Saturday, July 25, 2009
34/07/09 - Dominion: Intrigue
On Friday evening me Leon and Tony, played a couple of games of Intrigue only Dominion (I only realised it was Intrigue only when Tony mentioned it afterwards.) We played an evolving setup, which included Duke and Harem in both games.
I lost the first, getting too carried away with trying to set up a Pawn + Conspirator deck (after using Steward to trash my Estates) that wasn't really effective. Tony had a more effective Conspirator deck, using Minion to generate income and new hands. But we both lost to Leon's simple plan of buying Duchies and Dukes - he had 6 Duchies and multiple Dukes.
In the second game Torturer was available (though Secret Chamber also appeared), and Tony fell into the Harem trap - buying Harem's from the outset over Gold. This might be a reasonable plan in a VERY attack heavy tableaux where winning scores are often miniscule (ie we had a game with Swindler, Thief, Bureaucrat and Witch with a winning score of 3), but here I think it hurt him. He set up a similar Minion deck to the last game, whilst I concentrated more on Torturer. Mining Village helped to chain Actions together, and with my Gold I was able to buy enough Provinces to win. Leon tried to win with Dukes again, but couldn't buy enough to win - by the end Tony and I were both Torturing him too frequently.
Intrigue only Dominion was quite interesting - some Intrigue cards really come more to life in this environment.
Saturday, September 06, 2008
06/09/08 SSE draft
I decided to go over to Southampton for the last Shadowmmor draft before the Shards Pre-release in a few weeks time.
I took a Prison Term first pick, the next two picks were uninteresting (one was a Elsewhere Flask that I took just to keep options open). A fourth pick Burn Trail seemed like a sign to be in Red.
This time I made sure of getting enough cheap Red guys to use the Burn Trail effectively. Silkbind Faeries were also going round a little to late it seemed, so I was able to pick up a couple and a Power of Fire, leaving me with RW or RU as options going into the final booster, Eventide.
The cheap red guys became even more of a priority with the first Eventide pick, the excellent Crackleburr - a bomb in the deck I was drafting.
The deck
2 Intimidator Initiate
2 Rustrazor Butcher
1 Riverfall Mimic
2 Tattermunge Duo
2 Noggle Bandit
2 Silkbind Faerie
1 Crackleburr
1 Noggle Bridgebreaker
1 Scuzzback Marauder
1 Outrage Shaman
1 Spectral Procession
1 Cenn's Enlistenment
1 Niveous Wisps
1 Power of Fire
1 Double Cleave
1 Prison Term
1 Burn Trail
2 Manamorphose
10 Mountains
6 Swamps
I won all four matches to win the draft. Crackleburr won several games on his own.
I took a Prison Term first pick, the next two picks were uninteresting (one was a Elsewhere Flask that I took just to keep options open). A fourth pick Burn Trail seemed like a sign to be in Red.
This time I made sure of getting enough cheap Red guys to use the Burn Trail effectively. Silkbind Faeries were also going round a little to late it seemed, so I was able to pick up a couple and a Power of Fire, leaving me with RW or RU as options going into the final booster, Eventide.
The cheap red guys became even more of a priority with the first Eventide pick, the excellent Crackleburr - a bomb in the deck I was drafting.
The deck
2 Intimidator Initiate
2 Rustrazor Butcher
1 Riverfall Mimic
2 Tattermunge Duo
2 Noggle Bandit
2 Silkbind Faerie
1 Crackleburr
1 Noggle Bridgebreaker
1 Scuzzback Marauder
1 Outrage Shaman
1 Spectral Procession
1 Cenn's Enlistenment
1 Niveous Wisps
1 Power of Fire
1 Double Cleave
1 Prison Term
1 Burn Trail
2 Manamorphose
10 Mountains
6 Swamps
I won all four matches to win the draft. Crackleburr won several games on his own.
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
Netrunner deck; Rio de Janeiro City Grid
Netrunner is the one of most interesting CCG ever created in my opinion. This is one of the decks I still have built.
Rio de Janeiro City Grid
Cost: 1
Upgrade-Region-Random
Roll a die whenever Runner passes a piece of rezzed ice during a run on this fort. On a 1, end the run.
In most Corp decks RdJ City Grid isn't worthwhile, it's just too unreliable. To make RDJ work you need big forts. REALLY big forts. With the addition of 'payback' ice (that you get bits from when you rez them) in the Proteus expansion this became possible.
The deck (50 cards)
Agendas (6)
4 Corporate Downsizing
2 Political Overthrow
Upgrades (8)
6 Rio de Janeiro City Grid
4 Chester Mix
2 Rasmin Bridger
2 Obsfucated Fortress
Operations (3)
3 Off Site Backups
Nodes (1)
1 Bel Digmo Antibody
Ice - Code Gates (7)
3 Misleading Access Menu
3 Quandry
1 Mazer
Ice - Walls (10)
6 Snowbank
2 Data Wall 2.0
1 Walking Wall
1 Glacier
Ice - Sentry (9)
7 Washed Up Solo Construct
1 Fragmentation Storm
1 Data Naga
With this deck the plan is to build three really big forts; R&D, HQ and one subsidiary (this deck is weak against Shredder Uplink Protocol - it can't effectively defend a fourth fort).
Typically you begin by setting up as much defense as you can on R&D and HQ. Then once those are secure setup a sudsidiary fort and try to score a Corporate Downsizing.
When you do, shuffle all the Agendas in your hand back into R&D. With this deck you want the game to go as long as is possible (warning; games using this deck can much longer than normal games of Netrunner). You can't lose due to running out of cards as you have Bel-Digmo Antibody, with Off-Site Backups to return it from Archives should the Runner manage to trash it from R&D or HQ.
More typically Off-Site Backups is used to return Rasmin Bridger or Obsfucated Fortress as these are crucial to the decks long term strategy - to make the Runner pay for runs that will fail. (Obviously RdJ City Grid is also crucial but the deck plays so many of these and the trash cost is so high that it isn't normally productive to trash these).
To make the runner lose bits on each run, each fort needs to have some ice that will cost the runner bits to pass, and the earlier in the run the better. Walking Wall and Glacier are excellent for this with their ability to move themselves. Rasmin Bridger means every ice will cost at 1 additional bit to pass, and Obsfucated Fortress will mean every run will cost the runner in full, even if you roll a 1 after the first piece of Ice!
Data Naga and Fragmentation Storm are there to keep the runner honest, so that they can't assume that all of the Ice is harmless.
This deck has one major weakness - it isn't that good! Even with 9 pieces of ice on a fort RDJ will still fail to stop a Runner 20% of the time. You are relying on the time needed for the runner to regain the bits needed for each failure to score your agendas. This is okay for Corporate Downsizing, but it's much more difficult to score a Political Overthrow.
Given this weakness the deck is only realy suitable for casual play. But as it takes so long to play it isn't really suitable for that either! Still, it was fun to play occasionally and remains an interesting design.
Rio de Janeiro City Grid
Cost: 1
Upgrade-Region-Random
Roll a die whenever Runner passes a piece of rezzed ice during a run on this fort. On a 1, end the run.
In most Corp decks RdJ City Grid isn't worthwhile, it's just too unreliable. To make RDJ work you need big forts. REALLY big forts. With the addition of 'payback' ice (that you get bits from when you rez them) in the Proteus expansion this became possible.
The deck (50 cards)
Agendas (6)
4 Corporate Downsizing
2 Political Overthrow
Upgrades (8)
6 Rio de Janeiro City Grid
4 Chester Mix
2 Rasmin Bridger
2 Obsfucated Fortress
Operations (3)
3 Off Site Backups
Nodes (1)
1 Bel Digmo Antibody
Ice - Code Gates (7)
3 Misleading Access Menu
3 Quandry
1 Mazer
Ice - Walls (10)
6 Snowbank
2 Data Wall 2.0
1 Walking Wall
1 Glacier
Ice - Sentry (9)
7 Washed Up Solo Construct
1 Fragmentation Storm
1 Data Naga
With this deck the plan is to build three really big forts; R&D, HQ and one subsidiary (this deck is weak against Shredder Uplink Protocol - it can't effectively defend a fourth fort).
Typically you begin by setting up as much defense as you can on R&D and HQ. Then once those are secure setup a sudsidiary fort and try to score a Corporate Downsizing.
When you do, shuffle all the Agendas in your hand back into R&D. With this deck you want the game to go as long as is possible (warning; games using this deck can much longer than normal games of Netrunner). You can't lose due to running out of cards as you have Bel-Digmo Antibody, with Off-Site Backups to return it from Archives should the Runner manage to trash it from R&D or HQ.
More typically Off-Site Backups is used to return Rasmin Bridger or Obsfucated Fortress as these are crucial to the decks long term strategy - to make the Runner pay for runs that will fail. (Obviously RdJ City Grid is also crucial but the deck plays so many of these and the trash cost is so high that it isn't normally productive to trash these).
To make the runner lose bits on each run, each fort needs to have some ice that will cost the runner bits to pass, and the earlier in the run the better. Walking Wall and Glacier are excellent for this with their ability to move themselves. Rasmin Bridger means every ice will cost at 1 additional bit to pass, and Obsfucated Fortress will mean every run will cost the runner in full, even if you roll a 1 after the first piece of Ice!
Data Naga and Fragmentation Storm are there to keep the runner honest, so that they can't assume that all of the Ice is harmless.
This deck has one major weakness - it isn't that good! Even with 9 pieces of ice on a fort RDJ will still fail to stop a Runner 20% of the time. You are relying on the time needed for the runner to regain the bits needed for each failure to score your agendas. This is okay for Corporate Downsizing, but it's much more difficult to score a Political Overthrow.
Given this weakness the deck is only realy suitable for casual play. But as it takes so long to play it isn't really suitable for that either! Still, it was fun to play occasionally and remains an interesting design.
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
06/01/08: Ticket to Ride 1910, Traumfabrik, For Sale
The usual five of us met up at my flat for a Sunday evening of games. We decided to start with something “not too thinky” – Ticket to Ride (1910 Tickets + Bonus).
I kept my opening 3 tickets. Two of them were northwestern Cities to Miami, and the other was Salt Lake to a third northwestern City (they were Toronto, Chicago and New York).
On my second turn I claimed Toronto-Pittsburgh, and then I spent the early part of the game connecting my NW Cities through Pittsburgh and down toward Florida. By this stage both of the direct west routes out of Salt Lake City had been taken, but I had a couple of green in hand so I claimed Salt Lake – Helena a few turns later. I then worked on connecting Helena to Chicago and collecting the Purple trains I needed to get down to Miami.
After connecting Helena to Chicago and collecting the trains needed to reach Miami via Charleston I decided to draw more tickets. I hit the jackpot!
Los Angles – Atlanta
Las Vegas – a NW City I’m already in
A NW City I’m already in – Charleston.
I was worried that I might get blocked out of Salt Lake – Las Vegas – Los Angeles, but I made it okay, and then had time to claim Atlanta, Charleston and Miami a couple of turns before the game ended.
With my six (!) completed tickets I scored 140 points and won by about 20 points. Fiona was second on about 120 points. After completing her tickets she decided not to collect more, assuming I had the most tickets bonus won and she ended the game by claiming a couple of 15 point connections. And speeding up the game to try and make me fail my tickets was a reasonable plan too.
I really like how the 1910 tickets and most completed tickets bonus shake up the strategies compared to the unbalanced original. I won by 20 points after making multiple 2 train connections, only two 5 train connections and no 6s! (That would be impossible in the original edition).
After Ticket to Ride everyone demanded more tea. I acquiesced, on the condition that they pick out and setup another game whilst I’m gone. I didn’t want to come back in ten minutes to find them still discussing what to play.
When I returned they were setting out Traumfabrik. I think this might have been the first time we have played five handed.
After Tony wins the first **** director, the next auction is a couple of actors (one a guest star) and something else. The two actors should be enough for first picks at the first turn parties, and that should offer the possibility of finishing a film in time to win the first season best film award. So I decided to bid 11 to automatically win it (in hindsight I might have won with a lower bid – but I would guess that If I’d bid 8 that would have tempted somebody to bid 9 etc).
So my 11 won, and I got a good tile at the first party. All I needed was music (or an Agency) at the final party to complete a film, and I was picking first… There weren’t any. Tony also only needed one tile to complete a film but he was picking last and got Reiner Knizia who promptly got fired! (Back into the box).
So the first season 5 point award was unclaimed. During the second season I was still looking for music to complete my yellow film, but Fiona was also close to completing hers and stealing my 5 points! I bid her up to 11 in the auction with the tile she needed, but she decided it was worth it. Her film scores (4), a good early contender for Worst Film.
During this season Colin completed a Green film for (19)! That looked to make him an early favourite. There was a good chance that it would earn him 25 points of awards (first green, best second season film, best third season film, best green film) – it did.
Though I had lost out on the first film bonus I was aiming for I still had the best collection of actors and pretty high value tiles. The problem was I wasn’t sure where I was going to get any awards. However during the third season I won the **** director and was able to complete a Yellow film for 15. This put me in the lead for Best Yellow and made me a contender for Best Direction.
In the final season I was able to get the Director needed to win best Director – if I could finish King Kong. Thankfully I was able to win the tile needed at the last auction and didn’t have to rely on getting lucky at the party.
I thought Colin had won due to the many awards he won for his first film (and he also won Worst Film), but with Best Yellow and Best Director I beat him by a few points. Other than his 19 his films weren’t worth much, whilst mine were consistently good.
After the game Tony congratulated Colin. Colin pointed out that I had beaten him. Tony: “I’ve given up trying to win…” (Referring to the fact that I’ve won all six games we’ve played since Christmas…).
We ended with a couple of quick games of For Sale. Colin and I continued our trend of doing slightly better then average, with Fee and Tony less successful (Tony forgot there was a sixth auction in the first game!). Colin won the first game, Bekki the second.
Next week I think we’re going to play Aladdin’s Dragons, which I’ve never played before.
I kept my opening 3 tickets. Two of them were northwestern Cities to Miami, and the other was Salt Lake to a third northwestern City (they were Toronto, Chicago and New York).
On my second turn I claimed Toronto-Pittsburgh, and then I spent the early part of the game connecting my NW Cities through Pittsburgh and down toward Florida. By this stage both of the direct west routes out of Salt Lake City had been taken, but I had a couple of green in hand so I claimed Salt Lake – Helena a few turns later. I then worked on connecting Helena to Chicago and collecting the Purple trains I needed to get down to Miami.
After connecting Helena to Chicago and collecting the trains needed to reach Miami via Charleston I decided to draw more tickets. I hit the jackpot!
Los Angles – Atlanta
Las Vegas – a NW City I’m already in
A NW City I’m already in – Charleston.
I was worried that I might get blocked out of Salt Lake – Las Vegas – Los Angeles, but I made it okay, and then had time to claim Atlanta, Charleston and Miami a couple of turns before the game ended.
With my six (!) completed tickets I scored 140 points and won by about 20 points. Fiona was second on about 120 points. After completing her tickets she decided not to collect more, assuming I had the most tickets bonus won and she ended the game by claiming a couple of 15 point connections. And speeding up the game to try and make me fail my tickets was a reasonable plan too.
I really like how the 1910 tickets and most completed tickets bonus shake up the strategies compared to the unbalanced original. I won by 20 points after making multiple 2 train connections, only two 5 train connections and no 6s! (That would be impossible in the original edition).
After Ticket to Ride everyone demanded more tea. I acquiesced, on the condition that they pick out and setup another game whilst I’m gone. I didn’t want to come back in ten minutes to find them still discussing what to play.
When I returned they were setting out Traumfabrik. I think this might have been the first time we have played five handed.
After Tony wins the first **** director, the next auction is a couple of actors (one a guest star) and something else. The two actors should be enough for first picks at the first turn parties, and that should offer the possibility of finishing a film in time to win the first season best film award. So I decided to bid 11 to automatically win it (in hindsight I might have won with a lower bid – but I would guess that If I’d bid 8 that would have tempted somebody to bid 9 etc).
So my 11 won, and I got a good tile at the first party. All I needed was music (or an Agency) at the final party to complete a film, and I was picking first… There weren’t any. Tony also only needed one tile to complete a film but he was picking last and got Reiner Knizia who promptly got fired! (Back into the box).
So the first season 5 point award was unclaimed. During the second season I was still looking for music to complete my yellow film, but Fiona was also close to completing hers and stealing my 5 points! I bid her up to 11 in the auction with the tile she needed, but she decided it was worth it. Her film scores (4), a good early contender for Worst Film.
During this season Colin completed a Green film for (19)! That looked to make him an early favourite. There was a good chance that it would earn him 25 points of awards (first green, best second season film, best third season film, best green film) – it did.
Though I had lost out on the first film bonus I was aiming for I still had the best collection of actors and pretty high value tiles. The problem was I wasn’t sure where I was going to get any awards. However during the third season I won the **** director and was able to complete a Yellow film for 15. This put me in the lead for Best Yellow and made me a contender for Best Direction.
In the final season I was able to get the Director needed to win best Director – if I could finish King Kong. Thankfully I was able to win the tile needed at the last auction and didn’t have to rely on getting lucky at the party.
I thought Colin had won due to the many awards he won for his first film (and he also won Worst Film), but with Best Yellow and Best Director I beat him by a few points. Other than his 19 his films weren’t worth much, whilst mine were consistently good.
After the game Tony congratulated Colin. Colin pointed out that I had beaten him. Tony: “I’ve given up trying to win…” (Referring to the fact that I’ve won all six games we’ve played since Christmas…).
We ended with a couple of quick games of For Sale. Colin and I continued our trend of doing slightly better then average, with Fee and Tony less successful (Tony forgot there was a sixth auction in the first game!). Colin won the first game, Bekki the second.
Next week I think we’re going to play Aladdin’s Dragons, which I’ve never played before.
Sunday, December 30, 2007
29/12/07 - Power Grid, For Sale, Ticket to Ride (1910)
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!
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!
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.
Thursday, March 01, 2007
Sunday 25/02/07: Puerto Rico, Citadels
After a couple of weeks with just the three of us, numbers were back up again this week. Bekki and Colin were both there, and Marleena turned up later.
I though we might get to start with El Grande which I was looking forward to (Tony had bought it the last couple of weeks, and apparently it’s best with 5), but he didn’t have it with him.
Tony suggests Hare and Tortoise which I’m not hugely keen on (and his rules translation is very dodgy) or Princes of Florence, which I love but I know Bekki will hate – far too calculational and too much downtime.
So I suggest Puerto Rico, and then start unpacking it to seal the deal. We replace Large Market, Large Warehouse and University with Trading Post,
We are seated as follows: Colin, Bekki, Fee, Tony, Simon.
The game begins relatively normally, Colin picking Settler (I get Sugar) and then Bekki builds (I take a small sugar mill). Nobody takes a Small Market straight off – in fact nobody takes one at all for a long time, which was part of a trend that continued throughout the game.
There was less building during this game than I’ve ever seen in a five player. Normally towards the end of the game there is very little worthwile to buy any more. I think this time there was still a Harbour AND a Wharf left at the end of the game (or they were bought just before the end), as well as one of the 10 cost buildings.
Part of the reason for this seems to be that nobody is very keen to take Quarries or produce trade goods. I’m the only player to make any coffee all game!
As well as the obvious trading benefit this gives me, I also sacrifice one trading opportunity to ship my only coffee onto the largest boat. This completely blocks that boat for the rest of the game (I’m only making one coffee per craft and it ends the game with four coffee onboard), denying the others many shipping points. (We actually still end by running out of shipping points, but reducing the rate let me build much more than would have been possible otherwise).
I get a decent factory going (everything except Indigo, though its often less due to shortage of goods), and am able to buy and man both Guild Hall and City Hall before the game ends (we run out of shipping points).
I finish a couple of points ahead of Tony who had no large buildings, but plenty of corn combined with Harbor and Wharf gave him lots of shipping points.
Fee also has quite a few shipping points, but she had one of those games where she was just short of enough money to buy a large building (9 doubloons on the penultimate turn, that always annoys) and finishes third.
Bekki managed to buy a large building but had trouble shipping her sugar and indigo and finished fourth.
Colin had an okay position I though at one point, but finished last. I think he made the mistake of getting quarries but not having any coffee or tobacco to sell, so he didn’t get to actually use his quarries very much.
Marleena arrived during the game of PR (and made some very nice cups of tea for everyone), so afterwards we had about an hour and a half for a six player game. That’s too short for Elfenland, and I didn’t bring Alhambra for once. Still didn’t want to play Hare & Tortoise, but I had Citadels with me. It’s like Ohne Furcht und Adel but you can read the cards! (which vastly improves the experience, Bekki seemed to agree).
We didn’t try any of the alternative characters or buildings. I think I’ll have to make some character summary cards before we use the characters (it’s the one useful component the English version is missing).
Marleena had a strong start, getting some good income from being the Merchant and the King. She was the King for like three rounds in a row, and as I was sitting to her right that means I get to pick from just two characters each time, which isn’t great. But I got Warlord three times in a row, and had a red Building, so it wasn’t too bad.
Then Marleena got assassinated and soon after Fee had a strong turn where she built three one cost buildings with the Architect, and was then able to be the Bishop (who can’t be targeted by the Warlord) next turn, and got to eight buildings the turn after, again making her immune to the Warlord. She finished first.
Marleena was second and I think I finished third. I only built five buildings, but they were one of each colour for the three point bonus, and included the 8 point Dragons Gate.
I’m not sure what order Colin, Tony and Bekki finished in. I think they had problems with getting robbed and stabbed.
Pub Quiz next week. We are the reigning champions (more 30 point bonus rounds on stuff I know probably required for us to win again).
I though we might get to start with El Grande which I was looking forward to (Tony had bought it the last couple of weeks, and apparently it’s best with 5), but he didn’t have it with him.
Tony suggests Hare and Tortoise which I’m not hugely keen on (and his rules translation is very dodgy) or Princes of Florence, which I love but I know Bekki will hate – far too calculational and too much downtime.
So I suggest Puerto Rico, and then start unpacking it to seal the deal. We replace Large Market, Large Warehouse and University with Trading Post,
We are seated as follows: Colin, Bekki, Fee, Tony, Simon.
The game begins relatively normally, Colin picking Settler (I get Sugar) and then Bekki builds (I take a small sugar mill). Nobody takes a Small Market straight off – in fact nobody takes one at all for a long time, which was part of a trend that continued throughout the game.
There was less building during this game than I’ve ever seen in a five player. Normally towards the end of the game there is very little worthwile to buy any more. I think this time there was still a Harbour AND a Wharf left at the end of the game (or they were bought just before the end), as well as one of the 10 cost buildings.
Part of the reason for this seems to be that nobody is very keen to take Quarries or produce trade goods. I’m the only player to make any coffee all game!
As well as the obvious trading benefit this gives me, I also sacrifice one trading opportunity to ship my only coffee onto the largest boat. This completely blocks that boat for the rest of the game (I’m only making one coffee per craft and it ends the game with four coffee onboard), denying the others many shipping points. (We actually still end by running out of shipping points, but reducing the rate let me build much more than would have been possible otherwise).
I get a decent factory going (everything except Indigo, though its often less due to shortage of goods), and am able to buy and man both Guild Hall and City Hall before the game ends (we run out of shipping points).
I finish a couple of points ahead of Tony who had no large buildings, but plenty of corn combined with Harbor and Wharf gave him lots of shipping points.
Fee also has quite a few shipping points, but she had one of those games where she was just short of enough money to buy a large building (9 doubloons on the penultimate turn, that always annoys) and finishes third.
Bekki managed to buy a large building but had trouble shipping her sugar and indigo and finished fourth.
Colin had an okay position I though at one point, but finished last. I think he made the mistake of getting quarries but not having any coffee or tobacco to sell, so he didn’t get to actually use his quarries very much.
Marleena arrived during the game of PR (and made some very nice cups of tea for everyone), so afterwards we had about an hour and a half for a six player game. That’s too short for Elfenland, and I didn’t bring Alhambra for once. Still didn’t want to play Hare & Tortoise, but I had Citadels with me. It’s like Ohne Furcht und Adel but you can read the cards! (which vastly improves the experience, Bekki seemed to agree).
We didn’t try any of the alternative characters or buildings. I think I’ll have to make some character summary cards before we use the characters (it’s the one useful component the English version is missing).
Marleena had a strong start, getting some good income from being the Merchant and the King. She was the King for like three rounds in a row, and as I was sitting to her right that means I get to pick from just two characters each time, which isn’t great. But I got Warlord three times in a row, and had a red Building, so it wasn’t too bad.
Then Marleena got assassinated and soon after Fee had a strong turn where she built three one cost buildings with the Architect, and was then able to be the Bishop (who can’t be targeted by the Warlord) next turn, and got to eight buildings the turn after, again making her immune to the Warlord. She finished first.
Marleena was second and I think I finished third. I only built five buildings, but they were one of each colour for the three point bonus, and included the 8 point Dragons Gate.
I’m not sure what order Colin, Tony and Bekki finished in. I think they had problems with getting robbed and stabbed.
Pub Quiz next week. We are the reigning champions (more 30 point bonus rounds on stuff I know probably required for us to win again).
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Sunday 18/02/07 : San Juan, Tigris & Euphrates (Princes of Florence)
For the second week running it’s just Tony, Fee and me. Last week we were able to play Princes of Florence. It’s not at it’s best with three, but seeing as I hadn’t played it for over a year I wasn’t going to say no!
Tony won Princes by a couple of points: he bought mostly Jesters and Recruitments at auction, and bought several extra profession cards. I bought mostly Builders and Prestige cards. In the end Tony’s late game large works gave him a 2 point victory over me. My 19 points of prestige cards (least empty spaces, most buildings, two large buildings) weren’t quite enough.
I wasted a couple of early actions I think, so much so that I only actually completed two works. Early on I should have just concentrated on scoring the works I had, rather than buying stuff to try and make them better. I had forgotten how hard it is to hit the late game work requirements when you don’t have any jesters.
Fee was competing with Tony for the Jesters and Recruitments, but unlike Tony she was playing her works early (indeed after the fourth turn she had no profession cards in hand). This wins her a few early best work bonuses, but generally you don’t get as many points playing that way. At least by competing with Tony she was making their money management tricky, thus boosting my chances.
As neither of them had much interest in competing with me for Builders or Prestige cards my money management was relatively simple. I think both my works were for points (maybe with an odd hundred florins), and I still had a little left at the end.
Princes of Florence is a great game. I must try to play it more this year.
This week both Tony and I have brought Tigris and Euphrates, another classic game that we don’t play anywhere near enough.
Still Tony doesn’t want to jump straight into such a hard game (probably a wise move) so we start with a quick hand of San Juan. Tony and I are pretty strongly violet (he is convinced it is the best plan), whilst Fiona is building many production buildings. She gets a Guild Hall and a Palace, but it’s not enough to beat my City Hall plus Palace.
The main difference being that I had a Quarry whilst she didn’t have a Smithy, and I was able to get down a couple of one cost violets for ‘free’ (I know they’re not literally free unless you have Carpenter as well). The Guild Hall players should really be looking to close the game out with 12 builds, but Fiona’s income wasn’t as good ( a function of being the only player heavily invested in production), so she only finished with 10 builds.
After this game Tony starts explaining how the violet plan is so much better than Guild Halls, and that the game is therefore slightly broken. I try to convince him otherwise, but despite the fact that I have played the game about ten times more than him, he apparently knows more than I do. That’s annoys me.
After San Juan we unpack T&E, and Tony reminds Fee of the rules whilst I take a loo break. He does his usual effective job. I get back just in time to repeat some of his gibberish regarding the scoring of external conflicts into actual English.
The game gets underway with me giving Fee a few basic strategy tips (Green and Black leaders are the most obvious to play early, remember to support your leaders with Temples etc). I have a glut of opening Green tiles so I start my own kingdom in the bottom right of the board. The plan was to make a monument, but it turned out to not be necessary.
I also have my Black leader in this kingdom, and join with the lower central treasure. At this point this kingdom is quite close to an external confict with Fee’s central kingdom, and I still have a glut of Green and Black tiles in hand. So I deliberately keep my kingdom a little weaker than hers, until she attacks, and I have enough for the tie in black to win that conflict. That ends the external conflict and breaks up her kingdom, so that soon my Green leader boots hers off as well.
That basically gives me enough Green and Black points for the game. I pick up some Blue and Red points throughout the game, and as my Green leader never gets displaced I get 5 of the 8 treasures collected for quite a confortable win (my score is 8/9/9/12)
Fee got most her leaders booted off midway throughout the game, but just re-entered her black leader in the empty bottom left corner and spent several turns getting a couple of cubes per turn in the colours she was weakest. And she also picked up a treasure relatively simply in the top right hand corner to end the game (I wanted the game to end, so I was helping).
Tony has a couple of strong colours, but is very weak in black and another colour (green?) and finishes last. He complains that he got dreadful draws (which might be true, he did change a load of tiles a couple of times), but I think he overstates his bad luck. In particular I think he got loads of reds but didn’t make the best use of them. He may have forgotten that you can remove leaders from the board (at one stage he had a four temple leader in red – I think he could have removed it, tried to kick off my green or black leader with an internal conflict then completed a B/G temple).
After T&E there’s time for one more quick game, something a bit longer than filler, but not too long. Whilst some groups can play Puerto Rico in 45 minutes we’re not one of them, so it’s San Juan again.
I want to try and win with a Guild Hall strategy this time, but after building an early Prefecture my counselling attempts aren’t helpful (though I do build Silver), and quickly Tony, and then Fiona have Prefectures as well.
This game is a little odd. Everybody builds a mixture of violet and production and eventually Tony and Fiona find the Guild Halls. But because they aren’t huge Halls the scores aren’t that high, and I’m keeping pace just with a couple of Monuments (I also have Library & Silver). I close with a Triumphal Arch, but lose by one card on the tiebreaker to Tony.
Tony won Princes by a couple of points: he bought mostly Jesters and Recruitments at auction, and bought several extra profession cards. I bought mostly Builders and Prestige cards. In the end Tony’s late game large works gave him a 2 point victory over me. My 19 points of prestige cards (least empty spaces, most buildings, two large buildings) weren’t quite enough.
I wasted a couple of early actions I think, so much so that I only actually completed two works. Early on I should have just concentrated on scoring the works I had, rather than buying stuff to try and make them better. I had forgotten how hard it is to hit the late game work requirements when you don’t have any jesters.
Fee was competing with Tony for the Jesters and Recruitments, but unlike Tony she was playing her works early (indeed after the fourth turn she had no profession cards in hand). This wins her a few early best work bonuses, but generally you don’t get as many points playing that way. At least by competing with Tony she was making their money management tricky, thus boosting my chances.
As neither of them had much interest in competing with me for Builders or Prestige cards my money management was relatively simple. I think both my works were for points (maybe with an odd hundred florins), and I still had a little left at the end.
Princes of Florence is a great game. I must try to play it more this year.
This week both Tony and I have brought Tigris and Euphrates, another classic game that we don’t play anywhere near enough.
Still Tony doesn’t want to jump straight into such a hard game (probably a wise move) so we start with a quick hand of San Juan. Tony and I are pretty strongly violet (he is convinced it is the best plan), whilst Fiona is building many production buildings. She gets a Guild Hall and a Palace, but it’s not enough to beat my City Hall plus Palace.
The main difference being that I had a Quarry whilst she didn’t have a Smithy, and I was able to get down a couple of one cost violets for ‘free’ (I know they’re not literally free unless you have Carpenter as well). The Guild Hall players should really be looking to close the game out with 12 builds, but Fiona’s income wasn’t as good ( a function of being the only player heavily invested in production), so she only finished with 10 builds.
After this game Tony starts explaining how the violet plan is so much better than Guild Halls, and that the game is therefore slightly broken. I try to convince him otherwise, but despite the fact that I have played the game about ten times more than him, he apparently knows more than I do. That’s annoys me.
After San Juan we unpack T&E, and Tony reminds Fee of the rules whilst I take a loo break. He does his usual effective job. I get back just in time to repeat some of his gibberish regarding the scoring of external conflicts into actual English.
The game gets underway with me giving Fee a few basic strategy tips (Green and Black leaders are the most obvious to play early, remember to support your leaders with Temples etc). I have a glut of opening Green tiles so I start my own kingdom in the bottom right of the board. The plan was to make a monument, but it turned out to not be necessary.
I also have my Black leader in this kingdom, and join with the lower central treasure. At this point this kingdom is quite close to an external confict with Fee’s central kingdom, and I still have a glut of Green and Black tiles in hand. So I deliberately keep my kingdom a little weaker than hers, until she attacks, and I have enough for the tie in black to win that conflict. That ends the external conflict and breaks up her kingdom, so that soon my Green leader boots hers off as well.
That basically gives me enough Green and Black points for the game. I pick up some Blue and Red points throughout the game, and as my Green leader never gets displaced I get 5 of the 8 treasures collected for quite a confortable win (my score is 8/9/9/12)
Fee got most her leaders booted off midway throughout the game, but just re-entered her black leader in the empty bottom left corner and spent several turns getting a couple of cubes per turn in the colours she was weakest. And she also picked up a treasure relatively simply in the top right hand corner to end the game (I wanted the game to end, so I was helping).
Tony has a couple of strong colours, but is very weak in black and another colour (green?) and finishes last. He complains that he got dreadful draws (which might be true, he did change a load of tiles a couple of times), but I think he overstates his bad luck. In particular I think he got loads of reds but didn’t make the best use of them. He may have forgotten that you can remove leaders from the board (at one stage he had a four temple leader in red – I think he could have removed it, tried to kick off my green or black leader with an internal conflict then completed a B/G temple).
After T&E there’s time for one more quick game, something a bit longer than filler, but not too long. Whilst some groups can play Puerto Rico in 45 minutes we’re not one of them, so it’s San Juan again.
I want to try and win with a Guild Hall strategy this time, but after building an early Prefecture my counselling attempts aren’t helpful (though I do build Silver), and quickly Tony, and then Fiona have Prefectures as well.
This game is a little odd. Everybody builds a mixture of violet and production and eventually Tony and Fiona find the Guild Halls. But because they aren’t huge Halls the scores aren’t that high, and I’m keeping pace just with a couple of Monuments (I also have Library & Silver). I close with a Triumphal Arch, but lose by one card on the tiebreaker to Tony.
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Sunday 04/02/2007: Pub Quiz, Super Bowl XLI
As it was the first Sunday of the month, it was the pub quiz at The Prince of Wales. We had a larger team than usual: Fee, Marleena & Luke, Jim, Colin, and me.
Normally in quizzes the bigger the team the better, and you want people to know about different stuff, so as to have a chance on all the questions. Colin, in his first pub quiz appearance, definitely added some new areas of knowledge to the team (for example Dr Who’s home planet is Gallifrey).
The first round is fairly easy, and we get 17 (each round is 20 questions).
The second round is slightly harder and we get 13, leaving us in fifth place on 30 points (there are nine teams)
After a strong third round (16), we had moved up to fourth on 46 points. First place is on 51 – they’ve been in the lead ever since the first round when they got 19.
Each month there is also a bonus round that is handed out at the beginning. This month it is a sheet of thirty ‘thumbnail’ size pictures of famous people (mostly actors, a few music and sport).
To me this kind of thing is very simple. 28 (!) of them are obvious, there’s just two that I spent most of the evening thinking about.
No 29 is a woman wearing pink with untidy mousey blonde hair. She’s singing. Eventually I realise that it’s Suzi Quattro.
No 21 is a young looking woman wearing a yellow rain mac. I have a couple of unlikely ideas (who seem too obscure, based on the other people), and then I decide it’s a young Jane Fonda. Colin isn’t so sure.
Reading out the answers, I have all the first 20 correct. No big surprise. No 21… is Jane Fonda. Yes! Numbers 22 through 28 are correct, and I’m pretty confident Suzi Quattro is correct. It is! Now I think I’ve got all thirty in the bag, but can’t avoid the nagging feeling that maybe I’ve made a hideous mistake somewhere…. No, I got 30!
This gets me a big cheer from everyone on the team, and many congratulations are sent my way.
The final scores are announced in reverse order. With the 30 points from the bonus round we have 76, and when fourth place is reached with a score of under 70 points it is apparent most teams didn’t do quite as well on the bonus round as we did…
Sure enough, the team that had been leading throughout finish second with 74, and we have won. This is only the second time ever (the first was a couple of years back, before I was on the team).
After the quiz, it’s home to watch the Super Bowl. Historically I’ve always been an AFC fan (I first become a fan of American Football during the NFC’s winning streak in the 80s), and Tony Dungy deserves a Super Bowl, so I’m supporting the Colts.
After the opening kickoff is returned for a Chicago TD, the first quarter is strewn with errors. In the pouring rain that’s not completely surprising.
As well as the many turnovers during the first half the Chicago secondary completely blows the coverage for a 55yd touchdown. Still, by this stage the Bears had already scored a second touchdown, from a decent drive that included a 50+ yard run, and it looks like they might make a game of it.
Sadly it’s not to be. The Indy offence is totally dominating the Chicago defense with a short passing game, and having established the pass, they are also able to run with some success. The only thing that keeps the game close is the Colts inability to convert all of their yardage into points. Several times they get into good positions but have to settle for field goal attempts. Vinatieri misses a 36 yarder (!), another is fumbled by the holder, so they enter half time only 16-14 ahead.
At half time I cook Burgers for Lucy and me, so I’ve no idea if Prince was any good.
During a third quarter in which they again dominate possession they extend the lead to 22-17. By this stage they have completely dominated in terms of both possession time and yardage, but it’s still only a one score game!
The thing is the Bears don’t look like scoring even once. In the fourth quarter Grossman has a long pass intercepted, it’s returned for a Touchdown, and that’s basically game.
Eli Manning gets MVP, which was always a dead cert. I was really impressed by Rhodes and Addai, the two Colt running backs, who both had over 100 total yards. And so that's it for another postseason (I don't have Sky Sports so I only watch Football during January).
Normally in quizzes the bigger the team the better, and you want people to know about different stuff, so as to have a chance on all the questions. Colin, in his first pub quiz appearance, definitely added some new areas of knowledge to the team (for example Dr Who’s home planet is Gallifrey).
The first round is fairly easy, and we get 17 (each round is 20 questions).
The second round is slightly harder and we get 13, leaving us in fifth place on 30 points (there are nine teams)
After a strong third round (16), we had moved up to fourth on 46 points. First place is on 51 – they’ve been in the lead ever since the first round when they got 19.
Each month there is also a bonus round that is handed out at the beginning. This month it is a sheet of thirty ‘thumbnail’ size pictures of famous people (mostly actors, a few music and sport).
To me this kind of thing is very simple. 28 (!) of them are obvious, there’s just two that I spent most of the evening thinking about.
No 29 is a woman wearing pink with untidy mousey blonde hair. She’s singing. Eventually I realise that it’s Suzi Quattro.
No 21 is a young looking woman wearing a yellow rain mac. I have a couple of unlikely ideas (who seem too obscure, based on the other people), and then I decide it’s a young Jane Fonda. Colin isn’t so sure.
Reading out the answers, I have all the first 20 correct. No big surprise. No 21… is Jane Fonda. Yes! Numbers 22 through 28 are correct, and I’m pretty confident Suzi Quattro is correct. It is! Now I think I’ve got all thirty in the bag, but can’t avoid the nagging feeling that maybe I’ve made a hideous mistake somewhere…. No, I got 30!
This gets me a big cheer from everyone on the team, and many congratulations are sent my way.
The final scores are announced in reverse order. With the 30 points from the bonus round we have 76, and when fourth place is reached with a score of under 70 points it is apparent most teams didn’t do quite as well on the bonus round as we did…
Sure enough, the team that had been leading throughout finish second with 74, and we have won. This is only the second time ever (the first was a couple of years back, before I was on the team).
After the quiz, it’s home to watch the Super Bowl. Historically I’ve always been an AFC fan (I first become a fan of American Football during the NFC’s winning streak in the 80s), and Tony Dungy deserves a Super Bowl, so I’m supporting the Colts.
After the opening kickoff is returned for a Chicago TD, the first quarter is strewn with errors. In the pouring rain that’s not completely surprising.
As well as the many turnovers during the first half the Chicago secondary completely blows the coverage for a 55yd touchdown. Still, by this stage the Bears had already scored a second touchdown, from a decent drive that included a 50+ yard run, and it looks like they might make a game of it.
Sadly it’s not to be. The Indy offence is totally dominating the Chicago defense with a short passing game, and having established the pass, they are also able to run with some success. The only thing that keeps the game close is the Colts inability to convert all of their yardage into points. Several times they get into good positions but have to settle for field goal attempts. Vinatieri misses a 36 yarder (!), another is fumbled by the holder, so they enter half time only 16-14 ahead.
At half time I cook Burgers for Lucy and me, so I’ve no idea if Prince was any good.
During a third quarter in which they again dominate possession they extend the lead to 22-17. By this stage they have completely dominated in terms of both possession time and yardage, but it’s still only a one score game!
The thing is the Bears don’t look like scoring even once. In the fourth quarter Grossman has a long pass intercepted, it’s returned for a Touchdown, and that’s basically game.
Eli Manning gets MVP, which was always a dead cert. I was really impressed by Rhodes and Addai, the two Colt running backs, who both had over 100 total yards. And so that's it for another postseason (I don't have Sky Sports so I only watch Football during January).
Monday, February 05, 2007
EVERY SINGLE BOOK I OWN!!!
This is currently a work in progress!
Created - 05/02/2007
Edited 05/03/2007 (added Science / Tech)
Sci-Fi / Fantasy
Isaac Asimov
The Early Years Vol 1 The Early Years Vol 2 The Early Years Vol 3 Buy Jupiter Nightfall The Bicentennial Man The End of Eternity The Currents of Space Earth is Room Enough The Winds of Change The Positronic Man (with Robert Silverberg) Nightfall (with Robert Silverberg) I, Robot Robot Visions The Caves of Steel The Robots of Dawn Foundation Second Foundation Foundation and Empire Foundations's Edge Foundation and Earth Forward the Foundation
Douglas Adams
The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy The Restaurant at the End of the Universe Life, the Universe and Everything So Long, and Thanks for all Fish Mostly Harmless Don't Panic: Douglas Adams & The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy (by Neil Gaiman)
Clive Barker
Weaveworld The Great and Secret Show Imajica
Greg Bear
Blood Music The Infinity Concerto Queens of Angels Slant Moving Mars Eon Eternity Darwin's Children
David Brin
Glory Season Earth Sundiver Startide Rising The Uplift War Brightness Reef Infinity's Shore Heaven's Reach Kil'n People
Arthur C Clarke
Imperial Earth Of Time and Stars Rendevous with Rama Rama II (with Gentry Lee) Garden of Rama (with Gentry Lee) Rama Revealed (with Gentry Lee)
Greg Egan
Quarantine Permutation City Axiomatic Luminous Diaspora Terenesia Schild's Ladder
Jon Courtney Grimwood - Pashazade
Peter F Hamilton
The Reality Dysfuntion The Neutron Alchemist The Naked God Fallen Dragon Pandora's Star Judas Unchained
Frank Herbert - Dune
Robin Hobb
Assassin's Apprentice Royal Assassin Assassin's Quest Ship of Magic The Mad Ship Ship of Destiny Fool's Errand Golden Fool Fool's Fate Shaman's Crossing
Daniel Keyes - Flowers for Algernon
George R R Martin
A Game of Thrones A Clash of Kings
Richard Morgan
Altered Carbon Broken Angels Market Forces Woken Furies
Alastair Reynolds
Revelation Space Chasm City Redemption Ark Absolution Gap Century Rain Galactic North
Kim Stanley Robinson
Icehenge The Wild Shore Red Mars Green Mars Blue Mars The Martians Antartica The Years of Rice and Salt
J R R Tolkien
The Hobbit The Fellowship of the Ring The Two Towers The Return of the King The Silmarillion
Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman
Dragons of Autumn Twilight Dragons of Winter Night Dragons of Spring Dawning Dragons of Summer Flame Time of The Twins War of the Twins Test of the Twins
Tad Williams
The Dragonbone Chair Stone of Farewell To Green Angel Tower: Siege To Green Angel Tower: Storm Otherland: City of Golden Shadows Otherland: River of Blue Fire Otherland: Mountain of Black Glass Otherland: Sea of Silver Light The War of the Flowers Shadowmarch
Jane Austen - Emma
Jane Austen - Pride and Prejudice
Jane Austen - Sense and Sensibility
Iain Banks - The Crow Road
Pat Barker - Regeneration
Pat Barker - The Eye in the Door
Pat Barker - The Ghost Road
Julian Barnes - Arthur & George
Louis De Bernieres - Captain Corelli's Mandolin
Umboerto Eco - The Name of The Rose
Umboerto Eco - Foucault's Pendulum
EM Forster - A Passage to India
Charles Frazier - Cold Mountain
Mark Haddon - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Jospeh Heller - Catch 22
Joseph Heller - God Knows
Joseph Heller - Closing Time
Nick Hornby - Fever Pitch
Nick Hornby - High Fidelity
Nick Hornby - About A Boy
Jack Kerouac - On The Road
TE Lawrence - Seven Pillars of Wisdom
Ursula Le Guin - Always Coming Home
David Mitchell - Cloud Altlas
William Nicholson - The Wind on Fire
Richard Dawkins - The Blind Watchmaker
Richard Dawkins - Climbing Mount Improbable
Richard Dawkins - The Ancestors Tale
Richard P Feynman - QED: The strange theory of light and matter
Richard P Feynman - The Character of Physical Law
Richard P Feynman - "Surely you're joking, Mr Feynman!"
Richard P Feynman - "What do you care what other people think?"
Richard P Feynman - Don't you have time to think?
James Gleick - Genius: Richard Feynman and modern physics
James Gleick - Chaos
John Gribbin - Science: A History 1543-2001
Brian Greene - The Elegant Universe
Stephen W Hawking - A Brief History of Time
Douglas R Hofstader - Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid
Brian Penrose - The Emperor's New Mind
Brian Penrose - The Road to Reality
Steven Pinger - How The Mind Works
Karl Sigmund - Games of Life
Bruce Sterling - The Hacker Crackdown
Clifford Stoll - The Cuckoo's Egg
Created - 05/02/2007
Edited 05/03/2007 (added Science / Tech)
Sci-Fi / Fantasy
Isaac Asimov
Douglas Adams
Clive Barker
Greg Bear
David Brin
Arthur C Clarke
Greg Egan
Jon Courtney Grimwood - Pashazade
Peter F Hamilton
Frank Herbert - Dune
Robin Hobb
Daniel Keyes - Flowers for Algernon
George R R Martin
Richard Morgan
Alastair Reynolds
Kim Stanley Robinson
J R R Tolkien
Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman
Tad Williams
Other Fiction
Jane Austen - Emma
Jane Austen - Pride and Prejudice
Jane Austen - Sense and Sensibility
Iain Banks - The Crow Road
Pat Barker - Regeneration
Pat Barker - The Eye in the Door
Pat Barker - The Ghost Road
Julian Barnes - Arthur & George
Louis De Bernieres - Captain Corelli's Mandolin
Umboerto Eco - The Name of The Rose
Umboerto Eco - Foucault's Pendulum
EM Forster - A Passage to India
Charles Frazier - Cold Mountain
Mark Haddon - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Jospeh Heller - Catch 22
Joseph Heller - God Knows
Joseph Heller - Closing Time
Nick Hornby - Fever Pitch
Nick Hornby - High Fidelity
Nick Hornby - About A Boy
Jack Kerouac - On The Road
TE Lawrence - Seven Pillars of Wisdom
Ursula Le Guin - Always Coming Home
David Mitchell - Cloud Altlas
William Nicholson - The Wind on Fire
Science / Technology
Richard Dawkins - The Blind Watchmaker
Richard Dawkins - Climbing Mount Improbable
Richard Dawkins - The Ancestors Tale
Richard P Feynman - QED: The strange theory of light and matter
Richard P Feynman - The Character of Physical Law
Richard P Feynman - "Surely you're joking, Mr Feynman!"
Richard P Feynman - "What do you care what other people think?"
Richard P Feynman - Don't you have time to think?
James Gleick - Genius: Richard Feynman and modern physics
James Gleick - Chaos
John Gribbin - Science: A History 1543-2001
Brian Greene - The Elegant Universe
Stephen W Hawking - A Brief History of Time
Douglas R Hofstader - Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid
Brian Penrose - The Emperor's New Mind
Brian Penrose - The Road to Reality
Steven Pinger - How The Mind Works
Karl Sigmund - Games of Life
Bruce Sterling - The Hacker Crackdown
Clifford Stoll - The Cuckoo's Egg
Thursday, February 01, 2007
Wednesday 31/01/06: Disposition at Yates
A change from the normal stuff: The last Wednesday of every month is live Metal at Yates. I’d been meaning to suggest to Matt that we go for a while, so this month we went.
Matt & I are obviously completely out of the loop when it comes to the current Metal scene – we don’t recognise any of the tracks the DJ plays (apart from Angel of Death), though Matt does at least thinks who knows who some of them are, which is a start I guess. Clearly having Scuzz as your background of choice at home isn’t enough to keep up to date.
Polonium 210
The least heavy band of the evening. I actually thought they had a pretty good grove going on, and really enjoyed the music. Shame about the awful ‘singing’ though, which dragged everything down. (Obviously a complaint that you could level at many bands in this genre: when you can achieve international success by just screaming and grunting, why would you bother learning to sing?)
After Polonium 210 I think the DJ forgot to start playing music again. So it was actually quite nice to have a conversation for a bit. As accountants are usually ‘quite’ busy in January I hadn’t seen Matt for a while, and I can’t remember the last time we went for a drink together.
Apart from the temporary lull it seems the only other place to hold a conversation is on the stairs to the toilets. I am taken aback when somebody starts a conversation just cause I’m wearing my Audioslave shirt. And on the way back down, I bump into Kerry, who seems surprised to see me. Clearly my everyday disguise of a quiet intellectual type is very convincing (actually of course, I am both quiet and intellectual).
Heterodox
An amazing development – the guy fronting this band can actually sing, and really well. A couple of times he holds long notes and he seems to have a decent range. Not so sure about the music, seemed okay, but for me this was all about the guy singing, he was great.
Sentenced to Rebirth
The headliners, and the only band of the evening I’d heard before (there’s four or five tracks on their myspace site). I’d actually quite enjoyed the tracks online, but live it just didn’t seem to work for me. Being the heaviest band of the evening didn’t do them any favours, it just sounded like a bit of a racket to me I’m afraid.
Luckily Kerry came over while STR where playing to chat to me and Matt, so the music was just (very loud) background. She actually remembers Matt from the Squadron – “the guy with crutches” (She doesn’t remember me, but then why would she?) Apart from that her and Matt have something else to talk about, because she lives in one of his old homes, so they can gossip about the neighbours from hell.
Kerry is even nice enough to buy us Sambucas. Which are pretty hideous, I discovered.
Matt & I are obviously completely out of the loop when it comes to the current Metal scene – we don’t recognise any of the tracks the DJ plays (apart from Angel of Death), though Matt does at least thinks who knows who some of them are, which is a start I guess. Clearly having Scuzz as your background of choice at home isn’t enough to keep up to date.
Polonium 210
The least heavy band of the evening. I actually thought they had a pretty good grove going on, and really enjoyed the music. Shame about the awful ‘singing’ though, which dragged everything down. (Obviously a complaint that you could level at many bands in this genre: when you can achieve international success by just screaming and grunting, why would you bother learning to sing?)
After Polonium 210 I think the DJ forgot to start playing music again. So it was actually quite nice to have a conversation for a bit. As accountants are usually ‘quite’ busy in January I hadn’t seen Matt for a while, and I can’t remember the last time we went for a drink together.
Apart from the temporary lull it seems the only other place to hold a conversation is on the stairs to the toilets. I am taken aback when somebody starts a conversation just cause I’m wearing my Audioslave shirt. And on the way back down, I bump into Kerry, who seems surprised to see me. Clearly my everyday disguise of a quiet intellectual type is very convincing (actually of course, I am both quiet and intellectual).
Heterodox
An amazing development – the guy fronting this band can actually sing, and really well. A couple of times he holds long notes and he seems to have a decent range. Not so sure about the music, seemed okay, but for me this was all about the guy singing, he was great.
Sentenced to Rebirth
The headliners, and the only band of the evening I’d heard before (there’s four or five tracks on their myspace site). I’d actually quite enjoyed the tracks online, but live it just didn’t seem to work for me. Being the heaviest band of the evening didn’t do them any favours, it just sounded like a bit of a racket to me I’m afraid.
Luckily Kerry came over while STR where playing to chat to me and Matt, so the music was just (very loud) background. She actually remembers Matt from the Squadron – “the guy with crutches” (She doesn’t remember me, but then why would she?) Apart from that her and Matt have something else to talk about, because she lives in one of his old homes, so they can gossip about the neighbours from hell.
Kerry is even nice enough to buy us Sambucas. Which are pretty hideous, I discovered.
Monday, January 29, 2007
Sunday 28/01/07: Beowulf, Acquire
Five of us were at Fiona’s this Sunday evening: me and Fee, Tony, Bekki and Colin. It seems like Colin might be joining us more regularly.
Tony had; Acquire, Ticket to Ride, Puerto Rico
I had: Elfenland, Traumfabrik, Puerto Rico, Citadels, David & Goliath, No Thanks!, Zirkus Flohati
We start by playing Beowulf (my idea). This was only our second game (Colin’s first – and he did a good job of picking it up quickly). This game I decide to Risk much less than everyone else, particularly early on, and not to compete in Auctions where I feel I am outmatched.
These strategies pay off. At the first bidding episode, where neither the rewards nor penalties are too extreme I drop without playing a card whilst everyone else bids at least four cards (though some may have been from risks). That might be okay for the person who wins, but seems bad for those who expend four cards and don’t really get much.
I also decide I can’t compete on the first serious major episode, cause I don’t have enough of the right cards. So I drop out, accepting that I’ll take the wound, without playing any cards.
I win the Gold auction for 5pts, and then get a nice bonus at the next major auction. Bekki and I are the last two players left in, but she outlasts me with some lucky risking. When she gets two matching symbols on a risk, meaning I would have to do the same, I decide it’s not worth trying. So Bekki gets first pick… and doesn’t take the 5pts! So I get 5pts for coming second.
I also win the gold auction to remove the Wound I received early on, and the All Iron Shield (and still had enough Gold for first place at Recover Treasures!) With the All Iron Shield I put up a good fight at the Dragon Battle, but again it turns into a showdown between Bekki and I (everyone else had to start risking early). I can’t afford to scratch because I have no wounds and two scratches, so she takes first.
But I am able to retain enough cards to win Death of Beowulf. I finish with 27 points, just ahead of Colin on 25 and Tony on 22. Fee and Bekki were in the teens.
After Beowulf we have enough time for another long game, so we play Acquire which Fee and Tony like, but I am lukewarm about. Anyway, I get an incredibly good start – I’m able to found chains on my first three turns.
Once all the chains have been founded there are four chains on the left hand side of the board, one in the centre, one top right and one centre right. I am strongly invested in the two on the right (I founded them both). These both start to grow, and then Festival takes over the other, giving Fiona and I a big payout. I retain my Imperial shares (so I’ll have the majority when it gets refounded) and reinvest my bonus in the central chain Continental, which gets fairly large, before it is also taken is taken over by Festival.
Given the initial chain layout, it surprising how few mergers there are on the left hand side of the board. The top left chain Luxor is eventually taken over by Festival (I founded Luxor as well, another payout for me), as Festival reaches right across the top of the board, but of the other three, two are still in play at the end of the game – American got fairly large, whilst the one chain ended the game only 3 hotels long!
The Imperial shares I retained throughout the game give me at least a couple more bonuses, and at final scoring I have 12 shares in the 41+ Festival for a score of £47,000. Colin has £37,000, Fee £35,000 and Bekki and Tony somewhere in the 20s.
After that everyone is kinda zoinked, so we don’t end with our usual wind-down filler. Bekki says she doesn’t ever want to play Acquire again – it’s really not her kind of thing, and with the downtime the game can just drag. I don’t really like it that much either.
So two long-ish five player games, two wins. That’s what I call a good evening. Pub quiz next Sunday.
Tony had; Acquire, Ticket to Ride, Puerto Rico
I had: Elfenland, Traumfabrik, Puerto Rico, Citadels, David & Goliath, No Thanks!, Zirkus Flohati
We start by playing Beowulf (my idea). This was only our second game (Colin’s first – and he did a good job of picking it up quickly). This game I decide to Risk much less than everyone else, particularly early on, and not to compete in Auctions where I feel I am outmatched.
These strategies pay off. At the first bidding episode, where neither the rewards nor penalties are too extreme I drop without playing a card whilst everyone else bids at least four cards (though some may have been from risks). That might be okay for the person who wins, but seems bad for those who expend four cards and don’t really get much.
I also decide I can’t compete on the first serious major episode, cause I don’t have enough of the right cards. So I drop out, accepting that I’ll take the wound, without playing any cards.
I win the Gold auction for 5pts, and then get a nice bonus at the next major auction. Bekki and I are the last two players left in, but she outlasts me with some lucky risking. When she gets two matching symbols on a risk, meaning I would have to do the same, I decide it’s not worth trying. So Bekki gets first pick… and doesn’t take the 5pts! So I get 5pts for coming second.
I also win the gold auction to remove the Wound I received early on, and the All Iron Shield (and still had enough Gold for first place at Recover Treasures!) With the All Iron Shield I put up a good fight at the Dragon Battle, but again it turns into a showdown between Bekki and I (everyone else had to start risking early). I can’t afford to scratch because I have no wounds and two scratches, so she takes first.
But I am able to retain enough cards to win Death of Beowulf. I finish with 27 points, just ahead of Colin on 25 and Tony on 22. Fee and Bekki were in the teens.
After Beowulf we have enough time for another long game, so we play Acquire which Fee and Tony like, but I am lukewarm about. Anyway, I get an incredibly good start – I’m able to found chains on my first three turns.
Once all the chains have been founded there are four chains on the left hand side of the board, one in the centre, one top right and one centre right. I am strongly invested in the two on the right (I founded them both). These both start to grow, and then Festival takes over the other, giving Fiona and I a big payout. I retain my Imperial shares (so I’ll have the majority when it gets refounded) and reinvest my bonus in the central chain Continental, which gets fairly large, before it is also taken is taken over by Festival.
Given the initial chain layout, it surprising how few mergers there are on the left hand side of the board. The top left chain Luxor is eventually taken over by Festival (I founded Luxor as well, another payout for me), as Festival reaches right across the top of the board, but of the other three, two are still in play at the end of the game – American got fairly large, whilst the one chain ended the game only 3 hotels long!
The Imperial shares I retained throughout the game give me at least a couple more bonuses, and at final scoring I have 12 shares in the 41+ Festival for a score of £47,000. Colin has £37,000, Fee £35,000 and Bekki and Tony somewhere in the 20s.
After that everyone is kinda zoinked, so we don’t end with our usual wind-down filler. Bekki says she doesn’t ever want to play Acquire again – it’s really not her kind of thing, and with the downtime the game can just drag. I don’t really like it that much either.
So two long-ish five player games, two wins. That’s what I call a good evening. Pub quiz next Sunday.
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Sunday 21/01/07: Beowulf, Ticket to Ride, San Juan
I gave Fiona Beowulf for Christmas, and we finally got to play it this weekend. The rules explanation went fairly quickly (once everybody was paying attention), and we were into the game fairly quickly. The game went smoothly for a first game, no major hiccups, though Tony did occasionally slow things down by trying to work everything out.
The quickest way to work out the strategy in any game is just to play, and then play some more. I recently spent 4 1/2 hours playing Caylus with three slow players, only to discover that the strategy I had adopted didn't work, and to come last, just behind somebody who played badly, and a long way off the leaders. To be honest that experience has really put me off wanting to play Caylus again (though I remain hopeful for Caylus Magna Carta).
Our game of Beowulf wasn't that excessively long, about 90 minutes, probably 15-20 too many. I concentrated much more on gold than everybody else, winning several gold auctions, and having most gold at the final event. But I made a mistake in not winning the All Iron Shield, underestimating the competition at the Dragon Battle, and ended up taking the double wound tile. As I was on two wounds already, that took me way out of contention, the final scores being something like Tony 28, Bekki and Fee both low 20s, and I think I scored exactly zero.
Beowulf is one of those games were the scores don't always tell the entire story, usually due to some criticality in the scoring system. In the case of Beowulf one possibility is what occured to me: the two wounds I had coming into the Dragon Battle won't cost me any points, but if I take the double wound tile then I get -20! So I either get a respectable score in the 20s, or a nothing score that puts me last.
I'm pretty certain I had the worse luck in the risking (at one point one of the girls flipped over two matching double symbol cards to give +4 to their bid!), but to be honest that didn't bother me too much. Firstly I feel the luck is acceptable for a light-ish 60 minute game. And secondly I feel that one of the reasons Beowulf gets bad rap for the luck is because it's out in the open. I find that games like Amun-Re and Goa can have huge swings in drawing the right power cards, at the right time, but because the draws are hidden nobody knows when somebody gets lucky.
After Beowulf we play Ticket to Ride. I got Tony the 1910 expansion for Christmas, and it's really invigorated the game. The improved tickets and the 15 point most routes bonus really help remove the complete dominance of the long E-W routes.
Having said that my three opening tickets are LA - New Orleans, Las Vegas - New York and Portland - Houston (I might have mixed these up, but you get the idea). Three East cost to West Coast tickets! So I keep all three and set to work connecting LA-Vegas-Portland, and Houston-New Orleans-New York, and then trying to get across the country.
I had planned to take the southcoast between LA and Houston (thanks to TTR I think of it as a coast despite the existence of Mexico) but these routes get taken, so I have to go through the centre of the country from Vegas. This game actually demonstrated how easy it is to make you routes in four player TTR even when it gets congested. At one point Fee, Tony and I were both trying to navigate through the cities just north of Houston and Dallas, and in the late game Fee, Bekki and I were all going down the East Coast. In both cases thanks to the many alternative and double routes everybody got were they needed to go, despite the congestion.
Still, if I'd not made my cross-country connection I'd have failed all of my tickets for -50 points and my second score of almost zero for the evening!
The quickest way to work out the strategy in any game is just to play, and then play some more. I recently spent 4 1/2 hours playing Caylus with three slow players, only to discover that the strategy I had adopted didn't work, and to come last, just behind somebody who played badly, and a long way off the leaders. To be honest that experience has really put me off wanting to play Caylus again (though I remain hopeful for Caylus Magna Carta).
Our game of Beowulf wasn't that excessively long, about 90 minutes, probably 15-20 too many. I concentrated much more on gold than everybody else, winning several gold auctions, and having most gold at the final event. But I made a mistake in not winning the All Iron Shield, underestimating the competition at the Dragon Battle, and ended up taking the double wound tile. As I was on two wounds already, that took me way out of contention, the final scores being something like Tony 28, Bekki and Fee both low 20s, and I think I scored exactly zero.
Beowulf is one of those games were the scores don't always tell the entire story, usually due to some criticality in the scoring system. In the case of Beowulf one possibility is what occured to me: the two wounds I had coming into the Dragon Battle won't cost me any points, but if I take the double wound tile then I get -20! So I either get a respectable score in the 20s, or a nothing score that puts me last.
I'm pretty certain I had the worse luck in the risking (at one point one of the girls flipped over two matching double symbol cards to give +4 to their bid!), but to be honest that didn't bother me too much. Firstly I feel the luck is acceptable for a light-ish 60 minute game. And secondly I feel that one of the reasons Beowulf gets bad rap for the luck is because it's out in the open. I find that games like Amun-Re and Goa can have huge swings in drawing the right power cards, at the right time, but because the draws are hidden nobody knows when somebody gets lucky.
After Beowulf we play Ticket to Ride. I got Tony the 1910 expansion for Christmas, and it's really invigorated the game. The improved tickets and the 15 point most routes bonus really help remove the complete dominance of the long E-W routes.
Having said that my three opening tickets are LA - New Orleans, Las Vegas - New York and Portland - Houston (I might have mixed these up, but you get the idea). Three East cost to West Coast tickets! So I keep all three and set to work connecting LA-Vegas-Portland, and Houston-New Orleans-New York, and then trying to get across the country.
I had planned to take the southcoast between LA and Houston (thanks to TTR I think of it as a coast despite the existence of Mexico) but these routes get taken, so I have to go through the centre of the country from Vegas. This game actually demonstrated how easy it is to make you routes in four player TTR even when it gets congested. At one point Fee, Tony and I were both trying to navigate through the cities just north of Houston and Dallas, and in the late game Fee, Bekki and I were all going down the East Coast. In both cases thanks to the many alternative and double routes everybody got were they needed to go, despite the congestion.
Still, if I'd not made my cross-country connection I'd have failed all of my tickets for -50 points and my second score of almost zero for the evening!
Instead I complete my three tickets for fifty bonus points and second place. Tony has completed four tickets, which included a couple of long ones to win by some way. Bekki and Fee also had four tickets to also earn the 15 points, but their tickets were of much lower value.
We finshed with a four player game of San Juan. I used to find this very average four player, but it's growing on me. You have to value points over income much more than in three or two player. In particular I'd always be very loathe to ditch a monument, even very early. I build a first turn Prefecture, then Gold Mine and Silver, and that basically all the income you need. After that I build a couple of monuments and a City Hall and still have Triumphal Arch in hand. So the game is basically mine: Tony has raced out with Poor House, but doesn't have many points or a Crane, and Fee and Bekki have merely average positions. I get a late Palace off my Gold Mine to make the scores look really lopsided, but I didn't need it. The 9 point palace just stopped me building a 6 point Victory Column.
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Erratic Explosion Domain
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. :)
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 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
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