noticed. Dave explained that he prefers the more uniform pace of the game without the variant. It was hard to figure out what to do to fix the problem. We decided to finish the hand using the variant and eliminate the variant for the final hand. This was not completely fair, because Dave could have dropped some photos during the first hand if he had known we were using that rule. In any case, Dan scooped up 16 in cash for the hand, leaving the scores Dan 22, Dave 17, Eric B. 16.
The final hand saw further mastery by Dan. Eric B. played two Hideouts on him, but neither shot was a hit.
Final scores: Dan 36, Dave 28, Eric B. 20. Remember that Dave missed out on some photos in the first hand.
Eric's rating: 9. I can understand Dave's point of view, but I still like the photo variant.
INDUSTRIA
(Rich, Mike, Evan, Anton)
Just as we were feeling excited about the arrival of three first-timers, we had four more regulars come in the door, bringing the total up to 11. The live steam group was meeting downstairs, so we had to move up to the back room; we carried a long table up the stairs so we'd have the space to play three games at once. Mike hadn't been at MVGA for a few months, so it was especially good to see him again; keep coming, Mike!
We seem to be playing Industria almost every week at MVGA recently, though I haven't gotten into any of the MVGA games. The auctions are fascinating given the tightness of money, and strategies are still being identified and tweaked. In some cases a player will focus on a resource strategy or a connection strategy or an innovation strategy or a bonus strategy, but in this game each of the players played a mixed strategy to some extent.
Final scores: Rich 42, Mike 39, Evan 36, Anton 29.
Eric's rating: 8.
AMUN-RE (Rich, Dave, Eric-4, Russ, Evan)
All three games had ended and we now had 11 gamers with the arrival of Scott, another regular. Anton could only stay for a short game, and the rest of us wanted to player longer games, so he left, leaving us with two 5-player games. A sizeable contingent wanted to play Amun-Re, including some who had not played before, so we set that game up at one end of the table. Amun-Re is a bidding game with the tough trade-offs typical in a Reiner Knizia game. Rich won with the "triple pyramids" strategy, though Evan made a rush from far back by obtaining all four temples in the second epoch.
Final scores: Rich 48, Dave 43, Evan 40 (up from 6 after the first epoch,) Eric-4 39, Russ 26. Dave asked me to record his opinion that this was a "kick-ass game".
Eric's rating: 6.
AGE OF STEAM
(Southern England) (Mike, Scott, Walt, Dan, Eric B.)
We hadn't played Age of Steam for a few months, and Walt had the new expansion with Ireland and Southern England, so the other five players set it up. We had all played before, so we weren't exposing any rookies to this more-difficult map. The Ireland side of the map uses some very different rules, but Southern England is played in much the same way as the original map. London is the only red city on the board (and there is no red option available for Urbanization,) so it is bound to attract more attention than any other city.
We set the starting cubes out on the map, and it was clear that there were going to be few easy deliveries in this game. There was a red cube in Dover and a few purple cubes in the southwest, but nothing else could possibly be delivered on the first turn. Early deliveries are valuable not only for future victory points, but to ease the cash flow crunch. We sat in silence for a few moments, each player convincing himself that money was going to be tight, and we then issued shares. Everyone but Mike took out 3 shares, more than usual. We wanted the opportunity to bid to be early in the turn order.
As it turned out, Dan and Mike bid 3 and 4 right away, leaving Eric B., Walt and Scott the option of bidding 5 for turn order or dropping out. None of us had the nerve to go for it in this game, given the tough placements ("winter is coming,") so we dropped in turn. If we had realized this was going to happen, we could have gotten away with fewer shares (but then again, maybe this was part of what Dan and Mike were thinking when they bid so aggressively.) Mike grabbed Locomotive, Dan Urbanization, Scott First Build, Walt Engineer and Eric B. Turn Order (an investment for Turn 2.)
Scott built the Cardiff-Bristol link, a quasi-monopoly given the terrain, and one that looked promising given the purple cubes in the area. Mike hooked up London and Dover and built one hex northwest from London. Dan dropped a new city down in Reading and hooked to Southampton for some delivery options. Walt used his extra build to connect Exeter to Bristol via Taunton. Eric B. had no way to build so as to deliver even a single cube, so he connected London to Northampton, preparing to compete with Mike for the London & Northwestern line. After one turn, Scott had income of 2, Eric B. 0, and everyone else 1. Three of us skipped deliveries to upgrade our locomotives; it was not much of a sacrifice given the cube placement.
Now that the short-term opportunities had been taken and the first Goods Growth phase was completed, it was still not clear what could be done. Dan won the bid on Turn 2, taking Locomotive, and Eric was second, taking Urbanization. This allowed Dan to deliver a cube from Southampton to London for 2, and Eric B. used a city build in Coventry to stretch his line all the way to Birmingham, stealing a march on Mike. We used Urbanization more as a cheaper version of Engineer in this game than as a delivery opportunity; this was a clear difference from the original map. Mike decided not to compete further for the line to the Northwest and headed to Nottingham. Walt's turn came, and he rearranged his builds several times before announcing that he had made a blunder; he was counting on using Scott's link to Cardiff, but had forgotten that Scott and not Walt would get the income. Walt played on, but did have to give income to a number of others during the game, ruining his chances. Dan was ready to expand north on Turn 3, but he too miscounted (when Dan cried "I just did a Walt!" we weren't sure Walt was amused.)
In the end, North West wound up with seven cubes, including one red cube from London, and Eric B. started delivering them for 4 income a load. This pulled him ahead to the extent that by the end of Turn 5 the other players agreed to end the game two turns early. Order of finish: 1 Eric B., 2 Mike, 3 Scott, 4 Walt, 5 Dan (though it's possible some of the places could have shifted in the final rounds.) Mike took out 12 shares in 5 turns, Eric 14 and everyone else the maximum of 15. The London to Northwest route has a lot of power if one player can get a monopoly on it.
We're showing evidence of more sophisticated strategies in Age of Steam. Bidding for turn order was spirited, and Locomotive was chosen early in each round (not surprising given the paucity of short deliveries.) I'm looking forward to trying this map again to see whether it's always as brutal as it was this time.
Eric's rating: 9. I've played quite a few games of Age of Steam on the original map; it was a lot of fun to work out the possibilities on this new map.
Roll Call: Dan, Eric, Evan, Dave, Mike, (plus Rich, Walt, Bruce and Ray who spent the whole evening playing two tabletop baseball playoff series.)
Many MVGA members belong to an APBA tabletop baseball league that has been running for more than twenty years. During the season, most games are played by mail. The visiting manager sends instructions to the home manager, who plays both teams. Every so often, two managers will show up at MVGA to play a series live. During the playoffs, however, an effort is made to play live. Rich and Walt were playing against Bruce and Ray in the conference semifinals.
INDUSTRIA
(Dan, Eric, Evan)
By 7:00, when Dan, Eric and Evan arrived at the Masonic Hall in Holliston, both baseball series were well underway. Eric requested Industria, a game he had missed each time it was played at MVGA. Industria works well for 3 or 4 players, so we had room to add a fourth player if one were to arrive while we were setting up. According to the rules, you don't use all the tiles in a 3-player game, but the designer has agreed that there's no reason you can't, and we did. Some people believe that the 4-player game handicaps the fourth player (who does not get to be first auctioneer in the first epoch,) but this is clearly not a problem in a 3-player game.
Last week's Industria game involved mixed strategies for everyone, but this week brought out some specialization. Dan got the three left-hand buildings in the first round, with 6 in connection bonuses. Eric got less stuff, but more money. Dan then bought the Bank and started accumulating bonus tiles, while Eric bought the Iron Foundry and Coal Mine. Evan got the Steam Engine, but Eric didn't build the Iron Foundry, and the Steam Engine was useless with no Iron. On the next round, it happened again! Evan got the Automobile, but Eric didn't build his Steel Mill, and Evan had to throw away his second technology.
At the end, Dan had 16 bonus points and 5 cash points, all fueled by his Bank purchase, while Eric had 21 points for connections, including the Iron Foundry/Coal Mine/Coking Works/Steel Mill quadrilateral for 12, and none for cash. Evan lost a whopping 19 points for Technologies and the related connections as a result of his inability to build the Steam Engine and Automobile; this was more than the gap between his last place finish and first place.
Final scores: Eric 59, Dan 51, Evan 44.
Eric's rating: 8. There seems to be less luck in the 3-player game; I have played the 4-player game outside of MVGA and at this point I believe Industria is best for 3.
PUERTO RICO (Eric, Dan, Mike, Evan, Dave)
As we were finishing up, Mike and Dave showed up. Dave was a first-time visitor last week who returned, and we were happy to welcome Mike back; he's a regular we haven't seen for a while. Dave and Mike work in the same place, so Dave was able to follow Mike's car and find an easier way from Norwood. The baseballers were still in game 2, so we decided on Puerto Rico. There are few gaming groups where Puerto Rico isn't a satisfying option.
We drew plantation tiles at random to determine starting positions, as we usually do, and Eric started us off with a Quarry. Dan scooped up a Tobacco, Mike Corn, and Evan and Dave took Indigo, leaving two Coffee as discards. Dan Built for a Tobacco facility, Mike took an Indigo plant, and Evan and Dave took Small Markets while Eric saved his money.
Normally you'd expect an early Tobacco producer to be forced to ship, but Dave got Sugar going, and the first three boats were the cheaper goods. Eric used his stash to get Coffee going before Dan could sell, and Eric and Dan were early money leaders. However, Dave sold Sugar to raise cash for his own Tobacco, and this hurt Dan while Eric continued to enjoy a Coffee monopoly for a while. Evan became the Corn lord and shipped like mad, and Dave and Eric benefited from the fallout. Many large production buildings were built, increasing the colonist drain, and the game ended on a colonist shortage. Mike and Dave each had two large buildings while Eric had one.
Final scores:
VP Bldg Bonus Total Eric 28 + 25 + 9 = 62 Dave 21 + 23 + 10 = 54 Evan 34 + 17 = 51 Mike 16 + 18 + 11 = 45 Dan 17 + 17 = 34
Dan finished the game with a huge pile of Indigo and Tobacco which he was never able to convert into points. Eric finished with six Corn that had been sitting in a Small Warehouse for several turns; he didn't get the points, but he did slow down the Corn shippers both by hoarding Corn and by discouraging the creation of Corn boats. This game was notable for a lack of defense; there were a number of cases where a player had a chance to make a play that benefited him and another player; Eric got to be on the other side of those transactions more than anyone else, and that made the difference.
Eric's rating: 10. This game moves along even more quickly now that so many people are familiar with it. A year ago we still needed a rules refresher before many games, but that's no longer the case. Of course, if you haven't played Puerto Rico, you're welcome to visit MVGA and try it; we're a good group for learners.
HIGH SOCIETY
(Eric, Dan, Mike, Evan, Dave)
High Society has long been a favorite hard-to-get game. It's #86 on Aaron Fuegi's Internet Top 100 Games list, which you can view online (the full list of 4,269 rated games is also available on Aaron's site.) It has recently come out in a new English-language edition from Uberplay, and Eric brought a copy to MVGA. It's a bidding game in which you spend money either to get good tiles or to avoid getting bad ones. The "hook" is the victory conditions: Any player or players who spent the most money is a loser, regardless of how many points he or she obtained. The winner is the remaining player with the most points. This makes for a tough challenge: if you bid too much, you're out, but if you don't bid enough, you won't get points. In some sense, your goal is to be the second most aggressive player, but when everyone's trying to be the second most aggressive, there's a lot of jockeying for position.
Dave and Mike started out as the aggressive bidders, with Eric and Evan being more cautious. The early cards were good ones. Dave paid $28 for a "10" and Dan scooped up a "9". Mike dropped out of the bidding and took a "1/2" multiplier card, while Eric dropped out and took a Thief, which would wipe out his next number card. His plan was to bid fairly high on a low card that his thief could wipe out, but that wasn't worth much to anyone else. Unfortunately, this failed as only one small card came out, a "2", and Evan took it. Evan dropped out and got stuck with a "-5" card, and the game ended as soon as the fourth red card came up. Dan, who played quietly throughout the entire game, stepped up for the win.
Final scores:
Dan 9 ($47 left)
Mike 6.5 ($36 left)
Evan 5 ($55 left)
Eric 0 ($67 left)
Dave 20 ($20 left) so he lost no matter how many points he had.
Eric's rating: 8. This is a quick game that forces you to make a plan, but that also forces you to modify your plan on the fly based on the cards that come out and the bidding of your opponents.
COLORETTO
(Eric, Dan, Mike, Evan, Dave)
The baseball was nearing its conclusion, so we looked for a short game that would allow the baseball players to join us for a final game if they wanted to afterward. Evan suggested Coloretto, a quick game that got a lot of airplay at MVGA last summer, but that we haven't played recently. It's a card game with seven colored suits of nine cards each and some "+2" and "wild" cards. Play goes around the table; on your turn you have two options. You can take a card from the draw pile, look at it and add it to a stack, or you can take a stack, ending your participation for the round. You can't take a stack unless it has at least one card, and you can't add a card to a stack that already has three cards. Your goal is to get a lot of cards in three suits and few cards in the other four. The trick is to build stacks that are good for you, but are bad for everyone else (if you build a stack that's good for you and for another player, the other player will take it before play comes around to you again.)
The first round was fairly uneventful, except that Eric got a wild card to go with his starting brown card. Many people argue that wild cards are too powerful, though we haven't felt that way at MVGA. On the next round, players began to specialize in certain colors. Evan and Mike were building large collections, but were forced to spread out in more than three colors. This situation can be managed, but it does give opponents an opportunity to hurt you by clever plays.
The key turn saw Eric as the last remaining player with only a "+2" in the final stack. He turned over two random cards and both were brown, adding to his long suit. This made the difference, as Eric's "small stack" strategy resulted in no negative points and a close win over Evan's larger piles offset by negatives, even though Eric had fewer cards than any other player.
Final scores: Eric 25, Evan 23, Dan 22, Mike 21, Dave 16.
Eric's rating: 8. This is one of my favorite fillers.
ATTIKA
(Evan, Dave, Mike, Eric)
Dan left at this point, and the baseball players were emotionally drained after close series. Rich and Walt won, setting up a divisional final between their two teams, Walt's Maracaibo Rumrunners and Rich's Elders of Zion. Rich's team seems to have a hex over Walt's team, almost like the Yankees have over the Red Sox (dare I say it?) so tension will be high for the upcoming series.
We've played a few games of Attika at MVGA, but Mike and Dave were new to the game. After a rules explanation we set off. Mike got a great position down the middle of the board and threatened connection almost immediately. Dave started one settlement, and then another across the board, but he was hemmed in early and ran out of room for expansion. Eric started slowly, obtaining building room, but was in a position that offered no conceivable connection opportunities. Evan played a quiet game, placing relatively few buildings, but gathering several amphorae (which allow an extra action.) Evan, Dave and Eric worked together to block Mike, and by midgame Eric was the clear leader in the race to 30, but the others were all conspiring to win by connection. Eric had about 18 buildings on the board when the others started saving cards (always an ominous development.) The game ended when Evan drew the last tile in a stack, placed it, added a new landscape tile, and used amphorae together with his huge card stash to complete a connection for the win.
Eric's rating: 7 at this point. The game is fun and requires planning, but the strategies are fairly simple for us at this point. I can see that this rating may go up as I gain familiarity; we'll have to see.
Roll Call: Rich, Evan, Eric, Walt, Anton, Dan, Mike, Scott
After several weeks with new visitors, we had only regulars this week, but the 8 in attendance still represent a solid group of gamers. We're regularly getting enough people to play two games at once.
ALHAMBRA
(Rich, Evan, Dan)
At 7:00 we had four players, and we began setting up Alhambra. Before we could start, two more came in. Alhambra will take 6, but you have to wait twice as long between turns as with 3. The ideal number of players is 3 or 4. We decided to split into two groups, with 3 playing Alhambra.
At the first scoring, Rich had already amassed an impressive long wall. Evan had a number of exterior wall tiles, but in several disconnected stretches. Dan did not manage to buy even a single tile with a wall; as a result, he scored zero for walls at the first scoring. Since wall-free tiles are more expensive than the ones with walls, this not only hurt his score, but used up his cash.
By the second scoring, Evan had managed to connect up his walls more effectively, but he couldn't gain ground on Rich. Dan still had almost no walls. This pattern consisted through the end of the game with Dan scoring only 5 or 6 wall points in total for all three rounds. Scoring for color majorities was fairly even, so the wall points made the difference.
Final scores: Rich 149, Evan 121, Dan 111.
Dan had horrible luck in this game, as he often does, and he wonders whether there's some different approach he could take to adjust for the problem.
Eric's rating: 8. This is by no means a brain-burner, but there are real decisions to make. The fact that wall-bound tiles are cheaper than wall-free tiles is an important strategic theme.
ATTIKA
(Walt, Eric, Anton)
While 3 of us were playing Alhambra, the other 3 set up Attika. Walt was new to the game, so we explained the rules before we started. The normal way to win is to place all 30 of your building tiles on the board first, but it's also possible to win by connecting two shrines with an unbroken chain of your own buildings (and this could take as few as 7 or 8 buildings.) It's almost impossible to achieve a connection win if your opponents really try to stop you, but it takes resources to stop someone, so people often take risks that allow connections.
Eric played first, building his Harbor (his initial main building draw) in a likely spot and drawing two cards. Walt started a settlement in the center of the board, and it was soon a thriving metropolis that included his Thebes tile. Anton began on the other side, snaking his way between two shrines. Walt blocked him partly on one end, and then Eric started a new Street settlement on the other end, blocking Anton off completely. This forced Anton toward Walt, reducing the amount of room each had to expand. Eric made moves toward connecting his two settlements and achieving a connection win, but Walt placed the first new terrain tile in such a way as to eliminate that possibility. The game then settled down to a straightforward race to 30 for a while as we drew and built and began to collect amphorae.
In the late mid-game, with 15 to 20 buildings on the board for each player, Eric emptied out a stack, opening up a new potential connection route (on another side of the board from the connection Walt had ruined earlier.) Eric used several amphorae to reach partway toward the vital shrine and threaten a victory. Walt and Anton were both a bit card short at this point, so neither could quite complete a block, and Eric was able to finish his connection on the next turn with a placement and a free build from his mat to win the game.
Eric's rating: 7. This is an enjoyable game that shares with Settlers of Catan or Puerto Rico the feeling that every player is making progress in building a civilization. Even if you don't win, you made progress toward your goal. No one is wiped out, which makes it a good family game. In this particular game, Eric benefited from some good tile draws, so it's not clear how much the result was driven by luck. We'll keep playing it as we explore the luck-skill balance and the tension between 30-tile wins and connection wins.
BATTLE CRY
(Walt, Eric)
The first two games finished at almost the same time, and Mike arrived to give us 7 players (we were disappointed to see that Dave, who works with Mike, didn't come this week.) It seemed logical to split into a 3-player game and a 4-player game, but Walt had brought his copy of Battle Cry, a 2-player game, and wanted to give it a try. Eric volunteered to play Battle Cry with Walt; the others would have no trouble finding a 5-player game.
Battle Cry is a "wargame lite" with a Civil War theme and a whole collection of plastic miniatures. Battles are resolved not by a complex combat results table, but with the help of lots of six-sided dice that have infantry, cavalry, artillery, wild-card and retreat symbols. To hit an infantry unit you need to roll infantry or wild-card symbols. A retreat symbol doesn't cause casualties, but does force a retreat. Movement and combat is governed by action cards. A player has a hand of action cards, each permitting some action. Each turn consists of playing a card, carrying out the action, and drawing a new card. Some cards allow you to move troops on the right side of your line; others allow movement on the left or in the center. Some permit major offensives while others only allow probes. The challenge of the game lies in adapting your plans to fit the cards you draw. Walt and Eric had both played Avalon Hill and other wargames decades ago (before Euro games were widely available,) and both had played at least a few games of Battle Cry in the past.
We randomly selected a scenario from the rule book; we chose Antietam, the principal battle of Lee's 1862 invasion of the north. In real life the Confederates won a bloody tactical victory, but were then forced to retreat back to Virginia, halting their move toward Pennsylvania. We randomly chose sides, with Walt taking the Union and Eric the Confederates. The Union has superior forces, including artillery that can be placed on hilltops to sweep the battlefield, but the left flank is confined behind Antietam creek. In addition, the Confederate command advantage is reflected by the fact that the Confederates can hold a 5-card hand while the Union can hold only 3 cards. This means the Confederates typically have a wider range of options on any turn.
As the game began, Walt started to cross the creek on his left. The Confederates advanced toward the Sunken Road, a defensive position in the center, but despite his 5-card hand, Eric soon had nothing but right flank cards available. Given the Union advantage in that area, the Confederates best strategy is to let the creek slow down the Union and play a defensive game. Eric made the mistake of letting his cards lure him into an attack. This simply made him a target for the superior Union forces, which were delighted to find enemies they could attack without crossing the creek. Each unit destroyed gives the victor a flag, and six flags win the game. Walt was soon ahead 4 flags to 1.
At this point the game changed, as Walt's supply of useful attack cards dried up and Eric began to draw attack cards for the left and center. Eric's forces in the Sunken Road raked Walt's forces across from them, and Walt didn't have the cards to fight back. Walt retreated out of range, but Eric's infantry climbed out of the Sunken Road and chased them, gambling that Walt would not draw the card he needed to make them pay. This proved to be the game-winner as Eric captured 5 flags in a row to win, 6 flags to 4.
Eric's rating: 7. The game moves quickly and the card system makes it impossible to devise a "perfect plan." You have to make soup with whatever you draw. In this game, the Confederates' 5 to 3 card advantage was of no help early, but became overwhelming at the end. Walt was reduced to discarding useless cards as his center and right collapsed. You shouldn't play this game if lucky breaks bother you, but it does seem like an attractive option for teen-agers because of the visual charm and the thrill of rolling those dice.
AMUN-RE (Rich, Evan, Dan, Anton, Mike)
It seems we've been playing Amun-Re every week at MVGA recently, so it was an obvious choice for the 5-players who were not involved in Battle Cry. There's an undercurrent of opinion that Rich has been winning a large share of the Amun-Re games, but each game is a new start and you never know until you play the game. There was a wide array of strategies in this game, as Evan scooped up Thebes and built four pyramids there while Mike saved his money, building little. Evan scored 5 points for most pyramids on one side of the Nile for Thebes. After the Old Kingdom, the scores stood Dan 14, Evan 12, Rich 11, Anton 9 and Mike only 1.
As the New Kingdom opened, Evan bid 21 for Thebes with a bidding blockade. The 4-pyramid province was a tempting target, but no one could see that bidding 36 for it was a winning move. Thebes served as a deterrent to building on that side of the river, so Evan was able to take the 5-point bonus again without adding a single block to Thebes. This allowed him to concentrate on completing pyramid sets. The pyramid race on the other side of the Nile was more intense, consuming resources and holding down set formation. Evan's exploitation of Thebes made the difference. Mike was not able to convert his frugality into points and finished far off the pack.
Final scores: Evan 43, Rich 37, Dan 34, Anton 27, Mike 17.
Eric's rating: 6.
WYATT
EARP (Walt, Eric, Scott)
Battle Cry finished while Amun-Re was still in the Old Kingdom, so we added Scott, who had just arrived. We decided to play a few quick games and pulled out Wyatt Earp, Carcassonne, Through the Desert and Web of Power. After some discussion, we started with Wyatt Earp. Our Wyatt Earp games have become more varied recently as Most Wanted and Hideout are used creatively and players hold cards in an attempt to go out suddenly. This was the most unusual Wyatt Earp game I've ever been involved in.
On the first hand, Walt began with several large lay-downs, supported by Scott's timely photography. Walt and Eric played hideouts on each others' largest stacks, but Walt had other arrows in his quiver, and he jumped out to a big lead. Scores at this point: Walt $10K, Scott $7K, Eric $2K.
On the second hand, Eric noted the pile of money on Billy the Kid and used two consecutive Most Wanted cards to pull Billy the Kid cards from Walt and lay down a lucrative meld. Walt then played a Hideout on that meld which Eric was not able to remove. Eric's reprisal Hideout missed its shot and Walt maintained his lead. Scores: Walt $15K, Scott $12K, Eric $6K.
The final hand started with a huge hoard on Billy the Kid and a smaller stack on Wes Hardin. Eric was fortunate to draw cards for both outlaws, but he expended two Wyatt Earps doing so. Walt was in position to end the hand, but calculated that Eric would make enough to win if the game ended, so Walt continued the game. Walt drew two Hideouts and played them on Eric's two stacks, eliminating the threat and going out for the win. (See this picture to show what was facing Eric at the end of the game!) Scott continued to get the largest share of the photos, giving him points for second places but never enough to catch Walt.
Final scores: Walt $27K, Scott $19K, Eric $12K. The game ended with Billy the Kid uncaptured despite a reward of $15K left on him, and Wes Hardin also uncaptured with a reward of $12K. Eric took a risk in using up his Wyatt Earp cards, leaving him defenseless against the Hideouts (but it was the use of the Wyatt Earp cards that gave him the outlaw cards in the first place.) This game was thrilling all the way through, but especially during the third hand.
Eric's rating: 9. If you come to MVGA to play Wyatt Earp, watch your back! We have some real sharpshooters in the group.
THROUGH
THE DESERT (Walt, Eric, Scott)
Amun-Re was still plugging along, so we set up Through the Desert. Eric's reputation in Through the Desert is similar to Rich's in Amun-Re, so when the random draw left him as third player (and the first to be able to play two camels) there was dark muttering from Walt and Scott.
Through the Desert has a light appearance, with adorable sherbet-colored camels, but it has multiple ways to gain points, and it's not easy to keep track of all of them at once. You score for connecting to water holes and oases. You also score for fencing off an area with a single herd of camels; if an opponent threatens to do so, you must be alert to stop it. Finally, there is a 10-point bonus for largest herd in each of the five colors. If you place 10 or 15 camels to earn this bonus, it's a fair reward, but if you scoop a 10-point chip for a small herd, it can be highway robbery.
We placed our initial camels and started grabbing 3-point water holes, but Eric soon placed 2 camels that blocked one of Walt's chains and set Eric up to begin enclosing a huge area. There's only two ways to stop such a threat. One way is to invade the area with your own chain, but the prior blocking move made that impossible. The other way is to end the game before the enclosure is complete. The game ends when the last camel in any of the five colors is taken. Walt and Scott began grabbing purple camels, and Eric had to chop the size of his enclosure drastically lest it be left hanging open at the end for no score. However, the side effect of all the purple camel draws were that Walt and Scott's heavy concentration in that color made 10-point bonuses in the other colors extremely cheap. Eric won three of the 10-point bonuses, two with herds only five camels in size.
Final scores: Eric 73, Walt 64, Scott 46.
COLORETTO
(Rich, Evan, Eric, Dan, Mike, Scott)
Walt and Anton had to leave, and it was already 11:00, so we looked for a short 6-player game. We decided on Coloretto, even though the maximum number of players is supposedly only 5. We used six stacks and placed the ending card 18 cards up from the bottom. With 6 players we hypothesized that "+2" cards would be worth a little more and wild cards a little less.
The color distributions came out in such a way that it was not easy for anyone to concentrate in one color. Defensive play all around didn't help either. Eric turned over two wild cards early, and both were scooped up immediately by Mike. Some people say the wild cards are a game-breaker, so we watched Mike carefully. Rich got the third wild card a little later, but he didn't have the long suit that would bring the most benefit from a wild card. Dan had started off with a yellow card, and he kept pecking away, grabbing one here and one there, assisted by the fact that no one else was making a try for yellow. In the end this made the difference.
Final scores: Dan 18, Mike 16, Eric 16, Rich 15, Evan 11, Scott 8.
Eric's rating: 8. There's even less control with 6, and the game goes very quickly, but it still works.
BAKSCHISCH
(Rich, Evan, Eric, Mike)
Dan and Scott left, as it was now 11:30, but 4 die-hards stayed on for one final game. Eric proposed Bakschisch, a quick blind-bidding game he recently purchased from Funagain. This game could be described as "Candyland on steroids," a description that is also sometimes used of Cartagena. The goal is to be first to move your token to the Caliph's seat through successful bids for advancement cards. The board is reminiscent of Aladdin's Dragons, with a winding path from the bottom to the top and a palace representing the top row. Each round, four advancement cards are put up for auction, one after the other, with a card granting the right to advance to the next space of a specific color. The fifth card in each round is a fall-back card; players bid to avoid falling back to the next space of that color.
Players bid using coins, with the high bidder(s) moving forward. You must pay the amount of your bid, win or lose. This is a mechanism that is annoying in many games, but Bakschisch is so simple and quick that it works here. Each player also has a thief that can be used once a round. It's a big help if you can scoop up multiple juicy bids with a single thief, and it's a disappointment if you play your thief only to find other thieves at work, leaving only a miserable amount to split up. After each round, all money bid and not stolen is divided up equally among all players, Traumfabrik-style.
Eric and Mike bid aggressively early on, leaving Rich and Evan richer but well behind on the track. Rich then made his move, spending cash to catch up as Evan continued his frugal ways. Eric and Mike bid their way into the palace (losing their thieves, which aren't admitted to the palace) as Rich scored big with his thief. Evan finally made his move, bidding high and draining cash from unsuccessful bidders, but falling short as first Rich and then Eric made it to the Caliph's seat. With only the fall-back card left to play, the question was who would still be on the throne when the round ended for the victory. Rich bid 4 and Eric bid 3, while Evan, impoverished by his late push, could bid only 2. Evan fell back, leaving Rich and Eric still on the seat. The first tie-break is cash, but Rich and Eric had both spent all their cash. The second tie-break is order of arrival, and since Rich arrived on the Caliph's seat one card before Eric did, he was the winner.
Eric's rating: 8. This game plays quickly; we finished in 20 minutes, including the rules explanation (of course, our motto at MVGA is "play fast, make mistakes.") There's some luck, but it doesn't seem as overwhelming as it can be in Cartagena. The "pay your bid, win or lose" blind-bidding mechanism works better in a 20-minute game than in a longer game, and there are real, tense decisions to make. If only the box weren't so big!
Roll Call: Anton, Dan, Mark, Eric, Dave, Mike, Evan, Walt, Rich, Paul
It was another big night at MVGA. Mark, an MVGA old-timer who moved away ten
years ago, is back visiting for two weeks. Dave, who attended for the first
time earlier in January, made his third visit, arriving with Mike as they drove
together from work, and we welcomed Paul for his first visit in several weeks.
With ten for the final week of the month, we averaged nine gamers a week
in January.
ALHAMBRA
(Anton, Dan, Mark, Eric)
The Masonic Hall was already bustling at 7:00. The first four to arrive sat down to Alhambra, SdJ winner for 2003 (with an expansion announced for 2004) and a current MVGA favorite. Mark was new to the game, but he clearly had experience with games and was up to speed immediately. Dan was happy to be selected as first to play, as his luck has been awful in Alhambra recently.
This game represented a break in the pattern as Dan was able to purchase a
number of tiles in the early going for exact change,
with Mark keeping up tile for tile. Anton and Eric did not find the pickings
as attractive and by the time of the first scoring card,
Dan and Mark were tied for the lead with Anton and Eric in the last two places.
During the middle part of the game, Dan continued to obtain free actions through
exact purchases, but this was a mixed blessing as almost every tile he could
buy was either a green
garden or a white workshop. Dan was clearly going to be first in these colors,
but without supporting holdings in other colors, it would be hard to win. Mark
kept pace, extending his wall, and Eric and Anton began to make comebacks, overpaying
for critical tiles and starting work on walls.
The second scoring preserved the relative positions of the players, distributing
the points evenly. Dan was ahead of Mark by a single
point, with Anton and Eric continuing to trail behind. At this point Dan's position
started to run out of steam, as second and even third places in colors other
than green and white were out of reach. Mark grabbed a tie in purple towers,
the most valuable color in the game, and finished an almost perfect wall to
take the victory away from three experienced players in his rookie game. Eric
and Anton scored respectably but lost further ground in the final scoring. Although
Dan did not win, he was relieved to have finished second after a string of poor
results in Alhambra.
Final scores: Mark 119, Dan 102, Eric 94, Anton 85.
Eric's rating: 8. This game is pleasant and has a level of competitiveness that I enjoy.
WYATT
EARP (Mike, Dave)
Mike and Dave came in together and played a hand of Wyatt Earp while they awaited further arrivals. The two-player game differs from the 3- or 4-player versions in that each player has a larger share of the card-playing opportunities and thus more opportunity to control the result. Each player controlled several long suits when Mike tried to go out, but unfortunately his final play of one outlaw on an existing three-outlaw meld together with an initial three-outlaw meld for another outlaw was illegal; he had no discard and you may not go out without a discard if it's your turn. He could not afford to forgo the points from the four-outlaw suit, so he played on. Only after several additional turns was Dave able to go out. By this time more players had arrived, so the game ended after a single hand.
Final scores: Dave $13K, Mike $9K.
Eric's rating: 9. We're still developing our strategies in this game. I have played mainly 3- and 4-player games; it's ideal for 3, but it works fine for 2 or for 4.
INDUSTRIA
(Evan, Walt, Rich, Paul)
By this time four more players had arrived and we were up to 10. We considered playing two 5-player games, but decided to play three games instead.
Industria is a bidding game with a unique mechanism. Each turn a set of tiles are turned up for distribution, with one player selected as first auctioneer. The auctioneer can simply take the tile of his or her choice (allowing the next player to become auctioneer,) or can instead sell the tile to the high bidder (and remain auctioneer.) The trick is to choose the best order in which to hold the auctions. You would prefer to auction off several tiles for money, while taking your first choice at the end, but this is hard to accomplish. If you auction lesser tiles first, the other players may pass, ending your turn as auctioneer. On the other hand, if you auction the best tile first, it will go to an opponent if you wish to keep your job as auctioneer.
In this game, Evan bought quite a few production buildings, assuring him of a steady cash source. Rich bought both the Bank and the Stock Market, reducing his cash need. This left Walt and Paul at a disadvantage. Evan waited his time to put his cash to use, but in the end his production beat out Rich's diversified approach.
Final scores: Evan 45, Rich 44, Walt 26, Paul 16.
Eric's rating: 8. The auction system is ingenious, but the order of play is also important. Many purchases require a key resource to build, and by delaying the construction of a production tile, you can damage your opponents' plans. This is especially true of the technologies, which are worthless if they are not built in the epoch in which they are purchased. There's more to this game than I'm able to understand at the moment.
ATTIKA
(Dave, Mike, Anton)
The second group played Attika, a game each had played once or twice before.
With less-experienced players connection wins are
common, so each player was eyeing his neighbors warily in the early going. Things
settled down after a while, and the business of getting tiles out on the board
and collecting amphorae for connected groups proceeded. As stacks shrink, offering
the potential for new map tiles, and as amphorae extend the range of options,
new connection threats develop later in the game, and this is where Dave struck.
He emptied a stack by drawing the last tile, placed it on the board, and used
the new map tile to open a new route to a shrine. He then used an amphora to
connect up to the shrine, winning the game.
Eric's rating: 7 for a game that plays well and has a bit of a potato chip quality to it (it's hard to play just one.) This is a slightly higher "7" than it was a few weeks ago; I can see this game moving up to "8" if it continues to provide interest.
PUERTO RICO (Eric, Mark, Dan)
With Industria and Attika underway, Dan and Eric decided we just had to teach Mark Puerto Rico, a game he had not yet played. The game works extremely well for three, and while we warned Mark that it can be a bit confusing for a new player, we could see from his earlier victory in Alhambra that he would not be an easy mark, even in a game he had just learned.
We drew randomly for seating order, and Eric drew the first slot, with Mark second and Dan third. The second slot is often thought to be the most difficult in 3- and 4-player Puerto Rico, so Mark had an extra handicap. Eric began with a Quarry, Mark took Coffee and Dan took Tobacco. Mark then Mayored and Dan Built, giving free Small Markets to him and Eric while Mark took a Construction Hut. This left Mark in a difficult position cash-wise, and he struggled with the problem for the first part of the game. Eric got an early Factory, and later picked up his own Coffee, while Dan benefited from a Tobacco monopoly that lasted the entire game (Dan wound up with at least four Tobacco plantations, more than he could work, but this made it hard for Eric to get one.)
Dan got the other Factory, and not long after, Dan and Mark scooped up the Harbors. Mark and Dan had accumulated a number of Corn plantations and began to ship as Eric tried to end the game quickly. On the final turn, Mark got 8 VP from a single Corn loading to finish a furious comeback attempt, but he wound up just a little bit short.
Final scores:
VP Bldg Bonus Total Dan 23 + 21 + 7 = 51 Eric 13 + 24 + 10 = 47 Mark 24 + 21 = 45
Eric's rating: 10. As usual, an interesting and close game.
STEPHENSONS
ROCKET (Evan, Walt, Rich, Paul)
Industria finished off with a close win for Evan, and the other two games
were still in progress, so the four players set up Walt's
copy of Stephensons Rocket (it's hard to remember that the title has no apostrophe!)
This Knizia game of railroad investment in England has no luck at all. This
feature can cause stilted play if a group plays the game over and over, but
it's not a problem at MVGA because none of us has memorized "best"
moves.
Stephensons Rocket, like many Knizia games, offers multiple avenues to victory. You get points for owning stations on important rail lines, for owning shares in important rail companies, and for obtaining majorities in different commodities. You'd prefer to get a lot of points easily by concentrating on something no one else wants, but they can see what you're doing and provide competition to prevent a runaway in any one area.
This game saw a lot of discussion among the players as shares were voted to
direct rail building in one direction or another, and as
the players weighed the relative values of stations, shares and commodities.
It's hard to know who's winning before the end, so everyone was eager to see
the final scores. When we had finished counting the money, Rich had nipped Evan
by a single point and Walt was not far behind.
Final scores: Rich 79, Evan 78, Walt 76, Paul 37.
URSUPPE
(Dan, Eric, Evan, Walt)
Walt brought a number of less-common games to the session, and after the success of Stephensons Rocket we went right on to Ursuppe. This fascinating game casts each player as the commander of a species of amoeba, reproducing and gaining favorable mutations in an attempt to be more successful than any other species of amoeba. (It's interesting that most games on the topic of evolution seem to present Lamarckian evolution, in which you mutate because you want to mutate!) Many gamers have played Evo from EuroGames. A number of EuroGames products are simplified versions of other games; Vinci is a simplified version of History of the World or Civilization, while Evo is a simplified version of Ursuppe.
The game begins in a cheerful state, with food plentifully spread across the board, but it's not long before the pickings are thin. New food comes from only two sources: amoeba poop and dead amoebas (you can see that this game would be a hit with middle schoolers!) The amoebas do not possess much control over their movement at the start of the game; they mainly drift to and fro with the current. Each species gets 10 points a turn to spend on reproduction, buying new genes and movement; for 1 point an amoeba can roll a die and move accordingly instead of drifting. This laughable improvement in mobility can be upgraded by the purchase of the right genes, but you never have as many points as you need.
Strategies differed in the early going, as Dan focused on obtaining control over his movement, Walt on improving his reproduction rate, and Eric and Evan played more balanced strategies. Dan and Eric were the early leaders, with Walt a few points behind and Evan in last place. The level of cosmic rays varies from turn to turn, and when they are bad, they can force players to discard those dearly-won genes if they cannot pay to keep them. Dan's movement strategy was one he was able to focus on steadily, while Eric's stalled with no clear way to move forward. Walt kept in it with his clouds of new amoeba, and Evan purchased a valuable gene, Struggle for Survival, that enabled him to eat another amoeba when food was short. Evan proceeded to swallow four of Eric's healthy amoeba in a single turn, catapulting Evan into competition and dropping Eric's depleted species into last place.
Final scores: Dan 45, Evan 43, Walt 37, Eric 35.
Eric's rating: 8. This game is extremely cute; it's fun to play and it makes sense. There are real decisions to make. In the short term your decisions are tactical, but in the long term your choice of gene purchases will determine the outcome. I strongly prefer Ursuppe to Evo and Urland, two games it is often compared with, because there is a much stronger strategic element to Ursuppe.
PUERTO RICO (Rich, Anton, Dave, Mike, Mark)
Paul had to leave for work, and with four playing Ursuppe, this left five for another game. Mark had enjoyed his first game of Puerto Rico so much that he asked for an immediate replay. He had finished well despite making some moves he later realized could have been improved, and he didn't want to wait to try again. The other four players, each of whom had experience with the game, went over the differences between the 3-player game and the 5-player game, and the game began.
Mark once again played a shipping strategy effectively, supported by Rich, who focused on shipping, but Dave's building strategy won by a few points.
Final scores:
VP Bldg Bonus Total Dave 21 + 23 + 11 = 55 Mark 30 + 15 + 8 = 53 Rich 37 + 16 = 53 Anton 20 + 18 + 12 = 50 Mike 24 + 16 = 40
Eric's rating: 10.
Roll call: Eric, Rich, Mark, Dan, Walt, Evan.
Mark, an MVGA old-timer and a transplanted Patriots' fan who'll be headed back home to Carolina after a few weeks in Massachusetts, came to MVGA again this week.
HICK HACK IN
GACKELWACK (Eric, Rich, Mark, Dan, Walt)
Five gamers were fired up and ready to go as MVGA swung into gear for another Thursday evening of gaming. We looked for a quick filler game to play while we waited to see whether any more players would arrive (there's nothing worse than coming in a few minutes late and finding everyone already engaged in long games.) Walt had some brand-new games under his arm, but we exhibited an unexpected capacity for delayed gratification and laid out six large barnyard tiles and a handful of chicken feed as we set up Hick Hack in Gackelwack.
Each player received six cards (some foxes and some chickens) and Walt went over the rules. In each of the 13 rounds of this game, each player simultaneously plays a card face-down. When the cards are exposed, each fox or chicken goes to the barnyard of that color, the foxes eat the chickens, and the chickens that survive eat the chicken feed. If several foxes or several chickens visit the same barnyard, they roll dice or negotiate to determine who gets the loot. It's partly a game of outguessing your opponents and partly one of playing the hand you are dealt. After the loot is divided, any uneaten chicken feed remains in place, each player gets a new card, and six new chicken feed cubes are laid out. The game started out evenly, but Richard soon began to display an uncanny ability to bring his foxes out at just the right time. Whenever several chickens flocked to the same barnyard, Rich was there with a fox. The table in front of Rich soon had more dead chickens than the entire state of Delaware. Each of the rest of us tried to out-think and double-think Rich's strategy, but it only resulted in a hungry foxes' convention that we forgot to invite the chickens to attend.
Final scores: Rich 46, Dan 31, Mark 31, Eric 31, Walt 24.
Eric's rating: 6. Hick Hack in Gackelwack is a silly quick game with some skill and a lot of luck. If you like to laugh, you'll have plenty of opportunities.
KOGGE
(Rich, Mark, Dan)
Evan arrived as we finished our first game, and with 6 in attendance we decided to split into two threes. Everyone was eager to play Kogge, a new game Walt brought to MVGA, but it's designed for 2 to 4 players and we didn't want to leave two players out, so we decided to let Rich, Mark and Dan give it a try. Kogge is a desktop-published game of trading in the Baltic Sea area (a popular topic recently.) Some reviews have commented on the amateurish appearance and poor print quality of the components, but the print quality of Walt's copy was reasonably good for desktop publishing (though the box had so much of the color worn off that it looked like it had been in someone's game bin for ten years.)
In Kogge, players trade in Ore, Fur, Salt and Amber, establishing trading offices in the Hanseatic cities. The trade routes between cities are governed by "route markers," with two route markers placed for each city. For example, if city #4 has route markers #2 and #5, your Kogge (ship) in city #4 can move either to city #2 or city #5. Each player has a supply of route markers that can be used to shift the routes or to bid for player order. The game can end in either of two different ways. If a player gets to 5 development points at any time, that player wins immediately. Alternatively, if the Guild Master completes two circuits of the board, the game is over and the player with the most victory points wins. Victory points are not the same as development points; for example, although offices count both for development points and victory points, goods on board your ship count for victory points but not development points. This dual victory system (somewhat reminiscent of Liberte or Nur Peanuts) adds interest to the game.
All three players were new to the game, and rules although fairly straightforward take a while to internalize, so play started slowly. However, as the guild master traversed his second circuit, it became clear that the game could easily end in either of the two ways. Rich had an advantage if the guild master completed the second circuit because of his large stash of goods, but Dan was threatening to grab 5 development points first. As it turned out, Dan raced over to the key city to get to 5 just one turn before the guild master made it back.
Final scores: Dan 5, Mark 4, Rich 3.
Eric's rating: I have not yet played the game, but I'd like to try it.
MAYA (Eric,
Evan, Walt)
While three players began Kogge, the other three decided to try Maya. Evan had brought Maya with him to MVGA the past few weeks, so we wanted to make sure he got a chance to teach it. The game was new to Eric and Walt, and Evan had only played it with more than 3, so no one really knew what to expect. Maya is a block-placing game, in the same broad category as El Grande or San Marco, though the rules are a lot simpler than either of those games. The game lasts three rounds, and each round is composed of an auction in which you place cards to bid for cubes and special actions followed by a cube-placing phase and end-of-round scoring. The auction is tricky in that you must save some of your bidding cards to transport the cubes won to the building site. If you save too many cards you won't win many cubes, but if you save too few cards you won't be able to transport cubes to the building site (as it turned out, no one lost cubes due to transportation problems in this game.)
We felt our way through the first round. Each player spread his bids around during the auction, and we finished with a 3-way tie for number of cubes won. We then moved to the building site, where Walt concentrated primarily on one pyramid, Evan spread his cubes evenly, and Eric ignored Walt's pyramid and divided his cubes among the other three pyramids. Placement is partly a matter of sheer numbers and partly a matter of timing; if you have a majority on one level it's possible to get a free cube on the next level if you time things right. After the first round Walt scored heavily for his one pyramid, Eric scored fairly well for each of the others, and Evan trailed due to the fact that he was so spread out. Scores after one round: Eric 11, Walt 8, Evan 6.
In the second round, Eric took the largest number of cubes in the auction by spreading his bidding around while Walt and Evan focused their bidding, winning the special actions but gaining fewer cubes. Eric's numerical advantage proved critical as he was able to outlast his opponents and gain some unchallenged placements at the end of the round. Scores after two rounds: Eric 26, Walt 18, Evan 16.
In the third round, Walt and Evan again concentrated to gain all the special actions, but there was again a 3-way tie for most cubes, so that Eric came out the loser in the auction. Unfortunately for Walt and Evan, Eric's strong existing position in the pyramids could not be overcome in the final cube placement.
Final scores: Eric 52, Walt 40, Evan 36.
Eric's rating: 6. The game plays very well, but it's not clear from the first playing how much scope there is for strategic play. This rating is just a first estimate based on a single play. The game also works and would have a different feel for 4 or 5 players; it's hard to predict what the differences would be.
WEB
OF POWER (Eric, Walt, Evan)
The Kogge game was nowhere near completion, so we looked for a shortish game that works well for 3. We went to the MVGA games closet and pulled out Web of Power, a quick game that we've played often over the years. Web of Power is a game that requires patience and the ability to seize an opportunity when it presents itself. In order to make your move you need not only the right board position, but also the right cards. If you don't have an opportunity, it's often best to resist the temptation to make a splashy but unsound move and play a small waiting move instead. A splash can help an opponent far more than it helps you.
The game started with the usual rush into Frankreich, the largest country on the board. Walt played several double moves while Eric and Evan were restricted by the cards available to single moves, but they had learned their lessons and waited patiently. Eric and Walt began to compete for advisors in the west while Evan focused on cloisters, filling every spot in Burgund and attaining a 5-cloister chain. Walt and Eric pussy-footed around in Italy with 2 cloisters and an advisor each, neither wanting to give the other the critical third advisor and neither able to draw the right double. This let Evan snatch the rest of the Italian cloister spaces to close the country. The first scoring found the players fairly even, but soon after that the wheels came off for Walt, who not only stopped drawing useful doubles, but also missed a couple of obvious must-play situations. Eric grabbed advisor majorities in England, Frankreich, Aragon, Italy, and Lothringen, cutting Walt out of the action. At this point only Evan had advisors left to place, and he snapped up the east. By the end of the game, Eric had 35 advisor points, Evan had 21 and Walt had none. Walt was exhausted and left after this game.
Final scores: Eric 94, Evan 81, Walt 42.
Eric's rating: 7. This game plays quickly and has important decisions. It requires a good sense of timing. I was happy to win this game, even though it was partly a result of luck, because I've lost badly almost every time I played in the past.
BALLOON
CUP (Eric, Evan)
Walt had left, and Kogge was still grinding along, so Eric and Evan looked for a 2-player game. Evan had not yet played Balloon Cup, so he asked Eric to teach it. Balloon Cup, by local designer Stephen Glenn, is a card game in which you win cubes and use the cubes to buytrophies. The first player to buy three of the five trophies wins. Each player has an 8-card hand, but you can only play cards of colors matching the cubes that are drawn, and not all the cards in those colors will benefit you. As a result, Balloon Cup is a game of hand management, remembering what has been discarded and controlling the discard pile to your own advantage.
Experience tends to be important because some features of the game are not immediately apparent. Although it was Evan's first game and Eric's tenth, Evan displayed impressive technique. Eric won the first trophy (the gray one,) but we soon entered a stage in which neither player had the cards he wanted, so that it was a question of playing the least painful card. Evan won a trophy of his own, then another, and finally won a hop that gave him the cards he needed to pick up two more trophies to win 4 to 1.
Eric's rating: 7. The game plays smoothly. It feels like a traditional card game, even though the mechanics are new. It's a little bit irritating to have to reshuffle the discard pile so often, but this means your discards are soon available again (possibly for your opponent) so you have to watch each one.
TAJ
MAHAL (Eric, Rich, Mark, Dan, Evan)
Kogge finished, and with Walt leaving we had 5 players. Many games work best for 5, and we decided on one of the best, Taj Mahal. Mark had never played Taj Mahal, but given his success last week with Alhambra and Puerto Rico we were confident he would enjoy it. Taj Mahal is a game with an unusual multi-dimensional bidding mechanic in which the cards you bid are lost forever, even if you fail to win anything. Unfortunately, you must take the risk of entering an auction and putting those cards at risk if you want a chance to win. Taj Mahal feels something like poker as you sweat each "visit" out, wondering whether your opponents will stay in or fold, and whether the ones who stay in will have the cards to beat your cards. The game isn't usually won by being the last to stay in all the time, but by folding for a small win at a small cost much of the time.
There are several main strategies in Taj Mahal. You can focus on elephants, gaining a large share of commodities; each commodity you win makes the next commodity of that type more valuable. The problem with the elephant strategy is that there are almost always several players using it, hurting each other's chances. You can focus on connections, a strategy that offers a little more flexibility, but it's easy to be blocked by one or two unfortunate placements. Finally, you can seize control of the +2 special card; this is not likely to win the game by itself, but can be an important component of a victory. When left unopposed, the elephant strategy tends to be dominant, but experienced players generally don't let that happen.
There are a number of superb Taj Mahal players in the Boston gaming community, and Rich is one of the best. He was fresh off a win over Terry and Kyle in late January, and we all watched him carefully as the game started. In the early going, Rich and Eric pursued elephants, as the other three pursued connections, with Dan grabbing the +2 card and playing it several visits in a row. During Round 2, Eric started with 3 elephants (using a wild elephant) and Rich placed a green and a purple with an elephant. Eric could have withdrawn for elephants, but he chose to be greedy and go for purple as well, hoping to take the special elephant card. This drew Eric and Rich into a costly early battle in which each spent six cards (and in the end, Eric got the elephants and Rich the green and purple, a distribution the two of them could have achieved at much less cost earlier.) Both were unlucky to be so concentrated in green, purple and elephants.
Many people complain that conflicts in Taj Mahal are a matter of luck, but if you pay attention you can usually see it coming (the first two or three rounds are the exception, because you haven't had time to learn enough about your opponents' hands.) In the middle of the game, players took a number of opportunities to fold immediately, gaining three cards instead of two. Dan's chain was choked off and he lost the +2 card to Eric as Mark and Evan made a comeback to tie for the lead by a small margin. Rich folded for three cards a few times but had poor luck on the draw. The final part of the game saw Dan back in possession of the +2 card, Eric and Rich dividing up most of the remaining elephants, Evan collecting a huge stack of cards, and Eric building a respectable late connection. In Round 12, Rich folded for the +4 in Agra, Evan grabbed several palaces, and Eric got both the elephant tile and a 5-point connection. Eric was in the lead before we counted points for longest suit, but the huge card stacks assured tension until the end.
Final scores: Eric 48, Dan 43, Rich 38, Evan 36, Mark 32. Eric had 6 cards, Dan 11, Rich 7, Evan 18 (!) and Mark 8.
Eric's rating: 10. No other game gets my heart pounding like Taj Mahal when I decide to stay in and risk a huge card loss with the possibility of no gain. I've done reasonably well at Taj Mahal in the past, but I had never won at a Boston gaming group, so I was thrilled to win this game.
Roll call: Evan, Walt, Dan, Paul, Eric, Mike, Dave, Bob
We had eight gamers for the night; this is an example of the solid attendance we've enjoyed recently, since we made it to eight without Anton and Rich (two regulars.) Mike and Dave both came to MVGA again, and we had a rare visit from Bob, who is a Boston-area gaming fixture, but an unusual sight at MVGA.
SAN FRANCISCO
(Evan, Walt, Dan, Paul, Eric)
The live steam group was meeting at the Masonic Hall, as they do about once a month. When they meet, MVGA moves upstairs to the room at the back of the hall. If you see a large group with railroad paraphernalia in the main hall, come around to the back or go through the kitchen and up the stairs to find us. Walt brought two games to MVGA this week, one old (San Francisco) and one new (Kogge.) We had 5 players, so with Kogge limited to 4 we chose San Francisco as our first game. We had played a 4-player game of San Francisco back on October 2, and everyone was more or less familiar with the game.
San Francisco is an abstract game in which players bid for the right to surround squares and score points, but the graphics provide local color (if only it were more clear which "4" tiles are which, and similarly for the "5" and "6" tiles.) Bids are sometimes made with money (in the form of bank notes that do not allow change) and sometimes with "influence," an alternate form of currency. Influence bids have the annoying feature that two identical bids cancel each other out, possibly allowing a lower but unique bid to win. For this reason, it can be difficult to spend those influence points, even if you're willing to bid high. As the game began, Paul and Eric butted heads, each placing sticks of their own colors around the same corner square as Dan and Walt began roping off solo areas. A number of influence auctions came up, and Dan was pleased to see that his low bids were often winners as his four opponents managed to cancel each other's bids out. Dan's resulting lead drew some attention and allowed Evan to place sticks in a "+" shape, threatening to surround four squares in a single area. The difficulty in making successful influence bids left us with an influence glut, and the relative scarcity of money auctions kept us all clear of bankruptcy. At one point Eric was in danger of being shut out entirely, but he finally managed a single four-point tile to avoid the humiliation of a goose egg. It was way too late, however, as Evan's surge had given him an insurmountable lead.
Final scores: Evan 28, Walt 22, Dan 18, Paul 5, Eric 4.
Eric's rating: 6. I've lowered my rating for San Francisco down from 7 now that I've played two games. The fact that neither money nor influence points seemed to be in short supply made the bidding a little pointless. There's nothing wrong with the game, but there are many other bidding games I prefer over San Francisco.
WEB
OF POWER (Mike, Dave, Bob)
Mike and Dave work at the same place, and we were happy to see both of them arrive together, with Bob close behind. I've played with Bob at Unity Games get-togethers, but this is the first time I've seen him at MVGA. The San Francisco game was well underway, so the three later arrivals chose Web of Power, a short game that works well for 3. Web of Power offers three routes to scoring: getting the right number of cloisters in a country, getting advisor majorities in adjacent country pairs, and getting long chains of cloisters. Chains are easy to block, so cloisters and advisors are the most common routes to victory. In this game, Mike managed to do well both in cloisters and in advisors to pull out the victory.
Final scores: Mike won, Bob behind by 5, Dave third (I don't have the exact scores.)
Eric's rating: 7. This game is simple, quick and requires solid judgment and timing.
KOGGE
(Evan, Walt, Dan, Eric)
The first two games finished at about the same time, so we looked for two new 4-player games. Neither Walt nor Eric had been part of the 3-player Kogge game on February 5, and both wanted a shot, so we chose Kogge as one of the two games. Dan (who had won the previous game) joined us, and Evan made 4. Kogge is a trading game in which players visit nine cities ranged around the Baltic Sea, trading commodities and founding trading houses.
The commodity trading is a familiar gaming mechanism, but what makes Kogge distinctive is the "route markers," which are cardboard chits numbered "0" through "8" that have multiple uses. >From any city a player's Kogge (ship) can sail to two other cities, as defined by two route markers placed near the city. If you'd like to sail from city "6" to city "4", you can remove one of the route markers currently near city "6", put it in your hand, and play a route marker "4" from your hand upside down to the board (where only you know what it is.) You also use route markers (together with the appropriate commodities) to found new trading offices (one marker of the same number as the city for the first trading office at the city and two markers of that same number for the second and final trading office at that city.) Finally, you use route markers to bid for turn order, with two identical markers beating any set without two identical markers, three identical markers beating two, and so on. Each marker used for bidding generates new commodities at the corresponding city. Ideally you'd play a "4" to establish a route to city "4" followed by several "4"s to win first bid and generate multiple commodities at city "4" and then one or two "4"s to set up a trading office there. Of course, it's almost impossible to gather so many route markers all with the same number, so you must decide what's most important to you.
As we started off, Eric built the first office, but at the cost of his entire commodity supply. It's not easy to get back into the commodity business once you've spent your whole supply, so he was out of the action for a while as he tried to restock. Walt then used his "Raid" tile to sack a city (making him unwelcome there for the rest of the game but gaining a fine haul of goods,) only to be raided in turn by Dan, who used the spoils to set up in the office business. Evan traded well and raided a city of his own to become a clear leader with three trading offices, but Eric raided Evan in turn to make it to three trading offices himself. The game has two alternate (and only partly similar) sets of victory criteria. If one player makes it to 5 development points (trading offices or bonus tiles) before the wooden guild master figure completes two circuits of the board, that player wins instantly. Commodities are worthless in this case. On the other hand, if the guild master completes two circuits, the victor is determined based on victory points and not development points, and commodities can be an important component of victory points. The previous week's game ended when Dan made it to 5 development points, but raids make the guild master move faster, and he completed his tour before anyone could make it to 5 this week.
Final scores: Eric 55 VP (3 trading offices + 25 in commodities) Evan 41 VP (3 trading offices + 11 in commodities) Dan 35 VP (3 trading offices + 5 in commodities) Walt 35 VP (2 trading offices + 15 in commodities) None of us obtained any bonus tiles or had a "Raid" tile left.
Eric's rating: 8. This game is a brain-burner, at least for the first several playings. The most complex aspect is determining how to make best use of your route markers. There's no single obvious winning strategy, at least not for new players. I really enjoyed this game.
WYATT
EARP (Mike, Dave, Bob, Paul)
Bob and Paul had to leave early, so the group selected Wyatt Earp, a quick game that has become an MVGA favorite. Dave prefers to play without the variant that allows you to drop a photo on an opponent's turn, but he agreed to play with it this time because the others all preferred the game with it. In Wyatt Earp, one can seek to score big on a few outlaws by outstripping competing scores by 5 or more capture points, but this approach invites attention from Hideout cards. The other way to win is to diversify with a hand in every pie. This is the route Mike took to victory. The game ended with $9K uncashed on Bob Dalton. This fell far short of the $27K uncashed in a recent MVGA game, but it would have given either Bob or Paul the win if they could have scooped it up.
Final scores: Mike $26K, Bob $21K, Paul $19K, Dave $16K.
Eric's rating: 9.
BALLOON
CUP (Mike, Dave)
Bob and Paul left, and Kogge was not near completion, so Mike taught Dave Balloon Cup, a 2-player game from local designer Stephen Glenn. The key to the game is timing and hand management, and though it seems like a luck-driven game, the stronger player will win a substantial majority of the games. Dave had never played before, and experience won out. Mike showed Dave why it's not usually a good idea to leave a "hop" that can be won hanging too long (your opponent will eventually get the winning card.)
Final scores: Mike 3, Dave 2.
Eric's rating: 7. I've been playing this game quite a bit recently and I'm enjoying the process of learning the tricks of the trade.
We've benefitted from quite a few visitors in recent months, but the eight gamers who turned out this week were all regulars.
SANTIAGO
(Rich, Anton, Evan, Eric)
With 8 gamers all ready to go from the start of the evening, we talked briefly about what games to choose. Eric had received Santiago in a recent order, so he asked to play and began to set up. The game works for 3 to 5 players, but because we had 8 at MVGA, we wanted to play two 4-player games. Santiago is a bidding game and a game that involves getting cube majorities in the right areas. Rich is a master of bidding games and cube majority games, and it's right up his alley. Rich had played a few times before and Eric had played once, but Anton and Evan were brand-new to the game, so we began by explaining the rules.
Santiago is an arid island in the Cape Verde island chain. Players win by having large shares in extensive plantations and by amassing cash at the end of the game. Plantations are the main key to victory, but cash will make the difference in a close game. A plantation is a contiguous grouping of tiles showing a single crop (potatoes, sugar cane, bananas, peas or paprika) and can be shared by multiple players (as long as each player has his or her crop markers on different tiles in the plantation.) However, a tile is only viable if it has access to water, and water comes only from a single spring (or actually from canals emanating from the spring.) Each round, four tiles are turned up (in a 4-player game) and players bid for turn order, with the high bidder getting first choice of tile and location. No two players may bid the same amount, but you may bid more or less than a previous player. This part of the game is reminiscent of New England. The low bidder (or first passer) gets last choice of tile and placement, but obtains the right to be the canal digger, an important job when water is highly sought after. After the tiles are selected and placed, the canal digger receives bribes from other players to place the canal in this location or that. A player need not offer a bribe, but if you want water for your tiles, you'd better get into the action. The canal digger can take any bribe (even a smaller one,) or can place a new canal in a totally different place by paying one more than the highest bribe. Each player has one emergency canal that can be placed without the intervention of the canal digger, but it's not much in an 11-turn game.
We started the game off with two large plantations, one with potatoes and another with paprika. Anton got a banana plantation off to a promising start, but he was the only investor in bananas, and as a result he found his plantation mysteriously hemmed in. We found that the last bidder has the choice either to top the highest bid by 1 or to bid low, while the early bidders (if they don't choose to be canal digger) have less control. It was fascinating to see many of our canal diggers spurn a bribe of 4 or 5 to take a bribe of 1 (when taking the smaller bribe would also help the canal digger's tile.) Rich played a cagey game, bidding $1 several times and even getting to be canal digger on bids of $1. Eric matched him tile for tile, but Eric spent quite a bit more money to do it.
Final scores: Rich $133, Eric $127, Evan $115, Anton $90.
Eric's rating: 7. This game feels very much like New England. The rules are simple and it's never necessary to consult the rule book, but there are interesting decisions. I'm eager to play again, and I can see that my rating may go up over time.
SETTLERS OF CATAN (Dan, Walt, Paul, Scott)
The MVGA crowd enjoys the Settlers series, even though we haven't been playing all that often recently. Four players decided to try the Seafarers variant with the Cities and Knights rules folded in. The board was set up with one central continent surrounded by smaller islands. The die-rolling began. Victory requires 12 victory points (as opposed to 10 in regular Settlers,) but there are additional ways to score, so the additional points are not so hard to obtain. Dan placed his initial pieces in such a way as to benefit from rolls of 8, 9 and 10, and he demonstrated considerable skill in making sure these numbers came up again and again. The resulting haul made him a runaway winner.
Final scores: Dan 12, Paul 9, Walt 6, Scott 6.
Eric's rating: I haven't played Seafarers with Cities and Knights. I do tend to prefer the regular version of Settlers or Seafarers with no added chrome.
TAJ
MAHAL (Dan, Walt, Paul, Scott)
We played Taj Mahal for the first time in quite a while on February 5, and it was such a success that we pulled it out again for a 4-player game. Taj Mahal is a game of planning, timing and brinksmanship. The one thing you must do is watch to make sure no opponent runs away with the commodities (though the connection strategy is stronger in a 4-player game because there are fewer opponents trying to block connections.) In this game, Walt managed to scoop up exactly the cards he needed, and he had minimal opposition for commodities. Paul had to leave after only nine visits, so the game was called at that point.
Final scores: Walt 38, Scott 30, Dan 28, Paul 12.
PUERTO RICO (Rich, Anton, Evan, Eric)
The Santiago game had finished, and Anton requested that we play Puerto Rico next. We discussed using the new buildings, but we decided in the end to stick to the old familiar ones. We drew plantations for turn order and Anton was first, followed by Rich, Evan and Eric in that order. Anton began by Building for a Small Indigo plant, followed by Rich and Evan with Small Markets. Eric, deprived of a Small Market, chose to save his money. Rich Settled for a Quarry, an option he was happy to seize with no Corn visible, and Evan took Coffee, Eric Tobacco and Anton another Coffee. Evan filled the Corn and the Market with the Mayor and Eric grabbed a doubloon off the Prospector.
As we moved through the early game, Evan got Coffee going early, followed by Eric with Tobacco, but Evan's Small Market and turn order directly ahead of Eric gave him a key edge at the Trading House, although Evan's lack of Quarries offset this advantage somewhat. The "target" buildings were scooped up quickly, with Evan and Anton buying out the Factories in one turn and Eric and Rich buying Harbors to try and keep up on the next turn. Evan and Anton then bought Wharfs as Eric's cash shortage forced him to live with a Small Warehouse (the only warehouse bought in the game!) and Rich's even more severe cash shortage forced him to pass a few times.
As we moved through the middle game, Evan sported a wide lead, but the others worked to keep Evan's commodities off the boats. Evan was producing only Corn, Coffee and Tobacco, so the rest of us were pleased to see Corn, Indigo and Sugar on the boats for a while. Eric got a Coffee plantation but was shut out of the Coffee Roasters, but he bought the Guild Hall at the end of the middle game anyway, hoping to grab some valuable Indigo and Sugar Plants. Each of the other players took his own large building soon thereafter, but Eric and Rich crept back into contention using their Harbors. Eric threatened to end the game through a colonist shortage, but Rich and Evan stripped their plantations to populate their cities and keep the game going (at a cost in production.) On the final turn, Evan Buildered to take a final large building that would never be populated, leaving Eric to Captain, gaining 5 VP for shipping two barrels while Anton gained one and the others gained none (an earlier Captain and a Trader had cleaned the goods out.) This was just enough to make the difference.
Final scores:
VP Bldg Bonus Total Eric 28 + 19 + 8 = 55 Evan 25 + 23 + 6 = 54 Rich 20 + 25 + 6 = 51 Anton 19 + 22 + 7 = 48
Eric's rating: 10.
This was one of the tensest Puerto Rico games we've played for quite a while. It was up in the air until the last role was taken.
INDUSTRIA
(Rich, Evan, Eric, Dan)
It was still early, and even though Walt, Scott and Anton had to leave, we had 4 left with time for one more game. Rich suggested Industria, a new game that has become a favorite, and the rest of us were happy to join in. Industria is a bidding game with multiple sources of victory points. You can build buildings, buy technologies (which are riskier but potentially lucrative,) make connections or gather the right bonus tiles. Money is a source of victory points at the end of the game, but you're better off spending it to gain victory points by other means if you can.
We drew for player order, and Rich received the dangerous fourth spot in the first round. Money is tight for the fourth players, so you must bid cautiously to avoid being shut out for several rounds. Dan bid aggressively to obtain both the Sawmill and the Quarry, easy sources of cash, together with Mechanization, while Eric got the Well, the Brickworks and Construction (better for points but not as good for money) and Evan and Rich saved their money.
Some of our games have featured overwhelming chains of Technologies, but with the exception of Rich (who avoided Technology altogether but collected a lot of bonus tiles,) we dueled fiercely over them and limited the gains of any one player. Eric's purchases of the Well and Construction made it impossible for him to build the Brickworks, and it wasn't until the third epoch that he got it up. As a result, he lost out on $3 as his opponents bought bricks from the bank. However, he did get 3 VP for a connection to the Well and managed to sell several late loads of bricks. Dan recovered from his early poverty to purchase both the Bank and the Stock Market (with the resulting connection) and two more Technologies that connected to his Mechanization.
As we approached the final epoch, Rich trailed on the scoreboard, but had a worrying pile of bonus tiles. Dan and Eric were well off, but Rich and Evan were poor. Dan turned over a lot containing three Technologies. He really wanted Nanotechnology (worth 7 VP with the connection) so had to take Eric's $2 bid for Telecommunications (worth 6 VP to Eric.) Even after the final auction we had no idea who would win, so we counted the final points on tenterhooks. Eric had 12 points for connections, as did Rich, and Rich had 12 points for bonuses as opposed to only 6 for Eric. This left Rich ahead by 1 VP, but Eric had cash of $4 for 1 VP while Rich's cash was only $2. The tiebreaker is number of tiles built, and it made the difference.
Final scores: Eric 43 (with 14 tiles) Rich 43 (with 11 tiles) Dan 37 (with 12 tiles) Evan 37 (with 11 tiles)
Eric's rating: 8. This game offers both tactical and strategic challenges. A winning strategy requires maneuvering yourself into a position in which your opponents will help you as they're helping themselves. I've played a number of games now, and this was the closest yet.
Roll call: Anton, Dan, Rich, Paul, Eric, Mike, Dave. We were happy to see Mike and Dave back again; Dave has now learned the route from the place they work and he arrived a little before Dave.
RA (Anton,
Dan, Rich, Paul)
The 4 gamers that were ready to go at 7:00 decided to start with Ra, a game that doesn't take too long, and that also would let them add a fifth player if one were to arrive before they finished setting up. Ra is a bidding game in which each player has three "suns" (lovely wooden pieces shaped like suns) to bid with. When you have bid three times you're done for the epoch, and when everyone had bid three time, the epoch ends. The epoch can also end when the "Ra" tiles finish crossing the sky; if you haven't used your sun by then, too bad. In the first of the three epochs, the players are given carefully balanced sets of suns, but in the second and third epoch you play with whatever you picked up in the prior epoch, so that one consideration in bidding is what sun you'll get for next time. As the game started, Anton and Rich scooped up the first few lots while Dan and Paul awaited better fare.
You're always conscious of time in Ra. If you use your suns early, you wait helplessly as your opponents scoop up valuable lots cheaply and the "Ra" tiles seem to creep across the sky. On the other hand, if you save your suns, the "Ra" tiles seem to race across the sky, and you're tempted to bid for anything at all lest you lose your chance. One key source of luck in Ra is the rate at which "Ra" tiles are drawn; a rapid rate favors those who bid early, while a slow rate favors those who wait. Of course, you can evaluate the probabilities based on what has been drawn so far, but it's still a random draw. In this game. a flurry of suns ended the first epoch quickly, leaving Dan and Paul with almost no tiles purchased (Dan had nothing but two unflooded Nile tiles.) However, Dan had amassed good tiles for the second epoch.
In the second epoch, the players drew juicy sets, benefiting those with the large suns capable of winning hotly-contested auctions, only to spoil them time and time again by adding "killers" to the sets (the funeral that kills Pharoahs, the drought that kills floods and Niles, the earthquake that kills monuments, and the anarchy that kills civilizations. It just wasn't Dan's game as his suns failed to pay off as expected. The third epoch went fairly quickly again, with a number of quick strikes by Rich, who picked up all eight monument types and all five of one monument for 30 monument points. Rich's ability to get five of a type not only gave him 15 points, but also made it impossible for anyone else to get eight types. Anton gathered 20 monument points to come in second.
Final scores: Rich 61, Anton 57, Dan 34, Paul 24
Eric's rating: 9. Ra is a great game that plays quickly and works well for 3, 4 or 5 players. My rating is 9 and not 10 only because luck is so prominent, but the game is short enough that it's not much of a problem; if you lose because of bad luck you can always play again immediately afterward. It's too bad this game is out of print; someone should pick it up and reprint it.
BALLOON
CUP (Dave, Mike)
Eric came in soon after Ra started and watched the action. Dave came in and watched as he ate his sub, but when Mike arrived, he and Dave sat down to play Balloon Cup. Dave has played before, but Mike has more experience. At one point in the game, the players drew a total of four gray cubes, but they knew of the rules fix that directs you to redraw in this situation. Mike got some lucky draws and knew where to use them, and this gave him a comfortable win.
Final scores: Mike 3, Dave 1
Eric's rating: 7. A little more than a filler, but a game that doesn't take long and is fairly easy to teach.
SANTIAGO
(Anton, Dan, Rich, Paul, Eric)
Dave and Mike were still battling over hops, so we chose another short game. We wanted to avoid making them wait for our game to finish. Santiago is remarkably quick (only nine rounds with 5 players) and when you live by our MVGA motto ("play fast, make mistakes") it finishes in well under an hour. We played a 4-player game of Santiago last week, with Rich pulling a close victory out of the hat by bidding carefully and taking the Canal Digger role more than his share. This game had 5 players, so we knew it would be even harder to attract that pesky canal network to water our plantations, and with only nine rounds we knew we'd have to start using those emergency canals early or some of us would lose the opportunity.
In this game, Eric stole Rich's approach from last week, getting to be Canal Digger four times, twice for a bid of 1 that allowed him to place a tile with a full complement of crop markers. The Canal Digger role pays off not only in bribes, but also in giving the holder the last bid in the following round. Eric twice held the Canal Digger as a single extremely valuable tile was turned up. This puts the other players on the horns of a dilemma, as a high bid can be topped, leaving one to pay a lot for the second best tile. In the end, Eric concentrated his crop markers on a large banana plantation and a large pea plantation while also gathering about $20 in cash to win by a wide margin. Paul had six crop markers on a sugar cane plantation of size 7 or 8, but he found it impossible to gain access to water and a large part of the spread was sadly abandoned to the encroaching desert.
Final scores: Eric $104, Rich $83, Anton $74, Dan $66, Paul $43.
Eric's rating: 7. This game is fun to play, but it seems random at this point. On Monday I lost a game by $30, while in this game I won by $20, and it's not clear exactly what I did to make the difference. Further play may prove that there's more control than is apparent at first; if so, my rating will go up.
SAN MARCO
(Anton, Rich, Dave)
Paul had to leave, and Dave had wanted to learn San Marco, a game that works best for 3, so we split into two groups. Not only is Rich an expert at San Marco, he is also happy to play it at any opportunity, so he joined to teach the game, and Anton sat down to fill the game out. San Marco is a cube-placement, area-scoring game with a unique mechanism. One player divides a randomly chosen set of six good cards and four bad cards into three stacks. The other players each choose and play one of the three stacks, and the "divider" takes the third, unchosen, stack and plays it. It's important to divide fairly evenly lest one be stuck with the worst stack, but an expert player will take advantage of the differences in the player's positions to divide in a way that helps the divider more than it helps the "choosers."
Dave took to the game right away and was in contention all the way through (first-timers often find themselves hopelessly behind in San Marco.) In the final round, Anton went over 10 limit points first, leaving Dave to split a final set made up of three "3" cards, two area cards, two Doges, and a bridge. At this point Dave had 9 limit points and Rich had 6. If Dave put all the "3"s in one stack Rich could take the other, scoring 12, while if Dave split them, Rich could take the stack with one "3", scoring 6, or the other stack, allowing no one to score. It was an extremely tough decision, and in the end Dave put a bridge, one "3" and one area card in the stack Rich took, while Dave got two Doges, an area card, and two "3"s. Dave thought about which area or areas to score with his Doges. He could score Castello and San Marco, gaining ground on both opponents, or San Marco twice (first place for Anton and second for Dave,) gaining a lot of ground on Rich but losing ground to Anton. He chose the split scoring, and when Rich rolled a "1" on his final banishment, it was a close game, with Rich winning by 2. As it turned out, if Dave had scored San Marco twice, he would have tied Rich for the win, just ahead of Anton.
Final scores: Rich 58, Dave 56, Anton 42.
Eric's rating: 7. I have never won San Marco, but I can see that the 3-player game is a great gaming challenge. Don't play with anyone who's prone to analysis paralysis, and be careful about playing with 4, but for 3 players who can make decisions quickly, it's a fine game.
INDUSTRIA
(Dan, Eric, Mike)
As 3 players sat down to San Marco, the others decided on Industria, a game we've played quite a bit recently. In our initial playings of Industria we tended to focus on gaining points for ourselves, but we're now keeping our eyes on each other and playing defensively. Cheap connections can be such a source of points (especially in the technologies area) that sometimes you just have to take that tile yourself unless the amount offered is exorbitant. Dan was chosen as first player, with Mike second and Eric third. In the 4-player game it's difficult to be last, but we haven't found this to be true with 3. Dan turned up the first set of three tiles and got two resources and a bonus. This miserable lot didn't bring much cash in, and when Eric later got the Sawmill, the Quarry and the Brickworks, we were reminded that there certainly is luck in Industria. Eric sold the Sawmill to Mike and the Quarry to Dan before taking the Brickworks for himself. The Brickworks is perhaps the least valuable of the three, but considering that he got paid nicely for the other two, Eric made out very well. Eric used the cash to obtain the Clay Pit and both technologies, and Mike only kept the Well (with another connection) out of Eric's hands by ignoring a big bid.
As we continued on to the next era, Eric had to pause to rebuild his money supply, and Dan got some roads in the quadrangle while Mike got a Bank he couldn't afford to build for a while. Technologies were more evenly spread for the remainder of the game, but Eric's early acquisitions gained him several connections. Dan got the Stock Exchange and proceeded to use it effectively on multiple builds while Eric backfilled with a few bonuses after ignoring them in the early going. At the end of the game, it's often difficult to spend money as players realize that money isn't worth much compared to other options. Dan was stuck with a pile of money, and this together with his first-round bust cost him the win. Mike paid the price of stepping up too many times to swallow a tile that was worth a lot to Eric or Dan but not worth much to Mike.
Final scores:
Bldg Road Bonus $ Total
---- ---- ---- ---- ----
Eric 37 + 18 + 10 + 1 = 66
Dan 24 + 9 + 22 + 4 = 59
Mike 27 + 3 + 8 + 2 = 38
Eric's rating: 8. There are plenty of tactical tricks in Industria, and you can suffer from poor tile draws, but it's a lot of fun to play. If you're just learning, stick to the 3-player version.
WEB
OF POWER (Rich, Eric, Dave, Mike)
Anton and Dan had to leave, but the 4 of us who remained weren't ready to call it a night. Web of Power fills a useful niche as a full-scale game that offers tough decisions and plays in less than an hour. There's luck in the card draws, and you can gain from poor play on the part of the player who precedes you in the turn order, but the experts win a lot more than their share of games. Dave is still fairly new to Web of Power, and he found it more difficult than San Marco. There are three scoring routes in Web of Power: cloister majorities, cloister chains and advisor majorities. The cloister majorities are scored halfway through the game, and all three are scored at the end. It looks like a simple game, but you don't always get the cards you'd like (in fact, you usually seem to have the wrong cards,) so you have to make do. For new players there's a temptation to force things, but that usually results in helping someone else more than it helps you.
It was a defensive struggle, but oddly enough no advisors were placed in Aragon until Mike dropped one in, and then Eric finally got one on his very last turn. Eric shared advisor majorities in Italy, England and France, so this single placement was worth 12 VP, and it was just enough to beat Rich by a nose.
Final scores: Eric 72, Rich 71, Mike 62, Dave 58
Eric's rating: 7. One of the best 45-minute games around.
Roll call: Eric, Dan, Rich, Evan, Anton, Dave
We were without Walt for a second week as he continued his U.S. tour. We remembered to collect the $3.00 last week, but we forgot this week (don't worry, Walt; we'll catch up next time!) Dave came for the second straight week, but Mike didn't make it.
LIARS DICE
(Eric, Dan, Rich, Evan)
Rich arrived this week with two games under his arm. One of them was the new MVGA copy of Liar's Dice. We haven't played Liar's Dice at MVGA since I started coming, but it's a standard at many gaming groups, and we decided to keep a copy on hand. There were 4 of us ready to go soon after 7:00, and it seemed only fitting to break the new game in.
We opened up with a juggernaut, as the bidding started in 6's, with help from a lot of *'s, and soon shot up to 13 6's for 20 dice (where any *'s can be counted as a number of your choice.) Eric had to make a decision: should he call, raise to 14 6's, or go to 7 *'s? There were already a lot of hits on the table, so he decided to raise, and with 5 *'s showing he raised to 7 *'s. Dan called and there were no hidden *'s, so Eric lost 2 dice.
After this start, the bidding was much more restrained, as each of the other players lost a die or two (with Eric making a comeback by hitting exactly on a challenge.) Evan then suffered a few losses and soon went out, leaving 3 players. Rich still had three dice, and he used the information advantage to squeeze out Eric, followed by Dan, to win with three dice still remaining.
Eric's rating: 7. Liar's Dice is a solid filler that works well as the first game of the night. It moves quickly and has a degree of suspense.
EL GRANDE
(Eric, Dan, Rich, Evan, Anton)
Anton arrived as we were finishing Liar's Dice, and we discussed what to play next. Evan had been wanting a shot at El Grande, a game he hasn't had many chances to play, and the rest of us were happy to play a game that's near the top of the favorites list for several of us. El Grande is the grandfather of cube placement games, with the added feature of an auction for action cards using bidding cards that also regulate a player's cube supply (the higher you bid for an action, the fewer cubes you have to work with.) We drew cards for setup. Evan wound up in Old Castile, Eric in Basque Country, Rich in Valencia, Dan in Sevilla and Anton in Catalonia with the King in Granada.
The first set of action cards included the "score all 6 and 7 regions" card. Evan was the first player to bid, so he laid down his 13, took that card, dropped some caballeros in New Castile, and racked up 15 VP on the first card, with no one else getting anything. We all teased him about the danger of being an early leader in El Grande, but it was hard to pass up a 15-point windfall. Later in the round we had more fun as Eric played the "fellow players remove all caballeros from one region" card at a time when no one had a throw-away region yet. At the end of the round the action card "each player secretly chooses one region to score, but if two players choose the same region it doesn't score" card was played. We dialed our regions, and when we revealed our choices, Evan and Dan had both chosen Sevilla, where Dan was the leader. Dan asked Evan "what were you thinking?" and Evan had to admit "I was thinking I was green!"
Of course, Evan was not green, but red. This left Dan at 0 and somewhat put out, with the rest of us well down the VP track toward the first corner. Rich usually pursues the "cubes on the board, lots of second places" strategy in El Grande, but Eric stole Rich's strategy in this game, taking the "move the King" card several times and gaining a cube count advantage in the mid-game. This allowed Eric to shoot past Evan and Rich (who had made up a lot of ground) to gain a lead of as much as 15 in the middle of one round. Rich began to close the gap methodically, partly by means of the "score first place in all regions" card that is so harmful to Rich's strategy.
It's not as easy as one might think to reel the leader in, but if the trailing players work together, as they did in this game, it can work. As we played through the final three rounds, Anton and Dan began to make up ground in large chunks, as their earlier positioning took hold. Anton had moved the "good" scoreboard to Catalonia, his home region, and was scoring 10 and 12 VPs there. He had also moved the "bad" scoreboard to Valencia, and Evan spent cubes to threaten Rich in Valencia and Eric in Basque Country. Though Rich and Eric were scoring in their home provinces, Evan's attack was consuming most of their resources. In the final round, Evan stuffed enough cubes in Valencia and Basque Country to grab first place. Eric parachuted his 4 caballeros into Catalonia, taking 4 points from Rich, but Rich had no strong option for his 2 caballeros, and this made the difference. Evan's attacks allowed Anton and Dan back into the fight, but they proved costly for Evan, who finished well behind the pack.
Final scores: Eric 104, Rich 100, Anton 98, Dan 94, Evan 75.
Eric's rating: 10. El Grande is one of my favorite games. Success requires tactics, strategy and careful manipulation of your opponents' choices. I'm trying to play it more often.
MEDINA
(Dan, Evan, Dave)
Dave came in during the very first round of El Grande, so he watched the game as he ate his sub. Dave hasn't played El Grande (something we'll have to fix,) so we explained the mechanisms to him as we played. Dave brought a copy of Medina and was looking to play it, so we split up into two groups of 3, with one group playing Medina. Medina is essentially a tile-laying game, but instead of tiles you place wooden pieces that form a medieval city as you play. The visual effect is entrancing. Players build palaces, but a palace is not owned by any player until someone claims it by placing a dome of the player's color on the palace. The act of placing a dome completes the palace and ends construction of that palace. There is therefore a tense game of "chicken" in which you want a palace to grow large before you claim it, but not so large that someone else will steal it.
You also gain points for being the last player to connect a palace to one of the four corners of Medina, and again there's a waiting game. Of course, if you decide to wait and let your opponents claim features, they may find ways to block you so that you have no chance to claim palaces as valuable as those you passed up earlier. In this game, Dan waited patiently and then swooped in near the end of the game and gathered a disproportionate share of the goodies. When Dan wins at MVGA, we often say "it's all about Dan," and it was all about Dan in this game.
Final scores: Dan 56, Dave 41, Evan 38
Eric's rating: None. I've never played Medina.
SAN MARCO
(Eric, Rich, Anton)
Rich typically comes to MVGA with two games. More often than not, one of them is San Marco. Rich enjoys San Marco a great deal, and he's extremely good at it. Eric hasn't played it much, and he requested it this week because it has many of the features he likes in a game. Anton was happy to join. We prefer to play San Marco with 3, because the 4-player game suffers from perceptions that it is more luck-dependent, and with Medina already set up, we needed another 3-player game. San Marco is a cube placement game, somewhat like El Grande.
The unique feature of San Marco is the mechanism for dividing action cards. In the 3-player game, one player is the divider and 2 players are the choosers. The divider draws 10 cards (6 good cards and 4 bad cards) and divides them into three stacks. The two choosers in turn each choose and play one stack, and the divider chooses and plays the stack that's left over. The game started in an unusual way, with ten cubes in San Marco, including six of Eric's, and many empty areas. As you might expect, a few banishments took care of the crowding in San Marco.
In previous games, Rich has demonstrated that a strategy of avoiding bad cards, building up his cube count, and letting other players score the Doge can be the route to victory. In this game, Anton and Eric tried to show they had learned this lesson, and each of them showed restraint, avoiding the bad cards. As a result, Rich did not score a lot of points or achieve free banishments from this route. On the other hand, the restraint shown by Anton and Eric gave Rich more chances to score, and he took full advantage of them. Somehow when Anton scored, it was Anton and Rich, while the few times Eric scored, it was Eric and Rich. It's not just having cubes on the board, but having them in the right districts.
Final scores: Rich 73, Anton 61, Eric 45.
Eric's rating: 7. I'm still overwhelmed by the various choices in this game, but I'm going to keep working at it.
COLORETTO
(Dan, Evan, Dave)
Medina finished while San Marco was still going strong, so Dan, Evan and Dave played a round of this wonderful filler while they waited. Coloretto plays differently for 3 players than for 5 or 6. Because the total number of cards in the game doesn't change, you get a lot more cards in the 3-player game. This makes the "+2" cards less valuable, and it changes the trade-off between positive and negative scoring. Sometimes the strategies in Coloretto differ widely between players, but in this game each player gained a large collection of cards with some long suits. Dan did a little better (it was "all about Dan" again) and edged past Evan and Dave.
Final scores: Dan 36, Dave 32, Evan 31.
Eric's rating: 8. One of my favorite fillers.
ALHAMBRA
(Eric, Rich, Evan, Dave)
Anton and Dan had to leave, so the remaining 4 decided on Alhambra, a game we were playing several times a month for a while last year, but that hasn't been out recently. Dave was new to the game, so we explained the rules, including the rules on walls that add so much to the charm even though they are mainly chrome. We warned Dave that you can only afford to overpay for tiles (ending your turn) when they're really important, but he was lured into several overpays early.
Alhambra feels a lot like Union Pacific (another favorite of mine) to me; Union Pacific seduces you into waiting just one more turn to meld, while Alhambra seduces you into overpaying for just one more tile. Of course, you could resolve to resist temptation, but that won't work either; there are times when you have to go for it. There was added humor when Dave overpaid in several cases for tiles that Rich would have been able to buy for exact change immediately afterward. Tile accumulation was slow in the early going, but Rich got solo leads in several colors and Eric got a string of wall-bound tiles, and they were tied for the lead at the first scoring. Eric already had a nice wall, but he was in danger of closing off all expansion routes only halfway through the game. As a result, he began to accumulate large money cards, passing up even free purchases in gardens and arcades (colors he wasn't competing for) because they would aggravate his wall problem.
Money collection is an important decision process in Alhambra; if you want green or purple tiles and tiles without walls, you need big denominations, while if you want blue or red tiles and tiles with walls, you need small denominations. The second scoring was very late, and Eric netted a one-turn haul of three exact-price tiles just in time. There were two purple tiles, giving him first place in Towers, and the tiles had just the right walls to give Eric the building room he needed. He pulled out to a comfortable lead, and the game ended just a few turns later when the tiles ran out.
Final scores: Eric 127, Rich 112, Dave 92, Evan 77.
Eric's rating: 8. You can play this game casually, but the card choices and the decisions about whether to overpay or wait (and even about when to pass up a free tile) are difficult and meaningful. My family enjoys this game because each player has a sense of progress as we grow our compounds.
Roll call: Rich, Dan, Anton, Eric, Paul S.
It was a light week at MVGA as we had only 5, including first-timer Paul S. (a different Paul from the Paul H. who usually comes.) Scott was also at the Masonic Hall, but didn't play any games.
RA (Rich,
Anton, Eric, Dan, Paul)
We started out with three, so we got Ra out on the table, but before we could finish setting up, Dan came, followed by Paul, so it was a 5-player game. Ra is a Knizia bidding game with an unusually high "lumpiness quotient." Not only are the tiles you bid for worth different amounts to each player, but the suns you bid with are of widely varying values. Paul needed a bit of a rules review, since he had only played it a few times before, and we were off.
The game started off with a slow first epoch. Paul spent his suns quickly and got decent value, but very weak suns for the second epoch. Eric got better suns, but also spent his suns quickly, and he didn't get as much value. Dan hoarded his suns and got strong suns for the second epoch even though he had almost no tiles at the end of the first epoch. One oddity of the game was in the "killer" tiles: we got two civ killers in one lot, followed by two Pharaoh killers in another, then two droughts, and finally two earthquakes. Soon after we started, the live steam group began to arrive. They hadn't reserved the hall, but it was the second Thursday of the month, which is their regular night to meet, and we continued to play as they swirled around us. Rich had a god tile ready to go several times, but every time a likely swap seemed imminent, an auction would take place, frustrating his plans.
In the second epoch, Dan put his suns to work, raking in good tiles and yet accumulating decent value for the third epoch. The "Ra" tiles moved slowly at first, but they soon accelerated as the supply began to run out and panic buying set in. The third epoch was almost anti-climactic as each player scrambled to get something before the game ended. Dan finished with the largest sun total to seal the win. It wasn't obvious as we played that Dan was the leader. He played a patient and quiet game and sneaked past everyone.
Final scores: Dan 35, Anton 32, Rich 30, Paul S. 22, Eric 20.
Eric's rating: 9. This game seems to work well for 3, 4 or 5, and once you know the rules and the scoring it moves along quickly.
ALHAMBRA
(Rich, Anton, Eric, Dan, Paul)
Since the live steam group was meeting, we moved up to the room at the back of the Masonic Hall for the remainder of the night. We were half expecting Walt to show up, but he hadn't arrived, so we chose Alhambra as our next game. The game started out evenly from a tile count standpoint, but Dan managed to concentrate his buying in gardens and towers, the two most valuable colors. He also got an impressive wall started early on and continued to expand it as the game progressed. Although we all had compounds of roughly the same sizes, Dan was already well ahead by the first scoring, which came earlier than usual. Paul committed the typical beginner's error of overpaying for tiles a few times early, so he was stuck with only a few cards in his hand and no easy route back into the game. It wasn't obvious yet, but the game was essentially determined at this point, as despite Rich's best efforts, Dan preserved his leads in gardens and towers, finished off a nice wall, and grabbed some second places in other colors to win by a mile.
Final scores: Dan 113, Rich 90, Anton 67, Eric 67, Paul 48.
Eric's rating: 8. This game seems to play itself (which can be a danger if you don't make the best moves) and everyone can enjoy the illusion of progress, even if only one player can win.
MEDICI
(Rich, Anton, Eric, Dan, Paul)
We looked for another good 5-player game and settled on Medici, a Knizia bidding game that's a lot less lumpy than Ra. In Medici, you bid VPs to get VPs and your bids can be exactly as large as you want them to be. The trick is to manipulate your set of commodities in such a way that lots that are valuable to you aren't worth bidding high on for others. Some lots are worth far more than others, but if you have to pay full value, you won't get an advantage. Rich is usually good at bidding games, but he hasn't had a lot of success in Medici. He wanted to try out a more patient strategy, letting others take lots first, to see whether it would bring him success.
In the first round, Paul filled his ship first, followed by Anton and Dan. Eric paid 11 for a lot that included the 10 card, giving him heaviest ship and a lead in metals. Rich, Paul and Dan had almost identical sets of commodities, tying for first in three commodities, while Anton was first in pottery. Although Eric scored the most points, he had paid the most for his cards, so it was a close game, with Eric in the lead and Rich close behind.
In the second round, Eric again got heaviest ship, but again paid a lot for his cards. He was also forced to accept a less-than-ideal commodity distribution, with Anton passing him in metals and the other three players achieving some differentiation. Again it was Eric in the lead followed closely by Rich, but Eric suffered from the handicap of having taken only eight commodities compared with Rich's ten.
The third round featured many low cards (the 10 and several of the 5's were buried,) and as a result we burned eight cards, leaving Anton with a partly-empty ship. Dan waited patiently for spice cards, his strong suit, and got heaviest boat together with the 20-point spice bonus to make a late run for the lead. Eric ran out of gas and was last seen by the side of the road as Rich and Dan zoomed by. Rich achieved a number of second places that were just sufficient to hold Dan off, and he was delighted to pull off a rare win in this game.
Final scores: Rich 110, Dan 105, Eric 83, Anton 69, Paul 47.
Eric's rating: 10. Medici is a wonderful game that plays quickly and offers tough choices.
Roll call: Walt, Anton, Eric, Dan, Rich, Scott.
Walt returned to MVGA this week after his U.S. tour (he's a successful author now and publicity is an important responsibility.) He was suffering from game deprivation. We were all hoping we might be able to take advantage of his recent lack of practice.
SANTIAGO (Walt,
Anton, Eric, Dan, Rich)
We started with four, as Rich hadn't yet arrived. Eric had just received a copy of the recently-reprinted Um Reifenbreite, and he wanted to try it. As we were going through the rules, Rich came in. We left Um Reifenbreite set up and moved to a new table. Years ago there was a dearth of 5-player games, but the demand has generated a supply (starting with El Grande) and it's no longer a problem. After discussing the options, we decided on Santiago. This was the third playing of Santiago at MVGA, but Walt hadn't played before, so we started with a rules explanation.
Santiago is a game that is really growing on us. At first it seems very simple, and there's a feeling that you are buffeted by forces not under your control. It feels a lot like New England to me; not just because of the way you play small square tiles in groups on a gridded board, but even more because of the clean mechanics and clear rules. I never feel a need to consult the rules as we play because the mechanisms fit together so naturally. In the first round we started banana, potato and sugar cane plantations. Eric selected the Canal Digger and got a potato tile with two spaces for crop markers (meaning he could still place one despite the fact that he had passed,) but there was only one place suggested for a canal and the bribe was substantial, so he took the cash and let his crop marker vanish. In Round 2 the banana and potato plantations received multi-party support while Walt added a second tile and two more crop markers to his one-man sugar cane effort. Walt quickly found that a solo effort is soon cut off. He never suffered from drying, but he wound up with 5 crop markers on only three sugar cane tiles for a measly $15.
By now there were plenty of potatoes and bananas on the board, and other crops just had to start coming out. Walt started a paprika plantation, and on the next round, after Walt's marker had dried up, Anton and Eric jumped in. The potatoes continued to spread, and emergency canals were used to keep the paprika watered one round and to keep the potatoes watered the next. In a 5-player game the emergency canals must start being placed by Round 5 or they won't all be used, as only one can be placed in each round. In theory this could lead to a game of chicken, but in practice we've seen the emergency canals come out fairly quickly, and this game was no exception. The end of the game saw the peas appear, but by this time there was not much connected space left, so it was clear that it would be impossible to score big with peas. Dan made a clever and thoughtful play on Round 7, when he was canal digger. He played his emergency canal in a spot that would water neither his own tile nor anyone else's tiles. We saw the point of his play during the Round 8 auction, when two valuable banana tiles were revealed. These tiles could be placed to extend the large banana plantation, so they were bound to attract high bids, but Dan had the last bid because he had the canal digger figure. The early bidders were stuck, because Rich and Dan as the final two bidders could top any reasonable bids to get the bananas, and no one wanted to be stuck paying a lot for something else.
In the final round, Walt placed the last two-marker paprika tile in a spot off by itself, forgoing the opportunity to add it to an existing 8-tile paprika plantation. Walt would have gained $18, with Eric gaining $6 and others smaller amounts. Instead, Walt gained $2 and no one else gained anything. Comparing the relative values of various actions is a key feature of the game; all you need to do is make sure you benefit more than the other players each round. Eric wound up with substantial participation in bananas and paprika, while Rich was big in potatoes and bananas. Eric edged him out based on the additional cash he had amassed by bidding lower and collecting a little more in bribes.
Final scores: Eric $103, Rich $95, Dan $81, Anton $57, Walt $42.
Eric's rating: 8 (newly raised from 7.) I've played the game five times now and I'm starting to get a feel for the flow. You need to be canal digger sometimes (to gain bribe money and get the "hammer" in the following auction.) You need to be close to the left of the canal digger sometimes (so you can make a cheap bid or get first shot at canal digger, and so you have first shot at building an emergency canal.) You also need to be late in the auction sometimes (so you can see what the other players will bid for particularly valuable tiles and either top them or bid low.) The trick is in timing your actions properly, given that your opponents are trying to do the same thing.
LIARS DICE
(Walt, Anton, Eric, Dan, Rich)
We were still thinking that some of the other regulars would show up, so we decided to play a quick game of Liar's Dice. MVGA has a new copy and we want it to look respectably broken in. The first round saw spirited betting on 4's. Eventually Rich couldn't raise any higher, so he called Anton's bid. Anton lifted his dice cup to show four 4's and a star, and Rich was down to three dice right out of the gate.
On the next round, Dan called Rich, who was exactly right, so everyone but Rich lost a die. Rich lost his last dice soon thereafter, and in a few moments Anton was down 3-3-3-1 and went out. Eric lost next to a ridiculous bluff by Dan, and Walt used his numerical edge to squish Dan like a bug for the win.
Eric's rating: 7. Liar's Dice is quick, fun and will accommodate any number of players (as long as you have enough dice.) I must admit it's hard to believe some of the things these otherwise upstanding citizens will say when they play this game!
PUERTO RICO (Walt, Anton, Eric, Dan, Rich)
By now it seemed clear that 5 gamers would be our limit for the night, so we discussed what to play next. Anton has a soft spot for Puerto Rico, and we all enjoy it, so we decided to play a 5-player game with the new buildings. We don't use the new large buildings or the Forest House (we tend to think they're a bit silly) so we took them out of the mix and drew five small new buildings at random, filling in with old buildings. For this game we had the Black Market in place of the Construction Hut, the Storehouse in place of the Small Warehouse, the Guesthouse in place of the Hospice, the Small Wharf in place of the Large Warehouse, and the Lighthouse in place of the Factory. It was evident that the Lighthouse would be a key building in this game, as it was a critical source of cash. Wharfs also seemed attractive given the complete lack of warehouses.
The game started off with two Corn in the draw. Rich took a Quarry, Anton and Eric scooped Corn to go with their Indigo, Walt took Sugar, and Dan got Tobacco. Dan was an obvious target for a forced Tobacco shipment, but he got a Tobacco sale in, with Rich selling Indigo, and this allowed Dan and Rich to grab the Lighthouses. Rich got Coffee going soon thereafter, and a lack of additional Coffee plantations helped him protect the monopoly for a while, but Walt did surprisingly well with a Sugar monopoly. He bought both Sugar Mills, got production to four Sugars quickly, and used unchallenged sugar sales to buy a Wharf and begin shipping Sugar like mad.
Eric tried to fight back with a Harbor (Dan got the other) and Anton shipped Corn, but neither could scrape together enough cash to compete. The relative cash shortage and the shipping incentives meant that the game was likely to end when the VPs ran out, and so it proved. The two Lighthouse owners finished in the lead, but Walt's sugar strategy was remarkably effective as well.
Final scores:
VP Bldg Bonus Total Dan 29 + 24 + 7 = 60 Rich 31 + 22 + 6 = 59 Walt 31 + 17 + 7 = 55 Eric 30 + 18 = 48 Anton 24 + 17 + 6 = 47
Eric's rating: 10. I don't mind the extra chaos in the 5-player game, though I know that excessive table talk can be brutal in this game. At MVGA we usually move quickly and keep table talk under control. We did have an amusing incident this week. Walt was clearly off his form after his long trip. Anton hemmed and hawed over a decision between two roles as the rest of us fidgeted. Just as Anton finally selected a role, Walt piped up to suggest yet a third possibility. Rich, Dan and Eric bellowed in unison, and Walt had to give himself the famed MVGA wedgie.
UM REIFENBREITE
(Eric, Dan, Rich, Scott)
It was getting late. Walt and Anton had to leave, but Scott had arrived and it seemed a shame to break up before he could play even one game. Um Reifenbreite, a bicycle-racing game, was still set up from the beginning of the evening, so we decided to give it a shot. It's a dice-rolling game with a surprisingly strong bicycle-racing feel, and despite the luck it's a lot of fun. It won the SdJ in 1992. When it was reprinted recently, Eric immediately bought a copy. Several people at a con he attends have a tradition of playing it every year, and he had enjoyed the two games he had been able to play.
MVGA has a history of playing racing games (we had a league for several years,) so it fits right in with our heritage. Um Reifenbreite comes with three sets of rules: the basic rules, the advanced rules and the professional rules. Don't be frightened by this, as the rules aren't all that complex. Eric explained the rules as he had been taught them at the con. We used the advanced rules with the switching rule from the professional rules.
We also eliminated the chance cards and replaced them with a simpler rule. If you roll a 7, you immediately roll both dice to check for a fall. On a roll of 2, 3 or 12 your rider falls. Eric was first player and started off, but he rolled poorly and was soon passed by swifter riders. Dan got three riders into a pack, and Rich got two of his into a pack, but for the most part, the teams were well mixed. Eric used two energy cards to catch up, pulling a string of riders behind him, and seizing 1st place at the first sprint, with Scott taking 2nd and 3rd. The first hill was surmounted with liberal use of energy cards, although Dan's lead rider took a spill, knocking down two teammates and a scattering of others.
Despite the early lead held by Eric and Scott, Rich pulled ahead during the middle part of the race, using some cards on the downhill segment and managing to group several riders. Dan used effective switching and energy cards to follow Rich, passing Eric and Scott and grabbing second place. The second hill, though lower, was a tougher obstacle because most of the riders were out of energy by this time. There was a great deal of dismounting and remounting, and Dan suffered yet another fall, spoiling his chances. Grouping his riders was an effective tactic, but it cost him dearly in the falls. We end the race at the conclusion of the first full turn after the turn in which the ninth rider crosses the finish line, and Eric and Scott had riders left out on the course when the scorekeepers packed it in. Rich's consistent effort and four finishers gave him the win.
Final scores: Rich 123, Dan 104, Eric 104, Scott 84.
Eric's rating: 7. There's lots of luck in this game, but the theme is strong (it really feels like a bicycle race) and it's fun to play.
Roll call: Dan, Eric, Rich, Evan, Walt, Dave, Mike, Joe, Anton, Paul
We had 10 gamers at MVGA this week. Paul and Anton kicked off the tabletop baseball season---every team has hope in the spring! We were delighted to see Joe, who's a Boston gaming regular but an infrequent visitor to MVGA.
PARIS PARIS
(Dan, Eric, Rich, Evan)
Anton and Paul set up the APBA charts and started the Opening Day game to sounds of the national anthem and "Play Ball!" while the other 4 gamers set up Paris Paris. We knew Walt was upstairs concluding an event for the lodge, and Paris Paris is a short game, so it was a natural choice. Walt is not a big fan of the game, so we agreed that we'd offer him a spot if he showed up!
Evan hadn't played Paris Paris before, so we provided a quick rules review before we started. The rules are simple, but it takes a little while to grasp the implications; you can tell a new player to watch the junctions carefully, but experience is a better teacher.
Initial shop placements were scattered across the map, but we soon began to concentrate. Rich built up a network of purple shops in the southwest, around Montparnasse, while Dan placed quite a few unpainted shops in the east. Eric entrenched himself with two yellow shops in Odeon and Evan grabbed real estate in the center and north. There was a lot of tactical play as we tried to arrange grands tours that favored ourselves, and Evan pulled out to a lead of about 5 points in the early mid-game.
Unfortunately, Evan lost position in the center as a result of his scoring efforts, and Eric and Rich made up ground with some high-scoring grands tours. The closing stages saw a plethora of tiles for the central junctions and tit-for-tat banishing of shops to the whining bag. On the final round, Rich had to choose whether to banish Eric's shop in Hôtel de Ville, probably giving him most shops in the bag, or Dan's, and he correctly chose Dan's, but it wasn't enough to make the difference. There was a tie in the bag, so no whining points were awarded, but Eric made back a few points to offset the six he didn't get from the bag to win.
Final scores: Eric 39, Rich 36, Dan 29, Evan 17. As we put the game away, Evan commented on how he will need to pay more attention to junctions next time.
Eric's rating: 8. This is my favorite filler. It's easy to teach, fun to play, and finishes in 20 minutes when you "play fast, make mistakes." It's also a lot of fun to hear Walt talk about it.
PRINCES OF
THE RENAISSANCE (Dan, Eric, Rich, Evan, Walt)
Walt arrived as we were finishing Paris Paris. We offered him the chance to play in a second game (I would have been happy to sit and watch just for the privilege of watching Walt play) but he declined. It was still early, so we chose Princes of the Renaissance, a game we had played to completion once before at MVGA, on December 11. We still have more questions than answers in this game, and we were eager to give it a second shot. Walt had not played before, but he had read the rules and after a short review we were off.
We played the variant in which players select their starting family tiles in reverse order of the initial order of play (a way to offset some of the perceived imbalance in the special abilities.) Evan led off by selecting Baglioni, who grants a discount in bidding to be condottiere, and who is widely considered the most valuable. Dan chose D'Este, who adds to the attack and defense of an artillery tile and is often considered second most valuable. Walt selected Malatesta, who can hold an additional treachery tile, and Rich and Eric selected the families that grant discounts in bidding for artist tiles. The order of play would be Eric, Rich, Walt, Dan, and Evan.
In our previous game, we all competed for strong armies, so Eric decided to try a "fall guy" strategy. He purchased only one troop tile, the cheap and weak light infantry, followed by the Milan tile that grants a discount in bidding to be condottiere. He also bought some treachery tiles while the other players were building up their armies. When the wars started, Eric jumped in to "fight" for the city that was opposing Milan in an attempt to drive the value of Milan up and earn some money. This strategy proved extremely annoying to the other players. They felt (not unreasonably) that a general ought to have a respectable army and should not win his position (and the resulting payoff) merely through influence.
Evan bought the other tile that grants a discount in bidding to be condottiere, and the double discount he obtained allowed him to be the general often (in many cases fighting for Milan against Eric's paltry force.) The other players also vied to fight, but they found it hard to compete against the discounts. Walt saw which way the wind was blowing and adopted a merchant strategy, bidding high for both event tiles that give money and victory points for buying merchants. This allowed him to buy city tiles that were merchants. Walt began to pile up cash as a result. Rich and Dan played mixed strategies, with Rich serving as the second-best general, and with Dan buying a number of Rome tiles.
As the game drew to its conclusion, Eric had managed to drive the values of Venice, Milan and Florence (the cities in which he was invested) up near the top of the display while Rome and Naples were near the bottom. However, the players who were not focusing on being condottiere had managed to purchase more city tiles, offsetting this advantage. It was a close game that looked like it would be decided by the bonuses for money and influence, but Evan won two late battles to gain enough laurels for the win.
Final scores:City Event Pope Gold Infl Laurel Total
---- ----- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----- Evan 21 4 0 3 0 15 43
Dan 33 0 3 0 4 1 41
Walt 27 11 0 0 0 1 39
Eric 27 5 0 0 0 0 32
Rich 17 2 0 6 0 6 31
Our previous game had been won by Anton, who purchased city tiles and got the rest of us to fight battles that drove the values of Anton's tiles up. Dan had won 21 laurel points to come in second. This game was much closer, and was won by Evan, the "terminator." Eric's "fall guy" strategy had a big influence on the game, but he was not able to benefit from it himself.
Eric's rating: 8. The order of events in this game is so flexible that many strategies are possible. It's still a long game, but it was not nearly as long the second time around as we became more familiar with the options. I had fun trying a strategy that was very different, but I'd like to find a winning strategy next time!
SAN MARCO
(Dave, Mike, Joe)
Soon after we began Princes of the Renaissance, three more players arrived at the Masonic Hall. Dave and Mike have been coming to MVGA regularly, and they brought Joe this week (all three work in Norwood.) They selected San Marco, a cube-placement game that is ideal for 3. In San Marco, one player divides a set of ten cards into three stacks and the other two players each select a stack and take the associated actions, with the divider getting the stack that neither opponent selects. The job of divider moves clockwise around the table, but a random draw determines which non-divider gets first choice.
Dave played his first game only four weeks ago and did extremely well, coming in second to Rich (the expert) by only two points. In this game he focused on getting the most cubes on the board. At the other table, we knew Dave was doing well this week when he asked what he should do if he exhausted his cube supply! (Answer: you can pick up any cube already on the board and move it to the new location.) Dave also got to be first chooser almost every time when he wasn't the divider, giving him first choice among the three stacks.
Final scores: Dave 58, Mike 51, Joe 45.
Eric's rating: 7. I still feel as though I'm wandering around in the dark when I play this game, but I can see there's a real game here. I'm eager to keep playing.
KOHLE, KIE$ &
KNETE (Dan, Evan, Walt, Anton)
The tabletop baseball series had finished up, and while Paul had to leave, Anton stayed for a game. With 9 people we divided into groups of 5 and 4, with one group trying Kohle, Kie$ & Knete, a classic negotiation game. It has come out in a new edition under the title "I'm the Boss," but Walt's copy is the older edition with the German title.
Players have a lot of control in this game. You can cut players in or out of the deal depending on your opinion about who is ahead and who is behind. This makes it important to keep a low profile; early success can result in a dry spell as people cut you out, and the payoffs are larger later in the game.
This game saw an unusual situation as Dan was the only one with cards for a while. This gave him the opportunity to control the action, completing deals as his opponents frantically tried to refill their hands. It doesn't take long to build a big lead if you can pull this off, and Dan didn't miss his opportunity.
Final scores: Dan $60MM, Evan $52MM, Anton $45MM, Walt $41MM.
Eric's rating: 5. This is a pretty game, and it sounds like fun if you listen while people are playing. I'm not a big fan of games that are so heavily focused on negotiation. I prefer some structure to hang my hat on.
TAJ
MAHAL (Eric, Rich, Dave, Mike, Joe)
While one group was wheeling and dealing at the Kohle, Kie$ & Knete table, the other 5 chose Taj Mahal, a game that is near the top of the list for many of us. Rich had just received a whipping in this game the previous week at another gaming group and was eager to get back on the horse. Some people believe the game is too brutal with 5 players and prefer to play with 4, but others believe the extra tension just adds an edge.
This game saw a lot of folding early. Eric was first player on Visit 1, and his six starting cards included four white elephants and another white card with a purple general. Normally a few white elephants are a boon, but with only one regular card, Eric had to fold a few times just to get the elephants going. This provided opportunities for the others. Joe and Dave soon had a pair of octagonal commodity tiles each, and both were scooping up more elephants with each card draw. Rich got a lot of ovals early and soon had the special elephant card to begin clawing his way into the race. Mike played a quiet game, beginning a connection chain and picking up many of the little bonus chits.
When Eric finally got into the game, he entered with a bang. Eric and Joe put down 7 elephants each on Visit 3 or 4; Eric finally got the elephant tile, but the high cost damaged them both. Joe was a bit frustrated as Eric explained "I have nothing against you, Joe; I'm just trying to win the game." Big surprise there! Dave scooped up the "+2" special card and played it several turns in a row to pull out to a wide lead. The heavy activity exhausted his reserves, however, and he soon lost the "+2" card, giving Rich and Mike a chance to catch up as Joe and Eric languished at the back of the pack.
In the final Visits, Rich began to hook up connection chains for 4 and 5 points a visit as Eric won several elephant contests to claw his way back. Visit 12 saw Rich fold early for Agra and 5 points while Eric and Dave laid down card after card. Eric played his last card in his chosen color and was relieved to hear Dave say he was out of cards and had to fold for nothing.
At the end of the game, Rich displayed an 11-card long suit to pull ahead of the pack for the win.
Final scores: Rich 44, Eric 39, Mike 38, Joe 33, Dave 33.
Eric's rating: 10. A terrific game I'll play any time. I wish I could have seen the look on my own face when I picked up my initial six cards and saw that five of them were white!
ROYAL TURF
(Eric, Rich, Evan, Dave)
For the final game of the night, we were looking for a lighter game that we could finish before it got too late. We decided on Royal Turf, a die-rolling race game. Neither Evan nor Dave had played before, but the rules are easy to explain.
In Royal Turf, each player places bets on four horses before each race. Your opponents can see which horses you have bet on, but they can't see which has your double bet and which has your fake bet. We add to the fun by not allowing anyone to check their bets once they are placed. It's always more challenging when you don't recall where your fake bet is located!
The first race saw the players clustering their bets on the same horses. This can lead to a defensive struggle, as players put more effort into stopping horses they haven't bet on than into moving their own horses forward. Evan led after the first race, but in the second race, Rich got a big payoff from his double bet and pulled into the lead. Eric was stuck with a double bet on Earl Grey, who finished last; with all the nobbling it was a bad day for Old Teabag, who didn't as much as show in any of the races.
The third race had some comedy, as Sahara Wind moved along smartly despite the fact that no one had bet on him (better to help Sahara Wind than an opponent.) Rich steered his horses home for the victory.
Final scores: Rich 2400, Evan 2050, Dave 1550, Eric 1200.
Eric's rating: 9. This game is a light game, but it moves along well and is particularly enjoyable when everyone is paying attention.
Roll call: Paul, Eric, Evan, Walt, Greg, Dan.
There were 6 gamers at MVGA this week. Five were regulars, and we had a rare visit from Greg, who was once an MVGA regular, but finds the trip from his home near Lowell is long enough to discourage frequent attendance.
EDEL, STEIN
& REICH (Paul, Evan, Walt, Greg)
Walt brought a pile of games to MVGA, including both Basari and Edel, Stein & Reich (ESR,) its 2003 remake. ESR has no board, but it will accommodate 5 players (the limit for Basari is 4) so we selected the higher-capacity game. As we were reviewing the rules, Dan arrived. Neither version works for 6, so Eric decided to play a 2-player game with Dan while the other 4 stuck with ESR.
ESR offers a simultaneous choice of actions.In most cases, it's best to select an action no one else has selected, because you may lose your opportunity (or at least be required to pay a price to keep it) if one or more opponents select the same action. In this game, Evan consistently made the right selections. Evan and Paul both scored three different colors of gems at different points in the game, but in the end, Evan finished with no gems at all (that's ZERO gems) and yet won by a mile. This game wasn't even close to being close.
Final scores: Evan 90, Paul 60, Walt 53, Greg 35.
Eric's rating: 6. I enjoy Basari much more than ESR, partly because I enjoy having a board in front of me and partly because the die-roll option in Basari gives some degree of control over when scoring will occur.
ATTIKA
(Dan, Eric)
Dan and Eric discussed a few 2-player game options and settled on Attika. Eric, who had played over a dozen games, had an edge in experience over Dan, who had played only once. Some people find the 3- and 4-player games irritating because when one player is threatening a connection there can be a game of chicken over who is going to stop it. This isn't a problem in the 2-player game, because you have to do all the stopping yourself. Eric was selected as first player and drew three cards to broaden his choices. Dan placed a building in the middle of the board and drew two cards, and Eric responded by playing his Silver Mine, his Mint and another building, zipping right past Dan's lone building and threatening an early connection win.
This game feels a bit like Twixt at times; you can hem your opponent in and make progress toward a connection in one play. Eric extended his line of buildings with two roads, and Dan was forced to start a new settlement to make an expensive stop. Eric quickly emptied a stack, placed a new map tile in such a way as to circumvent Dan's block, and used the amphora from the coinage group to finish a connection with only ten buildings on the map.
Eric's rating: see below.
ATTIKA
(Dan, Eric)
The first game was over so quickly that, with Edel, Stein & Reich still going, Dan and Eric played a second. In this game, Dan went first, and each player started a settlement near the shrine at his own end of the board. Dan focused on drawing the black main buildings, but Eric drew mostly the white buildings, placing them using resources on the board and not worrying as much about keeping groups (especially those belonging to his city) together. Eric drew two streets and extended toward Dan, and when Dan placed his main city tile in an accessible location, Eric spent cards to swarm around it, cutting off its expansion options. Dan countered by placing a convincing blockade across the board, and despite a few half-hearted attempts by Eric, connection was never seriously threatened from that point on. In surrounding Dan's city, Eric had managed to cut the map up into several areas with a single large star-shaped settlement. This gave Eric room to expand in multiple directions while avoiding new settlement costs, while Dan was forced to place new map tiles and start new settlements just to find expansion room. This turned out to be the difference as Eric completed his thirtieth building while Dan still had a number of buildings on his map. Dan's black building strategy didn't pay off, as he was unable to find the white tiles he needed to benefit from the potential free builds.
Eric's rating: 7. The order in which you draw your tiles is an important source of luck in Attika, but there are many important decisions as well. The game is short enough that you can play a few times to even out the luck. I particularly enjoy this game with 2 players, although I've played it more often with 3 or 4.
LIARS
DICE (Paul, Eric, Evan, Walt, Greg, Dan)
Walt purchased Liar's Dice for the chapter, and he's determined to get the most out of the acquisition. He insisted that we play one game before going on to something else, and it's hard to refuse a game that's quick and enjoyable. We had six players, so all 30 dice were in action at the start. The game kicked off with two exact bids. When a player's bid is called and proves exactly correct, every other player loses a die (though we play the version in which you can't lose your last die unless you are wrong.) There was a lot of grumbling, especially from people who lost two dice without being wrong once! This seemed to kick up the dissembling level.
It's hard to believe, given the upstanding nature of this group, but people sometimes bid a number, even though they have no dice with that number, just to deceive their opponents! We saw a whole series of big misses. Greg lost 3 dice at once to go out first. Evan then lost 3 at once to go out, Paul lost 2 at once to go out, and Walt lost 3 at once to go out. This left Dan and Eric with 4 and 3 dice, respectively. Dan ground Eric down to a 3 to 1 score, and Eric came back to even the odds at 1 die each before Evan rolled a 6 and bid "one 6" to close out the win.
Eric's rating: 7. There's plenty of luck in this game. It's a big advantage to roll high numbers and multiples. Luck causes no harm in a short game, though, and there's always a laugh when a bid is called and we reveal the dice.
MERCHANT
OF VENUS (Paul, Walt, Greg)
In honor of Greg's visit we decided to play a game of Merchant of Venus, an older Avalon Hill title that's a lot like a railroad game. You pick up goods, deliver them to locations where they are in demand, and upgrade your ship. The original design for this game was set in the Indian Ocean during the 16th or 17th century, but the setting was moved to outer space to allow the sources and destinations to move around in a randomly-chosen manner each game.
The game is playable with 6, but we split up into two groups of 3 to avoid the delays inherent in a big game. Merchant of Venus can be played to a set monetary goal (such as $2000) or a time limit. This game used a time limit; whoever had the most money at 10pm would be the winner. The scores were close, but Walt had a bigger pile of cash, outweighing his slightly less valuable collection of deeds.
Final scores:
Walt $1100 deeds + $1160 cash = $2260 Paul $1200 deeds + $920 cash = $2120 Greg $1200 deeds + $753 cash = $1953.
Eric's rating: 8. I enjoy reacting to the changing opportunities as the civilizations are discovered and lucrative trade routes are revealed.
PUERTO RICO (Eric, Evan, Dan)
Puerto Rico is always a favorite at MVGA, and we haven't played very often with 3 players, so we decided to give it a try. With only 3 experienced players, the game flew along. Dan won the random draw to be first player, Eric won the dreaded second player slot, and Evan received a starting Corn plantation as third player. Dan started us off by Settling for a Quarry. No Corn was available, so Eric took a Sugar, starting off a game-long Sugar monopoly, and Evan took Tobacco. The new plantations again contained no Corn, and it was clear that shipping would be more difficult than usual. Evan got some Corn shipping in early, before the Indigo boys were up and running. Eric and Dan bought early Factories, and Evan began to worry, but Evan got a Wharf and Evan and Dan sold Tobacco and Coffee to fund Harbors. This left Eric in the dust; he picked up several Corn plantations and bought a Wharf too late but was unable to keep up, despite respectable income from his Factory. We weren't sure who was in the lead as Evan took Mayor to end the game, and indeed it was a close game, with Evan winning on the tie breaker.
Final scores:
VP Bldg Bonus Total Evan 25 + 18 = 43, 5 doubloons Dan 16 + 20 + 7 = 43, 1 barrel Eric 20 + 17 = 37
Eric's rating: 10. Once you've gained experience, the 3-player game is almost a different game from the 4- and 5-player games. The Trading House is especially different, because a single round of sales cannot fill it up, so that there are often solo sale opportunities.
RA (Eric,
Evan, Dan)
Puerto Rico finished in record time, and Merchant of Venus was going until 10pm, so we selected another quick 3-player game. It's a mystery why Ra hasn't been reprinted, but several MVGA regulars have their own copies, so we get to play it often. With 3 players, each player receives four suns to bid with (as opposed to three) and this again gives a different feel to the 3-player game. Evan started the game with an emphasis on monuments and Nile tiles. He almost ignored civilizations and Pharoahs, costing him in the first two epochs, but building up future potential. Eric and Dan dueled over Pharoahs, but their monument collections were anemic.
In the third round, Evan made a serious play for Pharoahs, passing Eric who had decided to take a Pharoah killer. Dan bid strongly to ward off the threat, but Evan grabbed even more monuments and Niles on the rebound, capping it off with a flood tile.Ê Evan beat Eric by 1 to avoid the low sun total penalty, so Eric gave 5 to Dan (who had the high sun total.) Evan wound up with all eight monument types and a string of about 10 Niles to edge Dan out for the win.
Final scores: Evan 55, Dan 54, Eric 30.
Eric's rating: 9. Timing is everything in this game, as each move by the sun god Ra (or each failure to move) re-adjusts the bidding values.
EL GRANDE
(Eric, Evan, Walt, Greg, Dan)
It was still only 10pm, and we had time for one more game. Paul had to leave, so we discussed our options for 5-player games and settled on El Grande. Although El Grande is a big game, it plays quickly as long as you can avoid analysis paralysis, and all 5 of us thought we could live up to the MVGA motto: "play fast, make mistakes." Greg had only played once or twice long ago, so we reviewed the rules with him before we started. The initial card draw saw the "score all 6 and 7 regions" card turn up. With Walt in Granada and Dan in New Castile, this was a big threat.
Evan bid his 13 and Eric bid his 12 in an attempt to get into the action, but neither of them took and killed the 6 and 7 card, so Dan and Walt started out staked to a big lead. Eric pursued a "cabs on the board" strategy with some success, and by the two-thirds mark Dan was in the lead, with Walt and Eric about 10 points behind and Evan and Greg way back in the distance. In the last three rounds, the spread tightened up quite a bit, but Dan made a number of clever moves to hold the field off and win.
Final scores: Dan 92, Walt 89, Eric 85, Evan 77, Greg 70.
Eric's rating: 10. El Grande is one of the great games of all time. Every time I play it I tell myself "it's even better than I remembered!" I have to remind myself to play it because it's too good not to be played regularly.
Roll call: Dan, Anton, Eric, Walt.
We had only 4 players at MVGA this week. This was an unusually low turnout, especially considering that we wouldn't be meeting April 15. Fortunately, we were back up to 8 on April 22!
TICKET
TO RIDE (Dan, Anton, Eric)
Eric arrived at MVGA with three brand new games from a Boulder Games order that had arrived at his house that very day. He picked the box up on his way in the front door and opened it quickly so we could try the games out at MVGA. Our first game was Ticket to Ride. The big colorful box with the promise of multi-colored plastic trains inside was more than we could resist. The game is published by Days of Wonder, and they go all out making a game look nice. We're suckers for cool bits.
None of us had played the game before, but the rules were clear and simple, and we had no trouble reading them and starting off. Eric and Dan began stringing track links of length 2 and 3 together as they worked to connect their "tickets," but Anton kept collecting cards. He dropped down three 6-train links between Miami and Los Angeles and got Eric and Dan's attention by surging ahead on the scoreboard (two 3-train links earn 8 VP and take five turns to build, but one 6-train link earns 15 VP and takes only four turns.)
Anton was looking pleased with his progress, and he continued to collect cards, connecting several more 6-train links over the course of the game. Dan grabbed more tickets and connected them, but Eric struck out and wound up with a useless ticket, hurting his score. Anton's long builds finished the game quickly, and Dan was ahead by only 1 as we counted for longest train. Anton edged Dan out to take the 10 bonus VP and the victory.
Final scores: Anton 139, Dan 130, Eric 107.
Eric's rating: 8. Ticket to Ride is simple, clear, and a pleasure to play. The components are top-notch (though I would prefer it if the cards were big enough to shuffle more easily.) We'll be playing it regularly for a long time (it is for 2 to 5 players and it works well for 2 to 5.) I expect that my family will enjoy it as well.
HANSA
(Dan, Anton, Eric)
The next game from Eric's new order was Hansa. This is another simple but challenging Michael Schacht game. The resemblance to Web of Power and Paris Paris is clear (the box is the same size as the Paris Paris box.) Michael Schacht has designed some heavier games recently (Magna Grecia and Industria) but Hansa represents a return to the simpler mold of Web of Power and Paris Paris.
The board shows nine trading cities of the Hanseatic League, arrayed around the Baltic Sea. There is a single ship that is shared among all the players (it was too risky to own an entire ship oneself, so investors took shares.) The ship follows arrows from one city to another, and is moved by each player in turn. On your turn you may buy goods with money, found markets with goods, or sell goods for VPs by giving up a market. You can do only one of these actions on each visit to a city, and you must pay each time you move the ship to a new city. As players buy goods, the goods become depleted; you may pay to re-stock the goods. The game represents a set of trade-offs. You can sell goods for VPs, or you can use them to found markets (with the hope of more VPs in the future.) No one wants to pay to re-stock goods. You want your right-hand opponent to pay so you'll have the second shot at them, but if you don't re-stock, there's a risk that your left-hand opponent will do it.
In this game, Dan and Eric spent time early in the game founding markets. Anton focused more on selling goods, and this got him into trouble later in the game, because you give up a market each time you sell and you can't sell without a market. As the game neared its conclusion, Eric used up his markets in several cities by selling goods, giving Dan monopolies (worth 4 VP each) in a few places. It was clear that the game would be tight, and Eric won by a nose.
Final scores:
Goods Mkts Total
----- ----- -----
Eric 40 14 54
Dan 33 20 53
Anton 20 6 26
Eric's rating: 8. I enjoy Michael Schacht games (I have given ratings of '8' to both Web of Power and Paris Paris.) I admire the way he creates difficult decisions using simple mechanisms. Schacht games tend to require tactical and strategic decisions, but not too much in the middle, and this doesn't bother me. I'm planning to look for opportunities to play Hansa both at MVGA and elsewhere.
SAN
JUAN (Dan, Anton, Eric)
Eric's third new game was San Juan, the Puerto Rico card game, and we decided to make it 3 for 3. We were happy to see that all three games had rules that were written clearly enough to allow brand-new players to learn them (we're pretty good at learning rules at MVGA.) We reviewed the various violet buildings, and while we understood that we wouldn't fully recognize how to use them in our first game, we were all starting with an equal level of knowledge. Dan built an early Chapel and began stuffing cards under it for VPs. Eric and then Anton followed with Chapels of their own, but they didn't have time to bury as many cards. Dan and Anton concentrated on the buildings that allow you to build other buildings less expensively, and this gave them advantages in the building race. Eric obtained a City Hall and a Palace, but this wasn't enough to keep up with Dan's Chapel and Guild Hall.
Final scores:
Bldg Chpl "6"s Palace Total
---- ---- ----- ------ -----
Dan 20 9 10 0 39
Eric 14 6 8 7 35
Anton 22 4 4 0 30
Eric's rating: 7. San Juan didn't draw me in as much as Puerto Rico did when I first played it, but it works well and plays smoothly. You can only build what you draw, so each game will be different as you do your best to adapt to the cards you have. It's quick, and it's a lot easier to teach than Puerto Rico.
TICKET
TO RIDE (Anton, Eric, Walt)
Dan had to leave, but Walt had finished with the Masonic function he had been participating in and watched the end of the San Juan game. We couldn't leave without letting Walt play at least one game, so we decided to play Ticket to Ride again. The rules are so easy to explain that we knew we'd be up and running quickly. Eric had been impressed by Anton's victory in our first game, so when he drew the Los Angeles-Miami ticket, he started saving up for his own 6-train links. It worked like a charm (I'm suspecting that we will start to see people build New Orleans-Houston early just to give the Los Angeles-Miami player something to think about.)
Eric finished off his trains with several large builds; this is a good way to surprise your opponents by ending the game before they're ready. Eric kept all three tickets from the start of the game and didn't draw any more, but the game was over before Anton or Walt were ready. Anton was stuck with -20 from unconnected tickets. Walt saw the end coming and held off on getting any new tickets, but this deprived him of additional scoring opportunities.
Final scores:
Track Tix Long Total
----- ----- ----- -----
Eric 83 33 10 126
Walt 64 27 91
Anton 53 20 73
Eric's rating: 8. As mentioned above, this is a keeper. It's
a good filler because 2 players can set the game up with the knowledge that
they
can add up to 3 more late arrivals without taking anything away from the game.
MVGA did not meet this night, but you can read a report of new games played at the Gathering of Friends 2004. Also, as a result of the Gathering and recent purchases, MVGA has added a number of new games to our library: Alhambra, I'm The Boss, Industria, Oasis, Power Grid, San Juan, Stock Market, and Ticket to Ride.
Roll call: Dan, Anton, Walt, Eric, Dave, Scott, Evan, Mike We had 8 in attendance at MVGA this week. The strong turnout was encouraging after a week off on April 15.
WYATT
EARP (Anton, Dan, Eric)
Walt and Scott were upstairs when we started at 7pm, so three players started the action off with Wyatt Earp, a quick card game that's been a favorite at MVGA. The first hand saw the outlaw cards and the money divided up fairly evenly, but Dan played a Hideout on Eric late in the hand, leaving Eric behind in the scoring. Score: Dan 10, Anton 9, Eric 5.
The second hand went almost all the way through the deck, and many of the outlaws attracted impressive piles of cash. This time Anton was odd man out as Eric made a comeback. Score: Dan 17, Eric 16, Anton 14. In the third hand, scoring was again high. Eric took a shot at a win with a Bank Robbery, but it failed, leaving him with only one card that he had to discard, ending the game.
Final scores: Dan 28, Anton 26, Eric 25. This was a close game all the way. We now watch the "Most Wanted," "Hideout" and "Fastest Gun" cards carefully as we strive for the winning edge.
Eric's rating: 9. Wyatt Earp works as a filler for MVGA. It also gets a lot of play with my wife and kids. There are plenty of tactical and strategical options, so you have to stay on your toes if you play with experienced opponents.
SAN
JUAN (Eric, Walt, Dave)
Dave and Evan arrived, and Walt came down from upstairs to make 6. We split into two games, with Dave requesting San Juan, a game he had been hearing a lot about, but that he hadn't yet played. We went through the rules, which are much easier to explain than the rules to its big brother, Puerto Rico. San Juan is built around a deck of cards. Each card depicts a building; some are production buildings that allow you to produce and sell goods, while others are "violet" buildings, each of which allows you to break the rules in a particular way. The cards also serve as money (each card in your hand can either be built as a building or spent to build some other building) and as goods (when you produce, you take a card off the draw pile and place it on a production building without looking at it.) The cards are well made and easy to shuffle; they are much nicer than the cards in (for example) Attika or Wyatt Earp.
In this game, Eric drew a Library early and saved one round to build it. He then used the Library to double the privilege of the Builder and Prospector, gaining a monetary advantage. Walt built an early Chapel and steadily buried cards beneath it for victory points. Dave wasn't able to settle on a winning strategy and was left behind.
Final scores:
Bldg Chpl "6"s Palace Total
----- ----- ----- ------ -----
Eric 22 2 0 6 30
Walt 11 9 0 0 20
Dave 16 0 0 0 16
Eric's rating: 7. This game plays well and presents you with a new challenge each game. You can't develop a "perfect plan" to win because you must work with the cards you draw. I've been playing a lot of San Juan because the people I play with have been requesting it, but so far it seems that many of the choices are fairly obvious. My rating is "7" which means I'm happy to play it, but I don't tend to ask for it on my own initiative.
TICKET
TO RIDE (Dan, Anton, Evan)
While 3 players played San Juan, the other 3 played Ticket to Ride, Alan Moon's new track-laying game. In Ticket to Ride, each player has 45 little colored plastic train cars that are used to build routes printed on the board. Routes vary in length from 1 to 6 cars, and you need a set of track cards all in a single color (possibly with the help of wild cards) to build a route. You score victory points in three different ways. Each route built generates VPs (1 VP for a route of length 1, but 15 VP for a route of length 6.) Players also have "tickets," each of which shows a pair of cities and a VP payoff for connecting the pair with your own routes. Unfortunately, if you don't connect, you lose the VPs. Finally, the player with the longest route gets a 10 VP bonus at the end of the game.
Anton and Dan had played Ticket to Ride on April 8, but Evan was new to the game, so we reviewed the rules before we started. The rules are clear and well-written, as is typical for an Alan Moon game. On your turn, you may do one of three actions: (1) play a route, paying for it with track cards, (2) select two new track cards, either from the face-up cards on display or from the draw pile, or (3) select three new tickets and keep 1, 2 or 3 of them. The game is a tense contest in which you must manage your turns, your trains and your cards in such a way as to connect your tickets, draw the right cards, and block your opponents if possible. In the 3-player game the board is constricted by the rule that does not allow two routes to be built between a given pair of cities in the 2- and 3-player games. Once one is built, the other is no longer available. This didn't seem to present a problem for Evan, who connected all his tickets and also built the longest route to finish ahead of the two experienced players. Dan was left with an unconnected ticket, leaving him well behind.
Final scores:
Track Tix Long Total
----- ----- ----- -----
Evan 63 48 10 121
Anton 66 43 109
Dan 57 31 88
Eric's rating: 8. Ticket to Ride is easy to explain and play. You can play it with family members without worrying that it will be seen as too complicated. On the other hand, there are many subtle tactics available; I notice new ideas each time I play. There is certainly some luck in the ticket draws, but the game isn't so long that this is a problem for me.
LIARS
DICE (Dan, Anton, Eric, Dave, Evan, Mike) Walt and Scott went
out to grab a bite to eat, so we decided to play a quick 6-player game of this
popular filler. Evan kicked us off with a big bluff which Dave called, costing
Evan 3 dice right away. Evan was out of the game soon thereafter. Anton was
the next player to go, and Dan was ahead 3-2-1-1. Dave continued his work as
bluff caller, bringing Dan down to a single die and leaving the 4 remaining
players all even at 1-1-1-1. No one had room for error; when you're down to
one die each, there are some tough decisions. Mike was the next player to go,
and when Eric called Dave successfully it was a 2-player final with one die
each. Eric rolled a '4' and bid one '4'. Dan had also rolled a '4', so he raised
to two '4's, putting Eric in an impossible dilemma. Eric called unsuccessfully,
leaving Dan as the winner.
Eric's rating: 7. I haven't won this game, but I've had fun playing. It helps to roll good numbers, but it's important to understand the probabilities as well.
OASIS
(Dan, Walt, Eric, Scott, Evan)
The MVGA club recently invested some of our dues money to purchase a selection of new games. Among the new games are San Juan, Ticket to Ride, Oasis, Industria and Alhambra. Many of the members bring games on Thursday nights, but it's nice to have some games we can count on even if we don't bring our own. We took Oasis out of the shrink wrap and took it for its inaugural voyage.
Walt was back, and Scott came down from upstairs, so we had 8 players. Five of us sat down to Oasis and the other 3 chose Industria. Oasis is a Moon and Weissblum game that was in development for several years before it finally came out a few months ago. It's published in the U.S. by Uberplay, a new game publishing house that has begun life with a splash. I understand that future printings of Oasis will use the name "Desert Oasis" to avoid confusion with another game called Oasis that is published by Family Pastimes, but our copy is simply named "Oasis". In Oasis, players play tiles and collect multiplier chits in four different categories (we call them green, tan, stones and camels.) The "tiles" for green, tan and stones are little cardboard squares, but the camel tiles are little wooden camels that provide tempting opportunities for mischievous players. Your score in each category is a product: the number of tiles you play times the number of multiplier chits. For green, tan and stones you add up your total number of tiles, but for camels you only count your largest connected herd. Each player in Oasis has a supply of cards that serves as currency. Each card allows a player to take a valuable action: place a tile, take a multiplier or take 3 more cards. The trick is that you do not take the actions on your own cards. Instead, you use your cards as an offer made to your opponents; your cards will be used by the opponent who bids for your cards. Each player has a round bid marker numbered #1 through #5. The player with the #1 marker turns over 1, 2 or 3 cards, and players #2 through #5 do likewise in order. Then player #1 chooses another player's offer, giving the #1 marker face down to that player and taking the actions. Next, #2 chooses, and so forth. No player may take his or her own offer (except when #5 has no offer available except his or her own.) At the end of the turn, bid markers are turned face up, the new owner of #1 gets a bonus tile placement, and the next round begins. You generally want to make a desirable offer so you can attract a high bid marker (ideally #1 for the free action,) but you must be careful not to run out of cards, so you have to pick your spots. You also need to remember that a big offer will give valuable actions to someone else (you can't take your own offer unless you're #5 and no one wants it.) This makes for difficult trade-offs.
In this week's game, Scott started with big plantations of tan and stones, while Evan started a big green plantation. Eric collected multipliers early, and Walt and Dan pursued mixed strategies. As the game progressed, the players with a lot of tiles began to seek multipliers, while the players with a lot of multipliers began to seek tiles. On one round, Eric as #5 laid down an offer of a camel multiplier and a stone tile, and no one took it, forcing him to swallow his own offer and become #5 again. He was secretly delighted with this, because with his 5 camels and 8 stone multipliers, the offer was worth 13 points. In the end, the players who were able to specialize came out ahead of the others. In particular, the single stone tile cards were widely despised, but Eric had 10 stone multipliers, making them valuable to him.
Final scores: Eric 100 (stones and camels); Scott 97 (stones and tan); Evan 94 (green); Dan 67 (mixed); Walt 67 (mixed).
Eric's rating: 8. Many people complain about the luck in the game (it's bad luck to turn over cards that no one wants, or that you alone want.) I don't mind the luck, and I enjoy a game that moves along so smoothly.
INDUSTRIA
(Anton, Dave, Mike)
Dave hadn't played Industria, so he asked Anton and Mike to teach the game. It's hard being a new player, since money is tight and there are difficult decisions to make about where to seek VPs, but it's a little less harsh with 3 players than with 4. In some games of Industria, the scores diverge widely during the middle of the game, as some players pursue strategies that pay off immediately while others go for VPs at the end of the game. In this game, the players each pursued similar mixes of objectives, so it was tight all the way through. At the end of the fourth epoch Anton was a little behind on the score board (we often play five epochs even with 3 players, but this game was a four-epoch game, as specified in the rules.)
All 3 players earned 12 points for connections (Anton had the impressive quadrilateral made up of the Iron Works, the Steel Mill, the Kiln and the Coke Plant.) However, Anton had several bonus chips, and the resulting points were just enough to give him the win in the closest game of Industria we've ever had at MVGA.
Final scores: Anton 43, Dave 42, Mike 41.
Eric's rating: 8. You have to stay alert every moment in this game lest you be stuck unexpectedly with a tile you didn't really want.
HICK HACK IN
GACKELWACK (Dave, Walt, Evan, Scott)
We've played Hick Hack in Gackelwack before at MVGA. It's a blind card selection game in which you send your chicken out to gain chicken feed, or your fox out to gain chickens. There was a lot of laughter, but in the end Scott was the successful diner. When we asked Scott for the secret of his success, he said "beginner's luck."
Final scores: Scott 49, Dave 33, Walt 26, Evan 19.
Eric's rating: 6. This is a silly, trash-talking game without much substance. It works as a filler, but doesn't have much in the way of decisions (or if it does, I haven't figured it out.)
SAN
JUAN (Dan, Eric, Mike)
Mike wanted a shot at San Juan, so we played another game to teach him how it works. In this game, Dan got an early Library and drove it relentlessly, taking advantage of the doubled privileges for Builder and Prospector. I understand that among experienced players, the Library isn't so strong, but it seems overwhelming in a 3-player game where you can take a doubled Builder or Prospector two out of three rounds. Dan and Mike got Chapels late in the game, but it was Dan's building edge that won the game for him.
Final scores:
Bldg Chpl "6"s Palace Total
----- ----- ----- ------ -----
Dan 22 3 8 0 33
Eric 19 0 8 0 27
Mike 12 4 0 0 16
Eric's rating: 7. In this game I felt I got railroaded; I never drew cards I knew how to use effectively. Still, it's a quick game, so you don't have a long time to regret your lack of success, and it's a challenge to make the best of what you draw.
BOHNANZA
(Dave, Walt, Evan, Scott)
Hick Hack in Gackelwack finished and there was time for one more game. Scott asked about Bohnanza, which he enjoys, and we were amazed to learn that neither Evan nor Dave had ever played this gaming standard. We play it from time to time at MVGA, but we aren't playing it as often as we used to. In this game, Scott was generous, trading away beans to those who needed them. Evan trolled for sympathy, but in this group he had limited success. Dave made a strong comeback on the last turn, gaining 9 talers, but Walt got 3 to hold him off. Walt was the only one not to buy a third bean field; it's tempting, but it's hard to make that third field pay off and Walt rarely buys one. Both Dave and Evan loved their first playing of Bohnanza.
Final scores: Walt 21, Dave 20, Evan 15, Scott 14.
Eric's rating: 6. This game works very well (the challenge is in reminding the newbies not to sort their hands, but after that it's smooth going.)
Roll call: Anton, Walt, Eric, Dan, Rich, Dave, Scott.
TICKET
TO RIDE (Anton, Walt, Eric, Dan, Rich)
We had a strong turnout early, so we started with Ticket to Ride, a game we recently added to the MVGA library. Players collect track cards, lay track segments, and attempt to connect "tickets" (each ticket lists two cities and pays a bonus if you connect them, or a penalty if you can't.) The game was marked by a great deal of early track card hoarding as players were reluctant to tip their plans. Eric laid down the New Orleans-Houston link early and immediately drew cries of "Los Angeles to Miami! Stop him!"
Dan began to build up the eastern seaboard, a slow process given all the 2-train links.Anton built track up north near Winnipeg, while Rich and Walt started sketching in coast-to-coast lines. The card-hoarding ended in a hurry as Rich laid down six blacks to grab the El Paso-Los Angeles link. Eric immediately took the Los-Angeles-San Francisco link, and before we knew it, the whole Pacific Coast was taken from Los Angeles to Seattle. Anton made a panicked lunge for Los Angeles via Las Vegas, and Eric squeezed east through Santa Fe. As it turned out Eric did indeed have the Los Angeles-Miami card, but the heavy traffic forced him to take a longer and less lucrative route than the usual "three sixes" approach. The next contretemps took place in the South Central US as Rich, Eric and Walt each wanted to connect eastern and western networks through Dallas. This was bound to end in tears for someone, and Walt was left holding the bag, ruining his chances. As the game approached its end, players began to fish for good tickets, with Anton and Rich in particular going to the well multiple times.
Eric achieved longest route, using 43 of his 45 trains in a single route to lead the pack before tickets were revealed. He had only two tickets for 33, so the results swung on how well the players with more tickets had done in the connection game. As it turned out, Rich had accumulated 68 points in tickets, with no failures, to win by a healthy margin.
Final scores: Rich 134, Eric 111, Dan 107, Walt 87, Anton 74.
Eric's rating: 8. This is a simple game to play, but the strategies are more complex than you might think after your first game. Rich's ticket strategy worked like a charm in this game; should we have tried harder to block him?
BALLOON
CUP (Anton, Walt)
Dave arrived and watched the end of Ticket to Ride. With six players on hand and Scott upstairs finishing up some of his Masonic duties, Anton and Walt sat down to a quick game of Balloon Cup so they could play with Scott when he arrived. The game was tightly contested, with the players trading trophies back and forth in alternating fashion. At the end of the game, some of the hops can be removed from the table if there are not enough cubes to re-stock them, and in this game two hops were removed before Anton won the final trophy.
Final scores: Anton 3, Walt 2.
Eric's rating: 7. Balloon Cup plays well and the card management offers a challenge. At times you can withhold cards of a given color and force your opponent to do what you want, but you must take care lest you fall for a bluff. The work of drawing new cubes and reshuffling the cards is a little more than I'd like, but it's a good choice for 2.
HANSA
(Eric, Dan, Rich, Dave)
Walt and Anton were playing Balloon Cup, so the rest of us decided to play Hansa, a new Michael Schacht game about trading in the Baltic Sea region. Dave was new to the game, so we began with an explanation of the rules, which are simple to describe but not so easy to use to your advantage. Hansa is a game of timing and positioning. There is one boat shared by all of the players, and it moves between the nine cities by following arrows printed on the board. We particularly enjoyed the arrow from Tønsberg to Stockholm, since it cuts across Sweden (and shows a picture of a wagon train that must be dragging the boat across country.)
During your turn you move and take actions, with the proviso that after you take an action you must pay to move the boat at least once before you can take another. Three actions are available: (1) pick up a goods marker and pay the person with the most market stalls, or the bank if no one has a majority; (2) pay a goods marker to the box and lay down new market stalls, or (3) turn goods markers face down to score points at the end of the game and give up a market stall. In order to win, you must execute a mix of all three types of action. At the start of your turn, you may pay to restock goods markers, benefiting not only yourself, but also the players who follow you.
Eric began by grabbing and selling two goods markers, but then went on a market stall laying spree, gaining majorities in a number of eastern cities. This brought in some welcome cash as the others paid him to pick up goods, and it delayed his opponents who tried to avoid paying him too much and thus had to pay for multiple boat moves. Dan laid down a number of market stalls, including the only stall in out-of-the-way Lubeck, and Rich made some sales of his own. Dave scored some early sales, but ran his supply of market stalls down, reducing his future prospects (it's hard to judge the balance in your first game of Hansa.) The game was played more defensively than our previous games of Hansa. Players were reluctant to pay for re-stocking, especially when their cash was low, and there were several times when a player did nothing in his turn but take 3 talers. One player even gave away a taler (you may keep only 3 talers at the end of your turn) rather than spend it. Thus, when we did restock, it often involved 8 or 10 new goods markers. Near the end of the game, Eric restocked and hit the jackpot, turning over three red goods markers that he was able to scoop up and sell in a single turn for 9 points. Dan followed by a similar restocking on the final turn that gave him three markers for 10 points. This showed us that restocking gives you a chance to strike it lucky; perhaps it makes sense to restock more often than we have been doing it.
Final scores:
Goods Mkts Total ----- ----- ----- Eric 36 10 46 Dan 28 16 44 Rich 31 12 43 Dave 26 10 36
Eric's rating: 8. There's a tactical aspect to Hansa, but I'm seeing a strong strategic aspect as well. If you can obtain majorities in key cities, you either collect cash to finance future activity or constrain the activities of your opponents as they strive to avoid paying you. The decision of whether to spend your cash down to zero or save some for next turn is also a critical one; there's a big benefit to having the flexibility a cash reserve brings.
ALHAMBRA
(Anton, Walt, Scott)
Scott joined Anton and Walt for a game of Alhambra. We find this game is at its best with 3 players, as there's less downtime and more control. Walt took a number of opportunities to grab key tiles before Anton, who was sitting to his left, could get them. This gave Walt the lead or a tie for the lead in Towers, Gardens and Workshops, all high-valued sets, and it was enough to edge ahead of Anton on the scoreboard.
Final scores: Walt 143, Anton 133, Scott 98. Eric's rating: 8. I've been able to enjoy this game not only at MVGA, but at home as well. It's easy to teach and new players find it approachable.
BOHNANZA
(Eric, Dan, Rich, Dave)
With Anton, Walt and Scott still playing Alhambra, Dave asked for a quick game of Bohnanza, a game he learned last week and enjoyed. We decided to play only once through the deck so we'd finish in time to add the Alhambra players for the next game. With four players we removed the Coffee Beans from the deck. Trading was relatively spirited in this game, with our usual mixture of ordinary trades and trades for "future considerations" of various types. Dan is an experienced Bohnanza player (his family enjoys it,) and he deftly surfed the changing mix of beanfields in such a way that he always had a use for the beans the rest of us didn't want. Eric used the opposite strategy, ripping up fields time and again just before several beans of the corresponding type made their appearance. To play Bohnanza well, you need a feel for which types of bean have already been used and which are still lurking in the deck.
Final scores: Dan 13, Dave 11, Rich 11, Eric 7.
Eric's rating: 6. This game plays well and is attractive to new gamers. I simply don't enjoy the decision-making (possibly because I don't get it!)
WYATT
EARP (Anton, Walt, Scott)
Four players were playing a shortened game of Bohnanza so they'd be ready when Anton, Walt and Scott were done their game, but the time still didn't line up, so the three unoccupied gamers played a single hand of Bohnanza to even things out. Walt laid down a huge pile of scoring cards, but a Hideout made its way to his side of the table, cutting into his winnings and giving Scott a chance to tie. Final scores: Walt $7K, Scott $7K, Anton $4K.
Eric's rating: 9. I've been able to play this with many different groups of gamers. It's quick and provides interesting decisions. It's our most common MVGA filler at the moment.
OASIS
(Eric, Dan, Rich, Dave, Scott)
It was about 10pm, and Walt and Anton had to leave. The remaining 5 gamers went to the MVGA locker and pulled out Oasis, a new acquisition for the club. We're still settling into our opinions of this game; there seems to be a lot of luck in the card draws, but we also have the feeling that there's more strategy than we've recognized. This week's game had a number of twists and turns, capped by an unexpected finish. Dave was new to Oasis, and Scott had played just once before, on April 22.
Despite their lack of experience, Dave and Scott pulled out to early leads, swapping the #1 bid marker back and forth as each was able to reveal just the cards the other was looking for. Rich, Dan and Scott began camel herds, Eric and Scott started up stones, and Dave had footholds in green, tan and stones. In the early mid-game, Eric and Rich butted heads in an interesting way. Eric had turned over a single 3-camel card, which might have been attractive to Rich, who had four camel multipliers already. Unfortunately, Rich took a two-card offer with his #4 bid marker, leaving Eric with his own 3-camel card and the #5 bid marker. Eric had no camel multipliers and no interest in camels, so his only use for camels was to constrict someone else's expansion. Eric decided to cut off Rich's herd based on Rich's large supply of rugs and the fact that neither Dan nor Scott could be cut off with only 3 hostile camels. This effectively ruined Rich's game, since his rug investment would never pay off as he had hoped.
Toward the end of the game, Dan began to creep back into contention as he gained the #1 bonus several times and got five rugs to go with his gradually expanding camel herd. On the very last turn, Dan had the #1 card again, and watched with interest as Scott turned over a 3-camel card, which was worth 15 to Dan. Scott decided to turn over a second card, and it was another 3-camel card. Dan didn't have to look at any other offers as he took the 6 camels to expand his herd to 18.
Final scores: Dan 105 (camels); Scott 93 (mixed); Dave 80 (tan); Rich 67 (mixed); Eric 41 (mixed) As it turned out, Scott would have won the game if he had stopped after turning over one 3-camel card. Dan would have finished with only 90 points, leaving Scott 3 points ahead. This points to an interesting phenomenon; you want to make attractive offers so you can get the more valuable bid markers, but an attractive offer helps another player gain points.
Eric's rating: 8. Although I was totally out of this game almost from the beginning, this game took several twists and turns that brought out aspects of play I hadn't previously recognized. It's impossible to explain the 60-point gap between me and Dan based on luck, so I'll be thinking about how to improve my results.
WEB
OF POWER (Eric, Rich, Dave, Scott)
Scott and Dave hadn't yet satisfied their game cravings for the week, so we chose our second Michael Schacht game of the night, Web of Power. Web of Power is a game with simple rules that have complex implications, and it's an MVGA favorite. With only four players, we removed one card of each color before play. This game proved that the card draw is a meaningful factor in Web of Power. All four players struggled to draw the cards they needed, and many of our plays were made with a shrug, as if to say "this is the best of a bad lot of choices."
The action started in Schwaben, which soon filled up, and moved to Italy. After a stop-over in Burgundy, we moved on to the most lethargic invasion of France I've ever seen in Web of Power. Eric wound up with 4 cloisters, while Dave got the majority of a 4-advisor cluster. Rich took a 5-cloister chain through France and into Aragon, a move we didn't think much of at the time, but that proved to be important later. At the halfway point, Eric led by a narrow margin, helped by his points for France. Rich invaded England and Scott invaded Franken, but no one had the doubles that are needed to score big. As the game drew to a close Eric placed the first cloister in Bayern, hoping for an advisor, but Rich placed a single advisor for zero points and Eric couldn't get the double. When we scored, there were less than 10 points for advisors among the four of us, and the totals were far lower than in any game we've ever played. Rich's lowly chain proved to be the difference.
Final scores: Rich 40, Eric 36, Scott 31, Dave 28.
Eric's rating: 8. Web of Power plays quickly and requires a fine sense of timing. Some of the other players found this week's game frustrating because we never drew the cards we need. I found it a tense struggle, and I enjoyed the totally different feeling this game had.
Here's a report from Dave Meleedy on the final game for April 29.
WYATT
EARP (Rich, Dave, Scott)
The first hand of this game started with a strong lead by Rich. He accomplished
this by eliminating cards from his hand very quickly,
before Scott or Dave could score as much as they could have. This led into a
couple of high scoring possibilities for the 2nd hand,
due to some uncaptured desperadoes. During the 2nd hand, a number of hideouts
were played. Rich again emptied his hand very
quickly. As the Deck was being shuffled Dave commented that he had had a "Wyatt
Earp" in his hand, and was disappointed he could not play it to eliminate
his hideout. Rich then said that as a reaction to a hideout, you could play
a Wyatt Earp immediately,
and so Dave selected a card at random, and it was a bullet shot, and so collected
his reward, and managed to somewhat catch up,
but still lagged in the game.
Scott had been building off of other people's desperadoes and had managed
to stay in 2nd place solidly. During the third hand, Rich
managed to keep his strong lead, leaving his fellow lawmakers solidly behind
in the dust.
Final scores: Rich: 26, Scott: 22, Dave 20.
In previous session reports, Eric has mentioned my preference for not playing photo cards unless it's your own turn. Rich's playing style in this game reminded me of yet another reason I prefer the game to run this way. One of Rich's big strategies was to hold all of the cards in his hand and then lay them all out as a big set, which gets you more money. One possible strategy is to try and not share money with anyone by laying out a big set, and then go out right away. But if people can slap down photos as soon as you play a set, you have to share the reward with them (if you don't have that over 5 point advantage). To my mind, this is a real fundamental shift in the game mechanics, and it eliminates a way to score exclusively. But I am willing to play with either mechanic it just seems that there are advantages either way. Since Wyatt Earp is considered to be a filler game, I am less averse to house rules.
Roll call: Anton, Dan, Eric, Dave, Evan, Joe, Paul H., Rich, Paul L., Mike, Walt We were pleased to have eleven gamers at MVGA this week. Paul L. was a first-timer (he read about MVGA on the internet) so he didn't have to pay the $3.00 this week.
FEURIO!
(Anton, Dan, Eric)
There were 6 gamers present soon after our 7pm starting time, so we split into two groups of 3 and sat down to play. Eric explained the rules to Feurio! ("Fire!") to Anton and Dan. Feurio! is a game about fighting a forest fire. The game includes 36 hexagonal tiles, six each numbered 1 to 6. The higher-numbered tiles are worth more, but only if you can connect them to a good water source, i.e., a low-numbered tile that is not completely surrounded by other tiles. Each player has a set of 12 pawns in a color, and in the 3-player game each player has 4 pawns in a fourth color that can be used to block the other players. Each player scores for each connected "wooded area" of pawns in his or her color. The score for a wooded area is the sum of the numbers on all tiles divided by the single lowest edge tile (if it has no edge tile the score is zero, reflecting the fact that your firefighters have been trapped.) This makes control of the "1" tiles potentially important, and some groups have begun to use a variant that turns all "1" tiles into "2" tiles for divisor purposes.
In this game there was no immediate issue with the "1" tiles, because Anton, Dan and Eric each drew one in the early going and placed a pawn on it. Unfortunately for Dan, however, the fire soon veered off toward the area controlled by Eric and Anton, depriving Dan of the intense heat he needed to score big by battling the worst of the blaze. There is only limited opportunity to choose where to place a tile; you must place each newly drawn tile where the fire is hottest, and you have a choice only if there is a tie for hottest location. Thus, Dan was forced to start a second and then a third wooded area, and he did not draw the low divisors he needed for these areas. As Dan chased the action, Eric and Anton steadily extended their initial wooded areas, and indeed they both finished the game with a single wooded area. Anton placed some firefighters on tiles numbered "2" and "3", while Eric held out for higher numbered tiles, and this gave him a narrow victory when the tiles he needed showed up where he could connect to them.
Final scores: Eric 45, Anton 42, Dan 31.
Eric's rating: 7. This game flows along pleasantly. When you draw a tile, all the players help you find the place or places where it must be placed. You then select a place to put your pawn (or should it be more than one to block someone?) This is a game that will work well as a filler, and will go over well with non-gamers.
HANSA
(Dave, Evan, Joe)
Joe came to MVGA again this week (he's a regular attender but not a frequent attender.) Dave works at the same company, and Joe followed him from work. Joe's convertible was an ideal choice for the balmy spring evening. Hansa is a new game that many of us think is at its best for 3, and it was selected as the other starter game for the session. The winning margin in Hansa is usually dominated by goods sold (though cities contribute as well.)
The game is more complex than this might imply, however. To sell a lot of goods you need a lot of money, and to gain money you need market majorities. If you get majorities in a number of cities, you will gain the cash you need to take a lot of actions and place even more markets, setting up a virtuous cycle. The one limitation is that you may have at most 15 market stalls in play (we counted and found that Eric's set has only 14 white stalls, but a 15th is on its way from the helpful folks at Überplay.) This means the other players can cut down on the leader's majorities if they cooperate, since the leader will not have enough stalls to keep up. Money also allows you to restock the goods frequently, which gives you chances to get lucky. In this game, Joe gained market stall majorities in a few key cities and scooped in the money, which allowed him to crush the opposition with frequent and timely sales.
Final scores:
Goods Cities Total
----- ----- -----
Joe 34 + 12 = 46
Evan 25 + 12 = 37
Dave 17 + 16 = 33
Eric's rating: 8. Hansa continues to keep my interest. I recently began to appreciate the value of restocking; I had been trying to avoid restocking, but I've seen some big jackpots scored when players pay up to get a fresh set of goods chips.
RA (Anton,
Dan, Eric, Paul L.)
Rich and Paul H. arrived and began playing a tabletop baseball series. Paul L. also came in and introduced himself. He's been reading about MVGA on the Internet and decided to come see us. We looked for a short game and picked Ra, a perennial MVGA favorite that is currently out of print. Ra is a game of limited choices. You must make the most of your nine bids, and you must choose an effective course of action early in the game (waffling back and forth will almost surely result in defeat.)
Anton seized a huge lead in Pharaohs early, discouraging the others from trying to catch him. He also began picking up a monument here and a monument there, eventually making it to eight types with a triple. The rest of us were less successful in specializing, and we paid the price as Anton ran away from us.
Final scores: Anton 48, Dan 38, Eric 34, Paul L. 30.
Eric's rating: 9. Ra plays quickly once you learn it, and it works very well for 3, 4 or 5 players. This feature lets you add a player who comes in as you're setting up a 3- or 4-player game. We're evenly matched in Ra, as each of the regulars wins from time to time, so it's a particularly competitive game for us.
SAN FRANCISCO
(Dave, Evan, Joe, Mike, Walt)
We've played San Francisco several times recently. It's an odd mixture of blind bidding, geometric placement and timing. This game brought out the extremes in this game. Many of the auctions in San Francisco involve a simultaneous choice by the five players of a bid from 1 to 9, with any bid that matches another bid nullified. Thus, if the bids are 9-9-6-6-2, the person who bids 2 wins, much to the frustration of the higher bidders who were wiped out. This happened frequently (we had one situation in which the bids were 9-9-7-7-7 and no one got anything.)
As the game wound toward its end, Mike and Walt were far ahead of the competition, as Evan, Joe and Dave flailed frantically trying to win any bid at all at whatever the price. In one case, Dave bid $630 in an auction (an outrageous amount) but lost to Joe who bid $640. The game was decided when Evan saw a chance to grab a few points, but in the process handed a bonanza to Mike. This seems to be a feature of the game, at least with 5 players; intense frustration will lead a player to hand the game to someone else, not so much in an attempt to be a kingmaker as in an attempt to do anything at all.
Final scores: Mike 37, Walt 24, Evan 14, Joe 12, Dave 4.
Eric's rating: 4. Blind bidding works in some games, but San Francisco isn't one of them. It's too long for a game with this mechanic.
TICKET
TO RIDE (Anton, Dan, Eric, Paul L.)
San Francisco was still in mid-game, so the 4 players from Ra taught Ticket to Ride to Paul L. This new Alan Moon game has gotten a great deal of play at MVGA in the month since we obtained a copy. The game started with the usual track card collecting spree, but Eric laid down an early line from Los Angeles to Phoenix, setting off a mad scramble for track in the southwest. We've found that just one or two track builds can drive a great deal of activity, though we're still grappling with how to use this activity to our advantage. No one got the track he wanted out of this, so there were a number of worried looks as we moved to the next phase of the game. Anton, in particular, needed to move east, but his route was blocked, so he had to build all the way up through Helena, Calgary and east to Toronto to make his move. The rest of us couldn't easily get in his way because he had control of some key colors. Anton, Dan and Paul L. each drew extra tickets, but Eric tried to power his way to the end using only his three original tickets (a strategy that has failed him several times in the past.) Anton used his spur-free line and some good tickets to eke out the win, helped by the fact that he built more long track links than anyone else did.
Final scores: Anton 114, Eric 107, Dan 94, Paul L. 54.
Eric's rating: 8. I'm going to have to figure out when to draw the extra tickets I need to put me over the top. My problem is that early in the game the tickets I have seem hard enough to connect, while late in the game I don't have enough trains left!
AMUN-RE (Dan, Evan, Rich, Paul L., Mike)
Paul H. had to leave, but we still had 10 gamers, so we decided to split into two groups of 5. Amun-Re is a 5-player game that is a favorite of some MVGA members but not others, so it's an obvious candidate whenever we split into two groups including at least one group of 5. It took us a little while to decided who would play in each game. Paul L. was learning a lot of new games, and he was up for another one. This game was close at the end; if Evan could have built just one more pyramid it would have given him an extra tier, but he fell just short, giving Rich the win.
Final scores: Rich 46, Dan 42, Evan 41, Mike 36, Paul L. 35.
Eric's rating: 6. Amun-Re works; I just don't enjoy it as much as some people do.
CITADELS
(Anton, Eric, Dave, Joe, Walt)
Last week Dave had mentioned that Citadels is one of his favorite games, and he noticed on Boardgamegeek that it's one of Eric's favorite games as well. It wasn't hard to find 5 players who wanted to play it. We use two variants at MVGA: (1) we play to 7 buildings instead of 8 to shorten the playing time and (2) we allow an assassinated player to collect 2 gold instead of losing an entire turn.
Dave started out as King, and he and Joe kept control of the King's role for much of the game, much to the irritation of Walt, who was on their right and had late choices for much of the game as a result. Eric made a specialty of taking the Magician, trading a hand of three one-value buildings to Walt, and later (in an impressive display of yin-yang) trading Walt a hand of five-value buildings that Walt couldn't afford. The game saw a lot of large-value buildings. Walt built several 5's, while Joe and Dave each built an 8. Eric laid down a pile of small buildings in a mixture of colors, while Anton struggled under the burden of several unintentional assassinations.
On the penultimate turn, Walt was the mercenary and had the opportunity to pay 1 to kill a 2-value building of either Dave or Eric. Dave was slightly in the lead, so Walt targeted him, but Walt faced an impossible choice, as Eric took the Assassin the next round, built a seventh cheap building, and grabbed the victory with the help of 4 bonus points for being first to 7 buildings and 3 more for having all five colors. Dave was the mercenary on the final turn and knocked Joe down to seize second place with the help of 3 bonus points of his own.
Final scores: Eric 27, Dave 22, Joe 20, Walt 20, Anton 17.
Eric's rating: 9. This is a great game of double-think and timing. It can fail in a group that doesn't have tolerance for randomness and surprises, but it's usually a hit at MVGA.
PUERTO RICO (Eric, Dave, Joe, Walt)
Anton had to leave, and Amun-Re was steaming along, so we went to the MVGA game locker and chose Puerto Rico. We've played more games of Puerto Rico than of any other game over the past 12 months, and we all rate it highly. With four experienced players we didn't have to go over the rules, so we set up and started right in.
Walt was first governor and settled for a Quarry. There was no Corn available, making Joe's position as second player tenuous. He built for a Hospice, Eric and Dave took Small Markets and Walt took Small Indigo. Eric then Prospected and Dave mayored. Eric got an early Sugar sale followed by an early Tobacco sale to get a good start, but Walt also made some effective sales and took a Factory to match Eric's Harbor. As the game progressed, Walt played the Trading House like a pro, selling several barrels of Coffee and shutting Eric out, erasing Eric's early lead. Eric scraped together the money for a wharf, but despite some effective Captain phases he spent the game as poor guy. Walt and Dave each got two large buildings and Joe got one (the Guild Hall, which Joe thought would pay for both purple buildings and production buildings; there's a typo on the tile itself but the rules make it clear that the Guild Hall only pays for production buildings.)
Final scores:
VP Bldg Bonus Total Walt 27 + 18 + 10 = 55 Dave 23 + 22 + 6 = 51 Joe 21 + 22 + 6 = 49 (8 barrels) Eric 16 + 33 = 49 (7 barrels)
Eric's rating: 10. Still a great game. We'll play this any week.
LIARS
DICE (Dave, Rich, Mike, Walt)
We were down to 7 players, and there was a call for Liars Dice. Our set will only accommodate 6, so we split into a 4 and a 3. Walt went out early, and although Mike had a huge lead, Dave did his duty again, whittling Mike down and knocking him out. Too bad for Dave, as Rich jumped out of hiding at this point to knock Dave out for the win.
Eric's rating: 7. A good filler that almost always leaves us laughing.
WEB
OF POWER (Eric, Evan, Joe)
The other 3 players discussed several options, including Web of Power, which is one of Joe's favorites. We have a copy of this game in the MVGA game closet, and it often fills a spot in our lineup. We hadn't played it with Joe at MVGA, and we soon learned that Joe focuses more on cloisters and less on advisors than we're used to. Evan was forced to open several countries against his will, and you could see the tension rising as Joe kept jumping in to grab first place in cloisters. Eric and Evan competed for advisors, with Evan nipping Eric in Burgund while Eric returned the favor in several other countries. Joe kept laying those cloisters down, and he managed to place a chain of 5 cloisters (remember that a 5-cloister chain was Rich's winning edge in our last game of Web of Power.) Joe had a big lead at the end of the first half of the game, and he was ahead of Evan by 17 as we began to score advisors. Would advisors be enough to close the gap? The game displayed its balance as Eric and Evan caught up to Joe and just barely passed him, with Evan taking a close-fought victory.
Final scores: Clstr Chain Advsr Total
----- ----- ----- -----
Evan 30 + 0 + 25 = 55
Eric 25 + 0 + 28 = 53
Joe 42 + 5 + 0 = 47
Eric's rating: 8. You can play this game in 30 minutes and it's almost always tense. It's a good idea to warn new players not to panic; it's almost always better to wait for your opportunity and not make a hasty move that will benefit someone else.
The following report comes from Dave M., with rebuttal from Mike L (in italics).
SAN
JUAN (Dave, Rich, Mike)
We had a much better game of San Juan than the first time I had tried the game. This time I was able to get some combinations going that made the game make a lot more sense. The three strategies employed were as follows:
Mike: Was low on money for most of the game, and only had a Tobacco Storage and his initial Indigo Plant for production buildings, but he set up a combo of: (1) Chapel - very early which allowed him to sock away victory points. There were 2 turns, however, when he chose to keep his cards rather than put one away. (2) Prefecture - allowed him to keep 2 cards during the Councillor phase (which he took almost every turn to gain card advantage for his Chapel). In order to compensate for his lack of money he built (3) Quarry to reduce building costs by one card for violet buildings, and (4) Carpenter to get a card back after he built a violet building.
The Prefecture showed up in my initial hand, I built it ASAP and rode that horse for all it was worth. I get 2 out of 5 cards while my opponents get 1 of 2, that's a good advantage. The carpenter-quarry combo is a potent one regardless of your income, you can even make money by building otherwise useless 1-cost violet buildings. I deliberately tried to stay lean on the production buildings, it didn't work out too well.
Dave: Very early on Dave built a coffee roaster, which he used with the Market Hall to generate more money quickly. Soon he built a money making juggernaut, and tried to use this card drawing advantage to find the big "6" buildings, but was unlucky and kept drawing the smaller valued buildings. Production buildings were 1 silver smithy, 2 coffee roasters, and the initial Indigo Plant. He had (1) Market Hall - receives one card extra than shown on trade house tile when selling one commodity, (2) Trade Station - may sell 1 additional commodity during trader phase, and (3) Aqueduct - Produce an extra commodity in the craftsman phase. The only big 6 card Dave managed to get out was the "City Hall" which garnered 8 points for all the violet buildings. Probably Dave took the "Builder" role too often and should have tried doing the "Mayor/Councillor" or "Prospector" role to fish for better buildings.
Yes. One reason I was often so poor was because Dave would take Builder, and I felt the need to build whatever I could to keep from falling behind.
Rich: Used a set of tobacco sheds initially for his income. Very often chose the "Producer" or "Trader" role, and used his cards to build a lot of special buildings. Rich successfully built all 3 monuments, "Statue", "Victory Column", and "Hero." These combined with his 2 "big 6" buildings: (1) "Victory Arch" which gave him 8 points for having all 3 monuments and (2) "Guild Hall" which gave him another 10 points for his production buildings. All of these bonuses propelled Rich to victory.
I think the lesson learned in this game of San Juan is that the bonus buildings have a tremendous advantage in scoring, and if you don't draw them, even with a huge draws (at one point I was able to draw 12 cards), you can just be out of luck. Interestingly, in the 2 games of San Juan I have played, I have never drawn the Chapel card. This is one big difference between San Juan and Puerto Rico. The card drawing factor adds in a big luck factor compared to the more calculating nature of Puerto Rico.
Final scores:
Bldg Chpl "6"s Palace Total
----- ----- ----- ------ -----
Rich 21 0 18 0 39
Dave 26 0 8 0 34
Mike 16 7 8 0 31
Eric's rating: 7. One nice thing about San Juan is that everyone seems to be playing it. It's easy to get a game started. I'd like to point out another lesson. If someone has an early Chapel, a lot of the big "6" buildings can disappear under it, never to be seen again. I don't know whether this happened in this game, but I've run into similar shortages, and it's not always just luck.
I didn't do that, although I realized the possibility existed. Usually
I was sticking production or useless violet buildings under
there, to enhance the possibility that I would draw a good building later.
Roll call: Anton, Dave, Paul L., Mike, Joe, Rich, Evan, Dan, Walt, Eric
We hit double digits in attendance for the second straight week as Paul L. was back after his initial visit last week and Joe came for the second time in a row. Although both Eric and Walt had other commitments and didn't arrive until 10pm, we had enough to play two games at a time without them.
POWER
GRID (Joe, Rich, Evan, Dan)
We had seven gamers on hand at our 7pm starting time, so we split into groups of 4 and 3 for our first game. The MVGA club recently added a copy of Power Grid to our game locker, and we took it for its inaugural spin. Power Grid is a revision of an older Friedemann Freise game called Funkenschlag, which we've enjoyed at MVGA in the past. There are two major changes in Power Grid. First, the original crayon based system of drawing power lines dot to dot is gone. It has been replaced by a simplified system in which you place wooden houses to mark which cities you are connected to. Second, the payout chart now pays out more cash, especially as the number of cities connected goes up. The first change simplifies the game and cuts down on the time it takes to play each turn. The second change reduces the number of turns in the game by allowing you to buy more cities sooner.
Most of our games have been close. Although there's a variety of strategies, no one approach dominates the others. With good play, careful bidding and the ability to take advantage of the power plant selection presented to you make the difference. At the end of the game, the winner is the player who powers the most cities in the final turn. You don't want to pay for plant capacity to power more cities than you can connect, but on the other hand, if another player has more plant capacity than you have, you can't win if he or she can connect more cities than you can power.
This game was close all the way through. The board shows Germany on one side and the U.S. on the other; for this game we used the U.S. with the Pacific Northwest removed. As we reached the finish, Rich had loads of money, but his plants would only power 16 cities. Dan could power 18 cities (each of his three plants could power six cities) and managed to connect 18 to win. If Rich could have done it over, he would have bought more plant capacity with some of his extra cash.
Final scores: Dan 18 cities, Evan 17, Rich 16, Joe 16, with Rich winning the tie break (cash) over Joe.
Eric's rating: 9. Almost every game I've played has been tense and close. The one phase with substantial player interaction and uncertainty is the power plant auction, but the other phases add wrinkles that complicate your power plant decisions. I liked the old version (Funkenschlag) but Power Grid moves more quickly and is less fiddly. The old game had a lot of jockeying to avoid being the leader (and suffering the attendant disadvantages); another advantage of Power Grid is that being the leader may be a more viable alternative strategy.
SAN MARCO
(Anton, Dave, Paul L.)
While Power Grid got underway, the others played San Marco, a game that works best for 3. Rich dearly loves San Marco and is the acknowledged master, but Dave has picked the game up quickly and nearly beat Rich recently. Paul L. was new to the game, so we taught him the rules before starting.
I write up these session reports, and when I'm not playing in a game I ask the participants to describe how it went and what the keys to victory were. Paul L. won this game, so I was especially interested to learn how he defeated two experienced opponents in his very first game. Dave and Anton told me that the key to Paul L.'s win was that he "distributed his cubes wisely." Well, who would have guessed?! This was a very close game, with only three points between first and last place.
Final scores: Paul L. 54, Anton 51, Dave 51.
Eric's rating: 7. I have had little success with San Marco so far, but it's the kind of game I want to play well, so I'm drawn to keep working at it. I know there's skill involved, both in dividing and choosing cards and in placing cubes, but I'm still puzzled much of the time.
CITADELS
(Anton, Dave, Paul L., Mike)
We played Citadels last week, and it went over well enough that we gave it another shot. Mike and Paul L. didn't get to play last week because they were in the Amun-Re game, so they were particularly eager to get in this one. The Power Grid game was a long way from being over, so we played to 8 buildings (as specified in the rules.) We typically end the game at 7 at MVGA to shorten the game, but we were aiming to finish at the same time as Power Grid. We did play with the variant that allows an assassinated player to collect two gold; this lessens the harshness a little, especially when you are assassinated several times by mistake.
Three of the players demonstrated a commitment to sound engineering by building large, costly buildings, but Anton took the opposite approach, slapping one- and two-point buildings down willy nilly on his way to eight buildings. Under normal circumstances Anton would have been mercenary bait (the mercenary can demolish a one-point building at no cost or a two-point building for just one gold coin.) In this game the mercenary was one of the roles discarded at the start of the hand (and thus unavailable) most of the time. Near the end the mercenary was available, but no one stepped up to select him and Anton laid down his eighth building to end the game. Anton had the fewest points in buildings, but with his bonuses for ending the game and for having a building in every color he eked out a narrow win.
Final scores: Anton 17 + 4 + 3 = 24, Paul L. 23, Mike 23, Dave 19.
Eric's rating: 9. Citadels is not a game in which a "perfect plan" can win. Any plan can be frustrated by your opponents. However, your opponents can't stop everything. The assassin and thief must target a role and not a player, so they can't attack you unless they can guess which role you have selected. The mercenary can do a lot of damage, especially to a player who builds small buildings, but you'd better move early, because you can't knock down a building belonging to a player who has built 8 (or 7 if you're playing our usual variant.) In most games, the winner is the one who dodges calamity and then races to lay down the winning building as his opponents clutch at the hem of his cloak (who *was* that masked man?)
INDUSTRIA
(Mike, Joe, Rich, Evan)
Anton had to leave (he has a long drive home,) but Walt and Eric arrived just as the previous games were finishing. We had enough players to split into 5 and 4. Rich suggested Industria, a 2004 MVGA favorite. It had been three weeks since our last game, and Industria was broadcasting its silent cry from the MVGA game closet ("you know you want to play me!")
All four players had played Industria before (although Joe hadn't yet played at MVGA) so no rules review was needed. Mike and Joe got off to an early lead, but Rich clawed his way back toward the end of the game. When the final scoring was completed, Rich had fallen just one VP short, and Mike and Joe were in a dead heat tie for the win, even after tie breakers. Evan has won a number of Industria games at MVGA, but it wasn't his week as he was left in the dust.
Final scores: Mike 45, Joe 45, Rich 44, Evan 34.
Eric's rating: 8. Industria is a fascinating game. It can be a bit fragile if there's a player who doesn't understand the values of the items, but it's a battle of wits among evenly-matched opponents. It's difficult to assign purely objective values to the tiles; you have to perceive how your opponents will react if you want to succeed.
MEDICI
(Dave, Paul L., Dan, Walt, Eric)
Walt brought his share of a new Adam Spielt delivery out to MVGA with him (he had received Goa, Railroad Dice and St. Petersburg) but we had 5 gamers and none of Walt's new games worked for 5. We set them aside and chose Medici, a game that works for 4 or 5 (or for 6 if you don't have card counters in the group.) Walt stated that although he's never had much success at Medici, he wants to keep working at it so he can improve his play. In Medici, you auction off cards in five different colors. Players bid with victory points to obtain cards that will gain them victory points; to win you must gain more victory points from your cards than you spend buying them, and you must do so in such a way that your profit margin exceeds those of your opponents.
The game was new to Paul L., and although Dave had played once before, he didn't remember his previous playing (we realized that Dave had played on the graphically inferior Rio Grande version, which looks different from the Amigo version we were using.) The rules are easy to explain, but it's hard for a new player to estimate what a set of cards is worth. (It's not so easy even for experienced players.) We shared our rough guide with Paul L. and Dave: for the larger cards (3s, 4s and 5s) an initial approximation is the sum of the values on the cards, although values can vary widely depending on circumstances.
Dave made a great practical suggestion for Medici. As you pass the deck of cards around the table from player to player, it's important not to flash the bottom card. A player who knows what the bottom card is will have an unfair advantage. For this reason, we slide the deck across the table without picking it up. Dave suggested that we put a piece of paper under the deck so the bottom card won't get scuffed up. I'm hoping to play many more games of Medici with my set, so I'm going to follow this advice from now on.
The first round saw Eric bidding strongly to achieve heavy boat and a good position in red. Walt bid frugally and gained first place in blue with only two cards (only three blue cards were bought in the first round.) We discarded a lot of cards, and Dan was left holding the bag with a half-empty boat as Paul L. playing behind him grabbed the last few cards by topping Dan's bid.
In the second round, several attractive sets of red cards were turned up, but Eric's bids were topped by Dave, who raced past Eric in red. Paul L. won heavy boat and Walt continued to bid carefully, extending his lead in blue and remaining in the thick of things.
In the final round, Walt pushed his way to the top of the blue pyramid in a relatively low scoring game. When bids are high, as they were in this game with several card shortages, scores tend to be low and the bonuses for reaching the top of a pyramid become more critical. Walt was delighted to win a game of Medici; it was even sweeter because he won not by getting lucky with a few card flips but by bidding carefully and by steering away from damaging conflicts. Dan and Paul L. knocked each other out early, and Dave and Eric butted heads later, but Walt stayed out of the fray and took lots that, while perhaps not as desirable in isolation, were what he needed to win.
Final scores: Walt 88, Eric 75, Paul L. 71, Dave, 55, Dan 55.
Eric's rating: 10. Some people try to win at Medici by focusing single-mindedly on getting the heaviest boat, or by picking a color and ignoring everything else, but inflexible strategies will not win consistently against good players. This game was a great demonstration of the importance of adapting your play to the circumstances. I'm glad Walt won a game of Medici; we'll have more fun if the victories are spread widely across the MVGA population.
SAINT PETERSBURG (Dave,
Paul L., Walt, Eric)
Dan had to leave, as it was getting late. With 8 players left we split naturally into two groups of 4. Walt's pile of new games drew our attention, and we picked the shortest of the three, St. Petersburg. I got a chance to play a number of games a month ago, and I'd been suffering withdrawal symptoms ever since; it's my favorite of the new games. St. Petersburg has a board, but the board's only function is to be a scoring track. The game is built around four decks of cards that players purchase. There are green workers that generate money, blue buildings that generate victory points, orange nobles that generate money and victory points, and multi-colored upgrade cards that improve the other colors of card. You need victory points to win the game, but you need money to buy cards. You need to gain an income source early to finance victory point production later (like in Puerto Rico.)
The game contains four wooden markers, each indicating who will go first in one of the four phases. St. Petersburg uses no auctions; you simply take a card of your choice on your turn, paying the cost if you wish to build it. In general, the first player in each phase has the advantage. If you are the first player, you not only get to choose the best card (assuming that you can determine which one that is,) you are also in less danger of suffering from a card shortage (if only two orange nobles are on display, the last two players may not get one.) For this reason, the game forces you to balance two different considerations. You may have determined what cards are best from a purely economic standpoint, but you may not have access to the best cards, so you must make do with what you have. In some cases you may have to take a card you don't want just to clear space for an extra card to appear in the following phase (so you'll have a chance to buy one.)
Paul L. and Dave were new to St. Petersburg, putting them at a disadvantage against Walt and Eric, both of whom had several plays. Eric focused on early income generation and used the cash to buy nobles and then buildings late in the game. The orange card bonus only widened the gap as Eric shot ahead on the scoreboard. Walt came in second and the two new players were knotted together at the back.
Final scores: Eric 108, Walt 70, Dave 60, Paul L. 58.
Eric's rating: 9. As players gain experience with St. Petersburg and begin to play more defensively, additional features of the game will become apparent and new strategies will be needed. Some have opined that the game is dominated by the luck of the draw, but as with Ra and Medici I believe this isn't too much of a concern. Luck is a factor, but there are plenty of opportunities for good play.
SAN
JUAN (Mike, Joe, Rich, Evan)
San Juan is another new game that's been getting a lot of attention at MVGA recently. It's the little brother of Puerto Rico. It is much faster to set up, and there's more luck in the draw of the cards (luck in Puerto Rico is limited to the plantation draw, which has less of an impact than the card draw in San Juan.) On the other hand, it doesn't suffer from the "perfect strategy" syndrome that can appear in Puerto Rico---you won't find your opponents lecturing you on what you *should* have done each turn.
This game turned into a rout, as Evan built an income stream and then laid out a chapel and three of the "6" buildings to win by a landslide.
Final scores: Evan 45, Rich 28, Mike 27, Joe 23.
Eric's rating: 7. San Juan is an enjoyable game, and you can suggest it in any gaming group these days and get a game going right away.
Roll call: Walt, Anton, Rich, Dan, Eric, Paul L., Mike, Evan, Dave
Attendance fell just short of double digits after bumper crops of gamers the previous two weeks. We're now up to 8 regulars, not counting Paul L., who has been attending regularly since his first visit on May 6.
COLORETTO
(Walt, Anton, Rich, Dan, Eric)
Although 5 gamers were lined up and ready to go at 7pm, we knew based on recent experience that we could expect more arrivals, so we didn't want to start with a long game. It's been a while since we last played Coloretto, a quick card game from Michael Schacht that has worked well for us as a filler at the start or end of a session.
Although the rules say you should play four times through the deck, adding your scores for the four separate hands, we play just once through. Playing four hands takes away from the "quick filler" role that we ask Coloretto to fill.
In Coloretto you build stacks of one to three cards, a stack for each player. On any turn, you may take a stack of your choice. You must decide whether to take one of the existing stacks or add another card to a stack, hoping for a better option later. It's possible that a bigger stack will be available later, giving you more points, but it's also possible that the additional cards will be harmful to your score, or that your best options will be taken by other players who aren't so choosy. This tension between acting now and waiting for later is the key to the game. We tend to swing back and forth between the two, depending on how each strategy has done in the recent past.
The game started off slowly, with stacks of one and two being taken frequently by risk-averse players. Eric got the first wild card (as part of a one-card stack after Walt passed it by.) Walt then fed Rich a juicy tidbit, two cards in Rich's selected colors, but this drew Rich's attention from another stack Walt had his eye on, and that Walt managed to seize without opposition. Walt later got his own wild card to win going away. Walt regularly waited until later in the turn to get his cards, and the additional mass of cards outweighed any damage from unwanted colors.
Final scores: Walt 25, Rich 20, Eric 19, Anton 18, Dan 16.
Eric's rating: 8. I especially enjoy the subtle mix of factors that you must consider in this game.
COLORETTO
(Walt, Anton, Rich, Dan, Eric)
With one quick game under our belts, we were still at 5 players, so we played another game of Coloretto while we awaited reinforcements. This time the beginning of the game was dominated by blue cards, and in fact all nine blues showed up within the first three turns, as Rich pulled out to a big lead by grabbing five of them. Eric and Dan got the two wild cards in this game, but neither managed to turn them into a win. Rich kept his acquisitions reasonably small and took almost no negative points as he drove the 15 points from blue cards to a narrow win over Anton, who had a lot more cards, but took substantial penalties from having many colors, including multiple cards in four different colors.
Final scores: Rich 25, Anton 24, Eric 21, Walt 19, Dan 15.
Eric's rating: 8. I see a lot of complaints about the wild cards in Coloretto; some people believe they are so valuable that the players who get them (even as one-card stacks) have a huge edge. We simply haven't experienced this problem at MVGA; I'd like to invite the wild-card fans to come to MVGA and demonstrate how they can use these cards (when they get them) to dominate play.
ZAUBERCOCKTAIL
(Walt, Anton, Rich, Dan, Eric, Paul L.)
After two games of Coloretto we still had only 5 gamers on hand. Eric has been conducting a campaign for several weeks to play Zaubercocktail, a card-trading game he recently purchased, and the group hesitantly agreed to give it a shot. As we were setting up, Paul L. arrived, and we added him to the mix (Zaubercocktail is designed for 4 to 7 players.)
Like Pit, Zaubercocktail is built around a deck of commodity cards that the players trade in real time using an open outcry system in an attempt to put together the most valuable sets. It differs from Pit in several ways. First, the number of cards varies from commodity to commodity (there are fewer of the more valuable cards.) Second, you must state truthfully what cards you propose to trade with another player (unlike Pit, where you state only the number of cards, and where you may include the bull or the bear in the set you hand over.) In Zaubercocktail you may exchange sets with different numbers of cards (for example, three Blue Schlums for one more valuable Farenblatt.) Finally, multiple players score at the end of each hand, with the most valuable set scoring more than the second or third place set.
We turned over the first scoring card, showing the payoffs for the round (6 for first, 4 for second, 2 for third and -3 for last) and trading began, with each player shouting out his offers. There is some inevitable back-and-forth as two players who both have cards in a color negotiate about which one of them will get the cards and what the other player will take in exchange. Trading ends when 3 of the players place their stones on the board to indicate that they are satisfied with what they have. Walt laid down the most valuable set, followed by Eric. Rich had the lowest scoring set to move back to -3 on the scoreboard. The scoreboard goes down only to -3, so a player on that space can suffer further adverse results with no negative effect on his score.
After two or three hands, it became clear that many of us were less than thrilled with Zaubercocktail. Walt and Rich felt they would rather have hot pokers driven through their eyeballs than play this game. Eric and Dan had positive feelings about the game, while Anton and Paul L. were more restrained in their opinions. Evan arrived part way through the game and watched as we finished up; Evan enjoys Pit and would probably enjoy Zaubercocktail (too bad he missed this opportunity to try it.)
Rich made a comeback as we continued to play; players begin the game with ten cards and get five more at the end of each turn. Any cards used for scoring are discarded, so a player who scores high will have fewer cards available for the next hand; this tends to balance the game. The end of the game was hastened by the fact that the players who were not enjoying Zaubercocktail tended to end the trading sooner than they otherwise might have if they were focused only on winning, and by the fact that the Magic Lightning card that ends the game came up at the first possible opportunity.
Final scores: Rich 14, Eric 14, Walt 10, Paul 6, Dan 4, Anton 4.
Eric's rating: 7. I enjoy Zaubercocktail; it's particularly appropriate when you have 6 or 7 players late at night at the end of a session and want a good closer. It's not as frustrating as Pit because you gain as long as you have one of the top 3 sets, and the variety of commodities adds some interest. Unfortunately, it looks like I may have to find places other than MVGA to play it unless we get enough people that we can split into multiple games.
SAINT PETERSBURG (Anton,
Dan, Eric, Mike)
Mike and Evan arrived at MVGA, bringing our count up to 8, so we split into two groups of 4 to play two games from Walt's new Adam Spielt order. Eric, who has been taking every opportunity to play St. Petersburg, cheerfully volunteered to teach it to three new players. As we play this game, we're starting to develop a feeling about which courses of action are most likely to succeed, so Eric explained the rules and added several bits of advice:
Mike had first crack at the green cards and started off with a cheap woodcutter. The numbers were well distributed, so no one got a discount in this phase for having two of a single card. Anton then started off the blue card phase by taking an Observatory. The Observatory is an expensive source of 1 VP per turn, but its special power allows you to draw a card from a stack of your choice. You may then either play the card, put it in your hand for later, or discard it. Anton used this card to good effect to draw extra green cards, gaining an income advantage over the other players, but he forgot to use it several times, much to his disgust.
Anton also started a Tollhouse collection; he finished the game with four Tollhouses, which is an advantage because you get a discount of 1 for each card you have already built that matches one you are building. Mike paid 11 for a Firehouse on the first turn; this paid him 3 VP each turn for the rest of the game, but it left him cash poor and hindered his progress in other areas.
Eric saved his money, buying no buildings on the first turn because he had first shot at the nobles, and indeed he was able to build a Controller with his first action. Dan had first shot at the Exchange cards (we call them "Upgrade" cards to help us remember their function) and used one to upgrade his Shipbuilder, gaining extra income. Thus, the first turn set the theme for the game, with Mike gaining from blue cards, Anton and Dan leading in income, and Eric pushing for the most orange nobles with the attendant endgame bonus.
Mike clawed his way back, buying a stash of Markets for prices that kept getting cheaper. Anton used his high income and his Observatory to get into the noble game, and he finished with seven different nobles, second to Eric's nine. Dan used his substantial income to buy buildings, gaining many VP at the end, but he had only three nobles. Mike finished with six nobles, including a number of cheap upgrades, but his early poverty left him with too much of a gap to make up. Dan and Eric bought Shops, allowing them to buy VP cheaply. Dan bought about 10 VP while Eric with his lower income bought 6 VP. The Shop is useful only near the end of the game, but for its price of 1 you can turn 10 in cash into 5 VP instead of 1 VP each turn; even if you use it only once it seems worth the cost.
Final scores: Eric 96, Anton 73, Dan 66, Mike 61.
Eric's rating: 9. It seems clear that the orange-card strategy in St. Petersburg is like the elephant strategy in Taj Mahal; if one player is left alone to pursue it, the other players will have a hard time keeping up. Games with new players will be less lopsided if you point this out. On the other hand, if several players are all trying for nobles, they will take opportunities away from each other. The competition for orange cards should then allow strategies that involve blue cards to succeed.
GOA (Walt,
Rich, Paul L., Evan)
Walt's recent Adam Spielt delivery included Goa, a game in a bright orange box that is packed with interesting decisions. Goa resembles several other games, but puts the pieces together into a unique package. Each player has a player mat (like in Princes of Florence, Industrial Waste or Puerto Rico) that holds the various assets the player has accumulated.
Goa resembles Industrial Waste in that players spend to upgrade their capabilities in various areas: shipping capacity, goods production, income generation, exploration card generation and hand capacity, or colonist generation. Upgrades improve your ability for the remainder of the game, yield VPs according to a scale of triangular numbers, and may also grant free actions or cards if accumulated in the right order or combinations. You can't upgrade everything, so you must make choices based on need and opportunity.
The game includes a random element in the form of tiles that are auctioned off from a central game board in an order that will vary from game to game. The value of each tile varies from game to game and from player to player depending on the strategies pursued by the players and the order in which the tiles are auctioned. The auction eliminates any danger that Goa will suffer from fixed "perfect plan" strategies; you'll have to think on your feet if you want to win regularly.
Evan and Walt focused on establishing colonies; both of them founded the maximum of four colonies (worth 10 VP) while Rich and Paul L. founded just three (worth 6 VP.) Rich made more progress along the upgrade tracks and finished with the most money and the associated 3 VP. Walt, however, drove his marker all the way down the exploration card column, allowing him to hold five cards at the end of the game for 9 VP, and this made the difference in a close finish.
Final scores:
Adv Col Exp $ Tiles Total
--- --- --- --- --- ---
Walt 25 10 9 44
Rich 28 6 4 3 1 42
Evan 25 10 3 1 39
Paul L. 18 6 5 3 32
Eric's rating: 8. There's a lot going on in this game, and in my first play I felt overwhelmed by all the choices. I'm sure we'll be playing this game often at MVGA, and it should be more manageable with practice.
PUERTO RICO (Dan, Eric, Mike, Dave)
Dave arrived soon after St. Petersburg and Goa began and watched Goa until St. Petersburg finished. Anton had to leave, so Dave joined the other three St. Petersburg players to discuss what 4-player game we should play next. We talked about San Juan, but we decided to play Puerto Rico, its big brother, instead. Dave enjoys Puerto Rico and it's hard for any of us at MVGA to turn a Puerto Rico game down.
We drew plantations at random for player order, and Mike was chosen as first player, followed by Dave, Eric and Dan in that order. Mike began as Builder, taking a Hospice. Dave and Eric snatched up Small Markets, and Dan saved his money. Dave Settled for a Quarry, with Eric taking Sugar, Dan Coffee and Mike Corn. Eric Prospected for a doubloon and Dan Mayored.
Dan soon had Coffee going, and Dave took the Trader, selling Indigo for 3 as Eric sold Sugar for 2 and Dan sold Coffee for 4. This left Mike stuck with nothing but Corn. The cash windfall paid off in a Factory for Dave, who drove the diversified Factory strategy for all it was worth, and was in a position to benefit from almost any role chosen, though he fell behind on shipping despite getting a Harbor. Eric got the other Harbor and Dan the other Factory, while Mike took a Wharf. Mike's wharf paid big dividends, and he added a Large Warehouse because the Small Warehouses were gone. Mike was producing three Corn and three Tobacco, and his Wharf was yielding 5 or 6 VP per load.
This was one of the closest games of Puerto Rico we've had at MVGA. Dave's money advantage made the difference as he was able to buy two large buildings and end the game with a small building soon after.
Final scores:
VPs Bldgs Bonus Total
-------------------------
Dave 11 25 13 49
Mike 23 18 7 48
Dan 22 19 6 47
Eric 20 21 5 46
Eric's rating: 10. This was a thriller. All 4 players followed different strategies, but in the end there was a mere 3 point gap between first and last place.
SAINT PETERSBURG (Rich,
Mike, Evan, Dave)
Goa and Puerto Rico finished at the same time, so we took the opportunity to regroup. Dan had to leave, so we split into groups of 4 and 3. Evan and Dave wanted to try St. Petersburg and Mike wanted another shot, so Rich taught the game.
Mike had seen the orange nobles pay off in his first game earlier in the evening, so he decided to make a play for them to see whether he could ride the bonuses to a win. The noble strategy lags in VP early (nobles pay some VP, but in general not as much as buildings) and when pursued full throttle can take away opportunities to play green income generating cards as you use your cash to grab coveted orange cards.
Rich played a more balanced strategy, playing some blue buildings early, adding nobles at a measured pace, and piling up a lead over Mike, hoping to ward off Mike's end game bonus. Late in the game Rich was able to add some nobles of his own, banking on the fact that blue cards are more valuable when played early while the orange card bonus is awarded regardless of when the cards are laid down. Mike finished with nine different nobles, but Rich had eight of his own as Evan and Dave lagged behind with just five each. The 9 VP advantage Mike gained over Rich for nobles was not enough to close the gap, and the game ended with our closest finish yet for St. Petersburg.
Final scores: Rich 104, Mike 100, Evan 98, Dave 89.
Eric's rating: 9. It's nice to see a different strategy win. I didn't play in this game, so I didn't see the details of what Rich did, but I'm sure I'll get a chance to see it in a future game. We're playing St. Petersburg at every opportunity at MVGA, and I expect the strategies will continue to evolve as we watch each other and see what wins.
SAN
JUAN (Walt, Eric, Paul L.)
It was getting late, so we looked for something that we could finish quickly without undue mental effort. Paul had played San Juan once before using the German set, but MVGA has the English version in our game locker, eliminating the need to look each purple card up to learn what it does if you don't speak German. The 3-player version of San Juan moves quickly, and when Walt and Eric both played Libraries near the start of the game, it looked like we'd finish even earlier than usual. The Library doubles the privilege, and when you can Build for 2 less than the printed price, it doesn't take long to get to 12. Paul L. played a Prefecture and went into the Councillor business and followed up with a Trading Post and a Market Hall to gain the advantage in production.
The card draws were unusual, granting different opportunities to each player. Walt started the game with two Palaces and no production buildings. Eric drew no purple buildings that would support production except a single Well until near the end, but he did draw a never-ending supply of Indigo and Sugar which he combined with a Guild Hall to win before Walt or Paul L. could get their strategies going. The Guild Hall yielded Eric a bonanza of 14 points for seven production buildings (five of them Indigo and Sugar.)
Final scores:
Bldg Chpl 6s Palace Total
----- ----- ----- ----- -----
Eric 19 2 14 0 35
Walt 20 0 8 0 28
Paul L. 18 0 6 0 24
Eric's rating: 7. Although I still feel as though I'm tossed to and fro by the card draws, I enjoy the variety in this game. It's nice that it's a short game almost anyone will play. I'm starting to think about upgrading my rating; I'll keep an eye on it over the next few games.
RA (Walt,
Eric, Paul L.)
We decided to play one more game, a quick 3-player game of Ra. The 3-player version gives four suns to each player; you may make twelve bids during the epoch (as opposed to just nine in the 4- and 5-player versions) and this adds a little bit of predictability and control. With 3 players the game will end with at least six Ra tiles still in the bag; you can't afford to take the same chances at the end of the final round, so it's important to spend those suns before sunset!
Walt took the first lot, which was comprised of three monuments including a matched pair. These turned out to be his only monuments for the game as a promising start petered out to nothing. Eric gained the lead in Pharaohs at the end of the first epoch, and Paul L. started a Nile collection that would gain him about 30 VP over the course of the game.
In the second epoch, Eric called Ra several times in an attempt to use his "2" sun, but Walt and Paul L. stepped up repeatedly with their larger suns. In the end, Eric was left alone with a sun and time left in the day, and he was able to lay out a juicy set of eight tiles as his opponents watched helplessly, chanting "Ra, Ra, Ra" under their breath to no avail. This set preserved Eric's lead in Pharaohs for the second epoch and put him well on his way to a big monument score.
In the third epoch, Walt overtook Eric in Pharaohs, but Eric spent his suns on a single-minded pursuit of monuments, getting to eight types with a triple for 20 VP. Eric wound up with ridiculously low suns at the end of the game as a result, but he was happy to pay 5 VP to Walt (who had the largest sun total) considering it a cost of doing business. Eric's giant haul at the end of the second epoch proved to be the difference as he won by a landslide.
Final scores: Eric 59, Paul L. 44, Walt 42.
Eric's rating: 9. This versatile game forces you to be flexible and adapt to the tiles in front of you. It's an excellent quick game for 3, 4 or 5. Luck plays a significant role, but it's not as big a role as you might think at first. I'm working on developing patience, and I was rewarded with a nice prize in this game.
TICKET
TO RIDE (Rich, Dave, Evan, ?)
No report available for this one, though Rich is said to have been thwarted - but not enough to be defeated.
Roll Call: Anton, Paul H., Paul L., Eric, Dave, Rich, Evan, Dan, Scott, Mike
Although Walt was away again promoting his books (he's a science fiction author) we had 10 gamers at MVGA without him!
HANSA
(Anton, Paul H., Eric)
There were only three gamers present at our 7pm starting time, so we decided to try Hansa, a new Michael Schacht game that many feel is at its best with three players. Anton and Eric had played Hansa before, but the game was new to Paul H., so we reviewed the rules before we began. The rules are simple and easy to explain, though the implications can take a little while to understand. In our initial games of Hansa at MVGA, we were reluctant to pay that thaler to re-stock the goods chips (why not let someone else pay and wait to swoop in to grab some of the loot?) As a result, the games moved slowly at times while we dared someone to make a move.
More recently (for example, in our game on April 29) we have begun to see that the re-stocking player can reap rewards that far exceed the modest re-stocking cost, and in this game we didn't let too many empty spaces appear before someone paid up to get the first look at a new batch of goods chips. This makes the game even a little more attractive, as it moves more quickly. It's dangerous to let your market presence get too thin in Hansa, and we all put plenty of effort into laying more market stalls in the early going. Solo presences were particularly targeted, and 3-barrel chips were used to gain majorities in cities where one player had played two stalls in the initial set-up. Eric got a small edge in market stalls, but fell behind in selling goods chips as a result and had to try to catch up. Paul was the last player, and with Anton looking like the leader, Paul chose to lay markets in two new cities (one of which had been a monopoly for Anton) to get points for presence and take away the 4 point monopoly from Anton. We counted the scores carefully, and Anton won by a nose in the closest game of Hansa we've had so far at MVGA. As the scores demonstrate, all 3 players pursued similar strategies; Anton simply executed a little better.
Final scores:
Goods Cities Total
----- ----- -----
Anton 34 + 10 = 44
Paul H. 31 + 12 = 43
Eric 30 + 12 = 42
Eric's rating: 8. Like Web of Power, another Michael Schacht gem, Hansa has the feel of a bigger game, but plays quickly and with no unnecessary fluff. There are plenty of tactical decisions, but the best player will win a substantial share of the games.
GOA (Rich,
Evan, Paul L., Dan)
Hansa was over quickly, but we had 8 players on hand by the time it finished. Walt had taken his copy of Saint Petersburg to Balticon with him, but he left his copy of Goa in the MVGA game closet for the week, realizing that he wouldn't have a chance to play this longer and more involved game. Rich, Evan and Paul L. had played Goa before, but the game was new to Dan, who received an explanation before the game started. I didn't receive details on this week's game; all I have is the final scores. Rich and Evan finished with equal victory point totals, and Rich won on the tiebreaker.
Final scores: Rich 39, Evan 39, Paul L. 33, Dan 27.
Eric's rating: 8.
MEDINA
(Anton, Paul H., Eric, Dave)
Dave has been bringing Medina to MVGA every week. We played it back on March 4, but it seemed time to play it again. Dave read in Eric's write-up on the MVGA website that Eric had never played Medina, and he felt it was time Eric learned it. Paul H. and Anton joined in to make up a 4-player game, and Dave went through the rules. Medina is a city-building game with a twist: you work with the other players to construct palaces and other related structures, but you don't own anything until you "cap" a palace with one of your own four precious caps, and as soon as you cap a palace, construction on that palace is halted forever (except for attached stables, of which each player may place only three.)
The primary source of VPs is the palaces you own, but you also receive VPs for city walls and meeples adjacent to your palaces, and for bonus tiles representing the largest palace in each color and the last connection to each corner of the city. Palaces come in four different colors; each player gets five palace blocks in each color, and each player may "cap" only one palace of each color. You might think each player would work on his or her own palaces, but this isn't the case. Only one palace of each color may be under construction at one time; thus, anyone who plays brown blocks must build the same brown palace, increasing the size until one player pounces, placing a cap on the brown palace. At this point, a new brown palace may begin construction, but if you have already capped a brown palace you may not cap a second one (though it's possible that you'll be forced to add blocks to another brown palace, helping an opponent.)
Dave warned us that although one might think it's wise to wait for a palace of size five or more, space on the board is limited, so it usually pays to make your move sooner. We started off hesitantly, starting palaces in all four colors, adding a block here and a block there. Anton was the first to use a cap, claiming a gray palace while Paul H. and Eric played more cautiously, hoping for bigger game. Dave claimed a fairly sizable orange palace soon thereafter, and before long we were all heavily invested in various colors. At the start of the game you don't want to play anything (you worry that you'll open good opportunities for others,) but by mid-game you have more to do than you can do. Ownership of the largest palace bonus tiles moved around, but Dave played a canny game and wound up with the largest share of the loot. Anton and Paul H. ran out of pieces and had to watch as Eric and Dave finished up. Eric connected to the 4 VP corner with his last wall and was relieved to see that Dave was one wall short of stealing it away, but Dave's mastery of the bonus tiles made the difference in a well-fought struggle. Dave is still fairly new to MVGA, and he was pleased to win one from this competitive group of opponents.
Final scores:
Walls Meepl Palac Bonus Total
----- ----- ----- ----- -----
Dave 2 9 18 10 39
Eric 6 8 16 7 37
Anton 8 4 20 3 35
Paul H. 5 6 17 0 28
Eric's rating: 6. Medina worked smoothly, though I can see that in a less careful group it would be easy for one player to hand victory to the next person in player order. The early waiting was a bit odd, but I can see that with more practice it could be a unique and enjoyable feature. I wasn't entranced by Medina on my first try, but I'll be happy to give it another shot sometime. The wooden pieces and desert theme do make a visually attractive game.
THROUGH
THE DESERT (Anton, Eric, Dave, Scott, Mike)
Paul H. had to leave after our game of Medina finished up, but Mike and Scott had arrived to take his place, and we looked for a short 5-player game to play while we waited for Goa to finish. We decided to continue the desert theme with Through the Desert, a game with palm trees, water holes, and unaccountably pastel-colored camels. We name the colors after sherbet flavors: lemon, lime, grape, peach and mint. We've played Through the Desert a number of times at MVGA, but Dave was new to the game, so we went over the rules with him before we started. The mechanics are simple; on each turn you get to place two camels, expanding one of your herds by two camels or two of your herd by one camel each. Victory points are scored by connecting your herds to palm trees and water holes, by surrounding empty regions with your herds, and by owning the largest herd in a color. It's hard to keep your attention focused on all these diverse goals, especially when four opponents are all trying to do the same. It can also be a surprise when one player takes the last camel in one of the five colors to end the game (often a little before you were ready for it to end.)
The initial camel placements were nasty, as Mike and Eric in particular placed opposing herd leaders adjacent to each other in the neighborhood of several different palm trees. This almost guaranteed that the two of them would be focused on each other in the early going to the exclusion of anyone else, and indeed Mike got much the best of the palm tree connections while Eric grabbed more than his share of the water holes in the vicinity. Through the Desert can feature a run-away winner if one player is left alone to cordon off a big section of the board, but you're not likely to get away with it in this group. Anton in particular tends to be death to enclosure attempts, sacrificing his own goals to prevent an embarrassing haul for anyone else. As a result, it's important to grind out the points for palm trees and water holes while sneaking out to a lead in one or (ideally) more colors. Dave and Anton both got respectable enclosures, but Dave did just a little better to win his second straight game.
Final scores: Dave 63, Anton 49, Eric 48, Scott 41, Mike 41.
Eric's rating: 9. Through the Desert is a wonderful game for 2 to 5 players. It can be frustrating when you lose because everyone else is picking on you, but in this week's game I can't blame my poor finish on anything but the fact that I challenged Mike too directly, taking both of us out of contention.
TICKET
TO RIDE (Rich, Dan, Mike)
Scott and Anton left for home, but the 7 remaining players split up into two groups for another game. We've been playing Ticket to Ride regularly since its first MVGA appearance on April 8. It's a game with important tactical and strategic decisions that aren't obvious until you've played it a few times. It doesn't hurt to draw the right tickets (ones that work together and aren't spread all over the map) but the better player will pull a win out of middling-quality tickets when a lesser player would come in behind the pack. Dan and Rich had both played a number of games of Ticket to Ride, but it was Mike's first MVGA playing. In the 3-player game you can build only one line between any pair of cities (even if two lines are drawn on the map) and this restriction adds tension to an already tense game. In this week's game, Dan and Rich were neck and neck going into the final scoring, but Dan pulled out a narrow victory.
Final scores: Dan 129, Rich 125, Mike 92
Eric's rating: 8. Ticket to Ride is considered by many the odds-on favorite to win the SdJ award this year. I'm not so confident, as the SdJ jury has made some unexpected choices in the past, but it would certainly be a worthy candidate. Ticket to Ride is a fine gamer's game, but it also plays very well for families. It will even work for fairly young children as long as you find a way to help them hold the cards (you often have 20 or more cards in your hand, and although the cards are small, children may have trouble holding so many.)
INDUSTRIAL
WASTE (Paul L., Eric, Dave, Evan)
Eric has been bringing Industrial Waste to MVGA every few weeks, but we hadn't played since February 6, 2003, before we began writing up these session reports. Rich isn't fond of Industrial Waste, but he was busy with Ticket to Ride and we had four players who were willing to give it a try. Industrial Waste is a game in which players buy resources, produce orders for money, upgrade their factories, and pay workers. It may sound a lot like many other games, but there's a twist: too much production generates waste that can lead to a stiff fine, or even to a total regulatory shutdown if you let the problem get too severe. You can improve your factory by increasing capacity, by reducing your need for raw materials or workers, or by reducing the amount of waste it produces. The trick lies in deciding where to focus your efforts.
The game is driven by a deck of cards, with each card allowing a player to take a specific action. At the start of each round you deal out five sets of three cards each (one more than the number of players.) Each player in turn takes a set, with the fifth set discarded after everyone has made a selection. Players who select early in the turn order have many options, but those who select later must make do with what's left. Turn order rotates (like in Puerto Rico) so if you have the first choice on one turn you need to save up for leaner times in the following rounds when you have fewer options. Early in the game, innovation and production cards are highly sought after, but in many games the recycling cards (which reduce your waste pile) become increasingly important as the game proceeds. There are even a few "waste removal" cards that allow you to ship your own waste into the waste piles of your opponents; this sneaky move can upset their carefully-made plans.
This game was unusually gentle, as the sets of cards we dealt out provided a good mix of cards throughout the game. In some games the cards available can be extremely unattractive, forcing players to take out loans that impose VP penalties just so they can stay alive. Dave reduced his waste production and churned out a steady stream of orders. He paid handsomely for raw materials but was able to turn a profit as he grew his factory and upgraded its capabilities. This represented three wins in a row for Dave, two in games he was playing for the first time, solidly cementing his place as a man to watch out for at the MVGA gaming table.
Final scores (VP):
Fctry Innov Money Total
----- ----- ----- -----
Dave 20 + 31 + 17 = 68
Eric 18 + 31 + 15 = 64
Evan 20 + 28 + 10 = 58
Paul L. 19 + 17 + 20 = 56
Eric's rating: 9. Industrial Waste appears uneventful at first glance, but it forces you to respond to changing circumstances as the card sets introduce variability. One key skill is putting yourself into a position in which the cards you want aren't of interest to your opponents (ideally while they fight each other for the same sets of cards.) I've been playing Industrial Waste by e-mail and it's even more interesting when you have time to work out just how you can limit the options of your opponents.
WEB
OF POWER (Eric, Rich, Mike)
It was late enough in the night that we didn't want to start a long game, but we had time for a game of Web of Power, especially a 3-player game. In the 3-player game you take ten cards out of the deck, two in each color, and the game flies along. The action started in Burgundy but soon moved to France as Mike piled in with a cloister, Eric popped an advisor in, and Mike came back with one of each. Rich sat back and played nothing but cloisters, snagging a 6-cloister chain starting in France and extending all the way to Italy. Mike and Eric wound up with 2 advisors each in France, but Rich got 4 cloisters to scoop the 8 VP for France twice. Mike's next set of advisors went into Bayern, generating some laughter from Rich, who noted that Mike could hardly have found a set of two more distant countries for advisors. Eric pushed advisors in Aragon and England, while Rich added an advisor component to his strategy in the east after his opponents had expended many of their pieces elsewhere. Eric wound up with the biggest advisor score, but Rich's dominance in cloister scoring gave him a lead that was too wide to overcome.
Final scores:
Cl #1 Cl #2 Chain Advsr Total
----- ----- ----- ----- -----
Rich 14 + 23 + 6 + 11 = 54
Eric 8 + 20 + 0 + 18 = 46
Mike 10 + 16 + 0 + 6 = 32
Eric's rating: 8. Web of Power is another wonderful Michael Schacht
game. I seem to be partial to his designs; I also love Paris Paris and Coloretto.
I praised Hansa earlier in this session report, and I see many similarities between
Hansa and the earlier Web of Power.
Roll Call: Anton, Paul L., Eric, Rich, Dan, Evan, Scott
Walt was away for the second straight week being a famous science fiction author. We had only 7 gamers at MVGA this time.
COLORETTO
(Anton, Paul L., Eric, Rich, Dan)
Even when we have 5 gamers ready to play at 7pm, like we did this week, we prefer to start with a filler. Several of our regulars don't arrive until a little later, and we don't want to make them wait too long to get into a game. We chose Coloretto as our first game; it plays quickly, takes up to 5 players, and is something we all enjoy. Our last two games on May 20 were won by players who waited to get large stacks of cards, but this isn't always the path to victory. Those large stacks can often include colors you aren't collecting, and once you wait, it's too late to go back and take the neat, small stack you passed up.
In this game, Anton, who had suffered from big sloppy stacks on May 20, adopted a small stack strategy, often retiring from a round with only one carefully chosen card. Eric, on the other hand, who lost with the small stack strategy on May 20, resolved to wait longer in the hope of piling up a bigger score. Rich took a middle road, extending his long color with some single card stacks while picking up some larger stacks as well. Paul L. had just learned the rules and followed a small-stack strategy for the most part. When we counted the scores, it appeared at first that Rich had won, but Rich looked over at Eric's piles and suggested a recount. Eric had indeed undercounted his points. His one 5-card color and two 3-card colors gave him 27 points, which with two "+2" cards offset the 5 point penalty for unwanted colors to give him a narrow victory.
Final scores: Eric 26, Rich 25, Anton 23, Dan 22, Paul L. 21.
Eric's rating: 8. Once everyone knows how to play, as we do at MVGA, this is an excellent filler.
WYATT
EARP (Paul L., Evan, Dan)
Evan came in as we were finishing up Coloretto. His arrival justified our choice of an opening filler, as we were able to plug him into a game almost as soon as he arrived. With 6 gamers on hand, we split into two groups of 3. One group chose Wyatt Earp, an MVGA favorite (we've played it more than any other game except Puerto Rico in the past year.) Paul L. was new to the game, so we taught him the rules before starting. We play with the "instant photo" option that was in designer Mike Fitzgerald's original game, but didn't make it into the published version.
Evan started strong, pulling out to a huge lead early. He protected his lead by picking on Dan, the other experienced player, counting on Paul L.'s inexperience to hold him back. Evan might even have won the game in the second round (an unusual occurrence) if Paul L. hadn't played a pair of successful hideouts. The more we play Wyatt Earp, the more we appreciate how the various strategies interact, and the hideout is certainly one of the most effective catch-up tools in a player's arsenal. Paul L. continued his precocious play in the third round, and when we totaled up the scores, he had won his first game by a narrow margin over two wily vets.
Final scores: Paul L. $29K, Evan $28K, Dan didn't want to admit to a score.
Eric's rating: 9. I really enjoy Wyatt Earp. It takes some effort to teach it to new players, but almost everyone enjoys it. I've had a lot of success playing with my family.
SAN MARCO
(Anton, Eric, Rich)
Eric has been on a campaign trying to learn San Marco for some time now. He didn't have too much trouble dragooning Rich and Anton into a game. Both have played it a number of times and enjoy it. San Marco is a game in which you must select from a number of options in such a way as to balance short- and long- run considerations. It's hard to learn the right mix without a lot of practice. This was our fifth San Marco game at MVGA during 2004, and Rich had won both of the games he played in to qualify as our current champion.
In this game, Eric pulled out to an early lead by scoring or coming in second on a number of Doges. He accomplished this without piling up excessive limit points (often the bane of players who select piles containing Doge cards) but he did hurt himself by not getting cards that maintained the number of cubes he had on the board. As a result, Rich was able to close the gap, knocking Eric out of contention in each area and eliminating his scoring opportunities. It didn't hurt that after serving as first chooser almost every time in the beginning stages, Eric wound up being second chooser a few times toward the end.
By the time we reached the final scoring phase, Rich had almost caught Eric and it was clear that Eric would not win, despite being awarded a final banishment. Eric was hoping to roll an odd number, but rolled an even one, and as a result he left Anton in second in the affected region. After the game, Rich and Anton pointed out that Eric could have chosen to banish one of his own cubes, leaving Rich tied with Anton and assuring that neither Rich nor Anton would score. It's a clever trick that has to be learned from experience. We scored the six areas one by one, and at that point we saw that Anton had passed not only Eric but Rich as well. Anton got the bulk of the points during the final scoring to pull off an impressive victory. As it turned out, if Eric had spotted the trick of banishing his own cube, Anton would have finished with 74 points and a somewhat narrower victory, but he would still have won.
Final scores: Anton 79, Rich 71, Eric 65.
Eric's rating: 7. I'm still enjoying learning San Marco. I have no feeling of confidence, but considering that I lost by 28 the last time I played (compared with only 14 this time) I do think I'm making progress.
GOA (Anton,
Rich, Dan, Scott)
Scott joined us after the second set of games, and he joined a game of Goa, a new game we've been playing every week since it arrived on May 20. Goa is an auction and resource management game that gives you a lot to think about and can be somewhat overwhelming when you first play (though I suspect it becomes easier to manage and takes less time to finish as you gain experience.) Rich enjoys Goa a lot and has played in each of our three MVGA games. Walt won one of the two previous games by 2 points, and Rich won the other on a tiebreaker. This was the first game of Goa at MVGA that was a blowout. Rich got ahead on a number of advancement columns, including taxation. He also picked up a complementary set of expedition cards to win going away. This game took at least three hours to complete as players got used to the system, so it was the final game of the night for the 4 players who were involved.
Final scores:
Adv Col Exp $ Tiles Total
--- --- --- --- ----- -----
Rich 32 10 7 49
Dan 23 6 1 3 3 36 (won tiebreaker for 2nd place)
Anton 25 10 0 1 36
Scott 21 6 0 1 27
Eric's rating: 8. I've only played one game of Goa, but I enjoyed it. I'm sure I'll be getting more plays at MVGA over the coming weeks.
HANSA
(Paul L., Eric, Evan)
With 4 players wrapped up in Goa, the remaining 3 players tried to play a series of shorter games so we'd be able to assimilate any gamer who might arrive late. We started with Hansa, a quick game from Michael Schacht that we've played five times already at MVGA. In this game, Eric was selected as the starting player, and he got uncontested market stalls in Tonsberg and Stockholm during the initial setup. These saved him enough money to allow him to sell four goods chips on the first turn. Evan fought back by placing stalls in the cities where Eric had majorities, but Eric continued to pay to restock goods and got good selections every time. Though Evan and Paul kept up in markets, Eric took an insurmountable lead in goods chips to win by a comfortable margin.
Final scores:
Goods Cities Total
----- ----- -----
Eric 43 + 14 = 57
Evan 35 + 16 = 51
Paul L. 30 + 12 = 42
Eric's rating: 8. We've now had enough experience with Hansa that we can finish a game in 40 minutes. At that speed, it packs a lot of play into a short time period. It's a little more than a filler, but it fills a small time slot very nicely.
PUERTO RICO (Paul L., Eric, Evan)
It's a rare night at MVGA when a call for Puerto Rico isn't answered, and when Paul L. asked to play this favorite, Eric and Evan were happy to oblige. Paul L. started us off by Settling for a Quarry, and Eric Built for a Small Market, temporarily scorning any thoughts of Indigo production. Eric soon had Tobacco up and running, but Evan diligently pushed every barrel onto the ships, denying Eric any chance to trade.
Before long, Evan had Tobacco of his own (though downstream from Eric) but Eric responded by getting into the Coffee business. Paul L. played a careful game, but confined himself to Corn, Indigo and Sugar, assisted by a Large Market once he was able to save for one. Paul L. and Evan chose Factories after Eric (confident in his cash source) opted for a Harbor instead. This resulted in a flurry of production and shipping, and indeed we ended the game by running out of VPs. Eric was able to build and populate a Guild Hall a few turns before the end, but Evan built a Customs House and then (as Governor) a Fortress as Paul L. also built a large building. Paul had a choice between Mayor (to populate his large building) and Captain (to grab some boat space before Eric took it.) Paul decided that Captain was the right option, so the game ended with three unpopulated large buildings.
If Paul L. had selected Mayor, he would have gained one or two VPs on Eric, but lost about ten VPs to Evan, who would have won the game by a comfortable margin.
Final scores:
VPs Bldgs Bonus Total
-------------------------
Eric 30 19 8 57
Evan 30 23 0 53
Paul L. 18 19 0 37
Eric's rating: 10.
PARIS PARIS
(Paul L., Eric, Evan)
We had already established a theme for the evening. Paul L., Eric and Evan played quick 3-player games while Anton, Rich, Dan, and Scott labored away at Goa. The next 3-player game was Paris Paris, a Michael Schacht creation that Walt hates, but that many of the rest of us enjoy. Some people complain that Paris Paris is too strongly dominated by the central intersections, and that the player who seizes those spaces will win. (To be fair, Walt doesn't have this complaint; he simply complains that he has no idea what to do to win Paris Paris.)
We started off with several shops for Evan up north near Montmartre and several more in the southwest near (but not in) Montparnasse. Evan established a stronghold in the east, in and on both sides of Bastille, while Eric scattered his shops more widely across the map, trying for key junctions. Oddly enough, Montparnasse never got a single shop, even though it comes up three times. Each time, the alternative options were good and the final player couldn't afford the resulting grand tour. As the game progressed, we began to send each other's shops to the bag. Because Paul L. and Eric were competing for intersections, Paul L. tended to put Eric's shops in the bag while Eric tended to put Paul L.'s shops in the bag. Evan had his own private territory, a little out of the way, so he put some of each opponent's shops in the bag, but he more often added to his territory. On the final turn of the game, Paul L. dumped a final shop into the bag (Eric's) and Evan warned him that this might give Eric a majority in the bag and an easy win. Paul L. disagreed, but it was pretty clear that whichever one of Paul L. and Eric had the majority in the bag would be the winner. When we emptied the bag and counted the shops, there was a dead heat between Paul L. and Eric, who had 6 shops each. This tie meant that no points would be awarded for the bag. Evan had only 2 in the bag (and thus had 4 more shops on the board than either opponent.) Much to our surprise, Evan's "avoid the limelight" strategy turned out to be the winning approach.
Final scores: Evan 53, Paul L. 52, Eric 51.
Eric's rating: 8. I like Michael Schacht's games more than most people. I really enjoy Paris Paris; a game can afford to have some luck when it plays so quickly.
WEB
OF POWER (Paul L., Eric, Evan)
Although it was nearly time to leave, we decided to squeeze in one game of Web of Power, completing a Schacht triptych for the evening. The 3-player game plays very quickly (10 cards are removed from the deck) and gives at least the illusion of control. In this game Evan pursued a no-advisors strategy, spreading his cloisters across the board in pursuit of cloister points and chains. Paul L. focused in the eastern part of the board (Franken, Bayern, Schwaben) while Eric focused in the west. Both Paul L. and Eric were able to pile up impressive advisor collections, and each laid down a chain to match the one Evan put down. In the end, Eric's western focus (supported by France) proved more potent than Paul L.'s eastern focus (France connects to more countries than any other for advisor scoring) and this proved to be the deciding factor.
Final scores:
Cl #1 Cl #2 Chain Advsr Total
----- ----- ----- ----- -----
Eric 10 + 24 + 7 + 24 = 65
Evan 13 + 30 + 6 + 0 = 49
Paul L. 8 + 17 + 5 + 16 = 46
Eric's rating: 8.
Roll Call: Walt, Anton, Eric, Rich, Dan, Evan, Mike, Dave, Scott.
We had nine gamers at MVGA this week on a lovely spring evening. We're close to the equinox, and it's hard to believe it can be 7pm when the sun is so high in the sky!
SAINT PETERSBURG (Eric,
Rich, Evan)
Walt was back at MVGA after his book tour (he's a science fiction author) and he was toting his copy of Saint Petersburg. Walt bought a copy of Saint Petersburg in German a number of weeks ago from Adam Spielt, and after playing it a few times we had to take a vacation while Walt was away. This week, however, we were loaded for bear, as Evan, Dave and Eric each had copies of the English version published by Rio Grande Games.
We had 6 players on hand soon after our 7pm start time, and we broke into two groups of 3. Both groups settled down to play Saint Petersburg, a game we had previously played only with 4 players. The number of cards is the same regardless of the number of players, so it seems there should be more rounds in a 3-player game than in a 4-player game, and this is likely to demand changes in strategy. The first game featured Eric, Rich and Evan. Eric and Rich had each won Saint Petersburg previously at MVGA, but Evan had been practicing at lunch and demonstrated a strong understanding of what cards to buy from the outset of this game. Eric and Evan both looked to accumulate green cards at the start, but Evan got a lead by using the Observatory he drew to pick a few green cards during the blue phase. Eric got the Storehouse and used it to salt away some orange cards he couldn't afford to build right away, hoping to get to them later. Rich picked up a big noble early, so Evan and Rich had the edge in cash generation. Rich spent his cash on a collection of big buildings and started opening up a lead on the score track, but it was clear that the orange card bonus had the potential to offset Rich's lead. Eric sat in front of Evan, giving him a positional advantage that helped offset Evan's Observatory (the second Observatory never showed up in this game, even though all but two blue cards were drawn; it was one of the last two cards.)
As the game neared its end, Rich built the Czarina (the card says it's the Czar, but I believe this is a mistranslation; in any case, the person in question is shown with long blonde hair, and Czar Peter is the green card that costs 8 to build.) Eric ran out of chances to build nobles and used his storehouse to grab several larger buildings. The final scores were close, but Evan's mixed strategy and large collection of nobles made the difference.
Final scores: Evan 107 (8 nobles), Eric 96 (7 nobles), Rich 95 (7 nobles)
Eric's rating: 9. The 3-player game works just as well as the 4-player game (I haven't yet tried Saint Petersburg with 2.) The Observatory looks like a very strong card for the price, but not so much as to guarantee a win. Evan is simply playing better than the rest of us at this point.
SAINT PETERSBURG (Walt, Anton, Dan)
The other game of Saint Petersburg also moved quickly. Dan focused on cash generation more effectively than Walt or Anton, and he also piled up the biggest stack of different nobles. Even so, the final scores were quite close.
Final scores: Dan 83 (7 nobles) Walt 76 (6), Anton 67 (6).
Eric's rating: 9.
GOA (Rich,
Dan, Mike, Evan)
Our Thursday evening sessions at MVGA have featured a weekly game of Goa, a new auction and production game designed by Ruediger Dorn, whose best-known previous game is probably Traders of Genoa. This game is right down Rich's alley, and he's been playing in each of our weekly games. Rich won by 13 last week, and he won again this week, though by a narrower margin as Evan almost kept pace with him through the game. Near the end, Rich drew a set of expedition cards with matching symbols to cement the win.
Final scores:
Adv Col Exp $ Tiles Total
--- --- --- --- ----- -----
Rich 32 6 7 4 49
Evan 32 3 3 3 41
Dan 21 6 3 2 32
Mike 18 10 3 1 31
Eric's rating: 8.
NEW ENGLAND RAILS (Walt, Anton, Eric, Dave)
Walt has been developing a game on the topic of early railroads in New England for over fifteen years, and he has brought the prototype to MVGA a number of times. Eric took the prototype home to review a few weeks back, and we decided to give it a spin. Walt, Anton and Eric set the game up, and as Walt was reviewing the rules, Dave came in and joined to make 4.
The game includes a map showing towns and potential rail lines in the six New England states (with branches to New York and Montreal, cities that significantly affected rail development in New England.) The heart of the game is a set of about 100 business cards, each depicting a real business that existed in 19th century New England. Each business has a construction cost and a maintenance cost, and each business pays out depending on the economic situation (bust, normal or boom) and on whether the business is connected by the owner's track to a large city (Boston, New York or Montreal.)
The game also features a set of politician cards that players can play to initiate votes in the state legislatures to award various valuable concessions to the players. Generally this is done with commercial interest rather than the public interest in mind; the game does a good job establishing the feel of the robber baron era in American business, especially given the need to scratch someone else's back if you want them to scratch yours.
In this game, Eric won the right to move first. He started in Concord NH and chose as his first business a lace factory in Newburyport MA. Walt started in Hartford CT, followed by Anton in Montpelier VT and Evan in Augusta ME. The 4-player game does not allow players to start in MA or RI because the central location of these states would confer too much of an advantage. Anton and Evan received free builds at the start to compensate for the relative remoteness of their states. Cash management is tight in this game. At the start of your turn, you want enough cash to build two track links and one or two businesses, and also to pay the maintenance on your businesses before you finally receive income. You can take out a loan at a steep interest rate of 20% per turn; everyone but Eric took a loan out at the first opportunity. Eric's Concord NH start made it natural for him to seek to connect a hotel site in NH to Boston to grab the vacation special route, but when he received a second eastern MA card and won the auction for a third, he abandoned that plan and headed straight for Boston to connect his businesses and boost his income.
Walt worked steadily to connect New York to Boston so he could claim the passenger run. Anton hooked to Montreal and began building south toward western MA. Dave had some tough sledding early in the game, but when he got the vacation special run that Eric ignored, doubling the income for the NH hotel business he had built, he was right back in the game. Although Eric obtained the best businesses, he had by far the weakest group of legislators. The other players convened to award themselves a number of lucrative concessions, and as the game drew toward its close, they achieved higher incomes.
Victory at the end of New England Rails is determined by cash on hand and the value of businesses built. Both Eric and Dave realized a turn or two before the end that they could not justify the cost of any more builds, so they stopped building and saved their cash. In the final turn, the game turned nasty. Dave played an arson card in an attempt to burn down two of Walt's businesses and one of Anton's (Eric was a harder target to hit because he had many mid-valued businesses rather than one or two great ones.) Walt played a school chum card to prevent the dirty deed, but Eric whipped out a second arson card to burn down Dave's hotel and two of Walt's businesses. As we counted the final scores, it was clear that Eric's extra turn or two of hoarding cash had made the difference.
Final scores:
Bus $ Total
--- --- -----
Eric 61 166 227
Walt 57 137 194
Anton 58 113 171
Dave 51 109 160
Eric's rating: 6. I loved the historical flavor of this game, and I always enjoy railroad games, but it did seem that the game left some players with nothing to do near the end. We'll think about possible modifications and give the game another shot.
COLORETTO
(Rich, Dan, Mike, Evan, Scott)
Scott came in as we were playing two long games, but he waited patiently until Goa finished. New England Rails was close to being finished, so the Goa players added Scott for a quick game of Coloretto, a game everyone was familiar with. A number of different strategies were employed in this game. Mike hoovered up every "+2" card in sight and finished with five of them, but he got relatively few colored cards as a result. Dan put a wild card to good use, making a 6-card suit with only a few other cards. Scott listened carefully to the advice his opponents seemed bent on proffering him and accumulated a 6-card suit of his own with only one negative point. After the "big stack" strategy had won on June 3, it was nice to re-establish balance as a "small stack" strategy won this week.
Final scores: Scott 26, Dan 25, Mike 23, Rich 21, Evan 20.
Eric's rating: 8. This game is perfect when you have fifteen or twenty minutes to fill and four or five players to entertain.
SAINT PETERSBURG (Eric,
Mike, Evan, Dave)
Anton and Dan had to leave for the night, but the urge to play Saint Petersburg was not yet scratched (at least not for some) so we returned for a 4-player game. Evan again drew an Observatory on the first turn. He used it to grab several green cards early. Mike built a Firehouse on the first round (this seems to be the biggest blue card you can comfortably handle on Round 1.) Eric had first shot at the orange cards and built a Controller, but his opponents were playing carefully and didn't give him a shot at a second orange card. Mike continued to add to his green cards while building buildings steadily to pull out to a nice lead on the board. Evan scooped up a Czarina that he couldn't afford to play right away, but those 6 points a round and the bonus at the end are hard to resist. Eric again pushed for orange cards and fell behind as a result, as he did not have the cash to make a meaningful investment in blue cards.Dave played a mixed strategy, gaining one or two big nobles, keeping pace in green cards, and buying some big blue cards in the mid-game.
The rules suggest that the game takes 7 to 10 rounds, but this game finished in just five as we grabbed cards and exhausted both the blue deck and the green deck. Evan had extra cash to build both Museums on the next-to-last round, and these two buildings alone scored 24 points for him, with more from the Czarina. It was an unusually low-scoring game, and Evan again won by a comfortable margin, despite the fact that he did not have the most different nobles.
Final scores: Evan 62 (5 nobles), Eric 49 (6), Mike 49 (3), Dave 48 (5).
Eric's rating: 9.
WYATT
EARP (Walt, Rich, Scott)
There were plenty of copies of Saint Petersburg still left, but the three remaining players opted for Wyatt Earp, an MVGA staple. A big pile of cash built up on the oft-unloved Bob Dalton, and Walt scooped it up on Hand 3 to win by a mile. I don't know why no one likes poor Bob, but he seems to come in last in our hearts most of the time. Perhaps Walt's contrarian strategy will start to turn this trend around!
Final scores: Walt $31K, Rich $26K, Scott $21K.
Eric's rating: 9.
Roll Call: Anton, Eric, Rich, Dave, Walt, Paul L., Evan, Mike, Dan, Scott.
Attendance was strong again at MVGA this week as we welcomed ten gamers.
SAINT PETERSBURG (Anton,
Eric, Rich, Dave)
Four of us were ready to play at 7pm. Although we expected more people to arrive, we decided to start a short game right away, counting on the fact that there would be enough for a second game before long. We've been playing Saint Petersburg every week recently, and each game provides new insights that make us eager to try again. In this game, Anton snapped up an early Observatory and began to collect orange cards. We've been impressed by the potential of the Observatory, and in recent games every Observatory is taken immediately by the player holding the wooden token that grants the first action in the blue building card phase.
We are now more aware of the dangers of a runaway orange card player, however, so we worked to deny Anton easy opportunities. This forced him to take or buy cards during the blue card phase just to make room for orange cards. He tended to take cards other than blue cards, so he didn't get a lot of VP in the early going, and he fell behind by 20 or 25 VP after a few rounds. Dave got the other Observatory, but was short of cash early in the game and wasn't able to build up an income stream as quickly as he would have liked. He was hampered by a selection of green cards that always seemed to be on the expensive side when it was his turn to select, and when he paid 8 for Czar Peter, the green card that can use any upgrade, he wound up upgrading it to the Fur Shop, giving him more VP but not the cash boost he hoped for. Rich and Eric played mixed strategies, taking green worker cards when available, together with a few nobles (Eric got a valuable Judge early on to supplement his cash production,) but also investing in buildings. Eric bought two Markets which he was able to upgrade to money generating blue cards, while Rich took several Toll Houses and upgraded one.
The game moved quickly as everyone focused on green cards. Eric stepped out of the green card race first and used his cash to buy three Hospitals over two rounds to pull well ahead of the pack. As we emptied both the green and the blue stack, Anton managed to increase his noble collection to 9. During the end game scoring he made up the huge gap separating him from the rest of the field, but it wasn't enough to give him the win.
Final scores: Eric 88 (5 nobles) Anton 75 (9), Rich 73 (6), Dave 70 (5).
Eric's rating: 9. Our games are getting closer as we learn both how to reel in a leader and how to avoid some of the traps. It was nice to see that it's possible to win with few orange cards and without an Observatory.
SAN MARCO
(Walt, Paul L., Evan)
Rich brought his copy of San Marco to MVGA as usual, and when 3 more people showed up soon after 7pm, they chose San Marco, a game that works best for 3 players. In the 3-player game you start with two bridges per player (the 4-player game gives each player only one bridge at the start.) Evan was first divider, and he was stuck with a Doge card that he was unable to use. If he had an extra bridge things might have been different! I'm not sure whether these players were aware of the fact that you can go into debt to move the Doge when you have zero VP; it's possible they were not aware that Alan Moon has clarified this.
San Marco is a game in which you must balance current VP against future potential. As the game moved through its third passage, Paul L. was far behind on the scoring track, but had the best position on the board. Paul L. won the final banishment and misjudged the position, executing the banishment in an area where Walt and Evan were tied for second (and thus would not receive points in any case,) but despite losing this weapon he scooted past his opponents' markers to take an impressive win. Paul L. has played two games of San Marco at MVGA and won both, so we'll be watching him carefully next time.
Final scores: Paul L. 57, Evan 50, Walt 48.
Eric's rating: 7.
SAINT PETERSBURG (Mike,
Dan, Scott)
Three more gamers arrived as Saint Petersburg and San Marco were underway. We have plenty of copies of Saint Petersburg at MVGA these days, so Mike and Dan taught the rules to Scott. In this game, Mike got an edge in money and walked away with the game, despite Dan's efforts to come back by building up his nobles. Scott ran out of money at the end and was stuck with a card left in his hand for a 5 VP penalty.
Final scores: Mike 90 (7 nobles) Dan 75 (8), Scott 57 (3).
Eric's rating: 9.
POWER
GRID (Anton, Rich, Dave, Evan)
Our first two games finished up, and with 7 people looking for a new game, we split into 4 and 3. Rich wanted to play Power Grid, and although we would have liked to play with 5, we opted for a 4-player game to avoid having just 2 players left over. Rich was the victor, connecting and powering 17 cities.
Final scores: Rich 17, Dave 16 ($26), Anton 16 ($1), Evan 14.
Eric's rating: 9.
SAINT PETERSBURG (Eric,
Walt, Paul L.)
Walt and Paul L. thought they'd like to try Saint Petersburg themselves, and Eric was happy to try a second game, this time with 3 players. The game is somewhat different with 3 than it is with 4, though the 2-player game is the format that is most unlike the others. In the 3-player game, one player gets two of the wooden tokens; these are chosen at random. Some people have assumed that the player with two tokens always gets the chair and the noble, as shown in the rules, but this is just an example.
Eric and Paul L. both got early Observatories in this game. Eric took green cards to augment his income, then switched to nobles in mid-game. Paul made selective use of his Observatory, taking points for it some of the time. Walt got first shot at both Mistresses of Ceremonies and was able to build both of them right away, bringing in cash and VPs. This gave Walt the ability to buy a number of buildings in the mid-game, including the St. Isaac's Cathedral upgrade for more cash and VPs. In the midgame, Paul L. grabbed a Chambermaid and the "Pope" (this seems like a poor translation of "Abt" in the German) to increase his noble count and start the VPs flowing. Walt got a Weapons Master for even more income. Eric upgraded a Secretary and a Controller to the Czarina and Foreign Minister to challenge Walt's VP stream, but this cost him in income and Walt steadily pulled out to a lead.
With one round to go, Walt had just three different nobles on display, as compared with six for Eric and five for Paul L., but he got three more in the final round. Eric used his Observatory to fish for an orange upgrade, but he came up dry.
Final scores: Walt 82 (6 nobles), Eric 77 (7), Paul L. 62 (5).
Eric's rating: 9. We've now seen a number of games in which the Observatory owners could not catch the leader. If you can build some VP-producers in mid game, you can build enough of a lead to forestall the late surge of the orange-card specialist. This balance adds to the replayability of Saint Petersburg. I'm ready for another match with Evan, the current champ.
WEB
OF POWER (Eric, Paul L. Mike)
The two 3-player Saint Petersburg games ended at the same time, so we rearranged into two new groupings. Mike wanted another try at Web of Power, seeking revenge for his defeat back on May 27, and Paul L. was happy to join in. Mike as first player opened up France, but Paul L. opened up England on his own. Eric followed his usual advisor strategy, dropping yellow cylinders into both countries and achieving the lead in France and a tie with Paul L. in England. This focus on advisors cost him, however, as Mike and Paul L. tied for most cloisters in England and Paul L. took first place in France. This pattern continued, as Eric sewed up first place in advisors or a tie for first in England, France, Burgundy and Italy, but ran out of advisors. The fact that two players were laying cloisters increased the scoring for cloisters and took the wind out of the sails of the advisor strategy. Mike and Paul L. each got a chain of cloisters, and as we toted up the final scores it was clearly a close game. Would Eric's advisor points be able to make up the difference?
Final scores:
Cl #1 Cl #2 Chain Advsr Total
----- ----- ----- ----- -----
Paul L. 13 + 31 + 4 + 3 = 51
Mike 13 + 29 + 6 + 3 = 51
Eric 8 + 18 + 0 + 24 = 50
This was the closest game of Web of Power I've ever played in. The tiebreaker is number of unplayed pieces (cloisters and advisors) and Paul L. scraped out a hard-fought and well-deserved victory with 12 left to Mike's 10.
Eric's rating: 8. Web of Power plays in a short time frame, but it has the feeling of a much bigger game.
PUERTO RICO (Walt, Dan, Scott)
I have only the final scores from this game, but it looks like Dan won about as thoroughly as it's possible to win.
Final scores:
VPs Bldgs Bonus Total
----- ------ ----- -----
Dan 30 22 9 61
Walt 24 18 6 48
Scott 24 15 0 39
Eric's rating: 10.
HANSA
(Eric, Paul L., Mike)
Web of Power finished quickly, and we decided to play Hansa, another Michael Schacht game that works well for 3 and fits into a short window of time. Mike hadn't played before, so we taught the rules before we began. I've found that no matter how carefully you explain the rules, beginners are likely to miss several points, including these: (1) Selling costs a market, but not money (2) No extra game-end VP are awarded for having the most markets (3) You may sell two different colors for one action as long as you have at least two chips of each color Mike took a little longer to think through his first few turns (there are a lot of options, and it takes experience to learn which options you need to focus on,) but he was soon up to speed. Paul L. started off with several good sales while Eric and Mike seeded markets. Eric took advantage of Paul L.'s sales to gain market majorities in Tonsberg, Stockholm and Kalmar, and this provided an income source and also allowed him to take more actions than his opponents. Toward the end of the game this advantage had dissipated, but the damage had been done.
Final scores:
Chips Brls Cities Total
----- ---- ----- -----
Eric 13 + 28 + 12 = 53
Mike 12 + 19 + 12 = 43
Paul L. 9 + 15 + 14 = 38
Eric's rating: 8.
SAN
JUAN (Rich, Dave, Evan, Dan)
Five players left at this point, but a few stayed on to play more games. San Juan is the card game "younger brother" of Puerto Rico. It requires more flexibility than Puerto Rico because you must play the cards you draw. You can't count on that Harbor or Small Warehouse being available when you want it. Evan got a Chapel down early and began burying cards steadily. He also built a Gold Mine which paid off for him four times (we rarely see a Gold Mine strike more than twice in a game.) Rich built an early Guild Hall and seven production buildings for 14 VP. Late in the game he added a Palace for 8 VP to seal the victory, despite the 10 VP Evan received for cards under his Chapel.
Final scores: Rich 41, Evan 37, Dan 34, Dave 27.
Eric's rating: 7.
SAINT PETERSBURG (Rich,
Dave, Evan, Mike)
The late shift put together one more iteration of Saint Petersburg, swapping Mike in and Dan out. Both Observatories showed up in the first round, and Dave and Mike swooped down on them like vultures. Rich got a Controller in the first round, assuring him of $4 and a VP each round for the remainder of the game. Mike and Dave used the Observatories to take green cards, but they weren't able to convert the money into VP as the game ended before they were ready.
Final scores: Rich 65, Evan 63, Dave 57, Mike 56.
Eric's rating: 9. This was another close game of Saint Petersburg, with only nine points separating first and fourth place. At this rate, Saint Petersburg will soon be one of our top games for 2004 (we played it four times this week alone!)
WYATT
EARP (Rich, Dave, Evan, Mike)
It was late, but there's always room for another game of Wyatt Earp! The game was tight the whole way, and after three rounds no one had amassed the $25K needed to win. Most of our games go three rounds, but we occasionally see a two- or four-round game. After three rounds this game was all knotted up: Rich $23K, Evan $23K, Mike $21K, Dave $20K. One hand later the score was still tied, with Rich and Evan holding $31K each.
The tiebreaker for Wyatt Earp is a sudden death shootout. The tied players draw cards, and whoever draws a bullet wins. If both players draw a bullet, or if neither do, you draw another pair of cards. In this game, Evan drew six bullets in a row (emptying his six-shooter,) but Rich matched him shot for shot. After a pause to reload, the hombres drew another pair of bullets, but on the eighth try Evan drew a Wyatt Earp while Rich managed one more bullet to win.
Eric's rating: 9.
Roll Call: Anton, Eric, Rich, Dan, Evan, Dave. We had just 6 regulars at MVGA this week. Walt, Mike and Paul L. weren't able to make it, and we had no non-regulars.
SAINT PETERSBURG (Anton, Eric, Rich, Dan)
Saint Petersburg continued to be our opener of choice. We waited until about 7:15, but with just 4 players on hand, we set up Saint Petersburg and started in. We've added a copy of Saint Petersburg to the MVGA game closet, but we left it in shrink and played a copy belonging to one of the members. Evan arrived during the second round and had to wait until we finished (the game took about an hour.)
Rich began with the wooden worker token and got his two green cards for the lowest cost as a result. Dan was last in line at the green card buffet, but this turned out in his favor. He bought the only Shipbuilder and was thus able to take the Wharf upgrade late in the round to gain an income advantage. Anton had first shot at the buildings and scooped up an Observatory. There are eight blue building cards on display in the first blue-card phase, so the chance of an Observatory showing up is about 50%. Anton chose green cards early and orange cards late when he remembered to use the Observatory; there were a few rounds in which he didn't think about it until the orange card phase, which is a little too late. Eric was first in the orange card phase, and four nobles were revealed: an Author, an Administrator and two Controllers. The Controller is not nearly as valuable as the Judge or the Mistress of Ceremonies, but it does pay $4 + 1VP for a cost of $14, and Eric and Dan were happy to get them. Rich took the Administrator and Anton the Author. Dan got his Wharf in the upgrade phase, and Rich was faced with a choice between the Patriarch and St. Isaac's. The Patriarch pays 4VP for a cost of $16, but no money, while St. Isaac's pays $3 + 3VP for a cost of $15. Rich selected the Patriarch, adding to his potential orange bonus at the end of the game, but condemning him to a life of poverty in the meantime. Anton did not take an upgrade, and Eric wound up with St. Isaac's as a result, while Dan stashed the Church of the Resurrection for future use.
In the second round each player got a new green card, but Dan had an income of $12 because of his Wharf (not to mention the 1VP the Wharf provides.) Eric took a discounted Firehouse off the discount rack and upgraded to St. Isaac's during the blue card phase, and Dan built the Church of the Resurrection. This was just the start of a strong building strategy on Dan's part, as he used his cash advantage to build a number of buildings and building upgrades, pulling out to a lead of a few points over Eric. In the fourth round, Eric had three cards in his hand after the orange card phase (two nobles and an orange upgrade.) He was a bit cash poor, but wanted access to the orange cards for future use. His only built noble was the Controller. Eric was first in the upgrade phase, and three orange upgrades were revealed: the Weapon Master ($4 per turn at a cost of $8,) the Builder ($5 per turn at a cost of $10) and the Tax Man ($1 per green card per turn at a cost of $17.) The Weapon Master and the Builder are valuable cards, but Eric couldn't take them into his hand. He didn't want to "downgrade" the Controller, so he upgraded the Controller to the Tax Man, a much less valuable upgrade despite the fact that he had five green cards already on display. Dan benefited from this largesse, as he upgraded an Administrator to the Builder for a cost of only $3.
In the final round, Anton was the clear leader in orange cards, but he trailed far behind on the VP track. Dan continued to lead Eric by a few points, but Eric had an ominous set of orange cards left in his hand. Rich had been scratching and clawing throughout the game, but every time he was first in line for a new set of cards, the selection had been a disappointment. There was just one green card, which Anton bought at a discount for a small profit, and one blue card, the second Observatory, which Eric bought and used to select an Author, which was a new kind of orange card for him. In the final orange card phase there were four cards available. Dan, Rich and Anton got new types, but Eric was last in line and had to settle for a Secretary, a duplicate of a card he already had. He bought the Secretary anyway, hoping against hope for an upgrade. The upgrades included only one orange card, the Foreign Minister, which Rich took. Anton was stuck with a card he couldn't afford to build (the first time this has happened at MVGA,) costing him a 5VP penalty. In the end, Dan extended his lead with $40 in cash to earn his first Saint Petersburg victory.
Final scores: Dan 84 (6 nobles), Eric 78 (6), Anton 68 (6), Rich 67 (5).
Eric's rating: 9. There are many things to think about once you have played Saint Petersburg a number of times. You can see this simply from the greater detail I'm able to include in the session reports; I didn't notice nearly as much about the game when I first played. The cards can dry up for a player (as they did for Rich in this game,) but this is not a big problem in a one-hour game.
POWER
GRID (Anton, Eric, Rich, Dan, Evan, Dave)
Evan had waited patiently through most of our Saint Petersburg game, and Dave arrived as we were finishing up. We could have split up to play two 3-player games, but MVGA has traditionally played meaty games, and when someone proposed a 6-player game of Power Grid, we were eager to give it a shot. We decided to play the U.S. map, and we chose to eliminate a region by taking one house of each color and drawing one at random. The tan house was drawn, so we eliminated the brown northeast region (it's neat that the colors of the regions match the colors of the houses!)
In a 2- through 5-player game you use one region per player, but in a 6-player game, you use only 5 regions. Anton began the power plant auction, putting the #03 oil burner up for sale. Eric bid $4 and got the plant. The #03 plant gives first choice in buying fuel and building, but oil is fairly costly in the early going. The #04 coal burner was next, and the bidding was more aggressive, with Rich taking it for $7. Dan then got the #05 hybrid for a similar price, and Evan paid $7 for the #06 trash burner. The #06 is an often-despised plant, but it's more attractive in the 6-player game, where the supply of trash is ample. By this time, the #10 coal plant was on display in the current market, and Anton took it for $10. This left the #13 windmill for Dave, who was happy to scoop it up at list price. Eric led off the building phase with a house in Savannah. The Northeast with its cheap connections was off-limits, so the southeast was attractive territory. Rich built in Minneapolis, counting on cheap links to Duluth and Fargo, and Dan started in Dallas. Evan moved out west to sunny Las Vegas, Anton started in Cheyenne, with its cheap link to Denver, and Dave looked at the options for a while, then settled for Atlanta and Raleigh, hoping to contend with Eric for the inexpensive southeast.
In the bureaucracy phase, Anton earned $33 for powering Denver and Cheyenne while the rest of us settled for one city and $22. Before long, we suddenly realized how dingy and inefficient our existing power plants were, and an eager upgrading scramble began. Dave, with the most cities connected, led off the auctions, taking the #09 oil burner for $9 with no opposing bids. Anton, who also had two cities connected, put up the #07 oil burner (taken by Evan.) Next he offered the #15 coal burner, which Rich bought, continuing what would prove to be an almost game-long fascination with coal as a fuel source. The random draws were bringing larger plants down into the current market, so Anton next auctioned the #21 hybrid, which Dan bought. At this point, Anton passed, reckoning that he already had a plant that would power 2 cities. Eric thought for a moment, looked at the stock of oil-burners starting operation, took a deep breath, and paid list price for the #26 oil plant, which powers 5 cities for 2 barrels. He had first shot at the raw materials phase, so he loaded up on oil, using both plants for storage space. Eric then connected Jacksonville, Norfolk and Tampa, launching him into the lead in cities (and putting him last in the fuel-buying and building phases as a result.)
The payout table for Funkenschlag, the predecessor to Power Grid, does not pay very well for additional connections, but the more generous payout table for Power Grid dangles a carrot in front of the ambitious player, promising a tantalizing income advantage if you will just take a chance. The next round, Eric began by putting the #33 windmill, which powers four cities, up for auction and took it for $42. Anton took the #34 uranium plant and Dave settled for the #11 uranium plant. The price of uranium was plunging, making uranium plants attractive, but Dave's three plants could power only four cities among them. Rich picked up his third coal plant, the #25, which powers five cities. During the building phase, Eric decided to connect two more cities to push the game into Step 2. He had power to light nine cities for only two barrels of oil, so it was in his interest to allow additional connections. Round 4 saw an amusing incident that demonstrated the advantage of going late in the turn order. Three of us had passed up our opportunities to buy plants, but Dan took the #32 oil burner, and it was replaced by the #22 windmill, which powers two cities. Dave and Evan bid the #22 up until Dave took it for $27. The replacement for the #22 was the #18 windmill, which also powers two cities. Evan was the only bidder left, so he got it for $18, the list price, even though it's clearly better than the #22.
Building in each round proceeds in inverse order of number of cities connected, and players were jockeying for position, trying to avoid moving into less desirable positions. As last player, Eric was last builder each time, and for several rounds he found himself already condemned to build last by the time his turn came around. In Funkenschlag this would have been a fatal handicap, but in Power Grid he simply poured his cash into additional connections, consoling himself with the fact that he was getting cheaper connections than the players who would build in later turns. By Round 6 or 7, Eric had twelve cities connected, but he still had capacity to power only ten. Rich had purchased the #31, and his three coal plants could power fourteen. Eric could afford to connect fourteen cities, ending the game, but Rich could afford to connect thirteen, which with his superior generating capacity would give him the victory. The plants on offer only powered two and three cities, so Eric and everyone else passed, figuring that these plants were not good enough to be worth buying so late in the game. When no plant is sold, the cheapest plant is replaced.
We watched eagerly to see what the replacement would be, and there was a collective moan of disappointment as it proved to be the #16, which powers just three cities. During the building phase, Eric stayed at twelve cities while Anton pushed past him to thirteen and the rest of the pack snuggled up at twelve, eleven and ten. In the bureaucracy phase, we threw out the #16 and turned up the Step 3 card, making it possible for a third player to connect each city and combining the future market with the current market. In the last round, Anton had capacity to power only nine cities, so he needed a bigger plant. The #20 went to Dan after a spirited auction; it powers five cities and pushed Dan's capacity to fifteen. This brought the #36 coal burner out with capacity for seven cities. Everyone but Eric and Anton dropped out, and Eric got it for the bargain price of $43 when Anton realized he couldn't afford to buy it and still connect enough cities to use it. Rich got the #24 trash plant at this point (his first non-coal plant) and we stocked up for the final scoring. There was a brief flare-up of resource counting as we wondered whether the coal supply would run out, but there were a few piles left and the building phase proved to be anti-climactic as Eric connected and powered 16 cities to win.
Final scores: Eric 16, Rich 15, Dan 14 + $140, Evan 14 + $133, Anton 13 + $138, Dave 13 + $132.
Eric's rating: 9. Power Grid has all the fun of Funkenschlag in a shorter, more compact form. One hears complaints from time to time from experienced Funkenschlag players who have grown to love the meager payouts of the older version and it's "can only win by coming from behind" character. I prefer the new version, with the possibility of winning as a front-runner, but if you like the old feel, you can use the original payout chart with the new game. This game took exactly two hours, and it packed a lot of fun into that time period.
RA (Eric,
Rich, Dan, Evan, Dave)
Anton left at this point and we chose Ra as our next game. In the first epoch, the sun moved quickly across the sky, leaving Dave with just one tile, a non-scoring Nile, and Evan and Dan with three tiles each (2 Niles and a monument in each case.) Eric had six different monuments, while Rich had the only two pharaohs, a civilization, a set of Niles with a flood, and several gold tiles. The quick pace of the first epoch made us jumpy, and we Ra'ed early and often in the second epoch, to such an extent that the epoch ended with one Ra tile to go. Rich preserved his lead in pharaohs, tying with Dave, and grabbed more Niles. Eric made it to eight different monuments after only two epochs, but had little else to show for it. Dan was stuck at zero pharaohs, but he was collecting his own set of monuments.
The final epoch went quickly again, and ended with a batch of pharaoh tiles and one Ra tile left in the box. Rich collected his third pharaoh bonus, almost 10 points for Niles, and took 5 points from Dan to boot for sun tile total to win the most lopsided game of Ra I've ever played in. Rich finished with more points than any two other players combined.
Final scores: Rich 56, Eric 29, Dan 26, Evan 24, Dave 19.
Eric's rating: 9. There's a lot of luck in the tile draws, but there are real decisions to make and skill will win out more often than not. I can take quite a bit of luck in a game that takes one hour, as this game did.
TICKET
TO RIDE (Eric, Rich, Evan, Dave)
Dan was the next one to leave, and we spent some time discussing our next choice, finally settling on Ticket to Ride. After the usual bout of card taking, we began laying down track. Eric started with the Phoenix - Los Angeles link, and a crowd soon gathered in the southwest as players worked to avoid being shut out. Dave played four early six-segment links and leapt out to a big lead on the scoring track. He also instilled a sense of urgency in his opponents as we realized the game might be unusually short. Dave wound up running from Salt Lake City up to Portland and Seattle and then east across the country to Montreal. Rich, in the mean time, played his usual quiet game, driving a line across the center of the map and grabbing a few extra tickets that must have been attractive, as he kept all three. Evan was forced to build the north-south rather than the preferred east-west axis, and Eric connected Seattle to Los Angeles and then went east to New York. It wasn't long before Dave ran out of trains, but just before the end he decided to take tickets. He frowned at the selection and kept just one.
When the game concluded, Dave had the longest line, putting him well out into the lead. We turned over our tickets, and Rich gained 65 VP, scooting him way past everyone. Dave fell short by the one 4-VP ticket he had to take on his draw; if he had plowed ahead without taking tickets, he would have won.
Final scores: Rich 65 + 65 = 130; Dave 84 + 10 + 38 - 4 = 128; Evan 78 + 43 = 121; Eric 60 + 48 = 108.
Eric's rating: 8. The winning strategy in our games has been to take a lot of extra tickets and build a central line that connects them all. I can't see how to make this work, but it sure isn't luck.
Roll Call: unknown.
No session report was written by the slackers, since neither Eric nor Walter was present to record results. Games played:
INDUSTRIA
SAINT PETERSBURG
SAN
JUAN
TAJ
MAHAL
Roll Call: Anton, Walt, Rich, Eric, Dan, Evan.
WYATT
EARP (Rich, Eric, Dan, Evan)
Anton and Walt were immersed in a tabletop baseball series when the rest of us came in, so we began the evening with a game of Wyatt Earp, a rummy-type game set in the old west. This game was notable for its fast pace and its lack of defense. In the first hand, every outlaw hit the table in short order as we buzzed through the draw pile. Eric whiffed a few times on sheriff cards and missed a chance to play a photo during his own turn for a previously played outlaw. This left him far behind after the first hand. Scores after one hand: Dan $10K, Rich $9K, Evan $6K, Eric $3K. In the second hand, Rich steamrolled us with two exclusive opportunities. He went out, leaving us gasping in the dust behind him. We counted the scores and Rich just made it to the $25K winning condition (a rarity in two hands.)
Final scores: Rich $25K, Dan $16K, Evan $13K, Eric $13K.
Eric's rating: 9.
DIE FUGGER
(Rich, Eric, Dan, Evan)
Anton and Walt were still rolling dice over at the baseball table, so we looked for another short game to play while we waited for possible new players. Eric suggested Die Fugger, a card game he recently purchased, and we began explaining the rules. As it turns out, we were not completely clear in our explanation; several rules were a surprise to the players during the course of the game. Die Fugger is a commodity trading game set in medieval Germany. It is based on a deck of cards that contain nine each of five different commodities. Two cards for each commodity display a royal seal, indicating that they will be worth double during normal scoring as long as there are no more than three of that commodity showing (more than three and the royals will refuse to purchase, thinking the goods are too common for royal tastes.) There are also four merchant cards that provide extra cards at the end of the hand; you get two new cards automatically at the end of each hand, but in the absence of merchants, you must spend turns drawing cards to keep your hand full. Two face-up cards are dealt each turn to "Jacob the Rich," an imaginary player and the head of the Fugger clan. These serve to break the symmetry between the different commodities. Players take turns playing a card face up or drawing a new card from the deck. You can draw from the deck only if you have four or fewer cards in your hand, so you must play at some point. There is a price circle in the middle of the board, with a price tag for each commodity that is made from a card folded in half. Some owners have found it hard to "deface" their sets by folding the cards in half, but I had no problem doing it; the game cost only eight dollars!
The first hand went off with a bang as Rich and Evan pushed one commodity over the limit before Dan or Eric could get many cards down on the table. Dan in particular was surprised when we scored. We didn't explain clearly that we'd score after each hand and Dan had wondered what the point of it all was. The score after the first hand was Evan 29, Rich 28, Eric 10, Dan 2.
Dan made a comeback in the second hand, gaining 18 along with Rich as Evan and Eric gained 9 each. This left the score at Rich 46, Evan 38, Dan 20, Eric 19. Dan and Eric had buried two cards each while Rich and Evan had only had time to bury one each. You can only bury cards during the first two hands (one card each hand,) so Rich and Evan were left with a permanent handicap. The course of the game was very different from that of any Die Fugger game I had played before. In many cases only six or seven cards were played before one commodity made it to five. On quite a few turns, Jacob the Rich had a pair of the same commodity, which sped the game up.
On the third hand, Eric got zero while his opponents got 8 points each. As a result of the frequent scoring, we were drawing cards faster than we could play them, and the deck was getting thinner and thinner. This reduced the value of the merchant cards. We also needed many more hands than usual to make it to 100 points because each hand scored so few points. We finally made it to 100 after the seventh hand. The score at this point was Rich 100, Eric 82, Dan 76, Evan 73. Once a player makes it to 100, you turn the buried cards over and score each of them double. This was a surprise to Rich; we hadn't explained clearly that the buried cards would be worth double. Dan had buried two blue cards, and with the blue price tag at 7, they were worth a total of 28. Evan and Rich had buried only one card each, and the price tags for those commodities were both at 1, making their single cards worth only 2 each, even after they were doubled.
Final scores: Dan 104, Rich 102, Eric 98, Evan 75.
Eric's rating: 7. Die Fugger is a clever, quick game with some real strategic decisions. The choice of which cards to bury is a shot in the dark; the real skill is not in choosing the right cards, but in making sure the cards you chose are high on the price chart when the game ends. We'll have to try it again now that we all know the rules.
O ZOO LE MIO
(Rich, Eric, Dan, Evan) It was clear by this point in the evening that we'd
be limited to just 6 gamers for the evening, so we chose a longer game. Anton
and Walt had a game to go in their tabletop baseball series, so we broke another
new game out of the shrinkwrap. Eric had a copy of O Zoo Le Mio, the upgraded
version of ZooSim. O Zoo Le Mio is a game in which each player seeks to develop
a zoo that is more attractive to visitors than the zoos of competing players.
During each round, players bid for five zoo tiles, one after another, using
an "in the fist" auction. You can see all five tiles for the round before any
bidding begins, so you know whether to bid high for the early tiles or wait
for later tiles that may fit into your zoo better. With four players and five
tiles per round, at least one player is bound to get two tiles, so there is
a natural asymmetry in the game. At the end of each round, you receive income,
one coin for each tile in your zoo. For this reason, it's important not to fall
behind; there's a natural "rich get richer" syndrome you want to be on the good
side of. O Zoo Le Mio looks very much like ZooSim, but the graphics are improved,
making it easier to play and score. The original ZooSim included a set of meeples
to mark the attractions controlled by each player. The ZooSim meeples were all
in a single color. In O Zoo Le Mio, the markers for closed loops of paths are
now cute little wooden benches (representing the fact that visitors need to
sit and rest after walking around the loop.) The markers for most trees and
second most trees are little green wooden trees. The markers for biggest exhibit
and second biggest exhibit in each of the six types of animals are now provided
in six different colors, so that each exhibit is marked using meeples of the
corresponding color.
In this game, Dan started off with a bang, grabbing two tiles in the first round, including one with four trees. This vaulted him into the lead, but despite his extra coin of income, he was poorer than the rest of us and had to take it easy during the next few rounds. Your score in Round 1 is your number of wooden markers, while your score in Round 2 is two times the number of markers, your score in Round 3 is three times the number of markers, and so forth. Thus Dan's lead, while substantial, wasn't overwhelming. In later rounds, Evan concentrated on trees, eventually stealing first place from Dan. Everyone focused on one or two colors, taking markers from Dan where the set of tiles on offer made it possible to do so. Eric added tiles that gave him closed loops, and Dan added some loops of his own. By the end of the game, Eric had more tiles and more markers than any other player, but he fell just short of catching Dan on the scoreboard.
Final scores: Dan 111, Eric 108, Rich 70, Evan 67.
Eric's rating: 7. This is an adorable little game. It's quick and the "in the fist" auctions work smoothly. There is some luck in the initial setup (the person who starts the game high on the tiebreaking flag pole certainly has an advantage,) but the low scores during the early rounds take some of the sting out of it.
WIN, PLACE
& SHOW (Anton, Walt, Rich, Eric, Dan, Evan)
The tabletop baseball series was over by this time, with Walt's Maracaibo Rumrunners defeating Anton's Gotham City Batmen three games to one. Rich had borrowed a copy of Win, Place, and Show (an old 3M horseracing title) and wanted to give it a shot. Several MVGA members will be attending the World Boardgaming Championships in the Baltimore area in August, and Rich wants to use Win, Place, and Show to fill an empty slot in his schedule. Rich reviewed the rules with us. The game provides a series of races, with six horses entered in each race. The horses are of different values; some have early speed and some have late speed, but some are also simply better than others. The game provides odds (from 3-2 to 20-1) for each horse, so that you can earn more for betting on a long shot.
Each race begins with an auction in which each of the six players purchases a horse. The least desirable horses will go for just $500 each while the more desirable horses may go for substantially more. Players act as owners, jockeys and bettors; the advantage of owning a better horse is that you have a better chance to win a purse and you can bet with more information. In the first race, Rich's horse won and Walt's horse came in second, but Eric finished with the most money because he had made larger bets on these horses than their owners made. In the second race, Eric saw three bets all pay off, but Dan and Evan made up some ground with larger bets. Rich and Walt were both complaining about the difficulty they had steering horses around a crowded track with novice jockeys. The third race was a real train wreck, as Walt's horse and Evan's horse were totally blocked during parts of the race where their speed should have helped them to pass their opposition. As a result, Eric's horse led wire to wire to finish first. When we examined the final bets, however, Eric had only one ticket in the money, for his own horse to show, while Dan had bigger bets and two tickets in the money to snatch the win. Evan also made up ground and finished second. The official Win, Place, and Show rules state that a game will be made up of six races, but we quit after just three races; no one wanted to continue any further with the game.
Final scores: Dan $71,000 Evan $70,500 Eric $68,500 Rich $60,500 Anton $59,500 Walt $35,500
Eric's rating: 3. Win, Place, and Show works, but it didn't grab my interest. There are a lot of moving parts for relatively little payoff. Rich and Walt were particularly disappointed, as both of them found it hard to know how to value the horses. Walt compared this game with Paris Paris, another game he doesn't see the point of. I asked Walt how Win, Place, and Show compares with Zaubercocktail, and he said he prefers Zaubercocktail hands down. At least in Zaubercocktail you understand what you're trying to do and you have some participation in bringing about a winning or losing result.
SAINT PETERSBURG (Walt, Rich, Eric, Evan)
Anton and Dan had to leave, but we had time for one more game. We continue to be dazzled by Evan's mastery in Saint Petersburg, so we decided to give it another shot. We all determined to watch Evan closely to see exactly where he pulls the rabbit out of his hat. In the first round, Walt was first in the green card phase and got the cheapest workers. Eric went second, Evan third and Rich fourth. Evan led off the blue card phase and snatched a Warehouse, increasing his hand capacity to four. Rich built a Customs House, as did Walt, while Eric took two Markets into his hand, hoping to clear more space for nobles. Two Judges showed up, with Eric and Evan each able to build one right away. In the upgrade phase, Rich and Walt got orange cards, Eric got a blue upgrade, and Evan got a wharf. There were five green cards on the next turn, and Eric got two, leaving him and Evan with 12 green income versus 9 each for Rich and Walt. Evan snagged two nobles in the orange phase, giving him substantial income, and upgraded one to a Patriarch, giving him more orange VP than the rest of us. On turn 3, Evan built a discounted Museum for 6 VP per turn. Rich was able to take a Mistress of Ceremonies into his hand, but we realized that Evan was beating us in all three phases. It's not clear what he did, except that he spent for the Museum earlier than the rest of us typically would have. We asked Evan what his secret of victory was, and he claimed to be an "idiot savant," just knowing what the right play is. He observes that the rest of us take cards we don't truly need, while he takes only the cards he needs. On the next round, Walt got his own Mistress, while Eric got an Observatory and used it to draw a new kind of noble. Evan built the Academy for 7 more VP a turn and stopped buying green cards, preferring to spend elsewhere. On the final round, Eric bought two dirt-cheap Shepherds and a basket of buildings, but it wasn't enough to come close to Evan, who scooped another orange upgrade to maximize his bonus. Rich got a late Observatory and used it to get to seven nobles himself, while Walt was never able to draw the cards he needed when he was first in line.
Final scores: Evan 122 (7 nobles) Eric 102 (6 nobles) Rich 95 (7 nobles) Walt 82 (6 nobles)
Eric's rating: 9. I enjoy this game even more because Evan has been able to beat us so consistently. Evan has won three 4-player games in a row, so it's clearly not luck. I'm going to keep working to figure out what he's doing and how I can improve my game.
Roll Call: Anton, Dan, Walt, Lisa, Eric, Rich, Paul L., Paul H, Mike.
Walt brought his wife Lisa out to MVGA this week. It was Lisa's birthday, so Walt magnanimously took care of the $3.00 fee for everyone. TICKET
TO RIDE(Anton, Dan, Lisa, Eric, Rich)
Walt and Paul H. were playing a tabletop
baseball game, but there were five others
all ready to start at 7pm. We discussed
our options and decided on Ticket to Ride,
the 2004 German Game of the Year. Lisa
had played 2-player games of Ticket to
Ride with Walt and was interested in
trying it with a fuller lineup. In a
5-player game, a lot of track options can
be taken by other players before it's your
turn to play again.
We started off slowly, as usual, with players filling their
hands up with cards as they waited to see where the action
would start. Lisa began by building between New York and
St. Louis while Anton began his builds in the west. This
drew in other interested parties who didn't want to lose
their options. Eric slapped down the Houston-New Orleans
link, which is often associated with the Miami-Los Angeles
ticket. Rich kept accumulating cards, building sparsely.
Dan began a cross-country route out of New York that competed
with Lisa's. He also tacked on some links in the western
part of the country, and before long he had the longest line
on the board. Anton filled in a lot of sections in the
middle of the board; it became clear that he hadn't drawn
any of the big tickets that provide a focus for track
building, because his builds evinced little interest in
either coast.
Rich finally started laying track, but we pushed the game
to its end before he could use all his cards. Dan was
in the lead at this point, but Eric edged him out for longest
line and the associated 10 VP. As we laid down our tickets,
it was nip and tuck, but Eric won by a single point.
Final scores:
Track Tix Long Total
---- ---- ---- -----
Eric 77 + 31 + 10 = 118
Dan 65 + 52 = 117
Rich 72 + 27 = 99
Anton 60 + 28 = 88
Lisa 50 + 26 = 76
Eric's rating: 8. We enjoy playing Ticket to Ride with gamers
at MVGA, but it's also a hit with non-gamers. My wife and I just introduced another
couple to Ticket to Ride this week and they commented on how easy it would be
to teach it to children.
DAYTONA 500 (Anton, Dan, Lisa, Eric, Rich, Paul L.)
Walt and Paul H. were still battling it out over the APBA boards, but Paul L. arrived while we played Ticket to Ride, making 6. Eric had brought Daytona 500 to MVGA. Daytona 500 is a car racing game with six colored cars. The game is billed as being for 2 to 4 players, with the players bidding for cars (you may wind up with more cars than your opponent if you bid high enough.) Eric learned the game using a variant, however, and he explained the variant rules, which work for 6. The Daytona 500 board displays an oval race track with two turns. The track is made up of little rectangles, each just big enough to hold a single car. It's three rectangles wide in most places, but it tightens up in the turns, with just one normal lane and a passing lane. You can use the passing lane to go around another car, but if you can't make it back to a normal space by the end of your turn, you must stay behind the other car instead of passing.
Each player gets a hand of seven cards. Six cards are dealt to each player at random before each race. Each card has a set of colored numbers. The numbers on most cards run from 1 to 6, but there's one card in each color with a 9 on it; that card is given to the owner of the corresponding car and is not dealt at random. In the variant, you choose a starting player. That player simply picks a car (based on his or her cards) and you go around the table with each player picking a car. The sixth player has no choice and may not get a car that matches his or her cards, but that's less of a handicap as one might think, because your opponents will eventually be forced to move your car for you. The cars are placed at the start and the starting player begins by playing a card face up. Once the card is played, you move the cars that match the numbers on the card, working from top to bottom. You must move each car as far as you can. On the other hand, if you can arrange things so that an opponent's car is blocked when it's time to move it, it may lose some potential movement. This happened to Rich's car going into the very first turn, and Rich complained loudly about the injustice of it all.
In addition to the car selection variant, we play with a few other rule changes and clarifications. First, once you play a card you must use it; you may not pick it up even if you realize that it isn't the one you wanted to play. Second, you may not suggest to another player how to use a card; the player may ask a rules question, but you may not offer to explain how to hurt a third player. And third, we lower the prize for winning from $300,000 to $250,000 to reduce the benefit from getting an early pick and a more desirable car. Rich wasn't the only one who got stuck going into the first turn. There was quite a crowd, and movement was lost, despite the "drafting" rule: when a car moves, any car immediately behind it is "sucked" into the vacated space. Anton came barreling down the back stretch with Rich close behind. In the early part of the race you often play cards that help you, but the random draw guarantees that players hold plenty of cards that help opponents, and you must play a card every turn whether you want to or not. Anton's lead going into the second turn proved insurmountable, and the scores after the first race were Anton $250K, Rich $200K, Eric $150K, Paul L. $100K, Dan $80K, Lisa $50K.
We decided to run one more race so as to finish at the same time as the baseball series. We drafted our cars in reverse order to even out the luck. Rich made it into the turn first this time, but Anton and Eric were hot on his tail again, with Paul L. right in the pack. We were gaining experience this time, and drafting became more common than in the first race. The pack stayed together more closely, and as we came out of the final turn and headed for the finish line, there was pain on every face---we just had to play cards that helped each other, even though we didn't want to! Finally, the climactic moment arrived. It was Anton's turn to play. Rich was one space from the finish line, as was Paul L. Eric was two spaces away, and each of the other three card was three spaces away. Anton had only one card that would get him over, but it put Rich, Eric and Paul L. over first (in that order.) This was the deciding factor in a thrilling race.
Final scores: Rich $450K, Anton $350K, Eric $350K, Paul L. $250K, Dan $160K, Lisa $100K.
Eric's rating: 8. This is a fine 6-player game when played with the variant rules. I've played some other games that use the same basic system and I like Daytona 500 best. The passing lanes and the way they bunch the cars up in the turns give a real-life feel to the game. To me the real challenge is in the tactical use of the cards; that's why I prefer to replace the auction with a draft: pick up your car and get on with it!
ALHAMBRA
(Anton, Lisa, Eric, Rich)
The tabletop baseball series finished. Paul H. went home while Walt joined us to make 7. We split into two groups. One group chose Alhambra from the MVGA game cabinet. This 2003 Game of the Year winner has been popular at MVGA; it's tied for third on our overall popularity list. The club copy is the English language version with brighter colors and green money. The original German version had red, orange and yellow money that was hard to distinguish when your attention flagged, so I like the English version best, even though there are no language issues that affect game play. Lisa and Eric started the game with fists full of small cards while Rich and Anton had only four cards each. Rich started and was able to buy tiles early. We all found exact purchasing options, so that our compounds soon had five or six tiles each. Rich had a big wall started while Eric had several disconnected sections. Anton had few wall tiles but was collecting greens and whites. Lisa bought four purple towers in her first six purchases, giving her a monopoly on purple but few prospects in other colors. Scores at the first scoring: Rich 16, Lisa 8, Eric 7, Anton 3.
In the second third of the game, we extended our compounds. Rich, Anton and Eric competed for red, brown, white and green tiles, and Rich and Eric each got a purple tower to tie for second; it doesn't matter how far behind the leader you are when the scoring card comes up. Rich's wall was now well into the double digits, but his opponents simply could not connect. Scores at the second scoring: Rich 50, Eric 32, Lisa 30, Anton 24.
We had a bit of a lull during the final third of the game; our hands had run down and we took time to restock. There were a number of over-payments on the part of Lisa and Anton, and when we finally ran out of tiles, the auction delivered tiles to Rich, Eric and Lisa, but Lisa had no room to place hers. Eric had built his wall up to 12 and had edged Rich out in purple, brown and white, but it wasn't enough to catch up, given Rich's larger wall and his lead from the second scoring.
Final scores: Rich 120, Eric 111, Anton 78, Lisa 69.
Eric's rating: 8. When you first play Alhambra you think it's a game of luck with no control, but there's more control than you realize. It can still be frustrating when you can't get the tile you want (or even worse, when the tile you have your eye on is bought before your turn by a player who is overpaying for it,) but it's quick and the luck is tolerable in a game of this length.
SAINT PETERSBURG (Walt, Dan, Paul L.)
While 4 of us played Alhambra, the other 3 played Saint Petersburg. Saint Petersburg is already tied with Alhambra on our overall MVGA popularity list, even though it's only been out for three or four months. Dan and Walt have both won recently at MVGA, and they produced a photo finish in this one.
Final scores: Dan 97 (7 nobles), Walt 96 (6), Paul L. 49 (4).
Eric's rating: 9. I continue to enjoy Saint Petersburg. I'm suffering withdrawal symptoms (I haven't played a game of it for two weeks!)
HANSA
(Rich, Lisa, Eric)
Anton had to leave, so the Alhambra players moved on to Hansa, the Baltic Sea trading game from Michael Schacht. Hansa is a quick little game that offers some deceptively hard choices. Lisa hadn't played Hansa before, so we went over the rules and then started. In the initial set-up, Lisa placed market stalls in Danzig, Aalborg and out-of-the-way Lubeck. Eric started in Tonsberg, Stockholm and Kalmar while Rich started in Reval, Aalborg and Kalmar. The initial placements are tricky; you don't want to concentrate so much in one area of the board that you can find the boat far away, but there are several choke points on the board, and all three players had placed their stalls so that they'd never have to sail too far for a sale.
Rich moved first, moving the boat in the west and picking up some goods. Eric picked up some free goods along the northern track and used them to lay additional markets. Lisa picked up the mechanism quickly (it's a bit puzzling your first time) and made some early sales. Rich made some sales next. Eric trailed, but he had spent time preparing for future growth and building up an income source. His first sale was of four orange chips with a total of 10 barrels on them for 14 VP. He repeated this success later on, selling four chips once again and maximizing the efficiency of his market usage. Like most new players, Lisa was reluctant to pay for re-stocking (why not let someone else make the charitable contribution?) This left the board with meager pickings for Rich, who sat to Lisa's left. Rich and Eric did most of the re-stocking, helping Eric, who sat to Rich's left. When I first played Hansa I tried to avoid paying to re-stock, but I now look for favorable opportunities to re-stock. By mid-game Eric had a much bigger pile of sold goods chips than his opponents. Rich and Lisa began to place market stalls to cut into Eric's majorities and increase their city presence, but it was too little too late.
Final scores:
Chip Brls City Total
---- ---- ---- -----
Eric 14 + 30 + 14 = 58
Rich 11 + 25 + 14 = 50
Lisa 8 + 17 + 14 = 39
Eric's rating: 8. People say this game has no build-up; it's all the same. This may be true, but it takes less than an hour so it's not a problem for me. You need to think about which turns will be big turns and which turns will be devoted to saving money for the next turn, and you need to watch those market stalls carefully, especially in the early going.
EUPHRAT
& TIGRIS (Dan, Walt, Paul L., Mike)
Many of the MVGA crew enjoy Tigris and Euphrates, though we haven't played it in quite a while. Mike came in at the end of the Saint Petersburg game, and with 4 players on hand we decided to give it a try. One monument was built early, and the midgame featured several clever conflict plays by Dan and Paul L. Toward the end, Dan went on a monument-building spree and milked the monuments for the points he needed for the win.
Final scores: Dan 8, Mike 7, Walt and Paul L. 5 each.
Eric's rating: 7. I enjoy Tigris and Euphrates when I play it, but it seems I have to re-learn it each time as the finer points slip out of my mind in between plays.
BOGGLE MASTER
(Rich, Lisa)
While we waited for Tigris and Euphrates to finish, Rich and Lisa played one round of Boggle Master. Anton enjoys Boggle Master and often brings his copy to MVGA to practice with while he waits for others to arrive. This week Lisa had borrowed it, so it was a natural choice to fill in a few minutes. Lisa and Rich are both skilled word gamers, but Rich won this round, 36 to 29.
Eric's rating: Never played.
LIARS
DICE (Rich, Walt, Lisa, Eric, Paul L., Mike)
With 6 players now available, we pulled out our MVGA Liar's Dice set. Eric lost a die, Rich lost 2 dice, and then Lisa went out on a few big rounds. Rich was next out, followed by Eric. At this point Paul L., who had been playing a quiet game, had 4 out of the 7 dice that were left. He used this overwhelming advantage skillfully to close out the win, knocking out first Mike and then Walt for the win.
Eric's rating: 7.
POWER
GRID (Rich, Eric, Paul L., Mike)
It was late, but we decided to play one game of Power Grid before we broke up. Power Grid moves more quickly than its predecessor, Funkenschlag, and there are fewer things to think about (you don't have to mess with the crayons and the clear terrain that costs 2 to build into,) but the auction with its tough decisions is still present, fundamentally unchanged. We decided to use the U.S. map, and we drew houses at random to decide which parts of the map would be off limits. We picked the purple and yellow houses, so the northwest and the north central (including Chicago, St. Louis and Knoxville) would be off limits. This augured for a challenging game, since all roads out of the northeast would have to pass through Raleigh. Many groups seem to fall into habits, eliminating the two western U.S. regions for a 4-player game; by varying the terrain you can make each game different. The #04 coal plant was the first to be auctioned. Mike bought it for the hefty price of $9. The #05 hybrid went to Paul L. for slightly less, and Rich then took the #03 oil plant for $5. This left Eric with the option of the #06, #07, #08 or #09 plant at face value. He decided on the #08 coal burner, despite its three-heap fuel requirement. A lot of coal was bought in the initial round, so this proved to be a costly decision. Initial placements were bound to be tricky, given the cramped quarters.
Rich set up shop in Washington, hoping to benefit from the easy northeastern connections. Mike countered with a build in Raleigh, seizing the choke point and pressing Rich closely to limit the benefit he might gain from his northeastern start. Paul L. chose to set his sights on the wide open spaces, starting in Oklahoma City. Eric looked glumly at the remaining options, rued his decision to drop out of the bidding for the cheaper plants, and connected Atlanta and Birmingham. The #08 plant would already put him first in the turn order, and he would be producing power for two cities anyway. The second turn offered a poor selection of plants for Eric. He passed, choosing to live with the #08 for another round rather than bid $10 for the #10. Rich and Paul L. bought plants and connected additional cities, but Mike stayed for another turn at one city, assured that he'd be first up during the following building phase. As the game progressed, Mike proved to be a master of positioning and auctions. He bid enthusiastically for the #25 and then the #26 plant, which power 5 cities each for two oil and two coal, respectively, and which are valuable plants. At the same time, he managed to hang back at the end of the turn order for turn after turn. This assured him priority in the building phase and the cheapest prices on resources. It wasn't clear to his opponents, but Mike was steadily building up a large cash pile for later. Rich decided to specialize in oil plants (as he had specialized in coal when we played Power Grid on June 24.) This put him at a disadvantage relative to Mike, as the resupply table for a 4-player game doesn't provide enough oil for comfort. Paul L. bought the #13 windmill, reducing his costs but setting a pattern of frequent buys that cost him more than he could afford to pay. Eric continued to hang out at the front of the turn order, paying high prices for fuel and never making enough money to compete effectively. Mike did face a challenging moment at the end of Step 1. Mike had only 5 cities connected, and Buffalo was the only city east of Phoenix still open. Mike could have connected a Buffalo, but he would not have been able to force the game to Step 2 without paying $70 to connect Phoenix. This may have led to a delay that would have given his opponents a chance to catch up. Rich decided that the cheap Buffalo connection was too attractive to pass up, however, so he grabbed it for his second city and pushed the game into Step 2.
The 6-player game features difficult connections in Step 2, but the 4-player game imposes weaker constraints. There are two fewer players than in a 6-player game, but only one fewer regions. The only limit on connections was financial, and Mike was rolling in cash. As we ended Step 2 and entered Step 3, there were too many large-capacity plants to allow any resistance, and Mike snapped up one of the 7 capacity plants to bring his total to 17. He then proceeded to connect six cities to end the game. Rich also connected and powered 17, but he couldn't come close to Mike on the tiebreaker, which is money left over. Paul L. made a nice comeback to finish at 15, while Eric was stuck at 13, having chosen to put his chips on the possibility that the game would go an extra round, stocking up on two sets of resources as his opponents limited themselves to just one set.
Final scores: Mike 17 + $58, Rich 17 + $13, Paul L. 15, Eric 13.
Eric's rating: 9. Power Grid packs a lot of game into a reasonable time frame. I'm still thinking about this game: Should I have bid higher for one of the three smaller plants on turn 1? Should I have bought the #09 oil plant instead of the #08 coal plant? Should I have bid Mike up higher for the #25 or #26 plant? How does the building strategy and resource situation vary when the number of players varies? I'm sure we'll be playing Power Grid frequently at MVGA, and I plan to get into my share of the games.
Roll Call: Anton, Bill, Dan, Walt, Eric, Claire, Rich, Paul L., Greg.
WYATT
EARP (Anton, Bill, Dan)
There were just three players at MVGA when
the doors opened well before our usual
starting time of 7pm. We were happy to
see Bill, who was making his first visit
to MVGA since January 1. Dan and Anton
decided to teach Bill how to play Wyatt
Earp, one of our favorites and a good
starter, especially for 3. I don't have
the details of this game, but Bill was
evidently a fast learner, winning against
2 experienced opponents.
Final scores: Bill $29K, Dan $27K, Anton $21K.
Eric's rating: 9.
EXPRESS
(Walt, Eric, Claire, Rich, Greg)
Eric's wife Claire visited MVGA this week. We seem to have started a tradition that both Claire and Walt's wife Lisa come to MVGA once a year, on consecutive weeks in July. Eric and Claire have a wedding anniversary on July 17 and it seems like an appropriate time for a visit. Claire had recently learned Alan Moon's train card game, Express. She was eager to play it with a larger group. All of the others had played it before and were willing to play again. Eric and Claire had only played with the beginners' deck (taking out the wild cards, the "fix" cars, the passenger trains and most of the disasters,) so Rich went over the additional features before we began.
Express is a game of timing and opportunity. You play melds consisting of matching train cars in front of you on the table, with an upside down card in front of each train to serve as a locomotive. You'd like to keep cards in your hand to surprise your opponents and to protect against disasters, but you can keep a maximum of five cards in your hand, and any points held in your hand when an opponent goes out count against you. The first hand was over in a flash as Rich completed a set of trains that included a 5-car train and a 4-car train to go out, gaining the 10-point going-out bonus and putting him into the lead. Eric had melded a set of Auto transports and a few other scoring cards, but the rest of the field were far behind. Scores at the end of the first hand: Rich 22, Eric 15, Claire 5, Greg 2, Walt -2. At this point Walt began muttering darkly, as he is wont to do at times, especially when Rich is in the lead. The second hand took longer, with all 5 players managing substantial melds. Claire got a fistful of "fix" cars and had seven of them on the table at once at one point in the game. The "fix" cars are worth 5 points each (or -5 if they're in your hand at the end.) Greg finally ended it by going out. Thanks to Claire's "fix" cars, it was close at the top.
Final scores: Rich 37, Eric 36, Claire 33, Greg 25, Walt 13.
Eric's rating: 7. This game is just fun to play. Claire and I have been playing a number of 2-player games (she really enjoys train games.) I'm not familiar with all the strategies yet, and I'm sure those will come with time, but it's a nice game even when you're beginning.
RAILROAD
DICE (Anton, Dan, Walt, Paul L.)
Walt purchased a copy of Railroad Dice, an innovative title from a small German company, several months ago. He has been looking for a chance to try it out and tonight was the night. Railroad Dice is a game of uncertain length; it ends when the supply of dice runs out and that is heavily influenced by how the die rolls turn out and the decisions the players make. I've played Railroad Dice using a variant that pays victory points to shareholders other than the director, but this game used the original rules in which only the director gains victory points from a railroad. In this version, your fortunes can crash suddenly if a key directorship is stolen by an opponent, and that's what happened to Walt in this game.
Railroad Dice is a unique game in which players jointly build a rail line across modular terrain represented by a collection of cardboard squares, each containing a 7x7 grid of squares. The line cannot branch, so there are always two ends in play and able to be extended. The game includes a large supply of dice, which serve both as money, as track, and as "action points." Each die has four sides depicting track (two straight and two curved,) one die depicting a share of stock, and one wild side. On your turn, you collect income and then decide how much of that income you wish to convert to action points. Your actions consist of buying stock and building track and stations. If you build a station or extend the track to a new cardboard square, you earn a bonus of two wild dice. There are five railroad companies in the game; they all share a single rail line and distinguish themselves by building stations in advantageous locations along this line. Shares are bought from the bank or (once all 10 shares are owned) from the current director of the company. Only the director earns victory points, which are based on the number and placement of the company's stations. In this game, Walt and Dan were good corporate citizens, founding solid railroad companies, while Paul L. and Anton leaned toward the shadier side of the business, buying out companies founded by others. Walt was especially vulnerable; he seemed to roll nothing but curved track with his dice, which made it difficult for him to buy shares and presented a track-building challenge as well. Anton stole one of Walt's lines, but Paul L. was the true robber baron, focusing on corporate takeovers and riding that strategy to victory.
Final scores: Paul L. 22, Anton 21, Dan 16, Walt 9.
Eric's rating: 7. I'm not sure this game "works," but it's so innovative I've had fun trying to figure it out. We played with a variant in both of my games: the second shareholder in any company received half the VP of the director (rounded down) and so forth for any other shareholders. This takes some of the sting out of a takeover. This variant hasn't been thoroughly playtested, so take it with a grain of salt, but it takes some of the harsh feelings out of the game.
PUERTO RICO (Bill, Eric, Claire, Rich, Greg)
Bill was determined to get a game of Puerto Rico in (I'm not sure he's had a chance to play it again since January) and we were happy to give him a shot. We drew plantations at random for seating order and Bill was selected as first governor, followed by Claire and Eric in the indigo seats and Greg and Rich in the corn seats in that order. Bill started us off by Settling for a Quarry. Claire took Corn, Eric Coffee, Greg Tobacco and Rich Sugar. Claire then Built for a Large Indigo, Eric took a Small Market, Greg a Hospice, Rich a Small Sugar and Bill the other Small Market. Eric Mayored, Greg Prospected, and Rich Produced, gaining two corn while Claire and Greg got one each. The second round saw Claire Settle for her own Quarry, Eric Build a Small Indigo for free, and Rich ship Corn. Bill got Tobacco going in time for the first Trader phase, as Rich sold Sugar to put Rich and Bill ahead in the money race. Rich got Coffee going himself before long, setting a pattern in which he and Bill were rich and the other three players were poor. Claire bought a Factory, with Rich taking the other one, but Claire had too little crop diversity to take full advantage of hers. Rich got a Harbor, Bill took a Wharf, and Eric took the other Harbor, but it was already late in the game and there weren't many shipping points to be gathered. Greg proved to be the corn shipper, with a potential production of four, and he did most of the Crafting. Unfortunately for him, Rich Captained immediately afterward in most cases, so most of Greg's barrels gathered dust in the Large Warehouse he had bought. Eric never scraped the cash together for a Coffee Roaster (they ran out before he ever got one) so Rich had a Coffee monopoly for most of the game, freeing him from many Trading worries. Bill used his cash hoard to get two large buildings late, but the shipping gap was too wide to overcome as Rich won an impressive victory.
Final scores:
VPs Bldgs Bonus Total
----- ----- ----- -----
Rich 28 20 7 55
Bill 11 24 13 48
Eric 21 15 6 42
Greg 15 16 5 36
Claire 16 18 0 34
Eric's rating: 10.
TICKET
TO RIDE (Bill, Eric, Claire, Rich, Greg)
Railroad Dice was proceeding slowly, with careful deliberation (in contravention of our MVGA motto - "play fast, make mistakes.") The 5 Puerto Rico players settled on Ticket to Ride for our next game. Bill had never played before, but he's a rail game whiz, and Ticket to Ride is one of Claire's new favorites. This was an unusual game, with many of us unable to draw the tickets we really wanted. Claire started off building down the east coast; she had the New York - Miami ticket and she needed a lot of 2-train links to hook it up. Greg seemed to have the same ticket (is that possible?) but he veered off when he got to Raleigh and headed for New Orleans and Houston. Bill was a man with a plan as he built west out of New York, headed for an eventual hookup to Los Angeles. Eric kept two initial tickets and drew two more soon thereafter for a total of four.
As the game progressed, Bill filled in his transcontinental run while Eric and Rich butted heads in the middle of the country. Eric had four tickets all concentrated between Denver and Pittsburgh, and he had a lot of track to build. Rich built Winnipeg - Sault St. Marie [shouldn't that be "Sault Ste. Marie"?] and Toronto - Pittsburgh, but Eric nabbed the Sault St. Marie - Toronto link, drawing moans from Rich. ("I hope you have a Sault St. Marie ticket.) As it turned out, Eric did have a Sault St. Marie ticket. Greg's early build of Houston - New Orleans presented a problem for Eric, who had the Los Angeles - Miami ticket. Eric eventually hooked this route up, building the three southern 6-car links with a detour through Little Rock, but the extra builds knocked him out of the longest line competition. Rich had no long tickets and drew more tickets repeatedly, trying to find something useful, but he came up short every time. Not only was he stuck with negative points for tickets, but he lost the turns spent drawing them. The game came down to a two-man finish. Eric was ahead on the board (thanks to his 6-routes,) but Bill made up most of the gap by taking the longest line for 10 points. Both players had four tickets, but Bill had several long ones while Eric had only the one.
Final scores:
Track Tix Long Total
----- ---- ---- -----
Bill 63 + 52 + 10 = 125
Eric 76 + 40 = 116
Claire 68 + 23 = 91
Greg 58 + 28 = 86
Rich 70 - 17 = 53
Eric's rating: 8.
INDUSTRIA
(Dan, Walt, Paul L.)
Most of the group left at this point, but three die-hards stayed on for a final game. Thanks to Walt and Paul L. for providing details for this report. The game started with Paul L. building several resource producing buildings, making several connections in the process. Walt picked up some resource production of his own later on, but made no connections and spurned innovations except for one foray which was aimed mainly at denying points to Paul L. Dan followed a more mixed strategy, collecting bonus tokens but trailing on the scoreboard for most of the game. Toward the end of the game, Paul L. realized that there were no more opportunities for connections on the building side of the board, so he switched over to innovations and piled up additional points there. In the end he got 21 points for connections and won going away. Everyone was rolling in money at the end; were the bids too low or was it just that no one took his own tile?
Final scores: Paul L. 62, Dan 48, Walt 47.
Eric's rating: 7. I've lowered my rating from 8 to 7; I haven't played it since April and I'm feeling no compulsion to get back to it any time soon.
Roll Call: Eric, Rich, Dan, Bill, Mike, Scott
Turnout was light this week as a number of regulars were away. We haven't seen Evan or Dave for a few weeks and we miss them. Scott dropped by and even paid the $3.00, but didn't get into a game. He's the grand poo-bah of the Masonic Lodge, so I guess he figures the money goes to a good cause.
CAN'T STOP (Eric, Rich, Dan, Bill)
At 7pm we had four players on hand, so we
started with a short game so we'd be ready for
new arrivals. Eric had his copy of Can't
Stop, a Sid Sackson dice game, and when we
learned that Bill had never played it, we just
had to teach it to him.
The Can't Stop board contains eleven columns,
corresponding the the eleven possible sums you
can get when you roll two dice. Players move
up the various columns, seeking to win by being
first to reach the top of three columns. On
your turn, you roll four dice and split them
into two pairs in any way you want, computing
the sum of each pair. The game comes with
three white markers, which you use to mark your
progress in three columns during your turn.
You may never progress in more than three
columns in one turn, though you may choose
different columns each turn. For each of your
two sums, you move up in the corresponding
column, marking your progress with the white
markers (if both sums are the same, you move
one marker twice.)
At the start of your turn, you have the flexibility to use any
numbers, but once your white markers are all in play (or if
someone reaches the top of a column and thus ends all further use
of that column) you can only use numbers for which you can advance
a white marker. If you split the dice and can only move one white
marker, that's what you do, but if you can't move either, your turn
is over and you lose all progress you've made that turn.
On the other hand, you may voluntarily stop before you are forced
to stop, and in that case you replace the white markers with
markers of your own color (to record progress you'll never lose)
and hand the white markers to the next player. On your following
turn, if you place a white marker in a column where you already
have a colored marker, you move up from where your colored marker
is, not from the bottom. But it's hard to stop!
Bill was chosen as the first player and soon had white markers in
the 6, 7 and 8 columns. These columns are much taller than the
2 or the 12 column, but the numbers are easier to roll (I believe
the chance of getting at least one 6, 7 or 8 is more than 90%.)
This means you can roll quite a few times before you fail to hit
a roll (and you had better roll quite a few times or you'll never
make it to the top.) Unfortunately, Bill rolled only 5 or 6 times
before he missed. Eric was next up, and he also placed the white
markers in the 6, 7 and 8 columns. Eric also missed after only
5 or 6 rolls.
Rich was up next and got markers in the 2 and 12 columns, with one
in the middle. These numbers are much harder to roll, so Rich
stopped, becoming the first player with permanent progress. Dan
also survived, placing colored markers in the 5, 7 and 8 columns.
Although Dan was out to an early lead, each competitor made
progress, and before long everyone had two columns, so that only
the 3, 5 and 11 columns were still available for white markers.
It's not so easy to roll 3, 5 or 11, and Dan failed on his first
roll; the only sums he could make were columns that were already
out of play. Next Bill failed on his first roll, and Eric and
Rich in turn did the same. Finally Dan rolled the four dice and
got two sums of 5 to top the 5 column and win.
Final scores: Dan 3 (5, 7, 8) Bill 2 (2, 4) Eric 2 (6, 10) Rich
2 (9, 12)
Eric's rating: 9. Can't Stop is a quick "push your luck" game with attractive components (especially in the old Parker Brothers "stop sign" format, which unfortunately is now out of print.) It does take a little while for a beginner to learn the rules, but once you get going it's a lot of fun as players urge their opponents to keep rolling (secretly hoping for a failed roll.)
SAINT PETERSBURG (Eric, Rich, Dan, Bill)
No additional players had come in while
we were playing Can't Stop, but it was early and we knew Mike often arrives late,
so we chose Saint Petersburg for our second game. Bill hadn't played Saint Petersburg,
so we had to teach him the rules. As it turned out, Mike came in just as we were
completing the first turn, and he sat behind Bill and answered questions. Like
many first-timers, Bill was inclined to scoop up some costly buildings early,
and we had to gently encourage him to conserve a little cash for later. Dan started
out with the chair, and the initial worker distribution was reasonably equitable.
Rich was first up for the building phase, but much to Rich's disappointment, all
eight of the available buildings were of the plain vanilla variety. Not one Observatory,
Warehouse, or Pub was in the mix (you have about a 50% chance that at least one
Observatory will show up in the initial 8-card draw.) Rich built a building, as
did Bill, while Eric and Dan saved their cash. Four nobles were turned over next,
including a Mistress of Ceremonies and a Judge. At this point Rich expressed his
disappointment at the consistent bad luck he's had in the Saint Petersburg card
draws because the other two nobles were much less desirable. We pointed out that
Walt says the same thing about the dice he rolls when he plays against Rich's
tabletop baseball team. Bill put the Mistress in his hand, waiting until he had
the funds to build her, but Eric was able to build the Judge right away. With
its payout of $5 + 2VP each turn, the Judge confers a big advantage if you can
get it down early. There's only an 11% chance that a random flop of 4 nobles will
include two cards that are Mistresses and/or Judges, so Eric was fortunate to
get a shot at a Judge (interestingly, Evan had exactly the same good fortune in
our game on July 8.)
As the game proceeded, Rich and Bill built steadily while
keeping enough cash to buy workers as available so as not to fall behind in the
income race. Dan got an Observatory on turn 2 and used it to draw extra workers,
putting him far ahead in the income race but causing him to fall behind on the
VP track as he was not able to draw VP-generating orange cards and was reluctant
to spend on buildings. Eric focused on gaining as many different nobles as he
could, falling behind somewhat in the green card race but making it up to a degree
with orange card income. Late in the game, Rich and Bill got the two Pubs. Eric
got the second Observatory on the last turn and used it to get an extra noble
that served as a base for an upgrade. Dan finally started spending his cash on
a boatload of point generators, but it was too little too late.
Final scores: Eric 107 (8 nobles), Rich 92 (5), Bill 78 (6),
Dan 75 (7).
Eric's rating: 10 (newly upgraded from 9.) I've played this game
regularly since I first got my copy and I'm seeing new things to think about each
time. There's plenty of luck in Saint Petersburg (in this game I got the orange
card I wanted almost every time) but good play will put you in position to benefit
from favorable opportunities more often. There's nothing more frustrating than
to have first crack at a Weapon Master or Builder on turn 2, but to be unable
to take him because your hand is full and you have only a Controller built. The
challenge is avoiding the strong temptation to fill your hand prematurely.
AMUN-RE (Eric, Rich, Dan, Bill, Mike)
Mike had been waiting patiently, so we looked for
a 5-player game. Rich and Eric will be attending the World Boardgaming Championships
in Baltimore next week, and Rich asked that we play Amun-Re, a game he's hoping
to contend in, to serve as a warm-up for him. We agreed to this suggestion. As
we were explaining the rules to Bill (who was learning a lot of new games,) Scott
walked in, all dressed up in his business clothes. We offered to split into two
groups so Scott could play, but he opted to watch for a while and leave without
actually playing a game. Rich often bids high for attractive provinces and wins
in that way, but this game was an exception. Eric often winds up taking the unwanted
provinces for nothing, but he hasn't had much success with the strategy, so he
decided to bid for what he needed. At worst he would be able to lose in a different
and more interesting manner.
The first round provinces were Dakhla, Baharya, Memphis,
Mendes and Sawi. This promised spirited bidding, as Dakhla is a desert that isn't
very attractive in the first round. Mike stepped up to pay 6 for Baharya with
its two free farmers and Eric paid 6 for Memphis with its two free blocks and
general versatility. Dan took Mendes, his hopes pinned on a farmer blitz, Bill
paid 1 for Sawu, and Rich took Dakhla for nothing. The sacrifice to Amun-Re topped
out at the 2 level, keeping Bill in the running with his camel province. On the
second round, competition for provinces was light. Rich took Amarna for 3, Eric
took Damanhur for 3, and Bill took Abydos for 3. Mike took Avaris for nothing,
and Dan took Buto for nothing as well. Eric continued to build pyramids in Memphis,
aiming for the 5VP bonus, while the others spread their efforts around. Mike was
loaded with farmers, thanks to two "free farmer" power cards, but was happy to
see the sacrifice come in at the 2 level, giving him 8 for Avaris.
The third round
was shaped by the bonus cards held by the players. Eric had both "7 cards" bonuses
and bid 10 for Thebes to make it to 7. Dan and Bill bid 6 each for Abu and Edfu,
respectively, while Rich took Berenike (a valuable turn 3 province) for 1 and
Mike got Kharga free. The sacrifice rose to 3 this time, providing income for
the farmer players and VP for the temple-owners. Eric took most pyramids for Memphis
on one side while Rich took most for Amarna on the other.
Old Kingdom scores: Eric 17, Dan 16, Rich 15, Bill 12, Mike 7.
At this point we wiped everything but the pyramids off the map. Memphis was a
rich target with nothing else challenging it, while Damanhur and Thebes were black
holes, back in the condition they started the game in. Rich bid 10 for Memphis
and played his bidding block so that it would take 21 to outbid him. As it turned
out, no one stepped up and Rich got this valuable prize for a song. Mike got Edfu
for 3, Eric and Dan got Kharga and Avaris for 1 each, and Bill took Buto free.
It's at this point in the game that the winners are separated from the losers.
It's typical that the power card draws aren't what you were hoping for. Rich got
only 1 bonus the entire game. Eric got 3 bonuses, all of them the "7 cards" version
(he sold one and got it back again.) Bill seemed to get all the bonuses, and in
fact got more than he could use. Rich couldn't get the "pyramid for 2 bricks"
card while Eric got 8 of them. Eric couldn't get a "free farmer card." Bill and
Dan each got several "sacrifice correction" cards, which are less valuable than
other power cards in most cases. The fifth round brought both pyramid-free provinces
into play. Dan bid 6 for Amarna with a "bidding block," but Eric, faced with poor
options, took it for 15 (probably too much.) Mike took Sawu for 6 (these were
the two provinces with the most pyramids,) Dan took Dakhla for 3, and Rich took
Damanhur for nothing. It had no pyramids, but the two temples made this province
a bargain. Bill got Thebes free as its many cards were outweighed in the bidders'
minds by the lack of construction. The final round saw Eric bidding high again,
for Abydos, the only province that would allow him to cash his bonus. Bill took
Mendes for 3, a stretch given the short time left for farming, as the other provinces
went for nothing: Baharya to Rich, Berenike to Mike and Abu to Dan. Rich used
his multiple sets and the 5 VP for Memphis, together with a bonus and two temples,
to win by a mile. Most cash went to Bill, followed by Rich and Eric, but the gap
was wide enough to eliminate any suspense.
Final scores: Rich 47, Eric 38, Bill 36, Dan 30, Mike 29.
Eric's rating: 5. There's absolutely nothing wrong with Amun-Re,
but whenever I play it, I wish I were playing something else. I'll admit it has
a nice blend of luck and skill with challenging decisions. But for me, they're
not interesting decisions. What can I say? One thing is clear to me: Rich plays
Amun-Re better than the rest of us. My overspending forced him into a different
strategy, but he won convincingly anyway. He'll provide competition for his former
schoolmate at WBC next week.
There is no report for this date.
Roll Call: Eric, John, Rich, Dan, Anton, Joe, Walt, Lisa, Mike, Paul L.
I have no record of the meeting on August 5 (I was away at the World Boardgaming Championships, as were Rich and Evan, and I'm not sure whether anyone kept notes.) I'm happy to say, however, that the MVGA contingent did well, winning championships in Amun-Re and Power Grid and taking part in quite a few other finals. The Power Grid final included three MVGA regulars. Maybe we can bring a fourth player and have an MVGA team in 2005! SAN
JUAN (Eric, John)
Eric and John both arrived at the Masonic hall in Holliston early. John was making his first visit in quite a few years. With two players on hand, Eric taught John the rules to San Juan, the card game "little brother" of Puerto Rico. Both players tried a production strategy. Eric was first Governor and got Tobacco going on his first play while John could only build a second Indigo. This set a pattern for much of the game with Eric producing the more valuable goods until near the end, when John built two Silver Smelters. Eric also built a Chapel and buried five cards under it (a Chapel seems especially useful when you're going for production, since you don't have to worry about that eighth card.) Neither player built a Guild Hall or a City Hall, though Eric did fit a Palace in at the very end.
Final scores: Eric 23 + 5 for the Chapel + 7 for the Palace = 35; John 21.
Eric's rating: 8. San Juan doesn't quite seem like an 8, but it is so easy to set up and teach that I find myself getting it out often.
WYATT
EARP (Rich, Dan, Anton, Joe)
As Eric and John were finishing San Juan, three more players arrived just around 7pm. San Juan was almost finished, so they chose Wyatt Earp, one of our favorite fillers. Just as they were ready to start, Joe arrived. It was Joe's first visit to MVGA, so he didn't have to pay the $3.00. Our motto at MVGA is "play fast, make mistakes" and Joe fits right in (at least as far as the "play fast" part is concerned.) Joe lives nearby and his family was in Texas, so he decided to seek us out. The game was halted after just two hands when Walt and Lisa came in, even though no one had made it to $25K. San Juan had just finished and it was time to regroup for a more substantial set of games. Rich and Dan didn't even hold a shoot-out to break the tie between them.
Final scores: Rich $15K, Dan $15K, Anton $14K, Joe $8K.
Eric's rating: 9. We generally play with out-of-turn photos at MVGA, but don't let that scare you off. We're willing to accommodate visitors.
FUNKENSCHLAG
(Eric, Rich, Joe, Mike, Paul L.)
Joe arrived at MVGA toting Funkenschlag under his arm. Designer Friedemann Friese has come out with a new, streamlined version of Funkenschlag entitled "Power Grid" but Joe wanted to play the original version, which takes longer and imposes decisions that are a bit more painful. We're not easily frightened at MVGA, and Funkenschlag was a favorite in its original version, so we were happy to accommodate Joe's wishes. Rich and Eric had each played four or five games of Power Grid at WBC and were just as happy for a little variety. After a bit of milling about as we decided who would play at which table, we sat down to give it a shot.
In Funkenschlag, like in Power Grid, players take the roles of electrical utility owners. The winner is the player who powers the most cities at the end of the game (after all, it's public service that matters and not money.) Players earn money by selling power and spend it for new power plants, fuel and power line construction. Power lines are built by drawing on the map with markers, just as in Empire Builder and other crayon rails games. The most distinctive feature of the game, however, is a deck of power plant cards. The power plants differ in the type and quantity of fuel they use, the number of cities they power, and the minimum purchase price. The game starts with an auction in which each player buys a power plant. The cheaper plants take more resources and power fewer cities. Players also buy resources and build lines in reverse order corresponding to the number of cities connected and their largest plant, so those with smaller plants get better building opportunities and pay less for fuel. Joe got the lowest numbered plant in the game, the #01 coal burner, though he paid a stiff price for it. Eric got the functionally equivalent #03, and Rich got the #02 oil burner, knowing oil is more expensive early on. In Power Grid the game ends when one player connects fifteen cities, but in Funkenschlag it's twenty cities. This means in most cases you need to trade up several times before you have the power plants you want to end the game with; you can hope to win Power Grid while only buying four plants all game, but it won't work in Funkenschlag. The payoff chart is also less generous in Funkenschlag, so you must watch your money very closely.
We extended our networks city by city while saving money for fuel and the occasional power plant purchase. The power plant market stagnated for several turns as no one bought any of the scrawny plants on display (we did use the rule from Power Grid that says the lowest plant should be discarded after any auction in which no plant is bought.) All of a sudden, the big capacity 6, 7 and 8 plants started to become available and bidding started again in a frenzy. Joe paid $85 for one capacity 7 plant, while Paul L. paid well over $100 for the capacity 10 coal burner. Everyone was feeling bullish, but reality soon set in. There were so many big plants running that the coal and oil supply ran out. Joe and Paul L. both had plants to power 20 cities, but they could not buy fuel because Eric, Rich and Mike were scooping it all up earlier in the turn order. No one wanted to connect another city for fear of sliding to the back of the fuel-buying queue, so we sat at 13 or 14 cities paying huge prices for fuel and gathering money gradually. At this point Joe could see that he had no chance to win (the power plants were all used up so he couldn't think about switching to a more plentiful fuel.) He minimized the size of his loss by connecting 20 cities, knowing he would not win. Mike was the connection leader at this point, so he won with 17 cities. Joe had 20 connected, but he could power only 12 while the fuel crisis lasted.
Final scores: Mike 17, Rich 14 + $136, Eric 14 + $84, Joe 12, Paul L. 10.
Eric's rating: 8. Many of the decisions in Funkenschlag are richer than those in Power Grid. On the other hand, it's easier to "wedge" the game in Funkenschlag, and that's what happened this time. It's not good when a player loses any chance to win and must go through the motions for the rest of the game. This game was wonderful most of the way through and disappointing at the end. I also can do without the crayon aspect of the game; Power Grid handles power line construction more cleanly.
TICKET
TO RIDE (John, Dan, Anton, Walt, Lisa)
We were up to 10 players, so even with Funkenschlag starting we had enough for another 5-player game. Walt and Lisa were eager to play Ticket to Ride, the new Spiel des Jahres winner from Alan Moon. John hadn't played before, but he's a train gamer from way back and was more than willing to learn. This game was no contest as Lisa walloped the men in every phase of the game. She earned the most points for links, the most points for tickets, and carried off the 10-point bonus for longest connected run.
Final scores:
Trk Tix Lng Tot
--- --- --- ---
Lisa 80 40 10 130
Walt 62 32 94
Anton 60 30 90
Dan 48 34 82
John 50 25 75
Eric's rating: 8. Ticket to Ride goes over so well with family and non-gamers that it's easy to forget what an excellent game it is for gamers.
LIARS
DICE (John, Dan, Anton, Walt, Lisa)
Next out of the game closet was Liar's Dice, a quick bluffing game we purchased for MVGA some months ago. Lisa's opponents dealt out some revenge for Ticket to Ride, knocking her out with 11 dice left. John went out next with 9 dice left and Anton with 6. This left Walt as the last one to fall at the hands of Dan, who had 3 dice left at the end.
LIARS
DICE (John, Dan, Anton, Walt, Lisa)
The previous Liar's Dice game went quickly, and with Funkenschlag still smoking along, the players decided to play again immediately. There was plenty of drama in this game. Anton twice made an exact call in the early going, costing each opponent a die. He then challenged the very first bid and was right. Lisa made an exact call with her last die to stay alive. After a back-and-forth struggle, Anton was the first to be eliminated at 8 dice, followed by Dan at 5. Lisa went out at 4 dice, leaving John with 1 and Walt with 2, and Walt used the advantage to win.
Eric's rating: 7.
COLORETTO
(John, Dan, Anton, Walt, Lisa)
Next on the dock was Coloretto, a favorite MVGA filler game. We usually play just one hand, but there was time for two hands this time. John was new to the game, but he picked it up quickly, going out to a lead after the first hand and hanging on for a close win.
Final scores: John 28 + 22 = 50 Walt 21 + 28 = 49 Lisa 19 + 22 = 41 Dan 25 + 14 = 39 Anton 21 + 11 = 32
Eric's rating: 8.
SAINT PETERSBURG (John, Dan, Walt, Lisa)
For the final non-Funkenschlag game the players selected Saint Petersburg. Walt got an early money advantage, whereas Dan was poor at critical stages. Walt and Lisa got Observatories while Dan and John got Pubs. John was stuck with one card in hand at the end for a 5 VP penalty.
Final scores: Walt 85 (8 nobles), Lisa 70 (6), Dan 66 (6), John 53 (4).
Eric's rating: 10.
PUERTO RICO (Eric, Rich, Joe, Mike, Paul L.)
The other players left to go home, but the Funkenschlag group wanted just one more. After some discussion we went to the game closet and pulled Puerto Rico out. Everyone likes to play Puerto Rico! The first round diverged markedly from the typical course. Paul L. was first governor and took Prospector for a doubloon. Mike Built for a Hospice, Rich built a Small Indigo plant, Joe and Eric build Small Markets, and Paul L. built the other Hospice. Rich then Mayored to get Indigo ready to go and Joe took the other Prospector. Eric Settled for a Quarry in the second Corn seat, Paul L. and Mike took populated Corns, Rich took Sugar and Joe took Tobacco. The plantation flop included three Coffee and Mike Settled for a Quarry of his own. Rich took one of the Coffees, Joe took Corn and Eric and Paul L. picked up Indigo. Rich and Joe soon had Sugar and Tobacco running. They were playing consecutively, so the other three were not able to force the goods onto ships. Sales of Sugar and Tobacco paid for Factories for Rich and Joe, and it looked like it would be a rout. Mike and Eric fought back, however, buying Harbors and shipping regularly. Mike got two Captain phases early that paid off 6 or 7 VP each, and Eric got two of his own late in the game (in each one he took Captain and started by placing one barrel on the last space on a ship for 3 VP.) The large buildings went quickly, with Joe getting the Guild Hall, and the game ended on buildings (and would have ended on colonists too.) In the end, Eric had piled up just enough shipping VP to offset Joe's cash advantage.
Final scores:
VPs Bldgs Bonus Total
----- ----- ----- -----
Eric 22 20 5 47
Joe 9 23 13 45
Rich 14 19 9 42
Mike 24 15 0 39
Paul L. 18 14 0 32
Eric's rating: 10. We played the top three MVGA favorites this
week: Puerto Rico, Wyatt Earp and Saint Petersburg.
Roll Call: Eric, Anton, Rich, Evan, Vitas, Dave, Dan
We were happy to welcome Vitas for his first visit to MVGA. Of course, as a first-time visitor, he did not have to pay the $3.00.
SAN
JUAN (Eric, Anton, Rich, Evan)
We started setting San Juan up with 3 players, but Evan came in and we had no trouble adding him to make a 4-player game. Rich was first player and Prospected, as he had no building he wanted to build and wanted another shot at a decent building. Eric then Built a Coffee Roaster, Evan built Sugar, Anton a Gold Mine and Rich passed, still unable to find anything worth building. The next round revealed Rich's plan as he built a Library, doubling all his privileges for the remainder of the game. This gave Anton the chance to build Tobacco and Evan a prefecture while Eric had to sit on his cards. Evan's next build was a Gold Mine. The veins must have been close to the surface as Evan's Gold Mine yielded up a card on its first use and again on its second use. It went on to provide Evan with yet a third card later, but the damage had already been done. It wasn't long before Evan and Eric had Libraries of their own. Meanwhile, Rich built a Chapel. A little later in the game, Rich tried to build another Chapel. We told him he wasn't allowed to build a second Chapel. Rich had forgotten about his Chapel and had buried no cards beneath it. Perhaps we weren't as diligent as we should have been in reminding him when it was time to bury cards. Evan's strategy, though relatively cash poor, involved a Smithy, a Guild Hall and a Palace. This gave him a rich harvest of VPs and a nice victory over a set of richer opponents.
Final scores:
Evan 16 + 10 for the Guild Hall + 6 for the Palace = 32 Rich 18 + 4 for the Chapel + 7 for a City Hall = 29 Eric 20 + 7 for a City Hall = 27 Anton 18 + 8 for a Guild Hall = 26
Eric's rating: 8. One of the enjoyable aspects of San Juan is making do with the cards you draw. One of the irritating aspects is having to make do with the lousy cards you draw...
SAN MARCO
(Eric, Rich, Evan)
Rich nearly always brings a copy of San Marco to MVGA. Rich is a master at San Marco; if his life depended on winning one game, there's a good chance he'd choose San Marco. Eric is trying to learn the game by playing it until he figures it out, and Evan was happy to go along for the ride. San Marco is a game for exactly 3 players (it's not nearly as good for 4) so we were ready to go. Eric started off strongly, accumulating fewer limit points than Rich or Evan during the first part of the game and earning a banishment that proved optimally effective. The scores at this point were Eric 22, Rich 12, Evan 7.
In the second part of the game, Rich and Evan fought back, but Eric held his 10-point lead with the help of another banishment. The scores were Eric 32, Rich 22, Evan 22. Evan had made up some ground as Rich and Eric focused on each other. In the third part of the game, the wheels came off. Rich and Evan had eliminated Eric's lead in two provinces and they played those provinces like pros. On one turn Rich was the divider and Evan was selected as first chooser. The cards included two Doges, which Rich paired up with a hefty pile of limit points. As we hummed "how much is that Doge in the window?" Evan took both Doges and scored them, passing Eric and dragging Rich along past Eric as well. Eric tried to come back with yet another banishment, but this one misfired and he lost by a wide margin.
Final scores: Rich 78, Evan 71, Eric 62.
Eric's rating: 8. If you're learning a game, you can't let losing to Rich frighten you too much. He's pretty good.
KING'S GATE
(Anton, Vitas, Dave, Dan)
Vitas, Dave and Dan had arrived at MVGA, and Vitas brought a copy of King's Gate with him. King's Gate is a relatively abstract tile-laying game in which players attempt to surround various location tiles with their own district tiles in such a way as to win the location tiles. Location tiles provide victory points to the winning players. Some of them also confer special powers. The players observed that it's possible to be severely harmed for reasons out of your control, even when no one is specifically trying to harm you. It's possible that more experienced players can watch out for these situations and avoid them, but it wasn't obvious to this group on our first playing. Anton focused on winning locations that conferred special powers, and he used those powers effectively to win even more locations, extending his lead and providing enough VPs to win.
Final scores: Anton 24, Dave 22, Vitas 18 (3rd place) Dan 18 (4th place)
Eric's rating: Never played.
SAINT PETERSBURG (Eric, Anton, Evan, Dan)
Both games ended at roughly the same time, so we looked for two more games that would accommodate 7 between them. Dan suggested Saint Petersburg, and Rich (who's had enough of Saint Petersburg) was happy to play the other game (whatever it would turn out to be.) We rearranged our groups and 4 of us sat down to Saint Petersburg. Evan has won far more than his share of Saint Petersburg games, so we watched him suspiciously as he pursued his patented "focus on blue and take orange only when it's convenient" strategy. Evan rocketed out to a big lead, and though the other three were collecting more nobles, we wondered whether we had any chance to catch Evan. Eventually, however, the extra cash generated by the nobles started to add up and we erected some buildings of our own. Anton got an early Observatory and used it to good effect to gather additional nobles. When we tallied up the bonuses, Anton's nobles were just enough to edge Evan out for the win.
Final scores: Anton 89 (7 nobles) Evan 87 (3), Dan 81 (8), Eric 77 (7).
Eric's rating: 10. I know that luck is an important factor in Saint Petersburg, but I don't mind. It's quick and it's fun. It also varies widely from game to game. I've seen winning scores in 4-player games range from 40 to 120, but the game can be close at either level.
HANSA
(Rich, Vitas, Dave) The group that wasn't playing Saint Petersburg chose Hansa,
a game of about the same length that plays well with 3. I have no detail on
this game.
Final scores: Rich 55 (37 in goods + 18 in cities) Dave 41 (29 in goods + 12 in cities) Vitas 38 (28 in goods + 10 in cities)
VIVA PAMPLONA!
(Eric, Rich, Evan, Vitas, Dave, Dan)
Anton made his usual early departure, leaving us with 6. Eric ran over to his tub o' games and pulled out Viva Pamplona, a game he had just acquired in a trade. Eric was happy to have traded Amun-Re (a game he doesn't enjoy) for Viva Pamplona, a game he had learned in July and wanted to play again. Viva Pamplona depicts the running of the bulls in the Spanish city of Pamplona. Each player controls three pawns that represent runners, while the bull is controlled by a pack of cards. The bull runs through the streets of Pamplona, heading for the arena, stopping occasionally to go wild. The runners try to be as close to the bull as possible when it goes wild, because proximity to the bull when it goes wild earns you courage points. You don't have full control over your movement, which is governed by two dice (assuring that at least one of your runners will not be able to move each turn.) If you are too far out in front of the bull, you gain no courage points, but it's even worse to trail behind the bull, in which case you lose a courage point for each space a runner is behind. You might think it would be possible to be gored if you are next to the bull when it goes wild, but this isn't the case. The bull harms only your pride. It's another story with your fellow players. Whenever a rival's runners outnumber your own in a space at the end of the rival's turn, you can be shoved forward or back by the superior numbers of your rival. Even worse, you pay the rival courage points when this happens, even though it's a matter of superior numbers---not one of courage.
In this game, the bull came out of the chute and went wild three times in succession. Most of the players were well ahead of the bull by this time (the bull doesn't move when he goes wild, but the runners must move as shown by the dice.) Eric benefited from a series of "wild" die rolls that allowed him to stay close to the bull, opening up a big lead. Rich was particularly distraught about a series of high rolls that soon had him out of sight of El Toro. After going wild three times, the bull took off like a rocket for the arena. We went from trying to hold back to running as fast as we could in his wake. Just after the middle of the race there's a slippery spot where the spectators throw tomatoes (isn't the tomato throw in Bunol, not Pamplona?) and both runners and bull slide backward, but the bull didn't even slow down as he charged past. The bull reached the arena before any of the runners arrived, so we were all assessed penalty points for cowardice. Rich's early lead stood him in good stead at the end as he suffered a smaller penalty than anyone else.
Final scores: Eric 30, Dan 22, Rich 22, Dave 14, Evan 13, Vitas 3.
Eric's rating: 8. I really like this game. It has the feel of the rushing mob, with the unpredictability introduced by that wacky bull. I have a strong tolerance for games with luck in them as long as the mechanics are smooth. I asked the others for their ratings, and they were all over the map: Eric 8, Dan 7, Evan 6, Vitas 5, Rich 4 (but better than Zaubercocktail!) Part of the reason Rich didn't like it may have been his sense of outrage over the idea that I traded Amun-Re (one of Rich's favorite games) for it. Dave liked Viva Pamplona, but couldn't assign a number after only one playing. It's a shame that this particular game was so atypical. Usually the bull runs, then goes wild, then runs some more, then goes wild again, and so forth. In this game the "bull goes wild" cards all came up at once just after we started and he didn't go wild again. Next time it'll be different (though I suspect Rich won't be playing next time.)
UNION
PACIFIC (Eric, Rich, Evan, Vitas, Dave)
Dan left at this point and we chose Union Pacific for our last game. It was an unusual game in that the green line never got off the ground. Eric and Rich started off with the same cards, and Vitas and Dave did the same. Dave put down some black cards and built the black line up to monster size quickly. He took only one Union Pacific share, so it was easier for him to build up shares in other lines. Evan and Rich wound up with 5 UP each compared with 4 each for Vitas and Eric; Vitas and Eric finished 4th and 5th as a result of putting a lot of effort into a losing battle. Eric laid down three red shares and started building the red line, and Evan concentrated in yellow. Dave made a late-game play to steal Eric's majority in red, but he fell just short of Evan. It was a close, tense game all the way through.
Final scores: Evan 112, Rich 110, Dave 107, Vitas 102, Eric 95.
Eric's rating: 8. I'm not very good at this game, but I enjoy it nevertheless. At least I didn't lose this game by waiting too long to play shares!
Roll Call: Eric, Anton, Rich, Bill, Walt, Paul L., Mike, Scott
TICKET
TO RIDE (Eric, Anton, Rich, Bill)
Four of us were ready to go as the clock struck 7pm. We knew more would be coming, so we wanted a quick game to start off with. Bill likes train games, so we chose Ticket to Ride, which Bill learned at MVGA back on July 22 (he won his first game against several experienced opponents.) The game started out with a flurry in the northwest. Bill connected Portland, Seattle and Vancouver, but Eric was shut out of the length-1 Portland - Seattle link. This was a problem for him, because he had tickets for both cities and it's a long way around without that link. Play continued on the west coast as the northeast remained surprisingly rural. Rich built south from Portland to Los Angeles as Anton headed east from Los Angeles through Las Vegas. Bill constructed track in the middle of the map and on the west coast, paralleling Rich's track, but it wasn't clear where he was heading. Eric connected Seattle to Winnipeg and Rich built the two 6-space links east from Seattle. At this point the game started to get odd. Eric built a new unconnected line from Santa Fe to Nashville. Rich built a separate network down the east coast. Anton worked his way toward Atlanta and Bill linked up Los Angeles to El Paso. Before we knew it, Rich was out of trains, and we counted up the scores. Eric connected none of his tickets, earning a stunningly low score. He had the three southeastern ends of his tickets connected, but never hooked them up to the northwestern ends. Bill was also ticket-impaired, though he did take the 10-point bonus for longest line. Rich was the big winner, connecting all his tickets even though he never did connect his western network to his eastern network.
Final scores:
Rich 126 = 77 for track + 49 for tickets Bill 82 = 68 for track + 4 for tickets + 10 for long line Anton 76 = 40 for track + 36 for tickets Eric 32 = 73 for track - 41 for tickets
Eric's rating: 8. This is a nice quick game with plenty of room for planning and tactics.
CTHULHU 500
(Walt, Paul L., Mike, Scott)
Soon after Ticket to Ride started, we had 4 more gamers arrive. Walt had brought some booty back from Gen Con, including a copy of Cthulhu 500, a fantasy car-racing game. Cthulhu 500 bears some resemblance to Formula Motor Racing. It has no track; instead each player is given a vehicle card, and the vehicle cards are placed in a line on the table to show who is leading and the order of the vehicles that follow. Paul L. drove the Satanic Pushcart, Mike The Vehicle Man Was Not Meant to Drive (in Boston, that could be just about anything,) Walt the Big Honkin' Truck, and Scott the Sport Cthutility Vehicle.
In Cthulhu 500, players have hands of action cards of various types which they take turns playing as they seek to pass the vehicles in front of them to gain the lead. Passing attempts are resolved using die rolls, and various modifiers determine whether a passing attempt is successful and whether either vehicle is damaged in the process. Much of the appeal of this game lies in the humorous text on the cards; it sounded as if it was necessary to read each card aloud and appreciate it before resolving any results. The players enjoyed the game, though it dragged a bit toward the end (I believe there may have been some manipulation in an attempt to speed it along.) When the checkered flag came out, Walt was the champ.
Final order of finish: Walt 1st, Scott 2nd, Mike 3rd, Paul L. 4th.
Eric's rating: Never played.
CAN'T STOP
(Eric, Anton, Rich, Bill)
Cthulhu 500 was still bumping along, so the rest of us chose a quick game to carry us over until it finished. Bill had learned Can't Stop on July 29, so we pulled Eric's copy out of his tub o' games. Bill started out with 6, 7 and 9, which are good numbers, but he struck out before long. Anton showed much greater self-control and made it onto the board. Eric decided he liked Anton's result and stopped in time himself. Rich went for the whiff, and Bill followed up with his second straight joy buzzer. Rich continued to swing for the fences (he explained that no one would be able to steal his columns if he never made it onto the board!) Meanwhile, Anton and Eric made steady progress; before long, each had two columns. At this point, Anton ended the game anticlimactically, taking the 9 column by rolling four 9's without even needing to use his third tower.
Final scores: Anton 3 (7, 12, 9) Eric 2 (11, 2) Rich 1 (8) Bill 0
Eric's rating: 9.
LIARS
DICE (Eric, Anton, Rich, Bill)
Cthulhu 500 was still not finished, so we played another filler as we waited. We normally play with more than 4 players, but Liar's Dice works well with 4. Bill lost 2 dice early on a bid of 9 *'s, and Eric lost 2 immediately afterward on a bid of 10 6's. Anton then lost 2 on a bid of 8 6's (the 6's weren't lucky this time.) It seemed that Rich's two-die advantage might be decisive, but we weren't finished. Bill correctly bid 6 4's on the next go-round, costing every other player a die. Anton then lost his last 2 dice on a bid of 3 *'s. The calling players had been quite successful up to this point, but Eric lost 1 die calling a bid of 5 6's and then lost his last die calling a bid of 3 6's as the 6's made a comeback. This left Rich with 4 dice and Bill with 3, so it was still anyone's game. Rich lost one die calling Bill's bid of 4 5's, then another on a bid of 3 6's and a third on a bid of 3 2's. Now Bill was up 3 to 1, but Bill lost one die on a bid of 1 *. At this point Rich bid one 3 and Bill raised it to 2 3's. Rich had a 3 to support his bid, but did Bill have a 3 or was he bluffing? Rich called and Bill revealed two more 3's under his cup; there were actually three 3's out of 3 dice. This put Rich out and gave Bill the victory.
Eric's rating: 7.
NEW ENGLAND RAILS
(Eric, Walt, Anton)
Back on June 10 we played an unpublished prototype with the working title "New England Rails." Based on playtest feedback, Walt had made changes, and it was time to give it another shot. Read the session report on this game from June 10 and make the following changes: (1) The game now has a "timeline" with a definite start and end, and with three eras (marked A, B and C) laid out. Each turn you turn a business face up from the draw pile, and each business is marked with a number (1, 2 or 3) that indicates how many spaces the timeline pawn moves ahead. This provides a game length that is reasonably, but not completely, predictable. (2) The businesses are now separated into an A deck, a B deck and a C deck. The A deck businesses come out in the first era and are mostly focused on farming, with relatively low payouts. The B and C deck businesses come out as the game moves into the later eras. The reduces the risk that one player will get much better businesses than the others. It also provides a stronger historical feel. (3) The crayon rails aspect of the game has been replaced with a system that's similar to what's used in Power Grid. Each player starts the game with a colored house (depot) in his or her starting city. You may add new depots, paying a cost for the new depot plus the cost of track from your closest existing depot to the new one. The focus of the game is on the businesses, so it makes sense to simplify the building rules. We played without the politician cards for this game, because we wanted to test the rules for the timeline, the businesses and the new depots.
Eric started in Portland ME and built to Boston, purchasing a large number of the cheapest and simplest farming operations. Each payout was small, but he faced very low maintenance costs, so his cash flow was safe and predictable. Walt started in Providence RI and built connections to Boston and New York. He also bid for some of the more attractive businesses that are available in era A. This required some loans and cost him more in track and maintenance, but it also generated a larger income. Anton started in Concord NH and built to Boston. Anton too had some of the higher-value businesses, and his income and expenses were both higher than those of Eric or Walt. We played until the end of era A and called the game at that point, as it was time for Anton to go home. We were pleased that the game moved much more quickly than the earlier version; in particular, placing depots takes less time than drawing tracks with a crayon. We did not record scores for this playtest.
Eric's rating: 7. This game has a very solid historical feel. Walt and Greg (Walt's co-designer) have put a lot of research into the businesses. Things moved along at a good pace. We'll have to give it another try soon so we can evaluate the progression from one era to the next. Note from Walter: Thanks to the MVGAers who are willing to sit down to this game - we really appreciate the help and feedback.
PUERTO RICO (Rich, Bill, Paul L., Mike)
Scott had to leave after Cthulhu 500, so while Walt, Eric and Anton were testing New England Rails, the 4 remaining players sat down to Puerto Rico. Bill learned Puerto Rico about eight months ago and he's always eager for a game. This one was very close, but Paul L. proved to be the master, nipping Bill at the end despite Bill's lead in bonuses for 10-point buildings. One thing I've noticed about Bill: he likes building a lot more than he likes shipping!
Final scores:
VP Bldg Bonus Total
-- -- -- ----
Paul L. 22 + 18 + 7 = 47
Bill 14 + 20 + 13 = 47
Mike 17 + 19 + 6 = 42
Rich 26 + 16 = 42
Eric's rating: 10.
ALHAMBRA
(Eric, Rich, Paul L., Mike)
Walt and Bill left at this point along with Anton, leaving us with 4 players for a final game. After some discussion we chose Alhambra, the 2003 German Game of the Year (Spiel des Jahres) and a game that has had strong staying power at MVGA. The game started off with a flurry of purchases by Paul L., who seemed to have just the right change for every tile that came up. Eric also bought several tiles, including the only Tower in the early going, while Rich and Mike struggled to collect the right currency to make the purchases they wanted. Eric took a risk by placing walls freely around the boundary of his compound, limiting his future growth. Rich also got good wall scoring, with the same potential risks. At the first scoring, Eric already had 8 points for walls, which combined with 6 points for Towers and a stray point to put him in the lead. Paul was second with good scores in Gardens and Workshops, while Mike had neither walls nor tiles and trailed behind. Scores at the first scoring: Eric 15, Paul L. 10, Rich 9, Mike 3.
During the second part of the game, Paul L.'s mastery was so strong it was funny (except perhaps for Rich, who sat right after him.) Mike would buy a tile and/or pick up currency, and either Paul would gain an exact buy right away, or he'd see the perfect currency card available to buy one of the tiles, snatching it before Rich had a chance to get it. The only drawbacks for Paul L. were his short wall and the fact that his buys were concentrated in Gardens and Workshops, limiting the points he could score. Meanwhile, Eric maintained his lead in Towers over Mike by a single tile and gained control of the Pavilions. Scores at the second scoring: Eric 52, Paul L. 41, Rich 29, Mike 28.
Paul L.'s magical powers finally came apart in the very last part of the game as Rich finally gained some attractive opportunities. Eric sweated out his tile placements, but in the end he managed to fit each tile he bought into one of the few non-walled spaces, ending the game without ever using his reserve (each of the other players had at least one tile in reserve at the finish.) His ability to survive the wall crisis was the difference as he earned more than 40 points from walls; his wall advantage exceeded his lead over Paul L. in the final scoring.
Final scores: Eric 127, Paul L. 114, Rich 74, Mike 74.
Eric's rating: 8. Alhambra certainly has luck elements, but there are real decisions and it's fun to play.
Roll Call:
There is no report available for this date.
Roll Call: Anton, Paul H., Rich, Dan, Eric, Evan.
HANSA
(Rich, Dan, Eric, Evan)
Anton and Paul H. were already well into an APBA fantasy baseball series by the time the rest of us arrived around 7pm. It was the first game of the NFL season, with the Patriots hosting the Colts, and Eric is a fantasy football fan (his wife Claire is the big football fan in the family, but Eric gave in and got a team of his own after spending seven years as a fantasy football widower.) Eric asked for a game that would take no more than ninety minutes so he could get home in time for the kickoff. We looked at a number of options. Power Grid was rejected as too risky, though we've finished 4-player games in ninety minutes when we were feeling speedy. Eventually we chose Hansa, a game that's been growing on us as we learn that a lot of what looks like luck really isn't.
The game started off to the sound of complaining as Anton let us know that his APBA team was supposed to sweep Paul H.'s team, not split the series! Rich placed markets in the southwest, including a solo in Lübeck. Eric took the northern edge as Evan and Dan concentrated in the south central area. Rich got off to a nice start, selling four or five chips on his first two turns, and Eric collected a lot of money from people who bought chips up north, so that Rich and Eric were well ahead after the first few turns. Dan concentrated on placing markets, especially in the cities where Eric had previously established majorities. Dan seemed to ignore sales; he still had only two chips sold when Rich and Eric were up to seven or eight. His strategy eventually paid off. By the midpoint of the game, Dan had majorities in four or five cities and we couldn't do anything without paying him. Evan struggled throughout the game, not selling enough chips to catch up but not gaining significant market presence either. Dan was able to spend 8 talers on one turn and then 8 again two turns later as the cash just flowed in. This gave him the fuel to mount a comeback, and on the final turn Rich made a sale that put him ahead of Eric by 5 VP (as it turned out,) leaving Eric wondering whether to move the boat west (and perhaps fall short of Rich) or east (giving Dan a shot.) Eric was more aware of the threat from Rich, probably because the two of them had been neck and neck the whole game, so he moved the boat east, scooping up 7 VP. This provided Dan with the opportunity he needed. He had just enough cash to sell 5 VP in chips himself to take the win. Evan finished up, but was left far behind in the final scoring.
Final scores:
Chps Brls City Total
---- ---- ---- -----
Dan 12 23 10 45
Eric 11 22 10 43
Rich 9 18 14 41
Evan 8 13 14 35
Eric's rating:
8. This was an interesting and tense game. At this point Eric left, so no record
is available for the rest of the evening.
Roll Call: Anton, Rich, Evan, Greg, Paul L., Eric, Walt, Paul H., Scott
PARIS PARIS
(Greg, Paul L., Eric)
The Masonic Hall was teeming by our 7pm start time. We had 6 gamers ready to play, and there were 3 more who would be available once they were finished with a Masonic event (several MVGA players belong to the lodge.) We thought about playing a 6-player game (Union Pacific was suggested) but in the end we decided to play two 3-player games. Eric hasn't had a chance to play Paris Paris for a while, so he set the game up and recruited Greg and Paul L. Eric has played the game many times while Greg and Paul L. had each only played it once, but that doesn't matter much with this group of experienced gamers.
Greg focused his efforts on gaining control of the five central stops, since each one has four lines leading out of it and these stops offer the most attractive opportunities for grand tour scoring. He was successful in placing two shops each in Pont Neuf and Pompidou, and although Paul L. and Eric were vigilant, Greg ended the game still holding exclusive control of these stops. Each time one of these cities was involved in a grand tour, Greg got 5 VP - 10 VP for a red grand tour, which scores both. Greg picked on Paul L. a lot in the early going (Paul L. seemed to have shops on stops that Greg wanted to dominate,) so Paul L. earned a 5 VP bonus for most shops in the bag, but the game was no contest.
Final scores: Greg 62, Paul L. 53, Eric 40.
Eric's rating: 8. Paris Paris is a great opener. It plays in 20 minutes and you can expand from 3 players to 4 if another player arrives while you're setting up.
RA (Anton,
Rich, Evan)
Although there's no copy of Ra in the MVGA game locker, both Anton and Eric had brought their copies. Ra has been sadly out of print for some time, but I understand that it's going to be reprinted. Some people complain about the supposed thinness of the theme, but I have no problem with it. There's even a reworked version named Razzia (with fewer tiles) using a cops and robbers theme. Like Paris Paris, Ra is a game that plays quickly and accommodates different numbers of players easily. It's not as quick as Paris Paris, but it packs a more powerful punch. In this game, Evan lagged behind early as he spent his suns on a monument collection to the detriment of almost everything else. He went backward on the scoreboard after the first epoch and was far behind after the second. At the end of the game Evan paid 5 VP to Rich, because Evan had the lowest sun total and Rich had the highest. Evan then collected 44 VP, most of them from monuments, to take the win by a comfortable margin.
Final scores: Evan 54, Rich 46, Anton 38.
Eric's rating: 9.
NEW ENGLAND RAILS
(Greg, Eric, Walt, Paul H.)
The Masonic event was finished, so we were up to 9 participants. Four of us took part in another playtest of New England Rails, a railroad and business game set in New England during the 19th century. We had made changes based on our August 26 playtest, though the changes are getting smaller as we get closer to what we'd like the game to be. The major features of the previous revision were retained. The cost of rail depots was adjusted so that the first depot you build in a turn costs 3, the second costs 6, the third 9, and so forth. You may build any number of depots, but the increasing cost serves as a natural brake on overbuilding. The turn track was redesigned, and the businesses now had colored dots on them to help determine which businesses would disappear as they became obsolete. The "right of way" rule providing a discount for building in your home state was gone, as was the legislative game. These changes were made to speed up and simplify play. In addition, there are two designated starting businesses in each state that allow players to get off to a balanced start.
Based on a random draw, Paul H. began in Providence RI, Walt in Hartford CT, Greg in Montpelier VT and Eric in Augusta ME. To make up for their more remote starting locations, Eric received a free depot in Portland ME and Greg received some extra cash. As the game began, Paul H. built to Boston, and Walt reached Boston soon thereafter. Eric focused more on establishing businesses; he bid for several farming operations that were able to supplement their income by raising sheep, so that he soon had more businesses on the map than his competitors, but at the cost of slower rail expansion. Greg built to Burlington, grabbed the Lake Champlain ferry concession and hooked up to Montreal to provide better markets for his goods. We had to deal with several random events in the early going; the Alberta Clipper (a cold snap) shut businesses down in Vermont, and there was flooding along the Merrimack and lower Connecticut rivers. As higher-earning businesses became available, Paul H. snapped them up, outbidding the rest of us for these potentially lucrative operations, but at the cost of much of his cash. Walt continued to build track, connecting to New York and taking the New York-Boston mail concession. Paul worked his way down into western Massachusetts while Eric used the income from his farms to connect to Boston, build the Grand Tote railroad (which increases lumber and paper income) and seize the White Mountains hotel run. The game moved more slowly than anticipated, as the "1"s came coming up on the cards used to establish the pace.
We finally made it to Era "B" and the die was rolled to see which businesses would be obsolete. Walt was hit hard, as he had four businesses of one color which all disappeared. Everyone else suffered too, but Walt took a fatal blow as a result of his lack of diversification. The second obsolescence roll affected us more evenly, costing everyone a few businesses. At this point we decided to call it a day. The new scoring awards $3 for each depot (even ones you may have spent $6 or $9 for,) which gave Walt and Eric a boost, as they had built the most. Paul had the most valuable businesses, but Eric had the most cash as a result of his successful farming and more numerous concessions. Greg spent most of the game in Vermont and never made it to more lucrative areas of the map, so he was well behind the pack.
Final scores:
Bus $ Dpt Tot
--- --- --- ---
Eric 212 67 60 339
Paul 140 80 45 265
Walt 99 41 63 203
Greg 77 34 39 150
Eric's rating: 7. For the next game we're going to adjust the timing of the turns to move things along and make a tighter game.
GOA (Paul
L., Rich, Scott, Evan)
No record available.
SAVANNAH
CAFE (Greg, Eric, Walt)
The other players were deep in an intense game of Goa (which I have no records for.) Paul H. had to go home, but Eric wanted to try Savannah Cafe, a game he had traded for and just received from Rich (who served as a messenger) that night. Savannah Cafe is a deceptively simple race game. Each player has three animals: a gazelle, a lion and a hippo. The pecking order is not what you might expect: a gazelle is afraid of a lion, but a lion is afraid of a hippo. The hippo is afraid of no one, but when he roars, the lion runs in fear. Each animal has its strengths and weaknesses. The gazelle is fast, but if it's eaten by the lion, it must go back to the start. The lion can eat the gazelle, but if the hippo roars, it can send a lion back up to 8 spaces. The hippo is afraid of nothing and cannot be stopped, but it moves slowly. This leads to several strategies. You can try to have your gazelle sprint to the finish line before any lion can catch it. The problem is that there are only 3 cards that move the gazelle; it spends a lot of time grazing. You can move your lion forward, eating gazelles as it goes, but a few hippo roars will send your lion back. You can focus on hippo movement, but it takes a long time for a hippo to win; another animal may get there first. If your opponents focus on gazelles, you can probably win using your lion. If they focus on lions, you can probably win using your hippo. But if they focus on hippos, you can probably win using your gazelle. It's a game of guessing and reaction. Each player has three cards. Each card activates one animal, and there's an equal mix of animals. What's more, a picture of the animal is printed right on the back of the card so your opponents know what animals you have cards for. The trick is that there are two different cards for each animal. The gazelle can graze or sprint. The lion can strut (slowly) or pounce (which is faster, though less than half as fast as a sprinting gazelle.) The hippo can amble or roar (and it doesn't move when it roars.) The sprint, pounce and roar cards are less common than the graze, strut and amble cards. On your turn, you take a card from the top of the deck. You can see from the back what animal it is. You then have two options. You can look at the card, add it to your three, and then play one to activate your corresponding animal. Alternatively, you can give it to an opponent without looking at it and take any of that opponent's cards in return, after which you may play any of the four cards you now have. When you choose the opponent's card to take, you see the backs of the cards, but you don't see the front until after you've made your choice. This leads to a lot of bluffing and guessing.
This game was a short one. Greg played a sprinting gazelle, and when Eric moved his lion in pursuit, Greg's hippo roared to scare it back. Greg then got a second sprint card to take a huge lead. There was no time to get a lion all the way down the track, so it was only a matter of time before Greg got a third sprint card to win the game with his gazelle.
SAVANNAH
CAFE (Greg, Eric, Walt)
The game was over so quickly that we hadn't gotten a chance to feel out the possibilities. Greg suggested that we play a second game. In this game, Eric pushed his lion forward, but there was no roaring as each of the three players preferred to use the amble cards for their hippos, hoping to take an unstoppable lead in the hippo race. Then Greg and Walt both got gazelle sprint cards. Greg pushed his gazelle ahead the full 9 spaces, but Walt's gazelle hung back so as not to be in front of Eric's lion. Greg's gazelle got a second sprint card, putting it within reach of the finish line, but was unable to draw a third. It doesn't matter how often you graze; it doesn't help you get closer to the finish. Eric was favored with several pounce cards and moved his lion nearer to Greg's gazelle. Greg roared once, pushing Eric's lion back, but Eric got more pounce cards as Walt and Greg focused on hippo movement. Finally Eric managed to play two pounces in a row, eating Greg's gazelle and threatening to win long before the lumbering hippos could catch up. Walt and Greg didn't find the roar they needed, so Eric played one final pounce card to win the game with his lion.
Eric's rating: 8. Almost any plan in this game can be foiled, but you can't foil every plan. The problem is that you don't know exactly what plans your opponents are pursuing, so it's tempting to forget them and focus on your own advancement. Savannah Cafe is a quick game with plenty of thinking. It's also extremely cute (the gazelles, lions and hippos convey the feel of the real-life animals.)
Roll Call: Anton, Eric, Dan, Dave, Walt, Scott.
SAN
JUAN (Anton, Eric)
Anton and Eric both arrived about 15 minutes before our scheduled starting time of 7pm, so they decided to play a quick 2-player game of San Juan while they waited for the others to arrive. Eric got off to an early advantage in the building part of the game. This let him build and fill a Chapel while keeping up with Anton on the table. Both Eric and Anton got one "6" building down, but the only "6" building Anton could get his hands on was a Triumphal Arch, which was only worth 4 VP. Eric got a Palace, which scored 6 in addition to the 3 VP for his Chapel
Final scores: Eric 30, Anton 21.
Eric's rating: 8. It's taken me a little while to warm up to this game, but it's flexible and has staying power.
SAVANNAH
CAFE (Anton, Eric, Dan)
Dan came at 7pm, but there were still only 3. We chose Savannah Cafe as a quick game while we waited for the others to show up. We've played this battle of wits several times since Eric traded for it a month ago. Each player has three animals: a gazelle, a lion and a hippo. The gazelle is very fast, but it can be eaten by the lion and sent back to the start. The lion is reasonably fast, but it can be scared backward by a roaring hippo. The hippo cannot be stopped, but it moves extremely slowly, so it can only win if the other animals are stopped. In this game, the first few gazelles out of the starting gate were eaten, but Dan eventually got two gazelle cards saved up at a time when the lions were pooped. Once he was that far ahead, it was not likely that we would be able to catch him, and indeed, Dan won with his gazelle.
SAVANNAH
CAFE (Anton, Eric, Dan)
Since we were still waiting for the others to arrive, we started a second game of Savannah Cafe. This one went very much like the previous one. Anton leapt out to a big lead with his gazelle and used hippo roars to keep any threatening lions out of range until he could get a third sprint card for his gazelle, which he used to win a gazelle victory. It appears to the novice that Savannah Cafe is a pure luckfest, in which the winner is the player who draws the most gazelle sprint cards, but I suspect this is not the case among more experienced players. One strategy we haven't yet tried is to deliberately graze our gazelles, making it harder for the gazelle in the lead to find the sprint cards in the deck.
Eric's rating: 8. I'm enjoying this game right now. It's not only unusual, but it's extremely cute.
WYATT
EARP (Anton, Eric, Dan)
It was a slow night at MVGA, so after our two games of Savannah Cafe we looked for another good 3-player game. We settled on Wyatt Earp, a perennial MVGA favorite, and one that is conveniently located in our game locker. In the first hand, each player got one big outlaw all to himself. Eric played a Hideout on Dan's big outlaw, hoping to gain a big scoring edge, but the shot failed and the hand ended with us all neck and neck: Dan 10, Anton 9, Eric 9.
The second hand saw another failed Hideout attempt by Eric, this time on Anton. Anton was the clear leader at this point, and the second hand ended with the score Anton 19, Dan 17, Eric 14.
It was almost certain that the third hand would finish the game. The third hand was full of action. Eric jumped out to an early lead with a big outlaw. Anton quickly played two Hideouts on him. The first time Eric used a Wyatt Earp card to fend off the attack, but Eric's Earp failed on Anton's second try. Eric was happy to draw yet another Earp, which he used to remove the Hideout. The hand ended as Eric played a successful Stagecoach Robbery on the big outlaw, giving him a 9-4-4 edge over Anton and Dan and allowing him to scoop up all the money for a thrilling come from behind win.
Final scores: Eric 28, Dan 27, Anton 25.
Eric's rating: 9. There's a great deal of decision-making in Wyatt Earp, despite its easy accessibility and short playing time. It deserves its place as one of our most frequently-played games at MVGA.
SAINT PETERSBURG (Anton, Eric, Dan, Dave)
We were delighted to have Dave back at MVGA again. Work has been busy for Dave and he hasn't made it out for quite some time. We still harbored hopes of more gamers, so we chose Saint Petersburg, a relatively short game. Dan started us off with a first-turn Judge, giving him $5 + 2VP per turn at the bargain price of $16. Of course, Dan had to save wisely to be able to build the Judge, but it's standard practice in our group for the person going first in the noble phase to save at least $18 just in case a good card shows up. Anton got an early Observatory and accumulated nobles doggedly. Dave put less emphasis on nobles, preferring to build buildings for the steady point production. Eric and Dan pursued mixed strategies, but Dan seemed to be a step ahead of Eric at every turn. At the end of the game, Anton had one card left in his hand, costing him a 5VP penalty, but it didn't make much of a difference, as his focus on nobles had already left him far behind.
Final scores: Dan 93 (6 nobles), Eric 83 (6), Dave 73 (5,) Anton 52 (7).
Eric's rating: 10. I'm still having a lot of fun with Saint Petersburg. I even downloaded the BSW client when I heard that Saint Petersburg was available there. Some people have criticized the game, claiming that pursuing nobles full throttle is the only way to win, but I haven't found that to be true at all. On the contrary---you must strike a delicate balance between income, buildings and nobles, taking every opportunity to profit from the upgrades that become available. It's true that an early Mistress of Ceremonies or Judge can be a huge advantage, but I don't mind this amount of luck in a short game.
VIVA PAMPLONA!
(Eric, Dan, Dave, Scott, Walt)
We played Viva Pamplona, the other game Eric got in trade, back on August 19, but Eric wanted Scott and Walt to experience it. The game is designed for up to 6 players (the more, the merrier,) but we had only 5 this week. In Viva Pamplona, players try to keep pace with El Torro as he charges through the streets on the way to the arena. You get courage points for being just in front of the bull (ideally right next to him) when he goes wild, but if you fall behind him, you risk losing points as a result of your cowardice. The last time we played, the bull went wild three times in a row at the start of the game and then ran straight to the arena with no further delay. This game was more typical, in that the bull alternated between running and going wild in a pattern that seemed more random (though in each case the bull's actions were determined by drawing cards randomly from the El Torro deck.) The game featured the usual pushing and shoving as the stronger factions tried to maneuver the weaker ones into spots where they would lose courage points. On the whole, however, the bull moved faster than the runners were able to keep up with, so that only one player finished with more courage points than the 30 he started with. Walt in particular disliked the game, feeling that it was a luck-ridden "pick on your neighbor" exercise (Walt has less tolerance for luck than many of us.)
Final scores: Dave 35, Eric 20, Walt 7, Dan -2, Scott -4.
Player ratings: Eric 8, Dave 7, Dan 6, Scott 5 or 6, Walt 3. Scott explained that 5 or 6 is a pretty good rating on his scale, and that he particularly enjoyed the game because the company was good.
Roll Call: Anton, Rich, Evan, Eric, Walt, Paul H., Scott.
PUERTO RICO (Rich, Anton, Eric, Evan) Four players were fired
up and ready to go when the starter's gun went off at 7pm. We hadn't played
Puerto Rico for some time and we were missing it, so out it came. We drew plantations
as usual to determine the order of play, and Rich was awarded first Indigo,
Anton second Indigo, Eric the coveted first Corn seat, and Evan second Corn.
Rich was sick of missing out on the Small Markets, so he kicked us off by taking
the Builder and a free Small Market. Anton gobbled up the other Small Market
for one doubloon. Eric and Evan both thought for a while before passing on their
first opportunities to build. Anton followed by Settling for a Quarry, giving
Eric the chance to scoop up a second Corn. Evan got a Tobacco and Rich took
Sugar. Anton Settled for a Quarry again when he became governor, and this time
Eric took a Tobacco, giving him the edge over Evan in the Trader phase. Before
long, Eric and Evan had Tobacco going, and Rich chose to Trade his Sugar, letting
Eric trade Tobacco, since Eric had protection against being forced to ship it.
This gave Eric the money lead, and he built a quick Factory as Evan (who had
also been saving) built a harbor behind him. Anton then got the second Factory
as Eric took the second Harbor. Rich tried to stave off the trifecta, taking
the Builder and building a Wharf, but Anton passed up the other Wharf in favor
of a Large Market and Eric happily snagged the Wharf. With Factory, Harbor and
Wharf, Eric shipped like crazy, secure in the knowledge that each opponent had
only one of these three key buildings. Evan fought back with an Office (so he
could sell Tobacco behind Eric) as Rich and Anton produced Coffee and used it
to keep Eric off one boat at least. Anton's huge money machine helped him build
two bonus buildings, and Rich did the same. Evan threw his lot into the shipping
battle, producing loads of Corn and Tobacco, but his lack of a Wharf limited
the success of that strategy.
Final scores:
VPs Bldgs Bonus Total
----- ----- ----- -----
Eric 35 22 8 65
Rich 14 24 11 49
Anton 9 24 15 48
Evan 25 20 0 45
Eric's rating: 10.
SAINT PETERSBURG (Anton, Walt, Paul H.)
Walt and Paul H. arrived as we were finishing Puerto Rico, and rather than playing a 6-player game, we split into two 3's. One contingent wanted to play Saint Petersburg, which works well with 3. This game was remarkable for the relatively low level of noble accumulation, as Walt led with only 5 (and he finished well behind Anton with 4.) Paul H. was stuck with one card in his hand at the end, dragging him back to a last-place finish.
Final scores: Anton 61 (4 nobles,) Walt 41 (5), Paul H. 34 (3).
Eric's rating: 10.
WEB
OF POWER (Rich, Evan, Eric)
The other 3 players found Web of Power in the MVGA game locker. Web of Power is another favorite; it feels like a big game but plays in the time of a filler. Rich started us off by building a cloister in England (an unusual choice.) The action then shifted to the eastern part of the board, Bayern and Franken, and Evan made some nifty moves to grab advisor majorities in several interconnected countries. Unusually for Web of Power, Frankreich remained empty almost up until the end. With experienced players it doesn't pay to open Frankreich until you have the cards to follow up, and no one ever had the cards (we used the Frankreich cards we drew in pairs as wild cards to play in other countries.) Eric got his own advisor network going in the west, but with the building emphasis in the east it wasn't enough to compete with Evan's power base. Evan won by a respectable margin. Oddly (or perhaps not so oddly, given these players) no one scored anything for cloister chains.
Final scores: Evan 57 (24 from advisors) Eric 52 (18), Rich 45 (6).
Eric's rating: 9.
SAVANNAH
CAFE (Rich, Evan, Eric, Scott)
Web of Power finished well before Saint Petersburg, so we added Scott (who had just arrived) and played a quick game of Savannah Cafe. This game had quite a bit of maneuvering as we pushed our hippos halfway down the track and ate several gazelles, but in the end Scott slipped his gazelle past the lion picket line to waltz to a gazelle win.
Eric's rating: 8.
VICTORY
AND HONOR (Rich, Evan, Eric, Walt)
Scott was hungry, so he stepped out for a bite to eat. Anton and Paul H. left early, as they often do, leaving us with 4. Evan had the new Ty Douds card game, Victory & Honor, in his bag, and we decided to try it out. Victory & Honor is a trick-taking game with some nifty twists and a Civil War theme. Victory & Honor is designed as a partnership game, so Eric and Walt teamed up, sitting opposite each other, and Evan and Rich did the same. There are 40 cards in the deck, in four suits of ten cards each. Each player is dealt 10 cards to form a hand which will be used for nine tricks (the 10th card is kept and not played to a trick.) Three tricks are played simultaneously; the tricks are named "left," "center" and "right." Each trick must be in a different suit; the fourth suit is trump. You must follow suit if you can. Rather than going around the table (as in most trick-taking games) you play in an order determined by the "left," "center" and "right" tricks. Thus, if you play a card to your "left" trick, the player on your left plays next. You may not play a card to your "left" trick if the player on your left has already played to all three tricks. This leads to some maneuvering as each side tries to get the last play on a trick.
In this game, Rich and Evan took the more valuable cards, using trump to their advantage on one trick, but they split the cards they won between them. Eric and Walt took less valuable cards, but Eric took none of them, leaving Walt with the entire haul. Because of the multiplicative nature of the scoring, this gave Eric and Walt the victory by a slim margin.
Final scores: Eric & Walt 36, Rich & Evan 35.
Eric's rating: 4. I'm not a big fan of card games, and this was a lot to wrap my head around. I can see that there's plenty to think about, but I wasn't bowled over by my first playing.
EL GRANDE
(Eric, Dan, Dave, Scott, Walt)
El Grande is one of the Great Games of All Time (in my personal opinion.) Every time we play it we say "we should play El Grande more often." Scott returned from getting supper, leaving us with 5 players and enough time for El Grande. We've all played before, though it's been a long time for Scott, so we were up and running quickly. The MVGA group is a tough crowd for El Grande. We tend to be good at cube-influence games, and we don't let anyone get out to a big lead without making a serious effort to pull them back to the pack.
This week's game featured a balanced start (possibly because we were all afraid of being the obvious leader.) It also featured many cubes in the castillo, raising expectations for a tense paradrop phase on Turns 3, 6 and 9. Rich got off to a lead early, but Eric soon passed him by focusing on cards that got a lot of cubes on the board. Walt set himself up to grab the King on Turn 6, playing his "1" card on turn 5, but the Royal Advisor turned up for Turn 6, tearing the heart out of Walt's plan. Evan quietly mounted a comeback, maintaining a lead in his home province of Sevilla that was just a little too wide to be worth challenging, and taking the points for Catalonia after Rich had placed the "poverty" mobile scoreboard there. On Turn 8, Eric played his "1", giving him the King for Turn 9, the final turn, but Rich made some canny choices with an intrigue card, moving some of Eric's cubes from New Castille (Eric's home) into Granada, taking Eric's lead from him in New Castille and giving Eric Evan's lead in Granada. We dialed our paratroopers for the final drop and then counted the scores carefully. In the end, Evan held on for a narrow victory.
Final scores: Evan 89, Eric 86, Rich 83, Walt 69, Scott 67.
Eric's rating: 10.
Roll Call: Anton, Rich, Dan, Paul H., Eric
TICKET
TO RIDE (Anton, Rich, Dan, Paul H., Eric)
October was a tough month for attendance at MVGA. Eric was traveling on business most weeks, and Walt was away a number of times as well. In a small group, members must attend whenever possible if the group is to remain viable. This was the one week in October in which we assembled more than a quorum. Fortunately, we're back in business by now (November 20) as Walt and Eric have finished traveling for a while. We set up Ticket to Ride as our first game. It was a good choice, as we started with 3 players, but had 5 on hand by the time we were ready to start. Ticket to Ride will accommodate 2, 3, 4 or 5 players; it's different with each number, but plays well with all of them.
The action started in the Great Plains states; in fact, the Eastern Seaboard was curiously inactive throughout the game. Eric started with the New York - Los Angeles ticket and two fairly long north-south routes in the middle of the country. Rich had three well-connected routes in the West, but all of them were fairly short. Dan also had some central routes, and he built south through Kansas City, Oklahoma City and Dallas before Eric grabbed the second and last route from Dallas to Houston, which forced Dan to spend much of the game seeking an alternate route to Houston. We were all fighting over the same section of the board, so there was a lot of blocking (it's hard to tell whether it was inadvertent or deliberate---maybe half and half.) Eric connected his three big tickets, using the 6-car Los Angeles - El Paso link as the final piece. Rich took tickets once, kept a fourth ticket, and drove his line toward New England with little opposition. The key decision came on the final turn as Rich deliberated over whether to draw tickets or not. He finally decided not to chance it, and this cost him the game, as the deck was loaded with tickets he could have used.
Final scores:
Track Tix Long Total
----- ----- ----- -----
Eric 76 + 43 = 119
Rich 79 + 39 = 118
Anton 64 + 26 + 10 = 100
Dan 70 + 22 = 92
Paul H. 64 + 22 = 86
Eric's rating: 8. Ticket to Ride works well both for gamers and non-gamers. It's even on sale at mass-market merchandisers!
PUERTO RICO (Anton, Rich, Dan, Paul H., Eric)
No additional players had arrived, so we set up Puerto Rico, which is always a popular option at MVGA. Dan got three quarries early and also profited from a coffee monopoly. He didn't ship much, but he was swimming in so much cash that the game was a foregone conclusion. Paul H. pursued a shipping strategy and piled up a lot of points, but he was poor all game and couldn't buy the buildings he needed to push through to victory. The rest of us pursued strategies that were poor imitations of Dan's.
Final scores:
VPs Bldgs Bonus Total
----- ----- ----- -----
Dan 8 + 26 + 14 = 48
Rich 13 + 20 + 10 = 43
Eric 14 + 22 + 3 = 39
Anton 19 + 16 + 0 = 35
Paul H. 28 + 7 + 0 = 35
Anton and Paul H. were equal on the tiebreaker as well as the score, so they finished in a tie for fourth place.
Eric's rating: 10.
RA (Anton,
Rich, Dan, Eric)
Paul H. had to leave, so the remaining four set up Ra, a unique auction game that has been out of print for a while, but is now scheduled to be reprinted early in 2005. The game was almost comically slow as the sun raced across the sky and "killers" spoiled the more attractive lots. We were wondering for a while whether anyone would finish with more than the 10 VP he started with, but Rich displayed admirable patience in the third and final epoch, got a beautiful lot cheap, and passed Dan, who had gotten a little more in the first epoch.
Final scores: Rich 36, Dan 33, Anton 18, Eric 18.
Eric's rating: 9.
SAINT PETERSBURG (Rich, Dan, Eric)
Anton left at this point, taking us down to 3. We discussed options, and Dan suggested Saint Petersburg. Rich has some concerns about Saint Petersburg, feeling that the game often plays you instead of vice-versa, but he hadn't played it for a while and was willing to participate in a quick game as a closer for the night. Some people claim that nobles are the only path to victory in Saint Petersburg, but we haven't found that to be true once the players have some experience. Dan got an early Observatory and used it to take some useful cards, but it ran his early cash down. Eric got the other Observatory in the final round and pulled one additional noble type with it, but it wasn't enough. Rich downplayed nobles and built up a stream of income that he used to invest in buildings and building upgrades. This plan worked like a charm, giving Rich the win in a close game.
Final scores: Rich 97 (6 nobles) Eric 94 (7), Dan 91 (8).
Eric's rating: 10.
Roll Call: Anton, Paul H., Rich, Walt
I didn't attend MVGA on October 28, but those who did asked me to list the scores for two games that were played.
OASIS
(Anton, Paul H., Rich, Walt)
Final scores: Rich 114, Paul H. 112, Walt 93, Anton 83.
Eric's rating: 8. It's true that the game sometimes feels as though it's playing you rather than vice-versa, but it works very well and has a measure of drama.
PUERTO RICO (Anton, Paul H., Walt)
VPs Bldgs Bonus Total
----- ----- ----- -----
Anton 37 19 6 62
Paul H. 20 20 14 54
Walt 20 23 10 53
Eric's rating: 10.
Roll Call: Dan, Rich, Anton, Paul H., Dave, Doug, Walt, Eric.
We were delighted to see Doug, who visited MVGA for the very first time (and did not have to pay the $3.00.) Doug had arranged to buy three games from Eric and came to Holliston to pick them up. We hope we'll see him again some time soon.
RA (Dan,
Rich, Anton)
I have only the final scores for this game.
Final scores: Rich 50, Dan 47, Anton 32.
Eric's rating: 9.
POWER
GRID (Dan, Rich, Anton, Paul H.)
We haven't played Power Grid at MVGA for a while, but it's now back at the top of the list. This particular game was close; two players finished with 17 cities, so the winner was determined by cash. Rich ended with $20 more than Anton. Everyone knows that it's generally to your advantage in Power Grid to be low in the turn order. This gives you first shot at buying raw Materials and building cities, and it lets you wait until the end of the auction, possibly getting a prime power plant for list price. At the end of the game, however, it can help to be high in the turn order. This lets you see how many cities your opponents connect and adjust your play accordingly.
Final scores: Rich 17, Anton 17, Paul H. 16, Dan 15.
Eric's rating: 9.
SAINT PETERSBURG (Dave, Doug)
Dave and Doug arrived as Power Grid was underway. They played a nail-biter of a 2-player game of Saint Petersburg. The nobles were split evenly, 8 for each player, and the final score was close as well.
Final scores: Dave 149 (8 nobles) Doug 143 (8).
Eric's rating: 10. It's only recently that I've begun playing Saint Petersburg much with 2 players, and it's a fine 2-player game (though it's a lot different with 2.)
SAN MARCO
(Rich, Dave, Doug)
Anton and Paul left MVGA at this point, but Walt and Eric arrived to replace them, leaving us with 6 players. We decided to play two 3-player games rather than try to fit everyone into a 6-player game. Rich comes to MVGA almost every week with his copy of San Marco, and Dave and Doug were happy to play as well. Rich is a superb San Marco player, but Dave has given him all he can handle from time to time. Doug was an unknown quantity at MVGA, although he had played before a long time ago. This game was competitive all the way through, as each player tried to put one opponent in situations where the best move was to attack the third player. Toward the end, Doug got a perfect roll on a banishment to put the game out of reach. We have to be extremely impressed when a first-timer arri