Comments on Games played - 11/13/05

by Susan Rozmiarek

Mission: Planète Rouge

Well, I’d gotten rather tired of Citadels after playing it to death when it first came out, but this game revives that whole character card mechanism in a wonderfully fresh way. Instead of a building game like Citadels, this is an area control game with the areas in contention being ten regions of the planet Mars.

For each game turn, a number of shuttle tiles are chosen randomly. Each depicts the destination and the number of astronauts it can carry. As these shuttles fill up they are “launched” and at the end of a turn the astronauts in them are deposited in the destined region on the round game board that represents Mars. Having majorities in these regions at the end of the three scoring rounds in the game gets you points. Players also have secret goals for points at the end of the game. If this all sounds like just another bland majority control game, well, it would be if it wasn’t for the variable character card mechanism which in this game is slightly different and even more cleverly done than in Citadels. The character played determines how many astronauts the player can place in shuttles as well as a special action to execute. The special actions create a good bit of chaos as is expected in a Faidutti game, but I actually felt like I had some control. The order in which the cards get executed is very important and creates some interesting decisions. It was actually quite a bit of fun and more playings will determine whether those feelings of control are an illusion or not. The theme and the art are totally cool.

Note: There is a good bit of French text on the cards, making it worthwhile to wait for the English edition. Even so, learning a few key French words and having a few players’ aides made playing the French edition easy enough.

Mission: Planète Rouge up close.

Ys

This is a neat blind bidding and bluffing game that has similarities to Aladdin’s Dragons, but seems a bit cleaner. Players place influence markers in the various regions on the board hoping to have the majority at the end of each round. The markers are placed facedown so others cannot see the numerical value, which is where the bluffing comes in to play. Majorities win gems, action cards, or affect the gem values. Naturally, your hope is to have the most valuable colors of gems at the end of the game. The game did start to feel a bit repetitive and long, but it ended just as I was starting to lose interest. I also like the theme of Aladdin’s Dragons much better; here it feels a bit dry and dull.

Near the end of the fourth Ys turn.

Exxtra

The dice hated me. Really, really hated me. When is someone going to reprint this awesome game of screwage and luck-pushing? It feels totally different than all others of its ilk and it gets requested over and over, year after year in our group.

Susan, Paul, Kevin, Mike and Ed ( taking picture) get random with Exxtra.

Elasund: The First City

This was my second time around for this game and it only served to strengthen my opinion that this is a really, really good game. The opinion of everyone I’ve played with has been overwhelmingly positive. I’m a big fan of games like Anno 1503 and Princes of Florence that let me sit back and build my stuff with only indirect interference from my fellow players. So, I probably shouldn’t like a highly confrontational game that encourages the demolishing of my beautiful buildings that took me such careful planning to build. But, I am really enjoying this game. As the board fills, the competition gets fierce and you really feel like you’ve pulled off something clever if you are able to set things up to plop down a big building, destroying an opponent’s in the process. And I love feeling clever :-) Unfortunately, in this playing, the adults, including me, did not feel clever at all as we all got whupped by a 12 year-old.

Susan teaches Elasund: The First City to Mark, Kevin and Mike.

Diamant

This is yet another “push-your-luck” game that is a current darling of our group, especially when we have a large group. I read in the recent issue of Knucklebones in an Alan Moon interview that the game is currently being looked at by both Mattel and Hasbro. Tie this game in with a blockbuster adventure movie (where is that next Indiana Jones movie?) and watch it sell, sell, sell. The game is fast, fun and perfect for families. I hope it gets picked up by one of those Big Boys so it can be appreciated by the masses.

For more pictures from this gaming session and others, see our Gaming Picture Gallery.

The Unplayed 100

by Ed Rozmiarek
Mark Jackson and Stephen Glenn worked up the The Official & Completely Authoritative 100 Best Games of All Time Ever Without Question. Much discussion about this list can be read here and there on the web. Now that the list is done and posted I can say that all-in-all, it’s pretty good list. Sure I don’t agree with some of the entries, but, as a point in time, it’s some interesting data.

Turns out that I have played 83 of the top 100 games. Not too bad given that I have only “recently” been seriously back into gaming (guess it’s running on six years now). So what haven’t I played? Here’s the list:

• 17. Time's Up – Top party game on the list. Our group doesn’t play party games much but I have had the opportunity to play this at many gaming events. The players always seem to have a good time, but it just hasn’t pulled me in. May play it some time, but not going to out of my way.
• 22. Die Macher – Just recently this has gotten some play with people in our group. I just never seem to be there at the right time to get in or don’t have the time to devote to it. Will probably play some day when the stars align right.
• 26. Civilization – The grand daddy civ building game. Old, long and I don’t own it. There are lots of newer civ games, all trying to be the 2 or 3 hour Civilization that I will probably try out first just due to the length of the orginal.
• 42. Bridge – I have played lots of card games but never bridge. I have been scared off from the learning curve and lack of commitment/time needed to play it well.
• 45. 1830 – I have played lots of train games, but no 18XX games. We actually own a couple (1825 and 2038) so I will probably get around to playing one of those in the future.
• 47. Titan – Don’t own it, it’s hard/expensive to get and it’s really long. Three strikes and you’re out.
• 53. Daytona 500 – I have several racing games but have never played this one. I would like to try it, maybe at a convention or game gathering.
• 59. Hannibal: Rome v. Carthage – Hard to get war game. I would try it if the opportunity presents itself. But, I don’t think I will seek it out.
• 62. Smarty Party – Party game. See Time’s Up above.
• 74. Taboo – Another party/word game, but Susan has played it and liked it, at least the electronic version. She has been looking for a copy but I guess that version is out of print and hard to get.
• 77. War of the Ring - We have owned this since it came out and still haven’t played it. Shame on us. First game on this unplayed list I actually feel I need to pull out and knock off the list.
• 81. Spades – I might have played this, a long time ago, and can’t remember. Have played lots of Hearts and other card games. Would play if the opportunity to play comes up.
• 83. Age of Renaissance – Another long game that but has a couple big fans in our group. Again another I have been turned off from due to the length.
• 84. Um Reifenbreite – Been meaning to try this one, but don’t own it.
• 86. Res Publica – Susan has played this and liked it. We have been looking for a copy but have never gotten one.
• 89. Code 777 – Supposedly very good deduction game. We don’t own a copy and it is hard to get and very expensive. However, it is suppose to be fairly easy to make. We don’t play many deduction games, but I would be willing to try.
• 97. McMulti – I don’t own this but a couple people in the group do. I have missed playing it every time it gets played. One of these days.

Update:
Mark Jackson nows asks what is our One Hundred Geek Score is (The One Hundred Score = # of these games you've played + # of these games you own). Looks like mine is 169 (83 played + 86 owned). My Unowned list is basically the same as my Unplayed list (man, that’s scary). We take off Bridge, Spades (both played with a basic deck of cards), War of the Ring and 1830 (Well, we do own 1825. Not the same thing, but 1830 is out of print). We add in Diplomacy. Played it a long time ago but never bought a copy.

Susan's BGG.con Report

by Susan Rozmiarek
Unfortunately, because of our two kids in school, we could not get to Dallas until late Friday evening. After checking into the hotel, we moseyed up to the game rooms and were greeted by our friend from Gulf Games, Vickie Watson. She graciously gave us a tour of mostly deserted rooms, as Peter Sarrett’s game show was currently running and had sucked in most of the people. She also guided us through the process of getting our “door prizes.” This replaced the familiar prize table from the other gaming get-together that I’ve been to and involved drawing a ticket and then picking out a game from one of three tables depending on the color of the ticket. Kevin drew a blue ticket for the best table and was able to get a shiny new shrink wrapped copy of Mission: Planète Rouge, a new game by the designing Bruno duo of Faidutti and Cathala. Being late arrivals meant the tables were already picked over, so we felt very fortunate to get this nice game, which I suspect had been left only because it was the French edition. Getting a free game upon arrival was a very pleasant surprise, even if late arrivals didn’t get as much choice as the early birds.

Soon thereafter, the game show was over and the masses starting spilling into the other rooms. We soon found ourselves in a game, despite our travel fatigue and the late hour.

Tempus

Pal Michael Weston offered to teach Ed and me this long awaited upcoming Martin Wallace game. Joining us were Peter Sarrett and Michael Pennisi. This has been described as a civ-building game, but I really didn’t get that feeling, although I’m hardly an expert on that type of game. Sure, as the game progresses you get to do more as civilization advances, but those things seemed very general and abstract (like having a bigger hand limit). What it did feel like was a territory grabbing game in the vein of Evo (as noticed by Peter) and Vinci. Unlike those games, where scoring occurs every turn, the scoring in Tempus comes solely at the very end which made the game feel very different by making for a long, slow, defensive buildup. There is however, some tactical land grabbing during the game, as holding the majority of certain land types at certain times in the game is beneficial. Deciding whether to get caught up in those struggles or concentrate on long term goals makes for some interesting decisions. The game really intrigued me as I don’t feel like I set myself up for the end as well as I could have, so I’m really itching to try it again. A must-buy and the best new game I played all weekend.

Our first game, Tempus (prototype copy). Susan, Michael Weston, Peter Sarrett, Michael Pennisi (fizzix) and Ed (taking photo) got to play.

Elasund

I finally got to play a game with Mark Johnson, who I had briefly met a few years ago. I feel like I already knew him from his podcast, Board Games To Go. Also playing was Ed and one of our local friends, Jon Grimm.

Nick Johnson from Catan Ltd. was there teaching this and Candamir. We had a copy as well and both seemed to get plenty of play and lots of positive comments. If you were disappointed in the lack of player interaction in the gentle Candamir then this game is for you. It’s a totally different animal; this one’s got teeth! Players are trying to build buildings on the board, which generate both victory points and/or resources which are needed to build. Building requires building permits which have to be placed on a previous turn and thus give other players a clue what your intentions are. You can use other players’ building permits as well as build over their buildings (with certain restrictions), so the competition and jockeying for position on the board can be brutal! There are several familiar mechanisms. Each turn begins with a resource roll, with a “7” being a pirate. What is neat about the resource roll here is that not only does it determine which buildings produce resources, it also determines where on the board building permits can be placed that turn. Also present is the same clever system of keeping track of victory points as in Candamir, with players placing cubes on the board as they earn them. There are also several paths to pursue, just like in Anno 1503, but not enough VPs in each path for every player to pursue the same strategy. I liked the game quite a bit and was impressed with how the designer is able to keep the tie-in to Catan with both the theme and a few mechanisms, while creating a completely different game with its own clever twists.

Mark Johnson, Jon Grimm, Susan and Ed (taking photo) got to try out the new Catan Adventures game, Elasund: The First City of Catan.

Elasund close up.

Barbarossa

I can almost never get our game group at home to play party games like this, so I toted it along to see if the BGG.con crowd was more willing. And who do I end up playing it with? My son and some members of my local group! Maybe there is hope after all.

I’ve played a sort of copycat game, Cluzzle and wondered how this older classic on which it is based differed. Both games involve molding clay sculptures and having the other players try to guess what they represent. The point system rewards sculptures that are neither too hard nor too easy. Cluzzle basically boils the game down to just forming the clay sculptures and asking questions about them, while Barbarossa adds a bit of chrome with a dice roll that dictates different options for what happens on your turn. One of these is getting a jewel. Jewels can be spent instead of a dice roll to allow you to choose the option that you want. Another is the dragon, which gives everyone else a point. Another allows you to ask yes/no questions and the final one allows you to ask for a letter in the name of a sculpture. All this chrome seemed a little fussy and pointless, but I did like the letter option a lot.

We were all horrible at guessing and thus our game went way too long. It generated a lot of laughs though, and was pretty fun.

Pirate Prototype

Jerry Dziuba (Danger is a lot easier to spell!) had a prototype that he was interested in having a teenage boy try. Since I happen to have an almost-one-of-those, I rounded up my son, another kid (also named Kevin?), and Michael Weston to give it a go. Without the permission to discuss it, I’ll just say that it is an interesting use of a set collecting mechanism from a simple older game, expanded and embellished to include pirates battling for control of islands. It had some neat ideas but could perhaps use a few tweaks to be even better. My son liked it but the other boy got a bit restless and bailed early to go play another game starting up at a nearby table.

Kevin makes his move while Susan, Jerry Dziuba and Micheal Weston look on while testing one of Jerry's prototypes.

Olympia 2000

Next up was some more gaming with my local group, this time revisiting this nice and simple, older blind-bidding card game. I hadn’t played it in quite a while and forgot how much I liked it.

Prototype- The Menorah Game

Yehuda Berlinger came over all the way from Jerusalem. I am an avid reader of his blog and so knew in advance that he was bringing his prototype to play. I enjoy trying a few prototypes as long as they don’t dominate my gaming, so I was more than happy to give his a whirl. I’m quite happy I did. This is a nice little set collecting game that has auctions and requires some money management. The theme is trying to be the first collect a set of candles to complete your Menorah, hopefully avoiding soldiers who want to blow them out. I enjoyed it, although it took about half a game before I understood the rules in my sleep deprived state. I immediately wanted to play a second time and I did much better. I liked the game enough to buy one of Yahuda’s prototypes. It plays very smoothly and falls neatly into the “short, light filler” niche that my gaming group enjoys. I think it would also play well with my kids. I do, however, want to come up with a theme that my family and group can relate to more. (Hope you don’t mind, Yehuda). It also begs to be upgraded, bits-wise and I love to do that sort of thing. I’ve thought of a few themes that should work. We’ll see if I ever get around to it. Anyhow, I wish Yehuda the best of luck in finding a publisher.

Oh, and as a bonus I got to play it with Chad Krizan, who has one of my favorite avatars on the Geek!

Pick Two

I can’t imagine Vickie Watson at a gaming convention without a copy of Pick Two. You can always find her at a table at Gulf Games playing this evil word game that resembles Scrabble on speed. We were trying to hook up for a game of it and I was finally able to round up a table of willing victims to play. Yes, I said victims as Vickie is a master at this game. However, she actually met her match in David Moinar who handily won the first game. He then bowed out for the second game which Vickie easily won. I, of course, was only able to beat the two kids playing and my son Kevin tied me the second game and he is a horrible speller! Nonetheless, this game has me hooked and my mindset is usually one of trying to beat my previous score each round, not the other players. I was thrilled to actually win one round. That’ll probably never happen again!

Pickomino I played this with Kevin Nunn, Betty Dingus, and a nice person I didn’t know, Suzy. Kevin started off with a huge pile of worms that slowly got stolen away until he was left with zilch. This is a cute game but I’m wonder how cute it would be without the cool bits.

Raj

I spied another familiar face from Gulf games, George Michaels and he invited me to a game of Raj with two women from New York (?) with really pretty names – Cemile and Zuleika. I had never played this game face-to-face, although I had played it online in the Nigglybits forum. There’s not much to say about it other than it’s a classic.

Shear Panic

After Raj, Cemile taught us this cute sheep game from Essen that everyone has been talking about. I’ll just get the obvious over right away – yes, those sheep are just too cute for words! I actually was a little reluctant to play as I was worried that I’d like it a lot. Since it is completely sold out, any copies to be found are sure to be at a ridiculous price. Sure enough, I liked it. It was a clever little game of shuffling your sheep around to meet the particular demands to score for each part of the game. I liked the fixed set of different actions for the game. You had to be careful to save the most powerful actions for just the right moment and that was tricky. I did like it enough to want my own copy, but I can wait for the inevitable second printing.

Kevin playing Shear Panic. He liked it as well.

Australia

I only managed to play two games on Sunday, the first being a game of Australia with my local group. We own the game but I’ve never played it. It’s a nice tactical game of spotting clever scoring opportunities. I liked the game but most of us (at least Marty and I) played thinking we had to place exactly the number of explorers depicted on our cards. Knowing that we could place any number up to that shown on the card would have given us a lot more flexibility and totally changed some of my plays. Ah, well. It was still interesting the way we played it but I’m eager to try it again with the proper rule.

Betty Dingus, Susan, Marty Hoff, John Gravitt and Ed (taking photo) get in a game of Australia early Sunday afternoon.

Another Prototype

The Sunriver Games folks were still hanging out, so Ed and I finished out the con by playing one of KC Humphrey’s prototypes with Chris Brooks. Once again, I’m not sure if I’m allowed to discuss it much, so I’ll just make a few brief comments. This game was a set collecting, tile-laying game. The mechanisms felt familiar, but a unique board provided some interesting tile placements. I didn’t think it is as quite a clever of a design as Havoc, but it is actually a type of game I enjoy more than the poker-style play of Havoc.

I have got to say, the Sunriver folks are some of the nicest and friendliest gamers you’ll ever meet. I only wish I hadn’t waited until the very end to finally get around to spending some time with them. Chris has a blog that I particularly enjoy because he talks about the gaming he does with his boys which are about the same age as ours. It was a pleasure to finally meet him.

With the con ending, Chris Brooks teaches Susan and Ed one of KC Humphrey's prototypes.

General comments about the con:

Wow. For all the people who have longed, without success, to be included in one of the “invite only” gaming get-togethers, look no more. Scott, Derk & Company have managed to pull off an event with the same friendly open-gaming feel of those others while showing all the promise of evolving into something with its own unique personality.

My first impression of the event was the friendly and cheerful welcome from the volunteers at the registration table. There was always someone at this table to help out or just welcome people entering. My second impression was upon entering the game room (mostly empty at the time) and seeing Tim and Vickie Watson’s fabulous gaming decorations. It is little touches like this that make a big difference to the atmosphere.

The facilities were fabulous, with all the different rooms for different things. There were both quiet corners available as well as a separate room for wild, noisy werewolf games. I guess the biggest problem for us was one that has already been noted by many which is the lack of food and drinks available due to the hotel’s restrictions. We did bring some sodas from home, but not snacks. In a way, it was good for me, because I wasn’t constantly nibbling on junk food while playing, as is my normal habit. However, by the time we turned in at night we were pretty hungry and too stubborn to pay ridiculous hotel prices for the snacks they stocked in our room.

It felt a bit weird scanning people’s chests looking for avatars I recognized, not names. I only knew a few as I’m not all that active on BGG. I visit there often enough, but it’s like a trip to the big city – it’s so vast and overwhelming with so much to see that I only ever get to explore a few corners at a time. Still, I was able to find a few of my favorites and meet the face behind the avatar – Chad Krizan and his alien that likes to play dress-up, as well as Sterling Babcock and his pop-up giraffe. I wish I’d had the chance to mingle more, but we weren’t there long enough.

I really liked having the vendors there and I’d love to see more of them in the future. The flea market was a good idea as well, although it seemed a little hectic.

I’m undecided about whether or not kids should be included at the con. I enjoy the gaming without the chaos of young children present, but I have seen it work at other events. So, I could be convinced either way. Perhaps if the event does grow (which seems to be a goal) children could be included with a big game room set aside for “adults only.” I am very grateful that the age limit was lowered to 12 and my older son was able to come. There were only a few other kids his age there, but many adults welcomed him and even invited him to games and I would like to especially thank them.

I’m really looking forward to seeing where BGG.con is headed in the future. Hopefully this is the start of something big and I’m thrilled to have been a part of it. Scott, Derk, Vickie, Kristine and the rest of the volunteers who were tirelessly working behind the scenes to pull this off – THANK YOU!!

BGG.Con: Pictures

by Ed Rozmiarek
All of my pictures from BGG.Con have been uploaded and captioned. I didn’t have many from Sunday. We only played a couple of games that day as things were shutting down and people were leaving. Susan and I spent a lot of time Sunday talking with people before they left. We did stay until the very end, actually past the very end, not leaving until a little after 4:00.

As before, you can find our pictures in our BGG Con album. There are a few pictures of people I don’t know and didn’t get their names. If you see yourself and want your name to be noted in the caption, leave a comment for the picture with your name. Everyone, feel free to leave general comments for the pictures here or in the album.

Susan and I hope to have our write-ups of the convention, the games we played and people we met soon. Until then, enjoy the pictures.

BGG.Con: Day 2: Saturday

by Ed Rozmiarek
Saturday was our only full day at BGG.Con. Lots of games, lots of talking with people we had not seen in a while or people we finally got to meet. There are still several people we want to talk to or game with today. Unfortunately, people will be starting to leave today to catch early flights back home. We’re planning on staying until the con closes at 3:00 or so to make up some from getting a late start. The big things from Saturday included the Grand prize giveaway, the flea market and the 100 player (or so) Texas Hold’m Tournament.

You can find my pictures from Saturday starting at page 5 of our BGG Con album. Still no captions. I’ll be adding those later this week when I get back home.

BGG.Con Day 1: Friday

by Ed Rozmiarek
We’re finally at BGG.con! We could not leave for the con until the kids got out of school on Friday, but after a short 3 hour drive up I-35, we were there. Just a short note for now, but I wanted to post my pictures from Friday night first thing this morning. You can find the pictures in our BGG Con album. Sorry, but no captions yet, I’ll get them up when I get some time. But, since we are only going to be here for a day and a half, I’m going to spend more time gaming and updating the website.

Susan's October Gaming

by Susan Rozmiarek
This report was written independently from Ed’s below and so is going to overlap a bit, I’m afraid. Most of the games are different, as we were at different tables much of the time. We had planned to start pulling out and reacquainting ourselves with our two player collection of games but real life duties kept getting in the way. Perhaps the upcoming months with time off for the holidays will be better.

October was a horribly sparse month for gaming for me, but we did host one really fun Sunday of games at our house. Brian Bankler, who has an excellent blog, The Tao of Gaming, drove up from San Antonio to game with us. We also had a new guy Paul, who found us via the internet, join us for the first time. I’d love to see both Brian and Paul come back again. We lost several regulars when we moved, and we’d like to grow the group a bit more. More people means more tables of games going at one time to choose from, accommodating a variety of gaming tastes. We’ve had several new people contact us recently and I’m hoping they make the plunge and try our group out.

Ubongo

We opened our October game day with Ubongo to fill the time until the latecomers arrived. I was doing just fine on my own I thought, but my puzzle-loving son Shea was drawn to my side like a moth to the flame. He proceeded to “help” me to the point that I finally just conceded my spot at the table to him in deference to his superior skill. He went on to win several rounds. Unfortunately, we could not snag the proper jewels for the win which left me a little dissatisfied with the scoring system. I must admit though, it’s fun just racing to solve the puzzles first without really caring about the endgame scoring. This game immediately rose to the top of our want list although I definitely plan to try the scoring variants I’ve seen floating around on the internet.

Pig Pile

With more people trickling in but a few more still due to arrive, we needed another filler but one that could accommodate six players. Out came Pig Pile, the game of hog washing and ewe-turning. Despite the silliness and randomness of this game, our group always has a hoot when playing it, even if nobody will admit it. Everyone managed to get some piggies this game, but Kevin scored the most pork with seven to win.

Conquest of the Empire

With everyone now present and accounted for, it was time to dive into the meatier course for the day. Mike has been in a Roman mood lately and proposed playing his shiny new copy of the Eagle game, Conquest of the Empire which has rules that are supposed to be a lighter version of Struggle of Empires. Mark thought we should play Struggles instead as apparently he and Mike had played a few turns of it at another session, but the game had to be aborted due to time. An amusing argument ensued. I really didn’t care that much, but I threw my modest support to Conquest since I didn’t have it and it might be a possible purchase. Besides, my 12 yr. old son wanted to play and I thought simpler rules might be best. Mark reluctantly conceded and out came Conquest.

Okay, the board is freaking big. I mean really HUGE. My dining room table is very wide and it almost didn’t fit. There wasn’t enough space in front of me for my cards and units which was rather annoying. The plastic bits were fabulous and nicely detailed and they too were pretty big. While the whole package was beautiful and impressive set up, I wish it was all scaled down a bit. Hard to believe that a statement like that is coming out of a diehard bits parakeet like me, but there you go. It really was too awkward.

The game itself though, was FANTASTIC. I was a little worried by the “meaty gamer’s game” reputation of Struggle of Empires and I was concerned that it might be a little too wargame-y for me as well. I needn’t have worried. Like most euro-style “gamer’s games,” the rules weren’t all that complicated (which would be a turn off for me) and it played smoothly. There was a lot to think about and manage but the challenge was fun. The wargame elements were there, but they didn’t overwhelm the game for me. This is kind of similar to Wallenstein, another game I enjoy. Both are really majority games, and you do have to wage war sometimes to achieve your goals, but there are many other aspects to the game that you have to think about and manage. It’s these other aspects that draw me into both games.

I’m not going to go into many details about our game, as MikeC has down already done a bang-up job of it on his blog. However, I will mention that I rarely started a battle and yet still managed to narrowly win the game. Warmongering did not seem to be a viable strategy. Rome was in fierce contention with the others, but I was boxed in at Sicily so I chose to stay out of that conflict. Basically, I expanded out the back door into Africa and Egypt, which were left alone by the others for most of the game. I also tried to grab some second place majorities where I could. The game is hinged around the auctions for alliances and player order and this is quite a fascinating mechanism. The alliances completely drive the game play and it was an enjoyable challenge speculating on the consequences of them during the bidding. Also, the fact that you only got to take two actions per turn out of a list of several desirable ones made for some hard decisions and angst. Although, the game took something like 5.5 hours, it didn’t seem that long. It only dragged for me when I went from being first in the turn order one season to last in the next. The scores were pretty close at the end, from 200 down to 140.

I guess I should feel cheated because the other table of gamers managed to play six games to our one. But I don’t, as this was definitely quality time for me. The game was superb and just the type to pull out on these long game days.

Susan, John, Mark, Kevin and Mike tackle Conquest of the Empire.

A crowd gathers round Rome.

Gaming at Mark’s: We haven’t been making many of Mark’s Thursday night games because it’s a little too late for the kids on a school night. Plus, they can get a bit loud playing video games which can be rather distracting. But, we hadn’t been in awhile so we decided to be bad parents and just go. Fortunately, they didn’t seem too tired and grumpy the next day, although I was! Still, it’s is definitely worth it to go every now and then.

Anno 1503 – Aristokraten und Piraten

I have been hoping that Mayfair would publish this expansion for Anno 1503 in English. Alas, it’s been out for a while now in German with no hints of a forthcoming English edition, so I guess it’s not going to happen. Bummer. It really added a lot to an already decent game, I thought. Unfortunately that “a lot” includes playing time, but to tell the truth I was so engrossed that I really didn’t notice or care. Besides, any expansion that adds pirates to the game has got to be good, right?

Players now have not only their home island from the base game but also an aristocrat island where they may build their manor house in steps costing varying things, including the three new luxury commodities. The outposts that produce these luxury goods can only be found in a new section of the sea where you will also find…pirates! To successfully fight them, you have to pay to build cannons. There are now action cards as well that you draw as you build your manor.

You still need to fulfill three different victory conditions to win the game, but two of them must now come from actions on your aristocrat island and gone are some of the originals. This pretty much forces you to fight pirates at some point in the game.

Our game started as usual, with the race to grab the choice buildings for our home islands. Once this was accomplished and the coveted protection from pirates and fire was no longer available, our eyes turned toward the new and dangerous waters. Doug was the earliest and bravest explorer, taking on a den of pirates long before he was ready. I concentrated on building and promoting settlers first, and was able to snag both the Fire Brigade and the Shipyard. With my double ship movement combined with the new harbor in the expansion, I was able to quickly explore the seas and get some choice tiles. One of these was an outpost that produces tobacco, which set me up for some nice income. With the extra income I was able to buy cannons and luxury goods. I was able to win the game by getting four public buildings (old victory condition), defeating two pirate dens and completing my manor house (new victory conditions). However, throughout most of the game the race seemed pretty tight, although Mark was getting burned on production rolls early on.

The expansion was great fun, if a little long at about 2 hours (with 3 players), but it added a lot of flavor to the game.

Susan, Mark and Doug play Anno 1503 with the pirate expansion.

Metro

As my last game of the evening I played Metro with my fellow Anno explorers, Mark and Doug. This is a pretty good game with three players. Five or six makes the game way too chaotic. Mark whined a lot early on about how poorly he was doing and thus managed to fly under the radar. He set himself up for some really long routes and by the time Doug and I realized it, it was too late. He came from behind on the score track near the end to gallop past us for the win.

For more pictures from this gaming session and others, see our Gaming Picture Gallery.

The Game Ranch Roundup for Sunday, October 16

by Ed Rozmiarek
Time to dust off the web site and post some content. Our gaming opportunities have been a little lacking during the last month. However, we were able to hold a weekend game day a couple Sundays ago and got in some good games. We were even able go to Mark’s Thursday night game session later in the week and got in a couple more games.

At our Sunday gameday, we had the pleasure of welcoming two new people to the Game Ranch. The first was Brian Bankler, author of the Tao of Gaming web site. Brian had recently moved the San Antonio and he and his family made the 90+ minute drive up to Austin. While Brian gamed, his wife took their kids and visited friends in town. Apparently, Brian’s wife is also a gamer and will be trying to join us for games in the future.

The other new person was Paul. Paul lives on the west side of Austin and just decided to show up. He had been lurking on our Yahoo group and his schedule worked out that he could show up. Paul has not been gaming long and all of the games he played were new to him. However, he was a quick learner and held his own. Both Brian and Paul were nice additions to the group and hope they can return to the group for the future sessions.

On to the games…

Ubongo

With the first few people showing up, we decided to play a quick opener while we waited for the others we were expecting. Mike had brought his copy of Ubongo so we pulled it out. I had only played it once at Gulf Games and had enjoyed it. We had just the right number and everyone had played so we could just jump right in. I really do enjoy this little puzzle game but the gem scoring does lack something. I don’t think there is much benefit winning the puzzle race and getting first choice. Many times what you need just isn’t there. I would like to try the variant of placing N+1 sets of two gems out each round (N being the number of players) and then being able to pick one set in the order of player finish each round. The funniest thing in this game is when Shea, our 9 year old math wiz, started watching and was soon hooked. In fact, he pretty much took over Susan’s board since Shea could solve the puzzles faster than Susan. Mike was able edge me out for the win with Shea/Susan next and then Adam.

Pig Pile

Mark showed up during Ubongo and Kevin wanted to play a game so with six, and still needing to wait for a couple people, we pulled out Pig Pile. Now Pig Pile is a game I should not like since it can be so random, but it is just light fun. The cards in your slop pile can really hose you or help you, but if everyone keeps up the right, light mood, it’s a decent game. And of course, how can you not like the plastic pigs?

We got through three rounds before the remaining gamers showed. We decided to call it a game then to mingle, eat some very nice BBQ Marty brought and get to the meatier games. Kevin proved to be the pig master going out first two of the three rounds and gathering seven pigs for his efforts.

Rheinländer

We had ten people and settled into two groups of five. One group decided to play Conquest of the Empire. The rest of us, Brian, Marty, Adam, Paul and I, decided to play shorter games and were able to get in five games while the other table fought for world domination. After a quick scan of the games, my suggestion of the new version of Rheinländer was accepted and we settled down to build duchies along the Rhein river. I had only played the original version of Rheinländer once and that was about five years ago (way back in my “infancy” of Eurogaming). I remember liking it, but I liked just about anything back then. After hearing the positive buzz on the new version, we decided to pick it up recently.

After going through the rules and jumping into the game, it was pretty obvious that Marty and Brian had played the old version. They knew how to set up their duchies and protect them. I thought I kind of knew what to do but was either fighting on too many fronts or just didn’t get the cards I needed, and I ended up the game with only one duke on the board. In the end, Brian was able to keep several of his dukes on the board and pull out the win with Marty coming in second. I had a pitiful showing and ended up pulling up the rear. What was pretty funny is that we finished up just as the other table was completing the rules to Conquest.

Traumfabrik

Five people and we just played one Knizia game, might as well pull out another, right. So, out came Traumfabrik, yet another European Hasbro game that didn’t have an English version until the recently announced Überplay version. I have heard about Überplay changing the tiles to have characterizations of more modern actors for the new version. I think the original version with the older, classic actors in the classic movies will work better. (Although, I have used the English paste ups to get make reading the movie names easier on everyone.) In fact, the classic movie tie in showed up in our game as Adam's version of Frankenstein took home the worst picture with its no-name, hack of a director, bad camera work and crummy music. I was able to go for quality over quantity, getting only a few movies made, but scoring high on all three. I almost had the best overall picture until Adam was able to pip my green movie by one. But the money I was able to hoard the last round gave me the edge over Adam for the win.

Ra

When you’re on a roll, go with it, so next up was another Knizia game. In fact, another auction game as well. I think everyone had played Ra except Paul, and since his head had not exploded due to new rule overload, the rules were covered and off we went. After my last game where I got burned by only getting a single lot during the first round, I was a little more aggressive in bidding during the first round. It worked ok as I actually scored positive points in the first two rounds, as in contention for most Pharaohs and several Nile tiles. However, I was behind in having a decent collection of monuments. I thought I was going to catch up some during the third round. The Ra tiles came out fast and people started bailing out. I thought I would risk it and not buy anything, hoping to get a couple big lots. However, with over 30 tiles left in the bag, the last Ra came out, ending the game. We were a little shocked that it ended with some many tiles left. When we dumped the tile bag, there were Ra tiles left in the bag! A quick count confirmed there was just enough Ra tiles for a single five player round. I know the first round Ra tiles were removed from the game. We can assume that the Ra tiles from the second round went back into the back by mistake. So, this game goes down with a big asterisk.

Call My Bluff

Adam had time for one more short game so out came the dice and cups for Call My Bluff. The gods of luck were on my side today. The only dice I lost were because of exact calls by other players. The game came down to myself with 3 dice and Adam with 2. For the first showdown I had to push the call to four 5’s, and in doing so, I locked 2 dice (a star and a 5) and rerolled my other die. Adam called with one 5. When I lifted my cup, there was a 5 showing. Like I said, the gods of luck were on my side. Up 3 dice to 1, I was able to push the bet on last round and knock Adam out for the win.

Kreta

With Adam leaving we were down to four. I suggested the newish Stefan Dorra game Kreta, as I was eager to try it again after playing it during our last game day. The others were up for it. Although Paul was about at brain overload with all of the new rules and as it turns out, he had never played an area control game before. This game must also go down with an asterisk beside the results as I messed up one of the rules. In Kreta, there are 11 region cards laid out that control scoring during the game. These cards are supposed to be laid out face down, except the first two. I set up the game with all 11 cards face up. Oops. In thinking about it afterwards, I don’t think it affected the game play too much. It did give us too much information about the potential scoring regions. But I think that just made it a little more gamery. This card setup is one of those things that will stick in my mind and I will probably not mess up again.

I have really enjoyed my two playings of Kreta. Yes, it is yet-another-area-control game. However, the varied and limited resources available the players, the use of the cards to control what options are available and the ability for the players to control when scoring happens provides a nice variation on the theme. It’s too bad that this game is not available at many of the US online game stores. There is just a very little German on the action cards and there are some good English rules on the BoardgameGeek. I think this game would do well with the gamer crowd if it were more widely available.

Note: We did play with the scoring variant I had heard about. With this variant, you can only play your scoring card if you have played at least the same number of cards as there are players behind you on the score track. For example, in a four player game, the first place player must play at least three cards before he can cause a scoring. However the last place player may score right away after the previous scoring. I like this variant as it allow the players behind to have more control over the timing of the next scoring.

Kupferkessel Co (2X)

Brian and Paul needed to leave after Kreta and the Conquest of the Empire game was still going on. So after a quick bite to eat, Marty and I decided to play a two player game. After throwing out several suggestions, we settled on Kupferkessel Co. I had not played it for a long time and amazingly, Marty had never played it. It was nice to pull it out again as I had forgotten what a nice little game it was. It plays quickly (about 15 to 20 minutes a game), is fairly easy to explain, has a nice mix of mechanisms and just enough direct player interaction to not make it feel like mutual solitaire.

After going through the rules, Marty and I were able to get through two games before the Conquest game was over. I took the first as it was a learning game for Marty. And Marty was a quick learner indeed as he took the second game handily.

Other games played: Conquest of the Empire
As I mentioned earlier, Susan, Mark, Mike, John and Kevin played Conquest of the Empire. You can check out Mike’s write-up on his blog.

For more pictures from this game day, see our Picture Album.