Wednesday 22 December 2010

Agricola: Farmers of the Moor

So it was the last games night of the year, and the leader board was delicately poised with Adam and Sam level on 40 points. We settled down to the choice of Colosseum or Agricola: Farmers of the Moor. Yet again Colosseum was overlooked for a newer, more enticing, complex game, a decision that caused some cussing about three hours later.
Adding horses, forests and clay pits to the basic game there were also new actions that could be taken without using a family member and even more confusing (yet apt) a need to heat your house during the winter. This was particularly hard until about the eighth round when we discovered that wood burns, at which point we stopped just using piles of peat as blankets.
 
Quentin quickly established his crop growing strategy with occupations that gave bonus veg and grain whenever he took food. Sam struggled after being dealt a hand bereft of useful improvements and created some beautiful rolling pastures that were only missing animals. Andrew’s board had a little of everything, but not enough to pile up the big points. I started with a card that deducted 4 points at the end of the game but gave me one of every item and a nice leg-up at the start. I built up a stock of sheep for food and horses for points and renovated as soon as possible to reduce heating costs. Joe looked to get his crops going and his house expanded and renovated into the most magnificent neo-gothic original-feature-filled 17th Century barn conversion you’ve ever seen. By playing the yeoman farmer he was able to completely ignore livestock and concentrate on maxing out all the other scoring categories.
In a seasonal interlude the crisps and beer were interrupted by a round of some quite scary (but delicious) biscuits and tasty warm mince pies, giving the gang just enough energy to get to the end of what would be a long night.
 
If your answer to the question “Is Agricola confusing enough?” is "No, I understand every aspect of it perfectly and never have to ask for something I should have collected last round." then FotM is the answer to your prayers. It turns out though that (apart perhaps from Quentin) our answer is "Yes". Maybe as a two- or three- player game it will liven things up, but a mind-mangling range of options isn’t lacking in the original game...
As we drew to a close Quentins board looked most balanced and but for missing out on the riding stables in the last round it should have handed him victory. Only the poor workmanship of his house counted against him, while Joe scored big on house, family and garden, and I scored on horses and bonus points. The final scores saw a tie for first place:
 
Joe 45
Adam 45
Quentin 44
Sam 36
Andrew 19

The Leaderboard

All of which means a decisive two-point win this year for me (unless you count points per game in which case Sam just pips Steve, but we don’t, okay?)



PlayedPoints
Adam2045
Sam1543
Joe1941
Andrew2329
Steve616
Quentin511
Jonny710
Will24
Hannah11
Jon11
So next year our more egalitarian points-scoring-system is going to be 1 point each for turning up as we all know that games should just be played for the joy of playing. Right guys? Group hug!

Wednesday 15 December 2010

Seven wonders x 2

After last week’s cold snap played havoc with the fixture list, it was back to the usual Tuesday evening shenanigans for five regulars: Sam, Adam, Andrew, Joe and Quentin. Quentin asked for a couple of quick games as he hoped to push himself up the leaderboard before it ends for the year. As such, Seven Wonders was chosen as a swift gaming fix.

In game one, with Quentin new to the game, everyone chose side A of their wonder – the easy side. And while Adam, Quentin and Joe all had occasion to ask to redo their go, it was level-headed Sam and Andrew who streaked ahead. But despite Quentin being new to the game, he soon worked out where the easy points were and forced his way into third, ahead of the leaderboard high-fliers, Joe and Adam. Adam overloaded on military might having realised his wonder could never be built due to lack of resources, and Sam again proved that diversification, not specialisation, wins you the game as he fought off Andrew’s and Quentin’s impressive advances in the field of science with a canny mix of war, temples and guilds. Final score:

Sam 57
Andrew 53
Quentin 50
Adam 49
Joe 30

With everyone familiar with the rules once again, another game of Seven Wonders was recommended. This time everyone chose the B side of their wonder (less victory points, but more skills), except Andrew who thought the B side of the Temple at Ephesus looked a bit rubbish. Perhaps this cost him dear, as he played a listless game which lacked the focus of his earlier second place.

Meanwhile, Adam stopped building armies and tried his hand at religious blue buildings and Quentin invested heavily in guilds. However, again it was Sam who showed the way. His military might was enough to pick points off the hippy-ish non-confrontational Andrew and Joe, but his winning move was by completing his wonder so he could copy a guild from a neighbour, which nabbed him an extra six points for no outlay. Final score:

Sam 58
Adam 54
Joe 50
Quentin 42
Andrew 38

Seven Wonders is a great game for a quick battle, but if everyone knows the rules, there's very little interaction. You play your cards, pay the cost and move on to the next round which leaves it strangely unsatisfying, socially.

The Leaderboard

So now the leaderboard now looks very different as Sam picks up ten points and charges to the top. It also means he takes the highest points ratio from Steve, with 2.86 points per game. And he won five quid at Perudo as well! Is there no stopping this man?


PlayedPoints
Sam1440
Adam1940
Joe1836
Andrew2227
Steve616
Jonny710
Quentin47
Will24
Hannah11
Jon11

Discussions are ongoing regarding the scoring system for the 2011 season. Rumours that Sepp Blatter wants a convoluted system of secret votes to decide each weeks' winner have been refuted by the Games Night regulars.

Tuesday 7 December 2010

Agricola

Freezing fog fell on Bristol this Monday, with a rare Monday night session. Sam was hosting, and Andrew and Jonny were in attendance. Agricola was chosen as the night’s game, complete with minor improvements and occupations. Sam got off to a roaring start, playing an occupation that allowed him to plough a field whenever anybody else did. With that amount of arable land available, it’s no surprise that he quickly moved into grain and vegetables.

Andrew was quick to renovate his house in order to play a couple of occupations, and he also tried to pick up cheap victory points by making minor improvements but in doing so fell behind in other parts of the game. Jonny focused on rearing animals with his cattle herder, and on feeding his family with schnaps.

Scores: Sam 46, Jonny 37, Andrew 33

The Leaderboard


PlayedPoints
Adam1734
Joe1632
Sam1230
Andrew2022
Steve616
Jonny710
Will24
Quentin22
Hannah11
Jon11

Wednesday 1 December 2010

7 wonders

So, with a possible six people attending, a game large enough to accommodate all was chosen. And, although one dropped out, it seemed that everyone was up for the challenge of a new game, and so Seven Wonders was brought out. In this game, the great architectural acheivements of ancient times are recreated.

So, basically, the seven wonders of the world are built as a kind of boasting competition. As well as developing your own commodities and buying commodities off your immediate neighbour (whether they like it or not) to build apothecaries, risqué altars and the like, you can also threaten your fellow players with your military might at the same time. Never attacking, just constantly waving a clenched fist and frowning furiously. You can also develop sciences, which like the monuments in Ra score big as sets but are fairly useless in small doses. Other cards enabled cut-price trading, straightforward victory-point style buildings and in the final round, Guilds, which had all kinds of canny ways to score decent points - if you could first get, and then buy, the Guild in question. All of the above (save for spending money) contribute to your victory points at the end.

Game one was a slow affair, as you’d expect with a table full of newbies. It was made slower still by a lengthy pause halfway through while rules were consulted for a long time and then when the game recommenced, we realised there’d been a mix up in handing cards from one player to another, a central mechanic of the game. It was noted that if ancient times had been anything like this, nothing would’ve got finished and we wouldn’t be reading about them in our history books today.

Game one results

Steve 48
Adam 45
Sam 42
Andrew 34
Joe 33

Since the evening was still young when we’d finished, it was decided to try the game again. This time, with the rules fresh in our minds, the rounds flew by. The passing of the cards between players was choreographed perfectly, and everything ran smoothly.

This time, Joe took maximum points for miltary conquests (18) and Adam specialised in blue buildings (26). But it was Steady Sam who took first place, picking up points in every category.

Game two

Sam 53
Adam 47
Joe 44
Steve 43
Andrew 39

A closer look at the scoresheets throws up an interesting bit of info. Neither of the two winners ever came top in any of the categories, which indicates that diversification not specialisation is what wins you this game.

The Leaderboard


PlayedPoints
Adam1734
Joe1632
Sam1127
Andrew1921
Steve616
Jonny68
Will24
Quentin22
Hannah11
Jon11

Friday 26 November 2010

Wednesday 24 November 2010

A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Amphitheatre

This Tuesday saw Adam, Joe, Sam and Andrew go head-to-head over a brand new game, Colosseum. This game of showbiz management in Ancient Rome proved to be quite silly and fun after the grinding strategums of Age of Steam, Brass and Medici that we’ve had recently. This night was a time for a bit of glitz and glamour as the four gamers put on show fit for an Emporer. Or Consul. Whichever was nearest to the theatre.

After a brief but thorough run through the rules, we were thrown into the world of before-Christ light entertainment and our faltering tactics took a while to get going. Andrew tried to sow up the low end of the market with shows about the god of wine Bacchus, or about some woman’s revealed secrets. Meanwhile, Joe tried to appeal to those in power with Ceaser’s Triumphant March, or some similarly titled propaganda.

In the end, both of these populist tactics backfired on them, as Sam stole first place from Andrew in a closely fought final round by a single point: Sam 82, Andrew 81... I can’t remember what the others got, but Adam was third and Joe came fourth by a country mile; his final epic show stymied by a complete lack of actors. Maybe Sam’s victory was a result of the good karma he picked up for supplying mid-game cheese and crackers.

So Colosseum is an enjoyable, if lightweight game. Perhaps it needs a little more opportunity for ruining other people’s shows. Or perhaps it was that lack of double-crossing that left Adam and Joe in third and fourth, since that's usually when they flourish.

The evening ended with Joe regaining some pride (and £1.50) on a quick game of No Thanks, with everyone putting in 50p. Adam’s lack of chip management meant he ended up in last (threatening to break Andrew’s record high score of 118 points). An uncharacteristically bad night for Adam.

The Leaderboard


PlayedPoints
Joe1428
Adam1526
Sam919
Andrew1718
Steve49
Jonny68
Will24
Quentin22
Hannah11
Jon11

Wednesday 17 November 2010

Steam age man

With a very special guest appearance this week from Jon Burgess and a featured role for Steve Dale it was a crowded table in the depths of beautifully redecorated Montpellier.

Making a decision from the fine selection of games presented to the group was a tough call – Agricola and Cosmic encounters were there or there about and Colosseum was piped at the post by Age of Steam (“Colosseum will be fun and only take a couple of hours” – “we’ll just play Age of Steam quickly, it’ll be fine!” were the fateful words). By the time the rules had been explained (move things towards cities that are the same colour!) it was half eight and the stock needed to get rolling.

Green – Joe
Red – Steve
Blue – Jon
Purple – Andrew
Yellow – me (Adam)

We chose the classic Rust Belt map and at the start there was none of the usual crowding in the middle as everyone rushed to the double goods at the edges – Jon taking the north west, Andrew the south, Joe and Steve the east leaving the middle the only place for me to go. Early urbanization and lengthening of the engine (sorry) saw me nudging into the lead. Jon was struggling out in a deserted city-free wasteland once he’d transported his first goods, Andrew was making good progress staking out St Louis and Joe led Steve a merry dance in the mountains around Wheeling.

In the mid-game I took control of the centre of the board, extending my engine to a powerful four lengths and making it hard for anyone else to get at the four cities I controlled. Even ineptly gifting some precious cargo to Joe and Steve couldn’t derail this momentum. Joe was only ever a couple of spaces behind on income, but had taken more shares so needed to pull out something special. Andrew started to flag as the strategy of singing Lonnie Donegan failed to pay off while Steve and Jon started getting the hang of it, building some cities of their own and getting into profit by round five.

Finishing a round “early” at 11.30 the final scores included a late charge from Steve hurling himself into third while Jon had the luxury of an hours journey home to ponder on lessons learnt:

Adam 78
Joe 52
Steve 36
Andrew 35
Jon 26

The Leaderboard
PlayedPoints
Joe1327
Adam1424
Sam815
Andrew1615
Jonny68
Steve49
Will24
Quentin22
Hannah11
Jon11

Wednesday 10 November 2010

Medici: the return

With six people attending, there were big points at stake for the leaderboard. A quick game of For Sale was rattled off while people arrived/got comfortable, which Andrew won. Alas, that was as far as his luck went for this evening.

Medici was chosen as tonight’s game, with some crazy talk of Robo Rally as a possible second game. Quentin was thrown in at the deep end, since this was his first time playing. Meanwhile, despite an early lead, Andrew faded into fifth place by the end, edged out by Will. Adam (who kept his hat on all evening) impressed everyone with his colour co-ordinated ship in round two, which bagged him lots of wheat, but it wasn’t enough to bridge the gap between the last four and the front two. In the end, Joe strode away, putting his success down to getting points for the largest boat twice.

Since there were six players, we thought that there’d be a lot more competition for goods to specialise in, but as it turned out, it was all quite evenly spread, with everyone getting bonus points for goods by the end of the game. Final scores: Joe 101, Sam 90, Adam 80, Will 78, Andrew 77, Quentin 75

We ended the night with Perudo, with everyone putting in a pound. Sam took the money in a close battle with Andrew, although getting two aces when the other guy was on his last die was a stroke of luck. Joe, however, beat the odds with a statistics-defying call of "calza", correctly guessing the number of fours when almost all the dice were still in play. An amzingly long shot that came off. If Evil Knievel played Perudo, that’s how he’d do it.

The Leaderboard

PlayedPoints
Joe1223
Adam1319
Sam815
Andrew1513
Jonny68
Steve36
Will24
Quentin22
Hannah11

Wednesday 3 November 2010

Where there's muck . . .

So last night, after a late cancellation by Steve and Anja, we were down to three; Adam, Andrew and me (Joe). Last time we three met, Brass happened — and so it was again. I think we were all keen to explore it a little more, and the replacement of the plastic coins with real old English pennies was more than enough to seal the deal. After setting up it was 8pm, and there was no need for lengthy rules explanations this time — as Andrew said "let's just play, and Joe can tell us why we can't do what we want to." Adam jumped in with a £30 loan on his first turn, an unusual opening strategy as it pushed him £3 into debt - the lure of the real copper coins I think. Iron was in scarce supply throughout the canal phase, and while I scoured my cards for somewhere to build an ironworks, Adam seemed to have all the right locations and made a lot of headway through selling iron back to the demand track. Both Adam and Andrew built early coal mines, which lingered on the board for quite a while, though none remained unflipped by the phase end — Andrew managing a daring turn 10 flip I think. I struggled in the first half, no real plan emerging, and the canal phase scoring saw me in third place by quite a margin. The rail phase was a bit more fruitful for me, particularly since Adam spotted that we were in the final round for taking loans and announced the fact after he and Andrew had missed their opportunity to do so, and I was able to take a final hand-out (thanks Adam).
Andrew did his customary late-game Shipyard build (in both phases), and I used my new-found wealth to build 4 pieces of track in one turn, draining the coal track dry, and prompting
some over-building, a new experience for all of us. In the end though, Adam was victorious with 174 points, me in second with 173 (curses), and Andrew in third with 147.
This was my third face-to-face Brass game, Andrew and Ads second, and Andrew and I have played a few two player games online. I'm not completely grabbed by it. I like it, but compared to say, Age of Steam, another long and competitive game, it feels a little convoluted. I do know that it's supposed to be at its best with four players, as there's a lot more competition for industry spots, and we've yet to try a four-way, so that would be interesting. But strategy-wise I'm not totally feeling the love that I've read about elsewhere. It seems to be a game of opportunism as much as strategy, and I'm not sure I can see multiple paths to victory. The shipyards, for instance; they take so much to get on the board, and then there are at most two per phase, each only scoring once since the canal phase shipyards get discarded, so I can't see them being part of a winning strategy really.
Perhaps we're none of us being competitive enough — if you see someone building cotton mills without ports, you could sweep in with your own mills and bottom out the cotton demand track, for instance. You could also use canal and rail track to secure certain cities, since other players will find it more difficult to build if they can't ship coal and iron via their own networks.
There's lots to love, and I'm prepared to think that we're not quite getting it yet, but it doesn't have the economic tension (translation: fear of bankruptcy) of Age of Steam, nor the heart-pumping exhilaration of Caylus (I'm serious), and for a three hour plus game, that's a big commitment — it's a whole games night! We could have played three games of Medici!
So anyway - four player Brass . . . anybody not yet dipped their toe in the sooty waters who feels up to the challenge? You'll have some catching up to do, but don't worry; Andrew, Adam and I will be there to tell you exactly why you can't do what you want to . . . Wallace!

The Leaderboard


PlayedPoints
Joe1117
Adam1215
Andrew1411
Sam710
Jonny68
Steve36
Quentin11
Hannah11
Will11

Monday 25 October 2010

Serenissima

Since Sam and Andrew are unable to make this Tuesday's games night, a weekend fixture was arranged. With four hungry gamers around the board, a truncated game (only eight rounds) of Serenissima was chosen as this evening's feast. This game mixes co-operation with warfare in a delicately balanced recreation of two hundred years of trading history across the Mediterranean using specially designed boats that sink the moment the last sailor steps off them.

Adam and Jonny were the first to build up their reserves, making a deal to sell into each others' capitals for 1000 ducat bonuses. The extra wealth went to Adam's head as he built two galleys full of men and set forth to Istanbul to take Andrew's capital, only to find his path blocked by Jonny who had plans to sell there for another 1000 ducat bonus. His plan scuppered, he never quite got back into the game.

Soon after that, in round five, the sight of five newly built war galleys flying under Sam's flag were sighted on the Lybian coast. Everyone took evasive action as battle commenced, such that Sam couldn't get through his opponents' blockade to their capitals. Unable to deliver a knockout blow, he struggled against his newly distrustful trading partners despite offering to make tea. Round eight rolled around, and Andrew made sure of victory by filling his capital with goods and swooping in for a last minute raid on one of Jonny's full warehouses. Final score: Andrew 42, Jonny 34, Adam 32, Sam 25.

So Andrew, in an uncommon run of form, picked up his second win in as many games nights. Although it cannot be described as a great victory considering Jonny had never played it before, Adam thought he might have played it but wasn't sure, and Sam was clearly not on best form as he spent most of the evening forgetting colours and words.

The Leaderboard



PlayedPoints
Joe1015
Adam1112
Sam710
Andrew1310
Jonny68
Steve3

6

Quentin11
Hannah11
Will11

From now there'll be a new scoring system, whereby the amount of points you get for a win depends on the number of players. So in a four-player game, first place gets four points, second place gets three, third gets two and last gets one. That way, everyone gets something for turning up. Which is also why all the people on zero points last time have now got points for being there. I know, in theory, everyone else should also get points for attending, but I'm too lazy to go back over the emails and work out the scores again.

Wednesday 20 October 2010

Medici in excelsis

Tuesday evening rolled around, Venus sat high and bright in the night sky, and people descended on Joe's for some table-top fun. First, Joe regaled us with his tales of meeting the chief play-tester for Martin Wallace games. The very same Martin Wallace who we'd been cursing for his lack of play-testing only seven days previously. Meanwhile, Quentin marvelled at the idea of having so many play-testers that you needed a chief one to keep the others in check.

With late arrivals expected, Joe, Andrew and Quentin played a couple of light games of For Sale. Andrew won the first one after a recount (sorry Quentin), and it doesn't matter who won the second one, does it? Probably Joe.

Then Quentin departed for work reasons, as Sam and newcomer Will joined us. Since it was quite late to start a large-scale game, Medici was decided upon. Will quickly picked up the rules and was impressed by the range of strategies that could be employed, but the plaudits went to Andrew who rode his luck with some randomly drawn tiles at the end of rounds one and two. This put him in a strong second place, from which he pushed into first while Joe dropped to second due to him and Sam battling over the same commodities.

This was followed by some light relief in the shape of No Thanks. A low scoring first game was played out with Joe winning on a Roger Bannister-esque epoch-defining minus 6 points! And this, only minutes after telling Will that a score below zero was pretty much impossible. Almost as remarkable was Andrew's display in the second game, which saw him involuntarily picking up high cards due to a lack of chips and ending with 118.

And now the moment you've all been waiting for...

The Leaderboard!

Points: First place gets 3 points, Second place gets one. In the event of equal points in the table, the person who's turned up to the most evenings is given preference as a reward for most loyalty to the cause! (And as compensation for not having a life.) “Light” games aren't included (ie, Perudo, No Thanks, etc) although we can change this. I've also included the scores from the previous games night reports we did by email, although a couple of them didn't mention second places.


PlayedPoints
Joe1015
Adam1010
Sam69
Andrew126
Steve36
Jonny50
Quentin10
Hannah10
Will10

As you can see, the idea that Adam always wins is a myth, and it's Joe we need to start going for.

Wednesday 13 October 2010

Brass Drubbing

So finally, after weeks of gentle pleading, dropping hints and waving the box under everyone's noses, it finally happened. Last night, with Andrew and Adam in, Brass hit the table. Martin Wallace's Brass, a wood and cardboard poem to Industrial Revolution era Lancashire. And an epic poem at that. It's not that it's complicated, I kept insisting, it's just that there are some (ok lots of) very fiddly little rules. Which means when you're learning and playing for the first time, it can be daunting. Which means lots of knitted brows, and cursing "Wallace" from between gritted teeth.
Since it popped on to my radar 6 months ago, I've wanted to play Brass. I've wanted to play it so much I've listened to several podcasts about it (links below), checked out the free online version (almost impossible to contemplate until you've played it in the flesh), and generally talked myself in to buying it. And then the long, hard slog of persuading all you other chaps to play. You have been rightfully ambivalent — we have, between us, more than enough games that deserve deeper exploration than we can give them; why add another, and a behemoth at that, to the list of games tried but not fully explored? It's true, it's the cult of the new, and it's my little problem, one I will try and keep under control. From now on.
So was it worth it? Hmm . . . Adam said afterwards "I think I enjoyed that." Andrew said, during the game "This is good, but those rules. Really." And did it live up to my expectations? A guest on Mark Johnson's excellent All about Brass podcast said "if you play Brass once, and you don't hate it, you should definitely play a few more times". I'd like to play again, but it's not really tuesday night friendly. I know we were learning, but still — we started bang on 7.30pm, and packed up at nearly midnight. And it's not fun fun like some games — it's mature, serious, thoughtful stuff. I explained this to Charlotte afterwards, and she said "please say you'll never make me play it."
It is a game that plays well online (I have played and lost twice online), so sign up and say the word, I'll be there in an instant. And thanks to Adam and Andrew for indulging me, it wasn't horrible, right? - JB
Oh, and the scores:
Joe 177
Adam 169
Andrew 140

Further reading/listening/playing:

Sunday 10 October 2010

So it's up

Dear internet and friends,

this is a blog for a group of board gamers to post up reports of our adventures across the kitchen table.

I decided against any punning titles or witty acronyms, and just went for a "does what it says on the tin" style title.