Extended deck
When I went to Gencon during autumn 2005 it was in the middle of an extended PTQ season. As I prefer playing MTG to VS I built a couple of decks to play over the 4 days. One was a slightly unusual Madness build (Thought Courier over Aquameba, Rushing River for bounce, and a couple of unusual tech cards), the other was a Domain deck.
Not owning any Fetchlands or Dual lands my Domain deck had a budget feel [aside: this was exagerated when I got a warning for marked sleeves during the PTQ. So anybody watching the top table would have seen that on turn three all I had in play was three different unsleeved basic lands - what a Noob!]
I owned the Deeds and Restraints and all that kind of stuff, but had to scrape around, borrowing several of my win conditions, and decided on both using Living Wish, and running an Erratic Explosion / Draco kill. (The following deck was untested and based on my underpowered collection: both the maindeck numbers and the sideboard cards could be improved)
9 Forests
5 Island
2 Swamps
1 Mountain
1 Plains (18 land)
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
3 Etched Oracle
1 Bringer of the Black Dawn
1 Draco (9 creatures)
4 Collective Restraint
3 Pernicious Deed
1 Holistic Wisdom (8 enchantments)
4 Lay of the Land
3 Rampant Growth
3 Living Wish
1 Erratic Explosion
1 Tribal Flames
1 Cranial Extraction
1 Allied Strategies
1 Wandering Stream (15 sorceries)
3 Evasive Action
3 Wordly Counsel
2 Insidious Dreams
2 Putrefy (8 instants)
SB: 1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
1 Blinkmoth Well
1 Silklash Spider
1 Meloku, The Clouded Mirror
1 Llawan, Cephalid Empress
1 Loxodon Heirarch
1 Meddling Mage
2 Destructive Flow
2 Lobotomy
1 Putrefy
1 Wandering Stream
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Ground Seal
This deck won me an eight man GPT, and got me a top 8 of a PTQ. And it was a lot of fun running one of those rogue decks that you hear players talking about between rounds. My third round PTQ opponent, as we chatted whilst shuffling for game one, mentioned that somebody was chucking was chucking Draco at people. I didn't tell him it was me. :)
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
G/R Anti-Affinity
Mirrodin/Kamigawa standard deck
In the last few years the only local tournaments I've attended have been pre-releases for the release of a new block and county championships. As I'm not exactly keeping up with recent releases building standard decks for the county champs hasn't always been easy.
This deck, mainly comprised of commons and uncommons was able to take me to a Top 8. The plan was to beat Affinity decks, and I defeated three in the swiss rounds. If only I'd kept playing the Affinity decks (there were four in the top 8, and the final was an Affinity mirror match) I could have been County Champ!
4 Hearth Kami
4 Tel-Jilad Chosen
4 Viridian Shaman
4 Orcish Artillery
4 Vulshok Sorceror
1 Glissa Sunseeker
1 Arc-Slogger
1 Molder Slug
1 Kumano
4 Shock
4 Electrostatic Bolt
4 Volcanic Hammer
1 Pulse of the Forge
11 Mountains
7 Forests
2 Shivan Oasis
3 City of Brass
In the last few years the only local tournaments I've attended have been pre-releases for the release of a new block and county championships. As I'm not exactly keeping up with recent releases building standard decks for the county champs hasn't always been easy.
This deck, mainly comprised of commons and uncommons was able to take me to a Top 8. The plan was to beat Affinity decks, and I defeated three in the swiss rounds. If only I'd kept playing the Affinity decks (there were four in the top 8, and the final was an Affinity mirror match) I could have been County Champ!
4 Hearth Kami
4 Tel-Jilad Chosen
4 Viridian Shaman
4 Orcish Artillery
4 Vulshok Sorceror
1 Glissa Sunseeker
1 Arc-Slogger
1 Molder Slug
1 Kumano
4 Shock
4 Electrostatic Bolt
4 Volcanic Hammer
1 Pulse of the Forge
11 Mountains
7 Forests
2 Shivan Oasis
3 City of Brass
Sunday, November 19, 2006
U/G/R Threshold
Invasion/Odyssey standard
This was a deck that I played in a tournament for fun. It's not the worlds best deck, but it does have Millikin in it :)
4 Werebear
4 Millikin
3 Call of the Herd
4 Flametongue Kavu
4 Centaur Chieftain
4 Beast Attack
4 Lay of The Land
4 Chromatic Sphere
4 Fire / Ice
4 Aether Burst
4 Fact or Fiction
10 Forest
2 Islands
2 Mountains
3 City of Brass
This was a deck that I played in a tournament for fun. It's not the worlds best deck, but it does have Millikin in it :)
4 Werebear
4 Millikin
3 Call of the Herd
4 Flametongue Kavu
4 Centaur Chieftain
4 Beast Attack
4 Lay of The Land
4 Chromatic Sphere
4 Fire / Ice
4 Aether Burst
4 Fact or Fiction
10 Forest
2 Islands
2 Mountains
3 City of Brass
U/B Upheval / Zombie Infestation
Invasion/Odyssey standard deck
The release of Odyssey was an odd time for Type 2 (standard). The American States championships would normally showcase all of the top new decks, but that year there was a Standard Masters event at the next Pro Tour, so all of the top pro teams were keeping back their best decks.
One of the decks that did break out from States was the combination of Zombie Infestation and Upheval. This is the version I played to a couple of tournaments. It was stupid good against control decks - by running Counterspell, Memory Lapse and Disrupt, you always won counter wars, and I managed to find room for main deck Mana Shorts!
4 Opt
3 Sleight of Hand
2 Disrupt
4 Counterspell
4 Memory Lapse
4 Fire / Ice
4 Repulse
2 Exclude
2 Mana Short
4 Fact or Fiction
3 Upheval
3 Zombie Infestation
3 Underground River
4 Shivan Reef
2 Shadowblood Ridge
10 Islands
2 Ancient Spring
At the San Diego Masters all the pros showed us we should have been playing Psychatog in our U/B decks, not Zombie Infestation, oops!
It was during the Odyssey block that my Magic playing really slowed down. By the time I decided to play Infestation / Upheval at a Odyssey Block constructed Pro Tour qualifier at Gencon I hadn't played for six months. Despite no playtesting I was in contention for the Top 8 until the penultimate round, when I dropped at 4-2-1, my final loss comming from a game loss rules infraction in game 3 against Bob Maher in a dead drawn position (we'd almost gone to time). I don't know if I'd have been in with a shot of making the top 8 at 4-1-2.
The release of Odyssey was an odd time for Type 2 (standard). The American States championships would normally showcase all of the top new decks, but that year there was a Standard Masters event at the next Pro Tour, so all of the top pro teams were keeping back their best decks.
One of the decks that did break out from States was the combination of Zombie Infestation and Upheval. This is the version I played to a couple of tournaments. It was stupid good against control decks - by running Counterspell, Memory Lapse and Disrupt, you always won counter wars, and I managed to find room for main deck Mana Shorts!
4 Opt
3 Sleight of Hand
2 Disrupt
4 Counterspell
4 Memory Lapse
4 Fire / Ice
4 Repulse
2 Exclude
2 Mana Short
4 Fact or Fiction
3 Upheval
3 Zombie Infestation
3 Underground River
4 Shivan Reef
2 Shadowblood Ridge
10 Islands
2 Ancient Spring
At the San Diego Masters all the pros showed us we should have been playing Psychatog in our U/B decks, not Zombie Infestation, oops!
It was during the Odyssey block that my Magic playing really slowed down. By the time I decided to play Infestation / Upheval at a Odyssey Block constructed Pro Tour qualifier at Gencon I hadn't played for six months. Despite no playtesting I was in contention for the Top 8 until the penultimate round, when I dropped at 4-2-1, my final loss comming from a game loss rules infraction in game 3 against Bob Maher in a dead drawn position (we'd almost gone to time). I don't know if I'd have been in with a shot of making the top 8 at 4-1-2.
U/G Control
Invasion/Odyssey standard
The months just after a block rotation have always been my most succesful periods. I wasn't the best player locally (that was Tony Adams), but I wasn't far off, and I was probably the best deck-builder, so before all the 'best decks' were found and readily available on the web I could win with my own decks.
U/G control was born of a realisation that Beast Attack was incredibly strong in a draw-go control build. This deck has loads of card advantadge (Fact of Fiction, Mystic Snake, Beast Attack), ways to fight against Call of the Herd (Repulse, Syncopate, Disrupt), and a very strong late game from Holistic Wisdom and Bearscape. It won a couple of tournaments.
4 Mystic Snake
4 Opt
3 Disrupt
4 Counterspell
4 Fire / Ice
2 Syncopate
4 Repulse
3 Exclude
4 Fact or Fiction
3 Beast Attack
1 Holistic Wisdom
1 Bearscape
1 Tsabo's Web
4 Yavamaya Coast
10 Islands
4 Forests
2 Mossfire Valley
3 Karplusian Forest
The months just after a block rotation have always been my most succesful periods. I wasn't the best player locally (that was Tony Adams), but I wasn't far off, and I was probably the best deck-builder, so before all the 'best decks' were found and readily available on the web I could win with my own decks.
U/G control was born of a realisation that Beast Attack was incredibly strong in a draw-go control build. This deck has loads of card advantadge (Fact of Fiction, Mystic Snake, Beast Attack), ways to fight against Call of the Herd (Repulse, Syncopate, Disrupt), and a very strong late game from Holistic Wisdom and Bearscape. It won a couple of tournaments.
4 Mystic Snake
4 Opt
3 Disrupt
4 Counterspell
4 Fire / Ice
2 Syncopate
4 Repulse
3 Exclude
4 Fact or Fiction
3 Beast Attack
1 Holistic Wisdom
1 Bearscape
1 Tsabo's Web
4 Yavamaya Coast
10 Islands
4 Forests
2 Mossfire Valley
3 Karplusian Forest
Saturday, November 18, 2006
Mono-B Suicide Black
Masques/Invasion deck
This deck evolved from the Big Black deck, over many months. It took a lot of tinkering to make a mono-black deck that worked in the environment at the time - able to fight againt both Fires and Rebels, but this deck had it. Unfortunately I wasn't able to attend Nationals Qualifiers with this deck (I was Best Man at a wedding that weekend), I would have fancied my chances.
4 Foul Imp
2 Nakaya Shade
4 Plague Spitter
4 Chimeric Idol
4 Phyrexian Scuta
4 Engineered Plague
4 Snuff Out
4 Tangle Wire
3 Despoil
4 Dark Ritual
4 Peat Bog
4 Rishadan Port
1 Dust Bowl
14 Swamps
This deck evolved from the Big Black deck, over many months. It took a lot of tinkering to make a mono-black deck that worked in the environment at the time - able to fight againt both Fires and Rebels, but this deck had it. Unfortunately I wasn't able to attend Nationals Qualifiers with this deck (I was Best Man at a wedding that weekend), I would have fancied my chances.
4 Foul Imp
2 Nakaya Shade
4 Plague Spitter
4 Chimeric Idol
4 Phyrexian Scuta
4 Engineered Plague
4 Snuff Out
4 Tangle Wire
3 Despoil
4 Dark Ritual
4 Peat Bog
4 Rishadan Port
1 Dust Bowl
14 Swamps
Mono-B "Big Black"
Urza's/Masques standard deck
Another more casual deck that went 4-0 (8-0 games) in a small tournament I ran. This was inspired by a Dave Price Masques block deck.
4 Chimeric Idol
4 Complex Automaton
4 Thrashing Wumpus
2 Masticore
2 Cateran Enforcer
4 Rain of Tears
4 Befoul
4 Snuff Out
4 Vendetta
4 Dark Ritual
12 Swamps
4 Peat Bog
4 Crystal Vein
4 Rishadan Port
Another more casual deck that went 4-0 (8-0 games) in a small tournament I ran. This was inspired by a Dave Price Masques block deck.
4 Chimeric Idol
4 Complex Automaton
4 Thrashing Wumpus
2 Masticore
2 Cateran Enforcer
4 Rain of Tears
4 Befoul
4 Snuff Out
4 Vendetta
4 Dark Ritual
12 Swamps
4 Peat Bog
4 Crystal Vein
4 Rishadan Port
Mono-R 20/21/20 RDW
Masques/Invasion standard deck
This isn't such a serious deck - I threw it together inspired by various Dave Price / Dan Paskins red decks. When I needed a deck to play in a small tournament (unsanctioned or three judge, I can't remember) that I was running I decided to play this. My best deck at the time was Counter-Rebels, but there's no way I'm playing that in a tournament I'm running - it's one of the slowest decks ever.
This deck went 4-0, not losing a game. The transformational LD sideboard (4 Stone Rain, 4 Pillage, 4 Tangle Wire) was pretty effective.
4 Kris Mage
4 Raging Goblin
4 Goblin Raider
2 Firebrand Ranger
2 Rage Weaver
4 Orcish Artillery
4 Shock
4 Seal of Fire
4 Volcanic Hammer
4 Scorching Lava
4 Rhystic Lightning
1 Urza's Rage
16 Mountain
3 Rishadan Port
1 Kelden Necropolis
This isn't such a serious deck - I threw it together inspired by various Dave Price / Dan Paskins red decks. When I needed a deck to play in a small tournament (unsanctioned or three judge, I can't remember) that I was running I decided to play this. My best deck at the time was Counter-Rebels, but there's no way I'm playing that in a tournament I'm running - it's one of the slowest decks ever.
This deck went 4-0, not losing a game. The transformational LD sideboard (4 Stone Rain, 4 Pillage, 4 Tangle Wire) was pretty effective.
4 Kris Mage
4 Raging Goblin
4 Goblin Raider
2 Firebrand Ranger
2 Rage Weaver
4 Orcish Artillery
4 Shock
4 Seal of Fire
4 Volcanic Hammer
4 Scorching Lava
4 Rhystic Lightning
1 Urza's Rage
16 Mountain
3 Rishadan Port
1 Kelden Necropolis
Mono-W "Grizzly" Rebels
Urza's/Masques standard deck
I didn't come up for the idea for this deck - it broke out from one of the early european nationals that summer, but it quickly became one of my favourite decks - it's ideal for my preferred aggro/utility style of play.
4 Mother of Runes
4 Ramosian Sergeant
3 Steadfast Guards
2 Fresh Volunteers
4 Longbow Archers
1 Ramosian Lieutenant
1 Defiant Falcon
2 Lin Sivvi
1 Thermal Glider
4 Crusade
2 Seal of Cleansing
4 Parralax Wave
3 Reverent Mantra
2 Arrmageddon
19 Plains
4 Rishadan Port
The high rare count reflects the fact that this was the most serious period of my magic career (I also had a set of Tangle Wires), but Rebels makes a pretty good budget deck. Replace Lin Sivvi with Defiant Vanguard or Nightwind Glider, and replace Crusade and Reverent Mantra with some mix of Ramosian Rally, Cho-Manno's Blessing and Brilliant Halo. Defender en-Vec replaces Parallax Wave (funniest use of Defender en-Vec: preventing damage to your opponents Academy Rector). There's obviously no direct replacement for Armageddon though, and you have to do without Ports, but it's still an okay deck.
I didn't come up for the idea for this deck - it broke out from one of the early european nationals that summer, but it quickly became one of my favourite decks - it's ideal for my preferred aggro/utility style of play.
4 Mother of Runes
4 Ramosian Sergeant
3 Steadfast Guards
2 Fresh Volunteers
4 Longbow Archers
1 Ramosian Lieutenant
1 Defiant Falcon
2 Lin Sivvi
1 Thermal Glider
4 Crusade
2 Seal of Cleansing
4 Parralax Wave
3 Reverent Mantra
2 Arrmageddon
19 Plains
4 Rishadan Port
The high rare count reflects the fact that this was the most serious period of my magic career (I also had a set of Tangle Wires), but Rebels makes a pretty good budget deck. Replace Lin Sivvi with Defiant Vanguard or Nightwind Glider, and replace Crusade and Reverent Mantra with some mix of Ramosian Rally, Cho-Manno's Blessing and Brilliant Halo. Defender en-Vec replaces Parallax Wave (funniest use of Defender en-Vec: preventing damage to your opponents Academy Rector). There's obviously no direct replacement for Armageddon though, and you have to do without Ports, but it's still an okay deck.
Mono-G Aggro Enchantress
Urza/Masques standard deck
The release of Mercadian Masques saw the printing of Ancestral Mask, a creature enchantment that gave the enchanted creature +2/+2 for each other enchantment you controlled. With Yavamaya Enchantress and Rancor, this was the basis of a pretty good budget aggro deck that I played for a while.
I've always called this 'aggro enchantress' to seperate it from traditional enchantress decks, which were based around drawing loads of cards and 'going off'. This deck was always about attacking the opponent until they were dead. During the first couple of tournaments I didn't even play Argothian Enchantress!
But by the time of the Nationals Qualifier in Poole I had traded for them. This is the deck that went 4-1-1 beating Squirrel-Opposition, Ponza, Replenish and Accelerated Blue to qualify me for Nationals.
4 Llanowar Elves
3 Elvish Lyrist
4 Argothian Enchantress
4 River Boa
4 Yavamaya Enchantress
2 Uktabi Orangutan
1 Masticore
4 Wild Growth
4 Rancor
4 Treetop Bracer4
4 Ancestral Mask
1 Wordly Tutor
2 Creeping Mold
15 Forest
3 Treetop Village
The release of Mercadian Masques saw the printing of Ancestral Mask, a creature enchantment that gave the enchanted creature +2/+2 for each other enchantment you controlled. With Yavamaya Enchantress and Rancor, this was the basis of a pretty good budget aggro deck that I played for a while.
I've always called this 'aggro enchantress' to seperate it from traditional enchantress decks, which were based around drawing loads of cards and 'going off'. This deck was always about attacking the opponent until they were dead. During the first couple of tournaments I didn't even play Argothian Enchantress!
But by the time of the Nationals Qualifier in Poole I had traded for them. This is the deck that went 4-1-1 beating Squirrel-Opposition, Ponza, Replenish and Accelerated Blue to qualify me for Nationals.
4 Llanowar Elves
3 Elvish Lyrist
4 Argothian Enchantress
4 River Boa
4 Yavamaya Enchantress
2 Uktabi Orangutan
1 Masticore
4 Wild Growth
4 Rancor
4 Treetop Bracer4
4 Ancestral Mask
1 Wordly Tutor
2 Creeping Mold
15 Forest
3 Treetop Village
G/R Sliver Beatdown
Tempest/Urza standard deck
This was the first deck I designed myself and played in tournaments after I left university. It's an agrro deck with plenty of utility (for example playing Mogg Fanatic and Elvish Lyrist over Jackal Pup) - basically the kind of deck that I've always preferred.
4 Mogg Fanatic
3 Elvish Lyrist
4 Muscle Sliver
4 Spined Sliver
4 River Boa
3 Mogg Flunkies
3 Uktabi Orangutan
4 Shock
3 Giant Growth
3 Rancor
4 Incinerate
2 Sonic Burst
4 Karplusian Forest
8 Mountains
9 Forests
This was the first deck I designed myself and played in tournaments after I left university. It's an agrro deck with plenty of utility (for example playing Mogg Fanatic and Elvish Lyrist over Jackal Pup) - basically the kind of deck that I've always preferred.
4 Mogg Fanatic
3 Elvish Lyrist
4 Muscle Sliver
4 Spined Sliver
4 River Boa
3 Mogg Flunkies
3 Uktabi Orangutan
4 Shock
3 Giant Growth
3 Rancor
4 Incinerate
2 Sonic Burst
4 Karplusian Forest
8 Mountains
9 Forests
Thursday, September 07, 2006
Sunday 20/08/06: San Juan, Domaine, Dalmuti
Everybody seemed mighty relieved at the prospect of actually getting some games in on a Sunday evening. Or maybe shocked :)
Marleena, Fee and me started with a quick game of San Juan before Tony arrived. Marleena picked up the rules pretty quickly – it’s the strategies that take time to master. I got a decent Guild Hall bonus, and was able to win fairly comfortably.
When Tony arrives we start a four player game, so Marlena can play again. This game is a bit silly. Marleena built a Gold Mine towards the end of the previous game, but it didn’t work on the remaining three Prospectors. In this game I build one on the second turn, and it works on the first three Prospectors!! This gives me a huge advantage, and I go on to draw into a Smithy & Guild Hall combo as well. Fiona has a decent violet position as well at the game end, with a set of monuments, but it looks to me like I’ve won, particularly as I closed the game out quite quickly (including a zero cost Indigo build as governor when nobody else could build). The scores were close, 34 to 31.
Tony has one of those games where he doesn’t do anything particularly wrong, but he just couldn’t find anything that would give him sufficient points – Marlena and I had the Guild Halls, Fee had one of the City Halls and I held the other in hand for most of the second half of the game. He didn’t do well on monuments either. Combine this with the fact he began in the fourth seat, and he got to see why I don’t rate four-player as highly as two or three player.
After San Juan we play Domaine. Domaine is a game we played a few times earlier in the year, and we haven’t played it since. It seems like if I don’t bring it Fee asks why I didn’t bring “that knights and castles game” and when I do bring it we don’t play.
We are seated as follows: Tony, Marleena, Fiona, me. We follow the rule in the rulebook which says oldest player begins (though this is stupid as it means Tony always begins – need to remember to do something different next time), and Tony, Marleena and Fee are all able to place their castles by mines in three of the corners of the board. The fourth corner doesn’t have a mine, so I go for a mine adjacent to Marleena’s, with the idea being that I can enclose my castle using some of the walls she plays.
The second round of Castle placing sees Tony and Fee try to claim more mines, whilst Marleena makes the first move to claiming the City with a very central castle, whilst I place mine just off to one side of the city (in what would turn out to a very good position – not sure if this was luck or good judgement).
After the final round of castle placing, I begin the game [we had a discussion afterwards about whether the opening order is properly balanced – it seems to favour the player in Tony’s seat who gets to place castles first and play second].
As always the game begins with everybody making small Domaines containing mines, and expanding to gain adjacent mines. Tony rapidly gets an advantage in income, Fee is also doing well, whilst Marleena and I both spend some time playing Knights in adjacent Domaines.
This side of the board rapidly becomes very crowded. Marleena has the Domaine in one corner, with mine adjacent. Tony is in the opposite corner and Fee is between him and me. Marleena and I have both been playing Knights – she wants to expand into my Domaine, whilst I want to defend my early mine. I am able to claim a second mine (mainly because I get to it before Fee does), before losing my first to Marleena. Meanwhile Tony is expanding into Fee’s Domaine. After I get hit by a traitor card it’s obvious to me that my Domaine isn’t sustainable in the long term, and I start working on plan B.
The alternative plan is this: I have a Castle on side of the board nearest me, and it is the only Castle on that side. All of the Castle on the nearby edges have already formed Domaines. Therefore there is a possibility of making this into a very large Domaine.
This is a plan I have been working towards ever since forming my first Domaine on the congested side of the board. This began expanding towards the centre of the board, both claiming useful squares and placing boundary stones that will help to enclose my other Castle. I even put a couple of boundary stones in the middle of the board early on, in what appeared at the time to everybody else to be a random move. When my expanding Domaine meets up with these Walls, and a few turns later I complete a large Domaine worth about 10-15 points it doesn’t seem so random any more.
As nobody else has completed a Domaine so near the centre of the board, I am then able to expand into the Capital City. This sees me near the winning margin for a couple of turns, but it’s clear this isn’t sustainable – everybody has more knights than me.
Tony has spent the entire game with the best income, and also has some strong Domaines. Marleena has had good income, and managed to achieve a monopoly. I had very weak income most of the game, until I scored that large Domaine, which also gave me good points. Fee has had a bad position most of the game, she never had great income, got squashed between Marleena’s and Tony’s strong Domaines, and spent most of the game unable to really do anything. This can happen in four player games, where each player only has three Castles.
I lose some of my large gains to Fee, but an alliance card prevents Marlena from taking the City off me. I make a mistake on the final turn, selling an Alliance card for money, when I could have protected a couple of Forests from Tony. The money was irrelevant, as Tony and Marleena both have way more than me, although it made no difference to the final outcome.
Tony’get the bonus points for being the richest at game and wins the game, Marleena bonus for also being the richest isn’t enough for her to catch me, so she finishes third. Fee finishes in last place.
Domaine definitely works better with three than four (this is the opposite to T&E in my opinion). I haven’t yet tried it with two.
We concluded with a few hands of The Great Dalmuti. We play with the 11s & 12s removed as there was only four of us. There’s only time for three hands before I have to leave, mainly because we have two Great Revolutions, which delay matters somewhat. Dalmuti is a fun filler, but it seems like I have an unfair advantage, cause I’m card counting, and I don’t think the others are (or not as much as I am – surely everybody remembers basic things like if the Dalmuti has been played). In each of the three hands I retain or improve my position, which is as much as you can ask for in a game of Dalmuti (I was Dalmuti when the second greater revolution occurred).
After this weekend, it's re-enactment events for the next two. Argghhh! I'll be glad when it's winter and we can game every weekend.
Marleena, Fee and me started with a quick game of San Juan before Tony arrived. Marleena picked up the rules pretty quickly – it’s the strategies that take time to master. I got a decent Guild Hall bonus, and was able to win fairly comfortably.
When Tony arrives we start a four player game, so Marlena can play again. This game is a bit silly. Marleena built a Gold Mine towards the end of the previous game, but it didn’t work on the remaining three Prospectors. In this game I build one on the second turn, and it works on the first three Prospectors!! This gives me a huge advantage, and I go on to draw into a Smithy & Guild Hall combo as well. Fiona has a decent violet position as well at the game end, with a set of monuments, but it looks to me like I’ve won, particularly as I closed the game out quite quickly (including a zero cost Indigo build as governor when nobody else could build). The scores were close, 34 to 31.
Tony has one of those games where he doesn’t do anything particularly wrong, but he just couldn’t find anything that would give him sufficient points – Marlena and I had the Guild Halls, Fee had one of the City Halls and I held the other in hand for most of the second half of the game. He didn’t do well on monuments either. Combine this with the fact he began in the fourth seat, and he got to see why I don’t rate four-player as highly as two or three player.
After San Juan we play Domaine. Domaine is a game we played a few times earlier in the year, and we haven’t played it since. It seems like if I don’t bring it Fee asks why I didn’t bring “that knights and castles game” and when I do bring it we don’t play.
We are seated as follows: Tony, Marleena, Fiona, me. We follow the rule in the rulebook which says oldest player begins (though this is stupid as it means Tony always begins – need to remember to do something different next time), and Tony, Marleena and Fee are all able to place their castles by mines in three of the corners of the board. The fourth corner doesn’t have a mine, so I go for a mine adjacent to Marleena’s, with the idea being that I can enclose my castle using some of the walls she plays.
The second round of Castle placing sees Tony and Fee try to claim more mines, whilst Marleena makes the first move to claiming the City with a very central castle, whilst I place mine just off to one side of the city (in what would turn out to a very good position – not sure if this was luck or good judgement).
After the final round of castle placing, I begin the game [we had a discussion afterwards about whether the opening order is properly balanced – it seems to favour the player in Tony’s seat who gets to place castles first and play second].
As always the game begins with everybody making small Domaines containing mines, and expanding to gain adjacent mines. Tony rapidly gets an advantage in income, Fee is also doing well, whilst Marleena and I both spend some time playing Knights in adjacent Domaines.
This side of the board rapidly becomes very crowded. Marleena has the Domaine in one corner, with mine adjacent. Tony is in the opposite corner and Fee is between him and me. Marleena and I have both been playing Knights – she wants to expand into my Domaine, whilst I want to defend my early mine. I am able to claim a second mine (mainly because I get to it before Fee does), before losing my first to Marleena. Meanwhile Tony is expanding into Fee’s Domaine. After I get hit by a traitor card it’s obvious to me that my Domaine isn’t sustainable in the long term, and I start working on plan B.
The alternative plan is this: I have a Castle on side of the board nearest me, and it is the only Castle on that side. All of the Castle on the nearby edges have already formed Domaines. Therefore there is a possibility of making this into a very large Domaine.
This is a plan I have been working towards ever since forming my first Domaine on the congested side of the board. This began expanding towards the centre of the board, both claiming useful squares and placing boundary stones that will help to enclose my other Castle. I even put a couple of boundary stones in the middle of the board early on, in what appeared at the time to everybody else to be a random move. When my expanding Domaine meets up with these Walls, and a few turns later I complete a large Domaine worth about 10-15 points it doesn’t seem so random any more.
As nobody else has completed a Domaine so near the centre of the board, I am then able to expand into the Capital City. This sees me near the winning margin for a couple of turns, but it’s clear this isn’t sustainable – everybody has more knights than me.
Tony has spent the entire game with the best income, and also has some strong Domaines. Marleena has had good income, and managed to achieve a monopoly. I had very weak income most of the game, until I scored that large Domaine, which also gave me good points. Fee has had a bad position most of the game, she never had great income, got squashed between Marleena’s and Tony’s strong Domaines, and spent most of the game unable to really do anything. This can happen in four player games, where each player only has three Castles.
I lose some of my large gains to Fee, but an alliance card prevents Marlena from taking the City off me. I make a mistake on the final turn, selling an Alliance card for money, when I could have protected a couple of Forests from Tony. The money was irrelevant, as Tony and Marleena both have way more than me, although it made no difference to the final outcome.
Tony’get the bonus points for being the richest at game and wins the game, Marleena bonus for also being the richest isn’t enough for her to catch me, so she finishes third. Fee finishes in last place.
Domaine definitely works better with three than four (this is the opposite to T&E in my opinion). I haven’t yet tried it with two.
We concluded with a few hands of The Great Dalmuti. We play with the 11s & 12s removed as there was only four of us. There’s only time for three hands before I have to leave, mainly because we have two Great Revolutions, which delay matters somewhat. Dalmuti is a fun filler, but it seems like I have an unfair advantage, cause I’m card counting, and I don’t think the others are (or not as much as I am – surely everybody remembers basic things like if the Dalmuti has been played). In each of the three hands I retain or improve my position, which is as much as you can ask for in a game of Dalmuti (I was Dalmuti when the second greater revolution occurred).
After this weekend, it's re-enactment events for the next two. Argghhh! I'll be glad when it's winter and we can game every weekend.
Sunday, August 20, 2006
What's been going on?
The quick answer is - not a lot :(
No board games on the last three Sundays due to re-enactment events and a wedding. Hopefully as we move into autumn these interuptions will become less common.
I haven't been able to make the last two weeks of Blood Bowl either, due to commitments on Thursday. The week before that the games started late and I ended up abandoning my game at 11:35pm after turn 7 of the second half. We had to rush the second half just to get that far, and after a TD had been scored I just didn't have the time to play a pointless turn 8 and do the post game stuff. I only went to make (I thought) make up the numbers - as it turned out there was an odd number of players - so to be honest I'd rather not have bothered. The league should be moving back to the normal venue next week, were games can start much earlier again.
It's been such a drought recently that I actually got persuaded to play some Vs a couple of weeks ago. It was okay, but nothing special. Now that Tony has got a set of Enemy of my Enemy (the strongest search card in the game) in many ways the game seems to have moved away from what made it so interesting to me in the first place.
Back when the game started the emphasis seemed to be on combat between the characters - deciding formations and attacks, and how to best utilise your plot twists to get KOs and breakthrough. It many ways it had managed to transfer the gameplay of limited MtG (which is normally much more interesting than constructed MtG) into a constructed format whilst improving it. There were problems with some games being blowout to a player not drawing enough, or the right characters but I could live with that.
In the last few sets the amount of deck searching that is available seems to have reached a ridiculous level, so that now games seem to involve searching your deck for the answer you need to trump the other guys deck. Possibly UDE realise this - one of the preview cards for Heralds of Galactus seems to be a playable extract effect (search your opponents deck and remove a card).
I've played some two-player Puerto Rico on a couple of evenings. Had a couple of games against Matt, the first of which I won easily, then in the second I tried some slightly different tactics, that caused me to fall behind early and I wasn't able to make up the deficit. I enjoyed those games and managed to persuade Fiona to play a couple of games a few days later. I won the first easily as well, and then in the second managed to make a complete hash of the opening turns and fall miles behind again! This time I was able to comeback and win, although Fee missed a move on the closing turn that would have left my large building unmanned. That would have been enough for her to win, but she was tired and didn't spot it.
No board games on the last three Sundays due to re-enactment events and a wedding. Hopefully as we move into autumn these interuptions will become less common.
I haven't been able to make the last two weeks of Blood Bowl either, due to commitments on Thursday. The week before that the games started late and I ended up abandoning my game at 11:35pm after turn 7 of the second half. We had to rush the second half just to get that far, and after a TD had been scored I just didn't have the time to play a pointless turn 8 and do the post game stuff. I only went to make (I thought) make up the numbers - as it turned out there was an odd number of players - so to be honest I'd rather not have bothered. The league should be moving back to the normal venue next week, were games can start much earlier again.
It's been such a drought recently that I actually got persuaded to play some Vs a couple of weeks ago. It was okay, but nothing special. Now that Tony has got a set of Enemy of my Enemy (the strongest search card in the game) in many ways the game seems to have moved away from what made it so interesting to me in the first place.
Back when the game started the emphasis seemed to be on combat between the characters - deciding formations and attacks, and how to best utilise your plot twists to get KOs and breakthrough. It many ways it had managed to transfer the gameplay of limited MtG (which is normally much more interesting than constructed MtG) into a constructed format whilst improving it. There were problems with some games being blowout to a player not drawing enough, or the right characters but I could live with that.
In the last few sets the amount of deck searching that is available seems to have reached a ridiculous level, so that now games seem to involve searching your deck for the answer you need to trump the other guys deck. Possibly UDE realise this - one of the preview cards for Heralds of Galactus seems to be a playable extract effect (search your opponents deck and remove a card).
I've played some two-player Puerto Rico on a couple of evenings. Had a couple of games against Matt, the first of which I won easily, then in the second I tried some slightly different tactics, that caused me to fall behind early and I wasn't able to make up the deficit. I enjoyed those games and managed to persuade Fiona to play a couple of games a few days later. I won the first easily as well, and then in the second managed to make a complete hash of the opening turns and fall miles behind again! This time I was able to comeback and win, although Fee missed a move on the closing turn that would have left my large building unmanned. That would have been enough for her to win, but she was tired and didn't spot it.
Monday, July 24, 2006
Sunday 23/07/06: Alhambra, Hare & Tortoise, San Juan
It seems like ages since I last played some games.
Part of the reason is that it has been ages. The last Sunday evening was two weeks ago, and we had six players that night, and spent most of it playing Apples to Apples. Since then I haven’t managed to fit anything in apart from a couple of games of two player Puerto Rico and a round of Lost Cities.
This week Scott joined the regulars (Fee, me, Tony and Bekki). His favourite game is Alhambra (and the girls seem to love it was well) so we started with that.
I had one of those games were everything went perfectly. I’m pretty certain I’m the best Alhambra player in the group anyway, and I won with a score of 104, almost 30 points ahead of second place. At every scoring round I had a majority in Towers (it really helped that only one Tower appeared before the first scoring round and I was able to grab it), a majority or share-thereof in Gardens, and the longest Wall.
This game was the first time that I actually spent any actions redeveloping my Alhambra. I actually bought a Tower that I couldn’t place to protect my majority, and later when I bought another Tower with no wall, I noticed that instead of simply placing it, I could swap it with my only Manor (I bought it to connect all of my walls), and the turn after place the other Tower, both guaranteeing a Tower majority and extending my wall further.
After Alhambra we played Hare & Tortoise. Only Fee and Tony had played this before, and the rules translation Tony had didn’t seem to be the greatest. Having looked at some slightly better rules translations online we were definitely playing some rules wrong. In particular we were playing that you could move backwards to the next empty Tortoise space. At one point I moved back 16 spaces!!! [The reason for this was that it would let me move onto a lettuce space next turn - the lettuce in front of me was occupied.]
After my huge move backwards, I had a large amounts of carrots, and was planning to finish in a few large bounds, but it wasn’t clear whether Tony, who had been plodding along in first place would beat me there or not. I the end Tony reached there on the same turn as I did, but he was sitting before me and took first place.
We were a long way ahead of the other three. Although Fee says she really enjoys Hare & Tortoise, I think the game is strategic and calculational enough for Tony & I to have a large advantage. And once the field gets spread out a little, there’s less ‘multiplayer chaos’ than I would have expected. [This may be because we were allowing the large jumps backwards]
Scott, who had made some good moves early on, before losing lots of carrots on an ill advised jugging of the hare, finished third, and Fee managed to finish fourth eventually. Both her and Bekki had problems with arriving near the finish with far too many carrots.
Scott left after H&T, but we didn’t have time for either of the meatier games I had brought (Domaine or Tigris & Euphrates) so we played a hand of San Juan. I had nothing for the first couple of builds, so saved up for Silver, then built a Black Market. I also get a Smithy, so I figure I’m planning for some kind of Production plan, which is fortunate when I find a Guild Hall mid-game.
Coming to the final builds, it is clear the game is between me and Tony. Tony has been going for the violet plan, and has been using both Quarry and Poor House to accelerate his builds (he’s a couple ahead of me, and I’m a couple ahead of Fee and Bekki), and he has a City Hall. I suspect I might need to slip in a cheap catch-up production build to overtake him, but you don’t get much control in four-player. As it turns out Tony, as governor is able to close the game by building a Palace for 25+6=31 points, whilst my Palace leaves my score as 24+6=30. Very close!
It seems likely that after this weekend the next boardgame session may be some time off to various commitments.
Part of the reason is that it has been ages. The last Sunday evening was two weeks ago, and we had six players that night, and spent most of it playing Apples to Apples. Since then I haven’t managed to fit anything in apart from a couple of games of two player Puerto Rico and a round of Lost Cities.
This week Scott joined the regulars (Fee, me, Tony and Bekki). His favourite game is Alhambra (and the girls seem to love it was well) so we started with that.
I had one of those games were everything went perfectly. I’m pretty certain I’m the best Alhambra player in the group anyway, and I won with a score of 104, almost 30 points ahead of second place. At every scoring round I had a majority in Towers (it really helped that only one Tower appeared before the first scoring round and I was able to grab it), a majority or share-thereof in Gardens, and the longest Wall.
This game was the first time that I actually spent any actions redeveloping my Alhambra. I actually bought a Tower that I couldn’t place to protect my majority, and later when I bought another Tower with no wall, I noticed that instead of simply placing it, I could swap it with my only Manor (I bought it to connect all of my walls), and the turn after place the other Tower, both guaranteeing a Tower majority and extending my wall further.
After Alhambra we played Hare & Tortoise. Only Fee and Tony had played this before, and the rules translation Tony had didn’t seem to be the greatest. Having looked at some slightly better rules translations online we were definitely playing some rules wrong. In particular we were playing that you could move backwards to the next empty Tortoise space. At one point I moved back 16 spaces!!! [The reason for this was that it would let me move onto a lettuce space next turn - the lettuce in front of me was occupied.]
After my huge move backwards, I had a large amounts of carrots, and was planning to finish in a few large bounds, but it wasn’t clear whether Tony, who had been plodding along in first place would beat me there or not. I the end Tony reached there on the same turn as I did, but he was sitting before me and took first place.
We were a long way ahead of the other three. Although Fee says she really enjoys Hare & Tortoise, I think the game is strategic and calculational enough for Tony & I to have a large advantage. And once the field gets spread out a little, there’s less ‘multiplayer chaos’ than I would have expected. [This may be because we were allowing the large jumps backwards]
Scott, who had made some good moves early on, before losing lots of carrots on an ill advised jugging of the hare, finished third, and Fee managed to finish fourth eventually. Both her and Bekki had problems with arriving near the finish with far too many carrots.
Scott left after H&T, but we didn’t have time for either of the meatier games I had brought (Domaine or Tigris & Euphrates) so we played a hand of San Juan. I had nothing for the first couple of builds, so saved up for Silver, then built a Black Market. I also get a Smithy, so I figure I’m planning for some kind of Production plan, which is fortunate when I find a Guild Hall mid-game.
Coming to the final builds, it is clear the game is between me and Tony. Tony has been going for the violet plan, and has been using both Quarry and Poor House to accelerate his builds (he’s a couple ahead of me, and I’m a couple ahead of Fee and Bekki), and he has a City Hall. I suspect I might need to slip in a cheap catch-up production build to overtake him, but you don’t get much control in four-player. As it turns out Tony, as governor is able to close the game by building a Palace for 25+6=31 points, whilst my Palace leaves my score as 24+6=30. Very close!
It seems likely that after this weekend the next boardgame session may be some time off to various commitments.
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
Sunday 02/07/06: One False Step for Mankind, Apples to Apples, Alhambra
A bit of a different Sunday evening this week. I get a text mid-afternoon from Fiona saying Marlena and Becky will be there at six, and can I bring some counters for a game (in hindsight it should have been obvious that this involved playing a Cheapass game).
I arrive just after six, and we spend the next half an hour setting up One False Step for Mankind. It needs so many counters and tokens it’s ridiculous! Scott arrives before we begin, so we end up starting a five player at about quarter to 7, after both he and Fee (who have played before) have read the rules and failed to understand them. I end up speed-reading the rules and run the game more than they do, and I’d never played before. The idea was we were supposed to be starting early so Tony wouldn’t have to wait too long after he arrived about 7:30!
Obviously this doesn’t work (one of the games faults is that it takes too long), so we end up playing for about an hour, and then basically stopping. Fee announces Becky as the winner because she managed to send somebody to the moon! Personally I consider myself a winner at that point, as I’m no longer playing! Not a good game.
With Tony also present we need six player games. That’s a little tricky. We start with a quick round of Apples to Apples, which I win (or Tony won and I came second – can’t remember), and then we play Alhambra. I have Elfenland, which also plays six, but that seems like a game that takes twice as long with six than three players, unlike Alhambra where you’re still selling off exactly the same number of tiles. And everyone likes Alhambra anyway.
I get an okay start and am second or third at the second scoring, but collapse at the final scoring, when my two Towers (which was good for second place at the second scoring) gets overtaken by Marlena and Becky and I don’t manage to connect my wall at all. I finish fifth. Tony gets the majority in Gardens to move through to second place, almost catching Becky who has been leading most of the way. She is in a three way split for Towers with Fee and Marlena and has a good wall.
Alhambra isn’t great with six, but it’s useful to have a game that most people enjoy and can handle that many if needed unexpectedly. Most games wouldn’t (I only had Elfenroads cause it has loads of bits needed for One False Step for Mankind – normally I wouldn’t have any six player games).
Afterwards we just sit around playing Apples to Apples some more, lengthening the game to first to ten. Pete joins us this time, which is good for me, as I seem to have a very good understanding of his warped mind (who else would find Witch Hunts Fabulous, I also got him to pick Electric Chair) and I got four of my seven cards from him! Tony wins though.
I’m not sure how much you can read into the fact that the two most successful players at Apples to Apples were Tony and I, the two most serious gamers. Certainly everyone had fun, and it got very silly at times (some of us had been drinking). An enjoyable change from the norm – it seems unlikely we’ll have six players again any time soon, so it’ll probably be back to more serious gaming next time.
I arrive just after six, and we spend the next half an hour setting up One False Step for Mankind. It needs so many counters and tokens it’s ridiculous! Scott arrives before we begin, so we end up starting a five player at about quarter to 7, after both he and Fee (who have played before) have read the rules and failed to understand them. I end up speed-reading the rules and run the game more than they do, and I’d never played before. The idea was we were supposed to be starting early so Tony wouldn’t have to wait too long after he arrived about 7:30!
Obviously this doesn’t work (one of the games faults is that it takes too long), so we end up playing for about an hour, and then basically stopping. Fee announces Becky as the winner because she managed to send somebody to the moon! Personally I consider myself a winner at that point, as I’m no longer playing! Not a good game.
With Tony also present we need six player games. That’s a little tricky. We start with a quick round of Apples to Apples, which I win (or Tony won and I came second – can’t remember), and then we play Alhambra. I have Elfenland, which also plays six, but that seems like a game that takes twice as long with six than three players, unlike Alhambra where you’re still selling off exactly the same number of tiles. And everyone likes Alhambra anyway.
I get an okay start and am second or third at the second scoring, but collapse at the final scoring, when my two Towers (which was good for second place at the second scoring) gets overtaken by Marlena and Becky and I don’t manage to connect my wall at all. I finish fifth. Tony gets the majority in Gardens to move through to second place, almost catching Becky who has been leading most of the way. She is in a three way split for Towers with Fee and Marlena and has a good wall.
Alhambra isn’t great with six, but it’s useful to have a game that most people enjoy and can handle that many if needed unexpectedly. Most games wouldn’t (I only had Elfenroads cause it has loads of bits needed for One False Step for Mankind – normally I wouldn’t have any six player games).
Afterwards we just sit around playing Apples to Apples some more, lengthening the game to first to ten. Pete joins us this time, which is good for me, as I seem to have a very good understanding of his warped mind (who else would find Witch Hunts Fabulous, I also got him to pick Electric Chair) and I got four of my seven cards from him! Tony wins though.
I’m not sure how much you can read into the fact that the two most successful players at Apples to Apples were Tony and I, the two most serious gamers. Certainly everyone had fun, and it got very silly at times (some of us had been drinking). An enjoyable change from the norm – it seems unlikely we’ll have six players again any time soon, so it’ll probably be back to more serious gaming next time.
Monday, July 03, 2006
Blood Bowl 29/06/06: Dark Elves vs Goblins
The final update to the Blood Bowl playtest vault rules have now been issued (as Living Rulebook 5), and they’ve come at a convenient time. With my recent move to Newport I have more spare time, and opponents within walking distance.
The local league meets every Thursday, and has six players. Last week I started a new Dark Elf team with a bad matchup against the Dave’s Norse (I’m not really in a position to take advantage of his armour of 7, as with all of his players having block or strength 4, my players are the ones falling over). I really suffered with the injury rolls (of three casualties two were dead, and I made one out of eight KO rolls), so my team was somewhat depleted this week, with two journeymen required to make up the numbers.
This week I played against James’s Goblins. I get a dream start – I’m kicking to him and roll a Blitz! Two Blitzers are able to get tackle zones on the player under the ball (James had setup without wide tackle zones, and the ball scattered right behind the centre of the line of scrimmage) and after James fails to catch it, the ball scatters to one of the Blitzers who does.
The next six turns sees me slowly move the ball towards James’s end zone. A couple of times he is able to recover the ball, but he’s never able to protect it sufficiently, and I always have enough Elves around the ball to recover it easily. I would stall and score in the last turn of the half, but there is a Bombardier on the pitch (and James had already had one direct hit with throw team mate), making it impossible to get 100% safety, so I score on turn 6.
We both setup in a similar fashion again. This time the ball scatters wide. James throws some blocks, and seems to move everybody else before dealing with the ball and it costs him. He used all his rerolls in the first three turns, and turnovers without a tackle zone on the ball. I run in and pick it up (I still have one of my two rerolls left), then James provides a repeat performance next turn and I score probably the easiest touchdown I’ve ever scored.
2-0 at halftime, and I’m receiving, and the secret weapon players are gone (under the current rules they only play one drive). The second half kickoff is the first time the ball has been in my half, but it doesn’t stay there very long. I walk the ball into the endzone, the Goblins putting up almost no resistance.
The second half plays much like the first with me scoring another fairly easy touchdown. Only two really memorable events ocurred. Firstly, ones of the Trolls gets KO’d by a rock thrown from the crowd, and secondly, James had one turn left after I score for 4-0, and manages to make all the rolls needed for a one-turn, throw team mate touchdown. Very nice, and he probably deserved it. He did have some bad luck with some rolls I think, but he didn’t help himself by not always getting his priorities straight, so that when the bad luck struck, he left me in a good position.
Blood Bowl should be a weekly occurrence now I expect.
The local league meets every Thursday, and has six players. Last week I started a new Dark Elf team with a bad matchup against the Dave’s Norse (I’m not really in a position to take advantage of his armour of 7, as with all of his players having block or strength 4, my players are the ones falling over). I really suffered with the injury rolls (of three casualties two were dead, and I made one out of eight KO rolls), so my team was somewhat depleted this week, with two journeymen required to make up the numbers.
This week I played against James’s Goblins. I get a dream start – I’m kicking to him and roll a Blitz! Two Blitzers are able to get tackle zones on the player under the ball (James had setup without wide tackle zones, and the ball scattered right behind the centre of the line of scrimmage) and after James fails to catch it, the ball scatters to one of the Blitzers who does.
The next six turns sees me slowly move the ball towards James’s end zone. A couple of times he is able to recover the ball, but he’s never able to protect it sufficiently, and I always have enough Elves around the ball to recover it easily. I would stall and score in the last turn of the half, but there is a Bombardier on the pitch (and James had already had one direct hit with throw team mate), making it impossible to get 100% safety, so I score on turn 6.
We both setup in a similar fashion again. This time the ball scatters wide. James throws some blocks, and seems to move everybody else before dealing with the ball and it costs him. He used all his rerolls in the first three turns, and turnovers without a tackle zone on the ball. I run in and pick it up (I still have one of my two rerolls left), then James provides a repeat performance next turn and I score probably the easiest touchdown I’ve ever scored.
2-0 at halftime, and I’m receiving, and the secret weapon players are gone (under the current rules they only play one drive). The second half kickoff is the first time the ball has been in my half, but it doesn’t stay there very long. I walk the ball into the endzone, the Goblins putting up almost no resistance.
The second half plays much like the first with me scoring another fairly easy touchdown. Only two really memorable events ocurred. Firstly, ones of the Trolls gets KO’d by a rock thrown from the crowd, and secondly, James had one turn left after I score for 4-0, and manages to make all the rolls needed for a one-turn, throw team mate touchdown. Very nice, and he probably deserved it. He did have some bad luck with some rolls I think, but he didn’t help himself by not always getting his priorities straight, so that when the bad luck struck, he left me in a good position.
Blood Bowl should be a weekly occurrence now I expect.
Friday, June 23, 2006
Sunday 11/06/06: San Juan, Lord of the Rings: Friends and Foes, Settlers of Catan
Tony and I went round to Fiona's on Sunday evening. It was still quite light, and the table inside was mess, so we decided to play outside.
We start with a couple of hands of San Juan. In the first game Fiona and I are both into trading (she has Silver and Well, I have built Tobacco, Well, Aquaduct and Trading Post), whilst Tony is the odd man out, though he does have the strong Quarry & Carpenter combo. Fee and I then also both build Prefecture, to make Tony’s position look really bad, but he is fortunate enough to find the final one a few turns later.
I have the sort of balanced trading / violet position where I’m happy to find either Guild Hall or City Hall. I find a Guild Hall, so I close out with all production buildings. Tony doesn’t find a City Hall but does hit Triumphal Arch, a couple of monuments and Palace for a two point win over me. Fiona’s position looks awful but she has a final build City Hall to not lose by too much.
The second game is really weird. I get a first turn Poor House, and then proceed to rapidly build a collection of one cost buildings, triggering the poor House each time. I get to my eighth build four (!!!) buildings ahead of both Fiona and Tony. In addition to all my one cost buildings I have a Coffee for trading and a Chapel that is helping to keep me poor, effectively providing free victory points. Tony is amassing an okay (small) collection of violet buildings, but he has a Palace as opposed to a City Hall or Triumphal Arch, and that means I can close with a score of 22 for a 2 point win. I’ve never seen that strategy work in a three player before (and I’ve only seen it a few times in two-player). My draws during the opening turns were ideal – it seemed that every time the Poor House triggered the card I drew was another 1 cost building.
After that Fee wants to play something that will leave time for another game afterwards. Tony suggests Lord of the Rings (with F&F expansion), I foolishly describe it as a “one hour game” and we managed to talk Fee into it. This game of Friends and Foes proceeds much as the last one, we start with Sauron on 15, are never really in any danger of dying to 8 foes, and manage to skip Helm’s Deep and Shelob’s lair without too much trouble. In fact the four foes required to skip Shelob’s Lair are the last four in the deck, so under the rules as originally printed we would have won at that point. Instead we are playing the variant I saw suggested on BGG where we gain the Watchful Peace card when we kill all the foes. (Note that if we had been playing the official Black Gate variant this also would have lead to a trivial win – three of the last four foes re
The final board is only interesting as we manage to bugger up who is to be the ring bearer on the Mordor board, and I end with the ring, despite being the only one anywhere near Sauron, who is still on 14. Still we still have Gandalf’s Healing and the OOO Feature card, so we were never in too much danger, and sure enough we get near the summit, I put on the Ring and use Gandalf to automatically move four spaces, and we reach the summit and win.
Somehow Friends and Foes feels easier than the regular game. I think part of this is due to the fact that with Sam’s new ability and the new Gandalf card ‘Sauron does not advance’ you can effectively cancel three events, rather than just one. Gandalf cards that used to be quite important like ‘double wild’ and ‘draw four cards’ aren’t always needed any more.
Of course the game took much longer than one hour and by the end the light was failing badly (we were playing in the garden), which made it hard to see what was going on, which had a negative impact on the game I think. It’s hard for everyone to be involved when they can’t see what’s going on. Not a great gaming experience.
It’s getting late by then, so the only way we’ll have time for another game is if I stay outside and clear up LotR whilst Fee and Tony go inside, clear some room and setup something else. When I get inside they’re setting up Settlers of Catan.
I’d never played Settlers before, and based on this game I don’t particularly want to again. Trading & negotiation isn’t a mechanic I particularly enjoy, so for me it was just an hour of sitting around, rolling dice, occasionally trading when somebody made an offer that tempted me. My interest diminished even further during the game when it became apparent we weren’t going to finish in time, and I was in last place anyway. Sure enough we didn’t finish. A lame finishing to an overall sub-par evening. And we won’t be able to play for the next few weeks probably (more re-enactment events).
We start with a couple of hands of San Juan. In the first game Fiona and I are both into trading (she has Silver and Well, I have built Tobacco, Well, Aquaduct and Trading Post), whilst Tony is the odd man out, though he does have the strong Quarry & Carpenter combo. Fee and I then also both build Prefecture, to make Tony’s position look really bad, but he is fortunate enough to find the final one a few turns later.
I have the sort of balanced trading / violet position where I’m happy to find either Guild Hall or City Hall. I find a Guild Hall, so I close out with all production buildings. Tony doesn’t find a City Hall but does hit Triumphal Arch, a couple of monuments and Palace for a two point win over me. Fiona’s position looks awful but she has a final build City Hall to not lose by too much.
The second game is really weird. I get a first turn Poor House, and then proceed to rapidly build a collection of one cost buildings, triggering the poor House each time. I get to my eighth build four (!!!) buildings ahead of both Fiona and Tony. In addition to all my one cost buildings I have a Coffee for trading and a Chapel that is helping to keep me poor, effectively providing free victory points. Tony is amassing an okay (small) collection of violet buildings, but he has a Palace as opposed to a City Hall or Triumphal Arch, and that means I can close with a score of 22 for a 2 point win. I’ve never seen that strategy work in a three player before (and I’ve only seen it a few times in two-player). My draws during the opening turns were ideal – it seemed that every time the Poor House triggered the card I drew was another 1 cost building.
After that Fee wants to play something that will leave time for another game afterwards. Tony suggests Lord of the Rings (with F&F expansion), I foolishly describe it as a “one hour game” and we managed to talk Fee into it. This game of Friends and Foes proceeds much as the last one, we start with Sauron on 15, are never really in any danger of dying to 8 foes, and manage to skip Helm’s Deep and Shelob’s lair without too much trouble. In fact the four foes required to skip Shelob’s Lair are the last four in the deck, so under the rules as originally printed we would have won at that point. Instead we are playing the variant I saw suggested on BGG where we gain the Watchful Peace card when we kill all the foes. (Note that if we had been playing the official Black Gate variant this also would have lead to a trivial win – three of the last four foes re
The final board is only interesting as we manage to bugger up who is to be the ring bearer on the Mordor board, and I end with the ring, despite being the only one anywhere near Sauron, who is still on 14. Still we still have Gandalf’s Healing and the OOO Feature card, so we were never in too much danger, and sure enough we get near the summit, I put on the Ring and use Gandalf to automatically move four spaces, and we reach the summit and win.
Somehow Friends and Foes feels easier than the regular game. I think part of this is due to the fact that with Sam’s new ability and the new Gandalf card ‘Sauron does not advance’ you can effectively cancel three events, rather than just one. Gandalf cards that used to be quite important like ‘double wild’ and ‘draw four cards’ aren’t always needed any more.
Of course the game took much longer than one hour and by the end the light was failing badly (we were playing in the garden), which made it hard to see what was going on, which had a negative impact on the game I think. It’s hard for everyone to be involved when they can’t see what’s going on. Not a great gaming experience.
It’s getting late by then, so the only way we’ll have time for another game is if I stay outside and clear up LotR whilst Fee and Tony go inside, clear some room and setup something else. When I get inside they’re setting up Settlers of Catan.
I’d never played Settlers before, and based on this game I don’t particularly want to again. Trading & negotiation isn’t a mechanic I particularly enjoy, so for me it was just an hour of sitting around, rolling dice, occasionally trading when somebody made an offer that tempted me. My interest diminished even further during the game when it became apparent we weren’t going to finish in time, and I was in last place anyway. Sure enough we didn’t finish. A lame finishing to an overall sub-par evening. And we won’t be able to play for the next few weeks probably (more re-enactment events).
Friday, June 09, 2006
Sunday 04/06/06: Flea Circus, Lord of the Rings Friends & Foes, Starbase Jeff
Fiona was away again this weekend, but this time Bekki, Tony and I managed to get ourselves organised, and they come round for games on Sunday evening.
We start with a few hands of Flea Circus to get us in the mood. I win the first, Bekki wins the second when I call the gala show early but with poor cards, and I won the third. Over the three games Bekki actually has the highest score, but the rules don’t mention adding the scores, so I win 2-1 I guess? Either way Tony’s last.
After that we’re ready for something more serious, except Bekki wants to play something not too difficult that we’ve played before, cause she’s not feeling up to anything harder (I think she might have got a bit too much sun during the day). We settle on Lord of the Rings with the Friends and Foes expansion. I get out the Lord of the Rings box and then leave the room to make some more tea.
When I get back a few minutes later I find they’ve got as far as taking off the lid, removing the main board, Sauron and the One Ring. That’s it! So I spend the next five minutes setting up the game, and explaining the Friends and Foes additions. We start with Sauron on 15 (as is recommended when playing with F&F for the first time), Bekki is Frodo, I’m Sam and Tony is Pippin. Merry and Fatty get left behind again.
We failed to complete Bree, mainly because we had trouble avoiding get overrrun with foes after some [][] roles on the dice. We avert a complete disaster though, as I have a surfeit of Hiding Hobbit cards, so we are actually able to pay the 7 Hiding required to avoid @@@ on the final event. (Going straight from the Shire into a game board feel really weird the first times you play F&F – you’re so used to having Rivendell goodies when you face the first board in the regular game).
We just survive Moria, fleeing with the power of the Ring, just before things get too bad. At this point I as Sam, am incredibly corrupt (about 6 or 7) mainly because I keep taking damage to kill foes (I’m Sam after all so it seems best I do it), whilst Tony as Pippin has barely been corrupted at all.
During Isengard our plan is to clear out the Foes so we can skip Helm’s Deep & hopefully Shelob’s Lair. Killing off the foes is easy enough, but requires a bit of thought to make sure you end the board with exactly none in play. You wouldn’t want one to appear on the last turn and be unable to kill it, letting all your hard work go to waste. We avoid any such mishap, and are able to skip Helm’s Deep. This reveals four new foes, which Bekki, as the new Ring-bearer needs to kill off between boards to let us skip Shelob’s Lair as well. With the power of Gandalf’s Firestorm, this is achevied, and we skip Shelob’s Lair.
Coming into Mordor, nobody is looking too healthy, but we still have plenty of stuff left – enough shields to call on Gandalf several times, my power to cancel an event, and Bekki still has the OOO feature card in hand. It is apparent though that it would be trivial for us to gain a Military Victory – the four foes revealed when we skipped Shelobs Lair where the last four in the deck. I had mentioned previously that Military Victory was apparently too easy, and we all agreed that we would just ignore the foes for the last board (I couldn’t remember what the Black Gate card did exactly).
As it turns out we in fact have more than enough stuff to make it to Mount Doom, as we get most of the way and then I spot that Bekki can put on the Ring & call on Gandalf to take no damage and make the move four squares, which will bring her to Mount Doom, and the OOO card means she can’t die when trying to lob in the One Ring – so we win!
We end the evening with a couple of hands of Starbase Jeff. Supposedly this is a tile-laying / gambling game. It seems like it has some interesting mechanics, but fails to actually turn them into a game. That seems to be the conclusion of my geekbuddies as well, but a surprising large number of people seem to rate the game as one of the best from Cheapass (depending on your point of view that still may not mean much). Perhaps there is something there. Tony seems to always have it with him, so I’ll guess I’ll get the chance to find out soon enough.
We start with a few hands of Flea Circus to get us in the mood. I win the first, Bekki wins the second when I call the gala show early but with poor cards, and I won the third. Over the three games Bekki actually has the highest score, but the rules don’t mention adding the scores, so I win 2-1 I guess? Either way Tony’s last.
After that we’re ready for something more serious, except Bekki wants to play something not too difficult that we’ve played before, cause she’s not feeling up to anything harder (I think she might have got a bit too much sun during the day). We settle on Lord of the Rings with the Friends and Foes expansion. I get out the Lord of the Rings box and then leave the room to make some more tea.
When I get back a few minutes later I find they’ve got as far as taking off the lid, removing the main board, Sauron and the One Ring. That’s it! So I spend the next five minutes setting up the game, and explaining the Friends and Foes additions. We start with Sauron on 15 (as is recommended when playing with F&F for the first time), Bekki is Frodo, I’m Sam and Tony is Pippin. Merry and Fatty get left behind again.
We failed to complete Bree, mainly because we had trouble avoiding get overrrun with foes after some [][] roles on the dice. We avert a complete disaster though, as I have a surfeit of Hiding Hobbit cards, so we are actually able to pay the 7 Hiding required to avoid @@@ on the final event. (Going straight from the Shire into a game board feel really weird the first times you play F&F – you’re so used to having Rivendell goodies when you face the first board in the regular game).
We just survive Moria, fleeing with the power of the Ring, just before things get too bad. At this point I as Sam, am incredibly corrupt (about 6 or 7) mainly because I keep taking damage to kill foes (I’m Sam after all so it seems best I do it), whilst Tony as Pippin has barely been corrupted at all.
During Isengard our plan is to clear out the Foes so we can skip Helm’s Deep & hopefully Shelob’s Lair. Killing off the foes is easy enough, but requires a bit of thought to make sure you end the board with exactly none in play. You wouldn’t want one to appear on the last turn and be unable to kill it, letting all your hard work go to waste. We avoid any such mishap, and are able to skip Helm’s Deep. This reveals four new foes, which Bekki, as the new Ring-bearer needs to kill off between boards to let us skip Shelob’s Lair as well. With the power of Gandalf’s Firestorm, this is achevied, and we skip Shelob’s Lair.
Coming into Mordor, nobody is looking too healthy, but we still have plenty of stuff left – enough shields to call on Gandalf several times, my power to cancel an event, and Bekki still has the OOO feature card in hand. It is apparent though that it would be trivial for us to gain a Military Victory – the four foes revealed when we skipped Shelobs Lair where the last four in the deck. I had mentioned previously that Military Victory was apparently too easy, and we all agreed that we would just ignore the foes for the last board (I couldn’t remember what the Black Gate card did exactly).
As it turns out we in fact have more than enough stuff to make it to Mount Doom, as we get most of the way and then I spot that Bekki can put on the Ring & call on Gandalf to take no damage and make the move four squares, which will bring her to Mount Doom, and the OOO card means she can’t die when trying to lob in the One Ring – so we win!
We end the evening with a couple of hands of Starbase Jeff. Supposedly this is a tile-laying / gambling game. It seems like it has some interesting mechanics, but fails to actually turn them into a game. That seems to be the conclusion of my geekbuddies as well, but a surprising large number of people seem to rate the game as one of the best from Cheapass (depending on your point of view that still may not mean much). Perhaps there is something there. Tony seems to always have it with him, so I’ll guess I’ll get the chance to find out soon enough.
Thursday, June 01, 2006
Update
I've been busy at work, and the home computer stopped working over the bank holiday weekend, so it's been a while since I've managed to write anything.
I managed to play a couple of games of San Juan against Matt during lunch hours at work last week, a couple of fairly easy wins.
I couldn't arrange any major boardgame sessions over the long weekend (Fiona away, two of the Matts doing DIY), so went round to see Matt Saturday evening for Beers & Games (Cider & Games in my case).
We started with a two-player Louis XIV. Two player seems a lot more relaxing than four player, as you can just play directly against your opponent without everyone else messing up your plans. And obviously the downtime is much reduced. I managed to complete one more mission than Matt, but he had way more shields, and took the win.
We then tried Babel, which I picked up in a trade recently. It didn't really grab either of us, we both blew some stuff up, got to the end of the Temple Pile, and that was that. Matt won. I suspect there must be a good game in there somewhere (my geekbuddies rate it highly), but I'm not sure I'll find it. I have too many other games I'd rather play two-player, so Babel has hit the trade list.
We finished with a game of San Juan, I got an awful start, everything I tried to do to get back into the game Matt countered (ie I build a Tower, his next build is Chapel), and couldn't find decent VP buildings. With some really tight play at the close I am able to force Matt to use his Crane to build both the City Hall and Triumphal Arch, to only lose by 13 points! (funniest thing all evening: Matt picks Builder, and build a Prefecture. I also build, and then Prospect. Matt says "well I have a Prefecture, so it's obvious what I do here", and picks Councillor. I keep both cards, Matt says "aren't you discarding one?" and I point to the Prefecture I built when he did! - he was so happy to supposedly have the Prefecture advantage, he didn't look at what I was doing).
After that I've had too much to drink for more games, so we sit around watching Scuzz until it's time for my bus.
Finally, last night, I was supposed to go round to Fiona's for some Carcassone: The Castle, and then "we might go the pub late on" (it's open mic night, and if you go late you miss the really awful singer), but it didn't quite work out that way. She & Pete got dragged to pub for dinner, so I met them there, and we ended up playing drunken Carcassone in the back of the pub at 11. And I won twice, which is unheard of for Carc.
I managed to play a couple of games of San Juan against Matt during lunch hours at work last week, a couple of fairly easy wins.
I couldn't arrange any major boardgame sessions over the long weekend (Fiona away, two of the Matts doing DIY), so went round to see Matt Saturday evening for Beers & Games (Cider & Games in my case).
We started with a two-player Louis XIV. Two player seems a lot more relaxing than four player, as you can just play directly against your opponent without everyone else messing up your plans. And obviously the downtime is much reduced. I managed to complete one more mission than Matt, but he had way more shields, and took the win.
We then tried Babel, which I picked up in a trade recently. It didn't really grab either of us, we both blew some stuff up, got to the end of the Temple Pile, and that was that. Matt won. I suspect there must be a good game in there somewhere (my geekbuddies rate it highly), but I'm not sure I'll find it. I have too many other games I'd rather play two-player, so Babel has hit the trade list.
We finished with a game of San Juan, I got an awful start, everything I tried to do to get back into the game Matt countered (ie I build a Tower, his next build is Chapel), and couldn't find decent VP buildings. With some really tight play at the close I am able to force Matt to use his Crane to build both the City Hall and Triumphal Arch, to only lose by 13 points! (funniest thing all evening: Matt picks Builder, and build a Prefecture. I also build, and then Prospect. Matt says "well I have a Prefecture, so it's obvious what I do here", and picks Councillor. I keep both cards, Matt says "aren't you discarding one?" and I point to the Prefecture I built when he did! - he was so happy to supposedly have the Prefecture advantage, he didn't look at what I was doing).
After that I've had too much to drink for more games, so we sit around watching Scuzz until it's time for my bus.
Finally, last night, I was supposed to go round to Fiona's for some Carcassone: The Castle, and then "we might go the pub late on" (it's open mic night, and if you go late you miss the really awful singer), but it didn't quite work out that way. She & Pete got dragged to pub for dinner, so I met them there, and we ended up playing drunken Carcassone in the back of the pub at 11. And I won twice, which is unheard of for Carc.
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Tuesday 23/05/06 Carcassone the Castle, Gin Rummy (& San Juan)
Fiona was eager to play some Carcassone the Castle, but we didn’t manage to fit it in last weekend, so when my plans to go to the cinema fell through, we managed to fit a few games in.
In a huge break with tradition I absolutely ran away with the first game. I got an absurdly lucky sequence of roads to begin with (the crossroads with a well in the centre, followed by three road ends!) and am able to pick up several bonus tiles. Fee looked like making a comeback when she scores 24 with a Tower x2 tile, but I still win comfortably.
Normal service is resumed in game 2. Fee has a pair of Market bonus tiles, and easily wins the Keep bonus for the win.
Game 3 looks close, but I’m relying on a large road network, with a Well (I have an Incomplete Road bonus tile, so I’ll score it even if it doesn’t complete). But just before the end Fee is able to also get a Meeple onto it, and I’m not able to get a second on before the game end. That’s about 20 points gone, and I lose.
After that I teach Fee Gin Rummy. The rules are pretty simple (for anyone who has ever played any game of Rummy before) , even if they gameplay isn’t (you really need to make some effort to remember what the other guys been doing). I blow the first hand by knocking with a score of 10 far too late, and Fee is able to undercut me. She wins the next as well, but I then get three large wins, including a very early Gin that catches her with about 40 points in hand, to take the first game (game is typically 100-up).
The second game goes the other way, I take an early lead, she then catches up, and after a few hand we both have scores in the 70’s. She takes a small win to take her into the 80’s, and in the next hand she gets a very early Gin, to take the game.
We have time to close with a quick game of San Juan before I leave. I get a poor start, don’t see any six-pointers, and Fiona doesn’t make any mistakes to beat me by about 10 points.
In a huge break with tradition I absolutely ran away with the first game. I got an absurdly lucky sequence of roads to begin with (the crossroads with a well in the centre, followed by three road ends!) and am able to pick up several bonus tiles. Fee looked like making a comeback when she scores 24 with a Tower x2 tile, but I still win comfortably.
Normal service is resumed in game 2. Fee has a pair of Market bonus tiles, and easily wins the Keep bonus for the win.
Game 3 looks close, but I’m relying on a large road network, with a Well (I have an Incomplete Road bonus tile, so I’ll score it even if it doesn’t complete). But just before the end Fee is able to also get a Meeple onto it, and I’m not able to get a second on before the game end. That’s about 20 points gone, and I lose.
After that I teach Fee Gin Rummy. The rules are pretty simple (for anyone who has ever played any game of Rummy before) , even if they gameplay isn’t (you really need to make some effort to remember what the other guys been doing). I blow the first hand by knocking with a score of 10 far too late, and Fee is able to undercut me. She wins the next as well, but I then get three large wins, including a very early Gin that catches her with about 40 points in hand, to take the first game (game is typically 100-up).
The second game goes the other way, I take an early lead, she then catches up, and after a few hand we both have scores in the 70’s. She takes a small win to take her into the 80’s, and in the next hand she gets a very early Gin, to take the game.
We have time to close with a quick game of San Juan before I leave. I get a poor start, don’t see any six-pointers, and Fiona doesn’t make any mistakes to beat me by about 10 points.
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