We start with a
commercial battle
Chinatown
So James wheedled us
into this “pure negotiation game” which he’d played on Monday at work quite
successfully. Each round the players are dealt plots of land in downtown New
York and components for businesses- “Seafood”, “Dim Sung”, “Laundry”, etc etc.
Then there is a freeform negotiation phase, timed to 5 minutes in our case,
where everyone can swap anything for anything. There’s money as well to sweeten
the deal. Then the players put their businesses onto vacant plots and let the
money roll in. If you can get three or more tiles of the same type adjacent to
each other then you get more money. Some chains work best with a set of three
(e.g, Seafood), others with four (e.g Florist), five (e.g Dim Sung) or six (e.g
Factory).
The first round saw
lots of things changing hands without much knowledge of what they were worth. I
sold a vacant lot to Paul for $10,000+a business component and bought a vacant
lot from James for $30,000 +a business component. Everyone was earning about $30,000-
3 lots with a single business $10,000 each. Tom only had 2 lots so was earning $20,000
and either Gareth or Paul had a set of 3 and was earning $40,000.
In the second turn I
was able, by dealing away everything else I owned, to complete two sets of
three- a Sea Food chain and a Dim Sung chain. Gareth had a Florist in the
making and Paul a Factory, in the same area of the board.
I started to lose
track around turn 3. I made what I thought was a cunning move by placing a
single Jewellery piece between two of James’ Jewellery pieces, hoping he would
offer me good money for it. However, James decided to complete his Jewellery
set in a different (slower but promising more tiles eventually) way.
Meanwhile
chains were appearing everywhere. Tom had a nice Dim Sung business which he
maxed out to five spaces (meaning it was impossible for me to extend my Dim
Sung chain, although that didn’t stop other players trying to sell me an
extension!) Paul completed his Factory and was raking in the money. Gareth had
a Florist, a Laundry and a Camera shop by the end of the game, and made a
valiant effort for Tropical Fish. James did eventually complete his Jewellery
set. Tom was able to complete an Antiques Chain by purchasing two antique
spaces from me at $140,000. Paul was throwing a lot of money around, helped by
other players intervening just to raise his prices. I didn’t complete any
chains after round 2. Everyone expected Paul to win comfortably but the result
in the end was very close.
Tom and Philip $920,000 (No tiebreaker apparently) Paul $910,000
Gareth $900,000 James $890,00
Now for a more private
battle...
Murder of Crows
(thanks Tom)
Whilst Gareth and
Scott were waiting for Andy to arrive for their weekly game of Through The
Ages, Tom arrived and offered to play Murder of Crows as a quick filler whilst
they waited. Neil joined so four players ended up delving into the nefarious
machinations of MoC.
The game as before was
relatively quick despite the fact that neither Scott or Gareth had played
before. This may have been assisted by the fact that Andy turned up soon
afterwards! In the end, Tom triumphed through the playing of a wild crow to
complete his Murder. Neil's unbeaten record (of 1) had been decimated.
Tom - Won; Gareth, Scott and Neil - Lost
A battle in a dungeon
next...
Dungeon Fighter
(Thanks Tom)
Following Chinatown,
Tom suggested that they try his favourite dexterity game, Dungeon Fighter.
Gareth II voted himself out due to a bad back and Philip quickly escaped toward
the table of Kingdom Builder in a hope for a Euro. This left Tom, Paul and
James to form a motley trio, with Dan (the other DF veteran) playing horsies
and moo cows with Amanda.
On the subject of moos,
James quickly chose his character, the Paladin, Sir Moo, and promptly started
reminiscing about his special edition of Moo. I would not be surprised if it
made an appearance next week! Paul picked Goldfinga, the thief, and Tom chose
Lanky Lowshot, the elven archer due to his helpful re-roll ability. This was to
come in handy over the next hour! With the team assembled and the dungeon
created, it was simply now a case of escaping the dungeon.
Paul soon proved
himself very adept at hitting the board with his die and stealing equipment
from the various monsters as a result. However, despite some early successes,
the dreaded Warthog reared its ugly head leading to the dreaded far shot being
required (i.e. throwing the dice from at least two feet away from the table).
Soon enough, the heroes were rather badly beaten but triumphant.
At the first shop,
James acquired a weapon that required him to bounce his die over a card and on
to the board. Loud and continuous practice ensued which showed the dice to be
made of the most resilient substance known to man as the Apprentice's poor
table slowly splintered. This practice would soon pay off with perhaps the most
outrageous shot this reported has seen in his short DF career as James threw
his dice with his hand below the table (as required by the monster's ability),
it shot into the air, hit the table, bounced over a card, and landed in the
three ring of the board causing five damage. A brief round of applause ensued,
followed soon after by Paul knocking over the tower containing the gold coins,
leading to everyone searching on their knees for a few minutes to locate them.
This was of course all James's fault.
Everyone was rolling
rather well and, despite a particularly vicious battle with a self-healing
witch who was only defeated with some vigorous cheating (and excellent rolling
off his nose by Tom), the adventurers reached the final boss, the Final
Destination, staring out us with his health, 35 health and 8 attack. We were
doomed.
However, a healthy
number of white dice had been accumulated throughout the adventure, thanks in
large part to Goldfinga's stealing and Paul's excellent early die rolls. So it
was that it ended with Tom, the veteran, needing three damage or more with the
last die. He paused, he rolled, he screamed in anguish. It was an absolutely
terrible roll that hadn't even reached the board. We were defeated, despite our
almost having triumphed against all odds (cue Phil Collins). Heartbreak in the
end but satisfaction too with quite possibly the most fun dexterity game
around.
Death- Won; Paul, Tom & James - Lost
A battle for
jewels...ok its more a race really.
Diamant (Thanks Tom)
After the agony and
the ecstasy of Dungeon Fighter, Dan and Amanda finished their highly realistic
re-enactment of the EU's Agricultural policy, and together with Alan (who had
somehow contrived to miss out on the game of Lancaster that had just started on
the other table), they joined Tom, James and Paul for a game of Diamant, the
classic game of push your luck.
The game didn't get
off to the most serious of starts when James referred to the deadly scorpions
as "cave lobsters". Much mocking came from Dan's side of the table.
Oh, bitter irony (as we would soon learn).
The game played out
with Tom "doing a Gareth" and leaving the mine whenever there was a
chance that he would pick up any leftover diamonds. Soon, he had accumulated a
small stockpile. Unfortunately, his choice of yellow for his meeple was
unfortunate and led to besmirchment of his manliness.
Whilst Tom was proving
himself a crafty coward, Dan and James began something of a standoff on the
fourth round, pushing further and further together into the mine despite
numerous dangers making themselves apparent. James was the first to blink
leaving Dan to continue into the dark on his own. As he waved his torch, it
alighted upon something glinting in the pitch black. Slowly, he ventured
forward hoping for more riches only to find that the light was reflecting off
the carapace of a deadly cave lobster! Daniel was savaged and all his goodies
lost.
After the remaining
adventurers (plus a somewhat shaken Dan) had enjoyed a tasty lobster thermidor,
they went back into the cave for one last time. Tom, to form, escaped after the
second area stealing the 9 diamonds that had been left (the 4 and 5 cards being
too low for the six players to collect anything). This proved to be the
decisive play with Tom triumphing by a good margin.
Tom - 24, Everyone else but Dan - 11 (or thereabouts), Dan – 0
Finally the battle for
France...with extra English euroness included.
Lancaster (Thanks
Neil)
A new game for both
Phillip and I, and one I have been wanting to play as it is high on my
wishlist. First impressions were good, lots (and lots), of well-made
components, a nice board with my home county on it, pretty rare to say the
least, and after about 20 minutes of setting up we had about the same length of
time to go through the rules. It isn’t that it’s overly complex, there are just
plenty of different mechanisms in play. So, whatever sort of strategy do you go
for here?
The worker placement
options are pretty varied although you can be deposed pretty easily, so you
have to keep plenty of alternatives in mind. There’s even an element of
co-operation when it comes to the battles you may choose to be part of. The
second phase is the voting in, or not, of new laws for parliament, and you need
some friendly folk to help pass through the one you need for extra VPs. Then
you can start picking up the rewards from your knights, and this is really well
done as the order means there are still opportunities to improve your rewards,
for the battle for instance.
Rufus and Gareth were
certainly looking to promote their knights as much as possible, they and Sophie
were also keen to upgrade their castles too. Phillip went for collecting gold,
and was even told that he was ‘hogging’ it at one point, apparently not a great
strategy… until one of the laws was passed enabling him to convert gold into
victory points, mm. I went for my usual ‘collect victory points’ plain and
simple routine I go for in most first plays. And round and round we went.
Plenty of player interaction, plenty of blocking and usurping, and plenty of
laughs too.
It was getting late…
everyone else left, the pub had closed, and we still had another round to go…
or did we? No, no more laws left, we’d slightly miscalculated. So we were left
to a frantic calculation of scores whilst Rufus packed everything away. I’d
enjoyed it a lot, certainly will play again, but was a bit unsure of how I’d
done as points were awarded for bits I’d completely forgotten about; the
largest upgraded castle, the most knights. And then I’d won… my strategy of
going to war and collecting noblemen had paid dividends, wow. It’s always nice
to win, just a shame I honestly didn’t really know what I was doing!!
Final Scores; Neil 68, Phillip 60, Gareth II 55, Rufus 48 and
Sophie 25.
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