tHoUgHtFuL rAnDoMnEsS

Session #19 - Belfort

2012-01-06T13:44:00.009+08:00

2nd of January 2012 (Monday)

Game(s) Played:
Belfort

Player(s):
Da Panda
Milo
Nitsuj

Session #19 – Belfort

"Hey kor you can come over now!" - SMS by Milo

My tyres screeched on the asphalt and I arrived at the place where the showdown was going to take place within mere minutes of my departure, package in hand. It was meant to be a four-way deal but Mo backs out, saying someone made him an earlier offer and snubs us, the two-timing sonnofagun... Da Panda shows him the door after which the three of us who are left stare each other down. "Are you both still in?" I ask both of them. Milo seems too enthusiastic whilst Da Panda seems nonchalant either way, both reactions setting off alarm bells in my head, but the rewards are too great, the temptation too strong to overcome, and so we begin... a game of Belfort.

And CUT!

Actually that sort of intro would go better with a game like Cargo Noir but I haven't fooled around like that in a while so I thought I'd give it a try. By fooling around I mean, actually taking the time to indulge my writing hobby as opposed to hurriedly churning out reviews / session reports before I forget to do them. Sometimes I seem to forget that this is supposed to be a labour of love for me. Therefore I present to you, in all its humorous grandeur, Session #19 - Belfort.

As this was Da Panda's first play, I had to perform the traditional boardgaming ritual of rules explanation. (This is why I prefer for all four of us to sit down to a new game together once, just to get this out of the way. As it is, I'll have to do it again when Mo decides to join us.) Now, it is either that I am a terribly poor teacher or my siblings process all forms of elderly teachings as droning sounds (it could be both) because Da Panda made the exact same error as Milo in the previous session, which is to not understand exactly how the scoring round works! The unfortunate thing about this that I notice is that it is extremely punishing not to understand how it works in Belfort because you're not only halfway through the game when scoring starts, but scoring starts to happen every other round, and you're supposed to have set up your ... for the lack of a better word, "economy" such that you are pushing for scoring right up to the end, which if you're trying to do halfway through the game, pretty much leaves you eating the dust of your more enlightened opponents.

So note to self, "Demonstrate how scoring works and emphasize it very loudly for all to hear. Include disclaimer of no takesie-backsies if Players still refuse to listen."

Turn order began with me (Blue), Da Panda (Red) followed by Milo (Yellow). My simple strategy was to hoard the Hire Worker space as much as I can with the theory that more Workers = more Resources and an easier time handling my economy which was very similar to my previous attempt at Belfort, only this time I was also going to focus on getting buildings for their income first and their abilities second, instead of the other way around. Being first certainly helped and this time the available Guilds were actually more helpful. We had the Bandits' Guild (Steals Resources), Miners' Guild (+2 Metal), Masons' Guild (+4 Stone), Bankers' Guild (+3 Coins) & the Architects' Guild (Building Discount).

I was doing pretty well in the beginning, building a lead over Milo and Da Panda in terms of Workers but we matched each other building for building but since I spent most of my first turns hogging the Hire Workers space, I ended up missing out on most of the good Guild spaces which were quickly snapped up, especially the Resource Guilds. Da Panda as usual prefers to cause hurt and was no stranger to hiring "Professional Repossessors" to relieve us of our pointy-eared and long-bearded friends' hard earned Resources. Ultimately though the allure of repeated hold-ups at the Bank was too strong for even Da Panda to resist, which prompted me to initiate a hostile takeover of the Bank and cutting a deal with Da Panda to pay me 1 Coin to give her the codes to loot my Bank, insurance would cover the rest.

Argh! We’ve been exposed!

Da Panda’s ill-gotten treasures

In terms of district monopolies, it appeared things were quite even. Each of us had majority ownership of at least one district and shared leadership of one other district with another Player. Thinking that my edge in majority Workers would lead me to the finishing line seemed like a good plan at the time, but boy was I wrong. You see, I discounted the fact that even though Milo had only majority share of only one district, whether inadvertently or not, she had second majority for other districts, which also scores points in districts most Players (i.e. me) would choose to ignore because you can never beat the Chinese in Chinatown. Milo subverts this adage, by being the Vietnamese who set up Little Saigon Street right in the heart of Chinatown. And once Milo had her economy under control, she swaps for turn order and goes right on reducing my Worker advantage to nothing and steamrolls over me in the age of "1 Dwarf for 2".

Things started tamely enough

Then the great property boom of ’98 took place

An artistic angle

Once again, taxes catch up on me after the second Scoring Round so much so I actually take a loss of 1 Point for not being able to pay my tax. I quickly get it under control but Milo, with all her resources just goes right on building and building, shoring up her economy as inflation continues to rise in the double digits on a monthly basis. Da Panda who has her inflation more under control (due to her l-a-s-t position on the Score Track) also goes right on building and between the both of them, the Gnomes for hire are quickly snapped up resulting in a supply shock to the town of Belfort.

That’s my game ending Player Board, the three Property Cards facing away from me are actually the draw pool, we only got half the table to play on

This is Milo with her 8 building game end

This is Da Panda’s also 8 building game end, although I suspect she would’ve done better if she had placed her buildings more strategically on the main board

As you can guess, this doesn't end well for me... again. Despite being in the lead after the second Scoring Round, there is little I can do with bankrupt property developers and high inflation whilst my neighbours with their ample resources and turn advantage, buy up the remaining properties in my districts to hand me my bum bum on a platter.

Results Of Game
Winna – Milo (49 Points)
2nd – Nitsuj (45 Points)
3rd – Da Panda (34 Points)

The new owner of the key to Belfort!

Comments:
Da Panda
"Belfort is a little more easier to understand and cope with compared to Le Havre or Troyes. I felt there are more limited actions to be done each round and wish the game had designed more ways to earn resources / gold / build properties. Might get a bit boring after playing a lot of times as I felt there's not much ways to go about your strategies to win. A rather more straightforward game with cute stone / wood / iron thingys."
Rating: 6/10

Milo
Rating: 9/10

Nitsuj
"I have to concede to Da Panda that in comparison with games like Le Havre & Troyes, Belfort is more streamlined and restricted, it would be like comparing say Diablo against Elder Scrolls. I don’t think I will like Belfort more than those two games I mentioned but Belfort is a very good game in its own right. I honestly think of it as an upgrade from Monopoly. The buildings are all the same except for the introduction of Guilds, with a merging of Euro elements involving two types of Workers and four types of Resources. Like Citadels, the scalability of “cut-throatness” changes with the types of Players playing, providing a challenge to both hardcore and non-hardcore gamers alike."
Rating: 8/10

Session #18 - Eminent Domain & Belfort

2012-01-01T20:03:00.008+08:00

29th of December 2011 (Thursday)

Game(s) Played:
Eminent Domain

Belfort

Player(s):
Milo
Nitsuj

Session #18 – Eminent Domain
I had recently picked up Eminent Domain & Belfort (like exactly one night before) and just couldn't wait to give it a go. The only person available was Milo who surprisingly had no plans for a Thursday night, whereas the usual suspects Da Panda had gone out for a movie and Mo was on a back to the jungle berbonding exercise with our father. She was more than game so I brought over both my latest acquisitions and we began with Eminent Domain.

I started with an Advanced Planet whilst Milo began with a Metallic Planet. I decided to favour a strategy prone more to Warfare before branching into Technology & Production/Trading. Milo preferred to Colonize & abuse the Improve Trade Technology (+1 Influence) which was to my surprise, not available to me because I ONLY had Advanced Planets for a long time.

Thankfully two of my Advanced Planets gave +1 to my hand limit, enabling me to hold 7 cards in hand and abuse my bulk of Warfare Cards. I was getting 6 Fighters a turn, attacking Planets every which way & then had enough Technology to pull in Improved Warfare (+2 Fighters / Conquer a Planet) then Specialization (Gain Influence per number of one type of resource traded) & Hyperefficiency (Discard any number of cards per turn). I set myself up for the big kill with Specialization by trading 3 similar purple resources & 1 blue resource for a 7 Influence Token swoop.

You can see my straight set of Advanced Planets in the far right corner

Apart from colonizing a different variety of Planets, Milo kept drawing Influence Tokens via Improve Trade & trading resources, although she didn't have an efficient enough hand to be able to produce and trade more than 1 resource a turn.

Our game slowed down a fair bit towards the end, I had far too many Warfare cards in my hand to be able to pull off trading 4 resources at one go. In hindsight, I had forgotten my Hyperefficiency power and should have gotten rid of more of my Warfare cards to pull ahead quicker. Still the Technologies are diverse enough that you can pursue multiple paths of victory although changing strategies midway becomes difficult if your deck is heavily skewed in favour of one particular type of role card.

Results Of Game
Winna – Nitsuj (36 Points)
2nd – Milo (28 Points)

Comments:
Milo
"This game takes a little getting used to; game play picks up once you get the flow of things.

Doesn't feel incredibly interactive as there are no inter-player battles or cause-effect chains amongst players. Shopping for tech cards proves fun. Cute resources meeples & various sized battleships contributes to fun factor."

Rating: 6/10

Nitsuj
"I think in a 2 Player game strategies need to be more forced and planned as opposed to a 3 or 4 Player game where you will be trying to take advantage of other Players' strategies to pull ahead of the pack. Think this game will shine with more Players. The art really is very, very good though. Big thumbs up from me."

Rating: 8/10

Session #18 – Belfort
We then moved on to Belfort and boy does the setup time take a while. To move things along accordingly we proceeded to play the game normally with 2 Players instead of using the special 2 Player rules (having to control a Non Player 3 & 4 seemed too much trouble).

Milo started as Player 1 and we had a bit of trouble moving forward in the first few turns as there were not many options for actions to be taken apart from getting more Workers or using Guilds. Milo utilised the Sawyers' & Miners' Guild (+4 Wood / +4 Stone) to good effect.

I worked on increasing my workforce & used the Blacksmith (Discount to building) to buy up the Sawyers' Guild because Milo was running riot with it. She quickly got up her Pub, Gardens & Bank and was using her newfound wealth to hire Gnomes each turn which I never caught up to.

Milo didn't actually understand scoring at first and was caught out in Round 1 where she was steadily fortifying the 1st District thinking 1st Scoring Round = 1st District Scoring only whilst I had spread myself out to the other pieces of the Pentagon to build a major lead in the 1st Scoring Round. (Although no 3 Player & 4 Player means a gap of only 2 points per District & Scoring Category)

I still had no buildings with income, having built the Inn next and with a stupendously high tax bracket, most of my workers were inefficiently spent mining gold each turn just to keep afloat. Having unlocked the Gardens & Pub, Milo had more leeway in allocating Workers, who knew that Master Elves & Dwarves were THAT powerful. We call them the Super Saiya Workers now.

In the end I had to snatch 1st Turn Order from Milo as she kept occupying the Hire Workers spot to steadily build her workforce and yet I couldn't block the spot from her due to tight financial constraints once we had passed the Second Scoring Round. I only had the Tower to supply income whereas Milo had 5 income buildings including the Bank. Towards the end I usually had only 1-2 Workers that weren't sitting in the gold mine to be placed around the board which was a rather big pain.

This was right before I got my ass handed to me

In the end, I lost right at the death. We were drawn at scoring for majority Elves and Milo beat me when we scored for Gnomes. Drat!

Results Of Game
Winna – Milo (78 Points)
2nd – Nitsuj (75 Points)

Comments:
Milo
"Great interactive design, the concept of the game isn't hard to grasp. Love the 3 season timeline. So many different things to do on each round that you don't get bored easy.

Down side of having only 2 players is not being able to fully utilize all functions on the board (switching houses with two of the same places etc.)"

Rating: 9/10

Nitsuj
"I think Belfort has great potential, particularly with 3 or 4 Players. I do foresee some downtime with 5 Players although I am to understand that the board of Belfort hosts a complete variety of easter eggs that you can spend time to look for during your downtime although this is understandably a stop-gap measure before going back to staring daggers at the sap who's taking forever to take his turn. Nevertheless, I'm looking forward to a 3 or 4 Player game with much enthusiasm and hope to get some plays in the next week or so."

Rating: 8/10

Review - 2011

2012-01-01T01:40:00.006+08:00

31st of December 2011 (Saturday)

Year In Review:
2011 Review

Review – 2011
This Year Was… …:
2011 has been a tremendously hectic year. A change in career, working part-time, settling in to family life and of course, boardgaming in 2011 which (unlike the other short term hobbies I used to have) has made me level up in the mastery of boardgame geekness.

Fluffy Level Up

Without further ado, the following is the summary for my gaming goodness of 2011:

The year that was... ...

There are some plays that went unrecorded such as the Hari Raya gaming at BGN Puchong but this is pretty much all of it. All in all it appears that I played 3.6 games a month or just shy of one a week which is a definite increase over my 9 games recorded for the entirety of 2010. However I don't expect to sustain this increase in the coming 2012, if anything boardgaming will have to be cutback a little due to life commitments in the coming year.

Some surprises to me in terms of number of plays I managed to squeeze in were games like Glory To Rome (until I realized that we had a six game marathon in a single day) as well as Hansa Teutonica considering that it is a somewhat older game but proving my point that the gameplay mechanics just does not get old despite the somewhat thin theme.

I am somewhat disappointed that I could not get in more plays for Troyes and Dungeon Lords during the year considering that I personally find both these games to be one of the gems of my collection. Unfortunately I will have trouble finding game time for Troyes because one of my gaming group members prefers to stay away from it.

He uses the same sign to protest against Troyes

Also I've finally figured out what the heck "Fives & Dimes" means, it basically translates to games you've played at least "five or ten times". I was a bit embarrassed that none of my games has hit the milestone of ten times and decided to exclude this segment from this year's review.

New Games I Bought:
I bought/received as gifts/threatened with violence (kidding) a total of 13 new boardgames in 2011. Compared to others I know 13 seems to be a pretty small number but it represents a 81% increase in my collection from 2010. And although my collection seems small at 29 games (6 of which are expansions), I have already encountered every boardgamer's space/time conundrum of not having enough shelf space for everything you own.

The following is a list of my acquisitions of 2011:
- 7 Wonders
- Agricola + Expansion: Agricola Gamer's Deck (Gift from siblings)
- Alien Frontiers
- Belfort
- Bohnanza (Gift from Cell Members)
- Chronicle (Gift from Cell Members)
- Citadels + Expansion: Dark City (Gift copy from BGC)
- Eminent Domain
- For Sale
- Glory To Rome
- Race For The Galaxy Expansions: The Brink Of War & The Gathering Storm
- Through The Ages: A Story Of Civilization
- Troyes

From my purchasing habits, I realize that my initial purchases tend to be well established games that are within the top 100 ranking on boardgamegeek. That's probably why you don't see any game reviews that I do with poor comments & ratings. I guess my disposable income is not at the level where I can afford to just splash out my hard earned Ringgits on games that I have not done any research on or are not tried and tested by the gaming community out there. However, towards the end of 2011, I have taken a leap of faith with games by Tasty Minstrel Games in particular such as Belfort (which is already proving to be a sound purchase), Eminent Domain and being part of the kickstarter for Kings Of Air And Steam.

New People I Played Games With This Year:
My regular gaming group hasn't changed, Da Panda, Milo & Mo are still the people who are most obliging towards entertaining their deranged older brother in his somewhat time consuming hobby. However 2011 has seen me get to know a whole lot of gamers through BGN Puchong as well as my occasional jaunt to OTK Cheras (okay twice in a year is probably not occasional) plus the one time I introduced simple boardgaming at my Cell Retreat.

It has been a great pleasure to actually get to sit down and play a game with people like JY, Kareem, Samson, Nicolas, Melchor, Jeanne, Joshua, Dwolve, John, Wai Yan, my cell guys & gals and not least of all, my wife. Those epic moments of boardgaming in my life are attributed to these great people and it has been great to be able to get to know you.

Preach it little baby!

Closing Thoughts On 2011:
2011 has been a great year, a blessed year and indeed a year of goodness. Here's one toast to the year that was, and another to the year that cometh, may 2012 be that year that makes your life different.

Session - Bohnanza, Dixit & For Sale

2011-11-08T22:13:00.006+08:00

6th & 7th of November 2011 (Sunday – Monday)

Game(s) Played:
Bohnanza

Dixit

For Sale

Player(s):
Cae Me
Eastlyn
Jimmy
Joanne
Joyce
Justin
Kenny
Louanna
Meng Chern
Michael
Pearly
Wai Yin
Xiu Mei

My cell group had planned to take advantage of the Hari Raya Haji public holiday (which fell on a Monday) to head down south to Malacca and spend one night at the villas in A’ Famosa just to relax and get to know one another better. The villas could accommodate 16 people per villa so we combined together with another two cell groups from the Young Adults of FGT.

Before we left, I looked through my shelf of games to pick some games that would not be quite so scary to new-gamers and came up with the following list:
1. Alien Frontiers
2. Bohnanza
3. Citadels
4. Dixit (borrowed copy)
5. For Sale
6. Hansa Teutonica

I had high hopes for Dixit and Bohnanza but brought along the others as back-ups. Looks like I didn’t need to worry after all.

Session #17 – Bohnanza, Dixit & For Sale

Check-in time is at the strange hour of 4pm because most of the time the villas are empty and need to be thoroughly cleaned before the guest can check-in. We had already decided to head down to Batu Berendam to have dinner as a group at 7pm so we had some time to kill in between. JR, who is a big fan of Bohnanza (She calls it the “Beans Game”) pulled it out and introduced it to the girls with a little bit of rules explanation help from me. Wanting to give Dixit some mileage, I pulled it out and introduced it to Wai Yin, Michael and Louanna.

Bohnanza was a big hit but unfortunately ran overly long and they accidentally ended the game thinking that the game end condition was running through the deck once instead of three times. I suppose all things considered that was okay since we had to go out for dinner already anyways. Unfortunately there are no pics of this event on my camera as I was busy trying to teach two games at a go.

Dixit became very popular at our retreat this time. Most of them loved the art and particularly relished the challenge when there were many pictures that could match the Storyteller’s story or when no one could guess it and challenged the Storyteller to reveal the relevance of his story instead.

Coming back from dinner, I pulled out For Sale only to realize during the first play through that I am now missing a property card! Number 17 to be precise. I’ll have to spend some time trying to figure out when and where it could have gone to ground. Nevertheless, For Sale got continuous plays all the way until it was time for us to leave the next day! Which is somewhat surprising seeing as my own siblings didn’t think too much about the game. Nevertheless I’m glad it worked out as the game is short (we managed ten minute games towards the end) and highly replayable, if only I could find that durned Property No. 17, think it was the yatch property.

Here we find that women are big property tycoons, I forget who won but the big smile on JR’s face could probably means it was her

Xiu Mei was a pretty good dealer and here you can see Joanne upping the ante, she seemed game for almost anything most of the time

We substituted the missing No. 17 with a Money Card, that’s a terrible draw though, someone must not have shuffled properly :P

As I mentioned, Dixit was extremely popular and I think became a firm favourite of Wai Yin’s. So much so that when we were wondering why one particular breakfast table had gone back to the villa so early after breakfast, we found them playing Dixit at the Villa instead. Looks like I’ll have to think about investing in my own copy of it as well.

This is the guilty breakfast table that ran off to breakfast early and rushed back once they were done haha

I noticed Kenny spent a lot of time standing up, you know you got a winner when the Players don’t mind standing up to win the game

Another sure sign a game is a winner is when there are lots of smiles around the table

I couldn’t resist, here’s one of Kenny standing up again

Results Of Game
Bohnanza
I don’t know who won Bohnanza actually but let’s call everyone a winner since they technically didn’t play the game to its intended finish.

Dixit
Somehow I keep remembering that Wai Yin & Xiu Mei did exceptionally well in Dixit but I wasn’t playing in the last few games of the second day so can’t be sure who else won at it.

For Sale
For Sale saw many different winners throughout its many, many games but the most calculative award goes to Meng Chern, Cae Me and Xiu Mei I think haha. Congratulations guy and girls.

My biggest takeaway? Most of them knew that I am into boardgames as a hobby before this but actually thought I was playing stuff like this:

This board is very, very cool by the way

There are great Ameritrash games out there some of which I wouldn’t mind spending the necessary half a day to get through a single game but to be fair, these sorts of games aren’t exactly what we would call “light games” and probably wouldn’t appeal to your average non-gaming person. So I’m glad that at least, I could share some of the joys of my hobby and how easily accessible it is. Spread the love, boardgamers!

Food Review - Peppercorn Cafe

2011-11-08T22:05:00.004+08:00

5th of November 2011 (Saturday)

Location:
Peppercorn Cafe @ SS15, Subang Jaya

Type of Food:
Western, Italian

I haven’t been to Peppercorn Cafe in ages and I think the last time I set foot into this place was probably in my college days some 9 years ago. Then, I came away feeling the soup was rather bland and the portions rather small for the price you had to pay. I have heard that there was a change in management though and got to give the place a try when my sister-in-law had her birthday celebration there.

Most of us ordered from one of the dinner sets that were available on the menu which comes with an appetizer, soup, main course, dessert and a drink. So let’s start with the appetizer.

I have no idea what the appetizer is called but cold olio spaghetti in with a small piece of fish garnished with diced cucumbers, tomatoes and some mince. I am usually quite averse to cold food but found this dish surprisingly refreshing and the garlic flavour seems to come out stronger when served cold which I liked.

The appetizer with no name

The soup of the day was mushroom soup which is a solid choice for many restaurants and eateries but the most common complaints are always that it is either too watery / bland or has the taste of instant powder. I am happy to report that the soup was creamy, with actual mushrooms in it and not too salty which brings out the flavour of the mushroom. I thoroughly enjoyed the soup and it certainly helps that it came with croutons and complimentary garlic bread (these things are like the icing on the soup for me and I love icing).

This is my bowl of soup with the half submerged submarine of garlic bread

And here’s the dinner party, baby Anna is obviously enjoying her garlic bread

This was Meng Hong’s dish which wasn’t on the set menu. I don’t recall what it is called but seem to remember that it had both meat and seafood in it

JR ordered the cod fish for which I had to give her the customary and traditional warning beforehand. Ordering fish in a western restaurant is always a tricky business because when compared to ordering fish in a Chinese restaurant, the sizes are just not comparable. My JR has a big appetite when it comes to seafood, pasta and vegetables but she loves a cod fish that is properly prepared and decided to give it a go anyway.

As expected it a standard size piece of cod fish but I think the creamy white sauce helps to add size to the meal plus it had baked potatoes which JR loves so she gave this a thumbs up

I believe this was the steak, which is of a good size actually. If I recall correctly, Meng Chern ordered this dish and it was pretty good.

I had the roast lamb which came with sides of mash and cooked vegetables. The lamb was nicely cooked so that there was no “lamb-y” smell and had few bones which was great because it was one of the few times I didn’t have to resort to licking fingers whilst eating my lamb. The sauce complimented the lamb well, I only wish I had a little more to go with the mash which was a little too bland for my tastes.

I wonder why God made lamb taste so good

I don’t have a picture of the dessert but it was a caramel custard tower which reminded me of the ones my dad usually buys from Ipoh. It comes quite close actually and that’s probably the best recommendation I can give to anyone’s caramel custard.

Verdict:
I don’t think you’ll come away feeling bloated from a meal at Peppercorn Cafe but I came away feeling very satisfied and look forward to coming back to try the Chicken and Mushroom Pancake with Mozzarella Cheese which I’ve heard so much about.

Food Review - Plan b

2011-11-08T21:59:00.005+08:00

26th of October 2011 (Wednesday)

Location:
Plan b @ Bangsar Village 1, Bangsar

Type of Food:
American Breakfasts, Bakery, Western, Italian

Taking the opportunity of the Deepavali public holiday here, Joyce and I made arrangements to have breakfast with good friends at Plan b. This would be a first time venture for both of us and it certainly didn’t disappoint.

I like the creativity of having the menu on a nice thick wooden clipboard

This is JR with the menu, we haven’t taken pics like this in a while

The breakfast menu is quite extensive but most of the items have a common theme of eggs which are very nicely cooked in whichever way you prefer them. Glancing through the menu, my eyes constantly flicked back to the words “smoked salmon” and I gave in to instinct to order the “Eggs Royale” which is basically a muffin with smoked salmon, poached eggs and hollandaise sauce.

This was absolutely heavenly

JR ordered the “Plan B Platter” to share with me and it comes with a whole stack of stuff, eggs, toast, hash browns, mushrooms, tomatoes, beans, sausages, bacon, juice AND coffee / tea. Unfortunately I was so busy enjoying my glorious Eggs Royale that I forgot to continue taking pictures from this point forward. I am embarrassed as a blogging food reviewer and will try to do better next time.

Nevertheless, Joyce enjoyed her choice and so did I. Hehe. The hash browns were not too oily and the mushrooms plus roasted tomatoes were my immediate favourites. Our friends’ little girl ordered the “Ultimate French Toast” which is not for those with trade embargos against sugar. I had a taste and boy was it sinful. Crispy toast with bananas, ice cream and syrup is the kind of food that just makes you smile like a mini sun.

Verdict:
Absolutely fantabulous. We’re planning on bringing my parents-in-law here sometime soon. My advice for you is to get there early because after 10am the line to be seated starts to build up. At 9am its still relatively nice and quiet.

Session - Through The Ages

2011-10-24T20:26:00.006+08:00

23rd of October 2011 (Sunday)

Game(s) Played:
Through The Ages

Player(s):
Mo
Nitsuj

Session #16 – Through The Ages
Mo came over last night to both have a look at my “new toy” as JR calls it and to ask for a game of Through The Ages which I happily pulled from my IKEA glass cupboard of treasures. As usual set-up for Through The Ages is always a pain with the itty-bitty little bits, for that kinda dough you’d think they could have made the player boards bigger with bigger bits.

Anyway, this was our first attempt to play the F-U-L-L Game (the upper-case font is meant to terrify all light-hearted gamers everywhere) so yes, we jumped from the Simple Game to the F-U-L-L Game, bypassing the Advanced Game entirely. Below is a summary of why you should never emulate our dare-devilism, I call it, “riding along the guided path and suddenly you’re barely keeping afloat”.

Like so

So we got off to an o-kay start, the Player Summary that comes with the game does help a lot but naturally we made some in your face errors right from the get-go, like playing as many Political Actions as you have Military Tokens. We also forgot to draw the ending Event Cards for end game scoring (we realized this right at the end). We had to rewind a bit on the second round because none of us did our production & maintenance for the first round. So if such a jittery start was considered o-kay I guess we didn’t do too badly.

So Mo leapt off with Aristotle (which let Mo run riot with his science) this time and went for an early culture lead by quickly building his first temple. I picked up Julius Caesar instead hoping to outmuscle Mo on the military front but never quite pulling it off because of all his Defense Bonus Cards. Despite not having any temples for a significant few turns, I managed to pull ahead of Mo with the “Work Of Art” Action Card. My focus was more on trying to maximize the number of Civil Tokens I could have through building the “Great Pyramid” Wonder and pulling off two revolutions for better government (although at one point I seemed to have an extra Civil Token by mistake as unhappily pointed out by Mo). Mo remained at Despotism throughout the game which is amazing actually. He shifted his focus to military and if the game had run its due course I think I would have been creamed in Age III.

As it is, I managed to stay ahead right up until the last two turns through having high culture Theatres (which I illegally upgraded from basic temples which Mo also did so we left it at that) then Mo pulled a “Work Of Art” Action to pull ahead for the victory. Surprisingly we were not very high tech resource wise, Mo still had his basic farms and mines and I only had two upgraded farms with basic mines.

I shot myself in the foot by playing the “Conquistadors” Tactic without the right military

Mo pulled a fast one on me when I wasn’t paying attention with three Wonders! But it was also illegal because he didn’t pay additional Civil Tokens for the second and third Wonder

As it was already getting very late, we called it a night when the Age II Civil Cards Deck ran out, only to realize our error right at the game set-up phase for end game scoring.

As we never finished the full game, I’m going to hold off the review until that happens but as it is, Mo and I are really enthusiastic about Through The Ages and look forward to many more plays in the future.

Say no more to reflective surfaces! Hahahaha *Maniacal Laughter*

Results Of Game
Winna – Mo (57 Points)
2nd – Nitsuj (53 Points)

I should’ve taken the last “Work Of Art” Action Card. Just crying over spilt milk

I was distracted by this (yea and being a sore loser too)

Movie Review - Real Steel

2011-10-24T01:08:00.004+08:00

16th of October 2011 (Saturday)

Movie
Real Steel

As I mentioned earlier, JR got extra free passes so we went to the movies back to back two days in a row! I’ve been looking forward to Real Steel for quite some time now seeing as I’m a huge Hugh Jackman fan and boy did it not disappoint.

Storyline:
Real Steel is set in the future where one of the major sports of the times is robot boxing (or boxing by robots). The story revolves around the life of Charlie Kenton, former boxer now robot controller who is tumbling down the rabbit hole of financial debt due to his poor business ethic and high risk appetite. Enter his 11 year old son, Max Kenton, whom Charlie abandoned as a baby and the journey of father and son in the world of robot boxing until they reach the pinnacle of the sport, the Real Steel event where they get to challenge the best of the best in the big leagues… ZEUS!!!

The MIGHHHTTTYYY ZEEEUUUSSS!!! Even boxing robots need their special moves

Cast/Production/Visual Effects: (not necessarily in that order)
As I said, I’m a big fan of Hugh Jackman so it may be biased for me to say that he delivers all the goods in this movie. The casting was well done and even the robots names’ were memorable, Atom in particular reminded me of EVE from Wall-E with his blue roundish eyes. In an unusual breakaway from convention Max’s character in the movie is portrayed as a chip of the old block, stubborn, showy and brash, instead of the goody two shoes, righteous and attention seeking 11 year old you would expect him to be.

Look into my eyes and tell me what you see

Apart from the robots themselves (after watching Transformers, CGI for robots of this level seem like child’s play) the background world of the future in the movie doesn’t seem very much different from today. You still pump gas into your truck, your vehicles still run on wheels, old, dilapidated brick buildings are still old, dilapidated brick buildings except there are a heck more of touchscreens than what is common today… Oh and of course, you have fighting robots. On the whole there wasn’t much CGI although the robot fighting was realistic in the sense that such technology can be expected in the next 20 years or may even be top secret tech in today’s world.

The unfolding story was well directed, there were not too many robot fight scenes to be honest and that’s okay because it can get a bit draggy after a while since the robots can only punch and can’t even jump off ropes or kick. The growing bond of father and son as an underdog team was very well captured and I felt myself rooting for the underdog and exulting in the climax scenes of the movie. The humor sticks its head out here and there in the movie, enough to keep the audience entertained between the driving along never-ending roads of Texas.

Verdict:
Real Steel is probably a family movie or a father-son movie if you’re into wrestling or boxing or any other sport that gets your manly testosterone pumping. JR didn’t find the movie very appealing as she felt the movie was pretty much entirely about robots boxing and wasn’t particularly drawn by the drama behind the boxing matches. I enjoy movies where I root for the underdog and am quite a big fan of mecha so this was a great movie for me. **Spoiler Alert** Man was I disappointed when Noisyboy lost!

I couldn’t resist this pic of Noisyboy

Movie Review - The Three Musketeers

2011-10-24T01:04:00.004+08:00

15th of October 2011 (Saturday)

Movie
The Three Musketeers

JR had gotten two free movie passes to GSC the other day so we both planned to watch a movie last weekend. It was a toss-up between Real Steel and The Three Musketeers but lo and behold she got another two free passes so we watched The Three Musketeers on Saturday then Real Steel on Sunday.

We had to pay a little extra (RM5 per person) for The Three Musketeers because the only one showing was in 3D, which coincidentally is my first movie in 3D at the cinemas! I’ve heard that some people cannot seem to adjust and find it very annoying to watch 3D movies but the transition seemed better for me once I learnt how to focus on the overall picture and not just one part of the screen. 3D movies are quite addictive I must say but a bit too pricey for me to want to catch a movie in 3D all the time.

Storyline:
The story (in this 2011 release at least) is based in France where a young and extremely foppish King Louis XIII is going around bullying the palace staff with his little whims whilst the country is effectively being run by the Cardinal Richelieu. The Cardinal, not content with having all the responsibility and none of the glory, plots to overthrow the present foolish Monarch and be France’s head of state and church. In the midst of all this plotting and trickery, a young and brash village boy by the name of D’Artagnan (read: Dar-ta-nian) travels to Paris to become a Musketeer and meets with the famous Three Musketeers: Athos, Porthos & Aramis where together they quell the Cardinal’s sinister plots and effectively save the day.

Foppish, yes indeed

Cast/Production/Visual Effects: (not necessarily in that order)
When people ask me how did it find the latest interpretation of The Three Musketeers on the big screen, I usually respond to their question with a question of my own, which is “Have you watched the original (for our generation at least, the 1993 release was original) Three Musketeers?”. I’ve watched the 1993 release just shy of ten times and I feel that that particular version was much better than the latest movie which I feel has been too modernized for present day consumption. The new movie takes a lot of liberties at portraying the background of medieval France and more so with the personalities of those in power such as the young King of France, the Cardinal and the Duke of Buckingham. I mean come on, a young King obsessed with the color of his clothes, a man of the cloth who can fence? (that’s sooo breaking class restrictions) & a Duke who actually did not even have to show up in the movie at all except then you couldn’t include his flying warships and of course, his wit as comic relief.

Realistically speaking though, flying warships would only be good far fighting OTHER flying warships

The cast to me were forgettable, many of whom are not big names in the industry with the exception of Milla Jovovich. I felt that there was far too much poker face jokes (as in the character says something with a poker face but the movie audience is supposed to laugh) that made the acting a little rigid. The action scenes however, were well executed and choreographed quite nicely with all the nice slo-mo action scenes and none of the fake “keel over after being slashed from three feet away” sort of fencing crap. Of note would be the epic battle between D’Artagnan and Rochefort on the rooftops which was downright brutal coupled with feats of dexterity, granted Rochefort deserved a more dignified end but the way he was bested was quite original in my books.

The Three Musketeers is a very colorful movie, the costume designs and backdrop décor was brightly colored and just shy of being overtly gaudy. The effects were not too bad really as I was fully absorbed by the air battles and Mission Impossible stunt moves by Milla Jovovich (it seems the only thing she does in the movie are Prince of Persia ones, i.e. sliding, abseiling & jumping through a corridor of razor sharp concealed wires.

She should be our new Tomb Raider

Verdict:
My wife enjoyed The Three Musketeers and I must admit that without my biasness towards the 1993 original, I would have enjoyed the movie as well. The plot is terribly thin, (except for when Athos chooses not to expose the Cardinal, which my wife couldn’t understand why, since most movies end up with the head criminal being exposed and suffering some terrible fate where his corpse ends up being unidentifiable) and full of illogical inconsistencies. However if you can bear up with history being looked at through the lens of the modern day telescope, I think there is good humor, cool fight scenes and hey, there’s Milla Jovovich if that’s your thing and there are far worse ways to spend 120 minutes of your life.

For me it was a good way to spend time with the wife but ultimately forgettable.

Food Review - Philippines

2011-10-24T00:58:00.005+08:00

8th of October 2011 (Saturday)

I went on a trip with my Senior Pastor to visit the FGT churches in Philippines recently. This was in conjunction with the anniversaries of both FGT Las Piñas & FGT Tondo. Having never been to any part of the Philippines, this was a relatively exciting trip for me and here’s the report on the various foods that we managed to try whilst we were there:

Location:
Max’s Restaurant

Type of Food:
Local Filipino cuisine, sweets and biscuits

On our first night we had dinner at a local fast food restaurant just around the corner from where we were staying called Max’s Restaurant. As the paper table mat implied, apparently it has been around since 1945 which coincidentally means it is as old as the United Nations itself.

Banana Ketchup tastes like bananas and is way sweeter

Max’s Restaurant serves local food but is a franchise, perhaps very much like our local version of The Chicken Rice Shop. For our meal we had the sinigang (meat in a *very* sour broth), kare-kare (oxtail in peanut sauce) and the restaurant’s most famous dish, fried chicken.

I enjoyed the sinigang although I think it might be a bit strong if you’re not into the ham choy soup back home ‘cos its probably 10x as strong. That’s the one in our square bowls scooped out from the pot on the right. I’m not a big fan of peanut sauce but the meat in the kare-kare was tender and nice.

Here’s a picture of the fried chicken, in all honesty this picture was taken the SECOND time we went to Max’s Restaurant because the first time around, by the time I whipped out my camera the fried chicken looked like this… …

… … … I guess it was just THAT good

For desserts, we had the infamous Halo-Halo! which is kinda like ice-kacang back home except it has got a whole slew of different ingredients such as mashed purple yam, caramel, custard, jackfruit, tapioca, red beans and ice-cream.

Thank goodness we took a picture before it was all gone

Verdict:
There were quite a number of things on the menu I haven’t tried yet but as it is I’d go back just to eat the same stuff again (except perhaps the kare-kare). The chicken in particular was amazing, the texture of the skin is dry and crunchy but the chicken meat within remains tender regardless of the part of the chicken you’re eating which feels like you’re eating a cross between a roasted and fried chicken. The sinigang was very addictive to be honest due to its sour nature and coupled with the overall ambience of a family restaurant, Max’s Restaurant was a very enjoyable dining experience indeed.

10th of October 2011 (Monday)

Monday morning saw Jimmy & me wandering the streets of Philippines looking for some local breakfast to consume. Guess where we ended up?

Location:
Jollibee

Type of Food:
Burgers, Fried Chicken, Fries, Finger Food, Desserts

Jollibee is one of the local fast food chains in Philippines, as the country did not impose any halal requirements we decided to go try out a local pork burger to see how it fares. I had the Champ set which comes with a pork burger, regular fries and a soft drink.

Yea it didn’t look like much to me either

To be honest, the meat patty was dry which kinda ruined the burger but hey at least the fries were great. I love fries that are not so fried and more mushed / mashed which was exactly what the fries were in this case. To compensate I ordered a sundae with caramel and chocolate chunky bits which was actually quite nice!

Okay so it doesn’t look nice but it sure was gooooood

Verdict:
The only take away from my experience at Jollibee is that I can now say that I’ve been to it.

Total Bill:
I think the total bill came up to about RM10 after converting which I guess is quite equivalent to local fast food prices in Malaysia.

Other Pictures:
Here are some of the other pictures I took whilst I was in Manila!

This is FGT Las Pinas’ new home

And this is FGT Tondo’s new home

Took a picture of this interesting machine, the oranges in the bin at the back of the machine go to the top (behind the empty bottles), go into the machine, which auto-peels and auto-squeezes very fresh orange juice

The building with a hole in the middle

For the cosplayers of Naruto!

We really wanted to try this but ran out of tummy space and time… Perhaps next time

Session #15 - Agricola & Through The Ages

2011-10-05T20:49:00.007+08:00

1st & 2nd of October (Saturday &Sunday)

Game(s) Played:
Agricola

Through The Ages

Player(s):
Milo
Nitsuj
Mo

Session #15 – Agricola
My sibs decided to buy me a boardgame for my birthday and I decided on Agricola! Agricola was probably one of the first few games I wanted to purchase but always held off because, well, what can be so great about farming? That and the fact that somehow it was just never in stock (I should have put two and two together at this point but hey, I was a newbie boardgamer then).

The whole bunch of us tried to drop by the local FLGS (yes BGC now has a physical store!) on Saturday morning but due to miscommunication the store would only be open in the afternoon. Da Panda and Mo had plans so Milo followed me again in the afternoon (I’m so never say die) and helped me break in Agricola by punching the bits and going “oooh” and “aaah” over the little animeeples and veggiemeeples. When it was all sorted out, we gave Agricola its first run by playing the family version (no minor improvements and no occupation cards).

Milo seemed to enjoy herself and mostly copied the things that I built. Unfortunately in Agricola it is better for you to be doing something that no one else is doing due to limited resources and actions. Nevertheless it was a good first game just to get the feel for it. I’ve never played the game before myself but knew it was one of those games that rewards Players for doing a little bit of everything. Our end scores were close but I ended up winning the first game, although we both lost some points for not full utilizing all the fields in our farmyard.

This is Milo’s farm, I didn’t notice that she had split her fields into two which is actually against the rules but what the heck

And this is my farm with all the animals I needed plus the extra cow living in my house. The animals really solved my food woes

Here’s the layout of the whole play area, it does occupy a fair bit of space now that I look at it

My favourite storage solution, which still requires me to cannibalize my Brink of War & Rebel vs Alliance boxes in other to be able to store everything. This game can come with a LOT of meeples

Results Of Game 1
Winna – Nitsuj (26 Points)
2nd – Milo (22 Points)

I played my next game with Mo the next day, looks like only Da Panda has been left out so far. This time I used the back of the board to teach Mo how to play the game (ingenious design idea) and we decided to play occupations and minor improvements form the E deck for starters. Mo took to Agricola easily by carefully maxing all the scoring elements, netting a full 43 points in his first game. This was mostly my fault for not challenging the start player position with him after he took it away from me as well as his minor improvement that doubles up pasture space. I played slightly better than I did the day before but ultimately didn’t block Mo enough to stop him bulldozing over me.

This was Mo’s farm with crap load of animals and a heck lot of grain to take the win

My farm was much sadder and I had to build a T-shaped pasture for my piggies because I didn’t want to lose points on unused space

I cannibalized this MAS blanket so that it’s easier to pick up the cards, I may end up using this as I don’t know where I can find a green poker mat big enough for my big games

Results Of Game 2
Winna – Mo (43 Points)
2nd – Nitsuj (29 Points)

Session #15 - Through The Ages
As a side note, I picked up Through The Ages using my birthday discount on opening day at OTK BGC, and got Mo (because this is more his cup of tea) to come over and give Through The Ages its first test run.

Needless to say he picked Moses as his great leader, and Through The Ages is now a big hit with him (hopefully not just because his name is one of the great leaders of the game) that we’re already planning our next session. As advised we played the simple game first to get a feel of the mechanics of the game, but I had to concede towards the end as I had to drive my father-in-law to the airport and a dinner appointment right after that. Well to sum it up Mo ended up having a tonne of resources (corruption would’ve killed him were it in effect) and my science was so low it was becoming really difficult to upgrade anything. This really whet our appetite for the game and we’re definitely going to try the full game next.

Results Of Game
Winna – Mo
2nd – Nitsuj (conceded)

Do look forward to the full review which will be coming up soon once I get a few more plays under my belt, especially for Agricola with its MTG library like decks of Occupations and Minor Improvements.

Movie Review: Nasi Lemak 2.0

2011-10-05T20:42:00.003+08:00

25th of September 2011 (Sunday)

Movie
Nasi Lemak 2.0

JR & I wanted to give the new MBO Cinema in Subang Parade a try and had to choose between Johnny English: Reborn &Nasi Lemak 2.0. As Nasi Lemak 2.0, had the earlier time slot we ended up watching it. Overall MBO was a comfortable experience although they had some technical issues such as poor labelling of the chairs (many patrons were confused by one row being AA and another being A plus you can’t see the seat numbers in the dark) and for the entire movie the projector was projecting about a handspan’s higher than the screen itself, cutting off the foreheads of most characters. It was not intolerable but was a niggling irritant nonetheless.

Storyline:
Nasi Lemak 2.0 is about the journey of a graduate in Chinese culinary arts from Mainland China to learn how to make nasi lemak and in the process, overcome his racism, ego and discover his identity as a Malaysian.

Cast/Production/Visual Effects: (not necessarily in that order)
I usually judge the cast of characters based on how memorable the on-screen characters are after I have come out from the cinema and I must say that despite having more than 15 characters with scripts, many characters are easily called to mind (even those who didn’t say anything in the movie or whose face couldn’t even be seen). I think this is primarily because each character represents something uniquely Malaysian, be it Malaysian traits, cultural trademarksand even Malaysian politics. It is a movie about us Malaysians and the ability to laugh at ourselves is probably the most crucial factor to enjoying this movie. Our small cinema was packed with the young and old and Malaysians of all races but the laughs were all equally loud at the quirky and zany scenes on screen.

I’m not an expert on production quality but I thought the camerawork was decent, the CG scenes typically too fake but the overall quality was suitable for a movie that’s just for laughs. The local scenery does help in the authenticity of the movie, I’ve heard of shows being filmed in completely different places from what is purported on screen, although I suppose you wouldn’t be able to tell from a generic house supposedly in Malacca, a hut by the riverside in … I forget where and a wooden house in a kampung in Johor.

Verdict:
Overall I really enjoyed the movie and wonder why we don’t have more good Malaysian made movies. It’s a real shame that Singapore makes funnier movies than us because I should think that Malaysians are a fairly funny lot who can do some crazy things plus I would think that we have a more relaxed attitude to life. Is it the inability to laugh at ourselves? Or are we so sensitive that every little thing seems to trigger lawsuits left, right and centre?

My recommendation is to watch it if you can still catch it. Malaysian movies are notoriously hard to find through legal channels (still looking for Kopitiam) once they’re out of cinema. Word of caution: For those who pale at even the sound of scary music, you might want to take a toilet break / close your eyes & ears / think of your happy place (or whatever it is you do) at the Malacca scene.

Food Review - S'mores

2011-10-05T20:34:00.005+08:00

24th of September 2011 (Saturday)

Location:
S’mores @ Bangsar South

Type of Food:
BBQ Seafood, Meats, Pasta, Local & Western Sides

I had been itching to try out the Saturday Night BBQ Buffet at S’mores @ Bangsar South ever since I read about it on the restaurant blackboard whilst having lunch with JR about 3 months ago. Alas our first opportunity (Mo’s birthday) was not to be due to the Bersih campaign, but this time, we finally managed to gorge ourselves for my birthday!

S’mores @ Bangsar South has all the trappings of the modern pub, high chairs with high tables, big bar counter, projection screen TV for football or other sports, lounge sofas and is air-conditioned inside but also has tables outside. If you’re having the BBQ Buffet, you will be seated outside as the buffet table is situated next to the BBQ area. Whilst this does detract from the overall enjoyment on warm evenings I suppose the setup makes sense, else you’d end up having groups of people constantly entering and exiting the restaurant.

You will want to make your reservations in advance if you want to try out the BBQ Buffet as it is RM20 cheaper costing only RM38 per adult instead of RM58 per adult (I forget the children’s prices). They should give you a call the day before the buffet to confirm your booking (no deposit required), but if they don’t you should give them a call instead, some Fridays can be pretty hectic for them.

The buffet is only on Saturday nights and begins at 7pm – 10pm. Having said that, the full plethora of food was finally served at close to 7:40pm, starting with the salads, pasta and some BBQ fish slices. The full buffet for the night we were there included soup, salads, pasta (cream with mushroom), fried rice (thumbs up), BBQ (lamb chop [thumbs up], fish slices, salmon steaks [thumbs up], squid, tuna slices [thumbs up], scallops [thumbs up], prawns, chicken), fresh oysters (thumbs up) and some other Asian dishes.

The soup was a cream based soup that was too watered down according to my father-in-law but I don’t think children would mind very much and the salads & pasta were standard fare. The fried rice however was a surprise hit with my sister-in-law and wife, which I unfortunately just didn’t have the stomach space to partake of. The following are the dishes I personally sampled:

I think this was JR’s plate

The lamb chops come in three different sauce seasonings, honey mustard, barbeque and something I didn’t try. Both the honey mustard and barbeque were very distinct in their tastes without overpowering the lamb’s juices plus there was no “lamb-y” smell which can sometimes ruin the whole meat. There was however quite a bit of fat on the lamb but I suppose if you don’t like it you can always cut it off and if you do, jolly good for you. If lamb is your poison, this could be your designated lamb buffet night because the chops were half the size of dinner plates and there seemed to be an endless supply of them.

The other big hit of the night for me was the BBQ seafood, particularly the salmon steaks (half-steaks actually) which I suppose depends on whether you’re a salmon person or not. But as a big salmon lover, I enjoyed this meat the most throughout the night. In many ways it tasted more like grilled salmon with the skin still crispy and the bits of fish fat not totally burnt away. Supply tended to be a little slower but I never had to wait more than a few minutes before I got enough to keep me happy for another round. The rest of the seafood was equally well done although the scallops were burnt fairly black but still edible. The last to arrive was actually the fresh oysters, which is just as well else I would have scarfed a full dozen of them and JR would have given me her “oyster = high cholesterol” look.

And as you can see, my plate only has lamb and fish. Yum yum.

Here’s a pic of the oysters MC took, I already had my quota but as you can notice, most of us were already done when the oysters finally came out

Drinks are not included with the buffet but you can order water for 80¢, a jug of ice lemon tea for RM15 and a jug of coke for RM10 which is fine since the restaurant has to make money from somewhere, the seven of us shared two jugs of coke and one jug of ice lemon tea which was quite alright.

Verdict:
As with all buffets, not everything was excellent and to be honest you can’t go very wrong with BBQ, but there were some things that were very yummy for me and the rest of the family which I have given a thumbs up above. The service was good and the best thing is that there always seemed to be supply of the thing you want when you walk up to the buffet table, otherwise the two kind gentleman holding the paint scrapers would be more than willing to immediately cook up your order. All in all, S’mores @ Bangsar South was a nice experience and a great way to spend my birthday this year.

Total Bill:
Buffet 7 persons – RM38 x 7 = RM266
Drinks (3 jugs) = RM35
Total = RM301 (no service charge / tax)

Session #14 - 7 Wonders & Troyes

2011-08-29T23:18:00.007+08:00

27th of August 2011 (Saturday)

Game(s) Played:
7 Wonders

Troyes

Player(s):
Milo
Mo
Nitsuj
Da Panda (only for Troyes)

Session #14 – 7 Wonders
Da Panda was running late from Klang so Milo, Mo & I started off with a round of 7 Wonders. I suggested we give the “B side” a try but apparently Milo wasn’t paying attention and used the “A side” instead. Maybe that’s the reason why she won… As yet, we haven’t played enough games to determine if the “A side” has a significant advantage over the other.

Milo picked up the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Mo got the Lighthouse of Alexandria whilst I picked up the Pyramids of Giza. Milo built up a tonne of resources which Mo & I took advantage of albeit for Mo at a much cheaper rate thanks to his Marketplace and East Trading Post (discounts to resource purchases). Nevertheless Milo amassed a whole sum of coin and with her resources, managed to build two Guild cards and all stages of her wonder. She overwhelmed with Military but didn’t touch Technology at all.

This is Milo’s winning tableau…

Mo was building up his resources but I think he noticed Milo’s abundance and switched to the Marketplace & Trading Post. He established some Military dominance toward the end but still couldn’t beat Milo. Technology was the main bulk of his points, I just couldn’t stop him and I realize it’s because we didn’t play the rotation rule right. We kept going clockwise for all three ages and Milo kept feeding him Technology cards.

I think another simple rule of thumb to teach new Players is that a set is always better than multiples… I’ve run the simulation and the converse is only true if you have six multiples (which I believe is impossible) then you should choose the multiple over the set

I went back to my old ways of over-relying on free cost upgrades and not having enough resources that others would pay me for or I could utilize for myself. Hence the three or four times I had to discard even though I wanted to build something. Surprisingly I managed to complete my wonder, although that used up all of my coin. I still managed a decent score from Civilian Structures and at least three multiples of the Writing Technology.

I know I had Military points… Not too sure where the heck they went

Results Of Game
Winna – Milo (56 Points)
2nd – Mo (52 Points)
3rd – Nitsuj (43 Points)

Session #14 – Troyes
This is my second play of Troyes, the first being with Mo in a 2-Player game about a month or so ago. Da Panda had arrived towards the 3rd Age of 7 Wonders& joined in for a 4-Player game of Troyes. To be honest, I must admit that I was very excited to put some plays into one of the most critically acclaimed games of 2010.

Milo & Da Panda were new to the game so I gave them a quick walkthrough, Da Panda seemed to be able to get most of the rules but Milo somehow found it difficult to grasp and was surprisingly a bit lost. Our initial set-up was as follows:

Milo – Neutral (Hugues de Payns – Rewards Influence)
Mo – Green (Henry I – Rewards Event Cards)
Da Panda – Orange (Thibaut II – Rewards Deniers)
Nitsuj – Blue (Le Florentin – Rewards Tradesman on Activity Cards)

Religious Activity Cards: The Priest, Confession, The Procession
Military Activity Cards: Chivalry, The Tax Collector, The Troubadour
Civil Activity Cards: The Miller, The Militia, The Journeyman

Event Cards: Interruption of Work, Migrant Workers, Theological Conflict, Civil War, Drought, Support

Naturally, Da Panda & Milo were very lost on their first turns. Troyes can be very daunting on your first play but I think as long as you are adaptable and maintain a balance between dice control, deniers inflow and influence balance, there should always be opportunities to score VPs.

Our game didn’t see many of the event cards being combated in the beginning, in fact we still had five event cards remaining at game end. I now realize that it’s a fairly good idea to combat event cards if you’re going to be the first or second Player next so that you can save your dice in the next round.

Milo got most of her points from event cards, building the Cathedral (she misinterpreted the rule here and thought you had to have two cubes on each row, one for each half of the table, in order to not be penalized at game end) and used her influence to make one big gain on The Troubadour by using up her influence. Milo didn’t spend a lot of her turns jostling for space on the Bishopric, Count’s Palace or City Hall and actually had only three Tradesmen in them at game end.

Mo who still proclaims that he doesn’t like this game (apparently due to high stress levels and complicatedness) didn’t fare so well in this round. He was very aggressive in fighting for spots at the Count’s Palace, I suspect that he wanted to utilize Chivalry to combat event cards but somehow it didn’t quite work out for him because Da Panda was just as aggro there. He tried to switch to a combo of The Priest & The Journeyman and was one of the first few to pass at round end in order to gain more Deniers for his combo. I think his only grouse was probably that he was the only Player to miss out on one of the rows at the Cathedral, largely due to the Migrant Workers event card.

Da Panda looked like she thoroughly enjoyed her game and actually thought that she had won. She basically covered everything from event cards, building the Cathedral, keeping her influence up, fought for placing in the Count’s Palace & City Hall and churned out big points from The Journeyman & The Troubadour.

I initially had a lot of dice, spending my end turns pushing out the Grey Neutral Player’s Tradesmen but wasn’t as aggressive as Da Panda & Mo for placing at the end. I also used a lot of influence to manipulate my dice initially and was usually the last to pass as I never passed up an opportunity to earn even a single VP (building the Cathedral was brilliant for me because Interruption of Work kept taking the blocks away allowing me to rebuild and earn the VP again). Having said that I think I would not have won had I not spent the last 2 rounds amassing points for secret characters. I pumped my influence, event cards & Tradesmen and it really paid off.

The final picture at game end

I think I know why Mo dislikes this game so much. I think it’s the perceived lack of control over any long term strategy you may have, whereby your good rolls can be “stolen” away from you, requiring you to plan each turn as it comes. I think turn order matters a lot in Troyes, during the turns where you’re the first/second Player, you should make the most of your good rolls although this is offset by the responsibility to combat event cards first. I think it’s the “make the best of what’s available on the board now” mechanic that he somehow can’t stand. I’m not too sure what Milo’s take on the game is but I think she feels Le Havre is a much better game (which she incidentally wanted to play, probably the next gaming session will be Le Havre centric). Thankfully Da Panda had good comments about the game, so it isn’t a total loss. It appears that Troyes may not get as many plays as I had hoped which is a bit of a shame because I think it is a really great game which I thoroughly enjoy for both the mechanics, the Player interaction and overall design. I suppose I can officially put up an advertisement for any gaming group in USJ looking to play Troyes this Raya?

Results Of Game
Winna – Nitsuj(53 Points)
2nd – Da Panda (49 Points)
3rd – Mo(33 Points)
4th – Milo (31 Points)

Review - Troyes

2011-08-29T22:57:00.013+08:00

28th of August 2011 (Sunday)

Game(s) Reviewed:
Troyes

Review – Troyes
This Game Is… …:
A Euro Boardgame on the French city of Troyes set in the medieval ages of 1200 AD (according to the rulebook). The rulebook also seems to indicate that Troyes is about building the Cathedral of Troyes, however building the Cathedral really only represents a smaller portion of what Troyes is all about.

Troyes is a real life city… I wonder if game designers should get a fee for promoting tourism in city-based themes

Like any good old-fashioned Euro, Troyes is about having the most Victory Points (VPs) at the end of 7 rounds (Editor’s Note: There seem to be a barrage of games that are played in 7 rounds these days, Ninjato, Belfort to quote a few & of course 7 Wonders’ association with the number 7).

The mystery of the number 7

The game caters for 2-4 Players with a Grey Neutral Player (somewhat unusual for Euros in my experience) in all 2-4 Player games. Troyes can take anywhere between 1-2 hours depending on the number of Players and Players’ experience levels. Most comments suggest that Troyes seems to be too short. I’m not 100% sure but longer games can be catered for by adding on event cards (which will be explained later).

I don’t have that much of a problem with game length though… I’d want more variety of cards. I’m sure an expansion will fix that

What Do You Get In The Box?
Troyes comes with a board (Editor’s Note: Yes! A board! My excitement is partially due to the fact that I’ve had a lot of card boardgames lately) depicting a top-down view of the fortified city of Troyes. It isn’t drop-dead gorgeous by any means but is reminiscent of art in the 1200s (where people have no muscle tone, are bald, bearded or both and have expressions that would make the cast of B-Grade zombie movies… A-Grade zombie movies have more expression than they do).

Ah…Aboardgame without a board is like Coke without sugar

Typical of a Euro Boardgame, it comes with the pre-requisite multitude of cubes, discs, coins, VP markers, cards (Event, Activity and Secret Character Cards) and of course, Meeples! (Editor’s Note: Again much excitement for my first game with Meeples!) What’s not typical of a Euro, is the inclusion of dice, all 24 of them in 4 different colours (at least they’re 6-sided dice,otherwise there’d be too much culture shock).

Euro + Ameritrash components = Troyes

How Is It Played?
At the start of each round, Players will receive a fixed income of 10 Deniers less the upkeep cost of having Tradesmen in the Bishopric & Count’s Palace. Each Player then takes one 6-sided die for each of the Tradesman they have in the Bishopric (white die), Count’s Palace (red die) & City Hall (yellow die) and rolls his collection of dice.

Starting from the first Player (rotates clockwise at the start of each subsequent round), the Player uses his dice and must fight at least one of the marauding barbarians outside the city of Troyes with the number of barbarians being determined by Event Cards. Once all the roving barbarians have been defeated, starting from the first Player, each Player can utilize 1-3 dice to perform an action from those listed below:
1. Utilize one of the Activity Cards [to gain coins / VPs / cubes (that manipulate your dice)]
2. Build the cathedral [to gain influence and VPs]
3. Combat Event Cards [to gain influence and VPs]
4. Put a Tradesman on the Bishopric, Count’s Palace or City Hall [to gain dice]
5. Go farming [to gain coins]
6. Pass [to gain coins]

Basically each Player totals up the value of the dice they have chosen to utilize and divides it by the factor indicated on the respective card to determine the number of bonuses gained. Each of the actions has its own slew of little rules which I won’t go into. What I will go into is the mechanics of the dice and how the mechanic works in Troyes.

The cool thing about Troyes is the ability to buy other Players’ dice. It works both as a screwage mechanic by “stealing” other Players’ good rolls as well as balancing out the bad and good rolls of all Players involved. The compensation mechanic is well designed but can be difficult for some Players to understand without a table of some sort, I’ve now made the table an essential part of my components for Troyes for easier reference. It basically looks like this:

Use \ Buy	1	2	3
1	$2	$4	$6
2	N/A	$8	$12
3	N/A	N/A	$18

Good rolls tend to be compensated at a higher amount as you would want to combine a high value die with other high value ones to maximize the return. There is however an argument that Players who consistently have good rolls will have an overwhelming advantage, but in my personal opinion this is only very obvious during rounds where the Player is the first / second Player whereby the Player utilizes the good rolls before any other Player can buy them, making it very advantageous for you to roll sixes during those rounds (if you can somehow achieve this feat, you shouldn’t be playing Troyes, but be at Genting Highlands).

Do dice games promote gambling?

Consistently poor rollers appear to make up the majority of us (that’s why casinos earn big bucks) but that’s where the influence mechanic comes in. Influence (tracked at the top of the board) as its name implies, allows you to influence your die rolls. Spending 1 influence allows you to re-roll any one die that is yours and spending 4 influence allows you to turn 1-3 dice onto their opposite face. So if you have the uncanny ability of rolling a lot of snake-eyes, rejoice for you will be the envy of other Players for the first time when playing Troyes.

Once all dice have been used or all Players have passed (gaining 2 Deniers and 1 more Denier for each time their turn comes round again but forfeiting all their subsequent turns until round end, a neat little mechanic), the round ends and a new round begins. Rinse and repeat until end of Round 6/5/4 (4/3/2 Players).

What I Think About The Game?
Gameplay:
At the heart of it, Troyes is truly an old style Euro boardgame with a new innovation of including dice as the petrol to fuel a Players’ actions each turn. To say that this has caused excitement amongst gaming circles is an understatement and actually seems to be a precursor to new innovative boardgames that challenge the conventions of genre labelling like Euro and Ameritrash. The excitement is well due and earned simply because the meshing of these two previously opposing genres simply works, very much like the alternate happy ending to Romeo & Juliet in uniting the Montagues& the Capulets.

The union of two great families

I absolutely enjoy the gameplay and how you need to balance your resources of dice, coins & influence to ensure you're always in optimum position to capitalize on a good opportunity then squeezing out whatever you can get from the remaining resources at the end of each round. Positioning yourself for the big kill then looting ALL the spoils is probably the rule of the day in Troyes. Plus the fact that there is always something to do (even passing is a strategic move to gain Deniers) and always a chance to come back into the game that has me hooked to each Player’s turn and constantly observing the changing landscape of dice.

To be objective, not everyone will turn cartwheels after playing Troyes. There are some who can’t get enough and feel the game is too short, others who feel that there will always be the disparity of high/low rollers when introducing dice, that the Secret Characters introduce an unneeded guessing mechanic which can be game changers right at the end and other concerns which are all valid. Whilst we are being objective, there is no infallible game but Troyes stands out as one which has achieved something unique and brings a whole new gaming experience to your table.

Quality:
Troyes’ components are of good quality with the appropriate thickness for chips and the gaming board. The Player colour choices are somewhat unusual, but I suspect that this is because red and yellow are already used for Military and Civic dice.The rulebook covers the game in great detail with example turns for each conceivable phase and action, it is rather thick but only because there are 4 translations all in one book.

Of course you can find other amusing uses for the components as well

If there are any complaints then it would probably be about the choice of artwork. Again this is a matter of personal taste, I personally feel that the artwork lends to the medieval age theme and is not frightfully ugly so it gets a pass in my books.

Affordability:
Price ÷ Recommended No. of Players ÷ [Game Length (hour) x No. Times Game is Played in a year]

A copy of Troyes is notoriously difficult to obtain. However the game, when it is available, retails for RM170 or so. Based on the affordability formula:

RM170 ÷ 4 Players ÷ [1.5 hours x 6 plays a year] = RM4.70 / hour of play / player

Yum!

All in all, Troyes is very affordable in my opinion. Considering that you’re getting a great game design and one of the best games released in 2010, the cost equivalent of a plate of Char KuayTeow (in Kuala Lumpur) is very worth it.

Is This Game For You?
Having played this with my gaming group and hearing comments from other parties, I’ve come to realize that Troyes is certainly not for everyone despite how great a game I feel Troyes is, particularly those who prefer to have more control over their ability to implement long term strategy or abhor too much Player interference (stealing dice is very much the equivalent of stealing another Player’s ability to take an action). Troyes is also fairly complicated and would definitely put off most newcomers to the hobby.

However if your group of Players thrive on the excitement of rolling dice (and still being able to manipulate the rolls), Player interaction, balancing a national budget of dice/coins/influence and amassing a bucket-load of VPs old school Euro style, Troyes is one of the few Euro games that manages to unite the Euro genre with dice successfully whilst maintaining an overall theme to create a game that keeps you riveted each turn with many possibilities, in Troyes, there are no bad actions or bad rolls, only how much you can squeeze out of one even if it’s a die with a one on it. If you like what you hear, then you have got to go reserve yourself a copy somewhere, somehow and pray that all the others who have reserved a copy get amnesia or something.

Troyes… … Is it a type of pizza?

Session #13 - Race For The Galaxy (Rebel vs Imperium)

2011-08-27T13:33:00.003+08:00

21st of August 2011 (Sunday)

Game(s) Played:
RFTG

Player(s):
Mo
Nitsuj

Session #8 – RFTG
[Game 1]
We decided to try the 2 Player Rebel vs Imperium variant suggested in the Rebel vs Imperium expansion rulebook. Basically one Player will start with the Rebel Cantina Start World and Rebel Alliance 6-Cost Development in hand whilst the other starts with the Imperium Warlord Start World &the Imperium Seat 6-Cost Development in hand.

Mo picked the Imperium to start but quickly regretted it looking at his starting hand. I don’t have a picture of his game end tableau, he insists on never immortalizing moments of his abysmal defeats, so I can’t really comment on his game except to say he spent a lot of it Exploring which I now come to see a pattern where spending more than 3 turns Exploring per game seems a precursor to defeat.

I put down Rebel Alliance very early in the game thanks to sold goods from Alpha Centauri and Mo’s incessant Exploring. Even so I just couldn’t build up the Military to launch an effective takeover of any of Mo’s Worlds. But through 1 Genes and 2 Alien Windfall Worlds, I managed to secure enough cards to place Pan Galactic Affluence (which gave me heck a lot of Prestige Points) and Galactic Imperium. Surprisingly the Military Power started coming in after placing Galactic Imperium which helped me at least launch my first successful takeover of Mo’s Alien Booby Trap World which gave me my third Alien World and one of the “Most Goals”.

My winning tableau… Mo swears revenge by saying he will get 79 points in the next game… Let’s take a look see

Results Of Game 1
Winna – Nitsuj (69 Points)
2nd – Mo (47 Points)

[Game 2]
And so Mo picks Imperium again and this was a brutal match. He farmed 6 Imperium cards, used Mining Conglomerate to farm cards through Production and all his other cards were Military giving him a nasty +12 to normal Military and +15 Military against Rebels. To top it off, he managed to place the Imperium Planet Buster (aka The Death Star) and proceeded to pound the living daylights out of at least 4 of my Military Worlds. He wrapped things up with an Alien Guardian (9 VPs).

Mo’s final winning tableau

I initially tried to match him Military for Military but just couldn’t keep ahead. I even had to use my Prestige Bonus to search for a World which luckily had some Military attached to it but just couldn’t even stay on par with him. At 4 Military Worlds I conceded that I would lose all of them and quickly turned to a Terraforming strategy with Golden Age Of Terraforming, Terraforming Engineers & Replicant Robots. With the big discounts on Settling and Retrofit & Salvage Inc giving me Development discounts, I managed to quickly pull ahead in terms of card numbers and 2x Consume my remaining turns.

Just wasn’t good enough

So yea, Mo got to within 1 point of his stated objective, but on overall scoring I still beat him 127 points – 125 points.

Results Of Game 2
Winna – Mo (78 Points)
2nd – Nitsuj (57 Points)

Session #12 - Race For The Galaxy (with all available expansions)

2011-08-13T21:28:00.009+08:00

13th of August 2011 (Saturday)

Game(s) Played:
RFTG

Player(s):
Mo
Nitsuj

Session #12 – RFTG
Since we had yet to give Rebel vs Imperium & The Brink Of Storm a try, I asked Mo to come over and work through the game mechanics with me. I had been reading the two rulebooks over the past couple of days and the wife who was wondering what had gotten me so engrossed summed it up with “It looks like gibberish”.

Yes, to her the rulebook looks like that

It is not gibberish per se, but RFTG’s rules and gameplay can be somewhat challenging to take in at first glance. Many times I realize that the wording is extremely precise and that we occasionally get things wrong because we translate with our gut & experience and not reading the rules word for word. And occasionally we miss out a rule E-N-T-I-R-E-L-Y, like how we have been always playing with ALL the goals in play... No wonder our scores are so ridiculously high.

So after explaining how a takeover & prestige works, we were off!

[Game 1]
Mo chose to start with Rebel Freedom Fighters which was a bloody good choice seeing as how he picked up the Rebel Cantina, 3 other Rebel Worlds and the Rebel Alliance as well! It was doom from the get go. I was itching to try takeovers and choose Uplift Mercenary Force (+1 Military for every Uplift World) alongside New Galactic Order but never stood a chance the minute he put Rebel Pact down (+2 / +1 defense for each Rebel Military World / Other Military World), a card that good should not have a measly cost of 1 is all I’m saying. He got an early lead in Prestige points and was Prestige Leader most of the time. We still tend to forget to resolve the Prestige Leader each turn though and we’re still not 100% sure how the durned Military Slide works, we just gave up when it became obvious that there was no way I was going to be able to takeover any of Mo’s planets.

I tried to scrounge up military power here and there, first through Imperium stuff and then through Uplift but only managed to place the Rebel Stronghold before the game ended. I spent way too many turns exploring without much effect. Card drawing is still a lot stronger through savings / selling goods.

Mo’s winning tableu

My losing tableu, hand sign courtesy of Mo

Results Of Game
Winna – Mo (74 Points) – His Rebel Alliance alone was worth 15 points!
2nd – Nitsuj (42 Points)

[Game 2]
Don’t remember Game 2 because Mo refused to take a picture of it because he L-O-S-T. So obviously, it doesn’t count.

EDIT:
Okay so Mo won, apparently no pictures were taken because he was not satisfied with his winning score. Sure boh.

[Game 3]
Mo lost again, so yes you guessed it! No pictures :( Thankfully, I do remember some details about what happened in Game 3.

I opened with Earth’s Lost Colony & Mo with Alien Research Team. Things just seemed to fall in place for me with Rare Goods Worlds and the Mining Conglomerate. Its a pretty hard to beat combo in my opinion especially when Mo was still exploring and only had his Start World in his tableu when I was already on to my 4th card in my tableu. And guess what? The Mining League showed up! But didn’t get played as I used my Prestige bonus to Consume x3 VP to end the game.

Mo did manage to come significantly close, primarily through the Alien Cornucopia (+1 Prestige for each Production World settled) which is seriously bent. If he had Terraforming Robots (which he was looking for) I think I would’ve lost the game.

Results Of Game
Winna – Nitsuj (42 Points)
2nd – Mo (39 Points)

Rebel vs Imperium & The Brink Of War certainly makes the game more interesting. I do however have to look into how exactly all those markers work and experience at least one takeover to fully understand the entire mechanic. We’ll probably try the Rebel vs Imperium variant next where each Player starts as either the Rebels or the Imperium. That and I’ve got to figure out a good shuffling technique now that the card deck has grown to like nearly 300 cards.

Session #11 - 7 Wonders & Citadels

2011-08-09T23:15:00.008+08:00

7th of August 2011 (Sunday)

Game(s) Played:
7 Wonders

Citadels

Player(s):
Da Panda
Milo
Nitsuj
Mo

Session #11 – 7 Wonders
Tee-pically, we started an hour late. Someone had to bathe, another person had to eat and others needed transport. Add that to the fact that most of us are now full time, hardcore employees of the economy, I feel our game sessions are getting shorter and shorter as most of us need to show up for work not acting like zombies the next morning. You hear that Playas!? Come on time dagnabbit!

Anee-way. We un-shrink wrapped my brand new copy of 7 Wonders together, truly it was a glorious moment (well, for me at least). Milo seemed to enjoy punching out the components whilst I fished out the cards that wouldn’t apply to the 4 Player game. Game explanation went by pretty quickly and I spent more time focusing on the usage of resources (which somehow confuses most new Players). I explain the concept using the idea of workshops / mines, whereby if you don’t have a resource, you can pay 2 coins to a neighbour who has that particular workshop / mine to rent it for one turn to produce the resource you want. This usually eliminates the normal wrong perceptions that resources are discarded when used or I can’t use that resource after another Player buys it from me.

The explanation for technology scoring always seems to fly over people’s heads and this round was no exception until Mo scored 18 points for technology then everyone sat up and paid attention. And we were off!

As usual, 7 Wonders is nearly impossible to report on because things move pretty fast and you only pay attention to yourself and your immediate neighbours to your left and right. Nevertheless, here’s an attempt at doing so:

[Game 1]
Milo and Mo were my neighbours for both rounds and very kindly provided me with all manner of raw materials which helped me build enough of a technological base to get free upgrades of high value civic (blue) buildings. Mo placed a lot of focus on military might and won most of his engagements, earning a solid 14 points and inadvertently scored 18 points through randomly building technological cards and the guild card that gives a free tech symbol. Da Panda played it simple by sapu-ing all the civic buildings, earning her 26 points in total whilst Milo did a little of everything but had forgotten (or didn’t listen to teaching session) on building her wonder for which she scored zero.

This is Da Panda’s Civilization

You can see the sudden increase in civic buildings here for Da Panda

Mo just before his technological boom which you can see... ...

Here. Right opposite my tableau

Milo enjoying her variety of colours. I believe she misunderstood technology sets to be different coloured card sets which probably gave rise to this multi-coloured civilization

Mo took this game with his military points, complete wonder plus high tech bonus.

Results Of Game
Winna – Mo (58 Points)
2nd – Nitsuj (45 Points)
3rd – Mel (42 Points)
Dead Last – Da Panda (41 Points)

[Game 2]
This round, I didn’t build any raw material buildings which I came to regret in the last three turns of the game. With everyone enthusiastic for technology cards, I just couldn’t establish a strong enough base to get free upgrades in Age II thereby spending the last three turns of Age III just discarding cards because I didn’t have enough money to build anything. There were a few times I gave up tech to boost military but it didn’t pay off in the end. I had to rely on civic buildings to get free upgrades and score some points there.

Mo went full on technology, earning a remarkable 31 points which constituted most of his score. Melody totally gave up on military and spread her scoring equally between civic buildings and technology cards. Da Panda stuck to her guns and kept scoring through civic buildings and an overpowering military force.

A funny thing happened during the game where Mo asked what does a card with three arrows mean and then the next turn having passed the card in his hand to Da Panda, she asks the exact same question and then... yes you guessed it, Milo asked the exact same question in the next turn! Sigh.

Milo with her “correct” technological sets

Da Panda with her winning Civilization. Tee-pically, only the winners civilizations were photographed

Da Panda took this game with her military points, complete wonder plus civic buildings.

Results Of Game
Winna – Da Panda (59 Points)
2nd – Mel (48 Points)
3rd – Mo (38 Points)
Dead Last – Nitsuj (36 Points)

A complete reversal of roles from the previous game. All in all, 7 Wonders was most enjoyable and we were actually prepared to go for one more but Da Panda suggested we play something else which prompted Milo to request for Citadels which she has been doing for some time now. I’m usually reluctant to play with 3 Players but since we had the full ensemble today, we put 7 Wonders away and opened up Citadels.

Session #11 – Citadels
Let me just say something before I start. Don’t play Citadels or anything that is slower after having played 7 Wonders. The pace feels like its slowed down to an absolute crawl because of the stark difference in speed.

[Game 1]
When you play Citadels with less than the full ensemble of characters, picking the Thief or Assassin is always a dicey affair because you may waste your ability choosing a character that was not picked in the current round. Granted the chances are slim but you don’t really want to waste your turn doing nothing with your character’s ability.

Having said that, the Assassin didn’t really get much play, being the character card that somehow got picked to be out-of-play each turn. Each time Da Panda became the King some of us shouted “Bersih! Bersih!” and obligingly I took the crown back each time... We’re just weird in that way. Mo must have gotten an unshuffled hand (tends to happen with my decks these days) as all his buildings were special buildings. I primarily focused on blue buildings first to protect myself from the Warlord’s destroying abilities then with a sufficient base capital expanded into building gold buildings. Da Panda used the Warlord & Magician to cruel effect on Milo who responded in kind by destroying two of Da Panda’s buildings. At the end I had too many high cost buildings to destroy and predictably chose the Architect for my final character because of one of my special building which gives me points for cards in hand.

Thankfully Da Panda picked up the Assassin that round because she was the only one who didn’t guess rightly that I had picked the Architect, enabling me to take the game.

We have yet to try the alternate characters provided by the Dark City expansion, think we will definitely do that in the next game.

Results Of Game
Winna – Nitsuj (34 Points)
2nd – Mo (30 Points)
3rd & 4th – Milo & Da Panda (23 Points)

Review - Citadels

2011-08-09T22:21:00.006+08:00

9th of August 2011 (Tuesday)

Game(s) Played:
Citadels

Review – Citadels
This Game Is… …:
Citadels is a role-choosing, building (role-playing means something else altogether) card game that is what one would call a “gateway game” in gaming circles. Basically gateway games are deemed to be introductory games to the world of serious boardgaming, the in-between of Monopoly and Caylus if you will.

In Citadels, Players are vying to have the highest points total at the game end which is usually when a Player builds his 8th building (or 7, the goal is adjustable based on your desired game length).

Citadels caters for between 3 – 7 Players and typically takes longer with more Players. Again you can shorten the game by adjusting the end game goal (No. of buildings) but most 4 Player games I have played take approximately an hour and I have heard of 7 Player games going on for more than 2 hours if competition is fierce.

What Do You Get In The Box?
The game comes with two decks of cards, the bulk of it will be the buildings deck that contains buildings with various types of costs. Buildings typically don’t provide any form of power-ups or bonuses unless they are special buildings with text to explain the buildings’ ability. The buildings do come in colours, namely red, green, blue, yellow and purple (special buildings). You also receive a set of character cards (8 unique characters, more if your set includes the expansion: Dark City) which I must say are rather… oddly illustrated.

You also receive gold tokens which you absolutely must count at the end of each game if you have lil’ ones about. These gold tokens look like lemon lozenges albeit a bit more booger coloured and tend to roll around if you’re not careful.

And finally, you receive a crown! Which turns out is just used to indicate whoever was the last person to take the role of the King (whose duties involve shuffling the character cards, dealing them out and calling the characters to take their actions in the prescribed order… so much for kingship).

How Is It Played?
Starting from the King, the Player chooses a character card secretly and places it face down in front of him and passes the remaining character cards to the next Player until all Players have chosen a character to use that character’s abilities for that particular round. Character abilities range between collecting more gold if you have buildings of a particular colour, assassinating another character so he does not take an action that turn, stealing another character’s gold, destroying another Player’s building, building more than one building in a turn and so on.

The King then calls out the character to take his action in this order:
Assassin, Thief, Magician, King, Bishop, Merchant, Architect and Warlord.

Each Player, when his character is called, gets to use his character’s ability, build 1 building by paying its cost in gold coins and choose between drawing more building cards or gaining 2 coins. Once all the Players have taken their turn, the round ends and a fresh round of role-choosing occurs until a Player builds his 8th building.

Scoring is relatively simple in that the cost of the building is also the amount you score at game end (there are some bonus points you can gain by having a building of each colour, being the first to build the 8th building and extra points from special building).

What I Think About The Game?
Gameplay:
In my opinion, Citadels is best played with the maximum 7 number of Players where there is a greater chance of the Assassin & Thief succeeding in assassinating a Player or stealing a Player’s gold. In this case, chaos certainly breeds excitement. Whilst Citadels may seem to be a simple game, there are many choices to be made, particularly during role-choosing. A typical mid-game in-brain scenario would be as follows:

Alright, let’s see now... ... ...

Your brain: Okay, I have some gold to build that next big building but I will have no reserves left. Should I choose the Merchant to get more gold from my green buildings to replenish my treasury?
Your brain: But wait! It is plain obvious that I will pick the Merchant because of all the green buildings I have. What if the thief steals all my gold before I can build? Should I pick the thief instead to prevent others from stealing from me?
Your brain: But if I pass the Assassin to the next Player he’ll guess that I’m the Thief and assassinate the Thief! To be safe, I should be the Magician instead. Nobody bothers with the Magician right?

The Assassin and Thief then purely out of spite, proceed to assassinate and steal from the Magician.

Success in Citadels seems to stem from a strategy to stay invisible / below the radar from other Players for as long as possible.

Citadels also has a high probability of “King Making”, a syndrome associated with games that more often than not, force other Players to decide who will win the game by denying one of two (or more) contending Players who are about to win the game. Hence it is unusual to have a runaway leader in a game of Citadels as Players would gang up on the leader until there are multiple contenders for the end game move, followed by the “King Making”. This on top of the AP in role-choosing, can make the game a touch longer than you would expect.

There’s also a movie called King Maker but I’m not too sure what language its in

For maximum enjoyment, Citadels should be played with Players who are selfish (won’t involve themselves in denying other Players too often), don’t mind making a mistake or two and are quick to choose a character to speed the game up.

Quality:
As I mentioned before the cards art is unique in its own way. I personally enjoy the art but based on personal experience the “darker” aspects of the art have turned away some girl gamers (including the wife) and parents of children who want to play the game. I think as a gateway game, some other considerations of a generally wider target market need to be taken into account. This includes the potential choking hazard of the gold coins.

However if you’re a regular gamer with no one silly enough to put booger coloured lozenges into their mouths living with you, the cards are of good quality, the coins do a great imitation of non-machine minted gold with its unevenness and I absolutely love the crown marker. It reminds me of the King in Katamari Damacy with the little crown on his head, now that game is a gateway game for everybody!

Three cheers for wacky games!

Affordability:
Price ÷ Recommended No. of Players ÷ [Game Length (hour) x No. Times Game is Played in a year]

My copy happens to be the version with localized rules translations by our very own Malaysian gamer, Hiew. BoardGameCafe (BGC), the official distributor for the localized version in West Malaysia, was distributing this at a promotion at the time but the normal retail price is RM85.

RM85 ÷ 4 Players ÷ [1 hour x 3 times a year] = RM7.10 / hour per Player

This seems a little steep but if you do manage to regularly play with more Players, the cost goes down incrementally to RM4.00 when you hit 7 Players, plus my plays per year would be lower than average. Still, RM7.10 is cheaper than Banana Leaf Rice which like Citadels, is something nice to savour once in a while for your health.

Makes me crave banana leaf rice already

Is This Game For You?
Citadels is gaining popularity amongst non-BGGs, I’ve had colleagues and friends who after finding out what I like to do in my spare time, inadvertently ask if I have played / own a copy of Citadels, having played or seen someone play it at a party or some other form of gathering previously.

I have this in my cupboard because it’s absolutely enjoyable and an easy game to teach and break out with non-gamers which in my circle of social friends is quite a fair number. If you foresee yourself hosting / attending small parties with… dare I say it “regular people”, where some entertainment would be nice, this game will most certainly fit the bill and probably would’ve already been played once by some of the people there. However, if you only play with your own group and they’re hardcore Starcraft, Twilight Imperium III, Power Grid sorta people, Citadels may not get that much playing time with you. I suspect it would be somewhat akin to getting a Le Havre junkie to play Stone Age.

Review - 7 Wonders

2011-08-09T22:06:00.011+08:00

9th of August 2011 (Tuesday)

Game(s) Played:
7 Wonders

Review – 7 Wonders
This Game Is… …:
7 Wonders is a game that needs no introduction to BGGs (Board Game Geeks) having gained massive popularity at the holy grail of all gaming events – Essen in 2010. 7 Wonders is a card game riding hard on the coat-tails of what I would call the “Age of Cardgames” whereby a slew of boardgames (i.e. Dominion, Thunderstone etc.) have been released where there is no “board” per se, instead using purely cards in a tableau.

The objective of 7 Wonders is to have the most VPs at the end of the game. The game is playable between 2 – 7 Players at an average play time of 45 minutes, approximately 15 minutes longer if your people are prone to AP.

What Do You Get In The Box?
As mentioned before, 7 Wonders is a card game and comes with 3 decks of cards each for the 3 different ages that take place during the course of the game. Unimaginatively, they’re called Age I, Age II & Age III.

I must mention the scoring booklet and its immense usefulness to quickly calculate end game scores (there are a total of 7 ways to earn points). Kudos to the creators / publishers for including this little gem in the game.

An already well used scorebook

There is also currency in 7 Wonders which is needed to purchase raw materials from other players. The economy of 7 Wonders is rather simple therefore the “coins” only come in denominations of 1 coin and 3 coin.

There are also markers called “Conflict Tokens” which basically indicate how triumphant you were in the inter-Player battles that only takes place at the end of each Age. Although it doesn’t seem to be a big deal in that you only battle against the Player sitting to your left & right and if you do lose, you just get a -1 Conflict Token (basically -1 VP at game end). So even if you lose all your battles, you only get a -6 VP disadvantage. More skirmishes than battles really.

Sorry, my photographer only took a picture of 1 coin and the -1 Conflict Tokens... I’m sure you can find nice pics on BGG

Lo and behold, you get a Player board! Don’t get me wrong, my collection seems to indicate that I have a thing for boardgames that are card games... (Dominion, RFTG, Bohnanza, Chronicle, Glory To Rome, Citadels, Bang and now 7 Wonders) but man do I love a good Player board! They each represent one of the 7 Wonders of the World that you are supposed to be building which are gloriously depicted and intricately drawn. Thumbs up for making the game more your money’s worth.

How Is It Played?
In 7 Wonders, each Player receives a starting hand of 7 cards, a Wonder that needs to be built (which conveys bonuses) and 3 coins. Each turn, all Players take a look at their cards, pick the best one that suits their strategy then either build the building (on the card) / discard the card (and collect 3 coins) / use the card to build 1 stage of their Wonder.

Once everyone has performed the above, they pass their entire hand of cards to the next Player and the cycle goes on until there are no cards left. Age I ends, insults and injuries are traded in the ensuing cries of war, then each Player is dealt 7 cards from the Age II deck and the new Age begins! Play till Age III and tally scores at end game. Salt (or in this case AP) to taste.

What I Think About The Game?
Gameplay:
If I were to put 7 Wonders in comparison with other card games, it has got two things going for it...

Its like playing ModNation Racers with cardsss... ...

Simultaneous Player turns – Seriously, there’s nothing that kills AP more than 2 – 6 other Players staring at you, having already taken their turn wondering why the heck is it so difficult to pick a single card from a diminishing hand. RFTG employs simultaneous turns as well which certainly speeds things along nicely.

You can’t macro manage this

Macro managing – 7 Wonders takes macro management to a whole new level. You still feel like you’re building a civilization with Civic Buildings, Technology Centres, Military Buildings, Resource Workshops & Commercial Hubs but you don’t have to worry about fiddly things like upkeep, corruption, happiness and taxes... the typical killjoys of civilization building. You simply look at your hand, choose a building, see if you have the resources to build it (or if its free because you built the pre-requisite building – another cool model) and if not, see if you neighbours generate such a resource and pay 2 coins for each one you buy from them. You never need worry about any Player beyond the one to your left and right and if you get a crappy hand, you can still earn coins from discarding or building up your Wonder for other great benefits.

However, no game is without its flaws. 7 Wonders’ speed can make people miss stuff, especially if you resolve each turn simultaneously. We’ve had situations where a Player mistakes the Trading Post’s ability to include Cloth, Papyrus & Glass and the Player receiving the coins doesn’t take a second glance and the game goes on. A certain degree of trust has to be developed among the Players (which is a whole other topic altogether) if you want to maintain the level of speed in this game.

I suppose once everyone can achieve that level of consistent speed, 7 Wonders is pretty much like speed demon civilization building lite.

Quality:
As I mentioned earlier, the art c’est vrairment magnifique although unless you own the game you may never end up having time to appreciate it seeing as how fast the game moves along.

I noticed that they’ve changed the coins from the previous editions’ wooden circle tokens (silver coloured for 1 coin and gold coloured for 3 coins). I find the current ones nicer although Da Panda asked why they’re so oddly shaped.

Having said that, I do have a standard complaint about the card sizes which are just non-standard for no good reason at all. Some people argue that having bigger cards = more glorious art. Hogwash. I would like to protect the non-contested glorious art but I can’t find sleeves that are the proper size for it. Particularly so when people tend to slide cards across the table when passing hands to the next Player (ouch ouch ouch) and the fact that you’ll probably be playing this two rounds in a row at the very least due to its short playing time.

I have also heard about how the Player boards do warp after an unspecified amount of time. As my copy is brand new, I have to wait and see to determine the degree of truth in this claim. It would be a crying shame if this were true though as I absolutely adore the Player boards.

Affordability:
The game retails at around RM180 if you can find it, it is still notoriously difficult to obtain a copy despite being released to the world in October 2010 which is nearly a year ago now.

Price ÷ Recommended No. of Players ÷ [Game Length (hour) x No. Times Game is Played in a year]

I think I will only play this with a minimum of 3 Players. Even last night we played 2 games in a row which took us 2 hours in total for our first two plays and three new Players. That would make my formula to be:

RM180 ÷ 3 Players ÷ [1 hour x 26 times a year] = RM2.30 / hour per Player

Can you buy this at RM2.30?

I’m not sure if I can even get nasi lemak for RM2.30 anymore. Maybe a plain nasi lemak I guess. Considering the gorgeousness of the art and the great game you can own, I would put 7 Wonders as one of the most affordable 7 Player games you could own.

Is This Game For You?
To be honest, I feel this game is for everybody. It is simple enough to understand (if you teach the resources and technology scoring bits very well) that new Players can pick it up immediately and has no Player elimination (unlike most 7 Player games). Even if you don’t regularly have 7 Players, the game is still extremely enjoyable with 4 Players or more.

There are those out there who are afraid that the hype has built up 7 Wonders into epic proportions that the game simply cannot live up to. The problem with the hype is the fact that the game is pretty much sold out everywhere, then I suppose you must ask yourself, why is it sold out everywhere? Go figure.

BGN in Puchong [Impressions #2 – Power Grid]

2011-07-14T19:34:00.009+08:00

13th of July 2011

Game(s) Played:
Power Grid

After the “roooo-lling” good times at Boardgame Night (BGN) in Puchong, I had to go back again for some more awesome gaming goodness. Coming to the event, I was actually looking forward to either a rematch of Olympus or trying out Cargo Noir and possibly Fresco if time permitted. This time I brought along Mo (who made us late :P) but we arrived just in time to start a six Player game of Power Grid.

Just as a side note, Power Grid has never made it onto my wishlist due to complexity and game length which I felt was too deep and too long for my gaming group after having read the rulebook (long live the Internet & BGG) plus on a personal note, vying to be the best Tenaga Nasional Berhad just didn’t seem to cut it for me. To put it simply, it will not be an easy thing for me to be able to find enough Players on a regular basis who are willing to invest time in Power Grid to justify the cost of purchasing it, and this is exactly where BGN in Puchong fits the bill! (Free advertising Kareem! :P) or any other reasonably sized meet-up you might have in your area.

Impressions – Power Grid
We started setting up the Japan map and you could sense the excitement in the eyes of Nick, John & Kareem but Nick and John decided to go back to basics with the Germany map as the expansion map included expansion rules which they were not familiar with. In hindsight this was probably a good choice because the Japan map looked really tight (kinda like how Peninsular Malaysia would look lying on its side) which would have really hampered area control.

So we picked our colours and began the process of building our little energy supplying empires. Power Grid can essentially be boiled down into three buy action phases (buy power plants / resources / homes) and one resolution phase (generate energy with resources in power plants to power homes… oh and charge $ for it). I think Power Grid is a busy game in that it has a lot of things going on during any turn. Buying power plants involves an auction mechanic whereby a Player having chosen to buy Power Plant A has to give the other Players an opportunity to bid for Power Plant A as well and the Power Plant eventually goes to the highest bidder. The Player who gets to choose a power plant first is also the Player who buys resources last which can be a bummer because resources operate on a demand scale where less supply = increase cost of resources. And you have to balance all this with buying houses otherwise there will be no one to bill and hence no income to be received. Buying houses is also an incremental cost as the map gets crowded and the cheaper areas are snapped up. In a simple nutshell, you’ve got to balance between improving your power plants (more efficient = less resources to power more houses) and expanding your customer base as these two are the biggest cost factors in expanding your empire. Technically you should start the game by swinging back and forth, improve plants to be able to power more houses then build the houses to generate more income until you reach a level where you can do both on the same turn. Having said that, money can be so tight at times that it feels like you’re trying to balance on a tight rope when you’re an elephant.

Like so…

For those of us from the Monopoly generation (which I think means everybody in existence) it is very similar to improving from houses to hotels and buying up more properties on the board to improve your revenue. The only difference is you receive rent for each of your properties every single turn! Now that’s a very novel idea/house-rule for Monopoly.

I started rather poorly having landed a Garbage Power Plant (means it uses garbage as its resource) and garbage costs twice more than coal / oil at the beginning of the game. Unfortunately for some reason or another I had this concept in my mind that by doing something different from everybody else I’d fare better as a new person to the game. This included me starting my empire in one of the more expensive locations on the board (doh!). Mo was the first to build another house having misunderstood his Coal Power Plant to say “Store 2 coal and 1 coal to power each house” as opposed to “Use 2 coal to power 1 house”. I believe I remember Nick to be the first to foray into Nuclear Power Plants but the rest of us were utilizing Coal / Oil Power Plants to power what few houses that we had. Based on Kareem’s comments I got the feeling that as a group we spent a tad too much time upgrading our power plants as opposed to expanding our customer base, this being the case particularly for Nick, Mo and myself.

As mentioned before money felt very, very tight to the extent that quoting our local Malaysian rock band “One Buck Short” happened a few times, and it’s amazing how each dollar does make a difference in the game. I got caught spending too much money upgrading my power plants but not having the money to build up my customer base to increase revenue. Mo got sandwiched between Samson and Daniel with Daniel actually making incursions into Mo’s area, stifling him somewhat. Unfortunately I don’t remember what everyone did (six Player games are terribly hard to track) but towards the last 15 minutes it was clear that Samson and John were rolling in the money and were more than capable to push the game to the finish line (which is 14 houses built and powered). Nick and Daniel were similarly pushing towards having 9-10 houses whilst I had just managed to turn myself around by having sufficient power to supply 14 houses but needed a whole 2 turns more to expand myself to 14 houses but by then it was too little too late and John took the win by having more money than Samson who tied him for 14 powered houses on the board. In closing John mentioned that by waiting another turn, he would have lost to Samson. I don’t remember the reason why but it was probably because Samson was very much resource independent because of two Wind Power Plants and John probably had to restock on resources if he hadn’t pushed for the finish line that round.

Closing comments:
Power Grid is an intricately designed game which made me feel as if I were playing in a real world economy where you have to balance growth, raw material prices, inventory levels and geographic expansion. To put it very plainly, Mo absolutely loves it and was quite frustrated that his strategy didn’t work. He actually had a very good start location and power plant but expanded just a turn too fast and that’s actually my frustration with the game itself. That sometimes it really can come down to that one single mistake that you made. In this respect it is very similar to Dungeon Lords where each mistake is very punishing. Nevertheless, Power Grid is a great game simply for its game design and replayability even without the expansion maps.

This is just a personal note but these days I’m more into looking for a fun & wacky gaming experience, probably because after a full day at work and the dan lain-lain day to day things I need to do, I just want to relax. So although I wouldn’t mind playing Power Grid anyday, I wouldn’t choose it over another fun game if it was available. It is very much like saying that on most days I would prefer to take out my guitar and just bang away to “The Lazy Song” as opposed to preparing and conducting a Philharmonic Orchestra. Yes, Power Grid like any other serious game does allow Players to try and psych each other out by being wacky and funny but guess what? Samson and John, the two most serious people at our table, were the ones who took the deserving win. Oh and on a very, very, very personal note… most people playing Power Grid succumb to using a calculator (that’s when you know that the end is nigh near), and I unfortunately already see enough of the calculator at office, thank you very much. I should really try Power Grid on a weekend to see if it makes that much of a difference.

Still it was another good round at BGN in Puchong. Only wished I could stay a little longer for Cargo Noir but I had curfew so good things will have to come for me who waits.

BGN in Puchong [Impressions #1 – Lord Of The Rings: The Confrontation, Lords Of Vegas & Olympus]

2011-07-01T06:24:00.009+08:00

29th of June 2011

Game(s) Played:
Lord Of The Rings: The Confrontation

Lords Of Vegas

Olympus

I was at the Boardgame Night organised by The League with Kareem as the main man. To put it bluntly it was awesome! I think there were at least 5 tables of gaming going on at one point with probably around 20-25 people gaming. The number could be higher as I believe some people left early and others came late. I was third to arrive and took Kareem’s place at a freshly set up board of Lord Of The Rings: The Confrontation opposite Nicolas as Kareem had to open the door for other arrivals.

Impressions – Lord Of The Rings: The Confrontation
I sat on the Fellowship side of the table and took a quick survey of the board. I had nine characters from the Fellowship mounted on gate-like tiles facing me (hidden from my opponent) and nine cards (five +Strength cards and four special abilities). Each character has an ability of its own although the abilities for the Fellowship side involved either retreating or instant kills against specific characters from the Sauron forces which is actually surprisingly true to the movie. To offset this, Fellowship characters are incredibly weak compared to the Sauron Side. The game plays like chess with spaces on the board and attacking a Player simply involves moving your character into a space occupied by an opponent character. The Fellowship’s objective is to get Frodo into Mordor whereas the Sauron Side wins if three characters enter The Shire or Frodo is killed.

Apparently we played with the Deluxe Edition which actually looks nicer. I totally agree with the portrait style characters as opposed to the landscape ones of the previous editions.

So we got off to probing start, initially just moving pieces on our side of the board. I decided to spark things off with Boromir (self-destruct ability) by running him through the Caves of Moria right smack dab into the Balrog (defeats all characters using the tunnel) resulting in a double KO. Nicolas then used his Cave Troll to tromp up the board but I took it out with a Noble Sacrifice (self destruct) card using Aragorn I think. The next few moves were all very fortunate for me. Gimli (insta-kill Orcs) ran into Orcs, and then Nicolas’ Witch King ran into Merry (insta-kill Witch King) and I used Gandalf to pick off the remaining characters until only the Black Rider and Flying Nazgul were left. By this point Nicolas knew where Frodo was and unfortunately Frodo had barely left the Shire on his journey to Mordor (the lazy bum) and with the Black Rider & Flying Nazgul (teleport abilities) he made short work of Frodo with no Aragorn to protect him. What an EPIC alternate ending for the Fellowship.

Closing comments:
What a way to relive the adventures of LOTR! It plays quite a lot like chess with quaffable potions although I personally feel the Fellowship strategy seems to be quite limited (prod with characters having the retreat ability then insta-kill with the right character whilst hiding Frodo). Nevertheless it was a quick round of good fun with a come from behind win for the Sauron side.

As the curtains closed on the unfortunate adventures of Frodo and his band of merry friends, the next table had just finished setting up Lords Of Vegas and I shuffled along to join them!

Impressions – Lords Of Vegas
I thought I had gone from a strategy game to a dice infested luck fest but boy was I wrong. Taking a quick look at the board I noticed that it actually looks like a spruced up Acquire board (strange as that may sound), depicting a top down view of grid-style city streets and empty lots with excel like references (A1, B2, C3) and so on. So at the start, each Player draws a card and takes ownership of the empty lot referenced on the card. The Player can then upgrade the empty lot into a casino (with colour of your choice too) which are important because casinos give you money when a card with the corresponding colour is drawn, casinos also give you VPs based on the size of your casino & ultimately you need to own casinos to merge, expand and takeover bigger casinos. The premise of the game is rather simple, just be the person with the most VPs when the end of game card is drawn (shuffled somewhere into the third quarter of the draw pile) OR you could aim for 90 points! which I think I was shy by another 10 points or so.

Okay so it was more like 30 points to the magic winning 90.

Don’t have pictures from the night itself yet but this is what a merger would look like just before it happens.

Play quickly commenced although there sure as heck was a lot of rules clarification (mostly with regards to mergers, takeovers and determining who’s the BOSS because only the BOSS gets VPs). Initially however it seemed quite a peaceful venture, everyone hugging their own casinos and not treading on anybody’s toes, I believe this is partly due to the fact that no one seemed to know how to even initiate a takeover. Kareem actually dropped by quite a number of times wondering why our table seemed so subdued. And then suddenly it happened! Chee Wei (really hope I got your name right) changed his casino colour to merge with Melchor’s two lot purple casino effectively becoming the BOSS because his casino was die 5 (the number on the dice is determined on the board but can be rerolled by paying $1m x number on the dice, incidentally also the amount of $ you get when the corresponding coloured casino card is drawn) and Melchor’s was both below 3 I believe. Seeing a grand opportunity (I had two separate casinos sitting on both sides of Chee Wei’s now size three casino), I swapped both my casinos to purple and now had a whopping size eight casino with me as the BOSS because I had a die 6! (cue evil laughter track)

It was at about this time that suddenly the race for mergers and takeovers took place. Jeanne literally built a size eight casino in a single turn using all her Elvis Presleys ($10m notes had Elvis printed on them). Chee Wei was evil laughtering all over the board and Melchor was somehow aiming for having casinos on the strip (lots connected to the main street running through the middle of the board) waiting for the card that says “Pay The Strip" garnering close to $40m in two turns I think. I got very, very lucky as purple cards came up after I had done my merger followed by brown cards when I changed my casino to brown! Players took huge risks of upwards of $20m just for a chance to reroll all the dice and become the BOSS. Needless to say our table was the noisiest of the bunch, what with all the excited screams of “ONE! ONE! SIX! SIX!" and cackles of evil laughter. Quite a number of people stopped by to ask what the game was about. I’m so sorry if we were a bit rude when we responded “PAY MONEY!!" and burst out laughing.

Look at Melchor's greedy face hehe.

Closing comments:
It did get a bit draggy towards the end, although Melchor & Jeanne suddenly caught up to Chee Wei, we were looking forward to the end game card being drawn because our game was already reaching the 120 minute mark which is double the stated playing time. There also aren’t that many things to do towards the end as the casino tiles start to run out and it becomes really expensive to reroll or change casino colour. A lot of other people have commented on the paper money and how poker chips would have been far more sensible and I agree. The fiddly-ness certainly bogged us down a little bit and maybe poker chips with Elvis stamped on them would have been better.

Lords Of Vegas has dice in it, a LOT of dice and therefore the reference to a game of luck makes natural sense. Let me put it this way, when I was playing Lords Of Vegas I felt as if I was about to take my seat at a table but I had two choices: I could either be the House or I could be the Player. At all times you do know what the odds are and it is not like RISK where the outcome (despite the overwhelming odds) are limited to you losing only two armies a roll, au contraire, the results of say a massive reroll of all dice to takeover the casino can result in change of BOSS, loss of VP points & loss of income. So you could say, build small value casinos, link them up together and do a massive reroll (now that you have more dice than the other Players) and based on probabilities you should get higher rolls than other Players OR you could try your luck and hope your single die roll is higher than another Players’ five or six dice.

This isn’t to say there is no luck involved, there is. After all when the odds of something happening are a million to one in a Discworld novel, you might as well fold your hand. I got pretty lucky when my major merger took place at a time when it was very, very expensive to conduct a reroll by other Players, letting me hold on to quite a significant lead plus the fact that actually 2 out of 4 of my lots were “squatter lots" (meaning I forcibly pay to occupy another empty lot and when that lot’s card is drawn, I have to vacate for the rightful owner) and that I held on to them until the end of the game. And yes there are times when your one die rolls a six against the odds of another eight dice (after all it’s a 1/6th chance of happening). But really those are far and few between, and if it really does happen, the one with overwhelming odds can reroll again if he has sufficient $.

Lords Of Vegas is brilliant and coupled with last night’s company who were really great people, this was definitely the highlight of the evening for me.

With 30 minutes to go until curfew, I decided to give Olympus a try having seen it in Scott Nicholson’s video sneak peek.

Impressions – Olympus
Olympus has a humongous board and with all five Player slots taken, we had to open up another table else it all wouldn’t fit. The size is a little on the wee side of ridiculous actually especially when the font size on the cards are so small such that Melchor and I literally played our game standing up.

Here's the photo evidence.

Anyways more on that later. Olympus is primarily a card based game reminiscent of 7 Wonders but with a turn order system that is more of a RFTG variant and an ability system somewhat like Hansa Teutonica (there may be more similar games but I can only draw from my limited experience so far). So Players take turns to lead by placing one of the meeples on one of the action slots available. The lead Player gets to choose to take the more powerful version of the action and anyone else who chooses to follow places a meeple on the less powerful version of the action. This is important because the subsequent Player who leads cannot choose the same action once it has been taken by another Player and if all the action slots are already taken, the Player has wasted his remaining meeples, so it’s a balance between holding out for the more powerful version and potentially wasting an action or taking the weaker action. Ultimately, Players are looking to score the highest VPs which is marked on a VP track (unlike other games there is no end game scoring so the winning Player can be seen at all times). VPs can be earned through buildings or upgrading your abilities to maximum and once four different abilities have been upgraded thusly (regardless of which Player has upgraded) the game comes to a screeching halt.

As usual buildings break the rules and mostly help Players upgrade their abilities and get goods but what’s most unusual is that each Player has an identical deck of building cards. In that sense each Player forges their own strategy and is only hampered by other Players through the actions that can be taken. There are special buildings that are laid out on the board available to the first Player to build them but strangely enough they were not as hot as I believe they were intended to be, partly due to the fact that we were all new to the game. Ethan (again I hope I got your name right) having come from the Cyclades table took advantage of all our hippy love-and-peace approaches to dominate us militarily. It was bad despite the fact that we played a rule wrong whereby the Player who wins a battle takes ONLY one good from the losing Player as opposed to the correct rule: the winning Player takes goods equal to the difference between his military might and the losing Player’s.

Closing comments:
Olympus has one the ridiculously biggest scoring tracks I’ve ever seen (told you that’d be more of this later). I think they could have probably made the board 75% of the size it is now but hey I’m the guy with the short upper body height who can’t see anything so maybe it’s just me.

Plus the board isn’t flat as well.

In anycase, I came away from Olympus feeling “meh", admittedly this could be because I had just come from a high stakes, high interaction game of Lords Of Vegas but I think it’s mostly because I felt rushed to make decisions. Unfortunately this game is AP heaven simply because all of us were not familiar with the buildings deck and had to go through them one by one, coupled with the late hour plus maximum Players, I think I didn’t really give Olympus the justice it deserves in this one play. Certainly looking forward to another round but I’d advise all would be Players to have a read of the building cards online beforehand.

Session Report #10 - Glory To Rome

2011-06-25T00:14:00.008+08:00

19th of June 2011 (Sunday)

Game(s) Played:
Glory To Rome

Player(s):
Nitsuj
Mo
Da Panda

Session #10 – Glory To Rome
Mo and I broke into Glory To Rome on our own in the afternoon as no one else from the group was available. Like RFTG, we explored the game together and quickly pointed out things that made sense and things that didn’t. I’m glad I’ve got someone like him to help break in a new game, especially one as deep as this one.

[Game 1]
We mostly focused on building whatever building we could build with the materials that were available. However we did get one rule wrong, we used the Legionary to demand for building materials that we didn’t already have in our hand. Intuitively I think we felt that one would usually demands for things one doesn’t already have but the rules clearly state otherwise. I sold a tonne of bricks which are worth 2 VPs each, however Mo sold a good mix of Marble and Stone (worth 3 VPs) to take the win.

A shot close to game end

Some of the buildings I built

Here you can see all the red bricks I sold

[Game 2 & 3]
Honestly my camera battery died after Game 1 and we played 6 games that day so I don’t remember what happened but I did take note of the score.

Results Of Games 1 – 3
[Game 1] Mo (59) – Nitsuj (50)
[Game 2] Mo (12) – Nitsuj (29)
[Game 3] Mo (37) – Nitsuj (19)

We then had dinner together with JR and Da Panda nearby, followed by another session of Glory To Rome with Da Panda joining us.

[Game 4]
This was the fastest game among the six that we played. Da Panda pulled a shocking sudden death when she put down a Catacombs (“Game ends immediately") and finished it through her already built Scriptorium (“Complete any building by adding one Marble to it"). At first we thought she had won but after taking into account the Statue (“+3 VPs") Mo and I built each, it was a tie to be decided by number of cards in hand which out of sheer luck, I won. Naturally Da Panda was extremely disappointed. Mo and I however were stunned that it had happened so quickly and that there was no real way to stop Da Panda.

[Game 5]
In this round, I was gathering building materials like madness with Laborers especially after building the Sewer (“Instead of discarding to the pool, turn your cards into building materials"), preparing to sell them but could not get a single Merchant. The ones that I played into the Pool where instantly snapped up before I could hire them. Da Panda had Merchants but refused to drop anything into the Pool and kept drawing until she had upwards of 20 cards in hand. Mo was happily pushing selling off materials. Although I managed to get the merchant bonus for Marble and Da Panda for Wood and Concrete, Mo took the win with his outrageous number of Stones.

Da Panda realised how important Merchants are and the next game was a full concentration on Merchants.

[Game 6]
I had built a Forum (“You win the game if you have hired all the six different roles as clientele") looking to try and fulfil the winning condition as I already had the Craftsman, Architect & Labourer. I put down a Prison (“Exchange Prison for another Player’s building") to swipe it for Moses’ Aqueduct (“You may hire Clientele from your hand" which he was abusing) and finally put down a Merchant. All I had to do was hire the Legionary and Patron but Mo ended the game by taking the last building site. The game ended in a double tie between Mo and me with no further tie-breaker. In hindsight giving Mo the extra 3 points was what caused the tie but I was going towards a Forum win whilst he was abusing the Aqueduct and selling a tonne of building materials.

Nobody wanted to put down either Merchants or Patrons for fear of someone else snapping them up. Manda somehow kept drawing cards most of the time because she was stuck being unable to complete her building because the cards in the Pool had dried up.

The game really slowed down for us because we house ruled to having only 1 building in progress at a time but amended it to 2 buildings at a time when it became a tad too slow. We did this because everyone was hogging building sites and not completing buildings leaving only one building site available so that the game wouldn’t end. Then the minute someone feels they are in the lead, they snap up the last building site to end the game. However after seeking expert advice from fellow BGGers on the forums, we will probably remove the limit at the next game and work around how to curb this phenomenon.

There were moments of AP but it was only a few times and to be honest I’m surprised we got Da Panda to play three games with us. Hopefully the game matures with us but before anything else, I’ve really got to get these things sleeved as soon as possible.

Results Of Games 4 – 6
[Game 4] Mo (10 / 6 Cards) – Nitsuj (10 / 9 Cards) – Da Panda (10 / 1 Card)
[Game 5] Mo (45) – Nitsuj (30) – Da Panda (20)
[Game 6] Mo (17 / 3 Cards) – Nitsuj (17 / 3 Cards) – Da Panda (10)

Review - Glory To Rome

2011-06-24T23:45:00.011+08:00

Review – Glory To Rome

This Game Is… …:
A card game about rebuilding Rome after the great fire of 64AD. Whilst the game’s theme appears to permeate through the mechanics of the game itself, during play I didn’t really feel as if I was a Roman Patrician rebuilding Rome to its glorious state or even feel like a Roman Patrician at all for that matter. And perhaps this is because I’m distracted by the depth of strategy required to play this game where even on the cover it says “The SERIOUSLY strategic strategy card game".

Glory To Rome is for 2 – 5 Players and is supposed to take 60 minutes to play. I say “supposed" because this game is an AP (Analysis Paralysis) trap, so try to encourage your fellow gamer along if he/she is prone to AP otherwise you may experience games taking 120 minutes. The box says that the game is playable by anyone above the age of 12, I think they should add about 6 years to that minimum age as this is a really difficult game to even just do well in let alone excel at.

What Do You Get In The Box?
Glory To Rome comes with a Rulebook, 193 Cards, 5 Player Mats & 1 Square “Rome Demands" Card.

It should be noted that Glory To Rome comes in a plastic box that could be mistaken for those takeaway sushi containers like this:

How Is It Played?
Whilst Glory To Rome is one those brain burning games, the turn order of the game is actually quite simple. On each turn, the Leader (after the first Leader is determined, the Leader role is passed to the next Player at the end of each turn) for that turn chooses to Lead or Think. All other Players simply choose to Think or Follow (whatever the Leader chooses to do).

Thinking is simply the act of replenishing your hand with cards from the draw pile in the centre. Or the Leader can choose to lead by playing a card from his hand and performing the role depicted on the card played. If so inclined, the other Players then can play a card with a similar role to Follow the Leader’s action. There are 6 different roles available in the game depicted by 6 different coloured cards:

Laborer (Yellow), Craftsman (Brown), Architect (Grey), Legionary (Red), Patron (Purple) and Merchant (Blue)

The roles allow the Player to perform an action and the roles are quite self explanatory really. The Laborer brings back building materials, the Craftsman and Architect both build buildings, the Legionary goes around demanding building materials, the Patron gets to employ skilled workers (called Clientele) from the 6 roles, so that on a given turn, you can execute more actions of the same role and the Merchant simply sells building materials.

Glory To Rome is a Victory Point (VP) game and Players earn these VPs by completing buildings and selling building materials. In a special twist, the more VPs a Player earns during the course of the game increases the Players’ limit on the number of Clientele he can have and the limit on number of building materials able to be sold. I haven’t seen anything like this in the Eurogames I’ve played so far and have been caught out by my fellow gamers a few times for trying to play above the limit by accident. But like any other Eurogame, the Player with the most VPs when the game ends (either the draw pile finishes or no more building sites are available) wins.

What I Think About The Game?
Gameplay:
If you have played RFTG then the roles and multiple use of cards mechanic should not be foreign to you. Otherwise there is a bit of a learning curve because a single card can be used as a role, a building material or a building and the building abilities break all the rules & conventions of the game itself.

The gameplay itself is intriguing although I do feel as if I’m still missing something. It’s a very similar feeling to when I first learned how to play RFTG and just couldn’t understand how to get a Produce / Consume engine going. I suspect this will be cured with more plays.

I should also highlight that the game will eventually come down to trying to get building combos. Once a Player familiarizes himself with most of the buildings’ abilities, it’s a matter of finding the killer combo and putting it into devastating play. In a way, this makes the game exciting if Players are on the same level of skill, anticipating and denying other Players each step of the way.

Quality:
Quality is a very hotly debated topic when it comes to how big a factor does it play in how good a particular boardgame is. Let me just share my opinion on the matter.

I like eye candy. I think boardgames should look good and last long because these are the items that will still be playable down the ages without any compatibility issues. I can still appreciate a game that plays great but may not appeal visually however I think in the increasingly competitive market, quality is something publishers & developers should not be stingy on. It’s hard enough to come up with a concept for a really great game and to have it be hampered by quality issues is just such a shame. Does a visually great looking game make a sub-par game better? Probably only by a little bit but let me say that I was asking my local FLGWS (Friendly Local Gaming Webstore) about Eminent Domain and Alien Frontiers before I even did my full thesis research on these games. What can I say? I like eye candy.

The art of Glory To Rome certainly won’t appeal to everybody. It is cartoonish and nearly every person’s honker depicted in the cards are larger than life, sort of reminiscent of Asterix the Gaul. But I can live with the art, whatever style it may be. It’s the mechanic of sliding stuff under your Player Mat that I have a problem with. You see, whenever you do something (i.e. complete a building, gather building materials, employ clientele, sell materials) you usually have to slide it under your Player Mat (it’s something of a trademark of the designer, Carl Chudyk which is also seen in his latest game, Innovation). Trying to do this without having to rearrange cards that are already slotted under your mat is actually harder than pulling a tablecloth out from under dishes.

There are some really innovative solutions to this problem which you can find on BGG but I think I will simply just sleeve my cards and laminate my Player Mats to solve all my problems. Even after six plays I can see the wear on my cards already.

Affordability:
I got Glory To Rome at about RM102. It’s an odd number because I picked it up in Singapore for SGD45.90 when the exchange rate was particularly high, but I did get a discount because it was an open box (cards still shrink wrapped) and to be honest this is a really hard game to find (my search took me approximately 18 months and to three different countries) so it was very satisfying to finally own a copy. But enough of my sentimental gushing, here’s the trusty old formula!

Price ÷ Recommended No. of Players ÷ [Game Length (hour) x No. Times Game is Played in a year]

RM102 ÷ 2 Players ÷ [1.5 hours x 12 times a year] = RM2.80 / hour per player

To be honest I didn’t realize that it would be this low. In fact my estimated times a year is probably off since we played 6 games (three 2 Player and three 3 Player games) in a single day on the first day I introduced it to the group. I think cybercafés still charge about RM2.50 / hour these days, so yes for the same amount of money you can play a deeply engaging and rich strategy game. I suppose Starcraft 2 qualifies as that as well.

Is This Game For You?
The definition of a person who will like Glory To Rome is going to be somewhat specific I’m afraid. First off, you have got to be okay with the art and the packaging. Yes, some people will bash you for being “superficial" but I am not one of those people. If you really cannot get over it, there is a very, very, very small light at the end of the tunnel. There is word (again it is just a word) that a reprint, complete with design makeover, is in the works. I have waited for this word to come true for 18 months but you may have more patience than I have.

Once you’re past that hurdle, the rest is easy peasy. If you love strategy, killer combos, eagle eye watching your opponents, breaking rules with special abilities and chaining a sick, sick move to take the win…… this is the game for you! Your only problem now is probably finding a copy to buy (I pulled the last one of the rack in Singapore) or play with (I personally only know of one other person who has a copy).

I must mention that some groups, including mine, have encountered this strange phenomenon called the “Dry Pool" whereby there is nothing in the Pool to gather building materials / hire clientele from because Players are so cautious they refuse to throw anything into the Pool OR they have acquired the dastardly powerful ability of gathering and hiring straight from their hand! This has really slowed the game down for us and whilst I think I have figured out a way past this problem whilst typing this review, I have yet to put it to the test. I shall refrain from commenting further on this strategy I have thought of, as the competition (i.e. fellow gaming group members) maybe reading this post.

But really if your group is like my group where at the end of our last game, one of the guys tells me, “I think I’ve discovered something and no I’m not sharing it with you, you’ll just have to find out at the next game" then you have got to pick this up. It turns all sorts of cogs and wheels inside your head playing Glory To Rome.

Session Report #9 - Bohnanza & Hansa Teutonica

2011-06-03T08:43:00.014+08:00

1st of June 2011 (Wednesday)

Game(s) Played:
Bohnanza

Hansa Teutonica

Player(s):
Da Panda
JR
Milo
Nitsuj
Mo

Session #9 – Bohnanza

It is said that all the heavens rejoice when one lost soul is saved, well we haven’t quite reached that stage yet as JR still gets a headache with games “that are not relaxing at all" (quote) but she joined us for Bohnanza today! Well… … baby steps are sometimes the way to go :)

[Game 1]
So I’m setting up a game of Bohnanza for 5 Players and as usual nobody wants to teach the newcomer how to play the game, for fear of divulging their “epic, oh-so-awesome strategies" (Sigh, Malaysians can be quite k-i-a-s-u as well). So I begin to teach JR the steps on each turn and what the cards mean and now all these people butt in with their advice here and there… … Okay I’m rambling so we’ll skip all that. Those who want to know how the game is played, go here.

We actually stuck to the rules this time around. The last time, we got so caught up in the trading atmosphere … …

Sometimes it does degenerate to such a chaotic, fun and hilarious state…

… … that we misplayed a rule and were actually trading cards that we had just traded (a.k.a. the Barter System):

Ahmed has a Cow (Green Bean) but wants a Donkey (Soy Bean)
Bala has an Elephant (Red Bean) but wants a Cow (Green Bean)
Chong has a Donkey (Soy Bean) but wants an Elephant (Red Bean)

So…
Chong gives his Donkey (Soy Bean) to Bala for the Elephant (Red Bean) – Chong’s happy
Bala now gives his new Donkey (Soy Bean) to Ahmed for the Cow (Green Bean) – Bala’s happy
And Ahmed who technically got his Donkey (Soy Bean) from Chong is also happy

Are games making us devolve? Blame Settlers of Catan!

So yea, we cheated but hey we did it in an intelligent way.

With the strict rule enforcement, we saw more occurrences of one of us Bean Farmers having to dig up perfectly good and planted beans for little to no profit and make way for some new breed of bean in the first card of our hand that we just couldn’t trade or even give away at the time. JR being new to the game found hand management a somewhat more difficult concept at first and you could tell when she was going to have to throw away her precious beans when she frowned and hesitated to plant her first card.

From the upper left heading anti-clockwise: JR, Milo, Nitsuj, Da Panda & Mo

I don’t really remember what happened to everybody else in detail but I know Manda was the last to get a 3rd Bean Field (thank goodness for photographs) [Edit: Okay, so she didn't get the 3rd Bean Field because she was thrifty, and innovated the idea behind not needing the 3rd Bean Field in play. I guess pictures don't really help sometimes.] I realized that with more Players, you need to start consolidating your beans once the deck is run through the first time because the second and third runs are much, much shorter as more players stock up on coins and the deck gets thinner & thinner.

[Results Of Game 1]
Winna – Nitsuj (15 Coins)
2nd – Mo (14 Coins)
3rd – Da Panda (12 Coins)
4th – Milo (10 Coins)
5th – JR (9 Coins)

I feel Bohnanza tends to be a close game with Players being only 1-2 Coins apart. I think this is a good thing especially for younger children where it is important that you don’t have a runaway leader and you will probably want to have another go… just like we did!

[Game 2]
I remember Game 2 better so here’s what happened. Joyce finally got a handle of trading with my side of the family and the 2 simple rules that apply:
1. If you have the advantage: Demand freebies, press for concessions then grumpily settle for a slightly unequal trade in your favour whilst grumbling about how you’re going to feed your hungry children (in that order)
2. If you don’t have the advantage: Mo goes back to rule no. 1, Milo quietly sneaks of the card she wants while you’re not paying attention & Da Panda begs hysterically saying nobody loves her… [Edit: Okay she doesn't beg hysterically, it just sounded like that when I was sitting next to her...]

Me? I use Jedi mind tricks.

So for some reason, JR, Da Panda and to a certain extent Milo had a tendency to plant the same beans at the same time. Mo and I had the same problems but managed to split the beans quite evenly between the both of us and harvest a roughly equal amount. Mo and I had an epiphany when Da Panda planted a Cocoa Bean and the other three Cocoa Beans had already been harvested by Milo and what turns to gold coins… stays as gold coins unless it’s used to buy a 3rd Bean Field, GASP! So Da Panda was stuck waiting for her miracle Cocoa Beans that didn’t come until Milo bought her 3rd Bean Field. Da Panda doesn’t believe us when we tell her that Boston is in US not UK so miracle Cocoa Beans are only a slight stretch of her imagination. [Edit: And yes in all fairness we didn't know what was in Da Panda's hand so it just looked like she was waiting for miracle Cocoa Beans and not hoarding Green Beans in her hand. My bad.]

Someone (I don’t remember who) [Edit: Da Panda has demanded credit so yes, its her great idea.] also brought up the concept of trading with both Bean Cards and accumulated Gold Coins. I must admit that it is indeed an intriguing idea and will experiment on it in our next game.

JR taught us something new by not going for her 3rd Bean Field, having good hand management and saving 3 Gold Coins to share the win for this round! I still lament that such a brilliant and adaptable mind is denied to the gaming community.

[Results Of Game 2]
Winna – Nitsuj & JR (15 Coins)
3rd – Mo (14 Coins)
4th – Da Panda (13 Coins)
5th – Milo (10 Coins)

Nitsuj: “Read them and weep folks, 15 Gold Coins!" After which… …

Mo & Da Panda decided to cry foul and demand a recount but the score still stands

Session #9 – Hansa Teutonica

Milo the social butterfly had to go partay-ing again and JR was calling it a night. So we were down to just Mo, Da Panda and myself for Hansa Teutonica.

[Game 1]
Mo & I being the boring people that we are stuck to our usual colours, red & purple respectively. Da Panda maybe decided fortune would favour her better if she picked a different colour chose yellow. Turn order was decided with a simple “lat ta li lat tam pom" and so Da Panda went first, followed by Mo then myself, which was a first for me as I’ve never gone last before.

Da Panda was quick to establish toll booths in the upper right side of the map, whilst Mo and I were still doing some upgrading and generally just blocking each other to death with the merchant.

Mo took the entire western corner through upgrading his Colour Ability and having links all the way to the other end of the board. He upgraded his Chain Bonus Ability to score big points at game end and scoured the board for a total of 6 bonus tokens.

Da Panda on the other hand didn’t really capitalize and consolidate on her position which was a shame really because nobody really stopped her. She had a six city chain and couldn’t push it further after running out of merchants (again) so she really needed to upgrade that ability and she should have pushed her chain bonus ability to get the maximum points for that.

I don’t know what hit me but I decided to try and put myself on the last three spots of the Coellen Table and I actually very nearly did if not for Mo deciding to push the game over. I realize now the mistake of such a strategy in that I would need to maximum upgrade three abilities: Colour, Merchant & Action, for the strategy to be successful and that I shouldn’t have done it when Mo was matching me every step of the way. As it is I very nearly finished upgrading all three abilities but just couldn’t get the few more turns I needed to do so.

In the end, Mo would maximum upgrade his Colour Ability

Manda would stay at three actions but managed to upgrade her Draw Ability

[Results Of Game]
Winna – Mo (57 Points)
2nd – Nitsuj (45 Points)
3rd – Da Panda (36 Points)

[Edit: Man, so demanding these people...]

Session Report #8 & Review - Bohnanza, Chronicle & Hansa Teutonica

2011-05-29T18:20:00.015+08:00

28th of May 2011 (Saturday)

Game(s) Played:
Bohnanza

Chronicle

Hansa Teutonica

Player(s):
Da Panda
Milo
Nitsuj
Mo

Review – Bohnanza
This Game Is… …:
A card game about planting, trading and harvesting beans for coins. The premise may be simple but there is a certain quirkiness, silliness and wackiness that just makes this game a happy, happy experience.

What Do You Get In The Box?

Bohnanza comes with a full coloured rulebook and 161 cards (7 Bean Fields & 154 varieties of Bean Cards). In all honesty it would appear that the box was made to fit the size of the rulebook rather than the size of the game itself, at least it does come with an insert tray (better than nothing I say).

How Is It Played?
Setup
Each Player is dealt 5 cards from the draw pile, Players are not allowed to shuffle or rearrange their hands and this is important to remember at all times. Each Player also has two imaginary Bean Fields (but seriously, how much more would it cost to just print another 14 Bean Field cards?) in which he is allowed to plant his beans.

Planting
On the Player’s turn, he must plant the first Bean Card in his hand on one of his Bean Fields. As all farmers worth their salt know, you can’t plant two different types of beans in the same field, and so the Player must plant his first Bean Card in either an empty Bean Field or a Bean Field with the same beans already planted. If all Bean Fields are full and no similar types of beans are available, he must harvest one of the Bean Fields and plant that first Bean Card in the newly harvested field. He then can choose to plant his second Bean Card if he so wishes with the same rules applying.

When harvesting a Bean Field, the player counts the number of cards he has of that bean type planted in his Bean Field. The Player then receives the indicated number of gold coins at the bottom of that card for the appropriate amount of beans harvested.

Trading
The Player then draws the top two cards from the draw pile and chooses whether he wants to keep any of the Bean Cards drawn this way. If not, the Bean Cards can be traded with any other player in any ratio agreeable between both Players. Trading is not limited to the two cards drawn but can include cards that are currently in the Player’s hand.

Once trading is complete, all Bean Cards that were traded for by all Players must be planted NOW. Again the planting rules will apply but the trading phase is very important for hand management as this is the only way to “rearrange" the turn order of the cards in your hand. Also a third Bean Field can be bought for 3 gold coins but a Player may only have a maximum of 3 Bean Fields in a game.

Draw
The Player finally replenishes his hand with three cards drawn from the draw pile.

Game End
The game ends when the deck has been drawn down three times and the Player with the most gold wins.

What I Think About The Game?
Gameplay:
The game is easy to learn for all ages as there is nothing to read but the name of the type of bean and is basically a matching game coupled with trading as there is a slew of bean types with different rarities giving matching rewards.

It plays between 2-7 Players but I suspect having 3-5 is the optimal amount, again I usually don’t have more or less than this number so I may never be able to confirm if 6-7 Players is a bad match for Bohnanza.

The gameplay finally hinges entirely on the trading aspect of the game but my gaming group takes to trading like women at the fish market so we played it 3 times on the first night the box was opened.

Quality:
The artwork is a play on the type of bean like the Red Bean is illustrated by a naked bean red with embarrassment or the Chilli Bean lighting up a cigar with lighter fluid. It is wacky, funny and interesting for children as well as adults and fits the theme very well.

The cards are normal card stock similar to the average poker card deck so be very careful not to bend anything.

Affordability:
Price ÷ Recommended No. of Players ÷ [Game Length (hour) x No. Times Game is Played in a year]

I got this as a gift for graduation, big yay for my cell members! So this section will be non-applicable for me. You will have to do your own calculations to determine affordability for yourselves, which you should anyways.

Is This Game For You?
I think this game is great for all ages and have plans to introduce it to some of the 7 – 11 year olds in my church to see how they take to it but my regular gaming group already loves it.

However in all fairness, I think it may not float so well with people who would calculate if it’s worth selling their grandmothers to win a game. The trading aspect may bring out the darker side of people you’ve never seen before and I think is actually best approached by a group that doesn’t give away freebies but at the same time is generous enough to extend a helping hand when another Player just needs to get rid of that irritating first card in their hand.

So if your gaming group is looking for a game that encourages loads and loads of interaction and you want something that you can use to spend time playing with the kids (to appease the wife), Bohnanza is THE game for you! Again stay away from this if all your gamers are Analysis Paralysis (AP) Specialists who need Qualified Statisticians & Supercomputers to weigh the risk and reward of each and every single trade that goes down, go play Hansa Teutonica or something.

Edit: Due to incessant badgering on Facebook, I have no choice but to edit my post to say that Milo won Bohnanza and then I won the last game of Bohnanza, in order to appease the masses. THERE ARE YOU HAPPY NOW???

Review – Chronicle
This Game Is… …:
A card game about using Characters from four different suits (Love, Wisdom, Power & Wild) to fulfil condition(s) as determined by a random History Card to earn Fame Points. The first player to earn 3 Fame Point (FP) tokens wins the game.

** I realize this summary is awfully vague but bear with me and I will endeavour to enlighten my readers.

What Do You Get In The Box?

Chronicle comes with a one sheet rulebook, 36 Character cards, 12 History cards and 15 FP tokens. I managed to stuff the FP tokens into the margins of the box (under the white parts) so the box still fits everything after punching.

How Is It Played?
There are two stacks of cards in the game, namely the History Cards & the Character Cards.

Character Cards
Character Cards are dealt out to each player until there are none left. Character Cards are divided into four suits as mentioned earlier: Love, Wisdom, Power & Wild. Each suit has the same 10 unique Characters, each with their own unique ability except the Wild suit which has 6 Characters not found in the other three suits.

With regards to the Characters from the Love, Wisdom & Power suits, each card tells you how strong it is (in the upper left corner of the card) ranging from 1 – 10 and what special ability it has at the bottom of the card.

This is a picture of the Captain from the Power suit, has 9 Strength & the ability to place a card from hand on the table as an ally

History Cards
The History Cards are shuffled and placed in the middle of the play area and the first card is turned over.

History Cards determine which Player starts the round and what the conditions are to earn a FP token at the end of the session.

A Time Of Darkness states that the Player with the Demon Character Card starts first and that Player(s) with an Evil (ability of Strength 1 Characters from Love, Wisdom & Power) ally earn one FP token

Starting A Round
As determined by the History Card, the starting Player can choose to place a card from any suit down as a played card. All subsequent players take turns to play a Character Card from the same suit as the first Player, if the Player is not able, he plays the Character Card turned face down (Exception: Wild Cards can be played regardless of whether the Player has a Character Card from the appropriate suit). When each Character Card is played face up, the Player must activate the Character Card’s ability if he is able.

Once each Player has played one Character Card from their hand, the round ends and the winner of that round is determined by the strength of the Character Card. The winner takes all the Character Cards played in that round and places them in front of him and they are now called “Allies". The winning Player then starts the next round with any card of his choice. Play continues until one Player runs out of Character Cards then the session ends and all Players who fulfil the condition(s) stated on the active History Card get to earn FP token(s).

First player to 3 FP tokens wins the game.

What I Think About The Game?
Gameplay:
The gameplay of Chronicle is somewhat similar to a local popular card game called “Chor Tai Ti" in that each round is led by the winning Player and game play ends with one Player running out of cards, who is declared the winner. The game takes this simple system and tosses in abilities, Wild Cards and specific winning conditions to twist the game on its head.

I’ve only played this game once so far with four Players and we were already able to identify how certain cards worked together, that some cards are more valuable as allies and others are more useful being in hand, that you need to watch what allies other Players have and the timing to play certain cards is very important. In that respect the game is somewhat intuitive even after the first round of play but I still found it somewhat difficult to control the outcome of the session, mostly because what you have to work with is simply what you get at the beginning of the session.

Quality:
I love the artwork on the History Cards, the artwork is similar to the Japanese Edo period style in muted colours which I felt was a great job done. I can’t say the same about the Character Cards but that’s just my personal “meh" for ukiyo-e style character portraits. The quality of the cards themselves are actually just a slight notch above your average pack of poker cards that you can pick up from 7-11, I guess the idea was to make the game as easy to shuffle as real like poker cards.

The FP tokens are functional and made of thick cardboard although I wished they could’ve used a different colour than brown. Black like the box cover would’ve great I think, however again these are all aesthetics.

Affordability:
Price ÷ Recommended No. of Players ÷ [Game Length (hour) x No. Times Game is Played in a year]

I got this as a gift for graduation, big yay for my cell members! So this section will be non-applicable for me. You will have to do your own calculations to determine affordability for yourselves, which you should anyways.

Is This Game For You?
We’ve had just one play of this game and my regular gamer comments, “This game is interesting" just before pulling off a devastating combo. It may sound complex but those of us familiar with “Chor Tai Ti" already have the game system half learnt by heart and the strategies are actually quite intuitive after 1-2 rounds of play. This probably one-ups “Chor Tai Ti" to another strategic level however… …

I do have some concerns about replayability simply because I suspect it may feel like you’re just going through the motions after a while, especially since the game simply boils down to managing the Characters given to you in order to achieve a desired condition. But as an occasional filler game or introduction game for those familiar with “Chor Tai Ti" to modern gaming, this could fill that hole in your gaming shelf.

My opinion is that if you have a group of between 3-4 regular players and are looking purely for a filler game for 20-30 minutes between long games, go ahead and pick this up.

Edit: Da Panda won this game of Chronicle. We all agree that it was due to sheer luck and had nothing to do with her whatsoever. As Mo says, she just held the cards.

Session #8 – Hansa Teutonica

Milo had already left for her partay-ing leaving just Da Panda, Mo & me to carry on. Suggestions for Le Havre were turned down because it was already quite late at night. I suggested Hansa Teutonica instead and Da Panda took blue, Mo took Red and I took Purple.

Mo quickly took an Action Upgrade to bring himself to 3 Actions. I quickly established a toll booth at the Action & Colour Upgrade Town instead. Seeing this Mo quickly established his toll booths between the Colour & Drawing Upgrade Towns and started to gain both VPs and Drawing Upgrades. Da Panda seemed lost at this point having largely forgotten how to play since the first & last time she played the game. Surprisingly however, Da Panda managed to get an Action Upgrade and place herself on the Coellen Table albeit only on the White Space.

Mo was running away with VPs but the game took a turn when I finally took control over the towns linking the Colour Upgrade and upgraded my entire colour scheme. I grabbed a Black Space on the Coellen Table and grabbed about 6 Bonus Markers which gave me additional actions and free upgrades as well. I then started creating my chain of towns and was largely unhampered because I was the only one with a fully upgraded colour scheme. Da Panda was trying to do the Around The World link but failed because she forgot she didn’t have any Merchants. Mo took the Orange Spot on the Coellen Table but was hampered by his VPs being so close to the game end and finally pushed himself over the edge to end the game.

Results Of Game
Winna – Nitsuj (68 Points)
2nd – Mo (40+ Points?)
3rd – Da Panda (30+ Points?)

This score is probably my best record to date and I think I see better the different ways you can approach the game so long as you are aware of what gives you points at the end of the game. Still one of the great fast games I own.

Session Report #7 + Review - Race For The Galaxy

2011-05-28T00:18:00.019+08:00

25th of May 2011 (Wednesday)

Game(s) Played:
Race For The Galaxy (RFTG)

Player(s):
Nitsuj
Mo

Mo had some time after assignments and came over looking to get back into his winning groove again after the Titan catastrophe. He picked RFTG which he has a historical winning ratio of 4 in 5 games and not being one to deny him such satisfaction, we got it on! But before that, here’s a review of what RFTG is all about:

Review
This Game Is… …:
About settling alien worlds with the help of technological developments after which world specific goods can be produced and consumed by the general populace. All these different activities of settling / developing / consuming do contribute to a Player’s victory points (VP) and the Player with the highest VP score at game end is the winner.

What Do You Get In The Box?
RFTG is a card game with four expansions to date. I only have the first expansion which is called “The Gathering Storm" so my review will only include the base game and this expansion.

The base set comes with 114 Game Cards (5 Start Worlds, 59 Worlds & 50 Developments) and 4 different coloured sets of Player Action Cards (7 Action Cards per Player). Apart from the cards, the base set also comes with 28 VP chips.

A picture of the Start Worlds, the other cards and some VP chips

The Gathering Storm (TGS) expansion comes with an additional 22 cards (4 Start Worlds, 10 Worlds & 8 Developments), 1 additional set of Player Action Cards (bringing the game from 4 Players to 5 Players) and an additional 9 VP chips. It also expands the game with an additional feature of 10 Goal Tiles as well as the following items: 1 Player Mat, 14 Counters & 2 Custom Dice for the Solitaire Game feature.

TGS’ Start Worlds, other cards and the extra VP chips

The 10 different Goal Tiles (4 “Most Goals" & 6 “First Goals")

And here’s a picture of everything you need for the Solitaire Game

How Is It Played?
Plotting At The Start
Each Player begins play with a randomly dealt Start World and 6 cards drawn from the Draw Pile which contains all the remaining cards. This is probably the most crucial part of the game where a Player ponders upon his course for the entire game. It has been said that the title of the game is very aptly named in that it really is a race. A Player who deviates from his original course is more than often likely to lose to a Player who does not.

Choosing Actions
Actions in RFTG are somewhat different in the sense that when a Player chooses to do a particular action, all other Players get to participate by taking that action as well. However, the Player that plays the initial action will get a bonus related to that action which the other Players will not. The 7 Player Actions cards comprise of the following:
[I. Explore +1 +1] – is a card drawing action where a Player draws 2 cards and chooses to keep 1 card. The Player with the bonus draws an additional 1 card and gets to keep an additional 1 card (Draw 3 Keep 2).

[I. Explore +5] – is similar except the bonus is that the Player draws an additional 5 cards (Draw 7 Keep 1). (Normally used if the Player is looking for a very specific card)

[II. Develop] – allows a Player to put down a Development. Bonus: Put down the Development at a discount of -1 to its cost.

[III. Settle] – allows a Player to put down a World. Bonus: Draw an additional card after settling a World.

[IV. Consume: Trade] – Players consume as many goods as they are able. Bonus: Sell one good to draw a specific number of cards (depending on the type of good).

[IV. Consume: 2x VPs] – Players consume as many goods as they are able. Bonus: All VPs gained through consumption of goods are doubled.

[V. Produce] – Players produce goods on all their Production Worlds. Bonus: Produce a good on a non-Production World (Windfall World).

Layout Of The Card
The game contains a whole host of abilities and concepts that are encapsulated and condensed into a single card through symbols. I felt by running through the layout of a card, I will inadvertently cover this unusual system that in all honesty is both what attracts people and turns off others at the same time.

Worlds
Worlds can broadly be divided into two categories, namely Military & Non-Military Worlds. Military Worlds need to be settled through military might which can be built up through Developments or other Worlds that give military power. Non-Military Worlds however are settled by paying the cost of the World indicated on the card by discarding the indicated amount (cost) of cards from the remaining cards from your hand. The VPs gained from settling the World are noted in the hexagon shape on the top left of the card.

Military Worlds are circled in red whereas Non-Military Worlds are black

Both Military & Non-Military Worlds can be further categorized into Production, Non-Production (Windfall) & Barren Worlds. Production Worlds produce specific goods during the Produce phase. Windfall Worlds as the name suggests immediately come with a good attached but do not produce goods during the Produce phase and Barren Worlds don’t produce anything at anytime.

Production & Windfall Worlds will be one of the following colours and will produce the corresponding goods (in order of value):
a. Alien Worlds – Yellow > Produces alien technologies

b. Gene Worlds – Green > Produce genes

c. Mining Worlds – Brown > Produces rare elements

d. Trade Worlds – Blue > Produces novelty goods

Developments
Developments are the cards with a diamond in the upper left part of the card. Its cost is written within the diamond and all Developments are paid for by discarding the required amount of cards from your hand. There is a special group of Developments which are called “6-Cost Developments" which can be interpreted as wonders of your space civilization. What’s so special about these Wonders are that the VPs you gain from developing these Wonders are always denoted with a “?" on the card because the value of the card usually depends on what other Worlds & Developments you have put in your Galactic Empire.

For example: The Merchant Guild is worth 2 VPs for every Production World you have in play

Developments come with abilities that give the Player bonuses that will be available during the Player Actions phase. These abilities are depicted in symbol form on the left side of the card and do indicate which Action phase the bonus would be effective. Once you’re used to the symbols, you realize the beauty of the system in condensing all these information into a single card and play usually speeds up as if Players had just made the discovery of warp drives. The following is a list of sample bonuses available to the Player:

[Phase I: Explore]
Abilities: Draw additional cards and / or keep additional cards

Expedition Force allows the Player to draw an additional card during the Explore phase

[Phase II: Development]
Abilities: Reduce the cost of Developments / Draw additional cards

Investment Credits reduces all Development costs by -1

[Phase III: Settle]
Abilities: Reduce the cost of settling Worlds / Increase military power / Draw additional cards

Replicant Robots reduces the cost of settling a World by -2

[Phase $: Trade]
Abilities: Draw additional cards for selling a good

Genetics Lab allows the Player to draw an additional card for selling a green good (Genes good)

[Phase IV: Consume]
Abilities: Consume produced goods for VPs and / or additional cards

Galactic Genome Project allows the Player to consume 2 Genes goods for 3 VPs

[Phase V: Produce]
Abilities: Produce on a Windfall World / Draw additional cards for goods produced

Research Labs enables the Player to draw an additional card for each alien technologies good produced

Achieving Goals Along The Way
Throughout the game, Players should be aware that there are certain goals that can be achieved which give a Player VPs, a new feature introduced by the TGS expansion. There are ten goals available in every game and comprise of 4 “Most" Goals and 6 “First Time" Goals as follows:

“Most" Goals:
These goals are held on to by the Player who has the most of the item depicted by the Goal Tile. Ties are settled by the Player who had the tied amount first and ownership of the Goal Tile only changes when it is clear another Player has the most of the required item. These “Most Goals" are worth 5 VPs at the end of the game.
1. Most Production Worlds (Minimum of 4)
2. Most Developments (Minimum of 4)
3. Most Military Might (Minimum of 6)
4. Most Mining and / or Trade Worlds (Minimum of 3)

“First Time" Goals:
These goals are non-transferable and are earned by the first Player to meet the specified goal. “First Time" Goals are worth 3 VPs at the end of the game.
1. First – 5 VP Chips
2. First – 6-Cost Development
3. First – Having one bonus ability for each phase
4. First – Need to discard down to 10 cards in hand at round end
5. First – One Production / Windfall World of each colour
6. First – 3 played cards with the word “Alien" in the card name

Game End & Scoring
The game can end in one of two ways:
– All the VP chips run out (VPs available at the start = 12 x Y [Y = No. of Players])
– A Player ends the round with 12 or more cards played in their Galactic Empire

At the end of the game, Players total up the VPs as denoted in the hexagonal boxes on the top left of the cards in their Galactic Empire and add up any VP chips and Goal Tiles they have accumulated to determine the winner. Ties are settled by the number of cards held in the Player’s hand with the more being the winner.

What I Think About The Game?
Gameplay:
I have heard comments that RFTG is not for the faint of heart and to a certain extent it is true. The symbols, Player action system, tight hand management and faster than normal gameplay make this game particularly difficult for new Players to grasp.

I liken the experience very much to learning how to play chess. It appears very daunting at first because you are trying to remember all the different movements of the different pieces let alone work out a strategy to win but once you get past the learning curve, the game opens up to you and you begin to ponder about what you’re doing and how you can take advantage of your opponent’s moves. Then before you know it, you’re playing speed chess and you’ve never had so much fun in your life.

RFTG’s gameplay is nothing like Dominion (thought I’d get it out of the way) but it is nevertheless a thoroughly satisfying experience each time I play it. There’s just something about building a Galactic Empire that can take advantage of all Action Phases and the thrill of bulldozing your way to the finishing line. I must say that I’ve never played RFTG with more than 3 Players and usually only 2 Players but I suspect that the experience will not vary too much with more.

Quality:
I sleeve all my card games and especially so with RFTG due to the shuffling of such a big deck of cards. I simply cannot imagine what it would be like to shuffle the base set and all its four expansions. If you have a special piece of machinery or method do share as I’m all out of ideas to get a well shuffled deck here.

The artwork and quality of the cards is not absolutely gorgeous but does manage to support the futuristic space exploration theme very well.

Affordability:
Price ÷ Recommended No. of Players ÷ [Game Length (hour) x No. Times Game is Played in a year]

I bought RFTG for about RM145 and its TGS expansion for RM105. I usually only play with Mo since he’s the only one who has learnt the system and is as experienced as I am, having learnt to play the game together. Games usually only take us about 30mins but we play 2-3 games in one sitting, usually after we have finished a long game with the others and we’re just winding down before calling it a night.

My result would be:
RM250 ÷ 2 Players ÷ [0.5 hours x (12 times a year x 2 game per time)] = RM10.42 / hour per player

This is roughly equivalent to the cost of a Regular Big Mac McValue Meal (for fear of violation of copyright laws you are treated to a picture of a cartoon burger instead), which is quite expensive really since it doesn’t take you an hour to consume a Big Mac, French Fries and a Cola. In comparison with another activity, the cost would roughly be equivalent to that of an hour of futsal.

This is partly due to the cost of the expansion really. If you take out the cost of TGS expansion, it actually comes down to just RM6.04 / RM4.03 (2 / 3 Players). For those with budgetary concerns or don’t find themselves converted to be a RFTG zealot, the game is really quite good with just the base set. The fact that you only get 1/5th the number of cards in the expansion compared to the base set would certainly be a cause for consideration and is certainly one of mine. Mo & I are actually very happy with just the one expansion and have no plans to purchase any of the other expansions in the near future.

Is This Game For You?
RFTG is truly a gem, but it’s more like the 1st issue comic of Star Trek, you have to be a fan of the theme, the system and the fastness to understand why Trekkies treat this as if they have discovered the Holy Grail. Like Einstein’s Theory of Relativity: e = mc2, RFTG has changed the gaming world for the better but not everyone understands what it really is about.

If your group feels they can enjoy strategy on steroids and are not daunted by the learning curve of the first 5-10 games, go ahead and pick up the base set and if you find yourself salivating for more, there are always 4 more expansions to slake your thirst. Something good to note about RFTG is that it’s a great travel game. You just need to bring the cards and keep track of your VPs through other means.

Session
[Game 1]
I started with Doomed World (which allows the Player to swap it with any Non-Military, Non-Alien World for free) whereas Mo started with New Sparta (which gives +2 Military).

This is the latest setup we employ by placing all the Goal Tiles on the left to always be aware of them

As you can see, shuffling can be a somewhat difficult activity

I started with a crappy hand that didn’t seem to lead down any particular avenue. I was hoping for a high cost Genes World and go green but I just kept Exploring hoping to get some good things to work with.

This is the latest setup we employ by placing all the Goal Tiles on the left to always be aware of them

About halfway through the game, I still had my Doomed World (very unusual) and a ragtag of cards that didn’t really work together. Mo had started to build his military might and I can see that he was building towards a finale of deploying New Galactic Order [which gives VP = military might at game end].

Nitsuj’s Game 1 – Galactic Empire

I finally caught my big break when I pulled Mining League, Mining Conglomerate & Mining Robots within two turns (again I suspect this happens due to the difficulty shuffling the deck) and finally threw down New Earth for Doomed World and I was playing the Produce / Consume: 2x VP phases to get 8 VPs each turn. The game was abruptly over within two turns.

Mo’s Game 1 – Galactic Empire

I’m not sure if Mo just couldn’t pull the right Military boosters (I discarded quite a number of Military Worlds during the game) or he decided to change to Novelty Worlds because he wanted to take advantage of my Produce / Consumer phases. In any case it turns out that I managed to beat him to the end, he was going to put down New Galactic Order on his next turn but we had already run out of VP chips.

[Results Of Game 1]
Mo – Nitsuj : 41 – 47

New Galactic Order would have given Mo an additional 7 VPs giving him the win. Note: Actually, now that I look closely, Mo doesn’t actually qualify for the “Most Military Power" Goal Tile as he only has 5 Military. So his edited score is:
Mo – Nitsuj : 36 – 47 (:P)

Maybe Mo should have stayed on course, or my lucky break was just a bit too lucky.

[Game 2]

Mo’s Game 2 – Galactic Empire

Mo started with Earth’s Lost Colony whilst I pulled Doomed World (again). I suspect Mo had Diversified Economy (which rewards Players for having multiple coloured Worlds) from the start because otherwise can’t justify why he chose rainbow coloured Worlds to settle and nothing with significant abilities as well.

Nitsuj’s Game 2 – Galactic Empire

I was not doing too well either but decided to push for early cards through Destroyed World and managed to pull Free Trade Association & Consumer Markets. From there it was just Novelty World after Novelty World plus the bonus of picking up Tourist World (swapped for Doomed World) and Expanding Colony. I never got to put down Consumer Markets because Mo had started to Produce / Consume: 2x VPs with his Diversified Economy and I didn’t have enough cards to place Consumer Markets.

[Results Of Game 2]
Mo – Nitsuj : 34 – 44

I think Mo took too long to place his Alien World simply because it was so expensive. Maybe he couldn’t find a cheaper one but I think that slowed the game down for him considerably. If he had gotten an Alien World earlier, he may have beaten me through VP chips but as they say, too little too late.

[Game 3]

Nitsuj’s Game 3 – Galactic Empire

I picked up Alpha Centauri whilst Mo picked up New Sparta (again). Strangely enough, I ended up playing Military as well as I had a whole bunch of Military Worlds and Space Marines in my start hand. The New Galactic Order was just the sweet icing on the cake but I did experience card shortage and spent a fair number of rounds Exploring for more cards. This shortage proved to be my undoing later.

Mo’s Game 3 – Galactic Empire

Mo had Export Duties (plus 1 card for good sold), Investment Credits (Developments cost -1) & Public Works (Draw 1 card when placing Development) which seem to be tiny bonuses but in reality gave him a huge card advantage over me and so he managed to end the game with 12 card in his Galactic Empire compared to my 9.

[Results Of Game 3]
Mo – Nitsuj : 35 (win) – 35

This is our first tied game ever in the history of our plays of RFTG and I had to check the rulebook on tiebreakers. As you can see from the end game pictures, Mo had more cards in hand than I did and took the final game.

Session Report #6 + Review - Hansa Teutonica

2011-05-23T18:48:00.014+08:00

17th of May 2011 (Tuesday)

Game(s) played:
Hansa Teutonica

Player(s):
Kenshin
LS
Anon (Note: Name hidden to protect anonymity until permission is given)
Nitsuj

It has been quite some time since I last met up with Kenshin & LS for a gaming session, the last time probably being at Anon’s place where we played Grass which was a long time ago.

I brought a slew of games with me but finally settled on Hansa Teutonica since they’ve never played this hidden gem before (That and anything that involves major screwage attracts Kenshin like Elmer Fudd to Bugs Bunny). So here’s my simple review of the game:

Edit: I spent some time writing this review and when I was approximately one paragraph away from my conclusion, I realize I had regurgitated the entire rulebook which I realize is not my intention. My purpose is to help you, in light of the rising inflation in Malaysia, make a choice as to whether this game is for you and your gaming group. So I went back and redid it again LOL

This game is… …:
About getting the highest number of victory points through:
- establishing toll booths (the game calls it “offices" but Malaysia toll booths seem more apt),
- controlling towns by having the most toll booths in a town,
- establishing a connecting chain of towns with your toll booths,
- having fully upgraded abilities,
- collecting bonus markers (that confer a onetime bonus), and
- placing on special bonus point track (called the “Coellen Table" in the game)

*gasp* *gasp* As you can see, it is so not possible to explain how the game can be won in a single breath, or even two breaths for that matter.

What do you get in the box?
1. An elaborate gameboard

This side is used if you have 2-3 players. The map is supposed to depict Lower Germany (according to the rulebook) or the coast of Northern Europe (according to good ol’ Wikipedia) where an alliance of merchant guilds dominated in trade way back in the 1300’s. On the flipside…

… you have the 4-5 players side which is actually very similar to the 2-4 players side with the exception of an additional two roads at two very key towns and the size of some towns are different. As a caution you really need to make sure that the surface of your play area is clean, clean, clean otherwise you might end up staining or scratching one side of your gameboard.

2. Five player boards

Player boards are differentiated by colour (blue, yellow, green, red and purple) and the quality of the artwork as well as the cardboard is excellent. Like the gameboard, the player boards are printed on both sides except that both sides of the player boards are identical so you can use either side.

3. Bonus markers, 16 to be exact

These bonus markers are collectible during the course of the game and can be used to confer a onetime bonus to the player. There are five different types of bonuses available, three are screwy in nature, one lets you level up one ability for free and one gives you more actions per turn.

4. 155 Coloured cubes (31 for each colour) & 1 special black cube

The game must of course come with cubes, lots of cubes… okay to be fair it comes with 135 cubes and 20 cylinders. Caution: As with all Euro games, keep an eye on your three year olds if they’re hanging around your play area. They might mistake the bits (especially the colourful cylinders) for vitamins and the worst could happen… Your significant other could ban Euro games from your home forever. The cubes (called ‘Traders’) & cylinders (called ‘Merchants’) serve two purposes:
i. As markers in building your connection between towns
ii. After completing the connection, they serve as markers to indicate you have a toll booth in the town to collect toll (victory points)

The black cube simply serves as a marker to indicate how close it is to the game end condition being fulfilled.

5. 1 Meeple and 4 soldier counters (2 player game only)

I won’t go into detail about the 2 player game option as I have only played it once. The 2 player game does work but in my opinion there is just one drawback that is you really need to play against someone who is quite as adept at the game as you are otherwise it’s a slaughter fest.

How is it played?
Hansa Teutonica is a game about options, lots of different options to gain victory points as seen from the listing above.

Here’s the gist of it. Each player starts with a number of Traders (depending on turn order) and a Merchant in hand with the remaining being in his supply. Note: Its awfully important to distinguish between Traders & Merchants that are in your hand and in your supply and here’s how I have done it:

In hand are those out of the plastic box whilst those in the box are the supply.

I have never seen how other people make this distinction but you can use your imagination to figure it out. For those interested in my solution, do check out this post.

The game system is similar to that of Fallout where you have Action Points which can increase as you upgrade them during the game. Each turn a player can take one action for each Action Point they have (replenished every turn) and basically try to establish toll booths at key locations around the map. This is done by placing their Traders / Merchants along the entire route between two towns and claiming the route to establish the toll booth. Once a route is claimed, all the Traders / Merchants placed on the route return to the player’s supply, leaving the route open for other players to claim and establish their toll booths to jockey for control of the town.

Only players who control the town have the privilege of collecting the toll (victory points) and control is determined firstly by number of toll booths, followed by the person with the rightmost toll booth if the number is tied. As the number of toll booth spaces for each town is limited, it is very much a first come first serve affair (although bonus markers can screw with this).

Players are allowed to move their pieces already on the board to reposition themselves, kick other players’ Traders / Merchants off a route by paying a penalty thereby thoroughly encouraging blocking other players’ completion of a route and just be a pain because they simply want to be.

As there are a host of ways to earn points in the game, players’ strategies often vary and can change during the gameplay itself. Rather than run through the many different paths to victory, I’ll talk about the strategies employed during the game with Kenshin, LS & Anon which I believe gives a good idea about what you can do during the game.

Play ends when a player gets 20 victory points during the game or the tenth town is fully occupied by toll booths (I have yet to see this happen in all the games I’ve played so far) then the end game points are awarded to determine the winner.

[Game 1]
I tried to work a few different strategies during the game to demonstrate the options available in the game to the group. I started out by quickly establishing offices in towns connected with the ability to upgrade the number of action points and upgrade the player’s ability to place toll booths in higher level town slots. As these are the two most upgraded abilities during the game, I got a head start through toll collection when other players used the route to upgrade their abilities.

I then increased the number of Traders / Merchants I could move around through upgrades and made a surprise move to gather my scattered pieces on the board and claim a place on the Coellen Table (or special bonus point track) which gives additional points at game end. This is usually a surprise move because if you do it in one turn, other players don’t have the opportunity to block you.

Kenshin rallied at this point by upgrading his ability to place toll booths in higher slots and taking control of the two towns of the route that allows him to upgrade his action points. By having control of both towns, he gained two victory points each time he completed the route and upgraded the number of actions points he had each turn. As this was quite late in the game, going head to head with him would inadvertently give him more points so I decided to get more end game points by collecting bonus markers scattered around the map.

Anon chose to upgrade abilities that were not contested by other players in order to get end game points for fully upgraded abilities. He however got stuck in difficult positions on the board and ended up contending with me to gather bonus markers on the board.

LS had seemingly no plan (to us at least) but ended up with a decent score simply because she gained points through having control over a fair number of towns that were seemingly strategically unimportant to us.

There was a point at the very end stage of the game when we realised that Kenshin was going to try and hit the Coellen Table (which gives a lot of points) and we discussed another strategy where seeing another player setup a big move towards the end, you claim a route with the purpose of giving him additional victory points to force him over the 20 victory point end game condition, depriving him of the big move.

[Results of Game 1]
Winna: Kenshin
2nd: Justin
*EDIT* (Apparently LS wasn't last... this is what happens when I don't take pictures and rely purely on memory)
3rd: LS
4th: Anon

They liked it enough (especially the fact that it only took 75 minutes for new players to finish a game) to want to go another round and this time was far more brutal:

[Game 2]
Kenshin quickly set up toll booths across the entire upper stretch of the board, seeking to gain victory points through the three upgrade towns and establishing a long chain of controlled towns which was largely successful although Anon did try to hamper his efforts in one corner of the map.

LS was aiming for being the first to establish a connection between the two biggest towns on the map (from far left to far right) which gives an additional 7 points but was also hampered by Anon splendidly.

Unfortunately Anon didn’t do as well because of his efforts spent to hamper two different players plus his attempt to place himself on the Coellen Table being screwed by me through the use of a bonus marker that removes Traders / Merchants from the board back to the player’s supply.

I quickly took control of the town with the upgrade ability for actions and upgraded myself to 5 action points. Following which I used my action point advantage to grab as many bonus markers as I could and took control of small towns (each controlled town is worth 2 points at game end). I was trying to establish a chain of towns but was hampered by my inability to place toll booths in higher level slots since that ability was neglected and not upgraded. Nevertheless this strategy was enough for me to take the game by 2 points ahead of Kenshin.

[Results of Game 2]
Winna: Justin
2nd: Kenshin
3rd: LS
4th: Anon

What I Think About The Game:
Gameplay:
Whilst the game allows for screwage, this is adjustable depending on how your group plays. I have seen some groups where roadblocks are set up, lines are drawn and name calling starts right from the get-go and other groups whose players simply adjust their strategies in order to continue to do what other players are not doing. And the game is good in both respects in the sense that the game does reward players who carve out an unassailable advantage for themselves over the corpses of other players as well as reward those who adopt a niche strategy by being unique. In essence, the game adopts the Roman idiom, “All roads lead to victory points" and this game tends to test your ability to take risks and see what other players can’t.

I would say that there is no luck in this game in the sense that random events are very, very rarely game changers. It is very much like a game of chess that involves more than 2 players and a four dimensional board.

Quality:
The quality of the game and player boards are top notch with no warping or discoloration (I’ve had my copy for six months now). The rulebook is well written so long as you read it carefully (it tends to be easy to forget the rules or it could just be me). As usual some of the cubes look like someone took a bite out of them and I had a missing black cube but after a quick e-mail to Z-Man Games, they sent the missing bits through snail mail.

Affordability:
My affordability formula kinda works like this:
Price ÷ Recommended No. of Players ÷ [Game Length (hour) x No. Times Game is Played in a year]

The game goes for between RM180 – RM200 and if your group varies between 3 to 5 people that’s probably the best meaning you’d get to use both sides of the board. I play this once every 1-2 months usually with 3 players and the occasional 4 players.

Therefore my result would be:
RM180 ÷ 3 players ÷ [1 hour x 8 times a year] = RM7.50 / hour per player

Which is a decent amount really considering if you play more than 8 times a year the figure goes down even further and may be cheaper than your hourly rate at the cyber café. I know games technically last a lifetime but most lose their lustre after a year. However I must say that even after 2 years of being published there is no other game on the market that is even closely similar to Hansa Teutonica so it may have an extended life in your library.

Is this the game for you?
As there are no issues (at least for me) in terms of quality and affordability, your choice basically comes down to the gameplay. Hansa Teutonica is an easy game to teach, however players must always have the end in mind when playing if they want to do well. I would say this is a game of medium strategy and would go well with gaming groups that like a game that requires some thinking, involves nearly zero luck and can be wrapped up in 60-90 minutes.

Session Report #5 - Titan

2011-05-15T17:56:00.020+08:00

14th of May 2011 (Saturday)

Game(s) played:
Titan

Player(s):
Mo
Nitsuj

Mo was feeling the itch to play a boardgame so he came over to my place. It was quite late into the night and I had to wake up early the next morning for church, so we decided on one game and Mo picked Titan to make it another Titan night, and what a night it was!

Game 1: Titan
Nitsuj:
Army 1: Titan, Ogre (2), Gargoyle
Army 2: Angel, Centaur (2), Gargoyle

Mo:
Army 1: Titan, Centaur (2), Gargoyle
Army 2: Angel, Ogre (2), Gargoyle

This is where I had just recruited my Ogre & Centaur

The game started extremely well for me where I managed to recruit a Warbear and a Minotaur on turn 2, having recruited both an additional Ogre and Centaur in Turn 1 and landing on the Woods and Hills respectively.

Followed by my Minotaur & Warbear... Mo was quite upset

It wasn’t long before my Minotaur army (Titan) managed to recruit Dragons, which is a historic milestone for my Titan set at least because it has never been accomplished before.

Woohoo, Dragons!

My Warbear army just couldn’t get to the centre circle but had the good fortune to grab a Unicorn and kept recruiting them through Woods & Hills terrain.

Mo was having a rough day although he had probably 3-5 more armies than I had. He got relegated to the outer fringes of the board although this resulted him in having a significantly powerful group of Jungle/Brush armies. Nevertheless he managed to get his Titan army to recruit a Giant (another historic milestone) and he was on the verge of recruiting another Giant (whilst planning his Jungle/Brush assault on my armies) when my Unicorn army struck him from behind in non-native terrain.

Mo just wanted to show off

I had absolutely no idea that it was his Titan army and we noticed that in the last three games of Titan we have played, the first engagement somehow involves either his or my Titan which I guess is a blessing in itself as even this round of Titan took 2 hours to complete, with only one battle taking place. It’s a good game, but it’s a long game.

Sneak Attack!

Nitsuj’s Army:
Angel, Unicorn (3), Warbear (2), Guardian

Mo’s Army:
Titan, Giant, Lion (2), Warbear

As we were both non-natives, none of our creatures could enter the Bogs in the Marsh, Mo decided on an ultra-defensive formation, choosing to corral his army between two chokepoints and use the Giant as a super range attacker whilst waiting for me to come in and dig him out. I guess he could afford to do that since I could not summon any Angels into the fray and since he’s a non-native, did not have a chance to recruit an additional creature in round 4.

My tactics were simple, just keep sending in creature after creature and rely on pure melee strength. Oddly enough, the dice favoured me to the extent that I took out both his Lions in the first turn courtesy of two Unicorns. Although Mo did manage to take down one Warbear and Unicorn in the subsequent rounds, the battle board looked something like this after that:

His Giant finally got taken down although it cost me dearly (2 Unicorns I believe) but his Titan was already damaged.

Mo was cursing the dice but somehow my fortune turned when my Angel came in to finish the job.

Needing only 2 dice of 6 to show 4/5/6, I only rolled 1, and Mo’s Titan lived to see another round. His Titan & my Angel double-KOed each other and that was the end of that.

Closing Thoughts:
I still love Titan, it has been a love for 17 years now but I think Mo is quite turned off about the luck-ish aspect of the dice. He thinks if you are one of those with the uncanny ability of rolling sixes, I think few Titan players would want to play against you and that’s probably true. I’m hoping Alien Frontiers and Troyes will change his mind about dice games but I can see where he’s coming from.

Once again, Titan was a tremendous experience, I loved every second of it and am looking at another variant called “Kings & Things” to see if that’s my flavour but also once again, I come away wishing I had enough time to reach the level where Colossi are recruited, Titan teleports change the game and ArchAngels make an appearance.

Note: See my thoughts on the game in my review from Session #4

Session Report #4 + Review - Le Havre & Titan

2011-05-04T00:19:00.034+08:00

30th of April 2011 (Saturday)

Game(s) played:
Le Havre

Titan

Player(s):
Da Panda
Mo
Nitsuj

Game 1: Le Havre
Da Panda had plans to watch a movie with other friends (family just ain’t good enough for her anymore) giving us only 90 minutes to play a game of Le Havre (which was Da Panda’s choice some more, I tell you some people). So we played the short version of the game and here’s the session report:

Da Panda went for her usual wood heavy strategy of using the Joinery & getting high point buildings. She grabbed wood early whenever she could and mostly used Francs to settle her food woes, only building two wooden ships after discovering for the first time that they provide food at the end of each round (… … … There is no appropriate comment I can give here). She hardly harvested any grain or cattle and then only in the last 5 rounds or so. Don’t really remember how she made her money but she did have quite a lot of it at game end. Think it was all that wood she fed into the joinery plus the legitimate move of stealing the Franc offer when Mo and I were not looking

I went for a shipping strategy and honestly, there must be something wrong with the way I do it because special buildings or no special buildings I just can’t seem to win with this strategy even though it’s supposedly recommended and even when I’m the only one implementing it. Knowing the game would be short on wood, I stocked up on bricks and iron to get the lead on the Shipping Line and two Iron Ships. Still need to figure out why shipping doesn’t work for me

Mo tried to pull off his usual stock up on cattle for food and steel for Luxury Liners but just couldn’t seem to pull it off resulting in frus-ness for him. He claims being last in turn order worked really badly against him although I think it was because I kept taking offers he wanted / entering buildings he wanted, being second in the turn order before him. Although he would’ve closed the gap significantly by building one Luxury Liner (he forgot about the final action at game end), it would’ve still left him in last place.

Results:
Winna - Da Panda (104 Points)

2nd – Nitsuj (103 Points)

Last – Mo (72 Points)

** Drat, need to work on the lighting since my cards are sleeved

Game 2: Titan
Da Panda had left after confirming that she was indeed the winner (winning by only 1 point makes everyone nervous and demand recounts… kinda like our by-elections). I suggested Titan to Mo, mainly because he’s the only person I know in Malaysia (so I don’t know that many people) who plays the game well and seriously, the latest edition is such a beautifully crafted game that I wanted to post pics of it on the blog. And for such great game that’s such good eye-candy, it doesn’t get much plays ‘cos Da Panda and Milo don’t know how to play it

My uncle owns an original Avalon Hill release and taught me and my brother to play since we were kids, this is probably the first non-Monopoly boardgame I was exposed to. We play a game once a year during Chinese New Year when we go back to Singapore to visit my grandmother and the experience gets better and better (although the game time gets longer and longer) and I’ve played countless games on the Java application “Colossus". Here’s a short write-up on what the game is about:

This game is…:
About amassing large armies of monsters which within hides each player’s Titan (a small juggernaut himself) which other players attempt to find and annihilate to remove that player from the game.

How is it played?
Each player starts with a handful tiles depicting low ranking creatures, an Angel and a Titan with which to form two starting armies (tiles stacked facedown). These armies move around the board in a very snakes-and-ladders style of movement (using dice and following arrows) and each movement hex on the board depicts different terrain.

Terrain works in two ways in the game, the first being that different terrains allow you to recruit different creatures. Recruitment is done via a ladder ranking approach (i.e. In the Jungle, 2 Gargoyles in your army allows you to recruit 1 Cyclops, 3 Cyclopes to recruit a Behemoth, 2 Behemoths to recruit a Serpent) with the monsters increasing in skill and hp the higher up the ladder they are. The second way terrain works is as the battleground of epic bashing and brawling between players. Naturally the terrain map of the battleground favours the local beasts that are native to that particular terrain. Battle is a literal dice fest to determine how many hits your creature deals to another creature and taking turns to move & attack, move & attack.

As you go around bashing other armies, looking for that hidden Titan of your opponent, you gain points (exp if you will) for armies you conquer and this exp makes your Titan stronger (levelling up) and gives you Angels / Archangels each time you level up.

Let new players be warned that there are other rules concerning movement, army size, recruitment and a TONNE of rules concerning resolving battles (i.e. movement, penalties, range & melee attacks, turn phases etc.) that makes the game very difficult to play without an experienced player to show you the ropes.

[Nitsuj vs Mo] Game Start 00:00
I tend to favour having my Titan in a jungle group so I start with Army 1: Titan, Cyclops (2), Troll / Army 2: Angel, Lion (2), Troll. I’m pretty sure Mo starts with Army 1: Titan, Troll (2), Cyclops / Army 2: Angel, Lion (2), Cyclops.

Notable recruitments
Mo gets a Griffon early followed by a series of Minotaurs from his forays into the mountains and a Unicorn which ends up in his Titan army. He also manages to get a Warbear from the Tundra but that goes unused until game end

I grab an early Guardian and Behemoth which go into my Titan army. I managed to grab a late Griffon which also went unused and a whole army of Rangers which didn’t manage to terrorise anyone unfortunately

[1st Encounter] Approx. 00:45
My Titan army comes into contact with one of Mo’s castoff armies containing some Trolls. He naturally concedes the battle (conceding is an automatic loss with the victor not taking any casualties but only yields half exp to the victor) but not before getting to take a look at my army and discovering that it was my Titan army (honestly, I forgot about that rule but would’ve attacked him anyway because that army was just in my way).

[2nd Encounter] Approx. 01:00
His Minotaur-ish plus one Unicorn and some Rangers army descends from the mountains and decides to attack my Titan army (also because it was in the way) revealing to me that his Titan is part of the group! An epic final battle ensues! (If a player’s Angel / Titan is involved, they cannot concede and must do battle)

Mo’s army: Titan, Ranger (2), Unicorn, Griffon, Minotaur (2)
Nitsuj’s army: Titan, Behemoth (2), Gorgon (2), Guardian

I try to use the terrain to my advantage by hiding my Behemoths in the brush, giving them an extra skill level when attacked, protecting my Titan’s flank. Mo naturally goes for the Gorgons for two reasons: (1) Gorgons are native to the brush terrain allowing me to recruit an additional Gorgon into battle should any of my Gorgons survive until round four (2) Gorgons being my weakest creatures were easy prey for him as his requirement to summon an Angel into battle is to kill any one creature of mine.

He took down one Gorgon in short order although I take the Griffon in return. Battle goes on with Mo making significantly better dice rolls than me and Mo using range striking (attacking with no counter-attacks from your opponent) to good effect. I take his Unicorn, Angel and Ranger but lose all but my one Behemoth. He corners my Titan with two full strength Minotaurs and it was over before I knew it.

[Results] 01:30
Winna – Mo
Loser – Nitsuj

What I Think About This Game:
Once again I lose this game to Mo, probably because he has a much more devious and cunning mind than me. But as you can see from the time stamp (I put them there for a reason), Titan is a very, very long game. Each battle can take anywhere between 30 – 60 mins making anything more than a two player game a game with very significant downtime. If I have a gripe with the game, this is the biggest one. I also have a tendency to roll my dice poorly so if you tend to lose games of RISK due to just crappy dice rolling as opposed to tactical blunders, this may not be the game for you.

But if you have patience, good memory, willing to spend a whole night on one single game and just love the notion of Giants vs Dragons vs Hydras vs Serpents (You know like when Jiraiya summons Gamabunta, Tsunade summons Katsuyu and Orochimaru summons Manda), you will be rewarded with a game of surprisingly deep strategy and epic battle savagery in this package. That it looks really good is just the cheesy sauce on your wedges, it doesn’t have to be there but it just doesn’t feel the same anymore without it.

Session Report #3 - Dungeon Lords

2011-04-18T15:53:00.020+08:00

14th of April 2011 (Thursday)

Game(s) played:
Dungeon Lords

Player(s):
Da Panda
Milo
Mo
Nitsuj

As I was going to be out of town for the weekend, the “sibs" (my siblings gaming group) requested for a night of late gaming in order to scratch the itch. After twelve facebook comments later, we decided on Citadels and Dungeon Lords (much to the dark mutterings of Milo who has never played Dungeon Lords… What can I say, we’re a competitive bunch of crazies who play to win the facebook bragging post).

Da Panda arrived late (as usual) and after a round of heckling by the ever loving siblings we decided to open the night with Dungeon Lords straight up. Nitsuj (me) spent some minutes explaining each phase to Milo with the occasional add-ins from the other players (Da Panda: “Aiyo once you play you will know" & Mo: “… … …"). And we were off!

During Year 1:

Da Panda seemed to be moving towards a “More Production Rooms, More Resources" strategy, I think it was because she was caught unawares by the Pay Day & Tax events. At the end of the year, she had a sizable amount of resources, 1-2 traps, 1 Slime & 2 Witches (I think?) and no blood tokens.

Mo took a “More Titles, More Points" strategy (which I should have realized earlier), keeping pace with Da Panda by trying to always have “just that one more" tunnel, imp, room & resource whilst keeping the Paladin off his back. At the end of the year, he similarly had a sizable amount of resources, no traps (I think), 3-4 monsters and no blood tokens.

Milo adopted a “Follow The Advice Of Others" strategy. Although we didn’t really help her with choosing actions, Milo is a natural gamer for some reason and was never that far behind. At the end of the year, she had very little food & gold, 2 traps, 1 Slime & 1 Ogre and no blood tokens (!).

I went for “Give Me Big Powerful Monsters" and having a dungeon that would survive Pay Day & Tax (we didn’t play with the other Event Cards, as Milo is a new player) mainly to bash the Pallys and gain an extra 10 points. In hindsight, I should have monitored my evil-ness and let the Pally wreck havoc in Mo’s dungeon but c’est la vie. I think I played the worst 1st year as I was the only one to get shut out once in the action phase and I lost a monster in Pay Day due to lack of food. At the end of the year, I had no food & 1 token of gold, 1 trap, 2 Vampires & 1 Witch and no blood tokens (although it was a close thing).

Battle Scenes:
Da Panda
Round 1
In the midst of a production room (I forget which), the heroes entered the dungeon led by a typical Warrior archetype (muscles and no brains) and got instantly turned into a chicken by a passing Witch who felt slightly peckish. The remaining 2 Wizards failed their initiative roll (upon discovering that their tank is now pecking worms in the dirt) and the defending Slime activated its alternative powers of elephant glue preventing the room from being taken over by the Hero Party.

Round 2
Breaking themselves out of the Slime glue, the Wizards took a look around and seeing no one in sight, Wizard no. 1 took one step and performed a failed bunshin no jutsu (ninja cloning technique) when a swinging guillotine happened to be in the way. Wizard no. 2, showing admirable dexterity, jumped backwards and trod on another Witch’s brand new Prada slip-ons and immediately got turned into … another pair of brand new Prada slip-ons.

Combat Summary
Rooms Conquered: 0
Heroes Captured: 3

Mo
To be honest, I don’t really remember what he used but I remember that at the end…

Combat Summary
Rooms Conquered: 1
Heroes Captured: 3

Milo
I don’t really remember either… Except that she had thieves in her party which prevented the traps from being played.

Combat Summary
Rooms Conquered: 2
Heroes Captured: 3

Nitsuj
Round 1
The party of adventurers were being led by the Paladin, an annoying armoured do-gooder from the realms beneath the sun, and the party rampaged past the first tunnel unhindered with the lead Paladin taking some damage when the Wizard miscanted the last syllable of his “Light" spell and set the Paladin’s hair on fire instead.

Round 2
The party came upon a startled Witch in the “imp mating room", who also miscanted the last syllable of her “Grease" spell and jet forth a fountain of petroleum instead. Overtaken by his fanatical fervour to smite the evil witch, the Paladin charges forgetting that his hair is on fire, result? Kaboom. Getting up from being thrown to the floor, the remaining party of heroes took stock of themselves and realized that one of their number is missing. All the thief remembered seeing was a swish of a dark cloak and the white of the eyes of the Wizard before the Paladin became a mini supernova.

Round 3
With extreme apprehension, the remaining two adventurers approached the exit of the room. The leading Warrior realizing his torch was running low, started to ask the thief for the spare, only to discover that he now stood alone in the dank musty corridor.

Round 4
As the last remaining hero inched his way to the end of the dungeon, his mind melting from the increasing pressure and fear reducing him to a mindless, gibbering fool… albeit a very rich, mindless, gibbering fool who looted the dungeon and survived.

Combat Summary
Rooms Conquered: 4
Heroes Captured: 1 Paladin & 2 Heroes

During Year 2:
Da Panda picks up more traps and an additional dragon, further expanding her dungeon and yet surviving the Pay Day and Tax events. In hindsight she should’ve picked up more point scoring rooms but at this point it looked like Da Panda would remain in the lead. At the end of the year, she had a sizable amount of resources, 1-2 traps, 1 Dragon, 1 Slime & 2 Witches and no blood tokens.

Mo matches Da Panda tunnel for tunnel and imp for imp to stay in the lead for titles and manages to amass more resources whilst picking up additional traps and a golem along the way. At the end of the year, he had a huge bundle of resources, no traps, 4-5 monsters and no blood tokens.

Milo attracted to the muscle power picks up the Demon the minute it shows up, giving up her Slime to attract it to her dungeon. At the end of the year, she had very little food & gold, 1-2 traps, 1 Demon, 1 Witch & 1 Ogre and no blood tokens.

Nitsuj went for both the Demon and the Golem whilst expanding his decimated dungeon, balancing between the need for expansion to gain wealth and having to pay land tax to the Ministry of Dungeons to prevent gaining any blood tokens. At the end of the year, I had very little resources, 1 trap, 1 Demon, 1 Golem, 2 Vampires & 1 Witch and no blood tokens.

Battle Scenes:
Da Panda
Round 1
Big and brawny, the lead warrior steps onto a false floor and fall into a pit of spikes. Not dead yet, he looks up only to see the evil glint in the eyes of a 7 foot dragon before its flaming breath washes over him cooking him to a tender meatiness. The wizard, a coward by nature, tries to sneak out the back way and fails to notice the Witch and her new slip-ons… Poof! Thereby further expanding her collection of footwear.

Round 2
The healer, realizing his doom, attempts to pray a teleport spell to whisk him back to his order’s temple. Just as he’s about to incant the final incantation, he turns to ice and is frozen forever in time by the Wild Magic of another Witch who discovered the wonders of refrigeration.

Combat Summary
Rooms Conquered: 0
Heroes Captured: 3 Heroes

Mo
Again for some strange reason I don’t remember what happened in Mo’s phase (I guess I monitor those not so familiar with the game more to make sure everything’s going well).

Combat Summary
Rooms Conquered: 3
Heroes Captured: 3 Heroes

Milo
I don’t remember Milo’s either, but I know the Demon made short work of the leading warrior and the Ogre bashed the wizard’s head in so hard it showed up as a 4 on the seismograph. The remaining hero managed to ransack a few rooms before succumbing to hunger and thirst and expiring on the floor.

Combat Summary
Rooms Conquered: 4
Heroes Captured: 3 Heroes

Nitsuj
Round 1
Paladin Sr, upon hearing what had happened to Paladin Jr, came a tromping into the dungeon. His too high helmet kept brushing loose flagstones in the ceiling of the first tunnel, resulting in falling rocks and some cuts and bruises. Coming into the next room, the party notices the Witch in the corner who seemed a little bigger with visible sparks of magic dancing of her fingertips. The Paladin could barely utter the words “Smite the evil –“ before the Demon flashes in an spears him in the gut. The Warrior, being the second in command, takes up the war cry but in a flash of motes and lights, is turned into dust.

Round 2
Despite the empowering energies of the room to the remaining Vampire and Witch, the ensuing battle only takes out the next hero, leaving the last hero to run rampart throughout the dungeon and leaving to sing songs of his bravery and exploits.

After the dust had settled, the four Dungeon Lords gathered in the meeting room of the Ministry of Dungeons where a MoD official walks in with the results of the Ministry’s review of each dungeon as well as the licenses for Dungeon Lords who pass the test. The official clears his throat and starts with the handing out of titles for the year:

The Lord of Dark Deeds – Nitsuj
The Lord of Halls – Mo / Milo
The Tunnellord – Mo
The Monsterlord – Nitsuj
The Lord of Imps – Mo / Da Panda (edit: sorry my bad, tot it was just Mo)
The Lord of Riches – Mo
The Battlelord – Da Panda

Using a score track, the official indicates the final scores as follows:

Da Panda exults in her victory whilst Mo & Nitsuj whisper dark mutterings, trying to go over the last two years to recall any instances of cheating or bribery. Alas, it is not to be and an hour later, Da Panda makes the following post on the underground networking site of Facebook:

winnnerrrrrrr! winnneeeeerrrrrrr! WINNA WINNA WINNA WINNA WINNA (copied from the old one) 12397 times in a row WINNNEEERRRRR !!!! all the way frommm ELLAYY weighing 110 pounds DEFENDING CHAMPION!

Until the next gathering of the Dungeon Lords… …