Joe, Adam, Andrew, Sam.
After last week's Castles of Burgundy marathon, we were in the mood for something lighter. Since Sam had brought Tzolk'in, we decided that would be a nice alternative. Sam, me and Adam had all played it before as a two-player, so beginner Joe got a run through of the rules.
It was to be a baptism of fire. And ice. And rocks being thrown at Joe's head. The three of us had at least some idea of what to go after while Joe gently pootled around, trying to collect food for his workers.
Adam was astute and calculating. At least, that how it looked to me (although he did keep forgetting to take starting player). Sam quickly made sure all his men never needed food, and with the distraction out of the way, he could focus on buildings and monuments. I started out determined to start exploiting those knowledge things but didn't get far before I, too, was distracted by trying to get the best seat at the various local temples.
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| The bright sun shines down on the temples |
Towards the end, Joe fell into the trap of not being able to activate workers on the last round, effectively giving him one less turn than anyone else. This, I think, was the last nail in the coffin regarding his opinion of the game, and he started to tidy up pots and pans while we finished.
Sam 61
Adam 57
Andrew 54
Joe 31
I felt bad that Joe had spent the evening playing a complicated game against three people who'd played it before, so I was happy to agree to another game to finish the evening. It was an old favourite: Poison. It had been a long time since it was brought to the table, and we got stuck right in with no need to refer to the rules. Except to see if you removed any cards beforehand. And to remind Joe that each cauldron had to be a different colour.
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| The typical opening gambit. All sevens. |
Apart from that, it was almost as if we'd never been away. Joe, however, could not make his familiarity with the rules count. Perhaps he was fatigued by Tzolk'in or perhaps he couldn't concentrate after his dog did a poo in the other room, but he collected more than his fair share of the poison. I, meanwhile, had nice cards throughout and I played them well. It gave me my first win of the season.
Andrew 12
Sam 21
Adam 23
Joe 33
On the Form table, Sam sneaks up to first while I rise to third.
| Points | ||||||
| Sam | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 9 |
| Adam | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 9 |
| Andrew | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 14 |
| Joe | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 16 |
| Steve | 2 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 18 |
| Anja | 1 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 19 |
| Hannah | 4 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 21 |
Finally, due to circumstances beyond the ken of mankind, the Bracknell reports are being suspended for now. But the results are still being emailed in to me. Since they'll end up in The Division, I should report them so I thought I'd end with a brief fictionalised version of events.
Chris and James swapped foppish insults over two games of Agricola while Paul goaded them on, and then Chris and Paul tried to suffocate each other with pillows during a game of Alhambra. James' tactic of sawing a leg off the table proved to be futile.
06/04 - Agricola - Chris 32 James 27 Paul 25
20/04 - Agricola - James 28 Chris 27 Paul 22
20/04 - Alhambra - Chris 134 Paul 133 James 116
I felt for Joe last night - many's the time I've felt bamboozled by a new game. At least he handled it with more grace than I do.
ReplyDeleteBut that said though it's maybe not a top ten game for me I do like Tzolk'in. It's quite puzzley and tricksy but it feels more productive than say, Year of the Dragon, with it's constant firefighting. And in a weird way it feels less abstract than Village.
Good to play Poison again too. Thanks chaps.
Yeah, I don't think I've ever been inspired to load the dishwasher rather than play a game before.
ReplyDeleteLess a comment on the game than on my situation - I couldn't bear to watch all your plans come to fruition while stumbling around myopically, tripping over my own shoelaces.
It's probably no more complex than Bora Bora, but it does have the fire-fighting aspect of some Felds - the thing about Year of the Dragon is that the fire-fight *is* the game, rather than something to be juggled whilst vying for points (at least to a greater extent than in Tzolk'in). And even that is not something I disdain in games (feeding my meeps in Agricola I actively enjoy), but it does add hugely to the cognitive load when learning a game on the fly.
It's very rare that I play a game without having read the rules, and I probably wouldn't have suggested it if I'd known quite how complex it was - I think because your two player games had been quite short I expected it to be less intense. And screwagey.
Were I to play it again, I'd want there to be someone else there who hadn't played before (preferably visibly frustrated and confused) - otherwise I would still feel like I was behind the curve. That's nice of me, isn't it? Steve? Anja? Jon? Quent? How an you refuse a generous offer like that?
Course if I still placed last my dishwasher loading might become violent . . .
Anyway, whine over. Let's play shorter games next week. Several of them!
The problem I had with Tzolk'in is that you need to carefully plan out what you are doing over the next two or three turns, but the things the player before does can mean you need to completely start over.
ReplyDeleteThat means you get a lot of analysis paralysis as the turn gets to you and after a while I stopped trying to plan at all before it got around to my turn, meaning I got distracted during your turns (4-0!) and didn't really enjoy the game.
With two players it was more fun... And there are the big turny-gear-things.