Five of us met up for games at Tony's house: Tony, me, Fiona, Colin and Rob (down for Christmas).
We started with a game of Power Grid on the USA map. The north-eastern region was unused.
I took the 5 cost plant first turn and Kansas City as my opening city. Rob was on the eastern coast with Tony in between me and Rob. Fiona and Colin were out west.
On the second turn I got 2Oil/Coal-4cities (21?) at cost, and with my relatively favourable turn order bought as much Coal and Oil as I could. A few turns later I also picked up 2Garbage-3Cities for cost, and soon after I triggered step 2.
At that stage I thought I was doing well. All of the goods became very cheap during step 2 - I think this was due to the many Wind Turbines in play. I quickly got a five city oil plant, and then was able to upgrade my garbage plant to 3Garbage-6 Cities (31?). At the time when I bought this the market was 3 lower capacity plants and this one, and after I bought it there weren't any more high capacity plants available until the final turn. I think I got it far too cheap.
So I looked well set for the win. I was almost able to win by connecting to (and powering) fifteen cities the turn before step 3, but Fiona spotted this and expanded agressively into cities I would have needed. So I waited on 13, with plants and fuel to power 15, and step 3 arrived next turn.
There was an outside chance that Rob or Fiona could beat me by powering 16 cities, but the fierce competition for the available 7 capacity plants made that unlikely - Tony and Colin both needed them and had been stockpiling cash.
Final Result
Simon 15 Cities / ~120E
Rob 15 Cities / ~50E
Fiona 15 Cities / ~10E
Tony 14 Cities / ~30E
Colin 14 Cities / ~20E (had sufficient plants for 15 but not enough cash to connect)
A good game, and for once it didn't take too long (just over 2 hours). I can understand the comments on BGG that the USA map is unbalanced for beginners. I think I can see how an opening position on the (expensive) West Coast shold be played, but I don't think the others have worked it out yet.
After Power Grid we played a few hands of For Sale. Whilst there is certainly a lot of luck involved (the auction mechanic can sometimes leave you with no good choices and force you to drop, giving everyone else cheap stuff, and blind bidding is inherently random) there is still some room for strategy and skill, and I think our results bore that out. Colin and I seem to have got the hang of it, whilst Fiona struggles with the blind bidding converting good property portfolios into poor scores.
A striking example of bad play - the following sequence happened (twice!) : too high opening bid followed by pass, pass, pass, pass. So somebody paid for the highest card whilst the others were all distributed for free.
Also Tony has noted that an non winning odd bid of X will costs the same as a non winning even bid of X-1, but hasn't properly thought through the implications of this.
So Colin won two of the three games and I had a first, a second and a third.
We ended with a game of Ticket to Ride with the 1910 Tickets and 15 point most routes bonus. We feel these really improve the game.
I kept Atlanta-LA and Nashville-Vancouver as my opening tickets. With sets like these I feel the best plan is to connect up the 'ends' and then fund a route cross-country. So I claim Nashville-Atlanta first turn, and then start collecting for LA-Vancouver. I get LA-SF, and then a few turns later it all kicks off around Vancouver...
Rob is sitting on my right, Fiona on my left. I can't remember the exact sequence but Rob claims Seattle-Calgary and Calgary-Helena. So my best route in Vancouver is now straight up the coast. So I claim Portland-Seattle-Vancouver. Rob then takes one of them as well, and Fiona is blocked out of the NW cities. She can't complete one of her tickets!
This means she probably can't win - unless she can catch most of the other players with unfinished tickets as well. So she speeds up the game, concentrating on the long routes.
There is a small hiccup in my plan when the green trains I have been saving for SF-Portland become useless when Colin claims that connection. So now I need Pinks, but there are literally none turning up. After a few turns of bad draws of the top I end up taking Locomotives from the display - seems like the only way I'll get that connection.
Eventually I make it, and get across the country fairly smoothly (SF, Salt Lake, Denver, Kansas, St Louis). Next turn I take Destination Tickets and strike lucky - one I've already done and for another I just need to get to Chicago. Luckily I have the trains needed in hand, cause Fiona ends the game.
On my last turn I claim St Louis-Chicago. The 48 points for my four tickets and the 15 points most tickets bonus is enough to take me from last to first. Which came as a surprise - I thought I was too far behind.
Overall a successful evening for me. Clearly the Strongbow I was drinking gave me an unfair advantage!
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Games: Mar - Dec 07
According to the games I logged at BGG this is what I've been playing since my last post:
San Juan 19 - I don't play as much as I used to, but for me this remains the classic two player game.
No Thanks! 9 - A fun filler. It replaced Circus Flohcati for a while, but in turn has been replaced by For Sale. Once everybody knows what's going on it seems like the game is more decided by which cards urn up than the players actions.
Alhambra 8 - Remains a firm favourite of some of my group.
Lost Cities 8 - A regular two-player filler.
Diamant 7 - My game group has got bigger in the last few months, so anything that plays up to six is getting more play.
Power Grid 7 - This is the current favourite 'heavy' game for my group. I don't like it as much as the others (I'd rather play Princes of Florence or Amun-Re).
Scrabble 6 - Ocassional evening games with a friend.
Circus Flohcati 5 - Filler, sees less play now I have No Thanks and For Sale.
For Sale 5 - I really enjoy this. Very easy to play 'just one more game'.
Puerto Rico 5 - Still a great game. Whatever happened to the second expansion that was rumoured?
Torres 5 - Torres seems like it should be a chess-like brain-burner, but it doesn't play that way. One three-player game saw the newbie win!
Ingenious 4 - Two players is fun, three player has seating issue problems. I haven't tried the four-player partnership version.
Jambo 4 - I prefer San Juan.
Apples to Apples British Isles Edition 3 - Fun, but the UK card mix seems a little off to me somehow.
Runebound Second Edition 3 - Multiplayer solitaire effectively and has runaway leader problems.
Blue Moon 2 - I like this but don't really have anybody to play regularly against.
Carcassonne: Hunters and Gatherers 2 - I prefer this to original Carc.
Carcassonne: The Castle 2 - And with two players, I prefer the Castle.
Citadels 2 - Playing in English really helps, and some of the expansion stuff is interesting. One guy in my group really dislikes this though.
Great Wall of China 2 - Okay, but nothing special.
HeroScape Master Set: Rise of the Valkyrie 2 - Mindless dice rolling fun if you're in the right mood.
Hollywood Blockbuster 2 - I really like this, it should get played more.
Liar's Dice 2 - Fun, but somehow the rules regarding bids of 1s seem slightly wonky to me.
Razzia 2 - Useful for large numbers, but not played so much as I have got other games that can handle six (For Sale, Diamant)
Atlantic Star 2 - Okay game that works with six (like Alhambra you just have to accept that it's going to be slighltly out of your control and go with flow)
Blood Bowl: Living RuleBook 1 - A good game but it takes too long, and can get overcomplicated once experienced teams with many skills face off.
Caesar and Cleopatra 1 - Played once, didn't think much of this.
Carcassonne 1 - I prefer H&G
Caylus Magna Carta 1 - Only played once, and that was with the basic rules - which suck. That's a shame, from my online plays I'm pretty certain this is a good game.
Domaine 1 - A good game, but only really at it's best with three players which limits it's plays.
Family Fluxx 1 - Family Fluxx seems to end more realiably than normal Fluxx (probably a function of having a much smaller deck).
Kaboodl 1 - Silly set collecting card game.
Lunch Money 1 - Slilly overcomplicated card game that gets dragged out by the need to keep checking the rules.
Ticket to Ride: USA 1910 2 - The 1910 destination tickets and 15pt most tickets bonus greatly improve TTR.
Tigris & Euphrates 1 - Still a great game.
I also played some Shadowfist during the year, after the release of the new set.
San Juan 19 - I don't play as much as I used to, but for me this remains the classic two player game.
No Thanks! 9 - A fun filler. It replaced Circus Flohcati for a while, but in turn has been replaced by For Sale. Once everybody knows what's going on it seems like the game is more decided by which cards urn up than the players actions.
Alhambra 8 - Remains a firm favourite of some of my group.
Lost Cities 8 - A regular two-player filler.
Diamant 7 - My game group has got bigger in the last few months, so anything that plays up to six is getting more play.
Power Grid 7 - This is the current favourite 'heavy' game for my group. I don't like it as much as the others (I'd rather play Princes of Florence or Amun-Re).
Scrabble 6 - Ocassional evening games with a friend.
Circus Flohcati 5 - Filler, sees less play now I have No Thanks and For Sale.
For Sale 5 - I really enjoy this. Very easy to play 'just one more game'.
Puerto Rico 5 - Still a great game. Whatever happened to the second expansion that was rumoured?
Torres 5 - Torres seems like it should be a chess-like brain-burner, but it doesn't play that way. One three-player game saw the newbie win!
Ingenious 4 - Two players is fun, three player has seating issue problems. I haven't tried the four-player partnership version.
Jambo 4 - I prefer San Juan.
Apples to Apples British Isles Edition 3 - Fun, but the UK card mix seems a little off to me somehow.
Runebound Second Edition 3 - Multiplayer solitaire effectively and has runaway leader problems.
Blue Moon 2 - I like this but don't really have anybody to play regularly against.
Carcassonne: Hunters and Gatherers 2 - I prefer this to original Carc.
Carcassonne: The Castle 2 - And with two players, I prefer the Castle.
Citadels 2 - Playing in English really helps, and some of the expansion stuff is interesting. One guy in my group really dislikes this though.
Great Wall of China 2 - Okay, but nothing special.
HeroScape Master Set: Rise of the Valkyrie 2 - Mindless dice rolling fun if you're in the right mood.
Hollywood Blockbuster 2 - I really like this, it should get played more.
Liar's Dice 2 - Fun, but somehow the rules regarding bids of 1s seem slightly wonky to me.
Razzia 2 - Useful for large numbers, but not played so much as I have got other games that can handle six (For Sale, Diamant)
Atlantic Star 2 - Okay game that works with six (like Alhambra you just have to accept that it's going to be slighltly out of your control and go with flow)
Blood Bowl: Living RuleBook 1 - A good game but it takes too long, and can get overcomplicated once experienced teams with many skills face off.
Caesar and Cleopatra 1 - Played once, didn't think much of this.
Carcassonne 1 - I prefer H&G
Caylus Magna Carta 1 - Only played once, and that was with the basic rules - which suck. That's a shame, from my online plays I'm pretty certain this is a good game.
Domaine 1 - A good game, but only really at it's best with three players which limits it's plays.
Family Fluxx 1 - Family Fluxx seems to end more realiably than normal Fluxx (probably a function of having a much smaller deck).
Kaboodl 1 - Silly set collecting card game.
Lunch Money 1 - Slilly overcomplicated card game that gets dragged out by the need to keep checking the rules.
Ticket to Ride: USA 1910 2 - The 1910 destination tickets and 15pt most tickets bonus greatly improve TTR.
Tigris & Euphrates 1 - Still a great game.
I also played some Shadowfist during the year, after the release of the new set.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)