Session Reports: 2005

Games that MVGA owns are titled in red. Most of our session reports are provided by Eric Brosius. Thanks for your hard work, Eric!

2005

6 January 13 January 20 January 27 January
3 February 10 February 17 February 24 February
3 March 10 March 17 March 24 March 31 March
7 April 14 April Gathering 2005 (coming soon) 21 April 28 April

January 6, 2005

Snow cancelled this week's MVGA.

January 13, 2005

No report available.

January 20, 2005

Roll Call: Anton, Greg, Paul H., Rich, Walt, Eric, Dan, Bill.

GOLDBRÄU (Paul H., Rich, Walt, Dan)

We had a brand-spanking-new copy of Goldbräu at MVGA this week, and we were eager to give it a spin. Goldbräu is a game in which players purchase shares in beer gardens and breweries, vying to make the largest, frothiest profit margins. None of us had played before, so we chose 4 likely suspects and went over the rules carefully before we started in. In the early stages, the players didn't pay too much attention to the purchase of breweries, but this was a costly omission, as a brewery can skim off up to half the profit of a beer garden it has a contract with, and this can be a substantial amount for a healthy fermenticultural enterprise.

Various options are available to the players, but it's not clear which one is best in your first game. The uncertainty is magnified by the fact that players choose their play options each "day" simultaneously, and by the fact that it's usually better to be the only one taking an option than to share it with an opponent (like in Basari.) Dan found himself continually in poor position as a result of the seating order (I assume he was competing with the player on his right for control of beer gardens and breweries; we recognize this issue from games like Union Pacific that present the same problem.) Paul H. and Rich navigated the winding path to riches more effectively than the others. The game ended in an exact tie, as the rules don't seem to specify a tie-breaking procedure.

Final scores: Paul H. 99, Rich 99, Dan 75, Walt 63.

Eric's rating: I've never played Goldbrau. However, Paul H. rated it a 5, Rich a 7.5, Dan a 7 and Walt a 6.

RA (Anton, Greg, Eric)

With 7 players at MVGA, 4 of them playing Goldbräu, we needed a 3-player game for the others. Greg suggested Ra, an auction game that's an MVGA favorite. Anton had brought his copy of Ra to MVGA, so we were all set. There's no copy in the MVGA game locker; Ra is out of print or I'm sure we'd have purchased one by now. We'll be ready with our money when the reprint comes out later this year. Greg hadn't played for a while, but it all came back to him quickly as we reviewed the scoring for the various kinds of tiles. Greg started out with a bang in the first epoch, buying everything in sight regardless of what suns he was getting for the second epoch.

His spendthrift ways paid off as the sun set quickly toward the end, leaving Anton and Eric far behind. Greg scored 24 points in the first epoch with a set of four civilizations, the only pharaoh for a cheap 5 points, a gold tile, five floods and one Nile. Anton had a few points and Eric broke even, scoring 2 for an unused god tile and losing 2 by tying for fewest pharaohs with Anton. We turned over our tiles for the second epoch and saw that the tables were sure to turn. Eric had the 13, 12 and 10 in his set, Anton had mid-range tiles, and Greg had the 1, 2 and 3. Greg's ability to hold his lead would depend on his ability to snatch decent sized sets of tiles with his measly suns. It didn't turn out well as Eric used his powerhouse sun set to recover a lot of ground, gaining the lead in pharaohs, building a monument set and picking up his own civilization set.

In the third epoch Greg again had small suns, while Eric and Anton shared the larger ones. Greg did a better job of sniping this time, re-taking the pharaoh lead while Eric and Anton worked on monuments and collected civilizations. Eric got 5 points from Anton for suns at the end and we knew it would be close as we counted the scores.

Final scores: Eric 46, Greg 45, Anton 39.

Eric's rating: 9. People say Ra is dominated by luck. If that's really true, how did Tom Dunning win the Ra tournament in two successive years at the World Boardgaming Championships? Both years Tom bested a field of more than 100 opponents to win.

TRANSAMERICA (Anton, Greg, Eric)

The Goldbräu players were just finishing the rules explanation as we finished with Ra, so we knew we'd need another 3-player game or two. Eric suggested TransAmerica, a game he's been playing on Brettspielwelt. Anton asked whether the game has more than luck to it, and Eric assured the other two that, based on what he's seen on BSW, skill makes a big difference. TransAmerica is short and works well with any number, so we set it up and started off.

In the first round, Eric connected his fifth city and found Anton was off by only one. Greg was 5 tracks away from connecting. Scores after Round 1: Eric 13, Anton 12, Greg 8. Anton connected on the second round, but in connecting from Los Angeles, Greg's west coast city, to his fifth city, Sacramento, Anton built through San Francisco, which was Eric's fifth city. This meant neither Anton nor Eric would lose points, and Greg lost just 2, as he was also close to finishing. Round 3 was also nip and tuck, but Eric slipped in ahead of the others. Scores after Round 2: Eric 13, Anton 12, Greg 6. Scores after Round 3: Eric 13, Anton 10, Greg 5. The final round was a blowout. Greg and Anton started in the west, but Eric started in the middle of the country. Eric connected his red and orange cities, New Orleans and Jacksonville, before joining up with the other two lines to grab Helena, his blue city, and his green city. Unfortunately for Greg and Anton, their orange and blue cities were Washington/Bismarck and New York/Chicago, all in areas that hadn't seen rail development. Both of them needed 13 to connect their networks, so the game ended in a hurry.

Final scores: Eric 13, Anton 0, Greg 0.

Eric's rating: 7. The key to TransAmerica is obviously getting your opponents to build track you need while not building track they need. The geography adds an element of uncertainty and randomness. It's sometimes in your best interest to play a cat and mouse game, refusing to hook up to other players' track, but at other times you need to hook up if you want to avoid a crisis. The trick, which I'm still learning, is to know what to do when.

DIE FUGGER (Anton, Greg, Eric)

Goldbräu was rolling along, but we had room for another short 3-player game before it finished. Eric dug a little card game out of his tub o' games. Die Fugger is a simple game of market manipulation. Players lay down cards which will score at the end of each round, and the number of cards laid down for each commodity determines how the prices of the commodities will change (and thus how many points each player will receive for the commodities laid down.) Commodities for which many cards are played will rise in price, leading to a bandwagon effect as players attempt to pile into commodities that seem popular. You must be careful, though: if you drive the price up too far there will be a crash and the commodity value will drop to 1. It can be a long way up from 1.

In the first round, Eric and Anton buried one card each for points at the end of the game. They also played merchant cards which would provide additional cards at the end of the round. Greg focused on playing commodities to the table. The round ends when one of the commodities has 5 cards showing; in the first round the price of this commodity is sure to crash because the price goes up by 5 from 5 to 10, and any commodity whose price exceeds 9 crashes. The 2nd and 3rd place commodities rise in price, each by the number of cards showing, and the 4th and 5th place commodities each drop in price by 1. The 3-player variant has an extra card dealt to the table each time a player lays down a commodity; this adds uncertainty in a way that isn't present in the 4-player game. When the fifth blue card came up, one color was in second and the other three were tied for 3rd, so that they all went up in price. Greg took the lead because of the extra cards he had played. Score after Round 1: Greg 25, Eric 18, Anton 17. The second round saw all commodities crash except for blue, which had crashed in the previous round. This meant the only decent way to profit was through blue cards, and Anton led in this category as Eric sold one card for only 1 point. Each of us buried a card for the end of the game in this round; it wasn't much of a sacrifice given the low prices. Score after Round 2: Greg 29, Anton 27, Eric 19. The scores stayed remarkably close over the next few rounds, as we tried to avoid anyone getting too much of an advantage. No cards can be buried after Round 2, so we knew Greg would have to overcome a 1-card handicap. Buried cards count double, so an endgame card can be worth up to 18 points. Score after Round 7: Anton 94, Greg 87, Eric 86. The game ends when one player reaches 100 or more, and Greg did it with a bang, scoring 16 while Anton and Eric were seemingly still sorting their hands. Score after Round 8 (and final): Greg 103, Anton 95, Eric 92. When one player has reached 100 at the end of a hand, the buried cards are turned up and scored at double value, using the prices in effect at the end of the last round. Greg's single card had just crashed in price, leaving him with a score of 2 after doubling. Anton had one card worth 5 and another worth 2, or 14 after doubling. Eric had two cards of the same color, worth 5 each, or 20 after doubling.

Final scores: Eric 112, Anton 109, Greg 105.

Eric's rating: 7. There are real choices in Die Fugger, but I tend to play tactically; I'd rate the game higher if I saw more strategy in it. The close scores in this game are typical; among thoughtful players, everyone will be in it until the ends.

MODERN ART (Anton, Greg, Rich, Dan)

We haven't played Modern Art, a Eurogame classic, at MVGA for a long while, but someone brought a copy this week and we brought it back to life. I have only the order of finish for this game, with rough estimates of the points each player scored.

Final scores: Rich ~450, Greg ~425, Dan ~350, Anton ~345.

Eric's rating: 6. I realize this rating is heresy, but I have no idea what to do in this game. So many other gamers rave about it that I'm willing to try it more to see what I'm missing.

POWER GRID (Paul H., Walt, Eric)

Walt let it slip that he had never played a game of Power Grid, the power plant management game by green-haired Friedemann Friese. It's amazing that Walt managed to go this long without playing Power Grid (we played it eight times at MVGA during 2004, even though we didn't receive our copy until May.) Walt speaks German fluently, so we had to play on the Germany map (the board is 2-sided.) We chose the three southern areas to play on. The connections are fairly expensive, unlike up in the northwest near Essen, though there are two pairs of double cities, each pair effectively at zero distance. Although Walt had never played Power Grid, he had many games of Funkenschlag under his belt, so it didn't take long to explain the differences.

We started off with the initial power plant auction. Paul put the #05 hybrid up for auction. Walt bid $6 and got it for that price. Paul then bought the #03 oil burner for $3, leaving Eric with the rare opportunity to take the #04 coal plant at list price. Paul put two cities down in Leipzig and Halle, reasoning that although he could power only one city, he might as well grab the other one cheaply. Eric used the same reasoning to take Frankfurt and Wiesbaden, and Walt took Mannheim and Stuttgart. We powered our plants to earn $22 each, no doubt disappointing citizens in three cities where power lines had been newly installed, but no juice was available! In the second round, no one bought a plant, so that the #06 trash burner was thrown out of the game. This didn't halt the capital expenditures, though. Walt bought a third city in Wurzburg, starting the process of walling off Bavaria, Eric saved his money, and Paul crept out to Erfurt. In the subsequent auction phase, Eric took the #10 coal plant for $17 as Walt took the #13 windmill and Paul the #07 oil plant. The new plants coming off the stack were uniformly small and inefficient, so we cruised through the next few rounds buying only in a desultory manner. When the plants are poor, city connection tends to lag, and there's a chance that Step 3 will arrive before or soon after Step 2. We faced an odd trade-off; Paul had the best plants, but he was locked into the Saxony/Thuringia area and faced high costs to build out. Walt had the smallest plants, including some wind power, so although he had lots of room to build, it wasn't necessarily to his advantage to do so. Eric was in the middle, with plants that were better than Walt's but not as good as Paul's, and with a smaller jumping cost than Paul to break through Walt's wall. Paul broke up the logjam, as he couldn't afford to sit at 4 cities any longer. Unfortunately, he made the move to Step 2 just after Eric had grabbed the #20 coal-burner, making city connection a lot more lucrative.

Eric had a load of coal plants and stashed away a large supply for the future as we moved into Step 3. The high-capacity #31 and #36 coal plants were now available, but Eric would be first in the fuel-buying phase, so neither Walt nor Paul could be sure of the availability of fuel. They took trash and uranium plants, and Eric took the #40 oil plant which came up, banking on the depressed price of oil (we hadn't seen many oil plants.) On the next turn, Walt and Paul again upgraded plants, but Walt only brought his capacity to 15 as Paul was stuck at 11. Eric had been saving his money and, going first in the building phase, was able to connect 6 more cities to reach 17, ending the game. Paul stayed at 11, since he couldn't power more than that, while Walt built to 15, maxing out his capacity.

Final scores: Eric 16 cities, Walt 15, Paul H. 11.

Eric's rating: 9. There's luck in the power plant draw. The aim in Power Grid is to play in such a way that your chance of getting lucky is maximized. For the second time in 2005, we finished a 3-player Power Grid game in 75 minutes. This abbreviated playing time makes it a lot easier to put up with the games in which you don't get the plants you were hoping for.

SAN JUAN (Greg, Rich, Dan, Bill)

Bill showed up as Modern Art and Power Grid were underway. Bill is an occasional member who comes when his cribbage group isn't meeting. Anton had to leave when the Modern Art game was over, but Bill replaced him in a quick game of San Juan. All I have is the final scores, but Bill came out on top despite his late arrival.

Final scores: Bill 39, Dan 35, Rich 32, Greg 18.

Eric's rating: 8.

PUERTO RICO (Greg, Paul H., Rich, Walt)

Eric, Dan and Bill left at this point, but there were still 4 players eager for more action. Paul usually has to leave at 10, but he didn't have work in the morning and was determined to take full advantage of the extra time. This game had a lot of shipping and little trading. Walt used an early tobacco operation to finance a factory and a harbor and ran away with the game (not an easy thing to do with this group.) He capped it off with a Customs House and finished the game before anyone else could grab a large building.

Final scores:

 
        VPs  Bldgs Bonus Total
       ----- ----- ----- ----- 
Walt     23    16    5    44    
Rich     21    14    0    35 
Greg     17    11    0    28 
Paul H.  12    12    0    24    

Eric's rating: 10.

BALLOON CUP (Greg, Walt)

Rich and Paul went home, but Greg and Walt stayed on to play two games of Balloon Cup, a game Greg learned a few months ago and wanted to try again.

Final scores, Game 1: Walt 3, Greg 2
Final scores, Game 2: Walt 3, Greg 2

January 27, 2005

Roll Call: Eric, Rich, Dan, Walt, Mike

SAN JUAN (Eric, Rich)

Eric and Rich arrived at the Masonic Hall in Holliston roughly on time, but we were the only two in attendance. No one had said anything about being away, so we waited a while for more. No one showed up for some time, so we decided it was time for a 2-player game. Rich pulled Balloon Cup and San Juan out of the game locker and Eric opted for San Juan. Although San Juan works for 2, 3 or 4 players, it's a fine 2-player game. Eric was first governor. We used the variant in which the governor is dealt 5 cards, the next player 6, and so on (if there are more than 2.) You must discard down to 4 before you start, but the players who come later in the seating order get more options to choose from.

Eric looked at his 4 cards and chose the prospector, as he had nothing worth building. Rich then built a Coffee Roaster as Eric, still not happy with his selection, built a Poor House. Eric chose councilor in an attempt to find a card he wanted to build and the first round was over. Rich was the new governor and he crafted, taking advantage of his new Coffee Roaster. Eric prospected for yet another card, and Rich traded, gaining 3 new cards while Eric had to settle for 1. In 2-player San Juan, a player with an advantage in production generally has to do all the work of crafting and trading because the opponent can stick to building, prospecting and counciling. This makes a production strategy less effective than in a 4-player game, where you can count on somebody being forced to help you as all but one role is taken each round. In the next round Eric built a Quarry as Rich built a Smithy. This established the theme of the game as Eric focused on purple cards while Rich focused on production buildings. This wasn't necessarily by choice; you must play the hand you're dealt. At this point the game was fairly even. Eric as the builder of purple buildings would gain benefits from each one he built, while Rich would not be able to use more than a few production buildings. On the other hand, Rich could score a lot more points from the Guild Hall (2 per production building) than Eric could from the City Hall (1 per purple building.) Rich ran into trouble when he was unable to draw the right production buildings, especially Silver, which are worth 5 points to a Guild Hall strategy. He built a Prefecture to keep Eric from counciling, and later a Quarry but every purple building represented a diversion from his preferred line of play. Parity was broken when Eric managed to play a Library, doubling the privilege for one role each round (in the 2-player game you use 3 roles each round, with the governor getting the first and third role.) Rich did draw and build the Guild Hall, and Eric the City Hall, but Rich never did get another 6-value bonus building, while Eric got and built the Triumphal Arch and the Palace to win by a substantial margin.

Final scores: Eric 45 = 20 + 10 (City Hall) + 6 (Triumphal Arch) + 9 (Palace); Rich 35 = 23 + 12 (Guild Hall)

Eric's rating: 8. I've just recently started appreciating San Juan as a 2-player game.

ALHAMBRA (Eric, Rich, Dan)

Dan arrived partway through San Juan, and we let him choose the next game. He offered several options, and we chose Alhambra, a game we've enjoyed at MVGA since it first came out. The club owns a copy of the English version by Uberplay. There's no language issue with respect to the components, but the English version has a green currency (the German version used red which was easy to confuse with orange) and the box insert in the English version was actually designed to hold the components. We began by drawing our initial hands of money cards. You draw cards until you reach a total of 21, hoping to get as many cards as you can to provide maximum flexibility. Dan got three big cards, Eric got three big cards, and Rich got five or six cards (he started with a pair of 1's.) With small cards, Rich would have to play carefully to avoid being wall-bound (the cheap tiles have lots of walls.) He was up to the challenge.

Rich laid 5 tiles while Dan had only laid 2 and Eric 1, but he arranged the 5 tiles in such a way that he was able to break out of his initial clump of walled tiles and begin a new unwalled section. Rich's initial set of 5 purchases included two towers, the most valuable building type, and he kept the lead in towers throughout the game, overpaying if necessary to prevent his opponents from challenging his dominance. At the first scoring we all had multiple small segments, but Rich's 6 points for towers put him in the lead. Scores after the first scoring round: Rich 15, Dan 8, Eric 6. Soon after the first scoring, Rich managed to connect two sections of wall to create one large, lucrative wall. Eric had built up a large stash of yellow money, but it seemed every tile that could be bought with yellow money was a garden. Gardens are valuable, but Eric wound up buying and placing seven gardens during the course of the game, outstripping his opponents by a wide margin. Eric spent so much on gardens that he couldn't afford to keep up in other colors. One thing you need to learn in Alhambra is when enough is enough. Scores after the second scoring round: Rich 63, Dan 48, Eric 31. There were only a few tiles left in the bag when the second scoring was completed. When the bag ran out, Eric won all three of the final auctions, but it wasn't nearly enough to close the gap.

Final scores: Rich 150, Dan 128, Eric 94.

Eric's rating: 8. Alhambra is fun because it's fun to put those tiles together as you try to create a long wall while leaving room for expansion. This game is by no means driven by luck. As with any game, if the players play with equal skill the result comes down to luck, but there's plenty of scope for skillful play.

POWER GRID (Eric, Rich, Dan, Walt, Mike)

Walt and Mike arrived just as Alhambra was ending. We were especially happy to see Mike, because he hadn't been to MVGA since August. We still think of Mike as a regular, and we missed him while he was away. We questioned Mike to find out whether he had been playing video games instead of coming to MVGA, and we urged him to return to the light side. Five has been a great number for boardgaming ever since El Grande came out in 1995. We discussed options and pulled five possible 5-player games out of the locker: El Grande, Puerto Rico, Power Grid, Princes of Florence and Oasis. We went through them one by one and settled on Power Grid. Walt had just learned it the previous week and was eager to play it again. Mike's a whiz who has won Power Grid (or its predecessor, Funkenschlag) multiple times at MVGA.

We decided to play on the German map again, and we eliminated the northeastern region, Brandenburg. Rich started the auctions by putting the #04 coal burner up for auction and buying it for $7, a relatively low price for this desirable plant. Dan then took the #05 hybrid, also for $7. Eric got the #07 oil burner, Walt the #09 oil burner, and Mike the #10 coal burner, all for list price. Rich started in the Rhineland region with its cheap cities, and he built Essen and Dortmund (though he could power only one,) hoping to discourage opponents from building in the same area. Dan built up north in Hamburg, Eric in Frankfurt and Wiesbaden, Walt in Erfurt and Halle, and Mike (hoping to blockade the south) in Wurzburg and Mannheim. The Round 2 auction was tense. Mike took the #13 windmill, dropping the #23 nuclear plant into the current market and putting the #25 coal plant (a highly desirable plant) into the on deck circle in the future market. We all wanted someone else to buy a plant so the #25 would drop to us. Eric bid Walt up on the #23, but Walt got it for $27. The replacement was the #16 oil plant, so the #25 would have to wait a turn. Eric put the #16 up and got it for list as Rich and Dan licked their chops over the #25. Unfortunately, the new plant was the #18, which wasn't what Rich and Dan were looking for. Dan bought the #06 trash plan for list, and Rich took the #08 coal plant. At this point we had the #04, #05, #08 and #10 plants all burning coal, so the price of coal was soaring. Dan connected Kiel, Rich Munster (blowing the #03 away) and Eric Fulda, but Walt and Mike saved their money, as neither could power any additional cities.

Round 3 started with Eric buying the #18 windmill for list price. Everyone was hoping for bigger game, but the #11 nuclear didn't fill the bill! Rich, Walt and Mike passed, but Dan decided to take the #11, raising his capacity to four cities. He built Flensburg for three cities, Rich passed, Mike built Saarbrucken to cut Eric off, Walt built Leipzig, and Eric built Kassel. Eric led in cities for most of the game, gaining incremental additional income while keeping fuel costs low by specializing in oil plants (which his opponents didn't compete for) and windmills. The drawback to Eric's strategy was that he was unable to gain access to the best plants in the auctions, but at this point he had enough power for 7 cities, compared to 4 cities for Walt and Dan and 3 cities for Rich and Mike. In the next round, Eric and Walt passed, but Mike just had to get a better plant, so he took the #15 coal plant for list price. Rich and Dan gladly let him have it, and the #25 finally dropped into the current market. Dan let Rich have it for $28, taking the #26 oil burner (with its more plentiful fuel supply) for list. Rich built two cities, Osnabruck and Dusseldorf, to reach five. Dan built Bremen, Mike built Nurnberg to finish the blockade, and Walt built Hannover to avoid being blocked in. Eric then jumped behind Rich to Duisburg for his fifth city. It looks like a long way from Kassel to Duisburg, but the build only cost $32. Rich and Dan were now the leaders, as they owned the only endgame plants, but Eric with his cash hoard was still dangerous. Plant selection turned dismal again in Round 5. Walt took the #24 trash plant and Mike the #29 hybrid (powering 4 cities for one fuel, not 3---the card is misprinted,) but the capacity-six plants hovered tantalizingly in the future market. We connected only two cities as we began to jockey for position for Step 2. Mike took Stuttgart and Dan took Wilhelmshaven, and we all powered five except Walt, who hadn't yet connected five cities. The capacity-six plants finally went on sale, drawing spirited bidding. Rich was first up, taking the #31 coal plant for nearly $50 after a bidding war with Dan. Dan then outlasted Eric for the #30 trash plant, and Eric got the #32 oil plant, extending his specialization in oil. This round Eric kicked the game into Step 2 by building Aachen and Koln. Round 7 saw another power plant drought. Eric cut his fuel costs by taking the #27 windmill replacing a capacity-3 oil plant (the #16) with another capacity-3 plant, but everyone else saved their money. Now that two players could build into each city, there was a connection flurry. Mike grabbed Wiesbaden, Frankfurt and Fulda for 8, Dan took Osnabruck and Munster for 7, Walt took Bremen and Cuxhaven, and Eric took Essen, Dortmund and Dusseldorf for 10 as Rich passed, confident of the first built next time.

The Round 8 auction was the most spirited of the game. Eric started by putting the #35 oil plant up for auction. This plant powers five cities for one oil, and Rich was determined not to let Eric get it. Rich finally took it for $51. Eric then put the #34 nuclear plant up, but Walt took it for a price above $40. The #20 coal plant was next to appear. It takes three coal, but powers five cities. Dan got that one for $40. At this point Dan and Rich both had plants to power 16 cities, giving them an unassailable capacity edge. The game ends at 15 cities, so all they needed to do was build to 15, a task they could certainly accomplish by Round 9. Eric passed, and Mike, seeing nothing attractive, also passed. Rich connected four new cities, Dan two and Walt one. Mike only had power for eight, so he passed, happy to take the best position in the turn order. Eric counted his money carefully and then connected five cities to end the game. Eric could power 11 of his 15 cities, just nipping past Rich, who could power 16 but only connected to 10. This is an example of a game that ended during Step 2, before the Step 3 card was turned over. We checked the power plant deck and found that the Step 3 card was the very next card to appear; if the game had gone on to Round 9, we would have had six plants in the current market.

Final scores: Eric 11 cities, Rich 10, Dan 9, Walt 9, Mike 8. Eric's rating: 9. There are a lot of ways to lose a game of Power Grid. You can fail to buy big enough plants (this almost happened to me here; I ended the game with two small windmills.) You can fail to connect enough cities. You can be unable to buy the fuel you need (this is most often a problem with coal.) If you spend too much in any area, you'll run out of money in another area, so it's important to maintain a balance.

WYATT EARP (Rich, Dan, Walt, Mike)

Eric left at this point, but a game of Wyatt Earp was just starting. I have no report for this game.

From Dan:

The final scores for Earp (in 3 rounds) were: Dan 26, Walt 25, Mike not far behind, Rich not far behind Mike.

I can't give you an exciting play by play, but there were a few highlights:

• Belle Starr successfully robbed 3 banks in round 2. (Walt played 3 Belle Stars; Mike and Dan played one each. Walt successfully robbed a bank with Belle, bringing his point count to 8 and threatening to take the entire reward. Mike and Dan each repeated the feat, to retain a share of the reward!) We all agreed she was some bank-robbin' woman.
• At the end of the 3rd round, with Walt apparently a bit ahead, Dan held 3 (matching) cards for an (unplayed) outlaw and one other. Dan took a chance and played the 3 cards (so the round would end after his discard) hoping to draw the photo (MVGA plays that photo cards may be played out of turn by another player, when the first set of cards for an outlaw are played). The photo indeed fell, ensuring that the reward would be collected, and yielding $2 for Dan - just enough for the win.

February 3, 2005

Roll Call: Paul H., Eric, Dan, Paul L.

COLORETTO (Paul H., Eric, Dan, Paul L.)

We were pleased to see Paul L. at MVGA, as we hadn't seen him since December 16. Eric had ordered a copy of Coloretto for Dan as part of a recent shipment, and we decided to start with this filler game as we waited to see who else would show up. Paul L. hadn't played Coloretto before, so we went over the rules before we started. On each round of the game, each player gets a stack of 1 to 3 cards. If you take small stacks you can focus on what you want, but it's hard to build up a large score. If you hold out for larger stacks, you may be forced to take cards that cost you penalties.

In this game, Dan and Paul L. tried to get small stacks. They both took 1-card stacks from time to time because the card was in the color they most wanted. Eric took the opposite approach, grabbing 3-card stacks in various colors. He got five of the "+2" cards, but had two or more cards in five different colors. Eric was hoping to get blue cards by waiting, but generally got stuck with other colors. Paul H. played an in-between game. This yielded a lot more cards than Dan or Paul L., but a more concentrated collection than Eric. In the end, although Dan and Paul L. each got a 6-card suit, Paul H.'s 5-card, 4-card and 3-card suits won out. Paul had a few other cards, but the negatives were offset by two +2 cards.

Final scores: Paul H. 31, Dan 29, Paul L. 29, Eric 21.

Eric's rating: 8. Coloretto plays quickly and offers some interesting decisions.

FOR SALE (Paul H., Eric, Dan, Paul L.)

We were still hoping for more people to arrive, so we needed a second quick game. Eric suggested For Sale, a game he had bought used (but oddly enough, still in the shrink wrap!) A game of For Sale is over almost before you know it: first there's a set of auctions in which you bid chips to get buildings, and then there's a set of auctions in which you offer buildings to get checks. Bidding for buildings goes around and around the table. On your turn you must either add a chip or drop out and take the worst remaining building, paying all the chips you have bid thus far. This can make for tough choices: do you drop out and take the #3 building, a relative hovel, or do you raise again and hope someone else drops out, giving you the #11? We bid eagerly, using up almost all our chips. Dan got the #20 building, the most valuable in the game, but he spent so many chips that he was also forced to take some poor buildings. In the second phase, we each started with five buildings. There were five auction rounds. In each round, five random checks (with values from $0 to $20) were dealt face up. Each of us then chose a building from our hand and played it simultaneously. The person who played the highest valued building got first choice of the checks, and so forth, with the worst building getting the smallest check. The key in this stage of the game is to guess how strongly your opponents will bid each round; you can then either outbid them or (if they're bidding high) expend your worst building and save your better ones for later. Dan proved the master during this phase, cruising to a fairly comfortable win.

Final scores: Dan $58, Paul H. $54, Paul L. $53, Eric $43.

Eric's rating: 8. For Sale is a real game that can be played in 20 minutes. When it's over, you can think about what you could have done better (with my score in this game, I obviously could have done better.) I went into the second phase with four buildings: #17, #16, #11, and #10. I would have expected to score well with these buildings, but I got pasted in the auctions.

SEAFARERS OF CATAN (Paul H., Eric, Dan, Paul L.)

It was looking as though there would be only 4 of us for the evening, so it was time to pick a longer game. We've always liked Settlers at MVGA, but it's often pushed to the side by all the new games that are available. We were surprised that Paul L. had only played Settlers a few times, quite a long time ago, and we reviewed the rules with him before we started. We decided to play the "Through the Desert" scenario, with one big continent, three small islands off to the "south" (compass directions aren't given so we'll assume the picture in the scenario book is oriented in the usual way) and a portion of the big island separated from the rest by a strip of desert. Dan won the last game of Seafarers we played at MVGA, so we knew we'd have to keep a close eye on him as the game went on.

Paul H. and Eric placed their settlements near the southeastern coast, aiming for quick access to the islands and their victory points. Paul L. started in the middle of the big island, with no practical access to the coast, but easy access to the desert crossing. Dan started on the west coast, placing towns near a 2:1 sheep port and a 2:1 grain port. Some of the resources were hard to come by, and this was aggravated by the placement of the robber, which always seemed to be near Eric and Paul H. Eric sailed to the gold island, which pays a resource of your choice when a '10' is rolled, while Paul H. sailed to the larger island. Paul L. floundered at first, building roads in spots that did not allow him to build a settlement. He got the needed cards together for a settlement, but even with three roads on the board, he couldn't build. This put him in a hole he couldn't get out of. Dan took a different tack, building up settlements and then cities near grain and sheep hexes to fuel his 2:1 trading strategy. Dan was soon out-producing his opponents, and it looked like he might be hard to stop.

Dan is one of the cleverest traders I've ever seen. He was offering deals like "I'll trade you the resource you need as long as you promise to give me one resource of my choice back later in the game whenever I ask for it." Dan's sales pitches didn't always meet with acceptance, but he pulled ahead steadily. Paul H. kept building ships, and then snaked roads around the small island to gain longest road for 2 points. He made it to 11 VP, one short of victory. Eric had 9 VP and two soldiers on the table, so that one more soldier would give him 11, and he was close to another settlement or city. Before they could cash in, however, Dan built roads and boats to extend his chain to 12, edging out Paul H., taking the Longest Road card, and winning another impressive victory.

Final scores: Dan 12, Paul H. 9, Eric 9, Paul L. 7. Eric's rating: 8. I'm not crazy about Cities & Knights with its extra complexity, and I don't care at all for the 5- and 6-player expansions, but I'll play 4-player Settlers or Seafarers any time.

OLTREMARE (Paul H., Eric, Dan, Paul L.)

Paul L. owns a copy of the original edition of OltreMare. He brought it out to MVGA on December 16 and we enjoyed our first playing. Eric asked to play it again. Dan and Paul H. hadn't played it before, but were happy to give it a shot. OltreMare is a game that allows a variety of strategies. You can spend freely to gain valuable cards, or you can play a stingier game and accept the lower rewards. Since money counts toward victory, the question you must ask is whether you're gaining more than you're losing whenever you spend money. Dan was the free spender in this game, often buying several cards for $3 each, while Eric bought few, preferring to gain new cards by playing cards with market stands on them. Eric and Paul L. started right next to each other in the southwest corner and were never able to gain more than a few tokens. Paul H., on the other hand, played the token game like a pro, ending with 6 or 7 tokens, compared with 4 for Dan and 3 for Eric and Paul L. Dan traded freely, aiming to win the victory points for trading most often on other players' turns.

After playing Settlers, a game in which people prefer to trade on their own turns, it was easy to appreciate the way OltreMare makes it worthwhile to trade on your opponents' turns. Of course, Dan had to fund the trading with extra buys. Dan went most of the game without putting cards into his pirate stack (partly because he bought it down, and partly because he had the token that protects against pirates,) but in the end he started to fill it up and ended with as many cards as anyone. Eric's frugality paid off in the end. Because he didn't need as much hand capacity, he was able to play cards that allowed more card plays. This led to more played cards than his opponents were able to achieve (even though the individual lots were worth less.)

Final scores:

Eric:   22 cash + 36 for  9 batches of goods - 6 for pirates + 1 for tokens +  6 for trading = 59
Dan:     1 cash + 39 for  5 batches of goods - 6 for pirates + 3 for tokens + 12 for trading = 49 
Paul L:  7 cash + 34 for  5 batches of goods - 5 for pirates + 1 for tokens +  4 for trading = 41 
Paul H: 15 cash + 20 for 13 batches of goods - 4 for pirates + 6 for tokens +  4 for trading = 41 

Eric's rating: 8. I enjoyed my second playing as much as I enjoyed my first. The game feels somewhat similar to Bohnanza, but you don't have to worry about keeping your hand in order, and the additional things to think about make the game interesting.

CIRCUS FLOHCATI (Paul H., Eric, Paul L.)

Dan had to leave, but Paul L. suggested that the 3 of us who were left play Circus Flohcati as a closer before we called it a night. Circus Flohcati is the English (really language-independent) version of the original Zirkus Flohcati. Paul L. explained that there are 10 colors, each with cards numbered 0 through 7. There are also a few special action cards. On your turn, you have the opportunity to take a card. If you don't like the ones on offer, you may turn over a new card from the top of the deck, but if you get one that's the same color as one already on the table, you lose your turn (and the new card is discarded.) Early in the game we were a little too picky, but as we saw Paul L. start scooping up small cards to make triplets, we followed along. Paul H. played a triplet of 7's and another of 5's; this can be costly if you can't replace those cards with reasonably high cards of those colors, but Paul H. was using the "bird in the hand" approach. At the end, Paul H. had the most triples, but Eric got a gala and the most points for cards left in his hand to win.

Final scores:

Eric:		40 for triples + 43 for hand + 10 for gala = 93
Paul L.:	50 for triples + 25 for hand               = 75 
Paul H.:	60 for triples +  9 for hand               = 69

Eric's rating: 6.

February 10, 2005

Roll call: Roll call: Walt, Paul H., Eric, Dan, Rich

LEAPFROG (Walt, Paul H., Eric, Dan, Rich)

Attendance was light at exactly 7pm, probably as a result of the snow that had just started to fall, but we had five regulars by quarter past. The live steam group was using the downstairs hall (as they do most Tuesday nights in the winter,) so we met in the back room upstairs. Walt suggested that we start with Leapfrog, a game that comes packed in a VCR tape box. I suppose DVDs have arrived in such a big way that the leftover VCR tape boxes are starting to pile up. Inside the box are six beautiful colored frogs, with a set of six chips (numbered 1 to 6) in each color. There are also six tadpoles (glass beads) as well as a lily pad and a frying pan (gulp!)

Final scores: Walt 12* = 13 Paul 11* = 12 Eric 7** = 12 Dan 6** = 11 Neutral 11 Rich eaten.

LEAPFROG (Walt, Paul H., Eric, Dan, Rich)

The first game took only about 15 minutes, so we decided to play a second game. Each of us thought his frog was fast enough, skillful enough, and brave enough to win (except Paul, who declared that he was so bewildered he'd play at random like the neutral frog.) Rich continued his dominance, steering his frog to a first-place finish, just as he had done in the first race of the previous game. Paul's random strategy worked well, leaving him in second, but the neutral frog fell back to the rear, restoring our faith in human effort. The scores at this point were Rich 6, Paul 5, Dan 4, Eric 3*, Walt 2*, Neutral 1*.

Final scores: Eric 13* = 14 Rich 13 Neutral 8** = 13 Dan 12 Walt 6** = 11 Paul eaten.

Eric's rating: 5. This game moves along nicely, and would work well with children. The tadpoles provide extra interest, since you can offset two poor scores with a pair of tadpoles, but as these games show, it's not easy to win (that third tadpole is hard to get.)

FAIRY TALE (Walt, Paul H., Eric, Dan, Rich)

For our next game, Eric asked whether people were willing to try fairy tale, a card game he had just received in an order that week. It wasn't a good time for this game, as Rich and Walt were yearning for a game with more substance, and the explanation was cut short part way through as everyone wanted to just play and get it over with. In Fairy Tale you "draft" and play sets of cards, hoping to score the most points at the game's end. There are four drafting rounds, each followed by a round of card play. All scoring is done after the fourth round of card play. For each round of drafting, each player is dealt a hand of five cards, looks at them, selects one to keep, and passes the others to a neighbor (the left-hand neighbor in rounds 1 and 3 and the right-hand neighbor in rounds 2 and 4.) Each player then picks up the four cards received, selects another to keep, and passes the others on. This continues until each player has five cards (the last of the five is passed all alone and you have no choice but to keep it.) In the subsequent card play round, you play three of your five cards and discard the two you didn't play. Each player chooses a card, and the cards are simultaneously played face down to the table. The cards are then turned face up and (for cards that have effects when played) the effects are applied. Cards with effects either turn cards face down or turn cards that were previously face down face up again. This is done three times, with each player choosing any hand card each time, and the two unplayed cards are discarded.

After four drafting and card play rounds, each player has twelve cards on the table, some of which may be face down. The face down cards are discarded and the remainder are scored. The scoring is somewhat complicated (the complexity is about the same as the scoring in Ra) and the value of a card to one player may be very different than the value to another player, depending on the cards already played or still available to play. The cards come in four suits: Dragons, Fairies, Holy Empire and Shadow. The first three are equivalent to each other, but the Shadow cards are different, often harming the other suits. The cards also come in three types: characters, buildings and stories. In this game, Rich, Walt and Paul groaned loudly throughout, but Dan racked up a lot of points by focusing on stories. Dan enjoyed the game and said he'd play it again, but Eric and Dan will have to find other people to play it with if they want to play at MVGA.

Final scores: Dan 43, Walt 34, Eric 34, Rich 33, Paul 30.

Eric's rating: 7. I played this game three more times with my wife and my son. Both of them enjoyed it and said they'd like to play it again. I believe the game is a lot better with 3, since you have a chance to see a card you pass come back to you (as long as no one else takes it.) I've also heard that it's excellent as a 4-player partnership game, with players sitting opposite each other adding their scores together.

POWER GRID (Walt, Paul H., Eric, Dan, Rich)

After three light games, it was time for a meatier game. We still had just 5 players, as no one else had arrived, but we're fortunate to have a large selection of 5-player games to choose from. At first we decided to play El Grande with one of the expansions (we play El Grande fairly often, but never seem to get the expansions into play) but postponed that plan after we realized that we had left the English versions of the expansions at home. Instead we chose Power Grid, despite some grumbling about the frequency with which Eric has won Power Grid recently. This is a pretty tough group; would Eric win again, or would someone else come to the fore? We played on the US map, with the Southeast region left out of the game. This meant that the Northeast, with its cheap connections, was by far the most lucrative area on the board, at least for the early game.

Rich started us off by putting the sought-after #04 plant up, and Eric took it for $6. We had been bidding the #04 up to $8 or $9, but we've eased off a bit recently, because the early builder seems to get locked into a crowded area so often. Rich then put the #03 up, and Dan took it for $4. Rich then took the #08 for list price, Walt took the #06 trash plant, and Paul grabbed the #10. With three plants swallowing coal, it was clear that the price was headed higher. Dan started in Minneapolis, Eric in Pittsburgh, and Walt in St. Louis. Rich then placed two houses in Kansas City and Omaha (squeezing Walt,) and Paul started out on the West Coast with San Diego and Los Angeles. Walt complained about Rich's start, but Rich explained that Walt had to move east toward Eric anyway, so that Rich's starting position didn't matter to Walt. In the second round, Paul was first at the auction table, and he took the #07 (the only plant that would power two cities.) We let him have it at list price. The #15 dropped into the current market, and Rich put it up for auction. Bidding was spirited, and Eric finally got it for $25. Rich and Walt then passed, but Dan took a small nuclear plant, the #17, for list price. Dan built to Chicago, Eric to Detroit (blocking Dan,) and Walt connected to Cincinnati and Memphis, even though he could only power one city. Rich and Paul didn't build, so Walt was first up for the next set of auctions. The #21 plant had dropped down when Dan built the #17, and its 4-city capacity attracted spirited bidding before Rich bought it for $26. Walt then got the #24 trash plant for list price, continuing his fascination with trash as a fuel. Dan passed, and Eric thought for some time before taking the #29, a hybrid powering 4 cities for just one oil or coal (there's a typo on the card, which indicates that the #29 powers only 3 cities, but the designer has indicated that it powers 4.) Paul took advantage of Eric's purchase, buying the #31 coal plant, which powers 6 cities. Paul now had a 10-city capacity, though it would take him some time to pay for the associated connections. Heavy expenditures on plants limited our building, but Rich managed to grab two more cities to take the lead at 4. In Round 4 there was one large-capacity plant on offer: the #30, which powers 6 cities for 3 trash. Dan won the auction, which ended sooner than it might have because we were short of cash. Dan would be paying high prices for his trash with Walt buying to feed his #24. The replacement plant was unattractive, so the rest of us passed. In the building phase, Rich went to 6 cities, killing the #05 plant and dropping the #28 nuclear plant into the current market. Rich was well ahead in cash as a result of his frugal plant buying and his lead in cities connected, so Rich took the #28 without feeling more than a small pinch in his pocketbook. In the subsequent building phase, Eric connected his seventh city (he got all seven Northeast cities, a real savings,) which meant that we'd be able to make a second connection in each city in the following round. Rich connected his seventh city as well. As it turned out, Eric created more opportunity for others than for himself by pushing us into Phase 2; he would have been better off to stop at 6 cities.

Round 6 didn't offer a good choice of plants. The #23 nuclear plant was the best on offer, but the #32 oil plant hovered in the future market, ready to drop. Eric put the #23 up for auction, and the others were thrilled to let him waste his money on this mediocre plant, giving them access to the more valuable plants. Rich was especially happy, since his cash wad allowed him to take the #32 for only a few dollars more than list price. The replacement was the #22, a disappointing plant that Walt was nonetheless willing to take to expand his capacity. At this point, Rich had capacity for 14 cities (and built to 8,) Paul for 10 cities (and built to 8,) Eric for 10 cities (and built to 8,) Dan for 9 cities (and built to 7,) and Walt for only 7 cities (and built to 6.) Rich's extra plant capacity would give him the game if he could connect 15 cities to end it before the rest of us caught up.

Two valuable plants became available in Round 7: the #25 and then the #26. Both of these plants were bid up above $40 before Paul took the #25 and Walt the #26. These plants alleviated the capacity problems their owners faced, but the cash drain was fatal, since it's not useful to have more power than you can use. Dan looked at and purchased the #33 windmill, but windmills are tough plants to win with, and his capacity was still only 13. In Round 8 we could see that Rich would end it, powering 14 cities, and none of the rest of us could hope to catch him---even if we got the plant we needed, we couldn't afford the connection costs. Paul took the #16, and Eric took the #20, but we were playing for second place as Rich built out for the win.

Final scores: Rich 14 cities, Paul 13, Eric 12, Dan 11, Walt 10.

Eric's rating: 9. This is a wonderful game that plays out differently every time. Rich's patience in the power plant auctions proved to be the difference as he avoided laying out cash for plants that didn't quite meet his needs, saving for the opportunities that came up later. The game wasn't really as close as it looked; Rich had a lot of cash and could have outbid us for yet another plant if he had needed to.

TICKET TO RIDE (Walt, Paul H., Eric, Dan, Rich)

It was still early (we've learned to play Power Grid in less than two hours, even with 5 players) and we had time for one more game. We wanted a lighter game, and we chose Ticket to Ride, a game that seems to scratch that MVGA gaming itch very well. We drew tickets and engaged in the mandatory complaining that seems to be a sine qua non for Ticket to Ride---after all, if you look too happy, someone may get it in his or her head to block you, and nobody wants that! Eric backed up his complaining by drawing extra tickets on his very first turn and keeping two of them, and the others followed suit soon afterward. Maybe we all really did get lousy sets of tickets this time? Paul was first to lay track, between Portland and San Francisco, and Walt laid the parallel section almost immediately afterward. Dan began building an East Coast route: Miami to Charleston to Raleigh to Washington. It was easy to conclude that Dan had East Coast tickets, but it's hard to win with the low pay-outs from all those 2-train links. Eric laid his first link between Phoenix and Los Angeles, and Rich followed with Denver to Phoenix, saying "there's going to be misery for everyone." As it turned out, Rich had really been hoping to build Phoenix to Los Angeles, and Eric actually had five white cards in his hands to build to Denver if Rich hadn't gotten in the way. Eric made his escape by building Los Angeles to San Francisco and then using the five white cards to connect Salt Lake City, but Rich had to build Denver to Salt Lake City to Las Vegas to Los Angeles, which was really the long way around.

Walt built the 6-train green link from El Paso to Houston, a move that normally will frustrate the person who holds the Los Angeles to Miami link, but Rich held Los Angeles to Miami and wasn't planning to use the southern route because he had some cities further north to connect. What really hurt Rich was Dan, who took the tiny 1-train link from Nashville to Atlanta. Rich had to make it to Miami by way of Raleigh, which was just a little too far. Eric built a line in the east, Montreal to Toronto to Sault Ste. Marie, but it seemed like a long way to his western line, which stopped in Helena. This was deceptive, though, as Eric went from Sault Ste. Marie to Calgary and from Helena to Seattle to Vancouver to Calgary, using up his trains, gaining longest route with all 45 trains, and ending the game before the others were ready.

Final scores:

Eric 82 + 48 in tickets + 10 = 140 
Walt 63 + 50 in tickets = 113 
Dan  59 + 38 in tickets = 97 
Rich 62 + 31 in tickets = 93 
Paul 57 + 25 in tickets = 82. 

Eric's rating: 8.

February 17, 2005

No report available.

February 24, 2005

Roll call: Walt, Paul H., Eric, Dan, Rich, Paul L.

We usually finish Wyatt Earp in three hands. The game ends when someone reaches 25, so it can take two or four hands, but for some reason this seems to be rare. This time Walt was on fire, laying down cards right and left. Eric finally went out, hoping (without having counted it out exactly) that he'd be able to match Walt, but it wasn't to be.

Final scores: Walt 27, Eric 25, Dan 19, Paul H. 17.

HISTORY OF THE WORLD (Walt, Paul H., Eric, Dan, Rich, Paul L.)

End of Epoch I:  
Walt:    Egypt (5 armies) 7 VP, 5 total armies  
Eric:    Minoans (4 armies) 6 VP, 4 total armies  
Paul H.: Indus Valley (4 armies) 6 VP, 4 total armies  
Dan:     Babylonia (4 armies) 6 VP, 4 total armies  
Rich:    Aryans (5 armies) 6 VP, 5 total armies  
Paul L.: Shang Dynasty (4 armies) 4 VP, 4 total armies   

Epoch II dawned with Paul L. taking the Assyrians and Eric keeping the Vedic City states. These empires go early in the turn before opponents have had a chance to wipe out your gains from the prior turn. Paul H. was happy to get the Persians, the epoch's largest empire, even though they go last. As it turned out, the Greek City States weren't in play, so Eric's concern about playing before the Minoans were wiped out didn't materialize. Paul H. did well, as expected, but Rich scored very well with Carthage, gaining points for Northern Africa, Southern Europe, and the Mideast and India (presences left over from the Aryans.)

End of Epoch II: 
Rich:      Carthaginia (8 armies) +22 = 28 VP, 13 total armies 
Paul H.:   Persia (15 armies) +22 = 28 VP, 19 total armies 
Eric:      Vedic City St. (6 armies)+18 = 24 VP, 10 total armies 
Walt:      Chou Dynasty (6 armies) +15 = 22 VP, 11 total    armies 
Dan:       Scythians (7 armies) +13 = 19 VP, 11 total armies 
Paul L.:   Assyria (8 armies) +15 = 19 VP, 12 total armies 

In Epoch III Eric received the first draw, and it was the Hsiung-Nu, another Eurasian empire. He passed them to Dan, whose leadership of the Scythians had already given him a presence in the areas neighboring Eurasia. Another tactic in HotW is to pass an empire to someone who's already strong in that part of the world, under the theory that it's not as advantageous to have one's presence limited to a single part of the world. Dan passed the Han Dynasty to Walt, who'd be forced to overrun the remnants of his Chou empire, and Walt drew the powerful Romans, which he passed to Paul L. as the trailing player (perhaps Walt also reasoned that as a beginner, Paul L. would pose less of a threat.) Rich received the Macedonians, a strong empire, but one that often serves as road kill for the Romans who come right behind. Eric got the Celts back from Paul L., a fortunate break in that the Celts go first, allowing Eric to score again for the Vedic City States. Rich had a disappointing run as the Macedonians, losing an unexpected number of battles as a result of poor die-rolling, but his position early in the turn order allowed him to score the Carthaginian points a second time for a good score. Paul L. played a Naval Supremacy card and stomped pretty much everything in sight around the shores of the Mediterranean, but ran out of steam as he reached the edge of India. Eric got another lucky break as the Maurya dynasty did not appear, granting the Vedic City States a potential third epoch of power.

End of Epoch III:
Rich:     Macedonia (15 armies) +29 = 57 VP, 28 total armies 
Paul L.:  Romans (25 armies) +34 = 53 VP, 37 total armies 
Walt:     Han Dynasty (12 armies) +26 = 48 VP, 23 total armies 
Eric:     Celts (8 armies) +22 = 46 VP, 18 total armies 
Paul H.:  Sassanids (9 armies) +16 = 44 VP, 28 total armies 
Dan:      Hsiung-Nu (7 armies) +11 = 30 VP, 18 total armies 

In Epoch IV, it's traditional to give the Khmers (if they come up) to the Romans. You score at the end of your empire's turn, so being last in the order of play gives maximum time for the other players to cut away at the remnants of the Roman empire. In this game, however, after Dan took the powerful Arabs, Paul H. gave the Guptas to Paul L. The Guptas are a fairly weak empire, but there was a power vacuum in India because the Maurya had not appeared. Paul L. scored most of his Roman points again to take a big lead. Walt spent yet another epoch in China, but scored reasonably well, gaining total control of China and pushing into Southeast Asia and India. The Goths didn't appear, helping Eric's Celts and leaving more room for Rich's Huns.

End of Epoch IV: 
Paul L.:  Guptas (8 armies) + 44 = 97 VP, 45 total armies 
Rich:     Huns (14 armies) + 27 = 84 VP, 42 total armies 
Walt:     T'ang Dynasty (11 armies)+ 25 = 73 VP, 34 total armies 
Eric:     Khmers (5 armies) +20 = 66 VP, 23 total armies    
Paul H.:  Byzantines (12 armies)+ 19 = 63 VP, 40 total armies 
Dan:      Arabs (18 armies)+32 = 62 VP, 36 total armies 

In Epoch V, Eric realized that he could draw and keep a strong empire while retaining his place at the head of the line, given his 11-army edge over Walt, his closest competitor, but it wasn't to be. Eric drew the Seljuk Turks, a weak late-epoch empire, and passed them to Paul L. in an attempt to slow him down, but wound up with the Chola, a miserably weak empire that duplicated his presence in India. The big scorers in this epoch were Walt, with the Franks, who start the epoch off, and Dan, who played the Holy Roman Empire extremely well to claw his way back into the game. Paul H. received the Mongols - finally a decent empire starting in Eurasia! There was no Sung Dynasty, but the Ming Dynasty go first in Epoch VI, so it wasn't as good for Walt as you'd expect.

End of Epoch V: 
Paul L.:    Seljuk Turks (12 armies) +30 = 127 VP, 57 total armies    
Rich:       Vikings (9 armies) +27 = 111 VP, 51 total armies 
Walt:       Franks (10 armies) +36 = 109 VP, 44 total armies 
Dan:        Holy Roman Emp. (10 armies) +38 = 100 VP, 46 total armies 
Eric:       Chola (8 armies) +30 = 96 VP, 31 total armies 
Paul H.:    Mongols (20 armies) +28 = 91 VP, 60 total armies 

Eric was hoping again for a strong empire in Epoch VI, but he got the Timurid Empire, which is a weak Epoch VI empire. He was reluctant to pass it to Paul L. since it goes early in Epoch VI and was in a region where Paul L. was not represented; Eric didn't want to give Paul another two-bagger. There are worse empires than the Timurids, and Eric hoped someone might give Paul L. on of them. This turned out to be a mistake as Paul L., drawing fifth, would draw and keep Spain, the best Epoch VI empire. Eric received the Ming Dynasty, a stroke of good fortune, given that the Ming go first and had no overlap with Eric's empire. Paul H. was stuck with the miserable Inca/Aztec empire this time; he drew last and had to take potluck, but the other card left in the deck (the Mughals) wasn't much better. If Pauls had drawn in the opposite order, the outcome of the game may have been different.

End of Epoch VI: 
Paul L.:  Spain (15 armies) +29 = 156 VP, 72 total armies 
Walt:     Ottoman Turks (15 armies) +32 = 141 VP, 59 total armies 
Dan:      Portugal (10 armies) +39 = 139 VP, 56 total armies 
Eric:     Ming Dynasty (10 armies)+42 = 138 VP, 41    total armies 
Rich:     Timurids (8 armies) +26 = 137 VP, 59 total armies 
Paul H.:  Incas/Aztecs (4 armies)+19 = 110 VP, 64 total armies

We had finally made it to the big showdown: Epoch VII. The scores were close, with four players lined up on the score track like pigeons on a telephone wire. The prize in Epoch VII is Britain; while they have only 20 armies compared to 25 for the Romans in Epoch III, you don't have to worry about being picked on when you get Britain, since the game ends after you play. Eric drew first, as usual, and got the Netherlands. The Netherlands offer some opportunities, but they have only 8 armies, and Eric passed them to Dan. Dan was next to draw, and he passed the Manchu Dynasty to Rich (yet another Eurasian empire!) Rich was next up, and he took the United States, the worst Epoch VII empire, and passed it to Eric. Paul L. was last in the order, and three weak empires had been drawn, but no one had yet passed an empire to him. Walt drew Russia and kept it; Russia goes first in the turn, so no one can pick on Russia until after its owner scores for the last time (at which point it doesn't hurt.) This left the two Pauls, and Paul H. drew France, a strong empire, which he kept. Amazingly, Paul L. had made it all the way to the sixth card draw without receiving an empire! We didn't know it, but the two remaining cards were Britain and Germany (a weak empire that goes at the very end of the epoch; Germany's turn represents the start of the World War.) Paul drew a card and smiled slightly - we knew he had Britain!

Final scores: 
Paul L.:  Britain (20 armies) +50 = 206 VP, 92 total armies 
Walt:     Russia (12 armies) +45 = 186 VP, 71 total armies 
Rich:     Manchu Dynasty (12 armies)    +44 = 181 VP, 71 total armies 
Dan:      Netherlands (8 armies) +40 = 179 VP, 64 total    armies 
Eric:     United States (10 armies) +29 = 167 VP, 51 total armies 
Paul H.:  France (15 armies) +40 = 150 VP, 79 total armies 

The game finished at about half past 1am; it took about 5 1/2 hours. The box says it should take 45 minutes per player; we took about 55 minutes per player, but we don't play regularly, and I'm sure we're a little slower than people who do.

Eric's rating: 8. I enjoy this game, despite the fact that I'm not a strong player (I was last when we halted the incomplete game back on October 30, 2003.) It can drag if people don't pay attention, but we moved it along nicely, without too many long pauses.

March 3, 2005

No report available.

March 10, 2005

Roll call: Eric, Dan

WAR OF THE RING (Eric, Dan)

MVGA was "on tour" this week. The Masonic Hall was booked for a Masonic event (imagine!) and our regular meeting was cancelled. Walt had brought a copy of War of the Ring to MVGA earlier in the year, and we all admired the gorgeous map and the plastic minatures. Word was that the game took many hours to play, so we weren't sure when we'd have a chance to try it out. Eric borrowed Walt's copy and played two games (one with his son and one with a friend in New York) before deciding to buy his own copy. When we heard that MVGA would be cancelled, Dan suggested a game of War of the Ring to Eric. It turns out Dan and Eric live only 5 minutes apart, so the drive was a lot shorter than usual.

Eric's rating: 8. If you love Tolkien's books as I do, this game is an engrossing experience that drips with theme. The asymmetry of the forces is convincing; as the Free Peoples you wonder how you will stave off the evil hordes (they not only outnumber your armies, but also receive so many additional dice!) As the Shadow you have so much to do it's hard to keep track of it all, and you're annoyingly unable to impede the Fellowship at critical times. The Fellowship movement mechanic (in which the exact location of the Fellowship is not determined until they declare or are revealed) is brilliant.

March 17, 2005

Final scores:
Rich 14 cities + $16
Evan 14 cities + $8
Dan  13 cities + $21
Eric 13 cities + $11
Walt 11 cities
Paul 10 cities

GOA (Paul H., Dan, Evan, Rich)

Mike came in during the second half of our Power Grid game. We hadn't seen Mike for some time and welcomed him back to MVGA. With 7 of us on hand we split into two games. One group played Goa. Rich and Evan concentrated on the shipping column early in the game, but Rich was able to stay just ahead of Evan and gained five bonus cards as he moved down the track. Dan was forced to play a money game, while Paul built up his expedition card column. Rich suffered from a damaging colonist failure, but Evan threw conservatism to the winds and paid $30 to Rich for a single tile late in the game, so that Evan gained 4 VP from the transaction while Rich gained 7 VP.

Final scores: Rich 48, Evan 45, Dan 36, Paul H. 31.

Eric's rating: 7.

WEB OF POWER (Walt, Eric, Mike)

The three of us who were not playing Goa started with Web of Power, an MVGA favorite that works great for 3, 4 or 5 players. Mike drew the dreaded first player position (the first player can only play one cloister, which often attracts massive attention from the others.) Walt did not have a card in the needed color, so he placed a cloister in Frankreich, the largest and most valuable country. Eric was able to play a double in Mike's country, and he followed up with a double in Frankreich on his second turn. This began a long run of doubles for Eric, who soon had the most cloisters and the most advisors in Frankreich. Walt played a number of advisors in the east, but Eric cooperated with Mike and sometimes took advantage of him, running away with a lopsided game.

		 C1___C2___Ad__Ch__Tot
   Eric 17 + 33 + 29 + 4 = 83 
   Mike 13 + 31 + 04 + 4 = 52 
   Walt 09 + 22 + 10 + 4 = 45 

Eric's rating: 9.

SAINT PETERSBURG (Walt, Eric, Mike)

Goa was still going, but it was getting late and we wanted another short game that works well with 3. We haven't played Saint Petersburg for a while at MVGA, so we decided to take it for a spin. Eric was first in the Round 1 building phase, and he grabbed an Observatory (even though he claims he can take them or leave them) and began drawing orange cards. Mike gained a lead in the money race and started to accumulate buildings, while Walt played an intermediate strategy. The game was cash-rich, as many money cards and relatively few victory point cards came out early, so Eric was able to play the many nobles he drew. Walt got his own observatory part way through the game and began to close the lead in nobles as Eric branched out into buildings. Mike's lead started to close, and in the final scoring his opponents' noble collections relegated him to last place.

Final scores: Eric 139 (9 nobles), Walt 118 (9), Mike 114 (7).

Eric's rating: 10.

March 24, 2005

Roll call: Eric, Dan, Walt, Rich, Paul H.

GESCHENKT (Eric, Dan, Walt, Rich)

There was an event downstairs at the Masonic Hall this week. It sounded like a middle school dance, though I didn't get close enough to tell for sure. As usual when the downstairs hall is being used by another group, MVGA met upstairs in the back. We started out with Geschenkt, a little game Walt included in the games he brought for the evening.

Final scores:

Dan  4-7, 18-20, 31-33 = 53 - 24 chips = 29. 
Rich 10, 27-28 = 37 - 4 chips          = 33. 
Eric 15, 17, 22-25 = 54 - 12 chips     = 42. 
Walt 8-9, 11-12, 35 - 54 - 3 chips     = 51.    

Eric's rating: 6. This game is cute, but in the two games I've played so far it's seemed like there's a lot of luck and not as many interesting decisions.

MODERN ART (Eric, Dan, Walt, Rich, Paul H.)

Paul H. arrived as we were finishing up Geschenkt, so we needed a 5-player game. Walt had brought several games with him and suggested that we move on to Modern Art, a game that works well with 5. Walt had the newer Mayfair edition, which is packed in a much smaller box than the original version.

Eric 16 cities +  $74 
Rich 16 cities +   $8 
Dan 16 cities +    $4 
Paul 15 cities + $251  (!) 
Walt 15 cities +   $1 

March 31, 2005

Roll call: Dan, Rich, Eric, Paul H., Anton

PARIS PARIS