Friday 9 March 2018

Heaven and Ail

Last night the games were in effect. 

Chris, Ian and Andrew hovered around the table as we debated Heaven and Ale, Calimala, or some undecided other. It was Ian who settled matters, saying he'd like to try Kiesling and Schmidt's game of beer-brewing again. Andrew and I had played a two-hander on Monday, so it was only new to Chris. We breezed through the rules and hopped to it. 

Yeah, hopped.

The broad ins and outs of H+A were covered in Tuesday's post, but we discovered that with four the game plays very differently than with two or three. There are 6 rounds (instead of 3/4 for two/three players) and spaces are at a premium. Not really thinking ahead, both Ian and I triggered some early scoring that seemed to set us up well, but turned out to be the mere red carpet for Andrew and Chris to saunter down as they timed things much better.

Timing is key even in a head to head with Heaven and Ale, but it felt even more so now, as those big leaps along the track for a monk or a scoring marker meant leaving much behind for others to hoover up. But on the other hand, everyone was making those big leaps because scoring markers in particular felt like the keys to the kingdom. 

Andrew gazes down at his competitors

I also noticed that Ian and I played a steady stream of tiles to both sides of our hill (shady side, when activated, gets you money - sunny side moves those precious ingredient markers up the track). In contrast Chris populated his shady side with big numbers, and Andrew was working in the sun with 1s, 2s and 3s. This specialising seemed to serve them well, though I'm not sure that was the only reason we got left behind. This game continues to intrigue, and as on Tuesday Ian could be heard muttering "Weird" as the final round moved into view.

It might not be screwage but there's a lot of inadvertent dickery too. Five times Ian - left of me - took what I was after. And everyone felt that sting at some point. We knew the fight was between Andrew and Chris, and I must admit I though Chris's impressive hoard of barrels would see him crowned Best Boozed-Up Monk. But I was wrong!

Andrew 42
Chris 38
Sam 22
Ian 18

Great game! 

We continued the boozy theme with the only other Andreas Schmidt game I know - Polterfass! 


Everyone knew this one so we hit the inns. Except I kept walking into the door, and reeling around in a daze - going low when I should have gone high, and (many times) going high when I should have gone low. The scores at one point stood at 52-49-48 for the others, while I languished in single figures or less. 

Then Ian was suddenly poised on 74 points and Andrew realised that to catch him he needed to roll big - very big. He pushed and pushed... and it wasn't enough. Ian claimed the victory - although Andrew had at least done enough to snatch second place from Chris. Meanwhile I was back in the twenties. 

Lots of beer-based fun. Thanks chaps.  

3 comments:

  1. Definitely a game that requires a first play to understand what it all means. I these types of situations I tend to keep it simple and stick to a plan that often can be short term. Games like this often benefit from some long term planning, in this case the barrels and getting all your counters as far up the tracks as possible.
    Happily though my short term plan provided a neat little platform for the rest of the game. Total fluke. I 'm certain in my next game I'd be trying to do everything and get it all wrong.

    Great night, thanks chaps. I'm off to have a cholesterol check after Ian's pork scratchings...!

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  2. Heaven & Ale was great. It scales up nicely for multiple players. My tactic was to push the Biermeister (sp?) up the track or the lowest token. Noticing that certain sheds allow you to push him up by six was a revelation and I was frustrated from doing it twice by Ian and Sam buying up the lowest tiles before I could.

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  3. I don’t think I had a tactic. I was hoping that might work.

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