board games & card games for all ages
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Thursday 10th September 2009
Eight of us made it out to the shop tonight.
Well, some of us were already there I suppose, but you know what I mean ....
Players:
Alex, Dave F, James, Nick, Richard, Roj, Sue, Tim
Games Played:
Four of us were in nice and early ....
Nick:
64
Alex: 60
Sue: 60
Richard:
38
Always a good game for the time it takes, this one: Easily played within 15 minutes or so, but you feel like you've played a game when it's done. This one was particularly friendly in the first half, with Sue and I benefitting from a little generosity from Alex; but in the second half, Alex played a lot meaner and managed to catch up quite well, although luckily I just managed to hang on. Richard suffered throughout from Sue and I blocking him. Cos we're mean like that.
Dave:
380
Alex:
334
Nick: 281
Sue: 272
Roj: 207
Richard: 188
James:
134
A perfect welcome back for James ... made even better by the fact that he was really just playing to try and get ahead of me, after we'd both started pretty poorly and looked like we were fighting for last place! Sue could have ended the game a few rounds ahead of when it actually ended, as she was over the trigger score, but she was afraid to pass on four dice to Dave, who would have only needed a rabbit or two to pass her score, so she carried on and blew it. That gave the rest of us a little chance to catch up, and eventually it was Alex that triggered the end game, passed the dice to Sue who bust it, but then Dave managed to pass her score with a pretty impressive final roll, which James then bust. Roj was last to go, but he needed too many, and bust pretty quickly.
We split into two groups ....
Roj:
62
James: 60
Nick:
56
Sue: 48
This was our first game, and we all really enjoyed it. It's quite an abstract game, really, but I can see how it will play very differently depending on how the tokens appear on the map at the start. It reminded me a little of Goa (advancing a few different tracks for scoring and benefits), as well as Agricola (we were over halfway through the game, yet there seemed so much more to do ... and yet by the end of the game, we'd pretty much done it all!). Roj and I went down the slavery route, and James threatened to mess us up in a big way, but then he noticed how much fun slavery was, and in a kind of "if you can't beat 'em" way, joined us! Roj and I were the only ones shipping early, which seemed to help us a little later in the game thanks to presence in regions. But we had to attack each other a little to get the benefits from some of the connections. I didn't really bother with Industry, which left me a little behind in the fact that I couldn't build any powerful buildings, but in concentrated on my population and payments, which seemed to work quite well. Roj and James got all of their markers in the final section, while I had three and Sue only two. A good game, and one that I'm looking forward to playing again once or twice at the weekend.
And upstairs ....
Dave:
58
Tim: 39
Richard: 29
Alex: 27
Sadly, I don't know a whole lot about this one. Again, it was new to everyone, and I think they started a little behind us thanks to the rules reading. Scores-wise, it looks like Dave wiped the floor with the rest of them, but until I play it myself (this weekend as well, hopefully), I shouldn't really comment :)
Now the idea was then to swap round and play each others' games, but time was against us. So the eight of us got back together for the final 45 minutes or so .....
Sue:
$255
Dave:
$200
Richard: $195
Tim: $180
Alex: $170
James: $140
Nick: $120
Roj: $80
I like this more each time we play ... It's rapidly becoming one of my favourite race games, and playing up to eight players is a bonus too. Richard's horse shot off at the start, and was half way round the track when there were still six or seven horses on the start line! But eventually the others started to reel it in, although it still managed a top-three finish. I think it was one of Sue's horses that eventually crossed the line first, followed by Tim's and Richard's. Alex had bets on all of them, and also was threatening to finish first with her horse, which would have put her miles out in front, but it got pretty heavily nobbled as it approached the line!
And that was all we had time for this week. Thanks to all those that came out.
