Sam came straight from London, and needed to freshen up and put on new clothes before he joined us at the table. After the usual "no, you choose" shenanigans, we decided on Age Of Empires III. This worker placement game is themed around the exploration of the Americas. Each round has a number of options, and each player has access to different characters who subtly alter those options.
These options, and options for options, left Sam struggling at first as he prevaricated and retook goes. Joe, too, seemed to struggle with some of the rules, especially regarding war which was a disadvantage since Adam was gunning for him for most of the game. However, he kept Adam at bay by simply putting lots of his settlers in the line of fire, hoping Adam would get bored or try shooting at someone else for a change. I kept it simple, going for money in the first half of the game, and then victory points in the second half.
I think the key to my game was my successful pirating career. Getting money from each player every round helped a lot (even if Adam did insist on throwing his coins down in a sign of defiance against my brave Jack Tars). In the end, we were mixed in our opinion of the game, trying really hard to like it because, after all, the box was so big. Sam said although he had reservations, he would play it again... if forced to.
Andrew 108
Adam 83
Sam 80
Joe 66
When we finished, it was late, but Sam was keen to play another quick game, just to cleanse the pallet before going home. No Thanks was chosen, since it's been a while. I decided to forsake my usual tactic of picking up low cards, and it seemed to work. Who'da thunk it?!
Adam 14
Andrew 32
Sam 37
Joe 60
Sam suggested once more around, and so we did. Joe went for the high risk strategy of picking up high cards and hoping to join them together. It almost worked, too. But even when linked together, high cards are still high.
Sam 27
Andrew 31
Adam 58
Joe 58
| Points | ||||||
| Andrew | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 10 |
| Adam | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 12 |
| Sam | 1 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 13 |
| Hannah | 2 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 18 |
| Joe | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 21 |
Sorry for venting my frustrations aloud chaps (I'm thinking of the "For fuck's sake!" moment more than the inveterate muttering, which was justified in my opinion...) The Age of Empires felt like I was playing myself as well as the other players - or at least, finding my multi-tasking only extends so far. Clearly I was in a minority of one though, as no-one else struggled like divvy Morrison did. If Adam hadn't have repeatedly attacked Joe I would have been a much more deserving 4th place.
ReplyDeleteBut as I said last night, it did feel like a collection of rules to me more than a cohesive whole. Why do all the sailors evaporate upon landing, regardless of how many natives they face? How does a missionary generate an extra settler on foreign lands? Why are boats wild-cards for resources and don't actually travel anywhere? Theme-wise it's kind of bizarre.
I would play it again, at a push. If only to see Joe's settlers fall over repeatedly. But I'd rather play two shorter games to be honest.
OK I can see how a Missionary generates an extra 'person'. That's more of an objection in pedantic terms.
ReplyDeleteMy main objections were that it outstayed it's welcome slightly, and the plastic people are difficult to tell apart.
ReplyDeleteThematically I don't have the same reservations as you Sam - I'm thinking that when you send off a party on a voyage of discovery, you don't send loads of settlers in case you don't find anywhere. Your band of discoverers turns into a small landing party, and then you have to send for more colonists.
And the merchant ships act as a wild because you're making sets of tradeable goods and if you've got more ships you're obviously better at trading.
A player aid would go a long way to helping with the flow, showing everybody the phases of a turn (which I was reading off the back of the rules) and detailing what the specialists special abilities are.
My enjoyment was dampened by the severe whupping my settlers received from Adam who had mistakenly thought I was leading, and then the implosion of points at the end - not sure exactly where I went wrong but I didn't seem able to generate enough money. Kudos to Andrew, who was quietly amassing victory-ensuring multipliers in that quiet way he sometimes has - I've seen the signs many times but for some reason I never twig.
Any way, It was disappointingly long and I'm glad you insisted on a follow-up game Sam, No Thanks was the perfect antidote, even if I did lose both games!
Sam you need to get Tichu for your phone to experience its greatness, and Andrew you need to get a smartphone and then get TIchu - then we can all play; it is awesome. It's strategy game rank is 35 - that for a deck of cards with four extras . . . you know you want to.
Thanks to you all for coming along!
Yeah, I get the settling logic, what doesn't make sense is your five settlers/soldiers/whoever being wiped out on arrival in the discovery phase; even if there are only two natives. But you have to take your hat off to whoever managed to market it: re-enacting the genocide of the native Americans is some theme!
ReplyDelete