Due to unforeseen circumstances, a Thursday night gaming possibility opened up and I sent the clarion call across the rooftops of Bristol; stirring the hearts of men and womenfolk alike, rousing them from their screens and up, out, into the rainy night, to make their way through the darkened streets on a pilgrimage that no God recognises, but a journey that nonetheless ends in the human heart.
At least I imagined it something like that, but in reality everyone was too busy apart from Andrew, so we ate kettle chips and drank whisky while bumping up the 2-player leaderboard stats.
First to the table was Lords of Waterdeep, a big hit with GNN last year in both Bristol and Bracknell. And as such it needs no introduction. Some games I play and love only to go off fairly rapidly (Dominion) while others are stayers (Tinner's Trail). Waterdeep is definitely the latter. Like any game you can play it too much but it survives the maths trade cull every time.
The threat of the sentient crisps was negated by the magic bowl
One thing I like about Waterdeep is the strategy/luck balance, with the former daintily fringed by the latter. Last time out I just couldn't get the quests my Lord wanted, this time they fell into my lap and as a result I outscored Andrew in the final count-up:
Sam 196
Andrew 179
With statue-placating and owl-bear domesticating in the bag, we moved on to a recent purchase of mine, Call to Glory. This game has a little of gin-rummy to it, but it's one of those where an extremely simple ruleset is abetted by some nice depth of play. The cards represent strata of Japanese society but the theme (though the cards are beautiful) is very light. It's all about collecting sets - but in this instance having a set is not necessarily a guarantee you'll finish the round with the set intact, because there are many of the same type of card so ownership of that particular stratum (from farmers to emporers) can change if and when an opponent gathers more of them than you do.
Three shoguns, all called Dirk
There's also a key aspect of which card to discard and when, exactly, do you play your sets? We both hoarded in the first round, played much more liberally in the second round, and struck some sort of balance in the third and final round (officially you play 4 rounds but we plumped for 3). In every event Andrew outscored me, however, pushing his results up each time as mine deteriorated. Final reckoning:
Andrew 191
Sam 128
It's a very nice game and one we both look forward to playing with more people. Even if the tin it comes in looks like an over-elaborate chocolate box...
Just as a fight to the death started, the doorbell went
A very nice evening. Waterdeep scales so well for different numbers of players, I'm constantly impressed. Must find out if the designers have done anything else. It was pretty close, with us pretty much neck and neck as we entered the final round. Sam's lord gave him a massive forty point bonus, compared to my twenty-four and that proved to be the difference.
ReplyDeleteCall to Glory is also very nice, but I think would benefit from more players. It's a sort of reverse Hana-bi. (And it's also sort of Japanese.) When playing the game with two, it was quite easy to have some idea of how many cards were left of particular types. At least, it was for me. Maybe that's how I won. But with three or four, it would be much harder and more interesting.
Anyway, I hope Adam hasn't gone off games now he's discovered skiing.
Yeah, I think Call to Glory would be very different with 3 or 4 people. With only one opponent you can by process of elimination work out which cards your opponent is hoarding.
ReplyDeleteI think our first very-hoardy round would totally backfire with more players. You might end up with the very valuable farmers (20pts), but with 80 or so points elsewhere trying to establish numerical dominance would be a waste of time. Which is why the game is interesting, I think.
I should properly write up all the games we played on the skiing holiday... But you'll have to settle for this:
ReplyDeleteOn the train down there was four hours of Black Mariah, followed by a game of Carcassonne. (I did quite well at both of these)
On the second night in the hotel we pulled in the crowds with 7-team Bananagrams. (Hannah pushed the winning team close)
On the third night we tried out 4-player Trans Europa. (I finally beat Hannah at this)
On the fourth night we brought out The Resistance for two 9-player games. (Nobody wins The Resistance)
On the fifth night by popular demand there was one more (shakey-handed) game of The Resistance, followed by Trans Europa. (I can't remember who won this one)
Then on the train back there was a couple of games with an improvised Skull and Roses, followed by Hey! That's my Fish! with a friendly Frenchman and his daughter and several more hours of Black Mariah which I lost on the very last hand as we pulled into St Pancras.
If anything I overdosed!
Adam, I don't know if you've noticed, but you've started talking in potential Tom Waits song titles.
ReplyDelete"Four Hours of Black Maria"
"We pulled in the crowds with 7-team"
"The resistance for two"
"One more shakey-handed game"
"An improvised skull"
"A friendly Frenchman and his daughter"
"If anything, I overdosed"
Did you ski as well?
ReplyDeleteNo.
ReplyDeleteI snowboard.
No.
ReplyDeleteI snowboard.
Well I'm glad you squeezed a bit of exercise in. Snowboarding and gaming though, that's like worlds colliding... dogs and cats living together... an obese James Bond.
ReplyDelete