Wednesday 28 November 2012

The Accidental Spy

Tuesday, Tuesday, Tuesday, so much more than just a day.

This week, games night was at Adam's house, and five of us (me, Adam, Hannah, Sam and Joe) convened in the early evening. With Anja expected later, we started on a quick (?) non-leaderboard game of The Resistance.

This game of bluff and double bluff (most of which goes on in Joe's head) is a lot of fun, but this game had a twist in the tail that John le Carré couldn't come up with, even if Frederick Forsyth and Ian Fleming had double dared him to come up with a really surprising ending that no one would believe.

Sam (easily detected) and Adam (remained covert) unveiled themselves as spies after Adam had ruined my mission. Adam then admitted at one point he had mistakenly played a Success card instead of a Fail card. This error, which Sam admitted he thought was a stroke of genius, was enough to confuse me so I took him on our last mission, much to Joe's dismay.

1= Sam
1= Adam
2= Hannah
2= Joe
2= Andrew

Anja arrived during this game and patiently sat through our bickering, and at the end we split into two. The Easton contingent (Adam, Hannah and Anja) chose Ys while me, Sam and Joe went for Village. We were keen to try this again after struggling through our first encounter.


It went a lot smoother, as you might expect, but it was clear that only one of us learnt from our experience. I more or less did the same as before – focusing on the market – but this time I ignored the chronicle. I was very sparing with my men and managed to make them last.

Joe, meanwhile, was like the Grim Reaper on a bonus scheme as his meeples died out quickly, getting their names in the history books before anyone else. Sam's meeples also died out quickly, but not fast enough and they usually ended up in a pauper's grave, forgotten to future generations.

As it was, Joe's strategy was a masterful display and left Sam and I fighting over scraps.

Joe 61
Sam 34
Andrew 33

Since Ys still hadn't finished, the three of us indulged our dice-rolling needs with King Of Tokyo. This game gives you three rolls, allowing you to keep any number of dice, as you try and build up hands of six dice to score points, earn cubes or deal damage to your opponents. It's not a game of luck, insisted Joe: it's a resource management game. The resource in question being luck.


Joe pushed his luck too far, and when the dice turned against him, it gave Sam a chance to steal first place.

Sam 20
Joe 18
Andrew 13

I'll leave it to the others to describe the ups and downs of Ys, though I wonder if Adam will want to relive that game, as he ended in a distant last.

Hannah 112
Anja 96
Adam 75

After this, Hannah and Anja called it a night so it was left to us brave boys to fight it out in one more game: Biblios. Sam now has something of a reputation for doing well in this game, and so it was once again.

Sam 5
Adam 3 (wins on colour)
Joe 3
Andrew 2








Points
Steve1 1 1 2 4 9
Sam 1 1 2 3 2 9
Anja2 3 3 1 1 10
Adam2 3 1 2 3 11
Joe3 2 1 2 3 11
Hannah1 1 5 5517
Andrew4 3 3 4 4 18
Jon35 5 5523

7 comments:

  1. Yeah, I guess I was due a fall in The Resistance. It was the double whammy of being a spy again, and Joe handing me the starting player position seconds later. I was so confused I forgot to act confused, and our victory was down to Adam's performance rather than anything I did - though at least I didn't give him away. I can't wait to see if Joe can maintain his ruthless logic when he's a spy. I'll be impressed if he does.

    I enjoyed Village, though clearly Joe grasped the time/killing mechanic far better than Andrew or I did. I find it a bit of a headscratcher of the Agricola type - not enough capability to do all the things you'd like to do, and trying to work out which move is best is tricky. But I'd be keen to play again - soon.

    Thank God, though, we played a couple of games that involve ludicrous blind luck. I'd forgotten what winning felt like!

    Thanks all, we should bear in mind when considering venues next week that Chris and Paul will be joining us....

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  2. A lovely evening, thanks Adam and Hannah.
    The Resistance - I began to think the five player game was no good, since we were down to the last mission with seemingly no information on who were the spies - it felt like pot-luck. But in fact this was due to Adam's "error" - had he played the fail on mission three, I would have known he was a spy.

    So a spy was sent on both two player missions, but both succeeded - a risky (accidental) strategy perhaps, but one that paid off.

    Ah, Village. I can't really account for the disparity in scores - I think it was a mixture of having at least some points in all the scoring areas, and making sure I had a good showing in the chronicle after failing to score there at all in the first game. It was a very enjoyable game; like a more abstract Caylus.

    Did I say this last time? With Caylus, the cubes represent goods - in Village the cubes are abstract concepts like knowledge and skill, and for that reason they remain simply coloured cubes. Not that it detracts from the game at all, and the lovely board adds a lot.

    I also think the death thing makes a real difference - it could so easily have been a simple gimmick, but actually managing the life of your meeples is crucial to the timing of the game. I again got myself in to a position where I couldn't afford to let another meeple go, though I really wanted to end the game before you guys managed to catch me up - it would have cost me 9 points. Quite fascinating - you all represent generations of families, but actually you're more like deities controlling the flow of time - one of you may be spurring your meeples through their lives while another is clinging to a limbo state where time stands still.

    King of Tokyo I like, and I did have a shot at the win which I effectively threw away on my last go, thinking attacking Sam would force him out of Tokyo, which it didn't. People rave about this game, and I'm not quite feeling it, though judging from what I've read there are strategies that emerge from repeated play. A decent enough closer.

    And Biblios I like, but I'm inclined to think it's got about as much strategy as Poison - at least I would be, if Sam didn't consistently win. Actually it's much more satisfying than Posion; I slightly feel the number of unknown factors (terms and conditions apply: dice values can go up as well as down, your score may be at risk if you do not pick up enough money) is just one too many to retain a sense of control, but maybe I just need to get better at it - certainly willing to try.

    Four games in one evening - lovely. Thanks all.

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  3. My strategy in Biblios is pretty simple: to go for three dice in a 2-player and two dice in a 4-player (3 players is harder to judge). If you can get two dice to yourself then you trust the other three players will grab a die each, and you don't have to worry too much about the value. It's not fail-safe of course, as if you're unlucky your combined score will be beaten by a single die.

    But - though I would say this - though it has a big chunk of luck in the gift phase, there's definitely more room for manipulation than Poison. You can change strategies mid-game, as I did last night, or chance your arm picking up a die with a low score if you sense there's not much interest in it from the table. With Poison your moves are often dictated by circumstance. I like both, but I think of Biblios as a mini-classic.

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  4. Good news about Chris and Paul coming next week. But Adam seems very quiet today.

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  5. Ys was a lot more complicated than I remembered - but after ploughing through the rules for half an hour we got started. Hannah leaned towards getting quick points on the board and Anja concentrated on collecting gems while I made sure I lost by a narrow margin in most of the places I contested. (Anja's cry of "Six points to get one yellow gem must hurt!" hurt)

    As we neared the end it was close between Hannah and Anja, but then Hannah played the "commercial areas worth 5 points each" card and the values of the gems tilted decisively in her favour. Meanwhile I trailed in last in a sulk...

    Hannah 112
    Anja 96
    Adam 75

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  6. I remember the market being slightly tricky with Ys. But I love the bluffing. Looking forward to playing again....

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