board games & card games for all ages
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
|
Thursday 29th May 2008
Half term, and just the six of us in the shop this week ....
Players:
Darren, Mark P, Mel, Nick, Rachel, Sue
Games Played:
The first four in were quickly sat in front of this potential Spiel des Jahres winner:
Darren:
31
Mel: 21
Rachel: 18
Mark: 13
I don't know a lot about this one, as - although I was nearby - it was a very quiet and studious game, with not much in the way of clues as to how it was going. Enjoyed by all, and - once again - I promise to get some copies in very soon (they should be on their way. Honest).
Pillars of the Earth (plus Expansion)
We were now at the full six, and so we thought it was the perfect time to give this new expansion a run out ....
Nick:
49
Darren:
47 (2 gold)
Mel: 47
(0 gold)
Mark: 45
Sue: 43
Rachel: 40
Nine points from first place to last in a six-player game is a pretty close game by anyone's standards! This was a really interesting game because, although we were all differently experienced at pillars, none of us had played the expansion before, so there was a certain amount of trying to work out which were the best new spots to place workers and builders. Interestingly, I was the only one who didn't use the Crusades, relying on my leftover workers to bring me some cash wherever possible. I used the Goldsmith to buy a few of my points, as did Mark. I also had the guy that made stone out of sand, which proved very useful in combination with a Sculptor, as I could then earn four points with 2 sand cubes. Mel was grabbing a lot of her points from the Priory, with the bonus making them worth 3 and 2 points. Darren was a little behind at one point, but came racing through as all of the extra characters he'd picked up started to pay off. A great game, a lot of tricky decisions, and a very good expansion.
We had a search round for games that played six player, and - after deciding we probably didn't have time for Railroad Tycoon - settled on this fun game ....
(Scored on how far into the dining room people got)
Darren:
+ 6
Sue:
+ 5
Mel: + 4
Nick: - 2
Rachel: - 2
Mark: - 3
This was a fun game, and possibly the fastest game of HT that I've seen! The Auction Room didn't get anywhere near being emptied of treasures, as more and more people were off to the Castle to try and earn some points. Mark suffered in the very first round as he decided to score some quick points exhibiting, while a couple of thieves emptied his hand! However, Mark and Sue were the ones who both benefitted twice from being alone in a location, which helped him back into the game. Rachel and I spent most of the game with two thieves in Jail, often getting one back only to have him re-arrested trying to free the other guy! Mel was slightly ahead on the track when she triggered the endgame, which was when we found out exactly how many cards Darren and Sue had been hoarding as their 11- and 10- strong exhibits game them the bonus scores at the end. A close finish between the top three.
Mel and Mark had to disappear, and so the four of us decided to close with this fun dice game ...
(Airships + Expansion Cards)
Rachel:
(16 + 4) 20
Darren:
(4 + 4) 8
Nick: (2 + 5) 7
Sue: (2 + 5) 7
If you hadn't worked it out for yourself, this game was pretty one-sided. Darren was the only one of us who managed to build a section of the Hindenburg as Rachel - realising she may have just been a little bit ahead - set about reducing all of the Airship stacks to one card each. Sue and I plodded along missing a few dice rolls each 9as did Darren), and yet Rachel just kept going, thanks to a fair few Airship bonuses!
And that was all we did this week. Short, sweet and to the point. No doubt we'll have silly numbers of people next week!
